The Effects of Institutional Transformations on the Russian Doctoral Education Performance

Currently, enhancement of doctoral education performance is becoming one of the central tasks for state policy in the field of science and education. In 2013–2015 Russian doctoral education experienced radical transformations aimed to increase the performance of doctoral programs and enhance the quality of dissertations. First, doctoral education moved towards the structured (educational) model. Second, norms and rules of the work of dissertation boards changed significantly. The purpose of this study is to explore how these reforms affected the performance of doctoral education. The empirical base for the study comprises the data on dissertations defense of graduates of 2018 at 12 Russian universities (N=1022), which were collected by the authors using the web scraping technique. The main findings obtained from the analysis of these data are threefold. First, time-to-degree has increased with most of the dissertations now being defended only after the completion of the programs. Second, in social sciences, this delay of defense has intensified abnormally (80% of dissertation in this field are defended after the program completion). Third, the actual performance, i.e., one that takes into account dissertations defended after the program completion, has decreased significantly in social sciences and humanities. These results show that the traditional practice to evaluate performance based on the proportion of graduates who defend their dissertations during the normative period of time does not reflect the reality. To made adequate managerial decisions regarding doctoral education, it is necessary to arrange the monitoring of dynamics of dissertations that are defended after the program completion both on institution and state levels

Exact Self-consistent Particle-like Solutions to the Equations of Nonlinear Scalar Electrodynamics in General Relativity

Exact self-consistent particle-like solutions with spherical and/or cylindrical symmetry to the equations governing the interacting system of scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational fields have been obtained. As a particular case it is shown that the equations of motion admit a special kind of solutions with sharp boundary known as droplets. For these solutions, the physical fields vanish and the space-time is flat outside of the critical sphere or cylinder. Therefore, the mass and the electric charge of these configurations are zero.Comment: 17 pages, Submitted to the International Journal of Theoretical Physic

1,10-diaza-18-crown-ether, modified by phosphonate pendant arms - Synthesis, structure, and picrate extraction properties

Reaction of O,O′-diisopropyl-3-methyl-1,2-butadienylphosphonate with 1,10-diaza-18-crown-6 in the presence of a catalytic amount of iPrONa leads to the new crown-ether derivative, containing phosphonate pendant arms (L). The structure of the compound obtained was investigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, IR, 1H and 31P{1H} NMR spectroscopy, and microanalysis. In the crystal structure the side arms of L are in an anti disposition relative to the macrocyclic cavity. It was established that phosphorylation of 1,10-diaza-18-crown-6 by allenylphosphonate results in an increase of extraction of NaPic and KPic, whereas LiPic and NH4Pic are extracted practically in the same level. © 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

Dynamical Toroidal Hopfions in a Ferromagnet with Easy-Axis Anisotropy

Three-dimensional toroidal precession solitons with a nonzero Hopf index, which uniformly move along the anisotropy axis in a uniaxial ferromagnet, have been found. The structure and existence region of the solitons have been numerically determined by solving the Landau-Lifshitz equation.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Professional Doctorates: International Experience and Russian Context

The diversification of forms and types of doctoral programs is currently a global trend. Universities across the globe offer programs that differ in the modes of training, characteristics of the target audience, and possible labor markets after graduation. In Russia, doctoral education exists in a unified format, focusing primarily on the academic labor market. Recently, there have been discussions about the need to expand the range of programs and the types of academic degrees in Russia. In this article, we present the analysis of professional doctoral programs: in response to what challenges and needs they appeared, how they are implemented, in what forms they exist. In addition, we consider the Russian experience of implementing professional doctoral programs; analyze the existing opportunities and barriers for their development. Based on the analysis, we came to a conclusion about the relevance of the professional doctoral programs’ development in Russia, the expediency of simplifying the conditions for their implementation and legitimizing special requirements for the design of dissertations with an applied orientation

Singly generated quasivarieties and residuated structures

A quasivariety K of algebras has the joint embedding property (JEP) iff it is generated by a single algebra A. It is structurally complete iff the free countably generated algebra in K can serve as A. A consequence of this demand, called "passive structural completeness" (PSC), is that the nontrivial members of K all satisfy the same existential positive sentences. We prove that if K is PSC then it still has the JEP, and if it has the JEP and its nontrivial members lack trivial subalgebras, then its relatively simple members all belong to the universal class generated by one of them. Under these conditions, if K is relatively semisimple then it is generated by one K-simple algebra. It is a minimal quasivariety if, moreover, it is PSC but fails to unify some finite set of equations. We also prove that a quasivariety of finite type, with a finite nontrivial member, is PSC iff its nontrivial members have a common retract. The theory is then applied to the variety of De Morgan monoids, where we isolate the sub(quasi)varieties that are PSC and those that have the JEP, while throwing fresh light on those that are structurally complete. The results illuminate the extension lattices of intuitionistic and relevance logics

Metaheuristic conditional neural network for harvesting skyrmionic metastable states

We present a metaheuristic conditional neural-network-based method aimed at identifying physically interesting metastable states in a potential energy surface of high rugosity. To demonstrate how this method works, we identify and analyze spin textures with topological charge $Q$ ranging from 1 to $-13$ (where antiskyrmions have $Q<0$) in the Pd/Fe/Ir(111) system, which we model using a classical atomistic spin Hamiltonian based on parameters computed from density functional theory. To facilitate the harvest of relevant spin textures, we make use of the newly developed Segment Anything Model (SAM). Spin textures with $Q$ ranging from $-3$ to $-6$ are further analyzed using finite-temperature spin-dynamics simulations. We observe that for temperatures up to around 20\,K, lifetimes longer than 200\,ps are predicted, and that when these textures decay, new topological spin textures are formed. We also find that the relative stability of the spin textures depend linearly on the topological charge, but only when comparing the most stable antiskyrmions for each topological charge. In general, the number of holes (i.e., non-self-intersecting curves that define closed domain walls in the structure) in the spin texture is an important predictor of stability -- the more holes, the less stable is the texture. Methods for systematic identification and characterization of complex metastable skyrmionic textures -- such as the one demonstrated here -- are highly relevant for advancements in the field of topological spintronics

Practice-based doctoral programs and professional degrees: analysis of foreign experience

Practical-oriented postgraduate programs aimed at developing graduates’ professional career outside the academic labor market have become widespread in leading foreign universities. There is a statutory unified format of postgraduate studies in Russia, aimed at training of personnel for science and higher education. At the same time, the need of adaptation of postgraduate training programs to the demands of the real economy sector is becoming more evident. The purpose of this review is to analyze scientific publications and case studies of foreign universities implementing practical-oriented postgraduate programs with professional degrees, which are equivalent to PhD in social status. Drawing on the analysis of international experience, the prospects of the establishment and development of such programs in Russian postgraduate studies are discussed. The study identified the most common characteristics of practical-oriented programs and their differences from academic postgraduate programs: 1) students’ involvement in applied research, which is relevant for the real economy sector; 2) an individual approach for postgraduate education considering professional interests of the students and employers’ demands; 3) a clearly structured system of education and scientific management, based on cooperation of universities and enterprises; 4) using innovative forms of final academic assessment. Based on the analysis of Russian experience it is concluded that practical-oriented training for postgraduate students is in demand and in fact already exists, but is not provided with necessary statutory regulation. It is pointed out that, owing to a lack of data, the extent of this arrangement and key barriers on the way to a degree among Russian practical-oriented postgraduate students have not been studied. The main directions of empirical research, which are necessary for making adequate management decisions on institutionalizing practical-oriented postgraduate programs in Russia, have been formulated. The article is of interest to researchers of higher education, scientific, pedagogical and administrative employees of higher education institutions, as well as for the state authorities responsible for implementing the policy of education and certification of highly trained personnel.В ведущих зарубежных университетах широкое распространение получили практико-ориентированные аспирантские программы, нацеленные на развитие профессиональной карьеры выпускников за пределами академического рынка труда. В России нормативно закреплен унифицированный формат аспирантуры, ориентированный на подготовку кадров для науки и высшей школы. При этом все более очевидной становится потребность в адаптации института аспирантуры к запросам реального сектора экономики. Целью данного обзора является анализ научных публикаций и кейсов зарубежных университетов, реализующих практико-ориентированные аспирантские программы с присуждением профессиональных степеней, эквивалентных по своему общественному статусу академической степени Ph D. На основе анализа международного опыта обсуждаются перспективы становления и развития подобных программ в российской аспирантуре. В результате исследования выявлены наиболее общие характеристики практико-ориентированных программ и их отличия от программ академической аспирантуры: 1) вовлеченность обучающихся в прикладные исследования, представляющие интерес для реального сектора экономики; 2) индивидуальный подход к образовательной подготовке аспирантов, учитывающий их профессиональные интересы и запросы работодателей; 3) четко структурированная система обучения и руководства диссертационными работами, основанная на сотрудничестве университетов и предприятий; 4) применение инновационных форм итоговой аттестации выпускников. На основе анализа российского опыта делается вывод о том, что практико-ориентированная подготовка аспирантов востребована и де-факто уже существует, но не обеспечена необходимым нормативно-правовым регулированием. Отмечается, что вследствие дефицита данных масштабы такой подготовки и ключевые барьеры на пути к ученой степени у российских аспирантов-практиков практически не изучены. Сформулированы основные направления эмпирических исследований, необходимых для принятия адекватных управленческих решений по институционализации практико-ориентированных аспирантских программ в России. Статья представляет интерес для исследователей высшего образования, научно-педагогических и административных работников вузов, а также для органов государственной власти, ответственных за реализацию политики в области подготовки и аттестации кадров высшей квалификации

Scalar field in cosmology: Potential for isotropization and inflation

The important role of scalar field in cosmology was noticed by a number of authors. Due to the fact that the scalar field possesses zero spin, it was basically considered in isotropic cosmological models. If considered in an anisotropic model, the linear scalar field does not lead to isotropization of expansion process. One needs to introduce scalar field with nonlinear potential for the isotropization process to take place. In this paper the general form of scalar field potentials leading to the asymptotic isotropization in case of Bianchi type-I cosmological model, and inflationary regime in case of isotropic space-time is obtained. In doing so we solved both direct and inverse problem, where by direct problem we mean to find metric functions and scalar field for the given potential, whereas, the inverse problem means to find the potential and scalar field for the given metric function. The scalar field potentials leading to the inflation and isotropization were found both for harmonic and proper synchronic time.Comment: 10 page