Indirect Dependence Research Articles

The impact of single and combined amendment of elemental sulphur and graphene oxide on soil microbiome and nutrient transformation activities

BackgroundSulphur (S) deficiency has emerged in recent years in European soils due to the decreased occurrence of acid rains. Elemental sulphur (S0) is highly beneficial as a source of S in agriculture, but it must be oxidized to a plant-accessible form. Micro- or nano-formulated S0 may undergo accelerated transformation, as the oxidation rate of S0 indirectly depends on particle size. Graphene oxide (GO) is a 2D-carbon-based nanomaterial with benefits as soil amendment, which could modulate the processes of S0 oxidation. Micro-and nano-sized composites, comprised of S0 and GO, were tested as soil amendments in a pot experiment with unplanted soil to assess their effects on soil microbial biomass, activity, and transformation to sulphates. Fourteen different variants were tested, based on solely added GO, solely added micro- or nano-sized S0 (each in three different doses) and on a combination of all S0 doses with GO. ResultsCompared to unamended soil, nano-S0 and nano-S0+GO increased soil pH(CaCl2). Micro-S0 (at a dose 4 g kg−1) increased soil pH(CaCl2), whereas micro-S0+GO (at a dose 4 g kg−1) decreased soil pH(CaCl2). The total bacterial and ammonium oxidizer microbial abundance decreased due to micro-S0 and nano-S0 amendment, with an indirect dependence on the amended dose. This trend was alleviated by the co-application of GO. Urease activity showed a distinct response to micro-S0+GO (decreased value) and nano-S0+GO amendment (increased value). Arylsulfatase was enhanced by micro-S0+GO, while sulphur reducing bacteria (dsr) increased proliferation due to high micro-S0 and nano-S0, and co-amendment of both with GO. In comparison to nano-S0, the amendment of micro-S0+GO more increased soluble sulphur content more significantly. ConclusionsUnder the conditions of this soil experiment, graphene oxide exhibited a significant effect on the process of sulphur oxidation.

An augmented illness-death model for semi-competing risks with clinically immediate terminal events.

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-associated condition posing risks of both fetal and maternal mortality and morbidity that can only resolve following delivery and removal of the placenta. Because in its typical form preeclampsia can arise before delivery, but not after, these two events exemplify the time-to-event setting of "semi-competing risks" in which a non-terminal event of interest is subject to the occurrence of a terminal event of interest. The semi-competing risks framework presents a valuable opportunity to simultaneously address two clinically meaningful risk modeling tasks: (i) characterizing risk of developing preeclampsia, and (ii) characterizing time to delivery after onset of preeclampsia. However, some people with preeclampsia deliver immediately upon diagnosis, while others are admitted and monitored for an extended period before giving birth, resulting in two distinct trajectories following the non-terminal event, which we call "clinically immediate" and "non-immediate" terminal events. Though such phenomena arise in many clinical contexts, to-date there have not been methods developed to acknowledge the complex dependencies between such outcomes, nor leverage these phenomena to gain new insight into individualized risk. We address this gap by proposing a novel augmented frailty-based illness-death model with a binary submodel to distinguish risk of immediate terminal event following the non-terminal event. The model admits direct dependence of the terminal event on the non-terminal event through flexible regression specification, as well as indirect dependence via a shared frailty term linking each submodel. We develop an efficient Bayesian sampler for estimation and corresponding model fit metrics, and derive formulae for dynamic risk prediction. In an extended example using pregnancy outcome data from an electronic health record, we demonstrate the proposed model's direct applicability to address a broad range of clinical questions.

Multiplex dependence analysis of China's interprovincial virtual water based on an ecological network.

