Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2015 number 4

The problem of constructing a semi-parametric spline regression model is considered. A new model of penalty splines with variable penalty coefficients is proposed. In the model, it is assumed that the coordinates of the basis points are determined by solving the optimization problem of minimizing the residual sum of squares. The choice of values of the penalty coefficients is based on the representation of the original model in the form of a random-effects model (variance component model). A series of computer simulation experiments was performed to reconstruct the regression line with different noise levels and in the presence of outliers. The results of computational experiments to reconstruct the regression line are presented that show greater accuracy of the new model in comparison with conventional models.

A method for output-uniform coding of Markov sources with finite memory is proposed. The efficiency of the coding is estimated and compared with the efficiency of input-uniform coding.

The paper deals with the use of high-performance computing systems with a paralleloperation architecture to solve problems of image processing. The idea of using reconfigurable computing environments is set out. The synthesis of models of reconfigurable computing environments for some problems of binary image processing is considered, and the results of their operation are demonstrated.

A cuckoo search algorithm for identifying the parameters of fuzzy approximators and classifiers is presented. The results of experiments on eight sets of data from the KEEL repository are described. Comparison with analogs are given.

Statistical simulation of distributed sets of objects integrated into a large network and forming an operating environment is considered. The simulation is carried out on square matrices with random filling using percolation theory. Statistical features of the clusters of objects that arise in this case are analyzed. Along with well-known stochastic percolation, the concept of a controlled percolation of the operating environment is introduced, which is implemented in two phases: in the first phase, a stochastic basis with a relatively low concentration of objects is created, and in the second phase, additional objects are introduced in the intercluster intervals in order to obtain the shortest percolation path while minimizing the total cost of such two-phase operation. This model is used to consider vehicle navigation by visual landmarks randomly distributed in the operating environment.

This paper presents a method of monochromatic diffraction ultrasonic transmission tomography that takes into account the amplitude-phase distribution of the field diffracted on the object. The depth resolution of objects is achieved by multi-angle measurements. The results of numerical modeling and experimental studies at a frequency of 40 kHz in air confirm the applicability of the method.

An approach is proposed to perform a mathematical analysis of an ordered relief formed on the nanotitanium surface after laser shock-wave treatment. This approach enables one to obtain informative attributes and a quantitative estimate of parameters of morphological structures being formed with allowance for the stochastic and cyclic nature of this process.

The problem of statistical synthesis of the algorithm of detection of spatial objects by equipment that ensures a hyperspectral mode of observations is solved by using the log-likelihood ratio. Characteristics of detecting objects with completely known parameters and also with an unknown amplitude are obtained.

One of the aspects of passive detection and ranging associated with using amplitude (power) measurements in single-position direction finders is discussed. For such a motionless direction finder, a goniometric-energy method of passive detection and ranging is developed, which makes it possible to determine the slant range of the radiating target with partly known parameters of its motion. A solution for a three-dimensional case with due allowance for the nonstationary character of the radio detection and ranging generalized coefficient is obtained. A complex algorithm of comprehensive estimation of this coefficient and the range for the model of straightline uniform motion of the target is constructed. Results of a computational experiment are presented, which confirm the possibility of using the developed method in practice.

A method for measuring a phase difference between two interfering wavefronts on the basis of analyzing the trajectories that are formed by the intensities of pairs of points in a series of interferograms with different phase shifts is proposed. This method does not require a priori knowledge of the actual values of phase shifts.

A method for direct laser thermochemical writing of gray-scale microimages in thin chromium films is developed and studied. The method includes exposing a chromium film with a focused laser beam with variable power intensity and developing it in a selective etchant. The range of variation of the transmission by more than 100 times is obtained. The nonlinearity of the dependence of the chromium film transmission on the power intensity of the exposing beam is eliminated by software correction. The samples of the raster (with a size of 64×64 and a step of 176 μm) of apertures (36 μm) with the gray-scale Gaussian transmission function are manufactured experimentally. This raster is used in the modified Shack - Hartmann sensor.

A confocal experimental scheme with two polycapillary lenses is used to analyze the nearsurface layers of samples by X-ray fluorescent microanalysis with an accuracy of up to 10 μm. To increase the spatial resolution, it is required to account for the influence of the spread function of the confocal X-ray optical node. It is interesting to experiment with a tunable aperture of the confocal volume. In this case, the contribution of tuning inaccuracies in the spread function can increase. A method for describing the spread function of a confocal X-ray microscope that allows for its retuning and accounts for the effect of the angular tuning errors is proposed and experimentally proved. The method is based on the use of an approximating expression of the type of asymmetric approximation of the “Gaussian beam caustic”.

