Entrepreneurship education is a relevant topic in today’s study programs of higher education at two levels: as research object and as development of skills while preparing students. In fact, the latter is one of the most important objectives in Lithuanian universities aiming together with other disciplines at developing students’ entrepreneurial skills. The main aim of the article is to analyse theoretical and practical models of entrepreneurship education applied in universities and introduce development trends. Teaching process involves various methods, internships, consultation and instruction, but usually all activities are not systematically applied. From the behavioural perspective, this study analyses students towards entrepreneurship through the opportunity identification, motivational factors, information source, resources impact and entrepreneurial ability. Hypothetical deductive approach was used through a population sample of 194 students of Aleksandras Stulginskis University Faculty of Economics and management. The research summarized in this paper students attitude toward motives, factors encouraging and preventing entrepreneurship and information sources in the higher education institutions. The gap between teaching methods and student attitude towards at entrepreneurship educations can be reduced supplementing collaboration among stakeholders in the entrepreneurship education. In final part of the article, trends of entrepreneurship education in university enabling to assess dimensions of the development of entrepreneurship education are presented.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of drainage on soil carbon stock in a transitional mire drained for forestry. The study site is located in the central part of Latvia representing hemiboreal vegetation zone. Site was drained in 1960. It is located in a catchment area of the river Veseta. An undrained site at the same catchment area was chosen for control (ca. 2.5 km between sites). In both sites, the depth of peat is 4 – 4.5 m. Drained site is dominated by coniferous trees. Soil samples collected in 2014 were used to determine bulk density and carbon content, and to calculate soil carbon stock. Samples were collected down to 80 cm depth. Ground surface elevation was measured before and several times after the drainage to determine peat subsidence. Carbon stock has increased by 0.3 tons haE-1 yr**1 after drainage, although peat has subsided on average by 26 cm (13 – 48 cm). Subsidence was mainly caused by physical shrinkage of peat not by organic matter oxidation. Drainage was followed by compaction of aerated soil layer, which has caused most of the subsidence, especially during the first years after drainage. Soil bulk density has increased almost twice at soil surface layer 0 – 10 cm (from 75 kg m**3 to 141 kg m**3). Differences decrease at deeper sampling depths. It is concluded that drainage is not always followed by reduction of carbon stock in soil. Increased above and below ground litter production rates may offset accelerated decomposition of organic matter after drainage.

Forest fires in Latvia occur every year. Research about vegetation and forest regeneration after forest fire is being carried out in Latvia, and sanitary conditions are being evaluated too; however, there are no large studies about the forest fire impact on radial growth dynamics of trees. The aim of the study was to analyse and compare the response reaction of a forest stand after fire in two forest site types – Hylocomiosa and Vacciniosa turf. mel. The object of the research was fire affected middle–aged managed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands in the aforementioned forest site types. The study compares radial growth dynamics of trees, tree mortality and forest stand sanitary conditions after fire in Hylocomiosa and Vacciniosa turf. mel. The observed fire impact on radial growth dynamics of trees was negative in both forest site types. Negative fire impact on sanitary conditions was observed, too.

Tracked forwarders is one of the solutions for the forest soils with poor bearing capacity providing ability to use well-known technology for reasonable cost to improve accessibility of forest resources. Tracked forwarders are not common in forest nowadays and only a few models are produced serially. The ProSilva F2/2 is a new middle-class forwarder, whose frontal tracks are replaced with big tires, ensuring large contact surface, increased mobility of the machine and significantly reduced mass without loosing the load capacity (15 tonnes). The aim of the study was to evaluate productivity, soil impact and cost of the roundwood forwarding using the ProSilva F2/2. The study was conducted in Finland. Productivity (time per crane cycle, split into operations and loads), load size, depth of ruts and soil compaction were estimated during the study. According to the study results, the average productivity is 16 m**3 per hour (driving distance to a landing site 200 m, driving speed 2.8 km hE-1, average load 9.7 m**3). The productivity can be significantly increased by more efficient utilization of the load capacity and by using gripper with the tilt function. The length of ruts on peat soil (56 m haE-1) does not exceed the permitted threshold values in Latvia. The compaction of soil took place mainly in topsoil, no changes in soil density were observed in deeper soil layers. The prime cost of forwarding according to the preliminary estimates is 2.5 € mE-3 if the annual production is at least 62000 m**3. Utilization rate is important to keep forwarding cost low.

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of the harvester cutting head feed roller type on the mechanical damages of processed roundwood timber in post manufacturing. The study presents the comparison of the gentle Moipu plate wheel rollers and conventional feed rollers having bigger spikes (hereinafter named - conventional feed rollers). The total amount of segments processed with the gentle Moipu plate wheel rollers was 2199, whereas the amount of segments processed using the conventional feed rollers was 5308. When processing roundwood with the gentle feed rollers, in the 1st flow 8.2% of timber was rejected as substandard due to defects. The corresponding figure in the 2nd flow was 5.2% of the material in which the damage in the form studs was caused by the feed rollers. When processing the timber with conventional feed rollers, the percentage of the damage – dents caused by these rollers in the 1st flow was 26.7%, in the 2nd flow – 43.7% and in the 3rd flow only 2.7%. Using the method of characteristics proportion comparison, significant differences have been observed between feed rollers (t = 17.8 is greater than t sub(0.05;∞) = 1.96).

