Search

The paper analyzes pneumatic system, which consists of three piston compressors, pipes and reciever. Designed two cylinder piston compressor with an asynchronous electric motor mathematical model. In the mathematical model has been estimated rod mechanism geometry and kinematic parameters also hudrodynamics and thermodynamic processes going in the cylinders. Also there were made mathematical experiment and presented the results of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A road covered with ice is one of the most dangerous driving conditions and, in this case, tire plays an important role for traffic safety. The most of nowadays tires have good grip features on ice, but sometimes it's not enough, especially when talking about the icy road condition. Many factors have significant influence on decrease of tire’s grip - one of them is temperature. The possibilities of using thermography in researches of tire and ice interaction were investigated in this paper. Measurements of tire and ice surfaces temperature were performed at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with inner drum test bench using an infrared thermal camera. Longitudinal tire traction (braking and accelerating) were investigated and acting forces were measured too. Also optimal settings of thermal camera were determined and measurement results and discussion were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper presents research of efficient and ecological parameters of gasoline engine working with biobuthanol (10% and 20% by volume) and additionaly supplying oxygen and hydrogen (HHO) gas mixture (3.6 l/min), which was obtained from from water by electrolysis. Biobuthanol addition decreases rate of heat release, the combustion temperature and pressure are lower, which has an influence on lower nitrous oxide (NOx) emission in exhaust gases. However, biobuthanol increases carbon monoxide (CO) concentration. Biobuthanol fuel has a simplier molecular structure, therefore the concentration of HC in the exhaust gas is decreasing. Due to lower heating value of biobuthanol fuel and slower combustion process, the engine efficiency decreases and specific fuel consumptions increase. The change of engine energetical indicators due to biobuthanol, can be compensated with advanced ignition angle. Using experimental investigation, it was determined, that negative biobuthanol influence for the combustion process and engine efficient inicators can be compensated also by additional supplied HHO gas, in which the hydrogen element iprove fuel mixture combustion. Fuel combustion process analysis was carried out using AVL BOOST software. Experimental research and combustion process numerical simulation showed that using balanced biobuthanol and hydrogen addition, optimal efficient and ecological parameters could be achieved, when engine is working for petrol fuel typical optimal spark timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the energy and financial possibilities to install renewable energy sources (solar energy) generating systems when renovating multi-flat buildings. The aim is to analyse solar energy system possibilities for modernization of multi-flat buildings (5-storey, 9-storey and 16-storey), providing detailed conclusions about the appropriateness of the energy systems and financial aspects. It is also intended to determine the optimal technological combinations and solutions to reach the maximum energy benefits. For the research computer simulation tools “EnergyPRO” and “PV*SOL Premium” are chosen. Also actual collected heat and electricity consumption data is used for the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of financial stability as a research object increased substantially after last global financial crisis. Financial stability is rather new and complex research object, therefore important part of its research is financial stability measurement methods. In this paper it is intended to indentify most important and widely accepted financial stability measurement methods. In the beginning definition of financial stability is presented. After that, measurement methods developed by most important organizations in the field of financial stability are reviewed. First, International Monetary Fund’s financial soundness indicators are discussed, next European Central Bank’s macro-prudential indicators are review, at the end both lists are compared. In order to perform through financial stability analysis it is recommended to compbine both lists. In the last part, attemps to construct aggregated financial stability index are discussed. Reviewed cases are only local and do not have international recognition, basically because financial stability is to complex to be measured by one indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the right healthcare and quality at the big multiprofile university hospital are analyzed in the context of patients’ satisfaction and realization their expectations. This paper analyzes impact of individual, institutional, and sociodemographic characteristics on healthcare evaluation and patients behavior. The survey was performed from 2004 to 2015 in Klaipėda University Hospital via questionnaires. The study was showed the majority (93.8%) of patients was satisfied of health care services and results of the largest part (83.8%) fallows their expectations. The conclusion are correspond the results of the study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents situation and tendencies of women's and men's pay through the prism of gender equality in Lithuania. It analyzes the gender pay gap, its causes and provides recommendations on how to reduce the gender pay gap. The statistical analysis of the data revealed that women earn less than men in almost all sectors and all fields of economic activity. The most salient gender pay gap remains in the private sector as well as finance and insurance, information and communications, i. e. there, where men compose the largest part of employees and where is required high qualification. Gender segregation in the labour market, the gender stereotypes, the weaknesses of organization's human resources management, underestimation of women's competence and the absence of ability to combine family and work are ones of the most essential reasons of gender pay gap. In order to solve the gender pay gap problem, it is necessary to educate and train the public, to promote women's entrepreneurship, to improve the legal framework, to create conditions for women and men to combine work and family, to raise employers' awareness and change their attitude towards employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper control of multi-phase induction drives is discussed. Structure of six-phase frequency inverter is examined. The article deals with dead-time generation circuits in six-phase frequency inverter for transistor control signals. Computer models of dead-time circuits is created using LTspice software package. Simulation results are compared with experimental results of the tested dead-time circuits. Parameters obtained in simulation results are close to the parameters obtained in experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental results of a variable frequency drive, consisting of a six-phase voltage source inverter and six-phase asynchronous AC motor are presented in this paper. Frequency converter uses a six-phase space vector PWM scheme created by the author. The voltage forming scheme is implemented in Matlab/Simulink, and logical signals for inverter control are transferred from PC via the National instruments PCI-6024E data acquisition card. Voltages at which the experimental motor operates at maximum efficiency were determined experimentally. Motor transitions, when it is operating with one, two, and three failed phase windings are presented, confirming that a six-phase motor