Books on the topic 'Higher-order term'

The textbook has been prepared on the basis of updated Russian legislation, which is important for the organization and functioning of law enforcement and judicial authorities, ensuring the protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens, organizations and associations for the period of long-term socio-economic development of the country. The main directions, goals and objectives of law enforcement activities, powers and competencies of the judicial authorities, prosecutor's supervision, preliminary investigation, law enforcement, detective, security and human rights organizations to ensure security and law and order in the territory of the Russian Federation are presented. Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of secondary vocational education of the latest generation. For students of secondary vocational and higher educational institutions studying in the specialty and field of training "Jurisprudence", as well as for teachers and practitioners.

The textbook contains the basics of the theory and practice of management by competitiveness of products in the current market conditions. It describes new approaches to management of competitiveness of production taking into account features of knowledge-based industries — the main driving forces of the Russian economy. Considers the practical issues of managing competitiveness in order to enhance the competitiveness of the organization in terms of digitalization of the economy. Meets the requirements of Federal state educational standards of higher education of the last generation. For students of educational institutions of higher education studying in areas of training 38.04.02 "Management" (master level) and 38.04.01 "Economy" (master level), as well as graduate students and University professors engaged in training in these areas. Can be recommended to managers and specialists of companies, involved in the process of management competitiveness of the organization products.

Rosenthal's rendition of representationalism denies intentionalism. His higher order theory instead asserts that a perceptual state's phenomenal character is set by that state's being related to, because represented by, another, but higher order, cognitive state. The theory arises from the doubtful supposition of unconscious perception and mistakenly construes intrinsic phenomenal character extrinsically, as one state's serving as the content of another. Yet it remains mysterious how and why a higher order state might be so potent as to determine phenomenal character at all. Better to resist higher order theory’s embrace of dubious unconscious perceptual states and account for states so-called simply in terms of humdrum mnemonic malfeasance. Moreover, since the suspect theory allows higher order misrepresentation, it implies sufferance of impossible phenomenal character. Equally problematic, representationalism pitched at the higher order entails the existence of bogus phenomenal character when upstairs states represent downstairs nonperceptual states.

This article discusses what kind of thing a philosophical methodology (good or not) is or would be, and what kind of questions would count as methodological. The primary focus is on a “higher-order” reading, on which admissible answers are the epistemological methods that distinguish philosophy from the natural sciences and the humanities, or the pursuit of a description of reality at the most fundamental level. The article uses the term “Philosophical Methodology” to pick out questions of the higher order, and “philosophical methodology” for questions of the lower order. To provide a robust data pool, it takes all occurrences of the word “methodological” in entries of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophynford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and considers what plausible theories of Philosophical Methodology can be fitted into that range of usage. It also discusses seven hypotheses that account for the nature of Philosophical Methodology: Eliminativism, Working-Hypothesism, Epistemologism, Theory Selectionism, Necessary Preconditionalism, Hierarchicalism, and Eliminatedivism.

This chapter discusses cognitive functions with a largely distributed neural basis within the framework of contemporary cognitive neuroscience. The following are described: arousal/attention, memory (short-term, or working memory; episodic memory; semantic memory; and implicit memory), and higher-order cognitive function such as planning, problem-solving and set-shifting, motivation, inhibitory control, social cognition, and emotion processing. Each function in placed in the context of its neural basis, with a brief description of the disorders that may affect these cognitive abilities. Methods of assessment at the bedside and by using neuropsychological tasks are also outlined.

Positive-end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) is the pressure present in the airway (alveolar pressure) above atmospheric pressure that exists at the end of expiration. The term PEEP is defined in two particular settings. Extrinsic PEEP (applied by ventilator) and intrinsic PEEP (PEEP caused by non-complete exhalation causing progressive air trapping). Applied (extrinsic) PEEP—is usually one of the first ventilator settings chosen when mechanical ventilation (MV) is initiated. Applying PEEP increases alveolar pressure and volume. The increased lung volume increases the surface area by reopening and stabilizing collapsed or unstable alveoli. PEEP therapy can be effective when used in patients with a diffuse lung disease with a decrease in functional residual capacity. Lung protection ventilation is an established strategy of management to reduce and avoid ventilator-induced lung injury and mortality. Levels of PEEP have been traditionally used from 5 to 12 cmH2O; however, higher levels of PEEP have also been proposed and updated in order to keep alveoli open, without the cyclical opening and closing of lung units (atelectrauma). The ideal level of PEEP is that which prevents derecruitment of the majority of alveoli, while causing minimal overdistension; however, it should be individualized and higher PEEP might be used in the more severe end of the spectrum of patients with improved survival. A survival benefit for higher levels of PEEP has not been yet reported for any patient under MV, but a higher PaO2/FiO2 ratio seems to be better in the higher PEEP group.

Dennett’s account of consciousness starts from third-person considerations. I argue this is wise, since beginning with first-person access precludes accommodating the third-person access we have to others’ mental states. But Dennett’s first-person operationalism, which seeks to save the first person in third-person, operationalist terms, denies the occurrence of folk-psychological states that one doesn’t believe oneself to be in, and so the occurrence of folk-psychological states that aren’t conscious. This conflicts with Dennett’s intentional-stance approach to the mental, on which we discern others’ mental states independently of those states’ being conscious. We can avoid this conflict with a higher-order theory of consciousness, which saves the spirit of Dennett’s approach, but enables us to distinguish conscious folk-psychological states from nonconscious ones. The intentional stance by itself can’t do this, since it can’t discern a higher-order awareness of a psychological state. But we can supplement the intentional stance with the higher-order theoretical apparatus.

Late medieval Roman and canon law jurisprudence provided the origins of European notions of a universal rule of law in two senses: a legal order of universal extent and a structure of higher norms of universal application. Whereas modern international law is primarily concerned with the horizontal relationship between states, medieval jurists mainly considered the vertical relationship between universal and territorial powers. They developed de iure–de facto arguments to justify a plurality of sovereign states within an overall universal legal structure. Contributions to the elaboration of theories of just war were also made. We must be cautious about claiming that late medieval jurists contributed to the development of early international law as normally understood. Nevertheless, early-modern theorists of international law referred back to the work of their medieval juristic predecessors. A new research question is emerging about the usefulness of using the term ‘international’ in interpreting medieval jurists.

The book Functional English can be viewed as an introductory reading in the domain of functional language, or language used in order to perform certain communicative purposes. Functional language is a concept normally connected with foreign language learners of lower levels and with problems in achieving the designated standards in terms of the four basic language skills. The book is meant to provide a description of the subject matter of Functional English by establishing the basics, as well as the main features and elements of this linguistic domain. The overall objective of the book is to help with the understanding of existing language features sometimes taken for granted, and which may cause communication difficulties. Simultaneously, its ambition is to enable all the interested parties to reaffirm the foundations and build on the existing language repository, in an attempt to achieve a higher level of competence in English used to perform different communicative functions. The term practical language skills within Functional English entails the ability to formulate or articulate one’s communicative message, as well as the ability to interpret correctly or relay clearly to other parties any verbal material relevant to the process of communication. Moreover, being competent in Functional English means being able to select the adequate communication channel or method, where the key factors are the linguistic devices employed, the correlation between the language used and the intended goal, as well as the context of situation and its relation to the audience or the participants in the verbal interaction.

Inmates of correctional settings often seek health care for sleep and drug problems. Studies on insomnia in correctional institutions are scarce. Sleep problems among detainees are frequent. Appropriate evaluation and treatment remains a challenge in correctional settings. Correctional health professionals need appropriate education regarding insomnia evaluation and management. Guidelines should be based on the principle of equivalence of care and take into account all evidence from research in the community and in correctional settings. Priority should be given to assessing modifiable causes and contributions to disturbed sleep and to non-pharmacological treatment such as targeted cognitive behavior therapy. Pharmacologically, there is no evidence-based justification to replace short-term pharmacologic management using benzodiazepines with antipsychotics or antidepressants. In correctional settings, prescriptions of antipsychotics and antidepressants for sleep problems can increase risk due to polypharmacy and higher suicide risks. Correctional physicians should monitor and document the evaluation and treatment practice concerning insomnia complaints in order to improve safe, evidence-based treatment. This chapter outlines treatment guidelines for insomnia that apply in community settings and then presents an overview of the clinical and ethical issues of insomnia management in correctional institutions and provides evidence-based recommendations.

Throughout his career, Carlos Santana has used music to express his idiosyncratic spiritual beliefs. Pursuing the guidance of guru Sri Chinmoy in the 1970s and subsequently seeking his own spiritual path, Santana sought to channel a higher power through his guitar technique and tone, describing the process of music making as a mystical endeavor. In order to attain these goals, Santana used amplifiers that prioritized depth of sound (described by himself in synesthetic terms), feedback loops for his signature sustained tones, an avoidance of hypermasculine performance, and a peaceful stage presence. This chapter investigates the role of timbre in Santana’s spiritual journey from the 1960s to the present.

Chapter 1 follows the ascent from the technical understanding of a poem and its processes toward a sense of ‘spiritual contemplation’. Slow-reading a short Coleridge poem, ‘First Advent of Love’, representing lifelong concerns, Mays describes the meditation involved in both reading and writing the poem. He contrasts such meditation with the different, analytical process involved in Coleridge’s prose writing. He reveals how in ‘First Advent’ feelings adjust through a web of sounds, images, and allusions (to neo-Platonic ideas about love mediated through Renaissance and contemporary German authors). Inquiry into what is most important in the poem involves the matter of how the poem works: a matter of ‘Understanding’. Mays then looks to higher, numinous qualities in the poem that go beyond the understanding, and are properly imaginative in terms of Coleridge’s diagram of the ‘Order of the Mental Powers’, mediating between ‘Understanding’ and ‘Reason’ in terms of enérgeia.