The interprovincial circulation of goods and services has formed virtual water flows between regions, which can redistribute water resources. Based on previous virtual water trade research, this study further explored the multiple dependencies of virtual water, i.e., direct, indirect, and complete dependence. This study examined the direct, indirect, and complete dependence of virtual water between provinces in China by constructing multilayer dependence networks and identified the key regions and paths of virtual water trade network. The results showed direct dependence was the densest and had the largest overall dependence degree, but indirect dependence was the most stable and orderly. Second, the dominant provinces were Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Xinjiang, and Anhui, referred to as "core‒five‒region," and the flow relevant to them accounted for approximately 30% of the virtual water. The seven provinces of Shanxi, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Shaanxi, and Gansu depend both directly and indirectly on the "core‒five‒region." Shanxi and Zhejiang have close direct and indirect dependence, with more than one of the "core‒five‒region." Guangdong was the province with the most direct and indirect input of virtual water from the "core‒five‒region." The study provides a scientific basis for multiregional identification for the collaborative management of water resources in China from the perspective of dependence.

Clinical effective risks of mortality in road traffic injury victims depending on the severity of damage

Road traffic accidents cause significant trauma to the population and are one of the main causes of mortality in working age. The novelty of the study risk-oriented patterns of severity of damage and mortality of victims of road accidents have been established. The aim - to create of a fundamental basis for the formation of clinical routes and protocols for victims of road accidents by establishing and verification the relationship between the severity of damage and the death of the victims. Material and methods. An analysis of 1,696 cases of road traffic injuries was carried out, and the standardized New Injury Severity Score (NISS) assessment system was used. Results. A probable, but indirect dependence of the clinical effective risk of a negative outcome of the traumatic process in victims on the severity of the damage was established. It was established that the sign of participation in the traffic the formation of clinical effective risks of a negative outcome of the traumatic process, starting with the severity of damage according to the NISS with 25 points. With the same qualitative characteristics, pedestrians have the highest risk of fatality, drivers have the lowest risk. The synergistic effect of the severity of damage and the clinical and anatomical form of the injury was established. Conclusions. The risk of a fatal outcome of a road traffic injury in general directly depends on the severity of damage to the victim, although the dependence is not direct. The clinical and anatomical form of damage together with the severity of the damage have a synergistic effect on the formation of the clinically effective risk of mortality in victims of a road traffic accident, and the predominant influence is the clinical and anatomical form of damage. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.

Trend of critical minerals utilization for Indonesia’s Sustainable Energy Transition: A review

The European Union calculates supplies of essential minerals using an economic significance index, a supply risk index and an environmental risk index. The U.S. Geological Survey uses three indicators to assess critical mineral risks in the country: foreign ownership of mineral assets and activities, trade dependence, and indirect trade dependence. Indonesia has a history of strong mineral production, and new prospects in the critical minerals sector are developing rapidly. Positioned as a major producer of nickel, the main component of lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. This supports technological innovation that can improve infrastructure and support sustainable development, which is in line with SDG 9. Indonesia is increasing its capacity to produce other important minerals, such as rare earth elements and cobalt, in addition to nickel production. This research uses the literature study method. The aim is to review the development of essential minerals towards sustainable development.

Contribution of pollinators to production and reproduction of neglected and underutilized food species in family farming systems in Patagonia

ABSTRACT Many of the species used in family farming systems (FFS) in Patagonia belong to the group known as neglected and underutilized species (NUS), which promote biocultural diversity and contribute to food sovereignty. Due to the scarce attention paid to NUS by agronomic sciences, little is known about their biotic pollination, although it is a well-studied aspect for commercially important plants. We evaluate the contribution of animal pollination to NUS managed by Patagonian FFS. We present a literature review of the NUS used and aspects related to their pollination and floral visitors, for which 725 papers were reviewed. FFS use 426 NUS (414 angiosperms, 10 gymnosperms and 2 ferns). Most NUS (86.7%) depend to some extent on animal pollination, either for the production of fruits or seeds that are harvested for consumption (direct dependence, 35%) or for obtaining seeds (indirect dependence, 65%), which in many cases are necessary for reseeding. Gathering and cultivation are the most common management practices for these species. Hymenoptera and Diptera are the animals that contribute most to NUS biotic pollination. Our results show that animal pollination is a key contribution of nature to sustain cultural aspects and food sovereignty of FFS in Patagonia.

