On the nature of spatiotemporal light bullets in bulk Kerr media

We present a detailed experimental investigation, which uncovers the nature of light bullets generated from self-focusing in a bulk dielectric medium with Kerr nonlinearity in the anomalous group velocity dispersion regime. By high dynamic range measurements of three-dimensional intensity profiles, we demonstrate that the light bullets consist of a sharply localized high-intensity core, which carries the self-compressed pulse and contains approximately 25% of the total energy, and a ring-shaped spatiotemporal periphery. Sub-diffractive propagation along with dispersive broadening of the light bullets in free space after they exit the nonlinear medium indicate a strong space-time coupling within the bullet. This finding is confirmed by measurements of spatiotemporal energy density flux that exhibits the same features as stationary, polychromatic Bessel beam, thus highlighting the physical nature of the light bullets

Perspective of multiscale planning of rurban development: case of Lithuania

Landscape planning as one of the most important spheres determining the lifestyle environment and the framework of the societal organisation, being a complex process dealing with hardly predictable future, numerous variables and interested parties, involves a high degree of uncertainty. Dynamic, mutable and hard to define rurban landscapes emerging in the areas of rural-urban interface also imply a lot of uncertainty. These territories are a specific component and the indicator of the metropolisation as well. This means that planning of such landscapes is a difficult task requiring a distinctive approach. The aim of this research was to develop and present the rurban landscape planning principles. The approach to the rurban landscape planning and related research presented here can be identified as multiscale scientific sustainability-based: we have distinguished four major interrelated scales - global, regional, national, and local - and analyzed aspects of uncertainty that should be evaluated and precautionary measures that can be taken, the research that should be carried out, the most relevant landscape sustainability dimensions, and the documents that must or can be employed at each scale. In order to illustrate the relevance and applicability of the presented approach it was illustrated with the case of Lithuania. We have demonstrated the problems and challenges of landscape planning related to rural-urban interface in Lithuania originating at global, regional, national, and local levels, relevant documents and recommended actions for more sustainable development of rurban areas in the overall context of landscape planning. The analysis has shown that the extensive juridical basis and the volume of other documents at all levels exist for successful planning and management of rurban areas in the country and the main problems causing contemporary failure to regulate the processes rural-urban interface are related with the lack of understanding or rurban problematic and the lack of understanding global, continental, and regional contexts, the lack of strategic integrated thinking, transparency, and competences in the planning process

Biofilinė mokyklų architektūra Lietuvoje: teorinis galimybių tyrimas

Atsižvelgiant į tradicinių mokymo(si) aplinkų neatitikimą šiuolaikiniams ugdymo tikslams ir mokyklų tinklo optimizavimo Lietuvoje keliamus mokyklų pastatų daugiafunkciškumo iššūkius, straipsnyje analizuojamos biofilinio dizaino principų taikymo šiuolaikinių mokyklų projektavimui galimybės, siekiant išskirti kriterijus, gaires, kurie galėtų būti taikomi biofilinės mokyklos kūrimui. Darbe taikyti metodai apima literatūros analizę ir pavyzdžių analizę bei vertinimą ir biofilinės mokyklos projektavimo teorinio modelio formulavimą. Tyrimas leido išskirti biofilinės mokyklos projektavimui svarbius veiksnius, apimančius natūralų apšvietimą, natūralias gamtinei aplinkai būdingas spalvas su ryškių kontrastingų spalvų intarpais, organiškas kreivalinijines formas, gamtinius elementus ir motyvus, natūralias, vietines medžiagas, ryšį su ekosistemomis, augalais, gyvūnais, aiškių, lengvai suvokiamų erdvių planavimą, lauko klases, daržus, sodus, vandens motyvą

