Май 2006 г.

Российская наука и мир (по материалам зарубежной электронной прессы)

CONTENTS / ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ


• Russian, French, Japanese scientists win Global Energy Prize 2006
• Putin orders pipeline near lake to be rerouted
• New thermal imaging system portraits everything
• Yury Zaitsev: Earth can prevent an asteroid strike
• Tiny fateful RNA
• Russian Physician Recognized in Cuba
• Russian, U.S. and Indonesian Programmers Win $150,000 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AMD in Las Vegas
• Stages scientifiques en Sibérie dédiés à la formation sur l'environnement
• Smart turnstile
• Russians harness star power in new battery
• Nanoseismic technologies for nanoearthquakes
• Earthquake research satellite launched into orbit

Жорес Алферов получил степень Почетного доктора наук Гаванского университета. Причем решение о присуждении этой степени центральный вуз Кубы принял еще в 1987 году.

Havana, May 4 (Prensa Latina). The University of Havana conferred the title Doctor Honoris Causa Thursday to the Russian physician Zhores Alferov for his outstanding scientific career.
The recognition, said Osvaldo de Melo, dean of Havana University Physics Department, was conferred in 1987 but Alferov could not receive it before for reasons beyond both parties control.
Alferov, Nobel physics prizewinner in 2000, deserved the title for his multiple discoveries and his contribution to the creation of a new branch of physics, currently determining achievements in optical communication and other phenomena.
The prominent scientist recalled the distinction in 1987 and another 40 received after that first one by the University of Havana, and expressed the commitment of he and his Russian colleagues to maintain the traditional cooperation with Cuba in this field.

3-5 мая в Лас-Вегасе, США, прошел заключительный этап международного соревнования по программированию TopCoder Open. Более 4200 программистов со всего мира собрались, чтобы выявить победителей в категориях Algorithm Competition (спортивное программирование) и Component Competition (конкурс разработчиков ПО). В результате первое место в Algorithm Competition завоевал россиянин - студент мехмата МГУ Петр Митричев.

TopCoder, Inc., the leader in online programming competition, skills assessment and competitive software development, today announced that Petr Mitrichev of the Russian Federation, Tim Roberts of the United States, and Sindunata Sudarmaji of Indonesia have won the Algorithm, Design and Development Component tournaments of the 2006 TopCoder Open (TCO) sponsored by AMD, held at the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 5th.
An elite group of 64 finalists representing 19 countries were invited from around the world to Las Vegas to compete in computing science disciplines such as algorithms and software component design and development.
This year's competition attracted more than 4,200 registrants from TopCoder's community of 80,000 members representing over 200 countries. Building upon the successful TCO and TopCoder Collegiate Challenge (TCCC) tournaments, TopCoder recently announced several additions to its schedule including the upcoming TopCoder High School tournament for grade-school programmers, the Marathon Match series and the newly launched Digital Run competitions for top performing software designers and developers.
"AMD Developer Central, AMD's program to support software developers, is pleased to have sponsored the 2006 TopCoder Open and help showcase the unique creativity and genius shown by TopCoder members in this competition," said Richard Finlayson, Director Segment and Industry Solutions, Software Strategy and Alliances Group, AMD. "This year's competition was one of the best. TopCoder competitions bring together the finest talent in the business to build better code that solves challenges and benefits everyone in the community."
Mitrichev, known to the member community by his handle "Petr", beat 47 of the world's top computer programmers during the onsite semifinal and Championship rounds for the $20,000 grand prize in the Algorithm tournament. Roberts or "Pops" as he is known, and "sindu" Sudarmaji, took home $20,000 and $12,500 respectively as the Design and Development winners in the Component tournament.
At the start of the Algorithm tournament, Petr was the 4th seed and ranked 3rd among TopCoder member worldwide. Petr successfully submitted the only solution to the hardest problem to win the closely contested Championship round. Mitrichev beat out second place finisher Tomasz "tomek" Czajka of Poland. The 64 finalists each earned a spot at the event by besting thousands of other programmers from around the world in simultaneous, online competitions.
Pops and sindu won hard fought contests against an elite field of international component opponents. Pops took top Design honors over opponents from North America and Europe and sindu claimed victory over developers from China, Hong Kong and Europe.
The Algorithm tournament was a tuned competition where the participants solved complex algorithmic problems using Java, VB.Net, C++ or C#. The Component tournament was divided into two tracks. The Design competition required competitors to submit a software design based on general requirements and The Development competition asked competitors to develop a re-useable software component from a specific TopCoder guideline. A peer review board evaluated submissions and awarded final point standings based on TopCoder's rigorous scorecard system.
"Our community is showing rapid growth worldwide - over 16.000 members in the last 6 months alone - and new competitions such as TopCoder High School, the Marathon Match Series and Digital Run will certainly continue that growth trend and keep our members very busy," said Rob Hughes, President and COO of TopCoder, Inc. "The level of high quality software production, sharing of best practices and learning is surging throughout our community and nowhere is it more apparent than here at our flagship onsite event, the TCO."
About TopCoder, Inc.
TopCoder is the recognized leader in identifying, evaluating and mobilizing effective software development resources. Through its proprietary programming competitions and rating system, TopCoder recognizes and promotes the abilities of highly talented programmers around the world. TopCoder Software harnesses the talent of these developers to design, develop and deploy software through its revolutionary competitive development methodology. TopCoder's methodology emphasizes thorough specification and design, distributed development using reusable components, and a rigorous quality assurance review process and results in higher quality, lower cost software solutions than traditional software development methodologies.

