ФІНАНСОВІ ВАЖЕЛІ M&A В УПРАВЛІННІ ВАРТІСТЮ БІЗНЕСУ

The article aims at generalizing the development trend of the M & A market by various sectors of the Ukrainian economy. The volatility of the business environment, the aggravation of competition, the instability of the financial sector of the economy lead to search for alternative strategies for the efficient management of the company value through which domestic enterprises could transform their activities by creating additional market value of the business. Technologically, mergers and acquisitions are associated with direct and indirect financial levers, the analysis of which affects the final management decision on corporate transformation. The assets of companies and their value, size of liabilities, total shareholder return before and after mergers and acquisitions are crucial in justifying the transaction. In this regard, the proposed strategies that lead to the formation of the company value, were grouped according to the objectives of their transformation. The authors have researched the influence of financial levers of mergers and acquisitions upon the choice of such strategies. The article calculates the efficiency indicators of mergers and acquisitions transactions, such as TSR and TBR. It also claims that for today the investment attractive spheres are those of agro-industry, telecommunications, banking sector, oil and gas industry, real estate and construction. They have high average values of total return on equity and overall profitability of business, which are significant financial leverage for mergers and acquisitions. Transactions with high-tech companies, as well as transport and infrastructure enterprises, are not yet widespread in Ukraine. The study made it possible to conclude that the mentioned sectors are highly potential for the economy carrying advanced technologies and business models.Результатом статьи стало обобщение тенденций развития рынка слияний и поглощений по секторам экономики Украины. Предложены стратегии, которые приводят к формированию стоимости компании, и сгруппированы по целям трансформации. Исследовано влияние финансовых рычагов слияния и поглощения на выбор такой стратегии. В статье рассчитаны средние значения показателей общей акционерной отдачи и прибыльности бизнеса Украины. Установлено, что слияния и поглощения высокотехнологичных компаний, транспортных и инфраструктурных предприятий недостаточно распространены в Украине. Исследование позволило сделать вывод о наличии потенциала указанных секторов экономики, как носителей перспективных технологий и бизнес-моделей.Результатом статті стало узагальнення тенденції розвитку ринку злиттів і поглинань за секторами економіки України. Мінливість бізнес-середовища, загострення конкурентної боротьби, нестабільність фінансового сектору економіки призводять до пошуку альтернативних стратегій з метою ефективного управління вартістю компанії, завдяки яким вітчизняні підприємства можуть трансформувати свою діяльність, створивши додаткову ринкову вартість бізнесу. Технологічно процеси злиття і поглинання пов’язані з прямими та непрямими фінансовими важелями, аналіз яких впливає на остаточне управлінське рішення щодо корпоративної трансформації. Активи компаній та їх вартість, розміри зобов’язань, загальна акціонерна віддача до та після злиття і поглинання мають вирішальне значення при обґрунтуванні угоди. Запропоновано стратегії, які призводять до формування вартості компанії, і згруповані за цілями трансформації. Досліджено вплив фінансових важелів злиття і поглинання на вибір такої стратегії. У статті розраховано середні значення показників загальної акціонерної віддачі та прибутковості бізнесу України. Доведено, що на сьогоднішній день привабливими інвестиційними галузями є агропромисловість, телекомунікації, банківський сектор, нафтогазова промисловість, нерухомість та будівництво. Вони мають високі середні значення  загальної акціонерної віддачі та загальної прибутковості бізнесу, що є суттєвими фінансовими важелями злиття і поглинань. Встановлено, що злиття і поглинання  високотехнологічних компаній, транспортних та інфраструктурних підприємств  недостатньо поширене в Україні. Дослідження дозволило зробити висновок про наявність потенціалу зазначених секторів економіки, як носіїв перспективних технологій і бізнес-моделей

