The aim of the present study was to determine the distribution and prevalence of S. tipuliformis in Latvia. In 2008-2009, trials were carried out in blackcurrant plantations aimed at establishing the distribution of S. tipuliformis across the territory of Latvia. To achieve this goal, 13 blackcurrant plantations were surveyed in 2008. The research was continued in three plantations in 2009. To assess of prevalence and level of damage caused by the S. tipuliformis, two methods were used: cutting of branches (five branches were cut from each bush) and pheromone traps with dispensers (distributed in each trial farm with density one trap per ha). The presence of S. tipuliformis was recorded in all 13 horticultural farms surveyed in 2008. Analyses of the branch samples demonstrated that the pest invaded from 3% to 70% of the branches. A total of 2.5 to 35 adults were caught per pheromone trap. The highest proportion of the branches invaded by the S. tipuliformis was in 2008 (70%) and the highest number of males in traps in 2009 was recorded in Jelgava municipality. S. tipuliformis is widely found in blackcurrant growing plantations across the whole territory of Latvia.

Development of fruit growing and fruit science in Latvia has always been closely linked to the development of the whole country. After the founding of the independent Latvia state in 1918, fruit growing developed rapidly. Although in the Soviet times the situation was not favourable for quality fruit growing, research and breeding continued with good results. After Latvia regained independence, private land property rights were restored, and interest in intensive orchard establishment and growing technologies increased rapidly, which demanded change in the research focus. At present, the Latvia State Institute of Fruit-Growing is the leading institution in this field, working in cooperation with Pūre Horticultural Research Centre, Latvian Plant Protection Research Centre, Institute of Agrobiotechology, and Faculty of Food Technology, Latvia University of Agriculture, Laboratory of Plant Mineral Nutrition, Institute of Biology, University of Latvia. Research is carried out in the following directions: breeding and cultivar evaluation; genetics and molecular biology; plant pathology and entomology; orchard management; experimental processing and storage.

The research is a part of the investigation of models assessing investments' allocation of the powerful countries neighbouring Latvia. The main attention is concentrated on the industrial development of Latvia under the territorial cohesion in scope of the Baltic Sea Region. The problem of the attractiveness of Latvia industrial location is analysed applying Gini coefficient for regional specialization and geographical concentration of manufacturing among other sectors of economy and within the three Baltic countries. The authors have examined the variables incurred by the new trade theory of the 20th century and the role of multinational enterprises in the industrial business. The main findings of the research are as follows: among the three Baltic countries, Latvia has experienced a considerable decrease of industrial regional specialization from 2000 to 2011; low economy concentration and productivity level, which indicates that it is early to predict a stable and balanced economy development in Latvia. The paper comprises theoretical discussion on the ratios of the analysed Gini coefficient.

A critically annotated catalogue of Dermestidae species recorded in Latvia is presented. In total, 33 species belonging to nine genera and four subfamilies are confirmed for Latvia. However, some of them, i.e. Dermestes ater DeGeer, D. erichsoni Ganglbauer, D. undulatus (Brahm), Trinodes hirtus (Fabricius), and Globicornis emarginata (Gyllenhal), are known only from old records, and new material is needed to confirm their occurrence in the local fauna. One species, Megatoma graeseri (Reitter, 1887) is recorded in Latvia for the first time. A complete bibliography of Latvian skin beetles is reviewed and analysed. The research history of Latvian Dermestidae is discussed. The Latvian fauna of skin beetles is represented by nine chorotypes. Cosmopolitan (13 or 39.4%) species are predominant in dermestid fauna of Latvia.

Over the past 20 years, there have been a number of considerable aspects in the housing policy of Latvia that affect the development of housing policy in general. In 1995, the Law on Privatisation or State and Local Government Residential Houses'' was adopted. According to the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia data, exactly 20 753 multi-storey apartment houses owned by the state or local government or 53% of the total number of multi-storey residential houses in Latvia were placed under the privatisation process. It should be highlighted that only 20% of the apartment house owners have taken over the house in their possession, while 95% of the apartments are privatised (Database of the Central Statistical Bureau, 2012). The aim of the presented study is a systematic evaluation of the information on dwelling houses’ policy development trends in Latvia from 1995 and regeneration of the national industry in the period after the crisis. The novelty of the study is the assessment of a three-level model for housing management and maintenance in Latvia, which considers the location of houses in the respective area, and full privatisation process of a house consistent with the provisions laid in the Law ''On Privatisation of State and local Government Residential Houses''. Results of the research are going to become the basis for sustainable development of Latvia dwelling houses policy.