A new method for measuring radial and axial displacements of complex-shaped blade tips with the help of a distributed cluster of two single-coil eddy-current sensors with sensitive elements made as conductor strips is described. The main distinctive features of the method and the results of an experimental analysis of families of calibration characteristics of both sensors are considered. This analysis proves a higher sensitivity to changes in radial displacements and an extended range of axial displacement measurements of the new method as compared to the existent one.

A new class of electrostatic power microgenerators, which transform the energy of mechanical microvibrations to the electric form, is described. The transformation principle is based on transmitting external microvibrations to the microgenerator frame where thin layers of electrets are located, and a moving electrode is suspended on a weak suspension between these layers; this moving electrode performs alternating impacts on the frame. Generator operation is numerically analyzed, and analytical estimates of the generated power are obtained. It is shown that the power produced by such a generator is appreciably greater than the power generated in the classical circuit based on excitation of forced vibrations of a moving plate.

The article analyzes the problems of modern upbringing in the conditions of globalization and informatization of the society. Globalization is seen as an objective process, involving in its orbit regions and countries of the world, affecting all spheres of social life: politics, culture, society, education, upbringing, etc. Kazakhstan cannot stay apart from these processes. The author reveals the positive and negative aspects of globalization taking place in the educational spheres of Kazakhstan. Globalism and globalization is a process of forming a single financial and economic, cultural, ideological, global information space on the basis of high technologies, mainly, the computer technologies. In other words, globalization is hegemonization of the world, life according to universal principles and values, striving to universalize all. This phenomenon involves the growing interdependence, mutual influence of each other and leads to undermining of the national state sovereignty under the pressure of «new actors of the planetary stage», to the inversiveness full of contradictions, differentiation and standardization. In the article there is shown the role of mass culture, globalization of telecommunications, which are powerful factors of modern development, which are the result of development of information technologies. The author speaks about the need of humanization and humanitarization of modern education and upbringing in the conditions of globalization.

The emergence of global problems is associated with the history of formation of contemporary civilization and technocratically oriented culture; this is a natural consequence of the crisis of industrial society. Two centuries ago, nations still existed in isolation, but in the late XIX and early XX centuries there took place dramatic changes. Technology, economics and transport enormously increased mobility and the transformation possibilities of humans. The process of change took place (and still does) together with deep and thorough reforms in the social sphere. The term «globalization» refers to a broad range of events and trends: the development of world ideologies, intense struggle for the establishment of the world order; a jump-like increase in the number of international organizations and strengthening of their impact; the weakening of the sovereignty of nation-states; the emergence and development of transnational corporations (TNCs), the growth of international trade; intensive mass migration and the formation of multicultural communities; the creation of planetary mass media; the expansion of Western culture into all regions of the world, and so on. Analysis of these trends shows that they have acquired a character of synchronous social changes in the first half of XX century; and this transformation took place in such a way that it can be characterized as a social-cultural shift.

The purpose of the article is to consider virtual civil society in the context of modern geopolitics. Existence of civil society is a basis of the democratic structure of the state, and its formation ensures irreversibility of democratic changes. Presently, there takes place a process of understanding of institutionalization of the basic structural elements of civil society; the ways of development of the Russian state and its relations with civil society are actively analyzed. Despite a large number of studies devoted to this problem, the concept of civil society is a debatable one both in the domestic and foreign philosophical science. This problem is especially topical in Russia as the problem of formation of civil society is especially important in the conditions of formation of democracy and solution of practical problems of formation of civil society. For this purpose it is necessary to find out the methodological bases of the theory arising round this issue, because the institutional nature of formation of civil society, the role of its structures and functions in society are not clear. The aspiration to construct "from above" an organic concept of civil society in Russia shows its inefficiency. The profound social changes happening in the modern world created new social reality. As a part of the outside world, the social reality possesses the character of objective reality, therefore its studying has to be guided not by comprehension of how it is given to us in our sensual representations and illusions, but by the knowledge of the characteristics inherent to it and existing out of and independently of human consciousness. The reality is attributed to everything that can arise, that exists and is passing. However, the reality belongs to the last foundations which do not need proof and justification. Development of new means of communication fosters the creation of new relations in society and new social reality, the virtual one. The problem of virtual reality, i.e. virtualization of society gains relevance in connection with continuous growth of the number of Internet users. People unite into communities to be convinced of correctness of their views. In the course of self-organization people pass three stages. The first is the discovery of the like-minded people, the presence of the people with whom it is worth uniting into a certain group. The second step is joining of like-minded people into a group. The third is collective activity. The Internet now solves the first problem. For further development of civil society, it is needed the real, not declared readiness of people to make their contributions. To increase the level of civil activity of people, it may be of help a greater transparency of the Internet when it is clear who and how votes in the Internet polls, which people belong to the community of interest for the blogger. The ability to civic consciousness is a question of convenient instruments of self-organization, for example, social networks on the Internet, and, not so importantly, a question of personal qualities of people, their consciousness. Technically, everything is ready in Russia to emergence of civil society. It remains to turn it into a broad socially oriented practice.

