Anti-commons in tourism: Evidence from Portugal and Bulgaria

The present study analyzes the cases of Alentejo Region (Portugal) and Bansko Region (Bulgaria) as tourism destinations and demonstrates that situations modelled as anti-commons are obstacles to individual entrepreneurial efforts of agents within the tourism destination as well as impediments for the expansion of the tourism destination as a whole. This paper posits that anti-commons theory is an appropriate theoretical framework for identifying, analyzing and explaining problems emerging in tourism destinations. This framework is useful for modelling optimal development strategies for tourism products and destinations, combining measures provided by national and local authorities with the ones of economic agents. The paper provides recommendations for the future.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Towards entrepreneurial universities: barriers, facilitators, and best practices in Bulgarian and Portuguese universities

Purpose: Тhe main objective of this research is to investigate barriers, facilitators and best practices in the transformation of Bulgarian and Portuguese universities into entrepreneurial universities. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study relies on a survey among experts in the field to identify barriers, facilitators and best practices in the transformation of Bulgarian and Portuguese universities into entrepreneurial universities. Findings: The research findings demonstrate that there are both internal and external barriers and facilitators of the entrepreneurial transformation of universities in Bulgaria and Portugal and reveals the relative importance of the various internal and external factors. The study describes several best practices in the transformation towards an entrepreneurial university adopted at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and ISCTE-IUL. Practical Implications: This research raises awareness of the internal challenges to making Bulgarian and Portuguese universities more entrepreneurial as well as of factors that may facilitate the process of transformation and the need to strengthen entrepreneurship ecosystem at these universities. Policy makers should devote special attention to external barriers to the transformation and especially to the need for more appropriate legal framework and more state funding. Originality/Value: The study highlights that the relative importance of the various internal and external factors is context specific.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Desirability of technology entrepreneurship among Bulgarian STEM students: the role of entrepreneurship education

The aim of this study is to examine the role of entrepreneurship education for the development of desirability of technology entrepreneurship among STEM students (STEM refers to any subject that falls under the disciplines of science, technology, engineering or mathematics) in 15 Bulgarian universities. A survey was administrated to students in STEM majors in 15 Bulgarian universities in 2015 and 2016. The sample for this study is composed of 879 STEM students, who are not nascent entrepreneurs or nascent intrapreneurs (in a process of starting a business) or established business owners or intrapreneurs (have already started a business). The results reveal that STEM students included in the sample are an important source of potential entrepreneurs. This study demonstrates that entrepreneurship education is positively associated with desirability of technology entrepreneurship among Bulgarian STEM students after controlling for age, gender, entrepreneurial role models, social network support, previous experience in a technology company, perceptions of environment. Other factors with positive effect on the desirability of technology entrepreneurship include role models and support from family and friends. The empirical results have important practical implications for higher education institutions and policy makers. Greater emphasis should be placed on entrepreneurship education for STEM students in Bulgarian universities. We recommend an entrepreneurial perspective to be introduced in other courses as well. Business faculties should provide doctoral programs in entrepreneurship to train a future generation entrepreneurship academics who will be capable of using up-to-date methods in entrepreneurship education. The present study attempts to fill several research gaps identified in the literature on technology entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. The study responds also to the calls for more research exploring the role of entrepreneurship education particularly in the field of technology entrepreneurship.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL RADIOACTIVITY IN BULGARIAN SOILS ALONG THE DANUBE RIVER

Data from gamma-spectrometry analyses of soils and sediments samples taken along the Danube river is presented in the paper. Results about the content of natural and artifi cial radionuclides like Sr-90 and Cs-137 are discussed. The region around the Kozloduj NPP including its exclusion zone is investigated in more details. Data from the last years is compared with such from former investigations of similar samples from the region. The soil is a natural depot and initial reservoir for spreading of all man-made radionuclides and natural radioactivity. The man-made isotopes with the longest half-life time, like Sr-90 and Cs-137 are mainly investigated. Because of their feature to be bioelements, that is to include themselves in human’s metabolism, they are especially dangerous when their concentrations in the nutritious chain increase. That is why the investigation of these nuclides together with the natural once like uranium, thorium and radium started in 1978 with annual determination of their concentrations in soils collected from the region of “Kozloduj” NPP and some places along the Danube river potentially exposed to radioactive contamination. The aim was to make a picture of the radioecological status of the soils along the Danube river. The period after 1986 is concerned as the accident in Chernobyl’s NPP changed basically the radioactive situation in the country

