Home – Home – Jornals – Avtometriya 2018 number 3

We propose a detailed δ¹³С curve for the Vendian and Lower Cambrian (Tommotian) strata of the central Siberian Platform. Two positive carbon isotope excursions identified near the base of the Yuryakh Formation (up to 5.5‰) and in the lower Bilir Formation (up to 5 ‰) are assigned to the lowermost and middle Tommotian, respectively. This correlation is supported by paleontological data, specific ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values (0.70845-0.70856), and similar C isotope record in coeval Early Cambrian basins. The documented minor vertical oscillations (a few meters) of these isotope excursions relative to the formation boundaries in remote boreholes is presumably caused by the spatiotemporal migration of facies. A high-amplitude negative δ¹³С excursion (-8 to -11 ‰) in the upper Nepa Regional Stage putatively corresponds to the global Shuram-Wonoka negative carbon isotope excursion (Middle Ediacaran). Carbonates of the lower Nepa Regional Stage (Besyuryakh Formation) demonstrate positive δ¹³С values (up to 5 ‰) and minimum ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of 0.70796-0.70832. The C and Sr isotope record of the Nepa Regional Stage provides its robust correlation with the Dal’nyaya Taiga and Zhuya Groups of the Patom Foredeep. Micropaleontological data herein reported and glacial diamictites documented at the base of the Vendian sedimentary cover both in the central Patom Foredeep and on its periphery suggest a full stratigraphic volume of the Ediacaran System in the most stratigraphically complete sections of the central Siberian Platform.

The sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of a retrogradational fan-delta system within Lower Triassic in the Mabei area of Junggar Basin in northwestern China were investigated using seismic, well log, and core data, complemented by the modern deposition and a flume tank experiment. The Lower Triassic in the Mabei area is dominated by fan deltas, which are composed of fan-delta plain (including subaerial debris flow, braided channel, conglomerate overbank, and floodplain), fan-delta front (including conglomerate shoal and sandy shoal), and prodelta. The braided channels form during the low flood period. The conglomerate overbanks form during the flood period and occupy most part of the fan-delta plain. The conglomerate shoals and sandy shoals form by a sheet flow prograding into lakes and occur as a sheet. The braided channels, conglomerate shoals, and sandy shoals are easy to form high-porosity reservoirs. One long-term base level cycles (LSC1), three middle-term base level cycles (MSC1, MSC2, and MSC3), and fifteen short-term base level cycles are identified. MSC1 is dominated by the fan-delta plain; MSC2 is dominated by the fan-delta front; and MSC3 is dominated by the fan-delta front and prodelta. The stratigraphy shows a proximal-middle-distal trend demonstrating an overall retrogradation stacking pattern. The sequence architecture is controlled by an interplay between lake level changes and sediment supply. The quick rise in the lake level and the creation of accommodation outpacing the rate of sediment supply result in a retrogradational fan-delta system.

The Jurassic growth of mountain ranges along the southern edge of the Siberian platform occurred in an active tectonic setting related to the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean. The oceanic subduction and subsequent continent collision events induced compressive deformations at the platform boundary. Understanding the paleogeography related to the Mesozoic closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean requires dating and correlation of the Jurassic Prisayan Formation in the Irkut basin and Tugnuyskaya Formation in southwestern Transbaikalia. This work presents structural and paleobotanic results within both formations. 40Ar/39Ar dating of underlying volcanics from the upper member of the Ichetuyskaya Formation is used to refine the age of the sediment series and provide probable correlation. The results show that the Tugnuyskaya Formation initiated at the end of the Middle Jurassic-beginning of the Late Jurassic and was not coeval with the Prisayan Formation, whose upper fine-grained members were deposited in the early Middle Jurassic. 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanics from the upper member of the Ichetuyskaya Formation yielded a Middle Jurassic age of 167.7 ± 1.2 Ma (Bajocian to Bathonian). The paleogeographic data analysis based on facies and mineralogical composition of sediments and on a study of source areas from Sm-Nd data and the U-Pb ages of detrital zircon from the deposits in the southern Irkut basin indicates that the deposition of the Prisayan Formation was followed by the intensification of relief building along the southern edge of the Siberian Platform. Our geochronological data show that active tectonic deformations in southwestern Transbaikalia evidenced in the volcanoclastic Ichetuyskaya Formation in the Tugnuy basin also occurred during the Middle Jurassic. The uppermost sediments of the Tugnuy basin were deposited at the end of the Middle Jurassic-Late Jurassic in a quiet tectonic setting with low relief and lacustrine-boggy depositional environments.

The Late Bronze to Iron Age transition in West Siberia involved significant cultural and political changes, which were reflected in the emergence of protourban settlements in the forest-steppe zone. The transition is roughly dated to the turn from the 2nd to the 1st mil. BC, mainly based on archaeological artefacts and on the general sociocultural development. A more precise radiocarbon dating for this transition was problematic mainly because of the general lack of data for West Siberia. This paper analyzes the chronology of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition at Chicha, a reference site in the region for this period. The assessment of a possible hiatus between the Late Bronze Age and the following transitional period at Chicha is the key issue of our paper, as its presence may have far reaching cultural implications. To increase the precision of the radiocarbon chronology with focus on the possible hiatus, the samples from well-defined stratigraphic contexts were analyzed using Bayesian modeling incorporating stratigraphic information. The performed chronological modeling supports existing archaeological hypothesis of a hiatus at the very end of the 2nd mil. BC, just before the regular emergence of a new protourban settlement at the site of an abandoned Late Bronze settlement. A sensitivity analysis including the simulated hiatus confirms the reliability of the model. A complete population change seems to be plausible. The protourban settlement of Chicha, typical of the transitional period, did not exist very long. With the emergence of the early nomadic cultures in the South Siberian steppes at the beginning of the 1st mil. BC, it most probably stopped functioning. The cultural development of that time, former believed to be continuous, was deeply interrupted several times.

The Derba block is one of the largest Precambrian terranes of the Sayan-Yenisei accretionary belt in the southwestern margin of the Siberian Platform. It is composed of metamorphosed terrigenous-carbonate rocks of the Sayan Group, injected by granitoids. The geochemical features of gneiss-schist associations indicate the low maturity of their sedimentary protoliths corresponding in composition mainly to graywackes and terrigenous-carbonate rocks (marls). According to the results of U-Pb (LA-ICP-MS) dating of detrital zircons from gneisses and schists, the sedimentary protolith formed in the Vendian. Neoproterozoic subduction complexes were probably the major provenance for terrigenous material, and Early Precambrian rocks made a limited contribution. The Ar-Ar and U-Pb isotope data testify to nearly coeval and multistage events of metamorphism (up to the amphibolite facies) and granitoid magmatism (~510-500 and 480-465 Ma) in the Derba block. These processes were reflective of the Early Caledonian orogenic processes in the structures of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The similarity in the composition, time of sedimentation, and provenances of metaterrigenous-carbonate complexes of the Derba block (Sayan Group), West Sangilen block of the Tuva-Mongolian massif (Erzin and Moren complexes), and the Khamar-Daban terrane (Slyudyanka Group) suggests that these structures were a single Vendian continental margin with lateral variations in depositional environments and the sources of terrigenous material.

We study migmatized aluminous gneisses in the northwest of the Irkut granulite complex in the southeastern Sharyzhalgai uplift of the Siberian Platform basement. Migmatized gneisses with the mineral assemblage Grt + Sil + Bt + Kfs + Pl + Qz (+ Crd + Opx + Spl) contain a leucosome and widespread cordierite-bearing (+ orthopyroxene, quartz, and spinel) symplectites developed after garnet and sillimanite. Study of the microstructural relationships of minerals and modeling using the PERPLEX 672 software have shown a retrograde P - T path of metamorphism for the metasedimentary gneisses, close to the isothermal decompression (ITD). The parameters of the peak of metamorphism are T = 850-870 ºC and P ≥ 7 kbar. The weighted average age of zircon from the metasedimentary gneisses (1856 ± 13 Ma, SHRIMP) corresponds to the time of metamorphism. The decompression type of retrograde metamorphism of the rocks in the northwest of the Irkut block indicates their formation in the crust extension and thinning setting. The presence of domal structures in the section of the Irkut block on the shore of Lake Baikal suggests that the dome tectogenesis was involved in the exhumation processes. The Paleoproterozoic metamorphism and granite formation were associated with the same stage of collision processes, when the compression setting was changed by an extension one (1.88-1.85 Ga).

In this paper, we present and discuss the results of modeling of the induction processes observed at different distances from the center of a transmitter loop in studies of a two-layer earth in which the magnetic susceptibility of the top layer or the base depends on frequency. Profiling graphs (the offset is plotted on the abscissa, and the EMF induced in the receiver coil at a fixed time is plotted on the ordinate) show that the polarity of the EMF changes as the offset increases. For the model with a magnetic layer of any thickness, the polarity of the EMF reverses immediately after the receiver crosses the loop wire. For the model with a magnetic base, the offset at which the EMF polarity reversal occurs is the larger the greater the thickness of the layer. For both models, the EMF at a fixed time depends on the thickness of the layer and the offset. Particularly strong dependence of the EMF on layer thickness or offset is observed at the loop side. Therefore, measurements near the wire make it possible to determine the thickness of the layer in the case where it is much less than the length of the loop side. The overall effect of magnetic relaxation and transient eddy currents leads to the fact that small changes in the layer thickness or offset can lead to a dramatic change in the transient response.

We present results of detailed paleoseismological research at the key site on the flank of the Lake Imandra depression (Kola region, northeast of the Fennoscandian Shield). Study of various groups of paleoseismic deformations in the fault zone and application of new methods and approaches made it possible to recognize a segment of a large seismotectonic zone where violent earthquakes occurred repeatedly at the end of the Late Glacial and in the Holocene. The dates of earthquakes and the location of their foci are determined.

This paper describes the problem of thematic processing of hyperspectral aerospace images. The proposed technique is based on a decoding algorithm, allows constructing an effective algorithm of multiclass classification based on a combination of standard algorithms of binary classification of various complexity. The choice of the configuration of the classification algorithm is substantiated. Test calculations based on model and real data are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach to recognition of objects by hyperspectral images.

This paper describes a PlanetaMonitoring software complex, developed jointly by the Scientific Research Center “Planeta” and the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which implements the software technologies of pre-processing and thematic processing of multizone satellite images of optical, infrared, and microwave ranges. This work also touches upon the use of some technologies of pre-processing of satellite data, particularly brightness and geometric transformations, geocoding, and compilation of survey installation. Thematic processing of multizone satellite images by software technologies for object recognition (without and with learning), allocation and mapping of lineaments and ring structures, as well as determining the spatial movement of natural objects (ice fields, water masses, and cloud formations in the atmosphere) over time-different satellite images is described. These software technologies are used in solving a number of applied problems of Earth remote sensing.

A panoramic aerial photograph composed of a series of consecutive images obtained from a pilotless aircraft allows for more accurate recognition of visual objects. Automatic joining of aerial photographs is a complex technical problem, especially in the presence of artefacts of the recording equipment and video-recording conditions. It is believed that a sequence of joined images is known and determined by the flight trajectory. The proposed method for joining aerial photographs is based on illumination levelling and multiband mixing. The possibilities of application of SURF, FAST, FAST-ER, and KAZE point descriptors for joining images are studied. It is shown that the point descriptors on the basis of nonlinear diffuse filtering yield the best results with regard to accuracy in the presence of global and/or local visual distortions of joined images.

The application of signal energy parameters to estimate the motion of objects with continuous influence on soil in systems of passive seismic location is considered. Statistics for measured values of signal powers with account for energy properties of the medium are proposed. The influence of displacement of the object on the ratio of signal powers on different sensors is analyzed. The results of testing the algorithm for estimating the parameters of the trajectory of rectilinear motion of a car are given.

This paper touches upon the experience of research and development of software and hardware for monitoring atmospheric pollution of industrial cities, carried out at the Institute of Computational Modeling of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Functional possibilities, architectural features, and user interface of the distributed geoinformation web-system of ecological monitoring of the city of Krasnoyarsk, which is being developed in service-oriented architecture, are discussed. Data are collected from automated posts for observing the state of atmospheric air and services of aggregation and representation of information in the form of interactive graphs and thematic maps in the web interface. An original device is developed for measuring the pollution level of the atmosphere with fine dust (PM2.5), the data from which is fed in real time to the system via a cellular network. A system is formed for integral assessment of the pollution level of the atmosphere based on Atmospheric Quality Index (AQI) calculations.

Scanning devices based on a set of mutually biased photodetector arrays require a high degree of stabilization of the scan speed to increase the sampling rate in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction for high quality of the image being formed. A new method is proposed for estimating the scanning rate, based on the analysis of displacements of images of arbitrary random texture created by arrays during scanning. The dependence of the accuracy of various methods of speed estimation on the statistical characteristics of the texture is studied by simulation. It is shown that even at a sufficiently high level of random noise (C/N =10) even for images with texture that satisfied the Nyquist criterion for each array, the scan speed estimation error does not exceed 0.1 % of the nominal value.

The representation of measurement data as a bit space is considered. A method and an algorithm for reversible geometric compression of measurement data frames are proposed based on their transformation to a bit-like form with the subsequent mapping onto a plane and division into strictly homogeneous regions. Experimental results showing that the proposed algorithm provides high overall compression efficiency are presented.

An algorithm for automatically recognizing the type of dynamic object detected by an optoelectronic device with an a priori uncertainty about the current background situation is proposed. Recognition is carried out from samples of statistics in the form of energies of wavelet spectra of the coordinates of the elevation angle, azimuth, and calculated maximum distance of the detected object. The recognition criterion is unbiased and the most powerful. Modeling has shown that the algorithm is highly efficient and implementable in real time on modern PC.

The reconstruction of an image of the section of a thin wire, obtained by an ultrasonic locator in an aqueous medium at frequency of 1.3 MHz with a monochromatic sounding signal is considered. Reconstruction of the image was carried out using a synthesized aperture by correlation processing of the trajectory Doppler signal with calculated reference trajectory signals from point objects. The disturbing effect of the reflected ultrasonic wave from the surface wave left by the moving wire on the image reconstruction is taken into account. The results of reconstruction of the image of the wire cross-section from model and experimental trajectory signals in the presence of a surface wave are given.

The contrast of a combination of two image plans spaced along the visual axis of the eye to stimulate the accommodation in 3D displays is analyzed. Two methods of normalization based on individual and group calculations of optimal coefficients of combinations for different diameter of the pupil of the eye at specified image resolution are proposed.

A spectral method of detection of laser Doppler velocimeter signals in turbulent flows is proposed. The method is based on estimating the signal/noise ratio adapted to the width of the signal power spectral density and comparing its value with the recognition threshold. Numerical simulations show that the error of the signal/noise ratio estimates is 1 % for different velocities of the turbulent flow. Physical experiments aimed at measuring turbulent aerodynamic processes show that the proposed method offers a possibility of eliminating the errors of calculating the mean value and the velocity scatter equal to 15 and 78 % by means of eliminating the signals with low signal/noise ratios from the processing system. Application of the proposed method also ensures lower irregularity of the signal/noise ratio estimates than that ensured by the famous method developed by Tropea for a wide range of turbulent velocities.

A method of thermal treatment of DI37-VI steel exhibiting precipitation hardening is developed with due allowance for the steel microstructure and determining the chemical composition of carbides and the matrix after each operation. In the case of low-temperature tempering, the mechanical properties of steel are found to be little different from its properties obtained by means of multiple high-temperature tempering (aging); in the latter case, however, the wear resistance of steel in the case of cutting of steel bars is 1.5 times higher. It is demonstrated that the wear resistance of steel is significantly affected by the chemical composition of carbides and the matrix.

A percolation model of nanocomposite reinforcement is under study. It is shown that the degree of reinforcement of polyurethane - carbon nanotube nanocomposites depends on the structure of nanofillers, which are annular formations. This structure is most accurately characterized by its fractal dimension. It is established that the creation of a structure with negative percolation indices allows for a significant increase in the degree of reinforcement of considered nanocomposites at low nanofiller concentrations.

