Samara Journal of Science

This article presents the results of a study on the effect of ultra-low concentrations of benzimidazole on the morphogenesis of Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume protocorms under conditions of asymbiotic cultivation. The aim of the work was to evaluate the effectiveness of benzimidazole as a growth stimulator to accelerate protocorm development. Seeds were cultured on «Knudson C» medium with four modification variants: a control medium, a medium with the addition of activated charcoal, a medium with benzimidazole at a concentration of 0,0001 mg/ml, and a medium with a combination of benzimidazole and charcoal. During the 32-week experiment, it was found that the addition of benzimidazole significantly accelerated morphogenesis. The formation of leaves and roots in the experimental variants began 2–4 weeks earlier compared to the control. By the end of the experiment, in the groups with benzimidazole, leaves were formed in over 93% of protocorms, and roots in more than 41%, while in the control group these figures were only 40% and 17%, respectively. The greatest stimulating effect, especially on the development of the root system, was observed with the combined use of benzimidazole and activated charcoal. The obtained data allow us to conclude that benzimidazole in an ultra-low concentration is a highly effective and promising growth stimulator for the clonal micropropagation of orchids, significantly reducing the time required to obtain juvenile plants.

In Samara Region (South-East of the European part of Russia), 14 genera and 20 species of the Orchidaceae family were registered. Most of them are listed in the European Red List of vascular plants. The article presents the results of studies of coenopopulations of 14 orchid species of different life forms which were performed in 2002–2025. The destruction or damage of generative individuals is most sensitive to Liparis loeselii and Epipactis helleborine populations. The largest number in coenopopulations is typical for caulorrhizous orchids Orchis militaris (420) and Platanthera bifolia (305). The smallest number is typical for Herminium monorchis (62). The highest density of individuals in orchid populations under conditions with minimal anthropogenic load is typical for rhizome orchids Liparis loeselii (4,2 individuals per 1 m²) and Epipactis atrorubens (3,9 per 1 m²). Populations of Epipactis atrorubens, Dactylorhiza incarnata and Hemipilia cucullata show the greatest degree of resistance to anthropogenic impact. The density of individuals in the populations of these species varies slightly. The most vulnerable populations were rhizome orchids Liparis loeselii, Epipactis palustris and Cypripedium calceolus. Population studies of rare orchid species in Samara Region allow a reasoned approach to the determination of their conservation status and also regulate the types and intensity of the anthropogenic load on the natural complexes in which they grow.

The article presents the results of studying the seasonal rhythm, winter hardiness and drought resistance of representatives of the genus Cornus in the collection of the South-Ural Botanical Garden-Institute of the Ufa Federal Research Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences. The studies were conducted using existing methods for 10 years (2013–2023). The objects of the study were 1 species, 6 varieties and 2 forms of the genus Cornus. The studies showed that all the studied taxa consistently pass through all phenological phases, annually bloom and bear fruit, but seed collection is difficult due to the active consumption of fruits by birds. The average duration of the vegetation period of Cornus is from 169 to 179 days, the maximum is observed in C. mas. All taxa of the genus Cornus are absolutely winter-hardy in the conditions of Ufa, with the exception of C. mas, which annually experiences freezing of annual shoots by 50% of the length. The data obtained from the study of drought resistance, which was carried out on 4 varieties of C. alba, allowed us to establish that the water regime indicators for all studied varieties are approximately the same, but the most drought-resistant in Ufa conditions is the variety C. alba 'Gouchoultii'.

The purpose of this work was to determine the content of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the shoots of stonecrops at different phases of seasonal development. The study was carried out at the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk) in 2022. The objects were 8 species of the subfamily Sedoideae, belonging to the genera Aizopsis, Hylotelephium, and Sedum. The concentrations of chlorophylls a and b, as well as carotenoids in the freshly collected raw material were determined by the spectrophotometric method. It was found that during the flowering phase, the total chlorophyll content in the vegetative shoots of stonecrops ranged from 40,0 to 398,5 mg%, and in the shoots with inflorescences – from 31,8 to 216,6 mg% per absolutely dry raw material weight. The corresponding indicators for carotenoids were 7,4–84,1 mg% and 10,8–36,0 mg%. At the end of the growing season, the pigment pool increased in winter-green species, providing the accumulation of plastic substances for the winter period. The ratio of chlorophylls a and b in autumn ranged from 0,6 to 2,6, the ratio of chlorophylls and carotenoids ranged from 3,1 to 4,6. In summer, the indicators varied in a wider range due to the different heliophilicity of stonecrops. The data demonstrate a low content of photosynthetic pigments in stonecrops and a high interspecific variability of quantitative indicators of the pigment pool during adaptation to the forest-steppe conditions of Western Siberia.

This article introduces and analyzes materials from a new Stone and Late Bronze Age site in the Volga forest-steppe region – the Niva I site. In 2024, Excavation Pit № 1 (96 square meters) was opened at the site. The total collection of artifacts recovered consists of 1710 pieces (634 ceramic fragments from approximately 110 vessels, 57 flint artifacts, 6 sandstone abrasives, and 1013 animal bones). The most striking is the Late Bronze Age (Srubnaya culture) ceramic assemblage, which includes 560 fragments from 94 vessels. The vessels are predominantly jar-shaped with a closed mouth or pot-shaped. Most of the vessels are decorated with comb stamp impressions; large oval or «larval» indentations, dashes, incised lines, and hollow bone indentations are also present. Two dates from the first half of the 2nd millennium BC determine the time of occupation of the Late Bronze Age population at the site. The majority of the osteological collection also dates to this period (unidentifiable bones constitute approximately 60%, the remainder belong to cattle, sheeps/goats, or horses, and isolated pigs, elk, and bears). The Early Eneolithic (Samarskaya culture) is represented by three fragments of rims from different vessels with a collar-like thickening and abundant shell admixture in the dough. Neolithic ceramics (67 fragments from 12 vessels) comprise four typological groups. Three vessels are unadorned except for a pitted-pearl band. A profiled vessel was decorated with incised lines. Four vessels each had triangular punctures on their surfaces, applied in a retreating, in one case sparse, manner, or comb stamp impressions. One radiocarbon dating may be associated with the occupation of the site by Srednevolzhskaya Neolithic culture bearers in the last quarter of the 6 millennium BC, while the second marks a brief episode of visitation by bearers of the Elshanskaya cultural tradition during the early Neolithic, which dates to the last quarter of the 7 millennium BC. The collection of stone artifacts comprises 57 pieces. The raw material is represented primarily by flint in shades of red-brown and gray. Most of the artifacts are waste (flakes, splinters, and longitudinal chips). One distal part of a blade is unretouched. Seven morphologically distinct tools are present: four scrapers, a leaf-shaped point with a distinct petiole, a straight-bladed knife/side scraper, and an angular burin on a longitudinal chip.

Based on studies of the Bronze Age burial barrows of Seversky Donets basin, several archaeological cultures and cultural groups of the Bronze Age have been identified. However, the source base for studying the most ancient burial barrows of the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Ages, marking the origin and approval of the burial barrow rite in on the territory of the Seversky Donets basin, is small, poorly introduced into scientific circulation and insufficiently studied. Two such archaic burials were recently identified during the study of barrow 10 of the Georgievka burial ground and make it possible to more representatively carry out a cultural and chronological analysis of rare local antiquities preceding the spread of Yamnaya Culture. One (burial 8) belongs to the Late Eneolithic Stage and is identified by the Post-Mariupol Culture of the steppe Dnieper and Northern Azov regions. These burials are distinguished by narrow oval or rectangular grave pits with rounded corners, elongated on the back position of the buried, oriented to the east with deviations. Specific are sets of broad shaped bone penetrations. The process of approval and distribution of the burial barrows on the right bank of the middle course of the Seversky Donets River is associated with the burials of this group. The second (burial 5) represents the type of burials in rectangular pits in which the deceased with a western orientation are laid in a crouched position on their backs with their hands along the body. The legs are bent knees up with the blockage to the left. The burials of this group characterize the peculiarities of the composition of the antiquities of the Early Bronze Age. Their ritual features lay at the heart of the funeral traditions transitional to the Early Yamnaya Culture period and could become leading at the stage of the formation of Yamnaya Culture. To determine the positions of the burials in question in the system of synchronous antiquities of the vast steppe zone of the Northern Black Sea region, the authors made the necessary cultural and chronological comparisons and determined their place among the antiquities of the Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age.

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the Treaties of Toeplitz of 1813 as one of the key diplomatic acts in the consolidation of the Sixth Anti-French Coalition. Drawing on a range of sources, it examines the process of engaging the Austrian Empire in the active phase of the war following the Allied victories at Kulm and Dennewitz. Central attention is paid to the role of British diplomacy, the strategy of Viscount Castlereagh, and the mission of Lord Aberdeen. The paper details the terms of the agreements concluded between Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain in September–October 1813. Key provisions are analyzed: the commitment not to conduct separate negotiations with Napoleon, the declaration on the post-war order of Europe and the dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine, as well as the specifics of the military and financial obligations of the parties. Particular emphasis is placed on the fact that the treaties, despite their compromise nature and the persistent contradictions among the allies, created a solid political and legal foundation for their further joint actions. The conducted study demonstrates that the Treaties of Toeplitz became a decisive diplomatic prologue to the shift of strategic initiative to the Coalition. They legally formalized the military-political alliance of the four powers, which directly predetermined their victory in the «Battle of the Nations» at Leipzig and subsequently allowed them to present unified peace terms to Napoleon (the «Frankfurt Proposals»).

Taking into account the novelty and relevance of the problems of genealogical research in modern Russian historiography, this article attempts to recreate the family pedigree of Nikolai Akimovich Gaisky (1884–1947), a famous Soviet microbiologist, specialist in the study of tularemia, plague and a number of other infections, MD, Deputy Director of Science at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, Stalin Prize laureate. N.A. Gaisky was born in Samara, into a large middle-class family. His childhood years were spent here, and he returned here after graduating from university, working for a number of years in the field of epidemic control in the Samara province. The main source base of the research was made up of documents from the funds of the Samara Provincial Zemstvo Council, the Samara Treasury Chamber, the Samara City Duma and the Samara Orphan Court, concentrated in the Central State Archive of the Samara Region. The article establishes the personalities of the scientist's ancestors in a direct descending line and those episodes of their biographies reflected in archival documents. Attention is also paid to the various connections of representatives of the Gaisky family with the Samara province in the pre-revolutionary period, related to the ownership and lease of land and the construction of the estate.

This article examines the content, forms, and specific activities of the 7th Department (Special Propaganda) of the Political Directorate of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the eastern and southeastern regions of Poland liberated from Nazi invaders during the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive of 1944. Following an agreement between the Soviet government and the Polish Committee of National Liberation, Soviet troops refrained from interfering in the internal economic, political, cultural, and religious life of the population of the liberated territories. The latter experienced both the harsh consequences of the German occupation and the bloody consequences of the deterioration of interethnic relations. The German invaders exterminated the local Polish and Jewish population, stole livestock and other property, and deported residents to Germany, leading most Poles to greet the Red Army as a liberator. On the other hand, the mutual hatred between Poles and Ukrainians, stemming from the policies of both the pre-war Polish regime and the German occupiers, led to arson, expulsions, and outright genocide, committed by armed forces of both the OUN–UPA and the Home Army. Under these circumstances, the political organs of the 1st Ukrainian Front saw their task as conveying information about the Red Army's missions in Poland, official documents of the Soviet government, organizing the publication of periodicals, and familiarizing citizens with the culture of the Soviet Union.

This article examines the history of the implementation of the economic policy of «partner assistance» in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The research materials included statistical data on the socio-economic development of the XUAR and the PRC, as well as press releases from Chinese government agencies, including the White Paper of the State Council of the PRC and official materials from the State Committee for Ethnic Affairs. In addition, this research is based on the work of Chinese scientists in the fields of history, sociology and economics. The paper describes the prerequisites, milestones, content aspects and results of «partner assistance» to Xinjiang from the developed eastern provinces of China. Initially, this program was aimed at increasing the level of socio-economic development of Xinjiang, which was a borderline, backward, troubled region inhabited by representatives of national minorities. Over the past three decades, the program has demonstrated very good performance and proved its effectiveness. Despite a number of problems, «partner assistance» corresponds not only to the economic interests of provinces and private corporations, but also to the national strategy for maintaining stability on the national outskirts of the PRC. The conducted research has shown that the policy of «partner assistance» is currently a permanent phenomenon and one of the most effective tools for implementing the national policy of the central Government of the People's Republic of China in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The article is devoted to the theoretical substantiation of the conceptual foundations of continuing professional digital education for teachers in the context of the digital transformation of modern education and society. The paper reveals the essence of the reflexive-anthropological approach as a methodological basis for designing and developing a system of professional development for teaching staff in a digital educational environment. This approach is considered an integrative framework that ensures consideration of the teacher’s subjective experience, professional identity, value orientations, and individual development trajectories in the process of mastering digital technologies and practices. A multilevel model of continuing professional digital education for teachers is substantiated, including interrelated competency-based and procedural levels that reflect both the content of the digital competencies being formed and the mechanisms of their development within lifelong learning. The key principles of organizing continuing professional digital education are identified: subjectivity, reflection, anthropological integrity, and the uniqueness of the teacher’s professional experience. Methodological approaches and value orientations of the teacher’s professional formation and development in the digital society are characterized. It is shown that the integration of value-based, competency-based, and procedural components ensures the integrity, variability, and dynamism of the system of continuing professional digital education, promotes the meaningful adoption of digital educational technologies, and contributes to the formation of sustainable digital competence of the teacher as a subject of professional activity in the digital educational environment.

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of a three-tier system of professional self-determination and development for students in the context of a natural science education cluster. Using a structural and functional approach, three interconnected models are examined in detail: the organizational and managerial model of the cluster, «Model of the Student Career Guidance Process Based on the Natural Science Education Cluster» the content-process trajectory of professional orientation, «Student Career Guidance Trajectory» and the dynamic model of an engineering and technical career, «Stages of an Engineering and Technical Career» Each model reveals the essence, specificity, and functional purpose of its components, substantiating the mechanisms and logical interrelationships between them, as well as the logic of transitions between them. The synthesis of the models allows for a comprehensive picture of the continuous process of developing a professionally oriented, competent specialist, from the school stage to the highest levels of professional mastery. Particular attention is paid to the integration of formal and informal education through the design of a system of extracurricular activities that ensures practice-oriented immersion in the professional environment. This article is intended for researchers in the field of pedagogy, theory, and methodology of vocational education, as well as for practitioners working on career guidance and the development of educational trajectories. Furthermore, the models were developed taking into account the extrapolation of the research object into the system of extracurricular activities.

The relevance of this study stems from the active introduction of information and communication technologies into the educational environment of educational institutions, as well as practice-oriented approaches to developing professional competencies in future specialists in the fields of marketing and logistics. The study of economic disciplines at universities requires quantitative analysis of business processes, which will help identify patterns in these processes, manage them, and make forecasts using mathematical modeling. All this necessitates improving the activities of university instructors related to their implementation – the use of electronic educational resources in the educational process that develop the necessary competencies in students at economics universities. This article examines one aspect of the mathematical training of future economists: developing the skill of solving and economically analyzing a basic linear programming problem – the transportation problem. A technology for studying the solution of the transportation problem is proposed using an electronic educational resource containing all the necessary tools: a theoretical framework, case studies of problem solutions in basic situations, independent solutions with interactive support, and testing materials on this topic. The results of this study can be used in the educational activities of educators developing mathematical competencies in specialists in the fields of marketing, business analytics, business logistics, business informatics, and many other fields.

In the context of rapid socio-cultural and technological change, the tourism industry requires personnel with integrative competencies: intercultural literacy, professional and ethical reflection, the ability to jointly create destination (terroir) value with local (regional) communities and manage sustainable tourism practices. This article examines the socio-cultural role of integration processes (interdisciplinary coordination of educational, institutional and social-industrial practices) in the professional training of personnel for the tourism industry. A typology of integrations (cultural, institutional, educational, technological and transnational) is proposed, their role in the formation of professional identity and collective responsibility is substantiated, pedagogical models and partnership mechanisms are described, and a methodology for assessing the effects is developed. The article considers the genesis and current state of integration processes in the professional education of personnel for the tourism industry. The authors substantiate the hypothesis that targeted, well-thought-out, and pedagogically organized integration of education, science, and industry is not only an economic factor but also a fundamental sociocultural mechanism for developing highly qualified tourism specialists at universities, possessing a deep professional identity and a set of integrative professional competencies. The paper analyzes the paradigms of an interdisciplinary approach and cross-cultural interaction as key components of the professional training of competitive tourism industry specialists in the context of global tourism market uncertainty.

