Evaluation of the Comparative Effectiveness of Fiscal Measures and Supply Chain Strategy at Stimulating Oil Production from 2010 to 2016 Carried Out with the ï¥-KAM Mathematical Model

The article evaluates the effectiveness of measures of supply chain management and national fiscal policies aimed at stimulating oil production in several countries (the USA, Canada, Brazil, Norway and Russia). Calculations were carried out with the ï¥-KAM mathematical model using the data for the period from 2010 to 2016. The model includes the following: the input indicators are budget transfers and tax benefits for oil producers, and the output indicators are the average annual volumes of oil production. Regarding the price efficiency of fiscal policy aimed at stimulating oil production in 2010–2016, Russia showed the lowest result. At the same time, Russia demonstrated the highest efficiency of using budget transfers to stimulate oil production, and Canada achieved the greatest efficiency in applying tax measures

Structural fluctuations and aging processes in deeply frozen proteins

Frozen proteins are nonergodic systems and are subject to two types of structural motions, namely relaxation and fluctuation. Relaxation manifests itself in aging processes which slow the fluctuations. Within certain approximations we are able to experimentally separate the aging dynamics from the fluctuation dynamics by introducing two time parameters, namely an aging time ta and a waiting time tw. Both processes follow power laws in time. The fluctuation dynamics shows features of universality characterized by a rather uniform exponent of 1/4. This universality features were shown to be possible due to a random walk on a 1D random trajectory in conformational phase space. A very interesting aspect of protein dynamics concerns the influence of the host solvent on structural motions of the protein cores. We present results for sugar solvents and discuss possible mechanisms

Graphical Analysis of the Growth Rate of National Economies by Considering the Supply Chain Strategy in 25 Countries over the Period From 2000 to 2016

The article presents the graphical analysis of economic indicators for 25 countries: GDP growth rate (%) and GDP per person employed (thousand US dollars) for the period from 1990 to 2016 by considering the supply chain strategy (SCS) and transparency. The authors carried out the decomposition of economic growth rates of selected countries according to the following factors: 1) extensive factors – the growth rate of the capital stock and the size of labor force; 2) intensive factors – RD expenditures; 3) the dynamics of foreign direct investment in the country 4) supply chain strategy. Over the past 16 years, only a few countries from the sample have shown growth of the national economy higher than the growth rates of the world economy. These are China, Turkmenistan, India, Malaysia, and Singapore (their economies grew at a rate of more than 5% per year). The most dynamic renewal of fixed assets can be observed in China, the United States and Japan. At the same time, over the past 10 years China has demonstrated an active investment policy, increasing the investment in fixed assets almost five times. China and India were countries that most actively used the size of labor force as a factor of extensive growth. Korea, Japan, Germany, USA, China and Singapore demonstrated the most dynamic growth in RD expenditures. Despite the non-monotonous dynamics of foreign direct investment in these countries, over the entire period of observation from 1990 to 2017, the United States has been the most attractive country for foreign direct investment. At the same time, the most significant growth in foreign direct investment was recorded in China and, recently, in the United Kingdom

Financial risks of Russian oil companies in conditions of volatility of global oil prices

The development of scientific approaches to assessing and diagnosing the financial risks of oil industry in the Russian Federation becomes a high priority task in conditions of high level of volatility in oil prices in the world energy market and preservation of sanctions regime. The article shows the main threats to financial stability of oil companies in Russia. Using cluster analysis, a system of indicators is proposed that determines the level of financial risk of oil companies in Russia. Based on the method of expert assessments and fuzzy sets, the classification of financial risk levels of oil industry is proposed. The integrated financial risk level of oil industry was calculated and scenarios of its development for 2018-2020 were forecast by means of regression modeling. The system of measures to improve the stability of oil companies and prevent functional financial risks is argued. The practical implementation of research results will be the basis for timely diagnosis of financial risks and qualitative development of preventive measures to neutralize them in the oil industry of Russia. © 2019, Econjournals. All rights reserved

Effect of the Chemical and Phase Composition of Nanocrystalline Gadolinium Complex Oxides on the Propane Cracking Process

Abstract: Effect of the chemical composition and crystal structure type of gadolinium complex oxides on their catalytic activity is studied. It is shown that nanocrystalline powders Gd2Ti2O7, Gd2Zr2O7, and Gd2Hf2O7 form highly symmetrical face-centered сubic crystal structures having localized (in Gd2Ti2O7) and delocalized (in Gd2Zr2O7 and Gd2Hf2O7) oxygen vacancies. At the same time, low-symmetrical crystal structures are formed in Gd2(WO4)3 (the monoclinic structure) and Gd2(МоO4)3 (a mixture of monoclinic and rhombic structures). Catalytic runs show that formation of the cubic structure contributes to an increase in the degree of conversion of propane and causes a shift in cracking temperatures to lower values. Formation of this type of nanocrystalline oxides facilitates the dehydrogenation reaction with propylene selectivity up to 80% at temperatures up to 700 К. Formation of the mixture of monoclinic and rhombic structures in Gd2(МоO4)3 leads to a shift in the degree of conversion to the catalytic temperature range of 700–900 К, in which the dehydrogenation reaction predominates (80%). In the case of the monoclinic structure of Gd2(WO4)3 in the same cracking temperature ranges the process of degradation occurs in parallel; this decreases propylene selectivity to 50% and promotes an increase in the yield of ethylene to 30%. © 2020, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Rearrangement in the local, electronic and crystal structure of europium titanates under reduction and oxidation

We studied powder samples of europium titanates Eu1−x2+Eux3+TiO3+x/2 prepared by sol-gel and coprecipitation methods with subsequent thermal treatment of precursors at different conditions (reducing or oxidizing atmosphere, temperature, exposure time). We have revealed a radical rearrangement in the local, electronic and crystal structure of europium titanates depending on synthesis conditions. The combination of synchrotron X-ray diffraction (s-XRD), X-ray absorption (XANES and EXAFS), infrared and Raman spectroscopies supplemented by photoluminescence and simultaneous thermal analysis was used in our study. It is shown that the combined XANES and thermogravimetric analysis gives clear evidence of a change in the oxidation state of europium cations from Eu2+ to Eu3+. The comparison of s-XRD, XANES, and EXAFS data allowed us to explain the local structure rearrangement during the phase transition from cubic perovskite Eu2+TiO3 (space group Pm3¯m) to pyrochlore phase Eu23+Ti2O7 (space group Fd3¯m) through intermediate layered perovskite Eu23+Ti2O7 with monoclinic structure (space group P21) under annealing in oxidizing atmosphere. The Raman spectroscopy study pointed to significant changes in the local structure of the anionic sublattice upon the observed phase transitions. The analysis of luminescence spectra has shown that Eu3+ cations occupy positions with low local site symmetry in all synthesized compounds regardless of the type of the crystal structure. © 2020 Elsevier B.V