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Around the Bloc: Gazprom Vows to Build Nord Stream-2 Over Polish Objections
EU partners withdraw from joint venture with Russian company to avoid the threat of Polish legal action.
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EU partners withdraw from joint venture with Russian company to avoid the threat of Polish legal action.
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The decision processes in the construction industry are complex with several dimensions that have to be taken into consideration. These comprise, for instance, of the urban planning, health and safety, facilities management, and energy efficiency. The process of designing and erecting a building usually involves multiple and conflicting objectives such as cost, time, quality, resource utilization, to name a few. The decisions in addressing various aspects concerning the construction process and the sustainability of the end product are numerous and of the conflicting nature. Therefore, finding an appropriate decision making approach is the cornerstone of the effective decision process. This paper proposes the use of biomimicry and genetic algorithms as an alternative to the established practice in decision making for the complex and adaptive system in built environment.
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Implementation of Foreign Trade Agreement between RM and EU is on the government agenda, beginning with the moment of ratification. The valorization of the economic potential of this agreement can be provided by strong state institutes and should be realized through the elaboration of adequate mechanisms and policies. They are related first of all to the deepening trade between partners. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the institutes correspond to an ambitious agenda for the implementation of reforms, as well as are prepared to use the adequate economic mechanisms and policies to manage and adapt to contemporary trends in the international trading system. The novelty of the research is exploring the measure of the institutional competitiveness of country's economy in the period 2011-2017, in the correlation with the methodology of the World Economic Forum. At present stage of development the competitiveness of the economy of Moldova is largely predetermined by the performance of institutions both public and private, that study found one of the most problematic sectors. The implementation of reforms in the foreign trade sector, which began with accession to the WTO, was not supported by reformation of other economic sectors. Among the main obstacles are the following: the weakness of state institutions, inconsistency and non completing the government policy reforms started, the lack of political will, the high level of corruption etc. Results of this study can be used for the elaboration of set the appropriate economic policies.
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In this article, the author presents some aspects of the Romanian energy system which undergoes crucial transformations in the conditions of sustainable development. The promotion of energy from renewable resources is one of the challenges currently facing the Romanian economy. Due to the efficient political support so far, the electricity generated by renewable energy already represents a relevant share of 24%. As a result, forced market integration and higher renewable energy supply are considered crucial in the next stages of the transformation process. In the long term, the opportunity of installing new coal and natural gas capacities will be given by the evolution of the prices of the ETS certificates, the necessity of establishing a strategic reserve for the SEN safety, the increase of the demand for electricity, the performance of the installed capacities, of the prices of technologies. Romania is among the 14 EU member states that maintain the option of using nuclear energy and investments in two nuclear power plants. But the energy produced by nuclear power plants can be replaced by electricity obtained from renewable sources with much lower costs under sustainable development conditions.
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In this study the authors surveyed and compared the Central European (Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian) vets’ and farm managers’ opinion on the critical risk factors and effective farm management of Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex (PRDC). From February to May 2014, 39 farm managers (32 from Hungary, 6 from Czechia, 1 from Slovakia) and 37 vets (26 from Hungary, 10 from Czechia, 1 from Slovakia) working on 75 farrow-to-finish swine farms with 82,500 sows were personally questioned about their opinion on the risk factors and successful management factors for PRDC. The findings revealed that lack of effective farm management and the relating prevalent, recurring, operational problems have the most detrimental effect on the PRDC status on the Central-European pig farms. The results show that the vets considered the majority of the PRDC general risk factors (e.g. housing) to be more reasonable than the farm managers, however, the perceptions of the severity of PRDC pathogens showed much more similarity. It can be concluded that the swine farm managers and vets in Central-Europe should more often conduct a systematic farm monitoring to avoid the operational blindness and to better understand the risk factors of PRDC.
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Today’s regional roundup: Judging Slovak judges; a trans-breakthrough in Russia; Lithuanian independence; an Uzbek city goes green; and biking in Czechia.
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TOL’s regional roundup: stranded EU citizens; Prigozhin vs. Washington; Azerbaijani journalist released; fishy business in Abkhazia; and radioactive plans for Moscow.
