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Circularity metrics are useful for empirically assessing the effects of introduction of circular economy principles at product and company level. Due to the fact, that the concept of circular economy is new, one standardized method for measuring the circularity of products and company has still not been developed. For that reason, in this article the multidisciplinary literature review was carried out for indicating existing methods, tools and indicators dedicated to measure the circularity. This analysis has prov...

Enterprise investment in environment protection means traditionally are seen as a burden induced by environmental policy. It is claimed that these investments do not support increase in output and productivity and rise production costs. Environmental investments directed to reduce abatement cost may not produce the productivity growth effect if the productivity gain do not outweigh the increase in abatement cost. Though environmental investments of firms are seen as less productive allocations, strong version of t...

Current development in the European Union countries may be considered heterogeneous, even though their economic and social similarities. Each country achieves its economic and social goals with different success rate. It is similarly in relation to the complex value such as sustainable development. Evaluation of sustainability and sustainable development is problematic, because of sustainable development (resp. part of it) can be evaluated using the various indicators. It is, for example, the evaluation of sustain...

Modern universities are not only the educational and research centers. There are here the ideas of sustainability can be developed and implemented most efficiently. Environmental friendliness and saving of resources require the innovative approaches that formed in the university. Hence, along with the popular rankings of effectiveness of education and research activity by the representatives of University of Indonesia was created the Green Metrics World University Ranking. Its participants are hundreds of universi...

Labour protection involves the safety and health of employed individuals. It has to be one of the priorities for any employer, as employees are a resource to be cared about and made satisfied. In Latvia, regardless of the requirements of law, the State Labour Inspectorate revealed 10 815 violations of the labour protection legislation in 2014. Besides, in the period 2010-2014, the number of accidents at work annually increased, reaching 1763 in 2014, of which 213 accidents led to serious health disorders, while 41...

The intensity of scientific and technical progress is the most important factor in the sustainable development of the economy, its economic and environmental security. In order to increase the intensity of scientific and technological progress in Russia was developed a state program "Development of Science and Technology" for 2013-2020. One of the main tasks of this program is "the formation of a modern material and technical base of the research and development sector." Measurement of the supply of material and t...

In recent years, the EU Member States experience a significant increase in resource efficiency; however, the environmental resource efficiency indicators in the Baltic States, including Latvia, are significantly lower than the EU average indicators and an improvement in figures is too slow. Environmental taxes serve as an essential fiscal instrument for the increase of resource efficiency. Therefore, the research aim is to assess the application of environmental taxes as a fiscal instrument to increase the resourc...

Villages and rural settlements are an integral part of the Czech landscape. The colonization of the Czech lands has an ancient tradition but the role that the small municipalities play in the territory is very variable. This article aim is to describe the historical development of selected small towns. Each one is representing different production area in the South Bohemian region. Besides assessing their area, functional use of individual parts of the towns and the demographic composition, there will be also asse...

Today energy consumption in the world is constantly increasing and therefore using energy more effectively and reduce energy consumption has been discussed a lot more. Nowadays, trend of stimulating renewable energy production is at the forefront. In this regard, in Slovakia use of renewable energy sources for home electricity and heat generation following European Union support and the project Green to Households is developed considerably. The return on investment on these funds is indeed longer, but we should ta...

The EU has set out its vision for Europe's social market economy in the Europe 2020 strategy, which aims at confronting our structural weaknesses through progress in smart specialization. In line with the Guide to Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization, this paper aims to identify key directions of sustainable innovative development of Russian resource regions and determine their readiness for smart specialization. Relying on clustering methodological approaches, this study has revealed: 1) ec...

Today?s economy, referred to as ?knowledge-based economy?, relies on advances in science and education of society as a basic factor of social and economic development. The article presents the implementation of two-way cross-border co-operation in the exchange of experiences in innovative applications of production engineering using mathematical methods in various kinds of activities between technical universities and other participants. This type of activity means transfer of knowledge resulting from practical ap...

The paper examines the various developments regarding strategic management of raw materials on national, European and international levels. The problems linked to this subject are of increasing importance for the producing industry. Thus it is necessary to act quickly and pursue a sustainable raw material policy. The main purpose of this work is to analyze the possibility of fly ash utilization for the road construction and possible application in other industry branches with interest. The methodology used in the ...

Economic development of the world is closely linked to the consumption of electricity. Energy is central to improved social and economic well-being, and is indispensable for industrial and commercial wealth generation. But however essential it may be for development, energy is only a means to an end. The end is a sustainable economy and a clean environment, high living standards, prosperity and good health. Energy indicators for sustainable development represent an important component in the national analysis and ...

