Transnational research programmes on environment : Analysis of ERA-Nets’ experiences and recommendations for good practices

ERA-Nets are networks of research funding organizations with the aim of promoting the creation of jointly coordinated and funded research programmes. Developing the European Research Area (ERA) and ERANets as an instrument of networking research funders are one part of the implementation of the Lisbon strategy to combine resources of different Member States and to improve the coordination and focus ofresearch and innovation activities in Europe. In planning and carrying out joint calls ERA-Nets have gained experience, responded to numerous challenges and developed good practices. This report analyses experiences of the environmental ERA-Nets in the process of preparation and implementation of the transnational calls, and based on this experience draws ”good practices” for the transnational calls, that future ERA-Nets do not have to ”invent the wheel” when planning their joint calls. The report continues the series of two previous reports on management of transnational calls, carried out by the Finnish Environment Institute under SKEP ERA-Net. The report contains general recommendations for each step of the process and typology of the ERA-Nets with specific recommendations depending on a type of funding network. These recommendations and good practices of the environmental ERA-Nets can be used for planning of the future joint calls of the ERA-Nets and to further develop and enhance joint collaboration between funding agencies and researchers of the EU Member States

NPRD: Nucleosome Positioning Region Database

Nucleosome Positioning Region Database (NPRD), which is compiling the available experimental data on locations and characteristics of nucleosome formation sites (NFSs), is the first curated NFS-oriented database. The object of the database is a single NFS described in an individual entry. When annotating results of NFS experimental mapping, we pay special attention to several important functional characteristics, such as the relationship between type of gene activity and nucleosome positioning, the influence of non-histone proteins on nucleosome formation, type of the variant of nucleosome positioning (translational or rotational), indication of tissue types and states of cell activity, description of experimental methods used and accuracy of nucleosome position determination, and the results of applying theoretical and computer methods to the analysis of contextual and conformational DNA properties. At present, the NPRD database contains 438 entries and integrates the data described in 124 original papers. The database URL: http://srs6.bionet.nsc.ru/srs6/. Then click the button ‘Databank’ and open the link NUCLEOSOME

On Some Layer-Based Risk Measures with Applications to Exponential Dispersion Models

Layer-based counterparts of a number of well-known risk measures have been proposed and studied. Namely, some motivations and elementary properties have been discussed, and the analytic tractability has been demonstrated by developing closed-form expressions in the general framework of exponential dispersion models

Fenomen portretów trumiennych i jego narodziny w kulturze polsko-sarmackiej

This article discusses the features, hidden meanings, as well as the origin of coffin portraits. Special attention is paid to their nascence within the Polish territory. The theme of the burial of the Polish gentry has been researched and analyzed. The historical component of the concept of Sarmatism is discussed: where it originates from and how it influenced the development of the culture of the Baroque era. As part of this study, the author identified the factors that influenced the Polish nobles perspective on death, and the State, which later manifested in the form of a funeral rite and its attendant attributes. The author explored a set of issues related to the mythology and symbolism of the concept of Sarmatism in the Baroque period and the importance of genealogy for the nobles which later influenced the development of the coffin portrait. Despite religious beliefs, the Polish nobility always chose conceited pomposity to represent death.Niniejszy artykuł omawia cechy, ukryte znaczenia i pochodzenie portretów trumiennych. Szczególną uwagę poświęcono ich narodzinom na terytorium Polski. Przebadano i przeanalizowano temat pochówku szlachty polskiej. Omówiono historyczny komponent idei sarmatyzmu: skąd się wywodził i jak wpłynął na rozwój kultury w okresie baroku. Jako część badania autorka zidentyfikowała czynniki, które wpłynęły na spojrzenie polskiej szlachty na śmierć oraz państwo, które później zmaterializowały się w formie rytu pogrzebowego i towarzyszącym mu atrybutom. Autorka poruszyła problemy związane z mitologią i symbolizmem idei sarmatyzmu w epoce baroku i ważność genealogii dla szlachty, które następnie wpłynęły na rozwój portretów trumiennych. Pomimo wierzeń religijnych polska szlachta zawsze wybierała nadęcie i pompę w przedstawieniu śmierci

The organization of labour immigrants from Czechoslovakia in Frolov district of the Lower-Volga region in the 1920 and 1930s

Based on unpublished archival sources, this article considers the history and development of industrial organizations of labour immigrants from Czechoslovakia on the territory of the Lower Volga region in the 1920 and 1930s. The activities of the “Agricultural commune of Czechoslovak emigres” and the handicraft “Association of Czechoslovak Emigrants” illustrate how Soviet legislation was applied to labour immigration, how party authorities and economic bodies related to the two immigrant units, and how foreign workers adapted to the conditions in the USSR. Despite the many difficulties that labour immigrants had to overcome, their activities on the territory of Stalingrad province constitute a successful example of international workers’ cooperation in the USSR. The authors demonstrate that the production associations of labour immigrants from Czechoslovakia made a significant contribution to the strengthening and development of the economic complex of Frolov district in the Lower Volga region during the period under review. Through the efforts of the Czechoslovak citizens, shoe production and tanning were organized for the first time on industrial level. Later a metal plant emerged on the basis of the “Krasny Vagranschik” artel created by immigrants from Czechoslovakia. The experience of state regulation on labour immigration in the USSR can be successfully used in modern Russia’s practice of international cooperation

Experimental Modeling of Ankerite–Pyrite Interaction under Lithospheric Mantle P–T Parameters: Implications for Graphite Formation as a Result of Ankerite Sulfidation

Experimental modeling of ankerite–pyrite interaction was carried out on a multi-anvil high-pressure apparatus of a “split sphere” type (6.3 GPa, 1050–1550 °C, 20–60 h). At T ≤ 1250 °C, the formation of pyrrhotite, dolomite, magnesite, and metastable graphite was established. At higher temperatures, the generation of two immiscible melts (carbonate and sulfide ones), as well as graphite crystallization and diamond growth on seeds, occurred. It was established that the decrease in iron concentration in ankerite occurs by extraction of iron by sulfide and leads to the formation of pyrrhotite or sulfide melt, with corresponding ankerite breakdown into dolomite and magnesite. Further redox interaction of Ca,Mg,Fe carbonates with pyrrhotite (or between carbonate and sulfide melts) results in the carbonate reduction to C0 and metastable graphite formation (±diamond growth on seeds). It was established that the ankerite–pyrite interaction, which can occur in a downgoing slab, involves ankerite sulfidation that triggers further graphite-forming redox reactions and can be one of the scenarios of the elemental carbon formation under subduction settings

Synthesis of Polyhydroxylated Quinolizidine and Indolizidine Scaffolds from Sugar-Derived Lactams via a One-Pot Reduction/Mannich/Michael Sequence

A direct approach to the synthesis of indolizidine and quinolizidine scaffolds of iminosugars is described. The presented strategy is based on a one-pot sugar lactam reduction with Schwartz’s reagent followed by a diastereoselective Mannich/Michael tandem reaction of the resulting sugar imine with Danishefsky’s diene. The stereochemical course of the investigated reaction has been explained in detail. The obtained bicyclic products are attractive building blocks for the synthesis of various naturally occurring polyhydroxylated alkaloids and their derivatives