Search

Background: In this paper we tried to emphasize the importance of the Critical Infrastructures in general, as well as a divided approach of the infrastructures. The main topics discussed in the following lines are debating the importance of critical infrastructures in the field of Transportation, Energy production, Water and sanitation, Nuclear Industry as well as some examples for stating the importance of Critical infrastructures, at a national and European level on the economical and social point of view. The paper also reviewed possible solutions to the ongoing threats to critical infrastructure security, threats that are becoming increasingly complex and diverse, aiming to improve the Critical Infrastructure to become more and more efficient, smart and robust. Methods: The authors have tried to analyze the subject accordingly with specialized literature in comparison with the states with tradition in Critical Infrastructures protection, such as USA, Europe. There were listed the main objectives classified as critical infrastructure in Romania, and their importance has been highlighted. The existing legislation and the measures taken by the state authorities in Romania for the protection, as well as the development of new critical infrastructures, have been emphasized. A comparative analysis between European Union and Romanian legislation has been carried out in order to eliminate differences can lead to vulnerabilities. Results: A plan, based on four directions of alignment of the Critical Infrastructures in Romania with the rules introduced by the European critical infrastructure protection program in order to strengthen and increase the efficiency of critical infrastructures, has been proposed. It was aimed at improving the way of preparation, response and recovery in the event of a cybernetic or terrorist attack. Other types of threats were also analyzed. Conclusion: The paper aims to analyze the need for Romanian Critical Infrastructures is to become “smarter”. Making the infrastructures “smarter” meaning making them greater in normal operation and use: more adaptive, more high – tech. These smart critical infrastructures should (SCIs) also be “smartly robust” in order to resist to extreme threats, such as extreme weather disasters or terrorist attacks. Making an existing infrastructure “smarter” is attained by making it more complex, but, as well it makes it more vulnerable, as we can easily see in the case of cyber attacks. In this paper we tried to find practical and theoretical solutions for the problems with the increasing complexity of Critical Infrastructures, so we could improve the resilience of an SCI as well as its ability to anticipate, prepare for, adapt and withstand, respond to and recover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the policy and support of the creative industry in the Zilina Region. In the Zilina Region, the major part of the creative industry is represented by the advertising industry. The main aim of the paper is to identify the aspects of the support in the advertising industry in the Zilina Region. To achieve the aim of the paper, the primary research consisting of personal, telephone, and e-mail questioning was carried out. The survey was aimed at the advertising agencies operating in the Zilina Region. Querying, analysis, induction and statistics are methods to be used in primary research. Based on an analysis of the current state of the support in the advertising industry in the Zilina Region, the survey examined these four research areas: public support, human resources, institutional support and funding. Within the research areas, in the means of public support, the survey was focused on finding out whether the advertising agencies use some form of support on the state, regional government, city or municipality level. In the area of human resources, the survey was focused on identifying the employee qualification requirements, the education level, the significant shortcomings from the view of employees, and the possible ways of improving the education level in the advertising industry. In the area of infrastructure, the survey has been focused on identifying the conditions of institutional infrastructure development in the Zilina Region. In the area of financing, the survey was focused on determining the most common and the most important forms of financing used by advertising agencies operating in the Zilina Region. As the main finding may be considered that there are several instruments for support of the advertising industry in the Zilina region, but they are not used sufficiently. The recommendations arising from the paper are focused on the means of the development of the advertising industry in the Zilina Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of the critical infrastructure elements represents a significant impact on the national security, safeguarding the basic living needs of the inhabitants, human health or the state's economy. Several critical infrastructure elements are defined, including transport. The world is threatened by several emergencies - floods, drought, tornadoes and other. These events threaten the state's critical infrastructure. Different events could trigger cascading effects. It means that the impact of an emergency on transport has an impact on another essential element of infrastructure - energy. Paper is focused on the failure of critical infrastructure elements and potential cascading effects on the transport. At first, literature research on critical infrastructure will be carried out. Secondly, possible cascade effects in the transport sector will be analyzed. Finally, evaluation and recommendation will be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes various projects of water resources optimizing use including redistribution of a river drain in Russia and in other countries. These projects are considered prerequisites for the water resource market formation. The main factor of the economy advanced ancient civilizations, as well as in modern industrial society, it needs