Effective criteria in the public-private partnership in developing countries to apply the sustainable development goals: GAN-based decision support system for the renewable electrical system, case study Syria.

The cost of generating electricity in developing countries surpasses the government's ability to sustain it, necessitating the involvement of the private sector in this service provision through public-private partnerships (PPPs) contracts. In Syria, the electricity system has been highly susceptible to damage as a result of the ongoing crisis, leading to frequent and prolonged blackouts. This research focuses on addressing the need for a comprehensive system that aids decision-making for PPPs contracts in the country. By employing a combination of studies, reports, and interviews with domain experts, significant general and exclusive factors that guide decision-makers in PPPs contracts are identified and organized into questionnaires. These questionnaires are then filled out by professionals engaged in PPPs contracts. The collected data is analyzed and validated using SPSS software. However, due to insufficient data collected, generative adversarial neural networks (GAN) are utilized to enhance the research data. Additionally, Expert Choice and the analytic hierarchy process are employed to calculate weights for each factor. Remarkably, the calculated weights for both general and exclusive factors align with real-life strategies. General factors primarily address the financial and commercial considerations associated with PPPs, while exclusive factors primarily focus on the operational aspects of the electrical power system. These factors are arranged in descending order of effectiveness, enabling stakeholders to determine whether the private sector should be engaged in the project or if it should remain within the public sector's purview. The proposed system has demonstrated its reliability and can serve as a promising starting point for PPPs contracts.

COVID-19 resilience index in European Union countries based on their risk and readiness scale.

Addressing risks and pandemics at a country level is a complex task that requires transdisciplinary approaches. The paper aims to identify groups of the European Union countries characterized by a similar COVID-19 Resilience Index (CRI). Developed in the paper CRI index reflects the countries' COVID-19 risk and their readiness for a crisis situation, including a pandemic. Moreover, the study detects the factors that significantly differentiate the distinguished groups. According to our research, Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta, and Poland have the lowest COVID-19 Resilience Index score, with Croatia, Greece, Czechia, and Slovakia following close. At the same time, Ireland and Scandinavian countries occupy the top of the leader board, followed by Luxemburg. The Kruskal-Wallis test results indicate four COVID-19 risk indicators that significantly differentiate the countries in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the significant factors are not only COVID-19-related factors, i.e., the changes in residential human mobility, the stringency of anti-COVID-19 policy, but also strictly environmental factors, namely pollution and material footprint. It indicates that the most critical global environmental issues might be crucial in the phase of a future pandemic. Moreover, we detect eight readiness factors that significantly differentiate the analysed country groups. Among the significant factors are the economic indicators such as GDP per capita and labour markets, the governance indicators such as Rule of Law, Access to Information, Implementation and Adaptability measures, and social indicators such as Tertiary Attainment and Research, Innovation, and Infrastructure.

Is Corporate Social Responsibility Considered a Marketing Tool? Case Study from Customers' Point of View in the Slovak Food Market.

The paper aims at the question of using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities as a marketing tool from the customers' perspective in the Slovak food market. Five research questions and hypotheses were set to reach the given aim. The research was based on a questionnaire survey with 1254 respondents. The frequency and contingency tables were used to evaluate the obtained data, one sample proportion Z test, Pearson Chi-square test, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Based on the results, although the customers are familiar with CSR, many respondents need to learn more about these activities. CSR activities must be more actively applied and communicated by the food companies. In most cases, Slovak customers perceive the sustainability of food companies and their CSR activities as a marketing communication tool that can build a positive image of the company. At the threshold of the 3rd millennium, CSR is also connected with rationality and irrationality in creating preferences in consumer shopping behavior. While the way that food is produced can be changed through regulation, the communication of CSR and sustainability activities are major drivers for the development of food companies. Trustworthiness is one of the key factors, and customers play a key role in this direction. The solved issue has a huge impact on the success of the food companies in the market, and, therefore, it would be suitable to pay attention to this issue and conduct similar research in other E.U. countries and on their food companies.

Energy Logistic Regression and Survival Model: Case Study of Russian Exports.

The importance of environmental sustainability is becoming more and more obvious, so the rationale behind long-term usage of solely non-renewable energy sources appeared questionable. This study aims to identify, using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and logistic regressions, the main determinants that affect the duration of Russian non-renewable energy exports to different regions of the world. Data were retrieved from the databanks of the World Development Indicators (WDI), World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS), and the French Centre for Prospective studies and International Information (CEPII). The obtained results point to the fact that approximately 52% of energy products survive beyond their first year of trading, nearly 38% survive beyond the second year, and almost 18% survive to the twelfth year. The survival of Russian non-renewable energy exports differs depending on the region, and the affecting factors are of different importance. The duration of Russian non-renewable energy exports is significantly linked to Russia's GDP, Total export, and Initial export values. A decline in Russia's GDP by 1% is associated with an increasing probability of a spell ending by 2.9% on average, in turn growing Total export and Initial export values positively linked with the duration of non-renewable energy exports from Russia. These findings may have practical relevance for strategic actions aimed at approaching both energy security and environmental sustainability.

The moderating role of perceived health risks on the acceptance of genetically modified food.

The public perspective on genetically modified foods (GMFs) has been intensely debated and scrutinized. Often, discussions surrounding GMF tend to revolve solely around the potential health risks associated with their consumption. However, it is essential to acknowledge that public perceptions of genetically modified foods are multifaceted, encompassing environmental concerns, ethical considerations, and economic implications. This paper studies the factors predicting GMF acceptance employing the representative sample of the Czech population (N = 884, aged 18-90 years, M ± SD: 48.17 ± 17.72; 53.40% women, 18.04% with higher education). The research relies on the Behavioral Change Model and the Health Belief Model. We employ hierarchical ordinal regressions to study the effects of information, environmental concerns, perceived health risks, food habits, purchasing habits, and socio-demographics on GMF acceptance. The results suggest that the (un)willingness to purchase GMF is primarily driven by the health risks - the environmental concerns were largely unimportant. The impact of information provision on GMF acceptance proved positive, suggesting information and education to be the main channels of creating public acceptance. The intrinsic interest regarding information related to GMF had an adverse impact on the perception of GMF morality. The benefits of the GMF proved unrelated to the GMF acceptance, indicating the gap in the information campaign. The research provides valuable insights for policymakers, public health professionals, and market researchers to communicate the GMF agenda effectively to the general public.

The predictive ability of emotional creativity in motivation for adaptive innovation among university professors under COVID-19 epidemic: An international study.

Emotional creativity (EC) refers to cognitive abilities and personality traits related to the originality of emotional experience and expression. Previous studies have found that the COVID-19 epidemic and the restrictions imposed increased the levels of negative emotions, which obstructed adaptation. This research suggests that EC predicts the motivation for innovative adaptive behavior under the restrictions of COVID-19. In the case study of university professors, we show that EC predicts the motivation to creatively capitalize on the imposed online teaching in looking for innovative research and personal development. Methodologically, we rely on the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) administered to a sample of 463 university professors (41.5% men, aged 22-100. M ± SD = 45.53 ± 11.46, median 44) from the Czech Republic (N = 137), Slovak Republic (N = 61), and Russia (N = 265). The indicators for motivation for innovative performance included motivations to use distant methods of scientific research, to look for partners for conducting scientific research in other cities or abroad, to conduct interdisciplinary research, starting distance learning to enhance qualifications, and the perception that due to online teaching, there is more time for personal development. We employ a set of ordinal regression analyses controlling for age, gender, position (lecturer, researcher, and manager), type of science (formal, natural, social, and applied), and country. The results suggest that Emotional Creativity and its three components predict the motivation of university professors to creatively capitalize on the imposed online teaching in looking for innovative research and personal development under the conditions of COVID-19. Furthermore, our results confirmed the gender and age differences in EC. The differences in EC according to position (lecturer, researcher, and manager) and type of science were not statistically significant. These results compel us to be aware of the importance of the emotional side of creativity to optimize stress-related behavior under the conditions of limited abilities to continue as usual. More space devoted to the manifestation of all the aspects of emotional creativity would improve adaptation to challenging circumstances and even allow one to capitalize on new opportunities. Moreover, we suggest that if personal intrinsic Emotional Creativity is high, the crises, such as the COVID-19 epidemic, may improve adaptation and trigger creative outcomes.

