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This article analyses the availability of transport infrastructure objects in the Baltic macroregion. With the help of the cluster and integral assessment methods, the authors differentiate and classify mesoregions of the Baltic macroregion according to the level of development of both individual transport types and the transport system as a whole. The theoretical contribution of the study lies in the revision of the existing integral indices of transport infrastructure object availability, whereas the practical contribution of the study relates to the possibility to apply the results obtained in developing and adjusting regional and industry-specific transport development programmes. An important conclusion of the study is the practical confirmation of the significant underdevelopment of the regions of North-West Russia (within the Baltic region) as to the availability of transport infrastructure objects in comparison to most mesoregions of the Baltic macroregion. KEYWORDS: Baltic region, transport infrastructure, Engel coefficient, the coefficient of transport infrastructure availability. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/rfds.v12i1.690

Coastal regions are territorial social systems whose socio-economic and innovative development is strongly influenced by the factor of coastalisation. The effect of movement to the sea determines the dynamics of settlement systems as well as their economic and infrastructure development. This holds for transport, logistics, information and communications, industrial, and other infrastructure. Coastal regions are so diverse that it is impossible to construct a development model that will fit all of them. One can speak only of general trends. This study focuses on identifying differences between the innovation systems of northern and southern coastal regions within the same country. The geographical scope of the study is four Russian coastal territories: Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in the Baltic Sea region and Rostov and Krasnodar in the Azov-Black Sea region. Methodologically, this study carries out a comparative assessment of heterogeneity of innovative development at municipal and interregional levels, using four groups of indicators: human capital, economic growth and clustering, innovation and digitalisation, and quality and standards of living. All these components are vital for regional innovative development. A statistical assessment is supplemented by a qualitative analysis of spatial patterns of innovation capital accumulation; the agglomeration factor is taken into account. It is shown that northern and southern coastal regions perform very differently on innovative development, the latter doing better than the former. Three main models of innovation generation, implementation, and accumulation of coastal regions are described. Each is associated with a different way to benefit from proximity to the sea. These are maritime activities, maritime transport, and the economic use of recreational, natural and climatic resources.

In order to select the optimal method for disinfecting the scaffolds prior to decellularization using morphological methods (studying the biomechanical strength of extracellular matrix fibers) and analyzing chemiluminescence in rats, the effect of octenisept and chlorhexidine was studied at different concentrations on the biological matrices of the lungs before and after decellularization. Chlorhexidine at a dilution of 1:10 possessed the least damaging properties for the matrix and most contributed to the decontamination of the cages for further storage and experimental studies.

At present, adequate mathematical tools are not used to analyze the arrangement of components in arrays of naturally ordered data of a different nature, including words or letters in texts, notes in musical compositions, symbols in sign sequences, monitoring data, numbers representing ordered measurement results, components in genetic texts. Therefore, it is difficult or impossible to measure and compare the order of messages allocated in long information chains. The main approaches for comparing symbol sequences are using probabilistic models and statistical tools, pairwise and multiple alignment, which makes it possible to determine the degree of similarity of sequences using edit distance measures. The application of pseudospectral and fractal representation of symbolic sequences is somewhat exotic. "The curse of a priori unconscious knowledge" of the obvious orderliness of the sequence should be especially noticed, as it is widespread in mathematical linguistics, bioinformatics (mathematical biology), and other similar fields of science. The noted approaches almost do not pay attention to the study and detection of the patterns of the specific arrangement of all symbols, words, and components of data sets that constitute a separate sequence. The object of study in our works is a specifically organized numerical tuple – the arrangement of components (order) in symbolic or numerical sequence. The intervals between the closest identical components of the order are used as the basis for the quantitative representation of the chain arrangement. Multiplying all the intervals or summing their logarithms allows one to get numbers that uniquely reflect the arrangement of components in a particular sequence. These numbers, allow us to obtain a whole set of normalized characteristics of the order, among which the geometric mean interval and its logarithm. Such characteristics surprisingly accurately reflect the arrangement of the components in the symbolic sequences. In this paper, we present an approach for quantitative comparing the arrangement of arrays of naturally ordered data (information chains) of an arbitrary nature. The measures of similarity/distinction and procedure of comparison of the chain order, based on the selection of a list of equal and similar by the order characteristics of the subsequences (components), are proposed. Rank distributions are used for faster selection of a list of matching components. The paper presents a toolkit for comparing the order of information chains and demonstrates some of its applications for studying the structure of nucleotide sequences.

