Tiltai

The book Hegel’s Century: Alienation and Recognition in a Time of Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2021) by Jon Stewart is a profound philosophical book. Reading Hegel is a challenge that requires close attention and a philosophical background; nevertheless, reading Hegel together with Jon Stewart is fully rewarded. The great value of the book is that it is mainly very easy to read, and that makes it different from traditional philosophy books, which people find too difficult. The book has an elegant text and a highly individual way of writing. It has already received recognition in the 2021 Prose Awards by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for excellence in prose in the category Winner in Philosophy.

Radiation therapy is an important part of breast cancer treatment, reducing local recurrence and improving overall survival. About 1,500 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in Lithuania every year. About 30% of all newly diagnosed cancers in women are breast cancer, and about 80% of early-stage breast cancers are treated with radiotherapy. New modern radiation techniques have been evaluated with a better understanding of the effects of radiation on the heart. The article reviews the implementation of the deep inhalation breath hold technique in the clinical practice of Klaipėda University Hospital. The purpose of this article is to analyse the results of the first two years after the implementation of the new methods. Assessing the importance of radiotherapy, the author reveals the importance of the innovative deep breathing method in the article, and shares the experience she has gathered. At the same time, scientific and practical assumptions are made that, after the introduction of innovative radiotherapy technologies into practice, new opportunities for optimising the treatment of patients by individualising it open up. The results of the study reveal the need for a prospective cohort study in order to optimise patient education, clarify selection criteria, and increase the availability of modern radiotherapy services. The presentation of this method in an interdisciplinary environment of social and health care specialists allows specialists to familiarise themselves with the achievements of oncological radiotherapy in west Lithuania.

The article shows the expression of social innovation in the Lithuanian military. By presenting different innovation models and processes, the authors argue that social innovation could be an effective tool for increasing the efficiency, resilience and intelligence of the armed forces. While the general public perception of the military is very technocratic, social practices (leadership, collaboration, communication) can broaden that perception through social innovation. The empirical study reveals that the expression of social innovation enriches social practices, and introduces new perspectives, ranging from advanced mental health support measures to operational collaborative strategies. Social innovation can contribute to the management of contemporary challenges both in the military and in society. By presenting the current expression of social innovation, the paper reveals the opportunities for improving social innovation in the Lithuanian military.

The article examines the expression and dynamics of the phenomenon of murder in the city of Klaipėda between 2004 and 2014. This period, which began with the accession of Lithuania to the European Union, has a very important context of societal changes, which provided the authors of the article with theoretical and practical access to an analysis of the causality and expression of the phenomenon of murder. The sociological approach reveals a socio-demographic portrait of the victim and the person who committed a murder, in the context of segments of the structural expression of the phenomenon of murder (age, gender, social status). The article presents statistical data from murders registered in the Official Register of Criminal Acts (ORCA). For the analysis of these data, the authors purposefully chose the positivist theories of external restraint and subculture of violence, which have practical access to reveal segments of the structural expression of the phenomenon of murder in a changing society. This presupposes access to the continuity of research on the resolution of the phenomenon of murder in the next decade (2015 to 2023). The research results presented in the article focus on the development of murder prevention strategies for all structural platforms of society, especially in the fields of education, law and social policy.

Change in the paradigm of the documentary heritage also leads to a change in the concept of memory institutions, whereby the most important function of a memory institution becomes active participation in the process of creating the collective memory. Audience engagement is important in this process. Evaluating the reception of documentary heritage communication allows us to assess the involvement of cultural users in cultural communication. Data from a study of the reception of visitors to an exhibition of one of the most important documents to the country’s statehood, the Act of 16 February, conducted using quantitative methods, showed that visitors to the museum where the Act of 16 February was on show rate the exhibition very highly and contribute to its communication in social networks and by oral communication.

The debate on gastronomic culture and identity, the national heritage, national products and gastronomic nationalism, is one of the most active and popular in the contemporary public discourse. The increased importance of different identities in contemporary networked society drives the popularity of these topics. As a form of the intangible heritage, gastronomic culture is an evolving system that easily links past and present societies. In this way, the gastronomic heritage and the history of gastronomy are easily transferred to contemporary culture, and become the basis for various identities. Given that the intangible heritage operates in society through tangible representations, and that in gastronomic culture one of the most visible representations is dishes, this study analyses the communication of one of them, šaltibarščiai (cold soup), on the social network Facebook. The study aims to determine how the representation of a specific intangible element of the heritage is used to construct the Lithuanian national identity. The research has identified the most important topics of discussion, the discourses involved, and elements of the reality that are important for constructing the national identity and their interrelationships.

The problem of quality of governance is one of the most important issues raised nowadays by international and local organisations. In order to adapt to the rapid processes of globalisation and glocalisation, various methods are being sought to optimise forms of democratic governance in Western countries or among countries which are leaning towards the West. The aim of the article is to increase government accountability and responsibility, promote citizen involvement, and strengthen government-societal relations and trust. In order to achieve this goal, the European Union proposes to give more powers to local government institutions, because they are closest to the citizens, can more effectively assess their needs, and attain them more effectively. To achieve this goal, the 12 principles of Good Governance, recommended by the Council of Europe, are used, and ELoGE (European Label of Governance Excellence) is used as a tool to assess the existence of these principles in local government. The purpose of this article is to identify factors that determine the implementation of the principles in local government, and to ascertain the most important characteristics that would influence the implementation of Good Governance in local government, taking into account the ELoGE evaluation methodology.

Employers currently emphasise primarily the importance of the personal and social characteristics of employees, and focus less on their professional and business skills. Contrarily, employees often consider deep professional knowledge and skills to be their key strengths, and pay little attention to personal growth and the development of personal characteristics. The aim of the research is to compare the soft skills most frequently required by potential employers in job advertisements for the position of administrator to the employee soft skills predominantly identified by the students on the Tourism Administration course. A study designed to identify employer expectations was conducted in 2019 and 2021. In order to determine the opinions of students in 2021, a written questionnaire survey of higher education students on the Tourism Administration course was conducted. The analysis of the opinions of students, and an examination of employer expectations, demonstrate that employer expectations regarding the skills of potential employees, especially personal or soft skills, and student opinions, do not always match. The impact of the pandemic created a paradoxical situation in the labour market: before the pandemic, progressively more attention was being paid to employees’ soft skills; in the post-pandemic world and working in a hybrid way in the labour market, not all personal skills remain important.

The significance and novelty of this article is in the fact that the study has explored the consumption of alcohol among vocational pupils, in order to connect the phenomenon with social and cognitive factors. The article analyses the period of adolescence, changes during the period of adolescence, and factors that determine the problem of alcohol consumption in adolescence: parents, peers, individual personality characteristics, behavioural and emotional problems, etc. The study confirmed the characteristics of alcohol consumption by adolescents, their parents and peers, adolescents’ resistance to alcohol, their strengths and difficulties, and the interrelationships between these factors. Although the parents of adolescents play an important role in the process of developing an adolescent’s resistance to alcohol, the study highlighted the importance of the attitude of the adolescent’s mother. The study confirmed that the expression of adolescents’ resistance to alcohol is directly influenced by the alcohol consumption of parents and friends, their attitude towards alcohol consumption by adolescents, and the adolescent’s strengths (sociality scale, meaning social skills) and difficulties.

Having acknowledged the importance of leadership, it seems there is lack of research in the field of developing the leadership skills of healthcare workers. Therefore, this article aims to answer the problem question: what leadership abilities of healthcare workers are important, and what are the opportunities to develop them in healthcare institutions? Theoretical insights and quantitative research have been used to answer this question. The questionnaire survey of healthcare workers conducted confirms that the expression of leadership is inseparable from motivation, being an example, help and cooperation, the ability to mobilise the team to act in one direction and achieve the set goals. The study shows that the development of leadership skills is achieved through personal development, the formation of positive attitudes towards changes, the dissemination of leadership competence, independent activity, and mutual interaction. The study is significant in that it can help understand factors for the improvement of the subject under consideration, and make a targeted intervention in ongoing processes of the development of leadership skills, improving them and achieving better results in the development of the leadership skills of healthcare workers.