History and activities of the Arctic Public Academy of Sciences

The founding of the St. Petersburg Scientific Public Organization “The Arctic Public Academy of Sciences”, created at the beginning of the 21st century, is briefly described in the article. The Academy is based on the Arctic direction of the Geopolitics and Security Section of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Three stages of its development are designated and commented on, as well as the main directions of the Academy's activities, and examples of projects. The Academy actively participates in international forums, conferences, summits, committees, and festivals. Being an expert scientific organization, AEAS plays a vital role in civil society and consolidates domestic intellectual potential

Македонија во книжевните дела на Лав VI и Константин VII: Историја и легенда

The analysis of the works of emperors Leo VI and Constantine Porfyrogenitus illustrate the tendency of representatives of the Macedonian dynasty in Byzantium for creating the impression that they are associated with the name Macedonia as well as with the Macedonian historical traditions. This ideology was generally created by Porfyrogenitus who, in his Vita Basilii, introduced the story about a direct relationship with Philip II and Alexander III the Macedon in the genealogy of his grandfather Basil I, apart from the ancient Armenian ancestry with the Arsacids,. To attach the Macedonian descent of the dynasty founded by Basil I, in his De thematibus Porfyrogenitus deliberately represented Macedonia in a wider geographical area, creating an impression that the administrative unit–theme with the same name Macedonia was an integral part in geographical as well as in historical connotation. The tendency for glorification of the dynasty with the Macedonian historical traditions resulted in its definite association with the name Macedonia and Macedonians, which became an essential part of the identity appellation and identification of the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty. This political ideology significantly impacted the perception of the Byzantine authors and their use of Macedonian terminology in elaborating the contemporary events related to Macedonia in the 9 th -12th centur

Ideology behind the Naming: On the Origin of Basil II’s Appellation ‘Scythicus’

The paper examines the terminology used by the Byzantine authors of the 10th and 11th century as regards the Samuel’s State, which was largely shaped by the Byzantine ideology and momentary aim of the political propaganda. The analysis of the Byzantine sources shows that by the end of the 10th century Basil II became known as “Scythicus”, because of his military achievements against Samuel’s State. The same context derives from Basil II’s verse Epitaph which contains ideological message about the accomplished mission given to Basil II by Christ himself in defeating the “Scythians”. Hence, Basil II was known and wanted to be remembered, among other, as the victor over the Scythians, thus designating the enemies coming from the Samuel’s State. Following this notion, in his narrative Michael Psellos portrayed Basil II as the vanquisher of the Scythians. Psellos even provided ideological context of the subjugation of the Samuel’s State, remarking that by this Basil II actually converted these people and turned them towards God

Concept of the international programs monitoring the transboundary transport of pollution in the Black sea

The shelf of Black sea is rich to the lid posits of oil. The estimation of the reserves of the hydrocarbons only of western part of the Ukrainian shelf composes of 3,5 trln. tons of standard fuel, the oil-bearing sections of the Russian and Turkey shelf can contain to 1 billion tons of oil each. Tens of millions of tons of oil will be yearly obtained and unavoidably the part of this flow will arrive in sea.The special feature of waters of Black sea is the presence of hydrogen sulfide at the depths from 100 - 150 m. This factor substantially decreases the reliability and the period of the operation of underwater equipment. According to the estimation of specialists, the period of the service of the underwater part of the obtaining platforms under the conditions of Black sea can be reduced of up to 6 years instead of usual 20-25.The direction of flows is another special feature of Black sea waters. The existing circulatory flow along the shelf unavoidably will lead to the trans-border transfer of the pollution of sea water into the regions, where there is no oil production. First of all this relates to the coast of Bulgaria. The flow of the contaminated water from the Rumanian and Ukrainian sectors of the sea shelf, where the oil will be obtained on the large scales, can be mortally dangerous for nature of Bulgarian coast. In the prevailing situation it is necessary to initiate and to begin the coordinated actions of all Black Sea countries - Bulgaria, Rumania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey and Greece, directed toward the decrease of the threat of the pollution of Black sea during the industrial output of hydrocarbons from the sea shelf. It is obvious that each of the countries will be forced have the national system of monitoring the pollution of sea water in their sector of Black sea. Will be first of all claimed the systems of monitoring the trans-border transfer of the pollution of sea water, which make it possible to operationally and twenty-four hour determine the volume of the entered pollution, their composition and the hazard level

Evolution Of Geopolitic Factors, Determining Regional Spatial Planning Of Arctic Regions