The problem of treating wounds of various origins remains one of the most urgent. Working with a wound defect is one of the main components of the healing process, due to the need to find the most effective methods for treating wounds and caring for them.Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, limited access of students to health care facilities makes it impossible or difficult to teach local wound healing skills in real patients. Under these conditions, one of the options for solving this problem is the use of experimental biological models for practical training.

Quality of life in rural areas is increasingly dependent on transport links to nearest towns and regional centres. In this article, we examine transport connectivity between villages and towns in the Kaliningrad region. We use the travel time access parameter to investigate the influence of transport connectivity on the population size and the prospects of socio-economic development in rural areas with different transport and geographical situations. Although the overall transport connectivity is high in the region, up to 10 per cent of villages score low on this parameter. We conclude that the demographic saturation of the Kaliningrad agglomeration has not been completed. Moreover, the smallness of the local consumer market impedes the formation of subregional centres in the eastern part of the region. The most alarming trend is the incipient concentration of population in peripheral border areas.

The coastal regions are increasingly in the focus of contemporary academic research as economically favorable territories with high innovative potential. The coastalization factor gets individual attention, the influence of which is registered in various countries of the world as a tendency of the population and economic activity to concentrate in the coastal zone. However, there is significant heterogeneity between the coastal areas, due to natural and climatic features and affecting their economic development. This paper focuses on assessing the differences in the readiness of the coastal regions of the European part of Russia to the innovation economy, taking into account their geographical location (northern, northwestern, southern). The study is conducted at the level of municipalities across 6 regions of Russia: Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Leningrad, Kaliningrad, Rostov regions, and Krasnodar Krai. The research methodology included an assessment of 4 most important components of an innovative economy: human capital, business environment, knowledge production, and technological equipment. The results of the study showed a high degree of spatial divergence in terms of the level of readiness for the development of an innovative economy both between the regions of the sample and within them in the inter-municipal context. It is revealed that the concentration of innovative potential within the coastal region is largely the result of the cross-influence of the agglomeration and the coastalization factors. In the case of their complementary influence on coastal municipalities, the latter are characterized by a relatively higher level of readiness for the development of an innovative economy than inland ones. This is true for both the northern, northwestern, and southern coastal regions of the European part of Russia.

The research is devoted to the problem of rehabilitation of 10-13 years old children with the fractures of bones of the lower third of forearm by means of physical training. The purpose of the work is to identify factors of injuries emergence in children, creating and checking efficiency of the physical rehabilitation program on the example of the fractures of bones of the lower third of forearm. The causes of children's school injuries have been analyzed and the following are established: organizational-methodical, sanitary-hygienic and psychophysiological. The methods of evaluating the efficiency of physical rehabilitation of children with the fractures of bones of the lower third of forearm have been developed. There are three periods of physical rehabilitation, which conditionally are divided into: immobilizational, functional and training. The physical rehabilitation program for children with the fractures of bones of the lower third of forearm, the technology of conducting kinesitherapy in the process of physical rehabilitation of children with the fractures of bones of the lower third of forearm and complexes of exercises oriented on a gradual increase of amplitude of movements of radio-carpal joint and prevention of disorders of functional state of the injured segment muscles have been developed and implemented. The physical rehabilitation program for children with the fractures of bones of the lower third of forearm is based on pedagogical principles, provides appropriate forms (hygienic gymnastic, independent study), methods (gymnastic, gaming, sporting) and ensures adequate pedagogical conditions. It have been produced and recommended preventive measures of organizational (during lessons and after school time), methodical, sanitary-hygienic and educational character for the realization at schools.