water. After all, the first law of mankind was laws on water. Today providing the population with high-quality water in the world is an important issue. Water like no other natural resources is a determining factor in the environmental, social and economic infrastructure. The paper discusses the various projects aimed at optimizing the use of water. The bottled water market as a segment of the emerging market of water resources is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses various topics considering the identification of risks most common for financial market infrastructures. Views expressed in the article are in line with The Principles for financial market infrastructures and modern risk management developments in this field. Different approaches to identify risk appetite are considered depending on the business line of the infrastructure and main risks associated with it. The study uses comparative methods, benchmarking to market practices and recommendations. The risk-appetite concept is used in line with Enterprise Risk Management -- Integrated Framework and mainly addresses financial risks, and other specific risks most common for financial market infrastructures such as exchanges, central counterparties, securities depositories. An infrastructure should have governance arrangements that are clear and transparent, promote the safety and efficiency of the organization and support the stability of the broader financial system, other relevant public interest considerations, and the objectives of relevant stakeholders. Identified risk appetite statements should include quantitative and qualitative measures available to monitor and control the achievement of set targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess the millionaire cities attractiveness for residents in the Russian Federation in the period from 2011 to 2015. Ranking is made using 20 indices combined in five groups. As a result, authors find out that the best positions among millionaire cities in their attractiveness for living are taken by Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk. They are characterized by a high standard of living, the state of the economy, and the provision of social infrastructure. A little lower attractiveness is shown by Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Krasnoyarsk. In the middle of ranking are cities Perm, Omsk, Volgograd and Samara, showing the minimal difference between each other in the integral index. Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Voronezh are citiesoutsiders in context of their attractiveness for living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestication is a continuing process which takes place in the context of animals' and humans' cohabitation on same territory and should not be approached as a one-time and completed action. The control over animals' movements in the context of the sustaining landscape is one of the main aspects of reindeer domestication. Reindeer herding is based on constant relocation of animals from place to place, implying daily short-term movements in order to bring them to a camp and to monitor predators' movements. In case of reindeer breeding in the taiga people and animals used to closer spatial interactions, compared to those in the tundra. This results in much bigger degree of taming of individual animals. The spatial closeness of people and reindeer is an outcome of use of both natural landscapes and infrastructure. To certain extent different kinds of fences and built structures change the qualitative characteristics of humananimal interactions. Both administrative practices and technical innovations gradually change the spatial patterns of how reindeer herders use space. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how human-reindeer relations have been transformed is Eastern Siberian taiga reindeer herding in the context of social and economic change. The authors employ data from published works and their own field materials, which were gathered among Evenki and Tofalar reindeer herders in Eastern Siberia through participant observation. The collected and analyzed data show the heterogeneity and variability of relations between humans and reindeer in different areas of the Siberian taiga. The authors approach traditional technologies which local people continue to maintain as particular 'tools', which help to adapt reindeer herding to different types of taiga landscapes and to changing social and economic situation. These technologies are embedded into the symbiotic model of landscape appropriation, which is based on the mutual adaptation and strategy to minimize consumption of energy sources. Therefore, domestication of reindeer is a process of constant reshaping of human-animal relations in the context of changing environment, socio-economic conditions, technologies and energy exploitation strategies. This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 18-18-00309). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As electric vehicles market in Europe grows, the requirements for higher density of charging infrastructure are increasing. The purpose of this study is to present a method how the existing supply of charging service can be measured. This is demonstrated on the current situation in the Czech Republic. The paper follows on the background of previously published studies dealing with charging infrastructure optimization models. Geographical datasets of various types are processed and merged. Crucial factors of the problem are assessed and three model level types are presented. The best model is chosen with respect to the current quality level of data. The model is also demonstrated on the numerical example. The major aspects of charging supply modelling are demonstrated on territory of the Czech Republic. Predominately spatial, temporal, technical compatibility and behavioural dimensions have to be taken into consideration. It is crucial to obtain data of sufficient quality, which has been proven to be the main obstacle to create a model that is both