Small human-used root cellars are the most widespread bat hibernacula in Latvia, but their importance was hitherto underestimated. We compared bat species diversity and numbers of individuals in root cellars with that in other types of bat hibernacula in Latvia over 35 years. Both species diversity and number of bats hibernating in root cellars were significantly lower than that in other roost types. However, two species, Plecotus auritus and Eptesicus nilssonii, extensively used root cellars as hibernacula. The maximum population size of bat species hibernating in root cellars in Latvia was estimated to be from 27,600 to 42,450 individuals for P. auritus and from 7940 to 12,210 for E. nilssonii. We conclude that root cellars are crucial hibernation sites for P. auritus and E. nilssonii in Latvia.

Based on dairying as an agricultural industry, the authors have tried to find out possibilities that promote balanced regional development in Latvia. After a closer study of the specifics of dairying in Latvia regions, the authors have analysed the use of production resources in dairy pointing out the existing differences in farming among rural areas. In the conclusion, there the authors have accentuated the ways favouring the improvement of production conditions in rural areas and contributing to the wealth and welfare of the producers and the population in rural areas of Latvia regions.

Latvia and Belarus are small countries with limited scope of natural resources. However, the available mineral resources play important role in production of mineral products for domestic and foreign consumption. Main goal of the paper is to characterize the role of extraction industry in national economy and mineral products trade in two neighboring countries – Latvia and Belarus. To achieve the goal, the role of mining and quarrying industry in Latvia and Belarus was identified; trade of mineral resources in Latvia was analyzed. The main trends in the development of its own mineral resources of the Republic of Belarus were identified, the role of mineral resources in the commodity structure of foreign trade of the Republic of Belarus was shown, ways to increase the level of security of the country's own organic and mineral resources were determined, including the improvement of the legal framework. The research was performed in 2012; the following methods were used in the paper: comparative analysis and synthesis, statistical analysis and monographic methods.

The problem of successful government debt management that takes into account economic crises could not be solved without finding of an optimal strategy by means of mathematic simulation. The goal of the present paper is to analyse accumulation of Latvia government debt in the period 1995-2011 and to make prognosis of the debt accumulation in the framework of the borrowing policy that persisted in Latvia during the last decade. For the analysis, three models of government debt accumulation were considered: the two of Domar and the originally proposed crisis model that takes into account periodical changes in the growth rate of national income. The results showed that the crisis model provides the most adequate description of Latvia government debt growth during 1995 - 2011 and predicts a higher government debt to national income ratio and tax burden, required to pay interest on debt, than the alternative Domar's models. For Latvia, given the state borrowing policy will not change in comparison with 2008 - 2010, the tax burden might grow up to nearly 5% in 30 years, which might become intolerable for the economics.

It is known that mobility, lifelong learning, use of the new technological tools and flexible approach to knowledge acquisition requires to search for new methods and to promote the studies program coherence in the European education area. Therefore the development of local and international cooperation in mathematics is topical issue for the Latvia University of Agriculture. To improve the teaching quality by means of exchanging teachers’ experience, to learn about the problems and methods used to solve them in the neighbouring countries, during last three years two cooperation networks were developed: Cross-border network for adapting mathematical competences in the socio-economic development (Latvia University of Agriculture and Siauliai University) and Baltic network in agrometrics (Latvia University of Agriculture, Estonian University of Life Science and Aleksandras Stulginskis University). This article summarizes the past experience of the international cooperation in mathematics generalizing benefits, evaluates the progress achieved at Latvia University of Agriculture and impact on mathematics education development as well as outlines the future directions and possible forms of the cooperation.