Remote Territories Research Articles

TRACING COLONIAL IDEOLOGY IN CHINUA ACHEBE?S THINGS FALL APART AND BUCHI EMECHETA?S THE BRIDE PRICE

Inspired by the appetite to control world trade and naturally rich African and Asian countries, European powers started to dominate remote territories economically and politically in the fifteenth century. Although the main reason was to colonize other nations for their gains, European countries masked their colonial ideology claiming that they brought civilization to Africa, India for the first time. Europeans’ attitude to justify their colonization continued throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, thus creating new settlements where the slave and master discourse was created. In order to meet its demand for raw materials, Britain’s domination and hegemony over the third world countries reached its peak in the nineteenth century and it exploited other nations both economically and culturally. Nigeria-exposed to British hegemony- is one of the countries whose natural resources were usurped and indigenous culture was oppressed. The indigenous Nigerian people were enslaved and forced to serve the white man. In the context of colonial reading, Nigerian writers Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta handle the colonial history of Igbo society suffering from the oppression of the colonizer. The paper in this context, aims to display the colonial acts and their impacts on the colonized people through Nigerian authors’ perspectives.

Колчаны у средневекового населения Кузнецкой котловины

The work is devoted to the study of weapons of the medieval population of the Kuznetsk basin. Cases of the discovery of quivers in medieval funeral complexes on the territory of the Kuznetsk basin are described and summarized. This category of items is poorly researched, which is due to the poor safety of these items and, as a result, a small source base. According to the material of manufacture and the shape of the quivers, the primary classification of finds is carried out, whose design has been preserved almost completely or can be reconstructed. Two groups and three types of birch bark quivers are distinguished. According to the dating of the monuments on which the quivers were found, the periods of existence of each type on the territory of the Kuznetsk basin are hypothetically determined. Conical quivers with a pocket existed at the end of the 1st millennium and the developed Middle Ages. Conical and cylindrical quivers with a horizontal top were used in the developed Middle Ages. A wide range of analogies from monuments of the early and developed Middle Ages from neighboring and remote territories of Central Asia are given to the selected types of quivers. A similar dynamics of the development of similar types of quivers in other territories is recorded. The studied quivers are part of the subject complex of the second stage of development of the Saratov (second half of the VIII-X centuries) and Shanda archaeological culture (XI-XIV centuries).

ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОГО СЕЛЬСКОГО ХОЗЯЙСТВА ПРИ ИНТЕГРАЦИИ ГОСУДАРСТВ-ЧЛЕНОВ ЕАЭС

Spatial development of agriculture in Russia is a natural, but at the same time complex and diverse process of social division of labor, which is largely capable of ensuring the effective functioning of the economy of the industry of each region and country as a whole, reducing costs, improving the quality and competitiveness of its products. It has more real prerequisites for its development and will provide a more significant positive effect when the territorial and sectoral division of labor in agriculture is more clearly manifested, interregional exchange is expanding, cooperation and integration between individual regions of the country and the EAEU countries are strengthening. At the same time, rural territories, traditionally occupying huge areas of the country, being at the same time the habitat and vital activity of one quarter of its population, largely remain the guarantor of stable spatial development of the state, in which rural settlements act as its peculiar foundation, linking together economic centers with the periphery. In Russia, with its historically characteristic significant diversity of natural, territorial, social, economic, regional and many other conditions for agriculture, it is the spatial organization that traditionally actively influences its development, and of a twofold nature, being a strong acting impulse or, conversely, a constant brake and even an insurmountable obstacle. This is evidenced primarily by the domestic long-term experience, when the country, due to the mobilization of internal resources in a relatively short time, not only created large-scale specialized zones for the production of certain types of agricultural products and mastered huge deserted and remote territories for farming, but also relatively quickly lost its territorial advantages associated with rational placement, deepening specialization and the optimal concentration of agricultural production. The spatial development of agriculture in the country is an indistinctly expressed territorial organization of the industry with relatively poorly interconnected regional processes of placement, specialization and concentration of production of certain types of agricultural products aimed at increasing their volumes and reducing costs. The intensity of their development is mainly due to the demand for the products of the industry and its possible supply to the member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the effectiveness of state support for agriculture and regulation of certain product segments of the domestic agro-food market.

Assessment of Mercury Concentrations and Fluxes Deposited from the Atmosphere on the Territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area

The problem of mercury input and its further distribution in the Arctic environment is actively debated, especially in recent times, due to the observed processes of permafrost thawing causing the enhanced release of mercury into the Arctic atmosphere and further distribution in the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. The atmospheric mercury deposition occurs via dry deposition and wet scavenging by precipitation events. Here we present a study of Hg in wet precipitation on the remote territory of the Russian Arctic; the data were obtained at the monitoring stations Nadym and Salekhard in 2016–2018. Mercury pollution of the Salekhard atmosphere in cold time is mainly determined by regional and local sources, while in Nadym, long-range transport of mercury and local fuel combustion are the main sources of pollutants in the cold season, while internal regional sources have a greater impact on the warm season. Total mercury concentrations in wet precipitation in Nadym varied from <0.5 to 63.3 ng/L. The highest Hg concentrations in the springtime were most likely attributed to atmospheric mercury depletion events (AMDE). The contributions of wet atmospheric precipitation during the AMDE period to the annual Hg deposition were 16.7% and 9.8% in 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, respectively. The average annual volume-weighted Hg concentration (VWC) in the atmospheric precipitation in Nadym is notably higher than the values reported for the remote regions in the Arctic and comparable with the values obtained for the other urbanized regions of the world. Annual Hg fluxes in Nadym are nevertheless close to the average annual fluxes for remote territories of the Arctic zone and significantly lower than the annual fluxes reported for unpolluted sites of continental-scale monitoring networks of the different parts of the world (USA, Europe, and China). The increase of Hg deposition flux with wet precipitation in Nadym in 2018 might be caused by regional emissions of gas and oil combustion, wildfires, and Hg re-emission from soils due to the rising air temperature. The 37 cm increase of the seasonally thawed layer (STL) in 2018 compared to the 10-year average reflects that the climatic changes in the Nadym region might increase Hg(0) evasion, considering a great pool of Hg is contained in permafrost.

Vertical axis wind turbine operation in icing conditions: A review study

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) can be a promising solution for electricity production in remote ice prone territories of high north, where good wind resources are available, but icing is a challenge that can affect its optimum operation. A lot of research has been made to study the icing effects on the conventional horizontal axis wind turbines, but the literature about vertical axis wind turbines operating in icing conditions is still scarce, despite the importance of this topic. This paper presents a review study about existing knowledge of VAWT operation in icing condition. Focus has been made in better understanding of ice accretion physics along VAWT blades and methods to detect and mitigate icing effects.

Green energy development in an industrial region: A case-study of Sverdlovsk region

The development of renewable energy is one of the strategic directions of eco-modernization of the Russian energy sector, which will not only reduce the negative impact of the industry on the environment, but also provide remote territories with the stable access to electricity. Despite the fact that the Russian regions have a great potential for the development of renewable energy, the full transition of the energy sector to the ”green” vector of its development is currently impossible. Moreover, most of current studies consider the development of renewable energy without reference to the regions, which, according to the authors, does not provide an objective assessment of the potential for the use of renewable energy in Russia. The purpose of the present research is to evaluate the potential for the introduction of various renewable energy sources (RES) in the energy sector of the Sverdlovsk region — one of the largest industrial regions of Russia. The full-scale assessment of their potential use at the regional level helps to accelerate the process of their introduction into the energy sector, since during the assessment, scientists analyze not only the possibilities of use, but also the barriers to development. Authors applied various research methods among which analysis of state programs, analysis of the official statistical reports, analysis of natural conditions on the territory of the region, etc. As a result, authors developed a map of potential use of renewables in the territory of Sverdlovsk region, evaluated prospects of their development and revealed key barriers. The proposed algorithm of assessment might be applicable for other Russian regions.

Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) Surveys as a First Approach for Characterizing a Regional Aquifer: The Case of the Saint-Narcisse Moraine, Quebec, Canada

Geological contexts that lack minimal stratigraphic and piezometric information can be challenging to produce an initial hydrogeological map in remote territories. This study proposes an approach to characterize a regional aquifer using transient electromagnetic (TEM) surveys. Given the presence of randomly dispersed boreholes, the Saint-Narcisse moraine in the Mauricie region of Quebec (Canada) is an appropriate site for collecting the required geophysical data, correlating the stratigraphic and piezometric information, and characterizing regional granular aquifers in terms of stratigraphy, geometry, thickness, and extent. In order to use all TEM results (i.e., 47 stations) acquired in the moraine area, we also correlated 13 TEM stations, 7 boreholes, and 6 stratigraphic cross-sections to derive an empirical and local petrophysical relationship and to establish a calibration chart of the sediments. Our TEM data, combined with piezometric mapping and the sedimentary records from boreholes and stratigraphic cross-sections, revealed the compartmentalization of a multi-kilometer morainic system and indicated the presence of two large unconfined granular aquifers overlying the bedrock. These aquifers extend more than 12 km east to west across the study area and are between 25 and >94 m thick. The TEM method provides critical information on groundwater at a regional scale by acquiring information from multiple stations within a short time span to a degree not possible with other existing methodologies.

Проблемы и пути трансформации цифрового обеспечения в государственных структурах муниципального управления Российской Федерации

The purpose of the study is to reveal the essence of digital technologies in the municipal government system, to identify the main problems of their transformation in the territory of the subjects, and to develop directions for the mechanism of adaptation of the relationship between different management structures in the conditions of digitalization of processes. The article considers the author's vision of the development of digital technologies in the territorial aspect. In particular, the problems of technical equipment of remote territories are considered, in particular, the problems of training personnel and territorial access to Internet resources are touched upon. When evaluating the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation, it is clear that digital technologies require a separate approach to solving problems of both legal and economic nature, while we focus on their relationship. It is obvious that when developing the strategic direction of digital technologies, the adapted elements require some adjustments and additions, which is currently being carried out. Such changes and additions are promoted not only through legislative and regulatory activities, but also on the basis of scientific research, which in turn develop new directions that contribute to solving problems in the development of digital technologies, not only in the management system, but also in the areas of business, professional education, training and retraining of personnel, etc. As a result, the identified problems in the resource provision of digital technologies allowed us to develop measures that specify the strategic direction.

Development of tourism in the Arctic against the background of climate change: what are the prospects for the “arctic hectare”

In this article, the author raises questions related to the allocation of the “arctic hectare” to Russian citizens and the prospects for the development of tourism in the northern territories. The article deals with the experience of tourism development in countries both far and near abroad, where the tourism business and hospitality services occupy a significant place in the country’s GDP. The author believes that in the period of critical changes in climatic conditions for the life and management of the traditional type of economy by indigenous people — small peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East — it is extremely important to take into account their opinion and their centuriesold experience of survival in difficult natural conditions. These ethnic groups have been living in conditions of practical self-isolation for many years, dictated not only by the natural and geographical location of their places of compact residence, but also by the inaccessibility of many achievements of civilization due to infrastructure underdevelopment, lack of transport logistics and residual financial support for their needs. Now, during the pandemic, it is possible that these territories are attractive for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as for some part of the population as a place of likely future residence of their families. Thus, a unique opportunity is created for the application of state allocations and investments from large corporations to diversify the economy of the Arctic and the North, modernize and possibly create from scratch the tourist infrastructure in the remote circumpolar territories. But this will require not only to reconsider the attitude of people to the environment, but also to change the worldview of the local indigenous population to find their place in the changing climatic and socio-economic conditions of their life on this earth.

Satellite communication station for Ka and Q-bands

The article reveals the features of the organization of satellite communication systems in the remote and northern territories of Russia. The importance of providing broadband access to multimedia resources and the Internet is shown. The problems of development of an earth station of satellite communication Ka and Q-bands, providing broadband communication, are considered. Its architecture and operating principles are presented. To ensure the possibility of operation of the station in two frequency ranges, replaceable irradiation systems with a microwave path are used. The features of their manufacture are disclosed in detail. The results of experimental studies of irradiating systems with a microwave path are presented. The gain of the irradiating system with a microwave path of the Q-band in the composition with a parabolic mirror with a diameter of 1.2 m was 51.8 dB at the transmission frequencies, and 45 dB at the receiving frequencies. The gain of the irradiating system with the Ka-band microwave path was 47.8 dB at the transmission frequencies and 43.8 dB at the receiving frequencies. Thus, the use of the proposed earth station of satellite communication Ka and Q-bands will allow organizing satellite broadband communication in remote and northern territories of Russia.

Rural Roads Are Paving the Way for Land-Use Intensification in the Uplands of Laos

Road expansion has played a prominent role in the agrarian transition that marked the integration of swidden-based farming systems into the market economy in Southeast Asia. Rural roads deeply altered the landscape and livelihood structures by allowing the penetration of boom crops such as hybrid maize in remote territories. In this article, we investigate the impact of rural road developments on livelihoods in northern Laos through a longitudinal study conducted over a period of 15 years in a forest frontier. We studied adaptive management strategies of local stakeholders through the combination of individual surveys, focus group discussions, participatory mapping and remote-sensing approaches. The study revealed the short-term benefits of the maize feeder roads on poverty alleviation and rural development, but also the negative long-term effects on agroecosystem health and agricultural productivity related to unsustainable land use. Lessons learnt about the mechanisms of agricultural intensification helped understanding the constraints faced by external interventions promoting sustainable land management practices. When negotiated by local communities for their own interest, roads may provide livelihood-enhancing opportunities through access to external resources, rather than undermining them.

Impact of age on reperfusion success and long-term prognosis in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction - A cardiac magnetic resonance imaging study.

BackgroundCoronary collateral circulation and conditioning from remote ischemic coronary territories may protect culprit myocardium in the elderly, and younger STEMI patients could suffer from larger infarcts. We evaluated the impact of age on myocardial salvage and long-term prognosis in a contemporary STEMI cohort.MethodsOf 1603 included STEMI patients 807 underwent cardiac magnetic resonance. To assess the impact of age on infarct size and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) as well as the composite endpoint of death and re-hospitalization for heart failure we stratified the patients by an age cut-off of 60 years.ResultsYounger STEMI patients had smaller final infarcts (10% vs. 12%, P = 0.012) and higher final LVEF (60% vs. 58%, P = 0.042). After adjusting for multiple potential confounders age did not remain significantly associated with infarct size and LVEF. During 4-year follow-up, the composite endpoint occurred less often in the young (3.2% vs. 17.2%; P < 0.001) with a univariate hazard ratio of 5.77 (95% CI, 3.75–8.89; p < 0.001). Event estimates of 4 subgroups (young vs. elderly and infarct size beyond vs. below median) showed a gradual increase in the occurrence of the composite endpoint depending on both age and acute infarct size (log-rank p < 0.001).ConclusionHaving a STEMI after entering the seventh decade of life more than quadrupled the risk of future death or re-hospitalization for heart failure. Risk of death and re-hospitalization depended on both advanced age and infarct size, albeit no substantial difference was found in infarct size, LVEF and salvage potential between younger and elderly patients with STEMI.

Safe Operation of All-Wheel Drive Articulated Dump Trucks on Large Slopes in Deep Open-Pit Mines

The analysis have been carried out for the production of all-wheel drive articulated dump trucks. The practical experience of operation of dump trucks as open-pit transport has been analyzed. The paper describes the technical characteristics of some models of articulated dump trucks of Russian and Belarusian production. The paper describes the examples of transportation of rock mass at enterprises of Russia and abroad. The paper points up the special aspects for making the organizational, technological and design decisions in the implementation of articulated dump trucks. The paper shows the experience of operation of all-wheel drive articulated dump trucks in open-pit mining. It has been established that articulated dump trucks allow to increase the efficiency of mine development at the stage of construction and commissioning of mining and processing plants, especially in geographically remote and inaccessible territories The measures have been developed for safe operation of all-wheel drive articulated dump trucks in open-pit mining at the development of deep-seated mineral deposits.To implement the program of import substitution of all-wheel drive articulated dump trucks it is necessary to perform market research to study the possible market of consumption of vehicles of this class at open-pit mining operations in order to justify the prospects for provision of the Russian production market.

