THE POTENTIAL OF TOURIST AND RECREATIONAL CLUSTERS IN EUROPEAN SPACE

Assessment of the potential of tourist and recreational clusters and objects of tourist activity remains relevant and still underdeveloped direction in tourism. The article aims to consider the peculiarities of the formation of the regional protentional of tourist and recreational clusters of the member state of the European Union. The methodological paradigm of the formation of potential of tourist and recreational clusters and a technique of its estimation based on systematics of tools and components, which essentially expand a network of the tourist and recreational industry, are substantiated. Methods of hierarchical classification were used. Results and interpretation of the study consists of the components of the competitiveness index for determining the regional level of potential of tourist and recreation clusters in countries in the areas of travel and tourism are presented. Indicators of competitiveness of the regional potential of tourist and recreational clusters are determined. The indicator of the integrated level of efficiency of the formation of regional protentional of tourist and recreational clusters offered. The number of tourists and recreational clusters on the EU member states has been determined. The share of regional potential of tourism and recreation clusters in terms of their total contribution to national income is calculated, as well as the average growth of national income from the projected value of regional potential of tourists and recreation clusters in EU member states.

RISK FACTORS IN THE PROCESS OF EMPLOYMENT OF MEDICAL WORKERS OF THE DENTAL PROFILE

One of the most socially important types of work is the work of medical workers. Due to the presence of a significant number of harmful and dangerous factors, the medical profession is divided into a separate group, which in turn is characterized by unique aspects of work. The work of doctors and nurses of different specialties of the dental profile differs significantly in the density of the working day, the volume and nature of professional activities; responsibility for the life of the patient, which affects many physiological processes. The purpose. Assessment and comparative characterization of the presence of occupational risks in the dental field, which are daily exposed to factors of aggressive and dangerous nature, as well as the development of a set of preventive measures aimed at reducing occupational morbidity. Materials and methods. Hygienic research of working conditions of medical staff of the University Dental Clinic in the form of a questionnaire. Statistical analysis of data of special assessment of working conditions; sanitary and hygienic characteristics, acts, maps of cases of nosocomial diseases; laboratory and instrumental research conducted as part of production control; dosimetric control, air sampling with subsequent sowing on the nutrient medium of IPA. Results. It was found that in the studied premises, the total microbial count varied from 756 ± 0.8 CFU / 1m3 to 6497 ± 3.4 CFU / 1m3. In most medical institutions, the level of artificial lighting in the workplaces of medical workers was insufficient. The largest negative contribution was provided by such production factors as: labor intensity and intensity - 26.41%; physical: noise, vibration, non-ionizing and ionizing radiation - 25.32%; chemical - 12.77%. The total contribution of the main factors was 91.78%. Assessment of working conditions is based on hygienic criteria to assess the degree of deviations of the parameters of the production environment and labor process from the current hygienic standards, as well as after analysis and processing of data submitted by employees in the format of their questionnaires. In this regard, the distribution of harmful production factors and their degree of impact on the health of medical personnel was established with the help of multifactor analysis. Conclusions. Thus, the research interprets the results, which clearly in the format of a specific percentage, identify those factors that have a strong driving impact on the health of dental professionals. The most substantiated are such production factors as: chemical (exposure to drugs and chemicals), physical (noise and vibration, non-ionizing and ionizing radiation), the severity and intensity of the labor process, lighting (non-compliance with regulations for artificial lighting in the workplace) and microclimate and biological (work with biological, potentially contaminated material, samples, patients), non-ionizing and ionizing radiation, labor intensity (tension of the visual organs).

