Music schools in Latvia provide pupils with musical education both in the towns and rural areas of Latvia. Studies include instrumental playing, history of music, and music theory lessons. An actual pedagogical problem at the time is activation of pupils' learning. Self-regulated learning acquires significant meaning for pupils' future life. A way of helping pupils' self-regulation in learning is differentiation of learning methods and forms. The aim of the paper is to research the meaning of music schools' ensemble work (collective performance) for enhancing pupils' self-regulated learning. Learning is a process where an individual inherits accumulated experience of the society acquires skills, knowledge, attitudes, enhances his experience, individually and responsibly working and discovering himself, nature and society. Learning as an activity is based on learning experience. According to L.S. Vygotsky's theory of learning, the cultural development depends upon social interaction. The use of ensemble work (collective performance) in school as a form of learning activity and method observes a reciprocal movement towards didactic goal, includes the components of due learning contents (knowledge, skills, instrumental playing experience, attitudes), the results of learning process and its evaluation. Analysis of the obtained data shows that music teachers choose ensemble work as method and form of teaching to indirectly influence the self-regulated learning of pupils, whereas the pupils do not fully understand the significance of ensemble work for enhancing self-regulated learning techniques.

The aim of this research is to work out the graphic method for the calculation of the maximum rain intensity with a different guarantee in Riga. In order to develop this method analysis as regards the rainfall rates having a different probability was carried out. The measurement data of maximum rainfall minute intensity (mm minE-1) 3 and 9 hours as well as daily common rainfall from the accessible archive materials in the period 1954-2006 have been studied in this research and treated with the mathematical statistics methods. After the data collection and calculations, the final results are shown in a graphical way in which it is easy to determine which guarantee percent and repetition probability the rain intensity in Riga may be foreseen. In order to determine which module of one factor regression is the most accurate, five different modules were investigated. From the modules studied the most adequate one for data analyses was the logarithmic module having the accuracy up to 92%. The analysis of the rainfall data as well as the research of the situation of the location place can help to choose the system of rain accumulation and infiltration for each building location thus improving the operation of the total sewerage system. The calculations may be useful in practice to calculate the runoff rates from the areas of different covering. If necessary, using the graphic, it is possible to work out a mathematical expression for the calculation of the maximum rain intensity having any necessary probability. The accessibility and application of a wide range of materials for modern surfaces or infiltration buildings in the world present a wider range of their practical use for separate modern solutions in Riga.

Fire is a major disturbance in hemiboreal forests; it affects not only trees, but also ground vegetation. Previous studies have analysed the succession of ground vegetation after the fire, but not addressed the impact of the size of the burned area on revegetation of it. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess the differences in post-fire ground vegetation in relation to the distance from the edge of the affected area. Vegetation data were collected using Braun-Blanquet method in three sites (122 sample plots) affected by forest fire and five clearcuts (not affected by fire) (92 plots), all regenerated by Scots pine 6 – 7 years before the assessment. The number of ground vegetation species (in all sites predominantly birds or wind dispersed) as well as their projective cover was not affected by the distance from the nearest edge of burned or clearcut, except in burned sites on dry sand soil (Vaccinosa and Myrtillosa), where herbaceous plant and shrub cover was decreasing (from 23.5% to 11.6%) and bryophyte and lichen cover – increasing (from 3% to 13.9%) with an increasing distance from the edge of the area. The total number of plants in burned areas was twice smaller than in clearcut in the same soil conditions but such large difference in projective cover was not observed. There were no significant differences between burned and clearcut areas in respect to Ellenberg’s indicator values on both soil types, as well as no trend in Ellenberg’s values for soil moisture in relation to distance from the nearest stand edge.

The European Union livestock sector is a major player of the agricultural economy and its land use, and livestock is one of the fastest-growing sectors in agriculture, potentially presenting opportunities for economic growth and poverty reduction in rural areas. In Latvia, the year 2014 was quite difficult for the dairy industry both due to Russia’s embargo on dairy product import and low milk purchase prices and due to concerns that milk quotas had been exceeded. It is therefore important that cows are healthy and no additional losses are suffered from mastitis. Mastitis is a complex disease involving many factors, which is mainly caused by bacteria and there is no simple model that encompasses different possible aspects. Therefore, the research aim is to assess the effects of mastitis in cow herds for farms in Latvia. The research study proceeds in two stages or phases: firstly, to review the scientific literature on mastitis problems and solutions to the problems in other countries, secondly, to survey dairy farms of various sizes in the regions of Latvia in order to examine the real situation concerning mastitis and its effects on the economy of farms. A survey results of 74 farms in Latvia revealed that 90.5% of the farms had problems with mastitis. Consequently, if sick cattle are timely culled, it is possible to keep the herd milk yield without a significant drop. In case of cows with mastitis, farms suffer losses from smaller quantities of milk produced depending on farming intensity and due to cows culled with mastitis.

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.

