The materials of The International Scientific – Practical Conference is presented below. The Conference reflects the modern state of innovation in education, science, industry and social-economic sphere, from the standpoint of introducing new information technologies. It is interesting for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation and information technologies.

This book presents the main findings of a study on school learning environments and student outcomes, which the World Bank conducted in 2019 in three regions of the Russian Federation. Using data collected through the OECD School User Survey and the pilot “Trends in Mathematics and Science Study” (TIMSS), the book analyzes how a school’s infrastructure and learning environment may affect the progress and success of students in math and science. It also delves into teaching practices, analyzing their impact on learning and highlighting the important nexus between learning environments and teaching methods. The book concludes by recommending areas in which focused attention by educational authorities could improve educational policy and help maintain high-quality learning environments. The book will be useful for educators, school principals, architects, and policy makers who are involved in school infrastructure projects and are interested in increasing their knowledge of school design planning.

Water Conservation and Wastewater Treatment in BRICS Nations: Technologies, Challenges, Strategies, and Policies addresses issues of water resources—including combined sewer system overflows—assessing effects on water quality standards and protecting surface and sub-surface potable water from the intrusion of saline water due to sea level rise. The book's chapters incorporate both policies and practical aspects and serve as baseline information for future adaption plans in BRICS nations. Users will find detailed important information that is ideal for policymakers, water management specialists, BRICS nation undergraduate or university students, teachers and researchers.

A GUIDE TO THE FUNDAMENTAL THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OPTICAL COMMUNICATION Fiber Optic and Atmospheric Optical Communication offers a much needed guide to characterizing and overcoming the drawbacks associated with optical communication links that suffer from various types of fading when optical signals with information traverse these wireless (atmospheric) or wired (fiber optic) channels. The authors--noted experts on the topic--present material that aids in predicting the capacity, data rate, spectral efficiency, and bit-error-rate associated with a channel that experiences fading. They review modulation techniques and methods of coding and decoding that are useful when implementing communications systems. The book also discusses how to model the channels, including treating distortion due to the various fading phenomena. Light waves and their similarity to radio waves are explored, and the way light propagates through the atmosphere, through materials, and through the boundary between two materials is explained. This important book: Characterizes principal optical sources and detectors, including descriptions of their advantages and disadvantages, to show how to design systems from start to finish Provides a new method of predicting and dealing with the dispersive properties of fiber optic cables and other optical guiding structures in order to increase data stream capacity Highlights effects of material and multimode (multi-ray) dispersion during propagation of optical signals with data through fiber optic channels Presents modulation techniques and methods of coding and decoding that are useful when implementing communications systems Written for professionals dealing with optical and electro-optical communications, Fiber Optic and Atmospheric Optical Communication explores the theory and practice of optical communication both when the optical signal is propagating through the atmosphere and when it is propagating through an optical fiber.

Cancer cells require exogenous methionine for survival and therefore methionine restriction is a promising avenue for treatment. The basis for methionine dependence in cancer cells is still not entirely clear. While the lack of the methionine salvage enzyme methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) is associated with methionine auxotrophy in cancer cells, there are other causes for tumors to require exogenous methionine. Restricting methionine by diet or by enzyme depletion, alone or in combination with certain chemotherapeutics, is a promising antitumor strategy.

The paper provides findings of the research work and scientific discussions under the “Global Sustainability Strategy Forum” (GSSF) that aims to develop evidence-informed judgments on challenges and solutions. It views attaining sustainability as a set of closely-coupled societal and environmental challenges and opportunities that require integration of multiple disciplines, new research methods, and new knowledge sources with sensitivity to regional and cultural diversities. The project is designed to produce innovative insights and strategies to support effective governance of transitions to sustainability of our complex global social-ecological system within its inherent resource limitations, and to develop sustainable lifestyles that are practical and appealing in the different regions and cultures of the world. 

The global climate change is one of the most dangerous threats to human society in the 21st Century. The dramatic losses have already been observed, and the risks are rising over time. CEECCA region experiences many negative impacts of global warming, which is faster and stronger than the world average. Numerous adaptation and resilience measures are required to protect people, but regional governments often underestimate and ignore the social implications of climate policies.This paper explores what are the priority challenges for CEECCA countries and how to address them effectively.

