Principles applicable in public procurement

From Rio to Iragua--sustainability versus efficiency and equity for preventive health interventions.

The national interests of the state are to ensure socio-economic development based on the efficient and rational use, protection and reproduction of land resources in the production of organic products, as well as maintaining a healthy environment. This determines the urgency of harmonizing national policies in the field of reorganization, modernization and development sectors of the economy, and in the provision of services with policies on environmental protection, rational use of natural resources, public health, the formation and use of mechanisms to address these problems, taking into account the situation and the laws of a market economy. This article examines the process of agricultural production taking into account environmental factors and ensuring the rational use of land resources. The importance of soil quality indicators, as well as their impact on land use of agricultural enterprises for the production of organic products is substantiated. The optimal ecological strategy is recommended for most agricultural enterprises of Ukraine. The processes of development of organic food products in Ukraine were considered, as well as the essence and meaning of the concept of “organic products”. The expediency of organic production is proved and the factors of influence of organic products on society are considered. An effective way to improve the condition of soils and lands, increase their fertility in the future. The importance of crop rotations for improving the efficiency and fertility of land resources of Ukraine has been established. Purpose. Creating a market for organic products and proposals for the rational use of land resources. Results. The essence and concept of organic products are revealed. The process of agricultural production is studied taking into account environmental factors and ensuring the rational use of land resources. The importance of soil quality indicators, as well as their impact on land use of agricultural enterprises for the production of organic products is substantiated. The optimal ecological strategy is recommended for most agricultural enterprises of Ukraine. The expediency of organic production is proved and the factors of influence of organic products on society are considered. Proposals for improving the efficiency of land use, improving the condition of soils and lands, increasing their fertility in the future. The national interests of the state are revealed, which are to ensure socio-economic development based on efficient and rational use, protection and reproduction of land resources in the process of organic production, as well as maintaining a healthy environment. Conclusions. The urgency of creating a market for organic products and improving the efficiency of land use and creating sustainable systems of organic production that contribute to the preservation of ecosystems and gradually improve soil quality, which is an integral part of environmental and economic policy, which ensures rational use, protection and management of land resources , is important. In this context, the organization of rational and efficient land use includes creating the best conditions for organic production, reproduction and protection of soil fertility, increasing its role in agricultural production, scientifically sound interaction of soils with other natural factors, ensuring the development of the most complete and correct criteria, methods and techniques. Scientifically substantiated alternation of crops and vapors in time and territory or only in time (rotation) in advance according to a defined plan, and is accompanied by an appropriate tillage system. Thanks to the crop rotation system – a systematic increase in yield, provides the largest production of agricultural products per unit area with the lowest financial costs and labor, and ensures the rational use of land resources in the production of organic products.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjami konfidencialumo viešuosiuose pirkimuose teoriniai aspektai: konfidencialios informacijos samprata, konfidencialios informacijos apsaugos teisinis pagrindas (reguliavimas) ir iš jo kylanti perkančiųjų organizacijų pareiga neatskleisti tiekėjų pasiūlymuose nurodytos konfidencialios informacijos tretiesiems asmenims, taip pat tiekėjų, siekiančių jiems priklausančios informacijos apsaugos, teisės ir pareigos. Išanalizavus konfidencialumo teorinius aspektus, keliamas klausimas, kokios yra konfidencialumo užtikrinimo viešuosiuose pirkimuose ribos. Siekiant atsakyti į iškeltą klausimą, analizuojamas viešųjų pirkimų skaidrumo principas ir iš jo kylančios tiekėjų teisės susipažinti su kitų tiekėjų pasiūlymais įgyvendinimo reikalavimai. Tiekėjams siekiant susipažinti su kitų tiekėjų pasiūlymus sudarančia informacija ir tokiu būdu įvertinti, įskaitant, bet neapsiribojant, perkančiosios organizacijos priimtų sprendimų pagrįstumą bei teisėtumą, susiduria dvi Lietuvos Respublikos viešųjų pirkimų įstatymo saugomos vertybės – teisė į pakankamą informaciją, kaip skaidrumo principo išraiškos forma, ir teisė į konfidencialios informacijos apsaugą. Todėl straipsnyje siekiama atskleisti konfidencialios informacijos apsaugos užtikrinimo ir viešųjų pirkimų skaidrumo principo įgyvendinimo santykį bei tinkamą balansą tarp šių dviejų vertybių, nepaneigiant nei vienos iš jų. Išanalizavus tiek Europos Sąjungos, tiek nacionalinį teisinį reguliavimą, Europos Sąjungos bei nacionalinių teismų praktiką, jos tendencijas bei mokslinę teisinę literatūrą, straipsnio pabaigoje pateikiamos išvados, įrodančios, jog viešųjų pirkimų skaidrumas, pasireiškiantis inter alia pirkimų viešumu, o kartu ir viešasis interesas, jog pirkimai būtų vykdomi teisėtai, vis dėl to neretai yra pripažįstamas didesne vertybe nei privačių subjektų informacijos apsauga.

