Lietuvos Baltosios Senojo Tipo (Lithuanian White) Pig

Lietuvos Baltosios senojo tipo pigs are remaining purebred pigs of local Lithuanian pig breed (Lietuvos Baltosios) adapted to the specific local environment and locally available feedstuffs. Although previously Lietuvos Baltosios was the main dam pig breed in Lithuania, regarding scientific substantiation, their performances and products are, as in the case of Lietuvos Baltosios remains (senojo tipo-old type) pigs, practically untapped. Thus, the present chapter aims to present history and current status of Lietuvos Baltosios senojo tipo pig breed, its exterior phenotypic characteristics, geographical location, production system and main products from this Lithuanian breed of pigs, one of the local pig breeds investigated in the project TREASURE. Moreover, a collection and review of available literature data, available until August 2017, on reproductive and productive traits of Lietuvos Baltosios senojo tipo pig breed were carried out. Reproductive and growth performance, and feed intake in different stages was estimated. Lean meat content was measured by ultrasonic equipment Piglog on the side of live pigs at the position of 12 ribs. Measurements of backfat thickness were taken with a ruler on the left side of carcasses at dorsal line of the mid-back at the last rib and loin area at the 1/2 lumbar vertebra by digital camera EX-Z110 and, afterwards, were planimetrically measured by means of the “SCAN-STAR K” planimetrical system. Meat quality traits of the longissimus muscle were evaluated using pH at 45 min and 24 h after slaughter, objective colour (CIE L*, a*, b*) and intramuscular fat content

Radviliškio rajono drimonimų daryba

This article analyses the drymonyms from the “Lithuanian Forests Name Book”, Lithuanian Geoinformation Data Base and Radviliškis district map (200). Drymonyms are a constantly changing part of the Lithuanian landscape, and it is imperative to fix and research them periodically. Drymonyms in Radviliškis district have not been researched in any way. The classification of Radviliškis district drymonyms, classifying primary and secondary drymonyms first, is based on grammatical-structural classification scheme of Aleksandras Vanagas. Secondly, drymonyms with suffixes or inflections were selected as well as mixed structure drymonyms, compound and composite drymonyms. The research demonstrated that the majority of Radviliškis district drymonyms were identified as secondary names (88.5%), whereas the number of primarily names was significantly lower (11.5%). The analysis of Radviliškis district drymonyms will be useful for further research of this region’s toponym classification. Investigation of the drymonyms and understanding of their common word-building tendencies could lead to further research of extralinguistic aspects (social, economic and psycholinguistic) of the region’s toponyms.Straipsnyje analizuojami iš „Lietuvos miškų vardyno“, Lietuvos vietovardžių geoinformacinės duomenų bazės ir Radviliškio rajono žemėlapio išrašyti drimonimai (200). Drimonimai yra nuolat kintanti Lietuvos reljefo dalis, todėl aktualu juos atitinkamais tarpsniais fiksuoti ir tyrinėti. Radviliškio rajono drimonimai nėra tyrinėti jokiu aspektu. Straipsnyje pateikiama Radviliško rajono drimonimų klasifikacija yra pagrįsta Aleksandro Vanago sudaryta hidronimų darybine-struktūrine klasifikacijos schema. Struktūriškai analizuojant Radviliškio rajono drimonimus, pirmiausiai buvo išskirti pirminiai ir antriniai drimonimai. Toliau buvo tiriami antriniai drimonimai, turintys priesagą arba galūnę, mišrios struktūros drimonimai, taip pat sudurtiniai ir sudėtiniai drimonimai. Atliktas tyrimas atskleidė, kad Radviliškio rajone vyrauja antriniai drimonimai (88,5 %). Pirminių drimonimų aptikta 11,5 %. Radviliškio rajono drimonimų analizė bus naudinga tolesniems šio regiono visų toponimų klasių tyrimams. Išnagrinėjus drimonimus ir nustačius bendras darybos tendencijas, būtų galima tirti įvairius tiriamojo regiono toponimams būdingus ekstralingvistinius aspektus: socialinius, ekonominius, psicholingvistinius

Framing Poverty in Lithuanian Community Newspapers: Local Authorities, Community Members and Journalists Communicating Social and Policy Changes

