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The paper presents the results of a study of the properties of Poletaevsky kaolin with the aim of using it in the ceramic industry. Based on the results of determining the chemical, mineral and granulometric composition. The mineral composition of Poletaevsky kaolin is kaolinite 80–85 wt %, muscovite and illite 10–15 wt %, quartz up to 10–15 wt %. It has been established that the Hinckley index for Poletaevsky kaolin is 0.68, compared to 1.38 for Glukhovetsky one. The ratio of highly ordered kaolinite to low ordered kaolinite for Poletaevsky kaolin is 22 : 78, for Glukhovetsky kaolin the ratio of highly ordered kaolinite to low-ordered kaolinite is 57 : 43. It was established that Poletaevsky kaolin can be used in the production of ceramic materials by plastic or semi-dry molding. The determined low content of high-ordered kaolinite and the insignificant content of particles less than 2 μm according to the results of laser diffraction analysis can lead to the production of an unstable slip. When firing samples of Poletaevsky kaolin, a minimum water absorption of 5.5 % was achieved at a firing temperature of 1450 °C. In this case, the resulting maximum apparent density was 2.17 g/cm3, the maximum mullite content was 38 %, and the maximum compressive strength was 32 MPa. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of conflict between Russia and Ukraine on February 23, 2022, was a huge shock, and it quickly became the dominant topic of conversation on social media. Our research is based on Twitter conversations about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This paper intends to monitor and analyze the Twitter conversation on the continuing war in Ukraine using natural language processing techniques such as word cloud analysis, sentiment analysis, and visualization. The major goal is to acquire insight into Twitter users' shifting thoughts and opinions on various parts of the conflict over time. The study's findings have important implications for politicians, journalists, and social media users who want to follow and understand how online communities' attitudes on global issues change. We hope that this study will help to gain a deeper knowledge of how social media works in affecting public debate and how it might be used to gain insights into public opinion on crucial global issues. In this work logistic regression, K-nearest neighbours and decision tree algorithm are used to analyse the sentiments and got classification accuracy of 94.58%, 88.89% and 90.45% respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the growing demand for energy worldwide, fossil fuels, like any other resource available in finite quantities, are in the process of disappearing since their production cannot increase indefinitely. On the other hand, Russia's war with Ukraine is driving up fossil fuel prices, which in turn is impacting price increases at several levels. Added to this is the need to limit global warming, which is largely due to CO2 emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels. Faced with all these constraints, it is essential that the world looks to other sources of energy and that Morocco, in particular, can limit its energy dependence on fossil fuel imports by ensuring an internal energy supply; the best solution appears to be the development of biofuel and in particular, biodiesel. Due to their high energy content and compatibility with gasoline supply infrastructure, biodiesel may be utilized in motor vehicles. To achieve the optimal utilization of biodiesel in internal combustion engines, it is first required to choose the best feedstock that will provide both increased engine performance and economic viability. In this perspective, this paper provides a summary of the climate and energy situation in the world and in Morocco in particular, and then addresses the interest of biodiesel and its production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of space exploration, the moon has significant value for scientific research. However, because of such research's costs and risks, international cooperation will be critical for the future lunar exploration. In 2021, China and Russia jointly initiated the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project and released the Guide for Partnership (V1.0). However, the basic regulatory framework for creating the ILRS project is not yet in place, posing a challenge to pursuing this complex and technically ambitious endeavor. The paradigm of international cooperation that was the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project set a good example of how scientific research could transcend geographic boundaries. This paper examines the ITER Agreement, the constitutive agreement of the ITER, and analyzes the successful experience of large-scale international cooperation on a complex scientific project. Then, in view of the characteristics of the ILRS project and the existing space law, the main elements of a regulatory framework for international cooperation on this project are proposed, which follows the ITER Agreement closely. The paper concludes that such a regulatory framework for international cooperation on the ILRS project may contribute to the peaceful exploration and use of the moon, thus promoting the well-being and interests of humankind. • The moon has significant value for scientific research. • International cooperation will be critical for the future lunar exploration. • A regulatory framework for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) is not in place. • The paradigm of international cooperation on the ITER set a good example. • The main elements of a regulatory framework for the ILRS are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the discourse of the Russia–Ukraine war to outline the dominant narrative schemas anchored in the spatial geopolitical representations of globalness and localness. It uses tools from the domains of critical cognitive discourse studies and narrative research (alternative futures, discourse scenarios, deictic space, proximization) to distinguish between two most salient schemas: the Global Conflict Reality (GCR) narrative and the Local Conflict Reality (LCR) narrative. The GCR narrative conceptualizes the Russia–Ukraine war as a growing international conflict, producing serious political, economic and material consequences for the global community. GCR uses coercive rhetoric to call for immediate measures to support Ukraine so the war can be stopped before spreading beyond its current borders. The principal narrator of GCR is Ukraine, though the narrative is re-contextualized in other countries located in geographical proximity to the conflict. The LCR narrative, performed mostly by the Kremlin, construes the war as a local conflict providing no reasons for foreign intervention. LCR is distinctive for its large number of sub-narratives appropriated for different geopolitical audiences, which include the Russian and Ukrainian people, and different audience groups in the West and the Global South. The latter groups re-contextualize the LCR narrative, focusing primarily on economic issues. • Outlines the competing narrative schemas in the discourse of the Russia–Ukraine war. • Uses an interdisciplinary collection of tools to define 'global conflict' and 'local conflict' narratives. • Identifies a complex network of re-contextualizations of the principal narratives outside the main scene of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the overlapping influence of China in Russia and five countries that have experienced democratic backsliding: Azerbaijan, Nicaragua, Serbia, Turkey, and Uganda. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, including media watchdog reports, key informant interviews, and quantitative data, the paper maps the portfolio of specific digital censorship tools – legislative, institutional, and technological—that governments in China and Russia use to censor their domestic digital content. Then the digital censorship tools in the five case study countries are documented to examine where their governments' tactics overlapped with those of the Kremlin and Beijing. These case study countries differ in their levels of development and democracy, with Russia, China, and the West all vying for influence. Key findings include the importance of timing when installing a digital censorship regime, and that Uganda and Nicaragua stand out among the case study countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terms of cataloged debris produced, the anti-satellite test carried out by Russia, in November 2021, at an altitude of about 480 km, leading to the destruction of the old satellite Cosmos 1408, was the second worst to date and represented the third worst fragmentation in orbit. It generated more than 1/4 of the cataloged debris produced over 55 years by all such tests and almost twice as many as were produced by all previous Soviet tests. After placing this event in its historical context, this paper analyzes in detail how the evolution of the Cosmos 1408 debris cloud affected the environment below 600 km in