Development of Meta-Geosystems of Tourist and Recreational Clusters

The study aims to find a key to the problem of managing cultural heritage systems in the example of the Temnikov-Sanaksar cluster located in Eastern Europe. This area is situated between the forest-steppe of the layered-tier Volga upland and the forest geosystems of the layered Oka-Don lowland. The article applies an interdisciplinary approach to solving the problem of optimizing inter-component relationships in the meta-geosystems of tourist and recreational clusters. The sustainable development of meta-geosystems should be based on multifactorial information support, which implements the most important condition for the effective economic development of landscapes through the formation of the regions’ spatial data infrastructure. In order to consistently optimize meta-geosystems of different hierarchical levels, it is necessary to solve several emerging issues, such as assessing the strength and nature of inter-component connections in geosystems, determination of factors describing the territorial variation of the properties of geosystems, interpreting and substantiation the semantics of the selected basic factors

Geodiagnostics of lithogydrogenic systems for forecasting exoggeodynamic processes

The landscape indication, based on the automated analysis of remote sensing data, is one of the key methods of research and mapping of lithohydrogene geosystems. The article describes a set of methods for effective detection of types of lithohydrogene systems, including a set of modules for identifying dynamic and invariant descriptors of the territory; assessment of geophysical diversity of landscapes; analysis of the geophysical shell through the calculation of the descriptors of the neighborhood; ensemble-analysis of remote sensing data for monitoring the state of geosystems and forecasting of natural processes. The system of methods for detecting types of landscapes made it possible to conduct geodiagnostics of lithohydrogene systems of the Privolzhskaya Upland and the marginal part of the Oka-Don lowland reservoir within the boundaries of the Republic of Mordovia in order to predict the development of exogeodynamic processes

Problems of Designing Geoportal Interfaces

The manuscript is devoted to analysis of the problem of designing graphical geoportal interfaces. The support points for the problem solutions are formulated and rationale of each of them is given. The emphasis was placed on the following orientations: to a flexible process of interface development, the need to introduce adaptability, progressive development, the motivated abandonment of geospatial content management systems and the use of third-party libraries where necessary, problem-solving and achieving goals. The lists of basic functional and qualitative requirements for graphical geoportal interfaces are given. In the last segment, the authors share their experience in the development of geoportal solutions

FOREST FIRES IN PORTUGAL — THE CONNECTION WITH THE ATLANTIC MULTIDECADAL OSCILLATION (AMO)

The data on forest fires in Portugal in the period 1980–2015 were used in the research: the annual number of forest fires, the annual burned area and the average burned area per fire. Increasing trend of the annual number of forest fires (statistically significant at p≤0.01), non-significant increasing trend of the annual burned area and decreasing trend of the average burned area per fire (statistically significant at p≤0.01) were recorded. Portugal is the most endangered country by forest fires in comparison with the other European countries. During the research period, fires in Portugal covered 23.6% of the total burned area in five the most affected European countries (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece). In the research of the connection between forest fires and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Pearson correlation coefficient (R) was used. Monthly, seasonal and annual values of the AMO index were used in calculations. All R values recorded for the annual number of fires were positive and statistically significant at p≤0.01. The highest values were recorded for August (0.543) and for summer (0.525). With the annual burned area all R values were also positive and the highest one on the seasonal level was for summer (0.359). With the average burned area per fire all R values were negative (−0.428 was recorded for winter). The results of the research could be applied in the fire danger forecast for periods of several months. Other climate indices should also be considered in future research

ELECTRONS OR PROTONS: WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF FOREST FIRES IN WESTERN EUROPE ON JUNE 18, 2017?

Forest fires in Portugal (June 17–24, 2017) destroyed 64 lives and caused considerable material damage. The coronal hole CH807 and the energy region S5710 were in the geoeffective position on the Sun immediately before the outbreak of fires. In the period that preceded it, as well as at the time of the fires, increased values of the solar wind (SW) parameters (temperature, speed and density of particles) were recorded. In addition, a geomagnetic disorder was recorded. The shape and size of the burning areas, as well as the low air pressure over Portugal indicate the possibility of the effect of positively charged particles that came from the area south, i.e. southwest of Portugal. Nevertheless, it is a specific case that would have to be investigated in more detail

Influence of summer temperatures on basic economic and tourism indicators of the middle mediterranean

The Middle Mediterranean is characterized by long, hot, and dry summers, significant historical and cultural values, and the warm Mediterranean sea, making it attractive for coastal tourism. Given these characteristics, the goal of our paper is to analyze the influence of summer temperatures in the region of the Middle Mediterranean on the values of underlying economic and tourism indicators. The method of simple linear correlation and regression was used. Based on the results of testing, we came to the conclusion that the temperatures in the summer months have no significant influence on selected economic and tourism indicators. Also, we conclude that social factors have the greatest influence on these indicators. The coefficients of variation are calculated in the observed period to analyze the variability of the tested values. It could not be identified a statistically significant relationship of indicators with summer temperatures