The article is devoted to the problem of developing critical thinking skills in high school students doing a content and language integrated course in English and History of Russia. According to the Federal Educational Standard of Secondary Education in Russia, critical thinking is a metadisciplinary skill resulting from the systematic study of the secondary school course. The article views the critical thinking skills within the framework of Bloom’s taxonomy. Further categorization of critical thinking skills is based on P.A. Facione’s classification. Using the «Historically speaking coursebook» as an example, the article describes a case of implementing a critical thinking development methodology in a CLIL course of English and Russian History. The methodology follows the general outline of the Critical Thinking through Reading and Writing technique but employs a wider range of communication assignments. The study demonstrates the correlation between the critical thinking development methodology and the CLIL principles. The test approval of a series of online lessons on various thematic modules in grades 10–11 was conducted at the Presidential Lyceum Sirius and confirmed the effectiveness of developing critical thinking through Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).

The article examines the problem of interaction between the family and a preschool educational institution in the process of teaching, upbringing, and development of children. The article analyzes the issues of establishing an educational partnership between teachers and parents in the process of speech development of preschool children and suggests ways to solve them. One of the ways to establish cooperation between adult participants in the educational process is the club form of organization, which is embodied in the process of developing the Family and Pedagogical Club program, which aims to help teachers and parents develop their personal and methodological aspects of the developmental impact on children's connected speech. The organization of the «Club» was based on the data of a diagnostic survey of teachers and parents about their own role and subjective participation in the process of developing coherent speech in older preschool children, which qualitatively determined the insufficient level of development of the personal and methodological components of cooperation, especially among parents. The results of the study showed the feasibility of the planned results, the solution of the tasks and the goal of organizing trusting and pedagogically competent cooperation between adults who have incorporated the methodological equipment of the speech environment into their arsenal during developmental interaction with children.

This article examines the experience of training teachers of finance and economics at a pedagogical university in terms of the dialectic of tradition and innovation. An analytical review of periodicals revealed that the current era can be characterized as a time of searching for answers to questions about how to integrate purposeful and spontaneous innovations into sustainable and productive traditions in the pedagogical education of future teachers of economics and financial literacy. The line between tradition and innovation is conditional and fluid: what was perceived as new yesterday (competencies, project-based methods) is becoming the norm today, and classical values (fundamentalism, scientific rigor) are taking on a new meaning in the digital environment. The article describes the stages of development of the scientific and methodological work of the Economics Department, highlighting the factors that determined the origin, functioning, and evolution of traditions at the Faculty of Computer Science and Economics. The significance of traditions and innovations in the academic and extracurricular activities of the faculty is examined. The paper presents the results of a sociological survey: traditions and innovations through the prism of students' life choices. The study demonstrated that, in today's environment, innovative activities at pedagogical universities are becoming a productive scientific tradition. On the one hand, they serve as a means of renewing state educational policy. On the other hand, they serve as a means of mastering new goals and objectives, new disciplines, and new content. The dialectic of tradition and innovation in higher pedagogical education consists of maintaining a balance between the «unknown» and the «known» in the context of universal values and ensures the successful functioning of the system for training future teachers. The study resulted in a systematization of the practical experience of the Economics Department by stages and the selection of a development direction in the constantly changing socioeconomic conditions of the region.

This article examines the development of self-learning skills in students' professional activities. The aim of the study is to test the developed methodology for developing self-study skills in future chemistry teachers within the framework of the «Theory of Chemistry Teaching» course. The article presents the results of a study conducted in the 2024/2025 academic year. The ascertaining stage of the study assessed the motivational and cognitive components of self-study to determine students' level of awareness and needs for professional development as chemistry teachers. The majority of students demonstrated a moderate level of motivation, while less than 10% demonstrated a high level. The cognitive component assessment covered the key areas of knowledge for studying the first-semester methodological discipline: the majority of respondents demonstrated an average level of self-study ability (59%). The formative stage of the study included educational activities aimed at developing self-study skills through the implementation of pedagogical conditions using the EduScrum board and case studies. At the control stage of the study, a repeat assessment of the motivational and cognitive components of self-learning revealed an increase in average scores by 3 points. The reliability of acquired knowledge was assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for related samples. The authors cite the following pedagogical conditions that contribute to the development of self-learning abilities: the flexible EduScrum pedagogical learning model, which supports independent student activity in small study groups, and case studies based on the simulation of real-life pedagogical situations that stimulate independent and active cognitive activity aimed at solving the assigned task.