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The mobility and migration capacity of Zn in the soil-plant system were studied in a series of pot experiments with barley as a test plant. The parameters of Zn accumulation depending on the metal concentrations in soils and soil solutions were estimated by soil and water culture methods. Experiments with barley in water culture were performed on a nutrient (soil) solution extracted from soddy-podzolic soil (Albic Retisol (Loamic, Ochric)) to which Zn2+ was added to reach working concentrations increasing from 0.07 to 430 μM. Different responses of barley plants to changes in the concentration of Zn in the studied soil were identified. Ranges of the corresponding concentrations in the soil and aboveground barley biomass were determined. Parameters of Zn accumulation by test plants were determined depending on the metal content in soddypodzolic soil and the soil solution. A new method was proposed for evaluating the buffer capacity of soils with respect to a heavy metal (Zn) using test plants (BCS(P)Zn). The method was used to evaluate the buffering capacity of loamy sandy soddy-podzolic soil. The considered methodological approach offers opportunities for using data obtained during the agroecological monitoring of agricultural lands with heavy metals (HMs), including the contents of exchangeable HMs and macroelements (C and Mg) in soils and concentrations of HMs and (Ca + Mg) in plants, in the calculation of the buffering capacity of the surveyed soils for HMs.

The content of lead in the liver, kidneys and spleen of male rats of the Wistar line was studied in chronic metal intake at doses of 0,0019; 0,0023 and 0,0039 mg/ kg of body weight. Clinically healthy animals (120 heads, age of 3-4 months) were divided into 4 (four) groups of 30 heads each. Group 1 of animals received basic diet and served as control. Rats of 2, 3 and 4 groups (experiment) received 5 g of meat with different concentrations of lead daily for 180 days of study with the main diet. The content of lead in meat did not exceed the permissible level (0,5 mg/kg) and was 0,13; 0,16 and 0,27 mg/kg, respectively. Samples of organs and tissues were taken of 5 (five) animals from each group for the 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 day of intoxication. Chronic intake of lead with a diet in male rats at doses of 0,0019; 0,0023 and 0,0039 mg/kg of body weight led to increasing of the concentration of metal in the liver, kidneys and spleen. The maximum values of the index were observed in animals of 4 groups, which received lead at a dose of 0,0039 mg/kg of body weight. The comparative analysis of lead concentration in organs revealed the maximum levels of metal in the kidneys, which exceeded the standards in the by-products of slaughter animals established both in Russia and in Europe. The received results allow to speak about necessity of revision of the permissible content of lead in meat and meat products of slaughter animals specified in Russian Federation (0,5 mg/ kg) and daily admission to the human body (0,0036 mg/kg of body weight) recommended by WHO.

The relationship between the main physicochemical properties of soils and the accumulation of natural Zn and 65Zn radionuclide has been studied, and the capacity of soils to limit the mobility of the element in the soil–plant system has been assessed. The contribution of each of the selected soil state parameters to the accumulation of zinc by barley has been determined, and the soil state parameters have been ranked. It has been found that the largest contributions to the variation of the resulting parameter (65Zn accumulation coefficient, Ka) are made by mobile Fe (25%), free carbonates (21%), and acid-soluble Zn (18%). The largest contributions to the ZnacKa are made by free carbonates (13%) and mobile Fe (8%). The contributions of physical clay and organic carbon in soils and qualitative composition of humic substances are almost similar (4% for each). No differences in the inactivating capacity of different soils (soddy-podzolic soils, gray forest soils, and chernozems) for 65Zn are observed. This is related to the fact that the transfer of 65Zn to plants is statistically significantly controlled by the contents of free carbonates, mobile iron, and potentially plantavailable forms of stable natural Zn (carrier of 65Zn) rather than the quantitative and qualitative composition of organic matter and the degree of dispersion of mineral particles. The analysis of the ZnacKa/65Zn Ka ratios has shown that the share of plant-available Zn in the acid-soluble form of the metal (1 M HCl) is 0.61 on the average for the studied soils, and its share in the total Zn content in the soils is only 0.14.

