Medical education in Russia: vectors of reboot in pandemic conditions

The pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, determined, the need for accelerated transformations in the fi of national health, as well as a change in the usual principles and approaches in the system of higher medical education. The article, using the example of the Sechenov University case as the flagship of higher medical education in the country, analyzes the experience of operational restructuring of the organization of the university’s activities and highlights the key vectors of the educational process reorganization and training of medical personnel in the context of the spread of COVID-19.Sechenov University, based on the existing digital content modified the lecture materials into a digital format, adapted individual distance learning algorithms to the educational process of a medical university. The result is the preservation of the quality of education, the adaptation of educational programs, taking into account new formats and technologies for the delivery of knowledge, a flexible response to the demands of consumers of educational services of the University.

Laboratory- and field-based performance-predictions in cross-country skiing and roller-skiing

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how various laboratory- and field-based tests predict on-snow cross-country (XC) skiing and roller-skiing performance. Thirty-three national-level male XC skiers (19.0±2.5 years, maximal oxygen uptake [VO2max] 70.8±4.7 mL·min-1·kg-1) performed a 13.6-km roller-ski skating competition tracked by a global positioning system (GPS), which together with individual distance International Ski Federation (FIS) points was used to assess their performance level. On separate days, time in a 6.4-km uphill running time-trial (RUN-TT) and 1.3-km uphill roller-ski double-poling time-trial (DP-TT) was measured in the field and performance indices determined while running and roller-ski skating in the laboratory. The mean finishing times for the RUN-TT and the DP-TT showed moderate to large correlations with distance FIS points and performance in the roller-ski skating competition (r = 0.56–0.72; all p<0.05). RUN-TT was more strongly correlated with distance FIS points than DP-TT (r = 0.72 versus 0.56; p<0.05). Performance indices and VO2max in incremental running and roller-ski skating in the laboratory showed large to very large correlations with distance FIS points and roller-skiing performance (r = 0.50–0.90; all p<0.05). Performance indices and VO2max in running tended to be more strongly correlated with roller-skiing performance than corresponding values obtained while roller-ski skating (all p<0.10). The present findings suggest that both laboratory performance indices and field-based performance tests provide valid predictions of XC skiing and roller-skiing performance in a heterogeneous group of male XC skiers, with test values obtained in running tending to be more strongly correlated with XC skiing performance than those found for technique-specific modalities on roller skis. However, more sophisticated and mode-specific testing might be required for more homogenous groups of elite XC skiers.

Zooming in on the ‘Europeanisation’ of national politics: A comparative analysis of six EU countries

This article empirically revisits and tests the effect of individual distance from parties on the EU integration dimension and on the left–right dimension for vote choice in both national and European elections. This analysis is based on the unique European Election Study (EES) 2014 survey panel data from seven EU countries. Our findings show that in most countries the effect of individual distance on the EU integration dimension is positive and significant for both European and national elections. Yet the effect of this dimension is not uniform across all seven countries, revealing two scenarios: one in which it is only relevant for Eurosceptic voters and the other in which it is significant for voters of most parties in the system. The first is mainly related to the presence of a ‘hard’ Eurosceptic party in the party supply, but the second, which indicates a more advanced level of Europeanisation of party systems, is not explained by most current theoretical and empirical contributions. We conclude by proposing two additional explanations for this latter scenario in which the EU integration dimension is present for most voters in both type of elections, including those voting for the main parties. Our findings and further discussion have implications for the understanding of the Europeanisation of national politics and its relationship with vote choice.

Aerial drone observations identified a multilevel society in feral horses

The study of non-human multilevel societies can give us insights into how group-level relationships function and are maintained in a social system, but their mechanisms are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to apply spatial association data obtained from drones to verify the presence of a multilevel structure in a feral horse society. We took aerial photos of individuals that appeared in pre-fixed areas and collected positional data. The threshold distance of the association was defined based on the distribution pattern of the inter-individual distance. The association rates of individuals showed bimodality, suggesting the presence of small social organizations or “units”. Inter-unit distances were significantly smaller than those in randomly replaced data, which showed that units associate to form a higher-level social organization or “herd”. Moreover, this herd had a structure where large mixed-sex units were more likely to occupy the center than small mixed-sex units and all-male-units, which were instead on the periphery. These three pieces of evidence regarding the existence of units, unit association, and stable positioning among units strongly indicated a multilevel structure in horse society. The present study contributes to understanding the functions and mechanisms of multilevel societies through comparisons with other social indices and models as well as cross-species comparisons in future studies.

In-Situ LED-Based Observation of Snow Surface and Depth Transects

As part of a new snowpack monitoring framework, this study evaluated the feasibility of using an LED LIDAR (Leddar) time of flight sensor for snowpack depth measurement. The Leddar sensor has two additional features over simple sonic ranging sensors: (i) the return signal is divided into 16 segments across a 48° field of view, each recording individual distance-to-target (DTT) measurements; (ii) an index of reflectance or intensity signal is recorded for each segment. These two features provide information describing snowpack morphology and surface condition. The accuracy of Leddar sensor DTT measurements for snow depth monitoring was found to be < 20 mm, which was better than the 50 mm quoted by the manufacturer, and the precision was < 5 mm. Leddar and independent sonic ranger snow depth measurement showed strong linear agreement (r2 = 0.98). There was also a strong linear relationship (r2 = 0.98) between Leddar and manual field snow depth measurements. The intensity signal response was found to correlate with snow surface albedo and inversely with air temperature (r = 0.77 and −0.77, respectively).

Genetically-Modified K-Medoid Clustering Algorithm for Heterogeneous Data Set

In recent days, researchers are doing research studies for clustering of data which are heterogeneous in nature. The data generated in many real-world applications like data form IoT environments and big data domains are heterogeneous in nature. Most of the available clustering algorithms deal with data in homogeneous nature, and there are few algorithms discussed in the literature to deal the data with numeric and categorical nature. Applying the clustering algorithm used by homogenous data to the heterogeneous data leads to information loss. This chapter proposes a new genetically-modified k-medoid clustering algorithm (GMODKMD) which takes fused distance matrix as input that adopts from applying individual distance measures for each attribute based on its characteristics. The GMODKMD is a modified algorithm where Davies Boudlin index is applied in the iteration phase. The proposed algorithm is compared with existing techniques based on accuracy. The experimental result shows that the modified algorithm with fused distance matrix outperforms the existing clustering technique.

Remote Individual Training

Modern information technology has firmly entered our lives, which has affected the learning process in higher education. Individual distance learning has been reflected in the development of new teaching methods for people with disabilities, however, more recently, more attention has been paid to the issue of introducing distance learning and for people who, due to circumstances (remote access), cannot be in an educational institution. Individual distance learning is currently a promising form of education for high-quality higher education, since one of the tasks of modern education is unlimited access to high-quality educational resources regardless of gender, race, social status, place of residence, etc. This type of training can be described as a process of providing access to classical modern education, when the source of information and the students themselves are separated in time and space. The theoretical and methodological basis of this article is based on work in the field of computer science and pedagogy, which explores various processes, methods and means of using computer technology for distance learning in universities. This article is devoted to the issue of consideration of technologies used for independent activities in the framework of distance individual learning. The authors conducted a study of the results of distance individual learning. It was found that interactive lectures, video conferencing, audiovisual tools, interactive seminars, glossaries, interactive tests are considered the most effective technologies for independent work of students. The results made it possible to emphasize the effect of the development of distance learning technologies.