Evolving from hybrid conflict leading into conventional warfare? The Russian concept of military impact, with particular reference to the changes after 2018

W artykule opisano ewolucję rosyjskiej koncepcji działań militarnych jako formy realizacji polityki bezpieczeństwa. Przedstawiono istotne zmiany w koncepcji dotyczącej prowadzenia działań hybrydowych w stosunku do sposobu, w jaki je realizowano podczas aneksji Półwyspu Krymskiego oraz rosyjskiej interwencji w Syrii. Wykazano, że obowiązująca od 2018 r. koncepcja przebudowy sił zbrojnych ma na celu ich przygotowanie do realizacji zarówno tzw. operacji zintegrowanych, poszerzania zewnętrznej strefy obrony, jak i operacji o charakterze antydostępowym. Służyć temu ma wyposażenie sił zbrojnych w odpowiednie środki, umożliwiające wykonywanie tak sformułowanych zadań, oraz wdrożenie strategii aktywnej obrony, zakładającej podejmowanie przez Rosję działań wyprzedzających na podstawie precyzyjnych algorytmów planowania. Uzupełnieniem rosyjskiej strategii aktywnej obrony jest strategia działań ograniczonych. Zdaniem rosyjskich ekspertów powinna ona zakładać prowadzenie działań zewnętrznych w celu ochrony oraz promowania rosyjskich interesów za granicą. Z przeprowadzonych analiz wynika, że Rosjanie uznali, że podstawową formą konfliktu polityczno-militarnego zarówno obecnie, jak i w przyszłości będzie konflikt nieliniowy o dynamicznym przebiegu. W związku z tym ważną rolę przypisano możliwościom stosowania instrumentarium kinetycznego i niekinetycznego oraz operacjom specjalnym o kompleksowym charakterze. W celu realizacji tych planów gruntownie zreformowano siły zbrojne. Zmieniono strukturę organizacyjną, system szkolenia i zmodernizowano uzbrojenie. Najważniejszy etap reform został ukończony, pomimo sankcji, w grudniu 2020 r. Na zmiany wprowadzane w rosyjskiej doktrynie wojskowej miały wpływ doświadczenia płynące z działań w Syrii i Donbasie. Przede wszystkim nastąpiło odejście od prymatu zsynchronizowanych działań niemilitarnych w ramach niekinetycznej operacji destabilizacyjnej. Obecnie główny sposób prowadzenia operacji polega na skoordynowanym użyciu środków wojskowych i pozamilitarnych, przy czym siły zbrojne odgrywają w takich operacjach decydującą rolę.The article presents the evolution of the Russian idea of military operations as a form of implementing security policy. Significant changes in the concept of conducting hybrid operations were pointed out in relation to the way they were carried out in the process of the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and during the Russian intervention in Syria. It was shown that the concept of the reconstruction of the armed forces since 2018 has been aimed at both preparing them for the implementation of the so-called integrated operations, expanding the external defence zone, and performing antiaccess operations. This is to be achieved by adequately saturating the armed forces with the necessary means to conduct such a task and by practically implementing the active defence strategy, which assumes that Russia will take pre-emptive actions based on precise planning algorithms. The Russian strategy of active defence is complemented by a strategy of limited operations. According to Russian experts, this strategy should involve external actions to protect and promote Russian interests abroad. The analyses demonstrate that the Russians have decided that the basic form of contemporary and future political-military conflict will be a non-linear conflict with a dynamic course. That is why a key role has been assigned to both kinetic and non-kinetic instrumentation capabilities and special operations with a comprehensive scope. To implement these plans, a thorough reform of the armed forces was carried out in terms of restructuring the organization, reforming the training system and modernizing the armaments. The main phase of the reforms had been successfully implemented by December 2020, despite the sanctions. The experience of Syria and the Donbass influenced the transformation of the Russian military doctrine. Its most important assumption was to move away from the primacy of synchronized non-military actions within a non-kinetic destabilizing operation. The concept of coordinated use of military and non-military means with a decisive role of the armed forces has become the basic form of conducting operations of this type

Functionalized Particles Designed for Targeted Delivery

Pure bioactive compounds alone can only be exceptionally administered in medical treatment. Usually, drugs are produced as various forms of active compounds and auxiliary substances, combinations assuring the desired healing functions. One of the important drug forms is represented by a combination of active substances and particle-shaped polymer in the nano- or micrometer size range. The review describes recent progress in this field balanced with basic information. After a brief introduction, the paper presents a concise overview of polymers used as components of nano- and microparticle drug carriers. Thereafter, progress in direct synthesis of polymer particles with functional groups is discussed. A section is devoted to formation of particles by self-assembly of homo- and copolymer-bearing functional groups. Special attention is focused on modification of the primary functional groups introduced during particle preparation, including introduction of ligands promoting anchorage of particles onto the chosen living cell types by interactions with specific receptors present in cell membranes. Particular attention is focused on progress in methods suitable for preparation of particles loaded with bioactive substances. The review ends with a brief discussion of the still not answered questions and unsolved problems

Personalized prediction of the secondary oocytes number after ovarian stimulation: A machine learning model based on clinical and genetic data.

Controlled ovarian stimulation is tailored to the patient based on clinical parameters but estimating the number of retrieved metaphase II (MII) oocytes is a challenge. Here, we have developed a model that takes advantage of the patient's genetic and clinical characteristics simultaneously for predicting the stimulation outcome. Sequence variants in reproduction-related genes identified by next-generation sequencing were matched to groups of various MII oocyte counts using ranking, correspondence analysis, and self-organizing map methods. The gradient boosting machine technique was used to train models on a clinical dataset of 8,574 or a clinical-genetic dataset of 516 ovarian stimulations. The clinical-genetic model predicted the number of MII oocytes better than that based on clinical data. Anti-Müllerian hormone level and antral follicle count were the two most important predictors while a genetic feature consisting of sequence variants in the GDF9, LHCGR, FSHB, ESR1, and ESR2 genes was the third. The combined contribution of genetic features important for the prediction was over one-third of that revealed for anti-Müllerian hormone. Predictions of our clinical-genetic model accurately matched individuals' actual outcomes preventing over- or underestimation. The genetic data upgrades the personalized prediction of ovarian stimulation outcomes, thus improving the in vitro fertilization procedure