Journal articles on the topic 'Fields of Research – 230000 Mathematical Sciences'

Several of the most influential Latin American writers were interested in the sciences. Moreover, a handful showed an affinity to mathematics since childhood, eventually following careers as physicists, engineers, and mathematicians before turning their attention to the arts. In the end, they became novelists, essayists, and poets, who made significant contributions to their field. There is a large amount of existent traditional literature analysis research on Latin American authors. In the last sixteen years, research has shifted to include a focus on the connection between math and literature. However, this research focuses on interpreting the ideas of the universally acclaimed writer Jorge Luis Borges, studying his scientific thinking through his works, and demonstrating the writings included both basic and advanced math concepts even though he lacked a formal mathematical and scientific formation. Currently, there is a gap in the research that ignores the influential Latin American authors who were also prolific in mathematics. As a math and engineering student, I am interested in studying the work of Latin American writers with academic backgrounds in STEM fields--specifically mathematics. I intend to examine the writings of Ernesto Sabato, Guillermo Martinez, and Nicanor Parra for explicit math terminology and concepts.

The ArgumentRecent studies in the philosophy of mathematics have increasingly stressed the social and historical dimensions of mathematical practice. Although this new emphasis has fathered interesting new perspectives, it has also blurred the distinction between mathematics and other scientific fields. This distinction can be clarified by examining the special interaction of the body and images of mathematics.Mathematics has an objective, ever-expanding hard core, the growth of which is conditioned by socially and historically determined images of mathematics. Mathematics also has reflexive capacities unlike those of any other exact science. In no other exact science can the standard methodological framework used within the discipline also be used to study the nature of the discipline itself.Although it has always been present in mathematical research, reflexive thinking has become increasingly central to mathematics over the past century. Many of the images of the discipline have been dictated by the increase in reflexive thinking which has also determined a great portion of the contemporary philosophy and historiography of mathematics.

Empirical surveys show that reports of significance tests appear in the vast majority of articles in psychological research journals and are relied on by both investigators and journal reviewers when making decisions about replication of experiments and submission and acceptance of research reports Evaluation of claims by critics that significance testing is, nonetheless, counterproductive yields suggestions for improvements of prevailing practices, but also the recommendation that decisions about significance testing versus alternative procedures should remain the province of the individual investigator, unconstrained by mandates or prohibitions by publishers or officials of scientific associations The prime focus for efforts toward improvement of research design and data analysis in psychology and other behavioral sciences should be upgrading the mathematical and general scientific preparation of students preparing for research careers in these fields

AbstractOmnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti is a famous Latin phrase from Solomon’s Book of Wisdom, dated to the mid first century BC, meaning that all things were ordered in measure, number, and weight. Naturally, the wisdom is appearing in its relation to man. The Wisdom of Solomon is understood as the perfection of knowledge of the righteous as a gift from God showing itself in action. Consequently, a natural and obvious conjecture is that measurement science is the science of sciences. In fact, it is a basis of all experimental and theoretical research activities. Each measuring process assumes an object of measurement. Some science disciplines, such as quantum physics, are still incomprehensible despite complex mathematical interpretations. No phenomenon is a real phenomenon unless it is observable in space and time, that is, unless it is a subject to measurement. The science of measurement is an indispensable ingredient in all scientific fields. Mathematical foundations and interpretation of the measurement science were accepted and further developed in most of the scientific fields, including physics, cosmology, geology, environment, quantum mechanics, statistics, and metrology. In this year, 2020, Measurement Science Review celebrates its 20th anniversary and we are using this special opportunity to highlight the importance of measurement science and to express our faith that the journal will continue to be an excellent place for exchanging bright ideas in the field of measurement science. As an illustration and motivation for usage and further development of mathematical methods in measurement science, we briefly present the simple least squares method, frequently used for measurement evaluation, and its possible modification. The modified least squares estimation method was applied and experimentally tested for magnetic field homogeneity adjustment.

In 2012, the scientific world has lost N.N. Krasovskii, an extraordinary mathematician and mechanician whose works have prominently influenced a number of mathematic fields: differential equations, optimal control, and dynamic games theory. His research had profound effects on the development of mathematical research and education. In addition to his distinguished scientific contributions many of N.N. Krasovskiis disciples are academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, doctors and candidates of science, professors and engineers.

The analysis of federal state educational standards of higher education (FSES) allowed to identify the research activity and different kinds of project activities (design and project ones) as one of the basic standards for academic bachelor programmes of various courses. A graduate that has mastered this programme should be ready to meet the professional challenges demanding from him specific knowledge and skills in different fields, including Mathematics and he should obtain them while studying at university. Specific aspects of academic bachelors mathematical training should be taken into consideration in terms of academic activities. In this article we interpret the aspects of academic bachelors mathematical training as the academic activities based on personalizing the academic studies and implying an efficient combination of teaching ready to learn knowledge and the ways of its obtaining while solving the goals corresponding in their structures to the types of professional activities. At the same time we consider the personalizing of the academic studies as the process of projecting their own studies by the students themselves. The carried out analysis of scientific literature, of kinds of professional activity and of Mathematics activities allowed to specify the following features of bachelors mathematical training: Mathematics is a research tool for most sciences and for facing professional challenges; an academic potential is expressed in mindset formation; there is a high level of fundamentalization of mathematic operations while facing future professional goals.

Abstract<title> SUMMARY </title>This article wishes to demonstrate the importance of several areas of scientific research, until now neglected, and their relevance to Italian physical sciences in the age between Galileo and Volta. The science of waters, which joined the cluster of the new Galilean sciences in the seventeenth century in particular deserves greater attention if we are to understand the scientific traditions developed South of the Alps. This science represented an extension of the Galilean science of motion in an engineering context, a development that concerned both mathematical and experimental theories. This development took place in the border area between the physical and the mathematical sciences, and also involved the medical and naturalistic traditions. This line of tought led the Italian physical scientists to discover both new fields of research and new forms of social support, and hence overcome the crisis that followed the end of the historic Medicis patronage.

Physics experiments in space will permit us to investigate natural phenomena that cannot be observed on the ground, such as low-frequency gravitational waves, and to reach uncharted realms of accuracy — accessible only through experiments carried out in space — where current foundations of physics can be further tested and potentially falsified. Such projects require technologies that have not been in hand for a long time but are available now. To avoid conflict of interest, the merit of space projects in physics, from the proposal stage through development, ought to be judged by experts in physics, rather than by space scientists from other fields. It is time now to set aside some funding to let missions in fundamental physics compete fairly with the established space sciences, thereby enriching and deepening the space enterprise — and broadening its advocacy base. We look, in the context of the European space scene, at the measures and events that resurrected the initially suppressed planetary sciences and brought solar physics to blooming after a long drought; and derive ideas on how to increase the number of flight opportunities for fundamental physics in space.

An examination of the distribution of women who earn doctorates in mathematics and science presents a picture of uneven advancement. Women are clustered in the life sciences with far fewer majoring in the physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computer sciences. Recent studies attempting to identify factors that influence a woman's choice of career in the mathematical fields have focused on either women who have completed doctorates or formal training in their chosen fields or women presently in graduate programs in mathematics. This study focuses on math majors still in college, specifically 16 females at a highly selective liberal arts women's college, and factors that influenced their choice of this major and future career plans. A qualitative research methodology was employed using questionnaires, interviews with the students and the mathematics faculty, participant observation in mathematics classrooms, and document reviews of college and departmental publications. Findings revealed that positive school experiences and certain shared personality characteristics were integral in students' decisions to continue the study of mathematics in college.

Abstract. The papers summarised in this paper represent the scientific contributions of several scientists, coming from different countries, who work in the fields of monitoring, modelling, mapping and design of mitigation measures against mass movements. The authors participated at the 2011 EGU General Assembly presenting the contributions summarised in this paper. At the General Assembly they had the opportunity to illustrate their recent advancements, discuss each other's needs and set forth future research requirements. The scientific contributions presented here can be considered the result of the debates and the exchanges regarding their original work presented at the General Assembly that occurred either personally during the open session or during the review phase of their manuscripts.

The intention of this article is to share research taken from the initial training of secondary education pre-service teachers, in which college professors from mathematics and social sciences education participate. There are numerous studies regarding curriculum integration. However, there is insufficient research that offers insight into how different forms of disciplinary thought may come together in the design and development in practice for an educational purpose. The research professors carried out a qualitative investigation, working with two pre-service teacher groups from the fields of mathematics and social sciences. We used a validated research instrument to analyze how interdisciplinary educational proposals are developed, and how said proposals can be used to understand our social reality. Through an integrated project, pre-service teachers addressed sexist hate speech taken from different contexts. They designed didactic proposals, with mathematical contents, which allow high school students to argue with data and create counter-narratives, which softened or eliminated the sexist hate speech Among the conclusions, we may emphasize the value of pre-service teachers identifying their strengths in order to use the mathematical and social thought processes in an autonomous and creative way, thereby developing the instrumental, functional, and formative character in mathematics education.

This article points out some issues raised by the encounter between astrophysics (AP) and a newly emergent mathematical tool/discipline, namely artificial intelligence (AI). We suggest that this encounter has interesting consequences in terms of science evaluation. Our discussion favors an intra science perspective, both on the institutional and cognitive side. This encounter between machine learning (ML) and astrophysics points to three different consequences. (1) As a transverse tool, a same ML algorithm can be used for a diversity of very different disciplines and questions. This ambition and analytic intellectual architecture frequently identify similarities among apparently differentiated fields. (2) The perimeter of the disciplines involved in a research can lead to many and novel ways of collaboration between scientists and to new ways of evaluation of their work. And (3), the impossibility for the human mind to understand the processes involved in ML work raises the question of the reliability of results.

James G. March, one of organisation theory’s most influential scholars, died in September 2018. From 1963 to 1969, he was the founding Dean of UC-Irvine’s School of Social Sciences where he led a unique and influential experiment in organisation, pedagogy and social scientific inquiry. This article gives an account of that experiment and also reflects on March’s memory and legacy. In line with contemporary enthusiasms, March believed that social phenomena could be modelled using sophisticated mathematical techniques, and that this should inform both research and pedagogy. These techniques were necessarily ahistorical. He also celebrated innovation and interdisciplinarity, and so assembled a heterogeneous group, many of whom were not mathematical modellers. In retrospect, the School was an important node in the development of new and influential streams of research, such as situated learning, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Significantly, these approaches were also ahistorical. The experiment provides an important historical setting for understanding how, where, and when these fields emerged and illustrates the contextual nature of knowledge in organisation theory. It also helps explicate how history and theory have come to be differentiated from one another in organisation studies and contextualises attempts to integrate the two domains.

Solomon Marcus was a Romanian scientist, whose fields of research span mathematical analysis, theoretical computer science, measure theory and general topology, linguistics, history and philosophy of mathematics, poetics, semiotics and applications of mathematics social science etc. From the very beginning of his career, Marcus showed a deep interest in analyzing the complex relationships between literature and science (mathematics), trying to identify those arguments which plead for what might be called “the unity of knowledge”. In his book on mathematical poetics the scientist has demonstrated that poetry and mathematics are both routes towards self-knowledge (as well as modalities of creating ideal objects). Moreover, his work as a whole underscores the increasing importance of aesthetics in the field of “hard” sciences. This article will focus on those strategies used by Marcus in his essays as neutralisers of the tensions between self-reading and world-reading.

Abstract. The papers that are here presented and summarised represent the recent scientific contributions of some authors coming from different countries and working in the fields of monitoring, modelling, mapping and design of mitigation measures against mass movements. The authors had the opportunity to present their recent advancements, discuss each other needs and set forth future research requirements during the 2009 EGU General Assembly, so that their scientific contributions can be considered the result of the debates and exchanges that were set among scientists and researchers, either personally or during the review phase since that date. In this resume, the scientific papers of the special issue are divided according to different thematic areas and summarised. The most innovative scientific approaches proposed in the special issue, regarding the monitoring methodologies, simulation techniques and laboratory equipment are described and summarised. The obtained results are very promising to keep on future research at a very satisfactory level.

Relevance and expediency of introduction of a training course of computer mathematics for students of “Secondary Education (Computer Science)” is caused by necessity of use of computer equipment with the corresponding software almost in all areas of human activity; the fact that computer mathematics is one of priority directions of research work both in the field of mathematical sciences, and in the field of computer science. Computer mathematics is a field of applied computer science in which problems of development, implementation and use of information technologies for solving mathematical problems are studied. The purpose of teaching computer mathematics is to study and use computer mathematics systems by students to solve applied problems; to master the conceptual and terminological base of modern computer science as a fundamental science; to master theoretical fundamentals of computer science related to formal systems, knowledge bases and models of their representation, models and algorithms of decision making. Formulation of the problem. The study of computer mathematics by future computer science teachers and the use of modern systems of computer mathematics to solve applied problems, creates their system of professional competencies, in particular, informatics competencies in computer mathematics, informatics and mathematical competencies and skills to use modern information technology to analyze mathematical models of processes and phenomena from a variety of fields of knowledge and human activities. Materials and methods. To achieve this goal, the following research methods were used: analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature on the research topic; analysis of curricula, work programs and manuals on the subject "Computer Mathematics"; empirical methods (questionnaire, conversation, pedagogical observation, modeling). Results. This paper has built the model of building informatics competence within the professional competence of the future computer science teacher at the expense of integration of mathematical and information knowledge on the basis of mathematical modeling in environments of systems of computer mathematics, as these systems are an effective means of realization of inter-subject connections of computer science with other subjects of a natural-mathematical cycle. Conclusions. The study of "Computer Mathematics" courses by future computer science teachers, using computer mathematics systems, contributes to the formation of components of the information competence system in the field of information, mathematical and computer modeling.

Worn teeth pose a major limitation to researchers in the fields of extinct and extant hominoid systematics because they lack clearly identifiable anatomical landmarks needed to take measurements on the crown enamel surface and are typically discarded from a study. This is particularly detrimental when sample sizes for some groups are already characteristically low, if there is an imbalance between samples representing populations, sexes or dietary strategies, or if the worn teeth in question are type specimens of fossil species or other key specimens. This study proposes a methodology based predominantly on mathematically-derived landmarks for measuring size and shape features of molars, irrespective of wear. With 110 specimens of lower second molars from five species of extant hominoids (Pan troglodytes, P. paniscus, Gorilla gorilla, G. beringei, Homo sapiens), n ≥ 20 per species, n ≥ 10 per subspecies, good species separation in morphospace is achieved in a principal components analysis. Classification accuracy in a discriminant function analysis is 96.4% at the species level and 88.2% at the subspecies level (92.7% and 79.1%, respectively, on cross-validation). The classification accuracy compares favorably to that achieved by anatomically-derived measurements based on published research (94% and 84% at the species and subspecies level respectively; 91% and 76% on cross-validation). The mathematical landmarking methodology is rapid and uncomplicated. The results support the use of mathematical landmarks to enable the inclusion of worn molar teeth in dental studies so as to maximize sample sizes and restore balance between populations and/or sexes in hominoid systematic studies.

In the numerous low-permeability reservoirs, knowing the real productivity of the reservoir became one of the most important steps in its exploitation. However, the value of permeability interpreted by a conventional well-test method is far lower than logging, which further leads to an inaccurate skin factor. This skin factor cannot match the real production situation and will mislead engineer to do an inappropriate development strategy of the oilfield. In order to solve this problem, key parameters affecting the skin factor need to be found. Based on the real core experiment and digital core experiment results, stress sensitivity and threshold pressure gradient are verified to be the most influential factors in the production of low-permeability reservoirs. On that basis, instead of a constant skin factor, a well-test interpretation mathematical model is established by defining and using a time-varying skin factor. The time-varying skin factor changes with the change of stress sensitivity and threshold pressure gradient. In this model, the Laplace transform is used to solve the Laplace space solution, and the Stehfest numerical inversion is used to calculate the real space solution. Then, the double logarithmic chart of dimensionless borehole wall pressure and pressure derivative changing with dimensionless time is drawn. The influences of parameters in expressions including stress sensitivity, threshold pressure, and variable skin factor on pressure and pressure derivative and productivity are analyzed, respectively. At last, the method is applied to the well-test interpretation of low-permeability oil fields in the eastern South China Sea. The interpretation results turn out to be reasonable and can truly reflect the situation of low-permeability reservoirs, which can give guidance to the rational development of low-permeability reservoirs.

Chemical graph theory is a branch of mathematical chemistry which has an important effect on the development of the chemical sciences. The study of topological indices is currently one of the most active research fields in chemical graph theory. Topological indices help to predict many chemical and biological properties of chemical structures under study. The aim of this report is to study the molecular topology of some benzenoid systems. M-polynomial has wealth of information about the degree-based topological indices. We compute M-polynomials for triangular, hourglass, and jagged-rectangle benzenoid systems, and from these M-polynomials, we recover nine degree-based topological indices. Our results play a vital role in pharmacy, drug design, and many other applied areas.

One hundred years have passed since the birth of P.R. Romanchuk – Hero of the Soviet Union, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Associate Professor, Director of the Astronomical Observatory (1972–1987). At his initiative, the observatory began to develop new scientific directions: theoretical research of magnetic fields and the beginning of experimental work after the purchase of a magnetograph, study of changes in the solar atmosphere associated with flare activity, solar-terrestrial connections and the impact of solar activity on weather phenomena, development of methods for predicting solar activity. An important result of his work was the strengthening of the observatory’s material base – purchase of a purchase of a magnetograph, modernization of a horizontal solar telescope, joint work with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on the development and manufacture of an axial meridian circle, purchase of equipment for television observations of meteors.

A Review of: Murphy, Sarah Ann. “The Effects of Portfolio Purchasing on Scientific Subject Collections.” College & Research Libraries July 2008: 332-40. Objectives – To determine whether the purchase of journal portfolios (i.e., packages of journals purchased as a group from publishers, such as Elsevier’s ScienceDirect) from publishers is an effective means of meeting research needs for faculty in the life, medical, physical, and applied sciences, and to determine the effects of such purchases on research library collections. Design – Citation analysis. Setting – Ohio State University libraries in the life, medical, physical, and applied sciences. Subjects – A total of 253,604 citations from 6,815 articles published between the years 2003 and 2005 by Ohio State University faculty in the life, medical, physical, and applied sciences were analyzed using the Bradford distribution (an explanation of the Bradford Distribution is provided later in this review). Methods – Using ISI’s Science Citation Index, the author generated a list of articles published by Ohio State University (OSU) faculty in the life, medical, physical, and applied sciences between the years 2003 and 2005. The author then assigned each article to a specific discipline, according to the OSU College of the first OSU author listed. For example, if an article was written by several co-authors, and the first OSU author listed was a faculty member in OSU’s College of Dentistry, the article would be designated a Dentistry article. Multidisciplinary works were assigned to the college of the first OSU author listed. (The OSU Colleges considered to be part of the study were the College of Biological Sciences; the College of Dentistry; the College of Engineering; Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences; the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; the College of Medicine; the College of Optometry; the College of Pharmacy; and the College of Veterinary Medicine.) Books, conference proceedings, theses, and other non-journal materials were excluded from the set of citations considered. Next, the author pulled journal citations from each article, again utilizing Science Citation Index. The references were analyzed to determine the number of times each individual journal had been cited. The author then created a list of journals which had been cited in articles by OSU faculty in the various colleges, grouped by college. The journals were arranged in descending order, according to the number of times each journal had been cited. Thus there would be, for example, a list of all journals cited in articles published by faculty members in the OSU College of Dentistry between 2003 and 2005. Most journals had been cited only once over the three-year period. A total of 2,407 journal titles were cited 10 or more times. In total, the author analyzed 253,604 citations from 6,815 articles. A Bradford distribution of journal citations was calculated, and journals were divided into three categories. The three categories were called Zones 1, 2, and 3, with Zone 1 being core journals for the faculty, Zone 2 being more secondary titles, and Zone 3 being those cited least frequently. For those not familiar with this type of analysis, a definition of Bradford’s law is available on the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology website. It is included here for ease of reference: “Journals in a field can be divided into three parts, each with about one-third of all articles: 1) a core of a few journals; 2) a second zone, with more journals; and 3) a third zone, with the bulk of journals. The number of journals is 1:n:n². Note thatBradford formulated his law after studying a bibliography of geophysics, covering 326 journals in the field. He discovered that 9 journals contained 429 articles, 59 contained 499 articles, and 258 contained 404 articles. Although Bradford's Law is not statistically accurate, librarians commonly use it as a guideline” (Black). The author then determined how the OSU Libraries purchased access to each title. The three options analyzed were: 1) through OHIOLink (through which OSU Libraries purchase the bulk of the journal portfolios to which they subscribe), 2) through the independent purchase of an electronic subscription, or 3) through the independent purchase of a print subscription. The cost for each title was calculated by taking the amount paid for OHIOLink subscriptions and removing the cost of non-scientific journals from the total amount. Pricing for the non-scientific journals was obtained using EBSCO’s Librarian’s Handbook 2006-2007 and Ulrich’s Periodical Directory. To account for inflation, any 2007 prices were adjusted by 6. The above activities were designed to calculate both the cost of each title as purchased through OHIOLink, and what the OSU Libraries would have paid for each individual title if it had been purchased separately. Main Results – Of all journals cited by OSU faculty in the life, medical, physical, and applied sciences during the years studied, only 7% were available in print format only. The percentage of cited journal titles that were included in portfolio purchases varied considerably across the colleges. The college for which the greatest percentage of cited journals were obtained via OHIOLink was the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; 85.7% of journals cited by this College were purchased via OHIOLink. Overall figures for the cited journals analyzed were as follows: 52.0% were purchased via OHIOLink portfolio purchases, and 26.3% were purchased individually in electronic format by the OSU Libraries. Of all journals listed in Zone 1 (those designated as “core journals” for the fields in question), 100% had electronic versions, though OSU Libraries continued to subscribe to the print version in addition to the electronic version for five titles, due to embargoes of 4-12 months in the electronic subscriptions. In terms of how the Zone 1 journals were acquired, 35.5% were purchased via OHIOLink as part of a portfolio purchase, and 62.2% were individually purchased. For the College of Biological Sciences; the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; the College of Medicine; the College of Nursing; the College of Pharmacy; and the College of Veterinary Medicine, fewer than 40% of the Zone 1 (core, most highly cited) titles for their disciplines were purchased via OHIOLink. For the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 75.5% of Zone 1 titles were purchased via OHIOLink. This figure was 60.5% in the College of Engineering. By contrast, over 50% of the titles in Zone 1 for the Colleges of Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine were purchased individually, and not via portfolio purchases from OHIOLink. The author notes that in these fields, the majority of research is published in journals from professional societies or smaller publishers, which have neither the high profile nor the market that some journals in other fields have, and thus are frequently not included in portfolios available via consortia such as OHIOLink. The author also provides a numerical breakdown, showing exactly how many titles in each of Zones 1, 2, and 3 were purchased via OHIOLink, how many were purchased directly by OSU in electronic form, and how many were purchased in print form, for each college and for all colleges combined. For all colleges combined, the overall results are as follows: • Zone 1 included 45 cited journal titles. Of these, 16 were purchased via OHIOLink, 28 were purchased in electronic format directly by OSU, none were purchased in print, and one was considered “Other” (not at OSU, ceased, or cancelled). • Zone 2 included 299 cited journal titles. Of these, 167 were purchased via OHIOLink, 109 were purchased in electronic format directly by OSU, 13 were purchased in print, and 10 fell under “Other”. • Zone 3 included 2,063 cited journal titles. Of these, 1,068 were purchased via OHIOLink, 497 were purchased in electronic format directly by OSU, 155 were purchased in print, and 343 fell under “Other”. The author also provides a list of the top 50 journals cited, including the number of citations linked to each title and how the title was purchased. Of the top 50 journals, 32 were purchased directly by OSU Libraries in electronic format, and only 18 were purchased via OHIOLink. Interestingly, however, 70% of OSU Libraries’ total expenditures on titles in the life, medical, physical, and allied sciences are devoted to OHIOLink. The author notes that if OSU had not had OHIOLink, they would have paid 61.4% more to directly purchase the journals cited in this analysis which they currently obtain by portfolio purchases. However, if they purchased only those titles which the faculty in question had cited 10 or more times, the cost would be 30% more. If they purchased only the titles which had been cited 15 or more times, OSU would only have paid an 8.9% premium to buy the titles directly from the publisher rather than through OHIOLink. Conclusion – As the author points out, her findings raise the question as to whether the large amount of content provided by buying into the “Big Deal” portfolio purchases (as they are frequently called) is really worth it for OSU Libraries. The author notes that other articles have asserted that portfolio purchases form a significant barrier to libraries wishing to purchase individual titles, as the amount spent on portfolio purchases can limit a library’s financial flexibility. Even when other individual titles may more closely meet faculty needs, it can be difficult to justify cancelling portfolio purchases that offer a larger number of journals in the field. The advantages and disadvantages of portfolio purchasing at Ohio State University Libraries are clear from the author’s research: while some fields are well-served by portfolio purchases, others are not, with large percentages of the journals which are most important in their fields not being available through such portfolios. Furthermore, due to the percentage of the OSU Libraries’ budget dedicated to OHIOLink portfolio purchases, flexibility to purchase titles not in portfolios is indeed limited. The author’s pricing calculations lead to the conclusion that OSU Libraries pay between an 8.9%-30.0% premium to maintain access to 3,813 titles (75.4%) which were cited fewer than 10 times over the three year period between 2003 and 2005. The author concludes that the premium paid to access over three-quarters of the journals available in portfolios should be reconsidered, as they are relatively infrequently used and thus may not be meeting faculty research needs. The author recommends that large research libraries (including OSU Libraries) consider a return to à la carte purchasing. Additionally, the author notes that purchase of portfolios by a large percentage of research libraries may lead to normalization of library collections and loss of the ability to support non-commercial publishers who publish strong research in specialized fields.

Semiotic and linguistic studies of the 20th century have been important mostly in two senses — (1) they have opened a road for comparative research on the origin and development of language and other systems of signs adding a new dimension to the history of culture; (2) they have shown a possibility of uniting different fields of humanities around semiotics suggesting a way to trespass separation and atomisation of different trends in investigating culture. In the 21st century one may hope for closer integration of semiotics and exact and natural sciences. The points of intersection with the mathematical logic, computer science and information theory that already exist might lead to restructuring theoretical semiotics making it a coherent and methodologically rigid discipline. At the same time, the continuation of neurosemiotic studies promises a breakthrough in understanding those parts of the work of the brain that are most intimately connected to culture. From this point of view semiotics may play an outstanding role in the synthesis of biological science and humanities. In my mind that makes it a particularly important field of future research.

Aim/Purpose: This research aimed to measure the effectiveness of using thinking maps through the Edmodo network to develop achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students. Background: One of the most important and major problems in education is reduced levels of academic achievement among students generally and in mathematics specifically. This is having a negative impact on academic outcomes. As mentioned in statement of the problem, several studies have identified weaknesses in academic achievement in mathematics. The results and recommendations of previous studies have referred to the effectiveness of thinking maps in developing numerous variables. Previous studies have identified weaknesses in mathematical connections skills. No Arabic studies have addressed the effectiveness of thinking maps through the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students. Methodology: The participants were a purposive sample of 102 second-year middle school students. These were divided into two groups: experimental (n = 49) and control (n = 53). To achieve the research objectives, the experimental approach in its quasi-experimental design was adopted with (pre-post) measurement for both groups. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Contribution: This study added information to the literature on the effectiveness of the thinking maps strategy through the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connections skills. Devising a modern teaching strategy to help students solve mathematical problems and thus can be generalized to various fields of life. This also the first study on this subject in Saudi Arabia. Findings: The results showed there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental and control groups on the achievement test in favor of the experimental group. Additionally, there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental and control groups on the mathematical connections skills test in favor of the experimental group. There was also a positive correlation between the development of achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students who used thinking maps through the Edmodo network. Recommendations for Practitioners: At a practice level, holding courses and training workshops for middle school mathematics teachers that include training on how to use modern learning models enhanced with technology, including the thinking Maps strategy, in the mathematics curriculum. Preparing guidelines for middle school mathematics teachers on how to use Thinking Maps via the Edmodo Network and how to train students in its use. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research is needed to study the Effectiveness of the Thinking Maps strategy via the Edmodo network on developing achievement and mathematical connections skills in other subjects and at different educational stages. Impact on Society: Our findings encourage teachers and educational supervisors to adopt the use of thinking maps on learning platforms for mathematics teaching as an effective method for developing achievement and mathematical connections skills. Benefiting from the applications and experiences of developed countries who have used e-learning in teaching curricula in order to keep pace with contemporary developments. Future Research: Future studies could be extended to identify the effectiveness of maps of strategic thinking across Edmodo network variables within other subsidiaries, such as mathematical communication, creative thinking, mathematical proof, mind habits, and so on. Assess the effectiveness of play-based learning strategies via the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connection skills. Conduct a study that measures teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward using the Thinking Maps strategy via the Edmodo network. Assessing the effectiveness of using the Thinking Maps strategy via an Edmodo network in achieving and developing creative skills among secondary school students.

A mathematical equation of water drive physical simulation of pressure-sensitive fractured reservoirs was established based on previous research results. In this study, the similarity criteria of water drive physical simulation of pressure-sensitive fractured reservoirs were derived according to the similarity theory. First of all, based on the three-dimensional differential equation of rock mechanics, a dimensionless analysis was conducted to determine the similarity relationship between the displacement of oil by water of pressure-sensitive fractured reservoirs, the similarity criterion was obtained, and the similarity criteria were formed. Secondly, according to the similarity criterion, the similar relationship between the stress-strain fields of the real object and the simulated object was worked out. Thirdly, the finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics was applied to model and calculate the multifield coupling process in the percolation of pressure-sensitive fractured reservoirs, verifying the correctness of the established similarity criteria and similarity relationship. The verifying results shows that the similarity between the physical model and the actual model can be realized by magnifying the geometric size N times in a certain direction and adjusting the load and boundary conditions according to the similarity principle, which can be used for the design of the pressure-sensitive fractured reservoir simulation model for a physical indoor test.

