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The paper overviews the history of the privately owned Kaunas Women's Arts and Crafts School (1927-1940), established by the craftswoman Stasė Gudonytė-Biziokienė (1896-1943). Her work is analysed in the context of the interwar arts and crafts education. The school was continuing the tradition of women's crafts education that formed in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Being part of the interwar elite, Gudonytė-Bizokienė, was considered one of the founders of Lithuanian high fashion. During the period of 1935-1936, the school introduced three additional courses: hat making, women's fashion, and children's clothing design and tailoring. The paper uses archival material and memories of family members to present the biography of Gudonytė-Bizokienė. The paper also describes the school with its educational aims, structure, institutional reforms of 1935, and its curriculum. The paper overviews the remaining samples of the students' work that reflect the interwar ideals of a cosy home space, and feature a mix of art deco and modernised folk style. The significance of the school is demonstrated by tracing the careers of its graduates in the general context of arts and crafts education of the time. Apart from Kaunas Art School and Dotnuva Academy of Agriculture (1924-1945), Kaunas Women's Arts and Crafts School was the only higher education establishment with speciality in arts. The school's aims matched the Lithuanian demands. Gudonytė-Bizokienė's tailoring courses were on par with the educational programs of the notable tailors of the interwar Kaunas. The paper concludes that it was the artistic crafts that Gudonytė-Bizokienė saw as her main goal, while the fashion salons were only an appendage to her educational work. Crafts education was credited with a higher status in the Lithuanian schools of vocational education. However small, the group of the school's graduates that the research was able to identify demonstrates excellent professional skills and readiness to work in the sphere of crafts education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the work of Kaunas bookbinding studios during the Interwar period. The research resulted in a large amount of archival data on the identities of the bookbinders from that time, as well as their professional qualifications, capacities, work management, level of mechanization, services on offer, materials used, product prices and requests from clients. The research aimed to reveal the differences between the industrial, custom high-street and custom artisan bookbinding. However it turned out that they were all closely intertwined. The analysis of the documented bookbinding equipment in various workshops has shown that the process of mechanization was rather slow, and that even the mass production was dominated by manual work. Back then, many books would leave the printing presses soft covered, and authors themselves often had to personally seek out the bookbinders for more durable book covers. Back then Kaunas had several types of bookbinding studios: industrial printing house bookbinders, private bookbinding businesses, and individual artisans. However all these types of workshops were able to provide the same range of services -- from mass productions to one-off books, both normal and artist editions. For instance, printing house bookbinders would not only take care of the mass production but also accept individual orders, even for one-off prints. Furthermore, all bookbinding studios were not only binding books (and documents) but also producing folders, photo albums and greeting cards, as well as padding the maps and charts with fabric and offering book 'restoration' services. Although Kaunas had no bookbinding school, many artistic bookbinding experts knowledgeable of the many intricacies of the craft. The craft of bookbinding often intertwined with leather decoration business -- the latter also used the same materials and offered products such as photo albums and notebooks. The Interwar leather processing and bookbinding industries were highly influenced by "Šatrija", a bookbinding company which had the Estonian expert Aksel Karing workin under their employ. He introduced some artistic and technical innovations of leather processing, thus significantly popularising this trade. The research concludes that the Lithuanian artistic bookbinding has been influenced by the Estonian school much earlier than it was thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the circumstances surrounding the establishment of Kaunas’ first metalworking factory. It delves into details such as the founding date (Autumn of 1862), the spelling of the founder’s name — nobleman Tomas Heidukevičius (also known as Tomasz Hejdukiewicz) — the initial activities of the factory, capital procurement, and the establishment of the company. Through presented documents and a cemetery inspection, this article refutes the misconception that the factory was originally named “Minerva” and that its first owner was nobleman Mikalojus Pranciškus Rekošas. The “reintroduction” of Heidukevičius into the historiography of the development of Lithuanian industry sheds light on the origin of artifacts found on his gravestone bearing his initials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the discourse of the right-wing and left-wing politicians and the academic community in 1918–1922 when trying to decide on the type of university needed by the state of Lithuania being built. The novelty of the article is reflected in two aspects. Firstly, the analysis is done at a micro-level, i.e., highlighting the key views and disagreements concerning the university prevailing in the society of the time from the individual perspective. Secondly, the discourse analysis has shown that the attitudes, actions, and initiatives in terms of leadership of politicians and intellectuals were important in decision-making related to university studies. It is that leadership of the academic community in the opening of the first private school of higher education in independent Lithuania, namely the Advanced Courses in 1919–1920, that influenced both the Government and members of the Constituent Assembly to find a consensus on founding the University of Lithuania in Kaunas in 1922. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, in addition to the already quite well-known episode of the issue of lifetime visas by the Japanese vice-consul in Lithuania Chiune Sugihara in Kaunas in the summer of 1940, Lithuania’s position on the issue of refugees is presented, as well as the efforts of Lithuanian diplomats in negotiating with the governments of Britain and the USSR about the possibilities of emigration of willing refugees – Polish Jews. The contribution of Jan Zwartendijk, Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Lithuania, to the history of salvation is also remembered. The paths of emigration are discussed, showing their entire spectrum, and not just the usual ones with the Trans-Siberian route linked by Sugihara visas. The changing policy of the Japanese government on the issue of transit visas is reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the activities of the “Iron Wolf” of the Lithuanian National Guard in 1927–1930. The main focus is on the Kaunas group of this organization, reviewing the activities of opposition organizations, the tracking of public institution employees and the formation of nationalist organizations and a bureaucratic apparatus loyal to the nationalists (tautininkai). Based on the archival material, which has so far been little systematically used in the scientific literature, the efforts of the post-coup regime of A. Smetona and A. Voldemaras to establish themselves in power are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper computer loanwords and tendencies of the use of Lithuanian equivalents among students were explored and the factors determining their choice were defined. The computer terminology is one of the newest sections of special terminology and thus has not yet been established. The larger half of computer terms are adopted from English, the spread of which is being tried to restrain, that is why barbarisms are being replaced by appropriate Lithuanian terms. However, suitable substitutes are not always to be found. Furthermore, not all of the new terms proposed by the specialists establish themselves in the Lithuanian language. The adoption or rejection of a particular Lithuanian term can be defined by various factors: brevity of term, sonority, comfort of use, clarity, fidelity, adoption of the loanword, etc. The paper analyses the data, provided in questionnaires by students of Kaunas University of Technology, about the use of 10 computer loanwords and the use of 1 equivalent and discusses the factors, defining the adoption or rejection of loanwords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the interwar period architecture of rural houses in Kaunas County, their types and exterior. The aim of the research is to analyze the rural dwelling-house architecture during the interwar period in Kaunas County by distinguishing the characteristic types of such rural houses and identifying their prevalence; also analyze the basic factors that influenced the architecture, plan structure, innovations and continuity of the building tradition of the rural living houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prepared publication is intended for the initial systematization of the experience of applying wooden constructions in Lithuania. The paper deals with research conducted by the experts in the field from other countries. This part of material cultural heritage in Lithuania has been first introduced by the scholars from Scandinavia, Germany, Russia and partly Poland - the countries representing notable achievements looking into cultural and economic history. The produced works mainly focus on the forms of wooden constructions, the original decoration of different parts of the building, the plasticity of details, style and colours. Scant attention has been paid to structural solutions. More sophisticated and interesting wooden constructions of the local buildings (bridges, churches, synagogues, manors, etc.) were seriously deteriorated or possibly fictitious. The majority of analogical constructions found in the neighbouring countries were described earlier. Later, these investigations were properly completed by the graduates studying in Lithuania. However, they had to be thoroughly trained to become professionals. For this purpose, advanced study programs and first course books in Lithuanian were prepared. From a historical point of view, for the future, gained experience in overcoming earlier backwardness within a short period of time and intercepting valuable elements of European experience are the issues worth paying attention. This is the way of how young and promising graduates were trained. They were good enough at proceeding with works started by their teachers. In the post-war period, a large number of them became emigrants or exiles and lost the possibility of carrying on their works in Lithuania. A. Bistrickas, J. Paulauskas and other graduates from Vytautas Magnus University are those deserved for their significant accomplishments in the field of wooden constructions. They were also the teachers of several following generations of the future engineers. Algirdas Baltrušaitis, one of the graduates from Vytautas Magnus University started developing intensively a new stage in the field of wooden constructions and was probably the first associated professor of Kaunas University of Technology (former Kaunas Polytechnic Institute) who participated in the international conferences and suggested in-depth research on the development of wooden constructions. The introduced publication has been prepared with reference to his anniversary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy retention problems of heated buildings are treated in the paper. The potential of heat transferred through the building envelope is higher in comparison with the environmental potential at outdoor temperature. Therefore, the idea of endothermic heating with a possibility to avoid heat losses by heat recovery into premises after regeneration in the heat pump is proposed. At present, the ground of outdoor air is used as a source of low potential energy in heat pumps of engineering systems in buildings. Authors have suggested