A major assemblage of Mesolithic and Neolithic wooden artefacts has been recovered from the bed of the River Užava at Sise, in the coastal belt of western Latvia. New archaeological investigation has also produced wooden remains and other evidence of occupation on the riverbank. On the basis of multi-proxy environmental data and radiocarbon dating, this article offers a first attempt to place the human activity in a palaeolandscape context. The earliest evidence of human presence is provided by wooden artefacts dated to c. 10,500-9700 cal. BP, during the Ancylus Lake transgression. These remains are thought to reflect fishing activities in the shallows of the Ventspils Bay, which existed during the transgression. The regression that followed brought a return to river-valley conditions at the site, and the next recorded period of human activity, evidenced by 14 C-dated antler tool finds, is associated with the beginning of the Littorina Sea transgression, culminating c. 7500 cal. BP. With the formation of a new Ventspils Bay/Lagoon, the Sise site, at or near the river mouth, would have regained its status as an advantageous fishing location. Archaeological finds indicate continued human activity c. 6000-4000 cal. BP, even though the sea level was now lower and this was no longer a river-mouth location. Such a pattern of recurrent human occupation during the early to middle Holocene, associated with repeated shifts of the shoreline, appears to be characteristic of the central region of the Baltic Sea Basin.

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The present study was designed to distinguish non-cognitive predictors of job performance for various job groups in order to develop a method for identification of the suitability of an employee for positions and career development in organizational settings. This study included personality traits, vocational interests, grit, growth mindset, resistance to change, goal orientation and self-efficacy as potential predictors of job performance from several individual characteristics related to training, learning and job performance found in the literature. The study sample included customer service specialists, support specialists and managers from five different companies in Latvia. The results show that grit, social, conventional, and enterprising interests are significant predictors of subjective job performance. Personality traits, self-efficacy, growth mindset, resistance to change and goal orientation did not predict job performance in this sample. The relationship between subjective job performance and personality traits for conscientiousness and neuroticism is weak. The results are partly in line with other studies. Possible explanations of results and future directions are offered.

Based on the theory of person-environment fit, non-cognitive predictors of job performance were studied in a group of information and communication technology (ICT) specialists. From various potential job and training performance predictors seven psychological attributes (personality, vocational interests, grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, goal orientation and resistance to change) were chosen and tested as predictors of job performance ratings, as provided by either the supervisor or the study participant. The results indicate that grit, vocational interests, and resistance to change predict job performance in this group of ICT specialists. This study adds to the scientific literature of grit and vocational interests as non-cognitive predictors of job performance. Implications for practice include the recommendation of using grit and vocational interests in personnel management processes such as personnel selection or placement.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the convergent and operational validity of a modified Latvian personality inventory (LPA-3, Perepjolkina, 2014) with a multidimensional forced-choice answer format (LMFI). Using three samples, a validity study of the LMFI was conducted. Convergent validity was evaluated by examining the relations between LMFI on one side and the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and the Machiavellianism scale on the other. Operational validity was evaluated by examining the relations with assessments of subjective job performance, counterproductive work performance and with a measure of scholarly significance. The results show good convergent and operational validity for five of the six LMFI factors. The Honesty-Humility measure still needs to be improved. In the future, predictive and discriminant validation studies should be conducted with more representative Latvian samples.