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Both agricultural and environmental domains have to manage many different and heterogeneous sources of information that need to be combined in order to make environmentally and economically sound decisions. Such examples may be found at the definition of subsidies, national strategies for rural development, development of sustainable agriculture etc. This paper describes in detail the development of an open data model for (precision) agriculture applications and agricultural pollution monitoring when aiming at identification of requirements from users from agricultural and environmental domains. The presented open data model for (precision) agriculture applications and agricultural pollution monitoring has been registered under the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Architecture Implementation Pilot – Phase 8 in order to support the wide variety of demands that are primary aimed at agriculture and water pollution monitoring.

Recently, smart system integration was identified as a key competence for optimizing machines and robots. However, when one wants to ’tune’ the entire production process a step further is necessary. We should evaluate performance indicators (e.g. energy and material consumption) over the whole machine life cycle in order to align the production with circular economy principles. To reach that target MBSE (model-based system engineering) should be covered by advanced digital twin approaches which allow continuous monitoring of machine performance, predict the failures and maintenance. Moreover, artificial intelligence and machine learning must be used to process big data sets gathered from the production lines. This paper identifies a common set of technologies and building blocks suitable to solve above mentioned problems for a large variety of industrial domains (semiconductor production, health-care robotics, CNC 1 machining, high-speed packaging and others). It presents the first results of the large-scale IMOCO4.E 2 project and shows the pathways for application of the technology on specific machines (so-called pilots). The authors believe the ideas presented could be inspiring also in other domains.

The vertical and horizontal displacements of the Earth can be measured to a high degree of precision using GNSS. Time series of Latvian GNSS station positions of both the EUPOS®-Riga and LatPos networks have been developed at the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation of the University of Latvia (LU GGI). In this study the main focus is made on the noise analysis of the obtained time series and site displacement identification. The results of time series have been analysed and distinctive behaviour of EUPOS®-Riga and LatPos station coordinate changes have been identified. The possible dependences of GNSS station coordinate distribution on EPN station problems, seismic activity of some areas of Latvia and solar activity have been considered and are presented in this paper.

In Latvia, for more than a decade, a container system for packaging waste segregation has been in a continuous process of development – starting with the first containers in the beginning of 2000s until now, when there are efforts made to provide containers to people living in rural areas. Although the regeneration targets set by EU are fulfilled by the existing system, it is still considered as not effective enough. In many cases the existing system is considered as economically and even environmentally unsustainable, but it is still maintained due to governmental pressure. At the same time, for about last five years hot discussions are held on implementation of packaging deposit system which would operate in parallel with the existing containers’ system. Since there are too many controversial arguments from the stakeholders involved, an analysis is necessary to assess the sustainability aspects of implementation of the depositrefund system in Latvia. The paper presents the results of an analysis of the social, economic and environmental aspects. The results show that the depositrefund system has a positive influence on the environmental aspects, however the benefits gained have to be balanced with the system’s costs and efficiency, which is hard to reach in Latvia because of small beverage drinks’ consumption. Therefore, solutions have to be found to enhance the existing curbside containers’ system rather than to introduce the deposit-refund system.

The previous survey among adult inhabitants of rural areas indicated that they do not see the possibility for development of business facilities in some rural regions of Latvia – so called specially protected nature territories (SPNT). However, the opinion of the younger generation (pupils of local schools of SPNT) about sustainable management and preservation of the nature has not been analyzed so far. The aim of study was to study the level of social awareness of children living in rural areas on sustainable environment issues. Several discussion-lectures on sustainable environment issues were organized during March-April 2017 in one of SPNT (Raznas National Park; 87 children from 6 to 12 classes were participating). The pupils’ opinion on environmental and social awareness indicated that children are more motivated to take active role in protection of environment. Moreover, most of them were aware of the importance of ecosystem services in their lives as well as their impact on nature. It was also found that the interest of children in agriculture derives from their family's core activities in this area indicating that there might be successful future scenarios in this area concentrating on development of ecological and economically sustainable innovative farming. Social innovation labs are very good example on potential scenario that could be repeated also in Latvian rural areas to areas of social actions in order find a better solutions and cope with problems and after all help to successfully generate ideas and implement innovations. Keywords: environmental and social awareness, rural pupils’ opinion, sustainable and innovative development Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.253

