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We develop a model where persistent trade shocks create demand for a basket- backed stablecoin, such as Mark Carney's "synthetic hegemonic currency" or Facebook's recent proposal for Libra. In numerical simulations, we find four main results. First, because of general equilibrium effects of the basket currency on the volatility of currency values, overall demand for that currency is small. Second, despite scant holdings of the basket, its global reach may contribute to substantial increases in welfare if the basket is widely accepted, allowing it to complement holdings of sovereign currencies. Third, we calculate the welfare maximizing composition of the basket, finding that optimal weights depend on the pattern of international acceptance, but that basket composition does not significantly affect welfare. Fourth, despite potential welfare improvements, low demand for the basket currency from buyers limits sellers' incentives to invest in accepting it, suggesting that fears of a so-called global stablecoin replacing domestic sovereign currencies may be overstated.

We consider a stochastic EOQ-type model, with demand operating in a two-state random environment. This environment alternates between exponentially distributed periods of high demand and generally distributed periods of low demand. The inventory level starts at some level q, and decreases according to different compound Poisson processes during the periods of high demand and of low demand. Refilling of the inventory level to level q is required when level 0 is hit or when an expiration date is reached, whichever comes first. If such an event occurs during a high demand period, an order is instantaneously placed; otherwise, ordering is postponed until the beginning of the next high demand period. We determine various performance measures of interest, like the distribution of the inventory level at time t and of the inventory demand up to time t, the distribution of the time until refilling is required, the expected time between two refillings, the expected amount of discarded material and the expected total amount of material held in between two refillings, and the expected values of various kinds of shortages. For a given cost/revenue structure, we can thus determine the long-run average profit.

Motivated by recent advances in Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology for household appliances, we analyze a Smart Replenishment system that leverages point-of-consumption (POC) information at end consumers to decide on deliveries of consumables. As such, we extend the classic Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) concept to end consumers. We model the system for a single manufacturer who directly serves N end consumers with uncertain demand. End consumers partially adopt the new Smart Replenishment mode, which results in a mix of VMI and non-VMI customers. We assume that unfulfilled demand is lost and that the manufacturer’s dispatch capacity is constrained. Customers compete for the same capacity while featuring different out-of-stock risks and service-level expectations, both of which are costly to the manufacturer. Considering various adoption levels, we decide on the design of such a system and focus on (i) inventory control, (ii) customer prioritization, and (iii) degree of smart, integrated decision-making. Using discrete-event simulation and a full-factorial experiment, we show that replenishment decisions can be significantly enhanced with POC information. It leads to substantial improvements in service levels and capacity utilization without loading customers with inventories. This improvement potential is highest for a low demand coverage of the replenishment quantity, a high gap in the ordering behavior of manufacturer and end consumers, and a long lead time. To realize this improvement potential, we propose a flexible reorder corridor to manage inventories at VMI customers that balances the trade-off between out-of-stock risk and service-level expectation inherent in the system.

Firms typically introduce online promotional channels based on the cooperative format of agency selling or reselling to promote end-of-season products. The selection of the agency selling or reselling format is greatly affected by a firm’s pricing timing between traditional and online promotional channels, particularly in an uncertain market. Within this context, we examine how the pricing timings in an online promotional channel relative to a traditional channel impact a firm’s selection between agency selling and reselling formats in an uncertain market. We find that the promotional pricing timings have no effect on the firm’s price decisions under the agency selling format, whereas they might lead to downward prices under the reselling format—even lower than those under the agency selling format. We show that considering promotional pricing timing in an uncertain market fundamentally changes the general intuition that the firm prefers the agency selling to reselling format due to the double-marginalization effect. Specifically, the reselling format might be more profitable for the firm when it sets traditional-channel promotional price prior to introducing the online promotional channel in an optimistic market (i.e., a market more likely to have high demand) or adopts the opposite promotional pricing timing of channels in a pessimistic market (i.e., a market more likely to have low demand). Our findings complement the emerging online retail literature by underscoring the interacting forces of promotional pricing timing and uncertain demand on a firm’s reselling versus agency selling format choice in promoting end-of-season product online.

This work has dealt with a market to market coordination (M2M) with higher PV penetrations in a market. Recent developments of renewable penetrations in the electricity grid have caused excess power generation during the peak hours of availability and low demand i.e. during mid-day. Financial analysis i.e. generation costs, locational marginal prices (LMPs), and financial transmission rights (FTRs); along with carbon trading in M2M using different interconnection topologies have been analyzed. Carbon trading agreements allow for the trade of credits to emit CO2 or tax the CO2 emissions comprising international agreements intended to cut down the total greenhouse gases. The obtained test results show that the direct interconnections of identified PV units to Identified Load buses have provided a better economy and have saved higher carbon emissions for the M2M interconnections.

El Ecuador es uno de los países que encabeza la lista de las exportaciones de flores, puesto que es un país netamente agrícola, consolidándose este sector como uno de los rubros más significativos para el ingreso de divisas al país. Ecuador es el tercer país exportador de flores a nivel mundial satisfaciendo el 9,7% de la demanda global de flores. Es por ello que el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar los efectos del COVID-19, mediante un estudio comparativo de las exportaciones florícolas para conocer el impacto financiero en el periodo Enero-octubre de 2019 a enero-octubre de 2020. La presente investigación emplea una metodología cualitativa debido a que utilizamos referencias bibliográficas de varios autores para fundamentar la investigación, además se recopilo datos de las exportaciones florícolas para comprobar los efectos del Covid-19 en este sector. De los datos obtenidos tuvimos como resultado que el sector florícola tuvo una disminución de las exportaciones de flores de 7,39% en 2020 en comparación con el año anterior, esto se debe a la crisis económica ocasionada por la pandemia mundial por la escasa demanda, además de la paralización de las jornadas laborales y los cierres de mercados.

Актуальность. Изучение возможности комплексной переработки углей Беринговского каменноугольного бассейна на предмет извлечения различных элементов-примесей вызвано необходимостью повышения уровня экономического развития и безопасности Чукотского автономного округа. Это особенно важно в контексте его географического расположения в районе Крайнего Севера и труднодоступности. В настоящее время из-за довольно высокой себестоимости добычи и повышенной зольности (до 30 %) угли нижних пачек месторождения "Фандюшкинское поле" пользуются небольшим спросом на рынке, хотя составляют значительную часть запасов. Потенциальная возможность оценки данных углей еще и с точки зрения наличия попутных полезных компонентов могла бы увеличить ценность добываемого сырья. Цель: определить перспективность территории на предмет повышенных содержаний элементов-примесей и выявить направления дальнейших исследований. Объекты: Беринговский каменноугольный бассейн, угленосные отложения позднемелового возраста Алькатваамского угленосного района, месторождение "Фандюшкинское поле" и его фланги. Методы: отбор проб, построение литологических колонок и разрезов, инструментальный нейтронно-активационный анализ. Результаты. Дана геохимическая характеристика углей месторождения "Фандюшкинское поле" (Алькатваамский угленосный район, Чукотский автономный округ) на основе данных, полученных с помощью инструментального нейтронноактивационного анализа. Установлено, что в углях месторождения «Фандюшкинсоке поле» Беринговского каменноугольного бассейна и его флангов концентрации цинка, стронция, гафния, скандия и редкоземельных элементов находятся на уровне минимально-промышленных содержаний в известных типах руд. Данные о содержании некоторых элементов-примесей в углях изученного месторождения публикуются впервые. Relevance. The study of possibility of complex processing of coals of Bering coal basin for extracting rare metals and various trace elements is caused by the necessity of economic development and improvement of security of the Chukotka Autonomous Region. This is especially important in the context of its geographical location in the Far North and its poor accessibility. Nowadays, due to their relatively high cost of production and increased ash-content (up to 30 %), the coals of the lower members of the Fandyushkinskoe Pole coal deposit are in low demand in the market, although they make up a significant part of the reserves. The potential opportunity to evaluate these coals also for presence of useful additional elements could increase the value of the extracted raw materials. The aim of the research is to determine the prospects of the territory from the point of view of increased content of trace elements and to identify the areas for the further research. Objects: the Bering coal basin, Late Cretaceous coal deposits of the Alkatvaam coal-bearing region, the Fandyushkinskoe Pole coal deposit and its flanks. Methods: samples collection, construction of lithological columns and sections, instrumental neutron activation analysis. Results. The authors have given the geochemical characteristics of the coals of the Fandyushkinskoe Pole coal deposit (the Alkatvaam coal-bearing region, the Chukotka Autonomous Region) based on the data obtained by instrumental neutron activation analysis. It was discovered that in the coals of the Fandyushkinskoe Pole field deposit of the Bering coal basin and its flanks, concentrations of zinc, strontium, hafnium, scandium and rare earth elements can be at the level of minimum industrial grade in identified types of ores. The data on content of some trace elements in coals of the studied deposit are published for the first time.

In a probabilistic inference task (three probabilistic cues predict outcomes for two options), we examined decisions from 233 children (5–6 vs. 9–10 years). Contiguity (low vs. high; i.e., position of probabilistic information far vs. close to options) and demand for selectivity (low vs. high; i.e., showing predictions of desired vs. desired and undesired outcomes) were varied as configural aspects of the presentation format. Probability utilization was measured by the frequency of following the predictions of the highest validity cue in choice. High contiguity and low demand for selectivity strongly and moderately increased probability utilization, respectively. Children are influenced by presentation format when using probabilities as decision weights. They benefit from perception-like presentations that present probabilities and options as compounds. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13421-020-01127-0.

INTRODUÇÃO: A Síndrome de Burnout (SB) é uma condição de estresse crônico associada ao trabalho composto por três dimensões: exaustão emocional, despersonalização e redução da realização profissional. Profissionais atuantes nos Núcleos Ampliados de Apoio à Saúde da Família (NASF-AB) e Atenção Básica são expostos as vulnerabilidades do SUS, inseguranças e conflitos que podem levá-lo ao esgotamento profissional. OBJETIVO: Investigar a prevalência da SB em profissionais de saúde que atuam no NASF-AB de Teresina/PI, nos anos de 2018 e 2019. MÉTODOS: Trata-se de um estudo transversal, quantitativo com aplicação de questionários, conduzido com 13 profissionais atuantes no NASF-AB. Para coleta de dados e investigação foram aplicados três questionários: o primeiro referente a variáveis sociodemográficas; o segundo foi a versão reduzida do questionário Job Stress Scale (JSS); e por fim, o questionário Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) RESULTADOS: A maioria dos profissionais era do sexo feminino (92,3%) e possuíam idade ? 35 anos. Na aplicação do JSS, 7 (53,8%) apresentaram alta demanda e 6 (46,2%) baixa demanda; 8 (61,5%) alto controle e 5 (38,5%) baixo controle; 9 (69,2%) alto apoio social e 4 (30,8%) baixo apoio social. No MBI, 10 profissionais (76,9%) apresentaram elevado nível de exaustão emocional, apesar disso 11 profissionais (84,6%) mostraram-se realizados profissionalmente e todos os entrevistados (100%) obtiveram baixa despersonalização. CONCLUSÃO: No estudo não foi possível verificar com precisão a prevalência da SB nos profissionais. No entanto, pode-se concluir que tais profissionais apresentam um grande risco de desenvolverem a SB, por apresentaram níveis elevados de Demanda e Exaustão Emocional, nos questionários JSS e MBI respectivamente.

The pricing mechanism in the gasoline market has often been the subject of public debate in Greece during the crisis years. Inefficient pricing could imply oligopolistic practices and losses to consumers’ welfare. A way to test for inefficient pricing, is by testing for asymmetries in the adjustment of domestic gasoline prices to world oil price changes. The present paper tests for asymmetric adjustment of gasoline prices to oil price variations in the Greek market and examines whether the structural reforms that took place in the post-2010 period had any impact on the functioning of the market. The analysis applies a consistent threshold cointegration technique and makes use of the most recent observations at the lowest frequency available. The results provide evidence in favour of symmetric behaviour, just for the recent period. This may reflect competitive behaviour by suppliers who had to interact in a new institutional framework following the reforms.

Previous research has shown that co-location of operators dependent on each other for task-relevant information can relieve the previously identified bottleneck of information between the Sonar Control (SOC) and Operations Officer (OPSO) in submarine sound and control rooms. This research aimed to examine the impact of a novel inwards facing circular configuration on communications and tasks within a co-located control room. Ten teams participated in high and low demand Return to Periscope Depth scenarios in a simulated submarine control room. All communications between operators were recorded and compared with a baseline study of contemporary operation. The findings show that the novel circular configuration led to a reduction in communications, but an increase in information shared. Indicating that the teams had become more efficient at passing relevant information. Furthermore, teams were able to complete a greater number of tasks.

Fasika Berhanu Tola,1 Gizachew Tilahun Anbessa,2 Berhan Begashaw Yikna3 1Curative and Rehabilitative Core Process Section, Dire Dawa City Administrative Health Bureau, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia; 2School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Science, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; 3Department of Pharmacy, College of Health Science, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Berhan Begashaw Yikna Tel +251-919-365-179Email berhan.uog1912@gmail.comBackground: Health facilities (HFs) need extensive ranges of anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs and related TB laboratory commodities (LCs) for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of TB and multi-drug-resistance (MDR)-TB. This study was aimed to assess anti-TB commodities management performance at public HFs of Dire Dawa city administration, Ethiopia.Methods: A cross-sectional study design in 16 HFs providing TB and MDR-TB related service using quantitative and qualitative method was conducted. Semi-structured questionnaires and observation checklists with logistic indicators assessment tools were used to collect data. We used an in-depth interview and analyzed using a thematic approach. Quantitative data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and transported to SPSS version 20 to analyze the results. Chi-square was used to test the association and a P-value< 0.05 was statistically significant.Results: The majority(13; 81.3%) of HFs used a health commodity management information system. Forty-two (40%) bin cards (BCs) for first line anti-TB drugs were not updated, while 62.5% of BCs were updated for second line drugs. On average, 43% of HFs accurately reported a report and requisition format (RRF) had significant association with the presence of a logistic management information system (LMIS) and standard operating procedure (P=0.019). Of the HFs, 50% had good storage conditions and guidelines (P=0.041). Regimen change (56.3%; P=0.035), receive near expiry (56.3%; P=0.035), and defective practice to first expired-first-out (50%; P=0.007) were reasons for wastages. About 50% and 66.6% of HFs were stocked out for isoniazid 300 mg, rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide (RHZ fixed dose), and ethambutol 400 mg with a mean stock out duration of 10.8, 18.9, and 70.5 days, respectively. Regimen change (68.8%; P=0.026), low demand (56.3%; P=0.041), and delay to resupply (37.5%; P=0.041) were reasons for stock out of anti-TB commodities.Conclusion: Anti-TB drugs and LCs management performance of the HFs were found to be defective, which was confirmed by unsatisfactory data records, inconstant reports, deprived stock record accuracy, long lead time, high stock out rate, wastages, defective storage conditions, lack of training, and management support. Hence, respective organizations should improve their responsible activities to secure an uninterrupted supply of anti-TB drugs and LCs.Keywords: anti-TB drugs, MDR-TB, laboratory commodities, health facilities, Ethiopia

Este estudo teve como objetivos analisar a percepção dos enfermeiros sobre os motivos da (não) procura dos homens aos serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde e descrever as dificuldades, facilidades e perspectivas encontradas pelos enfermeiros para promover o acesso dos homens a esses serviços. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa realizada em unidades da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF), situadas na sede de um município do interior da Bahia, Brasil. Os participantes foram dez enfermeiros. Utilizou-se como técnicas de coleta de dados a entrevista semiestruturada e documentos, e para análise dos dados a Técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temática. Diante dos resultados, percebeu-se que a escassa busca dos homens pelos serviços de saúde está relacionada à resistência em cuidar da saúde como forma preventiva e entre as dificuldades foram citados fatores institucionais e culturais. Como fatores facilitadores, os enfermeiros elencarama realização de atividades educativas e oferta de serviços específicos. Conclui-se que o trabalho desenvolvido pelo enfermeiro e demais membros da equipe de saúde de cada unidade da ESF constitui-se de grande importância nosentido de sensibilizar os homens sobre a importância do cuidado à saúde. NURSES PERCEPTION ON THE (NOT) DEMAND FOR PRIMARY HEALTH CARE BY MENThis study aimed to analyze nurses’ perceptions of the reasons for men’s (non) demand for Primary Health Care services and describe the difficulties, facilities and perspectives found by nurses to promote men’s access to these services. This is a qualitative, descriptive research carried out in Family Health Strategies (FHS) Units, located at the headquarters of a municipality in the countryside of Bahia, Brazil. The participants were ten nurses. The data collection techniques used were semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Thematic Content Analysis Technique was used for data analysis. In view of the results, it is clear that the low demand of men for health services is related to resistance to takingcare of health as a preventive form, and institutional and cultural factors were mentioned among the difficulties. As facilitating factors, nurses listed the provision of lectures/educational activities and the provision of specific services. It is concluded that the work developed by the nurse and other members of the health team of each FHS is of great importance in the sense of sensitizing men about the importance of health care.

This paper investigates the marketing and channels of sale of rabbit production in Tizi-Ouzou area (Algeria). Data collected by questionnaire were subjected to descriptive and principal component analysis. 240 to 12 800 rabbits were sold alive/breed/year, either an average of 1342 rabbits sold/breed/year. Half of rabbit farmers sell their rabbits to slaughter houses or to wholesalers. 19% sell them to hotels and restaurants while 18% to butchers and 13.5% directly to the consumer. The sale price of alive rabbits (2.45 ± 0.13 Kg) depending of marketing circuit, he is of 360 and 400 AD/Kg (2.70 € and 3.00 €/Kg) for wholesale; and between 500 and 550 AD/Kg (3.75€ and 4.12 €/Kg) for retail. This difference in selling prices led rabbit breeders to choose the direct sales channel rather than selling to an intermediary. The marketing circuit of this product is disorganized, result of several problems such as the too low selling prices, high transport costs, late payments and low demand for the product.

Modern Russian Pedology is a young science and emerged a little more than 100 years ago. The article is devoted to the analysis of modern scientific schools in the field of soil science, which are developing in Russia. The investigations are based on the analysis of candidate's dissertations (PhD theses equivalent in Russia) defended on a specialty “soil science” in Russia for the last ten years, as well as on information about the scientific advisors supervised these dissertations and their belonging to this or that scientific school. It has been found that the most actively developing schools are the ones of immediate disciples of V.V. Dokuchaev, A.V. Sovetov or A.N. Sabanin. The schools of S.S. Neustruev and I.V. Tyurin are singled out as separate “branches” in the development of Russian soil science. At present, the main training resource centres in pedology are the Faculty of Soil Science of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, Bashkir Agricultural Institute, Voronezh and Kuban universities. Number of soil scientists with advanced degrees over the past 10 years has tended to decrease, which is associated with the low demand for the profession in modern conditions of the country.

