The article attempts to establish the role that may be presently played by Merton’s concept of scientific ethos, and especially his norm of “communism” in describing and explaining the mechanisms of modern science’s functioning. Merton introduces scientific ethos’ norms as ethical and technological, and therefore truly regulating the practice of research. In this context especially important is the role played by the norm of “communism,” which orders to share research results with all research community and society. This article presents two visions of research community’s functioning alternative to Merton’s concetion: Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of ” le champ scientifique,” and Bruno Latour’s and Steve Woolgar’s conceptions of conversion of capital within the “cycle of credibility.” None of these concepts feature research practice as organised by “communism.” The consideration of roles of historically evolving models of practicing science (amateur, academic, professional, post-academic) is crucial for a precise description of the rules of functioning in science. Abiding by the rule of communism is possible only in the academic model, whereas modern researchers increasingly often function either within corporations (professional model), or remain in the academia while operating on private funds (post-academic model). Following the rule of communism, even as a moral guideline, is not possible in these circumstances.

Convective and radiation heat transfer take place between various objects placed in open air space and their surroundings. These phenomena bring about heat losses from pipelines, building walls, roofs and other objects. One of the main tasks in energy auditing is the reduction of excessive heat losses. In the case of a low sky temperature, the radiation heat exchange is very intensive and the temperature of the top part of the horizontal pipelines or walls is lower than the temperature of their bottom parts. Quite often this temperature is also lower than the temperature of the surrounding atmospheric air. In the case of overhead heat pipelines placed in open air space, it is the ground and sky that constitute the surroundings. The aforementioned elements of surroundings usually have different values of temperature. Thus, these circumstances bring about difficulties during infrared inspections because only one ambient temperature which represents radiation of all surrounding elements must be known during the thermovision measurements. This work is aimed at the development of a method for determination of an equivalent ambient temperature representing the thermal radiation of the surrounding elements of the object under consideration placed in open air space, which could be applied at a fairly uniform temperature of the sky during the thermovision measurements as well as for the calculation of radiative heat losses.

In this study, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method were used to analyze the main characteristics of sweet potato starch, and to analyze the thermal degradation process of sweet potato starch. Specifically, X-ray diffraction to study its structure, thermogravimetric analysis to study the thermal degradation kinetics, and differential scanning calorimetry to study the thermogram of sweet potato starch. The thermal decomposition kinetics of sweet potato starch was examined within different heating rates in nitrogen atmosphere. Different models of kinetic analysis were used to calculate the activation energies using thermogravimetric data of the thermal degradation process. Activation energies obtained from Kissinger, Flynn-Wall- Ozawa, and Šatava-Šesták models were 173.85, 174.87 and 174.34 kJ/mol, respectively. The values of activation energy indicated that the thermal degradation of the sweet potato starch was a single reaction mechanism or the combination of multi-reaction mechanisms. The differential scanning calorimetry analysis show that two decomposition stages were presented: the first at a low temperature involves the decomposition of long chain; and the second at a high temperature represents the scission of glucose ring. This information was helpful to design the processing process of many natural polymers. Thermogravimetric Fourier transform-infrared (TG–FTIR) analysis showed that the main pyrolysis products included water, methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and others.

This paper presents the nodal nature of park spaces in New York City in the context of the variant use of forms of traditional and alternative mobility in the city. Using comparative analysis of thematic maps and plans of mass and individual transportation, a review of planning documents and in-situ observations in the city area, it was demonstrated that New York parks have become efficient transportation channels for daily migrations within the dense urban fabric. The phenomenal plasticity of park areas in terms of the formation of and adaptation to new uses and the growing scale of the issue prompt a deeper analysis of the phenomenon.