Foreign lobbying as an instrument of defense cooperation between Poland and the United States

Defence cooperation between Poland and the United States significantly affects the security agenda of Russia, the Baltic region, and Europe as a whole. On the one hand, Poland intends to become a key partner of the US in ensuring European security. On the other hand, it has ambitions to take the leading position in the security area among the Baltic States. The Polish leadership sees an additional advantage in expanding military cooperation with the United States, regarding it as a jumping board to accelerating its economic and technological development. This article examines a mechanism underlying defence cooperation between the US and Poland, i.e. lobbying Poland’s interests in another state. This allows Warsaw to actively promote its interests in the US. The research methodology employed includes the periodisation of Polish lobbying activities in the US and an empirical study of lobbying based on analysis of original documents, many of which have been analysed for the first time. It is shown that, under the existing party system, Poland will not abandon strategic partnership with the United States, primarily in security and defence. Over the study period, Poland quickly gained experience in promoting its interests in the US through direct lobbying, showing flexibility in negotiations, relying on the two-party support in the US Congress, successfully coordinating the activities of its governing bodies and various corporations which are submitted to tight state control

Applying beetroot as food ingredient in ice-cream production

The development of new food products with functional ingredients of plant origin is highly promising and relevant direction in food industry. Assortment of products, including ice cream is constantly expanding due to the introduction of various plant ingredients into its composition, enriching the product with health beneficial nutrients. In this study, beetroot (Beta vulgaris) was selected as a plant component for ice cream production. The roots of common beets contain many useful inorganic and organic substances, such as carbohydrates, proteins, organic acids, mineral salts, betalaines, vitamins, folic acid and betaine. The influence of different thermal treatment techniques of beetroots on the content of dry substances and organoleptic properties of beetroot puree have been compared and analyzed. The heat exposure technique recommended for beetroots is microwave processing for 9 minutes at a power of 800 watts. This method of heat treatment ensures the culinary readiness of vegetable raw materials while preserving dry substances in it, including betanine. The effect of the beetroot puree dose on the formation of the ice cream quality was studied. The recommended dose of the beetroot puree was established as 20%

750 Natalia the economic and legal analysis of the terms of international delivery contracts involving Russian suppliers

Purpose: The article presents an economic and legal analysis of the terms of contracts for international delivery of goods involving Russian suppliers. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors analysed the international norms of regulating relations for the goods’ delivery involving the foreign element. Terms of the goods delivery are investigated according to the national legislation of the Russian Federation. Findings: As a result, it is necessary to use an economic and legal approach when developing contract terms for the goods’ delivery to take into account norms of international law, the national legislation of the supplier country and in accordance with the calculations of the contract price and payment terms. Practical Implications: The proposed method is in accordance with the international legal framework and it can be adopted by the Russian Federation easily. Originality/Value: There is no such an approach eligible to modernize the existing system in the country.peer-reviewe

Challenges of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in agriculture

The underlying assumption of the study is that ERP systems can crucially facilitate information exchange; yet, the agricultural sector is slow in their adoption due to different reasons, including a shortage of skilled personnel as well as a lack of knowledge about ERP capabilities among top managers and key employees. The study intends to identify challenges and prospects for ERP implementation in agriculture. The applied methods include the analysis of WoS publications and questionnaire surveys of executives of 55 companies operating in the Middle Urals’ agricultural sector. ERP systems can be defined as comprehensive software solutions aimed to integrate business and management processes through a holistic approach and a single information system. According to expert estimates, in today’s Russia the projects related to the agro-industrial sector account for 1-2% to 10-15% of the projects from the leading ERP vendors, including 1C, Bars Group, and Navigator-Agro. ERP systems in agriculture help improve business performance, reduce and monitor costs. These systems are effective in decision-making and can serve as the basis for precision agriculture. The main barriers are poor personnel skills and competencies, shortage of funds for ERP adoption, poorly developed or absent infrastructure, difficulties of fitting and adapting of ERP systems to agricultural business. In addition, agricultural business owners show no confidence in high-tech solutions and poor knowledge of the above systems. Other problems include operation complexity and insufficient government support in ERP implementation. The results of the study can be used by government authorities in their programs for innovative development and technical upgrading of the agriculture industry. © 2020 by author(s) and VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center.Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 19-41-000001, 19-41-000001, 19-41-000001, 19-41-000001Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 19-41-000001, 19-41-000001, 19-41-000001, 19-41-000001The reported study was funded by RFBR and Sverdlovsk region, project number 19-41-000001, Russian FederationThe reported study was funded by RFBR and Sverdlovsk region, project number 19-41-000001, Russian Federatio

Isolation of Mn(II), Fe(III), Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions on strongly acidic cation-exchange resins followed by determination of inorganic arsenic by anodic stripping voltammetry

