Search results

The twenty-first-century virus outbreak caused by COVID-19 is playing a significant role in people's lives all over the world. According to the latest data (23 November), 58,751,191 people have already been infected, and 1,389,770 have died across the globe (JHU CSSE COVID-19 Dashboard, 2020). As far as the Russian Federation is concerned, 2,096,749 people have already been infected (23 November) and there are 36,192 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 (JHU CSSE COVID-19 Dashboard, 2020). This pandemic has affected different spheres, including travelling. The main purpose of this chapter is to analyze how Russian respondents perceive the impact that the coronavirus has had on their perceptions of safety, travel and leisure plans and activities. Based on a sample of almost 300 respondents, who took part in an online questionnaire, it was possible to conclude that Russian residents consider that travelling abroad is riskier than travelling within Russia.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamic characteristics of a spiral groove liquid film seal considering the effect of cavitation.

A mathematical model of a spiral groove liquid film seal was established based on the mass-conserving Jakobsson–Floberg–Olsson cavitation boundary condition. The film rupture and film reformation boundaries were assumed to be unchanged under infinitesimal perturbation conditions. Governing equations under steady and perturbed states were solved by the finite element method, and then the dynamic characteristics of the spiral groove liquid film seal were theoretically investigated considering the effect of cavitation.

The results indicate that dynamic coefficients considering cavitation are smaller than those neglecting cavitation. The difference value is consistent with the change in cavitation area. The liquid film seal does not suffer axial instability whether considering cavitation, but its angular instability is more likely to occur when cavitation is considered.

For liquid lubricated non-contacting mechanical seals, the dynamic characteristics considering cavitation are investigated. The results are expected to provide a theoretical basis for improving the design method of liquid film seals.

Piezoelectric ceramics are often combined with other materials to fabricate composites, which are used for constructions of intelligent systems. This paper is concerned with the fracture of a piezoelectric fiber embedded in an elastic matrix of finite radius. The fiber composite medium is subjected to the axially symmetric mechanical and electrical loads. Fourier and Hankel transforms are used to reduce the problem to the solution of a system of integral equations. Numerical solutions for the crack tip fields are obtained for various crack sizes and different piezoelectric fiber volume fractions. Both impermeable and permeable crack‐face electrical boundary conditions are considered. Applicability and effect of the crack‐face electrical boundary conditions are discussed.

The global processes taking place in the economy have led to the transformation of various spheres of the economy, primarily financial, and, as a result, to changes in economic policy and its main elements-fiscal, monetary and investment policies. It is no coincidence that the recurrent crises of the last decades either originated in the financial sector or had a significant impact on changing its parameters. This situation in the context of ongoing economic and institutional changes has necessitated a flexible and regular review of the methods and instruments of monetary regulation used. Moreover, it is more difficult for the countries of integration groupings, including the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), to do this, given the need to coordinate the decisions and measures taken. The situation has become more complicated due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has had a significant impact on the economies of both developed and developing countries. The analysis of the correspondence of the money market parameters to the macro-financial indicators of economic security and the dynamics of the banking sector parameters, the significant economic downturn, the decrease in demand and the persistence of uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic make it necessary to adjust monetary policy.

The chapter estimates the cost of maintaining a child, at different ages, the cost of being single, and the cost of additional adults present in a family, with the aim of making comparable the income levels of different households. The study investigates the issue of econometric identification of equivalence scales within a demand system modified to include demographic characteristics consistently with economic theory. It shows that a robust estimation of equivalence scales must take into formal consideration the problem of econometric identification. The estimate also puts forward all-encompassing demographic specifications to identify costs due to differences in needs, household lifestyles, and economies of scale.

This chapter offers a survey of education transformations in the East Slavic countries, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, in the context of globalization and Europeanization. It gives first an overview of the common USSR background, followed by a description of education developments in these countries after gaining independence in 1991. It states that the present development of the national education systems is under the influence of powerful globalization and Europeanization trends. The national features of education systems in these countries are described. Global and European benchmarks for the development of education influencing educational reforms in these countries have also been identified. The author concludes that the development of education in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine combines national priorities and the countries’ need for integration into the European and global spaces. The research would be of interest worldwide in the aspect of the East Slavic region’s education transformations under common challenges.

Presents an alternative lower bound to the elastic buckling collapse of thin shells of revolution, in comparison with results from geometrically non‐linear elastic analysis. The numerical finite element method is based on axisymmetric rotational shell elements whose strain‐displacement relations are described by Koiter’s small finite deflection theory, with displacements expanded circumferentially using a Fourier series. First, compares the reduced stiffness linear analysis, based on the buckling equation without incremental linear in‐plane energy components corresponding to the lowest eigenmode (for a particular cylindrical shell under external pressure), with the results obtained by Batista and Croll. Second, the non‐linear astatic (quasi‐static) elastic analysis to clamped spherical caps under uniform external pressure is carried out in order to compare the results from a reduced stiffness analysis from viewpoints of not only buckling loads, but also total potential energy. Argues that the astatic buckling loads may relate to reductions due to a specific imperfection effect on elastic buckling collapses.