One of the most critical problems throughout the world is air pollution, causing the death of millions of individuals annually, and it is reported that 90% of the global population breathes polluted air. Among the components of air pollution, the most harmful ones are the heavy metals, which can remain non-degraded in nature for a long time, bio-accumulate in living organisms, and be toxic or carcinogenic at low concentrations. Hence, monitoring and reducing heavy metal pollution in the air are high-priority research topics. Heavy metals can accumulate within various organs of plants grown in an environment with an increased level of heavy metal pollution. The metal analyses on these organs can provide insight into the heavy metal pollution in the air. In the present study, the concentrations of aluminum (Al), one of the most important heavy metals, were determined in the different organs of five plant species grown in regions with different traffic densities. Remarkable changes were observed in the Al concentrations in all the organs of species, which were examined here by organ and traffic density. The highest values were obtained from the organs of plants grown in no-traffic regions.

This paper considers the problem of blended learning as a means of foreign students’ integration into higher school environment. This process is not that simple, it demands special methods to help foreign students to be integrated easily. The use of blended learning in education facilitates easy students’ integration and leads to positive learning results. However, the application of blended learning is connected with challenges both educators and foreign students can face. The aim of the article is to consider and assess the use of blended learning at the lessons of English implemented into a university educational process. For that purpose, we applied such methods as a needs analysis (among lecturers of English from South Ural State University), a questionnaire and an interview (among three groups of students from similar bachelor’s programs). The findings show that the majority of those surveyed do understand the importance of blended learning as a means of foreign students’ integration, but they are not familiar with the types and how to use them. Based on the results of this analysis, the authors applied blended learning into the process of English teaching, such as flipped classroom, station rotation, and a new online language development course, “Methodological support to the textbook by McCarthy, M. “Touchstone”. The drawn conclusions indicate that blended learning allows not only to boost foreign language skills, but to promote easy foreign students’ integration into the educational process of the university.

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The article is devoted to the development of a model and a set of methods for improving the efficiency of using small-distributed generation systems. The basis of the developed model is the integration of methods of price-dependent demand management for electricity and natural gas with a system of small-distributed power generation. The developed management model allows electricity consumers to reduce the cost of purchasing energy resources in comparison with the cost of electricity supplied from energy companies, based on the analysis of price indicators for the supply of electricity from regional energy markets and the terms of natural gas supply. The article presents the results of the pricing principles analysis for all components of the electricity and natural gas cost. The possibility of complex price-dependent demand management for the consumption of electric power is demonstrated through the management of electricity generation schedules by a small-generation system and schedules of gas consumption spent on electricity generation by a system of small-distributed generation. The complex of methods of price-dependent power consumption developed by the authors, taking into account the use of the system of small-distributed generation, can be adapted to the use by various types of electricity consumers that purchase electricity in the energy markets of various countries of the world.

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The Research is devoted to the study of the effect of the biologically active additive “Dihydroquercetin” in the compound feed on the indicators of meat productivity of broiler chickens. The results show that the increase in live weight of chickens that received dihydroquercetin in addition to the main ration was ahead of their control peers by 11,91-32,78 %. During the 40-day period of growing broilers, in the experimental groups with the addition of dihydroquercetin, they had a live weight of 15,22-50,51% more. From the beginning of fattening to the age of 40 days, the absolute and average daily growth rates showed a steady upward trend, then there was a decrease in the growth rate of chickens. The greatest effectiveness of the drug was noted at the beginning of the experiment, which indicates a positive corrective effect of the antioxidant on metabolism and an increase in the level of assimilation processes in the body of broilers. Up to 10 days of age, the chickens of the experimental groups receiving dihydroquercetin had higher relative growth rates, which obviously characterizes their better adaptation to the conditions of the experiment. The magnitude and nature of changes in the relative increase in live weight of broilers with longer cultivation up to 60 days of age indicate its inexpediency-even when using the drug dihydroquercetin, due to the unprofitability of its further use, and the lack of recoupment of costs for the purchase. In general, the higher studied indicators during the experiment were observed in broiler chickens of the III-IV experimental groups, the best result was shown in the group of birds receiving dihydroquercetin Supplement at the level of 1 g/100 g of feed, which allows us to consider it optimal.

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