The cascade influence of grain trade shocks on countries in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has severely impacted global food security. This may increase the risk of supply chain disruption in low-income countries that rely heavily on grain imports. This study used production and trade data for wheat, barley and maize from 1995 to 2021 to construct longitudinal trade networks. On this basis, a cascading failure network model of shock propagation was used to identify the direct or indirect dependence of other countries on grain exported from Russia and Ukraine and the impact caused by trade shocks. The results revealed that the interruption of grain exports from Russia and Ukraine has resulted in an increasing impact on the global grain trade year by year and that the wheat trade is the most vulnerable to shock propagation, but it is also the most resilient. Russia and Ukraine interrupt exports of grain, causing more than 50% reduction in direct imports to 30 countries, including Eritrea, Seychelles, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. A shock propagation model that considers indirect dependence yields divergent results, with lower middle income (LM) countries in North Africa, Southeast Asia and West Asia facing supply shocks from reduced imports because they are unable to fully exploit the trade channels to balance grain supply and demand. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, this indirect dependence on imports is more prominent. It is worth noting that Eastern and Southern European countries often act as intermediaries to spread shocks during cascading failures. In the process of shock propagation, the main suppliers of grain include the United States, Canada, France, Argentina and Brazil. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the import demand faced by Australia increased significantly. We also examined how nodal characteristics relate to shock propagation dynamics and country vulnerability, finding that high import diversity, low import dependence and regional characteristics are effective in buffering countries from supply shocks. This study contributes to our understanding of the external supply risks for grain arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a pandemic context, highlights the issue of accessibility in food security and provides trade policy recommendations to mitigate national vulnerability to food insecurity, thereby creating a resilient food trade system.

The effect of spin-polarization, atomic ordering and charge transfer on the stability of CoCrNi medium entropy alloy

The aim of this paper is to determine the effects of spin-polarization and atomic ordering on the phase stability of the medium entropy alloy CoCrNi by employing density functional theory calculations. We have found that high Cr ordering causes stabilisation of both the fcc and hcp structures compared to fully disordered alloy, while high Ni ordering leads to destabilisation of the hcp structure but has no effect on the fcc structure. The differences in the mutual stability of fcc and hcp structures for alloys with different levels of ordering are accompanied by differences in the distribution of local magnetic moments. However, their analysis revealed a generally increasing trend in the magnitude of the magnetic moment with the increasing number of Cr atoms in the 1st nearest neighbours (NN) shell for all Co, Cr, and Ni elements. Moreover, the charge analysis revealed a charge transfer from Cr to the other two elements in the alloy and also its dependence on the number of Cr atoms in the 1st NN shell. Thus, we have described the clear indirect dependence of the magnetic moment of all elements in this alloy on the ongoing charge transfer. This also points to the possibility that the charge transfer has the more important effect on stabilisation of particular atomic ordering rather than the spin-polarization as the same behaviour of charge transfer was observed also for results obtained without spin-polarization.

Macroeconomic exposure of developing economies to low-carbon transition

The low-carbon transition is a specific type of rapid structural change where low-emission industries grow and high-emission industries decline due to deliberate policies, changing preferences and technological change. Developing countries’ macroeconomic exposure to this transition depends upon their reliance on carbon-intensive industries as a source of foreign currency, fiscal revenue, employment and wage income. Identifying these different dimensions of countries’ exposure is important because different green policies need to be applied in different contexts, and the results of these policies will be more or less effective according to countries’ idiosyncrasies.This paper aims at providing estimates of countries’ macroeconomic current exposures to the low-carbon transition. We develop a method to evaluate countries’ external, fiscal and socioeconomic exposure, and, considering their capacity to adapt their productive structure, we analyse countries’ vulnerabilities and risks in these different dimensions. Using a Hybrid World Input-output table for 189 countries, we identify the carbon-intensive industries, and then we estimate each country’s direct and indirect dependence on these industries, considering countries’ dependence for raising of foreign currency to analyse the external exposure, government revenue to evaluate the fiscal exposure, and the share of wages and employment to analyse the socioeconomic exposure.Results show that countries present different degrees of exposure in different dimensions, and the degree of exposure varies significantly when indirect impacts are considered. Moreover, by analysing countries’ capacity to adapt their production structure and resilience factors, we evaluate to what extent countries’ macroeconomic exposure imply a higher vulnerability to the green transition process.

