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This paper belongs to a field of research that has appeared comparatively recently, namely, the study of mathematics competitions. The paper utilizes historical-theoretical methodology and is devoted to changes in the way in which mathematics competitions have been conducted in Russia in recent decades. Mathematics competitions, like mathematics education as a whole, are seen as part of a social process, and changes in them are seen as expressions of new social needs and possibilities. The analysis of the system of competitions, as it evolved in the USSR, and the literature devoted to them, makes it possible to identify certain challenges recognized by the mathematics community. In this paper I discuss examples of new competitions that have emerged to address these challenges. It is noted that new types of competitions have emerged, including team competitions and competitions involving mass participation by students. Also discussed is the emergence of new competitions with subject matter closer to that of ordinary school mathematics than that of old, traditional competitions. An analysis of the situation in Russia reveals the existence of a significant group of mathematics educators, parents, and children interested in the development of mathematics competitions. Also, in the paper I call attention to certain questions that I consider worthy of further study.

This paper explores the associations between math-gender stereotypes and two dimensions of student engagement -- class engagement and disengagement -- among Russian engineering students. The data collected in three Russian universities (n = 2,074) were utilised. Structural equation modelling was employed to test hypotheses about relationships between key variables and their variations for male and female subsamples. We revealed that the students' attribution of math-gender stereotypes to faculty slightly decreased class engagement and increased disengagement for both male and female students. Therefore, we hypothesise that male students can be more overconfident about their future performance in exams on math-related subjects because of a better reputation in the eyes of instructors, which can result in less engagement and, as a consequence, lower academic outcomes. These findings demonstrate the high importance of faculty in encouraging engineering student engagement and providing a bias-free learning environment.

The aim of this paper is to describe the innovative teaching approach used in the Southern Federal University, Russia, to teach accounting via a form of matrix mathematics. It thereby contributes to disseminating the technique of teaching to solve accounting cases using mutual calculations to a worldwide audience. The approach taken in this course provides useful insights for both accounting educators and accounting students by providing an alternative explanation and understanding of the main principles of accounting, and does so using a simple game simulation. This paper provides readers with an awareness of the broader international environment of accounting education and of the techniques that can be adopted in the teaching of accounting. The paper also demonstrates that any accounting operation can be represented by matrix equations, and, as a result, adds to the understanding of alternative processes of recording transactions and the mathematical generation of essential accounting reports. The paper thereby reveals the potential value of matrix-based approaches to accounting within the accounting educational environment.

This article investigates the prevalent attitudes toward foreign influences and methodologies in Russian mathematics education at different periods in Russian history. The words "universal responsiveness" belong to Dostoevsky, who, in his famous speech on Pushkin, used them to characterize Pushkin's openness to the genius of all other nations. Moreover, Dostoevsky considered universal responsiveness to be typical of Russians in general. However, the isolationist tradition in Russia has been no less influential. At times this tradition has prevailed, at times it has retreated. It has expressed itself openly in political life--Stalin's campaign against "cosmopolites" was an especially striking example--and its impact on the development of literature and science has been the object of extensive research. Mathematics education, however, has rarely been looked at from this perspective. This paper will focus on a few select episodes from the history of mathematics education in Russia. These episodes, however, clearly demonstrate that a conflict between the isolationist and the internationalist traditions has taken place in this field as well. The paper contains a discussion of Leo Tolstoy's article "On the People's Education", little-known in the West, in which Russian mathematics education is aggressively and favorably contrasted with German methodologies. It also examines a methodological work from 1951, which includes a chapter entitled "From the History of the Struggle against Foreign Influences in Russian Mathematics." On the other hand, the article also looks at materials from Russian mathematics teachers' congresses from before the Russian Revolution, which illustrate Russian involvement and participation in processes taking place abroad. It also analyzes correspondence between the well-known Russian and American mathematics educators Dmitriy Sintsov and David Eugene Smith, discovered by the author, which facilitates a deeper understanding of certain aspects of the issues under investigation.

