Effects of long-term medieval agriculture on soil properties:A case study from the Kislovodsk basin,Northern Caucasus,Russia

The chemical properties and biological activities of soils were studied in the vicinity of the medieval settlement Podkumskoe-3 in the Kislovodsk basin(Northern Caucasus, Russia). Between the 5 th and 8 th centuries this area was ploughed regularly, but it was then abandoned up to the present day. It has been established that past human activity leads to soil undergoing significant transformations in terms of microbial communities and enzyme activity, and that such changes are maintained over long periods. Long-term manuring in the middle of the first millennium AD led to an increase in organic carbon content and the accumulation of nitrate nitrogen. Soils of ancient abandoned fields are associated with increases in microbial biomass, number of saprotrophic bacteria, urease activity, and fungal mycelium biomass. The observed changes in the microbiological and biochemical properties of soil were conditioned by secondary anthropogenically induced succession after the abandonment of arable lands.

In situ Heating and Thermal Effects in Auger Electron Spectroscopy for GaN

An in situ heating system was built for the Auger electron spectroscopy to investigate the thermal effect of Auger lines. A GaN sample was studied in this system. The kinetic energy of Ga LMM and MVV Auger lines were observed to shift negatively with temperature increasing. By using ab initio calculation, the theoretical Ga MVV Auger line shape was fit, which well reflects the inner property of the line. The Auger shift with heating is related with the valence electron rearrangement in the thermal expansion of the local bonds.

Practice of＂Russification＂ in the Late Imperial Russia： The Case of the Central Caucasus

The problem of relationships between the center and outlying regions of the Russian Empire had always particular acuteness. Both historically determined ethno-cultural and socio-political mosaicity of Russia and nature of the Russian state defined priorities of its national policy, aimed at preserving unity and integrity of the country. An ideological basis for forming the imperial universe was the idea of ＂Russification＂. The fulfillment of the ＂Russification＂ policy in the North Caucasus was to a large extent bound up with an administrative practice, aimed at rearrangement of the local social structures and standardization of the variety of local organizational forms of management. One of the elements of ＂Russification＂ was also colonization, so far as the Russian settlers not only changed the regional socio-demographic background, but brought with them a certain ＂imperial complex＂. Patterns of positive motivation for ＂Russification＂ among local population are found in the field of education, which gave for the mountaineers an opportunity to successful integration into another civilization. However, the processes of imperial unification were fraught with a high conflict potential. The meeting of indigenous social structures with the Russian statehood was inevitably accompanied with the break-up of the whole system of established traditional relations and social roles.

Transformation Pathway of Carbonate Pedofeatures Based on Their Micromorhology and Carbon Isotope Data in the Northern Caucasus Region,Russia

Carbonate pedofeatures (CPs) in a chronosequence of paleosols buried under kurgans in the Northern Caucasus region of Russia in a period from the end of the 4th to the middle of the 5th centuries AD (It seams that there is no time left) were studied by using a set of morphological and isotopic methods. The CPs in chernozem-type soils of Russia are usually represented by crystallomorphic calcite whereas the non-segregated carbonates occurred at the same horizons-by collomorphic one. Those two morphotypes of calcite have the differences in elemental composition and isotopic composition of carbon and, hence, should have different origins-from true and colloidal solutions, respectively. The same differences including radiocarbon age have been revealed for pseudomycelium of the ABca horizon of the youngest paleosols as compared with the same CPs of other paleosols in the chronosequence studied. Our assumption is that it was succeeded in finding that the pseudomycelium right away after its precipitation from a colloidal solution migrated from the lower soil horizons to the surface horizons during the periods of climatic aridization. After a short time interval (not more than 25-50 years) collomorphic calcite in the pseudomicelium of the yongest paleosols mentioned above will likely become by "usual" acicular calcite.

Distribution and diversity of microbial communities in meromictic soda Lake Doroninskoe(Transbaikalia,Russia) during winter

Meromictic soda and saline lakes are unique ecosystems characterized by the stability of physical,chemical and biological parameters,and they are distributed all over the world.Lakes located in regions with average annual negative air temperature are of particular interest because of the presence of two periods with intensive and dynamic processes:the so-called biological summer and the long ice season with the biological spring.Soda Lake Doroninskoe is located in Eastern Transbaikalia(51°14′N,112°14′E) in the permafrost zone in an extreme continental climate,and is covered by ice for seven months per year.The structure and diversity of the microbial communities throughout the water column of the lake was studied by 16 S r RNA gene amplicon metasequencing.Different species with specific functions were found to dominate at different depths.Metabolically flexible bacteria with a capacity to switch between anoxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic chemotrophic metabolism dominate in soda Lake Doroninskoe.

The ecosystem of Lake Kenon:past and present(Transbaikal Territory,Russia)

Present-day conditions of the Lake Kenon ecosystem are determined by a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. We have estimated the effects of a complex of factors on the condition of the abiotic environment and on specific biological components in the lake ecosystem. Change in biogenic load has caused an increase in the role of phytoplankton in the general balance of organic matter during the high-water period. Charophytes are the main dominants of bottom vegetation. Anthropogenic load has caused a decrease in both fish species and fish capacity. The lake application as a water reservoir-cooler has influenced the average annual water mineralization （from 420 mg/L to 530.0 mg/L with a maximum 654 mg/L in 1993） and fluctuations in its hydrochemical composition. The present composition of the lake is sulfate-hydrocarbonate-chloride calcium-sodic-magnesium in character. S（Y44 content is twice as much as the maximum permissible concentration in fishery waters. Water drainage from an ash disposal area to the lake has caused an increase in chemical-element concentrations including the heavy metals. Hg concentration in Perca fluviatilis muscles is 0.5 9g/g dry wt. Thus, understanding directions in the ecosystem of the water reservoir-cooler under changing hydrological conditions will let us forecast the consequences of new combined heat and power plant operation.

STRONG INVARIANCE PRINCIPLE FOR ERROR VARIANCE ESTIMATES

In this letter, we consider a linear regression model y_i = x’_iβ+e_i, i=1.2,…,where {x_i} is a sequence of known p-vectors, β is an unknown vector, and {e_i} is a sequence of random errors, which

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"China Automotive Industry Yearbook" (2002)(Chinese version) This yearbook, incorporating the review of Chinese auto industry in 2001 and brief introduction of its future development, offers the chronological events, important policies and regulations promulgated in 2001, providing an in-depth analysis and detailed statistics for all sector of