RUSSIAN RURAL NECHERNOZEMYE: COLLAPSE OR NEW WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT?

The article describes the evolution and the crisis of the rural old-developed non-black soil zone (i.e., Nechernozemye), the differences between suburban and peripheral areas as exemplified by the Kostroma and other regions, basic models of economic contraction, as well as prospects for revival by urban residents

AGRICULTURAL CHANGE IN THE RUSSIAN GRAIN BELT: A CASE STUDY OF SAMARA OBLAST

Change in agricultural land use in Samara Oblast is analyzed on the basis of agricultural statistics, field observations, and satellite imagery. Besides the general decline in animal husbandry, three drivers of spatial change are uncovered—accessibility to the major urban areas, natural setting, and ethnic mix. Land surface phenology metrics are in line with these drivers. In particular, satellite imagery confirms the large amount of fallowed land in Samara. Overall, land abandonment reached its peak in the late 1990s, and was subsequently reversed but the amount of land used in crop farming has not reached the 1990 level. Spatial differentiation is also analyzed across three types of farms—former collective and state farms, household farms, and registered family businesses

Impact of Serotonin Transporter Absence on Brain Insulin Receptor Expression, Plasma Metabolome Changes, and ADHD-like Behavior in Mice fed a Western Diet

The impaired function of the serotonin transporter (SERT) in humans has been linked to a higher risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, especially as people age. Consuming a “Western diet” (WD), which is high in saturated fats, cholesterol, and sugars, can induce metabolic syndrome. Previous research indicated that mice carrying a targeted inactivation of the Sert gene (knockout, KO) and fed a WD display significant metabolic disturbances and behaviors reminiscent of ADHD. These abnormalities might be mediated via a dysfunction in insulin receptor (IR) signaling, which is also associated with adult ADHD. However, the impact of Sert deficiency on IR signaling and systemic metabolic changes has not been thoroughly explored. In this study, we conducted a detailed analysis of locomotor behavior in wild-type (WT) and KO mice fed a WD or control diet. We investigated changes in the blood metabolome and examined, via PCR, the expression of insulin receptor A and B isoforms and key regulators of their function in the brain. Twelve-month-old KO mice and their WT littermates were fed a WD for three weeks. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis of plasma samples showed that KO mice on a WD had higher levels of lipids and lipoproteins and lower levels of glucose, lactate, alanine, valine, and isoleucine compared to other groups. SERT-KO mice on the control diet exhibited increased brain levels of both IR A and B isoforms, accompanied by a modest increase in the negative regulator ENPP. The KO mice also displayed anxiety-like behavior and reduced exploratory activity in an open field test. However, when the KO animals were fed a WD, the aberrant expression levels of IR isoforms in the KO mice and locomotor behavior were ameliorated indicating a complex interaction between genetic and dietary factors that might contribute to ADHD-like symptoms. Overall, our findings suggest that the lack of Sert leads to a unique metabolic phenotype in aged mice, characterized by dysregulated IR-related pathways. These changes are exacerbated by WD in the blood metabolome and are associated with behavioral abnormalities

Смысловые ориентиры и идейные конструкты методики обновленного преподавания физической культуры в общеобразовательной организации на основе модели смешанного обучения

The article examines methods of the updated teaching of physical education in a general education organization. New semantic guidelines and ideological constructs based on blended learning are information-enriching, educational-integrative, organizational-stimulating. The information-enriching semantic guideline stands for optimizing physical education as a factor of comprehensive personal development in a blended learning mode. Students expand their knowledge about the impact of physical education and sports on successful and safe life. The educational-integrative semantic guideline is based on the idea of synchronizing subject, meta-subject and personal results in the practice of teaching physical education given the functional literacy of a school graduate. It is important that the choice of pedagogical means for distance learning has a scientific justification. The organizational-stimulating semantic guideline is based on the idea of activating the students’ physical and health-improving activity to shift the locus of motor activity control from the external plan to the internal (personal) one, ensuring the continuity of positive physical self-education of schoolchildren. The ideological constructs of the updated teaching of physical education in a general education organization based on mixed learning are digitalization, sportization, health motivation. “Digitalization” argues for new opportunities in the reproduction of a viable generation and the features using digital technologies of the updated teaching of physical education based on blended learning. “Sportization” stands to synchronize subject, meta-subject and personal results with the functional literacy of a school graduate given basic ideas of sport and harmonious personal development. “Health Motivation” reflects the need to intensify the students’ physical and health activities through the use of students’ individual educational trajectories of physical self-development and self-improvement (including students with special educational needs) taking into account individual resources and capabilitiesОбоснованы смысловые ориентиры и идейные конструкты методики обновленного преподавания физической культуры в общеобразовательной организации на основе смешанного обучения, к которым отнесены информационно-обогащающий, образовательно-интегративный, организационно-стимулирующий. Информационно-обогащающий смысловой ориентир построен на идее оптимизации физического воспитания как фактора всестороннего развития личности в режиме смешанного обучения. Акцентирована значимость расширения у обучающихся источников достоверной информации о влиянии физической культуры и спорта на реализацию успешной нормативно-безопасной жизнедеятельности в перспективе жизненного пути. Образовательно-интегративный смысловой ориентир базируется на идее синхронизации предметных, метапредметных и личностных результатов в практике преподавания физической культуры как образовательной дисциплины с функциональной грамотностью выпускника школы. Выделена необходимость научно обоснованного выбора педагогических средств для реализации дистанционных образовательных технологий и электронных образовательных ресурсов. Организационно-стимулирующий смысловой ориентир основан на идее активизации самостоятельной физкультурно-оздоровительной деятельности обучающегося для смещении локуса контроля двигательной активности с внешнего во внутренний (личностный) план, обеспечивающий непрерывность позитивного физического самообразования школьников. Сформулированы идейные конструкты: цифровизация, спортизации, здоровьемотивация. В идейном конструкте «цифровизация» аргументированы новые возможности для воспроизводства жизнеспособного поколения и особенности внедрения цифровых технологий в методику обновленного преподавания физической культуры в общеобразовательной организации на основе смешанного обучения. Содержание идейного конструкта «спортизация» определено на основе концептуальных оснований спортизации физкультурного образования для синхронизации предметных, метапредметных и личностных результатов с функциональной грамотностью выпускника школы как проявления спортивной культуры личности в ее гармоничном развитии. Идейный конструкт «здоровьемотивация» отражает необходимость активизации самостоятельной физкультурно-оздоровительной деятельности обучающегося за счет разработки и реализации индивидуальных образовательных траекторий физического саморазвития и самосовершенствования обучающихся (в том числе с особыми образовательными потребностями) в соотнесенности с индивидуальными ресурсами и возможностям