The possibility of ion exchange technique with of IC-H Hypersep cartridge (Metrohm, Switzerland), sulfonated cation-exchange resins KU-2-8 (Russia) and Purolite C100 (UK) has been shown for ion separation of Mn (II), Fe(III), Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions from arsenite and arsenate ions. The conditions for ion-exchange removal of interfering cations in water when determining different arsenic(III, V) by stripping voltammetry have been optimized. The KU-2-8 cation-exchange resin based cartridge was found to be appropriate for use in the proposed sample preparation for water. The developed technique of analysis has been applied for the separated determination of inorganic arsenic forms in waters of different origin by anodic stripping voltammetry. The correctness of experimental results has been confirmed by the standard addition method

Investigation of acid-base and sorption properties of surface of metal-ceramic composites

The acid-base properties of the surface of composites based on boron, silicon, and sialon nitrides were investigated by the indicator method of Hammett and Tanabe with spectrophotometric indication. Identification of the surface sites of the composites under study was carried out. On the surface of composites based on boron and sialon nitrides the Lewis base sites dominate, while on the surface of samples based on silicon nitride the Brønsted acid sites. Sorption of dyes and oxalic acid by cermet materials was studied. It is shown that the adsorption activity depends on the nature and amount of surface active sites of the composites

Influence of probiоtic additive “Evitalia” on growth and blood indices of quails

The results of the studies on the determination of the optimal dose of the probiotic additive “Evitalia” (PAE) for the quails of the Texas breed have been presented in the article. The experiments were conducted on the quails aged 1–35 days. The object of the research was the probiotic additive “Evitalia” that consisted of eight components (the strains of lactic acidmicroorganisms, macro- and microelements). The subject of the investigation was the influence of PAE on the growth, preservation, the morphological composition and biochemical indices of blood. The studies were carried out in the following conditions of microclimate and sanitary regime: the air temperature in the pens-cages was 16–18 ºC in the autumn and winter period that was 5–7 ºC lower than it was provided by the standard; in spring the temperature was 23–15 ºС that was lower than it was provided by the standard (29–35 ºС). The concentration of carbon dioxide ranged within 0.20–0.25 % (2.0–2.5 l/m3), ammonia – 12–13.4 mg/m3, the general contamination of the air by microflora was 50–60 thousand KOE/m3. The experiments were conducted on the four groups of quails, 60 quails in each group. The quails of the control group were fed by water without PAE, the probiotic at the dose of 7 mg/500 ml of water was given to the quails of the experimental group 1 (E-1), 9 mg of probiotic/500 ml water received the birds of the experimental group 2 (E-2) and the quails of the experimental group 3 (E-3) were given the probiotic at the dose of 11 mg/500 ml water. The positive influence of the probiotic additive “Evitalia” on the growth and the body live weight gain of the quails was observedin the experimental groups as compared to the quails of the control group. The trustworthy increase in the growth and live weight gain of the quails was detected on the 7-, 14-, 21-, 35-day of their life (Р < 0.05), especially in the quails that received PAE at the dose of 9 mg (E-2). The quails of the experimental group 2 exceeded the others by the average daily live weight gains. The growth intensity of the quails in the experimental group 2 was 6.43 % higher than that of the control one, higher by 3.47 % and 5.57 % than in the experimental groups 1 and 3, respectively. The preservation of the quails in the control group was lower by 4.8 – 5.1 % as compared to the quails in the experimental groups. By the data on the growth of the body live weight, the composition and biochemical indices of blood of the quails it can be concluded that the optimal dose of the probioticadditive “Evitalia” is 9 mg/500 ml water that activates hematopoesis and stimulates the growth and development of quails

Investigation of supramolecular structure of the rare and rare-earth elements nanoparticles carrier when modified using microwave irradiation

In this paper, we present an IR and XRD study of the polypropylene fibrous nanoparticles carrier when its surface modified with rare and rare-earth elements nanoparticles using microwave irradiation, by the example of SnO2/TiO2 hetero-nanoparticles. The paper shows that the smectic mesomorph structure of the non-modified polypropylene fibrous carrier transforms into the monoclinic α-crystalline due to microwave irradiation. At the same time, the carrier material remains stereoregular and keeps its helical structure

Methods of the determination of inorganic arsenic species by stripping voltammetry in weakly alkaline media

Two methods are considered for the direct determination of trace amounts of As(III) and As(V) in solutions by stripping voltammetry (SVA) using an ensemble of gold microelectrodes (Au-MEA) previously developed by the authors of this paper. In both methods, analyzing a mixture of As(III) and As(V), analysts first record an SVA signal of As(III) in a supporting Na2SO3 electrolyte. To record an analytical SVA signal of As(V), in the first method one should use the reduction of As(V) to As(III) on the surface of an Au-MEA catalyzed by the system Mn(II)/Mn(0) and followed by the formation of As(0) and its anode dissolution. In the second method, the photoreduction of As(V) to As(III) in a Na2SO3 solution is conducted under UV irradiation followed by the reduction of As(III) to As(0) and its electrooxidation on Au-MEA. The two methods are compared taking into account their performance characteristics and interfering ions. To improve the reliability of the results of analysis at an insignificant increase in its cost, we propose the consecutive use of both methods. The procedures are simple and rapid, do not require the removal of dissolved oxygen or toxic reactants, and can be used for the analysis of aqueous solutions at the place of sampling. The results of analyses of real objects, snow, river water, and process solutions are presented