Books

The first Russian language monograph on the Master of Moulins, one of the most mysterious painters in the Northern Renaissance. After heated scientific discussions, which began in the 19th century, it has been finally agreed to accept the view that this anonymous master was Jean Hey. The painter worked in the late 15th century, believed to be the least studied periods in French art history. This is a transitional period from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, innovative solutions and unprecedentedly strong international artistic ties. The book provides an insight into the features of French court culture and political history under Charles VIII, king of France (1483–1498) and reflects the latest trends in contemporary art study.

«The Worlds of Color»: The Quest for National Identity in American Literature The problem under investigation In the research is the cultural identity quest and assertion in the course of emergence and evolution of the American literary tradition. The transformation of the European background shared by non-European racial and ethnic groups in the New World is in the focus of attention. The key moments of the process as reflected in literary texts are under consideration: the conversion of Africans and Native Americans, the nascence of the double consciousness, the debates over separatism, assimilation and integration, the controversy between the patriotic and eurocentrist viewpoints, the making of new and re-making of old concepts (the primitive, the New World utopia, the American Eden, etc.) integrating the “worlds of color” in multicultural American kaleidoscope.

The book is addressed to the university and college professors, students, scholars in American literature, culture and history.

The monograph is an analytical study of Academician A.N. Nesmeyanov’s activities as Rector of the Moscow State University (1947–1951) and President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1951–1961). ‘The Nesmeyanov epoch covers the time of the construction of the new complex of the Moscow University on Lenin Hills and the implementation of profound changes in the system of the USSR Academy of Sciences. It also saw the university and the Academy actively engage in international scientific collaboration worldwide. That was a very strenuous period when the country was consequently headed by Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, who had their own views on education, science, culture and Nesmeyanov himself.

In spite of the contradictory position of the authorities, he succeeded in solving numerous problems facing the Moscow University and the Academy of Sciences and went down in our history as a bright personality, outstanding scientist, public figure and citizen.

The book is an analytical study of Academician I.G. Petrovsky’s activities as Rector of Moscow State University. He held this post for 22 years in the period between May 18, 1951 and January 15, 1973. This covers a third of the Soviet period in Russian history. The time of Petrovsky’s rectorship is the heyday of the Moscow University as a major scientific educational and cultural center of world renown. Based on a detailed investigation of a large amount of documentary, factual and statistical material, most of which was unavailable for scientific research before, the book analyses the functions of the MSU Rector as a civil servant (in terms of management sociology) and their implementation by specific people in the 1920s – 40s. All of this enables us to link the dynamic development of Moscow University more organically and directly with the scale of Petrovsky’s personality as an inividual, scientist, state and public figure of a high civil and moral standing.

The monograph contains an accessible presentation of the theory of three-dimensional manifolds, which plays a huge role in modern mathematics and mathematical physics. The main emphasis is on algorithmic problems of three-dimensional computer geometry. The publication clearly describes the spectacular and unexpected applications of computers in topology and geometry. The book teaches the competent use of computers to form (and sometimes prove) geometric hypotheses and test them. The application of computer geometry methods to problems of Hamiltonian geometry and physics is shown.

For specialists in computer geometry, for mathematicians, geometricians and topologists. The book can also be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students involved in the creation of modern geometric type algorithms.

This monograph is another study published under the auspices of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov and devoted to the questions of the formation and development of the Anglo-Saxon model, or concept, military intelligence, poorly studied in the framework of Russian political science and military history. The monograph is a continuation of a series of studies affecting the history of the formation of a conglomerate of Anglo-Saxon states, their inherent features of state and military construction, the establishment of special relations between them, joint planning and conducting coalition wars, etc.

The emphasis in this work is on the disclosure of specific issues of the emergence of ideas in the Anglo-Saxon states, and then the formation of a model of military intelligence, its formation through testing in numerous wars and military conflicts of various sizes, the disclosure of the features of the historically established priority of information work in intelligence, problems of relationships with counterintelligence and competing civilian intelligence agencies.

The monograph is intended for students studying problems world politics and international law, experts in the field of international and military security, as well as for everyone interested in the problems of international relations.