This chapter turns specifically to the question of personhood, offering an emergent ontology of human persons at both the biological and psychological levels. These “individuals” prove to be internally composite and externally open to further combination. The discussion then moves to consider these “external” combinations. In somatic terms, this involves discussion of biology’s history of determining the biological “individual,” and the discussion of “superorganisms” that blur the distinction between parts and wholes. Various theories of “group mind” are evaluated in order to consider the relevance of the presence of group cognition in identifying the emergence of “persons” at higher levels of complexity. The hypothesis is presented that Sin should be understood as a mythological person—a superorganism with a group mind—supervening on the transgressions of individual human persons and sinful social systems.

According to Frege and many of his followers, there is no “metaphysical distance” between the two sides of an acceptable abstraction principle. How should this attractive idea be understood? An analysis is developed in terms of the existence of a translation from the language concerned with the relevant abstract objects to a language not committed to such objects, such that this translation maps one side of the abstraction principle to the other. Next, two different notions of predicativity are distinguished: one pertaining to the background higher-order logic, and another associated with the abstraction principle itself. Finally, it is shown that only abstraction which is predicative in the latter sense satisfies our explication of the attractive idea about no “metaphysical distance”. This provides a reason to favor a conception of abstraction which is predicative in this sense.

High rates of rearrest and recidivism, especially among drug-involved individuals, are of grave concern for the justice system and society at large. This chapter looks at the factors affecting recidivism rates of substance-involved individuals involved in the justice system. We begin by considering the complexity of measuring recidivism and the meaning of this concept; the term is fraught with difficulties due to the complexities of generalizing findings across studies with varying sampling frames and time-frames for follow-up, and differences in the types of recidivism events studied. Recent research illustrates that recidivism rates among drug users vary by drug of choice and are typically higher among individuals who use amphetamines, heroin, and/or cocaine. Recidivism rates may also vary depending on the presence of certain comorbid factors, although this is an emerging area of research. Factors that appear to elevate recidivism rates include personality disorders, co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders, other psychiatric disorders, and other serious mental illness. The location of an individual’s residence also appears to impact the recidivism rate, possibly mediated by the presence or absence of various protective factors in the community. While the nature of the relationship between drugs and crime is still unclear, the same is true for our understanding of recidivism among substance users in the justice system. There is a need for a greater understanding of the relationship between substance use and recidivism, in order to fill existing knowledge gaps.

This article discusses the connection between the matrix models and algebraic geometry. In particular, it considers three specific applications of matrix models to algebraic geometry, namely: the Kontsevich matrix model that describes intersection indices on moduli spaces of curves with marked points; the Hermitian matrix model free energy at the leading expansion order as the prepotential of the Seiberg-Witten-Whitham-Krichever hierarchy; and the other orders of free energy and resolvent expansions as symplectic invariants and possibly amplitudes of open/closed strings. The article first describes the moduli space of algebraic curves and its parameterization via the Jenkins-Strebel differentials before analysing the relation between the so-called formal matrix models (solutions of the loop equation) and algebraic hierarchies of Dijkgraaf-Witten-Whitham-Krichever type. It also presents the WDVV (Witten-Dijkgraaf-Verlinde-Verlinde) equations, along with higher expansion terms and symplectic invariants.

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have been assessed in a variety of ways. We conducted a thorough review of this literature, and we provide a comprehensive discussion of how OCBs have been measured and modeled, with a focus on identifying trends and providing guidelines for future researchers. Our review, which included all empirical studies published in eight top-tier management journals over the past 30 years, is organized around four themes: (1) operational inconsistencies, which include utilizing different levels of specificity, sets of dimensions and facets, and response scales when assessing OCBs across studies; (2) rating source effects, in terms of the appropriateness of self versus nonself (i.e., supervisors and coworkers) sources of OCB ratings; (3) differences in how the higher order multidimensional OCB construct has been modeled across studies; and (4) emerging methodological and measurement issues, including nonindependence, multilevel treatments of OCB, and the utilization of control variables in OCB research.

