Vol 93, No 11 (2023)

The article examines the evolution of the theories of socio-economic modernization at the end of the XX – first quarter of the XXI century. In the last century, creative rivalry took place between three main ideological and theoretical trends – West-centrist, national-statist and left-wing radical. The difficulties of transforming the complex socio-economic structure of transitional societies have predetermined the gradual loss of the influence of the West-centrist trend and the increasing importance of national-statist and left-wing radical сurrents of thought in the system of knowledge about developing countries. The “truncated globalization” and the “Washington consensus” resulted in the collapse of the monocentric world order and put the development paradigm at the center of the search for a new model of human evolution. Today, development is objectively becoming an imperative for the modernization of all societies, including those of the industrialized nations. The “Development agenda” is, therefore, emerging as an important precondition for the formation of a new, polycentric model of international relations, which is based on the principles of dialogue and interaction between States and civilizations.

The article is the second of the two contributions based upon the authors' studies and reports provided to Horizon-2040. It attempts to project the issues of global environmental and climate changes tackled in the previous paper on the situation in Russia. The most important challenges both existing now and assumed to exacerbate in the coming decades in environmental and climate change areas are contemplated. These include: air pollution and the quality of life of the population in cities; water resources and drinking water quality deterioration; biodiversity crisis and the state of specially protected areas. Also considered are climate change implications including basic trends, forcast scenario assessment and the effects on human health and economic activities. Key directions and priorities of the national environmental and climate policy, as well as recommendations on the long-term strategies to reduce climatic and environmental hazards to sustainable development are substantiated.

Examples of the discrepancy between the calculation of the strength of fine-grained soils based on the Mohr–Coulomb theory and actual data are considered. The main reason for the discrepancy is the estimation of the effective stress of soils according to the formula of K. Terzaghi, which does not take into account the internal stresses that occur at the contacts of the particles when the surface films of adsorbed water overlap. It is proposed to modify the theory of K. Terzaghi and switch to the using of general (external and internal) stresses.

The indigenous human microbiota is a natural storehouse of bifidobacteria strains, the key to our health. To determine the indigeneity of symbiont microorganisms, it is proposed to evaluate their adaptive potential (lysozyme resistance and biofilm formation), since adaptation is characteristic of all living systems, and in the human body the main adaptation strategy for bacteria is persistence. One of the mechanisms of persistence of indigenous bifidoflora is resistance to the action of host lysozyme, realized through the modification of peptidoglycan – O-acetylation (a wide range of  O-cetylate determinants and a family of  σ-factors). An important function of indigenous bifidobacteria in the functioning of the human digestive tract is their ability to participate in microbial recognition of “friend or foe”. The results obtained made it possible to open access to a source of  beneficial indigenous microorganisms and use them in the selection of cultures for the creation of modern biological products.

The article is devoted to the issues of defense R&D management in the USA as one of the global leaders in innovation and digital development. The authors aim to deepen the understanding of the organizational and managerial component of the defense R&D domain both conceptually and in terms of its general structure, planning and regulation under the dynamic scientific and technological transformations. The authors note the active tendency to improve the model of interaction between government organizations and business and highlight the most significant innovative organizational and management initiatives in the defense R&D domain, as well as the main factors and tools of their implementation.

Currently, online encyclopedias have become the main source of encyclopedic knowledge all over the world. Russia is somewhat behind the leading countries in this area. The Russian-language Wikipedia has been developing more or less on a par with its neighbors. However, recently, unfortunately, anti-Russian articles began to appear there, which is why a group of wiki editors had to distance themselves from Wikipedia and initiate the creation of a new encyclopedia independent of it – Runiversalis. The Great Russian Encyclopedia, which is moving belatedly to the Internet, shows the still modest results. The article suggests certain solutions designed to intensify the reorganization of online encyclopedias and provide an additional level of comfort for the reader. Emphasis is placed on the need for permanent operational updating of articles posted on the web and the role of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the creation of encyclopedias.

The article is devoted to the life and work of Academician Boris Alexandrovich Arbuzov (1903–1991). He entered the history of Russian science not only as an outstanding scientist, teacher, public figure, but also as a continuer of the traditions of the Kazan Chemical School, who gave her more than 60 years of life. B.A. Arbuzov is the author of classical works in the field of organic chemistry, heterocycle chemistry, organophosphorus compounds, natural compounds – terpenes, as well as polymer chemistry. A special aspect of his scientific work is the application of physical and physico-chemical methods in chemical research. In our country, Watermelon is rightfully considered the founder of the research of fine details of the spatial structure (conformational analysis) of organic and organoelement compounds.

The problem of the need to single out youth science as a special component of the scientific space is discussed.

A.V. Gavrilenko was awarded the 2023 Petrovskii Gold Medal. V.G. Debabov was awarded the 2023 Bakh Prize.