PHARMACY STUDY PLANS IN VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES AND UKRAINE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

This article aims to assess the conditions and prospects for biomass utilization in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries. Additionally, the relationship between biomass energy production and greenhouse gas emissions was examined. A key component of the analysis involved identifying potential directions for the development of biomass utilization in the pursuit of the sustainable development of agricultural enterprises. In relation to these research objectives, a hypothesis was formulated regarding the causal relationship between biomass energy consumption and economic growth, the abundance of natural resources, and income in reference to the European Union economies. Both static and dynamic panel studies were applied. The conducted research revealed the complex nature of the conditions influencing biomass utilization. The study period covered the years 2004–2022. A negative correlation was found between the use of biomass and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, factors favoring biomass utilization included economic growth, the level of natural resource consumption per capita, and government policies aimed at increasing the share of renewable resources in the economy.

This paper aims at comparing the management perspectives with the audit conditions in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Poland, and Hungary) in the following areas: legislation governing the auditing, statutory duty of auditing, mandatory rotation of auditors in public interest entities, requirements on auditors and professional activities, and audit supervision organizations. The paper also tests the hypothesis whether there is a relationship between the size of the accounting entity and the auditor’s opinion.The methodology is based on the statistical analysis of the data using the Chi-square test of independence applied to a sample of 800 randomly selected accounting entities from all V4 countries (200 per each country in question).The results demonstrated significant differences in the management approaches to financial reporting, especially in the area of the statutory duty of auditing. In addition, quantitative research was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between the size of the accounting entity and the auditor’s opinion. At the 5% significance level, no such dependence has been found for any of the V4 countries, but at the 10% significance level, the dependence has already been proved in case of the Republic of Poland and Hungary. The practical value of the obtained results is the knowledge of how to manage accounting standards for business entities in the V4 countries, as well as to determine the statutory duty to audit financial statements. These results might be of a special practical importance for business managers, tax authorities, and auditors operating in the EU countries.

The purpose of the analysis presented in this text is to identify differences in the structure of financial assets between countries (Eurozone countries and Visegrad Group countries). All groups of forms of saving analyzed are characterized by strong or very strong asymmetry. To compensate for the worrying calculations, the outlier effect has been standardized using weber median. Further statistical analyses used Friedman's non‐aparametric ANOVA test to determine the similarity between the different forms of saving. The PROFIT analysis allowed for a graphical representation of the structure of the similarities between the countries analyzed and their arrangement due to the severity of the selected forms of saving. The analysis showed that in the Eurozone countries the form of saving significantly different from the others turned out to be Equity and investment fund shares, while in the countries of Visegrad Group they are loans and other accounts receivable/payable. In addition, the Netherlands and Estonia were the most outliers in the Eurozone countries, followed by Slovakia and Hungary in the Visegrad Group countries. The results of the analysis may complement the literature on household savings, which are the primary, saving sector of any economy. The dominance of savings only in the form of deposits and currencies can in the long term cause monetary distortions. Determining the share of financial instruments in financial assets and indicating the diversity between regions can be important in the development of financial policy as it indicates differences in economies of varying degrees of development.

The deepening of regional disparities is an issue of increasing importance that has been systematically emphasized in the EU policy, especially since the process of “Eastern Integration” has started. The paper focuses on the Visegrad Group countries whose regions are less developed in the EU context. The aim of the research is to assess the development of disparities in regional economic performance of the Visegrad Group countries, to identify how the factors of economic growth determine these disparities, and partly to assess whether the integration of the Visegrad Group countries into the EU infl uenced the development of regional disparities in these countries. For the analysis of disparities during 2000–2013 we selected an approach of measuring real convergence (sigma-convergence). Disparities were measured in the context of a breakdown of the GDP per capita into sub-components, refl ecting on the development of disparities in productivity and employment. The results show that, although regions of the Visegrad Group countries converged towards the EU average and also in terms of the Visegrad Group as a whole, regional disparities within countries rather increased. This led to a paradox where, although the objective of reducing regional disparities across the EU was satisfi ed, from a national perspective disparities increased. The Labour productivity factor, with its dominant yet steadily growing contribution, is the main determinant of disparities in the performance of the Visegrad Group regions. Other sources of disparities are characterized by a stable development or convergence. Only Polish regions deviated from the general conclusions, since the extent of disparities among them grew constantly, and the nature of disparities was the Labour participation rate. In terms of the impact caused by accession into the EU, the measured changes were rather minor and the identifi ed trends had mostly been in place before the Visegrad Group countries entered the EU.

