Overview of recent cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union (March 2021-September 2021)

In O.D. and Others v INPS (C-350/20), the Court dealt with the refusal of the Italian authorities to grant childbirth and maternity allowances to third-country nationals falling within the scope of the Single Permit Directive. In CG (C-709/20), the Court considered the refusal of the UK authorities to grant social assistance to an economically inactive EU citizen resident under the UK scheme adopted in the context of Brexit. In AB v Olympiako (C-511/19), the Court found that the Greek legislation, adopted in the context of the economic crisis, placing public sector workers in a labour reserve system is not discriminatory on grounds of age. In WABE and MH Müller Handel (C-804/18 and C-341/19), the Court clarified what circumstances could justify differential treatment indirectly based on religion or belief. The Court confirmed the direct effect of the principle of equal pay for male and female workers enshrined in Article 157 TFEU for cases of work of equal value in Tesco Stores (C-624/19). In Team Power Europe (C-784/19), the Court specified under which criteria a temporary-work agency could be considered as pursuing ‘substantial activities’ in a Member State. In A (C-535/19), the Court held that a Member State cannot exclude an economically inactive EU citizen from its public sickness insurance system but does not have to grant access free of charge. In FORMAT (C-879/19), the Court confirmed that Article 14(2) of Regulation 1408/71 does not apply to a person who, under a single employment contract concluded with a single employer, works in several Member States for more than 12 months in each of those Member States. Finally, in PF (C-27/20), the Court dealt a national legislation which uses the penultimate year preceding the payment period as the reference year for the calculation of family allowances to be allocated.

Open and hidden reserves in accounting system and reporting of enterprises

Introduction. The development strategy of the firm or company must take into account various systemic and non-systemic risks and to minimize or avoid them, create the necessary financial sources in the form of reserves, collateral, insurance reserves and more. The reserve system of the enterprise provides for the official regulatory provision of funds to cover unforeseen expenses and losses, the creation of provisions for future expenses, the formation of reserves to cover doubtful and bad debts. In addition, companies can create and use hidden reserves, which are not provided by the accounting system and reporting, but play an important role in ensuring the activities of economic entities.Purpose. The main aim of the article is to analyze the structure and importance of different types of reserves and provisions, their role in stabilizing and effective activities of enterprises and corporations, determining the place of hidden reserves, providing suggestions on how to assess them.Method. The following methods are used in the research: monographic - to study the literature of the reservation system; regulatory support - to assess its availability and needs, compliance and violations; analytical - for analytical assessment of the feasibility of creating and efficient use of reserves and provisions; logical - for the purpose of legal and economic assessment of hidden reserves of enterprises and corporations.Results. An important means of protecting enterprises and corporations from systemic and non-systemic risks, including the consequences of a coronavirus pandemic, should be a rationally constructed backup system. It provides the formation of both open regulatory reserves and the search and use of hidden reserves and collateral. The interest of enterprises to increase the amount of open reserves can be achieved by reflecting in the balance sheet and other reporting of such sources in equity. In addition to the actual reserve capital created in accordance with the established standards through deductions from net income, hidden reserves and collateral must include unidentified collateral, when the time of occurrence of the relevant costs, their size, as well as the name of the creditor, or when payments for expected costs may not be known. The allocation of such reserves to equity will improve the estimated indicators of financial stability, investment attractiveness of economic entities. Among the hidden reserves should be distinguished reserves to improve the efficiency of economic activity, which are determined by the results of a detailed analysis of performance indicators. Certain resources may be released as a result of establishing an optimal accounting policy in the enterprise. Instead, it is necessary to timely identify and avoid concealment of the results of mismanagement, inaccurate presentation of information in accounting and reporting. Perspectives. Creating a reliable reserve system, its full information representation in accounting and reporting will protect companies from systemic and non-systemic risks, and the ability to objectively assess real and hidden reserves will allow real and potential investors to properly navigate in assessing the investment attractiveness of businesses.

Paraglider Reserve Parachute Deployment Under Radial Acceleration

INTRODUCTION: The paragliding reserve parachute system is safety-critical but underused, unstandardized, and known to fail. This study aimed to characterize reserve parachute deployment under radial acceleration to make recommendations for system design and paraglider pilot training.METHODS: There were 88 licensed amateur paraglider pilots who were filmed deploying their reserve parachutes from a centrifuge. Of those, 43 traveled forward at 4 G simulating a spiral dive, and 45 traveled backward at 3 G simulating a rotational maneuver known as SAT. Tests incorporated ecologically valid body, hand, and gaze positions, and cognitive loading and switching akin to real deployment. The footage was reviewed by subject matter experts and compared to previous work in linear acceleration.RESULTS: Of the pilots, 2.3 failed to extract the reserve container from the harness. SAT appeared more cognitively demanding than spiral, despite lower G. Participants located the reserve handle by touch not sight. The direction of travel influenced their initial contact with the harness: 82.9 searched first on their hip in spiral, 63.4 searched first on their thigh in SAT. Search patterns followed skeletal landmarks. Participants had little directional control over their throw.CONCLUSIONS: Paraglider pilots are part of the reserve system. Maladaptive behaviors observed under stress highlighted that components must work in harmony with pilots natural responses, with minimal cognitive demands or need for innovation or problem-solving. Recommendations include positioning prominent, tactile reserve handles overlying the pilots hip; deployment bags extractable with any angle of pull; deployment in a single sweeping backward action; and significantly increasing reserve deployment drills.Wilkes M, Long G, Charles R, Massey H, Eglin C, Tipton MJ. Paraglider reserve parachute deployment under radial acceleration. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(7):579587.

Research of pests control methods on grain storage facilities and product bases of enterprises of the state reserve system of Ukraine

At present, the enterprises of the State Reserve system have a long-term storage of a large number of wheat and other cereals, as well as a significant range of food products. Recently, due to the violation of the organizational and economic method of storage of grain crops and the system of technological operations during their cultivation, the amount of grain damaged by pests and pathogens has increased, as a result, it gets to the elevators of low quality. This facilitates access to such grain during storage of collar pests. There is another important factor in enhancing the negative effects of collar pests - warm, with a short frosty winter, which only stimulates their reproduction. For these reasons, up to 100% of the crop can be lost during storage. Poor preparation of the granary for storage, moisture, and high grain temperature can also be the reason. The article is devoted to the essence and content of such a problem as the control of various pests in granaries and food bases. The article provides a brief overview of the main existing pest species and methods of pest control. As a result of research for the enterprises of the State Reserve system of Ukraine the most effective method, ozonation and ultrasonic loading is chosen. The technology of decontamination of warehouses is given, the advantages and disadvantages of this method are shown. The article also presents an effective method of rodent control in granaries and food warehouses with the help of ultrasonic waves and electromagnetic radiation, the technology of application of ultrasonic frequencies to repel rodents is proposed. The article presents the method of research using industrial ozonator, shows its technical characteristics and also presents the results of research and the main parameters of ozonation of the warehouse (ozone concentration and duration of treatment). Recently, ozonation of premises has become widespread in pest control. Ozonation - a technology for decontamination of premises, based on the use of ozone gas - a strong oxidant. Special installation - ozonator produces ozone from oxygen contained in atmospheric air. The approximate required capacity of the ozonator is 3 - 5 g/h per 100 m3 of room volume. Large granaries and food warehouses require additional fans to mix the air. Ozonation is carried out in the absence of people. People should not enter for 1.5 - 2 hours after switching off the ozonator, while ozone decomposes into oxygen, if necessary, you can enter in an ozone respirator or a respirator with a carbon filter. An effective method of combating rodents and insects in granaries and food warehouses is deterrence by ultrasonic waves and electromagnetic radiation. Ultrasonic deterrent generates sound waves of high frequency and high volume, electromagnetic generates pulses that are transmitted through electrical wiring. These devices create an uncomfortable environment for rodents and insects, forcing them to leave the room. To avoid rodents getting used to ultrasonic radiation, the devices automatically change the range of emitted ultrasonic frequencies. Ultrasonic waves are reflected from solid materials and coatings (wood, glass, concrete, etc.) and are absorbed by soft materials (curtains, carpets, products stored in bags, etc.).