can operate with up to three failed windings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ICMPv6 is the newest version of internet control message protocol, whose main purpose is to send error message indicating packet processing failure. It is know that ICMPv6 is technologically vulnerable. One of those vulnerabilities is the ICMPv6 RA flooding vulnerability, which can lead to systems in Local Area Network slow down or full stop. This paper will discuss Windows (XP, 7, 8.1) and Linux Ubuntu 14 operating systems resistance to RA flooding attack research and countermeasures to minimize this vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the investigation results of a boost Flyback converter, which is used in a micro-inverter, are presented. The efficiency characteristics of the converter at various carrier frequencies and output loads were investigated. An alternative circuit diagram solution which is less complex in structure and has fever components but has the same properties as the classic circuit scheme is proposed for the converter. The proposed Flyback converter is less expensive. Its efficiency is 2-3% higher than the classic Flyback converter when the converter output power is less than 95 W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to ensure ecnomic growth it is necessary to pay attention to the investments. The bigger amount of investments and their profitability grants the bigger scale of country‘s production and its growth. In the paper foreign direct investments (FDI) in the Baltic Countries were analysed. The theoretical evaluation of foreign direct investment on economic development of country was submitted. It was theoretically analysed the factors that attract foreign direct investment. Based on statistical data FDI and GDP dynamics in the Baltic countries was analysed. FDI flows and GDP connection using correlation and regression analysis was evaluated. Results of analysis was used to evaluate foreign direct investment influence on economic development of Baltic Countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for value determination increased after rising of the Lithuanian economics. The joint-stock company value depends on the stock price and the company's profit according to the “stock pricing for profit” method. The purpose of this scientific paper is the financial indicators' and listed company's stock price link determining the value. The analysis methods are: the research of scientific literature, data analysis, summarizing and graphic visualization. The link between financial indicators and the stock price is determined on the basis of correlation regression analysis. The analysis showed that listed on the stock exchange company's stocks already have some value as they raise the capital. The research results revealed the stock price’s direct dependence on the fixed asset turnover and the debt-to-asset ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual capital is the main factor contributing to the growth of economy and increasing competitiveness in global market. The need for internationalization of small firms increases in globalization context. Intellectual capital and human capital have significant impact on internationalization of organizations. The paper aims to review the concept of intellectual capital and its assessment, to reveal the significance and importance for internationalization of Lithuanian firms. The investigation is based on analysis and synthesis of prevailing scientific literature, investigating intellectual capital and internationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the practical usefulness of information technologies in business reviewing electronic business concepts provided in science literature and also the newest tendencies of electronic business development. The paper offers a review of various authors works on e-strategies and IT influence on companies' functionality. An analysis of disadvantages in various electronic business development models is provided. On the basis of analyses done on the theory of electronic business development and on disadvantages of e-business models, the main aspects of e-business development as sustainable competitive advantage are identified. A fully -- formed model of electronic business development as sustainable competitive advantage is presented. Conclusions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today the organizations encounter various changes, which cannot be avoided due to changes in external and internal environment. Notably, evaluation of organizational changes is seen as important process impacting further development processes in organizations. Presented paper aims to investigate organizational changes of organization by exploring the main important external and internal factors impacting change management process. The authors of the paper take into account the significance of information technologies and analyze the problems of organizational changes during the implementation of information technologies in organization. The authors strive to reveal the main areas which require further development. The authors develop a research methodology and discuss main findings of the survey. At the end of the paper implications of the results and main conclusions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public administration system has been restructured by agencification in many countries. The new or reorganized agencies have been established. These agencies rely more on business management methods pursuing to improve public services quality, increase people's confidence in government, public administration, reduce costs, etc. Using principal - agent theory paper gives theoretical justification and by investigation of the reasons, means and results of agencification paper reviews practical experience of agencification in countries: Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, the United States of America, and Sweden. Despite the divergence in agencification (agencies types and structures, legal framework), general trends and key success factors -- political consensus and strategic reform management -- can be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a collection of manuscript heritage which is kept at the Department of Rare Books, Collections and Manuscripts of the Klaipeda University Library. At present, a total of 8 funds are already formed there. They are: Ansas Lymantas (f. 1), Kazys Pemkus (f. 2). Villus Peteraitis (f. 3), Ieva Jankute (f. 5), Vytau-tas Strolia (f. 8), and others: score manuscripts (f. 4), single documents (f. 7), musicians in exile (f. 6). The collections of A. Lymantas (f. 1) and K. Pemkus (f. 2) could be regarded as the best analyzed ones. The content of the personal ar-chives (K. Pemkus collection, f. 2), heritage of manuscripts in the archives of Lithuania Minor and the briefly described material placed in oth-er collections and funds of the Department are reviewed in the paper. There are several groups of archives in the collection of K. Pemkus (a well-known bib-liophile and therapist in exile): manuscripts of writers and linguists; historians; therapists; pedagogues; lawyers; artists; public figures; priests, etc. There are presented original texts (manuscripts and typescripts), corrections of texts, translations, notes, original letters or their copies, iconography, scraps about their creative work, personalities, programs of literary events, invitations and other small printings. The fund (f. 2) of Ansas Lymantas (represen-tative of the press, journalist, a former citizen of Klaipeda), containing documents of organiza-tions of Lithuania Minor in exile, materials of the „Lietuvos pajūris" newspaper, biographical and public work documents is reviewed in more detail. The content of such funds as these of Villus Peteraitis (a public figure, lexicologist, KU doc-tor of