Based on the data of morphological analysis, we performed histological evaluation of rat tissue reaction to subcutaneous implantation of decellularized matrices of intrathoracic organs and tissues. Cell composition of the inflammatory infiltrate was analyzed, and the dynamics of macrophage and T and B lymphocyte content was assessed on days 7 and 14 of the experiment. It was found that the reaction to implantation depended not only on the quality of decellularization and efficiency of removal of antigen molecules, but also on the original histological structure and quality of preimplantation processing of the transplant.

The definition of the term genome was given by the German botanist G. Winkler almost one hundred years ago in 1920. A genome definition for bacterial (rickettsia) with a single chromosome was recently presented from the perspective of information theory, biology and bioinformatics as the information chain of nucleotides. The systematics of rickettsiae (obligate intracellular microorganisms) is based on a limited number of phenotypic characters. Classifications built on the analysis of genes, fragments of genomes and their concatenations cause discussion. Application of the Formal Order Analysis (FOA, http://foarlab.org) in the study of complete genomes allowed to submit the systematics of representatives of the family Rickettsiaceae. This approach confirmed the existence of typhus group (TG), spotted fever group (SFG), and an «ancestral» group within the genus Rickettsia, and allowed the isolation of the Rickettsia felis group within this genus, located between the «ancestral» group and the SFG and the R. akari group on the border between the SFG group and the genus Orientia. The development of the tools of FOA — «Map of Genes» and «Matrix of Similarity» — helped to conduct an in-depth study of the complete genomes of rickettsia, taking into account the characteristics of their genes and noncoding sequences. Application of these instruments, with the help of the obtained classification, confirmed the notion of ecological features of rickettsia, the structure of nosological forms and the epidemiological patterns of rickettsiosis, and made it possible to assess the virulence of the strains of the two most pathogenic species of rickettsia, R. prowazekii and R. rickettsia. In this work, for the first time, a holistic, consistent and multidimensional observation of a set of closely related bacteria (a family of bacteria) and the manifestations associated with them was carried out. The basis of the developed and herein described systematic approach to the study of bacteria is a new mathematical model — the arrangement of nucleotides in a complete genome and its sensitive unambiguous numerical characteristics. A new methodological approach named genomosystematics and based on mathematical modeling of complete genomes of rickettsiae (bacteria) using FOA. Classification of rickettsiae and rickettsioses obtained with the help of this approach corresponds to ecological, epidemiological and etiological principles. Application of the genomosystematics can serve the goals and objectives of preventive medicine. The publication completes a series of scientific works presenting the methodology of an integrated approach based on the application of mathematical analysis tools in the study of objects and laws of natural science disciplines of biological and medical profile.

The use of recellularized matrices allows obtaining tissue-engineered structures that largely reproduce the morphofunctional features of native organs and tissues. Doubts as to the advisability of preimplantation recellularization of the scaffold, which are associated with the death of prepopulation cells on the scaffold in vivo, require studying the behavior of cells on plastic and biological implants after recellularization. Rat esophagus that had undergone detergent-enzymatic decellularization was repopulated with GFP-positive cells intensely fluorescing in the green spectrum, which allowed us to trace the status of the initial cell population during cultivation on plastic and after transplantation, determine the viability and metabolic activity of cells, and conduct fluorescent detection of the cells on the scaffold before and after implantation. There were no data on the apparent cell proliferation on the matrix; however, there were indirect indications of metabolic activity and GFP synthesis by the cells that populated the scaffold before implantation.

