Memes and education: opportunities, approaches and perspectives

Abstract This article presents the results of an international research of using Internet-memes in education process. The writing team set out to explore the reasons and ways of using Internet memes in education in different language spaces – English, Italian, Russian and Chinese. To achieve this goal, a number of tasks were formulated, including: 1. to study the linguistic factor of the use of memes in the educational process, 2. to classify the ways of using memes depending on the purpose, 3. to analyze the content of memes in the liberal, ideological, as well as in the field of exact sciences. The first part of the research made by Alexander Malakhov (PFUR) reveals the basic concepts associated with Internet memes. The second one written by Olga Matys (PFUR) is about using memes in a sphere of Russian liberal education in journalism. The third part of the research made by Ludovico De Serio (University of Genoa) presents an analysis using memes during studying math. The last but not the least part of this article made by Xie Dongqiang (PFUR) and reveals the aspects of an ideological studying using memes. This research was carried out using such scientific methods as analysis, comparison, description. In the course of the study, the authors used the work of such researchers as Susan Blackmore, G. Bini, M. Montagnani, Anna Zagoruyko, Maria Efremova, etc. Also there was used the content of sources such as VK publics "Memology: from antiquity to the present day" and "30 seconds before my expultion", GeoGebra, www.padlet.com, etc

Escape Times in Fluctuating Metastable Potential and Acceleration of Diffusion in Periodic Fluctuating Potentials

The problems of escape from metastable state in randomly flipping potential and of diffusion in fast fluctuating periodic potentials are considered. For the overdamped Brownian particle moving in a piecewise linear dichotomously fluctuating metastable potential we obtain the mean first-passage time (MFPT) as a function of the potential parameters, the noise intensity and the mean rate of switchings of the dichotomous noise. We find noise enhanced stability (NES) phenomenon in the system investigated and the parameter region of the fluctuating potential where the effect can be observed. For the diffusion of the overdamped Brownian particle in a fast fluctuating symmetric periodic potential we obtain that the effective diffusion coefficient depends on the mean first-passage time, as discovered for fixed periodic potential. The effective diffusion coefficients for sawtooth, sinusoidal and piecewise parabolic potentials are calculated in closed analytical form.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. In press in Physica A, 2004. In press in Physica A, 200

Вдосконалення суднової системи баластування

The process of ballasting of ships used for transportation of non-standard cargoes, during their operation on waves, is studied. When auditing the ballasting process it is established that the presence of parasitic air volumes inside the tanks leads to an increase in the angle of the ship's list. To eliminate this drawback, a new technology for destroying parasitic air bubbles by means of jets under pressure is developed. During the operation of the developed technology on the ship a number of positive results are obtained. The angle of the ship's list is reduced from 2 to 1.5 degrees when the sea surface is 0.5 m high. The level of uncontrolled ship’s list on waves with the operating system of destruction of the parasitic air volume and without it is different. At a wave height of 0.3 m to 0.12 degrees, with a wave height of 0.6 m to 0.65 degrees, and at 1 m to 1.2 degrees.Исследован процесс балластировки судов, используемых для транспортировки нестандартных грузов, при их эксплуатации на волнении. При анализе процесса балластировки рассмотрены теоретические методы и результаты моделирования разрушения воздушных объемов в воде. Установлено, что удаление воздуха при определенных условиях может положительно влиять на процесс качки судна, приводя к улучшению его эксплуатационных характеристик.Досліджено процес баластування суден, що задіяні для транспортування нестандартних вантажів, при їх експлуатації на хвилюванні. При аналізі процесу баластування розглянуті теоретичні методи та результати моделювання руйнування повітряних об’ємів в воді. Встановлено, що видалення повітря при певних умовах може позитивно впливати на процес хитавиці судна призводячи до поліпшення його експлуатаційних характеристик

