Search

Testate amoebae are a polyphyletic group of unicellular eukaryotic organisms that are characterised by a rigid shell and inhabit mostly freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. They are particularly abundant in peatlands, especially in Sphagnum-dominated biotopes. Peatland hydrology is the most important influence on testate amoebae communities. The good preservation of the shells in peat deposits and their response to hydrological regime changes are the principles for palaeohydrological reconstructions. Any changes in the water balance of mires should be expected to have far-reaching effects on biogeochemical cycles, productivity, carbon dioxide and methane exchange.This paper presents a dataset (Darwin Core Archive – DwC-A) on the distribution of Sphagnum-dwelling testate amoebae in nine mires located in the forest-steppe subzone of the East European Plane. The dataset includes information about 86 taxa belonging to 29 genera and contains 3,123 occurrences of 49,874 individuals. The following environmental variables are provided: microtopography, oxidising and reducing potential, total mineralisation, substrate temperature, acidity, substrate wetness and water table depth. These data might be used for biogeographical and palaeoecological studies, including quantitative reconstructions.

В статье рассмотрены основные исторические этапы сложения феномена Московской архитектурной школы как трёхвекового наследия единства творческой практики, науки и образования, концентрированно представленного в деятельности нынешнего МАРХИ. Особо выделены мировые достижения школы каждого временного этапа как порождённые влиянием практики, так и оказавшие воздействие на её развитие.

Тридцатилетний период новейшей истории российской архитектуры постепенно обретает черты этапности. Радикальные перемены в России в 90-е годы XX века с появлением частной собственности и переходом к индивидуальному проектированию отмечены возникновением целого веера направлений в архитектурном творчестве. Преобладающим было обращение к историческим стилям на принципах постмодернизма. В 2000-е годы создаётся новая ситуация, обусловлен-ная рядом новых факторов и задач. Ведущими становятся направления, появившиеся ситуативно в начале 1990-х годов и опирающиеся на принципы новаторских направлений: хай-тека, минимализма, неомодернизма, попыток актуализации авангардных течений. В 2010-е годы именно они воплощают социально-экономический заказ и наполняются инженерно-технологическими новациями, обусловленными обращением к стратегии устойчивого развития. Условность деления на этапы объясняется многообразием и архитектурных поисков, и параллельно идущих социально-экономических процессов, и инженерно-технического прогресса.

Abstract The spontaneous formation of biological substances, such as human organs, are governed by different stimuli driven by complex 3D self-organization protocols at the molecular level. The fundamentals of such molecular self-assembly processes are critical for fabrication of advanced technological components in nature. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a promising 3D printing method with self-healing property based on molecular self-assembly-monolayer principles, which is conceptually different than the existing 3D printing protocols. The proposed molecular building-block approach uses metal ion-mediated continuous self-assembly of organic molecular at liquid–liquid interfaces to create 2D and 3D structures. Using this technique, we directly printed nanosheets and 3D rods using dithiol molecules as building block units.

Testate amoebae are unicellular eukaryotic organisms covered with an external skeleton called a shell. They are an important component of many terrestrial ecosystems, especially peatlands, where they can be preserved in peat deposits and used as a proxy of surface wetness in paleoecological reconstructions. Here, we represent a database from a vast but poorly studied region of the Western Siberia Lowland containing information on TA occurrences in relation to substrate moisture and WTD. The dataset includes 88 species from 32 genera, with 2181 incidences and 21,562 counted individuals. All samples were collected in oligotrophic peatlands and prepared using the method of wet sieving with a subsequent sedimentation of aqueous suspensions. This database contributes to the understanding of the distribution of testate amoebae and can be further used in large-scale investigations.

The paper describes a dataset, comprising 236 surface moss samples and 143 testate amoeba taxa. The samples were collected in 11 Sphagnum-dominated bogs during frost-free seasons of 2004, 2007, 2009, 2017, and 2022. For the whole dataset, the sampling effort was sufficient in terms of observed species richness (143 species in total), though a regional species pool is deemed to be discovered incompletely (143 species is its lower 95 % confidence limit using Chao’s estimator). The local community composition demonstrated high heterogeneity in a reduced ordination space. It supports the opinion that the high versatility of bog ecosystems should be taken into account during ecological studies.