From the samples of gradually drying (beginning from the field moisture capacity, FMC) soddy-podzolic sandy loam soil (Albic Retisol (Loamic, Ochric)) contaminated with Zn were isolated the soil solutions (SS) by centrifugation, while from the other samples of the soil, moistened to FMC, various energy fractions of the SS were pressed using a hydraulic press. The acidity of the centrifuge solutions extracted from the soil of the experiment variant with the cultivation of plants (“barley”) was, on average, 1 pH higher than on “bare fallow”, and decreased with decreasing soil moisture content. The acidity of the solutions extracted from the soils of the “bare fallow” variant in the same range of soil moisture content practically did not change. It was also found that in more acidic solutions from the “bare fallow” variant the content of Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn and K was 2.4 – 6.9 times higher than the content of these metals in solutions from the “barley” variant. The positive correlation between pF and pH was clearly observed for the pressed solutions from the soils of both variants. Concentrations of Ca, Mg, Sr, Ba,Zn, K and Na in successively pressed fractions of SSs from more acidic soil of the “bare fallow” variant, on average, 3.0 – 8.4 times exceeded their concentrations in similar fractions of solutions of the “barley” variant and showed an inverse correlation with soil moisture (pF value).

The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Federal Space Agency are planning to launch Radioastron in 2011, which is a unique space observatory with a 10-meter reflector antenna. In conjunction with the largest ground-based radio telescopes and tracking stations, it forms the first system that will be able to carry out studies with a resolution millions of times greater than that of eyesight.

The space interferometer Radioastron is working jointly with the largest radio telescopes of the world. Ground tracking stations provide for retrieving the information and determining the orbital parameters for data processing centers. The project is aimed at systematic studies of images of radio emitting regions, their coordinates, and time-dependent variations near super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei, stellarmass black holes, neutron and quark stars, regions of star and planet formation in our and other galaxies, the structure of interplanetary and interstellar plasma, and the Earth’s gravitational field.

Forces arising in the unloaded acceleration of a mechanical starting clutch are investigated as a function of the control-unit design.

The transverse single-spin asymmetry was measured for charged hadrons (π ±, K ±, p, $$\bar p$$ ) produced in proton-nucleus collisions. The measurements were performed at the FODS-2 spectrometer by using a polarized proton beam that was accelerated to an energy of 40 GeV at the accelerator of the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP, Protvino) and which was made to hit carbon and copper nuclear targets. The data in question were obtained in the range of c.m. angles between 73° and 94° near the central region (−0.01 < x F < 0.27, 0.7 < p T < 3.6 GeV/c). The single-spin asymmetry for π + and K + mesons is significant at high values of p T and moderately small positive values of x F. The analyzing power for other hadrons (π −, K −, p, $$\bar p$$ ) is compatible with zero in the p T range studied here. The dependence of the analyzing power on the mass number of the target nucleus is insignificant.

The transverse single-spin asymmetry was measured for charged hadrons ({pi}{sup {+-}}, K{sup {+-}}, p, p-bar) produced in proton-nucleus collisions. The measurements were performed with the aid of the FODS-2 spectrometer by using a 40-GeV polarized proton beam from the accelerator of the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP, Protvino) and carbon and copper nuclear targets. The data subjected to the analysis in the present study were obtained for c.m. angles in the range 95{sup o}-112{sup o} in the vicinity of the central region (-0.08 < x{sub F} < -0.06, 0.7 < p{sub T} < 3.4 GeV/c). The analyzing power is found to be only slightly dependent on the mass number of the target nucleus. The basic results obtained by measuring the single-spin asymmetry at three values of the particle-detection angle are discussed.