Investigation of regularities of occurrence of external effects of education and their significance for the economic development

The aim of the research is to assess the quantitative impact of education on the emergence of externalities and economic development. It has been shown that the increase in the education of specialists in interaction with innovative activity contributes to the emergence of external effects, which have a high level of significance for economic dynamics. As a result, the total contribution to GDP, as a result of an additional year of study for a specialist with a higher education, increases by about 50%. Realizing this effect, the largest economies of the world (the USA, the European Union, China and Japan) have been increasing the share of specialists with tertiary (vocational) education approximately linearly at a rate of 0,8 ±0,2% per year over the past 25 years. For Russia, the positive effect of a high level of tertiary education is significantly reduced due to the problems of interaction with the economic environment. The income that innovators themselves receive is, in a significant proportion of cases, relatively small. In particular, for the «Open Distance Education» innovation, the innovator's income was about 0,3% of the income of other recipients of benefits from the innovation. A significantly large share of the income from innovation is realized as an external effect of other users of the innovation, especially the consumers of the manufactured products and followers. Quantitative estimates of the external contribution to GDP of the innovation «Open Distance Education» show that they amount to about 14 thousand dollars per graduate, and only 340 million dollars a year. The findings can be used to assess the impact of education and develop strategies for staff training and innovation development.

Climate change adaptation in a coastal hotel sector: The case of Sihanoukville, Cambodia

<p>Tourism is one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economic sectors with key contributions to gross domestic product (direct and total contribution), employment (direct and total contribution), visitor exports, and investment (UNWTO, 2018b; WTTC, 2018b). Cambodia is a post-conflict country, which has seen very rapid tourism development over the last decade, while also being identified as being very vulnerable to climate change impacts by several key international agencies. Along with the rapid growth of the country’s tourism, UNWTO (2014) argues that Cambodia’s coastal tourism is at the forefront of climate change impacts. Two tools widely used to respond to climate change are adaptation and mitigation (Parry, 2007). The overall effect of mitigation is ‘global’ while the positive effect of adaptation is ‘local to regional’ (Füssel & Klein, 2006). Therefore, adaptation is most needed for tourism in developing nations (Scott, de Freitas, & Matzarakis, 2009), especially for a rapidly developing coastal destination like Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Taking this into account, the thesis takes the form of a climate change-focused case study of the coastal hotel sector in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville. The central concern of the thesis is to determine whether Sihanoukville’s hotel sector adapts to climate change and critically examine the barriers and enabling factors that influence adaptation. Adopting a postpositivist approach, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 50 hotel respondents and field observations in Sihanoukville. Mixed method (qualitative & quantitative) and single-case study were used. Prior to exploring the adaptation, the vulnerability of Sihanoukville’s coastal tourism and its hotels were assessed through the perceptions on environmental and socio-economic factors, supported by the existing scientific evidence. The purpose is to identify the vulnerability, which is prerequisite before determining adaptation actions. The assessment is guided by key studies such as Moreno and Becken (2009), Smit and Wandel (2006), UNWTO (2014) and MOE, GEF and UNEP (2015) which explain that identifying key vulnerabilities is prerequisite knowledge before further identifying the adaptation responses for tourism. Adopted from WMO, UNEP, and WTO (2008) and Simpson, Gössling, Scott, Hall, and Gladin (2008), an adaptation framework that includes technical, managerial, policy, research and education was used to determine the hotels’ adaptation. Within the context of hotels’ adaptation, the study investigates the perceived criticality levels of barriers and enabling factors to adaptation because little research has been done to address the issue. The most critical (significant) barriers and enabling factors have been identified by measuring mean scores on a six-point rating scale with 0 being ‘uninfluential’ barrier and 5 being ‘very major’ barrier, and 0 being ‘uninfluential’ enabling factor and 5 being ‘very important’ enabling factor. In order to explore the underlying dimensions of hotel attributes (star rating, ownership etc.) and participants’ backgrounds (level of education, experience etc.) with regard to the barriers and enabling factors to adaptation, descriptive statistics and independent sample tests was used to determine whether there is statistical evidence that the associated sub-groups of respondent means are significantly different. Although Cambodia and Sihanoukville have been identified as very vulnerable by several key reports, the participants perceived that Sihanoukville’s coastal tourism and its hotel sector are moderately and slightly vulnerable respectively, mainly owing to ‘risk perception’ or ‘perception gap’ that leads to a subjective judgement on the actual climate change impacts. These respondents were surrounded by uncertainty of climate change information. While some studies identified the hotel sector as possessing the lowest adaptive capacity that is relative to their fixed structures (buildings) (e.g. WMO et al., 2008), this study found that the hotel attributes led to considerable variation in the adaptations. Of all the five types of adaptation, the technical adaptation was most significantly employed in the hotel sector. In the context of the hotels’ adaptation, the greatest barriers and enabling factors to climate change adaptation were also identified. Measured by mean scores, the findings further showed the most critical barriers to be ‘limited resources’, limited knowledge/perception of climate change, and ‘lack of political will’, and the most critical enabling factors to be ‘sufficient resources’, ‘sufficient information’ and ‘good leadership and management structures’. Subsequently, the study critically examines the extent to which hotel attributes and participants’ backgrounds influenced the barriers and enabling factors to adaptation. It was found that the barriers and enabling factors vary due to hotel attributes as well as participants’ backgrounds. Finally, the study proposes a conceptual framework of coastal hotel sector adaptation to climate change in the context of developing countries.</p>

