Studies

The article deals with the actual problem of crises, their prevention and mitigation of possible negative consequences. Problems of prediction of social contradictions and crisis management relations are investigated. Possible measures for crisis phenomena organized opposition by introducing the Economic Constitution of Ukraine as a mean of regulation of economic activity in the state are reviewed.

The author has been studied modern Mongolian-Russian political relations since the beginning of the 1990s when the world political situation changed dramatically and the Soviet Union collapsed. Mongolian-Russian relations during the transition to democracy and market economy were analyzed on the basis of agreements between two countries. The weakening of Mongolian-Russian relations in the 1990s is a step-by-step analysis of the political and economic situation in the two countries, the processes and changes in foreign policy, and the factors that hindered the proper development of relations. The author traces the revival of Mongolian-Russian relations in 2000 and the relationship between the two countries, which has reached the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership, does not reflect the level of Russia's policy towards Mongolia. Монгол-Оросын улс төрийн харилцаа: Монголын эдийн засаг ба төмөр замын хөгжилд нөлөөлөх нь Хураангуй: Монгол-Оросын орчин цагийн улс төрийн хар...

Virtual Reality Graded Exposure Therapy (VRGET) is an effective treatment for combat-related PTSD. We summarize the outcomes of a VRGET pilot study with 12 participants who completed one to multiple combat tours in support of the War on Terrorism and who were subsequently diagnosed with combat-related PTSD. Details of the collaborative program amongst the Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC), Office of Naval Research, the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) and the Navy Hospital Camp Pendleton are discussed as is the VRGET outcomes of significant reductions in PTSD symptoms severity. We also described the estimated cost-effectiveness of VRGET for the treatment of combat-related PTSD, as contrasted to Treatment as Usual (TAU) for combat-related PTSD.

Many scholars have argued that unequal socioeconomic distribution constitutes a threat to democratic survival. However, the evidence in support of this claim has been contradictory. We argue that this incon-sistency derives from the literature’s assumption that income inequality will adequately reflect the conditions under which demands for radical redistribution will emerge and trigger antidemocratic elite reactions. We argue instead that when developmental context is taken into consid-eration, absolute forms of distribution, like basic needs deprivation, are better indicators of these conditions. When needs deprivation exists in the face of enhanced economic development, citizens will not only notice deprivation more readily, but also, given the greater social sur-plus, deem it more unacceptable, provoking radical demands for redis-tributive justice. This combination of development and continuing basic needs shortfalls, a condition that we refer to as regressive socio-economic dis...

Health care is a growth industry that is relatively immune to economic cycles. Over the years, the health care sector has been driving employment growth in the national economy, and considering such factors as the health care worker shortage across the United States along with an increasingly aging population, it is likely that this trend will continue. Amid overall growth in the health care sector throughout the United States, Nashville provides a unique example of a hub of the national health care industry. More than 56 major health care companies (public and private) have chosen Nashville as their home, and seven of the nation's 12 leading for-profit acute care hospital companies are located in Nashville, controlling more than one-third of the investor-owned hospitals in the United States. The scope of the health care industry in Nashville ranges from basic-service providers such as physicians to major hospital management companies, large renal dialysis companies, health information technology, and advanced life sciences research. This study presents two views of Nashville's health care industry: (1) the core health care industry, defined as ambulatory services, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities that provide care in the Nashville MSA*, and (2) the health care industry cluster, which encompasses the core health care industry and other related health care industries such as health care management companies, life sciences research, and professional services firms that operate on a local, national, or international basis. Also included in this study is a profile of Nashville Health Care Council (NHCC) member companies and the NHCC member CEO Confidence Survey.

This symposium addresses the role of wars and crises as mechanisms of international change. Over the past two decades, the international system has undergone a number of remarkable transformations, from the end of the Cold War to the emergence of an ongoing “War on Terror,” and from the collapse of statist development models to the emergence of a contested—if evolving—neoliberal “Washington Consensus.” This volatility exceeds any underlying shifts in economic structures or the distribution of capabilities, and raises important questions regarding the roles of agency, uncertainty, and ideas in advancing change. In this introduction we examine the role of wars and economic crises as socially constructed openings for change. We attempt three things: to critique materialist approaches in the security and political economy issue areas, to outline the distinctive contribution that an agent-centered constructivist understanding of such events offers, and to offer a framework for the study of such events, one which highlights an expanded range of elite-mass interactions.

The aim of the paper is to quantify the impact of public research and development (R&D) expenditure on economic growth. The empirical evidence focuses on the 20 selected EU member states in the period of 1995-2013. The research is based on a dynamic panel regression model (Generalized Method of Moments). The results confirm positive and statistically significant impact of government R&D expenditure, which is the main driver for economic growth during the analysed period. Contrary, business expenditure on the same is found to be insignificant. Traditional growth variables (higher share of qualified human resources and higher intensity of investments) report the positive effects, although in the case of investments-only partial one. The significance for R&D coefficient remains robust to different sub-periods.

Over the last forty years, Noam Chomsky's views on US foreign policy and of the role of the news media in manufacturing public consent for it have earned him a committed minority following among the public, journalists and academics within and beyond the United States. However, sometimes the comments on his actual or alleged views are vitriolic. For example, following Chomsky's posting on the internet of his assessment of the meaning of the 11 September attacks in New York and Washington, 1 David Horowitz, Editorin-Chief of ...

Four new species, Aspergillus eucalypticola, A. neoniger, A. fijiensis and A. indologenus are described and illustrated. Aspergillus eucalypticola was isolated from Eucalyptus leaf from Australia, and is related to A. tubingensis and A. costaricaensis, but could clearly be distinguished from them based on either β-tubulin or calmodulin sequence data. Aspergillus eucalypticola produced pyranonigrin A, funalenone, aurasperone B and other naphtho-γ-pyrones. Aspergillus neoniger is also a biseriate species isolated from desert sand in Namibia, and mangrove water in Venezuela, which produces aurasperone B and pyranonigrin A. Aspergillus fijiensis is a uniseriate species related to A. aculeatinus, and was isolated from soil in Fiji, and from Lactuca sativa in Indonesia. This species is able to grow at 37 °C, and produces asperparalines and okaramins. Aspergillus indologenus was isolated from soil, India. This species also belongs to the uniseriate group of black aspergilli, and was found to be related to, but clearly distinguishable from A. uvarum based on β-tubulin, calmodulin and ITS sequence data. Aspergillus indologenus produced the insecticidal compounds okaramins A, B, H, and two types of indol-alkaloids which have not been structure elucidated. Two other species, A. violaceofuscus and A. acidus, are revalidated based on molecular and extrolite data. Aspergillus violaceofuscus was found to be related to A. japonicus, and produced some of the same interesting indol-alkaloids as A. indologenus, and also produced several families of partially characterised extrolites that were also found in A. heteromorphus. Aspergillus acidus (previously known as A. foetidus var. pallidus and A. foetidus var. acidus) is also a valid species, while A. foetidus is a synonym of A. niger based on molecular and physiological data. Two other species described previously, A. coreanus and A. lacticoffeatus, were found to be colour mutants of A. acidus and A. niger, respectively. Methods which could be used to distinguish the two closely related and economically important species A. niger and A. awamori are also detailed. Although these species differ in their occurrence and several physiological means (elastase activities, abilities to utilise 2-deoxy-D-glucose as sole carbon source), our data indicate that only molecular approaches including sequence analysis of calmodulin or β-tubulin genes, AFLP analysis, UP-PCR analysis or mtDNA RFLP analysis can be used reliably to distinguish these sibling species. Aspergillus section Nigri now includes 26 taxa.

One of the hotly debated questions in socioeconomic literature is the one pertaining the rise of the middle class in China and its potential influence on political and social structures. This paper is a study of the perceptions of Chinese young adults on the rise of the middle class in China. We address such questions as: How do university students in China define the middle class and perceive its growth? How do they see future economic, political and social changes in China? We conducted the survey case study of 204 Chinese undergraduate students at a major university in Shanghai. Our results show that the students have a strong belief in the rise of the middle class in China. They expect this rise to affect China's economic structure to a larger extent than the social and political order. We conclude that the surveyed Chinese college students may belong to what is called-"Generation 2": they are confident, independent minded and determined to display that independence through their consumption of Western products. The results of our survey are compared and contrasted to the findings of the national surveys addressing similar questions.

Virtual Reality Graded Exposure Therapy (VRGET) is an effective treatment for combat-related PTSD. We summarize the outcomes of a VRGET pilot study with 12 participants who completed one to multiple combat tours in support of the War on Terrorism and who were subsequently diagnosed with combat-related PTSD. Details of the collaborative program amongst the Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC), Office of Naval Research, the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) and the Navy Hospital Camp Pendleton are discussed as is the VRGET outcomes of significant reductions in PTSD symptoms severity. We also described the estimated cost-effectiveness of VRGET for the treatment of combat-related PTSD, as contrasted to Treatment as Usual (TAU) for combatrelated PTSD.