(1) Background: An estuary is a zone in which sea and river waters mix. It is a specific area with a very non-stable environment and salinity gradient. However, little is known about the diversity of ciliate communities in estuarine benthic ecosystems in the Arctic. The aim of this paper is to describe the diversity of intertidal ciliates in the Chernaya river estuary (Kandalaksha Gulf, White Sea), which is characterized by a pronounced salinity gradient (0–22‰), on the basis of a recently published dataset. (2) Methods: We conducted our own investigations during the summer periods of 1998–2000. Material was collected at five permanent stations along the salinity gradient (0–22%) of the estuary. For each observation, the coordinates of the sampling sites, the number of individuals observed and the sampling date were recorded. The total effort comprised 35 sampling days, with five sampling sites at each date. (3) Results: The dataset contains 4270 unique occurrences of 119 ciliates taxa (109 species, 8 unidentified species of the genus level and 2 unidentified species on the family level). The total number of specimens represented is 64,475. (4) Conclusions: The largest classes in terms of species diversity are Hypotrichea (27 species), Gymnostomatea (26 species), Oligohymenophorea (17 species) and Karyorelictea (16 species).

Abstract The stability of the molecular self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is of vital importance to the performance of the molecular electronics and their integration to the future electronics devices. Here we study the effect of electron irradiation-induced cross-linking on the stability of self-assembled monolayer of aromatic 5,5′-bis(mercaptomethyl)-2,2′-bipyridine [BPD; HS-CH2-(C5H3N)2-CH2-SH] on Au (111) single crystal surface. As a refence, we also study the properties of SAMs of electron saturated 1-dodecanethiol [C12; CH3-(CH2)11-SH] molecules. The stability of the considered SAMs before and after electron-irradiation is studied using low energy Ar+ cluster depth profiling monitored by recording the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) core level spectra and the UV-photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) in the valance band range. The results indicate a stronger mechanical stability of BPD SAMs than the C12 SAMs. The stability of BPD SAMs enhances further after electron irradiation due to intermolecular cross-linking, whereas the electron irradiation results in deterioration of C12 molecules due to the saturated nature of the molecules. The depth profiling time of the cross-linked BPD SAM is more than 4 and 8 times longer than the profiling time obtained for pristine and BPD and C12 SAMs, respectively. The UPS results are supported by density functional theory calculations, which show qualitative agreement with the experiment and enable us to interpret the features in the XPS spectra during the etching process for structural characterization. The obtained results offer helpful options to estimate the structural stability of SAMs which is a key factor for the fabrication of molecular devices.

Global climate change might result in permafrost thaw and the formation of thermokarst landscapes that release long-term carbon stocks as greenhouse into the atmosphere, thereby initiating a positive climate feedback. These processes are mediated by biological activity, including by microbes, vascular plants and animals, whereas the role of invertebrates in thermokarst ecosystems remains poorly understood. We investigated the diversity and assemblage structures of zooplankton (mainly Copepoda, Cladocera), microbenthos (testate amoebae) and meio- (Copepoda and Cladocera) and macrozoobenthos (mollusks, crustaceans, insects and annelids) from a range of water bodies representing different stages of thermokarst lake formation in the southern part of the Lena River Delta (Central Siberia). Altogether, 206 species of testate amoeba, mollusk, crustacean, insect and annelid taxa were identified. A total of 60 species of macrozoobenthos (mainly insects) and 62 species of testate amoebae were detected in the water bodies of the Lena River Delta for the first time. The species richness of zooplankton and meio- and macrozoobenthos was greater in the large thermokarst lakes than in the polygonal ponds due to the freezing of the latter in the winter. In contrast, the species richness of protists was higher in the polygonal ponds, which was related to the habitat preferences of testate amoebae. Fish grazing strongly affected the macrobenthos assemblages but not the smaller-sized organisms. Water acidity and temperature were the main environmental drivers of the assemblage structure of testate amoeba and microcrustacean. The species structure of the macroinvertebrate assemblages was significantly explained by water acidity, permafrost depth and size of the water area. It means that small size organisms with their short generation times are sensitive to more dynamic factors such as temperature and may serve as indicators of ecosystem changes due to global climate warming. In contrast, large size organisms are affected by driven factors that appear during thermokarst lakes formation and permafrost degradation.

Истоки академической, в том числе архитектурной, деятельности в России уходят вглубь истории, к моменту подписания российским императором Петром I в 1724 году Указа о создании Академии наук и художеств. Отсчёт времени архитектурной академической идеи связывают с Указом Екатерины II 1764 года. Этим указом была узаконена деятельность открытой в 1758 году Елизаветой Петровной Академии трёх знатнейших художеств – живописи, художества и архитектуры...

