Scintillator ageing of the T2K near detectors from 2010 to 2021

The T2K experiment widely uses plastic scintillator as a target for neutrino interactions and an active medium for the measurement of charged particles produced in neutrino interactions at its near detector complex. Over 10 years of operation the measured light yield recorded by the scintillator based subsystems has been observed to degrade by 0.9–2.2% per year. Extrapolation of the degradation rate through to 2040 indicates the recorded light yield should remain above the lower threshold used by the current reconstruction algorithms for all subsystems. This will allow the near detectors to continue contributing to important physics measurements during the T2K-II and Hyper-Kamiokande eras. Additionally, work to disentangle the degradation of the plastic scintillator and wavelength shifting fibres shows that the reduction in light yield can be attributed to the ageing of the plastic scintillator. The long component of the attenuation length of the wavelength shifting fibres was observed to degrade by 1.3–5.4% per year, while the short component of the attenuation length did not show any conclusive degradation

SNPS in the HIV-1 tata box and the aids pandemic

Evolutionary trends have been examined in 146 HIV-1 forms (2662 copies, 2311 isolates) polymorphic for the TATA box using the "DNA sequence→affinity for TBP" regression (TBP is the TATA binding protein). As a result, a statistically significant excess of low-affinity TATA box HIV-1 variants corresponding to a low level of both basal and TAT-dependent expression and, consequently, slow replication of HIV-1 have been detected. A detailed analysis revealed that the excess of slowly replicating HIV-1 is associated with the subtype E-associated TATA box core sequence "CATAAAA". Principal Component Analysis performed on 2662 HIV-1 TATA box copies in 70 countries revealed the presence of two principal components, PC1 (75.7% of the variance) and PC2 (23.3% of the variance). They indicate that each of these countries is specifically associated with one of the following trends in HIV-1 evolution: neutral drift around the normal TATA box; neutral drift around the slowly replicating TATA box core sequence (phylogenetic inertia); an adaptive increase in the frequency of the slowly replicating form. © 2010 Imperial College Press

Application of nanostructural nickel titanium implants with shape memory effect to modern dental practice

The results of clinical treatment of severe periodontal diseases by application of the new functional implants based on nanostructural NiTi alloy with shape memory effect are presented. The nanostructure in NiTi alloy is attained by severe plastic deformation, particularly by equal channel angular pressing. Several new types of NiTi implants are developed, including dental implants (to replace the removed teeth) and trans radix implants (to enforce teeth and to attach teeth to the jaw bone). The surface of nanostructured NiTi implants is covered by the carbyne layer in order to ensure high bio-compatibility. The new treatment procedure is proposed which includes the injection into the jawbone tissue of the mixture based on powdered NiTi alloy. These injection implants will be incorporated into living bone tissue. The result will be the growth of the shell of the new healthy dense bone. The NiTi particles behave structurally similar to healthy bones, i.e. living tissue cells incorporate with them followed by small vessels and nerves. As a result the implants will not be rejected for a long time. The summary results of 3 years’ practice of the successful application of these new implantation system in dentistry are presented. The ease of implementation of the new NiTi dental shape memory implants and the ease at which they can be adopted to bone tissue, especially in cases where it’s in deficit are highlighte