Perception of Quality of Life and its Components among Russian Students – Implications for Academic Teaching

The paper has 3 objectives: (i) identify QoL determinants of Russian Students; (ii) assess their relevance for decision-making when choosing life strategies; (iii) recognize their implications for academic teaching. The research sample were students from two Russian Universities. The study employed: literature analysis; exploratory research (direct individual in-depth interviews, survey based on a self-administered, web-based questionnaire with single-answer, limited choice qualitative & quantitative questions and gradings based on the Likert-type scale); explanatory research (informal moderated group discussions). The research findings show the relatively high significance of finance, career, stability, family, free time and other non-material QoL determinants. Research analysis reveals an inconsistency between respondents’ expectations and their work-life balance, which imposes a question about decision-making criteria at an early stage of career planning and the role of tertiary education in this process. Implications & Recommendations: (i) multicriteria decision-making processes, such as career planning, should comprise work-life balance; therefore both material and non-material QoL determinants should be incorporated into the analysis; (ii) as the role of Universities, beside educating, is also to guide and shape characters, Academia seems to be the right place for this task; (iii) therefore Universities should promote conscious lecturers as assistants to the process of identification of individual QoL determinants by their students. Contribution & Value Added: the research provides a fresh and improved perspective on quality of life and its determinants; it includes non-material QoL components and therefore brings qualitative determinants into economic research; it will provide data for future comparisons; it comes from a research network linking European and Russian tertiary education institutions and University lecturers with intercultural teaching experience

Perception of Quality of Life and its Components among Russian Students – Implications for Academic Teaching

The paper has 3 objectives: (i) identify QoL determinants of Russian Students; (ii) assess their relevance for decision-making when choosing life strategies; (iii) recognize their implications for academic teaching. The research sample were students from two Russian Universities. The study employed: literature analysis; exploratory research (direct individual in-depth interviews, survey based on a self-administered, web-based questionnaire with single-answer, limited choice qualitative & quantitative questions and gradings based on the Likert-type scale); explanatory research (informal moderated group discussions). The research findings show the relatively high significance of finance, career, stability, family, free time and other non-material QoL determinants. Research analysis reveals an inconsistency between respondents’ expectations and their work-life balance, which imposes a question about decision-making criteria at an early stage of career planning and the role of tertiary education in this process. Implications & Recommendations: (i) multicriteria decision-making processes, such as career planning, should comprise work-life balance; therefore both material and non-material QoL determinants should be incorporated into the analysis; (ii) as the role of Universities, beside educating, is also to guide and shape characters, Academia seems to be the right place for this task; (iii) therefore Universities should promote conscious lecturers as assistants to the process of identification of individual QoL determinants by their students. Contribution & Value Added: the research provides a fresh and improved perspective on quality of life and its determinants; it includes non-material QoL components and therefore brings qualitative determinants into economic research; it will provide data for future comparisons; it comes from a research network linking European and Russian tertiary education institutions and University lecturers with intercultural teaching experience

Which oxidation state of uranium and thorium as point defects in xenotime is favorable?

Relativistic study of xenotime, YPO$_4$, containing atoms thorium and uranium as point defects is performed in the framework of cluster model with using the compound-tunable embedding potential (CTEP) method proposed by us recently. The Y-(PO$_4$)$_6$-Y'$_{22}$-O'$_{104}$ cluster for xenotime is considered, in which central part, [Y-(PO$_4$)$_6$]$^{-15}$, is the main cluster, whereas outermost 22 atoms of yttrium and 104 atoms of oxygen are treated as its environment and compose electron-free CTEP with the total charge of $+15$. The P and O atoms of the orthophosphate groups nearest to the central Y atom are treated at all-electron level. The central Y, its substitutes, Th and U, together with environmental Y atoms are described within different versions of the generalized relativistic pseudopotential method. Correctness of our cluster and CTEP models, constructed in the paper, is justified by comparing the Y-O and P-O bond lengths with corresponding periodic structure values of the \ypo4 crystal, both experimental and theoretical. Using this cluster model, chemical properties of solitary point defects, X = U, Th, in xenotime are analyzed. It has been shown that the oxidation state ${+3}$ is energetically more profitable than ${+4}$ not only for thorium but for uranium as well ($\Delta E \approx 5$ eV) despite the notably higher ionic radius of U$^{+3}$ compared to Y$^{+3}$, whereas ionic radii of U$^{+4}$ and Y$^{+3}$ are close. This leads to notable local deformation of crystal geometry around the U$^{+3}$ impurity in xenotime and contradicts to widespread opinion about favorite oxidation state of uranium in such kind of minerals.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI