The Svalbard archipelago is a centre of global research on climate change and also an example of a rapidly changing Arctic area with tourism replacing the traditional mining industry. We compared the different development paths of the Norwegian (Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund) and Russian settlements (Barentsburg and Pyramida) on Spitsbergen as part of the Svalbard archipelago using demographic and socio-economic data until 2022 when available, but not focusing on the impacts of COVID-19 and changing geopolitics after 2022. We analysed strategy documents produced by Norway and Russia and by organisations connected to Svalbard. The analysis continued by scrutinising the statistical data available to ascertain if this supported the strategic goals outlined in the documents. Data collection was by direct enquiry to national statistical bureaus, agencies and institutions in Norway and Russia. Secondary data were collected from media publications and social media accounts. Statistics Norway provided very detailed data on demographics and industrial structure, turnover, investments and comprehensive statistics on employees by industry on Norwegian settlements on Svalbard. The results revealed disparities in socio-economic development, striking differences in data availability and in transparency between the Norwegian and Russian settlements. The population in the Norwegian settlements continued to grow during the period 1990–2022 with an increasing number of foreign nationals, and the population in the Russian settlements decreased by 85% at the same time period. The Norwegian settlements exemplify a diversified economy with a growing private sector, and the Russian settlements continued to rely on the town-forming Russian state unitary coal mining enterprise, Trust Arktikugol. While Svalbard presented a prime example of open data and transparency in the environmental sciences, the socio-economic and demographic statistics were lagging behind. Several practical proposals are presented for improved data collection on the Svalbard settlements.

While many nations are struggling to slow the transmission rate of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Vietnam has seen no new locally acquired cases since April 16. After implementing 22 d of nationwide social distancing, on April 23, the government of Vietnam announced the easing of social distancing measures. This allows the country to restart its socio-economic activities in a gradual, prudent manner. Domestic tourism and exports of agricultural and anti-COVID-19 medical products take priority over the other sectors in this postpandemic economic recovery. Importantly, the country needs to stay vigilant on the fight against the disease to prevent a possibility of another outbreak.

A number of studies have described different preference patterns typically found for women and men when selecting a long-term partner. Despite the number of investigations on the topic, one must be careful not to generalise because most studies use samples of North American undergraduates. In this study, heterosexual participants from Brazil and Portugal rated the desirability characteristics in a possible long-term partner. The sample was composed of 402 participants, of whom 187 were Brazilian (92 women and 95 men) from Brasília University, Brazil; and 215 were Portuguese (121 women and 94 men) from Porto University, Portugal. Participants of each culture responded to the same 18 items, measuring four factors: personality, physical attractiveness, resources, and abilities. As predicted, women rated indicators of personality, resources, and abilities significantly higher than men, who rated physical attractiveness higher. Brazilian students rated resources higher than did Portuguese students. The findings are discussed in the context of some evolutionary and sociocultural notions posited in explanations of mating behaviour. Limitations of this methodology are discussed.

This paper is concerned with the methods of mathematical modeling of thesocio-economicdevelopment of regions. The objective of this study is to analyze and assess thesocio-economicpotential of the territory having regard to its individual socio-economic andeconomic-geographicalcharacteristics. The territory's individual characteristics, in turn, aretreated as invariantconditions of its development. The study territory includes regions and federaldistricts of theRussian Federation.
An assessment of the regions' development potential is made from the perspectiveof analyzingtheir current socio-economic situation for the time interval 1999-2002 takenfrom official statisticalhandbooks. To accomplish this, a special-purpose mathematical model is developedin the formof a hierarchical fractal indicative function relating the generalized indicatorcharacterizing theregions' development potential, or the “indicated” (that which is indicatedversus indicator), to theparticular socio-economic characteristics of the territory, or the developmentindicators of the localeconomy, via the model coefficients which is termed regulators.
As a result, the economic-mathematical model is generated in the form of anindicative functioncharacterizing the current socio-economic situation of the regions and federaldistricts of Russiaon different levels of economic organization (from local and regional tonational). It reflects appropriatelyand dramatically the specific character of the region's socio-economic potentialby theexample of the connection of investments with the volumes of production. Themodel permitsthe position of the regions and districts to be identified in the system ofinter-regional and nationalsocio-economic links and economic-geographical conditions of development. Theresultsderived from modeling the socio-economic development potential of Russia'sregions have beenused to construct the control surface of the country's economy characterizingthe changes in the development potential of the federal districts toward itsdecrease.