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The object of this study is the compaction methods of asphalt mixtures under laboratory conditions. The experience of determining the physical properties of coarse-grained asphalt concretes taken from the layers of the road pavement structure shows that their values do not correspond to those of the samples obtained by laboratory compaction using the pressing method. In 90 % of cases, the density of cores exceeds the density of laboratory samples while the indicators of void content and water saturation are significantly lower than for laboratory samples. The compressive strength indicators of asphalt concrete are almost independent of compaction methods and are not very informative. All of the above leads to the conclusion that the methods of laboratory compaction by pressing do not meet modern requirements. Low values of water saturation and void content of cores and laboratory samples compacted with a gyrator allow us to argue about outdated approaches to the design of grain compositions of asphalt concrete. Low-informative indicators of compressive strength indicate the need to use other mechanical characteristics that will make it possible to predict the properties of asphalt concrete in the pavement, for example, rutting resistance. As a summary, template solutions in the design of asphalt concrete warehouses and physical and mechanical characteristics are necessary only to establish compliance with the requirements of regulatory documents. The current work shows that it is almost impossible to predict the properties of asphalt concrete based on laboratory samples obtained by pressing. All this leads to the need to change the regulatory framework, which is possible by using regulatory documents of the countries in the European Union and the United States of America [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of humic fertilizers of domestic (ECO-SP) and foreign (Fulvigrain Classic, Gumiful Pro) production on the yield and quality of spring barley grain of the Prometheus variety was studied. The cultivation was performed as follows. Without treatment with humic fertilizers (control); ECO-SP: seed treatment (0.5 L/t) + treatment of plants in the tillering phase (0.5 L/ha) + treatment of plants in the stem elongation phase (0.5 L/ha); Fulvigrain Classic: seed treatment (0.8 L/t) + treatment of plants in the tillering phase (0.4 L/ha) + treatment of plants in the stem elongation phase (0.4 L/ha); Humiful Pro: seed treatment (0.1 L/t) + processing of plants in the tillering phase (0.1 L/ha) + processing of plants in the stem elongation phase (0.1 L/ha). The work was carried out in 2020–2022 in the Kursk Federal Agrarian Scientific Center (Kursk oblast, Kursk district, Cheryomushki village). The soil of the experimental site is a typical powerful, heavy-loamy chernozem. The treatment of spring barley seeds with humic fertilizers was found to increase their germination energy by 2–7%, and laboratory germination by 3–5% if compared with the seeds untreated with humic fertilizers. When processing seeds and plants with humic fertilizers, the yield of spring barley increased by 0.46–0.56 t/ha or by 12.7–15.5%, the grain size, by 0.7–1.6%, the protein content, by 0.2–0.4%, and the starch, by 0.4–0.9%. Higher yields of spring barley were provided by ECO-SP and Fulvigrain Classic humic fertilizers, 0.52.and 0.56 t/ha respectively. The efficacy of Humiful Pro humic fertilizer was lower: the yield increase was 0.46 t/ha or 12.7%, the grain size increased by 0.7%, the protein content, by 0.6%, and the starch, by 0.3% if compared with the control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility of using Si-based anodes in lithium-ion batteries is actively investigated due to the increased lithium capacity of silicon. The paper reports the preparation of submicron silicon fibers on glassy carbon in the KI–KF–KCl–K2SiF6 melt at 720 °C. For this purpose, the parameters of silicon electrodeposition in the form of fibers were determined using cyclic voltammetry, and experimental samples of ordered silicon fibers with an average diameter from 0.1 to 0.3 μm were obtained under galvanostatic electrolysis conditions. Using the obtained silicon fibers, anode half-cells of a lithium-ion battery were fabricated, and its electrochemical performance under multiple lithiations and delithiations was studied. By means of voltametric studies, it is observed that charging and discharging the anode based on the obtained silicon fibers occurs at potentials from 0.2 to 0.05 V and from 0.2 to 0.5 V, respectively. A change in discharge capacity from 520 to 200 mAh g−1 during the first 50 charge/discharge cycles at a charge current of 0.1 C and a Coulombic efficiency of 98–100% was shown. The possibility of charging silicon-based anode samples at charging currents up to 2 C was also noted; the discharge capacity ranged from 25 to 250 mAh g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomedical technology is one of the most relevant and rapidly developing branches of science. In response to the major problems of bioethics and bio-law, bioethical dilemmas emerge in society, which constrain the abuse of new technologies. Medical discoveries, on the one hand, can greatly facilitate the life of humankind, but, on the other hand, the problem of interference in human nature actualizes the most fundamental questions concerning its ontology, the boundaries of permissible transformations, the responsibility of a