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Plus, EU’s Albania justice mission faces corruption probe, and Orban tacks back toward Europe.
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Soon after Industrial Revolution fossil energy resources became extremely one of the irrevocable essentials of humankind. Nowadays, use of fossil energy resources paved the way of several problems. Throughout last two hundred years of human history disagreements to share energy resources led dramatic conflicts and wars broke out. Notably WWII and Cold War were a kind of proxy clashes over energy resources. In 1991 the long lasting Cold War came to an end yet neither energy disputes nor conflicts related to the sharing of energy resources have not ended. Starting with Industrial Revolution so far oil and coal are were unmatched basic energy sources to run the engines of industry. Especially after 1980’s hitherto natural gas and shale gas gained a new status in the energy need of humanity. Because both are more effective, clean and environment friendly. Beside shale gas, Europe and Turkey do not have natural gas reserves nowadays border neighborhood of Russian Federation has rich reserves. In other words Russian Federation is between rich reserves owing Central Asian countries and importer European countries. This fact led Russia to use energy card as a tool of foreign policy. Especially after the collapse of SU, the successor state Russia has not stopped intervening domestic affairs of post-communist countries. While intervening domestic affairs of former Iron-Curtain countries Russia uses numerous excuses such as to protect the rights of Russian originated people, to save its former citizens’ lives despite the fact nobody asked such a protection. Russia also argues that it has cultural and territorial rights in former Iron-Curtain countries. This kind of foreign policy aspects in international relations are called “irredentism” and European states could not force Russia to stop such conflict escalating policies. European dependency on Russian natural gas and energy problems one way or another affects European foreign policy priorities on prevention of Russian irredentism which stirring the region. That is why European states and Turkey to mitigate Russian dependency, looks for a new alternative bypassing Russia and diversify energy sources. TANAP replacing Nabucco is a good chance for such an initiative yet there are a lot to be done for the realization of the Project.
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The large-scale archaeological excavations of the past years yielded a rapid increase of archaeological finds and observations. This large amount of new evidence enabled the observation of wider environmental archaeological relationships. In the study we reconstruct certain environmental and settlement pattern changes from the 13th to the 18th centuries based on archaeological data from the southern shore of Lake Balaton and the cities of the Danube Bend region. The settlements on the shore of Lake Balaton and along the Danube reacted similarly, but with a temporal lag. Hydroclimatic changes caused a shift in the location and structure of lake- and riverside settlements, which was of a horizontal character in the case of Lake Balaton, and of a vertical character in the case of the Danube Bend region.
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This report presents the structure of innovative building material with good thermal insulation properties. For the study used equipment, including the following types of highly sensitive electronic microscopes: PolyVacc, Mecatech 234, Metam LV-41. A conclusion on the structure of the samples tested was made.
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The river Drava and its tributaries were in the past a very important geographic element in the Đurđevec area of Podravina because the floods restricted access to the banks of Drava and prevented settling in its vicinity. However, the great river had an attractive power for the people of Podravina, which is seen in the example of a ramified path networkt that led from all settlements in Đurđevec area of Podravina to the river Drava. The end points of such paths were river mills and crossings. This path network has affected environmental changes between the river Drava and the settlements located on the borders of the Đurđevečki peski (Đurđevec sands). A relatively wide zone of the forest-swamp area, partly meliorated and deforested during the 18th and 19th centuries, used to strech along the right bank of the river Drava. The process of deforestation and swamp draining, i.e. regulation of the tributaries of the Drava, was parallel to the process of occurence of konaki as temporary residences for humans and livestock. They originated in response to agrarian overcrowding in this part of Podravina in the second half of the 18th century. Konaki became independent villages in the 19th and 20th centuries, and because of the vicinity of the Drava, a specific coexistence with the river was developed there. The paper is focused on the village Brod, which was situated on the very bank of the river Drava during the 18th and first half of the 19th century and whose inhabitants have developed a specific coexistence with water through generations. We learn about life in Brod from various cartographic and written historical sources, especially from Parish register books with data for demographic research.
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Among slovenian historiographical researches of Drava river territory in the Republic of Slovenia the most important research corpus belonges to the history of the Drava Valley., i. e. the territory between towns Dravograd and Maribor. Slovenian researching of that territory had started after the WW I, as an answer to some german spoken articles before WW I on that thema. Josip Mravljak, born and lived in town Vuzenica in Drava Valley (died in 1953), was the first slovenian author of more historiographical articles mostly about the towns, the peasantry uprisings and nobles, about the life, determinated by the river, and others. Starting of brighter interest about the Drava river past in Slovenian was the research opus of Jože Koropec. His works and monographies, writed and published in the 60.‘s and 70.‘s of 20th Century, finally established that part of slovenian Drava as an legitime thema of historiographical survey and research.