THE TRANSFORMATION OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AT THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM DURING THE 1960S

In this paper, we build on data on officials of the Federal Reserve System, oral history repositories, and hitherto underresearched archival sources to unpack the tortuous path toward crafting an institutional and intellectual space for postwar economic analysis within the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We show that growing attention to new macroeconomic research was a reaction to both mounting external criticisms against the Fed’s decision-making process and the spread of new macroeconomic theories and econometric techniques. We argue that the rise of the number of PhD economists working at the Fed is a symptom rather than a cause of this transformation. Key to our story are a handful of economists from the Board of Governors’ Division of Research and Statistics (DRS) who did not hold a PhD but envisioned their role as going beyond mere data accumulation and got involved in large-scale macroeconometric model building. We conclude that the divide between PhD and non-PhD economists may not be fully relevant to understand both the shift in the type of economics practiced at the Fed and the uses of this knowledge in the decision-making process. Equally important was the rift between different styles of economic analysis.

CAPITAL RESERVE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC COMPANIES: ACCOUNTING TOOLS AS INFORMATION FUNCTION OF TARGET MECHANISM

The purpose of the article is to present the financial and economic content and purpose of capital reserves, insurance funds to ensure future costs and payments as the main components of the reserve system of public companies. The methods of theoretical and comparative analysis allowed to expand the view of the objects of reservation in the global space by comparing the norms of international standardization of financial reporting and the mandatory requirements of individual states in the field of reservation. The research methodology covers the analysis of reserved sources for Ukrainian and global companies in the context of the large-scale socio-economic crisis caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a comparative assessment of the potential of reserve sources of surveyed companies, reservation in today’s crisis economy and in the foreseeable future is one of the most necessary and important means of ensuring the stable operation of socially significant companies. The study of regulatory norms of different states and principles and norms of standardization of public financial reporting led to the conclusion that for internal management purposes and market counterparties and public administration in the face of increasing unpredictability and depth of risk requires a more detailed and reliable information base on existing modern companies reserved funds to overcome the risks of loss (reduction) of capital. The practical consequences of weak imperatives on the obligation to create reservation facilities have been reflected in the allocation of subsidies from the state budgets of different countries to commercial structures in many areas of the economy. The existing issues actualize multi-vector developments in the system of interdisciplinary research, which substantiates the scientific legitimacy and relevance of our study. The results of analytical and logical approaches in assessing the state of backup support for Ukrainian and well-known international companies became the basis for obtaining evidence and arguments in formulating the parameters of adequate information for the current needs of targeted management of backup processes. The methods of verification of reserve system components proposed in this study can be used to establish general trends in the development of information parameters (accounting and public reporting system) in the field of reserve management and future losses (reduction) of capital of modern public companies.

Economic Contribution Analysis of National Estuarine Research Reserves

Increased attention to the value of protected natural areas has led to the proliferation of ecosystem service valuations for coastal habitats. However, these studies do not provide a full representation of the economic value of these habitats. Protected coastal environments, such as the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), add jobs and revenue to their local communities. Institutions such as NERRS provide economic contributions that extend beyond their operational spending and jobs they provide. Spending by reserves and their partners ripples throughout the economy. We performed an economic contribution analysis at four pilot sites using input-output modeling through IMPLAN. Sites contributed millions in revenue and tens to hundreds of jobs in their respective regions. Each of the four sites had a different category of spending that was the largest contributor of revenue and jobs, which is likely due to the community context and location of the reserves. Understanding these contributions is helpful in validating funding for NERRS. Communicating these contributions along with ecosystem service values may increase support from community members who otherwise do not use or rely on NERRS as much as traditional reserve supporters.