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AbstractThe article describes the process of deep aerobic mineralization of activated sludge in municipal wastewater treatment plants using a complex of aerobic heterotrophic and autotrophic microorganisms, including denitrifiers.

Knowledge about a wide variety of aspects is fundamental for the safe management and disposal of radioactive waste. This importance of Knowledge Management (KM) is also recognised by EURAD, the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), which brings together over 100 organisations from different countries and backgrounds (Waste Management Organisations, Technical Support Organisations, and Research Entities). This vast resource of expertise and experience feeds into several dedicated EURAD KM programme activities. One of these activities, led by Work Package 11 State-of-Knowledge (WP11 SoK), is capturing experts’ views on the current State-of-Knowledge on topics relevant to RWM and making this knowledge accessible through dedicated documents. For this, EURAD has developed the “Goals Breakdown Structure” (GBS), which provides a framework in which topics are structured thematically, as well as a hierarchy of documents that allows accessing knowledge on different levels of detail (seeEURAD Roadmap). To make this knowledge available, EURAD is currently developing a Wiki (i.e., a web-based resource that allows access to knowledge and collaborative interactions) and is drafting a sustainable Knowledge Management System and other supportive KM-IT tools while already feeding the tools with content. This article gives an insight into the general EURAD KM concept, the approaches used, and the results obtained until EURAD’s mid-term, after 2.5 years.

Innovation is the engine and accelerator that drives high-quality economic and enterprise development. In recent years, the output of scientific and technological innovation in China has been high, but the phenomenon of low efficiency and low quality of innovation occurs frequently. In this study, first, technological innovation efficiency (TIE) was measured. Then, a dynamic evaluation and analysis of spatial-temporal characteristics of efficiency were performed. Lastly, the driving factors of innovation efficiency were explored. TIE was calculated dynamically in 30 provinces of China from 2011 to 2019 based on the improved super-efficiency SBM-DEA model. Then, the kernel density estimation method was adopted to analyse the spatial-temporal differentiation characteristics and dynamic evolution process of provincial efficiency. The findings confirm that from 2011 to 2019, the top five provinces for TIE in China were Beijing (1.0), Shanghai (0.96), Hainan (0.96), Jilin (0.94) and Tianjin (0.91). The provinces with lowest average efficiency were Qinghai (0.77), Ningxia (0.73) and Inner Mongolia (0.73). The significant differences in the level of technological innovation in different regions were caused by the long-term and in-depth implementation of the government’s strategy of revitalising science and driving innovation in parts of areas. The findings of kernel function confirm that the TIE in most parts of China was gradually polarised. Furthermore, the results show that for every 1 unit of government R&D funding support, the average marginal utility of the expected TIE will reach 0.192, which is more significant in the central and western regions. On this basis, combined with environmental factors of innovation market, infrastructure, financing and enterprise innovation potential, the article also extracts the driving factors that affect the differences in provincial efficiency. The findings provide a reference for guiding provinces to carry out innovation activities independently and improve innovation quality and efficiency.

Abstract The article emphasizes the importance of organic production development in the agricultural sector of the Ukrainian economy and substantiates that one of the important priorities of agribusiness is organic production, which is mainly export-oriented, and therefore is the fundamental basis for the sustainability of the foreign economic activity of its farmers. An increase in organic production, in particular cattle products, is accompanied by additional methane emissions (but lower than those from nonorganic production), while Ukraine, having joined the Global Methane Pledge initiative to reduce methane emissions, has committed to taking measures to reduce its methane footprint and consequently the decision to invest and/or provide government support for development programs should be based on historical analysis using a decoupling approach. The trends of changes in the average annual livestock population, the livestock production volume and dynamics of methane emissions have been studied for the period of 1990-2019. A decoupling analysis has been carried out of the gap between trends of the economic growth rates of the livestock industry and the rates of anthropogenic pressure on the environment. The study demonstrated that the decoupling effect in cattle breeding has changed abruptly from strongly negative to weak decoupling. The dynamics of the export volume of dairy and meat products were analysed for the agribusiness of Ukraine during 2004-2021 and a forecast of changes in production volumes, as well as a forecast for the export volume of milk and beef were made for the period up to 2030.

