Globalization of Taste and Modernity: Tracing the Development of Western Fast Food Corporations in Urban China

Food globalization has become an important topic in the discourse on globalization. There has been a rapidly rising trend of multinational food corporations integrating and dominating foreign agro-food markets. A clear example of this trend is present in China, whose economy and food industry experienced an influx of foreign direct investment and multinational retail and restaurant branches during the country’s economic opening in the 1980s. The aim of this research is to analyze the development of food globalization through the lens of Western fast food corporations and their successful integration into the Chinese market. The research also assesses the companies’ integration strategies. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications China’s case of food globalization has for further rhetoric on globalization and its impact

Weakly Admissible Vector Equilibrium Problems

We establish lower semi-continuity and strict convexity of the energy functionals for a large class of vector equilibrium problems in logarithmic potential theory. This in particular implies the existence and uniqueness of a minimizer for such vector equilibrium problems. Our work extends earlier results in that we allow unbounded supports without having strongly confining external fields. To deal with the possible noncompactness of supports, we map the vector equilibrium problem onto the Riemann sphere and our results follow from a study of vector equilibrium problems on compacts in higher dimensions. Our results cover a number of cases that were recently considered in random matrix theory and for which the existence of a minimizer was not clearly established yet.Comment: 16 page

Experimental Study of the Superconducting Microstrip Antenna as a Protective Device of the Receiver From Electromagnetic Damage

The paper presents the results of experimental studies of a superconducting protective antenna, which consists of a high-temperature film deposited by a magnetron or a laser beam on a substrate. The work is carried out:- analysis of the selection criteria for the substrate type (Al2O3, Y2O3, SrTiO3, MgO) and the method for depositing a high-temperature superconducting film (HTSF) on its surface – YBaCuO- analysis of the methods of making contacts, which allow to reduce losses when passing a signal from the superconducting microstrip antenna to the waveguide path.The aim of this article is determination of the parameters of a prototype sample of a microstrip antenna device made from HTSF: transient characteristics of high-temperature superconductors, HTSF impulsive characteristics, recovery time of the superconducting state after the action of a powerful pulse on the protective device, the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the protective device in the superconducting state. This will allow to evaluate the possibility of using a microstrip antenna device made from high-temperature superconductors to protect the receiving systems from electromagnetic damage. The absence of a unified theory of high-temperature superconductivity leads to the need to select an analytical form of the functions of the amplitude-frequency characteristics of superconducting protection, and for this mathematical models are used in the programs "APPROX", "MathCAD14.0". The reliability of the obtained results of mathematical modeling of the processes of protection and recovery of the superconducting state after electromagnetic shock are confirmed in the course of experimental studies (an error of 0.15%)

First steps towards into the unknown. The possibilities prospects of unconventional gas extraction in Ukraine. OSW Commentary No. 106, 2013-04-24

Ukraine’s deposits of unconventional gas (shale gas, tight gas trapped in non-porous sandstone formations, and coal bed methane) may form a significant part of Europe’s gas reserves. Initial exploration and test drilling will be carried out in two major deposits: Yuzivska (Kharkiv and Donetsk Oblasts) and Oleska (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts), to confirm the volume of the reserves. Shell and Chevron, respectively, won the tenders for the development of these fields in mid 2012. Gas extraction on an industrial scale is expected to commence in late 2018/ early 2019 at the earliest. According to estimates presented in the draft Energy Strategy of Ukraine 2030, annual gas production levels may range between 30 billion m3 and 47 billion m3 towards the end of the next decade. According to optimistic forecasts from IHS CERA, total gas production (from both conventional and unconventional reserves) could reach as much as 73 billion m3. However, this will require multi-billion dollar investments, a significant improvement in the investment climate, and political stability. It is clear at the present initial stage of the unconventional gas extraction project that the private interests of the Ukrainian government elite have played a positive role in initiating unconventional gas extraction projects. Ukraine has had to wait nearly four decades for this opportunity to regain its status of a major gas producer. Gas from unconventional sources may lead not only to Ukraine becoming self-sufficient in terms of energy supplies, but may also result in it beginning to export gas. Furthermore, shale gas deposits in Poland and Ukraine, including on the Black Sea shelf (both traditional natural gas and gas hydrates) form a specific ‘European methane belt’, which could bring about a cardinal change in the geopolitics and geo-economics of Eastern and Central Europe over the next thirty years

Pedagogical co-operation in the country of childhood

Here both the general principles of the concept of "childhood" are revealed and the general features of the childhood period, teaching child development criteria are outlined. It is paid special attention to the essence of humanistic ideas of V. Sukhomlynsky of a teacher and student pedagogical mutual relations which resonated both in contemporaries and subsequent teacher generations work, dominant tasks of Ukrainian schools of different levels were outlined by an outstanding Ukrainian teacher as well. It is marked that a leading place in pedagogical mutual relations is occupied by principles of humanizing, socialization, nationality and self-perfection