Kultūrinės lokalizacijos sprendimai „UNICEF” kampanijose ir iniciatyvose

The thesis focuses on the existing lack of search on the website localization practice of non-profit organizations and the factors that determine its success, considering the different financial constraints (compared to commercial websites) and the culturally sensitive content. The thesis aims to analyse cultural localization decisions within UNICEF campaigns and initiatives on Lithuanian, Portuguese, and American websites by discussing the rise and development of the localization concept together with the new dimensions it has given to translation, analysing localization of UNICEF websites (LT, PT, US) according to website localization strategies and exploring how cultural localization decisions are reflected in UNICEF (LT, PT, US) websites

Cross-linkable carbazole-based hole transporting materials for perovskite solar cells

Carbazole-based molecules V1205 and V1206 capable of cross-linking via three vinyl groups were synthesized by a simple process and applied as hole-transporting materials (HTMs) in inverted perovskite solar cells (PSC). Novel HTMs were thermally polymerized to provide films resistant to organic solvents. A PSC with V1205 exhibited a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 16.9% with good stability

Impact of the application of internet of things on financial statement audit evidence gathering

The Internet of Things is gaining in importance and role in business. It is projected that by 2025. devices connected to the Internet of Things will exceed $ 75 billion. The Internet of Things is evolving rapidly, exponentially increasing the amount of data available to organizations and auditors. In the literature, we can see a number of articles describing the possibilities of the Internet of Things in terms of security and assurance, but only a few articles discuss how to implement this and apply it in practice to audit procedures. Therefore, this dissertation examines the impact of the application of the Internet of Things on the collection of audit evidence for financial statements. Theoretical analysis has shown that the main features of the Internet of Things are distribution, computability, large amounts of devices and data, heterogeneity, dynamism, mobility, and versatility of services. The main risk factors for the successful application of the Internet of Things and its integration into software have been identified: ethical risk, security and privacy risk, and technical risk. The main benefits of the Internet of Things in a business context are the provision and analysis of information, continuous monitoring, time savings and reduced business costs. In addition to the benefits of the Internet of Things, it highlights the key shortcomings and challenges that businesses face in deploying and deploying the Internet of Things in their business or processes: data security and privacy, usage and compatibility issues, and cyber-attacks. It is revealed that the Internet of Things is capable of performing data processing, visualization and analysis, transmission, calculation and various data analytics, which would contribute to a more efficient and detailed implementation of audit procedures. The functionality of the Internet of Things will modernize and replace traditional methods of collecting audit procedures in the future. The Internet of Things can provide a broader and more comprehensive analysis of sources for audit data collection, including not only internal and external sources, but also sensors, sensors, and publicly available information. The paper proposed a conceptual model for the integration of the Internet of Things into the audit evidence gathering phase, including 5 audit evidence gathering procedures and data sources. A qualitative semi-structured interview was conducted, during which two samples were interviewed - 5 persons from the audit company (auditors) and 10 persons from the audit clients (business organizations for which the audit is mandatory). The results of the research revealed that business organizations have already started to apply and implement the Internet of Things in their activities, and employees of audit companies are introduced to the theory and strengthened in the field of competence. The qualitative study identified the key factors driving the use of the Internet of Things in gathering audit evidence for financial statements: the ability to test larger samples, substantiated and relevant audit evidence, greater likelihood of identifying potential risks, eliminating human error, reducing time spent gathering audit evidence, collection would become a more automated process, the audit profession would become more attractive, higher revenues would be generated, and the overall quality of audits would increase. The study identified the main barriers to the use of the Internet of Things in gathering audit evidence for financial statements: lack of auditors and individuals (knowledge and skills), outdated processes, data security and privacy, system incompatibilities (audit firms and audit clients), additional costs (expenses) due to the installation and adaptation of IoT systems, the lack of IoT devices with the required specification. The analysis of the results of the study also revealed the main general and specific risks. General risks - technological risk; privacy risk; cyber risk; data vulnerability risks (data protection); data reliability Specific risks - legislation (auditing standards); interpretative analysis of the data is not available. All research participants and experts mentioned that the application of the Internet of Things has a high or medium perspective in the Lithuanian market. The results of the interviews revealed that the application of the Internet of Things is an inevitable process for both business organizations and audit firms to remain competitive