The paper analyzes the importance of power engineering for solving a wide range of practical problems. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of the research of scientists and specialists in 2013–2019 in power engineering, electrical engineering, electronics and radio engineering on the basis of RSCI databases (Russian Science Citation Index). The analysis was carried out taking into account a number of scientometric indicators: the publication activity of researchers – the annual number of their publications, as well as the citation of these publications and the demand for the results of their work. Features of dynamics of formation of indicators of publication activity are revealed: its high values are typical for electronics and radio engineering and minimum values (more than three times smaller) – for electrical engineering. For all three industries analyzed the number of publications increased in 2013–2018. It is noted that the citation indicators for the three industries have been continuously decreasing since 2014. At the same time, in the field of electronics and radio engineering in 2013–2017, citation rates are three or more times higher than similar indicators for energy and electrical engineering. The results of research in the field of electronics and radio engineering are the most popular, while the results of research in the energy sector are the least popular. At the same time, the annual demand for research results in electronics and radio engineering exceeds similar indicators for energy by about 1.4 times. The low demand indicators for all areas of research in 2019 are obviously due to the same reason as for small citation indicators this year: the slow “response” of the scientific community to this year's publications.

This study examines the relationship between prior IPO demands and post-IPO financial and operating performance of firms listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange. A sample of 51 listed firms, covering a period of ten years, is examined. Predominantly, the investors' demand has been analyzed from two perspectives including oversubscription (a high demand from investors as compared to shares offered by firms) and under subscription (a low demand from investors as compared to shares offered by the firm). Multiple regression analysis has been applied, where the findings revealed that investors demand IPO bring no significant change in the financial and operating performance of IPO firms. Moreover, the analysis reveals that firm size, issue size, and leverage bring no notable change in the operating performance of IPO firms. The findings are important for the investors, portfolio managers, and underwriters.

Recently developed HANK models, which combine Heterogeneous Agents and New Keynesian frictions, have had a considerable impact on macroeconomics. However, due to the complexity of such models, the literature has focused on numerically solved models and therefore little is known about their general properties. This paper presents a tractable HANK model that integrates Search and Matching (SAM) frictions in the labor market. The model features an endogenous idiosyncratic earnings risk, which may be procyclical or countercyclical. When this risk is countercyclical, which we argue is the empirically plausible case, there is a downward pressure on real interest rates in recessions due to a precautionary savings motive. We show that in this setting (a) the economy may get stuck in a high-unemployment steady state, (b) the Taylor principle is insufficient to eliminate the local indeterminacy of the intended steady state, and (c) nominal rigidities and inincomplete markets are complementary in terms of amplifying the impact of shocks on the macroeconomy.

This study was conducted to determine the factors influencing the disadoption of Moringa oleifera among farming households in Oyo State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires for this study. Descriptive and quantitative techniques were used for the analysis of survey data. Result revealed that the level of disadoption of Moringa in the study area was high whereas those that are still cultivating moringa still realizes income it. Also, the respondents indicated that low return on investment on moringa oleifera, low demand of moringa oleifera products such as leaf and seeds, low sale of moringa products, inadequate processing equipment, and inadequate marketing channels and over hyped health benefit of moringa products were factors contributing to the disadoption of moringa oleifera cultivation.The study revealed that age,membership of farmers’ association, non-farm income, and access to extension and involvement of the farmers in other agroforestry practices were significant factors influencing the disadoption of moringa in the study area. However, membership of farmers’ association and access to extension services significantly influence the probability of disadoption of moringa cultivation negatively. This study therefore recommends that there shouldbe further awareness on the benefits of moringa in order to increase demand for moringa and its product and that farmers should be encouraged to join Moringa farmers group in order to network with other farmers and to access information. Keywords: Dis-Adoption, Moringa oleifera, Probit and Oyo State.

Improvement of consumer’s palatability of Heterotis niloticus was investigated by value addition with natural spices and salt to improve its palatability and shelf-life. The major problem of H. niloticus is its poor taste, hence low demand and poor consumer’s acceptability which affects the market value. The objective of this study was to improve the palatability and shelf-life of H. niloticus using selected natural spices. Heterotis niloticus, procured and treated with natural spices and salt were allowed to drain for one hour, subjected to charcoal fired smoking kiln for 12 hours, cooled and stored for 8 weeks at ambient temperature before microbial analysis. The result showed that treatment 1 had the best quality (37.7%), followed by control sample (34.7%), and treatment 2 (28.9%), while the least was treatment 3 (21.6%). Microbial analysis shows that no Salmonella, Coliforms and E. coli were detected from the samples after smoking. Staphylococcus aureus count ranged from 2 × 102 to 9 × 102 but it was not detected in treatment 1. Improvement of the consumers’ palatability of H. niloticus and improved storage stability by spicing methods improved the poor taste of H. niloticus which has been discriminated despites excellent muscle quality. Key words: Heterotis niloticus, organoleptic, spicing, microbial analysis

El objetivo de este estudio es minimizar el gasto de pedido innecesario que realiza la pañalera “La mejor pañalera”, debido a la poca demanda que tienen ciertos productos. Esta problemática surge debido a que los dueños tienen una incorrecta percepción sobre la demanda de los productos, realizando pedidos de forma empírica provocando que exista excedentes de estos en el establecimiento y por consiguiente se producen perdidas monetarias. Para llevar a cabo el objetivo de este estudio, se implementará una metodología que implica la aplicación del algoritmo Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) y Simulación de Montecarlo, la cual permitirá estimar cómo se comportará la demanda de los productos en el año 2020 tomando los datos históricos del negocio del año 2017, 2018, 2019, generando el segundo semestre del año 2019 con la simulación de Montecarlo. Obteniendo como resultado que la simulación y los métodos metaheurísticos dan valores cercanos a la realidad, resultado se obtuvo un 19.33% de reducción en gastos para 1 producto.

In the modern economy, innovations appear as the main competitive strength. At the same time, there are some problems with the transformation of the raw-materials export model of development into an innovative one. In this context, the task of the transition of the RF organizations to innovation-based development is number one at present, the solution of which will ensure the sustainable economic growth and competitive ability of the national economy. The paper aims at the study of possibilities to promote innovative activity in the context of the digital economy through the creation of partner networks. The research proves the prospects of the application of digital platforms enabling the cooperation of organizations. The system analysis allowed identifying the following problems of development of the innovation sphere of Russia: the low innovation potential of organizations, the deficiency of own sources of financing, the lack of skilled personnel, and the low demand for the results of innovative activity. The paper considers the current situation with the development of partner networks in Russia. The analysis showed that, in general, the networking cooperation of the enterprises is on a low level. At the same time, the innovatively active organizations rather energetically participate in the partner networks when implementing co-projects. Russian enterprises as the partners are mainly oriented at their countrymen. Besides, they cooperate with European organizations and USA partners. Recently, Russian enterprises develop networking cooperation with the organizations of India and China.

