Development of tourism, understood as the result of human activity aimed at adapting space to the needs of tourism, requires a variety of specific spatial determinants recognized from the viewpoint of multi-dimensionality of tourist space. One of the major determinants of tourism intensity in an area are landscape values, including natural values. Natural elements of the environment (including the terrain, water reservoirs, and natural forms of land cover), sustainable landscape, or the unique cultural objects are the basis for long-term development of tourist activities. These values are characteristic of the so-called naturally valuable areas, including areas under the national and international law of different forms of nature protection. The paper aims at examining the relationship between the existing natural determinants affecting the development of tourism and the intensity of tourist movement as well as tourism intensity and the level of development of tourist facilities in the gminas of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship. The overall objective will be implemented in three stages. The first one will be to identify the existing natural determinants for the development of tourism in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship. The second phase will consist of an examination of the intensity of tourist movement and the level of the development of tourism by designating Schneider’s, Baretje’s and Defert’s indicators and the share of recreational areas. The final step will be to identify relationships between the variables obtained in the process of obtained in the two previous stages.

Each year, natural disasters affect various regions of the world. This is a profound problem, which leads to growing financial and human losses. It is believed that natural catastrophes are caused mainly by greenhouse gases, ozone depletion, deforestation, desertification, urbanization and land use. In rural areas, losses associated with natural disasters can also be exacerbated by local factors. These factors have caused the division of the area of research on subpopulations that showed homogeneous groups of factors. Areas covered by extensive forests, farmland, meadows, marshes and water bodies are more susceptible to financial losses in agriculture than territories with average share of those land features. Spatial attributes that are important determinants of agricultural production, including soil quality, climate, water availability and land relief, do not alleviate the negative consequences of extreme weather events. Spatial planning systems should be developed for managing high-risk areas in a way that minimizes the resulting losses.

Intensity of indoor/outdoor dialogue in the context of architectural history has rapidly evolved due to technological progress while the quality of environment expressed as harmony has proved to be of coincidental character. Reality reveals a pressing need to restore integrity, wholeness and harmony of environment, at the same time searching for a balance in the dialogue between interior and exterior space and a way to harmony in this complicated system. By analysing previous successful and unsuccessful examples in the architecture of publicly most sensitive objects in the re-established Latvia, one obtained a pyramid of subordinated guidelines to be used in architectural theory and practice in support of creating a harmonious architectural environment. The subject is of current importance not only among experts but in all levels of society: we all are users of this environment. In order to create a harmonious high-quality environment in the future, at first, one has to invest substantial resources in all levels of education; it will become a reflection of inner conflicts of a new concept of space, continue historical process of architectural development and introduce diverse approaches to harmonise indoor/outdoor space in a scientifically grounded way.

Pollution of surface (rain) wastewater forming in the production territory of a pig-breeding enterprise was investigated in the period 2007–2011. The surface water is collected from the production territory from yards with a hard covering and from roofs, enters the rain sewerage, and is released untreated into the natural environment. The aim of this work is to find out what influence on the environment is exerted by surface wastewater released into the natural environment from the production territory of pig-breeding enterprises. Surface wastewater pollution indices and the research frequency were identified according to the requirement to carry out surface water monitoring: surface wastewater samples are collected three times per year. Because of the uneven rainfall distribution during the year, less surface wastewater runoff occurred during the cold period; however, concentrations of indices were higher compared to the end of the warm period (TSS – 18 %, BOD7 – 39 %, Ntotal – was unchanging, oil products – 12.5 %). Only Ptotal concentrations were higher in the end of the warm period in 14 %. The organic pollution in surface wastewater was increased by total suspended solids. The increased concentrations of TSS and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD7 ) were related to a higher precipitation level. The indices’ TSS, BOD7 , Ntotal, Ptotal and oil products concentrations in the surface wastewater runoff from the pig breeding enterprise‘s production territory complied with the requirements for surface water which is collected from this area and released into the environment.

Information and communication technology combined with multimedia and networking has enabled development of e-learning. E-learning opportunities expand access to education, without the learner’s social, economic and geographical barriers. The main question in this situation has to take into account the quality of e-learning materials. The aim of this research was to explore the definition of the quality and scientific research literature on e-learning quality, and identify the quality influencing factors. This article looks at quality standards and summarizes the existing literature on the quality aspects of electronic materials. During the research was analyzed the literature of the last 13 years. Findings showed that the quality evaluation model covers a wide scale — from one e-course to e-learning system implementation quality aspects. The quality of electronic learning material can be measured by technical, pedagogy and content criteria. The technical quality of the e-material (text, picture, video, sound recording, visual presentation, multimedia, etc.) is influenced by many factors and specifying for each type. The research should be continued to indicate the quality criteria for each type of e-materials including the degree of importance.

