ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE AND ITS TEXTURE

In this work history of world landscape art development as well as texture usage in abstract landscape is researched. Latvian and world artist abstract landscape paintings are viewed, that had experiments with texture usage, techniques and materials, which helped to create these landscapes. Work of Latvian artists, such as Rūdolf Pinnis “Forest Image”, whose works generalized nature image, landscape art of Boris Bērziņš, paintings of Jānis Pauļuks are analyzed as well as art of foreign artists, such as Zao Wou Ki, Peter Doig etc. Attention was put to the modern texture creation, where different materials are used, such as sawdust, sand, marble, metal bits etc. Within works of abstract landscapes different painting styles can be found as an influential and in this work main styles, which influenced beginning of abstract landscape are found to be impressionism, expressionism, symbolism.Research methods: theoretical, literature sources as well as research and analysis of internet sources

Pathways for governance opportunities: Social network analysis to create targeted and effective policies for agricultural and environmental development

Participatory techniques are widely recognized as essential in addressing the challenges of agri-environmental policy and decision-making. Furthermore, it is well known that stakeholder analysis and social network analysis are useful methods in the identification of actors that are involved in a system and the connections between them. To identify key stakeholders and improve the transfer of information from national-to farm-level, we compared a stakeholder analysis with farmer-centric networks for primary productivity, carbon regulation and biodiversity through the case study of Latvia. Farmer-centric networks show a higher number of stakeholders communicating on the topic of primary productivity network comparing to other topics. We found three pathways for improving knowledge transfer in agri-environmental governance: horizontal strengthening of farming community, horizontal strengthening of policy departments, and vertical strengthening between policy departments and farmers. The first step is to ensure that policy-makers have a common understanding of the results that should be achieved. The second step is the transfer of know-how between farmers to develop new solutions. The third step is the training of advisers in the land multifunctionality and the strengthening of communication and knowledge transfer between policy departments and farmers in order to jointly achieve the desired direction at that national level. Long-term cooperation between many stakeholders, including knowledge transfer, the development and implementation of solutions, and monitoring are essential in order to adequately address global societal challenges. The application of our mixed methods approach to elucidate pathways for improved governance of knowledge and information is of direct relevance to other jurisdictions seeking to transition towards multifunctional and sustainable land management

