The accumulation of femtosecond laser radiation energy in crystals of lithium fluoride

We present the results of studies of energy accumulation during the non-destructive interaction of extremely intense near infrared laser radiation with model wide band gap dielectric crystals of lithium fluoride, when the intensity of pulses is sufficient for effective highly nonlinear absorption of light and for the excitation of the electron subsystem of matter and the energy of pulses is still not sufficient for significant heating, evaporation, laser breakdown or other destruction to occur. We studied the emission of energy in the form of light sum of thermally stimulated luminescence accumulated under conditions of self-focusing and multiple filamentation of femtosecond laser radiation. It was established that it's the F2 and F[3]{+} color centers and supplementary to them centers of interstitial type which accumulate energy under the action of a single femtosecond laser pulses. When irradiated by series of pulses the F3, F[3]{-} and F[4] centers additionally appear. F2 centers are the main centers of emission in the process of thermally stimulated luminescence of accumulated energy. The interstitial fluoride ions (I-centers) are the kinetic particles. They split off from the X[3]{-} centers in the result of thermal decomposition of latter on the I-centers and molecules X[2]{0}. I-centers recombine with F[3]{+} centers and form F[2] centers in excited state. The latter produce the characteristic emission spectrum emitted in the form of thermally stimulated luminescence

Local hydrogen recycling impact on operation of rod plasma injectors

The strong influence of hydrogen recycling on the IONOTRON-046 plasma injector operation was found. The transitions were even observed from deposition by pulsed erosion (DPE) regime of the IONOTRON operation, which characterized by strong electrode erosion into pulse implantation doping (PID) regime with low electrode erosion. Physical mechanisms of such behavior are considered using the results of measurements of an outgassing rate from the titanium electrode rods used in IONOTRON-046 by means of mass spectrometry and thermal desorption methods, measurements of current- and voltage-waveforms, and spectroscopic studies of plasma emission. A possible practical use of the observed effects is also discussed

Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy in stably stratified sheared flows

Over the years, the problem of dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in stable stratification remained unclear because of the practical impossibility to directly measure the process of dissipation that takes place at the smallest scales of turbulent motion. Poor representation of dissipation causes intolerable uncertainties in turbulence-closure theory and thus in modelling stably stratified turbulent flows. We obtain a theoretical solution to this problem for the whole range of stratifications from neutral to limiting stable; and validate it via (i) direct numerical simulation (DNS) immediately detecting the dissipation rate and (ii) indirect estimates of dissipation rate retrieved via the TKE budget equation from atmospheric measurements of other components of the TKE budget. The proposed formulation of dissipation rate will be of use in any turbulence-closure models employing the TKE budget equation and in problems requiring precise knowledge of the high-frequency part of turbulence spectra in atmospheric chemistry, aerosol science, and microphysics of clouds.</p

Особенности течения инфекционного артрита у пациента с гипогаммаглобулинемией

Hypogammaglobulinemia is a condition caused by low levels of immunoglobulins in the blood serum. It can be a manifestation of primary immunodeficiency, characterized by a violation of the production of immunoglobulins, in particular common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). A typical clinical sign of CVID is various severe infections, among which infectious arthritis is not uncommon. At the same time, the clinical picture of infections can differ significantly from that in individuals with a normal immune response, including the spectrum of infectious arthritis pathogens.The article describes a clinical case of an unusual course of infectious arthritis in a patient with newly diagnosed hypogammaglobulinemia. The peculiar features of the case were a long (more than 1.5 years) course of the disease, without the development of septic complications, no increase in ESR and CRP, recurrence of arthritis after a 2-month course of antibiotic therapy, and the presence of generalized edema. The causes and diagnosis, features of infectious complications, including infectious arthritis, and probable causes of edematous syndrome in CVID are discussed.Гипогаммаглобулинемия – состояние, обусловленное низким уровнем иммуноглобулинов в сыворотке крови. Она может быть проявлением первичного иммунодефицита, характеризующегося нарушением продукции иммуноглобулинов, в частности общей вариабельной иммунной недостаточностью (ОВИН). Типичным клиническим признаком ОВИН являются различные инфекции тяжелого течения, среди которых нередки и инфекционные артриты. При этом клиническая картина инфекций может значительно отличаться от таковой у лиц с нормальным иммунным ответом, в том числе спектром возбудителей инфекционного артрита. В статье описано клиническое наблюдение необычного течения инфекционного артрита у пациента с впервые выявленной гипогаммаглобулинемией. Особенностями случая были длительное (более 1,5 лет) течение заболевания без развития септических осложнений, отсутствие повышения СОЭ и СРБ, рецидив артрита после 2-месячного курса антибактериальной терапии, а также наличие генерализованных отеков. Обсуждаются причины и диагностика, особенности инфекционных осложнений, в том числе инфекционных артритов, и вероятные причины отечного синдрома при ОВИН

