Established in 2019 and dedicated to publishing occasional collections of articles on different topics.
Vilniaus universiteto leidykla / Vilnius University Press
“What is it that we call ‘the West’?” – Notes from the Panel Discussion
The changes that have taken place in the course of the major transformations within post-Soviet societies in the Baltic Sea region since 1989 are undeniably impressive. Yet, as processes of convergence and adaptation have advanced, the initial momentum toward adopting the Western societal model appears in some places to be weakening. This may be attributed, on the one hand, to the successes already achieved and, on the other, to an erosion of the European Union’s integrative capacity. The question of whether transformation can ever be considered complete is therefore open to both positive and negative interpretation: either as a successful integration of new member states into the EU, or as the risk of political actors and social groups turning away from unresolved challenges and from democratic and rule-of-law principles. How should we assess the historicity of our current era? What role might a shared European memory or historiography play in this regard? And how might the knowledge generated through the transformations in the EU member states that joined in 2004 be transferred into the broader pan-European discourse?
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Partisans of Transformation: Resentful Dissent and Radicalization after 1989 in Contemporary Literature
The article examines the response to the transformations since 1989/90 in eastern Germany through the lens of three German novels and one Hungarian novel, drawing on Kurt Drawert’s social-psychological observations as well as the “change-averse” characters depicted by Ingo Schulze, Lutz Seiler and László Krasznahorkai. In a first step, the concept and figure of the partisan as catalysts for – or reactions to – societal change are defined with reference to an essay by Herfried Münkler (1990) and in conjunction with Roman Schnur’s Theory of Civil War (1983). Important contributions for adapting this perspective to the contexts of 1989 revolution and transformation are provided by Krastev & Holmes (2019), Andreas Reckwitz (2024), and Hans-Jürgen Schings (2024). Subsequently, two chapters read the poetics of transformation articulated in these novels with regard to unease and radicalization as manifested in their characters – first in Drawert’s Dresden, die zweite Zeit (2021) and Seiler’s Kruso and Stern 111 (2014, 2020), and then in Schulze’s Die rechtschaffenen Mörder (2020) and Krasznahorkai’s Herscht 07769 (2022). The analysis shows that these texts – most of which emerged, as it were, on the “hem” of the epoch of post-1989/90 transformation – transpose phenomena of backsliding and populism into characters who may be read as partisans of transformation. Consequently, the conclusion and outlook return, with additional examples from the region, to the significance that literature and the arts might hold for societal and political discourse.
Laughing or Crying? Phases the German-German Unification Discourse between “Wendewut”, “Ostalgia” and Empowerment in the East
The essay points out three models of laughter within the current literary Wende discourse; namely: (1) freedom and coming to terms with the past, (3) Osttrotz and self-confidence (which conceals two variants of Ostalgie) and (6) the cipher Freiheitslehrer/in (freedom teacher) for the happy time around 2014, as well as, stepping in between, four models of weeping: (2) victim discourse and Stasi guilt, (4) experiences of loss as the third type of Ostalgie, (5) the new seriousness around 2005 and (7) the re-traumatisation around keywords such as Treuhand and empowerment. However, this by no means seems to mean that the “end of history” is in sight. Rather, the article wants to point out a basic pattern whose ongoing use is at least not improbable.
Border Policies between Sovereignty and the Movement of Goods (on Ádám Bodor’s The Sinistra Zone)
Central European transformation is illustrated here through everyday scenes of border traffic in the Mukkerman chapter of Ádám Bodor’s novel Schutzgebiet Sinistra (1992). The narrated transit space serves as a symbolic representation of a potentially imminent societal transformation process. Various motifs cast both sides – or the actors of transformation (and those resisting it) – and their narratives in an ironic light. The analysis pays particular attention to the linguistic perforation and subversion of sovereign practices of the border regime within a fictional zone in the Romanian-Hungarian-Ukrainian borderlands during the 1980s.
