In the article there is discussed the photographic material, depicting the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as well as the periods before and after this major event of our interest. The base material ...for the key study is the "Ermakov Collection" kept at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, consisting works of Ermakov himself and other photographers. Yet, this is the first attempt to contextualize the Collection in relation with the War and geopolitical situation between Russian and Ottoman Empires in the late nineteenth century. Photography is treated as a tool of military intelligence and with its later commercial and/or scientific meanings.
Even though social processes across the globe are increasingly being theorised through a resilience lens, this has rarely been the case within the domain of everyday life in the city. The resilience ...debate also remains highly geographically selective, as regions that have undergone far-reaching systemic change over the past 20 years—including the post-communist states of the former Soviet Union and eastern and central Europe (ECE)—generally remain omitted from it. In order to address such knowledge gaps, an investigation is made of the relationships between social resilience and micro-level socio-spatial change in the built environment of the post-communist city, by focusing on the institutional, spatial and economic underpinnings of apartment building extensions (ABEs) on multistorey residential buildings in the Macedonian capital of Skopje and the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Both cities contain a wide variety of ABEs, whose reinforced concrete frame constructions often rival the host buildings in terms of size and function. By exploring the architectural and social landscapes created by the extensions, it is hoped to highlight their embeddedness in a set of policy decisions and coping strategies, as well as their controversial implications on the present and future use of urban space.
This paper explores new-build developments in Tbilisi, Georgia. Based on interviews with developers and with residents and neighbours of new-build developments, we examine the burgeoning of new-build ...housing projects in a lower middle income post-Communist country. By doing so, we respond to Lees’ (2012) recent call for the exploration of new horizons in gentrification research, which would allow us to transcend the boundaries established by Global-North theorizations – such as those surrounding “new-build gentrification”. While theoretically tantalizing, interpreting the observed developments through this lens, which a superficial observation of the phenomenon might encourage, is not fruitful. Instead, the case of Tbilisi illustrates the need for an appropriate assessment of context: rather than representing a revanchist return to the city of the middle classes, new-builds in Tbilisi appear, largely, to accommodate demographic growth and “deposited” diaspora capital. This, in turn, leads to intense rates of construction despite high vacancy rates – a process which could be viewed as a form of remote-controlled urban growth, or tele-urbanization.
Background. Georgia historically was a country with moderate to severe iodine deficiency and high prevalence of endemic goiter. A representative countrywide iodine survey conducted in Georgia in 2017 ...confirmed optimal iodine nutrition of the population with median UIC 298 mcg/L in SAC and 211 mcg/L in PW.
Aim. The aim of this study was to assess status of iodine nutrition of population in Georgia.
Methods. The assesement based on the proportion of neonatal Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels >5mIU/L from 2009 to 2015 and compare these data with the results of direct assessment of iodine status made during the 2017 national survey.
Results. From 2009 to 2015 the proportion of newborns with TSH >20 mIU/L decreased threefold: from 0.45 to 0.15%. This trend was observed in all regions of the country with significant difference between the capital city and Western in Eastern parts of the country. There has been also significant reduction of the prevalence of TSH >5 mIU/L in Georgia from 4.46% in 2009 to 3.5% in 2015. However, only in Tbilisi the frequency of elevated TSH was below 3% – the cutoff level for adequate iodine nutrition. In other regions (Western and Eastern Georgia) prevalence of TSH >5 mIU/L was 3.8% and 4.4% respectively that could be falsely interpreted as mild iodine deficiency.
Conclusions. Although neonatal TSH is useful to detect moderate to severe iodine deficiency, it should be cautiously recommended for the evaluation of iodine status in iodine sufficient to mildly iodine deficient regions.
The history of Georgian cinema can be divided into four main historical periods: pre-1918 cinema, when Georgia was part of the Russian Empire; cinema during the short-lived but culturally exciting ...Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921), followed by Soviet Georgia cinema (1922-1991), and post-Soviet Georgian cinema (1991 to the present). These four stages are all characterised by very different political and social environments, and they also privilege different aesthetic values. This article reconstructs the first, and hitherto less well-known, chapter of Georgia's cinema history, specifically focusing on Simon Esadze’s contribution to the development of Georgian filmmaking between 1908 and 1918. It argues that Esadze’s career in film, which has yet to be fully researched and analysed, is emblematic of the unsettled cultural environment and constrained political and economic circumstances of the period. Studying his films and unpublished archival materials sheds light on this hitherto obscure aspect of the first chapter in the history of Georgian cinema.
This is a review article on environmental education. The focus of the discussion is the relationship between environmental education and Biodiversity concern and the emergence of the concept of ...Biodiversity education. The position described in this paper configures as a disagreement of the insertion of these innovative terminology, defending the maintenance of the term environmental education and its general framework, reserving to Biodiversity concern a position of one issue to be coped by environmental education. The present discussion also reject the criticism that environmental education is not enough socially relevant and interdisciplinary and it brings back those recommendation from the conference of Tbilisi which addressed goals for environmental education. These highlighted goals are relative to the encouragement of those ethical, economic and aesthetic values, the provision of a wide range of practical skills required in the devising and application of effective solutions to environmental problem, by linking educational processes to real life.