АНАЛІЗ ВІДМІННОСТЕЙ РЕГІОНАЛЬНОГО РОЗВИТКУ В УМОВАХ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ КРИЗИ В УКРАЇНІ

The article proposes an approach to assessing the level of the social crisis in Ukraine, based on the use of expert assessment, factor analysis and cluster analysis. The authors identify the factors that most influence the crisis processes in Ukrainian society, namely: living standards, unemployment, the ecological situation in Ukraine, political instability, corrupt authorities, social security and economic situation. For the analysis of the social crisis in the regions expert data and statistical data were used which allowed to identify a more adequate and realistic state of affairs. On the basis of the factors that form the social crisis in the regions, the classification of regions of Ukraine of the group with high, medium and low level of social crisis has been carried out. This analysis will allow to affect the state of development of social processes in the regions with the implementation of programs of socio–economic development.В статье предложен подход к оценке уровня социального кризиса в Украине, основанный на использовании методов экспертной оценки, факторного и кластерного анализа. Авторами выявлены факторы, наиболее влияющие на кризисные процессы в украинском обществе, а именно: уровень жизни, уровень безработицы, экологическая ситуация в Украине, политическая нестабильность, коррумпированность власти, социальная безопасность и материальное положение. Для анализа социального кризиса в регионах были использованы данные, полученные экспертным путем, и статистические данные, что позволило определить более адекватную и реальную оценку состояния вещей. На основе факторов, формирующих социальный кризис в регионах, осуществлена классификация регионов Украины на группы с высоким, средним и низким уровнем социального кризиса. Проведенный анализ позволит учитывать состояние развития социальных процессов в регионах при внедрении программ социально–экономического развития.У статті запропоновано підхід до оцінки рівня соціальної кризи в Україні, що базується на використанні методів експертного оцінювання, факторного та кластерного аналізу. Авторами виявлено фактори, що найбільше впливають на кризові процеси в українському суспільстві, а саме: рівень життя, рівень безробіття, екологічна ситуація в Україні, політична нестабільність, корумпованість влади, соціальна безпека та матеріальне становище. Для аналізу соціальної кризи в регіонах було використано дані, отримані експертним шляхом, та статистичні дані, що дозволило визначити більш адекватну і реальну оцінку стану речей. На основі факторів, які формують соціальну кризу в регіонах, здійснено класифікацію регіонів України на групи з високим, середнім та низьким рівнем соціальної кризи. Здійснений аналіз дозволить враховувати стан розвитку соціальних процесів у регіонах при впровадженні програм соціально–економічного розвитку

Primary prevention of the main dental diseases in children at different stages of orthodontic treatment with bracket systems

Aim. Evaluation of the effective preventive methods of dental caries in children with dentoalveolar anomalies. Methods. Orthodontic treatment was received by 50 children aged 12-14 years with dentoalveolar anomalies who were treated by an orthodontist using ligature bracket and who had a compensated form of dental caries before the beginning of the hardware treatment. In the first group of children (control, 25 subjects) professional oral hygiene twice a year was followed by the coating of all teeth with fluoride. Children of the second group (25 subjects) after professional oral hygiene twice a year had their teeth covered with tooth enamel around brackets with Clinpro XT Varnish (3M ESPE) material containing fluorine, calcium and phosphate compounds. Dental examination every three months included assessment of oral hygiene and the state of the gums, the presence of carious defects, fillings and removed teeth, followed by the calculation of the main dental indices. Results. On the basis of studies of the dental status in children undergoing orthodontic treatment using brackets, the main dental indices such as DCF (decay/missing/filled), complex periodontal index, papillary-marginal-alveolar index were characterized at the stages of treatment. The analysis of the recorded values was performed in the comparison groups for each research method and the main statistically significant differences were identified. The study revealed that children from group 2 had positive dynamics of the state of periodontium within 18 months: the value of papillary-marginal-alveolar index among children from group 2 decreased by 5.4 times, the value of complex periodontal index decreased by 3.5 times. Children from group 2 had a significantly lower incidence of caries compared to the control group after 18 months of remineralizing therapy: the increase of complex periodontal index among children receiving orthodontic treatment with Clinpro XT Varnish coverage twice a year was only 1.42±0.16, incidence of caries of teeth surface reduced by 55%. Conclusion. On the basis of these studies, a comparative characteristics of the dental indices was performed at the stages of treatment using the brackets, depending on the used primary preventive measures; dental status of children at the stages of orthodontic treatment have their features: special oral hygiene tools should be guided by hygiene indices and complemented by remineralizing drugs

Neuropeptide AF and FF modulation of adipocyte metabolism. Primary insights from functional genomics and effects on beta-adrenergic responsiveness.

The presence of a neuropeptide AF and FF receptor (NPFF-R2) mRNA in human adipose tissue (Elshourbagy, N. A., Ames, R. S., Fitzgerald, L. R., Foley, J. J., Chambers, J. K., Szekeres, P. G., Evans, N. A., Schmidt, D. B., Buckley, P. T., Dytko, G. M., Murdock, P. R., Tan, K. B., Shabon, U., Nuthulaganti, P., Wang, D. Y., Wilson, S., Bergsma, D. J., and Sarau, H. M. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 25965-25971) suggested these peptides, principally recognized for their pain modulating effects, may also impact on adipocyte metabolism, an aspect that has not been explored previously. Our aim was thus to obtain more insights into the actions of these peptides on adipocytes, an approach initially undertaken with a functional genomic assay. First we showed that 3T3-L1 adipocytes express both NPFF-R1 and NPFF-R2 transcripts, and that NPAF binds adipocyte membranes with a nanomolar affinity as assessed by surface plasmon resonance technology. Then, and following a 24-h treatment with NPFF or NPAF (1 microm), we have measured using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR the mRNA steady state levels of already well characterized genes involved in key pathways of adipose metabolism. Among the 45 genes tested, few were modulated by NPFF ( approximately 10%) and a larger number by NPAF ( approximately 27%). Interestingly, NPAF increased the mRNA levels of beta2- and beta3-adrenergic receptors (AR), and to a lesser extent those of beta1-ARs. These variations in catecholamine receptor mRNAs correlated with a clear induction in the density of beta2- and beta3-AR proteins, and in the potency of beta-AR subtype-selective agonists to stimulate adenylyl cyclase activity. Altogether, these data show that NPFF-R1 and NPFF-R2 are functionally present in adipocytes and suggest that besides their well described pain modulation effects, NPAF and to a lesser extent NPFF, may have a global impact on body energy storage and utilization

