Effective risk communication as a factor in managing protests attitudes in a local community

Contemporary research into the perception of environmental risks suffers from poor knowledge of risk communication in the local community and of how different ways of risk communication affect protest attitudes. This study aims to clarify communication strategies and practices used by members of local communities as a protest response to environmental threats. The work builds on the cultural theory developed by Douglas, Dake, Bremen, and others. This theory distinguishes between several cultural types (hierarchism, individualism, communitarianism, and egalitarianism), which differ in how environmental risks are perceived and what forms risk communication takes. The study investigates the case of the village of Nivenskoe in Russia’s Kaliningrad region where residents opposed the development of a potassium salt deposit. It is concluded that egalitarians and communitarians are more likely than hierarchists and individualists to participate in protests when a serious environmental threat arises. Respondents of all cultural types tend to trust information coming from their close social network, public figures, and environmentalists whereas people of business are trusted the least

Mass Transfer Mechanism in Real Crystals by Pulsed Laser Irradiation

The dynamic processes in the surface layers of metals subjected activity of a pulsing laser irradiation, which destroyed not the crystalline structure in details surveyed. The procedure of calculation of a dislocation density generated in bulk of metal during the relaxation processes and at repeated pulse laser action is presented. The results of evaluations coincide with high accuracy with transmission electron microscopy dates. The dislocation-interstitial mechanism of laser-stimulated mass-transfer in real crystals is presented on the basis of the ideas of the interaction of structure defects in dynamically deforming medium. The good compliance of theoretical and experimental results approves a defining role of the presented mechanism of mass transfer at pulse laser action on metals. The possible implementation this dislocation-interstitial mechanism of mass transfer in metals to other cases of pulsing influences is justifiedComment: 10 pages, 2 figures, Late

Multivariate Anisotropic Interpolation on the Torus

We investigate the error of periodic interpolation, when sampling a function on an arbitrary pattern on the torus. We generalize the periodic Strang-Fix conditions to an anisotropic setting and provide an upper bound for the error of interpolation. These conditions and the investigation of the error especially take different levels of smoothness along certain directions into account

Motives and features of cross-platform self-presentation of Russian students

Social networks increasingly act as a full-fledged tool in the process of expressing one’s identity and self- presentation. The object of this study was the cross-platform self-presentation of Russian students in three different social networks: «VKontakte», «Facebook» and «Instagram». The authors consider cross-platformness in the article refers as the ability to simultaneously construct the desired impression in various Internet platforms, taking into account the specifics of their functionality and audience. The subject of the study is the motives and characteristics of cross-platform self-presentation in these social networks. The research method is in-depth interviews with students of Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad, Russia). The paper carries out narrative analysis in a special software package Atlas.ti. The authors pay particular attention to the motivations for using social networks, as well as the similarities and differences in the pictures and content published on different virtual platforms. The main conclusion of this study is that social media users prefer different forms of self-presentations. The authors found that the nature of self-presentation is related both to the motives for using social networks and their technological capabilities. On Facebook, the prerequisite for the formation of self-presentation is the ability to communicate with a more serious and adult audience. In «VKontakte» – to be part of a community consisting mostly of close friends and peers. In «Instagram» – the visual perception of a person by a person. Along with this, the specificity of self-presentation is also affected by the different functionality of social networks. In particular, «Instagram» provides the most effective opportunities for account users to show events from their lives

Cyclic regularities of the acoustic emission generation during plasma-electrolytic oxidation of an Al–Mg alloy in the bipolar mode

