The Development and Transformation of the Bank Card Market as an Imperative for Digitalization: the Case of Central and Eastern European Countries

The purpose of this study is to determine the development trends of the major determinants of the bank card market in eight countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the period from 2010 to 2019. Continuing a study carried out in 2018, further comparative analysis of the “Bank Cards Market Index” proposed earlier and based on a system of interrelated indicators of bank payment cards, ATMs and POS‑terminals, was carried out. We provide an overview of the rankings of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia using international ranking systems such as “The Legatum Prosperity Index,” “Doing Business,” “The Index of Economic Freedom,” and the “Вank Cards Market Index.” Further studies of three international ranking systems, as well as the “Bank Cards Market Index,” again confirmed the similarity of the development models of the bank card market in Poland and Ukraine. To study the impact of the digitalization of economics and Covid–19 on the bank card market, a deeper analysis of two cases (Poland and Ukraine, as two similar bank card markets) was carried out using the “Digital Evolution Index.” In the course of the research, it was concluded that the “Вank Cards Market Index” can be successfully used for further research of the banking sector of different countries. Also, the growth trend of cashless payments in the bank card market and the possible transformation of the market under the influence of Covid–19, and the global digitalization of economics were noticed. Taking into account the above trend, further studies of the system of interrelated indicators of bank payment cards, ATMs, and POS terminals should be carried out using the “Digital Evolution Index” or other international indexes that characterize the level of digitalization of the economy in the researched countries.

Science in Transition How Science Goes Wrong and What to Do About It

Science in Transition, which started in 2013, is a small-scale Dutch initiative that presented a systems approach, comprised of analyses and suggested actions, based on experience in academia. It was built on writings by early science watchers and most recent theoretical developments in philosophy, history and sociology of science and STS on the practice and politics of science. This chapter will include my personal experiences as one of the four Dutch founders of Science in Transition. I will discuss the message and the various forms of reception over the past 6 years by the different actors in the field, including administrators in university, academic societies and Ministries of Higher Education, Economic Affairs and Public Health but also from leadership in the private sector. I will report on my personal experience of how these myths and ideologies play out in the daily practice of 40 years of biomedical research in policy and decision making in lab meetings, at departments, at grant review committees of funders and in the Board rooms and the rooms of Deans, Vice Chancellors and Rectors.It has in the previous chapters become clear that the ideology and ideals that we are brought up with are not valid, are not practiced despite that even in 2020 they are still somehow ‘believed’ by most scientists and even by many science watchers, journalists and used in political correct rhetoric and policy making by science’s leadership. In that way these ideologies and beliefs mostly implicitly but sometimes even explicitly determine debates regarding the internal policy of science and science policy in the public arena. These include all time classic themes like the uniqueness of science compared to any other societal activity; ethical superiority of science and scientists based on Mertonian norms; the vocational disinterested search for truth, autonomy; values and moral (political) neutrality, dominance of internal epistemic values and unpredictability regards impact. These ideas have influenced debates about the ideal and hegemony of natural science, the hierarchy of basic over applied science; theoretical over technological research and at a higher level in academic institutions and at the funders the widely held supremacy of STEM over SSH. This has directly determined the attitudes of scientists in the interaction with peers within the field, but also shaped the politics of science within science but also with policy makers and stakeholders from the public and private sector and with interactions with popular media.Science it was concluded was suboptimal because of growing problems with the quality and reproducibility of its published products due to failing quality control at several levels. Because of too little interactions with society during the phases of agenda setting and the actual process of knowledge production, its societal impact was limited which also relates to the lack of inclusiveness, multidisciplinarity and diversity in academia. Production of robust and significant results aiming at real world problems are mainly secondary to academic output relevant for an internally driven incentive and reward system steering for academic career advancement at the individual level. Similarly, at the higher organizational and national level this reward system is skewed to types of output and impact focused on positions on international ranking lists. This incentive and reward system, with flawed use of metrics, drives a hyper-competitive social system in academia which results in a widely felt lack of alignment and little shared value in the academic community. Empirical data, most of it from within science and academia, showing these problems in different academic disciplines, countries and continents are published on virtually a weekly basis since 2014. These critiques focus on the practices of scholarly publishing including Open Access and open data, the adverse effects of the incentive and reward system, in particular its flawed use of metrics. Images, ideologies and politics of science were exposed that insulate academia and science from society and its stakeholders, which distort the research agenda and subsequentially its societal and economic impact.

