Environmental pollution impact on radiation properties of atmosphere, snow and ice cover: Study from Barentsburg (Spitsbergen Archipelago)

The value of the albedo of snow and ice surface is associated with the texture and structure of the surface layer of snow or ice (sea ice, glaciers), the peculiarities of the vertical redistribution of contaminations in this layer (mineral or organic particles of various concentrations, the size and shape), temperature regime of the surface layer of the atmosphere. Identifying links with the albedo characteristics of natural and artificial contamination is very important. For example, the results of mathematic modeling the evolution of ice sheets, sea ice and snow cover demonstrate the high sensitivity of the model to this parameter. Original results in the framework of this problem were obtained by researches from AARI and St. Petersburg State University during the 2010-2012 years on Svalbard in the vicinity of the Russian mining settlement Barentsburg. We present original results showing the relationship of "albedo-contaminations" and the influence of anthropogenic factors. The estimation of solar radiation that penetrates deep into the snow, and the impact of contamination on its redistribution in the snow thickness were obtained

The Chinese Diaspora in the EU Countries

This article is a further contribution to the discourse of ethnic ‘diffusion’ in European countries. The debate started on the pages of the Baltic Region journal by three authors - Yu. N. Gladky, I. Yu. Gladky, and K. Yu. Eidemiller [4]. We assume that Europe has been a major centre of attraction for immigrants in recent decades and a site for the rapid emergence of ethnic communities. Unlike Muslim immigration, a product of the Arab Spring and often a measure of last resort, Chinese immigration is a result of a certain convergence between the ideologies of the host countries, committed to multiculturalism, and the country of origin pursuing a 'go global' policy. We chose the EU countries as a 'demonstration site' and the Chinese diaspora as the object of research. Our aim is to describe the process of migration from China and the formation of a Chinese diaspora in European countries. We analyse the timeline and the scope of Chinese immigration, qualitative changes in the composition of immigrants, factors affecting the choice of the country of entry, and the quantitative parameters and settlement patterns of today's Chinese diaspora in the region. We suggest grouping the EU Countries by the number and 'age' of their Chinese diasporas. We consider ethnic 'diffusion' as part of the ‘European project' within Beijing’s global strategy

Enhanced stability of bound pairs at nonzero lattice momenta

A two-body problem on the square lattice is analyzed. The interaction potential consists of strong on-site repulsion and nearest-neighbor attraction. Exact pairing conditions are derived for s-, p-, and d-symmetric bound states. The pairing conditions are strong functions of the total pair momentum K. It is found that the stability of pairs increases with K. At weak attraction, the pairs do not form at the $\Gamma$-point but stabilize at lattice momenta close to the Brillouin zone boundary. The phase boundaries in the momentum space, which separate stable and unstable pairs are calculated. It is found that the pairs are formed easier along the $(\pi,0)$ direction than along the $(\pi,\pi)$ direction. This might lead to the appearance of ``hot pairing spots" on the Kx and Ky axes.Comment: 7 RevTEX pages, 5 figure

Comparative analysis of Russian and Norwegian precipitation gauges, measurements in Barentsburg, Western Spitsbergen

Comparative analysis of records of two gauges with different wind shields (Tretyakov gauge and Geonor T200-B) were done, based on time series of parallel measurement in Barentsburg settlement, Svalbard, during two winter times in period from September 2014 to July 2016. All collected data of solid precipitation were divided into two ranges with different wind speed conditions. As it was known from earlier papers, Tretyakov gauge measurements tend to underestimate solid precipitation in case when precipitation is not intensive and wind speed is less than 5 m s-1. Opposite results were obtained for blizzard conditions (wind speed is more than 6 m s-1): Tretyakov gauge shows greater values for amount of solid precipitation than Norwegian sensor. Preliminary results in Barentsburg cannot be described as conclusive ones. Estimation of solid precipitation on Spitsbergen measured by different gauges needs further and more detailed research, which includes fieldwork in Barentsburg in spring, such as detailed snow surveys in the settlement

Identification of evolutionarily conserved non-AUG-initiated N-terminal extensions in human coding sequences

In eukaryotes, it is generally assumed that translation initiation occurs at the AUG codon closest to the messenger RNA 5′ cap. However, in certain cases, initiation can occur at codons differing from AUG by a single nucleotide, especially the codons CUG, UUG, GUG, ACG, AUA and AUU. While non-AUG initiation has been experimentally verified for a handful of human genes, the full extent to which this phenomenon is utilized—both for increased coding capacity and potentially also for novel regulatory mechanisms—remains unclear. To address this issue, and hence to improve the quality of existing coding sequence annotations, we developed a methodology based on phylogenetic analysis of predicted 5′ untranslated regions from orthologous genes. We use evolutionary signatures of protein-coding sequences as an indicator of translation initiation upstream of annotated coding sequences. Our search identified novel conserved potential non-AUG-initiated N-terminal extensions in 42 human genes including VANGL2, FGFR1, KCNN4, TRPV6, HDGF, CITED2, EIF4G3 and NTF3, and also affirmed the conservation of known non-AUG-initiated extensions in 17 other genes. In several instances, we have been able to obtain independent experimental evidence of the expression of non-AUG-initiated products from the previously published literature and ribosome profiling data

Metadata for a long-term climate series from the Russian meteorological station “Pyramiden” (1948-1957) at Svalbard ( Short Communication)

Soviet weather station "Pyramiden" was located in the same mining settlement on the northern shore of the Mimer bukta (Billefjorden, West Spitsbergen Island). Research station operated from 1948 to 1957, as a branch of Barentsburg research observatory (Grnfjorden, West Spitsbergen Island). It was the only station that held regular meteorological observations in the inland areas of the archipelago. Observational data (in the form of handwritten books and tables) are preserved in state fond of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg, Russia). So far, these data have not been digitized and with their help not conducted any climate researches. Fruitful scientific collaboration between MET-Norway (Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo) and AARI helped preserve these unique data to the polar scientific community. Now specialists-climatologists of both institutions complete joint climate researches that in the near future will be available to scientists, studying modern climate changes in the polar regions of the Earth

Primary Sequences of Protein-Like Copolymers: Levy Flight Type Long Range Correlations

We consider the statistical properties of primary sequences of two-letter HP copolymers (H for hydrophobic and P for polar) designed to have water soluble globular conformations with H monomers shielded from water inside the shell of P monomers. We show, both by computer simulations and by exact analytical calculation, that for large globules and flexible polymers such sequences exhibit long-range correlations which can be described by Levy-flight statistics.Comment: 4 pages, including 2 figures; several references added, some formulations improve