Foreign economic policy of Ukraine and its influence on the state of domestic consumer market

Зовнішньоекономічна політика є важливою складовою економічної політики держави, що забезпечує її вплив на розвиток національної економіки в цілому та споживчого ринку зокрема. Незважаючи на велику кількість досліджень в даній області та розгляд зовнішньоекономічної політики країни науковцями в різних аспектах, недостатньо розробленими залишаються питання розгляду її в пливу на функціонування споживчого ринку всередині країни. Метою статті є розробка рекомендацій щодо аналізу ефективності зовнішньоекономічної політики через оцінку стану споживчого ринку. При дослідженні впливу зовнішньоекономічної політики на функціонування внутрішнього споживчого ринку запропоновано зосереджувати увагу на забезпеченні потреб споживачів та конкурентоспроможності вітчизняних виробників на внутрішньому ринку. При цьому з позицій досягнення соціального розвитку країни та добробуту населення пріоритетним визначено реалізація потреб споживачів за рахунок виробництва вітчизняних товарів при за безпеченні конкурентного рівня якості. Розроблено стратегічну карту та визначено сукупність стратегічних цілей зовнішньоекономічної політики держави щодо впливу на внутрішній споживчий ринок. Для оцінки ефективності зовнішньоекономічної політики визначено набір ключових показників функціонування споживчого ринку, які відображають ступінь досягнення стратегічних цілей. Такими показниками є частка імпортних товарів на внутрішньому споживчому ринку України, індекс динаміки обсягів імпорту та індекси динаміки обсягу прямих іноземних інвестицій в економіку України. Зазначені показники були розраховані щодо основних галузей промисловості, які забезпечують задоволення потреб населення на споживчому ринку. Проведені розрахунки та аналіз показників дозволив зробити висновок про те, що серед розглянутих сегментів ринку лише у сфері продовольчих товарів та друкованої продукції спостерігаються позитивні результати щодо досягнення стратегічних цілей. Щодо і нших галузей на даний момент констатуємо негативні тенденції, що вимагають застосування інструментів політики імпортозаміщення. Серед цих інструментів найбільшого значення набувають заходи державної цільової підтримки, спрямованої на розширення виробництва та інноваційного розвитку вітчизняного бізнесу шляхом створенн я умов для залучення іноземних інвестицій, а також імпортні тарифні квоти та технічні стандарти для товарів, що ввозяться.Foreign economic policy is an important part of the economic policy of government. This fact causes its influence on development of the national economy in whole and consumer market in particular. Although there are many researches in this field and scientists look into foreign economic policy from different standpoints, influence of foreign economic policy on consumer market performance has not yet been suffi ciently explored. The purpose of the present article is to develop recommendations for the analysis of foreign economic policy effectiveness with the aid of the assessment of the state of consumer market. In the study of influence of foreign economic policy on consumer market performance it is suggested to focus on meeting the demands of consumers and competitive ability of domestic producers in the domestic market. Realization of the demands of consumers through the production of domestic goods of good quality is estimated as a priority from the perspective of social development of the country and webeing of the population.The strategic map was made, a set of strategic goals of foreign economic policy of the state concerning influence on domestic consumer market was developed. A set of core indicators of consumer market performance reflecting degree of achievement of strategic goals was determined for assessing the effectiveness of foreign economic policy. The indicators include the share of imported goods on domestic consumer market of Ukraine, an index of dynamics of import and indexes of dynamics of foreign direct investment in economy of Ukraine. These indicators were calculated for basic branches of industry which provide meeting the needs of the population on consumer market. The calculations that were done and analysis of indicators led to the conclusion that positive results in achievement of strategic goals occur only in the area of food commodities and printed product among reviewed market segments. In other areas we stated to date negative tr ends that require the use of import substitution policy tools. Government targeted support measures aimed to increase production and innovative development of the national business by creating conditions for the attraction of foreign investment, as well as import tariff quotas and techn ical standards for goods that are being imported are the most important of these tools

Age related decline in female lar gibbon great call performance suggests that call features correlate with physical condition

Background: White-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) are small Asian apes known for living in stable territories and producing loud, elaborate vocalizations (songs), often in well-coordinated male/female duets. The female great call, the most conspicuous phrase of the repertoire, has been hypothesized to function in intra-sexual territorial defense. We therefore predicted that characteristics of the great call would correlate with a caller’s physical condition, and thus might honestly reflect resource holding potential (RHP). Because measurement of RHP is virtually impossible for wild animals, we used age as a proxy, hypothesizing that great call climaxes are difficult to produce and maintain over time, and that older adults will therefore perform lower quality great calls than young adults. To test this we analyzed the great call climaxes of 15 wild lar gibbon females at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand and 2 captive females at Leo Conservation Center, Greenwich, CT. Results: Findings show that call climaxes correlate with female age, as young animals (n = 8, mean age: 12.9 years) produced climaxes with a higher frequency range (delta F0), maximum F0 frequency and duty cycle than old animals (n = 9, mean age: 29.6 years). A permuted discriminant function analysis also correctly classified calls by age group. During long song bouts the maximum F0 frequency of great call climaxes’ also decreased. Additional data support the hypothesis that short high notes, associated with rapid inhalation as an individual catches its breath, reflect increased caller effort. Older females produced more high notes than younger females, but the difference only approached statistical significance, suggesting that calling effort may be similar across different ages. Finally, for the first time in this species, we measured peak intensity of calls in captive females. They were capable of producing climaxes in excess of 100 dB at close range (2.7 m). Conclusions: Age and within-bout differences in the lar gibbon great call climax suggest that call features correlate with physical condition and thus the call may have evolved as an honest signal in the context of intra-sexual territorial defense and possibly also in male mate choice via sexual selection, although further testing of these hypotheses is necessary. Results: Findings show that call climaxes correlate with female age, as young animals (n = 8, mean age: 12.9 years) produced climaxes with a higher frequency range (delta F0), maximum F0 frequency and duty cycle than old animals (n = 9, mean age: 29.6 years). A permuted discriminant function analysis also correctly classified calls by age group. During long song bouts the maximum F0 frequency of great call climaxes’ also decreased. Additional data support the hypothesis that short high notes, associated with rapid inhalation as an individual catches its breath, reflect increased caller effort. Older females produced more high notes than younger females, but the difference only approached statistical significance, suggesting that calling effort may be similar across different ages. Finally, for the first time in this species, we measured peak intensity of calls in captive females. They were capable of producing climaxes in excess of 100 dB at close range (2.7 m). Conclusions: Age and within-bout differences in the lar gibbon great call climax suggest that call features correlate with physical condition and thus the call may have evolved as an honest signal in the context of intra-sexual territorial defense and possibly also in male mate choice via sexual selection, although further testing of these hypotheses is necessary

Importance of the Collagen Adhesin Ace in Pathogenesis and Protection against Enterococcus faecalis Experimental Endocarditis

Ace is an adhesin to collagen from Enterococcus faecalis expressed conditionally after growth in serum or in the presence of collagen. Here, we generated an ace deletion mutant and showed that it was significantly attenuated versus wild-type OG1RF in a mixed infection rat endocarditis model (P<0.0001), while no differences were observed in a peritonitis model. Complemented OG1RFΔace (pAT392::ace) enhanced early (4 h) heart valve colonization versus OG1RFΔace (pAT392) (P = 0.0418), suggesting that Ace expression is important for early attachment. By flow cytometry using specific anti-recombinant Ace (rAce) immunoglobulins (Igs), we showed in vivo expression of Ace by OG1RF cells obtained directly from infected vegetations, consistent with our previous finding of anti-Ace antibodies in E. faecalis endocarditis patient sera. Finally, rats actively immunized against rAce were less susceptible to infection by OG1RF than non-immunized (P = 0.0004) or sham-immunized (P = 0.0475) by CFU counts. Similarly, animals given specific anti-rAce Igs were less likely to develop E. faecalis endocarditis (P = 0.0001) and showed fewer CFU in vegetations (P = 0.0146). In conclusion, we have shown for the first time that Ace is involved in pathogenesis of, and is useful for protection against, E. faecalis experimental endocarditis

Sign Language Recognition

This chapter covers the key aspects of sign-language recognition (SLR), starting with a brief introduction to the motivations and requirements, followed by a précis of sign linguistics and their impact on the field. The types of data available and the relative merits are explored allowing examination of the features which can be extracted. Classifying the manual aspects of sign (similar to gestures) is then discussed from a tracking and non-tracking viewpoint before summarising some of the approaches to the non-manual aspects of sign languages. Methods for combining the sign classification results into full SLR are given showing the progression towards speech recognition techniques and the further adaptations required for the sign specific case. Finally the current frontiers are discussed and the recent research presented. This covers the task of continuous sign recognition, the work towards true signer independence, how to effectively combine the different modalities of sign, making use of the current linguistic research and adapting to larger more noisy data set