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

Spatially resolved simulation of a radio frequency driven micro atmospheric pressure plasma jet and its effluent

Radio frequency driven plasma jets are frequently employed as efficient plasma sources for surface modification and other processes at atmospheric pressure. The radio-frequency driven micro atmospheric pressure plasma jet ($\mu$APPJ) is a particular variant of that concept whose geometry allows direct optical access. In this work, the characteristics of the $\mu$APPJ operated with a helium-oxygen mixture and its interaction with a helium environment are studied by numerical simulation. The density and temperature of the electrons, as well as the concentration of all reactive species are studied both in the jet itself and in its effluent. It is found that the effluent is essentially free of charge carriers but contains a substantial amount of activated oxygen (O, O$_3$ and O$_2(^1\Delta)$). The simulation results are verified by comparison with experimental data

A comparison of 3D particle, fluid and hybrid simulations for negative streamers

In the high field region at the head of a discharge streamer, the electron energy distribution develops a long tail. In negative streamers, these electrons can run away and contribute to energetic processes such as terrestrial gamma-ray and electron flashes. Moreover, electron density fluctuations can accelerate streamer branching. To track energies and locations of single electrons in relevant regions, we have developed a 3D hybrid model that couples a particle model in the region of high fields and low electron densities with a fluid model in the rest of the domain. Here we validate our 3D hybrid model on a 3D (super-)particle model for negative streamers in overvolted gaps, and we show that it almost reaches the computational efficiency of a 3D fluid model. We also show that the extended fluid model approximates the particle and the hybrid model well until stochastic fluctuations become important, while the classical fluid model underestimates velocities and ionization densities. We compare density fluctuations and the onset of branching between the models, and we compare the front velocities with an analytical approximation

Positive and negative streamers in ambient air: modeling evolution and velocities

We simulate short positive and negative streamers in air at standard temperature and pressure. They evolve in homogeneous electric fields or emerge from needle electrodes with voltages of 10 to 20 kV. The streamer velocity at given streamer length depends only weakly on the initial ionization seed, except in the case of negative streamers in homogeneous fields. We characterize the streamers by length, head radius, head charge and field enhancement. We show that the velocity of positive streamers is mainly determined by their radius and in quantitative agreement with recent experimental results both for radius and velocity. The velocity of negative streamers is dominated by electron drift in the enhanced field; in the low local fields of the present simulations, it is little influenced by photo-ionization. Though negative streamer fronts always move at least with the electron drift velocity in the local field, this drift motion broadens the streamer head, decreases the field enhancement and ultimately leads to slower propagation or even extinction of the negative streamer.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

RELATIONS FOR CALCULATING THERMODYNAMIC AND TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF LIQUID LITHIUM

The results of the analysis of experimental data from open publications for the period from 1933 to 2018 are presented. The calculated relations for estimating the density,heat ca-pacity,thermal conductivity,dynamic viscosity,surface tension,and electrical resistivity for liquid lithium are proposed

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

Transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) in patients with endocrine ophthalmopathy and Graves’ disease: A predictor of treatment efficiency

Current therapeutic approaches to the treatment of endocrine ophthalmopathy (EOP) are based on nonspecific immunosuppression with glucocorticosteroids (GCs) and radiation therapy of the eye orbits. However, some patients exhibit resistance to the treatment. In a previous study, we have detected high levels of soluble cytokine receptors: sTNFα-R1, sTNFα-R2, sIL-2R, and the TGF-β1 cytokine in euthyroid patients with long-lasting non-treated EOP and Graves’ disease (GD). TGF-β1 level was significantly higher in the patients with EOP compared to healthy individuals, and increased with prolonged EOP duration, thus suggesting activation of the factors regulating immune system which promote suppression of the autoimmune process. The aim of this work was to study the dynamics of TGF-β1 and cytokine receptors: sTNFα-R1, sTNFα-R2, sIL-2R in the course of immunosuppressive therapy with high doses of GCs, as possible predictors of treatment efficacy. The study included 49 patients (98 eye orbits) with GD of euthyroid state and subclinical thyrotoxicosis, and the persons with EOP in active phase, who had not previously treatment for EOP. Concentrations of TGF-β1 cytokine, sTNFα-RI and sTNFα-R2, sIL-2R, antibodies to the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (rTSH), free fractions of thyroxine (fT4) and triiodothyronine (fT3), TSH in blood serum were determined in blood serum. Ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland (ultrasound of the thyroid gland), multi-layer computed tomography (MSCT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the orbits were also performed. The patients were administered immunosuppressive therapy with high doses of HCs (methylprednisolone) in the course of pulse therapy, at a standard dosage of 4500-8000 mg, taking into account the severity and activity of the EOP clinical manifestations. The examination was carried out 3, 6, 12 months after starting the treatment. 3 and 6 months after the GC administration, more than 30% of patients remained resistant to treatment. The levels of TGF-β1 did not change significantly in the patients with positive EOP dynamics. In the patients resistant to GC treatment, the level of TGF-β1 was significantly decreased compared with patients who showed positive clinical dynamics. The level of sNFR1 and sNFaR2 did not change significantly. There were no significant differences in the levels of antibodies to rTSH, thyroid hormones in the patients resistant to GC treatment and with positive dynamics.Immunosuppressive therapy with high-dose of methylprednisolone in pulse therapy regimen showed high efficacy and good tolerability, while some patients remain resistant to treatment. Lower levels of TGF-β1 cytokine at initial time and during the treatment allow usage of TGF-β1 levels as a biomarker of the activity of the process, treatment efficiency, and prognosis of the disease. Activation of TGF-β1, a fibroblast growth factor, may contribute to the development of fibrosis, strabismus, and diplopia