Historical Reference Research Articles

Spatio-Temporal Contextual Learning for Single Object Tracking on Point Clouds.

Single object tracking (SOT) is one of the most active research directions in the field of computer vision. Compared with the 2-D image-based SOT which has already been well-studied, SOT on 3-D point clouds is a relatively emerging research field. In this article, a novel approach, namely, the contextual-aware tracker (CAT), is investigated to achieve a superior 3-D SOT through spatially and temporally contextual learning from the LiDAR sequence. More precisely, in contrast to the previous 3-D SOT methods merely exploiting point clouds in the target bounding box as the template, CAT generates templates by adaptively including the surroundings outside the target box to use available ambient cues. This template generation strategy is more effective and rational than the previous area-fixed one, especially when the object has only a small number of points. Moreover, it is deduced that LiDAR point clouds in 3-D scenes are often incomplete and significantly vary from frame to another, which makes the learning process more difficult. To this end, a novel cross-frame aggregation (CFA) module is proposed to enhance the feature representation of the template by aggregating the features from a historical reference frame. Leveraging such schemes enables CAT to achieve a robust performance, even in the case of extremely sparse point clouds. The experiments confirm that the proposed CAT outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on both the KITTI and NuScenes benchmarks, achieving 3.9% and 5.6% improvements in terms of precision.

Media representations of nuclear threats during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Research objective: This article continues the scholarly tradition of uncovering the rhetorical practices that influence audiences’ perceptions, beliefs, and behaviours towards nuclear actors and issues and examines how the Romanian mass media reports on nuclear threats against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: This article conducts a detailed examination of how media coverage of nuclear-related topics influences public perceptions, generating a feeling of urgency and potentially leading to mass panic and hysteria. The study employed a quantitative methodology, conducting content analysis on a selection of 190 online news articles from the primary Romanian press agencies (Mediafax and Agerpress) published between February 24, 2022, and February 24, 2023. Employing an inductive approach, our analysis was guided by frames identified during the examination of the sample material. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Nuclear threats and other related issues were frequently reported in the media in the post-World War 2 period. Given the history of media coverage of this topic, it is perhaps not surprising that a return to reporting nuclear threats has dominated the media discourse since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. RESEARCH RESULTS: The results of our study reveal two main frames used to report issues related to nuclear threats during the war in Ukraine: a historical reference frame and a forward-looking frame. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: This study introduces a fresh research direction for potential investigations into the origins and progression of nuclear threats as a unique area of focus in the analysis of Eastern European media reporting during times of conflict.

IGF-I assay methods and biologic variability: evaluation of acromegaly treatment response.

Serum insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) is the primary biochemical measure of disease activity in patients with acromegaly, and the 2014 Endocrine Society guidelines recommended normal age-adjusted serum IGF-I as the biochemical target of treatment. However, quantification and interpretation of IGF-I levels are subject to limitations that may affect therapeutic decisions. Techniques for measuring IGF-I have evolved greatly over the past 40 years and continue to do so. Results can vary substantially for different assays, procedures, and laboratories. For any assay, the interpretation of IGF-I values requires robust reference ranges. Using currently available large normative databases, the upper limit of normal (ULN) for IGF-I in middle-aged and elderly individuals is lower than historical reference ranges. Thus, the goal of achieving IGF-I < 1× ULN is more demanding than in the past, and some patients with acromegaly who were classified as "normal" (IGF-I < 1× ULN) in previous studies would be reclassified as above the ULN based on newer normative data. In addition, substantial intra-individual, week-to-week variation in serum IGF-I levels (unrelated to assay performance) has been observed. With changes over time in the measurement of IGF-I and the advent of updated reference ranges derived from large normative databases, it is difficult to justify rigid adherence to the goal of maintaining IGF-I below the ULN for all patients with acromegaly. Instead, symptoms, comorbidities, and quality of life should be considered, along with growth hormone and IGF-I levels, when evaluating the need for further treatment.