The paper discusses an example of an educational project in modern mathematics in which school students create mathematics that is new to them. The mathematical results produced by the students in the theory of definability also have an "absolute" novelty, i.e., are the basis for professional publications. The described course was based on recent results of this article's authors in the theory of definability. The new results were obtained by a group of 10 schoolchildren from different regions of Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper belongs to a field of research that has appeared comparatively recently, namely, the study of mathematics competitions. The paper utilizes historical-theoretical methodology and is devoted to changes in the way in which mathematics competitions have been conducted in Russia in recent decades. Mathematics competitions, like mathematics education as a whole, are seen as part of a social process, and changes in them are seen as expressions of new social needs and possibilities. The analysis of the system of competitions, as it evolved in the USSR, and the literature devoted to them, makes it possible to identify certain challenges recognized by the mathematics community. In this paper I discuss examples of new competitions that have emerged to address these challenges. It is noted that new types of competitions have emerged, including team competitions and competitions involving mass participation by students. Also discussed is the emergence of new competitions with subject matter closer to that of ordinary school mathematics than that of old, traditional competitions. An analysis of the situation in Russia reveals the existence of a significant group of mathematics educators, parents, and children interested in the development of mathematics competitions. Also, in the paper I call attention to certain questions that I consider worthy of further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the difficulties afflicting the system of higher education as a result of the decline in the overall level of student training and the "gap between the level of education of secondary school graduates and historically established requirements of higher education in Russia." The author has been teaching sociology majors in a number of the higher educational institutions of Moscow since 1989, the year in which higher sociological education was institutionalized in the country. With the decline in the overall training of the graduates of secondary school, the author examines secondary school graduates' knowledge in two disciplines that are of fundamental importance for future sociologists--history and mathematics. The author presents a wish list to the schools. The article further focuses on a number of the factors that account for secondary school graduates' lack of the knowledge and the ability to read and analyze texts that are necessary for success in institutions of higher learning. Drawing on his personal pedagogical experience, the author also examines a number of facts that reflect the statistical trend and presents conclusions. (Contains 5 notes.)

