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Teacher training is significant for effective school disaster management. The purposes of this paper are: first, to set items for analysis of teacher training program of Armenia through identification of teacher training program of Emergency And Rescue Team by school staff in Hyogo (EARTH) to understand the characteristics of teacher training program of Armenia; second, to identify common points and different points of school disaster management and teacher training between EARTH and Armenia to understand the characteristics of one of training program of Japan; and third, to propose improvement of teacher training of Armenia through identification of problems to give suggestions to improve teacher training program of Armenia.

One of teacher training program for school disaster management in Japan can be considered as a good practice. The objectives are achieved through the comparison of teacher training program between Armenia and Japan.

In Armenia, there are three training targets. Training contents should be developed after the clear concept development of training for each target. This paper proposed the concept based on EARTH training program. Normalization of school including psychological care is the main contents for school directors and deputy directors. Disaster management system and disaster management drill are the contents for military science teachers. Disaster education is the main contents for general teachers.

This paper considered mainstreaming school disaster management from the aspect of teacher training and application of training program to other countries.

To apply the Porter “Diamond Model” to the case of Armenia, a small and land‐locked economy, in order to draw conclusions about its current situation, future prospects and appropriate development policies.

The paper analyses the shape of the Armenian “National Diamond” drawing on published statistical data and the authors' familiarity with the country.

Although controversial, the “Diamond Model” provides a useful basis for making appropriate policy recommendations for fostering competitiveness. The authors conclude that while achieving the required legislative and institutional framework, market liberalization and a stable macroeconomic environment are necessary, they are not sufficient conditions for ensuring continued economic growth and the achievement of sustainable development. In particular, based on the “Diamond Model” framework, they advocate Government policies to attract foreign direct investment with the objective of creating new industrial “clusters”.

The case study demonstrates that, despite possible limitations, the “Diamond Model” provides a valuable starting‐point for analysing appropriate development policy in emerging markets such as Armenia.

This is the first case study of its type written about Armenia. It is of value not only as a guide to policy‐makers in Armenia but also as a model for development specialists and policy‐makers in other industrializing economies.

The major uncertainties about the eventual success of macroeconomic stabilization measures, the eventual ownership and control of privatized enterprises, the viability of certain enterprises and sectors can have significant influence on the market economy of Armenia during the transition period. In the face of these uncertainties, inadequate transport and access to markets remain major obstacles to economic development and employment. After liberalization in 1991, consumer subsidies were eliminated and consequently food prices rose. Local price increases combined with the decline in real income and out migration led to a fall in domestic demand for food products as well as significant changes in food consumption patterns. Possibly the chief obstacle to increasing farm income and the most difficult problem for food processing companies to overcome are the marketing constraints. There is no appropriate scale marketing and transport infrastructure for small farmers. The lack of market information system is another problem, resulting in many farmers producing the same crops which were previously profitable, causing a glut. The break‐up of collective agriculture in Armenia resulted in over 300,000 small diversified farms which grow five or more crops and have two or more animal species. With limited export markets, the country lacks adequate markets for much of its agricultural production, as well as the economies of scale for the investments in agri‐processing and manufacturing industry which are necessary to stimulate employment and farm income. Armenia is in a prime position to take advantage of the organic market opportunities. If the developed world is going to subsidize organic food production, Armenia may have competitive advantage with low cost production and very little use of fertilizers, pesticides and other restricted materials for the last ten years.

Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) distinguishes itself from other ETD databases by providing immediate access to theses that are freely available online. The Republic of Armenia is a small geographical area in Central Asia with a population of only three million, yet an estimated total of five to seven million people of Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. What knowledge of Armenian cultural heritage can be discovered by searching OATD for open access theses that relate to Armenian history and culture?. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The OATD database was searched for the terms Armenia or Armenian. Discovered thesis records were exported into citation management tools and analysed for subject content, year of publication, institutional repository source, and a determination of whether Armenia was a primary or secondary topic. Access to theses was also tested to verify their open access. The remaining thesis records (n=152) were exported into an Excel spread sheet for numerical analysis and graphic production.

