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The article looks into the representation of family and family education in Russian feature films during 1955–1960 when Soviet filmmakers began to explore the complexities of family life, often reflecting the broader social and political changes of the time. Thus, the family became a microcosm for examining issues of identity, personal struggle, and societal expectations. Soviet feature films of the Thaw era offer a rich tapestry of family images that reflect a complex interplay between personal and societal changes during that period. By focusing on individual experiences and emotional depth, these films provide a critical lens through which to understand the evolving of Soviet family life and the broader cultural transformations of the era. They are valuable in the media education context for their nuanced portrayal of human relationships and their subtle critique of the socio-political context of the time. Soviet feature films of the Thaw era represent a rich and transformative period in cinematography, reflecting broader socio-political changes and contributing to the evolution of film as a medium. From a media studies perspective, these films provide valuable insights into the cultural production of the period, the negotiation of ideological boundaries, and the power of narrative and representation in shaping societal values, family values and historical memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freezing is one of the convenient ways for the long-term preservation of fruits. However, the ice crystals produced in the freezing process tend to damage the cell structure, resulting in the loss of juice during thawing. Thus, the quality of fruits after thawing is seriously affected. Three methods could be used to optimize the quality of frozen fruits: Using osmotic dehydration, increasing the freezing rate, optimizing the thawing process. In this study, the new techniques used in fruit freezing and thawing were summarized, such as the osmotic dehydration protection, high-pressure, ultrasound, pulse electric field, microwave and magnetic field. The principles, applications, advantages and disadvantages were compared. This article provided new ideas for the development of fruit freezing and thawing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text is a translation from Russian of the first chapter of Soviet theorist Efim Etkind's 1963 work Poeziia i perevod [Poetry and Translation], in slightly abridged form. Etkind is a vital figure within the translation milieu of the 'Thaw' era of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when there was a policy of de-Stalinization and a degree of liberalization. Etkind's insightful work on poetry translation using comparative stylistics reflected, in some ways, the cultural-political environment of the time. It differed radically from the Realist approach of Ivan Kashkin, who was influenced by Socialist Realism and Stalin-era rhetoric. Etkind pushed the boundaries of what could be said about translation. His apparently apolitical approach was in fact strongly politicized in the Soviet context, and his choice of authors and translators to discuss evidenced his sympathy for those out of favor with the regime and for fellow Jews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total mercury (THg) analysis of fish tissue requires the samples to be frozen for long-term storage or analyzed immediately after the fish sample has been obtained. Such rigid field sampling protocols do not account for the logistical challenges that can occur if sampling is conducted in remote areas or collaboratively via community-based monitoring initiatives. Here we present a study that examines the loss of THg from Walleye tissue that has thawed for 3 and 5 days, mimicking potential thaw during transport from remote locations. THg concentrations were not significantly influenced (Kruskal–Wallace, p-value > 0.05) by the thaw and refreeze events. The mean THg concentration per day group was 0.67 ug/g, SD = 0.03, 0.65 ug/g, SD = 0.01, and 0.72 ug/g, SD = 0.01 for the control (no thaw), 3-day thaw and 5-day thaw, respectively. Results from this study suggest the analytical integrity of samples may be maintained if freeze–thaw situations arise when conducting community-based mercury monitoring programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the changes in quality and flavor of semi-dried gold pomfret during the thawing process of logistics transportation. Methods: The logistics transportation process of frozen semi-dried gold pomfret was simulated at different temperatures. The thawing-loss rate, changes in myofibrillar protein conformation, physical and chemical indexes of protein, lipid oxidation and changes in flavor substances were determined. Results: The protein and lipid oxidation degrees of pomfret were significantly increased with the extension of transport time (P＜0.05). The oxidation degree was (P＜0.05) more significant as the temperature increased. During this process, protein aggregation and degeneration degree were serious, while the thawing-loss rate only increased significantly with the increase in temperature (P＜0.05). A total of 17 amino acids were detected. The contents of total amino acids, umami amino acids and bitter amino acids were significantly increased and then decreased with the extension of transportation time (P＜0.05), but temperature had no significant effect on the contents (P＞0.05). The main volatile substances of pomfret were aldehydes, hydrocarbons and alcohols, and the content of aldehydes in the high temperature transport group was significantly decreased, while the content of hydrocarbons was significantly increased (P＜0.05). Conclusion: The transportation of frozen semi-dried pomfret at lower temperatures can reduce the rate of protein degeneration and the rate of protein and lipid oxidation while also enriching the pomfret's flavor.

Rapid Arctic warming is causing permafrost to thaw and exposing large quantities of soil organic carbon (C) to potential decomposition. In dry upland tundra systems, subsidence from thawing permafrost can increase surface soil moisture resulting in higher methane (CH4) emissions from newly waterlogged soils. The proportion of C released as carbon dioxide (CO2) and CH4 remains uncertain as previously dry landscapes transition to a thawed state, resulting in both wetter and drier microsites. To address how thaw and moisture interact to affect total C emissions, we measured CH4 and CO2 emissions from paired chambers across thaw and moisture gradients created by nine years of experimental soil warming in interior Alaska. Cumulative growing season (May–September) CH4 emissions were elevated at both wetter (216.1–1,099.4 mg CH4-C m−2) and drier (129.7–392.3 mg CH4-C m−2) deeply thawed microsites relative to shallow thaw (55.6–215.7 mg CH4-C m−2) and increased with higher deep soil temperatures and permafrost thaw depth. Interannual variability in CH4 emissions was driven by wet conditions in graminoid-dominated plots that generated >70% of emissions in a wet year. Shoulder season emissions were equivalent to growing season CH4 emissions rates in the deeply thawed, warmed soils, highlighting the importance of non-growing season CH4 emissions. Net C sink potential was reduced in deeply thawed wet plots by 4%–42%, and by 3.5%–8% in deeply thawed drier plots due to anaerobic respiration, suggesting that some dry upland tundra landscapes may transition into stronger CH4 sources in a warming Arctic.

Copyright of Food & Machinery is the property of Food & Machinery Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Permafrost is a sub-ground phenomenon and therefore cannot be directly observed from space. It is an Essential Climate Variable and associated with climate tipping points. Multi-annual time series of permafrost ground temperatures can be, however, derived through modelling of the heat transfer between atmosphere and ground using landsurface temperature, snow- and landcover observations from space. Results show that the northern hemisphere permafrost ground temperatures have increased on average by about one degree Celsius since 2000. This is in line with trends of permafrost proxies observable from space: surface water extent has been decreasing across the Arctic; the landsurface is subsiding continuously in some regions indicating ground ice melt; hot summers triggered increased subsidence as well as thaw slumps; rock glaciers are accelerating in some mountain regions. The applicability of satellite data for permafrost proxy monitoring has been demonstrated mostly on a local to regional scale only. There is still a lack of consistency of acquisitions and of very high spatial resolution observations. Both are needed for implementation of circumpolar monitoring of lowland permafrost. In order to quantify the impacts of permafrost thaw on the carbon cycle, advancement in wetland and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration monitoring from space is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polar regions have relatively low richness and diversity of plants and animals, and the basis of the entire ecological chain is supported by microbial diversity. In these regions, understanding the microbial response against environmental factors and anthropogenic disturbances is essential to understand patterns better, prevent isolated events, and apply biotechnology strategies. The Antarctic continent has been increasingly affected by anthropogenic contamination, and its constant temperature fluctuations limit the application of clean recovery strategies, such as bioremediation. We evaluated the bacterial response in oil-contaminated soil through a nutrient-amended microcosm experiment using two temperature regimes: (i) 4 °C and (ii) a freeze-thaw cycle (FTC) alternating between -20 and 4 °C. Bacterial taxa, such as Myxococcales, Chitinophagaceae, and Acidimicrobiales, were strongly related to the FTC. Rhodococcus was positively related to contaminated soils and further stimulated under FTC conditions. Additionally, the nutrient-amended treatment under the FTC regime enhanced bacterial groups with known biodegradation potential and was efficient in removing hydrocarbons of diesel oil. The experimental design, rates of bacterial succession, and level of hydrocarbon transformation can be considered as a baseline for further studies aimed at improving bioremediation strategies in environments affected by FTC regimes.

Topography and canopy cover influence ground temperature in warming permafrost landscapes, yet soil temperature heterogeneity introduced by mesotopographic slope positions, microtopographic differences in vegetation cover, and the subsequent impact of contrasting temperature conditions on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics are understudied. Buffering of permafrost‐affected soils against warming air temperatures in boreal forests can reflect surface soil characteristics (e.g., thickness of organic material) as well as the degree and type of canopy cover (e.g., open cover vs. closed cover). Both landscape and soil properties interact to determine meso‐ and microscale heterogeneity of ground warming. We sampled a hillslope catena transect in a discontinuous permafrost zone near Fairbanks, Alaska, to test the small‐scale (1 to 3 m) impacts of slope position and cover type on soil organic matter composition. Mineral active layer samples were collected from backslope, low backslope, and footslope positions at depths spanning 19 to 60 cm. We examined soil mineralogical composition, soil moisture, total carbon and nitrogen content, and organic mat thickness in conjunction with an assessment of SOC composition using Fourier‐transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT‐ICR‐MS). Soils in the footslope position had a higher relative contribution of lignin‐like compounds, whereas backslope soils had more aliphatic and condensed aromatic compounds as determined using FT‐ICR‐MS. The effect of open versus closed tree canopy cover varied with the slope position. On the backslope, we found higher oxidation of molecules under open cover than closed cover, indicating an effect of warmer soil temperature on decomposition. Little to no effect of the canopy was observed in soils at the footslope position, which we attributed, in part, to the strong impact of soil moisture content in SOC dynamics in the water‐gathering footslope position. The thin organic mat under open cover on the backslope position may have contributed to differences in soil temperature and thus SOC oxidation under open and closed canopies. Here, the thinner organic mat did not appear to buffer the underlying soil against warm season air temperatures and thus increased SOC decomposition as indicated by the higher oxidation of SOC molecules and a lower contribution of simple molecules under open cover than the closed canopy sites. Our findings suggest that the role of canopy cover in SOC dynamics varies as a function of landscape position and soil properties, namely, organic mat thickness and soil moisture. Condition‐specific heterogeneity of SOC composition under open and closed canopy cover highlights the protective effect of canopy cover for soils on backslope positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Res Historica is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The documents of M. Finley in the library of Cambridge University and in the personal fund of V. N. Andreev in the manuscript department of the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg contain letters from two historians. The correspondence of M. Finley and V. N. Andreev shows that the Soviet scientist was not only a situational Finlean, but also quite consciously followed the principles of M. Finley’s work with sources. Acquaintance with M. Finley’s works and correspondence with him significantly influenced V. N. Andreev: he became a follower of an English scientist, working outside the framework of scientific schools that existed in Soviet scholarship. Correspondence with M. Finley shows a high degree of inclusion of a Soviet scientist in the current agenda of world science about Antiquity in the late 1950s – first half of the 1960s, however, the closeness of the Soviet scientific community, the lack of full-fledged international communication did not contribute to the perception of V. N. Andreev’s ideas by Western scientists. For M. Finley, V. N. Andreev was apparently just one of his many followers scattered around the world. The lack of personal contact did not allow this position to be changed. The very fact that the Soviet scientist in matters of methodology followed and listened to the advice of the scientist of the «bourgeois» testified that the Soviet historiography of Antiquity since the late 1950s could no longer be perceived as a single stream; the Soviet historical narrative of the thaw era ceases to be unified.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the effect of extending the culture of cleavage-stage embryos to the blastocyst stage in vitrified–warmed cycles on pregnancy outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospectively designed pilot study of a single center. All patients who applied for freeze-all cycle procedures during in vitro fertilization treatment were included in the study. Patients were classified into three subgroups. The embryos obtained were frozen at the cleavage or blastocyst stage. After a warming process, the cleavage-stage embryos were divided into two subgroups: the first group of embryos was transferred (vitrification day 3–embryo transfer (ET) day 3 (D3T3)) on the warming day; for the second group, the embryo culture was extended to the blastocyst stage (vitrification day 3–ET day 5 (after the extension of the embryo culture to the blastocyst stage), (D3T5)). Frozen blastocyst-stage embryos were transferred after warming (vitrification day 5–ET day 5 (D5T5)). Hormone replacement treatment was the only endometrial preparation regimen given during the embryo transfer cycle. The main outcome of the study was live birth rates. The clinical pregnancy rate and positive pregnancy test rate were determined as the secondary outcomes of the study. Results: The study included a total of 194 patients. The positive pregnancy test rates (PPR) and clinical pregnancy rates (CPR) of the D3T3, D3T5, and D5T5 groups were 14.0% and 59.2%; 43.8% and 9.3%; and 56.3% and 39.6%, respectively (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). The live birth rates (LBR) of patients in the D3T3, D3T5, and D5T5 groups were 7.0%, 44.7%, and 27.1%, respectively (p < 0.001). In subgroup analysis of patients with a poor number of 2PN embryos (defined as having < = 4 2PN embryos), the D3T5 group had significantly higher PPR (10.7%, 60.6%, 42.4%; p < 0.001), CPR (7.1%, 57.6%, 39.4%; p < 0.001), and LBR (3.6%, 39.4%, 21.2%; p: 0.001). Conclusion: Extending the culture after warming to the blastocyst stage may be a better alternative than a cleavage-stage embryo transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine the influence of neorealism on the ideological and artistic establishment of the Polish Film School. In the first part, I discuss theoretical assumptions about the Polish Film School, focusing on its characteristics and the reasons behind its foundation. Then, I analyse neorealism's contribution to the Polish Film School in the 1950s using examples from Polish literature. In the last part, I present an analysis of the two Polish films most strongly imbued with the spirit of neorealism: Pokolenie (A Generation) (Wajda 1954) and Godziny nadziei (The Hours of Hope) (Rybkowski 1955). Through a critical analysis of interviews and press coverage from 1953 to 1955 that takes the historical perspective of Italian neorealist films into account, I conclude that the Polish Film School was most fascinated by the Italian observation of reality and curiosity about human affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex issues and methodological approaches to assessing expected damage to the fixed assets from the permafrost degradation for the purposes of planning and implementing measures for adaptation to climate change and their consequences in the Arctic macroregion of Russia are contemplated. An integrated approach to such an assessment is introduced. It includes valuation of (a) the fixed assets located on permafrost, taking into account industry (sectoral) specificities and (b) the total expected damage to these assets depending on the intensity of fluctuations of the permafrost stability under various scenarios of climate change. The advantages and limitations of the integrated approach above are disclosed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the development of the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union in 1953–1959. Commission’s goals were determined by the new document, “Regulations on the Foreign Commission.” Most of duties fell on consultants involved expanding ties with different countries. The Second and Third Writers’ All-Union Congresses (1954, 1959), where dozens of foreign authors participated, played an important role in the development of the Foreign Commission’s contacts. The main political events of the period, such as the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the Pasternak case, made the work of the institution’s staff more difficult. Aware of the influence of the United States among the foreign writers, as well as the competition of the young Chinese project, the Foreign Commission understood the need for a more open, democratic and businesslike approach, but was failing to achieve its implementation in the 1950s. But still the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union was not like other soviet propaganda institutions of its time, mainly because the special status of the foreigners it dealt with, and also due to the fact that this work was carried out not by professional propagandists, but by literary critics and translators.

Background. Most of the plantings of fruit crops in Russia are located in the zone of risky agriculture. In the European part of Russia, in winter, fruit crops are affected by the impacts of weather conditions (spring frosts, droughts, early frosts, low-temperature stress, a short growing season, and thaws). Frosts cause 98% of the damage to fruit trees.Methods. One-year-old branches were frozen in a Japanese Espec PSL-2KPH climate chamber after prehardening under –5°C and –10°C for 5 days, and damaging factors of the winter period were simulated.Results. The bioresource collection of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding (VNIISPK) contains 730 appletree cultivars from various domestic and foreign institutions. Apple cultivars from Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Moldova, USA, France, Czech Republic, Sweden and Canada were analyzed for frost resistance components. The resistance of plants to early frosts of–25°C without hardening and after hardening in early winter (Component I) showed that the main tissues (bark, cambium and wood) suffered minor damage in all studied cultivars. In cv. ‘Belarusskoye Sladkoye’, the damage to the bark scored 2.3 points. Among the studied apple cultivars whose one-year-old branches were frozen at –38°C and –40°C (Component II), ‘Coremolda’ (Moldova) showed the highest frost resistance to the negative mid-January temperature of –38°C (damage to the buds and main tissues scored 0.3–1.0 points). Under–40°C (Component II), ‘Coremolda’ (Moldova) and ‘Aivaris’ (Latvian breeding) demonstrated bark, cambium and wood resistance with damages at the level of 2.0 points. These cultivars can be used in breeding programs as sources of frost resistance. Freezing of one-year-old branches under –25°C after a 3-day artificial thaw at +2°C revealed bud and tissue resistance in the American cv. ‘Red Free’ and in cv. ‘Coremolda’ (Component III).

In the last few decades, temperatures in the Arctic have increased twice as much as the rest of the globe. As permafrost thaws in response to this warming, large amounts of soil organic matter may become vulnerable to decomposition. Microbial decomposition will release carbon (C) from permafrost soils, however, warmer conditions could also lead to enhanced plant growth and C uptake. Field and modeling studies show high uncertainty in soil and plant responses to climate change but there have been few studies that reconcile field and model data to understand differences and reduce uncertainty. Here, we evaluate gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Reco), and net ecosystem C exchange (NEE) from eight years of experimental soil warming in moist acidic tundra against equivalent fluxes from the Community Land Model during simulations parameterized to reflect the field conditions associated with this manipulative field experiment. Over the eight-year experimental period, soil temperatures and thaw depths increased with warming in field observations and model simulations. However, the field and model results do not agree on warming effects on water table depth; warming created wetter soils in the field and drier soils in the models. In the field, initial increases in growing season GPP, Reco, and NEE to experimentally-induced permafrost thaw created a higher C sink capacity in the first years followed by a stronger C source in years six through eight. In contrast, both models predicted linear increases in GPP, Reco, and NEE with warming. The divergence of model results from field experiments reveals the role subsidence, hydrology, and nutrient cycling play in influencing the C flux responses to permafrost thaw, a complexity that the models are not structurally able to predict, and highlight challenges associated with projecting C cycle dynamics across the Arctic.

The stabilizing properties of mineral–organic carbon (OC) interactions have been studied in many soil environments (temperate soils, podzol lateritic soils, and paddy soils). Recently, interest in their role in permafrost regions is increasing as permafrost was identified as a hotspot of change. In thawing ice‐rich permafrost regions, such as the Yedoma domain, 327–466 Gt of frozen OC is buried in deep sediments. Interactions between minerals and OC are important because OC is located very near the mineral matrix. Mineral surfaces and elements could mitigate recent and future greenhouse gas emissions through physical and/or physicochemical protection of OC. The dynamic changes in redox and pH conditions associated with thermokarst lake formation and drainage trigger metal‐oxide dissolution and precipitation, likely influencing OC stabilization and microbial mineralization. However, the influence of thermokarst processes on mineral–OC interactions remains poorly constrained. In this study, we aim to characterize Fe, Mn, Al, and Ca minerals and their potential protective role for OC. Total and selective extractions were used to assess the crystalline and amorphous oxides or complexed metal pools as well as the organic acids found within these pools. We analyzed four sediment cores from an ice‐rich permafrost area in Central Yakutia, which were drilled (i) in undisturbed Yedoma uplands, (ii) beneath a recent lake formed within Yedoma deposits, (iii) in a drained thermokarst lake basin, and (iv) beneath a mature thermokarst lake from the early Holocene period. We find a decrease in the amount of reactive Fe, Mn, Al, and Ca in the deposits on lake formation (promoting reduction reactions), and this was largely balanced by an increase in the amount of reactive metals in the deposits on lake drainage (promoting oxidation reactions). We demonstrate an increase in the metal to C molar ratio on thermokarst process, which may indicate an increase in metal–C bindings and could provide a higher protective role against microbial mineralization of organic matter. Finally, we find that an increase in mineral–OC interactions corresponded to a decrease in CO2 and CH4 gas emissions on thermokarst process. Mineral–OC interactions could mitigate greenhouse gas production from permafrost thaw as soon as lake drainage occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the rise and changes of scholarly interest in urban women's everyday life in the USSR of the mid-twentieth century. By studying the Soviet and post-Soviet historiography of women's everyday life during Khrushchevs Thaw, the authors explain that at first this subject was treated in analogy to the customary celebration of Soviet achievements: also, the womens question would eventually be resolved. With rising doubts about the resolvability of the complex problems related to gender relations came a paradigm shift towards reflections on the difficulties and contradictions in the lifestyle of urban women. At the center of debate were now the necessity for shortening the working day and for additional vacation days, as well as the double bondage of women who had to combine a professional workload with heavy family obligations. The authors argue that in the 1990s (a period now often called the new thaw, and the nineties of the gender debates), the political aspects of female life in the 1950s and 1960s became marginal in scholarship. The main attention was now focused on the home and family spheres, on problems of corporeality and fashion, and on the woman's voice in literature, cinema and media. In consequence, some aspects of women's everyday life during the Thaw years remained unexplored. Finally, there are no generalizing works that would compare women's everyday life on the levels of the USSR, Russia, or Russias regions, and little work has been done on ethnocultural characteristics of women's life in the post-war USSR.

This article summarizes the results of systematization of monitoring heterogeneous weather records (1961–2014) and interpretation of long-term observations of fluoride ion concentration in the snow cover of an area susceptible to emissions from an aluminum smelter in 2000–2014. The monitoring was carried out by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia. The trends and correlation coefficients established in this study show that F concentration in the snow cover is affected by the following concurrent factors: distance from the emission source, amount of atmospheric precipitation, air temperature and duration of thaws during the period starting from formation of a stable snow cover to the date of sampling. These results emphasize the need to consider the weather factor in the future in the annual comparison of fluoride ion concentrations in the snow cover in order to increase the reliability of data on the changes in fluorine emissions from an aluminum smelter over many years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author studies the Latin American writers’ visits to the USSR from 1954 till beginning of 1960s realized via the Foreign Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers. After Stalin’s death, the activity of all departments of the Commission expanded significantly; the lists of those invited from abroad now included writers who were absolutely loyal to the USSR as well as new and yet unknown names. As a result, the staff of the Foreign Commission had to face an unprecedented pluralism. Based on the Commission’s Spanish and Portuguese translators’ reports, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the study analyses the criteria based on which the stay of a guest was perceived as favorable or undesirable for continuing cooperation in order to improve the image of the USSR in foreign literary circles. The study also analyses somewhat of a loyalty marker, reflecting the guests’ perception of the results of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the state of Soviet-Chinese relations as sensitive topics important for the political self-determination of communist writers. The study of these new sources allows us to conclude that when choosing new foreign partners, the Foreign Commission often relied on the advice of its’ faithful friends, and the protégés of the latter did not always withstand the test of compatibility with the Soviet regime. At the same time, there was no specific criteria for the new friends’ selection. The translators, who were the first to report on the visit, were invited from outside, sometimes just for one particular job; they did not receive clear instructions from the Commission and were guided by their own ideas about the importance of the writer in their care and the expediency of cooperation with him. Later their opinion could not be taken into account; presumably, it was the journalistic and novelistic production of the invited writers published as a result of the visit to the USSR that was of greater importance to decide whether they were worth further attention. The study reviews Soviet Writers’ Union cooperation with P. Neruda, F. González-Urízar, N. Parra, V. Teitelboim, A. Cassigoli, F. Coloane (Chile), J. Amado, M. Rebelo, E. de Moraes, G. Figueiredo, H. Silveira (Brazil), I. Abirad, J.C. Pedemonte, M. Rosencof (Uruguay), N. Guillen, C. Leante, O. Hurtado, Samuel Feijoo (Cuba), E. Barrios Villa (Bolivia), C.A. Leon (Venezuela).

The article deals with the history of prefabricated houses (panelaks) in the context of Czechoslovakian construction industry at the turn of the 50´s and 60´s. It focuses on the historical, ideological and material aspects of the development and seeks further influences in political and social issues of that time, including a short excursion to the Soviet Union. The article pays main attention to construction experiments (especially monoliths) and the invention of housing districts (estates) of the time.

The relevance of the research topic is due to theoretical and practical significance of the problems of combating economic crime in modern conditions. In this regard, the issue of the effectiveness of the modernized police in accordance with the new tasks is of great importance. The original experience of combating economic crime was gained in previous years, but especially specific in this case were the 1950s, when there was departure from Stalin’s criminal policy, when the liberalization of the political regime and economic reforms began. In general, the country had a new political and economic situation. Various perpetrators also tried to take advantage of this, so the fight against both criminal and economic crime continued to be relevant in the new conditions. This topic is not enough studied in the historical and legal literature. Economic crime has been studied in the article in the sense that it was exactly in the specified historical period. For the first time in the historical and legal literature we studied the activities of the police to combat economic crime in the middle of 1950s, demonstrated certain achievements and shortcomings in this work, its management by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. The historical and legal analysis of the normative acts regulating the work of militia in the specified sphere has been carried out. New archival documents have been introduced into scientific circulation, which made it possible to expand and deepen the scientific understanding of police activities during this period, to give it greater objectivity and reliability. The main attention has been paid to the fight against economic crime by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR; the author has demonstrated the shortcomings observed by the Ministry in this work, the ways to overcome them. It has been emphasized that the analysis of these phenomena by the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not always in-depth; there were repetitions and superficial judgments. The data characterizing the state of economic crime in the Republic in 1954-1955 has been provided.

Rapid Arctic warming is expected to increase global greenhouse gas concentrations as permafrost thaw exposes immense stores of frozen carbon (C) to microbial decomposition. Permafrost thaw also stimulates plant growth, which could offset C loss. Using data from 7 years of experimental Air and Soil warming in moist acidic tundra, we show that Soil warming had a much stronger effect on CO2 flux than Air warming. Soil warming caused rapid permafrost thaw and increased ecosystem respiration (Reco ), gross primary productivity (GPP), and net summer CO2 storage (NEE). Over 7 years Reco , GPP, and NEE also increased in Control (i.e., ambient plots), but this change could be explained by slow thaw in Control areas. In the initial stages of thaw, Reco , GPP, and NEE increased linearly with thaw across all treatments, despite different rates of thaw. As thaw in Soil warming continued to increase linearly, ground surface subsidence created saturated microsites and suppressed Reco , GPP, and NEE. However Reco and GPP remained high in areas with large Eriophorum vaginatum biomass. In general NEE increased with thaw, but was more strongly correlated with plant biomass than thaw, indicating that higher Reco in deeply thawed areas during summer months was balanced by GPP. Summer CO2 flux across treatments fit a single quadratic relationship that captured the functional response of CO2 flux to thaw, water table depth, and plant biomass. These results demonstrate the importance of indirect thaw effects on CO2 flux: plant growth and water table dynamics. Nonsummer Reco models estimated that the area was an annual CO2 source during all years of observation. Nonsummer CO2 loss in warmer, more deeply thawed soils exceeded the increases in summer GPP, and thawed tundra was a net annual CO2 source.

