International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

Data literacy has become a core competence for employability and digital transformation in higher education. This study investigates how Albanian students perceive the quality of Data Literacy learning experiences and whether perceptions differ between public and private universities. Survey data were collected within the DELTA project (N = 250). A composite learning quality index was constructed across nine dimensions and demonstrated excellent reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.977). Spearman’s correlation revealed a positive association between perceived learning quality and professional usefulness (ρ = 0.287, p < 0.001). A Mann–Whitney U test indicated a statistically significant difference between institutional types (U = 6478.50, p = 0.048), with public university students reporting higher mean ranks. However, the effect size was small (r ≈ 0.13). The findings underline the importance of structured, practice-oriented learning offers while indicating modest institutional variation in perceived quality.

Quality management is an often-overlooked business factor that represents a strategic pillar for industrial enterprises that aim to strengthen their competitiveness in the national and global markets. This paper examines the contemporary challenges faced by quality management systems in industrial settings, considering digital transformation and integration with Industry 4.0. Key impediments and opportunities are identified, and recommendations for enhancing quality practices are proposed.

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is currently seen as one of the most avantgarde concepts embracing circularity and business cooperation in almost all economic sectors. Industrial Symbiosis processes are novel concepts compared to traditional business models with profit based and business oriented. This paper aims to present key findings and insights from Poland and Albania, both in early stages of IS implementation, as a study within LIAISE COST Action framework. Since the industrialization process for both countries have had similar patterns from their centralized past, they face nowadays similar challenges and barriers. Using a comparative quantitative approach, the findings highlight shared obstacles, including high investments costs, limited awareness of IS benefits, low trust among firms, insufficient coordination mechanisms, and constrained access to finance for collaborative investments. This paper also suggests the importance of tailored policies for each country, as well as the importance of support from public institutions.

A technology, conceptual design for a three-module system for conducting plant protection in greenhouses has been developed. An experimental model of a three-module system for conducting plant protection in greenhouses has been developed.

Locus of control is a construct used to explore and analyze individual’s personality traits in various environments. It is related to how people perceive responsibility for events in their lives and in а professional context. The present study investigates the manifestation and distribution of internal and external locus of control among technicians and engineers employed in a private company specializing in the repair and maintenance of gaming equipment. Locus of control, conceptualized as a stable psychological orientation reflecting individuals’ beliefs about the degree to which they can influence outcomes in their professional environment, is a key determinant of work behavior, motivation, and organizational adaptability. Using a structured survey based on a validated psychological scale, data were collected from employees occupying various technical and engineering positions. The results demonstrate a prevailing tendency toward an internal locus of control, suggesting that most participants perceive work-related outcomes as contingent on their own skills, efforts, and decisions. Statistical analysis reveals that a stronger internal orientation is positively associated with heightened personal responsibility, proactive problemsolving, and greater commitment to assigned tasks. Conversely, respondents with a more external locus of control report lower levels of autonomy and a higher reliance on external factors such as luck, organizational constraints, or management decisions. The findings underscore the importance of locus of control as a psychological resource that contributes to employee effectiveness, motivation, and resilience in dynamic technical work environments. The study highlights the practical implications for human resource management, including the potential benefits of fostering internal control orientations through targeted training, supportive leadership practices, and organizational policies aimed at enhancing employee empowerment.

A study was conducted to determine the irrigation regime and its impact on the yield of three genotypes of greenhouse tomatoes in 2022 at the experimental field of MVCRI – Plovdiv in an unheated steel-glass greenhouse of the Venlo type. The experiment was conducted in three irrigation regimes:
Optimal 100%M, reduced by 25% and increased by 25%, using water-saving technology.
The size of the irrigation norms, the number of irrigations for the growing season and their distribution by development phases for the soil and climatic conditions of the Plovdiv region were determined.
The obtained results for irrigation of greenhouse tomatoes show that 18 irrigations were implemented during the growing season in order to maintain soil moisture between 85-100% of the maximum field moisture capacity for the conditions of Plovdiv from the beginning of May to the end of July.
The size of the irrigation rates by regimes varies from 14.9 to 24.7 mm, and the irrigation rates – from 268 to 447 mm. The maximum irrigation rates during the period with the most significant water consumption can be applied after 3-4 days and satisfy the needs of the plants. The analyzed results of the yields obtained from the three tomato genotypes at different irrigation rates show that the highest total yield of greenhouse tomatoes is formed in the variant with 125% implementation of the irrigation rate, followed by the variant with 100% irrigation rate, and the lowest, in the variant with 25% reduction in the irrigation rate.
Obtaining a good effect from irrigation and the most productive use of irrigation water is possible only when applying an optimal irrigation regime, consistent with the requirements of the crops grown.
A number of studies have been conducted in our country on the limiting factor – water. Their main goal is to establish the best efficiency of applying different irrigation regimes for irrigation under optimal and insufficient water supply. (Kireva et al 2020)
The best results in terms of water use in this crop are obtained when the soil moisture is above 85% of the WHC and is applied to water-saving irrigation techniques. This method fully meets the requirements for sustainable agriculture and ecological fruit production, including ensuring high yields and quality of production, reducing unwanted side effects. (Bucks et al.,1982; Kireva ,2020.)
The results obtained by (Mukherjee, S., et al. 2023) show that physiological characteristics, yield and water productivity are significantly influenced by the irrigation system and soil moisture regime, with drip irrigation improving the average yield of tomatoes by 25%.
It was found that reducing the optimal rate (100% M) with a water stress of 50% (50%M), a significant decrease in yield (13.16%) was observed in greenhouse tomatoes (Wu et al. 2022 ; Lu et al. 2019 ). Alternatively, Wu et al. ( 2022 ) stated that under optimal irrigation conditions, tomato plants produced more fruits than those grown under deficit irrigation.
With the studies of the mutual influence of different irrigation regimes on the yield of tomatoes grown in a polyethylene unheated greenhouse, it was found that the impact of irrigation on yield has a greater effect at higher levels of irrigation rate, (Stoyanova A. et al.,2020; Stoyanova A. et al. 2019).
Studies of the irrigation regime and its influence on the yields of tomatoes grown in plastic greenhouses using drip irrigation are quite scarce, and the studies carried out in our country are for the conditions of the Sofia Field (Aboamera M. 1992; Kireva,; Kireva R.,2020) and for St. Zagora (Stoyanova An. et al. , 2020), which cannot be indicative of other agro-climatic regions of the country, which are characterized by different soil and meteorological conditions. Given the above, it is evident that research is needed to establish the complex influence of the irrigation regime on the quantity and quality of the yield of tomatoes grown in glass unheated greenhouses for the soil and climatic conditions of a region with developed vegetable production, such as Plovdiv. This will be achieved by using principal component analysis to assess the effects of tomato quality and the efficiency of water use and fertilization.
Study objective – determining the irrigation regime and its influence on the yields of greenhouse tomatoes for the region of the city of Plovdiv

The article reviews and evaluates the factors affecting the revenue management system in hotel facilities. Based on the statistical data of the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2005-2023, it is determined here that at the current stage of the digital economy in the globalized world economic system, the service sector is one of the fastest growing sectors compared to other sectors of the economy and responds faster to the socio-economic processes taking place globally. The article reviewed the one-time capacity, room stock, revenue from the sale of rooms and total revenue of hotel facilities of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2006-2023, and calculated the RevPaR indicator, which expresses the efficiency of their services, for these years. The study also conducted a correlation and regression analysis between the RevPAR indicator and revenue from the sale of rooms of hotel facilities in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and determined the extent to which an increase in revenue from the sale of rooms increases the RevPAR indicator of hotel facilities.

The usage of alternative fuels that reduce the emission of harmful components, but do not eliminate their presence (especially nitrogen oxides) will be analyzed in the article. researchers prove that operation process of diesel on standard fuel is characterized by the formation of nitrogen oxides during the combustion of a heterogeneous mixture of diesel fuel and air in those local zones, in which the composition of the mixture is close to the stoichiometric mixture. According to this, an actual problem today is to develop the method of perfect combustion process for diesels, when during the diesel operation the local values of air excess coefficient αi and temperature Ti will not be in the range in which nitrogen oxides and soot are formed. So, converting a diesel engine into gaseous fuel ensures a reduction of toxicity and smokiness in exhaust gases and from this point of view, the values of the air excess coefficient will be considered in accordance with the mode of diesel operation and possibility of using various types of impurities to improve fuel properties and, as a result of their consumption, to improve both, ecological and efficient indicators.

The paper presents a methodology focused on digital entrepreneurship education for bachelor students in economic specialties. The conceptual framework is to present on the one hand a useful model for students who plan to create their own business, and on the other – to focus on the collaboration between academic lecturers and business representatives to combine efforts in teaching that provides practical-applied results and stimulates entrepreneurship initiatives. In this regard, the paper aims to give a foundation for future entrepreneurs to apply key instruments for business digitalization. Based on this educational unit, it is possible for the students to implement a specific technic that will increase their digital competitiveness. The application of the listed tasks in the process of business idea development can be beneficial for students to create start-ups that overcome threats from the external environment and the continuous confrontation with new crisis situations.

In the development of new composite structural elements based on sedimentary rocks (clays) as inorganic binders and foam composite materials, their physical characteristics are presented for the construction of recipe compositions and the determination of their complex new properties. The role of the components of the compositions, together with organic reinforcing fiber materials such as straw, rice husks and others, basic parameters of the technological regime and other factors for ensuring adequate workability of the prepared composite compositions for obtaining building coatings and elements – bricks and panels for building ecological houses – is considered. The determination of the necessary technological characteristics of the composite mixtures ensures their effectiveness.

The aim of the project is to develop a sophisticated production process management system tailored for electric guitar manufacturing. This system will utilize various subsystems to continuously gather data on product quality, semi-finished products, work performance, resource usage and employee status. The system will automatically suggest modifications to the production process, enabling real-time optimization. The project plans to primarily employ non-contact measurement methods, which will be processed in real time and feedback into the production process optimisation.

The article examines the modern processes of development of passenger water transport in the context of the global transport system, and tracks patterns and trends in the development of port infrastructure and cruise shipbuilding in recent years. Environmental problems of various nature arising from the intensive development of cruise shipping, as well as ways to solve them, are
analyzed.