Christ's thorn formation (Paliureta spina-christi) of Tbilisi environs is studied. This formation is one of the typical representatives of hemixerophilous shrubberies of shibliak type in the Caucasus ...region and one of the characteristic for vegetation cover of Tbilisi surroundings. Plant communities of Christ's thorn formation with different plots area are fragmentary spread almost all over the territory of Tbilisi environs from 400 to 800 (900) m above s.l.. Plant communities are developed on slopes and plane place with various exposure and inclination, mainly on the grey-cinnamonic and cinnamonic soils. The most xerophilous variants are developed on the erosive bare mother rocks as well. In Tbilisi environs the Christ-thorn's plant communities are either primary or secondary origin. Formation is characterized by rich typological and floristic composition. We identified 6 plant communities: (1) Paliureto-mixtofruticetum gramino-mixtoherbosum, (2) Paliureto-Rhmanetum gramino-mixtoherbosum, (3) Paliureto gramino-mixtoherbosum, (4) Paliureto bothriochlooso gramino-mixtoherbosum, (5) Paliuretum festuceto-bothriochloosum, (6) Paliureto-Astragaleto-Rhamnetum. For each separated plant communities the basic structural characteristics (general projective coverage, projective coverage, distribution and height of layers, sodding degree, dominant-edificator plants, characteristic species, number of species, moss cover, litter, species richness, spectrum of life forms), distribution area in the Tbilisi environs and main physical-geographical conditions (topography, altitude, exposure, inclination, soil type) are given. 190 species of vascular plants, which belong to 40 families and 132 genera, were recorded. In the floristic spectrum leading families are: 1. Poaceae – 27 species (14,2%), 2. Asteraceae – 25 species (13,2%), 3. Fabaceae – 17 species (8,9%), 4-5. Lamiaceae and Rosaceae – 15-15 species (7,9-7,9%), 6-8. Apiaceae, Caryophyllaceae and Rubiaceae – 8-8 species (4,2-4,2%), 9. Brassicaceae – 7 species (3,7%), 10-11. Caprifoliaceae and Rhamnaceae – 4-4 species (2,1-2,1%). The life form spectrum is as follows: hemicryptophytes (including biennials) – 91 (47,9%), therophytes – 58 species (30,5%), phanerophytes – 21 (11,1%), chamaephytes – 7 (3,7%), geophytes – 13 (6,8%). The article is attached full list of recorded plants.
In this study, LULC changes are investigated by using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. A number of factors contribute to the changes in the ...LULC. Rapid urbanisation has led to dramatic changes in land use practice. The expansion of the population of Tbilisi peaked in the 1970s. This resulted in a high demand for living space and an active phase of urbanisation of the outskirts of Tbilisi begun, ending with the collapse of most social systems after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. A new wave of urbanisation hit the city in the beginning of the 2000s. This process was accelerated by the incorporation of nearby recreational zones into the city's administrative area in 2007. In this study, digital image processing was used in the analysis and assessment of the land use changes since 1987 throughout 2016. After the classification of the Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 OLI it became apparent that there were 5 different classes of LULCs. The change in the size of the surface area of each class during the previous 29 years was also determined. Sharp rise in the built-up area was discovered after the change detection. Built-up area increased 13.9% in 2016 compare with 1987. Therefore, available data on LULC changes can provide critical input to decision-making of environmental management and planning the future.
The growing HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has been driven by high rates of injection drug use. The Republic of Georgia has among the highest injection drug use rates globally, with ...a prevalence of 2.24%. The reach of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions like needle and syringe programs (NSP) among people who inject drugs (PWID) has remained below rates that could significantly impact the epidemic. Syringe vending machines (SVM) are an effective and cost-effective supplement to standard NSP; if acceptable to PWID, SVM could reach hard-to-reach PWID and cover geographic areas where fixed or mobile NSPs do not operate. The aim of this study was to assess the perceived acceptability of SVM among out-of-service (harm reduction or substance use treatment) PWID in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to participate in cross-sectional, face-to-face interviews. We conducted individual interviews using a structured questionnaire that covered participants' socio-demographics, drug use practices, and perceived acceptability of SVM. Uni-variate analyses were employed for data analysis.
The final sample (n = 149) was almost exclusively male with a mean age of 42.2 years and mean years of injection drug use of 14.4 years. Heroin, buprenorphine, and stimulants were the main drugs injected. Eighty-five percent of the sample had never received any harm reduction services, and 30% had never been tested for HIV. Fifteen percent of the sample reported sharing injection equipment with others during last month. All but one participant agreed that PWID would benefit from SVM and 145 (97%) said they would personally use SVM. Ninety percent of those sampled stated that they would use HIV self-tests if available from vending machines. The most highly endorsed features of SVM were provision of free injection equipment, no need to deal with pharmacies, uninterrupted 24/7 access, and availability of HIV self-testing kits.
Perceived acceptability of syringe vending machines was extremely high among PWID not currently receiving any harm reduction or treatment services, with strong support indicated for uninterrupted free access to sterile injection equipment, privacy, and anonymity. Introducing SVM in Georgia holds the potential to deliver significant public health benefits by attracting hard-to-reach PWID, reducing unsafe injection behavior, and contributing to HIV testing uptake and linkage to care.
Moscow‐born artist and architect Alexander Brodsky's work is very much infused with its Russian context; its geography, landscape, climate and political regimes. For him, ‘penumbra is a permanent ...state of gaze’. Architect and researcher Susanna Pisciella looks at his continuous migration between architecture and art installation, and suggests that he also finds inspiration in the shadow of language.
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