The IEEE Russia North West Section  and the European Centre for Quality (Moscow) are pleased to present the Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference "Quality Management, Transport and Information Security, Information Technologies" (IT&QM&IS). The Conference was held in Sochy, Russia on September  23–2, 2019. The Organizing Committee believes and trusts that we have been true to the spirit of collegiality that members of IEEE value whilst also maintaining a high standard as we reviewed papers, provided feedback and now present a strong body of published work in this collection of proceedings.  The themes for this year's conference were chosen as a means of bringing together academics and industrialists, engineering and management research, manufacturing and teaching, and providing a basis for discussion of issues arising across the engineering and business community in relation to Quality Management, Information Technologies, Transport and Information Security aimed at developing engineers and managers for the future. The goal of  these proceedings has been to present high quality work in an accessible medium, for use in a wide community of academics, engineers, managers, and industrialists, the community united by the key words Science, Education, Quality, Innovations in engineering. To achieve this aim, all abstracts were blind reviewed, and full papers submitted for publication in this journal of proceedings were subjected to a rigorous reviewing process.

The goal of this International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) chapter is to survey, catalog, and assess the status of technologies in the areas of cryogenic electronics and quantum information processing. Application drivers are identified for sufficiently developed technologies and application needs are mapped as a function of time against projected capabilities to identify challenges requiring research and development effort. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics or cold electronics) is defined by operation at cryogenic temperatures (below −150 °C or 123.15 K) and includes devices and circuits made from a variety of materials including insulators, conductors, semiconductors, superconductors, or topological materials. Existing and emerging applications are driving development of novel cryogenic electronic technologies. Information processing refers to the input, transmission, storage, manipulation or processing, and output of data. Information processing systems to accomplish a specific function, in general, require several different interactive layers of technology. A top-down list of these layers begins with the required application or system function, leading to system architecture, micro- or nano-architecture, circuits, devices, and materials. A fundamental unit of information (e.g., a bit) is represented by a computational state variable, for example, the position of a bead in the ancient abacus calculator or the voltage (or charge) state of a node capacitance in CMOS logic. A binary computational state variable serves as the foundation for von Neumann computational system architectures that dominated conventional computing. Quantum information processing is different in that it uses qubits, two-state quantum-mechanical systems that can be in coherent superpositions of both states at the same time, which can have computational advantages. Measurement of a qubit in a given basis causes it to collapse to one of the basis states. Technology categories covered in this report include: • Superconductor electronics (SCE) • Cryogenic semiconductor electronics (Cryo-Semi) • Quantum information processing (QIP)

Continuing miniaturization of electronic devices, together with the quickly growing number of nanotechnological applications, demands a profound understanding of the underlying physics. Most of the fundamental problems of modern condensed matter physics involve various aspects of quantum transport and fluctuation phenomena at the nanoscale. In nanostructures, electrons are usually confined to a limited volume and interact with each other and lattice ions, simultaneously suffering multiple scattering events on impurities, barriers, surface imperfections, and other defects. Electron interaction with other degrees of freedom generally yields two major consequences, quantum dissipation and quantum decoherence. In other words, electrons can lose their energy and ability for quantum interference even at very low temperatures. These two different, but related, processes are at the heart of all quantum phenomena discussed in this book.This book presents copious details to facilitate the understanding of the basic physics behind a result and the learning to technically reproduce the result without delving into extra literature. The book subtly balances the description of theoretical methods and techniques and the display of the rich landscape of the physical phenomena that can be accessed by these methods. It is useful for a broad readership ranging from master's and PhD students to postdocs and senior researchers.

The international scientific and engineering conference “Systems of Signal Synchronization, Generating and Processing in Telecommunications” has been held since 1974. For 46 years of work the conference has become a widely known forum for specialists of the field.

            The papers which are discussed at the conference can be divided into the following chapters:

–          Synchronization Systems and Devices;

–          Signal Generating and Shaping Devices;

–          Signal Processing Devices.

–          Special chapter: “Problems of microwave electronics” them. V.A. Solntsev

The chapters content is concerned with fundamental problems of signal synchronization, generating and processing in the field of communications, broadcasting, radar, radio guidance and radio control. The questions of the practical issues are also including.

