Scientific Installations Research Articles

Trafficking | Transmission | Translation: Exploring Embodiment as a Mode of Knowledge Construction in Science Art Installations

Abstract Science art practices are often framed as science communication in a manner that overlooks the capacity of the arts to provide engagement opportunities beyond discourse. The authors perform a thematic analysis of audience interviews from scientific media art installations that depict complex, intangible, invisible, and ephemeral scientific phenomena, specifically focusing on medical nanotechnology. The analysis reveals that visitors recognize sensorial experiences beyond traditional science communication, while scientists’ experiences expanded their definition of engagement. The authors argue that scientific media art practices act as sites of meaning-making and non-discursive engagement that create reflective and embodied contexts for encounters with emerging technologies.

Determination of the optimal interval of the average load of the scientific equipment of the center for collective use

Modern Centers for the collective use of scientific equipment represent the basis for the formation of unique scientific competencies and competitive advantages in the market of research services. As highly specialized tools of scientific and innovative infrastructure, whose activities are aimed at implementing priority areas of scientific and technological development of the country, Centers funded, including from the state budget, face the need for a reliable assessment of the effectiveness of public funds investments, which leads to the formation of an objective need to improve the organization of work in this direction. The state regulator legislatively establishes requirements for monitoring the effectiveness of the use of expensive scientific equipment and a unique instrument base, however, the regulatory approach does not take into account the specifics of the functioning of the CCP regarding specialization, diversity of the instrument base, etc. This article discusses the problems of applying a standardized approach to evaluating the effectiveness of the centers for the collective use of scientific equipment and unique scientific installations. The general nature of the indicators included in the requirements for centers for the collective use of scientific equipment and unique scientific installations that have been created and (or) the functioning of which is provided with the involvement of budgetary funds does not reflect the differences between centers for collective use in terms of functioning, equipment composition, types of research and other essential characteristics. Attention is focused on one of the leading indicators, namely, the degree of loading. The authors believe that the averaging of requirements can lead to data distortion and neutralize the results of state monitoring, and suggest approaches to developing criteria for evaluating the optimal interval of the average load of scientific equipment of the center for collective use and justification of the appropriate time of such, depending on the type and purpose of use. The study was conducted on the example of the Center for Collective Use of St. Petersburg State University — St. Petersburg State University Science Park.

National Center of Physics and Mathematics – a new form of organization of science

The article deals with the problem of activating fundamental scientific activity in the Russian Federation by combining the efforts of various scientific institutes – institutions of the Academy of Sciences, universities, industry and corporate science within the framework of the National Center for Physics and Mathematics (NCPM). The purpose of the article is to identify institutional features and substantiate promising organizational tasks of the NCFM, the main research methods are institutional, normative, comparative analysis. Institutionally, the NCPM will make it possible to get away from the existing division of science along departmental lines and related problems. It is proved that the use of the organizational “CERN model” in the NCPM will be able to attract a wide range of scientists from various Russian and, in the future, foreign organizations, will help the formation of a collaboration for conducting experiments and research at scientific installations of the “megasience” class. This will make it possible to form and work out a national model of the mobility of scientists. The territorial and personnel aspects of the NCFM are considered, measures are proposed to expand the types of activities, to activate the influx of students and postgraduates for subsequent work in scientific and knowledge-intensive industrial organizations, to reflect the peculiarities of the development of the territory of the NCFM location in strategic documents of various levels. Conclusions are drawn about the positive impact of the activities of the NCPM on socio-economic processes; about new opportunities for diversification of the military-industrial complex associated with the development of fundamental science; about accelerating the formation of a system of technological transfer; contributing to the organization of the system of strategic planning and scientific and technical forecasting in the country

140 years ago: the German station at South Georgia (South Atlantic) of the First International Polar Year (1882–1883)

Abstract. During the First International Polar Year (1882–1883) in the Arctic, Germany set up a meteorological and magnetic station at South Georgia in the South Atlantic, where the transit of Venus in front of the Sun on 6 December 1882 could also be observed. After the return of the expedition the station decayed over the years. Otto Nordenskjöld's Swedish Antarctic expedition and Wilhelm Filchner's German Antarctic expedition passed by in 1902 and 1911, respectively, and gave some information about the status of the huts and scientific installations. 100 years after the polar year only some relics remained. The paper describes the historical station and wants to encourage an archeological investigation to learn more about the social life of the station members.

Anglican cathedrals and implicit religion: Softening the boundaries of sacred space through innovative events and installations

High profile (and controversial) events and installations, like the Helter-Skelter in Norwich and the Crazy Golf Bridges in Rochester, have drawn attention to innovation and public engagement within Anglican cathedrals. The present study contextualised these innovations both empirically and conceptually. The empirical framework draws on cathedral websites to chronicle the wide and diverse range of events and installations hosted by Anglican cathedrals in England and the Isle of Man between 2018 and 2022. The conceptual framework draws on Edward Bailey’s theory of implicit religion to classify and to explore these events and installations. Two insights from the theory of implicit religion emerged as of particular significance. First, the notion of implicit religion softens the boundaries between the sacred and the secular. This was exemplified by eight categories of events: scientific exhibitions, festivals, musical events, art exhibitions, theatre, markets, community events and installations. Second, the notion of implicit religion draws attention to the themes and activities that generate meaning and purpose. This was exemplified by seven themes: social justice and social conscience, violence and reconciliation, remembrance, migration and sanctuary, COVID-19 and lockdowns, personal well-being and nature and environment.Contribution: Situated within the science of cathedral studies, this article identifies the range of innovative events and installations hosted by Anglican Cathedrals in England and the Isle of Man and assesses the significance of these events and installations through Edward Bailey’s lens of implicit religion, discussing first the softening of boundaries between the sacred and the secular and then the generation of meaning and purpose through the core themes raised by these events and installations.

Development of a cryocooler conduction-cooled 650 MHz SRF cavity operating at ∼10 MV/m cw accelerating gradient

SRF cavities for particle acceleration are conventionally operated immersed in a bath of liquid helium at 4.2 K and below. Although this cooling configuration is practically and economically viable for large scientific accelerator installations, it may not be so for smaller accelerators intended for industrial applications such as the treatment of wastewater, sludge, flue gases, etc. In this paper, we describe a procedure to operate SRF cavities without liquid helium that can be used to construct electron-beam sources for industrial applications of electron irradiation (1-10 MeV electron energy). In this procedure, an elliptical single-cell 650 MHz niobium-tin coated niobium cavity is coupled to a closed-cycle 4.2 K cryocooler using high purity aluminum thermal links. The cryocooler conductively extracts heat (RF dissipation) from the cavity without requiring liquid helium around the cavity. We present construction details of this cryocooler conduction-cooling technique and systematic experiments that have demonstrated ∼10 MV/m cw gradient on the cavity. By straightforward scaling up the cavity length and number of cryocoolers, the technique will provide the complete range of 1-10 MeV electron energy for industrial applications.

Legal Status of a Core Facility for Scientific Equipment

Core facilities (CF) for scientific equipment work is examined in the context of the sharing economy. Currently, there is a development of legislation concerning CFs set up by state agencies or the functioning of which is provided with the involvement of budgetary funds. But there are no special rules concerning the CF that are not funded by the state and local self-government bodies. Accordingly, these CFs are subject to the norms that determine the legal status of the basic organization as a whole. Due to the social significance of the CFs, their role in ensuring the national security of the state, it is advisable to adopt regulations concerning the status and activities of the CFs, regardless of the CF’s type of founders and sources of funding. Although the core facility is being created as a structural unit of a state scientific or educational organization, the paper substantiates the admissibility of the CF formation as an independent entity. The legal regime of the CF property has specifics in relation to such a group as scientific equipment and unique scientific installations. The description of such equipment is an essential condition of the contracts made by the CF with external users. In addition, certain types of equipment meet the specifications of sources of increased danger. The author proposes a new definition of the core facility. A core facility for scientific equipment is a structural subdivision of a scientific or educational organization or an independent legal entity that has scientific and (or) technological equipment, highly qualified personnel, conducts scientific research, experimental developments in its own interests and by order of third parties, or provides scientific equipment to third parties to be used for relevant research and development.

A MegaScience class experimental complex at the University

In the classification of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the National Project “Nauka” (2018), the concept of MegaScience is the name of a class of unique scientific installations, and in general terms, these are large expensive international scientific and research complexes for solution of actual scientific problems. It is emphasized that world-class breakthrough research is impossible within the framework of one university or organization, without attracting multi-billion budgets. However, the practice of MEPhI shows that it is possible to construct the unique scientific installations and to achieve results comparable to the largest international projects within a university in cooperation with other Russian and foreign organizations.

EESSI: A cross‐platform ready‐to‐use optimised scientific software stack

AbstractGetting scientific software installed correctly and ensuring it performs well has been a ubiquitous problem for several decades now, which is compounded currently by the changing landscape of computational science with the (re‐)emergence of different microprocessor families, and the expansion to additional scientific domains like artificial intelligence and next‐generation sequencing. The European Environment for Scientific Software Installations (EESSI) project aims to provide a ready‐to‐use stack of scientific software installations that can be leveraged easily on a variety of platforms, ranging from personal workstations to cloud environments and supercomputer infrastructure, without making compromises with respect to performance. In this article, we provide a detailed overview of the project, highlight potential use cases, and demonstrate that the performance of the provided scientific software installations can be competitive with system‐specific installations.

Reflection on Architectural Image of Contemporary Archaeological Museums with Monuments In Situ

In the second half of the 20th century, archaeological and restoration sciences took a significant step forward. Furthermore, the museum industry and the way in which monuments should be displayed was also changed. In recent decades, museums that mainly exhibit an immovable archaeological monument emerged. It seems that the creation of such exhibition spaces requires special approaches, methods and planning techniques that enable to display the monument in the most successful way, to ensure its preservation and to organize the immovable archaeology inside the building, the route of its examination and the rest of the exposition harmoniously. We consider a variety of techniques for the reconstruction of the monument unfinished parts and for the reconstruction of its three-dimensional characteristics, ranging from the widely known and used anastylosis to modern unique solutions, which are peculiar ‘scientific installations’. However, the most interesting aspect of the topic under consideration is what the image of architectural space (against which an archaeological monument will be perceived) should look like. The examples of archaeological museums show that their stylistics can be divided into four main directions: – Development of the heritage, when the archaeological museums’ architecture contains quotes from the cultures that are mainly exhibited inside. – Creation of neoclassical spaces unrelated to the national color of objects that are displayed in the museum. – Very simple and functional modernist architecture, which is essentially a neutral background for exhibits. – Images of the building, formed from postmodernist metaphors, which, in this case, are closely related to the informal redefinition of the museum’s specificities and cultural features. The main purpose of the report is to consider all the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of the approaches described above to the architectural solutions of archaeological museums. It seems that all directions are valid and the choice is always relatively subjective and depends on a variety of factors, including the specifics of the museum exposition, the volumetric-spatial characteristics of the monument, the context surrounding the museum building, etc.

Features and perspectives of international cooperation within the implementation of projects megascience class

The article presents aspects of the legal regulation of international scientific cooperation aimed at the creation and operation of unique scientific installations of the “megascience” class. On the example of scientific projects CERN, ITER and XFEL, the individual features of legal regulation are analyzed: the legal basis, the key provisions of the concluded international agreements, as well as the relationship with the Russian legislation. On the basis of the analysis and generalization, the authors identify the features of legal regulation, which should be taken into account when creating future scientific projects of the “megascience” class.

Financial and Legal Relations and Key Legal Categories in the Field of Megasience

The paper is devoted to the examination of some legal aspects of the legislative regulation of public relations in the field of large-scale international research infrastructures. The author identifies the features of public relations in the field of Megasience, examines various approaches to the definition of this category. In particular, it is determined that it is the rules of financial law that regulate the complex of public relations within which public financial activities are carried out in the field under consideration, namely: relations concerning financing at the expense of centralized funds (budgets) as well as using extrabudgetary sources for creating large-scale research infrastructures — unique scientific Mega-science installations; relations associated with the application of various tax incentives and preferences, investment tax credits by scientific and other organizations involved in the implementation of Megascience projects; financial control and supervision relations in the process of creation and operation of global research infrastructure facilities. The author makes proposals concerning the need to develop and adopt a special federal law of the Russian Federation regulating public relations in the field under consideration, as well as public relations in the field of international collaboration related to the implementation of international research activities based on Megascience facilities by the States Parties to such activities. The author gives possible definitions of key concepts applied in the field of Megasience.

