Education research & development sidebar

Wed, 5th September, 2012 - Posted by admin - 15589(0) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D155892012-09-05+17%3A06%3A22adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D15589

The end of human civilization as we know it will take place around year 2045

Professor David Passig

In a presentation at the World Lithuanian Economic Forum, Israeli Professor David Passig quoted the futurist Ray Kurzweil, who defines the concept of ‘Singularity’ in terms of the technological creation of superintelligence, arguing that it is difficult or impossible for present-day humans to predict what a post-singularity world would be like, due to the difficulty of imagining the intentions and capabilities of superintelligent entities.

Kurzweil believes that we're approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity — our bodies, our minds, our civilization — will be completely and irreversibly transformed. He believes that this moment is not only inevitable but imminent.

According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it will take place around year 2045.

The Singularity is an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.

See also http://vilnews.com/?p=7041

Category : Education research & development sidebar

Lithuania’s Silicon Valley?

Thu, 13th January, 2011 - Posted by admin - 1000(2) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D1000Lithuania%E2%80%99s+Silicon+Valley%3F2011-01-13+13%3A44%3A04adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D1000

Lithuania will get a new R&D centre thanks to a joint research partnership between IBM and the Lithuanian government. Under the five-year agreement, the Lithuanian Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Education and Science has decided to launch a new research centre and IBM will contribute existing assets and research expertise from IBM Research laboratories in Zurich, Almaden, New York and Haifa.

Lithuania and IBM will share equal rights to the intellectual property, and R&D commercialization, such as patents, IP licenses, products and prototypes that result from the research centre's activities.

The Lithuanian research centre also will involve scientists from Lithuanian universities (Vilnius University, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas University of Medicine) and institutions (Santariskes Hospital) who are focused on developing innovations that will contribute to the development of a knowledge-based society in Lithuania, and will enable the Lithuanian research center to become a focal point for healthcare, life sciences, and nanotechnology in the Baltic region.

In the area of nanotechnology, IBM and Lithuanian scientists will focus on integrated photonics and novel photonic materials for faster computers of the future and nanopatterning security tags for advanced anti-forgery technology at IBM's new, state-of-the-art nanotechnology center in Switzerland that opens next year.

Researchers from IBM's lab in Haifa, Israel will partner with Lithuanian scientists on a variety of healthcare projects that will aim to provide a better understanding of how to diagnose, and treat life-threatening diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.
"Working with IBM researchers will provide Lithuania with a strong impulse for further scientific progress and offer access to expertise from some of the best scientists in the world", said Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius. "Lithuania may boast of its top level scientist but as a small country it lacks experience on how to sell its research results. This partnership with IBM is a winning opportunity for scientists of Lithuania, who will gain the knowledge needed to help their country earn independently from the research results," said Prime Minister.

"IBM is committed to working with governments, academic institutions and businesses across the world to address some of the most complex problems and emerging research challenges," said Tom Reeves, vice president, IBM Research Partnerships. "Our research partnership with Lithuania presents an opportunity to share skills, assets and resources to achieve common research goals in nanotechnology, healthcare and intellectual property."

Patents are an important component of IBM's high-value business strategy and, as the leading recipient of patents for 17 consecutive years, IBM's record for technology invention and innovation is unmatched. IBM researchers contributed significantly to the overall total of 4,914 U.S. patents the company's inventors received in 2009.

The Government of Lithuania and IBM Announce Research Partnership

Category : Education research & development sidebar

Importance of leadership

Wed, 12th January, 2011 - Posted by admin - 1007(0) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D1007Importance+of+leadership2011-01-12+13%3A50%3A10adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D1007

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

1. Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.

2. Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

3. Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

Category : Education research & development sidebar

Birštonas Secondary School is best in class

Wed, 12th January, 2011 - Posted by admin - 1004(0) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D10042011-01-12+13%3A46%3A47adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D1004

Some time ago I met with a very energetic school rector, Alvydas Urbanavičius at Birštonas Secondary School. Birštonas is a small town about 30 km from Kaunas.

I asked him what had made his school so successful and his answer was quick and clear: “We were very lucky to be ‘adopted’ by a Danish school already in the early 1990s, and the Danes taught us how to run a modern school and also gave us important funding so that we could avoid many of the problems that other Lithuanian schools and the very educational system here still is fighting with”.

