Customized L2 e-courses as a Shortcut to Developing Learner Autonomy and Lingua-Professional Competences of Students Majoring in Finance and Law

Senior Bachelor and Master Students in economic and law universities view English for Special Purposes (ESP) course as an essential component in developing both their linguistic and vocational competences. The paper argues that reliance on the use of e-shaped professionally-relevant materials is a shortcut to professional jargon acquisition and pre-employment immersion into future job realities. The existing shortage of published ESP textbooks for students of finance and law stipulates the necessity for the teachers to develop their own customized courses tailored for particular students’ needs. Embracing the opportunities provided by information technologies and custom-built e-courses composed of autonomous e-modules has helped to create a personalized virtual learning environment for ESP students of any learning profile or academic background. In addition, it has helped in responding to the challenging contemporary labor market demands. The paper hypothesizes the paramount importance of converting selected study materials into an interactive electronic format in order to better equip students of finance and law with linguistic and professional skills. A questionnaire related to the students’ perceptions on the e-course relevance on 5-point Likert-type scale was administered to 208 bachelor and master undergraduates in Finance. This was administered after the pilot introduction of a configurable e-course at the Faculty of Distance Education in Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (PRUE), Moscow, Russia. Thus, it was also administered to 67 bachelor and master students of law and finance of Yerevan Gladzor University (YGU), Armenia. The survey concludes that tailored e-training courses get a massive student support and serve as a springboard for boosting students’ lingua-professional development and enhancing learner autonomy. However, the findings also revealed that the participants of the study even in geographically remote universities, who have quite different cultural and multicultural specificities and prefer working with the printed out paper-based version of the interactive courses, significantly outnumber (83%) those who rely solely on e-learning format (34%). The results of the study are critical to e-courses developers, university IT and administrative staff, and it also provide trajectories for further research

Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Pollution in Urban Environment

This chapter summarizes the results of heavy metal’s human health and ecological risk assessment of multipurpose ecogeochemical studies performed by the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia in the young industrial cities of Yerevan and Gyumri and in an old mining region of the city of Kajaran. According to the results children non-carcinogenic risk values were greater than permissible limit of 1 indicating the possibility of an adverse health effect in the whole area of all studied cities. Among all studied elements, the riskiest were those previously identified as primary pollutants. It has also been shown that in biogeochemical provinces, where mining activities and agricultural land of rural communities are spatially juxtaposed, health risk assessment should include all possible exposure pathways. Otherwise, underestimation of possible health risk will take place. Heavy metals in soils of Yerevan and Gyumri are also an ecological risk factor and the riskiest elements having significant contribution to the overall risk and are those (Hg, Cd, and Pb) with the high level of toxicity

Proterozoic-like/type basal Triassic microbial build-ups of unusual height in Armenia.

The Griesbachian part of the Marmarasar Formation (Kara Baglyar) [1] in the Zangakatun (Sovetachen) section (Armenia) is characterized by microbial build-ups, spaced from 5 to 20m and surrounded by thin-bedded platy lime mudstone in a deep ramp environment. Above a basal carbonate fan crust follows a succession of thrombolitic domal forms, some of them up to 1.5m thick. The synoptic relief of the thrombolite head is estimated at 40-60cm above the muddy sea bottom. The overturned cone-shaped build-up geometry has a top head diameter up to 8m width consisting of numerous thrombolite domes, and an usual height of up to 15m. The water depth is interpreted below storm wave base and the asymmetrical build-up growth hints to a steady bottom current. Changes in the paleo-environment at the top of the kummeli conodont zone end the thrombolite growth. The overall duration of these post-extinction microbial build-ups is estimated at 700'000 years. Comparable Late Proterozoic Conophyton-Jacutophyton biostromes of the Atar area (Mauritania) [2], grown in apparently similar 80-100m water depth with quiet conditions, also show a high synoptic relief here of more than 2m above sea-bottom and decametric columnar branching build-ups. Due to a similarly large accommodation space the Zangakatun microbial reefs seem to follow the same build-up strategy

