bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Materials fatigue prediction using graph neural networks on microstructure representations
Authors: Thomas Akhil , Durmaz Ali , Alam Mehwish , Gumbsch Peter , Sack Harald , Eberl Chris
Published: January 2023

The local prediction of fatigue damage within polycrystals in a high-cycle fatigue setting is a long-lasting and challenging task. It requires identifying grains tending to accumulate plastic deformation under cyclic loading. We address this task by transcribing ferritic steel microtexture and damage maps from experiments into a microstructure graph. Here, grains constitute graph nodes connected by edges whenever grains share a common boundary. Fatigue loading causes some grains to develop slip markings, which can evolve into microcracks and lead to failure. This data set enables applying graph neural network variants on the task of binary grain-wise damage classification. The objective is to identify suitable data representations and models with an appropriate inductive bias to learn the underlying damage formation causes. Here, graph convolutional networks yielded the best performance with a balanced accuracy of 0.71 and a F\textsubscript{1}-score of 0.34, outperforming phenomenological crystal plasticity (+68\%) and conventional machine learning (+17\%) models by large margins.
Atoms in Gaseous and Solid States and their Energy and Force Relationships under Transitional Behaviors
Authors: Ali Mubarak
Published: January 2023

By recalling the earlier investigations of atomic and electronic structures, it is now possible to discover new insights tackling the present and future challenges. Atoms in differently named elements should recognize depending on the number of electrons. The lattices in different element atoms should form from the simultaneous intercrossing of the overt photons. The lengths and numbers of the intercrossed overt photons depend on the number of filled and unfilled states an element contains for its atoms. In gaseous atoms’ lattices, a scheme of intercrossing overt photons is different than the one in the formation of solid atoms’ lattices. New insights into the atomic and electronic structures no longer study protons and neutrons. A helium atom forms a zeroth ring in atoms of all higher-order elements. Other than hydrogen, atoms of different elements possess the same valency as specified. Starting from the zeroth rings, atoms of different elements configure electronic structures by shaping arbitrary rings. Electrons of a gaseous atom deal with the minimum required potential energy, whereas the maximum is in a solid atom. Gaseous element atoms experience the maximum required levitational force at the electron levels along the north pole. However, electrons experience the maximum required gravitational force along the south pole in a solid atom. In the transition state, electrons undertake infinitesimal displacements by remaining within the occupied energy knots. In undertaking transitional behavior, electrons of the gaseous atom locate orientation from a different pole than electrons of the solid atom. The investigations discussed here explore the atomic and electronic structures differently from the earlier ones. This study enables to development of sustainable science along with sustainable utilization of resources. This study can show great potential in medical sciences as well.
Electro-Fermentation for Biopolymers Production: Trends Determination with Bioinformatics Data Analysis
Authors: Chernysh Y. , Bataltsev Y. , Shen X.-J. , Bohdanovych O. , Yakhnenko O.
Published: January 2023

The paper is devoted to the study of directions of application of combined systems for obtaining biofuels and biopolymers using electro-oxidative processes, namely electro-fermentation. In the course of the work, a step-by-step methodology of research is shown, and the relationship between different bioinformatic databases in their combined use is described, which made it possible to identify trends in electro-fermentation systems with the production of bio-based products. A review of possible electro-fermentation systems with major bio-product production was performed. The possibility of including anaerobic producers of organic acids, namely lactic acid, for the needs of biopolymerization, with bioinformatic databases was substantiated. The model of the process of anaerobic fermentation with the production of organic acids for biopolymerization has been formed. The analysis of bioinformatic databases showed that the strains Anaerotignum propionicum X2, isolated from silty bottom sediments, and Anaerotignum propionicum 19acry 3, isolated from an operating anaerobic reactor, have the most significant indicators of lactate productivity. The conditions for their cultivation with an indication of nutrient media and modification of their composition are considered.
Intraoperative transfusion is a risk factor for cerebral injury after cardiac surgery in children: a prospective observational study
Authors: Ivkin Artem A. , Grigoryev E. V. , D. G. Balakhnin D. G. Balakhnin , Chermnykh I. I.
Published: January 2023