specific and plausible. A basic model of charging supply has been developed and it shows that the country is covered insufficiently by the charging infrastructure. Even if the drivers were willing to travel long distances (50 kilometres) to charge their vehicles, they wouldn't be able to reach all destinations within the country. Future research shall aim at obtaining higher quality data and developing the model with higher specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the steps, parameters and criteria for evaluating technologies in terms of its potential for creating new sectors in the economy of resource region. We established the key principles for prioritizing the directions of technological development: maximizing the technology's potential for future economy, integrating the effects of regional development with national economy. The study is based on an analysis of the global and national trends in technological development, identification of technological gaps and assessment of the opportunities available to the Russian regions. We defined the term of «prospective technologies» as technologies aimed at both maintaining traditional resource and infrastructure sectors and creating booming sectors («high tech» and «knowledge economy»). These new sectors are oriented towards the development of new markets and market niches, creation of products with new attributes, which results in substantial multiplicative effects on the region's economy. The procedure of evaluation includes several types of criteria: capability to confront the global economic challenges, to respond to the main trends in science and technology prevailing in Russian Federation and meet the needs of regional development. We used the following parameters for evaluation: the share of leadership in programs of international and interregional cooperation, the percentage of innovative and «high tech» products and services that were exported, the share of regional enterprises' participation in creation and functioning of new territorial clusters, the share of production with increasing value added etc. To choose prospective technologies we suggest using their links to convergent technologies, priority trends in science and technology, the technologies critical for social, economic and technological development of different Russian regions. The proposed technique was tested using the data obtained in Krasnoyarsk Krai. This technique is particularly useful for evaluating technologies with respect to the purposes and priorities of the economic development of Krasnoyarsk Krai. The assessment of multiplicative effects is based on the matrix of perspective directions of technological development for resource and infrastructure development of «high tech» sectors of regional economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the prospects of interstate cooperation in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) - Russia's integration project - and the Silk Road Economic Belt (One Belt, One Road - OBOR) - China's initiative of building land trade routes from Asia to Europe. The author points out that the political consensus reached on implementation of the EAEU and the OBOR between the leaders of two countries significantly reduces geopolitical risks in Russian-Chinese relations and clarifies rules of regional competition in Central Asia. The paper analyses macroeconomic challenges for Chinese and Russian projects. In particular, it is emphasized that sea transport preference in the world trade and the coastal areas dominance in the world industry require from the RF and the PRC technological, administrative and legal solutions to provide effective realization of the initiatives. Particular attention is paid to the challenges for Russian transport and logistics system which significantly reduce the efficiency of industrial cooperation within the framework of the EAEU and limit Russian participation in the OBOR. In this article, short-term, medium-term and longterm scenarios of Russian-Chinese cooperation are addressed through the lens of the EAEU and the OBOR interaction including foreign trade, investment and cooperation in legal sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation and development of innovative infrastructure in the regions of Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is one of the priority lines of these territories complex development. Structural analysis of the concept of regional innovative infrastructure, its basic subsystems, international experience of innovative infrastructure formation in the Arctic countries (Canada, the USA, Norway and Denmark) are presented in the paper. The typology of Arctic countries is realized on the basis of analysis of innovative development features and factors. Trends as well as problems of the innovative development of the Russian Arctic zone during the period from 2011 to 2015 are revealed. In conclusion, the model of effective formation of innovative infrastructure development in the Russian Arctic zone is presented, as well as basic prospects of its development are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand of the world economy for infrastructure-related capital increases the practical importance of its academic research. However, there are significant differences in the understanding of the term "infrastructure" and its classification. Consequently, the results obtained by different researchers are often incomparable. All this requires once again refer to the concept of infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a flexible framework for the concept of infrastructure, to examine the presence of the concept's core among the research for the last 50 years and to identify the ways to create infrastructure classification system, following the same logic of flexibility. Achieving this purpose allows, on the one hand, adapting the concept to specific research goals and objectives and, on the other hand, making the results comparable. The authors emphasize to the importance in advancing the understanding of how to