In the article, on the basis of inconsistency of the modern era, the need is shown for fundamental changes in the society in general and in its most important sphere, education. The author speaks about the necessity to change humanitarian strategy in the development by means of synthesis of culture and civilization that requires innovative rethinking of established types of spiritual and practical activities by the general public. Humanitarian methodology is considered as a way of uncovering the unique, inimitable in every person. The essence of the youth policy, which needs to be renewed, is determined in the context of the formation of a new humanitarian strategy. It is substantiated that the accelerated development of technical ways of life in the society should be considered as an incentive to improve the educational prospects for students, youth. The overcoming the planetary chaos, dynamic imbalance, according to the author, is a kind of a "shield" from the universal catastrophe of humanity.

Geopolitics is a science about large spaces, the global political, economic and other processes and the art of their management. The term «geopolitics» is composed of two parts: «geo» and «politics». The word «geo» (earth, territory) suggests that geopolitics considers the influence of geographic factors on the policy of the state. The main such factor is considered to be the location of the state on a continent. In addition, it should be noted that among the significant factors there are not only the length of borders, their location on the natural or artificial boundaries, but also the population, the population density, social structure and, what is important, the level of education, mentality, specificities of the national character and others. The root «geo» has acquired today a second meaning, denoting not only the «global» dimension of politics that characterizes relations between the superpowers or military blocks, but also the «clash of civilizations» (Toynbee, Samuel Huntington), or the change of the overall configuration of the world system (e.g. from the bipolar to the mono- or polycentric ones). The modern actors of geopolitics, rather than yearn to conquer new territories, seek to control as much spaces as possible: not to control the territory as a whole but the lines of communication and various flows in these areas (financial, trade, labor and so on), thereby maintaining the most favorable conditions for their own development and prosperity. In 1916, the Swedish scientist Rudolf Challen (1864-1922) in his work «The state as a form of life» introduced into science the term «geopolitics», defining it as «doctrine, considered the state as a geographical organism or spatial phenomenon». The German theorist Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904) studied the state mainly from the standpoint of its relationship to the environment, space, taking as the main criterion the spatial relationships. A. G. Dugin considers geopolitics as an ideology: «the world-view of power, the science about power and for power», «the science of ruling». We present geopolitics as a world-view, ideological doctrine justifying the direction of international policy of the state in the living space. It is a practical strategy of international policies of nations and states of the Contemporary history. Geopolitical relations are a relative unity and struggle of various forces in the world, it is a balance of power. After the destruction of the Soviet Union as a result of the Belavezha Accords, the balance of power in the world has changed significantly, the world ceased to be bipolar. The West, taking advantage of the situation, tries to impose its own rules on Russia imposes, trying to create a new world order on Russia’s expense. This threatens unpredictable consequences for the whole world. Note that the expansion against Russia is taking place; this is clearly shown by the events in Ukraine. This expansion has essentially «soft character», its other forms could entail active resistance from the Russians (a deterrent factor is that Russia has a formidable nuclear weapons). We must understand that in the XXI century, as the recourse crisis, especially concerning energy, is aggravating, population is growing, fertile land is being depleted and lost, a «hard version» of territorial expansion cannot be excluded in the world affairs.

The modern world development, on one hand, leads to increased interdependence among peoples and nations, and on the other, aggravates the contradictions between them. In modern conditions, not only there takes place the exacerbation of global problems, but also their relation with the fundamental social problems changes. Therefore, the processes of globalization in all their contradictions are a reality of the modern world, to be reckoned with. Political, financial institutions, corporations and information flows, acting in the world, erase national borders and establish uniform rules for all countries. At the present stage, none of the countries can stay aside from the rapidly developing processes of globalization. Participation in it allows not only solving the pressing economic problems, but also actively entering the global technology flows to learn and effectively use the experience of organization and management of production. The changes occurring in the world, initiate the emergence of new so-called global opportunities, interesting new ideas and ways of their implementation. The main challenge of globalization Russia is whether it will be able to organically enter into the process of world development or not. In terms of technology and economy, Russia still has a chance to overcome or mitigate the growing lag behind the developed countries as much as possible using the advantages offered by globalization. Despite the structural imbalances of the economy, inherited from the Soviet period of development of the country and acute crisis of the transition period, Russia has maintained a sufficient level of scientific and technological development, rather skilled labor force and intellectual potential.