The few prethaw observations of tundra carbon fluxes suggest that there may be large spring releases, but little is known about the scale and underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon. To address these questions, we combined ecosystem eddy flux measurements from two towers near Barrow, Alaska, with mechanistic soil-core thawing experiment. During a 2 week period prior to snowmelt in 2014, large fluxes were measured, reducing net summer uptake of CO2 by 46% and adding 6% to cumulative CH4 emissions. Emission pulses were linked to unique rain-on-snow events enhancing soil cracking. Controlled laboratory experiment revealed that as surface ice thaws, an immediate, large pulse of trapped gases is emitted. These results suggest that the Arctic CO2 and CH4 spring pulse is a delayed release of biogenic gas production from the previous fall and that the pulse can be large enough to offset a significant fraction of the moderate Arctic tundra carbon sink.

Background. In modern Russia, the problem of food security, the availability of high-quality food products for all categories of citizens, as well as the possibility of deve-loping the agricultural sector of the economy to ensure the export of most agricultural crops to the world market has not been completely solved. Food is a renewable resource, unlike some other goods exported by the Russian Federation. On the other hand, the development of agricultural production with the creation of jobs allows solving the problem of rural la-bor resources, preserving rural areas as such, and making the structure of society in the vil-lage-city ratio more balanced. The purpose of the study is to analyze the measures of the secular state during the thaw of 1953–1964 to solve the fodder problem of animal husband-ry by increasing corn crops. The author sought an objective analysis of the causes and con-sequences of one of the most striking programs of the Khrushchev transformations, which had, among other things, the consequences of forming the image of a political leader in Soviet society. Materials and methods. The validity and objectivity of the research results is ensured by comparing the data and conclusions of a number of Russian historians, as well as by analyzing the archival sources published and put into scientific circulation, contained in the Russian State Archive of Economics, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Kirov Region, the Russian State Archive of Modern History. The most attention is paid to statistical data, reports and directives of So-viet and party bodies, on the basis of which economic decisions were made, letters from peasants to the authorities, the perception of events in the regions. A brief description of the role of the political leader of the USSR in the events is also given. The methodology of the article is based on the use of a comparative method that allows you to compare the changes that have occurred. The source base of the article is published and unpublished materials: statistical data contained in published collections, including the results of the agricultural census. The author sought to proceed from a systematic approach that allows to characterize specific measures of agrarian policy based on the general situation in the coun-try. Results. The measures of the ongoing corn campaign as a way to solve the food prob-lem were studied mainly on the materials of the Volga-Vyatka economic region, which included 5 subjects of the RSFSR: 2 regions and 3 autonomous republics, similar in natural and climatic characteristics. Specific historical information is analyzed, revealing the rea-sons, goals and results of the activities carried out in the whole country and in individual regions. Conclusions. Based on a critical understanding of diverse sources and historio-graphy data, the conclusion is made about the ineffectiveness of the campaign in terms of its contribution to solving the food problem. At the same time, the conduct of this campaign is being questioned solely due to a subjective factor – the will of N.S. Khrushchev.

This study is an attempt to suggest a new state system of permafrost monitoring, primarily for energetic infrastructure, based on past approaches and achievements in Russia for over a hundred years of Arctic studies. The methodology of this study is based on general theoretical methods of scientific research. Historical (retrospective analysis of the development of the monitoring system of long-term permafrost in Russia) and logical (inductive generalization) methods were applied. The structure and methods of permafrost monitoring in the Soviet Union and new technologies used nowadays to establish permafrost monitoring systems, taking into account modern Arctic energetic development, have been analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an attempt to predict the potential economic impacts on public infrastructure upon degrading permafrost which is losing its bearing capacity. Climate change-related increases in costs (economic losses or damage) are estimated for several climate futures by 2050 separately for 39 municipalities located in the Russian Arctic permafrost domain. The hypothetical changes in mean annual ground temperature are inferred from air and ground temperature trends and monitoring data, with reference to forecasts of the Climate Center of the Russian Meteorological Service (Roshydromet) and climate change scenarios (representative concentration pathways RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5). The calculations were performed for twelve possible cases with different air ground temperature assumptions, with regard to the difference between the ground and air mean annual temperatures. This difference, or temperature shifts, due to radiation, snow, vegetation, and atmospheric precipitation effects, was estimated either by means of calculations proceeding from possible changes of climate variables or by summation of known values reported from different Arctic areas. The economic losses were evaluated as maximum and minimum values at extreme values of permafrost parameters, separately for each case. The buildings and facilities on permafrost were assumed to have pile foundations with friction piles. The permafrost thaw impact was meant as the loss of the soil capacity to bear the support structures for the infrastructure leading to deformation and failure. The impact was considered significant if the change exceeded the safety margin according to the Russian Building Code. The greatest damage is expected to housing stock and buildings and structures of main economic sectors. The monetary value of the residential infrastructure was estimated using a specially compiled inventory database including address, age, and surface area of 23.900 houses in 39 selected Russian Arctic municipalities over a total area of 44.600 km2. The estimation of fixed assets stemmed from the assumption that their monetary value is proportional to the gross output in the respective economic sector, which, in its turn, correlates with the payroll total corrected for mean industry coefficients for different regions of Russia. The potential damage may reach up to US$ 132 billion (total) and ~ US$ 15 billion for residential infrastructure alone, which generally agrees with other estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding nitrogen fertilizers to soils can induce short-term changes in soil N pools, and consequently cause extra release of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions that are sourced directly from soils rather than from added N – a response termed the 'priming effect'. However, it is unknown how priming effects on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions can be altered following a strong freeze–thaw cycle. A mesocosm (pot) experiment evaluated two soil managements: with and without history of manure applications. These soils were subjected to three moisture regimes: Low, Medium and High. Apart from the controls, which received no N, we banded 15 N-labelled urea into these soils representing a typical fall fertilization, and subsequently simulated a wide fall-freeze–thaw cycle, with temperatures from + 2, to − 18, and finally + 23 °C, respectively. The overall highest N2O production was observed 1 day after thawing. At that time, measurements of N2O site preference indicated that denitrification produced 83% of the N2O flux. Relative to the unamended controls (baseline), adding urea consistently triggered a 24% greater cumulative N2O production originated from soil N following thawing (245 vs. 305 μg N2O-N kg−1 soil, P = 0.022). This substantiates a positive priming of N2O that manifested shortly after the rapid, wet thawing of the soils. Soils having a manure history or higher moisture also exhibited an augmented production of N2O from soil N rather than from the added urea (Ps < 0.01). Although the overall N2O priming was positive, two weeks after thawing, negative priming of daily N2O fluxes also occurred, but only in soils under High moisture. Besides urea addition, the propensity for primed N2O emissions after soil thawing was enhanced under higher moisture conditions and in the soil with history of manure applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on the Ukrainian generation of the Thaw known as “the Sixtiers”. Gradual development of their worldview is mapped on the examples of their reflections on crucial political and cultural events that took place during the Thaw from 1953 till 1965 and formed the historical experience of the younger generation during the defined period. The article is concentrated on five key events: Stalin’s death in 1953, the Secret speech in 1956, the Kurenivka tragedy in 1961, the fire in Public library in Kyiv in 1964 and the mass arrests of Ukrainian intelligentsia in 1965. The reflexion of the Sixtiers on these events is traced according to their diaries, letters, published texts and recorded interviews. The study also maps the approaches of the Soviet officials during these events that are shown with a help of archival KGB files. On the basis of these sources the article maps gradual development of the worldview of the Sixtiers and their shift from relatively loyal Soviet citizens to opposition minded intellectuals and dissidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several plays by William Saroyan written in the mid-1930s reached the Soviet stage only during the Khrushchev Thaw, in the early 1960s. The paper focuses on the first Soviet productions of Saroyan’s play My Heart’s in the Highlands, premiered in Armenian (Yerevan) in 1961, and in 1962 staged in Russian by the Mayakovsky Moscow Theatre. The paper analyses the reasons for such a late appearance of Saroyan’s dramas on the Russian stage, traces how Saroyan’s trip to the USSR in 1960 prompted the staging of his work in Armenia’s capital, which thereon paved the way for its Moscow production. The theatrical history of Saroyan’s work in the USSR is viewed in a wide social, political and cultural Soviet-American macro-context during the Cold War. The paper based on the rare materials from the museum of the Mayakovsky Moscow Theatre, focuses on the reception of the play and its production in the Soviet Union. The director Ya.S. Tsitsinovski strove to transmit the elevated, poetic spirit of Saroyan’s work and find a vivid expressive form, which was not typical for the Mayakovsky Theatre of N.P. Okhlopkov’s time. Its appearance on the Moscow stage in 1962 marked the beginning of the scene history of the American author’s drama in our country. The paper is aimed at reconstructing the theatrical history of Saroyan’s plays in the USSR.

The northern permafrost region holds almost half of the world's soil carbon in just 15% of global terrestrial surface area. Between 2007 and 2016, permafrost warmed by an average of 0.29°C, with observations indicating that frozen ground in the more southerly, discontinuous permafrost zone is already thawing. Despite this, our understanding of potential carbon release from this region remains not only uncertain, but incomplete. SROCC highlights that global-scale models represent carbon loss from permafrost only through gradual, top-down thaw. This excludes “pulse” disturbances – namely abrupt thaw, in which frozen ground with high ice content thaws, resulting in subsidence and comparatively rapid ongoing thaw, and fire – both of which are critically important to projecting future permafrost carbon feedbacks. Substantial uncertainty remains around the response of these disturbances to ongoing warming, although both are projected to affect an increasing area of the northern permafrost region. This is of particular concern as recent evidence indicates that pulse disturbances may, in some cases, respond nonlinearly to warming. Even less well understood are the interactions between processes driving loss of permafrost carbon. Fire not only drives direct carbon loss, but can accelerate gradual and abrupt permafrost thaw. However, this important interplay is rarely addressed in the scientific literature. Here, we identify barriers to estimating the magnitude of future emissions from pulse disturbances across the northern permafrost region, including those resulting from interactions between disturbances. We draw on recent advances to prioritize said barriers and suggest avenues for the polar research community to address these.

