Russian economic report No. 17 (November 2008), The World Bank

After a decade of high growth, the Russian econoomy is experiencing a slowdown in the wake of the global financial crisis. While Russia's strong short-term macroeconomic fundamentals make it better than many emerging economies to deal with the crisis, its underlying structural weaknesses and high dependence on the price of a single commodity make its impact more pronounced than otherwise. But the crisis also presents an opportunity to address the medium- to longer term challenges of competitiveness, economic diversification, and financial sector modernization which are necessary to boost growth and living standards.Russia; Russian economy; Russian financial crisis; energy efficiency

A numerical analysis of formation of the surface relief: A single inclusion model

The influence of the material inhomogeneity on free surface roughening under uniaxial loading is simulated numerically in the framework of the mechanics of heterogeneous media, using a model of a single cubic inclusion embedded in a matrix as an example. Mechanical problems in 2D and 3D formulations are solved numerically by the finite-difference and finite-element methods. The stress-strain state responsible for the free surface roughening is examined. The effects of the inclusion orientation and location relative to the free surface and inclusion-to-matrix elastic modulus ratio on the surface relief characteristics are discussed

СТРУКТУРА ИНФОРМАЦИОННО-АНАЛИТИЧЕСКОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА ИННОВАЦИОННОЙ КОРПОРАЦИИ

In article is highlighted the components of information space of innovative corporations, and is offered a set-theoretic description of the requirements to information and analytical support. It description allows formalize the formulation and subsequent solution of problem justify of factors the effective use of information and analytical support innovation activities of the corporation.В работе выделяются составляющие информационного пространства инновационной корпорации, и предлагается теоретико-множественное описание требований к информационно-аналитическому обеспечению. Введенное описание позволяет формализовать постановку и последующее решение задачи обоснования факторов эффективного использования информационно-аналитического обеспечения инновационной деятельности корпорации

Basic physiological systems indicator's informative assessment for children and adolescents obesity diagnosis tasks

The healthcare computerization creates opportunities to the clinical decision support system development. In the course of diagnosis, doctor manipulates a considerable amount of data and makes a decision in the context of uncertainty basing upon the first-hand experience and knowledge. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the knowledge scope in medicine is incrementally growing, but the decision-making time does not increase. The amount of medical malpractice is growing and it leads to various negative effects, even the mortality rate increase. IT-solution's development for clinical purposes is one of the most promising and efficient ways to prevent these effects. That is why the efforts of many IT specialists are directed to the doctor's heuristics simulating software or expert-based medical decision-making algorithms development. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop techniques and approaches for the body physiological system's informative value assessment index for the obesity degree evaluation based on the diagnostic findings

Russian economic report No.16 (June 2008), The World Bank

Russia’s short-term economic growth has accelerated above its long term trend, defying weak global conditions. In 2007, the economy grew by 8.1 percent on the heels of very high (and perhaps unsustainable) oil prices, robust domestic demand and strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Preliminary data indicate an even faster real growth in GDP and industrial production of 8.7 and 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Rising inflation and capacity and labor utilization, tightening infrastructure constraints, and real wage increases outpacing productivity gains, however, suggest that the economy is overheating, i.e., aggregate demand is outpacing long-term productive capacity of the economy. Reducing inflation and reinvigorating the remaining structural reforms will be key policy challenges for the new Russian government going forward

Russian economic report No.16 (June 2008), The World Bank

Russia’s short-term economic growth has accelerated above its long term trend, defying weak global conditions. In 2007, the economy grew by 8.1 percent on the heels of very high (and perhaps unsustainable) oil prices, robust domestic demand and strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Preliminary data indicate an even faster real growth in GDP and industrial production of 8.7 and 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Rising inflation and capacity and labor utilization, tightening infrastructure constraints, and real wage increases outpacing productivity gains, however, suggest that the economy is overheating, i.e., aggregate demand is outpacing long-term productive capacity of the economy. Reducing inflation and reinvigorating the remaining structural reforms will be key policy challenges for the new Russian government going forward

An analysis of methods for assessing information security risks of financial institutions