The political changes in the USSR and Russia almost coincided with the beginning of an unprecedented leap in the development of information technologies in the country (and to a certain extent spurred it). Gradually, many different initiatives emerged to apply these technologies in education in general, and in mathematics education. In the paper, we discuss several examples of didactical innovations in teaching and learning mathematics with technology, namely, LOGO-based microworlds, dynamic geometry and computer algebra systems, as well as verifiers. The examples we provide, along with the theoretical perspective of productive learning and thinking, seem to demonstrate the innovative potential of new tools to make learning more visual, dynamic, and interactive. However, the issues of aligning with curriculum and standard examinations, teacher professional development, and rapid changes in technologies, require more attention by mathematics educators. The presence of such opposite trends makes the task of analyzing the history of the development of mathematics teaching technologies and underlying pedagogies relevant and important for predicting the development of this field in the near (and far-extended) future, and eventually preventing the repetition of errors in this new direction for mathematics education. In the paper we focus primarily on problems and processes in Russia, but they are investigated in connection with and against the backdrop of global trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, Soviet students learned 'pure' mathematics in their mathematics classrooms, while applications of mathematics were introduced in their science (mainly physics) classrooms. This approach was a part of a uniform and rigid national curriculum. Even when in the 1990s the world was moving towards including applications in school mathematics, Russian students continued to engage in pure mathematics learning in their mathematics classrooms. It was physics teachers' responsibility to teach applications of mathematics; therefore, physics courses were highly mathematics-intensive, making extensive use of mathematics from algebra to calculus in the formulation of scientific laws and the investigation of their consequences. The collapse of the Soviet Union and some liberalization in educational policy led to changes in graduation requirements in mathematics and physics as well as diversity in mathematics and physics curricula in schools. Based on a review of textbooks, standards, curriculum documents, and other resources, in this paper we analyze changes that affected the teaching and learning of mathematics in physics classrooms in Russia from the Soviet period to the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and Russia, the largest of the countries formed in its place, has gone through notable changes in the period since then. This paper is devoted to the study of how (and whether) the mathematics curriculum has changed. At one time, before the revolution of 1917, Russian mathematics education was closely connected with Western European mathematics education (above all, German and French). Subsequently, their paths diverged, and later, Russian mathematics education became very highly regarded around the world. What, then, has happened over the last three decades? To what extent does the Russian curriculum today differ from the old Soviet curriculum and from contemporary curricula in other countries? The answers to these questions are of interest to an international audience already because they help in understanding the processes and distinctive characteristics of the development of mathematics education, including differences that might be concealed even behind identical terms. Based on a detailed analysis of Russian standards and textbooks, conclusions are drawn about the processes in the transformation of the curriculum that have occurred over thirty years, including the conclusion that the period of transition that began in the late 1980s is still not over. The Russian curriculum, of course, is not exactly the same as the curriculum of Soviet times, but the differences between them are by no means revolutionary. The paths of the development of mathematics education in Russia and in Western Europe and the United States, having at some point diverged, have still not come back together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orienteering problem (OP) is a routing problem, where the aim is to generate a path through set of nodes, which would maximize total score and would not exceed the budget. In this paper, we present an extension of classic OP—Orienteering Problem with Functional Profits (OPFP), where the score of a specific point depends on its characteristics, position in the route, and other points in the route. For solving OPFP, we developed an open-source framework for solving orienteering problems, which utilizes four core components of OP in its modular architecture. Fully-written in Go programming language our framework can be extended for solving different types of tasks with different algorithms; this was demonstrated by implementation of two popular algorithms for OP solving—Ant Colony Optimization and Recursive Greedy Algorithm. Computational efficiency of the framework was shown through solving four well-known OP types: classic Orienteering Problem (OP), Orienteering Problem with Compulsory Vertices (OPCV), Orienteering Problem with Time Windows (OPTW), and Time Dependent Orienteering Problem (TDOP) along with OPFP. Experiments were conducted on a large multi-source dataset for Saint Petersburg, Russia, containing data from Instagram, TripAdvisor, Foursquare and official touristic website. Our framework is able to construct touristic paths for different OP types within few seconds using dataset with thousands of points of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article profiles Stanislav Ivanovic Pokhozhaev, a mathematician and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences organization. Pokhozhaev has graduated from secondary school in Krasnador, Russia and entered the Aeromechanical Department at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1952. In 1958, he became a postgraduate student in mathematics under the supervision of L. V. Ovsyannkikov. His student paper on supersonic gas jets was published in 1958.

Students' socioeconomic status (SES) is not only directly related to mathematics achievement but also indirectly related to mathematics achievement through their unequal opportunity to learn (OTL). Despite a plethora of studies about how mathematics achievement is associated with SES and OTL, few systematic studies have examined the differential role SES plays in the relationship between curriculum-based mathematics performance and application-based mathematics literacy. To bridge the gap in the literature, this study aims at addressing the relationship between curriculum-based mathematics and application-based mathematics while considering the OTL associated with students at the two different assessment time points. Using the unique data set from the Russian Federation in which a subset of the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) student sample also took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) assessment 1 year later, we found that lower SES students had difficulties in transferring their curriculum-based mathematics knowledge and skills to mathematics literacy, which plays an important role in the present society's high-complexity demands. These results suggest that students with a lower SES need to receive greater attention and focus on their mathematics learning so as to improve their capacity to interpret and evaluate real-world problems mathematically and to make better decisions using this competency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on mathematics concerning degree of noncommutative Jordan Superalgebras of n≥2. It notes that the study proves an analogue of coordination theorem of K. McCrimmon for noncommutative Jordan superalgebras with n≥3. It mentions a classification problem for finite-dimensional noncommutative Jordan superalgebras. It cites a conclusion revolving noncommutative Jordan superalgebras of characteristic 0 and degree ≠2. It acknowledges that the study is back up by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, FAPESP and University of Sao Paulo.

Profiles Anatolii Vladimirovich Yakovlev, a mathematician in Russia. Personal and educational background; Key contributions to mathematics; Predilections.

I am not a historian; these are just reminiscences of a person involved in the development of optimization theory and methods in the former USSR. I realize that my point of view may be very personal; however, I am trying to present as broad and unbiased picture as I can. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays robotics is one of promising avenues in the sphere of emerging technologies. In the teaching/learning environment we deal with educational robotics, which is a mixture of theory and practice, knowledge of computer technology, Mathematics and Physics. The two vectors are combined in educational robotics: the educational vector and the technological vector. As an academic discipline and an area of practical application, Robotics means a very broad spectrum of modern knowledge of diverse academic engineering specialties (fields of expertise). That means that Robotics is interdisciplinary in nature. The work provides an overview of the research aimed at studying Robot – Man interaction. Besides, the work considers some promising international cooperation between children from around the world on the development of robotics, and the experience and benefits gained from such cooperation. As an example of the international cooperation in the sphere of Robotics, the two countries, Russia and Kazakhstan, are considered. The article gives an example of the international cooperation of some educational centers, describes the experience of the work on robotics with children of various ages, and the cooperation of various schools working in this field in Kazakhstan and Russia. The working experience in the sphere of social robotics aimed at helping people has become a priority for the children from the interdisciplinary teams from Russia and Kazakhstan. Interaction and cooperation in the sphere of robotics was also used for introducing unconventional curricula, which included courses on robotic technologies as tools for considering social aspects of robotics and artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an empirically grounded analysis for two fundamentally different models of mathematics teachers' beliefs about student diversity in Russian secondary schools: exclusive and inclusive models. Although teachers' beliefs are considered a central factor for the differentiated approach, teachers' beliefs could be stereotyped and, consequently, the evaluation of a student's ability would be systematically shifted and decisions about the possibility of teaching a student would be incorrect. Semi-structured interviews with 30 mathematics teachers allowed us to investigate what criteria teachers claim to employ while classifying students in the classroom and what expectations they have for each group of students. It was found that within the exclusive model, teachers have an image of a "normal" student and use discrete categories for labelling students with reference to the "normality". Within the inclusive model, teachers tend not to match students with discrete categories; rather they prefer to compare a student only with herself or himself. Research findings are discussed in the context of a possible "fixed effect" on a student's development. However, there is a need for further investigation of a connection between teachers' belief systems, teaching practices and student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on mathematics concerning the problem on unknown boundary for singular integral equations. It notes problems regarding mathematical modeling of natural science processes decrease to singular integral equations such as probing problems. It cites that complicated mathematical models which are not using an essential a priori information regarding the object being examined makes singular equations more difficult. It mentions that study involves the theory of X-ray tomography which focuses on inverse problems of radiation transport. It acknowledges that the study is backed up by the Russian Academy of Sciences, program called "Leading Scientific Schools," and Siberian Division.

Profiles Russian mathematician Aleksandr Vasil'evich Ivanov. Biographical information; Educational background; Analysis of linear and quasilinear parabolic equations; Engagement in the study of nonuniformly elliptic and nonuniformly parabolic quasilinear equations of the second order; Studies of elliptic and parabolic questions; Identification of classes of equations for which certain properties are preserved.