Financial and Legal Relations and Key Legal Categories in the Field of Megasience

The paper is devoted to the examination of some legal aspects of the legislative regulation of public relations in the field of large-scale international research infrastructures. The author identifies the features of public relations in the field of Megasience, examines various approaches to the definition of this category. In particular, it is determined that it is the rules of financial law that regulate the complex of public relations within which public financial activities are carried out in the field under consideration, namely: relations concerning financing at the expense of centralized funds (budgets) as well as using extrabudgetary sources for creating large-scale research infrastructures — unique scientific Mega-science installations; relations associated with the application of various tax incentives and preferences, investment tax credits by scientific and other organizations involved in the implementation of Megascience projects; financial control and supervision relations in the process of creation and operation of global research infrastructure facilities. The author makes proposals concerning the need to develop and adopt a special federal law of the Russian Federation regulating public relations in the field under consideration, as well as public relations in the field of international collaboration related to the implementation of international research activities based on Megascience facilities by the States Parties to such activities. The author gives possible definitions of key concepts applied in the field of Megasience.

СОВРЕМЕННОЕ СОСТОЯНИЕ И ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ РАЗВИТИЯ ЗАКРЫТЫХ ГОРОДОВ АТОМНОЙ ПРОМЫШЛЕННОСТИ

The article examines the current trends in the development of closed cities of the nuclear industry, the changes taking place in them and the opportunities for development. The relevance of these issues is due to the need to use the scientific and technological potential of cities for the innovative development of the country. Based on foreign experience, it is confirmed that the presence of nuclear industry enterprises on the territory contributes to the creation of innovative ecosystems, makes the territory attractive for business development. In terms of socio-economic development, attention is focused on the movement of the population, the activities of city-forming enterprises and small businesses, the income of the population and local budgets. New trends characteristic of closed cities are identified: strengthening the role of the ROSATOM State Corporation in the management system of nuclear closed cities; diversification of their economy based on the stable operation of the city-forming enterprise and the creation of other high-tech industries with the participation of the ROSATOM State Corporation; the dependence of the population of cities on the state of affairs at the city-forming enterprise; weak interest in the development of small businesses; the appearance of pendulum migration. The further development of closed cities through the expansion of the market of highly qualified labor in them is proposed: the activation of civil research and development; the formation of research networks using unique scientific installations and supercomputer capacities, etc. To attract qualified labor, it is necessary to create comfortable living conditions, which is more likely with the participation of the ROSATOM State Corporation. Some of the proposals are being tested. The results obtained may be of methodological and practical interest not only for closed cities, but also for other single-industry towns, as well as city-forming holdings.

Verification Protocols for the Lightning Protection of a Large Scale Scientific Instrument in Harsh Environments: A Case Study

This paper is devoted to the study of the most suitable protocols needed to verify the lightning protection and ground resistance quality in a large-scale scientific facility located on a site with high risk of lightning strikes. We illustrate this work by reviewing a case study: the largest telescopes of the Northern Hemisphere Cherenkov Telescope Array, CTA-N. This array hosts sensitive and high-speed optoelectronics instrumentation and sits on a clear, free from obstacle terrain at around 2400 m above sea level. The site offers a top-quality sky but also features challenging conditions for a lightning protection system: the terrain is volcanic and has electrical resistivities well above 1 kOhm·m. In addition, the environment often exhibits humidities well below 5%, and strong winds pose challenging conditions. On the other hand, the high complexity of a Cherenkov telescope structure does not allow a straightforward application of lightning protection standards. We describe here how the risk assessment of direct strike impacts was made and how contact voltages and ground system were both tested. Finite Element Simulation (COMSOL Multiphysics) has been used to estimate the current flowing through the parts of the earthing system designed for the telescopes in the case of a direct strike impact. This work is intended to provide assistance to scientists and managers involved in the construction of scientific installations, particularly those in charge of defining verifiable reliability and safety requirements for lightning protection.

Unique scientific installations as an object of state scientific and technical policy

The role of unique scientific installations (USI) in the course of the development of the Russian scientific system under exchange research restrictions is considered. The paper describes the dynamics of the number of USI over 30 years of post-Soviet development. The increase in the number of USI by July of 2020 resulted in 362 installations with some reduction in the scale of new installations. Measures of state support for unique installations are described. A comparison is made between the arrays of USI along with the centers for thecollective use of scientific equipment (CUSE) and the array of 7 megascience-type installations planned for commissioning by 2034. The need to review the policy of resource and thematic support for USI is shown. Greater attention to installations, their modernization and promotion of information about their real capabilities through the world scientific community will work well if Russia returns to equal cooperation with foreign research centers.

Improved reconstruction of JET using LIDAR-Vision fusion

Abstract Just like most industrial or scientific installations, future fusion reactors will require frequent maintenance. The expected environmental conditions and the necessity of carrying out many tasks in parallel result in the requirement to replace person-in-the-loop maintenance with robotic maintenance. Many advanced technologies will be required to carry out the automated inspection and maintenance tasks in order to minimize the maintenance shutdown durations. LIDAR is one such promising technology which is only just starting to be applied in Fusion contexts. Though it is presently not radiation tolerant enough to be utilized in future reactor designs such as ITER or DEMO without further development, the low radiation levels in JET have presented an opportunity to evaluate the technology for use in fusion environments. In previous work, we presented initial results using data captured in JET in the form of a coloured 3D-pointcloud created by LIDAR-Vision sensor fusion. In this paper, we present further work done to improve the quality of this data. This includes details on the improvement of model quality using ORB-SLAM as well as the use of recorded JET RH Boom kinematics data. We also carry out pointcloud-CAD data comparisons using numerical methods and show and improvement in reconstruction quality using ORB-SLAM and Boom Kinematics. Finally, the results are discussed and the relevance of this technology for future remote maintenance system inspection and navigation tasks is evaluated.

Features of international agreements concluded for the implementation of the projects of the “MegaScience” class

The article presents aspects of the legal regulation of international scientific cooperation aimed at the creation and operation of unique scientific installations of the “MegaScience” class. On the example of scientific projects CERN, ITER, XFEL and JINR, the individual features of legal regulation are analyzed: the legal basis, the key provisions of the concluded international agreements, as well as the relationship with the legislation of the Russian Federation. On the basis of the analysis and generalization, the author identifies the features of legal regulation, which should be taken into account when creating future scientific projects of the “MegaScience” class.

Current Aspects of Legal Personality in the Framework of Mega-Science Projects

The paper deals with the rights and obligations of participants of mega-science projects in relation to individual projects that are being implemented or are being prepared for implementation. Particular attention is given to the role of the state in organizing the work of unique scientific installations of the mega-science class and the interaction of various subjects of scientific collaborations. It is proved that in the process of scientific collaborations functioning various aspects of the personality of the collaborations themselves become up to date. Their individual elements, in particular the freedom of entry into mega-science projects and legal confirmation of the rights and duties of subjects, the combination of public and private interests when performing activities within the framework of scientific collaborations become of importance as well. Currently, states participate in mega-science projects through the transfer of significant public powers to specially established non-profit organizations — state corporations, as well as through the establishment of international intergovernmental research organizations with the rights of legal entities. The legal personality of public and private subjects of mega-science projects, which is formed by a regulatory act or contract, indicates a strict framework for proper and possible behavior and creates the need to use coordination tools based on the principles of reciprocity and common interests of participants. The paper examines the practice of legal regulation of interaction between the state and private entities when creating mega-science projects in Brazil, where legal entities responsible for the creation of the project are recognized by law as a subject with public responsibilities, and are subject to state authorities on the basis of the so-called management contract. The parties to such agreements do not have opposite interests, their interests coincide and are aimed at achieving public goals. Through these agreements, different entities structure their obligations and rights in the common interest and benefit from each other, provided that they effectively perform the actions stipulated in the agreement. The organization that has concluded such a contract is obliged to properly perform the tasks assigned to it. To the extent that it performs these actions properly, it will have the right to demand that the state perform its respective duties. Therefore, the management contract allows changing the structure of legal personality not only of individuals, but also of the state.

Finite Element Analysis and Experimental Characterization of Soil Electrical Resistivity at El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory

This paper presents a study of the soil electrical resistivity of El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, located in La Palma Island (Spain). This work is mainly motivated by the current plans of building an array of Cherenkov Telescopes (CTA) as well as other scientific installations, which demand low earth resistances for the operation of sensitive instruments, prevention of damage due to electrostatic discharges and protection against lightning strikes. Despite the top quality of the sky, the terrain is mostly filled of hard rocks and materials with high resistivity and hardness. No reliable data of resistivities could be found in available literature, therefore a dedicated resistivity survey onsite like the one presented here is essential to optimize the earth resistance of future installations. In this work, we present measurements done in six different locations of an area covering around 250 m × 275 m and centered on coordinates 28˚45'42.9N, 17˚53'28.5W. Low resistivity (Ωm) layers have been found at specific places and depths. The resistivity at the sites has been simulated with COMSOL Multiphysics software using two different models: a simple single layer model and a three-layer model. Agreement with measurements within 10% discrepancies was obtained in all cases. The main contributions of this work are the presentation of reliable values of soil resistivity at ORM, together with the accurate simulation of the soil profiles.