Effect of gold and nickel co-additives on gas-sensitive characteristics of SnO2 thin-film on exposure to hydrogen and nitrogen dioxide

The results of investigation of the gas-sensitive properties of sensors based on the tin dioxide thin films with combined additives of gold and nickel obtained by the DC - magnetron sputtering are presented. The investigated sensors are characterized by a high response to low concentrations of NO2 of 0.45 – 10.23 ppm at temperatures of 50 – 150 °C with response time of 10 s. The sensitivity of sensors to hydrogen appears at the temperature of 250 °C. The hydrogen sensors are characterized by high reproducibility of the measurement results. The obtained results are explained by the synergistic effect of gold and nickel additives, as well as the ability of the Ni to prevent the interaction of hydrogen with lattice oxygen atoms in the subsurface part of tin dioxide

Dvorianskaia sobstvennost´ v Rossii 1700‑1762 gg.

Cet article étudie l’évolution de la propriété des nobles en Russie entre 1700 et 1762 sur la base des registres de fouages et des recensements de la population. Selon les calculs de l’auteur, 60 % des familles nobles n’étaient pas en mesure de conserver leur propriété et leurs serfs même sur deux à trois générations. En revanche, l’évolution du fonds patrimonial des 40 % restants, qui concentrait l’écrasante majorité des serfs (87‑94 %), était stable. L’analyse menée par l’auteur permet de conclure, pour la période étudiée, à une redistribution des terres au sein de la noblesse, les propriétés des familles les plus anciennes, celles dont les représentants avaient siégé à la Duma des bojare au xviie, passant entre les mains de nouvelles familles qui n’avaient accédé à l’élite dirigeante qu’à l’époque pétrine, voire postpétrine. Cependant, même vers le milieu du xviiie siècle et malgré un marché foncier nobiliaire très actif, l’ancienne élite réussit à conserver une position prépondérante en la matière. Compte tenu des changements majeurs qui affectèrent la vie du pays durant la première moitié du xviiie siècle – réformes pétroviennes, mobilité sociale plus élevée (y compris parmi les élites), supression des distributions locales comme expression du soutien des autorités à la noblesse –, on peut considérer que, globalement, la situation foncière était très stable. Les données présentées dans cet article sont également importantes pour évaluer les relations mutuelles entre l’élite dirigeante et le monarque. Dans de nombreux ouvrages, qui qualifiaient la Russie d’État de « despotique » ou de « patrimoniale », l’accent était porté sur les mécanismes « répressifs » du contrôle exercé sur les élites par le pouvoir absolu. L’analyse menée dans l’article tend à prouver que confiscations et gratifications ne jouaient qu’un rôle insignifiant et que la redistribution du fonds patrimonial s’effectuait, pour l’essentiel, par le biais de contrats d’achat‑vente ou d’hypothèque relevant du droit privé. Ainsi les formes « douces » de contrôle de l’élite se révélaient efficaces. La couronne n’avait même pas besoin de recourir à des moyens extraordinaires, la structure patrimoniale de la propriété évoluait naturellement, en fonction de la composition de la couche dirigeante.This study of the evolution of noble landholding in Russia between 1700 and 1762 draws on household and population censuses. Our calculations show that 60 percent of noble families could not even keep their estates and serfs for longer than two or three generations. On the other hand, the evolution of the patrimonial landholding of the remaining 40 percent, who owned the majority of serfs (87‑94 percent), was steady. Our study leads to the conclusion that, during the period in question, estates of older families, whose representatives had sat in the Boyar Duma in the seventeenth century, were transferred to new families whose representatives achieved senior ranks in the Petrine and post‑Petrine period. However, despite active movement in estates, the old elite managed to keep a leading position in terms of landownership even towards the mid‑eighteenth century. Considering the major changes that affected the country’s life during the first half of the eighteenth century – Peter’s reforms, the higher rate of social mobility, even among the elite, the discontinuation of service land grants, one may view the situation of patrimonial landholding as very stable. The data presented in the article also significantly contribute to the assessment of interrelationships between the leading elite and the monarch. Several works describing Russia as a “despotic” or “patrimonial” state put forward “repressive” control mechanisms over the elite. Our study shows that land confiscation and grants played but a minor role, and that redistribution of patrimonial landholding was mainly carried out using private law resources (sale/purchase contracts, mortgage). Therefore, “soft” forms of elite control were very efficient. The ruler did not need to resort to extraordinary means: the structure of landholding evolved naturally, adjusting to the composition of the higher ranks