Nordic city regions are increasingly taking part in an international competition for skilled workers and mobile knowledge. Throughout the last decades there has been a growing awareness of the cities' role as an impetus for innovation and regional economic growth in Europe, and similarly a growing willingness to develop strategies for urban renewal and revitalization. Increasingly, efforts are made to create attractive urban spaces and to improve the urban environment in order to attract visitors, workers and companies. Yet little research has been conducted on how cities brand themselves; how cities succeed in creating or recreating a brand for the city as a good to be marketed and sold.

Performance of different summer fodders as intercrops in cotton was studied at the Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan). Cotton was planted in 80-cm apart single rows and 120-cm spaced double row strips, while maize, sorghum, ricebean and cowpea fodders were intercropped in the space between 80-cm apart single rows as well as 120-cm spaced double row strips of cotton. The intercrops produced substantially smaller fresh weights in either planting pattern compared to the sole crop yields. However, intercropping system as a whole resulted in higher economic returns as compared to the sole crop of cotton. All the fodders intercropped in 120-cm apart double row strips of cotton produced significantly higher fresh weight as compared to 80-cm apart single rows, intercropping system.

This article identifies tax policy that both speeds recovery from the current economic crisis and contributes to long-run growth. This is a challenge because short-term recovery requires increases in demand while long-term growth requires increases in supply. As short-term tax concessions can be hard to reverse, this implies that policies to alleviate the crisis could compromise long-run growth. The analysis makes use of recent evidence on the impact of tax structure on economic growth to identify which growth-enhancing tax changes can also aid recovery, taking account of the need to protect those on low incomes.

The current study aims to assess the effect of board of directors' composition on the profitability of Indian pharmaceutical companies. The analysis is based on 82 companies, analyzed over ten years, from 2008 to 2017. The least squares regression model is used for analysing the data. One accountingbased measure (return on assets, ROA) and one marketing-based measure (Tobin Q) are used as proxies for firms' profitability. Leverage, firms' size and age are used as control variables. The findings reveal that board of directors' composition as measured by the percentage of independent board members negatively and significantly affects firm's profitability measured by ROA. On the other hand, board of directors' composition positively and significantly affects profitability measured by Tobin Q. Furthermore, firms' size and age positively and significantly impact profitability. This topic is largely neglected by researchers of Indian origin at home and abroad. The present study provides an insight for

S. Kuznets wrote that structural changes are the central element in the process of development and the most important part of the growth model. They can hinder the growth, if carried out too slowly or inefficiently, but they can also promote economic growth if the distribution of resources gets better. The article has presented the authors' attempts to present new approaches to modeling the institutional behavior of economic agents. Different approaches and views on economic growth and economic development in their application to institutional changes are considered. The descriptive method explains the hypothesis of the dominant role of social innovations (primarily institutional changes) in social and economic development. Significance of sociocultural capital in the context of contemporary knowledge economy is potentiated. The conclusion is that transition countries must use exemplary models and civilization achievements of institutional changes in developed countries.

The breakdown of the Soviet Union surprised most scholars of international relations, comparative politics, and Soviet politics. Existing explanations attribute the breakdown of the Soviet Union to the reformist leadership of Gorbachev, and/or to systemic factors. These explanations do not focus on the key contribution of the war in Afghanistan. This is surprising since many scholars view wars as key causal factors in empire breakdown and regime change. We argue that the war in Afghanistan was a key factor, though not the only cause, in the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The war impacted Soviet politics in four reinforcing ways: (1) Perception effects: it changed the perceptions of leaders about the efficacy of using the military to hold the empire together and to intervene in foreign countries;

The efficacy of those food preservatives in terms of antibacterial activity potential has not been dealt with in an elaborate manner. This study focuses on the quantitative antibacterial activity potential analysis of 2 food preservatives namely salt and sugar on bacterial strains. The MH agar medium Petri plates were streaked with mutton broth alone as the control and mutton broth with added food preservatives salt and sugar in separate concentrations as test. The growth pattern on the agar medium plates was observed on 1 st , 3 rd , 5 th and 7 th day. The results showed that at the concentration of 2.5%, salt was able to contain the growth of bacterial strains till the 3 rd day and same concentration sugar was able to contain the growth of bacterial strains till the 5 th day in the MH agar plate. Salt was ineffective after the 3 rd day and sugar was inactive after the 5 th day.

