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The article examines for the first time the diplomatic activity of the famous scholarIranian and Kurdish scholar Muhammad Mukri (19212007)who not only left behind a huge number of scholarly works, but also showed his abilities as an official representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The article is based on the documents of the Archive of Oriental researches, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (IVR AS), and of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVRF). It shows the aims pursued in his activity by Mr. M. Mukri, the first Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Soviet Union (19791983). This period was quite difficult in relations between the USSR and Iran. The new Iranian ambassador, based on the doctrines of the Iranian revolution, sought to establish neighborly ties between the countries not only in the sphere of politics and economics, but also in science and culture. As follows from the archival materials of the AV IV RAS, Mr. M. Mukri twice came to Leningrad (February, May 1980). The main purpose of his visits was a personal acquaintance with the manuscript fund and with the leading Iranian and Kurdish researchers of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences of the USSR (now the IOM, RAS), as well as the establishment of cultural and academic ties between Leningrad scholars studying Iran and the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thanks to M. Mukris efforts, an Iranian consulate was opened in Leningrad, which held a number of important and socially useful events in the city in cooperation with the staff of the institute.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected all spheres of society, including a significant impact on labor markets. The article presents a statistical analysis of trends in the Russian labor market in the context of the spread of coronavirus infection in 2020 and in the first half of 2021. On average, in 2020, the number of people employed in the economy field decreased by almost 2%, respectively, the number of unemployed increased by 25%. Within 2020, the peak of unemployment growth occurred in the third quarter of 2020, when the decline in the number of employed reached 1,9 million people, and the increase in the number of unemployed – 1,5 million people. At the same time, the unemployment rate increased to 6,4%, i.e. by almost a half compared to the corresponding period of 2019. Starting from the fourth quarter of 2020, the recovery of the Russian labor market began. By July 2021, the unemployment rate had dropped to 4,8%. Such serious transformations of the Russian labor market required an analysis of the dynamics and structure of employment in various sections: by type of economic activity, by subjects of the Russian Federation, by gender, by age groups, by place of residence. Along with this, the authors compared the indicators of the unemployment rate, which was calculated using two methods used in Russian statistical practice. An international comparison of the unemployment rate for 2020–2021 was carried out. The indicators characterizing the underutilization of labor, including the number and level of potential labor, are considered. The dynamics of wages in 2019–2021 is considered. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the situation with workers’ wages at the most acute moment of the crisis – in April 2020.

We investigated whether higher internal control beliefs (perceived control, political efficacy) and improved social relationships (lower loneliness, social support availability) mediated the associations between nonpolitical and political volunteering and subjective well-being (SWB; life satisfaction, emotional well-being). Moreover, we examined whether these effects differed between nonpolitical and political volunteering and across age groups. We conducted longitudinal multilevel regression analyses of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1985–2016) in younger (14–29, n = 7,547), middle-aged (40–50, n = 6,437), and older (65–75, n = 3,736) adults (see preregistration at https://osf.io/qk6mu). Significant effects on SWB emerged mainly in older adults who reported higher life satisfaction on occasions with more frequent nonpolitical volunteering than usual but lower life satisfaction on occasions with more frequent political volunteering. The negative effect of political volunteering was mediated by higher loneliness. In younger and middle-aged adults, mixed effects of nonpolitical and political volunteering on the mediating variables and no significant effects on SWB emerged. We discuss methodological, contextual, and life-stage explanations of our findings.

The "white sand mussels" are edible bivalves inhabiting the littoral shores usually buried in the sand. Тhey are invasive species for the Bulgarian waters of the Black Sea. The samples for this study were collected from different points on the northern and southern Black Sea Bulgarian coast in the period January 2020 to December 2020. The study of different types of microorganisms was performed by using the microbial identification system model: MicroLog M® BIO45101 BiologInc and the software product GEN III. The physic-chemical parameters of the waters – temperature, pH, salinity and dissolved O2 were also determined. In the different species, we had detected specific microbiological complexes. The species Pseudomonas viridilivida and Citrobacter farmer were isolated only from Donax trunculus. The species Escherichia hermannii was found only in Mya arenaria, and Acinetobacter johnsonii was detected only in Chamelea gallina. The isolated species Acinetobacter gyllenbergii and Acinetobacter johnsonii are related to humans and are indicators for pollution of the water with channel waste waters. Our results demonstrated an increase ofhe quantity of the coliforms the region of Sveti Vlas from August, where they were 50 the norms. In the region of Arkutino in July and Ahtopol in August, the quantity of the fecal coliforms is 190 and 30 times the norms prescribed in the Ordinanceo. 4 from 20.10.2000 for the quality of fisheries water and the breeding of shellfish (the amount of fecal coliforms in the inter-shell content should be less than 300 NVB). We noticed also seriousollution of the Varna lake even months after an accident with a leaky pipe.

