The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the use of artificial neural network (AN) modelling tool to predict the risk of phosphorus (P) loss from the fields to nearest water body. The attention is drawn to AN as an alternative approach to the P index calculation for prediction of the P losses. The specific tasks of this study were to determine risk classes of P loss by linking together source and transport factors that accelerate P losses and to evaluate AN model performance for predicting risk classes via nutrient transport. AN was trained with a Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, and Scaled Conjugate Gradient algorithm was used to estimate the possible risk of P losses from agricultural land. Two small agricultural watersheds in Auce and Bauska were chosen to determine field parameters, and expert's evaluation was used for description of the risk classes' of P loss. Finally these values were used as inputs for the neural network model. The model was trained and validated by assessing its predictive performance on a testing set of data excluded from the training set. The research results highlight the capabilities of AN to predict risk for a particular field and suggest that future research on application of other algorithms is required.

It has been shown in previous studies that transaction costs (TC) of agri-environmental policy measures often are very large both in absolute terms and as a share of payments. As agri-environmental policy measures make up an increasingly large share of agricultural policies, not least within the European Union, it is becoming ever more important to improve the knowledge about the factors determining the level of transaction costs. This paper investigates the TC determinants of one Swedish agri-environmental policy measure. More specifically, it aims to investigate if the level of TC is attributable to economic factors, such as pasture density and distances, or if political factors, such as lobby groups and political majorities at the county level, influence the costs. To evaluate if the results are robust with respect to alterations in model specifications, a version of the extreme bounds analysis is applied. Although initial results indicate that political parties influence the level of transaction costs, the extreme bounds analysis reveals that those results are fragile. It shows that five of the economic variables are robust with respect to model specifications, but none of the political variables is.

Systemic view on tourism as an economic activity is the best way how to characterise an economic nature of this industry. The paper presents the methodology which integrates the system approach and other research methods of social sciences; this methodology forms the basis for identification of social agents and models of tourism system. The methodology is approbated in the survey of providers of rural tourism services in Zemgale planning region. The research results are useful in future application of models for development of tourism whereas the models are useful for other purposes: they can provide additional information necessary for evaluation of tourism influence on economy. They form a basis for detecting participants in tourism clusters in regions and for evaluation of cooperation between social agents of public, nongovernmental and private sectors, and as an instrument in tourism marketing strategies.

Due to the recently increasing frequency of extreme changes in river runoff regime, scientific literature deals with the characteristics of runoff formation. Works are carried out in analyzing climate changes and a lot of attention falls on land–use structures. Following thorough analysis of the lithological structure of river basins in separate costal zones, this article aims at evaluating river runoff formation characteristics. The basin lithological factor was calculated based on Quaternary map of Lithuania M 1:200000 and Lithuanian river map M 1:50000 using ArcGis software. In order to carry out more thorough analysis of the influence of lithology in given territories, sections of 0–20 m, 50–200 m, 200–500 m, 500–800 m, 800–1000 m and is greater than 1000 m were established, calculating the distance in meters from the riverbank. Eight river basins of typical lithological structure (sandy, loamy, argillaceous) were selected and examined. The period of the years 1960–2007 was analyzed as this period saw the greatest amount of precipitation (up to 33% probability), and relation between the runoff and precipitation was established as well as that with the lithological structure, established following the derivation of a hydromodule.

Global warming undoubtedly influences the flow of rivers. It is essential to observe the climate changes, trace, analyse and forecast how they could influence the environment and, especially, how it can influence the flow of rivers. In this article two maximum flows of basins of two different rivers are analyzed: the river Venta (above Papile) and the river Krazante (above Pluskiai) during the period 1968–2008. Climatic parameters, such as the precipitation and the average air temperature, observed in the weather stations of Siauliai and Laukuva, influence the changes in flows the most. The correlation between the precipitation and maximum change of the flow was estimated though it was not strong: the ratio of correlation in the river Venta was 0.66, in the river Krazante the same ratio was 0.72. Significant negative trends of the both analyzed rivers during the spring period and significant negative trends of the river Venta during the period of winter have been established by the use of statistical analysis of the results obtained from a non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and linear regression test. This specific analysis is performed by using TREND programme. The collected data which were obtained to show that the most watery decade of the rivers Venta and Krazante were during the period 1978–1987, which formed 36% flow in the river of Venta and 35% in the river of Krazante for the whole period of forty years.

The possibilities to use other media instead of the sand in the filters of vertical flow are analysed in the article. The media used has to be inexpensive and its possibilities to clean the wastewater have to surpass that of the sand. The modelling of the wastewater treatment in the vertical flow filters was carried out in 2008 at the Water Research Institute of the Faculty of Water and Land Management of Lithuanian University of Agriculture. Dolomite powder was chosen for the investigation. Two models of 0.2 square m filters were made: one was filled with the sand, but the other was filled with the dolomite powder. It was found that the dolomite filter was less reactive to the primary contamination of the wastewater with the organic pollutants: when their amount rose from 320 to 460 mg O2 LE-1 according to the BOD7 index, the amount of the pollutants in the wastewater cleaned with the dolomite powder filter rose from 1.4 to 3.1 and amount in the wastewater which passed the sand filter rose from 0.5 to 13.9 mg O2 LE-1. General phosphorus was removed with the efficiency of 99.9% in the dolomite powder filter (and only with the efficiency of 87.0% in the sand filter). Therefore the dolomite powder filter will be removing phosphorus from the wastewater to the allowable contamination level for a much longer period. General nitrogen was cleaned with the effectiveness of 13.0% in the dolomite powder filter. Therefore, it is necessary to use additional means for its removal from the wastewater in the vertical filters with the output higher than 5 m**3 dE-1.

Turkish traditional food producers are mainly subsistence and semi-subsistence farmers who have a limited marketing knowledge. They thus encounter a significant number of problems during the supply chain due to the lack of capital, awareness and equipment, as well as underutilized resources and insufficient rural infrastructure. They are also not actively encouraged by the policies implemented at the regional level. The majority of the food reaches consumers either directly (the less common purchases from the farmer) or via a number of intermediaries. If the current volume of traditional food is compared with the past production volume, it can be clearly seen that there is a sharp decrease in the production in contrast to the rapidly increasing population. This study aims to find willingness of Turkish consumers to pay for a MarketMaker website – an electronic trading platform of traditional products in Turkey. The estimations rely on data collected from 157 persons covering all regions in Turkey through an online survey in August, 2015. The average willingness to pay (WTP) annually was found to be about 32 Turkish Liras (TRY) for all observations including zero bids and TRY 164 excluding zero bids. The results of the probit model show that age, marital status and shopping in traditional food markets were identified by the model to have a significant impact on the probability of WTP.

People in their lives are divided into different social groups that cooperate with each other; all people are involved in many social groups at one time that may depend and mutually cooperate. The article shows how regional development centres Talsi and Cesis cooperate with other society groups in their territory to develop a smart public administration. The cooperation level was determined by a survey that was provided to the municipality workers, NGO members, and employees in higher education institutions, companies and mass media. The results show that the cooperation is above average, though a lot of work should be done to provide smart public administration in territories. Both municipalities are similar in their size, municipality structure and used cooperation approaches, therefore it is essential to learn from each other to receive greater loyalty from residents and improve cooperation that is significant for smart administration.

The article is of a cognitive and application nature. The research objective is to distinguish harmonious management principles applicable to the management of public sector efficiency. Results of the article achieved: 1) The analysis was done of the management principles in social models, as well as between them and harmonious management and its exclusive features. Harmonious management in this article is treated as a continuation of the analysis of the public administration evolution. The extracted specific management principles of conduct can be used for a comparative analysis between the social management models. 2) The analysis was done of harmonious management directions, which may be applied to a public sector organization. 3) The article discusses the process of harmonization and presented stages. Harmonious management process logic diagram integrated exchange organizations into a cohesive process model and principles for promoting efficient activities. 4) The article presents the proposals and conclusions of different options and the need to apply the harmonious management of public sector management to gain efficiency. The aim of the research is to identify the principles of harmonious management applicable to public sector management for the purpose of effectiveness. The paper is based on the scientific literature and document analysis and synthesis, systematization, comparative analysis and case studies. In this article the case study is used by local authorities, which are represented by the public sector. Empirical research is conducted by using the quantitative standardized expert interview method. Visualization method is used, too.

This article analyses the advantages of applicable measures of motivation, taking into consideration the internal environment of an organization as a whole and focuses on the impact of internal environmental factors upon the results of the organization. The paper is based on the survey results obtained by inquiring, municipal administration employees in Lithuanian districts in February-June 2010. The goal of the research was to propose and justify theoretical components for the motivation model of municipal administration employees. The major integrated groups of motivation measures that are the most influential to the factors of internal environment as the main results of research were identified. The authors focus on the positional adjustment of the combinations of motivation measures, in order to improve the motivation of municipal administration employees.