Slippery Near-Surface Layer of the Ocean Arising Due to Daytime Solar Heating

Measurements made in the Equatorial Atlantic during the 35th cruise of the R/V Akademic Vernadsky using a free-rising profiler and drifters revealed a near-surface slippery layer of the ocean arising due to daytime solar heating. The solar heating warms and stabilizes the surface layer of the ocean. This suppresses turbulent exchange and limits the penetration depth of the wind-induced turbulent mixing. The heated near-surface layer is then slipping over the underlying water practically without friction. At daytime warming of 1°C the resistance coefficient in the upper 5-m ocean, Cu = (U*/ΔUs)2 became smaller by a factor of 25–30 as compared with the case of neutral stratification. The effect of slipping results in forming a daytime near-surface current. At low wind speed the velocity of this current was observed to achieve 19 cm s−1. A simple one-dimensional integral model reproduces the main diurnal variation of the temperature and the current velocity in the near-surface layer of the ocean. For daytime the experimental data suggest the existence of a self-regulating state of the diurnal thermocline, which predicts linear temperature and velocity profiles and an equilibrium value of the bulk Richardson number. This provides simple relations coupling the temperature and velocity differences and the thickness of thermocline. An estimation of the upper velocity limit of the daytime near-surface current is equal to 29 cm s−1

Import test questions into Moodle LMS

The purpose of the study is to highlight the theoretical and methodological aspects of preparing the test questions of the most common types in the form of text files for further import into learning management system (LMS) Moodle. The subject of the research is the automated filling of the Moodle LMS test database. The objectives of the study: to analyze the import files of test questions, their advantages and disadvantages; to develop guidelines for the preparation of test questions of common types in the form of text files for further import into Moodle LMS. The action algorithms for importing questions and instructions for submitting question files in such formats as Aiken, GIFT, Moodle XML, "True/False" questions, "Multiple Choice" (one of many and many of many), "Matching", with an open answer - "Numerical" or "Short answer" and "Essay" are offered in this article. The formats for submitting questions, examples of its designing and developed questions were demonstrated in view mode in Moodle LMS

Features of the Use of Software and Hardware of the Educational Process in the Conditions of Blended Learning

The paper reveals the results of a study of the feasibility of using software and hardware for the educational process in a blended learning environment in secondary, higher and vocational education. The author conducted an analysis of domestic and international research on distance learning (distance learning needs, requirements for distance learning platforms, experience in implementing distance and blended learning). In the course of the research, the author revealed the standard composition of modern software and hardware of the educational process in the conditions of blended learning and analyzed the market of Ukraine for the availability of ready-made complexes of the company. Recommendations for approaches to teaching in each age group of students and approaches to choosing a complex for implementation in a mixed and distance learning environment, taking into account the individual needs of each educational institution or educational organization. The research is theoretical in nature and designed to create a basis for further research in a given vector

Informatization of education as a pledge of the existence and development of a modern higher education

This article focuses on the special significance of education informatization as the main aspect of the existence and development of a modern higher education. The process of computerization of education is considered as the main basis of informatization in the historical aspect. This paper emphasizes the importance of implementing information and communication technologies (ICT) in the learning process of free software and the interest of scientists in the field of education. The interest of modern scholars is analyzed in the consideration of such problems as the application of ICT in education; problems of informatization of education and goals of informatization of education; didactic and psychological aspects of application of ICT in the educational process; problems associated with the widespread introduction of ICT in higher education institutions and informatization of education in general. The article’s focus is on the importance of the acquired skills and abilities as a result of informatization of education and implementation of the educational process of ICT. The goals of informatization of education at a modern higher educational establishment are determined. The primary goals of informatization of education are singled out. The types of education that are directly related to ICT are considered. It is acknowledged that the practice of implementing ICT in the educational process of higher educational institutions are expanding every day and yields only positive results. The conclusions highlight the relevance of this study. It is noted that educational activity based on the use of ICT is a basis for changing the structure of the educational process for both teachers and student

Design methodology for immersive educational resources

Based on the analysis of sources on the problem of research, the article defines types of electronic educational resources (EER), general requirements for them, focuses on didactic and methodological requirements and existing holistic systems of psychological and pedagogical requirements for EER, presents the main types of parameters that can be used to evaluate the quality of EER, analyzes the typical structure of EER and characterizes its components. The analysis of approaches to defining the concepts of ``immersiveness'', ``immersive educational environment'', ``immersive approach in education'', ``immersive educational resources'' (IER) was carried out, on the basis of which the relationship between the virtual environment and immersive learning environment was determined, the pedagogical aspects of learning in immersive environments were considered, the classification of IER was made. The main components of IER design and implementation are analyzed, and the essence of IER design and IER design methodology is determined.In the main part of the proposed general model of the methodology of IOR design and analyzed the goals, subjects of methods, stages, and content of training, forms of organization of the educational process, methods, teaching tools, and predicted results of the methodology.In the conclusion the elements of the methodology of IЕR design are presented, in particular, a complex IЕR in the form of a distance learning course, examples of designing prototypes of immersive teaching materials, etc. are considered.Based on the analysis of sources on the problem of research, the article defines types of electronic educational resources (EER), general requirements for them, focuses on didactic and methodological requirements and existing holistic systems of psychological and pedagogical requirements for EER, presents the main types of parameters that can be used to evaluate the quality of EER, analyzes the typical structure of EER and characterizes its components. The analysis of approaches to defining the concepts of ``immersiveness'', ``immersive educational environment'', ``immersive approach in education'', ``immersive educational resources'' (IER) was carried out, on the basis of which the relationship between the virtual environment and immersive learning environment was determined, the pedagogical aspects of learning in immersive environments were considered, the classification of IER was made. The main components of IER design and implementation are analyzed, and the essence of IER design and IER design methodology is determined.In the main part of the proposed general model of the methodology of IOR design and analyzed the goals, subjects of methods, stages, and content of training, forms of organization of the educational process, methods, teaching tools, and predicted results of the methodology.In the conclusion the elements of the methodology of IЕR design are presented, in particular, a complex IЕR in the form of a distance learning course, examples of designing prototypes of immersive teaching materials, etc. are considered

Safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma for COVID-19: the preliminary results of a clinical trial

Background. The lack of effective etiotropic therapy for COVID-19 has prompted researchers around the globe to seekr various methods of SARS-CoV-2 elimination, including the use of convalescent plasma. Aim. The aim of this work was to study the safety and efficacy of the convalescence plasma treatment of severe COVID-19 using the plasma containing specific antibodies to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 S protein in a titer of at least 1:1000. Methods. A single-center, randomized, prospective clinical study was performed at the FRCC FMBA of Russia with the participation of 86 patients who were stratified in two groups. The first group included 20 critically ill patients who were on mechanical ventilation the second group included 66 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 and with spontaneous respiration. The patients in the second group were randomized into two cohorts in a ratio of 2:1. In the first cohort (46 patients), pathogen-reduced convalescent plasma was transfused (twice, 320 ml each), in the second cohort (20 patients) a similar amount of non-immune freshly frozen plasma was transfused to the patients. Results. The use of plasma of convalescents in patients with severe COVID-19 being on mechanical ventilation does not affect the disease outcome in these patients. The mortality rate in this group was 60%, which corresponds to the average mortality of COVID patients on mechanical ventilation in our hospital. In the second group, clinical improvement was detected in 75% and 51%, for convalescent and non-immune plasma, respectively. Of the 46 people who received convalescent plasma, three patients (6.5%) were transferred to mechanical ventilation, two of them died. In the group receiving non-immune plasma, the need for mechanical ventilation also arose in three patients (15%), of which two died. The hospital mortality in the group of convalescent plasma was 4.3%, which is significantly lower than the average COVID-19 hospital mortality at our Center (6.73%) and more than two times lower than the hospital mortality in the control group (n=150), matched by age and by the disease severity. Conclusions. Thus, we demonstrated a relative safety of convalescent plasma transfusion and the effectiveness of such therapy for COVID-19 at least in terms of the survival of hospitalized patients with severe respiratory failure without mechanical ventilation. In the absence of bioengineered neutralizing antibodies and effective etiotropic therapy, the use of hyperimmune convalescent plasma is the simplest and most effective method of specific etiopathogenetic therapy of severe forms of COVID-19

Biological Earth observation with animal sensors

Space-based tracking technology using low-cost miniature tags is now delivering data on fine-scale animal movement at near-global scale. Linked with remotely sensed environmental data, this offers a biological lens on habitat integrity and connectivity for conservation and human health; a global network of animal sentinels of environmen-tal change

On a Parametric Description of the Cold Film on the Ocean Surface

A very simple model is constructed for the nonstationary molecular sublayers under the free surface. Nonstationarity is caused by the breakup of the sublayers either by the dynamic instability of the viscous sublayer or by the convective instability of the sublayer of molecular heat conductivity. On the basis of the model a universal parametric description is proposed for the temperature differential in the cold film, which encompasses the known states for free and forced convection. The relationship obtained is compared with the data of field experiments

The Thermal State of the Ocean Surface

A certain dimensionless parameter F that characterizes the thermal state of the surface is determined from analysis of the instability mechanisms of the viscous and molecular heat conduction layers under the free surface of the ocean, to which a momentum flux and a negative heat flux are applied. Free convection develops in the subsurface layer below the molecular heat conduction layer if F \u3c 1, and forced convection if it is not. Data from vertical sounding of thermal structure in a thin surface layer of the ocean that were obtained with a surfacing sonde in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on the 29th cruise of R/V Akademik Kurchatov (FGGE-79 international program) are interpreted on the basis of this analysis