Research background: Effective monitoring of financial health is essential in the financial management of enterprises. Early studies to predict corporate bankruptcy were published at the beginning of the last century. The prediction models were developed with a significant delay even among the Visegrad group countries. Purpose of the article: The primary aim of this study is to create a model for predicting bankruptcy based on the financial information of 20,693 enterprises of all sectors that operated in the Visegrad group countries during the post-pandemic period (2020?2021) and identify significant predictors of bankruptcy. To reduce potential losses to shareholders, investors, and business partners brought on by the financial distress of enterprises, it is possible to use multiple discriminant analysis to build individual prediction models for each Visegrad group country and a complex model for the entire Visegrad group. Methods: A bankruptcy prediction model is developed using multiple discriminant analysis. Based on this model, prosperity is assessed using selected corporate financial indicators, which are assigned weights such that the difference between the average value calculated in the group of prosperous and non-prosperous enterprises is as large as possible. Findings & value added: The created models based on 6?14 financial indicators were developed using different predictor combinations and coefficients. For all Visegrad group countries, the best variable with the best discriminating power was the total indebtedness ratio, which was included in each developed model. These findings can be used also in other Central European countries where the economic development is similar to the analyzed countries. However, sufficient discriminant ability is required for the model to be used in practice, especially in the post-pandemic period, when the financial health and stability of enterprises is threatened by macroeconomic development and the performance and prediction ability of current bankruptcy prediction models may have decreased. Based on the results, the developed models have an overall discriminant ability greater than 88%, which may be relevant for academicians to conduct further empirical studies in this field.

The paper presents the research results of tourism state and patterns development in the Visegrad Group. The regional grouping of Central and Eastern Europe, the Visegrad Group, has become a separate subsystem of the European Union, which has received economic, logistical, cultural and political content. These processes are important for Ukraine. The experience of the Visegrad Group, the ability to quickly solve current issues and face the challenges, understanding the real hierarchy of priorities while preserving the national identity of the Visegrad Group (VG) are significant for Ukraine. Tourism is an area that can positively influence both the development of the integrated structure as a whole and the socio-economic development of its member countries. The article carries out a comparative analysis of tourism development trends in the Visegrad Group countries, Europe and the world, as well as develops recommendations for assessing the cooperation prospects between Ukraine and the VG using econometric methods. To achieve the goal of the study, a comparative analysis of global, European and Visegrad trends in tourism was developed, arrivals of international tourists on the amount of income from international tourism by conducting a correlation-regression analysis, substantiated and developed applied aspects for forecasting the potential mutual benefit from cooperation between Ukraine and the VG. According to the World Trade Organization, the forecast of the number of international tourists in the world for 2020-2021 was made. Based on the impact assessment of the number of international tourist arrivals on the amount of income from international tourism, a linear regression model was built, the adequacy and reliability of the regression coefficient was confirmed by Fisher's and Student's estimates. During the analysis (from a priori analysis, proving the quantitative and qualitative homogeneity of the two sets, to the construction, evaluation and analysis of the obtained model) a regression model was built, which can be recommended to be used in the impact analysis of tourist arrivals on international tourism. A comparative analysis of the dynamics of international tourist arrivals and revenues from international tourism in Poland and Ukraine was done. As a result of Poland's experience research, a model of revenues from international tourism is recommended, the factors of which are gross investment (% of GDP) and the number of tourist arrivals.

In the contemporary digital era, introducing computational thinking concepts is considered an imperative need at all stages of schooling, since they are inextricably linked to skills applicable and beneficial in everyday life. This chapter presents a novel educational framework that aims to foster the growth of computational thinking at early childhood stages, within the context of physical and natural science courses, pursuing the unplugged philosophy and following the principles of game-based, project-based and collaborative learning. This chapter also presents a relevant pilot study, conducted with second grade students of a Greek primary school, with the objective of assessing the feasibility of the proposed educational framework, as well as examining its effectiveness. The results stemming from the pilot are promising and reveal that the proposed approach serves our goal to enhance computational thinking at the first stages of schooling through engaging and fun educational activities that appeal to young students.

The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a didactic unit as an environmental education strategy, in initial education students of the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga, of the Natural Sciences subject, applying the competence of attitude towards waste solid. The population consisted of the entire population of all students enrolled in the Natural Sciences course 2017-I. The type of research was descriptive and the design was cross-sectional. As instruments for data collection, the pretest and posttest were used, where knowledge about attitudes about solid waste is reported. 21% of students failed the pretest and 100% passed the posttest. Student learning improved significantly with the application of the didactic unit, as an environmental education strategy in the Natural Sciences course, and the students' attitude about solid waste was positive.