He used some time to explain me what a good school is all about, and how the Government has to act if the school system in Lithuania should be able to reach a western level, but he became silent for a moment when I ask him what he would have done to the school system if HE was the Minister of Education.

When the answer finally came, the young rector’s face had become very serious: “It would not help much to be Minister on the top of a non-functional system as is the case today, so the first thing I would have to do would be to perform fundamental changes in the Ministry and only then start a very much needed modernising of the complete educational system in Lithuania”...

Category : Education research & development sidebar

OPINIONS

Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com

Egidijus Aleksandravičius
(b. 1956) - Lithuanian historian, assistant Ph.D., professor.

New association for Lithuanians living here and abroad?
Dalia Cidzikaite
Too many things that concern us, Lithuanian citizens, are decided not by us but by Lithuanian government, says Egidijus Aleksandravičius. That is why he is proposing to establish an association which will try to know better Lithuanians living abroad. The idea was presented during the seminar at VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute on May 17, 2013. I am sure we will hear about it more in the future.
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Linas Johansonas Don't we already have an "association" that represents Lithuanians abroad: World Lithuanian Community (Pasaulio Lietuviu Bendruomene)?

Dalia Cidzikaite As far as I can tell, the goal of a new association would be not to represent Lithuanians living abroad, but to know them better.

Vijole Arbas as it is the World Community does not pay taxes to Lithuania, thereby crippling the country. Do we really need to know more?

Linas Johansonas Vijole Arbas: while the world community doesn't pay taxes to Lithuania, it does give Lithuania lots of money via: visiting Lithuania, sending money to family, financially supporting various charity organizations, buying Lithuanian products ....etc.

Jon Platakis Vijole Arbas, I have no idea why you are so divisive when it comes to the world Lithuanian community. As Linas Johansonas so succinctly mentioned, take away our tourism, the money we send, and support of charitable organizations, and Lithuania would re...See More

Algimantė Danilaitė Vijole, some lithuanians in Lithuania does not pay taxes too. I don't care if some of lithuanians lives abroad, it's their personal choice. I really appreciate all the efforts to make Lithuania better country. Jon Platakis well said about working together. Sometimes I feel that some of lithuanians really likes to bite each other.

Vijole Arbas I am weary of the increasing burden. More responsible citizens lightens the load for everyone. I do get angry about that. The World Community demands privileges but does not carry any burden of responsibility.

Boris Bakunas Scolding people is an ineffective way of encouraging them to do what you want. Strong people resent being told what they must do. I believe Lithuanians have proved that during their centuries-long fight for freedom.

Lithuania has signed many conventions with other countries banning double taxation. They are readily available on the internet for anyone wishing to take the trouble of googling the key words "Double Taxation Lithuania."

And why should anybody pay taxes to a government rife with corrupt politicians?

Almost all the Lithuanians I know have been sending money to their Lithuanian relatives since Krushchev allowed correspondence between Lithuanians at home and their families abroad. We thought of many ingenious ways of concealing the money so that it would not be stolen by corrupt postal officials. I won't reveal the methods used, because even today such theft occurs.

Instead of complaining, why not praise the work done by such organizations as Lithuanian Mercy Lift. Praise is a much better teacher than blame.

http://www.lithuanianmercylift.org/
VilNews must be one of the absolutely better magazines in Europe, well written and with excellent photos. Be proud!
Ivar Enoksen, Norway

Ivar Enoksen has many years experience of working in the Norwegian press, television and movie industry. He got the Norwegian Amanda Award for the series manuscript ‘Nattseilere’ (Night sailors). Enoksen has done extensive historical research related to the Arctic areas. He is represented with fiction in several anthologies, and has in recent years also worked as a teacher of film dramaturgy. In 2007 Enoksen published the book 'Tusen glemte menn og historien om den virkelige James Bond' ' (Thousand forgotten men and the story of the real James Bond).
Two new
VilNews editors!
We are pleased to announce that VilNews has got two new skilled Associate Editors, Dalia Cidzikaite and Daiva Repečkaitė. We can say with certainty that they are going to mean a lot for our worldwide, online e-publication and the accompanying wonderful network of global readers with Lithuania in their hearts. Please welcome them! See also our Section 2 and Section 3.
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Eugene Rangayah
Welcome! Looking forward to some great editorials!