Purpose Although it has been proved theoretically that annuities can provide optimal consumption during one’s retirement period, retirees’ reluctance to purchase annuities is a long-standing puzzle. The purpose of this paper is to use behavioral model to analyze the low demand for immediate annuities. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ cumulative prospect theory (CPT), which contains both loss aversion and probability transformations, to analyze the annuity puzzle. Findings The authors show that CPT can explain the unattractiveness of immediate annuities. It also shows that retirees would be willing to buy a long-term deferred annuity at retirement. By considering each component from CPT in turn, the loss aversion is found to be the major reason that stops people from buying an annuity while the survival rate transformation is an important factor affecting the decision of when to receive annuity incomes. Originality/value This paper identifies CPT as one of the reasons for the low demand of immediate annuities. It further suggests that long-term deferred annuities could overcome behavioral obstacles and become popular among retirees.

The transition to a market economy in the 1990s led to a significant reduction in the number of R&D organizations, especially R&D departments and survey organizations, as well as in the number of R&D personnel and especially researchers. This was largely due to the outflow of competitive personnel, technology and capital from the country. These changes, which led to a decrease in the level of scientific potential of the country, the effectiveness of innovation, the aggravation of the problem of continuity in science have become a factor limiting the transition to innovative development of the Russian economy. An additional factor complicating the transition to a knowledge-based economy today is the low demand of domestic industry for innovations developed in Russia, an unsatisfactory investment climate for attracting private business to R&D. The article on the basis of the analysis of the relevant indicators identified the main problems that reduce the innovative activity of the regions of Russia, and proposed measures to overcome them.

This research will explain tourism trends in Jakarta and various information related to obstacles that occur in the field. As a leading tourist area, DKI Jakarta can provide more complete information about tourist characteristics. A qualitative approach is used by taking respondents as many as 100 archipelago tourists and 10 Tourism Services Industry using accidental sampling, with one shot time method, where time is used only one time. The results of the study identified constraints in marketing in Jakarta, including airline ticket prices, relatively high tour package prices, low demand, and media competition. The implications and suggestions are explained in the article. Keywords: Jakarta tourism, market characteristics

It is important to develop a method for the accurate measurement of controlled force exertion (CFE). The CFE test requires subjects to exert force while coordinating submaximal grip strength; therefore, grip strength may affect the CFE value. This study examined the differences in measured values in low and high phases of demand value in the CFE test and the relationship between the measured values and grip strength using 54 healthy young males aged 19-23 years. On the basis of standard values of grip strength related to age (455.7 ± 67.6 N), participants were divided into the following three groups: G1, with low grip strength (n = 13, mean age, 19.9 years, standard deviation (SD) = 0.8 years); G2, with medium grip strength (n = 33, mean age, 20.6 years, SD = 1.3 years); and G3, with high grip strength (n = 8, mean age, 21.6 years, SD = 0.7 years). The participants adjusted the submaximal grip strength of their dominant hands according to changes in the demand values, which were displayed as a sinusoidal waveform with a frequency of 0.1 Hz on a computer screen. The test, which lasted for 40 s, was performed three times, with one-minute intervals, after one practice trial. The sum of the differences between the demand value and the measured grip exertion value in the low demand value phase [5%-15% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC)] and high demand value phase [15%-25% MVC] for 30 s was used as the evaluation parameter. Significant differences were found in the measured CFE values of the three groups only in the low demand value phase (F = 3.43, p 2) was low (η2 = 0.12). The CFE values showed significant low correlation with grip strength only in the high demand value phase (r= −0.32, p < 0.05). We inferred that the difference in maximum grip strength has a negligible effect on the measured value in both low and high demand value phases of the CFE test in young males.

Media censorship is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes. We conduct a field experiment in China to measure the effects of providing citizens with access to an uncensored internet. We track subjects’ media consumption, beliefs regarding the media, economic beliefs, political attitudes, and behaviors over 18 months. We find four main results: (i) free access alone does not induce subjects to acquire politically sensitive information; (ii) temporary encouragement leads to a persistent increase in acquisition, indicating that demand is not permanently low; (iii) acquisition brings broad, substantial, and persistent changes to knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and intended behaviors; and (iv) social transmission of information is statistically significant but small in magnitude. We calibrate a simple model to show that the combination of low demand for uncensored information and the moderate social transmission means China’s censorship apparatus may remain robust to a large number of citizens receiving access to an uncensored internet. (JEL C93, D72, D83, L82, L86, L88, P36)

Medicine is one of the most important and rapidly developing branches of science. Research and developments projects run by scientific organizations and universities in this field are ultimately aimed at preserving the public health; these projects are expected to be rapidly implemented and become available to consumers. Yet in the area of medicine, the process of implementation can take many years. There is a gap between the developers (scientific organization, university), investors, and manufacturers due to the difficulty in assessing the innovation potential of the scientific results in medicine. The aim of this study was to determine the inclusion criteria for research conducted in medical universities to be incorporated in the innovation process; such criteria were supposed to be based on other (indirect) indicators ranking the medical universities. Material and methods. The study included twenty medical universities in Russia, largest in terms of the scientific and teaching staff. These universities were ranked according to the number of citations in the Web of Science over the period 2013-2017. Also, using the SciVal module developed by Elsevier, the number of publications with the participation of industrial partners was estimated. The assessment of the invention activity of medical universities was found in the materials published by the Russian Analytical Center “Expert”. Results. According to the scientometric analysis, medical universities with the most promising scientific products and scientific developments, have been in low demand by Russian and foreign companies. Conclusion. Due to the low activity of medical universities in implementing their intellectual production, potential investors and manufacturers should pay more attention to those medical universities, which produce a greater number of high-quality scientific results.

Since Russian economy passed over to market relations and the International Olympic Committee changed its view on the problem of professionalism and amateurishness the issues of professionalization of higher achievement sport and its shift to the commercial channel have been discussed. Due to low demand for the final product of professional sport, different structures of financing overseas and Russian sport clubs have been developed. While the most important source of financing for overseas teams that carry out planning on the micro-level and set a goal to maximize profits is proceeds from commercial activity, such source for Russian teams that in conditions of market relations could not find a relevant number of customers, often because of low quality of the sport product is sponsors’ money and budget funds. The transfer of sport organizations to self-financing implies search for new sources of filling items of budget revenue, raising efficiency of finance management and their assessment as investment projects. The absence of necessary legal regulation and stimulation of business activity in the field of professional sport can lead to its misbalance and inefficiency of management. The authors put forward a number of mechanisms, which could stimulate professional clubs to raise effectiveness of using budget resources directed to sport industry and to optimize the process of planning investment policy of state in respect of this field of activity in order to obtain social and economic effect.