INTRODUCTION: Donor blood components are able to initiate a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and potentiate neuroinflammation with subsequent cerebral damage. OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of transfusion on the development of cerebral damage during the surgical correction of congenital heart defects in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 78 patients aged from 1 to 78 months, weighing from 3.3 to 21.5 kg, were studied. All patients underwent correction of a septal defect under cardiopulmonary bypass. All patients were divided to group 1 — without the use of transfusion and group 2 — with the use of red blood cell transfusion. Cerebral damage markers (S-100-β protein, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP)) and SIRS (interleukins 1 (ILb-1), 6 (IL-6), 10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were studied. Markers ware studied at three control points: 1 — before the start of surgery, 2 — immediately after end of cardiopulmonary bypass, 3 — 16 hours after the end of the operation. RESULTS: The peak concentration of most markers in the blood in both groups of patients was noted at the 2nd control point. The concentration of all markers of cerebral damage was significantly higher in the transfusion group at the 2nd control point: S-100-β protein (ng/ml) — 509.90 [379.30–871.70] and 717.10 [517.90–1195.33] (р = 0.024); NSE (ng/ml) — 17.55 [11.19–26.41] and 34.05 [17.06–44.90] (р = 0,023); GFAP (ng/ml) — 0.1190 [0.1135–0.1245] and 0.1231 [0.1138–0.1493]. Correlations were found between markers of cerebral damage and SIRS, the strongest of which was the relationship between NSE and TNF-α at the 3rd control point — Rho = 0.43 (p = 0.0001). A correlation of S-100-β protein with transfusion volume was observed at the 2nd (Rho = 0.48, p = 0.00065) and 3rd control points (Rho = 0.36, p = 0.01330). CONCLUSIONS: The influence of the fact of transfusion and the dose of red blood cell on the development of cerebral damage during cardiac surgery in children has been proven.
Protein-energy metabolism and nutritional support in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: a systematic review
Authors: Kanshaov N. Z. , Leyderman Ilya N. , Marichev A. O.
Published: January 2023

INTRODUCTION: Patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) are among the most severe in the intensive care unit (ICU), they require complex treatment, accompanied by a long stay in the hospital and rehabilitation. Nutritional support (NS) plays an important role in the intensive care program. Despite an increase in the use of ECMO in the ICU over the past decade, informative clinical data regarding the optimal methods of maintaining nutritional status and controlling metabolism are rare. The lack of evidence base and guidelines for NS for adult patients on ECMO results in heterogeneity in clinical practice regarding optimal macro and micronutrient requirements, time of NS initiation, type and amount of nutritional support solutions. OBJECTIVE: Provide a review and critical assessment of the latest data regarding NS in critically ill adult patients on ECMO. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search and selection of publications was performed using the PubMed database. Studies published from 2012 to 2021 were analyzed to explore the approaches to NS in ECMO patients. Relevant studies were limited to randomized controlled trials, observational studies and clinical trials. RESULTS: A total of 14 observational studies were selected. Early enteral nutrition has been considered safe and feasible for ECMO patients, but achieving energy and protein targets is challenging. Data on the impact of NS on clinical outcomes and complications have been conflicting. Efforts should be made to achieve an adequate patient supply on ECMO of more than 80 % of the calculated energy and protein targets. NS in ECMO patients should be carried out in accordance with current guidelines for NS in critically ill patients until further data become available. CONCLUSIONS: A personalized approach is important principle of nutritional and metabolic therapy. Further studies are needed to investigate the association of various NS methods on clinical outcome endpoints in ICU ECMO patients.
What is mineral informatics?
Authors: Prabhu Anirudh , Morrison Shaunna M. , Fox Peter , Ma Xiaogang , Wong Michael L. , Williams Jason R. , McGuinness Kenneth N. , Krivovichev Sergey V. , Lehnert Kerstin , Ralph Jolyon , Lafuente Barbara , Downs Robert T. , Walter Michael J. , Hazen Robert M.
Published: January 2023

Minerals are information-rich materials that offer researchers a glimpse into the evolution of planetary bodies. Thus, it is important to extract, analyze, and interpret this abundance of information to improve our understanding of the planetary bodies in our solar system and the role our planet’s geosphere played in the origin and evolution of life. Over the past several decades, data-driven efforts in mineralogy have seen a gradual increase. The development and application of data science and analytics methods to mineralogy, while extremely promising, has also been somewhat ad hoc in nature. To systematize and synthesize the direction of these efforts, we introduce the concept of “Mineral Informatics,” which is the next frontier for researchers working with mineral data. In this paper, we present our vision for Mineral Informatics and the X-Informatics underpinnings that led to its conception, as well as the needs, challenges, opportunities, and future directions of the field. The intention of this paper is not to create a new specific field or a sub-field as a separate silo, but to document the needs of researchers studying minerals in various contexts and fields of study, to demonstrate how the systemization and enhanced access to mineralogical data will increase cross- and interdisciplinary studies, and how data science and informatics methods are a key next step in integrative mineralogical studies.
Pengaruh Pemberian Pakan Kombinasi Nannochloropsis sp, Saccharomyces cerevisiae dan Tepung Ikan Tongkol Terhadap Pertumbuhan Populasi Branchionus plicatili
Authors: Christian Yohanes Afan , Kisworo  , Madyaningrana Kukuh
Published: January 2023

