Harnessing the Irkutsk Oblast Recreational Potential for the Innovation-Driven Growth the Region

Innovative development of the region implies creation and commercialization of innovations in the most favorable for the region business sectors. The priorities of the Irkutsk region development are to increase the innovation component, to develop high technology and to use the recreational resources of the region for the innovation development. Objective of the study: to determine the ways of using the recreational potential of Irkutsk Oblast for innovation development. The research methodology is based on a theoretical analysis of the main aspects of innovative regional development, innovation in the regional tourism and recreation industry. The information and empirical research base of the study was statistical data on the development of tourism in Irkutsk Oblast. The novelty of the research is in the formation of a conceptual approach to the use of recreational resources of Irkutsk Oblast for innovative development of the region through the creation and development in the region of world-class scientific centres in the priority sectors for the development of the region; the establishment in the Cisbaikalia of a geopark and biomedical cluster; development of congress and business tourism, both interregional and international, including transit tourism; engagement of areas not adjacent to Lake Baikal in the tourism industry. The author proposes to consider tourism as a form of export of high-tech eco-oriented living environment. The article provides an analysis of the national projects, programmes and strategies related to the development of innovations in tourism activities in Irkutsk Oblast.

Social and hygienic problems and mortality of the population after the liquidation of a city-forming enterprise for the production of chemically hazardous substances (on the example of Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk region)

Introduction. In Usolye-Sibirskoye, after the liquidation of the town-forming enterprise "Usoliekhimprom", the socio-economic and demographic situation sharply worsened, and environmental problems accumulated since the 30s of the twentieth century aggravated. For the period 1990-2019, the city's population decreased by almost 30%. The study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the mortality rate of the male and female population of Usolye-Sibirskoye, the Irkutsk Oblast and Russia and assess the contribution of a certain age and gender groups (children, working-age, and post-working age) to the formation of super-mortality in the population. Materials and methods. The study base was the primary data of the Federal State Statistics Service (Table C-51 "The number of deaths by sex, age and specific causes of death" and 2PN "Population by sex and age"). We calculated the age-specific for 5-year age groups and age-standardized mortality rates from all causes of death separately for the male and female population of Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk Oblast and Russia for ten years (2010-2019) and traced them dynamics. Standardization was carried out by a direct method (the standard is the population of Russia according to the 2010 census). Considering the small population of the city and the resulting fluctuations in the mortality rate in individual years, to obtain stable indicators, we summarized the data on mortality for ten years (2010-2019) and calculated the average coefficients. We performed similar calculations for the region and country. We also assessed the contribution of certain age and gender groups (children, working and post-working ages) to the formation of excess mortality. Results. During 2010-2019 among the male and female populations of Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk Oblast and Russia, there was a steady decrease in mortality, but in the city, higher rates and slower rates of their decline were recorded compared to the region and the country. As a result, at the end of the observation period, the gap between the city's mortality rate and the compared territories increased even more. The most significant demographic losses occurred in the working age, where the average mortality rate for men and women over ten years was 28 and 37%, respectively, higher than the regional and 1.8 and 2.2 times the national average. Conclusion. Thus, the main contribution to the excess mortality of the population of Usolye-Sibirskoye is made by men and women of working age (from 53.6% to 72.5% depending on the comparison area), which, on the one hand, maybe a consequence of the influence of harmful and dangerous working conditions. In combination with a polluted environment, on the other hand, it may be due to the termination of the operation of a city-forming enterprise and the inevitable increase in unemployment and socio-economic tension in these conditions.

Species of the genus Notaris Germar, 1817 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) from Siberia and Russian Far East

Seven described species (N. (Erirhinus) aethiops (Paykull, 1792), N. (Asionotaris) eversmanni Faust, 1882, N. (A.) altaica (Legalov, 1997), N. (N.) acridulus (Linnaeus, 1758), N. (N.) daurica Faust, 1882, N. (N.) oryzae (Ishida, 1902), and N. (N.) scirpi (Fabricius, 1792) with two subspecies: N. (N.) scirpi scirpi (Fabricius, 1792) and N. (N.) scirpi mandschurica Voss, 1940) of the genus Notaris Germar, 1817 are known from Siberia and the Russian Far East. The distributions of these species are specified. There are the first records of N. (Erirhinus) aethiops for Republic of Khakassia, N. (Asionotaris) eversmanni for Sakhalin Is., N. (N.) acridulus for Altai Krai and Jewish Autonomous Oblast, N. (N.) scirpi scirpi for Irkutsk Oblast and N. (N.) scirpi mandschurica for Zabaikalskii Krai. A new subgenus Asionotaris subgen. n. (type species – Erirhinus altaicus Legalov, 1997) of the genus Notaris is described. Keys for subgenera of the genus Notaris and species of this genus from Siberia and the Russian Far East are completed. Distribution maps of the considered Notaris species are given.

Thorium, uranium and rare earth mineralization in rocks of the Ugakhan gold deposit, Bodaibo ore region (Irkutsk oblast)

The paper reports on the results of studies of ore-bearing rocks of the Ugakhan gold deposit (Bodaybo district): metasandstones, metasiltstones and carbonaceous shales. The rocks consist of quartz, feldspar (albite, orthoclase), Fe-Mg chlorite, mica (muscovite, sericite) and carbonates (calcite, dolomite, anker-ite) and accessory titanite, rutile, tourmaline, zircon and apatite. All rocks contain fragments of microfossils exhibiting striking concentric zonation with alternated dark (carbonaceous matter) and light (carbonate-mica material) layers. In a range from metasandstones to carbonaceous shales, the rocks exhibit an increase in mica amount and the content (up to 3%) of carbonaceous matter, as well as the formation of regeneration rims around relict tourmaline and zircon. The REE mineralization includes silicates (REE-bearing epidote, thorite), fuorocarbonates (bastnesite) and phosphates (monazite, xenotime, ankylite), which are closely related to U minerals (uraninite, cofnite). Bastnesite, ankylite and thorite formed due to the decomposition of earlier REE-bearing epidote, whereas monazite and xenotime are the products of decomposition of apatite. Uraninite formed during lithifcation of matrix of carbon-bearing rocks and is replaced by cofnite. The thermal analysis of carbonaceous matter and the formation temperature of chlorite calculated using chlorite geothermometer (296–371 °С) indicate the transformation of rocks under conditions of sericite-chlorite subfacies of greenschist facies of metamorphism.

On Long-Term Development of Tourism in Olkhonsky District and Rationale for Increasing Its Attractiveness among Chinese Tourists

In the modern world, tourism is the most dynamic sectors of the national economy. The value and impact of tourism are important not only on a country level but also on global level. Both developed and developing countries show positive developments in this sector. Countries try to stop being donor countries and become countries that attract tourists. Right now Russia is not a country that exports tourist services, so an amount of tourist departures exceeds the amount of tourist arrivals. One of the solutions to the problem can be developing and implementing tourism development policy in Olkhonsky District, Irkutsk oblast that will be focused on attracting Chinese tourists. The choice of an area is based on the fact that Irkutsk oblast takes third place in terms of the amount of incoming foreign tourists in Russia and it also has great capacity for further development because of unique Lake Baikal. The focus on Chinese tourists is determined by several facts: Russian travel agencies primarily attract tourists from China; Chinese tourists spend a high amount of money during their travel; Irkutsk oblast is of a particular interest to most of Chinese tourists.