National and international passenger transport accessibility of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation: modern configuration and development plans

Reinvigorating Russia’s development strategy requires a comparison between the social development of the Russian Federation and other Baltic region states, some of which are world leaders in terms of living standards. The most popular tools for country comparison are composite indices that take into account various components affecting the quality of life. This article analyses the current level and changes in the social development of the Baltic States in 1990—2016. The analysis is based on the values of human development index. Having distinct advantages and disadvantages, this index remains to be the most popular and influential tool for assessing a country’s social development. A statistical analysis carried out with the use of HDI values makes it possible to divide the Baltic States into three groups according to their current development level and advancement trajectories. The greatest gap in progress was observed in 2000. Later, it narrowed as the social advancement of the third group — Lithuania, Latvia, and Russia — accelerated. The nature of the Baltic States’ social improvement in 2015—2016 suggests that a decrease in social development rates will be observed in the coming years across the region, and the gap between the countries will increase.

Examined three groups of children aged 6 to 17 years: the first 96 children with CCLP (congenital cleft of lip and/or palate), the second 112 children with neuropsychiatric disorders (NPD) and the third (control) 86 somatically healthy children. On the basis of the index of KPU + kp and KPU in children with CCLP and in children with NPD high rates of prevalence and intensity of dental caries were found compared with the control group. The highest rates of prevalence of dental caries were found in children with CCLP and intensity of dental caries in children with NPD that is the most prominent in the children with NPD at the age from 6 to 12 years old. In children with CCLP and in children with NPD, the level of oral hygiene has significantly worse values compared to the control, which suggests the possibility of preventing tooth decay through improving oral hygiene of the mouth. The lowest level of oral hygiene was observed in children with CCLP that is mediated by severe congenital pathology.

The main aim of our investigation was analysis and optimization of the existing protocols of esophagus decellularization in rats, identification of parameters affecting the quality of decellularization and intactness of the native properties of esophageal extracellular matrix (ECM). Materials and methods. We developed a modified decellularization protocol based on detergent-enzymatic method using sodium deoxycholate and DNAse. Results. Morphological evaluation of the obtained decellularized matrices demonstrated the absence of cells and cell elements while mechanical properties of ECM were preserved. Conclusion. The developed protocol of esophagus decellularization is a potential basis for obtaining of tissue-engineered esophagus scaffold constructions.

The development of the considerable transport and logistics potential of the Kaliningrad region is hampered by several factors. This problem, to which we will refer to as a transport deadlock effect, translates into the limited contribution of transport to the regional economy. Particularly, it manifests itself at the level of regional gross value added, where the contribu­tion of transport is much smaller than one might expect given the significant role the industry plays in the economy of the region. In this study, we examine major ways of increasing the economic efficiency of the regional transport system from the value added perspective. We posit that the structure of cargo handled and the redistribution of value added in favour of regional actors have the dominant influence on economic efficiency. Using our own simula­tion model and the earlier developed system of transport tariffs and value added calculation for the Kaliningrad region, we produce scenarios and consider changes in value added in the case of selected cargoes carrying intermediate, investment, and consumer goods (as defined in the International Classification for Broad Economic Categories ICT BEC-4). Our calcula­tions show that higher value added and greater economic efficiency of a regional transport system are associated with re-orientation towards investment and consumer goods. The most visible effect is associated with rail and road transport. As to sea transport, the decisive role is played by an increase in the physical volume of cargo handled. The results of this study and its modelling tools can be applied in the analysis of the current situation and in the assess­ment of the efficiency of transport systems in other regions. Another possible application is the identification of growth conditions for an industry, particularly, when developing projects and proposals for increasing the efficiency of transport services.

Local border traffic (LBT) is a tool for cooperation between the EU member states and neighbouring countries. It emerged as a measure to mitigate the barrier effect of the EU’s external border. In 2006, the European Parliament authorised the EU member states to conclude bilateral agreements on a simplified border crossing regime in border areas. This article analyses local border traffic as a cross-border cooperation tool. The territory described in the study includes the external borders of the EU (and Norway) with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The article will be of interest to specialists in international and, particularly, in cross-border cooperation. The authors analyse the mechanism of local border traffic and identify possible trends based on the general socioeconomic situation and foreign policy background in Russia, Belarus, and the EU (Norway). The article employs the cartographic method to enhance the visual component of the study. It is concluded that the LBT mechanism is effective and it has a positive effect on the development of border contacts between countries. There is a need to continue the dialogue between Russia, Belarus and the EU countries on both expanding the geographical scope of the LBT mechanism and ensuring its qualitative development.