Неправительственная организация "Сибирский институт экологических инициатив", созданная в Новосибирске в 2001 году, работает в тесном сотрудничестве с зарубежными научными центрами. Каждый год институт принимает иностранных студентов, специализирующихся в областях, связанных с окружающей средой - экологии, ботанике, геологии, геоморфологии, и организует научные экспедиции в различные природные зоны Сибири.

Chaque année depuis près de 10 ans, l'ONG russe l'Institut Sibérien d'Initiatives Écologiques accueille des étudiants étrangers (Allemagne, Autriche, États-Unis) qui souhaitent se spécialiser dans les domaines de l'écologie, la botanique, la géologie, la géomorphologie, et autres disciplines liées à l'environnement.
À cet effet l'association organise des expéditions scientifiques dans différentes zones naturelles de Sibérie. Ces expéditions se veulent avant tout des stages d'approfondissement et de perfectionnement des connaissances, ainsi qu'une sensibilisation aux problèmes écologiques en Russie.
Les programmes d'éducation sont ainsi toujours développés en coopération avec des professeurs étrangers encadrant le voyage.
L'intention actuelle de cette association est d'accentuer ses partenariats avec l'étranger afin de créer un centre d'étude et de recherche international pour le développement durable en Sibérie. Ce dernier fait également l'objet actuellement d'un projet TEMPUS TACIS auprès de l'Union Européenne.
Ci-dessous, la lettre d'intention destinée aux professeurs scientifiques français, rédigé par les professeurs Barsukov de Russie et Siewert d'Allemagne, les initiateurs du projet :

The Siberian Institute of Ecological Initiatives
Suite 305,
18 St. Sovetskaya 630099 Novosibirsk Russia
Phone: +7 383 222 5088
Fax: +7 383 222 1746
Email : siei-ngo@mail.ru

