Earth Day

March 21, 2025
This week, International Earth Day was commemorated, an occasion officially designated by the United Nations in 1971. The spring equinox was selected as the date for Earth Day, as it marks the moment when day and night are of equal length across all locations on the globe.

Earth Day serves to emphasize critical environmental issues, the most pressing global challenges, and potential solutions. Researchers and students at VILNIUS TECH actively engage in addressing environmental and climate change challenges, developing innovative solutions that contribute to sustainable progress across various disciplines.

The VILNIUS TECH Library encourages the borrowing of literature on environmental protection, overconsumption, and climate change for academic and leisure reading.

   
Algirdas Vaclovas Valiulis
Klimato slinktys ir vangus atsakas
(Climate Shifts and Slow Response)
This book provides a popular yet scientific explanation of how climate change manifests on Earth, its causes, and the measures that could slow it down. It presents an engineering perspective on the connections between modern industry and energy production technologies and the global consequences of climate change.
For anyone concerned about the future of our planet, it is fascinating to learn about the social cost of carbon, why it is difficult to abandon fossil fuels, whether glass or plastic is more environmentally friendly, if "green" energy could change the world, how lithium and hydrogen can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, how sand could become a clean energy storage solution, and many other relevant and sometimes even controversial engineering and technological methods in the fight against climate change.
 
 

David Wallace-Wells ; iš anglų kalbos vertė Rasa Dirgėlė
Negyvenama žemė : ateities istorija
(The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future)

The Uninhabitable Earth: A History of the Future is a call to action, sounding like an alarm, urging us to wake up. The author claims there is still hope, but humanity can no longer afford to delay. Nature is about to wage a fierce war, and if we do nothing, it will undoubtedly win.
The first half of the book presents the latest research findings on the projected impacts of climate change in the 21st century. The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including wildfires, economic collapse, and military conflicts. David Wallace-Wells consulted numerous climate scientists, including quotes throughout the book. The second half presents thought-provoking statements by the author regarding the influence of climate chaos on major societal structures, such as capitalism, ethics, and our understanding of history.
David Wallace-Wells is an American journalist who primarily writes about climate change. In 2017, his essay The Uninhabitable Earth was published, and a couple of years later, it became a book that gained incredible popularity. Wallace-Wells writes for publications like New York and The Guardian.

Arūnas Bukantis, Egidijus Rimkus, Justinas Kažys, Mečislovas Žalakevičius
100 klausimų apie klimato kaitą
(100 Questions About Climate Change)

Climate change is one of the most pressing global issues today, with its projected consequences posing a significant threat to humanity's well-being and security. The modern world is closely interconnected through economic and social ties, making it essential to view the impacts of climate change on a global scale. In countries closer to the equator, freshwater resources are dwindling, desertification processes are intensifying, and extreme natural phenomena are becoming more frequent. These changes inevitably affect the physical safety and quality of life of local populations, alter the prices of food and raw materials on the global market, increase political tensions in various countries, and drive people to migrate to safer regions.
This book, based on long-term research by Lithuanian scientists, answers 100 important questions about climate change, its causes, and its impact on agriculture and nature. It should make us reflect on whether we have done enough for the future of ourselves and the generations to come.

Mike Berners-Lee
There is no Plan(et) B : a handbook for the make or break years

Maitinimas pasaulyje, klimato kaita, biologinė įvairovė, antibiotikai, plastikas – atrodo, kad rūpesčių sąrašas yra begalinis. Bet kas iš tiesų yra svarbiausia? Kokias pasekmes sukelia mūsų veiksmai? Nuo ko turėtume pradėti? Ar visi turime tapti vegetarais? Kaip galime keliauti lėktuvais mažai anglies dioksido išskiriančiame pasaulyje? Ar turėtume naudoti hidraulinį ardymą? Kaip galime kontroliuoti technologijas? Ar viskas priklauso nuo gyventojų skaičiaus? O svarbiausia – ką kiekvienas iš mūsų gali padaryti, kad išspręstume šiuos pasaulinius iššūkius?
Laimei, Mike'as Bernersas-Lee atliko išsamius skaičiavimus ir sudarė veiksmų planą, kuris yra ne tik praktiškas, bet ir įkvepiantis. „There Is No Planet B“ – tai aiškiai ir įtraukiančiai parašytas vadovas, kupinas stulbinančių faktų ir gilių įžvalgų. Knygoje vienoje vietoje pateikiamas visapusiškas požiūris į didžiausius mūsų laikų aplinkosaugos ir ekonomikos iššūkius, siekiant išsiaiškinti jų tikrąsias priežastis – tai, kaip gyvename ir kaip mąstome.
Ši knyga jus sukrės, nustebins ir net privers nusišypsoti. Joje rasite ne tik racionalių, bet ir įkvepiančių idėjų, kaip kiekvienas iš mūsų gali prisidėti prie tvarios žmonijos ateities vienintelėje mūsų planetoje.Originalioje knygoje pristatyti sprendimai išlieka aktualūs ir svarbūs, o platesnės jos įžvalgos neprarado reikšmės. 

