The book deals with the conference participants’ reports in following veterinary medicine themes: 1) Antimicrobial resistance. Valda Sējāne (Latvia); 2) Dry disinfection - an important part of biosafety. Szymon Burchardt (Poland); 3) Persistent right aortic arch - surgical operation in dog. Aigars Briņķis (Latvia); 3) Juvenile sterile pyogranulomatous dermatitis (Juvenile cellulites). Alla Maskoļonoka (Latvia); 4) Application of the newest veterinary medicine technologies in pet animals in Latvia. Gustavs Krauklis, Guntars Avdoško (Latvia); 5) Lens luxation in dogs. Līga Kovaļčuka (Latvia); 6) Systemic histiocytosis case in kurzhaar (description of clinical case, disease theoretical description, principles of treatment). Kristīne Drevinska (Latvia); 7) Systemic histiocytosis case in kurzhaar: histological diagnostic, pathological sight. Ilze Matīse-VanHoutana (USA, Latvia); 8) External ear canal ablation in cat. Miervaldis Kļaviņš (Latvia); 9) The complications after cystocentesis in cat Patric. Marina Hitrova (Latvia); 10) Detection of mastitis pathogen by molecular analysis PathoProof Mastitis PCR Assay. Ivars Lūsis, Diāna Ruska (Latvia); 11) Nobivac Canine vaccination - a best practice approach.

In the European Union, including Latvia, catering services are the largest industry in the hospitality sector. The industry of catering services generates the largest part of value added and the majority of jobs in the hospitality sector. The research hypothesis is that the development of catering enterprises is unequal across the regions of Latvia, and various factors having different correlative interrelations affect it. The research aim is to investigate the factors affecting the development of catering enterprises in Latvia. According to the research result, low-turnover micro enterprises dominate in the industry of catering services in Latvia, and the number and proportion of enterprises of this size tend to increase. Medium and large catering enterprises in Latvia are concentrated in Riga region. The geographic distribution of catering enterprises in the regions of Latvia is uneven: the highest concentration of enterprises is in Riga region. In the period of 2005-2010, the number of enterprises has increased in the regions but these changes were insignificant. In Latvia, the number of catering enterprises per 1000 inhabitants significantly lags behind that in other European countries. A correlation analysis showed that household expenses on restaurants, cafes, and hotels (r=0.97); the number of visitors in tourist accommodations (r=0.93); food expenses of foreign overnight travellers (r=0.91); the number of foreign visitors in tourist accommodations (r=0.74); and household expenses on food and non-alcoholic beverages (r=0.65) affected the turnover of catering enterprises in Latvia. However, the number of residents (r=0.78) and the average net monthly wage of employees (r=0.53) affected the number of catering enterprises in Latvia. An analysis of the factors affecting the development of catering enterprises showed that during the economic crisis, households in Latvia concentrated their economic resources for satisfying their primary needs by reducing their expense on eating outside their home. The overnight traveller expense on food declined in Latvia, thus, the demand for services of catering enterprises also fell. After comparing the number of visitors in tourist accommodations in the regions of Latvia and the number of catering enterprises in the regions of Latvia, a causal relationship was observed – the number of catering enterprises was greater in the regions having a greater number of visitors in tourist accommodations.

One can reasonably argue that issues related to the increased use of renewable energy resources in the energy production processes in Latvia, are at the forefront and will remain there in the future. This relates to the aspect that Latvia is not rich in non-renewable energy resources (around 70% of total primary energy consumption in Latvia is ensured by import, which can lead to undesired effects in many areas), but at the same time, there are available renewable energy resources in Latvia, with an untapped potential to be recognized. In particular this applies to fuel wood, which is already (year 2012) the most important domestic fuel in Latvia. In this context it is important to emphasize that, according to the particular study results, if unexpected socio-economic developments do not take place, raw wood material resources required for different types of fuel wood production in Latvia should be available in the same amount as it is now if not more. As for increasing the amount of fuel wood use in Latvia, an enormous ‘potential’ can be seen in general use boiler houses, where there are currently no technological limitations to utilize this ‘potential’. General use cogeneration plants can be recognized as an even greater ‘potential’ for greater use of fuel wood in Latvia, but given the circumstances of energy supply in Latvia, the ‘potential’ is currently available on a very limited basis. At the same time it is important to note that both of these ‘potentials’ could be significantly reduced in the next few years.

Agriculture and manufacture of food products is important source of employment in Latvia. The number of people engaged in agribusiness has considerably decreased over the past years in Latvia. Therefore the paper seeks to analyze the existing situation in utilization of agricultural potential, as well as to evaluate the role of agribusiness potential in maintenance of rural employment in Latvia. The potential is analyzed in the context of the productivity of the persons employed in agribusiness, land use and the self-sufficiency level with the main food products in Latvia. The value added in Latvian agribusiness is very low in comparison with other EU countries, indicating low labour productivity in Latvia. The potential of agricultural land is also not fully utilized in Latvia, which gives basis to consider obtaining of higher agribusiness output in Latvia at the expense of inclusion of additional land resources. The development of the potential of Latvian agribusiness is to be associated with the satisfying of demand for meat in local market and increase in the supply of dairy products on export market. Considering the necessity to reach at least the EU average labour productivity, even the full utilization of agricultural potential is not sufficient for the maintenance of rural employment in Latvia at the level close to current. The decrease in employment in the agribusiness of Latvia cannot be stopped, even more – it is possible that it will continue provoke the decrease also in other sectors of economic activity, namely – sectors of public and private services provided to people in rural space.