Association of Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) and Warfarin With Haemorrhagic Risk by Applying Correspondence Analysis to Data From the Italian Pharmacovigilance Database – A Case Study

Introduction: Post-marketing data on the risks associated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are conflicting and only few studies evaluated a comparison between each different DOAC. Real-world data from pharmacovigilance databases can help to better define the safety profile of each DOAC and warfarin. However, Correspondence Analysis (CA) could represent a useful tool in this context.Objective: In the attempt to assess the usefulness of CA as a signal detection pharmacovigilance tool, we applied this method to the Italian Pharmacovigilance Database (RNF, Rete Nazionale di Farmacovigilanza), by comparing with disproportionality analysis on warfarin and DOACs.Methods: Study based on AEs sent to RNF by Campania Region from 2008 to 2021, in which warfarin, dabigatran, apixaban, edoxaban or rivaroxaban were reported as suspected drug. AEs were clustered into three Standardized MedDRA Queries (SMQs): Central Nervous System Haemorrhages and Conditions (CNSH), GastroIntestinal Perforation, Ulceration, Obstruction or Haemorrhages (GIPUOH) and other Haemorrhages (HH). Non-haemorrhagic AEs were included in a fourth cluster (nHH).Results: We retrieved 1,161 reports: 41.5% are associated to warfarin, 21.0% to dabigatran, 17.8% to rivaroxaban, 13.9% to apixaban and 5.8% to edoxaban. No significant differences in age distribution were observed. Results of CA showed that dabigatran and warfarin have the highest contribution (44.910 and 47.656, respectively) to the inertia of Dimension 1 as well as apixaban and dabigatran to the inertia of Dimension 2 (53.768 and 30.488, respectively). Edoxaban and rivaroxaban showed a negligible total contribution. CA biplot showed positive associations between warfarin and HH, apixaban and CNSH and dabigatran and nHH.Conclusion: Results seem to confirm that DOACs are not interchangeable. Apixaban was surprisingly associated with a higher risk of cerebral haemorrhage. As expected, our data support the better safety profile of DOACs than warfarin in terms of skin and respiratory tract hemorrhagic risks. Finally, we showed how CA could play a complementary role in analyzing data from pharmacovigilance databases.

