Мethodological Basis of Studying the Mythological Heritage

The article considers the main definitions of myth and identifies their most common characteristics, which made it possible to evaluate the main methodological approaches and concepts in Kazakh mythology. The synthesis of philosophical and literary approaches allows us to see many facets of the concepts under consideration and identify opportunities for their applications. The research carried out makes it possible to combine literary and philosophical views on this problem, since mythology is an indissoluble synthetic unity and is focused on fundamental metaphysical problems: birth, death, fate. Mythology is able to convey the incomprehensible through the more understandable. In myths, it is relatively easy to identify different structures due to their conservatism. Mythological consciousness, which has been formed since ancient times, is today an important part of spiritual culture. Since the myths of the peoples of the world have become the main object of research and historical-comparative study, it was found that myths also have different social stages, historical levels, types and thematic consciousness.

Modeling the use of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination to safely relax non-pharmaceutical interventions

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including physical distancing, mask wearing, and enhanced hygiene, have been implemented. As of March 2021, three effective vaccines have been approved for emergency use in the United States, with several other vaccines in the pipeline. We use a transmission model to study when and how NPIs could be relaxed in the United States with relative safety as vaccination becomes more widespread. We compare different relaxation scenarios where NPIs begin to relax 0-9 months after vaccination begins for both a one dose and two dose strategy, with historical levels of social interactions being reached within 1 month to 1 year. In our model, vaccination can allow widespread relaxation of NPIs to begin safely within 2 to 9 months, greatly reducing deaths and peak health system burden compared to relaxing NPIs without vaccination. Vaccinated individuals can safely begin to relax NPIs sooner than unvaccinated individuals. The extent of delay needed to safely reopen depends primarily on the rate of vaccine rollout, with the degree of protection against asymptomatic infection playing a secondary role. If a vaccination rate of 3 million doses/day can be achieved, similar to the typical rollout speed of seasonal influenza vaccination, NPIs could begin to be safely relaxed in 2-3 months. With a vaccination rate of 1 million doses/day, a 6–9-month delay is needed. A one dose strategy is preferred if relative efficacy is similar to a two-dose series, but the relative benefit of this strategy is minimal when vaccine rollout is fast. Due to the urgent need to pursue strategies that enable safe relaxation of NPIs, we recommend a two-dose strategy with an initial delay of at least 3 months in relaxing restrictions further, and that the speed of vaccine rollout be given immediate priority.

Returning to the Search for Truth: Once Again on the Status of Contemporary Social Philosophy

The author examines the state of modern social philosophy, which has undergone an unprecedented attack of militant anti-scientism on nomotic thinking in social studies and the very search for objective scientific truth. This attack was under­taken by supporters of postmodernism, who sought to reduce the world as an onto­logical reality to the world of meanings, to turn philosophy into an “interpretation of interpretations”, not going beyond language and textual activity. The author is convinced that the transformation of philosophy into a metaphorical essay, indiffer­ent to or hostile to the truth, is completely intolerable in the current situation, when mankind is once again entering an era of unsecured outcomes, requiring adaptively meaningful philosophical reflection. The author states that there is a “fragmenta­tion crisis” in contemporary reflective social philosophy, whose task is to cognize the world rather than its value consciousness. In such a philosophy, there should be gnoseological coercion to the truth, which excludes the equality of alternative in­terpretations of social reality. Nevertheless, in modern reflective philosophy there are the most serious disagreements on the key problems of the study of man, soci­ety and history. The article analyzes the main contradictions arising at social-philo­sophical, general sociological and philosophical-historical levels of abstraction, considers the possibility of the formation of integral social theory, which carries out the conceptual synthesis of mutually compatible ideas and approaches

Los nombres de Vasconia y de las provincias vascas

RESUMEN En este artículo se analizan las denominaciones de Vasconia y sus siete provincias, una labor compleja debido a la ausencia de una entidad política duradera que las abarcara a todas. Usando una metodología más histórica que filológica, se explican brevemente su origen y la evolución de su significado a lo largo de los tiempos y se da para cada una de ellas una etimología verosímil y otras, que sin serlo, han conocido cierto éxito. El objetivo final ha sido intentar acabar con vacilaciones en una cuestión que, por sus implicaciones, supera los planos meramente lingüístico e histórico y preparar el camino para un Diccionario de los nombres de los pueblos de Vasconia. LABURPENA Artikulu honetan Euskal Herriaren eta haren zazpi probintzien izenak dira aztergai. Lan nahasia da, ez baita inoiz denak bildu dituen entitate politiko iraunkorrik izan. Gehiago metodologia historikoa erabiliz filologikoa baino, haien jatorria eta haien esanahiak denboran zehar izaniko bilakaera azaltzen dira laburki eta haietako bakoitzarendako etimologia sinesgarri bat ematen da, baita, sinesgaitzak izanik, arraskatsuak izan diren beste batzuk ere. Azken helburua duda-mudekin bukatzen saiatzea izan da. Izan ere, afera honek, dituen ondorioengatik, maila linguistikoa eta historikoa gainditzen ditu. Horrez gain, Euskal Herriko herrien izenen hiztegi baterako bidea urratu nahi izan da. ABSTRACT This paper analyses the names for Basqueland and its seven provinces, a complex task due to the absence of a lasting political entity that would incorporate them all. Using historical rather than philological methodology, their origin and evolution of meaning over time are briefly explained and a plausible etymology is given for each, as well as other etymologies that, without being so, have been partly successful. The ultimate goal has been to try to end confusion in a matter that, due to its implications, goes beyond mere linguistic and historical levels, and to pave the way for A Dictionary of Town Names in Basqueland.

Historical and prehistorical water levels of Mormon Lake, Arizona as a measure of climate change on the southwest Colorado Plateau, USA

Mormon Lake, elevation 2166 m with maximum historic surface area of 31.4 km2, lies in a forested endorheic basin covering 103 km2. It is the largest unaltered freshwater body on the 337,000 km2 Colorado Plateau. Prehistorical (before AD 1878) highstands were ca. 9 and 24 m relative to depocenter datum. These levels likely occurred during four multidecadal episodes of cool, wet conditions between ca. 3.55 and 0.20 ka BP. Maximum historical levels (early 1900s) were up to 7.9 m, whereas modern (post-1941) levels were frequently zero or relatively low. Historical climate records indicate reconstructed lake levels correlate directly with annual precipitation and inversely with temperature. Early highstands were associated with above average precipitation and the lowest temperatures of the 116 yr record. The lake receded after 1941; thereafter, frequent drying and low-water levels resulted from recurrent drought and steadily increasing temperatures. Consequently, a wet episode from the 1970s to the 1990s had precipitation like the early 1900s, but highstands were only ca. 3.8 m. The historical lake-level chronology is consistent with changes of hydrologic balance predicted by climate models, that is, reduced effective precipitation (precipitation minus evaporation). These changes, particularly aridification, apparently began in the 1970s or earlier. Global oceanic and atmospheric climate modulate lake levels and regional hydroclimate.

An Initialized Attribution Method for Extreme Events on Subseasonal to Seasonal Time-Scales

When record-breaking climate and weather extremes occur, decision-makers and planners want to know whether they are random natural events with historical levels of re-occurrence or are reflective of an altered frequency or intensity as a result of climate change. This paper describes a method to attribute extreme weather and climate events to observed increases in atmospheric CO2 using an initialized sub-seasonal to seasonal coupled global climate prediction system. Application of this method provides quantitative estimates of the contribution arising from increases in the level of atmospheric CO2 to individual weather and climate extreme events. Using a coupled sub-seasonal to seasonal forecast system differs from other methods because it has the merit of being initialized with the observed conditions and subsequently reproducing the observed events and their mechanisms. This can aid understanding when the reforecasts with and without enhanced CO2 are compared and communicated to a general audience. Atmosphere-ocean interactions are accounted for. To illustrate the method, we attribute the record Australian heat event of October 2015. We find that about half of the October 2015 Australia-wide temperature anomaly is due to the increase in atmospheric CO2 since 1960. This method has the potential to provide attribution statements for forecast events within an outlook period, i.e. before they occur. This will allow for informed messaging to be available as required when an extreme event occurs, which is of particular use to weather and climate services.

Investing for Growth and Security

Besides its investment in people, the federal government makes critical investments in infrastructure and research and development. Because federal spending in these areas has fallen significantly in recent years and interest rates are low relative to historical levels, this chapter proposes sizable increases for both categories. The increases in infrastructure spending will provide the resources needed to restore and update aging roads, bridges, and public transit systems, while the increases in research and development will help the United States to explore cutting-edge technologies. Policymakers should also fund the military’s long-term plans through 2032, as outlined by President Obama, and let spending grow modestly afterward. That would allow for a continuing presence overseas. If a new war broke out, policymakers presumably would provide the additional temporary funds to ensure that America achieved its mission and emerged victorious.

Decentralization in France: experience for Ukraine

The article analyzes the processes of decentralization of power in France. France is one of the few European countries that have accumulated considerable experience in the field of decentralization of public administration through the expansion of the powers and responsibilities of local governments.Assessing the vast experience of territorial reforms accumulated in France for almost three and a half decades, it should be noted that, despite the positive results (for example, in the field of local government development, intermunicipal cooperation, etc.), many important problems remained unresolved. Contrary to the expectations of the reformers, the administrative and territorial structure of the country did not become simpler and more understandable.The number of levels and types of territorial units has increased. To three historical levels (communes, departments and state) regions were added.It should be noted and one more direction of reforms in France. It is about increasing the role of cities in local development through the creation of inter-municipal associations, including cities and adjacent territories.Also, after analyzing the process of decentralization in France, it is useful to point out that in our opinion decentralization should be considered as a powerful instrument of public administration, the key task of which is not to redistribute power between the state and the administrative units, but to redistribute the powers between them for the provision of various public services to the population. and different legal entities in the most effective way (convergence of services with simultaneous saving of budget expenditures), in order to create conditions for dynamic the flow of communities and the state as a whole.The construction of a decentralization model in Ukraine may have its own national peculiarities, but the use of examples of foreign good practices is a significant factor in the search for a Ukrainian model of development, therefore, in today’s world, the use of international experience regarding quality and efficient decentralization becomes relevant.

Rebuilding in the face of climate change

Decadal-scale climate variability and change can cause trends in oceanographic conditions that impact demographic rates. Rebuilding scenarios, therefore, developed assuming constant demographic rates may not be realistic. Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) is an important commercial and recreational species that has declined in the southern portion of its range despite reduced exploitation. Laboratory and mesocosm studies suggest that stock productivity is reduced under warmer conditions and that rebuilding to historical levels may not be possible. Our goal was to examine the rebuilding potential of winter flounder in the face of regional warming. We integrated winter temperature into a population model to estimate environmentally driven stock–recruitment parameters and projected the stock into the future under different climate and fishing scenarios. The inclusion of winter temperature had minor impacts on the estimates of current abundance, but provided greater understanding of the drivers of recruitment. Projections that included the environment suggest that rebuilding the stock to historical levels is unlikely. The integration of both fishing and the environment has the potential to provide more realistic expectations of future stock status.