Erosion, permeation and outgassing performances of tin coating under/after hydrogen plasma iffadiation

An erosion behavior of TiN-coated stainless-steel (SS) surfaces was investigated during biased-limiter experiments within the Uragan-3M torsatron and during simulation experiments, which were performed with plasma-accelerator and glow-discharge (GD) plasmas. For a TiN-coated SS head-plate of a limiter the arc ignition probability was found to be lower than 10-4 per plasma pulse. Possible physical mechanisms of this effect had been discussed. Within special vacuum stands, using thermal-desorption and mass-spectrometry methods, there were performed measurements of an outgassing rate and hydrogen permeability of TiNcoatings. The negligible outgassing from TiN-coated SS samples, during their heating up to 473 K, was observed after a cleaning procedure with a molecular hydrogen inflow under pressure of about 10-4 Torr, on contrary to the considerable increase of (q) rate for the irradiated samples. Measured values of the TiN-film hydrogen permeability were several times lower, and activation energy of the hydrogen permeation was considerably lower than that for the SS films (15 kJ/mole instead of 19.9 kJ/mole). The use of TiN-coated SS and diffusion membranes, for the reduction of the erosion, recycling, and hydrogen isotope inventory control, as well as for improvement of vacuum conditions, has been considered

Новые виды и наиболее интересные находки для флоры Урала и прилегающих территорий

The article provides information about rare and newly described species for the flora of the Urals and adjacent territories, namely: Astragalus saphronovae Kulikov, Atraphaxis decipiens Jaub. et Spach., Carex amgunensis F. Schmidt, Galium densiflorum Ledeb., Jovibarba globifera (L.) J. Parn., Najas minor All., Potamogeton nodosus Poir., Pseudorchis albida (L.) Á. Löve et D. Löve, Salix myrsinites L., Veronica agrestis L. Essays include the information on the species ecology and short taxonomic notes. © 2021 Altai State University. All rights reserved.The work was supported by the state assignments: АААА-А19-119031290052-1 “Sosudistye rasteniia Evrazii: sistematika, flora, rastitelʹnye resursy” [“Vascular plants of Eurasia: systematics, flora, plant resources”], АААА-А18-118011990151-7 “Izucheniye, sokhraneniye i rasshireniye bioraznoobraziya rasteniy v prirode i pri introduktsii na Yuzh nom Urale i Priuralye” [“Study, conservation and expansion of plant biodiversity in nature and during introduction in the Southern Urals and the Cis- and Trans-Urals region”], AAAA-A17-117050400146-5 “Otsenka prostranstvennovremennoy izmenchivosti bioraznoobraziya i usloviy yego formirovaniya na Severe Zapadnoy Sibiri v svyazi s izmeneniyem klimata i osvoyeniyem neftegazovykh resursov” [“Assessment of the spatio-temporal variability of biodiversity and the conditions for its formation in the north of Western Siberia in connection with climate change and the development of oil and gas resources”], and by “Programmoy povysheniya konkurentosposobnosti Uralskogo federalnogo universiteta” [“The program for improving the competitiveness of the Ural Federal University”] (the decree no. 211 of the Government of the Russian Federation, contract no. 02.A03.21.0006)

Influence of the ocean surface temperature and sea ice concentration on regional climate changes in Eurasia in recent decades

