Measurements of Energy of Cosmic-Ray Nuclei by Specific Energy Release at the Hadron Cascade Maximum

A method of measuring the particle energy in the range higher than 1 TeV based on detection of the maximum specific energy release in hadron cascades that develop in dense media is proposed and studied. This method makes it possible to improve the accuracy of energy measurements carried out with partial-absorption ionization calorimeters in the high-altitude studies of energy spectra of high-energy cosmic rays. The attainable accuracies of energy measurements are considered for light, intermediate, and heavy nuclei in iron and lead absorbers. The results of modeling are compared with the data of an experiment onboard the Kosmos-1713 satellite.     

Microorganisms metabolizing on clay grains in 3-km-deep Greenland basal ice

We have discovered > 10(8) microbial cells/cm3 attached to clay grains in the bottom 13 m of the GISP2 (Greenland Ice Sheet Project) ice core. Their concentration correlates with huge excesses of CO2 and CH4. We show that Fe-reducing bacteria produce most of the excess CO2 and methanogenic archaea produce the excess CH4. The number of attached cells per clay grain is proportional to grain perimeter rather than to area, which implies that nutrients are accessed at grain edges. We conclude that Fe-reducing microbes immobilized on clay surfaces metabolize via "shuttle" molecules that transport electrons to grain edges, where they reduce Fe(III) ions at edges to Fe(II) while organic acid ions are oxidized to CO2. Driven by the concentration gradient, electrons on Fe(II) ions at grain edges "hop" to Fe(III) ions inward in the same edges and oxidize them. The original Fe(III) ions can then attach new electrons from shuttle molecules at the edges. Our mechanism explains how Fe-reducers can reduce essentially all Fe(III) in clay minerals. We estimate that the Fe(III) in clay grains in the GISP2 silty ice can sustain Fe-reducing bacteria at the ambient temperature of -9 degrees C for approximately 10(6) years. F420 autofluorescence imaging shows that > 2.4% of the cells are methanogens, which account for the excess methane.     

An algorithm for solving three-dimensional problem of elasticity theory for transversally isotropic medium

An algorithm for solving a boundary-value problem of deforming structures made of composite materials is considered. The polynomial solutions of the equation system for the linear theory of elasticity for the anisotropic medium in displacements are used in this algorithm.