Council Of Ministers Research Articles

Evaluation of spatio-temporal water quality status of Jeera river, Odisha, India

Jeera River of Bargarh District, Odisha faces serious deterioration due to massive human intervention. It is particularly susceptible to degradation because it receives industrial and waste water emissions from surrounding organizations and municipal bodies. The river was formerly a flourishing tributary of the massive Mahanadi River that possessed excellent navigability, an array of aquatic ecosystems, and a well-established basin with an expanding agricultural sector. The current condition of the Jeera River is deplorable, leaving behind only minimal economic and ecological values. The study emphasizes analyzing the seasonal variation of the water quality rating of Jeera River in terms of the Water Quality Index (WQI). WAWQI (Weighed Arithmetic Water Quality Index) values show that almost all sampling sites have poor or unsuitable quality. During the monsoon season, the water quality deteriorated the most, with an average WQI score of 516.430 compared to pre- and post-monsoon with average WQI values of 154.558 and 276.014 respectively. CCMEWQI (Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment Water Quality Index) values indicate that water quality ranges from marginal, and poor to fair. This study concludes that out of the eight sampling sites, station 5 (Dumerpali) is observed to be the most polluted site. Many water quality parameters including iron, turbidity, nitrate, phosphate, E. coli, and Total coliform are found to exceed the permissible limits prescribed by WHO and BIS. Reducing sewage outflow, blocking direct stormwater discharge, and avoiding continuous solid garbage disposal by neighbouring populations are ways to improve river water quality.Graphical abstract

A Letter Invited on a Trip: Practice of Dealing with Complaints in Soviet Lithuania

In Soviet post-war society many letters / complaints which had little to do with ideology or police were written. People who wrote those complaints did not intend to report or punish anyone. Rather they were concerned only with solving their own everyday life problems and improve it. Purely personal interests of those who wrote letters show that messages like those were simply grievances about everyday life. Often complaints became an officially legal form of blat (connections) and were promoted by those who did not have any strong social connections. Those who used blat resorted to personal connections, while the writers of complaints used official institutions. The authorities in Soviet Lithuania encouraged those who wrote complaints. Soviet citizens who saw some evil in society were urged to address higher institutions of power. The 2 August 1958 resolution passed by the Central Committee of the USSR “On serious shortcomings in dealing with ordinary people’s letters, grievances and reports” was to encourage people to complain about social evil. It attracted attention to the importance of the control dealing with grievances. One of the most important party and government chains, which was to ensure people’s confidence to write letters was the State Control Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party.

Geographic heterogeneity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Yangtze River sediments: Evidence from the longest river in Asia.

This work is the first comprehensive survey of the Yangtze River, covering its origin to the estuary mouth. It focuses on the geographical and industrial factors influencing the distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments, along with their contamination levels, sources, and ecological risks. The total concentrations of PAHs ranged from 2.14 to 796 (mean 179 ± 179) ng/g, which falls within the low-to-middle range compared to global levels. Four-ring PAHs were observed with the highest proportion (34.0%), followed by three-rings (24.7%), five-rings (16.0%), two-rings (16.6%), and six-rings (8.62%). PAH levels were significantly higher downstream of the confluences of the Yangtze mainstream and its major tributaries, as well as in areas with frequent industrial activity. Heavy metals (Zn, Pb, and Cd) and industry output values were positively correlated with PAHs concentrations, especially three-ring PAHs. The results of source analysis, based on molecular diagnostics and principal component analysis, identified coal, biomass, and petroleum combustion as the main sources of PAHs. Among these, industrial coal combustion and vehicle emissions were dominant, contributing 39% and 64% of the PAHs pollution in top and bottom sediments, respectively. The toxicity equivalence (TEQ) evaluation results showed that the total TEQ of ∑16PAHs (mean: 14 ng/g) was below the 600 ng/g TEQBaP standard established by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. BaP had the highest TEQBaP, followed by DahA and BbF. The risk assessment indicated that Nap and Pyr were the two congeners with the highest risk, accounting for 24-33% and 21-28% of the Risk Quotient for negligible concentration values (RQNCs) and maximum Permissible Concentration values (RQMPCs) of ∑16PAHs, respectively. Despite the overall low to moderate risks of PAHs in the region, the above-mentioned major compounds (e.g., BaP, DahA, BbF, Nap, and Pyr) should be of continued concern.

President of National Atomic Energy Agency (Państwowa Agencja Atomistyki) and National Atomic Energy Agency – challenges and problems of national nuclear regulatory

The main research problems were challenges and problems of national nuclear regulatory in the field of Polish Nuclear Power Program adopted on October 2, 2020 by the Council of Ministers. The author mainly aimed to examine the Polish solutions and legal instruments in Polish Atomic Law. Particular attention was paid to the future tasks of the nuclear regulatory authority due to governmental plans to implement nuclear power in Poland and in the light of recent activities of private entities as to the construction of smaller nuclear power plants. In conclusion, the author believes that President of National Atomic Energy Agency is an independent, central body of government administration that acts as independent regulatory body, but we can’t predict the future during implementation of the Polish Nuclear Power Program.

Sequestration and Right to Effective Appeal Under the OFL Normative Act

In Albania, the Council of Ministers adopted the OFL law in 2020 to strengthen the rule of law by enabling the sequestration and confiscation of assets from individuals suspected of serious crimes, including organized crime and terrorism. Although intended to complement existing laws like the Anti-Mafia law, the OFL law is characterized by its temporary nature and urgent enactment. Despite its survival of a constitutionality challenge affirmed by the Constitutional Court in 2022, criticisms persist regarding its infringement on constitutional rights such as the right to an effective appeal and equality before the law. The law allows for asset sequestration without the presence of the affected party and provides a formal right to appeal that lacks substantive judicial review, thereby raising concerns about the violation of property rights as per the Constitution of Albania. This article explores the implications of the OFL law on fundamental rights and legal processes.

A Poem on the Sea of Tears, or the Chronicles of a Disaster. Oleksandr Dovzhenko about Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant

The article is based on the diary entries of Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The realities of the construction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station (1950–1956), which has become another stage of Stalin’s plan to “tame nature” are investigated in the article. As a result of thoughtless, ideologically driven decisions, irreparable damage has been done to Ukraine’s ecology, its demographic and settlement structure, cultural and historical heritage. On June 6, 2023, the dam of the reservoir has been blown up by Russian occupation forces, causing a global environmental disaster. In this regard, interest in the history of construction and true testimonies about that time has grown. Oleksandr Dovzhenko has worked here for five years to create a film about the man-made sea. Communication with construction workers, people who have been forced to move, losing their small homeland forever, enabled him to create his own chronicle of events in their artistic comprehension. The communist pathos of the diaries is caused by the artist’s passion for the idea of irrigating the arid steppes and, to a certain extent, the self-censorship of a person forced to survive under ideological and power pressure, which later gives way to doubts about the expediency of what is happening. A record on a sense of something terrible and inevitable that is about to happen appears. The writer witnesses a catastrophe, and eschatological plots of the destruction of the unique Ukrainian world unfold before his eyes. Three main themes on which the author’s attention is focused: nature, history, and people, are analyzed in the study. The loss of centuries-old natural landscapes (the Great Meadow), the flooding of thousands of historical monuments (Scythian burials, places of the Cossack Sich), the destruction of folk architecture, sacred buildings, farmlands, and broken human destinies have prompted O. Dovzhenko to search for options to prevent the disaster. His memoranda to the Council of Ministers and the Academy of Architecture have allowed him to add national color to the urban space of Nova Kakhovka, to mark the gates of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station sluices with Cossack symbols – gull ships. The start of construction and the consequences it caused have led the artist to believe that it is inexpedient to continue building artificial reservoirs on the Dnipro. He has tried unsuccessfully to convey this idea to the specialists involved. Further experience has confirmed the truth of his conclusions. About 80 villages have been flooded again after the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station is blown up in 2023. After the water has receded, contrary to the pessimistic predictions of environmentalists, a willow forest has grown in this area within a year, and archaeological sites are once again on dry land. The first timid assumptions about the possibility to return the Velykyi Luh (the Great Meadow) have appeared. It seems that, following Dovzhenko, believing in the unconquerability of Ukrainianhood and the power of the national spirit, we can consider this a deeply symbolic phenomenon that gives us hope that all evil will be inevitably defeated.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST PILGRIMAGES TO «HOLY PLACES» IN THE CHUVASH ASSR IN THE LATE 1950s – EARLY 1960s

An important component of the anti-church campaign that took place in the late 1950s and the first half of the 1960s was the fight against pilgrimages to the so–called «holy places». Such campaigns were not new to our country, it is enough to look back on Peter the Great’s decree prohibiting the construction of chapels unauthorized by the authorities. The cult of «holy places» is obvious to have been an important part of the so-called «casual» or «folk» religiosity and the presence of «holy places» supported the religious enthusiasm among the population. It is implied that in an effort to limit the influence of «religious prejudices» on citizens, the Soviet government could not help but pay attention to this phenomenon. The purpose of the study is to study the struggle against pilgrimages to «holy places» in the territory of the Chuvash ASSR, which took place as part of another aggravation of state–church relations in the late 1950s – early 1960s, known as «Khrushchev anti-church campaign». Materials and methods. The source base of the research was made up of materials kept in the foundation of the Authorized Council on the Russian Orthodox Church (since 1965 Council on Religious Affairs) under the Council of Ministers of the Chuvash ASSR (F. R-1857), located in the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic. The materialistic understanding of history was used as a research method. Research results. In the territory of the Chuvash ASSR, the plenipotentiaries of the Council on the Russian Orthodox Church record two «holy places» in their reports: in the village of Ishaki of Cheboksary region and in the village of Mirenki of Kuvakinsky (now Alatyrsky) region. An important part of the «holy places» cult was the worship of wells, the water in which was considered sacred by the population. Every year, on special days associated with the local cult, there was a mass pilgrimage to the wells with consecrated water. During the days of pilgrimage, spontaneous markets around the «holy place» were organized by consumer cooperation organizations. Pilgrimages were accompanied by appropriate practices (almost publicly undressing and dousing with water, foolishness, etc.), which could look shocking. Pilgrimages helped to maintain a high level of religiosity in rural areas. In the late 1950s, the central authorities adopted a number of regulations aimed at minimizing and, if possible, eliminating the practice of pilgrimage. The Plenipotentiary of the Council on the Russian Orthodox Church in the Chuvash ASSR managed to put an end to the pilgrimage to the village of Ishaki and the village of Mirenki. However, «holy places» spontaneously appeared in other locations. Conclusions. The Soviet society as a whole was ready to put up with religion, but within a clearly defined framework of the temple. In this sense, the struggle against pilgrimages fit into the educationist paradigm. The argumentation of the attack on the «holy places» is surprisingly similar to the argumentation of Peter the Great’s decree banning the construction of chapels in the «holy places». Both of these campaigns, which are two centuries apart, can be considered as phenomena of the same order, as episodes of secularization in the Russian execution.

Evaluation of Water Quality in a Highly Impacted Urban Stream Using Water Quality Index (Ankara Stream, Türkiye)

Population growth along with other factors such as industrial, agricultural, and urban development, threaten freshwater resources in urban areas. Protecting urban water quality for ecological balance, water security, and energy production is crucial. The water quality index (WQI) provides an effective tool for assessing and managing water quality, and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME-WQI) is one of the extensively used method. In this study, the pollution status of the Ankara Stream which flows through the densely populated Ankara was examined using physico-chemical parameters collected from five stations (S1-S5), and the water quality status was estimated via CCME-WQI. The results revealed varying water quality across different points on the stream. S2, located in a protected area, exhibited the best quality; in contrast, S4 and S5, located downstream of a wastewater treatment plant, exhibited the poorest quality. The consistency of these findings with the literature and the historical records of Ankara Stream emphasize that the CCME-WQI can be used for the management of water resources with high levels of pollution. This study contributes to sustainable water management practices and highlights the need for advanced treatment techniques to control pollution in urban freshwater resources.

Hydrogeochemical and hydrochemical evaluation of surface water: insights into water quality for drinking use – case of Babar Dam in northeastern Algeria

The quality of surface water from the Babar Dam in Khenchela province, northeastern Algeria, was assessed using monthly physicochemical data collected from July 2018 to June 2019. This study aimed to evaluate the water's suitability for both drinking and agricultural purposes. For the drinking water assessment, two water quality indices, the Water Quality Index (WQI) and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME-WQI), were employed. The WQI results indicated that 99% of the monitoring stations consistently had good quality water, while only 1% showed permissible quality throughout the year, meeting the standard criteria for drinking water. In contrast, the CCME-WQI classified the water as marginal at all stations, suggesting that while the water met the basic standards for human consumption, certain parameters such as conductivity and specific ion concentrations fell outside the ideal range, potentially requiring treatment for improved quality. These findings highlight the overall suitability of the water for consumption but also emphasize the need for continued monitoring and possible intervention to ensure water quality remains consistently safe for all uses.

Somalia’s Political Elite Settlement: The Role of the Parliament

The transitional Federal Government ended in 2012, and Somalia people expected that the political elite could reach a political agreement on the provisional federal constitutional review process, resource sharing, fiscal policy, universal suffrage, and the capital city’s status. Unfortunately, all efforts have ended unsuccessfully and hopelessly. However, significant impediments remain as a result of the lack of political settlement between the federal government (FGS) and the federal member states (FMS), resulting in a lack of means for resolving political impasses because the National Consultative Council’s decision does not include a vote if the political deadlock emerges, as well as the absent role of parliament due to government interference and intertwining members of parliament and the council of ministers. Since 1991, Somalia has witnessed a lack of political agreement that plunged the country into the worst civil war, and terrorism, that claimed thousands of Somalis’ lives and induced displacement and refugees. Twenty (20) reconciliations for the Somalia faction aimed to solve the deadly conflict and revive the state, have not been produced in good upshot due to the absence of a third-party guarantee of the agreement and a lack of political will. This research paper is going to shed light on the long-standing lack of political settlement among leaders of the federal government and federal member states (FMS) that has been undermining state-building, the fight against al-Shabaab, the federal constitutional review process, holding for a free and fair election, and economic growth since 2013. The paper investigates how the role of parliament could contribute to political settlement among the federal government and federal member states (FMS) and the main challenges that the National Consultative Council (NCC), which includes the leaders of the federal government of Somalia (FGS), and federal member states (FMS) have faced since 2013. The study used mixed methods by combining literature studies, including an academic papers and policy documents, and qualitative methods with face-to-face interviews with key informants, including high-ranking officials, politicians, civil society, academics, youth, and women.

Conflict between the doctor’s conscience and the patient’s right to obtain medical services after the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 7 October 2015

The physician’s conscience clause, contained in Article 39 of the Act on the Medical and Dental Professions, gives the possibility of refusing to provide a health service by invoking religious or moral beliefs. In the original version of the provision, the possibility of using the conscience clause was subject to numerous restrictions, but the greatest opposition from the medical community was aroused by the obligation to indicate real possibilities of obtaining a service inconsistent with conscience from another physician or in another medical facility. In connection with the above, as a result of an application of the Supreme Medical Council, on 7 October 2015 the Constitutional Tribunal issued a judgment stating the inconsistency of the aforementioned restriction with the Constitution, due to the need to ensure freedom of conscience and religion to everyone in a democratic state of law. Under the said judgment, the doctor no longer has to indicate real possibilities of obtaining a service that is against his conscience from another doctor or in another medical facility; however, the issue of who is to do this has not been properly regulated by the legislator after the judgment of the Tribunal. This omission was to be filled in the draft act amending the Act on the Medical and Dental Professions, and certain other acts, adopted by the Council of Ministers on 7 January 2020, which proposed that the medical facility which, within the scope of its activities, refused to provide a health service, should be obliged to refer the patient to another physician. However, this solution was met with criticism from many groups and was in conflict with the position of the Constitutional Tribunal, according to which this obligation should not rest with medical facilities, but with public authorities, e.g. the National Health Service. Ultimately, Article 39 of the Act on the Medical and Dental Professions still does not contain a provision specifying an entity that could indicate a real possibility for a patient to obtain a service that is contrary to a doctor’s conscience, which may give rise to many misunderstandings in the public sphere and serve inappropriate interpretations of the law harmful for the patient-doctor relationship.

Comparative assessment of groundwater quality in Kokrajhar, India

A study was carried out to analyse and compare the quality of groundwater in Kokrajhar during the pre- and post-monsoon seasons. Kokrajhar is experiencing a significant population growth and urbanisation. Groundwater is vital for the daily activities and consumption of the local population. In order to meet the needs of the local population, it is crucial to evaluate the quality of groundwater. The study involved the collection of groundwater samples from 20 different locations during the pre- and post-monsoon periods. Tests were conducted on groundwater samples to analyse 10 different test parameters. Sample points were located using geographical information system (GIS) and contour maps were generated to represent different test parameters. The assessment of groundwater quality was determined using two different methodologies: the Weighted Arithmetic Index (WAI) method and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) method. The results obtained by both methods were compared. Minor to significant variations in various test parameters were observed during analysis of pre- and post-monsoon groundwater samples.

Using Two Water Quality Indices for Evaluating the Health and Management of a Tropical Lake

With increasing pressure on freshwater resources in developing countries due to population growth, further research and potential interventions are crucial. Lake Tana, located in the headwaters of the Blue Nile, serves as a critical example of these precious freshwater resources. This study evaluated the water quality of Lake Tana for both ecological health and drinking purposes using the Arithmetic Weighted Water Quality Index (AW WQI) and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI). Samples were collected from 20 lake sampling stations four times between July 2018 and June 2019 to calculate the two water quality indices using ten measured parameters. The average annual AW WQI ranged from good to very poor for ecological health and very poor to unsuitable for drinking water. The CCME WQI categorized Lake Tana’s water quality as poor to fair for both uses. According to the water quality indices, the water quality was most impacted by turbidity, dissolved oxygen, ammonium, and phosphorus. However, except for ammonium, these factors were immaterial for lake management because the lake was nitrogen-limited, and the turbidity resulted from sediment stirred up by waves from the lake bottom, which cannot be managed easily. Dissolved oxygen is related to turbidity. Moreover, the WQIs did not identify two pesticides in the lake that negatively affected the fish. Thus, WQI indices may document water quality changes over time. Therefore, in addition to a favorable economic and political climate, improving lake water management requires insights from experts, the scientific literature, and possibly additional monitoring in addition to what is provided by the WQIS.

Thomas More through temporary museum exhibitions

The pedestal of the statue of Thomas More by Leslie Cubitt Bevis, unveiled in 1969 in Chelsea, includes three inscriptions: statesman, humanist, saint. The person of More and his particularly renowned qualities have been celebrated by at least 20 temporary exhibitions, held in eight different countries, between 1896 and 2024. The standard of these exhibitions reflects the intellectual pre-eminence of the personalities involved in them, as well as the prestige of the institutions in which they have been held. The enduring significance of More is indicated by the high number of visitors to these exhibitions, as well as the attendance of authorities such as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, the president of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, Mario Monti, and the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, Monsignore Rino Fisichella.

Informal is the new normal in North–South relations

Abstract North/South cooperation on the island of Ireland has grown significantly in the last twenty-six years. Still, it can be argued that the delivery of that growth has happened mainly outside the formal Strand Two structures of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement with the North South Ministerial Council and its implementation bodies presently not directly involved in some of the main flagship cross-border projects in the areas of health, infrastructure, higher and further education, research, arts and culture. Instead, the Shared Island Unit, established in September 2020 and based within the Department of the Taoiseach, has been driving the delivery of the majority of projects in these areas, in many cases without direct input from the Northern Ireland Executive. This paper reviews how informal governance has been used to enhance cooperation and solve issues due to the deliberately limiting nature of the formal Strand Two institutions.

Distribution and In Vitro Bioaccessibility of Potentially Toxic Metals in Soils at Select Urban Parks at Eastern Canadian Cities

This study investigated the human health risks associated with exposure to potentially toxic metals, including arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc, at select parks in Eastern Canadian cities. Except for arsenic in Halifax, the mean metal concentrations in the cities, including Saint John, Fredericton, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Windsor, Woodstock, Kitchener, Guelph, Chatham, and Montreal, were below the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment soil quality guideline for parkland use. Metal distribution reflected either the regional natural-occurring concentrations or anthropogenic sources such as industrial activities, historical land use, and heavy traffic corridors. In vitro bioaccessibility values were variable and in the order chromium < nickel < cobalt < arsenic < zinc < copper < lead < cadmium. The risk associated with incidental soil ingestion for children, incorporating bioaccessibility, indicated unacceptable levels of non-carcinogenic effects for 6 out of the 101 samples analyzed. For adults, unacceptable non-carcinogenic effects were noted for only one sample. Lead was the leading contributor to the non-carcinogenic risk. Carcinogenic risk for arsenic was limited to two samples. The overall risks associated with exposure to metals in soils in most of the parks studied were deemed low except for arsenic and lead at a few parks.

Issues of the profession of a land classifier

From the legal point of view, the soil science classification is regulated by the Geodetic and Cartographic Law, where it is defined as the division of soils into valuation classes due to their production quality determined on the basis of the genetic characteristics of the soil. The executive act regulating the issue of soil science classification of land are the provisions included in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of September 12, 2012 on soil science classification of land (Journal of Laws 2012, item 1246). The aim of the article was to present the problems resulting from the lack of regulation of the profession of land classifier and the lack of uniform administrative procedures regarding the selection of the classifier for the purposes of the classifications. The research method used is the case study. The method was supported by the analysis of legislation in the above-mentioned scope.

The Lithuanian Nomenklatura of the Period of Stagnation in the Eyes of the Soviet “Governor General”: the Clash during the Appointment of Petras Griškevičius

