Northern Russia Research Articles

Tests of Monitoring of Motion Variables of Unmanned Vehicle Convoy

This work analyzes test results of motion control system of unmanned cargo vehicles convoy with manned master vehicle developed by NAMI Institute. Development of intelligent transportation systems is determined by necessity to improve efficiency and safety of cargo and passenger traffic in hard-to-reach areas of northern Russia, Arctic and Antarctic regions. Scientific substantiation of engineering solutions accounting for specific operation conditions and peculiarities of controls is of outstanding importance. The problem of motion control of unmanned vehicle convoy is formulated in terms of dynamic stability of state coordinates, its solution prevents collision with obstacles and stability control of master vehicle. State coordinates of vehicles were determined by virtual data sensors based on indirect measurements using mathematical models and solution algorithms of ill-posed problems. Measurements of longitudinal speed of mass center, longitudinal and transversal accelerations, pressure drop in tires, turning angle of driven wheels, motion path plotting and recognition of road markings have been analyzed. Efficiency of the developed system of motion control of unmanned vehicle convoy in Russia has been confirmed experimentally.

100-year-old enigma solved: identification, genomic characterization and biogeography of the yet uncultured Planctomyces bekefii.

The first representative of the phylum Planctomycetes, Planctomyces bekefii, was described nearly one century ago. This morphologically conspicuous freshwater bacterium is a rare example of as-yet-uncultivated prokaryotes with validly published names and unknown identity. We report the results of molecular identification of this elusive bacterium, which was detected in a eutrophic boreal lake in Northern Russia. By using high-performance cell sorting, P. bekefii-like cell rosettes were selectively enriched from lake water. The retrieved 16S rRNA gene sequence was nearly identical to those in dozens of metagenomes assembled from freshwater lakes during cyanobacterial blooms and was phylogenetically placed within a large group of environmental sequences originating from various freshwater habitats worldwide. In contrast, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to all currently described members of the order Planctomycetales was only 83%-92%. The metagenome assembled for P. bekefii reached 43% genome coverage and showed the potential for degradation of peptides, pectins, and sulfated polysaccharides. Tracing the seasonal dynamics of P. bekefii by Illumina paired-end sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments and by fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that these bacteria only transiently surpass the detection limit, with a characteristic population peak of up to 104 cells ml-1 following cyanobacterial blooms.

Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) ecology: insights from the Russian literature. Part 1: Asian part of the Russian breeding range

Long-tailed Ducks (Clangula hyemalis) nest in tundra habitats and are marine birds outside of the breeding season. These sea ducks are subject to negative impacts and threats throughout their annual cycle, and the population wintering in the Baltic Sea has declined dramatically in recent decades. To understand their life history and the drivers of population decreases, the ecology of Long-tailed Ducks needs to be understood in their breeding and wintering habitats. Most of the birds wintering in the Baltic Sea breed in northern Russia. Here, we reviewed the Russian literature on the Long-tailed Duck in the Asian part of the Russian breeding range (from Yamal to North East), with respect to their distribution, density, breeding and feeding biology. We summarized information from 74 Russian sources, with a strong representation of field surveys and ecological studies in the 1970s and 1980s. The data show a comparable overall breeding biology and timing within the area and compared to the European part of the breeding range. Considerable differences in the densities between sites and years were observed, but the underlying drivers of these differences are not yet understood. Overall, the proportions of non-breeding birds were high in most reports, but further studies are needed to understand the potential impact of changes in the breeding habitat on population trends. The data summarized here provide a comprehensive database for carrying out repeat surveys and ecological studies to improve understanding of population trends and their underlying ecological basis.

The System of Energy Security in the Russian Northern Regions

The objectives of article are to study the foundations and conceptual approaches to ensuring energy security, to disclose the essence, principles of energy policy in the field of ensuring energy security as an integral part of the economic security of the state (region), to analyze the existing methods for evaluating energy security, and to offer a conceptual approach to the formation of a system for ensuring the region’s energy security with regard to the specificity of energy functioning in the Far North of Russia. Based on the study of theoretical foundations and methodological approaches to ensuring regional energy security are proposed: the development and adoption of a concept for ensuring energy security in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); the author's definition of the concept of the ‘region’s energy security’; an improved conceptual approach to the development of a system for ensuring the region’s energy security; a structural scheme for the organization and effective management of the energy security system in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Sømilitær vurdering af Ruslands Østersøflåde og de militære implikationer for Danmark

This article provides an evaluation of the capabilities of the Russian Baltic Fleet. It is shown that the Baltic Fleet is the smallest of Russia’s fleets, but that it also has the most modern ships. Even so, the Baltic Fleet still has a large heritage of old equipment from the Soviet era. The assessment is that the Russian Baltic Fleet would be unable to stand up to NATO in a war. Rather, it is a fleet designed for peacetime and operations in the grey zone below armed conflict. This knowledge is used to derive policy recommendations for the development of the Danish military. Scenarios for peacetime, war, and grey zone conflicts are discussed. It is argued that in case of a war, peer-level maritime threats will come from the Russian Northern Fleet, and that maritime operations in the Baltic Sea will focus on different kinds of challenges. It is suggested that Denmark needs to improve its capabilities for deterrence and maritime security operations in the Baltic Sea region. Currently, Denmark relies on just five large warships to solve many tasks, which leaves the Navy at risk of being overstretched.

A new varanopid synapsid from the early Permian of Oklahoma and the evolutionary stasis in this clade.

Varanopids are a basal clade of small- to medium-sized non-therapsid synapsids, whose range extends from the late Pennsylvanian to the late middle Permian, and are found in North America, Russia, Europe and South Africa. The greatest varanopid diversity is observed at the fossiliferous cave deposits near Richards Spur, Oklahoma, well known for the preservation of a complex early Permian upland community. Two previously described varanopids, Mycterosaurus and Varanops, are known only from fragmentary disarticulated material at Richards Spur. A third putative varanopid, Basicranodon fortsillensis, represented by a partial parasphenoid, has been synonymized with Mycterosaurus longiceps. This study reports on a new varanopid taxon, represented by substantially more complete material, including three nearly complete skulls. Such comprehensive cranial material allows for a detailed study of the taxon and its relationship to other varanopids. This new varanopid bears great morphological similarity to Mesenosaurus romeri from the middle Permian Mezen River Basin of northern Russia. Phylogenetic analysis recovers a sister relationship between this taxon and Me. romeri. This relationship, in conjunction with a detailed morphological comparison, supports the placement of this taxon within Mesenosaurus, as a new species, Me. efremovi. These results reveal an unexpected extension of the geographical and temporal range of Mesenosaurus, contributing to our understanding of varanopid dispersal. The extended persistence of this basal clade of predatory synapsids, underscored by the apparent evolutionary stasis of this genus, is unusual among Palaeozoic tetrapods. This phenomenon implies an exceptionally high degree of extended ecological resilience across major faunal and environmental transitions.

Dialect loss in the Russian North: Modeling change across variables

AbstractWe analyze the dynamics of dialect loss in a cluster of villages in rural northern Russia based on a corpus of transcribed interviews, the Ustja River Basin Corpus. Eleven phonological and morphological variables are analyzed across 33 speakers born between 1922 and 1996 in a series of logistic regression models. We propose three characteristics for a comparison of the rate of loss of different variables: initial level, steepness, and turning point. We show that the dynamics of loss differs significantly across variables and discuss possible reasons for such differences, including perceptual salience, initial variation in the dialect, and convergence with regionally or socially defined varieties of Russian. In conclusion, we discuss the pros and cons of logistic regression as an approach to quantitative modeling of dialect loss. Our paper contributes to the study and documentation of Russian dialects, most of which are on the verge of extinction.

Projecting Changes in Russian Northern River Runoff due to Possible Climate Change during the 21st Century: A Case Study of the Northern Dvina, Taz and Indigirka Rivers

Projected changes in river runoff due to possible climate change during the 21st century were simulated with making use of a physically-based land surface model SWAP and meteorological projections simulated by five Global Climate Models (GCMs) for each of four RCP scenarios. The Northern Dvina, Indigirka, and Taz river basins were used in the study. For each basin, 20 projections of changes in climatic river runoff were obtained for three climatic periods of the 21st century. The projected changes in climatic river runoff were analyzed together with the projected changes in climatic precipitation, incoming shortwave and longwave radiation, and evapotranspiration. The obtained hydrological projections were used to estimate their uncertainties resulting from the application of different GCMs and RCP scenarios.

Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Model in the Arctic Waters Based on Support Vector Regression

Zhang, J.-Y.; Zhang, J.; Ma, Y.; Chen, A.-N.; Cheng, J., and Wan, J.-X., 2019. Satellite-derived bathymetry model in the Arctic waters based on support vector regression. In: Jung, H.-S.; Lee, S.; Ryu, J.-H., and Cui, T. (eds.), Advances in Remote Sensing and Geoscience Information Systems of Coastal Environments. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 90, pp. 294-301. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Bathymetric data are essential for navigation and marine engineering. Satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) is an effective supplement to the ship-based echo sounder, especially for bathymetric measurement in the area that is difficult to reach. Accurate SDB in the Arctic waters is more complex by weak light, cloud, mist, floating ice and so on than in middle or lower latitude clean waters. This paper performs SDB based on Support vector regression (SVR) from multi-spectral imagery of Sentinel-2 in shallow water (0-20 m) of Pomorskiy Proliv of Northern Russia, and corrects the estimated water depth with the interpolation of residuals. The results indicate that the highest accuracy of SDB based on SVR is achieved by employing radial basis function on the full feature inputs, with the mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.5 m and the mean relative error of 44.9 %. After the residual interpolation correction, the overall MAE reduces to 2.0 m, and the root mean square errors decrease by at least 0.3 m among different depth ranges. The approach provides technical support for obtaining a wide range and relatively high spatial resolution of bathymetric data in the Arctic region.

Топос бани в религиозной антропологии народов Северной России

Топос бани в религиозной антропологии народов Северной России

Genomic Determinants of Phototrophy in Methanotrophic Alphaproteobacteria

Aerobic methanotrophic bacteria are an ecologically important group of microorganisms, which are functionally specialized in oxidation of the greenhouse gas methane. Recent insights into the growing pool of available genome sequences from methanotrophs revealed a number of as-yet-unknown metabolic capabilities of these bacteria. Thus, the genes indicative of aerobic anoxygenic photosynthesis by means of the photosystem II characteristic of purple bacteria were revealed in the genome of an obligate methanotroph Methylocapsa palsarum NE2T. Advanced search for genomic determinants of phototrophy in other methanotrophs confirmed their occurrence in a number of methanotrophic Alphaproteobacteria, including Methylocella silvestris BL2T and TVC, Methylocystis rosea SV97T and GW6, as well as Methylocystis spp. strains SB2 and MitZ-2018. Genomes of these methanotrophs contained the pufABCLM gene clusters encoding the light-harvesting complex, bch/chl genes responsible for bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis, and the pucC gene essential for bacteriochlorophyll transport, as well as the crtFDC, crtL and crtB genes responsible for carotenoid biosynthesis. Organization of these gene clusters was conserved within each methanotroph species and was highly similar in Methylocapsa and Methylocella strains. A number of rearrangements, including inverse localization of the genes encoding bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis, were observed in the genomes of Methylocystis species. The presence of pufLM genes was also revealed in a new isolate of Methylocapsa palsarum, strain NSB8, which was obtained in this study from a tundra wetland of European Northern Russia. The presence of phototrophy-related genes in all available strains of the abovementioned species indicates their functional importance for these bacteria and suggests realization of the phototrophic potential under certain environmental conditions.

Wind energy at remote islands in arctic region—A case study of Solovetsky islands

This paper describes a case study of wind resource assessment and wind park design at the Solovetsky Islands, which are located in the Arctic region of northern Russia. The Solovetsky historical and cultural complex has been included in the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. 18 years of data of wind climatology from the NASA Langley Research Center are used for wind resource assessment at the Solovetsky Islands for two different wind park locations. Computational fluid dynamics based numerical simulations are carried out for wind resource assessment and for the estimation of the resultant annual energy production (AEP) for both locations. To better understand wind flow physics and the effects of wind turbine wake effects, three different wake models are used for the numerical simulations. Analyses of seasonal weather effects on energy production show that wind power production at the Solovetsky Islands is higher during the winter period compared to the summer period, mainly due to higher wind speeds and air density at cold winter conditions. A preliminary case study about wind park layout optimization has also been carried out, where the results show an increase in AEP with the optimization of the wind park layout.

“Intellectual Silence” and Intellectual Endeavor in Medieval Slavia Orthodoxa

This survey of intellectual endeavor in medieval Slavia orthodoxa proposes a different way to think through the problem of the “intellectual silence of Old Rus′,” first set forth by Georges Florovsky and explored by George Fedotov, Francis Thomson, Simon Franklin, and now Donald Ostrowski. It examines the resources and opportunities for secondary schooling and their apparent outcomes in Kyivan Rus′ from the eleventh through the thirteenth century, among South Slavs on Mount Athos in the later fourteenth century, and at the Kirillo-Belozerskii (Kirillov) Monastery in northern Russia in the later fifteenth century. It concludes that intellectual endeavor is not necessarily bound to an international language of scholarship (e.g., Greek), one the one hand, or to a particular religious mentalité (e.g., that of the Western Church), on the other. Rather, it is cultivated by “schematizing” (educational) institutions oriented upon academic (heuristic) interpretive strategies and—most importantly—supported by textbooks and teachers.

Land use change and the migration geography of Greater White‐fronted geese in European Russia

AbstractLarge areas of agricultural land have been abandoned in European Russia since 1991, triggering succession toward more wooded landscapes, especially in northern regions where conditions for agriculture are more challenging. We hypothesize that this process has contributed to a southward shift by migratory Atlantic Greater White‐fronted geese, as stopover sites in northern Russia became progressively less suitable. To test this hypothesis, we located stopover sites from information contained in 2976 ring recoveries and sightings of neck‐collared geese. These records were divided into three time periods, chosen to reflect major changes in the economy and land use of European Russia: 1960–1990, 1991–2000, and 2001–2013. We used a kernel density estimator grid to delineate areas surrounding 300 putative stopover sites, and statistically evaluated the effects of latitude, distance to nearest waterbody, settlement, and period on stopover site usage by geese. Our results show that over the three periods, usage of the stopover sites has shifted southward, indicating that Greater White‐fronted geese have shifted their migration pathway, with the greatest shift in the most recent period. This shift was confirmed by a highly significant squared latitude term and significant interaction term between periods. The nearest settlements showed no significant effect on stopover site usage while the nearest waterbody term was negative, suggesting higher waterbody densities contributed to higher densities of stopover sites. We attribute the shift to the successional reforestation of the Russian landscape that has followed widespread land abandonment, especially that following the break‐up of the former USSR.

Evaluation of Real-Time RT-PCR for Diagnostic Use in Detection of Puumala Virus.

Puumala virus (PUUV) is the most common cause of hantavirus infection in Europe, with thousands of cases occurring particularly in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. It causes a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome also known as nephropathia epidemica (NE) with clinical picture ranging from mild to severe. Currently, the laboratory diagnosis of NE is mainly based on serology. Here, we evaluated a real-time one-step qRT-PCR (PUUV-qRT-PCR) for detection of PUUV with 238 consecutive diagnostic serum samples from patients with suspected PUUV infection. The PUUV-qRT-PCR was both specific and sensitive for PUUV RNA. The analytical sensitivity (limit of detection) was estimated to be four copies of PUUV per reaction. Altogether 28 out of 30 (93%) PUUV IgM positive samples were positive also for PUUV RNA. No false positives were detected and the specificity was thus 100%. Interestingly, one sample was found positive in PUUV-qRT-PCR prior to subsequent IgM and IgG seroconversion. PUUV-qRT-PCR could be used for diagnostics in the early phase of NE infection and might be helpful especially in the rare severe cases when the patient’s condition may deteriorate rapidly.

Firekeepers

Sápmi is the term of the imagined nation of the Saami people, covering a territory that goes across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Northern Russia. The joik is the specific form of Saami chanting. It coveys lyrics, melody and throat singing techniques, with a high level of abstraction in rendering the relation to people, natural sites, places, animals and events, that we attempted to understand contextually and historically.
 The cultural complexity emerging in this multivocal and multisited project shows the embodiment of verbal recollections, gestures, conversations, lyrics, chants, improvisations, outbursts and secretive features of the Saami chanting endeavor. Among the socio-political issues that the film addressed is the poignant reality of fading away languages: Southern Saami is today spoken by less than 500 speakers in Norway. 