Naturalness in Cosmological Initial Conditions

We propose a novel approach to the problem of constraining cosmological initial conditions. Within the framework of effective field theory, we classify initial conditions in terms of boundary terms added to the effective action describing the cosmological evolution below Planckian energies. These boundary terms can be thought of as spacelike branes which may support extra instantaneous degrees of freedom and extra operators. Interactions and renormalization of these boundary terms allow us to apply to the boundary terms the field-theoretical requirement of naturalness, i.e. stability under radiative corrections. We apply this requirement to slow-roll inflation with non-adiabatic initial conditions, and to cyclic cosmology. This allows us to define in a precise sense when some of these models are fine-tuned. We also describe how to parametrize in a model-independent way non-Gaussian initial conditions; we show that in some cases they are both potentially observable and pass our naturalness requirement.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figure

ПРИМЕНЕНИЕ ПРЕПАРАТОВ РАСТИТЕЛЬНОГО ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ ДЛЯ ЛЕЧЕНИЯ КАШЛЯ У ДЕТЕЙ

Phytotherapy holds a special place in the treatment of acute respiratory infections in pediatric practice. The article gives causes and mechanisms of cough in children and possibilities of its therapy using vegetable drugs. A multipurpose action of a vegetable drug on all links of cough pathogenesis in children is represented: sputum expectoration facilitation, bronchial drainage function improvement and antimicrobial effect, which is an essential part of treatment. A compatibility of vegetable drugs with other drugs for treating respiratory pathology is noted. Фитотерапия в детской практике занимает особую нишу в лечении острых респираторных инфекций. В статье рассматриваются причины и механизмы кашля у детей, а также возможности его терапии с помощью препаратов растительного происхождения. Представлено многоцелевое воздействие фитопрепарата на все звенья патогенеза кашля у детей: облегчение откашливания мокроты, улучшение дренажной функции бронхов, а также противомикробный эффект, что является неотъемлемой частью лечения. Отмечена совместимость фитопрепаратов с другими лекарственными средствами для лечения респираторной патологии

Inflaton Decay in an Alpha Vacuum

We study the alpha vacua of de Sitter space by considering the decay rate of the inflaton field coupled to a scalar field placed in an alpha vacuum. We find an {\em alpha dependent} Bose enhancement relative to the Bunch-Davies vacuum and, surprisingly, no non-renormalizable divergences. We also consider a modified alpha dependent time ordering prescription for the Feynman propagator and show that it leads to an alpha independent result. This result suggests that it may be possible to calculate in any alpha vacuum if we employ the appropriate causality preserving prescription.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, Revtex 4 preprin

Manifestation of the Arnol'd Diffusion in Quantum Systems

We study an analog of the classical Arnol'd diffusion in a quantum system of two coupled non-linear oscillators one of which is governed by an external periodic force with two frequencies. In the classical model this very weak diffusion happens in a narrow stochastic layer along the coupling resonance, and leads to an increase of total energy of the system. We show that the quantum dynamics of wave packets mimics, up to some extent, global properties of the classical Arnol'd diffusion. This specific diffusion represents a new type of quantum dynamics, and may be observed, for example, in 2D semiconductor structures (quantum billiards) perturbed by time-periodic external fields.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages including 7 ps-figures, corrected forma