Vytenis Folkmanas
welcome !!!

Dalia Cidzikaite
Thank you! We will do our best!

Algis Ruksenas
Sveikinu nuosirdziai ir linkiu visakeriopos sekmes!

Ingrida Bublys
Silciausi sveikinimai!

Teresa Boguta
sveikinimai Dalia ! Sekmes ir kurybingu metu!

Ben Kordell
Sveikinu Dalia. Viskas bus okee dokee.

Kestutis Stanciauskas
Sveikinu!!!

Dalia Cidzikaite
Ačiū visiems už sveikinimus.
Healing the heart and soul of Lithuania
By Ida Hardy, Texas, USA

Lithuania is my mother’s country. She escaped with her mother and sisters as a young child and at one point in her life she wanted to return. It seemed to me that she heard the whispers from the wind in the forests and they were calling her home. My mother taught us a little about the folk tales and the music. She taught us to meditate and a little bit about yoga and I wanted to learn more about her childhood home. But the Soviets were still reigning and it was impossible for us to go. Later, as we cried on the phone on that day in 1991 I asked her if she would like to return and she said, “You can never go back. Things are changed so much.”

Her message was about more than the structure of her home and the murder of her father. She was really talking about the broken spirits of all the people who were victims, those who were aggressors, and those who were both. There is no going back. No one can undo the evil that has taken place anywhere on the planet throughout time.
is.

Read more...
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Gordon Ross So... The Soviets are gone.... Why are you still in Texas?

Aage Myhre Ida Hardy, I think
Gordon Ross (from Scotland but already half Lithuanian), has a good point

Ida Hardy I think it's a good question...not sure I have a good answer.

Virginia Shimkute warmer in Texas is a good reason !

Ida Hardy One year I should go in July or August when it is too warm here.

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown I also escaped from the Soviets arriving in Lithuania (for the second time) in 1944, and I also dreamt of forests and streams from my childhood. Luckily, I've gone back over and over since we regained independence: mostly because nowhere can I get the real CEPELINAI except in Lithuania! Something about the potatoes from that black soil!

Ida Hardy Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown have you written your story? I want to know what your life was like and what happened to you - and if you have a nice recipe for cepelinai?

Boris Bakunas @Gordon Ross. I have a good answer. Because in the free world, people have the right to live where they want. Let us remember that our wishes are not commands that others must obey.

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown Ida - I actually have written down the story of our family's existence under Soviets and Nazis (1939-1945), our harrowing escape from Lithuania with the Soviets at our heels, life in the DP camps... It's at the publisher's now and should be coming out this summer: called "God, Give Us Wings." I see that many of us in sunset years are setting down the history we lived before it all fades into oblivion.

Boris Bakunas @Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown. Yes, we are. It's so important for our children and children to know what our families endured. It can be a source of strength in times of hardship. Whenever something unfortunate happens to me, I automatically say, "This is nothing compared to WWII."

Ida Hardy I will read it. I think it was too difficult to talk about and my mother didn't give too many details. She was maybe 9 when they fled. So much suffering and for so long. I don't blame her for avoiding the subject.

Boris Bakunas My family rarely spoke about the events of World War II as well. It took a lot of research to find out even the little I have learned. Some memories are so painful that people want to bury them. I believe, however, that we are better off if we face time. In time, they cease to have a hold on us. How else can we become free?

Bernard Terway We can go back a lot further than WW2 to find Lithuanians who left but were still afraid to talk about where they came from. To this day, I have no idea where my grandparents came from n Lithuania. They wold not talk about it for fear of being sent back and forced into the Russian army, I suspect.

Ida Hardy Yes, facing your fears is important but I think so many people need help in order to do it in a productive way so that they move through the difficulty instead if getting caught up in the resentment, anger, fear and stopping there. Long-held and tightly-held anger is a burden.

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown Ah those difficult memories! I was lucky: I TAPED my parents reminiscing about the years from 39 to 45, and they also wrote down some things to give me a good timeline. I was 7 in 1945 and remembered events but not the sequence. I also had many documents and letters: thank God my father had the soul of an archivist! Thus I had a stack of materials to guide me.

Ida Hardy And thank God your father lived to tell! God bless you for doing the work.

Click HERE to read previous opinion letters >