New cooperation initiative of Siberian Institute for Ecological Initiatives (Russia)
Thirteen years of successful experience in conducting excursions and summer schools with West European scientists and students allows us to suggest new ways of environmental education together with foreign professors working in areas of basic and applied natural sciences (e.g. ecology, soil science, botany, geology, geomorphology, physical geography, landscape architecture and planning, forestry, and agriculture).
The professors will get possibility to organize their teaching events (such as excursions, expeditions, summer schools etc.) for their students in Siberia with our comprehensive help getting access to
- untouched Siberian landscapes of great beauty with high level of biodiversity along different biogeographic latitudinal zones and altitudinal belts
- guidance of field courses, seminars and lectures by leading Russian scientists with excellent didactic skills and good knowledge of foreign languages (English, German)
- full-day service delivered by experienced Russian service team (including kitchen staff) even in field conditions
- getting contacts with leading scientists in Siberian research institutes, universities, academies, laboratories, organizations, authorities and enterprises in different cities
- reliable service in organization and management (mutual references are available).
Taking into account specific scientific and/or educational interests and tasks of foreign professor/scientist, the Siberian specialists will beforehand develop a proper plan of a teaching event including route chart of a field excursion or will adapt our already existing well-developed excursion routes and programs to a special task.
It is worth to underscore that the team of Siberian specialists are able to help a foreign professor to organize and manage both excursions with an emphasis on natural untouched ecosystems and specialized courses on the most important environmental themes such as sustainable land use, ecologically clean production technologies, nature protection and conservation, soil erosion and contamination, global warming, greenhouse gases production, water supply, desertification, water-logging etc.
Making this offer we anticipate to
- expand cooperation in environmental researches with untouched by human activities ecosystems in Siberia as reference objects
- get funding to develop the unique education possibilities in Siberia from national and international funds
- be involved in research projects and environmental educational programs, including proposals to European Commission in the fields of mutual interest
- get more possibilities to maintain biodiversity and natural resources in Siberia.
The most of involved Siberian scientists are working in different research institutions of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences and are formally organized into interregional NGO "Siberian Institute for Ecological Initiatives". The NGO was arranged by support of some German Universities in particular Berlin TU and University of Applied Sciences Freising-Weihenstephan. At present the core group includes specialists from Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry, Central Siberian botanical garden, Institute of Ecology and Water, Institute of Geography, Institute of Ecology and Systematic of Animals, Institute of Human Ecology. As well as several professors from the following Siberian universities are active members: Tomsk State University, Novosibirsk State University, Altai State University and Irkutsk State University.
So it's obvious that that there is an exceptional possibility to make summer excursions for students in Siberia in order to illustrate different problems in ecology, soil science, botany, geology, geomorphology, physical geography and other basic and applied natural sciences in World scale on Siberian examples.
Should you have any queries or proposals, please contact the executive director of Siberian Institute for Ecological Initiatives Dr. Barsukov in Novosibirsk, Russia (e-mail: pavel-b@inbox.ru, tel.: +7 3832 225088) or PD Dr. Ch.Siewert at the University of Applied Sciences Freising-Weihenstephan (e-mail: cs@csiewert.de, tel.: 030 5031797).
More information about our current teaching activities your will find on our internet sites: www.siberia-eco.org (in English) or http://sibirien.csiewert.de (in German).
P.A. Barsukov, Director of Siberian Institute for Ecological Initiatives, PhD.

Специалисты из московского НПО "Информация" разработали "умный" турникет. За несколько секунд прибор создаст трехмерный портрет лица входящего, сверит его с базой данных и разрешит (или не разрешит) человеку войти. Внешне устройство похоже на обычный турникет, только с небольшим экраном на панели.