Analyzing the Contribution of Moisture Sources to Precipitation Changes Under 1.5/2.0°C Stabilized Warming Scenarios: A Study Over Northwest China

AbstractChanges in precipitation and its causes under future warming scenarios in Northwest China are of great concern. Based on the dynamical downscaling results of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), this study quantitatively identified the contribution of local evaporation and external moisture transport to future precipitation changes in western and eastern Northwest China (WNWC and ENWC) by calculating the precipitation recycling ratio (PRR). The results showed that the WRF could reasonably reproduce the observed spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation and evaporation during the historical reference period of 1985–2014. Under the 1.5 and 2.0°C stabilized warming scenarios from 2071 to 2100, there is a stronger precipitation growth in WNWC than in ENWC, and the PRR generally increases in WNWC and decreases in ENWC. Further analysis indicates that external moisture transport is the dominant contributor to the increased precipitation in all cases with its contribution exceeding 70%, while the difference of precipitation growth in two sub‐regions arises from the summer moisture transport at the southern boundary as the inflow in WNWC and outflow in ENWC. Compared to the negligible contribution of evaporation in ENWC (less than 7%), evaporation contributes more than 23% to the precipitation increase in WNWC under future warming scenarios, which may be related to the strong land‐atmosphere coupling there. Furthermore, an additional warming of 0.5°C leads to an increase in precipitation for both sub‐regions, which is mainly due to the contribution of external moisture transport.

Research on the Value of Water-Related Cultural Heritage Architecture from Historical Environmental Records: Evidence from the Li River Basin in China

Water-related cultural heritage architecture (WRCHA) represents a globally significant and potentially hybrid heritage found across river basins worldwide. Its spatial and temporal evolution characteristics offer insight into the development trends of river basin environments, yet their value within water-related cultural and environmental systems remain incompletely assessed. This study undertakes qualitative and quantitative analyses of the historical spatial and temporal distributions, influencing factors, and environmental changes affecting the water-related culture, climate, population, and urban areas of 295 WRCHA sites in the Li River Basin of China, employing drought–flood indices, GIS analyses, random forest algorithms, and other methodologies. The results reveal that (1) the Lishui Basin contains a significant distribution pattern of agglomeration for WRCHA within the river basin, concentrated along the river, at low altitudes, with minimal terrain variation, and radiating around ancient governance centers, with varying increases observed across different periods and aggregation zones and with significant spatial and temporal heterogeneities; (2) the distribution pattern is influenced by joint natural and human factors, closely tied to variables such as the river network density, DEM, population changes, and distance to ancient government sites; (3) the combination of the architecture’s location and elevation, along with drought–flood curves, reflects the position of the ancient riverbed of the Lishui River and its historical maximum water level. The quantity of new constructions, in conjunction with the distance from ancient government centers and the trends in population change, thus indicates the urban scale and the frequency and severity of disasters. This study provides a research paradigm and historical reference model for investigating environmental changes in watershed systems, aiding in clarifying the historical human–water symbiosis pattern in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Such insights will furnish a scientific basis for future regional ecological planning and watershed environmental management.

Research on the Reconstruction Method of Old Houses in Mindong, Republic of China, Based on a Wearable Mobile Scanning System

To address the complex structures of historical buildings in Mindong, lack of historical reference materials, and heavy workload of traditional surveying and mapping methods in the field, a 3D reconstruction method of historical building based on a wearable mobile scanning system for data acquisition was studied. First, a wearable mobile scanning system is used to scan historical buildings in three dimensions. The data are fused to obtain high-precision three-dimensional point cloud data of historical buildings. Second, based on the processed point cloud, a 2D map of historical buildings is accurately drawn using point cloud slicing. Finally, three-dimensional reconstruction of historical buildings is realized using a 2D atlas of historical buildings and modern modeling technology. The accuracy of the three-dimensional reconstruction model was analyzed using a fitting algorithm and structural geometric relationship to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the method. An old house in Mindong, Republic of China, was taken as the research object. Experimental analysis revealed that (1) a wearable mobile scanning system is suitable for high-quality point cloud data acquisition of buildings with complex geometric features, solving the problems of low efficiency and poor coverage of traditional surveying and mapping results; and (2) the method realizes 2D results rendering and 3D reconstruction of historical buildings based on the wearable mobile scanning system data with good accuracy, providing a reference for the protection and repair of historical buildings and health assessment.