This undergraduate dissertation project was designed to enhance organic and analytical chemistry skills of final year forensic science students. A modified Birch reaction method was employed to synthesize amphetamine from ephedrine and detect the most known byproduct of clandestine manufacture of amphetamines, e.g., 1-(1,4-cyclohexadienyl)-2-methylaminopropane (CMP). The use of this synthetic method led to simultaneous N-demethylation and dehydroxylation of the alkaloid. Harmful liquid ammonia and lithium metal, which are the typical reagents of the classic Birch reaction, were replaced by the safer sodium silica gel stage I (Na-SG-I) and an alcoholic proton source. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used to monitor reaction progress and identify starting material, products, and byproducts, whereas proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR) and heteronuclear single-quantum correlation (HSQC) NMR spectroscopy experiments were employed to characterize amphetamine and the parent compound ephedrine. This multiweek project-based learning experience has been running for three years at De Montfort University (DMU), which offers a well-established Forensic Science BSc (Hons) undergraduate course. The students were guided with the help of an academic instructor through a research-like setting delving into synthesis, characterization, and analysis of a drug of abuse and its byproduct. As part of this learning experience, which culminated in a body of work that informed the content of final year dissertations, the students gained useful organic chemistry skills and consolidated previously acquired knowledge in trace analysis. A survey of the dissertations’ final grades and evaluation of end-of-project questionnaires revealed that students responded well to the challenges posed by the organic chemistry aspect of the lab and that the project topic and methods were engaging and very relevant to the forensic science course.

Tourism is a rapidly developing industry, covering a significant part of the gross domestic product. Understanding clients and meeting their needs is a dominant role to meet the economic objectives of accommodation facilities. The primary objective of the article is to evaluate the sentiment of the customers rating in the purpose of stays at top hotels in the Visegrad Group countries. This objective was accomplished based on exploratory analysis, sentiment analysis, and polarity analysis of various types of hotel stays (business travelers, couples, friends, family, and solo travelers). The analysis included 117 hotels from the Visegrad Group countries (the Czech Republic = 39-33.3%; Hungary = 15-12.8%; Poland = 56-47.9%; Slovak Republic = 7-6%) and input into analysis were obtained from online booking portal TripAdvisor during July in 2019. The analysis featured 22,400 customer reviews. The exploratory analysis made use of the frequency word cloud charts and association tables. In this section, it was found that there were no significant differences between the concept and syntax. The only difference is noticeable in solo travelers. The sentiment analysis assessed the relative frequencies of the sentiment, where significant differences were found in three of the ten analyzed areas - positive, trust, sadness. The last part of the analyzes assessed polarity (negative or positive review). However, no significant difference was found. Overall, the polarity of the positive outputs exceeded that of the negative outputs. Differential tests such as ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, or Welch test were used to process the previous two parts. The choice of tests was justified by the outcomes of outliers and variance variability. The study points to perfect implementation of customer-oriented marketing theories in the hotels in question, as evidenced by relatively high values of specific areas of sentiment and relatively low differences between customer categories in terms of the type of their stay. Keywords: the sentiment, polarity, hotel, word cloud, difference analysis, Visegrad group, customer satisfaction.

Purpose:The aim of the paper is to examine how R&D expenditure differs among the Visegrad Group countries in challenging economic environment.Design/methodology/approach: The research uses a comparative analysis, zero unitarization method and a multivariate analysis.The application of these methods allows the division of the Visegrad Group countries according to the level of the R&D expenditure variables.The research is based on Eurostat data.The research period was 2011-2022, when the Visegrad Group countries faced inflationary pressure and the covid pandemic.Findings: The results show a relatively high diversity among the Visegrad Group countries in terms of R&D expenditure.Czechia and Poland stand out with a very high level of R&D expenditure variables, which may indicate a high capacity for innovation and resilience despite challenging economic circumstances. Research limitations/implications:The study has some limitations that could be areas for future research.As the study focuses on R&D expenditure by sector (in relation to gross domestic product) and on intramural R&D expenditure in the business enterprise sector and the government sector (in relation to total expenditure), it would be valuable to investigate whether the results obtained also hold for other measures of R&D expenditure.It might also be worthwhile to examine how the Visegrad Group countries differ from the other peripheral countries of the European Union in terms of R&D expenditure in times of challenging economic circumstances. Practical implications:The results call for a further strengthening of conditions to support R&D expenditure, firms' innovation attitudes and knowledge transfer, among others, between the research system, government institutions and firms in order to support firms' resilience to changes in economic environment.Originality/value: The research contributes to the discussion on firms' innovation activities and their adaptation to challenging economic circumstances.In this context, the study focuses on R&D expenditure and provides evidence on how expenditure in question differ across the Visegrad Group countries in times of inflationary pressure and the covid pandemic.

