25th Anniversary International Conference "Speech and Computer" SPECOM-2023 was held from November 29 to December 2, 2023. The conference was held in a hybrid format:face-to-face in Dharwad, Karnataka, India, as well as online. Three members of the Laboratory of Speech and Multimodal Interfaces at PC RAS took part in the arrangements for the conference and delivered presentations namely: Doctor of Technical Sciences, Chief Researcher Karpov, A.A.; Candidate of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher Ivanko; D.V. and Candidate of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher Kipyatkova, I.S.

Scientists of the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPC RAS) have developed a program that ensures a cybersecurity of automated water treatment monitoring systems at industrial enterprises and municipal services. For the program’s “learning” the scientists have developed the first in Russia training stand to acquire and monitor data from wastewater treatment plants operating under regular conditions and under cyberattacks.

Researchers of the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPC RAS), based on a survey of farmers over three regions in the Northwestern Federal District, established the relationship between the sustainability of the development of organic agriculture in these territories and the terms of economic activity in the agricultural sector. The results of the study are available in the proceedings of the International Conference on Agriculture Digitalization and Organic Production(ADOP).

St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPC RAS), St. Petersburg State University and Sberbank have opened a master's program for training specialists in the field of artificial intelligence, particularly, for a development of intelligent transport infrastructure management systems in the Arctic. Already the first year students, within the proposed program will be involved in real research and production projects of SPC RAS and Sberbank.

Researchers at the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPC RAS) and St. Petersburg State University have learned how to target the delivery of drugs curing the skin diseases by quantum dots. The specificity of the therapeutic compound is that its biological activity is triggered by a laser. The proposed method has been successfully demonstrated through laboratory models. The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Nanomaterials.

Scientists of the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of RAS (SPC RAS) have developed a specialized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) “Voron”, that allows for quick expanding the wireless coverage area of a certain territory from the air. The above development, in particular, can be used in an area outside the main telecommunications infrastructure, for example, for running rescue and search operations.

From October 11 - 13, Vladislav Donchenko, Chief Researcher, and Alyona Kodolova, Acting Deputy Director for Research of SRCES RAS – SPC RAS, took part in the meetings of the Expert Council on Ecology and Environmental Management at IPA CIS, the Standing Commission of the IPA CIS on Agrarian Policy, Natural Resources and Ecology, as well as the International Forum "Sustainable Development of Mountain Territories".

Dear Colleagues: 5th issue of Volume 22, 2023, is published on the website of the "Informatics and Automation" Journal.

Presentations were delivered in regard to group management, optimization of the consumption of energy resources of robots, educational robotics, vision systems, application of the theory of proactive management, planning of collective actions in human-machine communities, as well as neural network prediction of the behavior of biological objects. The best practices of the journal "Informatics and Automation" were discussed at a round table concerning problems of publishing Russian journals, organized by the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Robotics and Mechatronics.

Successful test flights of the drone were conducted in the Shimsky district on the territory of the agricultural cooperative "Oratai". Due to its application, potato tops were dried, which led to the drying of the aboveground part of the plants, thereby accelerating the maturation of tubers. This procedure accelerates the maturation of tubers, contributes to the thickening of the peel, brings the harvest closer and prolongs the shelf life, as well as prevents the spread of infections and the appearance of diseases such as late blight.