Socio-psychological profile of Latvian inhabitants who did not comply with the COVID-19 epidemiological requirements

Since the beginning of 2020, the world has been affected by the corona virus COVID-19. Since the spring, a number of nations around the world, including Latvia, have declared a state of emergency, with specific government restrictions developed in cooperation with WHO, to reduce spread of the COVID-19. The aim of this study is to examine socio-psychological profile of Latvian inhabitants who did not comply with the COVID-19 epidemiological requirements. A randomized nationally representative sample (N = 2608, aged from 18–74, men 39.8%, women 60.2%) from the online survey, carried out in the frame of the National research program, project Nr. VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011, was used in this study. The results showed that less compliant with COVID-19 epidemiological requirements were males, rural inhabitants, persons aged less than 60 years old, unemployed, with lower education level, and those, who are less afraid of COVID-19 and think that its dangerousness is exaggerated. Compliance with the restrictions did not relate to the marital and parental status. Based on this study, policy suggestions were made regarding a more targeted way of the providing important information on the preventive behaviour to reduce the spread of the virus.

GAME-BASED LEARNING IN INTEGRATED DOMAINS WITH AN APPLICATION FOR STEAM CENTERS

The article presents a game-based learning environment that is being deeloped as a component of the ATOS platform (the platform is an article described for the same conference). The proposed environment is an adaptation of a component for serious games, developed within two projects – the National Research Program „Intelligent Agriculture (2021-2024)“ and the university project „ViSCoD – environment for modeling systems for intelligent agriculture“. The opportunities for game-based learning in integrated domains (in this case intelligent agriculture – STEAM center) are demonstrated with a version of the well-known game „Twenty question game“, adapted for the Bulgarian flora. The system is fully implemented in the logic programming language Prolog and thus can also be used to teach students in the discipline „Artificial Intelligence“.

Review on the Consumers’ Response to the Covid-19 Crisis in Latvia

The regulations for restricting the Covid-19 virus set by the Latvian government, which entered into force on March 13, 2020, caused significant changes in the operation of outlets and consumer behavior. At the onset of the emergency, Latvia, like many parts of the world, experienced uncoordinated collective behavior that could potentially lead to significant changes in food supply chains. Therefore, one of the research directions of The National Research Program project “Towards the Post-pandemic Recovery: Economic, Political and Legal Framework for the Preservation of Latvia's Growth Potential and Increasing Competitiveness” (recovery-LV) (2020) was to find out how the Covid-19 crisis Restrictions have changed buyers' habits towards buying and consuming food. The article summarizes and analyses the research results of the content analysis, semi-structured interviews and survey conducted within the project. An analysis of the results shows that, as a result of the crisis, consumers are less likely to visit outlets, cook more often at home and choose more locally sourced food. It was concluded that the consumer agitation regarding the purchase of food products in 2020 was short-lived, which later returned to the usual limits of the habits of various socio-demographic groups of the population.

"Hot Issue" Critical Review: The Aboriginalization of Inquiry: Tourism Research by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

In this "hot issue" article, Jacobsen argues that even after decades of inquiry the level of Tourism Studies disconnect from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is troubling. He maintains that (relieved of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander voices for so long) the received literature on tourism is still dominated by non-indigenous academics who continue to forge a discourse based on "Othering." The purpose of his critical review article is to substantively engage with the disconnect that seemingly plagues inquiry about tourism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. This Jacobsen piece thereby exposes subtle, overarching misgivings observable in the literature underscored by the presupposed "Othering" of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as "inferior people." This hot issue article therefore moves away from discourses of deficit, inertia, imposed Western-centric theorization, and superficial inquiry towards the Aboriginalization of research-intotourism as inquiry that is emancipative and situated within and emanating from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worldviews. In providing a number of outcomes from a 6-year national research program in remote Australia, Jacobson reflects on their value as the basis for "leadership" and for "future broad directions." To Jacobsen, the Aboriginalization of tourism inquiry must be based on cultural integrity in order to drive the discourse of enabling, cultural ways of business, and appropriate leadership. This hot issue article thus draws attention to the urgent need for Tourism Studies practice to be genuinely committed to the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, cultures, country, and knowledge. [Abstract by the Reviews Editor]

Black-Scholes PDE: A Finance Application

Black-Scholes PDE: A Finance ApplicationVuong Hoang QuanEcole de Commerce Solvay (Bruxelles)International Conference on Differential Equations, Approximations and Applications, DEAA - 2001, pg. 53December 10 - 15, 2001Vietnam National UniversityHanoi, VietnamThis is a collection of the abstracts of lectures given at the International Conference on Differential Equations, Approximations and Applications, which will be held at the old campus of the Vietnam National University at Hanoi December 10-15, 2001. The Organizing Committee thanks the Vietnam National University at Hanoi, Hanoi University of Science, National Research Program for Basic Sciences, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Mrs. G. Kumstadter, FPT Company for their generous financial supports.

Ultrasonic De-Icing System for Leading Edge in Composite Material

The paper presents a numerical study about a de-icing system using ultrasonic waves. The activity is developed within the project “SMart On-Board Systems” (SMOS), which is part of Italian Aerospace National Research Program, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) and Research and coordinated by Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA). The system is conceived for an aircraft wing leading edge and it shall be extended to other aircraft components, once its efficiency and reliability will be demonstrated. In this work, a numerical study about a 0012 NACA profile in composite material is discussed and the simulations results coming from finite element analyses in frequency and time domains are presented.

SCIENTIFIC REPORT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAM “INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR SOCIAL TELEREHABILITATION IN THE SCHOOLS OF LATVIA IN THE CONTEXT OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION”

The main goal of the National Research Program INOSOCTEREHI (Innovative solutions for social telerehabilitation in the schools of Latvia in the context of inclusive education) is related to the research on the issues and problems that are important to our society, as well as it is closely related with the goal of Rezekne Academy of Technologies Research Institute for Regional Studies: to promote interdisciplinarity and innovation transfer in spheres of socialization, re- socialization, human security (including people with special needs).The research is particularly relevant in connection to the NDP (National Development Plan) and Education Development Guidelines and the educational content reform implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) in general and inclusive education ensuring the introduction of the competence based approach by implementing Specific Goals of Support (SGS) with the help of EU Structural Funds. The practical importance of the outputs is especially high as the findings of the research are being used by being involved in the work of the cooperation partner – the ESF project “The Competencies Based Approach in the Content of Education (Activity 8.3.1.) – as project cooperation partners and as individuals. Therefore the outputs of the NRP INOSOCTEREHI enable the development of the support system for the implementation of the innovations according to the specific needs of the target groups (teachers, learners, etc.).