The tau lepton lifetime is measured with the L3 detector at LEP using the complete data taken at centre-of-mass energies around the Z pole resulting in tau_tau = 293.2 +/- 2.0 (stat) +/- 1.5 (syst) fs. The comparison of this result with the muon lifetime supports lepton universality of the weak charged current at the level of six per mille. Assuming lepton universality, the value of the strong coupling constant, alpha_s is found to be alpha_s(m_tau^2) = 0.319 +/- 0.015(exp.) +/- 0.014 (theory). The tau lepton lifetime is measured with the L3 detector at LEP using the complete data taken at centre-of-mass energies around the Z pole resulting in τ τ =293.2 ± 2.0 (stat) ± 1.5 (syst) fs . The comparison of this result with the muon lifetime supports lepton universality of the weak charged current at the level of six per mille. Assuming lepton universality, the value of the strong coupling constant, α s is found to be α s ( m τ 2 ) = 0.319 ± 0.015 (exp) ± 0.014 (theory). The tau lepton lifetime is measured with the L3 detector at LEP using the complete data taken at centre-of-mass energies around the Z pole resulting in tau_tau = 293.2 +/- 2.0 (stat) +/- 1.5 (syst) fs. The comparison of this result with the muon lifetime supports lepton universality of the weak charged current at the level of six per mille. Assuming lepton universality, the value of the strong coupling constant, alpha_s is found to be alpha_s(m_tau^2) = 0.319 +/- 0.015(exp.) +/- 0.014 (theory).

102 Signing the agreement on local border traffic (LBT) between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation was welcomed by experts as an important step towards the future visa-free regime between the European Union and the Russian Federation often discussed in the international dialogue. The three years of LBT mechanism have shown its practical significance for the development of research and cultural contacts, cooperation between municipalities and NGOs of the Kaliningrad region and the borderland (Pomeranian and Warmian-Masurian) voivodeships of Poland. When considering retail trade as a structural element of economy, it is important to address the differences in the effect LBT has had on the development of this sector in the Kaliningrad region and the neighbouring Polish voivode-ships. According to Russian experts, LBT results in 7—20 % losses in the Kaliningrad region’s retail sales, whereas in Poland LBT stimulates retail trade (accounting for 12 % of sales in the border voivodeships). This article analyses the role of LBT in the development of retail trade in the Kaliningrad region and the Polish border voivodeships as well as prospects of its development in view of the changing geopolitical situation and adjustment of the currency exchange rates at the end of 2014. Based on statistics and analytical data, the authors arrive at the conclusion that the positive effect of LBT outdoes its negative impact on various sectors of the border regions’ economies, including retail trade.

Automated image analysis methods are highly important for biotechnology research. The authors developed and tested a program for the morphometric analysis of photomicrographs of the sections processed using the standard immunohistochemical examination protocols. The color deconvolution method used in the algorithm was proven to be effective in mapping the distribution of DAB chromogen in the sample containing multiple dyes. The experiment demonstrated that the level of extracellular matrix proteins could be comparatively quantified in different groups of samples. The effective methods for the quantitative analysis of the Ki-67 labelling index were also tested using the same algorithms. The developed program was published under free GPL 3.0.Автоматизированные методы анализа изображения являются весьма актуальными в биотехнологических исследованиях. Авторы разработали и протестировали программу для морфометрического анализа микрофотографий срезов, обработанных по стандартным протоколам иммуногистохимического исследования. Метод цветовой деконволюции, использованный в алгоритме, оказался эффективным для выделения карты распределения DAB-хромогена в образце, содержащем несколько красителей. В эксперименте продемонстрирована возможность сравнительного количественного анализа содержания белков внеклеточного матрикса в различных группах образцов. Также была протестирована эффективная методика количественного анализа индекса метки Ki-67 с использованием тех же алгоритмов. Разработанная программа опубликована под свободной лицензией GPL 3,0.

