Dealing with Low-Tech Terrorist Communications in the Hi-Tech Age: Toward a Theory of Fault-Intolerant Network Organizations

Information systems analysts have typically focused on high technology, often overlooking low-technology communications even though the core of social network load is still essentially low-tech. In this context, the paper argues that while hi-tech offers efficiency gains at the individual level, many shortcomings prevent its complete penetration at the social network level in organizations that operate in hostile environments, requiring them to prioritize fault-tolerance above efficiency. Thus, such fault-intolerant network organizations optimize hi-tech for the individual level and low-tech for the social network level. The general class of such organizations is well represented among business and government structures; however, terrorist organizations provide an especially fitting research case at this time of acute terrorist threats facing the world economy and society at large. Hence, setting aside the prevailing preoccupation with hi-tech and attempting to understand the underlying principles of the high- versus low-tech interplay, particularly as applied to these organizations, is crucial in being able to detect terrorist communications and thwart their activities. Toward this goal, this paper introduces a concept of fault-intolerant network organization (FINO) and develops an analytical framework for addressing the research question of how such organizations use technology

Clip Thinking and Its Influence the Teaching Methodology

The research is devoted to the issues of the so-called clip thinking impact on teaching methods in modern higher education. The survey was conducted among teachers of the Institute of Foreign Languages of the People Friendship University of Russia, Moscow. Teachers, teaching both full-time and evening students (n = 24) were interviewed. Clip thinking is one of the results of widespread digitalization and is expressed in the inability to focus on the same subject for more than a minute or two. This feature is inextricably linked with the multi-tasking of a modern person who constantly checks for new messages on social networks, is distracted by online messenges, news and other information that appears in his / her smartphone or computer, while maintaining focus on the main issue (work, study) in the “background”. Clip thinking features are taken into account by television, cinema and animation: if in films and television programs created before the ubiquitous distribution of the Internet, the same scene could last 5–10 minutes, then in modern films switching between scenes is much more frequent, and when editing TV programs one the frame does not hold on the screen for longer than 10–20 seconds. Teaching in the conditions of clip thinking should and can, on the one hand, adapt to the audience’s characteristics, and on the other hand, try to develop the student and instill in him / her the ability to focus for a longer period of time. In the context of teaching a foreign language, which implies an emphasis on practical work, it is quite simple to maintain a balance: since a different type of speech activity is used in the work of a foreign language teacher, various types of texts and visual material can be offered for students to work, it’s enough to provide the teacher with relatively quick switching between these activities. Keywords: teaching, teaching methods, digitalization, clip thinking, discrete teachin

Indentation behavior of superelastic hard carbon

Supererlastic hard carbon particles up to 1 mmin size were produced by fullerene collapse upon high-pressure high-temperature treatment with simultaneous sintering of metal-matrix composite materials (CM) reinforced by such particles. The hardness of carbon particles can be varied in a wide range by changing the parameters of their structure, which consists of curved graphene planes or their packets of different sizes. Such carbon phase was called “nanoclusterd graphene phase” (NGP) [1]. The properties of the carbon particles were controlled by changing treatment pressure (5 and 8 GPa) and temperature (1100-1800 K), composition of parent fullerites (C60 or C60/70), and pre-treatment (ball milling) of parent fullerites. The carbon particles formed from fullerites under pressure are close to diamond-like carbon coatings in mechanical properties (combination of high hardness and high elasticity), but they are sufficiently large for their microhardness testing at rather high loads. The mechanical characteristics of the carbon particles were tested with a DUH 211S (Shimadzu) tester according to ISO14577 with a Vickers indenter at loads of 10-1970 mN in load-unload regime at a strain rate of 70 mN/sec. The Martens hardness HM measured at a load of 500 mN on the carbon particles of 28 CMsamples was varied from 2700 to 13600 N/mm2; the corresponding indentation hardness HIT changes from 8100 to 42400 N/mm2, i.e., for the carbon material under consideration, HIT/HM = ~3. Such great difference between the above hardness parameters is due to a great contribution of the elastic deformation to the total deformation upon indentation. The ratio between the corresponding deformation works hIT = Welast/Wtotal (%) with increasing hardness decreases from 87 to 78%, but still remains very high, exhibiting the superelastic behavior of the NGP carbon particles. All samples are characterized by the indentation size effect (ISE), which manifests itself as decreasing HM, HIT, and EIT with increasing Fmax. The ISE becomes more pronounced with increasing hardness of the carbon particles, for example, HM of the least and most hard particles with increasing Fmax decreases by a factor of 1.7 (from 3900 to 2300 N/mm2) and 5.4 (from 40200 to 7400 N/mm2), respectively. The intensity of hardness reduction in the range of small loads (10-250 N) is significantly higher than in a range of 250-1970 N. The elastic recovery upon indentation expressed as hIT at Fmax ranging between 250 and 1970 N is virtually unchanged while, at lower loads, the dependence of hIT on Fmax is non-monotonic, with a small peak at Fmax = 50 N in all cases. Indentation creep CIT (%) was measured at Fmax = 500, 1000, and 1970 N, the holding times at Fmax were 60, 300, and 600 sec. For all samples, CIT decreases with increasing Fmax and increases with holding time. The time dependence curves of CIT tend to saturation with increasing Fmax. CIT increases with increasing hardness of the superelastic hard carbon particles