Numerical experiments with the ECHAM5 atmospheric general circulation model have been performed in order to simulate the influence of changes in the ocean surface temperature (OST) and sea ice concentration (SIC) on climate characteristics in regions of Eurasia. The sensitivity of winter and summer climates to OST and SIC variations in 1998-2006 has been investigated and compared to those in 1968-1976. These two intervals correspond to the maximum and minimum of the Atlantic Long-Period Oscillation (ALO) index. Apart from the experiments on changes in the OST and SIC global fields, the experiments on OST anomalies only in the North Atlantic and SIC anomalies in the Arctic for the specified periods have been analyzed. It is established that temperature variations in Western Europe are explained by OST and SIC variations fairly well, whereas the warmings in Eastern Europe and Western Siberia, according to model experiments, are substantially (by a factor of 2-3) smaller than according to observational data. Winter changes in the temperature regime in continental regions are controlled mainly by atmospheric circulation anomalies. The model, on the whole, reproduces the empirical structure of changes in the winter field of surface pressure, in particular, the pressure decrease in the Caspian region; however, it substantially (approximately by three times) underestimates the range of changes. Summer temperature variations in the model are characterized by a higher statistical significance than winter ones. The analysis of the sensitivity of the climate in Western Europe to SIC variations alone in the Arctic is an important result of the experiments performed. It is established that the SIC decrease and a strong warming over the Barents Sea in the winter period leads to a cooling over vast regions of the northern part of Eurasia and increases the probability of anomalously cold January months by two times and more (for regions in Western Siberia). This effect is caused by the formation of the increased-pressure region with a center over the southern boundary of the Barents Sea during the SIC decrease and an anomalous advection of cold air masses from the northeast. This result indicates that, to estimate the ALO actions (as well as other long-scale climatic variability modes) on the climate of Eurasia, it is basically important to take into account (or correctly reproduce) Arctic sea ice changes in experiments with climatic models

Pteridophyte Distribution of the Urals and Adjacent Areas: a Dataset

Background Data on the species diversity and distribution of pteridophytes (lycophytes and ferns) in the Urals and adjacent areas are presented. The dataset includes 13,742 observations of two classes Lycopodiopsida and Polypodiopsida. In total, the dataset contains information on 16 families, 28 generas, 65 species, four subspecies and nine interspecies hybrids. All records are for lycophytes and ferns collected over 170 years between 1853 and 2021. The dataset presented is based on herbarium specimens, published data and field research conducted by the authors. This dataset is the first and important step towards generalising information on the current diversity and geographical distribution of pteridophytes in the Urals and adjacent areas. © Melnikov D et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Funding: This work was supported in part by the Program for Improving the Competitiveness of the Ural Federal University (the decree no. 211 of the Government of the Russian Federation, contract No. 02.A03.21.0006), the state assignments АААА-А19-119031290052-1 (Komarov Botanical Institute RAS), no. 0111-2019-0001 (Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of the RAS), no. AAAA-A17-117072810011-1 (Institute Botanical Garden UB RAS) and no. АААА-А19-119031890084-6 (Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology UB RAS). This research was carried out within the project No. 121041600045-8 "Western Siberia in the context of Eurasian ties: man, nature, society". We thank the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Russian Federation for the supportgiven to the Center of Collective Use “Herbarium MBG RAS” (Agreement No. 075-15-2021-678). The work was carried out as part of the Russia 2021 project

Blood pressure-lowering effects of nifedipine/candesartan combinations in high-risk individuals: Subgroup analysis of the DISTINCT randomised trial

The DISTINCT study (reDefining Intervention with Studies Testing Innovative Nifedipine GITS - Candesartan Therapy) investigated the efficacy and safety of nifedipine GITS/candesartan cilexetil combinations vs respective monotherapies and placebo in patients with hypertension. This descriptive sub-analysis examined blood pressure (BP)-lowering effects in high-risk participants, including those with renal impairment (estimated glomerular filtration rate<90 ml min-1, n=422), type 2 diabetes mellitus (n=202), hypercholesterolaemia (n=206) and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (n=971), as well as the impact of gender, age and body mass index (BMI). Participants with grade I/II hypertension were randomised to treatment with nifedipine GITS (N) 20, 30, 60 mg and/or candesartan cilexetil (C) 4, 8, 16, 32 mg or placebo for 8 weeks. Mean systolic BP and diastolic BP reductions after treatment in high-risk participants were greater, overall, with N/C combinations vs respective monotherapies or placebo, with indicators of a dose-response effect. Highest rates of BP control (ESH/ESC 2013 guideline criteria) were also achieved with highest doses of N/C combinations in each high-risk subgroup. The benefits of combination therapy vs monotherapy were additionally observed in patient subgroups categorised by gender, age or BMI. All high-risk participants reported fewer vasodilatory adverse events in the pooled N/C combination therapy than the N monotherapy group. In conclusion, consistent with the DISTINCT main study outcomes, high-risk participants showed greater reductions in BP and higher control rates with N/C combinations compared with respective monotherapies and lesser vasodilatory side-effects compared with N monotherapy