European Union Electric energy sector‘s infrastructure impact on economic growth

This paper tests electric energy sector‘s infrastructure impact on economic growth in the European Union during the 1990-2017 years time span. Paper‘s empirical research encompasses all 28 European Union countries (at that time) data, and fills the gap of such research in electric energy sector‘s case in the full European Union area. Two of three proxy variables used for this sector in the modelling are not only physical type, but with ability to encompass the usage of chosen infrastructure sector. It is a new feature in such type of research, which usually uses either raw physical, or raw monetary type infrastructure variables. The research results show (namely in proxy variables with infrastructure usage elements cases), that electric energy sector‘s infrastructure has no statistically significant long run impact on economic growth in the European Union. However, positive short run impact on economic growth in the European Union was found, with elasticity coefficients raging in [0,26;1,17] interval

Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Self-Initiated Dual-Career Expatriate Spouses

Purpose - The purpose of the study is to identify cross-cultural adjustment issues of self-initiated dual-career expatriate spouses and the factors influencing this process. Design/methodology/approach - For this in-depth explanatory study semi-structured interviews were carried out among 10 self-initiated dual-career expatriate spouses. Findings - The study provides the insight of how dual-career SIE couples perceive their adjustment and suggests comprehensive explanation of the main adjustment issues. Practical implications – A comprehensive understanding of dual-career SIE spouses’ adjustment issues is invaluable in helping organizations to attract and retain these particular expatriates. The findings of the study allow organizations to develop different levels of cross-cultural adjustment support mechanisms for the SIEs and their spouses. Originality/value - The study offers a potential contribution to the field of international business as well as represents a major gap in the existing cross-cultural adjustment literature. Present and future SIEs may use the results of the study as a framework to better comprehend to the challenges that their spouses encounter during the cross-cultural adjustment process in the host country environment.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Eratosthenes’ map of the oecumene

Eratosthenes (circa 276 B.C.–194 B.C.) is considered a famous scientist of ancient Greece. He was a mathematician and geographer. Born in Cyrene, now Shahhat (Libya), he was appointed to teach the son of the Egyptian King Ptolemy III Euergetes. In 240 B.C., he became the third chief librarian the Great Library of Alexandria. Eratosthenes laid basics for mathematical geography. He was the first to calculate precisely in an original way the Earth meridian's length between Syene and Alexandria. For this purpose he used perpendicular projection of the sun rays during summer solstice (06.22) near the town Syene, now Aswan. His estimation of the length of the Earth's radius (6300 km) is close to present estimation (6371 km). He calculated that a year possesses 365.25 days. He also emphasized the significance of maps as the most important thing in geography. Eratosthenes was the first one to use the term “geographem” to describe the Earth. In this way he legitimized the term of geography. He also put into system geographical information from various sources in order to obtain a map of the world as precise as possible

DEVELOPMENT OF COLLABORATION SKILLS THROUGH WORKING IN AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TEAM

The foundation of collaboration is composed of the structural interaction. The skills of collaboration are acquired only during a group work. The field of sports is rich in a potential of group collaboration elements. It is presumed that in a process of development of collaboration skills a tight interaction, positive interdependence should be achieved, skills of joint work developed, direct communication, ability to reflect as well as personal responsibility should he promoted. The aim of the research is to analyze and assess the cooperation skills of students, participating in an international Erasmus IP project by applying the tourism and sports animation program. The following research methods were applied: analysis of scientific literature, semi-structured interview, development project (Erasmus Intensive Program’s (IP) Project “Sport for tourist animation at a seaside resort”, and qualitative data analysis. The research was conducted during the month of January of 2013, using the Skype program. The semi-structured interview had 6 students.  Research results revealed that a favorable environment for cooperative learning was ensured: a positive psychological climate was established which allowed the project participants to develop skills of self-expression (self-confidence, self-esteem, creativity). Students were able to feel psychologically safe, shared their experience, were attentive and friendly, supported, and encouraged each other. They were united by a sense of unity and a common goal. Team based and individual collaboration skills of students were developed throughout all of the tourism and sport related activities. The following skills of students, participating in the Erasmus IP project, were developed: ability to express and accept a verbal and physical emotional support; cooperative learning, listening to others and expression of own ideas; play assigned role; pursue a common goal; be a leader, supervise, organize; actively participate, when activities are organized by others; rate the activities in consideration of their efficiency and values. Results gathered from the interview responses highlighted a specific factor in regards to development of the collaboration skill – a sense of national pride and responsibility for own country and university had influence on students’ sense of responsibility. KEYWORDS: collaboration skills, development, international group, students. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181//atee.v1i0.1317

Localized convolutional neural networks for geospatial wind forecasting

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) possess many positive qualities when it comes to spatial raster data. Translation invariance enables CNNs to detect features regardless of their position in the scene. However, in some domains, like geospatial, not all locations are exactly equal. In this work, we propose localized convolutional neural networks that enable convolutional architectures to learn local features in addition to the global ones. We investigate their instantiations in the form of learnable inputs, local weights, and a more general form. They can be added to any convolutional layers, easily end-to-end trained, introduce minimal additional complexity, and let CNNs retain most of their benefits to the extent that they are needed. In this work we address spatio-temporal prediction: test the effectiveness of our methods on a synthetic benchmark dataset and tackle three real-world wind prediction datasets. For one of them, we propose a method to spatially order the unordered data. We compare the recent state-of-the-art spatio-temporal prediction models on the same data. Models that use convolutional layers can be and are extended with our localizations. In all these cases our extensions improve the results, and thus often the state-of-the-art. We share all the code at a public repository

Lithuania Minor and Prussia on the old maps (1806–2008)

While continuing researches on ancient cartography (Lukoševičius 2013) the publication is aimed at viewing maps of Lithuania Minor and Prussia in the perspective of historical events, with a special emphasis on most important historical events as well as cartography development moments. The method used is analysis of different maps, by different authors, found in cartographical archives. The article presents the authors and designers 48 maps of Lithuania Minor and Prussia and discusses map characteristics. It also provides links that are helpful for the readers interested in a more detailed studies of specific maps. Summarizing research results the authors conclude that ancient maps where Lithuania Minor is marked are true historical witnesses helping to understand long and complicated formation process of Lithuania Minor and the state of Lithuania; however the analysis alone is insufficient to fully reveal its historic concept

Cartographic image of Samogitia in the old maps of Lithuania, Poland and other neighboring countries (1231–1700)

While continuing researches on ancient cartography (Lukoševičius 2013a, 2013b) the publication is aimed at viewing maps of Samogitia in the perspective of historical events, with a special emphasis on most important historical events as well as cartography development moments. The method used is analysis the most representitive examples of maps, by different authors, found in cartographical archives. The article presents the authors and designers over 45 maps where Samogitia is marked and discusses map characteristics. It also provides links that are helpful for the readers interested in a more detailed studies of specific maps. Such presentation should help revise and complete the historical image of Samogitia because the old maps were not specific to any one topic. They – the universal, they were reflected in both the natural and social phenomena and the evolution of patterns. It was also available and various historical comments. Often, the old maps are often associated with military needs. Summarizing research results the author conclude that presented ancient maps is important for the history of Lithuania cartography and are true historical witnesses helping to understand long and complicated formation process of Samogitia and the state of Lithuania; however the analysis alone is insufficient to fully reveal its historic concept