Functional characteristic of ski-runners in Komi Republic

Objective: to study functional characteristic of ski-runners from national teams of the Komi Republic. Materials and methods: 43 skiers aged from 16 to 34 (30 men and 13 women) were examined. We determined a number of somatometric, physiometric and physiological parameters of both male and female ski-runners at rest and during the standardized bicycle ergometer tests. The ECG recordings were analyzed using the Ecosan-2007 complex. Results: we found that maximal oxygen consumption and PWC-170 parameters in ski runners living in the North were similar to the average parameters for Russia. Heart rate variability parameters showed predominance of the parasympathetic cardiovascular regulation, especially in men. Conclusions: according to the majority of somatometric, physiometric, and physiological parameters, and to the results of physical capacity tests (MOC, PWC-170) women showed substantially lower results than men. During the standardized bicycle ergometer tests women showed higher «physiological cost» (by pulse, pressure, respiration, ventilation and oxygen consumption parameters) of physical work

Active removal of waste dye pollutants using Ta[sub]3N[sub]5/W[sub]18O[sub]49 nanocomposite fibres

A scalable solvothermal technique is reported for the synthesis of a photocatalytic composite material consisting of orthorhombic Ta3N5 nanoparticles and WOx≤3 nanowires. Through X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the as-grown tungsten(VI) sub-oxide was identified as monoclinic W18O49. The composite material catalysed the degradation of Rhodamine B at over double the rate of the Ta3N5 nanoparticles alone under illumination by white light, and continued to exhibit superior catalytic properties following recycling of the catalysts. Moreover, strong molecular adsorption of the dye to the W18O49 component of the composite resulted in near-complete decolourisation of the solution prior to light exposure. The radical species involved within the photocatalytic mechanisms were also explored through use of scavenger reagents. Our research demonstrates the exciting potential of this novel photocatalyst for the degradation of organic contaminants, and to the authors’ knowledge the material has not been investigated previously. In addition, the simplicity of the synthesis process indicates that the material is a viable candidate for the scale-up and removal of dye pollutants on a wider scale