Chronic renal failure (CRF) is one of the most challenging problems of contemporary medicine. Patients with chronic renal failure usually need renal replacement therapy as either hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or a kidney transplant. The latter is the most promising option for end-stage kidney disease. However, the shortage of donor organs, the complexity of their delivery, the difficulty in finding an immunologically compatible donor and the need for lifelong immunosuppression triggered advances in modern tissue engineering. In this field, the primary priority is focused on developing bioengineered scaffolds with subsequent recellularization with autologous cells. Using such constructs would allow for solving both ethical and immunological problems of transplantation. The aim of this pilot study was to develop a new method of renal decellularization using small laboratory animals. Materials and methods The study investigated the morphological structure of the obtained decellularized matrix and quantitatively tested DNA residues in the resulting scaffold. We proposed a new biophysical method for assessing the matrix quality using the EPR spectroscopy and conducted experiments on the matrix recellularization with mesenchymal multipotent stem cells to estimate cytotoxicity, cell viability and metabolic activity. Results The obtained decellularized renal matrix retained the native tissue architecture after a complete removal of the cell material, had no cytotoxic properties and supported cell adhesion and proliferation. Conclusion All the above suggests that the proposed decellularization protocol is a promising method to produce tissue-engineered kidney constructs with possible clinical application in the foreseeable future.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a multifactorial etiology. To explore a role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of MS, the authors studied familial cases of MS.For an analysis of familial cases, a database of 320 MS patients registered in Tomsk region since 1980 till 2014 was used. The following items for each patient were recorded: disease onset, manifestation of disease, duration of first remission, rate of progression of disease.Nine families with several members with MS were identified. In 2014, the frequency of familial cases in the MS population of Tomsk region was 4.7%. The prevalence of familial MS was 1.4 cases per 100.000 of people. The younger age at disease onset and higher rate of disease progression measured with the EDSS in parent-child pairs were identified. The most families with several members with MS were characterized by clinical polymorphism of onset, duration and rate of disease progression.Цель исследования. Рассеянный склероз (РС) имеет мультифакторную природу. Для исследований роли генетической составляющей в патогенезе заболевания актуальным является изучение семейных случаев РС. Последнее было целью настоящей работы. Материал и методы. Для анализа семейных случаев РС использованы данные о 320 больных РС, зарегистрированных в Томской области с 1980 по 2014 г. В отношении каждого пациента определяли такие показатели, как возраст больного в период начала болезни, ее первые симптомы, длительность первой ремиссии, скорость прогрессирования болезни. Результаты и заключение. Выявлено 9 семей с повторными случаями РС у родственников. Частота семейного РС в Томской области в 2014 г. составила 4,7% от общего числа больных РС, распространенность семейного РС - 1,4 случая на 100 тыс. населения. Установлено более раннее начало заболевания у детей, родители которых больны РС, а также более быстрое нарастание инвалидизации у первых по шкале EDSS. Большинство семей отличает клинический полиморфизм дебюта, течения и скорости прогрессирования заболевания.Цель исследования. Рассеянный склероз (РС) имеет мультифакторную природу. Для исследований роли генетической составляющей в патогенезе заболевания актуальным является изучение семейных случаев РС. Последнее было целью настоящей работы. Материал и методы. Для анализа семейных случаев РС использованы данные о 320 больных РС, зарегистрированных в Томской области с 1980 по 2014 г. В отношении каждого пациента определяли такие показатели, как возраст больного в период начала болезни, ее первые симптомы, длительность первой ремиссии, скорость прогрессирования болезни. Результаты и заключение. Выявлено 9 семей с повторными случаями РС у родственников. Частота семейного РС в Томской области в 2014 г. составила 4,7% от общего числа больных РС, распространенность семейного РС — 1,4 случая на 100 тыс. населения. Установлено более раннее начало заболевания у детей, родители которых больны РС, а также более быстрое нарастание инвалидизации у первых по шкале EDSS. Большинство семей отличает клинический полиморфизм дебюта, течения и скорости прогрессирования заболевания.

