Information and Analytical Support for Management of Fire Extinguishing at Highly Dangerous and Technically Complex Facilities

In this article the authors formulate the task for process management of man-made fire extinguishing at highly dangerous and technically complex facilities. This task consists of fire localization and elimination using minimal assignment in minimum amount of time. For this task the authors developed a neuro-fuzzy model for fire extinguishing process control, the main elements of which are a neuro-fuzzy model for predicting the fire area, a neuro-fuzzy model for selecting the fire rank, a neuro-fuzzy model for evaluating the implementation success of the plan, a neuro-fuzzy model for selecting the optimal action plan, an analytical model for evaluation of resources sufficiency, an analytical model for resources selection, and a model for implementation of neuro-fuzzy models. In comparison with existing models, distinctive features of the developed model are the following: application of combined (bell-shaped with thresholds) membership functions that allow to performmore accurate approximation of input parameters values; implementation of the block to eliminate dynamic errors. This paper assesses model adequacy through verification and validation. The authors developed a system for fire extinguishing process control. This system allows us to raise of firefighters’ efficiency due to increase of accuracy of managerial decisions taken by the manager and time reduction needed to formulatea decision

Многоканальный магнитокардиограф

Розглянуто багатоканальний магнітокардіограф, що може працювати в умовах шумових завад і не потребує магнітоекранованої кімнати. Це досягається шляхом виділення сигналу серця за допомогою адаптивної компенсації перешкод та референсних каналів. Збільшення кількості реєструючих каналів до 4-х зменшило час магнітокардіографічного обстеження.Multi-channel magnetocardiograph, which can work at unshielded environment with a noise, is considered. It is achieved by selection of the heart signal with help of adaptive noise compensation and reference channels. Increasing of the quantity of signal channels up to 4 leads to decreasing of the time for patient’s observation.Рассмотрена возможность создания многоканального магнитокардиографа, который может работать в условиях шумовых помех и не требует использования магнитоэкранированной комнаты. Это достигается выделением полезного сигнала сердца с помощью адаптивной компенсации помех и применения референсных каналов. Достигнуто уменьшение полного времени обследования пациента с помощью магнитокардиографа за счет увеличения количества регистрирующих каналов

Biological properties of aerococci and bacilli as a component of new associate-probiotic complex

Dysbioses of the gastrointestinal tract are common among people of all ages and genders. Development of this pathology is associated with a number of complications, from indigestion to occurrence of malignant disease. Therefore, there is a need in development of measures of their prevention and correction. Probiotics are used as drugs against dysbiosis. Most of the presently known probiotics contain bacterial cells of one species, although combination preparations feature higher efficiency. At the same time, there are difficulties in construction of these drugs, primarily due to incompatibility of physiological properties of microorganisms and mutually antagonistic action of their components. The aim was to examine the compatibility of Bacillus subtilis and Aerococcus viridans in a single preparation, their antagonistic activity against different strains of test-cultures and general antagonism directed on different groups of bacteria for subsequent formation of associative probiotic complex. Properties of aerococci strains were studied and A. viridans 167 strain was selected for inclusion into the probiotic preparation. The tested strain showed the highest indicators of production of hydrogen peroxide, which is one of the mechanisms of antagonistic effect against opportunistic pathogens. General study of biological properties of aerococci strains showed that producing of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radical in them was conditioned by functioning of NAD-independent lactatoxidase. It has been determined that antioxidant defense of aerococci from the action of endogenous and active excretable forms of oxygen was provided by activity of superoxide-dismutase and GSH-peroxidase. The method of deferred antagonism found no depressing mutual action between probiotic strains of B. subtilis 3 and A. viridans 167 at their joint cultivation. Inhibition of growth at the joint application of A. viridans 167 and B. subtilis 3 strains was recorded for both museum and clinical strains of test-cultures Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella ozaenae, Citrobacter freundii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Candida albicans. Separate application of A. viridans 167 or B. subtilis 3 against strains of these opportunistic pathogens was characterized by relatively less antagonistic effect of each of strains under study. The results allow us to recommend the studied strains of B. subtilis 3 and A. viridans 167 for use as the components to construct a new associative probiotic preparation

Behavior and Impact of Zirconium in the Soil–Plant System: Plant Uptake and Phytotoxicity

Because of the large number of sites they pollute, toxic metals that contaminate terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly of environmental and sanitary concern (Uzu et al. 2010, 2011; Shahid et al. 2011a, b, 2012a). Among such metals is zirconium (Zr), which has the atomic number 40 and is a transition metal that resembles titanium in physical and chemical properties (Zaccone et al. 2008). Zr is widely used in many chemical industry processes and in nuclear reactors (Sandoval et al. 2011; Kamal et al. 2011), owing to its useful properties like hardness, corrosion-resistance and permeable to neutrons (Mushtaq 2012). Hence, the recent increased use of Zr by industry, and the occurrence of the Chernobyl and Fukashima catastrophe have enhanced environmental levels in soil and waters (Yirchenko and Agapkina 1993; Mosulishvili et al. 1994 ; Kruglov et al. 1996)

Mantle Pb paradoxes : the sulfide solution

Author Posting. © Springer, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 152 (2006): 295-308, doi:10.1007/s00410-006-0108-1.There is growing evidence that the budget of Pb in mantle peridotites is largely contained in sulfide, and that Pb partitions strongly into sulfide relative to silicate melt. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that diffusion rates of Pb in sulfide (solid or melt) are very fast. Given the possibility that sulfide melt ‘wets’ sub-solidus mantle silicates, and has very low viscosity, the implications for Pb behavior during mantle melting are profound. There is only sparse experimental data relating to Pb partitioning between sulfide and silicate, and no data on Pb diffusion rates in sulfides. A full understanding of Pb behavior in sulfide may hold the key to several long-standing and important Pb paradoxes and enigmas. The classical Pb isotope paradox arises from the fact that all known mantle reservoirs lie to the right of the Geochron, with no consensus as to the identity of the “balancing” reservoir. We propose that long-term segregation of sulfide (containing Pb) to the core may resolve this paradox. Another Pb paradox arises from the fact that the Ce/Pb ratio of both OIB and MORB is greater than bulk earth, and constant at a value of 25. The constancy of this “canonical ratio” implies similar partition coefficients for Ce and Pb during magmatic processes (Hofmann et al. 1986), whereas most experimental studies show that Pb is more incompatible in silicates than Ce. Retention of Pb in residual mantle sulfide during melting has the potential to bring the bulk partitioning of Ce into equality with Pb if the sulfide melt/silicate melt partition coefficient for Pb has a value of ~ 14. Modeling shows that the Ce/Pb (or Nd/Pb) of such melts will still accurately reflect that of the source, thus enforcing the paradox that OIB and MORB mantles have markedly higher Ce/Pb (and Nd/Pb) than the bulk silicate earth. This implies large deficiencies of Pb in the mantle sources for these basalts. Sulfide may play other important roles during magmagenesis: 1). advective/diffusive sulfide networks may form potent metasomatic agents (in both introducing and obliterating Pb isotopic heterogeneities in the mantle); 2). silicate melt networks may easily exchange Pb with ambient mantle sulfides (by diffusion or assimilation), thus ‘sampling’ Pb in isotopically heterogeneous mantle domains differently from the silicate-controlled isotope tracer systems (Sr, Nd, Hf), with an apparent ‘de-coupling’ of these systems.Our intemperance should not be blamed on the support we gratefully acknowledge from NSF: EAR- 0125917 to SRH and OCE-0118198 to GAG