Supply regulation at Russian regional markets

The central concept of the Russian agro-industrial production stabilization programme is a combination of market relations with government protectionist policy. The results achieved in the course of agrarian reforms in Russian regions indicate that there have been provided important legal and organizational conditions for successful functioning of multi-layer agriculture and formation of land market. However, as the paper shows, the agrarian reform still fails to bring about any growth in production. The present situation is such that if the current trends in AIC remain the downswing in production may make another 15% in the nearest years. This requires immediate measures to be taken in order to increase food supply and protect the domestic commodity producers. For the purpose of planning a strategy of further reforms in AIC there have been identified the basic factors of stabilization of regional food markets. The paper contains the results of correlation-regression analysis and the typology of Russian regions based on the evaluation of the factors that govern the food demand and supply and the complex indicator of the level and structure of nourishment. It is shown that if the Russian food market is localized within the bounds of individual regions then the principal factors restraining food consumption are the low level of quality ecologically pure products. The paper also contains suggestions associated with improvement of the taxation system in part it is applied to agricultural commodity producers. principal factors restraining food consumption are the low level of development of the agrarian sector in the region and the insufficient provision of the local processing enterprises with raw agricultural produce. It is proven that the regional agrarian policy must pay due respect for the specific natural and climatic features as well as for the resource potential of the region. Along with this it is clear that food self-provision of regions must not in any way neutralize the production specialization and hamper the development of inter-regional ties. The research shows that the existing underdeveloped market environment is the cause for the low effectiveness of market means of regulation like interest rates and tax privileges. The application of direct economic instruments of regulation such as compensations for the agricultural producers' expenses, intervention purchases, subsidies and budget allocations for realization of investment programmes seems more reasonable in this situation. It is important that the agricultural commodity producers be supported selectively, the most effective ones having the priority. The authors outline some fundamental principles of a flexible price mechanism. The latter allows for the prices adjusted on federal and regional levels, pledge and target prices and price differentials for high quality ecologically pure products. The paper also contains suggestions associated with improvement of the taxation system in part it is applied to agricultural commodity producers.

Preconditioned Bi-Conjugate Gradient Method for Radiative Transfer in Spherical Media

A robust numerical method called the Preconditioned Bi-Conjugate Gradient (Pre-BiCG)method is proposed for the solution of radiative transfer equation in spherical geometry.A variant of this method called Stabilized Preconditioned Bi-Conjugate Gradient (Pre-BiCG-STAB) is also presented. These are iterative methods based on the construction of a set of bi-orthogonal vectors. The application of Pre-BiCG method in some benchmark tests show that the method is quite versatile, and can handle hard problems that may arise in astrophysical radiative transfer theory.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure

A New Algorithm for Supernova Neutrino Transport and Some Applications

We have developed an implicit, multi-group, time-dependent, spherical neutrino transport code based on the Feautrier variables, the tangent-ray method, and accelerated ${\bf \Lambda}$ iteration. The code achieves high angular resolution, is good to O($v/c$), is equivalent to a Boltzmann solver (without gravitational redshifts), and solves the transport equation at all optical depths with precision. In this paper, we present our formulation of the relevant numerics and microphysics and explore protoneutron star atmospheres for snapshot post-bounce models. Our major focus is on spectra, neutrino-matter heating rates, Eddington factors, angular distributions, and phase-space occupancies. In addition, we investigate the influence on neutrino spectra and heating of final-state electron blocking, stimulated absorption, velocity terms in the transport equation, neutrino-nucleon scattering asymmetry, and weak magnetism and recoil effects. Furthermore, we compare the emergent spectra and heating rates obtained using full transport with those obtained using representative flux-limited transport formulations to gauge their accuracy and viability. Finally, we derive useful formulae for the neutrino source strength due to nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and determine bremsstrahlung's influence on the emergent $\nu_{\mu}$ and $\nu_{\tau}$ neutrino spectra.Comment: 58 pages, single-spaced LaTeX, 23 figures, revised title, also available at http://jupiter.as.arizona.edu/~burrows/papers, accepted for publication in the Ap.