Education is one of the most important factors contributing to the successful solution of the globalization problems. Its purpose is to prepare the person to working in new organizational structures and to broadly disseminate information technology changing the work organization. In the process of globalization, educational activity for all social and age groups of population becomes the primary means of development and reproduction. Currently there is implemented marketization of education, due to investments of big business and international financial institutions in standardization, and distribution of training modules for employees in accordance with the technological requirements. The positive trends in the implementation of this direction are a significant increase in jobs and job training, a relatively short training period of the employee. The negative factors include narrow specialization and, as a consequence, insecurity of the human in front of ever-changing economic situation, inability to take into account personal interests and preferences in the area of education. Globalization of the crucial problems of humanity and their universal intellectual and practical development are carried out through education, which thus acquires common goals. The question arises of a universal educational space as a modern global educational system, whose main content is cultural and scientific achievements of all mankind, absorbed in unified organizational forms, on the basis of common tools, methodological principles and technological possibilities of teaching.

In the article the authors present a philosophical-psychological interpretation of the ideas of the ancient philosopher Plato. It was Plato who opened the structure in the form of «ideas», «forms», «eidos». He distinguished the real world, where people live, and the world of shadows. He laid the new content into the basis of all things, the numbers. Plato interpreted human behavior as the behavior of a doll, which is controlled via the external and internal threads (the mind). In his dialogues he proved the existence of innate knowledge. The person must make a choice of a thread which, by its control, makes the person good, active and high-spirited. A. F. Losev, a specialist in Plato, expressed Platonism in two or three sentences. On the basis of the conducted analysis, the philosopher argues that the center of Plato's philosophy is the concept of Eidos, and that this Eidos, as we said above, is justified, so to speak, from above and from below. It is justified from above as a product of the over-existent One; from below, as a womb, which generates from itself, by moving into formation, the Soul, which re-draws the face of Eidos, turning it into a Sophian symbol, and thus into a model, a Paradigm, in Demiurge, further generating the Cosmos. Hence, in its essence, Platonism is a doctrine about three or four guises, dialectically deploying existence in its entirety: the One, Mind (Eidos, Idea), Soul and Cosmos. Though Plato did not use this terminology, but the formula of the «entire Plato», proposed by Losev, is an analysis using the generalizing terms of the core of this philosophy. In the teachings of Plato about the basic ontological substances, according to Losev, the «One» is nothingness. It is the basis of the entire existence and entire reality. There are hidden there not only ideas of things, but the things themselves, as well as their formation. «Mind» is one of the faculties of the Soul. Its subject is the essence of things but not their formation. «Mind» in the Platonic sense is life in the extreme generalization. «Mind» is embodied in the «Cosmos». «Soul» combines the mind with the ideas, which constitute it, and the corporeal world. «Soul» is distinguished by eternal mobility. It is in everything and in the entire «Cosmos» at the same time. «Cosmos» is an eternal prototype or sample, is a kind of an organism of an idea, rather, idea as an organism, which is in the cosmic proportions. Further development of the prototype leads to the triad: the body of «Cosmos», soul of «Cosmos», and the mind of «Cosmos». In his dialogues, Plato proves the existence of innate knowledge.

The goal of the article is to discuss the causes of appearance of science and education as areas of social existence and touch upon the issue of the time of their appearance in history. In this case, the causes of appearance of science and education are understood as the condition and realization causes, that is, only the necessary social and economic conditions leading to the appearance of these phenomena in a given historical period. The article deliberately ignores the logical and methodological factors of their genesis. In the analysis of these socio-economic reasons, we introduce the concepts of science and education in the broad sense of the word and the concept of science and education in the modern, narrow sense. The conclusion is that science arises because of acute social and economic needs of the corresponding society and only one of the alternatives («replies») to the «challenge» situation. The modern system of education is a consequence of the needs of the society in a large number of specialists, able to create something principally new. Education in the broadest sense is a consequence of the need of the relevant social groups in the confirmation of elite status and maintenance of complex social technologies. Modern science and modern education emerged as a mass phenomenon around the same time, about XVI-XVII centuries. And the reason for this was, in fact, one and the same factor: the urgent need to change the societies themselves (in the social and technological aspects). Science and education in the broad sense, historically appeared much earlier, do not have such organic connection, because they were caused not by the same reasons and could exist in relative isolation from each other. The above is one of the arguments in favor of the externalist point of view, that is, that science and education arise and change rather due to the external socio-economic factors than to the factors immanent to them.

