Introduction of ISO management systems in municipal enterprises providing water supply, water preparation and wastewater treatment in the major cities of the Russian Federation

This article gives information about current situation in the introduction of management systems that comply with ISO standards at water utilities in major Russian cities. Analysis of collected data has shown that the number of plants with international certificates is not large. It might be due to the fact that water and wastewater treatment plants in Russia used to be monopolies on the water services market and worked without any competitors until recently. Constant underfinancing of municipal institutes of water industry also interferes with international certification and other direction of forced development. The article analyses basic reasons for management systems' implementation on municipal water utilities. It compares experience and the results of implementation of Environmental Management Systems complying with ISO 14001 standard on water utilities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. It analyses prospects of international certification of water industry facilities at the current stage of Russian society development. © 2017 WIT Press

Методика рейтингования компаний IT -сектора по уровню рисков кредитоспособности

The subject of the research are the companies of the IT sector, as a strategically important sector in the information age. Their development of companies in the IT sector is associated with high risks and requires large volumes of investments, including attracting bank loans. In this regard, the purpose of the study was to develop an adequate sectoral methodology for rating companies in the IT sector by the level of creditworthiness risks using mathematical and statistical tools that make it possible to reliably assess the potential risks of investors. To achieve this goal, the study proposes a methodology for assessing the creditworthiness of IT companies based on a system of risk factors, which makes it possible to quantify the exposure of companies to two generalized risk groups: financial risk and business risks. Based on the cluster analysis, a rating table has been developed, according to which, depending on the calculated score, the category of the company’s creditworthiness is determined. The study concluded that the key factors affecting the creditworthiness of companies are: indicators of financial stability, return on assets, liquidity ratio, online advertising market size, as well as the share of intangible assets in the structure of assets and the amount of research costs. development and capital investments. The constructed scoring model was tested on the Mail.ru Group company (from 12.10.2021 — VK). Practical significance of the research results includes in the fact that the developed model can be applied not only for assessing creditworthiness, but also as one of the express methods of risk management in an organization.Предметом исследования являются компании стратегически важного в информационную эпоху IT-сектора. Их развитие связано с высокими рисками и нуждается в больших объемах инвестиций, в том числе в привлечении банковских кредитов. В этой связи цель исследования заключалась в разработке адекватной отраслевой методики рейтингования компаний IT-сектора по уровню рисков кредитоспособности с использованием математико-статистического инструментария, позволяющего достоверно оценить потенциальные риски инвесторов. Предложена методика оценки кредитоспособности IT-компаний на базе системы риск-факторов, позволяющих количественно оценить подверженность деятельности компаний двум обобщенным группам рисков: финансового риска и бизнес-рисков. На основе кластерного анализа разработана рейтинговая таблица, в соответствии с которой в зависимости от полученного расчетного балла определяется категория кредитоспособности компании. В рамках исследования сделаны выводы о том, что ключевыми факторами, оказывающими влияние на кредитоспособность компаний, являются: показатели финансовой устойчивости, рентабельность активов, коэффициент ликвидности, объем рынка интернет-рекламы, а также удельный вес нематериальных активов в структуре активов и величина расходов на исследовательские разработки и капитальные вложения. Построенная скоринговая модель апробирована на компании Mail.ru Group (c 12.10.2021 г. — VK). Практическая значимость результатов исследования заключается в том, что разработанную модель можно применить не только для оценки кредитоспособности, но и в качестве одного из экспресс-методов управления рисками в организации

Impact of Controlling the Site Distribution of Al Atoms on Catalytic Properties in Ferrierite-Type Zeolites

Zeolites with the ferrierite (FER) topology are synthesized using a combination of tetramethylammonium (TMA) cations with differently sized cyclic amines (pyrrolidine (Pyr), hexamethyleneimine (HMI), and 1,4- diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DAB)). Using these organic structure-directing agents (SDAs), low Si/Al ratios and concentrated synthesis mixtures favor the crystallization of FER materials. Increasing the size of the cyclic amine or decreasing the aluminum content leads to the crystallization of other phases or the creation of excessive amounts of connectivity defects. TMA cations play a decisive role in the synthesis of the FER materials, and their presence allows the use of HMI to synthesize FER. Proton MAS NMR is used to quantify the accessibility of pyridine to acid sites in these FER samples, where it is found that the FER + HMI + TMA sample contains only 27% acid sites in the 8-MR channels, whereas FER + Pyr and FER + Pyr + TMA contain 89% and 84%, respectively. The constraint index (CI) test and the carbonylation of dimethyl ether (DME) with carbon monoxide are used as probe reactions to evaluate how changes in the aluminum distribution in these FER samples affect their catalytic behavior. Results show that the use of Pyr as an SDA results in the selective population of acid sites in the 8-MR channels, whereas the use of HMI generates FER zeolites with an increased concentration of acid sites in the 10-MR channels

