Books

This book is a fundamental textbook (in two volumes) on biophysics, which presents the basics of modern biophysical science.

The first volume sets forth the theoretical foundations of biophysics. It places special emphasis on the problems of mathematical modeling of biological processes at different levels of living matter organization. It considers physical features, dynamic and electronic properties of the structural unit of living matter – the macromolecule as well as physicochemical mechanisms of energy transformation in biostructures.

The second volume (Chapters 15–30) deals with the physicochemical mechanisms of major processes that occur in organisms. It discusses in detail the issues of biological membrane structure and functioning, bioelectrogenesis, muscle contraction, reception, electron transfer and energy transformation in biomembranes. It considers the mechanisms of primary phases of photobiological processes including photosynthesis, sense of vision, photochemical reactions in biopolymers.

For students, postgraduates and multi-discipline specialists who are interested in the physicochemical foundations of life processes.

The book is devoted to philanthropists’ and art patrons’ contribution to the development of Moscow University in the pre-revolutionary period (1755–1917). It presents various forms of assistance to the university from financing the construction of buildings, dormitories, donations of collections and books to creating charitable societies and establishing scholarships for ‘necessitous’ students. The narrative includes many well-known and lesser-known figures whose support has contributed to the transformation of Moscow University into Russia’s leading scientific and educational institution.

For professional historians, culturologists and a wide range of readers.

The book reveals the history of the development of science and higher education in Russia and the current problems they are facing. It investigates the specific features of these processes in the European North in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and highlights the role the Lomonosov Pomor State University and the scientific activities of its professors, teachers and researchers in developing this strategically important region of Russia. It also analyzes key problems and tendencies in the university’s scientific research work and scientific and teaching staff training and certification.

The publication is intended for heads of higher educational institutions and research centers, university teachers, researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, all those interested in the history and contemporary problems of science and higher education.

The work is devoted to the logical and philosophical analysis of attributes ascribed to various philosophical and religious concepts of such entity as God.

For philosophers, religion scholars and those who are interested in the problems of theology and metaphysics.

The monograph is based on the author's long-term (1960–2012) field research carried out on all the Caspian Sea coasts. It represents one of the first complex investigations of the Great Caspian Sea history of the last 3 million years including such aspects as the evolution of its water basins, facial and palaeogeographical variability, and faunal changes.

Books in the ‘Rereading the Classics’ series give a modern analysis of the works that form part of school literature curricula. This is the first attempt to provide a detailed insight into the spiritual, moral and religious aspects of the art of 19th and 20th century Russian writers. The series is offered as the basis of modern knowledge about Russian literature, which is necessary for high school students to pass school-leaving examinations and to gain admission to any institution of higher learning.

Boratynsky is the only one of Russian lyricists of genius to have more than a hundred books and articles written about his art of which many conspicuously misconstrue his poetry. It is especially difficult for the young reader to understand the poet’s works. This manual can help fill in the void. Without skirting the most difficult questions regarding the poet's art, the author speaks about them in an easy-to understand manner. He places much emphasis on analyzing the works that are included in school syllabi and university curricula. Despite its small volume, the book gives a holistic view of Boratynsky's poetry as it reveals for the first time the religious foundations of his worldview, philosophical lyrical poetry, as well as the national underpinnings of his art, the connection of this European educated poet with his native land. Being the first literary work on Boratynsky, it is directly addressed to teachers of schools, lyceums and gymnasiums, students and university and college entrants.

It will also be interesting for specialists in philology and every lover of Russian poetry.

The book includes an original interpretation of the Old Russian epic poem ‘The Tale of Igor's Campaign’ in terms of Christian religion revealing its hidden and perhaps the only possible implications. This is a writer's interpretation of the epic poem not solely as a historical monument, as it often tends to be interpreted, but also as a creation of the spirit, a work of art expressing the concept of Russian life. The poem is presented as part of the overall development of artistic thought, against a broad background of much more recent Russian literature.

This book is not just about an ancient Russian epic poem, but also about man’s spiritual nature in general, not only about the past but also about the present, about the nature of artistic creativity and the peculiarity of Russian literature that explores the tragedy of a single human life and the spiritual path of the whole people.

The monograph deals with V.I. Vernadsky’s teachings about the noosphere. It analyzes the process of Vernadsky’s formation of his noospheric views in the course of his academic, scientific and organizational and socio-political activities.

For specialists, university lecturers, undergraduate and postgraduate students and a wide range of readers who are interested in the problems of the noosphere and Vernadsky's heritage.

The book is devoted to the issues of modern multidimensional calculus of variations. The central place in it is occupied by the presentation of the original methods developed by the author for the explicit finding of multidimensional extremals of functionals and the study of their topological properties. The book is unique in that it presents a solution to the spectral multidimensional Plateau problem in a form accessible to a wide range of specialists.

For mathematicians specializing in topology, global calculus of variations, functional analysis, theory of differential equations, Lie groups and algebras. It can serve as the basis for special courses and special seminars.

The textbook is focused on revealing the essence of culture through the meaningful variety of its forms. The authors considered their main goal to involve the reader in the exciting world of multiplicity of cultural meanings. Various stages of the history of culture are analyzed by modern methods of humanitarian knowledge.

The publication is intended for students of humanitarian faculties studying the history of culture as a general educational discipline, as well as for all those interested in the patterns of development of world culture.

Being the first part of the university course in the general history of the Church, the book is the first systematic review of sources on general church history to have been prepared in Russian science since the late 19th century.

The manual contains an overview of material and narrative sources grouped according to a wide array of data (works by ancient and medieval historians; canonical, hagiographic, liturgical and theological sources; memoirs and archival documents, mass media sources), and extensive reference material. It particularly highlights the sources produced by international Christian organizations (WCC, etc.).

The manual was prepared by the Department of Church History, the History Faculty (Lomonosov Moscow State University), and is addressed to university students of history studying in the specialty ‘History’, as well as all those interested in Church history, world history, the history of foreign art, Christian archeology, cultural studies, social psychology and religious studies.

The manual covers a range of issues that oceanology has to solve to form strategic directions in the study of the World Ocean.

For students and magistrands studying in marine science, disciplines of natural sciences (geology, geophysics, biology, geography, ecology) as well as teachers, researchers and postgraduate students in relevant specialties.

Most of the texts in this book are based on assignments that were published in various manuals and materials pertaining to Mechanics and Physics Olympiads for schoolchildren and students. Part of the problems were written by the staff members of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University including S.I. Arafajlov, A.V. Zvyagin, A.S. Zelenskiy, A.G. Kalugin, N.E. Leontiev, A.A. Malashin, E.I. Mogilevskiy, V.L. Natyaganov, V.A. Proshkin, N.N. Smirnov, O.Yu. Cherkasov, M.V. Yumashev, A.G. Yakushev, and Ya.D. Yankov.

For seminars which are conducted for 1st year students at the Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, as part of the ‘Introduction to Specialty’ course and for training schoolchildren for Olympiads.

The manual outlines the main ideas of the special theory of relativity. It is shown how their consistent use makes it possible to formulate relativistic dynamics, electromagnetic field theory and relativistic quantum mechanics. In this regard, the book will be useful when studying the relevant sections of theoretical physics.

It is intended for students and postgraduates of physical specialties of universities, as well as for anyone interested in the theory of relativity.

This is a systematic presentation of the course in the line of solid-phase materials with special properties, which is read at the Faculty of Materials Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University. It considers features of the chemical bond and structure of solids, thermodynamics, kinetics, and the mechanism of solid-phase reactions leading to the formation of practically important materials and gives an overview of the main classes of modern materials and methods for obtaining them. The book reflects many years of experience in teaching this discipline at the Faculty of Materials Science and the Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University.

For university students of materials science, chemistry and physics; it will be useful for graduate students, teachers and specialists working in the field of materials science, chemistry and solid-state physics.

The manual describes interaction between plants and their populations and their environment and the factors that have an impact on these processes. It examines ecological and botanical phenomena at different levels and covers its various aspects (ecological plant physiology, the ecology of species, populations and plant communities).

For students of botany and ecologists of various specializations, postgraduate students and university professors who read courses in plant ecology as well as all those who are interested in expanding their biological and ecological horizons.

The book by Y. V. Yanushevskaya, Ph. D. (Philosophy), a specialist in axiology, is composed of diff erent genres of philosophical prose. In a relaxed manner or with scientifi c rigor, the author presents her view on the essence of emotional, lyrical, poetic and artistic value – for the fi rst time giving them an independent, substantial status and linking creative imagination and artistry with virtuality.

The experience of thinking about value is inscribed in the cultural context of the information society; correlated with the idea and the crisis of classical humanism; comprehended in connection with the most pressing issues of our time. What is the future of aesthetics as a relation to the world? Will artistic knowledge continue in a technocratic society? What is the basis of a holistic valueoriented development of individual? How does the idea of theosis correlate with the doctrine of postman? According to A. Badiou, the turn of the XIX and XX century was the ”era of poets”; so why are these days the era without poets?

”Will the world save beauty?” – the main question of the book, intended for a wide range of readers interested in philosophy, poetology, modern poetry and art.

Correspondence between Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich (future Alexander II), the 19-year-old heir apparent to the Russian throne, and his father Emperor Nicholas I during the former’s 1837 tour of Russia is an interesting historical document. The content of the letters allows the reader to take a fuller and, most importantly, a more vivid look at both personalities - the young heir apparent and the autocratic monarch, to see the Russia of the1830s, its cities and towns with their inhabitants of every class and rank.

For specialists in history and all those who are interested in Russian history.

The book describes probabilistic mathematical models of chaotic processes and methods for their statistical analysis. The focus is put on the special class of mathematical models of stochastic chaotic processes – subordinated Wiener processes (processes of Brownian motion with random time). To explain the choice of these models the authors use an asymptotic approach based on limit theorems for compound doubly stochastic Poisson processes (compound Cox processes) which can be regarded as the best mathematical models of non- homogeneous (or non-stationary) chaotic flows on time micro-scales. This approach leads to the distributions of increments of the processes on time macro-scales havivng the form of mixtures of normal distributions and makes it possible not only to find formal probabilistic models of chaotic stochastic processes, but also to give a reasonable theoretical explanation of their adequacy based on mild assumptions concerning the inner structure of the characteristics under investigation. The book proposes a new multivariate interpretation of the volatility of these processes by representing the distributions (logarithms) of increments of financial index evolution processes or those of plasma turbulence as mixtures of normal distribution. For the statistical analysis of chaotic processes it proposes a method of moving separation of mixtures (MSM method) enabling spontaneous decomposition of process volatility into dynamic and diffusive components. Much attention is paid to the analytical and asymptotic properties of mixtures of normal distributions. Systematic consideration is given to statistical procedures for such numerical separation of mixtures as the EM algorithm and its modifications, grid separation methods. The author discusses questions of optimal implementation of these methods and considers examples of CPC method application to analyze the impact of information interventions in financial markets and the data obtained in plasma turbulence experiments.

For postgraduate students and university professors who are interested in the modern state of research in the field of probabilistic and statistical modeling of chaotic stochastic processes as well as scientists, engineers, specialists in the application of mathematical methods and applied statistics for analyzing characteristics of financial markets and plasma turbulence.