The objective of this study is to elaborate the mathematical model describing the bark proportion (BP) in stems of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst), silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.), as well as to analyze the vertical variation of the BP for the aforementioned species. The study material consists of data of 372 sample trees sampled in three regions of Latvia – Western (Kurzeme), Eastern (Latgale) and North-eastern (Vidzeme) during the years 2011 – 2014. The BP for each tree was calculated as a difference between the under-bark and over-bark stem volume. In this study, we compared the performance of three power regression models in predicting of BP using breast height diameter (DBH), tree height (H) and total volume (TV) as independent variables. The best fit to data was achieved by using tree height for the prediction of BP. Our results confirm that the highest proportion of the bark is at the upper part of the stem (relative height 95%) for all trees species. Pine stems have a lower BP of up to 30% relative height comparing to other species, while the spruce has the lowest bark percentage at the stem base relative to other tested species There were no significant differences found in BP among the stands from different regions for all studied species, indicating no need for derivation of separate equations for each region and ascertaining the possibility of use of the average BP values for the whole country.

Fire is a frequent disturbance in hemiboreal forests that in Latvia affects mostly Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris L.) stands. Increased forest fire risk is predicted in future as a result of climatic changes. Therefore the aim of our study was to assess Scots pine regeneration after forest fire in different forest types and with different regeneration methods. Tree height was measured and browsing damage assessed seven years after the forest fire in six different forest types, where planting and natural regeneration (in a clearcut and without management) occurred in compartments randomly selected from a list of stands severely affected by forest fire. The height of Scots pine was significantly affected both by forest type and regeneration method. Notable advantages of planting based on tree height were found in wet mineral soils and peat soils. Trees on poor (dry, wet, peat) soils were higher in natural regeneration after clearcut than in natural regeneration without clearcut. The density of Scots pine trees was significantly affected by the forest type but not by regeneration method (planting, natural regeneration, natural regeneration after the clearcut). The most abundant tree species in natural regeneration after clearcut in all forest types was silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.). The height of silver birch exceeded that of Scots pine in all analyzed soils in clearcut areas except Vaccinososphagnosa forest type, emphasizing the importance of thinning to ensure a successful development of Scots pine stands.

Although there is no consensus among scholars and professionals regarding the definition of the local food system, nevertheless, the local food systems or alternative food networks are no less important and suitable tool for solving environmental, economical (farmers’ and rural inhabitants’ income increasing) and social issues, and encouraging the further sustainable development of rural areas and communities. The aim of study is to assess the state and recent characteristics of the local food systems and its development in Latvia. The paper presents results of a study of the typology and categorisation of both the producers and distribution channels, and development of the local food systems as a whole, especially in Latvia. Various sources of materials and data have been used: the academic literature, legislation, reports and recommendations, as well as web pages, the internet and data from Food and Veterinary Service (FVS). The typology and categories of local food systems as well as short food supply chains are characterised, and its existence in Latvia is given. Besides, it is essential that the different kind of its merging organizations and projects supporting distribution of local food is implemented. The development of consumer groups for local food purchasing is important. While the requirements for small farmers–food producers are the same as those for large producers, the results suggest that during the recent years an increasing number of home-made food producers is observed.

Land use change has caught scientist’s attention all over the world and in the perspective of globalisation the pressures on agricultural land are increasing. However, the agricultural land abandonment is still evident. This phenomenon has no single definition and its driving forces are varying among different regions and countries. In this paper agricultural land is considered as abandoned while there is evidence of shrub and bushes on agricultural land according to the orthophoto and Estonian base map comparison. The aim of this paper was to test the impact of arable land plot spatial properties: plot area, ratio of arable land area in the surrounding of plot and plot compactness. General hypothesis is that brushwood will more likely occur on the arable land plots with poor spatial properties than on arable land plots with good ones. The study was conducted in 15 rural municipalities across Estonia. Results are showing some impact of the spatial properties on the arable land plots conversion into brushwood. In nine municipalities out of 15, there was an arable plot area without brushwood larger than plots with brushwood and the percentage of arable land area surrounding plots without brushwood was higher in other 9 studied municipalities. As expected, the uncompact arable land plots tend to have more likely brushwood on them than the compact ones. Study results show that the impact of plot area and the ratio of arable land in surroundings of plots on the conversion of arable land plots into brushwood need further studies.

The article addresses the problem of social dimension measurement of for regional development. Authors’ discus approaches of definition of social dimension. There is some discord how social dimension could be understood in more broader or narrowed sense and how it is characterized in international and national social policy documents. Authors focus attention on contiguity of social dimension and social security. The measurement of social dimension demands multidimensional approach. The authors use theoretical analysis and document analysis, as well as analysis of statistical data on key elements of social dimension of regional development (differences of employment rate; GINI coefficient, and the number of people at risk-of-poverty threshold). The main conclusions are that social dimension is more or less covered in development planning documents, but the progress indicators are inadequate. Especially disparities in social dimension of regional development are formally addressed and closer analysis of key indicators shows necessity to elaborate both – policy instruments as well as policy progress measurement.