Competency-Based Approach to Training Humanities Students at East Siberia State University of Technology and Management

AbstractThe state program of the Russian Federation “Development of Education” for 2013-2020 provides for content upgrade of the vocational education and enhancement of its quality. In connection to this, the paper considers the provisions of competency-based approach the content side of which lies in consolidating its practical constituent in the process of vocational training of students.The paper describes the process of teachers and students’ interaction as a result of which knowledge, abilities and skills are transferred and adopted that promote quality and production activity of students as future professionals. Special attention is paid to the content of education correlated with definite professional competencies provided for by the educational standards. Forming of key competencies in students encouraged the leading teachers to start searching for efficient teaching methods allowing to establish active joint interaction, communication and self-fulfillment of learners

The influence of technogenic pollution on the Pinus sylvestris pollen chemical composition

The elemental, fatty acid composition and content of polyphenols in the Pinus sylvestris L pollen, growing within the territory of Ulan-Ude and the Republic of Buryatia background territories, were determined. It is shown that with technogenic pollution in pollen, the content of iron, nickel, lead, cadmium and mercury increases, and the content of manganese decreases. In the fatty acid composition under stress conditions, an increase in the content of unsaturated fatty acids, and in particular, trans- and cis-forms of oleic acid, is observed. A decrease in the content of polyphenolic compounds in samples from contaminated areas was noted. Thus, the chemical composition of pine pollen can be used as an indicator of anthropogenic (technogenic) impact and early diagnosis of the stress state of the forest during forest pathological monitoring

Numerical Study of Sediment Suspension Affected By Rigid Cylinders Under Unidirectional and Combined Wave-Current Flows

Sediment transport modeling for flows with cylinders is very challenging owing to the complicated flow–cylinder–sediment interactions, especially under the combined wave-current flows. In this paper, an improved formulation for incipient sediment suspension considering the effect of cylinder density (i.e., solid volume fraction) is employed to simulate the bottom sediment flux in the flow with cylinders. The proposed model is calibrated and validated using laboratory measurements under unidirectional and combined wave-current flows in previous studies. It is proved that the effects of cylinders on sediment suspension can be accounted for through a modified critical Shields number, and the proposed model is capable of simulating sediment suspension under both unidirectional and combined wave–current flows reasonably well with the average the coefficients of determination and model skills greater than 0.8 and 0.64

Laboratory Study of the Effects of Flexible Vegetation on Solute Diffusion in Unidirectional Flow

Background Flexible vegetation is an important part of the riverine ecosystem, which can reduce flow velocity, change turbulence structure, and affect the processes of solute transport. Compared with the flow with rigid vegetation, which has been reported in many previous studies, bending of flexible vegetation increases the complexity of the flow-vegetation-solute interactions. In this study, laboratory experiments are carried out to investigate the influence of flexible vegetation on solute transport, and methods for estimating the lateral and longitudinal diffusion coefficients in the rigid vegetated flow are examined for their applications to the flow with flexible vegetation. Results The experimental observations find that vegetation can significantly reduce flow velocity, and the Manning coefficient increases with increasing vegetation density and decreases with inflow discharge. Under all the cases, the vertical peak of the solute concentration moves towards the bottom bed along the flow, and the values of vertical peak concentration longitudinally decreases from the injection point. The lateral diffusion coefficients Dy increase with vegetation density, while the longitudinal diffusion coefficients DL are opposite. Both Dy and DL increase with the inflow discharge. To estimate the Dy and DL in the flow with flexible vegetation, an effective submerged vegetation height considering vegetation bending is incorporated in the methods proposed for flow with rigid vegetation (Lou et al. Environ Sci Eur 32:15, 2020). The modified approach can well predict the diffusion coefficients in the experiments with the relative errors in the range of 5%-12%. Conclusions The methods proposed in this study can be used to estimate the lateral and longitudinal diffusion coefficients in flows through both rigid and flexible vegetations using the effective submerged vegetation height

Phytocenosis biodiversity at various water levels in mesotrophic Lake Arakhley, Lake Baikal basin, Russia