Постмиграционные общества: экономика, политика, культура

To understand the depth of transformations in all spheres of society generated by migration, new terminology is needed. The notion of "postmigrant societies" implies that the distinction between local and migrant population loses its relevance in certain social spheres. According to the familiar epistemological framework, societies are presented as consisting of "local population" on the one hand, and "migrant population" on the other. This understanding, however, is becoming obsolete. First, it does not reflect the fact that the phenomenon of spatial mobility is embedded in the social structure. A significant part of the so-called local population is itself included in migration processes. People who are considered to be part of the "autochthonous population" are in fact migrants themselves due to different circumstances (contract work, long-term stay in another country due to studies, involvement in joint business projects, participation in international scientific teams, availability of real estate abroad, etc.). At the same time, those people who are regarded as "migrants" by common sense can be well integrated into the social institutions of their new homeland. Second, the traditional epistemological framework does not reflect contemporary demographic trends. It is unable to capture two points: (a) population rotation within the framework of circular/pendulum migration; (b) qualitative change in the urban population of industrialized countries

Политическая аккомодация культурных различий в индустриально развитых обществах

The notion of "political accommodation" applied to the theory and practice of managing cultural diversity could enrich the Russian academic dictionary. Liberal democratic states invented specific mechanisms for political accommodation of cultural differences. Thanks to these mechanisms, the part of the population of a democratic state that is not ready to dissolve into the ethnocultural majority is more or less protected. The law not only prohibits forced assimilation, but also contains a number of norms that allow ethnocultural minorities to maintain their distinctiveness by passing it on from generation to generation. However, this is the case in liberal democracies with a long history. In states that emerged as a result of the collapse of two multinational policies - Yugoslavia and the USSR - the situation sometimes looks quite specific. They take more active measures for cultural homogenization than in previous years. As for Russia, in recent years there have been symptomatic changes in the sphere of ethno-cultural policy, which, although with a number of reservations, can be described in terms of "nationalization"

System size and centrality dependence of the balance function in A+A collisions at sqrt[sNN]=17.2 GeV

Electric charge correlations were studied for p+p, C+C, Si+Si, and centrality selected Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt[sNN]=17.2 GeV with the NA49 large acceptance detector at the CERN SPS. In particular, long-range pseudorapidity correlations of oppositely charged particles were measured using the balance function method. The width of the balance function decreases with increasing system size and centrality of the reactions. This decrease could be related to an increasing delay of hadronization in central Pb+Pb collisions

System size and centrality dependence of the balance function in A + A collisions at sqrt s NN = 17.2 GeV

Electric charge correlations were studied for p+p, C+C, Si+Si and centrality selected Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt s_NN = 17.2$ GeV with the NA49 large acceptance detector at the CERN-SPS. In particular, long range pseudo-rapidity correlations of oppositely charged particles were measured using the Balance Function method. The width of the Balance Function decreases with increasing system size and centrality of the reactions. This decrease could be related to an increasing delay of hadronization in central Pb+Pb collisions

Heavy Quarks and Heavy Quarkonia as Tests of Thermalization

We present here a brief summary of new results on heavy quarks and heavy quarkonia from the PHENIX experiment as presented at the "Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization" Workshop in Vienna, Austria in August 2005, directly following the International Quark Matter Conference in Hungary.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization Workshop (Vienna August 2005) Proceeding

Production of phi mesons at mid-rapidity in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC

We present the first results of meson production in the K^+K^- decay channel from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV as measured at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX detector at RHIC. Precision resonance centroid and width values are extracted as a function of collision centrality. No significant variation from the PDG accepted values is observed. The transverse mass spectra are fitted with a linear exponential function for which the derived inverse slope parameter is seen to be constant as a function of centrality. These data are also fitted by a hydrodynamic model with the result that the freeze-out temperature and the expansion velocity values are consistent with the values previously derived from fitting single hadron inclusive data. As a function of transverse momentum the collisions scaled peripheral.to.central yield ratio RCP for the is comparable to that of pions rather than that of protons. This result lends support to theoretical models which distinguish between baryons and mesons instead of particle mass for explaining the anomalous proton yield.Comment: 326 authors, 24 pages text, 23 figures, 6 tables, RevTeX 4. To be submitted to Physical Review C as a regular article. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm