Search

Genomic research on athletes can potentially contribute to the improvement of public policy in the field of sports in the area countering the use of gene doping, as well as the development of the system of sports training. The study has investigated in detail the validity and necessity of genomic research in sports. Thus, the study argues that, despite the impossibility of determining an accurate degree of influence of genetic parameters on the performance of athletes, the presence of certain gene variations determines the value of some characteristics, e.g. speed, endurance, muscle strength, and control over emotions. The development of scientific knowledge about such parameters in the field of sports and physical culture will increase the safety and effectiveness of the training process. However, this will also increase the threat of application of gene doping. However, at the moment in the doctrine no consolidated approach to the methodology of detection of the use of gene doping has been developed. This article presents various approaches to its identification, as well as the potential problems of legal support in the field of genomic research related to the complexity of the public interests concerned. The paper focuses on the study of domestic and foreign approaches to the formation of state policy aimed at ensuring confidentiality of genomic research data. Features related to the storage and use of data are considered on the example of legal regulation of both the full confidentiality of such information and the circumstances suggesting the possibility of allowing others to access such information together with identifying data. As a result, the authors have elaborated potential recommendations to regulate issues of collection, use and storage of genomic data of athletes, as well as features of their regulatory support.

Aim. To evaluate the links between the individual gender ideology, sexual statements, relationship system characteristics and the vulnerability of heterosexual HIV infection. Materials and methods. Behavioral questioning, based on sampling of 239 students (mean age 20 years). Results. Among both young men and women, there was detected a correlation between loyalty to conservative gender ideology and justification of sexual abuse against women as well as characteristics of interpersonal relations, reducing motivation to use of condoms. Conservative gender ideology significantly raises vulnerability of young women against HIV-infection through their justification of sexual abuse and domination of men. Egalitarian gender ideology is essentially connected with the statements, aimed at less risky, as for HIV infection, sexual practice. Conservative gender ideology supports orientation of youth to behavioral models, elevating vulnerability against HIV infection in heterosexual contacts: refusal from use of condoms, resistance to recommendations for decrease of risk. Conclusions. Conservative gender ideology significantly increases vulnerability of young women against HIV infection through their justification of sexual abuse and domination of men. It is useful to include determination of a number of sociopsychological characteristics into the procedure of behavioral studies in the framework of epidemiological supervision of HIV infection, which can indirectly increase vulnerability of youth against HIV infection. There were offered content changes in programs, directed to decrease of risk among youth.

Within the framework of this article, the potential application of crowdsourcing mechanisms for the development of Megascience-class projects in Russia and the issues that arise in this regards are considered. Examples of the use of crowdsourcing mechanisms in current projects of this class are given. Proposals for their possible use in the future are made. The work raises the question of the branches of law, with the help of which it will be possible to regulate crowdsourcing in Russia.

We experimentally demonstrated that tonal acoustic signals with a carrier frequency of 140–200 Hz had a repellent effect on male mosquitoes (Culicidae). Swarming males of Aedes diantaeus were concentrated in a small space near the auxiliary attracting sound source which simulated the flight sound of conspecific females (carrier frequency 280–320 Hz). Then, the resulting cluster of attracted mosquitoes was stimulated with test signals of variable amplitude and carrier frequency from a second loudspeaker. The direction of mosquito flight from the source of test sounds and a decrease in their number above the attracting sound source were used as the criteria of behavioral response. Pronounced avoidance responses (negative phonotaxis) of swarming mosquitoes were observed in the range of 140–200 Hz. Most of the mosquitoes left the area above the attracting sound source within one second after the onset of the test signal. Mosquitoes mostly flew up, sideways, and backwards in relation to the test acoustic vector. We presume that mosquitoes develop defensive behavior against attacking predatory insects based on analysis of auditory information. The range of negative phonotaxis is limited at higher frequencies by the spectrum of the flight sounds of conspecific females, and in the low frequency range, by the increasing level of atmospheric noise.

The rates of mosquito landing on a host-imitating device were measured. The device contained an electric heater to imitate the presence of a warm-blooded animal, a gauze screen impregnated with meat juice, a microphone with an amplifier to record the sounds of mosquito landings and take-offs, and a light meter to record the ambient illumination. In addition, the behavior of mosquitoes near the device was studied by video recording. All the experiments were conducted in the first half of June in evening and morning hours in mixed spruce-birch forests of Moscow region. Audio recordings were digitally analyzed to estimate the landing rates. Significant (more than 50% of the average) quasi-periodic fluctuations of the mosquito landing rate were revealed. The peaks of mosquito activity alternated with drops with an average period of 30 min (20–50 min in different recording sessions). These fluctuations were recorded in calm weather during a gradual change in illumination. Experiments with two similar devices positioned 20 m apart showed that fluctuations of mosquito activity developed independently at each site. The fluctuations in the mosquito landing rate seem to be largely determined by endogenous factors: mosquito females, failing to obtain blood from the host-imitating device, lost interest in it and landed to rest on the nearby vegetation. After 20–50 min, the memory trace of the previous experience gradually faded, and mosquitoes returned to the attracting device thus starting the next peak of activity.

The degree of relevance of this research is defined by the need of expansion and strengthening of the foreign economic regional relations as an instrument of growth of the economic status of the modern region (Republic of Tatarstan) through the interregional and foreign trade linkages. In respect of the foreign trade of the region there is a set of approaches for the decision of these tasks. Thus basic data which could be used for the analysis of current cooperation linkages on a separate period of time for the purpose of seeking the ways of increasing their efficiency due to its content are limited mainly by the volumes of the purchases/sales which could be expressed in any of the trade, logistic or cost units. The index method chosen for the modeling of foreign economic relations allows us to define the general index of efficiency of trade i.e. the index number with the changed and constant (fixed) weights, an index of structural changes, to calculate the absolute variation of the 2009 to 2007 result and to show which part of this increment (decrease) is received from the changes of the size of basic cost, from the productivity of trade with the certain countries or from the changes of structure of basic cost during the processes of trade. So, application of the aggregated indexes even on the limited massive of basic data allows carrying out the factorial analysis of the most essential parts of the analyzed phenomenon. Therefore, the index analysis due to principal limitations of statistical data in the modern Russia conditions concerned with the famous social and economic reasons could be very productive instrument in the analysis of the chosen objects of research.

In the research basing on the quality management modern approaches and the practice of the Republic of Tatarstan leading industrial enterprises are estimated the possibilities of energy management systems improving (with intensive introduction of modern industrial equipment) through the integration of the quality management system. In our study is made an analysis of present energy management systems functioning indicators and demonstrated the further need for these two systems integration in the modern management.

The indicators of Savrushinsky local municipal structures development in the Republic of Tatarstan (RT) are defined on the basis of creation, receiving and the analysis of the production function (PF). For the PF creation were collected the input statistical data for 2013 - 2017 on revenues of the studied local municipal district, fixed assets volumes and the staff number. After the logarithmation and receiving the simple multiple regression equation with the potentiation method was received the PF in a multiplicative look that allowed to estimate the degree of intensive and extensive development of the studied municipal structures and also to define its ratio. For the mathematically correct results obtaining beforehand was made the component analysis of future equation, and after its receiving was estimated the residuals autocorrelation existence. As a result was specified that the Savrushinsky local municipal office in the studied period was mostly developed due to the production efficiency increase, than from the production scale growth in which increase consists the positive experience of this municipal structures.

The authors discuss general schemes of air percussion machines equipped with ring-shape elastic valves, substantiate parameters of an elastic valve calculation model, derive relations for the valve sizes, material characteristics and actuation pressure, as well as present results of experimental estimate for the behavior of a material the valve is made of.

Combined ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling/atomic-force microscopy (STM/AFM) has been implemented for the first time for the tunneling spectroscopy of the size-quantized states in the InAs/GaAs(001) surface quantum dots (QDs). The tunneling spectra and current images, which reflect the energy and spatial distribution of the local density of the ground and excited states in the QDs have been obtained.

