No abstract

The research of a human food ration is caused by the great social significance in solving the problem of proper supply the population with food in the world countries. The food problem has a most evident geographic character. The world countries having at their disposal various agro-climatic conditions, demographic resources and population growth rates, socio-economic potential, specialization and labor productivity of agriculture production, are essentially distinguished by the food supply level of population and by structural characteristics of food ration. The formation particulars of the world countries population food ration were considered and characterized in the article. The key characteristics and factors of the world population's food ration were analyzed there. The geographic differences of food ration, as well as the world countries typology by distinctive features of food consumption through their division into groups (nutrition types) according to the content and quantity of basic components in food ration were determined in it.

Providing a favourable and comfortable living environment for the population is one of the main tasks of optimising urban development. The level of comfort is formed with the territorial interaction of natural and socio-economic conditions for the region’s development. This interaction is especially manifested in large industrial centres, characterised by a strong negative anthropogenic impact on the environment. The territorial assessment of the comfort of the living environment involves a comprehensive spatial analysis of the population comfort main factors. The purpose of this work is a spatial analysis of the population living comfort of one of the most industrialised regions not only Ukraine, but also Europe – the city of Kryvyi Rih. Functional zoning was carried out using GIS Map Info with the allocation of the following areas: residential zones, public and business zones, industry and warehouse zones, resort and recreation zones. The distribution of the residential area according to the level of comfort of the population living environment was carried out according to 3 groups of factors: transport accessibility, development of social infrastructure and ecological state. The first group characterises the habitat from the point of view of the city’s provision with transport routes for various types of public transport. The second group characterises the population’s social conditions, namely the number of educational, cultural and medical institutions. The third block includes the ecological state of the territory according to the criterion of atmospheric pollution. The method of scoring made it possible to compare individual parts of the area under study across the entire range of natural, ecological and social population comfort. The combination of indicators of the totality of all three groups factors was carried out using overlay operations. As a result of the research, a map characterising the spatial differentiation of indicators of the living comfort in the city of Kryvyi Rih has been created. The specialisation of the city as a large industrial centre has determined the leading role of the group of environmental indicators in the situational model of the living environment comfort in the region.

Bondarenko O.V., Mantulenko S.V. and Pikilnyak A.V. Google Classroom as a Tool of Support of Blended Learning for Geography Students. The article reveals the experience of organizing blended learning for geography students using Google Classroom, and discloses its potential uses in the study of geography. For the last three years, the authors have tested such in-class and distance courses as “Cartography and Basics of Topography”, “Population Geography”, “Information Systems and Technologies in Tourism Industry”, “Regional Economic and Social World Geography (Europe and the CIS)”, “Regional Economic and Social World Geography (Africa, Latin America, Asia, Anglo-America, Australia and Oceania)”, “Socio-Economic Cartography”. The advantages of using the specified interactive tool during the study of geographical disciplines are highlighted out in the article. As it has been established, the organization of the learning process using Google Classroom ensures the unity of in-class and out-of-class learning; it is designed to realize effective interaction of the subjects learning in real time; to monitor the quality of training and control the students’ learning achievements in class as well as out of it, etc. The article outlines the disadvantages that should be taken into account when organizing blended learning using Google Classroom, including the occasional predominance of students’ external motivation in education and their low level of readiness for work in the classroom; insufficient level of material and technical support in some classrooms; need for out-of-class pedagogical support; lack of guidance on the content aspect of Google Classroom pages, etc. Through the test series conducted during 2016–2017, an increase in the number of geography students with a sufficient level of academic achievements and a decrease of those with a low level of it was revealed.

Based on the generalization and systematization of scientific and accounting data, the article considers agriculture as one of the leading sectors of the Ukrainian economy, providing 50% of foreign exchange earnings from exports of all goods from the country. The structure and geography of agricultural exports from Ukraine are analyzed. The existing export potential of the studied sector of the national economy and the level of self-sufficiency of Ukraine in agri-food products are revealed. Four specialization types of agricultural exports from Ukrainian regions are established: areas with dominance in export of animal origin products; areas with a dominance in the export of plant products; areas with a predominance in the export of animal or vegetable origin fats and oils; area, with mixed export specialization. Recommendations for the re-profiling of agricultural production in a number of the country’s regions in order to increase exports of this product type.