WEST AND RUSSIA IN THE SECOND PART OF THE 15TH-17TH CENTURIES: POLITICAL FORMS OF MUTUAL ACTION

Global History is one of the phenomena and a consequence of the process of globalization, stimulating intercultural dialog as the basis for improved mutual understanding between people. Numerous modern historians recognize that there is a need to abandon the construction ‘the West and the Rest’ that has dominated for a long time in the historiography. Global History should focus on the study of communication and interaction between governments and nations. Modern historiography refers the beginning of a process of globalization to the 15th century. In connection with this chronological milestone this essay considers the initial phase of the process establishing sustainable relationships between Western Europe and Russia. It began in the second half of the 15th century. In the 17th century all the contacts with Western Europe became a constant of Russian socio-cultural devices and one of the phenomena of Russian history. Despite the support provided to aliens by the Russian government, relationship of the foreigners with the Russian society was contradictory. However, by the end of the 17th century, in attitude of Russian society to everyone who had come from the West began to develop two parallel lines. A negative attitude to the innovation and commitment to old, spiritual and household traditions remained by the peasantry and part of the elite of society. The urban population and the other part of the noble elite of society showed tolerance and willingness to accept much of the new that had appeared in Russia thanks to its rapprochement with the West

Innovative Activity of Financial and Industrial Groups

The creation of financial-industrial groups (FIG) is one of the most promising ways of overcoming the investment crisis in the country. FIG-like structure which can combine financial and industrial capital is established in order to ensure efficient (due to more efficient administration of financial resources) and accelerated development of science and industrial production. This is achieved by diversification into new industrial products and services to guarantee higher and sustainable profit. FIG acts as a tool for comprehensive and cost-effective capacity utilization of enterprises that have not received sufficient orders for the state needs, and targeted financial support. In modern Russia the urgency is the problem of creating in the economy competitive organizational structures. Financial-industrial groups are to become a key link in the institutional framework of the reformed economy, increase its competitiveness in both the global and domestic markets, to become promoters of the structural adjustment of the economy. The process of creation FIG requires significant assistance from the state. This poses the following challenges for public authorities: to remove all artificial obstacles to the unification of capital, to develop measures for the operational support of the process, to ensure its uniform distribution in various fields. Keywords: financial-industrial groups, innovation, enterprise economy, innovative activity JEL Classifications: G23, O14, O2

Визит в РГБ делегации из Библиотеки Сената Королевства Камбоджа

The article deals with the visit of the delegation from the Senate Library of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the Russian State Library. The guests learned about RSL activity and visited the Oriental Centre and Pashkov House.Рассказывается о посещении Российской государственной библиотеки делегацией сотрудников Библиотеки Сената Королевства Камбоджа. Гости ознакомились с работой РГБ, побывали в Центре восточной литературы РГБ, Доме Пашкова

Melt-Spinnable Polyacrylonitrile—An Alternative Carbon Fiber Precursor

The review summarizes recent advances in the production of carbon fiber precursors based on melt-spun acrylonitrile copolymers. Approaches to decrease the melting point of polyacrylonitrile and acrylonitrile copolymers are analyzed, including copolymerization with inert comonomers, plasticization by various solvents and additives, among them the eco-friendly ways to use the carbon dioxide and ionic liquids. The methods for preliminary modification of precursors that provides the thermal oxidative stabilization of the fibers without their melting and the reduction in the stabilization duration without the loss of the mechanical characteristics of the fibers are discussed. Special attention is paid to different ways of crosslinking by irradiation with different sources. Examples of the carbon fibers preparation from melt-processable acrylonitrile copolymers are considered in detail. A patent search was carried out and the information on the methods for producing carbon fibers from precursors based on melt-spun acrylonitrile copolymers are summarized

Field-Effect Transistor Based on 2D Microcrystalline MoS₂ Film Grown by Sulfurization of Atomically Layer Deposited MoO₃

Atomically thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a promising channel material for next-generation thin-body field-effect transistors (FETs), which makes the development of methods allowing for its controllable synthesis over a large area an essential task. Currently, one of the cost-effective ways of its synthesis is the sulfurization of preliminary grown oxide- or metallic film. However, despite apparent progress in this field, the electronic quality of the obtained MoS2 is inferior to that of exfoliated samples, making the detailed investigation of the sulfurized films’ properties of great interest. In this work, we synthesized continuous MoS2 films with a thickness of ≈2.2 nm via the sulfurization of an atomic-layer-deposited MoO3 layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy indicated the appropriate chemical composition and microcrystalline structure of the obtained MoS2 films. The semiconductor quality of the synthesized films was confirmed by the fabrication of a field-effect transistor (FET) with an Ion/Ioff ratio of ≈40, which was limited primarily by the high contact resistance. The Schottky barrier height at the Au/MoS2 interface was found to be ≈1.2 eV indicating the necessity of careful contact engineering. Due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, such a technique of MoS2 synthesis still appears to be highly attractive for its applications in next-generation microelectronics. Therefore, further research of the electronic properties of films obtained via this technique is required

Parameters of Surface Electromyogram Suggest That Dry Immersion Relieves Motor Symptoms in Patients With Parkinsonism

Dry immersion (DI) is acknowledged as a reliable space flight analog condition. At DI, subject is immersed in water being wrapped in a waterproof film to imitate microgravity (μG). Microgravity is known to decrease muscle tone due to deprivation of the sensory stimuli that activate the reflexes that keep up the muscle tone. In contrary, parkinsonian patients are characterized by elevated muscle tone, or rigidity, along with rest tremor and akinesia. We hypothesized that DI can diminish the elevated muscle tone and/or the tremor in parkinsonian patients. Fourteen patients with Parkinson's disease (PD, 10 males, 4 females, 47–73 years) and 5 patients with vascular parkinsonism (VP, 1 male, 4 females, 65–72 years) participated in the study. To evaluate the effect of DI on muscles' functioning, we compared parameters of surface electromyogram (sEMG) measured before and after a single 45-min long immersion session. The sEMG recordings were made from the biceps brachii muscle, bilaterally. Each recording was repeated with the following loading conditions: with arms hanging freely down, and with 0, 1, and 2 kg loading on each hand with elbows flexed to 90°. The sEMG parameters comprised of amplitude, median frequency, time of decay of mutual information, sample entropy, correlation dimension, recurrence rate, and determinism of sEMG. These parameters have earlier been proved to be sensitive to PD severity. We used the Wilcoxon test to decide which parameters were statistically significantly different before and after the dry immersion. Accepting the p < 0.05 significance level, amplitude, time of decay of mutual information, recurrence rate, and determinism tended to decrease, while median frequency and sample entropy of sEMG tended to increase after the DI. The most statistically significant change was for the determinism of sEMG from the left biceps with 1 kg loading, which decreased for 84% of the patients. The results suggest that DI can promptly relieve motor symptoms of parkinsonism. We conclude that DI has strong potential as a rehabilitation method for parkinsonian patients