• Development of automation in Bulgaria in the 20th century

    pg(s) 33-35

    In the 8th decade of the 20th century, a state program was implemented to automate the entire production in the spirit of scientific and technical progress. More than 160 types of systems for the automation of technological processes have been developed, including individual high-performance machines, industrial robots and manipulators, managed with the most advanced microprocessor technology for its time, subsequently implemented in pilot complex automated workshops and production areas in various economic sites of the country. Prioritizing the production of means of automation of technological processes intensifies machine-building, intellectualizes labor and increases its productivity. Gradually, with our forces and means, experience and a base for further design and implementation of flexible automated production systems in all branches of industry are created. The achieved technical and organizational experience guarantees the membership of Bulgaria in the Permanent Commission on Mechanical Engineering at the SIV and its coordinating role in agreements for multilateral specialization and scientific and technical cooperation in the field of industrial manipulators and robots.

  • Integration of multi-vector training of university students on the basis of short-term educational programs built in the scientific process – minors

    pg(s) 31-32

    The experience of increasing the competitiveness of university graduates, including contributing to the solution of the state task of creating new jobs, is considered. The task is solved by introducing the minor into the educational process aimed at developing the entrepreneurship competencies of students. The minor is based on the disciplines of the initial courses of the curricula of technical specialties and fits well into the educational process.

  • Institutional Risks in Bulgarian Political Life: 2020-2022

    pg(s) 28-30

    The text is focused on the crises in contemporary Bulgarian political life in the last two years and the institutional risks they hide. Special attention is paid to the distrust of the public in parliamentary democracy and the unwillingness of political parties to take responsibility in crisis situations. The role of President Rumen Radev and the importance of the presidential institution in the regime of caretaker governments are highlighted.

  • Ten facts about American policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict under President Joe Biden

    pg(s) 24-27

    The Israeli-Palestinian conflict (originally Israeli-Arab conflict) has been of interest to the current and former American presidents. The long-agreed U.S. policy regarding finding a solution to the conflict – the two-state solution, through a series of decisions, has been undermined by Donald Trump. Joe Biden, the current American president, has reversed, frozen, and continued some of Trump’s decisions to establish a new Israeli-Palestinian conflict environment aimed at restarting negotiations between the conflicted parties. A comparative analysis of Trump’s and Biden’s approach towards the conflict strengthened by the analysis of a formal White House document allows for the presentation of the current administration’s policy towards the conflict and the actors of the conflict. In this paper I have presented an analysis of ten vital aspects of Biden’s policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during his first term in office.

  • Environmental aspects and GHG credits impact on LCOE and key indicators for small installed PV plants in Albania

    pg(s) 33-37

    A lot of techno-economic analyses have been conducted to seek the most cost-effective solution for electricity generation applied in the interval time of 25 years of project life. The actual benefits taken from small PV plants up to 2MW have been identified, as well as the effects of the most sensitive parameters, such as installation price, incentives and other credit options such as carbon credit rate or feed in tariff. The output carried out from the simulation performed in RETScreen Expert tool shows that PV system represents the best solution to provide free carbon and costless electricity to run the water pump for sprinkler irrigation in the agriculture sector in Albania. The environmental benefits have been also addressed, evaluating the CO2 emissions saving achievable from the PV system operation and some financial aspects such as simple payback period (SPP), NPV, IRR. The annual electricity production from PV plant located in the village of Tërbuf, Divjaka Municipality with an installed capacity of 2MW results 3319MWh and would avoid 3253 tCO2. The effects of ETS schemes on the LCOE from small PV plants are highlighted.

  • The concept of greening in the neo-industrial development of regions

    pg(s) 30-32

    An analysis of methodological approaches to the development of a strategy for neo-industrial development of the economy of various levels was carried out. The absence of systematic ideas about the mechanisms of influence of convergent (NBIC) technologies on existing production processes and the functioning of societies with the prevalence of predominantly overestimated expectations is shown. A local assessment of the effectiveness of the application of convergent technologies forms the prerequisites for the emergence of risks with unpredictable social and environmental consequences. The methodological imperfection of the concept of technology convergence is shown, due to different principles for the development of technologies with given functionality. The principle of intellectual convergence is proposed, the implementation of which in the form of integration interaction of the intellectual potentials of institutional components allows minimizing the risks in the innovative activity of business entities and the sustainable development of societies.
    An expedient methodological approach to implement intellectual convergence is the green life cycle of innovative products.

