The presented research aimed to perform geophysical modelling (gravity and geoid) and to evaluate the spatio-temporal variation of the marine geological data (distribution and depth of earthquakes) using combination of the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) and available sources from the International Seismological Centre (ISC-EHB) that produce data on earthquakes as part of seismic survey and regional research projects. The target study area is a Philippine Sea basin (PSB) with two focused marginal areas: Philippine Trench and Mariana Trench, two hadal trenches located in the places of the tectonic plates subduction. Marine free-air gravity anomaly in the PSP shows higher values (>80 mGal) of the gravity fields structure at the volcanic areas and Philippine archipelago. Current study presented comparative geophysical analysis, and mapping free-air gravity and geoid in the Philippine Sea basin area. As a result of this study, the average level of earthquakes located in the Philippine Trench and Mariana Trench areas were compared, and those located in the Philippine archipelago are determined to be in the souther-western part (area of west Mindanao, south-west Visayas islands), while Luzon Islands shown shallower located earthquakes. The results on the Mariana Trench segment shown shallower located earthquakes compared of the other marginal regions of the Philippine Sea Basin. Current paper contributes to the studies on natural hazards through visualization and analysis of the earthquakes activities (occurrence and magnitude intensity), due to increasing interest to the problems of seismicity in the Pacific Ocean, which may have environmental effects causing harmful consequences and possible risks for coastal population of the Philippine islands through aftershocks and tsunami.

The issue of sustainable tourism development is discussed in numerous academic publications and official documents. Nevertheless practical implications of this concept are very rare in tourist destinations in Bulgaria. Sustainable tourism development can be shortly described as a development where the resulting economic and social changes lead to a decrease in the need for environmental protection. Quite a few publications try to identify the factors for destinations’ sustainable tourism development. The present research is an attempt to view sustainability as a result of various impacts tourism exerts on the destinations. It can be accepted that positive tourism impacts enhance sustainable tourism development while negative ones can be blamed for the unsustainability of tourist destinations. In their turn tourism impacts are subject to numerous regional and local factors making their monitoring and evaluation extremely difficult but nevertheless indispensable. The present study focuses on three main factors for tourism impacts in destinations in Bulgaria. The three factors investigated are: level of tourism development, stage of tourism development life cycle and prevailing tourism type. But how do we measure tourism impacts and how do me compare them? The impacts in those destinations are evaluated by the local population. This is a way in which all impacts can be compared since they are measured by one and the same indicator – the values they receive from the local population. 5 000 questionnaires are distributed and 4 397 are processed. One of the most interesting findings shows that the least sustainability can be expected in highly seasonal destinations no matter of the level or the stage of their tourism development It was found out that all three investigated factors are of great importance for the differentiation of local residents’ attitude towards tourism, for their perception of tourism impacts and for overall tourism sustainability in general.

The paper study the extremely hot days, with temperature =35°C, on the basis of daily data of the maximum air temperature in the Romanian Plain - one of the territories in Romania with the highest excessive heatings. The excessively hot situations were analyzed in detail by: calculating the total number of extremely hot days gathered year by year and extracting the periods of different durations with such successive days, calculating the frequencies for the analyzed period, identifying the maximum duration intervals of each year and outlining the trends of their evolution. The extreme intensity of the heating is described by the manifestation data both in the air and on the ground. The extraordinary magnitude of the phenomenon was also highlighted by the MODIS satellite data, which indicated maximum temperatures above 50°C, during the day and 35°C at night.

Since 31 December 2019 and as of 01 June 2020, 6,136,085 cases of COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries) have been reported, including 371,857 deaths. The rapid evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered challenges for the medical system, economic and social systems of world and EU Member States. This crisis has affected thousands of lives and continues to put enormous pressure on economic systems. For these reasons, it is necessary to manage economic and social problems as soon as possible and to support/ promote solutions to sustain the sectors affected by the pandemic crisis. Small and medium size enterprises are the most vulnerable ones because of their size, scale of operation, limited financial managerial resources. The SME sector was one of the hardest hit sectors during the C-19 crisis, in both Romania and at global level. This fact determined the governments of the world states, including the one of Romania to take urgent measures for keeping the sector afloat. According to official statistics, in Romania, three out of ten companies are in the risk zone, with expenditures higher than incomes (Financial-Banking Analysts’ Association) and with a total number of 850.000 employees (one-fifth from the total number of employees in the private sector). This paper analyzes the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the SME sector in Romania, attempting to contribute with solutions and proposals for post-crisis resilience and recovery.

