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The present paper is an introduction to and analysis of the article "Literary criticism must be scientific", presented here for the first time in English translation. The original was published by Lotman in 1967 in the journal Voprosy Literatury. The article by Lotman is a part of a wider debate, started in 1963, that saw structuralists and their opponents dispute the validity and heuristic value of structuralist methodology in literary criticism. The aim of the introduction is to explore Lotman's engagements with his intellectual context as they emerge in his 1967 article. The first part of the paper discusses the wider context of the debate, and explores the positions of the opponents of structuralism and the ways in which Lotman relates to them. The second part of the paper analyses how Lotman and his structuralist colleagues related to the official Soviet ideology, the diamat. In both cases, it will be seen how Lotman engaged certain aspects of his opponents' ideas, as well as the official ideology, in order to further his goal of reconciling structuralism and historicism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes changes in the distribution of Soviet pulp, paper, and paperboard production between the years 1940 and 1965. Regional variation exists both in physical volume of production and in type of plant. Production of pulp and paper occurs primarily in integrated plants. whereas most paperboard is manufactured in non-integrated mills. but integrated manufacture of all three products has increased between 1940 and 1965. Regional location of production in the Soviet pulp and paper industry has been heavily influenced by historical events, by the Proportion of weight lost during processing of roundwood, by creation of new mills and expansion of older establishments, and by the operational characteristics of Soviet central planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the changing locational patterns of the pulp and paper industry in Soviet Union. Evaluation of the changes locational pattern of the industry; Range of per capita consumption of the industry; Terms of capital investments.

Comments on the discovery of papers on Soviet socialism written by Leon Trotsky and his son, Lev Sedov, in the Boris I. Nicolaevsky Collection in the Archives of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University in California. Contribution of Leon Trotsky to the study of Russian history; Other repositories in which Trotsky papers can be found; Content of and period covered by the Hoover Institution papers.

The paper examines Russia's cultural expansionism that extends beyond the military invasion in Ukraine since 2014. In the first part, I trace Russia's systematic efforts to seize and manipulate Ukrainian heritage, often under the guise of protection. I also touch on the role of museums in this expansion, where they are used to preserve collections through coercive acquisition and to promote a Russian-centric narrative. The second part of the article delves into the historical relationships between Russia and Ukraine, especially in the context of the Soviet era's museum infrastructure. Overall, the text calls for new concepts and international efforts to critique Russia's actions and protect Ukrainian culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines absurdities in contemporary society and workplaces. Absurdity arises from the absence of rationality, where observed human practices paradoxically veer away from official discourse and institutional rhetoric. Absurdity does not exist in a vacuum but is penetrated by and hypernormalized through internalized societal ideologies. Hypernormalization, or the normalization of absurdity, was originally coined by Russian-born anthropologist Yurchak (2003, 2005) to understand the split between ideological, authoritative discourse and practice in the last decades of the Soviet Union. We extend the understanding of hypernormalization to describe how contemporary absurdities are normalized both in society and organizations. Moreover, we explain how hypernormalization unfolds at collective and individual levels through ideological fantasy and internalization. Fantasmatic investment and internalization enable individuals to manage the absurdities arising from the perpetual gap between authoritative discourse (e.g., companies' commitment to climate action) and actual day-to-day practices (e.g., companies' continued investment in fossil fuels). We finish by presenting three interrelated steps through which resistance, as a mechanism to deal with hypernormalization, emerges: problematization, resistance and imagination. We contribute to the literature by showing how these three ways may offer a way out of hypernormalization in society and workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the trial production of marine gas hydrate in the former Soviet Union, Canada, North Slope of Alaska, South Sea Trough of Japan and Shenhu Sea of South China Sea, the problem of sand and water production cannot be avoided. The problems of sand production and water production in the process of natural gas hydrate depressurization exploitation have seriously restricted the exploitation efficiency and production of natural gas hydrate. The problems of sand production and water production are some of the main factors that prevent natural gas hydrate being commercially exploited. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out useful, relevant and cutting-edge research on the efficient drainage of sand and water from the wellbore in the process of natural gas hydrate mining. This paper innovatively proposes liquid-carrying and solid-carrying technology under foam circulation purging to address the existing problems of sand removal and drainage technology in hydrate mining. At present, no scholar has used this technology to solve the problem of sand removal and drainage in hydrate mining. Therefore, the research on efficient drainage is imperative. In this paper, We mainly studied the liquid-carrying and solid-carrying of vertical wellbore under the condition of foam cycle purging. We have revealed the relevant the liquid-carrying law and solid-carrying law through the above research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycopesticides are living preparations that use fungal cells, such as spores and hyphae, as active ingredients. They mainly include mycoinsecticides, mycofungicides, mycoherbicides and nematophagous fungi. The utilization of fungi for controlling agricultural pests can be traced back to approximately 1880, when entomopathogenic fungi were initially employed for this purpose. However, it was not until 1965 that the world's first mycopesticide, Beauveria bassiana, was registered as Boverin® in the former Soviet Union. In past decades, numerous novel mycopesticides have been developed for their lower R&D costs, as well as the environmentally friendly and safe nature. In this review, we investigated the mycopesticides situation of registration in USA, EU, China, Canada and Australia. Superisingly, it was found that the registered mycopesticides are extremely raised in recent years. Currently, the insecticides, fungicides (nematocides) and herbicides were respectively registered 27, 53 and 8 fungal strains. This paper also analyzes the main problems currently faced by mycopesticides and offers suggestions for their future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE PRESENT PAPER REPRESENTS A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS OF THE UNITED STATES