The second half of the 20th century brought to light the consequences of human activity, when Humanity was confronted with demiurgical complexes and realized that the planet Earth was not only nature, but a complex system that today could no longer be operated by traditional methods and logic. While until the middle of the 20th century man used natural resources only to meet his needs, the 21st century poses new challenges for mankind to manage the consequences of human activities and to use them rationally and sustainably. The paper presents a study aimed at assessing the potential of ecosystem services development in the Nemunas Delta and anticipating their development directions. As a result of the research, the possible development directions of the Elderships were presented. It was done in two scenarios. The research was carried out in six municipality subdivisions (elderships) of the Nemunas Delta area in the framework of the Lithuanian Science Council project ‘Interaction of ecosystem services and human activities in the context of climate change’. Preparation of this paper was supported by funding from European Social Fund (project No 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0178) under the grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT).

Sustainable development is playing an increasingly important role in today’s society, and it is essential for companies seeking to meet the needs of the market to pay increasing attention to the application of sustainable development principles in their operations. The enterprise logistics system is one of the essential activities ensuring the company’s competitiveness, which ensures timely production and quality of customer service. However, in order to integrate the principles of sustainable development into the company’s logistics system, it is necessary to develop a model that identifies the impact of sustainability on each factor of the logistics system. The paper analyses the impact of sustainable development on distribution logistics to determine which activities in distribution logistics are most responsive to sustainable development and can help determine the level of corporate sustainability. The main purpose of the model, presented in the paper, is to help the business sector integrate sustainable development principles effectively in distribution logistics, taking into account the significance of on-going factors in the system for sustainability.

Nowadays, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flying at a low altitude in conjunction with photogrammetric and LiDAR technologies allows to collect images of very high-resolution to generate dense points cloud and to simulate geospatial data of territories. The technology used in experimental research contains reconstruction of topography of surface with historical structure, observing the recreational infrastructure, obtaining geographic information for users who are involved in preservation and inspection of such unique cultural/ heritage object as are mounds in Lithuania. In order to get reliable aerial mapping products of preserved unique heritage object, such photogrammetric/ GIS procedures were performed: UAV flight for taking images with the camera; scanning surface by LiDAR simultaneously; processing of image data, 3D modelling and generation of orthophoto. Evaluation of images processing results shows that the accuracy of surface modelling by the use of UAV photogrammetry method satisfied requirements – mean RMSE equal to 0.031 m. The scanning surface by LiDAR from low altitude is advisable, relief representation of experimental area was obtained with mean accuracy up to 0.050 m. Aerial mapping by the use of UAV requires to specify appropriate ground sample distance (GSD) that is important for reducing number of images and time duration for modelling of area. Experiment shows that specified GSD of 1.7 cm is not reasonable; GSD size increased by 1.5 times would be applicable. The use of different software in addition for DSM visualization and analysis is redundant action.

The purpose of this article is to carry out an analysis of the natural landscape of the Republic of Lithuania in 2004–2019. During the preparation of the article, the following scientific methods were used: literature analysis, determination and evaluation of the current situation, grouping method, comparison method, graphical method, analytical and statistical analysis methods, logical analysis. The article analyses the change of the area of natural (natural, subnatural) landscape components (natural forests, wetlands, water bodies) during the period between the years 2004 and 2019. The analysis showed that the two components of the natural landscape of the Republic of Lithuania during 2004–2019 increased: the forest area (132,849.03 ha or 6.15%) and water bodies (3,668.49 ha or 1.38%). Unfortunately, the area of wetlands has decreased by 50,990.20 ha (35.05%). During the analysed period, the natural landscape of Lithuania increased by 85527.97 ha or 3.39%. At present, it is particularly important to care for and restore valuable landscape complexes to fulfil their ecosystem functions. One of the most important challenges is to reconcile urbanization and nature conservation so as not to reduce significant areas of the country’s natural landscape.

Soil and groundwater as the leachate may contaminate surrounding watersheds, thus different pollutants from closed dumps and landfills pose significant risks to human health and ecology. Pollution may lead to soil and water degradation however it might be diminished through sustainable dump site closure projects and processual management. Several decades of clays and clay minerals studies lead to modified clay composites concept that is one of the potential promising solutions for building the landfill covering material and serve as capping biocover layer at the same time. As humic substances are constituents of soil organic matter, pollutants can be sorbed on the surfaces of complex molecules. These kind of humic acid-clay mineral composite materials thus might become as low cost building material component − covering material. Construction of such layer is to be performed as a combination of clay-humic composites and landfill mined fine fraction of waste with small amendment of natural soil. Several hypotheses that are already proven has to be mentioned: a) Clay minerals produce composites with humic substances; 2) Clay-humic complexes reduce through sorption both organic and inorganic pollutants; 3) Low risk of toxic by-products from landfill mined waste fine fraction can be the problem; 4) Such composites mostly would trap toxic contaminants (e.g., pharmaceuticals) found in reworked fine fraction of waste. The aim of the work is to provide alternative solution for landfill closure by giving theoretical considerations from multidisciplinary knowledge of environmental engineering, chemistry and waste management.

The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has a significant impact on the business model of companies operating in the financial sector. Digital transformation leads to changing existing business model rapidly, as well as necessity of developing new processes specifically related to the use of ICT in business processes, development of new products and updating existing ones. At present, changes in the demand for ICT related processes in financial sector are observed both through the development of different technologies and their applications core or ancillary processes (e.g. innovations in payment systems including crypto currencies, blockchain-assisted smart contract, credit markets and insurance including peer-to-peer lending). Based on the opportunities offered by ICT, new business models need to be developed in the financial sector to transform these capabilities into new products and services that respond to changing customer demand. The aim of research to investigate the changes taking place in financial sector in the light of developments in ICT for acquisition of necessary competencies. Research methodology includes systematic review of scientific literature, analysis of selected financial sector statistics, semi-structured industry expert interviews and statistics analysis. The empirical study is limited to the financial sector of Latvia. Although due to the global nature of the financial sector the research findings could be applied internationally.