Influence of personality traits on pet attachment and pet-related consumption value

Relevance of the topic. According to Statista (Statista, 2020), 37% of households had at least one dog and 32% had at least one cat. In Western Europe, the animal products industry is growing rapidly, in 2020 market value reached 33 billion euros (Euromonitor International, 2021). In modern society, animal becomes not a utilitarian benefit provider, but a valuable member of the family (Boya, Dotson, & Hyatt, 2012). Pet-related consumption has been extensively analyzed in consumer behavioral and psychological sciences. A study by Cheong and Yi (2014) revealed that dog owners buy for their pets as if they buy for themselves. As consumerism grows, the pet becomes a baby substitute who needs to be taken care of and essential products needs to be bought (Vänskä, 2013). Research has also revealed that consumers may be strongly, moderately, or weakly attached to their pets (Boya et al., 2012). Chen et al. (2012) showed that the relationship between consumer and their pet is particularly important in the analysis of pet-related consumption, for which attachment to the pet is greatly important. It has been observed that the relationship between personality traits and pet-related consumption has not yet been extensively studied, but the impact of personality traits on consumption has been analyzed in a variety of contexts, e.g. food consumption (Conner et al., 2017), experiential consumption (Mehmetoglu, 2012). The relationship between personality traits and consumption, as confirmed by research, suggests that personality traits should also affect pet-related consumption. Main results of the project. An empirical study revealed that neuroticism and agreeableness have a positive impact on social value – the stronger neuroticism or agreeableness, the more important social value of pet-related consumption. The results also showed that consumers with stronger consciousness, neuroticism, or openness to experience, give more importance to functional value. It has been observed that consumers who have greater openness to experience or agreeableness, give more importance to epistemic value. However, it was found that extraversion did not significantly relate to epistemic value. The results of the study revealed that consumers who have a higher consciousness, give more importance to economic value. Empirical research has shown that consumers with higher neuroticism, consciousness, or agreeableness are more attached to their pet, yet the consciousness has the strongest effect on pet attachment. The results also showed that openness to experience does not affect attachment to the pet, and extraversion, contrary to expectations, is positively related to attachment to the pet. The results showed that consumers who are more attached to their pets, gives more importance to functional and epistemic values. It was also observed that, contrary to expectations, social value also has a positive effect on pet attachment, while economic value doesn‘t

Apleistų pastatų ir teritorijų transformacija tvariai integruojant juos į miesto infrastruktūrines sistemas

