Employment as a factor increasing the population well-being in a social market economy

The paper infers competiveness of a national economy in connection with the country’s capacity to provide sufficient and sustainable employment. The author argues the importance of reverse link that goes from sustainable employment and well-being in a country to competiveness of national economy. It is concluded that active social policy is important tool in providing impulses to competitiveness of economy,Competitiveness, employment, life quality, social policy, profits, welfare., Labor and Human Capital, H30, I38,

Is eastern Mongolia drying? A long-term perspective of a multidecadal trend

Temperatures in semiarid Mongolia have rapidly risen over the past few decades, and increases in drought, urban development, mining, and agriculture have intensified demands on limited water resources. Understanding long-term streamflow variation is critical for Mongolia, particularly if alterations in streamflow are being considered and because of the potential negative impacts of drought on the animal agriculture sector. Here, we present a temporally and spatially improved streamflow reconstruction for the Kherlen River. We have added 11 new records in comparison with two in the original 2001 reconstruction. This new reconstruction extends from 1630 to 2007 and places the most recent droughts in a multicentennial perspective. We find that variations in streamflow have been much greater in the past than in the original study. There was higher variability in the mid to late 1700s, ranging from severe and extended drought conditions from 1723 to 1739 and again in 1768–1778 to two decadal length episodes of very wet conditions in the mid 1700s and late 1700s. Reduced amplitude is seen in the mid-1800s, and several pluvial events are reconstructed for the 1900s. Although recent droughts are severe and disturbing economic and ecological systems in Mongolia and it appears that eastern Mongolia is drying, the drying trend since the late 1900s might in fact be accentuated by a change from a particularly wet era in Mongolia. The recent drought might be a return to more characteristic hydroclimatic conditions of the past four centuries in Mongolia

A moving grid finite element method applied to a model biological pattern generator

Many problems in biology involve growth. In numerical simulations it can therefore be very convenient to employ a moving computational grid on a continuously deforming domain. In this paper we present a novel application of the moving grid finite element method to compute solutions of reaction–diffusion systems in two-dimensional continuously deforming Euclidean domains. A numerical software package has been developed as a result of this research that is capable of solving generalised Turing models for morphogenesis

Diverging climate trends in Mongolian taiga forests influence growth and regeneration of Larix sibirica

Central and semiarid north-eastern Asia was subject to twentieth century warming far above the global average. Since forests of this region occur at their drought limit, they are particularly vulnerable to climate change. We studied the regional variations of temperature and precipitation trends and their effects on tree growth and forest regeneration in Mongolia. Tree-ring series from more than 2,300 trees of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) collected in four regions of Mongolia’s forest zone were analyzed and related to available weather data. Climate trends underlie a remarkable regional variation leading to contrasting responses of tree growth in taiga forests even within the same mountain system. Within a distance of a few hundred kilometers (140–490 km), areas with recently reduced growth and regeneration of larch alternated with regions where these parameters remained constant or even increased. Reduced productivity could be correlated with increasing summer temperatures and decreasing precipitation; improved growth conditions were found at increasing precipitation, but constant summer temperatures. An effect of increasing winter temperatures on tree-ring width or forest regeneration was not detectable. Since declines of productivity and regeneration are more widespread in the Mongolian taiga than the opposite trend, a net loss of forests is likely to occur in the future, as strong increases in temperature and regionally differing changes in precipitation are predicted for the twenty-first century

Employment as a factor increasing the population well-being in a social market economy

The paper infers competiveness of a national economy in connection with the country’s capacity to provide sufficient and sustainable employment. The author argues the importance of reverse link that goes from sustainable employment and well-being in a country to competiveness of national economy. It is concluded that active social policy is important tool in providing impulses to competitiveness of economy

Corporate social responsibility: a study of Kazakhstan corporate sector

Purpose – The main purpose of this research is to know the attitudinal displays of Kazakhstan companies towards corporate social responsibility. Apart from this, the paper also seeks to analyze the opinions of Kazakh employees, customers and the general public about their companies' socially responsible actions. Design/methodology/approach – After a thorough revision of the relevant literature on corporate social responsibility, through well structured questionnaires and informal personal interviews with 50 Kazakh companies from both manufacturing and service sectors' concerned officials, the study analyzed CSR towards Kazakh owners or shareholders, employees, customers, creditors and suppliers, general public or community at large and government. To cross-validate, the paper also carried out a separate survey to collect the opinions of 100 employees, 100 customers, and 100 members of the general public. These collected data were analyzed by using SPSS and Microsoft Excel software packages. Findings – Kazakhstan companies conveyed a difference of opinion in almost every stakeholder area because of the present day economic crunch. Related to consumers, only 68 percent of companies recognized the provision of effective after-sales service and 62 percent only promised to extend courteous service. Most importantly, only 58 percent of the Kazakh business community acknowledged following a fair trade policy. Related to the cross-validation part, a meagre 8.57 percent of employees were not content with companies' policies, 12.86 percent of customers thought they were exploited and another 11.20 percent of the general public were not pleased with the social actions of Kazakh companies. Practical implications – The study presents required information relating to Kazakhstan companies about the expectations of different stakeholders regarding revising their existing plans, policies, strategies and programs for maintaining healthy and affable relations. Originality/value – The research paper provides a strong information base for both Kazakh companies and academicians to understand the various expectations of all the key interest groups in general and employees, customers and the general public in particular.Corporate image, Customers, Employees, Kazakhstan, Social responsibility