Programming EU funds in Bulgaria: Challenges, Opportunities and the Role of Civil Society

While expectations were high for Bulgaria’s EU membership, it has been marked by numerous domestic challenges. This article explores the application of the principle of partnership in Bulgaria in programming EU funds for 2007-2013 as a litmus test for the capacity of the civil society and the preparedness of the state’s institutions for full-fledged membership. The article displays evidence that unsuitable adaptation and the remnants of the previous institutional establishment filter the EU leverage in the country. Furthermore, the article maps the role of civil society organisations in the process and identifies the main challenges and opportunities for their inclusion

Институционални дефекти пред реализацията на програма ФАР за развитие на гражданското общество в България

The article focuses on the EU PHARE pre-accession programme for Civil Society Development in Bulgaria as a key precondition to develop a capacity in civil society to manage EU structural funds and be a partner and actor in EU policy- making. Rather than being an agent of institutional change, the programme implementation confronts informal constraints and institutional resistance that leads to distortions in the initial objectives and in the expected outcomes. The text illustrates defi ciencies in civil society development in Bulgaria through analysis of the programme administrative design and defects in implementation. The article explores how the regulations and specifi c instructions of PHARE on civil society development are interpreted and perceived by the different actors of the Bulgarian public administration involved and the benefi ciary NGOs. The over-centralised institutional setting of the programme combined with mismanagement results in diverse and inconsistent performance, strategic defi ciencies, and delivery shortfalls.Dessislava Hristova is a doctoral student at the Department of European Studies, Sofia University /Bulgaria/. Her academic interests refer to the process of civil society’s development in Bulgaria in terms of both - preconditions for influence and participation in public policy-making as well as an actor in the process of Bulgaria’s integration in the EU. e-mail: [email protected] Десислава Христова е докторант в катедра „Европеистика“ на СУ „Св. Климент Охридски“. Академичните £ интереси са свързани с процеса на развитие на гражданското общество в България като възможности за влияние и участие във формиране и осъществяване на публични политики и като актьор при интегрирането на България в ЕС. e-mail: [email protected]

The New Urban Success: How Culture Pays

Urban economists have put forward the idea that cities that are culturally interesting tend to attract "the creative class" and, as a result, end up being economically successful. Yet it is still unclear how economic and cultural dynamics mutually influence each other. By contrast, that has been extensively studied in the case of individuals. Over decades, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu showed that people's success and their positions in society mainly depend on how much they can spend (their economic capital) and what their interests are (their cultural capital). For the first time, we adapt Bourdieu's framework to the city context. We operationalize a neighborhood's cultural capital in terms of the cultural interests that pictures geo-referenced in the neighborhood tend to express. This is made possible by the mining of what users of the photo-sharing site of Flickr have posted in the cities of London and New York over 5 years. In so doing, we are able to show that economic capital alone does not explain urban development. The combination of cultural capital and economic capital, instead, is more indicative of neighborhood growth in terms of house prices and improvements of socio-economic conditions. Culture pays, but only up to a point as it comes with one of the most vexing urban challenges: that of gentrification.Comment: 15 page

Trends in the use of extemporaneous dosage forms in the pharmaceutical practice in Varna

Introduction: An extemporaneous preparation is the preparation of a medicinal product in a pharmacy using formulation from an existing pharmacopoeia. The key element and main advantage of the formulations prepared ex tempore is that they are solely targeted towards a particular patient and their specific illness.Scientific research in the past decades and the introduction of industrially manufactured products in the pharmaceutical practices has led to the gradual decrease in the volume of pharmacies dispensing and compounding, raising issues about the safety, reliability and efficiency of the extemporaneous preparation of products in relation to the high standards associated.Aim: The current survey aims to establish the gains of prescribing and dispensing extemporaneous medical products.Materials and Methods: The target of the research will be doctors and pharmacists on the territory of the city of Varna. Their views would be explored through a direct individual survey

A multilayer approach to multiplexity and link prediction in online geo-social networks.

Online social systems are multiplex in nature as multiple links may exist between the same two users across different social media. In this work, we study the geo-social properties of multiplex links, spanning more than one social network and apply their structural and interaction features to the problem of link prediction across social networking services. Exploring the intersection of two popular online platforms - Twitter and location-based social network Foursquare - we represent the two together as a composite multilayer online social network, where each platform represents a layer in the network. We find that pairs of users connected on both services, have greater neighbourhood similarity and are more similar in terms of their social and spatial properties on both platforms in comparison with pairs who are connected on just one of the social networks. Our evaluation, which aims to shed light on the implications of multiplexity for the link generation process, shows that we can successfully predict links across social networking services. In addition, we also show how combining information from multiple heterogeneous networks in a multilayer configuration can provide new insights into user interactions on online social networks, and can significantly improve link prediction systems with valuable applications to social bootstrapping and friend recommendations.This work was supported by the Project LASAGNE, Contract No. 318132 (STREP), funded by the European Commission and EPSRC through Grant GALE (EP/K019392).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-016-0087-

Professional Realization and Satisfaction of Graduate Assistant Pharmacists at Medical College – Varna

