Listeria spp. as a threat to human and animal health

The study has described the history of the research of Listeria, starting from 1924 when it was identified for the first time. Phenotypic and genetic characteristics of Listeria have been described. Furthermore, the occurrence of Listeria in the environment of humans and animals has been presented. Moreover, mechanisms and effectors that influence pathogenesis have been presented as well as the latest information about the extent of presence of listeriosis in European Union countries.

Municipal Waste Management in Poland Compared to Other European Union Countries

The paper discusses the current state of municipal waste management in Poland compared to other European Union countries. It indicates the amounts of municipal waste generated over the last few years in Poland and other EU countries. The paper compares waste treatment methods in Poland and Europe, such as recycling, composting, thermal treatment and waste disposal. An analysis of municipal waste processing installations in Poland is presented. The trends in the municipal waste management system in recent years have also been described. In the field of municipal waste management in Poland, there have been significant changes. The amount of waste sent to landfills has decreased, and the amount of waste recovered and recycled has increased. These changes are positive and reflect the development of municipal waste management systems in other EU countries. The article indicates the problems and directions of changes in the field of municipal waste management in Poland in the coming years, especially in the context of the implementation of circular economy assumptions and the goals set by the European Union in terms of increase the level of waste recycling and reducing their disposal.

Comparison of National Innovation Systems in the European Union Countries

The effective operation of national innovation systems can be a source of many opportunities, but it cannot be forgotten that innovation in itself may mean limiting but also generating various types of risks for the functioning of the local market. The main aim of the article is to present the concept and classification of national innovation systems in the world and to try to answer whether the type of NIS determines the level of innovation of the economies of the European Union countries. The following research thesis was formulated in the study: the type of National Innovation System determines a certain level of innovation in the economy of an European Union country, i.e., in countries belonging to a developed NIS, the level of innovation of the economy is higher than in countries belonging to developing systems. The results of the analysis confirm the research thesis. In the empirical part, the level of innovation in the European Union countries was assessed using the synthetic measure of development (SMD) by Z. Hellwig. Based on the obtained values of the synthetic measure of development (innovation), a ranking of the innovation of the economies of the EU countries was compiled and groups of countries with a similar degree of innovation in the economy were distinguished. The developed ranking of the European Union countries was compared with the NSI classification presented in the theoretical part of the article. The study covered 2010 and 2019.

Development of Electromobility in European Union Countries under COVID-19 Conditions

The introduction of electromobility contributes to an increase in energy efficiency and lower air pollution. European countries have not been among the world’s leading countries in this statistic. In addition, there have been different paces in the implementation of electromobility in individual countries. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the directions of change and the degrees of concentration in electromobility in European Union (EU) countries, especially after the economic closure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific objectives are to indicate the degree of concentration of electromobility in the EU and changes in this area, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic; to determine the dynamics of changes in the number of electric cars in individual EU countries, showing the variability in this aspect, while also taking into account the crisis caused by COVID-19; to establish the association between the number of electric cars and the parameters of the economy. All EU countries were selected for study by the use of the purposeful selection procedure, as of December 31, 2020. The analyzed period covered the years 2011–2020. It was found that in the longer term, the development of electromobility in the EU, measured by the number of electric cars, is closely related to the economic situation in this area. The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the economic situation in all EU countries, but has not slowed down the pace of introducing electromobility, and may have even accelerated it. In all EU countries, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the dynamics of introducing electric cars into use increased. The growth rate in the entire EU in 2020 was 86%, while in 2019 it was 48%. The reason was a change in social behavior related to mobility under conditions of risk of infection. COVID-19 has become a positive catalyst for change. The prospects for the development of this type of transport are very good because activities related to the development of the electromobility sector perfectly match the needs related to the reduction of pollution to the environment.

Determinants of Economic Growth in the European Union Countries

This paper reassesses the long-debated relationship between the financial system development and economic growth. We use not only indicators for financial access, efficiency, stability and depth of the bank-oriented financial sector, but we also consider Eurozone membership, corruption perception and competitiveness of countries to examine the determinants of economic growth. We apply a panel data approach to 27 European countries over the 2004–2017 period. By splitting the time span, we examine whether the effect of financial system development, Eurozone membership, corruption perception and competitiveness on economic growth is affected by the occurrence of financial and debt crises. Our results indicate that loans to private sector do not always support economic growth. Our research also reveals that corruption perception has a negative impact on economic growth, and so does membership in Eurozone during a crisis.

Protection of Water Resources from Agriculture Pollution: An Integrated Methodological Approach for the Nitrates Directive 91–676-EEC Implementation

Nitrogen is a vital nutrient helpful to plants and crop growth. However, among the leading causes of water resources pollution is the excess nitrogen from agricultural sources. In European Union countries, the Nitrates Directive has been approved to reduce this problem monitoring of water bodies with regard to nitrate concentrations, designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), and establishing codes of good agricultural practices and measures to prevent and reduce water pollution from nitrates. In light of this, we propose an integrated methodological approach to better manage a environmental issue as the perimeter of NVZs with the prospective that our approach could be used in the future by other member states representing a Best Practice in that direction. The methodology is based on data integration applied in a GIS environment. Different available data representing the knowledge of the territory were harmonised, systematised and georeferenced, in order to increase the environmental framework, preserve the contamination of the water resource and give indications on the measures to be implemented to apply in the best way possible the Nitrates Directive. Finally, it was also possible to overcome the infringement procedure in progress for Italy and the Puglia region and proceed to new designation of NVZs.

COVID-19 trends and severity among symptomatic children aged 0–17 years in 10 European Union countries, 3 August 2020 to 3 October 2021

We estimated risks of severe outcomes in 820,404 symptomatic paediatric COVID-19 cases reported by 10 European Union countries between August 2020 and October 2021. Case and hospitalisation rates rose as transmission increased but severe outcomes were rare: 9,611 (1.2%) were hospitalised, 640 (0.08%) required intensive care and 84 (0.01%) died. Despite increased individual risk (adjusted odds ratio hospitalisation: 7.3; 95% confidence interval: 3.3–16.2; intensive care: 8.7; 6.2–12.3) in cases with comorbidities, most (83.7%) hospitalised children had no comorbidity.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality-Based Technology in Cultural Tourism

The paper intends to scrutinize the effects of augmented (AR) reality and virtual reality (VR) technology implementation in cultural tourism. Therefore, the paper explored and presented the following: (i) AR, and VR (AR/VR) based technology concept in general, (ii) AR/VR technologies application in cultural tourism with an emphasis on their potential to protect cultural heritage; (iii) the overview of AR/VR presence in cultural tourism in the 27 European Union countries (EU-27). In the discussion part, besides empirical results based on the EU-27 desk research, AR/VR technologies in cultural tourism are additionally reconsidered from the aspect of climate change. In conclusion, what is encouraged is the application of AR/VR in cultural tourism due to the benefits AR and VR bring in terms of (i) delivering quite substantial content to their visitors any time from any place, (ii) reducing the negative impact of tourism on cultural heritage and (iii) developing related strategies based on more sustainable principles and concepts. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.