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The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) was signed in February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, and currently has 172 parties. China acceded to this Convention in 1992, became the 67th party, and was elected a member of the Standing Committee in 2005. Wetlands conservation in China has achieved some positive results, but it still faces serious challenges. China’s wetlands level is much lower than the world average (global wetlands level is 8.60%), and the wetlands area per capita is only 1/5 of the world average. Until 2022, China lacked legislation to protect wetlands; the article’s objective is to analyze the recently adopted Chinese legislation in this area. Ultimately, the authors conclude that it is necessary to strengthen legal standards in China to contribute to the conservation and restoration of global wetlands.

This paper describes the development of a dispersion-type uranium-zirconium fuel rod. Uranium is distributed in the zirconium matrix material in the form of axis-oriented fibers. The fuel rod is designed for the conversion of the IVG.1M research reactor (Republic of Kazakhstan) from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU). The need for the HEU-LEU conversion arose in connection with Kazakhstan joining the program to convert research and test reactors to fuel with reduced enrichment (RERTR 2023). The study solves the problem of deformation of a low-tech U-Zr alloy (located in a zone of low plasticity) by replacing them with a heterogeneous compound. The manufacture of fuel rod is based on metal forming processes. Initially, a fuel rod wire with a core of fiber structure is formed by triple co-extrusion of cylindrical uranium and coaxial zirconium billets. At the next stage, the wire is processed to the required diameter by drawing, then the operation of flattening, twisting and cutting into specified lengths is carried out. Upon reaching a high total degree of deformation obtained during cold work, relaxation annealing is carried out at temperatures of 550 to 600 °C, which leads to the formation of a transboundary layer of the UZr2 intermetallic compound with a thickness of 1 to 2 μm. The intermetallic layer, without having a significant effect on the strength and thermal conductivity of the compound, ensures high quality diffusion bonding of all fuel rod components. The final operations are melting of the ends of the fuel rods and sealing by electroplating with nickel. As a result, blade-profile fuel elements are obtained with a thickness of 1.5 mm, a diameter of the circumcircle of 2.8 mm and an average effective diameter of uranium fiber of 40 μm. A set of 14040 fuel rods was manufactured and loaded into an operating IVG.1M reactor. The power start-up took place in 2023. Due to the unification and wide variability in the loading of the fuel component, in size and shape of the cross section, in structure and materials of the matrix compound, the fiber fuel element design can be used in the development of fuel rods for advanced reactors for various applications.

Every human culture has reflected the Moon’s influence in its cosmology, spirituality, science, creative and social life. For these reasons, the exploration and use of the Moon should be done thoughtfully and carefully, and possible resource extraction should not harm the Earth's only satellite and its environment as a whole. The adoption by some States of national legislation affecting the commercial exploitation of space resources, as well as the resumption of lunar programs by several leading spacefaring nations at a time, prompt the need for legal regulation in this area. However, to develop a detailed international legal regime for lunar exploration, the efforts of the States parties to the UN COPUOS alone are not sufficient since in practice other actors in international relations, including the so-called epistemic communities representing various types of non-governmental organizations, are also active participants in space activities. Such communities offer their own vision of the international legal regulation of relations arising in the framework of the exploration and use of the Moon basing on the norms of international space law and involving active participation of non-governmental legal entities, considering the interests of present and future generations, as well as of emerging space nations. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of the influence of epistemic communities on the development of the future international legal regime for lunar exploration. The authors consistently review the activities of non-governmental organizations within the UN COPUOS since its formation. Special attention is paid to the contribution of such communities to the progressive development of international space law and its codification, including the legal nature of the documents developed by such communities. The study concludes with a comprehensive international legal assessment of the activities of the epistemic communities.

INTRODUCTION. Global plastic production has increased from 1.5 million tons in 1950 to 390 million tons in 2021, of which only 9 % was recycled, 19 % was incinerated, almost 50 % was disposed of in landfills and 22 % was dumped in landfills, where this waste could be openly burned or released back into the environment. Plastics have changed the global economy and the lives of billions of people for the better. However, their use comes with significant environmental and social costs. Plastic waste negatively affects human health and the environment. The life cycle of plastics covers the entire spectrum of activities, from raw material extraction, production, distribution, use, to disposal as waste, and environmental problems can arise at any stage of the plastic life cycle. Most plastic degrades very slowly in the environment. There are currently a number of international commitments to reduce marine litter and plastic waste, particularly from land-based sources, and several applicable international agreements and soſt law instruments related to trade in plastics or reducing impacts on marine life. However, none of the international documents provides a global, mandatory, specific and measurable target to reduce plastic pollution. In this regard, many states, as well as commercial actors and civil society, are calling for the adoption of a global instrument to regulate marine pollution from litter and plastics. In this article, significant attention is paid to the analysis of a future treaty aimed at combating plastic pollution.MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study is based on the analysis of a large volume of materials, including international legal acts, advisory acts, as well as modern doctrinal studies by Russian and foreign authors. The methodological basis of the study was general scientific (method of logical and system analysis, dialectical method, methods of deduction and induction) and special scientific (historical-legal, comparative-legal, formal legal methods, method of legal modeling and forecasting) methods of cognition.RESEARCH RESULTS. In the course of the study, various international acts of a mandatory and recommendatory nature were analyzed, the doctrinal positions set out in the scientific literature, put forward by domestic and foreign legal scholars, were summarized, and the main problems of combating plastic pollution were identified.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Within the framework of this article, an attempt has been made to give answers to the following questions: to what extent the problem of plastic pollution is an important challenge for modern international law, whether current international law effectively regulates the problem of plastic pollution, what should be the content of a new treaty on plastic and what are the positions of states on its content.

