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This article presents a study aimed at integrating two road safety approaches to effectively prioritise road sections requiring safety improvements. The study examines the role of injury severity assessment in evaluating the safety of road networks. It outlines the fundamental principles of the MAIS3+ methodology, discusses its relevance to road safety analysis, and highlights its potential applications for assessing road infrastructure risk. A pilot safety assessment of the Lithuanian main road network is presented, based on the severity of traffic accident outcomes classified according to the MAIS3+ criterion. Furthermore, the study addresses the challenges of linking hospital and police data and provides recommendations to improve data integration.

This article examines the role of material elements of the physical environment in the formation of transitional spaces, with particular attention to their impact on spatial perception and practical use. A review of the literature reveals that the materiality of transitional zones is often overlooked in architectural research, even though these spaces are increasingly recognized as significant components of the contemporary urban environment. The text also outlines the main methodological challenges encountered in systematically investigating the influence of the physical environment on the user‘s spatial experience.

Straipsnyje nagrinėjami sluoksniuotųjų lenkiamų gelžbetoninių elementų įlinkiai, kurie priklausomi nuo sluoksnių prasislinkimo. Taip pat analizuojami sluoksniuotųjų gelžbetoninių elementų darbo etapai ir jų įlinkių skaičiavimo metodai. Eksperimentinėje dalyje tiriama dvisluoksnio gelžbetoninio elemento erdvinio tinklelio pavidalo įtaka konstrukcijos standumui. Pasirėmus analitiniais įlinkio skaičiavimo metodais, apskaičiuojami išbandytų sijų įlinkiai esant skirtingoms apkrovoms. Gauti analitiniai duomenys palyginami su eksperimentiniais rezultatais. Išanalizavus skirtumus, kuriamas analitinis dvisluoksnių lenkiamų gelžbetoninių elementų įlinkio skaičiavimo metodas, atliekant regresinę analizę. Skaičiavimo metodas pritaikomas asmeniniams ir kitų autorių eksperimentinių tyrimų bandiniams ir atliekamas eksperimentinių ir analitinių rezultatų palyginimas.

Regioninis viešojo transporto organizavimas padeda išvengti papildomo maršrutų derinimo, viešojo transporto paslauga neturėtų būti ribojama savivaldybių ribų, tai dabar reglamentuojama LR vietos savivaldos įstatymu. Bendradarbiaujant sutrumpinamas organizavimo laikas, optimizuojamos sąnaudos bei skatinamas efektyvumas. Regioninio transporto paslaugų tinklas ar atskiri maršrutai yra rengiami ir eksploatuojami remiantis turimais bendrais kokybiniais ir kiekybiniais duomenimis, įžvalgomis, pasiūlymais. Tyrimo tikslas –pagal pasirinktus kriterijus palyginti ir įvertinti viešojo transporto tarp miesto ir žiedinės savivaldybės integracijos lygį. Tyrimas darytas analizuojant 3 pagrindinių žiedinių Lietuvos savivaldybių strateginius planavimo dokumentus, planavimo procesuose atliktas gyventojų apklausas. Pagal pasirinktus kriterijus lyginant tris Lietuvos žiedines savivaldybes didžiausias viešojo transporto integracijos lygis pasiektas Klaipėdos rajono savivaldybėje, kur pasiekti visi pagrindiniai integracijos rodikliai.

Agriculture plays a crucial part in the economic growth of several developing nations; however, it creates 1,300 million tons of waste each year, which generates environmental issues. Noise pollution, particularly in urban environments, is an expanding global health issue for emotional and physical health. Conventional synthetic sound absorption materials used for sound absorption pose environmental and health risks; therefore, agricultural wastes including coconut fiber and sugarcane fiber, are being sought for safer alternatives. Natural fibers as sustainable sound-absorbing solutions draw increasing research attention. This paper evaluates the Life Cycle Assessment of agriculture waste based on the SWM-GHG calculator to compare the waste management approaches by calculating the GHG emission related to the recycling and disposal of wastes from cradle to grave, and sound absorption properties of coconut and sugarcane fibers in composite materials. A non-toxic PVA binder was utilized to prepare samples with densities of 75, 100, and 125 kg/m3, and sound absorption was evaluated based on ISO 10534-2. The results show a cost-benefit trade-off in waste management where higher recycling reduces GHG emissions but increases costs; the Default Scenario results in the highest emissions (20,439 t CO2e/yr) at the lowest cost, and Scenario 3 results in the lowest emissions (5,148 t CO2e/yr) at the highest cost. Also, sugarcane fiber (75 kg/m³) achieved the highest absorption coefficient (0.94 at 800 Hz), while coconut fiber (125 kg/m³) reached 0.91 at 1000 Hz, making both suitable for acoustic applications, with coconut fiber excelling in mid to high frequencies and sugarcane fiber in low to mid frequencies, particularly at lower densities.