the first seven months, focusing on the two operational space stations and the Starlink large constellation of satellites. During the first six months following the test, the Cosmos 1408 cloud of fragments nearly doubled the average flux of cataloged objects on the International Space Station and increased by about 3/4 that on China's Tiangong. In the same period, the Starlink large constellation saw an average increase in the flux of cataloged objects of about 20%. Some orbital planes, the "counter-rotating" ones with respect to the Cosmos 1408 debris cloud, were more affected than others, and the affected planes gradually changed over time, due to the differential precession of cloud and constellation nodes. However, being the Starlink constellation 70 km higher up, the flux of Cosmos 1408 cataloged debris steadily decreased over the period analyzed, due to the cloud orbital decay, reducing to just over a quarter of its extrapolated initial value after seven months. • A review of ASAT tests as a source of orbital debris was presented. • The impact of the Cosmos 1408 destruction was put into context. • The cataloged debris flux increase on space stations was computed and discussed. • The debris flux increase and evolution on Starlink orbit planes was analyzed. • A moratorium on this type of ASAT tests was recommended, including low LEO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A generalized mathematical model has been proposed to analysis COVID-19. • Deterministic and stochastic SIQR models with vaccination and treatment are studied. • Conditions for the extinction of the epidemic are obtained. • The theoretical results of model are verified by the epidemic data of Russia and Serbia. • We make the short-term prediction of COVID-19 in Russia and Serbia. In this paper, we propose and investigate the SIQR epidemic model with a generalized incidence rate function, a general treatment function and vaccination term. We firstly consider the existence and uniqueness of the global nonnegative solution to the deterministic model. Further, we show the locally asymptotic stability of the disease-free equilibrium and endemic equilibrium of the deterministic model, and obtain the basic reproduction number R 0. Then we study the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solution to the stochastic model with any positive initial value. Meanwhile, we obtain sufficient conditions for the extinction of the disease in the stochastic epidemic model, and find that the large noise can make the disease die out exponentially. Finally, we make an empirical analysis by the COVID-19 data of Russia and Serbia. By the performance comparison of different models, it shows that the model with vaccination and treatment we proposed is better for the real situation, which is also verified by different estimation methods. Especially, that shows the recovery rate of the infected increases by 0.042 and the death rate of the recovered is 1.525 times that of normal human in Russia. Through statistical analysis, the short-term trend of epidemic transmission is predicted: under the condition of unchanged prevention and control policies, it may reach a stable endemic equilibrium state in Russia and the epidemic will eventually extinct in Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of trends directly impacting the development of banking services, the business model of financial intermediaries and the future of the sector is both large and very diverse, and thus represent a great interest for research from the point of view of modern economic science. The goal of this paper is to identify patterns in the development of banking products in the modern economy, which is characterized by the instability of the regulatory environment, a significant number of technological innovations in related areas, conflicting demographic trends, and an accelerated change in customer preferences. Data makes it possible to form a rather wide database of balanced panel data covering most regions of Russia over a long period (from 2010 to 2020). The results obtained indicate a fairly high quality of the regression: characteristics such as income and credit history strongly affect the volume of loans in a region (these results were expected as mentioned factors in most cases indicate a normal inertial process of changing the attitude of credit institutions and their customers to a banking product, in this case – retail lending). On the other hand, the factors characterizing the non-financial socio-demographic characteristics of the population of the regions, such as quality of health care, financial literacy, also turned out to be significant. The obtained quantitative estimates might be used for credit institutions for management of risks and product development in various territories and planning expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on extraterrestrial civilisations in Russia date back to the end of the 19th century. The modern period of SETI studies began in the USSR in the early 1960s. The first edition of the I.S. Shklovsky's book Universe, Life, Intelligence published in 1962 was a founding stone of SETI research in the USSR. A number of observational projects in radio and optical domains were conducted in the 1960s–1990s. Theoretical studies focused on defining optimal spectral domains for search of artificial electromagnetic signals, selection of celestial targets in search for ETI, optimal methods for encoding and decoding of interstellar messages, estimating the magnitude of astro-engineering activity of ETI, and developing philosophical background of the SETI problem. Later, in the 1990s and in the first two decades of the 21st century, in spite of acute underfunding and other problems facing the scientific community in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, SETI-oriented research continued. In particular, SETI collaborations conducted a number of surveys of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way, searched for Dyson spheres and artificial optical signals. Several space broadcasting programs were conducted too, including a radio transmission toward selected stars. Serious rethinking was given to incentives for passive and active participation of space civilisations in SETI and CETI. This paper gives an overview of past SETI activities. It also gives a comprehensive list of publications by authors from Russia, the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space, as well as some SETI publications by other authors. The rich heritage of SETI research presented in the paper might offer a potentially useful background and starting point for developing strategy and specific research programs of the near future. • Search for extraterrestrial intelligence as a multi-disciplinary science topic. • A century-long history of studies on cosmic civilisations in Russia and USSR. • A comprehensive list of references on search of extraterrestrial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purposes of the paper is a study of the situation that emerged in the peripheral regions as a result of the state policy of the Soviet period, using the example of the demographic trends in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug as one of the most distal Russian territories with respect to the center of Russia. The paper describes the migration flows in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug as a whole, while the fifth section traces the processes of weakening and full closing of each separate settlement. Although the sharp decline in population in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug was often mentioned in various materials, few specific research has been conducted with the main aim of studying this problem. As is well known, most of the USSR population lived in the European part of the country. At the same time, managing new territories was conducted in a planned manner toward Siberian regions, despite being situated far from large European markets. Presumably, these were attempts to obtain an effective return through the policy with ignoring economic principles. The resulting negative "return" of such state policy of regional management is shown by the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In 2013, the well-known Chelyabinsk meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia. It is estimated that the meteor exploded at altitude near 30 km, which damaged thousands of buildings and injured a thousand of residents. The estimated size of the meteor is approximately 20 m. Because the meteor approached to Earth from Sun direction, no ground-based observatories could not detect until the impact. Considering such situations, the paper proposes a concept to detect Chelyabinsk-class small Near-Earth Objects. The concept addresses a "last-minute" warning system of NEO impact, in the same manner of "Tsunami" warning. To achieve the mission objective, two locations are assumed for the space telescope installation point i.e., Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1, SEL1 and Artificial Equilibrium Point, AEP. SEL1 is one of the natural equilibrium points, on the other