Soil factors of resistance of spruce forest.

Spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) is one of the major coniferous species represented in Moscow region. It grows on loam or clay loam soils and it is sensitive to soil moisture. The drought of 2010 adversely affected spruce forest. Weak spruce is further highly influenced by various pathogens and pests, among which the most aggressive is bark beetle (Ips Typographus L.). Many researchers have investigated the role of climatic fluctuations in respect of the development of pathogens; however, soil and hydrological factors are often out of the focus. The aim of our work was to study the soil factors affecting the state and resistance of spruce stands. The object of the study was spruce stands of the Moscow educational-experimental forest unit. Forest inventory data in combination with satellite imagery in a GIS environment allowed us to discover a plot with alive resistant spruce surrounded by dead spruce stands of the same age. During field surveys, we investigated soil in both alive and died spruce plots. The study showed that alive spruce forest has developed on soil with specific alternation of horizons of different texture (contains sand layer of varying thickness, underlain by loam horizons). The surrounding soils with dead spruce do not have such a sandy layer. The combination of layers with different texture support accumulation of soil moisture. This moisture, which is trapped by capillary forces in the small pore layer of the soil. Most probably, the ability of soil to store more water has allowed spruce to survive during the drought. We plan to continue our research and investigate more plots with alive spruce stands, to prove our hypothesis

Dynamics of the area of tree cover in the Moscow region for the years 2000-2013 (in Russian)

A number of modern products of remote sensing demonstrate significant changes in the forest cover in the Moscow region since the beginning of the current century. We have set a goal to test how the system works in both urban and suburban ecosystems, and to identify the main reasons and effects of changes in the forest cover area within the boundaries of one region. The estimation included not only forest plantations but gardens, parks and other areas covered with woody vegetation with the crown density percentage of above 30 %. The instrument to do it was the internet portal Geo-Wiki, which provides highresolution photos from Google Earth and the means for them to visual interpretation. In addition to automatic description of the state of the sector in different years, the network for spot checks by a team of image interpreters has been set up. We have examined the changes of tree plantations in Moscow, in the Moscow region as a whole, and in the Moscow educational and experimental forestry. Our special attention has been paid to the comparison of the obtained data with the official statistics taken from the forest plan of the Moscow region. The total loss of tree cover was streamlined into such groups as: logging, lost plantations (due to forest fires and outbreaks of pests or diseases), transfer of land to the other types of use (e.g. infrastructure projects or arable and agricultural lands). The areas of newly emerged tree plantations have been divided into reforestation and afforestation. The conclusions concerning the loss of areas covered with tree plantations have been formulated, and the possible reasons, which caused it, have been identified

Forest Biomass Observation: Current State and Prospective

With this article, we provide an overview of the methods, instruments and initiatives for forest biomass observation at a global scale. We focus on the freely available information provided by both remote and in-situ observations. The advantages and limitation of various space borne methods, including optical, radar (C, L and P band) and LiDAR, as well as respective instruments available on the orbit (MODIS, Proba-V, Landsat, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 , ALOS PALSAR, Envisat ASAR) or expecting (BIOMASS, GEDI, NISAR, SAOCOM-CS) are discussed. We emphasize the role of in-situ methods in the development of a biomass models, providing calibration and validation of remote sensing data. We focus on freely available forest biomass maps, databases and empirical models. We describe the functionality of Biomass.Geo-Wiki.org portal, which provides access to a collection of global and regional biomass maps in full resolution with unified legend and units overplayed with high-resolution imagery. The Forest-Observation-System.net is announced as an international cooperation to establish a global in-situ forest biomass database to support earth observation and to encourage investment in relevant field-based observations and science. Prospects of unmanned aerial vehicles in the forest inventory are briefly discussed. The work was partly supported by ESA IFBN project (contract 4000114425/15/NL/FF/gp)

Контроль якості знань студентів при вивченні дисципліни «Медсестринство у внутрішній медицині»

Розглянуто роль контролю в поетапній підготовці висококваліфікованих фахівців медичної галузі. Наголошено, що першочергове завдання в процесі навчання медичних сестер - не тільки здобуття фундаментальних знань, а й формування вмінь самостійно їх здобувати і творчо використовувати в практичній діяльності.The role of control in the stage-by-stage training of highly skilled medical specialists is considered. It was emphasized that the primary task in the process of nurses ’ training is not only to acguire basic knowledge, but also to develop skills in order to independently acguire and use them creatively in practical activity

QED Effects in Heavy Few-Electron Ions

Accurate calculations of the binding energies, the hyperfine splitting, the bound-electron g-factor, and the parity nonconservation effects in heavy few-electron ions are considered. The calculations include the relativistic, quantum electrodynamic (QED), electron-correlation, and nuclear effects. The theoretical results are compared with available experimental data. A special attention is focused on tests of QED in a strong Coulomb field.Comment: 28 pages, 6 tables, 5 figure

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters

Reducing heterotic M-theory to five dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary

This paper constructs the reduction of heterotic $M$-theory in eleven dimensions to a supergravity model on a manifold with boundary in five dimensions using a Calabi-Yau three-fold. New results are presented for the boundary terms in the action and for the boundary conditions on the bulk fields. Some general features of dualisation on a manifold with boundary are used to explain the origin of some topological terms in the action. The effect of gaugino condensation on the fermion boundary conditions leads to a `twist' in the chirality of the gravitino which can provide an uplifting mechanism in the vacuum energy to cancel the cosmological constant after moduli stabilisation.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe