Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2019 number

Quantum-chemical calculations show a tendency of SiO₂ molecule to transform from linear to isomeric cyclic (bent) form and back. In the latter case, the energy released during the transition isomeric SiO₂ ® linear SiO₂ is about 240 kJ/mole. This hypothetic structural transition of submolecular SiO₂ fragments in mantle minerals is supposed to initiate deep-focus high-energy earthquakes at the upper-lower mantle boundary. It is at this depth (600-670 km) that the subducting oceanic slab is delaminated: Its upper part moves «horizontally» along the upper-lower mantle boundary, while its lower part separated into blocks subsides into the lower mantle and reaches the D″ layer to accumulate there.

The Transbaikalian region comprises several known geologic structures: the Mesozoic Mongolia-Okhotsk orogen, the Cenozoic Baikal rift system, and the world largest Angara-Vitim granitic batholith. They all formed upon heterogeneous Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic continental-margin complexes of the Siberian craton. The region is subject to the influence of mantle plumes, which induced Meso-Cenozoic volcanism and controlled structural and lithological changes in the crust in the early history. Transbaikalia, which has been a scene of multiple tectonic events, is a model area for geophysical (in particular, gravity) surveys for various geological and geodynamic applications. As a novel approach, we interpret geological and geodynamic data from the region with reference to the pattern of free-air and Bouguer gravity anomalies revealed by satellite altimetry. Bouguer anomalies highlight large structures in the lithospheric mantle which were produced in the Cenozoic mainly by the activity of mantle plumes. Basaltic lava fields were confirmed to be almost coeval with mantle anomalies and to record the presence of the plume head at the crustal base. However, the origin of the Late Paleozoic Angara-Vitim granitic batholith was only tentatively attributed to the plume activity, based on gravity data. Mesozoic metamorphic core complexes (MCC) and basins that formed during the evolution of the Mongolia-Okhotsk orogen show up clearly on the map of free-air anomalies. Most of the MCC revealed in Transbaikalia coincide with oval gravity highs and border negative elongate features corresponding to Mesozoic basins. The zone of Cenozoic tectonism stands out in the pattern of free-air anomalies as maximum gravity contrasts, with the values changing from -110 to -120 mGal in basins to +90 or +100 mGal in ranges. This zone encompasses rift basins filled with Cenozoic or, locally, Mesozoic sediments, which jointly form a domino-like system of rhomb-shaped structures typical of the Baikal rift system and, in general, of Cenozoic Central Asia resulted from the far-field effect of the India-Eurasia collision.

A new concept of the geologic structure and geodynamic evolution of the Mongol-Okhotsk Orogenic Belt is proposed. The problems of recognition of the Amur composite microcontinent (Amuria superterrane) and substantiation of its existence are considered. We present recent data on the geologic structure, composition, age, and paleomagnetism of the Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic complexes, one of the main elements of Amuria: Argun terrane and adjacent Transbaikalian and Mongolian structures. In particular, we refine the age of Precambrian and Paleozoic stratified and igneous units. The absence of an Archean-Paleoproterozoic crystalline basement is shown. Using our paleomagnetic and paleontological data, we substantiate the equatorial position of the Argun terrane in the immediate vicinity of Siberia in the period 560-525 Ma. The results of the research and analysis of available geological data on the Argun terrane and adjacent Transbaikalian and Southeast Asian structures clearly show the fallacy of the concept of the Amur composite microcontinent as a single tectonic element whose collision resulted in the folded structures of the Mongol-Okhotsk belt. This conclusion is of crucial importance for the reconstruction of the Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic geodynamic evolution of the eastern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt.

The chemical composition of rocks of the Murzinka-Adui metamorphic complex and the Murzinka granite pluton, a reference interformational granite pluton in the Urals, is considered. A detailed comparative analysis of ancient gneisses and related granite veins included an isotope-geochemical study of zircons from both groups of rocks. Zircons are subdivided into seven age groups (I, 1588 ± 20 Ma; II, 1060 ± 28 Ma; III, 530 ± 11 Ma; IV, 380 ± 6 Ma; V, 330 ± 9 Ma; VI, 276 ± 3 Ma; and VII, 260 ± 3 Ma). The first four groups are apparently zircons from gneisses, reworked to different extents, and the other three groups are zircons crystallized during granite genesis. The gneisses and most of the granite samples contain zircons of all the above age populations, which is evidence of trapping zircons from gneisses by granite melts, on the one hand, and the occurrence of «granite-derived» zircons in gneisses, on the other. The granitoids and gneisses of all types differ considerably in geochemical features. The behavior of trace elements and the Rb-Sr ages indicate that the formation of granites of the Murzinka massif was a discrete episode of magmatic activity. The Sr isotope ratios in the granites and gneisses indicate different degrees of the mantle-crust interaction and the participation of the material of the crystalline basement and newly formed crust in their formation.

