Recent Developments in Digital Mathematics Libraries

The paper presents recent developments in the domain of digital mathematics libraries towards the envisioned 21st Century Global Library for Mathematics. The Bulgarian Digital Mathematical Library BulDML and the Czech Digital Mathematical Library DML-CZ are founding partners of the EuDML Initiative and through it contribute to the sustainable development of the European Digital Mathematics Library EuDML and to the global advancements in this area.The Fourth International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage—DiPP2014 is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science and is under the patronage of UNESCO

The Fifth National Information Day: Open Access to Scientific Information and Data

This work was supported in part by the EU „2nd Generation Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe" (OpenAIRE+). The autumn training school Development and Promotion of Open Access to Scientific Information and Research is organized in the frame of the Fourth International Conference on Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage—DiPP2014 (September 18–21, 2014, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, http://dipp2014.math.bas.bg/), organized under the UNESCO patronage. The main organiser is the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with the support of EU project FOSTER (http://www.fosteropenscience.eu/) and the P. R. Slaveykov Regional Public Library in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

The 14th National Information Day: Open Science, Open Data, Open Access, Bulgarian Open Science Cloud

The paper gives an overview on the current landscape and the activities on national and institutional level regarding Open Science, Open Access to scientific information, Open Data, Bulgarian Open Science Cloud

Meta-analysis of multidecadal biodiversity trends in Europe

Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15-91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising similar to 6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local long-term biodiversity trends are consistent among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, and (ii) changes in biodiversity correlate with regional climate and local conditions. Our results reveal that local trends of abundance, richness and diversity differ among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, demonstrating that biodiversity changes at local scale are often complex and cannot be easily generalized. However, we find increases in richness and abundance with increasing temperature and naturalness as well as a clear spatial pattern in changes in community composition (i.e. temporal taxonomic turnover) in most biogeoregions of Northern and Eastern Europe. The global biodiversity decline might conceal complex local and group-specific trends. Here the authors report a quantitative synthesis of longterm biodiversity trends across Europe, showing how, despite overall increase in biodiversity metric and stability in abundance, trends differ between regions, ecosystem types, and taxa.peerReviewe

Bulgarian Digital Mathematical Library BulDML and Czech Digital Mathematical Library DML-CZ as parts of the European Digital Mathematics Library EuDML

Abstract. The paper presents in brief the Bulgarian Digital Mathematical Library BulDML and the Czech Digital Mathematical Library DML-CZ. Both libraries use the open source software DSpace and both are partners in the European Digital Mathematics Library EuDML. We describe their content and metadata schemas; outline the architecture system and overview the statistics o

Measuring the Shadow Economy in Bulgaria

GDP accounts are customarily compiled in several alternative ways, each aggregating transactions in different ways, but all (at least in theory) adding to the same total. Two of the most common aggregations are that focused on expenditures (based on the standard national income accounting identity of C + I + G + X - M) and that based on revenues, or incomes. The two methods should, of course, add to the same number since they measure different sides of the same activity: what money people receive on the one side, and what they do with it on the other. However, Bulgarian GDP statistics using the revenue approach give growth rates 2 percentage points lower than the expenditure approach for 1998 and 1999. In other words, data based on what people actually spend show growth rates of 5.4% (1998) and 4.4% (1999), while official figures based on revenues are 3.5% and 2.4%, respectively. This can be interpreted as evidence that there are underreported incomes. It is of interest not only for statistical but also for economic policy purposes to have more detailed information about the discrepancies between official statistics and activities not covered by the official statistical system. It is particularly interesting to know the size and structure of unreported, hidden economic activities, or what has come to be called the “shadow economy.” Currently published estimates of the size of the shadow economy vary from 20 to 25% of officially measured GDP, implying that this is a far larger issue than that implied by the differential growth rates cited above. The objective of this study is to estimate the size of the informal sector, its structure, and the dynamics of its development since Bulgaria ended its long standing centrally directed command economy. Different methods were used to get results that are compatible for international comparisons; also, alternative calculations allow a range of estimates which can help to balance the methodological weaknesses of the individual approaches. The basic rationale of Physical Input Approaches to measuring the size of the shadow economy is that energy consumption (electricity, plus other sources) in a given country is proportional to total economic activity and any change in energy consumption which does not correspond to changes in the measured total activity level of the country indicates a change in the size of the shadow economy. These results provide useful indicators of changes in the shadow economy over time, but cannot be used to quantify its absolute size since this depends on an initial estimate of its size in the base year. This estimate is necessarily arbitrary to some degree in the absence of specific micro-level data allowing definition of an explicit relationship between energy use and economic activity. Results show that the Bulgarian shadow economy in 1998 declined below the estimated base year (1989) share of 30%. According to our calculations the share of the shadow economy in 1998 GDP in Bulgaria was 22%. The largest shares were observed in 1990 (32.2%) and 1996 (34.4%), declining thereafter. This study has shown that though the size of the shadow economy has declined from its peaks in the mid 1990’s, it remains a sizable portion of the Bulgarian economy. While in many ways shadow activities have the potential to be dynamic growth sectors, bringing them into official economy would help spread the burden of social programs more broadly. Our results show that a substantial portion of the response to policy initiatives is effectively hidden from official view. Thus, an ability to correctly estimate the size and structure of the shadow economy will not only provide more accurate statistics but can help improve growth policies as well

Meta-analysis of multidecadal biodiversity trends in Europe

Abstract Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15–91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising ~6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local long-term biodiversity trends are consistent among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, and (ii) changes in biodiversity correlate with regional climate and local conditions. Our results reveal that local trends of abundance, richness and diversity differ among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, demonstrating that biodiversity changes at local scale are often complex and cannot be easily generalized. However, we find increases in richness and abundance with increasing temperature and naturalness as well as a clear spatial pattern in changes in community composition (i.e. temporal taxonomic turnover) in most biogeoregions of Northern and Eastern Europe