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This study attempts to detect papers originating from the Russia‐based paper mill 'International Publisher' LLC. A total of 1,063 offers to purchase co‐authorship on a fraudulent papers published from 2019 to mid‐2022 on the 123mi.ru website were analysed. This study identifies at least 451 papers that are potentially linked to the paper mill, including one preprint, a duplication paper and 16 republications of papers erroneously published in hijacked journals. Evidence of suspicious provenance from the paper mill is provided: matches in title, number of co‐authorship slots, year of publication, country of the journal, country of a co‐authors and similarities of abstracts. These problematic papers are co‐authored by scholars from at least 39 countries and are submitted to both predatory and reputable journals. This study also demonstrates collaboration anomalies in questionable papers and examines indicators of the Russia‐based paper mill. The value of co‐authorship slots offered by 'International Publisher' LLC from 2019 to 2021 is estimated at $6.5 million. Since this study only analysed a single paper mill, it is likely that the number of papers with forged authorship is much higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of the problem posed in the article is caused by the fact that under current conditions it is necessary to develop a comprehensive, but a complete image of Russia as a huge Eurasian state on the basis of effective use of scientific and practical approaches proposed by marketing of territories and tools used in the practice of territorial branding. The purpose of the article is to examine the role and socio-cultural value of paper money as an important instrument of state monetary policy and at the same time an integral attribute of everyday life. The leading methods of investigation of the defined problem are the methods of sociological research and modeling, allowing on the base of an analysis of public opinion research results to highlight the main objects-symbols that Russians prefer to see on modern Russian paper banknotes. The article offers an integrated scientific grouping of objects-symbols on the basis of which it is supposed to form visual images of Russian area space and that then will be reflected on paper banknotes. On the basis of conducted comparative analysis of the objects-symbols selected for banknotes in 1997 and 2016, conclusions about the stability of preferences of Russians are made, and also the fact of increasing symbolic value of Russian paper money is emphasized, despite an increase of the growth of non-cash turnover. Article submissions may be useful for the members of scientific and educational community concerned with the problems of study of marketing of territories and countries, as well as political scientists and representatives of the government.

The article deals with the problem of calculating the volume calendar plan of a paper mill. The presented mathematical model and methods make it possible to schedule paper production orders between several paper machines (PM) to even their loading, devise cutting plans for each winder and arrange the order of their implementation. When forming cutting plans, orders are grouped in accordance with such parameters as grammage, roll diameter, core diameter, product type and number of layers. Deadlines and volumes in customer orders are taken into account. The cutting plans for each winder account for the allowable roll width limits and the maximum number of knives. To find the optimal schedule, a combination of the following criteria is used: minimal trim loss, minimal changes to the knives' setup and smooth transitions by product grades. Solution algorithms are presented that use a combination of the simplex method, the column generation, the branch and bound methods, the greedy algorithm and the local search procedure. We tested the solution approach on real production data from a paper mill in European Russia and obtained the production sequence that better matches deadlines in customer orders compared to the plan devised manually by production planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the tragedy in Ukraine deepens, it's clear that the world should end its dependency on Russian oil. It will be ironic, however, if nations disentangling themselves from this compromised energy source instead turn to another energy source with destructive impacts: harvesting and burning forest wood for fuel, which increases carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, and degrades forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pulp and paper industry is in active development in the northern regions. The ecosystems of northern rivers are less capable of biological self-rinsing and are more sensitive to anthropogenic pollution. Assessment of the pollution of waterbodies is important in order to control the conservation of their bioresources. This article provides a literature review that illustrates the main impacts of wastewater of the pulp and paper industry on aquatic ecosystems. It will be useful for specialists working with monitoring systems. This paper discusses examples of the impact of