The present study tested the possibility of operationalizing levels of knowledge acquisition based on Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive growth. An assessment tool (SAM-Math) was developed to capture a hypothesized hierarchical structure of mathematical knowledge consisting of procedural, conceptual, and functional levels. In Study 1, SAM-Math was administered to 4th-grade students (N = 2,216). The results of Rasch analysis indicated that the test provided an operational definition for the construct of mathematical competence that included the three levels of mastery corresponding to the theoretically based hierarchy of knowledge. In Study 2, SAM-Math was administered to students in 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th grades (N = 396) to examine developmental changes in the levels of mathematics knowledge. The results showed that the mastery of mathematical concepts presented in elementary school continued to deepen beyond elementary school, as evidenced by a significant growth in conceptual and functional levels of knowledge. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for psychological theory, test design, and educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute alcohol-related dysfunctional behaviours, such as hangover, are predictive of poor health and mortality. Although much is known about the association of education with alcohol consumption, little is known about its association with these dysfunctional behaviours. Methods: The study population was 1,705 male drinkers aged 25–54 years resident in the city of Izhevsk, Russia who participated in a cross-sectional survey (2003–6). Structural equation modelling was used to examine the relationships between education, beverage and non-beverage alcohol intake, drinking patterns, and acute alcohol-related dysfunction score among these drinkers. Results: Dysfunction was related to all other drinking variables, with the strongest predictors being spirit intake, non-beverage alcohol consumption and drinking patterns. There was a strong relationship between education and acute dysfunction which was not explained by adjusting for alcohol intake and drinking patterns (mean adjusted dysfunction score 0.35 SD (95% CI 0.10, 0.61) lower in men with higher versus secondary education). Conclusions: Although by definition one or more aspects of alcohol consumption should explain the educational differences in alcohol-related dysfunction, detailed information on drinking only partly accounted for the observed patterns. Thus beyond their intrinsic interest, these results illustrate the challenges in constructing statistical models that convincingly identify the pathways that link educational differences to health-related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear (exponential) regularities of the variation in the density of the rocks from coeval sedimentary complexes are presented. A series of direct and inverse tasks with and without consideration of the vertical density gradient were solved for the detailed and high-accuracy gravity exploration typical of petroleum geology. It was concluded that an increase in accuracy of a gravity survey better than ±0.20 mGal is of doubtful value if there is no possibility to create and account for the petrodensity dependences σ( Z). The lateral variability of the lithophysical properties of petroleum complexes of local objects is characterized. Algorithms of mathematic programming and the method of 3D geodensity modeling of the objects searched for using seismic exploration are suggested. The inverse linear tasks of high-accuracy gravity exploration are solved by a near-real model universal in complexity, which allowed us to reveal and contour noncompact (highly porous) lithofacies. Within the accepted model, the 3D task of the high-accuracy gravity exploration was solved for the Verkhnenysh gas condensate deposit in Sakhalin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation forecasts from short- and medium-range ensemble prediction system of the Hydrometeorological Research Center of the Russian Federation (Hydrometcenter of Russia) are verified. The verification system includes probabilistic and deterministic scores. The precipitation forecast quality is analyzed for different seasons and large-scale circulation types. Further development of ensemble modeling and verification at the Hydrometcenter of Russia is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The act of 'naming' something has throughout history often been linked to the exertion of power over the thing named. This concept is found in almost all cultures. In mathematics, 'naming' plays an essential role because mathematical objects that have not yet been named are difficult to work with. Many great mathematicians have placed emphasis on 'naming' as the path toward gaining control over the objects they just conceived, including Alexander Grothendieck and Nikolai Luzin (the latter the founder of the Moscow School of Mathematics). Luzin's approach to naming mathematical objects was original: he believed that the act involved both gains and losses. On the one hand, he gained control through naming. On the other hand, he believed that he lost 'the foggy and dark parts that our intuition whispers to us.' Luzin was heavily influenced by the religious heresy 'Name-Worshipping' in his development of Descriptive Set Theory. Name Worshippers believed that the name of God IS God. This influence has been largely missed by historians of mathematics because it has been condemned by two of the most powerful institutions in recent Russian history: the Orthodox Church and the Communist Party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consideration was given to the queuing networks where the intensity of servicing at the nodes does not exceed that of the input flow. The problem of the limit distributions in such networks had risen from the analogy between the queuing networks and the hydrodynamic models. The limit distributions of the number of customers at the network nodes were calculated by modifying the customer flows in the networks under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on mathematics concerning number of limit cycles of upper bounds in generalized Liénard equations of odd type. It mentions that odd type intend the nonaccumulation of limit cycles to infinity which expresses a natural generalization of geometric difference between Liénard equations of even and odd degrees. It notes that Ilyashenko and Panov have obtained the explicit bound on the number of limit cycles in the Liénard equations of even and odd degrees. It acknowledges that the study is backed up by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, program called "Leading Scientific Schools," and program "Universities of Russia."

