Around the Bloc: LSD in Communist Bulgaria
Doctors had been experimenting with LSD years before the psychedelic revolution hit the United States.
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Doctors had been experimenting with LSD years before the psychedelic revolution hit the United States.
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In the last hundred years Europe became, whether intentionally or by accident, a home to many invasive alien species that had an extremely negative impact on European biodiversity. This problem of adaptable invasive species was tackled by science only in the recent decades. Scientists estimate that invasive alien species cause damage worth at least €12 billion every year in Europe. That is the reason that the control of their introduction into the native ecosystem has become one of the main objectives of nature protection today. Following the strategic guidelines of the European Union, the Republic of Croatia is deterring invasive species, while the introduction of new alien species into its territory is prohibited. However, based on the assessment of eligibility, it is possible to introduce a certain new type of species that was approved by the Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection to the Croatian state territory. The preservation and retaining of biological and landscape diversity in Croatia is under the jurisdiction of The State Institute for Nature Protection, which among other things, implements the control of introduction, prevents spreading and eliminates invasive alien species; it proposes measures for the protection of endangered species and habitats, and creates a so-called red list of threatened wildlife species and habitats. In accordance with European and international conventions, present invasive species are planned to be listed in so-called black, grey and white lists or as those whose import is prohibited and those which may be traded without restrictions. For that reason, the Strategy and Action Plan for the Conservation of Biological and Landscape Diversity (2008) for the successful implementation of ecosystem protection in Croatia was approved, and in 2013 new laws on environmental protection and nature conservation were adopted. Within the concept of sustainable development, these laws require that the protection of the environment should provide a complete preservation of environmental quality, biodiversity and landscape diversity, as well as geodiversity, especially of island ecosystems. According to data from the State Institute for Nature Protection, as well as research results from the European International Project DAISIE (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe), out of ‘100 worst’ invasive species brought to Europe, many are present in Croatia. One of them is the small Indian mongoose (lat. Herpestes auropunctatus), which is also the oldest known example of deliberate introduction of a foreign invasive species to Croatia. Because of the negative impact of the mongoose to the native ecosystem, a mongoose controlling system in Southeast Europe was introduced as recommended by the Council of Europe on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats, i.e. the Bern Convention, (Recommendation No. 140). As far as the Croatian territory today, in addition to Mljet, the mongoose is, intentionally or unintentionally widespread on the islands of Korčula, Hvar, Čiovo and Škrda, as well as the Pelješac peninsula, and it has reached the Neretva valley. In the early 20th century, in an attempt to reduce the number of poisonous snakes on the island of Mljet (which was once reputed as the ‘Snake Island’), eleven grey mongooses (seven males and four females) were released. Mongooses were introduced to the area which is now the National Park by the Imperial Royal Ministry of Agriculture from Vienna (k. k. Ackerbauministerium), i.e. Baron Schilling and the Forestry Administration of Mljet (1910). The main objective in doing so was the achievement of a broader concept of forming a protected nature park and a biological station on the island of Mljet, and at the same time to reconstruct the Monastery of Saint Mary on the islet. The realisation of this unique project under Austrian administration was done in attempt to promote tourism on the island of Mljet since it was located near Dubrovnik which was a big tourist destination in the times of humble beginnings of tourism in the province of Dalmatia. Completely changing its initial role as an exterminator of poisonous vipers, this small, resilient and highly reproductive predator, having destroyed the vipers on Mljet – where it was pronounced as ‘manguc’ or called a ‘snake-devourer’, inflicts today great damage to birds’ nests and chicken coops and has also endangered native fauna and disturbed the island’s ecosystem. Little or none has been written about the first European mongooses brought from distant India, about their negative impact on the native fauna of the islands, either within professional or scientific studies. Based on the available documentation, the paper will investigate the problem of introducing alien invasive species into native ecosystems and explore the accompanying legislative and institutional framework for the protection of biological and landscape diversity and combating invasive species. The research is focused on the analysis of the negative impact of the invasive species of mongoose on the ecosystem of the island of Mljet, seen from the perspective of the island’s population. For the purpose of obtaining the opinion of the local inhabitants, field research will be undertaken which will, via a semi- structured interview, apart from asking the inhabitants of Mljet to determine their views regarding the causes and consequences of the mongoose introduction, also inquire about the attempts to repair the damage that the mongoose committed to the environment. The survey, moreover, also intends to establish how deep is the fear of snakes and which stories are still immersed in the collective memory and oral tradition of the islanders. The research results will indicate how familiar the Islanders are about how much harm, which is scientifically proven, comes from their seemingly amiable and unusual cohabitant – the mongoose.
