Cool spots on the surface of the active giant PZ Mon

Based on the multiband (BVRIJHKL) photometric observations of the active red giant PZ Mon performed for the first time in the winter season of 2017-2018, we have determined the main characteristics of the spotted stellar surface in a parametric three-spot model. The unspotted surface temperature is Teff=4730 K, the temperature of the cool spots is Tspot=3500 K, their relative area is about 41%, and the temperature of the warm spots is Twarm=4500 K with a maximum relative area up to 20%. The distribution of spots over the stellar surface has been modeled. The warm spots have been found to be distributed at various longitudes in the hemisphere on the side of the secondary component and are most likely a result of its influence.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Distinct mechanisms of signal processing by lamina I spino-parabrachial neurons

Lamina I spino-parabrachial neurons (SPNs) receive peripheral nociceptive input, process it and transmit to the supraspinal centres. Although responses of SPNs to cutaneous receptive field stimulations have been intensively studied, the mechanisms of signal processing in these neurons are poorly understood. Therefore, we used an ex-vivo spinal cord preparation to examine synaptic and cellular mechanisms determining specific input-output characteristics of the neurons. The vast majority of the SPNs received a few direct nociceptive C-fiber inputs and generated one spike in response to saturating afferent stimulation, thus functioning as simple transducers of painful stimulus. However, 69% of afferent stimulation-induced action potentials in the entire SPN population originated from a small fraction (19%) of high-output neurons. These neurons received a larger number of direct Ad- and C-fiber inputs, generated intrinsic bursts and efficiently integrated a local network activity via NMDA-receptor-dependent mechanisms. The high-output SPNs amplified and integrated the nociceptive input gradually encoding its intensity into the number of generated spikes. Thus, different mechanisms of signal processing allow lamina I SPNs to play distinct roles in nociception.The authors thank Mr. Andrew Dromaretsky for the technical assistance. P.B. was supported by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), grant NASU # 0116U004470, grant NASU#67/15-Н. N.V. was supported by the NASU Biotechnology and NASU-KNU grants; NIH 1R01NS113189-01. B.V.S. was supported by the FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by the FCT project PTDC/NEU-NMC/1259/2014 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016588

Wildfire smoke in the Siberian Arctic in summer: source characterization and plume evolution from airborne measurements

We present airborne measurements of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O<sub>3</sub>), equivalent black carbon (EBC) and ultra fine particles over North-Eastern Siberia in July 2008 performed during the YAK-AEROSIB/POLARCAT experiment. During a "golden day" (11 July 2008) a number of biomass burning plumes were encountered with CO mixing ratio enhancements of up to 500 ppb relative to a background of 90 ppb. Number concentrations of aerosols in the size range 3.5–200 nm peaked at 4000 cm<sup>−3</sup> and the EBC content reached 1.4 μg m<sup>−3</sup>. These high concentrations were caused by forest fires in the vicinity of the landing airport in Yakutsk where measurements in fresh smoke could be made during the descent. We estimate a combustion efficiency of 90 ± 3% based on CO and CO<sub>2</sub> measurements and a CO emission factor of 65.5 ± 10.8 g CO per kilogram of dry matter burned. This suggests a potential increase in the average northern hemispheric CO mixing ratio of 3.0–7.2 ppb per million hectares of Siberian forest burned. For BC, we estimate an emission factor of 0.52 ± 0.07 g BC kg<sup>−1</sup>, comparable to values reported in the literature. The emission ratio of ultra-fine particles (3.5–200 nm) was 26 cm<sup>−3</sup> (ppb CO)<sup>−1</sup>, consistent with other airborne studies. <br><br> The transport of identified biomass burning plumes was investigated using the FLEXPART Lagrangian model. Based on sampling of wildfire plumes from the same source but with different atmospheric ages derived from FLEXPART, we estimate that the e-folding lifetimes of EBC and ultra fine particles (between 3.5 and 200 nm in size) against removal and growth processes are 5.1 and 5.5 days respectively, supporting lifetime estimates used in various modelling studies

Measurement of intracellular concentration of fluorescently-labeled targets in living cells

Estimations of intracellular concentrations of fluorescently-labeled molecules within living cells are very important for guidance of biological experiments and interpretation of their results. Here we propose a simple and universal approach for such estimations. The approach is based upon common knowledge that the dye fluorescence is directly proportional to its quantum yield and the number of its molecules and that a coefficient of proportionality is determined by spectral properties of the dye and optical equipment used to record fluorescent signals. If two fluorescent dyes are present in the same volume, then a ratio of their concentrations is equal to a ratio of their fluorescence multiplied by some dye- and equipment-dependent coefficient. Thus, if the coefficient and concentration of one dye is known then the concentration of another dye can be determined. Here we have demonstrated how to calculate this coefficient (called a ratio factor) and how to use it for concentration measurements of fluorescently tagged molecules. As an example of how this approach can be used, we estimated a concentration of exogenously expressed neuronal Ca2+ sensor protein, hippocalcin, tagged by a fluorescent protein in a dendritic tree of rat hippocampal neurons loaded via a patch pipette with Alexa Fluor dye of known concentration. The new approach should allow performing a fast, inexpensive and reliable quantitative analysis of fluorescently-labeled targets in different parts of living cells

Alloplasmic recombinant lines (H. vulgare)-T. aestivum with 1RS.1BL translocation: initial genotypes for production of common wheat varieties