Climate change adaptation in a coastal hotel sector: The case of Sihanoukville, Cambodia

<p>Tourism is one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economic sectors with key contributions to gross domestic product (direct and total contribution), employment (direct and total contribution), visitor exports, and investment (UNWTO, 2018b; WTTC, 2018b). Cambodia is a post-conflict country, which has seen very rapid tourism development over the last decade, while also being identified as being very vulnerable to climate change impacts by several key international agencies. Along with the rapid growth of the country’s tourism, UNWTO (2014) argues that Cambodia’s coastal tourism is at the forefront of climate change impacts. Two tools widely used to respond to climate change are adaptation and mitigation (Parry, 2007). The overall effect of mitigation is ‘global’ while the positive effect of adaptation is ‘local to regional’ (Füssel & Klein, 2006). Therefore, adaptation is most needed for tourism in developing nations (Scott, de Freitas, & Matzarakis, 2009), especially for a rapidly developing coastal destination like Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Taking this into account, the thesis takes the form of a climate change-focused case study of the coastal hotel sector in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville. The central concern of the thesis is to determine whether Sihanoukville’s hotel sector adapts to climate change and critically examine the barriers and enabling factors that influence adaptation. Adopting a postpositivist approach, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 50 hotel respondents and field observations in Sihanoukville. Mixed method (qualitative & quantitative) and single-case study were used. Prior to exploring the adaptation, the vulnerability of Sihanoukville’s coastal tourism and its hotels were assessed through the perceptions on environmental and socio-economic factors, supported by the existing scientific evidence. The purpose is to identify the vulnerability, which is prerequisite before determining adaptation actions. The assessment is guided by key studies such as Moreno and Becken (2009), Smit and Wandel (2006), UNWTO (2014) and MOE, GEF and UNEP (2015) which explain that identifying key vulnerabilities is prerequisite knowledge before further identifying the adaptation responses for tourism. Adopted from WMO, UNEP, and WTO (2008) and Simpson, Gössling, Scott, Hall, and Gladin (2008), an adaptation framework that includes technical, managerial, policy, research and education was used to determine the hotels’ adaptation. Within the context of hotels’ adaptation, the study investigates the perceived criticality levels of barriers and enabling factors to adaptation because little research has been done to address the issue. The most critical (significant) barriers and enabling factors have been identified by measuring mean scores on a six-point rating scale with 0 being ‘uninfluential’ barrier and 5 being ‘very major’ barrier, and 0 being ‘uninfluential’ enabling factor and 5 being ‘very important’ enabling factor. In order to explore the underlying dimensions of hotel attributes (star rating, ownership etc.) and participants’ backgrounds (level of education, experience etc.) with regard to the barriers and enabling factors to adaptation, descriptive statistics and independent sample tests was used to determine whether there is statistical evidence that the associated sub-groups of respondent means are significantly different. Although Cambodia and Sihanoukville have been identified as very vulnerable by several key reports, the participants perceived that Sihanoukville’s coastal tourism and its hotel sector are moderately and slightly vulnerable respectively, mainly owing to ‘risk perception’ or ‘perception gap’ that leads to a subjective judgement on the actual climate change impacts. These respondents were surrounded by uncertainty of climate change information. While some studies identified the hotel sector as possessing the lowest adaptive capacity that is relative to their fixed structures (buildings) (e.g. WMO et al., 2008), this study found that the hotel attributes led to considerable variation in the adaptations. Of all the five types of adaptation, the technical adaptation was most significantly employed in the hotel sector. In the context of the hotels’ adaptation, the greatest barriers and enabling factors to climate change adaptation were also identified. Measured by mean scores, the findings further showed the most critical barriers to be ‘limited resources’, limited knowledge/perception of climate change, and ‘lack of political will’, and the most critical enabling factors to be ‘sufficient resources’, ‘sufficient information’ and ‘good leadership and management structures’. Subsequently, the study critically examines the extent to which hotel attributes and participants’ backgrounds influenced the barriers and enabling factors to adaptation. It was found that the barriers and enabling factors vary due to hotel attributes as well as participants’ backgrounds. Finally, the study proposes a conceptual framework of coastal hotel sector adaptation to climate change in the context of developing countries.</p>

Dynamic and migration characteristics of soil free amino acids during the whole growth period of rice after application of milk vetch