wastewater of the pulp and paper industry on aquatic organisms at different levels of organization, from the molecular to the ecosystem levels. The review describes the responses of aquatic zoocenoses (zooplankton and zoobenthos) to pollution and the effects of specific substances that enter waterbodies from the effluents of the pulp and paper industry. The paper analyzes information about the transformation of bottom sediments of rivers and lakes in the wastewater zone. An overview of data is given, and the impact of thermal pollution is evaluated. This type of pollution often characterizes industrial wastewater. One of the large rivers in the European part of Russia is the Vychegda River. The rivers in its basin are important in the Komi Republic. Therefore, monitoring of the condition of the communities of aquatic organisms that inhabit it is an urgent task. This paper presents the results of hydrobiological observations carried out on the Vychegda River in the 1980s. At that time, changes in the communities of aquatic organisms in the area of pulp and paper industry were observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like most northern rivers, the Vychegda River, the second largest water system in the Komi Republic and the main tributary of the Northern Dvina River, has experienced an intense anthropogenic load. Agricultural, domestic, and, to a greater extent, industrial wastewaters are currently the main polluting sources of river waters. Among the numerous enterprises operating here is Mondi Syktyvkar JSC, the largest pulp and paper enterprise in Russia, which is located on the Vychegda River banks. The composition and structure of the zooplankton communities were studied in the Vychegda River area, where the effect of wastewaters from the pulp and paper plant is observed. The aim of the research is to determine whether there is a negative impact of the conditionally treated wastewaters on the aquatic biota. As a result, a rich species composition and the quantitative development of zooplankton communities were established for the studied river area. Rotifera was the dominant group on the species richness, abundance, and biomass. This is a characteristic feature of zooplankton communities in the watercourse as a whole. The indicator species of waters with a high level of pollution were registered both at points located in the area of wastewater influence and on the background river plots. Species that are not typical to the natural waters of the river were found at points of wastewater discharge. The dominant complexes are represented by 9–15 or more species. Their composition differs in background, wastewater and downstream points. According to the state of zooplankton communities, the river waters in the studied area are conditionally clean, except for points located downstream of the wastewater discharge, where they are qualified as eutrophic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results are presented for a study of summer phytoplankton (July 2018–2020) in the middle reaches of the Vychegda River at the sites where treated wastewater is discharged from the Mondi Syktyvkar JSC pulp and paper mill. In the phytoplankton of the studied section of the river, 263 species with algal varieties from seven divisions were identified: Cyanoptokaryota, 8; Ochrophyta, 4; Rhodophyta 1; Euglenophyta, 1; Bacillariophyta, 232; Chlorophyta, 15; Charophyta, 2. Widespread, eurytopic species predominate in terms of diversity. In 3 years of research, phytoplankton species communities have demonstrated stability of the complex of dominant and structural diversity. The basis of the dominant complexes is formed by species from the genera Aulacoseira, Dolichospermum, Pandorina, Eudorina, Closterium, etc. The composition of dominants is similar for conditionally background points and the zone of wastewater discharge. A massive development of the thermophilic species of diatom Diadesmisconfervacea, an indicator of thermal pollution, was noted below the wastewater-discharge site. The total recorded number of phytoplankton in the Vychegda river at the studied stations was 1 150 000–18 000 000 cells/dm3, and the biomass was 0.01–0.29 mg/dm3. The ratio of the total abundance and biomass of phytoplankton algae and the indicator species forming the complex of dominants reflect an increase in the trophic status of the waters of the surveyed areas and a high degree of anthropogenic load on the ecosystem of the Vychegda River. Based on algo-indication, the waters of the conditional background and the receiving wastewaters at observation points were assigned to quality class III (with the quality category 3b, slightly polluted). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of 3-year measurements (2018–2020) of hydrophysical and hydrochemical indicators of the Vychegda River in places where effluent is discharged from the Mondi Syktyvkar JSC pulp and paper mill. At conditionally background stations and those exposed to wastewater, the water mineralization, content of ions of Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl–, S , N , heavy metals, petroleum products, anionic surfactants, and benz(a)pyrene were recorded in concentrations significantly lower than the MPC (MPCFI), while suspended substances, COD, Р , Fe, and Mn were in excess of the MPCFI. Studies have shown that, in connection with the modernization of the treatment facilities of Mondi Syktyvkar JSC, there has been a noticeable improvement in the wastewater quality; the environmental load on the ecosystem of the Vychegda River at discharge points decreased. No significant excess over conditionally background values was detected at a high water level in the Vychegda River (2018–2019) for all studied hydrochemical indicators at the points of effluent discharge. Degradation of the water quality was recorded during the low-water period (2020), i.e., a decrease in the degree of dilution of effluent from treatment facilities by river waters. During this period, the wastewater-discharge points exhibited a significant excess over the conditionally background values of mass concentrations of suspended substances, Cl–, S , Р , N , Stot, K, Na, and phenol, as well as the chemical oxygen demand, permanganate value, turbidity, and electrical conductivity. In terms of environmental, sanitary, and toxicological indicators, the waters of all surveyed observation stations were assigned to a water-quality class 3 of (satisfactory purity). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nguyen, O. T. H., Aksenov, I., Phan, N. T., & Sakulyeva, T. (2021). Russia's foreign policy priorities in the Asia‐Pacific region. Journal of Public Affairs, e2745. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2745. The above article, published online on 17 August 2021 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) has been retracted by agreement between the journal's Editor‐in‐Chief, Laura Corazza and Shaista Wasiuzzaman and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following concerns regarding manipulation of the peer review and publishing process. Concerns were originally raised by a third party (1). Further investigation by the publisher has found manipulation of the peer review process, and overlapping text with other publications. The retraction has been agreed because the peer review of the article was compromised and there is unattributed overlap between this article and several other articles (2)(3). Abalkina, A. (2022). Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: evidence from a Russia‐based paper mill https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13322 Burdzik, T. (2019). Slowly but Surely: Russia's Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics‐and‐comments/columns/asian‐kaleidoscope/slowly‐but‐surely‐russia‐s‐foreign‐policy‐in‐southeast‐asia/?sphrase%5fid=34631795 Rumer, E., Sokolsky, R., Vladicic, A. (2020). Russia in the Asia‐Pacific: Less Than Meets the Eye https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/82614 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a study of the species diversity and individual developmental stability of common fish species from the Vychegda River in the discharge area of treated wastewater from one of the largest forestry industries in the European, northeastern area of Russia. In 2018–2020, the European perch, roach, and bleak prevailed in the catches of a standard set of nets with a mesh size of 10 to 60 mm in the littoral zone of the monitoring sites. These species are widespread representatives of the ichthyofauna in the Vychegda River basin. White-eye bream, asp, and pike-perch were also registered; their recent appearance became possible due to the construction of canals connecting the Northern Dvina River basin with other river systems. Indicators of species diversity (the number of species, their relative abundance, and Shannon index) in areas adjacent to local timber plots were similar to those observed at monitoring sites. The integral index for the assessment of individual development, which is based on fluctuating asymmetry, indicated the absence of a negative effect on the formation of bilateral morphological structures in early ontogenesis in fish that lived both in the industrial area and in the conditionally background area. To clarify the results, an additional study should be carried out to identify physiological disorders or the accumulation of heavy metals or other pollutants in fish tissues and organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the collection of papers from the first workshop on the habitability of the venusian cloud layer organized by the Roscosmos/IKI-NASA Joint Science Definition Team (JSDT) for Russia's Venera-D mission and hosted by the Space Research Institute in Moscow, Russia, during October 2–5, 2019. The collection also includes three papers that were developed independently of the workshop but are relevant to venusian cloud habitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyze the cited references in 1.38 million papers by Russian (co-)authors indexed in the Web of Science database until May 2022. Similarly, to the established processes in the so-called Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS), we study the distribution of the references across the cited years and seek to identify the peak years with the publications that attracted the most attention of Russian scholars. In this way, the historical roots