Rotifera (Branchionus plicatilis) merupakan zooplankton yang dapat dijadikan sebagai pakan alami larva ikan. Budidaya pakan alami ikan seperti rotifera dapat dilakukan bersamaan dengan budidaya ikan dan memberikan keuntungan dalam pengurangan biaya pakan ikan. Upaya pengembangan budidaya rotifera bisa didukung oleh studi pemberian pakan yang memacu pertumbuhan populasi rotifera. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mempelajari pengaruh pemberian pakan berupa Nannochloropsis sp., Saccharomyces cerevisiae, dan tepung ikan terhadap pertumbuhan populasi B. plicatilis, salah satu spesies dari filum rotifera. Brachionus plicatilis dikulturkan dan diberi perlakuan pakan tunggal Nannochloropsis sp., S. cerevisiae, dan tepung ikan dan kombinasinya. Parameter pertumbuhan yang diamati adalah kepadatan populasi B. plicatilis dan laju pertumbuhannya, sedangkan parameter lingkungan yang diamati terdiri dari suhu, kadar amonia, salinitas, dan pH. Data dianalisis dengan one-wayAnova tingkat kepercayaan 95%. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan pakan kombinasi memberikan hasil lebih baik dibandingkan pakan tunggal untuk pertumbuhan populasi B. plicatilis. Kombinasi pakan terbaik bagi pertumbuhan B. plicatilis adalah kombinasi pakan 20 ml Nannochloropsis sp. + 0,25 gr ragi Saccharomyces cerevisiae + 0,75 gr tepung ikan yang menghasilkan kepadatan tertinggi pada hari ke -4 sebanyak 126 ind/ml. Analisis statistik menunjukan nilai rerata kepadatan populasi berbeda nyata untuk tiap pemberian pakan (p<0,05). Meningkatnya kepadatan populasi berelasi dengan perubahan nilai pH media pemeliharaan.
Key competitiveness of Indonesian small wooden furniture business
Authors: Jusni Jusni , Aswan Andi , Hakimi Mohd Shafiai Muhammad , Baharuddin Gunawan , Ridho Hafizh Thaha Riandha
Published: January 2023

Small wooden furniture businesses in East Indonesia feel pressure from the furniture businesses of the West Indonesia, in particular from Jepara, due to a fierce international rivalry. The study is intended to analyze the effect of market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on competitiveness with innovation as an intervening variable. The study distributed 189 questionnaires to the small wooden furniture producers in the South and West Sulawesi Provinces. The collected data were analyzed by structural equation modeling using maximum likelihood approach. The study found that market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and innovation contributed to leveraging the competitiveness of small furniture producers. With this model, market orientation is found to have a positive and significant effect on innovation and competitiveness, both with a small-medium effect. Interestingly, the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovativeness shows a positive, significant, and the most dominant of all structural causal relationships in the model, with a small-high effect. In contrast, the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and competitiveness has a positive and significant effect with a smaller path coefficient. The study also found that innovation shows a positive and significant effect on competitiveness with a relatively small impact.
AcknowledgmentThe case of small wooden furniture businesses of Indonesia is part of collaborative research between the research teams from Hasanudd in University and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. In carrying out this study, the involvement of a number of agencies cannot be ignored: the Cooperative and Small and Medium Size Regional Office of South and West Sulawesi Province and Cooperatives and the Small and Medium Size Regional Office of Makassar City.
Job delight and organizational citizenship behavior: Role of teamwork cohesion as a mediator
Authors: Judeh Mahfuz
Published: January 2023

In light of a turbulent work environment, employee performance is considered a critical issue for organizations. Hence, management must set effective strategies and policies to stimulate and enhance employee performance. This study aims to analyze the importance of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) since it could affect individual and organizational outcomes in the context of the insurance sector in Jordan. Through keeping employees delighted and maintaining teams’ solidarity and cohesion, employees are expected to display more OCBs. Data were collected from 240 employees working in the insurance sector in Jordan. The paper aims to better understand the job delight and OCB constructs and their effect on teamwork cohesion.The results of structural equation modeling showed that OCB was significantly related to job delight and teamwork cohesion. Moreover, teamwork cohesion was found to be significantly related to job delight. In addition, the results demonstrated that teamwork cohesion was a partially significant mediator between job delight and OCB. As such, a high level of employee delight combined with cohesive team members was proposed to encourage employees to display organizational citizenship behaviors.
Discussion on the right to use the name trademark: Focusing on trademark disputes between idol groups and their former agencies
Authors:   European Constitutional Law Association, Lee Diane Youngmi , Hong sunki
Published: January 2023

Currently, a big wave of Korean culture is heating up the world, which indeed contributes to growing economy of Korea. In addition to the income earned from sales of music records and movies, the marketing business using the names of celebrities also forms a big size of market. As a result, there were often legal disputes arising from the rights of trademarks including the stage name or group name of celebrities. In particular, just before the end of the exclusive contract, the agency registered the celebrity's name as a trademark, thereby provoking a legal dispute between the former agency and the celebrities. In this study, we discussed whom the trademark rights, including celebrities’ names, should belong to. In the first session, we introduced two examples for disputes in regard to the trademarks including the idol group names. To express our critical opinions on this, it was discussed that the current trademark law could infringe on the personal rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Furthermore, our opinions to reasonably compromise these conflicts between the legal rights were proposed as follows. First of all, we suggest that it is necessary to legislate the publicity right, so that the personal right of celebrities can be protected as the property right is. Because the process of enacting a new law is very difficult, we proposed another idea to revise the current law. Thus, we noted that some provisions of the Trademark Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act are needed to be revised for preventing the infringement of the personal rights, and also proposed our opinions on how to revise these provisions.
Developing the Critical Thinking in University Students while Teaching them Methodological Reading Comprehension
Authors: Borzova Tat'yana , Kalugina Natal'ya , Sandakova Elena , Kameneva-Lyubavskaya Evgeniya
Published: January 2023

Critical thinking can be developed as part of reading comprehension. This study involved 57 university students from the Pacific National University. They worked with methodological texts to determine the topic, write a secondary text, create a cinquain, formulate hypotheses, and project the new material onto their own academic experience. The article introduces a new subjective approach to teaching text comprehension to university students. The approach is based on psychological foundations and the interaction between teaching staff and students. It develops the ability to generate new meaning and relations, as well as to classify various phenomena. The article also reveals the ways of understanding a text as a sign complex and offers some new diagnostic methods that treat text comprehension both as a process and a result. The authors also identified empirical indicators to control the dynamics of comprehension development. The experiment showed positive dynamics in the critical thinking skills of students who practiced reading comprehension based on methodological texts.
Content of Socially Dangerous Consequences of a Criminal Act
Authors: Gaag Irina
Published: January 2023

The article introduces the problem of socially dangerous consequences. Legal studies reveal no uniform approach to the definition of socially dangerous consequences. The author elaborates on the definition of socially dangerous consequences, describes their signs, and defines such concepts as their essence and content, as well as the object of encroachment. Socially dangerous consequences are connected with the criminal act and the object of crime, so the author describes their interdependence, mutual influence, and the derivativeness of socially dangerous consequences from the criminal act. This derivation makes it possible to transfer the signs of the criminal act to the socially dangerous consequences it causes. These signs include: public danger, social character, negativity, and objectivity. The complex of signs of socially dangerous consequences makes up their content. The characteristics of the object of encroachment and the structure of the object demonstrate a one-sided connection of socially dangerous consequences with the object of crime. The signs of socially dangerous consequences result from the signs of the object of encroachment. The author describes the signs of socially dangerous consequences derived from the object of encroachment, as well as the motives for their allocation. The features of each of the indicated signs are irremovability, measurability, heterogeneity, and multiplicity. All the above signs, derived from both the socially dangerous act and the object of crime, belong to socially dangerous consequences. The signs of socially dangerous consequences can be divided into direct and indirect, which together make up the content of the socially dangerous consequences.
The Impact of Digitalization on the Exercise of Judicial Power in the Russian Federation
Authors: Kukarceva Aleksandra
Published: January 2023

The judicial digitalization and automation are currently at its final stage. This article focuses on the concept of digitalization in court. The author analyzed the documents that regulate the digitalization in the Russian judicial system and assessed its result, e.g., in the sphere of interaction with trial participants. The article clarifies the correlation between automation, informatization, and digitalization and describes the trends, stages, and achievements in the digital development of the judicial system in the light of federal targeted programs. The author believes that the terms related to the digitalization of the legal system still have a vague status because they exist at the intersection of the procedural branches of general law and information law. Automation makes it possible to monitor trials and prevent violations of deadlines. Digital information about courts and trials may encourage citizens for a more active interaction with the judicial system. Unfortunately, the digital transformation of Russian courts is at its earliest stage and has a long way to go. Eventually, modern technologies will improve the quality of the judicial system.
Culture, History, and Inheritance Law: a Comparative Legal Analysis
Authors: Panichkin Vyacheslav
Published: January 2023

Inheritance is the most conservative sub-branch of civil law. As a result, it reflects the cultural and historical type of the society and is very conservative. In fact, it contains a lot of archaic norms that express out-of-date social relations. However, inheritance law is extremely reluctant to get rid of these legal anachronisms, probably, because their rigorism reflects the national identity of the people. The present research used the civilizational classification of legal systems developed by N. Ya. Danilevsky and applied it to the inheritance law as the most conservative sub-branch of civil law. After comparing Russian and Anglo-American inheritance laws, the author proved that each state adheres to its cultural and historical type by preserving some archaic institutions. These institutions lost their social relevance long ago but survived as a formal reflection of a once-relevant rigorous moral code. Some legal anachronisms persisted for so long that, having outlived their time, they suddenly acquired a new meaning in completely new circumstances.
Study Materials for Teaching Business English to Visually-Impaired Students
Authors: Gradaleva Ekaterina
Published: January 2023