hand, AEP is artificially equilibrated point by Sun and Earth gravity, centrifugal force and low-thrust acceleration. The magnitude of the acceleration to keep AEP is sufficiently small near 1 au radius orbit around the Sun i.e., the order of μm/s2 which can be achieved by solar sail. Through some cases of numerical simulations considering the size of NEOs and detector capability, this paper will show the feasibility of the proposed concept. Highlights • This is a concept study of a hazardous NEO detection and impact warning system. • It is assumed to use space-based telescopes to detect virtual impactors before the impact. • Sun-Earth L1 point and Artificial Equilibrium Point are used for space-telescope. • SEL1 case shows the deficiency to detect NEOs in-coming from Sun-direction. • On the other hand, AEP case shows almost 100% detectability of NEOs.5th IAA Planetary Defense Conference – PDC 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental contamination of the Arctic has widely been used as a worldwide pollution marker. Various classes of organic pollutants such as pesticides, personal care products, PAHs, flame retardants, biomass burning markers, and many others emerging contaminants have been regularly detected in Arctic samples. Although numerous papers have been published reporting data from the Canadian, Danish, and Norwegian Arctic regions, the environmental situation in Russian Arctic remains mostly underreported. Snow analysis is known to be used for monitoring air pollution in the regions with cold climate in both short-term and long-term studies. This paper presents the results of a nontargeted study on the semivolatile organic compounds detected and identified in snow samples collected at the Russian Artic Archipelago Novaya Zemlya in June 2016. Gas chromatography coupled to a high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer enabled the simultaneous detection and quantification of a variety of pollutants including those from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) priority pollutants list, emerging contaminants (plasticizers, flame retardants-only detection), as well as the identification of novel Arctic organic pollutants, (e.g., fatty acid amides and polyoxyalkanes). The possible sources of these novel pollutants are also discussed. GC-HRMS enabled the detection and identification of emerging contaminants and novel organic pollutants in the Arctic, e.g., fatty amides and polyoxyalkanes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we analyzed the determinants of insolvency for Russian insurance companies (ICs). The relevance of the paper is underpinned by strong interest of investors to emerging insurance industry due to their strong growth, which, in turn, comes with elevated risk. Thus, identification of key drivers of ICs insolvency risk becomes the critical task. Literature review indicated that there are only a few studies at this topic. Logistic regression was chosen as the modeling method. The dataset included 161 Russian ICs over the period 2013-2019. The key financial drivers of credit risks of Russian ICs were profitability, liquidity of assets and premium collection discipline. Among non-financial factors efficiency of strategic management, management of sales channels and credit quality of reinsurers were significant. Macroeconomic variables such as insurance penetration and inflation are also important drivers of ICs creditworthiness. The model had good predictive and discriminative power (accuracy ratio of 0.9 and KS statistics of 0.6). We also compared these drivers with those in advanced markets and analyzed similarities and differences. Lastly, we developed the rating system consisting of 17 rating grades and estimated probability of default for each grade. Results of statistical tests confirmed the correctness of calibration of the rating system, stability of the population and good distribution of observations within the rating scale. The results of the study can be utilized by researchers exploring ICs risks in other emerging markets. The rating system can be used by financial institutions, rating agencies or regulators to assess and monitor of credit quality of ICs in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International humanitarian law is a branch of public international law that seeks to moderate the conduct of wars to protect those who are not taking part in the hostilities. Under international humanitarian law, belligerents may not intentionally target civilians or installations that are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. While collateral harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure may occur, international humanitarian law prohibits attacks that may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. In practice, these principles have not always been honored or enforced. State and non-state actors have deliberately targeted civilians and/or disregarded civilian impacts, often for the purpose of pressuring political leaders to capitulate. The increasing occurrence and severity of harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure in modern conflicts calls into question the continuing relevance of what were once viewed as fundamental protections. In this paper, we present a case study involving Russia's 2022–23 attacks on Ukraine's electric power infrastructure, which left millions of civilians without heat, water, or other basic services for extended periods in harsh winter conditions. Considering the scope, scale, and long-term impacts of these attacks, we conclude that Russia violated international law. We also suggest that a new international protocol may be necessary in order to more effectively deter and punish attacks on civilian infrastructure in future armed conflicts and military occupations. • "What the Ukrainian energy system has been experiencing since October 2022, no energy system in the world has ever experienced." • "Russia came frighteningly close to taking down the entire power grid in Europe's second-largest nation." • "Russia's effort to disrupt power delivery systems throughout Ukraine violated international laws" • "We propose the adoption of a new international code of conduct to better protect civilian access to electric power." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated navigation of single-frequency global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and inertial navigation system (INS) has broad application prospects with the development of multi-constellation GNSS. However, GNSS signals are susceptible to interference from a complex environment, which results in low-quality observations. The combination of frequencies cannot be applied for a single-frequency signal, so it is difficult to fix the ambiguity and process cycle slip. Therefore, the method of ambiguity resolution and cycle slip processing with INS aiding is proposed in this paper. When full ambiguities cannot be completely fixed, a subset of ambiguity is determined based on the elevation angle and posteriori residuals. The satellite is firstly eliminated one by one if the absolute value of posteriori residual is over the set threshold. And if the ambiguities still cannot be fixed, the satellite with the minimum elevation angle is eliminated each one. The short-term and high-accuracy position predicted by the INS was used as the constraint equation of the cycle slip detection. The unit weight mean square error of the cycle slip detection equation was used to identify the epoch where the cycle slip occurs, and the residual calculated by robust estimation was used to detect and repair the cycle slip. A set of data collected by a vehicle was used to analyze the proposed method. The experimental results showed that the proposed partial ambiguity resolution can obtain the optimal ambiguity fixing rate and positioning performance compared with the full ambiguity resolution and partial ambiguity resolution based on the elevation angle. The proposed algorithm can effectively detect and accurately repair the cycle slip for the simulated small and large cycle slips, and the cycle slips can still be detected when the global positioning system (GPS), global navigation satellite system of Russia (GLONASS), and BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) were outage for 10 s, 5 s, and 10 s without sufficient visible satellites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first-order grey model is appropriate for monotonic time series, while the grey Verhulst model is appropriate for periodic time series. The grey Verhulst model is widely used for predicting practical nonlinear time series that contain fluctuations. Despite the successful application of the grey models in practice, researchers show that grey models still have room for improvement. Moreover, recent research shows that grey models are sensitive to initial conditions. In many practical problems, the value of initial conditions is not accurate and suffers from noise or approximation errors, resulting in inaccurate prediction. To address these difficulties, an improved grey Verhulst method using particle swarm optimization is proposed in this paper. The proposed model consists of two stages. In the first stage, a second-order polynomial with unknown coefficients is used to approximate the 1- AGO. In the second stage, the initial element of the time series is modified to improve the accuracy of the prediction. The particle swarm optimization method is used to search for the unknown coefficients. It is found that PSO is a suitable optimization method for the proposed method because it is stable and generates a sequence of points that converges to a globally optimal solution. To demonstrate the efficiency and stability of the proposed method, it was applied to five practical problems, namely, gas production in China, the number of hazardous chemical accidents, CO2 emissions in Russia, the number of domestic tourists in China, and traffic flows in Canada. Numerical results show that the method is more accurate and robust than existing methods. • The proposed method needs only four elements for predicting the future elements of time series. • The paper proposes a second order polynomial for approximating 1-AGO. • The method makes more accurate prediction than existed methods. • The proposed method is applied on various practical forecasting problems successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National assessment of ecosystem services of Russia is an urgent task taking into account their key importance for maintaining the quality of life of the population and the regulation of biosphere processes. The purpose of the present paper is to propose a natural science methodology for evaluation supplied, demanded and consumed ecosystem services for national ecosystem assessment of Russia. Supplied ecosystem services were considered as services produced by ecosystems regardless of presence or absence of people, demanded – as the volume of services that is necessary for people and economy, consumed – as services actually used by people. Ratios between these three volumes of ecosystem services reveal the degree of service use and degree of meeting the demand for service that are analogous to indices of ecosystem service budget. The proposed methodology was tested in the preparation of the Prototype of the National Report on Ecosystem Services of Russia. Ecosystem services of air and water purification are considered as examples in the present paper. These examples demonstrate that proposed methodology is useful for estimation of surplus or deficit in ecosystem services across regions and identification of ecological risk areas. It also allows regional comparison at national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the anechoic facility built in Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNRPU) in 2014-2015 with the objective of studying noise of turbulent jets, vortex rings, and airframe noise. At present, the only other analogous facility in Russia is anechoic chamber AC-2 of TsAGI built in 1970s. One of the most important characteristics of an anechoic facility is a region where inverse square law spreading holds within some tolerance, i.e. where the free-field conditions are observed. Acoustic qualification is aimed at determination of this region in the facility. The present paper provides the results of acoustic qualification of the anechoic chamber in PNRPU, which show that the free-field conditions in the facility are realized within 3 m radius from the sound source for broadband noise in the frequency range 125 Hz – 20 kHz. Therefore, the study demonstrates that the anechoic facility in PNRPU allows aeroacoustic experiments to be performed for obtaining quantitative results. The present work restores domestic competences in design of aeroacoustic experimental facilities, which is important in view of the plans to build in Russia an anechoic wind tunnel with hot flow AKT TsAGI for large-scale aeroacoustic tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the issues of text mining based on a vector classification model. The term frequency and inverse document frequency function (TF IDF) is used as a measure to evaluate the selection of terms. The text preprocessing stage performs tokenization and normalization of the text. The algorithms of stemming and lemmatization of the Russian-language text are used during normalization. A set of programs has been created that makes it possible to analyze the selected subject area, create a thesaurus for thematic search for violations of the public procurement Federal Law of the Russian Federation, as well as to implement functionality for automated search and analysis of documents of arbitration courts within the framework of this law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a hybrid model that combines wavelet transformation of the raw data and an artificial neural network with long short-term memory (LSTM). This model allows researchers to increase the accuracy of time series forecasting. The model is based on data from environmental monitoring of greenhouse gases on the Belyy Island of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The raw data for building the proposed model were obtained in July–August 2016. The CH 4 concentration time series was decomposed using a discrete wavelet transform into four components - one approximating and three detailing. These components, along with a timed temperature series, were used to train six ANNs—two exogenous input autoregressive networks (NAR) and four LSTM networks. The forecast was calculated as the sum of forecasts for each of the components. Forecast accuracy was assessed using several indices (mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean square relative error (RMSRE), Willmott's agreement index (IA1, IA2)) and a Taylor diagram. The hybrid model based on LSTM showed the best accuracy. The hybrid model based on LSTM showed the best accuracy. MAE, RMSE, and RMSRE errors decreased by more than 70%. In terms of IA1 and IA2, the models improved by 11% and 30% (when comparing the best hybrid models LSTM and NAR. For the hybrid LSTM model errors RMSE, RMSRE, and MAE are more than 20% less than for the base LSTM model for training in which data without wavelet transform were used. Willmott agreement indices (IA1, IA2) rose from 32% to 59%, depending on the models being compared. So, the increase in accuracy after applying the described approach was up to 79% for models based on LSTM (more precisely, from 20% to 79%, depending on the indicator). Applying wavelet transform data to train the NAR-based model reduced MAE, RMSE, and RMSRE errors by 27%, 30%, and 31%, respectively. The Willmott agreement indices (IA1, IA2) rose from 41% to 45% respectively. The Taylor diagram also shows the advantage of the proposed approach. • Measurements of the methane concentration were done. • Six models to predict the dynamics of were built. • Hybrid model with data wavelet transformation and LSTM showed the best accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting energy needs and ensuring ecological sustainability are important tasks for policymakers. In particular, changing the energy mix used in daily electricity generation can have a major effect on ecological conditions, and this is a previously neglected research topic. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the influence of daily electricity generation from nuclear power and renewables on the achievement of carbon neutrality targets in the four largest nuclear power countries (i.e., the U.S., China, France, and Russia). The study applies the wavelet-transform coherence (WTC), quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR), and Granger causality in quantiles (GCQ) approaches for the period from January 2, 2019 to December 29, 2022. The outcomes present that electricity generation from nuclear energy reduces carbon (CO 2) emissions only in Russia, while hydropower generation does not contribute to CO 2 emission reduction in any country. Solar electricity generation decreases CO 2 emissions in different quantiles in the U.S. and Russia, while electricity generation from wind power reduces CO 2 emissions in the U.S. and France. The empirical outcomes also reveal that expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power in the energy mix can enhance the potential of the U.S., France, and Russia to achieve carbon neutrality and secure a sustainable future. However, China is using nuclear and renewables inefficiently regarding carbon neutrality. Therefore, the empirical evidence for China is highly controversial compared to former studies. [Display omitted] • The study examines renewable and nuclear electricity effect on carbon neutrality. • The study focuses on top four major nuclear power countries. • The study applies nonlinear approaches by using high-frequency (daily) data. • Renewable and nuclear electricity have time, frequency, & quantile-varying effect. • The best electricity source change according to each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative ways and hindrance to the metallurgical industry development of Russia are identified in the article. The authors lighted the emergency situations dependence on the human and technological factors. Three-level organizational structure of the automated management and control system of production of metallurgical enterprises is described in the article. The necessity in additional smart information systems for the metallurgical enterprise automated control system to warn emergency situations is substantiated by the authors. The interplay structure of Automated Control Systems, Emergency Warning Systems and computer information management systems for the metallurgical enterprises is demonstrated in the paper. Functionality of the system and the role of its components in the Emergency Warning System (EWS) are defined in the paper. The final analysis of the research shows the way of preventing emergency situations efficiency confirmed by the positive results of the experimental studies at the joint-stock company “Electrozinc” (Vladikavkaz city). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to keep up with the fast-paced and widespread technologies and applications of visualization, worldwide education community is actively implementing visualization courses in curricula of undergraduate and graduate programs. A study of the state of the art in the teaching visualization in Russian higher education shows the necessity to improve the quality and breadth of knowledge of the visualization courses. In this paper we propose our approach to overcome the national and historical challenges in teaching visualization in Russian STEM higher education on the example of Computational Science and High Performance Computing double degree Master's programs in ITMO University. We offer a smooth transition to the modern relevant syllabus content by presenting two courses’ designs with same width but with various depth in knowledge that should to be studied. At the end of the paper we give some discussions about future works in development visualization courses in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An encounter trajectory that meets the needs of Deep Space Mission ASTER was identified and is presented. • Expected results achievable in a successful exploration of asteroid 2001SN263 are presented. • ALR_Sim_Tracks – A mission analysis simulation tool dedicated to optical instruments in this mission was created. In cooperation with Russia, the Brazilian deep space mission ASTER plans to send a small spacecraft to investigate the triple asteroid 2001-SN263. The nearest launch opportunities for this project include June 2022 and June 2025. One main exploration campaign is being planned with focus on the largest asteroid (Alpha). Among the instruments under development, a laser altimeter (named ALR) was preliminarily designed and presented in 2010–2011. Many studies to define mission and instruments requirements were performed aiming at the characterization of important issues for the successful realization of the mission. Among them, the identification of a suitable trajectory that could be followed by the ASTER spacecraft in the encounter phase, when the main campaign will take place. This paper describes the effort undertaken with focus on the laser altimeter operation. Possible encounter trajectories were modelled and simulated to identify suitable approach parameters and conditions allowing the accomplishment of the intended investigation. The simulation also involves the instrument operation, considering approach geometry, attitude, relative motion, time/date, and the dynamics of the main asteroid. From the laser altimeter point of view, keeping in mind the desired coverage results (50% minimum surface coverage of asteroid Alpha, complying with horizontal and vertical resolution requirements), results point out crucial features for the encounter trajectory, like the need for a small inclination (10-6 degrees; with respect to the asteroid's orbit), the most favourable spacecraft positioning (between the Sun and the asteroid) and pointing condition (back to the Sun), the minimum amount of achievable surface coverage (58%, focused on central areas), and the most proper time to conduct the main campaign (January 2025). Concerning the instrument, results offer refined values for divergence angle (500 to 650 μrad, half-cone), pulse repetition frequencies (from 1/20 to 1 Hz), and consequent data generation rates. A simulation tool that can use any 3D generated trajectories as input data was created for the analyses presented here. Although created for the ALR in this mission, this simple analysis tool can be adapted to other instruments in this or other missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The ecological maintenance was studied based on ecological environment quality. • The impacts of factors on RSEI were studied based on geographical detectors. • We utilized the minimum cumulative resistance to construct ecological security. • The study can contribute to global ecological security and sustainable development. The world's ecological security has been significantly threatened because of the rapid growth of urbanization. Recently, the worldwide studies of ecological maintenance and ecological security have become of crucial scientific value as it ensures the balance between human needs and resources. In this paper, the ecological maintenance status of Pingtan Island, Songming County (China), and Yoshkar-Ola (Russia) was studied from the perspective of ecological environment quality and ecological security pattern. The remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) was used to study the ecological environment quality, and the geographic detector was used to analyze the impact of six factors on RSEI. The random forest algorithm was used to classify land use from remote sensing images, and an ecological security pattern was constructed based on the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model. The results show that the overall ecological maintenance of Pingtan Island is moderate, which accounts for 32.46% of the total area. The explanatory power of the dryness factor, which is the most influential factor on ecological environmental quality, increased by 3.90% during the five years, and the ecological corridor increased by 8.67 km. Songming County accounted for 33.66% of the area with moderate ecological maintenance. The dryness factor which affects the ecological environment quality is changed into the greenness factor, and its explanatory power has decreased by 3.59%, and the ecological corridor has increased by 57.95 km. Yoshkar-Ola accounted for 28.47% of the area with moderate ecological maintenance. The explanatory power of the dryness factor, which is the biggest factor affecting ecological environment quality, increased by 2.69% during the five-year period, and the length of the ecological corridor increased by 10.64 km. In this paper, remote sensing and GIS methods were used to integrate the ecological security status of inland and coastal areas and different natural zones and to conduct a comparative study on the ecological maintenance status of the three case studies, which can provide decision-making support for regional planning and contribute to global ecological security and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes a new method for determining the basic parameters of soil - diffusion and emanation coefficients related to the transfer of radon in the soil matrix, which are very useful for testing models, based on diffusion and characteristics of various soil matrices regarding the dangers of radon. The method is based on the measurement of radon in soil air on two small depths, differing twice. The paper presents the results of the determination of the parameters for covering loams and clays of Tomsk (Russian Federation), obtained by this method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This time, several projects dedicated to fast reactors (FRs) with lead and lead-bismuth coolants, BREST-OD-300, SVBR-100, RBETS-M, BRUTs are proposed in Russia. They will have several valuable consuming properties: chemical inertness, low neutron absorption, low activation and others. Usage of lead coolant leads also to the possibility of achieving a hard-enough neutron spectrum that allows increasing the incineration probability of 241Am, 237Np and other low fissile actinides. High power FRs have large-sized cores that limits the value of neutron energy by the value of 0.5 MeV, which is insufficient for incineration of above mentioned actinides. Small and medium power reactors have smaller cores and, respectively, have harder neutron spectra. Usage of lead and low moderating innovative fuel allow further increasing neutron energy to the value inquired for low fissile actinides incineration.In the paper a possibility of obtaining a neutron spectrum with the average value of neutron energy higher than 0.5 MeV is considered. It is performed in the frame of the project of BRUTs series reactors, i.e. small power LFRs proposed in the Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering. A scope for achieving a hard neutron spectrum in the reactor BRUTs-25 core of small sizes, D×H = 0.5×0.4 m2, is shown. Findings are that in the core fueled with Pu-Am-Np-Zr alloy and cooled with