Free amino acids (FAAs) in soil play an important role in the soil nitrogen cycle and plant nutrition. However, the attributing factors and migration characteristics of free amino acid pools in paddy soils after green manure application during the entire growth period of rice have not been elucidated. In this study, a single application of chemical fertilizer (CK) was used as a control under equal nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium conditions, and different application rates of milk vetch (15 000 kghm−2(CL), 30 000 kghm−2(CM) and 45 000 kg hm−2(CH)) were selected to investigate the dynamic of FAAs concentration and composition in paddy soil. Soil FAAs concentration at different growth stages under the same fertilization treatments was highest at the seedling stage and lowest at the tillering stage. The concentration of threonine, alanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine was most abundant under different fertilization treatments during the growth period, accounting for 59.42 %–76.46 % of the respective FAAs pool. The application of milk vetch was shown to increase the soil FAAs concentration, especially glutamic acid, which increased by 368.17 %–680.78 %, but excessive application had an inhibitory effect. Soil pH, organic matter, protease, bacterial biomass and community were critical factors affecting the concentration of soil FAAs. Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Nitrospirae significantly affected the dynamics of FAAs in bacterial communities, and their total contribution rate was 56.89 %. FAAs displayed significant vertical profile characteristics, and the mobility of serine, glycine and proline was high. Conclusively, the application of milk vetch was able to significantly change the concentration and composition of soil FAAs, which may affect the capture of N by plants.

Modeling the Spatial Distribution of Debris Flows and Analysis of the Controlling Factors: A Machine Learning Approach

Debris flows are a major geological hazard in mountainous regions. For improving mitigation, it is important to study the spatial distribution and factors controlling debris flows. In the Bailong River Basin, central China, landslides and debris flows are very well developed due to the large differences in terrain, the complex geological environment, and concentrated rainfall. For analysis, 52 influencing factors, statistical, machine learning, remote sensing and GIS methods were used to analyze the spatial distribution and controlling factors of 652 debris flow catchments with different frequencies. The spatial distribution of these catchments was divided into three zones according to their differences in debris flow frequencies. A comprehensive analysis of the relationship between various factors and debris flows was made. Through parameter optimization and feature selection, the Extra Trees classifier performed the best, with an accuracy of 95.6%. The results show that lithology was the most important factor controlling debris flows in the study area (with a contribution of 26%), followed by landslide density and factors affecting slope stability (road density, fault density and peak ground acceleration, with a total contribution of 30%). The average annual frequency of daily rainfall > 20 mm was the most important triggering factor (with a contribution of 7%). Forest area and vegetation cover were also important controlling factors (with a total contribution of 9%), and they should be regarded as an important component of debris flow mitigation measures. The results are helpful to improve the understanding of factors influencing debris flows and provide a reference for the formulation of mitigation measures.

Mediating Effect of Students’ Perception in Programming on the Relationship Between Project Work and College Students’ Interest in Programming

Computer programming has been a subject of debate, whether students have an interest or not. Students' impressions of their own abilities to program and of programming in general are influenced by their early programming experiences, which play a role in encouraging or discouraging students' interest in computing areas. As a result, project work as a method of teaching has been adopted by many lecturers in teaching computer programming. However, the study sought to assess the mediating influence of students' perception in the relationship between project work and college students' interest in programming. The study used a descriptive survey design. The target population for the study included all Computer Science and Mathematics students at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The population for the study was 2,410 students with a sample size of 332. The researcher used a questionnaire to gather the data for studying the issue under investigation. Analysis of the data was done through the use of the PROCESS Macro. The results revealed that the mediating effect of students’ perception of programming on the relationship between project work and college students’ interest in programming accounts for only 0.34% of the total contribution of factors that influence college students’ interest in programming.

