Накопительная камера с электростатическим осаждением ионизированных дочерних продуктов распада радона на поверхность полупроводникового детектора

Целью этой работы является разработка конструкций электростатической камеры осаждения. Анализ измерений, проведенных с этими структурами, и выбор наилучшего варианта дизайна. В диссертации рассматривается возможность электростатического осаждения продуктов распада радона и торона с поверхности почвы, с учетом этой возможности разработаны три различные схемы накопления электростатических камер.The purpose of this work is the development of electrostatic precipitation chamber designs. Analysis of the measurements made with these structures and selection of the best design option. In the thesis, the possibility of electrostatic precipitation of the products of decay of radon and thoron from the soil surface is considered, taking into account this possibility, three different designs of accumulating electrostatic chambers have been developed

Does Combined Therapy of Curcumin and Epigallocatechin Gallate have a synergistic Neuroprotective Effect Aainst Spinal Cord Injury?

Systematic inflammatory response after spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the factors leading to lesion development and a profound degree of functional loss. Anti-inflammatory compounds, such as curcumin and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) are known for their neuroprotective effects. In this study, we investigated the effect of combined therapy of curcumin and EGCG in a rat model of acute SCI induced by balloon compression. Immediately after SCI, rats received curcumin, EGCG, curcumin + EGCG or saline [daily intraperitoneal doses (curcumin, 6 mg/kg; EGCG 17 mg/kg)] and weekly intramuscular doses (curcumin, 60 mg/kg; EGCG 17 mg/kg)] for 28 days. Rats were evaluated using behavioral tests (the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) open-field locomotor test, flat beam test). Spinal cord tissue was analyzed using histological methods (Luxol Blue-cresyl violet staining) and immunohistochemistry (anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein, anti-growth associated protein 43). Cytokine levels (interleukin-1beta, interleukin-4, interleukin-2, interleukin-6, macrophage inflammatory protein 1-alpha, and RANTES) were measured using Luminex assay. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to determine the relative expression of genes (Sort1, Fgf2, Irf5, Mrc1, Olig2, Casp3, Gap43, Gfap, Vegf, NfkappaB, Cntf) related to regenerative processes in injured spinal cord. We found that all treatments displayed significant behavioral recovery, with no obvious synergistic effect after combined therapy of curcumin and ECGC. Curcumin and EGCG alone or in combination increased axonal sprouting, decreased glial scar formation, and altered the levels of macrophage inflammatory protein 1-alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-4 and interleukin-6 cytokines. These results imply that although the expected synergistic response of this combined therapy was less obvious, aspects of tissue regeneration and immune responses in severe SCI were evident

Electronic structure of β\beta-SiAlON: effect of varying Al/O concentration at finite temperatures relevant for thermal quenchin

$\beta$-Si$_{6-z}$Al$_{z}$O$_{z}$N$_{8-z}$ is a prominent example of systems suitable as hosts for creating materials for light-emitting diodes. In this work, the electronic structure of a series of ordered and disordered $\beta$-Si$_{6-z}$Al$_{z}$O$_{z}$N$_{8-z}$ systems is investigated by means of ab initio calculations, using the FLAPW and the Green function KKR methods. Finite temperature effects are included within the alloy analogy model. We found that the trends with the Al/O doping are similar for ordered and disordered structures. The electronic band gap decreases with increasing $z$ by about 1 eV when going from $z$=0 to $z$=2. The optical gap decreases analogously as the electronic band gap. The changes in the density of states (DOS) at Si and N atoms introduced by doping $\beta$-Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ with Al and O are comparable to the DOS at Al and O atoms themselves. The bottom of the conduction band in $\beta$-Si$_{6-z}$Al$_{z}$O$_{z}$N$_{8-z}$ is formed by extended states residing on all atomic types. Increasing the temperature leads to a shift of the bottom of the conduction band to lower energies. The amount of this shift increases with increasing doping $z$.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl

Molecular and Morphological Evidence Challenges the Records of the Extant Liverwort Ptilidium pulcherrimum in Eocene Baltic Amber

