Palekh and the forging of a Russian nation in the Brezhnev Era

RésuméPaleh et la formation d’une nation russe pendant la période brejnévienneL’article étudie la culture russe de la période brejnévienne à travers le village de Paleh, qui se situe à environ 300km au nord-est de Moscou. Les artistes de Paleh s’étaient fait connaître pour leur production d’art russe dit « traditionnel » à la fin de l’époque tsariste et pendant la période soviétique. Forts du succès qu’ils avaient remporté pendant les premières années de l’ère soviétique, ces artistes exploitèrent une veine nostalgique dont l’apparition pendant les années 1960 était due à la destruction des valeurs culturelles par la révolution elle-même et à celle des monuments historiques par les nazis. Ainsi les Russes soviétiques avaient-ils pendant cette décennie le sentiment d’avoir vraiment perdu leur culture. Ils furent nombreux à se laisser aller à un retour nostalgique vers leurs racines et leur identité culturelle au-delà de la date charnière de 1917, et Paleh leur procura un sentiment d’identité nationale qui se démarqua du contexte plus large de la culture multinationale soviétique. Vu dans la perspective de la chute du système soviétique, ce développement nous semble très ironique. Le triomphe apparent du nationalisme culturel russe est survenu au moment même où son protecteur principal, l’État soviétique, était sur le point de s’effondrer. Après avoir étudié les facteurs qui ont suscité la renaissance de la culture russe prérévolutionnaire, l’article se referme sur l’examen du dilemme que pose l’abandon de l’identité nationale russe par la Fédération de Russie.AbstractThis article addresses Russian culture in the Brezhnev era through the village of Palekh, located approximately 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow. The artists of Palekh were noted for their production of supposedly “traditional” Russian art in the late imperial and Soviet periods. Building on their early Soviet successes, the artists of Palekh exploited a nostalgic turn in Soviet culture of the 1960s, triggered by the revolution’s own earlier destruction of cultural values and the Nazi destruction of ancient Russian monuments. Soviet Russians in the 1960s thus experienced an intense feeling of cultural loss. As part of this nostalgic turn, many Soviet Russians looked beyond the 1917 revolutionary divide for cultural roots and identity. In the process, Palekh supplied Soviet Russians with a distinctive sense of national identity in the larger multi-national Soviet culture. In the light of Soviet system’s demise, this development was highly ironic. The seeming triumph of Russian cultural nationalism came at precisely the moment when the nation’s key patron, the Soviet state, was on the verge of collapse. Exploring the conjunction of factors behind the Brezhnev-era revival of pre-Revolutionary culture, this essay conclude by examining the dilemmas posed by the Russian Federation’s “orphaning” of Russian national identity

Looming Consumer Debt: A Comparison to the Great Recession

A look into the current outstanding debt in the United States and comparison to conditions prior to the financial crisis of 2007-2008

Chewing gum modifies state-anxiety and alertness under conditions of social stress

Objectives: The finding that chewing gum can moderate state-anxiety under conditions of acute stress¹ has proved difficult to replicate.2,4 The present study examines the extent to which chewing gum can moderate state-anxiety under conditions of acute social stress. Method: In a between-participants design, 36 participants completed a task comprising a mock job interview (a variation on the Trier Social Stress Task3, which included a mental arithmetic component) whilst either chewing gum or without gum. Self-rated measures of mood and anxiety were taken at baseline, after a 10-minute presentation preparation stage, after the 10-minute presentation, and following a 5-minute recovery stage. Results: Post-presentation measures reflected increased state-anxiety and decrease self-rated calmness and contentedness. Chewing gum attenuated the rise in state-anxiety whilst increasing self-rated alertness. Chewing gum did not affect contentedness or calmness. Conclusions: The findings indicate that chewing gum can act to reduce anxiety under conditions of acute social stress: a finding consistent with Scholey et al.1 Furthermore, the data add to the growing body of literature demonstrating that chewing gum can increase alertness.1,2,4,

Tribological properties of a B2-type Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal approximant

The tribological properties of a B2-type Al–Pd–Mn quasicrystal approximant were investigated and compared with those of an Al–Pd–Mn icosahedral quasicrystal. The approximant was of the _ phase, having a crystalline CsCl-type structure and nominal composition Al48Pd42Mn10. Friction coefficients measured in ultrahigh vacuum between a pair of Al48Pd42Mn10 samples having truly clean surfaces were found to be twice as high as those reported for the Al70Pd21Mn9 quasicrystal. When the surfaces were oxidized by exposure to O2 or H2O, the friction coefficients decreased by roughly a factor of two for both materials but the friction coefficient for the approximant remained roughly twice that of the quasicrystal. The rate of oxidation of the approximant was found to be one order of magnitude higher than that of the quasicrystal. This corroborates findings that suggest that quasicrystals exhibit an inherent resistance to oxidation and corrosion. Vickers hardness measurements show that the quasicrystal is roughly three times as hard as the approximant

The MAGEC System for Spinal Lengthening in Children with Scoliosis: A NICE Medical Technology Guidance

Scoliosis—structural lateral curvature of the spine—affects around four children per 1,000. The MAGEC system comprises a magnetically distractible spinal rod implant and an external remote controller, which lengthens the rod; this system avoids repeated surgical lengthening. Rod implants brace the spine internally and are lengthened as the child grows, preventing worsening of scoliosis and delaying the need for spinal fusion. The Medical Technologies Advisory Committee at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) selected the MAGEC system for evaluation in a NICE medical technologies guidance. Six studies were identified by the sponsor (Ellipse Technologies Inc.) as being relevant to the decision problem. Meta-analysis was used to compare the clinical evidence results with those of one conventional growth rod study, and equal efficacy of the two devices was concluded. The key weakness was selection of a single comparator study. The External Assessment Centre (EAC) identified 16 conventional growth rod studies and undertook meta-analyses of relevant outcomes. Its critique highlighted limitations around study heterogeneity and variations in baseline characteristics and follow-up duration, precluding the ability to draw firm conclusions. The sponsor constructed a de novo costing model showing that MAGEC rods generated cost savings of £9,946 per patient after 6 years, compared with conventional rods. The EAC critiqued and updated the model structure and inputs, calculating robust cost savings of £12,077 per patient with MAGEC rods compared with conventional rods over 6 years. The year of valuation was 2012. NICE issued a positive recommendation as supported by the evidence (Medical Technologies Guidance 18)

Comparative Study of the Tribological and Oxidative Properties of AlPdMn Quasicrystals and Their Cubic Approximants

An experimental comparison has been made between the properties of the surfaces of an Al70Pd21Mn9quasicrystal and its Al48Pd42Mn10 approximant. The Al70Pd21Mn9 sample was a single grain icosahedral quasicrystal cut to expose its five-fold symmetric (000001) surface. The approximant was polycrystalline β-phase Al48Pd42Mn10, which has a CsCl-type cubic structure. Surfaces of both were prepared under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions and then used for comparative measurements of their frictional properties and oxidation rates. Both materials are oxidized by reaction with O2 to form a thin film of aluminum oxide that ultimately passivates their surfaces. The interesting difference between the two is that the rate of oxidation of the approximant is significantly higher than that of the quasicrystal in spite of the fact that the bulk Al concentration of the approximant is lower than that of the quasicrystal. Friction measurements were made under UHV conditions between pairs of quasicrystals and pairs of approximants whose surfaces were either clean or oxidized to varying degrees. The friction between pairs of the approximant surfaces is significantly higher than that measured between the quasicrystal surfaces under all conditions of surface oxidation