Honour), Ieva Jankute (a granddaughter of the well-known "Aušra" publisher Martynas Jankus), musician Vytautas Strolia, score manu-scripts, musicians in exile, and the fund of single documents are briefly described. Information about this heritage could be found at the web site of the Department of Rare Books, Collections and Manuscripts at the Klaipeda University Library's home page: http://www.ku.lt/libr/structure/retu.php [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a brief overview of the archival materials concerning the Society of the Sci-ence and Art Museum (1907-1914), Society of the Library of Eustachy and Emily Wroblewski (1912-1922), Society of Eustachy and Emily Wroblewski Science Fund (1922-1939) and Society of Wroblewski Library Friends (1936-- 1939) is presented. These materials are kept in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Acad-emy of Sciences. The first one of the mentioned above societies gathered a valuable collection of rare printed matter and archival documents (the remaining part is kept now in the Wroblewski Li-brary of the Lithuanian Academy of Science); the other three societies have taken part in founding the library and in the proliferation of its funds. After an overview of archival sources, a con-clusion is made that the archival material con-cerning various societies that acted in Vilnius in the first half of the 20th century are of the same character. The majority of them are statutes of the societies, lists of members, the minutes of meetings, activities and financial reports, cash books, statements of inspections and various of-ficial papers. These documents enable to restore in essence the circumstances of founding these societies and the main features of their activities. Very valuable is the material in the Manuscript section concerning famous personalities of these societies: Lucjan Uzieblo, member of the Vil-nius Society of Science and Art Museum, and Tadeusz Wroblewski, the founder of Eustachy and Emily Wroblewski Library. The material comprises their personal documents, scientific certificates, letters, notes, manuscripts, death certificates, obituaries. All this archival material is important not only for the history knowledge of the mentioned societies; it is significant also for the knowledge of the cultural and scientific life in Vilnius of the first half of the 20th cen-tury; therefore, it is necessary to preserve it as an important documentary heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different types of planar broadband slow-wave systems are used for designing microwave devices. The papers published by Lithuanian scientists analyze and investigate the models of helical and meander slow-wave systems. The article carefully examines the applications of meander slow-wave systems and presents the areas where similar systems, e.g. mobile devices, RFID, wireless technologies are used and reviewed nowadays. The paper also focuses on the examples of the papers discussing antennas, filters and couplers that contain designed and fabricated meander slow-wave systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a two-mass system with a finite stiffness and fuzzy logic controller with feedback signals proportional to speed error and its derivative. Solutions to improve the dynamics of the two-mass system were considered. The paper deals with some essential benefits of a fuzzy logic controller to control the drive speed of the induction motor of the two-mass system. A computer model of the two-mass system with Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy type controller is presented. The simulation model and results of the controlled two-mass system are discussed. The transients of the system with different reference speed are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive function is a group of the higher-order cognitive abilities that coordinate and monitor other abilities and behavior. As complex cognitive functioning is primarily attributed to adults, executive function in children has rarely been studied. However, research of executive function from the perspective of developmental psychology and psychopathology has become more frequent in recent decade. Several findings have attributed to this change, the discovery of an intriguing connection between children's executive function and theory of mind among them. Several reviews have been published in the field, providing the detailed developmental map of most often studied components of executive function (Garon et al., 2008; Best et al., 2009). However, they touch less on the broader context of executive function development. The aim of this review paper is to discuss the main findings, new trends and unanswered questions associated with developmental research in executive function, hoping this will stimulate Lithuanian psychologists become more involved in the field. We start the first part of the paper by discussing the difficulties in developmental research of executive function associated with the theoretical ambiguity of the construct and methodological problems. Most authors have focused to three main executive functions in recent years: mental set shifting, working memory updating and response inhibition. However, none of the neuropsychological tests measure isolated component of executive function, which makes the interpretation of the findings complicated. Studying executive function in young children at least partly addresses this problem, as the neuropsychological tasks are less complex, so more "pure" in this group. We briefly describe the developmental trends of main executive functions, concluding that the development of these abilities starts as early as the first year of life, undergoes the biggest changes in preschool years and continues till late childhood and even adulthood. We finally outline the importance of studying psychosocial context of the development of executive function. There is evidence that early social interaction may affect the development of executive function (Bibok et al., 2009; Bernier et al., 2010), but much remains to be done to better understand the mechanisms of the development of these functions. The second part of the paper is devoted to the connection between the development of executive function and theory of mind. There are four main proofs of this connection: 1) positive correlation between the executive function and theory of mind test results; 2) matching developmental paths of these two psychic functions; 3) matching brain regions; 4) disorders of both psychic functions in case of psychopathology (autism disorder in particular). Although the connection between executive function and theory of mind development is well documented, little is known about the nature and direction of this connection. The most prominent hypothesis is that executive function development stimulates the emergence of executive function (Carlson et al., 2004; Hughes and Ensor, 2007), but alternative explanations exist. We suggest that the explanations taking into account the social context of the development of both psychic functions should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the concept and models of creativity, which demonstrates the viewpoints of various authors considering directions for research on creativity factors. The authors determine three main individual creativity factors: openness, perception and idea content. The paper describes the concept of the introduced creativity factors and the results of an econometric analysis of the effect of these factors on the creativity of engineering staff. The surveyed data is used for analyzing organizational behavior in industrial firms, which has an impact on the utilization of creativity potential for engineering personnel. The viewpoint on creativity and dominant organizational behavior in industrial firms shows that an "economic-commercial" creativity