Special carbon requirement of Spirulina platensis culture. [Translation from: Materialy VII Vsesoyuznogo Rabochego Soveshchanii po Voprosu Krugovorota Veshchestv v Zamknutoi Sisteme na Osnove Zhiznedeyatel'nosti Nizshikh Organizmov p55-57. Kiev, Naukova Dumka, 1972.]

By the industrial cultivation of blue-green algae, there very much appears the important question about their carbon nutrition. Spirulina grows within the range of pH value of medium of 8.5 - 11.0. In this range of pH value in the culture medium CO2 is present in the form of bicarbonate and carbonate, which serves as principal source of carbon for the present type of algae. There is little information yet about the influence of the pH of the medium, and the form of carbon components of the medium, on the rate-increase of Spirulina. Investigations were conducted into the influence of some pH values of medium on the rate-increase of the alga Spirulina platensis

Digital Transformation and New Methods of Sociological Research

Today, digital transformation assists us to search for information on the Internet, to digitize data, to store and broadcast it conveniently; however, digital transformation changes not only the quality of technologies, but also the social reality, the structure of society, the ways of social interactions, the social actor, and research methods. Four breakthrough technologies — cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of things — determine the direction of these changes. The question is how sociology may use these technologies for its own purposes. In this paper, the outdated approaches of authorities are considered in relation to the monitoring criteria they use to evaluate their activities. We emphasize the potential to obtain representative data by using traditional survey methods. Nevertheless, changes in the socio-psychological characteristics of respondents actualize the transition from mass surveys to big data analysis and force us to replace directly posed questions with the indirect confirmation of hypotheses. The new technologies open greater opportunities for building correlations, identifying hidden patterns, and making predictions than it was possible till now. Thus, we need scientifically based coherent patterns across individual factors in order not to see cause-and-effect relationships in random matches. Research community has to develop these patterns. Keywords: Digital Transformation, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, the methods of sociological researc

Non-drug treatments for bronchiectasis

In recent decades, attention to lung diseases associated with bronchiectasis has increased significantly. Despite the availability of modern effective therapy methods, primarily inhalation therapy, the problems of improving mucociliary clearance, reducing hypersecretion in pathologically deformed bronchi do not lose relevance. In patients with bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, COPD with bronchiectasis, methods of kinesitherapy to improve lung drainage function come to the fore. One of modern effective methods of kinesitherapy is the use of simulators with positive expiratory pressure. This includes the PARI O-PEP and the PARI PEP S system. These simulators are effective and easy to use. The PARI PEP S system is attached to a nebulizer and the patient can perform basic mucolytic therapy with exhaled resistance, which is more effective in influencing lung drainage function. The use of expiratory simulators is even more effective if included in a pulmonary rehabilitation course, conducted in conjunction with the improvement of breathing pattern (breathing pattern) through the use of aspiratory simulators, with training of the upper and lower muscle groups that are affected by chronic infectious process. The use of hardware methods to improve lung drainage function, such as vibration and compression therapy, is important to manage exacerbations of bronchiectasis. Due to the pandemic of new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), it is necessary to prevent worsening of the course or exacerbation of lung diseases associated with bronchiectasis, so the daily use of physical training, aspiration training and expiratory exercise machines is essential

Methodology for cognition of digital society

Digital sociology is a computational social science that uses modern information systems and technologies, has already formed. But the conflict with traditional sociology and its research methods has not yet been resolved. This conflict can be overcome if we remember that there is a common goal – the knowledge of the phenomena and processes of social life, which is primary in relation to the methods to be agreed upon. Digital transformation of sociology is essential, since 1) traditional sociological methods do not solve the problem of providing voluminous, reliable empirical data qualitatively and in a short time; 2) the transition from contact research methods to unobtrusive ones is in demand. The adaptation of four modern information technologies-cloud computing, big data, the Internet of things and artificial intelligence – for the purposes of sociology provides a qualitative transition in the methodology of knowledge of the digital society. Cloud computing provide researchers with tools, big data – research materials, Internet of things technology aimed at collecting indicators (receiving signals) in large volume, in real time, as direct, not indirect evidence of human behavior. The development of “artificial intelligence” technology expands the possibility of receiving processed signals of the quality of the social system without building a preliminary hypothesis, in a short time and on a large volume of processed data. Digital transformation of sociology does not mean abandoning the use of traditional methods of sociological analysis, but it involves expanding the competence of a sociologist, which requires a revision of University curricula. At the same time, combining the functions of an expert on the subject (sociologist) and data analyst in one specialist is assessed as unpromising, it is proposed to combine their professional competencies in working on unified research projects

