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The author studies stress concentration in wellbore zones during operation of underground gas storages. Numerical modeling yields that at the early stage of high-pressure injection of gas in underground gas storages, near the roof of a productive stratum, in rocks and in the cement lining, destructive shearing stresses arise, comparable with the injection pressure, which can induce the loss of tightness in the annular space. For preventing the loss of gas, it is proposed to ream the wells in the roof of a productive stratum and to install a spring centralizer at a certain place in the casing string. The nominal diameter of the centralizer should exceed the wellbore diameter. This can stop propagation of cement destruction. For decreasing the destructive stress intensity, it is advisable to round off corner zones while reaming within the interval of a productive strata.

Physical modeling of hydraulic fracturing is carried out in cubic blocks with an edge length of 200 mm, made of sand concrete mixed with coal fraction, in the nonuniform stress field. A fracture was created in a vertical branched hole. Computer tomography enabled studying the stress raiser at the mother and daughter hole juncture, the actual diameter of the borehole, the drilling-induced fracturing, the sizes of pores formed in consolidation of the manmade blocks, and the trajectories of the created fractures. It is found how the problem geometry and the compressive stresses affect the direction of the created fracture growth.

A series of laboratory pull-out tests were performed on several types of bolts to investigate the effect of profile geometry of resin grouted bolts on load transfer mechanism. Therefore, three different types of bolts were used to prepare twelve series of specimens with different profiles. To evaluate the effect of bond length, the specimens were made using rebar bolts with two embedment lengths of 75 mm and 150 mm. The results showed that load transfer capacity and displacement at peak load were effectively related to the profile configuration and annulus thickness of resin. The bolt types T1 and G2 had higher peak share stress levels and the bolts with a rib spacing of 12.5, 16, 25 and 8 mm had the highest peak shear strength, respectively. By decreasing the rib spacing and embedment length, the system stiffness increased. In the bolt types T1 and G2, by increasing the embedment length from 75 mm to 150 mm, the shear stress decreased by 7.8% and 10.5% and their stiffness decreased by 60.8% and 75.6%, respectively. As the thickness of the resin annulus increased, the peak load decreased.

The object of this study is the principle of least action (PLA) taken in the dialectical unity of various aspects of its manifestation in philosophy and science. It also reveals the functional status of the PLA in working out and implementing the sustainable development strategy. The methodological basis of the study contains the ideas of classical philosophy, the ideas of L. Wittgenstein, the theoretical provisions of the French epistemological tradition, and the postmodern principles of J. Derrida’s deconstruction theory. The article substantiates the methodological significance of the PLA for fundamental ontology, for developing promising strategies of evolutionary adaptation, and for socio-ecological optimization.

The article deals with the problem of applying the concepts of “cause” and “causality” in social sciences. The author refers to analytical philosophy, where the issue of the legitimacy of using these concepts in scientific research and the problem of the possibility of building social sciences on the model of natural sciences were actively discussed. The study shows that the position of a particular philosopher concerning the strategy of building social sciences depends on his understanding of the role of causality in explaining the actions of an individual. Proponents of the standard (causal) theory of action take a positivist position and believe that social sciences should use the methods and approaches of natural sciences. On the contrary, representatives of the anti-causal wing believe that social sciences should use their own methodology. Hence, the solution of this problem should be preceded by the development of a theory of action.

The analytical method, understood as the main approach of analytic philosophy, can be treated as one of the practices that are supported in society, since they have a certain pragmatic significance for this society. In the first part of the article, we noted the need for a reform of the analytical method and showed that the basis for such a reform could be a performative approach, which recently has helped to restructure many fields of social and humanitarian knowledge. The performative approach make it possible to combine the analytical method with the methodology of social criticism, allowing to develop theories that have both analytical rigor and the necessary potential for solving current social problems. In the second part of the article, we turn to attempts of such combining and analyze its effects, in particular in analytical feminism, critical theory of gender and race, and modern social criticism in general.

The article analyzes the understanding of the essence of the future in such natural science disciplines as neurophysiology and general biology, as well as in the humanitarian sciences, namely psychology and cognitive science, that are joined with them. The data obtained suggest that the ability to imagine the future and the need to anticipate it are basic for all living organisms in general and humans in particular.

Newton developed a model of a new universality, or a homogeneous and isotropic world, which has uniform laws, in contrast to the Aristotelian concept of a hierarchical, multi-layer and specified cosmos. This model is based on a number of ontological postulates introduced by him, which can be identified among the provisions of his classical work. Newtonian mechanicalism is based on imputing universal simplicity to the world. Simplicity is determined by the general quantitative homogeneity of the universe, which has univalent internal structures - common elements and forces that can be calculated and used. The quantitative “unit” of a simple, homogeneous, physical-geometric universe is an ambivalent corpuscular point. The main constants of the “mechanistic universe” are the diversity of amounts of masses, motions and forces, quantized by clear mutual relations. Newton also introduced theoretical space and time as a privileged, absolute reference system. To harmonize the model of the physical-geometric universe with the sensually perceived, empirical reality, the third (astronomical) part of the “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” states the existence of “general properties” (qualities) of material bodies, which are obtained and verified only by experience. These are qualitative characteristics of length, hardness, impermeability, mobility and inertness. Finally, the Newtonian version of mechancalism has compulsorily metaphysical ingredients - inexplicable and transcendent qualities. These are gravity, ether and God. Thus, the ontological scheme of mechanicalism, looming in the so called “Gospel of science” of Modern times, looks like a construction based on a consistent thought experiment of representing the universe exclusively in terms of its “objectivity” and “sensory verifiability”.

The article identifies and examines four main directions in the development of corpuscular optics: those of Democritus-Gassendi, Anaxagoras-Hobbes, Philolaus-Descartes and Newton. It provides an epistemological assessment of the cognitive capabilities of corpuscular theories of light.

The article analyzes the shift that science is currently experiencing as a field of activity and an institution. It is concluded that there is a shift from science to technoscience or, more precisely, to biotechnoscience. This shift means a change in the basic setting. In the scientific paradigm, it was allowed to set on the knowledge of the world and the immutability of man as the subject of knowledge. In the techno-scientific paradigm, it is assumed that the world and man should be designed and changed to suit the engineering tasks of transformation. Man, as the main subject of change, should in principle be transformed and enhanced. The principle of human enhancement with the help of modern smart technologies is introduced. During shifting from science to technoscience, the boundary between science, culture, power and society becomes blurred and hybrid forms emerge, in which the production of new forms of life, including a new human project, becomes the basic process. In these hybrid forms, scientific knowledge ceases to be a purely epistemological unit, but integrates into large engineering projects.