Understanding the gender pay gap between and within occupations in Germany: What role do individual job tasks play?

We analyse whether gender differences in individual job tasks explain part of the gender pay gap between and within occupations. Theoretically, we combine the economic task-based approach with sociological considerations of gender essentialism and male primacy to discuss systematic variation in the demand for and remuneration of job tasks. Results of hybrid models and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions reveal that women perform lower-paid job tasks more often than men do, which contributes to the gender pay gap between and within occupations. However, not all tasks performed by women pay less, pointing towards an interdependence between skill-biased technological change and gender-essentialist task selection.

Resource potential of Beninese soils for maize cultivation

Due to the growth of the population, the need of the Republic of Benin to increase food production is growing significantly. Maize is the main cultivated crop in the country, being also the main item of nutrition. The scientific rationale for expanding the area of maize cultivation is an important economic task. GIS database was created, which includes all the necessary information on soil, relief, and climate conditions in the country for assessment the resource potential of lands for maize cultivation. Geoinformation modeling of soil and land suitability for maize cultivation was performed. The most suitable lands were identified. Possibility to expand areas for maize cultivation in the country was assessed. It was found that the largest resources (in parts of the land fund) for the expansion of maize cultivation are in the following communities of Benin: Tory-Bossito (96%), Toviklin (92.41%), Materi (90.31%), Kobli (89.25%), Wayogbe (87.99), Parakou (86.57%), Jaco-Tomey (85.66%), Avrankou (85.46%), Allada (84.13%), Bohicon (82.24%), Sakete (81.85%), Za Kpota (78.08%), Akpo Misserete (77.96%), Bopa (77.15%), Kpomasse (75.82%) and Ifania (75.03%). The findings led us to conclude that, theoretically, the gross maize production in Benin could be increased fivefold (from 1,514,913 tons to 5,513,947 tons) only by expanding the cultivation area.

Results and promising areas of research with onion crops in the Republic of Belarus

Relevance. Providing the country's population with a variety of vegetable products is the most important socio-economic task in the Republic of Belarus. It is necessary not only to increase the production of vegetables, but also to significantly expand their range. In connection with the trend of decline in industrial production of onions, the issue of ensuring the sowing of onions in the annual culture of seeds from domestic varieties and hybrids is relevant. Also in Belarus, the problem is the provision of garlic to the population of the country.Results. In the article summarizes the results of scientific research on the breeding and development of technologies for the cultivation of onion crops in Belarus, analyzed the main and promising areas of work. Data on the results of competitive sorting of new varieties and hybrids of onion and leek, the main technological parameters of growing garlic and leeks are given.

Multiple-organ failure in patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

The article analyzes the mechanisms of the development and clinical manifestations of multi-organ dysfunction and multi-organ failure syndrome, which often accompany the severe COVID-19. Moreover, since multiple organ dysfunction during severe COVID-19 may be caused by a cytokine storm resulting from elevated inflammatory mediators, endothelial dysfunction, coagulation disorders, and inflammatory cell infiltration, further studies are needed to determine the exact mechanisms of pathogenesis. Since the involvement of multiple organs in the pathological process of the disease during coronavirus infection is an important and complex medical, mental, tactical, physical, emotional, and economic task for both clinicians and patients and their families, increasing knowledge of the pathological process can help improve outcomes and reduce morbidity and mortality. The review includes some results of our own experience in the treatment of severe cases of coronavirus disease.

Climate Change Impact on the Glaciers of the Rioni River Basin (Georgia)

Since the beginning of the 21st century, studies of glaciers in Georgia have become more important, because the degradation of glaciers causes an increase in the intensity and frequency of natural disasters of a glacial and hydrological nature, an increase in water levels in the Black Sea, and a changes in river water regime. Studying the current state of the ice sheet in Georgia is an important national economic task, and to obtainobtaining a scientifically sound answer on modern conditions of the glaciers, due to the impact of current climate change is an urgent task. To solve this task, high-resolution satellite remote sensing (SRS) is used. The r. Rioni basin (West Georgia) is one of the most important glacier basins in Georgia, where the powerful glaciers are spread and their change is of great interest. In this work there are presented the results of the study of r. Rioni glasiers glaciers degradation due to the influence of current climate change including the expected time of their full melting.

