"Feed from the Service": Corruption and Coercion in the State-University Relations in Central Eurasia

Education in Central Eurasia has become one of the industries, most affected by corruption. Corruption in academia, including bribery, extortions, embezzlement, nepotism, fraud, cheating, and plagiarism, is reflected in the region’s media and addressed in few scholarly works. This paper considers corruption in higher education as a product of interrelations between the government and academia. A substantial block of literature considers excessive corruption as an indicator of a weak state. In contrast to standard interpretations, this paper argues that in non-democratic societies corruption is used on a systematic basis as a mechanism of direct and indirect administrative control over higher education institutions. Informal approval of corrupt activities in exchange for loyalty and compliance with the regime may be used in the countries of Central Eurasia for the purposes of political indoctrination. This paper presents the concept of corruption and coercion in the state-university relations in Central Eurasia and outlines the model which incorporates this concept and the “feed from the service” approach. It presents implications of this model for the state-university relations and the national educational systems in Central Eurasia in general and offers some suggestions on curbing corruption

Morphological basis of the aging erythrocytes deformability

Red blood cells are flexible and oval biconcave disks, they lack a cell nucleus and their disk diameter is 7–10 μm. Approximately 2.4 million new erythrocytes are produced per second and circulate for about 100–120 days in the body. Red blood cells are cells present in blood in order to transport oxygen, the aging red blood cell undergoes changes making it susceptible to selective recognition by macrophages and subsequent phagocytosis. The cytoplasm of erythrocytes is rich in hemoglobin, an iron-containing biomolecule that can bind oxygen and is responsible for the red colour of the cells. Immature red blood cells are lacking the red hemoglobin pigment so these cells are often shades of grayish blue, only mature cells are red.A glycophorin is a sialoglycoprotein of the membrane of a red blood cell, that contains N-acetylneuraminic acid. Ions such as Na+ and Ca2+ can diffuse rapidly through it and can be for 60% it`s negative charge of the plasma membrane. Typical human red blood cell has a diameter of approximately 6.2–8.2 μm, a thickness - 2 μm, circumference – 76-110 μm, speed no more than 2 cm/ sec that is enough to transport oxygen from hemoglobin toward myoglobin. Listed features are changed depending on the lifespan of red blood cells: 1. Decreases the percentage of hemoglobin content, within the part of it is broken down. 2. Changes occurs in the activities electronic change in oxidation and restoration of Fe. 3. As erythrocyte ages, it undergoes changes in its plasma membrane, in particular sialic acid activity. 4. Erythrocyte membrane becomes inflexible, less elastic and rough. 5. Worn-out red blood cells (100-120 day) have a limited functional significance.As a result of this research, both functional and physical indicators are strictly differentiated regarding to human age: 1. The length of erythrocyte life in the elderly (70-75) is twice longer than in younger people (25-30). 2. Red blood cells are remarkably deformable in younger than in elderly people. 3. Because of decreased deformability of the red blood cell, they have trouble to squeeze through capillaries which is the reason of hemodynamics local violations

Cause-Specific Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020–2021) in 12 Countries of the C-MOR Consortium

Background This study investigated cause-specific mortality rates in 12 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Methods We collected weekly cause-specific mortality data from respiratory disease, pneumonia, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer from national vital statistic databases. We calculated excess mortality for respiratory disease (excluding COVID-19 codes), pneumonia, and CVD in 2020 and 2021 by comparing observed weekly against expected mortality based on historical data (2015–2019), accounting for seasonal trends. We used multilevel regression models to investigate the association between country-level pandemic-related variables and cause-specific mortality. Results Significant reductions in cumulative mortality from respiratory disease and pneumonia were observed in 2020 and/or 2021, except for Georgia, Northern Ireland, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, which exhibited excess mortality for one or both causes. Australia, Austria, Cyprus, Georgia, and Northern Ireland experienced excess cumulative CVD mortality in 2020 and/or 2021. Australia, Austria, Brazil, Cyprus, Georgia, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Slovenia, experienced increased crude cumulative cancer mortality during 2020 and/or 2021 compared to previous years. Among pandemic-related variables, reported COVID-19 incidence was negatively associated with increased cancer mortality, excess respiratory, (2020) and pneumonia (2021) mortality, and positively associated with respiratory and CVD mortality (2021). Stringency of control measures were negatively associated with excess respiratory disease, CVD, and increased cancer mortality (2021). Conclusions This study provides evidence of substantial excess mortality from CVD, and notable reductions in respiratory disease and pneumonia in both years across most countries investigated. Our study also highlights the beneficial impact of stringent control measures in mitigating excess mortality from most causes in 2021

Jurassic to Cenozoic Magmatic and Geodynamic Evolution of the Eastern Pontides and Caucasus Belts, and Their Relationship With the Eastern Black Sea Basin Opening

The magmatic arcs of the Eastern Pontides and Lesser Caucasus lie in continuation from one another. A comparison of the subduction related magmatic rocks outcropping throughout this segment of the Northern Tethyan belt exhibits chronological disparities, questioning the common subduction history of the Eastern Pontides and the Lesser Caucasus regions. New data and observations including geochronological and geochemical data, relative to subduction to collision related magmatic rocks argues a novel paleogeographic reconstruction illustrating Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution of this region. Jurassic to Early Cretaceous arc magmatism runs mainly from the Sochi-Ritsa/Bechasyn regions (Greater Caucasus) towards the south-east to the Alaverdi region and further into the Lesser Caucasus. Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic arc magmatism is evidenced throughout the Eastern Pontides extending through the Bolnisi region to the Lesser Caucasus arc. East to west, Jurassic to Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic portions of arc split to the north and south of the Eastern Black Sea, respectively. Throughout Cretaceous subduction, this segment of the magmatic arc of the Southern Eurasian margin was torn in two due to the oblique opening of the Eastern Black Sea as a back- to intra-arc basin, from west to east. This reconstitution implies that the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous subduction related magmatic rocks of the Greater Caucasus are remnant potions of the Eastern Pontides and Lesser Caucasus arcs. This infers the emplacement of subduction to collision related magmatic rocks throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic along the entire Southern Eurasian margin is solely due to a single long-lasting north-dipping subduction