A regional analysis of performance indicators for Latvian business incubators provides a valuable insight into the performance of the business incubator ecosystem in various regions and helps to make future policy decisions on providing funding for the incubators that aim to support the growth and success of start-ups. The present research performed a regional analysis of operational programmes for two periods from 2007 to 2021. The strengths and weaknesses of Latvian business incubators across various regions of Latvia could be identified based on the analysis. This can help to make policy decisions and guide resource allocation to contribute to the development of the business incubator ecosystem in the future.

The topic of this article is relevant because in Lithuania the assessment of the area occupied by plantations and green spaces has shown that the area standards do not meet the requirements and recommendations of the World Health Organization. Green spaces are regulated differently in different countries of the European Union. Lithuania has also developed a legal framework for the protection, management and establishment of new plantations and green spaces. However, this legal framework is improving and new laws are being added to it. Comparative, analytical, as well as statistical, and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The data of the Land Fund of the Republic of Lithuania for 2002–2022 were used for comparative investigation. The aim of this article is to perform an analysis of the change in the trees and shrubs greenery area of Lithuania in 2002–2022. In Lithuania, for example, trees and shrubs occupied 84,687.48 ha in 2002. In 2022, the plantation area amounted to 208,609.48 ha. From 2002 to 2022 the area of tree and shrub plantations in Lithuania increased by 123,922.00 ha or 146.33%. The analysis shows that in the period between the years 2002 and 2022 the biggest increase in the area of shrubs and plantations took place in Utena County (32,715.83 ha or 395.27%), but the smallest increase in Tauragė County (2,642.93 ha or 37.69%) and Marijampolė County (4,581.39 ha or 72.25%). The development of plantation areas has been positively influenced by the creation of an appropriate legislative framework and the implementation of plantation programs in counties and municipalities.

Tourists’ environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB) in response to climate change is a topic that is becoming increasingly important during the Covid-19 pandemic as people’s values change. Tourism is facing an economic downturn and now is the time to prepare for a new upswing. Meanwhile, a new narrative is needed in response to climate change, as tourism is a net polluter of the environment. That is why tourist ERB studies are becoming more and more relevant in the world, including Latvia, too. The objective of this paper is to determine the ERB of tourists in response to climate change. The questionnaire included 30 research questions and generated 383 answers from respondents from the Vidzeme region of Latvia. Several research methods were used in the study: descriptive and correlation method, KMO and BARLETT’S, Cohen’s Kappa and Cronbach’s alpha tests, Exploratory factor analysis and Principal Components Analysis. The study found that the factors attitude, behaviour, awareness, control, environmental knowledge, experience and values influence tourists’ ERB; however, environmental knowledge and experience show a slight advantage. To direct the continuation of the research towards the creation of the tourism ERB model in Latvia.

Ecosystem services (ES) have been widely researched for several years, but cultural ecosystem services (CES) have gained importance in recent years due to pressure on human well-being and public health. This literature review aims to continue research about ES assessment methods used in the valuation of landscape quality, analysing methods for CES assessment. The most assessed CES is aesthetic value being one of the most appreciated and widely known CES. Landscape quality assessment is complicated and rarely assessed, but several methods evaluate separate features of landscape quality, which gives an insight into accessible methods for landscape valuation. In this article, methods are analysed and categorised into four groups – economic, spatial evaluation, social and statistical analysis. Most analysed articles use several methods in one assessment giving more precise results. In CES assessment, the most used method is surveys and questionnaires and usually incorporating mapping methods to spatially explicitly represent the data.

One of the most important problems of modern education is low achievement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. Poor performance in mathematics is a serious problem in many countries. In order to improve the effectiveness of mathematics studies, it is more important to improve such key factors as students’ learning self–efficacy and learning initiative. This study is devoted to students’ learning initiative and the factors influencing it. It is the insufficiency of students’ regular learning initiative in the study process that is the basis of the fact that students are not sufficiently prepared for the final exam. Based on the research results of the scientific literature, a questionnaire was created that investigated the students’ learning initiative and factors that could improve it – attitude towards mathematics studies, motivation, as well as emotional factors that are often related to Causal attributions. The research was conducted at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, surveying students of various specialties and various courses. Fisher’s exact test of independence is used to determine whether there is a significant relationship between two categorical variables – the respective factors and performance on the math completion test. The results show that one of the main causes is a low self–assessment of mathematics competence, which in turn affects motivation and attitude towards mathematics studies and slows down learning initiative.

Today in Ukraine, a digital transformation of the educational system of higher education is taking place at a rapid pace, in which information and communication technologies are not becoming an additional ʻload’ in learning, but an integral part of a comprehensive educational process, which increases its efficiency. At the same time, there are a number of challenges, including such specific ones as unprovoked military aggression, which complicates the process of entry of higher education in Ukraine into the global educational digital environment. To assess the significance of the digitalization of the educational system of higher education in Ukraine in specific conditions, to analyse the attitude of the teaching staff and students to online education, to establish technical means of participation in the educational process, to determine the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning through the prism of the experience of teaching staff and students, we used three main methods: the survey method, the method of analysis and synthesis, the graphical method. As a result of the study, the authors revealed the general concept of digitalization and its educational dimension; identified the main challenges faced by higher education institutions in the digital environment; determined the impact and scale of military aggression by the Russian Federation on the activities of Ukrainian universities; established the features of training in the digital environment by institutions of the higher education of Ukraine.