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During the developing of the Croatian-Hungarian IPA program the main goal was to create a tender which aims the preservation of natural environment. Within Priority 1 (Sustainable environment and tourism) two subsections had been specified: Sustainable and attractive environment. Sustainable Tourism int he Mura-Drave-Danube River Area. The study aims to illustrate the effectiveness of these projects and the multiple effects on other tender topics. More pilot projects, which indirectly try to achieve sustainable rural development, were also started during the study.
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This article summarizes data from an examination of drinking water performed in the Varna region concerning content of natural uranium.
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In opposition to the traditional studies on the history of various science, which tend to only insist on the evolution of scientific progress, the modern approach tries to link this evolution to the natural, economic and social environment in which the science evolves. Also, the evolution of various scientific disciplines is conceived as a discontinuous process, a result of successive paradigm shifts. Applying these principles to water resources engineering in Romania, the article assesses that, due to the economic and social changes which occurred in 1989, water management in Romania has encountered an anomaly which requires the definition of a new paradigm. The principles which should be applied in this exercise require adopting a holistic approach, designing an adaptive management based on the theory of complex adaptive systems and using transdisciplinary methods. For all practical applications, water resources engineering cannot be considered an independent discipline any more and requires all other related disciplines to be taken into account and joint solutions for all the involved branches of activity should be developed. The article presents various examples in which these principles have been applied in various countries to water related projects.
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Performance budgeting is the latest trend in attempts to improve government performance. In this article we investigate the interaction between environmental taxes; environmental expenditures and environmental impacts in the field of waste management. Performance budgeting is realized only once all three groups have been taken into consideration. We confirm direct and indirect effects of environmental taxes on the reduction of waste pollution. Further, we test the earmarking of environmental taxes through the effect of environmental indicators on environmental taxes and note that the rate is high.
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This study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing technique to examine whether Okun’s law exists in Nigeria during 1970-2014. In addition, this study considers the role of oil prices in the Nigerian economy. The empirical results indicate that a cointegrating or long term relationship exists between the unemployment rate, economic growth and oil prices. In addition, the results demonstrate that in Nigeria, in the long term, unemployment has a negative and significant effect on economic growth, and oil prices have a significant and positive effect on economic growth. The coefficient of unemployment (0.18%) for this study is far less than the result reported by Okun and other studies that focused on developed countries. This suggests that the Okun coefficient is not only unstable but varies for different countries, and does not remain constant for Nigeria. However, policymakers should take steps to reduce unemployment to enhance economic growth in Nigeria.
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Приказ/Review: Лариса Коломејцева-Јовановић, Принципи одрживог развоја у решавању глобалних еколошких проблема, „Ecologica“, Београд, 2011., стр. 126
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In terms of macro-economic policy, gross fixed capital formation, which is the major component of domestic investment, is seen as an important process that could accelerate economic growth. This study re-examines the controversial issue of causality between domestic investment, employment and economic growth using South African data. The traditional assumption of causality running from investment to economic growth has remained inconclusive while empirical findings on the investment and employment growth nexus are also largely unsettled. The study makes use of quarterly data from 1995Q1 to 2016Q4 within the framework of the Johansen cointegration and Vector Error Correction Models (VECM). The empirical findings suggest that a long run relationship exists between domestic investment, employment and economic growth, with causality running from economic growth to investment and not vice versa. The results also demonstrate that investment has a positive long-run impact on employment. The empirical evidence further suggests bi-directional causality between employment and economic growth, while evidence of uni-directional causality, from investment to employment, is also found. The major implication of the study is that although there is bi-directional causality between economic growth and employment, economic growth does not translate to increased employment in the long run confirming “jobless growth”. Investment is found to be a positive driver of employment in the South African economy in the long-run. The study concludes that, in order to stimulate employment, investment enhancing policies, such as low interest rates and a favourable economic environment should be put in place to accelerate growth. Measures to promote economic growth, such as improved infrastructural facilities and diversification of the economy, should be further engineered so as to encourage increased investment.
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Though modest, the deal brings a rare ray of hope for Turkmenistan’s shrinking state finances.
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ObjectivesSince 1997, several numbers of directives have been applied to put in power the use electronic signatures in the electronic document. In Albania there has been approved a number of laws and bylaws regulations in this field and in 2009 was established the supervisory authority for electronic signatures, the National Authority for Electronic Certification. In this article will be analyzed the current situation of the usage of e-signature in public and private sector. Then will be reviewed the e-governanment systems using electronic signatures. At the end will be given recommandations stated in the Value section below.Prior workIn June 2014, was approved the new European Regulation known as e-IDAS. Since Albania is non-EU member state aspirant to be member of EU, there is a need to have a mechanisms for building paperless procedures in different sectors. Some efforts to implement e-documents at institutional level are pending, do to the need to use digital signiture and digital seal. ApproachIn order to capture the evidences in this article are used the methods of observation and case study of e-custom, e-prescription and e-permit systems in Albania as well as some draft studies done from international institution. In order to analyze benefits of using e-signature will be shown case studies from EU countries like Austria, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and France.ResultsAs information technology is developing rapidly, it is necessary to apply innovative, simple and secure methods, such as remote methods. This method, treated as a new concept in European regulation, is used by some EU countries. In this article will be shown the benefits of the remote method and how to apply it.ImplicationsThis article contains implications for the groups of academics, who can use the statics and case studies in order to improve and update their lectures; for researchers who can take to another level the recommendations and for the practitioners who can update their knowledge on e-signature and e-services in Albania.ValueThis article gives recommandations for building a customs system or mechanism for e-documents accompanying import goods, as well as recommendations for increasing the standards of service delivery to the public and private sectors and general recommendation for the use of methodology in the region (replicability aspect) and guidelines for public administration and business how they can improve public services for citizens in the right and secure way.
