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This paper explores the image of a public servant of the Russian Federation whose qualities affect the opinion of population about public servants, public service, and the state in general. The paper is based on the results of sociological surveys and is aimed at answering the question whether professionalism is a system-building element in the image of a public servant, what other qualities create this image and how these qualities correlate with the qualities chosen by future public servants - students specializing in state and municipal management. The surveys have been conducted in two Russian cities (Moscow and Langepas (Khanty-Mansi autonomous district)). Participants of the Langepas survey were residents of the city, and those of the Moscow survey were residents of Moscow, respectively, including a group of first-year students specializing in state and municipal management. The data analysis has shown that professionalism based on continuous improvement of knowledge and skills is the system-building element in the image of a public servant. Moreover, the leading motive of professional activity is social and state benefit and the professional activity of a public servant is a necessity. The authority of a public servant depends on his activities and affects the authority of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an analysis of use of heavy-duty gear trains in the mining industry. It was revealed that it is necessary to create a dynamic model to calculate the acting stresses and durability in order to assess the dynamic parameters of the gear train. The article provides the results of use of Nastran software shell in terms of stress-strain behavior of the girth gear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospect of enabling more sustainable industries through energy efficiency innovations has received increased attention in policy and research. In Norway, previous studies have identified a techno-economic potential of 12 TWh reduction in direct energy use and an additional 10 TWh utilization of surplus heat, in industries. However, the novelty and complexity of energy efficient technologies can make their adoption, and hence utilizing this potential, difficult. This paper explores the development and implementation of two high-temperature heat pumps and one heat recovery concept in three R&D projects in the Norwegian manufacturing industry. Our qualitative research finds and explores three implementation paradoxes : 1) While the novelty of innovations partly explains why they are difficult to implement, novelty is also a motivator for firms' technology development strategies. 2) Both innovations close to core production technologies, as well as seemingly incremental innovations, can have system-wide consequences in the organizations, making them difficult to implement. 3) While implementation windows (changes to organizations and technical systems) positively affect firms' motivation, ability, and opportunity to develop and adopt innovations, these situations introduce time constraints, putting pressure on less mature technical solutions and R&D processes. Through unpacking these seemingly opposing dynamics, we find that the same factors can both promote and inhibit adoption of technologies during different stages of innovation processes. We discuss the managerial implications on how firms can align R&D collaborations with implementation opportunities, to enhance adoption of radical energy efficiency innovations. In conclusion, we discuss how these contributions can translate into future quantitative research. [Display omitted] • Case study of three radical energy efficiency innovations in Norwegian industry. • Implementation paradoxes promote and hinder adoption of technologies. • Novelty of innovations is both a motivator and hindrance towards implementation. • Implementation windows induce time constraints making adoption difficult. • Alignment between innovation processes and implementation windows is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biphonation (two independent fundamental frequencies in a call spectrum) represents one of the most widespread nonlinear phenomena in mammalian vocalizations. Recently, the structure of biphonations was described in detail; however, their functions are poorly understood. For the dhole ( Cuon alpinus), biphonic calls represent a prominent feature of vocal activity. In this species, the biphonic call is composed of two frequency components – the high-frequency squeak and the low-frequency yap, which also occur alone as separate calls. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the complication of call structure, resulting from the joining of these calls into the biphonic yap–squeak may enhance the potential for individual recognition in the dhole. We randomly selected for analysis 30 high-frequency squeaks, 30 low-frequency yaps and 30 biphonic yap–squeaks per animal from five subadult captive dholes (450 calls in total). Discriminant analysis, based on 10 squeak parameter values, showed 80.7% correct assignment to a predicted individual. For 10 yap parameters, the correct assignment was only 44.7%. However, the analysis based on 10 parameters of the biphonic yap–squeak, selected as best contributing to discrimination, showed 96.7% correct assignment to a predicted individual. The results provide strong support for the hypothesis tested showing that the joining of two independent calls into a common vocalization may function to enhance individual recognition in the dhole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]