A Survey of the Management and Development of Captive African Elephant (\u3cem\u3eLoxodonta africana\u3c/em\u3e) Calves: Birth to Three Months of Age

We used four surveys to collect information about the birth, physical growth, and behavioral development of 12 African elephant calves born in captivity. The management of the birth process and neonatal care involved a variety of standard procedures. All of the calves were born at night, between 7PM and 7AM. The calves showed a systematic progression in behavioral and physical development, attaining developmental milestones at least a quickly as calves in situ. This study emphasized birth-related events, changes in the ways that calves used their trunks, first instances of behaviors, and interactions of the calves with other, usually adult, elephants. Several behaviors, such as the dam covering her calf with hay and the calf sucking its own trunk, were common in the captive situation and have been observed in situ. Overall, the behaviors of the calves resembled those observed for African elephant calves in situ. These data should help in the management of African elephants under human care by providing systematic reference values for the birth and development of elephant calves

Phenomenological approach to non-linear Langevin equations

In this paper we address the problem of consistently construct Langevin equations to describe fluctuations in non-linear systems. Detailed balance severely restricts the choice of the random force, but we prove that this property together with the macroscopic knowledge of the system is not enough to determine all the properties of the random force. If the cause of the fluctuations is weakly coupled to the fluctuating variable, then the statistical properties of the random force can be completely specified. For variables odd under time-reversal, microscopic reversibility and weak coupling impose symmetry relations on the variable-dependent Onsager coefficients. We then analyze the fluctuations in two cases: Brownian motion in position space and an asymmetric diode, for which the analysis based in the master equation approach is known. We find that, to the order of validity of the Langevin equation proposed here, the phenomenological theory is in agreement with the results predicted by more microscopic models.Comment: LaTex file, 2 figures available upon request, to appear in Phys.Rev.

Проблема співвідношення індивідуальної і колективної ідентичності. (Problem of the relation of individual and collective identity.)

У статті проводиться думка, що ідентичність у людини одна – це самоідентичність особистості. Інші різновиди ідентичностей є колективними і являють собою певні конструкти, що впливають на процеси ідентифікації. Звернення до онтологічних підвалин ідентичності дає можливість виявити основи її класифікації. (The idea, that identity for a man is one – self-identity of personality, is conducted in the article. Other varieties of identities are collective and show by itself certain constructs that influence on the processes of authentication. An address to ontological foundations of identity gives an opportunity to find out bases of its classification.

Poland’s rule of law breakdown: a five-year assessment of EU’s (in)action

To reinstate what amounts to a “Soviet-style justice system”, Polish authorities have repeatedly and deliberately violated the Polish Constitution and EU law. Rather than comprehensively detailing these repeated violations, this article focuses on the EU dimension of Poland’s rule of law breakdown. Using the activation of the Rule of Law Framework by the European Commission on 13 January 2016 as a starting point, this article offers a critical five-year assessment of EU’s (in)action starting with an overview of the extent to which virtually all of the multiple problematical issues identified early on by the Commission have yet to be addressed by Polish authorities by January 2021. Regarding the Commission and the Council’s (in)action, this article argues that the Commission has systematically acted in a too little too late fashion while the Council has systematically failed to meaningfully act, with the inaction of these two EU institutions amounting, at times, to dereliction of duties. By contrast, the Court of Justice has forcefully defended judicial independence whenever an infringement case was lodged with it by the Commission. The Court of Justice’s record in preliminary ruling cases is more mixed due, in part, to the Court’s apprehension to undermine the principle of mutual trust. The article ends with a list of key lessons and recommendations which reflect the EU’s few successes and many failures highlighted in this article. It is submitted inter alia that more statements, dialogue and reports are not going to help contain, let alone solve Poland’s rule of law crisis. It is indeed no longer a crisis the EU is facing but a total breakdown in the rule of law in Poland which, in turn, represents a threat to the interconnected legal order that underpins the EU

Youth and revolution: the social image of young communist party members in Yekaterinburg province (1922–1924)

The article was submitted on 18.04.2017.This article considers the implementation of the “social bulldozer” by young Communist Party members of the early 1920s. The period was characterised by intensive social changes in many spheres of society, and the youth was supposed to play a special role as a strike force in the process. The Party and the government of the country aimed at the indoctrination of young people’s consciousness, their political education, militarisation, and organising various sports and cultural activities. As a result of this complex youth policy, there appeared a new system of values whose main objective was for youth to serve their state and the ideals of communism. As more and more young people became members of the Party, the latter grew in power and control. Referring to the primary materials of the All-Russian census of the members of the RCP(B), the article describes the social image of the Party youth and their career strategies. The youth of the period in question accounted for the majority of the members of the Party, thus defining the social portrait of communists. The young members of the Party did not have a high level of education. As for their career aspirations, they were meant to perform leading functions at the lower (volost’) and uyezd levels, where they became a labour pool to later be promoted to higher positions.Рассматриваются проблемы реализации партийной молодежью начала 1920-х гг. функции «социального бульдозера». Особенностью данного периода были активные социальные преобразования в разных сферах общества. Молодежи в этом процессе отводилась особая роль «ударной силы». Мобилизация молодежи через ее идеологическую обработку, политическое воспитание, военизацию, спортивно-культурные мероприятия входила в политику партии и правительства. Результатом комплексной молодежной политики стало формирование новой системы ценностей, главной установкой которой было служение государству и идеалам коммунизма. Привлечение молодежи в Коммунистическую партию обеспечивало необходимый уровень влияния и контроля. На основе изучения первичных материалов Всероссийской переписи членов РКП(б) характеризуются социальный облик партийной молодежи, ее карьерные стратегии. Молодежь в изучаемый период составляла большинство членов партии, определяя общий социальный портрет коммунистов. Для молодых членов партии был характерен невысокий образовательный уровень. Карьерные стратегии молодежи были ориентированы на выполнение руководящих функций в низовых (волостных) и уездных органах власти, где молодые люди становились кадровым резервом для руководящих должностей более высокого уровня.Тема поддержана грантом Российского научного фонда (проект №16-18-10106 «Раннесоветское общество как социальный проект: идеи, механизмы реализации, результаты конструирования»)