The paper analyzes the features of the acoustic emission (AE) signal generation during plasma-electrolytic oxidation (PEO) of the AMg6 aluminum alloy in a bipolar (anode-cathode) pulsed mode within each cycle of voltage application. The authors studied the range of PEO modes that almost completely covers all standard technological modes for processing aluminum alloys by the current densities (6–18 A/dm2) and current ratio in half-cycles (0.7–1.3), which allowed fixing and studying the AE accompanying the formation of oxide layers for various purposes. For the first time, due to AE registration, a new PEO stage was identified, in which there was no microarc breakdown to the substrate, but which was accompanied by an increase in the layer thickness, and the nature of which has not yet been determined. According to the known features of the oxidation stages, the authors systematized the repetitive forms of AE manifestation in the cycles of exposure and identified their five types and three subtypes. The study shows that the approach used to establish the PEO stages by the “acoustic emission amplitude” parameter has poor accuracy, since it does not take into account the form of signals and the half-period of their registration. Therefore, the authors developed and tested a new approach for analyzing AE frames synchronously with the cycles of change in the forming voltage during PEO, and proposed a new “acoustic-emission median” parameter, which allows identifying the main types and subtypes of signals accompanying the oxidation stages. An experimental study of the proposed AE parameter was carried out to identify these PEO stages, which confirmed the operability, high accuracy and sensitivity of the proposed parameter to the subtypes of AE signals recorded at the cathode stage of “soft sparking”. The latter is of particular interest, since it is a means of studying a given oxidation stage with a resolution equal to the exposure cycle

Different-sized porosity and thermal conductivity of oxide layers formed by plasma-electrolytic oxidation on the AlSi12Mg silumin

Oxide layers formed by plasma-electrolytic oxidation (PEO) are characterized by a sufficiently high porosity, which influences almost the whole complex of service characteristics. However, the known data on the integral porosity of PEO-produced layers are rather contradictory, and the pore size distribution in these layers remains understudied. Pore size distribution in the range of 10 nm to 10 µm (pore geometry was approximated by a spherical shape) was obtained by using analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images in a wide range of magnifications. Lognormal distribution function fits the shape of pore size distribution sufficiently well. Such distribution indicates the nature of pore formation, which can be related to the thermally activated process of gas emission from a liquid melt, the volume and average temperature of which, in turn, depend on the micro-arc discharge energy. The results of the oxide layer phase composition and crystallites sizes by the X-ray crystallography were described in the present paper. The amorphous component phase composition was estimated by the comparing of the of X-ray spectral microanalysis and X-ray crystallography methods. The thermal conductivity of the intact oxide layer and the polished layer (after the removal of its highly-porous outer part) was evaluated by using of the steady-state method and the laser flash method. The porosity values calculated based on the analysis of SEM-images, and the results of determining the phase composition, including amorphous phases, allowed evaluating the oxide layer thermal conductivity with use of four known analytical models. The results of calculating the thermal conductivity using the Loeb model demonstrate the good convergence with the experimental results obtained in this paper. Modeling results the size of crystallites effect on the oxide layer thermal conductivity significantly less than the porosity and amorphous phase

Improvement of Protective Oxide Layers Formed by Highfrequency Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation on Mg-RE Alloy with LPSO-Phase

Received: 17.04.23. Revised: 17.05.23. Accepted: 23.05.23. Available online: 29.05.23.PEO of Mg-RE (LPSO) alloy allows improving its corrosion behaviour and surface mechanical properties.Increase of pulse frequency under PEO allows decreasing the porosity and heterogeneity of the oxide layers.The best corrosion resistance and adhesive strength demonstrate the oxide layer obtained in aluminate electrolyte under high-frequency PEO.Oxide layers on Mg97Y2Zn1 magnesium alloy with strengthening LPSO-phase were formed by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) in bipolar mode with frequency variation of forming current pulses (50 and 500 Hz) and addition of sodium aluminate or sodium silicate to alkali phosphate fluoride electrolyte. Microstructure, chemical and phase composition, corrosion and mechanical properties of the oxide layers formed were investigated. With increasing current frequency for both electrolytes, an increase in homogeneity of the oxide layers structure and a decrease in their porosity and fracturing at constant thickness were recorded. The oxide layers formed at 500 Hz even with some decrease in hardness have better adhesive strength and 2 orders of magnitude higher short-term corrosion resistance values. PEO of Mg-alloy with LPSO-phase in the electrolyte with addition of sodium aluminate in combination with increased pulse frequency (500 Hz) allows forming the best-quality uniform oxide layer with high hardness, adhesive strength and corrosion resistance properties. The use of electrolyte with addition of sodium silicate reduced the adhesive strength by 1.5 times and brought down the long-term corrosion resistance of oxide layers by an order of magnitude, as compared with the electrolyte with sodium aluminate. The reason for a significant improvement in the complex of protective properties of the oxide layers with an increase in the current pulse frequency is supposed to be a decrease in the power and duration of individual microarc discharges with simultaneous increase in their number per unit oxidized area.Financial support is provided by the Russian Science Foundation (grant No. 20-79-10262), https://rscf.ru/project/20-79-10262/

