Explanation of the Normal Winter Anomaly from the Seasonal Variation of Short Wave Absorption

The frequency dependence of the winter anomaly (WA) of radio wave absorption indicates the altitude range where the considered seasonal variation of absorption, L, takes place: 75-95 km. In this height region considerable seasonal variations of ionic composition and effective recombination coefficient, alpha sub e, exist, which can cause seasonal variations of electron concentration, N, and absorption, L. An attempt to render a qualitative estimation of the normal WA, i.e., the increased ratio of winter over summer absorption, L sub w/L sub s, at medium latitudes 40 deg and 50 deg, for solar zenith angles CHi = 60 deg and 75 deg is made. This is compared with existing experimental data

Phase and Intensity Distributions of Individual Pulses of PSR B0950+08

The distribution of the intensities of individual pulses of PSR B0950+08 as a function of the longitudes at which they appear is analyzed. The flux density of the pulsar at 111 MHz varies strongly from day to day (by up to a factor of 13) due to the passage of the radiation through the interstellar plasma (interstellar scintillation). The intensities of individual pulses can exceed the amplitude of the mean pulse profile, obtained by accumulating 770 pulses, by more than an order of magnitude. The intensity distribution along the mean profile is very different for weak and strong pulses. The differential distribution function for the intensities is a power law with index n = -1.1 +- 0.06 up to peak flux densities for individual pulses of the order of 160 Jy

Evaluation of Carbon Assimilation by Regenerating Soils of the Central Black Earth Region of Russia

The study presents the options for the estimation of soil assimilation rates with carbon regenerating after an anthropogenic influence in the Central Black Earth region of Russia. The evaluation methodology is based on the use of mathematical models of the trend component processes for the humus horizon and humus accumulation development in Forest-Steppe Black Earth area

Convergent and oscillatory solutions in infinite-dimensional synchronization systems

Control systems that arise in phase synchronization problems are featured by infinite sets of stable and unstable equilibria, caused by presence of periodic nonlinearities. For this reason, such systems are often called “pendulum-like”. Their dynamics are thus featured by multi-stability and cannot be examined by classical methods that have been developed to test the lobal stability of a unique equilibrium point. In general, only sufficient conditions for the solution convergence are known that are usually derived for pendulum-like systems of Lurie type, that is, interconnections of stable LTI blocks and periodic nonlinearities, which obey sector or slope restrictions. Most typically, these conditions are written as multi-parametric frequency-domain inequalities, which should be satisfied by the transfer function of the system’s linear part. Remarkably, if the frequencydomain inequalities hold outside some bounded range of frequencies, then the absence of periodic solutions with frequencies in this range is guaranteed, which can be considered as a weaker asymptotical property. It should be noticed that validation of the frequency domain stability condition for a given structure of the known linear part of the system is a self-standing nontrivial problem. In this paper, we demonstrate that a previously derived frequency-domain conditions for stability and absence of oscillations can be substantially simplified, parameters ensuring the corresponding asymptotic property. We demonstrate the efficiency of new criteria on specific synchronization systems

World experience in identifying metacognitive competencies of a teacher in the course of professional development and work with gifted children

Today, there are significant requirements for the professional competencies of a teacher, among which a special place is occupied by competencies that determine the effectiveness of work with different categories of students. The article presents the results of a theoretical comparison of conceptual approaches to the identification and development of professional competencies of future teachers. The metacognitive competencies underlying self-learning are analyzed. The role of special work within the framework of individual educational courses, trainings and practices in higher education, aimed at developing metacognitive strategies and competencies of future teachers, is substantiated. The article proposes a support structure for the components of metacognitive competence (metacognitive knowledge, declarative knowledge, metacognitive strategies). After analyzing the concept map and comparing various models of identification and development of metacognitive competence, the authors single out research, managerial and communicative competences in its structure.An analysis of domestic research highlights the role of managing competencies for  working with a gifted child and shows that a future teacher must constantly develop regulatory and personal qualities in himself and in a gifted student. When working with a gifted student, a teacher needs metacognitive competence, which is formed in the process of asking questions to oneself, in attempts to try other strategies for solving pedagogical situations. The teacher is required not only to be able to teach, but also to constantly learn himself in order to be able to solve non-trivial situations together with students.It is shown how the relationship between a teacher and students affects psychological health, well-being, psychological burnout, the quality of professional activity, the ability to work with a gifted person. The conclusion is made about how approaches to the professional training of specialists in the educational sphere should change in order to provide the opportunity to work with the category of gifted children