Community media, as opposed to mainstream newsmedia, is an alternative source of information which plays a facilitative role by encouraging community members to express their interests, to join policy debates, and therefore to give authorities feedback on how ongoing policy changes affect members of communities. Due to high levels of concentration of poverty in Lithuanian rural areas and the start of a social assistance decentralisation program to poor residents in five Lithuanian regional municipalities in 2012, the role of local media in policies concerning poverty reduction has increased. Content analysis of five newspapers that served communities affected by the changes reveals that community members are provided with options to communicate poverty issues through community media. This is an empirical finding which supports the author’s claim, presented in this article, that analytical concept of rhisomatic community media rather than liberal critique of local press (which focuses on negative pressures from market and state institutions erected toward the media), is more useful for assessing deliberation processes in local newspapers. Research results show that while communicating poverty, community members prefer to communicate charity initiatives and not to directly engage in public policy debate. Coverage of policy changes is dominated by local authorities and community media journalists. Images of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving‘ poor (often without references to actually existing cases) dominate poverty framing in an attempt to support new cash social assistance distributions. Despite facilitating some non-governmental community-organised poverty reduction initiatives, community media acts collaboratively towards on-going policy changes and fails in empowering the poor of the communities they serve. Keywords: community media, decentralisation, poverty

Lietuvos Vietinė (Lithuanian Indigenous Wattle) Pig

Lietuvos vietinė pigs were developed in Lithuanian ethnic lands following natural selection and introduction of some imported pigs. Earlier, no purposeful selection was carried out for this old Lithuanian pig breed. Lietuvos vietinė pigs as other local pig breeds are adapted to the specific local environment and could be fed with various locally available feedstuffs. So besides their genetic merit for agro-biodiversity, they represent the basis for sustainable local pork chains. The present chapter aims to present history and current status of Lietuvos vietinė pig breed, its exterior phenotypic characteristics, geographical location, production system and main products from this Lithuanian autochthonous breed of pigs, one of the local pig breeds investigated in the project TREASURE. Moreover, a collection and review of available literature data, available until August 2017, on reproductive and productive traits of Lietuvos vietinė pig breed were carried out. Reproductive and growth performance was estimated in different stages. Lean meat content was measured by ultrasonic equipment Piglog on the side of live pigs at the position of 12 ribs. Measurements of backfat thickness were taken with a ruler on the left side of carcasses at the dorsal line of the mid-back at the last rib and loin area at the 1/2 lumbar vertebra by digital camera EX-Z110 and afterwards were planimetrically measured by means of the “SCAN-STAR K” planimetrical system. Meat quality traits of the longissimus muscle were evaluated by means of pH at 45 min and 24 hours after slaughter

The Status of Pachiterric Histosol Properties as Influenced by Different Land Use

Soil drainage as well as soil cultivation and fertilization has considerable influence on the organic matter mineralization rate and changes in the profile structure. Our research suggested that quantitative and qualitative characteristics of peat soil are changing in response to the renaturalization processes and different management. The study set out to estimate chemical and physical properties of Pachiterric Histosol, qualitative and quantitative changes in carbon resulting from different management and renaturalization processes. Wetland and peatland soils are among the largest organic carbon stocks, and their use contributes to carbon emissions or accumulation processes. The focus of our work is research into the peculiarities of organic carbon accumulation and transformation as influenced by different land use of peat soil. Results on the chemical properties of Pachiterric Histosol showed the influence of management and renaturalization on mobile and by pyrophosphate solution extractable humic and fulvic acids and humification degree. We are also exploring the specificities of organic carbon variation in the context of peat renaturalization and are seeking to answer the question as how to optimize the use of peat soils and how to match up this with the renaturalization processes in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to organic carbon accumulation and conservation in the soil

EVALUATION OF THE PROSPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL AVAILABILITY IN LITHUANIAN DISTRICTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY’S TERRITORIES

Scientists, national politicians and specialists from Lithuania and other countries identified the main determinants of the social development of the territories of Lithuania, the problems of the society, which have been influenced by this development, and possible trends of change. Although the social development of Lithuanian territories is determined by a "bundle" of social problems, the focus of the article is on those that may affect the availability of education in the most sparsely populated districts of Lithuania. The aim of this article is to reveal the prospects of education availability in the most sparsely populated areas of Lithuania in the context of the social development of the country's territories. The main problem question related to this is what prospects for the availability of education in the most sparsely populated areas of the country presuppose the social development of Lithuania's territories. In order to achieve the aim of the article, the design of the research was based on the theoretical analysis of the problem raised and a secondary analysis of the data in the field. The main findings of the research reflect the situation in the field of study, and the conclusions of the research drawn on the basis of them provide an assessment of the prospects of education accessibility in the most sparsely populated areas of Lithuania

Driving Forces behind Language Change. Does Danish Theory Hold up in Lithuania?