Electroencephalograms features of the early stage Parkinson’s disease

© 2014, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. A new method for analyzing the time-frequency dynamics of brain’s background electrical activity is described. It is used to detect at least three main features of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in its early stages: (1) hemispheric asymmetry in the time-frequency characteristics (EEG) in the central recording areas of the motor cortex, (2) the emergence in these recording areas of EEG rhythms in the frequency range of 4–6 Hz and its relation to electromyograms (EMG) and the mechanical tremor of contralateral limbs in the case of tremor-dominant PD, and (3) the disruption of the dominant rhythm corresponding to views generally held on the disorganization of different systems in PD

Cold-induced changes in gene expression in brown adipose tissue, white adipose tissue and liver

Cold exposure imposes a metabolic challenge to mammals that is met by a coordinated response in different tissues to prevent hypothermia. This study reports a transcriptomic analysis in brown adipose tissue (BAT), white adipose (WAT) and liver of mice in response to 24 h cold exposure at 8°C. Expression of 1895 genes were significantly (P<0.05) up- or down-regulated more than two fold by cold exposure in all tissues but only 5 of these genes were shared by all three tissues, and only 19, 14 and 134 genes were common between WAT and BAT, WAT and liver, and BAT and liver, respectively. We confirmed using qRT-PCR, the increased expression of a number of characteristic BAT genes during cold exposure. In both BAT and the liver, the most common direction of change in gene expression was suppression (496 genes in BAT and 590 genes in liver). Gene ontology analysis revealed for the first time significant (P<0.05) down regulation in response to cold, of genes involved in oxidoreductase activity, lipid metabolic processes and protease inhibitor activity, in both BAT and liver, but not WAT. The results reveal an unexpected importance of down regulation of cytochrome P450 gene expression and apolipoprotein, in both BAT and liver, but not WAT, in response to cold exposure. Pathway analysis suggests a model in which down regulation of the nuclear transcription factors HNF4α and PPARα in both BAT and liver may orchestrate the down regulation of genes involved in lipoprotein and steroid metabolism as well as Phase I enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 group in response to cold stress in mice. We propose that the response to cold stress involves decreased gene expression in a range of cellular processes in order to maximise pathways involved in heat production

Development of Competent Mathematical Speech of Students at Technical University

The development of literate speech of students, including mathematics, as one of the areas of communicative component of learning outcomes, is a requirement of higher education standards. The authors have analysed the educational standards for the content of the requirements to the general education of a graduate related to the development of literate speech, as well as the works of domestic and foreign teachers-researchers on the development of mathematical literacy. The literature review and the authors’ own experience of teaching mathematics to engineering students at technical University showed that the ability of students to use logically correct, reasoned and clear oral and written speech is developed insufficiently to apply the mathematical apparatus in their educational and professional activities. The authors have identified the criteria of competent speech and theoretical and methodological conditions of the educational process which enable the ensure the organizational and methodological support of educational process aimed at the development of competent mathematical speech of students. The main applied methods of teaching are advanced self-directed work of students, lecture-discussion, mutual dictation, interchange of tasks, interchange of themes, study of the text fragments, repetition training-game, etc. The effectiveness of educational activities is achieved through the use of active and interactive forms of teaching. The prepared organizational and methodological support of teaching, the systemic educational work allow students to improve their speech skills and skills of active use of mathematical language as a universal language of science, to develop logical, algorithmic and mathematical thinking, the ability to apply methods of mathematical analysis and modeling, theoretical and experimental research in solving professional problems

Some peculiarities of time-frequency dynamics of spike-wave discharges in humans and rats

Contains fulltext : 56663.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Objective - Time–frequency dynamics of spike–wave discharges (SWDs) were investigated in patients with absence seizures and in WAG/Rij rats, a genetic model of absence epilepsy using a specially developed wavelet transform. Methods - Two types of SWDs were analyzed in both species: the most frequently occurring discharges (of minimal 3.6–4.0 s or more) and shorter ones recorded from various cortical regions. Results - The more prolonged discharges had two phases: during the initial part (from tenth of seconds to 1 s) of the seizure the frequency decreased quickly from 5 to 3.5 Hz in patients and from about 15 to 10 Hz in rats. A slower frequency decrease with periodical fluctuations was observed in both species during the second part of the discharge: the frequency decreased towards the end of the discharge to 3 Hz in patients and to 6–7 Hz in rats. The frequency of the short discharges decreased fast during the whole discharge: from 5 to 2–2.5 Hz and from about 15 to 5 Hz in patients and rats, respectively. Conclusions - Comparison of data obtained in patients with typical absence epilepsy and WAG/Rij rats with genetic absence epilepsy revealed that the time–frequency dynamics of SWDs had similar properties but in a different frequency range. Significance - The study of time–frequency dynamics using this specially developed wavelet transform revealed two different types of SWDs, which most likely represent different dynamics in the cortico-thalamo-cortical loop during shorter and more prolonged discharges.8 p