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

Maritime crime (piracy and armed robberies against vessels) are challenges to the shipping that have global impact on maritime trade and security. The evolution of this phenomenon is a dynamic process which is characterized by rapid changes both in terms of the number and severity of incidents and in their geographical concentration. This study traces the development of maritime crime over the past 15 years, divided into three 5-year periods. It is performed by analyzing the data collected and published by the International Maritime Bureau, concerning the number, character and location of incidents for the 2008-2022, in order to outline the trends in the contemporary sea piracy and armed robbery.

One of the main continuous processes occurring in the operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP) is the normal provision of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC). The NFC includes all activities performed with Nuclear Fuel (NF) from the time of uranium mining and includes enrichment, fabrication of fuel assemblies, transportation, operation in a reactor plant as well as processing, disposal, storage or disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). The storage and reprocessing or disposal of SNF is the subject of a national strategy for the use of nuclear fuel. In most versions of the nuclear fuel strategies, transport of certain quantities of SNF from the reactor to the designated storage, processing or disposal site is envisaged. This transport may range from a few hundred meters to thousands of kilometers. In practice, land and water transport are mainly used. In both cases, the transport must be carried out in strict compliance with all safety and security requirements

Providing a VVER-1000 type NPP with the required amount of Fresh Nuclear Fuel (FNF) for any Nuclear Reactor System (NRS) energy campaign is of primary importance and is an element of the security of supply and the reliable operation of a NPP. According to the definitions in the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), FNF is dangerous cargo because it contains substances that are permitted for road transportation only under certain conditions. The transportation of FNF on Bulgaria’s roads is carried out in strict compliance with the requirements of ADR.

Cyber warfare nowadays is a new and very important concept of the modern world. After land, sea, air and space, the war has entered the fifth dimension: cyberspace. Some computer glitches or attacks paralyze military e-mail systems, refineries and pipelines explode, air traffic control systems collapse, trains derail, financial data gets misdirected, power grids damaged, satellites go out of control. Worst of all, the identity of the aggressor remains a mystery. The effects of a cyber war are similar to those of a nuclear attack. This requires protective measures and security for the information that circulates in these communication systems and networks and constitutes one of the challenges of today’s time. Threats to communication and information systems have made cyber defense in the field of homeland security an element that must be taken into consideration.

Sensitive information is information, in whatever form, including software, the unauthorized disclosure, modification, alteration, destruction, or denial of use of which could compromise nuclear security. Confidentiality is the property that information is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities or processes. Information security not only includes ensuring the confidentiality of information, but also includes ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the information (its integrity) and the accessibility or usability of the information on demand (its availability).

The possibility that nuclear or other radioactive material could be used for malicious purposes cannot be ruled out in the current global situation. Operators have responded to this risk by engaging in a collective commitment to strengthen the protection and control of such material and to effectively respond to nuclear security events. Nuclear security is fundamental in the management of nuclear technologies and in applications where nuclear or other radioactive material is used or transported. Identification of vital areas is an important step in the process of protecting against sabotage. Vital area identification (VAI) is the process of identifying the areas in a nuclear facility around which protection will be provided in order to prevent or reduce the likelihood of sabotage.

Climate change is causing disasters such as floods, whirlwinds, storms, drought, or other extreme weather events that have not yet occurred in certain areas of the world or have not occurred to such an extent and intensity as it is happening now or is predicted in the foreseeable future. Government and, in particular, crisis management system should reflect these facts in order to prepare itself and the population on such events. People should also be interested in preparing for and adapting to these changes and related crisis events. The aim of the article is to examine preparedness of the population in the Slovak Republic and, in particular, to analyse the barriers to climate change adaptation of the population. For the analysis are used the questionnaire survey results on this topic. The initial results indicate the influence of the population by various barriers and factors.

The material presents a standard scheme of a multimodule multi-position security system and offers an approach for managing the information exchange in it, taking into account the specific location and condition of the individual modules and the functional relationships between them.

The biosphere as a physical space in which there is life, including human life, is quantitatively characterized by population quantities. The population can be described by certain physical laws in thermodynamic approximation with the application of the notion of entropy. Entropy is a term not only purely physical but also universal. It is a criterion for the description of the evolution and development of the unique Biosphere-Human system. The development of human societies as a part component of the Biosphere is subject to the transformations that are the result of technical developments and the technical-scientific revolution in general. These anthropogenic activities lead to the negative effects upon the Biosphere with the accumulations of pollutants both in the atmosphere and in the system as a whole. The entropy of the Biosphere component as a result of the accumulation of pollutants changes over time. Human physical , ecological and social health is at risk, with the further development of pathological states and human health problems. The entropy of the human component is increasing and the entropy of the Biosphere is decreasing, respectively. The decrease in Biosphere entropy is dictated by the disappear of many species of plants and animals as a consequence of the ecological problem. It is necessary to mention that the steady state and the equilibrium state have different meanings. The steady state is described by a very complex stage under the action of multiple factors with a tendency to stabilize parameters that do not vary over time and the system components “adapt” to these stabilized numerical values such as ambient temperature, pressure and constant amounts of species of animals and plants. The equilibrium state is an idea lized case of the system which from a purely thermodynamic point of view is described by maximum entropy. This paper shows that the human entropy increases at the expense of the decreasing of biosphere entropy, a fact of the universal principle of the conservation of energy. The increase in human entropy results to the instability and risk with self-destructive tendencies unless the steady state is not assured. The mechanisms for the obtaining of the steady state are complex and can be based on some rules and principles at a global level with tendencies to use nontraditional energy sources and of the waste recycling with effects of reducing of the accumulation of pollutants in the atmosphere.

The protection of nuclear installations against malicious acts can take a number of different forms. This report addresses only issues related to the sabotage of nuclear facilities – prevention or mitigation of sequences initiated by malicious acts that may have potential radiological consequences. Nuclear power plants have good physical protection systems (PPSs) and procedures, and they are designed to minimize the likelihood of an accident and in the event of an accident, not to release radioactive material in an uncontrolled manner. The objective of this report is to provide methods for evaluating and for proposing corrective actions aimed at reducing the risk related to any malicious act that, directed against a nuclear power plant, could endanger the health and safety of plant personnel, the public and the environment.

The material offers a description of a type of system for counteracting large groups of low-flying targets, established at the Institute of Metal Science, equipment, and technologies with Center for Hydro- and Aerodynamics “Acad. A. Balevski” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences-BAS. Data on its structure, the main tactical and technical characteristics and functions of its main modules and some test results are presented.

In the paper the Author examines some highlighted elements that related to Air Power, however these usually are not merely Air Power specific attributes. Also, they cannot be, because one of the utmost priority of Multi-Domain approach is to unify, almost melt the services or components together. The highlighted topics of the paper are an envisioned command and control system, the Air Force roles in MDO and targeting considerations.