ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning has become one of the leading trends in education. This technology imple-ments the principle of lifelong learning and is capable of mee-ting the ever-growing demand for knowledge in the information society. The purpose of this study is to determine the potential of online tools in the provision of distance learning. Given the de-velopment of distance education, modern methodological sup-port should be developed based on a combination of promising methods, approaches, and appropriate digital tools so that hig-her education institutions could successfully achieve their goals in terms of fostering a certain level of student professionalism, even under quarantine restrictions. For this reason, the need for the predominance of modern learning tools over traditional ones and their complete dominance during distance learning is espe-cially emphasized. Based on the results of surveys, the paper defines and characterizes contemporary online tools for holding lectures and seminars, testing and controlling knowledge, and holding online classes in real time through videoconferencing, as well as the potential of these instruments in distance learning. The article provides a list of the most popular and promising on-line services in the conditions of distance learning.
ABSTRACT
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the top 10 global public health threats. Antimicrobial overuse in part because of the overload of ICU departments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic facilitates the phenomenon. Designing novel effective antimicrobial strategies necessitates the development of new methodologies of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) instead of routinely used laboratory approaches that do not consider recent findings concerning the crucial impact of structural complexity inherent for macroorganism tissues, and physical characteristics of the environment on microbial population behavior and biological properties. Liquid crystal (LC) materials combining properties of both the liquid and the solid phase offer tremendous potential for the development of various spatially structured liquid model environments and solid surfaces for studying tripartite system bacterium-antibiotic-bacteriophage. Our pilot study was aimed to examine the behavior of the population of Proteus vulgaris ? the representative of the third most common etiological factor of nosocomial and catheter-associated urinary tract infections ? in different microcosms based on a lyotropic nematic liquid crystal. The study design included examining the bacterial growth, motility, and morphology under the transition of pre-grown population from different isotropic nutrient media to anisotropic microcosms based on LC. Growth kinetics, motility pattern as well as morphotype conversion from swimmers to swarmers changed significantly after the transition of the bacterial population to different microcosms based on LC as compared to those in isotropic conditions. The significance of swarming motility and swarming-specific induction of the virulence factors of Proteus for its pathogenicity and AMR has been debated widely yet remains unclear. Our findings indicate the attractiveness of artificial spatially structured microcosms based on LC for the study of these phenomena.
ABSTRACT
The main aim of the given research is to analyse Government policy early response due to the Covid-19 crisis in Central and Eastern Europe regarding SME support. The research methodology is based on an analysis of the pandemic impact on key indicators of countries development as well as an analysis of SME support policies responses by selected countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine). The dynamic trends of Covid-19 spread and its impact on macroeconomic indicators were analysed. The negative growth of GDP, as well as current account balance and increasing gross debt burden, were explored in all analysed countries and the policy responses were the required measures to avoid possible economic collapse. Implemented measures were mainly directed to achieve economic recovery and capturing stability, but the main focus of the research is to analyse the support policies according to the criterion of enterprise size, SME in particular. The study is based on country-level data as well as on individual State Aid cases of each analysed CEE country. It allowed to evaluate policy response mechanisms in terms of measures regarding enterprise size. Although SMEs suffered the most during the crisis, CEE countries spent most of their resources on supporting companies, regardless of their size. © 2022, Research and Innovation Centre Pro-Akademia. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to determine the development trends of the major determinants of the bank card market in eight countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the period from 2010 to 2019. Continuing a study carried out in 2018, further comparative analysis of the "Bank Cards Market Index" proposed earlier and based on a system of interrelated indicators of bank payment cards, ATMs and POS-terminals, was carried out. We provide an overview of the rankings of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia using international ranking systems such as "The Legatum Prosperity Index," "Doing Business," "The Index of Economic Freedom," and the "Bank Cards Market Index." Further studies of three international ranking systems, as well as the "Bank Cards Market Index," again confirmed the similarity of the development models of the bank card market in Poland and Ukraine. To study the impact of the digitalization of economics and Covid-19 on the bank card market, a deeper analysis of two cases (Poland and Ukraine, as two similar bank card markets) was carried out using the "Digital Evolution Index." In the course of the research, it was concluded that the "Bank Cards Market Index" can be successfully used for further research of the banking sector of different countries. Also, the growth trend of cashless payments in the bank card market and the possible transformation of the market under the influence of Covid-19, and the global digitalization of economics were noticed. Taking into account the above trend, further studies of the system of interrelated indicators of bank payment cards, ATMs, and POS terminals should be carried out using the "Digital Evolution Index" or other international indexes that characterize the level of digitalization of the economy in the researched countries.