Does Poland's agri-food industry gain comparative advantage in trade with non-EU countries? Evidence from the transatlantic market.

Accession of Poland to the European Single Market generated trade creation and diversion effects, which in turn resulted in a high degree of concentration of the Polish foreign trade in agri-food products with other EU countries. On the one hand, a high share of export to the markets of countries with a stable market economy is a confirmation of the Polish agri-food sector's capacity to compete on the foreign markets. On the other hand, when considering limited capability to increase food demand in the EU it provides grounds for the assumption that further export expansion to a considerable extent will depend on the potential expansion of sale to non-EU markets. In this context significant issues include diversification of target markets and search for prospective markets outside the EU, while they also determine directions of an advantageous export specialization. In the period up to 2021 the USA was the fourth non-EU export partner of Poland in the agri-food sector after the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Russia. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the level of comparative advantages of the Polish agri-food sector on the EU and US markets in 2004-2021 using Widodo's products mapping technique. The study used statistical data from the ComExt database of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). The conducted studies showed Polish export specializations in the transatlantic trade, as confirmed by high comparative advantages, as well as a positive and steadily improving trade balances for food preparations, including meat, cereal, fruit and vegetable, as well as confectionery preparations, and less processed animal origin products (meat and offal as well as dairy produce). Poland had a disadvantageous competitive position in trade of products complementary in relation to domestic production, which import was necessary. In view of the comparative cost theory the directions of the realized export specialization were rational and should be maintained. While in trade with the other EU countries the competitive position of the Polish agri-food sector was weakened, it was strengthened on the US market. In view of the considerable EU market saturation the improved competitive capacity in the non-EU markets is a positive development, which is a promising finding particularly in the long-term perspective.

Convergence behaviours of energy series and GDP nexus hypothesis: A non-parametric Bayesian application.

With the EU Green Deal initiatives, European members seek to launch the first climate neutral continent by 2050. This paper assesses the stochastic convergence of per capita energy consumption series for an illustrative sample of 15 EU countries with memberships prior to the 2004 enlargement, using data spanning the 1970-2018 period. Results from the confidence interval subsampling (asymmetric and equal-tailed) highlight that 11 out of the 15 EU series exhibit a long-run memory behaviour, while a diverging pattern was observed for the UK, Germany, Portugal, and Italy. Finally, per capita energy use series persist but fail to reveal one of the above dynamics for Ireland and Spain. Also, findings from the non-parametric Bayesian application (ANOVA/linear Dependent Dirichlet Process (DDP) mixture model) show how economic growth operates as a converging energy consumption-enabler over the long-run, from which the EU membership cannot be excluded. In particular, we highlight how the nature of energy-GDP hypotheses vary with the stochastic properties of energy use (converging behaviour with temporary shocks, converging pattern with permanent shocks, and diverging dynamic). Finally, our conclusions overcome the well-established development stage argument as we claim that countries with similar energy convergence patterns may need to adopt similar energy policies.

The technical efficiency of specialised milk farms: a regional view.

The aim of the article is to evaluate production efficiency and its determinants of specialised dairy farming among the EU regions. In the most of European regions, there is a relatively high significance of small specialised farms including dairy farms. The DEAVRS method (data envelopment analysis with variable returns to scale) reveals efficient and inefficient regions including the scale efficiency. In the next step, the two-sample t-test determines differences of economic and structural indicators between efficient and inefficient regions. The research reveals that substitution of labour by capital/contract work explains the variability of the farm net value added per AWU (annual work unit) income indicator by more than 30%. The significant economic determinants of production efficiency in specialised dairy farming are farm size, herd size, crop output per hectare, productivity of energy, and capital (at α = 0.01). Specialised dairy farms in efficient regions have significantly higher farm net value added per AWU than inefficient regions. Agricultural enterprises in inefficient regions have a more extensive structure and produce more noncommodity output (public goods). Specialised dairy farms in efficient regions have a slightly higher milk yield, specific livestock costs of feed, bedding, and veterinary services per livestock unit.