This article deals with the literature of perestroika and focuses on the post-Soviet period. From the period of perestroika onwards, Russian literature, in its three avatars as official Soviet literature, dissident literature in the samizdat and Russian literature published abroad, came under the single category of 'Russian Literature'. However, many diverse voices continue to exist in this now 'unified' literary scenario. The article identifies major movements, themes, critical positions and styles in contemporary Russian literature. It analyses works by major contemporary writers and also examines critical voices in the contemporary literary scene.

Th e concept of place brand building and managing is largely discussed in literature on the subject and more and more frequently put into practice. Th e key element which determines eff ective implementation thereof is to defi ne brand positioning. Th is is because brand positioning determines the framework of visual and communication-related execution . What is more, it also determines future brand development as brand positioning is the basis for gaining competitive advantage, especially in the context of global changes. In the article, the author identifi es the fundamental elements which constitute the structure of the positioning claim which results from the brand positioning process and indicates the opportunities and limitations of applying the concept.

At no time since the Middle Ages has higher education been more international 1 in nature. Indeed, we face profound changes as universities adapt to the new international era. Internationalization is absolutely inevitable. It is a necessary concomitant of a global economy, a growing worldwide labor market for highly skilled personnel, and a knowledge communications system based on the Internet. Academic institutions, researchers and scholars, and policy makers are just beginning to consider the ramifications of the new global realities. Higher education remains enmeshed in national realities and local thinking at the beginning of the global millennium. Our purpose here is to focus on some of the new realities in the hope of helping all who are involved with postsecondary education to understand the prospects and the challenges of internationalization. We are especially interested in the role of student and faculty exchanges in a globalized world. We are convinced that the communication and interaction among students, scholars, and researchers remains of importance-indeed, is central in the environment of the 21st century.

Global measurements have become foundational for understanding gender equality as well as for directing resources and policy development to address gendered inequalities. We argue in this article that attempts to quantify gender (in)equality globally have limited potential for successfully challenging gender hierarchies if compared to internationally agreed upon women's rights standards. To make this argument, we start by contrasting the general assumptions underlying the measurement approach with feminist scholarship on gender equality. Second, we examine nine key measures of global gender equality-the majority of which are produced by influential international organizations-and show that their focus on "countability" perpetuates a narrow and misleading understanding of gender (in)equality. Third, we present the CEDAW Convention and associated review process as an alternative to the measurement approach. The comparison highlights the need for evaluative tools that attend to the complexity and fluidity of gender norms and focus on context-specific agency to confront gender hierarchies.

I critically examine the existing literature on the security dilemma in ethnic conflict, thus laying part of the foundation for constructing a dynamic and integrative theory of ethnic conflict. I show that many attempts to apply the security dilemma to the understanding of ethnic conflict have been based on an imprecise and often mistaken understanding of the concept. I then emphasise that the security dilemma theory and the broader spiral model constitute a dynamic, versatile and powerful theory of strategic interaction that captures some general dynamics leading to the outbreak of war. As such, the security dilemma theory and the broader spiral model, when properly understood, can serve as part of the foundation of a dynamic and integrative theory of ethnic conflict, and such a theory will be able to integrate many diverse understandings of ethnic conflict from different schools of International Relations (IR) theory. I show the feasibility and the utility of such a theory. Security Studies. He thanks two RIS anonymous reviewers for their critical comments. Tow Seow-Keat and Zhang Jie provided excellent assistance. The usual disclaimer applies.

Computer Aided Process Engineering is one sector in the field of Process Engineering defining all what is process related and computer assisted. It starts from the molecular modelling and passes through computation of physical or chemical properties, mathematical modelling ...

Please note: Given the nature of the course and of the examinations, you are strongly urged to do all reading in advance, as assigned on the reading list. Failure to do so will impede your ability to profit from the lectures, and to perform well in section participation and on the examinations. Notice that the quantity of readings varies from topic to topic. You are strongly urged to read ahead when the reading load is lighter.

Cette bibliographie de base des études sur Jues Verne est divisée en quatre parties. Les bibliographies et ouvrages de référence, les études générales (avec quelques thèses de doctorat), les études sur des romans spécifiques, et un choix de dossiers et de numéros spéciaux de périodiques. Les entrées sont multilingues. Certaines sont commentées. Comme tous les numéros hors série de Marginalia, cette compilation ne prétend pas être exhaustive, mais se veut avant tout un instrument de travail pratique réunissant l'essentiel de ce qui s'est écrit sur cet auteur toujours populaire.