Local Energy Systems in Iraq: Neighbourhood Diesel Generators and Solar Photovoltaic Generation

Iraqis experience interruptions of the public electricity supply of up to 18 hours a day. In response, private entrepreneurs and the Local Provincial Councils (LPCs) have installed an estimated 55,000–80,000 diesel generators, each rated typically between 100 and 500 kVA. The generators supply neighbourhoods through small, isolated distribution networks to operate lighting, fans and small appliances when power is not available from the public supply. A single radial live conductor connects each customer to the generator and payment for the electricity is based on a monthly charge per ampere. The operation and regulation of the neighbourhood diesel generator networks was reviewed through a comprehensive literature survey, site visits and interviews conducted with local operators and assemblers of the generator sets. The electricity is expensive, the generators can only supply small loads, have considerable environmental impact and the unusual single wire distribution practice is potentially hazardous. However, the use of the generators is likely to continue in the absence of any alternative electricity supply. The diesels and networks are poorly regulated and there is scope to enforce existing standards and develop a new standard to address the hazards of the connection practice. The chapter goes on to assess the possibilities of using small photovoltaic systems for power generation in Iraq.

“Place Making” and “Place Attachment” as Key Concepts in Understanding and Confronting Contemporary Urban Evictions: The Case of Givat-Amal, Tel Aviv

This article expands on the usability of the concepts of “place making” and “place attachment” as recently developed in urban studies research in the context of housing insecurity of marginalized communities in today’s neo-liberal city. Particularly, against the growing threat of urban evictions, the article utilizes a transdisciplinary approach, showing the relevance of both concepts for (a) a better understanding of bottom-up processes of spatial production and attempts to create a sense of place on the part of such communities, and (b) offering an innovative legal strategy for doing justice to these communities in terms of their compensation rights, especially where a title to land has not been registered on a private basis. These issues are critically examined on the site-related case of the Givat-Amal quarter in Tel Aviv, Israel. This district is now under actual final threat of forced evictions following seven conflicted decades with the state, municipal authorities and private entrepreneurs. Our transdisciplinary study is based on qualitative methodologies in human geography such as fieldwork, visual evidence, and interviews, with a glimpse into philosophy. It is equally based on revisiting “traditional” legal property rights through the lens of post-liberal human rights analysis. The argument can apply to many situations of forced evictions across Africa, Latin America, and the West itself.

The First Main Line in Russia

The article is dedicated to the 170th anniversary of the first Russian railway main line St. Petersburg–Moscow. The country’s railway transport, as the main type of transportation, has a rich history and remarkable patriotic, labour, scientific, and technical traditions. We must remember them. The emergence of railways in Russia, as in other countries of the world, was accompanied by many problems that needed to be solved: financing methods, types of ownership, track gauge, types of traction and signalling, traffic management and control, competition with other modes of transport, etc. The stage of emergence of railways in Russia is very instructive. What extreme points of view were expressed, and how long did it take to start building main lines? After the society realised the need for construction of railways, it became obvious that the costs required are not affordable neither for the state, nor for creditors, nor for private entrepreneurs. To better understand how construction of the first railway in Russia was conducted, the article offers many illustrations.

Features of catching white bream (Blicca bjoerkna (Linnaeus, 1758)) from Kуiv reservoir (a review)

Purpose.To analyze the array of special literature and summarize the information obtained on the features of the white bream (Blicca bjoerkna (Linnaeus, 1758)) and its commercial catch from the Kуiv reservoir. Consider the basic principles of its forecasting, based on the current ecological state of this reservoir, which is of strategic importance for Ukraine. Findings. An overview of modern scientific publications devoted to the peculiarities of the commercial catch of white bream from the Kуiv reservoir, its forecasting and the prospects for using this species in fisheries is presented. The literature data on the specifics of industrial fishing in the Kуiv reservoir are summarized based on the ecological characteristics of this reservoir. The main factors influencing the adaptation of white bream populations to their commercial exploitation are described. The general directions of the impact of anthropogenic pressure on them and their consequences are considered. The prospects of using white bream as an economically valuable species are shown under the condition of rational industrial fishing in the Kуiv reservoir. Practical Value. The review can be useful for scientists, applicants, students, government authorities and private entrepreneurs involved in the process of research and commercial harvesting of living aquatic resources in reservoirs, namely in Kуiv reservoir. Keywords: white bream (Blicca bjoerkna Linnaeus, 1758), Kуiv reservoir, industrial fishing, ichthyofauna.