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With increasing demands for more efficient use of energy resources in the transport sector there is a need to apply the principles of sustainable development, which will be a competitive advantage in the market. This especially applies to the road transport sector. This paper discussed the scenarios renewing the vehicle fleet of city buses in the Republic of Serbia. Each scenario was analyzed according to the methodology for calculating the costs of operating the city buses used in sustainable public procurement procedures in renewing vehicle fleets. Calculation includes the cost of owning the vehicles, energy, CO2 emissions and pollutant emissions. Application of this methodology allows the selection of energy-efficient vehicles and vehicles with significantly less negative impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is to mark the election of certain cost parameters lifecycle of vehicles, particularly energy costs, as well as evaluation of the impact of energy consumption on a range of vehicles in the procurement cycle. The calculated cost of the lifetime of the vehicle and the comparison of different vehicle technologies and using different types of fuels were performed. Inputs of energy consumption were defined. In this paper are defined scenarios of renewing the vehicle fleet, which serves to reduce energy consumption.
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This paper deals with the problem of transboundary air pollution. It begins with a brief reference to the harmful effects of air pollution on human health and the environment. Taking into consideration that Croatia joined the EU on 1st of July 2013 and Bosnia and Herzegovina is a potential candidate country, which signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement on the 16th of June 2008, the paper presents the legal framework of the European Union relating to the air protection. Both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are signatories to international treaties that are relevant for air pollution. Thus, the paper demonstrates the obligations of States under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution and its Protocols, the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, and the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters and Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers. For each of these conventions the authors describe the non-compliance procedures. A special emphasis is given to the possibility of citizens to initiate proceedings against the party that (allegedly) does not meet its commitments.
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It is believed that the process of gentrification, defined as the process of introducing the working social categories to the areas affected by long-term unemployment, results in the improvement of the situation of the poor. In theory, neighborhood interactions between the working and the unemployed should result in easier access of the unemployed to the labor market and also in changes of their attitudes and behavior. However, in practice, it appears that due to cultural differences gentrification does not initiate the interaction between representatives of different social categories and does not influence the situation of the unemployed positively. Instead, cultural differences determine the impossibility to share the public spaces and breed the conflicts for space, which are manifested in various forms of symbolic violence analyzed in this article.
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The purpose of the research is an estimation of the modern state and possibilities of intensification of the use of recreational potential of dendrological park "Oleksandriya" for preparation and the realization of perspective model of territorial organization of tourist-recreational sphere of the region. Research methodology consists in the complex analysis of present potential of the tourist-recreational resources of dendrological park "Oleksandriya" with the use of basic principles of modern designing of landscape parks. Scientific novelty. The necessary condition of the development of recreation in dendrological parks are determination of their own recreational product and innovative approaches to the use of available tourist potential. Through the example of the forest-park areas, being a part of the dendrological park "Alexandriya" the work proposes a concept of creation and development of the recreational landscape park "Alexandriya of the XXI century", where a special attention will be given not only to a combination of natural and man-made objects and conditions, but also to the opportunities and means suitable for formation of tourist product and organization of appropriate tours, excursions and programs. Conclusions. Assessing the factors that promote the development of tourism it may be concluded that the availability of certain unique or interesting objects in the territory determines the prospects of the tourism industry in one region or another and tourist and recreational landscape parks can meet the recreation requirements not only of local population, but of tourists as well.
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The aim of the paper is to discuss the formulation about “Ecology as the Eucharist” which comes from the message of Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople. He says that his attitude to nature was molded in his youth when he had been taught to treat the environment as God’s gift. His thought inspires us to take a closer look at the faithful and their relation to nature. According to Bartholomew I, the material reality, or the Creation, and the spiritual world, or the Eucharist, interweave with each other and coexist in every man’s life, making it meaningful and valuable. The three parts of the text concentrate on the two worlds, examining each of them in order to perceive their interrelation and interpenetration. They also present the differences between the Orthodox and the Catholic spiritualities which are manifested in other treatments of ecology and liturgy. The first part deals with the ecology of the Earth as the common property of mankind. The second part speaks about the Eucharist as the way of expressing gratefulness to the Almighty by His congregation on their way to the Kingdom of God. The last part illustrates the reaction of the spiritual Eucharist and material environment and how human existence is fulfilled
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The article overwiews the structural and functional character of ecological culture with in the general concept of eco-safety in Ukraine. The author examines different points of view on the ecological culture. Considerable attention is paid to the questions, which include ecological culture, exploitation of nature by the humans, its transformation as well as results of such an activity.
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The article is devoted to one of the basic principles of creating an interactive space, which is implemented through the interaction of humans and the environment by sensor technology. Compositional analysis was carried out the interior design for public use, and sensor technology presents in its solution. This analysis made it possible to identify the main technical innovations, which are the means of creating an interactive object-spatial environment. The study of modern technical innovations led to the definition of methods of their usage in interior design and contributed to the removal of the interactive environment approach, formed on the basis of introduction of touch technology. The interactive hardware, developing and acquiring new forms, increasingly embodied in design and facilities, is widely used in forming the interior public buildings. Research of interactive technologies and their implementation in interior design reveals the impact of scientific inventions for the organization object-spatial environment. In the last decade, the introduction of innovative technologies to create an interactive space is increasingly seen in the interior design of public buildings. It should be emphasized that in the existing literature on the organization of the object-spatial environment, fundamental analysis of the integration of interactive technologies in interior design is absent. In the field of art history the research of Polish scientist Richard Klyuschynsky is devoted to development, common characteristics of interactive art, and its specifics. The featured questions of interactive art issues were studied by German art historians and theorists in the field of multimedia art - Oliver Grau and Thomas Dreyer. Among the Russian scientists and researchers, the most fundamental and significant work is done by N.I. Dvorko. It should be noted that the evolution of technologies, that forms the basis of creation of an interactive objectspatial environment, actively developed since the mid-twentieth century. The emergence of cybernetics, the invention of computer technology and virtual reality led to the discovery of new means of artistic expression in art. The modern technologies and diverging solutions in conceptual design interiors in public institutions are causing a variety of artistic means and methods used to organize the subject-spatial environment. The use of interactive technologies in interior design, thanks to its properties, cannot be based only on traditional compositional techniques of space. However, it should be noted that without traditional methods of organization environment, a complete work of interior designer can occur. New quality objects created using interactive technologies provide a wide range of new artistic effects and bring a new aesthetic to the formation of the object-spatial environment. Using the composition of the interior and objective material properties of three-dimensional forms, the fullest and clearest expression of the concept and content of the work can be achieved. The properties are manifested in the form of its appearance and perceived by human senses. These interactive technologies, through the development of computer and digital systems, promote the fullest human interaction and space through the senses. The research of early stage of sensor technology in the first third of the twentieth century and the analysis of its transformation in the late XX - early XXI century, reveals the dynamics of its development, construction structural features, and possible applications in the design of object-spatial environment. The