Development of Regional Innovative Clusters and Supply Chain Strategy in Terms of Lean Production Principles

The article considers the genesis, content and relevance of the cluster approach in socio-economic regional development. Certain aspects of the innovativeness of this approach have been discussed in a number of national strategic documents since 2008. In our opinion, their further development and updating is relevant for the upcoming international forum, “Partnership for Cluster development: Creating the future,†which will be held in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2020. The key goal as part of the development of regional innovative clusters is the development of effective intra-cluster interaction to increase labor productivity. The authors introduce the hypothesis regarding the increase of production systems' efficiency. The necessity of implementing the lean production concept according to the certain cluster model is identified and justified. In relation to this, the conditions and possibilities of having a synergies-tic effect on the joint, interconnected and mutually reinforcing use of lean principles are analyzed. In addition, the model that is implemented by all the participants in the innovative cluster in the product value chain is developed. The authors refer to provisions in international and domestic documents on the sphere of cluster development, recommendations from the national standard GOST R 57524-2017 “Lean production. Value Stream,†methods for calculating process performance indicators, product stocks in buffers, and cycle time of the reverse processes. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the implementation of lean production principles for the development of innovative regional clusters is universal and effective. Moreover, it has a high degree of feasibility for any organizational model of a cluster. There is scientific and practical interest in the implementation of the entire complex of lean principles to provide for the quality of products and processes, as well as their continuous improvement

The surprising discovery of two new subterranean Leptodirini of the genus Spelaeobates Müller, 1901 (Coleoptera, Leiodidae, Cholevinae) from Croatia after more than a century

Two new subterranean leiodid taxa of the genus Spelaeobates Müller, 1901 from three pits in northern Dalmatia (Croatia), S. coriniensis sp. nov. and S. coriniensis nonveilleri ssp. nov., are described. The morphological traits of the new taxa are enumerated and illustrated. These two taxa are placed in the subgenus Spelaeobates Müller, 1901. The relationships of these two taxa and their close relatives are clarified. Data on the sexual dimorphism of the two new taxa and on the intrasubspecific variability of S. coriniensis nonveilleri ssp. nov. are presented. We also redescribed S. novaki, the type species of both the genus Spelaeobates and the subgenus Spelaeobates and the closest relative of the newly described species. A key for identification of the taxa of the genus Spelaeobates is included. The new taxa are endemic to the Dinaric Alps of Croatia. Spelaeobates (Pretneriella) kraussi Müller, 1903 and S. (P.) pharensis langhofferi Müller, 1931 were found for the first time outside their type locality

Spatial distribution of specific runoff in Serbia based on rainfall-runoff relationship

One of the indicators of water potential and water resources is specific runoff. Specific runoff for the whole territory of Serbia was obtained using the exponential relation between depth of runoff Y (mm) and precipitation P (mm). This relation is obtained on the basis of the mean annual amount of precipitation and annual water discharge, namely the depth of the runoff for 69 basins for the period 1961–2010. Coefficient of determination (R²) of relation between the depth of runoff and precipitation is 0.72. The differences between measured and modeled values of specific runoff vary from basin to basin, but at the level of the whole Serbia it is 3.5%. More precisely, the measured specific runoff amounts 5.6 l/s/km2, and the modeled specific runoff is 5.7 l/s/km2. The verification was done by applying the model to 11 large river basins in Serbia. Spatial distribution of the modeled specific runoff is presented by a digital map of specific runoff with pixel resolution 100 × 100 m which enables the estimation of mean annual water discharge in any ungauged basin in Serbia

Connection of Solar Activities and Forest Fires in 2018: Events in the USA (California), Portugal and Greece

The impact of solar activity on environmental processes is difficult to understand and complex for empirical modeling. This study aimed to establish forecast models of the meteorological conditions in the forest fire areas based on the solar activity parameters applying the neural networks approach. During July and August 2018, severe forest fires simultaneously occurred in the State of California (USA), Portugal, and Greece. Air temperature and humidity data together with solar parameters (integral flux of solar protons, differential electron flux and proton flux, solar wind plasma parameters, and solar radio flux at 10.7 cm data) were used in long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network ensembles. It is found that solar activity mostly affects the humidity for two stations in California and Portugal (an increase in the integral flux of solar protons of > 30 MeV by 10% increases the humidity by 3.25%, 1.65%, and 1.57%, respectively). Furthermore, an increase in air temperature of 10% increases the humidity by 2.55%, 2.01%, and 0.26%, respectively. It is shown that temperature is less sensitive to changes in solar parameters but depends on previous conditions (previous increase of 10% increases the current temperature by 0.75%, 0.34%, and 0.33%, respectively). Humidity in Greece is mostly impacted by solar flux F10.7 cm and previous values of humidity. An increase in these factors by 10% will lead to a decrease in the humidity of 3.89% or an increase of 1.31%, while air temperature mostly depends on ion temperature. If this factor increases by 10%, it will lead to air temperature rising by 0.42%