We show that the housing wealth collapse of 2006-09 had a persistent impact on employment across US counties. In particular, localities that had a larger loss in housing net-worth during that period had more depressed employment as late as 2016, without a commensurate population response. Using IV's and controls to identify the causal impact of the wealth shock amplify those results, leading to an estimate that a 10 percent change in housing net-worth between 2006 and 2009 causes a 4.5 percent decline in local employment by 2016, as compared to a 2006 baseline. We do not find long-term causal impact of the shock on wages. Sectoral results indicate, however, that the results are unlikely to be purely a result of persistently low demand, since, contrary to the short-run effects, the effect over the longer horizon is less concentrated in the non-tradables sectors and is instead more prominent in the high-skilled services sector.

This paper aims to reconcile the inconsistent findings about the effects of CEO transformational leadership (CTL) on firm performance by using upper echelon theory to hypothesize and empirically demonstrate that CTL triggers exploratory innovation in a firm, which in turn has an inverted U-shaped effect on firm performance. In other words, CTL may only lead to better firm performance at moderate levels of exploratory innovation through optimal utilization of a firm's scarce resources and may actually hurt firm performance at higher levels of exploratory innovation because of suboptimal resource utilization. We also show that CTL's most detrimental effect on firm performance occurs when the contingencies of high technology uncertainty and low demand uncertainty are combined. Data from multiple sources within 288 Chinese firms support most of our hypotheses and provide insights into the complex mechanism by which CTL affects firm performance, especially in an increasingly uncertain global economic environment.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been increasing reports of invasive fungal disease (IFD) in critical care, where rapid access to (1-3)-β-d-glucan (BDG) testing may have enhanced diagnosis. The potential benefit of rapidly accessible BDG results is limited by local availability of BDG testing, with low demand resulting in testing being performed in specialist centers. The recent release of the Associates of Cape Cod STAT assay provides a simple, low-throughput BDG platform, potentially increasing accessibility. During the pandemic, BDG testing using the Fungitell assay (FA) was a critical component of screening for IFD in our critical care. The performance of the STAT was retrospectively determined through a case-control study of 107 serum samples from critical-care COVID-19 patients with IFD defined according to international guidelines. The STAT demonstrated excellent qualitative (observed agreement, 97.2%; kappa, 0.94) and quantitative (Spearman’s coefficient, 0.8962) agreement with the FA. Sample positivity was greater (P 2.86, specificity was 100%. The STAT provides a simple, comparable alternative to the FA for detecting BDG. Sensitivity is moderate, and specificity is excellent for the diagnosis of IFD in the critical-care COVID-19 patient. The potential for enhancing access to BDG testing through the uptake of STAT at centers where FA is not available is beneficial, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background Malnutrition is of concern among pregnant women in Senegal. This paper aimed to compare health providers’ self-reported practices to their actual provision of nutrition services during antenatal care (ANC) consultations. Methods A comparative study was conducted in a random sample of 27 health providers in the Kolda region. Two ANC consultations were monitored for each provider, and later compared to the data that were collected through a face-to-face interview. This provided us with the opportunity to assess the agreement between self-reported and observed actions namely clinical actions, verbal assessments and counseling. Results In general, the ANC providers reported similar extent of clinical actions that they performed. However, in verbal assessments, health providers over-reported inquiring about iron and folic acid intake (44% observed vs 89% reported) and its potential side effects (0% vs 33%), signs of vitamin A deficiency (0% vs 11%) and intake of parasite prophylaxis (18% vs 63%). They also over-reported the provision of counseling on the importance of avoiding tea/coffee (41% observed vs 74% reported), gaining appropriate weight (14% vs 44%), and eating specific foods (7% vs 52%). Conclusions Nutrition services during ANC should be improved, especially in the domains of verbal assessment and nutrition counseling. The possible causes of these discrepancies might be the time constraint for ANC, limited skills, or a low demand of pregnant women for nutritional guidance. Nutrition training and/or supportive supervision of health providers deserve more attention in order to improve the nutrition services and the overall quality of ANC.

Electrically isolated areas are separated by a great distance and, normally, have a considerably low demand; in consequence, these are non-interconnected from the main power grid or electrical national transmission systems. Great distance and low demand are the reasons why an interconnection project in high voltage AC is not feasible in most of these cases. Nevertheless, there are some isolated areas with high power demand and even though they are separated from the main grid by large distances and hard terrains; however, it is still reasonable to think about an interconnection project. This paper had developed a methodology that allows the evaluation of viability, technically and economically, of a HDVC-VSC interconnection project for great distance and high demand considering overhead and/or underground DC line. The methodology was applied to a case of study in Peru, based on the projected interconnection between Moyobamba and the isolated area of Iquitos; showing that HVDC is a feasible alternative.

The volume and value of fish catches by Indonesia's small-scale fisheries have declined significantly since national government restrictions on travel and social distancing were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a digital data collection system (OurFish), that records purchases by fish traders from small-scale fishers, data was collected across 82 coastal communities in Southeast Sulawesi. We found that the number of active fishers and traders declined by more than 90% after the onset of the pandemic and the average weight of catch per fishing trip increased across fishers. Although the average price per kilogram of fish declined after the pandemic began, fishers that were able to maintain fishing had on average higher catches and therefore daily catch value was maintained. High value fisheries that usually enter export supply chains were more negatively impacted compared with lower value species that are commonly sold to local markets. We interviewed 185 small scale fishers and fish traders across 20 of the 82 communities in Southeast Sulawesi province, recording the perceived level of impact on local fisheries and the fish trade, causes of this impact and proposed coping strategies. Over 50% of both fishers and fish traders believed low demand for fish from traders and a decline in the price received for fish were disrupting their lives. Approximately 75% of both male and female fishers are coping by continuing to fish, highlighting that there were few alternative livelihoods available at the time of the interviews. Our results provide key insights into the vulnerability of small-scale fishing communities to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Safety-instrumented systems (SISs) have been widely installed to lower risks of equipment/ process by performing the designed safety functions in cases of demands. Final elements remain dormant mostly in a low demand mode but become vulnerable due to degradation along with time. Tests and maintenances are key activities to prevent the SIS from any failures, including those thank to degradation, to activate upon demands. This paper models the degradation of SIS final elements by considering an intermediate degraded state between the working- and failed states. Sometimes, the actual system states are not distinguished perfectly during proof tests. Such imperfectness in state revealing, consequently, weakens the real performance of follow-up maintenances. The effects of imperfect degradation state revealing are quantified, together with three testing and maintenance strategies for 1-out-of-2 configured SISs. Time-dependent PFD of the system and cumulative life-cycle cost are then estimated in a finite service time. Numerical examples under proposed strategies are presented to provide clues in selection of optimal testing and maintenance strategies for 1oo2 final element in SISs.