Chaotically localized isolated small bodies of metaultrabasic rocks have been found in the quartzite-schist strata of the Ilmeny metamorphic complex in the South Urals. These are metamorphosed rootless blocks and lumps of serpentinite melange within the so-called Urazbaevo olistostrome. Sometimes they contain lumpy inclusions of massive anorthite gabbroids with gabbro, ophitic, and cumulative textures, free of crystallization schistosity, and of different mineral compositions. The rocks have abnormally high contents of Al2O3, CaO, MgO, and REE and low contents of SiO2 and are characterized by weak secondary alteration. Seldom, inclusions of hornblendites, along with anorthite, spinel, apatite, enstatite, diopside, and rutile, are present. Some gabbroid and hornblendite bodies have abnormally high contents of REE, with a strong predominance of LREE (81-93% of the total REE). The maximum contents of REE have been established in zoisite amphibolites (170-850 ppm) and apatite-garnet-containing hornblendites (up to 450 ppm). The conclusion has been drawn that the rocks formed in the basement of the Earth’s crust and got with protrusions of serpentinite melange to the surface.

Four heterochronous spore and pollen complexes (SPC) have been identified in the deposits of the submarine Yamato Rise: SPC-1 (Early Miocene), SPC-2 (the end of Early and the beginning of the Middle Miocene), SPC-3 (Middle-Late Miocene), and SPC-4 (Late Miocene). Pollen of various woody plants dominates in SPC-1; the families of gymnosperms (Pinaceae) also prevail in this complex. The climate was moderate and humid because of the proximity to the water area. The complex SPC-2 differs from SPC-1 in the highly increased role of thermophile angiosperms due to the impact of the climatic optimum between the Early and Middle Miocene. The complex SPC-3 is distinguished by the diversity and predominance of broad-leaved woody plants. Gymnosperms are mainly represented by pine families. The composition of palynoflora points to a dissected relief and the burial of pollen not far from the places of its growth. Gymnosperms with a predominance of the Taxodiaceae family are characteristic of SPC-4. The SPC-4 composition is indicative of humid habitat conditions, marshy shoreland, and pollen burial in places of plants growth. The climate was moderate and humid. Palynological investigation suggests the existence of a dry land in the area of the current Yamato Rise throughout the Miocene. The relief was highly dissected and mountainous in the Early and early Middle Miocene; then, the relief roughness and firm-land area reduced dramatically.

The dynamics of the energy structure of seismicity on the southwestern flank of the Baikal Rift System (BRS) was analyzed at three hierarchical levels based on annual and accumulated total data on KP ≥ 8 earthquakes that took place in 1964-2013. The state changes are characterized by three main parameters: the maximum energy class (Kmax), the slope of the earthquake recurrence plot (γ), and seismic activity A10. With an increase in the period and number of analyzed earthquakes, the parameters reach the limiting values reflecting stable regularities in the long-term distribution of shocks by classes. Two attractors are recognized in the phase pattern, which reflect the total quasi-stationary state (limit cycle) and local instability (focus) of the energy structure of seismicity. The specifics of the attractor formation suggest that the dynamics of the system includes a cycle birth bifurcation (Andronov-Hopf bifurcation). For a detailed analysis of the dynamics of formation of the energy structure of seismicity, we calculated the slopes of the earthquake recurrence plots in the model scenarios of “aftershock” and “swarm” series of shocks. Comparison of the model and real changes in the slopes shows that the “aftershock” model corresponds to the dynamics of the energy structure of seismicity of the lithosphere on the southwestern flank of the BRS.

Possible manifestations of the Hall effect in the Earth’s magnetic field during magnetotelluric sounding are considered. Numerical calculations are made for the magnitude of the effect for a three-dimensional heterogeneous earth, using modifications of the Trefftz method suitable for accounting for anisotropy. Versions of the measurement that allow easy detection of manifestations of the Hall effect are analyzed.

Rapid rural population growth in Siberia, and mainly agricultural nature of its development prompted rural economy’s rationalization. Siberian agronomic services solved the task. The article deals with the history of creation, dynamics of development, main directions and results of governmental agronomy service’s activity based on the analysis of Soviet and contemporary Russian historiography, a complex of statistical and reporting data. Established in 1892, the government agronomic service served the needs only of old-settlers’ villages. Several separate agronomic organizations appeared in the following years working in the resettlement areas, and Cossack territories. In 1910-1912, the government took steps to consolidate agronomists from different government departments into united governorate and regional organizations. The main activities were pest control, creating experimental and demonstration farms, spreading agricultural knowledge. Statistic data show that human resources and financing of governmental agronomy in Siberia developed faster compared with European part of Russia. This made it possible to address the backlog related to the later establishment of government agronomy. Shortcomings in the work remained, but they were associated with objective factors of huge and sparsely populated Siberian territories. Weak impact on the peasantry was the most important problem of agronomic work. The rational organization of economy did not become the desire of the broad masses of rural population.

The article objective is to analyze the project of agricultural development adopted for West Siberia northern regions in 1935. Assessing prospects for their further development, regional authorities set the main task to create powerful grain base there. It was intended to supply local population and meet intraregional needs. Put forward by the regional authorities, the project was approved by the Centre. Within five years, the project assumed the double increase of the arable lands, the expansion of motor and tractor stations’ network, provision of northern farms with equipment, and animal husbandry development. The project included socio-political measures in addition to economic ones. According to the political leadership’s opinion, the kulaks opposition in collective farms of northern regions hampered implementation of the project. It justified carrying out a “cleaning” campaign against the management of collective farms, which took place in spring-summer of 1936. The objective reason for this was that the state agrarian policy was opposed by leaders and ordinary members of newly created collective farms in the northern regions. Besides, the post of party organizer was introduced in the collective farms of the northern regions. The project of agrarian development was not implemented, but the repressive campaign of 1936 became its most prominent episode. Acreages remained virtually unchanged, and new motor tractor stations were small and not provided with their own repair base. The reasons that led to the project failure included both overestimating the agricultural sector potential of northern regions, and shortcomings of the Soviet economy planned system. The subjective factor - changing leadership of the Novosibirsk region that was allocated from West Siberian territory in 1937 - played a certain role.

The article highlights the attempt of the transition to grass-fallow rotation system undertaken in the second half of the 1930s in Siberia. The analysis is carried out in the context of the Soviet state agrarian policy and ideological-theoretical struggle in the agronomic science. The author states that forced collectivization caused a deep crisis of agriculture. Refusal of crop rotations was one of the factors that led to decline of soil fertility and low yields. In 1932, the country’s leadership indicated the need to implement crop rotations in collective and state farms. Defining an optimal farming system for the country as a whole and its individual regions was the subject of a discussion between the supporters of fallow and grassfield farming systems. In 1933, the decision was made in favor of grass-fallow rotation system. Ineffectiveness of grass-fallow rotation with minimum fertilizers changed the viewpoint of the country’s leadership. The task to introduce grass-fallow rotation system was put on the agenda. The choice was based on the lack of mineral fertilizers, as well as the need to strengthen the husbandry fodder base. In late 1936, the government authorized the transition to grass-fallow rotation system in southern part of West Siberia. In June 1937, the Central Committee plenum of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) approved the transition to the grass-fallow rotation system at national level. At the same time, it was necessary to prevent reducing grain crops area. The grain loss caused by the widespread introduction of the grass rotation system was intended to be compensated by expanding the arable land area due to the virgin and fallow land development in the country’s eastern regions including South-West Siberia. In 1940, mass plowing of virgin and fallow lands began in the region. The rate of introducing grassland crop rotation was slow. In fact, the regional predominant farming system was a fallow crop three-field system in the early 1940s.

The article objective is to identify specifics of development of the state’s agricultural technology policy during the post-war Stalinism and “Khrushchev” decades and measures implemented by the Soviet government to develop the agricultural technology in the collective and state farms of Siberia. The study objective is to represent the scale and results of introducing modern systems of agriculture at the time, as well as the level of management culture. The author concludes that intensive methods were used to increase grain production during the period under review. The strategies of ecological technologies (herb crops, fallow lands, field-protective forest planting, land reclamation, etc.) and agriculture chemicalization (application of mineral fertilizers, herbicides and other means) were used in the policy of intensifying agriculture. The first strategy was deemed to be the “main” by the government in the second half of the 1940s and early 1950s. The emphasis was on introducing the grassland system without large capital investments. Applying this agricultural technology did not lead to increase in productivity of arable lands in the collective and state farms. N. S. Khrushchev called to abandon it completely. Expensive chemicalization was envisioned mainly in plans of agricultural development implemented only in the mid-1960s, when the comprehensive program appeared to intensify agricultural production with sufficient financial support. During the period under review, the authorities expected to increase agricultural production, primarily of grain, with extensive development of virgin and fallow lands. During the “Khrushchev” decade, it became the main lever to revitalize agriculture. Considerable funds were invested in the industry thanks to the virgin soil campaign; the country received additional grain yields. The reverse side of the new lands development was a significant drop of qualitative indicators of agricultural production.

The article investigates mechanisms of wheat purchase in foreign markets in connection with the grain crisis of 1963 in the USSR based on the documents of the CPSU Central Committee Presidium. It shows the process of negotiations and grain purchase by the Soviet government delegation in Canada, as well as analyzes the reasons, why the Soviet Union was unable to buy grain in the USA. The author believes that main reasons of the negotiations failure were related to the fact that the US leadership, unlike the Canadian government, pursued not only economic, but also political goals (attempts to strengthen the Democratic Party positions before the presidential elections of 1964 and to form a new political course of J. K. Kennedy). However, the protracted negotiation process, American bureaucratic machine’s clumsiness, and strengthening positions of the conservative force led to the negotiations’ termination. The author concludes that resolution of the bread shortage problem in the USSR became possible thanks to the Soviet diplomats’ efforts. At the same time, grain purchases abroad affected N. S. Khrushchev’s image and became one of the reasons for his resignation in October 1964.