A New Catalogue of Polar-Ring Galaxies Selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Galaxies with polar rings (PRGs) are a unique class of extragalactic objects. Using these, we can investigate a wide range of problems, linked to the formation and evolution of galaxies, and we can study the properties of their dark haloes. The progress that has been made in the study of PRGs has been constrained by the small number of known objects of this type. The Polar Ring Catalogue (PRC) by Whitmore et al. and their photographic atlas of PRGs and related objects includes 157 galaxies. At present, there are only about two dozen kinematically confirmed galaxies in this PRG class, mostly from the PRC. We present a new catalogue of PRGs, supplementing the PRC and significantly increasing the number of known candidate PRGs. The catalogue is based on the results of the original Galaxy Zoo project. Within this project, volunteers performed visual classifications of nearly a million galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Based on the preliminary classifications of the Galaxy Zoo, we viewed more than 40000 images of the SDSS and selected 275 galaxies to include in our catalogue. Our SDSS-based Polar Ring Catalogue (SPRC) contains 70 galaxies that we have classified as 'the best candidates'. Among these, we expect to have a very high proportion of true PRGs, and 115 good PRG candidates. There are 53 galaxies classified as PRG-related objects (mostly galaxies with strongly warped discs, and mergers). In addition, we have identified 37 galaxies that have their presumed polar rings strongly inclined to the line of sight (seen almost face-on). The SPRC objects are, on average, fainter and are located further away than the galaxies from the PRC, although our catalogue does include dozens of new nearby candidate PRGs. The SPRC significantly increases the number of genuine PRG candidates. It might serve as a good basis for both a further detailed study of individual galaxies and a statistical analysis of PRGs as a separate class of objects. We have performed spectroscopic observations of six galaxies from the SPRC at the 6-m Big Telescope Alt-Azimuthal (BTA). The existence of polar rings was confirmed in five galaxies, and one object appeared to be a projection of a pair of galaxies. Adding the data from the literature, we can already classify 10 galaxies from our catalogue as kinematically confirmed PRGs. © 2011 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS

The Dialogue as a Means of Spiritual Development of a Pupil at the Lesson of Music

При финансовой поддержке Российского гуманитарного научного фонда, проект № 08-06-14134

Asymmetry Function of Interstellar Scintillations of Pulsars

A new method for separating intensity variations of a source's radio emission having various physical natures is proposed. The method is based on a joint analysis of the structure function of the intensity variations and the asymmetry function, which is a generalization of the asymmetry coefficient and characterizes the asymmetry of the distribution function of the intensity fluctuations on various scales for the inhomogeneities in the diffractive scintillation pattern. Relationships for the asymmetry function in the cases of a logarithmic normal distribution of the intensity fluctuations and a normal distribution of the field fluctuations are derived. Theoretical relationships and observational data on interstellar scintillations of pulsars (refractive, diffractive, and weak scintillations) are compared. Pulsar scintillations match the behavior expected for a normal distribution of the field fluctuations (diffractive scintillation) or logarithmic normal distribution of the intensity fluctuations (refractive and weak scintillation). Analysis of the asymmetry function is a good test for distinguishing scintillations against the background of variations that have different origins

Protocols over Things:A Decentralized Programming Model for the Internet of Things

Current programming models for developing Internet of Things (IoT) applications are logically centralized and ill-suited for most IoT applications. We contribute Protocols over Things, a decentralized programming model that represents an IoT application via a protocol between the parties involved and provides improved performance over network-level delivery guarantees