The transverse single-spin asymmetry for charged hadrons (π ±, K ±, p, $$\bar p$$ ) produced in proton-nucleus collisions was measured for c.m. production angles in the range 40°–79°. The measurements were performed with the FODS-2 setup by using a 40-GeV polarized proton beam originating from the accelerator of the Institute for High Energy Physics (Protvino) and hitting carbon and copper nuclear targets. The data in question were obtained in the polarized-proton-fragmentation region (0.0 < x F < 0.7, 0.6 < p T < 2.5 GeV/c). In agreement with data obtained at other energies, the single-spin asymmetry for π ± mesons is significant at high x F. For the first time, a sizable analyzing power, which changes sign at x F = 0.43, is observed for protons. The dependence of the analyzing power on the target-nucleus mass is insignificant.

The production of noncoplanar hadron pairs in proton-nucleus interactions is studied experimentally for the case where the transverse momenta of product particles are in excess of 1 GeV/c. The values obtained for the exponent in the A dependence of the cross section for the production of noncoplanar hadron pairs are substantially greater than those for coplanar pairs. This nuclear-mass-number dependence for the production of hadron pairs can be explained by the contribution of multiparton interactions in proton-nucleus collisions.

The end cap hadron calorimeter designed for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment is a sampling calorimeter with active elements based on scintillators read by wave length shifting fibers. We have fabricated 1368 optical elements containing 21096 scintillators. The production and the quality control of the optical elements are described.

An end cap hadron calorimeter, in which scintillators with wavelength-shifting fibers are used as the active elements, has been designed for the compact muon spectrometer (CMS) now under construction at CERN. A total of 1368 optical elements containing 21 096 scintillators have already been manufactured. The production and quality control procedures for these optical elements are described.

A setup has been developed for testing mass-produced scintillation counters. Its design and the quality control procedure for the scintillation counters of the hadron calorimeter are described.

The characteristics of the prototype of the endcap hadron calorimeter for the CMS facility have been measured. Using the relations between the measured calorimeter response to a radiation source, muons, and pions, it is possible to determine the energy scale of the data-acquisition electronics, which will be used in future experiments along with the calorimeter. The light yield in the calorimeter due to a minimum-ionizing particle was measured. The effect of various factors on the duration of the calorimeter signal is analyzed. The joint operation of the hadron and electromagnetic calorimeters was investigated. The possibility of adjusting the uncompensated system using the data from a scintillation counter inserted between the calorimeters is analyzed. It is shown that the presence of a structural material between the calorimeters will not lead to a noticeable degradation in the energy resolution of the hadron calorimeter.

The monitoring system of the scintillation sandwich calorimeter is based on scintillator excitation by UV radiation. The system is composed of a nitrogen laser, neutral filters (7 stages of the laser-signal attenuation), and a set of laser-radiation distributors among the quartz fibers transmitting the light towards the scintillator tiles. The system is computer-controlled. A 780-channel system for monitoring the prototype calorimeter of the CMS setup was developed. The efficiency of the monitoring system was demonstrated by testing it on the accelerator beam. The error in measuring the amplitude of a laser-generated scintillation was 1%. The long-term stability of the system was characterized by a variance of 1.1%.

A hadron calorimeter in which scintillators are arranged nearly parallel to the incident particle direction and light is collected by optical fibres with WLS, has been built. The iron absorber plates are of the tapered shape to fit a barrel structure of the collider geometry. The performance of the calorimeter studied with hadron beam is presented as a function of tilt angle without and with electromagnetic calorimeter in front of the hadron one.

The Russian Academy of Sciences and Federal Space Agency, together with the participation of many international organizations, worked toward the launch of the RadioAstron orbiting space observatory with its onboard 10-m reflector radio telescope from the Baikonur cosmodrome on July 18, 2011. Together with some of the largest ground-based radio telescopes and a set of stations for tracking, collecting, and reducing the data obtained, this space radio telescope forms a multi-antenna ground-space radio interferometer with extremely long baselines, making it possible for the first time to study various objects in the Universe with angular resolutions a million times better than is possible with the human eye. The project is targeted at systematic studies of compact radio-emitting sources and their dynamics. Objects to be studied include supermassive black holes, accretion disks, and relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei, stellar-mass black holes, neutron stars and hypothetical quark stars, regions of formation of stars and planetary systems in our and other galaxies, interplanetary and interstellar plasma, and the gravitational field of the Earth. The results of ground-based and inflight tests of the space radio telescope carried out in both autonomous and ground-space interferometric regimes are reported. The derived characteristics are in agreement with the main requirements of the project. The astrophysical science program has begun., 54 pages, 11 figures; published by Astronomicheskij Zhurnal (in Russian) and Astronomy Reports (in English)