Revealing Soil and Tree Leaves Deposited Particulate Matter PTE Relationship and Potential Sources in Urban Environment

Trees play a pivotal role in improving urban environmental quality and provide several ecosystem services including the removal of pollutants from the air, such as particular matter (PM) and potentially toxic elements (PTE). Therefore, understanding the tree PM and PTE capturing potential, also in connection with plant species, is of great concern, especially in urban areas. This study aims to reveal the link between the elemental composition of PM deposited on tree leaves and soils PTE contents, as well as to rank the PM capturing efficiency of 10 different tree species growing under the impact of urban environments. This also allowed us to test the efficiency of PM deposited on tree leaves as a PTE biomonitoring and pollution source identification tool, in the two biggest urban areas of Armenia. Indeed, high contents of PTE are detected in both soil- and leaf-deposited PM from sites characterized by the presence of localized and active pollution sources (i.e., industrial unites, high traffic, etc.), which are identified by specific tracers (such as Mo, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd). Among the studied tree species, the highest PM amount per unit leaf area is observed for Platanus orientalis, but elm species are also identified as promising canditates to be considered for their PM removing potential, and need to be included in future more details studies

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GEOCHEMISTRY OF ATMOSPHERIC DUST ON THE TERRITORY OF THE CITY OF YEREVAN

This research is focused on the level of heavy metal contents in dust of a near-ground layer of atmosphere. The dust load level was evaluated as medial. Indicated was a quality composition of dominating dust pollutants. The level of summary load of metals was low

Mercury soil contents and associated ecological and health risks in kindergartens and functional areas of the city of Vanadzor (Armenia)

Mercury is a widespread environmental pollutant becoming a crucial health concern as a result of natural and anthropogenic releases. Understanding Hg distribution pattern between different functional urban areas is needed for urban pollution control and health impact assessment. Therefore, in this paper urban soil Hg spatial distribution, pollution level evaluation, and mercury-induced health risks were studied, for different urban functional areas (355 samples) and kindergartens (18 samples) of Vanadzor. Geospatial mapping and the geostatistical analysis suggest that Hg concentration in the entire area of Vanadzor and its kindergartens has a natural origin, besides a certain anthropogenic impact on some urban sites. According to geoaccumulation index (Igeo), uncontaminated or moderately contaminated levels were detected only in 2 samples from industrial area and 5 samples from residential area, the remaining samples were classified as uncontaminated. In all kindergartens and the 22.15 sq.km of the city (270 samples) are characterized by low level potential ecological risk, whereas 3.85 sq.km (85 samples) correspond to moderate and for 1 sampling site high level of potential ecological risk. A non-carcinogenic health risk assessed for children and adults indicates health hazards neither in Vanadzor entire areas nor in kindergartens. The hazard index (HI) in each urban functional area is less than allowable level (HI <1) for children and adults. Obtained results are indicative and offer the ability for better management of urban soil and urban planning in terms of Hg pollution regulation in different functional areas

BASAL INDUAN (EARLY TRIASSIC) GIANT SPONGE-MICROBIAL BUILD-UPS IN ARMENIA: MICROFACIES ANALYSES AND CARBON ISOTOPE STUDIES

oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_D03A5752AA5AThe Transcaucasia area (central Armenia) offers the opportunity to study a distinctive sponge-microbial community development in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction (Permian-Triassic Boundary sponge-microbialites PTBSM): isolated communities started to built vertical edifices up to 12 m high during Griesbachian times (Induan, Lower Triassic), and show two growth phases within a pelagic carbonate ramp. The first sponge-microbial build-ups, which are rich in sponge spicules, co-occur with impressive calcium carbonate crystal fans (CCFs) that vary in thickness between 5 cm to 2 m. A comparison between the δ13C values from the PTBSM that formed during the first growth phase and the surrounding sediment revealed a remarkable differences: the δ13Cmicrobialite values are up to 2.3‰ more positive than the corresponding δ13Csediment values