ensure the usefulness of economic research for the formulation of economic policy in terms of infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative development of regional economic systems involves clustering of the economy, creation of points of growth within separate territorial units, and formation of innovative infrastructure elements. Today many countries witness a substantial gap in the chain of creation and commercialization of innovations. On the one hand, the research and development sector being low-oriented to the economic needs suffers production and financial constraints hindering independent implementation of innovations and bringing them to the market. On the other hand, the manufacturing industry is in possession of unutilized production capacities, however, it demonstrates reluctance to invest in such innovations that have not been commercially proven in the market. As a result, there is still a certain gap between potential members of an innovative cluster. Insufficient cooperation among R&D organizations or institutes and enterprises in terms of development of innovations, as well as lack of experience in the hi-tech commercialization are the stones of stumbling on the way to establishment of innovative clusters. This is precisely why forming of an innovative infrastructure in the region is a significant issue preventing competitive clusters from growth. As a way to seek a solution, this paper covers a study of theoretical and methodological aspects of formation and development of innovative infrastructure within a regional cluster. Overarching challenges are highlighted, general properties and basic features of innovative infrastructure are defined, possible methods of evaluation of infrastructure development are reviewed. Furthermore, a new approach to working out a structure of cluster is offered, which is based on identification of external and internal elements of the cluster's infrastructure. Appropriateness of value added index application is substantiated from the point of view of evaluation of the regional cluster innovative development efficiency, inclusive of all members of the cluster. It is demonstrated that intensification of innovative activities is a key factor to catalyze a value added increase at the enterprises making part of the infrastructure along with strengthening a competitive ability of the regional cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vulnerabilities of urban water infrastructure and services affect environmental performance and life quality (including health). This study is part of a comprehensive framework aiming to implement practices that respond simultaneously to the basic needs of prevention, mitigation and the long-term adapting process to the risks posed by natural hazards and the socio-economic change in order to attain sustainable urban development. Starting from the hypothesis that there are different rhythms between the social economic dynamics of the city and its capacity to adapt and innovate public infrastructure utilities, the present paper analyses the relation between the types of piping materials and the drinking water quality related to its importance for the city's population. In February 2015, 35 drinking water samples were collected from different consumption points and tested in order to determine the content of soluble forms of heavy metals and other elements using ICP-MS equipment. The results were processed using basic statistical analysis in order to establish correlations among analyzed variables. Secondly, GIS was used in order to visualize and highlight the spatial relation between water quality, the type of pipes and the number of users. The study concludes that, in our specific case study, the material of the pipes has a limited influence on the quality of the drinking water, while water supply pipes inside the residential buildings may be responsible, to a higher extent, of the values exceeding the maximum allowed limits, which finally affects vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A main concern of contemporary cities in developed countries is to provide an urban environment that encourages non-motorized transport. However, depending on the socio-cultural background of the city under study, specific parameters may demand to be considered. This paper tackles the study and assessment of the environmental qualities of Taipei city urban environment from the point of view of its walkability. The examination of the potentials of urban ambiances in Taipei city and the sensory stimuli they provide, is addressed through the analysis of a number of significant streets. These are studied in depth considering parameters related to the sensory experience of urban walking. The different stages of the methodology have been the following: the general exploration of an area of the city under study, the compilation of a list of parameters for analysis, the assessment of each selected street, and the assessment of the importance of each parameter by a group of residents through field surveys. This last stage has been carried out as an experiment on public participation in defining the assessing criteria. Out of the comparison between the previous sections, conclusions regarding successes, failures and challenges in generating healthy, sensory stimulating and walkable environments in Taipei city are extracted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To attract investments in the economy of the country is very important. Rise in the standard of living of the population, the increase in the scale of the real sector and other effects of investments in the region result in improving regional infrastructure, which, in turn, improves the investment attractiveness of the region. The paper will present the results of empirical research of described regularities. So purpose of this article is research of correlation between the investment attractiveness of Russian regions and the dynamics of development of the real sector in these regions. Methods. To evaluate the performance results of