The attitude of the Visegrad Group Countries towards Russian Infrastructural Projects in the gas sector

This study evaluated selected biochemical indices in blood/peritoneal fluid in dogs with and without gastrointestinal tract damage. Blood and peritoneal fluid samples of 29 dogs presented to the Small Animal Clinic at the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno were obtained as a part of the diagnostic approach and were subsequently biochemically analysed. The biochemical indices analysed were potassium, total protein, glucose, lactate and creatinine. Effusion-to-blood concentration ratios of selected indices were obtained for higher data validity and this ratio was then compared between two groups: patients with gastrointestinal tract damage and patients without gastrointestinal tract damage. There were 11 dogs in the study group of patients with gastrointestinal tract damage and 18 dogs in the study group of patients without gastrointestinal tract damage. Subsequent statistical data analysis did not show any significant difference between these two groups in any of the selected indices. According to our study results, selected biochemical indices cannot be considered as decisive for diagnosing gastrointestinal tract damage.

Animal protection is an issue that takes on ever greater importance in today’s society. New expert findings and increasing general public interest are being projected into stricter requirements on the quality of living conditions of animals and their specialist assessment. Such specialist assessment and implementation of desired conditions of animal life requires specialist with university education in animal protection and welfare. It has become apparent that in order to assure adequate knowledge and experience of graduates acting as veterinary inspectors overseeing protection of animals against cruelty it is necessary to gather all the information into a specialized course. The existence of a separate course on the Animal Protection and Welfare in study programmes of veterinary faculties and high quality of instruction are basic prerequisites for improvement in the protection of both farm, companion, wild and laboratory animals in the future.

Qualitative preparation of pre-service teachers remains an actual problem. Appropriate school preparation is important for studying at university. This is very actual for future natural science teachers because the candidates of very different knowledge and ability level enter Lithuanian (and not only) universities. Such condition is presupposed by Lithuanian (and not only) general secondary education system because all natural science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) are compulsory up to the 10th form, and in the 11th -12th (3rd -4th gymnasium) classes, only one of all natural science subjects is compulsory, or an integrated natural science course. Besides, students taking into consideration their needs and inclinations can choose general or extended natural science – biology, chemistry or physics course. Five university scientist groups carrying out an international project “Developing Bridging Courses for Mathematics and Science Teacher Students/Bridge2Teach/” started solving this problem. The aim of the project is to create, test and develop the bridging courses designed for the preparation of mathematics and natural science teachers. In this way, it is sought to do away with the gap between what was learnt at school, and what is necessary starting the studies at university. In Siauliai university, for the pre-srvice Integrated natural science teacher knowledge consolidation, 12 ECTS credits course Holistic natural phenomena conception is foreseen in the programme, by which, filling the gaps in natural science knowledge, it is sought to form entire, holistic world cognition, to motivate students for deeper natural science understanding and interpretation, to awaken willingness to explore. The studies of this course are organised so that every student should have a possibility to acquire lacking natural science knowledge, to extend it, and to actualise. All Siauliai university study programme Integrated natural science pedagogy students, having participated in the survey, unanimously pointed out that having started studies at university, at a different level they felt gaps in natural science and mathematics knowledge and abilities. As the main solution way of such a problem, the students indicated bridging course organisation for the first course students, accentuating that for successful studies at university, general and even extended mastering of the school course is necessary. Having generalised teachers’ who participated in the expert survey answers about bridging courses for students in natural science and mathematics and their need, one can claim that students, who enter higher education, have school knowledge gaps, which could be at least partly fulfilled by properly prepared and realised bridging courses. Lecturers experts claim that bridging course content depends on the chosen study direction (even on the study programme) because, basically, the necessary knowledge for the students having chosen different study programmes differs. They accentuate that such course demand for every future student should be individual; they note that to include such course in study programmes is problematic. Keywords: bridging course, international project, mathematics course, science course, science education.