Relationship between human activities and environmental changes in the southern Tibetan Plateau since the Little Ice Age

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is one of the most challenging areas for human long-term settlement due to its extreme living environment. Understanding the relationship between human activities and environmental changes in this extreme environment is important and can provide a historical reference for adapting to future climate change. In this study, we took the Angren Basin in the southern TP as a case study to elucidate the relationship since Little Ice Age (LIA). Using fecal stanol in feces, lake and river surface sediments, surface soils, and sediment core, we found that specific indices S1 and S2 from the composition of coprostanol, epicoprostanol, 5β-ethylcoprostanol and 5β-ethylepicoprostanol can reflect changes in human population and herbivores, respectively. Through the comparison between environmental changes determined by grain size, elements, sedimentation rate, and other climate records, the relationship between human activities and environmental changes was interpreted. Our results indicate that: (i) during 1480–1820 CE, the fecal stanols in lake sediments mainly originated from livestock, and the human population was low. In contrast, during 1820–2021 CE, the proportion and flux of S1 have been continuously increasing, indicating significant population growth. (ii) During the middle LIA, the cold-dry climate inhibited the development of agriculture and farming. However, the increased precipitation during the late LIA promoted that development, resulting in an increase in human population and livestock in a short term. (iii) Since 1951, people have reclaimed wasteland and developed husbandry, leading to increased soil erosion. (iv) Over the past 40 years, with a warm-humid climate and good policy support, human activities, such as agriculture and husbandry, have rapidly increased, but soil erosion has declined in the recent 20 years due to good soil-water conservation efforts. This study sheds light on the relationship between human activities and environmental changes and provides insights into future climate change responses.

Long‐term (29‐year) spatiotemporal patterns of sea turtle deaths in the southern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract Sea turtles are key imperilled species that interact with numerous threats in their critical in‐water and inland habitats, which they occupy along their complex life cycle. Therefore, analysing these interactions is essential for adapting ongoing conservation and management actions. The long‐term recording of stranded sea turtle individuals and the potential causes of death in their breeding habitats is crucial for defining and adapting conservation actions. Twenty‐nine years of sea turtle stranding and mortality data (1992–2019) at nesting beaches in Campeche, Mexico, were analysed to describe their spatiotemporal patterns per species and possible causes of death. The most impacted species was the hawksbill turtle, followed by green and Kemp's ridley individuals. The most frequent probable causes of death in this region were bycatch, seismic surveys, vehicle strikes and slaughter at nesting beaches. Both immature and breeding individuals were stranded, mostly the former, and the most frequent months were in the summer (June–August). This study establishes a historic reference baseline for the spatiotemporal mortality patterns of imperilled sea turtle species in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. It shows their interactions with anthropogenic activities and the circumstances jeopardizing their population recovery. It also points out management and conservation actions to implement to improve their long‐term viability in the context of the operationalization of their key attributes and interactions with their seascapes.

Presurgical pulmonary function tests in the first few days of life in neonates with congenital heart disease, a pilot study.

To compare early pulmonary function tests (PFTs) in neonates with critical congenital heart disease (CHD) compared to a historical reference group. Infants ≥ 37 weeks gestation with critical CHD were studied within the first few days of life, prior to cardiac surgery, and compared to data from a published reference group of healthy term neonates without CHD, studied at the same institution. Passive respiratory resistance (Rrs) and compliance (Crs) were measured with the single breath occlusion technique following specific acceptance criteria. The study was powered for a 30% difference in Rrs. PFTs in 24 infants with CHD were compared to 31 historical reference infants. There was no difference in the Rrs between the groups. The infants with CHD had a significantly decreased Crs (1.02 ± 0.26 mL/cmH2O/kg versus 1.32 ± 0.36; (p < 0.05; mean ± SD)). Further prospective studies are required to quantify early PFTs in infants with CHD of different phenotypes.

What Is Colonialism? The Dual Claims of a Twentieth-Century Political Category

Although a master category of contemporary social and political thought, the conceptual import of colonialism has long been contested. Turning to the political thought of Jawaharlal Nehru, this article reconstructs the surprising, and often surreptitious, intellectual transformations that rendered colonialism into a generic name for European rule over Asia and Africa. It demonstrates how the dual claims of colonialism—a historical reference for the global event of European expansion and a threadbare analytical definition for a particular form of rule—generated a powerful framework in the anticolonial age. While the expanded juridical uses of colonialism in the Cold War era undermined its historical claims, the priority would reverse with its postcolonial re-signification as a shorthand for studying the paradoxes of global modernity. Reframing these debates, this article argues that reflexive navigation between the dual claims of colonialism is key to a capacious appreciation of its historical and normative contentions.

Defining large‐scale arid island vegetation recovery targets through evaluating a reference ecosystem within an archipelago extent

Island ecological restoration presents challenges in establishing historical frames and reference ecosystems. Our study takes place in the Galapagos Islands and focuses on North Seymour (NS), recognized as a reference ecosystem for Baltra Island, which has suffered significant degradation. We assessed NS's arid plant community, comparing it with early twentieth‐century records. A first survey identified that dominant woody species on NS include native Bursera graveolens, Cordia lutea, Castela galapageia, Parkinsonia aculeata, and Opuntia echios, while Cleome viscosa is the only exotic species registered. A second survey divided both islands into evenly distributed plots, recording adults and juveniles of the five dominant species from the first survey. NS showed a structured community with higher species richness and density compared to Baltra. Castela galapageia prevailed in disturbed areas on Baltra. Juvenile regeneration was scarce on both islands. NS exhibited high species richness throughout, while Baltra had only two areas with similar high richness. Co‐occurrence analysis revealed significant associations between P. aculeata and B. graveolens on both islands. However, Baltra's network displayed missing links, indicating the need for restoration efforts. In conclusion, the structured plant community of NS can serve as one of the reference ecosystems needed for framing a restoration model for Baltra.

Iterative feedback-based models for image and video polyp segmentation

Accurate segmentation of polyps in colonoscopy images has gained significant attention in recent years, given its crucial role in automated colorectal cancer diagnosis. Many existing deep learning-based methods follow a one-stage processing pipeline, often involving feature fusion across different levels or utilizing boundary-related attention mechanisms. Drawing on the success of applying Iterative Feedback Units (IFU) in image polyp segmentation, this paper proposes FlowICBNet by extending the IFU to the domain of video polyp segmentation. By harnessing the unique capabilities of IFU to propagate and refine past segmentation results, our method proves effective in mitigating challenges linked to the inherent limitations of endoscopic imaging, notably the presence of frequent camera shake and frame defocusing. Furthermore, in FlowICBNet, we introduce two pivotal modules: Reference Frame Selection (RFS) and Flow Guided Warping (FGW). These modules play a crucial role in filtering and selecting the most suitable historical reference frames for the task at hand. The experimental results on a large video polyp segmentation dataset demonstrate that our method can significantly outperform state-of-the-art methods by notable margins achieving an average metrics improvement of 7.5% on SUN-SEG-Easy and 7.4% on SUN-SEG-Hard. Our code is available at https://github.com/eraserNut/ICBNet.

Abstract PO5-14-11: Leveraging a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model to guide dose optimization of palbociclib (palbo) in combination with vepdegestrant

Abstract Background: Vepdegestrant is a potent, selective, orally bioavailable PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeric (PROTAC) estrogen receptor (ER) degrader. A phase 3 study will evaluate the combination of vepdegestrant and palbo in participants with ER+, human epidermal growth factor receptor negative (HER2[-]) advanced/metastatic breast cancer (NCT05909397). The recommended starting dose of palbo is 125 mg once daily for 3 weeks followed by 1 week off treatment for each 28-day cycle in combination with aromatase inhibitors or fulvestrant.1 Neutropenia is the most frequently reported adverse event for patients receiving palbo in clinical trials.1 When co-administered with vepdegestrant in a phase 1b cohort of the first-in-human phase 1/2 study (NCT04072952), higher rates of medically manageable neutropenia and increased palbo concentrations were observed compared with historical studies of palbo administered with letrozole or fulvestrant.1 Reduced starting doses of palbo (100 mg, 75 mg) are planned to mitigate increased rates of Grade 4 neutropenia while maintaining similar palbo exposure when combined with vepdegestrant. The analysis objective was to leverage a PK/PD model to simulate palbo exposure and neutropenia taking into consideration the dose modification and management for hematologic toxicities provided in the palbo prescribing information.1 Methods: A Monte-Carlo simulation platform2 was utilized to monitor absolute neutrophil count (ANC) in 1000 patients with weekly monitoring over 4 cycles (112 days) of palbo administration. Simulated ANC was determined using a semi-mechanistic model of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression as previously described.3 Palbo dose modification methods included both dose hold and reduction based on an individual’s ANC and thresholds for Grade 3 (&amp;lt; 1000 mm3) or Grade 4 (&amp;lt; 500 mm3) neutropenia. Simulated neutropenia and exposures from palbo starting doses of 100 mg and 75 mg in the presence of a 25%, 49%, and 67% increase in typical exposure were compared to a palbo starting dose of 125 mg in the absence of increased exposure (historical reference). Average concentration is calculated as the cumulative area under the curve divided by the simulation duration. Results: After a 4-cycle simulation, the 100 mg starting dose of palbo simulated across varying levels of increased exposure resulted in similar Grade 4 neutropenia incidence and average concentration compared to the reference simulation (&amp;lt; 12% difference). The 75 mg starting dose of palbo simulated across varying levels of increased exposure resulted in lower Grade 4 neutropenia incidence as well as lower average concentration compared to the reference simulation (Table 1). Conclusion: The PK/PD model simulation allows for relative comparison of Grade 4 neutropenia incidence and average palbo concentration between the planned reduced starting doses of palbo in the context of increased exposure relative to standard palbo dosing, i.e., without vepdegestrant. This simulation indicates a reduced dose of palbo (100 mg) in combination with vepdegestrant produces similar incidence of Grade 4 neutropenia and comparable average palbo concentration compared to historical reference providing additional support for the study lead-in of NCT05909397. Citations: 1. IBRANCE® (Palbociclib) [Package Insert]. New York, US: Pfizer, Inc. 2. Jermain et al. ACOP13 2023. 3. Friberg et al. J Clin Oncol 2002. Table 1. 4-cycle simulation results comparing reduced starting doses of palbociclib in the presence of increased typical exposure to a reference standard palbociclib dosing in the absence of increased exposure Citation Format: Brian Jermain, Derek Yang, Weiwei Tan, Julia Perkins-Smith, Justin Hoffman, Jason Williams. Leveraging a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model to guide dose optimization of palbociclib (palbo) in combination with vepdegestrant [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-14-11.

Adaptation of a cultural heritage object of regional importance “central hotel”. Modern» for modern use

The article describes the space-planning solution of the building and the object composition of the object of cultural heritage of regional significance “Hotels Central. Modern”. A historical reference is given and archival images of the household, the planning solution and the facades of the hotel are analyzed, thanks to which three main historical stages of the reconstruction of the building are identified. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the reconstruction of the facades of the building at the time of 1910-1912 can be considered the most valuable from the standpoint of architecture and urban planning. The program of adaptation of the building under consideration is given with a description of the preserved elements of decoration, interior decoration and proposals for their further restoration and use. A statement was made about the continuation of work on the development of scientific and design documentation using the developed window adaptation program.

Challenges in Restoring Mediterranean Seagrass Ecosystems in the Anthropocene

The intense human pressures in the Anthropocene epoch are causing an alarming decline in marine coastal ecosystems and an unprecedented loss of biodiversity. This situation underscores the urgency of making ecological restoration a global priority to recover degraded ecosystems. Meadows of the endemic Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica have lost more than half of their original extent in the last century, necessitating immediate conservation and management measures, supported by active restoration interventions. This paper explores new opportunities and provides specific recommendations to enhance restoration as a fundamental strategy for reversing the decline of P. oceanica ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea. When a return to a historical pristine reference condition may not be feasible in the short term or desirable given current environmental conditions and uncertainty, transplanting the tolerant and fast-growing seagrass species Cymodocea nodosa could facilitate natural recolonization. This would occur through secondary ecological succession, benefiting the sensitive and slow-growing species P. oceanica. Future global and local efforts should primarily focus on proactive management to prevent further alterations by planning appropriate conservation measures in a timely manner to mitigate and reverse global changes. As a secondary step, restoration programs can be implemented with a focus on ‘target-oriented’ rather than ‘reference-oriented’ conditions, aiming to establish ecosystems capable of sustaining the future rather than replicating the historical environment.

Statistical sampling of missing environmental variables improves biophysical genomic prediction in wheat.

The integration of genomic prediction with crop growth models enabled the estimation of missing environmental variables which improved the prediction accuracy of grain yield. Since the invention of whole-genome prediction (WGP) more than two decades ago, breeding programmes have established extensive reference populations that are cultivated under diverse environmental conditions. The introduction of the CGM-WGP model, which integrates crop growth models (CGM) with WGP, has expanded the applications of WGP to the prediction of unphenotyped traits in untested environments, including future climates. However, CGMs require multiple seasonal environmental records, unlike WGP, which makes CGM-WGP less accurate when applied to historical reference populations that lack crucial environmental inputs. Here, we investigated the ability of CGM-WGP to approximate missing environmental variables to improve prediction accuracy. Two environmental variables in a wheat CGM, initial soil water content (InitlSoilWCont) and initial nitrate profile, were sampled from different normal distributions separately or jointly in each iteration within the CGM-WGP algorithm. Our results showed that sampling InitlSoilWCont alone gave the best results and improved the prediction accuracy of grain number by 0.07, yield by 0.06 and protein content by 0.03. When using the sampled InitlSoilWCont values as an input for the traditional CGM, the average narrow-sense heritability of the genotype-specific parameters (GSPs) improved by 0.05, with GNSlope, PreAnthRes, and VernSen showing the greatest improvements. Moreover, the root mean square of errors for grain number and yield was reduced by about 7% for CGM and 31% for CGM-WGP when using the sampled InitlSoilWCont values. Our results demonstrate the advantage of sampling missing environmental variables in CGM-WGP to improve prediction accuracy and increase the size of the reference population by enabling the utilisation of historical data that are missing environmental records.

Continental-scale bias-corrected climate and hydrological projections for Australia

Abstract. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has developed a national hydrological projections (NHP) service for Australia. The NHP aimed to provide nationally consistent hydrological projections across jurisdictional boundaries to support planning of water-dependent industries. NHP is complementary to those previously produced by federal and state governments, universities, and other organisations for limited geographical domains. The projections comprise an ensemble of application-ready bias-corrected climate model data, derived hydrological projections at daily temporal and 0.05° × 0.05° spatial resolution for the period 1960–2099, and two emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP8.5). The spatial resolution of the projections matches that of gridded historical reference data used to perform the bias correction and the Bureau of Meteorology's operational gridded hydrological model. Three bias correction techniques were applied to four CMIP5 global climate models (GCMs), and one method was applied to a regional climate model (RCM) forced by the same four GCMs, resulting in a 16-member ensemble of bias-corrected GCM data for each emission scenario. The bias correction was applied to fields of precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature, downwelling shortwave radiation, and surface winds. These variables are required inputs to the Bureau of Meteorology's landscape water balance hydrological model (AWRA-L), which was forced using the bias-corrected GCM and RCM data to produce a 16-member ensemble of hydrological output. The hydrological output variables include root zone soil moisture (moisture in the top 1 m soil layer), potential evapotranspiration, and runoff. Here we present an overview of the production of the hydrological projections, including GCM selection, bias correction methods and their evaluation, technical aspects of their implementation, and examples of analysis performed to construct the NHP service. The data are publicly available on the National Computing Infrastructure (https://doi.org/10.25914/6130680dc5a51, Bureau of Meteorology, 2021), and a user interface is accessible at https://awo.bom.gov.au/products/projection/ (last access: 24 November 2023).

