Teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic departments in the Eurasian environment during the pandemic

The paper addresses the specifics of teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic departments in the Eurasian environment during the pandemic. There were described resource opportunities of internet technologies in teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic departments, including a wide range of teaching materials. Moreover, these opportunities have a motivational potential if students are given competent guidance in methodic, didactic, and technical aspects in online learning. The aim to elicit difficulties, which non-linguistic students have to face in distant learning of foreign language during the pandemic, encouraged the authors to develop a questionnaire based on the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference. This survey enabled the authors to arrive at conclusions that correlate with other researchers’ works, which allows them to determine general trends and consider them while planning their own educational products in the future. The research was conducted in the MOODLE electronic system. The authors assume that the above-mentioned electronic system is the most widespread in the Eurasian Educational Space and an efficient tool of online teaching. The specifics of the foreign language course, where the language is both a target and a means of non-linguistic learning, were determined. Basic kinds of speech activity were characterized. Moreover, ways to organize these activities with the help of internet technologies in learning were identified to facilitate overcoming certain difficulties in completing the academic course in a foreign language by non-linguistic students in distance format. It was proved that the elaboration of methodic, didactic, and technical components of distant education in teaching a foreign language to non-linguistic students during the pandemic can make distant learning an effective form of education. Thus, we underlined the practicability of introducing internet technologies in the educational process in higher educational institutions

Influence of heparin on mediators of inflammation

Surgical trauma leads to stress-response [1]. Overproduction of cytokines increases the risk of organ failure [2]. Heparin can probably reduce the symptoms of inflammation and improve outcomes [3]. The Goal: To study the effects of heparin on mediators of inflammation after selective abdominal surgery

Sociology, labour and transition in post-Soviet Russia: A view from within

For almost 20 years, since the early 1990s, Professor Simon Clarke led multiple international research projects in Russia, China and Vietnam studying labour relations, enterprise restructuring and household economics under post-socialist transition. Breaking out of post-socialist scholarship’s narrow confines, both social and ideological, he led an exploration of the void opened by former Soviet Union disintegration reconnecting with those who brought the brunt of it. Equally unique among western scholars was his promotion of a vast network of former Soviet Union researchers and activists, later formalised in the Institute for Comparative Research in Labour Relations. Here, for the first time, some of its leading scholars reflect on his legacy, methods and ever-lasting contribution to the advancement of sociology and social activism in Russia. Their accounts convey the radically alternative character of the overall project, returning both achievements and limitations. In substantive terms, the emerging picture confirms the indeterminacy and complexity of Clarke’s original findings: no linear development from ‘the subsumption of labour under capital’ to ‘familiar patterns of class conflict’ has occurred. Instead, growing labour protests follow labour degradation and restructuring, a strong state becoming the arbiter in the stand-off between neoliberalism and workers’ resistance

Electronic structure study of YNbTiO6_6 vs. CaNb2_2O6_6 with U, Pu and minor actinide substitutions using compound-tunable embedding potential method

The compound-tunable embedding potential (CTEP) method is applied to study actinide substitutions in the niobate crystals YNbTiO$_6$ and CaNb$_2$O$_6$. Two one-center clusters centered on Ca and Y are built and 20 substitutions of Ca and Y with U, Np, Pu, Am, and Cm in four different oxidation states were made for each cluster. Geometry relaxation is performed for each resulting structure, and electronic properties are analyzed by evaluating the spin density distribution and X-ray emission spectra chemical shifts. Though the studied embedded clusters with actinides having the same oxidation state are found in general to yield similar local structure distortions, for Am and Cm in high "starting" oxidation states the electron transfer from the environment was found, resulting in decrease of their oxidation states, while for "starting" U$^{\rm III}$ state the electron transfer goes in the opposite direction, resulting in increase of its oxidation state to U$^{\rm IV}$. The U substitutions are additionally studied with the use of multi-center models, which can provide both more structural and electronic relaxation and also include charge-compensating vacancies. For "starting" U$^{\rm VI}$ case, the decrease in oxidation state similar to that of Am$^{\rm VI}$ and Cm$^{\rm VI}$ in one-center clusters is observed in our calculations but in a different way. Since the really synthesized YNbTiO$_6$ structures can not be considered as perfect (periodic) crystals because the Nb and Ti atoms are statistically distributed within them occupying the same Wyckoff positions, different Ti $\leftrightarrow$ Nb substitutions are studied and corresponding structural changes are estimated

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in Assessment of Grain Crop State

The results of studying the dynamics of the NDVI of winter triticale crops in the conditions of the Northwest of Russia are presented. The NDVI was determined based on remote sensing data obtained by two methods including satellite imagery and aerial photography from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The analysis of the dynamics of the NDVI of the surveyed area for the period from May 15 to August 8, obtained from the Sentinel-2 L2A satellite, showed the dependence of the index on the increase in biomass of winter triticale by the periods of its growth and development, as well as on the meteorological conditions of the growing seasons. The sharpest increase in the vegetation index was noted in the period from the beginning of June to the beginning of July, which corresponds to the phase of entering the tube — filling of winter triticale grain. In the most favorable weather conditions, the vegetation index reached 1.0, which indicates the formation of dense vegetation by triticale crops. It is confirmed that the strong dependence of the average NDVI on yield occurs against the background of a decrease in the value of the vegetation index. The conducted aerial photography showed the presence of spatial heterogeneity in the studied fields, which caused uneven growth and development of winter triticale plants within the boundaries of one field. The shortage of grain from each hectare will be about 200 kg. In this regard, it is recommended to apply precision farming using NDVI mapping schemes with reference to point-based field surveys