Помощник-фармацевтът е специалист, който участва активно в лекарствоснабдяването и лекарстворазпространението, като приготвя, съхранява и отпуска лекарствени форми, билкови смеси, диетични продукти, санитарно-хигиенни материали, козметични средства и др. Специалността „Помощник-фармацевт“ в Медицински колеж – Варна е разкрита през 1961 г. Помощник-фармацевтите се дипломират с образователно-квалификационна степен (ОКС) „професионален бакалавър“. Фармацевтът вече не е само източник на информация за лекарства и тяхното отпускане, а също така член на интердисциплинарния екип, участващ в предоставянето на първични грижи. Силно влияние върху професионалната удовлетвореност и реализация оказват възможностите за кариерно развитие, професионалната ангажираност и заплащането на труда.Целта на настоящата разработка е да се проучи професионалната реализация и удовлетвореност на завършили помощник-фармацевти в Медицински колеж – Варна.Проведено е анонимно анкетно проучване сред помощник-фармацевти, завършили Медицински колеж – Варна. Проучването е проведено онлайн чрез индивидуална анкетна карта, с помощта на Google формуляри.The assistant pharmacist is a specialist who is actively involved in drug supply and drug distribution, preparing, storing and dispensing dosage forms, herbal mixtures, dietetic products, sanitary - hygiene materials, cosmetics, etc. The Assistant Pharmacist program at the Medical College - Varna was established in 1961. The assistant pharmacists graduated with a Professional Bachelor's Degree. The pharmacist is no longer just a source of information on medicines and their dispensing, but also a member of the interdisciplinary team involved in the provision of primary care. Opportunities for career development, professional engagement and pay have a strong influence on professional satisfaction and realization.The purpose of this article is to investigate the professional realization and satisfaction of graduate assistants - pharmacists at the Medical College - Varna.An anonymous survey was conducted among the assistant pharmacists who graduated from Medical College - Varna. The survey was conducted online through an individual questionnaire using Google forms

Immunomodulating and antitumor effect of Agaricus blazei, Coriolus versicolor, Ganoderma lucidum, Grifola frondosa

Лечебното използване на гъби има много дълга традиция в азиатските страни, докато използването им в западните страни постепенно се увеличава в последните десетилетия. Някои от проучените гъби са едни от най-мощните стимулатори и модулатори на имунната система. Техните лечебни свойства се ценят високо и са обект на множество изследвания. Те понижават холестерола, подпомагат здравословното отслабване и спомагат за контрол над диабета. Ползите от тях са щателно проучени и документирани. Най-много внимание привличат техните противоракови свойства. Има много гъби с мощни противоракови свойства, но най-добри резултати се получават при употреба на препарати, съдържащи екстракти от повече от един вид гъби. Някои от проучванията показват, че полизахарид е главният компонент с противотуморен ефект.Молекулното тегло, степента на разклоняване, броят на заместителите, както и ултраструктурата, включително наличие на единични и тройни спирали, значително повлияват биологичните активности на бета-глюканите. По-високата антитуморна активност изглежда е корелирана с по-високото молекулно тегло, по-ниско ниво на разклоняване и по-голямата разтворимост във вода на бета-глюканите.The curative use of mushrooms has a long tradition in Asian countries, whereas their use in the Western countries has gradually increased in recent decades. Some of the studied mushrooms are among the most powerful stimulators and modulators of the immune system. Their healing properties are highly valued and subject to many studies. They lower cholesterol, help reduce weight loss, and help control diabetes. Their benefits are thoroughly researched and documented. Most attention is attracted by their anticancer properties. There are many mushrooms with powerful anticancer properties, but the best results are obtained with the use of preparations containing extracts from more than one type of fungus. Some studies have shown that polysaccharide is the main component with an antitumor effect.The molecular weight, branching rate, number of substitutions as well as ultrastructure, including the presence of single and triple helices significantly affect the biological activities of beta-glucans. Higher antitumor activity appears to be correlated with higher molecular weight, lower branching, and greater water-soluble beta-glucans

Modeling water regulation ecosystem services: A review in the context of ecosystem accounting

Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) has evolved rapidly in recent years through substantial efforts of both international organizations and the scientific community. Water regulation ecosystem services (ES) are key elements of regulating services in ecosystem accounting, with most relevant studies strongly relying on models for ES quantification up to now. In this paper, we provide a review of modeling efforts for water regulation ES based on 148 scientific papers, properly systematized, analyzed and interpreted by using a detailed and structured original template. We examined emerging trends and gaps in model applications and the readiness to integrate them into the NCA and SEEA-EA frameworks. We propose a classification scheme which organizes the 92 different models and modeling approaches identified in the review process into eight model categories so that this scheme can be efficiently used in the water ES assessment of and for further integration into the accounting framework. Among the models, the hydrologic model SWAT and the modeling tool InVEST are by far the most popular. The results of the review revealed differences between the general ES literature and the accounting-related papers. Moreover, our analysis sets the basis for useful recommendations of which model categories are the most appropriate for the water regulation ES, included in the SEEA-EA reference list. Based on the number of relevant papers, the reliability and the confidence level of the recommendations for the use of models have been incorporated in our analysis. We highlight as model category with the highest confidence the ones relative to quantification water flow and flood control service aiming at ES accounting. Models for erosion control ES can only be recommended with a lower confidence, while for water purification the results lack clear evidence for using a particular group of models. Based on the research findings we identified the main research priorities on model integration in the accounting of water regulation ES: 1) further development of guidelines for the use of models in ecosystem accounting; 2) analyses of the spatial aspects of the model towards a clear distinction between ecosystem service supply and use; and 3) development of integrated modeling approaches for water regulation ES accounting. © 2022 The Author(s