The presentations are made by the scientists and developers from 10 countries: Belarus, Azerbaijan, Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Lebanon, Mongolia, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Branch Director of the IEEE Worldwide Limited in the Russian Federation and Scientific Secretary of Russian (Moscow) IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS04) Chapter Roman Y. Ivanyushkin promotes this conference among the Engineers in the field of Telecommunications. He also organizes the work of conference Chapter “Signals Generating and Shaping Devices”.

Chairman of Russian (Moscow) IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS04) Chapter Valentin Kuleshov is the Chairman of the Technical Program Committee.

Every year Director and Chairman of Russian Branch IEEE Circuits and System Society are participate as co-Chairs of the Chapter “Signals Generating and Shaping Devices”.

Chairman of the Steering Committee Alexander Pestryakov (Doctor of Technical Science, Professor, Radio and Broadcasting Faculty Dean of the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics) in cooperation with Director and Chairman of Russian Branch IEEE Circuits and System Society appoints the conference committee chairs and other key members.

Conference will produce a publication.

in the present paper author explains the results of using Smart TV as a tool for Industry 4.0, in particular for media industry, also measuring of Quality-of-Service and new business development. A Smart TV is a single connected device or intelligent sensor which increases industry performance through the number of services by using the existing network infrastructure. Thanks to special tracking and analyzing information on board Smart TVs help to improve the service for VoD service provider and product quality for Vendor. Results of applying several methods for problem solving will be reviewed at present material

Proceedings. - Prague, April 23–24, 2019. IEEE Catalog Number: CFP19P59-CDR. ISBN: 978-1-5386-6524-4.

Copyright and Reprint Permission: Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries are permitted to photocopy beyond the limit of U.S. copyright law for private use of patrons those articles in this volume that carry a code at the bottom of the first page, provided the per-copy fee indicated in the code is paid through Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. For reprint or republication permission, email to IEEE Copyrights Manager at pubspermissions@ieee.org. All rights reserved. Copyright ©2019 by IEEE.

The materials of The International Scientific – Practical Conference is presented below. The Conference reflects the modern state of innovation in education, science, industry and social-economic sphere, from the standpoint of introducing new information technologies. It is interesting for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation and information technologies.

2019 International Siberian Conference on Control and Communications (SIBCON). Proceedings

The 29th DAAAM International Symposium on Intelligent Manufacturing and Automation took place in Zadar, Croatia between the 24th and 27th October 2018, during the DAAAM International Week. The Symposium was organized by DAAAM International Vienna in cooperation with ÖIAV 1848, Vienna University of Technology, International Academy of Engineering and University of Applied Sciences – Technikum Wien and Under the Auspices of the Danube Rectors’ Conference & Rectors’ and Presidents’ Honor Committee of DAAAM International for 2018. The Symposium took place in Zadar, Croatia. This year’s symposium aimed at continuing the success of the previous years, focusing on the five-fold traditional objectives of the symposium: the presentation of the most recent high-quality results, support of development of young scientists and researchers, organization of international (summer) doctoral school, inauguration of new members of Central European Branch of International Academy of Engineering and the provision of the necessary setting for stimulating discussions, brainstorming and networking among European and international researchers coming both from the academia government agencies and industry.

One-way delay (OWD) is the transmission time of the network packet from the first to the last bit from the sender node to the receiver node. The data set presented here was obtained as a result of measurements performed for the paper “Improving the Accuracy of One-Way Delay Measurements”.

One-way delay measurements were performed using three different utilities:

* the utility from the OWAMP protocol;

* first version of our utility, owping1; and

* the new version of our utility, owping2.

These measurement utilities differ critically in the way that they set timestamps. The first generation of utilities (OWAMP and owping1) set the time stamp arbitrarily during the assembly of the measurement package and later during its interpretation after being received. Thus, the processing time on the measuring device is added to the delay value.

The new version of the utility for setting timestamps uses the capabilities that were provided for in the Linux kernel, starting with version 2.6.30. In this and later versions of the kernel the SO_TIMESTAMPING socket option was added, which enables the interrogation of information, from the OS kernel, about the times at which packets are sent and received. Timestamps set/obtained in this way are the most accurate, since the OS kernel sets/interrogates them directly at the time of the physical sending or receiving of packets. Thus, the uncertainty associated with the time interval, associated with the assembly and subsequent interpretation of the packet, has been eliminated.

