Russian National Social Security System as the Condition of Pensioners’ Well-Being

Pensioners’ well-being depends on many factors. It can be provided with the state, family, and pensioners themselves. It can be tangible and intangible. This research is limited with the following frames: only material well-being, only governmental support, 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation, the exploration period is 6 years: 2006-2011. The evaluation of 6 activities by MinMax Method, including three cash ones and three "non-cash" ones, allowed to prove empirically the hypothesis that social support of pensioners living in various federal districts of the Russian Federation is significantly different. Leveling out of these differences should be a crucial way to perfect/improve pensioners’ social support

Russian National Social Security System as the Condition of Pensioners’ Well-Being

Pensioners’ well-being depends on many factors. It can be provided with the state, family, and pensioners themselves. It can be tangible and intangible. This research is limited with the following frames: only material well-being, only governmental support, 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation, the exploration period is 6 years: 2006-2011. The evaluation of 6 activities by MinMax Method, including three cash ones and three "non-cash" ones, allowed to prove empirically the hypothesis that social support of pensioners living in various federal districts of the Russian Federation is significantly different. Leveling out of these differences should be a crucial way to perfect/improve pensioners’ social support

Population Ageing And China’s Economy

In many countries, the number and proportion of elderly people is growing. Some countries can be called ageing now; others can be attributed to this category later. The relevance of the problem of ageing is indicated by the fact that the activities of almost all international organizations are aimed at researching a particular problem of ageing. When adopting the "Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing", for the first time, the definition of "ageing" was given by the criterion of the share of 60 and 80-year-olds in the total population of the country. The first should be at least ten percent, the second - at least seven. The ageing problem of the population is especially acute for China because of the policy of birth control. The problem also lies in the fact that in China the population is aging faster than the gross domestic product is growing. It is noted that, despite the growth of both consumer spending and savings, their share in the country's gross domestic product is declining. For example, the share of final consumption is reduced from 5.9% in 2011 to 3.6 in 2014. This research assesses the impact of population ageing on a number of macroeconomic parameters, including a decrease in the share of final consumption in the gross domestic product; the instability of domestic demand for durable goods and innovative goods; labor shortage; an increase in the burden for the state budget. The research ends with proposals for improving the country's pension policy

Apokamps produced by repetitive discharges in air

New experimental and computational data on apokamps produced by repetitive discharges in air, including a detailed description of the research techniques used, are presented. It has been shown that plasma bullets–streamers in apokamps at low frequencies could start not only from the bright offshoot but also directly from the discharge channel. The experimental and computational data demonstrate that the visual color of apokamp changes from blue to red as the intensity ratio of the second to the first positive nitrogen system decreases with the decreasing pressure

Age-related determinants of the metabolic syndrome in women of reproductive age of the main ethnic groups of the Baikal Region

The aim of the study. To determine the age limit of the initial manifestations of the metabolic syndrome in women of reproductive age of the Caucasian and Asian ethnic groups. Materials and methods. The study included women of reproductive age of the Russian and Buryat ethnic groups (n = 1231). We carried out general clinical examination, studied glycemia levels and lipid metabolism indicators. The analysis of the components of the metabolic syndrome was performed taking into account age characteristics and ethnicity. Threshold values for the age of metabolic disorders manifestation were determined. Results. It was found that the main components of the metabolic syndrome in women of reproductive age of the Russian and Buryat ethnic groups were a decrease in  high-density lipoprotein (HDL), an increase in waist circumference, and an increase in blood pressure. The age-related determinants of the metabolic syndrome in the  population of women of reproductive age in the Baikal region were determined. It was shown that the age-related determinants of the metabolic syndrome in Caucasian and Asian women do not differ significantly and amount to 33.5 years (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 32.5; 38.5) and 36.5 years (95% CI: 27.5; 52.5), respectively. A universal critical age value was determined as 34.5 years (95% CI: 32.5; 38.5), which is associated with a significant increase in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in accordance with the ATP  III criteria. The ranking of metabolic syndrome criteria in the studied groups revealed the following order of their occurrence: the decrease in HDL index prevailed, followed by the increase in waist circumference, blood pressure, glucose and triglycerides; no dependence on the ethnicity was found. Conclusion. When assessing the age-related determinants of the metabolic syndrome in the mixed Caucasoid-Asian group, it is advisable to use universal approaches, taking into account the cut-off point of age, which is 34.5 years. The determination of age criteria for the correct classification of patients with respect to the manifestations of the metabolic syndrome is necessary to analyze the contribution of the age factor to the implementation of various metabolic syndrome predictors, to  develop prognostic models, and to  use effective age-determined markers of metabolic disorders

Simulation of the discharge propagation in a capillary tube in air at atmospheric pressure

International audienceThis paper presents simulations of an air plasma discharge at atmospheric pressure initiated by a needle anode set inside a dielectric capillary tube. We have studied the influence of the tube inner radius and its relative permittivity ε r on the discharge structure and dynamics. As a reference, we have used a relative permittivity ε r = 1 to study only the influence of the cylindrical constraint of the tube on the discharge. For a tube radius of 100 µm and ε r = 1, we have shown that the discharge fills the tube during its propagation and is rather homogeneous behind the discharge front. When the radius of the tube is in the range 300 to 600 µm, the discharge structure is tubular with peak values of electric field and electron density close to the dielectric surface. When the radius of the tube is larger than 700 µm, the tube has no influence on the discharge which propagates axially. For a tube radius of 100 µm, when ε r increases from 1 to 10, the discharge structure becomes tubular. We have noted that the velocity of propagation of the discharge in the tube increases when the front is more homogeneous and then, the discharge velocity increases with the decrease of the tube radius and ε r. Then, we have compared the relative influence of the value of tube radius and ε r on the discharge characteristics. Our simulations indicate that the geometrical constraint of the cylindrical tube has more influence than the value of ε r on the discharge structure and dynamics. Finally, we have studied the influence of photoemission processes on the discharge structure by varying the photoemission coefficient. As expected, we have shown that photoemission, as it increases the number of secondary electrons close to the dielectric surface, promotes the tubular structure of the discharge