Drawing on public opinion and empirical research, one may advise people to participate in voluntary organizations because voluntary participation can improve their mental health and social well-being. However, do such benefits apply across different types of participation and across the life course? In this study, we investigated whether benefits to mental health and social well-being differ between nonpolitical and political participation and across age groups (preregistration is accessible at https://osf.io/kqcbe). Using 25 waves of data from the British Household Panel Survey and the Understanding Society (1991–2016), we conducted multilevel analyses with observations nested within participants in younger (14–29, n = 10,536), middle-aged (40–50, n = 4,955), and older (65–75, n = 3,059) adults. We used life satisfaction and GHQ-12 scores as measures of mental health, and social support and neighborhood belonging as measures of social well-being. We found only few and small significant effects at the within-person level: On occasions when younger adults reported political participation, they reported slightly higher neighborhood belonging than when they did not. On occasions when older adults reported nonpolitical or political participation, they reported slightly higher life satisfaction than when they did not. However, we found no significant differences between nonpolitical and political participation and among age groups. In sum, our findings qualify the opinion that voluntary participation yields significant benefits to engaged individuals. We discuss potential explanations, including characteristics of political participation in the United Kingdom.

Exposure to expectations for active aging may be modulated by age and individual resources (socioeconomic status, social integration, and health) via multiple pathways. Using a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample of adults aged 17 to 94 ( N = 2,007), we investigated the relations between age, individual resources, and perceived expectations for active aging (PEAA) in three domains (physical health, mental health, and social engagement). Across domains, young adults and individuals aged 70+ reported slightly lower PEAA than emerging adults did; no other age differences emerged. Multiple regression showed that a higher subjective socioeconomic status, better perceived general health, and partnership (in older adults) predicted higher PEAA (almost) across domains, whereas church attendance, employment status, and occupational prestige yielded domain- and age-specific effects, which were not always positive. We conclude that the effects of individual resources on PEAA are limited in general but vary depending on life domain and age.

The purpose of this study was to establish baseline data concerning certain aspects of pollen biology of the invasive alien species Impatiens balfourii and I. glandulifera, and the native I. noli-tangere to the flora of Lozenska Mt. The aims of this study were: 1. To evaluate variation in pollen morphology, pollen production and fertility/sterility in the populations of I. glandulifera in order to obtain data for its invasive success and compare with the other two species; 2. To analyze differences in pollen biology in two flower color forms (pink and violet). The pollen morphology was investigated with light microscope and the pollen grains are 4(5)-zonocolpate oblate or peroblate in equatorial view, and rectangular-obtuse or suborbicular in most 4-zonocolpate grains in polar view, with a reticulate ornamentation. The mean pollen production per flower and stamen was very high in all three species comparable with anemophilous plants. The sterile pollen was between 8.9% and 17.54%. The variations in pollen biology can be related to different evolutionary adaptations of the flowers to be more attractive for pollinators and successful in reproduction and distribution. The results are of importance for taking measures to reduce the invasiveness of these alien species.

Intonation of classroom communication is viewed within the framework of discourse approach. The study investigates intonation in interactional dimension with regard to speech situation, specific features of pedagogical discourse in primary school, social and cultural parameters. Basing on the data of perception analysis the authors focus on the extralinguistic factors that determine frequent use of rising terminal tones in the discourse addressed to young children. Special attention is given to the institutional principles and norms of teacher-student interaction in primary schools of Scotland. The article contains an overview of the main tendencies in the intonation of primary school teachers, determined by their professional background, regional accent and new pronunciation trends. Approaches to multidisciplinary study of discourse intonation are outlined.