The objective of the research paper is to explore the competitiveness of Latvian dairy sector from the aspect of productivity and export indicators, as well as to examine some of the possibilities to improve the sector competitiveness. The authors explore the productivity and export indicators of Latvian dairy sector, and the link between productivity and export (within the EU context), as well as analyse the impact of farm investment support within RDP 2007 – 2013. Value added per labour unit has been chosen as the productivity indicator; suitable qualitative and quantitative research methods have been applied to the studies. Based on the introduced indices of relative position of dairy industry productivity and exports, dairy processing in Latvia has strong inter-branch position in the domestic food industry. However, the inter-country comparison shows that Latvian dairy processing is behind the EU average level, when its productivity and export volume are considered. It has been found that productivity and export of dairy processing are positively related; rather strong positive correlation also exists between productivity in dairy farming and dairy processing. Therefore, the development of Latvian dairy sector, which mainly depends on the development of exports, can be more successfully achieved by the increase in its productivity; and relatively the largest productivity gap to close is in the dairy farming in Latvia. The direct investment support effect on NVA/AWU of dairy farms is found to be significant and positive, indicating that farm modernisation support of RDP 2007 – 2013 has facilitated the improvement of overall dairy farm productivity in Latvia.

Strawberries (Fragaria× Ananassa Duch.) are widely grown in Latvia, and it is the first berry crop that ripens in summer. In Latvia, climate conditions are very suitable for strawberry growing. Unfortunately, meteorological conditions have become very changeable in recent years. The short day (SD) strawberry cultivars are the most important ones for Latvia, as they initiate flower buds in autumn. For these cultivars it is important to initiate flower buds at the end of September till the end of October. The day length has to decrease less than 14 hours per day to begin this process. In Latvia, the day length below 14 hours per day is at the end of August. The second important limiting factor for initiation of flower buds is the average day temperature, which must be between 10 and 15 °C. The studies on strawberry flower bud initiation in Latvia were done long time ago, on a very small scale and fragmentary. The current paper analyzes the temperature regime during the period of previous ten years (2004 – 2013) in autumn in Dobele in relation to suitability of this climatic factor to the flower bud initiation and strawberry yield next year. The soil surface temperatures during the last ten years in August were about +20 °C, which means that the flower bud initiation could not occur as early as it was described in the previous study.

In breeding of Latvian Warmblood breed carriage type horses Equus caballus one of major breeding objectives is producing of typical purebred animals with minimal influence of modern warmblood breeds. The aim of the study was to analyze the quality of Latvian Warmblood horse breed carriage and sport type mares included in the register of Latvian Horse Breeding Association broodmares and differences between types in valuation and quality of progeny. The data included 135 records from Latvian Warmblood horse breed mares having valuation both of conformation and performance. The data from 79 sport type and 56 carriage type broodmares were collected. The majority of mares in population (31.9%) had proportion 0 – 24.9% of Latvian warmblood purebred ancestors. The proportion of Latvian Warmblood purebred ancestors in the group of carriage type mares was high – 72.2%, while sport type mares – only 23.4%, a difference between groups was significant (p is less than 0.01). Sport type mares showed significantly (p is less than 0.05) better results in conformation and performance quality whereas carriage type broodmares had significantly higher count of daughters registered in Stud book. Comparison of breed types showed that groups did not differ significantly by height of withers and quality of progeny. Lower quality of conformation and performance of carriage type had to be explained by pedigree data as the main criteria for acceptance, also with older age of broodmares. For future the main goal has to be censorious licensing of best carriage type stallions and using young broodmares with higher quality of gaits and conformation for breeding purpose.

Estimating feed intakes of individual cows in a loose-housed system is difficult and unreliable. It is known that estimating intakes from the number of bites taken at grazing is unreliable. Feeding from a total mixed ration (TMR) is likely to have fewer confounding variables. All cows were over 30 months old, of three breeds: Holstein Friesian, Estonian Red and Estonian Native. There were 30 feeding bins and 66 cows. Cows were observed over the whole 24 hour period, from 1st July to October 22nd 2011, in Märja experimental farm, of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and data from 37 cows were collected. Measures taken included: time spent at the feed bin, number of bites taken at each visit, weight lost from the bin, and evidence of stealing. Mean time spent at each visit to the feed bin with standard error was 4.4 + 0.68 minutes. The mean number of bites per visit was 7.1 + 1.01. There was a significant correlation between the number of bites and total time cows spent feeding (p is less than 0.001), with a regression R2 value of 79.8%. No correlation was found between the number of bites and feed removed at each visit (p=0.851) nor between the time per visit and amount of feed removed (p=0.681). Therefore, there is no evidence that either the number of bites taken per visit or the time spent at bin per visit is related to intakes. There was no effect of age. Stealing was evident and widespread.

The influence of forest distribution in the landscape on precipitation in middle latitudes is poorly researched. Moreover, results of such studies are controversial. Nevertheless, most researchers agree with findings, that influence of landscape roughness formed by forests on the amount of precipitation is significant. This study aimed to extend knowledge of the interface between forest distribution and the amount of precipitation during particular periods. Database of the amount of precipitation from 31 Lithuanian meteorological stations during the period of 2002-2010 was used in this study. Findings defined statistically significant correlations in the amount of precipitation increase due to shorter Euclidean distance to the nearest forest edge in the particular landscape (r = -0.421 – -0.359), p is less than 0.05), also shorter distance of the meteorological stations to the nearest forests (r = -0.380, p is less than 0.05) and higher density of the forests, treated as a perimeter per area ratio (PAR) (r = 0.359 – 0.551, p is less than 0.05).