A biometric security system which had been developed by specialists of the Scientific Production Association "INFORMATION" was awarded the best innovation product title at the 12th International Exhibition "Guarding, Security and Fire Protection MIPS-2006". The system’s peculiarity lies in utilization of a 3D image of the face for identification of a person. Only within a second and a half, the turnstile equipped by this system would create and analyze such image, and take a decision based on received data - to allow or to prohibit the entrance to the person.
It should be noted that although the device does not look fantastic in outward appearance - it is something like an ordinary "three-fingered" turnstile in the underground or a railway station equipped with a small screen on the board, it is arranged interestingly indeed as it identifies persons not by common, so to say visible photographs or three-dimensional portraits but by a special portrait. As a result, the turnstile can hardly be deceived either on purpose or by accident - neither ordinary masks or guises put on by time would manage to cheat it. The portrait for identification is a special one.
The portrait is made as follows: infrared rays are aimed at the person’s face as if the rays were passed through a multitude of parallel slits (like through a fence or railings). These stripes of shadow and light bend and change on the surface of the face, this being done in a strictly individual way. The camera-recorder (also in an infrared band) captures this striped image and transmits to a PC. A PC, in it’s turn, builds a three-dimentional image by line bends with submillimetric precision, identifies it - compares with the database and opens or closes the turnstile. At the same time, it performs additional tasks - for example, it records the employee’s arrival/departure time.
To avoid the system being misled by the changes, which, alas, happen to everybody - people grow stout or thin, and, eventually, grow old - the authors have suggested to use that special control points on the face, which almost do not change with age. These points are the bridge of nose, corners of the eyes and many others - about 60 altogether. By the way, the control points were selected strictly in accordance with science - or more precisely, with the help of anthropologists. Acting in compliance with the method of Gerasimov, a well-known Russian researchers who suggested the way to reconstruct the outline of faces by the shape of skull, Gerasimov’s followers helped to choose the set of points necessary and sufficient for exact identification of the face.
Of course, the system does not perform absolutely reliably - the authors are aware of that. In one case out of ten thousand, the system can make a mistake and let pass an unauthorized person - if his(her) face provides for exactly the same 3D-portrait as one of the employees does, but this is extremely unlikely. As for the authorized employees, the system can make one of a hundred persons pass the test for the second time - but this will only take a couple of seconds. In fact, if a person grows a beard that covers half the face and puts on glasses and pulls the hat over the eyes, the system would definitely give up - and declare the person a stranger. The person would have to unmask.
In any case, the system’s reliability is much higher than that of ordinary turnstiles with magnetic cards or even that of an admission system with a security guard at the entrance. Anyway, such "permit" can not be lost, left at home or handed over to a colleague so that he/she registered him/herself on your behalf. Do not lose the face - and the smart turnstile would appreciate that.

Российские ученые-ядерщики из Объединенного института ядерных исследований в Дубне создали батарею, которая может работать как от солнечной, так и от звездной энергии, независимо от погодных условий.

Russian scientists have invented a battery that can capture energy not only from the sun, but also from the stars, the head of a research institute at the Dubna Nuclear Institute, near Moscow, said.
"The scientists have successfully created a new substance," Valentin Samoilov announced, "thanks to which this battery can work on earth, independently of meteorological conditions, using solar and stellar energy."
"This is a battery like no other," Samoilov, who head's the Institute's center for applied research, told the Itar-Tass news agency, explaining that it could function 24 hours a day and was twice as effective as an ordinary solar panel at converting light into electricity.
Moreover, Samoilov declared, the new battery was cheaper than a solar panel.

Землетрясения бывают сильные, слабые и очень слабые - наноземлетрясения силой минус пять баллов. Подтвердить их существование и измерить удалось российским исследователям из Института экологических проблем Севера УО РАН и Института физики земли им. О.Ю.Шмидта РАН при поддержке РФФИ.

Researchers of the Institute of Ecological Problems of the North, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Schmidt Institute of Physics of Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, have developed technology that allows to register nanoearthquakes - seismic events of minimal possible magnitudes (-4, -5). Registration of such events allows to quickly and accurately make up seismic activity maps of small-scale territories.
Investigation of seismic activity in quiet areas (including revelation and assessment of degree of fracture activity) is of great practical importance. People are laying pipelines, building nuclear power-stations, radioactive waste storages and other potentially dangerous constructions, including tower buildings. However, the earth is vibrating from time to time even in the quietest areas. Certainly, typical shaking of the earth in the middle of the platform is much weaker than that in active regions, but it can also cause trouble if minifracture happens to go under a nuclear power plant. Nanoearthquakes can serve the indicator of seismic well-being in a certain area, but observations over nanoearthquakes require special technology.
Seismic activity of the territory is judged by the earthquake recurrence diagram. In a double logarithmic scale, the diagram represents a straight line, the slope of which characterized seismic activity. The diagram is drawn up based on observation results. Strong earthquakes are the easiest to register but they have to be awaited for a long time. To obtain reliable information about weaker and more frequent quakes, which slightly exceed the noise level and occur 10 to 20 times within half an hour, the researchers have to spend several days per each spot. Only three hours are needed to measure the most feeble events, but they are difficult to be distinguished from disturbances caused by the wash, transport motion or the life of a big settlemen. Besides, existence of such feeble vibrations was assumed only theoretically. However, Russian geophysicists have managed to record them.
They solved technical difficulties by placing seismic sensors simultaneously in three spots: at the very measurement point and 1 to 3 kilometers to the north and south from it, and then – in the latitudinal direction – to the east and to the west. Registration of microquakes was carried out in the 0.5-30 Hz band, the majority of man-caused noise being sieved out at this frequency. The above method also allows to ignore surface vibrations and to take into account only quakes coming from the depth. The researchers made records in each of the three points for three hours, and then they compared the records, thus counting the coherence function between the points. As seismic noise level is approximately the same in a small territory, the method allows to quantitatively compare seismic activity in the points located 1 to 3 kilometers from each other, and to single out feeble earthquakes, the energy of which is billion of times less than that of earthquakes registered by ordinary seismic stations. Therefore, the researchers have confirmed that nanoearthquakes do exist.
With the help of two simultaneously operating portable digital seismometric stations, the researchers rather quickly took a reading from more than 20 points in the region of the Northern Dvina estuary not far from Arkhangelsk. The region was not selected at random – the researchers had previously investigated it and found an active fracture in the the earth’s crust. Recording of nanoearthequakes allowed to more precisely define position and structure of this fracture.
Making an assessment of the new nanoseismic technology, its developers emphasize its simplicity and economy, which are very important for reconnaissance work, particularly in almost impassable conditions. Such technology will help to investigate global processes in the solid covering of earth and the role of seismically quiet areas in these processes.

