This work focused on the biodegradation of three structurally related fluoroacetates (FAs), mono- (MFA), di- (DFA) and trifluoroacetate (TFA), using as microbial inocula samples collected from a site with a long history of industrial contamination and activated sludge obtained from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Biodegradation experiments were carried out under different modes of substrate supplementation, which included (i) FAs fed as sole carbon sources; (ii) FAs (only for DFA and TFA) fed in co-metabolism with sodium acetate; and (iii) mixtures of MFA with DFA or TFA. Biodegradation of the target compounds was assessed through fluoride ion release. Defluorination was obtained in the cultures fed with MFA, while DFA and TFA were recalcitrant in all tested conditions. When present in mixture, DFA was shown to inhibit biodegradation of MFA, while TFA had no effect. A total of 13 bacterial isolates obtained from MFA degrading cultures were found to degrade 20mgL of this compound, as single strains, when supplemented as a sole carbon source. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that among these degrading bacteria only Delftia acidovorans had been previously reported to be able to degrade MFA. This work shows that, despite their similar chemical structures, biodegradation of the three tested FAs is very distinct and draws attention to the unknown impacts that the accumulation of DFA and TFA may have in the environment as a result of their high recalcitrance.

Digitalization and artificial intelligence are changing modern business organizations. New technologies help to analyze business environment, track customers, control work performance and improve prod-ucts. The aforementioned phenomenon has received considerably little attention in current literature on culture management. Our goal is to find (1) what types of technologies are used by cultural institutions (CIs) and (2) for what reason. The hypothesis of the article is that CIs use various technologies and tools. Websites, leaflets and audiovisual materials of 139 CIs around the world (theaters, art galleries, opera houses, museums) were analyzed. It was found that CIs use both complementary (CT) as well as substitutive technologies (ST) for managerial and mission-oriented purposes. In our article, the matrix of technologies used by CIs is proposed. Our findings suggest that CIs adapt to changing technological environment by implementing tools that support them in the mission’s fulfillment and management. Moreover, new technologies are used by CIs as both employees’ reinforcement as well as their replace-ment.

Along this article we share our research in the field of urban creativity, in particular on how smart cities are becoming more and more independent and developing a spirit of sustainable autonomy that somehow creates creative opportunities in terms of memory and cultural identity. Our current article raises the issue of how can smart cities affect the creative process? We believe that creativity becomes a process linked into a digital world and becomes much more interactive. That is why new ways of artistic and digital expression can be welcomed by those who are used to new technologies, which daily influence human activity in the space of the city. In other words, with the use of the existing technology inside the cities and their interconnections with other cities we can conceive creative strategies that will contribute to preserve the memory as well as the cultural and creative identity of a people. Video-mapping is precisely one of those creative strategies, once it will directly interact between the real dimension and the virtual dimension. The use of video-mapping, as an element of covering the facades of buildings, can somehow help to make the streets more dynamic and transform them into other atmospheres. The city becomes part of the third dimension and people are interacting between the real and the virtual. The management of the urban space has been gradually changing and following the technological advance. Mobility and sustainability is one of the key factors in which a smart city has invested the most. Now is the time to invest in a relationship between the city and the people, making it more humane and giving space for creativity.

The article presents a strategic model of the partnership in the field of business education that takes into account the specificity of the globalization and current trends on the job markets. The main research tasks were to consider the theoretical bases of relationship marketing and to examine the major trends and challenges of the job market in Russia. The article includes the results of the research on the goals in life and motivation of secondary school students, the survey among the university professors on their opinions about why students decide to study, and also the results of the international research among students of European and Russian universities. The article present various activities that the business school can use to boost the cooperation between its main shareholders. The authors suggest a matrix of interaction between universities and partner companies which composes of the tangible/intangible resources and tangible/intangible effects with the characteristics of their impact and effectiveness for both the companies and universities.

A building can be a piece of art on the same level as pictures. This notion is argued by many scholars, yet a building designed in a way that can both satisfy practical needs and cause aesthetical pleasure is equal to a painting. The actual situation of the architectural culture, its incongruities and the quantity of architectural production which increases day by day, leads us according to Manfredo Tafuri in his book Theory and History of Architecture, to be facing an unconscious effort. This effort on one hand dictates the death of Architecture and on the other hand the discovery of a new dimension and conception of the architectural application in real life. As referred by Umberto Eco there must be a dialog between the subject and the object. Tourism could give a push into the maintenance of architecture quality, and preserving of architectonic historical zones. So what is the purpose of the tourism realm in the 21st century?