In sub-Saharan Africa intensifying small-scale farming is essential in addressing poverty related issues in rural communities and the degradation of natural resources. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) are the best practices used to improve the productivity of crops whilst maximizing agronomic efficiency of inputs applied and hence contributing to sustainable intensification. ISFM usually include the appropriate use of inorganic fertilizer and organic resources, good agronomic practices and appropriate use of germplasm. The survey was carried-out on the awareness of Integrated Soil Fertility Management practices in the Savelugu Municipal of Northern Ghana to study the awareness of integrated soil fertility management practices amongst farmers through the administration of questionnaires. A multistage method of sampling was used in selecting thirty (30) respondents randomly from five (5) selected communities namely Jana, Yapalsi, Diari, Nabogu and Gushie to make up a total sample size of 150 respondents. Frequency distribution and percentages were used to represent the data. Correlation analysis was used to test for the relationship between awareness, educational level and household size. The survey showed that majority of the respondents at ages between 21 and 30 years were married and majority with household size of 3 to 5 as well as primary and secondary education. Farming activities were carried-out by hand (80%). Majority of the respondents (43.3%) were informed about ISFM through demonstrations and 20% of the farmers apply inorganic fertilizer. About 85.5% of the respondents were aware of ISFM. The research also revealed that ISFM improves production and supports finances of respondents. The assessment of respondents’ perception of ISFM revealed a positive agreement of the effect of ISFM on soil health as well as improved production. In conclusion, it is thus suggested that it is needful for the involvement of the government on the adoption of ISFM via Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) locally and or internationally for a suitable advancement and to guarantee a sustainable environment with a world-wide corporation for improvement.

A relevant and practical research object is analysed in the article – the implementation resolution of green transportation and the benefits of using such means. In this article, object is analysed from the interdisciplinary position, i.e. from the perspective of transportation, one of the logistical subsystems, and sustainable environment. The transportation department is undoubtedly an important guarantor of economic and industrial development. Despite the worldwide importance of transportation in everyday activities, the transportation also poses the risk for human health and life quality, for it is one of the biggest consumer of oil products and significantly contributes towards air pollution. Despite many theoretical and empirical researches, Šiauliai region still lacks an approach towards the implementation possibilities and studies revealing the benefits of green transportation. A comparative analysis has been performed by using the survey data, collected from 402 workers, responsible for transportation, working for Šiauliai regional companies. According to the results of the research for implementation situations of green transport in Šiauliai regional companies, the representatives of regional companies understand the importance of green transport, and more and more companies aim to reduce the environmental risk and to become more competitive. Integrated transportation by combining several means of transport, cargo consolidation by combining small orders and big orders, and ecological driving are the green transportation measures implemented most in regional companies. The typical benefits of green transport are increased environmental friendliness and improved relationship with consumers.

Climate change and environmental deterioration have been recognized as global drivers of change, and the shift to the “greener” economy is the key to sustainable development. The green economy is a priority field for developing and developed economies. However, as the authors of the publication have realised, there is no consensus about the meaning of the green economy and “green” jobs, that is why an uncertainty as in measurement of economic trends and an impact of it, as well as in what skills and competencies should be assigned to the “green” ones, arises. The new “green” processes and technologies are arising in a progressive trend, that is why it is important to ensure there are properly skilled candidates with appropriate “green” skills and competencies on the labour market, as well as to prepare fresh graduates with the “green” skills that will meet requirement of both, the recent and the future companies, especially operating in the “green” sector. In the framework of “SB Bridge” project an online survey was conducted by interviewing the “green” companies to identify which skills and competencies are needed for “green” jobs recently, and whether candidates and fresh graduates are enough with the “green” skills and competencies for fruitful engagement to “green” jobs. As the survey identified, fresh graduates and candidates for “green” jobs lack technical and (or) mechanical knowledge, IT skills, as well as experience and ability to work independently and in the team to resolve arising problems.

Information and communication technologies are part of almost any branch of human lives. During the last decade also beekeeping joined the direction of application of IT tools and solutions and precision beekeeping was defined. Still in the beekeeping many operations and observations are completed manually, and there is a potential to switch to the digital realisation. Information technologies can be used in the beekeeping to partly support the beekeepers by implementation of automatic or semi-automatic solutions for bee colony remote monitoring, apiary record making and other actions. The aim of this paper is to make a summary of the usage of information technology tools by the beekeepers in Latvia, summarizing precision beekeeping development status and conclude about its future development potential. To achieve this aim, in cooperation with Latvian Beekeepers Association, a beekeepers survey was conducted. More than 200 beekeepers shared thoughts and opinions about their application of information and communication technologies for monitoring the bee colonies and apiary management. The summary of the survey conducted is described in this study.

The constructivist approach is based on the idea that knowledge can never be passed from one person to another. The only way to acquire knowledge is to create or construct them. The constructivist approach changes also the role of the teacher in the educational process, the task of them is to organize the environment so that the student himself can construct the cognitive forms that teacher wants to give him. In the paper, the nature of the constructivist approach is identified, different aspects regarding mathematics education are analysed as well as the potential impact on the development of mathematical competences in the context of sustainable development is discussed. The study process and learning methods appropriate to constructivist approach also were studied. In order to illustrate the need for a constructivist approach in mathematics education, the survey of students from Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies (LLU) and Riga Technical University (RTU) were carried out, the results of which proved that mathematics learning at universities has to be changed. The current study proved that the constructivist approach radically changes the process of teaching and learning mathematics, connecting it with daily life, rather than teaching only abstract formulas and using a creative approach to mathematical tasks solving. This study shows that using constructivist approach to the teaching of mathematics, the competences needed for sustainable development are boosted.

An Induction motor reliability survey at an egg processing plant shows that almost 50% of the total motor failures are fan induction motors. Visual investigations of the faulty fan motors show that the main cause of the induction motor failure is air gap eccentricity. In this study, experimental tests are performed on a 1.1kW three-phase induction motor to detect air gap eccentricity and overheating of the induction motor. Heating tests show that end shield housing temperature reaches 100°C with blocked air flow from the fan, which can reduce the lifespan of the bearing. Dimension measurements of the end shield housing show that the dimensions of both tested motors back-end shields are larger than ISO tolerance grade limit. It leads to a loose fit between the housing and bearing, causing air gap eccentricity. Also, both motor back end shield housing has an out-of-round condition leading to an unbalanced magnetic pull. To detect the air gap eccentricity caused by too loose of a fit between housing bore and bearing, current Park’s vector approach is used. To measure three phase current, Hall Effect current transducers, a digital oscilloscope is used and Matlab software to process the measurement data. Results show that Park’s vector approach can be used to detect the air gap eccentricity caused by too loose a fit between bearing and housing. Therefore, the Park’s vector approach can be used to diagnose air gap eccentricity and analyse the type of the air gap eccentricity.