AND SOVIET UNION IN THE MOMENT OF THE END OF THE COLD WAR, FROM THE THEORETICAL LENSES PROVIDED BY THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS MODEL AS DEVISED BY DARON ACEMOGLU AND JAMES A. ROBINSON. THIS PAPER TRIES TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WHY THE UNITED STATES PRESERVED THE SUPERPOWER STATUS AND THE SOVIET UNION DID NOT. THIS PAPER ARGUES THAT THE UNITED STATES HAD BETTER POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS THAN THE SOVIET UNION. THEREFORE, THE SUPERIOR CHARACTER OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS MADE THE DIFFERENCE AT THE END OF THE COLD WAR, THE UNITED STATES BEING ABLE TO PRESERVE ITS SUPERPOWER STATUS, WHILE THE SOVIET UNION COLLAPSED AND DISAPPEARED AS A STATE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jewish religious life in the Soviet Union is typically the subject of dichotomous depictions that offer only a superficial rendering of this rich and complex environment. This paper aims to complicate this image by pointing out several religious thinkers who engaged with Communist and Marxist ideas and incorporated them into their religious thought, while upholding rabbinic culture. Among the figures and themes examined are Alter Hilewitz's (1906–1994) Hasido-Marxism, Rabbi Avraham Yosef Guttman's (1870–1940) crisis of faith, and Shmuel Alexandrov's (1865–1941) use of Russian Nietzscheanism. Alexandrov was also the narrator who revealed these fascinating ideas to us in a rare collection of his letters, which possesses both a philosophical and a theological nature. These letters, which have received very little attention in previous studies, provide a small window into the conflictual world of rabbis and yeshiva students in the first decade of the Soviet Union. Reviewing the ideas generated in a struggle to make sense of one of the great crises of modern Judaism, and pondering questions of historical perspective and how empathy may distort it, this article wishes to go beyond the image of a defensive preservation of religious life and to re-envision this unique and innovative period of Jewish thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns one of the first displays of ethnic violence in the recent history of the USSR that took place in the city of Sumgait in the Azerbaijan SSR in February 1988 and was the start of violence of an anti-Armenian nature. It is a study of contemporary perceptions, definitions and terminology. Arising from this object, this paper examines the following questions: • What were Armenian perceptions and characteristics of the Sumgait massacres and the factors that governed their conditions • What definitions and perceptions were merited as a result of the Sumgait massacres by the Azerbaijan side • How were the Sumgait massacres evaluated by the international public and the USSR leadership • What were the definitions of the terms given to the Sumgait massacres and their characteristics. Research has been carried out on the basis of specialist literature, archival materials, witness statements, contemporary periodical press etc. Descriptions, analyses, narrative analyses and comparative methods were also utilized in this study. As a result of the research carried out, the conclusion was reached that the February 1988 massacres of the Armenian population of the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait by the participants, various political circles and structures, conditioned by several factors, merited different appraisals. On the Armenian side, they were immediately linked, in the collective Armenian consciousness, to the Armenian Genocide realized in the 20th century within the Ottoman Empire. The central authorities, arising out of Soviet national policy principles, interpreted the event as “mass unrest”. In its euphemistic definitions, the Azerbaijani side attempted to “neutralize” the ethnically based violence used against a part of the population. The “Armenian intrigue and treachery” theory, as a “legal” explanation of the violence, aims to justify the crimes committed and evade any responsibility for them. The international public saw the Sumgait massacres in an ethnic context, stressing the laudable, necessary measures taken by the central authorities to prevent and stop them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The livestock sector of the Republic of Moldova has been in a continuous decline since the collapse of the USSR, with sharp reductions in the production of pork meat (by 2.5 times), beef (by 13 times), poultry (-50%) and milk (by 5.2 times). Revitalization of the livestock sector has become of the priorities of the current public policies implemented in the country, new measures of public support like direct payments per head of livestock being implemented in order to boost the sector’s performance. The paper aims to analyse the current state of the livestock sector in the Republic of Moldova, with an emphasize on the subsectors with the most competitive potential that require an improved or additional public support. The descriptive, comparative and analytical research methods have been used in order to develop conclusions and recommendations with respect to the further development of the livestock sector in the Republic of Moldova. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the role of military culture in defense policymaking. It focuses on Russia's post-Soviet civil–military relations and military reform attempts. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's armed forces were in a state of despair. Despite having relative institutional autonomy, the military neither made itself more effective before minister Serdyukov nor tried to overthrow the government. The paper uses the advocacy coalition framework's belief system approach to analyze data from military memoirs, parliamentary speeches, and 15 interviews. The research shows that the military's support for institutional autonomy, combined with its elites' self-serving bias, critically contributed to what I term an "imperfect equilibrium" in Russian civil–military relations: the military could not reform itself and fought back against radical, though necessary, changes imposed by civilian leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a wide array of original documents collected from Bulgarian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Serbian diplomatic, party and security services archives, reflecting Havana's foreign policy during the Cold War. The article's narrative follows Cuba's Cold War foreign policy in the 1970s. Through its multipolar archival research methodology, the paper aims to help us acquaint a more nuanced and fuller picture of the complex and evolving character of Cuba's Cold War internationalism as seen through the eyes of Moscow's East European allies, marking a clear departure from existing literature mostly engaging Soviet or American sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In respect to CO2 emissions, the post-Soviet states are a scientifically interesting object of research, as each of the countries has developed via different paths since reclaiming independence from the Soviet Union. Given that each country has a different approach to the use of fossil resources, it is essential to assess their input to global carbon footprint individually. Such assessment then allows to find certain actions in the development of legislation and to apply focused techniques to reduce carbon emissions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fossil CO2 emissions produced in the Baltic States from 1991 onward, describing challenges relating to sustainability and socio-economic, scientific, and integrated approaches to sustainable development, including clean and efficient use of energy, and thus addressing climate challenges. This paper reports on data on CO2 emissions in the Baltic States. The results show that the transition of the Baltic States from the specificities of the Soviet Union's economy to an economy integrated into global markets has led to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. However, the development and implementation of national policies for sustainable development are still crucial for mitigation of the climate crisis. Further actions must include the implementation and monitoring of policies for sustainable development, changing of the consumption and production patterns, education and awareness of sustainability, and adaptation to global climate change, while also addressing sustainability challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews Georgia's digital trust formation process and underlines the most important challenges for the online business sector. This research can be generalized for most developing countries where the digital transition process is on the agenda, especially for countries that have recently emerged from economic-political transition. Georgia has completed the transition from a centrally planned economic system (the heritage of being part of the Soviet Union) to a free market economy. Although trust in institutions is improving gradually, mistrust in business processes is still a great challenge for local business sectors. A wide-reaching lockdown caused by the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic pushed both firms and individuals further towards online activity worldwide. In this regard, trust has become the key determinant in facilitating electronic transactions. Technological advances are providing dozens of tools to improve customer satisfaction and trust, which should lead to customer loyalty. On the other hand, lack of digital skills and digital security problems raises digital untrust concerns. Therefore, trust research in the digital economy is becoming more actual for academic or business studies. Digital trust is a multidimensional factor that is under the influence of digital and physical operations. In Georgia, businesses have to overcome obstacles built-in people's minds as a heritage of the Soviet Union. Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union for 70 years, which critically degraded the trust of both formal and informal institutions. Therefore, building digital trust in business is getting more complex as it includes traditional trust problems and digital challenges too. The main research purpose in this paper is to present the digital trust forming process in Georgia to reveal the major problems. This study involved the trust stack model in analysing three different stages of trust formation in the Georgian digital economy (trust in the idea, trust in the platform, trust in the individual). The research identified challenges and steps which should be carried out soon. Research academic findings and methodological approaches can be used to analyze other developing countries whose economies are influenced by the digital transformation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of spin-orbit interaction, developed by E.I. Rashba more than 30 years ago, stimulated the rapid development of a new discipline - spintronics - the physics of processes and devices based on the control of spins. The paper summarizes achievements of Prof. Rashba in the early stage of his scientific researches, particularly those, which were performed in Ukraine. Among them, prediction of electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR), phase transitions in spin-orbit coupled systems driven by change of the Fermi surface topology, giant oscillator strength of impurity excitons, and coexistence of free and self-trapped excitons. Solid state physics is the basis of contemporary electronics and optoelectronics. Various electronic, optical, acoustical and other effects and processes in solid define performances of modern solid state devices. Multitude of groups and thousands researchers are involved in discovering, study and using relevant new phenomena. Among them, Professor Emmanuel Rashba with his outstanding results in physics of crystals is seen (rises) as a profound personality. His contribution in almost all branches of solid state physics cannot be exaggerated, some of his results have found important applications. Prof. E.I. Rashba is known as one of the leading theorists in Ukraine, in Soviet Union, and he continued the successful career in United States. Although many years have already passed, scientific community in Ukraine remembers Prof. E.I. Rashba and thankfully appreciates his impact to formation of condensed matter researches in our country. This short text is devoted to Prof. E.I. Rashba and is written on the occasion of his birthday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The five new Central Asian States that emerged from the fall of the Soviet Union began a process of State capacity building and the rule of law in their territories. Even though each one has its particularities, the continuity of autocratic political systems is a common factor among them. The privileged geographical position of Central Asia as a mandatory step between Europe and Asia, and its fundamental role in the energy security of world great powers, make the region increasingly important within the political and economic dynamics of the current International System. This might be a factor of analysis that affects changes and configurations in the political arena. This paper examines the extent to which external factors influence domestic politics by drawing on the theoretical background of authoritarian regimes and democratic transition, historical liaisons after the fall of the Soviet Union, as well as external factors such as security affairs, international trade, infrastructure projects in oil and gas pipelines, and competence for scarce water resources in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Berdychiv, a traditional center of Jewish culture and religion, was subjected to an intense "modernization" drive after the Soviet seizure of power. The Bolsheviks aimed to create a new society by tearing down old social structures and replacing them with secular, socialist alternatives. But in the early years of the Soviet Union, the question of how to realize this project was still a matter of experimentation. This paper discusses the sovietization efforts in Berdychiv during the 1920s and looks at how they transformed the town. It does so by focusing on the Soviet nationalities and religion policies with respect to the Jewish population, Berdychiv's largest ethnic group. It argues that the early Soviet leadership managed to create a Jewish proletarian culture and forced a rift between the generations, thus causing lasting changes in the town's social fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the issue of the state border. It emphasizes the fact that the state border is a multi-component and multifunctional phenomenon. It was proved that a legally established and internationally recognized border acquires a sign of politicality. The political boundary is a holistic and dynamic phenomenon, inherent in the internal logic of development. The issues of functioning and institutional support of state borders were generalized. The influence of state borders on the development of border territories was revealed. A scheme for the development and integration of contact border areas has been developed. The factors of contact border regions development were studied, as well as the process of various types of regional socio-economic systems formation under the condition of the predominance of state border certain functions. The importance of the functioning of state borders and the development of border regions for the formation of various types of ties, the level of stability of the border and the formation of a political environment have been clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introductory article to the special issue "Empire, Colonialism, and Famine in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" begins by pointing to some recent literature on famine theory, where stress has been made on responses of authorities to famine and on the political nature of modern famines. Literature on the connection between imperial policies, colonial rule, and famine is also briefly discussed. The Soviet Union is treated as an empire in the essay, and some of the literature on this question is also surveyed. The article then offers summaries of and highlights from essays in this volume that resulted from papers presented at two conferences on the theme "Empires and Famines in Comparative Historical Perspective," held in 2016 in Toronto and in 2017 in Kyiv. These include papers on famine and food policies during World War II in occupied Ukraine and Moldova. Essays on famines in Soviet Ukraine, British-ruled Ireland, and British-ruled Bengal, India, are summarized as well as an essay on Raphaël Lemkin's views on genocide and famine and an essay that looked at minorities in Mao's China during the 1958-62 famine. The essay concludes with the observation that the investigation of imperial policies, colonial rule, and famine should be pursued further, especially in the case of the Soviet Union where this line of research is just beginning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the hybrid nature of the Ukrainian political and administrative process. It argues that the deeply rooted inconsistency of social order in Ukraine was produced by the rapid redefinition of the basic principles of economic and social life in the last two decades, after the fall of the Soviet Union. The lack of legitimacy is the core reason for this hybridity and is a problem of cultural and social values. A legitimacy deficit brings plebiscitary trends to politics and develops instability in legislation and administration. This research applies the potential of Max Weber’s theory to explain previous internal political crises and to accentuate the consequences for public administration in Ukraine. A comparative juxtaposition of Weberian concepts and meanings can be used to develop a more refined description of the Ukrainian situation. The results of sociological monitoring validate these research conclusions. Hybridity and plebiscitarianism threaten the values of Ukrainian democracy and impede democratic governance. Only comprehensive political and administrative efforts can ensure the integrity of this order and decrease the risk of far-reaching instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of the USSR resulted in religious revivals in all former republics, including Ukraine. Religion provided security and emotional support. It legitimized political elites, while some churches also offered public goods, substituting the state. With time, religion became a crucial component of the national identities. Despite many similarities to other primely Orthodox countries, Ukraine has been unique in its religious landscape. Several Orthodox jurisdictions have competed for the status of the national church, which allowed religious fragmentation in all regions of Ukraine. This paper shows the importance of religious pluralism in Ukraine during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the development of Jewish studies in Germany since reunification. After a brief historical review of the subject in the nineteenth century with the development of modern Reform Judaism and the science of Judaism (Wissenschaft des Judentums) created by Jewish religious and secular scholars, it focuses on the development of the past thirty years, in which not only the Jewish community but also Jewish studies have increased in importance. The growth of the Jewish community was largely due to immigration from the Soviet Union, but also partly to young Israelis who moved to Berlin. In line with these different backgrounds, a new interest in diaspora research emerged. The paper also deals with the difference between German Jewish studies (necessarily shaped by the Holocaust) and those of most other countries, where Jewish studies are mainly designed by Jewish scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on extraterrestrial civilisations in Russia date back to the end of the 19th century. The modern period of SETI studies began in the USSR in the early 1960s. The first edition of the I.S. Shklovsky's book Universe, Life, Intelligence published in 1962 was a founding stone of SETI research in the USSR. A number of observational projects in radio and optical domains were conducted in the 1960s–1990s. Theoretical studies focused on defining optimal spectral domains for search of artificial electromagnetic signals, selection of celestial targets in search for ETI, optimal methods for encoding and decoding of interstellar messages, estimating the magnitude of astro-engineering activity of ETI, and developing philosophical background of the SETI problem. Later, in the 1990s and in the first two decades of the 21st century, in spite of acute underfunding and other problems facing the scientific community in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, SETI-oriented research continued. In particular, SETI collaborations conducted a number of surveys of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way, searched for Dyson spheres and artificial optical signals. Several space broadcasting programs were conducted too, including a radio transmission toward selected stars. Serious rethinking was given to incentives for passive and active participation of space civilisations in SETI and CETI. This paper gives an overview of past SETI activities. It also gives a comprehensive list of publications by authors from Russia, the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space, as well as some SETI publications by other authors. The rich heritage of SETI research presented in the paper might offer a potentially useful background and starting point for developing strategy and specific research programs of the near future. • Search for extraterrestrial intelligence as a multi-disciplinary science topic. • A century-long history of studies on cosmic civilisations in Russia and USSR. • A comprehensive list of references on search of extraterrestrial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploitation of natural forests forms expanding frontiers. Simultaneously, protected area frontiers aim at maintaining functional habitat networks. To assess net effects of these frontiers, we examined 16 case study areas on five continents. We (1) mapped protected area instruments, (2) assessed their effectiveness, (3) mapped policy implementation tools, and (4) effects on protected areas originating from their surroundings. Results are given as follows: (1) conservation instruments covered 3–77%, (2) effectiveness of habitat networks depended on representativeness, habitat quality, functional connectivity, resource extraction in protected areas, time for landscape restoration, "paper parks", "fortress conservation", and data access, (3) regulatory policy instruments dominated over economic and informational, (4) negative matrix effects dominated over positive ones (protective forests, buffer zones, inaccessibility), which were restricted to former USSR and Costa Rica. Despite evidence-based knowledge about conservation targets, the importance of spatial segregation of conservation and use, and traditional knowledge, the trajectories for biodiversity conservation were generally negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetics in the Soviet Union (USSR) achieved state-of-the-art results and had reached a peak of development by the mid-1930s due to the efforts of the scientific schools of several major figures, including Sergei Navashin, Nikolai Koltsov, Grigorii Levitsky, Yuri Filipchenko, Nikolai Vavilov, and Solomon Levit. Unfortunately, the Soviet government distrusted intellectually independent science and this led to state support for a fraudulent pseudoscientific concept widely known as Lysenkoism, which hugely damaged biology as a whole. Decades of dominance of the Lysenkoism had ruinous effects and the revival of biology in the USSR in the late 1950s-early 1960s was very difficult. In fact, this was realized to be a problem for Soviet science as a whole, and many mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and other scientists made efforts to rehabilitate genetics and to transfer biology to the "jurisdiction" of science from that of politics. The key events in the history of these attempts to pushback against state interference in science, and to promote the development of genetics and molecular biology, are described in this paper. These efforts included supportive letters to the authorities (e.g., the famous "Letter of three hundred"), (re)publishing articles and giving lectures on "forbidden" science, and organizing laboratories and departments for research in genetics and molecular biology under the cover of nuclear physics or of other projects respected by the government and Communist party leaders. The result was that major figures in the hard sciences played a major part in the revival of genetics and biology in the USSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper summarized the arguments and counterarguments in the scientific debate on the impact of corruption on a country's brand. The modern approaches to the analysis of corruption's impact on the country's macroeconomic indicators were analysed. The authors justified that increasing the corruption's level is considered as one of the most significant deterrents to the radical political and economic changes taking place in the countries by society. The main purpose of the paper is to analyse the long-term cause-and-effect relationships between Control of Corruption and the country's brand. Four European countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine) were selected as the object of the investigation, which pursued an evolutionary policy of reforming the political and economic system after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which encouraged the practice of eliminating corruption. The research period was 2000-2018. With a purpose to check the hypothesis of the investigation the 3-stage algorithm to estimate the long-term cause-and-effect relationships between Control of Corruption and the key parameters of the country brand is developed. The developed algorithm was based on the Augmented Dicker-Fuller test and granger casualty test. It is established that for Ukraine, the interconnections between Control of Corruption and International migrant stock, Control of Corruption and Exports of goods and services, Control of Corruption and Foreign direct investment had a unidirectional character of influence of the corruption's level on the components of the country's brand. The findings proved that 51.73%, 43.79% and 66% of the total fluctuations of International migrant stock, Exports of goods and services, Foreign direct investment depend on changes in the level of corruption in the country. The obtained results allowed concluding that for the European Union countries (Poland, Lithuania and Latvia) it was the country brand that had a positive impact on reducing the corruption's level. It was justified that the choice of a specific model for combating the corruption's level in the chosen countries significantly determined the course of their political transformation and influenced the change's rate of the social and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article takes under consideration three versions of the ensemble (statistical) interpretation of quantum mechanics and discusses the interconnection of these interpretations with the philosophy of science. To emphasize the specifics of the problem of interpretation of quantum mechanics in the USSR, the Marxist ideology is taken into account. The present paper continues the author's previous analysis of ensemble interpretations which emerged in the USA and USSR in the first half of the 20th century. The author emphasizes that the ensemble approach turned out to be a dead end for the development of the interpretation of quantum mechanics in Russia. The article also argues that in Soviet Russia, the classical Copenhagen (standard) approach to quantum mechanics was used. The Copenhagen approach was developed by Lev Landau in 1919-1931 and became the basis of the Landau-Lifshitz famous course on quantum mechanics, one of the classics of twentieth-century physics literature (the first edition was published in 1947). Although Vladimir A. Fock's approach to the interpretation of quantum mechanics differs from the standard presentation by Lev Landau and Evgeny Lifshitz, Fock put forward a very important principle that complementarity is a "firmly established law of nature". The fundamental writings of Lev Landau, Vladimir Fock and Igor Tamm, the authors of the mid-twentieth century, did a lot to defend the standard point of view such as the popular interpretations by Landau and Lifshitz. This approach can be traced back to Landau's early writings and to Fock's criticism of the ensemble approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid carcinoma in people exposed to radiation during their childhood and adolescence is the only solid cancer for which the incidence increase as a result of the Chernobyl accident is regarded to be proven. The main evidence in favor of a cause-effect relationship between radiation and thyroid cancer incidence increase comes from epidemiologic studies. Bias in some studies was caused by the screening effect, improved diagnostics after the accident, overdiagnosis, registration of patients from non-contaminated territories as Chernobyl victims, recall bias, dose-dependent selection and self-selection. Prior to the accident, the registered incidence of pediatric thyroid carcinoma was lower in the former Soviet Union than in other industrialized countries i.e. there were undiagnosed cases in the population. The screening found not only small nodules but also late-stage tumors interpreted as radiogenic cancers developing after a short latency. Pediatric thyroid cancers detected during first 10 years after the accident were larger than those detected later on average, many tumors being poorly differentiated and metastatic. The relationship of thyroid cancer and Chernobyl exposures is not denied here; however, it is argued that the quantity of radiogenic cases has been overestimated according to the mechanisms discussed