The paper presents an analysis of the existing methods for assessing information security risks, their features, advantages and disadvantages, as well as determines the possibility of using such techniques for assessing information security risks in financial institutions. Criteria for comparing information security risk assessment methods have been formed, the advantages and disadvantages of the methods are described. It is shown that, despite the requirements of regulators for assessing information security risks, most of the regulatory documents deal with operational risks. The evaluation of information security risks of credit and financial institutions does not have sufficient regulation and formalization. The authors substantiate the necessity of developing a method for assessing information security risks for credit and financial organizations, taking into account the features of risk assessment inherent to the mentioned organizations. The paper considers the need to create lists of existing threats to the credit and financial sector and their linking to existing vulnerabilities to optimize the process of assessing information security risks. The development of a methodology for assessing information security risks will increase the degree of compliance of credit and financial institutions with the requirements of international, state and industry standards through an optimal set of protection measures and models for evaluating information security risks

Russian economic report No. 17 (November 2008), The World Bank

After a decade of high growth, the Russian econoomy is experiencing a slowdown in the wake of the global financial crisis. While Russia's strong short-term macroeconomic fundamentals make it better than many emerging economies to deal with the crisis, its underlying structural weaknesses and high dependence on the price of a single commodity make its impact more pronounced than otherwise. But the crisis also presents an opportunity to address the medium- to longer term challenges of competitiveness, economic diversification, and financial sector modernization which are necessary to boost growth and living standards

The current consensus for the diagnostic and treatment of extramammary Paget’s disease

Extramammary Paget's disease is a slow-growing cutaneous intraepithelial adenocarcinoma of the apocrine glands in the anogenital and axillary regions. The disease is extremely rare, affects predominantly postmenopausal women, and has nonspecific clinical caracteristics, so that it can take 210 years from the first clinical signs to diagnosis. The vulva and the perianal region are the most affected zones. Extramammary Pagets disease is clinically manifested as well-defined erythematous plaques with secondary changes, such as scaling, ulceration and even bleeding. Differential diagnosis is made between primary and secondary forms of Extramammary Pagets disease, candidiasis, contact dermatitis, Crohn's disease, eczema, erosive lichen planus, hydradenitis suppurativa, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, sclerosing lichen, psoriasis, squamous cell carcinoma in situ, amelanotic melanoma and mycosis fungoide. Treatment mainly includes the surgical component, as well as the use of photodynamic therapy, cytostatic agents, and, depending on the stage, systemic chemotherapy

Chimeric Antibody 14D5 Protects Mice against the Far-Eastern, Siberian, and European Tick-borne Encephalitis Virus

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), belonging to the Flaviviridae family, is the most significant pathogen transmitted by Ixodes ticks and causing one of the most severe human neuroinfections. In Russia, serum immunoglobulin produced from the donor blood is currently used for post-exposure prophylactic and therapy of tick-borne encephalitis virus. However, it is known that preparations obtained from donated blood have certain disadvantages, and therefore development of novel preparations for post exposure prophylaxis and therapy of tick-borne encephalitis is required. To develop an alternative preparation, which does not include donor blood, a chimeric antibody ch14D5 against glycoprotein E of TBEV was constructed.This study was aimed to investigate protective efficacy of the chimeric antibody ch14D5 against the Far-Eastern, Siberian, and European subtypes of TBEV in in vivo experiments.A peripheral mouse model of tick-borne encephalitis was used in this study: the chimeric antibody ch14D5 was administrated intravenously in mice one day after their intraperitoneal infection with TBEV strains Sofjin, Vasilchenko, and Absettarov. Anti-TBEV serum immunoglobulin was used as a control preparation, which was administered in the same way. Protective efficacy of the chimeric antibodies 14D5 was assessed using the log-rank test. In the study, the presence or absence of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE) was examined when mice, infected with different subtypes of the TBEV, got the antibody ch14d5.Obtained results demonstrated high efficacy of the ch14D5 antibody in post-exposure prophylaxis of the disease in mice infected with any of the used TBEV strains, as well as the absence of ADE.It was shown that protective efficacy of antibody ch14D5 is higher than that of the anti-TBEV serum immunoglobulin, and antibody ch14D5 could be used for development of a therapeutic preparation for post-exposure prophylaxis