The article analyzes the processes of interaction between social institutions of academic science and higher education in contemporary Russia. It is concluded that the main content of the process was the formation of the phenomenon of forced integration, which is understood as a force including of the academic research institutions of the federal and national research universities, to dramatically enhance scientific potential of universities. The author is critical of this experience, offering to find and use other, mutually beneficial ways and forms of integration. According to the author, in the conditions when the global trend is the creation and development of research universities, the main issue for Russia becomes the following one: how most organically and effectively make academic institutions a part of the new university. The path proposed today at the federal level can hardly be considered optimal. The reason is the forceful imposition of a new model with significant damage to the prevailing democratic traditions, scientific productivity and, most importantly, the psychological state of the scientific staff of academic institutions. In our opinion, it is necessary to find new ways, in some cases, some intermediate forms of interaction without drawing power resources for the forceful solving the problems, because the limit of this kind of actions has been exhausted in the reform of science in 2013. The task is to build a new system of relationships, the most advantageous to both parties, while preventing the loss of accumulated experience and scientific groundwork, personnel, material-technical base of academic institutions, at the same time, enhancing to the maximum extent the scientific potential of domestic higher education.

The article is devoted to defining of the actual incompleteness of the «cross-philosophical methodology», as well as tracking the use of methodological «crosses» in domestic and foreign (English) tradition. Combinatorial eschatologism, claimed as a way of identifying the methodological syntheses, in no way preclude further completing of the author's proposed taxonomy table, because it is not invariant. In his article, the author tries to understand the usefulness of the application of combinatorics to the problems of methodological combinations in the philosophy that effectively overcome the postmodern eclecticism, often involves a rejection of the search for rigorous solutions. The article analyzes historically methodological combinations and the conclusion about the need to expand the number of methodological variations for solving urgent problems of philosophical multiscreen knowledge. The analysis of scientific and philosophical literature demonstrates that methodological variations are used not only in classical philosophical practice as methods of cognition, but also as markers for the critical evaluation of some philosophical schools themselves and each other; methodological «crossing», probably because of heuristic redundancy, often go beyond the purely philosophical perspective, as for example, the economic, pedagogical and Western theological thought actively borrows methodological crossing for their needs. A combinatorial table, which the author proposes to call «methodological sieve (partly using the metaphor of William James) is a convenient way to build a unified picture of the methodological intersections. This tool allows effectively exhausting the possible intersections without worrying about missing some of them. The main purpose of this article is to reconstruct those synthetic methodological concepts, without the clarification of which the modern philosophical methodology cannot be considered complete and logically justified. In the conditions of permanent growth of information flows, the ability of the student to quickly recognize the methodological principles with further study, classification and application are of particular importance. In accordance with the requirements of saving the study time, this matrix can be used in the teaching of philosophical methodology to graduate students in the course «History and philosophy of science». In this context, the function of combinatorial philosophy will be to clearly and succinctly clarify the methodological difficulties, and to inform graduate students about the variable set of philosophical cognition methods, their meaning and importance for the theory of knowledge.

The article focuses educator’s attention to one of the possible innovative ways of modernization of the contemporary socio-humanitarian education. Sociological science is included in the subject «social Studies». Therefore, teachers of history and social science need professional consideration of a variety of sociological theories in enhancing its competence in the field of social cognition, to understand the rules of communication and the importance of compromise, based on common values. The authors analyze the social research projects proposed by Western and Russian representatives of phenomenology and postmodern sociology. Phenomenological sociology considers the main task of the development of quantitative methods for constructing social theory, arguing the possibility of reliable description of the subjective experience of individuals to understand the genesis of social structures through culture-centered approaches. The need is postulated for a method of social and humanitarian expertise for understanding the uniqueness, situational social world. Postmodernism captures redundancy of the socio-cultural space of individuals, including the individual's identity crisis: the lack of rigidly structured monistic social world and the fundamental possibility of the split of the own «I» into several «I»-s. Ethnomethodology proposes the idea of constructability of all sociocultural phenomena and explores the informal rules of spoken interaction in everyday life of individuals using the methods of ethnographic description, observation, analysis of the recorded speech, destruction of stability and order situation of the language usage. Individual human indispensability, lack of a clear demarcation between the subject and the object of sociological research are the methodological principle sources of ethnomethodology. Reorientation of history as the development of the social reality of history as the simultaneous existence of equivalent, equal-valued life-worlds and research in social cognition of the equally important theoretical constructs that describe these life-worlds, rules of communication is a characteristic feature of postmodern intellectual practice. These «knowledge-science news» and information about the new social theories, views and ideas must be mastered by the modern history and social science teacher with the understanding, first, that social cognition plays the role of the individual acts of self-creation of the social world, the rules of interpretation, of ordering personal-unique strategy behavior of individuals in the course of communication; secondly, that the established social order in the next moment can be reinterpreted and that the search for adequate value orientations forms of self-realization becomes a normal state of life.