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Lack of understanding across the global north and global south, and with the need for alternative development paths in smart urbanism discourse are issues highlighted by recent smart urbanism research. Therefore, this paper aims to comprehend the trends of smart urbanism across contrasting geographies and to learn about the alternative direction of the development of smart cities. This study applied the research methods of document analysis and case study on the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia. The study showed that the North America corporations (i.e., IBM smarter city) are leading the approach of technology-driven method (TDM) and corporate smart city concept, European scholars and institutions have strong influence on the human-driven method (HDM) approach (i.e., the Amsterdam smart city), while Asian countries are discursively learning and applying smart city’s ideas and practices from North America and Europe. A mixture of approaches are found in Asian countries, such as the TDM approach in China and Malaysia, and the case of a shift of paradigm towards HDM with Singapore. Overall, the authors found that the worldwide trend was dominated by the TDM approach. However, a push towards the HDM approach was also apparent, with the appearance of proposals such as citizen centricity and participation. The results of this study serve as a benchmark on the normative neoliberal politics and an opportunity to nurture humanism aspects. This paper marks a contribution to the phenomenon of contemporary smart urbanism and provides insights for policymakers and stakeholders who wish to work together as co-partners in the quest for a more humanistic smart city.
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In a context of ever more complex decision-making at the EU level, it is important to understand the underpinnings of consensus for major policies. Building upon the recent experience of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the end of a legislative cycle in the European Parliament, this article traces the institutional efforts of newer Member States in a dynamic and troubled European Union. We reviewed an extensive set of official documents to discern the main policy goals in the energy and environmental fields. We also present an original data set on the past decisions of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Building upon our empirical data, we show that despite an integrated approach at EU level between energy and environmental goals, newer Member States in Eastern Europe are still divided, being in favour of more energy interconnectedness, but not inclined to apply environmental standards
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Highlights from our coverage region: Hungary ends transgender recognition; censorship in Poland; coronavirus in Dagestan; Czechia mine outbreak; and digital immunity passports in Estonia.
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One of the main obstacles facing urban management, especially in metropolitan areas, is the fragmentation of urban management in terms of policy, decision-making, planning, guidance and monitoring. The problem that is most prevalent today in the field of urban management in developing countries, including Iran, is the multiplicity of different authorities and institutions responsible for implementing existing laws. Each section works out to implement the laws, with the structure and framework that they define for their institution efficiency, which creates various challenges as well as inconsistency in urban management system. In order to achieve the desired urban governance as one of the infrastructures and principles of sustainable urban development in Tehran as a model of urbanization in Iran with a rate of 93% urbanization, urban management should be directed toward the smart city. This article discusses how the smart city and good governance can influence one another in Tehran metropolitan management. In this regard, we concluded that good governance has a positive and effective role in improving the smart city and affects all six indicators of the smart city, namely smart people, smart economy, smart transportation, smart governance, smart living and smart environment; and challenges in smart city can be also addressed and resolved by emphasizing the components and indicators of good governance. At the same time the more a city is smarten the more opportunities are provided for a good governance to accomplish sustainable development in cities.
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To realize Jogja Cyber Province, regencies/cities in the Special Region of Yogyakarta have begun to formulate action plans to achieve Smart Regency and Smartcity. Gunungkidul Regency is one of the districts in the Province of Special Region of Yogyakarta. Gunungkidul Regency has problems in implementing e-service. Geographical factors become an inhibiting factor in the E-Report application. At least 27.7% of the regions in Gungkidul Regency will have difficulty accessing online government policies, one of which is E-report applications. In this paper, the author will be the theory of the unified model of e-government adoption (UMEGA). These variables measure not only internal factors but also external factors which in previous studies had a high level of influence on the use of e-government. The research used is quantitative. This study uses a questionnaire technique and literature study to obtain data to analyze the phenomenon. The sample are 379 respondents. The results of the questionnaire were then processed using SmartPLS 3.0 software. Based on the results of hypothesis testing, it shows that the variable performance expectancy, variable effort expectancy, variables facilitating conditions, variable perceived risk and variable attitude has a significant effect on the variable utilization of E-Report Application in Gunungkidul Regency. On another hand, Social Influence has no significant effect on the utilization of E-Report Application in Gunungkidul Regency. Gunungkidul district government must make the E-Report application easier to access and understand. Support facilities also need to be improved. The government must also guarantee that the security of personal data of service users is well preserved. by making improvements to these suggestions, E-Report application users in Gunungkidul will continue to grow.