Banmi Shofu Ryu Ikebana School

Ikebana ir japāņu ziedu kompozīcijas māksla ar ļoti senu vēsturi, tradīcijām un stiliem. Ikviena ikebanas kompozīcija ir unikāla, jo tā ir mākslas darbs ar vēstījumu, kurā mākslinieks ir ieguldījis darbu, domas un mīlestību. Tomēr ikebana nenozīmē tikai ziedu sakārtošanu, jo kompozīciju veidošanā tiek izmantoti visdažādākie dabas materiāli. Būtiska nozīme ir arī sakārtojuma krāsu kompozīcijai, līnijām, formai un jēgai. Pasaulē darbojas vairāk nekā 5000 ikebanas skolu. Viena no tām ir Banmi Šofu Rjū ikebanas skola, kuru Latvijā zina tikai retais. Pētījuma mērķis ir izpētīt ikebanas vēsturisko attīstību un simbolismu, Banmi Šofu Rjū ikebanas skolas vēsturi, attīstību, misiju, simboliku, mācību programmu, spilgtākās personības, izmantojamos stilus un ievērojamākās kompozīcijas un iepazīstināt ar to. Pētījumā ir analizēti pieejamie literatūras un informācijas avoti, kas iztulkoti no angļu, krievu un japāņu valodām. Ikebanas Banmi Šofu Rjū skola ir jauns Šofu Rjū skolas atzars, kas ir attīstījies un guvis ievērojamus panākumus, pateicoties šīs skolas pirmajai direktorei Besijai Joneko Banmi Fūksai (Bessie Yoneko Banmi Fooks) un esošajam direktoram Dr.Rikardo Banšo Karrasko (Ricardo Bansho Carrasco), kuri ir savu dzīvi veltījuši ikebanas mākslai, atbalstot, attīstot un veicinot skolas un draudzības caur ziediem un pludinātajiem, izliektajiem zariem atzīšanu visā pasaulē, saglabājot vēsturiskās tradīcijas, turpinot iet pa izvēlēto ziedu ceļu, praktizējot un mācot. Ir viena no tām skolām, kas darbojas ārpus Japānas un pat Āzijas - Floridas štatā. Izmanto gan tradicionālos stilus - Nageire, Seika, Moribana, Čabana, Gendaika, gan ir radījusi pati savu stilu – Hašibana. Izstrādājusi savu īpašo rokrakstu, kompozīciju veidošanā vienmēr izmantojot īpašu elementu – pludināto, izliekto zaru, kas savieno ikebanu ar dzīvo garu.Ikebana is the Japanese art of floral arrangement, with a very long history, traditions and styles. Every ikebana arrangement is unique, because it is an artwork with a message in which the artist has invested their work, thoughts and love. However, ikebana is not just about arranging flowers, because the composition is made of a variety of natural materials. The compositions colors, lines, shapes, and the arrangements meaning is also essential. There are over 5000 ikebana schools in the world. One of them is Banmi Shofu Ryū ikebana school, which is known to only a few people in Latvia. Objective of the study is to explore the history, development, mission, symbolism, curriculum, the brightest personalities, the styles used, and the most notable compositions of Banmi Shofu Ryū ikebana. Available materials – literature and information sources translated from English, Russian and Japanese – have been studied and analyzed. The Banmi Shofu Ryū ikebana school is a new branch of the Shofu Ryū school, which has evolved and gained significant success, thanks to the schools first principal, Bessie Yoneko Banmi Fooks, and the current principal, Dr.Ricardo Bansho Carrasco, who have devoted their lives to the art of ikebana, supporting, developing and promoting friendship through flowers and driftwood across the world, retaining historical traditions, continuing to follow the way of flowers, practicing and teaching. It is one of the schools that operate outside of Japan and even Asia – Florida state, USA. They use traditional styles – Nageire, Seika, Moribana, Chabana, Gendaika, even creating their own style – Hashibana. They have created their own signature for their arrangements using a certain element – driftwood, which connects the ikabana with the spirit

Acquisition of the theme "Traditional culture of India"at history of culture lessons

Diplomdarbā – „Mācību tēmas „Indijas tradicionālā kultūra” apguve kultūras vēstures stundās” tiek atspoguļota mācību metožu klasifikācija, skaidrojums un izvēles priekšnoteikumi saistībā ar pētāmo problēmu. Darba autore uzsver nepieciešamību ievērot dažādus faktorus un ieteikumus, izvēloties mācību metodes un sastādot mācību saturu. Diplomdarba mērķis ir izpētīt ar apskatāmo tēmu saistīto literatūru un avotus, atklāt un aprakstīt Indijas kultūras īpatnības, izvēlēties atbilstošas mācību metodes un izveidot uzdevumu kopu, kas būtu atbilstošs skolēnu vecumposmam un spēju līmenim. Darba aprobācijas gaitā iegūtie rezultāti liecina par to, ka kultūras vēstures stundās skolotājam ir iespēja eksperimentēt dažādu mācību metožu ietvaros, stundas veidot maksimāli radošas un interesantas. Atslēgvārdi: Indija, kultūras vēsture, mācību metodes.In graduation work „Aquisition of theme „Traditional culture of India” at history of culture lessons” is reflexed classification, explanation and precondition connected with studying problem in teaching methods. Author of this work highlights the necessity to notice different factors and advices choosing teaching methods and composing instructional content. The goal of graduation work is to see over themes literature and sources, discover and describe culture individualities of India, choose appropriate teaching methods and make exercises that are suitable for student age and their ability level. work approbiration achieved results show that in history of culture lessons teacher is able to experiment within different taching method frameworks, make lessons to the utmost interesnting and creative. Key words: India, history of culture, teaching methods