model is applied in practice. In most industrial establishments, employee's creativity is viewed only as an opportunity to increase company's revenue and profit and no attention is paid to the expression of employee's intellectual power and independency. The paper provides suggestions on how to improve organizational behavior in order potential for employee's creativity would be better utilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than a decade ago, the academic community has started the continuously escalating debate trying to ascertain whether commercial databases sufficiently reflect researcher activities undertaken in various fields of science and whether publications outside such databases were worthless. These long discussions gave rise to rapidly developing and improving open access databases, such as Google Scholar, Scirus, Microsoft Academic Search and etc. The article presents a research that aims to compare scientometric indicators on researchers of different scientific fields derived from free access databases with those supplied by the globally recognised Web of Science, and to ascertain the differences between the two. With consent of well-known Lithuanian professors, habilitated doctors, their indicators were collected and presented in this article. The aforementioned professors represent four scientific fields: educology, physics, engineering and economics. As the research revealed that some Lithuanian physicists have same family names as well as first names, indicators of a young doctor of physics were supplied for comparison. The article compares the researcher indicators collected from the Web of Science with those retrieved with the help of Publish or Perish software. This free access and easy to install software draws on Google Scholar data to calculate and produce a wealth of indicators, such as: the number of papers; variety of citations: average per year, per author and etc.; h-index and its variations, and etc. According to creator of Publish or Perish software Anne-Wil Harzing, all these indicators are useful for researchers as they help choosing the best way to present dissemination of their papers and ideas as well as input into development of global science, required while submitting various applications and etc. Results of the research confirmed the broadly used argument that more papers in the field of social sciences can be found with the help of Google Scholar rather than Web of Science, consequently, indicators produced by Publish or Perish are better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inefficient heat use in old multi-fiat residential buildings causes problems to the residents spending a large part of their incomes on heat bills as well as for the State working towards achieving goals of energy efficiency increase, climate change mitigation and energy security. However, the Lithuanian program of multifiat building renovation keeps stalling, and therefore danger that much of this energy saving potential will go unrealised appears. The paper is concerned with the problems that arise when renovating multi-fiat buildings according to the existing legislation. In this case, the emphasis is placed on the factors that have influence on decisions made by building owners to either participate or not in the renovation program. The paper demonstrates that the currently employed method of evaluating building renovation projects does not correctly reflect the benefits of refurbishment and gives financially unattractive financial indicators. Thus, the new method of investment distribution is introduced considering three aspects of benefits for building renovation. The case analysed demonstrates how the suggested "ternary benefit" method could be used for differentiating between financing sources and presenting relevant information to the building owners. Another related problem is heat saving assessment in the building refurbishment process. The paper argues that energy audits are far more suitable for the evaluation of modernisation projects than for energy performance certification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the development of the police personnel training system in Lithuania in the period of 1990-2010. Assessing cultural and social circumstances of the formation and functioning of police institution, the degree of modernization of police management and personnel policy implemented in the system, the reasons of inefficiency in training police officers have been revealed. The problems discussed in the paper have been revealed investigating the development of personnel training system by conditionally dividing it into two stages in which the prevailing cultural and social environment and the former model of police institution management had determined the implementation of the officers training policy. The findings of the research showed that in Lithuania inefficient implementation of the reforms in the police system and insufficient cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and universities are the reasons of failure to create a modern police officers training system, which secures the efficient preparation of police officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes an attempt to show the New Public Management in the light of rhetorical managerial activities. From this perspective, the New Public Management is neither a scientific school nor a normative theory. It is a system of "myths" based on two main narratives: the struggle between the good (public sector reformers) and the evil (bureaucrats) and the theft of fire by Prometheus (modernisation of public sector). New Public Management myths are communicated by employing rhetorical tools, such as comparisons, metaphors, synecdoches, hyperboles. Furthermore, the paper argues that the rhetoric of public management reforms aims to form understanding and opinion of the masses about what are "the real problems of our society", and what are the best ways to solve these problems. In other words, it is propaganda -- rational, purposeful and institutionalised persuasion to manipulate, mobilise and govern citizens. By employing new rhetoric, propaganda creates predispositions, which are pre-reflexive tendencies to believe about certain social-economic phenomena. Based on the Knowledge Economy Forum case, the paper shows how knowledge economy predispositions are created and employed as a "platform" for other projects, such as the "Sunrise Valley" technology park and Vilnius-Kaunas „bipolar metropolis". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article concerns the thematic of evaluation in public management. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the conception and the models of evaluation in public management. There is a study of different types of evaluation approaches and evaluation definitions in the paper, which indicates the idea that there is no common definition of evaluation in public management, because it is strong in the context. Moreover, the implication of evaluation depends on such criteria as evaluation needs, evaluation purpose, typically applied methods, the role of evaluator and others. The paper also provides a discussion on the evaluation in historical perspective and the classification of evaluation models. The article identifies and describes the main evaluation models such as politically controlled studies, objectives orientated evaluations, management information systems, decision orientated evaluations, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Bologna process, higher education plays the key role in providing the supply of qualified human resources for European labour market. Within the Bologna counties there is an increasing tendency to focus on the quality of student internship by fostering the collaboration between higher education and business sectors. However, the internships in