The book is a scientific interdisciplinary monograph on modern forms of symbolic, ritual behavior including the form that uses the virtual Internet space. The research involving modern factual material is based on theoretical generalization of the methodological approaches. views by Z. Freud, J. Piaget, L. Vygotsky, K. Levy– Strauss, J. Lacan, J.G. Mead, as well as on the analysis of the social role of K.I. Chukovsky’s book ‘From 2 to 5’ and the book-induced process of collecting and recounting ‘children's utterances’ in Soviet society.

In general, the publication will allow the reader to form a clear idea about the method of social psychoanalysis.

Anton Ažbe (1862–1905) was a Slovenian artist and educator who, through his work, incorporated Slovenian art in the European cultural context and exerted serious influence on the fine arts in several European countries. The book examines Ažbe’s life, work and pedagogical activity based of the materials and research hitherto unknown to the Russian reader. It shows for the first time all the preserved and attributed works of this artist and teacher and also expands and clarifies the available information about Ažbe’s Russian students – Bilibin, Grabar, Dobuzhinsky, Kandinsky, Petrov-Vodkin, etc.

The monograph presents the principles of operation of robotic networks on the example of the Global Network of Robot Telescopes MASTER (Mobile Astronomical System of Robot Telescopes). The first chapter tells a brief history of the appearance of robotic optical telescopes in the world. The next four chapters are devoted to the principles of operation of individual robotic observatories and their interaction as part of a network united by a common goal and management. The next six chapters of the book are devoted to the most striking astrophysical discoveries made by the MASTER network in the study of extreme processes in the Universe.

In real time, it is possible to observe the formation or collision of relativistic stars and relativistic processes occurring near them. After the discovery of the polarization of its own optical radiation, the MASTER network became the world leader in early observations of gamma-ray bursts — the most powerful electromagnetic explosions in the universe. Its robots independently produced the first in the history of astronomy localization of the source of gravitational waves with optical accuracy. The MASTER network is a leader in the operational search for extragalactic sources of high-energy neutrinos. At the same time, its telescopes constantly carry out a regular survey of the sky and have discovered thousands of explosions in the universe and even potentially dangerous asteroids and comets. All the largest telescopes in the world have observed objects discovered by the MASTER system.

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 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.

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.

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.

This is what might be called a peculiar kind of biography of M. M. Bakhtin, an outstanding literary critic and thinker. The book covers the period of his life from the late 1930s to the early 1940s. It gives an account of how he wrote his book on Francois Rabelais and submitted it as a dissertation for a doctoral degree, and interprets certain aspects of his theory of carnival. It also investigates Bakhtin’s correspondence with B.V. Zalessky, V.V. Kozhinov, and V.N. Turbin. The archival materials form the documentary basis of the book.

For all who are interested in the problems of literary criticism and the fate of 20st century culture.

The articles summarize the work performed in various laboratories of the Department of Higher Nervous Activity at Lomonosov Moscow State University and dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Leonid G. Voronin, an outstanding Russian physiologist, founder and organizer of the department, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences who initiated these researches.

The collection considers his concepts about new methodological approaches to the analysis of cognitive activity and animal thinking in organizing complex behavioral forms, about the possibility of modeling and correcting pathological states by using inverse immunoregulation, about the neurophysiological and neurochemical mechanisms of learning and memory, the principles and patterns of processing various visual information in humans and animals as well as phylogenetic aspects of higher nervous activity.

The monograph is dedicated to the academician Vyacheslav Petrovich Volgin, a historian and rector of the Moscow University. A graduate of the Faculty of History and Philology, a revolutionary and a publicist after the October Revolution, he became directly involved in university reforms and often initiated them. He had to run MSU in a most difficult period of its history when the entire system of higher education was being overhauled and there was a search for the best version of university restructuring as educational curricula were being revised to train specialists for the young socialist state. Most of the illustrations have been published for the first time.

The book is addressed to the widest possible circle of readers.

Th is book has been written for memory of Genady Nikolaevich Golubev, professor of faculty of geography of Moscow State University. It includes selected papers written by G.N. Golubev, memories by his colleagues, friends and family members, biographic facts, photos taken during his numerous journeys. Th ese materials show uncommonly colorful and intensive life of the scientist who devoted his life to exploration of global ecological problems. G.N. Golubev had been a profound researcher, eff ectual director of science and internationally recognized practitioner in global environmental policy. Due to his works, a new discipline «Geoecology» has already occupied a solid position among other courses of Russian universities. His mission in the UNEP (1981—1989) and other international environmental organizations strengthened the prestige of Russian geographical sciences on international level.

