Aleksandras Stulginskis University

The founder of Extragalactic Astronomy, Edwin Hubble, believed that the red shift of light is due to the Doppler effect. Hubble's well-known dependence is based precisely on this effect. But the red shift of light causes not only the Doppler effect, but also the process of increasing the distance to the light source.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos vietos turizmo galimybės. Kadangi visame pasaulyje prognozuojamas turizmo srautų augimas, šalims svarbu pritraukti kuo daugiau vietos ir užsienio šalių turistų. Tad turizmo organizatoriams, siekiant išskirtinumo, reikia ieškoti unikalių aspektų vietos turizmo rinkodaros komunikacijos požiūriu. Šiuo straipsniu siekiama atskleisti, kaip socialinės medijų formos funkcionuoja renkantis vietos turizmo organizatorių keliones. Nustatyta, kad socialinės medijos laikomos vienos perspektyviausių ir labiausiai naudojamų pasaulyje rinkodaros priemonių vietos turizmo plėtrai. Nors įvairūs socialinių medijų rinkodaros aspektai turizme sulaukia vis daugiau tyrėjų dėmesio, dažniau įtraukiami ir į Lietuvos turizmo rinkodaros strategijas, tačiau nėra išsamesnių teorinių ir pirminių jų naudojimo tikslingumo tyrimų, netirtas ir ryšys su vietos kelionės tikslu. Straipsnyje pastebima, kad vis sudėtingiau socialines medijas atsirinkti. Atliekant tyrimą taikyti šie metodai: mokslinės literatūros lyginamoji analizė ir sintezė, anketinė apklausa, grafinio modeliavimo metodas. Identifikuotos įtaigiausios Lietuvos keliautojams socialinių medijų formos, kurios ateityje iš vietos turizmo organizatorių pareikalaus ne tik efektyviai veikiančių rinkodaros priemonių, bet ir jose pateikiamo įdomaus, netradiciniais sprendimais paremto keliones pristatančio informacijos turinio.

Agriculture is an economic sector facing large risk, mainly from natural factors and despite of relatively low price responsiveness to supply and demand causes output volatility in general. It is a risky business, and risk assessment and management tools have become increasingly important in recent years. Risk assessment and management is a complex process, since the risk arises from different sources. Typically, literature analyzes financial, business, credit, or currency risk. There is lack of research of human risk, especially in agriculture sector. It is important to identify knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and priorities among farmers regarding safety, health, and risk management. This research focuses on identifying main human risk factors, identifying vulnerable populations in agriculture, including immigrants, migrants, refugees, young and older persons, women, persons with disabilities, and minority workers. The research explores human risk assessment and management problems in agriculture. Only then is it possible to increase safety and health for agriculture workers and decrease human risk manifestation in agriculture and to make the agriculture sector socially beneficial for its nation.

Authors of the article are evaluating characteristics of half‑operational experimental agro‑pellets production. The problems of production and use of agro‑pellets is the current issue. It’s a way to apply part of the agricultural production in the market. It is also an opportunity to replace part of the fossil fuels and increase the share of renewables. But the use of phytomass is bringing many problems. First, it is important that the manufactured products will be succeeded on the raw materials market. Agro‑pellets therefore must have characteristics that support their competitiveness and allow their classification. The advantage comes if the agro‑pellets properties are comparable with traditional fuels and their combustion is possible in standard boilers. This objective can be achieved in several ways. The production of mixed fuels is one from the possible ways. Phytomass is pressed into pellet form in a mixture with other raw materials, usually based on powder coal or wood. The advantage of mixed fuels production is the ability to influence the final properties according to market demands and requirements of legislation. The research activity results, which are given in the text, were aimed at the possibility of Reed Canary Grass applying as part of a mixed fuel in various concentrations. The pellets are based on Reed Canary Grass and wooden biomass in the form of saw‑dust. Addition of sawdust has negative influence on the presser productivity, but has a positive impact on mechanical and burning qualities of final products. Mechanical durability values of pellets were increased by 4.8 and 3.0% with the sawdust addition. The specific weight of pellets was increased even by 31.9%. Hand in hand with the raising amount of sawdust in pellets, the decline of CO emissions in exhaust gas was proven.

Demands on forest bioenergy feedstock are expected to increase in many countries due to climate change mitigation. However, sustainable use of forest biomass resources can be ensured only if local and landscape conditions are taken into account, linking energy use to its resource base. The aim of this study was to analyse the forest biomass potential for Lithuania's energy pathways, while comparing the projected demand of forest bioenergy feedstock with resource projections. This was performed using the Landscape simulation and Ecological Assessment (LEcA) tool and the energy model MESSAGE. Biomass demand can be met up to 2050, after which demands under a Biomass Low pathway can still be met by the domestic forest resource if other wood uses are reduced, while Biomass High leads to a biomass deficit regarding domestic forest resources. Information exchange between the energy model and the LEcA tool enables an integrated sustainability assessment, and may contribute to a sustainable and efficient use of forest as a bioenergy feedstock resource.

