The paper considers a probabilistic evolution scheme of the Luga-Plyussa landscape of the glacial lake plain in the late glacial and Holocene periods. Use is made of standard methods for reconstruction of paleoclimatic indicators. The spore-pollen spectra of reference sections are analyzed with allowance for the general patterns of development of other North-West regions of Russia. The study is complicated by the lack of full spore-pollen spectra for the entire period with absolute dating of sediments for the whole territory.

The features of indication of taiga permafrost landscapes on the southern periphery of the cryolithozone with the use of field and remote research methods are considered. Special attention is paid to visually expressive indicators of taiga permafrost geosystems in the ecotonic part of the cryolithozone and the signs characterizing their change. It is shown that these natural complexes are the most vulnerable to any external influences and are the most important indicators of modern climate changes. The peculiarities of identification of taiga permafrost landscapes in the island permafrost zone according to the results of processing of the thermal images of Landsat TM and Terra ASTER infrared imaging systems are considered.

The effect of morphometric factors on the landscape structure of the Talysh Mountains is evaluated. It is shown that morphometric characteristics play a significant role in the spatial differentiation of climatic features and predetermine the peculiarities of the natural landscapes of the mountains in question. Based on the results of field studies, a map is drawn to show the landscape at a scale of 1: 100000.

The paper reviews the spatial distribution of zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu) in soil. The study was performed in the city of Istra. The common samples of soil were selected within the limits of the city. It is found that almost in all examined areas the content of heavy metals in soil belongs to the category of permissible contamination except for the areas adjacent to the industrial enterprises. The first-priority soil pollutants are Pb and Cd, the release of which is mainly associated with the motor vehicles.

The real estate market and features of real estate price formation depend on a large number of economical, social, political, natural, demographic and other factors. In each separately taken settlement, the degree of influence of each group of factors is different, which is largely determined by the features of the city. The object of the present research is the land plots of Murmansk region monotowns with their city-forming enterprises whose economic activity has a significant effect on the price formation of the real estate, its market and cadastral value. The specified influence allows the price of the real estate to be predicted, depending on a change in indicators of the city-forming branch. The purpose of the paper is to construct and justify predictive models reflecting the dependence of Murmansk region monotowns land prices on economic factors of the city-forming branch. In evaluating the relationship between the assessment of land plots and the selection of significant indicators, the advantage of the neural network model is proved, as it has better predictive properties than regression models.

The paper presents the regional features of urban mortality in Russia by the example of 175 cities with a population of more than 100000. The spatial features of mortality due to main causes of death are defined for male and female separately. The more favorable situation is defined for urban population than rural for all-cause mortality. The exception is industrial cities, where the mortality rate can reach high values. The results of a correlation analysis of the impact of environmental factors on the urban mortality are presented.

The paper is devoted to the topical issue, namely, the application of the cluster approach as a modern tool in the formation of a competitive highly developed tourist complex in the regions of Russia. The features, principles, significant criteria and factors, and problems and prospects for the development of the tourist cluster in the Smolensk region are studied. Using the results of the study, a conclusion is made that the creation and development of a tourist cluster in the Smolensk region will reduce the impact of territorial disparities and will contribute to the dynamic development of the tourism industry in the region.

Most of the achievements of modern biotechnology are related to microorganisms, which is explained by their diversity, the relative simplicity of their study and cultivation. This review is dedicated to the application of bacterial cold shock proteins in biotechnology. These proteins bind DNA and RNA and melt secondary structures formed in nucleic acids, which is important in bacteria adaptation to different kinds of stresses. Genes coding bacterial cold chock proteins are used for transformation of bacteria and higher plants, which lead to an increase in stress tolerance. Also, purified recombimnant bacterial cold shock proteins are used to increase efficiency of different molecular biology reactions in vitro. In this review, the approaches applied in relevant studies are described in detail and their results are summarized.

The methods and criteria used in the Red Book and European butterfly red lists are discussed and the status of European butterfly species is assessed. The status is identified due to the Species of European Conservation Concern, divided into four categories depending on their global conservation status, their European Threat Status and the proportion of their world range in Europe. The most important threats to European butterflies are ranged. Within the conservation strategy, habitat protection and management, climate change and development of the European butterfly indicators are considered. The Prime Butterfly Areas of Europe identified by European entomologists are discussed. The European Russia faunistic data is not entirely included in recent red butterfly lists and the solution of this problem is discussed.

The diffusion of a binary mixture of nitrogen and dichlorodifluoromethane at various concentrations in n-butane is studied experimentally by means of a two-flask method. It is shown that for a certain content of dichlorodifluoromethane in the mixture, convective currents arise, which substantially distort the mass transfer expected during diffusion. The conditions defining the change in the “diffusion-concentration gravitational convection” regimes are determined within the framework of the stability theory. The experimental results and the calculated data are in satisfactory agreement with each other.