Representatives of the sugar industry of the Russian Empire at the World's Fair in Paris in 1900

Nineteenth-century world exhibitions were platforms to demonstrate technical and technological changes that witnessed the modernization and industrialization of the world. World exhibitions have contributed to the promotion of new inventions and the popularization of already known, as well as the emergence of art objects of world importance. One of the most important world events at the turn of the century was the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Participation in the World's Fair was not the first experience of this kind of activity for sugar growers in the Russian Empire. Most of them were members of the Kyiv branch of the Russian Technical Society, which in turn took the most active part in the work of blighty and international industrial exhibitions, receiving high awards. The main sugar enterprises were concentrated on the territory of modern Ukraine in the possession of several large companies owned by Tereshchenko, Kharitonenko, Khanenko, Brodskyi, Simirenko, Yakhnenko and others. The Russian sugar industry occupied a prominent place at the World's Fair in Paris in 1900, as its share in world sugar production was 17%, and the area of beet crops, it was ahead of all other countries (in 1900 sugar beets were sown 548,796 hectares). The exposition testified to this powerful development of the industry. At the World's Fair in 1900, Russia's sugar industry was housed in the Palace of Agriculture and was represented in the pavilions by well-known sugar firms, such as the Department of Land (Timashiv Beet Sugar and Refinery), I. H. Kharitonenko and his son; brothers Lazar and Lev Izrailevich Brodskyi; O. N. Tereshchenko, heirs of F. A. Tereshchenko; the Tereshchenko brothers, the Botkin brothers (Novo-Tavolzhanskyi sugar factory); joint-stock companies of sugar and refineries: “Constance”, “Germanov”, “Gmina Lyshowiche”; E. A. Balasheva (Mariinskyi Sugar Plant of Kyiv Province), H. H. Balakhovski (Mariinskyi beet-sugar and refineries of the Kursk province). A characteristic feature of the sugar industry was that they mainly represented family businesses based on strong family ties, ethno-cultural and religious values. In addition, they intertwined the functions of owners and managers. Thus, the author tries to analyze the participation of representatives of the sugar industry in the World's Fair in 1900 and define the role of exhibitions as indicators of economic development, to show the importance and influence of private entrepreneurs, especially from Ukraine, on the sugar industry and international contacts.

Public-private partnership in healthcare and pharmaceutical sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Interaction between the state and business is one of the main ways to solve the social problems of modern states. The relevance of the subject matter is conditioned by the fact that the development of forms of public-private partnership provides an influx of investments from private entrepreneurs in the field of healthcare and pharmaceuticals in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the study is to define the public-private partnerships and analyse international experience in implementing practises on specific projects. The methodological basis of the study consisted of the following methods: system, structural and functional, institutional, monographic, forecasting, tabular and graphical. In the course of the study, the theory and practise of public-private partnership in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, the signs and principles of such partnership were considered. The classification was carried out, the most striking examples of the implementation of public-private partnerships were analysed. The differences between public-private partnership contracts were investigated, and attention was paid to the functions and content of such contracts, including the terms and expected risks. The advantages for each of the stakeholders in the public-private partnership were analysed: the private sector, the public sector, and consumers. The analysis of the current state of public-private partnership in the field of healthcare and pharmaceuticals in the Republic of Kazakhstan was carried out. The practical significance of the study lies in the development of recommendations for improving the forms of public-private partnership for the authorities to maintain state control and comply with the conditions for an adequate distribution of all risks, responsibilities and benefits among the participants of this type of partnership

Organization of marketing activities management of an agricultural engineering enterprise in the domestic and foreign markets

The strengthening of the role of an effective organization of marketing management for agricultural engineering enterprises in Ukraine is due to an increase in competitive pressure from domestic and foreign producers who offer functional analogues, as well as from importers of used equipment, a decrease in the capacity of the domestic market due to the crisis in economy and the loss of control over a part of occupied territories of Ukraine. Analysis of the peculiarities of organizing marketing activities on the example of one of the largest enterprises of agricultural engineering in Ukraine, CJSC “Umanfermmash”, showed that on the domestic market it mainly focuses on small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises, farms, private entrepreneurs providing services of the processing of land plots to the population, and its product and pricing policy in the current marketing strategy corresponds to the described group of potential buyers, which indicates the feasibility of its application in the future. The conducted research revealed a number of problems in the organization of marketing activities of CJSC “Umanfermmash”: low quality of feedback from end users, especially foreign ones, in the context of bringing product characteristics to their needs; insufficient presentation of information about various aspects of the company's activities on its website; narrowing of cooperation with distributors, which negatively affected the effectiveness of sales activities; insufficient attention to quality improvement, which sometimes deteriorates due to the use of cheaper raw materials and materials. Improving the organization of CJSC “Umanfermmash” marketing activities management initially requires adjusting the existing marketing strategy, which should be differentiated. So, for the foreign market, it should be based on an attacking concept, and for the domestic market it should be realized as supportive marketing. In the first case, there should be an active, aggressive position of the company in the market, which is aimed at gaining and expanding the market share, and in the second, – it involves maintaining the level of demand in the market that is optimal for the enterprise