THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY OF STATES IN THE WAKE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

International law can be viewed as a project of exclusion and inclusion of events and ideas into its  narrative. Some shake the pillars of international law, while others, influence its progressive  development. Widespread wars and revolutions and events and ideas behind them occupy special  place in this project: they expose irregularity in the system and at the same time may threaten its  existence. The immediate and long-term effects of such events on international law can only be  seen with a passage of time. The 1917 Russian Revolution marking its 100th anniversary this year  is an illustrative example to this statement. Though it did not end to be the event in international  law when the soviet law as predicted by some Soviet scholars replaced bourgeoisie law, it  significantly contributed to disseminate ideas that laid foundation of the general international law.  Though in post-revolutionary context Soviet Russia advanced different radical approach to  universal social and economic justice and criticized the pre-existing international law, international  law remained resistant to extremes and capable of encompassing constructive ideas. The most  spectacular example of this approach is Soviet attitude towards equality of states – one of the  main international law axioms and utopias and at the same time a cornerstone of Marxism- Leninism theory – and Russia’s early attempts to give it more precise legal meaning. This article  briefly describes the bumpy way that this principle undertook before the Russian Revolution, to  depict the background against which Soviet Russia started to advance its understanding of  equality, in some sense, picking up and developing the ideas of the 1789 French Revolution. It  further considers the meaning, that the early Soviet doctrine attached to equality and concrete  legal mechanisms through which the Soviet approach was translated into international law,  specifically focusing on the works of Vladimir Lenin. The article then studies the actual early soviet  international law practice, through the lens of predominant soviet theoretical approaches. Two conclusions are made: Marxism-Leninism had limited impact on the Soviet early practice of  international law (1) and inconsistent application of principle of equality in the postrevolutionary context should not lead to its complete disregard (2). To the contrary, it is here argued that the  Revolution has been influential in the democratization of international law by developing the  following legal dimensions of the equality principle. First, it restated equality in the terms of status,  meaning equality in acquisition and exercise of rights (1). Second, it helped to eliminate  “dual standards,” which meant the cases where a state could treat one state as dependent and the  other – as independent (2). Third, it projected the concept of states’ equal rights to nations and peoples (3). Finally, in the early Soviet Russia practice, the idea that states have equal rights  stopped to be confined to any group of states, as compared to international law at that time. To  the contrary, it implied equality between all states, even in relations between socialist and capitalist states, thus helping in long-term perspective to abandon “civilization test” (4)

Synthesis and study of inorganic pigment properties on the basis of dead chrome catalyst

Generation of unprocessed wastes of industrial production is the key part of multi-factor negative impact on environment. The technologies of catching and neutralization of discharges and wastes have been developed extremely slow, as a result of it, the level of utilization remains to be low (only half of them is reused in production). All these concern in full measure chemical industry and adjacent branches of production - coal industry, mining, metallurgy, energy. In particular, only in chemical industry it has been calculated about 800 names of wastes. Major part of wastes is deleterious and hazardous to biosphere, processing toxicity, chemical, biological activities, corrosiveness, inflammability and explosibility. On the other hand - industrial wastes contain valuable elements, in particular different metals, the reserves of them are exhaustible. Waste burial is unpractical from the point of view of stability of functioning of industrial complex on the whole. The industrial wastes are often multi-component mixtures of substances of heterogeneous chemical composition, having different physical and chemical properties. The processes of interaction between the components and the background objects and by-product assimilation bring a considerable uncertainty in chemical composition and material constitution of industrial wastes. The technologies of waste recycling to receive the products, specifically inorganic pigments, involve the complex of methods of processing with the use of different modifiers to obtain the needed complex of physical and chemical properties defining the functional characteristics of the target product

Dispersed copper (I) oxide particles encapsulated by polylactide

One of the approaches for the production of polymer composite materials with a biocidal effect is based on the use of dispersed particles of some metal oxides as a filler (for example, copper oxide or zinc oxide). Such an approach allows not only providing a biocidal effect, but also increasing such mechanical characteristics as the modulus of elasticity, hardness, and abrasion resistance. The mechanical characteristics of such polymer composite materials can be controlled by formation of a sheath (for example, from polylactide) of a given thickness on the surfaces of dispersed particles. Polylactide is a biodegradable polymer, widely used as coating material for particles with biocidal properties. The parameters of the methods for forming a polylactide sheath are determined by the sheath’s thickness and the sheath’s adhesion to the particle surface. The purpose of the study was to determine the parameters of the polymer sheath’s formation on the surfaces of dispersed submicron copper oxide (I) particles during coacervation of polylactide from the solution. The encapsulation of copper (I) oxide particles was carried out by the coacervation process in a solution. Polylactide was displaced from the solution in benzene by hexane in the presence of copper (I) oxide particles. It was shown that a sheath thickness of about 250 nm can be obtained by using the polylactide sheath formation method. The recommended parameters of the polylactide sheath formation method were determined: solution temperature of 35÷38 °C, hexane volume not more than 30±2 ml. The sheath had weak adhesion to particle surfaces: adhesion was determined by the roughness of the particle surface. The mechanical characteristics of the epoxy resin ED-20 polymer composition filled with the encapsulated particles were considered in the study. The increase in the mechanical properties of the polymer composition with encapsulated particles in comparison with the samples of polymer composition with non-encapsulated particles was revealed. That can indicate the increased adhesion of encapsulated particles to such polymer matrix

Evidence and ideology as a rationale for light-therapy in Russia: from the Soviet Union to the present day.

Light therapy is still used to treat a number of common diseases in Russia. The practice is firmly anchored in history: Soviet clinical practice was divorced from the emerging field of evidence-based medicine. Medical researchers were cut off from international medical research and scientific literature, with much Soviet scientific activity based on a particular socialist ideology. In this study, the use of light therapy serves as a case study to explore tensions between international evidence-based medicine and practices developed in isolation under the Soviet Union, the legacy of which is to the detriment of many patients today. We used four different search methods to uncover scientific and grey literature, both historical and contemporary. We assessed the changing frequency of publications over time and contrasted the volume of literature on light therapy with more orthodox treatments such as statins and painkillers. Our search found an increasing number and comparatively large body of scientific publications on light therapy in the Russian language, and many publications emanating from prestigious Russian institutions. Combined with our analysis of the historical literature and our appraisal of 22 full text articles, this leads us to suggest that light therapy entered mainstream Soviet medical practice before the Stalinist period and still occupies an important position in contemporary Russian clinical practice. We propose that this outdated treatment survives in Russia in part due to the political, economic and social forces that helped to popularize it during Soviet times, and by the seeming justification offered by poorly executed studies

Ecto- and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis can induce tolerance to toxic pulses of phosphorus in jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) seedlings

In common with many plants native to low P soils, jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) develops toxicity symptoms upon exposure to elevated phosphorus (P). Jarrah plants can establish arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associations, along with a non-colonizing symbiosis described recently. AM colonization is known to influence the pattern of expression of genes required for P uptake of host plants and our aim was to investigate this phenomenon in relation to P sensitivity. Therefore, we examined the effect on hosts of the presence of AM and ECM fungi in combination with toxic pulses of P and assessed possible correlations between the induced tolerance and the shoot P concentration. The P transport dynamics of AM (Rhizophagus irregularis and Scutellospora calospora), ECM (Scleroderma sp.), non-colonizing symbiosis (Austroboletus occidentalis), dual mycorrhizal (R. irregularis and Scleroderma sp.), and non-mycorrhizal (NM) seedlings were monitored following two pulses of P. The ECM and A. occidentalis associations significantly enhanced the shoot P content of jarrah plants growing under P-deficient conditions. In addition, S. calospora, A. occidentalis, and Scleroderma sp. all stimulated plant growth significantly. All inoculated plants had significantly lower phytotoxicity symptoms compared to NM controls 7 days after addition of an elevated P dose (30 mg P kg−1 soil). Following exposure to toxicity-inducing levels of P, the shoot P concentration was significantly lower in R. irregularis-inoculated and dually inoculated plants compared to NM controls. Although all inoculated plants had reduced toxicity symptoms and there was a positive linear relationship between rank and shoot P concentration, the protective effect was not necessarily explained by the type of fungal association or the extent of mycorrhizal colonization

Phosphate concentration and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation influence the growth, yield and expression of twelve PHT1 family phosphate transporters in foxtail millet (Setaria italica)

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element which plays several key roles in all living organisms. Setaria italica (foxtail millet) is a model species for panacoid grasses including several millet species widely grown in arid regions of Asia and Africa, and for the bioenergy crop switchgrass. The growth responses of S. italica to different levels of inorganic phosphate (Pi) and to colonisation with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Funneliformis mosseae (syn. Glomus mosseae) were studied. Phosphate is taken up from the environment by the PHT1 family of plant phosphate transporters, which have been well characterized in several plant species. Bioinformatic analysis identified 12 members of the PHT1 gene family (SiPHT1;1-1;12) in S. italica, and RT and qPCR analysis showed that most of these transporters displayed specific expression patterns with respect to tissue, phosphate status and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation. SiPHT1;2 was found to be expressed in all tissues and in all growth conditions tested. In contrast, expression of SiPHT1;4 was induced in roots after 15 days growth in hydroponic medium of low Pi concentration. Expression of SiPHT1;8 and SiPHT1;9 in roots was selectively induced by colonisation with F. mosseae. SiPHT1;3 and SiPHT1;4 were found to be predominantly expressed in leaf and root tissues respectively. Several other transporters were expressed in shoots and leaves during growth in low Pi concentrations. This study will form the basis for the further characterization of these transporters, with the long term goal of improving the phosphate use efficiency of foxtail millet

Molecular Cloning, Characterization and Expression Analysis of Two Members of the Pht1 Family of Phosphate Transporters in Glycine max

BACKGROUND: Phosphorus is one of the macronutrients essential for plant growth and development. The acquisition and translocation of phosphate are pivotal processes of plant growth. In a large number of plants, phosphate uptake by roots and translocation within the plant are presumed to occur via a phosphate/proton cotransport mechanism. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We cloned two cDNAs from soybean (Glycine max), GmPT1 and GmPT2, which show homology to the phosphate/proton cotransporter PHO84 from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The amino acid sequence of the products predicted from GmPT1 and GmPT2 share 61% and 63% identity, respectively, with the PHO84 in amino acid sequence. The deduced structure of the encoded proteins revealed 12 membrane-spanning domains with a central hydrophilic region. The molecular mass values are ∼58.7 kDa for GmPT1 and ∼58.6 kDa for GmPT2. Transiently expressed GFP-protein fusions provide direct evidence that the two Pi transporters are located in the plasma membrane. Uptake of radioactive orthophosphate by the yeast mutant MB192 showed that GmPT1 and GmPT2 are dependent on pH and uptake is reduced by the addition of uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation. The K(m) for phosphate uptake by GmPT1 and GmPT2 is 6.65 mM and 6.63 mM, respectively. A quantitative real time RT-PCR assay indicated that these two genes are expressed in the roots and shoots of seedlings whether they are phosphate-deficient or not. Deficiency of phosphorus caused a slight change of the expression levels of GmPT1 and GmPT2. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our experiments show that the two phosphate transporters have low affinity and the corresponding genes are constitutively expressed. Thereby, the two phosphate transporters can perform translocation of phosphate within the plant