Study on Chains of Information Industry based on Average Propagation Lengths and Minimal Spanning Tree

Compared with the traditional methods of using industrial linkages to analyze the industrial chain, this paper introduces the theories of economic distance and graph theory to analyze the information industry chain. Industrial linkages reflects the size of economic and technological connection, and economic distance measures the distance between industries. The minimum spanning tree in graph theory measures the position of each industry in the information industry chain. There are complex indirect dependence and direct dependence in the industrial chain of electronic product manufacturing. The economic distance with most industries is 2 and 3, and most of the associated industries are manufacturing. The industrial chain of information service industry is relatively simple. Most related industries belong to the tertiary industry, and the economic distance is relatively close. The minimum spanning tree of information industry shows the central position of metal ore and metal smelting, and shows that the information industry chain still depends on metal ore resources. Using the time series input-output table, this paper analyzes the development and changes of the information industry chain, and finds that the information industry chain is relatively stable in this time span. Finally, it compares the difference between the competitive model and the non competitive model to measure the information industry chain. Using the non competitive model, it is found that the information industry chain becomes shorter and the economic distance between industries is closer.

The Current Condition of Coral Reef and Fish Diversity in Gosong Island, Southwest Aceh

Highlight Research The current condition coverage percentage of coral reefs in the waters of Gosong Island was 55% Percentage of dead coral with algae founded on Gosong Island is 28% On Gosong Island there are 11 families, namely Acroporidae, Agariciidae, Faviidae, Fungiidae, Merulinidae , Mussidae, Dendrophylliidae, Oculinidae, Pectiniidae, Pocilloporidae and Poritidae Abstract The coral reef ecosystem is an important ecosystem; its existence has a very close relationship with the surrounding ecosystem and the reef fish community. The direct and indirect dependence of reef fish on coral reefs has become an important issue at the national and international levels. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of coral reef ecosystem conditions, the percentage of coral growth, identify the types of coral reefs, and the diversity of reef fish species on Gosong Island, Southwest Aceh. Coral reef biophysical characteristics were collected by measuring water quality, calculating the percentage of coral coverage using the Point Intercept Transect (PIT) method, and the abundance of reef fish using the Underwater Fish Visual Census (UFVC) method. The condition of average percentage of coral reefs in the waters of Gosong Island was in a good category (55%), found as many as 31 genera of hard corals included in the line transect. The percentage of base substrate that dominates other than live coral is dead coral with algae (DCA) of 28%. The average abundance of reef fish in Gosong Island waters is 11,260 ind/ha with an average reef fish biomass of 2074,095 kg/yield. The water quality results show good conditions for coral growth in location. Based on the analysis of the structure of the fish community found in the coral reef area, the results showed good results, so the research location became a good habitat for various types of fish associated with coral reef ecosystems on Gosong Island

A Framework for the Assessment of Fiscal Consequences of Global Trade Wars

The article is devoted to topical issues of assessing the consequences of trade wars for the fiscal space of third countries. The main preconditions and causes of the trade conflict between the United States and China were studied. The main models for assessing the consequences of global trade wars were analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the global integrated monetary, fiscal and global trade models, which are based on the principles of general economic equilibrium and are widely used to assess the economic consequences of global challenges, including trade wars. It was found that the global integrated monetary and fiscal model, other macroeconomic models were aimed at determining the economic consequences and effects and cannot be directly used to assess fiscal risks and likely budget losses due to global trade wars. The aim of the article is to deepen the principles of assessing the fiscal consequences of trade wars in the conditions of uncertainty in foreign economic policy and directions of restructuring of the world value chains. The economic consequences of the conflict and the channels of their spread to third countries were identified taking into account the deepening globalization processes. The direct and indirect dependence of exports and imports, GDP, investments, factor productivity level and tax revenues on changes in foreign trade, tariff increases, increasing uncertainty in world trade in the short, medium and long term is highlighted. The estimates obtained by different models are summarized. The fiscal consequences of the trade conflict between the United States and China for Ukraine as a country with a small, open and predominantly commodity economy were quantified. The inclusion in fiscal risks of probable losses of foreign trade from global trade wars, arising due to various reasons, which may decrease the tax revenues or increase the expenditures on the public support of enterprises, is justified. Changes in the methodology for assessment of fiscal risks are proposed, enabling to estimate the cost impact of fiscal risks on the public budget of Ukraine. Proposals for improvements in the statistical monitoring of business activity of enterprises, to form an appropriate information base for monitoring foreign economic activities, assessing fiscal risks and making decisions to ensure the sustainability of public finance and public support for enterprises in the conditions of global trade wars, are substantiated.