enterprises of the real sector of Russia the method used by the author earlier for the study of the economy of Northwestern Federal District has been adapted. Integral values for each activity of the regions are calculated. According to the results of calculations the regions are divided into 6 groups. And then this results compared with the numerical values of the investment potential and investment risk of regions. Results. The data only partially evidence on the direct dependence of the successful work of the real sector on the level of investment attractiveness of the region in the years preceding the period in question. Consideration of backflow, i.e. influence of successful work of the real sector on the increase of the investment attractiveness of the region, gave results similar to the previous case. Conclusions. It can be said that the hypotheses advanced in the beginning of the article have been confirmed, although not in full. Most regions that had unfavorable investment climate at the beginning of the years 2000 showed low integral indices of the real sector performance in subsequent years. The conclusion is clear - the absence of attractive environment for investors, deprives the real sector of opportunity to obtain funds for the development and, accordingly, there is no development. Without the development of the real sector the region has neither the funds nor the incentives to improve their investment climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic performance of a country can be measured by various macroeconomic indicators. Gross domestic product (GDP) is considered as one of the most important and closely critical indicator of economic performance and can be defined as the market value of all the finished goods and services produced in the economy during a specific time period. GDP and its development in time is influenced by many factors. Transport infrastructure is one of the pillars of economic development. Good transport infrastructure is a prerequisite for economic growth in all countries. Transport infrastructure affects the development of many areas of the economy and its quality is also reflected in other indicators of economic performance of a country. It represents public capital, which plays an important role in investors' decisions whether to invest in the country or region, or not. The paper deals with the relationship between economic development (measured by the key macroeconomic indicator, GDP growth rate) and the quality of transport infrastructure in the Czech Republic. The attention is paid to the influence of the density of highway infrastructure in the Czech Republic on GDP. Improvements to highway infrastructure (the length of the highway network and its density) and their impact on GDP are assessed with regard to the development of indicators within the European Union. Statistical methods (regression and correlation analysis) are used for examining the relation between the two indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of efficient innovative economy is an alternative to resource approach and a strategic condition for regional development. A number of factors have impact on innovative development of social and economic system of a region. These include socio-economic conditions of the region, innovation and management capacity and human capital availability. Innovative activity, legal framework, innovative infrastructure are identified as the main directions of process of realization of innovative policy of social and economic system of the region. The purpose of the paper is to investigate factors of innovative development of the socio-economic system of the region and offer the directions of their improvement. Research problem solution was achieved by analyzing the main directions of economic innovative development. The methodological base of research includes the abstractlogical method and a method of the comparative analysis, which allow estimating development of innovative capacity of the region and indicators of its realization. The model of system for innovative management of the socio-economic system of the region and the mechanism of its functioning on the example of an index of innovative development of the region was presented. The results of innovative policy on the example of the Penza region and indicators of efficiency of its realization proved high efficiency of the presented model for the system of innovative management of the socio-economic system of the Penza region. The regional place in a rating of innovative activity of subjects of Russia was identified. The priority directions of development of innovative activity in the region are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eastern part of Europe is the new actor of the international tourism market. Entered in the circuit shortly after the democratic revolutions from the late '80s and the beginning of the '90s, this space has a higher tourism growth than any other region of Europe, according to World Tourism Organization. However, little is known about the factors that triggered this fluxes (essentially domestic), given the fact that most of the regions in this part of the continent are predominantly rural. The aim of this paper is to identify which type of tourism resources induces a higher tourist affluence in an European peripheral region. Our research focused on Moldavia region from Romania. Tourism databases from National Institute of Statistics and the tourism potential evaluation from Spatial Planning of the National Territory were used in order to obtain our results. The results showed a clear difference between rural and urban destinations, and even significant differences between the big and the small cities, regarding the main type of resources attracting tourists. For the big and medium cities, the cultural resources and technical infrastructure were the most important and attractive resources, while for the small cities the natural resources had a stronger relation with tourist arrivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]