Abstract Background The origin of animals from their unicellular ancestor was one of the most important events in evolutionary history, but the nature and the order of events leading up to the emergence of multicellular animals are still highly uncertain. The diversity and biology of unicellular relatives of animals have strongly informed our understanding of the transition from single-celled organisms to the multicellular Metazoa. Here, we analyze the cellular structures and complex life cycles of the novel unicellular holozoans Pigoraptor and Syssomonas (Opisthokonta), and their implications for the origin of animals. Results Syssomonas and Pigoraptor are characterized by complex life cycles with a variety of cell types including flagellates, amoeboflagellates, amoeboid non-flagellar cells, and spherical cysts. The life cycles also include the formation of multicellular aggregations and syncytium-like structures, and an unusual diet for single-celled opisthokonts (partial cell fusion and joint sucking of a large eukaryotic prey), all of which provide new insights into the origin of multicellularity in Metazoa. Several existing models explaining the origin of multicellular animals have been put forward, but these data are interestingly consistent with one, the “synzoospore hypothesis.” Conclusions The feeding modes of the ancestral metazoan may have been more complex than previously thought, including not only bacterial prey, but also larger eukaryotic cells and organic structures. The ability to feed on large eukaryotic prey could have been a powerful trigger in the formation and development of both aggregative (e.g., joint feeding, which also implies signaling) and clonal (e.g., hypertrophic growth followed by palintomy) multicellular stages that played important roles in the emergence of multicellular animals.

The aim of the article is to study the possibility of improving gradient optimization methods. The leading approach to the chosen concept is based on the possibility of a featured description of the gradient that sets the direction of the search for a solution. A modification of the method of steepest descent of global optimization based on the Hilbert-Huang transform is proposed. The proposed solution is based on the decomposition of the gradient of the objective function into empirical modes. The main results of the work are iterative optimization methods, in which, in addition to the gradient, its empirical modes are also taken into account. New estimates of the descent step are obtained, which could not be deduced in the classical formulation of the steepest descent method. Their correctness is due to the fact that in the absence of the possibility of gradient decomposition, they are reduced to existing estimates for the steepest descent method. The theoretical significance of the results lies in the possibility of expanding the existing gradient methods by a previously not used gradient description method. The practical significance is that the proposed recommendations can help accelerate the convergence of gradient methods and improve the accuracy of their results. Using the Python language, computational experiments were carried out, as a result of which the adequacy of the proposed method and its robustness were confirmed.

Understanding the interactions among the functional groups of living organisms within ecosystems is a main challenge in ecology. This question is particularly important in relation to the interactions between the above- and below-ground components of terrestrial ecosystems. We investigated the effects of macro- (geographic position and mire size) and micro-environmental (pH, water table depth, water mineralization and temperature) characteristics and vegetation composition (both vascular plants and bryophytes) on the species structure of testate amoeba assemblages in eight Sphagnum-dominated mires across the Northern Caucasus Mountains (Russia). In total, 97 testate amoeba species from 34 genera were identified. A multiple factor analysis indicated the strongest relationships between the species structure of the testate amoeba assemblages and the local vegetation, especially bryophytes, whereas the interaction with the micro-environmental characteristics was the weakest. Among the micro-environmental data, the strongest effects on the species composition of all the assemblages were detected for the pH followed by the water table depth and water temperature. The variance partitioning of the species structure of the testate amoeba assemblages in response to the abiotic and biotic data indicated that most of the variance was related to the bryophyte and vascular plant assemblages, whereas the contribution of the environmental data was lower. Moreover, most of the effects were highly related to each other, so that the proportion of the jointly explained variation was high, whereas the individual effects were much lower.

Период пандемической самоизоляции характерен кардинальным ростом виртуальных контактов и работой в удаленном доступе. Пандемия оказала воздействие на тра­диционную организацию процессов в городской среде, сти­мулировала развитие одних и приостановила или остановила другие. В архитектуре, дизайне архитектурной среды, градо­строительстве наметились три пути их участия в возможном преобразовании среды: от своего рода социокультурного про­ектирования организации пространства к адаптации зданий к новым требованиям, разработке футурологических проектов. Пандемия короновируса затронула казавшиеся незыбле­мыми представления о пространственных структурах и самих типах жизни и быта в них. Мегаполис столь привлекательный как центр роста и развития, многообразия сервисов и движе­ния, растущей плотности коммуникаций и застройки хоть не так явно, но теряет былую универсальность. В месяцы само­изоляции отмечена тенденция «исхода» из больших городов. Рождается новая пространственная конфигурация системы «работа - дом - отдых». Медико - биологические требования заставляют искать новые типы быстровозводимых зданий. Перед архитек­торами возникли задачи поиска типов жилья, способного обеспечить людям различные формы контактов между собой и с природой. Роботизация все активнее проникает в сервисы, сопровождающие жизнь людей. Возможные тенденции трансформации городской среды: интерьеризация, адаптация как принцип устойчивой архи­тектуры при создании новых типов и реконструкции зданий, экологизация, рождение новых форм градостроительных структур в процессе развития цифровой экономики и взаи­модействия с природой.