The Narrative of Care: Three Examples of Populist COVID-19 Legislation in Poland in 2020
This article traces the debate surrounding the COVID-19 legislation introduced in Poland in 2020, which was sharply criticized by experts. Critics argued that the laws enacted to protect society from the effects of the pandemic might also serve to politically strengthen the populist conservative-nationalist coalition of the United Right, in power since 2015, and to curtail civil liberties. They particularly objected to the draft of a retroactive COVID-19 law that provided for official immunity for extralegal or criminal acts committed in connection with measures taken during the pandemic. Such provisions, they contended, would create a caste of state officials placed above the law. Against the backdrop of the ongoing debate in Poland, this article analyzes the relevant documents of three laws that the Polish authorities enacted or proposed in response to the pandemic in 2020: the Act of 2 March 2020, the April 2020 attempt to introduce postal voting for the presidential election, and the repeal bill of August/September 2020. The article concludes that these measures were the result of a strategy by the governing United Right (the Law and Justice party and its smaller allies) to conceal the burdens imposed by the enacted laws through subsequent amendments, or to persuade the public that such legislation was indispensable in times of pandemic.
Populism in East and West – The Political Economies of Protest in Europe
Populism is considered one of the causes of the crisis of democracy, but populism itself can also be understood as a political reaction to crisis-ridden social upheavals. Whether it be the global financial crisis of 2008 onwards, the migration crisis of 2015 onwards, or as a result of the more insidious crisis of representation caused by a renewed “structural change in the public sphere” – that is, the radical media revolution we are currently experiencing. Populist protest in the transition countries of Eastern/Central Europe is primarily a reaction to the enormous social and economic upheavals after 1989/90. This article examines the political form that this populist protest has taken in the “East” as opposed to the “West.”
The Public Criminological Discourse in Soviet and Transitional Lithuania
This article is dedicated to analyzing public criminological discourse in Stalinist, post-Stalinist and post-Soviet Lithuania. Its chronological boundaries are between 1940 (when Soviet first-time occupied country) and early 2000s (when Lithuania released new, not Soviet-based criminal code, finalized post-Soviet criminal prosecution reform and joined European Union and NATO). The article does not include the period of Nazi Germany occupation of Lithuania (1941–1944), since the conditions of that period are very different and requires additional research. Early 2000s have also marked the end of mass crime and gang and mafia violence. Since then, crime numbers considerably decreased and today are relatively low. The public discourse, as the article reveals, does not necessarily match the crime reality. For instance, in Stalinist period, the politically constructed enemy was the dominating definition of the criminal.
Overwritten Memory. The Holocaust and the GULag between Universalistic and Nationalistic Narratives in the Baltiic States, Poland, Belarus and Russia after 1989
In Central and Eastern Europe, the National Socialist and Communist dictatorships have often been equated as ‘totalitarian’ regimes memory politics from 1989-91 onwards. While the cooperation with the Nazi occupiers in the Second World War have been was largely (though by no means universally) ignored or even glorified, many post-Soviet governments have endorsed and disseminated nationalist memory narratives. By contrast, Vladimir Putin has justified the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1989 and the ensuing occupation of East-Central European states as defensive security measures. As opposed to the post-Soviet and nationalist narratives, memory politics in Western and Central Europe (as well as in the United States) has highlighted the mass murder of the Jews since the 1990s. The article outlines these tensions, which prevent a common European culture of remembrance from emerging in the foreseeable future.
Deindustrialization and its political and social implications: decline of the left-wing parties in Ukraine and secessionist insurgency in Donbas
After 1991 the vulnerability of the working class staring at the loss of their livelihood and increasing precarity has been addressed less and less by the left parties and unions in Ukraine. Consequently, working-class discontent with neoliberal capitalism increasingly became channelled into the support of far-right political forces. The left parties established in Ukraine in the early 1990s failed to speak on behalf of the wage workers. In the 2000s some of them disappeared from politics (SPU and SDPU), turned into minor allies of mainstream neoliberal parties (CPU), or were marginalized and instrumentalized by Russian intelligence service (PSPU). An absence of the left alternative in the post-socialist state captured by the oligarchs and corrupted officials led to the growing resentment in the industrial regions accompanied by the fears of further deindustrialization. Russia masterly used these fears and resentment to fuel the secessionist insurgency in Donbas in spring 2014. Collapse of the ruling Party of the Regions in spring 2014 created political vacuum in Donbas which was filled by Russian nationalists, the Don Cossacks and their local supporters – not numerous but quite aggressive to fuel the insurgency in Donbas. Local members of the quasi-left CPU and PSPU – particularly in Luhansk region – actively supported the right-wing insurgents in spring-summer 2014. Since then, Donbas came through accelerated decline of its industries and final deindustrialization due to the Russian invasion of 2022.
Free Lithuania: Welcome to Europe – Farewell to Nuclear Power
In 2004 Lithuania was the only EU accession country that had to face the imposed requirement to discontinue the operation of its nuclear power facilities. This obligation confronted the country with a unique energy policy challenge—one that remains unresolved and whose solutions must be sought within a European, climate-oriented, and sustainable energy policy framework. This article describes and analyzes the relationship between the Lithuanian independence movement, the attainment of state sovereignty, and the accession of a free Lithuania to the European Union on the one hand, and, on the other, the resulting upheaval in Lithuanian nuclear energy policy brought about by the closure and decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The methodological approach consists of a source-based reconstruction of key decision-making junctures, along with a document- and statistics-based presentation and analysis of the conditions, constraints, and circumstances under which Lithuanian energy policy operated during the period of transformation beginning in 1991 and following EU accession in 2004. The article provides an analysis of the interrelationship between Lithuania’s EU accession, the shutdown of the Ignalina NPP, and the comprehensive reorientation of Lithuanian energy policy.
Varieties of Capitalism in the Baltics: A view from commercial banking
On this occasion to review the thirty years of transition, this short conceptual piece focuses on the theoretical framework of ‘Variety of Capitalism’ (VoC). Specifically, it comments on the perceived uniqueness of the Baltics within the VoC framework and highlights the ‘missing pieces’ – or shortcomings – in applying VoC to small- and medium-sized transition economies. It argues that, in absence of strong investment banking, the post-communist/socialist transition (or transformation) was largely realized and observed through commercial banking reforms, limiting the comparability between the Baltics and the United States or Germany (i.e. the original VoC typology). Thus, financial centre development (including labour market development for financial and business services) in capital cities may hold a key to understand the true ‘varieties’ among transitional/transitioned economies. In this context, financialization in terms of gross value added and employment, foreign ownership in the banking sector, and corporate governance mechanisms are listed as suggestions for future empirical studies.
Economic Transformation and Social Change: East Germany in the 1990s
The article is dedicated to the economic and social transformation in East Germany after 1990. Topics are the consequences of monetary union in Germany, the activities of the “Treuhandanstalt” (trust agency) and the problem of mass unemployment as a result of economic transformation. What alternative concepts did the trade unions develop in view of the prevailing neoliberal strategy of rapid privatization of the formerly “volkseigene” industry? What role did democratic co-determination play? What conclusion can be drawn? The privatization practiced from 1990/91 was not without alternatives. The massive job losses in the course of de-industrialization could have been avoided with a more careful and long-term renovation.
Schengen is a European Value in Itself and Will be Reinvented as Circumstances Require: A Plea
Based on the German-German, German-Austrian and Lithuanian experiences in dismantling border controls, the essay outlines the milestones of this transfer of competences in the Schengen process, which is unprecedented in the history of European integration, as well as its most important implications for the transformation of regulatory areas and innovations in the accession countries. For the grand narrative associated with the European fundamental right to freedom of movement – rooted in 1989/90 and centered on the “removal of border controls” and “free travel” – was and remains in need of genuinely effective compensatory measures to secure it. The internal and external challenges such as the refugee crisis in 2015 are also addressed, concluding with an outlook on the future of the Schengen Agreement.
