Bridging the islands of society : modeling delinquency prevention through optimization of social support

The purpose of the meta-analysis is to present a theoretical model of social work interventions within the process of juvenile delinquency prevention. The study approaches delinquency prevention as the process of increasing the amount of social support measures applied by parents and other members of adolescent social network. The main research question of the meta-analysis is: how can optimization of social support enhance the process of delinquency prevention? The meta-analysis draws on two surveys of opportunity samples of delinquent juveniles from Klaipėda and surrounding districts of Lithuania. The fi rst quantitative survey included 73 delinquent juveniles (plus 95 non-delinquents as a control group). The second survey was qualitative and included a sample of 10 delinquents. The results of the research emphasize that reasonable number of today’s families fail to provide children with support necessary for successful socialization, formation of behaviour models and value systems. Delinquent children tend to live in less cohesive, structurally unfavourable families, where the balance of support and control is disturbed. Their parents utilize more direct means of control (homework checking, direct intervention, punishments, scolding), while supportive relations are underutilized. Rather formal delinquents’ relationships with their parents, which bear an obligatory nature and low level of perceived support from siblings also add to the overall unfavourable support situation in the family. Resting on research results frameworks for early and direct prevention including measures to increase supportiveness are presented. The framework of early prevention is based on stages of more general model of social development and list of circumstances unfavourable for social support, while direct prevention rest on system characteristics favourable for social support and control. Three aspects of social support’s eff ect on delinquency prevention are distinguished. Firstly, social support requires involvement of natural network (or community, in other words) into the process of delinquency prevention. Secondly, social support, as concept indistinguishable from social network, enhances the systemic (holistic) perspective in juvenile delinquency. And thirdly, systemic nature of social support coherently supplements the practice of social work and provides clear outlines for its activities

Trade defence in European Union

As well as the most other importing countries of the world, the European Union applies a system of trade defence instruments. These instruments empower the European Union to defend its traders against unfair trade of imported products or subsidized imports as well as against change in clear trade flows, if they are harmful to the EU economy. Economical legitimacy of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade defence actions is generally based on the fact that the international trade has no mechanism for correcting anti-competitive practice similar to the competition authorities that operate in almost all national economies. The European Union applies trade defence instruments following the rules prepared by WTO agreements, which determine trade defence instruments and principles of application thereof as the legal tools of multi-country free trade system. The article discusses the principles of application of the EU trade defence instruments and analyses the statistics of applicable trade defence instruments

Kontrabandos ekonominės prielaidos ir pasekmės

The phenomenon of perpetually existing con­traband draws attention of both the public and au­thorities. This is part of black economy, while black economy itself is a phenomenon that is neither new nor characteristic of a certain economic system. The nature of black economy is destructive as its existence contradicts to public order and interests. Black econo­my avoids state taxes; therefore, the State – in order to collect funds required for national needs – is forced to increase taxes imposed on those who do pay them. Hence, since some avoid paying taxes, while others assume a heavier tax burden, this results in unequal economic conditions for legal and illegal business and distorts conditions for fair competition. The theoretical study of the problem of contra­band is linked to the problem of tax evasion; it reveals stimuli for making a decision not to pay taxes. The decision of each individual to pay or not to pay taxes determines the scope of tax evasion. Adopting a deci­sion not to pay taxes, one faces uncertainty; any indi­vidual knows that tax evasion is illegal and subject to punishment in case this comes to light. Therefore, the economics of crime gives initial knowledge about the process of making such decisions. The major part of contraband is comprised of goods subject to excise duties – alcohol, tobacco, and fuel. One of the factors influencing contraband is great difference in prices in Lithuania and neighbour­ing countries from which contraband comes. For ex­ample, contraband cigarettes on the domestic market are approximately three times cheaper than those sold legally. The largest part of these contraband goods comes from neighbouring states – the Russian Federation and Belarus. The main negative consequences of contra­band are as follows: a relative reduction in annual government revenue; a general deterioration in eco­nomic subordination, which reduces the ability of the government to adopt rational solutions and predict their consequences; insufficient accuracy of provision of social assistance since even those who earn large income from illegal activity may receive it; natural and legal persons tend not to observe existing rules, and the failure to observe the rules may become a norm

Investigation of car engines emission control

Automobile exhaust gases significantly pollute the environment. Pollution decreases the modern electronic engine management system. Exhaust gas emissions due to correct the engine management system work Management system failures identify- the diagnostic aid. Automobile diagnostics is one of the main subjects in training cars service specialists in Vilnius College of Technologies and Design. The diagnostics subject consists of theoretical and practical training. Various types of engine management systems work and their faults are investigated in the laboratory. The main equipment consists of engine simulators. The development of using microprocessing technologies in automobile control requires more sophisticated diagnostics equipment. Most developing diagnostics equipment are systemic testers which take the information from the electronic control unit (ECU) about trouble codes' and display working parameters. However we can only see real sensors' signals by having direct contact. Students are measuring engine management signals in the laboratory by using an electricity signals input bloc. On the screen of the PC we can see the electronic management signals graphics image. The signals arc analyzed and that is how the faults are diagnosed. Experience of automobile electronic management signals research is necessary for the students in their practical work of automobile diagnosis