scientist and a specialist, applying the latest technologies, for remote and unpredictable consequences, due to the integrity and interconnectedness of various aspects of human nature. This paper presents the experience of generalizing the attitude of the main Islamic confessions and different approaches in the legislation of Islamic countries to the problem of editing the human embryo genome. Based on a review of scientific and religious literature, it is concluded that, although the Islamic world is increasingly using Western models of behavior, in matters of the permissibility of editing the human embryo genome from the point of view of Islamic bioethics, it is necessary to rely on the principles of Sharia and multidisciplinary knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monocytes play a key role in the development of metabolic syndrome, and especially obesity. Given the complex features of their development from progenitor cells, whose regulation is mediated by their interactions with bone marrow adipocytes, the importance of a detailed study of the heterogeneous composition of monocytes at the molecular and systemic levels becomes clear. Research argues for monocytes as indicators of changes in the body's metabolism and the possibility of developing therapeutic strategies to combat obesity and components of metabolic syndrome based on manipulations of the monocyte compound of the immune response. An in-depth study of the heterogeneity of bone-marrow-derived monocytes and adipocytes could provide answers to many questions about the pathogenesis of obesity and reveal their therapeutic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lex Humana is the property of Lex Humana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The coronavirus pandemic confirmed that national systems of medical and social provision for the population of various countries could not quickly adapt and implement effective measures to prevent the negative consequences from achieving a state of resilience. The article empirically substantiates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national social brand to form effective mechanisms for countering risks in public health and supporting the social brand of the country for its main internal stakeholders in a period of uncertainty. The article is devoted to analyzing the channels through which the COVID-19 pandemic affected various aspects of the national management systems of Austria, Slovenia, France, and Ukraine. The analysis used a combination of correlation analysis, causal modeling, and the construction of cognitive maps to visualize dependencies. It was revealed that the key indicators that verify the mentioned impact are the satisfaction of the needs for medical examination and care, the availability of hospital beds in the medical system, and the general costs of social protection of the population. The indicator of the social attractiveness of the country for its internal stakeholders is the indicator of net migration, and it is empirically determined that this indicator is significantly influenced by the security of the medical system and the efficiency of its functioning, especially during the period of data analysis, taking into account the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dependence between the social and economic well-being of the population and its tendency to critically assess one's health, readiness for disease prevention, and the formation of higher requirements for medical care was revealed. The determined regularities are useful in developing a national strategy for building an effective medical and social security system for the population in conditions of uncertainty, which is a significant component of the overall attractiveness of the country and its brand management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-titanium nitride (Nano-TiN) has strong resistance to wear and corrosion, good biocompatibility, and an attractive metallic luster. Nano-TiN is widely used in medical devices, such as orthopedic implants, syringe needles, coronary stents, and long-term dental implants, and also in imitation gold jewelry. Despite its widespread use, there are few reports describing safety evaluations of Nano-TiN. Here, we exposed healthy zebrafish embryos to different concentrations of Nano-TiN solution for five days, starting at about four hours post fertilization, and found that Nano-TiN caused dose- and time-dependent developmental toxicity. With increasing Nano-TiN concentration and length of exposure, mortality, and deformities gradually increased; body length shortened and hatching rate and motility were significantly reduced. We also found that exposure to Nano-TiN affected development of the heart, liver, nerves, and other organs, and led to elevated levels of reactive oxygen species and reduced antioxidant capacity. Exposure to Nano-TiN resulted in downregulation of expression of antioxidant genes, such as nrf2, gclc, gclm, ho-1, and nqo1. Our results showed that exposure to Nano-TiN caused developmental and organ toxicity in zebrafish embryos and that the toxic effects may be mediated through oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the current state of the discussion around transition of power in Russia in 1999-2001. The authors rely both on the patronal approach to show post-Soviet specificity and on the theory of neo-elitism to show its universal features. This transition was the point at which the highly differentiated post-Soviet elite