Russia is strongly behind the leading oil-processing countries in the production of high-octane nonaromatic components of motor petrol (in particular, isomerizate petrol) from light hydrocarbon raw material. One of the possible means to solve this problem is the use of ZSM-5 type zeolites as isomerization catalysts, which allows the process to be carried out under non-standard conditions: without the admission of hydrogen-containing gas into the reaction medium at atmospheric pressure, without the use of precious metals and superacid additives. In the present work, high-silica zeolite of the ZSM-5 structural type with the silica ratio equal to 40 was obtained by means of hydrothermal synthesis and then modified by nanometer-sized nickel powder. The catalytic activity of initial and Ni-containing zeolites and the dynamics of there deactivation were studied in the transformations of n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane, n -octane, a mixture of pentane and hexane and the virgin gasoline fraction of petroleum. It was shown that the major products of the transformation of light hydrocarbon raw material at the catalysts under study are n - and isoalkanes С₄-С₈, alkyl benzenes; naphthenes and olefins are formed in insignificant amounts. Zeolite modification with nanometer-sized nickel promotes an increase in the yield of liquid products with increased isoalkane content and makes the stability higher in comparison with the initial sample. This is due to the presence of active Ni-containing centres in the catalytic system; these centres participate in hydrogenation-dehydrogenation reactions. As a result, the rate of the formation of condensed molecules (which are coke precursors) decreases, and catalyst deactivation proceeds slower. The largest amount of carbon deposits having the dense structure is formed in the conversion of n-octane, while the smallest one is formed in the conversion of n-pentane.

Expanded investigation of the chemical composition of water from melted snow was carried out at the territories under intense technochemic load from one of the largest mining and smelting enterprises of the Murmansk Region - Kola Miming and Metallurgical Company Norilsk Nikel JSC. The data obtained by direct analytical determination were supplemented by the results of physicochemical modeling using the software complex Selektor within the system Al-B-Br-Ar-He-Ne-C-Ca-Cl-F-K-Mg-Mn-N-Na-P-S-Si-Sr-Cu-Zn-H-O-e^– and have practical significance for the reconstruction of changes in the ion composition of the dissolved part of water from melted snow under different technogenic load and for restoration works under the conditions of operating plant.

Changes in the concentrations of ghalogens (fluorine, chlorine, iodine) in soil and in the plants of agrocenosis were studied. It was established that the introduction of fertilizers promotes a substantial (by 29−32 %) increase in the total fluorine content in the upper (0−20 cm) soil layer; the level of water-soluble fluorine increases noticeably within the whole soil layer under investigation (to the depth of 1 m). The introduction of potassium fertilizers causes a substantial increase (by 20−25 %) of chlorine content in the soil of agrocenosis with its uniform distribution over the soil profile. The total level of iodine in the upper soil layer somewhat increased, while the concentration of water-soluble iodine decreased substantially (by 40−50 %). The use of potassium fertilizers in combination with phosphorus-containing ones promotes a decrease in fluorine concentration in vegetable products; the consumption of chlorine and iodine by plants increases substantially under these conditions.

The effect of alkaline and acidic treatment on the properties and texture characteristics of native sapropel from Lake Gorchakovskoye (the Omsk Region) and carbon-mineral materials obtained from sapropel through carbonization was studied. It was established that acidic treatment with low-concentration HCl solutions causes an increase in the total pore volume with respect to water in carbon-mineral materials up to 0.42 cm³/g; the ash value decreases without any changes in bulk density due to the removal of the organic and mienral part in native sapropel. Alkaline treatment with the aqueous solutions of NaOH allows achieving the developed surface in the carbon-mienral materials up to 106 m²/g. The major fraction of pores in the treated carbon-mineral materials is represented by mesopores 3.4−5.4 nm in diameter, and macropores more than 600 nm in diameter.