A catalogue of anomalously large waves (rogue or freak waves) occurred in the World Ocean during 2011–2018 reported in mass media sources and scientific literature has been compiled and analyzed. It includes 210 hazardous events caused damages or human losses. The majority of events is based on eyewitness accounts, and as a rule is not confirmed by direct measurements. All collected events divided into deep water cases, shallow water cases and occurrences on the coast (gentle beach or rocks). The following parameters have been determined: date, location, damage, description, reference, and weather conditions. The most dangerous areas in the World Ocean in terms of freak waves are highlighted.

The development of advanced electrochemical devices for energy conversion and storage requires fine tuning of electrode reactions, which can be accomplished by altering the electrode/solution interface structure. Particularly, in case of an alkali-salt electrolyte the electric double layer (EDL) composition can be managed by introducing organic cations (e.g. room temperature ionic liquid cations) that may possess polar fragments. To explore this approach, we develop a theoretical model predicting the efficient replacement of simple (alkali) cations with dipolar (organic) ones within the EDL. For the typical values of the molecular dipole moment ($2-4~D$) the effect manifests itself at the surface charge densities higher than 30 $\mu C/cm^2$. We show that the predicted behavior of the system is in qualitative agreement with the molecular dynamics simulation results.

In the paper, we propose a model describing a change of charge state of MIS structures and sensors based on them being under influence of both a radiation ionization and high-field injection of electrons from the semiconductor. The model proposed takes into account the interaction of injected electrons with holes generated by the radiation and high-field ionization and captured by traps in the SiO2 film at the interface with the semiconductor. Besides, the model takes into consideration the generation of the surface states at annihilation of a fraction of holes during their interaction with injected electrons. We demonstrate that MIS sensor, being under high-field injection of electrons into the dielectric film by constant current, can be utilized to control intensity of radiation by determining the current of radiation ionization using time dependence of voltage across the sensor using the model proposed. We have ascertained that in case the MIS sensor being under high-field injection of electrons, a significant raising of the dose sensitivity of MIS sensors of the absorbed dose has been possible. However, at that working life and dose range of MIS sensors could be significantly smaller.

In the last 50 years, the biosphere, upon which humanity depends, has been altered to an unparalleled degree. The current economic model relying on fossil resources and addicted to “growth at all costs” is putting at risk not only life on our planet, but also the world’s economy. The need to react to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis is a unique opportunity to transition towards a sustainable wellbeing economy centered around people and nature. After all, deforestation, biodiversity loss and landscape fragmentation have been identified as key processes enabling direct transmission of zoonotic infectious diseases. Likewise, a changing climate has profound implications for human health. Putting forward a new economic model requires transformative policies, purposeful innovation, access to finance, risk-taking capacity as well as new and sustainable business models and markets. But above all we need to address the past failure of our economy to value nature, because our health and wellbeing fundamentally depends on it. A circular bioeconomy offers a conceptual framework for using renewable natural capital to holistically transform and manage our land, food, health and industrial systems with the goal of achieving sustainable wellbeing in harmony with nature. Within the framework of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, under the leadership of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, a 10-Point Action Plan to create a circular bioeconomy is proposed below. The Action Plan is a response to The Prince of Wales’ call to invest in nature as the true engine for our economy. The Action Plan, guided by new scientific insights and breakthrough technologies, is articulated around six transformative action points further discussed below and four enabling action points, which mutually reinforce each other.

This paper presents the results of long-term remote monitoring of tree overgrowth on abandoned agricultural lands. This monitoring is based on multi-temporal satellite images with ultra-high spatial resolution and highly-detailed optical survey from Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs). Successful use of photogrammetric dense point clouds was demonstrated for three-dimensional reconstruction of tree canopy structure on abandoned agricultural lands by using the tree canopy height digital model. Spatial data were obtained on tree expansion on the fallow in 2005–2018, current tree canopy heights and its vertical growth, stem density, and canopy closure. The study revealed distinct spatio-temporal heterogeneity of tree overgrowth on the fallow. In the first years after land abandonment the most rapid regeneration and dispersal of trees occurred from the forests resulting in very dense but low tree cover adjacent to the forest. Later, tree overgrowth occurred in isolated hotspots and was characterized by very intensive vertical growth of the tree canopy. Original Russian Text © 2019 A.A. Medvedev, N.O. Telnova, A.V. Kudikov, published in Forest Science Issues Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 1-12