was able to create a fragile base for integration. The article shows that it is possible to apply the theory of the elite pact to the Russian case, but the effects of the pact itself may ultimately differ from the trajectory of movement towards democracy predicted by the neo-elite theory. The trajectory deviates from the given one due to the patronal ribbon structures and the reversibility of the differentiation process. A new form of elite pact in Russia is possible, but the newborn elite coalition is doomed to be unsustainable unless a new constitutional reconsolidation follows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithms working with linear algebraic groups often represent them via defining polynomial equations. One can always choose defining equations for an algebraic group to be of degree at most the degree of the group as an algebraic variety. However, the degree of a linear algebraic group G ⊂ GLn(C) can be arbitrarily large even for n = 1. One of the key ingredients of Hrushovski's algorithm for computing the Galois group of a linear differential equation was an idea to "approximate" every algebraic subgroup of GLn(C) by a "similar" group so that the degree of the latter is bounded uniformly in n. Making this uniform bound computationally feasible is crucial for making the algorithm practical. In this paper, we derive a single-exponential degree bound for such an approximation (we call it a toric envelope), which is qualitatively optimal. As an application, we improve the quintuply exponential bound due to Feng for the first step of Hrushovski's algorithm to a single-exponential bound. For the cases n = 2, 3 often arising in practice, we further refine our general bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of Lipschitzian properties for solution mappings associated with nonlinear parametric optimization problems is desirable in the context of, e.g., stability analysis or bilevel optimization. An example of such a Lipschitzian property for set-valued mappings, whose graph is the solution set of a system of nonlinear inequalities and equations, is R-regularity. Based on the so-called relaxed constant positive linear dependence constraint qualification, we provide a criterion ensuring the presence of the R-regularity property. In this regard, our analysis generalizes earlier results of that type which exploited the stronger Mangasarian–Fromovitz or constant rank constraint qualification. Afterwards, we apply our findings in order to derive new sufficient conditions which guarantee the presence of R-regularity for solution mappings in parametric optimization. Finally, our results are used to derive an existence criterion for solutions in pessimistic bilevel optimization and a sufficient condition for the presence of the so-called partial calmness property in optimistic bilevel optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive assessment of the level of development of the housing sector in the regions of the Russian Far East has been carried out. Private and integral ratings of regions have been constructed. Calculations were made using indicators reflecting the quality of housing (construction time, wall material, degree of depreciation, share of dilapidated housing, equipment with communal amenities), housing provision of the population, housing construction, provision to those on the waiting list, and financial affordability of home purchase. The results of constructing ratings of regions using the methods of ordinal scaling and linear scaling were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuestiones Políticas is the property of Revista Cuestiones Politicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Partial calmness is a celebrated but restrictive property of bilevel optimization problems whose presence opens a way to the derivation of Karush–Kuhn–Tucker-type necessary optimality conditions in order to characterize local minimizers. In the past, sufficient conditions for the validity of partial calmness have been investigated. In this regard, the presence of a linearly structured lower level problem has turned out to be beneficial. However, the associated literature suffers from inaccurate results. In this note, we clarify some regarding erroneous statements and visualize the underlying issues with the aid of illustrative counterexamples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel slow extraction system for the U-70 synchrotron of the IHEP (Protvino) is presented. The system has been routinely employed since 2013 to extract carbon-nuclei beams with an intermediate energy (455 MeV/nucleon) for applied fixed-target radiobiological research. Issues of the beam dynamics and engineering implementation of the system are considered. The results of experimental beam observations in the U-70 machine are presented, which prove the adequacy of the design approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuestiones Políticas is the property of Revista Cuestiones Politicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We study set-valued mappings defined by solution sets of parametric systems of equalities and inequalities. We prove Lipschitz-like continuity of these mappings under relaxed constant rank constraint qualification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article generalises arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion regarding the determination of the influence of illegal economic activity and expansion of the shadow economy on innovative