Objective Sleep apnea is associated with a broad range of pathophysiology. While electronic health record (EHR) information has the potential for revealing relationships between sleep apnea and associated risk factors and outcomes, practical challenges hinder its use. Our objectives were to develop a sleep apnea phenotyping algorithm that improves the precision of EHR case/control information using natural language processing (NLP); identify novel associations between sleep apnea and comorbidities in a large clinical biobank; and investigate the relationship between polysomnography statistics and comorbid disease using NLP phenotyping. Materials and Methods We performed clinical chart reviews on 300 participants putatively diagnosed with sleep apnea and applied International Classification of Sleep Disorders criteria to classify true cases and noncases. We evaluated 2 NLP and diagnosis code-only methods for their abilities to maximize phenotyping precision. The lead algorithm was used to identify incident and cross-sectional associations between sleep apnea and common comorbidities using 4876 NLP-defined sleep apnea cases and 3× matched controls. Results The optimal NLP phenotyping strategy had improved model precision (≥0.943) compared to the use of one diagnosis code (≤0.733). Of the tested diseases, 170 disorders had significant incidence odds ratios (ORs) between cases and controls, 8 of which were confirmed using polysomnography (n = 4544), and 281 disorders had significant prevalence OR between sleep apnea cases versus controls, 41 of which were confirmed using polysomnography data. Discussion and Conclusion An NLP-informed algorithm can improve the accuracy of case-control sleep apnea ascertainment and thus improve the performance of phenome-wide, genetic, and other EHR analyses of a highly prevalent disorder.

Sleep disorders are frequent and can have serious consequences on patients' health and quality of life. While some sleep disorders are more challenging to treat, most can be easily managed with adequate interventions. We review the main diagnostic features of 6 major sleep disorders (insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, sleep-disordered breathing, hypersomnia/narcolepsy, parasomnias, and restless legs syndrome/periodic limb movement disorder) to aid medical practitioners in screening and treating sleep disorders as part of clinical practice.

Background It is unclear whether specific components of individual social capital promote or protect against substance use and whether such effects vary across the life course. In this study, we investigated the effects of voluntary memberships and volunteering on alcohol and tobacco consumption in age comparison. Methods Preregistration is accessible at https://osf.io/qhkrn/. We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2015), where alcohol consumption was assessed in 2006, 2008, and 2010 and smoking was assessed at least biennially since 1998. We divided participants into three age groups (14–29, 40–50, and 65–75 years of age at baseline). To disentangle intraindividual change over time and interindividual differences (potential selection effects), we employed multilevel analysis. Results At the within level, voluntary memberships at one occasion predicted higher alcohol consumption a year later in middle-aged and older adults, but memberships had no significant longitudinal effects on smoking. Several positive effects of volunteering on alcohol and tobacco use one year later were found in males. No significant differences in the longitudinal effects between age groups or between nonpolitical and political volunteering emerged. At the between level, voluntary memberships and volunteering were usually associated with more alcohol consumption at low and moderate levels but with less smoking. Discussion Over time, voluntary memberships and volunteering in Germany appear to promote, rather than to protect against, alcohol and tobacco use. On average, more engaged individuals drink more (at moderate levels) and smoke less, which may be due to selection effects.

Drawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the volunteer process model (VPM), we compared proximal (the TPB variables) and distal (general social support and sense of community) antecedents and quality of experience between civic (CP) and political (PP) participation. Outcome variables were future intentions. We used data from a mail survey of 3,231 adults with or without prior CP or PP experience. Both inexperienced and experienced individuals perceived PP more negatively than CP. Quality of experience was also rated substantially more negatively for PP than for CP. Distal antecedents had similar effects for CP and PP, but they were mostly significant for CP only. In line with the VPM, quality of experience was the strongest predictor of future intentions in experienced individuals. Perceived behavioral control was the strongest mediator. Findings corroborate the distinction between CP and PP and suggest that PP is much less attractive on average.