The article deals with the assistive technologies that can be used by visually-impaired students to master Business English. The research aimed at developing a special academic course that would allow visually-challenged students to interact with their groupmates during distance learning. The author developed an audio book called Business English: Audio Materials for Visually-Impaired Students and based the new course on the existing assistive technologies. The book includes audio materials, e.g., lectures, examples of business communication, exercises with answer keys, extra tasks with answer keys, a final test, and an audio dictionary of business vocabulary. The course can be taught as tutorials or independently. The teaching and presenting methods proved effective and satisfy the requirements for educational courses for the blind and visually impaired people. The article shows the way the theory and practice presented in the audio format can facilitate the process of learning business vocabulary by listening.
Ethnic Culture in the System of Spiritual and Moral Education
Authors: Zakir'yanova Irina , Mikhaylova Alla
Published: January 2023

The article introduces the history and prospects of spiritual and moral education. The authors identified the pedagogical possibilities of ethnic culture and its inclusion in the system of spiritual and moral education. The analysis was based on the scientific potential proven by historical practice. It provided an objective assessment of the genesis of spiritual and moral education in its dynamics. As a pedagogical tool, ethnic culture is a treasure trove of moral and ethical value orientations and life meanings. The article clarifies the concepts of spiritual and moral education and ethnic culture, as well as identifies the ways of developing the spiritual and moral potential of university students. The research relied on the fundamental standards developed by the leading educationalists. It identified the place of ethnic culture in the system of spiritual and moral education developed by the specific cultural and historical conditions and based on the invaluable experience of the life of the people. Ethnic culture finds its expression in the requirements for the content of spiritual and moral education. The research makes it possible to use the academic and educational potential of extracurricular activities in the spiritual and moral education of university students.
Soot in the Saami and Germanic languages
Authors:   University of Lodz, Witczak Krzysztof Tomasz , Rychło Mikołaj ,   University of Gdańsk
Published: January 2023

This paper examines the Scandinavian terminology for ‘soot’ in connection with a number of Saami appellatives with a view to deciding which of them are native and which result from borrowing. Special attention is paid to the problem of adopting loanwords in Northern Europe, especially in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Two Proto- Germanic words denoting ‘soot’ are discussed from the morphological and etymological point of view. It is suggested that the West Germanic noun *hrōta- m./n. ‘soot’ is closely related to PG. *sōta- n. ‘soot’, which, in turn, is derived from the Proto-Indo- European verbal root *sed- ‘to sit’. The present authors intend to demonstrate that WG. *hrōta- derives from the Indo-European archetype *ku̯u-sōdo- ‘bad soot; thick layer of soot’, originally ‘what a soot!’. The original semantic distinction between PG. *sōta- and WG. *hrōta- seems to be preserved in the use of two independent Saamic loanwords, cf. Saa.N suohtti ‘soot (in the chimney)’ and ruohtti ‘big layer of soot’. The remaining Northern Saami words under analysis include čađđa ‘charcoal, soot’ (< Proto-Saamic *će̮δe̮ ‘carbon, charcoal, soot, grime’ < Ur. *ćüδ́i ‘coal, charcoal’), giehpa ‘soot’ (< PSaa. *kēpe̮ ‘id.’, probably a Proto-Baltic loanword) and gožu ~ gohčču- ‘soot, layer of soot, deposit of smoke or soot on things near a fireplace’ (< PSaa. *kočɔ̄j ‘soot’). Establishing the etymologies of this rich Saami terminology concerning ‘soot’ is significant to the gradual change of Saami lifestyle from a nomadic hunter-gatherer one towards a nonperipatetic community reliant on farming, animal husbandry and fishing.
Strindberg’s A Dream Play and Gumilyov’s Allah’s Child. A mystery plot
Authors:   Russian Institute of Arts History, Kumukova Dzhamilya
Published: January 2023