27 мая на орбиту был запущен космический аппарат "Компас-2", с помощью которого специалисты Института земного магнетизма, ионосферы и распространения радиоволн (ИЗМИРАН) надеются научиться прогнозировать землетрясения. "Компас-2" будет обнаруживать и регистрировать различные аномалии в литосфере, ионосфере и магнитосфере Земли, которые появляются после землетрясений, торнадо и других катаклизмов. Кроме того, с его помощью ученые собираются вести оперативный анализ этих аномалий и искать признаки предстоящих сильных землетрясений.

Using a Russian Navy strategic submarine and a converted ballistic missile, a small research satellite was launched into orbit Friday on a mission to aid in the potential development of earthquake forecasts from space.
The Shtil 1 rocket blasted out of its launch tube at 1850 GMT (2:50 p.m. EDT). The three-stage liquid-fueled booster later released its payload as planned into the targeted orbit with a high point of about 300 miles, a low point of approximately 250 miles, and an inclination of around 79 degrees.
The launch originated from the Russian Navy's nuclear-powered Ekaterinburg submarine submerged in the Barents Sea inside the Arctic Circle offshore Russia's northern coast.
Ground controllers detected the first signals from the craft approximately seven hours later when it passed over a Russian ground station. The Complex Orbital Magneto-Plasma Autonomous Small Satellite 2 (COMPASS 2) was determined to be in good health, officials said. Known as Kompas 2 in the Russian language, the 180-pound microsatellite will soon begin its mission to study earthquakes and other natural disasters.
The mission is managed by the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Waves Propagation, or IZMIRAN, which is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The satellite carries five scientific instruments - totaling almost 45 pounds - to detect seismic activity and to help determine the tell-tale signs of impending earthquakes and other natural phenomena. Provided by scientists from Russia, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, and Ukraine, the instruments will probe the Earth's underground lithosphere, atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere to learn how each terrestrial region is connected with a variety of events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical cyclones, and tornadoes.
Data from these studies will contribute to the efforts of scientists to establish a model for the cause-and-effect links associated with natural disasters found in all regions of the Earth. Scientists also hope to find precursors of earthquakes that will help in possible predictions of earthquakes based on information gathered from satellites in space.
Links between the upper atmosphere and seismic activity were first noticed in the 1960s, but hard scientific data was not available until 1979. The Interkosmos 19 satellite detected an unusual low-frequency noise in a large area centered near the epicenter of an earthquake that occurred a few hours later. This finding was later confirmed by other spacecraft.
IZMIRAN launched the first COMPASS satellite in late 2001 with a specialized payload to further study these connections. The experiment quickly failed, however, when the instrument payload stopped working. A third COMPASS satellite could launch before the end of 2006.
The launch was postponed two days from Wednesday to undisclosed reasons. The flight was the 19th space launch to successfully reach orbit in 2006, and the sixth launch from Russia this year.

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