Emerging evidence suggests that circadian rhythms affect seizure propensity in addition to, and possibly independent of, sleep-wake states. Subject to extreme seasonal changes in light and dark, the northerly Arctic can serve as a "natural experiment" to assess the real-life impact of environmental influences on seizure severity. Therefore, we evaluated the timing of seizure evacuations over 11.25 years in a well-defined region of the Canadian Arctic.Retrospective review of EEG database and patient records at the single "bottleneck" hospital to which all patients from the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada are evacuated for seizure emergencies. We calculated the mean resultant length (MRL) of circular data for circannual analysis, and conducted Rayleigh's test to assess for a statistical departure from circular uniformity.Screening 40,392 EEGs, we found 117 medical evacuations from 99 distinct individuals from September 2009 to November 2020. Most evacuations occurred month-wise in May (19%); week-wise within a 7-day period in February (5%), June (5%), or November (5%); and day-wise within a 24-hour period in June (3%) or November (3%). Maximal MRL clustering occurred in April no matter if analyzed by day (0.16333, p = 0.04), week (0.16296, p = 0.04), or month (0.1736, p = 0.03).A relative circannual increase in seizure evacuations between the winter and summer solstices may be related to increasing sleep loss when day length grows. Fewer evacuations between the summer and winter solstices may be related to decreased daylight and "catching up" on sleep when night length grows. Additional factors likely also play a role in circannual variation of seizure evacuations in the Arctic, which warrants further research.

We investigated whether the link between family-of-origin socioeconomic status (SES) and civic engagement in young adulthood is mediated by youth’s work values, i.e., the desired characteristics of their current or future jobs. We used data from a Finnish study: 2004 (age 16–18, NT1 = 1,301); 2011 (age 23–25, N T2 = 1,096); and 2014 (age 25–27, NT3 = 1,138). A lower family SES in 2004 was negatively related to youth’s civic engagement in 2014. Lower family SES predicted the importance that youth attached to extrinsic job rewards (e.g., good pay) in 2011, but not the importance of intrinsic job rewards (e.g., learning opportunities). Extrinsic work values, in turn, predicted lower civic engagement in 2014, above and beyond sociodemographic and personality characteristics. Conversely, intrinsic work values predicted higher civic engagement. Thus, extrinsic, but not intrinsic, work values partly mediated the link between SES and youth civic engagement. peerReviewed

Exoglucomannan production by Antarctic yeast Sporobolomyces salmonicolor AL1 is studied at semi-tech scale in a 5 L stirred tank bioreactor and the bioreaction kinetics is quantified. The organism’s unconventional response to agitation is analyzed in terms of the agitation-induced mechanical stress. The yeast maximum production activity was observed at agitation rate 400 rpm and conserved or decreased at further increase in mixing intensity. Referring to the relationship of cell growth and aeration intensity, the various production activity, oxygen availability and cell growth are considered as a starting point to elucidate the possible reasons for the anomaly. At suspicion of shear detrimental effect on the yeast cells, the hydrodynamic stress acting on cell particles is determined and the microorganism morphology at low and high mixing intensity is examined. Biological stability is registered and the agitation effect is attributed to depressed metabolic activity at the evolving dissolved oxygen tension rather than to direct effect of hydrodynamics. A kinetic model is proposed. The specific growth rate (µ, h–1) and growth-associated (g EPS g–1 cells), and non-growth associated (g EPS g–1 cells h–1) production constants are determined and compared with reported estimates for similar reference EPS fermentations. The model and its parameters are determined in well-mixed cultures and could be upgraded further to account for mixing non-ideality and mass transfer in larger vessels.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to improve the scientific and methodological provision of the digital economy, which is aimed at measuring and managing its global competitiveness.