A prototype of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter for a collider is described. The calorimeter is longitudinally segmented into two parts to measure particle trajectory angle. The prototype has been tested in electron and muon beams.

A RICH-detector, with the use of a two-coordinate photosensitive wire chamber, operating in the self-quenching streamer mode, has been tested. The photon coordinates are measured by the drift-time and charge-division methods. A left-right ambiguity is resolved by using double anode wires.

The single spin asymmetry of charge hadron production by a 40 GeV/c proton beam with 39% transverse polarization incident on nuclei (C, Cu) has been measured using the Focusing Double Arm Spectrometer (FODS). The measurements were carried out for hadrons with high Xt (82 deg. in c.m.) and with high Xf (one arm at 51 deg. and the other arm at 99 deg. in c.m.). The results are presented for charged pions, kaons, protons and antiprotons with high Xt., Comment: LaTeX2e, 5 pages, 1 eps figure. Talk delivered by V. Kryshkin at the "16th International Spin Physics Symposium", SPIN2004, October 10-16, 2004, Trieste, Italy. Minor typos corrected

Single-spin asymmetries for hadrons have been measured in collisions of transversely-polarized 40 GeV/c proton beam with an unpolarized liquid hydrogen target. The asymmetries were measured for pi+-, K+-, protons and antiprotons, produced in the central region (0.02 < Xf < 0.10 and 0.7 < Pt < 3.4 GeV/c). Asymmetries for pi+-, K+- and antiprotons show within measurement errors the linear dependence on Xt and change a sign near 0.37. For protons negative asymmetry, independent of Xt has been found. The results are compared with those of other experiments and SU(6) model predictions., 25 pages (Latex), 12 Postscript figures

An approximate equation is derived for the Sherwood number, which is a measure of the convective diffusion to a liquid droplet under conditions of constrained flow.

Limiting relations are derived for the Sherwood number, which characterizes convective diffusion to a solid sphere, a droplet, or a bubble in a constricted stream, applicable to low values of the Reynolds number and high values of the Peclet number.

A rigorous derivation of the equations of heat transport is carried out by averaging over an ensemble for a system consisting of a continuous medium with particles imbedded in it, and the closure problem for these equations is discussed.

The steady heat conduction of disperse media consisting of identical spherical particles is calculated for small Peclet numbers characterizing the heat transfer at the level of the individual particles; heat transfer by contact conduction over the disperse phase is neglected.

The results on the study of a Cherenkov light ring spectrometer with hodoscope PMs, designed for particle identification by velocity measurement in the momentum range of 5.5–30 GeV/c are presented. The range of Cherenkov light angle detection is 40–100 mrad and corresponds to a particle velocity range of 0.996-1. The angular and radial aperture is 30 mrad and 420 mm, respectively. The velocity resolution is 6 × 10−5 for β = 1.

Macroscopic equations for the conservation of heat (or the mass of a diffusing impurity) in a continuous medium containing distributed particles of a dispersed phase are formulated neglecting the effect of random fluctuations of the medium and particles by the transfer process. The problem of convective heat conduction or diffusion near an isolated particle is also formulated, the solution of which permits calculation of all the parameters entering into the indicated equations. This problem has been solved in the particular case of small Peclet numbers, which characterize heat and mass exchange in the vicinity of a single particle.

The effective thermophysical parameters of a dispersed medium are discussed which characterize the propagation of temperature waves in the medium and the equations of nonstationary thermal conductivity are formulated.