edited by Paul Hawken
Drawdown: the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to roll back global warming 
(Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Roll Back Global Warming)

In the spring of 2017, Project Drawdown introduced its first comprehensive work on climate solutions by publishing Drawdown – a book that became a New York Times bestseller. Drawdown has become an essential text on climate solutions, summarizing humanity’s accumulated wisdom on practices and technologies capable of beginning to reduce the carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere by mid-century. The content of this book has significantly influenced university curricula, city climate plans, business commitments, community initiatives, philanthropic strategies, and many other fields.

You can borrow books to take home through the VILNIUS TECH Virtual Library. After receiving a notification about your prepared order, come to pick up the publications at the designated location: the Central Library (1st floor lobby) or the reading room in your faculty.

The VILNIUS TECH institutional members can access the e-books free of charge by logging on to the University's computer network and from home by connecting to the VILNIUS TECH network via VPN.

More books can be found in the VILNIUS TECH Virtual Library.

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Interdisciplinarity in practice: how Electronics and Medical Engineering students developed a Human motion analysis system
Interdisciplinarity in practice: how Electronics and Medical Engineering students developed a Human motion analysis system
Modern engineering solutions are increasingly created through collaboration between specialists from different fields. The university environment provides an opportunity to combine diverse competencies and develop solutions that would be difficult to achieve within the boundaries of a single discipline. Such collaboration was also at the heart of a bachelor’s thesis project in which VILNIUS TECH students Laura Venckutė (Faculty of Electronics) and Abderrazak El Aamrani (Faculty of Mechanics) combined expertise in electronics and medical engineering to develop a human motion recognition and evaluation system. From an Idea to Interdisciplinary Collaboration At the beginning of the project, students from the Medical Engineering and Electronics Engineering study programmes sought to address a problem relevant to both sports and rehabilitation: the lack of accessible systems capable of automatically evaluating human movements and providing immediate feedback. As the project authors point out, incorrect movements can reduce training effectiveness and increase the risk of injuries during rehabilitation, sports activities, or everyday tasks. For this reason, they decided to look for a technological solution that could help objectively assess movement quality. The idea emerged from previous projects and experience gained during their studies, while an important catalyst was the opportunity for collaboration proposed by their supervisors. From the outset, it was clear that the project would require expertise from different fields, as motion analysis involves not only developing a technical system but also defining meaningful criteria for evaluating human movement. [caption id="attachment_120707" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Electronics and Medical Engineering students developed a Human motion analysis system[/caption] The students brought different, yet closely interconnected and complementary competencies to the project. The Electronics Engineering student was responsible for computer vision, embedded systems, and system integration, while the Medical Engineering student contributed expertise in biomechanics and human movement assessment. Although responsibilities were divided according to individual areas of expertise, key decisions were made collaboratively. From the Initial Concept to a Functional System In the early stages, the team planned to develop a system capable of analysing a broader range of movement patterns and performing more advanced analytical functions. However, as the project progressed, technical limitations, available hardware resources, and the scope of the bachelor’s thesis had to be taken into account. As a result, some ideas had to be abandoned. According to the team members, no major disagreements arose during the project. Decisions were made by discussing possible alternatives, evaluating how well they aligned with the project objectives, and, whenever possible, testing different approaches in practice. When technical and medical requirements conflicted, the team sought solutions that best balanced project goals and implementation constraints. The final outcome of the project is a human motion recognition and feedback system based on a pose estimation algorithm designed for basketball shooting analysis. The system detects a person in real time, estimates body posture, evaluates shooting technique according to biomechanical criteria, and subsequently provides feedback to the user. The Value of Interdisciplinarity and Future Opportunities During testing, the system performed better than expected. It successfully analysed the movements of users of different heights and maintained reliable performance at distances of up to 12 metres. According to the students, not only did the technical results exceed expectations, but the collaboration process itself also proved highly successful. In their view, such a project could theoretically be completed by a specialist from a single field. In practice, however, this would be difficult and inefficient. The project required both expertise in electronics and an understanding of human movement analysis. Without competencies from both fields, considerably more time would have been needed for learning unfamiliar topics and identifying appropriate solutions. Looking ahead, the