’Does country-of-origin matter in the era of globalisation? Evidence from cross sectional data in Uzbekistan

To examine the consistency over time of customer attitude towards country-of-origin in a transitional economy. A single cross-sectional study in Uzbekistan was carried out, with n=527, consisting of 374 street and 153 online surveys, replicating a study carried out 20 years earlier. Whilst consumers still perceive products from advanced countries to have higher quality, quality perception in relation to country-of-origin information is dynamic, and transitional countries can improve the perception of consumers towards their national brands. This study was carried out in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the most populous of the Central Asian republics. Researchers may wish to extend it by examining COO effects in other transitional economies, and additionally to examine the effect of country-of-brand origin. Customer perceptions and attitudes take a long time to evolve. This cross-sectional study showed that the COO perception of China has improved significantly and the perception towards the products produced locally in Uzbekistan has also slightly improved across all categories. Strong brands can contribute to the image of the country. Transition countries need to take appropriate marketing actions to cultivate positive perception through innovation and branding. Prior research has been extended by adding new product categories such as mobile phones, computers, washing machines and air conditioners. This research shows that government officials and exporters in developing countries should prioritise strengthening their country’s image to help domestic marketers export and attract foreign investors. We provide insights for marketers to understand the impact of product country-of-origin on customer purchase intention and its antecedents in transitional economies such as Uzbekistan

Providing Investment Security as an Essential Function of the State

ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ КАК ОСНОВНАЯ ФУНКЦИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВА Безопасность инвестиций - неотъемлемая часть, важнейший элемент эко- номической безопасности. «Экономическая безопасность любого государства ха- рактеризуется наличием стабильного дохода и резервов, позволяющих поддержи- вать достаточно высокий уровень жизни на современном уровне и в обозримом бу- дущем» Поэтому в данной статье исследуются текущие условия, связанные с эко- номическими ценными бумагами, и реформы, направленные на увеличение инвести- ционных ценных бумаг. Согласно полученным результатам, улучшение делового и инвестиционного климата, развитие институциональной среды играют важную роль в обеспечении инвестиционной безопасности.Секция 3_РАЗВИТИЕ МИРОВОГО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РЫНКА НА СОВРЕМЕННОМ ЭТАПЕ. РАЗВИТИЕ ИНСТИТУТОВ ФИНАНСОВОГО ПОСРЕДНИЧЕСТВАСборник включен в Государственный регистр информационного ресурса. Регистрационное свидетельство № 3061815625 от 23.05.2018

Оборудование и технология для внутрипочвенного орошения интенсивных садов в Бухарской области Республики Узбекистан

Experience shows that for the irrigation of intensive gardens, various types of equipment and technologies are used, such as continuous irrigation (invasive), drip irrigation, subsurface irrigation and other methods. All irrigation options have some shortcomings, such as water evaporation, high water consumption, high consumption of mineral fertilizers and energy. (Research purpose) To develop an automated system for subsurface irrigation of intensive gardens with groundwater using electric pumps and solar panels, and to create a mathematical model of soil moisture distribution. (Materials and methods) Special devices shaped as pegs were designed to supply water with dissolved mineral fertilizers directly into the root system of intensive gardens. The authors investigated the pegs’ geometric parameters and the criteria for their placement in the soil, taking into account the consumption of water and nutrients. The authors examined soil mechanical composition and salinity as well as its physical and mechanical, technological properties. (Results and discussion) It was found out that the installation of the peg facilitates soil moisturizing through the central pipeline within the radius of 1.55-1.75 meters at the depth of 0.7-0.9 meters. Three-four pegs, being equidistant from each other and inclined in relation to the vertical axis by 20-30 degrees, were placed around a tree. Water consumption was determined for various irrigation methods: for furrow irrigation (control) – 1125.7 cubic meters per hectare, for continuous irrigation (invasive) – 1812.3 cubic meters per hectare, for drip irrigation – 618.6 and subsurface irrigation – 506.4 cubic meters per hectare. (Conclusions) Based on the results of the experimental study carried out in farms with intensive gardens using various irrigation methods, continuous irrigation (invasive), drip irrigation and subsurface irrigation were compared in terms of water consumption. The results show that drip irrigation and subsurface irrigation ensure less water consumption than flood irrigation, by 46 per cent and 57 per cent respectively. It was found out that subsurface irrigation ensures 57 per cent water and 25-35 per cent mineral fertilizer economy, in comparison with the other methods of providing trees with water and nutrients.Показали, что для обеспечения интенсивных садов водой применяют различные технологии: бороздковый полив, капельное или внутрипочвенное орошение. Отметили среди недостатков во всех вариантах большой расход воды, минеральных удобрений и энергии. (Цель исследования) Разработать автоматизированную систему внутрипочвенного орошения интенсивных садов грунтовыми водами с помощью электронасосов и с использованием солнечных батарей, а также создать математическую модель распределения почвенной влаги. (Материалы и методы) Создали специальные устройства в виде колышков для подачи воды с растворенными в ней минеральными удобрениями прямо в корневую систему интенсивных садов. Исследовали их геометрические параметры и критерии размещения в почве с учетом расхода воды и питательных веществ. Изучили физико-механические, технологические свойства, механический состав и засоленость почвы. (Результаты и обсуждение) Показали, что при установке разработанного колышка обеспечивается увлажнение почвы через центральный трубопровод в радиусе 1,55-1,75 метра на глубине 0,7-0,9 метра. Разместили вокруг дерева 3-4 колышка, равноудаленных друг от друга, с наклоном по отношению к вертикальной оси на 20-30 градусов. Определили расход воды при различных способах орошения: при бороздковом поливе (контроль) – 1125,7 кубометра на гектар, при капельном орошении – 618,6 и внутрипочвенном – 506,4 кубометра на гектар. (Выводы) Определили, что  внутрипочвенное орошение, по сравнению с другими способами обеспечения деревьев водой и питательными веществами, способствует экономии воды на 57 процентов, минеральных удобрений на 25-35 процентов.  