This paper aims to tackle the issue of abandonment in general. Later on aims to investigate the deeper issues, possibilities and emergent problems that has been rising during the research. For the analysis and application of the research data, an abandoned hotel in Kaunas/Lithuania was chosen as a case study project area. Paper consists of three main chapters, first chapter aims to dig deeper into the history of architecture, sociology and construction technologies and extracts the good examples in order to critique them properly. This extraction creates a product of theoretical knowledge and expertise, hence by using this extracted conclusion second chapter aims to have a better look at the site, the city, the context of the case study area to reflect the theoretical conclusions by testing them in real life scenarios. Britanika, an abandoned “ghost” of the city of Kaunas since the 70`s, has had a inconclusive journey within the “new town” part of the city. New town consists of many modern buildings with poor taste as well as some buildings from the interwar era, also a neo Byzantium military church which was made during the Russian rule of the city. Even though it represents a painful time in history, currently it keeps its` place in the skyline as a landmark. Britanika however, still remains abandoned. In this chapter, several social surveys and spatial analyses were made to conclude three requirements to affect the next chapter which is the actual design project, first is the form, new form and transformation strategy should be decided by using environmental data, this includes sunlight, wind, liquid exposure and visibility/view. Second important requirement is the program of the building, in order to decide, several statistical papers such as immigration, tourism were analysed, moreover several surveys were made in Lithuania. Third and last important requirement is the building technologies with urban integration. As a conclusion, third part brings out the design ideas, an experimental journey towards the ideal was aimed at every aspect of the design rather than sticking with the orthodox design techniques. Design aims to follow the public need while keeping the focus on the upcoming refugee flow that has been expected by the authorities because of the various conflicts, climate change and socioeconomic conjuncture of the global situation. Project with its` program aims to house 200 refugees and students alike, as it was concluded in the surveys, also various coworking spaces and commercial areas were planned to create a direct flow from Laisves Avenue towards Kestucio Street. Addition to that program shifts towards the south border of the plot to include a community centre, with a flexible program and an auditorium for 400 people. The multipurpose hall also aims to transfer various museums in war zones and their inventory to Kaunas, hence creating a safe space for art refuge, especially during the current crisis in Ukraine. As form, building aims to follow the wind and sun exposure, and lifting the ground level up, hence creating a park on top of and around the structure. Building technologies and urban integration involves various prototype trials, to create the perfect pedestrian flow. Structure in its` essence depends on the abandoned Britanika`s load bearing towers, by keeping the terrace part of the building creates and envelope with a panoramic view, inviting residents and travellers alike to enjoy the view, which was determined by the view analysis. By using the old Soviet era structure as a vertical connector, structure aims to recreate a modern side, by using unitized panelling systems, which would enable modifications throughout the years. By doing so, structure becomes eternal, hence aims to solve the abandonment problem of the area

Multi-criteria analysis of green infrastructure assessment methods achieving EU strategic goals

Green infrastructure (GI) is an important element of urban sustainability. The quality of the ecosystem services it provides is of crucial importance for society, nature and the urban economy. This is analysed in EU strategic documents, describing how the GI should be developed and maintained, as well as setting out aspirations for its future development. It is important that the criteria used in the approaches to assessing GI reflect the objectives of the EU strategic documents and assess GI in the light of current trends and issues. The aim of the study was to develop a methodological tool to facilitate the selection of a method for assessing GI that is in line with the EU strategic objectives. A set of 18 criteria was drawn up, reflecting the most relevant GI criteria in the EU. The study focused on the GI evaluation methods themselves, a set of which was compiled through a qualitative content analysis of scientific articles, but which is not exhaustive and can be expanded, and 20 methods were selected for the study. In order to compare the GI evaluation methods according to the established set of criteria, a multi-criteria decision-making method – AHP – was applied

Assessment of the environmental footprint of natural gas transmission activities and measures to reduce it

The aim of this work is to assess the environmental impacts of natural gas transmission activities over the whole life cycle. Significant environmental impacts are likely to arise from gas transmission activities. There may be controlled and truly uncontrolled gas leaks due to leaks in the pipeline or repairs that may have an environmental impact. The gas transmission activities of the company have a target of 60% reduction of GHG emissions over a period of 5 years, and there is also a need to assess other environmental impact indicators to monitor the environmental footprint of the company and track the effectiveness of the mitigation measures taken.The life cycle assessment of the natural gas transmission activities shows that the main areas of concern: controlled release of methane gas (mainly due to repair works) - 47%; gas transportation (uncontrolled leakage) - 42%; pipeline infrastructure (land use) - 10%; other energy and fuel consumption - 5%. Six mitigation measures have been selected: use of a mobile gas compressor; conversion of internal combustion engine cars to electric cars; use of green energy; transport of gas-by-gas carriers to gas distribution stations; use of a flare; and pipeline repairs using cut-and-cover technology