Activation kinetics of single P2X receptors

After the primary structure of P2X receptors had been identified, their function had to be characterized on the molecular level. Since these ligand-gated ion channels become activated very quickly after binding of ATP, methods with adequate time resolution have to be applied to investigate the early events induced by the agonist. Single-channel recordings were performed to describe conformational changes on P2X2, P2X4, and P2X7 receptors induced by ATP and also by allosteric receptor modifiers. The main results of these studies and the models of P2X receptor kinetics derived from these observations are reviewed here. The investigation of purinoceptors by means of the patch clamp technique following site-directed mutagenesis will probably reveal more details of P2X receptor function at the molecular level

Excitatory effect of ATP on rat area postrema neurons

ATP-induced inward currents and increases in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca]in) were investigated in neurons acutely dissociated from rat area postrema using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and fura-2 microfluorometry, respectively. The ATP-induced current (IATP) and [Ca]in increases were mimicked by 2-methylthio-ATP and ATP-γS, and were inhibited by P2X receptor (P2XR) antagonists. The current–voltage relationship of the IATP exhibited a strong inward rectification, and the amplitude of the IATP was concentration-dependent. The IATP was markedly reduced in the absence of external Na+, and the addition of Ca2+ to Na+-free saline increased the IATP. ATP did not increase [Ca]in in the absence of external Ca2+, and Ca2+ channel antagonists partially inhibited the ATP-induced [Ca]in increase, indicating that ATP increases [Ca]in by Ca2+ influx through both P2XR channels and voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels. There was a negative interaction between P2XR- and nicotinic ACh receptor (nAChR)-channels, which depended on the amplitude and direction of current flow through either channel. Current occlusion was observed at Vhs between −70 and −10 mV when the IATP and ACh-induced current (IACh) were inward, but no occlusion was observed when these currents were outward at a Vh of +40 mV. The IATP was not inhibited by co-application of ACh when the IACh was markedly decreased either by removal of permeant cations, by setting Vh close to the equilibrium potential of IACh, or by the addition of d-tubocurarine or serotonin. These results suggest that the inhibitory interaction is attributable to inward current flow of cations through the activated P2XR- and nAChR-channels

Improvement of protective oxide layers formed by high-frequency plasma electrolytic oxidation on Mg-RE alloy with LPSO-phase

Oxide layers on Mg97Y2Zn1 magnesium alloy with strengthening LPSO-phase were formed by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) in bipolar mode with frequency variation of forming current pulses (50 and 500 Hz) and addition of sodium aluminate or sodium silicate to alkali phosphate fluoride electrolyte. Microstructure, chemical and phase composition, corrosion and mechanical properties of the oxide layers formed were investigated. With increasing current frequency for both electrolytes, an increase in homogeneity of the oxide layers structure and a decrease in their porosity and fracturing at constant thickness were recorded. The oxide layers formed at 500 Hz even with some decrease in hardness have better adhesive strength and 2 orders of magnitude higher short-term corrosion resistance values. PEO of Mg-alloy with LPSO-phase in the electrolyte with addition of sodium aluminate in combination with increased pulse frequency (500 Hz) allows forming the best-quality uniform oxide layer with high hardness, adhesive strength and corrosion resistance properties. The use of electrolyte with addition of sodium silicate reduced the adhesive strength by 1.5 times and brought down the long-term corrosion resistance of oxide layers by an order of magnitude, as compared with the electrolyte with sodium aluminate. The reason for a significant improvement in the complex of protective properties of the oxide layers with an increase in the current pulse frequency is supposed to be a decrease in the power and duration of individual microarc discharges with simultaneous increase in their number per unit oxidized area