In the last decade we can observe changes in the fashion industry due to the rising demand of textile and clothing products in Europe. We investigate its sustainability implications by re-calculating carbon emissions and addressing each countries responsibility rather than current traditional way of calculating CO2 emissions. A multi-regional input-output model is built to calculate carbon emissions embodied in trade in EU textile and clothing industry from 2000 to 2016. World Input-Output Database and other databases are used for the recounting of CO2 emissions embodied in EU textile and clothing international trade. The results show that 1) Germany and United Kingdom were biggest EU CO2 emission importers in 2000 and 2016 what makes them biggest contributors to global CO2 pollution in textile and clothing industry in Europe. 2) India and China has big direct emission coefficients and perform under low energy efficiency levels compared to Turkey 3) Higher direct carbon emission coefficient result in a higher CO2 imports. 4) Increasing textile and clothing products imports result in higher CO2 emission imports. Therefore in order to reduce carbon emissions producing countries should invest in “low-carbon” industries and might regulate textile and clothing products imports.

This article reports on the evaluation of the wellbeing of rural people in Lithuania. Literature analysis and empirical findings suggest that research on wellbeing has received scant attention, especially at the local level in Lithuania. Although, to date, some research has been carried out on other specific factors of wellbeing such as belonging to a particular social group, wellbeing in the city, or wellbeing related to job environment, etc., far too little attention has been paid to socio-demographic variables. These limitations call for a more comprehensive discussion and analysis of the situation of a wellbeing and its tendencies in rural areas. The aim of this research is to evaluate the relationship between wellbeing and socio-demographic characteristics of residents of rural areas in Lithuania. Statistical calculations evaluating the wellbeing of rural people were made by using data from the last Round 8 of the European Social Survey. The findings show that the wellbeing of rural people is related to socio- demographic characteristics. People living in big cities of Lithuania rate their happiness higher than those living in towns or small cities and rural areas; residents of rural areas of Lithuania who live with children are happier and more satisfied with life than those living without children at household grid; weak and negative, but statistically significant, correlations between happiness and age, and satisfaction with life and age were observed; younger residents in rural areas of Lithuania are happier and more satisfied with life in comparison to older ones; the longer people study, the happier and more satisfied with life they are; divorced are less happy and satisfied with life than those who have never been married as well as those who are legally married or are widows/widowers; people who study are happier and more satisfied with life than those who work, are unemployed or retired. Key words: Wellbeing, rural areas, happiness, satisfaction with life, European social survey.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) already several decades is an integral part of business management and accounting data processing. Scientific publications most cases deal with increase the efficiency of calculations and information processing, improvement the quality of accounting information systems, but very little attention is paid to changes in the behaviour of accounting staff resulted by the implementation of modern information processing technologies. Scientific problem is the measuring of impact of the modern information and communication technologies on behaviour of advisors in accounting. Paper provides the results of theoretical analysis of impact, made by ICT on changes in registration and processing of accounting transactions and competences are necessary for accounting specialist. Empirical investigation bases on analysis of the data received during questioning consultants in accounting and economics, working at the Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service about the structure of working time allocated for various tasks and on changes in the structure of working time due to the use of ICT.

The expansion of global economy and the rise of living standards are set to force the world’s consumption of raw material to nearly double by 2060, thus consumption of wood resources is forecasted to increase more than twofold. In Latvia, forests cover 52% of the total area. The total forest area in Latvia has continued to grow since the beginning of the 20th century – in 1923 the forests covered only 27% of the country’s area; accordingly, the question is whether the value of forests continues to grow proportionally. One of the criteria for determining the value of forest is forest capital. A higher economic value of forest reflects the forest’s capability to produce more wood, and this allows generating higher revenues from forestry. It is the value of plantations of certain tree species as well as the quality of wood produced that increase the price of wood and consequently result in higher revenues. The largest supplier of wood in Latvia is the state-owned joint stock company Latvian State Forests (JSC LSF), which managed 1.6 million hectares of forestland in 2018. In 2018, 12.8 million cubic metres of roundwood were harvested in Latvia, of which 6 million cubic metres were harvested by the JSC LSF. Therefore, the research aims to design and assess potential scenarios of increasing the value of forest capital for the JSC LSF. The authors simulated potential scenarios for the JSC LSF in order to identify changes to be made in the current forest management pattern with the aim of increasing the value of forest capital. A higher value of forest capital would also mean greater public attention to the future use of existing resources. Calculations of the economic value of forests were carried out to identify necessary changes to be made in the management of state-owned forests in Latvia and to compare several management enhancement scenarios. The potential scenarios were assessed by five qualified experts, academics, representatives of business and public administration by employing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The experts rated the possible scenarios for enhancing forest management relatively equally, giving slightly higher ratings to the potential scenario of quotation of the national forest management company on the stock exchange. The value of forest capital was calculated for each of the potential scenarios using the most commonly used net present value method (NPV). It was concluded that the potential scenario of lowering the diameter threshold for felling trees by two centimetres would lead to the greatest increase in the value of forest capital.