The paper presents a large-scale investigation of attitudes towards standard and dialectal speech varieties in Lithuania. It aimed at, firstly, obtaining comparable data on assessments of speech variation under two methodologically different conditions: ‘unaware condition’ (the participants being unaware of the linguistic goals of the research) and ‘aware condition’. Secondly, it aimed at testing whether the two layers of consciousness yield two different systems of social values and how the evaluations accord with changes in language usage. The theory was developed by Danish scholars whose numerous experimental studies proved the driving force role of subconscious attitudes. The investigation closely followed the Danish methodology and was carried out in 23 secondary schools in 7 regions and the capital city of Lithuania, covering almost 1.5 thousand pupils in total. The regularity of the findings, i.e. the overall tendency to overtly valorise local dialects but subconsciously to downgrade dialect accented voices, confirmed that language awareness affects assignment of values to language and must be regarded as an important explanatory factor for the scenarios of language change

Research of energy efficiency and reduction of environmental pollution in freight rail transportation

The publication presents the results arising from the experimental and mathematical modelling studies, which mainly aimed to investigate the selection and optimization of the rational operation modes particular to diesel engines of freight locomotives in the possession of the JSC ‘Lithuanian Railways’ (AB ‘Lietuvos geležinkeliai’). The goal of the optimization is to increase the energy efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and emissions of harmful air pollutants to the environment from diesel engines of locomotives during freight transportation via the main lines of the Lithuanian railway network. A complex energy efficiency and environmental pollution assessment criterion KE–E adjusted for diesel engines of freight locomotives has been suggested. The use of KE–E on the basis of the conducted complex experimental mathematical computer modelling studies has determined that the reserves reducing fuel consumption, harmful emissions and greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions constitute 6÷15% on an average, and in the case of individual railway network lines they go up to 30%. The comparative emission of harmful components per fuel mass (NOx, CO, CH, PM) e´NOx, e´CO, e´CH, e´PM when carrying freight via the main lines of the railway network by trains weighing 3000÷7500 t has been singled out. The results constitute sufficient grounds to organise control of harmful emissions and provide an opportunity to solve practical tasks with a slight tolerance (3÷7%) taking account of diesel engines of locomotives used for transportation. It has been proposed to measure the freight transportation efficiency according to the complex criterion KE–E, indicates the energy efficiency and the assessment of environmental pollution originating from diesel engine of locomotives. The reserves for increasing the efficiency of energy usage have been studied according to the variational mathematical computer modelling data. A methodology for measuring the freight transportation rationality and estimating the optimal indicators has been proposed, using the values of the KE–E criterion for the railways freight transportation, as well as the technology for controlling the traction characteristics as well as energy and ecology indicators of diesel engines of locomotives in operational conditions. First published online: 20 Oct 201

AVAILABILITY OF PRE-SCHOOLING AS AN EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL INDICATOR

The research paper presents the results of a large-scale longitudinal study which aims to highlight pre-schooling social problems with the help of social indicators. For over a decade, the authors of the research paper have been developing a survey inventory aiming to determine the population’s satisfaction with the public service index. The tool includes 190 original survey indicators that represent all public services. 20 indicators are devoted to education; two of them represent pre-school education. These are: 1) assessment of the quality of pre-school services; and 2) the availability of a child's place in a kindergarten in a residential area (availability). The existing statistical norming base (not older than 2 years) includes 12 municipalities in Lithuania and 88 subdistricts. The total number of respondents is 16202 (n=16202). It has been cleared out that the residents consider the quality of the service "high", but its "availability" is considered to be poor. The statistical regularity found is common to all surveyed municipalities. There is a significant dispersion of measured indicators in separate municipalities and in the subdistricts. Facing the negative evaluation tendency of the “availability“ service some municipalities are more able to handle the problem. For this reason their experience is worth to analyze and to disseminate in a broader way. It is also worth to mention that the results of this study have much in common with EUROSTAT data. In Lithuania, the inclusion of 2-3 years old children in the education system is extremely poor, whereas the inclusion of preschoolers is largely universal. It is possible to state that poor situation of 2-3 years old children inclusion in the Lithuanian education system is related to the problems of Lithuanian social policy. In Lithuania, mother (or father) receives financial benefits for two years after the birth of a child. It is also possible to save one‘s job without receiving a payment for one year more. From the point of view of women's employment and equal opportunities policies, our discovered regularity testifies social policy dysfunctions at the macro national level which, on their turn, indicate a deep-seated demographic crisis in an EU country.