Introduction. In the context of modernisation in modern education, a deeper (by contrast to interdisciplinary) transdisciplinary level of cognition is becoming prevalent. Transdisciplinary level generates a universal methodology capable of addressing the complex multi-factorial interdisciplinary problems of nature and society. The result is transdisciplinary branches of science such as cybernetics, disaster theory, synergetics, artificial intelligence, big data, etc. All these concepts have been developed on the basis of the achievements of mathematics over the past 70-80 years, the era of mathematical sciences. As a consequence, mathematics has become the basis of the language of information technologies and processes, and, thereby, this science has given rise to a global digital transformation of society based on the use of the unique computer capabilities.The aim of the present research was to explore the role of mathematics in the transdisciplinary trend in updating the content of education with a view to bringing education to a higher (by contrast to interdisciplinary) level, based on the inclusion of modern mathematical theories and methods in the content of education and their applications depending on the direction and profile of the student training.Methodology and research methods. In the course of research, the systemic, cultural, and meta-subject approaches were employed to analyse the role of mathematics in education and to solve the transdisciplinary problems of education content modernisation (based on the most striking manifestations of modern mathematical culture). As a result of the synthesis of these approaches, a holistic scientific worldview emerges, which not only goes beyond the traditional disciplines and methods, but also appears above them.Results and scientific novelty. The analysis of transdisciplinary trend in postindustrial education was carried out. Mathematical and pedagogical aspects of the implementation of systemic, cultural and meta-subject approaches were investigated in order to achieve a higher level of educational process. At the same time, the authors justified the use of mathematical modelling, discrete mathematics, computational processes and artificial intelligence in the training, i.e. formation of a new superdisciplinary way of thinking in students, acquisition of a general cultural cognitive strategy to perform professional and transprofessional tasks.Practical importance. The findings of the current publication contribute to the realisation of the transdisciplinary trend in the content of student training, and will be of interest to both educational theorists and teachers, who train students in many fields. Moreover, this work will be useful for all those interested in the future advancement of the system of education.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the structure of entertainment media as a possible foundation for measuring aspects of visual presentations that could enhance or interfere with audience engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Factors that might account for the large number of negative comments about visual presentations are identified and a method of calculating entropy measurements for form attributes of presentations is introduced. Findings – Entropy calculations provide a numerical measure of structural elements that account for engagement or distraction. A set of peer evaluations of educational presentations is used to calibrate a distraction factor algorithm. Research limitations/implications – Distraction as a consequence of document structure might enable engineering of a balance between document structure and content in document formats not yet explored by mechanical entropy calculations. Practical implications – Mathematical calculations of structural elements (form attributes) support what multimedia presentation viewers have been observing for years (documented in numerous journals and newspapers from education to business to military fields): engineering PowerPoint presentations necessarily involves attention to engagement vs distraction in the audience. Originality/value – Exploring aspects of document structures has been demonstrated to calibrate viewer perceptions to calculated measurements in moving image documents, and now in images and multimedia presentation documents extending Claude Shannon's early work communication channels and James Watt and Robert Krull's work on television programming.

Purpose – The paper aims to propose an analytical framework for social influence and mathematical formulation for its main components: conformity and peer-pressure. The framework is conceived to explain why certain behaviours and beliefs propagate in a society and some others disappear. It can also be used to study the emergence and the evolution of the status of the norms in terms of their adoption by the population. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is theoretical, making use of economic quantitative methods. The author proposes a new formulation for the evolutionary dynamics, increasingly borrowed by social scientists. Then, mathematically treating the equation, the author draws general conclusions in form of lemmas, which are proved. Findings – The author's main contribution is to show that even behavioural rules and beliefs that emerge in a minority subset of the population, do not procure any benefit for the agents adopting them can under certain conditions, evolve into the consensus of a society, become a norm. Research limitations/implications – More general conclusion (theorems and lemmas) could be stated and proved. But given that the main contribution of the paper is to the fields of social and behavioural economics, along a number of disciplines less mathematical than economics, the author kept the analysis that required fairy advance mathematics for later. Practical implications – The paper contributes to the evolutionary game theory, evolution of preferences, and evolution of beliefs and social norms. More precisely, the equation proposed in the paper can be used in the contexts the patterns of heterogeneity in a population are affected or caused by social influence. Or in the contexts, the social institutions are susceptible to affect an agent's sense of identity (e.g. voting, fashion industry, marketing). Originality/value – In this paper, for the first time, a mathematical formulation is proposed for the social influence and its main psychological components (conformity and status seeking). Using the above, the author proposed a new parametric fitness function for the evolutionary dynamics. The author believes the paper matters to a multidisciplinary public. It answers a question that challenged and puzzled the economists (as well other social scientists): the reasons behind the emergence and the prevalence of social norms do not positively contribute to the utility or payoff of the agents adopting them (and at times they are costly).

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a formalisation of the “online transparency” concept in particular firms’ disclosures, employing basic microeconomics. Relevant literature from the accounting, economics and finance fields, along with specific documents regarding micro-simulation as a technique to capture diversity in data sets, is surveyed. Design/methodology/approach – A class of Stone-Geary utility functions is proposed as an analytical tool. A first simulation of public policies is introduced, exploring its impact on corporate firms and their preferences for online disclosure, specifically in Europe. Moreover, the author study corporate firm digital disclosure and compulsory disclosure policy specifically in Europe, exploring whether the size of the firm, country and sector of operation are relevant to explaining the differences in firms’ behaviour and whether these explanatory factors remain after the application of several types of policies. Findings – Quantitative policies, using this denomination to refer to those that directly affect the amounts of money dedicated to online disclosure, or its unitary costs, seem to have a less substantial effect than those that the author could call qualitative policies (stating minimum requirements for all companies or promoting broader scrutiny by means of internationalisation). Research limitations/implications – These last policies could also be less expensive for public agencies, as the quantitative ones should be supported by some kind of subsidy or tax benefit system. The paper contains certain mathematical assumptions that will need to be relaxed in further works. Originality/value – Finally, a full research agenda arises from this first attempt, from which both conceptual and methodological lessons can be learned.

The article presents the results of the sociological research conducted in the framework of the Federal project “Personnel Potential”, which aimed at assessing the factors and conditions of employment of the graduates of Moscow universities. The relevance of this study is determined by the fact that every year, after graduation from higher educational institutions, the labor market has too much of the supply of highly skilled labor usually without work experience. The study of motivation that determines the search and choice of jobs by contemporary graduates, of their claims to the content and payment of their work, of their readiness for professional mobility can help to take necessary measures to reduce this problem. The article is based on the data of the research focused on girls who study or have recently graduated from Moscow universities. The results of the survey show that the choice of place of work is determined by a set of subjective and objective factors: future wages, career opportunities, prospects for professional and personal growth, and stability of the company. The authors identified three groups of factors that play a major, secondary and minor role in the girls’ choice of place to work. Salary is the leading motive of employment: the claims for high payment are typical for students and young professionals in the fields of natural sciences, information-mathematical and technical sciences, to a lesser extent - for representatives of humanities, culture and art. The empirical data proved the hypothesis that students of all educational profiles are ready to achieve financial well-being through labor migration.

The current international processes and events, world politics at the beginning of the 21 century have once again clearly demonstrated that their meaning often emerges through the historical context without which the understanding of what is happening is hardly possible. Rector of MGIMO A.V. Torkunov in his talk on International relations as an educational discipline remarked that "as for sciences the basis of professionalism is mathematical skills and competencies, for international relations such a basis is history". Historical disciplines are taught at MGIMO from the very start of education process. MGIMO is one of the leading centers of research in the fields of history, political sciences and humanities. Here, in different years academics E.V. Tarle, L.N. Ivanov, V.G. Trukhanovskiy, A.L. Narochnitskiy and other prominent scholars and historians taught. Historical School of MGIMO has united important areas of historical science: the history of political processes in the twentieth century, modern history, the history of international relations and diplomacy, historical regional studies and cultural studies, oriental, philosophy and theory of history. The best traditions of the MGIMO historical school incorporated by its founders, make the foundation of its development at present. In 1992, the Department of MGIMO world and national history was established. The principle innovation was the combination of two components - historical education and historical science. This made it possible to present the story of Russia as an important part of the world history, opened up prospects for the implementation of comparative history, the synthesis of specific historical approaches and generalized global vision of civilization and human development. The historical school has realised a number of research projects, including "Alexander Nevsky" and the multi-volume "Great Victory", the work continues on a research project "Russia in the Modern World", and on a project "Synchronous History", etc.

The reliance modern society has on computing is easily forgotten on a day-to-day basis. However, most people begin the day by looking at a mobile phone. A device that is connected to the Internet and gets the day started with weather updates, messages you've received via email or social media and the morning news. Then as they head out of the houses into the streets for the morning commute, they receive up to the minute directions, public transport schedules, delays or road traffic interruptions. During their commute people may even listen to their favourite songs, compressed to fit on the device in near perfect quality. All this, and more, is powered on some level by computing and it is hard to now imagine a world without it. However, it is equally hard to imagine what actually goes into making all of this happen. Perhaps, one has heard of the limits of computation, usually dependent on hardware like silicon chips. Less well known though is the mathematical nature of computation, the algorithms and calculations that go into designing the software which powers our economies and modern lifestyle. 'Computation underpins all computer science, a discipline that studies the processes that interact with data which we often refer to as programs,' outlines computation expert Professor Hiroshi Sekigawa, who is based at the Tokyo University of Science. Computation itself is a calculation that is carried out based on an explicitly designed model, like an algorithm. These algorithms make up the programs in our computers and are designed to solve problems. While there are different modes of developing algorithms and computing models, numeric computation is the one that is easily applicable to scientific computing. Fields like engineering, the physical sciences, life sciences, medicine and business all use elements of scientific computing to, among other things make detailed models of the world. 'To allow these computations to run more efficiently, using less memory, the technique of floating-point arithmetic is used,' explains Sekigawa. 'In short, this method uses formulas to represent real numbers resulting in approximations. This is useful for systems containing miniscule or immense numbers and require speedy processing times.' He says the drawback is that error analysis is needed to validate these outputs based on approximations. His team are working to improve on the current situation by exploring different modes of computation and the effects of combing them.

The article presents the results of mathematical modeling based on the construction and use of various images of the object, process or system. The research involves the study of the dependence of the level of productivity and valuable farming traits of corn hybrids in the form of mathematical models. Field research was carried out during 2011-2017 on the experimental fields of the Department of Crop Production, Breeding and Bioenergy Crops of Vinnytsia National Agrarian University, at the state enterprise “Research Farm “Kordelivske” of the Institute of Potato Production of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine under conditions of the right-bank Forest-Steppe in accordance with the guidelines provided in “Methodology of Field Experiments in Corn”. The use of computer technology, in particular, cluster analysis, from our point of view, allows us to approach the difficult task of improving the efficiency of the correct choice of hybrids and technologies to obtain the maximum level of bioethanol yield per unit area of maize hybrids. An ecological-genetic model of quantitative traits was used to study the phenotypic productivity of corn hybrids and to establish the influence on the formation of their traits. The construction of the model is based on the hierarchy of manifestation of productivity traits in ontogenesis and the correspondence of their manifestation in organogenesis. The model consists of three modules of traits including the resulting one and double-component that reflect phenotypic implementation of the genetic formula. The resulting traits are those that have environmentally stable correlation and the highest total impact on the final resulting trait, namely, the yield. According to the results of researches of mathematical models of the influence of weather conditions on the formation of phenotypic productivity of corn hybrids of different maturity groups, both general biological regularities and group differences of trait formation have been established. Thus, the analysis of the differences between the groups of early and mid-early corn hybrids, in general reveals that their growth and development are affected to a relative extent by the amount of effective temperatures, amount of precipitation and HTC. In fact, the maturity groups studied differ insufficiently, and the main differences can be observed only in the variability of the traits studied or the closeness of their relationships with each other. However, mid hybrids respond somewhat differently to environmental factors, which allows to develop the elements of adaptive cultivation technology for each maturity group. Based on the results of cluster analysis, cluster dendrograms were created using the odd-numbered group method with the determination of Euclidean distances.

Much has been written in the past two decades about women in academic science careers, but this literature is contradictory. Many analyses have revealed a level playing field, with men and women faring equally, whereas other analyses have suggested numerous areas in which the playing field is not level. The only widely-agreed-upon conclusion is that women are underrepresented in college majors, graduate school programs, and the professoriate in those fields that are the most mathematically intensive, such as geoscience, engineering, economics, mathematics/computer science, and the physical sciences. In other scientific fields (psychology, life science, social science), women are found in much higher percentages. In this monograph, we undertake extensive life-course analyses comparing the trajectories of women and men in math-intensive fields with those of their counterparts in non-math-intensive fields in which women are close to parity with or even exceed the number of men. We begin by examining early-childhood differences in spatial processing and follow this through quantitative performance in middle childhood and adolescence, including high school coursework. We then focus on the transition of the sexes from high school to college major, then to graduate school, and, finally, to careers in academic science. The results of our myriad analyses reveal that early sex differences in spatial and mathematical reasoning need not stem from biological bases, that the gap between average female and male math ability is narrowing (suggesting strong environmental influences), and that sex differences in math ability at the right tail show variation over time and across nationalities, ethnicities, and other factors, indicating that the ratio of males to females at the right tail can and does change. We find that gender differences in attitudes toward and expectations about math careers and ability (controlling for actual ability) are evident by kindergarten and increase thereafter, leading to lower female propensities to major in math-intensive subjects in college but higher female propensities to major in non-math-intensive sciences, with overall science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at 50% female for more than a decade. Post-college, although men with majors in math-intensive subjects have historically chosen and completed PhDs in these fields more often than women, the gap has recently narrowed by two thirds; among non-math-intensive STEM majors, women are more likely than men to go into health and other people-related occupations instead of pursuing PhDs. Importantly, of those who obtain doctorates in math-intensive fields, men and women entering the professoriate have equivalent access to tenure-track academic jobs in science, and they persist and are remunerated at comparable rates—with some caveats that we discuss. The transition from graduate programs to assistant professorships shows more pipeline leakage in the fields in which women are already very prevalent (psychology, life science, social science) than in the math-intensive fields in which they are underrepresented but in which the number of females holding assistant professorships is at least commensurate with (if not greater than) that of males. That is, invitations to interview for tenure-track positions in math-intensive fields—as well as actual employment offers—reveal that female PhD applicants fare at least as well as their male counterparts in math-intensive fields. Along these same lines, our analyses reveal that manuscript reviewing and grant funding are gender neutral: Male and female authors and principal investigators are equally likely to have their manuscripts accepted by journal editors and their grants funded, with only very occasional exceptions. There are no compelling sex differences in hours worked or average citations per publication, but there is an overall male advantage in productivity. We attempt to reconcile these results amid the disparate claims made regarding their causes, examining sex differences in citations, hours worked, and interests. We conclude by suggesting that although in the past, gender discrimination was an important cause of women’s underrepresentation in scientific academic careers, this claim has continued to be invoked after it has ceased being a valid cause of women’s underrepresentation in math-intensive fields. Consequently, current barriers to women’s full participation in mathematically intensive academic science fields are rooted in pre-college factors and the subsequent likelihood of majoring in these fields, and future research should focus on these barriers rather than misdirecting attention toward historical barriers that no longer account for women’s underrepresentation in academic science.

En el presente artículo se plantean algunas reflexiones sobre la importancia de las ciencias básicas, particularmente de la física en la formación de un ingeniero. Con el propósito de brindar claridad sobre su delimitación. Todo este estudio sirvió para concluir que el problema de la ambigüedad que, a veces se plantea, es más coyuntural que gnoseológico, pues en contextos de subdesarrollo tecnológico los propósitos se enmarcan en la importación y aplicación de tecnología, en lugar de hacerse en las oportunidades para la investigación y el desarrollo. También, fue posible conocer que la presencia de las ciencias básicas, particularmente de la física, dentro de los procesos formativos no se ha sido tan visible como en otros campos, donde la aplicación del lenguaje y técnicas matemáticas son más determinantes. Abstract In the present article, some reflections on the importance of the basic sciences, particularly of the physics, in the formation of an engineer are presented. In order to provide clarity on its delimitation. All this study served to conclude that the problem of ambiguity, which sometimes arises, is more conjunctural than gnoseological, because in contexts of technological underdevelopment purposes are framed in the import and application of technology, rather than in the opportunities for research and development. Also, it was possible to know that the presence of the basic sciences -particularly of physics, within the formative processes- has not been as visible as in other fields, where the application of language and mathematical techniques are more determinant.

STEM education has become the normative base for teaching natural sciences, physical-mathematical disciplines and engineering sciences in a number of coun-tries. This technique has become the basis for a series of reforms for secondary and higher education in the USA, Australia, and some other countries. The meth-od involves the integration of training in the fields of mathematics, technical spe-cialties, scientific research and engineering. The widespread use of this technique and its active research throughout the world over the past ten years is due to the need to improve the quality of technical education and the ever-increasing rate of technological progress. This research is devoted to studying the impact of the STEM education introduction for 3rd year students of technical and pedagogical departments for improving the quality of training. The study involved two groups of students from two universities in Russia and China. The sample consisted of 316 people from each university, and the same amount was for control group to verify the results. The two study groups underwent training using two different STEM methodologies - “amalgam” and “interconnect”, which involve varying degrees of integration of various academic subjects within the coordinated STEM education. Both study groups used online-education integrated with STEM that helped to significantly increase the involvement of students in the learning pro-cess. All three groups passed pre-tests and post-tests on the learning outcomes before and after the introduction of the STEM education. The average grades re-ceived by students on studied disciplines show that the STEM education increas-es the academic performance with the statistical error of the study exceeded. The introduction of the “interconnect” method, which implies a greater integration of subjects during the training, showed provably higher results than the “amalgam” method. However, this study cannot be used to assess the quality and capabilities of each of these methods, since such an assessment requires additional research.

La Universidad Técnica de Manabí, está en el deber de colaborar con el perfeccionamiento y profundización del conocimiento de los profesionales de la región y del país. Para ello se cuenta con la ampliación y diversificación de carreras y maestrías asociadas a diferentes campos de estudio, entre ellos la Matemática. Esta es una investigación de tipo descriptivo, cuyo objetivo está en fundamentar la pertinencia del establecimiento de una carrera en Ciencias Matemáticas en la Universidad Técnica de Manabí. Se hizo uso del método análisis documental al revisar los presupuestos teóricos relacionados con la experiencia de otras universidades en estudios similares. Para conocer la realidad en Manabí, se utilizó la técnica de la encuesta, la que fue aplicada a una muestra de 100 personas vinculadas con las Ciencias Matemáticas, ya sea como profesionales o como estudiantes; ello permitió tener una valoración sobre la influencia de esta ciencia en los diferentes ejes de desarrollo económico y social. Entre los principales resultados sobresale la relación de las matemáticas con los ejes de trabajo, soberanía alimentaria y comercio, y educación y salud con 89,1% de valoraciones positivas, respectivamente. Como conclusiones se destaca la factibilidad de la carrera de grado en Ciencias Matemáticas en la Universidad Técnica de Manabí, para cumplimentar carencias profesionales en este campo del conocimiento, según criterios del 86,43% de los encuestados. Palabras clave: Ciencias Matemáticas, ofertas de grado, carreras, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, pertinencia. Abstract: One of the duties of The Technical University of Manabi is to cooperate with the improvement and deepening of knowledge of professionals from the region and the country. In order to do this, the university has expanded and diversified the careers and masters associated to the different study fields, being Mathematics, one of them. This is a descriptive research, whose objective is to support the relevance of establishing a career in Mathematical Sciences at the Technical University of Manabi. The documentary analysis method was used when reviewing the theoretical assumptions related to the experience of other universities in similar studies. To know the reality in Manabi, a survey technique which was applied to a sample of 100 people was used, which was applied to a sample of 100 people linked to the Mathematical Sciences, either as professionals or as students. This allowed to have a valuation on the influence of this science in the different axes of Social economic development. Among the main results, the relationship of mathematics with the axes of work, food sovereignty and trade, and education and health stands out with 89.1% of positive evaluations, respectively. To conclude, the feasibility of the degree course in Mathematical Sciences at the Technical University of Manabí is highlighted, to fill professional gaps in this field of knowledge, according to criteria of 86.43% of the respondents. Key words: Mathematical Sciences, degree offers, careers, Technical University of Manabi, relevance.

Intentionally altering natural atmospheric processes using various techniques and technologies for changing weather patterns is one of the appropriate human responses to climate change and can be considered a rather drastic adaptation measure. A fundamental understanding of the human ability to modify weather conditions requires collaborative research in various scientific fields, including, but not limited to, atmospheric sciences and different branches of mathematics. This article being theoretical and methodological in nature, generalizes and, to some extent, summarizes our previous and current research in the field of climate and weather modification and control. By analyzing the deliberate change in weather and climate from an optimal control and dynamical systems perspective, we get the ability to consider the modification of natural atmospheric processes as a dynamic optimization problem with an emphasis on the optimal control problem. Within this conceptual and unified theoretical framework for developing and synthesizing an optimal control for natural weather phenomena, the atmospheric process in question represents a closed-loop dynamical system described by an appropriate mathematical model or, in other words, by a set of differential equations. In this context, the human control actions can be described by variations of the model parameters selected on the basis of sensitivity analysis as control variables. Application of the proposed approach to the problem of weather and climate modification is illustrated using a low-order conceptual model of the Earth’s climate system. For the sake of convenient interpretation, we provide some weather and climate basics, as well as we give a brief glance at control theory and sensitivity analysis of dynamical systems.

