Twin cities: a new form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region?

The paper demonstrates the first attempt in Russian political studies to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the "twin city" movement as a form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic region. This phenomenon emerged as a result of a global tendency towards more active involvement of municipal units in international cooperation, on the one hand, and aspirations of frontier cities and towns in the Baltic region to solve common problems together, on the other hand. This work is based on a comparative analysis method and a case study methodology. The authors consider four examples (city pairs): Tornio - Haparanda, Valga - Valka, Narva - Ivangorod and Imatra - Svetogorsk. The article specifies the terminological framework used in this field of research. The authors analyse achievements and failures of this type of international inter-municipal cooperation and emphasise that for twin cities it served not only as a means of survival in the difficult situation of the 1990s, but also as an experimental ground for new forms of crossborder cooperation. The authors arrive at the conclusion that this model proves to be promising for further development of integration processes in the Baltic region. This practice can be applied by Russian municipal, regional and federal authorities in promotion of cross-border cooperation not only in the Baltic region, but also in other regions of the country. Thus, influenced by the successful experience of Baltic frontier cities and towns, the Russian city of Nikel and the Norwegian city of Kirkenes decided to adopt this model for further development of their cooperation

The quasi-periodic doubling cascade in the transition to weak turbulence

The quasi-periodic doubling cascade is shown to occur in the transition from regular to weakly turbulent behaviour in simulations of incompressible Navier-Stokes flow on a three-periodic domain. Special symmetries are imposed on the flow field in order to reduce the computational effort. Thus we can apply tools from dynamical systems theory such as continuation of periodic orbits and computation of Lyapunov exponents. We propose a model ODE for the quasi-period doubling cascade which, in a limit of a perturbation parameter to zero, avoids resonance related problems. The cascade we observe in the simulations is then compared to the perturbed case, in which resonances complicate the bifurcation scenario. In particular, we compare the frequency spectrum and the Lyapunov exponents. The perturbed model ODE is shown to be in good agreement with the simulations of weak turbulence. The scaling of the observed cascade is shown to resemble the unperturbed case, which is directly related to the well known doubling cascade of periodic orbits

Lifelong learning progress monitoring as a tool for local development management

The concept of learning cities and regions is recently becoming widespread both in the European and global theory of regional development acting as a tool for successful local socio-economic development management of a city and region, development of their human potential, the basis of the regional education policy of countries. Analysis of theoretical principles and, particularly, the practice of implementing the concept of learning cities and regions for Ukraine is currently a necessary condition for its sustainable development, full entry into the European and global economy, as well as the educational space. All mentioned above makes relevant the research of theory and practice of the European and world regional education policy on the example of learning cities and regions. The article analyzes the potential of the Composite Learning Index and European Lifelong Learning Index to monitor the progress of lifelong learning as a tool for local development management and proposes the list of indicators and measures – the Ukrainian Lifelong Learning Index – adapted to the Ukrainian education area

Разработка генеративной состязательной нейронной сети для идентификации потенциальных ингибиторов ВИЧ-1 методами глубокого обучения

A generative adversarial autoencoder for the rational design of potential HIV-1 entry inhibitors able to block the region of the viral envelope protein gp120 critical for the virus binding to cellular receptor CD4 was developed using deep learning methods. The research were carried out to create the  architecture of the neural network, to form  virtual compound library of potential anti-HIV-1 agents for training the neural network, to make  molecular docking of all compounds from this library with gp120, to  calculate the values of binding free energy, to generate molecular fingerprints for chemical compounds from the training dataset. The training the neural network was implemented followed by estimation of the learning outcomes and work of the autoencoder.  The validation of the neural network on a wide range of compounds from the ZINC database was carried out. The use of the neural network in combination with virtual screening of chemical databases was shown to form a productive platform for identifying the basic structures promising for the design of novel antiviral drugs that inhibit the early stages of HIV infection.Методами глубокого обучения разработан генеративный состязательный автоэнкодер для рационального дизайна потенциальных ингибиторов проникновения ВИЧ-1, способных блокировать участок белка gp120 оболочки вируса, критический для его связывания с клеточным рецептором CD4. Были выполнены исследования, включающие создание архитектуры автоэнкодера, формирование молекулярной библиотеки потенциальных лигандов белка gp120 ВИЧ-1 для обучения нейронной сети, молекулярный докинг лигандов с белком gp120 и расчет свободной энергии связывания, генерацию молекулярных дескрипторов химических соединений обучающего набора данных, обучение нейронной сети, оценку результатов обучения и работы автоэнкодера.  Рассмотрены результаты тестирования автоэнкодера на широком наборе соединений из молекулярной библиотеки ZINC. Показано, что совместное использование нейронной сети с виртуальным скринингом баз данных химических соединений формирует продуктивную платформу для идентификации базовых структур, перспективных для создания новых противовирусных препаратов, ингибирующих ранние стадии развития ВИЧ-инфекции

