The formation of the cultural landscape of Kamianets-Podilsky fortress stage transformations of the fortress in terms of improving the means of warfare)

The article examines 11 stages of the formation of the defensive system of the Kamenets-Podilsky fortress from the point of view of stage transformations (II - XVIII centuries). The main factor that initially influenced the formation of the concept of urban defense was the topography of the area. The old island town, surrounded by the canyon of the Smotrych River, had a natural protective potential from the very beginning, which was fully used throughout the Middle Ages. Subsequent reconstructions were supposed to strengthen the defensive parameters of the area. However, with the advent of long-range artillery, the former defensive advantages of the island led to the degradation of the fortress. The city on the island, surrounded by a river canyon, became a convenient target for enemy artillery stationed on the opposite high bank. All the disadvantages of this situation appeared at the end of the 17th century, when the city was captured by the Ottoman army after a short siege. In the XIX century, military engineers proposed to create a system of powerful forts on the opposite bank of the river, but the lack of financial resources did not allow this idea to be realized. As a result, the fortified city remained an archaic medieval complex, unsuitable for other military functions

The Expansion of Peer-to-Peer Lending

We use data from the two leading US platforms, Prosper and Lending Club, to explore the drivers of the growing consumer demand for peer-to-peer (P2P) credit. Despite the online nature of new entrants, we rely on the spatial autoregressive model because spatial effects play an important role. Our findings suggest that the initial growth of P2P lending was spurred by the global financial crisis, but its growth after 2011 occurred in counties that were underserved by bank branches. The growth of P2P lending is slower in counties with high bank concentration and this factor is the most robust, stable over time and economically important in our study. Counties with lower population density, lower share of educated and young people experience lower growth of P2P lending, consistent with the hypothesis that learning costs deter the entry of new entrants.

SETTLEMENT BARSOVA GORA II/42 (NEOLITHIC, ENEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE COMPLEXES)

The settlement Barsova Gora II/42 is located in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, 15 km west of Surgut, on the high bank of the Ob' River. The settlement is being actively destroyed due to the activities of oil companies. More than 20 objects and structures were investigated in 2011 during rescue excavations, some of them are pits of ancient dwellings (sites 1, 2, 6, 15, 19), some are household outbuildings and pits (sites 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20), two objects have a cult purpose (sites 5, 12). An important feature of the monument is that archaeological structures of different epochs and cultures overlap each other, allowing us to trace the sequence of settlement of this part of the Ob River bank. During the Neolithic Age the constructions of Bystrinsky and Barsovogorsky cultural types were located here, the cultural layers containing ceramics of Vakhovsky type belong to the Eneolithic Age, and the constructions and household pits of Kulugansky type belong to the Bronze Age. An ochre storage pit and a ring ochre structure represent a unique object, which is probably related to ancient rituals. The revealed objects (Nos. 15, 19, 18, 2, 1, 5, 17, 13) are partially investigated and require further excavations.

The effect of environmental regulations on innovation in heavy-polluting and resource-based enterprises: Quasi-natural experimental evidence from China

Environmental protection regulations adopted by governments affect the microeconomic behavior of enterprises. The Chinese government began piloting the outgoing leading officials’ accountability audit of natural resources assets (OANRA) in some regions in 2014. Based on this quasi-natural experimental setting, this paper chose heavy-polluting and resource-based enterprises in pilot regions of China from 2011 to 2016 as examples for studying the impact of the OANRA on enterprise innovation and further examines the role of government subsidies in this process. The study finds that the OANRA has no significant impact on enterprise innovation. However, with support from government subsidies, the OANRA dramatically accelerates enterprise innovation investment. The results are still seen after applying propensity matching analysis (PSM), balancing panel data and deleting special provinces. Further analysis shows that this effect is more obvious among small-scale, state-owned enterprises that are located in areas with high degrees of marketization and high bank credit constraints. This study advances the research of the OANRA’s effects on the microeconomic behavior of enterprises. Moreover, the adjustment effect of government subsidies also provides great reference value to making rational use of policy to cooperate with the OANRA.

Do Busy Directors Impede or Spur Bank Performance and Bank Risks? Event Study Evidence From Brazil

The paper investigates the implications of busy directors on bank performance and bank risks in Brazil. The study employs an event study based on a change in board status as an identification strategy, Heckman’s two-stage model, and the propensity score matching method to account for endogeneity. The study findings show that busy directors contribute to an increase in bank market value. Regarding bank risks, the study shows that multiple directorships contribute to an increase in asset risk and insolvency risk. The study contributes to the existing literature by showing that busy directors are associated with high bank risks in foreign-owned banks while they disproportionately reduce bank risks in state-owned banks. Considering the importance of bank stability in promoting economic growth in Brazil and the positive impact of busy directors on bank risks, there is need for the policymakers to craft clear corporate governance clauses which guide the selection of multiple directors and enforce feedback and accountability mechanisms that govern busy directors who serve in Brazilian banks. Reducing excessive participation for busy directors serving in bank boards ensures that the directors have adequate time and attention to discharge their governance responsibilities efficiently, thus resulting in robust risk monitoring strategies in bank operations.

