A Comparison Between Recent and Prospective Critical Success Factors in Lithuanian Printing Industry

The paper looks into the problem of identifying critical success factors in an industry. Though by definition all business organisations aim to be successful, companies within an industry differ a lot as regards their level of success. What makes some firms highly successful, when others have rather moderate success within the same industry? Can the above problems be explained by the wrong choice of strategic alternatives or inadequate strategy implementation? An empirical research of the Lithuanian printing industry was carried out with the purpose of identifying and differentiating the dominant success factors that are critical for the creation of competitive advantages.critical success factors, sustainable competitive advantage, printing industry

Mediated emotions : shame and pride in Polish right-wing media coverage of the 2019 European Parliament elections

This paper proposes that the emotion of shame is key to understanding the appeal of Poland's ruling populist right-wing party, Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, or PiS). PiS employs shame in its strategy of emotion regulation in mediated party communication in pro-government media outlets. We suggest that there are two pillars of shame that underpin support for PiS: (1) the collective shame that originates from the perceived cultural inferiority of Poland in relation to the West/Europe, and (2) the individual shame of failing to achieve material prosperity in the context of the post-communist economic transformation. We examine how shame and pride have been instrumentalised in the coverage of the 2019 European Parliament elections by the right-wing media outlet wPolityce.pl. The paper demonstrates how wPolityce.pl consistently invoked both economic and cultural shame and highlighted the antagonism between PiS and the opposition by identifying the latter with a 'pedagogy of shame.'Peer reviewe

Towards an Embodied History : Metaphorical Models in Textbook Knowledge of the Controversial Polish-Lithuanian Past

A complex shared Polish-Lithuanian past raises historical as well as political controversy. The tensions emerge in the divergent narratives, maintained by the two nations, of their shared past, in school-history education. This research examines the conceptual roots for how the past – that is shared, but remembered differently – has been taught in school-history education in Poland and Lithuania. For this task, I study the metaphorical models that shape textbook presentation of the past. The embodied, conceptual metaphor theory of Lakoff and Johnson provides the framework for examining the metaphors that shape an understanding of both cognition and the past on a meta-theoretical level. I focus on visual metaphors, which structure the textbook presentation of the past, because such metaphors participate in conceptualizing cognition as making representations by a disembodied mind, distanced from the world. My theoretical approach, enactive embodiment, posits a radically different understanding of cognition. Even though evidence for the embodiment of mind abounds, the implications of this research have not yet entered the public consciousness. There remains a lack of understanding of the practical implications of research on embodied cognition, which forms the gap this project aims to address. The research materials – Polish and Lithuanian school-history textbooks and interviews with their authors – serve as a “laboratory” for application and further development of these insights from cognitive science. The thesis investigates the use of metaphors in school-history textbooks and interview materials aiming to identify the metaphorical models, which shape ways of thinking about and engagement with the past. Finally, the 5 features of school-history textbooks that I focus on in this work address issues of: 1) truth in the light of 2) competing accounts of history that 3) sharply distinguish fact from fiction; moreover, in concentrating on: 4) narratives of the nation-state and 5) the arrangement of narrative in a linear sequence of static states, what is left out is the lived, experiential past of embodied persons of past times and places. The contribution this dissertation thus offers is to show how the rethinking of the truth of the past – in embodied terms – opens up potential new avenues for conceiving of historical truth and for teaching it in school-history.Puolan ja Liettuan monitahoinen jaettu menneisyys herättää historiallisia ja poliittisia kiistoja. Jännitteet kumpuavat toisistaan poikkeavista menneisyyttä käsittelevistä narratiiveista, joita nämä kaksi kansakuntaa ylläpitävät koulujen historianopetuksessa. Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee jaetun, mutta eri tavoin muistetun menneisyyden käsitteellisiä juuria Puolan ja Liettuan historianopetuksessa. Tässä tarkoituksessa tutkin metaforisia malleja, jotka muokkaavat oppikirjojen tapaa esittää menneisyys. Työni teoreettisen kehyksen muodostaa Lakoffin ja Johnsonin kehollisuuteen perustuva, käsitteellinen metaforateoria. Sen avulla tutkin metaforia, jotka muokkaavat sitä, miten kognitio ja menneisyys ymmärretään metateoreettisella tasolla. Keskityn visuaalisiin metaforiin, jotka jäsentävät oppikirjojen tapaa esittää menneisyys, koska tällaiset metaforat osaltaan käsitteellistävät kognitiota muodostamalla representaatioita kehottomaan maailmasta etääntyneeseen mieleen. Teoreettinen lähestymistapani, enactive embodiment (enaktiivinen kehollisuus), perustuu radikaalisti erilaiseen ymmärrykseen kognitiosta. Vaikka mielen kehollisuudesta on runsaasti todisteita, näiden tutkimustulosten johtopäätökset eivät ole vielä tulleet julkiseen tietoisuuteen. Kehollisen kognition tutkimustulosten hyödyntämistä käytäntöön ei ole vielä ymmärretty, ja tämän aukon tutkimukseni pyrkii osoittamaan. Tutkimusmateriaalit, Puolan ja Liettuan historian oppikirjat sekä niiden kirjoittajien haastattelut, toimivat ”laboratoriona” näiden kognitiivisen tieteen näkemysten testaamiseen ja edelleen kehittämiseen. Väitöskirja tarkastelee metaforien käyttöä koulujen oppikirjoissa ja haastatteluaineistoissa tähdäten niiden metaforisten mallien tunnistamiseen, jotka muokkaavat ajatteluamme menneestä ja kytkeytymistämme siihen. Keskityn tässä työssä viiteen oppikirjojen piirteeseen: 1) totuuden esittäminen 2) toistensa kanssa kilpailevina historian kuvauksina, jotka 3) erottelevat tiukasti totuuden fiktiosta; lisäksi, keskittyminen 4) kansallisvaltioiden narratiiveihin ja 5) narratiivien järjestämiseen staattisia valtioita kuvaaviin lineaarisiin sekvensseihin, jolloin ulkopuolelle jää eletty, kokemuksellinen menneisyys, jonka ihmiset ovat ajassa ja paikassa kehollisesti kokeneet. Tämä väitöskirja esittää kuinka menneisyyden ja sitä koskevan totuuden uudelleenarviointi kehollisin termein avaa potentiaalisia uusia lähestymistapoja historiallisen totuuden tarkasteluun ja opettamiseen koulujen historiantunneilla

Experiencing Parental Loss during Adolescence and Factors Influencing Hospital Involvement and the Grieving Process

Experiencing the death of a loved one can be traumatic and painful to anyone. Adolescents in particular experience death in a unique way, during a time in their lives when they are developing their own autonomy and independence. Experiencing the deteriorating conditions of a terminally ill parent may affect an adolescent in many ways. However, there is relatively little research on adolescent involvement in the medical setting during a parent’s terminal illness and how this may affect the adolescent’s bereavement. This qualitative study utilized heuristic inquiry and procedures of Grounded Theory to investigate factors influencing the involvement in the hospital setting during parental terminal illness and factors influencing the grieving process. Four factors were identified to influence the involvement in the hospital setting of an adolescent during parental illness: family structure, communication, age, and realization of the severity of the diagnosis. Five factors influencing grief were also identified: hospital environment, availability of support, knowing the prognosis of the ill parent, loss of the parent before the actual death, and a need for more education from the medical professionals about the diagnosis. Implications for mental health practitioners and medical professionals include education on how to work collaboratively to understand and meet the needs of family members of terminally ill patients and how to effectively communicate with them

Managerial attitude to the implementation of quality management systems in Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals

BACKGROUND: The regulations of the Quality Management System (QMS) implementation in health care organizations were approved by the Lithuanian Ministry of Health in 1998. Following the above regulations, general managers of health care organizations had to initiate the QMS implementation in hospitals. As no research on the QMS implementation has been carried out in Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals since, the objective of this study is to assess its current stage from a managerial perspective. METHODS: A questionnaire survey of general managers of Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals was carried out in the period of January through March 2005. Majority of the items included in the questionnaire were measured on a seven-point Likert scale. During the survey, a total of 72 questionnaires was distributed, out of which 58 filled-in ones were returned (response rate 80.6 per cent; standard sampling error 0.029 at 95 per cent level of confidence). RESULTS: Quality Management Systems were found operating in 39.7 per cent of support treatment and nursing hospitals and currently under implementation in 46.6 per cent of hospitals (13.7% still do not have it). The mean of the respondents' perceived QMS significance is 5.8 (on a seven-point scale). The most critical issues related to the QMS implementation include procedure development (5.5), lack of financial resources (5.4) and information (5.1), and development of work guidelines (4.6), while improved responsibility and power sharing (5.2), better service quality (5.1) and higher patient satisfaction (5.1) were perceived by the respondents as the key QMS benefits. The level of satisfaction with the QMS among the management of the surveyed hospitals is mediocre (3.6). However it was found to be higher among respondents who were more competent in quality management, were familiar with ISO 9000 standards, and had higher numbers of employees trained in quality management. CONCLUSION: QMSs are perceived to be successfully running in one third of the Lithuanian support treatment and nursing hospitals. Its current implementation stage is dependent on the hospital size – the bigger the hospital the more success it meets in the QMS implementation. As to critical Quality Management (QM) issues, hospitals tend to encounter such major problems as lack of financial resources, information and training, as well as difficulties in procedure development. On the other hand, the key factors that assist to the success of the QMS implementation comprise managerial awareness of the QMS significance and the existence of employee training systems and audit groups in hospitals

