City as an Object of Ecological and Economic Researches: the Example of Russian Cities

The growth of environmental pollution especially in big cities dictates the need to search for the reasons of this trend, most of which refer to the economic sphere. The aim of this work is not only to describe the state of environment in Russian cities with the population of 100 thousand inhabitants and more, but also to reveal the main economic factors that influence on the intensity of their environmental pollution. The ecological and economic analysis of Russian cities, fulfilled in this work, helped to identify the most unfavourable of them in terms of the level of environmental impact. The low quality of environment in these cities is largely due to natural and climatic conditions (bad conditions for contaminants dispersion) and specifics of their economic development: functioning of large industrial enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, petro chemistry, construction industry. The conclusion is that to improve the environmental quality in these cities comprehensive social, environmental and economic solutions are required

Productivity of various barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars under semi-arid conditions in southern Russia

ArticleDrought is a significant factor limiting crop production in arid conditions. In the dry climatic weather situation of southern Russia, ten - year laboratory trials and subsequent field experiments were laid out on various barley varieties collected across the globe during 2007 – 2017 period. This study was conducted to ascertain from the collection of barley cultivars of the entire world which one is best suited to stressful climatic conditions by being tolerant to drought, heat and salinity which can be adopted for barley breeding. According to the results obtained, the varieties that are tolerant to dry climatic conditions are as follows: Alga (Lithuania), Brenda, Henni (Germany), Décor (Great Britain), Furat 5 (Syria), Vakula (Ukraine), Ataman (Belarus) and Vladimir (Russia); heat resistant varieties are: Brenda (Germany), Alga (Lithuania), Furat 5 (Syria), Ataman (Belarus) , Vladimir and Ratnik (Russia); Salt - resistant varieties: Alga (Lithuania), Henni (Germany) and Vladimir (Russia). The selected varieties did not show any sign of adverse weather effect resulting in stable grain productivity throughout the entire duration of this research over the years, they had large grain size and stable 1 , 000 grains weight. However, the yield of selected cultivars varied over the years which was about 1.1 – 1.4 t ha - 1

Co-application of Difenoconazole with Thymol Results in Suppression of a Parastagonospora Nodorum Mutant Strain Resistant to this Triazole

Results of in vitro study of thymol, a natural chemosensitizer, as a potential agent for overcoming of difenoconazole resistance of Parastagonospora nodorum causing glume and leaf blotch of wheat are first reported. The level of difenoconazole resistance of a natural mutant PNm1 strain with low sensitivity to the Dividend fungicide (a.i. difenoconazole) was determined by the cultivation of this isolate on potato dextrose agar in the presence of the fungicide at sub-lethal and lethal (in relation to the initial fungicide-sensitive strain) concentrations. A principal possibility of the thymol use to overcome resistance of P. nodorum to DMI (demethylation inhibitors) fungicides is shown. Co-application of this compound with Dividend SC, 3 % resulted in a significant reduction of resistance of the mutant strain and enhancement of its sensitivity to difenoconazole up to the level corresponding to the initial non-resistant isolate

An algorithm for determining dispersion and Doppler line widths from limited experimental data

We present an algorithm that allows the efficient determination of the dispersion and Doppler contributions to a Voigt profile from limited experimental data. For this purpose, we use the measured intensity profiles, as well as their first and second derivatives. © 1991

Outlier detection and classification in sensor data streams for proactive decision support systems

A paper has a deal with the problem of quality assessment in sensor data streams accumulated by proactive decision support systems. The new problem is stated where outliers need to be detected and to be classified according to their nature of origin. There are two types of outliers defined; the first type is about misoperations of a system and the second type is caused by changes in the observed system behavior due to inner and external influences. The proposed method is based on the data-driven forecast approach to predict the values in the incoming data stream at the expected time. This method includes the forecasting model and the clustering model. The forecasting model predicts a value in the incoming data stream at the expected time to find the deviation between a real observed value and a predicted one. The clustering method is used for taxonomic classification of outliers. Constructive neural networks models (CoNNS) and evolving connectionists systems (ECS) are used for prediction of sensors data. There are two real world tasks are used as case studies. The maximal values of accuracy are 0.992 and 0.974, and F1 scores are 0.967 and 0.938, respectively, for the first and the second tasks. The conclusion contains findings how to apply the proposed method in proactive decision support systems