Development of a National Rating System to Evaluate the Brand Attraction of Sewing and Knitting Enterprises

The article proposes a mechanism for creating a national rating system aimed at including local brands in the international ranking of global brands in order to assess the brand attractiveness of sewing and knitting companies operating in Uzbekistan. It recommends the methodology of rating of national and global brands, the main segments of the analysis of national brands, the direction of development of the rating system, the rating criteria for the evaluation of local brands and the sources of their identification. The development of a national rating system for brand evaluation will lead to the formation of a healthy competitive environment for local brands, protection of consumers from substandard products, the creation of an integrated system between enterprises and consumers.

Analysis of the Need for Android Based Mobile Learning Development to Improve Student Science Literations

Science learning in Indonesia has not succeeded in increasing scientific literacy skills, as indicated by the decreasing international ranking from year to year. One of the efforts made to improve scientific literacy is using Android-based learning media. This study aims to analyze the need for the development of instructional media to improve students' scientific literacy at MTs Al Uswah Bergas Semarang Regency. This type of research is a descriptive study that is to describes the current situation. The data instruments used were interviews, observation, and questionnaires. The results of the research on the analysis of the needs for learning media based on android showed that 38% of the 80 students, namely 30 students agreed to develop Android-based learning media, while 29% of the students showed disagreement, 21% strongly agreed, and 12% strongly disagreed. There are aspects of literacy then students including; literacy as mastery of science as knowledge was 63%, 66% as a way of thinking, 62% of scientific literacy as a way of learning, 62% of the aspects of mastery of the competence of the interaction of science, technology, and society. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research on the development of Android-based mobile learning media to improve students' scientific literacy

REALISATION OF DIGITAL EDUCATION AT THE ALGERIAN UNIVERSITY - IN CRISIS – A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ARAB AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES

University by its scientific frameworks of different degrees; transfer knowledge to students, and then provide the community with technical and scientific skills. In addition to its scientific and empirical research it also provides advisory services and the completion of some projects related to social development The Arab universities have made remarkable efforts to cope with change; although some reports global which are classified as the universities of the developed world were exempt from a reference to an Arab University, each university seeks to catch up; and Planned to be soon in the universities of the world, Take into account the principle of universality of higher education. which are classified as the universities of the developed world were exempt from a reference to an Arab University each university is looking to catch up on progress , and Planned to soon be in the world’s universities, Take into account the principle of universality of higher education However, despite the efforts made by Arab universities, they suffer from many flaws, inadequacies and imbalances, which have made them occupy low levels in the international ranking, and these universities are now looking for mechanisms to get out of their crisis. These include the mechanisms for using The quality assurance study in the light of the principle of universality provides an opportunity for these universities to develop a plan to achieve the desired objective with the preservation of their cultural dispositions, and its special priority; is a way of Arab universities to develop their performance and achieve their goals to soon be in the universities of the developed world. _Integrating the principle of universality of education into quality assurance is a way for Arab universities to develop their performance and achieve their goals to be soon in the universities of the developed world. The concept of education in the context refers to crtai characteristis ; for example: the crieteria for teacher training the crieteria for building school; the crieteriafor school cimate ; the crieteria quality school books ; the crieteria of nature and efficiency of administrative management; the crieteria for the quality of educational programmes; the crieteria for the taching strategies ;etc the adoption and implementation of a quality assurance system in higher education institutions in Algeria in harmony with political specificities The country’s social and cultural life has become an imperative in order to face the challenges both nationally and internationally. and it is no secret that the application of quality in higher education is still at the experimental stage. That is why, as researchers, we are interested in the quality experiments that have been applied in different countries in the field of digital education.