This paper presents the results of experimental studies of damage accumulation in a metal-composite high-pressure tank in pneumatic strength tests. The deformation and fracture of the composite structure, accompanied by matrix cracking and fiber rupture, are analyzed. It is shown that the cracks and fractures generate acoustic-emission signals of various types. The results of acoustic-emission control were used to develop a criterion for ranking tanks based on the strength characteristics of the pressure composite shell.

A technique for identification of hereditary properties under conditions of short-time creep of Plexiglas is developed. The technique is based on experimental determination of shifting of the center of decaying flexural oscillations of vertically fixed test samples after their preliminary curing in a static bent state. Mathematically, the technique is based on using the finite element method and integral equations of the theory of hereditary viscoelasticity with the Koltunov-Rzhanitsyn hereditary kernel. An object function is constructed for identification of rheological parameters of this kernel. The minimum of this function is found by the direct search method, which does not require the function gradient to be known. The hereditary kernel of Plexiglas averaged on the basis of data for several test samples is obtained as a function of time.

A model of the explosive fragmentation of a thin ring was developed which take into account the statistical dispersion of the destructive relative deformation along the length of the ring. A formula is proposed for calculating the speed of motion of the boundary of the region near the plastic rupture in which the plastic flow of the ring material is stopped. Methods of numerical and analytical calculation of the average number of fragments of the ring were developed. The calculation results were compared with known experimental data.

The problem of steady radial vibrations of a thin electroelastic hollow disk in a preliminary inhomogeneous plane stress-strain state is solved. Vibrations are caused by a potential difference at the electrodes placed on the end surfaces of the disk. Equations of vibrations and boundary conditions are formulated. The preliminary stress state corresponding to the solution of the Lame problem was investigated. The direct problem of determining the displacement function is solved numerically by the shooting method. The inverse problem of determining the prestress parameter from the change in the natural frequency of the disk is formulated and solved. The accuracy of determining the prestressed state for initial put data specified with an error is analyzed.

A mathematical model describing the nonstationary creep of metals under complex loading is proposed. The results of numerical simulation of creep of St.304 steel in complex regimes of block multiaxial cyclic deformation are given. The numerical calculation results obtained are compared with the data of full-scale experiments. Creep is simulated in complex deformation processes accompanied by the rotation of main regions of stress, strain, and creep strain tensors.

Laser-assisted welding of the 1420 alloy of the Al-Mg-Li system is experimentally studied for the purpose of its optimization. Various regimes of thermal treatment of non-detachable joints obtained by means of laser welding are considered. Thermal treatment modes that allow significant enhancement of the welded joint density as compared to the as-received alloy are chosen. The ultimate normalized elongation of samples after aging is found to decrease by a factor of 3.

It is shown that a weld seam formed during explosion welding at a microlevel (at a wavelength of the order of several hundred micrometers) has a wavy geometry. Stress concentration caused by local geometry of the seam is calculated for various shapes and amplitudes of the weld seam wave and combinations of joined materials.

The article considers approaches to analyzing and determining Siberia's development trends. We show that the views of the academic community on Siberia as a socially and economically connected region have greatly forestalled the actual practice. One of the reasons why the practice falls behind is the prevalent approach aimed at realizing exceptionally large national economic programs (projects). Nevertheless, o^ver the last 60 years, the Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering SB RAS has been developing and advancing approaches that can fully substantiate the development of Siberia within modern concepts of the spatial economy (value creation and distribution in the interests both of individual regions and Siberia as a whole). The designed approaches are made to examine synergetic effects that arisefrom uniting the efforts of individual territories in the Siberian macroregion.

The article examines direct and reverse financial flows between the regions and the government. It considers objectives of regional and budgetary policies and discusses methodical problems of estimating the size of financial flows and their interchangeability. We share a view that donor regions and recipient regions should be defined by balance surplus or deficit on all interlevel financial flows, not only based on gratuitous receipts or transfers from the federal budget. This approach makes it possible to eliminate partly the changes in budget legislation as related to allocating financial assistance to the regions. A comparison of the 1996-1998 and present studies shows that the number of donorregions has slightly increased over the period of review. We prove that the consolidation of public finances in Russia has not resulted in a significant decrease in differentiating the levels of regional development. The article reveals a trend: inter-budgetary transfers are partially replaced by direct expenses paid from the federal budget.

The article raises the question whether some theoretical arguments implicitly contained in fundamental strategic documents are supported b;y empirical evidence. The answer is essential to assessing the validity of the proposed regional policies that, in turn, could vary significantly depending on the used theoretical framework. We show that, despite the latest achievements of regional science, the current regional policy stays within the theoretical concepts of the 20th century. There are obvious problems with empirical confirmation of agglomeration effects. Difficulties in interpreting observable data relate to the use of macroeconomic indicators for testing the initially microeconomic models. This practice is stimulated by methodological challenges and is complicated by the lack of data. We verify empirically the assertions about clear advantages of the territorial concentration of economic activities in cities in terms of production efficiency, national growth, and reducing regional disparities. According to the calculations, higher labor productivity is not the exceptional property of large cities; there is insufficient evidence to support the concentration of economic growth in agglomerations; interregional inequality is growing in most countries, including the ones with high per capita incomes. We conclude that our results contradict to the widely broadcasted statements about the higher economic efficiency of urban agglomerations. It is alarming that some assertions acquire the force of law in the Fundamentals of State Policy for Regional Development of the Russian Federation until 2025 and the discussed Concept for the Strategy of Spatial Development of the Russian Federation until 2025.

The article deals with the study of nature and features of the instruments which are most often used to quantify income inequality. It is shown that, in general case, the results obtained when using different toolsfor quantitative assessment both of inequality and dynamics of its changes do not coincide. Thus, judgments about inequality based on the results of using the studied tools may differ and even contradict each other. In the case of personal income inequality, this allows one to use a particular tool to manipulate public consciousness and to present changes in a beneficial light (from a certain point of view or for some persons /groups of persons). The estimation of wage income inequalities in constituent entities of the Russian Federation based on official statistics for 2000-2015 allowed calculating the dynamics of the measure of inequality, which was proposed by the author, not only for all the subjects of the Russian Federation, but also for some of their groups, and determining periods of this measure growth and decline.

The article discusses the problems of human development in Siberian regions. It focuses on the regional aspects identified in the National Human Development Reports and defines necessary resources for human capital development. We recognize that, for a significant proportion of Siberians, poverty substantially restrains their development. It is concluded that there is an archaic social structure of the population with a high proportion of the poorest, a narrow swath of the middle class, and a measly share of the rich formed in Russia. Over the last decade, all the Siberian regions have shown a positive trend in human development. However, the human development indices fell far behind the national average. Having analyzed the indicators of human development in the regions of the Siberian Federal District, we conclude that the quality of life of the population exhibits spatial heterogeneity. The majority of the Siberian regions is attributed to the lower quality of life group. The conditions are most severe in the national republics: Tyva, Khakassia, and Buryatia, where mainly indigenous peoples reside. We notice high social inequality and regional barriers to the development of the human capital.

The article introduces a methodological toolkit for analyzing the current trends of demographic development on complex indicators, which assesses the demographic development of territories in tune with their modernization development level. The demographic well-being of a region is viewed as a combination of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the population expressed in the population's structure, social peculiarities, and mobility. Based on the selected indicators,we propose integral indicators to measure the demographic well-being and children’s potential in Russian regions over the period between 2000 and 2014. An information system «Population and Modernization» was made to automate the calculation. The proposed approach allo^ws presenting multidimensional data as a single variable with computed argu- ments,where different indicators are combined, including all target values, and carrying out analysis in combination with other factors. Indices can be used to develop measures of regional demographic and social policies for making managerial decisions to ensure sustainable demographic development of a territory

The article gives a sociostatic interpretation of the data on the survival of Russian men and women derived from an estimation of the mortality risk probabilities in primeworking years according to actuarial tables broken down by capital cities，krays，republics，oblasts，and federal districts. In the depopulation situation that is unfolding in the regions of Russia， the observed increase in life expectancy is recognized as an unstable trend.The reproduction prospects worsen due to decreasing total number of births in 2017. The traditional value system of Russians’ self-preservative behavior is not changing fast enough: the population in the provinces is slow to assimilate modern concepts of healthy lifestyle (health transition). We propose a sociostatic methodology for assessing the culture level of the population’s mass preventive behavior. The article presents new results of estimating the probability of economically active men and women’s survival by the international labor standards. We suggest new approaches to carry out programs for promoting healthy lifestyle concepts and accelerating the health transition process in the eastern regions of Russia.

