Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

The Caucasus region represents the northern edge of the Arabia–Eurasia continental collision and accommodates complex deformation involving crustal shortening, lateral block motion, and strike-slip faulting across multiple tectonic domains, including the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, the Kura Basin, and northwestern Iran block. Despite its tectonic significance, the spatial partitioning of present-day deformation and the role of vertical motions were not completely resolved. In this study, we present a comprehensive geodetic analysis of active deformation across Azerbaijan and the surrounding Caucasus region based on long-term continuous GNSS observations. Ten years (2014–2023) of data from 24 permanent GNSS stations were processed to derive a consistent Eurasia-fixed velocity field. To enhance spatial resolution, these new velocities were integrated with previously published regional GNSS solutions using a common reference frame and transformation strategy, resulting in a unified and unprecedented velocity field of 131 GNSS sites. Strain rates were estimated from the combined velocity field, and fault slip rates and block rotations were quantified through elastic block modeling. The horizontal velocity field indicates N-NE motion of 12 mm/yr relative to Eurasia, with pronounced eastward rotation and velocity increase toward the Caspian margin. Vertical deformation at regional scale with high accuracy, revealing coherent uplift of 4–5 mm/yr along the Greater Caucasus. Apart from the highest spatial resolution of deformation with 131 GNSS sites in the region, the sufficiently accurate vertical deformation rates are presented for the first time in the region through 24 permanent GNSS stations. Strain-rate and block modeling results demonstrate strong deformation partitioning, with thrust-dominated shortening concentrated along the Greater Caucasus and right-lateral strike-slip motion accommodating eastward escape along major fault systems. These results provide refined constraints on the kinematics of the Arabia–Eurasia collision in the Caucasus and offer important implications for regional tectonic evolution and seismic hazard assessment.

We study feedforward neural networks with inputs from a topological space (TFNNs). We prove a universal approximation theorem for shallow TFNNs, which demonstrates their capacity to approximate any continuous function defined on this topological space. As an application, we obtain an approximative version of Kolmogorov's superposition theorem for compact metric spaces.

We study feedforward neural networks with inputs from a topological vector space (TVS-FNNs). Unlike traditional feedforward neural networks, TVS-FNNs can process a broader range of inputs, including sequences, matrices, functions and more. We prove a universal approximation theorem for TVS-FNNs, which demonstrates their capacity to approximate any continuous function defined on this expanded input space.

A new copper(II) salicylate complex [Cu(sal)(bpy)]4.5H2O with bulky substitution (sal = doubly deprotonated salicylic acid, bpy = 2,2’-bipyridine) has been synthesized. The structure of the copper complex was analyzed by FT-IR, TGA, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD) studies. SC-XRD showed that the structure contained a mononuclear and a binuclear molecule together with water molecules. The coordination geometry around copper in the case of mononuclear and binuclear molecules is approximately square planar and square pyramidal, respectively. Supramolecular assembly was stabilized by O-H···O and C-H···O bonding along with π···π interactions, which were explored in detail by Hirshfeld surface analysis in terms of interatomic contacts. Voids analysis predicted the mechanical stability of the crystal. The structural and geometric properties of both mononuclear and binuclear copper molecules were analyzed using DFT calculations at the B3LYP/LANL2DZ/6–311 g (d, p) level. Furthermore, the in silico anticancer potential of the complex was explored through molecular docking simulations against the VEGFR2 protein.

Strategic interstitial Mn doping in Mg 3 (Bi, Sb) 2 single crystal simultaneously achieves high thermoelectric performance and intrinsic chemical stability, enabling robust module operation for over 300 hours in ambient air.