Local fauna of bumblebees (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River

This article is devoted to an investigation of the local fauna of bumblebees in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River in northern Russia where 27 species of bumblebees were found during the present study. The basis of the local fauna of bumblebees in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River is related to species with a wide range. The majority of the species are Transpalaearctic. Holarctic, Sub-Transpalaearctic, whereas West-Central Palaearctic are less represented. According to the latitudinal aspect the majority of the species are temperate, and the rest are boreal and arcto-temperate. One of species found in the local fauna is subboreal. The number of species in the studied local fauna is the largest among the local faunae of the northern part of the Arkhangelsk Region. It is comparable to the local faunae of the southern part of this region. Here is recorded species such asBombussoroeensis,B.distinguedus,B.ruderarius,B.veteranus,B.humilis, and others, which are not typical of native taiga habitats but are the meadow species in the European North of Russia. Due to the wide development of meadows and ruderal communities in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River, these species are widely represented here. The rare species in the studied local fauna areB.patagiatus,B.humilis,B.consobrinus, andB.schrencki.

An Insect Complex of Large Animal Carcasses and the Peculiarities of Their Decomposition in Northern European Russia

An insect complex decomposing large animal carcasses was studied in two habitat types in northern European Russia (the Republic of Karelia), with the domestic pig Sus scrofa domesticus L. used as a model. Altogether, 100 species of insects belonging to 25 families and 6 orders were revealed on or in the carcasses. The two biotopes differed in the species composition and relative abundance of necrobionts. The structure and succession of the insect complex in the process of carcass decomposition are analyzed.

Psychometric properties of the Russian version of the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS)

Insufficient sleep could severely impair both cognitive and learning skills. More prominent changes are found in children and adolescents. Tools used to estimate sleepiness in the adult population are commonly inappropriate for children. The objective of our study was to provide a reliable instrument to measure excessive sleepiness for upcoming studies in Russian-speaking children, applying the Russian version of Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS). The following tasks were resolved in our study: translation, validation, and analysis of psychometric properties of the Russian adaptation of the PDSS by standard tests. After the semantic validation of the instrument through a multi-stage translation process we checked its psychometric validation. A total of 552 students, consisting of N = 285 for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), N = 267 for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and N = 204 for test-retest analysis of public elementary schools located in Northern Russia completed the PDSS and Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to estimate sleep parameters in the classroom during the lessons. Response rate was 90%; excluded cases contained no data. Further, 204 of our participants completed the PDSS in a 3 months interval to check the test-retest reliability. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficients and CFA was used to test factorial validity of the tool. Concurrent validity and test-retest reliability were assessed via intra-class coefficient. Internal consistency of the PDSS scale was high (Cronbach's α = 0.8). The construct validity of the PDSS was supported by CFA (factor loadings were from 0.438 to 0.727) and the test-retest reliability demonstrated by the intra-class coefficient was 0.70. The total PDSS score was independent of sex. The mean total value of PDSS was 11.95 ± 6.24. Higher scores on PDSS were negatively correlated with sleep duration. Thus, the construct validity of the instrument remains valid and could be used for Russian-speaking youth samples in the evaluation of daytime sleepiness. It could be useful in future applications by sleep scientists and health practitioners.

Evolution of the thermal state of permafrost under climate warming in Central Yakutia

The relevance of the problem under review is explained by the need to study the thermal response of permafrost to the modern climate change. Evolution of the thermal state of grounds has been studied with a view to evaluate the effects of modern climate warming on permafrost in Central Yakutia. The leading method to study this problem is the arrangement and performance of long-term monitoring observations of the permafrost thermal state that enable quantitative evaluation of the thermal response of upper permafrost layers to climatic fluctuations of recent decades. The analysis of long-term records from weather stations in the region has clearly revealed one of the highest increasing trends in the mean annual air temperature in northern Russia. Quantitative relationships in the long-term variability of ground thermal parameters, such as ground temperature at the bottom of the active layer, at the bottom of the annual heat exchange layer, and active thaw depth, have been established. The thermal state dynamics of the annual heat exchange layer under climate warming indicates that both warm and cold permafrost are thermally stable. Short-term variability of the snow accumulation regime is the main factor controlling the thermal state of the ground in permafrost landscapes. The active-layer thickness is characterized by low interannual variability and exhibits little response to climate warming, with no statistically meaningful increasing or decreasing trend. The results of ground thermal monitoring can be extended to similar landscapes in the region, providing a reliable basis for predicting heat transfer in natural landscapes.