enriched lead, 208Pb, the average value of neutron energy, , is high-enough, about 0.95 MeV, as well as the share of fast neutron, E n >0.8 MeV, in the neutron spectrum is very high, about 40%. In such of conditions, 241Am and 237Np incineration probabilities in the core center are higher than 50% and values of their one-group fission cross-sections are higher than 0.7 barn. This circumstance allows burning 15-16wt% of low fissile isotopes for one campaign of BRUTs-25. The presence of 241Am in the fuel, in a quantity of 28.7 kg, allows transmuting about 8.6 kg of its mass for one reactor campaign that lasts about 3 years (1000 effective days). It means that to transmute the quantity of 241Am produced by the VVER-1000 for one year, equal to 25.8 kg, it will be needed about 3 BRUTs-25 type low power reactors operating for 1000 effective days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the experimental approach to be performed to examine the reliability indicator of certain electrical devices manufactured by companies in the Russian Federation. The tests will be conducted according to technical specifications and test procedures which were prepared for these devices. In addition, a comparison referring to the reliability parameters between results and manufactured specifications will be provided or conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operational period of the first generation of dedicated Space VLBI (SVLBI) missions commenced in 1997 with the launch of the Japan-led mission VSOP/HALCA and is coming to closure in 2019 with the completion of in-flight operations of the Russia-led mission RadioAstron. They were preceded by the SVLBI demonstration experiment with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) in 1986–1988. While the comprehensive lessons learned from the first demonstration experiment and two dedicated SVLBI missions are still awaiting thorough attention, several preliminary conclusions can be made. This paper addresses some issues of implementation of these missions as they progressed over four decades from the original SVLBI concepts to the operational status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• From manufacture to installation of ITER magnet coil power supply. • Installation together with civil construction is an efficient way for cost saving. • 3D model is important to study and optimize ITER AC/DC converter integration. • Integrated installation schedule needs revise dynamically up to real situation. • ITER central team plays a key role to achieve the installation on schedule. ITER magnet power supply system, which will be the largest ever built power conversion system, jointly contributed by China and Korea Domestic Agency (DA) for AC/DC converters groups dedicated to the superconductive magnet coils and the associated DC component from Russia Federation. ITER magnet coil power supply AC/DC converters are hosted by the twin magnet power conversion buildings (MPCB) constructed by European Union. This paper briefs the construction and Ready For Equipment (RFE) condition of MPCB and describes how IO manages the integration and installation of AC/DC converters on ITER site (Cadarache, France). The challenge for installation and lesson learnt are also introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviewed the regulatory framework of benefit-sharing agreements between indigenous communities and resource companies operating in different Arctic regions of Russia. Different regional legislation frameworks, path-dependent practices and company policies have resulted in a broad-spectrum of negotiated arrangements. This study shows that indigenous opinions are often ignored in areas where resource extraction is prioritized. In Russia's illiberal context, indigenous communities receive significant opposition from extractive companies, whose capacity and expertise in the negotiation process are far more extensive. Extractive industries in the Russian Arctic that are inspired by new possibilities involving developing natural resources are ill-prepared to engage in benefit-sharing commitments. This paper concludes that, in the context of the Russian North, agreements involving oil and gas companies downplay the uneven landscape in which indigenous rights are largely ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies and analyzes the key factors of the sectoral structure of ownership, the effect of the CEO and competition between owners at the sub-sectoral level and the size of the business. Based on an example of the manufacturing and construction sectors we show a positive effect on the company's financial stability of the share ownership of the CEO (in comparison with average sectoral share). We also show that in the case of a more uniform distribution of property between the owners, a positive effect is achieved in terms of the stability of the company. Thus, companies with a group of owner-founders are the most favorable structure for the formation of the corporate governance system in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive energy-related carbon emission intensity will lead to deterioration of environmental quality and hinder green economic growth. This paper proposes a novel self-adaptive fractional order grey generalized Verhulst model (SAFGGVM) to predict energy-related carbon emission intensity in China, America, India, Russia, and Japan with nonlinear and complex characteristics effectively. Firstly, self-adaptive fractional order and dynamic background value coefficient are introduced to capture the nonlinear evolutionary trends. Subsequently, the optimal nonlinear parameters are determined using Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm through comprehensive comparison. Furthermore, the flexibility of SAFGGVM is verified by presenting its relevance to existing models. Finally, the validity, applicability, and robustness of SAFGGVM are confirmed by comparing with two machine learning models and four grey prediction models. The empirical results exhibit that the overall precision of SAFGGVM model significantly prevails over the others in five cases, with MAPE values less than 6% in both the simulation and prediction intervals. The out-of-sample forecast results indicate that the energy-related carbon emission intensity of five countries will fall into 5.7024, 1.6030, 7.3668, 8.1633, 2.0399 tons/10,000 USD by 2025, and the decreasing rate of developing countries tends to catch up with, or even exceed, developed countries. Projection results can serve as a reference point for countries to achieve green and sustainable development. • A novel self-adaptive grey generalized Verhulst model is proposed. • Energy-related carbon emission intensity (ECEI) of five countries is predicted. • Optimal nonlinear parameters are determined by Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm. • The novel model is superior to other competing models in accuracy and roubutness. • Decline rate of ECEI in developing countries will catch up with developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of scientific knowledge openness is urgent worldwide, but for Russia it is particularly crucial because of the inaccessibility of the most cited academic journals there. In this paper a solution for this issue is proposed by means of the gold- oriented method which assumes placing scientific papers of traditional academic journals in open access and ensuring their visibility on the Internet. This method is implemented in the project of open science repository called as CyberLeninka and discussed in details in the paper. Also plans to evolve CyberLeninka to a CERIF-CRIS and vision to build the e-infrastructure of Open Science in Russia are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of animal behavior in the wild supposes the reliable techniques for their species recognition using, mainly, visual data captured by camera traps. In this paper, we propose to extent Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) VGG by three branches, two of which are VGG16 for the muzzle and part of shape recognition and one is VGG19 for the whole shape recognition. A necessity of such branched CNN structure is caused by great variety of the animal poses fixed by a camera trap. Also, here we met with an objective problem of the unbalanced dataset due to different behavior of animals in nature. Preliminary categorization procedure of images helps to obtain better recognition results. Experiments were conducted using the dataset obtained from Ergaki national park, Krasnoyarsky Kray, Russia, 2012-2018. The joint CNN shows good accuracy results on the balanced dataset achieving 80.6% Top-1 and 94.1% Top-5, respectively. In the case of the unbalanced training dataset, we obtained 38.7% Top-1 and 54.8% Top-5 accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-situ monitoring system is absolutely necessary for a long-distance linear pipeline infrastructure in permafrost regions due to the complicated interaction between buried pipeline and its harsh permafrost environment. To study this complex problem, a comprehensive in-situ monitoring system has been designed and established