Skin Stories: Charting and Mapping the Skin. Research using analogies of human skin tissue in relation to my textile practice.

The practice based research SKIN STORIES:: CHARTING AND MAPPING THE SKIN deals with issues across the fields of art, design, technology, biology and material science. In an attempt to bridge the gap between aesthetics and technology by investigating the potential of new and industrial materials, the epidermis is used as a metaphor for creating innovative textile surfaces which behave, look or feel like skin. As a result of theoretical enquiry and practical experiments, interactive design solutions have been developed to a prototype stage for possible application in domestic environments and public spaces as well as for integration into body related design concepts. The development of such functional and interactive textile membranes will hopefully enable individuals to experience a polysensual and responsive environment and it is this aspect which is considered to be an original contribution to knowledge in the textiles field. The aim of this written thesis is not only to illustrate the journeys and investigations made along the way and to demonstrate the outcome of the research, but also to situate the practical work in its cultural, critical and technological context. This thesis is accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM which is a visual representation of my 'research map' and holds a record of the practical work carried out during the research project. The ideas of the project SKIN STORIES:: CHARTING AND MAPPING THE SKIN have been developed and tested during a 3-year research programme towards a Ph. D. at The London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London

Tourism association development tendencies in Latvia

Tourism as one of the leading industries has gained attention from scholars that are researching different influencing factors of tourism destination development. One of the challenges that tourism destinations need to overcome is heterogeneous nature of tourism industry that could be solved with the help of professional and regional tourism associations. Current tourism technology from one side creates additional potential for tourism enterprises and destinations, from other side it could decrease need for traditional tourism associations. The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) indicates eighteen active tourism associations in Latvia. These tourism associations have been going through different development stages in Latvia, first ones started their activities already straight in time of struggle for independence and are actively functioning even now after 28 years of intensive involvement in industry development. On the other hand some of tourism associations have hardly surviving and are forced to bootstrap. Research aims to analyse different stages of tourism association development and draw conclusions on development strategies applied by tourism association in Latvia. Research method will comprise in-depth interviews with tourism association management during the years of 2018 and 2019. Research findings show a variety of development strategies applied both by professional tourism associations as well as regional associations. Conclusions indicate most successful tourism association management model, evaluation of current development stage of tourism associations in Latvia and evaluation of future development potential

Seroprevalence against Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and occurence of antibody co-expression with Anaplasma phagocytophilum in dogs in Latvia

BACKGROUND: Lyme disease is commonly diagnosed in humans in Latvia, but up to date no studies have been performed to investigate its prevalence in dogs. The aim of this study was to evaluate if seroprevalence against B. burgdorferi sensu lato (B. burgdorferi s.l.) and co-expression of antibodies against B.burgdorferi s.l. and A. phagocytophilum is higher in dogs with clinical suspicion of tick-borne diseases compared to healthy dogs. FINDINGS: Venous blood was taken from healthy dogs (n=441) and dogs suspected to have borreliosis and/ or canine granulocytic anaplasmosis (n=29). The presence of antibodies was detected with SNAP 4Dx test (IDEXX, Westbrook, Maine, USA). The seroprevalence against B. burgdorferi s.l. in healthy dogs was 2.49% (11/441) and 36% (4/11) of seropositive dogs had antibodies against both of investigated bacteria. None of the dogs in sick dog group had detectable antibodies against B. burgdorferi s.l. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that seroprevalence to B. burgdorferi s.l. in dogs in Latvia is low and that dogs with suspicion of tick-borne disease do not have higher B. burgdorferi s.l. seroprevalence than healthy dogs. Dogs that express antibodies against B. burgdorferi s.l. frequently co-express antibodies against A. phagocytophilum

Investments promotion and agglomeration economy in regional development: «valmiera+» investment area case study

Секция 4. Теоретические аспекты регионального социально-экономического развития в современных условия

Cyber Technology and the European Union’s Gestaltian Approach to China

Contemporary European Union (EU) and China relations are marked by a simultaneously beneficial, conflictual and competitive partnership. This is aptly evident in the cyber technology realm. This paper contends that the European Union’s gestaltian approach towards China can be understood with the aid of three theoretical positions: (1) an institutional perspective; (2) as a values-based actor; and, (3) a realpolitik dimension. The arguments advanced in the paper, ultimately imply that the EU’s approach towards China can provide various EU domestic and global actors’ space to exploit contradictions, notably when it comes to cyber technology diplomacy. This has the attendant effect of fostering future fissures in the EU’s overall engagement with China.publishersversionPeer reviewe

The Baltic resilience to China’s “divide and rule”

Funding Information: Methodologically, the article employs qualitative approaches to data, including discourse analysis, document analysis and historic analysis. The primary sources include documents, agreements and statements of officials from China, the Baltic states, Italy, and the EU, as well as secondary sources including research publications, media reports, and mutually comparable national data. This article draws on findings from a research project investigating the implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative for the OSCE conducted by the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The article is a part of international collaborative project ‘China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Implications for the OSCE’, implemented by a team of international scholars, including this article’s author. The project objectives include: mapping the presence of China and its manifestation across Central Asia, the South Caucasus, the Western CIS, and the Western Balkans over time, in particular since the inception of BRI; identifying the implications that this presence has had in terms of economic, environmental, social, political and military security of the OSCE region; compiling and presenting a research report to inform OSCE institutions and participating state governments (China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Implications for the OSCE). As an output of the joint research project, this article adopts its general methodological approach towards the complex nature of the implications of China’s presence and activities in the OSCE region, and the acknowledgement of the difficulties of formulating and implementing an OSCE response. Yet it also views the “China challenge” as an opportunity for the OSCE response (Wolff, 2021). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, National University Odessa Law Academy. All rights reserved.The article examines the interactions of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with China in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) format. First, it explores three most widespread criticisms of the Chinese BRI approach, namely: 1. The risk of Beijing becoming legitimating factor for strains on democracy, freedom and the rule of law; 2. Support towards the Chinese interpretation of values and tolerance of censorship; 3. Debt arising from infrastructure loans. Further, the article tries to establish to what extent did the Baltic states remain resilient to them, offering possible explanations to the Baltic cases along three lines – systemic resilience, discursive resilience, and financial resilience. The article concludes that BRI is taking different shapes in different regions, and that local political culture along with wider supra-national organizations determines the range and response to BRI, therefore, national institutional frameworks in combination with overwatch from supranational standard-enforcing institutions are the leading factors of countries’ resilience to risks stemming from BRI. Methodologically, the article employs qualitative approaches to data, including discourse analysis, document analysis and historic analysis. The primary sources include documents, agreements and statements of officials from China, the Baltic states, Italy, and the EU, as well as secondary sources including research publications, media reports, and mutually comparable national data.publishersversionPeer reviewe