Agricultural droughts affect whole societies, leading to higher food costs, threatened economies, and even famine. In order to mitigate such effects, researchers must first be able to monitor them, and then predict them; however no book currently focuses on accurate monitoring or prediction of these devastating kinds of droughts. To fill this void, the editors of Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought have assembled a team of expert contributors from all continents to make a global study, describing biometeorological models and monitoring methods for agricultural droughts. These models and methods note the relationships between precipitation, soil moisture, and crop yields, using data gathered from conventional and remote sensing techniques. The coverage of the book includes probabilistic models and techniques used in America, Europe and the former USSR, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and it concludes with coverage of climate change and resultant shifts in agricultural productivity, drought early warning systems, and famine mitigation. This will be an essential collection for those who must advise governments or international organizations on the current scope, likelihood, and impact of agricultural droughts. Sponsored by the World Meterological Organization

A Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Industry covers the period 1800 to 1920. Over this period, sport become increasingly global, some sports were radically altered, sports clubs proliferated, and new team games - such as baseball, basketball, and the various forms of football - were created, codified, commercialized, and professionalized. Yet this was also an age of cultural and political tensions, when issues around the role of women, social class, ethnicity and race, imperial relationships, nation-building, and amateur and professional approaches were all shaping sport. At the same time, increasing urbanization, population, real wages, and leisure time drove demand for sport ever higher, and the institutionalization and regulation of sport accelerated. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Sport presents the first comprehensive history from classical antiquity to today, covering all forms and aspects of sport and its ever-changing social, cultural, political, and economic context and impact. The themes covered in each volume are the purpose of sport; sporting time and sporting space; products, training, and technology; rules and order; conflict and accommodation; inclusion, exclusion, and segregation; minds, bodies, and identities; representation.

In the traditional philosophy of technology, the two main modus operandi found in conventional technology are categorised and described under the terms ‘control’ and ‘regulation’ as a way of differentiating between them. This occurs for two reasons: on the one hand, in order to specify the difference between the forms of technology that have been developed by since the Neolithic revolution and the ‘accidental’ technology (as discussed by Ortega y Gasset) of higher species or prehistoric man, and on the other to reveal the relationship between technology and (natural) science more precisely. In the meantime, however, modern technologies and new epistemic practices are challenging historical descriptions of the nature of technoscience and the dichotomy between ‘control’ and ‘regulation’ respectively. Bearing in mind the so-called new emerging sciences and technologies (NEST) and other developments in IT, cognitive technology, nanotechnology and biotechnology, this volume examines who or what can be conceptualised as the subject of processes of control and regulation. In terms of large-scale systems and the organisation of large social structures, methods of control are becoming increasingly problematic because digital information technologies especially are creating new, diverse ways of manipulating and regulating processes or conditions, for example monitoring, big data and profiling, while the counteractive consequences of the same development, for example the ever-increasing amount of data, acceleration, automatisation and the logic of sociotechnical infrastructures, are increasingly throwing the possibility of coordinated control into doubt.

Substance abuse and mental illness are concentrated in correctional populations. Further, nearly half of female inmates and one-third of male inmates with substance use disorders have a diagnosable mental illness. Even with the higher rates of comorbid disorders of substance use and mental health, studies find that justice-involved individuals with mental illness tend to subscribe to a criminal lifestyle, criminal identity, and criminal values. Treatment for this population needs to address the syndemic of criminal lifestyle, mental illness, and substance abuse in order to effectively reduce recidivism and symptoms. The substance abuse population in most correctional settings is not homogeneous in terms of the type of drug abuse, the age and gender of the population, the criminal justice history, criminal lifestyle and value system, and mental health needs. In the justice system, there is a temptation to provide generic types of drug treatment. Treatment services need to be tailored to the individual in order to reduce symptoms and improve overall justice outcomes. For dually diagnosed patients, the need to provide treatment for both substance abuse and mental illness along with criminal lifestyle and thinking is widely recognized. This chapter reviews current knowledge about treatments for dually diagnosed patients. Included is a discussion of the factors that are unknown or unclear in the literature. Best practices and implementation issues regarding treatment for dual diagnosis patients are then discussed. An important part of these implementation issues are the systems factors required to support treatment in correctional settings. The chapter concludes with a research agenda for the future of dual diagnosis treatment in corrections.

In this work magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized through the precipitation method from an aqueous ferrous sulfate solution under ultrasound. A 23 factorial design in duplicate was carried out to determine the best synthesis conditions and to obtain the smallest crystallite sizes. Selected conditions were ultrasound frequency of 593 kHz for 40 min in 1.0 mol L-1 NaOH medium. Average crystallite sizes were of the order of 25 nm. The phase obtained was identified by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) as magnetite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed polydisperse particles with dimensions around 57 nm, while transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed average particle diameters around 29 nm, in the same order of magnitude of the crystallite size determined with Scherrer’s equation. These magnetic nanoparticles were used to obtain nanocomposites with polyaniline (PAni). The material was prepared under exposure to ultraviolet light (UV) or under heating, from dispersions of the nanoparticles in an acidic solution of aniline. Unlike other synthetic routes reported elsewhere, this new route does not utilize any additional oxidizing agent. XRD analysis showed the appearance of a second crystalline phase in all the PAni-Fe3O4 composites, which was indexed as goethite. Furthermore, the crystallite size decreases nearly 50 % with the increase in the synthesis time. This size decrease suggests that the nanoparticles are consumed during the synthesis. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the amount of polyaniline increases with synthesis time. The nanocomposite electric conductivity was around 10-5 S cm-1, nearly one order of magnitude higher than for pure magnetite. Conductivity varied with the amount of PAni in the system, suggesting that the electric properties of the nanocomposites can be tuned according to their composition. Under an external magnetic field the nanocomposites showed hysteresis behavior at room temperature, characteristic of ferromagnetic materials. Saturation magnetization (MS) for pure magnetite was ~ 74 emu g-1. For the PAni-Fe3O4 nanocomposites, MS ranged from ~ 2 to 70 emu g-1, depending on the synthesis conditions. This suggests that composition can also be used to control the magnetic properties of the material.