in this paper. In addition, it is suggested that results of some Chernobyl-related molecular-genetic and other studies should be re-evaluated, considering that many tumors detected by the screening or brought from non-contaminated areas and registered as exposed to the fallout were advanced cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects the main historical stages of the formation of Ukrainian Pentecostal theology over the past thirty years: from the “birth” of the first church schools to the defense dissertations of doctoral level. Author has presented connection between post-soviet Pentecostal dogmatic system with evangelical traditional of dispensationalism and literal hermeneutic method in study of the Bible. Obviously, that Pentecostal Churches were strongly influenced through the Baptist Bible Courses in Moscow, because many Pentecostal leaders completed them. The author demonstrated the role of Bible Seminaries founded in independent Ukraine by western missioners of leading church`s unions, like the Assembly of God and the Church of God. The article identifies two models of the Pentecostal education (“church” and “academic” approaches) that address to the different needs of church society. “Church” type of theological education tries to teach important topics connected with applied questions of church ministry. However, this approach has a weak side hidden in methodology of research. As a result, not all research papers completed by graduates of the church-oriented school are interesting for Ukrainian scientific society. For control of quality in Ukrainian theological schools, EAAA was founded. Another direction of the development of the Ukrainian pentecostal theological model thinking is the “academic model” of theological education, that today develops in cooperation with state institutions. Through the analysis of the topics of defended dissertations, the author identifies key trends in the development of the Ukrainian Pentecostal movement. Among key topics, there is introspective research of the own roots, reasons of spreading alternative church movement in USSR, and its place on the World religious map. Like prognostic conclusion of all the text, the author identified several topics that may be interesting for Western academic partners, like “theology of Maidan”, “Church peaceful strategies for East of Ukraine” and “Ecological theology in light of Chernobyl’s tragedy”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the study of the state of development of the issue and the availability of scientific world achievements on the institutional history of the US Department of State. Using the historiographical and problematic research method, the main aspects that reveal the essence of the State Department as a state institution were identified. That is why such aspects as institutional history, legal framework, Secretaries of State (taking into account gender) were chosen for historiographical analysis, as these positions are the minimum that give institutions the status of legitimacy. It was expedient to characterize the available literature on the research topic in accordance with the geographical factor. That is why the scientific achievements are divided into separate layers: foreign literature (mostly American), scientific works of Ukrainian authors and Russian historiography (chosen as a contrast to the existing American). It is pointed out that American scientific papers are fundamental to research and have certain features: they are quite close to the official views of the State Department, not critical enough or full of traditional formulations; however, in general, it is worth noting the fundamentality and detail. Ukrainian scientific achievements are essential in the issue of US foreign policy or Ukrainian- American relations, but not in the history of the State Department, so the author emphasizes the lack of comprehensive Ukrainian research on this topic. A characteristic feature of Russian historiography is the extreme politicization that was and is caused by the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union then, and the United States and the Russian Federation today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contextualizes the development of Ukrainian higher education in broad historical, geopolitical, and socio-economic realities. The author argues that these realities determine the current Ukrainian education trajectory. Higher education reforms in Ukraine are analyzed in the context of two major influences: European regionalization and inherited Soviet structures in education. Particular focus is placed on the Bologna Process, the European education initiative to standardize higher education in Europe. Soviet organizational and administrative principles are outlined and analyzed as the second influence that determines Ukraine's unique educational developments. A brief overview of higher education reforms in Ukraine notes the distinctive changes in the legal framework between 1996 and 2014. Ukrainian education reforms within this period are viewed from the perspective of the Bologna Process, a series of voluntarily agreements between European countries to establish a common European Higher Education Area to retain the regions' influence and competitiveness. Contesting voices regarding the European-associated education reforms range from unquestionable support (Europhiliac) to absolute rejection (Europhobic). Such contesting voices reflect the Ukrainian society's broader understanding of its complex educational challenges. The author argues that public concerns about reforms in Ukraine initiated with the Bologna Process, originate in the nature of the reforms, the Ukrainian educational system and its foundational principles, public stereotyping of the reforms, and the unstable political situation in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shrinking communities face a myriad number of problems. The physical manifestation of urban shrinkage can best be noted in abandoned or underutilized properties, an oversupply or deteriorating housing stock and inadequate aging infrastructure. These physical manifestations lead to psychological impacts of poor perception of a community, lack of a sense of place, lethargic residents who lack the financial means or motivation to improve their living conditions. Planning for the regeneration and rightsizing of shrinking communities calls for intervention by government sectors. Valga is a small town in Estonia where housing vacancies, low quality of residential premises and the shortage of quality apartments are the result of decades of depopulation. As a result of housing privatization after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a large majority of the dwellings are privately owned. Housing demolitions and revitalization are a key part of the small town's strategy to deal with shrinkage. This paper addresses the question: in an area of urban shrinkage, what kind of housing policy can local government create in the conditions of prevailing private ownership of residential premises? Drawing on a qualitative case study of the town of Valga, the findings show that housing policy plays an important role in urban recovery for a shrinking community and the leadership capacity of local government in this process is critical. Ownership constrains in housing policy can be overcome but the lack of municipal finance and human resources together with insufficient legislation and missing cooperation with the private sector impedes the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparative analysis of how Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania handled the process of nation-building, finding their self in their new reality which was no longer created and manipulated by the Soviets since their breakaway from the USSR. To do so, this paper suggests an ingenious method of the identity politics analysis which focuses on the importance of the so-called "lieux de mémoire" or "meaning-full places" for people. Monuments and statues are good examples of such places and play an important role in identity construction due to their ability to evoke particular kinds of feelings in people. Undertaking an in-depth analysis of monuments in Baltic States provides a valuable insight on the possibilities and challenges of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia to develop communities of shared values and to finally stop living in the shade of their "post-Sovietness". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Electric Propulsion (EP) on satellites for commercial, defense, and space science missions has been increasing in recent decades, from the first successful operation in 1964 aboard the Zond-2 spacecraft to the present day. This paper provides an overview of the technological and commercial development of EP systems that have been deployed. A review of the early years of EP application ends in 1980, when the first geostationary commercial satellite using EP, Intelsat-V, was launched. Beyond 1980, all EP-based spacecraft deployment data through 2018 are presented, divided by spacecraft type: GEO-synchronous satellite, LEO satellites, deep-space missions and small satellites. To date, a total of 587 spacecraft have been launched with some variant of electric propulsion. During the 1960s and 1970s, all 48 spacecraft using EP were government missions, with the US and USSR leading in the development, production, and flight of these systems. These first platforms included a variety of pulsed plasma thrusters, resistojets, arcjets, ion thrusters and Hall thrusters. The number of GEO satellites with electric propulsion systems has increased significantly since 1981, from an average of less than 5 satellites per year during the 1980s to over 15 in recent years. The corresponding annual fraction of EP based GEO satellite launches, compared to all GEO satellite launches, has increased from 20% during the 1980s to over 40% in recent years. For LEO applications, a gradual increase in the utilization of EP has been realized. Of the 167 EP-based LEO platforms deployed, resistojets were the most prolific legacy thruster type (124 S/C) with Hall thrusters gaining traction in recent years (25 S/C), appearing on 19 of 45 satellite missions in the past decade. Of all EP-based LEO missions, approximately half served as testbeds for new technologies. Through 2018, eight deep space spacecraft with EP have been launched, with the US, Japan, and the European Union leading these efforts. Small satellites are also benefiting from this technology, with 24 EP-based small satellites launched to date. Nearly half of these were launched between 2016 and 2018, demonstrating accelerated growth and a large potential for the future of this spacecraft class. • Overview of all electric propulsion missions, divided into mission classes. • For each mission type statistics are presented on the different thruster subclasses. • Arguments are given for the historical trends of the use of electric propulsion subclasses. • Current trends, for the growth/use of classes of electric propulsion, are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary Russian migration regime is grounded in an artificial shortage of legal labour. For migrant workers from 'visa-free' states of the former Soviet Union, becoming and remaining documented requires mastering the queue as a distinct social and institutional form. Exploring the everyday tactics of 'occupying the queue' among migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan, this paper brings an existentially sensitive perspective on migration into conversation with an anthropology of legal time, attentive to the ways in which being 'stuck in motion' emerges through the conjunction of competing tempi of work, life, and legalization. A focus on the queue as social form draws attention to the embodied labour of synchronization: the physical and social effort entailed in integrating the disjunctive temporal regimes of paid work and documentary verification in contexs of legal precarity. In so doing, the article critically interrogates assumptions of 'empty time' in recent anthropological work on waiting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soviet military mapping project was the most comprehensive cartographic endeavour of the twentieth century. The resulting maps have been commercially available to the West since at least 1993, when a Latvian business first offered Soviet plans of Western cities for sale at the 16th International Cartographic Conference in Cologne, Germany. Covering the globe at a range of scales, Soviet military maps provide a fascinating – if disconcerting – view of familiar territory with a striking aesthetic. But they also provide a substantial untapped geospatial resource, often with an unparalleled level of topographic detail. This paper gives an overview of the Soviet global military mapping programme and its coverage of Poland, including the 1:25,000-scale city plan of Warsaw (printed in 1981). By illustrating the extensive topographic symbology employed at various scales of mapping, it suggests how these maps may offer scope for regional studies and how their cartographic language can provide some solutions for addressing the ongoing challenges of mapping the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to explain the need for geopolitics and how it influenced the decision making of various statesmen throughout political history. Since ancient times, geopolitical conditions have determined the courses and strategies of various civilizations driving them into conflict or allowing them to prosper. In the 19th century geopolitics became a necessary knowledge for statesmen, politicians and leaders who wished to engage into a turbulent arena of world politics. For them the geopolitics provided awareness and information about other world players, about their assets and liabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Following the rules of geopolitics grand strategies have been designed. The grand strategy of containment marked an entire epoch in modern human history. Employed by the US, containment was aimed against the Soviet Union in order to curb its expansion and to sustain the balance of power. Although successful, after its initial objective took a new shape of statehood, containment as a strategy had a rough time adjusting to the new world order. First section of the article will be dedicated to the development of geopolitics and how it influenced the states and their foreign policy decision making. In the second part of the article there will be an attempt to explain how containment worked as a grand strategy during the Cold War, its objectives, methods of applications and most importantly how does containment work in our contemporary world and is it viable as a strategy for achieving foreign policy goals? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main measures of antireligious propaganda, its legislative and theoretical foundations as those of the new line of ideological work are analyzed in the paper, based on the systemic, problematic and chronological, information approaches and materials of the federal and regional archives of the Russian Federation. The authors single out distinctive features of antireligious campaigning both at the general state level and in the European North of Russia in 1918-1924 (up to 1925, when the "League of the Godless" was founded). Close attention is paid to the specific way antireligious opinions were presented in the regional press, to the forms, methods and results of holding local "komsomol Christmas" and "komsomol Easter", as well as to evaluating the causes and forms of antireligious activity in Soviet Russia and the USSR in works of the Russian and foreign researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, specific features of scientific research work at the particular period of time are described. Specific examples of successful implementation of the results of higher education institution science in production are cited and causes of failures are analyzed. The problems of interaction that remain unresolved are listed, and objective difficulties emerging during performance of scientific research work on certain topics are identified. Methods and forms of interaction management have been studied using the case of the Master contract of creative cooperation and mutual assistance being made and exercised in practice between a higher education institution and the backbone enterprise. The authors give grounds for it being necessary to organize the interaction of science, education and production in order to solve the scientific and technical, social and economic problems of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Hegel's place in the philosophy of Eval'd Il'enkov (1924-1979). Hegel's ideas had a huge impact on Il'enkov's conception of the nature of philosophy and of the philosopher's mission, and they formed the core of his distinctive account of thought and its place in nature. At the same time, Il'enkov was victimized for his 'Hegelianism' throughout his career, from the time he was sacked from Moscow State University in 1955 to the ideological criticisms that preceded his death in 1979. After considering Hegel's influence on the history of Russian thought, the paper focuses on Hegelian themes in Il'enkov's 1974 book, Dialektičeskaja logika and evaluates their philosophical significance. Finally, parallels are explored between Il'enkov's situation at the end of his life and the plight of Nikolaj Bukharin, incarcerated in the Lubjanka prison in 1936 and at work on Philosophical arabesques. Both thinkers confronted the contradiction between their confidence in the rationality of history and the tragic absurdity of Soviet reality, and both responded by affirming their fidelity to Lenin and his vision of Marxism. In this way, they sought to make sense of their respective situations in the face of extreme adversity. That they so much as thought it worth trying owed much to Hegel's influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews research articles published in the former USSR and post-soviet countries on the consolidation of powder materials using electric current that passes through the powder sample and/or a conductive die-punch set-up. Having been published in Russian, many of the reviewed papers are not included in the mainstream electronic databases of the scientific articles and thus are not known to the scientific community. The present review is aimed at filling this information gap. In the paper, the electric current-assisted sintering techniques based on high- and low-voltage approaches are presented. The main results of the theoretical modeling of the processes of electromagnetic field-assisted consolidation of powder materials are discussed. Sintering experiments and related equipment are described and the major experimental results are analyzed. Sintering conditions required to achieve the desired properties of the sintered materials are provided for selected material systems. Tooling materials used in the electric current-assisted consolidation set-ups are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soviet Union played the leading role in fish introductions in Eurasia. However, only 3% of all introductions prior to 1978 gave a commercial benefit. One of the noteworthy examples appears to be the Sevan trout (Salmo ischchan Kessler, 1877)—an endemic salmonid of Lake Sevan in Armenia. This species has been introduced to Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, however, only the Kirghiz population has persisted in relatively high numbers. In this paper we provide the first extensive molecular study of S. ischchan using samples from the native population from Lake Sevan and three hatcheries in Armenia, as well as from the population introduced to Lake Issyk Kul in Kirghizstan. The Kirghiz population has been isolated since the introductions took place in 1930 and 1936. Our results, based on 11 nuclear microsatellites and a 905 bp fragment of the mitochondrial control region suggest that hatcheries have maintained genetic variability by way of ongoing translocations of individuals from Lake Sevan. Simultaneously, significant Garza-Williamson M-values suggest that bottlenecks could have reduced the genetic variability of the wild populations in the past. This hypothesis is supported by historical data, indicating highly manipulated water-level regulations and poaching as two main factors that dramatically impact fish abundance in the lake. On the other hand, a similar situation has been observed in Kirghizstan, but this population likely rebounded from small population size faster than the other populations examined. The Kirghiz population is significantly genetically differentiated from the other groups and have morphological features and biological attributes not observed in the source population. Genetic data imply that the effective population size in the native population is lower than that found in the introduced population, suggesting that some active protection of the Lake Sevan population may be needed urgently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental idea developed within this paper --he result of a thorough study of the recent bibliography on the relationships between the Komintern and Latin America-- is that there exist new conditions, following the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in an attempt to approach, upon less passionate and less compromised bases, from the standpoint of the political parties, the history relevant to analyze the political cultures in Latin America during the XX Century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Soviet Latvia (1940-1941, 1944-1990), as in other Communist-occupied countries, alongside with officially allowed media circulated alternative sources of information - forbidden and secret publications, works of cultural and intellectual movements sharply criticized or concealed by the Soviet power, etc. This paper considers storage and use of books and periodicals, published in the independent Republic of Latvia (1918-1940) and forbidden during the Soviet period. Legally this literature was accessible only at three major research libraries of the Latvian SSR to researchers and specialists with special permissions. Other professional and social groups could reach it illegally - at secret storage places of different libraries, black book markets as well as home libraries. Along with publications in the press, the archive of the central censorship body (the Main Literature Board of the Latvian SSR) and library documents, interviews with librarians and historians are used in the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]