The first part of the article was published in the previous issue (2018, N 4). This is its second part, which reconstructs the viewpoint of N. Ya. Gushchin, a famous Russian historian, in the collectivization debates of 1970s-1980s. A key event in the context of the studied issues was the XVI Session of the Symposium on Agrarian History of Eastern Europe (Chisinau, 1976), where sharp debates about kulaks’ social nature took place between V. P. Danilov, who claimed that kulaks and peasants were the same, and N. Ya. Gushchin, who insisted on their fundamental differences. Later N. Ya. Guschin took an active part in development of new approaches to study collectivization. At the turn of 1980s and 1990s he paid more attention to analyzing the political aspects of the problem and linked the agrarian policy’s difficulties with the wrong course of political power. At the same time, he came closer to the views then expressed by V. P. Danilov.

The Siberian Governors-Generals’ reports are repeatedly used by historians to study the regional administrative management, its socio-economic and cultural development, but so far they have not been the subject of special research in terms of identifying top authorities’ views on the region. The authors consider the Governor-Generals’ reports as a collective source text, whose parts were compiled by different persons, specialists in various fields, but signing it the Governor-General took responsibility for its content however difficult the process of the document's preparing might be. Representations of Siberia in the Governor-General’s reports were formed and evolved under the influence of a number of factors: first, their own direct impressions, changed and supplemented over time; second, reading the reports of predecessors and subordinates, as well as fiction, scientific, journalistic literature; third, familiarity with the complaints and petitions of individuals and groups. The understanding of the central authorities’ goals and policy influenced the way of presenting the data included in the report, as well as content of certain provisions; the Governor-General’s attention to certain aspects of his activities depended on tasks before him. The reports’ analysis shows that these documents do not always show the views of a particular Governor-General. Sometimes it is a list of materials, more or less reliable, received from subordinates of different levels. Often, several fragments were reproduced from one report to another, even when the Governor was replaced by his successor. In some cases, the Governors-General were the reports’ authors themselves. However, the report was a product of collective efforts most often. It was a common practice to repeat texts close to the governors’ reports. The Governor-General himself could not be completely sincere, he could, and sometimes did (consciously or unconsciously), try to influence the Monarch and/or Ministers, and other Supreme power and Central administration figures, highlighting certain characteristics, forming the image that should have been formed in the reports’ addressees.

The article aims to analyze command and control methods employed by the general of infantry N.N. Myraviov, Viceroy of the Caucasus and Commander of Separate Corps of the Caucasus in the course of the Köprüköy operation, which was an important episode of 1855 Caucasian campaign of the Crimean War. Historiography offers limited coverage of the operation with no attempts to analyze it in the context of the evolution if military art in the 19th century. This paper uses comparative approach to study the Köprüköy operation of the Crimean War of 1853-1856 through the lens of the Königgrätz operation of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. It pays specific attention to N.N Muraviov’s and Helmuth von Moltke’s command and control methods. Analysis of the Köprüköy operation reveals that the plan of a concentric advance against the Turkish forces defending the approach to Erzurum demanded establishing effective cooperation between the two groups of advancing Russian forces: Alexandropol force under personal command of Muraviov and Erivan force led by major-general A.A. Suslov. The Viceroy’s propensity toward detailed command, overcentralized control, and suppression of initiative among subordinate officers prevented the establishment of such cooperation. This allowed the Turkish forces to retreat unhindered from their threatened position at Köprüköy to Deve-boyunu mountain ridge. On the contrary, Helmuth von Moltke in 1866 succeeded in establishing decentralized mission command, thus ensuring a victorious end for the Königgrätz operation. Thus, despite Russian generals in the Caucasus being fully capable of operating successfully under mission command, as demonstrated by the 1854 campaign, the Viceroy of the Caucasus failed to fully grasp the demands of his operational situation and contemporary military art. In addition to limiting the eventual success of Russian forces in Eastern Anatolia, this failure also illustrates the limited degree of susceptibility that Russian high command demonstrated toward new trends in operational art.

The article objective is to study the issue of cessation the gendarme supervision of private gold mining industry in Siberia in the late XIX century. The author solves following tasks: 1) to identify reasons that prompted the authorities to raise the issue of such supervision's liquidation; 2) to determine interests of the officials concerned in this matter; 3) to reveal mechanisms of the officials’ interaction in solving this problem. The main research sources are the materials of the Central Gendarme Department stored in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, as well as regional archives data. The main research approach is comparative historical analysis. The author came to several conclusions. The problem of cessation of the gendarme supervision of private gold mining industry had been considered for more than a decade. There were reasons that prompted the authorities and officials to take this step in the late XIX century: a number of workers’ protests in the gold mines decreased; the mechanism of gold mining and gold incomings to the state treasury was adjusted; and the main reason was the need to use gendarmes in the fight against the revolutionary movement at the vast Empire space, according to author’s viewpoint. The initiative to liquidate supervision came from the central government agencies - the Ministry of State Property and the Ministry of Finance considered inappropriate to maintain supervision and its financial support. The Gendarme Department, on the contrary, spoke in favor of maintaining this supervision. Addressing this issue, it turned out to be necessary to appeal to representatives of the Siberian executive power -governor-generals and governors, whose opinions were taken into account. As a result, the view on the necessity to liquidate the supervision and use gendarmes for solving other governmental tasks won, and since the second half of the 1880s gendarme officers ceased to supervise the private gold mining industry in Siberia.