The visualization of history: a new turn in the development of historical cognition

The article was submitted on 20.06.2015.The author analyzes the transformational processes of historical research in the advent of a society of visual culture. The development of visual anthropology became the most obvious factor of the visual turn in historical research, and it studies different manifestations of visuality, using new tools for collecting and registering data (such as a video camera). The increasing popularity of historical films and documentaries, museum installations and historic reconstructions testify to the intensification of the processes of visualization in historical research. The article gives a brief overview of the main stages of the transformation of historical research, including changes in style of language, the expansion of subject matter of research, the update of the resource base and analysis methods in relation to visual sources. The author emphasizes that there is a tendency among historians to use a wide variety of terms that are related to the visual approach (image, appearance, portrait, landscape, etc.). The author focuses on the methodological and methodical aspects of historical-visual studies and considers the methodological approaches towards image reconstruction, mechanisms of image formation, the display of images and the influence of social consciousness and behavior on images. The increase in the amount of modern historical sources is caused by the increasing use of audio-visual sources. Special attention is paid to fictional films as a subtype of audio-visual documents; the author describes their potential and peculiarities of representation. It is noted that when analyzing video documents, it is necessary that the researcher take into account the character of information (images of the present and past). Films based on topics belonging to the same epoch as the researchers are the most attractive ones for analyzing as they contain a considerable amount of information reflecting the peculiarities of material culture, behavioral models and relationships as well as social types. The author demonstrates that to study audio-visual sources it is necessary to use special methods, namely, the method of observation. The article studies its essence, and the methods of its adaptation to the analysis of audio-visual documents. Additionally, the article characterizes the main stages in the employment of the method when analyzing video documents. The study of visual sources forms special skills needed to work with information.Анализируются процессы трансформации исторической науки в условиях формирования общества визуальной культуры. Наиболее очевидным показателем визуального поворота в исторической науке стало стремительное развитие визуальной антропологии, в рамках которой изучаются различные проявления визуальности и используется новый инструментарий сбора и фиксации информации (кинокамера). Об усилении процессов визуализации исторической науки свидетельствует растущая популярность историко-документального кино, музейных инсталляций, исторических реконструкций. Кратко охарактеризованы основные направления трансформации исторической науки, в том числе изменение стиля языка, расширение тематики исследований, обновление источниковой базы и методов анализа визуальных источников. Отмечено широкое использование в словаре историка понятий, связанных с визуальным подходом (образ, облик, портрет, ландшафт и пр.). Основное внимание уделяется методологическим и методическим аспектам историко-визуальных исследований, рассматриваются методологические подходы к реконструкции и механизмам формирования образа; его трансляции; влиянию на общественное сознание и поведение. Расширение современной источниковой базы исторических исследований связано со все более широким использованием аудиовизуальных источников. Особое внимание уделено такой разновидности аудиовизуальных документов, как художественные фильмы, раскрываются их потенциал и особенности репрезентации информации. Отмечено, что при анализе кинодокументов необходимо учитывать прежде всего характер отражения информации (образы «настоящего» или «прошлого»). Наиболее интересными для исторического исследования являются фильмы на современную авторам тему, поскольку они содержат значительный пласт информации, отражающей особенности материальной культуры, поведенческих моделей и отношений, социальных типажей. Показано, что для изучения аудиовизуальных источников необходимо использование особых методов, в частности метода наблюдения. В статье рассмотрены его содержание, проблемы адаптации его к изучению аудио-визуальных документов. Приводится характеристика основных этапов реализации метода наблюдения при изучении кинодокументов. Изучение визуальных источников формирует особые навыки работы с информацией.Тема поддержана грантом РГНФ № 14-01-00352 «Визуальные репрезентации советской деревни в художественном кинематографе 1920-1980-х гг.: источниковедческое исследование»

Equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics of particle-stabilized thin liquid films

Our recent quasi-two-dimensional thermodynamic description of thin-liquid films stabilized by colloidal particles is generalized to describe nonuniform equilibrium states of films in external potentials and nonequilibrium transport processes produced in the film by gradients of thermodynamic forces. Using a Monte--Carlo simulation method, we have determined equilibrium equations of state for a film stabilized by a suspension of hard spheres. Employing a multipolar-expansion method combined with a flow-reflection technique, we have also evaluated the short-time film-viscosity coefficients and collective particle mobility.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure