Regional Features of Attracting Foreign Investments into the Russian Economy

Aspects of investment attractiveness of subjects of Russian Federation, where the mode of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) is applied, are reviewed in this article. Emphasizing the importance of foreign direct investment for overcoming the technological gap from the leading world economies, the authors discuss several SEZs selected for reasons of uniformity of their socio-economic status and purpose of creating SEZ mode in them. One of the main purposes for establishing the SEZ mode is the creation of investment attractiveness for projects, being implemented in these regions. Special Economic Zones of Technical Innovation Type (Tomsk), industrial type (Samara, Ulyanovsk, Elabuga) are analyzed in this article because these are the types of SEZ modes where borrowing is supposed, as well as introduction and development of modern technologies. In large-scale projects planned by the Government in these areas, participation of small businesses is almost ignored, which, from the point of view of the authors, harms the investment attractiveness of the projects. Identification of regional special characteristics of investment attractiveness of studied objects is carried out in comparison with the state of small business in these areas. Importance of small business development in the creation of a favorable investment climate is shown

On the Possible Common Nature of Double Extensive Air Showers and Aligned Events

Double Extensive Air Showers and aligned events were discovered at energies E {\gtsim} 1016 eV over fourth century back. But up to now there is no sufficiently identical explanation of their nature. In this paper it is expected that both types of events are the result of breakup of the string formed in the collisions of super high energy particles

"Free" Constituent Quarks and Dilepton Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

An approach is suggested, invoking vitally the notion of constituent massive quarks (valons) which can survive and propagate rather than hadrons (except of pions) within the hot and dense matter formed below the chiral transition temperature in course of the heavy ion collisions at high energies. This approach is shown to be quite good for description of the experimentally observed excess in dilepton yield at masses 250 MeV < M < 700 MeV over the prompt resonance decay mechanism (CERES cocktail) predictions. In certain aspects, it looks to be even more successful, than the conventional approaches: it seems to match the data somewhat better at dilepton masses before the two-pion threshold and before the rho-meson peak as well as at higher dilepton masses (beyond the phi-meson one). The approach implies no specific assumptions on the equation of state (EOS) or peculiarities of phase transitions in the expanding nuclear matter.Comment: 13 pages, 3 PNG figures. submitted to Sov. Nucl. Phy

A New bis(rhodamine)-Based Fluorescent Chemosensor for Fe3+

A new bis(rhodamine)-based fluorescent probe 4 was synthesized, and it exhibited high selectivity for Fe3+ over other commonly coexistent metal ions in both 50% ethanol and Tris–HCl buffer. Upon the addition of Fe3+, the spirocyclic ring of 4 was opened and a significant enhancement of visible color and fluorescence in the range of 500–600 nm was observed

Phosphorescent Sensor for Robust Quantification of Copper(II) Ion

A phosphorescent sensor based on a multichromophoric iridium(III) complex was synthesized and characterized. The construct exhibits concomitant changes in its phosphorescence intensity ratio and phosphorescence lifetime in response to copper(II) ion. The sensor, which is reversible and selective, is able to quantify copper(II) ions in aqueous media, and it detects intracellular copper ratiometrically.National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) ((Grant GM065519)Ewha Woman's University (Korea) (RP-Grant 2009

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationNumerous synaptic and intrinsic membrane mechanisms have been proposed for generating oscillatory activity in the hippocampus. Few studies, however, have directly measured synaptic conductances and membrane properties during oscillations. The time course and relative contribution of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic conductances, as well as the role of intrinsic membrane properties in amplifying synaptic inputs, remain unclear. To address this issue, we used an isolated whole hippocampal preparation that generates autonomous low-frequency oscillations near the theta range (3-12 Hz). Using 2-photon microscopy and expression of genetically-encoded fluorophores, we obtained on-cell and whole-cell patch recordings of pyramidal cells and fast-firing interneurons in the distal subiculum. Pyramidal cell and interneuron spiking shared similar phase-locking to LFP oscillations. In pyramidal cells, spiking resulted from a concomitant and balanced increase in excitatory and inhibitory synaptic currents. In contrast, interneuron spiking was driven almost exclusively by excitatory synaptic current. Thus, similar to tightly balanced networks underlying hippocampal gamma oscillations and ripples, balanced synaptic inputs in the whole hippocampal preparation drive highly phase-locked spiking at the peak of slower network oscillations. The timescale for hippocampal theta oscillations has been attributed to intrinsic membrane properties that impart resonance and rebound-spiking dynamics to neurons. Autonomous oscillations in the whole hippocampal preparation, which occur near the iv theta frequency band, are generated through a balanced excitation-inhibition mechanism that does not arise from rebound-spiking in pyramidal cells. In order to determine the timescale for autonomous oscillations, we injected pyramidal cells with artificial membrane conductance steps that emulate synaptic input during oscillations in order to evoke low spike rates mimicking those seen in autonomous oscillations. We find that refractory dynamics, particularly those influenced by potassium-channel conductance, inhibit spiking when a second conductance step is applied within 80 ms after the first conductance step. The delay at which spiking and potassium conductances recover matches the timescale of theta (80-320 ms). Thus, the timescale for autonomous oscillations likely arises from an increase in potassium-channel conductance that limits spiking during depolarization, rather than membrane resonance properties that amplify theta frequency inputs