Automatic selection of a subset size at vector fields construction

An algorithm for selection of the size of a correlation kernel at displacement vector field construction by the method of digital image correlation has been proposed. The algorithm has been tested on simulated and experimental optical images having different texture. The influence of the correlation kernel size and image texture on nose immunity at determining displacements has been studied. It is shown that the proposed algorithm allows to find this size providing the minimum error when determination of displacements and estimation of deformation

Stress-strain state and loss of stability of anisotropic thermal coating under thermal shock

The deformation behavior of thermal barrier coatings has been investigated. The mechanism of occurring instabilities in such coatings based on their representation in the form of a plate located on an elastic foundation has been studied. Loss of stability manifests itself in the form of a doubly periodic system of intrusion and extrusion zones that is qualitatively consistent with the well-known experimental results. Typical features of stability loss and its dependence on the properties of conjugated materials have been investigated by the example of the thermal loading simulation of the copper specimen with a protective ceramic coating. The influence of the thermo-mechanical properties anisotropy of the coating material on the character of the emerging instability has been estimated

Scale effects in tribological properties of solid-lubricating composites made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene filled with calcium stearate particles

Friction properties being influenced by scale effects are simulated in the paper by the example of polymer composite material made from Ultra High-Molecular Weight Polyethylenes (UHMWPE) filled by calcium stearate (C[36]H[70]CaO[4]). Of interest are the composites whose mechanical properties and tribotechnical characteristics do not depend monotonically on filler (inclusions) weight fraction. In order to describe the influence of scale effects onto frictional properties the model based on Reiss averaging (model of "weak phase") is employed. It is also suggested that when gradient elasticity theory is applicable the formal analogy between effective friction coefficient for surface heterogeneous structures and effective mechanical properties (compliances) for heterogeneous material can take place. Theoretical dependence to describe nonmonotonic change of effective friction coefficient versus filler concentration was obtained for the polymer composites under study. The suggested expressions might be useful for the sake of properties prognosis of antifriction polymeric materilas

Xenobiotic-induced activation of human aryl hydrocarbon receptor target genes in Drosophila is mediated by the epigenetic chromatin modifiers

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is the key transcription factor that controls animal development and various adaptive processes. The AHR\u27s target genes are involved in biodegradation of endogenous and exogenous toxins, regulation of immune response, organogenesis, and neurogenesis. Ligand binding is important for the activation of the AHR signaling pathway. Invertebrate AHR homologs are activated by endogenous ligands whereas vertebrate AHR can be activated by both endogenous and exogenous ligands (xenobiotics). Several studies using mammalian cultured cells have demonstrated that transcription of the AHR target genes can be activated by exogenous AHR ligands, but little is known about the effects of AHR in a living organism. Here, we examined the effects of human AHR and its ligands using transgenic Drosophila lines with an inducible human AhR gene. We found that exogenous AHR ligands can increase as well as decrease the transcription levels of the AHR target genes, including genes that control proliferation, motility, polarization, and programmed cell death. This suggests that AHR activation may affect the expression of gene networks that could be critical for cancer progression and metastasis. Importantly, we found that AHR target genes are also controlled by the enzymes that modify chromatin structure, in particular components of the epigenetic Polycomb Repressive complexes 1 and 2. Since exogenous AHR ligands (alternatively - xenobiotics) and small molecule inhibitors of epigenetic modifiers are often used as pharmaceutical anticancer drugs, our findings may have significant implications in designing new combinations of therapeutic treatments for oncological diseases. © Akishina et al

Resistive Plate Chambers for Precise Measurement of High-Momentum Protons in Short Range Correlations at R3^3B

The Reactions with Relativistic Radioactive Beams (R$^3$B) collaboration of the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, has constructed an experimental setup to perform fundamental studies of nuclear matter, using as a probe reactions with exotic nuclei at relativistic energies. Among the various detection systems, one of the most recent upgrades consisted on the installation of a large area, around 2 m$^2$, multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC), equipped with twelve 0.3 mm gaps and readout by 30 mm pitch strips, exhibiting a timing precision down to 50 ps and efficiencies above 98% for MIPs in a previous characterization of the detector. The RPC was part of the setup of the FAIR Phase 0 experiment that focused on measuring, for the first time, nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations (SRC) inside an exotic nucleus ($^{16}$C) that occurred in Spring 2022. The excellent timing precision of this detector will allow the measurement of the forward emitted proton momentum with a resolution of around 1%. In beam measurements show an RPC efficiency above 95% and a time precision better than 100 ps (including the contribution of a reference scintillator and the momentum spread of the particles) for forward emitted particles

Coulomb breakup of neutron-rich 29,30^{29,30}Na isotopes near the island of inversion

First results are reported on the ground state configurations of the neutron-rich $^{29,30}$Na isotopes, obtained via Coulomb dissociation (CD) measurements as a method of the direct probe. The invariant mass spectra of those nuclei have been obtained through measurement of the four-momentum of all decay products after Coulomb excitation on a $^{208}Pb$ target at energies of 400-430 MeV/nucleon using FRS-ALADIN-LAND setup at GSI, Darmstadt. Integrated Coulomb-dissociation cross-sections (CD) of 89 $(7)$ mb and 167 $(13)$ mb up to excitation energy of 10 MeV for one neutron removal from $^{29}$Na and $^{30}$Na respectively, have been extracted. The major part of one neutron removal, CD cross-sections of those nuclei populate core, in its' ground state. A comparison with the direct breakup model, suggests the predominant occupation of the valence neutron in the ground state of $^{29}$Na${(3/2^+)}$ and $^{30}$Na${(2^+)}$ is the $d$ orbital with small contribution in the $s$-orbital which are coupled with ground state of the core. The ground state configurations of these nuclei are as $^{28}$Na_{gs (1^+)\otimes\nu_{s,d} and $^{29}$Na$_{gs}(3/2^+)\otimes\nu_{ s,d}$, respectively. The ground state spin and parity of these nuclei, obtained from this experiment are in agreement with earlier reported values. The spectroscopic factors for the valence neutron occupying the $s$ and $d$ orbitals for these nuclei in the ground state have been extracted and reported for the first time. A comparison of the experimental findings with the shell model calculation using MCSM suggests a lower limit of around 4.3 MeV of the sd-pf shell gap in $^{30}$Na.Comment: Modified version of the manuscript is accepted for publication in Journal of Physics G, Jan., 201

Микробиологическая компонента грунтов района полевой геологической базы в Антарктике

During four field seasons (Russian Antarctic Expeditions 52, 56, 58, 60), we estimated anthropogenic-induced variations of microflora in soils and surface grounds in the area of Druzhnaya-4 field camp. Systematic and regular environmental protection activities were found to have a significant influence on the character and recovery intensity of microbiota that is indigenous to the geographical and climatic conditions of the territory of the camp.В течение четырех сезонов (52-й, 56-й, 58-й, 60-й РАЭ) оценивались изменения микрофлоры при антропогенных воздействиях в почвах и поверхностных грунтах на территории полевой базы Дружная-4. Выявлено существенное влияние систематических и регулярных природоохранных мероприятий на характер и интенсивность восстановления микробиоты, аборигенной для территории базы

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011