Anaesthesia for non-obstetric reasons is performed in 1–2% of all pregnant women. Although the chances of complications like miscarriage, preterm labour, and abortion are higher when surgery is performed during gestation, careful evaluation, preparation, and a multidisciplinary approach will minimize these risks. There are no methods of anaesthesia that are preferable to others during pregnancy. The most important preventive measure is to maintain maternal haemodynamic stability and normoventilation in order to ensure fetal well-being. Extensive knowledge of the profound anatomical and physiological changes that a pregnancy induces is mandatory for the team when operating on a pregnant woman. Short time exposure to anaesthetic agents in clinically relevant doses during surgery has never been demonstrated to have teratogenic effects. Lately, focus has been made on the possible behavioural teratogenic properties of anaesthesia, especially on the use of NMDA receptor antagonists and GABA receptor agonists. Emergency diagnostic imaging during pregnancy is considered safe and should be performed if necessary. Electroconvulsive therapy for the treatment of serious psychiatric disorders during pregnancy is a possibility that should be considered if necessary. Electric cardioversion seems safe for the fetus if life-threatening arrhythmias occur during pregnancy. Trauma is one of the leading non-obstetric causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. When treating a traumatized pregnant woman one should initially focus on the mother’s safety and haemodynamic stability.

REPORT. THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN POLAND: RESTRICTIONS AND AID ADDRESSED TO ENTREPRENEURS The report presents a review of legal norms and a questionnaire study of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland (March to June 2020). The authors analysed legal regulations for four business industries: catering, tourism, transportation, and construction, both in terms of laws restricting the operation of these businesses due to the pandemic and aid regulations. The main objective of the research was to check whether the constitutionally established mechanism of determining the addressee’s relevant feature in formulating the aid solutions remains valid in the case of aid provided by the state to entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic crisis. The publication also contains observations and analyses concerning historical crises caused by forces of nature that occurred in Poland when the current Constitution was in force, and the methods of fighting the resulting damage at that time, with particular emphasis on the legal mechanisms that were applied in these situations. The summary of the report contains postulates of de lege ferenda character, whose introduction to the Polish legal order would result in a much higher than now level of preparedness of the state authorities for systemic, organised assistance in predefined forms to entities affected by natural disasters, with particular consideration of possible future events bearing traits of a pandemic.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as ‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage’. A good understanding of the physiology of pain processing is important, with recent advances in basic science, functional neuroimaging, and clinical pain syndromes contributing to our understanding. It is also important to differentiate between nociception, the process of detecting noxious stimuli, and pain perception, which is a much more complex process, integrating biological, psychological, and social factors. The somatosensory nervous system, from peripheral nociceptors, to sensory nerves and spinal cord synapses has many potential sites for modulation, with ascending pathways to the brain, balanced by ‘top-down’ control from higher centres. Under certain circumstances, for example, after tissue injury from trauma or surgery, there will be continued nociceptive input, with resultant changes in the whole somatosensory nervous system that lead to development of chronic pain syndromes. In such cases, even when the original injury has healed, the pathophysiological changes in the nervous system itself lead to ongoing pain, with peripheral or central sensitization, or both. Additionally, in some chronic pain syndromes, for example, chronic widespread pain, it has been postulated that abnormalities in central processing may be the initiating factor, with some evidence for this from neuroimaging studies. Further work is needed to fully understand pain neurobiology in order to advance our management.

Enactivist Interventions explores central issues in the contemporary debates about embodied cognition, addressing interdisciplinary questions about intentionality, representation, affordances, the role of affect, and the problems of perception and cognitive penetration, action and free will, higher-order cognition, and intersubjectivity. It argues for a rethinking of the concept of mind, drawing on pragmatism, phenomenology, and cognitive science. It interprets enactivism as a philosophy of nature that has significant methodological and theoretical implications for the scientific investigation of the mind. Enactivist Interventions argues that, like the basic phenomena of perception and action, sophisticated cognitive phenomena like reflection, imagining, and mathematical reasoning are best explained in terms of an affordance-based skilled coping. It thus argues for a continuity that runs between basic action, affectivity, and a rationality that in every case remains embodied. It also discusses recent predictive models of brain function and outlines an alternative, enactivist interpretation that emphasizes the close coupling of brain, body, and environment rather than a strong boundary that isolates the brain in its internal processes. The extensive relational dynamics that integrates the brain with the extra-neural body opens into an environment that is physical, social, and cultural and that recycles back into the enactive process. Cognitive processes are in the world, situated in affordance spaces defined across evolutionary, developmental, and individual histories, and are constrained by affective processes and normative dimensions of social and cultural practices.