ACCUMULATION OF 134CS IN THE PEPPER DEPENDING ON SOIL CHARACTERISTICS AND METHODS FOR REDUCTION OF THE TRANSFER OF RADIONUCLIDES FROM THE SOIL INTO THE VEGETATION PRODUCTION

The particularities of the soil as sorbent, its complex composition and the differences in its properties impose the research of the accumulation of the The development of methods for reduction of the transfer of radionuclides from the soil into the vegetation production being of particular signifi cance for the implementation agricultural activities in conditions of radioactive pollution of the soil, the impact of potassium, calcium and EDTA or ethylenediaminetetraac etic acid over the accumulation of radio-caesium from the soil into the plants. As it is seen from the results presented, the input of potassium, calcium and EDTA in the Orthic Luvisols signifi cantly decreased the input of Сs-134 into the pepper plants.Особеностите на почвата като сорбент, сложния и състав и различията в свойствата и налагат изследването на усвояването на радиоактивните елементи от растения, отглеждани на типични за България почви. От особена важност за провеждането на земеделска дейност в условия на радиактино замърсяване на почвата е разработването на методи за намаляване трансфера на радионуклидите от почвата в растителната продукция, беше изследвано влиянието на калий, калций и ЕДТА върху натрупването на радиоцезия от почвата в растенията. От получените резултати може да се каже, че с внасянето на калий, калций и ЕДТА в сивата горска почва, значително се намалява постъпването на Сs-134 в растенията

Sensor-Based Locomotion Data Mining for Supporting the Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Disorders: A Survey

Locomotion characteristics and movement patterns are reliable indicators of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). This survey provides a systematic literature review of locomotion data mining systems for supporting NDD diagnosis. We discuss techniques for discovering low-level locomotion indicators, sensor data acquisition and processing methods, and NDD detection algorithms. The survey presents a comprehensive discussion on the main challenges for this active area, including the addressed diseases, locomotion data types, duration of monitoring, employed algorithms, and experimental validation strategies. We also identify prominent open challenges and research directions regarding ethics and privacy issues, technological and usability aspects, and availability of public benchmarks

POLYMORPHISM OF ENDOSPERM PROTEINS IN AMPHIDIPLOIDS WITH THE G GENOME OF Triticum timopheevii (Zhuk.)

During evolution in Triticum the diversity of genes in T. aestivum L. was greatly reduced compared to its ancestors. This tendency restricted further improvement of productivity and quality in common wheat and narrowed the plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Wide hybridization resulted in synthetic genotypes that offered opportunities for introduction of new genes for useful traits in breeding. The objects of this study were two amphidiploids with G-genome inherited from tetraploid wheat relative T. timopheevii (2n=28, GGAuAu). Glutenin and gliadin allelic composition of the synthetic wheats H-68/44 and H-69/36 were analysed by SDS-PAGE and A-PAGE electrophoretic methods. New allelic variants in Glu-G1 loci, which are not characteristics for the spectrum of T. aestivum, were identified. In contrast to the high polymorphism of amphidiploids for high-molecular weight proteins, variation in the low-molecular glutenins was much less. More gliadin alleles in synthetic lines were found than in hexaploid wheat, due to the parent polymorphism. The results of this survey showed that synthetics with T. timopheevii genome might serve as an important sources of increased genetic variation for endosperm proteins in common wheat

Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portugal) and TechnoLogica (Bulgaria): analysing companies' Corporate Social Responsibility in two European countries

The studies in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility are very relevant to understand why companies are concerned with its implementation in the company. Besides, theoretical developments on this matter show that progressively companies are concerned about their performance on this subject and about reaching their objectives involving CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility should have self-regulating mechanisms through which the business would be monitored and companies should be ensure that law is guaranteed as far as ethical standards and international norms. According to the 2001 European Commission Green Paper, Social Responsibility conceptualization is associated with the idea of companies deciding, in a voluntary base, to contribute for a fair society and a cleaner environment. Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portugal) and TechnoLogica (Bulgaria) are important companies concerned with the development of CSR activities and have some very interesting results in this area