Competing ideologies of Russia's civil society

Many analysts and public opinion makers in the West conflate the notions of Russia’s non-systemic liberal opposition and the country’s civil society. Indeed, despite garnering the support of a minority of Russia’s population, non-systemic liberal opposition represents a well-organized civic group with a clearly articulated agenda and the ability to take action. Yet, does Russia’s civil society end there? A closer look at the country’s politics shows that Russia has a substantial conservative-traditionalist faction that has also developed agenda for action and formulated opinions. This group is anti-liberal rather than illiberal ideologically and pro-strong state/pro a geopolitically independent Russia rather than pro-Kremlin politically. The interaction between liberal and conservative civic groups represents the battle of meanings, ideas, and ethics, and ultimately determines the future trajectory of Russia’s evolution. Thus, the analysis of Russia’s civil society must represent a rather more nuanced picture than a mere study of the liberal non-systemic opposition. This article will examine the complexity of Russia’s civil society scene with reference to the interplay between the liberal opposition and conservative majority factions. The paper will argue that such complexity stems from ideological value pluralism that falls far beyond the boundaries of the liberal consensus, often skewing our understanding of political practice in Russia

The optical refractometry using transport-of-intensity equation

Abstract A development of a method for measuring the refractive index of optical media based on the transport-of-intensity equation (TIE) is proposed. The method requires only a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera, which registers intensity distributions in several planes. The obtained intensity distributions are used to solve the TIE, known as a non-interferometric and deterministic method of measuring the phase of a light wave. Simple physical relations connecting the phase of the light wave that has passed through an optical medium and its refractive index allows to determine the latter. The results of the experiment confirm the applicability of the proposed method to the problems of optical refractometry.</jats:p