Cyprus

Following a period of very rapid growth in the aftermath of the crisis, growth is gradually settling in at a more sustainable but still relatively robust pace despite the external slowdown. Output is projected to rise by around 3 percent in 2019–20, supported by construction and services sectors. Good progress has been made in addressing domestic and external stability risks arising from legacies of the financial crisis. Sales of non-performing loans (NPLs), amendments to the foreclosure and insolvency framework and resolution of a large systemic bank have helped strengthen bank balance sheets. Large fiscal surpluses have reduced risk premia to historical lows and reduced financing risks. Nonetheless, vulnerabilities remain: political pressure to unwind some of these reforms has recently escalated; NPLs in the banking system and debt levels are still high; bank profitability remains low; and difficulties in debt workouts and the resulting debt overhang weigh on productive investments. Productivity growth has also been weak, reflecting financial sector difficulties as well as a slower pace of technological diffusion and institutional inefficiencies.

Barriers Faced by Rural Female Entrepreneurs of SMEs in Accessing Financial Institutions for Loans in Bangladesh

The purpose of this study is to explore the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in accessing the financial institutions for loans in Bangladesh. A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was applied in the study to collect the primary data. The study included ten female entrepreneurs from the rural areas of Bangladesh to recognise the barriers in accessing financial institutions, such as banks, micro-credit and other organisations. The study has identified that a complicated loan process, high interest rates, a lack of bank officer support, the biasness of officers, negative preconceptions about women and high bank account maintenance costs are the major barriers in accessing financial institutions in Bangladesh. The findings of the study will help facilitate Bangladesh and other developing countries to remove the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs and develop the business prospects set up by women. The study also discusses the limitations and the future directions of the research.

Architecture of intereruptive and syneruptive facies in an Andean Quaternary palaeovalley: the Huarenchenque Formation, western Argentina

The Huarenchenque Formation is a volcano sedimentary unit deposited to the east of the Plio-Quaternary Andean Magmatic Arc. In order to define depositional settings, two lithofacies associations (fluvial and pyroclastic) were defined. The fluvial facies association is composed of polymictic conglomerates with the predominance of basalt- dominated clasts, coarse- medium-grained conglomeratic sandstones and medium- to coarse-grained sandstones. These deposits occur as stacked or single bodies, display both sheet and channelized geometries, and contain a range of internal sedimentary structures, such as planar, low angle stratification and cross-bedding. This facies association is interpreted as the deposit of a multichannel fluvial system characterized by high bed load, steep gradient and non-cohesive bank materials. Facies and architecture of the fluvial deposits are the result of high bank full discharge related to rapid deglaciation of the Andean Last Glacial Maximum. The pyroclastic facies association is characterized by lapilli and ash tuffs deposited from air fall, pyroclastic density current, and density stratified surge mechanisms. In the Huarenchenque Formation the fluvial and the pyroclastic facies associations show a clear physical separation, suggesting that sedimentation occurred in two distinct (intereruptive and syneruptive) phases. During the long-lived intereruptive phases the sedimentary record corresponds mainly to the deposits of the gravelly braided fluvial system, whereas during syneruptive phases the fluvial valley was almost entirely occupied by primary pyroclastic deposits related to high-explosive episodes of the neighbor Andean strato-volcanoes. Although most of the cross-bedded sandstones and conglomerate sandstones are rich in basaltic fragments, some strata are composed almost entirely of pumiceous fragments, while in others there is a marked alternation between “basalt” and “pumiceous” foresets. These attributes reflect the preservation of intrabasinal pyroclastic fragments and allow suggest that: i. explosive volcanic events could be more frequent than reflected by the pyroclastic deposits themselves; ii. syneruptive pyroclastic materials could be eroded (even eliminated) by the fluvial system; iii. contributions of primary pyroclastic material persisted during intereruptive (fluvial-dominated) phases.

Origin, development factors and dynamics of landslides in Jurassic clay in Moscow

The article focuses on the factors and dynamics of development of large deep extrusion landslides in Jurassic clay participating in geological structure of high bank slopes of the Moscow River within the city boundaries. The history of geological development of territory in Meso-Cenozoic age is observed in briefly; the peculiarities of upper Jurassic clay structure are considered; the structure, composition, and physico-chemical properties of rocks are described both in preserved and weathered state; the morphology and zoning of landslide slope structure as well as stages and dynamics of landslide deformations are characterized. Recommendations on the engineering development of territories affected by landslides are given. The paper is based on the generalization of numerous publications and archive data devoted to this acute topic.

Relationship between river bank stability and hydrological processes using in situ measurement data

Many river banks throughout the world are prone to landslides; therefore, serious efforts are made to develop landslide early warning systems. This study presents a method by which the stability changes of the river banks can be continuously monitored; necessary measures can be taken in time to reduce the damage. The method was tested in Dunaszekcső (Hungary), where the high loess bank of the River Danube has been intensively moving since 2007. The tilts of the high bank were measured by two borehole tiltmeters. The connection between tilt values and the river- and groundwater-level variations was investigated by multivariable and moving window regression analyses on the basis of a 6-year-long observation from 2011 to 2016. The results show that increasing regression coefficients mean decreasing stability of the high river bank, so the developed method can be used for continuous supervision of the high bank stability. The method is also suitable for studying the causes of motion processes. Investigations showed clearly that the effect of groundwater table variations is two orders of magnitude higher than the water-level variations of the River Danube. In addition to the erosion of the river, various small tilts of the stable and unstable parts also contribute to the arising of new cracks in the stable part, decreasing its width.