The aim of the paper was to determine the influence of root systems of chosen tree species found in the Polish Flysch Carpathians on the increase of soil shear strength (root cohesion) in terms of slope stability. The paper's goal was achieved through comprehensive tests on root systems of eight relatively common in the Polish Flysch Carpathians tree species. The tests that were carried out included field work, laboratory work and analytical calculations. As part of the field work, the root area ratio (A IA) of the roots was determined using the method of profiling the walls of the trench at a distance of about 1.0 m from the tree trunk. The width of the. trenches was about 1.0 m, and their depth depended on the ground conditions and ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 m below the ground level. After preparing the walls of the trench, the profile was divided into vertical layers with a height of 0.1 m, within which root diameters were measured. Roots with diameters from 1 to 10 mm were taken into consideration in root area ratio calculations in accordance with the generally accepted methodology for this type of tests. These measurements were made in Biegnik (silver fir), Ropica Polska (silver birch, black locust) and Szymbark (silver birch, European beech, European hornbeam, silver fir, sycamore maple, Scots pine, European spruce) located near Gorlice (The Low Beskids) in areas with unplanned forest management. In case of each tested tree species the samples of roots were taken, transported to the laboratory and then saturated with water for at least one day. Before testing the samples were obtained from the water and stretched in a. tensile testing machine in order to determine their tensile strength and flexibility. In general, over 2200 root samples were tested. The results of tests on root area ratio of root systems and their tensile strength were used to determine the value of increase in shear strength of the soils, called root cohesion. To this purpose a classic Wu-Waldron calculation model was used as well as two types of bundle models, the so called static model (Fiber Bundle Model — FIRM, FBM2, FBM3) and the deformation model (Root Bundle Model— RBM1, RBM2, mRBM1) that differ in terms of the assumptions concerning the way the tensile force is distributed to the roots as well as the range of parameters taken into account during calculations. The stability analysis of 8 landslides in forest areas of Cicikowicleie and Wignickie Foothills was a form of verification of relevance of the obtained calculation results. The results of tests on root area ratio in the profile showed that, as expected, the number of roots in the soil profile and their ApIA values are very variable. It was shown that the values of the root area ratio of the tested tree species with a diameter 1-10 ram are a maximum of 0.8% close to the surface of the ground and they decrease along with the depth reaching the values at least one order of magnitude lower than close to the surface at the depth 0.5-1.0 m below the ground level. Average values of the root area ratio within the soil profile were from 0.05 to 0.13% adequately for Scots pine and European beech. The measured values of the root area ratio are relatively low in relation to the values of this parameter given in literature, which is probably connected with great cohesiveness of the soils and the fact that there were a lot of rock fragments in the soil, where the tests were carried out. Calculation results of the Gale-Grigal function indicate that a distribution of roots in the soil profile is similar for the tested species, apart from the silver fir from Bie§nik and European hornbeam. Considering the number of roots, their distribution in the soil profile and the root area ratio it appears that — considering slope stability — the root systems of European beech and black locust are the most optimal, which coincides with tests results given in literature. The results of tensile strength tests showed that the roots of the tested tree species have different tensile strength. The roots of European beech and European hornbeam had high tensile strength, whereas the roots of conifers and silver birch in deciduous trees — low. The analysis of test results also showed that the roots of the studied tree species are characterized by high variability of mechanical properties. The values Of shear strength increase are mainly related to the number and size (diameter) of the roots in the soil profile as well as their tensile strength and pullout resistance, although they can also result from the used calculation method (calculation model). The tests showed that the distribution of roots in the soil and their tensile strength are characterized by large variability, which allows the conclusion that using typical geotechnical calculations, which take into consideration the role of root systems is exposed to a high risk of overestimating their influence on the soil reinforcement. hence, while determining or assuming the increase in shear strength of soil reinforced with roots (root cohesion) for design calculations, a conservative (careful) approach that includes the most unfavourable values of this parameter should be used. Tests showed that the values of shear strength increase of the soil reinforced with roots calculated using Wu-Waldron model in extreme cases are three times higher than the values calculated using bundle models. In general, the most conservative calculation results of the shear strength increase were obtained using deformation bundle models: RBM2 (RBMw) or mRBM1. RBM2 model considers the variability of strength characteristics of soils described by Weibull survival function and in most cases gives the lowest values of the shear strength increase, which usually constitute 50% of the values of shear strength increase determined using classic Wu-Waldron model. Whereas the second model (mRBM1.) considers averaged values of roots strength parameters as well as the possibility that two main mechanism of destruction of a root bundle - rupture and pulling out - can occur at the same. time. The values of shear strength increase calculated using this model were the lowest in case of beech and hornbeam roots, which had high tensile strength. It indicates that in the surface part of the profile (down to 0.2 m below the ground level), primarily in case of deciduous trees, the main mechanism of failure of the root bundle will be pulling out. However, this model requires the knowledge of a much greater number of geometrical parameters of roots and geotechnical parameters of soil, and additionally it is very sensitive to input data. Therefore, it seems practical to use the RBM2 model to assess the influence of roots on the soil shear strength increase, and in order to obtain safe results of calculations in the surface part of the profile, the Weibull shape coefficient equal to 1.0 can be assumed. On the other hand, the Wu-Waldron model can be used for the initial assessment of the shear strength increase of soil reinforced with roots in the situation, where the deformation properties of the root system and its interaction with the soil are not considered, although the values of the shear strength increase calculated using this model should be corrected and reduced by half. Test results indicate that in terms of slope stability the root systems of beech and hornbeam have the most favourable properties - their maximum effect of soil reinforcement in the profile to the depth of 0.5 m does not usually exceed 30 kPa, and to the depth of 1 m - 20 kPa. The root systems of conifers have the least impact on the slope reinforcement, usually increasing the soil shear strength by less than 5 kPa. These values coincide to a large extent with the range of shear strength increase obtained from the direct shear test as well as results of stability analysis given in literature and carried out as part of this work. The analysis of the literature indicates that the methods of measuring tree's root systems as well as their interpretation are very different, which often limits the possibilities of comparing test results. This indicates the need to systematize this type of tests and for this purpose a root distribution model (RDM) can be used, which can be integrated with any deformation bundle model (RBM). A combination of these two calculation models allows the range of soil reinforcement around trees to be determined and this information might be used in practice, while planning bioengineering procedures in areas exposed to surface mass movements. The functionality of this solution can be increased by considering the dynamics of plant develop¬ment in the calculations. This, however, requires conducting this type of research in order to obtain more data.