The distribution of thiocyanate acidocomplexes of a series of metals in layering systems “water - catamine AB - potassium chloride” and “water - oxyphos B - ammonium sulphate” depending on the concentrations of NH₄SCN and H₂SO₄ were studied. The cobnditions for quantitative extraction of copper (II), zinc, iron (III), cobalt were determined. The spectrophotometric characteristics of extractable thiocyanate complexes of Cu(II), Co and Fe(III) were studied. A procedure for extraction photometric determination of cobalt was developed.

More than 150 compounds represented by n- alkanes, n- alkane-2-ones, n- aldehydes, fatty acids and their esters, as well as isoprenoids including sesqui-, di-, triterpenes, steroids, acyclic compounds and tocopoherols were identified in the chloroform-methanol extract of high-moor and valley peat from native, unwatered and recovered regions of marshes in Belarus and in West Siberia by means of gas chromatography - mass spectrometry The composition of carotenoids and tatrapyrrhole pigments was determined in the acetone extract of peat by means of high-pressure liquid chromatography in combination with absorption spectroscopy. Chlorofyll a and b, pheophytin a and b, pheophorbide a, bacteriopheophytin b, lutein, α-carotene and neoxanthine were identified. It was demonstrated that the compounds undergoing the most substantial qualitative and quantitative changes during dewatering are sesqui-, di- and triterpenes, steroids, as well as carotenoids and tetrapyrrholes. Unlike for unaffected peat beds, the dominating sesquiterpene in all the studied high-moor and valley peat samples from dewatered and recovered regions is β-cadinene; the derivatives of lanosterol are present among steroids; in dewatered and recovered valley peat of Belarus there are des-A-derivatives of oleane structures, while among triterpenoids of dewatered peat from West Siberia there are oxygen-containing hopanoids. As a consequence of dewatering, chlorophylls disappear from peat pigments, while the concentration of neoxanthine increases. Dienic pentacyclic structures are absent from dewatered and recovered high-moor peat in Belarus, while the overall fraction of hopanoids increases. As a result of repeated watering of dewatered regions of upland bogs in Belarus, betulin and b-amirin appear among five-membered cyclic isoprenoids. Similarly to native peat, keto derivatives of hopene and oleanene are detected in those samples, while these compounds are absent from peat in dewatered region. The differences in the changes of the individual composition of triterpenes accompanying bog dewatering in West Siberia and Belarus may be due to more severe clinmatic conditions and, as a consequence, low rate of oxidative processes taking place in peat deposit. The obtained results may poromote deeper understanding of the processes that take place in peat deposits, prediction of the development of peat marsh ecosystems and reasonable use of peat.

Precipitation of bismuth (III) tartrates from hydrochloric, nitric and acetic solutions depending on the concentration of tartrate ions and process temperature was studied by means of chemical, X-ray phase, differential thermal analysis, IR and Raman spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. It was demonstrated that normal bismuth tartrate with the composition BiC₄H₃O₆ x H₂O or bismuth tartratahydrotartrate trihydrate with the composition [Bi(C₄H₄O₆)(C₄H₅O₆)] x 3H₂O are formed after the addition of tartaric acid into hydrochloric and acetic solutions of bismuth. Two compounds are formed during bismuth precipitation from nitric solutions with tartaric acid, depending on the concentration of tartrate ions: nitrate-tartrate complex with the composition [Bi(NO₃)(H₂O)₃]C₄H₄O₆ and tartratahydrotartreate trihydrate [Bi(C₄H₄O₆)(C₄H₅O₆)] x 3H₂O. As a result of multiple washing with water, the nitrate-tartrate complex is transformed into X-ray amorphous normal bismuth tartrate with the composition BiC₄H₃O₆ x H₂O. Normal bismuth tartrate is also formed after the addition of sodium tartrate into the nitric solutions of bismuth for the molar ratio of tartrate ions to bismuth equal to 1−3, and process temperature 23−60 °C. With further increase in sodium tartrate concentration in the system, the degree of bismuth precipitatiuon decreases sharply as a consequence of the formation of water-soluble complex ions. It was demonstrated that normal bismuth tartrate BiC₄H₃O₆ x H₂O is identical with the compound known previously as monobismuth tartaric acid. It was shown that the hydroxy bismuth salt of monobismuth tartaric acid, which is obtained by precipitation from lactic-acetic solutions and is recommended as the medical substance of antisyphilitic preparation Bismoverol, is not an individual compound but is a mixture of normal bismuth tartrate with the composition BiC₄H₃O₆ x H₂O and bismuth oxoacetate with the composition BiОC₂H₃O₂.