In recent years in the field of biomechanics, the intensive development of various experimental methods has been observed. The implementation of virtual studies that for a long time have been successfully used in technical sciences also represents a new trend in dental engineering. Among these methods, finite element analysis (FEA) deserves special attention. FEA is a method used to analyze stresses and strains in complex mechanical systems. It enables the mathematical conversion and analysis of mechanical properties of a geometric object. Since the mechanical properties of the human skeleton cannot be examined in vivo, a discipline in which FEA has found particular application is oral and maxillofacial surgery. In this review we summarize the application of FEA in particular oral and maxillofacial fields such as traumatology, orthognathic surgery, reconstructive surgery and implantology presented in the current literature. Based on the available literature, we discuss the methodology and results of research where FEA has been used to understand the pathomechanism of fractures, identify optimal osteosynthesis methods, plan reconstructive operations and design intraosseous implants or osteosynthesis elements. As well as indicating the benefits of FEA in mechanical parameter analysis, we also point out the assumptions and simplifications that are commonly used. The understanding of FEA’s opportunities and advantages as well as its limitations and main flaws is crucial to fully exploit its potential.

Abstract The concept of the renormalization group (RG) emerged from the renormalization of quantum field variables, which is typically used to deal with the issue of divergences to infinity in quantum field theory. Meanwhile, in the study of phase transitions and critical phenomena, it was found that the self–similarity of systems near critical points can be described using RG methods. Furthermore, since self–similarity is often a defining feature of a complex system, the RG method is also devoted to characterizing complexity. In addition, the RG approach has also proven to be a useful tool to analyze the asymptotic behavior of solutions in the singular perturbation theory. In this review paper, we discuss the origin, development, and application of the RG method in a variety of fields from the physical, social and life sciences, in singular perturbation theory, and reveal the need to connect the RG and the fractional calculus (FC). The FC is another basic mathematical approach for describing complexity. RG and FC entail a potentially new world view, which we present as a way of thinking that differs from the classical Newtonian view. In this new framework, we discuss the essential properties of complex systems from different points of view, as well as, presenting recommendations for future research based on this new way of thinking.

The 1918 influenza pandemic is one of the most devastating infectious disease epidemics on record, having caused approximately 50 million deaths worldwide. Control measures, including prohibiting non-essential gatherings as well as closing cinemas and music halls, were applied with varying success and limited knowledge of transmission dynamics. One hundred years later, following developments in the field of mathematical epidemiology, models are increasingly used to guide decision-making and devise appropriate interventions that mitigate the impacts of epidemics. Epidemiological models have been used as decision-making tools during outbreaks in human, animal and plant populations. However, as the subject has developed, human, animal and plant disease modelling have diverged. Approaches have been developed independently for pathogens of each host type, often despite similarities between the models used in these complementary fields. With the increased importance of a One Health approach that unifies human, animal and plant health, we argue that more inter-disciplinary collaboration would enhance each of the related disciplines. This pair of theme issues presents research articles written by human, animal and plant disease modellers. In this introductory article, we compare the questions pertinent to, and approaches used by, epidemiological modellers of human, animal and plant pathogens, and summarize the articles in these theme issues. We encourage future collaboration that transcends disciplinary boundaries and links the closely related areas of human, animal and plant disease epidemic modelling. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: approaches and important themes’. This issue is linked with the subsequent theme issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: epidemic forecasting and control’.

The article deals with the development of structural components of environmental consciousness for the formation of an individual’s civic identity.The psychodiagnostic research was conducted using the data collected from the first- to fourth-year students.In total, 130 students from various fields of study participated in this study, including students in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Technology departments.The study was carried out using the techniques developed by the authors and the technique by S.D.Deryabo and V.A.Yasvin ‘EZOP’.To check the relationship between the ecological attitude and the civic identity of the individual, we used mathematical methods.We hypothesized that the civic identity, which reflects the affiliation of an individual to the civil society of a particular state, has a complex multi-component structure and includes the structural components of the ecological consciousness; therefore, by promoting the development of the structural components of the ecological consciousness, we can contribute to the formation of the civic identity as well.Based on the obtained results, we conclude that the ecological consciousness and its structural components (in particular, the ecological attitude) are closely related to the civic identity of the individual.We show that developing environmental attitudes in students has a positive impact on the formation of their civic identity.This study concludes that there is a direct relationship between the development of environmental attitudes and such structural components of the civic identity as the attitude towards other, people, family, homeland, and nature.

Because a multifaceted aspect of research allows us to answer critical queries and address broad issues; studying associative and collaborative fields is the need of hour. Therefore, the theme of this Special Issue was kept as “Sustainable Practices of Circular Economy in Operations Management”. After circulating the “Call for Papers” worldwide, the nine articles (from page numbers 1013 to 1139) in this special issue have been selected based on the technical quality of the work and their innovative approach. The editors would like to acknowledge the help of all the people involved in this project and, more specifically, to the authors and reviewers that took part in the review process. Without their support, this special issue would not have become a reality. In particular, we would like to thank Prof. Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes, Dr. Sachin Kumar Mangla and Prof. Sunil Luthra. We would like to thank each one of the authors for their contributions. The editors wish to acknowledge the valuable contributions of the reviewers regarding the improvement of quality, coherence, and content presentation of the articles. We are grateful to all members of International Journal of Mathematical, Engineering and Management Sciences for their assistance and timely motivation in producing this special issue. We hope the readers will share our excitement with this important scientific contribution the body of knowledge about various applications of Circular Economy for the Management of Operations. Last but not the least we would like to thank Prof. Mangey Ram (Editor-in-Chief) for bringing out this special issue and all the researchers across the globe who have contributed for this issue.

The problem of stability analysis for the general class of random pulsed and switching neural networks is presented in this paper, which is to be investigated both continuous dynamics and impulsive jumps of random disturbances. Two numerical examples are used to explain and highlight the effectiveness of the results developed. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of studies, including continuous time and discrete time models for solving various problems, and their application in motion planning and superfluous manipulator management, chaotic system tracking, or even population control in mathematical biological sciences. Considering the fact that real-time performance is in demand for time-varying problems in practice, analysis of the stability and convergence of various models with continuous time is considered in a unified form in detail. In the case of solving the problems of discrete time, procedures are summarized for how to discriminate a continuous model and methods for obtaining an accuracy decision. Due to its strong ability to extract features and autonomous learning, neural networks are rooted in many industries, for example. neuroscience, mathematics, informatics and engineering, transport, etc. Despite their widespread use in various fields, such as artificial intelligence, language recognition, and computer simulation, the issue of neural network stability analysis is the most primary and fundamental that has attracted intense attention in recent decades. and references therein. It is well known that pulse and switching systems are formulated by combining pulse systems with switching systems, which is a more complex model of nonlinear systems. With their increasing use in network management, power systems, and the like, impulse control theory and switching systems have been a hot topic of research for the past decade. The fruitful results of research on stability analysis and control design of pulse and switching systems such as input stability, time-limited, controllability and observation and feedback control design, etc. On the other hand, it is also noteworthy. Keywords: Technical analysis of the neural network, electric transport, numerical algorithms, reliable stability

The problem of stability analysis for the general class of random pulsed and switching neural networks is presented in this paper, which is to be investigated both continuous dynamics and impulsive jumps of random disturbances. Two numerical examples are used to explain and highlight the effectiveness of the results developed.The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of studies, including continuous time and discrete time models for solving various problems, and their application in motion planning and superfluous manipulator management, chaotic system tracking, or even population control in mathematical biological sciences. Considering the fact that real-time performance is in demand for time-varying problems in practice, analysis of the stability and convergence of various models with continuous time is considered in a unified form in detail. In the case of solving the problems of discrete time, procedures are summarized for how to discriminate a continuous model and methods for obtaining an accuracy decision. Due to its strong ability to extract features and autonomous learning, neural networks are rooted in many industries, for example. neuroscience, mathematics, informatics and engineering, transport, etc. Despite their widespread use in various fields, such as artificial intelligence, language recognition, and computer simulation, the issue of neural network stability analysis is the most primary and fundamental that has attracted intense attention in recent decades.and references therein. It is well known that pulse and switching systems are formulated by combining pulse systems with switching systems, which is a more complex model of nonlinear systems. With their increasing use in network management, power systems, and the like, impulse control theory and switching systems have been a hot topic of research for the past decade. The fruitful results of research on stability analysis and control design of pulse and switching systemssuch as input stability, time-limited, controllability and observation and feedback control design, etc. On the other hand, it is also noteworthy. Keywords: artificial neural network, electric transport, numerical algorithms, control reliability

Population geography is a subdiscipline of Human geography and studies the distribution, concentration and density of population over the terestrial surface, as well as differences in population size, changes and characteristics, like structures, migrations, activity etc, among some places present compared to others. Population geography has had a perscientific stage as long as human history. First modern scientific treatis of population in geography was the F. Ratzels book Antropogeography in 1882. During the first half of the XX century, French geographer Vidal de la Blanche gave a capital importance of population studies in his work Principes de Geographie Humaine. In interwar years, various aspects of population were studied. After The Second World War started the renovating movement of geography and new tendencies appear in human geography and, consequently in population geography. Attempts were made to define population geography as a separate sub-discipline. The world wide trend of treating population geography as separate discipline was expressed by publishing monographs, bibliographies and textbooks. The most significant authors who worked on defining population geography were French geographers P. George (1951, 1959), Beaujen-Garnier (1965, 1966); North-american geographers: G. Trewarta (1953, 1969), W. Bunge (1962), J. Clance (1965, 1971), W. Zelinski (1966); in Great Britain: J.I. Clarke (1965); in USSR: Ju.G. Sauskin i D.N. Anucin (1950), V.V. Poksisevskij (1966), D.I. Valentej (1973); in Poland V. Ormotski (1931), L. Kosinski (1967) A. Jagelski (1980). Those authors and their works had the significant influence on the development of population science in the world and also in Serbia. Although the development of population geography was different in different countries and scientific research centers, we can clearly defined four stages. First stage lasted untill 1960s and was characterised by works of G.Trewarta, H. Doerres Ju.G. Sauskin, D.N. Anucin, J. Beaujeu-Gariner. G. Trewarta argued that the population is the point of reference from which all other elements are observed and from which all derive significance and meaning. This view was adopted and shared by authors dealing with population items, explicitly or implicitly. Second stage lasted from 1960s till 1970s and the most significant authors dealing with population problems were W. Zelinsky, W. Bunge; H.Bobek, W. Hartke, K.Ruppert, F.Schaffer; D.I. Valentej, K.Korcak. This phase was characterized by the application of quantitative methods and efforts for understanding the spatial structure of the population. Many scientists see this development phase as a particularly prosperous period, because it carried more intensive relations of geography and demography through the introduction of statistical, mathematical and demographic methods and techniques in studies of population geography. Third phase lasted from 1970s to 1980s, and was characterized by close relations between population geography and formal demography. Development and application of GIS and computer data, have made population studies more complex and applicable in practice, through population policy and population projections. The most significant authors in this period were L. Kosinski, A. Jagelski, H?gerstrand. And at last, fourth stage started in 1980s and in many countries lastes untill present days. In population geography appeared new tendencies associated with the critique of positivism, the establishment of humanistic approaches and modifications of general geographic concepts. In this period, spatial analysis and quantitative scientific methods were reaffirmed, and because of that some population studies were redefined in spatial demography, a time dimension advocated in historical demography. In this context, we emphasize the work of D. Plane and P. Rogerson. Population geography is viewed differently from one country to another. Its definition differs from too narrow to overly broad. But two research areas were of particular interest to geographers - population distribution and migration. Both items acquired an international dimension. Recently, eminent population geographers exchanged various view points in an attempt to provoke new thinking on subject and define the answers of new fields research in population geography. Population geography in the XXI Century is no longer a field comprised of spatial applications of fertility, mortality and migration only. Contemporary population geography is theoretically sophisticated, integrating spatial analysis, GIS and geo-referenced data. Future progress in the field of population geography will derive from more research at the intersections of population processes and societal issues and concerns. Major themes of future empirical researches in population geography should be: global population growth, studies of migration, transnationalism, human security issues, population-health-environment nexus, human-environment sustainability, economic development and poverty issues.