Transportation and logistics system for preparing areas to unload material resources in the absence of port infrastructure

The transport system of any state is a determining link in the development of the economy, the implementation of internal and external political and military goals. At the same time, in most countries, water transport is one of the key modes of transport pursuing state interests. Despite the fact that recently the development of remote territories has reached a fairly high rate, the full development of the port infrastructure does not always meet the needs of logistics enterprises and organizations. At the same time, the need to unload material resources to the unequipped coast has sharply increased. The issue of improving technologies and developing technology in organizing the unloading of material resources on an unequipped coast has been discussed for a long time, however, a solution that satisfies the need for organizing the unloading of material assets, taking into account all the features, has not yet been found. The article proposes the author’s conceptual approach to improving the process of unloading material resources on an unequipped coast, which consists in using a completely new transport and technological system for preparing unloading areas, affecting all the constituent elements of the process: vehicles, transmission links and coast.

Human Capital in the Siberian Remote Provinces: Digital Prospects

The aim of this study is to substantiate the need to interpret the concept of ‘human capital’ through the prism of the theory of passionarity with reference to such sociospatial loci as remote Siberian territories. Based on the fact that in these conditions humanization is the primary national task, the most personally valuable and socially significant quality that should be potentially capitalized is vital business drive. At this stage of the study, the identification of carriers of the attribute of passionarity is carried out by the “snowball method”, and a meaningful analysis of their life programs is carried out by the method of formalized interviews. The study revealed that the specifics of the formation of human capital in sparsely populated areas of Siberia are its fundamental multidimensionality, and it is the digital equipment of this process that gives real prospects for its implementation.&#x0D; Keywords: Human capital, passionarity, digitalization, capitalization scenario

Transformations of coastal arctic communities in the russian Far East: facts, thoughts and reflections

The article presents the results based on the data of the sociological studies undergone in 2018-2019 with the help of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in the frames of the larger project “Transformations of socio-cultural image of indigenous people of the Arctic coast of Yakutia in the conditions of modernization: experience of interdisciplinary research”. It depicts the socio-economic environment that indigenous population of remote Coastal territories of Russian Eastern Arctic is bound to in their everyday life. The sociological survey was conducted in four settlements situated at the Arctic shore of Yakutia. The conclusions are made concerning the influence of modernization on the lifestyle of indigenous population (mostly Evens and Evenks) through different periods of the history (Preindustrial, Industrial, Postmodern). There was done an attempt to foresee the future development of Coastal Arctic as the tendency based on past and contemporary situation. Historic and contemporary data showed that modernization causing the loss of some elements of traditional lifestyle did not necessarily lead to the extinction of ethnic culture. The strong factor of cultural sustainability is environmental. Arctic indigenous people are tied to the place of birth. Arctic environment ensures continuality of traditional values.

Cross-border cooperation of Russia and China: Сhaotic prosperity and ordered degradation

Throughout most of the history of the Russian state, the task of “exploration and and development” of the remote eastern territories, which remain on the country’s underdeveloped border periphery, continues to be relevant. One of the possible and quite effective tools for solving this problem in modern conditions is cross-border cooperation. Having conceptually taken shape within the framework of the developing European integration process, the idea and practice of cross-border cooperation was adopted by many states with common borders, even those not connected with each other by integration obligations. At the same time, it is recognized that neither the presence of a common border nor the willingness of the national governments of neighbour states to cooperate are a guarantee of the success of cross-border cooperation and, moreover, progress in the development of border areas. This article examines the evolution of cross-border cooperation in the Russian Far East, which is almost exclusively represented by Russian-Chinese cross-border cooperation. The recent history of cross-border cooperation on the Russian-Chinese border is in this sense a remarkably interesting case, the study of which makes it possible to better understand both the general laws of this kind of interaction and their specific features in the context of contemporary relations between Russia and China. The dominant trend of this cooperation can be characterized as a movement from chaotic prosperity to ordered degradation. Its determining factor was and remains the persistent desire of the Russian leadership to maintain tight control over remote territories, including through the centralization and concentration of all types of their interactions with neighbouring countries at the interstate level.

НАУЧНЫЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ РОССИЙСКОГО МОРСКОГО СОЮЗА

The article is devoted to the aspects of scientific activity of the Russian Maritime Union. This public organization in the early twentieth century set itself the task of reviving the Russian imperial navy after the defeat in the russo - japanese war of 1904-1905. Meetings of a public organization where scientific problems were discussed are considered. Special attention is paid to the existing rules for publishing a collection of scientific papers by the leaders of the Russian Maritime Union. Information is given on issues related to the colonization of remote areas of Siberia and the Far East. The reasons for the lag of Russian commercial shipping from Western European countries are investigated. The prerequisites for the successful development of German commercial shipbuilding and shipping in the early twentieth century are analyzed. The relationship between the problems of development of Siberian rivers and the unsatisfactory economic condition of remote Russian territories is traced. The history of domestic public organizations and naval affairs in the early twentieth century is studied. In addition, the organization of the Russian maritime union for the promotion of naval knowledge is being considered. The public organization subscribed specialized foreign and domestic literature and created libraries on these issues, open to the public. Then the Russian maritime union attracted such technical innovations as cinematog- raphy and filmstrips to promote naval knowledge among the Russian population.

МАКРОРЕГИОНЫ В ТЕРРИТОРИАЛЬНО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ ДЕПУТАТОВ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ ДУМЫ РФ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ УРАЛА)

The article focuses on the discourse of the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the macro-regions of Russia in relation to the provisions of the "Strategy of spatial development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025". The strategy introduces the concepts of "macro-regions", the "geostrategic territories" and the others. The strategy received a critical assessment for its declarative nature and preservation of the binding of macroregions to the grid of federal districts, the inconsistency of goals and meanings of spatial strategizing. It seems that one of the reasons for the unsatisfactory quality of the Strategy is the general discursive uncertainty and lack of clarity of the possible territorial development of the country in the views of the Russian political and administrative class, segment of which is the State Duma deputy corps. The analysis presented in the article tests this assumption on the material of the speeches of deputies at plenary sessions with references to Russian macroregions. The data set is a sample of transcripts that covers the period 2004‒2019 and includes about 150 thousand legislative speeches from more than 1000 deputies distributed among party factions and four convocations. The results of the analysis show the special attention of deputies to remote and border territories, first of all to the "Far East" and "North". This corresponds to the logic of allocating "geostrategic territories" in the Strategy.

Исследование технологии возведения каркасно-панельных и модульных зданий в Арктике

Choosing the technology for the construction of buildings in the Arctic conditions is stipulated by two important factors, namely, the remoteness of the facilities and the short period of the summer season, which actualizes the problem of reducing the mass of structures and making shorter the construction work duration. In addition, one should keep in mind other important factors, such as permafrost, strong winds and low temperatures. Such conditions of construction necessitate the use of building technologies and space-planning solutions using light metal structures and mineral wool slabs, as well as sandwich-type laminated panels. The unified nomenclature, compactness and relative lightness of the parts ensure high efficiency of construction in the remote territories of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The first experimental construction experience in the Arctic has shown not only the comfort of space-planning solutions, but also the manufacturability of installation of load-bearing and enclosing structures of the erected residential and administrative complexes of the Arctic Trefoil type. The block-modular technology for the construction of dormitory buildings in the village of Tiksi (Yakutia), as well as the technology for the construction of buildings of the production and logistics complex «Arkhangelsk», erected using light steel structures, sandwich type panels and other pre-fabricated structures. A comparison analysis of pre-fabricated building systems according to the criterion of manufacturability has been carried out. There are proposed some fundamental solutions aimed at improving the installation technology of buildings in the Arctic conditions.