along the China–Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP), which is one of vital energy channels for importing crude oil from Russia to China. This monitoring system can record the meteorological data, ground temperature and water content within the permafrost foundation, vertical settlement of the oil pipe, ground surface deformation on the pipeline right-of-way (on-ROW), as well as the thaw bulb around the pipeline at four sites with different engineering geological conditions. In this paper, the layout and instrumentation of the whole monitoring system and monitoring methods are described in detail, and then the thermal regime of permafrost on-ROW and off-ROW and cooling performance of the mitigative measures on foundation soils are evaluated. Results show that heat dissipated from the CRCOP lead to the rapid degradation of permafrost on-ROW and produce different sizes of thaw bulb around the oil pipelines. The mitigative measures, including insulation layer, two-phase closed thermosyphon and U-shaped air-ventilated pipes, are effective to minimize permafrost degradation and ensure the thermal stability of permafrost foundation along the CRCOP. Some recommendations are proposed for future research and for the monitoring system to be improved. This monitoring system can provide multi-field data to clarify the interaction between pipeline and permafrost degradation under different geological conditions, and guide the design and maintenance of the buried warm pipeline in permafrost regions. • An in-situ monitoring system is set up along the CRCOP in permafrost regions. • The geological characteristics and layout of instrumentation at four monitoring sites are reported. • The integrated monitoring method for pipeline-permafrost interaction are presented. • Thermal effect of buried warm oil pipe on underlying permafrost is observed. • Cooling performance of the insulation layer, thermosyphon and U-shaped air-ventilated pipes is evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The economic viability of new energy technologies is held as a central tenet to their future deployment; conventional wisdom posits economically rational decision-makers will readily invest in proven low-risk and affordable technologies. But what happens when this is not true. This paper examines the non-financial barriers facing economically viable Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects. CHP is a mature and lower carbon technology that efficiently uses waste heat from thermal electricity generation; CHP can also provide flexibility services to help integrate variable renewable resources. CHP is low risk and many industrialized countries, particularly those in colder climates in Northern Europe and Russia, generate as much as 50% of their electricity and heat needs from CHP, but United States deployment remains low and investment hurdle rates high. While lower U.S. energy costs make some projects un-economic, many economically-viable CHP projects are stalled or killed by non-financial barriers. To better understand why financially viable CHP projects are not getting built, developers, owners and operators, regulators, and other stakeholders of this technology were interviewed and three major barriers emerged a) the business model of the electrical utility b) negative subjective impressions and c) challenges in allocating the risks and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being empowered with the appropriate toolset will enable decision-makers to analyze how best to intervene in ever-changing complex systems. This research project explored deconstructing qualitative methods to identify and document requirements to connect the models to computational social science approaches. Previous efforts from our research provided a customizable toolset that assesses the current and future impact that decisions, policies, or strategies can deliver in a system to tackle particularly complex problems. This paper presents a portion of the research effort that developed a threat analysis framework by establishing formally documented research methods to effectively combine conceptual and computational tools. This enables more accurate, efficient, and foresightful knowledge capture and depictions of a particular problem space. The case that the tools and approach are tested against is Russia's application of grey zone warfare tools in Moldova. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing coverage of Internet has created opportunities and advantages for different aspects of society. However, there come new threats and challenges to information security. One of the typical types of attacks that has increasingly occurred is the APT attack (Advanced Persistent Threat). APT is dangerous with clear purposes. APT attacks employ different sophisticated methods and techniques attacking targets in order to steal confidential and sensitive information. In the past, hackers attacked information systems with personal and financial motives. However, there are nowadays other motives such as political ones and they are potentially backed by governments or nations. Nations that own advanced technologies such as United States, India, Russia, UK are also suffering from special purpose attacks. APT is an advanced type of attacks that consists of many stages and concrete strategies. Besides, techniques and technologies employed in APT attack are usually new and developed by hackers in order to break through the monitoring of security software. However, APT is normally implemented through concrete steps and stages. If one of the steps or stages fails, the entire APT attack will fail. This paper presents a method of detecting APT attacks based on monitoring accesses to unknown domains. This detection method results into high effectiveness in the initial stage of APT attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of unmanned vehicle traffic control systems is a world trend. The development of a market of unmanned vehicles is stimulated by various contests and competitions. This paper presents the prerequisites and the first steps in the development of unmanned vehicle traffic control systems by the NNSTU n.a. R.E. Alekseev with the support of engineers from the United Engineering Center of the GAZ Group and specialists from PJSC GAZ. This system is developed for operation in difficult road-climatic conditions in the territory of the Russian Federation. As a chassis for installation of the system, an electrical platform was chosen. The component composition of the unmanned vehicle traffic control system is proposed, the location and coverage of the equipment are determined. The software modules of the unmanned traffic control system are implemented. Experimental studies of the system were carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Soviet Russia, an agricultural directive could pass 30 management levels on its way from the central government to the farm. Central planning impeded the adaptation of agricultural practices to the local social-ecological contexts and virtually eliminated self-accountability in agriculture. Focusing on contemporary Russia, the paper examines how the state currently influences farmers' land management and how this subtle mode of intervention aligns with the local context. Qualitative research in the Western Siberian Grain Belt reveals that the state-designed institutions guide land management in a politically desirable direction. They aim for virtually unlimited agricultural growth and largely misalign with the social-ecological conditions of grain farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital trading apps are evidence of developing open innovations in the financial sector. The investment industry (including banks and brokers) can greatly benefit from the utilization of digital trading applications and corresponding tools, such as smart contracts. The goal of this research paper is to examine the possibility that brokers' existing mobile apps outperform banks without mobile apps in the Russian financial sector. The efficiency of brokers is compared to banks in Russia. The results of these institutions' activities are related to the number of profitable banks, which declines as a sign of high efficiency. The paper uses methods of t-test, linear and polynomial regression analysis between assets (dependent variable) and the profit to assets (independent variable) in Russia. The article finds the different directions of the utilization of the discussed technology, and they all share the consequential growth after the technology's introduction. The paper also discusses the various areas of digital trading apps implementation and the future contributions for the Russian banking system and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the relevance of technology transfer center network has been greatly increased due to interdisciplinary modern innovations, and cross-sectoral collaboration in project implementation. This paper highlights theoretical and conceptual foundations of technology transfer, and the role of innovation and knowledge. The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the