29 Network cooperation — the most efficient form of unlocking the economic and natural potential of territories — is rapidly developing in Russia under the influence of global processes. Due to its unique geopolitical position, the Kaliningrad region is one of the regions where such networks develop at both the regional and international levels. When studying such forms of cooperation, the traditional methods of social sciences as research tools are not sufficient. It can be explained by the dynamic nature of network cooperation as well as by the fact that it involves a significant number of independent agents. We believe that one of the important tools of research on network cooperation is regional integral geoinformation systems (GIS). Modern GIS are successfully used in related fields, such as environmental and climate studies, geology, urban studies, and serve as rather efficient tools of analysing spatial objects and phenomena. One of such systems has been developed and is successfully functioning at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, which makes it possible to use it in studying network cooperation in the framework of crossborder development with the involvement of Kaliningrad municipalities. The key objective set by the authors of the article is to justify the need for studying the emerging network cooperation with the help of both traditional methods of geography and modern GIS; a specific case is made of the crossborder Vistula lagoon region — the one that brings together Russian and Polish municipalities. The authors provide with the background for the search of possible development strategies in the region, and note that the creation of a regional GIS structure can become a necessary component of the region’s information and communication structure; this conclusion can be considered the key result of the research conducted. The practical significance of the article lies in justifying the use of modern geoinformation systems as a tool of territory development as well as for the purpose of making efficient managerial decisions at different levels.

An analysis is presented of inclusiveπ 0 production inZ 0 decays measured with the DELPHI detector. At low energies,π 0 decays are reconstructed by using pairs of converted photons and combinations of converted photons and photons reconstructed in the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter (HPC). At high energies (up to $$x_p = 2 \cdot p_\pi /\sqrt s = 0.75$$ ) the excellent granularity of the HPC is exploited to search for two-photon substructures in single showers. The inclusive differential cross section is measured as a function of energy forqq andbb events. The number ofπ 0’s per hadronicZ 0 event isN(π 0)/Z 0 =9.2±0.2(stat)±1.0(syst) and forbb events the number ofπ 0’s is N(π 0)/bb=10.1±0.4(stat)±1.1(syst). The ratio of the number ofπ 0’s inbb events to hadronicZ 0 events is less affected by the systematic errors and is found to be 1.09±0.05±0.01. The measuredπ 0 cross sections are compared with the predictions of different parton shower models. For hadronic events, the peak position in theξ p=ln(1/xp) distribution isξ* p =3.90 −0.14 +0.24 . The average number ofπ 0’s from the decay of primary B hadrons is found to be N(B→π 0 X)/B hadron=2.78±0.15(stat)±0.60(syst).

A determination of the partial width Γc̄ of the Z0 boson into charm quark pairs is presented, based on a total sample of 36 900 Z0 hadronic decays measured with the DELPHI detector at the LEP collider. The production rate of cc events is derived from the inclusive analysis of charged pions coming from the decay of charmed meson D*+-→D0π+ and D*-→D̄0π- where the π± is constrained by kinematics to have a low pT with respect to the jet axis. The probability to procedure these π± from D*± decay in cc events is taken to be 0.31±0.05 as measured at √S = 10.55 GeV. The measured relative partial width Γ∞/Γh = 0.162± 0.030(stat.) ± 0.050(syst.) is in good agreement with the standard model value of 0.171. Together with our previous measurement of the total hadronic width Γh this implies Γ∞ = 282 ± 53 (stat.) ± 88 (syst.) MeV., 0, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published