Centered Power: On the responsibilities of Germany within Europa
The European Union has been overstretched at least since the two rounds of eastern enlargement. Overstretch can be understood in two ways: either the territory integrated within a political entity becomes too large, or the central authority responsible for organizing this space is too weak. The consequence is the emergence of strong centrifugal forces, which in turn necessitate a countervailing centripetal power. Given current conditions, only Germany can assume the role of a “power in the center”, owing to its geographical position, its economic strength as by far the largest economy in the EU and thus its status as the largest net contributor, and finally its position as the Union’s most populous member state. However, in order to fulfill the tasks associated with a centripetal function, the German government depends on cooperation. The Weimar Triangle – comprising France, Germany, and Poland – offers itself as a suitable framework, potentially supplemented by Italy as a representative of the EU’s southern member states. The recent threats to the EU posed by Putin’s Russia and the pressures exerted by U.S. President Trump make resolute European leadership imperative.
Požymių eliminavimas studijų nutraukimo prognozavimo uždavinyje
Šiame straipsnyje tiriamas požymių atrankos ir eliminavimo poveikis studentų studijų nutraukimo prognozavimo kokybei. Duomenų rinkinį sudaro skirtingų grupių požymiai: akademiniai, demografiniai, instituciniai, socioekonominiai, elgsenos ir išvestiniai elgsenos. Atliekama požymių svarbos analizė ir nuoseklus jų mažinimas etapais, siekiant nustatyti optimalų požymių rinkinį. Rezultatai rodo, kad didžiausią įtaką turi elgsenos dinamika ir jos išvestiniai rodikliai, o perteklinių požymių šalinimas supaprastina modelį, tačiau kartu mažina jo gebėjimą tiksliai identifikuoti studijų nutraukimo atvejus.
So close and yet so far apart: German-Baltic geopolitical views
A certain paradox has pervaded German-Baltic relations for decades. Tightly linked through culture, art, education, and, above all, a genuine societal affinity for each other, in the realm of military power, the two sides could not be further apart. Where, over the years, German leadership has emphasized the notion of perpetual peace in Europe and positive transformation through trade, the Baltic states, on the contrary, stuck to the worldview of military power playing a central role in regional affairs. Put differently, despite geographic proximity between Germany and the Baltic states, these relations time and again have fractured along the line of how to best engage Russia. Existing scholarship has already extensively covered Germany’s security ties with other major powers. This essay, in turn, seeks to depart from this conventional practice and instead assess Germany as a security actor through the eyes of small states in the Baltic Sea region, namely Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The following traces and evaluates key inflection points and controversies nestled within the German-Baltic security relationship.
“A reluctant Player?” Germany’s Foreign and Security Policy after Unification 1990–2020
Until the early 1990s, in reunified Germany, the prevailing view was that deploying the Bundeswehr abroad could not be justified for political and, above all, historical reasons. It was only the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on July 12, 1994, that made it possible for German armed forces to be deployed abroad under a NATO or UN mandate, but only with the approval of the German Bundestag. Since then, the Bundeswehr has been deployed abroad on several occasions, including in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2021, in Iraq from 2014 to 2017, and currently in Mali. However, its operational deployment has been and continues to be characterized primarily by military restraint and a focus on maintaining order and providing civilian reconstruction assistance. Compared to its military deployment, reunified Germany has shown much greater intensity in the field of European policy, particularly with the aim of furthering the integration of the EC/ EU member states. This policy has been limited by four major international crises (the global financial and economic crisis of 2008–2011; the euro crisis from 2012–2015; the refugee crisis since 2015/16; and the COVID-19 pandemic since February 2020), slowing down the further integration of EU states. During these years, Germany has only partially succeeded in transferring its leadership role in the EU into greater capacity for action, as the Federal Republic’s multilateral approach is not always supported by its European partners.
Introduction. Narratives of the Upheaval around 1990 in East- and Central Europe
The introduction outlines the theme of the conference and the conditions under which the volume emerged against the backdrop of the geopolitical changes of recent years. The key concepts of “transformation” and “narrative” are examined in their interdisciplinary dimensions. Finally, the five sections and the individual contributions are briefly introduced.
