Competing ideologies of Russia's civil society

Many analysts and public opinion makers in the West conflate the notions of Russia’s non-systemic liberal opposition and the country’s civil society. Indeed, despite garnering the support of a minority of Russia’s population, non-systemic liberal opposition represents a well-organized civic group with a clearly articulated agenda and the ability to take action. Yet, does Russia’s civil society end there? A closer look at the country’s politics shows that Russia has a substantial conservative-traditionalist faction that has also developed agenda for action and formulated opinions. This group is anti-liberal rather than illiberal ideologically and pro-strong state/pro a geopolitically independent Russia rather than pro-Kremlin politically. The interaction between liberal and conservative civic groups represents the battle of meanings, ideas, and ethics, and ultimately determines the future trajectory of Russia’s evolution. Thus, the analysis of Russia’s civil society must represent a rather more nuanced picture than a mere study of the liberal non-systemic opposition. This article will examine the complexity of Russia’s civil society scene with reference to the interplay between the liberal opposition and conservative majority factions. The paper will argue that such complexity stems from ideological value pluralism that falls far beyond the boundaries of the liberal consensus, often skewing our understanding of political practice in Russia

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF GARDEN PEA VARIETIES OF TWO MORPHOTYPES ACCORDING TO A SET OF TRAITS IN KRASNODAR REGION

In 2014-15, evaluated in Krasnodar Region were the yield of green pea, net productivity of photosynthesis, productivity of a foliage surface unit as well as the economic coefficient in 16 garden pea varieties of the common leafy and leafless morphotypes. The study helped to identify leafless varieties comparable with those of the conventional morphotype accordin to the set of traits studied

Machine Learning on Human Muscle Transcriptomic Data for Biomarker Discovery and Tissue-Specific Drug Target Identification

For the past several decades, research in understanding the molecular basis of human muscle aging has progressed significantly. However, the development of accessible tissue-specific biomarkers of human muscle aging that may be measured to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions is still a major challenge. Here we present a method for tracking age-related changes of human skeletal muscle. We analyzed publicly available gene expression profiles of young and old tissue from healthy donors. Differential gene expression and pathway analysis were performed to compare signatures of young and old muscle tissue and to preprocess the resulting data for a set of machine learning algorithms. Our study confirms the established mechanisms of human skeletal muscle aging, including dysregulation of cytosolic Ca2+ homeostasis, PPAR signaling and neurotransmitter recycling along with IGFR and PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling. Applying several supervised machine learning techniques, including neural networks, we built a panel of tissue-specific biomarkers of aging. Our predictive model achieved 0.91 Pearson correlation with respect to the actual age values of the muscle tissue samples, and a mean absolute error of 6.19 years on the test set. The performance of models was also evaluated on gene expression samples of the skeletal muscles from the Gene expression Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. The best model achieved the accuracy of 0.80 with respect to the actual age bin prediction on the external validation set. Furthermore, we demonstrated that aging biomarkers can be used to identify new molecular targets for tissue-specific anti-aging therapies

A System for Measurement of Convection Aboard Space Station

A simple device for direct measurement of buoyancy driven fluid flows in a low-gravity environment is proposed. A system connecting spacecraft accelerometers data and results of thermal convection in enclosure measurements and numerical simulations is developed. This system will permit also to evaluate the low frequency microacceleration component. The goal of the paper is to present objectives and current results of ground-based experimental and numerical modeling of this convection detector

Normative resistance to responsibility to protect in times of emerging multipolarity: the cases of Brazil and Russia

This article assesses the normative resistance to Responsibility to Protect adopted by Brazil and Russia against the backdrop of their international identities and self-assigned roles in a changing global order. Drawing upon the framework of Bloomsfield's norm dynamics role spectrum, it argues that while the ambiguous Russian role regarding this principle represents an example of 'norm antipreneurship', particularities of Brazil's resistance are better grasped by a new category left unaccounted for by this model, which this study portrays as 'contesting entrepreneur'.- (undefined

Russia and the Arab Spring: supporting the counter-revolution

Russia’s response to the Arab Spring ranged from apprehension to deep anxiety and diverged significantly from the US and the EU responses. While initially welcoming the popular demands for political reform in North Africa, the Russian reaction rapidly became more critical as a result of Western military intervention into Libya and the threat of the spread of Islamist extremism. It was these twin fears which prompted the Russian leadership to adopt an uncompromizing stance towards Syria. While geopolitical factors certainly played a role in driving Russian strategy, domestic political factors were also more significant. As the Russian leadership felt internally threatened by the growing opposition within the country, conflict in the Middle East highlighted the perceived flaws of the imposition of Western liberal democracy and the virtues of Russia’s own model of state-managed political order. There was, as such, a significant ideational and ideological dimension to the Russian response to the Arab Spring

Анализ наночастиц и наноматериалов методом рентгеновской фотоэлектронной спектроскопии

Objectives. The main aim of this review is to summarize the existing knowledge on the use of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for the characterization of nanoparticles and nanomaterials.Results. XPS or electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis can provide information on the qualitative and quantitative composition, valence states of the elements of the samples under study, the chemical composition of the surface and interfaces that determine the properties of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials. The review describes the role of several different methods for the characterization of nanomaterials, highlights their advantages and limitations, and the possibilities of an effective combination. The main characteristics of XPS are described. Various examples of its use for the analysis of nanoparticles and nanomaterials are given in conjunction with additional methods to obtain complementary information about the object under study.Conclusions. XPS provides depth information comparable to the size of nanoparticles (up to 10 nm depth from the surface) and does not cause significant damage to the samples. Two disadvantages of XPS analysis are sample preparation requiring a dry solid form without contaminations and data interpretation. XPS provides information not only on the chemical identity, but also on the dielectric properties of nanomaterials, recording their charging/discharging behavior. Chemical information from the surface of nanoparticles analyzed by XPS can be used to estimate the thickness of nanoparticle coatings. XPS has a high selectivity, since the resolution of the method makes it possible to distinguish a characteristic set of lines in the photoelectron spectrum at kinetic energies determined by the photon energy and the corresponding binding energies in elements. The intensity of the lines depends on the concentration of the respective element. Obtaining a sufficiently complete picture of the properties of nanomaterials requires the use of a group of complementary instrumental methods of analysis.Цели. Основная цель данного обзора - обобщить существующие знания об использовании метода рентгеновской фотоэлектронной спектроскопии (РФЭС) для характеризации наночастиц и наноматериалов.Результаты. Метод РФЭС или электронной спектроскопии для химического анализа может предоставить информацию о качественном и количественном составе, валентных состояниях элементов исследуемых образцов, химическом составе поверхности и границ раздела, которые определяют свойства наночастиц и наноструктурных материалов. В обзоре описана роль нескольких различных методов для характеристики наноразмерных материалов, подчеркнуты их преимущества, ограничения и возможности эффективной комбинации. Описаны основные характеристики РФЭС. Приведены различные примеры ее использования для анализа наночастиц и наноматериалов в совокупности с дополнительными методами для получения комплементарной информации об изучаемом объекте.Выводы. РФЭС предоставляет информацию о глубине, сравнимой с размером наночастиц (до 10 нм глубины от поверхности), и не вызывает значительного повреждения образцов. Двумя недостатками анализа РФЭС являются подготовка образцов (требуется сухая твердая форма без загрязнения) и интерпретация данных. РФЭС предоставляет информацию не только о химической идентичности, но и о диэлектрических свойствах наноматериалов, регистрируя их поведение при зарядке/разрядке. Химическая информация с поверхности наночастиц, проанализированная с помощью РФЭС, может использоваться для оценки толщины покрытий наночастиц. РФЭС обладает высокой селективностью, поскольку разрешающая способность метода позволяет различить характерный набор линий в фотоэлектронном спектре при кинетических энергиях, определяемых энергией фотонов и соответствующими энергиями связи в элементах. Интенсивность линий зависит от концентрации соответствующего элемента. Получение достаточно полной картины свойств наноматериалов требует использования группы взаимодополняющих инструментальных методов анализа

Elite opinion and foreign policy in post-communist Russia

Russian elite opinion on matters of foreign policy may be classified as ‘Liberal Westerniser’, ‘Pragmatic Nationalist’ and ‘Fundamentalist Nationalist’, terms that reflect longstanding debates about the country’s relationship with the outside world. An analysis of press statements and election manifestoes together with a programme of elite interviews between 2004 and 2006 suggests a clustering of opinion on a series of strategic issues. Liberal Westernisers seek the closest possible relationship with Europe, and favour eventual membership of the EU and NATO. Pragmatic Nationalists are more inclined to favour practical co-operation, and do not assume an identity of values or interests with the Western countries. Fundamentalist Nationalists place more emphasis on the other former Soviet republics, and on Asia as much as Europe, and see the West as a threat to Russian values as well as to its state interests. Each of these positions, in turn, draws on an identifiable set of domestic constituencies: Liberal Westernisers on the promarket political parties, Pragmatic Nationalists on the presidential administration and defence and security ministries, and Fundamentalist Nationalists on the Orthodox Church and Communists

Сравнение сорбционной способности активированных углей, цеолитов и промышленных образцов оксида алюминия по отношению к оксиду азота(II) в воздухе

This investigation studied the sorption of NO by activated carbons, zeolites and aluminum oxide at ambient temperature. It was found that γ-Al2O3 has the highest sorption capacity (45-50%). Among the studied activated carbons only AG-3 sample proved to be competitive with samples of γ-Al2O3. The NO sorption degree of the studied zeolites was less than 7%.В динамическом режиме изучена сорбция оксида азота (II) из воздуха активированными углями, цеолитами и образцами оксида алюминия. Установлено, что максимальную скорость сорбции NO (степень поглощения 45-50%) обеспечивают различные образцы γ-оксида алюминия. Из исследованных активированных углей только образец марки АГ-3 оказался конкурентоспособным с образцами γ-Al2O3. Изученные цеолиты обеспечивают степень поглощения NO не более 7%