Foreign trade and marketing processes in the context of sustainable development

Purpose: The article aims to study foreign economic and trade relations between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the CIS and the Western European countries. In addition, the study improves forms of foreign economic cooperation between the countries and suggests the stages of its implementation in the integration group. Design/Methodology/Approach: Central and Eastern European countries are experiencing the increase and acceleration of the labour migration to Western European countries, which has a negative impact on their medium-and long-term development. As a theoretical and methodological basis, the article uses historical-logical, dialectical principles and contradictions, the method of the scientific abstraction. The process-system approach, which was used in the study of foreign economic relations between the partner countries, gained special importance in the argument of the need to implement stages. Findings: Authors presented the form of the foreign economic cooperation between the countries as the geostrategic economic block and the stages of its implementation. As the study shows, these stages will help to smooth out the economic inequality between the Central and Eastern regions of Europe and Western European countries. Practical implications: In practice, authors investigate the phased implementation of the geostrategic economic bloc form, which will reduce inequality between the partner countries of the European Union. Originality/Value: The economic inequality between developed and developing countries of the European Union is increasing every year, which can lead to the transformation of the integration group, so it is necessary to develop new forms and mechanisms of foreign economic relations between the partner countries.peer-reviewe

STUDENT SURVEY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY – CHALLENGES TO DESIGN AND ANALYSE DATA

Purpose of the study: The objective of this study was to present useful practical advice on the process of designing questionnaires for student surveys for higher education quality, as well as conducting such survey through the analysis of results of such survey that was held in National University "Odesa Law Academy". Methodology: This research is based on the results of an anonymous online survey among 142 students of the Faculty of Advocacy of the National University "Odesa Law Academy", which was conducted in April 2017. The survey consisted of 29 questions. All questions were divided into 3 separate groups: assessment of academic discipline, assessment of lectures, and assessment of practical classes. Each group consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions were evaluated on a 10-point scale, where 1 is the lowest score, and 10 is the highest. Main Findings: The research findings demonstrate that to increase the response rate of student it's better to reduce the number of questionnaires and questions in them. Also, the authors stated that the online form of survey is better than paper form (in aspects of accessibility, anonymity, and convenience for students). It was found that the vast majority of students' responses were received during the first days of the survey, which indicates that it is impractical to be conducting such a survey over a long period. It was found that in response to closed-ended questions most students chose the highest mark (10 out of 10), so developers of questionnaires have to choose another scale for closed-ended question assessment which has some real references. Also, it was stated that only a fraction of open-ended questions will contain really useful information that can be further used to improve educational services. Application of this study: This research can be used by administration staff and teachers of universities as a guideline in conducting similar surveys. Novelty/Originality of this study: The novelty of this research lies in the attempt of combining relatively easy in implementation but quite effective in usage rules of conducting student’s survey on higher education quality in one paper

National competitiveness as the object of indicative planning in the context of re-industrialization

Three years after the adoption of legislation regarding strategical planning we are able to see the first statistical results, reflecting actual conditions of regulated objects. The subject of this article is to examine the system of indicators of state economic policy, targeting to stimulate the development of economic potential with the aim to improve national economic competitiveness. The objective is the competitiveness of domestic economy as the subject of regulation. The aim is the analysis of the system of indicators on the basis of comparison of actual and planned data, detecting weakly correlated indicators and to make recommendations to correct the system of indicators. The article analyses the indicators that are being used in normative and legal documents. The authors consider long-term and medium-term targets for economic frontier development, as well as main factors that should be accounted while formulating the system of indicators for the economic potential in long- and medium-term. As the list of indicators of economic development in the strategic documents is vast, the chosen direction considers the production with high added value. The indicators considered reflect the indicative aim of scientific development, national innovation system and technology as the most important foundations for improvement of national economic competitiveness. Multidirectional trend of economic development and administration indicators has been detected. The formation of system of supplementary indicators that reflect the development of production frontier has been proposed.peer-reviewe

The role of heat transfer time scale in the evolution of the subsea permafrost and associated methane hydrates stability zone during glacial cycles

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Climate warming may lead to degradation of the subsea permafrost developed during Pleistocene glaciations and release methane from the hydrates, which are stored in this permafrost. It is important to quantify time scales at which this release is plausible. While, in principle, such time scale might be inferr ed from paleoarchives, this is hampered by considerable uncertainty associated with paleodata. In the present paper, to reduce such uncertainty, one-dimensional simulations with a model for thermal state of subsea sediments forced by the data obtained from the ice core reconstructions are performed. It is shown that heat propagates in the sediments with a time scale of ∼ 10–20 kyr. This time scale is longer than the present interglacial and is determined by the time needed for heat penetration in the unfrozen part of thick sediments. We highlight also that timings of shelf exposure during oceanic regressions and flooding during transgressions are important for simulating thermal state of the sediments and methane hydrates stability zone (HSZ). These timings should be resolved with respect to the contemporary shelf depth (SD). During glacial cycles, the temperature at the top of the sediments is a major driver for moving the HSZ vertical boundaries irrespective of SD. In turn, pressure due to oceanic water is additionally important for SD ≥ 50 m. Thus, oceanic transgressions and regressions do not instantly determine onsets of HSZ and/or its disappearance. Finally, impact of initial conditions in the subsea sediments is lost after ∼ 100 kyr. Our results are moderately sensitive to intensity of geothermal heat flux

Locomotion of the fish-like foil under own effort

Self-locomotion of the fish-like foil is simulated by the mesh-free method of viscous vortex domains (VVD). The foil consists of three rigid sections connected by the spring hinges. The forcing periodic moment is applied between first and second sections imitating the muscular effort of the fish. The hinge between the second and third sections is elastic and passive. The task is solved as coupled flow-structure interaction

“Sovietization” of Traditional Chuvash Culture in the 20-30s of the XX Century

Questions related to the process of “sovietization” of traditional Chuvash culture are considered. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the processes of “sovietization” common to all the peoples of the Soviet Union are examined on the specific material of the Chuvash history collected in the process of ethnographic expeditions. Examples of changing the Chuvash tradition under the influence of cultural impact on the part of the Soviet authorities are brought to consideration. The research shows the ways of penetrating the Soviet type of culture into the people's ritual life. The authors refer to the oikonyms of settlements, anthroponyms, oral folk art and objects of a materialized culture. This material reveals innovations in the everyday life of the ethnic group and the direction of transformation of the people's views. Attention is paid to Soviet symbolism, which has become part of the Chuvash culture. The definitions of the concepts “sovietization”, "materialized culture" are given. Particular attention is paid to the change of consciousness and traditional views, which is most clearly traced in the ritual and festive practice of the Chuvashes. It shown in the research that many objects of “sovietization” retain their relevance, being a part of everyday life or acting as museum exhibits. It is proved that the incorporation of new norms and way of life into the Chuvash tradition led to the formation of a different type of culture - the Soviet one, whose elements are preserved in the modern world

CIVILIZATIONAL IDENTITY OF RUSSIAN STUDENT YOUTH IN A DIGITAL SOCIETY

The modern concept of civilization, processes of civilizational identification and identity on the basis of allocation of basic values have been considered. Traditional spiritual and moral values of Russian population have been studied. Methodological and methodical issues of sociological diagnostics of civilizational identity of Russian students have been revealed. Some results of the author’s sociological research with presentation of a comparative assessment of the orientation of young people on the values of the Russian civilization have been adduced. On the basis of comparative analysis, the description of social constructs (patterns) of values of the Russian civilization has been given, the data on the statistical connection of the civilizational identity of students and their integration into virtual forms of social interaction have been presented. The measures to improve the conditions of the process of civilizational identification of Russian students and to include them in the process of digitalization of society have been substantiated

Digital sociology and new opportunities for social and educational rehabilitation of disabled people

Based on the conducted sociological research and using modern methodological approaches of digital sociology, the feasibility of developing institutional conditions for improving the educational rehabilitation of disabled people by means of modern Internet technologies has been justified. Examples of the development of analogical problems in the works of domestic and foreign authors have been given. The possibilities of scientific and methodological support of social experiments on the development and implementation of educational Internet communications to overcome the disability of disabled people using the Arsenal of digital sociology have been described separately. The data on the attitude of disabled people to higher education in the system of their rehabilitation and life activity, with the identification of social groups with positive, uncertain and negative attitudes with a predominant positive attitude to the possibility of educational rehabilitation have been provided. The educational needs of people with disabilities in various areas have been described, their quantitative characteristics with the definition of priorities and areas of education that are not relevant for people with disabilities have been presented. A significant place in the article has been given to the possibilities of involving disabled people in the process of developing educational programs and in research activities, both in terms of the availability of willing people among them, and the use of various forms of their integration into real research projects as part of temporary creative teams. The conditions for the implementation of scientific support for the development of training programs in the Internet space by conducting their practical testing on the example of the Zagorsk experiment have been characterized separately. Attention to supporting individual research projects of people with disabilities in the course of higher education has been paid, ways to help them collect experimental material have been substantiated. Separately, the role and place of joint forms of scientific activity of disabled people, teachers and students in the performance of state tasks have been shown. Taking into account the important role of social inclusion of disabled people in Internet communications, the prevalence of creating accounts in the Internet information and communication network and using various Internet resources among disabled people and family members has been separately reflected

Vibration Briquetting of Ash of Combined Heat and Power Plant

Ash and slag materials of combined heat and power plant (CHPP) are a unique resource that can be successfully used in construction, road and agricultural industries. However, their industrial use is accompanied with significant organizational and technical problems. Granulation of coal ashes improves the conditions of their storage and transportation, allows mechanizing and automating the subsequent use, increases productivity, improves the working conditions and reduces the loss of raw materials and finished products. This paper proposes a method of compacting of Seversk CHPP (Russia) ash by vibration briquetting using a number of binders (polyvinyl alcohol, glyoxal, liquid sodium glass). The main characteristics of Seversk CHPP ash such as chemical composition, particle size distribution, bulk density, content of unburnt carbon and radioactivity have been determined. Investigation of the effect of binder concentration on the static strength of granules revealed that the increase of binder concentration results in the growth of static strength of the dried granules that reaches a maximum at the concentration of 10 wt %: 0.28 MPa for polyvinyl alcohol, 0.63 MPa for glyoxal and 0.40 MPa for liquid sodium glass