Nudge your employees: An empirical investigation of the potential of nudging to support a sustainable organizational culture

To achieve sustainability, organizations are challenged to fundamentally and rapidly transform their business. Changing the underlying organizational culture is a crucial part of and leverage point for this process. This thesis investigates how nudging can be used to align employee behavior with the organi- zation's espoused sustainability values and thereby facilitate organizational culture change towards sus- tainability. For this purpose, three field experiments are conducted in three organizations that communi- cate sustainability as a core value but observe unsustainable employee behavior (Research Institute, 800 employees, nudge to reduce to-go cup consumption // Sustainability Consultancy, 10 employees, nudge to reduce meat consumption // Fashion Brand, 60 employees, nudge to reduce food waste). The results show a significant effect in to-go cup consumption (-33%) at the Research Institute, while the other two field experiments yielded no useful results due to missing data and inconsistent data collection. The first experiments' findings, however, suggest that nudging can be an effective tool for aligning employee behavior with espoused values in organizations whose core activity is linked to sustainability, whose employees are mainly white-collar workers and environmentally conscious. Based on the findings, nudging can be an effective, low-cost and simple to administer tool for facilitating sustainable behavior change in organizations, but further research is needed to better understand its applicability

Assessment of Soil Functions : An Example of Meeting Competing National and International Obligations by Harnessing Regional Differences

The increased demand for bio based products worldwide provides an opportunity for Eastern European countries to increase their production in agriculture and forestry. At the same time, such economic development must be congruent with the European Union’s long-term climate and biodiversity objectives. As a country that is rich in bioresources, the Latvian case study is highly relevant to many other countries—especially those in Central and Eastern Europe—and faces a choice of transition pathways to meet both economic and environmental objectives. In order to assess the trade-offs between investments in the bioeconomy and the achievement of climate and biodiversity objectives, we used the Functional Land Management (FLM) framework for the quantification of the supply and demand for the primary productivity, carbon regulation and biodiversity functions. We related the supply of these three soil functions to combinations of land use and soil characteristics. The demand for the same functions were derived from European, national and regional policy objectives. Our results showed different spatial scales at which variation in demand and supply is manifested. High demand for biodiversity was associated with areas dominated by agricultural land at the local scale, while regional differences of unemployment rates and the target for GDP increases framed the demand for primary productivity. National demand for carbon regulation focused on areas dominated by forests on organic soils. We subsequently identified mismatches between the supply and demand for soil functions, and we selected spatial locations for specific land use changes and improvements in management practices to promote sustainable development of the bio-economy. Our results offer guidance to policy makers that will help them to form a national policy that will underpin management practices that are effective and tailored toward local climate conditions and national implementation pathways.</p

Assessment of land use change scenario to increase primary productivity function at local scale

The global population has begun to rise exponentially; therefore, the demand for bioresources including food and fibre is increasing. An increasing demand for food and fibre necessitates more sustainable use of natural resources especially for soilbased ecosystem services. In this context, Functional Land Management was developed to optimize agricultural soilbased ecosystem services to meet both agricultural and environmental targets simultaneously. The aim of the research is to evaluate unmanaged agricultural land use change impact on primary productivity function in three parishes in Latvia by using Functional Land Management framework. Evaluation of primary productivity function was accomplished for both sectors agriculture and forestry by using profit and working hours as a proxyindicators. Production of vegetables and perennial plantations have higher supply of primary productivity function comparing to other land uses. Land use changes affect all soil functions that we expect from our land, especially primary productivity function. After applying land use changes, an increase in profit is higher in Liezere parish for both areas on mineral soils (7.1%) and areas on organic soils (5.2%); while an increase in working hours is higher in Usma parish: 36.6% in areas on mineral soils and 1.0% increase in areas on organic soils. Shortterm benefits are received from agricultural land, while forest land provides long-term return which increases over time but can only be obtained after reaching the age of felling. Before applying land use changes or changes in management practices we have to consider other soil function and national commitments.</p

