COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPTS OF «COMPETITIVE STABILITY» AND «COMPETITIVENESS» OF SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

A comparative analysis of the categories, that form the concepts of competitiveness and competitive stability in relation to the organization of the services sector, has been conducted. The main approaches to the definition of categories and concepts, such as «competitive position», «competitive status», «competitive potential», «competitive advantages» have been analyzed. Their clarifications regarding the organizations of the service sector have been made. Based on the conducted comparative analysis, the concept of competitive advantages has been formulated as a basis for the formation of competitiveness and potential competitive stability of the organization of the services sector

The role of customer service in increasing the competitive ability and competitiveness of service organizations

The essence of service and service as a product of the service business, including the core of the service, its customized variants, atmosphere, architecture and contact personnel, has been characterized. It has been found out that customer orientation is a key characteristic of a business in the service sector and reflects a combination of understanding of its strategic vectors, its essential characteristics and the vision of the organization through the eyes of the client (internal - employee and external - consumer). It has been determined that a customer-oriented service consists in focusing attention on the customer, rather than on a product-centered marketing strategy. The components of a successful customer-oriented service have been highlighted, based on the quality of services provided, the level of accompanying service, the range of services provided and the availability of after-sales service. It has been noted that nowadays there is a shift in the relationship between sellers and buyers from onetime transactions to long-term partnership relations

Towards simplifying assessment of athletes physical fitness: Evaluation of the total physical performance by means of machine learning

The paper describes the methodology for the evaluation of the total physical performance of athletes on the basis of simultaneously recorded signals of stabilography and heart rate variability. An objective assessment of the level of physical performance was carried out using testing on the bicycle ergometer. The use of genetic programming and linear discriminant analysis allowed obtaining the set of diagnostically significant features. The set of diagnostically significant features is able to determine the level of physical fitness using only data from stabilographic studies and heart rate variability with an accuracy of at least 97%. Strength and weaknesses of the proposed approach are discussed. © 2019 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES AS A FACTOR OF INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS AND COMPETITIVE STABILITY OF SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

Presently, the use of Internet technologies is an absolute advantage on the way to the successful functioning of an enterprise in any sphere of economy. The increasing unpredictability of the external environment, the variability of consumer preferences are increasingly transforming competition in the markets of goods and services, from the industrial to the information plane. Under such conditions, the role of internal factors of enterprise competitiveness increases. In recent decades, the introduction of such technologies in service enterprises has become increasingly widespread, ranging from simple tools (e-mail or messengers) to global introduction in the business structure ( using electronic commerce or creating virtual enterprises). We are not even talking about the newest complex developments in the field of Internet technologies, but about the use of existing and simpler ones, which are increasingly used by enterprises. The basic directions of application of Internet technologies and advantages which a business entity in the service sector receives from it have been considered in the article

Laparoscopic management of pancreatic lesions in children

Background. This review is the representation of our experience of laparoscopic approach to various pancreatic lesions in series of paediatric patients. Material and methods. 45 children aged from 1 month to 16 years diagnosed with congenital anomalies and acquired lesion of the pancreas underwent surgical treatment with the use of laparoscopic techniques. The following laparoscopic procedures were carried out: excision of gastric ectopic pancreas (n-19); external drainage, fenestration or Roux-en-Y cystojejunostomy of pancreatic cyst (n-8); excision of gastric duplication cyst of the pancreas, pancreatic lymphangioma or pancreatic hytatid cyst (n-4); spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy or central pancreatectomy with distal pancreaticogastrostomy for solid pseudopapillary tumor (n-4); lateral pancreatojejunostomy for chronic relapsing pancreatitis and pancreatic ductal dilatation (n-3); enucleation of insulinoma (3); 95% near total pancreatectomy for congenital hyperinsulinism (3). Results. In 44 (97,7%) patients the undertaken laparoscopic procedures were successfully completed with no intraoperative complications occurred. The conversion to open distal pancreatic resection was required in 1(2,2%) case when laparoscopic dissection was very much complicated due to massive inflammatory changes in the peripancreatic tissue. Postoperatively, 1 (2.2%) patient developed small bowel obstruction due to Rouxen-Y anastomosis kinking which necessitated open anastomotic reconstruction. In 2 (4,4%) patients pancreatic fistula occurred after insulinoma enucleation and were successfully managed with ocreotide treatment. The rest 41 (91,1%) patients made prompt and uneventful recovery. At follow up, no evidence of recurrent pancreatitis or any associated gastrointestinal symptoms were recorded. Conclusion. Laparoscopic surgery for congenital anomalies and acquired lesions of the pancreas in children is feasible and safe if performed by skilled laparoscopic surgeon who should be experienced in the open complex operations on the pancreas