This article presents the results of an experimental study of the coolant flow in a fuel rod bundle of a nuclear reactor fuel assembly of a small modular reactor for a small ground-based nuclear power plant. The aim of the work is to experimentally determine the hydrodynamic characteristics of the coolant flow in a fuel rod bundle of a fuel assembly. For this purpose, experimental studies were conducted in an aerodynamic model that included simulators of fuel elements, burnable absorber rods, spacer grids, a central displacer, and stiffening corners. During the experiments, the water coolant flow was modeled using airflow based on the theory of hydrodynamic similarity. The studies were conducted using the pneumometric method and the contrast agent injection method. The flow structure was visualized by contour plots of axial and tangential velocity, as well as the distribution of the contrast agent. During the experiments, the features of the axial flow were identified, and the structure of the cross-flows of the coolant was determined. The database obtained during the experiments can be used to validate CFD programs, refine the methods of thermal-hydraulic calculation of nuclear reactor cores, and also to justify the design of fuel assemblies.

Gas sensing is essential for detecting and measuring gas concentrations across various environments, with applications in environmental monitoring, industrial safety, and healthcare. The integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials, organic materials, and metal oxides has significantly advanced gas sensor technology, enhancing its sensitivity, selectivity, and response times at room temperature. This review examines the progress in optically activated gas sensors, with emphasis on 2D materials, metal oxides, and organic materials, due to limited studies on their use in optically activated gas sensors, in contrast to other traditional gas-sensing technologies. We detail the unique properties of these materials and their impact on improving the figures of merit (FoMs) of gas sensors. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), with their high surface-to-volume ratio and tunable band gap, show exceptional performance in gas detection, especially when activated by UV light. Graphene-based sensors also demonstrate high sensitivity and low detection limits, making them suitable for various applications. Although organic materials and hybrid structures, such as metal–organic frameworks (MoFs) and conducting polymers, face challenges related to stability and sensitivity at room temperature, they hold potential for future advancements. Optically activated gas sensors incorporating metal oxides benefit from photoactive nanomaterials and UV irradiation, further enhancing their performance. This review highlights the potential of the advanced materials in developing the next generation of gas sensors, addressing current research gaps and paving the way for future innovations.

The purpose of the paper is to develop recommendations for Russian football clubs aimed at strengthening their financial stability.The subject of the study is the UEFA financial fair play rules and their impact on the financial stability of football clubs.The relevance of the paper is confirmed by the changes taking place in financial regulation of football clubs by the UEFA and the Football Union of Russia (FUR), which are caused by the global crisis and have not yet been studied in the scientific literature, which confirms the novelty of the study. The authors’ method is an analysis of the editions of the UEFA financial fair play rules and RFC licensing rules that have been in effect since 2011, along with any violations and subsequent sanctions. The annual reports of European public football clubs, studies of consulting companies, and academic publications in this field were also considered. This paper helped identify the chronology of financial rules in football and directions for their improvement. The authors conducted a detailed analysis of financial performance of club football in Europe and Russia, taking into account the impact of the pandemic, revealed the main problems and ways to solve them based on best practices.The results of the research included recommendations for conforming to the financial requirements of international federations and FUR as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Russian football industry.

Retention of students' attention in general chemistry courses stands as one of the main challenges that educators are facing in classes of any size and is especially prevalent with classes composed of mixed majors. Herein, we describe our experience with introducing short, 10 min student lectures ("flash talks") on popular chemistry topics with occasional experimental chemistry demonstrations that related chemistry to real life or areas of contemporary interest as an efficient way to introduce real-world applications. Short lectures on popular topics by students from the class or other individuals in first-year chemistry classes of the integrated undergraduate "Foundations of Science" course series were found to have a positive effect on maintaining students' attention and participation in the class. These interventions effectively split the class into smaller portions, while they also were well received by students who otherwise are not attentive in the class. They had a positive effect on the students' ability to maintain interest in the second half of the chemistry class. We propose that such short talks, whenever class time constraints permit, be implemented in large general chemistry courses to make the chemistry content more accessible to students with a broad range of interests.

Currently, the world is highly dependent on technological advancements and innovations (TAI) being the key driver of economic growth, competitiveness, and overall societal progress. And high-tech startups are at the forefront of TAI, developing new products and services that meet the growing needs of consumers. Over the past decades, the quantity and quality of startups have increased significantly, however, they are still known for high risks and low success rates, which often lead to financial losses for investors and startup founders. Therefore, the aim of the study was to develop a dynamic decisionmaking framework for evaluating the market potential and success rates of innovative startups throughout their lifecycle on the basis of a marketing research approach using R programming language to provide a unique solution for startup founders, investors, business incubators, startup accelerators, tech hubs, etc. As a result, a new methodology for evaluating the market potential and success rates of innovative startups was proposed based on T. L. Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology. Taking into account the fact that AHP is based on expert opinions, it was proposed to divide experts into five groups – scientific specialists, investors representatives, manufacturers representatives, practicing startup entrepreneurs, business incubators & startup accelerators representatives. Each group of experts determined the degrees of preference between the proposed criteria and sub-criteria of each of the three components of startup attractiveness – market, marketing and investment attractiveness of the startup project. The decision-making framework was created and tested in the RStudio software environment based on the ‘ahp’ package and can be used by startup founders, investors, and other stakeholders on a regular basis as new information about their projects becomes available.