Vol 89, No 10 (2019)

By comparing Russian and American capital investment programs according to gross and per capita indexes, this article analyzes capital investment’s long-term dynamics in economic activities in general and manufacturing in particular. Results showed that Russian economic growth’s quality, determined by its 2000 capital investment structure did not correspond with the national economy’s long-term development aims. Moreover, investment activity’s current fading appears consequent to that period’s inappropriate investment politics. The existing Russian investment system aims to incorporate its economy into the global economy as a supplier of natural and, partly, agricultural resources, thus dooming manufacturing to stagnation at best. The authors reveal that activation of industrial politics, established on a fundamental power-of-the-state approach in the investment process, based on long-term strategic interests and the potential of market forces (namely, efficiency use of resources) allows launching large-scale investment projects to provide favorable conditions for creating an innovative national economy.

This article analyzes how state and administrative structures solve the problem of assessment by scientometric indicators specifically of the work of the faculty of Russian universities and specialists of research institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences: how it is solved by. Past decades’ attitudinal evolution in Russia toward scientometric indicators is shown, the main drawbacks of using scientometric criteria are identified, and possible solutions to those drawbacks are proposed.

This article discusses results from two waves (2017, 2019) of world-class universities’ identification, thus allowing provision of a geopolitical snapshot of advanced universities’ global market. Results show that United Europe is becoming a leader, while Asia and the United States’ positions have worsened. Economic and cultural factors are based on different countries’ foundations of success in formation of global universities. The quality of the economic prerequisite involves the existence of global high-tech companies in the country; their number and strength determine the number and strength of world-class universities. The quality of the cultural prerequisite involves wide dissemination of the “philosophy of cooperation,” that is, intensive national and international exchange experience among universities through creation of numerous collaborations, for example, international leagues and unions, regional consortia and groups, and professional associations and alliances.

This paper presents results of the Asian part of Russia’s (APR) quantitative assessment of the lake fund, with its uneven territorial distribution taken into account. Within the APR, about 3.2 million water bodies exist, enclosing 25,175 km³. More than half of all water bodies are in the Ural Federal District, while the bulk of the water is concentrated in the lakes of the Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts. At the current population level, most of Russian Asia is well supplied with water resources; only in three Federation districts does water availability not exceed 10 thousand m³ per person, per year. However, in conditions of insufficient moisture, even increased water availability does not guarantee absence of water resources shortage, especially during years of low water content. The low quality of waters available for use further complicates the situation. The authors analyzed information on environmental changes occurring in lakes’ water resources during the latter 20^th and early 21^st centuries, presenting assessment results of trophicity and of quality of lakes’ water masses in three federal districts. The main problems associated with negative changes in the APR lake ecosystems, influenced by anthropogenic activities and requiring quick solutions, are described.

The article deals with the ecosystem conditions and main phases of colonization of the terrestrial environment by higher plants. The most important finds of the higher plants in pre-Silurian deposits are discussed. A plant attributed to a new genus and species Volkhoviella primitiva Naug., Gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Middle Ordovician deposits of the Leningrad region, Russia. General questions of early evolution of terrestrial plants are reviewed.

This article presents significant biographical information about Gleb Vereshchagin, the founder of Russian and Soviet limnology, the organizer of complex scientific research on Lake Baikal, which is the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake. The authors describes Vereshchagin’s developmental milestones as an outstanding researcher of lakes. He began work on Lake Baikal simply as a participant and then became head of the expedition of the Academy of Sciences’ Commission for the Study of Lake Baikal and the scientific Secretary of the Commission. In 1928, the Baikal expedition was transformed into the Baikal Limnological Station of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which Vereshchagin headed until 1944. His multi-faceted scientific heritage includes fundamental works on lakes’ hydrology and hydrophysics, plankton studies, the problem of the origin of Lake Baikal’s endemic fauna and flora, the first methodological guide to field hydrochemical analysis of natural waters, and extensive bibliographical reports on limnology.

(may - june 2019)