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The article discusses contradictions and paradoxes of the development of the Russian polar territories consequent on the transformation of the Arctic from a global periphery to a global frontier. The first paradox is a strong contrast between the extremes of poverty and wealth, despite the fact that Russia dominates Arctic production in terms of GRP. Among other contradictions are the following: large-scale import of oil and lubricants into the Arctic with simultaneous export of energy resources; while proclaiming the need for new management strategies for the region, this priority is not reflected in the grant-making policies of major research foundations; although the Arctic is the largest resource region, there are little search efforts for innovation in environmental management and no textbooks on resource economics; Russia's Arctic zone in Asia is becoming a pioneer in onshore and offshore exploration, but it has almost no trained and equipped outposts in coastal towns to perform the needed functions. Lists of Arctic land territories in federal laws contain numerous discrepancies and inconsistencies. Around the world, the Arctic has become a testing ground for innovations in state and municipal management, environmental management on polycentric principles and ecosystem management, co-management and others. For this end, other countries actively involve implicit knowledge of indigenous peoples, as well as unformalized knowledge of old residents and local experts. On the contrary, Russia, which has the longest Arctic territory, invests the least effort. In the short term, the major concern associated with the development of the region will be to ensure that large and small entities of Arctic economy are socially embedded. It will push the authorities at various levels to work on the problem together with the local community, and require corporations to behave responsibly.

In this article, we modify the well-known inter-regional inter-sectoral optimization model (ОМММ), which makes it possible to incorporate a large-scale railway investment project. If the development of the national economy is deterministic, the model estimates the possible impact of the project on households' consumptive use. This helps to evaluate the macroeconomic efficiency of the project in the given development scenario. The uncertainty of economic development can be reflected in a representative set of scenarios. We consider the comparison of competing projects under the scenario uncertainty as a game against nature. We argue that Wald's criterion is appropriate for investors, whereas managers would possibly prefer Savage's criterion. If the projects use public funds, the interests of society and the government employees selecting projects for implementation may differ significantly due to inconsistency between the criteria.

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.

Sorption of zinc cations by native and H₂O₂ modified humic acids obtained from brown coal of the Tisul deposit of Kansk-Achinsk coal basin was studied using IR Fourier, EPR, ¹³С NMR spectroscopy in the solid state. It was demonstrated that sorption proceeds according to ion exchange mechanism. Modification of humic acids causes an increase in sorption capacity by a factor of 2−4.

The activity of catalyst samples obtained by means of modification of the CuZnAlO catalyst by various anion and cation additives was studied in oxidative desulphurization of dibenzothiophene dissolved in toluene for the purpose of searching for active catalysts for obtaining Diesel fuel with low sulphur content. It was demonstrated that the joint modification by anion additives BO₂⁻ and MoO₄²⁻ promotes an increase in the efficiency of oxidative desulphurization of dibenzothiophene due to its oxidation by atmospheric oxygen in the vapour phase.

The major technologies used for gas purificationf rom sulphur dioxide are described. On the basis of data analysis, it is concluded that the promising methods of sulphur dioxide neutralization in the gas emitted from metallurgic works involve catalytic reduction of SO₂ by methane or synthesis gas. Requirements to reduction catalysts are formulated. Different classes of catalytic systems are described.

Results of the thermodynamic analysis of industrially significant low-temperature reduction of sulphur dioxide by different reducing agents (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, synthesis gas) are reported for variations of reducing agents, temperature and the ratio of СО/Н₂. The compositions of equilibrium mixtures and the dynamics of their changes depending on process temperature are presented.

For the process of low-temperature reduction of sulphur dioxide, the catalyst based on natural iron-manganese concretions was developed and tested in the target process for obtaining adsorbents in the processes of gas purification from sulphur dioxide. Under the chosen process conditions and the ratio SO₂/(CO + H₂) = 0.5, the catalyst provides 100 % degree of sulphur dioxide transformation and sulphur yield at a level of 96 %.