Northern Europe will be one of the locations where the renewable energy from forests could displace fossil fuels as a result of climate change: therefore, it will become more crucial to maintain renewable materials that also collect CO2. By taking tree biomass out of forest stands, we could create more renewable resources to use in practice, but this has certain negative effects on the forest ecology, including nitrogen leaching and vegetation degradation. The goal of the study is to investigate the effects of full biomass removal (FBR) in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) forest stands and how this forest management affects vegetation regeneration, tree stock and carbon storage overall. The aforementioned structures were assessed at various forest ages. The central region of Latvia contains Norway spruce stands with all of the sample sites under study situated on drained peaty mineral soils and weakly aerated gleyic soils. As a result of the long-term evaluation, it was determined that the forest vegetation in FBR was similar to that in the same-age control stand (SAC) and that vegetation can successfully regenerate. The average tree height and DBH is lower in areas where stump removal and understory biomass was not carried out. Statistically significant (p<0.05) long-term influence of stump removal on the average height and diameter of Norway spruce can be identified in all parameters, except, tree height in Myrtillosa mel. forest type. Total biomass removal in long term has almost no significant effect on tree stand and vegetation regeneration.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease whose prevalence in the world is increasing every year. To improve the life quality of diabetes patients and achieve better treatment results, adjusted food products with lower carbohydrate quantities are necessary. Primarily fructose is used in products for diabetes patients, but fructose increases obesity risk. The aim of the study is to evaluate available scientific articles on potential natural sweeteners for the substitution of fructose in food products for people with diabetes. Natural sweeteners could be a good alternative to fructose, they decrease product glycaemic index and positively influence the health of diabetes patients. Stevia is a plant used in food production for obtaining sweet taste. Glycosides extracted from stevia are food additives, i.e. sweeteners. Stevia decreases sugar levels and improves insulin secretion, it has antibacterial and antioxidative features. The use of stevia in food production causes a bitter aftertaste of products. To disguise the bitter aftertaste, other natural sweeteners are added to stevia. Thaumatin is a sweet protein used in food production. To improve product taste, polyols and other natural sweeteners are added. Polyols are a good alternative for fructose substitution because they slightly influence sugar levels in the blood and they have high chemical thermal stability. Products containing different combinations of several natural sweeteners possess the best sensory features. The research results show that stevioside, rebaudioside, thaumatin, and polyols are good alternatives for fructose substitution in products. To clarify how sweeteners, influence food product features additional researches are necessary.

Mortality rates and co-morbidities are high in people with psychiatric disorders. These patients have unhealthy dietary habits, which include increased consumption of fast food, snacks, sweets, saturated fats, and reduced consumption of protein, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, which contributes to the risk of developing chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Unhealthy and monotonous eating habits lead to a significant lack of nutrients such as protein, omega-3 fatty acids, B-group vitamins, and fibre. The aim of the literature review is to investigate the main diet problems of patients with psychiatric disorders and, based on the studies on the nutritional value of legumes, to evaluate their suitability for the development of new products for patients with psychiatric disorders. Studies show the beneficial effects of legumes on the regulation of rapid fluctuations in cholesterol, blood pressure, excess body weight, and glucose levels, which in general delay the formation of inflammation and reduce the risk of psychiatric disorders. The benefits of legumes are due to their high protein and fibre content, low fat content, and content of iron, copper, magnesium, zinc, and B-group vitamins. In addition, legumes contain bioactive compounds that contribute to the prevention of chronic diseases.

Two recombinant influenza A virus vectors expressing the ESAT 6 and TB10.4 mycobacterial proteins from the non-structural (NS) gene were constructed via reverse genetics technique to develop a specific means of prophylaxis for bovine tuberculosis. We experimented to determine optimal conditions for growing recombinant vectors in Vero cell culture and chick embryos. This study established that the maximum amount of virus builds up in a Vero cell culture with the Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) serum-free medium. However, using cell culture to produce vector vaccines is labour-intensive and inefficient. An alternative way, a traditional, time-tested technique, is provided by growing samples in chick embryos. One of the advantages of this technique is its affordability and availability, enabling easy scale-up of vaccine production. In the optimization experiments, the FLU-ΔNS_ESAT 6 and FLU-ΔNS_ТВ10.4 viruses constructed were inoculated into 10-day-old chick embryos. It was determined that the optimal incubation temperature that led to the highest virus build-up was 37 ± 0.5 °С. And the infectious activity level of the FLU-ΔNS_ESAT 6 recombinant vector was at 8.95 ± 0.07 log10EID50 0.2 cmE−3, while that of the FLU-ΔNS_ТВ10.4 was at 9.20 ± 0.07 log10EID50 0.2 cmE−3, what was provided by infectious doses of 1000–10000 EID50 , which makes it possible to create a virus-containing material with a hemagglutination activity level of 1:64. The size of recombinant vector amplicons expressing proteins ТВ10.4 and ESAT 6 was 1170 bp and 1175 bp, respectively. Electron microscopy images confirm that the developed virions are morphologically similar to the avian influenza virus.