Grounds for the Selection of Funding Models for a Modern Social Security System

This article defines the major requirements that theselection of a funding model for a modern social security systemshould satisfy. The objective of the study is to reveal the majorprinciples and rules that should underlie the development of thefunding system. A series of conclusions have been formulated,that might be of interest for the future improvement of theorganization and management of the social security syste

The Paradigmatic Approach in Political Historiography – Nature and Solutions

The present essay aims to contribute to the contemporary debate on what the most appropriate approach for political historiography is. In it, three approaches are outlined as the most influential and widespread today: philosophico-methodological historicism, contextualism, and the paradigmatic approach. The paradigmatic approach is investigated with respect to its nature, contents and heuristic parameters, and the legitimacy of its application is explained. The defining feature of this approach is that it presents the development of political thought as a progressive three-stage dialectical and logical process of “overcoming” the “outdated” and establishing new paradigms. The implementation of the paradigmatic approach in political historiography allows the coming of new political doctrines to be seen as the expression of the requirements set by the existing political paradigm in a given historical period and not as the effect of chance or divine inspiration

Development of the Pension System in Bulgaria in the Context of a Modern Market Economy

The current article explains the nature and analyzesthe status of the pension system in Bulgaria. It distinguishesbetween the positive and negative features arising as anaftermath of the reform conducted in 2000. It also outlines theprospects for the development of the system in the future

Development of new processes to protect zinc against corrosion, suitable for on-site use

Protection against corrosion of metals is well known as an important issue in numerous fields. In all cases, the improvement of durability of these metals has to be connected to the development of environmentally friendly processes. Sol–gel protective coatings have shown excellent chemical stability and enhanced corrosion resistance for zinc substrates. Further, the sol–gel method, used as technique of surface protection, showed the potential for the replacement of toxic pre-treatments. This paper highlights the recent developments and applications of silane based sol–gel coatings on zinc substrates. Then, the challenges for industrial transfer of the developed process are also discussed because this process presents a disadvantage for on-site use, which is the too time-consuming thermal treatment. So, the goal of this study was to determine the convenient experimental conditions to reduce the duration of heat treatment of the hybrid sol–gel layer, compatible with the severe industrial requirements, without reducing the protection against corrosion. To reach this objective, a correlation between the results of chemical analyses and the protection against corrosion efficiency was established

Universities’ enrollment challenge: The role of corporate image in higher education

This paper focuses on gathering information regarding the importance of the university image for students and its influence on student satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions. Consequently, the main aim of the paper is to evaluate whether the corporate image of a particular higher education institution affects students’ satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions. The results of the MANOVA analysis show a significant correlation between corporate image and satisfaction, explaining that corporate image influences satisfaction among students. Without any doubt, as confirmed in this paper, the corporate image construct has a strong and remarkable influence on satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions of students. Having in mind the importance of the corporate image construct, it is proven to be a strong antecedent for all three determinants, satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions, whose positive effect is crucial for the survival of the universities worldwide, which presents the main practical contribution of the paper

Universities’ enrollment challenge: The role of corporate image in higher education

This paper focuses on gathering information regarding the importance of the university image for students and its influence on student satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions. Consequently, the main aim of the paper is to evaluate whether the corporate image of a particular higher education institution affects students’ satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions. The results of the MANOVA analysis show a significant correlation between corporate image and satisfaction, explaining that corporate image influences satisfaction among students. Without any doubt, as confirmed in this paper, the corporate image construct has a strong and remarkable influence on satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions of students. Having in mind the importance of the corporate image construct, it is proven to be a strong antecedent for all three determinants, satisfaction, loyalty and enrollment intentions, whose positive effect is crucial for the survival of the universities worldwide, which presents the main practical contribution of the paper

Sol-Gel Routes to Replace Chromate Based Treatments for Protection Against Zinc Corrosion

Regarding the environmental consciousness and requirements relative to industrial processes, researchers and end users have to move to more green surface treatments. That is why, the use of toxic compounds such as chromates must be strictly prohibited. So, in order to replace this element preserving an efficient protection against corrosion of metals, a new route using sol-gel process clearly appears as a promising alternative method. In this paper, we investigated three different sol-gel systems in various media (alcohol and/or water) and compared their efficiency in terms of protection against corrosion and environmentally friendliness. Thus, industrial normalized corrosion test and electrochemical analyses such as polarisation curves and EIS measurements were carried out in order to both evaluate and discuss coatings behaviour in corrosive environment

Influence of casting temperature on microstructures and mechanical properties of Cu50Zr45.5Ti2.5Y2 metallic glass prepared using copper mold casting [+ Erratum]

We investigated the influence of casting temperatures on microstructures and mechanical properties of rapidly solidified Cu50Zr45.5Ti2.5Y2 alloy. With casting temperatures increasing, the content of the crystalline phase decreases. At high casting temperature, i.e., 1723 K, glass forming ability (GFA) of the present alloy enhanced. It is implied that adjusting casting temperatures could be used for designing the microstructures of bulk metallic glass matrix composite (BMGC). Nano-indentation tests indicated that CuZr phases is a little softer and can accommodate more plastic deformation than the amorphous matrix. Compression tests confirmed that this kind of the second phase (CuZr) precipitated under lower casting temperatures helps to initiate multiple shear bands, resulting in great improvement of mechanical properties of the samples. Our work indicate that casting temperatures lead a great influence on GFA, microstructures and mechanical properties of rapidly solidified alloy and controlling casting temperatures is crucial to the application of BMGs