Fast electrochemical membrane actuator:Design, fabrication and preliminary testing

An actuator based on water electrolysis with a fast change of voltage polarity is presented. It demonstrates a new actuation principle allowing significant increase the operation frequency of the device due to fast termination of the produced gas. The actuator consists of a working chamber with metallic electrodes and supplying channels filled with an electrolyte. The chamber is formed in a layer of SU-8 and covered by a flexible polydimethylsiloxane membrane, which deforms as the pressure in the chamber increases. Design, fabrication procedure, and first tests of the actuator are described

Sociological diagnostics of crowdsourcing technology in the practice of regional management

The article proposes a methodology for identifying and analyzing the technology of crowdsourcing, examines the main stages of the formation, and analyzes the implementation of crowdsourcing technology into the practice of regional managemen

Investigation of the structure and microhardness of Mo-Fe-C coatings obtained by the electron beam injected in the atmosphere

In this work 'Mo-Fe-C' coatings fabricated on medium carbon steel by non-vacuum electron beam cladding were investigated. The structure of coatings and transition zones were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was shown that an increase of Fe percentage in the cladding mixture led to a decrease of the eutectic volume fraction in the coating and was accompanied by the formation of the gradient structure between the coating and a substrate material. Measurements of microhardness in the cross section of samples revealed that the cladding of a 'Mo-C powder mixture contributed to a 4.5-fold increase of microhardness

The infrastructure of public catering in the context of tourist city space development

To assess the impact of environmental factors on the activities of catering enterprises of the Belgorod region and the quality of customer service, the authors proposed a method using STEP-analysis and SWOT-analysis. The analysis of environmental factors was carried out on the basis of the expert evaluation results conducted in two stage

Gradients of Taxonomic Diversity among Local Floras in the Russian Arctic

Latitudinal and longitudinal changes in taxonomic variables were analyzed in 319 local floras in the Russian Arctic. Within the studied segment of latitudinal gradient, most changes can be described in terms of linear regression with negative coefficients (a number of species, genera and families), or positive coefficients (a proportion of the leading families and genera). However, the mean number of species in a family or genus almost does not change with increasing latitude, although it slightly increases as one moves eastward. The proportion of monocots does not correlate with latitude, but slightly decreases as one moves eastward. Proportions of various families change asynchronously. Although correlation with longitude was less pronounced, mean species richness was specific to many subprovinces, even within a certain subzone. These differences reflect both the diversity of landscapes and the history of flora formation. Keywords: the Arctic, local floras, latitudinal and longitudinal gradient, floristic subprovince

Transformation of museum product

Today, each museum needs to develop an active strategy of market development, which is preceded by a comprehensive analysis of potential consumers of the museum product, on the basis of which the directions of development will be proposed. The conducted research allowed us to reveal a number of problems which are connected with necessity of transformation of the museum product providing satisfaction of visitor’s requirements and, at the same time, increase in the income of the museu

Management of academic staff activity: modeling and prediction of rating system indicators

This paper deals with the problem of constructing a system of rating indicators for stimulating the work of the academic staff in higher educational institution. Many areas of teacher activity (for example, educational, scientific, international, etc.) laid the basis of selection the groups of indicators in the system. Social challenge in improving the quality of educational services determines the relevance of research in the field of modeling and prediction of indicators which characterize the work of high school teacher. To predict the dynamics of the structure of the rating indicators in the system, the authors introduced the concept of drift and variability of each group. Using informational hypercube for the structure of input data allowed authors to take into account the individual characteristics of each parameter included in a mathematical model to describe the rating indicators. To make the prediction of the structure and values of rating system indicators the authors introduced the concept of drift. Drift of indicators takes into account the introduction of new indicators, the removal of existing indicators, and movement of indicators between the groups. In the article, authors introduced a novel quantitative indicator of group variability. The value of this indicator determines the prediction strategy of the teacher work in higher school in the future period. To predict the total amount of stimulating, the complex technique offered and it includes four modules: modeling values within the existing range in the previous period; modeling new index value based on the assumptions introduced using a random number generator; exclusion a range of values of deleted indicators; modeling new values based on the study of the modern trend of indicators. The presence of flexible information structure in the form of a hypercube and complex mathematical model allowed authors to carry out numerical simulation for predicting the values of individual and group indicators. During the experiment, the structural stability of values is detected, and it does not lead to a drastic changing of the quantitative ratio between the groups of indicators

Features and causes of gerontological ageism in the provision of medical and social assistance

Based on the data of the author’s sociological survey of medical and social workers, the article analyzes the prevalence of ageism in the activities of medical and social workers, its factors and prerequisite

Investigation of the structure and microhardness of Mo-Fe-C coatings obtained by the electron beam injected in the atmosphere

In this work 'Mo-Fe-C' coatings fabricated on medium carbon steel by non-vacuum electron beam cladding were investigated. The structure of coatings and transition zones were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was shown that an increase of Fe percentage in the cladding mixture led to a decrease of the eutectic volume fraction in the coating and was accompanied by the formation of the gradient structure between the coating and a substrate material. Measurements of microhardness in the cross section of samples revealed that the cladding of a 'Mo-C powder mixture contributed to a 4.5-fold increase of microhardness

Ce-doped Li6Ln(BO3)3 (Ln = Y, Gd) Single crystals fibers grown by micro-pulling down method and luminescence properties

Ce3+-doped borate crystal fibers of Li6Gd(BO 3)3 (LGBO) and Li6Y(BO3)3 (LYBO) compositions are grown by the micro-pulling down (μ-PD) method for potential application in developing new neutron detectors. The ternary equilibrium diagram of Li2O-Gd2O3-B 2O3 is drawn and the preparations of homogeneous mixed LGBO and LYBO powders and growth conditions for single crystal fibers are discussed. Absorption, excitation and X-ray luminescence spectra are investigated. Absolute light yield derived from energy spectra and kinetic decay curves measured under α- and γ-scintillations of Ce 3+-doped LGBO and LYBO single crystal fibers is provided. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved