Socio-economic, Commercial and Political Factors in River Recovery and Restoration: has Ecology Taken a Back Seat?

SummaryIn the face of continuing anthropogenic stressors to freshwater systems world‐wide, the natural resilience and resistance of the freshwater ecosystems that enables them to cope with or recover rapidly from certain levels of perturbation is under significant threat. In many systems, the changes brought about through human activities have significantly altered the physical habitat and ecological functioning of the natural systems.Given the importance of freshwater systems in the provision of ecological services and diverse habitats for a huge range of species, there is a clear need for restoration that can maintain sustainable ecological services whilst reinstating ecosystem function and habitat range.While restoration has been attracting huge financial investment in recent times, to date there has been little or no consensus as to what constitutes successful ecological restoration. The studies highlighted in this Special Profile attempt to meet this challenge. The Forum paper establishes a set of criteria or standards against which restoration projects can be evaluated, and these criteria are discussed by both practitioners and researchers in two Comment papers.The five criteria proposed in the Forum paper include the establishment of a dynamic ecological endpoint to the restoration, providing for a ‘guiding image’ of a healthier river, and an improvement in the river's ecological condition, that ideally leads to a more self‐sustaining and resilient system. No lasting harm should be inflicted on the system during the restoration, and pre‐ and post‐assessment and monitoring must be incorporated into the overall restoration project. An additional sixth criterion is proposed in one of the Comment papers whereby a description or prediction of the ecological mechanisms should be determined through which the intended restoration strategy will achieve its goalsThe kinds of mechanisms that might be involved are explored in three research articles in the Special Profile, centred on river systems that have been subject to regulation or channelization. The mitigation of the effects of river regulation measures and the successful restoration of floodplain ecosystems has a focus on re‐establishing river flow dynamics (temporal heterogeneity) and connectivity of the river with the floodplain. Restoration of channelized systems is centred on increasing the structural (spatial) heterogeneity of the system.Synthesis and applications. River restoration is a world‐wide phenomenon of growing importance as we attempt to redress the problems that have arisen from our use and misuse of freshwater habitats and resources. The adoption of standards for ecologically successful river restoration promoted byPalmeret al. (2005), along with the clarifications raised in the Comment papers, will go a long way towards meeting this objective. There is a clear responsibility for funding agencies to undertake meaningful monitoring of restoration projects, not only to provide information on the effectiveness of the restoration in ecological terms, but also to provide much needed data to help establish further the science of restoration. The objective of this significant initiative is eventually to achieve approval of the standards by the sponsoring/funding agencies of restoration, by the practitioner community that carries out the restoration, and by the scientific research community. This will require much greater interaction between ecologists, the larger academic community and the practitioners, with the common goal of implementing more ecologically effective restoration projects, a goal that must also be embraced by the restoration project sponsors and regulators.

Studies on the effect of social media on political communication and participation have found that falsehood and promotion of agenda are common in Nigerian social media usage for political discussion. Some of Nigerian citizens are discouraged probably due to their belief that their votes may not count. The study therefore investigated the impact of social media on political discourse and public opinion before and during Nigeria's 2023 Election. The population of the study comprised 51 225 500 Facebook users in Nigeria. A convenience sample was used to select a sample of 500 participants for the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire through Qualtrics. Mean, Standard Deviation and Linear regression were used to analysed the data gathered for the study. The study found that social media has a high effect on political discourse, public opinion and political opinion during the Nigerian 2023 general elections. The study found that social media activeness has high impact on political expression opinions during Nigeria’s 2023 election; social media influenced political polarization and propaganda, but does not increase the spread of misinformation. The study concluded that electoral bodies and politicians must improve debate and public opinions through discussion of policies and ideologies to reduce polarization.

In studies of the Australian press, a wide range of American influences—on news genres, on notions of newsworthiness and presentation, and on the language in which stories are written—has been larg...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Ecological restoration, when implemented effectively and sustainably, contributes to protecting biodiversity; improving human health and wellbeing; increasing food and water security; delivering goods, services, and economic prosperity; and supporting climate change mitigation, resilience, and adaptation. It is a solutions-based approach that engages communities, scientists, policymakers, and land managers to repair ecological damage and rebuild a healthier relationship between people and the rest of nature. When combined with conservation and sustainable use, ecological restoration is the link needed to move local, regional, and global environmental conditions from a state of continued degradation, to one of net positive improvement. The second edition of the International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration (the Standards) presents a robust framework for restoration projects to achieve intended goals, while addressing challenges including effective design and implementation, accounting for complex ecosystem dynamics (especially in the context of climate change), and navigating trade-offs associated with land management priorities and decisions. The Standards establish eight principles that underpin ecological restoration. Principles 1 and 2 articulate important foundations that guide ecological restoration: effectively engaging a wide range of stakeholders, and fully utilizing available scientific, traditional, and local knowledge, respectively. Principles 3 and 4 summarize the central approach to ecological restoration, by highlighting ecologically appropriate reference ecosystems as the target of restoration and clarifying the imperative for restoration activities to support ecosystem recovery processes. Principle 5 underscores the use of measurable indicators to assess progress toward restoration objectives. Principle 6 lays out the mandate for ecological restoration to seek the highest attainable recovery. Tools are provided to identify the levels of recovery aspired to and to track progress. Principle 7 highlights the importance of restoration at large spatial scales for cumulative gains. Finally, ecological restoration is one of several approaches that address damage to ecosystems and Principle 8 clarifies its relationships to allied approaches on a “Restorative Continuum”. The Standards highlight the role of ecological restoration in connecting social, community, productivity, and sustainability goals. The Standards also provide recommended performance measures for restorative activities for industries, communities, and governments to consider. In addition, the Standards enhance the list of practices and actions that guide practitioners in planning, implementation, and monitoring activities. The leading practices and guidance include discussion on appropriate approaches to site assessment and identification of reference ecosystems, different restoration approaches including natural regeneration, consideration of genetic diversity under climate change, and the role of ecological restoration in global restoration initiatives. This edition also includes an expanded glossary of restoration terminology. SER and its international partners produced the Standards for adoption by communities, industries, governments, educators, and land managers to improve ecological restoration practice across all sectors and in all ecosystems, terrestrial and aquatic. The Standards support development of ecological restoration plans, contracts, consent conditions, and monitoring and auditing criteria. Generic in nature, the Standards framework can be adapted to particular ecosystems, biomes, or landscapes; individual countries; or traditional cultures. The Standards are aspirational and provide tools that are intended to improve outcomes, promote best practices, and deliver net global environmental and social benefits. As the world enters the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), the Standards provide a blueprint for ensuring ecological restoration achieves its full potential in delivering social and environmental equity and, ultimately, economic benefits and outcomes.

Studying Pope Francis' influence on public opinion in European Union countries in the context of national resilience is a pressing research question. Although the Pope enjoys high moral authority among Europeans, a comprehensive analysis of his role in shaping societal positions, particularly on security and defense issues, is lacking. Investigating this problem enables a deeper understanding of the religious factor's role in strengthening European unity, countering destructive influences. The research materials include Pope Francis' public speeches and statements, primarily those circulated through mass media and social networks, as well as sociological survey results on the EU public's perception of the pontiff's position on crucial socio-political issues. Content analysis methods are used to examine the content and tone of the Pope's messages, while comparative analysis of sociological research data identifies correlations between the Pope's rhetoric and shifts in public sentiment regarding national resilience. The results show that despite Pope Francis' high popularity in EU countries, where the vast majority of the population approves of the pontiff, his public statements have a limited and short-lived impact on public opinion. Empirical evidence indicates that most Europeans do not consider the Pope a decisive factor in shaping their views on various socio-political problems, such as nuclear disarmament, migration, pandemics, or basic income. The Pope's pacifist stance on war, a topic of discussion in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, is not a determining factor that risks critically undermining the personnel and motivation of EU countries' armed forces. The population's willingness to defend their homeland militarily varies significantly among EU states and is influenced by a complex interplay of historical, geopolitical, and socio-cultural factors that outweigh the pontiff's religious rhetoric. In conclusion, while papal pacifism somewhat resonates with the anti-war sentiments of some Europeans, it does not pose major challenges to ensuring the defense capabilities and resilience of EU countries. Pope Francis' high moral authority does not automatically translate into a dominant influence on public opinion and societal attitudes regarding national security in European Union member states.

River restoration is becoming a priority in many countries because of increasing the awareness of environmental degradation. In Europe, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) has significantly reinforced river restoration, encouraging the improvement of ecological status for water bodies. To fulfill the WFD requirements, the Spanish Ministry of the Environment developed in 2006 a National Strategy for River Restoration whose design and implementation are described in this paper. At the same time many restoration projects have been conducted, and sixty of them have been evaluated in terms of stated objectives and pressures and implemented restoration measures. Riparian vegetation enhancement, weir removal and fish passes were the most frequently implemented restoration measures, although the greatest pressures came from hydrologic alteration caused by flow regulation for irrigation purposes. Water deficits in quantity and quality associated with uncontrolled water demands seriously affect Mediterranean rivers and represent the main constraint to achieving good ecological status of Spanish rivers, most of them intensively regulated. Proper environmental allocation of in-stream flows would need deep restrictions in agricultural water use which seem to be of very difficult social acceptance. This situation highlights the need to integrate land-use and rural development policies with water resources and river management, and identifies additional difficulties in achieving the WFD objectives and good ecological status of rivers in Mediterranean countries.

The popularity of the Internet makes everyone have the right to speak. People are no longer passive receivers of information but propagators of information, and for this reason, cyber opinion comes into existence. Some social events that can arouse people’s sympathy and are related to people’s vital interests will eventually form cyber opinions through netizens’ comments, discussions, and forwarding. As members of the society, undergraduates have different interests, political tendencies, and social cognition. When making judgments and comments on controversial hot issues, undergraduates will make their own correct judgments of authenticity according to their own knowledge and social experience, which will make the propagation content of public opinion more diversified. Especially for ideological and political public opinion, it is very important to ensure the safety of the public opinion propagation model intelligently. In this paper, first, cellular automata (CA) of artificial intelligence (AI) is used to establish the propagation model of undergraduates’ ideological and political safety public opinion and the stochastic immune mechanism model is introduced. Then, a CA-based stochastic immune mechanism model is adopted to simulate the real propagation process of undergraduates’ ideological and political public opinion. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that the moving probability of public opinion subjects has a great impact on the propagation speed and homogenization rate of cyber public opinion and the proposed CA model can well describe the actual propagation process of cyber public opinion. Meanwhile, the proposed propagation model can ensure the propagation of undergraduates’ ideological and political public opinion on safety.

Deliberative democracy and the digital public sphere: Asymmetrical fragmentation as a political not a technological problem

Abstract. In democratic states, civil-military relations and public opinion significantly influence defense policy decisions. This research explores the mechanisms through which civilian leaders and military officials interact to formulate defense policies, and how public sentiment, shaped by traditional and social media, impacts these decisions. Using qualitative research methods, specifically secondary data analysis of case studies and scholarly literature, this study investigates three key areas: the impact of civil-military relations on defense policy, the role of public opinion and media influence, and the interaction between civil-military relations and public opinion. Findings indicate that military leaders' public statements and media coverage significantly shape public opinion, which pressures civilian leaders to adapt defense policies. The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is a prime example where declining public support, influenced by media portrayals and military assessments, led to a strategic policy shift. This study concludes that understanding the interplay between civil-military relations and public opinion is crucial for effective and democratic defense policy-making. Keywords: civil-military relations, defense policy, democratic states, media influence, public opinion

It is widely acknowledged that political opinions are not simply positive or negative, but are often simultaneously positive and negative, or ambivalent. Although there is evidence that ambivalence influences the dynamics of public opinion on policy issues, little is known about its role in contributing to electoral decision making. Using National Election Studies data from 1980 to1996, I examine the consequences of ambivalence toward presidential candidates for electoral judgment and choice. Results revealed that ambivalence created instability in candidate evaluations, substantially delayed the formation of citizens' voting intentions, conditioned the influence of both personality assessments and issue proximity on summary candidate evaluation, and ultimately weakened the prediction of vote choice. Throughout the analyses, the effects of ambivalence were independent of and typically larger than those of partisanship strength, information, education, and attitude strength, and could not be meaningfully accounted for by any of these factors. In broad terms, ambivalence would appear to capture a unique and fundamentalalthough to date largely ignoredaspect of mass belief systems and electoral choice. '14 i early all contemporary public opinion research rests on the assumption that political attitudes are unidimensional and biJL < spolar-i.e., negative, or neutral evaluative responses (e.g., Green and Citrin 1994; Lodge, McGraw, and Stroh 1989). In studies of mass belief systems and electoral behavior, for example, attitudes toward policies, candidates, and groups are typically operationalized as summary statements that range from unfavorable oppose, cold, or at one end of the continuum to favorable' support, warm, or positive, at the other. This view implies that positive attitudes are the diametric opposite of negative attitudes, such that the more one likes a political object the less one dislikes it. Unfortunately, this structural assumption masks a fundamental and readily acknowledged aspect of belief systems, namely, that individual opinions are not simply positive or negative evaluative tendencies, but instead are often simultaneously positive and negative (Alvarez and Brehm 1995; Cacioppo, Gardner, and Berntson 1997; Feldman and Zaller 1992; Hochschild 1981; Huckfeldt and Sprague 1998; Lavine et al. 1998; Nelson 1999; Zaller and Feldman 1992). That is, rather than endorsing one side of a political debate and refuting the other, individuals often embrace central elements of both sides. Citizens who internalize elements of both sides of a political conflict are not necessarily revealing doorstep opinions (i.e., nonattitudes, Converse 1964); nor do their opinions reflect deficiencies in survey measurement (Achen 1975). Rather, such complex attitudes often represent the problem of reconciling strongly held but conflicting principles and considerations simultaneously present in the political culture in order to make difficult political choices (Alvarez and Brehm 1995; Feldman and Zaller 1992; Huckfeldt and Sprague 1998). Recent work in particular suggests that ambivalence-an individual's endorsement of competing considerations relevant to evaluating an attitude object-is a prevalent characteristic of the public's political opinions, and that ambivalence has nontrivial implications for political judgment and choice. For example, policy attitudes marked by evaluative

Scour analysis is a critical part of many river restoration and rehabilitation projects located in the vicinity of existing bridges, retaining walls, and subsurface utility infrastructure. The removal of grade control systems, fish passage barriers, and abandoned or unsafe dams may result in altering riverbed stability or creating upstream headcuts that could influence bridges. Other types of physical restoration projects to renaturalize rivers may alter bed gradients, revise channel alignment, change flow velocities, or modify sediment transport. Careful hydraulic studies are required to assess the potential for short-term scour and long-term degradation or aggradation. Traditional methods developed for the design and evaluation of transportation bridges such as Federal Highway Administration guidelines (HEC-18) are also applied at restoration sites. However, there has been concern about erratic scour depth predictions, so supplemental techniques should be used to check results. They include use of U.S. Geological Survey bridge scour field data, regional performance of similar bridges and substrates, and sediment transport models. Immediately following Hurricane Irene, post disaster river restoration assistance included inspecting 50 bridges in three states, leading to 12 closures largely due to scour and sediment problems. Several interesting cases were assessed, including a dam removal situation, a braided channel, and aggradation at bridges.

The plethora of arguments surrounding the events of the Monica Lewinsky affair and Clinton's resulting impeachment trial provide us with valuable material through which we can begin to understand the varying definitions of what the presidency is and how it should operate. Arguments from the trial transcripts and reports in various media outlets provide perspective on the competing definitions of presidential power and the president's role in the national polity. In other words, the arguments about the immediate fate of President Clinton reveal more than political predilections. They also reveal deeply embedded definitions of presidential power, its limitations, and the proper function of the presidency in the contemporary political system.

Public Opinion: Social Attitudes

1. River–floodplain systems are among the most diverse and complex ecosystems. The lack of detailed information about functional relationships and processes at the landscape and catchment scale currently hampers assessment of their ecological status.2. Intensive use and alteration of riverine landscapes by humans have led to severe degradation of river–floodplain systems, especially in highly industrialised countries. Recent water‐related regulations and legislation focussing on high standards of ecological integrity back efforts to restore or rehabilitate these systems.3. Most restoration projects in the past have suffered from a range of deficits, which pertain to project design, the planning process, the integration of associated disciplines, scaling issues and monitoring.4. The so‐called `Leitbild' (i.e. a target vision) assumes a key role in river restoration and the assessment of ecological integrity in general. The development of such a Leitbild requires a multistep approach. Including explicitly the first step that defines the natural, type‐specific reference condition (i.e. a visionary as opposed to an operational Leitbild), has great practical advantages for restoration efforts, primarily because it provides an objective benchmark, as is required by the European Water Framework Directive and other legal documents.5. Clearly defined assessment criteria are crucial for evaluating ecological integrity, especially in the pre‐ and postrestoration monitoring phases. Criteria that reflect processes and functions should play a primary role in future assessments, so as to preserve and restore functional integrity as a fundamental component of ecological integrity.6. Case studies on the Kissimmee River (U.S.A.), the Rhine River (Netherlands and Germany), and the Drau River (Austria) are used to illustrate the fundamental principles underlying successful restoration projects of river–floodplain systems.

Despite some highly visible projects that have resulted in environmental benefits, recent efforts to quantify the number and distribution of river restoration projects revealed a paucity of written records documenting restoration outcomes. Improving restoration designs and setting watershed priorities rely on collecting and making accessible this critical information. Information within the unpublished notes of restoration project managers is useful but rarely documents ecological improvements. This special section of Restoration Ecology is devoted to the current state of knowledge on river restoration. We provide an overview of the section’s articles, reflecting on lessons learned, which have implications for the implementation, legal, and financing frameworks for restoration. Our reflections are informed by two databases developed under the auspices of the National River Restoration Science Synthesis project and by extensive interactions with those who fund, implement, and permit restoration. Requiring measurable ecological success criteria, comprehensive watershed plans, and tracking of when and where restoration projects are implemented are critical to improving the health of U.S. waters. Documenting that a project was put in the ground and stayed intact cannot be equated with ecological improvements. However, because significant ecological improvements can come with well‐designed and ‐implemented stream and river restorations, a small investment in documenting the factors contributing to success will lead to very large returns in the health of our nation’s waterways. Even projects that may appear to be failures initially can be turned into success stories by applying the knowledge gained from monitoring the project in an adaptive restoration approach.