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This paper investigates the effect of three different treatments, namely (i) sunlight exposures, (ii) bleaching and (iii) perming on the damage of the keratin fibres (with the use of human hair). Scanning electron microscopy was applied to examine the surface morphology of the samples. Hair samples appeared to be rougher and their scales diminished after the treatments. The degree of colour change of samples was measured using a diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer. All three different treatments caused a certain degree of colour change on the samples. Urea bisulphite solubility test was also employed to investigate the alkaline damage of samples.

The results illustrated that the urea bisulphite solubility of samples conformably decreased when they were subject to these three types of treatments. With respect to the tensile strength property, the results indicate that the breaking load of treated samples decreased dramatically after undergoing three different types of treatments. On evaluating the test results, it was concluded that the bleaching process imparted the most severe damages to hair. The results of the different test methods were evaluated and discussed.

Embedded systems, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile computing devices are used in various domains which include public-private infrastructure, industrial installation and critical environment. Generally, information handled by these devices is private and critical. Therefore, it must be appropriately secured from different attacks and hackers. Lightweight cryptography is an aspiring field which investigates the implementation of cryptographic primitives and algorithms for resource constrained devices. In this paper, a new compact hybrid lightweight encryption technique has been proposed. Proposed technique uses the fastest bit permutation instruction PERMS with S-box of PRESENT block cipher for non-linearity. An arbitrary n-bit permutation is performed using PERMS instruction in less than log (n) number of instructions. This new hybrid system has been analyzed for software performance on Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) and Intel processor whereas Cadens tool is used to analyze the hardware performance. The result of the proposed technique is improved by the factor of eight as compared to the PRESENT-GRP hybrid block cipher. Moreover, PERMS instruction bit permutation properties result a very good avalanche effect and compact implementation in the both hardware and software environment.

This paper aims to study the Soviet state-owned enterprises that were producing ready to wear clothes, engaged in activities that are traditionally associated with “capitalist” marketing and public relations. Particularly, they responded to consumer complaints, monitored customer satisfaction and changed their product features and offer in response to customer feedback. This claim is illustrated using the example of the garment industry in the city Perm.

The data comes from archival research of a range of sector-wide documents of the Soviet period available in the State Archive of Perm Region and from in-depth interviews with ex-employees of Perm Clothing Design House.

The paper demonstrates the emergence of a marketing system not only in Eastern European countries and in major Soviet cities but also in a provincial closed city of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The findings of the research highlight that the level of sales was important for all the participants in the focal marketing system. Late Soviet marketing had the social function of supporting cooperative relationships between citizens and the state by channeling dissatisfaction and anger through surveys and consumer conferences.

Previous studies undertaken at the top level of the Soviet managerial pyramid have not represented a detailed picture of routine marketing activities during Late Socialism.

The study reveals how the role of the largest cities – regional capitals in the urban settlement system – and the economy of the country changed during the period of social and economic transformations at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The object of the study is the largest cities with a population of over 1 million people, the administrative centers of the regions. Unlike Moscow and St. Petersburg, these are administrative centers or “capitals” of large territories that have the status of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The authors emphasize the special role of cities – regional capitals in post-socialist and developing countries – where there are significant and rapid changes in the distribution of functions between the center and the regions. At the same time, cities – regional capitals – are not considered as isolated objects, but as elements of a national settlement system, the leaders among Russian second-tier cities. The common features of the evolution of the largest regional capitals, the continuity of the factors of city formation, are revealed. Considerable attention is paid to assessing the consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union for the development of the urban settlement system. It was concluded that the “compensatory” nature of the accelerated growth of the largest regional capitals in post-Soviet Russia. “Compensatory” growth is considered as a form of adaptation of the urban settlement system to the weakening of links between its essential links. A methodical approach is proposed that allows a comparative analysis of the role of the largest regional capitals and the capital of the state in the economy of the country. In the process of testing it, an assessment was made of population dynamics, as well as key economic indicators, such as the volume of products shipped, retail turnover, investments, the volume of work in the construction of major regional pages, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg. The evaluation results allowed the classification of the largest regional capitals in terms of their role in the economic development of the country, as well as in terms of the extent of the gap between the indicators; on the one hand, the largest regional capitals, and on the other, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The paper aims to explore factors of the low competitiveness of Russian companies assuming that the gap in the endowment of intangible resources is responsible for the gap in competitiveness.

The framework of resources-based view is used to examine causality between the resources used and competitiveness measured by economic value added (EVA). Controlling for the most relevant factors, the authors place an emphasis on those intangible resources that are considered in the literature as being the most critical for Russian companies when contending for global competitiveness: productivity, strategic long-term orientation of companies, quality of human capital, innovative behavior of companies, foreign investments and corporate networks. The data set of more than 1,000 Russian companies benchmarked to the data set of more than 1,600 European companies during a period of 10 years: 2004-2013 is analyzed to test the hypothesis put forward.

