Shrubland habitats in Dragoman municipality: a case study from western Bulgaria

The current research focuses on the investigation of shrubland vegetation in Dragoman municipality. The study is motivated by the willingness of the authors to check the shrubland habitats’ territorial extent and their importance to ecosystem processes, following the increased degree of succession over the last three decades. On the other hand, governmental subsidizing has been common for the last decade, leading to a clearance of lands with shrubs. Shrublands were studied through the application of the Braun-Blanquet approach and were defined by the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) classification. One main habitat type with three subtypes have been defined. Those are the Subcontinental and continental deciduous thickets (F3.24) that covers the largest area, Peri-Pannonic dwarf almond scrub (F3.24122), Moesian oriental hornbeam thickets (F3.2431), Moesian lilac thickets (F3.2432), covering a total area of 52.32 km2. Secondary succession has to be considered among the main reasons for shrubland distribution. The lower number of grazing animals and forest clearings act as boosters for this ecological process. Large areas in Dragoman municipality are characterized also by shallow soils that are unable to sustain forest vegetation, thus giving way to shrubs.

Improvement of the Last Mile-Specific Issues in Railway Freight Transport

The last mile is characterized as the last step of delivery to the customer from the logistics point of view. It is necessary to aim and fulfill all customers’ needs mainly during the process of the last mile, because it is directly connected to them. Customer orientation can cause many complications that must be solved according to their will. This part of the supply chain is currently under pressure. Nowadays, trends have changed the last mile into a more ecological process mostly in the transport field. Railway transport is considered as an ecological transport mode therefore the last mile should be done by the railway transport. Preconditions for doing the last mile by the railway transport is the existence of siding (special purpose tracks) at the place of delivery. Our research focuses on minimizing the negative impacts of the last mile to customers in the context of using sidings. This research is based on the real conditions of the Slovak rail network, and on consultation with some experts from freight transport companies.

Teaching as the emergent event of an ecological process: Complexity and choices in one-to-one programmes

The article argues that the ecological approach can offer a viewpoint that comprises more educational complexity. If we accept that the observer and object of observation are in a constant relationship, that technology, context and culture are constituting forces of knowledge production, and that theory/practice is another binary divide to overcome, we are forced to address the intertwined emergence of teaching and learning as part of a co-evolutionary process. As part of ecological pedagogy, communication choices focus on feedback, interconnectedness and in-between-ness among living and non-living organisms. By drawing from the encounter between the complex perspective of Gregory Bateson and the thinking of media ecologist Marshall McLuhan, this article focuses on communication choices in teaching. It presents a comparative study on one-to-one programmes in schools in Italy and Brazil and shows the importance of existing connections and communicative exchanges between the elements of a dynamic system.