COLLECTION OF THE PLANT SYMPHYOTRICHUM NEES GENUS IN VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY BOTANICAL GARDEN

The collection of 82 collection numbers of the plant Symphyotrichum Nees genus has been accumulated in the period of 1923 - 2018 at Vytautas Magnus University Botanical Garden. The collection consists of Symphyotrichum cordifolium, S. dumosum, S. ericoides, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. lateriflorum, S. novae-angliae, S. novi-belgii, S. oblongifolium, S. pilosum, S. × salignum, S. tradescantii, S. turbinellum, S. urophyllum, and their infraspecific taxa and cultones. The major part of the collection consists of S. novi-belgii (32 collection numbers) and S. novae-angliae (19 collection numbers) infraspecific taxa and cultones. 57 collection numbers were acquired by sproutings from other botanical gardens, private collections, nurseries, the origin of 21 collection numbers is unknown, 4 collection numbers were acquired by seed exchange with other botanical gardens. Phenological observations and biometric measurements of plants were performed according to methodological manual "Methodology of phenological observations, biometric measurements and assortment formation of ornamental herbaceous plants" prepared by J. Vaidelys in 2005. When assessing the phytopathological status of plants, powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum) was determined as the main disease affecting the plants. S. dumosum and S. novi-belgii interspecific taxa and cultones were the most susceptible to the disease. Plants grown in the same location for more than 3 years were more susceptible to the disease. The aim of the study was to review the Symphyotrichum collection and to evaluate the susceptibility of different groups of cultivars to powdery mildew

Common past, divided memories : historical memory of the Polish minority members in Lithuania

The Master’s thesis examines historical memory of the Polish minority members in Lithuania with regard to how their interpretation of the common Polish-Lithuanian history reiterates or differs from the official Polish and Lithuanian narratives conveyed by the school textbooks. History teaching in high schools carries a crucial state-supported role of 'identity building policies' – it maintains a national narrative of memory, which might be exclusive to minorities and their peculiar understanding of history. Lithuanians Poles, in this regard, represent a national minority, which is exposed to two conflicting national narratives of the common past – Polish and Lithuanian. As members of the Polish nation, their understanding of the common Polish-Lithuanian history is conditioned by the Polish historical narrative, acquired as part of the collective memory of the family and/or different minority organizations. On the other hand, they encounter Lithuanian historical narrative of the Polish-Lithuanian past throughout the secondary school history education, where the curriculum, even if taught in Polish, largely represents the Lithuanian point of view. The concept of collective memory is utilized to refer to collective representations of national memory (i.e. publicly articulated narratives and images of collective past in history textbooks) as well as to socially framed individual memories (i.e. historical memory of minority members, where individual remembering is framed by the social context of their identity). The thesis compares the official national historical narratives in Lithuania and Poland, as conveyed by the Polish and Lithuanian history textbooks. The consequent analysis of qualitative interviews with the Polish minority members in Lithuania offers insights into historical memory of Lithuanian Poles and its relation to the official Polish and Lithuanian national narratives of the common past. Qualitative content analysis is applied in both parts of the analysis. The narratives which emerge from the interview data could be broadly grouped into two segments. First, a more pronounced view on the past combines the following elements: i) emphasis on the value of multicultural and diverse past of Lithuania, ii) contestation of 'Lithuanocentricity' of the Lithuanian narrative and iii) rejection of the term 'occupation', based on the cultural presuppositions – the dominant position of Polish culture and language in the Vilnius region, symbolic belonging and 'Lithuanianness' of the local Poles. While the opposition to the term of 'occupation' is in accord with the official Polish narrative conveyed by the textbooks, the former two elements do not neatly adhere to either Polish or Lithuanian textbook narratives. They should rather be considered as an expression of claims for inclusion of plural pasts into Lithuanian collective memory and hence as claims for symbolic enfranchisement into the Lithuanian 'imagined community'. The second strand of views, on the other hand, does not exclude assertions about the historically dominant position of Polish culture in Lithuania, but at the same time places more emphasis on the political and historical continuity of the Lithuanian state and highlights a long-standing symbolic connectedness of Vilnius and Lithuania, thus, striking a middle way between the Polish and Lithuanian interpretations of the past