In studies on plant responses to climate change more attention has been given to aboveground processes although carbon input by plants into the soil is a major flux in the global carbon cycle. The objective of study was to investigate the effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on carbon allocation and partitioning in different parts of plant, soil, and microbial biomass. An experiment was conducted on summer rape (Brassica napus L.) under increased levels of air temperature and atmospheric CO2 in controlled environment chambers. Results showed that the amount of leaf, stem and root carbon statistically significantly increased under elevated CO2 and temperature conditions. Microbial biomass carbon significantly increased by 11.2% and 13.5% under elevated CO2 and elevated CO2 and temperature, respectively, although soil carbon under both treatments decreased. It is concluded that carbon allocation is controlled under different climate conditions; however, elevated CO2 and temperature together will have a more significant effect for carbon allocation to different plant parts and microbial biomass carbon compared to elevated CO2 alone.

Abstract Inclusion of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities is a complex topic in special education. This study, conducted in a typical junior high school setting, examined the use of peer tutors to support three students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in a general education teen living classroom. Using a single-subject ABA design, researchers examined if the use of peer tutors would result in increased engagement and participation of students with cognitive disabilities. Researchers measured student engagement as writing, orienting to the instruction, talking to peers about the activity, raising hand to speak, or reading instructional materials. During instruction, target students were prompted through a visual checklist to ask their peer tutors questions or for help when needed. Results showed an increase in engagement during the intervention, which was maintained when peers withdrew prompting. During the maintenance phase, the target students continued to ask peers for assistance and assist each other, thus explaining the maintenance of engagement rather than reversal to baseline levels. This initial study lends support for the use of peer tutors to encourage inclusion of secondary students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

Key messageVolume predictions of sample trees are basic inputs for essential National Forest Inventory (NFI) estimates. The predicted volumes are rarely comparable among European NFIs because of country-specific dbh-thresholds and differences regarding the inclusion of the tree parts stump, stem top, and branches. Twenty-one European NFIs implemented harmonisation measures to provide consistent stem volume predictions for comparable forest resource estimates.ContextThe harmonisation of forest information has become increasingly important. International programs and interest groups from the wood industry, energy, and environmental sectors require comparable information. European NFIs as primary source of forest information are well-placed to support policies and decision-making processes with harmonised estimates.AimsThe main objectives were to present the implementation of stem volume harmonisation by European NFIs, to obtain comparable growing stocks according to five reference definitions, and to compare the different results.MethodsThe applied harmonisation approach identifies the deviations between country-level and common reference definitions. The deviations are minimised through country-specific bridging functions. Growing stocks were calculated from the un-harmonised, and harmonised stem volume estimates and comparisons were made.ResultsThe country-level growing stock results differ from the Cost Action E43 reference definition between − 8 and + 32%. Stumps and stem tops together account for 4 to 13% of stem volume, and large branches constitute 3 to 21% of broadleaved growing stock. Up to 6% of stem volume is allocated below the dbh-threshold.ConclusionComparable volume figures are available for the first time on a large-scale in Europe. The results indicate the importance of harmonisation for international forest statistics. The presented work contributes to the NFI harmonisation process in Europe in several ways regarding comparable NFI reporting and scenario modelling.

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Progressive type of controlled environment horticulture, such as plant factories, enables the precise control of cultivation environment parameters. The experiments were performed at the Institute of Horticulture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in the year of 2017. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different irradiance levels produced by solid state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on nitrates, nitrites and organic acids contents in tatsoi (Brassica rapa var. rosularis), cultivated in the controlled environment chambers. Plants were cultivated under combinations of red (640, 660 nm), blue (445 nm) and far red (731nm) LEDs at photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) level of 200 mol m -2 s -1 . At the pre-harvest stage, PPFD was increased to 300 mol m -2 s -1 by elevating the fluxes of different spectral components for 3 days. The contents of nitrates, nitrites and organic acids were evaluated. The results propose the metabolic interface between nitrates, nitrites and organic acids in green vegetables, sensitive for lighting conditions. The higher intensity of LED light at pre-harvest stage led to decreased contents of nitrates in tatsoi. The increased intensity of blue 455 nm light led to lower contents of nitrates and higher of organic acids in comparison to red 640 nm. In addition, the increased intensity of red 640 nm led to significantly higher (p0.05) contents of nitrites. The target management of LED light spectra and intensity at pre-harvest stage could be used to reduced nitrates and increased organic acids in tatsoi.