There are several aspects which are critical for the successful formation of an inclusive information society – accessibility, skills and content. In this article these aspects are analyzed as well as the projects which have made their contribution in inclusive society in Latvia and which are carried out in collaboration between private and public sector. All these projects are important also in a sense that they decrease the digital gap between urban and rural areas in Latvia. One of these projects is “Father's Third Son“ by means of which the Internet access was made available at all public libraries in Latvia, had librarians trained in digital skills and client oriented attitude as well as eContent was developed. Another project analysed in this article “is Latvia @ World“ which also was aimed to diminish the digital and social gaps in society by means of providing acquisition of digital skills for almost 100.000 members of disadvantaged groups. The third project is “Get Online week“ which is a Europe-wide campaign to get new computer users online. More than 200 governmental, industry and municipal partners in 2010 were involved in organization of this campaign in Latvia, ensuring Latvia to be the most active of all of the European countries. In Latvia, we are ready in collaboration with private and public sector to contribute to Digital agenda goals and achieve that every citizen of Latvia is digitally literate.

This paper discusses some aspects of introducing a new agricultural crop in Latvia – truffles Tuber spp. Truffles are mycorrhiza–forming mushrooms with edible fruit bodies developing in the upper layer of soil. In Latvia, there is a growing interest among farmers to start cultivate truffles. From several cultivated truffle species, the Burgundy truffle Tuber aestivum syn. T. uncinatum is the most suitable to cultivate in Latvia. There are both autochthonous and introduced tree species in Latvia, which are suitable for the Burgundy truffle cultivation and it is suggested to use Quercus robur, Corylus avellana, Tilia cordata and Fagus sylvatica. In order to find the regions in Latvia with the highest potential for successful Burgundy truffle cultivation, climate and soil characteristics had been co-analysed. By superimposing soil and climate maps of Latvia, the most suitable regions for truffle cultivation are situated in the central and southern part of the country. Considering the variability in soil composition even within regions in Latvia, it is thereafter also of great importance to investigate site-specific soil characteristics in order to find the most favourable grounds for truffle cultivation. Other truffle species which might be suitable for cultivation in the future are also discussed, as well as some general recommendations in establishing truffle orchards.

Sesleria caerulea is a European species with disjunct distribution range. In recent years it has been documented that the number of Sesleria caerulea localities is decreasing in the northern part of Latvia. During the research work the data from the main herbarium collection in Latvia had been analysed. The distribution map has been prepared using 5 x 5 km grid (programme ArcView 9.2). The inventory of several localities in Ziemeļvidzeme (North Latvia) was carried, out and 15 topsoil samples were collected. Pollen analysis has been made to find out the time when Sesleria caerulea has appeared in Latvia for the first time. There are following conclusions: Sesleria caerulea occur mainly in the western part of Latvia. The species has disappeared from several localities in Ziemeļvidzeme. Climatic and edaphic factors could be a reason for limited distribution of these species in the territory of Latvia. Sesleria caerulea is an oceanic species. Moderate moisture conditions is the most suitable for species, and the optimum pH ranges from 6 to 6,4.

In 2009-2010, random samples of the causal agent of barley powdery mildew were collected in Daugavpils (south-eastern Latvia, Latgale region), Stende (north-western Latvia, Kurzeme region) and Priekuļi (north-eastern Latvia, Vidzeme region). Virulence frequency, complexity and pathotypes were calculated in the pathogen populations. Significant differences of virulence detected by the genes Va1, Va3 and Va13 occurred among samples of the pathogen population collected in different parts of Latvia. Nei index, Müller's index, Kosman index, Shannon index and Simpson index showed considerably higher diversity in Daugavpils and Stende during 2009-2010. In Daugavpils, the population of Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei was particularly characterised by high diversity.

Rabies has been a serious animal and public health threat in Latvia since 19th century. Foxes and raccoon dogs are main rabies virus reservoirs in Latvia since 1963. Oral vaccination of wildlife (ORV) has been recognized as an effective tool to eliminate rabies in several countries in Europe. Despite of the implementation of three different ORV strategies in Latvia since 1991 rabies cases are still detected. The aim of this study was to analyse cost efficiency of ORV strategies implemented in Latvia. The results of our study reveal that only large-scale ORV strategy decreased rabies cases continuously comparing to other strategies and is therefore considered as cost-effective.

The accessibility of information in foreign languages (basically English, German and Russian) promotes Riga (and Latvia) as a foreign tourist destination. The goal of the study is to determine the accessibility of Riga (and Latvia) as a tourist destination from a foreign language perspective. The tasks of the research are to conduct an empirical study of the accessibility of Riga (and Latvia) as a tourist destination from a foreign language perspective. The following methods are used: the research of theoretical literature and sources, empirical methods (an experiment, expert interviews). The result of the empirical study of Riga as a tourist destination proves that Riga and Latvia are foreign tourist unfriendly from a foreign language perspective: the amount of visual information meant for foreign visitors is insufficient, the foreign language command of employees in the sector of tourism service is rather poor. A foreign tourist must be well prepared for a visit to Latvia, previously collecting information in web pages as well as consulting the local tourist information centres and travel agencies.