Economy and mankind are inextricably interlinked. Just as the economy or the production of material wealth is unimaginable without a man, so human existence and development are impossible without the wealth created in the economy. Shortly, both the goal and the means of achieving and realization of the economy are still the human resources. People have long ago noticed that it was the economy that created livelihoods, and the delays in their production led to the catastrophic events such as hunger, poverty, civil wars, social upheavals, revolutions, moral degeneration, and more. Therefore, the special interest of people in understanding the regulatory framework of the functioning of the economy has existed and exists in all historical epochs [A. Sisvadze. Economic theory. Part One. 2006y. p. 22]. The system of economic disciplines studies economy or economic activities of a society. All of them are based on science, which is currently called economic theory in the post-socialist space (the science of economics, the principles of economics or modern economics), and in most countries of the world - predominantly in the Greek-Latin manner - economics. The title of the present book is also Modern Economics. Economics (economic theory) is the science that studies the efficient use of limited resources to produce and distribute goods and services in order to satisfy as much as possible the unlimited needs and demands of the society. More simply, economics is the science of choice and how society manages its limited resources. Moreover, it should be emphasized that economics (economic theory) studies only the distribution, exchange and consumption of the economic wealth (food, beverages, clothing, housing, machine tools, computers, services, etc.), the production of which is possible and limited. And the wealth that exists indefinitely: no economic relations are formed in the production and distribution of solar energy, air, and the like. This current book is the second complete updated edition of the challenges of the modern global economy in the context of the coronary crisis, taking into account some of the priority directions of the country's development. Its purpose is to help students and interested readers gain a thorough knowledge of economics and show them how this knowledge can be applied pragmatically (professionally) in professional activities or in everyday life. To achieve this goal, this textbook, which consists of two parts and tests, discusses in simple and clear language issues such as: the essence of economics as a science, reasons for origin, purpose, tasks, usefulness and functions; Basic principles, problems and peculiarities of economics in different economic systems; Needs and demand, the essence of economic resources, types and limitations; Interaction, mobility, interchangeability and efficient use of economic resources. The essence and types of wealth; The essence, types and models of the economic system; The interaction of households and firms in the market of resources and products; Market mechanism and its elements - demand, supply and price; Demand and supply elasticity; Production costs and the ways to reduce them; Forms of the market - perfect and incomplete competition markets and their peculiarities; Markets for Production Factors and factor incomes; The essence of macroeconomics, causes and importance of origin; The essence and calculation of key macroeconomic indicators (gross national product, gross domestic product, net national product, national income, etc.); Macroeconomic stability and instability, unemployment, inflation and anti-inflationary policies; State regulation of the economy and economic policy; Monetary and fiscal policy; Income and standard of living; Economic Growth; The Corona Pandemic as a Defect and Effect of Globalization; National Economic Problems and New Opportunities for Development in the conditions of the Coronary Crisis; The Socio-economic problems of moral obsolescence in digital technologies; Education and creativity are the main solution way to overcome the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus; Positive and negative effects of tourism in Georgia; Formation of the middle class as a contributing factor to the development of tourism in Georgia; Corporate culture in Georgian travel companies, etc. The axiomatic truth is that economics is the union of people in constant interaction. Given that the behavior of the economy reflects the behavior of the people who make up the economy, after clarifying the essence of the economy, we move on to the analysis of the four principles of individual decision-making. Furtermore, the book describes how people make independent decisions. The key to making an individual decision is that people have to choose from alternative options, that the value of any action is measured by the value of what must be given or what must be given up to get something, that the rational, smart people make decisions based on the comparison of the marginal costs and marginal returns (benefits), and that people behave accordingly to stimuli. Afterwards, the need for human interaction is then analyzed and substantiated. If a person is isolated, he will have to take care of his own