of Russian science may be traced and we take a closer look at these most influential works. In addition, we investigate the evolution of the mean age of references and of their average number per paper over time and inspect the most frequently cited sources. The results show that the average number of references in Russian papers has been steadily increasing, but the mean age of references has been declining in the most recent years. Also, the foundations of Russian science seem to be physics of particles and electrochemistry and have recently become based more internationally than in the past. This study is the first of its kind and may help better understand the character of Russian research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel, aerobic nitrogen-fixing methylotrophic bacterium, strain 29k T , was enriched and isolated from sludge generated during wastewater treatment at a paper mill in Baikal, Russian Federation. Cells were Gram-stain-variable. The cell wall was of the negative Gram-type. Cells were curved oval rod-shaped, 0.5-0.7×1.7-3.4 µm and formed yellow-coloured colonies. Cells tended to be pleomorphic if grown on media containing succinate or coccoid if grown in the presence of methyl alcohol as the sole carbon source. Cells were non-motile, non-spore-forming and contained retractile (polyphosphate) and lipid (poly-β-hydroxybutyrate) bodies. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone Q-10 and the predominant cellular fatty acids were C 18:1 ω7, C 19:0 cyclo and C 16:0 . The genomic DNA G+C content was 67.95 mol%. Strain 29k T was able to grow at 4-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6.0-8.5 (optimum, pH 6.5-7.0) and at salinities of 0-0.5% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0% NaCl). Catalase and oxidase were positive. Strain 29k T could grow chemolithoautotrophically in mineral media under an atmosphere of H 2 , O 2 and CO 2 as well as chemoorganoheterotrophically on methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol and various organic acids. The carbohydrate utilization spectrum is limited by glucose and raffinose. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the newly isolated strain was a member of the genus Xanthobacter with Xanthobacter autotrophicus 7c T (99.9% similarity) and Xanthobacter viscosus 7d T (99.4 % similarity) as closest relatives among species with validly published names. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values of 92.7 and 44.9%, respectively, of the 29k T to the genome of the most closely related species, X. autotrophicus 7c T , were below the species cutoffs. Based on genotypic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, it is proposed that the isolate represents a novel species, Xanthobacter oligotrophicus sp. nov. The type strain is 29k T (=KCTC 72777 T =VKM B-3453 T ).

On December 18, 2020, an expert council was held with the participation of members of the Russian Society of Cardiology, the Eurasian Association of Ther-apists, the National Society for Atherothrombosis, the National Society for Evi-dence-Based Pharmacotherapy, and the Russian Heart Failure Society. The event was devoted to the discussion of the correct use of research data of "real clinical practice" in decision making.

The best way to understand the environmental status of a certain region involves thorough non-target analysis, which will result in a list of pollutants under concern. Arkhangelsk (64° 32′ N 40° 32′ E, pop. ~ 344,000) is the largest city in the world to the north of the 60th parallel. Several industrial enterprises and the "cold finger" effect represent the major sources of air contamination in the city. Analysis of snow with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry allows detecting and quantifying the most hazardous volatile and semivolatile anthropogenic pollutants and estimating long-term air pollution. Target analysis, suspect screening, and non-target analysis of snow samples collected from ten sites within the city revealed the presence of several hundreds of organic compounds including 18 species from the US EPA list of priority pollutants. Fortunately, the levels of these compounds appeared to be much lower than the safe levels established in Russia. Phenol and dioctylphthalate could be considered as the pollutants of concern because their levels were about 20% of the safe thresholds. ChromaTOF® Tile, MetaboAnalyst software platform, and open-source software protocols were applied to process the obtained data. The obtained clusterization results of the samples were generally similar for various tools; however, each of them had certain peculiarities. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) hexanedioate, benzyl alcohol, phthalates, aniline, dinitrotoluenes, and fluoranthene showed the strongest influence on the clusterization of the studied samples. Possible sources of the major pollutants were proposed: car traffic and pulp and paper mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document focuses on key issues of diuretic therapy in CHF from the standpoint of current views on the pathogenesis of edema syndrome, its diagnosis, and characteristics of using diuretics in various clinical situations.