Alloplasmic lines are formed when the cytoplasm of one species is replaced by the cytoplasm of another as a result of repeated recurrent crosses of wide hybrids with the paternal genotype. Since the cytoplasm replacement results in new intergenomic interactions between a nucleus and cytoplasm leading to variability of plant characteristics, alloplasmic lines with restored fertility can be an additional source of biodiversity of cultivated plants. Earlier, recombinant alloplasmic lines (H. vulgare)-T. aestivum designated as L-17(1)–L-17(37) were formed from a plant with partially restored fertility of the BC3 generation of barley-wheat hybrid H. vulgare (cv. Nepolegayushchii) × T. aestivum (cv. Saratovskaya 29). This male-sterile hybrid was consistently backcrossed with wheat varieties Mironovskaya 808 (twice) and Saratovskaya 29, and Mironovskaya 808 had a positive impact on the restoration of fertility. This paper presents the results of investigation into a group of recombinant alloplasmic lines (L-17F4), as well as into doubled haploids (DH) lines – alloplasmic DH-17-lines obtained from anther culture of alloplasmic lines (L-17F2). The most productive of these lines were used as initial breeding genotypes. Hybrid form Lutescens 311/00-22 developed from the crossing of the alloplasmic DH(1)-17 line (as maternal genotype) with euplasmic line Com37 (CIMMYT), the source of the 1RS.1BL wheat-rye translocation, proved to be successful for breeding. The presence of the 1RS.1BL translocation in the genome of the Lutescens 311/00-22 form and the L-311(1)–L-311(6) alloplasmic lines isolated from it did not lead to a decrease of fertility or sterility in the plants. This indicates that the chromosome of the 1BS wheat does not carry the gene(s) that determine the restoration of fertility in the studied (H. vulgare)-T. aestivum alloplasmic lines. Alloplasmic lines L-311(1)–L-311(6) showed their advantage in comparison with the standard varieties for resistance to leaf and stem rust, yield, and grain quality. The breeding tests performed at Omsk Agricultural Scientific Center, Agrocomplex “Kurgansemena”, Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Ishimskoe” (Tyumen Region), using alloplasmic lines L-311(5), L-311(4) and L-311(6) resulted in varieties of spring common wheat Sigma, Uralosibirskaya 2 and Ishimskaya 11, respectively

Overview: Recent advances in the understanding of the northern Eurasian environments and of the urban air quality in China – a Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) programme perspective

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for the rapidly changing Arctic-boreal region. Air quality in China, together with the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants, was also indicated as one of the most crucial topics of the research agenda. These two geographical regions, the northern Eurasian Arctic-boreal region and China, especially the megacities in China, were identified as a “PEEX region”. It is also important to recognize that the PEEX geographical region is an area where science-based policy actions would have significant impacts on the global climate. This paper summarizes results obtained during the last 5 years in the northern Eurasian region, together with recent observations of the air quality in the urban environments in China, in the context of the PEEX programme. The main regions of interest are the Russian Arctic, northern Eurasian boreal forests (Siberia) and peatlands, and the megacities in China. We frame our analysis against research themes introduced in the PEEX Science Plan in 2015. We summarize recent progress towards an enhanced holistic understanding of the land–atmosphere–ocean systems feedbacks. We conclude that although the scientific knowledge in these regions has increased, the new results are in many cases insufficient, and there are still gaps in our understanding of large-scale climate–Earth surface interactions and feedbacks. This arises from limitations in research infrastructures, especially the lack of coordinated, continuous and comprehensive in situ observations of the study region as well as integrative data analyses, hindering a comprehensive system analysis. The fast-changing environment and ecosystem changes driven by climate change, socio-economic activities like the China Silk Road Initiative, and the global trends like urbanization further complicate such analyses. We recognize new topics with an increasing importance in the near future, especially “the enhancing biological sequestration capacity of greenhouse gases into forests and soils to mitigate climate change” and the “socio-economic development to tackle air quality issues”

Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX): Towards a holistic understanding of the feedbacks and interactions in the land-Atmosphere-ocean-society continuum in the northern Eurasian region

The northern Eurasian regions and Arctic Ocean will very likely undergo substantial changes during the next decades. The Arctic-boreal natural environments play a crucial role in the global climate via albedo change, carbon sources and sinks as well as atmospheric aerosol production from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, it is expected that global trade activities, demographic movement, and use of natural resources will be increasing in the Arctic regions. There is a need for a novel research approach, which not only identifies and tackles the relevant multi-disciplinary research questions, but also is able to make a holistic system analysis of the expected feedbacks. In this paper, we introduce the research agenda of the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX), a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary and international program started in 2012 (https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/peex/). PEEX sets a research approach by which large-scale research topics are investigated from a system perspective and which aims to fill the key gaps in our understanding of the feedbacks and interactions between the land-Atmosphere-Aquatic-society continuum in the northern Eurasian region. We introduce here the state of the art for the key topics in the PEEX research agenda and present the future prospects of the research, which we see relevant in this context

ANALYSIS OF RESOURCE AND NON-RESOURCE FACTORS’ INFLUENCE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH OF TOMSK REGION USING COGNITIVE APPROACH

This article introduces the key problems of social-economic development of Tomsk region and factors that influence economic growth in highly resource-dependent region. Authors prove the advisability of using cognitive approach for investigation and forecasting of social-economic system development in conditions of uncertainty. Also results of simulation are given medium-term forecast. They are interpreted by means of fuzzy cognitive map. Obtained results, on the one hand, confirm the theoretical considerations about the need of convergence between various factors in the regional development strategy. On the other hand, it’s revealed the need to build a normative model, showing what the regional economy should be. This will allow to conceive more clearly the direction of movement from the modern position to desired one and to determine required contours of the economic policy