technical inventions 1920th – 30th of the twentieth century significantly affected the development of interactive technologies. Innovative experiments of John Augustus Larson (1921) and Leonard Keeler (1926) formed the basis of sensor technology. In 1921, J. Larson developed the first model of the machine "Polygraph", which was designed for forensic examination. The process of changes of devices in contact with the man was one of the main technical principles for creating an interactive object-spatial environment based on sensory systems. At the end of the twentieth century touch technology spread from a purely research to artistic and design tool. Among the modern design objects created using sensor technology, the most common are the interactive floor and interactive touch touchpads. The compositional analysis actualized conceptual solutions and allowed three following methods using interactive sensory systems: the inclusion in the overall compositional structure of space; the creation of the accents in the object-spatial environment; the creation of the compositional dominant (often in the form of functional equipment). The interaction between man and space through sensor technology can be carried out within the following approaches: the utilitarian, with a domination of sensory functional component of technical facilities in object-spatial environment (protecting surface, information stands) and the artistic, where sensor technology is a base to identify and implement space imagery content of the object-spatial environment. These approaches are implemented by the use of sensor technology in the interior design, which is one of the basic principles of forming interactive object-spatial environment. Conclusions are drawn that the discovery of devices based on the interaction of machine and human in 1920th – 30th of the twentieth century, became the basis for the formation of one of the fundamental principles of creation of interactive objects based on touch technology. A variety of sensory techniques and methods of their usage in the interior design provides an opportunity to implement innovative conceptual solutions where space is interactive, but human activities can affect the appearance of individual objects, and of the interior.
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The estimation of stability of amphibian populations on the basis of data of population dynamics is given. The paper shows an attempt to estimate the direction of dynamic changes of amphibian populations, and defines the rate of the system deviation from the stationary state due to possible influence of the environmental factors by using concepts such as reactivity, degree of reactivity and flexibility of the system when using their indexes. It is found that populations of amphibians are quite stable with regard to quantifying these species. Characteristic feature is the elasticity of the system. It is confirmed by the elasticity of the system species Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758). TypePelobates fuscus (Laurenti, 1768) is defined as a factor of stability of the system in quantitative terms. Dependenceof dynamics of the population on its size is established using the regression equation. Dynamics of groups depends on the action of possible predictors in response to which the population of B. bufo is not changed. The ecosystem is characterized as a place of interaction between biotic factors and factors of abiotic origin, which are due to the external action. Internal factor of the ecosystem stability is the influence of some amphibian populations on the other ones. The system features sustainable and relatively stable number of B. bufo, which does not affect the level of its stability. Stationary state of the grouping is unstable due to dynamic matrix, which describes the behavior of the group in the vicinity of the first stationary state. The second steady state is stableone, and the system returns to the stationary state with the help of wave-like dynamics. On the basis of our study it is established that the number of groups of amphibians remains stable, the systems behave differently, and dynamics of their return to the stationary state is elastic or reactive one. Еcosystems within lime-ash oak forests in the Central floodplain of the Samarariver represent relatively stable populations of amphibians. The constant number of individuals in the population confirms stability of the ecosystem. The regression equation indicates the dependence of the dynamic performance of the system on the number of amphibians.
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The sensitivity of winter wheat variety “Zemljachka” to the action of herbicides Granstar, Esteron, Grodil Maxi and Puma Super was investigated. It is established that the herbicide treatment of crops suppressed the activity of antioxidant enzymes in mature wheat grain: superoxide dismutase – by 1.7–4.8 times, and peroxidase – 1.2–1.4 times. The changes in catalase activity were reliable, but insignificant. Under the action of herbicides the qualitative changes in polypeptide composition of the grains were found. For polypeptides with the Mr 14.8, 15.2 (except Grodil Maxi) and 20.0 kDa was determined a steady increase in content in comparison with the control. Revealed complex changes are the result of the restoration and maintenance of the plant homeostasis.