Small lakes have lower water levels during dry years as was the case in 2000–2020. We sought to show the biodiversity of plant communities at various water levels in Lake Arakhley. Changes in moisture content are reflected in the cyclical variations of the water level in the lake, which decreased approximately 2 m in 2017–2018. These variations affect the biological diversity of the aquatic ecosystems. We present the latest data on the state of the plant communities in this mesotrophic lake located in the drainage basin of Lake Baikal. Lake Arakhley is a freshwater lake with low mineral content and a sodium hydrocarbonate chemical composition. Changes in the nutrient concentration were related to precipitation; inflow volume and organic matter were autochtonous at low water levels. The most diverse groups of phytoplankton found in the lake were Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, and Chrysophyta. High biodiversity values indicate the complexity and richness of the lake’s phytoplankton community. A prevalence of Lindavia comta was observed when water levels were low and Asterionella formosa dominated in high-water years. The maximum growth depth of lacustrine vegetation decreased from 11.0 m to 4.0 m from 1967 to 2018. Decreasing water levels were accompanied by a reduction in the littoral zone, altering the communities of aquatic plants. The hydrophyte communities were monodominant in the dry years and were represented by Ceratophyllum demersum. The vegetation cover of the lake was more diverse in high-water years and variations in the lake’s water content altered the composition of biogenic substances. These changes were reflected in the lake’s phytocenosis

Numerical study of sediment suspension affected by rigid cylinders under unidirectional and combined wave–current flows

Sediment transport modeling for flows with cylinders is very challenging owing to the complicated flow–cylinder–sediment interactions, especially under the combined wave-current flows. In this paper, an improved formulation for incipient sediment suspension considering the effect of cylinder density (i.e., solid volume fraction) is employed to simulate the bottom sediment flux in the flow with cylinders. The proposed model is calibrated and validated using laboratory measurements under unidirectional and combined wave-current flows in previous studies. It is proved that the effects of cylinders on sediment suspension can be accounted for through a modified critical Shields number, and the proposed model is capable of simulating sediment suspension under both unidirectional and combined wave–current flows reasonably well with the average the coefficients of determination and model skills greater than 0.8 and 0.64

Fatty acid composition in the white muscle of Cottoidei fishes of Lake Baikal reflects their habitat depth

Lake Baikal is a unique freshwater environment with maximum depths over 1600 m. The high water pressure at the lakebed strengthens the solidifying effect of low water temperature on animal tissue lipids, and thus the effective temperatures in the depths of the lake equal subzero temperatures in shallow waters. Cottoidei species has colonized the different water layers of the lake, and developed different ecology and physiology reflected in their tissue biochemistry. We studied by gas chromatography the composition of fatty acids (FAs), largely responsible for tissue lipid physical properties, in the white muscle tissue of 13 species of the Cottoidei fish; five benthic abyssal, six benthic eurybathic and two benthopelagic species. The FA profiles reflected habitat depth. The muscles of the deepest living species contained little polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs) and were instead rich in monounsaturated FAs (MUFAs), which may be due to occasional weak food web links to the PUFA-rich primary producers of the photic water layer, high MUFA supply from their benthic diet, and conversion of saturated FAs (SFAs) to MUFAs in the tissues of the fish. Despite the MUFA percentage among the abyssal species reached even 50% (by weight) of total FAs, the PUFA percentage still remained above 20% in every species. The muscle MUFA/SFA ratio correlated negatively with the PUFA content of the fish muscle, suggesting viscosity control integrating the fluidity contributions from the dietary PUFAs and potentially endogenous MUFAs.Peer reviewe

Metal accumulation in aquatic vegetation in heat-affected zone of Gusinoozersk state regional power plant

The content of Fe, Mn, Al, Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cr, Cd and Hg in higher aquatic plants, moss, charophyta and green filamentous algae was determined using inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry. A comparative assessment of metal accumulation was conducted. Plants growing within the heat-affected zone of Gusinoozersk State Regional Power Plant, especially filamentous algae, contained the largest amount of metals, which indicates the higher pollution of water and sediments and intensification of metabolic processes and their accumulation in plants. It was shown that aquatic plants of Lake Gusinoe accumulated most of the studied metals in volumes greater than in other cooling reservoir of Siberia. Thus, this research provides one of the important steps for the development of regional environmental standards and environmental risk assessments

Accumulation of heavy metals in aquatic vegetation of the Barguzin River

This study is devoted to the analysis of the distribution of heavy metals in the aquatic system of the Barguzin River. This is one of the largest rivers of the Baikal lake system. The element composition of the aerial scion of Potamogeton pectinatus L. (syn. Stukenia pectinata (L.) Borner), Potamogeton perfoliatus L., Hippuris vulgaris L. and Nymphoides peltata (S.G. Gmelin) O. Kuntze of the Barguzin River is studied in this research. One of the main results of the study is the establishment of the following sequence of the accumulation of metals in aquatic plants: Mn > Fe > Сu (Zn) > Сr > Ni > Сo > Pb > Cd > Hg. Hippuris vulgaris L. contains the highest concentration of the studied metals. Thus, this research provides one of the important steps for the development of regional environmental standards and environmental risk assessments