„Dumna dziewczyna w bieli"

The article is part of the discussion on women’s political participation, their involvement in social movements and protests which are concentrated on the power shift and democratisation of the political system. The text focuses on the case study of Belarusian women’s participation in anti-regime and pro-democracy protests following the rigged presidential election of 9 August 2020.The aim of the article is to answer questions about the reasons for women’s involvement in the 2020 protests in Belarus and the methods of action used by them. The article also analyses the differences and similarities between the women’s protests in Belarus and pro-democracy protests oriented towards power change in other countries.

Personalized Theta and Beta Binaural Beats for Brain Entrainment: An Electroencephalographic Analysis

Binaural beats (BB) consist of two slightly distinct auditory frequencies (one in each ear), which are differentiated with clinical electroencephalographic (EEG) bandwidths, namely, delta, theta, alpha, beta, or gamma. This auditory stimulation has been widely used to module brain rhythms and thus inducing the mental condition associated with the EEG bandwidth in use. The aim of this research was to investigate whether personalized BB (specifically those within theta and beta EEG bands) improve brain entrainment. Personalized BB consisted of pure tones with a carrier tone of 500 Hz in the left ear together with an adjustable frequency in the right ear that was defined for theta BB (since fc for theta EEG band was 4.60 Hz ± 0.70 SD) and beta BB (since fc for beta EEG band was 18.42 Hz ± 2.82 SD). The adjustable frequencies were estimated for each participant in accordance with their heart rate by applying the Brain-Body Coupling Theorem postulated by Klimesch. To achieve this aim, 20 healthy volunteers were stimulated with their personalized theta and beta BB for 20 min and their EEG signals were collected with 22 channels. EEG analysis was based on the comparison of power spectral density among three mental conditions: (1) theta BB stimulation, (2) beta BB stimulation, and (3) resting state. Results showed larger absolute power differences for both BB stimulation sessions than resting state on bilateral temporal and parietal regions. This power change seems to be related to auditory perception and sound location. However, no significant differences were found between theta and beta BB sessions when it was expected to achieve different brain entrainments, since theta and beta BB induce relaxation and readiness, respectively. In addition, relative power analysis (theta BB/resting state) revealed alpha band desynchronization in the parieto-occipital region when volunteers listened to theta BB, suggesting that participants felt uncomfortable. In conclusion, neural resynchronization was met with both personalized theta and beta BB, but no different mental conditions seemed to be achieved.

Transcranial photobiomodulation and thermal stimulation induce distinct topographies of EEG alpha and beta power changes in healthy humans

Our recent study demonstrated that prefrontal transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) with 1064-nm laser enables significant changes in EEG rhythms, but these changes might result from the laser-induced heat rather than tPBM. This study hypothesized that tPBM-induced and heat-induced alterations in EEG power topography were significantly distinct. We performed two sets of measurements from two separate groups of healthy humans under tPBM (n = 46) and thermal stimulation (thermo_stim; n = 11) conditions. Each group participated in the study twice under true and respective sham stimulation with concurrent recordings of 64-channel EEG before, during, and after 8-min tPBM at 1064 nm or thermo_stim with temperature of 33–41 °C, respectively. After data preprocessing, EEG power spectral densities (PSD) per channel per subject were quantified and normalized by respective baseline PSD to remove the power-law effect. At the group level for each group, percent changes of EEG powers per channel were statistically compared between (1) tPBM vs light-stimulation sham, (2) thermo_stim vs heat-stimulation sham, and (3) tPBM vs thermo_stim after sham exclusion at five frequency bands using the non-parametric permutation tests. By performing the false discovery rate correction for multi-channel comparisons, we showed by EEG power change topographies that (1) tPBM significantly increased EEG alpha and beta powers, (2) the thermal stimulation created opposite effects on EEG power topographic patterns, and (3) tPBM and thermal stimulations induced significantly different topographies of changes in EEG alpha and beta power. Overall, this study provided evidence to support our hypothesis, showing that the laser-induced heat on the human forehead is not a mechanistic source causing increases in EEG power during and after tPBM.

Populism in the Foreign Policy of the Turkish Republic

The paper explores the role and peculiarities of the populism in the modern foreign policy of the Republic of Turkey. Populism became especially popular in Turkeys foreign policy discourse when the Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002 and R.T. Erdoğan as President in 2014. Special attention is paid to R.T. Erdoğans populist statements made in the context of the key foreign policy ideologies - Neo-Ottomanism, Neo-Panturkism and Islamism. The propaganda of Neo-Ottoman ideas is aimed at restoring Turkey to its former Imperial greatness. The ultimate goal of Turkeys populism in Turkic states is to form a new Turkish-centric subsystem of international relations - the Turkic world. Turkeys Islamic populism within the country is primarily aimed at the conservative part of the population and at the world Islamic community on the international arena. The main task of such populism is the gradual abandonment of the principles of M.K. Ataturk and the secularism, as well as the formation of public opinion that Ankara is the center of the Islamic world. The author comes to the conclusion that Turkeys populism is quite effective and assists the ruling elite in achieving its foreign policy goals. In many ways, the success of Turkeys populism depends on the competent policy of its implementation by R.T. Erdoğan - a classic example of an Eastern politician with a charismatic type of leadership. However, the situation may change significantly in case of the power change in Turkey, emergence of a new leader and, consequently, new populist mechanisms.

Analysis of EEG Characteristics of Drivers and Driving Safety in Undersea Tunnel

To study the influence of the driving environment of an undersea tunnel on driver EEG (electroencephalography) characteristics and driving safety, a real vehicle experiment was performed in the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Tunnel. The experimental data of the drivers’ real vehicle experiment were collected using an illuminance meter, EEG instrument, video recorder and other experimental equipment. The undersea tunnel is divided into different areas, and the distribution law of driving environment characteristics, EEG characteristics and vehicle speed characteristics is analyzed. The correlations between the driving environment characteristics, EEG characteristics and vehicle speed characteristics model the variables that pass the correlation test. The driving safety evaluation model of an undersea tunnel is established, and the driving safety in different areas of the undersea tunnel is evaluated. The results show that there are obvious differences in illumination, EEG power change rate, vehicle speed and other variables in different areas of the undersea tunnel. The driving environment characteristics are highly correlated with the β wave power change rate. The driving safety of different areas of the undersea tunnel from high to low is: upslope area, downslope area, exit area and entrance area. The study will provide a theoretical basis for the safe operation of the undersea tunnel.

STUDY OF PROPERTIES OF ISOPRENE OLIGOMERS OBTAINED BY MICROWAVE IRRADIATION OF SKI-3 RUBBER

The present article proposes a method for production of low molecular weight rubber in microwave irradiation field. Isoprene rubber SKI-3 (10% solution in toluene) was used as the initial reactant. The effect of MWI power change (144 W, 450 W, 675 W, 900 W) on the degree of destruction was studied. The degree of destruction was measured based on the change in viscosity average molecular weight. The findings of the experiment data analysis indicate that the destruction process occurs in correspondence with the following dependency: the increase in the microwave irradiation power raises the destruction degree. At the same time, a decrease in molecular weight was observed. Furthermore, it was found that the use of phospholipids as modifiers also affects the destruction process. The increase in phospholipids content in toluene-SKI-3 system reduces the degree of polyisoprene destruction regardless of the microwave irradiation power. It is demonstrated by the fact that rubber molecular weight is subject to a lower decrease in systems with higher phospholipids content. Phospholipids perform two functions. Firstly, they act as a stabilizer that inhibits the rubber destruction process. Secondly, varying their content allows controlling the destruction degree and obtaining oligomers with predetermined molecular weight. The obtained oligomers were used as SKI-3 isoprene rubber modifiers. It is observed that that the introduction of oligomers into rubber mixtures in the amount of 7 and 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of rubber increases its cohesive strength. Furthermore, vulcanizates containing oligomers are characterized by improved physical and mechanical properties.

The Role of Back Optic Zone Diameter in Myopia Control with Orthokeratology Lenses

We compared the efficacy of controlling the annual increase in axial length (AL) in myopic Caucasian children based on two parameters: the back optic zone diameter (BOZD) of the orthokeratology (OK) lens and plus power ring diameter (PPRD) or mid-peripheral annular ring of corneal steepening. Data from 71 myopic patients (mean age, 13.34 ± 1.38 years; range, 10–15 years; 64% male) corrected with different BOZD OK lenses (DRL, Precilens) were collected retrospectively from a Spanish optometric clinic. The sample was divided into groups with BOZDs above or below 5.00 mm and the induced PPRD above or below 4.5 mm, and the relation to AL and refractive progression at 12 months was analyzed. Three subgroups were analyzed, i.e., plus power ring (PPR) inside, outside, or matching the pupil. The mean baseline myopia was −3.11 ± 1.46 D and the AL 24.65 ± 0.88 mm. Significant (p < 0.001) differences were found after 12 months of treatment in the refractive error and AL for the BOZD and PPRD. AL changes in subjects with smaller BOZDs decreased significantly regarding larger diameters (0.09 ± 0.12 and 0.15 ± 0.11 mm, respectively); in subjects with a horizontal sector of PPRD falling inside the pupil, the AL increased less (p = 0.035) than matching or outside the pupil groups by 0.04 ± 0.10 mm, 0.10 ± 0.11 mm, and 0.17 ± 0.12 mm, respectively. This means a 76% lesser AL growth or 0.13 mm/year in absolute reduction. OK corneal parameters can be modified by changing the OK lens designs, which affects myopia progression and AL elongation. Smaller BOZD induces a reduced PPRDs that slows AL elongation better than standard OK lenses. Further investigations should elucidate the effect of pupillary diameter, PPRD, and power change on myopia control.