  • Study on the birds’ impacts of wind generators in the region of North – Eastern Bulgaria

    pg(s) 26-29

    The future development of the renewable energy sector in Bulgaria is already set by the European Commission in the “Energy Map of Europe – 2050”. The goals of the Green Deal should not predominant the goals of environmental protection and reverse. Bulgaria should ensure balance and sustainability in the development especially of wind energy sources due to the fact that most energy potential areas fall in the protected areas and territories by Natura 2000. The biggest such conflict observed in that report is the region of North- Eastern Bulgaria. The production of electricity from wind is one of the activities that has a potential impact on birds. For this reason, the subject of this study analyses the available data and summarize the birds’ impacts of wind generators in the region of North – Eastern Bulgaria.

  • Musical thinking of musicians-educators in the context of artistic interpretive culture

    pg(s) 69-72

    The art of interpretation was being developed intensively at a time when composer and performer were tend to be more and more independence, and the performer gain the opportunity to interpret the works of other authors. The formation of the interpretive culture of a music teacher affects the effectiveness of the pedagogical process and conveying to students the valuable meanings of art. Achieving a good result in the process of creating interpretation helps musical thinking, which consists in processing, evaluating and creating new musical information and is expressed in the ability to understand and analyze what is heard, mentally imagine and operate elements of musical language, evaluate music and sound quality. The article explores the artistic and musical thinking of musicians-teachers in the context of interpretive culture. The article defines musical thinking as a process of modeling the system of relations of the subject to reality realized in intonation. Artistic thinking is a necessary prerequisite for any other mental activity of a musician-performer, because this mental activity is his reworked result. Musical thinking must be studied simultaneously from three aspects: as an example of identifying the general patterns of any thinking, as one of the types of artistic thinking and as a manifestation of specific characteristics of musical information.

  • A proposal for a basic structure of a business model for research management, with a focus on intelligent security systems within the scope of the quasar project

    pg(s) 62-65

    Joint research takes its place as a major innovation process. The aim is to build relationships through which to gain access to external sources of high technology (or other assets) and their integration into the products and services of business organizations.
    The establishment and operation of Competence Centers in our country, such as QUASAR, plays a leading role in planning, structuring and negotiating these relationships with universities, small high-tech companies, mid-market companies and large companies. The proper development of the business models of the Centers of Competence plays an essential role in this direction
    The purpose of this study is to present the impact of business models on two dimensions of joint research: cooperation as an alternative to successful relationships and business models as an effective tool for assessing the portfolio of opportunities and risk allocation.

  • Second language learning and technology: research on second language vocabulary learning

    pg(s) 37-39

    Language learning and technology has now become an interesting field of inquiry for many research scholars and professionals in the field of second language acquisition. Advances in information technology have affected second language teaching and learn ing as well. A plethora of research on the development of second language skills has surged especially in the last two decades. A number of studies employing various research designs and methodological approaches have provided some evidence on the effectiveness of technology on second language learning and teaching. However, much of research has shown mixed findings and inconclusive results. Hence, research community is encouraging further studies on the pursuit of finding out for whom and under what condition s is technology rather effective in language learning and teaching. This paper presents a brief review of previous studies and some preliminary research on the effects of technology, i.e. multimedia annotations/glossing on second language vocabulary learning. This paper draws on Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (2009) and examines the impact of multimedia annotations on second language vocabulary learning. Prelimin ary research shows that certain multimedia annotation modes yield positive evidence on enhancing second language reading comprehension and vocabulary learning.

  • Christian monuments as a resource in cultural heritage and tourism education. Results from a research project

    pg(s) 34-36

    The paper aims to present the results of field research conducted in different regions and municipalities in Bulgaria and related to the formation of local policies supporting the preservation and promotion of Orthodox Christian monuments. The main emphasis in the exposition is placed on examples of good practices for socialization of the Christian heritage with the active participation of the loca l population, as well as good practices from cross-border projects. The methods and approaches for integration of the results achieved by the field research in the education in cultural heritage and tourism have been presented. The relevance of the topic is determined by the insufficient knowledge of the local traditions and good practices for preservation, construction and promotion of the Christian monuments in Bulgaria, as part of the national cultural heritage. Methodology: A descriptive qualitative method was used in this research. We have also used combined methods for analysis and synthesis. The paper is part of the activities of the research project “Creating a model for Saveguarding, Socialization and Promotion of Christian Monuments in Bulgaria”- ДН 15/4 of 11.12.2017, with the financial support of the Bulgarian Science Fund with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria.