0000000001079193
AUTHOR
Roberts Skapars
COMPETITIVENESS OF LATVIAN FIRMS IN CHINA
The results of the firms’ performance are one of the key aspects in the research of competitiveness. The competitiveness of firms is a concept that involves many aspects of measurement. There are many models that can be used to assess the international competitiveness of firms, including the competitiveness of foreign firms in the Chinese market. The opportunities of Latvian firms to enter China market and the capabilities of Latvian firms to compete in China have not so far been sufficiently studied. In 2010 the export volume of Latvian firms to China was 25 million EUR and more than half of it was export of raw materials. The model of SME competitiveness is used to research the competitiv…
DEVELOPMENT OF LATVIAN AUTO ROADS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT
Auto road sector in national economy, is a sector development of which, with appropriate funding, creates basis for other sector development and facilitates competitiveness of country in international market. The goal of auto road sector is auto road network maintenance and development, in order to contribute to the development of the whole country, increase of standards of living of inhabitants, as well as facilitate compliance of Latvian auto roads with the European Union requirements for auto road network. Effective resource utilization and investment attraction to auto road sector is determinant for favorable conditions to overcome economic crisis, structural changes in national econom…
Development of “New Silk Road” Northern Branch through Seaport of Riga in Latvia
Abstract The study reveals opportunity to develop the “New Silk Road” Northern branch from North-West China (the People's Republic of China) via seaport of Riga in Latvia to Europe. The methods of the study are the monographic method, the statistical analysis, the expert method and a case study. The study shows that the shortest route for the “New Silk Road” Northern branch is through seaport of Riga (Latvia) which is the shortest way from China to the seaport in the European Union. The existing railway infrastructure can be used from Urumqi (North-Western China) to the seaport of Riga. Transit countries for this route are Kazakhstan and Russia. This route could be beneficial for distributi…
Ex vivo emission of volatile organic compounds from gastric cancer and non-cancerous tissue
The presence of certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath of patients with gastric cancer has been reported by a number of research groups; however, the source of these compounds remains controversial. Comparison of VOCs emitted from gastric cancer tissue to those emitted from non-cancerous tissue would help in understanding which of the VOCs are associated with gastric cancer and provide a deeper knowledge on their generation. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) coupled with head-space needle trap extraction (HS-NTE) as the pre-concentration technique, was used to identify and quantify VOCs released by gastric cancer and non-cancerous tissue samples c…
Screening for gastric cancer using exhaled breath samples.
Abstract Background The aim was to derive a breath-based classifier for gastric cancer using a nanomaterial-based sensor array, and to validate it in a large screening population. Methods A new training algorithm for the diagnosis of gastric cancer was derived from previous breath samples from patients with gastric cancer and healthy controls in a clinical setting, and validated in a blinded manner in a screening population. Results The training algorithm was derived using breath samples from 99 patients with gastric cancer and 342 healthy controls, and validated in a population of 726 people. The calculated training set algorithm had 82 per cent sensitivity, 78 per cent specificity and 79 …
Development of International Freight Transit in Latvia
Abstract International freight transit is transportation of goods through third countries which are neither senders or consumers of the transported freight. International freight transit provides the use of transport infrastructure capacities and the development of transport infrastructure in Latvia, especially in seaports and railways. In Latvia approximately 97% of all transported freight carried by railway is international freight transit. The turnover of Latvia's seaports is approximately 90% international freight transit transport. This paper describes comparative position of Latvia in Logistics Performance Index and assesses international competitiveness of Latvia's international frei…
Non-contact breath sampling for sensor-based breath analysis
Breath analysis holds great promise for real-time and non-invasive medical diagnosis. Thus, there is a considerable need for simple-in-use and portable analyzers for rapid detection of breath indicators for different diseases in their early stages. Sensor technology meets all of these demands. However, miniaturized breath analyzers require adequate breath sampling methods. In this context, we propose non-contact sampling; namely the collection of breath samples by exhalation from a distance into a miniaturized collector without bringing the mouth into direct contact with the analyzing device. To evaluate this approach different breathing maneuvers have been tested in a real-time regime on a…
Clinicopathological characteristics of Epstein-Barr virus-positive gastric cancer in Latvia
Objective Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric cancer has been proposed to be a distinct gastric cancer molecular subtype. The prognostic significance of EBV infection in gastric cancer remains unclear and needs further investigation. Our study aimed to analyze EBV-positive and EBV-negative gastric cancer patients regarding their personal and tumor-related characteristics, and compare their overall survival. Methods Gastric cancer patients consecutively treated at the Riga East University Hospital during 2009-2016 were identified retrospectively. Tumor EBV status was determined by in-situ hybridization for EBV-encoded RNA (EBER). Information about clinicopathological characteristics …
Geographical variation in the exhaled volatile organic compounds.
Breath-gas analysis has demonstrated that concentration profiles of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could be used for detecting a variety of diseases, among them gastric cancer (GC) and peptic ulcer disease (PUD). Here, we explore how geographical variation affects the disease-specific changes in the chemical composition of breath samples, as compared to control states (less severe gastric conditions). Alveolar exhaled breath samples from 260 patients were collected at two remotely different geographic locations (China and Latvia), following similar breath-collection protocols. Each cohort included 130 patients that were matched in terms of diagnosis (37 GC/32 PUD/61 controls), average ag…
Diagnosis and Classification of 17 Diseases from 1404 Subjects via Pattern Analysis of Exhaled Molecules.
We report on an artificially intelligent nanoarray based on molecularly modified gold nanoparticles and a random network of single-walled carbon nanotubes for noninvasive diagnosis and classification of a number of diseases from exhaled breath. The performance of this artificially intelligent nanoarray was clinically assessed on breath samples collected from 1404 subjects having one of 17 different disease conditions included in the study or having no evidence of any disease (healthy controls). Blind experiments showed that 86% accuracy could be achieved with the artificially intelligent nanoarray, allowing both detection and discrimination between the different disease conditions examined.…
Breath testing as potential colorectal cancer screening tool
Although colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is included in organized programs of many countries worldwide, there is still a place for better screening tools. In this study, 418 breath samples were collected from 65 patients with CRC, 22 with advanced or nonadvanced adenomas, and 122 control cases. All patients, including the controls, had undergone colonoscopy. The samples were analysed with two different techniques. The first technique relied on gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for identification and quantification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The T-test was used to identify significant VOCs (p values < 0.017). The second technique relied on sensor analysis…
Analysis of the effects of microbiome-related confounding factors on the reproducibility of the volatolomic test.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) testing in breath has potential in gastric cancer (GC) detection. Our objective was to assess the reproducibility of VOCs in GC, and the effects of conditions modifying gut microbiome on the test results. Ten patients with GC were sampled for VOC over three consecutive days; 17 patients were sampled before and after H. pylori eradication therapy combined with a yeast probiotic; 61 patients were sampled before and after bowel cleansing (interventions affecting the microbiome). The samples were analyzed by: (1) gas chromatography linked to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), applying the non-parametric Wilcoxon test (level of significance p 0.05); (2) by cross-reacti…
QUALITY COMPETITIVENESS OF LATVIA’S METAL INDUSTRY IN THE IRON AND STEEL PRODUCT GROUPS
The aim of this paper is to develop framework for evaluation of quality competitiveness of countries exports and to use this framework to examine quality competitiveness of Latvia’s metal industry in the iron and steel product groups. To achieve this aim authors studied topic related scientific literature and used appropriate methods to examine quality competitiveness according to the other researchers and authors own developed approach. To successfully achieve the aim of the paper and fulfill the tasks set the following research methods were used: 1) monographs method; 2) logical - constructive; 3) statistical analysis techniques: structural analysis and regression analysis; 4) graphical m…
Sensing gastric cancer via point‐of‐care sensor breath analyzer
Background Detection of disease by means of volatile organic compounds from breath samples using sensors is an attractive approach to fast, noninvasive and inexpensive diagnostics. However, these techniques are still limited to applications within the laboratory settings. Here, we report on the development and use of a fast, portable, and IoT-connected point-of-care device (so-called, SniffPhone) to detect and classify gastric cancer to potentially provide new qualitative solutions for cancer screening. Methods A validation study of patients with gastric cancer, patients with high-risk precancerous gastric lesions, and controls was conducted with 2 SniffPhone devices. Linear discriminant an…
Detection of precancerous gastric lesions and gastric cancer through exhaled breath.
Timely detection of gastric cancer (GC) and the related precancerous lesions could provide a tool for decreasing both cancer mortality and incidence.968 breath samples were collected from 484 patients (including 99 with GC) for two different analyses. The first sample was analysed by gas chromatography linked to mass spectrometry (GCMS) while applying t test with multiple corrections (p value0.017); the second by cross-reactive nanoarrays combined with pattern recognition. For the latter, 70% of the samples were randomly selected and used in the training set while the remaining 30% constituted the validation set. The operative link on gastric intestinal metaplasia (OLGIM) assessment staging…
QUALITY COMPETITIVENESS OF LATVIA’S WOOD INDUSTRY
Quality is a complex phenomenon and there exist no general accepted definition, which fits every purpose and all the complexities in teal economics. While competitiveness of enterprises has been studied by many scholars around the world, competitiveness of nations is a relatively new discipline. Studies of export competitiveness in the world markets are not new. Several attempts to evaluate export competitiveness have been made in the past, primarily in Eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia, for example, a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the study was undertaken already in the 1960’s. Similar approach was used by World Bank studies of the price and quality competitiveness of exports by o…
Dynamics of real labour productivity and real compensation in Latvia
Relationship between labour productivity and wages is an important issue not only for economists, but also for policy makers. In the last decades, we have witnessed that in the EU15 wage growth has been lagging productivity growth. At the same time in Latvia, also in some other central and eastern European member states, wages increased more than productivity, rising concerns about disbalance in the economy. However, comparison of wage level and productivity level in Latvia and respective levels in the EU15 shows that wage level in Latvia is much below the EU15 average value in absolute terms, but also in relation to productivity level. To understand whether dissimilarities in wage and prod…