There is still no consensus among historians about the national communists - who they were - the imperial policy conductors, or defenders of interests of non-Russian peoples. The activity of Stepan Vasilyevich Vasilyev, a party-Soviet leader, was hushed up as a “bourgeois nationalist” for many decades, but in the post-Soviet period some publicists tried to evaluate him as an “apologist for Stalinism”, which distorted the truth as well. The article objective is to study Vasilyev’s activities to resolve “the national issue” to form the nationhood in the autonomy form, his role in economic and social development of the republic and the country in the context of network interrelations between central and regional political elites. The research is based on L. P. Repina’s method of cultural and intellectual history involved studying and understanding the historical process through a personal context. The authors conclude that the desire for knowledge, work capacity and organizational experience allowed Vasilyev to grow professionally from a Komsomol leader to a statesman of all-Union scale for a short period. His historical merit was economic and socio-cultural modernization, which led to economic, social and cultural leveling of Yakutia’s development with the center. This period was marked by the formation and development of the Yakut nation, national statehood, economic and socio-cultural revival, and growing intellectual potential. Stepan Vasilyevich stood at the origin of Yakutian gold mining industry. Moscow patrons, Yaroslavsky and Ordzhonikidze, helped him in his professional activities, but the repression of the 1930s destroyed the existing model of social networks between the central and regional elites.

This article explores the establishment and activity of the Natural History Department of the Institute for Siberian Studies (ISS) based on a wide range of sources and scientific literature. The study is of high relevance due to the need to analyze a new model of scientific structure established by the Siberian scientists during the crisis period of Russian history. The study objective is to reconstruct and interpret the history of creation and work of the Natural History Department of ISS. The natural history studies initially were supposed to be conducted in four separate departments: botany, zoology, agriculture, and forest science. However, during the approval of ISS Regulations by A.V. Kolchak’s Russian government these departments were reorganized into sub-branches of the Natural History Department. It is worth noting that some distinguished scientists from Siberia, European Russia and foreign countries worked at the department, such as P. N. Krylov, V. V. Sapozhnikov, M. D. Ruzsky, G. E. Ioganzen, A. G. Gennkel, I. I. Podpera, S. A. Teploukhov, et al. The research has revealed the multidimensional activity of the Natural History Department. It arranged expeditions to study the Ob and Taz Bays’ tundra terrain, investigate ichthyofauna of West Siberian rivers (Ob, Tom, Tobol, Polui, etc.), phytoplankton of Lake Baikal and others. According to the expeditionary results, the members of the Department published a number of scientific works in “Izvestiya IIS”. The Department put forward the idea of organizing courses to train researchers of Siberian wild life, as well as the sub-department of physical geography; supported the Baikal Hydrobiological Station activity; sponsored the activities of the South Usuriisk Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, etc. The author concludes that the difficult political, social and economic conditions adversely affected the Department’s activity, not allowing its members to realize many ideas. However, if ISS were not closed by the Soviet authorities, its work would have developed on an even larger scale.

The main objective of this article is to analyze the first phase of Stalin’s mass repressions against the top-ranking officials of the Communist youth league (Komsomol) in 1937. The study focuses in particular on the role of the Komsomol General Secretary A.V. Kosarev regarding the implementation of Stalin’s murderous policy against the functionaries of the Komsomol at the onset of the Great Terror. Based on the widespread viewpoint that Kosarev’s intentions were to temper the terror impact on his organization upper ranks, the article scrutinizes the meeting of Stalin and Kosarev 21 July 1937, and proves that such allegations are most likely unfounded. The reassessment of the well-known sources as well as new archival material led to the assumption, that Kosarev’s role in Stalin’s repressive policy was not only of a “pawn” on the chessboard of power, who followed his master’s wishes blindly. On the contrary, the author shows that Kosarev was a single-minded, powerful functionary, who was keen to protect his own interests and tried to use the Great Terror to pursue his own goals. Even if he was seeking to mitigate the effects of the purges, his primary goal was to cover himself and his close associates against the possible accusations by NKVD. All his attempts to protect his promotees from the persecution and detention failed. Finally, he was forced to bend to Stalin’s will; this helped him to avoid being arrested, even if not for a too long time.

The study objective is to identify political, legal and socio-economic components of the post-war campaign aimed by the state at combating embezzlements of socialist property, as well as to assess the specifics of its implementation in the context of the mobilization economic model. The post-war period was marked by the growing number of thefts of socialist property, which were fixed in different social strata and professional groups of the Soviet society differing in the volume of the stolen and motivation of the committed act. The analysis of the social specificity of the campaign against embezzlements of the socialist property allows us to conclude on the inequality of sanctions against the Soviet society’s different groups. The campaign was aimed against the country’s ordinary people and led to strengthening control and introducing criminal sanctions against citizens. The task of eradicating thefts in the higher echelons of power was not set in the post-war years (although bodies focused on this task were created). The activities of the Ministry of State Control of the USSR to identify thefts in the ranks of the Soviet party and economic elite had a purpose to scare the nomenclature who wanted to live for their own pleasure after the war. The campaign’s intensity decreased in 1948, which manifested in lower number of people convicted for thefts and reducing the powers of organizations that controlled the financial and economic activities of ministries and departments. Taking into account the campaign socio-political specifics, it should be considered as a tool of mobilization economic model aimed at the post-war reconstruction of the Soviet national economy ravaged by the war.