In 1910, the Russian biologist Konstantin Sergejewitch Mereschkowsky (Константин Сергеевич Мережковский, in standard transliterations also written as Konstantin Sergeevič Merežkovskij and Konstantin Sergeevich Merezhkovsky) published a notable synthesis of observations and inferences concerning the origin of life and the origin of nucleated cells. His theory was based on physiology and leaned heavily upon the premise that thermophilic autotrophs were ancient. The ancestors of plants and animals were inferred as ancestrally mesophilic anucleate heterotrophs (Monera) that became complex and diverse through endosymbiosis. He placed a phylogenetic root in the tree of life among anaerobic autotrophic bacteria that lack chlorophyll. His higher level classification of all microbes and macrobes in the living world was based upon the presence or absence of past endosymbiotic events. The paper's primary aim was to demonstrate that all life forms descend from two fundamentally distinct organismal lineages, called mykoplasma and amoeboplasma, whose very nature was so different that, in his view, they could only have arisen independently of one another and at different times during Earth history. The mykoplasma arose at a time when the young Earth was still hot, it later gave rise to cyanobacteria, which in turn gave rise to plastids. The product of the second origin of life, the amoeboplasma, arose after the Earth had cooled and autotrophs had generated substrates for heterotrophic growth. Lineage diversification of that second plasma brought forth, via serial endosymbioses, animals (one symbiosis) and then plants (two symbioses, the second being the plastid). The paper was published in German, rendering it inaccessible to many interested scholars. Here we translate the 1910 paper in full and briefly provide some context., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This review analyzes papers presented at the "Second International Kosygin Readings: Energy- and Resource-Efficient Environmentally Safe Technologies and Equipment," an International Scientific and Technical Symposium Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Kosygin State University of Russia, which was held as part of the International Kosygin Forum. These papers consider the fundamental principles of methods for intensifying basic processes in various industrial technologies, the scientific fundamentals of the development of energy- and resource-efficient chemical and other processes, innovative developments in this field, issues of the environmental safety of technological processes and equipment, effective systems for increasing technosphere safety, the theory and calculation of heat and mass transfer processes in technosphere protection systems, the issues of digitization as an intellectual and technological factor for increasing the energy and resource efficiency of chemical-manufacturing processes and plants, and the results of studies aimed at developing the theoretical fundamentals of energy- and resource-efficient industrial machinery and equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the next stage of a comprehensive study concerning Russian state-legal doctrines in the 19th and early 20th centuries, taken in the triune of the external form of their expression: in dissertations, in monographs and in scientific papers of the periodical legal press. The authors analyzed the content and results of publication of monographs and the most famous papers published by prerevolutionary Russian political scientists on key aspects of the state (constitutional) law science. Data are presented on the main priority areas of research, poorly developed fields of public law science, the laws of genesis and evolution, respectively, of monographic and periodical state-legal doctrines. The methodology proposed for the identification, analysis and general theoretical evaluation of state-legal doctrines has every reason to be applied for obtaining comprehensive knowledge of other branch pre-revolutionary legal doctrines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of the analysis of the first two Charters of Saint Petersburg Mining University. A short period of educational activity of the first t in Russia is represented: from the date of the decree founding the Mining School in 1773 and the first Charter approved by Catherine II to the beginning of the XIX century, namely, 1804, the year of the second Charter. These documents are considered in their cultural and historical context, and the continuity in the implementation of education and training of mining engineers is revealed. Authors compare the Charter of the Mining School (1774) with the Charter of the Land Gentry Cadet Corps (1766), as well as the Charter of the Mining Cadet Corps (1804) with the Charter of Moscow University (1804). The Charters of the last third of the XVIII -- early XIX centuries contain objective information about the formation of the higher education system in Russia. The origins of two branches of higher education in Russia, classical University and higher technical educational institution, are indicated. Within the framework of the examined texts, a range of topics and issues discussed in the Charter as in organizational and legal document is highlighted. Universal character of the Charter as a document of its time, including a description of various aspects of activities of the educational institution, is noted. Analysis of the texts showed that Charters of the Mining School and the Mining Cadet Corps determined the life order of a closed educational institution. At the heart of its work was the task of educating a new person for a state service. All this allows us to consider the Charter as a historical and cultural document of a certain period.