Strypinės armatūros išdėstymo įtaka betoninių elementų deformacijoms ir pleišėjimui

The aim of this work is to investigate the arrangement effect of bar reinforcement to deformations and cracking behaviour of concrete elements subjected to short-term loading. The study experimentally verifies the effective concrete area concept and analyses peculiarities of cracking process of reinforced concrete (RC) members with the emphasis on arrangement of the bar reinforcement. The test results of 9 beams and 119 ties with different reinforcement and loading layouts are reported. Results of the beam tests do not reveal a clear correlation between the crack widths and the crack spacing when the reinforcement layout changes, while the number of the reinforcement layers correlates with the flexural stiffness. An iterative procedure has been proposed for localizing the end effect in the ties. This procedure allows identifying the representative geometry for assessing the cracking parameters of RC ties. It was observed that scatter of the experimental outputs increases with the concrete cover. Specific equipment has been developed for tests of the ties with multi-ple reinforcement bar. The test results (maximum and average crack spacings) are practically independent of the reinforcement parameters, while the Eurocode 2 and the Model Code 2010 predictions of the maximum crack spacing are dependent on the ratio of the bar diameter to the reinforcement ratio. These results enable formulating a hypothesis that the crack parameters (spacing and width) are mainly dependent on the geometry of the con-crete prism and, particularly, the cover depth. Deformation behaviour of the ties with multiple reinforcement bars was also modelled with nonlinear finite element software ATENA. The results of numerical simulations and physical tests indicate that the strain gra-dient in the concrete varies not only along the bar, but also within the cover. The outputs support a conclusion that the “effective area” concept has a limited application related with the loading conditions, stress-strain state, cover, and configuration of the unreinforced area. The thesis is composed of three chapters: literature survey, experimental programs, and discussion of the results. The literature survey is focused on the effects responsible for deformation and cracking performance of rein-forced concrete members. The experimental study deals with deformations and cracking of flexural and tensile elements with different arrangement of the reinforcement in the tension zone. The last chapter discusses predominant characteristics of serviceability performance of flexural and tensile reinforced concrete members. The author have published 14 articles on the topic of the dissertation (five of them in the journals with an Impact Factor and three in the conference proceedings reffered by the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science)

A Lab-Scale Experimental Framework for Studying the Phenomenon of Autorotation

While wind energy has emerged as a popular source of renewable energy, the traditional wind turbine has an inherent limitation, namely that it only generates power in the presence of sufficiently high and consistent wind speeds. As a result, wind farms are typically built in areas with a high probability of the required wind speeds, which are geographically sparse. One way of overcoming this drawback is to tap into the energy available in winds at high altitudes which are not only consistent and of high magnitude, but also globally pervasive. An airborne wind energy device based upon the phenomenon of autorotation could potentially be used to exploit the abundance of wind of energy present at high altitudes. The work in this thesis first presents our study of a tethered-airfoil system as a candidate airborne wind energy (AWE) system. A mathematical model was used to show the feasibility of energy capture and the stability of the device in a wind field. Subsequently, the research identified the principle of autorotation to be better suited for high altitude energy harvesting. To this end, the thesis first presents a theoretical basis of the principle of autorotation, which is developed from existing models in literature. The model was adapted to predict aerodynamic conditions when used for harvesting energy. Encouraging simulation results prompted the main emphasis of this thesis, namely design of an experimental framework to corroborate the theory. Several experiments were devised to determine basic performance characteristics of an autogyro rotor and the data from each experiment is presented. A lab-scale experimental setup was developed as part of this thesis. The setup, consisting of a flapping-blade autogyro rotor and sensors, was used to acquire preliminary aerodynamic performance data. It is envisioned that refinements to this setup will ultimately provide a means of directly comparing analytical and experimental data. In this regard, we provide conclusions and make comments on improvements for future experiments

An Investigation of Relationships Between Oral Reading Rate and Reading Comprehension

Quantitative research methods were used including observations and tallies of reading rates, data compilation, generation of scatterplots, and descriptive statistical analysis of the results. The research focused on observations of 69 fourth graders from two fourth grade classes in a private parochial elementary school in Las Vegas, Nevada. The students each read a 198-word passage to measure oral reading rate. A positive relationship between oral reading rate and reading comprehension was then determined. As a result, teachers may be able to use an oral reading rate test to design curriculum before the Terra Nova achievement test is administered in September. This study provides a tool for more meaningful individualized instruction in reading before achievement tests are administered in September