The article subject is problems of mortality due external causes in Russia. The author presents results of reconstruction of its dynamics and structural characteristics in the Soviet era’s last decades. The paper objective is to examine the mortality due external causes in the villages of East Siberia as an indicator of the rural society life quality. It shows the mortality dynamics level and structure over thirty years at the end of the Soviet period; reveals features of this process in Siberia. The author explains specifics of mortality among Siberians taking into account the complex impact of natural and climatic, economic, socio-cultural factors; compares mortality processes in Siberian villages with similar ones in regional cities and villages of Russia as a whole. Based on official statistics, the article shows that the mortality from injuries in East Siberian villages developed following the all-Russian pattern. It grew throughout the whole country, but in the region’s countryside its level, dynamics and structure were of extraordinary nature. The death rate grew in the villages of the region faster than in the cities and in Russian villages in general and more than doubled in three decades. External influences ranked second in the structure of the overall mortality causes of Siberians throughout the period. The regional villages forged ahead in Russia in all types of traumatic mortality. The article provides statistics on the main classes of the most common death causes. It proves that the mortality crisis in East Siberia was more acute than anywhere in the country, and that the high mortality of Siberians was determined by both behavioral, environmental and economic factors.

The author has consistently and comprehensively studied the indicators and reasons of cardinal population changes in the country in the 1990s, analyzing the current demographic development of Kazakhstan during the period of independence. The article defines the “terms” encountered in the process of studying the demographic situation in the republic. It shows the main stages of Kazakhstan demographic development during the transition period based on statistical indicators synthesis. In theoretical and methodological regard, the study considers the role of an individual as the main participant in the migration process. The author carries out analysis of problems of the history of the Kazakh diaspora and issues of its repatriation to the historical homeland; considers the reasons of migratory processes, adaptation and integration of “oralmans” in the Kazakhstan society in a context of its growing human capital and intellectual potential. It shows their contribution and role in developing language, traditions, customs and culture of the Kazakh people. Nowadays migration is a factor in restoring the demographic balance in the republic. The article investigates and represents factors influencing the population abundance change and growth, the birth rate increase, the economic processes role in the transition period and their effect on socio-demographic processes. It examines the ethnic history in the Kazakh context. The study objective is to trace the history of ethnic groups settlement in the country, to characterize the modern demographic condition of Kazakhstan people taking into account its specifics. The article is of interest as an experience of studying the ethnos migration process (including “oralmans”), which has been formed and transformed during the XX-XXI centuries in Kazakhstan. In the article the interethnic relations viewed through the prism of profound changes in the ethnic composition of Kazakhstan population.

The history of scientists’ cooperation between the Siberian region of Russia and the Republic of Belarus has not been covered in historiography yet. The article objective is to reconstruct the history, study the current state of international research cooperation between the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in the 1990-2000s identifying its main areas. The roots of scientific collaboration of the Siberian Branch of RAS and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus can be traced back to the mid XX century. In 1957, when the largest integrated scientific center in the USSR started to be created in Siberia, the representatives from European scientific schools, including those from the Belorussian SSR, came to work in its new institutes. Siberian scientists of the Belarusian origin working in scientific institutions of Siberia are well known to the world scientific community for their contribution to the relevant fields of knowledge, among them are geologist A.A. Trofimuk, chemist V.A. Koptyug, physical chemist V.N. Parmon. In the post-Soviet period, it was the “Belarusian vector”, that played the decisive role in restoring international cooperation with scientists from neighboring countries. The integration ties established between the Siberian and Belarusian institutions in the Soviet period since the early 1990s underwent significant changes and took on new meaning. The article analyzes the key areas of international collaboration of which the most significant part was implementing joint research projects. The author concludes that the experience gained by scientists of SB RAS and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in this sphere is unique and needs further study and synthesis. The study sources include published reports on research and organizational activities of SB RAS, materials of the SB RAS’ Presidium and press.

The authors carry out a comprehensive study of the 25-year process of forming and functioning of “The Museum of Science and Technology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences” based on a wide range of sources for the first time in historiography. The Museum is an important part of the diversified museum network of the Siberian Branch of RAS consisting of 37 museum-type structures within the research institutions. The paper presents funds, exposition, research and cultural and educational activities. The Museum has an extensive field-specific multidisciplinary collection including unique rare items. A significant part of the Museum collection has found its place in the exhibition built on principles of complexity, attraction, interactivity. Subjects are classified in six areas: computer science, instruments and equipment of scientific experiment, radio and communication, transport, film photography, microscopy. The main direction is “Computing” reflecting its development «from abacus to the computer» and containing seven sections: means of instrumental accounts, computers for collective use, mini-machines, microprocessor technology, analog computers, original designs of the Siberian Branch of USSR Academy of Sciences, educational and game complex “Igroteka”. The Museum develops actual innovative forms - introduces IT-technologies, interdisciplinary projects, systemic partnership, training (“Igroteka”) and recreational (“Museum night”) practices and communications representing intangible scientific heritage based on the museum activity traditional forms. The excursion program includes practices of numeration, programming and using equipment. The Museum is a base for educational practice, holds many open thematic events. “The Museum of Science and Technology SB RAS” successful activity contributes to a high level of organization the culture of life in Akademgorodok strengthening its official status as a historical attraction of regional importance.