Secale cereale L. (rye) as an overwinter forage usually harvested in the autumn, widely grows in the northeastern China, where the temperature varies widely from day to night. In this area, the crop is confronted with not only freeze–thaw stress, but also the soil salinization. In this study, the rye seedlings under alkaline salt (AS) stress were subjected to both cutting treatment (CT) after growing for 7 days and freeze–thaw (FT) stress（10/−5°C) after 6 days regrowth. The changes of soluble protein (SP), malondialdehyde (MDA), relative water content (RWC), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in seedlings were studied to analyze the physiological effects of FT and AS stress with CT. The results indicated, under the combined stress, the enzyme activity and RWC decreased and the soluble protein and MDA content increased. Cutting treatment led to the accumulated of MDA, increase of enzyme activity and decrease of RWC in seedlings. The finding from the study indicates that the CT could aggravate the membrane peroxidation under the combined stress of FT and AS and enhance the osmotic adjustment ability of rye and activated the antioxidant enzyme system. The rye having been cut is more sensitive to the compound stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a post-Stalinist modern kitchen in Poland was informed by the activities of different individual and institutional actors: experts in ‘professional’ home engineering, architects and designers and modernist taste-makers. The image of the model kitchen is surprisingly coherent: a rational laboratory kitchen, where the housewife’s work is orchestrated according to Taylorism-inspired rules that aim at reducing the burden of domestic chores and introducing modern and hygienic equipmentand attitudes. The discourse, inspired by similar discussions in Europe and United States, mainly by the works of Swedish Research Institute, reflects the prewar ideas of kitchen-laboratories and ‘home engineering’. What’s new and different is the temporal (limited to a short post-Thaw period) enthusiasm for open-plan kitchens presented as spaces where a housewife can seamlessly perform two duties at the same time: housework and care work. This phenomenon mirrors changing attitudes towards women’s roles in society which, in the post-Stalinist period, were marked by ongoing conservatism. Drawing on the concept of a ‘mediation junction’ and the historical production-consumption-mediation paradigm in design, the article traces changing attitudes towards women’s roles in society, reflected both in popular and professional discourses on kitchen design.

With permafrost thaw, significant amounts of organic carbon (OC) previously stored in frozen deposits are unlocked and become potentially available for microbial mineralization. This is particularly the case in ice-rich regions such as the Yedoma domain. Excess ground ice degradation exposes deep sediments and their OC stocks, but also mineral elements, to biogeochemical processes. Interactions of mineral elements and OC play a crucial role for OC stabilization and the fate of OC upon thaw, and thus regulate carbon dioxide and methane emissions. In addition, some mineral elements are limiting nutrients for plant growth or microbial metabolic activity. A large ongoing effort is to quantify OC stocks and their lability in permafrost regions, but the influence of mineral elements on the fate of OC or on biogeochemical nutrient cycles has received less attention and there is an overall lack of mineral element content analyses for permafrost sediments. Here, we combine portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) with a bootstrapping technique to provide i) the first large-scale Yedoma domain Mineral Concentrations Assessment (YMCA) dataset, and ii) estimates of mineral element stocks in never thawed (since deposition) ice-rich Yedoma permafrost and previously thawed and partly refrozen Alas deposits. The pXRF method for mineral element quantification is non-destructive and offers a complement to the classical dissolution and measurement by optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) in solution. Using this method, mineral element concentrations (Si, Al, Fe, Ca, K, Ti, Mn, Zn, Sr and Zr) were assessed on 1,292 sediment samples from the Yedoma domain with lower analytical effort and lower costs relative to the ICP-OES method. The pXRF measured concentrations were calibrated using alkaline fusion and ICP-OES measurements on a subset of 144 samples (R2 from 0.725 to 0.996). The results highlight that i) the mineral element stock in sediments of the Yedoma domain (1,387,000 km2) is higher for Si, followed by Al, Fe, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Zr, Sr, and Zn, and that ii) the stock in Al and Fe (598 ± 213 and 288 ± 104 Gt) is in the same order of magnitude as the OC stock (327–466 Gt).

Ice-rich permafrost has been subject to abrupt thaw and thermokarst formation in the past and is vulnerable to current global warming. The ice-rich permafrost domain includes Yedoma sediments that have never thawed since deposition during the late Pleistocene and Alas sediments that were formed by previous thermokarst processes during the Lateglacial and Holocene warming. Permafrost thaw unlocks organic carbon (OC) and minerals from these deposits and exposes OC to mineralization. A portion of the OC can be associated with iron (Fe), a redox-sensitive element acting as a trap for OC. Post-depositional thaw processes may have induced changes in redox conditions in these deposits and thereby affected Fe distribution and interactions between OC and Fe, with knock-on effects on the role that Fe plays in mediating present day OC mineralization. To test this hypothesis, we measured Fe concentrations and proportion of Fe oxides and Fe complexed with OC in unthawed Yedoma and previously thawed Alas deposits. Total Fe concentrations were determined on 1,292 sediment samples from the Yedoma domain using portable X-ray fluorescence; these concentrations were corrected for trueness using a calibration based on a subset of 144 samples measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry after alkaline fusion (R2 = 0.95). The total Fe concentration is stable with depth in Yedoma deposits, but we observe a depletion or accumulation of total Fe in Alas deposits, which experienced previous thaw and/or flooding events. Selective Fe extractions targeting reactive forms of Fe on unthawed and previously thawed deposits highlight that about 25% of the total Fe is present as reactive species, either as crystalline or amorphous oxides, or complexed with OC, with no significant difference in proportions of reactive Fe between Yedoma and Alas deposits. These results suggest that redox driven processes during past thermokarst formation impact the present-day distribution of total Fe, and thereby the total amount of reactive Fe in Alas versus Yedoma deposits. This study highlights that ongoing thermokarst lake formation and drainage dynamics in the Arctic influences reactive Fe distribution and thereby interactions between Fe and OC, OC mineralization rates, and greenhouse gas emissions.