Art And Industrial Exhibition-Forum "Unique Russia" That Kicked Off On Tuesday

In this digest, we will tell you about the Art and Industrial Exhibition-Forum "Unique Russia" that kicked off on Tuesday, how the unemployment situation has changed in Moscow over the past year, and about a new indicator of plastic pollution in the Black Sea proposed by Russian scientists

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2023) In this digest, we will tell you about the Art and Industrial Exhibition-Forum "Unique Russia" that kicked off on Tuesday, how the unemployment situation has changed in Moscow over the past year, and about a new indicator of plastic pollution in the Black Sea proposed by Russian scientists.

The third edition of the Art and Industrial Exhibition-Forum "Unique Russia" kicked off in Moscow's Gostiny Dvor on Tuesday and will run through February 5.

The exhibition devoted to the culture and art of Russia presents painting, folk art crafts, historical and museum objects, jewelry and arts items, as well as sculpture, architecture, antiques items, according to the project's organizers. The exhibition will include conferences and workshops.

The event includes more than 20 exhibitions and art projects, which represent 57 regions of Russia. More than 1,200 people from four creative unions and three associations are taking part in the exhibition, with some 50,000 visitors expected.

Additionally, 55 business and cultural events, conferences, as well as up to 70 demonstrations of designer clothing collections, will be held within the exhibition, the organizers said.

The purpose of the exhibition is to present Russia as a country of unique opportunities, where the traditions of a multinational people, the diversity of culture and folk art are carefully preserved and developed.

The project is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the first all-Russian art and industrial exhibition, which took place in Moscow in 1923.

The number of unemployed in the Russian capital decreased over the past few years by 23% to a record low of 28,100 people in 2022, the Moscow complex of economic policy and property and land relations said on Tuesday.

"By the beginning of this year, 28,100 unemployed were registered in Moscow. This is a record low for the past few years. As of January 1, 2023, the unemployment rate in the capital was 0.39%, which is the lowest value since February 2020," the authority said in a statement.

Despite sanctions and the exit of a number of large foreign companies from Russia, the stability of the labor market last year was ensured by a balanced employment policy, measures to support enterprises and businesses, as well as an active program to replace foreign brand products with goods from manufacturers from Russia and friendly countries, the statement read.

According to the official data, the largest difference between the number of people hired and laid off in 2022 was recorded in the field of computer and software development � 24,700 more people were employed. It was followed by the field of scientific research and development (by 10,700 employees), and the housing and communal services sector (by 5,300 people).

Russian and Indian scientists have discovered one of the species of green algae that can be used as an indicator of pollution of the Black Sea with polymer waste, the developers said on Tuesday.

Russian specialists from A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of the Russian academy of Sciences (RAS) and Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS teamed up with colleagues from India's Annamalai University to conduct the study.

"The task of determining the 'age' of the plastic that we find in the sea is very difficult, and no solution has been found yet. Our original idea was precisely to investigate the connection between the amount of time plastic stays in the sea and the degree of its biological fouling, and to do this specifically for our region � the Black Sea coastal waters," a specialist from the Kovalevsky institute said.

A thin organic film forms on any solid surface immersed in sea or fresh water in the shortest possible time. In a matter of hours, thousands of bacterial cells are attached to it, which can form complexly structured biofilms in a few days.

Since the process of biological fouling of plastic fragments by marine micro- and macro-organisms depends on a huge number of conditions, it is not possible to determine how long a piece of plastic is in water by the total amount of living matter that has accumulated on this piece.

However, it is possible to choose one indicator species that would immediately settle on the surface under study and develop equally well both in summer and winter � it could serve as a "chronometer" of plastic life in the sea. According to Russian and Indian scientists, this species can be Phycopeltis arundinacea found on the plastic surface.

Nevertheless, more in-depth studies of the occurrence of this alga in the Black Sea waters, the characteristics of its biology and ecology, the growth rate on different polymers, need to be carried out before one can confidently talk about its suitability as a "chronometer" of plastic pollution in the sea, scientists said.