Over the course of 2007-2015, the department of the irrigated agriculture had been conducting research in the area of the Ingulets irrigation system on the experimental fields of the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS), which were established in 1996, with the aim to develop and scientifically substantiate agroecological and technological methods for crop rotations on the irrigated lands of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine that will ensure soil fertility, increase crop productivity, economic and energetic efficiency. In 2007-2010, studies were conducted to substantiate the systems of basic tillage using different ploughing tools. The 4-field grain-row crop rotation 1 included winter wheat with post-harvest cultivation of millet, corn, soybeans and spring rape. Five studied systems of basic tillage differed in methods, techniques and the depth of soil loosening. In 2011-2015, grain-row crop rotation 2 entailed soybeans, instead of spring rape seed, and winter barley with post-harvest cultivation of millet, instead of winter wheat. Five studied systems of basic tillage differed in the depth of soil loosening and non-renewable energy costs for their implementation. Experiments were performed under conditions of two organo-mineral fertilizer systems using by-products of crop rotation, fertilizer application in doses of N75P60; N97, 5P60 and inoculation of soybeans with microbial compounds. Following crop rotations 1 and 2, a decrease in humus content within the 0-40 cm soil layer to the level of 1976, 110.2-114.4 t/ha, was observed. To prevent further decline in humus content, an optimization model was developed by capping specific weight of soybeans in short-term crop rotation 25%, stubble plowing the stem and leaf mass of crops as well as applying fertilizer quantities corresponding to the expected yields. With the help of mathematical modelling, it was determined that the retention of post-harvest plant remains in soil and the application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers increased humus content in soil used for growing rape by 0.3%, winter wheat – by 0.7%, and corn – by 0.9%.

The article shows that the Czech humanists formed the largest group among the foreign members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow. It is mainly based on the reports of the activities of the Academy. The Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow was established by transforming the Krakow Learned Society. The Statute of the newly founded Academy was approved by a decision of the Emperor Franz Joseph I on February 16, 1872. The Emperor nominated his brother Archduke Karl Ludwig as the Academy’s Protector. The Academy was assigned to take charge of research matters related to different fields of science: philology (mainly Polish and other Slavic languages); history of literature; history of art; philosophical; political and legal sciences; history and archaeology; mathematical sciences, life sciences, Earth sciences and medical sciences. In order to make it possible for the Academy to manage so many research topics, it was divided into three classes: a philological class, a historico‑philosophical class, and a class for mathematics and natural sciences. Each class was allowed to establish its own commissions dealing with different branches of science. The first members of the Academy were chosen from among the members of the Krakow Learned Society. It was a 12‑person group including only local members, approved by the Emperor. It was also them who elected the first President of the Academy, Józef Majer, and the Secretary General, Józef Szujski, from this group. By the end of 1872, the organization of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow was completed. It had its administration, management and three classes that were managed by the respective directors and secretaries. It also had three commissions, taken over from the Krakow Learned Society, namely: the Physiographic Commission, the Bibliographic Commission and the Linguistic Commission. At that time, the Academy had only a total of 24 active members who had the right to elect non‑ resident and foreign members. Each election had to be approved by the Emperor. The first public plenary session of the Academy was held in May 1873. After the speeches had been delivered, a list of candidates for new members of the Academy was read out. There were five people on the list, three of which were Czech: Josef Jireček, František Palacký and Karl Rokitansky. The second on the list was – since February 18, 1860 – a correspondent member of the Krakow Learned Society, already dissolved at the time. They were approved by the Emperor Franz Joseph in his rescript of July 7, 1873. Josef Jireček (1825–1888) became a member of the Philological Class. He was an expert on Czech literature, an ethnographer and a historian. František Palacký (1798–1876) became a member of the Historico‑Philosophical Class. The third person from this group, Karl Rokitansky (1804–1878), became a member of the Class for Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The mere fact that the first foreigners were elected as members of the Academy was a perfect example of the criteria according to which the Academy selected its active members. From among the humanists, it accepted those researchers whose research had been linked to Polish matters and issues. That is why until the end of World War I, the Czech representatives of social sciences were the biggest group among the foreign members of the Academy. As for the members of the Class for Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the Academy invited scientists enjoying exceptional recognition in the world. These criteria were binding throughout the following years. The Academy elected two other humanists as its members during the session held on October 31, 1877 and these were Václav Svatopluk Štulc (1814–1887) and Antonin Randa (1834–1914). Václav Svatopluk Štulc became a member of the Philological Class and Antonin Randa became a member of the Historico‑Philosophical Class. The next Czech scholar who became a member of the Academy of Arts and Scientists in Krakow was Václav Vladivoj Tomek (1818–1905). It was the Historico‑Philosophical Class that elected him, which happened on May 2, 1881. On May 14, 1888, the Krakow Academy again elected a Czech scholar as its active member. This time it was Jan Gebauer (1838–1907), who was to replace Václav Štulc, who had died a few months earlier. Further Czech members of the Krakow Academy were elected at the session on December 4, 1899. This time it was again humanists who became the new members: Zikmund Winter (1846–1912), Emil Ott (1845–1924) and Jaroslav Goll (1846–1929). Two years later, on November 29, 1901, Jan Kvičala (1834–1908) and Jaromir Čelakovský (1846–1914) were elected as members of the Krakow Academy. Kvičala became a member of the Philological Class and Čelakovský – a corresponding member of the Historical‑Philosophical Class. The next member of the Krakow Academy was František Vejdovský (1849–1939) elected by the Class for Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Six years later, a chemist, Bohuslav Brauner (1855–1935), became a member of the same Class. The last Czech scientists who had been elected as members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow before the end of the World War I were two humanists: Karel Kadlec (1865–1928) and Václav Vondrák (1859–1925). The founding of the Czech Royal Academy of Sciences in Prague in 1890 strengthened the cooperation between Czech and Polish scientists and humanists.

This year, at the UNESCO level, the 1150th anniversary of Abu Nasir al-Farabi (870-950), a world famous figure in all fields of science born in Otyrar, is the center of science and education, culture in the Middle Ages. The idea of the great scientist, who at one time was able to analyze at a high level the works of Aristotle and Plato, who became the great philosopher of their time, has not lost its relevance to this day, having formed a new system of thinking through his scientific works and raise the intellectual level of the scientific worldview.He knew that one of the main goals of science was to serve the good of mankind and bring real benefits to the development of civilization. His works have been translated into several languages and recognized throughout Europe. Thanks to the Kazakh intelligentsia, the heritage of the scientist was returned to our country in the 60-70s of the 20th century. Since then, a lot of work has been done to study the works of the great scientist, namely: from 1978 to 1993, he published about four hundred works in various areas of pharabology in the Kazakh and Russian languages, and from 1991 to 2012, including 85 monographs from 1998 to 2012, materials of 38 scientific and practical conferences from 2000 to 2009, from 1992 to 2012 published 225 scientific articles. And this year it is expected to further increase the research of the scientist's work. In the works of the great thinker, questions of mathematics and the teaching of mathematics also occupy a special place. According to Iraqi scientist Omar Farrukh, al-Farabi is the author of about 70 works on geometry, astronomy, music, calendars and measuring instruments. According to Farabi, mathematics deepens human knowledge and has a direct impact on the development of other sciences, and physics is the science of nature, its basic principles and parts, chances involving natural bodies, the interaction of natural data and elements that have a direct impact on the development of science. Therefore, these two sciences, which are the core of natural science education, require continuous addition and development. The most important methodological problems of physics and mathematics are considered in "The Essence of the Problem" by al-Farabi, Aristotle's commentary "Category" and other philosophical works, the idea of the universal application of mathematics in astronomy, mechanics, music, various applications (arithmetic and geometry). shows the close connection of mathematical concepts and methods with the real world. Also, from the pedagogical works of the scientist, one can notice that the problems of education and upbringing should be closely related. He said that “a person must first be given upbringing, not education, education without upbringing is the worst enemy of mankind. It will harm his life in the future”. Enriching and revising the scientific and philosophical works of the scientist, we see that he was one of the greatest personalities in the history of pedagogy. Therefore, this article provides an overview of a number of Al-Farabi's works in this area and describes the methodological aspects of interdisciplinary communication in teaching physics and mathematics.

The scientific discussion concerning the development of the promising approaches for phyto-diversity conservation and the rational use of plant resources in Russian Federation was held at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences in December 2019. After the reports of leading scientists from biological institutes, a resolution No. 195 dated December 10, 2019 «Global changes in terrestrial ecosystems of Russia in the 21st century: challenges and opportunities» was adopted. The resolution includes a set of priority scientific aims including the development and application of modern technologies for inventory of the plant communities and the development of vegetation classification in Russia. As a result of the opinion exchange between phytocoenologists from different regions, the Concept of Russian Vegetation Classification was proposed. It is based on the following principles. 1. The use of the ecological-floristic approach and the hierarchy of the main syntaxonomic categories applied for the Classification of Vegetation of Europe. 2. Development of the Russian archive of geobotanical relevés and syntaxa in accordance with international standards and with the remote access functions. 3. Application of strict rules for syntaxon names formulated in the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature. The Concept assumes the development of a special program «Russian Vegetation Classification» with the justification of the necessity for targeted funding of the program in Research Institutions and Universities involved for solving this scientific problem on the principle of network collaboration. The final results of this program will be represented in the multi-volume publication «Vegetation of Russia». A shortened version of the Concept (English version was kindly revised by Dr. Andrew Gillison, Center for Biodiversity Management, Cairns, Queensand, Australia) is below. Vegetation classification of Russia Research Program Concept Systematic classification and inventory of plant communities (phytocoenoses) is fundamental to the study and forecasting of contemporary complex processes in the biosphere, controlled among other factors, by global climate change. Vegetation classification serves as a common language that enables professionals in various fields of science to communicate and interact with each other in the process of studying and formulating practical ecosystem-related management decisions. Because plant community types can carry a great deal of information about the environment, nearly all approaches to simulation of changes in global biota are based inevitably on vegetation categories. Phytocoenosis is a keystone element when assessing the biodiversity genetic potential, formulating decisions in biological resource management and in sustaining development across Russian territories. Among the world’s vegetation classification systems, phytosociology is a system in which the concept of plant association (basic syntaxon) is the basic element in the classification of phytocoenoses. The phytosociological approach as applied in this concept proposal, has its origins in the Brussels Botanical Congress in 1910. However, despite the broad acceptance of phytocoenotic diversity as a fundamental methodological tool for understanding biosphere processes and managing biological resources nowadays, we still lack a unified approach as to its systematization at both global and country levels with the consequence that, there is no a single classification system. The results obtained by vegetation scientists working under European Vegetation Survey led by L. Mucina became the effective reference for international cooperation in vegetation classification. In the last 17 years they have produced a system of vegetation classification of Europe, including the European part of Russia (Mucina et al., 2016. «Vegetation of Europe: hierarchical floristic classification system of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen, and algal communities»). Despite the fact that «Vegetation of Europe» is based on ecological and floristic principles, it nevertheless represents an example of the synthesis of one of the most effective approaches to systematizing vegetation diversity by different vegetation science schools. The synthetic approach implemented in this study assumes full accounting of the ecological indicative significance of the floristic composition and structure of plant community and habitat attributes. The approach has already demonstrated its high efficiency for understanding and forecast modeling both natural and anthropogenic processes in the biosphere, as well as in assessment of the environmental and resource significance of vegetation (ref). The demand for this approach is supported by its implementation in a number of pan-European and national projects: NATURE 2000, CORINE, CarHAB, funded at the state and pan-European levels. Currently, one of the main systems for the study and protection of habitats within the framework of environmental programs of the European Union (Davies, Moss, 1999; Rodwell et al., 2002; Moss, 2008; Linking..., 2015; Evans et al., 2018) is EUNIS (European Nature Information System), the framework of which is a multilevel classification of habitats in Europe has been established. EUNIS was used as the basis for the preparation and establishment of the Red List of European Habitats (Rodwell et al., 2013). It is approved by the Commission of the European Union (EU) (Habitats Directive 92/43 / EEC, Commission of the European Communities) for use in environmental activities of EU countries. In its Resolution of 10.12.2019, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) expressed the need in a modern vegetation classification for the assessment of the ecosystem transformations under current climate changes and increasing anthropogenic impacts, as well as in development of effective measures for the conservation and rational use of plant resources of Russia. The resolution recommended the development of the Concept of Vegetation Classification of Russia to the Science Council for biodiversity and biological resources (at RAS Department of biological sciences — Section of Botany). As a consequence, a group of Russian vegetation researchers has developed the Concept for Vegetation Classification of Russia and proposed principles and a plan for its implementation. Aim Elaboration of a system of vegetation classification of Russia reflecting the natural patterns of plant communities formation at different spatial and geographical levels and serving as the fundamental basis for predicting biosphere processes, science-based management of bioresources, conservation of biodiversity and, ultimately, rational nature management for planning sustainable development of its territories. Research goals 1. Development of fundamental principles for the classification of vegetation by synthesis of the achievements of Russian and world’s vegetation science. 2. Inventory of plant community diversity in Russia and their systematization at different hierarchical levels. Elaboration and publication of a Prodromus of vegetation of Russia (syntaxon checklist) with an assessment of the correctness of syntaxa, their Nomenclatural validization and bibliography. Preparation and publication of a book series «Vegetation of Russia» with the entire classification system and comprehensive description of all syntaxonomic units. 3. The study of bioclimatic patterns of the phytocoenotic diversity in Russia for predictive modeling of biosphere processes. Assessment of qualitative changes in plant cover under global climate change and increasing anthropogenic impact in its various forms. 4. Assessment of the conservation value of plant communities and ecosystems. Habitat classification within Russia on the basis of the vegetation classification with a reference to world experience. 5. Demonstration of the opportunities of the vegetation classification for the assessment of actual plant resources, their future prognoses under climate and resource use change, optimization of nature management, environmental engineering and planning of projects for sustainable development. Basic principles underlying the vegetation classification of Russia I. Here we address the synthesis of accumulated theoretical ideas about the patterns of vegetation diversity and the significant features of phytocoenoses. The main goal is to identify the most significant attributes of the plant cover at different hierarchical levels of classification: floristic, structural-phytocoenotic, ecotopic and geographical.We propose the following hierarchy of the main syntaxonomical categories used in the classification of European vegetation (Mucina et al., 2016) by the ecological-floristic approach (Braun-Blanquet): Type of vegetation, Class, Order, Alliance, Association. Applying the ecological-floristic approach to the vegetation classification of Russia will maximize the use of the indicative potential of the plant community species composition to help solve the complex tasks of modern ecology, notably plant resource management, biodiversity conservation, and the forecast of vegetation response to environmental change of environment changes. II. We plan to establish an all-Russian archive of geobotanical relevés in accordance with international standards and reference information system on the syntaxonomical diversity coupled with implemented remote access capabilities. At present, the archives in botanical, biological, environmental and geographical institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as those of universities, have accumulated a large mass of geobotanical relevés for most regions of Russia (according to preliminary estimates — more than 300,000). These documents, which are fundamental to solving the most important national tasks for the conservation and monitoring of the natural human environment, need to be declared a National treasure. In this respect, the development of the all-Russian Internet portal for the vegetation classification is an urgent priority. III. The vegetation classification procedure will be based on a generalization of field data (geobotanical relevés) performed in accordance with international standards, using up-to-date mathematical and statistical methods and information technology. IV. The vegetation classification of Russia will be based on strict rules for naming of syntaxa, according to their validity as formulated in the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature, which is constantly being improved (Weber et al., 2020). These underlying principles will help develop the ecological indicative potential of a wide range of vegetation features that can be used to focus on solving a range of global and regional ecology problems, plant resources management, biodiversity protection, and forecasting of the consequences of environmental changes. Prospects for the implementation of the concept «Vegetation classification of Russia» At present, the academic research centers and universities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Murmansk, Crimea, Bashkiria, Komi and other regions have sufficient scientific potential to achieve the goals in the framework of the special Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences — that is, to develop a vegetation classification of Russia. To achieve this goal will require: - organization of a network of leading teams within the framework of the Scientific Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences «Vegetation classification of Russia», adjustment of the content of state assignment with the allocation of additional funding. - approval of the thematic Program Committee by the RAS for the development of organizational approaches and elaboration of specific plans for the realization of the Scientific Program, - implementation of the zonal-geographical principle in organization of activity on developing the regional classifications and integrating them into a single classification system of the vegetation of Russia. - ensuring the integration of the system of vegetation classification of Russia with similar systems in the countries of the former USSR, Europe, USA, China, Japan, etc. Potential organizations-participants in the scientific Program — 18 institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and 8 Universities. Estimated timelines of the implementation of the concept «Vegetation classification of Russia» — 2021–2030. General schedule for the entire period of research 2021. Approval of classification principles, unified methodical and methodological approaches by project participants. Discussion and elaboration of the rules of organization of the all-Russian archive of geobotanical relevés and syntaxa. 2022–2026. Formation of all-Russian archive of geobotanical relevés and syntaxa. Development of plant community classification and identification of the potential indicative features of units of different ranks based on quantitative methods and comparative syntaxonomic analysis with existing classification systems in Europe, North and East Asia. Justification of new concepts for key syntaxa. The study of environmental and geographical patterns of the vegetation diversity in Russia using up-to-date methods of ordination modeling and botany-geography ana­lysis. 2022. Publication of a Prodromus of vegetation classification of Russia. Schedule for the publication of volumes of the «Vegetation classification of Russia» 2023. «Boreal forests and pre-tundra woodlands» 2024. «Forests of the temperate zone» 2025. «Tundra and polar deserts» and «Alpine ve­getation» 2026. «Steppe vegetation» and «Meadow vegetation» 2027. «Aquatic and bog vegetation» 2028. «Halophytic vegetation» 2029. «Synanthropic vegetation» 2027–2030. Development of criteria for assessing the environmental significance of the plant community syntaxonomic categories for various natural zones based on world criteria. Preparation of the volume «Classification of habitats of Russia and assessment of their environmental significance».

Gender disparities persist in UK research, with female minorities in most science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects but female majorities in others. The nature of the gender disparity differences between subjects needs to be understood if effective remedial actions are to be targeted at STEM subjects suffering from a lack of women, in contrast to other subjects without shortages. Evidence from the USA suggests that women engage more in people-related subjects, qualitative methods, veterinary science and cell biology and men engage more in thing-related subjects, power/control fields, patient-related research, abstraction and quantitative methods, except surveys. This article investigates gender disparity differences in UK first authorship for journal articles in nearly all of science split into 26 broad and 308 narrow Scopus fields. The results largely replicate the USA but suggest that more life science topics may be female-associated in the UK and patient-related research might not be male-associated. UK STEM gender parity initiatives might therefore emphasise people-oriented, and perhaps socially positive, aspects of currently masculine STEM topics and approaches (e.g., abstraction, mathematical quantitative methods), and promote female-friendly topics, methods and goals within male-dominated fields in addition to tacking implicit and explicit sexism and providing a supportive working environment.