Considering the European experience, the aim of this paper is ecologic, economic and organizational prospects for the creation of innovative technological clusters of he production, processing, transportation of fossil energy resources, primarily gas condensate in Russia. Improving the methodology of natural resources management, the paper proposed organizational structure of the resource cluster, consisting of three main zones: the center of the cluster (specialized production), internal environment (services, as...

The aim of present research refers to identifying how the population influences the development of services of general interest. Among the methods that were used for research are found: bibliographic study, field research, application of questionnaires, obtained data interpretation after questionning and comparing them with the existing data base on statistical county. The attempt to clarify how the requirements of human society takes a historical constant, analyzing these requirements closely linked to the evolut...

Food security has been and continues to be a current topic given the fact that, it stands at the base of all issues related of human existence. In this respect it is necessary to analyze the idea of food security on the two levels closely correlated, meaning the qualitative level and quantitative level. Quantitative aspect aimed the insurance of food necessary to meet the physiological needs of the population from the bottom of Maslow pyramid and converging towards meeting other needs found on top of the pyramid s...

It is widely recognized by scholars and experts on international and European Union (EU) level that the waste management and waste reduction are important resource. Turning waste into a resource is an essential part of resource efficiency and boosts a circular economy. Food waste is a serious global issue, which linked to environmental, economic and social impacts. In EU wide accepted is the new paradigm circular economy, in which main accent is given on prevention and significant reduction of waste. The bio-waste...

The 21st century presents us with enormous challenges related to environmental protection. This applies to both the citizens of our globe, businesses, institutions as well as regions and countries. Contemporary companies increasingly focus on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, and report their actions contributing to improvement and protection of the environment. Metrics known as footprint family, such as ecological, carbon, water, energy, waste, land or material footprints, are gaining i...

The quality of the products is a sum of functions, features and useful properties that make the product to satisfy a social need and thus to be appreciated be the user. Quality involves requirements of technical, economic, aesthetic, ergonomic nature, whose content evolves in step with social needs and is measured by the degree of utility and economic efficiency provided by the product within the scope of its users. One of the methods used to improve quality is Quality Function Deployment (QFD), which is a process...

The demands on university teachers of technical subjects are changing in the context of economic and political developments in society and opinions on the form, content, scope and mutual relation between professional activities to be carried on. A university is a place where pedagogy and andragogy overleap due to the fact that there are regular students as well as professionals taking a course of study aiming at extending their qualifications. A university teacher affects both of these groups, as a pedagogue and l...

The research-development activity has not been quite adequately financed in Romania over the last few years. Annual financing programs and multiannual programs were issued (NPRDI I ? [National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation]), and, as of 2007, together with Romania?s adherence to the European Union, an effort was made to align the financing programs of this activity to the Union?s programs. Thus, beginning with the Seventh Framework Program (FP7), the National Plan for Research- Development and Inno...

The article depicts natural potential of the Arctic territory, provides shares in fuel and energy and mineral resources extracted in the Arctic region of Russia. An importance of arctic oil and gas projects for Russian and the World economies has been noted. It has also been noticed that localization of equipment production and the development of technologies aimed at the offshore oil and gas extraction in the Arctic region of the Russian Federation may become a driver to stimulate import replacement, as well as t...

Border effect is a phenomenon that adversely affects the development of the regions. It involves the suppression of links between centers, which limits the development of the areas between these centers. Each type of boundary is generating variously powerful border effect, which can be quantified as the ratio between the expected and actual power of spatial interactions. Expected power of spatial interactions is calculated on the basis of geographic application of the gravity model, calibrated by using data on dai...

The application of REACH and LCA systems to the coal waste was presented in this paper. Recent years has brought a growth interest in environmental management systems, which could minimize the negative environmental impact of chemical substances. As a result of that process standards such as REACH and LCA have been developed. Both of those systems are based on different assumptions. LCA refers to the whole life cycle of particular product and in consequence is considered as so-called ?from cradle to grave? study. ...

State entrepreneurship and state marketing are the key forms of the state participation in national economy. Within their frames there is a distribution of the resources directed to the maintenance and development of infrastructure, implementation of social obligations and state programs. One of the instruments of state entrepreneurship is the procurement system provided with target budgetary financing by executive authorities. Introduction into the system of state and municipal management the methodology of proje...

