Countries enact environmental regulations to achieve sustainable development and ecological sustainability. However, environmental regulations do not guarantee environmental sustainability unless implemented efficiently. Furthermore, political institutions play a key role in the formulation and management of environmental regulations. This research examines the relationship between democracy, environmental regulations, economic growth, and ecological footprint (EF) in the panel of G7 nations from 1985 to 2017. Second generation econometric techniques are used to analyze the data. The empirical evidence indicates that economic growth enhances EF while democracy and environmental regulations positively contribute to ecological sustainability by reducing EF. The causal outcomes reveal that democracy Granger causes EF and renewable energy indicating that democracy curbs environmental degradation and stimulates the share of renewables. Further, democracy and environmental regulations Granger cause each other. Lastly, the implication of these findings for sustainable development and ecological sustainability are discussed.

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This paper considers the investigation of smart technology integration into EFL teaching and assessment at the non-linguistic higher school. The purpose of the paper is to develop, theoretically substantiate and assess the usage of smart technology in EFL teaching at a non-linguistic higher school. The model for integration of smart technologies into the course of «Business Communication» for the students majoring in Economics in an English language learning environment is presented. Some possible blocking factors, challenges educators can face in the educational arena are revealed. The authors highlight didactic characteristics and functions that can be taken into account for smart technology integration. It is noted that understanding of the concept of smart technology integration into EFL teaching, finding an optimal balance between students' needs and teachers' professional competence can lead to significant language learning outcomes.

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The paper investigates research into the ESP teachers' role in relation to different teaching methods and students' role in e-learning within the Moodle LMS. The number of definitions to e-learning, multiple terms and concepts, which focus on technological aspects and educational process of learning, and reflect authors´cultural, educational and institutional backgrounds were reviewed. In the current technologydriven environment, the role of the ESP e-learning teacher (tutor) is multidimensional and challenging, as there is a great demand for new tools and learner-centered learning approaches. The utilisation of computers will influence the way how teachers teach and students learn, and it will be up to the teachers to make use of the Internet in ways that match the pedagogical goals.

A modern education system where students and faculty members are not obliged to come to the campus, where live, video, audio and interactive courses are taught in a fully virtual environment with face-to-face university education is called distance education. Based on the technological developments, the importance of distance education has also been revealed. The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of experts on the development of the ‘distance education’ course brought to the teacher training programmes. The participants of the study were selected from the purposeful sampling types with maximum diversity, criteria and easily accessible sampling methods. The data obtained as a result of interviews with experts from Northern Cyprus and Russian Universities were subjected to content analysis with a qualitative approach. In this study, which was designed as a case study, 20 academicians from 3 different departments working in the education faculty were included. In the study, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used as the data collection tool. Interviews were recorded with their consent. The data obtained as a result of interviews with experts were subjected to content analysis with a qualitative approach. As a result of the research, the experts reported teacher competencies, course application and system-oriented views for the development of the distance learning course.

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Despite the ongoing research on energy innovation and economic growth, little is known on how degree of energy innovation impacts income inequality within a nation. To address this research gap, we have developed a bivariate model to analyze how distribution of energy innovation affects the income distribution in a certain country. Using the Fisher Ideal Index, we have calculated energy efficiency as an indicator of energy innovation. Quantile-on-Quantile regression has been applied to capture the impact on energy innovation across different income quantiles in Next 11 (N11) countries. Results show that energy innovation can have different outcomes, across the member countries of N11 group, namely a) equitable and positive impact, (b) negative impact, and (c) inequitable impact in terms of distribution of income. We have inferred important policy implications, which might lead to sustainable development strategies in N11 countries. This study is one of the first to establish the direct link between energy innovation and income inequality across different quantiles within a nation. Further, we successfully demonstrate the application of advanced quantile methods in inferring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) focused policy implications.