Plywood overlaid with resin impregnated paper films is used in various decorative applications for which high stability of aesthetic qualities is of great importance. The top veneer of the plywood for these materials is perfectly protected from a direct contact with water as far as the covering film is not damaged. However, in case of film damage water can cause clearly visible defects in a relatively short period of time. To reduce these types of defects, unsophisticated and efficient way was developed. It involves filling the vessel system of the top veneer with industrial phenol-formaldehyde resin by using a hot-press. Influence of some phenol-formaldehyde resin properties on its penetration in birch veneer as well as the effect of wood moisture content were tested. The proposed top veneer pre-treatment method with phenol-formaldehyde resin reduced the average swelling zone distance from damage site by half for oven pre-dried plywood with 3% moisture content before treatment. Moreover, it was found that using plywood with moisture content of 9% the swelling zone distance was reduced by two thirds compared to untreated overlaid plywood.

The aim of this research was to study the effect of the stand composition on the density of pine and spruce wood growing on former arable lands. Sample areas are located in mixed mature pine- and spruce-prevailing stands in Leningrad region, Russia. For the reliable determination of the basic density of spruce and pine wood, selection of model trees was carried out and cores were taken. Based on the data obtained from stems of 36 model trees from 3 sample plots, conversion equations were calculated to determine the basic density of wood. The measurements of the spruce and pine wood density were processed using variational statistics. The results have shown that the pine forms a more homogeneous wood than the spruce. On former arable lands, spruce has a denser wood than pine under the same growth conditions. The stand composition has a significant effect on the density of spruce rather than pine.

The objective of this study is to assess the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of pine (Pinus sylvestris) and spruce (Picea abies) stands growing on lands that were previously in agricultural use in the Leningrad region. Sample areas of mature mixed pine-and-spruce prevailing stands were studied. The taxation has revealed that the average height and diameter of the stands under study are greater than those in mixed modal stands of these species on forest lands. The analysis of the results of the study was performed by dispersion, correlation and ranking methods. To determine the competitive relationship between species, the coefficients of skewness, and kurtosis were calculated. For coniferous stands growing on former arable lands, the distribution of diameter classes for pine and spruce differ depending on the prevalence of species. The predominance of one of the coniferous species in the stands leads to an aggravation of competition, which manifests itself in positive coefficients of asymmetry. The skewness indicators and the kurtosis of tree trunks distribution clearly demonstrate the strengthening and weakening of competitive relationships in the stand. Competitive relationships between species are more balanced in stand compositions that include more than half of spruce and about 40% of pine, which results in the largest volume of stemwood. A more powerful root zone of trees in the former arable soil allows mixed stands of spruce and pine to produce a larger volume of wood than in pure stands of pine and spruce for the investigated region.

Woody plants at urban greeneries in Lithuania are injured by rust fungi of 13 genera, 28 species: Coleosporium pulsatillae, C. tussilaginis, Cronartium flaccidum, C. ribicola, Cumminsiella mirabilissima, Gymnosporangium clavariiforme, G. confusum, G. cornutum, G. sabinae, G. tremelloides, Hyalopsora aspidiotus, M. allii-fragilis, M. allii-populina, M. caprearum, M. epitea, M. laricis-populina, M. populnea, Melampsora ribesii-viminalis, M. salicis-albae, Melampsorella caryophyllacearum, Melampsoridium betulinum, M. carpini, Ochropsora ariae, Phragmidium tuberculatum, Pucciniastrum areolatum, P. symphyti, Uromyces caraganicola, U. pisi-sativi. During 2009 – 2017 Gymnosporangium sabine had the strongest damages (from 0.21 ± 0.00 to 2.43 ± 0.33 grades) on Pyrus pyreaster, the weakest damages had done G. cornutum on Sorbus intermedia and S. x thuringiaca ‘Fastigiata’ – 0 – 1 ± 0.58 grades.

The territorial planning and the management of urban surfaces force the decrease of green spaces in urban landscapes. As the urbanization process during past decades of the last century was quite intensive not only in Europe but also in Lithuania, findings describing changes of forest cover as well as spatial structure of the forest land are requested. The aim of this study was as follows: first, to calculate and compare areas of the forest land in six major cities of Lithuania in 1950 and 2011, second, to evaluate the spatial structure of the forest land by investigated cities within the period of 1950 – 2011. Methods of descriptive statistical analysis and spatial analysis using ArcGIS and MS EXCEL software were used. The study was based on two geodatabases, representing the forest cover in 1950 and 2011. Results of this study revealed that areas of the forest land increased in all investigated cities excluding Panevėžys city. The increases of areas of the forest land were discovered to vary from 0.8% to 9.5%. The largest increase was found in Vilnius city (9.5%), the smallest – in Šiauliai city (0.8%). The decrease by 0.9% of the forest land was found just in Panevėžys city. No significant changes of the forest land spatial structure were found in largest cities of Lithuania, i.e. Vilnius city and Kaunas city. The spatial structure of forest land in other investigated cities tended to degrade.

This paper aims to deal with the phytoremediation approach for protection of environment and preventing the streaming of contaminant flows to hydrological systems. Phytoremediation is a cost-effective environmentally friendly clean-up technology, which uses plants and microorganisms in rhizosphere for soil and groundwater treatment. Phytoremediation is enhancing degradation of organic pollutants and improving stabilization of inorganic contaminants where plants can be used to treat soil and water polluted with hydrocarbons, chlorinated substances, pesticides, metals, explosives, radionuclides as well as to reduce the excess of nutrients. Selection of species for this type of treatment processes is based on evapotranspiration potential and ability to bioaccumulate contaminants. The project entitled “Phytoremediation Park for treatment and recreation at glassworks contaminated sites” (PHYTECO) aimed at cross-sector international partnership. The challenge of project was to develop remediation strategy where negative consequences from centuries long anthropogenic influence are turned to be something positive – development of the recreation park from the glass dump. New “Knowledge in Inter Baltic Partnership Exchange for Future Regional Circular Economy Cooperation” (PECEC) project is sequential continuation.

This paper investigates the effect of intake runner design on pressure wave propagation and reflection in sparkignited internal combustion (IC) engine. These events are known to leave a noticeable influence on the overall engine performance therefore the aim of this study is to evaluate how changes in intake runner geometry affect pressure oscillations and volume flow rate. Time-dependent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was carried out to determine how these changes affect the pressure oscillations during a full engine cycle at constant crankshaft speed. Steady state CFD analysis at constant pressure differential was carried out to evaluate the effect on volume flow rate. The simulations were carried out in SolidWorks Flow Simulation environment. Honda CRF450R motorcycle engine was used to define the initial conditions and basic intake runner design. Intake air speed at port entrance cross-section was calculated based on engine parameters and operating speed. The average pressure values with respect to physical time were measured and graphed across the intake port opening cross-section. Six different intake runner designs were compared. It was concluded that the runner taper angle has influence on pressure wave-length but internal geometry (steps, curvature and taper angle) has influence on volume flow rate. It was observed that cylindrical intake runner design produced an increase in pressure wave-length but a cylindrical section of the intake runner with a stepped transition to tapered extension produced a slight increase in pressure wave amplitude.

The aim of the work is to increase the efficiency of cyclone technology by using a separator plate. Cyclone technology is used not only in the processing of various agricultural products, but also in air purification from dust. Air flow trajectories and the movement of dust particles inside the cyclone unit were simulated and analysed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and particle study analyses. The separator plate was designed in certain sizes and placed inside the cyclone, thus increasing the efficiency of the cyclone. The angle of position of the separator plate significantly affected the obtained results. The experimental equipment was assembled together to test the simulation results. Wood ash was used to determine the efficiency of the cyclone. Studies have shown that the effect of the separator plate on increasing the efficiency of the experimental equipment is less than that shown in the simulations. Most of the experiments used ash particles that were greater than 20 μm, thus cyclone efficiency was 98.9 ± 0.05%. This confirms the compliance of CFD simulations with the physical model. More detailed research should be carried out in order to use the separator plate effectively for the filtration of very small dust particles.

Large amounts of waste and by-products which are suitable for further use are generated in the food production chain. Globally, one-third of the food produced virtually becomes waste, in total 1.3 billion tonnes per year. The livestock sector is experiencing new challenges in the food and feed supply chain and waste valorization and there is a considerable diversity in animal origin food processing systems and broad knowledge base of expertise across Europe. However, due to local food production peculiarities, there is a considerable discrepancy in the waste management and processing methodology. An increasing amount of different novel feed and new functional food is available. These new products require a proper authentication and health and safety verification. Available know-how is increasing exponentially and therefore the potential for new and old bioactive component production from various currently poorly used materials is huge. Similarly, our knowledge about threats and food/feed safety is increasing. It is crucial to keep the balance between these processes. There are also several obstacles in data harmonization (data collection, used methodologies and reliability) and in data quality (lack of the comparability and completeness). The aim of the paper is to summarize the challenges in food research related to latest developments in methods.

High-pressure processing (HPP) is typically used for the microorganism inactivation, which provides safety and prolonged shelf life of meat and meat products. However, for consumers along with safety, it is important to have good sensory properties, which is a combination of tender and juicy meat with an intense meat flavour. These attributes may change because of the high pressure processing; therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of HPP on sensory and physical attributes of pork upon processing at 300 and 600 MPa at room temperature for 1 and 15 min. After HPP the processed pork samples were cooked within the package in a water bath. Colour of cooked pork did not differ among samples. Moisture content of samples decreased with the increased processing time. Sensory evaluation revealed that HPP treatment did not influence the colour and flavour of cooked pork irrespective of treatment parameters applied in the current study. The panellists indicated that increased pressure made pork samples drier and tougher, thus changing such sensory attributes as juiciness and chewiness, which are important for meat palatability. The correlation found between chewiness determined by sensory analysis and toughness determined by Warner-Bratzler shear device suggested this instrumental method as a better tool when compared to the instrumental texture profile analysis (TPA).