The socio-economic changes brought about by globalisation, the internationalisation and digitalisation of higher education, as well as the current demographic situation in Europe and Latvia, raise the issue of the competitiveness of academic staff in the context of multicultural higher education. The aim of the study is to provide a theoretical basis for the competitiveness of academic staff in the view of educational sciences, respecting the different trends and based on the conceptual approaches in personal/specialist competitiveness research. The following research methods were used: study, analysis and evaluation of scientific literature (theoretical research method); reflection of personal experience (empirical research method). As a result of the theoretical research, two trends for the substantiation of the concept of competitiveness in the educational sciences were identified. The first trend: the competitiveness of a person is substantiated through transfers from economic and management science, with a particular emphasis on specialist marketability and employability as a significant manifestation of competitiveness. The second trend: according to the new paradigm of competitiveness in educational sciences, the competitiveness of a human as a person and as a specialist is based on the perspective of pedagogy and psychology. The research results led to the conclusion that there are three conceptual approaches in the methodology of competitiveness research: 1) qualitative approach: identifies and lists competitive personality traits and qualities; 2) functional approach: describes the competitive behaviour of a person or specialist; 3) structural approach: competitiveness is substantiated as a complex combination of personal/ specialist qualities, identifying several structural components. All of these approaches are also characteristic to the research of competitiveness of academic staff. The following taxonomy should be respected in the substantiation of academic staff competitiveness: 1) substantiation of personal competitiveness; 2) substantiation of specialist competitiveness in the context of different industries; 3) the substantiation of the competitiveness of specifically academic staff in the context of the specifics of higher education.

One of the modern education problems being investigated is a phenomenon of student procrastination and minimisation of its influence on achievement of career goals. A transformative pedagogical experiment was carried out involving 1st year engineering students of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies during the 2018/2019 academic year. The aim of the transformative pedagogical experiment was to promote the reduction of student procrastination levels and achievement of their goals by practical experimental approbation of a career education program. During the experiment, self-evaluation of student procrastination was performed before and after the implementation of the career education program. The methodology included 20 indicators of procrastination self-evaluation. The program included three topic-based parts: 1) understanding and setting student career goals; 2) defining procrastination levels and factors; 3) the influence of procrastination minimisation on career goals’ achievement. The study results allowed to conclude that due to the career education program elaborated and implemented in practice, substantial changes in student procrastination self-evaluation took place during the transformative pedagogical experiment. There was a significant difference in student procrastination levels before and after the transformative pedagogical experiment. The study results demonstrated that the elaborated and experimentally implemented career education program is valid and can be further used for minimisation of student procrastination, it can contribute to career goals’ achievement and for the reduction of early discontinuation of studies and dropping out of university as there is a correlation between procrastination and dropout phenomena.

One of the factors affecting winter wheat grain yields are leaf blotches. The two-factorial trial was conducted in the Research and Study farm ‘Pēterlauki’ in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 (Latvia). Four nitrogen rates and five fungicide treatment schemes were used. The aim was to clarify the impact of leaf blotches on the winter wheat yield. In winter wheat plots, the tan spot (caused by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis) dominated but also Septoria leaf blotch (caused by Zymoseptoria tritici) was found. The severity of leaf blotches in winter wheat was low in both years due to dry and warm weather. The development of leaf blotches was influenced by fungicide application schemes, but not by nitrogen fertilizer rate. The total disease impact during the vegetation period was estimated by calculation the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC). AUDPC for both diseases were significantly higher in the variant without fungicides (F0) and in the variant, where half of dose of fungicides at the growth stage (GS) 55–59 (F1) was used. The using of full dose of fungicide at the GS 55–59 (F2) as well as using of fungicides two (F3) or three (F4) times in growing season significantly decreased the values of AUDPC for both diseases, but differences among AUDPC values in mentioned three variants were not significant. Results showed that the nitrogen fertilization significantly increased the average per both years grain yield until the nitrogen rate N180. Fungicide treatment schemes had no significant effect on the average grain yield.

Puccinia striiformis is a biotrophic pathogen able to cause broad scale epidemics in wheat growing regions. P. striiformis is genetically highly variable pathogen. New, aggressive genetic lineages, adapted to warm temperatures have been observed in the last decades worldwide. The study aimed to ascertain the structure of genetic lineages of P. striiformis in Latvia. Forty one wheat leaf samples with yellow rust symptoms were collected in 2017–2019. Fenotyping and genotyping methods were used for identification of genetic lineages in Global Rust Reference Center, Denmark. Assessments of leaf diseases on winter wheat differentials – ‘Ambition’, ‘Mariboss’, ‘Moro’, ‘Compair’, ‘Rendezvous’, ‘Spalding Prolific’ and local variety ’Fredis’ were made during the research. Five genetic lineages of P. striiformis – PstS4, PstS7, PstS10, PstS13 and PstS14 were found. 56% from the samples belonged to PstS14, 17.1% PstS10, 12.2% PstS4 and PstS7, 2.4% PstS13. Genetic lineages identified from Latvian wheat samples are found in the biggest cereal growing regions in Europe and are able to cause epidemics on wheat. Genetic lineages of P. striiformis from Latvian samples have not been identified before. All differential varieties were infected with P. striiformis in 2017, ‘Ambition’ and ‘Moro’ in 2018, no infection was observed on differentials in 2019 despite the presence of P. striiformis on winter wheat variety ‘Fredis’. The identification of genetic lineages of P. striiformis on wheat in Latvia is necessary to continue.