V.P. was fnancially supported by (1) the Excellence Project CGL2017-82782-P financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU), and (2) Modalidad Grupos de Investigación Consolidados, Principado de Asturias (IDI/2018/000151). M.M.D. was fnancially supported by the Spanish Ramon y Cajal grant RYC-2014-16263. N.S., C.B. and A.G. were partly supported by the National Centre for Research and Development (GLOBE POL-NOR/198352/85/2013) and the National Science Centre in Poland (DEC-2013/08/M/NZ9/00469; 2016/22/Z/NZ8/00121; 2017/25/N/NZ8/02861). E.R., J.N., A.F., N.S., and C.B. were supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación from the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, Spain (project CGL2017-83045-R AEI/FEDER EU, co-fnanced with FEDER)., Bombieri, G., Naves, J., Penteriani, V., Selva, N., Fernández-Gil, A., López-Bao, J.V., Ambarli, H., Bautista, C., Bespalova, T., Bobrov, V., Bolshakov, V., Bondarchuk, S., Camarra, J.J., Chiriac, S., Ciucci, P., Dutsov, A., Dykyy, I., Fedriani, J.M., García-Rodríguez, A., Garrote, P.J., Gashev, S., Groff, C., Gutleb, B., Haring, M., Härkönen, S., Huber, D., Kaboli, M., Kalinkin, Y., Karamanlidis, A.A., Karpin, V., Kastrikin, V., Khlyap, L., Khoetsky, P., Kojola, I., Kozlow, Y., Korolev, A., Korytin, N., Kozsheechkin, V., Krofel, M., Kurhinen, J., Kuznetsova, I., Larin, E., Levykh, A., Mamontov, V., Männil, P., Melovski, D., Mertzanis, Y., Meydus, A., Mohammadi, A., Norberg, H., Palazón, S., Pătrașcu, L.M., Pavlova, K., Pedrini, P., Quenette, P.Y., Revilla, E., Rigg, R., Rozhkov, Y., Russo, L.F., Rykov, A., Saburova, L., Sahlén, V., Saveljev, A.P., Seryodkin, I.V., Shelekhov, A., Shishikin, A., Shkvyria, M., Sidorovich, V., Sopin, V., Støen, O., Stofik, J., Swenson, J.E., Tirski, D., Vasin, A., Wabakken, P., Yarushina, L., Zwijacz-Kozica, T., Delgado, M.M.

Drawing on the literature that posits heterogeneous influences of social networks on health behaviors, we tested whether different forms of participation in voluntary organizations predicted more or less alcohol and tobacco consumption over time. (Access preregistration at https://osf.io/guzem/) We used panel data from younger (aged 14–29 at baseline), middle-aged (aged 40–50), and older (aged 65–75) UK adults, Ns = 1280–9073, followed from 1991 to 2014. Annual measures of smoking included status and intensity. Frequency of pub attendance was assessed biennially between 1996 and 2008. In 2010 and 2013, more precise measures of alcohol consumption were available. We conducted two-level regression analyses for the outcomes measured more than twice and residual change analyses for other outcomes. Over time (within persons), there were no significant effects on smoking. Activity in voluntary organizations predicted slightly less frequent pub attendance in younger adults. In residual change analyses, activity in voluntary organizations decreased last-week ethanol consumption and risk of heavy episodic drinking in younger women. These effects pertained mainly to service-orientated organizations. In middle-aged adults, membership and attendance at meetings of voluntary organizations predicted slightly more frequent pub attendance. Residual change analyses showed volunteering to reduce the risk of heavy episodic drinking in middle-aged men. In older adults, few significant effects emerged. Between persons, all indicators of participation were associated with less smoking, whereas membership was associated with more and activity with less frequent pub attendance. Thus, most associations between participation in voluntary organizations and substance use reflected interindividual differences. Keywords: Age groups, Alcohol drinking, Community participation, Political activism, Smoking, Social participation

It is widely believed that warm and supportive parenting fosters all kinds of prosocial behaviors in the offspring, including civic engagement. However, accumulating international evidence suggests that the effects of family support on civic engagement may sometimes be negative. To address this apparent controversy, we identified several scenarios for the negative effects of supportive parenting on youth civic engagement and tested them using four waves of data from the Finnish Educational Transitions Studies. They followed 1549 students (55 % female) from late adolescence into young adulthood, included both maternal (n = 231) and offspring reports of parental support, and assessed civic engagement in young adulthood. Control variables included socioeconomic status, other sociodemographic indicators, church belonging, personality traits, and earlier civic engagement. Higher maternal warmth and support and a stronger identification with the parental family in adolescence predicted offspring’s lower political activism up to 10 years later. Perceived parental support in young adulthood predicted lower volunteering 2 years later. There were no significant effects on general organizational involvement (e.g., in student and hobby associations). None of the a priori scenarios that we identified from the literature appeared to explain the pattern of results satisfactorily. We put forth cultural and life stage explanations of our findings. peerReviewed

We investigated whether goal engagement and disengagement in coping with occupational uncertainty (e.g., perceptions of growing difficulties in career planning and lacking job opportunities) predicts three objective career-related outcomes: job loss, job finding, and income change. We also tested for the buffering effects of these coping strategies on the association between objectively unfavorable labor market conditions (as indicated by regional unemployment rates) and these outcomes. We used four-wave survey data from a longitudinal sample of 620 German adults aged 16–43 years at the first wave and analyzed changes in the three career-related outcomes across 1294 pairs of successive annual waves. Analyses revealed that goal engagement predicted a higher chance of job finding over one year. Moreover, goal engagement buffered the association between higher regional unemployment rates and a higher likelihood of job loss, as well as a lower income, over one year. Goal disengagement predicted a lower income but had no other statistically significant effects. Thus, even in a relatively highly regulated labor market like the German one, goal engagement in coping with occupational uncertainty can contribute to objective career success.

Are social contexts as important to civic participation in adulthood as they are in adolescence? And does their significance for civic participation vary across adulthood? Using data from a cross-sectional sample of German adults aged 18 to 75 who were surveyed in 2013 by mail, the authors investigated the relationships of perceived family support, perceived support from friends, place attachment, social cohesion, and organizational collective efficacy with three indicators of civic participation. The authors split the sample into four age groups: 18 to 29 (n1 = 442), 30 to 44 (n2 = 596), 45 to 59 (n3 = 1,095), and 60 to 75 (n4 = 931). Perceived support from family was negatively associated with the breadth (i.e., the number of domains) of civic participation in the youngest group and with future intentions for civic participation in three age groups. Perceived support from friends had positive relationships with the intensity (i.e., frequency) of civic participation and with future intentions at age 30 t...

Civic participation is a cornerstone of civil societies and a part of positive and productive individual development. Much is known about individual predictors of civic participation among ethnic majority Western adolescent and young adult samples. In this special issue, the authors aim to uncover the predictors of civic participation in less studied populations to better understand diverse routes to civic participation across ages and cultures. Framed by life-span and ecological perspectives, this special issue draws together studies that target different age groups, from adolescents to the old–old, as well as minority and immigrant populations and residents of diverse countries, including the United States, Australia, Eastern and Western European countries, and Turkey.

Objective Taking into account the regional context, we investigated whether social comparison in coping with occupational uncertainty served self-improvement (i.e., adaptive coping) or self-enhancement (i.e., subjective well-being). Method Respondents were 620 German adults aged 16 to 43, 59% female, who participated in three yearly follow-ups of a larger survey. The number of observations was 1,309 for contemporaneous and 1,079 for longitudinal analyses. Participants reported on perceived occupational uncertainty (e.g., risk of losing a job and difficulties with career planning), strategies for coping with it, and whether, and in which direction, they made social comparisons in coping with occupational uncertainty. Results Making social comparisons (vs. not) was associated with higher goal engagement and lower goal disengagement. Upward (as opposed to downward) comparison prospectively predicted higher goal engagement. Under high regional unemployment, upward comparison prospectively predicted lower goal disengagement, whereas making social comparisons was contemporaneously associated with higher subjective well-being. Higher regional unemployment rates predicted more frequent comparison, whereas comparison direction was predicted only by situational variables, especially personal control over the outcomes. Conclusions When operationalized as a conscious mental action and put in the context of coping with occupational uncertainty, social comparison serves primarily self-improvement.

We investigated how general social support from family, friends and acquaintances, and community predicted intentions for civic (e.g. volunteering) and political (e.g. petitioning) participation via the constructs specified in the theory of planned behaviour. Participants were young adults living in the former East Germany, a post-communist region, who were surveyed by telephone in 2010 (Ncivic = 695, Npolitical = 694). Civic participation was perceived more favourably than political participation. Supportive family predicted intentions for civic participation; supportive community services predicted both types of intentions; and supportive friends and acquaintances had no significant effects. The mediating variables were subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, but not attitudes. All effects were controlled for sociodemographic variables, richness of the social network, and past experience of civic and political participation. Findings underscore the role of supportive community in fostering both civic and political participation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Microbial diversity and biogeochemical processes of the Gangxi bed with low-mineral water and a temperature gradient from 35 to 54°C were studied. The 16S rRNA gene clone libraries (over 800 clones) were obtained from microbial DNA isolated from formation water and from the primary enrichment cultures for fermenting, sulfate-reducing, methanogenic, and aerobic organotrophic prokaryotes. While both sulfate reduction and methanogenesis were registered in formation water by radioisotope techniques, the genes of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes were not revealed in the 16S rRNA gene clone library from formation water. The 16S rRNA genes of Methanobacterium congolense and Methanococcus vannielii predominated among archaeal sequences retrieved from formation water, while the genes of Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus, Methanomethylovorans thermophila, and Methanoculleus sp. predominated in the combined library from enrichment cultures. In the library of Bacteria 16S rRNA genes from formation water, the genes of thermophilic fermentative bacteria of the family Thermoanaerobacteriaceae predominated; the remaining sequences belonged to mesophiles (genera Brevundimonas, Sphingomonas, Oxalicibacterium, and Stenotrophomonas), the phylum Chloroflexi, and unidentified bacteria. The combined library from enrichment cultures, contained, apart from the sequences of the family Thermoanaerobacteriaceae, the genes of fermentative bacteria (genera Anaerobaculum, Coprothermobacter, Thermanaerovibrio, Soehngenia, Bacteroides, and Aminobacterium and the order Thermotogales), of aerobic hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria (genera Pannonibacter and Pseudomonas), and of sulfate reducers (genera Desulfomicrobium, Thermodesulfovibrio, and Desulfotomaculum). High coverage was shown for bacterial (97.6%) and archaeal (100%) clone libraries, indicating that a significant portion of the microbial diversity in the studied communities was revealed.

A typological approach to civic participation and nonparticipation may be useful to develop targeted recruitment or intervention strategies. We applied the behavior change framework, which distinguishes between preintenders, intenders, and actors, to civic participation. Using a sample of 695 individuals (aged 20–40) surveyed in 2010 in two of the new federal states of Germany, we conducted latent profile analysis on three continuous indicators of civic participation (factual participation, perceived behavioral control, and future intention). Five profiles emerged: the Staunch Abstainers, the Indifferent Abstainers, the Somewhat Committed, the Aspiring, and the Highly Committed. The profiles significantly differed in socioeconomic status (SES) but not in age, gender, employment, or family status. Moreover, a higher SES was not always associated with higher civic participation, and different SES indicators appeared to play different roles. We discuss ways to foster civic participation in each group.

Functional and phylogenetic microbial diversity in formation waters of carbonate low-temperature bed 302 of the Romashkinskoe oil field was studied using microbiological, molecular and radioisotope techniques. Cultivable sulfate-reducing prokaryotes (103–106 cells ml−1) predominated in formation water and the process of sulfate reduction was paramount. The rate of sulfate reduction varied within the range 2.28–26.60 μg S2− l−1−day−1. The number of fermentative bacteria varied from 102 to 104 cells ml−1, of methanogens – from 10 to 104 cells ml−1. Methanogenesis was a minor process with the rate not exceeding 0.395 μg CH4 l−1 day−1. 16S rRNA gene clone libraries for Bacteria and Archaea were constructed on the basis of DNA extracted from formation water. From the bacterial clone library, 16S rRNA genes of aerobic organotrophs (genera Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, ‘Brachymonas’ etc.), anaerobic organotrophs (genus Thauera, Bacteroidetes) and sulfate reducers (Desulfoglaeba, Desulfomicrobium, Desulfovibrio and Desulfobacterales) were retrieved. For the first time, the predominance of nucleotide sequences of the bacterium Desulfoglaeba alkanexedens known to grow on n-alkanes was revealed in the clone library from the carbonate oil reservoir. Archaeal sequences in the library of formation water were not attributable to any recognized methanogens. Both the sulfate-reducing bacterium D. alkanexedens and syntrophic assemblages could be involved in biodegradation of crude oil associated with sulfate reduction in the carbonate petroleum reservoir.

Social participation has been hypothesised to have both positive and negative impact on health outcomes via a variety of pathways, but previous studies have found few significant effects of social participation, and there is a lack of research from post-communist societies, which are known to be low on social capital. Using cross-sectional data from Poland on 2,970 individuals surveyed in 2009, we investigated the individual-level relationships between formal and informal social participation, emotional well-being, and risky alcohol consumption while controlling for demographic variables, socioeconomic status, employment and partnership status, health, religiosity, and generalised trust. Frequent joint activities with friends and neighbours were related to higher positive affect but also to more risky alcohol consumption. Membership in voluntary organisations was associated with more risky alcohol consumption, especially among younger males and for certain types of organisations. In contrast, volunteer work was related to higher positive affect and fewer depressive symptoms in the whole sample and to less risky alcohol consumption among the younger participants. The findings illustrate that some types of social participation, even if they are not typical of a given context (e.g., volunteering in Poland), may be more beneficial than others.