The book investigates two problems of estimating the parameters of strapdown inertial navigation systems (SDINS) and gives a detailed description of their solutions by using the methods of non-smooth optimization.

The first part of the book considers the application of the guaranteed approach to the bench calibration scheme of the SDINS accelerometer blocks. It also describes an optimal experiment plan and develops an iterative algorithm of SDINS bench calibration that improves calibration accuracy. The second part is devoted to l 1-Norm Approximation (the least modules method) in navigational estimation problems. Particular attention is paid to the problem of detecting salutatory variations in the bias of zeros of the SDINS sensors under bench testing.

Both parts present simulation results illustrating the effectiveness of the proposed methods and the features of their use in solving specific problems.

The book is intended for specialists in navigation and assessment.

The book represents the country’s first literary account of the life and work of all the thirty German chancellors from the creator of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck to early 21st century chancellors Gerhard Schroeder and Angela Merkel. Drawing on a wide range of literature, the author, a well-known Germanist, gives a portrait of the chancellors against a broad historical background revealing the foundations, essence and purpose of their policies. The liveliness of the presentation and the striking characteristics of the German Chancellors distinguish this work written in the best traditions of the historical and biographical genre.

For professional historians, university lecturers, teachers, students and all those who are interested in German history.

The monograph deals with the problems of globalization of science, new directions in the development of global studies and globalistics stimulated by using the evolutionary approach. Evolutionary globalistics focuses on studying the development and co-evolution of global processes and systems and their systemic-synergetic phenomenon – global development.

The concept of evolutionary globalistics is disclosed in the context of universal (global) evolutionism and the prospect of transitioning to new, safer forms of civilization development and its interaction with the nature of the Earth and the Cosmos. The book forecasts a possible unfolding of future global processes – a transition to sustainable development and the making of the sphere of the mind (the noosphere). Particular attention is paid to the methods and approaches used in globalistics, as well as the spatial and temporal expansion of global research. It investigates the evolution of globalistics itself including the development of such study areas as political and legal globalistics and informational globalistics. It also subdivides globalistics into temporal sections – paleoglobalistics, neoglobalistics, futuroglobalistics and nooglobalistics and the spatial one – cosmoglobalistics.

For specialists, teachers, postgraduate students and a wide range of readers who are interested in the problems of evolutionary globalistics.

Global evolutionism underpins the modern general scientific picture of the world and the form of knowledge about global evolution in which self-organization of material systems is the main permanent process of progressive development in the observable Universe. The book proposes an original interpretation of global evolution, reveals the content of the concept of planetary and universal evolution as well as the basic principles and methods to study them. Considerable attention is paid to the forms of dark matter and their impact on evolution, the anthropic cosmological principle and the prospects for interaction between human civilization and the Universe. The monograph discusses problems of global process evolution, especially their socio-natural development in the context of future general planetary transition to sustainable development and the formation of the noosphere.

The monograph was prepared at the Faculty of Global Processes, Lomonosov Moscow State University, in the Center for Global Processes and Sustainable Development of the Russian Trade and Economic University and at the Department of Social Sciences and Technology of the National Research Technological University MISIS.

The monograph deals with the theoretical basis of state awards as an interdisciplinary legal institution in which the norms of constitutional law have a priority. The book analyzes two aspects of Russia’s modern state award system - the federal state award system (the award system of the Russian Federation) and the state award system in the RF constituents. This work analyses in detail the state and other awards of the Russian Federation and examines general and characteristic features of state and other awards in the constituents of the Russian Federation.

The publication is intended for special courses in ‘State Awards’, ‘Russian Award Law’ and others under similar names, and can be used as additional educational material in the study of courses in the RF constitutional law and the RF administrative law with regard to the powers of the state executive bodies.

For undergraduate and postgraduate students, law school and faculty teachers as well as all those interested in RF state awards.

The normative legal acts of the Russian Federation and the RF constituents cited in the book are given as of January 1, 2014.