Ultragarsinio metodo skirtingų medžiagų sujungimų patikrai sukūrimas

In this work, adhesively bonded dissimilar materials such as aluminium and CFRP which have high interest in aerospace industry because of the joint superior structural characteristics, structure enhancement, and weight reduction were studied. Quality control of the bonding area in such joints is a challenging task due to the absence of a reliable method that can detect adhesive defects with high probability of detection (POD). The aim of the thesis is to develop an advanced technique for the detection of disbonds with improved probability of detection in dissimilar material joints and to measure its performance. First, the existing methods applied for the inspection of layered structures were evaluated. As a result, ultrasonic testing, data post-processing, and calculation of POD were selected to achieve the goal. The fundamentals of wave-disbond interactions in adhesive joints including reverberation, phase change, and reflection magnitudes were investigated. During qualitative evaluation, it was determined that surface/interface curvature of the sample is the major factor influencing the detection of disbonds in adhesive layer. Afterward, a model based on the arrival time of ultrasonic waves was developed to determine time moments of ultrasound reflections from each layer. As a result, the following valuable features were extracted: time of flights and time intervals of the reflected signals, amplitude change, and ratio coefficients of amplitudes at selected time intervals. On the basis of these features, a novel postprocessing algorithm to improve the detectability of disbonds was developed and implemented. As a result, the technique was verified, and it is possible to detect the defect of the size even smaller than 5 mm with 0.88 mm uncertainty

Leadership skills of managers in the context of Leadership 4.0

After performing the analysis of scientific literature, 10 different characteristics were determined that define Leadership 4.0: responsive, swarm, open, learning and innovation, agile, participative, network, trust, digital, collaborative. Also, after performing the analysis of the scientific literature factors that influenced the need for the new leadership skills were identified. The key factor is the emergence of new technologies. Based on the emergence of the new technologies, it has been found that managers who want to successfully integrate these technologies and transform organizations into ones that are digital-oriented must have certain personal, cognitive, transformational and interpersonal skills, also be visionary, innovative and focused to lifelong learning. Looking at these abilities as separate groups of abilities, a theoretical conceptual research model was developed. Based on the opinions of other researchers about the most important competencies for the manager in the context of Leadership 4.0, this model has been supplemented with a variety of competencies commonly mentioned in the scientific literature. After performing qualitative study, based on its’ results, an extended model of managerial leadership skills in context of Leadership 4.0 was prepared. This model shows that most important leadership skills to managers are: • personal and cognitive skills: insight, imagination, agility, stubbornness, openness to innovation, openness in communication, visionary, curiosity and speaking; • transformational skills: openness to change, inspiration, project management, organization of activities, persuasion, perseverance, communication skills; • interpersonal skills: speaking, concentration, support, teamwork, social perception, openness, emotional intelligence; • lifelong learning: lifelong learning, exploration, pursuit of continuous improvement, inspiration; • innovation: openness to innovation, openness to digitalization, creativity, analytical skills; • visionary: vision formation, strategic thinking, development of strategies and concepts, vision, courage

Molecular engineering of fluorene-based hole-transporting materials for efficient perovskite solar cells

New Spiro-OMeTAD analogues and the simpler “half” structures with the terminated methoxyphenyl and/or carbazolyl chromophores are successfully synthesized under Hartwig–Buchwald amination conditions using commercially available starting materials. New fluorene-based hole-transporting materials combined with suitable ionization energies properly align with the valence band of the perovskite absorber. Additionally, these compounds are amorphous, which is an advantage for the formation of homogenous films, as well as eliminate the possibility for films to crystallize during operation of the devices. The most efficient perovskite solar cells devices contain carbazolyl-terminated Spiro-OMeTAD analogue V1267 and reach a power conversion efficiency of 18.3%, along with a short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor of 23.41 mA cm−2, 1.06 V, and 74.0%, respectively. Moreover, “half” structures with methoxyphenyl/carbazolyl fragments show excellent long-term stability and outperform Spiro-OMeTAD and, therefore, hold a great prospect for practical wide-scale applications in optoelectronic devices