Principles of Modelling Development Processes at Regional Level

The paper aims to be a general analysis material on the principles of modelling sustainable development processes at the regional level, by studying sustainable development of the economy of the regions by supporting regional socio-economic activities, i.e. those processes leading to a sustainable and harmonious development of the region and which do not result in adverse impacts on the human health or the environment. In this context, a regional development plan is proposed that sets out aspects structured on the following dimensions: economy, ecology, social. The plan analyzes all these areas but, what is very important, the adopted measures include elements common to the three spheres, as it is not advisable to prioritize the sectors.

Comprehensive analysis of imipenemase (IMP)-type metallo-Beta-lactamase showing global distribution threating Asia

Antibiotic resistance, particularly beta-lactam resistance, is a major problem worldwide. Imipenemase or IMP-type metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) has become a more prominent enzyme, especially in Asia, since it was discovered in the 1990s in Japan. There are currently more than 91 variants of IMP-type enzymes. The most commonly identified variant of IMP-type enzymes is IMP-1 variant. IMP-type MBLs have been identified in more than 10 species in Enterobacterales. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most frequent carrier of IMP-type enzymes worldwide. In Asia, IMP-type MBLs have been distributed in many countries in the region. This work investigated a variety of currently available IMP-type MBLs in both global level and regional level. Out of 88 variants of IMP-type MBLs reported worldwide, only 32 variants were found to have susceptibility profiles. Most of the IMP-type MBLs were resistant to Carbapenems, especially Imipenem and Meropenem, followed by the 3rd generation cephalosporins, and interestingly, monobactams. Our results comprehensively indicated the distribution of IMP-type MBLs in Asia and raised the awareness of the situation of antimicrobial resistance in the region.

Dealing with Plastic Waste from Agriculture Activity

The increase in agricultural production and food quality has forced the growing use of plastics in various activities. The plastic wastes are partially recycled in or outside Portugal; nevertheless, the contaminated wastes are sent to landfill. It is crucial to consider new models for their valorization at a regional level and from a circular economy perspective. In the scope of the Placarvões project, a study was elaborated, which included the types and quantities of plastics used in the irrigation area of the Alqueva Dam, in southern Portugal. The crops that use the most plastic are intensive olive groves, almonds, and table grapes, which represent more than 91% of total plastic waste. The production of activated carbons (ACs) is a solution to avoid plastics landfill. ACs were produced from plastic used on food packaging (PB-Samples) and sheeting film (PS-Samples) by activation with K2CO3. ACs presented well-developed textural properties (PB-K2CO3-1:1–700 and PS-K2CO3-1:1–700 exhibited a volume of 0.32 and 0.25 cm3 g−1 and an apparent surface area of 723 and 623 m2 g−1, respectively). Both ACs performed very well concerning four pesticide removals from the liquid phase. This solution is very promising, such these ACs could be applied in effluent treatments on a large scale.

Managing economic climate security: theoretical and applied aspects

The article proposes to consider climate security as an important factor in the sustainable development of the economy. The problems of climate risk management have been identified. Based on a literature review, a system of national climate regulation objectives have been proposed and logically justified. The main stages of their achievement have been presented. The need for a project-based approach to climate regulation has been justified. The idea of a national project at state level and three federal projects as part of it has been proposed. The author’s model for managing the country’s climate security has been presented. The standard plan for the implementation of this model at the regional level has been developed. The results can be used in national strategic management of country climate security and its constituent entities.

La relación entre la auditoría, la corrupción política y la transparencia informativa: un análisis comparativo de las Comunidades Autónomas españolas

Nowadays, public administrations are experiencing a trend towards greater control and supervision as a result of citizen demands and the financial situation of recent years. Specifically, the Spanish Autonomous Communities have suffered greatly from the effects of the economic crisis of 2008 and they have detected a large number of political corruption processes, which has focused the attention of experts. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to evaluate the effect that the level of implementation of external auditing and the degree of information transparency have on political corruption in the Spanish Autonomous Public Administration. To do this, firstly, a review of the current level of implementation of external auditing in the Autonomous Communities, its transparency level and the degree of political corruption at the regional level is carried out. Secondly, an exploratory study consisting of a bivariate analysis and a regression model is performed. The results of the bivariate analysis show that there is a significant relationship between the level of external audit implementation and transparency. However, the regression model indicates that neither transparency nor auditing has a significant influence on corruption, except when we analyze partial audit and transparency indexes since the 2010 PGCP turns out to have a significant effect regarding corruption cases. En la actualidad, las administraciones públicas están experimentando una tendencia hacia un mayor control y supervisión como consecuencia de las demandas ciudadanas y la situación financiera de los últimos años. Concretamente, las Comunidades Autónomas españolas han sufrido en gran medida los efectos de la crisis económica del año 2008 y en ellas se ha detectado un gran número de procesos de corrupción política, lo que ha centrado la atención de los expertos en su estudio. Por ello, el objetivo principal del presente trabajo consiste en evaluar el efecto que el nivel de implantación de la auditoría externa y el grado de transparencia informativa tienen sobre la corrupción política en la Administración Pública Autonómica española. Para ello, se realiza en primer lugar, una revisión del panorama actual del nivel de implantación de la auditoría externa en las Comunidades Autónomas, de su transparencia informativa y del nivel de corrupción política a nivel regional. En segundo lugar, se lleva a cabo un estudio exploratorio consistente en un análisis bivariante y un modelo de regresión. Los resultados del análisis bivariante muestran que existe una relación significativa entre el nivel de implantación de auditoría externa y transparencia. No obstante, el modelo de regresión nos indica que ni transparencia ni auditoría influyen significativamente en la corrupción, salvo cuando analizamos índices parciales de auditoría y transparencia ya que la adaptación al PGCP 2010 resulta tener un efecto significativo respecto a los casos de corrupción.

Foreign Language Anxiety and Individualism-Collectivism Culture: A Top-Down Approach for a Country/Regional-Level Analysis

This study explored how foreign language anxiety in class relates to individualism-collectivism culture. Additionally, to serve as a guideline for foreign language anxiety assessment, the study determined a normative score of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which is well known and frequently applied for foreign language anxiety examination. After conducting a literature search identifying 106 studies in 35 countries/regions, a top-down approach was used to analyze aggregate FLCAS mean scores by country/region and examine relationships between the FLCAS score and the rating of individualism-collectivism cultural dimension from Hofstede’s cultural index. This relationship was significant for higher education institutions but insignificant for all institutions and for elementary to high schools. The FLCAS normative score was 94.82, slightly lower than the theoretical midpoint of 99. The findings have implications for educators, since university/college/graduate students in countries/regions with stronger collectivism had higher foreign language anxiety.

Amateur football map (4th league) from Romania generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the pre-pandemic season (2019/2020)

After the 2nd World War, for the first time after 7 decades, sports in general, and amateur football in particular, are facing a new global challenge generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Pre-pandemic football season 2019/2020 held on the field only for the first part (690 teams; 781 games), was suspended at the beginning of March, 2020. This situation generated an uncertain 5-month break until the first official games in play-offs (1-9 August, 2020) in wich only 46 teams (6.6%) in total actually participated. In a state of global uncertainty, to the suggestion of RFF, the 42 county football associations were “invited” to identify new solutions in order to “finalize the season”, by declaring, or not, a champion team, another team for the national phase of Romania’s Cup and a county representative for the 3rd league play-off. With the help of statistical information provided by county structures, with the spatial analysis of statistical data reported and analyzed on local and regional level, were analyzed the created situations and, especially, the consequences generated by the pandemic situation upon amateur football in Romania illustrated by maps.