The Bishkek Protocol: a View from a Quarter of a Century Distance

Colleagues and parliamentarians need to think about the concentration of efforts in solving problems and conflicts that exist in the areas of interest and responsibility of integration associations. This is one of the conclusions of this article, in which, using historical material, the author considers the parliamentary diplomacy of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the signing of the Bishkek Protocol

Influence of drying and pretreatment methods on certain parameters of yellow mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor)

Nowadays alternative protein sources like edible insects are becoming widely used as human food. One of the most popular insect is yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) due to its high nutrition value. However, pretreatment and drying are necessary to increase the food shelf life and the efficiency of its use. Due to this, the purpose of the present work was the determination of influence of pretreatment methods (freezing of larvae for 1 month, freezing for 2 hours, freezing for 1 month followed by defrosting for 2 hours at room temperature, blanching) and drying methods (convection drying at 40 °C and 60 °C, microwave drying) of yellow mealworm on its color (determination of L*, а*, b*, ΔElab, Ch, H, BI), moisture content (gravimetric method), fatty acid composition (determined by gas chromatography with mass spectroscopy) and time of drying (time required to reach constant weight). It was found that all used pretreatment and drying methods had no effect on the fatty acid composition of the larvae. In terms of drying rate and color retention, microwave drying showed better results than convection drying at 40 °C and 60 °C. Meanwhile, convection drying at 40 °C leads to the higher final moisture content of the samples. Among the pretreatment methods, only blanching the larvae samples before drying retained their color better and also accelerated the rate of the convection drying

Improving the efficiency of forest companies by optimizing the key indicators of sustainable forest management: a case study of the Far East

Forest plantations provide a wide range of products. Therefore, it is vital to ensure the sustainable growth and adequate management of forest resources. This study aims to examine the current challenges facing the forest industry, such as the depletion of forest resources, the increasing cost of wood processing products, and intensifying competition in the timber market (caused by the tropical wood supply). These challenges force the world’s leading forest countries to intensify forest cultivation, to consult forest industries in the Far East and to optimize the sustainable use of forest resources. It was found that current distribution of cutting practices threatens the forest ecosystem. The study suggests a scheme where 10–30% of forest area is clear-cut, 70–90% is selectively logged, and 20–35% is exposed to gradual felling. Factors, such as harvesting time, exhaust emissions, the loss of young trees, topsoil degradation, load on the soil surface, and the slope angle are essential for building mathematical models of forest sustainability. The intensity of wood transportation is also a critical factor influencing the above indicators. The study proposes a model for reorganizing regional wood harvesting companies to improve their profitability. The theoretical model is adapted to the Far Eastern context, but is suitable for use in other parts of the world. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

A systematic approach to diverse, lead-like scaffolds from α,α-disubstituted amino acids.

A powerful strategy for the efficient lead-oriented synthesis of novel molecular scaffolds is demonstrated. Twenty two scaffolds were prepared from just four α-amino acid-derived building blocks and a toolkit of six connective reactions. Importantly, each individual scaffold has the ability to specifically target lead-like chemical space

A Divergent Synthetic Approach to Diverse Molecular Scaffolds: Assessment of Lead-Likeness using LLAMA, an Open-Access Computational Tool

Complementary cyclisation reactions of hex-2-ene-1,6-diamine derivatives were exploited in the synthesis of alternative molecular scaffolds. The value of the synthetic approach was analysed using LLAMA, an open-access computational tool for assessing the lead-likeness and novelty of molecular scaffolds

A unified lead-oriented synthesis of over fifty molecular scaffolds

Controlling the properties of lead molecules is critical in drug discovery, but sourcing large numbers of lead-like compounds for screening collections is a major challenge. A unified synthetic approach is described that enabled the synthesis of 52 diverse lead-like molecular scaffolds from a minimal set of 13 precursors. The divergent approach exploited a suite of robust, functional group-tolerant transformations. Crucially, after derivatisation, these scaffolds would target significant lead-like chemical space, and complement commercially-available compounds