Some Features in the Formulation and Solution of Regional Problems of Sustainable Development. Part III

At the present stage of development of society, management of large infrastructural objects of the regional economy is an important national economic task. The complexity of its solution is primarily associated with the need to take into account in the long-term perspective the needs of yet unborn generations of people and qualitative changes in the control object that arise in the process of its operation. In this paper, control objects are considered on a universal scientific platform of natural-industrial systems, and the control process itself is presented as a multi-step one. Introduced and formalized the concept of “problematic situation”, which prevents the system from advancing towards the goals of sustainable development, a method for reducing the number of indicators for assessing the state of the system is proposed. The management strategy uses the “principle of foresight” and the scheme of making compromise decisions due to the presence of contradictions in the indicators of development.

Village Council in Paris: “French” Episode in the Story “For Future Use” by Platonov

The article focuses on one of the episodes of Andrey Platonov’s story “For Future Use.” The episode dealing with Efim Nechaev’s trip to Paris is a response to international issues as discussed in the Communist Party official speeches and newspaper publications and has recognizable literature parallels with the so-called “foreign texts” by other writers (V.V. Mayakovsky, A.M. Gorky). This scene was written in early 1930 and was only kept in the first edition of the story. The aggravation of Soviet-French relationships and an all-Union recyclable materials collection campaign are both reflected in the passage involving a kolkhoz (collective farm) activist who is ready to start collectivization and dispossession of kulaks in Paris and trying to solve the economic problems of the USSR by a new original type of export which he invented. Explanatory notes reveal the grotesqueness of Platonov’s plot combining the political idea of exporting the socialist revolution to the West and the economic task of waste export.

Evaluations of research work on the basis of multifactor correlation-regressional analysis

In modern conditions, labor rationing is gradually turning from a purely calculated, technical process into a complex socio-economic task, covering the solution of issues of satisfaction with work, the development of workers, the prospects for their further work. The article reveals the essence of the modern method of developing standards for research work based on the use of multi-criteria correlation-regression analysis. Many scientific works are devoted to the study of the effectiveness of the use of correlation-regression analysis in the process of solving problems related to the establishment of relationships between factor attributes of various types, the construction of a multiple linear regression equation, the mathematical apparatus that is used in the process of constructing linear regression models. The issues of improving the methodological support for determining the labor intensity of research work using multi factor correlation-regression analysis. It has been established that indicators for the development of standards and the assessment of research work can be divided into quantitative and qualitative. The normative formula for determining labor costs for research and development is associated with the performance of certain work. Correctly established standards, which are derived from the norms, harmonize the functioning of the entire economic system both at the macro and micro levels. To calculate the aggregated standards for the labor intensity of scientific work, it is necessary to have actual and planned labor costs for carrying out research in general, their structural elements and individual stages and stages. The construction of a model for evaluating research work is associated with the need for a large number of mathematical assumptions due to the impossibility of fully accounting for the effect of qualitative indicators. It is concluded that little attention is paid to the methods of correlation-regression analysis for the regulation of research work in Ukraine, therefore, this is an urgent task for further scientific research.

Economists at Armistice

1946 brought the Armistice and a new economic task: the focus of the economists had to move from the problems of wartime rationing and finance to a new world of economic reconstruction, post-war stabilization, economic growth, and debt reduction. In addition the Cold War brought a new tactic: strategic deterrence. In this year Japan commemorated the anniversary of the death of Takashi Korekiyo, H. H. Kung gathered his wealth and prepared to flee the Chinese Communist forces, Maynard Keynes helped establish the International Monetary Fund, only to die exhausted, and Hjalmar Schacht defended himself from accusations of Nazism and regained his freedom.

Anterior Insula Reflects Inferential Errors in Value-Based Decision-making and Perception

The process of inference is theorized to underlie neural processes, including value-based decision-making and perception. Value-based decision-making commonly involves deliberation, a time-consuming process that requires conscious consideration of decision variables. Perception, by contrast, is thought to be automatic and effortless. To determine if inference characterizes both perception and value-based decision-making, we directly compared uncertainty signals in visual perception and an economic task using fMRI. We presented the same individuals with different versions of a bi-stable figure (Necker’s cube) and with a gambling task during fMRI acquisition. To track the inferential process assumed in both tasks, we experimentally varied uncertainty, either on perceptual state or financial outcome. We found that inferential errors captured by surprise in the gambling task yielded BOLD responses in the anterior insula, in line with earlier findings. Moreover, we found perceptual risk and surprise in the Necker Cube task yielded similar responses in the anterior insula. These results suggest that uncertainty, irrespective of domain, correlates to a common brain region, the anterior insula. These findings provide empirical evidence that the brain interacts with its environment through inferential processes.