The article assesses the state of high-tech and knowledge-intensive enterprises, identifies their problems and development prospects in theregions of the Siberian Federal District. We compare approaches to defining high-tech business, estimate the spatial and sectoral structure of high-tech and knowledge-intensive businesses, and outline the main problems and development opportunities for high-tech industrial enterprises and those which provide knowledge-intensive services. The article shows that high-tech and knowledge-intensive business is still not prominent in Siberia since it forms less than 10% of the regional economy. In Siberia, the tertiary sector, represented by knowledge-intensive services, is developing at a higher rate, which incorporates air transportation in the lead with know-edge-intensive industrial services and small high-tech manufacturing companies sharing the second place. Large high-tech companies are dependent on the government strategy in this area. The regions of the Siberian Federal District are highly differentiated with respect to the presence and development level of high-tech companies. Regional leaders in high-tech production include Novosibirsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Kray. The empirical data confirm that the most favorable conditions for «new-economy» companies to prosper are in the regions with an advanced scientific and educational foundation.

The article considers a hypothesis that granting international status to a regional exhibition increases return for the regional economy. We use the system and comparative analysis as a research method. On the example of a specific international exhibition, we have revealed that in current conditions international exhibitions play an important role of a communication platform broadcasting the latest world trends in the growth of advanced manufacturing technologies and providing interaction among the authorities, business, science, civil society, and media to establish priorities fo^ scientific and technological development. We classify the effects of holding international exhibitions both for region's economic subjects and various economic spheres of the whole region. The article shows how international exhibitions are used as a site for awarding large and strategic contracts to complete tasks related to import substitution, export assistance, international and inter-regional cooperation, and territory’s brand development.

The article reviews the normative documents regulating the environmental load in the Russian Federation, provides a summary on the contamination, analyzes the dynamics of pollutant air emissions and cancerous diseases in Russia, identifies populated areas with high and low pollutant air emissions. The study is complete with a regression analysis showing that the increase in sulfur dioxide emissions is an acceptable indicator of the malignant neoplasms risk assessment.

With Russia shifting from state socialism to neoliberal capitalism, the system of urban planning also underwent a change. Citizen participation in urban planning is currently declared as a socially desirable practice ensuring that the interests of ordinary citizens and power holders are in balance, which contributes to the sustainable development of cities and the urban environment. In reality, however, the multiplicity ofways to involve citizens in planning, their specificity and limitations reveal the immaturity of the legalfield, complicating the participation process. The article analyzes individual determinants, aswell as motivations for citizen participation/non-participation in long-term urban planning based on the data collected through a sociological survey in small towns: Kirov (Kaluga Oblast), Kasimov (Ryazan Oblast), Belev (Tula Oblast). We show that citizen participation in formal urban planning is not a common practice. Only a small proportion of respondents are ready to continually cooperate with the local administration in solving issues of local importance within normatively defined forms of direct participation. Most are ready to become more active only when it is necessary to address an urgent problem, giving preference to informal practices and interventions in the urban landscape that can be attributed to do-it-yourself urbanism.

The article presents the stance of the Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering SB RAS on launching the Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation, on the content of various versions of the strategy concept and its structure. We show that while conceptual approaches to the strategy design were in the works, its implementation priorities, direction, and mechanisms underwent a fundamental change. Whereas the first version of the strategy concept contained a progressive vision of the problems, challenges, priorities, and possible scenarios of Russia’s spatial development and implementation mechanisms, every subsequent iteration lost some of these progressive features. The article details the conceptual defects of the latest versions of the Concept of the Russian Spatial Development Strategy and the Structure of the Russian Spatial Development Strategy, which disrupt attempt to positively evaluate these documents: ignoring new trends, challenges, and threats emerging in the Russian space; favoring the task of mastering funds to implement the strategy only through urban agglomerations advancement while dismissing tasks of social justice and citizens’ human potential support, environmental safety of business and dwelling in specific areas, and others.