From the records getting enhanced metadata (n=152), slightly more (52 per cent) were master's theses. Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) used the Republic and culture of Armenia as a primary theme. English was the predominant author language (85 per cent) with Portuguese and French represented less than 5 per cent. World history and social sciences research were the most represented subjects. Most open access theses on Armenia or Armenian culture date from after 2000. All enhanced records, along with their abstracts and direct links, are available in a searchable RefWorks shared folder.

The OATD database was evaluated for scholarly representation of a particular country and culture.

Offering an example of a small open developing economy, the purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for relative stability in Armenia’s foreign exchange market. Relying on a single currency and derived cross-currency exchange rates, the paper models short-term effects between exchange market pressure and financial and macroeconomic factors.

Following a literature review, the paper sets the macroeconomic context with an initial variance comparison of standard currency pairs and derived cross-currency exchange rates. Then, the core analysis is carried out with a vector error correction model, focusing on short-term cross-dynamics in monthly data. The orthogonal impulse response function analyses help solidify and further inform relevant conclusions.

Three broad factors influence Armenia’s foreign exchange market: external push factors; domestic banking sector competition, and foreign currency risk perceptions; and domestic macroeconomic and dual, cross-pair, exchange rate target priorities. The central bank’s implicit management of the foreign exchange market’s expectations, pull factor, is consistent with trader market power’s contribution to lower volatility. Yet, the risk of financial and real-sector decoupling remains.

The results are relevant for emerging markets attempting to leverage the global liquidity and low interest rates, while being exposed to external pressures in the post-crisis environment, in which international reserves may be scarce while currency stability is an implied priority. This study can be further adapted to a more comprehensive structural short-term analysis of currency determination or similar dynamics in other small open economies.

The purpose of this study is to investigate university–industry partnerships in Armenia from the viewpoint of universities. By doing so, it contributes to the existing literature on university–industry collaboration by identifying and addressing the specific challenges that impede the establishment of successful university–industry partnerships in Armenia and other post-Soviet countries.

A comprehensive literature review was conducted to examine the barriers, benefits and institutional, functional framework of collaboration. Additionally, this study used a survey methodology to gather data from faculty managing staff members at six Armenian higher educational institutions on various aspects of university–industry collaboration as well as the perceptions and experiences of the participants.

The results show that the effectiveness and applicability of the university–industry collaboration channels and institutional structures in six higher educational institutions are limited. Specifically, the channels that rely on academic entrepreneurship and innovation were found to be currently unviable. Moreover, the existence of spin-offs and start-ups is notably absent. Furthermore, limited access to funding and inadequate entrepreneurial support systems pose significant barriers to developing university–industry partnerships in Armenian reality.

This study represents a pioneering effort within the context of Armenian higher educational institutions, as it is the first time a survey has been organized to specifically investigate the topic of university–industry partnerships. Before this study, there was a lack of empirical research and data collection on this topic in Armenian higher education settings. Therefore, this research holds significant originality and contributes to filling the existing gap in knowledge regarding university–industry partnerships in Armenia. The research is shedding light on a previously unexplored area and providing a valuable contribution to the field of university–industry collaboration research in Armenia and other post-Soviet countries.

The purpose of this paper is to report the assessment results of the quality of neonatal care services in Armenia and to describe the identified obstacles to improving the quality of care for newborn infants.

The study carried out a cross-sectional descriptive design. The data were collected in health facilities with different levels of neonatal care that were selected employing a multi-stage, stratified purposeful sampling design. The quality of neonatal services was assessed using the generic WHO tool. Data collection was performed using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, hospital statistics, medical records and direct observations.