The article discusses a methodological approach to constructing a model for optimized planning of the operation of businesses, firms, corporations in industrial clusters based on the enterprise economic concern. The research is associated with devising mechanisms to manage the development of enterprises and corporations within their integration. This raises many organizational-economic problems: rationalizing intra-corporate transfer prices, determining synergistic, system effect and its distribution among the cluster participants, assessing the efficiency of innovative-investment projects, financial innovations and other developments. The most effective manufacturing organization is for a group of industrial firms combined into a cluster to issue complex, high-value-added science-intensive products with solvent demand not only in the domestic market, but also abroad. Therefore, it is quite difficult to design a generalized mechanism that would solve the presented tasks without studies modeling such processes. The authors develop a research and methodological approach to creating an effective system of intra-corporate planning of operation and development of an industrial cluster while coordinating integration among its enterprises with the use of a model for optimized strategic management of high-tech business development within the industrial cluster management platform. The formation of clusters is an important element of the region’s industrial policy. The results of practical calculations show the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism for managing the development of industrial clusters.

A non-catalytic reaction of hydrogen interaction with sulfur dioxide is studied. It is found that this reaction in fact is a chain reaction of hydrogen oxidation by sulfur dioxide resulting in the formation of elementary sulfur. A mechanism of this reaction is proposed. The reaction is studied under static conditions in the temperature interval from 350 to 500oC at a pressure of the reactingmixture with a stoichiometric composition equal to 300 torr. The numerical kinetic analysis of the mechanism is consistent with experimental data.

The present paper describes the development of two reduced kinetic schemes suitable for multidimensional turbulent flame simulations in high-temperature oxidation of methane. Formal reduction of the USC Mech II C1-C4 detailed kinetic model by using the directed relations graph mechanism results in a 31-species derivative scheme for lean to near-stoichiometric conditions. To deduce a still shorter, simpler, and less stiff kinetic model, further species elimination is based on combined sensitivity and chemical time scale information to arrive at a 22-species scheme. The kinetic rates of lumped reactions are here expressed as simple Arrhenius rates, avoiding nonlinear algebraic combinations of excluded elementary steps or species. The accuracy is maintained by tuning pre-exponential constants in the global Arrhenius rate expressions and computing a range of target data. A more compact, quasi-global 14-species scheme is subsequently formulated by modeling fuel decomposition to a methyl radical pool, followed by CH3 oxidation with O and OH toward CH2 and CO, and retaining a full CO/H2/O2 subset. The C2-chain with recombination of CH3 into C2H6 and production of C2H2 is also represented in both schemes. Equilibrium 0D and 1D propagating premixed flames and axisymmetric co-flowing lifted laminar jet flames are computed through an iterative validation process. Accompanying computations with the USC Mech II mechanism, as well as available experimental results, are exploited for optimization. The comparisons demonstrate that the derived schemes ensure satisfactory agreement with data over the investigated parameter space.

The heat of combustion and standard the formation enthalpy of 3,4-bis (4-azidofurazan-3-yl) furoxan (DAzFF) and 4-azido-4'$-nitro-3,3':4','3'-terfurazan (AzNTF) were experimentally determined. Thermodynamic analysis was performed to investigate the efficiency of these compounds as potential components of metal-free composite solid propellants based on an active binder with the possibility of introducing an additional small additive oxidant with a high oxygen content, such as ammonium perchlorate.

A negative erosive effect arises in the simulation of combustion due to a generated turbulent motion in the gasification zone of a solid energy material. A thermal energy in the gasification zone comprises the heat of chemical sources in it and the heat coming up to the gasification surface from the flame zone in a gaseous phase. Some of this energy returns to the gaseous phase in the form of the mechanical energy of turbulent motion, and this turbulence cools down the gasification zone. This model is used to explain the weakening of the negative erosive effect, observed in the experiments, with increasing pressure and decreasing initial temperature.

This paper presents the results of study of combustion processes in the Cu(NO3)2-Al(NO3)3-H2O - PVA system, the composition and characteristics of the phases formed, the influence of heat treatment conditions on phase formation and particle size of the powders. It is shown that the combustion of organic-inorganic mixtures can be used to obtain CuO/Al2O3 catalysts or precursors of CuO/Al2O3catalysts and copper-matrix composites for electrical contacts.