Lithuania business companies do not contribute to human resource development and lack of integration into high school education processes. This situation could be described as a "formal model of internship" with no value for business companies as well as higher education institutions. This paper aims to explain why student internship in Lithuania is ineffective, and why partners, high education institutions and retail companies, have no motivation to change the existing situation. First, by applying stakeholders approach to internship process, main groups and interests identified and interests explained. It is argued that main stakeholders do not identify the internship as an integral part of value creation process. Second, new "Bottom-up" model is introduced. The model aims to integrate high school student internship into retail company human resource management process. According to the model, the mentor is a key person in the company responsible for the efficient internship process. The paper argues that internship mentoring demands to develop the particular framework of competences, such as personal, social, communication, and professional. Finally, by applying labour supply-demand model main trends in internship system development are defined and explained. It is argued that Lithuanian retail sector belongs to low value added industries and there is no substantial demand increase in higher education graduates. On the other hand, the increase of student enrolment during the period of 2000-2009 contributes to internship supply boost. It is suggested that retail companies, under the circumstances of high supply, should switch from "mass" internship practices to tailor-made internship projects and focus on mentor's competences development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at assessment of the Lithuanian experience related to students' internships in municipalities. The article starts with the theoretical introduction into service learning education (via cooperated resources of the universities and their social partners). Then the overview of the study methodology follows. Data from two expert surveys (representing interests and responsibilities of, on one hand, higher education institutions and, on the other hand, municipalities) are presented at lenght. The paper ends with the SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and concludes that the present situation of students' internships in Lituania is not beneficial to the country municipalities (and self-government at large) as well that it has some serious flaws from the point of view of education sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental changes and globalization of markets make an impact on intense competition in almost all business sectors. Evolutionary changes influence companies to leam, adequately react, adapt to environmental changes and to change themselves. Such a situation has revealed the problems of competitive advantage of industry companies. Therefore the focus to the factors impacting competitive advantage is seen as timely and relevant. The authors of the paper analyze approaches to competitive advantage and the factors impacting competitive advantage. The integrated model of competitive advantage is proposed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building of "Lietkoopsajunga" (The Union Of Cooperatives of Lithuania) is an example of modernist architecture in Lithuania. It is valuable by it's architecture as well as it's works of art, made by famous artists of those days. Lively comments of J. Šeibokas and A. Kmieliauskas endue the genuine value to the paper. The paper reveales correlation between the art objects, the surrounding architectural ambience and the potential "observer". The works of art are analyzed by their location in the interior space, compositional structure, symbolical meaning, etc. The author identifies wether the art objects integrate or contrast to the architecture. The role of light as an important agent is also emphasized. Conclusively, the graphical scheme of analysis is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes methods how to apply Windows API hooking with third party libraries and solutions. In this research were used Windows API function SetWindowsHookEx, Detours and EasyHook libraries. Libraries methods, features and advantages were discussed in this paper. The practical part contains libraries tests. In analysis we tested target program start with hooking library and injected function call. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The weighted mass of a binder in the bucket of the bitumen batcher of a batch-type asphalt plant should be such that its percentage of hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixture lot would comply with the design amount of the job-mix formula in all mix batches. A bitumen batcher does not always weigh bitumen portions precisely. Their mass deviations from the amount determined by the project and its variation impair HMA composition and performance. The paper provides data on a statistical evaluation of bitumen batcher modernization performed at Lithuanian enterprise ''LL''. The article analyzes differences in the structures of reconstructed and not reconstructed bitumen batching systems and presents methods for determining modernization effectiveness. The paper also focuses on the effectiveness of the batching system, determining deviations from bitumen content in subsamples taken and extracted everyday during two seasons (before and after batcher's modernization) of producing HMA from the value of job-mix formula and comparing them to the values of tolerances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the spread of prostitution and the efforts of the state to regulate it in interwar Lithuania. It shows that in Lithuania, as in other Western countries of that time, the reasons for prostitution as a social phenomenon were analogical: economic poverty, low women's salaries, unemployment, loneliness, loose sexual behavior, alcohol, sexual ignorance. The outcome was analogical -- the spread of venereal diseases. The way out of the situation had been finally found both in the Western countries and czarist Russia where the registration and observation of prostitution had been legalized. In interwar Lithuania the political parties did not have a unanimous point of view on the issue as well. In default of a unanimous point of view regarding prostitution a compromise was reached. It was agreed to solve the problem in an administrative way by implementing a compulsory registration of prostitutes which was believed to help to control the situation. It is shown in the paper that Temporary rules on the regulation of prostitution adopted in Lithuania in 1919 and their application were evaluated ambiguously by society. The lawyers evaluated them especially critically referring to the restrictions of individual rights such as withdrawal of the passport from a citizen (even it was a prostitute) and provision of the registration book of a prostitute instead, various restraints concerning the flat, change of the place of residence, etc. Local abolitionists treated the rules as unfair and humiliating women. Eventually the system of registration of prostitutes appeared to be effect less; it neither decreased the number of prostitutes nor gave expected results in fight against venereal diseases. The authoritarian ruling was getting stronger, and the President A. Smetona tried to demonstrate his will in the fight against that evil, which destroyed morality and family traditions, without abolishing the causes of the phenomenon and searching for positive decisions; therefore, in 1935 the "Law on fight against venereal diseases" was adopted, in which "the traces of police influence" still remained quite evident. The penal code was complemented with strict fines for prostitution, organization and keeping of brothels or other places of prostitution. In turn strict rules on the regulation of prostitution stimulated the emigration of prostitutes, which became the benefit for criminals who by trick transported prostitutes to the Western countries to work in brothels. Thus it stimulated the traffic in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. When nowadays' parents are confronted with varying difficulties related to communication with children and their nurture, a big need for parenting skills' improving programs emerges. Various programs, which differ in theoretical background, purposes, purposive groups, teaching or learning models and / or contents, can be found in scientific and practical literature. One of the most frequent questions for parents and professionals is that which program is related with the most vivid changes in parents, i. e., which is the most effective one. The aim of this paper is to review the most important factors for the effectiveness of parenting skills' improving programs. The review and analysis of scientific literature were chosen as a method for this paper. Results and conclusions. Following the foreign scientific literature, three major groups of factors for the effectiveness of parenting skills' improving programs were indicated: (1) the peculiarities of the program itself, (2) the characteristics of participant or his family, and (3) the peculiarities of person who organizes meetings for parents. Some additional tendencies were also found: it's likely that the effectiveness of the program is more possible when (1) various types of knowledge and practical tasks are introduced to participants, they have a possibility to discover their personal strengths in communicating with children, to pay their entire attention to the program (no additional service is suggested) and take part in as many meetings as possible; (2) participants are motivated for changes, the model of the program satisfies the cultural values of the family, their general needs and specific expectations; (3) the meetings' person searches for any possibilities for close relationships with participants and has a variety of personality traits that are necessary for sincere communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing role of the modern university, emergence of a new high school's mission, imposing new forms of science communication expand the traditional publishing opportunities on the university level. It is noted that the University of Publishers have made considerable progress in helping to publish scientific journals, especially in the digital space. However, the trend appears that the printed form of scientific journals gradually disappears. It is possible to hypothesize that the next digital publishing university level would be establishment of new publishing formats which enable the application of a digital technology which will allow scientists to carry out a built-in digital research, rapidly disseminate it and discuss with other researchers, and dynamically update their content by using the possibilities offered by the new generation of the web. However, most research in the future will be mainly disseminated and published in scientific digital communication channels. Thus, as prospective modern university publishing guidelines for the future, there are four problems to be treated: * changes in the science communication paradigm; * double scientific publishing in the form of "paper-digital journal"; * scientific journals on the Internet; * reviewing the matter. Thus, the university also needs to develop its new business vision -- to become an open space for researchers to share their ideas and disseminate a range of scientific ideas that would find response in other scientists or scientific communities, reasoned criticism, comment or approval, all of which encourage individual or general academic research development. Online access to scientific production and its digital form opens up new opportunities for the academic development of the idea of unlimited scope for research, stimulates discussion with other researchers, sharing their research, opportunities to correct errors, submit their comments, indicate errors, or to contribute to the scientific content of a paper by adding new insights. The final transformation of the peer review model would produce tangible results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the performance audit as specific and sufficiently new institute in the history of auditing. This paper argues that performance audit growth parallels the evolution of politics and public administration from one-dimensional focus on control of inputs toward broader attention to accountability for outputs and outcomes. As our survey has demonstrated, the causal relation between management reforms and the developments in performance auditing may theoretically go in two directions: reform causes new audit practices or new audit practices cause the reform. Empirically, the relationship is mainly one directional: management reforms trigger adoption of audit practices. At the audit sides, new public management has influenced development of the audit. This evolution of auditing represents both a means by which audit can continue to be relevant and a move toward fulfilling accountability role in governance. Basically the survey is based on the experience of Western countries and INTOSAI standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entrepreneurship policy to promote economic growth and competitiveness is heavily focused on the supply of entrepreneurs. However, as it was stressed by Baumol (1990), the neglected factor is allocation between productive and unproductive entrepreneurial activities. While some EU countries, such as Czech Republic, Poland, and Portugal demonstrate high rates of entrepreneurial activities, they rank low in terms of competitiveness. This paper argues that in order to explain such phenomenon, we have to rethink the existing approaches from the perspective of economic sociology. Coming back to Baumol (1990), we should acknowledge a rather trivial but often neglected fact that entrepreneurs are persons who primarily seek to enhance their own wealth. The case study of Land Use Administration in Lithuania shows how entrepreneurial activities are embedded in the informal network of public officers and land dealers. The paper also argues that "land use" entrepreneurship activities are path-dependent. It is implicitly assumed that entrepreneurship is an exogenous variable, that entrepreneurs should be "bred" at universities and business schools. However, entrepreneurial activities, such as blat and unofficial economy, also existed in planned economy. Moreover, the legacy of Soviet entrepreneurship affects the current situation in Lithuania. In the case of "land use business" the entrepreneur does not collaborate with public sector, but in contrary - they view the state as a hostile country, like it was in Soviet times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to present the theoretical model of samizdat. With regard to this model, samizdat, which emerged in Lithuania in the 50's of the 20th century and persisted nearly until the collapse of the soviet system, is construed as a new phenomenon of the underground press. Samizdat was one of the categories of the underground press, which was distinguished by a unique mechanism of spreading. With the reference to the insights of Aleksandr Daniel the first half of the paper discusses principal differences of samizdat from other categories of the underground press ("texts of personal usage", "coterie", partisan press and proclamations). Contrary to other underground press, the publishers of samlzdat controlled only preparation and distribution of only the primary edition (generally small), and subsequent circulation of the publications took place in the circle of the readers. Therefore, the major role in samizdat was played by the readers, who multiplied and distributed the publications on their own initiative and without the awareness of the publishers. Pursuing to substantiate the presented theoretical model, the second half of paper scrutinizes the history of the spread of one document -- secret pacts of Ribbentrop--Molotov -- in samizdat. The method of "one case analysis" revealed reasonability of the theoretical model and expedience of its use. The spread of the secret pacts of Ribbentrop-Molotov in the 70's-80's may be considered a typical model of samizdat. Moreover, the spread of the documents revealed a unique peculiarity of the renewal ofsamizdat: since samizdat was circulating in numerous directions and in a diversity of circles of readers, it was practically impossible for the soviet authorities to stop the spread of a text, which reached samizdat. Such elemental mistake predetermined vitality and efficiency of such underground press in the soviet society. Exchange of information through the principle of samizdat was determined by the heritage of the totalitarian political system -- the society was so polarized that usual forms of the underground press become ineffective. In the meanwhile, samizdat opened new possibilities for the spread of the uncensored ideas in the post-totalitarian system, which could assist in overcoming mistrust prevailing in the society and its disunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasizes the importance of implementation of Lithuanian electronic government (e-government) concept, generalizes legal acts for e-government and the current situation in the field of electronic services in Lithuania. The paper starts with the analysis of Lithuanian legislation and scientific literature, then discusses e-government development trends. By reffering to the classification of content maturity of European internet websites an existing supply of e-government services is discussed. With regard to importance of information provided by government institutions to the public a special attention is paid to the demand of e-government services. It is analysed referring to the information provided by the Department of Statistics by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to disclose the concept of social indicators and its meaning for modern public administration practice and appropriate scientific research. The necessity to create a national system of social indicators in Lithuania is emphasized. Methodological problems of legitimating the thematic (dimensional) structure of social indicators is discussed as well. The article indicates a coherence of social indicators with fundamental methodological problems of society cognition: social measurement and evaluation, social diagnostics and social prognosis. The authors state a coherence of social indicators with social welfare, quality of life, sustainable development and New Public Management concepts. Paper is based on assumption, that the New Public Management is an instrument to assure sustainable development: it has to create prerequisites for quality of life. The problem of quality of life indicators is analysed, assuming a necessity to combine both objective and subjective indicators of quality of life in a particular research. It is indicated, that subjective indicators are a source of scientific informatikon, while subjective quality of life indicators are an independent object of social cognition. The paper presents a methodology for research of public opinion in a particular municipality, based on subjective quality of life indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constant demonstration of violence and aggressive models on television threatens to the safety of the society, as by this a young person's knowledge of the world is perverted and the usage of aggressive behaviour is stimulated. The purpose of the present research was to identify the violence demonstrated on the main Lithuanian TV channels (LRT, LNK, TV3). For data collecting we were using a DVD player, which was programmed to record random 15-minute episodes three times per day on different TV channels on October and November in 2006 and on January, 2007. The total material contained 18 hours of recording. 194 occasions of violence captured were evaluated according to the criteria developed by the authors of this paper. It was looked at the type of the violence demonstrated, the complexion and purpose of the demonstration of the violence, the degree of its gravity and particularity, the final effects of the violence demonstrated, the presented evaluation of the violence and the frequency of violence acts in different channels and programs at different times of the day. Besides the authors of this paper, two independent members from the Board of Experts of the Office of the Inspector of Journalists Ethics were asked to evaluate the violence acts according to developed criteria. The results revealed that the average frequency of broadcasting violence on TV is 10.8 violence acts per hour. The highest frequency of broadcasting violence was on TV3 channel - it makes 16.3 violence acts per hour, while LRT channel had least rate of violence - 6 acts per hour (p ≤ 0.001). Most violence acts (38.1 percent) were recorded from 18.00 to 23.00 h, least (25.8 percent) - from 6.00 to 12.00 h (p ≤ 0.031). In this general complexion of all Lithuanian programs the most frequent is physical violence and both - physical and psychical - types of violence are shown only with a reason to call emotions and viewers attention to television. 46 percent of violent acts were demonstrated without any noticeable ravage to victim and 49 percent there were no clear evaluation of the violent act or aggressor itself. Contrarily, violent behavior was shown to bring positive after-effect to the aggressor. It was also noticed that the biggest number of physical and psychical violence acts occurs in cartoons, which is significantly different from the number of violence acts demonstrated in feature films (p ≤ 0.001) and during the announcements (p ≤ 0.024). As cartoons are aimed at the audience of children of the preschool age and early school age, the conclusion can be drawn that the youngest and the most sensitive group of habitants in our country is under the biggest threat of the violence broadcasted by the Lithuanian television programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epistemology is tile study of the possibility and nature of human knowledge and, as agencies that are concerned with the records of that knowledge, now in both electronic and paper media it seems reasonable to explore the epistemology of library and information work and education for the information occupations. It is clear that, whatever our understanding of the way in which knowledge is created among humans, the records of that knowledge have some 'real' existence - knowledge, that is, what is in the intellectual apparatus of the individual (or 'between two ears' as Drucker puts it) may be socially constructed, but what can be recorded of that knowledge, that is, what we otherwise call 'information', takes a 'real' form. The 'real' form may be difficult to see, as in the case of the symbols cut by a laser on a CD-ROM, or the bits recorded on a hard disc, but they are there. This paper will consider the consequences of a realist empistemology for library and archival science and for education in these fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insufficient attention towards the topic of public service motivation among Lithuanian scholars encouraged the author to choose the object for the paper. The paper starts with the analysis of various theories of motivation (starting with A.Maslow theory of needs hierarchy and analyzing more complex theories of