Regional Differences of Agricultural Land Market in Slovakia: A Challenge for Sustainable Agriculture

The agricultural land market and its legal and political limitations play an important role in sustainable agricultural production. This study analyzed the agricultural land market in particular regions of Slovakia in terms of the sustainability of agricultural production. We focused on the development of proposed land prices between 2014 and 2018 to find out whether the prices proposed by landowners align with administrative land prices reflecting the soil quality in particular regions of Slovakia, or whether they are influenced by the proposed land prices of neighboring regions. Moreover, we focused on the existence of regional differences in proposed land prices in Slovakia, including differences in supply prices of arable land and permanent grasslands in particular regions. Statistical induction tools, together with multiple range tests and spatial autocorrelation, were used to confirm or refuse our expectations. We confirmed statistically significant differences in proposed land prices between regions. Moreover, we found that landowners are only influenced by the proposed land prices of their neighboring regions to a slight degree. However, we found that the price scissors between proposed land prices and administrative land prices open towards smaller administrative land prices, meaning that land of poorer fertility is supplied at a higher price than land of the best soil quality. There is a risk that expensive and poorer land plots will be used by investors for non-agricultural purposes, and agricultural production will be crowded out from these regions. Therefore, we propose that changes to the prepared legislative measures are necessary in order to promote the sustainability of agricultural production in all regions of the country.

EAST SLAVIC SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD: STATE OF LEGAL REGULATION AND RISK OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

The aim: The aim of the study is to determine the state of legal regulation of surrogacy in Ukraine, Russian Federation and Belarus, to identify risks of human rights violations, to identify legal and medical mechanisms to combat the exploitation of women, and to outline a portrait of a surrogate mother. Materials and methods: The empirical basis is the legislation of Ukraine, Russian Federation and Belarus, which regulates the service of surrogacy, information from the websites of agencies and clinics in this area, as well as personal stories of 41 surrogate mothers, set out in open sources. The following methods were used: dialectical, comparative, statistical, induction and deduction, questionnaire, analysis and synthesis, content analysis. Conclusions: The results of the study clarify both the common features of the legal regulation of surrogacy in the East Slavic countries, and the specifics of each of them; the main problems in the field of its application are outlined; the risks of violation of the rights of genetic parents, children and surrogate mothers are characterized. Legal and medical mechanisms for counteracting the exploitation of surrogate mothers have been identified.

The necessity of economic modernization of Ukraine under conditions of globalization

The general objective: identifying the mechanisms of managing by objectives processes of modernization on the part of the state using an implementation of certain rules, procedures and action standards for subjects of modernization. Implementation of the objective implies solving the following tasks: performing analysis as a basis for synthesis of the problematic situation of modernization in the main areas of society in the period of post-crisis development; systemizing main characteristics of activation of processes of modernization in the domestic economy; studying influence of external factors of Ukraine’s open economy on processes of modernization. The object of the research is a socio-economic sphere of Ukraine. The subject of the research includes mechanisms and relationships which facilitate the performing of modernization of Ukrainian society in the period of post-crisis economic development. Theoretical and methodological basis of work is an analytical and systematic approach to the study of the object of research. Methods of research. Theoretical and empirical methods of scientific knowledge: historical and logical, statistical, induction and deduction, comparative analysis, abstraction and aggregation of the main principles of economics. Results of work. The purpose and consequences of the modernization of Ukraine's economy are defined, a concept of «modernization of economy» is refined, the basic trends and the directions modernization of the national economy are considered. Conclusions. The successful modernization of a country is the guaranty of its dynamic and democratic development. The strategic purpose of economic development of Ukraine is its joining in the group of developing countries.

The research status of flash flood warning in China

The article discusses from the disaster mechanism of flash flood to the current situation of early warning system. The formation of flash flood is closely related to rainfall intensity, underlying surface conditions and antecedent soil moisture content, and analysis of the physical process of flash flood disasters is crucial for the study of flash flood warning. Flash flood disaster warning indexes are mainly divided into two types: rainfall warning index and water level warning index. Data-driven statistical induction method and hydro-hydraulic methods based on physical mechanisms are used to determine rainfall warning index; The water level warning index can be directly determined by the upstream and downstream corresponding water level method or by the disaster water level. And summed up the current situation and development trend of China's flash flood warning research.

Causal Mechanisms

This chapter reviews empirical and theoretical results concerning knowledge of causal mechanisms—beliefs about how and why events are causally linked. First, it reviews the effects of mechanism knowledge, showing that mechanism knowledge can override other cues to causality (including covariation evidence and temporal cues) and structural constraints (the Markov condition), and that mechanisms play a key role in various forms of inductive inference. Second, it examines several theories of how mechanisms are mentally represented—as associations, forces or powers, icons, abstract placeholders, networks, or schemas—and the empirical evidence bearing on each theory. Finally, it describes ways that people acquire mechanism knowledge, discussing the contributions from statistical induction, testimony, reasoning, and perception. For each of these topics, it highlights key open questions for future research.