Countering International Extremism

The article is devoted to the study of countering international extremist activity features, including the intensifying corresponding Internet threats. The author notes that in modern conditions, threats of extremism require an integrated approach at the national and international levels, more effective mobilization of state and interstate forces and resources (financial, information, etc.), including acts of blocking relevant contacts and illegal virtual resources. The article contains statistical data showing an increase in extremist threats, including the youth environment, and, accordingly, the need to intensify and expand measures to counter such negative phenomena

Eddy structure and patterns in the oceans and atmospheres

The use of thematic maps derived from a combination of satellite sensors and images are validated between different methods and with on board observations, the topology of the detected features, such as spiral eddies [1, 2], fronts, Langmuir cells, etc.. May be even be used to predict diffusion and local pollution. It is also important to couple satellite information to the multiscale information available, which may be used to infer the turbulent parametrizations needed to predict pollutant and tracer dispersion in the ocean surface. In such a manner, more sophisticated data analysis such as the evaluation of integral length scales or local fractal dimensions of the sea surface appearance, and the detailed information of the position and sizes of the mesoscale dominant eddies provides very useful information on the sub-mesoscale ocean turbulence. The satellite-borne SAR and ASAR seems to be an excellent system not only to detect man-made oil spills and tension active slicks but it also detects dynamic features and the ocean eddies of different sizes. The study of the topology of the regions of different rugosity of the ocean, separating the vortical, elliptical, regions as well as the hyperbolic shear dominated areas, is also a convenient tool. The eddy structures of the Western Mediterranean were also investigated at different resolutions also by means of thermal images and altimetry data. A comparison of 1489 anticyclonic and 782 cyclonic eddy structures identified in the sea surface, to ASAR observations was performed. The (SST) imagery on an analysis of a 3-year period shows that only large anticyclonic eddies exceeding 70 km in diameter are long lived. This analysis, also applied to SAR and in advanced tracking of STT sequences, allows CPIV to extract velocity and vorticity local fields and relate spiral structure to vortex size. In the NW Mediterranean cyclonic eddies depend further on bathymetric effects. Due to the lack of resolution small spatial and temporal scales of such eddies and their non-geostrophic nature, it is difficult to compare basins of different size

A user-study on online adaptation of neural machine translation to human post-edits

© 2018, Springer Nature B.V. The advantages of neural machine translation (NMT) have been extensively validated for offline translation of several language pairs for different domains of spoken and written language. However, research on interactive learning of NMT by adaptation to human post-edits has so far been confined to simulation experiments. We present the first user study on online adaptation of NMT to user post-edits in the domain of patent translation. Our study involves 29 human subjects (translation students) whose post-editing effort and translation quality were measured on about 4500 interactions of a human post-editor and an NMT system integrating an online adaptive learning algorithm. Our experimental results show a significant reduction in human post-editing effort due to online adaptation in NMT according to several evaluation metrics, including hTER, hBLEU, and KSMR. Furthermore, we found significant improvements in BLEU/TER between NMT outputs and professional translations in granted patents, providing further evidence for the advantages of online adaptive NMT in an interactive setup

Scaling up business plans in Tajikistan: a qualitative study of the history, barriers, facilitators and lessons learnt

BACKGROUND: To improve health planning at primary health care (PHC) level, Business Plans were introduced in Tajikistan by the Enhancing Primary Health Care (EPHC) Services Project. OBJECTIVE: To describe the history and process of implementation of Business Plans and to identify barriers, facilitators and lessons learnt from scaling up Business Plans. METHODS: Set in a qualitative research design, we conducted a desk review of project and official documents and seventeen semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders at national and sub-national levels between May and July 2020. We used an interview guide informed by the ExpandNet/WHO framework and analyzed the data following a content analysis approach facilitated by MAXQDA. RESULTS: With the participation of various user organizations and resource teams and through a variety of strategic scale-up choices, Business Plans have been scaled up from a vertical pilot project to institutionalized health management tools covering 45% of Tajikistan's PHC facilities. The most prominent facilitators for scaling up Business Plans were the institutionalization and integration of the tool into the Tajik health system, the close collaboration with Community Health Teams (CHTs), the high acceptance of the tool among the users, the advocacy through champions and policy-makers and the large dissemination network. The most outstanding barriers to scaling up Business Plans were insufficient financial or human resources, general weaknesses in health governance, the lack of a strategic scale-up plan and strategic decisions, the lack of motivation or overall vision to implement Business Plans at a large scale and difficulties in donor coordination. CONCLUSION: To ensure the continuity of scaling up Business Plans, developing a scale-up strategy, strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration and participation during scaling up, and capacitating the user organizations of Business Plans are important next steps to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of Business Plans in the future

Effective and rational use of irrigation water in the conditions of the republic of Karakalpakstan

The lack of water that has been repeated in recent years dictates the requirements of a strict regime of water conservation and economical use of water. Understanding the need for strict water conservation and the fight against unproductive water losses must be started with the producers of agricultural products, i.e., from farms, as rational water use and water conservation at the field level could save a significant amount of irrigation water. The article reflects the current state of water use in irrigated agriculture in the Republic of Karakalpakstan. The main, inter-farm, and intra-farm canals have been studied in detail, and the mode and efficiency of their work have been assessed. The obtained results of the conducted field research works on irrigation technologies are presented. Suggestions on the choice of water-saving irrigation technologies are given, as well as recommendations on the effective use of irrigation water in the non-growing season

Dendroclimatic transfer functions revisited : Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period summer temperatures reconstructed using artificial neural networks and linear algorithms

Peer reviewe

The discovery of Eifelian ammonoids in the Central Kyzylkum Desert (Aristantau Mountains, Uzbekistan)

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Eifelian ammonoids are described for the first time from the Central Kyzylkum Desert (Uzbekistan, Navoiy Region, Aristantau Mountains). The ammonoid assemblage includes the typical Eifelian genera Fidelites, Subanarcestes (a new species S. aristanensis Nikolaeva sp. nov. is described), and Cabrieroceras, found in association with brachiopods, conodonts, and dacryoconarids. The ammonoid assemblage is similar to that from the Choteč beds of Barrandien and their equivalents in the Urals, Salair, Germany, and Morocco (Subanarcestes macrocephalus Zone), suggesting a connection between the Eifelian Kyzylkum Basin, which was part of the Turkestan Paleoocean, and European, North African, Siberian, and Uralian basins. The ammonoids studied are not associated with black shale and apparently existed in normal marine environments

БЕРЕЖЛИВОЕ УПРАВЛЕНИЕ ПРОИЗВОДСТВОМ: УЧЕТ И КОНТРОЛЬ ЗАТРАТ В ПЕРАРБАТЫВАЮЩИХ ПРЕДПРИЯТИЯХ СИСТЕМЫ ПОТРЕБИТЕЛЬСКОЙ КООПЕРАЦИИ

Lean production and management in the system of consumer cooperation remains one of the most difficult problems both in general in all areas of production and in milk processing. A modern solution to this problem, increasing the efficiency of production, improving its quality and reducing cost is the basis of principles and tools that are reflected in the lean manufacturing system. Lean management is possible on the basis of optimal cost accounting and management of dairy production, by reducing losses on waiting, overproduction, transportation, unnecessary processing steps, unnecessary movements, production with broken technology, defective packaging, unnecessary stocks - by regulating business processes and mobilizing internal reserves in the activities of processing enterprises of the consumer cooperation system. The subject of the study is managerial activity in the lean production and processing of milk in enterprises of the consumer cooperation system. The aim of the study is the introduction of advanced and necessary methods of accounting and management of milk production in the enterprises of the consumer cooperation system. In accordance with this goal, the main task was determined: to develop recommendations for improving the accounting and management methods to reduce all kinds of costs and increase the productivity of dairy production. Performance management is an important financial and economic indicator of production in the system of consumer cooperation. This paper analyzes various aspects of lean manufacturing, accounting, control and management, taking into account the technological features and business processes of the consumer cooperation system. It is concluded that for the efficiency of the accounting process in the lean management system of a milk processing enterprise, it is necessary to build a system of accounting and control support, which will allow for detailed accounting of production costs for all objects of accounting and control.Бережливое производство и управление в системе потребительской кооперации, остается одной из самых сложных проблем, как в целом по всем направлениям производства, так и по переработке молока. Современное решение данной проблемы, повышение эффективности производства продукции, улучшение ее качества и снижения себестоимости лежит в основе принципов и инструментов, которые нашли отражение в системе бережливого производства. Бережливое управление становится возможным на основе оптимального учета затрат и управления производством молочной продукции, путем снижения потерь на ожидание, перепроизводство, транспортировки, лишних стадий обработки, ненужных перемещений, выпуска с нарушенной технологией, дефектной упаковки, лишних запасов -  путем регулирования хозяйственных процессов и мобилизации внутренних резервов в деятельности перерабатывающих предприятий системы потребительской кооперации. Предметом исследования является управленческая деятельность при бережливом производстве и переработке молока в предприятиях системы потребкооперации.  Целью исследования является внедрение прогрессивных и необходимых методов учета и управления деятельностью по производству молока в предприятиях системе потребительской кооперации. В соответствии с указанной целью была определена основная задача: выработать рекомендации по совершенствованию учетно-управленческой методики на уменьшение всевозможных издержек и увеличение производительности производства молочной продукции. Эффективность управления деятельности является важным финансово-экономическим показателем производства продукции в системе потребительской кооперации. В настоящей работе проанализированы различные аспекты бережливого производства, учета, контроля и управления с учетом технологических особенностей и бизнес процессов системы потребительской кооперации. Сделан вывод о том, что для эффективности учетного процесса в системе бережливого управления молокоперерабатывающим предприятием, необходимо построение системы учетно-контрольного обеспечения, которая позволит вести детальный учет затрат на производство по всем объектам учета и контроля

The actinobacterial transcription factor RbpA binds to the principal sigma subunit of RNA polymerase

RbpA is a small non-DNA-binding transcription factor that associates with RNA polymerase holoenzyme and stimulates transcription in actinobacteria, including Streptomyces coelicolor and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. RbpA seems to show specificity for the vegetative form of RNA polymerase as opposed to alternative forms of the enzyme. Here, we explain the basis of this specificity by showing that RbpA binds directly to the principal σ subunit in these organisms, but not to more diverged alternative σ factors. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that, although differing in their requirement for structural zinc, the RbpA orthologues from S. coelicolor and M. tuberculosis share a common structural core domain, with extensive, apparently disordered, N- and C-terminal regions. The RbpA-σ interaction is mediated by the C-terminal region of RbpA and σ domain 2, and S. coelicolor RbpA mutants that are defective in binding σ are unable to stimulate transcription in vitro and are inactive in vivo. Given that RbpA is essential in M. tuberculosis and critical for growth in S. coelicolor, these data support a model in which RbpA plays a key role in the σ cycle in actinobacteria

Synthesis of functionally substituted benzaldehydes

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. A new method of synthesis of functionally substituted benzaldehydes by catalytic debromometoxylation of dibromomethylarenes with benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal has been suggested. Anhydrous zinc chloride has been used as a catalyst. Being soft Lewis acid, it formed no strong complex with aldehyde group and other functional groups. The initial acetal has been readily recovered by the treatment of benzaldehyde isolated from the reaction mixture with trimethyl orthoformate