The book “One Belt One Road, Una Strategia di Sviluppo Globale” is prepared as a response and a deepening to the promotion of New Silk Road, also called the Belt and Road Initiative (OBOR). The plan of development of this new growing project was initiated by Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, in 2013. It focuses on investment for railway, highway and port construction and links countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa together and promote global cooperation and economic development. It also representing the interests of China for geopolitical and strategic influence. The New Silk Road is a continuation of previous initiatives, such as the Going out policy, promulgated at the end of the Nineties to support, through a liberalization of the regulations, outgoing foreign direct investments of Chinese companies, in particular state-owned enterprises, for the purpose to improve international competitiveness and protect the labor market from industrial conflicts. The result has been a progressive internationalization of Chinese public companies and also private but still under the auspices of the Chinese state. The OBOR, now renamed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is the pillar of Chinese foreign policy, on the basis of which the Chinese government intends to build a future world order that will have its reference point in the People’s Republic of China. The BRI is as a platform for promoting trade.

Various socio-economic and environmental factors play a vital role in the transmission of many infectious diseases of which some are among the most important cause of mortality and morbidity in the developing countries. Filariasis is the disease of the poor people and has been neglected for more than 50 years in Bangladesh and it is endemic in 23 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh so far. The affected people are generally the poorest and most vulnerable segment of the country. This research article has been made to analyze the prediction of filariasis disease. It discusses how GIS technology can be utilized as an array of several databases and as an effective tool for integrating different sectoral and information of various significant decision-making processes. It utilizes the kriging and cokriging methods of ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst to predict filariasis occurrences using various socio-economic and environmental parameters and comparing the predicted models for Bangladesh’s northern region which is highly filariasis prone. The resultant prediction model indicates that the probability of filariasis is higher in upazilas neighboring another upazila with high occurrences. The result also shows that the disease incidences decreases with increasing distance from the disease affected regions.

With the advent of new technologies, cultural heritage can be experienced within a more complex tourist offer based on highly personalized products, tailored to the needs of visitors through feedback, geo-localization, advanced services and multifunctional information. and in real time. Among the types of tourism in constant and rapid growth there is that linked to cultural heritage, with the inevitable repercussions on local economies, destinations and local communities. Cultural tourism attracts an increasing number of tourists / travelers with changing needs; no longer and not only linked to the search for fun but, also, to those of new experiences aimed at satisfying an intellectual, personal, and emotionally satisfying involvement. The importance of innovation, also seen as a new support for the tourist development of the territories, is translated through ICT that facilitate the use of the territory, but also as a system of informal networks between the population and the territories. The transformative power of intelligent technologies not only in terms of economic potential but also of social and experiential dimensions is now widely recognized. From this perspective, the new initiative of the European Commission "EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF SMART TOURISM - ECoST" should be read, which through the holding of a competition aims to identify the European Capital of Intelligent Tourism. In addition to the deepening of the most recent theoretical conceptualizations, the study will be based on the deepening of the ECoST Project and on the examination of the potential of some Italian cities.

The book “Smart Geography” is prepared as a response to the challenges of the 21st century to the geographers who are expected to contribute to the development of human capital and the knowledge society by spatial solutions for various problems. It contains selected contributions from the international conference “Smart Geography” dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Bulgarian Geographical Society. This celebration was also an occasion to pay tribute and extend gratitude to the founder of the Society, Academician Anastas Ishirkov, as well as to all geographers who gave their best for its development in the past century. The book is focused on new and innovative spatial approaches based on smart solutions and developed in the field of geography and related interdisciplinary fields such as urban and regional studies, landscape ecology, and ecosystem services. It covers various themes related to smart spatial solutions in different geographical disciplines as well as interdisciplinary studies with a pronounced spatial aspect. The book illustrates the great variety of themes the contemporary geography is dealing with. Most of them have real potential to contribute by the smart spatial solution to human well-being.