The article analyzes consumer dispositions (preferences) in the Russian insurance market. Their influence on the digitalization of insurance activities has been revealed. The consumer preferences of ...policyholders and their impact on the digitalization of business processes have been studied. The actual results of a statistical study of the Internet sales channel of insurance services, as well as the results of a sociological study of consumer preferences of policyholders have been presented. The presence of consumer dispositions (preferences) in the insurance market that hinder the development of digitalization has been shown. Key trends in the digitalization of sales procedures and their settlement under insurance contracts have been identified. Recommendations have been formulated to take into account the peculiarities of consumer dispositions in the insurance market in the process of digitalization of insurance activities.
Error commission leads to adaptive adjustments in a number of brain networks that subserve goal-directed behavior, resulting in either enhanced stimulus processing or increased motor threshold ...depending on the nature of errors committed. Here, we studied these adjustments by analyzing post-error modulations of alpha and theta band activity in the auditory version of the two-choice condensation task, which is highly demanding for sustained attention while involves no inhibition of prepotent responses. Errors were followed by increased frontal midline theta (FMT) activity, as well as by enhanced alpha band suppression in the parietal and the left central regions; parietal alpha suppression correlated with the task performance, left central alpha suppression correlated with the post-error slowing, and FMT increase correlated with both behavioral measures. On post-error correct trials, left-central alpha band suppression started earlier before the response, and the response was followed by weaker FMT activity, as well as by enhanced alpha band suppression distributed over the entire scalp. These findings indicate that several separate neuronal networks are involved in post-error adjustments, including the midfrontal performance monitoring network, the parietal attentional network, and the sensorimotor network. Supposedly, activity within these networks is rapidly modulated after errors, resulting in optimization of their functional state on the subsequent trials, with corresponding changes in behavioral measures.
Detailed information on GaAs oxide properties is important for solving the problem of passivating and dielectric layers in the GaAs-based electronics. The elemental and chemical compositions of the ...native oxide layer grown on the atomically clean surface of an
n
-GaAs (100) wafer etched by Ar
+
ions have been studied by synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy. It has been revealed that the oxide layer is essentially enriched in the Ga
2
O
3
phase which is known to be a quite good dielectric as compared to As
2
O
3
. The gallium to arsenic ratio reaches the value as high as Ga/As = 1.5 in the course of oxidation. The Ga-enrichment occurs supposedly due to diffusion away of As released in preferential oxidation of Ga atoms. A band diagram was constructed for the native oxide nanolayer on the
n
-GaAs wafer. It has been shown that this natural nanostructure has features of a
p–n
heterojunction.
The elemental and chemical compositions throughout the thickness of the GaAs native oxide layer slightly irradiated by Ar
+
ions have been studied by synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy at ...different photon energies enabling variation of probing depth. The presence of only two phases was observed: of the gallium oxide Ga
2
O
3
and elementary arsenic As
o
generated due to complete decay of arsenic oxides under the ion irradiation. Depth composition profiles were determined nondestructively. Despite inhomogeneous depth distribution, these profiles demonstrated domination (90 at %) of the dielectric Ga
2
O
3
phase virtually throughout all the oxide thickness (~2 nm).
The article examines the cargo insurance segment in the Russian Federation. The trends of this type of insurance have been studied in connection with general economic factors, an analysis of its ...effectiveness for participants in insurance relations has been carried out, and ways of developing cargo insurance have been determined. The methodological basis of the study was the analysis of statistical data from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and official statistics of Rosstat regarding the dynamics of gross domestic product, volumes of cargo turnover, cargo transportation and exports. The information obtained by the authors during the provision of consulting and other professional services to participants in the Russian insurance market was also used. As a result, differences in trends in the cargo insurance segment from the general market were identified. The hypothesis about the predominant influence of foreign economic activity on cargo insurance was confirmed. The efficiency indicators of cargo insurance, including the average payout ratio, have been studied. Proposals have been formulated for the development and implementation of state economic policy in the field of insurance of foreign trade cargo, aimed at overcoming political and economic restrictions in relation to the Russian Federation and its enterprises.
Investigation results on the airflow in a convergent channel with a hot bottom wall at a set constant heat flux or at a set constant wall temperature are presented. The numerical simulation was ...carried out in the OpenFOAM software using the
k-ω
-SST turbulence model. The verification of simulation results demonstrated a good agreement between the calculated data and the experimental velocity profiles and the thermal Stanton number. The study showed that an increase in the temperature of the convergent channel wall leads to the phenomenon of the streamwise velocity overshoot, suppression of turbulence and a decrease in the skin-friction coefficient and thermal Stanton number. In contrast to a zero pressure gradient flow, the type of thermal boundary conditions has a noticeable effect on the skin-friction and heat transfer in the convergent channel.
The problem of memory enhancement is extremely important in intellectual activity areas and therapy of different types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The attempts to solve this ...problem have come from different research fields. In the first part of our review, we describe the results of targeting certain genes involved in memory-associated molecular pathways. The second part of the review is focused on the deep stimulation of brain structures that can slow down memory loss in AD. The third part describes the results of the use of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for memory modulation, consolidation, and retrieval in healthy people and animal models. Integration of data from different research fields is essential for the development of efficient strategies for memory enhancement.
Currently, there are two opposing views on feature binding in the auditory modality: according to behavioral studies, this process requires focused attention, whereas electrophysiological studies ...suggest that feature binding may be fully automatic and independent of attention. Here, we examined whether feature binding depends on higher-level attentional processes by manipulating the attentional focus. We used four auditory stimuli that differed in two features: pitch and location. Two rare deviants could be detected within a sequence of two frequent standards exclusively by feature conjunctions rather than by any single feature alone. Event-related potentials to auditory stimuli were analyzed for four conditions: selective attention to target auditory deviants, selective ignoring of nontarget auditory deviants, nonselective distributed attention to all stimuli within auditory modality, and selective attention diverted from auditory to visual modality. The negative difference (Nd) between event-related potentials to deviants and standards was measured within two time intervals, corresponding to mismatch negativity (100-200 ms) and N2b (200-300 ms). Only under the condition of selective attention to specific feature conjunctions, prominent Nd was observed in mismatch negativity as well in N2b time ranges, whereas no significant Nd was observed in other conditions. As Nd is considered a marker of deviance processing, our results support the view that deviance was not detected unless attention was focused on the stimuli, thus supporting the view that feature binding requires attention.
Current understanding of feature binding remains controversial. Studies involving mismatch negativity (MMN) measurement show a low level of binding, whereas behavioral experiments suggest a higher ...level. We examined the possibility that the two levels of feature binding coexist and may be shown within one experiment. The electroencephalogram was recorded while participants were engaged in an auditory two-alternative choice task, which was a combination of the oddball and the condensation tasks. Two types of deviant target stimuli were used - complex stimuli, which required feature conjunction to be identified, and simple stimuli, which differed from standard stimuli in a single feature. Two behavioral outcomes - correct responses and errors - were analyzed separately. Responses to complex stimuli were slower and less accurate than responses to simple stimuli. MMN was prominent and its amplitude was similar for both simple and complex stimuli, whereas the respective stimuli differed from standards in a single feature or two features respectively. Errors in response only to complex stimuli were associated with decreased MMN amplitude. P300 amplitude was greater for complex stimuli than for simple stimuli. Our data are compatible with the explanation that feature binding in auditory modality depends on two concurrent levels of processing. We speculate that the earlier level related to MMN generation is an essential and critical stage. Yet, a later analysis is also carried out, affecting P300 amplitude and response time. The current findings provide resolution to conflicting views on the nature of feature binding and show that feature binding is a distributed multilevel process.
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