Publications

Despite numerous studies on the spatial distribution of pollutants in urban environments, little is known about their vertical profile. The presented research aims to analyze loadings and concentration of elements sedimented on exterior glass window surfaces of a high-rise building in Moscow city. The roadside part of a typical 17-level building was examined. Window sediments were collected along vertical from the 2nd to the 17th level using the novel instrumental approach of wet vacuum dust collection.

A clear declining trend of sediment weight distribution was observed along the height increase. The values decreased by six times within 40-m vertical, from the 3rd (386 mg m−2) by the 17th level (63 mg m−2), driven by a decline of coarse dust fraction. Organic matter, Si, and Ca were the key contributors to the window sediments, providing 40%, 15%, and 4% in total weight, respectively. Among other elements, the highest proportions (over 1%) were identified for S, Fe, and Al, whereas little less (0.5–1%), for Mg, K, and Na, individually. Other element concentrations decreased in the following order P > Zn > Mn > Cu > Ba > Sr > Cr > V > Ni > Pb > Co > As>Cd.

Element concentrations did not differ along vertical gradient due to the constant proportion of the finest dust fraction. Window sediments were characterized by 2–4 times higher concentrations of most of the studied elements than the road dust, being enriched by S, Na, Zn, and Cu — 27, 15, 10, and 6 times higher, respectively. Based on the strong correlation between the composition of road dust and window sediments, we consider resuspension of the road dust as a predominant source of particles sedimented on window glass surfaces and its enrichment by non-exhaust traffic-related elements.

The research proved the validity of the suggested instrumental technique for sediment collection from window glass surfaces. Elemental analysis of window sediments was considered as a promising approach for environmental studies.

Global transformation of academia under “new public management” and metrics-based assessment has brought forth intense debates on the governance of science. This study investigates key values and visions of academic governance in Russia through a set of focus groups with scientists plus a nationwide survey (n = 6,166) conducted in 2019. Russian scholars defy both state pressures and grassroots self-governance (due to fundamental distrust of peers); the preservation of privacy is their key concern. Finally, we present basic self-images of science (competitive, cooperative, and mobilizational) and point out the tensions between liberalism and democracy in post-Soviet academia.

Despite harsh natural conditions and remoteness, farming is spread worldwide on Arctic margins. Russia is the leading country by area under agricultural use of the circumpolar territories. Agricultural activities in the northern regions vary from traditional ones such as semi‐nomadic reindeer breeding to technologically smart urban agriculture. These activities are geographically unequally represented, which causes significant regional differences in productivity of agricultural land and labour. Comparative analysis of these basic variables enables us to identify specific patterns of modern agricultural development and their dynamics in northern regions of Russia, comparing them with Northern European countries and North America.

Blockchain technologies loom large among the controversial topics of public debate. Like any technology, blockchain offers various ways to imagine alternative models of politics and society. Arguably, the most common interpretation treats it as the technology for techno-anarchism and a tool for total decentralization. This paper focuses on an overlooked genealogy of the politics of the blockchain – the classic republican theory. We consider whether republican practices could shed light on certain aspects of blockchain communities and understand their governance better. Our paper offers a historical analysis of governance visions inscribed in Bitcoin and Ethereum, arguably the most influential applications.

Abstract: The purpose of the article is to analyse strategy optimization of inventory management taking into account the possibility of deferred payments, delays in receiving revenue and restrictions on vehicle capacity. The study is based on the development of a modification of the multiproduct EOQ-model factoring in: 1) time value of money; 2) possibility of deferred payment negotiated in advance of the order; 3) specific nature of incoming payments, when receipt of revenues from the goods happens after the moment of their delivery; 4) vehicle capacity; 5) situation when the company pays for its orders using the revenues from the goods delivered.  

Taking above factors into account, this Article established the necessary and sufficient conditions that must be imposed on the length of the deferred payment for the order, as well as the allowable delay in payment for the goods so that it is possible to make the required payments from the proceeds. Corresponding principles are then demonstrated on a practical case. 

The use of scientific developments of this Article will allow to 1) take into account all the above-mentioned features of the supply chain; 2) and to improve the efficiency of inventory management systems when it is necessary to take into account these features. 

Intensive socio-economic interactions are a prerequisite for the innovative development of the economy, but at the same time, they may lead to increased epidemiological risks. Persistent migration patterns, the socio-demographic composition of the population, income level, and employment structure by type of economic activity determine the intensity of socio-economic interactions and, therefore, the spread of COVID-19. We used the excess mortality (mortality from April 2020 to February 2021 compared to the five-year mean) as an indicator of deaths caused directly and indirectly by COVID-19. Similar to some other countries, due to irregularities and discrepancies in the reported infection rates, excess mortality is currently the only available and reliable indicator of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. We used the regional level data and fit regression models to identify the socio-economic factors that determined the impact of the pandemic. We used ordinary least squares as a baseline model and a selection of spatial models to account for spatial autocorrelation of dependent and independent variables as well as the error terms. Based on the comparison of AICc (corrected Akaike information criterion) and standard error values, it was found that SEM (spatial error model) is the best option with reliably significant coefficients. Our results show that the most critical factors that increase the excess mortality are the share of the elderly population and the employment structure represented by the share of employees in manufacturing (C economic activity according to European Skills, Competences, and Occupations (ESCO) v1 classification). High humidity as a proxy for temperature and a high number of retail locations per capita reduce the excess mortality. Except for the share of the elderly, most identified factors influence the opportunities and necessities of human interaction and the associated excess mortality.

We used an eye-tracking technique to investigate the effect of green zones and car ownership on the attrac-tiveness of the courtyards of multistorey apartment buildings. Two interest groups—20 people who owned a car and  20  people who did  not  a  car—observed 36  images of  courtyards. Images were digitally modified to manipulate the spatial arrangement of key courtyard elements: green zones, parking lots, and children’s play-grounds. The participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of courtyards during hypothetical renting de-cisions. Overall, we investigated whether visual exploration and appraisal of courtyards differed between people who owned a car and those who did not. The participants in both interest groups gazed longer at perceptually salient playgrounds and parking lots than at greenery. We also observed that participants gazed significantly longer at the greenery in courtyards rated as most attractive than those rated as least attractive. They gazed significantly longer at parking lots in courtyards rated as least attractive than those rated as most attractive. Using regression analysis, we further investigated the relationship between gaze fixations on courtyard elements and the attractiveness ratings of courtyards. The model confirmed a significant positive relationship between the number and duration of fixations on greenery and the attractiveness estimates of courtyards, while the model showed an opposite relationship for the duration of  fixations on  parking lots. Interestingly, the  positive association between fixations on  greenery and  the attractiveness of courtyards was significantly stronger for participants who owned cars than for those who did not. These findings confirmed that the  more people pay attention to green areas, the more positively they evaluate urban areas. The results also indicate that urban greenery may differentially affect the preferences of interest groups.

Joachim Ritter’s classic work “The Big City” is devoted to a critical analysis of the philosophi- cal and theoretical position based on the negation of urban civiliza- tion. The work was written in the context of the increasing popularity of Martin Heidegger’s ideas, permeated by the cultural criticism of urban civilization. Rejection or “denunciation” of the city and its civilizational achievements is a distinctive feature of the philoso- phy of Friedrich Nietzsche, Oswald Spengler and many other popular authors as well. This theoretical trend, which developed and strength- ened during the formation of modern society, Ritter opposes another philosophical line associated with Socrates and his “appeal to the city.” It was systematically devel- oped by Aristotle, who defined man as a “political (polis) animal”. It is only in the context of polis civilisation that man is able to become what he can be—a rational and free being. This Greek model of the polis, “limited by the inhumanity of slavery,” is becoming universal within modern society, a society that emerged in Europe but has long since transcended its limits. According to Ritter, the emergence of civilisation and modern urbanised society is the result of a fundamental discontinuity in relation to the past and the history of its origin (Herkunft).

Palimpsest has become a well-known metaphor describing the multiplicity of historical and symbolic layers of a cultural landscape and a place or a city in general. The possibilities of including historical, cultural, urban, regional and critical geography, semiotics, cognitive psychology and finally place branding and marketing into the sphere of palimpsest research are described in the article. This broadens the horizons of ‘place as palimpsest’ concept and turns it into a semiotic model useful in various fields of place management.

The article substantiates that creative industries are one of the factors of sustainable development and contribute to the transition to an innovative economy. The concepts of creative industries, economic characteristics of the Russian creative sector, trends in Russian exports of creative goods and services are analyzed. Measures to support the creative sector in Russia are systematized. The article identifies new trends that have developed during the pandemic, which pose threats and lead to imbalances in the development of the creative sector: the expansion of the role of large streaming delivery companies in the of digital content; the capture of markets for creative goods and services by the largest IT companies and banks forming digital ecosystems; the stratification of the creative industries sector depending on industry affiliation and involvement in digital services; increased diversification and monopolization in the main links of value chains — distribution and monetization of creative goods and services; intensive and uneven changes in the nature of work and its creative intensity in different professional groups under the conditions of digitalization, which leads to a significant change in labor relations, especially with a new category of self-employed citizens; strengthening of territorial imbalances in the development of the creative economy. The current management tasks for the development of creative industries in Russia are proposed and justified.

