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The role of hybridization as one of the factors of speciation in mammals has been underestimated for a long time, but now there is a lot of data on its impact in mammalian evolution. Hybridization of species often occurs in their secondary contact zones, which is a natural model for testing factors that ensure species integrity. Studies of hybrid zones are increasingly revealing the essential role of ecological and behavioral features both in initiating crossbreeding and in maintaining interspecific barriers. We studied the hybridization of two species of marmots Marmota baibacina and M. sibirica in the zone of sympatry in Mongolian Altai Mountains. We used a bioacoustic approach to determine the localization of individuals of different species and their cohabitation sites. Genetic typing with two diploid nuclear markers and one marker each of paternal and maternal lines was used to identify hybrids. Habitat preferences of marmots were studied to understand the conditions for the formation of heterospecific pairs. We found a high proportion of hybrid individuals in boulder screes where conditions for the formation of heterospecific pairs probably exist. Our data indicate the viability and fertility of F1 hybrids and their descendants. We hypothesize that the environmental preferences and behavioral features of both species of marmots are important factors that both create conditions for hybridization and limit hybrid dispersal.

The spectral structure of the alarm call of ground squirrels was studied. A sexual accent was found in the signal of a small ground squirrel ( Spermophilus pygmaeus ): in the signal of males, the high-frequency component has a higher peak and maximum frequency than in the signal of females. In the signal of four species of ground squirrels ( Sp . pygmaeus , Sp . musicus , Sp . xanthoprymnus , Sp . alaschanicus ) biphonation was detected. It is suggested that in the signal of these species of ground squirrels low and high frequency components generate different sources of the vocal tract. Material collected in the field.

The formation of the alarm call’s time–frequency characteristics at different stages of individual development was studied on the russet ground squirrel (S. major). The hypothesis about the vocalizations of young individuals of ground squirrels being emitted at lower frequencies than those of adults was tested. The results of the study indicate a differentiated formation of the sound signal in the different sexes of the russet ground squirrel in postnatal ontogenesis. The sound signal in females is formed in the first year of life during the season of activity, whereas it is formed in males in the year following the first hibernation. In terms of the studied call parameters, the voice of adult females is higher than that of young animals of both sexes, while the voice of adult males is lower. The possible causes and significance of the identified sex and age features of the alarm call of the russet ground squirrel are discussed.

The alarm call of the little ground squirrel (Spermophilus pygmaeus), like those of six other Eurasian ground squirrels, contains a high-frequency component. In males, the peak and maximum frequencies of the high-frequency component are higher than in females. Biphonation of the alarm calls of Sp. pygmaeus, Sp. musicus, Sp. xanthoprymnus, and Sp. alaschanicus has been demonstrated, with the low- and high-frequency components generated by different sources in the vocal tract. The material was collected in the field.

The results of the study of ternary systems containing copper, cobalt, nickel, and cadmium halides and sulfates in binary water-organic and mixed organic solvents are summarized. The influence of the donor-acceptor properties of the ternary system components, the relative dielectric permittivity, and the intermolecular association in the mixed solvent on the solubility of salts and the crystalline structure of solvates is analyzed.

Four complexes [Ni(DMA)2(H2O)4]Cl2·2H2O, [Ni(DMF)2(H2O)4]Cl2·2H2O, and [Ni(DMA)6][NiCl4], [Ni(DMF)2(H2O)2Cl2] were isolated from ternary water-organic saline systems containing nickel chloride and N, N-dimethylacetamide-water and N, N-dimethylformamide-water binary solvents. The obtained complexes were studied by X-ray structural analysis. The formation of hydrogen bonds between water molecules of the nickel ion solvate sphere, chloride ions, and non-coordinated water molecules located in the cavity of the crystal structure was detected.

A brief review on the history of constructing Earth-like models of the Venusian interior is presented. Available observational data are analyzed. An explanation for the anomalously large ratio of the quadrupole gravitational moment J2 to the small parameter of Venus q is proposed. Thus, estimates were obtained for the precession constant and principal moments of inertia for the Earth-like model of Venus.

The importance of information support as one of the elements of the functioning of the innovative structure of a supporting university is demonstrated. Features of using an information monitoring system for research and development work, which is focused on the support and development of innovation activities, are considered. The experience of using such a system at the Turgenev Oryol State University is reflected and the results for analyzing the innovative activities of the university are given.

Some optimal control problems are considered with an integral functional (to be minimized), fixed motion time of the controlled object, and free right endpoint. In these problems, the set of degeneracy points of the Pontryagin maximum principle (singular set) for the extremal control is studied. For a wide class of linear control systems, sufficient conditions are obtained under which the singular set is either empty or consists of a finite set of points. In addition, an example of a control system is constructed in which the singular set has a very general form.

The article presents an expert system in which knowledge bases formalize technogenic risks in electrical installations of agricultural enterprises. The knowledge bases contain rules for the influence of risk factors on the value of the technogenic risk of the electrical installations. The rules are described as a set of fuzzy linguistic statements. Fuzzy linguistic statements can be temporal. Simple temporal statements are formed by application to a simple linguistic statement of one of the unitary operations of the past time “always in the past” or “at some time in the past” of temporal logic. Temporal composite statements are formed of simple statements using the binary fuzzy logical operations “AND,” “OR,” and “priority AND” as ligaments. Using the developed expert system, estimation of the risk of an accident at an electrical installation of AO Altaikraienergo Network Co. was carried out both without and with the use of temporal operators. In the first case, magnitude of the risk of an accident (basis) RB =2.3 × 10–4, which is evaluated as valid. In the second case (RT =1.4 × 10–3), an unacceptable (high) risk was obtained. Analysis of electrical facilities of the considered production facility also confirmed noncompliance with requirements of electrical safety. Our research showed that the proposed expert system for assessing technogenic risks of electrical installations using temporal logic gives a more adequate assessment of the technogenic safety of the considered production facility.

The architecture of the cloud data storage using Intel SGX technology is proposed. The approach offered in the article is provided to protect the user data on the cloud server from the attacks on the part of the provider and on the client personal computer from the malicious software. The developed architecture supports the group access to the data for several users.

This paper investigates the problem of ensuring secure input/output operations in the Intel SGX technology. The problem is extremely urgent, and its solution will make it possible to protect confidential user data from attacks from different malicious software while finding data outside the enclave. The authors present different methods for solving the posed problem developed by them. The complexity of the practical application of these methods as well as their main disadvantages and advantages are analyzed. The most preferred method which ensures secure storage and processing of data outside the enclave is also chosen.

The fundamentals of diagnosing the technical condition of electrical plants in a real-time environment are disclosed. The key provisions of the theory of technology-related risks caused by the hazardous effect of current on people and objects in the form of accidents, electrical shocks, and fires are formulated. The concept of “integral risk” is introduced, its mathematical model developed, and a classification of risks provided. It is proposed to assess an integral risk as the product of the occurrence probability of a hazardous technology-related situation and its effect (outcome). It is supposed that the technology-related safety and efficiency of onsite electrical plants can be controlled by establishing the interaction among the components of the man–machine system, including a man (MN), electrical plant (EPL), and environment (ENV). The fundamentals of the technique of identifying and predicting risks with ambiguous information are considered, and the software implementation of this technique by logical linguistic modeling and the fuzzy logic apparatus is provided. A system approach to optimizing the integral operating risk of the MN–EPL–ENV system is formulated.

Marmots use a sound signal to inform their neighbours about the danger. Vocalization is the response of marmots to the visual perception of a potentially dangerous stimulus. For the first time at the intraspecific level the relationship between the rhythmic structure of the signal and the habitat elevation of populations is shown using the example of the steppe marmot (Marmota bobak). An increase in elevation is accompanied by an increase in the relative excess of positive forms over the nearest negative forms of relief. The dismembered relief reduces the visual detection range of danger. With an increase in the habitat elevation of populations, the repetition periods of sounds in the signal decrease. In the range of habitat elevations of the steppe marmot from 120 to 730 m, the median of the repetition periods decreases from 5.35 to 2.17 s. The increased rhythm is a consequence of the increased reactivity of marmots. It has been suggested that a complex of reactions to visual detection of danger controls the amygdale. The alarm call of marmots was recorded in the field.

The range of Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana Hodgson, 1841) has an insular character, as it is limited by ecological and geographical barriers: in the north, northeast and east, these are deserts and the Loess Plateau, in the west - mountain peaks covered with glaciers and rivers, in the south - forests of the southern macro slope of the Himalayas. Only in the northwest of the range there is an ecological corridor. The geographical isolation of populations of marmots provokes the divergence of alarm call, which is one of the obvious genetically determined features. The results of cluster analysis based on a complex of features of the sound signal coincide with the results of analysis using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. The projection of variability on the structure and history of the landscape contributes to understand the ecological and geographical factors of divergence as the basis for the process of speciation.