Issues of financial assurance of economy greening in the regions

The relevance of the analyzed issue is caused by the need to internalize environmental externalities in the modern world. The purpose of the article is to examine the issue of financial support of the green economy using the example of the regions included in the Volga Federal District (VFD). The leading methods to the study of this issue is a comparative analysis of environmental taxes and charges in Russia and countries of the European Union (EU) and the analysis of environmental problems in the regions of the Volga Federal District, which allow identifying the shortcomings of the existing environmental payment system and proposing measures to modernize the system of financial support of the green economy. The key shortcomings of the existing environmental payment system: low rates of environmental payments; the inappropriate use of funds received from environmental payments; concentration of 97% of revenues from environmental payments in the federal budget. The contents of the article may be helpful for public authorities of general and special competence to develop the principal directions of environmental policy and plan activities aimed at improving the green economy. © 2016 Shekhova et al

Experience of organization of the system of psychological and pedagogical professional development of teachers of higher educational institutions

The relevance of the researched problem is caused by the changed social and economic conditions in Russia that led to search of the paradigms of education adequate to new social and economic development of the country. The presented article is directed to drawing attention of the pedagogical public to modern forms of organization of the system of advanced training of employees of higher education. The leading approach to the research of this problem is the analysis of experience of practical activities of Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University; this approach enables to fill educational practice with new constructs and meanings. As a result of the research, the model of implementation of the system of advanced training of employees of higher education is proposed. The material of the publication can be useful while developing and projecting of programs for professional psychological and pedagogical qualification development of teachers in the system of higher education, including its network use in the space of vocational pedagogical education. © 2016 Akimova et al

Properties of the VT1-0 titanium surface modified by a pulsed ion beam

The physicomechanical properties of the VT1-0 titanium surface modified by a pulsed carbon ion beam at a pulse duration of 80 ns, an energy of 200 keV, a current density of 120 A/cm2, an energy density of 1.92 J/cm2, and various numbers of pulses (four regimes) are studied. Irradiation by the beam leads to hardening of a 1.8-μm-thick surface layer in titanium, a decrease in the hydrogen sorption rate, a decrease in the grain size, and the formation of twins

Changing climate both increases and decreases European river floods

Climate change has led to concerns about increasing river floods resulting from the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere1. These concerns are reinforced by evidence of increasing economic losses associated with flooding in many parts of the world, including Europe2. Any changes in river floods would have lasting implications for the design of flood protection measures and flood risk zoning. However, existing studies have been unable to identify a consistent continental-scale climatic-change signal in flood discharge observations in Europe3, because of the limited spatial coverage and number of hydrometric stations. Here we demonstrate clear regional patterns of both increases and decreases in observed river flood discharges in the past five decades in Europe, which are manifestations of a changing climate. Our results\u2014arising from the most complete database of European flooding so far\u2014suggest that: increasing autumn and winter rainfall has resulted in increasing floods in northwestern Europe; decreasing precipitation and increasing evaporation have led to decreasing floods in medium and large catchments in southern Europe; and decreasing snow cover and snowmelt, resulting from warmer temperatures, have led to decreasing floods in eastern Europe. Regional flood discharge trends in Europe range from an increase of about 11 per cent per decade to a decrease of 23 per cent. Notwithstanding the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the observational record, the flood changes identified here are broadly consistent with climate model projections for the next century4,5, suggesting that climate-driven changes are already happening and supporting calls for the consideration of climate change in flood risk management

Два подхода к расчёту расчленения гидрографа стока реки с ледниковым питанием с помощью изотопных методов