Purpose of one of the priority projects of the Arctic academy of sciences is development, based on the principles of safe and sustainable development, taking into account the experience of United Nations - HABITAT and purposes of the development of United Nations, practical recommendations regarding the guarantee of level and quality of the life of population and sustainable development of the populated areas of Russia, the creation on the basis of the development of the contemporary engineering and transport infrastructure of favorable conditions for the effective economic activity, the economical utilization of natural resources, protection of environment with the use of a contemporary system of local self-guidance to in connection with selected pilot city- models. This purpose determines the basic content of the spatial planning of Arctic regions.The special features of the geopolitical factors, which determine interregional interactions of the Arctic super-region consist in the new role of regions under the conditions of globalization. In the presentation there are geographical, political, economical, ecological, military, demographic, cultural-religious, ethnic,intellectual factors discussion. Geographical factor is defined by spatial position and natural resources. It is basic for Russia and its evolution only for the last century had an essential change of Russia and new approaches of definiting of external borders of continental shelf in Arctic regions instead of sectorial to the following from the Convention on the International marine law accepted not by all subarctic states. Political factor consists in type of statehood, organizational structure of management, division of authorities, social structure of a society, presence of a civil society, freedom of the Mass Media.Economic factor is defined by people standard of living, capacities, agrarian capacities, a transport communication infrastructure, mobilization capacities. This factor is the major, defining the maintenance and forms the inter-regional and intraregional interaction. The comment can be only one as there are interesting slogans of type «Fights for Arctic regions» which are however not unreasonable, but evolution of this factor allows to assert that the one who will provide higher quality of life in region will win fight. Here one more important thesis is pertinent: if quality of life grows in region more slowly than manufacture growth there will be colonial character of interactions.Russia has made enormous efforts in North development. Unique manufactures in the north, unique Northern sea route are created. Now all leading countries show heightened interest to Arctic regions as to a source of safe development in the XXI century. Actual are questions: What is mission of Russia in Arctic? Has Russia abilities to discharge such mission? Are other States agree and approve Russian mission in Arctic

Underwater collection of methane on east arctic shelf low-expensive technology of gas extraction

In connection with the global warming of climate in the Arctic zone (both on dry land and in the sea shelf) began the processes of decomposition of the permafrost, accompanied by isolation into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and methane.The enormous deposits of methane hydrates on the bottom of the Laptev Sea, Eastern Siberian and Chukchi Sea, sea of Beaufort (depth not more than 50 m) began to separate methane into entire the increasing quantity.Freely separating from sea methanehydrates methane - this is the new alternative source of natural working medium with the extracted reserves into tens of trillions of cubometers of gas, which at present in no way is used. For putting out such a methane will be required neither seismic survey works nor reconnaissance boring nor enormous obtaining sea platforms. Expenditures for the production of the underwater, fully automated collectors of methane, their installation to the shoal (at the depths not more than 50 m), the padding on the bottom of the sea of gas pipe for pumping of gas to the coast station, the building and the maintenance coast gas station and power station, which works on the obtained gas, will be the basic expenditures with this method of putting out the gas. Power station is necessary for the guarantee with the electric power of all technological process of this method of putting out the gas.The natural conditions of the Laptev Sea and of the East Siberian Sea enhance to that proposed by the authors of the technology of the output of methane (small depth, the small fluctuations of sea level, the absence of strong flows, etc); therefore development and introduction of this technology can be executed only in 3-5 years. With the high degree of probability it is possible to assume that in this time the intensity of the isolation of methane even more will grow under the action of global warming and the proposed technology will undergo considerable development for the purpose of the gasification of the populated areas on eastern- Arctic shelf of Russia

Microscopy study of ripples created on steel surface by use of ultra short laser pulses

This paper concentrates on ripples on the surface of steel that arise from lasermaterial interaction. In particular we have observed two different sets of ripples on steel samples that were machined by 210 fs laser pulses with 800 nm wavelength at normal incidence. Small ripples were found with spacing of about 250 nm lying longitudinal to the vector of laser beam polarization. Big ripples exhibited at a much larger distance of about 500 nm and they are perpendicular to the polarization vector. The laser treated surfaces were investigated with\ud Scanning Electron, Confocal and Atomic Force Microscopy. The laser-material interaction could be divided into three subsequent steps: absorption of laser light via electron gas excitations, transfer of heat into the lattice followed by a thermal expansion of material. From our microscopic observations it is concluded that the small ripples are formed by solidification of liquid material present as a thin layer near the interface of solid bulk material

Russian Chinese Cooperation in the Arctic and Maritime Security

The current state, problems and prospects of cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic are considered in relation to the problems of connecting the Eurasian partnership with the “One Belt, One Way” initiative put forward by the leadership of China and supported by a number of European and Asian states

The Role of Insulin Therapy in Correcting Hepcidin Levels in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Objectives: Iron overload can cause or contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but how the major parameters of iron metabolism change in different settings of diabetes are still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between iron, ferritin, and hepcidin levels in diabetic patients and the effect of insulin treatment. Methods: The study included 80 subjects, 60 with T2DM and 20 without (control group). Serum hepcidin, insulin, ferritin, and iron levels were determined as well as other clinical parameters. The associations between these parameters were analyzed between both groups. Results: Hepcidin levels expressed as mean± standard deviation between groups showed no significant changes (14.4±6.7 ng/mL for the control group, and 18.4±7.9 ng/mL for patients with diabetes, p = 0.069). Parameters of iron metabolism showed modest correlation with the parameters of glucose metabolism. However, the correlation between ferritin and insulin in both groups was statistically significant (p = 0.032; ρ = 0.480 vs. p = 0.011; ρ = 0.328). Conclusions: Our study showed that hepcidin levels in patients with T2DM on insulin therapy do not change, which might be a result of treatment with insulin. In this context, insulin treatment can be used as a novel method for correction of hepcidin levels. By correcting hepcidin levels, we can prevent cellular iron overload and reduce the risk of diabetes