This paper addresses the assessment of woody biomass resources in Russia and the Baikal region. The analysis of the literature demonstrates that the Baikal region has considerable amounts of waste from the logging, timber processing, and pulp and paper industries (up to 220 PJ). A review of utilization technologies for woody biomass demonstrates that the existing technologies based on biomass gasification are promising for energy purposes. The gasification of biomass for small-capacity power plants has some advantages compared to its combustion. This paper considers an autonomous power system that consists of photovoltaic converters, wind turbines, storage batteries, a biomass gasification power plant, and a diesel power plant. A mathematical model used to optimize the system's structure finds the minimum of the total discounted costs for the creation and operation of the system with some constraints met. Based on mathematical modeling, the cost-effectiveness of such a power supply system is assessed for different climatic zones of the Baikal region and the coastal area of Lake Baikal. The findings indicate that the optimal solution is the integration of various renewable energy sources in hybrid power systems. The proportion of energy sources of different types in the installed capacities is found. The study demonstrates that the optimal structure of the power system can provide significant savings (the total discounted costs are reduced by almost 2.5 times compared to the option using a diesel power plant alone). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper it is displayed the resilience of the Ukrainian educators and students during the ongoing conflict with Russia, with a particular focus on the role of online learning platforms. Despite the challenges posed by air raids, evacuations, and infrastructure damage, educators have swiftly transitioned to virtual classrooms using platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, AllUkrainian Online School and others. These platforms not only provide continuity in education but also serve as spaces for emotional support, fostering discussions about the conflict and offering solidarity to students amidst uncertainty. While significant challenges persist, including reaching students in heavily affected regions, the adaptability and dedication of Ukrainian educators underscore the resilience of the human spirit in adversity. Online learning continues to serve as a beacon of hope, ensuring that the pursuit of knowledge endures even in the darkest of times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is rather easy to identify the leading universities in a country, there are different established methods and indicators of excellence. Generally, it is more challenging to find 'the second best' universities which have the potential to become leaders, 'the firsts'. In Russia, such an attempt has been made. The program of 'Pillar Universities' was realized in 2016–2020, in two stages. This paper analyzes the initial stage of the project and its outcomes. We aim to investigate how the program affected the output of the universities from the bibliometric point of view. The results, obtained by bibliometric methods, are encouraging. There is an increase in publication output above the Russia's average growth. Multidisciplinarity, domestic and international collaboration also increase. Those universities which had no papers in the top journals started publishing their research there. The overall effect of the 'pillar project' is found to be positive. Bibliometrics is widely used for assessing higher education institutions and is free from local peculiarities. This allows using the observations of this study in a broader context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent media ecologies are often characterized by their apparent excess and availability of information, in which elites have lost power to a multitude of citizen users. The 2010s, however, are marked by a new information battlespace, as governments, militaries and news organizations have arrested the initial chaotic free-for-all of the Internet. It was into this environment that the ‘Panama Papers’ were leaked in April 2016. We employ this story to illuminate some of the workings of information warfare in the contemporary Russian media ecology. We reveal the sophisticated gatekeeping work undertaken by a range of actors (state, journalists, news publics) in this ecology and their treatment of information across its historically established (television) and emergent (social) media forms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]