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Today’s news roundup: Polish presidential election; loans for Central Asia; illegal logging in Ukraine; drones in Karabakh; and Turkmenistan’s invisible disasters.
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Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a collection of knowledge and beliefs that have been acquired after many years of experience with human contact with the environment. In the West, the idea that TEK can guide the modern society in terms of terming and sustainable resource use and ecological development has been debated since the early 1980s. This concept is important to see the basis of the problems of human-nature relations. TEK research aims to reveal the ecological knowledge that has shown a unique development as a result of environmental adaptation of each of the local communities living in many regions of the world. Although TEK research has continued in the West for nearly 40 years the term has entered the literature in Turkey nowadays. The place and importance of TEK research in the field of folklore which is of interest to different disciplines requires us to form a research model about TEK. It can be clarified through pioneering studies on how TEK accumulation specific to a community will be collected, how to approach this information and how it will be analyzed. In our study, TEK research model in folklore was proposed by considering the definition, content and scope of the concept and brief history of the researches.
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The purpose of this publication is to present the existing telecommunication connectivity problems of small and medium-sized farmers located in remote and hard to reach mountainous regions. The results relate to the development of an open hardware and software system for automated monitoring and determination of local meteorological forecasts for use by small and medium-sized farmers located in remote and hard to reach mountain regions. The contributions of this work are the in-depth analysis and the recommendations developed on the basis of this analysis. The developed system is part of a project concerning the construction and development of free internet access and monitoring systems in remote farms and in the mountainous regions of the country.
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Undoubtedly, the advancement of technique and technology represents one of the most important paths of human progress. It is not the place to stress the great value technologies have meant throughout the history of civilization on Terra, especially in its 20th century growth, connected with the „Second Industrial Revolution‟ followed by the „digital revolution‟, on which the so-called „Fourth Industrial Revolution‟ is now building. Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of human using of a good thing not for good purposes, but on the contrary causing major destruction and suffering on long-term. This kind of situations emphasizes a lack of responsibility and of minimal wisdom, care and respect for life in its integrality. Beyond all, at stake there is a serious problem of morality. We refer to the ignorance of ethical problems by some corporate organizations in our globalizing world, having a great negative impact for the planet and its various any life-forms. Part of nowadays multinational companies proves disdain as regards basic moral duties and social responsibilities, even though they display impressive codes of conduct, which remain just emptied formulas of applicability in real life. It is the case of the serious risks and dangers that the technique known as hydraulic fracturing or „fracking‟ produces for the medium to long-term evolution of life in its plenitude on Earth. In this paper we try to highlight the need of a veritable ethical culture to be appropriated and activated by all the social actors and, also, the significance of moral awakeness in making people to act for their own fundamental rights. We focus on the importance of working together on the side of „good and right‟, using the potential of moral philosophy towards an efficient, healthy and secure interference with economics, ecology, social culture, etc., to protecting and developing the wellness and sustainability of life, of natural environment and of human well-being finally.
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The planning and tourism development of a geographical area is influenced by the richness of water resources. The hydrographic component has an important role in stimulating and developing tourism activities, imposing itself from this point of view through all forms of water storage, both surface and underground. From this point of view, tourism knows favorable conditions for development, benefiting from an extraordinary complexity and richness of the attractive elements offered by the hydrographic network. Each of them generates through its different effect, specific forms of tourism. The hydrographic network is thus imposed by the landscape and balneotourism impact, the Șureanu mountains constituting a huge natural castle of underground and surface waters.
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The article is focused on the appropriate factors for the effective implementation of fiscal policy instruments that lead to more efficient and competitive models for the production of renewable energy. These models became an efficiency tool for value creation and delivery for the customers as part of the transition management for sustainable development. The analysis is based on in-depth case studies in Bulgaria and Belgium and compares the polycentric approaches for governance.
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