The effects of different climatic conditions on birch (Betula pendula Roth) and poplar (Populus) hybrids seedlings were studied. This study consists of two parts, firstly, an experiment with poplars and, secondly, the experiment with birch seedlings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the growth of birch and poplar seedlings under the current and modelled climatic conditions. Results showed that the simulation of short-term warmer weather conditions and higher CO2 concentration led to more intensive growth of silver birch saplings. Different climatic conditions did not significantly change photosynthetic and transpiration rate of one year old silver birch seedlings. Contrary the transpiration and photosynthesis rate of poplar seedlings significantly depended on drought and clone but not on hybrid. Drought altered the transpiration and photosynthesis intensity, water use efficiency, and correlation among most of the traits. The P. maximowiczii × P. trichocarpa, P. balsamifera × P. trichocarpa hybrids increased their water use efficiency under the drought conditions and were characterized by faster growth hybrids. The sensitivity of poplar hybrids to UV-B radiation varied and depended on the origin of their parental trees: poplar hybrids from the northern latitudes were more sensitive to the increased UV-B radiation than those of southern origin. The best growth after simulated warm winter was obtained for the P. deltoides × P. nigra and P. nigra × P. nigra hybrids, originating from the southern areas. The findings from this experiment are more applicable to young birch and poplar trees, but stress on young trees may be reflected in future tree growth.

Many abandoned (term "hostless" by 2010) hydraulic structures have been exploited for over 30 years, so due to the aging of materials, the probability of failures and accidents increases. Due to the insufficient exploitation in several dams the breakdowns occurred, some ponds in damaged dams have been emptied. It is known that no comprehensive research on technical state evaluation of abandoned hydraulic structures in Lithuania has been carried out. It becomes clear that practical, scientifically based algorithms for the technical state evaluation of abandoned hydraulic structures are needed in order to assess the impact of environmental factors on the technical state, safety, reliability and durability of structures. This paper focuses on the presentation of investigation results of technical state evaluation of 4 abandoned hydroschemes in Raseiniai distr. Due to the noticed significant defects and deteriorations all 4 hydroschemes are in critical state, the pond in Gyliai IV is emptied, the demolition of reinforced concrete structures should be applied in this object.

Agricultural machinery manufacturers historically referred to the intermediate players for selling, maintenance, customer service and/or training of equipment appear to interact with farmers and end-users. Intermediate players have therefore faced the burden to master the technology, in constant evolution, and the associated training needs at the interface between a sophisticated equipment and the end-user and its sociological characteristics (age, education, background, etc.). However, the effective deployment of agricultural technologies data augmented equipment demands well trained players. How to ensure that the intermediate players have the required skills to integrate the use of agtech in the farm? This paper will discuss the role of educational and ongoing vocational training for the mastery of agtech. We will start from a comparative review of some key national and European technical reports in the agricultural equipment and innovation domains. On these bases, we will focus on France to describe the role of intermediate players of the agricultural equipment sector to realize their agricultural and digital transitions.

Heavy metal extraction study was performed using five chelating agents with different biodegradability: EDTA, EDDS, MGDA, SCLC and citric acid. Aminopolycarboxylic acids EDDS and MGDA showed high heavy metal extraction capability from sewage sludge and sludge-soil mixtures. According to heavy metal removal efficiency investigated chelants can be ranked in the following order: EDTA≈ EDDS≈ MGDA> CA> SCLC. Extraction efficiency from sludge mixtures with clay soil was markedly lower than from the mixtures with sandy soil. Biodegradability of EDTA, MGDA, EDDS and CA was evaluated measuring BOD in water environment over 28 day period. According to the results of biodegradability test after 28 days the ranking order of the chelants was following: EDDS (99%)> CA (32.4%)> MGDA (29.2%)> EDTA (14.9%). Results showed that significantly easier than EDTA biodegradable chelating agents, such as EDDS and MGDA, can be successfully used for heavy metal removal from sewage sludge as well as metal-contaminated soil.  

International audience | This paper deals with designing a cheap and easy-to-attain method to replace weighing for estimating the body mass of goats. Several models on the relationship of heart girth (HG) to live weight (LW) were evaluated using Creole of Guadeloupe goats (376 males and 258 growing females). The best fit was obtained with a Gompertz model: LW = 155 * exp(-7.91 * exp(-0.0215 * HG)), which provided an adjusted R² = 0.98 and a 95% confidence interval of the prediction values below 5% within most of the LW range. The LW of breeding goats (420) was fitted by the following quadratic model taking into account the HG and paunch girth (PG): LW = -28.1 + 0.539 * HG + 0.00221 * PG², which provided an adjusted R² = 0.95 and a 95% confidence interval of the prediction values below 1% within most of the LW range. The first model allows a tape measure graduated in kg to be used on goats except breeding females. The second model allows the building of an abacus to provide the estimated LWs of breeding goats from the HG and PG values. Further correction might be achieved by adding the goat body condition score. Such cheap tools should be very useful for goat farmers, most of whom lack reliable weighing devices.

peer reviewed | In genetic breeding programs, body weight is measured overtime, and is historically the main source of information from animals. Random Regression Models (RRM) have been frequently used in beef cattle evaluations, but can significantly contribute to genetic progress in all species of economic importance. To our knowledge, there are no scientific studies using RRM to evaluate Polled Nellore. We aimed to estimate genetic parameters by using RRM as a way to provide basis for guidelines development of growth of this breed. The models included direct genetic and maternal genetic, permanent environmental and maternal permanent environmental as random, contemporary groups as fixed and cow age at calving as covariate effects. The residual variances were modeled from homogeneous to six heterogeneous classes. The model of orders 4, 2, 2 and 2 for direct additive genetic, maternal additive genetic, maternal permanent environmental and permanent environmental had greater performance according to statistical criteria (smaller AIC and BIC values). Estimates of direct additive genetic increased over time (range 0-5,000 Kg2) and the heritability estimates were up to 0.73 along the growth curve. Maternal heritability estimates were low, with values close to zero. Genetic correlations between ages ranged from moderate (0.60) to high (0.97). Random regression models may be an alternative to describe the changes in body weight variances throughout lifetime.