Grußwort des Rektors der Universität Vilnius
Steganografija dirbtinių neuroninių tinklų parametruose ir jos aptikimas mašininio mokymosi metodais
Dirbtinių neuroninių tinklų modeliais plačiai dalijamasi viešosiose saugyklose, todėl kyla grėsmė, kad jų parametrų failai gali būti išnaudoti kenkėjiškam turiniui slėpti ir platinti. Šiame straipsnyje analizuojamas erdvinės srities steganografijos pritaikymas dirbtiniuose neuroniniuose tinkluose, vertinant tiek informacijos paslėpimo, tiek jos aptikimo galimybes. Nustatyta, kad vaizdų klasifikavimo modeliuose galima modifikuoti bent pusę jų talpos reikšmingai nepabloginant klasifikavimo tikslumo. Įterpto turinio aptikimui taikyti mašininio mokymosi metodai, su kuriais pasiektas 90,2 % tikslumas modifikacijų aptikimo užduotyje. Rezultatai rodo, kad tinklų parametruose galima paslėpti informaciją, tačiau tokios modifikacijos gali būti aptinkamos.
Toward a Unified Method for Digital Twin Development: A Systematic Comparison of Existing Frameworks and Process Models
The rapid growth of interest in Digital Twins has produced a heterogeneous landscape of development methods, frameworks and process models. Existing reviews describe the state of the art in general terms, focus on selected dimensions such as methodologies or Model-Driven Engineering techniques, or propose domain-specific engineering approaches, but no unified view systematically compares these contributions and distils a reference method adaptable across domains. This paper reports the first stage of my research toward such a unified method by systematically comparing existing frameworks and process models and synthesising the result into a coherent reference method. The methodology combines systematic literature review, comparative method analysis and inductive synthesis. The paper presents the current progress, the proposed contribution and open issues.
An Experimental Study of Atrial Fibrillation Detection Using Deep Neural Networks Under Noisy Conditions
Atrial fibrillation, characterized by rapid and irregular electrical activity in the atria, is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and a major risk factor for stroke. Early detection of AFib is critical for timely diagnosis and effective treatment. However, AFib detection from electrocardiogram recordings remains challenging due to noise contamination, particularly in wearable device recordings, where motion-related artifacts are frequently present. Numerous deep learning approaches have been proposed for AFib detection, but direct comparison between existing methods is difficult due to different experimental settings. Also, the effect of real-world noise on performance is underexplored. In response to this challenge, we performed a cross-dataset test on deep learning models CTRhythm, MFEGNet, and MGCNet under clean and noisy conditions. CTRhythm achieved the strongest performance on clean signals, but it was the most vulnerable to noise. MFEGNet demonstrated the greatest noise resilience, consistent with its architecture designed for noise suppression. Despite this, all models‘ performance degraded substantially when tested on noisy signals. These results highlight the importance of standardised cross-dataset evaluation under real-life conditions for assessing the true utility of AFib detection models and the development of robust pipelines that incorporate signal denoising.
Multi-Label Classification for Requirement Smell Detection in Natural-Language Requirements
Natural-language software requirements often contain quality defects such as ambiguity, vagueness, subjectivity, and nonverifiability. This paper presents a multi-label approach for detecting five requirement smell categories: Subjective, Ambiguous, Nonverifiable, Negative, and Vague. The method adapts SetFit with a SentenceTransformer encoder, a weighted binary-relevance logistic-regression head, hint-aware augmentation, and label-specific threshold tuning. Experiments on harmonized datasets show that the approach supports automated requirement quality analysis and interpretable smell detection.