The subjects of the research are the dynamics of the development of creative industries, their role in achieving sustainable development goals, measures of state support for the creative sector in Russia. The pandemic and accelerated digitalization are radically changing the landscape and structure of creative industries, which found themselves in a «shock» situation due to a low margin of safety and were forced to restructure the formats of their work with audiences and markets. The purpose of the work is to assess the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic for the development of creative industries. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of the dynamics of economic indicators of the development of the music industry and the film industry was carried out with a plausible period. It is shown that consumer behavior in the sphere of culture and leisure is changing significantly, the supply in the music, cinema and animation sector is expanding and structurally changing, new formats of activity based on a combination of offline and online services are being created, causing the emergence of new major players in the creative industries markets that create digital ecosystems. The role of creative industries in the life of society is established, which form an influential part of the economy and employment, make an important contribution to social well-being, and provide social communication and inclusion of vulnerable groups in public life.

This article focuses on the widespread but vague concept of the smart city. The smart city is a visionary projection, around which are an eclectic ensemble of often contradictory theoretical attitudes and doctrines that link urban development with the devel- opment of technology, especially digital technology. We argue that the work of the British cyberneticist Gordon Pask on the theory of “aesthetically charged environments” sheds light on a key aspect of the problem of the smart city. Pask emphasizes the fundamental dependence of the problem of human control and emotional interaction with the urban, technology-saturated environment, which still remains a blind spot for most researchers of the smart city. A critical analysis of modern ap- proaches to the smart city has shown that there are two crucial conditions for the success the smart city policy: 1) the increasing variety of algorithms and competition between technical devices; 2) not just total digitalization or the creation of a technological “framework”, but designing the city as a technological environment with a powerful emotional potential. The authors believe that the emotional and cultural-aesthetic dimension is only a barely outlined direction of future research on the smart city, digital technology, and engineering.

The aim of the study is to develop an effective approach to formulating and adjusting the return policy of large e-commerce companies in the Russian Federation taking into account the interests of e-commerce and marketplace participants. Research methodology includes modern methods of multi-criterial choice accounting for the preferences of decision makers. The paper provides an up-to-date assessment of actual return policy in e-commerce companies in the Russian Federation, and also proposes a multi-criterial approach to solving the problems of interfunctional and interorganizational interaction when choosing return policy parameters, taking into account legal restrictions and the interests of e-commerce marketplace participants. The practice of implementing the return policy is assessed in this study in view of insufficient high-quality urban warehouses, as well as limited ability to hire new couriers for deliveries on the "last mile" to the customers’ doors. The paper also discusses the prospects for the synthesis of a multicriteria approach and single-criteria optimization models of return flows route network.

Moscow, as one of the largest cities in Europe and the world, has come a long way from the capital of a communist state to a global capitalist city in the last 30 years. The post-socialist transition of the urban space continues, and the legacy of the urban planning policy of the Soviet past will determine the appearance of the city for a long time. The problem this research address is that uneven development affects the quality of the urban environment and the quality of life of residents, especially those who live in segregated or peripheral areas. We proceed from the hypothesis that contemporary Moscow has inherited and perpetuates patterns of spatial inequality that developed in the socialist past. The methodology of the study is based on spatial data analysis: demographic statistics of residential buildings in Moscow, information about commercial buildings, the placement of service facilities, the cost of residential real estate, and historical statistics. The study identified clusters of spatial inequality in Moscow, assessed the quality of the urban environment in these clusters, and gives a comparative assessment of the clusters. The analysis of demographic statistics revealed patterns in the settlement of employees in Moscow. A comparison of modern data with historical data showed the presence of stable patterns in dividing the city into the center and periphery since the period of socialism. We also revealed the existence of a significant middle zone of the city, which, although inferior to the center in terms of environmental quality, is better than late socialist residential areas. The five-floor housing stock, which is located in the periphery and middle part of Moscow, provides a better urban environment than later built districts.

The work describes and analyzes the monograph of L.P. Naydenova “The Life of a Russian Man of the 16th-17th Centuries (Faith, Family, Everyday Affairs)”. It was published in 2020. In it, the author considers issues of the inner world of a person, his relationship with loved ones, and his place in the family. Many of the topics have been understudied. In addition, they are difficult to study, since they are associated with family relationships, and with the closed, personal life. The review was written in order to acquaint readers with the research of the author of the monograph, with the identification of peculiarities of the urban lifestyle, which are inherent in the large cities of the Russian state at the turn of the Middle Ages and early Modernity. This knowledge makes it possible to consider the question of criteria of the characteristics of the city during the Middle Ages and late Modernity. This book may be of interest to specialists in the history of the Middle Ages, medieval family and society. It will be useful to urbanists, sociologists, researchers involved in studying everyday life and mentality. The book will be useful to everyone who is interested in the worldview and everyday history of the Russian medieval city and medieval society.