Power system for schoolchildren based on their genotypes

The article discusses a decision support system based on the clustering of genotypes and used in managing personalized nutrition for schoolchildren. The results of solving the problem for specific objects that have passed laboratory studies of gene states are presented. Modern scientific research in the field of nutrigenomics has shown that the selection of the optimal nutrition plan, taking into account genetic characteristics, increases the effectiveness of such programs by 200-300% compared with traditional approaches. This report discusses the use of soft computing (the method of clustering multidimensional objects) to determine typical clusters for managing personalized customer nutrition based on their genotypes

Peatland hydrology and carbon release: why small-scale process matters

Peatlands cover over 400 million hectares of the Earth's surface and store between one-third and one-half of the world's soil carbon pool. The long-term ability of peatlands to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere means that they play a major role in moderating global climate. Peatlands can also either attenuate or accentuate flooding. Changing climate or management can alter peatland hydrological processes and pathways for water movement across and below the peat surface. It is the movement of water in peats that drives carbon storage and flux. These small-scale processes can have global impacts through exacerbated terrestrial carbon release. This paper will describe advances in understanding environmental processes operating in peatlands. Recent (and future) advances in high-resolution topographic data collection and hydrological modelling provide an insight into the spatial impacts of land management and climate change in peatlands. Nevertheless, there are still some major challenges for future research. These include the problem that impacts of disturbance in peat can be irreversible, at least on human time-scales. This has implications for the perceived success and understanding of peatland restoration strategies. In some circumstances, peatland restoration may lead to exacerbated carbon loss. This will also be important if we decide to start to create peatlands in order to counter the threat from enhanced atmospheric carbon

Exponential distribution of long heart beat intervals during atrial fibrillation and their relevance for white noise behaviour in power spectrum

The statistical properties of heart beat intervals of 130 long-term surface electrocardiogram recordings during atrial fibrillation (AF) are investigated. We find that the distribution of interbeat intervals exhibits a characteristic exponential tail, which is absent during sinus rhythm, as tested in a corresponding control study with 72 healthy persons. The rate of the exponential decay lies in the range 3-12 Hz and shows diurnal variations. It equals, up to statistical uncertainties, the level of the previously uncovered white noise part in the power spectrum, which is also characteristic for AF. The overall statistical features can be described by decomposing the intervals into two statistically independent times, where the first one is associated with a correlated process with 1/f noise characteristics, while the second one belongs to an uncorrelated process and is responsible for the exponential tail. It is suggested to use the rate of the exponential decay as a further parameter for a better classification of AF and for the medical diagnosis. The relevance of the findings with respect to a general understanding of AF is pointed out

Plasma focus installation as a tool for the study of the interaction of high power plasma streams with condensed matter

In this work the possibilities of the use of the high-current discharges of Plasma Focus type for the investigation of the effect of plasma on the materials are discussed. From this point of view the properties of plasma streams and ion beams arising in the PF discharges are studied. Here, as an example of an application of the Plasma Focus device (PF), we studied the influence on Vanadium (perspective material in nuclear power engineering) a cumulative streams producing in the P

Shock alloying of metals by cumulative plasma streams

The report presents the investigation of a possibility of an application of pulse concentrated energy fluxes for the creation by shock alloying method of pseudo-solid solutions of metals, which interact chemically with each other neither in solid nor in liquid states. As an example of such compounds a system W-Cu was chosen. The experiments were conducted by use of plasma focus facility PF-4 (Installation "TYULPAN") in Lebedev Physical Institute. In the work it was found that the copper plate was welded with the high degree of adhesion to tungsten. The nature of the penetration of chemically neutral atoms of Cu in material of a target (W) is connected probably with two processes – the energy transfer to atoms from concentrated pulse fluxes of energy and the initiation of shock waves and their propagation in the target material

Deuteron frozen spin polarized target for nd experiements at the VdG accelerator of Charles University

A frozen spin polarized deuteron target cooled by the 3He/4He dilution refrigerator is described. Fully deuterated 1,2-propanediol was used as a target material. Deuteron vector polarization about 40% was obtained for the target in the shape of a cylinder of 2 cm diameter and 6 cm length. The target is intended for a study of 3N interactions at the polarized neutron beam generated by the Van de Graaff accelerator at the Charles University in Prague