EQUIPMENT AND METHODS OF VISUAL SENSOR SYSTEM REHABILITATION

INTRODUCTION: The visual sensor system is very important in life and sport activities. Its fatigue and overstrain cause myopia. The purpose of this investigation was to devise effective means of influencing myopia of the visual sensor system, in order to prevent or correct it. METHODS: According to Bates (1968), myopia is caused by excessive strain on the external oblique eye muscles. To remove the above effect it is necessary to design special exerciser that would allow control of muscles moving the eyes. A program of rehabilitation was therefor devised that included an exerciser which allowed subjects to move their eyes in a defined direction. Biomechanical stimulation was effected by custom designed stimulator to stimulate face mimic muscle fibers and biological active points. Forty five shooters of the National Belarus Shooting team were tested and their visual acuity determined by means of Accomodometer with Astoptometer AKA-01 (test object 3 and 1 were applied for long and short distances, respectively). Results and discussion: Twenty two shooters of various qualification took part in the experiment, their visual acuity being reduced in one or both eyes. If we consider the basic level of visual acuity to be 1, the gain in visual acuity was in the range from 1.2 to 2.1. The average gain by the end of the 4th experimental day amounted 1.5 for the right and 1.7 for the left eye, respectively, compared with initial value. The application of the devised methods led to an average delta gain of 0.35±0.16; 0.24±0.08 in the right and the left eye, respectively (t=3.85). Statistical analysis proved that the results were valid with a validity index of 99%. CONCLUSIONS: The equipment and methods used in the present study contributed to increase in accommodation volume and visual depth. The equipment and methods can also be used to relax visual tension in microscheme fitters, and it can be successfully used for IBM operators, operating on displays. REFERENCES: William Horatio Bates (1968). The Bates method for better eyesight without glasses. New York: H. Holt and Company

Nativization of English words in Spanish using analogy

Nowadays modern speech technologies need to be flexible and adaptable to any framework. Mass media globalization introduces the challenge of multilingualism into most popular speech applications such as text-to-speech synthesis and automatic speech recognition. Mixed-language texts vary in their nature and when processed, some essential characteristics ought to be considered. In Spain, the usage of English and other foreign origin words is growing as well as in other countries. The particularity of the peninsular Spanish is that there is a tendency to nativized foreign words pronunciation so that they fit in properly into Spanish phonetics. In this work our goal was to approach the nativization challenge by data-driven methods, since they are transferable to other languages and do not yield in performance. Training and test corpora for nativization were manually crafted and the experiments were carried out using pronunciation by analogy. The results obtained were encouraging and proved that even a small training corpus of 1000 words allows obtaining a higher level of intelligibility for English inclusions in Spanish utterances.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The success factors of small business

Purpose: Small businesses in the economy of any country are of great significance. However, their viability is much lower than large and even medium ones. As is known, only a little number of the established small enterprises will not go bankrupt in a year, and they will succeed and continue developing for the next five years by expanding their activities. Even a smaller number of small enterprises will be able to transform into the medium one. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the factors that assist to define the success of small businesses’ performance and development. Design/Methodology/Approach: This commentary note studies, identifies and generalizes the success factors of small enterprises described in the works of many successful entrepreneurs both in Russia and abroad. The authors use the toolkit and methods of economic analysis, consider quantitative and qualitative characteristics and features of small business development as well as entrepreneurial abilities that allow to identify key factors for small businesses’ success. Findings: The authors have found that many successful entrepreneurs describing their experience in managing business and identifying main success factors of small businesses have similar opinions in this area. These main aspects have been identified. Practical Implications: The note provides practical recommendations to entrepreneurs establishing their small businesses and trying to develop them successfully. It describes main secrets of business and philosophies of entrepreneur’s actions. Originality/Value: The authors’ position is because business success is achieved by people who have not only the necessary economic knowledge but also those who have the necessary mindset, so called philosophy of success, personal attitude including intuition.peer-reviewe