Consumers are increasingly demanding choices of ready-made foods with excellent organoleptic and health-related properties. There are two main trends in Europe; firstly, consumers are increasingly choosing foods that are comfortable for use, secondly, the number of people who are overweight is increasing, with more consumers paying close attention to the ingredients and nutritional value of products in order to balance the amount of the food they consume per day. The aim of the research was to develop new potato main courses and to determine their nutritional value. The research was carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of the Latvia University of Agriculture, Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR" and Laboratory of Mineral Nutrition at the Institute of Biology of the University of Latvia. Four different potato main course types with amaranth, quinoa, bulgur and chicken were prepared for the study; plain potatoes were used as the control sample. The content of protein, carbohydrates, lipids, fibre and minerals (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, B) was determined in all potato main course samples. The addition of amaranth, quinoa and bulgur significantly increased the content of dietary fibre, protein, carbohydrates and lipids (p<0.05), whereas the addition of chicken fillet significantly increased protein and lipid content, but reduced the content of carbohydrates and dietary fibre. The content of various minerals, which are an indispensable part of the diet as they are necessary for the body's life processes and normal development, was significantly increased by the addition of chicken to the potato main course. The highest dietary fibre content was detected in potato main course with amaranth (3.0 g per 100 g product), drawing up to 9.0 g dietary fibre per one serving (300 g). Following the Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, potatoes with amaranth can be defined as the “source of fibre”. Keywords: nutritional value, potato main course, retorts packaging. Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.078

Sustainable and economically based forestry needs modern inventory and monitoring techniques. One of the most common technologies for identification of forest tree species and monitoring of forest growth conditions is the hyperspectral remote sensing. This technology gives an opportunity to economize human resources and time for data collecting and processing. The spectral behaviour of plant leaves depends on number of factors, including environmental background. The aim of this study was to assess the tree reflectance spectra in relation to the growth conditions to take into account potential differences for increasing precision of species identification in Latvian forests and for estimating of forest growth conditions. Remote sensing data were obtained using a specialized aircraft (Pilatus PC-6), which is equipped with a high-performance airborne VNIR pushbroom hyperspectral system (AisaEAGLE). The study area was flown at 1000 m altitude. Data was recorded in the 400–970 nm spectral range, spectral resolution was 3.3 nm, ground resolution 0.5 m. Data processing consisted of manually selecting trees with a recognizable tree crowns in the airborne images. Tree centres were adjusted by putting them in the accurate position according to the situation in aerial photography. All trees with a diameter at breast height DBH of more than 5 cm were measured and for each tree coordinates, its species, height, DBH, crown width and length were recorded. Differentially corrected Global Positioning System measurements were used to determine the position of each plot centre. Data from different hyperspectral bands were compared using ANOVA at confidence level 95 %. Four species: Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) H. Karst), silver birch ( Betula pendula Roth), and European aspen ( Populus tremula L.) – were examined in distinct forest site types. The spectral response of studied species was 1) different between species and 2) different between site types within each species, correlating with soil fertility gradient and soil moisture gradient. Differences between species occurred most in the intensity of reflected electromagnetic radiation rather than distinctive locations of maximums or minimums in spectrum curve, and near infrared (NIR) region of spectrum showed more differences between species than visible light zone. Most informative wavebands for distinguishing differences between site types were 805 nm and 644 nm. Keywords: Hyperspectral, remote sensing, leaf reflectance, species identification, forest growth conditions, soil fertility, forest site types, forest mapping. Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2015.045