Pneumonia detection from chest X-rays is crucial for early diagnosis, and deep learning models –specifically convolutional neural networks (CNNs) – have shown promise in automating this process. In this study, a CNN using the DenseNet-121 architecture was developed and trained, referred to as LDCS2, to classify chest X-ray images as pneumonia or normal, using a combined dataset from three publicly available sources. The CNN approach was chosen over Vision Transformers (ViT) due to lower computational requirements and better performance with limited data. A traditional training, validation, and testing split was used instead of k-fold cross-validation to reduce execution time. LDCS2 demonstrated excellent discrimination between pneumonia and normal images alongside high computational efficiency. These findings highlight the potential of DenseNet-based CNNs for automated pneumonia diagnosis, particularly in resource-constrained settings.

This study investigates the seasonal structural behaviour of flexible pavement structures constructed on subgrades with varying types of treatment. Eight road sections in Lithuania, featuring natural subgrades or soils stabilised with lime, cement, or hydraulic road binder (HRB), were evaluated using Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing during thawed and recovered states. Structural condition was assessed using deflection-based indices: the Surface Curvature Index (SCI), Base Damage Index (BDI), and Base Curvature Index (BCI). Seasonal changes were quantified, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were applied to assess the statistical significance of deflection differences. The results revealed that the untreated subgrades experienced the largest seasonal softening, with BCI increases of up to 45%. Cement stabilization provided the most effective mitigation, limiting the BCI to 14% and preserving the stability of SCI. Lime-treated sections showed a dosage-dependent improvement, while HRB treatment yielded results comparable to high-percentage lime stabilisation. The study confirms that the type and dosage of subgrade treatment significantly influence pavement resistance under freeze-thaw conditions and highlights the importance of evaluating the geometry of the deflection bowl to correctly interpret structural indicators. These findings contribute to improved mechanistic understanding of seasonal load response in flexible pavements and inform best practices for subgrade stabilisation.

Pavement must have the characteristics that allow safe, fast, comfortable, economical and reliable vehicle traffic. The normative documents introduce limit values and permissible deviations of the controlled parameters of the road pavement, for which penalty deductions are levied if they are not satisfied or exceeded. The asphalt pavement installation rules for the ĮT ASFALTAS 08 contain 10 such indicators, whose relevance in respect of road quality is investigated in this paper. The relative weights of each indicator (defect) have been determined using assessments from 91 experts. The methods used in the study are rank correlation, ARTIW-L, ARTIW-N (Average Rank Transformation into Weight Linear and Non-linear), and DPW (Direct Percentage Weight). The expert team’s opinions are consistent because the empirical concordance coefficient value of 0.715 is 34.6 times higher than the minimum concordance coefficient value of 0.021. The most important indicators for the experts are the lower degree of compaction, the lower thickness of the layer, and the lower amount of binder. A pilot project dedicated to determining the required number of experts has shown that the number of experts in a team, exceeding 20, has almost no effect on the average of ranks and percentage weights of the criteria.

This study investigates the viability of Phragmites australis, commonly known as the common reed, as a sustainable feedstock for biogas production, emphasizing the effectiveness of pretreatment techniques to enhance biogas production. Given the invasive nature of Phragmites australis, the utilization of its biomass not only addresses environmental management challenges but also contributes to renewable energy solutions. The key objective is to evaluate mechanical and thermal pretreatment techniques on the anaerobic digestion performance of Phragmites australis using the first-order kinetic model biogas’ cumulative production and volatile solids (VS) degradation were estimated. Sensitivity analysis was used to assess how different degradation rate constants and final biogas yield affected the efficiency of biogas generation. The degradation of VS was significantly accelerated by higher temperatures and finer particle sizes. Results indicate that both mechanical and thermal pretreatment significantly enhance biogas yield and degradation rates, milling (<1 cm) and moderate thermal treatment (100 °C, 2 h) providing optimal results. These studies highlight that the selection of appropriate pretreatment methods should be based on their sustainability and effectiveness in terms of reducing energy consumption and environmental impact.

The analysed research question raises the problem of modernisation of technical specifications of the locomotive on electric traction. The authors of the scientific research consider the modernisation of the DS3 locomotive with the transition from a single-phase (25 kV 50 Hz AC) to a two-phase (25 kV 50 Hz AC/3 kV DC) power supply system, which aims to increase interoperability with neighbouring railway networks. A multi-level literature review has been carried out, transient and dynamic characteristics have been modelled in MATLAB, and the principles of control of traction converters and motors have been formulated. Ensuring stable operating modes when switching power systems is confirmed by optimal attenuation ζ ≈ 0.7, and the electromagnetic compatibility analysis has revealed characteristic interference of 500–3000 Hz, thus allowing us to propose filters in accordance with EN 50121. The radar graph of the comparative analysis provides an improvement in the main metrics (power, traction efforts, efficiency, and reaction time) in the context of an ideal 100% scale.The modernisation of DS3 is recognised as technically feasible, cost-effective and compliant with international technical aspects, which ensures prospects for joint operation in Ukraine and the EU.