Program-targeted regulation of the regional consumer market

The primary strategic tasks for development of the Russian Federation and its regions are the increase of the level and quality of life and increase of the share of the middle class on the basis of modernization and restructuring the economy, the growth of entrepreneurial and innovative activities and competitiveness. For the solution of these problems the development of the consumer market should play an important role, performing important economic and social functions. In the article the results of the study of scientific views of foreign and national scientists on the category "consumer market" are shown from the perspective of the principle of historical and logical unity, theoretical and conceptual approaches to its formation and development are systematized, positive trends in its development are revealed; negative social consequences associated with excessive consumption growth and the formation of a consumer society are proved (violation of the ecological balance, people health aggravation, change of people’s attitudes). The necessity of government regulation of the consumer market on all the levels is proved (federal, regional and municipal) based on the prospective vision and its development strategy in the context of globalization, Russia's accession to WTO and the implementation of the sanctions against Russia by the United States, several European and Asian countries. As a methodological approach to solve identified problems on the regional level it is proposed to use the program-targeted regulation of the consumer market, which allows connecting the objectives with the resources and deadlines for their implementation by particular executives. Its use also allows authorities to develop alternative solutions for the tasks on the basis of the justification of priorities in the development of the consumer market and assessment of the risks associated with the implementation of program activities.peer-reviewe

Three-site transition-metal clusters: Going from localized electrons to molecular orbitals

Investigation of the recently synthesized series of isostructural compounds Ba4NbTM3O12 (TM = Mn, Rh, and Ir) with transition-metal trimers in a face-sharing geometry makes it possible to examine a tendency to the molecular orbitals (MO) formation going from 3d to 5d transition metal ions. Our ab initio calculations of electronic and magnetic properties describe the experimental findings and demonstrate gradual transition from the picture of localized electrons for Mn to the MO picture for Rh and especially for Ir. We also show that the often used criterion, according to which the metal-metal distance in a compound shorter than in a respective metal always gives MO, may break down in some cases

Phonon mode calculations and Raman spectroscopy of the bulk-insulating topological insulator BiSbTeSe2

The tetradymite compound BiSbTeSe2 is one of the most bulk-insulating three-dimensional topological insulators, which makes it important in topological insulator research. It is a member of the solid-solution system Bi2-xSbxTe3-ySey, for which the local crystal structure, such as the occupation probabilities of each atomic site, is not well understood. We have investigated the temperature- and polarization-dependent spontaneous Raman scattering in BiSbTeSe2, revealing a much higher number of lattice vibrational modes than predicted by group-theoretical considerations for the space group R (3) over barm corresponding to an ideally random solid-solution situation. The density-functional calculations of phonon frequencies show a very good agreement with experimental data for parent material Bi2Te3, where no disorder effects were found. In comparison to Bi2Te3 the stacking disorder in BiSbTeSe2 causes a discrepancy between theory and experiment. Combined analysis of experimental Raman spectra and density-functional-theory-calculated phonon spectra for different types of atomic orders showed coexistence of different sequences of layers in the material and that those with Se in the center and a local order of Se-Bi-Se-Sb-Te are the most favored