Tropical peatlands play an important role in carbon storage and in water regulation on a landscape level. However, our understanding of their ecology and long-term hydrological dynamics remains limited. Transfer functions, constructed on the basis of biological indicators (proxies) with known ecological preferences, allow us to infer past environmental conditions and serve as a basis for prediction of future changes in peatlands. Here, we use testate amoebae to develop the first species- and functional trait-based transfer functions for the Southeast Asia. This provides a valuable tool for future reconstructions of past hydrological changes in tropical peatlands, their development, and climatic changes. Surface samples for testate amoeba analysis were taken in various biotopes along two transects across the Sungai Buluh peatland in Central Sumatra. The following environmental characteristics were measured: water table depth (WTD), light intensity, pH, total C and N concentrations. The analysis of the surface samples revealed 145 morphotypes of testate amoebae belonging to 25 genera. A significant fraction of the variance in testate amoeba morphotypes and functional trait composition was explained by WTD and pH. The wide WTD range (0–120 cm) seems more valuable for reconstruction than the extremely short pH gradient (2.5–3.8). Thus, transfer functions were developed only for WTD, based on weighted averaging model for morphotypes and multiple linear regression for functional traits. Both species- and trait-based model have a predictive ability for WTD reconstruction. For traits, the best performance of the model was reached by including five morphological traits: shell width, aperture shape, aperture invagination, shell shape and shell compression. We discuss the ecology of several taxa and highlight the traits, which reflect hydrological changes in this system. Though the hydrological preferences of some species are similar to those in high and middle latitude peatlands, we argue that latitudinal differences in morphospecies composition and variations in environmental relationships of species require the development of region-specific transfer functions. Moreover, our results indicate that ecological preferences of morphotypes within morphospecies also need to be considered and included in future studies.

Background. Testate amoebae are an important component of marsh, freshwater and soil ecosystems. Many species have clear environmental preferences, making them useful bioindicators. Currently, more and more investigations are devoted to the study of the structural organization of the testate amoebae communities in different types of biotopes and to the identification of the main causes of changes in the species composition and abundance. However, issues related to the identification of mechanisms that ensure the coexistence of closely related species still remain without due attention. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on the aapa moor, located in the northern subzone of the taiga in the vicinity of the Pertsov White Sea Biological Station, Moscow State University (WSBS MSU). We studied the horizontal distribution of testate amoebae on a macro- (40 × 150 m), meso- (10 × 10 cm), microscale (3 × 3 cm), and vertical distribution in the deep of the sphagnum. Results. In 86 samples revealed 11 574 tests belonging to 109 species and subspecies from 33 genera. Representatives of the order Arcellinida make up a significant share in the testate amoebae community (from 36 to 63 % of the total abundance in different samples). Testate amoebae are characterized by rare joint occurrence in samples throughout the whole aapa moor. The average index of similarity of distributions of the most abundant species (more than 5 % of the total abundance) is 0,2 (Brey – Curtis index). The distribution of the amoebae in the area of 100 cm2 was significantly more homogeneous (the average Brey – Curtis index is 0,78). The distribution of amoebae on a microscale (10 cm2) was very heterogeneous: some species (Hyalosphenia papilio, Heleopera rosea and Heleopera sphagni) show high similarity indices of 0,7–0,78, others (Centropyxis elongata) are characterized by a low level of overlap (average 0,26). The average index of similarity in a microscale is 0,47. The vertical divergence of species is very weak (the average Brey – Curtis similarity index is 0,75). Conclusions. The testate amoebae community is structured mainly due to the differentiation of ecological niches of species on the scale of the whole aapa-mire, as well as individual groups diverge on a microscale. The role of horizontal distribution at the mesoscale and vertical distribution in the divergence of spatial components of ecological niches is significantly lower.