Potato digger with latticed plowshares and oscillating rods

The process of digging potatoes is characterized by high energy costs due to the interaction of the potato digger's plowshares with the tuber-bearing soil layer. The study aims to substantiate the parameters of potato digger's lattice plowshare. In the proposed potato digger, the plowshare is made latticed and equipped with oscillating rods. This potato digger has a mechanism for transmitting torque to oscillating rods. The experiments were carried out using a special laboratory-field installation. Various lattice plowshares were manufactured, and single-factor experiments were carried out. During the experiments, the degree of damage and loss of the tuber and the traction resistance potato digger were taken as evaluation criteria. The results of experimental studies to determine the parameters of plowshare are presented. It is established that the optimal design scheme for a potato digger consists of torque transmission mechanisms, lattice plowshares, and forcibly oscillating rods. As a result, theoretical studies, analytical dependencies, and mathematical models were obtained to determine the parameters of a lattice plowshare. Studies have established that to destroy the tuber formation to the required extent with minimal damage and loss of tuber, as well as energy costs, the width lattice plowshare should be 55 cm, the angle plowshare installation relative to the horizon is 22°, the length plowshare is 38 cm, and the width gap between the bars is 3 cm

The New White Flight

White charter school enclaves—defined as charter schools located in school districts that are thirty percent or less white, but that enroll a student body that is fifty percent or greater white— are emerging across the country. The emergence of white charter school enclaves is the result of a sobering and ugly truth: when given a choice, white parents as a collective tend to choose racially segregated, predominately white schools. Empirical research supports this claim. Empirical research also demonstrates that white parents as a collective will make that choice even when presented with the option of a more racially diverse school that is of good academic quality. Despite the connection between collective white parental choice and school segregation, greater choice continues to be injected into the school assignment process. School choice assignment policies, particularly charter schools, are proliferating at a substantial rate. As a result, parental choice rather than systemic design is creating new patterns of racial segregation and inequality in public schools. Yet the Supreme Court’s school desegregation jurisprudence insulates racial segregation in schools ostensibly caused by parental choice rather than systemic design from regulation. Consequently, the new patterns of racial segregation in public schools caused by collective white parental choice largely escapes regulation by courts. This article argues that the time has come to reconsider the legal and normative viability of regulating racial segregation in public schools caused by collective white parental choice. The article makes two important contributions to the legal literature on school desegregation. First, using white charter school enclaves as an example, it documents the ways in which school choice policies are being used to allow whites as a collective to satisfy their preference for segregated predominately white schools. Second, the article sets forth both constitutional and normative arguments for regulating the private choices that result in stark racial segregation patterns in public schools

Study of stability of aluminide coating on hastelloy G35 in potassium chloroaluminate melt

The process of aluminizing was studied by the method of thermodiffusion saturation with mechanical activation of the surface. Corrosion tests of structural elements of the equipment were carried out. © 2021 Author(s).Russian Foundation for Basic Research, РФФИ, (20-03-00207)Russian Science Foundation, RSF, (17-73-20024)Funding: This research was funded by Russian Science Foundation (optimization of the DNA sensor design and doxorubicin measurements), grant number 17-73-20024, and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (electropolymerization from the surface layer of the suspension formed by carbon materials), grant number 20-03-00207

INITIAL LENGTH SCALE ESTIMATE FOR WAVEGUIDES WITH SOME RANDOM SINGULAR POTENTIALS

Abstract. In this work we consider three examples of random singular perturbations in multi-dimensional models of waveguides. These perturbations are described by a large potential supported on a set of a small measure, by a compactly supported fast oscillating potential, and by a delta-potential. In all cases we prove initial length scale estimate

Substitution, Elimination, and Integration of Methyl Groups in Terpenes Initiated by C–H Bond Functionalization

Methyl groups are ubiquitous in natural products and biologically active compounds, but methods for their selective transformation in such structures are limited. For example, terpenoids contain many methyl groups, due to their biosynthetic pathways, but few reactions of these groups in such structures have been reported. We demonstrate that the combination of methyl C-H silylation and oxidation proximal to native hydroxyl or carbonyl groups occurs in a range of terpenoids and show that the installed hydroxyl group serves as a toehold to enable substitution, elimination, or integration of the methyl carbon into the terpenoid skeleton by the cleavage of C-C bonds. In one case, substitution of the entire methyl group occurs by further oxidation and decarboxylative coupling. In a second, substitution of the methyl group with hydrogen occurs by photochemical hydrodecarboxylation or epimerization by retro-Claisen condensation. In a third, photocatalytic decarboxyolefination formally eliminates methane from the starting structure to generate a terminal olefin for further transformations. Finally, a Dowd-Beckwith-type rearrangement cleaves a nearby C-C bond and integrates the methyl group into a ring, forming derivatives with unusual and difficult-to-access expanded rings. This strategy to transform a methyl group into a synthon marks a distinct approach to restructuring the skeletons of complex architectures and adding functional groups relevant to medicinal chemistry

The effect of clay minerals on in-situ leaching of uranium

In recent years, with the development of techniques and methods for in-situ leaching (ISL), additional uranium extraction from previously worked-out blocks is becoming not only relevant, but also quite achievable. In this case, the extraction of residual uranium reserves from previously worked-out blocks does not require additional costs for the necessary infrastructure. One of the most important factors in the formation of residual uranium reserves in worked-out blocks is the presence of clay minerals in the ore horizon. In this regard, we conducted a number of studies on the adverse and positive effects of clay minerals on ISL process. Water permeability and relatively good filtration (not less than 0.5–1 m/day) of ores and rocks of a productive horizon (aquifer) is the most important hydrogeological factors affecting the performance of uranium ISL. The second most important hydrogeological factor is the lack of fluid communication between the productive aquifer and nonproductive aquifers, i.e., the obligatory presence of aquicludes. The role of clays in these hydrogeological factors is twofold. On the one hand, the presence of clays negatively affects both the solutions filtration rate and uranium extraction. On the other hand, the presence of clay minerals (forming an aquiclude) enhances the effect of ISL. The study findings allowed the role of clay minerals in uranium ISL to be assessed. The diffusion coefficients of nitrate ions in the clays were determined, and the protective effect of aquicludes was calculated. The effect of the clay content in the ore sand horizon on the solutions filtration coefficients was also established. The static uranium exchange capacity of clays was determined by studying the process of uranium sorption by clay samples from sulfate and bicarbonate solutions. The studies established the diffusion coefficients of nitrate ions in montmorillonite and kaolinite clays, which amounted to 3.34 10−6 and 2.14 · 10−6 cm2/s. Taking into account the calculated values of diffusion coefficients, the protective time of the clayey aquiclude for nitrate ions was 43 years. At 20 % clay minerals content, the solution filtration coefficient decreases to values where ISL conditions become unfavorable. It was found experimentally that the sorption of uranium by clay minerals depends on both the nature of the clays and the composition of the solution. Uranium sorption from sulfate solutions proceeds noticeably better than that from bicarbonate solutions. The highest values of the static uranium exchange capacity were obtained for bentonite (104 mg/g)

Emergence of Spacetime

Starting from a background Zero Point Field (or Dark Energy) we show how an array of oscillators at the Planck scale leads to the formation of elementary particles and spacetime and also to a cosmology consistent with latest observations.Comment: Latex, 39 page