Run-Of-River Small Hydropower Plants as Hydro-Resilience Assets against Climate Change

Renewable energy sources, due to their direct (e.g., wind turbines) or indirect (e.g., hydropower, with precipitation being the generator of runoff) dependence on climatic variables, are foreseen to be affected by climate change. In this research, two run-of-river small hydropower plants (SHPPs) located at different water districts in Greece are being calibrated and validated, in order to be simulated in terms of future power production under climate change conditions. In doing so, future river discharges derived by the forcing of a hydrology model, by three Regional Climate Models under two Representative Concentration Pathways, are used as inputs for the simulation of the SHPPs. The research concludes, by comparing the outputs of short-term (2031–2060) and long-term (2071–2100) future periods to a reference period (1971–2000), that in the case of a significant projected decrease in river discharges (~25–30%), a relevant important decrease in the simulated future power generation is foreseen (~20–25%). On the other hand, in the decline projections of smaller discharges (up to ~15%) the generated energy depends on the intermonthly variations of the river runoff, establishing that runoff decreases in the wet months of the year have much lower impact on the produced energy than those occurring in the dry months. The latter is attributed to the non-existence of reservoirs that control the operation of run-of-river SHPPs; nevertheless, these types of hydropower plants can partially remediate the energy losses, since they are taking advantage of low flows for hydropower production. Hence, run-of-river SHPPs are designated as important hydro-resilience assets against the projected surface water availability decrease due to climate change.

Graphene and NTCDA adsorbed on Ag(111): Temperature-dependent binding distance and phonon coupling to the interface state

Flat lying physisorbates on surfaces can be expected to be lifted by heating. The details of this lattice expansion depend on the competition between two mechanisms. On the one hand, the interaction potential of each atom with the substrate is anharmonic and constitutes the reason for lifting. On the other hand, the internal bending stiffness of the planar adsorbate reduces its tendency to lift with temperature. Here we show that this competition can be investigated in a simplified molecular-dynamics simulation which considers only the vertical motion of the atoms of the adsorbate in respective model potentials. For two prototypical systems, i.e., graphene and 1,4,5,8-naphthalene-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (NTCDA) on Ag(111), we observe lifting by 0.04 \AA{} (graphene) and 0.06 \AA{} (NTCDA) between zero and room temperature. For the latter system, the impact of the temperature-dependent geometrical and vibrational properties on the occurring interface state (IS) is discussed. By introducing a local electron-phonon interaction model, we combine the indirect dependence of the IS on the average binding distance with direct coupling to the vibrational modes and obtain good agreement with the experimental results.

Barometric pressure correction to gamma-ray observations and its energy dependence

Cosmic rays (CRs) have been studied extensively in the last century to understand the processes in the universe as well as in the solar system. In today's satellite era, although many observations are made from space, CR observations from the ground are still viewed as a significant tool. These observations, however, mainly detect the secondary cosmic rays (SCRs) produced via nuclear spallation processes during the interactions of the primary CR with the atmospheric nuclei. Neutron, muon, and gamma are the major components of SCRs detected on the ground. It is well known that atmospheric pressure plays a vital role in the SCR flux observed on the ground. Barometric pressure correction is standard practice for neutron monitor (NM) data. For gamma-rays, however, being massless, their pressure dependence is not intuitive. Nevertheless, the pressure affects the particles such as e±, μ±, which produce gamma rays in the cascade. Subsequently, the indirect pressure dependence of the gamma-ray flux can be anticipated.We examine this aspect in detail by studying the gamma-ray counts detected by the NaI (Tl) detector. The present study confirms that there is no correlation between the atmospheric pressure and the total counts covering the entire energy range (150 keV–10 MeV) recorded by the NaI detector. However, the scenario differs when the fluxes of different energies are investigated separately. The gamma rays of energy below ∼3 MeV are primarily due to the radioactivity originating from the ground, whereas gamma rays above 3 MeV are mainly produced in the CR cascade. It is observed that the counts of energy above 3 MeV are well anti-correlated with the atmospheric pressure. The barometric coefficient obtained here matches well with that reported by the previous studies which used anti-coincidence methods. This may indicate that the role of directly detected muons and electrons by the NaI (Tl) in the observed pressure dependence is non-significant. It is demonstrated that applying the barometric correction formula to NaI (Tl) data successfully removes the pressure dependence in the flux above 3 MeV. Therefore, we suggest that the particle flux data above 3 MeV measured by NaI (Tl) detector needs to be corrected for the local atmospheric pressure variations.

Dietary Habits of Female University Students in Eastern Slovakia in the Context of Sports Activity

(1) Background: The aim of the research was to expand the current knowledge about the diets of female university students in relation to the frequency of their sports activity (SA). We were specifically interested in the eating frequency, the distribution of the amount of food during the day, including breakfast in the diet, and the timing of dinner before bedtime. (2) Methods: The sample in this cross-sectional research consisted of 1055 female freshmen university students from the two universities in eastern Slovakia. Data were obtained through a set of selected questions from a questionnaire battery. (3) Results: We found a significant rank–order correlation between the frequency of meals during the day and the level of SA, as well as between the consumption of breakfast and SA. Furthermore, we found a significant indirect dependence on the distribution of meals during the day and SA. The results indicate a better dietary pattern of the more active female students in terms of the frequency of meals. (4) Conclusions: “The healthy behaviour”, which includes proper diet and regular SA, was monitored in the cross-sectional research we conducted, the results of which consistently point to opportunities for further improvement. There is a need for universities to develop professionally targeted programmes that will enable novice students to modify their health behaviours during their studies.

Plant evolution along the ‘fast–slow’ growth economics spectrum under altered precipitation regimes

Plants have evolved different strategies to withstand drought. In general, these strategies can be defined along a plant economics spectrum, which classifies plants depending on whether their growth rate is fast or slow, where fast growth is associated with high mortality, high water use, and high sensitivity to drought. Which strategy along this economy spectrum will be selected under different precipitation regimes is an open question. We address this question with a minimal soil–plant model in which a single plant economy trait related to growth rate characterizes the plant strategy. This generic and dimensionless trait influences both recruitment and mortality, but not background mortality. We explore the evolution of this trait by quantifying its effects on birth, mortality, and transpiration rates. Furthermore, we explore the influence of direct plant density dependence acting on recruitment and mortality, in addition to the indirect density dependence caused by plant feedback on soil water content.We show that: (1) Increasingly fast-growing plants always evolve under increasing background mortality. (2) When soil water only depends on plant density and is independent of precipitation and abiotic water losses, the strategy minimizing soil water content is an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS); i.e., the evolutionary outcome is a tragedy of the commons (Hardin, 1968). (3) When precipitation, abiotic water losses and trait dependent transpiration determine soil water content, the ESS lies between the strategy maximizing plant density and that minimizing soil water content; i.e., no tragedy of the commons occurs. (4) With a deterministic precipitation model and density dependence acting directly only on recruitment, higher precipitation promotes the evolution of faster plants. The opposite result is found when density dependence is acting directly only on mortality. (5) Similar trends in the economy trait are observed when forcing the model with stochastic precipitation events.