Econometric Estimation of Economic Growth by Purchasing management: Neovlassical Models to the Analysis of Qualitative Changes

Based on the review of theories of economic growth, attention is focused on the sources of regional economic growth by purchasing management. Using linear regression models, a sample of data from 83 Russian regions from 2010 to 2016 reflects the short-term dynamics of regressors influence on the gross regional product growth. On the basis of partial elasticity coefficients, it is empirically revealed that the greatest influence on the gross regional product is exerted by investments in fixed capital, in contrast to the costs of technological innovations. The conclusion about the statistically significant difference in the impact of the volume of investment in fixed capital and the cost of technological innovation on the gross regional product is formulated on the basis of a comparison of the modular values of the boundaries of confidence intervals: if the intervals intersect, there is no statistical difference between the coefficients.  It is possible to recommend to apply the results to regional authorities in the development of regional economic policy in the field of investment and innovation.  The assumption that the growth of investment in fixed capital and rising costs of technological innovation increase the gross regional product is empirically confirmed. Investment in fixed capital has a greater impact on gross regional product than the cost of technological innovation. In 2015, 2016 compared to 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, the impact of investments in fixed assets in the direction of increase, relative to the impact of costs on technological innovation is statistically different. In further studies, to eliminate the bias in the estimates of regression coefficients, it is advisable to expand the range of regressors of the gross regional product, to use econometric models for the analysis of panel data

The practical barriers to kickstarting the innovation and investment in the sphere of construction in Russian Federation

We have identified the main issues in introducing innovation into a construction project. The solution is realized through the study of both objective and subjective obstacles to the introduction of the innovative technologies in the investment - construction cycle, which is treated as a single process, because the economic effects of innovation can be evaluated only within the full life cycle of a building. We created a highly interconnected financial model of the compounding effects of innovation in the construction industry. We present the Russian construction market’s challenges and feedback loops in innovation by using graph theory and complex analysis. The article presents the method developed in the scientific school «Methodological problems of the economic effectiveness of regional construction clusters as a self-ordering system» that shows the algorithmic consistency and transparency of evaluating the effectiveness of the innovations. The described method can be used in a large array of scientific and theoretical tasks: from the replication of the method to other types of economic activity to the synthesis of methods and models for identifying key areas of innovation activity. It can also be used to build a method for assessing the innovative potential of a project

Genetic diversity of Microsporidia in the circulatory system of endemic amphipods from different locations and depths of ancient Lake Baikal

Endemic amphipods (Amphipoda, Crustacea) of the most ancient and large freshwater Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia) are a highly diverse group comprising >15% of all known species of continental amphipods. The extensive endemic biodiversity of Baikal amphipods provides the unique opportunity to study interactions and possible coevolution of this group and their parasites, such as Microsporidia. In this study, we investigated microsporidian diversity in the circulatory system of 22 endemic species of amphipods inhabiting littoral, sublittoral and deep-water zones in all three basins of Lake Baikal. Using molecular genetic techniques, we found microsporidian DNA in two littoral (Eulimnogammarus verrucosus, Eulimnogammarus cyaneus), two littoral/sublittoral (Pallasea cancellus, Eulimnogammarus marituji) and two sublittoral/deep-water (Acanthogammarus lappaceus longispinus, Acanthogammarus victorii maculosus) endemic species. Twenty sequences of the small subunit ribosomal (SSU) rDNA were obtained from the haemolymph of the six endemic amphipod species sampled from 0–60 m depths at the Southern Lake Baikal’s basin (only the Western shore) and at the Central Baikal. They form clusters with similarity to Enterocytospora, Cucumispora, Dictyocoela, and several unassigned Microsporidia sequences, respectively. Our sequence data show similarity to previously identified microsporidian DNA from inhabitants of both Lake Baikal and other water reservoirs. The results of our study suggest that the genetic diversity of Microsporidia in haemolymph of endemic amphipods from Lake Baikal does not correlate with host species, geographic location or depth factors but is homogeneously diverse

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Improvement of the multiphoton fluorescence microscopy images quality using digital filtration

In our study we used rank-order filter, the emissions filter on the base of the criteria of Pearson, Gaussian filter and median filterfor improving the is fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) data. The data obtained with the FLIM technology are the distribution with a pronounced peak, while during measurement the peak value is measured with an error. According to the analysisthe Gaussian filter is more useful to improve quality of FLIM data.Spatial filtering allows to reduce the noise component, obtained in the course of measurements, including reduction the influence of the individual bursts. Filtering in time scale allows to determine a peak value of intensity more accurately.This research was carried out using the equipment of Tomsk Regional Common Use Center of Tomsk State University