«Goroda-bliznecy»: novaja forma prigranichnogo sotrudnichestva v Baltijskom regione? [Twin cities: a new form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region?]

The paper demonstrates the first attempt in Russian political studies to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the “twin city” movement as a form of cross-border cooperation in the Baltic region. This phenomenon emerged as a result of a global tendency towards more active involvement of municipal units in international cooperation, on the one hand, and aspirations of frontier cities and towns in the Baltic region to solve common problems together, on the other hand. This work is based on a comparative analysis method and a case study methodology. The authors consider four examples (city pairs): Tornio — Haparanda, Valga — Valka, Narva — Ivangorod and Imatra — Svetogorsk. The article specifies the terminological framework used in this field of research. The authors analyse achievements and failures of this type of international inter-municipal cooperation and emphasise that for twin cities it served not only as a means of survival in the difficult situation of the 1990s, but also as an experimental ground for new forms of crossborder cooperation. The authors arrive at the conclusion that this model proves to be promising for further development of integration processes in the Baltic region. This practice can be applied by Russian municipal, regional and federal authorities in promotion of cross-border cooperation not only in the Baltic region, but also in other regions of the country. Thus, influenced by the successful experience of Baltic frontier cities and towns, the Russian city of Nikel and the Norwegian city of Kirkenes decided to adopt this model for further development of their cooperation

Toward a robust system to monitor the head motions during PET based on facial landmarks detection: a new approach.

A new approach for the detection of head motions during PET scanning is presented. The proposed system includes 4 modules, which are: input module, face segmentation, facial landmark detection, and head movement estimation. The developed system is tested on pictures monitoring a subject's head while simulating PET scanning (n=12) and face images of subjects with different skin colours (n=31). Experimental results show that the centres of chosen facial landmarks (eye corners and middle point of nose basement) can be detected with high precision (1?0.64 pixels). Processing of 2D images with known moving parameters demonstrates that the parameter movement in terms of rotation and translation along X, Y, and Z directions can be obtained very accurately via the developed methods

High-precision detection of facial landmarks to estimate head motions based on vision models

A new approach of determination of head movement is presented from the pictures recorded via digital cameras monitoring the scanning processing of PET. Two human vision models of CIECAMs and BMV are applied to segment the face region via skin colour and to detect local facial landmarks respectively. The developed algorithms are evaluated on the pictures (n=12) monitoring a subject’s head while simulating PET scanning captured by two calibrated cameras (located in the front and left side from a subject). It is shown that centers of chosen facial landmarks of eye corners and middle point of nose basement have been detected with very high precision (1 ± 0.64 pixels). Three landmarks on pictures received by the front camera and two by the side camera have been identified. Preliminary results on 2D images with known moving parameters show that movement parameters of rotations and translations along X, Y, and Z directions can be obtained very accurately via the described methods

Математичне моделювання підйому біогазу над полігоном твердих побутових відходів

The mathematical model specified height and time dependence of the center movement speed, proper size (radius), excess relative temperature, buoyancy of heated gas formations (biogas) with convective rise in atmospheric air above the municipal solid waste polygon has been developed in the paper. The numerical estimates of changes in the main parameters of heated gas formations for proper situations from the municipal solid waste polygon have been providedРозроблено математичну модель, яка описує динаміку конвекційного підйому нагрітих газоутворень (біогазу) в атмосферному повітрі. Встановлені висотні та часові залежності швидкості переміщення, характерного розміру, надлишкової відносної температури, плавучості цих газоутворень. Виконані числові оцінки зміни основних параметрів газоутворень для характерних ситуацій на полігоні твердих побутових відході