The challenge of managing soil functions at multiple scales: An optimisation study of the synergistic and antagonistic trade-offs between soil functions in Ireland

peer-reviewedRecent forecasts show a need to increase agricultural production globally by 60% from 2005 to 2050, in order to meet a rising demand from a growing population. This poses challenges for scientists and policy makers to formulate solutions on how to increase food production and simultaneously meet environmental targets such as the conservation and protection of water, the conservation of biodiversity, and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. As soil and land are subject to growing pressure to meet both agronomic and environmental targets, there is an urgent need to understand to what extent these diverging targets can be met simultaneously. Previously, the concept of Functional Land Management (FLM) was developed as a framework for managing the multifunctionality of land. In this paper, we deploy and evaluate the concept of FLM, using a real case-study of Irish agriculture. We investigate a number of scenarios, encompassing combinations of intensification, expansion and land drainage, for managing three soil functions, namely primary productivity, water purification and carbon sequestration. We use proxy-indicators (milk production, nitrate concentrations and area of new afforestation) to quantify the ‘supply’ of these three soil functions, and identify the relevant policy targets to frame the ‘demand’ for these soil functions. Specifically, this paper assesses how soil management and land use management interact in meeting these multiple targets simultaneously, by employing a non-spatial land use model for livestock production in Ireland that assesses the supply of soil functions for contrasting soil drainage and land use categories. Our results show that, in principle, it is possible to manage these three soil functions to meet both agronomic and environmental objectives, but as we add more soil functions, the management requirements become increasingly complex. In theory, an expansion scenario could meet all of the objectives simultaneously. However, this scenario is highly unlikely to materialise due to farm fragmentation, low land mobility rates and the challenging afforestation rates required for achieving the greenhouse gas reduction targets. In the absence of targeted policy interventions, an unmanaged combination of scenarios is more likely to emerge. The challenge for policy formation on future land use is how to move from an unmanaged combination scenario towards a managed combination scenario, in which the soil functions are purposefully managed to meet current and future agronomic and environmental targets, through a targeted combination of intensification, expansion and land drainage. Such purposeful management requires that the supply of each soil function is managed at the spatial scale at which the corresponding demand manifests itself. This spatial scale may differ between the soil functions, and may range from farm scale to national scale. Finally, our research identifies the need for future research to also consider and address the misalignment of temporal scales between the supply and demand of soil functions

Abandoned farmland: Past failures or future opportunities for Europe's Green Deal? A Baltic case-study

Competing societal demands on land require careful land management. In the era of the European Green Deal, farmers are required to meet some of these competing demands, specifically around production, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and biodiversity conservation. At the same time, 15.1% of total EU land is abandoned or underutilised, which means that it contributes neither to food, nor to ecosystem services, to its full potential. Reintegrating abandoned agricultural land back into production is therefore one of the potential pathways to deliver on the aspirations of the Common Agriculture Policy post-2020. In this paper we assess the potential of managing and reintegrating abandoned agricultural land in Europe to simultaneously increase primary productivity, carbon regulation and habitat for biodiversity, using Latvia as a national case-study that is representative of this challenge in a Baltic context. Our results show that for some regions, reintegration of abandoned agricultural land can lead to “triple win” synergies. These opportunities can be further exploited by applying best management practices to these reintegrated lands. In other regions, where the area of abandoned agricultural land is limited because of favourable biophysical conditions for intensive agricultural production, such “triple-win” synergies are scarce. In such areas, abandoned land plays a role in maintaining ecosystem services at local and regional scales, and even small increases in primary productivity come at the expense of biodiversity. This calls for careful management that involves diverse actor groups, including land managers, in the decision-making process, and in priority setting in each of the regions