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An Introduction to the Thematic Block.
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The author has focused on the need for meaningful incorporation of the provisions of the concept of sustainable development to the fundamentals of state ecological policy of Ukraine. The author considers the role of innovations in the preservation of the environment. The author determines basic functional impact areas of innovations on environmental protection and tasks of institutionalization the category of «ecological innovations», the need for clear legal certainty on appropriate conceptual and legal apparatus.
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Purpose of the article is to reconstruct the meaning of an attractive woman and an attractive worker of an escort agency for women providing sex services, as well as to identify the actions that they undertake as a result of those definitions. The main problem questions, which the analysis is focused on are as follows: what does it mean to be an attractive woman when the main source of earnings is provision of sex services to men? How are the visions of attractiveness in the context of agency and women’s private lives different? What are the actions undertaken by the sex workers in order to achieve and maintain physical attractiveness and what are the consequences for their health? The empirical basis of the article is constituted by unstructured interviews carried out with 56 women providing sex services in escort agencies. The data were analyzed in accordance with procedures of the grounded theory methodology.
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The paper presents a project based on the complex case management model aimed at improving the labour market position of permanently unemployed clients. The aim of the case management is to improve the employee skills and capabilities of the clients in order to assist them in getting a job on the open labor market. The model builds on fast, action-oriented interventions, and the principle of the voluntary participation of clients. The process is time-limited, which the goal of reaching certain developmental objectives during a defined time period. We present a case study as an example of this model.
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Seas and inland water resources are under the influence of pollution with non-essential elements (cadmium, arsenic, barium etc as a result of the rapid development of technology, increasing population density, unconscious use of water resources, discharge of industrial and domestic wastes to water resources, enrichment of aquatic ecosystems. For this reason, the treatment technique has been applied all over the world with plants, especially with algae, because of the high treatment yield and low maintenance and operation costs. This study aimed to determine the removal capacity for cadmium (Cd2+), lead (Pb2+), tin (Sn4+), barium (Ba2+) and arsenic (As5+) heavy metals from 0,5; 1; 2,5; 5 ve 10 ppm concentration of aqueous solutions by using live C. vulgaris (chlorophyta) microalgae. Experiments were performed using synthetic single-metal solutions of Cd, Pb, Sn, Ba and As prepared from chemical reactants of analytical grade: CdSO4•8H2O, Pb(NO3)2, Sn02, Ba(NO3)2 and Na2HAsO4.7H2O, respectively. Based on the experimental data, the mean adsorption capacity of non-essential metals was determined as 254.939 mg/g for Sn, 254.536 mg/g for Pb, 238.563 mg/g for Ba, 235.288 mg/g for Cd and 227.543 mg/g for As (Sn>Pb>Ba>Cd>As) by C. vulgaris cells respectively. This study revealed that Chlorella cells were an effective adsorbent for removal of the five non-essential heavy metals ions from aqueous solutions due to its high efficiency of Sn, Pb, Ba, Cd and As adsorption.
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The issue of security, of its environment has been and contiues to be controversial. The concurential and conflictual climate, the presence in the field of international relations of numerous groups of economic, strategic, political interests determine the absence of consensus and of a common manner of approach of world security, as well as the imposition of a unanimously accepted pattern of security. This article analyses some of the key concepts of the contemporary security system: the anarchical environment, the bypolar and multipolar environment etc., concluding that the present security environment is a new, more secure, developing and imposing environment and has the adhesion of most international actors.