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This paper was developed on the base of experience realization of the state pilot project in the field of reform of the emergency medical service (EMS) in the Odessa region (Ukraine). The core idea behind the paper is to propose an information infrastructure that allows medical and other services to get instant messages on problem situations which necessary joint activities for the saving lives of the people. This infrastructure will use for alert about accidents only those service that are needed to perform joint actions to people salvation in the particular situation. For this in the paper is to provide a review, analysis, and identification of opportunities for the EMS community to address information infrastructure developments of emergency medical service as a part of the smart city solutions. Besides, was summarized the overall impact that digital communications, information infrastructure could have on EMS and their influence on how EMS system (in Ukraine it's 112 service ) might operate in the year 2020 and after this period; also proposed a model for how these technologies might be used by EMS system and how digital technologies can help avert the bad interoperability of emergency services– and improve the response on the emergency situation when they do occur.
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The paper discusses the historical technical and technological progress and its impact on the priorities developed in the context of serving its survival, sustainable development and education of the mankind. The major contributions of the scientific, technological and information progress both to the development of the globalisation and to the strengthening of the social and economic values and relations of debatable nature are pointed out. The research results and quantification data show the current status and the operational possibilities of technique and technology, as well as the use of information science and communications in the County’s production sector. Individual sectors are analysed as regards their share in the County’s economy in the last 18 years. The cooperation of domestic and international scientists and experts that has recently been realised with some of the firms in the production sector is presented in the form of a diagram. Based on a characteristic example, the assessment of the level of trust in experts in both the domestic and the international markets is given. It is emphasised how important it is for the Bjelovar-Bilogora County to be able to offer university education, to have a constant increase in the number of students, and to dispose of the professional and scientific potential needed for the strengthening of the production sector. Finally, the manner in which science, technique and technology should work together with the economy of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County is suggested.
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As early as at the beginning of the 18th century, the forestry service had – in various manners – been organised in the territory of the Croatian state; around the half of the same century, first forestry offices were formed as territorial organisations for forest management. After the abolition of the Varaždin Generalate in 1871, the Bjelovar County was formed; its existence – though having suffered several interruptions and changes – may be followed until the present day. The paper deals with the existence and development of organised forestry in that area in that period. In 1874, in the region encompassing Bilogora and Podravina, Đurđevac and Križevci property communes were formed, both seated in Bjelovar and carrying out forestry-related activities in an organised manner. From the angle of property relations and management-related obligations, during a century and a half almost, we may distinguish several organisational forms of competence over forests and forestland, i.e. organisational units of the forestry service, such as property communes, state-owned forests, private forests, private landed properties and land communities. During the said period, in the area of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County, there had been six various constitutional systems that introduced a great number of amendments to legal acts and changes regarding property relations. A further difficulty was the fact that during almost that entire period, the county borders (which had changed considerably throughout history) did not match the territorial organisation of the forest service. We may therefore speak of organised forestry in this region in the last 135 years, i.e. of the forestry of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County in its historical context. The operational forestry service developed in this area during a long period of time within and according to the boundaries of particular constitutional systems and the changes thereof. At the very beginning of organised forestry in the said region, the operational forestry service was organised depending upon the existence of Vojna krajina (the Croatian Military Border) in the area of that County. Thanks to the Croatian Forestry Society, formed more than 160 years ago, its journals (Trudovi, Šumarski list) and the College of Forestry in Križevci (founded in 1860), forestry in that County had managed to develop and preserve continuous scientific approach to forest management and the education and training of domestic foresters. The share of the forestry in the overall potentials of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County today is significant but still insufficiently exploited. The elements of continuity in the organisation of the forestry service in the said period are as follows: care for professional and permanent forest management, environmental consciousness and general usefulness, and involvement in the local social and economic development. Thanks to all the efforts made and field work done by generations of foresters from the whole of Croatia, i.e. from the said region as well, the forests have been preserved to a great extent, and are today considered being among the most natural and stable as well as best preserved ones in Europe.
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We commemorate 75 years since the disappearance of the famous Romanian researcher Ștefania Mărăcineanu, name with strong resonance in the evolution of Romanian science, subject of strong controversies regarding the contributions made in the discovery of artificial radioactivity, and not a few times in the core of jokes about the possibility of causing rain using radioactive salts. However, her primacy in the field of Romanian research in atomic physics remains unchallenged. Single, without descendants, her entire life was devoted to science.
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