It is neccessary for the Regional Universities (RU) to strengthen their regional role. The reason behind such trend is the increased economic and regional differences between regions which applies also to Latvia. The aim of this research is to define the contribution of the RU to the regional development. The research included analysis of scientific sources, correlation and analysis of variance. It was determined that there is a positive correlation 0.979 between the number of students of RU and corresponding regional Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita; thus the RU have a positive impact on the regional development while other drawbacks and problems exist.

One of the most often mentioned competence in the surveyed literature is problem solving. It is also one of the key skills for the sustainable development of society. The article includes analysis of pedagogical approaches like project-based, problem-based learning and enquiry-based learning, as well as describes the use of design thinking as one of the problem solving approaches in higher education. As mathematics studies at universities play an important role in developing problem solving skills, an empirical study was carried out to identify the pedagogical approaches used by mathematics teachers and to illustrate the development of problem solving skills in mathematics studies at universities in Latvia. It includes a survey of mathematics teachers in Latvia aimed at identifying their experience in implementing different pedagogical approaches to mathematics and assessing the extent to which these methods help develop problem solving skills. The answers of mathematics teachers show that problem solving skills are developed at the middle level, which means only for the use in a certain situation (that is slightly different from previously known). The most effective approach to promoting problem-solving skills is the so-called context approach, which means focusing on the practical task related to a specialty. In the empirical study self-assessment method is used and the results are based only on respondents’ opinion.

Rapid technology development has had an evident impact on the financial sector during the last eight years. The financial sector experiences changes and it is important for the contemporary financial organizations to set a sustainable business perspective through competency management to ensure competitiveness. The current paper additionally focusses on fintech. Information technology development and competency management are the basis of the research. Authors of this research performed literature review to clarify the technology management competency model proposed by Doggett, McGee and Scott (2013) with the purpose of customizing the model for finance and technology knowledge-intensive fintech companies.

Fragmentation of private property (142 thousand private forest owners) cause the challenge for governing forests, because forests are part of wider forest ecosystems, but at the same time narrowly assigned by private borders. Land restitution put the new pressures on path dependent management and new possibilities and responsibilities (that were emergent features of private forest governance). This article is part of doctoral thesis about the common governance of private forests with particular aim to focus on describing knowledge and experience exchange in private forest owners’ networks in this paper. The research question for this article is to help to find out how the translation of experience and knowledge manifest itself in private forest owners’ networks? The best theoretical model to fit this situation is the concept of translation from actor-network theory and emergent norm theory. Case study approach was selected to follow actors in forest owners’ networks. The cases are forest owners’ cooperatives, forest owners NGO’s, as well as other forms, in particular, forest extension services and cases where an emergent process can be seen. The empirical material shows that translation of experience and knowledge manifest itself in few important ways, namely, at first, in a negotiation of needs and agreement on private forest owners’ needs; secondly, in stewardship role of multi-functional actors; thirdly, in emerging and evolving legislative norms. A multi-functional actor is a term offered in order to reveal a wide range of mediation forms in multicultural multi nature of forests as governed property and forests as integral part of ecosystems.

Precision of the forest inventory still is one of the most important problems in the forestry nowadays. The aim of this research was to estimate the results of the combined forest inventory (CFI), using high spatial resolution aerial images in the planned areas of clear-cuts, comparing the results with the calipering and production files of harvesters. Testing of algorithms showed considerable difference in results between the CFI, forest inventory data and harvester production data. CFI results and production data had a close correlation with R2 =0.83. Comparing CFI calculated growing stock with production data, the average relative error amounted to 10.7%, which means the possibility for integration of these results into the forest inventory system. Comparing to CFI, there is a weak correlation between forest inventory and production data with R2 =0.34. The results indicate that LiDAR CFI technology can be used in the forecasting of the forest management, offering precise information about potential amount and economic value of assortments.

In Latvia, P.abies (L.) H. Karst stands occupy about 18% of the total forest area (3.01 million) forming pure and mixed stands. Regardless of the main goals, productivity of the future forest stands must be preserved; therefore, it is very important for forest management to identify risk factors. P.abies often suffers from various risk factors. The aim of the research was – to assess the sanitary state of Picea abies (L.) H. Karst in Oxalidosa, where the area of forest stands has been restored both anthropogenically and naturally. Selected young stands are located in Limbazi district of Latvia. Empirical data was collected in 5 spruce stands with the total area of 9.2 ha in Oxalidosa. In total, 67 sample plots were installed with radius of 3.99 m, measuring 799 trees. Diameter was measured for all trees in the sample plot. For sanitary state of P.abies young stands characterization damage caused by biotic factors was assessed visually after four-point scale: health tree (0), minor damage to 25% (1), moderately damaged 26 – 50% (2), severely damaged or dried – from 51% (3). Damage caused by P.abietina and browsing was found in several stands, while damage produced by P.abietina larvae was detected only in one pure stand. Occurrence of browsing damage is 10 – 28%, while damage intensity – 7.7 – 21.8%. There are significant differences between occurrence of browsing damage (p=0.001) and also between damaged tree damage intensity (p=0.003). Nature of browsing damage depends on the size of pure and mixed stand area, the location in forest massif and adjoining territory.

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 article provides the research data on the variation of organic matter in the Jaugila Stream, which flows through drained fields fertilized with organic fertilizers. The aim of the research was to determine the effect of manure application in drainage basin to the changes of organic matter concentration in the Jaugila Stream. Water samples for chemical analysis were taken once a month from the drainage water and the river. The samples from the river were taken upstream and downstream manure fertilized fields and the drainage water – from the outlets of the drainage system, which drains the fertilized area. Water analysis was performed by the Analytical Laboratory of Chemical Analysis of the ASU Water Research Institute. BOD7 was determined by titrimetric method. The research has shown that a greater impact on the increase of BOD7 concentrations in the Jaugila Stream was due to the stream water, saturated with the organic matter, flowing from the upstream areas, rather than the drainage water flowing into this stream from manure fertilized area. The assessment of BOD7 concentrations according to the water quality requirements for surface waters determined that in most cases the water of the Jaugila Stream, both in above and below fertilized areas, was in a very good or good ecological status. The impact of manure fertilized areas on the organic matter concentration in the stream was determined to be minimal, as the statistical analysis of the data has shown that the difference between BOD7 concentrations above and below fertilized areas is negligible.

Road landscapes can be considered important resources for place development. They create impression about the infrastructure of places and transport, which is an important aspect of attracting investment and tourism development. Yet this field of landscape planning and design is hardly studied and needs more attention in Latvia. Institutions at different planning levels and from several fields of expertise are involved in road landscape development. In order to achieve successful cooperation among all the parties involved, it is necessary to reflect the information about road landscape development in the way that it can be easily perceived and understood. Studies in landscape perception prove that people perceive visual information about landscape design and planning better than textual information and regular maps. The purpose of the paper is to introduce with a method of three dimensional (3D) road landscape modelling, developed by authors as a tool for road landscape design aesthetic evaluation, which can be used to demonstrate design variants to wider public and stakeholders. We demonstrate what kind of data are necessary for road landscape modelling, how they are obtained and processed, why certain modelling programs are chosen. The methodology, problems, which occurred during the modelling, and the chosen solutions are described. Results show that chosen methodology is appropriate for large scale projects. The experience gained from the project helps to evaluate the suitability of certain computer programs for road landscape planning and design.

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.