In 31 study hospitals, 31,976 deliveries were performed resulting in 31,701 live births and 734 stillbirths. About 85 percent of all neonatal deaths was attributable to early neonatal deaths with over 48 percent occurring during the first 24 h of life. The proportion of neonatal deaths was highest in infants with low birth weight constituting 92.8 percent of all neonatal deaths. The total neonatal mortality rate was 3.50 per 1,000 live births, whereas stillbirth rate and perinatal mortality rate were 22.60 and 25.26 per 1,000 total births in 2015. Specific indicators with relatively lower mean scores included neonatal resuscitation, early breastfeeding, monitoring of newborn conditions, neonatal sepsis, feeding standards, total parenteral nutrition, and infection treatment.

Given the limited scope of research on quality assessment, this paper provides valuable information on the status of quality of neonatal care services in Armenian health facilities. This work also extends the existing studies focused on quality assessment through applying the model of Avedis Donabedian with the structure–process–outcomes approach as a theoretical basis.

The purpose of this paper is to study the extent and nature of police integrity in Armenia. It analyses police officer views about misconduct seriousness, appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report misconduct.

The respondents surveyed in this study are 468 Armenian police officers assigned to work in two large police departments, Yerevan and Lori. The overall response rate is 84 per cent. The respondents evaluated 11 hypothetical scenarios describing cases of police misconduct.

Although the majority of the respondents recognized and labelled the behaviour described in the scenarios as rule violating, a large proportion, in some cases even above 40 per cent, did not do so. The respondents’ evaluations of misconduct seriousness varied greatly across the scenarios. In only two scenarios, describing the acceptance of a bribe from a speeding motorist and the theft of a watch from a crime scene, the respondents thought that both the appropriate and expected discipline should and would be severe; in all of the other scenarios, the respondents expected and approved of either no discipline at all or quite lenient discipline. The code of silence appears to be strong among our respondents, protecting almost all behaviours described in the questionnaire. Unique to Armenia is the finding that the respondents estimated that they would subscribe to the code of silence to a larger extent than their fellow officers would.

Police officers included in the survey come from two police departments.

Police administrators interested in controlling the code of silence could apply the methodology used in this research to ascertain the extent and nature of the code beforehand. They could use the methodology to assess and compare the police officer perceptions of the discipline the agency is expected to mete out with the discipline meted out in actual cases and, if necessary, work on addressing the discrepancy between the perceptions and reality.

Although Armenia has been one of the former Soviet republics that purged the communist government even before the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the transition toward democracy has been troublesome and riddled with widespread accusations of various types of failures in police integrity. The methodology used in this research enables measurement of the nature and extent of police integrity at the present time and also, subsequently, monitoring and detection of the changes in police integrity, which is particularly relevant for a police agency in transition.

Outlines the transformation process in Armenia during the last decade with respect to gender issues. Covers, in turn, political and economic reforms before looking at the education system. Looks at the work of the Centre of Gender Studies at the Vanadzor State Pedagogical Institute including initial findings and the future direction of research.

The purpose of this study is to focus on the performance of select facilities in Lori and Shirak provinces in Armenia in Spring 2008. This is in response to the deterioration of the primary healthcare sector in Armenia.

The performance assessment focused on the status of several performance indicators, both current and as recalled for 2006. The interviewer‐administered questionnaire addressed access to care, provider relations with community and clients, environment, management, and primary and secondary prevention at the facilities. For each domain, a summative score that ranged from 0 to 3 was computed and a mean score for each facility derived.

The project has had significant positive impact on facilities' performance. Access to care scores increased from 2.0 in 2006 to 2.5 in 2008; provider relations with community improved from 1.1 to 1.4; environment scores improved from 1.3 to 1.9, facility management improved from 1.4 to 1.7; and prevention efforts increased from 1.3 to 1.9. The overall mean facility score increased from 1.4 to 1.8. Although the scores for small rural clinics increased, their scores were lower than the scores for other facility types.

In the chronic absence of administrative surveillance data, this paper provides valuable information on the status of primary healthcare services in Armenian provinces. It demonstrates the value of interviewer‐administered performance assessments in obtaining data across project sites when internal monitoring of progress is unavailable.