Сравнительный анализ современных систем стадирования гепатоцеллюлярного рака – TNM/AJCC, CUPI, CLIP И BCLC в российской онкологической практике. Опыт Российского онкологического научного центра им. Н. Н. Блохина

Aims: to explore the prognostic and practical utilit y of several internationally validated hepatocellular cancer (HCC) staging systems for Russian patient’s cohor t. Methods: retrospective trial of 380 HCC cases referred to Russian Cancer Research center n. a.N.N.Blokhin from Jan 2006 till Dec 2015. Results: median follow-up duration was 16,5 months. All HCC staging systems showed statistical significance for prognosis by univariate analysis: TNM/AJCC (p<0,0001; HR1,294; 95% CI 1,207–1,398); BCLC (p<0,0001; HR1,782; 95% CI 1,518–2,093); CLIP (p<0,0001; HR1,777; 95% CI 1,565–2,017); CUPI (p<0,0001; HR2,537; 95% CI 1,985–3,234). Significant sur vival difference was found across groups of early and late TNM/AJCC stages only. At multivariate analysis, prognosis was independently predicted by CUPI (HR1,512, р=0,004), CLIP (HR1,392, р<0,0001) and BCLC (HR1,337, р=0,001) for Russian patient’s cohort.Conclusions: the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) system was shown to have excellent discrimination of survival in patients with HCC and had a practically meaningful for Russian HCC patient’s cohort staging. BCLC staging and Child-Pugh-driven liver function assessment have to be obligatory supplement to TNM/AJCC in HCC diagnosis.Цель исследования: сравнить прогностическую и практическую ценность современных международных систем стадирования гепатоцеллюлярного рака (ГЦР) в российской популяции. Материалы и методы: ретроспективно проведено стадирование 380 случаев ГЦР, наблюдавшихся в ФГБУ «РОНЦ им. Н. Н. Блохина» МЗ РФ с 2006 по 2015 гг. Результаты: медиана наблюдения составила 16,5 мес. При однофакторном анализе все системы стадирования ГЦР обладают достоверной прогностической значимостью: TNM/AJCC (p<0,0001; OP 1,294 95% ДИ 1,207–1,398); BCLC (p<0,0001; OP 1,782 95% ДИ 1,518–2,093); CLIP (p<0,0001; OP 1,777 95% ДИ 1,565–2,017); CUPI (p<0,0001; OP 2,537 95% ДИ 1,985–3,234). TNM/AJCC обладает прогностической значимостью только при ранних стадиях ГЦР, различие кривых ОВ между другими стадиями недостоверно. Многофакторный анализ подтвердил независимую прогностическую значимость индекса CUPI (ОР 1,512, р=0,004), CLIP (ОР 1,392, р<0,0001) и стадии BCLC (ОР 1,337, р=0,001) в российской когорте больных ГЦР. Заключение: стадирование ГЦР по классификации BCLC обладает очевидной прогностической и практической ценностью в российской популяции больных ГЦР. Учитывая технические сложности стадирования по CUPI и CLIP, классификация BCLC и определение функционального статуса печени (Child-Pugh) должны быть обязательным дополнением при стадировании печеночно-клеточного рака по TNM/AJCC

Kinematics of elliptical galaxies with a diffuse dust component - III. A Monte Carlo approach to include the effects of scattering

This paper is the third one in a series, intended to investigate how the observed kinematics of elliptical galaxies are affected by dust attenuation. In Paper I and Paper II, we investigated the effects of dust absorption; here we extend our modelling in order to include the effects of scattering. We describe how kinematical information can be combined with the radiative transfer equation, and present a Monte Carlo code that can handle kinematical information in an elegant way. Compared to the case where only absorption is taken into account, we find that dust attenuation considerably affects the observed kinematics when scattering is included. For the central lines of sight, dust can either decrease or increase the central observed velocity dispersion. The most important effect of dust attenuation, however, is found at large projected radii. The kinematics at these lines of sight are strongly affected by photons scattered into these lines of sight, which were emitted by high-velocity stars in the central regions of the galaxy. These photons bias the LOSVDs towards high line-of-sight velocities, and significantly increase the observed velocity dispersion and LOSVD shape parameters. These effects are similar to the expected kinematical signature of a dark matter halo, such that dust attenuation may form an alternative explanation for the usual stellar kinematical evidence for dark matter halos around elliptical galaxies. We apply our results to discuss several other topics in galactic dynamics, where we feel dust attenuation should be taken into account. In particular, we argue that the kinematics observed at various wavelengths can help to constrain the spatial distribution of dust in elliptical galaxies.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA