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We here present the very-high resolution version of the EC-Earth global climate model, EC-Earth3P-VHR, developed for HighResMIP. The model features an atmospheric resolution of ~16 km and an oceanic resolution of 1/12° (~8 km), which makes it one of the finest combined resolutions ever used to complete historical and scenario-like CMIP6 simulations. To evaluate the influence of numerical resolution on the simulated climate, EC-Earth3P-VHR is compared with two configurations of the same model at lower resolution: the ~100-km-grid EC-Earth3P-LR, and the ~25-km-grid EC-Earth3P-HR. The models' biases are evaluated against observations over the period 1980–2014. Compared to LR and HR, VHR shows a reduced equatorial Pacific cold tongue bias, an improved Gulf Stream representation with a reduced coastal warm bias and a reduced subpolar North Atlantic cold bias, and more realistic orographic precipitation over mountain ranges. By contrast, VHR shows a larger warm bias and overly low sea ice extent over the Southern Ocean. Such biases in surface temperature have an impact on the atmospheric circulation aloft, with improved stormtrack over the North Atlantic, yet worsened stormtrack over the Southern Ocean compared to the lower resolution model versions. Other biases persist with increased resolution from LR to VHR, such as the warm bias over the tropical upwelling region and the associated cloud cover underestimation, and the precipitation excess over the tropical South Atlantic and North Pacific. VHR shows improved air–sea coupling over the tropical region, although it tends to overestimate the oceanic influence on the atmospheric variability at mid-latitudes compared to observations and LR and HR. Together, these results highlight the potential for improved simulated climate in key regions, such as the Gulf Stream and the Equator, when the atmospheric and oceanic resolutions are finer than 25 km in both the ocean and atmosphere. Thanks to its unprecedented resolution, EC-Earth3P-VHR offers a new opportunity to study climate variability and change of such areas on regional/local spatial scales, in line with regional climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the role of digital media in contentious politics? On the one hand, digital media plays a central role in informing the public and organizing political movements. On the other hand, it has become a valuable tool for digital repression in authoritarian states. This study concentrates on the patterns of digital media use by pro-government actors in times of nationwide protests in autocracies. It analyzes how pro-government actors establish control over political discourse and information flow online compared to pro-opposition and neutral actors. I argue that, following the increased use of social media by opposition actors during social movements, the state will seek to establish its presence online, attempt to reach larger audiences, and endeavor to frame political issues in a beneficial light to reinforce political control. I use the cases of the 2020–21 protests in Belarus and the 2022 anti-war protests in Russia and employ text-as-data computational methods to analyze communication patterns on public Telegram channels. The results show that pro-government channels in Belarus and Russia followed the protest paradigm and framed protests as illegal, unauthorized activities that cause chaos and disorder. The pro-opposition Telegram channels in Belarus reached a larger audience than pro-state or neutral channels. In contrast, pro-government and neutral channels in Russia dominated the Telegramsphere. These contrasting patterns of Telegram channel activity and popularity suggest that the Russian pro-government online actors are more sophisticated in controlling and manipulating the communication space than Belarusian pro-state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers insights into transformation processes in the content and structure of Russian research paper abstracts that are motivated and driven by standards of the English academic discourse and database indexing requirements. The major objective of the study was to ascertain the significance of linguocultural academic conventions in writing research paper abstracts and assess to which extent Russian abstracts follow the best international academic practices by undertaking a comparative analysis of Russian and English research paper abstracts published in top-rated journals. Empirical data for this study was a bilingual corpus of original research paper abstracts drawn by the authors from top-rated academic journals. The methodological approach used in the data analysis is a mixed methodology based on quantification of text arrays, comparative and content analysis, along with automated semantic and morphological analysis tools. The research follows a multi-parameter case-study design worked out by the authors, with in-depth analysis of structural and content features of research paper abstracts that relies on common contensive criteria and relevant structural characteristics. Each subcorpus unit was processed in accordance with the developed algorithm. The findings suggest that Russian research paper abstracts published in top-rated academic journals over the 2018-2020 period aim to comply with international benchmarks both structurally and contensively, which confirms the authors’ hypothesis regarding internationally prompted transformation processes affecting the contemporary Russian academic discourse and reflects general trends in Russia’s academic community seeking to integrate into global academia.

Drug carriers with intelligent functions are powerful therapeutic and diagnostic platforms in curing various diseases such as malignant neoplasms. These functions include the remote noninvasive activation of drug using physical impacts, e.g. light exposure. Combination of different therapeutic modalities (chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and so forth) with light-responsive carriers enables promising synergetic effect in tumour treatment. The main goal of this review article is to provide the state of the art on light-sensitive delivery systems with the identification of future directions and their implementation in tumour treatment. In particular, this article reviews the general information on the physical and chemical fundamental mechanisms of interaction between light and carrier systems (e.g. plasmonic and dielectric nanoparticles), the design of optically responsive drug carriers (plain and composite), and the mechanisms of light-driven controlled release of bioactive compounds in biological environment. The special focus is dedicated to the most recent advances in optically responsive bioinspired drug vehicles.

The past three decades have witnessed a rapid global uptake of digital media. Does an increase in internet access lead to more anti-government protests globally, in both democracies and non-democracies? Has the role of the internet changed over time from benefiting the opposition to benefiting the regime? We use time-series cross-national data and negative binomial regressions to model protest data in 151 countries from 1990 to 2020. By leveraging change in the development of digital information globally, the results show that increases in internet penetration and mobile cellular subscription rates increase the number of anti-government protests in non-democracies in the period from 1990 to 2010, but not among a subsample of democracies. After 2010, increases in internet penetration rates did not affect the number of protests in either democracies or non-democracies. The use of cellular internet continues to have a small positive effect on protest frequency after 2010. We also test the government's internet censorship efforts as a mechanism for decreasing information access and diminishing mobilization. Results suggest authoritarian regimes modified their strategies over time, more effectively using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to quell anti-government protests using digital repression and information control consistent with the theory of informational autocracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, the International Whaling Commission conducted a global assessment of beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas. Following this assessment, five beluga stocks were recognized in Russian Far East waters: Western Chukchi-East Siberian Sea, Anadyr Gulf, Shelikhov, Sakhalin-Amur, and Shantar. This paper provides a revised assessment of beluga abundance, distribution, and population structure in the Russian Far East. This region encompasses the Okhotsk Sea, and the coastline of the Chukotka Autonomous Region (CAR), which includes the western Bering, western Chukchi, and eastern East Siberian seas. Published results of genetic analysis are updated with our original unpublished data. Based on information available to date, we propose recognizing seven beluga stocks in the Russian Far East. Five stocks in the Okhotsk Sea: 1) Sakhalin-Amur, 2) Ulbansky, 3) Tugursky, 4) Udskaya, 5) Shelikhov, and two stocks in the CAR: 6) Anadyr, and 7) Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort (BCB). Natural and anthropogenic threats to these stocks are described and include ice entrapment, over-fishing of key prey, live captures for aquaria, bycatch in fisheries, exposure to effluent, and seismic and military activities., Introduction In the Russian Far East, the beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, or white whale, occurs in the Okhotsk Sea and along the coastline of the Chukotka Autonomous Region in the western [...]

The monodontids--narwhals, Monodon monoceros, and belugas, Delphinapterus leucas--are found in much of the Arctic and in some subarctic areas. They are hunted by indigenous subsistence users. In the past, some populations were substantially reduced by commercial hunting and culling; more recently, some populations have declined due to uncontrolled subsistence hunting and environmental degradation. Monodontids are impacted increasingly by human activities in the Arctic including ship and boat traffic, industrial development, icebreaking, seismic surveys, competition with fisheries, and alteration of habitat due to climate change. Since comprehensive reviews in the 1990's, substantial new information has become available on both species and on changes to their habitat as a result of human activities and climate change. Thus NAMMCO and partners undertook an updated review in 2017. The review recognized 21 extant beluga stocks, 1 extirpated beluga stock, and 12 stocks of narwhals. The available information on each stock regarding population size, depletion level, current and past removals, and trends in abundance was reviewed to determine status. Concern was expressed where the lack of information prevented reliable assessment, removals were thought to be unsustainable, or the population was deemed at risk of declining even without direct removals by hunting. Beluga stocks of greatest concern are the small stocks in Ungava Bay (possibly extirpated), Cook Inlet (ca 300), St. Lawrence Estuary (ca 900), and Cumberland Sound (ca 1,100), and the stocks with uncertainty in Eastern Hudson Bay and the Barents-Kara-Laptev Seas. Narwhal stocks of greatest concern are those in Melville Bay and East Greenland., Introduction The family Monodontidae is comprised of the narwhal, Monodon monoceros, and the beluga or white whale, Delphinapterus leucas (Rice, 1998). These two species are found in much of the [...]

A decrease in the regenerative potential of the liver during the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is observed in the vast majority of patients with diabetes mellitus type 1, significantly increases the risk of postoperative liver failure. In this regard, it is necessary to develop new approaches for the rapid intraoperative assessment of the condition of liver tissue in the presence of concomitant liver pathology. A modern label-free approach based on multiphoton microscopy, second harmonic generation (SHG), and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) allow for the evaluation of the structure of liver tissue as well as the assessment of the metabolic state of hepatocytes, even at the cellular level. We obtained optical criteria and identified specific changes in the metabolic state of hepatocytes for a reduced liver regenerative potential in the presence of induced diabetes mellitus type 1. The obtained criteria will expand the possibilities for the express assessment of the structural and functional state of liver tissue in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of scintillating ceramics can require the utilization of the phosphorus compounds at certain stages of 3D-printing, such as vat polymerization, applied for the formation of green bodies before sintering. The effect of phosphorus additive on the microstructure, optical, and scintillation parameters of Gd1.494Y1.494 Ce0.012Al2Ga3O12 (GYAGG:Ce) ceramics obtained by pressureless sintering at 1650 °C in an oxygen atmosphere was investigated for the first time. Phosphorus was introduced in the form of NH4H2PO4 into the initial hydroxycarbonate precipitate in a wide concentration range (from 0 to 0.6 wt.%). With increasing of phosphorus concentration, the density and the optical transmittance of garnet ceramics show a decrease, which is caused by an increase in the number of pores and inclusions. The light yield of fast scintillation, which is caused by Ce3+ ions, was found to be affected by the phosphorus additive as well. Moreover, an increase in phosphorescence intensity was recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological aspects of the light inorganic crystalline compounds suitable to create scintillation materials to detect charged particles and neutrons in a wide energy range have been examined. Among them, Li2CaSiO4:Eu was found to be a prospective candidate to control the valent state of the Rare Earth (RE) and to provide a high intensity of luminescence. It was demonstrated that the material has room for future improvement; however, this requires precise engineering of its composition—an experimental search of compositions or additives that will provide the maximum Eu2+/Eu3+ ratio to achieve a high scintillation light yield. The benefits of light inorganic materials are disclosed through the modeling of the linear density of nonequilibrium carriers along secondary particle tracks created in scintillators utilized for neutron detection. It is shown that oxide matrices have a larger linear density in comparison with halide crystalline compounds under alpha-particles and tritons, whereas light oxides can provide smaller numbers under protons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study is one of the first to systematically evaluate the relationship between the Internet and social media use and participation in politics cross‐nationally, in democracies and non‐democracies. Most existing research on this topic analyzes one country or region. We contend that access to globalizing information networks—which exist within digital media space and where discussions of political norms and values are frequent—promotes higher rates of political participation. Methods: Using multivariate analysis and individual‐level data from the seventh wave of the World Values Survey with representative samples from 45 countries, we employ jackknifed samples to investigate the association between self‐reported frequent Internet and social media use, our proxy for the exposure to globalizing information networks, and political participation. Results: Results show that more frequent social media use is associated with higher political participation, all else equal. This relationship is significant in democracies and non‐democracies, suggesting that information networks increase political participation even in countries with Internet shutdowns, censorship, and limited rights and freedoms. Conclusions: Despite censorship, propaganda, and misinformation, the Internet and social media may help foster political participation across international borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two series of (Gd, Y, Yb)3Al2Ga3O12 quintuple compounds with a garnet structure and solely doped with Ce and Tb were prepared in the form of ceramics by sintering in oxygen at 1600 °C for two hours and studied for the interaction of activator ions with ytterbium ions entering the matrix. It was shown that the photoluminescence and scintillation of Ce3+ ions are completely suppressed, predominantly by tunneling ionization through the charge transfer state (CTS) of the Ce4+-Yb2+ ions. The photoluminescence of Tb3+ ions is quenched in the presence of ytterbium, but not completely due to the poor resonance conditions of Tb3+ intraconfiguration transitions and the CTS of the single Yb3+ and the CTS of Ce4+-Yb2+ ions. The scintillation in the visible range of both Ce3+- and Tb3+-doped samples is intensely quenched as well, which indicates strong competition from Yb3+ ions to activators in interaction with the Gd substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]