The problem of the spread of skin diseases in Russia and abroad in the last period is quite acute. Among the reasons for the development of this group of diseases, researchers determine genetic factors, poor ecology, impaired liver function, etc. In this regard, those suffering from this group of diseases are necessarily provided with qualified medical care, and pharmacy institutions form the necessary range of drugs that can improve the standard of living of patients. For this reason, we consider it necessary to analyze the level of demand for certain drugs used for the treatment of skin diseases in the pharmacy network of Belgorod, as well as factors that allow us to assess certain aspects that affect the formation of the range of these drugs in pharmacies. The purpose of the work was defined as follows: to conduct a study of meeting the demand of the population for groups of medicines intended for the treatment of skin diseases. The conducted analysis shows the following. Drugs intended for the treatment of skin diseases are in high demand (59.09%); 22.73% of drugs are in low demand, the lack of demand was observed in 18.18% of the studied group of drugs. In this paper, recommendations were formulated to optimize the assortment policy of the World of Medicines pharmacy chain in Belgorod. Since it was determined that high demand drugs such as Argosulfan, Belosalic, Avekort, Cinocap, Candiderm, Alorom, Lomaherpan, Metrogyl, Nitrofungin. It is for this reason that it is necessary to increase the volume of their purchases to better meet the demand of the population for these drugs. It was also revealed that it is necessary to reduce the volume of purchases of drugs, the demand for which is reduced. It is drugs such as Daktarin, Adolen, Camadol, Ammifurin, Bramisil, Batrafen, Berestin, Hiporhamin (they came in the results of ABC-analysis to the group C). In addition, the pharmacy should promote this group of drugs to familiarize consumers with them and offer them at a reduced price, so as not to burden the turnover of medicines and not to reduce the effectiveness of the pharmacy. The paper concluded that, according to the study, the demand for medicines used in the treatment of skin diseases is quite high. At the same time, the administration of the pharmacy chain should pay more attention to the analysis of the purchased groups of medicines in this category in order to prevent overloading the pharmacy balance with drugs, the demand for which is reduced, as this negatively affects the effectiveness of the pharmacy organization. In this regard, it is advisable to conduct an ABC analysis of the assortment groups of drugs at least once a quarter, as well as take the necessary measures to promote drugs used in the treatment of skin diseases that are in insufficient demand among the population.

The article explains the necessity of managing the process of the youth career guidance. The problem under study is as follows: nowadays the system of vocational education causes employment disproportions, part of which can be eliminated with the help of a proper career guidance based on an expert diagnostics of a personality. Career guidance should take into consideration two main factors – a vocational aptitude of a personality and job openings available in the labour market. To solve this problem and eliminate the contradiction between society demands for personnel and career plans of young people the authors propose the project of a social partnership, in the course of which a method of group advice seminars for school leavers will be tested. Group advice seminars are supposed to be conducted considering job availability in the regional labour market, the findings of the social survey of the youth’s career plans and are aimed at diagnosing of a personality and providing recommendations on career guidance. To avoid the situation when young people are focused on a profession which will be in a low demand, typological career guidance and support should be provided. Social survey findings have shown that many young people being unaware of their sociological type choose the wrong career path. Thus, an expert socio-diagnostics could diminish social tension if it were used to find out people’s vocational aptitudes.

During the nineteenth century, Dutch female labor force participation (FLFP) was relatively low. Most scholars argue that social norms and rising wages were driving this development. However, their conclusions principally apply to married women. We study unmarried women’s LFP (UFLFP) and investigate a third driver: shifting sectoral employment shares. We include all three drivers in a logistic regression based on nearly 2 million marriage records from 1812 to 1929. We conclude that social norms and income levels mattered, but that shifting sectoral employment shares were driving the decline in UFLFP because sectors with low demand for female laborers expanded.

The aim of this study is to describe the relations between low demand, cash flow problems, employee dismissals, and temporary leaves experienced by Romanian companies during the economic lockdown in the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Romania (16 March–16 May 2020). For this purpose, we conducted a quantitative study using descriptive, correlation, and regression analyses applied to data collected from company decision-makers. Our results show that demand for products/services and cash flow in companies has decreased significantly, the workforce being affected by dismissals and temporary leaves/furloughing. Additionally, the average linear revenue of companies has been decreasing due to insufficient cash flow, higher absenteeism of workers, customers having been affected, and the demand going down. Therefore, employee dismissals, employee temporary leaves (furlough), and dismissal intentions have been positively correlated with insufficient cash flow in companies and an extremely low demand.

The article investigated the application of law 12,990 / 2014 in the public notices for teaching at Unipampa, as well as the demand and admission via racial quotas. For this, based on the ethnography of documents, 74 calls for admission to higher education at the institution were analyzed, from the period 2014 to 2018. This confirmed that the institution is in compliance with the law. However, he revealed that racial quota reservations are not being sought in proportion to his offer and that the candidates do not advance in the stages of the contests. With this scenario, one can associate the low demand for vacancies with the percentage of approval and infer that these may be factors that contribute to the reduced number of black teachers (s) in the institution. With this, it is necessary to expand this debate to the university field in order to emphasize the importance of quotas for combating racial inequalities in environments historically permeated by racism.

We aimed to analyze which medical school experiences contribute to success in an increasingly competitive CaRMS match.We surveyed all matched University of Saskatchewan 2019 medical graduates on characteristics of their applications: number of program applications, interviews obtained, experiences (research, volunteer, leadership), awards and money spent on the residency match process, and qualitative reflections on the process. Using published CaRMS statistics based on number of positions versus applicants, specialties were divided into high availability/low demand (HA) (e.g. family and internal medicine) and low availability/high demand (LA) (e.g. dermatology and emergency medicine). Quantitative results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and t-tests, and qualitative results thematically.Data from 27 of 94 matched students were included. LA applicants were more likely to report at least one research project on their CV (66.67% among LA vs. 15.38% among HA,LA applicants cited more research projects and presentations, spent more elective weeks outside Saskatchewan, but were otherwise similar to HA applicants. Further studies should be done on student factors in the residency match process.Nous visions à analyser quelles expériences durant le course de médecine contribuent à la réussite d’un jumelage de plus en plus compétitif par le CaRMS.Nous avons enquêté à propos des caractéristiques des candidatures de tous les diplômés en médecine jumelés en 2019 à l’Université de la Saskatchewan: nombre de demandes effectuées, les entrevues obtenues, les expériences (recherche, bénévolat, leadership), les prix et les sommes dépensées sur le CaRMS, et leurs réflexions qualitatives sur le processus du CaRMS. À l’aide des statistiques publiées par le CaRMS fondées sur le nombre de postes par rapport au nombre de candidats, les spécialités ont été réparties en haute disponibilité/faible demande (HA) (p. ex., médecine familiale et interne) et faible disponibilité/demande élevée (LA) (p. ex., dermatologie et médecine d’urgence). Les résultats quantitatifs ont été analysés à l’aide de statistiques descriptives, chi carré et tests t, et les résultats qualitatifs ont fait l’objet d’une analyse thématique.Les données de 27 des 94 étudiants appariés ont été incluses. Les candidats LA étaient plus susceptibles de déclarer au moins un projet de recherche sur leur CV (66,67 % parmi les LA c. 15,38 % chez les HA,Les candidats LA ont cité davantage de projets et de présentations de recherche, davantage de semaines de stages à option à l’extérieur de la Saskatchewan et plus de dépenses encourues en lien avec les stages à option, mais étaient autrement semblables aux candidats HA. D’autres études devront être réalisées sur les facteurs étudiants dans le jumelage du CaRMS.