Resource use efficiency (RUE) is an ecological concept that measures the proportion of supplied resources, which is converted into new biomass, i.e. it relates realized to potential productivity. It is also commonly perceived as one of the main mechanisms linking biodiversity to ecosystem functioning based on the assumption that higher species numbers lead to more complementary and consequently more efficient use of the available resources. While there exists a large body of literature lending theoretical and experimental support to this hypothesis, there are a number of inconsistencies regarding its application: First, empirical tests use highly divergent approaches to calculate RUE. Second, the quantification of RUE is commonly based on measures of standing stock instead of productivity rates and total pools of nutrients instead of their bioavailable fractions, which both vary across systems and therefore can introduce considerable bias. Third, conceptual studies suggest that the relationship between biodiversity, productivity and RUE involves many more mechanisms than complementary resource use, resulting in variable magnitude and direction of biodiversity effects on productivity. Moreover, RUE has mainly been applied to single elements, ignoring stoichiometric or metabolic constraints that lead to co-limitation by multiple resources. In this review we illustrate and discuss the use of RUE within and across systems and highlight how the various drivers of RUE affect the diversity-productivity relationship with increasing temporal and spatial scales as well as under anthropogenic global change. We illustrate how resource supply, resource uptake and RUE interactively determine ecosystem productivity. In addition, we illustrate how in the context of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, the addition of a species will only result in more efficient resource use and consequently higher community productivity if the species’ traits related to resource uptake and RUE are positively correlated.

Priority setting of public spending in developing countries: do not try to do everything for everybody.

General Background: Efficient resource utilization is a critical determinant of competitiveness and sustainability in industrial enterprises facing economic uncertainty and rising costs. Specific Background: In resource-intensive industries, particularly textile enterprises, traditional management approaches are insufficient to control material, labor, energy, and financial resources under dynamic market conditions. Knowledge Gap: Existing studies provide limited integrated frameworks that empirically link strategic, operational, and digital management mechanisms to measurable improvements in resource efficiency and financial performance. Aims: This study aims to analyze management mechanisms that enhance the efficiency of resource use in industrial enterprises through integrated strategic, operational, and digital tools. Results: The findings demonstrate that integrated management mechanisms improve material utilization, labor productivity, and energy efficiency, while reducing unit production costs, operational risks, and cost volatility, leading to stronger financial performance. Novelty: The study proposes a structured, block-based management mechanism that systematically connects resource planning, digital support, monitoring, and financial management. Implications: The results provide practical guidance for managers and policymakers to strengthen resource efficiency, cost optimization, and long-term competitiveness in industrial enterprises, particularly within the textile sector.Keywords : Resource Efficiency, Industrial Enterprise Management, Integrated Management Mechanisms, Digital Resource Management, Operational and Cost OptimizationHighlight : Integrated managerial systems significantly reduce material waste and stabilize input–output ratios across textile production stages. Digital tools enhance decision accuracy, real-time oversight, and operational consistency, strengthening productivity and risk control. Coordinated planning and monitoring improve cost structures, profitability, and financial resilience under volatile market conditions.