Область архитектуры и строительства ввиду большого вли­яния на окружающую среду является объектом регулирования посредством экологических доктрин. Однако в области про­фессионального и высшего архитектурного и строительного образования до настоящего времени не внедрена комплексная программа экологического образования. Ещё больше вопросов вызывает область градостроительного образования. Ориентация деятельности на стратегию устойчивого развития заставляет архитектора и градостроителя искать адекватные и эффективные ответы на вызовы современности, опираясь на принципы этой стратегии. В 2013 году в МАРХИ была разработана и в 2014-ом утверж­дена Концепция экологического образования. Предпосылки к её внедрению заложены в самой профессии архитектора и градостроителя, осуществляющих преобразование природ­ного ландшафта в антропогенный. Цель Концепции, с одной стороны, обеспечить непрерывность процесса формирования экологического мышления на всех этапах учебного процесса, с другой стороны, она позволяет задействовать в архитектур­ном проектировании инновационные технологии в области экологического строительства, разработанные специалистами инженерных кафедр. Сущность интегрированного архитектурного образования в овладении способностью разрабатывать и реализовывать со­циально-философскую идею устойчивой среды обитания для конкретных условий региона, города на основе современных научных и технических достижений в области градостроитель­ства, архитектуры, экологической безопасности, конструкций, строительной физики и строительных материалов. В основе этого подхода, названного «Интегрированное архитектурное образование», ориентированные на Стратегию устойчивого развития: разработанная многоуровневая система интегрирован­ного устойчивого образования; проектирование объектов как устойчивых архитектурно­инженерных умных систем; рейтинговая система оценки здания на протяжении всего жизненного цикла - от проектирования до различных стадий эксплуатации.

Background. Studies carried out on sand littoral have shown that potentially competing species typically diverge either horizontally from shore to waterline or vertically, preferring to occupy different layers of sand or preferable food resources. The ciliates is one of the most important components of the marine interstitial space. The class Karyorelictea forms the basis of the benthic ciliates community (up to 90 % in number and biomass). We considered the conditions for the coexistence of closely related karyorelictean species on the marine littoral. Materials and methods. Studies were conducted from May to September in 2009–2011, 2013, 2018, 2019 on the sandy littoral of the Gryaznaya bay of the Kandalaksha gulf in the White Sea. They studied seasonal population dynamics, horizontal distribution at three spatial scales, vertical distribution and infusion feeding. Results. A total of 26 morphospecies of karyorelicteans were found in the community under study. All ciliates we studied are found throughout the summer season. The average overlapping of seasonal distributions of species is 0,31 (Bray – Curtis index). At the scale of the whole sandy beach, there is an independent distribution of closely related species. The average overlapping distribution of all species ranges from 0,19 to 0,37. The spatial distribution of the karyorelicteans over an area of 200 cm2 proved to be very homogeneous. Many abundant species have rather high similarity indexes, on average 0,79. The distribution of 20 cm2 of ciliates over an area is also very homogeneous. All abundant species have high similarity indices (0,8 on average) and are homogenously distributed at this scale. Vertical dispersion of species is very weak (average Bray – Curtis similarity index is 0,71). All ciliates preferred the layer of 0,2 cm. Our study of karyorelictids nutrition showed that they also differ significantly in food (average overlapping – 0,36). Conclusions. Resource sharing in ciliates associations occurs, firstly, due to the discrepancy between species in time and preferred food, secondly, because of the horizontal distribution of species at a scale of tens or hundreds of meters, and only slightly at smaller horizontal and vertical scales.

Cost accounting in public procurement is an essential element in optimizing the procurement process for an individual enterprise as well as in evaluating the procurement regulation system at the state level. Today, however, insufficient attention is paid to this issue in Russian and foreign studies. There is limited literature devoted to assessment of costs at the level of individual enterprises or projects. Only several foreign studies estimated the costs of public procurement at the macro level (country or regional). No such macro level assessment has been carried out in Russia so far. This paper, based on a mass-scale online survey of customers and suppliers conducted in 2017, is the first attempt to estimate the average costs of public procurement in Russia, including the average costs for each type of procurement procedure. According to our estimates, the total cost of public procurement in Russia was about 64 billion rubles in 2016, or about 1% of the total contracted amount for that year. Using regression analysis, we also investigated the impact of various factors on the cost value of public procurements – the size of the respondent's organization (number of employees), the scope of activity, the number of staff involved in public procurement, the region, the qualifications/work experience of the employee, gender differences. The most significant factor influencing costs assessment of procurement procedures is the respondent's experience with complex competitive procedures.

The characterization of a high current, relativistic electron beam, designated the Super Pinch electron beam, has been performed using compact pulsed-power accelerators of various architectures with a novel diode geometry. The Thunderbird accelerator has an initial 1.5-μs rise time and 150-kA peak current. The drive voltage is compressed to produce a 12-ns 500-kV voltage pulse generating a ∼40-kA electron beam, which apparently exceeds the Alvén current limit although the useful current at small radius is an order of magnitude less. Using an insulated hollow cathode with a 0.5-cm anode-cathode gap, the large current is enabled by the evolution of plasma from the dielectric sleeve enveloping the cathode and a 0.5-mm wire anode. Post-shot recovery of the anode target and measurements of its deformation and damage allow an evaluation of the enhanced electron-beam focusing whereby significant beam energy is delivered to the record small, microscopic volume inside the anode target. The electron beam is seen to have conditions favorable to those needed to ignite compressed fuel in inertial confinement fusion. These results motivated a deeper insight using theoretical modeling with hybrid particle-in-cell codes. The modeling presented in this paper shows an electron beam radius of 500 MA/cm^{2} current density. Scaling up the accelerator, such preferred focusing, target penetration, and affordability of the pulsed power generated electron beams open a new opportunity for the application of the mainstream pulsed power devices in the research and development of fusion energy.

The work is devoted to the problem of solving large systems of linear algebraic equations with irregular structure matrices. To solve them the variant of the projection method in the Petrov-Galerkin form is proposed. Most of the known projection methods is based on the use of bases of Krylov subspaces. The main difference of the proposed method is the choice of the basis from coefficients of wavelet packet decomposition of the residuals. In general, the wavelet transform can be adaptive due to the entropic criteria for the evaluation of elements of the wavelet tree. This distinguishes the proposed method from the known FOM method, the GMRES algorithm and other projection solvers. Conducted a series of computational experiments comparing the proposed algorithm with the main existing projection methods. The experiments showed that the proposed algorithm is competitive with the major existing projection type methods, and in some cases can exceed them.

Globalization, generating unification, makes uslook for inherent territorial allusions as the embodiment of the place spirit. Techniques that have already become templates again level the images of modernity and move masters and beginners in their search for their own "faces" to turn to the deep roots of regional architecture. The problem of identity in architecture can be interpreted as a search for opportunities and mechanisms, a palette of means conducive to the possession of identity. There is something that serves as a symbol of identity and is inherited preserved as an image of constancy. Essentially, relative integrity of the existing variety of buildings is the subject of the identity of a particular city or settlement. Architecture can be metaphorically identified as the identity of the region. The individuality of building combinations with nature ensures the identity of the city. There are three basiclevels in the analysis of architecture as an identity or resource: region - city, rural settlement - object. The object is a "tactile" visually perceived formation: a quarter, a residential group, a street, a building. "The identity expresses that 'stable', which provides the embodiment of the 'principle of sustainability'". Architecture bears the responsibility for the full embodiment in its images, forms and spaces of the essential identity, which characterizes both the space of culture and the landscape- climatic conditions of the area. These fundamental properties determine the sustainability of development in the principles of the visual design of the world. At the end of the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, the two vectors coexist in relation to the traditional and previously created forms of settlements in architecture: the vector of recognition of architectural and cultural value and the vector of denial of archaism and conservatism. The architect determines the design and function of a space or building. And here is the exceptional role of each master's professional and general culture. The new ways of synthesizing the means of expressiveness and figurativeness of the urban environment are being actively considered as methods of revealing identity. Currently, the main approaches to the formation of uniqueness of buildings, streets, neighborhoods, squares and cities are mainly reduced to external actions in relation to architecture, a kind of artistic and design actions: landscaping, installing commemorative signs, decorative sculpture, monuments,landscape compositions.

This research concentrates on the spatial accessibility assessment to healthcare facilities. Specifically, in doing so it compares the situation in urban and rural areas. In many countries, health inequalities continue to be a major public health challenge. Furthermore, there is also urbanization that occurs when people move from rural areas to urban areas. It leads to an increase in urban population and the extent of urban areas. Driven by population growth, many cities in low and middle-income countries are growing at record rates which puts large pressure on the healthcare system and facilities. Our research demonstrates that due to many political, economic, social and cultural factors, the current inequalities in health care between regions, urban and rural areas and different age and income groups are increasing. Thence, there is a pressing need for the improvement of the healthcare in the lagged regions and areas using such means as the advanced technologies, analysis of data, as well as targeted funding and assistance to those who need it the most.