Тhe article explores the issue of implementation of a mystery plot in the dramaturgy of the turn of 19th–20th centuries. Within the aspect of the given topic, two plays are considered — A. Strindberg’s drama A Dream Play, and N. S. Gumilyov’s fairy tale Allah’s Child. It is an attempt to demonstrate that in these works one can find the same plotline, which can be traced back to the myth of Persephone. With various interpretations still around as to the content of the ancient Greek mystery, is can generally be acknowledged that the myth comprised the foundation of the sacred action at Eleusis; the debate only concerns its “stage” adaptation. At the turn of 19th–20th centuries, the story of Persephone is already creating its own, new myth about the trials of a wandering soul on the path of knowledge. In Strindberg’s and Gumilyov’s plays, the soul (Persephone) is played by a divine being: in A Dream Play it is the daughter of god Indra of ancient Indian mythology, and in Allah’s Child it is the daughter of a god from the mythology of peoples of Central and Minor Asia. Both heroines go through a hard path of earthly sorrows, and in the denouement return to the divine world. This plot structure, which mirrors the development of an ancient mystery, both playwrights — Swedish and Russian — introduce the Poet as a character. In both A Dream Play and Allah’s Child the Poet becomes an intermediary between the earthly and divine lives, bridging the gap between those worlds, and, in essence, acting as Dionysus. The general trend, whereby the dramaturgy of “the turn” looked back to ancient mythology, speaks to the ongoing process of myth structuring, as it acquires new meaningful layers.
Technology platform competition between the United States and China: Decoupling and sanctions against Huawei
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Tkachenko Stanislav , Zhiglinskaya Wyrsch Natalia ,   Syracuse University, Cui Zheng ,   Liaoning University
Published: January 2023

Decoupling, defined as the deliberate and state-directed severing of economic ties between the world’s two largest economies (the USA and China), is one of the most studied phenomena of contemporary international relations. The growing confrontation between the political systems and military machines of the United States and China extends into the economic sphere and increasingly affects the field of high technology. A number of experts consider the conflict of the modern superpowers for the leading position in the field of the new technologies as a manifestation of techno-nationalism, a new type of mercantilism that plays a key role in industrial policy and world trade of the leading economies of the planet. The article is focused on the new generation of interstate conflict, in which the technological giants act as proxy institutions of U. S. and Chinese state power. The distinctive feature of this new type of conflict is its overtly nonviolent nature. It manifests itself in the use by both sides of tools borrowed from economic sanctions and trade wars of the past. The China — US rivalry in the development and implementation of the latest technologies is a non-military reincarnation of the thermonuclear arms race of the Cold War era. Nowadays the most economically powerful states of the planet, led by the USA, choose instruments of economic coercion to protect the existing status quo in the global system. Such measures allow them to adapt elements of the arms race and power rivalry of past eras to modern conditions.
The problem of US international obligations after withdrawal from Afghanistan: Is America ready to defend Taiwan?
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Tsvetkov Ivan
Published: January 2023

The article is devoted to the study of the evolution of US foreign policy towards the Taiwan problem during the administration of Donald Trump and the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency. The situation in the Taiwan Strait is analysed in the article in the context of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August 2021. Despite the very specific selection of the administration’s personnel and the general impulsiveness of President Trump’s political decisions, his vision of the Taiwan problem coincided with a long-ripening desire in the ranks of the American political elite to get rid of self-restraint in relations with Taiwan in order to avoid open conflict with China. A result of the deterioration of US-China relations and Trump’s related pro-Taiwan initiatives was high tension in the Taiwan Strait zone, and a decrease of international support for Taiwan. At the same time, the complete destruction of the traditional American “policy of strategic ambiguity” still did not occur. Biden’s first steps have shown that while maintaining the appearance of a tough “Trump” approach to the problem, he is intent on stabilizing the situation around Taiwan. The new president seeks to maintain the level of ties with Taiwan achieved under Trump, while avoiding rash and provocative decisions. Overall, it can be argued that Taiwan is increasingly moving into the focus of American foreign policy. The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan will not only not lead to a decrease in the level of American guarantees in the Taiwan Strait, but, on the contrary, it will make it possible to attract new resources here.
The aging leader: Approaching age as a factor in international relations
Authors:   George Mason University, Shiraev Eric
Published: January 2023

This article goes against the grain of traditional approaches in international relations by claiming that a leader’s biological age is a factor in this individual’s execution of foreign policy. The traditional logic of political science that has generally been diminishing the impact of a leader’s individual features on policy for the sake of institutional procedures needs to be reassessed. A common assumption is that an aging king or president, especially those entering the eighth or ninth decade of their lives, are likely to make prudent, balanced, and wise political decisions due to their rich experience. However, this notion lacks sufficient empirical support from history. The physical “wear and tear” of the aging leader, along with their declining psychological functions, are likely to negatively impact their foreign-policy decisions that may fall under the influence of the leader’s information overload, cognitive narcissism, profound stubbornness, as well as their irrational sense of urgency, and their tendency to overcompensate. In democracies, the political tenure of top politicians is limited by constitutional terms or scheduled elections. In authoritarian systems, only the top figure’s death or incapacitation become actual “schedulers” of their political tenure. Although a person’s advanced age should not disqualify him or her from public office, without institutional checks on the leader’s judgements and behavior as well as the critical power of public opinion and the press, the aging authoritarian leader can become unpredictably risky.
How physicians influenced Dutch nuclear weapon policies: A civil society case-study
Authors:   IPPNW, Buijs Peter
Published: January 2023