Skatinamojo mokymosi modelių pritaikymas bendravimui su autizmo spektro sutrikimą turinčiais vaikais
Šiame darbe nagrinėjamos paveikslėlių mainų komunikacijos sistemos (PECS) skaitmenizavimo galimybės, taikant skatinamojo mokymosi metodus. Darbe analizuojami Q šeimos skatinamojo mokymosi algoritmai: Q-mokymosi, Q(λ)-mokymosi ir dvigubo Q-mokymosi – bei jų mokymosi ir veikimo savybės. Tyrimo metu sukurtos modifikuotos FrozenLake eksperimentinės aplinkos su pritaikytais skatinamojo mokymosi metodų algoritmais, turinčios sekančios PECS kortelės parinkimo logiką, ir taikytos skirtingos strategijos algoritmų veikimo optimizavimui. Algoritmų našumas vertintas pagal veiksmų kiekį mokymosi epizodų metu ir po jų bei sukauptą atlygį. Gauti rezultatai rodo, kad skatinamojo mokymosi metodai gali būti efektyviai taikomi PECS sistemų skaitmenizavimui ir adaptyvių komunikacijos sistemų kūrimui.
Vartotojų praradimo identifikavimas taikant mašininio mokymosi ir statistinius metodus
Vartotojų praradimo identifikavimas leidžia programėles valdančioms įmonėms įvertinti įvairų rodiklių įtaką klientų išlaikymui ir planuoti artėjančią tinklų apkrovą. Šiame tyrime analizuojami vartotojų aktyvumo bei programėlės techninės kokybės duomenys ir taikomi statistiniai bei mašininio mokymosi modeliai siekiant įvertinti, kurie vartotojai atsisakys paslaugos pasibaigus abonementui. Rezultatai rodo, kad tinkamiausias modelis nagrinėjamo duomenų rinkinio klasifikavimui – atsitiktiniai miškai.
Difuziniais modeliais grįsto EKG triukšmo šalinimo palyginamasis vertinimas
Elektrokardiogramos signalai yra svarbūs širdies ritmo sutrikimų nustatymui ir širdies veiklos vertinimui, tačiau šiuos signalus, ypač registruojamus nešiojamaisiais įrenginiais, dažnai iškraipo įvairūs triukšmai, apsunkinantys patikimą kardiogramų analizę. Šiame tyrime nagrinėjama elektrokardiogramų triukšmo šalinimo problema ir lyginami du difuzija grįsti metodai, DeScoD ir DMAM, bei bazinis giliojo mokymosi metodas DeepFilter. Vertinimas atliktas naudojant MIT-BIH aritmijų ir QT duomenų bazes, o signalai buvo užteršti bazinės linijos dreifo, elektrodų judesio ir raumenų artefaktų triukšmu iš MIT-BIH triukšmo atsparumo bandymų duomenų bazės. Nustatyta, kad sunkiausiai pašalinamas elektrodų judesio artefaktų triukšmas, o difuzijos modeliai nuosekliai pranoko DeepFilter. Geriausius rezultatus pasiekė DeScoD, kurio triukšmo šalinimo kokybė, palyginti su DeepFilter, buvo 20–30 % geresnė, o DMAM pademonstravo panašų pranašumą.
Mapping Claims to Evidence in Ageing Research: An Automated NLP Pipeline for Claim-Level Literature Synthesis
Longevity research spans tens of thousands of clinical and observational publications, yet no systematic, claim-level, quality-graded synthesis of the human literature exists. We present an end-to-end natural language processing pipeline that retrieves, screens, structures, normalises, validates, and quality-grades evidence claims from PubMed at scale. The pipeline uses a local large language model (LLM) for relevance screening and record splitting, and frontier LLMs for structured extraction, entity filtering, taxonomy normalisation, polarity correction, claim validation, and hallmark mapping. Applied to 108,431 retrieved records, the pipeline produced a final dataset of 2,987 quality-graded claims from 1,797 publications, merged into 2,641 factor–outcome claim pairs. The results reveal a broad but shallow evidence landscape: exercise and physical training account for 33.8% of the final corpus, only 1.1% of claims target direct survival or longevity outcomes, and 91.9% of claim pairs are supported by a single study. The main contribution is a modular, updatable NLP system for large-scale claim-level evidence synthesis, together with a public database available at longevityevidence.org.