The article, based on the author’s conversation with Valery Charazov (born 1918), second secretary of the Lithuanian Communist party Central Committee (further LCP CC) 1967–1978, archive sources, and memoirs of other activists of that period, describes Charazov’s attitude to the situation in Soviet Lithuania after the death of the LCP CC first secretary Antanas Sniečkus, his evaluation of the Republic’s highest nomenklatura as well as his active role in appointing second secretary Petras Griškevičius as first secretary of LCP CC. Valery Charazov’s activity as LCP CC second secretary is similar to the activities of second secretaries of other republics, and it allows us to see the wider pattern of their activity throughout the Soviet Union. On the other hand, certain aspects allow us to see the Soviet Union–wide political processes from the local perspective of a republic. This is revealed though analysis of the actions of Charazov’s Lithuanian nomenklatura opponents – how they used their political connections with Ukrainian CP CC first secretary Shcherbitsky and with the Dnepropetrovsk political group which became entrenched during Leonid Brezhnev’s rule, as well as through the review of the political heritage of Antanas Sniečkus, who was also a client of the “shadow” USSR cardinal Mikhail Suslov. The article looks at the survey of the Lithuanian nomenklatura carried out by Valery Charazov. With this survey he sought to elect and present to Moscow the most suitable candidate to succeed Antanas Sniečkus. This survey and the character descriptions of candidates made in its wake was the informational basis that enabled the election of a candidate satisfactory to both Moscow and the local nomenklatura. The article presents the results of the survey carried out by Charazov. The following candidates were nominated for the position of LCP CC first secretary: chairman of the Council of Ministers of LSSR Juozas Maniušis, three LCP CC secretaries – Secretary for Industry and Construction Algirdas Ferensas, Secretary for Ideology Antanas Barkauskas, Secretary for Agriculture Rimgaudas Songaila – as well as the chairman of the party’s Vilnius city committee Petras Griškevičius, chairman of the LSSR labour unions’ committee Kazimieras Mackevičius, and head of LCP CC Organisational-party work division Vytautas Astrauskas. In the 47 interviews with contemporary party and Soviet leaders, the candidacy of Petras Griškevičius gained the most support. This activist was the first choice of 12 persons, and was considered a potential candidate (among others) – by 29 persons. Antanas Barkauskas was the first choice of one of those interviewed and was considered a possible candidate by 11 persons; Rimgaudas Songaila was no one’s first choice, but was seen as a possible candidate by 9 persons; Kazimieras Mackevičius, like Songaila, was not anyone’s preferred candidate, but 6 representatives considered him a possible candidate. Charazov’s survey revealed how unpopular Maniušis, who was viewed as one of the favourites, was. No one considered him as a first choice and 17 people considered him a possible candidate. Arguably, the main result of Charazov’s survey was the genuine characterisation of the nominees. It was distinguished from other formal responses of the time by the open identification of negative character traits of the candidates and a rather accurate description of their personalities.

Re-establishment of the Position of the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Baltic States in the Mid-fifties of the 20th Century

The re-establishment of the position of the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Baltic States during Nikita Khrushchev’s rule is at the centre of this article. The predecessors of this important position for control of the republics were the representative of the Central Committee of All-Union Communist Party (the Bolsheviks) (AUCP[B] CC) and of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and subsequently the representative of the institution of the (AUCP[B] CC) bureau for the republic. The article examines the reasons and motives behind Moscow’s 1956 decision to re-establish the practice abolished by Lavrentiy Beria in 1953 of appointing functionaries sent by the Kremlin as second secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Republics. Before re-establishing the position of second secretary, Moscow took several tactical steps. First, in 1955, it specified a problem in the Baltic States, the lack of development in agriculture, and then organised campaigns and checks and also sent ‘assistance’ teams to the Baltic States, as a result of which the elite of the republics were finally forced to ask the centre to “strengthen the leadership” by sending a second secretary and other functionaries. In December 1955, the resolution ‘On measures to raise agriculture of the Lithuanian SSR’ was adopted, and under its guise in 1956 the position of the second secretary was re-established.

Source identification and human health risk to polychlorinated biphenyls in public parks and playground surface soils, southern zone of Ghana.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) constitute a typical example of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that have been detected globally in most environmental media. Soil serves as a critical reservoir for PCBs. This research is aimed at evaluating the potential exposure and associated health risks posed by soil-laden PCBs to humans during outdoor activities on public playgrounds and parks within the southern zone of Ghana where limited studies have been undertaken. Surface soils collected from 56 sites were processed and analyzed for seven indicator PCBs in soil particle sizes less than 63µm. A multi-residual analytical approach for the simultaneous analysis of PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) via gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was utilized. The results indicated that the concentration of PCBs ranged from 0.26 to 24.00µg/kg with an average total concentration of 1.86 ± 3.23µg/kg which is below the environment guideline threshold of 1.3mg/kg stipulated by the Canadian Council of Ministers for residential playgrounds/parkland soils. Multivariate analysis showed that the sources of the PCBs could be attributed predominantly to historical release, atmospheric transfer, and deposition. The excess lifetime cancer risks posed to children and adults are less than 10-6 thereby implying the existence of low carcinogenic health risk to the human populace within the southern zone of Ghana. Thus, the conduct of outdoor activities at the public playgrounds/parks within these highly populated areas poses no significant risk to human health.