Vol 26, No 4 (2018)

In the modern world there is a large number of industries, which are in capable of functioning without welding. Is found absolutely everywhere: from the repair of engineering communications to the manufacture of spacecraft. Ventilation is a necessary part of occupational safety, especially when it comes to working in such production. Often, some work must be carried out outside the welding post due to the peculiarities of assigned task, and to bring the exhaust system to the workplace is impossible. In such cases portable filters that take up little space and can be moved to any convenient place in the workshop can be used.

Acoustic pollution is a type of negative impact on the environment. According to the World Health Organization, the increased noise level is the second largest after pollution of the atmospheric air by the environmental cause of health problems in the population of industrial and transport cities. The increase in the number of road transport in the cities of the Irkutsk region leads to an increase in noise levels, its penetration into residential, public and office buildings. The increase in noise is also associated with the construction of new highways, bridges and roundabouts in cities. The article assesses noise pollution in large cities of the Irkutsk region. Observations on the composition and intensity of traffic at major intersections, highways and residential areas were carried out. With help of the sound level meter, noise level measurements were made in the daytime and at night and noise maps of the levels of the urban road network were constructed. The legislative basis for noise regulation in the Russian Federation and the countries of the European Union has been studied. A set of measures is suggested that contributes to reducing the acoustic impact on residents of the cities of the Irkutsk region.

The paper assessed the content of mercury in water and bottom sediments in the mouth area of the Red River of Vietnam. Given the spatial distribution of mercury in the dissolved, suspended forms and in sediments. The studies were conducted at 30 stations 2 times a year (during the flood and low-water periods) in 2014-2016. Samples of bottom sediments were collected in the surface layer. The spatial distribution of mercury was carried out using the kriging method in ArcGIS 10.2.2. During the study period it was found that the concentration of mercury in the water of the Red River varies from 0,05 to 0,08 μg/l during low-water periods and 0,07 to 0,11 μg/l during the flood period. Towards the sea, the concentration of dissolved mercury decreased. Mercury concentrations in suspended form and bottom sediments increase towards the sea and reach a maximum in the marginal filter. In river waters, the main forms of mercury existence are dissolved and suspended, and in the marginal filter - in bottom sediments. The bottom sediments of the estuary area of the Red River are distinguished by a higher content of Hg compared to uncontaminated soils in reservoirs of temperate and northern latitudes, as well as with bottom sediments of water bodies in another region of Vietnam.

The paper analyzes the impact of environmental factors of physical and chemical nature on the stability of the development of three species of woody plants: common lilac, Siberian apple tree, birch tree. Determining the value of the fluctuating asymmetry index (FA) over the width of two halves of leaves was performed on plants growing in the suburban green area (control), in the suburban green area under high-voltage power lines of 220 kV (physical factor, experiment 1), as well as in the city of Krasnoyarsk in terms of air pollution by exhaust gases of cars (chemical factor, experiment 2). The values of the FA index of common lilac and Siberian apple tree, defined for the control variants, were 0.024 and 0.028, and calculated for experiments 1 and 2 were respectively equal to 0.032 and 0.039; 0.029 and 0.030. It is established that the response of common lilac and Siberian apple trees to the physical environmental factor - electromagnetic radiation of industrial frequency - which is expressed in the appearance of leaf asymmetry is stronger in comparison with the reaction to the chemical factor - exhaust gases of cars. It is shown that the value of the FA index of Siberian apple tree and common lilac can be a sensitive indicator when monitoring the anthropogenic load on the environment in the form of an alternating electromagnetic field of industrial frequency. The FA index of the birch tree, measured on the basis of the width of the right and left halves of the leaf, is less sensitive than in the case of the common lilac and the Siberian apple tree.

This article discusses urbanization and disaster in the capital city of Ghana - Accra. Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban residency, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to this change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas. Urbanization has its own good and evil. In spite of the positive effect of urbanization, in Ghana one can conclude that urbanization has done more harm than good. This article reveals some catastrophic effects of urbanization and suggested solutions.

This work analyzes implementation of TED talks as a part of ESP blended learning training for fostering students’ listening comprehension skills. We present a case study of 12 lower proficiency nonlinguistic students who were assigned listening to a designated TED talks each week and performing listening comprehension tasks that were later checked in the classroom. TED lectures were offered as a part of academic and specific English course for undergraduate students of the ecological faculty and were aimed at enhancing learner autonomy, enriching academic vocabulary, developing listening comprehension skills and promoting scholarly journal writing in a long-term perspective. The results were formally assessed by pre-test and post-test as well as by individual anonymous surveying of the students upon completion of the course. We looked into the results of the survey and overviewed pros and cons of implementation of TED talks into ESP curriculum.