food, clothes, shoes, his own house and so on. In the case of such a closed economy and universalization of labor, firstly, its productivity will be low and, secondly, it will be able to consume only what it produces. It is clear that human productivity will be higher and more profitable as a result of labor specialization and the opportunity to trade with others. Indeed, trade allows each person to specialize, to engage in the activities that are most successful, be it agriculture, sewing or construction, and to buy more diverse goods and services from others at a relatively lower price. The key to such human interactions is that trade is mutually beneficial; That markets are usually the good means of coordination between people and that the government can improve the results of market functioning if the market reveals weakness or the results of market functioning are not fair. Moroever, it also shows how the economy works as a whole. In particular, it is argued that productivity is a key determinant of living standards, that an increase in the money supply is a major source of inflation, and that one of the main impediments to avoiding inflation is the existence of an alternative between inflation and unemployment in the short term, that the inflation decrease causes the temporary decline in unemployement and vice versa. The Understanding creatively of all above mentioned issues, we think, will help the reader to develop market economy-appropriate thinking and rational economic-commercial-financial behaviors, to be more competitive in the domestic and international labor markets, and thus to ensure both their own prosperity and the functioning of the country's economy. How he/she copes with the tasks, it is up to the individual reader to decide. At the same time, we will receive all the smart useful advices with a sense of gratitude and will take it into account in the further work. We also would like to thank the editor and reviewers of the books. Finally, there are many things changing, so it is very important to realize that the XXI century has come: 1. The century of the new economy; 2. Age of Knowledge; 3. Age of Information and economic activities are changing in term of innovations. 1. Why is the 21st century the century of the new economy? Because for this period the economic resources, especially non-productive, non-recoverable ones (oil, natural gas, coal, etc.) are becoming increasingly limited. According to the World Energy Council, there are currently 43 years of gas and oil reserves left in the world (see “New Commersant 2007 # 2, p. 16). Under such conditions, sustainable growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) and maximum satisfaction of uncertain needs should be achieved not through the use of more land, labor and capital (extensification), but through more efficient use of available resources (intensification) or innovative economy. And economics, as it was said, is the science of finding the ways about the more effective usage of the limited resources. At the same time, with the sustainable growth and development of the economy, the present needs must be met in a way that does not deprive future generations of the opportunity to meet their needs; 2. Why is the 21st century the age of knowledge? Because in a modern economy, it is not land (natural resources), labor and capital that is crucial, but knowledge. Modern production, its factors and products are not time-consuming and capital-intensive, but science-intensive, knowledge-intensive. The good example of this is a Japanese enterprise (firm) where the production process is going on but people are almost invisible, also, the result of such production (Japanese product) is a miniature or a sample of how to get the maximum result at the lowest cost; 3. Why is the 21st century the age of information? Because the efficient functioning of the modern economy, the effective organization of the material and personal factors of production largely depend on the right governance decision. The right governance decision requires prompt and accurate information. Gone are the days when the main means of transport was a sailing ship, the main form of data processing was pencil and paper, and the main means of transmitting information was sending letters through a postman on horseback. By the modern transport infrastructure (highways, railways, ships, regular domestic and international flights, oil and gas pipelines, etc.), the movement of goods, services and labor resoucres has been significantly accelerated, while through the modern means of communication (mobile phone, internet, other) the information is spreading rapidly globally, which seems to have "shrunk" the world and made it a single large country. The Authors of the book: Ushangi Samadashvili, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University - Introduction, Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,12, 15,16, 17.1,18 , Tests, Revaz Shengelia, Doctor of Economics, Professor of Georgian Technical University, Chapters_7, 8, 13. 14, 17.2, 17.4; Zhuzhuna Tsiklauri - Doctor of Economics, Professor of Georgian Technical University - Chapters 13.6, 13.7,17.2, 17.3, 18. We also thank the editor and reviewers of the book.