Darnios pastatų architektūros genotipas ir fenotipas

Sustainable design and construction are the trends of environmental design and management gaining an increasing acknowledgement and popularity. The definitions targeted at the environmentally friendly building architecture, such as “sustainable architecture”, “ecological architecture”, “green architecture” are widespread in literature; however, the analysis of literature has also revealed the insufficient attention to the theoretical basis of the application of the principles of sustainability to the field of architectural design: no unified definition of sustainable building architecture is provided, insufficient attention is devoted to the visual and aesthetic aspects of sustainable design, to the links of sustainable buildings with the contextual environment, and the wider influence of the sustainable architectural design on the development of the built environment is also rarely analysed. These aspects of the problem justify the aim of the article, which is to highlight the main features of sustainable building architecture, the main trends of its visual expression, and to link them with the particular contextual environments using the example of Kaunas city. The entire analysis is carried out using analogies from natural sciences – genotype and phenotype – and the character of their interconnections. Santrauka Darnus projektavimas ir darni statyba – tai vis labiau populiarėjančios ir plačiau pripažįstamos aplinkos formavimo veiklos kryptys. Nors literatūroje dažnai sutinkami aplinką tausojančią pastatų architektūrą apibūdinantys terminai, tokie kaip „darni architektūra“, „ekologiška architektūra“, „žalioji architektūra“, tačiau kartu pastebimas ir nepakankamas dėmesys teoriniam darnaus vystymosi principais paremto projektavimo pagrindui: nėra pateikiamas konkretus darnios pastatų architektūros apibrėžimas, mažai skiriama dėmesio vizualiniams, estetiniams darnaus projektavimo klausimams, darnios architektūros pastatų santykiui su kontekstine aplinka, darnaus vystymosi principais paremtos architektūros kūrimo įtakai darniam užstatytos aplinkos vystymuisi platesniu mastu. Šie problemos aspektai pagrindžia straipsnio tikslą – remiantis iš gamtos mokslų perimtomis genotipo ir fenotipo sąvokomis ir jų tarpusavio sąsajomis, išryškinti svarbiausius darnios pastatų architektūros bruožus, jos vizualinės raiškos kryptis ir, remiantis Kauno miesto pavyzdžiu, susieti jas su konkrečia kontekstine aplinka. First Publish Online: 22 May 2013 Reikšminiai žodžiai: darnus vystymasis, darni architektūra, genotipas, fenotipas, Kaunas

Oceans without history? Marine Cultural Heritage and the sustainable development agenda

This paper aims to set out the role Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) can play in informing responses to global challenges and enhancing the sustainable development of coastal zones. This requires recognition of the importance of MCH as a knowledge base amongst marine ocean scientists, policy makers and marine stakeholders on the one hand and a greater effort by marine heritage specialists to engage with the 2030 Agenda on the other. The forthcoming UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) provides an opportunity to engage with the sea more widely but it is argued that the cultural element provided by considering past human action is currently lacking. The importance of understanding human interaction with the sea in terms of gaining a more complete picture of human history is briefly presented and a definition of MCH as all past action in the human zone is given. The article then sets out how MCH can enhance sustainable development in the marine zone with particular reference to SDG14 considering heritage tourism, coastal development and infrastructure, development aid policy, climate change, coastal management, fisheries and the offshore industry. The article highlights that the knowledge and data from MCH should be seen as crucial in evidence-based decision making across the coastal and marine sectors. The paper concludes that the inclusion of MCH approaches in initiatives aiming at coastal and ocean sustainability is not just advisable—it is essentia

Ultrafast laser micro-nano structuring of transparent materials with high aspect ratio

Ultrafast lasers are ideal tools to process transparent materials because they spatially confine the deposition of laser energy within the material's bulk via nonlinear photoionization processes. Nonlinear propagation and filamentation were initially regarded as deleterious effects. But in the last decade, they turned out to be benefits to control energy deposition over long distances. These effects create very high aspect ratio structures which have found a number of important applications, particularly for glass separation with non-ablative techniques. This chapter reviews the developments of in-volume ultrafast laser processing of transparent materials. We discuss the basic physics of the processes, characterization means, filamentation of Gaussian and Bessel beams and provide an overview of present applications

Non-market evaluation of immovable cultural heritage : the need, possibilities, significance