PurposeThe world society as a whole and Ukraine are realizing that climate change and decarbonization are critical issues. This study aims to determine whether the aviation and transportation industries in Ukraine have rearranged their priorities as a result of this investigation. The process of decarbonization and adaptation begins with a legislative point of view and then moves on to technology, improvements, infrastructure, energy and emissions stages to meet the primary goals.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis of the content of the literature about decarbonization and the legislation and application processes for airport de-carbonization in Ukraine. The study focuses on the landing and take-off cycle of the airports. The statistics on the transportation of the Ukrainian territory have been looked at over time to determine whether or not there have been any shifts.FindingsThere are significant reduction figures found in the Poltava region. Double-figure emissions reductions in four years of series are 5.9%, 41.0% and 19.3%, in the respective years of 2018, 2019 and 2020, which is a 55.3% reduction compared with 2020 to 2017.Practical implicationsBecause the transportation industry and aviation generate a significant amount of carbon dioxide, steps must be taken to cut emissions. The decarbonization process ought to proceed in the form of a series of actions to achieve carbon reduction goals with a broader range of participants. In addition, an aviation subsidy for biofuels may be required to initiate the shift by having the taxation change.Originality/valueAs far as the literature surveys, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive Ukrainian decarbonization analysis that considers legislation, technology, improvements, infrastructure, energy and emissions in addition to just those four categories.

Introduction. Military conflicts cause a lot of destructive influences not only on the political situation in the country but of course on its the financial system. That’s why in this article, the main emphasis of the research was done on risk-ratio analysis of the Ukraine and Israel economies since the role of military budget expenditures in the whole financial system is growing. Military finance is one of the biggest components of the financial system of Ukraine. So, according to the nowadays situation and military conflict in Ukraine appears the necessity of searching for new ways to increase this kind of expenditures efficiently.  Aim and tasks. The problem of the research was to measure risks of the economies according to the GDP trends and to find the place of the military expenditures in all government expenditures. Results. In the research results, it should be mentioned that the most difficult approach for comparing is the international currency, which is weighed against the depreciation of cash flows in time. However, the research used the current exchange rate for convenience. But, this does not have a significant effect on the interpretation of the results of the research, presented in the form of a CAPM analysis of the economies of countries and their defense expenditures. After all, trends are generally observed over a period of time that has been analyzed. The general state of financial systems in the regions was analyzed as the value of volatility, aggregate risks and the overall growth of the economy. The US GDP, as for an example of the largest economy in the world, served as a comparative basis. It correlates and affects all other financial markets. The obtained results made it possible to draw conclusions about the attractiveness of the state for potential investors, despite armed conflicts with neighbors in the territory and areas of influence on the regions under control. In this paper, a standard statistical analysis package was used using an example of linear regression with one variable. The power of the influence of military expenditures was measured by the ratio of variables and their correlations. The obtained results were characterized by a high level of interconnection power and reliability of the hypotheses obtained. This gives an opportunity to describe the role of military conflicts and support the Armed Forces for the state economy. Conclusions. The result of the presented research of the role of support and financing of the Armed Forces as one of the key elements of the stability of the Ukrainian economy and ensuring its sustainable growth is the sustaining of the military expenditures for Ukraine. The presented conclusion was approved on the Israel example and calculations. This approach and methodology is universal and can be used for other researches.

The work is devoted to the analysis of the current state and prospects of modernization of the fuel and energy complex and investments in renewable energy in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Ukraine, adaptation of an economic and mathematical model adequate to this process, allowing for rational distribution of investments, which in Ukraine plans to attract to development of the energy system and renewable energy as part of the implementation of the strategy “Vectors of Economic Development 2030”, the collection of potential sources of funds for the development and construction of thermal power plants using alternative fuels on the basis of existing heat supply enterprises in Ukraine. In the article it is recommended to use the add-in “Search for a solution” MS Excel for performing calculations according to the proposed deterministic model of a partially integer linear programming problem with boolean variables. As a result of the implementation of the proposed approach, moderate protection of the main producers (network operators) – heat supply utilities will be provided and market conditions for independent producers will be created, the operator will be encouraged to increase the efficiency of its own production.

Protected areas are necessary for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. Wildfires are major threats to forests and other natural areas, because they may cause irreversible damages. The aim of this study was to analyze the perspective of experts (N = 284), from six countries of the Black Sea, on the current status and problems of protected areas and wildfires. Understanding their points of view could enhance future management on these issues in the region. Data collection was carried out for 9 months, using a web-based questionnaire. Wildfires were perceived as a serious problem in Turkey, Armenia and Greece but as a substantially less serious problem in Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. In Greece, Armenia, and especially Ukraine, the current designated protected areas are considered sufficient to maintain biodiversity, while in Romania, Turkey, and especially Moldova, more areas should be designated as protected. A major need in all countries (except for Turkey) is the increased use of information and communication technologies for both wildfire suppression and protected area management. Experts were divided on whether wildfire suppression and management of protected areas are interconnected. However, there is growing awareness of the adverse impacts of climate change in protected areas and the frequency of wildfires in the future. The most frequently suggested measures to alleviate these impacts were: changes in forest management and increasing public awareness for wildfire suppression, along with changes in forest management and increased staff training to enhance protected area conservation.