Preservation of liverworts in amber, a fossilized tree resin, is often exquisite. Twenty-three fossil species of liverworts have been described to date from Eocene (35-50 Ma) Baltic amber. In addition, two inclusions have been assigned to the extant species Ptilidium pulcherrimum (Ptilidiales or Porellales). However, the presence of the boreal P. pulcherrimum in the subtropical or warm-temperate Baltic amber forest challenges the phytogeographical interpretation of the Eocene flora. A re-investigation of one of the fossils believed to be P. pulcherrimum reveals that this specimen in fact represents the first fossil evidence of the genus Tetralophozia, and thus is re-described here as Tetralophozia groehnii sp. nov. A second fossil initially assigned to P. pulcherrimum is apparently lost, and can be reassessed only based on the original description and illustrations. This fossil is morphologically similar to the extant North Pacific endemic Ptilidium californicum, rather than P. pulcherrimum. Divergence time estimates based on chloroplast DNA sequences provide evidence of a Miocene origin of P. pulcherrimum, and thus also argue against the presence of this taxon in the Eocene. Ptilidium californicum originated 25-43 Ma ago. As a result, we cannot rule out that the Eocene fossil belongs to P. californicum. Alternatively, the fossil might represent a stem lineage element of Ptilidium or an early crown group species with morphological similarities to P. californicum

Comparison of diagnostic methods for Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae detection in salmonid fish.

Diagnostic accuracy of pathogen detection depends upon the selection of suitable tests. Problems can arise when the selected diagnostic test gives false-positive or false-negative results, which can affect control measures, with consequences for the population health. The aim of this study was to compare sensitivity of different diagnostic methods IHC, PCR and qPCR detecting Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, the causative agent of proliferative kidney disease in salmonid fish and as a consequence differences in disease prevalence. We analysed tissue from 388 salmonid specimens sampled from a recirculating system and rivers in the Czech Republic. Overall prevalence of T. bryosalmonae was extremely high at 92.0%, based on positive results of at least one of the above-mentioned screening methods. IHC resulted in a much lower detection rate (30.2%) than both PCR methods (qPCR32: 65.4%, PCR: 81.9%). While qPCR32 produced a good match with IHC (60.8%), all other methods differed significantly (p < .001) in the proportion of samples determined positive. Both PCR methods showed similar sensitivity, though specificity (i.e., the proportion of non-diseased fish classified correctly) differed significantly (p < .05). Sample preservation method significantly (p < .05) influenced the results of PCR, with a much lower DNA yield extracted from paraffin-embedded samples. Use of different methods that differ in diagnostic sensitivity and specificity resulted in random and systematic diagnosis errors, illustrating the importance of interpreting the results of each method carefully

GWTC-2.1: Deep Extended Catalog of Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run

The second Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog reported on 39 compact binary coalescences observed by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors between 1 April 2019 15:00 UTC and 1 October 2019 15:00 UTC. We present GWTC-2.1, which reports on a deeper list of candidate events observed over the same period. We analyze the final version of the strain data over this period with improved calibration and better subtraction of excess noise, which has been publicly released. We employ three matched-filter search pipelines for candidate identification, and estimate the astrophysical probability for each candidate event. While GWTC-2 used a false alarm rate threshold of 2 per year, we include in GWTC-2.1, 1201 candidates that pass a false alarm rate threshold of 2 per day. We calculate the source properties of a subset of 44 high-significance candidates that have an astrophysical probability greater than 0.5. Of these candidates, 36 have been reported in GWTC-2. If the 8 additional high-significance candidates presented here are astrophysical, the mass range of events that are unambiguously identified as binary black holes (both objects ≥3M⊙) is increased compared to GWTC-2, with total masses from ∼14M⊙ for GW190924_021846 to ∼182M⊙ for GW190426_190642. The primary components of two new candidate events (GW190403_051519 and GW190426_190642) fall in the mass gap predicted by pair instability supernova theory. We also expand the population of binaries with significantly asymmetric mass ratios reported in GWTC-2 by an additional two events (the mass ratio is less than 0.65 and 0.44 at 90% probability for GW190403_051519 and GW190917_114630 respectively), and find that 2 of the 8 new events have effective inspiral spins χeff&gt;0 (at 90% credibility), while no binary is consistent with χeff &lt; 0 at the same significance