Pagrindinis straipsnio tikslas – išanalizuoti nekilnojamojo kultūros paveldo ne rinkos vertinimo poreikį, galimybes ir reikšmę paveldosaugos veiklai. Aplinkos ištekliams ir kitoms ekonominėms gėrybėms taikomi rinkų duomenimis ir atliekant sociologines apklausas gaunamais duomenimis paremti ne rinkos verčių nustatymo metodai gali būti taikomi visoms nekilnojamojo kultūros paveldo teikiamų ne rinkos verčių kategorijoms nustatyti: hedoninės kainos metodas gali būti taikomas gyvenimo istorinėje aplinkoje teikiamoms ne rinkos naudojimo vertėms nustatyti; kelionės kainos metodas gali būti naudojamas tiesioginio rekreacinio naudojimo ne rinkos vertėms nustatyti; numatomojo vertinimo metodas apima plačiausią nekilnojamojo kultūros paveldo ne rinkos verčių spektrą. Šis metodas gali būti naudojamas tiesioginio ir netiesioginio naudojimo ne rinkos vertėms ir nenaudojimo vertėms nustatyti. Nekilnojamojo kultūros paveldo, kaip kultūrinės gėrybės ir riboto neatkuriamo aplinkos ištekliaus, prigimtis lemia ne rinkos vertinimo metodų pritaikymo poreikį. Aptartus ne rinkos verčių nustatymo metodus pritaikius nekilnojamajam kultūros paveldui ir suvienodinus vertinimo procedūras, ne rinkos vertinimas galėtų būti traktuojamas kaip viena iš paveldotyros krypčių, o jo rezultatai galėtų būti naudojami priimant sprendimus, susijusius su paveldonaudos ir paveldotvarkos režimais bei paveldošvietos galimybėmis. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Ekonominis gėris; Ekonominis vertinimas; Ekonominė analizė; Kultūros paveldas; Ne rinkos vertinimas; Ne-rinkos vertinimas; Paveldosauga; Socialinis požiūris; Cultural Heritage; Economic analysis; Economic evaluation; Economic goods; Non-market evaluation; Non-market valuation; Social points of viewImmovable cultural heritage, such as historic buildings and structures, their ensembles and historic sites, can be treated as economic goods and are significant from economic and social points of view. One of the trends of economic analysis of immovable cultural heritage is nonmarket valuation. Non-market valuation of immovable cultural heritage can be defined as determination of non-market values of historic buildings, structures, ensembles and other immovable objects of cultural significance. The need of nonmarket valuation of immovable cultural heritage is determined by numerous factors. Three most important of them are: the nature of immovable cultural heritage as heterogeneous economic cultural good, wide spectrum of categories of nonmarket values provided by immovable cultural heritage, and the concept of immovable cultural heritage as limited environmental resource. The analysis of literature has demonstrated that science of economics offers valuation methods for determining all categories of non-market values of immovable cultural heritage. All these methods are consistently applied for valuation of environmental amenities since the second half of the 20th century. For example hedonic price method, currently applied for valuation of environmental quality and real estate price analysis, can be applied for determining non-market values associated with living in historic environment. Travel cost method, currently applied for valuation of natural recreational resources, can be applied to determine non-market direct recreational use value provided by immovable cultural heritage. Contingent valuation method, applied for non-market valuation of numerous categories of public and private goods, can encompass all range of non-market values provided by immovable cultural heritage from indirect use values to non-use values. However, the nature of cultural heritage as cultural good and limited environmental resource requires adapting these methods. Above-mentioned methods after adapting them for non-market valuation of immovable cultural heritage and after unifying valuation procedures can become integral part of immovable cultural heritage research field. Nonmarket valuation can be useful for determining economic potential of built heritage objects, for allocating limited resources for their preservation more optimally, for determining losses of non-market values caused by decline or inappropriate maintenance of built heritage objects etc. Moreover, methods based on data acquired through sociological surveys can be beneficial for integration of society into heritage preservation processes