The paper deals with the quantitative assessment of the parameters influence of differently operating fault detection mechanisms on the hardware safety integrity of the safety function. It is considered that the safety function is implemented by an electronic safety-related system operating in low demand mode of operation. The quantitative assessment of the hardware safety integrity of the safety function is based on the use of homogeneous Markov chains. Proving the safety properties of the safety-related control system (proving, that the residual risk is acceptable) is a necessary condition for its implementation into an operation.

In Brazil, the demand for teacher training courses has declined year after year (INEP, 2013), and this has been the subject of constant reflection, since this phenomenon warns of a possible shortage of teachers in the near future. In this context, the paper analyzes the dynamics of competition for the Geography course in the selective processes of the Goiás State University (UEG), Campus Formosa, from 2001 to 2017 and makes some considerations about the probable implications of this low demand in the teaching of the discipline, in the scope of Basic Education. As a methodology, it was used the analysis of institutional documents, available in electronic platform, for the collection of data necessary for the discussion. The results point out that the situation is worrying and indicate that it is necessary to develop strategies that promote the demand for teacher training courses and attractiveness for the teaching career, starting with the implementation of public policies aimed at professional valorisation, decent wages and conditions of work adequate to the teaching-learning process, as well as to the restructuring of teacher-training colleges, in order to make them, in fact, spaces for teacher formation. / No Brasil, a procura pelos cursos de licenciatura tem diminuído ano após ano (INEP, 2013), e isso tem sido alvo de constantes reflexões, já que tal fenômeno alerta para uma possível falta de professores, em um futuro não muito distante. Neste contexto, o trabalho faz uma análise do dinamismo da concorrência para o curso de Geografia nos processos seletivos da Universidade Estadual de Goiás (UEG), Campus Formosa, nos anos de 2001 a 2017 e tece algumas considerações acerca das prováveis implicações dessa baixa procura no ensino da disciplina, no âmbito da Educação Básica. Como metodologia, utilizou-se da análise de documentos institucionais, disponíveis em plataforma eletrônica, para o levantamento de dados necessários à discussão. Os resultados apontam que a situação é preocupante e sinalizam que torna-se necessária a elaboração de estratégias que promovam a procura pelas licenciaturas e a atratividade pela carreira docente, a começar pela implementação de políticas públicas voltadas à valorização profissional, salários dignos e condições de trabalhos adequadas ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem, bem como à reestruturação das universidades formadoras de professores, de modo a torná-las, de fato, espaços de formação do professor.

One of the most important and, according to psychological and pedagogical literature, the least investigated aspects of the domestic system of higher education is the sphere of personal interrelations at the level “teacher – student”. The formation of this type of social relations is a complicated process equally depending on both interested sides, but it is this process that eventually determines the efficiency of the educational process. At present anonymous questioning of both students and teachers is by far the only method of high quality psychodiagnostics of this sphere of educational space. The received findings not only give a more comprehensive idea of the personal characteristics of modern students and the teaching staff of higher schools but can also provide some essential corrective amendments to the organization of the educational process. Anonymous questioning of 400 students of the medical and pediatric faculties of Kursk State Medical University (KSMU) has revealed a number of both quite predictable and fairly unexpected facts concerning the psychological atmosphere at the level “teacher – student”. The received findings to some extent alter the firmly established idea of an elevated ambitiousness of the modern generation of students. Corroborative to it is the objective fact of a lowered personal self-esteem in 38% questioned students of KSMU. The fact of the negative judgment of professional and personal qualities of some teachers (16% of respondents) is alarming and needing thorough consideration and practical conclusions. The comparatively low demand of the recommended to students main academic teaching manuals of the studied disciplines (56%) and the actually unclaimed lectures delivered to them (8%) can be to a great extent explained by their competitive disability in comparison with the short in form but superficial in the contents various kinds of “homebrew” guidance-manuals permanently ranking first in the teachers’ annual rating reports.

Apesar da gama de pesquisas realizadas em universidades e instituições brasileiras, nas mais diversas áreas do conhecimento, a carreira científica tem permanecido pouco procurada pelos jovens que planejam ingressar em cursos de nível superior. Além da variedade de fatores socioeconômicos que podem ser abordados na tentativa de explicar esta baixa procura, o pequeno número de iniciativas especializadas em divulgação científica com foco em escolhas profissionais voltadas à ciência e à tecnologia também pode ser evidenciado. Com a possibilidade de aproximar os estudantes da realidade das carreiras científicas e acadêmicas, e estabelecendo o contato dos jovens com pesquisadores e suas pesquisas, pode-se contribuir para a escolha profissional, reduzindo índices de evasão universitária ocasionados pela falta de conhecimento acerca do curso pretendido. Neste artigo, relatamos a promoção de palestras de divulgação científica, desde a década de 1960, na Amazônia brasileira, a evolução destas ações educativas com o passar dos anos na comunidade amazônica, além de outras atividades congêneres realizadas atualmente por iniciativas de divulgação científica da Universidade Federal do Pará.

The number of micro-satellites launched by commercial rockets and designed by universities and institutions is experiencing rapid growth, inevitably increasing the amount of the space debris of the same size. This paper adopts a low-thrust tethered space tug system to achieve debris deorbit. A switched low-propulsion force control method using only two constant-thrust modes to achieve both deorbit and libration control is presented. This kind of control method benefits from its robustness and low demand on the output accuracy of the thruster. The harmonic-like libration dynamics of the tethered space tug system around the local horizontal configuration is discussed and the stability of the control method is proved. Moreover, the sufficient condition for the switching sustainability is presented. Afterwards, the control effects of such a system are illustrated using numerical simulations. A modified control law to adapt practical demands shows the flexibility of the switching control methodology.