This case study describes activities from the Dutch Association for Medical Polemology (IPPNW- affiliate NVMP-Physicians for Peace) from 1969 onwards, focused primarily on recent strategies, employed by civil society, to influence Dutch policies regarding the urgency of abolishing nuclear weapons due to their unacceptable medical and humanitarian consequences. By itself and together with other civil society organisations, NVMP promoted an active Dutch nuclear disarmament policy, specifically regarding the Non-Proliferation Treaty with its Article- VI Global Zero-obligations, and the United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Several achievements of the NVMP are highlighted, from the Medical Appeal (2015) to the 50th anniversary Congress (Hague Peace Palace, November 26, 2019) and its aftermath. After presenting his major findings and conclusions, the author shares some experience- based, policy-oriented recommendations about the specific physicians’ position and their medical-humanitarian message, followed by suggestions on strategies for reaching out to politicians, decision-makers, and statesmen that can help IPPNW affiliates elsewhere, and other civil society organizations, who are promoting a nuclear weapon-free world. Finally, the author petitions to repeat successful early 1980s Russian-American IPPNW initiatives, which were directly aimed at their political leaders. The article concludes with the presentation of one initiative.
‘Move the gateposts during the Game’: When Russia and the EU de-order both their relationship and the liberal world order
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Romanova Tatiana
Published: January 2023

The article looks at EU-Russian relations and their current crisis through the prism of the liberal world order (LWO) and its contestation. Since the late 1990s Russia has gradually moved from neorevisionist to revisionist challenge of the LWO, undermining in its relations with the EU such components of this order as political values and security. The EU previously positioned itself as a staunch defender of the LWO; Brussels tried both to enforce elements of the LWO and to accommodate Russia’s concerns so that EU-Russian relations were embedded in the LWO. However, 24 February 2022 became a watershed moment. Moscow’s challenge to the security and values’ components of the LWO became too big for the EU to manage. The EU’s 2022 sanctions heralded a move from the efforts to integrate Russia by all means to the LWO to the efforts to isolate Russia by all means and to deny Russia access to any components of the LWO. In particular, the EU challenges cooperation through international institutions, political values, economic interdependence and transnational links. This EU change undermines the very LWO that the EU tries to defend and that guarantees the EU a privileged position. Moreover, prospects of long-term settlement in the European continent and of engagement with Russia are severely compromised.
The concept of multi-vector politics in the system of foreign policy practices of the average country (on the example of Belarus)
Authors:   Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Mezhevich Nilokai , Shimov Vsevolod ,   Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Published: January 2023

The article discusses the concept of the average state and its problematic for modern political science. Based on the analysis of the concepts of the average state that have developed to date, the authors come to the conclusion about the vagueness and uncertainty of the criteria of the average state. It is concluded that the average state is not so much a set of features that characterize a particular country, as the political role that a particular state is ready to play in the international arena. At the same time, countries as different in scale as India and the Scandinavian states can claim the role of an average state. A distinctive feature of the average state is a propensity for multi-vector politics, geopolitical balancing and multilateral alliances. Using the example of Belarus, the authors show how this post-Soviet republic is trying to realize the role of an average state in the international arena. Unlike its neighbors, the Baltic states and Ukraine, which chose the model of small client states of the West, Belarus followed the path of a medium–sized state balancing between Russia, the EU, China and the states of the “far arc”, while maintaining a close alliance with Russia as a priority direction of foreign policy. The article highlights the difficulties faced by the Union State of Russia and Belarus due to the unequal vision of its participants of their roles. In conclusion, it is concluded that the former model of the Belarusian multi-vector politics in the new geopolitical conditions is exhausted, and the Union State can gain a new meaning as one of the geopolitical centers in the emerging world of “colliding civilizations”. At the same time, the role of Belarus as an average state — an equal partner of Russia can be preserved.
Problems of semantic reconstruction of the sociological narrative
Authors:   Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences — Branch of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kanygin Gennady V.
Published: January 2023