country development. The systematisation of the scientific works on the above problems proves that there is no one no complexity and unity in the above-mentioned scientific findings, which, in turn, demonstrates the necessity of further theoretical and empirical search in this sphere. Thus, it was developed a scientific hypothesis about the negative influence of the shadow economy on innovative country development. In order to test this hypothesis it was developed a scientific and methodological approach that consists of several stages: 1) correlation analysis in order to eliminate multicollinearity problem between control variables; 2) analysis of dataset descriptive statistics; 3) running Hausman test in order to clarify specification of the regression model (fixed or random effects model); 4) realisation of the panel data regression analysis for the whole country sample and separately for Ukraine, characteristics of its results. Technically all stages of the research are realised with the help of Stata 12/S.E. software. The country sample consists of 9 countries (Azerbaijan, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Ukraine). Time horizon - 2008-2018. Running of the panel data regression analysis (model specification - with fixed effects) allow confirming research hypothesis for the whole country sample (an increase of shadow economy negatively affected innovative country development: an increase of shadow economy to GDP ratio in 1% leads to the decrease of the Global Innovation Index in 0.5 points). However, it was not proved for Ukraine separately. It leads to the conclusion that innovative development in Ukraine does not highly dependent on the shadow economy scale because of more significant obstacles on the way on innovation adoption (institutional inefficiency, regulatory drawbacks etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development and introduction of high quality gluten-free products is one of the priorities of food industry. Feasibility of producing gluten-free steamed bread based on rice and corn flour using flaxseed, sunflower, sorghum and quinoa flour additives is proved in the article. Recommended ratios of flours are established: Frc:Ffs 95:5, Frc:Fsn 95:5, Fcn:Fqn 85:15, Fcn:Fsg 90:10. The parameters of dough kneading are studied and the influence of additives on relative elasticity, plasticity and resilience is established. Use of additives leads to a decrease in irreversible relative deformation of dough for 36 - 68% and relative plasticity for 16 - 18%, to increase of its elasticity relative resilience up to 2.3 times. Dough fermentation process is investigated. It is established that amount of carbon dioxide accumulated in gluten-free dough increases by 10 - 30%. Process of acid accumulation during fermentation is studied. A flow chart for the production of gluten-free steamed bread is proposed. The parameters for the production of gluten-free steamed bread were established and justified. Product is prepared in a single-phase method, adopted in practice of baking bread. The duration of dough mixing is 10 - 15 min, fermentation 20 - 35 min. Steam treatment is carried out under atmospheric pressure. Recommended steam processing time is 35 min for bread based on rice flour, 30 min for based on corn flour. In comparison with the traditional technological scheme, it is recommended to use a double boiler instead of an oven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development and introduction of high quality gluten-free products is one of the priorities of food industry. Feasibility of producing gluten-free steamed bread based on rice and corn flour using flaxseed, sunflower, sorghum and quinoa flour additives is proved in the article. Recommended ratios of flours are established: Frc:Ffs 95:5, Frc:Fsn 95:5, Fcn:Fqn 85:15, Fcn:Fsg 90:10. The parameters of dough kneading are studied and the influence of additives on relative elasticity, plasticity and resilience is established. Use of additives leads to a decrease in irreversible relative deformation of dough for 36 - 68% and relative plasticity for 16 - 18%, to increase of its elasticity relative resilience up to 2.3 times. Dough fermentation process is investigated. It is established that amount of carbon dioxide accumulated in gluten-free dough increases by 10 - 30%. Process of acid accumulation during fermentation is studied. A flow chart for the production of gluten-free steamed bread is proposed. The parameters for the production of gluten-free steamed bread were established and justified. Product is prepared in a single-phase method, adopted in practice of baking bread. The duration of dough mixing is 10 - 15 min, fermentation 20 - 35 min. Steam treatment is carried out under atmospheric pressure. Recommended steam processing time is 35 min for bread based on rice flour, 30 min for based on corn flour. In comparison with the traditional technological scheme, it is recommended to use a double boiler instead of an oven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a partial differential field K, we show that the triviality of the first differential Galois cohomology of every linear differential algebraic group over K is equivalent to K being algebraically, Picard–Vessiot, and linearly differentially closed. This cohomological triviality condition is also known to be equivalent to the uniqueness up to an isomorphism of a Picard–Vessiot extension of a linear differential equation with parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]