‘Sun, air, and homes for all’? Soviet variations on european experiences of mass housing construction during the first five-year plans

The article was submitted on 15.05.2016.Статья посвящена малоизученному аспекту советского градостроительства – трансформации зарубежного опыта жилищного строительства в годы первых пятилеток. Рассмотрен опыт массового жилищного строительства в Веймарской Германии, который в конце 1920-х – начале 1930-х гг. расценивался как ориентир для советской действительности. Внимание уделено организации проектирования и строительства массового жилья, финансовым источникам, принципам планировки и их социальным, экономическим, гигиеническим и эстетическим основаниям. Рассмотрены пути реализации идеи массового жилища, основанной на таких составляющих, как свет, воздух, солнце, гигиена и зелень. Приведена на основе документальных материалов специфика системы заказа, финансирования и организации жилищного строительства в СССР периода индустриализации. Попытка внедрения европейского опыта проанализирована на примере жилой застройки «социалистических городов» Магнитогорска, Новокузнецка и Орска, проектировщиками которых являлись приглашенные в Советский Союз иностранные архитекторы Э. Май, М. Стам, В. Швагеншайдт, В. Хебебрандт и др. Выделены истоки тех или иных проектных решений в предшествующей практике европейских архитекторов, сопоставлены проектные замыслы и результаты. Показано стремление европейских архитекторов в условиях иной жилищной политики и при задаче создания коммунального жилья сохранить в проектах функциональность планировки и санитарно-гигиенические приоритеты, а также применить методику гибкого проектирования с учетом перспективной трансформации жилища. Проведено сравнение советской и европейской концепции массового жилья, отмечена определяющая роль в советской практике проектирования «коэффициента экономичности», который доминировал над понятиями функциональности и комфорта, демонстрируя кардинальную разницу в понимании массового экономичного жилья в СССР и в Веймарской Германии.The article is focused on a little-studied aspect of Soviet urban planning – the transformations of foreign experience in the sphere of housing construction during the early Five-Year Plans. The aim is to analyze what the content of such experience was and how it was transformed under the Soviet circumstances. First of all, the article considers the experience of the mass housing construction in Weimar Germany, which in the late 1920s – early 1930s was regarded as a benchmark for the Soviet practice. Attention is paid to the organization of the design and construction of mass housing, financial sources, the planning principles and their social, economic, hygienic and aesthetic grounds. The author examines ways of implementation of “healthy” mass housing, based on such components as light, air, sunshine, hygiene and greenery. In the second part of this article the attention is focused on the specifics of the order system, funding and organization of housing construction in the USSR during the period of industrialization. The attempt of introduction of the European experience is considered through the example of residential housing in “socialist cities” of Magnitogorsk, Novokuznetsk, and Orsk, which were designed by E. May, M. Stam, W. Schwagenscheidt, W. Hebebrandt and other foreign architects invited to the Soviet Union. The author identifies direct origins of certain design decisions in the previous practice of European architects and compares the design intent and the result. It is shown that under the circumstances of different housing policy and accentuation of collectivized housing, European architects sought to preserve the functionality of planning projects and sanitation/hygienic priorities, as well as tried to apply methodology of flexible design – taking into account the perspective transformation of dwellings. Through the prism of the activity of foreign architects in the USSR the author compares Soviet and European concepts of mass housing. Primarily, it is noted that the Soviet practice of mass housing design was subdued to “coefficient of efficiency”, which dominated over concepts of functionality and comfort, demonstrating the pivotal difference in the understanding of mass economic housing in the USSR and Weimar Germany

Nuclear Structure of Light Atoms

Phase equilibria, crystal structure, and transport properties in the (100-x) La0.95Ni0.6Fe0.4O3-xCeO2 (LNFCx) system (x=2-75 mol%) were studied in air. Evolution of phase compositions and crystal structure of components was observed. The LNFCx (2 &lt;= x &lt;= 10) are three-phase and comprise the perovskite phase with rhombohedral symmetry (R (3) over barc), the modified ceria with fluorite structure (Fm (3) over barm), and NiO as a secondary phase. These multiphase compositions exhibit metallic-like conductivity above 300 degrees C. Their conductivity gradually decreases from 395.6 to 260.6 S/cm, whereas the activation energy remains the same (E-a=0.04-0.05 eV), implying the decrease in the concentration of charge carriers. Phase compositions in the LNFCx (25 &lt;= x &lt;= 75) are more complicated. A change from semiconducting to metallic-like conductivity behavior was observed in LNFC25 at about 550 degrees C. The conductivity of LNFCx (25 &lt;= x &lt;= 75) could be explained in terms of a modified simple mixture model. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.</p

"To Impress the Whole Architectural World of the West": Soviet Architects at the 13th International Congress of Architects in Rome (1935)

The article is focused on participation of the Soviet delegation in the International Architecture Congress in Rome (1935). This participation is considered through the prism of tasks for the international activities of the Union of Soviet Architects in the 1930s. The article shows the dependence of the professional community on the government and reveals ways and means to achieve the prime goal, i.e. representation of the Soviet architecture in the international arena. The publication is based on the involvement of a wide range of archival documents

Training of engineers in mathematics at university on the basis of the information cybernetic approach

© 2017 Authors. The relevance of the presented research is conditioned by the necessity of continuous formation of a competitive personality. The competitiveness of the state in the world market is caused by the level of transport and energy infrastructure, the level of training and qualification of the country's engineers. These have determined the task currently being decided by educational organizations to find new resources for training of highly qualified specialists for the diverse industries to develop. Analyzing the multicomponent training of future engineers, experts note the pedagogical potential of mathematical disciplines in the formation of professional competence of engineers. The potential of the cyber-information approach in the training of engineers at university is disclosed and justified in the article, the potential is represented by a combination of the following resources: motivational-adaptive, subjective, integrative, managerial. The authors developed the author's method of training of future engineers in mathematics at university on the basis of the information-cybernetic approach, represented by successively implemented modules: "I get to know myself." "Intellectual puzzle", "Entertaining modeling", "Creative laboratory". The effectiveness of the developed methodology was proved in the course of the experimental research carried out from 2012 to the present time and the experimental training in mathematics at university using the didactic potential of the information cybernetic approach. The materials of the article can be useful in practical terms for university teachers of mathematics striving to significantly improve the level of mathematical training of future engineers

Superiority Complex: The Pavilion of the USSR at the Exposition Internationale in Paris and the Soviet Cultural Diplomacy

The article was submitted on 14.07.2017.This article focuses on the Soviet Pavilion at the 1937 Exposition Internationale in Paris. The author reconstructs Soviet preparation and participation for this event in the context of Stalin’s cultural diplomacy, which helps model the interactions between the authorities and the architectural community during the prewar period. The article considers several key aspects of the state’s ideological, political, and artistic guidelines for the Pavilion: the decision-making mechanism behind participation, the choice of architectural design and projects for the decoration of the Pavilion, and criteria for selecting the winners. Additionally, the author shows the decisive role of the government, the Politburo, and Stalin in making all the decisions; she also discloses the mechanism for distributing ‘victories’ outside the complete competitive procedures. When analysing the architectural and artistic imagery of the Pavilion, the article focuses on multiple historical and cultural contexts. Primarily, the architecture of the Pavilion correlated with the plans for the Palace of the Soviets. In addition, the author studies the correlation of the style of 1930s Soviet architecture with international architectural trends. This multi-dimensional examination allows the author to come to a conclusion about the origins and characteristics of the Soviet style used for ‘export purposes’ and the practice of artistic appropriation typical of socialist realism. Special attention is paid to ‘Stalin’s architect’ B. Iofan, whose creative biography sheds light on the relationship between the totalitarian state and an artist reduced to the status of a public servant. The Soviet Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale was a reflection of the USSR: it was meant to demonstrate that the country’s involvement in global processes had autarkic content. In other words, it was a demonstration of a Soviet model of the world, one based on self-sufficiency, totalitarian leadership, and victorious ideas.Рассматриваются процесс создания, размещения и функции советского павильона на Всемирной выставке в Париже 1937 г. Реконструируются этапы подготовки и участия в контексте сталинской культурной дипломатии, что дает возможность смоделировать взаимодействия власти и архитектурного сообщества в довоенное советское время. Охарактеризованы на основе архивных данных идейно-политические и художественные установки государственного заказа на проект павильона и его экспозиции; механизм принятия решения об участии в выставке и выборе архитектурного художественно-оформительского образа павильона; критерии определения победителей. Показана определяющая роль правительства и Политбюро, а также ключевая роль И. Сталина в принятии всех решений, раскрыт механизм распределения «побед» вне полноценных конкурсных процедур. При анализе архитектурно-художественного образа павильона обращено внимание на многообразие историко-культурных контекстов, реализуемых в авторами. Прежде всего это соотнесение архитектуры павильона с проектом Дворца Советов. Кроме того, это корреляция стиля советской архитектуры середины 1930-х гг. с мировыми архитектурными тенденциями. Подобное многоаспектное рассмотрение позволяет сделать вывод об истоках и характерных чертах советского стиля «на экспорт» и подтвердить практику художественной апроприации, свойственную социалистическому реализму. Отдельное внимание уделено Б. Иофану – «архитектору Сталина», чья творческая биография раскрывает взаимоотношения тоталитарной власти и творца, низведенного до статуса государственного служащего. Советский павильон (в комплексе его архитектурно-художественного решения и экспозиции) являлся своеобразным отраженным образом СССР: «экспортная» оболочка, ориентированная на демонстрацию вовлеченности в общемировые процессы, заключала в себе автаркическое содержание – демонстрацию собственной советской модели мира, основанной на самодостаточности, тоталитарном вождизме и пропагандистском победительном пафосе.Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ в рамках научного проекта № 18-012-00493