A sociological narrative is a human’s storytelling in which another human is not always able to trace semantic connections in a relevant way. Such uncertainty has a detrimental effect in key cases of verbal description of social processes such as theory building, drafting laws and maintaining of document flow. Based on research in the areas of qualitative data analysis and knowledge management, the article expresses the conviction that a significant reason for the semantic uncertainty of the narrative is its construction by the author in the form of a text flow. The necessity and possibility of a natural language description of social processes in the form of a structural narrative is substantiated. Analytical coding is proposed as a tool for constructing such a narrative. In contrast to the approaches used today, analytical coding allows the researcher in a single instrumental procedure, on the one hand, to adhere to the habitual practice of verbal description of something; on the other hand, to structure their natural language wordings with the help of ontological methods of knowledge management. Specific analytical coding techniques are considered in detail within methodological cases in which a researcher finds him/herself when deciding to construct a narrative using analytical methods. Among such cases, the initial epistemological attitudes of the author of the narrative; localization of the meaning of a verbal statement by indicating the context; linking contextsensitive wordings; construction and generation of narrative semantic chains; instrumental control of narrative connectivity are mentioned. In conclusion, it is noted that the improvement of methods for constructing a structural narrative allows us reckoning on solving the problems of decomposition of verbal knowledge about social processes and on creating opportunities for interdisciplinary teamwork of specialists with different competencies
Social media in Russian non-profit organizations: Factors of use
Authors:   HSE University, Briukhno Aleksandra S.
Published: January 2023

The article explores the use of social media in Russian non-governmental non-profit organizations. The role of social media as a PR and promotion tool and as a tool for attracting financial resources is considered. Based on the secondary data of the All-Russian representative survey of NGO leaders conducted by the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector, HSE (sample consists of 850 NGOs, face-to-face interviews were conducted in year 2021), hypotheses about the influence of organizational characteristics on the use of social media are tested using binary logistic regression. According to the results of the analysis, social media is the most popular online communication channel of NGOs in Russia, although a relatively small proportion of organizations practice fundraising on social networks, despite the fact that NGO leaders highly evaluate the effectiveness of this tool for raising funds. The use of social media is positively associated with the organizational pursuit of the information openness and accountability; troubled access to traditional media; social orientation; participation in government grants; and the size of the organization. The positive relationship between the size of the organization and the use of social media suggests that resource factors, such as the lack of qualified personnel to manage the accounts of the organization, may be a barrier to the use of social media. Overall, there is no obvious connection with the need to attract financial resources, neither the focus on private donations, nor the tendence to diversify sources of funding.
Green, blue and economic water productivity: a water footprint perspective from the Upper Awash Basin, Central Ethiopia
Authors: Hirpa Birtukan Abebe , Adane Girma Berhe , Asrat Asfawossen , Nedaw Dessie
Published: January 2023

The rise in global freshwater consumption, inefficient water use and population growth are the main drivers of water scarcity and food insecurity. This study analyzed the green, blue and economic water productivity (GWP, BWP and EWP, respectively) of the rainfed (teff, maize and sorghum) and irrigated (sugarcane) crops along with green water scarcity (GWS) in the Upper Awash Basin using water footprints (WFs) approaches. Teff has the lowest average GWP (∼0.3 kg/m3) and the highest average WF (4205 m3/ton) between 2000 and 2010 with an average EWP of ∼0.3 USD/m3 which is higher than those of other rainfed cereal crops (maize and sorghum). The highest GWS of maize was recorded in Metehara (269 mm/growing period) and the lowest in Debrezeit (70 mm/growing period) with an intermediate value of 90 and 117 mm in Wonji and Melkassa, respectively. All the rainfed crops have lower EWP (less than 0.3 USD/m3) compared with the irrigated sugarcane in the basin. This study demonstrates that increasing the value per unit of green/blue water through increasing yield per unit of supply and switching from high to low WFs crops has significant implications for addressing the water scarcity problem by setting a WP benchmark in the basin.
Energy efficiency and water use indices for sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) production under subtropical climatic conditions of Bangladesh
Authors: Alam Md. Jahangir , Mahmud Abdullah Al , Gaber Ahmed , Hossain Akbar
Published: January 2023

To estimate energy use efficiency for sweet potato production in Bangladesh under subtropical climatic conditions, a study was conducted with 60 individuals (12 producers for each sweet potato variety) by using a structural questionnaire. The results revealed that the majority of the energy input was consumed by the pre-harvest activities (22,313.55 MJ ha−1 or 90.85%), of which fertilizer application (36.84%) and irrigation (35.24%) consumed the most energy input, with only 9.15% (2,248.42 MJ ha−1) consumed by the post-harvest activity for sweet potato production. The energy input involved in the production system was similar to the direct (12,149.76 MJ ha−1 or 49.47%) and indirect (12,412.21 MJ ha−1 or 50.53%) sources, while it was much higher in non-renewable sources (22,884.21 MJ ha−1 or 93.17%) with a minimum (1,677.76 MJ ha−1 or 6.83%) from renewable sources. The average energy use efficiency, energy productivity, specific energy, net energy, energy profitability and water-energy productivity of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) varieties 4.36, 1.22 kg MJ−1, 0.83 MJ kg−1, 82,511.73 MJ ha−1, 3.36 and 1.32 g m−3 MJ−1, respectively. The OFSP varieties showed better performance in respect of all the energy and water use indicators.