The auditory system of noctuoid moths capable to respond to ultrasounds has long been a model for anti-predator studies in neuroethology. Many moths avoid hunting bats by listening for their echolocation calls and taking evasive manoeuvres to escape predation. Besides these flight defences, certain tiger moths (Arctiidae) emit high-frequency clicks to jam the echolocator of an attacking bat. Another suggested function for ultrasonic audition in moths along with their capability to emit loud ultrasonic clicks was pulse echolocation. However, it seemed difficult to arrange sufficient temporal resolution in a simple invertebrate auditory system. Here we present an evidence of moth's capability to perceive an echo following its own click with a very short delay. The behavioral responses of moths to the acoustic pulses imitating echoes of their own clicks were investigated under conditions of tethered flight. It has been found that such echo-like stimulation evokes an increase in average emission rate of own acoustic signals in moths. Auditory thresholds were measured in two noctuid species (Enargia paleacea Esp. and Blepharita satura Schiff.) at stimulus delays 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 ms in relation to the respective moth clicks. Our findings reveal the ability of these moths to perceive echoes of their own signals, thus demonstrating potential possibility for use of pulse echolocation.

Combined scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy (STM/AFM) of cross-sectional cleavages in a protective liquid medium (oil) is applied to study InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with quantum wells and dots. It is shown that the quantum wells and dots can be visualized on cleavages in both AFM and STM modes and to measure the current-voltage characteristics of the contact between an AFM probe and the cleavage surface.

Characteristics of acoustic waves accompanying the flight of noctuid moths (Noctuidae) were measured. The low-frequency part of the spectrum is formed of a series of up to 17 harmonics of the wingbeat frequency (30–50 Hz) with a general tendency toward the decrease in the spectral density and the increase in the sound frequency. The root-mean-square level of the sound pressure from flapping wings was found to be 70–78 dB SPL. Besides low-frequency components, the flight of moths was accompanied by short ultrasonic pulses, which appeared with every wingbeat. Most of the spectral energy was concentrated within a range of 7–150 kHz with the main peaks at 60–110 kHz. The short-term pulses were divided into two or more subpulses with different spectra. The high-frequency pulses were produced at two phases of the wingbeat cycle: during the pronation of the wings at the highest point and at the beginning of their upward movement from the lowest point. In most of the specimens tested, the peak amplitude of sounds varied from 55 to 65 dB SPL at a distance of 6 cm from the insect body. However, in nine noctuid species, no high-frequency acoustic components were recorded. In these experiments, the acoustic flow from the flying moth within a frequency range of 2 to 20 kHz did not exceed the self-noise level of the microphone amplifier (RMS 18 dB SPL). Probable mechanisms of the high frequency acoustic emission during flight, the effect of these sounds on the auditory sensitivity of moths, and the possibility of their self-revealing to insectivorous bats are discussed. In addition, spectral characteristics of the moth echolocation clicks were more precisely determined within the higher frequency range (>100 kHz).

The influence of impurities of copper compounds on the growth of Rochelle salt crystals of the composition KNaC4H4O4 · 4H2O is studied. The growth rates of the faces of various simple forms experimentally measured as functions of the CuCO3 concentration in solution at a constant supersaturation and temperature are compared with the theoretical models of impurity adsorption on the faces of a growing crystal. Deceleration of the growth of various faces of a Rochelle salt crystal is satisfactorily described by the Bliznakov equation with the use of the Langmuir, Frumkin-Fowler, and de Boor adsorption isotherms for all the faces except for {010}. However, such a comparison does not allow one to reveal the cause of adsorption or its type on different faces. Photometric scanning of Rochelle salt solutions with copper-compound impurity showed that a small addition of alkali (0.06–0.4 g/l) to the solution results in the appearance in the absorption spectra of both the solution nd the crystal grown from it of a maximum at the wavelength 660–670 nm. The intensity of this maximum increases with an increase in the copper concentration. The EPR data, the absorption spectra of the solution and the crystal, and the modified crystal shape showed that the addition of alkali to the solution results in the formation of new copper complexes that more actively decelerate the growth of Rochelle salt faces.

In the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, a firm phase-locked coupling of pneumostome movements to the locomotor cycle was observed during terrestrial locomotion, thus demonstrating that the coordination between locomotor and respiratory rhythms is a natural behavioral event in this animal. The results of computational modelling suggest a possible scheme of coordination between these motor rhythms which is based on inhibitory projection from the central pattern generator for locomotion to that for respiration. These findings allow the neuronal mechanisms underlying coordination of two rhythmic behaviors to be investigated.

To elucidate the mechanism of nucleation and growth of filamentary crystals on the bipyramid faces of KH2PO4 (KDP) crystals from solution with the addition of Al(NO3)3 · 9H2O, the growth rates and transverse dimensions of the crystals were measured at various supersaturations, temperatures, and impurity concentrations. The dependences obtained can be interpreted with due regard for the competition between the intrinsic and impurity particles in the presence of Cabrera-Vermilyea stoppers.