New approaches to the study of cell vital activity cultivated in different growing conditions with analysis of oxygen in the medium

Objectives to develop new approaches to the study of morphofunctional state of chondroblasts, cultured at 37C on a 3D carrier in different environments: in a CO2incubator with 5% of CO2and in a thermostat in an air-proof tube. Material and methods.The study cell culture chondroblasts, isolated from the cartilage of the articular surfaces of the extra-fingers' phalanges. 3D carrier for cells the demineralized lyophilized human spongiosa Lioplast. The resulting tissue-engineered structures were grown in a complete cell culture medium at 37С under different conditions: in a closed system in thermostat and in an open system in CO2incubator (5% CO2). To assess the morphofunctional state of the cells on the surface of the 3D carrier, the picrosirius red staining, a LIVE/DEADfluorescent dye kit, and scanning electron microscopy were used. The oxygen concentration in the culture medium was evaluated by the modified Winkler titration method. Results.The complex of morphological methods revealed the presence of living cells on the surface of human spongiosa within the 7-day period of cultivation. The cells either are fusiform or have a polygonal form and have a capacity to grow in 2 or more layers. The titrimetric analysis has demonstrated a decline in the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the medium with cellular tissue material in 7 days of cultivation. The concentration declined by 72.4% in a thermostat and by 63.5% in a CO2incubator. In the tests tubes which contained only the medium and no cells, there was a similar decline in oxygen concentration by 47.3% in a thermostat and by 66.1% in a CO2incubator. Conclusion.1. A method of measuring the amount of dissolved oxygen in a culture medium, during the adhesive cell cultivation on a 3D carrier, was developed, based on the Winkler titration method. 2. A comparative analysis of the amount of dissolved oxygen in the medium in the process of chondroblast cultivation on a 3D human spongiosa carrier, both in a CO2incubator and in a closed test tube, revealed an overall tendency to a decrease in the concentration of oxygen within 7 days of cultivation. 3. A decrease in oxygen concentration in the test tubes with human spongiosa samples (without cells), within the 7 days of cultivation, was registered. 4. An efficient and cost-saving method of graft manufacturing for the purposes of chondroplasty is the transfer of juvenile joint cartilage chondroblasts to 3D human spongiosa carriers and their further cultivation in air-proof test tubes copletely filled with medium within a period of 7 days

