A theoretical method for estimating the characteristics of radon transportin homogeneous soil

A theoretical method for estimating the characteristics of radon transport in homogeneous soil is developed. The method allows the following characteristics to be estimated: depth distribution function of the soil gas radon concentration, equilibrium radon concentration in the soil air, depth at which the radon concentration reaches its equilibrium value, radon flux density from the Earth’s surface, and convective radon transport velocity. The method is based on soil gas radon concentration measurements and is appropriate in the case of relatively uniform geology

Green Economy: Regional Priorities

The article is dedicated to transforming the economy of Russian regions to a green economy, which is an essential factor for the sustainable development. This is important not only for Russia but the whole world because our country has the great natural capital and provides important environmental services that support the planet biosphere. Based on the analysis of economic, social and ecological statistical data and Human Development Index (HDI) we have shown that the development of Russian Federal Districts is very unbalanced and each Russian region has its own way to new economic model. For instance, it is necessary to increase the well-being in the North Caucasus Federal District, it is important to reach higher life expectancy at birth in the Siberian and the Far Eastern Districts. It is necessary to move from the «brown» economy to a green one by using the human capital (building a knowledge economy), by applying Best Available Technologies (Techniques), by investing in efficiency of use of natural resources and by increasing energy efficiency. The transition to a green economy will help to achieve social equity and the development of human potential; it helps to move from the exploitation of non-renewable natural capital to renewable human capital. All these socio-economic measures should give decoupling effect, make risks lower, reduce the exploitation of natural capital, stop the environmental degradation and prevent the ecological crisis. Transition to the green economic model has to be accompanied by new economic development indicators, which take into account social and environmental factors.The research was supported by the grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research No. 14-06-00075

Coupling of University Photonic Courses with Clinical Training

Biomedical engineering is a newly developed interdisciplinary subject developed from the combination of modern life science, medical science and engineering. Laser applications in biophysics and medicine plays one of the leading role in modern biomedical technology. But at the same time traditional photonic courses for biophysics include insufficient materials about biomedical laser applications. The current paper discuss the possibility of traditional courses enhancement by including laser demonstrations and training based on coupling of Technical university educational program and training program of Ekaterinburg Clinical center "Cardiology". © 2005 SPIE

Charge ordering and interlayer phase coherence in quantum Hall superlattices

The possibility of the existence of states with a spontaneous interlayer phase coherence in multilayer electron systems in a high perpendicular to the layers magnetic field is investigated. It is shown that phase coherence can be established in such systems only within individual pairs of adjacent layers, while such coherence does not exist between layers of different pairs. The conditions for stability of the state with interlayer phase coherence against transition to a charge-ordered state are determined. It is shown that in the system with the number of layers N\leq 10 these conditions are satisfied at any value of the interlayer distance d. For N>10 there are two intervals of stability: at sufficiently large and at sufficiently small d. For N\to \infty the stability interval in the region of small d vanishesComment: 10 page

The nexus of soil radon and hydrogen dynamics and seismicity of the northern flank of the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone

The comparison of kinematics and dynamic parameters of radon and molecular hydrogen concentration in subsoil air on the stations network at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky geodynamic proving ground with seismicity of the northern flank of the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone was fulfilled in the period from July till August 2004. On the basis of correlation analysis of the regional seismicity and variations of radon flux density calculated using the data of gas-discharge counters of STS-6 type and SSNTDs it was shown that the radon mass transfer abnormal variations are conditioned by both regional seismicity in total and the subduction zone of proving ground. The azimuths of «geodeformation waves» coming to the registration points are calculated during clearly expressed anomaly beginnings, which coincide with directions to earthquake epicenters taking place at the same time. The geochemical anomalies recorded are presumptively deformative by nature and can be conditioned by processes of «quasi-viscous» flow of the lithosphere during rearrangement of tectonic stress fields of the subduction zone. The short-term (predicted time Τ <14 days) precursor of the earthquakes swarm was revealed in hydrogen dynamics on August, 4-5 (four earthquakes had M≥5.3 and epicentral distance about 130 km from the Paratunka base station)