experience of creating technology transfer networks in Russia, and to develop prospective national technology transfer model based on the concept of innovation ecosystem and open innovation. Being a knowledge integrator, a university plays a vital role in technology transfer. The presented study makes contribution to the academic literature by providing a synthesis on related concepts of open innovation, network, and ecosystem approaches to technology transfer. The results of this analysis provide information on prospective models for creating a network of technology transfer in Russia. That will help academics, policymakers, government, and business owners with a more depth understanding of the practical mechanisms that support innovation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate and reasonable prediction of natural gas consumption is important for enhancing national energy security and alleviating the environmental problems caused by energy consumption. Starting with the traditional nonlinear grey Bernoulli model, in this paper, we expand the development coefficient a and grey action quantity b, propose a new self-adaptive time-varying grey Bernoulli prediction model, deduce the time response formula of the model, and explore the relationship between model parameters and model accuracy. Then, the nonlinear parameter and power parameter coefficient of the new model are optimized by a genetic algorithm, and the effectiveness of the model is analyzed by the natural gas consumption of China, the United States, and Russia. The results show that, compared with other traditional grey prediction models, the new model has a better simulation effect, higher prediction accuracy, and stronger applicability. Meanwhile, the model was used to forecast the natural gas consumption of China, the United States, and Russia in the period from 2022 to 2026. The prediction results show that China's natural gas consumption will continue to steadily increase in the future, which is consistent with the global goal of adhering to the orderly development of natural gas. The prediction results can provide a theoretical basis for relevant departments to formulate relevant natural gas policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We address the European natural gas supply chain with several tiers, including producers, mid-streamers, and consumers, where natural gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) could be traded via long-term contracts or spot markets. This network problem is formulated as a non-linear mixed-integer programming model which provides the optimal production and export decisions of producers, import and storage decisions of mid-streamers, and infrastructure investment decisions of European Union (EU) countries with respect to new pipelines and LNG regasification terminals that maximize the total social welfare in the EU natural gas market over a five-year horizon. We conduct several case studies to examine this network under different conditions. We first compare the actual and optimal decisions to provide insights. Then, we examine the effect of infrastructure decisions on social welfare. Our results reveal that new infrastructure investments increase the total social welfare by nearly three billion. In addition, we examine its sensitivity to the exclusion of Russian gas supply from the market with and without the infrastructure decisions. Results suggest that if Russian gas supply is excluded from the market, then the social welfare and cumulative natural gas consumption of 26 EU countries decrease by 10% and 15%, respectively and that considering infrastructure investments on LNG terminals and pipelines would reduce supply risk of consumer countries. • This paper addresses the European natural gas supply chain with several tiers. • An optimization model is proposed to obtain investment and transportation decisions. • Optimal decisions increase the social welfare by nearly three billion. • Excluding Russia decreases the social welfare by 10% for the next five years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the approaches to the formation of compensation funds for the indigenous peoples during Arctic industrial development. The key challenge is the technical problem-solving of reconciling the rights of indigenous peoples and the interests of the mining company. The compensation fund allows harmonizing the interests of stakeholders. In 2020, Russia adopted the Arctic Development Strategy that supposes the implementation of investment projects, social and economic development, improving the quality of life of the local population as well as a creation of stable financial basis for traditional lands. The case-study of Yakutia is analyzed in the paper. The authors consider the possibilities to develop compensation funds on the base of economic, social and cultural impact assessment to fulfill them by the costs of extractive companies. The proposed mechanisms help generate additional income and accumulate financial capital for future generations. The mathematical tools and methods allow problem-solving on assessment of the priority compensation projects, the development of procedure for their implementation and the investment approach for the indigenous participation in the projects of extractive companies. The data for calculations was collected by the authors during field work on the impact assessment of mining projects in the Arctic Yakutia in 2016–2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes both value-added trade and trade-implied CO 2 emission reduction responsibility into account, which constructs a unified conceptual framework to recalculate CO 2 emission reduction responsibility from the perspective of value-added trade. This allows policymakers to trace worldwide CO 2 emissions at multiple levels of trade, production, consumption, and shared principle alongside the world trade network. This paper employs the gross export decomposition methodology and the World Input-Output Database for calculations. Firstly, compared with traditional trade statistics, measuring embedded emissions in value-added trade can deduct the double-counted terms of CO 2 emissions due to intermediate products crossing several borders repeatedly. Secondly, the worldwide inter-country CO 2 emission footprints embedded in exports, imports, and net flows of value-added trade are traced in a geographical world map. It occurs that, China, the USA, Russia, and the EU are the top four largest emitters. Thirdly, network analysis is further utilized to capture bilateral implicit CO 2 emission relationships, e.g., the EU members' environmental impacts depend on intra-regional trade within the union. Finally, a comparison is made under three burden-sharing principles based on value-added trade. The shared responsibility offers a compromise between the producer's and the consumer's principle, which is considered to be fairer and more effective. • This paper calculates trade-implied CO 2 emission reduction responsibility from the perspective of value-added trade. • A gross export decomposition model is applied to deduct double-counted terms of implicit carbon embedded in traditional trade. • The worldwide inter-country CO 2 emission footprints are visualized. • Network analysis is conducted to identify the major carbon emitters and their complex relations. • Three burden-sharing criteria are computed through the statistics of value-added trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The territory of Southern Russia presents a great diversity of climates and complex orography that lead to a very different precipitation distribution. Annual precipitation amounts differ between 222 mm in the coast of the Caspian Sea and > 2000 mm in the highest parts of the Caucasus Mountains. In order to investigate the statistical structure of daily precipitation across the study region the daily precipitation Concentration Index (CI) was used. In present paper, the CI was calculated for 42 meteorological stations during the 1970–2010 period. The analysis of precipitation concentration identified that the distribution of daily precipitation is more regular over the west, north and south regions compared to the east (the Caspian Sea coast and the Caspian Depression). The Crimean peninsula is characterized by low CI values in the north and high values in the eastern part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's relations with North Korea are often ignored in the West. The conventional view is that Russia's role with respect to the North is purely political and diplomatic, predicated on Russia's permanent membership in the UN Security Council. Often overlooked is the fact that Russia maintains a range of economic links with the DPRK. Taken together, they constitute quite a substantial leverage that Russia can exercise over North Korea, when and if it chooses to do so. The paper aims to investigate the economic dimension of the Russia-North Korea relationship. The article also examines North Korea's domestic economic situation, mostly drawing upon Russian expert assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]