The article presents a study concerning graphs in relation to neighborhoods of vertices which are considered as pseudogeometric graphs for pGs-2(s,t). It notes that graphs in the said study are being classified. It cites that the degree of a vertex is determined as the number of vertices in its neighborhood. It acknowledges that the study is backed up by several institutions including the Department of Mathematical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

The article presents a study on the theorem concerning regular graphs in which every µ-subgraph is a pentagon. It highlights several types of graphs with an eigenvalue of -2 which faced a variety of problems including the Petersen, Schläfli and Seidil graphs. It mentions that a µ-subgraph is connected coedge-regular graph with two siolated (a + 1)-cliques which solves the problems encountered by many graphs. It states that the study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Mathematical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The article presents the life and works of professor Andrei Borisovich Shidlovskii. Shidlovskii was born on August 13, 1915 in Alatyr, Russia with his parents Boris Andreevich Shidlovskii and Aleksandra Vsevolodovna Shidlovskaya. In 1930, he left his studies to find work for living. From 1936-1937, he was in military service where he continued his studies and received excellent marks and started to make valuable contribution to the theory of transcendental numbers.

Many people would like to know where scientific ideas come from and how they arise. In the case of mathematics, new ideas often come in the form of new "mathematical objects": groups, vector spaces, sets, etc. Some people think these new objects are invented, others that they are discovered. By exploring the birth of descriptive set theory in France and Russia in the period 1890-1930 we show that the leading French mathematicians worked within a rational, secular worldview that made them doubt the legitimacy of infinite sets, particularly nondenumerable ones; on the other hand, the creators of the famous Moscow school of mathematics, particularly those who subscribed to a religious doctrine known as "name-worshipping," believed that humans had absolute freedom to invent mathematical objects. Partly as a result of their different cultural environments, the French and the Russians took different approaches to the same problem. In the end the Russians created a new field, descriptive set theory, at a time when the French remained hesitant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue comprises the abstracts of the reports given in the spring semester, 2005.[The preceding account of the seminar activities can be found in Dierentsial'nye Uravneniya, 2005, vol. 41, no. 2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pays tribute to Nikolai Nikolaevich Krasovskii, a Russian mathematician and specialist in mechanics. Personal background; Career highlights; Scientific activities; Published works; Contributions to the field of qualitative theory of differential equations; Achievements.

Describes the mathematical significance of tourist attractions in Moscow, Russia. Descriptions of Novodevichii Convent Cemetery; Detail of the Luzin Tree; Graves of mathematicians Nadezhda Sergeevna, Ivan Georgievich Petrovskii and Lev Semenovich Pontryagin.

The article presents a study on mathematics concerning Erdös and Lovász's combinatorial problem of lower bounds. It focuses on the extremal problem in the theory of hypergraphs. It notes that Erdös and Lovász have published the problem in 1973 which expresses on finding the minimum possible number of edges of hypergraph in the class of n-uniform simple hypergraphs with a chromatic number larger than r. It acknowledges that the study is backed up by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, program "Leading Scientific Schools," and a grant from the President of the Russian Federation.

The article presents a study concerning the solution to the Cauchy problem for second-order semilinear parabolic equations which is the blow-up. According to the method being presented in the study the nonlinearity of the equation and solutions are not to be assumed as positive. It notes that Cauchy problem is analyzed through nonlinear method which is grounded on optimal test functions. It mentions that the study is backed up by the Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Modern Problems in Mathematics," and Russian Foundation for Basic Research.