СТРАТЕГІЧНІ ПЕРЕВАГИ ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ПРОГРАМ ЛОЯЛЬНОСТІ ЩОДО ПІДВИЩЕННЯ РЕНТАБЕЛЬНОСТІ МАРКЕТИНГОВИХ ІНВЕСТИЦІЙ ВІТЧИЗНЯНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The article examines the terminological aspects of the concept of “consumer loyalty”, indicates the directions of further research on the application of a systematic approach to managingcustomer loyalty, in particular the formation of enterprise management systems focused on retaining consumers and increasing their loyalty. Loyalty reflects the whole system of relations at the level of the consumer, the group, and society and is the result of the interaction of the buyer with the environment and the social processes that occur in society as a whole. Loyalty is determined by a complex, indirect dependence on a number of factors. As part of relationship marketing, loyalty programs are used to retain customers through their complete satisfaction. By a loyalty program, we mean a set of actions organized in such a way as to stimulate consumers and meet their requirements, as well as to minimize losses, namely losses in the number of consumers, and increase sales. The main motive of loyalty programs is to provide customers with the benefits: material, emotional, psychological. Depending on the pricing system for rewarding customers, there are two main types of consumer loyalty programs: discount and bonus programs. Discount programs provide their members with a purely material benefit in the form of a return of part of the paid price of the goods immediately at the time of purchase. Discount programs are replaced by bonus programs to encourage consumers. Their essence is that the consumer, making purchases, receives prize bonuses. The content of the loyalty program as a marketing tool that helps to create and maintain long-term relationships with consumers is determined. Competitive advantages that create consumer loyalty for the company have been studied. The types of programs to increase loyalty and the benefits that the consumer receives in the process of their implementation are considered. Attention is focused on the need to direct the activities of domestic enterprises to maintain loyalty to their brands, increase rational components, emphasize the unique properties of the Ukrainian products.

ЗМІНА ПАРАДИГМИ МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ ТА ПРОГНОЗУВАННЯ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНИХ СИСТЕМ

Modern socio-economic systems demonstrate instability, chaos, and unpredictability. What methodology should be used to modeling modern socio-economic systems? Constant changes and crises in the development of socio-economic systems require new approaches to the research of these systems. The feature of the approach to the study of socio-economic systems in modern conditions is the conversion from a linear to a nonlinear paradigm. The models of socio-economic systems are systems of nonlinear differential equations. Nonlinear differential equations demonstrate different modes of functioning of complex socio-economic systems. Nonlinear equations can have several qualitatively different solutions. This explains the existence of different ways of evolution of nonlinear socio-economic systems. Nonlinearity is a fundamental position of new paradigm of cognition and development. Nonlinearity is a general law of nature and means, first of all, non-observance of the principle of superposition. The whole cannot be the sum of its parts; the result cannot be the sum of efforts, the quality of the whole is not determined by the sum of the qualities of its parts, the reaction of the system is not proportional to the influence. For nonlinear phenomena, knowledge about the behavior of a part of an object does not yet guarantee correct ideas about the behavior of the object as a whole, and its response to changes in conditions may qualitatively depend on the magnitude of these changes. Non-linearity is the multivariance of the evolutionary paths, the presence of a choice of alternative paths and determining the rate of evolution. Nonlinearity is the irreversibility of evolutionary processes; nonlinear, indirect dependence of evolutionary processes on external influences. The article examines the topical issue of changing the paradigm of modeling and forecasting socio-economic systems. The necessity of transition from linear to nonlinear paradigm in economic research is theoretically substantiated. The features of the application of methods of nonlinear dynamics to the modeling of socio-economic systems are considered. The phenomenon of nonlinearity of socio-economic systems is studied.

Vliv sedimentačního prostředí na magnetickou susceptibilitu přelivových sedimentů nivy Moravy ve Strážnickém Pomoraví

Four profiles in different sedimentary environments - natural levee, proximal floodplain, distal floodplain, oxbow lake - were sampled to obtain magnetic susceptibility (MS), grain size, organic matter content (LOI) and pH. Relationships between selected parameters (χlf, D50, LOI, pH) were analysed by means of statistical analysis (linear regression, PCA, factor analysis). Principal goal was to investigate how character of individual sedimentary environments and their distance from the active river channel is reflected in the magnetic signal of overbank deposits. A decrease in the magnetic signal with increasing distance from the river channel was shown, confirming that fluvial deposition is a major factor of contamination of floodplain sediments by anthropogenic magnetic particles. The base of elevated values of MS (levee: 80 cm, proximal floodplain: 30 cm) probably corresponds to the turn of the 19th and 20th century and the strongest magnetic signal (levee: 32,5 cm, proximal floodplain: 5 cm) belongs to the 1980s. Statistically significant relationships were found between: χlf and LOI (direct dependence), LOI and D50 (indirect dependence), pH and D50 (direct dependence) when data from all profiles were analysed together.