students see opportunities to further develop the project by improving system stability, optimising resource usage, expanding the range of supported movement patterns, and increasing motion recognition accuracy. Although they are not yet certain whether they will continue working in this specific area, they hope to further deepen their expertise in related fields of technology and engineering. Supervisors’ Insights: Interdisciplinarity as a Foundation of Future Engineering The thesis supervisors emphasise that the nature of the project itself required collaboration across disciplines. However, the greatest value of the project lies not only in the technical solution that was developed, but also in the students’ ability to work together effectively. Professor Kristina Daunoravičienė, lecturer in the Medical Engineering study programme, notes that developing a human posture recognition and evaluation system requires both an understanding of human movement and biomechanics, as well as the ability to create a technical system capable of collecting, processing, and presenting information to the user. „The need for different knowledge and competencies made this topic an excellent platform for collaboration between Medical Engineering and Electronics Engineering students. Such projects foster not only technical solutions but also the ability to understand the logic, limitations, and priorities of other disciplines,“ says Prof. Dr Kristina Daunoravičienė. Although the students were initially unfamiliar with one another and came from different engineering backgrounds, a shared goal quickly became the foundation of successful cooperation. According to the supervisor, Medical Engineering contributed the perspective of human movement assessment and result interpretation, while Electronics Engineering provided expertise in system architecture, prototyping, and optimisation. According to Prof. Dr K. Daunoravičienė, the most important outcome of the project is not only the developed prototype and its comparison with the Xsens motion analysis system: „Equally important are the competencies of collaboration, communication, trust, initiative, and the ability to learn from one another. These are the qualities that allow good ideas to become real, functioning solutions.“ Associate Professor Dr Vytautas Abromavičius of the Faculty of Electronics also points out that in the era of artificial intelligence, technical expertise alone is no longer sufficient. Clear communication, the ability to understand specialists from different fields, and working together towards a common goal are becoming increasingly important. „This bachelor’s thesis demonstrated that our students communicated exceptionally well and were able to explain specialised professional terminology in a simple and understandable way. This mutual understanding enabled them to effectively combine knowledge from different disciplines and achieve an excellent result,“ says Assoc. Prof. Dr Vytautas Abromavičius. According to him, the need for interdisciplinary projects in modern engineering continues to grow. Every real-world product developed for the market consists of multiple interconnected components; therefore, a broader understanding of the problem leads to better product applicability and a more complete final outcome.
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VILNIUS TECH Professor A. Čenys Represents Baltic States at Google Leadership Summit
VILNIUS TECH Professor A. Čenys Represents Baltic States at Google Leadership Summit
Prof. Antanas Čenys, a prominent researcher at VILNIUS TECH and the SustAInLivWork project, participated by personal invitation from Google in the exclusive Google for Education Higher Education Leader Series EMEA in London. Prof. Čenys was the only AI and cybersecurity expert from the Baltic countries to be personally invited to this high-level summit. The exclusive event brought together higher education leaders, technology pioneers, and innovation stakeholders from across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The summit focused on shaping the future of Artificial Intelligence, digital transformation, cybersecurity, and driving responsible innovation within the global academic and industrial landscapes. The insights and discussions from the London summit strongly resonate with the core mission of the SustAInLivWork project: strengthening Europe’s capacity to develop, deploy, and scale trustworthy AI solutions while simultaneously building the advanced skills, critical infrastructures, and innovation ecosystems required for a sustainable digital future. Through SustAInLivWork, VILNIUS TECH and its partners are actively delivering: An International AI Cluster: bridging the gap between research excellence, industry, and public sector stakeholders; Advanced Innovation Services: driving AI and data-driven solutions for various sectors; AI Skills Development: establishing lifelong learning opportunities and specialized training; Cross-Regional Collaboration: accelerating practical AI adoption and ensuring positive societal impact. The summit also underscored the rapidly growing importance of cybersecurity as a fundamental pillar for secure AI deployment. This focus perfectly aligns with ongoing initiatives led by VILNIUS TECH, including specialized cybersecurity skills development programmes supported by Google.org, aimed at strengthening digital resilience and cyber competence across Europe. As Europe accelerates its comprehensive AI transformation, structured collaboration between universities, industry leaders, policymakers, and major technology providers becomes increasingly paramount. SustAInLivWork and VILNIUS TECH remain committed to contributing to this evolutionary journey by building strong bridges between cutting-edge research, thriving innovation ecosystems, and sustainable societal progress.
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