Validation of skeletal muscle mass assessment at the level of the third cervical vertebra in patients with head and neck cancer

Background: Low skeletal muscle mass (SMM) is associated with adverse outcomes. SMM is often assessed at the third lumbar vertebra (L3) on abdominal imaging. Abdominal imaging is not routinely performed in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). We aim to validate SMM measurement at the level of the third cervical vertebra (C3) on head and neck imaging. Material and methods: Patients with pre-treatment whole-body computed tomography (CT) between 2010 and 2018 were included. Cross-sectional muscle area (CSMA) was manually delineated at the level of C3 and L3. Correlation coefficients and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated. Cohen's kappa was used to assess the reliability of identifying a patient with low SMM. Results: Two hundred patients were included. Correlation between CSMA at the level of C3 and L3 was good (r = 0.75, p < 0.01). Using a multivariate formula to estimate CSMA at L3, including gender, age, and weight, correlation improved (r = 0.82, p < 0.01). The agreement between estimated and actual CSMA at L3 was good (ICC 0.78, p < 0.01). There was moderate agreement in the identification of patients with low SMM based on the estimated lumbar skeletal muscle mass index (LSMI) and actual LSMI (Cohen's κ: 0.57, 95%CI 0.45–0.69). Conclusions: CSMA at C3 correlates well with CSMA at L3. There is moderate agreement in the identification of patients with low SMM based on the estimated lumbar SMI (based on measurement at C3) and actual LSMI

Exact Speedup Factors and Sub-Optimality for Non-Preemptive Scheduling

Fixed priority scheduling is used in many real-time systems; however, both preemptive and non-preemptive variants (FP-P and FP-NP) are known to be sub-optimal when compared to an optimal uniprocessor scheduling algorithm such as preemptive earliest deadline first (EDF-P). In this paper, we investigate the sub-optimality of fixed priority non-preemptive scheduling. Specifically, we derive the exact processor speed-up factor required to guarantee the feasibility under FP-NP (i.e. schedulability assuming an optimal priority assignment) of any task set that is feasible under EDF-P. As a consequence of this work, we also derive a lower bound on the sub-optimality of non-preemptive EDF (EDF-NP). As this lower bound matches a recently published upper bound for the same quantity, it closes the exact sub-optimality for EDF-NP. It is known that neither preemptive, nor non-preemptive fixed priority scheduling dominates the other, in other words, there are task sets that are feasible on a processor of unit speed under FP-P that are not feasible under FP-NP and vice-versa. Hence comparing these two algorithms, there are non-trivial speedup factors in both directions. We derive the exact speed-up factor required to guarantee the FP-NP feasibility of any FP-P feasible task set. Further, we derive the exact speed-up factor required to guarantee FP-P feasibility of any constrained-deadline FP-NP feasible task set

Improvement of the retrieval algorithm for GOSAT SWIR XCO₂ and XCH₄ and their validation using TCCON data

The column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of carbon dioxide and methane (XCO2 and XCH4) have been retrieved from Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) Short-Wavelength InfraRed (SWIR) observations and released as a SWIR L2 product from the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES). XCO2 and XCH4 retrieved using the version 01.xx retrieval algorithm showed large negative biases and standard deviations (−8.85 and 4.75 ppm for XCO2 and −20.4 and 18.9 ppb for XCH4, respectively) compared with data of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON). Multiple reasons for these error characteristics (e.g., solar irradiance database, handling of aerosol scattering) are identified and corrected in a revised version of the retrieval algorithm (version 02.xx). The improved retrieval algorithm shows much smaller biases and standard deviations (−1.48 and 2.09 ppm for XCO2 and −5.9 and 12.6 ppb for XCH4, respectively) than the version 01.xx. Also, the number of post-screened measurements is increased, especially at northern mid- and high-latitudinal areas