Prompt development of information technology has made an essential impact on many industries. There appeared a concept “Industry 4.0” symbolizing the fourth industrial revolution. The given concept is closely connected with such promising technologies as the Internet of Things, blockchain, fog computing, Big Data. In the present research, the sphere of the mining industry is examined. We discuss the possibility to increase the efficiency of mining enterprises at the expense of the development of common information space based on modern digital technologies. We analyze security problems at the level of data flow between the participants of the production process on a mining enterprise. We define the problem of providing the reliability of data on the production course on mining enterprise in the conditions of the possible connection loss between the control center and separate technological units. We offer a new approach to the solution of the given problems, based on the technology of blockchain and digital watermarking. The computing experiment is conducted presenting a possibility to implement the offered approaches on common models of microcontrollers.

The problem of thermal modeling of modern three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuit (IC) systems in packages (SiPs) is discussed. An effective quasi-3D (Q3D) approach of thermal design is proposed taking into account the specific character of 3D IC stacked multilayer constructions. The fully-3D heat transfer equation for global multilayer construction is reduced to the set of coupled two-dimensional (2D) equations for separate construction layers. As a result, computational difficulties, processor time, and RAM volume are significantly reduced, while accuracy can be provided. A software tool, Overheat-3D-IC, was developed on the base of the generalized Q3D package numerical model. For the first time, the global 3D thermal performances across the modern integrated circuit/through-silicon via/ball grid array (IC-TSV-BGA) and multi-chip (MC)-embedded printed circuit board (PCB) packages were simulated. A ten times decrease of central processing unit (CPU) time was achieved as compared with the 3D solutions obtained by commercial universal 3D simulators, while saving the sufficient accuracy. The simulation error of maximal temperature TMAX determination for different types of packages was not more than 10–20%. View Full-Text

In this article, I summarize my theoretical developments in the statistical field theory of salt solutions of zwitterionic and multipolar molecules. Based on the Hubbard-Stratonovich integral transformation, I represent configuration integrals of dilute salt solutions of zwitterionic and multipolar molecules in the form of functional integrals over the space-dependent fluctuating electrostatic potential. In the mean-field approximation, for both cases, I derive integro-differential self-consistent field equations for the electrostatic potential, generated by the external charges in solutions media, which generalize the classical Poisson-Boltzmann equation. Using the obtained equations, in the linear approximation, I derive for the both cases a general expression for the electrostatic potential of a point-like test ion, expressed through certain screening functions. I derive an analytical expression for the electrostatic potential of the point-like test ion in a salt zwitterionic solution, generalizing the well known Debye-Hueckel potential. In the salt-free solution case, I obtain analytical expressions for the local dielectric permittivity around the point-like test ion and its effective solvation radius. For the case of salt solutions of multipolar molecules, I find a new oscillating behavior of the electrostatic field potential of the point-like test ion at long distances, which is caused by the nonzero quadrupole moments of the multipolar molecules. I obtain a general expression for the average quadrupolar length of a multipolar solute. Using the random phase approximation (RPA), I derive general expressions for the excess free energy of bulk salt solutions of zwitterionic and multipolar molecules and analyze the limiting regimes resulting from them. I generalize the salt zwitterionic solution theory for the case when several kinds of zwitterions are dissolved in the solution. In this case, within the RPA, I obtain a general expression for the solvation energy of the test zwitterion. Finally, I demonstrate how to take a systematic account of the excluded volume correlations between multipolar molecules in addition to their electrostatic correlations. I believe that the formulated findings could be useful for the future theoretical models of the real ion-molecular solutions, such as salt solutions of micellar aggregates, metal-organic complexes, proteins, betaines, etc.

The intransitive cycle of superiority is characterized by such binary relations between A, B, and C that A is superior to B, B is superior to C, and C is superior to A (i.e., A>B>C>A—in contrast with transitive relations A>B>C). The first part of the article presents a brief review of studies of intransitive cycles in various disciplines (mathematics, biology, sociology, logical games, decision theory, etc.), and their reflections in educational materials. The second part of the article introduces the issue of intransitivity in elementary physics. We present principles of building mechanical intransitive devices in correspondence with the structure of the Condorcet paradox, and describe five intransitive devices: intransitive gears; levers; pulleys, wheels, and axles; wedges; inclined planes. Each of the mechanisms are constructed as compositions of simple machines and show paradoxical intransitivity of relations such as “to rotate faster than”, “to lift”, “to be stronger than” in some geometrical constructions. The article is an invitation to develop teaching materials and problems advancing the understanding of transitivity and intransitivity in various areas, including physics education.