Causal effect of the gap in intangible endowment and competitiveness of Russian companies compared with European rivals is revealed. According to our analysis, gaps in productivity, strategy implementation, qualifications of the board of directors and company location play critical roles in the global competitiveness of Russian companies. Meanwhile, underinvestment in structural resources, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and other intangible assets, are considered positive factors that reduce gaps in EVA.

The paper introduces original approach for studying the gap in performance caused by the gap in used resources.

This paper aims to analyze the modern problems and the main trends of development of the health-improving tourism sector in the southern part of Russia and to identify significant factors in overcoming the complex challenges related to specific socio-economic conditions in the study area.

The material that served as the basis of the study comprises statistical data from the Southern Federal District and its subjects, as well as data about the development of tourism infrastructure on the official websites of governments, Ministry of Tourism and the population of the Southern Federal District. This information was systematized from a number of perspectives, including identification of the chronology of health-improving tourism infrastructure development in the chosen territory, as well as the advantages and disadvantages in this area. Based on the results of the study, the authors also developed some recommendations to overcome existing inactive trends in the field of health tourism.

This paper sheds light on the understanding of the challenges and changes that took place in the resort agglomerations of the south of Russia in terms of current issues and those that must be addressed in the coming years. It was concluded that health tourism in the south of Russia has old traditions based on the natural resource potential of territories that are included in the composition of the Southern Federal District. At the same time, the authors came to the conclusion that, unfortunately, not resort agglomerations are fully utilized. Furthermore, some historic resorts were not well maintained by local authorities and have suffered more recently because of lack of investment. At present, the financial results of health resorts and others related to health-improving tourism are precarious as most operations are unprofitable, and so complex decisions are needed to address the underlying problem of resource optimization because of the important social and economic role of the cities in this region. They have special natural and resource potential and preserve traditions related to health-improving tourism.

The paper provides a conceptual analysis based on limited empirical data combined with some directions for further research.

The paper attempts to reveal the impact of social, economic and geopolitical factors, both negative and positive, on the development of the health-improving tourism segment, restructuring of the Russian tourism market and the emergence of promising opportunities and new directions for development. The findings also provide insights for practitioners and researchers, and the tourism industry can draw on this analysis to guide the development of strategy, increase investment attractiveness, make more effective use of the natural resource potential and maintain pressure on government partners to provide support to tourism.

A common approach to predicting the price of residential properties uses the hedonic price model and its spatial extensions. Within the hedonic approach, real estate prices are decomposed into internal characteristics of an apartment, apartment characteristics and external characteristics. To account for the unobserved quality of the surrounding environment, price models include spatial price correlation factors, where the distance is usually measured as the distance in geographic space. In determining the price, a seller focuses not only on the observed and unobserved factors of the apartment and its environment but also on the prices of similar marketed objects that can be selected both by geographic proximity and by characteristics similarity. The purpose of this study is to show the latter point empirically.

This study uses an ensemble clustering approach to measure objects' proximity and test whether the proximity of objects in the property characteristics space along with spatial correlation explain the significant variation in prices.

In this paper, the pricing behaviour of sellers in a reselling market in Perm, Russia is studied. This study shows that the price transmission mechanism includes both geographic and characteristics spaces.

After testing on market data, the proposed framework for the distance construct could be used to obtain higher predictive power for price predictive models and construction of automated valuation services.

This study tests the higher explanatory power of the model that includes both the distance measured in geographic and property characteristics spaces.

IN the present note a comparison is made between normal aluminium alloys and alloys with increased values of the modulus of elasticity for covering the upper surfaces of wings of moderately thick sections, particularly of the smooth wing type. This comparison is intended to form the basis for the design of test panels for experimental verification of the theoretical conclusions.

The growing trend towards closing the political space for civil society in authoritarian regimes has primarily targeted NGOs focused on rights-based advocacy. Drawing on a study of disability NGOs in Russia, this paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the advocacy options that nonprofit organizations have even in repressive political contexts. The authors first review the extant literature to identify common actors, types and tactics and then trace what types of advocacy Russian NGOs are engaged in and what tactics they are able to utilize.

The empirical part of this paper is based on 20 interviews conducted among active participants in disability NGOs in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm and Nizhniy Novgorod. Despite not being a representative sample of organizations, the selection of cities and organizations was intended to reflect spatial and structural factors of the field.

The authors find that NGOs are able to pursue a broad range of advocacy activities despite a generally restrictive legal environment for civil society.

Research on advocacy in authoritarian countries is often focused on NGOs that are primarily engaged in these activities. This has overshadowed the considerable leeway that nonprofit service providers have to engage in advocacy.

Service-providing NGOs should not forsake advocacy activities, even in authoritarian contexts, but can find access points in the political system and should seek to utilize their voice on behalf of their clients.

Despite general restrictions, NGOs can still find ways to successfully secure social rights, justice and solidarity, provided they accept the supremacy of the state in social policy and appeal to the state's responsibility for the welfare of its citizens without directly questioning the overall status quo too heavily.

We develop a broad framework for various advocacy forms and activities and apply it to nonprofit service providers.