Natural and medical sciences

Dramatic geopolitical and geo-economic changes occurring since 2022 have created a new development context for Russian border regions redrawing their economic security boundaries. The latter are also changing, which is understood as the required level of security in the current mode of functioning of the territorial system in terms of its openness or closeness. These regions, especially ones located along the northwestern borders, geo-strategically gain more military and political importance for Russia’s national security. Thus, changing boundaries of the border regions’ economic security require theoretical understanding and development of measures to ensure it. A socio-geographical approach to addressing this issue allows factoring in the regions’ spatial characteristics, in particular, the influence of the border factor. Highlighting the specific functions of border regions that distinguish them from the internal territories of the country, the paper presents a hierarchy of economic security factors. In terms of their content, we consider groups of general and specific factors, while in terms of the character of their impact — constructive (potential-forming) or destructive (potential-destructive). The study shows that the economic security boundaries for a particular territory are determined by the ratio of various groups of factors in establishing the operating regime of the region in terms of its openness or closedness as a territorial system. We use the example of the exclave Kaliningrad region to identify the leading border functions, analyze changes in the economic security boundaries and propose key action areas for ensuring it.

Apart from biomedical and organizational issues, the emergence of the new coronavirus COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, set large-scale tasks for creating and improving mathematical and information technologies that operate spatial data in statistical analysis and forecasting. The regional level is seen as a suitable choice for spatial analysis of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality due to the availability of statistics, as well as data on geographical patterns, characteristics of the distribution space (population density, concentration in one city, density of the transport network, distance to the focus of the disease, etc.). The case of the Pskov region shows that the regional healthcare system experiences a significant shortage of personnel and a noticeable lack of resources. When assessing the existing and prospective healthcare infrastructure, it is advisable to take these points into account while developing an effective, evidence-based healthcare policy. The article shows that graph-based models are more likely to be efficient for adequate modeling at the interregional and regional level, while the geographical distribution of patients should be taken into account for the analysis of processes in individual settlements.

In 2022, the term “unfriendly countries / territories” was introduced as a “new” criterion for differentiating countries participating in foreign economic activity. Given the fact that about 30 % of national budget is formed by the foreign economic activity, the assessment of the prospects for maintaining the existing supply geography becomes expedient. The article divides the subjects into four groups, taking into account the “new” criterion which determines the level of contribution of “unfriendly” countries to the total volume of exports and imports of Russian regions. The first group included the regions whose volume of interaction with “unfriendly” countries is more than 50 % of the total volume of their imports and exports. The second one brings together the entities whose volume of interaction with “unfriendly” countries is more than 50 % of their total imports and lower than 50 % of their total exports. The third group consists of the entities whose import volume with “unfriendly” countries is lower than 50 % of their total import volume, and the export volume is higher than 50 % of their total export volume. The fourth group includes the regions whose volume of interaction with “unfriendly” countries is lower than 50 % of the total volume of their imports and exports. The highest indicators of maintaining the geographical structure of deliveries are expected primarily from the participants included in the fourth group.

Since 2019, the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation has annually assessed the quality of the urban environment in more than 1,114 cities. The paper takes the case of the Leningrad region to consider a number of hypotheses about the correspondence between the Urban Environment Quality Index (UEQI) values, the city’s remoteness from agglomeration centers, population changes and migration growth, absolute population and municipal budget expenditures. The use of cartographic and mathematical methods made it possible to conclude that there is no significant direct correlation between the values of the UEQI and the indicators previously specified. Spatial differentiation of cities according to the values of UEQI was revealed. The study has determined that the quality of living category is not limited to the category of quality of the urban environment, while any attempts to solve socio-economic problems in cities focused only on the improvement of the urban environment are clearly an oversimplification. This study, which is the first of this kind, engages all the cities of the Leningrad region.

The tourism geography currently uses a variety of approaches to analyze tourist flows. The purpose of the study is to identify geographical features in the distribution of inbound tourist flows in the Benelux countries, using various approaches to data aggregation and visualization. The study is based on the national tourism statistics of the Benelux countries. Five leading countries in terms of the volume of inbound tourist flow in this region are considered: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. Four different indicators were used to analyze the distribution of inbound tourist flow: the total number of arrivals of foreign and domestic tourists in the region, inbound tourist flow diversity index, the share of arrivals from a particular country in the total volume of inbound tourist flow, and the degree of attendance calculated on the basis of the share of the country’s tourist the total tourist flow of the country. The regions that are the main centers of tourism (capital, seaside, border) and geographic factors that affect the degree of attendance of the region by tourists from different countries are identified: the language of the region, distance from the border, the capital factor and, in some cases, the presence of direct flights. The use of two different approaches to assessing the inbound tourist flow, carried out for the first time, made it possible to determine their advantages and disadvantages for further use.

The paper studies the data of a comprehensive environmental survey of land plots in several streets (i. e. Basseynaya, Lieutenant Katina and Sportivnaya) of the city of Kaliningrad for their compliance with the requirements for a specially protected natural area of local importance. It is shown that the territory of the indicated forest park zone meets the main criteria for designating a specially protected natural area of local importance. Given the urban environment, the territory has a high level of biological diversity, including regionally rare species; within the boundaries of the study area there are unique natural complexes and objects. This is a promising territory to carry out scientific research, environmental educational activities, ecological touristic activities, and regulated recreation.

In recent decades, interest in halophyte plants has increased due to their high content of biologically active substances with powerful antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antitumor properties and promising for the prevention of various diseases. Several species of halophytes grow on the territory of the Kaliningrad region, among which the rare species Spergularia marina (L.) Griseb. is of particular interest, the biological activity and content of secondary metabolites of which have not been studied sufficiently. The purpose of this study was to obtain callus cultures, to study the content of some groups of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of extracts. The study carried out the selection of growth regulators and concentrations that induce callus formation. 19 nutrient media were selected for the induction of S. marina callus cultures. The conducted phytochemical analysis showed a significant content of phenolic compounds and hydroxycinnamic acids, as well as a high level of antioxidant activity of extracts of callus cultures. Out of 19 callus cultures, cultures obtained on Murashige and Skoog nutrient media containing the following combinations of growth regulators are promising for obtaining target secondary metabolites: 0.25 mg/l TDZ and 1 mg/l 2,4-D; 0.1 mg/l TDZ and 1.5 mg/l 2,4-D; 0.25 mg/l TDZ and 0.25 mg/l IBA; 0.5 mg/l TDZ and 0.25 mg/l IBA; 0.25 mg/l KinN and 0.5 mg/l 2,4-D.