BRAIN AND EYE AS POTENTIAL TARGETS FOR IONIZING RADIATION IMPACT: PART II – RADIATION CEREBRO-OPHTALMIC EFFECTS IN CHILDREN, PERSONS EXPOSED IN UTERO, ASTRONAUTS AND INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGISTS

Background. Ionizing radiation (IR) can affect the brain and the visual organ even at low doses, while provoking cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and visual disorders. We proposed to consider the brain and the visual organ as potential targets for the influence of IR with the definition of cerebro-ophthalmic relationships as the «eye-brain axis». Objective. The present work is a narrative review of current experimental, epidemiological and clinical data on radiation cerebro-ophthalmic effects in children, individuals exposed in utero, astronauts and interventional radiologists. Materials and methods. The review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines by searching the abstract and scientometric databases PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, published from 1998 to 2021, as well as the results of manual search of peer-reviewed publications. Results. Epidemiological data on the effects of low doses of IR on neurodevelopment are quite contradictory, while data on clinical, neuropsychological and neurophysiological on cognitive and cerebral disorders, especially in the left, dominant hemisphere of the brain, are nore consistent. Cataracts (congenital – after in utero irradiation) and retinal angiopathy are more common in prenatally-exposed people and children. Astronauts, who carry out longterm space missions outside the protection of the Earth's magnetosphere, will be exposed to galactic cosmic radiation (heavy ions, protons), which leads to cerebro-ophthalmic disorders, primarily cognitive and behavioral disorders and cataracts. Interventional radiologists are a special risk group for cerebro-ophthalmic pathology – cognitive deficits, mainly due to dysfunction of the dominant and more radiosensitive left hemisphere of the brain, and cataracts, as well as early atherosclerosis and accelerated aging. Conclusions. Results of current studies indicate the high radiosensitivity of the brain and eye in different contingents of irradiated persons. Further research is needed to clarify the nature of cerebro-ophthalmic disorders in different exposure scenarios, to determine the molecular biological mechanisms of these disorders, reliable dosimetric support and taking into account the influence of non-radiation risk factors. Key words: ionizing radiation, brain, eye, cerebro-ophthalmic effects, radiation emergencies, prenatal irradiation, space flights, interventional radiology

New technologies and means of communicationin the Armed Forces of Ukraine: ways of transformation and prospects of development

У статті проводиться поступовий та детальний аналіз стану, тенденцій розвитку і впровадження цифрових засобів зв’язку в Збройних Силах України до збройного конфлікту, на початку Антитерористич-ної операції, в ході виконання завдань та за останній період в зоні проведення операції Об’єднаних сил. Ме-тою статті є проведення аналізу тенденцій впровадження цифрових технологій і засобів зв’язку в Збройних Силах України для виокремлення основних напрямів їх застосування під час побудови сучасної системи управління військами. В роботі використано методи аналізу, порівняння, опису та узагальнення. Аналізу-ються можливості та основні характеристики військових засобів зв’язку, які використовуються підрозді-лами Збройних Сил України. Зроблено висновок, що розвиток системи зв’язку і автоматизації управління Збройних Сил України має стійку тенденцію до всебічного розвитку та модернізації, переоснащення військ зв'язку новітніми засобами зв'язку і переходу на сучасні цифрові технології. Наголос робиться на тому, що у Збройних Силах України система управління, зв’язку, розвідки та спостереження (C4ISR) створювати-меться відповідно до прийнятої в країнах НАТО мережецентричної концепції управління військами.В статье проводится последовательный и детальный анализ состояния, тенденций развития и внедрения цифро-вых средств связи в Вооруженных Силах Украины до вооруженного конфликта, в начале АТО, входе проведения анти-террористической операции и за последний период. Целью статьи является проведение анализа тенденций внедрения цифровых технологий и средств связи в Вооруженных Силах Украины для выделения основных направлений их исполь-зования во время построения современной системы управления войсками. В работе использованы методы анализа, сравнения, описания и обобщения. Анализируются возможности и основные характеристики военных средств связи, которые используются подразделениями Вооруженных Сил Украины. Получен вывод о том, что развитие системы связи и автоматизации управления Вооруженных Сил Украины имеет стойкую тенденцию ко всестороннему развитию и модернизации, переоснащению войск связи новейшими средствами связи и переходу на современные цифровые техно-логии. Акцент делается на том, что в ВС Украины система управления, связи, разведки и наблюдения (C4ISR) будет создаваться в соответствии с принятой в странах НАТО сетецентрической концепцией управления войсками.The article deals with the current state, prospects of development and introduction of the latest technologies and communi-cations in the communication and automation system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to distinguish the main directions of their application during the construction of a modern system of troop control. The research methodology consists in a gradual and detailed analysis of the state, trends in the development and implementation of modern technologies and digital communications in the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the armed conflict, at the beginning of the ATO, during the antiterrorist operation and in the recent period. Methods of analysis, comparison, description and generalization were used. The analysis showed that with the commencement of hostilities in the East of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces communications system did not meet the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the modern means of communication were virtually absent, and the available ones - significantly yielded to the characteristics of foreign counterparts. The problem was solved by equipping military units with means of commu-nication of foreign, usually civilian, production. Subsequently, in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there was an increase and im-provement of the communication system by military means, which were built on the modern SDR technology. The main features and features of these tools are analyzed in the work. Over the past few years, the Armed Forces of Ukraine has undertaken a number of measures to re-equip the field (mobile) components of an automated control, communication, intelligence and surveil-lance system that meets NATO standards. Consequently, the communications system, which is now functioning in the Armed Forces, provides stable management of troops and forces. At the same time, work on further development and transformation to full compatibility with NATO does not stop. It is concluded that the development of the communication and automation system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has a steady tendency for comprehensive development and modernization, re-equipment of the troops with the latest means of communication and the transition to modern digital technologies. Within the framework of the implementation of the provisions of the Strategic Defense Bulletin of Ukraine in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, work is under way to create an effective system of management, communication, intelligence and observation (C4ISR) that would meet NATO standards and ensure its integration with the Unified Defense Resources Management System

Production and on-line comprehension of definiteness in English and Dutch by monolingual and sequential bilingual children

The present article examines production and on-line processing of definite articles in Turkish-speaking sequential bilingual children acquiring English and Dutch as second languages (L2) in the UK and in the Netherlands, respectively. Thirty-nine 6–8-year-old L2 children and 48 monolingual (L1) age-matched children participated in two separate studies examining the production of definite articles in English and Dutch in conditions manipulating semantic context, that is, the anaphoric and the bridging contexts. Sensitivity to article omission was examined in the same groups of children using an on-line processing task involving article use in the same semantic contexts as in the production task. The results indicate that both L2 children and L1 controls are less accurate when definiteness is established by keeping track of the discourse referents (anaphoric) than when it is established via world knowledge (bridging). Moreover, despite variable production, all groups of children were sensitive to the omission of definite articles in the on-line comprehension task. This suggests that the errors of omission are not due to the lack of abstract syntactic representations, but could result from processes implicated in the spell-out of definite articles. The findings are in line with the idea that variable production in child L2 learners does not necessarily indicate lack of abstract representations (Haznedar and Schwartz, 1997)