In this paper, a method of virtual simulation of physical processes for early stages of design of onboard electronic means (OEM) has been developed and investigated. The corresponding virtual model is an integrated model that implements the simultaneous interaction of heterogeneous physical processes: electrical, thermal, mechanical, aerodynamic. This interconnection of physical processes allows for the first time to completely display the dynamic physical state of the supporting structure and the electronic components of the circuit located on it in the virtual model. At the same time, the output functional characteristics of OEM in virtual simulation take natural values that cannot be obtained in full-scale tests, because this full-scale tests are carried out separately and alternately. The visual images of the design and electronic components of OEM with superimposed color fields of temperature distribution, deformation or mechanical accelerations obtained with integrated virtual simulation allow on early stages of design to identify the most stressed and therefore dangerous places of possible overloads.

In this preprint, we present an example illustrating the novel method for the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) computation based on the Goertzel-Blahut algorithm introduced in the paper "Improving the Goertzel-Blahut algorithm" (IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 824-827, 2016).

Despite the success of many countries in increasing energy saving and energy efficiency, the global energy consumption is expected to continue its growth. The main reasons are economic development and population growth happening primarily in developing and emerging economies, especially in India and China. In such circumstances fossil fuels will remain the dominant energy source in the medium and even long run. The present research paper aims at analyzing the current global trends in the energy sector identified through literature review and expert tools, and their influence on Russia. Considering a broad range of factors, the paper determined the following main challenges for the Russian energy sector: tightening competition at international energy markets, the need for comprehensive modernization and stronger energy efficiency measures, the need for technological catch-up in a number of energy sector segments, the need to increase recovery factor at traditional oilfields, and the need to diversify energy mix by increasing the share of renewables. The paper also considers the main rationale for the last challenge that include strengthened security, reliability and sustainability of the Russian energy sector. Among the key preconditions for advancements in renewable energy are improvements in investment climate, modernisation of the central grid and changes in energy policy. The paper is based on the outcomes of the first stage of the Foresight project devoted to renewable energy technologies.

A set of thin film Mn_xSi_1-x alloy samples with different manganese concentration x = 0.44 - 0.63 grown by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method onto the Al₂O₃ (0001) substrate was investigated in the temperature range 4 - 300 K using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements in the wide range of frequencies (f = 7 - 60 GHz) and magnetic fields (H = 0 - 30 kOe). For samples with x = 0.52 - 0.55, FMR data show clear evidence of ferromagnetism with high Curie temperatures T_c ~ 300 K. These samples demonstrate complex and unusual character of magnetic anisotropy described in the frame of phenomenological model as a combination of the essential second order easy plane anisotropy contribution and the additional forth order uniaxial anisotropy contribution with easy direction normal to the film plane. We explain the obtained results by a polycrystalline (mosaic) structure of the films caused by the film-substrate lattice mismatch. The existence of extra strains at the crystallite boundaries leads to an essential inhomogeneous magnetic anisotropy in the film plane.

The paper is devoted to the issue of smart power system cost-benefit analysis. The innovative character of smart grids is defined and related obstacles for traditional cost-benefit assessment are revealed, primarily referred to external effects evaluation. Brief systematization of existing methods of smart grids assessment is provided and their weak points are defined. A new Smart Grid cost-benefit assessment approach is presented, basing on the elaborated comprehensive system of smart power system effects. The approach is tested for the system effects of smart power system implementation in the Russian Unified Energy System, quantitative results are presented.

Liberalization of regional public transport market in Russia has led to continuing decline of service quality. One of the main results of the liberalization is the emergence of inefficient spatial structures of regional public transport systems in Russian regions. While the problem of optimization of urban public transport system has been extensively studied, the structure of regional public transport system has been referred less often. The question is whether the problems of spatial structure are common for regional and public transportation systems, and if this is the case, whether the techniques developed for urban public transport planning and management are applicable to regional networks. The analysis of the regional public transport system in Perm Krai has shown that the problems of cities and regions are very similar. On this evidence the proposals were made in order to employ urban practice for the optimization of regional public transport system. The detailed program was developed for Perm Krai which can be later on adapted for other regions.