Digitalization: new risks for people with disabilities. Problem statement

The philosophy of independent living implies the possibilities of leading a life independent of third parties for people with disabilities. Digitalization of the most important spheres of activity: education, employment and employment, health care, public administration is considered, among other things, as the most important tool for solving this problem. But, as empirical studies show, the secondary analysis of the results of which is carried out in this article, at the moment, digitalization creates additional social barriers, increasing segregation and exacerbating the inequality of this social community. The availability of modern information and communication technologies and the ability to use them are influenced by both independent factors common for the population (age, education, income, type of settlement), and specific ones inherent only in this social community (nosology and severity of a functional defect). Inattention within the framework of digitalization programs to the fact that disability has an individual trajectory and for the full use of modern information and communication technologies, people with disabilities need assistive technologies, the costs for them, the compatibility of auxiliary software with the design of websites is one of the main reasons for the emergence of digital inequality in this category of the population.To minimize digital barriers, depending on the individual needs of disabled people, it is proposed:1) to expand the functions, competencies and technical capabilities of social workers and / or organize technological support of life activities by volunteers;2) to develop programs of additional information education;3) to calculate the costs of assistive technologies for individual nosologies to provide targeted social assistance;4) to encourage and subsidize the development of assistive technologies within the framework of state financial assistance to high-tech developments;5) to take into account the special needs of people with disabilities in digitalization programs

Book review: Kravchenko S. A. “Sociology of Digitalisation: university textbook”

The review of a new book written by a leading Russian sociologist-theorist Sergey A. Kravchenko is presented. The book analyses the social implications and prospects of the digitalisation. The objectivity of this process leading to the complication of society, its dehumanisation and the emergence of new previously unseen risks, is noted. Scientific and technological innovations reduce the share of traditional risks, natural and technological, but increase the share of institutional risks. Sergey A. Kravchenko calls this new reality the socio-digital-natural reality, in which, primarily in social networks, both human actors and non-human (digital) actors, sociotechnical and techno-social hybrids operate. The author of the book being reviewed concludes that there is a need for a humanistic digital turn, a change in approaches and focus of modern scientific knowledge, which should be integrated and multidisciplinary, based on the social and natural sciences integration, aimed at the analysis of disequilibrium systems in which disequilibrium, turbulence do not exclude the tendencies towards organisation and self-organisation.The peer-reviewed work is an educational publication and it is aimed at developing students’ ability to think critically about the consequences of digitalisation and make balanced managerial decisions. It introduces students to the most modern and advanced sociological theories and concepts

The quality of education of the Russian political elite

The article examines educational strategies for the preparation of the domestic ruling class. The authors rely on two semantic concepts: “elite education” (based on the principles of selectivity and academic excellence) and “elitist” (aimed at preparing the establishment, forming social ties and securing status). The goal is to answer a series of interrelated questions. Does elite education exist in Russia? What kind of education, elite and/or elitist, is received by the administrative elite, which the state attracts to the function of management? Is the meritocratic principle of coopting new personnel into the elite realized?In the first stage of the study the authors worked with Russian and international rankings. Elite education  in  Russian  universities  was  defined  as  corresponding  to  three  criteria:  1)  qualitative  according to international experts’ assessments, 2) demanded by applicants with high final examinations  scores,  and  3)  ready  to  pay  for  it.  At  the  second  stage  the  research  was  carried  out  by  the biographical method. The data were based on the results of many years of monitoring the Russian political elite. Authors studied the biographies of 885 people who hold senior positions in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government as of September 01, 2022.The study showed that elite education and elitist education in Russia are not one and the same. A number of universities and separate educational programs which conduct training mainly in mathematical, natural-science directions and information technologies correspond to the international approaches to quality assessment. Representatives of the elite get education in other specialties, or even in universities, which are not present in ratings. This is explained by a number of reasons: the elite is increasingly choosing legal, economic, managerial, diplomatic and military education, which Russian variants are not in demand in the world. The difference in educational trajectories between elite and elitist education also means that the fact of having higher education is important for joining the  elite,  but  not  its  quality.  The  state  does  not  purposefully  attract  graduates  of  the  best  educational programs and universities to public service. Additional factors may be important for entering the elite: capital city accommodation, participation in patron-client relations, belonging to a large corporation.Members of the elite are educated mainly in universities in the capital. The best high school graduates and the resources that families can spend on education move from the periphery to the center. But in the young generation of the elite the situation is beginning to change by increasing the number of universities they graduated from and the geography of its localization.Elite and elitist education today do not coincide, which indicates the incompleteness of the period of formation of the Russian ruling class, as well as the system of social elevators in education

THE STUDY OF THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF 2-AMINOTHIAZOLES CONTAINING A DITERPENE FRAGMENT BY CHEMILUMINESCENCE

Presently the focus is on developing both synthetic and natural compounds like antioxidants that act at different levels and that can be possibly used to reduce damage caused by oxidative stress. Among these, biologically important compounds with a wide spectrum of action (antitumor, antioxidant and antioxidant activity) are aminothiazoles