A conference on social stratification in Russia between the 16th and 20th centuries: european context

The article was submitted on 28.08.2017.The author reviews the international conference “Social Stratification in Russia between the 16th and 20th Centuries in the Context of European History”, which took place in Yekaterinburg (14–18 November 2016). The review demonstrates that representatives of leading academic centres discussed and analysed topical issues in social history today. The participants’ expertise and the character of discussions lead the author to conclude that Yekaterinburg may be considered an important centre for the study of the social history of the modern era, with the works of Ural historians being highly relevant. The conference was held by leading Ural academic centres for the humanities (the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Ural Federal University) and became a notable event in the work of social historians.Обзор международной научной конференции «Социальная стратификация России XVI–XX вв. в контексте европейской истории» (Екатеринбург, 14–18 ноября 2016 г.), предпринятый автором, показывает, что на ее площадках, объединивших представителей ведущих научных центров, были обсуждены и проанализированы наиболее актуальные на сегодняшний день проблемы социальной истории. Профессиональный уровень участников, характер и направленность дискуссий позволили сделать вывод о том, что Екатеринбург сегодня может по праву считаться важнейшим центром изучения социальной истории Нового времени, а резонанс работ уральских историков в этом направлении очень высок. Конференция, проведенная ведущими гуманитарными научными центрами Урала – Институтом истории и археологии УрО РАН и Уральским федеральным университетом, стала заметным событием в организации усилий социальных историков

Muslim and newly-baptised tartars in Novgorod: the formation and functioning of a minor social group in the late 16th and early 17th centuries

The article was submitted on 28.03.2016.Рассматривается история формирования и функционирования малой социальной группы в Новгородской земле второй половины XVI – начала XVII в. На основании ряда источников реконструируется география расселения и ставится проблема конверсии – перехода мусульман в православие. Выделяются этапы социально-политической истории новгородских татар и новокрещенов до начала Смутного времени. Используется просопографический метод: изучено 418 биографий татар и новокрещенов. Основными источниками являются документы Разрядного и Поместного приказов, а также Новгородской приказной избы. История новгородских татар началась в 1550-х гг., в это время группы татар из Астрахани и Казани были испомещены в восточной части новгородских земель. Поскольку они находились на царской службе, они получили поместья, населенные православными крестьянами. Затем в течение 1550–1611 гг. различные группы мусульманского населения из Азова, Крыма, Бухары продолжали появляться в Новгороде, обретая самоидентификацию. Исследуется также проблема перехода татар из ислама в православие: устанавливается, что процесс христианизации был медленным, но под воздействием православного окружения непрерывным. В 1605 г. насчитывалось уже 197 татар-новокрещенов и 48 мусульман. После Смутного времени различия между группами татар исчезли, а районы их компактного проживания фрагментировались. Большинство татар покинули поместья и стали служить за «корм» и жалованье, хотя вплоть до Великой Северной войны сохранялась отдельная группа новгородских татар и новокрещенов.The article uses the prosopographical method to examine the history of Muslim and newly-baptised Tatars in Novgorod after 1550. 418 biographies were studied. The main sources were documents from the Razryad (service lists) and Pomestny Prikaz (land chancellery): local Novgorod court records also furnished further information. The history of the Novgorod Tartars began in the 1550s, when groups from Astrakhan and Kazan were settled in the eastern part of Novgorod region (Sugletsa and Udomlya districts). As they served the tsar, they received landed estates in Novgorod that were populated with Orthodox peasants. Between 1550 and 1611, different Muslim groups were transferred to Novgorod from Azov, the Crimea, and Bukhara; these groups maintained special identities for a long time. The conversion of Muslims to Orthodoxy is focused upon in this article: the process was slow, but the predominance of Orthodoxy in the region gradually induced local Tartar groups to accept baptism. In 1605, there were 197 newly-baptised Tartars and 48 Muslims. After the Time of Troubles, the differences between the various groups of Tartars disappeared. Most of the Tartars lost their landed estates and started to serve for food and salary; nonetheless, this special group of Novgorodian servicemen continued to exist until the Great Northern War.Статья подготовлена в рамках выполнения проекта ПФИ НИУ ВШЭ 2016 г. «Трансформация режимов управления разнообразием: война, реформы, революции в Российской империи»

Survey Of Image Processing Techniques In Medical Image Analysis And Identification

A detailed analysis of the medical image is an important step in radiation preparation. The image processing is mostly radiological, medical and treatment planning techniques. Image processing is a major part of real-time applications in the modern world. This technique of image processing enables better digital image solutions to be found.  The image processing tools have different techniques, most of them including abstractions of the compressed image data in order to reduce the quality of the image, noise-free image processors and saving space. This paper helps users to investigate the different technologies used by medical imaging to diagnose human body detection as well as to develop new techniques to improve the detection accuracy. This paper also presents technologies that apply image processing techniques to the classification of medical images with advantages and disadvantages

Who’s the Boss? Concepts of Social Power Across Development

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137499/1/cdev12643.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137499/2/cdev12643_am.pd

When should I have it?: the effect of representation and processing concreteness on consumer impatience

Consumers frequently make decisions about when to consume a product and what costs to incur to obtain sooner consumption. Prior research has demonstrated that consumers show decreasing levels of impatience as the length of delay for consumption gets longer (i.e., present-biased preferences or hyperbolic discounting). In this dissertation, I explore the roots of decreasing consumer impatience and identify factors that lead to differential sensitivity to time horizon. In two essays, I show that the concreteness of mental representation and of processing are two possible mechanisms behind present-biased preferences. I hypothesize that present-biased preferences are observed when mental representations and processing are concrete, and that this effect is attenuated when consumers think more abstractly. In essay 1, I examine the role of representational concreteness by making use of two temporal frames (delay and expedite) that differ in their associated degree of concreteness. I show that (1) defer and expedite frames are associated with different patterns of discounting, (2) the two frames are associated with differential levels of outcome concreteness, and (3) this variation in outcome concreteness can explain the difference in present bias. In essay 2, I explore the role of processing concreteness (e.g., focusing on the big picture or on the details) in consumers' present bias. I hypothesize and show that consumers who think more concretely will be more prone to hyperbolic-like discounting compared to those who think abstractly - even when processing concreteness is manipulated using an unrelated task. Taken together, this dissertation provides a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms driving intertemporal preferences in general and present-biased preferences in specific. I examine the cognitive underpinnings of present-biased preferences and use temporal framing (Essay 1) and prior decisions (Essay 2) to establish concreteness of outcomes and processing as potential sources of decreasing impatience. The results reported in this dissertation extend the current theorization in intertemporal choice, temporal framing, mental construal, and sequential decisions. These findings suggest that conceptualizing concreteness at multiple levels helps explain not only hyperbolic discounting, but also adds to the understanding of several related consumer behavior phenomena

Population Dynamics and Policies in Europe: Analysis of Population Resilience at the Subnational and National Levels

While previous research has focused on the relationship between population dynamics and policies in Europe, there has been scarce attention on dynamics at the NUTS-3 level. By looking at the population measures at subnational regions in Europe we seek to identify average population dynamics since year 2000. We group subnational regions by countries in terms of average population dynamics and assess the connection between population policies in 1996 and average population dynamics in 2000–2017 using data from World Population Policy database, the UN Population Division, the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and Eurostat. We find that urban areas and Western and Northern Europe exhibit population growth whilst rural areas and Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe have more depopulating regions. Our analyses also suggest a negative association between fertility policies and population growth

EU Peatlands: Current Carbon Stocks and Trace Gas Fluxes

Peatlands in Europe has formed a significant sink for atmospheric CO2 since the last glacial maximum. Currently they are estimated to hold ca. 42 Gt carbon in the form of peat and are therefore a considerable component in the European carbon budget. Due to the generally wet soil conditions in peatlands they are also significant emitters of the strong greenhouse gas (GHG) methane (CH4) and in some cases also of nitrous oxide (N2O). The EU funded CarboEurope-GHG Concerted Action attempts to develop a reliable and complete greenhouse gas budget for Europe and this report aims to provide a review and synthesis of the available information about GHG exchanges in European peatlands and their underlying processes. A best estimate for all the European countries shows that some are currently sinks for atmospheric CO2 while others are sources. In contrast, for CH4 and N2O, only the sources are relevant. Whilst some countries are CO2 sinks, all countries are net GHG emitters from peatlands. The results presented, however, carry large uncertainties, which cannot be adequately quantified yet. One outstanding uncertainty is the distribution of land use types, particular in Russia, the largest European peat nation. The synthesis of GHG exchange, nevertheless, indicates some interesting features. Russia hosts an estimated 41% of European peatlands and contributes most to all GHG exchanges (CO2: 25%, CH4: 52%, N2O: 26%, Total: 37%). Germany is the second-largest emitter (12% of European total) although it contains only 3.2% of European peatlands. The reason is the use of most of the peatland area for intensive cropland and grassland. The largest CO2 emitters are countries with large agricultural peatland areas (Russia, Germany, Belarus, Poland), the largest N2O emitters are those with large agricultural fen areas (Russia, Germany, Finland). In contrast, the largest CH4 emitters are concentrated in regions with large areas of intact mires, namely Russia and Scandinavia. High average emission densities above 3.5 t C-equiv. ha-1 are found in the Southeast Mediterranean, Germany and the Netherlands where agricultural use of peatlands is intense. Low average emission densities below 0.3 t C-equiv. ha-1 occur where mires and peatland forests dominate, e.g. Finland and the UK. This report concludes by pointing at key gaps in our knowledge about peatland carbon stocks and GHG exchanges which include insufficient basic information on areal distribution of peatlands, measurements of peat depth and also a lack of flux datasets providing full annual budgets of GHG exchanges