Moscow Institute Research Articles

Vladimir Igorevich Arnold

Vladimir Igorevich Arnold

Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis (review)

Reviewed by: Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis Tyrus Miller Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis. Nader Vossoughian. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2008. 176 pp. $45.00 (cloth). Despite his career as a wide-ranging intellectual polymath and tireless public educator, until recently Otto Neurath’s work has largely been known only in connection with the logical positivist philosophy of the Vienna Circle and the related, later Encyclopedia of Unified Sciences. Neurath was a leading voice in the Vienna Circle and at the same time a singular figure for his disciplinary focus on the social sciences and for his rich involvement in practical application of social knowledge. More scholarly attention, however, is now also being paid to his activity as a socialist, involved with Kurt Eisner in the failed Bavarian Commune of 1919 and in the Red Vienna city administration of the 1920s; as an economic thinker who developed ideas about non-monetary economies from the wartime command economy and the barter modes that sprung up in the social chaos of Vienna following the founding of the Austrian republic; and as a theoretically sophisticated, left-wing urbanist helping to lend rational social foundations to Red Vienna housing projects.1 It is, however, Neurath’s invention of a system of iconic visual signs, ISOTYPE (International System of Typographic Picture Education) and his use of this system for the goal of public enlightenment, especially through innovative museum practice, that has garnered the most recent scholarly and curatorial attention in several exhibitions.2 The ISOTYPE collection at the University of Reading, where Neurath’s wife Marie taught following the death of her husband, concentrates the scholarly resources related to this side of Neurath’s practice and, through its website, provides greater public access to hard-to-find ISOTYPE materials. 3 Vossoughian’s book derives from an exhibition entitled “After Neurath” presented in 2008 at the Stroom in The Hague, where Neurath had once transferred his Museum of Society and Economy from Vienna following the repressed Social Democratic uprising of 1934. Independent of the exhibition, however, Vossoughian’s densely illustrated book offers an engaging biographical and critical treatment of Neurath’s activities as a socialist urbanist, public educator, and museum practitioner. [End Page 961] Vossoughian stresses the intimate connections between Neurath’s ideas about public enlightenment, his use of ISOTYPE as a communicative tool, and his democratic socialist politics. The book is divided into three main thematic sections—Community, Democracy, Globalism—roughly encompassing the successive phases of Neurath’s intellectual career as he responds to the social mobilization and growth of state intervention during World War I, the socialist experiments of the 1920s, and the spread of fascism in the 1930s that would keep him in exile up to his premature death in 1945. Along the way, Vossoughian touches upon a number of topics of interest for scholars of modernism, particularly those interested in urban and architectural modernism or in the relations of modernism to radical politics. The “Globalism” section, for instance, offers detailed information about Neurath’s association with CIAM (Congrès International de l’Architecture Moderne), the Bauhaus, and individuals connected with these modernist institutions such as Le Corbusier, Siegfried Giedion, László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Gropius, Cornelis van Eesteren, and Margarete Lihotsky. Vossoughian also discusses Neurath’s little-known work of the early 1930s at the Isostat Institute in Moscow, where he spent sixty days a year on a rotating basis with a group of co-workers. Dedicated to carrying out Lenin’s directive to make statistics accessible and comprehensible to the Soviet masses, Neurath’s Isostat Institute can be seen in the context of analogous constructivist efforts to foster the “cultural revolution” in the U.S.S.R.: applying avant-garde visual and textual innovations instrumentally and politically to directly affect the Soviet public sphere and contribute to the construction of a socialist society. One of the other focal points of considerable importance in Neurath’s work was his innovative conception of the museum as an instrument of communication and public enlightenment. This goal was most comprehensively realized in his Museum of Society and Economy in Vienna in the 1920s. Developing his ideas about graphic representation of...

Development of a reactor-separator flotation machine designed by the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys

A new flotation machine of the reactor-separator type has been designed based on the creation of compatible hydrodynamic conditions for control of the main stages of the flotation process in spatially separated zones of the machine. The dependence of the efficiency of the flotation process on the time of residence of the pulp in the reactor is shown to be of an extreme nature and is determined by the ratio of the rates of formation and destruction of flotation complexes and the rate of coalescence of the bubbles. The manner in which the zones in reactor-separators are organized and connected to one another for the selective flotation of mineral particles should be significantly different than for the treatment of waste water. The application of external vibrations (ultrasound) to mineralized air bubbles in the reactor zone makes it possible to independently regulate the process of particle separation and enhances selectivity in the division of copper sulfides from nickel sulfides.

Analysis, monitoring, and prediction of the use of secondary sources of iron in recycling society

Realization of the 3R Initiative is the key to the creation of a Recycling Society in the Twenty-First Century. The initiative identifies specific areas in which government is to control the use of secondary resources, and it recommends use of the proven method of providing incentives to “socially responsible manufacturers.” The Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys has developed and validated computational methods that make it possible to evaluate the extent to which metallurgical technologies satisfy the 3R criteria. The methods take into account specific features of the technologies and the structure of the technical-economic documentation used by Russian companies in the ferrous metallurgy industry. Among them is a method that determines the parameters of flows of metal elements in the technosphere and includes the mathematical description “Recycling - a Simulation Model.” There is also a method that determines the parameters of flows of elements at ferrous metallurgy plants and employs the model POTOK “(FLOW). Yet another method that was developed evaluates the capacity of technogenic deposits in different metallurgical regions.

Efficient production of 100 keV deuterons in deuterium gas puff Z-pinches at 2 MA current

Deuterium gas puff experiments were carried out on the S-300 Z-pinch at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. Gas puffs imploded onto the axis before a current peak at about 100 ns. Fusion neutrons were generated after the gas puff implosion during global expansion of a plasma column. Neutron emission lasted on average 35 ± 5 ns (full width half maximum, FWHM). In the downstream direction (on the Z-pinch axis behind the cathode), a mean neutron energy was 2.6 ± 0.1 MeV. Side-on neutron energy spectra peaked at 2.40 ± 0.05 MeV with about 600 ± 150 keV FWHM. A broad width of side-on neutron spectra implied a high radial component of deuteron velocities. An average kinetic energy of fast deuterons, which produced fusion neutrons, was 150 keV. A peak neutron yield reached a value of 6 × 1010 on a current level of 1.5 MA. It was by one order higher in comparison with other deuterated loads used on the same current generator. On the basis of experimental observations, we concluded that a total energy of deuterons accelerated to fusion energies was above 1.5 kJ. It is more than 15% of the energy input into a plasma. Therefore gas puff Z-pinches seem to be not only powerful sources of x-ray radiation but also efficient sources of 100 keV deuterons. Such a result is consistent with high neutron yields observed on the Angara Z-pinch and plasma foci with similar currents.

Investigation of regularities of ion flotation of copper with the use of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate

The regularities of the ion flotation of copper are investigated with the use of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DEDTK) in an apparatus designed at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. The results of investigation into the structure of the obtained precipitates of copper DEDTK are presented. The distribution over the size of air bubbles in a new flotation apparatus is analyzed. The effect that a series of factors have on the degree of removal of copper ions from model solutions is shown.

Game models of network auctions and their laboratory researches

Cooperative game theory is proposed to be used for analyzing the results of network auctions. The main properties of cooperative games, simulating network markets such as superadditivity, the nonempty core, and convexity are studied. Cooperative game theory is used to analyze one of the laboratory network markets studied at the Laboratory for Experimental Economics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Computer Center, Russian Academy of Science

Development of a decommissioning strategy for the MR research reactor

Abstract A description of the selected decommissioning strategy for the research reactor MR at the site of the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow is presented. The MR reactor hall is planned to be used as a temporary fuel store for the other research reactors on the site. On the basis of the site-specific conditions and overall decommissioning goals, it was identified that phased immediate decommissioning is the preferable option. The current status of the reactor, expected final conditions and the sequence of decommissioning works are shown.

Gero Kurat (1938–2009)

Gero Kurat (1938–2009)

Color and Sound in Balzac's Novels

This paper analyzes the dramatic color of Honore de Balzac's novels "Shagreen" (1831) and "Father Goriot" (1834). Using symbolic colors, different color details and motives, color and light accents, decoloration Balzac creates dramatic contrasts, transforms the time, reveals the inner state of the characters. The writer's works are the result of the brilliant application of the reflex theory to literature suggested by Eugene Delacroix, a painter and Balzac's contemporary. Artistic intensity and the diversity of color elements in Balzac's novels are one of the vivid steps on the way to the chromatic and not just color cinema as Eisenstein wrote. The correlation of prose and film was one of the main subjects of Nina Anosova's research. A talented literary and film scholar and teacher, a Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature and Histroy Institute (IFLI) graduate, she spent over 55 years teaching at VGIK. Such prominent filmmakers as Marlene Khutsiev, Andrei Tarkovsky, Vasily Shukshin, Gennady Shpalikov, Yuri Arabov, Karen Shakhnazarov, Vadim Abdrashitov, Sergey Loznitsa, etc. were among her pupils. The students and graduates of the Institute of Cinematography constantly turn to her works, learning real (deep) analysis and understanding of literature and art.

EVALUATION BY PRACTICING DOCTORS OF THE MODERN PHARMACOTHERAPY POSSIBILITIES IN PATIENTS WITH ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE. RESULTS OF DOCTOR INTERVIEW IN MOSCOW AND VORONEZH

Aim. To evaluate opinion of doctors about modern pharmacotherapy possibilities in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and about basic problems of pharmacotherapy implementation. Material and methods. Interviews of doctors from various health care institutions in Moscow and Voronezh were performed in 2009. Interview was performed with questionnaire containing 5 questions. Doctors of different specialties (n=64 from Moscow and n=69 from Voronezh) participated in interviewing. Results. The majority of doctors in Moscow and Voronezh were sure in advantage of IHD pharmacotherapy vs coronary angioplasty and stenting (55% and 63%, respectively). Only 37% and 32% of doctors in Moscow and Voronezh, respectively, believed in real achievement of target levels of low density cholesterol and 45% and 61% of them, respectively, considered high cost of statins as the main limit for its implementation. Conclusion. On one hand interviews among practicing doctors in Moscow and Voronezh demonstrated satisfied knowledge of modern clinical guidelines on IHD therapy. On the other hand they gave understanding why doctors not always follow these guidelines.

Vladilen Stepanovich Letokhov

Vladilen Stepanovich Letokhov

Effect of secondary electrospark treatment with carbon-bearing materials on the properties of titanium alloys

The Scientific Training Center for Self-Sustaining High-Temperature Synthesis at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys has conducted a study of the structure and properties of two-layer electrospark coatings on titanium alloy OT4-1. The coatings were applied by the successive use of STS electrode material STIM-2 (TiC - 20% Ni) (primary treatment) and several different carbon-bearing materials (secondary treatment). It was established that treatment of the surface with carbon-bearing materials decreases the friction coefficient and increases the resistance of specimens of the titanium alloy to heat and wear.

Holographic space-time from the Big Bang to the de Sitter era

I review the holographic theory of space-time and its applications to cosmology. Much of this has appeared before, but this discussion is more unified and concise. I also include some material on work in progress, whose aim is to understand compactification in terms of finite-dimensional super-algebras. This is an expanded version of a lecture I gave at the conference on Liouville Quantum Gravity and Statistical Systems, in memory of Alexei Zamolodchikov, at the Poncelet Institute in Moscow, 21–24 June 2008.

Basic Induced Drag Study of the Joined-Wing Aircraft

J OINED-WING configuration was considered for the first time by Prandtl in 1924 [1]. The first attempt to build a joinedwing airplane was undertaken by the Moscow Institute of Aviation in the 1940s, when they redesigned a classic biplane called the Polikarpow Po-2 to create the joined-wing airplane [2]. More recently, the configuration was studied by Wolkovitch [3] and Kroo and Gallman [4] in the 1980s. A project described in [5] was inspired by these works. It consisted of a series of wind-tunnel tests with models of a small transport airplane (see Fig. 1). The most interesting result obtained in this project was that a greater L=Dwas achieved for negative angles of attack than for positive ones (see Fig. 2). This observation suggests that the front wing of the aircraft in a joined-wing configuration should be located on top of the fuselage and the rear wing at the bottom to obtain greater aerodynamic efficiency. This complicates the design because it is not possible to use the fin as a pylon for the rear wing and fuselages usually are not particularly high. Anyway, this front-high-joinedwing configuration can be considered in cases of small 2–4 seat general aircraft, small transport aircraft, and very large commercial double-deckers. Later, in the 1990s, a few papers on the joinedwing configuration were published [6], most of them focusing on mass-strength analysis.

In memory of professor Valerii Mikhailovich Borisov (1939–2008)

Professor Valerii Mikhailovich Borisov, a remarkable mathematician, leading researcher of the Dorodnicyn Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CC RAS), and doctor of physics and mathematics passed away after a serious illness at the age of 69. His family has lost a wonderful husband and father, and science has lost a hard-working researcher in aerodynamics, gas dynamics, and computational mathematics. Many CC RAS employees with whom Borisov worked during his scientific career cannot reconcile themselves to a world without this charming man and scientist of versatile talents. The life of this seemingly healthy well-grown man was cut short by an insidious disease. His colleagues will remember Borisov as an energetic, kind, and sympathetic person. In his research activities, Borisov proposed original approaches to solving scientific problems, insisted on the purity of scientific results, and exhibited vast erudition. I was a close friend of Borisov from his first working day at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences (CC USSR AS) after he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1962. We often discussed various scientific issues. So I am especially deeply grieving over the death of this remarkable man. In Memory of Professor Valerii Mikhailovich Borisov (1939–2008)

Ignition with low-temperature plasma: Kinetic mechanism and experimental verification

The results of experiments and calculations performed at the Laboratory of Physics of Nonequilibrium Systems, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1996 to 2008 to demonstrate the efficiency of low-temperature plasma in initiation of combustion of gas mixtures over a wide range of initial conditions are surveyed. In the studies reviewed, a method for quantitative analysis of kinetic processes during ignition of combustible gas mixtures by nonequilibrium plasma was developed.

A.I. Nesterow (1895–1979) und die russische Rheumatologie

Alongside several important Russian scientists of the 18th century (G.I. Sokolski, S.P. Botkin), W.T. Talalajew - with his work on cardiac rheumatoid nodules - and W.M. Bechterew, the namesake of ankylosing spondylitis, made significant contributions to international rheumatology. While the Dutchman Jan van Breemen (1874-1961) was busy founding international rheumatology, Russian rheumatology played an at least equally important role in Europe, attracting much attention with the brilliant organisation of the 4th Congress of the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) in Moscow in 1934. The later institutionalised and perfectly organised rheumatological care in the giant empire is inextricably linked with the name of Anatoli Innokentjewitsch Nesterow. He founded a large institute in Moscow and, together with his many students, laid the foundations for a network of rheumatological dispensaries in Russia and the former Soviet Republic. Moreover, as the leading centre for the Working Group of Rheumatologists in socialist countries, he and his colleagues also gave specialist work in the GDR the impetus it needed. His life and work, as well as that of his congenial successor, W. A. Nassonova, are described, partially on the basis of personal encounters.

Remediation of the high-level radwaste repositories at Russian Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”

The paper presents peculiarities of organization and performance of activities on disposition of the high level activity radwaste repository located at the radwaste disposal site of the Russian Research Center Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. The process of the radwaste extraction from the repository is described in comparison with similar activities in other old repositories. Tools and equipment used for the radwaste extraction from the repository are listed. Conventional construction machines equipped with a hydraulic hammer or a clamshell were used for destruction of the concrete-encased radwaste mass and extraction of low-level radwaste. Intermediate- and high-level radwaste was extracted by remotely controlled robots operating inside the shielding structure. Gamma visor was used for detection of high- level radwaste or fragments in the mass concrete being destroyed and for pointing remotely controlled robots accordingly. The paper describes peculiarities of radiation monitoring in the course of operations on disposition of the repository. For rapid detection of changes in radiation conditions in the working areas, there was used a gamma locator with on-line transmission of its data to a PC and their processing. The same measuring and extraction equipment were used for remediation of high-level radwaste repository at the Gas Plant complexes.

Evolutionary physiology by data of publications for 1965–2005

Evolutionary physiology as independent direction of physiology was formed in the XX century and was rapidly developing in its second half. To evaluate some tendencies of this process, we analyzed publications in Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology, one of the leading specialized periodicals on this problem. Analysis of works published for 4 decades has shown that the majority of papers deals with study of evolution of function of the nervous system (40–60 papers per year), less papers concern study of functions of sensory and visceral systems (20–30 per year). Among the used method, the most widely spread is the comparative-physiological method. By the end of the 1990s the number of works with use of methods of embryophysiology decreased. In the performed studies, predominant are physiological methods. Use of biochemical methods decreased, while of methods of molecular biology increased. The most often used objects of studies were mammals. By the end of the XX—beginning of the XXI century, in the greater number of papers the object of study has become human, while the number of publications in which experiments were performed on amphibians, reptiles, and birds decreased. More than a half of all works were carried out in St. Petersburg (Leningrad); the number of papers submitted from Moscow institutions gradually decreased, but the number of works from regions of Russia rose. Most studies were performed at institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and universities, while the number of papers from institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences decreased. For the last few years, several generalizations on evolution of functions and functional evolution have been formulated; handbooks and monographs on problems of evolutional physiology have been published.