Differentiated tasks system in math as a tool to develop university students’ learning motivation

© 2015 by iSER, International Society of Educational Research. The relevance of the study is due to the direction of the modern education model on the formation of a competitive creative personality, with the need for continuous self-improvement and self-development. It should be emphasized that the effectiveness of training students is largely determined by the level of motivation, interest, and the subjects’ personal involvement. Therefore, the article is aimed at the disclosure of the mechanisms of development of learning motivation of students through the system of differentiated tasks. The leading approach to the study of the problem was the personal-active approach, which aims to reveal the discussed question from the perspective of dialogism, subjectivity and individuality. The article presents the characteristics of the developed and proven system of differentiated tasks in mathematics, focused on the development of learning motivation of students, as well as providing empirical evidence about the results of implementation. The article describes the principles on which we identified three levels of tasks in mathematics: “algorithms”, “problem-search tasks”, and “creative tasks”. The article may be useful to teachers of higher education

Application of Modern Educational Technologies at the Research University

Application of modern educational technologies for diagnosing set education results, student motivation increase, influencing creative thinking ability aimed at problem solving, critical understanding of information and independent educational activity skills development are discussed in the paper

Modelling of the deformation of highly porous metals and alloys under dynamic loading

The study represents the analysis of numerical simulation of the failure of aluminum targets made of highly porous or solid 2024 alloy under dynamic loading. The calculations employed the finite elements method in three-dimensional formulation with the use of proprietary programs. The article presents the results of the numerical simulation of Taylor’s test for the projectile made of highly porous aluminum 2024 alloy at the velocities of 75 to 175 m/s. These results are in a good agreement with the results of the experiments. The peculiarities of the destruction of highly porous aluminum targets are shown

Use of E-resources of the learning environment in teaching mathematics to future engineers

© 2016 by author/s.The urgency of the issue discussed in this article is determined by fact that the modern education model aims at forming a competitive and creative personality of a student striving for continuous self-improvement and self-development. It should be emphasized that mathematical training is an integral part of engineering education. In this regard, the article aims to dwell upon the use of electronic resources of the learning environment in teaching mathematics to future engineers. The leading research method is the student-activity approach which allows to describe the issue in terms of dialogueness, subjectivity and individuality. The article describes the following resources of e-learning environment: motivational-adaptive, subjective, integrative, and managerial. The article reveals pedagogical opportunities of e-learning environment in teaching mathematics to future engineers. The use of electronic media in teaching future engineers at universities is proved to be successful. The materials of this article may be of interest for teachers of higher education institutions