Introduction. Under the crisis circumstances in the economy an important task for enterprises is to consolidate and sometimes expand their position in the market. In this context, it is important to analyze the indicators of resource use, that allow to assess their use level and identify areas to help improve their efficiency.Methods. The theoretical basis of the study is the scientific publications of domestic and foreign scholars to assess the effectiveness of the enterprise resources usage. The results are obtained through the methods: analysis – in the study of basic theoretical, methodological approaches to assessing the efficiency of resource use; abstraction – to determine the essential characteristics of the key indicators of resource efficiency; generalization – to systematize indicators for the efficiency assessment of enterprise resources use. The purpose is to search the directions to increase the efficiency of resources use in the conditions of an enterprise economic activity on the basis of the recent methodical achievements.Results. A thorough analysis of indicators for assessing the enterprise resources effectiveness on the basis of domestic and foreign scientists study is realized. It is proposed to systematize the most common indicators in order to assess the enterprise resources efficiency in quantitative terms into three groups: relative indicators of business activity (turnover ratios), indicators of resource management efficiency (turnover duration) and indicators of company assets efficiency for profit generation (profitability). An improved system of indicators has been applied to assess the resource use efficiency in the conditions of a real enterprise. Perspectives. Prospects for further research are to establish the degree of efficiency influence of enterprise resources use on the profit level with the mathematical models.

Enhancing the productivity of agriculture is vital for Sub-Saharan Africa's economic future and is one of the most important tools to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in the region. How governments elect to spend public resources has significant development impact in this regard. Choosing to catalyze a shift toward more effective, efficient, and climate-resilient public spending in agriculture can accelerate change and unleash growth. Not only does agricultural public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa lag behind other developing regions but its impact is vitiated by subsidy programs and transfers that tend to benefit elites to the detriment of poor people and the agricultural sector itself. Shortcomings in the budgeting processes also reduce spending effectiveness. In light of this scenario, addressing the quality of public spending and the efficiency of resource use becomes even more important than addressing only the level of spending. Improvements in the policy environment, better institutions, and investments in rural public goods positively affect agricultural productivity. These, combined with smarter use of public funds, have helped lay the foundations for agricultural productivity growth around the world, resulting in a wealth of important lessons from which African policy makers and development practitioners can draw. The rigorous analysis presented in this book provides options for reform with a view to boosting the productivity of African agriculture and eventually increasing development impact.

Statistical entropy analysis to evaluate resource efficiency: Phosphorus use in Austria

Resource efficiency has always been a hot topic for the steel industry, due to the large amounts of primary raw materials, by products and water, which are handled in the steelmaking cycle as well as the considerable energy consumptions. The ever more stringent environmental regulations also contribute to pressurize the iron and steel industry to strengthen further its research activities fostering an optimal management and exploitation of resources. Thus important research efforts are spent in order to find the best way to recover wastes and wastewater also involving the implementation of retrofit actions and major plant modifications allowing also the reduction of primary raw material consumption and of waste disposal. In order to achieve such ambitious objective, which implies both environmental benefits and cost savings, process integration is a powerful tool. The assessment of the viability of process integration solution necessarily include a final experimental stage to be performed at plant level, which can be expensive or unsafe. To this aim process simulation can be a useful alternative to accomplish preliminary feasibility studies allowing a deep analysis of all the aspect of a particular technology or retrofit actions, which also allows testing conditions that are very difficult to replicate within practical experiments. Different levels of detail can be achieved and a comprehensive analysis can be carried out. The present paper provides an overview of the simulation techniques exploited during the project entitled Efficient Use of Resources in Steel Plants through Process Integration to the aim of optimizing the use of resources in an Italian integrated steelmaking plant. In particular, different case studies are proposed and the obtained meaningful and practical results are presented and discussed.

The study determined resource use efficiency in maize crop production by small-scale farmers in the Central Agricultural Zone of Cross River State Nigeria. It specifically examined the allocative efficiency of resources used by small-scale farmers in rainfed maize production in the area. Primary data were used to conduct the study. Statistical tools employed were multiple regression analysis and allocative efficiency index (AEI). The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that the variables of farm size (x1), farm capital (x3), fertilizer (x4), farm credit (x6), extension service (x7), seeds planted (x8) had a positive relationship with the output of maize. The allocative efficiency index (AEI) of the various productive resources showed that farm size (x1), fertilizer (x3), and herbicides (x5) were found to be underutilized since their allocative efficiency index (AEI) was greater than one (1) and their marginal value product (MVP) were greater than their marginal factor cost (MFC) while Labour(x2) was over-utilized as the allocative efficiency index (AEI) was less than one (1). Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made; maize farmers should improve their use of productive resources such as land, capital, fertilizers, herbicide and seeds. Labour factor should be maximally utilized to create a favourable return to a unit of man day employed in maize production in the area.

