The spatiotemporal evolution of cerebral microcirculatory adjustments to functional brain stimulation is the fundamental determinant of the functional specificity of hemodynamically weighted neuroimaging signals. Very little data, however, exist on the functional reactivity of capillaries, the vessels most proximal to the activated neuronal population. Here, we used two-photon laser scanning microscopy, in combination with intracranial electrophysiology and intravital video microscopy, to explore the changes in cortical hemodynamics, at the level of individual capillaries, in response to steady-state forepaw stimulation in an anesthetized rodent model. Overall, the microcirculatory response to functional stimulation was characterized by a pronounced decrease in vascular transit times (20%+/-8%), a dilatation of the capillary bed (10.9%+/-1.2%), and significant increases in red blood cell speed (33.0%+/-7.7%) and flux (19.5%+/-6.2%). Capillaries dilated more than the medium-caliber vessels, indicating a decreased heterogeneity in vessel volumes and increased blood flow-carrying capacity during neuronal activation relative to baseline. Capillary dilatation accounted for an estimated approximately 18% of the total change in the focal cerebral blood volume. In support of a capacity for focal redistribution of microvascular flow and volume, significant, though less frequent, local stimulation-induced decreases in capillary volume and erythrocyte speed and flux also occurred. The present findings provide further evidence of a strong functional reactivity of cerebral capillaries and underscore the importance of changes in the capillary geometry in the hemodynamic response to neuronal activation.

Some polyolefin elastomers were compared as compatibilizers for blends of polypropylene (PP) with 30 wt % high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The compatibilizers included a multiblock ethylene-octene copolymer (OBC), two statistical ethylene-octene copolymers (EO), two propylene-ethylene copolymers (P/E), and a styrenic block copolymer (SBC). Examination of the blend morphology by AFM showed that the compatibilizer was preferentially located at the interface between the PP matrix and the dispersed HDPE particles. The brittle-to-ductile (BD) transition was determined from the temperature dependence of the blend toughness, which was taken as the area under the stress-strain curve. All the compatibilized blends had lower BD temperature than PP. However, the blend compatibilized with OBC had the best combination of low BD temperature and high toughness. Examination of the deformed blends by scanning electron microscopy revealed that in the best blends, the compatibilizer provided sufficient interfacial adhesion so that the HDPE domains were able to yield and draw along with the PP matrix.

The article reviews the use of audiovisual tools in the framework of foreign language classes. Such tools should, on the one hand, simplify the understanding and grasping of the subject, and, on the other, serve as an additional source of gaining extralinguistic skills. The authors consider a wide range of possibilities for the use of audiovisual tools while teaching Spanish to students of non-language higher education institutions of humanitarian profile. An educational film “Español extra” and a documentary devoted to the San Fermín holiday (Pamplona, Spain) are taken as an example.

Resumen: Este trabajo está dedicado a compartir la experiencia de la práctica didáctica del uso de los recursos mediáticos en clase de E/LE. Analizamos la eficacia de tipos de materiales audiovisuales en la aplicación al proceso educativo tanto en el marco del curso general de los niveles A1-A2, B1-B2, como en el marco del español con fines específicos (B2-C1). En este trabajo exponemos las técnicas utilizadas en la MGIMO con apoyo de recursos mediáticos como uno de los mejores métodos para transmitir la lengua en un contexto real, explorando sus peculiaridades lingüísticas y extralingüísticas.Palabras clave: texto mediático, recursos audiovisuales, medios de comunicación, Español con Fines Específicos, competencias auditivas. Abstract:This work is dedicated to share our educative practice experience in the use of media resources in the SFL. We analyze the efficiency of types of audiovisual materials in their didactic and pedagogical implications in the general course A1-A2, B1-B2 as well as in the course of Spanish For Specific Purposes (B2-C1). We expose the methodology of application of such instruments at the MGIMO University as one of the best methods to transmit the language in the real context with exploring of its linguistic and extra linguistic peculiarities.

In the article, a metaphor as a universal category of thinking, a special cognitive analogy-based operation, and a method of modeling reality, is investigated on journalistic materials of modern Spanish media discourse, the online version of the Spanish newspaper EL MUNDO in particular from the discursive point of view. The use of various types of metaphors by Spanish politicians, which are part of the national-linguistic picture of the world, is examined on the example of media materials concerning the most significant events in the internal life of Spain and international community. Based on the classification by A.P. Chudinov, a semantic and quantitative analysis of metaphorical models in Spanish media discourse is carried out. It is concluded that at the time being Spanish political discourse abounds predominantly in anthropomorphic and sociomorphic metaphors. It was also found that the most frequent is the use of morbial metaphors, which reflect the crisis the Spanish society is undergoing in the pandemic period and its economic, political and social impact on the life of modern Spanish society.