Molecular Basis of Spectral Diversity in Near-Infrared Phytochrome-Based Fluorescent Proteins

SummaryNear-infrared fluorescent proteins (NIR FPs) engineered from bacterial phytochromes (BphPs) are the probes of choice for deep-tissue imaging. Detection of several processes requires spectrally distinct NIR FPs. We developed an NIR FP, BphP1-FP, which has the most blue-shifted spectra and the highest fluorescence quantum yield among BphP-derived FPs. We found that these properties result from the binding of the biliverdin chromophore to a cysteine residue in the GAF domain, unlike natural BphPs and other BphP-based FPs. To elucidate the molecular basis of the spectral shift, we applied biochemical, structural and mass spectrometry analyses and revealed the formation of unique chromophore species. Mutagenesis of NIR FPs of different origins indicated that the mechanism of the spectral shift is general and can be used to design multicolor NIR FPs from other BphPs. We applied pairs of spectrally distinct point cysteine mutants to multicolor cell labeling and demonstrated that they perform well in model deep-tissue imaging

Application of the project method using modern IT technologies

This article is devoted to the application of project methodology using IT technologies in the process of studying the subject “Foreign language” and “Foreign language in professional sphere” in the conditions of professional education among students of non-language high school. The article also analyzes the project methodology used as one of the best methods of teaching a foreign language. The article deals with the main theoretical and practical foundations of using project methodology in the educational process. Particular attention is paid to the consideration of the working phases of the project, as well as shown methodological techniques used by the teacher at different stages of the project. Besides, the article has covered the results of the experiment held by the “Foreign language in the sphere of Engineering and Technologies” department among the students of the Faculty of Industrial and Civil Engineering of the Don State Technical University, in connection with which the conclusion is made that the project method application has a considerable influence on the increase of the level of motivation of students to learn a foreign language and the effectiveness of teaching

The role of corporality in marriage choice sociological approach

In article the corporality of the individual as a factor of the marriage choice is considered. In modern conditions the body is of particular importance as is exposed to different practicians of designing allowing to increase chances of the individual of receiving the high-resource marriage partner.В статье рассматривается телесность индивида как фактор брачного выбора. В современных условиях тело имеет особое значение, поскольку подвергается различного рода практикам конструирования, позволяющим повысить шансы индивида на получение высокоресурсного брачного партнера

Energy minimization problem in two-level dissipative quantum control: meridian case

International audienceWe analyze the energy-minimizing problem for a two-level dissipative quantum system described by the Kossakowsky-Lindblad equation. According to the Pontryagin Maximum Principle (PMP), minimizers can be selected among normal and abnormal extremals whose dynamics are classified according to the values of the dissipation parameters. Our aim is to improve our previous analysis concerning 2D solutions in the case where the Hamiltonian dynamics are integrable

Direct multiplex imaging and optogenetics of Rho GTPases enabled by near-infrared FRET

Direct visualization and light control of several cellular processes is a challenge, owing to the spectral overlap of available genetically encoded probes. Here we report the most red-shifted monomeric near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent protein, miRFP720, and the fully NIR Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) pair miRFP670-miRFP720, which together enabled design of biosensors compatible with CFP-YFP imaging and blue-green optogenetic tools. We developed a NIR biosensor for Rac1 GTPase and demonstrated its use in multiplexed imaging and light control of Rho GTPase signaling pathways. Specifically, we combined the Rac1 biosensor with CFP-YFP FRET biosensors for RhoA and for Rac1-GDI binding, and concurrently used the LOV-TRAP tool for upstream Rac1 activation. We directly observed and quantified antagonism between RhoA and Rac1 dependent on the RhoA-downstream effector ROCK; showed that Rac1 activity and GDI binding closely depend on the spatiotemporal coordination between these two molecules; and simultaneously observed Rac1 activity during optogenetic manipulation of Rac1.Peer reviewe