A choice of legal act during law-making process

There is a problem of legal act choice during the law-making process considered in the paper. A method for step-by-step choice algorithm is advanced. The algorithm is associated with public relationship assessment. The public relationships to be regulated must have a certain social valu

Time-related OCT-A changes in preclinical retinopathy and their association with systemic factors

Background. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) is a promising tool for the detection of microvascular impairment at the preclinical stage of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Evaluation of dynamic OCT-A changes and their association with systemic factors can help to reveal early biomarkers of DR progression.Aim: to evaluate time-related OCT-A changes and their association with systemic factors in type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) patients with no apparent DRMaterials and methods. 38 DM1 patients with no apparent DR and 39 healthy volunteers were included in the study. All participants underwent 7-fi eld fundus photography, OCT and OCT-A. We analyzed OCT-A parameters (foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area (mm2), acircularity index (AI), vessel density (VD), skeletonized density (SD)) as well as the results of blood and urea tests.Results. After one year of observation, AI was significantly higher (р = 0.005) and VD0–300 was signifi cantly lower in superfi cial vascular plexus (SVP, p < 0.0001) and deep capillary plexus (DCP, р = 0.032) in DM1 patients. We have also registered a positive correlation between AI and triglycerides (TG) level (r = 0.627, p = 0.007) as well as a negative correlation between ketones and VD (SVP VD0–300: r = –0.695, p = 0.030; intermediate capillary plexus (ICP, VD0–300: r = –0.551, p = 0.041; DCP, VD0–300: r = –0.704, p = 0.003; SVP, VD300–600: r = –0.853, p = 0.001).Conclusions. After one year of observation, we have registered an increase in AI level and a decline in VD in SVP and DCP which can be the earliest signs of DR progression. A signifi cant correlation between these parameters and systemic factors indicates their role as potential DR biomarkers

Magnetic-field dependence of low-energy magnons, anisotropic heat conduction, and spontaneous relaxation of magnetic domains in the cubic helimagnet ZnCr2Se4

Anisotropic low-temperature properties of the cubic spinel helimagnet ZnCr2Se4 in the single-domain spin-spiral state are investigated by a combination of neutron scattering, thermal conductivity, ultrasound velocity, and dilatometry measurements. In an applied magnetic field, neutron spectroscopy shows a complex and nonmonotonic evolution of the spin-wave spectrum across the quantum-critical point that separates the spin-spiral phase from the field-polarized ferromagnetic phase at high fields. A tiny spin gap of the pseudo-Goldstone magnon mode, observed at wave vectors that are structurally equivalent but orthogonal to the propagation vector of the spin helix, vanishes at this quantum critical point, restoring the cubic symmetry in the magnetic subsystem. The anisotropy imposed by the spin helix has only a minor influence on the lattice structure and sound velocity but has a much stronger effect on the heat conductivities measured parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic propagation vector. The thermal transport is anisotropic at T < 2 K, highly sensitive to an external magnetic field, and likely results directly from magnonic heat conduction. We also report long-time thermal relaxation phenomena, revealed by capacitive dilatometry, which are due to magnetic domain motion related to the destruction of the single-domain magnetic state, initially stabilized in the sample by the application and removal of magnetic field. Our results can be generalized to a broad class of helimagnetic materials in which a discrete lattice symmetry is spontaneously broken by the magnetic order.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures + Supplemental Materia

Search for an exotic three-body decay of orthopositronium

We report on a direct search for a three-body decay of the orthopositronium into a photon and two penetrating particles, o-Ps -> gamma + X1 + X2. The existence of this decay could explain the discrepancy between the measured and the predicted values of the orthopositronium decay rate. From the analysis of the collected data a single candidate event is found, consistent with the expected background. This allows to set an upper limit on the branching ratio < 4.4 \times 10^{-5} (at the 90% confidence level), for the photon energy in the range from 40 keV < E_gamma< 400 keV and for mass values in the kinematical range 0 gamma + X1 + X2 decay mode as the origin of the discrepancy.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Voltage Responses to Optical Pulses of Unbiased Normal and Superconducting Samples

The direct transformation of the energy of an incident high-energy photon into a measurable potential difference within an absorbing metal is investigated. Experimental evidence is presented that the effect arises from the inherent energy dependence of the electronic density of states, rather than from a simple temperature excursion. The similarities between the results on Al and YBa2Cu3O7 samples indicate that the effect is universal in nature. We assert it may be used as the basis of a fast, energy resolving, individual photon detector for the ultraviolet radiation and x-rays