High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) is the name of a new technology to provide wireless narrowband and broadband services. A unique property of HAPs is the ability of preparing emergency telecommunication facilities once the catastrophic events occur. In these situations efficient use of limited spectrum resources would be of great importance. This paper presented a fuzzy channel allocation scheme in HAPs for emergency mobile communications. The suggested scheme is based on guard channel policy. It dynamically adjusts optimum number of reserved channels according to important quality of service (QoS) parameters to make an efficient use of resources, while prioritizes on-going calls over new calls. Simulation compares the proposed fuzzy scheme with fixed guard channel scheme and complete sharing scheme. Results show that, the fuzzy scheme is able to achieve a better grade of service (GoS), while can keep handoff failures low as network traffic load changes.

The global economic impact of basketball is measured in tens of billions of dollars and requires the efficient use of resources to maximize success on and off the court. Today, coaches, players, investors, and owners need to take full advantage of modern analytical methods and digital video software capabilities to make the most efficient use of a teams resources. This research is the first in a series that makes full use of modern analytic methods and begins to define new defensive and offensive criteria to supplement the decades old game box score performance information. Data envelopment analysis and statistical methods are used to evaluate two new defensive performance metrics on defensive efficiency. The two new defensive metrics are contested and uncontested passes that are fully defined in the articles appendix. Future research will expand the sample size and allow for more comprehensive models of basketball team defensive efficiency.

There is general agreement among the major stakeholders—providers, consumers, payors, and managed behavioral health companies—that managed care poses significant challenges for behavioral health professionals, particularly those whose primary work has been in independent practice rather than organized care settings. In traditional independent practice, clinicians were free to employ relatively unstructured, goal-free approaches to care with an emphasis on patient insight and self-knowledge. Formal written treatment plans were a rarity and there was little external pressure on clinicians to complete treatment within any specified period of time. Often, little attention was paid to the efficient use of financial and service resources, and decisions to begin and end treatment were the purview of the therapist and the patient. Patients were generally seen as financially responsible for their treatment regardless of employment based benefits. Indeed, such an approach to practice was consistent with the ways in which most behavioral health professionals were trained. In contrast, clinicians practicing in today's managed care environment are typically required to develop written, goal-focused, time limited treatment plans emphasizing the return of the patient to an adequate level of day-to-day functioning while making efficient use of resources (Austad & Berman, 1991). Decisions to begin and end treatment, at least the part to be paid for through the benefit plan, are made by the therapist and patient together with a third party—the managed care entity. In order to work effectively within this context, clinicians must be both willing and able to change their practice patterns, to at least accommodate

The international guidelines for surveillance following the finding of a small tubular adenoma vary between no surveillance or colonoscopy at 5 or 10 years, whereas surveillance after an advanced adenoma is 3 years. Optimization of surveillance reduces the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) with efficient use of colonoscopy resources. We assessed the risks of advanced colorectal neoplasia following a baseline finding of a small adenoma compared with advanced adenoma. A retrospective audit was undertaken of patients enrolled in a CRC surveillance program, wherein regular colonoscopies and screening with faecal immunochemical test (FIT) were provided. Patients diagnosed with either small or advanced adenoma followed by at least one surveillance colonoscopy were included. Advanced adenoma included adenomas with features of villous change, size of at least 10 mm, high-grade dysplasia, three or more small tubular adenomas and traditional and sessile serrated adenomas. Subdistribution hazard ratios were calculated for advanced neoplasia (CRC or advanced adenoma). Overall, 378 patients (62.6±11.2 years, 57.9% male) were included, with 44.2% diagnosed with small adenoma and 55.5% with advanced adenoma at baseline. The crude cumulative incidence of advanced neoplasia at first surveillance was 13.2 and 18.5% after small and advanced adenoma (P=0.16) (at 45.9 and 35.6 months, respectively), which became significant for advanced adenoma after adjustment (subdistribution hazard ratio=2.55, 95% confidence interval=1.49-4.35, P<001). A positive FIT was the only independent predictor of advanced neoplasia after a small adenoma at baseline colonoscopy (odds ratio=5.05, 95% confidence interval=1.27-20.02, P=0.02). The risk of advanced neoplasia following a small adenoma was lower than that following an advanced adenoma, but was strongly predicted by a positive FIT. Reducing frequency of colonoscopy while providing regular FIT might be a more efficient use of resources for this population.