to apply the heat transferred through the building envelope as an energy source in absorbers located in the structure of the building envelope. If all heat losses are recovered, the building will become an adiabatic space. In this case, heat will circulate within the building, generating an endothermic process with some external energy needed for heat pump action. Heat losses in such a building would be almost eliminated at the operation of the proposed heating system. he advantages of the proposed heating system: heat losses of buildings into the environment are eliminated, thermal environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emission are significantly reduced, energy consumption in a building is decreased, especially in comparison with traditional heating systems. An investigation of the experimental model of a building with the endothermic heating system is foreseen at the Institute of Architecture and Construction of the Kaunas University of Technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remains of the fortifications of Kaunas Fortress represent nonutilized urban and architectural potential at various levels of Kaunas cityscape. Single fortifications and the whole Kaunas Fortress as a system are analysed in the paper within the context of Kaunas cityscape. Analysis is made from the following points of view: urban frame, natural frame, mental city image and four types of cultural symbols of the cityscape-text. Principal suggestions for utilization of the system of former fortifications in Kaunas are presented. The work could serve as a methodological example for similar investigations in other fortresses within urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty analysis has been applied for some years at the Lithuanian Energy Institute, this far only to complex technical systems when estimating the uncertainty of thermal hydraulic calculation result. However, calculations of uncertainties could be applied also to natural systems. Modelling of hydrological and hydrodynamic processes usually faces the problem of not precisely known parameters and physical phenomena. Quantitative uncertainty analysis might be used to quantify the underlying uncertainties that might arise due to initial data, mathematical model or solution methods. The ordinary calibration procedure of the MIKE 21 HD computer code evaluates only the influence of mathematical equations' parameters (coefficients of bed resistance resistance and turbulence) on modelling results, but uncertainty due to initial data is not taken into account. This paper presents uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in the calibration process of hydrodynamic modelling of the Kaunas Reservoir using the SUSA computer code. The calibration of the model was done in the following order: estimation of initial data and the MIKE 21 HD code parameters that have an impact on calculation results: generation of input data sets and hydrodynamic calculation of the Kaunas Reservoir using the generated sets; sensitivity analysis of modelling results to determine most significant calibration parameters. It has been determined that the basic input parameters in the calibration process are the coefficients of bed resistance and turbulence and the water discharge of the Nemunas river as a boundary condition of the model. The influence of the other input parameters is less significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An idea of the dipolis of Vilnius and Kaunas formation is under discussion in the paper with the aim to establish both a metropolitan and recognized centre on an international scale. The first step is completed, i e a strategic plan of the dipolis is prepared following the initiative of both cities' municipalities. This plan is contradictory and controversial. The objective is declared for the first time in order to form a system of factors which could turn the existing polycentric network of the Lithuanian cities to another direction, i e to the concentration of social, economic and demographical potentials. It is not acceptable because it will expand the existing gap of Vilnius and Kaunas from the periphery and reduce the viability of the whole Lithuanian urban system. There is no basis for a bipolar urban structure formation. The potential development in the case of big cities and their non-formal regions do not overlap, the internal links are weak, and there are no indications of linear urban network formation. The progress of the whole Lithuanian urban system due to a low density of population as well as growing emigration should not be interdependent with an artificial development of both the metropolitan and regional physical structures. The idea of the dipolis of Vilnius and Kaunas formation should be assessed as a symbol of the inner cities' co-operation which is under particular shortage. Development of high-speed communication and information technologies as well as integration processes should serve for the above mentioned purpose by evaluating subjects of non-reducing competition of the cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inevitability of combining the potential of the two greatest Lithuanian cities of Vilnius and Kaunas as the main „vertebra“ of the country's demographic and urban backbone was declared in the Master Plan of Lithuanian Territory Development adopted by the Seimas (Parliament) in the autumn of 2001. This qualitatively new approach on urban development is based on the teoretical and practical experience of modem world' s metropolitan areas. A survey of numerous statistic data, concerning existing situation in urban, life quality, economic and intellectual development of municipalities belonging to the territory of the above dipolis, is presented in the paper. Some of them are compared with the official data of the European Union. The author's emphasis is put on the inequalities of comprehensive development in various parts of this new combined urban unit. Inclusion of adjacent municipalities into the dipolis is one of the main preconditions of not only equalizing their situation but also improving in this way the development of the entire country, especially of its eastern part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]