The aim of the study was to compare the productivity and logging costs using the small class harvester Vimek 404 T5 in thinning of birch plantations and young coniferous stands. It was found in the study that due to a lower fuel consumption, maintenance costs and initial investment, the cost of a working hour of the harvester Vimek 404 T5 is significantly smaller than the cost of a working hour of the middle class harvester. The study confirmed that Vimek 404 T5 is a suitable harvester for thinning in a birch plantation; the study also confirmed the previous conclusions about the main advantages of Vimek harvester compared to a middle class harvester in the first thinning – low fuel consumption and costs of maintenance, high productivity and equipment compactness, which allow to reduce the strip road area. The average productivity for Vimek 404 T5 in birch plantation was 6.2 m**3 per productive hour, but in young conifer stand the productivity was 4.9 m**3 per productive hour. The average stem volume in the birch plantation was 0.06 m**3, but in conifer stand 0.05 m**3. Productivity for the same dimension trees in the birch plantation is not significantly different from the data obtained in the thinning of the coniferous stands.

The homogeneous and light wood of birch is suitable for different types of treatment processes and is highly valued for products where visual aspect is important, however, birch assortments are highly susceptible to damages caused by fungi during the storage. Such fungal damages cause discoloration of birch roundwood intended for further woodworking. Sapwood discoloration development and its influencing factors for birch roundwood were analyzed in the summer - autumn period of the year 2016 (August, September and October). Control cut for assessment of sapwood discoloration development was made in four birch roundwood stacks in the districts of Auce and Daugavpils. In order to evaluate the influence of harvesting type, side surface damages, placement in pile, storage duration, diameter, distance from the end plane, daily average temperatures, precipitation amount and relative humidity on development of sapwood discoloration, 616 discs from birch log end planes were prepared. After conducting multiple factor linear regression, it was concluded that a significant development of discoloration and its changes for birch roundwood are promoted by harvesting type, placement in pile, distance from the end plane, daily average temperatures and relative humidity (R2 = 0.450). For birch logs that are prepared by harvester with the daily average air temperature + 6 °C, the first signs of discoloration appear after 17 – 18 days, but on all logs stacked in pile they appear after 68 – 69 days. Whereas, with the daily average temperature of + 18 °C, the first signs of discoloration can occur after only six days, but on all logs stacked in pile they appear after 23 days.

A pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland was installed at the farm Mezaciruli, Zalenieki County, Jelgava region, in the middle part of Latvia, in August 2014 to improve stormwater quality collected from the farmyard and demonstrate applicability of constructed wetland as a convenient treatment option for contaminated surface runoff. The examined water treatment system consists of a sedimentation pond as a pretreatment plant, a water pump, a water distribution well, and a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland with the surface area of 160 m2 . During the observation period of 27 months (2014 – 2016) water quality parameters such as total suspended solids (TSS), nitrate nitrogen (NO3 -N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4 -N), total nitrogen (TN), orthophosphate phosphorus (PO4 -P), and total phosphorus (TP) were monitored and nutrient removal efficiency of the system was examined. Water samples collected at the inlet and outlet were compared. Monitoring results obtained during this study show that on average concentrations of TN and TP were reduced by 22% and 80%, respectively. However, nitrate - nitrogen concentrations on average increased by 10%, as during the time period from June, 2015 to March, 2016 reduction in NO3 -N concentrations was not observed.

The plants emit different types of volatile organic compounds (Bio VOC’s) and can improve air quality: they effectively remove organic pollutions and reduce the number of microorganisms in the air by releasing phytoncides. The lack of negative ions in the air can cause deterioration of the health of humans breathing it. At the same time, an air saturated with negative ions can improve the state of health and provide a comfortable environment. In this article, the influence of the plants (Cupressus macrocarpa) on the number of ions is proved, based on a series of experiments performed with applying high-voltage pulses (air ionizer). This work is devoted to the elaboration of the mathematical relationship between the air ions concentration and the factors influencing it. For this purpose an experimental stand was made, consisting of two equal compartments: one contained the plants while another one was used as a control without plants. It was concluded that the plants, in general, are able to stabilize the ion concentration and to reduce its fluctuations. The plants help to increase the concentration of negative ions and to decrease the concentration of positive ones.

The growing economy with following industrialization and urbanization has led to environmental contamination with trace elements worldwide. In urban environment, the large inputs of anthropogenic contaminants in atmosphere are arising from mobile and stationary sources. The snow sample analysis is one of methods to monitor air contamination with heavy metals in urban areas. The aim of this research is to analyse heavy metal contamination and distribution in urban environment of Jelgava city. The samples were collected twice in January and February. Snow samples were collected in 20 urban area sampling plots and one natural area sampling plot with three repetitions taken from 1.0 to 1.5 kg of snow. The concentration of trace elements was estimated in 126 melted and filtrated snow water using inductively coupled plasma spectrometer (ICP-OES). The average heavy metals and nutrients concentrations were calculated for each sample. The concentrations data of trace elements were analysed using agglomerative hierarchical clustering method. The results show differences between results in January and February. The differences are related to anthropogenic impact intensity differences during the exposition periods of snow. The clustering results of snow samples taken in January show three clusters, but snow samples taken in February show four clusters.