Application of the stable isotope method in the balance equations used to calculate separation of the runoff hydrograph from the Djankuat Glacier basin is demonstrated. Simultaneous solution of equations of water, isotope and ion balances is applied to estimate contributions of different components and processes to formation of the Djankuat River runoff regime. For June 2014, we made calculations for the purpose to separate contributions of the spring (isotopically weighted) snow and winter (isotopically depleted) snow. Field works in the glacial basin Djankuat were performed during two ablation seasons, i.e. from June to September of 2013 and 2014. Two approaches were used when calculating separation of the runoff hydrograph by means of solution of systems of equations for isotopic and ion balances: 1) taking account of the isotope fractionation during snow melting, and 2) with no account for the fractionation. Separation of the hydrograph for June 2014 have shown that about 15–20% of the Djankuat River runoff is formed by spring snow melting, sometimes increasing up to 36%. Contribution of spring meltwater to the total runoff increases when the isotope fractionation during the snow melting is taken into account for the calculations. In this case, the contribution of spring snow changes from 30 to 50%.Рассмотрено применение метода стабильных изотопов в балансовых расчётах расчленения гидрографа стока с ледника Джанкуат. Изученные изотопные вариации стока на замыкающем створе р. Джанкуат для двух сезонов абляции 2013 и 2014 г. совместно с измерениями δ18О и минерализации различных источников питания р. Джанкуат (атмосферные осадки, снег разных сезонов, фирн, лёд и грунтовые воды) позволили расчленить гидрограф стока 2014 г. Применялись два методических подхода к расчётам: разделение гидрографа стока решением систем уравнений ионного и изотопного баланса с учётом изотопного фракционирования при таянии снега и без учёта фракционирования. Установлена величина погрешности расчётов с использованием значений δ18О и абсолютных концентраций 18О

Stability of mRNA/DNA and DNA/DNA Duplexes Affects mRNA Transcription

Nucleic acids, due to their structural and chemical properties, can form double-stranded secondary structures that assist the transfer of genetic information and can modulate gene expression. However, the nucleotide sequence alone is insufficient in explaining phenomena like intron-exon recognition during RNA processing. This raises the question whether nucleic acids are endowed with other attributes that can contribute to their biological functions. In this work, we present a calculation of thermodynamic stability of DNA/DNA and mRNA/DNA duplexes across the genomes of four species in the genus Saccharomyces by nearest-neighbor method. The results show that coding regions are more thermodynamically stable than introns, 3′-untranslated regions and intergenic sequences. Furthermore, open reading frames have more stable sense mRNA/DNA duplexes than the potential antisense duplexes, a property that can aid gene discovery. The lower stability of the DNA/DNA and mRNA/DNA duplexes of 3′-untranslated regions and the higher stability of genes correlates with increased mRNA level. These results suggest that the thermodynamic stability of DNA/DNA and mRNA/DNA duplexes affects mRNA transcription

Deadly liaisons: fatal attraction between CCN matricellular proteins and the tumor necrosis factor family of cytokines

Recent studies have revealed an unexpected synergism between two seemingly unrelated protein families: CCN matricellular proteins and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family of cytokines. CCN proteins are dynamically expressed at sites of injury repair and inflammation, where TNF cytokines are also expressed. Although TNFα is an apoptotic inducer in some cancer cells, it activates NFκB to promote survival and proliferation in normal cells, and its cytotoxicity requires inhibition of de novo protein synthesis or NFκB signaling. The presence of CCN1, CCN2, or CCN3 overrides this requirement and unmasks the apoptotic potential of TNFα, thus converting TNFα from a proliferation-promoting protein into an apoptotic inducer. These CCN proteins also enhance the cytotoxicity of other TNF cytokines, including LTα, FasL, and TRAIL. Mechanistically, CCNs function through integrin α6β1 and the heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) syndecan-4 to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, which is essential for apoptotic synergism. Mutant CCN1 proteins defective for binding α6β1-HSPGs are unable to induce ROS or apoptotic synergism with TNF cytokines. Further, knockin mice that express an α6β1-HSPG-binding defective CCN1 are blunted in TNFα- and Fas-mediated apoptosis, indicating that CCN1 is a physiologic regulator of these processes. These findings implicate CCN proteins as contextual regulators of the inflammatory response by dictating or enhancing the cytotoxicity of TNFα and related cytokines