The process of actuation is considered for the inertial element in the improved air-distributing system of pneumatic puncher whose dimensionless parameters are determined.

We find a class of short vector soliton solutions of the coupled third-order nonlinear Schrodinger equation (CNSE-3) and analyze the stability of such solitons in the adiabatic approximation. The analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations of the dynamics of perturbed short vector solitons corresponding to the CNSE-3.

We describe a simple, inexpensive technique for producing deep nanopores on the surface of titania films using laser exposure in a four-beam interference configuration. In addition to producing nanopores, laser pulses convert amorphous titania films to a polycrystalline state. The effect of laser exposure on the TiO2 surface can be used to improve its biophotocatalytic properties, optimise solar cells, etc.

We demonstrate the use of tools to influence the form of animation curves to change the direction of motion of the object, its speed, acceleration, moment of transition in a particular situation. These operations are performed by editing keys, editing tangents (or tangential) and directly through functional curves.

Amplitudes and peak latencies as functions of wave length and monochromatic light intensity were investigated for b-wave ERG and tectal evoked potentials (EP) in the dark-adapted carp (Cyprinus carpio L). It was found, that independently of light intensity b-wave action spectra had one maximum in the medium wave band, corresponding to rod sensitivity area. For tectal EP, similar action spectra with maximum in the middle-wave were seen at low light intensity only. The b-wave amplitude growth was significant for the whole band of light intensities, and these changes were accompanied with a slight decrease in peak latency (to 50-100 ms). Tectal EP amplitude increased when low-intensity light was changed for medium intensity light and did not considerably increase to brighter light stimuli. However, tectal EP time latency significantly decreased (to 100-200 ms) during light intensity increasing. This differences show that retinal rod system, which in responsible for ERG b-wave in darkness, is not a key factor in the generation of tectal EP.

Studies of capability to echolocate in nocturnal moths using the method of echo-signal retransmission are described in detail. During retransmission the insect was presented not with the echo from some real object but with electronically generated echo-like signal which appears following the certain delay after insect's own acoustic signal. In that way the artificial echo from non-existent obstacle is produced. In the current study the delay was set to 0.5 ms that corresponds to a distance of about 8 cm from obstacle. At the same time there was no any single movement of any object near the flying insect therefore the activities of sensory systems other than auditory did not cause systematical influence on results obtained. Noctuid moths (Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) are acoustically active insects. They are capable of producing ultrasonic clicks during flight. The most typical response of a moth to the retransmission of echo-like stimuli is an activation of own clicks emission that is often accompanied with rise in click amplitude. Using the activation of emission as a criterion of moth's response to the echo-like stimulation we measured echolocational thresholds in three species: Amphipyra pyramidea (36 dB SPL), Enargia paleacea (31 dB SPL) and Blepharita satura (26 dB SPL). The ability to echolocate was also demonstrated in 20 species of subfamilies Catocalinae, Amphipyrinae, Cuculliinae, Hadeninae, Noctuinae, Heliothinae.

The necessity and effectiveness of introducing the program of the exchange of syringes for intravenous drug users as a preventive and antiepidemic measure are discussed. Preventive and antiepidemic measures within the concept of harm reduction are described. The comparative analysis of materials obtained as a result of two sociological questionings, carried out in 1997-1998 among the representatives of the community (random nonrepeating choice) and in the middle of 1999 among the participants of the program revealed that the participants of the program had statistically significant changes in risky behavior patterns during the use of injection drugs.

150 persons (drug users) who had applied to the department of psycho-social consultations and voluntary tests for the presence of HIV infection and STD of the Regional AIDS Control Center, as well as partners of HIV-infected addicts in the intravenous use of drugs, were examined. Out of 150 examined persons 63 were found to be positive for HIV infection. Among dangerous behavioral patterns, characteristic of drug addicts introducing drugs intravenously, the practice of repeated aspiration of the drug into syringes from the dose of the drug solution, common for the whole group of addicts, was noted as the most widespread habit.

The aberrational properties of a modified Gregorian objective with an afocal-lens aberration compensator are analyzed. A version of a design solution of a mirror–lens objective based on a Gregorian-type Mersenne system is presented.