The brownfields regeneration is very expensive process however it has important socio-economic effects. Many brownfields were revitalized also in the Southeast Cohesion Region in the Czech Republic, which is selected as the studied area. The research sample contents data from 28 CBA projects located in this area. The aim of this paper is to evaluate contribution of socio-economic effects to total efficiency of these projects based on benefit-cost ratio (BCR). The paper also deals with the classification of brownfi...

The air pollution in Polish cities causes the formation of the phenomenon of smog. The reason for this phenomenon is mainly low society awareness of environmental protection and the methods of preventing the use of low-quality fuels in the home fireplaces. At the same time the development of the automotive industry contributes to this negative phenomenon. The air pollution in large and small Polish cities was analysed. The examples of cities fighting against the smog were also given. The research of the air qualit...

Permanent improvement in the companies is reflecting also in area of living environment, mainly in area of waste management. Improving of business processes and looking for possibility how to avoid waste rising, how to limit their rising in the companies and in production activities, how to use technologies, saving natural sources, decreasing negative impacts to the living environment, recovering waste by recycling and reuse, and how to produce products, not creating waste for the client. All of the mentioned is g...

In recent years, significant changes have occurred in the energy scene in general, and thermal energy was not immune to it. Such changes have led to attentive determination for optimal form of supply with thermal energy, accurate planning of this energy and making the right decisions. So, a right decision should be based on accurate planning, especially when dealing with an energy system. This research will focus on selecting the optimal supply of thermal energy for a space / facility which is partially used for b...

Even if EU traditional agriculture is based on a considerable part on livestock enterprises activities, and many products are sustaining the traditional activities, livestock production is the largest source of greenhouse gases, high water usage, driver of deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land use, European Union (EU) is the biggest food importer and the second food exporter, spend around 40% of its budget on Common Agricultural Policy in detriment of other sectors. This paper work aims to emphasize the impact...

Ecolabel is an environmental policy tool introduced at European level in 2000 by Ecolabel Regulation. Ecolabel is a tool to promote products with reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle. These products contribute to an efficient use of resources and a level of environmental protection, offering consumers accurate information about the eco-labeled products. Touristic enterprises that have Ecolabel care for environment and consumer health. If we take the examples of agritourism structures, we will h...

There are summarized findings from research-and-development (R&D) study of environmental communication (EC) development in Liepaja town municipality, based on case studies research methodics following applications during 2006?2015, and, summarizing, all stakeholders semi-structured interviews conducted in 2016. Liepaja is one of the most active pro-environmentally oriented municipalities in Latvia, where the complete collaboration communication model approach of all four EC complementary instruments has been intro...

The modern society is focused on the main recommendations of the TEEB - The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. One of the document directions is "Business can save biodiversity and improve the exploitation of ecosystems". The task is to strengthen those economic development strategies that are environmentally sound, socially just and profitable for business. Such measures are an integral part of the resources rational use policy in modern industrial enterprise. The object of this study was the process of pr...

At present, education is regarded as an autonomous and intercultural educational process, during which students? individual and social qualities should be developed. The emphasis is placed on the selection of teaching strategies, especially those which lead to active learning. Nevertheless, education based on the frontal instruction, teacher?s monologue and zero students? activity is carried out at many universities. Naturally, there are many reasons and to pinpoint one of them as the primary cause is difficult. T...

The issue of preserving and protecting forests in the face of increasing human activity was presented as very up-to-date. Irrational human activity and fires have led to deforestation of places, once completely covered with forests. The area of tropical forests in Africa has decreased by 70 percent, South America ? by 60 percent, only 8 percent of Chinese territory is covered with forest. The article briefly examines the process of degradation of forest resources in the global economy. This study explores the long...

The competitive markets complemented by the concern for resources and environmental protection represent real and actual challenges factors for any organization. The customers call for special attention and organizations integrate the customer-centred approach in their strategies as main vehicle for achieving performance objectives. One of the well-known methods in this matter is referring to the Total Quality concept which supports checking and implementing different quality models needed to improve the competiti...

The main goal was to define basic forms of propagation oriented at internet media and mainly for propagation oriented at social media for product entering at market. Nowadays, social media represent important marketing channel appropriate almost for every products at market. The advantage of propagation on social networks is low financing cost, what is good mainly for companies which are not so known at market. Because of that, we should consider social networks as information channel rather than means which will ...

The aim of the article is to evaluate the Total Productive Maintenance method as a system of loss prevention in food industry and a set of proven techniques and solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency of machinery and equipment used in the production while taking into account environmental protection. It was found to be an improvement system of production increasing its productivity, efficiency and flexibility, basis of which is. The aim of the Total Productive Maintenance is the inclusion of all company empl...