The burning rate and limits of ribbons rolled from mixtures of titanium with boron were determined as a function of the concentration of boron. The combustion of single ribbons near the lower limit is unsteady and has a two-zone structure across the width of the ribbons, due to the difference in burning and cooling rates between the edges of the ribbons and its middle. With increasing boron concentration in the mixture, the combustion becomes steady-state and the front becomes more even. Maximum burning rate of the ribbons is achieved at a boron concentration of 21-25% in the mixture.

To optimize the reactant synthesis and improve the pressure property of Al/Bi2O3, the influencing factors in the dynamic pressure discharge of nanothermite reactions are investigated, including the oxide type, Bi2O3 particle size, and fuel-to-oxidant mole ratio. All samples are prepared by the ultrasonic mixing method. The synthesized Al/Bi2O3 composites are characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy. By using a closed bomb, the pressure discharge characteristics, including the peak pressure, ignition delay time, and pressurization rate, are obtained. Among the as-prepared nanothermites Al/CuO, Al/Fe2O3, and Al/Bi2O3, the latter shows the best pressure discharge performance. For the Al (100 nm)/Bi2O3 (47 nm) composite with an optimal stoichiometric ratio, the maximum peak pressure, the pressurization rate, and the shortest ignition delay time are 4559 kPa, 11.398 GPa/s, and 27.20 ms respectively. The results indicate that the nano-Bi2O3 particle size also produces a significant effect on the pressure output.

We have studied the effect of preload and the delay in application of pressure to the product of high-temperature synthesis under conditions of thermal explosion of a powder mixture of stoichiometric composition on the grain size in the synthesized Ni3Al compound, on the nature of its fracture, strength, and ductility.

The effect of the kinetic model of the thermal decomposition of wood on the results of prognostic modeling of the ignition of wood particles was analyzed. The results of mathematical modeling were verified by experimental studies of the ignition of wood particles in a high-temperature environment. Comparative analysis of the delays of ignition obtained theoretically and experimentally showed their good agreement. The prognostic potential of three substantially different kinetic models of wood pyrolysis was analyzed. It was established that the model of one-step pyrolysis with the formation of gaseous reaction products provides a good description of the thermal decomposition during thermal preparation (deviation from the times obtained using the three-stage pyrolysis model does not exceed 5%) in the whole range of heating conditions. Numerical simulation results show that consideration of thermal decomposition reactions of the second and third levels with the formation of intermediate pyrolysis products (liquid and solid) does not have a significant influence on the characteristics and conditions of ignition of wood particles in a high-temperature gas environment.

In this study, millimeter-sized magnesium particles are ignited using a CO2 laser. The flame structure, particle temperature, heat release region, and spectral information of the burning magnesium particle are determined. The experimental results show that the developing process of the particle temperature can be divided into five stages: gradually rising stage, steady stage, sharply rising stage, high-temperature stage, and descent stage. Through a series of ignition experiments, the ignition temperature of a magnesium particle ≈3 mm in air is estimated to be 900-940 K. During steady combustion, the maximum diameters of the flame and of the heat release region are found to be greater than the particle diameter approximately by a factor of 1.9 and 3-3.5, respectively. The experimental results also suggest that the combustion of magnesium in air should be controlled by vapor diffusion from the particle surface.

This paper describes the effect of the composition of energy condensed systems, containing glycerol trinitrate, aluminum powder, ammonium perchlorate, and HMX, on their ignition in an electric field with a frequency of 50 Hz. Conditions under which energy condensed systems ignite in an alternating electric field with a frequency of 50 Hz are determined experimentally. Temperature changes of their dielectric characteristics in a frequency range from 20 Hz to 1 MHz are established. The possibilities of an electric breakdown and heating of the samples are theoretically estimated. It is revealed that electrical luminescence is observed in a polymer binder based on glycerol trinitrate and polyetherurethane.

Physicomathematical modeling of interaction of detonation waves in silane/hydrogen composite mixtures with clouds of inert micro- and nanoparticles ranging from 10 nm to 100 μm is performed. The normalized detonation velocity is calculated as a function of the volume concentration of particles. It is found that the efficiency of detonation suppression increases only as the particle diameter decreases to 1 μm. The influence of the thermodynamic parameters of particles on the detonation suppression efficiency is identified. The concentration limits of detonation are determined. It is demonstrated that a certain equilibrium asymptotic level of the concentration limits of detonation is reached as the particle diameter decreases below 1 μm. An approximation of the concentration limits of detonation is obtained in the form of an analytical dependence of the limiting volume concentration of particles on their diameter and fuel concentration in a composite two-fuel mixture of silane, hydrogen, and air.

This paper describes the experimental measurement of thresholds of explosive decomposition of PETN with inclusions of aluminum nanoparticles (an average particle diameter of 100 nm) with a static pressure of 0-0.288 GPa applied to the samples under the action of the first harmonic of pulsed (14 ns) neodymium laser. Amplitudes of optoacoustic signals as a function of concentration of inclusions in the samples with a fixed density of laser initiation energy are measured. There is a significant decrease in the initiation threshold, which is due to the fact that a gas-dynamic load is blocked and the sample density increases.