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The paper presents specific human – environmental relations in the Croatian Dinaric karst, as a unique natural environment characterized primarily by water permeability of the soil, highly localized zones of cultivable soil and under the strong influence of the Mediterranean climate with regular dry periods. These circumstances led to the development of the subsistance economy, which has been largely determined through pastoral history. The paper gives a brief overview of these relations from the Neolithic to the Modern Age, while from the 18th century it further details the process of deforestation and reforestation on the basis of the results of more recent case studies research from different areas of Croatian Dinaric karst – Svilaja mountain, dry lowland of Zagora, Hvar island and the coastal Šibenik area. Long-term overgrazing in the fragile Mediterranean karst environment with the addition of forest clearing for the purpose of timber production and increasing the arable and pasture area caused a significant development of the deforestation process until the 19th century. Depopulation that first began on the islands at the beginning of the 20th century due to the collapse of the island economy based on vine production, and since the middle of the 20th century in the Dalmatian interior mainly due to the intensive littoralization process, resulted in the land abandonment and triggering the reforestation process. The process of reforestation is characterized by the spread of degraded forms of forests, shrubs and maquis as well as by the degradation of the elements of cultural landscapes – drywalls and terraces and the disappearance of vineyards as cultural and traditional values of space.
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Since the 19th-century, forests have been considered both a source for the economic development and a patrimony to be defended. This dualism between the economic gains and ecological imperatives have remained largely unbridged. The Albanian experience is not an exception to this trajectory. Although the different political and intellectual elites have considered forests a national patrimony, they have failed to defend and expand the forest-cover which have been shrinking. The territory of today’s Albania, due to its geographical position, climatic influences, and topography has a very rich flora, including forests. Like everywhere else, human activity has historically played a critical role in the condition and distribution of forest cover in Albania. Until the establishment of the Albanian national state, both the rural population and the elite exploited the forests without paying attention to their regeneration. The Ottoman Empire started to implement policies for the central management of the forests, but in the Albanian provinces, their effects were limited. The Ottoman bureaucracy did not stop the rural communities and landlords to log the forests for fuel, export their timber, burn them for opening new pastures or rooting out the bandits hiding in them. Since its establishment, the Albanian state tried to control the access of the population to forests’ resources. During the interwar era, Tirana’s governments started the process of territorialization, whose goal was to control both forests and rural communities, especially in the highlands that had historically been outside central authorities’ reach. Forests and the control over them became an arena of tensions between state and rural communities. In the end, in the 1920s-1930s territorialization remained a goal rather than become a reality because the state could neither enforce its laws nor exert full control over forests. Except for some small efforts, the forestation did not advance much, and the medium-altitude and low altitude forests were gravely damaged. When the communists came in power, they promised to reverse this situation. However, with its project of industrialization and the policy of economic autarchy, the communist regime overharvested the forests and it was unable to stop the unauthorized logging of rural communities. Regardless of some significant forestations, the communists harvested more timber than the forests could naturally regenerate, impacting negatively the forest cover area. In the first decade after the fall of communism, due also to the political turmoil the country experienced, the forests kept being overused and Albania had the highest percentage of illegal logging in Eastern Europe.
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Introduction: Clearly clean water with a good well of well does not always have to be safe and safe to drink. Objective: To Determine water quality from selected individual drinking water sources (wells). This paper describes an extraordinary monitoring of drinking water quality due to illegal non-specific landfill in Vrakun (Bratislava, Slovakia). Materials and Methods: Water sampling was performed in four city districts of Bratislava (Vrakuňa, Rača, Dúbravka and Petržalka) in spring and autumn months (March and September 2017) Samples were taken from selected sources of drinking water from individual wells of individuals. Results of analysis were compared to set standards according to the Decree of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic No. 247/2017 Coll. The analysis was focused on three chemical indicators (Lead, Total Organic Carbon - TOC, Copper) and three microbiological indicators (Escherichia coli, Coliform bacteria, Cultivable microorganisms) of water quality. Results: A summary analysis showed that chemical indicators were always significantly higher in March 2017 in comparison to September 2017. Conclusion: The results of analyzes of samples from individual drinking water supplies from selected Bratislava and surrounding city districts as a result of suddenly discovered unauthorized landfill did not confirm that the limit values were exceeded to an extent posing a serious risk to health.
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