This article discusses the questions of agroecology, its role and significance in the modern economy. It emphasizes the impact of agroecology on food production, country food security ensuring, as well as contribution to the sustainable agriculture. The authors also accentuate the relationship of agroecology with sectoral clusters, which are one of the modern forms of economic activity organization in agro-industrial sphere of Russian Federation economy. The article describes preconditions of the clusters formatio...

According to Johnson Lairds? Mental Models Theory, people develop internal representations of the natural world ? mental models ? that they use to interact with the world and understand the phenomena around them. Having this in mind, we could understand that students develop their knowledge through the construction of mental models, which help them to develop scientific reasoning and make decisions, being the basis of individual behaviors. In this context, it is assume that the use of methodologies that enable stu...

Beginning with the statement of the World Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development from Rio de Janeiro (1992), the world?s countries have started to develop national policies for implementing the concept of sustainable development. The experiences of those years led to a more pragmatic approach of the sustainable development implementing policies. For the first time the European Union and United Nations also realized that without a qualitative and quantitative quantification of the objectives of susta...

The economic crisis triggered in 2008 in US, affected all countries, with consequences in many fields, construction buildings domain facing a drastic decrease compared to the period 2006-2007. This situation led to the inability of people to do real estate acquisitions, which led clearly to changes in market demands. Experts and real estate developers from all over the world have tried to find different recovery solutions, given that its effects affected a huge number of people and companies. It is known that the ...

The main purpose of any socio-economic system is the quality of life of the population. Factor of production is dominant in the regional economy to achieve those goals. Creating conditions for the development of industrial production, is subject to state regulation, including all levels of government. However, responsible for the achievement of the final goal are also enterprises, organizations and citizens themselves. Production potential and quality of life of the population-are directly linked to the level of e...

In the paper modern tendencies in the World?s industrial mining sector development are overviewed, which manifest themselves in management streamlining of the sector?s economic, technological, and informational processes. Emergence and advancement of scientific-and-applied research directions, aimed at these processes systemic scrutinizing and appropriate rearrangement, are traced from the first third of the XX century, when the so-called Economics of Exhaustible Resources abstract research branch has been initiat...

The Europe is facing serious challenges in terms of job creation and employability of young graduates, economic productivity, and sustainable growth, boosted by competition in the digital world and knowledge-based economy. Higher education institutions represent key actors accountable for equipping students with relevant and up-to-date skills, fulfilling their capacity to drive innovation and to be better prepared for the transition to a circular economy.The curriculum development gains special attention since it ...

In this paper the approach to Information Educational Environment (IEE) creation is proposed. IEE is a complicated system that consists of a lot of hardware and software tools. Open architecture of the IEE provides integration of various electronic educational resources (virtual laboratories, virtual departments, electronic scientific-educational complexes). A variety of different hardware and software tools allow to create a variety of educational routes. In this paper we highlighted the main aspects about IEE cr...

Considering the fact that the production of 1 kg of output in the pharmaceutical sector has a higher environmental impact than the production of 1 kg of output in the chemical industry, this article examines the way in which the specific legislation of the EU regarding medicinal products is adapted to the legislative instruments for the assessment and control of the environmental risks posed by medicinal products for human use during their life cycle, from production and up to the end of their life cycle. The Euro...

Background: To choose a strategy for its educational and economic activities, an ecological university needs a clear understanding of the competitive situation in the education market. This problem is of great importance for the Russian Federation, which has the largest reserves of natural resources and pollution-free areas. High-quality professional training of ecologists in Russian universities has to ensure preservation of the environment and rational nature management. Therefore, to make the right choice of it...

The main objective of the paper is to unfold a pattern for promoting sustainable development of the environment for local communities through gastronomy and ecotourism in Sibiu County, future European Region of Gastronomy in 2019. The motivation for the choice comes out of the wish to render profitable in a superior manner the huge gastronomical and ecotouristic potential of the areas mentioned. Now, Romanian tourism is being confronted with problems of infrastructure and image, and this is the reason why we consi...

In this paper, on the basis of meticulous research the relevant literature, as well as empirical research into practice evolved and presented the role of e-learning in contemporary higher education institutions, we examine the possible aspects of the application and the benefits that e-learning provides, as well as to functional problems it can solve in institutes of higher education. The paper?s aim is improving the quality of higher education through the basic elements of e-learning and established models of e-l...