A novel approach to planning and visualization of the cyclic and isohydric method for obtaining potassium nitrate is considered. The approach is based on the use of the data on phase equilibria in a quaternary mutual water-salt system K⁺, Na⁺//Cl⁻, at different temperatures. A key to process visualization ios the joint plotting of the diagram of state and its isohydric sections corresponding to the compositions of reference points. Experimental material balances are presented for this process carried out using retour of sodium chloride and without it. It is demonstrated that the introduction of retour allows one to decrease the losses of return solution at the stage of sodium chloride isolation, and to use sylvinite as the initial raw material for the process.

Data on the concentrations of heavy metals and lithium in the bottom sediments of Lakes Ladozhskoye (northern region) and Chetyrekhverstnoye (Petrozavodsk) are reported. The dependence of the concentrations of studied microelements on sampling depth and a correlation between lithium and heavy metals in the studied samepls of lake sediments were demonstrated. It was proved that lithium nay be used for granulometric normalization of the concentrations of heavy metals in the studied water objects and thus it may be used to evaluate the level of techynogenic pollution of lakes in Karelia. Higher level of the pollution of bottom sediments in the city Lake Chetyrekhverstnoye by lead, copper and nickel in comparison with the sediments of Lake Ladozhskoye was detected, while the sediments in Lake Ladozhskoe were found to be polluted with zinc to a higher extent.

It is demonstrated for the first time that the reaction carried out under the conditions of RAPET (Reaction under Autogenic Pressure at Elevated Temperatures) is accompanied by the interaction of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) decomposition products with bulk metal and causes its self-dispersion. Thus formed nanoparticles act as a catalyst on which the growth of carbon nanofibers occurs. The mechanism of this self-dispersion is due to oxidation-reduction transformations participated by the components of reaction medium formed as a result of PVC thermolysis. Technologically easy method to process PVC wastes in the presence of self-organising catalysts is proposed. As a result of this process, the plastic matter is completely decomposed with the formation of carbon nanofibers. The literature data on the catalytic corrosion of bulk metals and alloys are generalized. On the basis of analysis, the optimal process parameters were chosen. The evolution of resulting materials within temperature range 420 to 1000 °С was studied by means of electron microscopy. The morphology of the formed product was studied and its chemical analysis was carried out. The dependence of the chemical composition and morpholopgy of the formed products on synthesis temperature was established. The SEM images of structured synthesis products formed at different temperatures are presented.

The ratings of 100 leading universities of BRICS countries are analyuzed. The positions of Russian Universities are discussed. Attempts are made to reveal the reasons of the existing situation and to determine the actions that can improve the positions of Russian Universities. Siberian universities included into the hundred leading universities under discussion are considered in detail.

Coal from the Usinsk deposit of the Pechora coal basin was studied using a set of chemical and physicochemical analysis methods (technical and elemental analysios, ash composition analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, IR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy etc .) to evaluate coal composition. It was shown that coal belongs to the medium metamorphized group and is characterized by aromaticity factor 71 to 77 %. Total sulphur content in coal is within the range 0.3 to 2.8 %, the mineral part of coal is represented mainly by the compounds of silicon and aluminium.

The functional composition of humic acids (HA) in brown coal and its natural oxidized form was studied, as well as their activity as growth-promoting agents for agricultural crops. The samples of coal and HA were characterized using instrumental methods (NMR, IR, EPR spectroscopy), elemental and technical analyses were carried out. It was established that the physiological activity of HA is directly proportional to a number of structural parameters: aromaticity factor, hydrophilic-hydrophobic parameter and the ratio of aromatic to aliphatic fragments in the organic mass of HA.

The application of photometric titration to the studies of acid-base properties of humic acids is considered for sodium humate obtained from brown coal of the Kaichak deposit (Kemerovo Region, Tisul District) titrated with hydrochloric acid. The appearance of the curve of photometric titration corresponds to the case of coloured initial substance and reaction product, and uncoloured titrant. The concentration of acid centres and dissociation constant were determined as a result of titration curve treatment. To verify the results, pH metric titration was used. It was concluded that photometric titration allows more precise determination of the parameters of humic substances than the direct use of Bouguer−Lambert−Baer law and Henderson−Hasselbach equation.