Assessment of the international competitiveness of the corporate profit tax in Ukraine

The article is devoted to assessing the international competitiveness of the corporate profit tax system based on the approach of the US Tax Foundation, which develops International Tax Competitiveness Index of the corporate profit tax (ICI) and takes into account the level of profit tax rates, cost recovery, tax incentives and complexity of tax law. According to the analysis of the international ranking of OECD countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary had the highest ICIs in 2019-2020. The main factors that have had a positive effect on their competitiveness are the low top marginal income tax rate, unlimited loss carryback and carryforward, no restrictions on the list of assets subject to depreciation, as well as the use of accelerated depreciation, which allows companies to compensate for a larger share of the initial value of assets, LIFO inventory or at least inventory by the weighted average cost method, no Patent Box; no tax credit for R&D, and low corporate profit tax complexity. The calculation of the ICI for Ukraine, based on the approbation of the methodological approach of the Tax Foundation, found that in 2019-2020 Ukraine with a total score of 55.07 took 24th place out of 35 OECD countries. The author characterizes the main components of Ukrainian corporate profit taxation in terms of their impact on international competitiveness; in addition, ways to increase ICI are substantiated.

Assessment of the international competitiveness of the corporate income tax of Ukraine

The article is devoted to assessing the international competitiveness of the corporate income tax system based on the approach of the US Tax Foundation, which develops International Tax Competitiveness Index of the corporate income tax (ICI) and takes into account the level of income tax rates, cost recovery, tax incentives and complexity of tax law. According to the analysis of the international ranking of OECD countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary had the highest ICIs in 2019-2020. The main factors that have had a positive effect on their competitiveness are the low top marginal income tax rate, unlimited loss carryback and carryforward, no restrictions on the list of assets subject to depreciation, as well as the use of accelerated depreciation, which allows companies to compensate for a larger share of the initial value of assets, LIFO inventory or at least inventory by the weighted average cost method, no Patent Box; no tax credit for R&D, and low corporate income tax complexity. The calculation of the ICI for Ukraine, based on the approbation of the methodological approach of the Tax Foundation, found that in 2019-2020 Ukraine with a total score of 55.07 took 24th place out of 35 OECD countries. The author characterizes the main components of Ukrainian corporate income taxation in terms of their impact on international competitiveness; in addition, ways to increase ICI are substantiated.

Educational process in the context of innovative development of lifelong education: main features and prospects

The article is devoted to the consideration of the main elements of the educational process in the experimental complex of continuing education, thanks to which the high quality of education and key positions in the international rankings of universities are achieved. It is shown that the basic principles underlying the organization of the educational process can be divided into three groups: basic methodological (these include the principles of continuity, humanism and democracy, tolerance, collectivism and command, system, science, activity), organizational and methodological (partnerships, continuity of learning, research and education, innovation, providing conditions for independent learning and creativity, academic freedom, openness and transparency, individualization, academic integrity) and social context (compliance with national and international standards, competitiveness, elitism, equal access to education programs, social partnership, compliance with modern trends). The introduction of innovative approaches to the organization of the educational process, in particular distance learning technologies, game technologies, mechanisms for choosing disciplines and recognition of the results of non-formal and informal education, etc. is demonstrated. Emphasis is placed on the involvement of various categories of subjects in the educational process, including visiting professors, employers, practitioners, etc. The effectiveness of ensuring the quality of the educational process through the results of PUA participation in the international ranking MULTIRANK-2020 is shown.

Research Productivity of Sri Lankan Universities in the International Ranking Systems and Mandatory Contribution of Librarians

The objective of this study is to investigate the research productivity of the Sri Lankan state universities depicted in reputed international university ranking systems during 2015-2020 and to identify the areas that can be used to develop the research productivity of the state universities. Research–related scores of the Sri Lankan state universities from 2015-2020 in four ranking systems (THE, QS, SIR, and URAP) were analysed. The study established that the research productivity, impact, and collaboration are the major aspects considered by the ranking systems. Only a few universities are ranked and the scores have a considerable scope to be improved. Several recommendations are made on how the university librarians can support the improvement of research-related related rankings. This is the first study on research productivity scores of Sri Lankan state universities based on international ranking systems. Hence the findings will be useful for the university policymakers in Sri Lanka as well in other countries with similar educational contexts.