Mutation analysis of the SLC26A4 gene in patients in Yakutia with inner ear abnormalities: IP-I, IP-II (Mondini) and/or EVA

Мутации гена SLC26A4 могут приводить как к формированию аутосомно-рецессивной тугоухости 4 типа (DFNB4, OMIM #600791), так и к синдрому Пендреда (PDS, OMIM #274600), при котором нейросенсорная потеря слуха сочетается с дисфункцией щитовидной железы, клинически проявляющейся во второй декаде жизни. Обе формы могут сопровождаться специфическими аномалиями внутреннего уха: IP-I, IP-II (Mondini) и/или EVA. В Якутии аудиологическими, рентгенологическими и молекулярно-генетическими методами обследовано 165 пациентов с врожденным нарушением слуха. При компьютерной томографии пирамиды височных костей у 9 из 165 (5,5%) пациентов были обнаружены аномалии IP-I, IP-II (Mondini) и/или EVA. Методом прямого секвенирования по Сэнгеру у этих 9 пациентов было проведено определение нуклеотидной последовательности гена SLC26A4 (21 экзон). В гене SLC26A4 обнаружено 5 ранее известных вариантов, среди которых 4 варианта относились к миссенс-заменам: c.85G>C p.(Glu29Gln), c.441G>A p.(Met147Ile), c.757A>G p.(Ile253Val), c.2027T>A p.(Leu676Gln) и один вариант затрагивал донорный сайт сплайсинга - c.2089+1G>A (IVS18+1G>A). У 4-х из 9 пациентов патогенные варианты гена SLC26A4 обнаружены в гомозиготном или компаунд-гетерозиготном состоянии. Доля биаллельных мутаций гена SLС26A4 у пациентов с IP-I, IP-II (Mondini) и/или EVA составила 44,4%. Пациенты с биаллельными мутациями гена SLC26A4 имели тяжелые врожденные нарушения слуха (двусторонняя нейросенсорная тугоухость от III степени до глухоты), при этом доминирующим типом аномалий были IP-II (Mondini)+EVA (62,5%), аномалии IP-I не были выявлены ни у одного пациента. По совокупности полученных клинических и молекулярно-генетических данных у трех пациентов форма заболевания классифицирована как аутосомно-рецессивная тугоухость 4 типа (DFNB4), а у одной пациентки с двусторонней аномалией EVA, нейросенсорной тугоухостью III степени и узловым зобом (оперирован) подтвержден синдром Пендреда. Mutations in the SLC26A4 gene can lead to both the formation of autosomal recessive deafness type 4 (DFNB4, OMIM#600791), and to Pendred’s syndrome (PDS, OMIM#274600), in which sensorineural hearing loss is combined with thyroid dysfunction, with both forms can be accompanied by specific anomalies of the inner ear: IP-I, IP-II (Mondini) and/or EVA. Using audiological, radiological and molecular genetics methods, 165 patients with congenital hearing impairment in Yakutia were examined. Computed tomography revealed IP-I, IP-II (Mondini) and/or EVA abnormalities in 9 of 165 (5,5%) patients. Then, using direct Sanger sequencing in these 9 patients, the nucleotide sequence of the coding regions of the SLC26A4 gene (21 exons) was determined. In total, 5 previously known variants were found in the SLC26A4 gene, among which 4 variants were missense substitutions: c.85G>C p.(Glu29Gln), c.441G>A p.(Met147Ile), c.757A>G p.(Ile253Val), c.2027T>A p.(Leu676Gln) and one variant affected the splice donor site - c.2089+1G>A (IVS18+1G>A). In 4 out of 9 patients, pathogenic variants of the SLC26A4 gene were found in a homozygous or compound heterozygous state. The total contribution of biallelic mutations in the SLC26A4 gene among patients with inner ear anomalies was 44,4%. Patients with biallelic SLC26A4-mutations had several to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. In patients with biallelic SLC26A4-mutations, the dominant type of anomaly was IP-II (Mondini)+EVA (62,5%), IP-I anomalies were not detected in any patient. In three patients we were able to confirm the diagnosis of DFNB4, and in one patient, due to the sum of phenotypic features (operated on for nodular goiter, autosomal recessive deafness with EVA), Pendred’s syndrome was diagnosed.