Гиповербализация как принцип построения содержательной программы короткой прозы

The authors consider short prose, an intensively developing multifaceted genre of both traditional and digital literature. There are no strict limitations as regards its volume, so it may vary from a number of pages to a sentence. To function, texts with high levels of “hypoverbalisation” (intentional scarcity of verbal representation) rely on the assumption that readers share some common core knowledge and life experience, including knowledge of other literary texts, with the author and are capable of logical analysis and reflection. Thus, in short prose, the reader in fact becomes a co-author, reconstructing the facts and events of the text, and an interpreter, structuring and shaping the space of the text. The main methods to compress the text are references to the reader’s life experience, background pragmatic and scholarly knowledge, and precedent phenomena. The paper focuses on the particularly interesting phenomenon of discourse transformation. A text created by author-1 as a non-literary text is perceived by reader-1 and identified as a text with literary value; in this case, reader-1 becomes author-2 and presents a text residing on another level to the reader. The public’s attention to this kind of literature has given rise to a number of websites that publish quotes from real emails, text messages, forums, chats, life stories, short philosophic essays, and comments on events. Such quotations often include metalinguistic humour, which may indicate users’ increased interest in transformational processes in the contemporary Russian language. It is also a demonstration of their linguistic creativity, reflected in the coining of new lexical units, providing existing words with new meanings, and the innovative use of graphics.Предметом рассмотрения автора стала короткая, или малая проза – интенсивно развивающееся многоаспектное явление, относящееся как к традиционной, так и к сетевой литературе. Это понятие не имеет строгих количественных характеристик, к нему могут относиться тексты разного объема, от нескольких страниц до одного предложения и даже его части. Тексты с высокой степенью гиповербализации (минимизации вербальной презентации) предполагают наличие у читателя определенного общего с автором фонда знаний, читательского опыта, а также способности к логическому мышлению и рефлексии. При чтении короткой прозы читатель, по сути, превращается в соавтора, достраивая фактуально-событийную сторону произведения, а затем становится интерпретатором, осваивающим пространство понимания текста и создавая его проекцию. Основными способами, позволяющими автору сократить произведение, являются отсылки к жизненному опыту читателя, фоновым знаниям прагматического и научного характера, прецедентным феноменам. Особый интерес представляет процесс дискурсивной трансформации, заключающийся в том, что текст, создающийся автором-1 как нелитературный, может быть воспринят читателем как достойный преобразования в литературное произведение; в этом случае читатель-1 превращается в автора-2 и представляет текст читателям второго уровня. Внимание публики к подобного рода литературе стало причиной появления в интернет-пространстве многочисленных развлекательных сайтов, на которых публикуются цитаты из реальных электронных писем, СМС, с форумов, из чатов, а также «истории из жизни», короткие философские рассуждения, комментарии каких-либо событий и т. д. Отмечается появление особого «металингвистического юмора» как свидетельства интереса авторов и читателей к процессам, происходящим в русском языке на современном этапе, и стремление к лингвокреативности, проявляющейся в создании новых лексических единиц, переосмыслении значений, инновационном применении графических средств

Coping with employment issues through commuting: Evidence from Central Russia

Commuting to work has become a widespread practice over the last several decades. Some relatively strong employment issues in rural Russian municipalities, as well as a significant wage gap between them and the major cities, fosters daily commuting as well as commuting with long periods of time spent at employment locations, known in Russia as otkhodnichestvo. Based on official statistical data and our own surveys conducted in Tula and Kostroma regions, we analysed the spatial differentiations between the share of commuters in the employed population of rural municipalities, as well as the variations in individual socio-economic characteristics between rural commuters and non-commuters, in general, and between the commuters themselves. Our analysis of the latter characteristics suggests that there is in fact more difference between the rural commuters and non-commuters in Russia than between daily commuters and those engaged in otkhodnichestvo, indicating similar motives and, perhaps, even personalities of commuters. Giving the identified differences, commuting on a larger scale does not seem to be a universal tool to cope with employment issues, as some population groups are more likely to engage in it than others

Agrarian transformation in the Russian breadbasket : Contemporary trends as manifest in Stavropol'

A team of US and Russian geographers combines field observations with satellite imagery in an examination of how major trends in Russian agriculture are manifest in one of Russia's most productive agricultural regions: Stavropol' Kray. A nationwide pattern of agricultural consolidation during the 1990s (featuring rural depopulation and a reduction in cultivated area and herd sizes upon the termination of Soviet-era subsidization levels) has had decidedly different outcomes in different parts of the vast Russian countryside. This paper - using Stavropol' as a surrogate for regions which by physical attributes, location, and human capital are best positioned to support agricultural activity - identifies a number of developments that may signal a new growth trajectory for agriculture in Russia: evolving specialization of former socialized farms in response to market conditions (in Stavropol' involving the shrinkage of animal husbandry and the release of surplus labor); increased levels of absentee (corporate) ownership of farmland in the more favorable locations; decoupling of the economic fate of large farms (success) from local municipal budgets (deficiency); and the expansion of non-Russian ethnic communities in the countryside, with attendant land use changes

Land change in European Russia : 1982-2011

In this chapter, we use change analysis at three spatial resolutions (8 km, 500 m, and 30 m) to investigate land changes in European Russia occurring between 1982 and 2011. We first apply the nonparametric Seasonal Kendall trend test to the improved GIMMS 3g AVHRR NDVI dataset in three ten-year epochs: 1982-1991, 1991-2000, and 2000-2009. We investigate the changes in each individual period to determine the consistency of the change analysis. We then use Landsat and MODIS imagery to identify the arable lands in the grain belt of European Russia. We report on cultivation frequency, which is a key management decision that affects soil carbon stocks in croplands. We previously demonstrated for two MODIS tiles that the cultivation frequency strongly depends on location. Here we extend the analysis to a third MODIS tile. We conclude with a discussion of visible changes on the ground for four study regions: Kostroma, Chuvash Republic, Samara, and Stavropol