F.Herzberg, K.Alderfer, D.McCleland, V.Vroom, J.Adams, E.Lawler, W.Porter). Similar theories can serve as the basis for future research in Lithuanian public sphere. Author states, that universal theory on motivation does not exist. This fact complicates applicability of various theories in practice as raises the question, which theory is the best one (qualitative dimension). After choosing the theory, another question is what we have to measure. Attitudes (satisfaction), behavior (involvement) or both these elements should be used trying to measure motivation. A wish to participate in public policy implementation, serving public, loyalty to government; commitment and benevolence are several specific motivators, which influence public servant's activity. It is shown that working conditions, work content, salary, work safety, challenges, and possibilities for a career in private and public sector lead to distinguish certain similarities and differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In attempt to assess the peculiarities of development of human resources in contemporary public administration, this paper analyses these peculiarities from the perspective of change of public administration paradigm, emphasizing the interrelation of Classic (traditional) and the New Public Administration (New Public Management) in contemporary public administration and the increasingly gaining ground model of New Governance. Taking into account the fact, that nowadays international organizations, primarily the United Nations, play an increasing role in shaping the trends of human resource development, the paper refers to different studies published by the United Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological empowerment of employees as the psychological enabling and positive motivational state of individuals at work has been broadly studied in relation with their attitudes towards work and organisations, work behaviour, productivity, reactions to changes or innovations. Employee empowerment is especially important for the organisations with flexible management systems which are based on the principles of employee proactivity, personal responsibility and intrinsic work motivation. The article presents the process of improving the LPEQ - Lithuanian Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire (Tvarijonavičius & Bagdžiūnienė, 2013) and the revised 9-item version of the questionnaire. The first version consisted of fifteen items representing five dimensions of psychological empowerment: meaning, enthusiasm, decision making, autonomy, and trust in competence. However, later studies revealed that a three-dimensions exploratory factor solution is also possible (e.g., Jokubauskaitė & Lazauskaitė-Zabielskė, 2016). The aim of the two studies presented in this paper was to repeatedly evaluate and to specify the structure of the LPEQ and to verify the psychometric indicators of the revised 9-item version of the questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of data from the first study sample (740 employees from different Lithuanian organisations) were explored to examine the structure, construct validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The CFA showed substantial support for the three factors‘ solution when the first factor (meaning) consisted of two items from the previous meaning dimension and one item from enthusiasm, the second factor (decision making) included two items from the previous decision making and one from autonomy dimensions and the third factor (trust in competence) remained without changes (χ² = 57.69, df = 24, χ² /df = 2.391, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.061; GFI = 0.9674; CFI = 0.939; NFI = 0.953). Measures of validity and internal consistency were additionally analysed on the second study data (658 participants). The results proved the convergent validity of the shortened version of the LPEQ: three dimensions and the total score of empowerment were highly and positively related with similar constructs - intrinsic motivation, engagement, autonomy, occupational self-efficacy, in-role behavior (p < 0.01). Cronbach's α coefficients of the dimensions varied between 0.755 and 0.835. In conclusion, the revised version of the Lithuanian Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire (LPEQ - 9) can be characterised as an instrument with appropriate psychometric properties for use in research and practice. Directions for the future research in the field are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the public service quality management in Lithuanian municipalities. Increasing requirements to the quality of services is altering their quality management, so the study is seeking to reveal what quality management models and tools are applied by the municipalities in Lithuania in order to improve the quality management of public services. Grounded by the scientific literature analysis and by the authors' conducted quantitative research results (September-November, 2015), the article is presenting the public services quality management techniques, their application advantages, disadvantages and is analysing the possible improvements of public service quality management in Lithuanian municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In soviet Lithuania standard single-family housing projects have been actively developed and constantly improved. It was possible to identify about 40 different standard housing projects in Lithuania’s rural areas in the early eighties. However, it was not an easy task for a family to build their own house. The construction was hampered by the lack of permanent materials and priority queues, according to which plots were distributed. Also one must take notice that the construction of single-family homes was totally prohibited in major cities. Before setting in the prohibition in the 60s, one could recognize standard housing exploiting traditional materials - brick, wood, as well as adapting architectural features of interwar housing. Meanwhile, the rural areas started to experiment with the design of industrially prefabricated homes. These attributes of, so far poorly, investigated typology are one of the components forming a standard single- family house in modern day Lithuania. The objective of the paper is to define the peculiarities of standard single-family housing development in the soviet era, with a focus on sociopolitical factors which determined the direction and attributes of a typical design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the changes of the property crime (theft) dynamics and location in Klaipeda city during 1990-2015 years assessing the expression of this phenomenon in the context of changing society. Using theories of the Chicago School of sociology (R. Park and E. Burgess C. Show, H. M. McKay) and the critical insights of its interpretations (E. Sutherland L. Cohen, M. Fels et al.) that allow to us to understand the phenomenon of crime not only in the wide geographic space, but also in the localized environment. The authors present an analysis of territorial clusters (neighborhoods) where phenomenon of theft in Klaipėda is the most located. Assessing geographical, social, economic development of the city regions the authors disclosed the “hottest” points of city in which were recorded this offense. Assessing the considering the geographical, social, economic development of city regions were disclosed the “hottest” city points, where are recorded this offense. Dynamics of this process analyzes in the frame of selected four (1990-1994; 1995-1999; 2000-2004; 2005-2009) periods. The authors, based on forecasts of Lithuanian criminologists about crime trends in Lithuania until 2015, presents their own scientific insights and assessments, which may be useful in developing strategies for the prevention of theft in Klaipėda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]