BREXIT consequences - relocation of the European Medicines Agency

Introduction The UK decision to leave the European Union (BREXIT) has many potential consequences for the health of European citizens. One of the actions already taken has been the decision to move the location of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from Canary Wharf in London to Amsterdam from April 2019.AimThe aim of this article is to analyze the EU criteria for the process of EMA relocation from London to Amsterdam based on the comparison of the EMA bids placed by the EU candidates and the indicators among those member states (MSs).Materials and MethodsDocumentary and analytical methods are used to provide scientific data on the decision of EMA relocation from London to Amsterdam and the consequences of BREXIT from a drug policy point of view. Many different indicators, like accommodation, living cost were compared and surveyed in the MSs.ResultsEU opened procedure for EMA relocation after BREXIT in 2017. A total of 19 cities have applied to host the EMA headquarters, including Bulgaria, with Amsterdam winning the battle. EMA is working with the Dutch authorities and the relocation of EMA to Amsterdam is a fact.Bulgaria, Hungary, and Croatia were the top three countries with the lowest possible living costs, and accommodation.ConclusionAfter EMA relocation to Amsterdam as a result of BREXIT, the pharmaceutical industry is dealing with significant implications in order not to lose its market access. Many innovative and generic medicines across the MSs updated their marketing authorizations due to the fact that the exclusion of the UK from all medicines authorization  procedures should be finalised  by the end of March 2019

Transformation of civil service employees' professional development system

Since maintaining and improving the qualification level by the civil servant is implemented through the professional development, the study identifies main changes affecting this area, including those caused by the changes in the legal regulation

ТЕКСТ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ В ФИЛОСОФСКИХ УЧЕНИЯХ ХХ ВЕКА

Purpose. The article analyzes the historical features of the problems of the text in the philosophy of the XX century as an element of the structure of society. The paper shows that the peculiarity of this approach is the disclosure of the essence of dialogical thinking in culture through the study of the text as the “primary reality” of any Humanities. The aim is to consider the historical features of the text in the context of changing the modern cultural paradigm and its philosophical understanding.Methods. Interdisciplinary, activity and axiological approaches were used in writing the work.Results. The problems of the text are considered in the following aspects: the text as an instrument of self-identification and as a source of accumulative comprehension of society. Therefore, the interpretation of language as the embodiment of the meaning-life intentionality of human existence leads to the inspiration of the modern paradigm of the philosophy of language in the context of postmodern culture, which sets an extremely broad vision of textual reality. All this justifies the relevance of the subject area of the work, which also gives a fairly detailed analysis of the cultural and philosophical explications of the text problem in the postmodern paradigm, and also emphasizes the relevance of the research topic chosen by the author as a whole. It follows that the results of the study have both methodological and ideological significance for understanding the semantic foundations of culture and the problem of interaction of thinking, language within the framework of linguistic and philosophical discourse, cognitive theory of culture, as well as analysis in the field of modeling cognitive processes.Scope of results. Consideration of the history of the problems of the text allows us to deepen the understanding of the structure of cultural and philosophical systems, first of all, will help to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon of the text. This approach makes it possible to identify some mechanisms for the formation of textual preferences of the individual, scenarios of speech behavior, social factors that determine this personal choice. Accordingly, the results of the study can be used in the development of modern philological approaches to the formation of a linguistic personality favorable for linguistic socialization.Цель. В статье анализируются исторические особенности проблем текста в философии XX века как элементы структуры общества. В работе показано, что особенностью данного подхода является раскрытие сущности диалогического мышления в культуре через изучение текста как «первичной реальности» любой гуманитарной науки. Цель – рассмотрение исторических особенностей проблем текста в контексте изменения современной культурной парадигмы и ее философского осмысления.Методы. При написании работы использовались междисциплинарный, деятельностный и аксиологический подходы.Результаты. Проблемы текста рассмотрены в следующих аспектах: текст как инструмент самоидентификации и как источник аккумулятивных постижений общества. Поэтому, трактовка языка как воплощения смысложизненной интенциональности человеческой экзистенции приводит к инспирации современной парадигмы философии языка в контексте культуры постмодерна, задающей предельно широкое видение текстовой реальности. Все это и обосновывает релевантность предметной области работы, дающей также достаточно подробный анализ культурфилософских экспликаций проблемы текста в постмодернистской парадигме, а также подчеркивает актуальность избранной автором темы исследования в целом. Результаты исследования имеют как методологическое, так и мировоззренческое значение для постижения смысловых оснований культуры и проблемы взаимодействия мышления, языка и культуры в рамках лингвофилософского дискурса, когнитивной теории культуры, а также исследований в области моделирования когнитивных процессов.Область применения результатов. Текст — это сложное динамическое образование, которое для своего понимания требует от читателя не только знание языковых кодов и культурных реалий, которые позволяют раскрыть невербализуемые смыслы в тексте, но и «деятельного сотрудничества». Такой подход дает возможность выявить некоторые механизмы формирования текстовых предпочтений личности, сценариев речевого поведения, социальные факторы, обусловливающие этот персональный выбор. Поэтому, результаты исследования могут быть использованы при разработке учебных курсов по соответствующим дисциплинам: культурологии, лингвокультурологии, семиотике культуры, а также при создании учебных пособий

Determination of the shelterbelts influence on the average productivity of agrophytocenoses based on geostatistical analysis of spatial data and the NDVI

Shelterbelts effect positively on the elements of the microclimate, the water regime of soils, the agronomic properties of the soil, soil fertility in the agricultural landscape. The assessment of the influence of the density of shelterbelts on the overall productivity of arable land is poorly studied. In this study, the methodology for assessing of such impact with using GIS technologies is suggested. We propose to use the Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI), as a standardized index showing the relative biomass of vegetation, averaged for each working area within the studied region for working plots of arable land with an area of more than 25 hectares in the Belgorod oblast. Paired correlation analysis between the density of shelterbelts and arable land productivity showed the weak relationship (R2= 0.124), however, the classification of the density of shelterbelts with the interval of 0.5 km/km2 allowed us to reveal the linear regression dependence y = 0.0059x + 0.5195 (R2 = 0.989) of arable land productivity from the density of shelterbelts. Taking into account that many abiotic factors can affect the yield, we additionally proposed to carry out typing to identify areas of the same type in terms of the relief of the earth’s surface, climatic conditions and productivity. To do this, the spatial clustering (K-means algorithm) was proposed to use. It was revealed that the productivity of agrophytocenoses increases by 10% with the increasing of the density of shelterbelts by 2 times with an average slope steepness of up to 2°. In physical terms, the yield of winter wheat will increase by 0.28 t/ha. Soil-protective crop rotations are an additional factor in increasing the value of the NDVI index on slopes more than 2°

Linguistic Manipulation Means in English Political Discourse

The scientific article presents a study of the ways of expressing manipulation in politics, which is performed in English political discourse by means of language. Carefully selected language units, used by politicians in public speaking, in combination with social factors, can be a powerful instrument for managing public opinion, i.e. manipulation. The authors analyze public speeches delivered by English politicians. Manipulation is an integral part of American political discourse, all speech strategies of which are aimed at one purpose: to influence a recipient, persuade him or her to make a decision that will be beneficial for a politician. The article considers the main strategies, tactics and types of manipulation used in the modern political sphere. An analysis of public speeches of English politicians proves the importance of speech manipulative techniques for successful achievement of political goals

МЕТАФОРИЧЕСКОЕ МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ В ТЕКСТЕ И АССОЦИАТИВНОМ ПОЛЕ В СОПОСТАВИТЕЛЬНОМ АСПЕКТЕ

The article deals with using metaphor modeling in comparative studies of metaphorization in different discourse types. The comparative analysis is carried out in different types of medical discourse (scientific, popular, nonprofessional) and different forms of language representation (text and associative field) in the Russian, English and German languages

Peculiarities of Enterprises Functioning Under Conditions of Cyclicality of the Economy

It is necessary to note that under contemporary conditions of economic management that is characterized by a high level of indefiniteness of the market environment, there is a potential risk of a decline in the activeness in economy on the macro level to the level that is below admissible. On the contrary, the interest to problems related to providing stable economic development of enterprises under conditions of unbalanced state of economy sharply grows. Under these conditions special importance is acquired by the search for regularities of economy functioning for the future development of efficient organizational and economic mechanism that can provide competitive functioning of integrated structures of the power engineering at any phase of the economic cycle. Herewith, the crisis of 2008 had a considerable unfavorable impact on the whole Russian industry. Keywords: functioning of enterprises; business cycle; power engineering; competitiveness; post-crisis period JEL Classifications: E32, E66, L2