Pierre des Noyers, a scholar and scientific intermediary at the court of Louise-Marie Gonzaga

Pierre des Noyers, secretary of Queen of Poland Louise-Marie Gonzaga, is known for his role as a messenger, envoy, court journalist and sometimes propagandist. His work as an unofficial diplomat for the Queen and ambassador for France is less famous though no less interesting. Even though he was already quite involved in these time-consuming tasks, Pierre des Noyers also acted as a scientific intermediary for the quite curious Queen Louise-Marie of Poland. He maintained contacts with many scholars from France and Italy. He could nurture this network thanks to his position as an informal diplomat at the court of the Queen and his dedication to science in general. Even by discarding his most official and political letters, his known correspondence amounts to several hundred letters written in a period of around 50 years to various friends and scholars. Roberval, Gassendi, Boulliau, Hevelius or Pascal are among these contacts and he plays for most of them the role of a scientific intermediary sharing with them observations, books and anecdotes. His letters are filled with astronomical observations, prodigies and prophecies. Des Noyers was also a practitioner of science. Having possessed a rather large collection of scientific instruments he always sought the improved ones and his daily life was marked by scientific studies. He wrote meteorological bulletins for Academia del Cimento in Florence, studied the measurement of time, observed the sun and showed interest in the inner workings of the human body. This article will delve further into more scientific aspects of Pierre des Noyers’s life, both at the court of Louise-Marie and outside. The first part presents a rough overview of the secretary’s contacts in the scientific environment of 17th Century France and how they were used to connect scholars from Poland with this environment. The second part of this work presents Pierre des Noyers’s practice of science as a tool to understand the world and for which utmost diligence in measurement and practice is required. The last part focuses on des Noyers’s application of this scientific method in two, now pseudo-scientific fields: astrology and divination.

The concept of creativity in the problem field of modern social philosophy

This paper speaks of the growing interest in the category of creativity among the scientific community of interdisciplinary discourse, and the place of creativity among philosophical disciplines. Creativity as a property of the social environment is characteristic of the type of society in which traditions have not managed to become a universal form of behavior, prompting the subjects of society to permanently reflect on habitual patterns of behavior, the production of unique forms, and the original synthesis of previously known ideas and social practices. Being an integral property of the social and cultural environment as a whole, creativity ultimately reveals a person’s desire for novelty and marks the beginning of the digital revolution. The development of creativity due to explicitly specified external conditions contributes to its identification not only in a certain scientific environment, but also in the whole society, within which the creative class functions. Within the framework of the socio-philosophical context, the category of creativity reveals its potential based on the axiological approach. Tracing the rejection of the values of traditional society, the new values are those that contribute to the self-expression of a person, expanding the boundaries of his or her self-actualization.

Approaching Healthy City Ontology: First-Level Classes Definition Using BFO

In recent decades, the concept of the healthy city (HC) has become more and more relevant in many fields, such as city administration and scientific environment, and has become a commonly understood concept in the general public. Due to the breakneck growth of people living in urban contexts, the subsequent necessity to guarantee good urban conditions for all kinds of citizens, and the general deterioration of the hearth environment caused by human activities (concentrated in urban settlements), this issue is increasing in its relevance. In this paper, the authors discuss the concept of the HC from an ontological point of view to organize the highly complex system of elements and the mutual relations that constitute the idea of HC. The main goals of an HC are quite intuitive, but the number of components that define and manage it is vast and related to different disciplines: sustainability, urban management, urban planning, and health and social studies. With the presented research, the authors intend to start an organizational definition of the HC using basic formal ontology (BFO). Considering the definition of HC, the authors focus on the ontology process and the different typologies of ontological structures. Then, the authors describe a first-level scheme of HC ontology and, finally, discuss possible applications of the presented study and next research steps.

"The “Nestorian Chronicle” in the Prague “Lectures...” of Alfred Bem

During the interwar period, Prague was truly an academic capital of emigration. A unique scientific environment that formed therein a century ago was favorable for the study of Russian literature, including the ancient period. Among the philologists, who emigrated to Czechoslovakia, was Alfred Bem, known to modern science as a talented researcher of the works of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Blok, Gumilyov and Mayakovsky. However, hardly anyone remembers Bem as Medievalist. The article analyzes the “Lectures” on the history of Old Russian literature (up to the mid XVII century) read to the students of Russian Pedagogical Institute named after Jan Amos Komenský in Prague in the winter semester of 1923 that have been nearly forgotten by now. These are the sheer bibliographic rarity. The circulation of this unique publication is small, just a few copies taken by duplicating machine from the typewritten original, which contains typos and corrections made by the author. “Lectures...” – a full textbook on the history of Russian literature of the XI – first half of the XVII centuries. A significant part of is dedicated to the “Tale of Bygone Years”. A. L. Bem’s view of the "Nestorian Chronicle” reflected in the Prague “Lectures...” is analyzed within the framework of studying the extensive historiographical topic of the “Research of Old Russian Literature in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s – 1930s”. This defines the novelty of this article. The conclusion is made that Alfred Bem made a considerable contribution to the study of the major Russian chronicle, provided in-depth and accurate characteristics to the “Tale of Bygone Years”, determining its historical and literary role. His contemplations on the genre and stylistic uniqueness of the “Tale” have subsequently found reflection in the works of Russian and foreign Medievalists. He also paid special attention to the history of the Corpus, thereby touching upon the question that is yet to be resolved.

Science and Inclusion

“Science Dissemination for the Disabled" is a noteworthy topic which is still sparse. In order to increase interest in the study of science and on access to research without exclusion emphasis needs to be paid towards innovation within a scientific environment. We describe some issues on the use of open digital technologies available at Scientific Fablabs to support education and scientific know-how for all. Our hope is to encourage further consideration by the scientific community and present strategies that promote the full inclusion of people with disabilities in society.

Formation of the Belarusian University as a National and State Project

Belarusian history is woven of a multitude of events and processes that defy unambiguous assessment. First of all, this refers to their political component: the Belarusian lands and population for more than a thousand years belonged to states that had nothing in common with the Belarusian ethnos in their names. However, it was this ethnic community that was a most important component of Ancient Rus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. It becomes clear that in the educational and scientific environment, as well as in the general intellectual sphere, the ancestors of Belarusians were somewhat outshadowed, which today motivates them to prove their priorities to their neighbors in the West and the East. It was only in the revolutionary upheavals of early 20th century that the Belarusian statehood began to form. And the most important factor in its approval was the first university – the Belarusian State University. The article is devoted to the consideration of its formation in the conditions of 1917–1921, the transformation of the original idea into a fully functioning educational and scientific organism. On the basis of archival material and little-known facts, an attempt is made to show that the university, as a state project, contributed to the strengthening of the Belarusian state, and its activities fully experienced all political and national demands and outlooks. In support of this, the article quotes examples of strict adherence of the BSU staff to all state guidelines, which primarily aimed at the continuous improvement of the educational process, at the training of professionals for the most important spheres of the national economy of the republic. The university strengthened its human potential, paying special attention to the development of fundamental and applied science (not only physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology but also philosophy, history, and philology). In the 1920s, its scientists and students were in demand as disseminators of state plans among urban and rural population. A special place in the activities of the university was the policy of Belarusianization, which gave both an obvious positive effect and led to negative consequences. As a result, the author concludes that the two key words of the name of the university initially contained the ideas of its national, ethnic. and state affiliation and mission, which BSU strictly follows at the present time.

Preface

The 10th International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE) due to the international conditions regarding the pandemic Covid-19 was held online and in addition to the lectures and presentations that took place in real time, it also had a large collection of pre-recorded presentations that were available to the participants through the conference website. The Conference was attended by more than 180 participants and hosted about 250 oral and virtual presentations while counted more than 600 pre-registered authors. The 10th IC-MSQUARE consisted of different and diverging workshops and thus covered various research fields where Mathematical Modeling is used, such as Theoretical/Mathematical Physics, Neutrino Physics, Non-Integrable Systems, Dynamical Systems, Computational Nanoscience, Biological Physics, Computational Biomechanics, Complex Networks, Stochastic Modeling, Fractional Statistics, DNA Dynamics, Macroeconomics etc. The scientific program was rather heavy, however, according to all attendees, the program was excellent with high level of talks and the scientific environment was fruitful, thus all attendees had a creative time. The Conference Chairman Dimitrios Vlachos University of Peloponnese List of International Scientific Committee, Organizing Committee are available in the pdf.

Challenges and Solutions Surrounding Environmental Enrichment for Dogs and Cats in a Scientific Environment

Dogs and cats housed in research-, kennel- and cattery-type settings are reliant on caregivers to optimise their day-to-day experiences and welfare. The goal is to provide enriching environments for physical, social and environmental control; behavioural choice and opportunities to live as varied a life as possible. However, there are numerous challenges in these environments such as lack of appropriate enrichment for group housing, budget for equipment/training, study controls, time and space to make improvements. In addition, research settings are required to comply with legislation for care, husbandry and housing, and as standards differ between regions, conditions will vary between settings. Sharing knowledge in this field can only help drive a wider culture of care by helping improve the lives and welfare of animals cared for. This article presents some of the environmental enrichment strategies effective at the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, UK.

Publishing open-access bibliographical data on Ancient Greek and Latin texts: challenges, constraints, progression

Version soumise et acceptée pour publication dans le JDMDH We present here both some of our thoughts on methodology in relation to the specific constraints that complexify the ways of structuring and accessing bibliographical data in the Sciences of Antiquity, and the solutions adopted by the IPhiS-CIRIS project for dealing with these constraints. The project began in 2014 in a general scientific environment that was still being standardised and structured, with digital bibliographical resources in this disciplinary field becoming increasingly numerous, although of uneven quality and hard to access and/or private.

Geographical assessment of region’s parameters

The variety of geographical studies of a region is as great as the diversity of its “portrait” – characteristics and phenomena associated with it. A region has never been considered in isolation from its synonymous concept “district”. The most common interpretations of ‘region’ in the scientific environment and in the information space, its generally accepted definition remains the subject of scientific research, disputes and discussion. In accordance with the tradition established in recent years, the minimum administrative-territorial area in the territory, called a region, is a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The article analyses foreign and domestic studies of the definition of a region, clarifies the author’s interpretation, and evaluates the parameters of the territorial taxon. The main problems of common features of the visualization of a region, its attractiveness, socio-economic factors of the vital activity of the population (standard of living, living conditions, quality of life), attitude to their region from the point of view of substantiation of their genesis and subjectivity of parameters are formulated. The article presents the results of a sociological survey conducted within the framework of quantitative-qualitative methodology among the respondents of the Volga Federal District. The analytical assessment of the most mass responses of the survey participants is given, visualized in the form of graphs.