Predicting nature recovery for river restoration planning and ecological assessment: A case study from England, 1991–2042

AbstractThe Global Biodiversity Framework established ambitious goals for nature recovery which governments must now incorporate into national legislation. In England, legally binding targets require authorities to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and reverse the decline by 2042. Riverine invertebrates represent a substantial proportion of the species contributing towards the targets. Thus, understanding the response of these species to potential river restoration actions is key to target delivery. We model counts for 188 riverine invertebrate taxa using zero‐inflated generalized Poisson models, applying the models to both inform river restoration planning and set expected values for use in ecological assessment. We identify catchment‐specific restoration strategies that combine one or more actions involving the removal of channel modifications, reductions in nitrate concentrations and reductions in total dissolved phosphorus concentrations as the most likely to deliver species abundance targets across three joint climate–socioeconomic scenarios. By hindcasting species abundances under alternative target frameworks, we also demonstrate a new approach to setting expected values in ecological assessment, accounting for changes in water temperature and hydrology that confound historical reference models presently used by regulators. Our findings represent the first systematic attempt to prioritise major actions to deliver species abundance targets in England, providing valuable insights for policymakers, river restoration practitioners and authorities responsible for monitoring river ecosystems.

Obchody liturgiczne Wielkiego Tygodnia w świetle współczesnych badań nad wydarzeniami paschalnymi

Holy Week, crowned by the Resurrection from the dead, has for centuries been the most important liturgical event of the year. In terms of importance, it can only be compared to the Lord’s Day — Sunday. Both celebrations have their origins in Judaism, where the Sabbath and Passover were treated similarly. The Sabbath was a day for the Lord, and Passover was the most important festival. The saving events are conditioned by historical time, as recorded by the Evangelists. Unfortunately, despite the accuracy of the Gospel authors, it is still difficult to establish a precise chronology, or even to indicate the year in which the crucifixion took place. In the following article, the formation of the Holy Week tradition is presented together with a historical reference as well as three contemporary proposals of dating the Passion. The initial stage was the so-called dispute over the date of Easter and it has also been presented first. Then the dynamic development of the tradition of Holy Week in the fourth century, and finally the most recent historical research covering the chronology of the Paschal events.

Homemade herbal remedies - tradition with practical relevance

The preparation of homemade herbal remedies has always been practiced by animal keepers and is still employed in farm animals today. In order to document this practice, an ethnoveterinary study was conducted in Bavaria in 2018-2021. The farmers were interviewed on site and the reported recipes were documented in detail and, where possible, also carried out during the interviews. The plant parts used were weighed using a laboratory balance in order to be able to calculate a daily dose per animal or the concentration in the end product for as many of these traditional use reports (UR) as possible. A total of 716 recipes for 884 UR were named in the 77 interviews by the participating farmers. Two thirds (69%) of the formulations mentioned consisted of one or more medicinal plants and 31% dealt with other natural home remedies (honey, vinegar, etc.). Overall, the farmers surveyed preferred the use of single plants in their formulations. Most UR were for cattle (77% of all reports). These traditional remedies are most often used in Bavarian stables for the treatment and prophylaxis of gastrointestinal diseases and metabolic disorders. Furthermore, there was a high correspondence of the medicinal plants used with described UR from two historical reference books. The study participants used their homemade herbal remedies with a high degree of satisfaction and thereby act within the scope of their own responsibility as farmers. This traditional knowledge of herbal preparations containing active ingredients, which has been passed on for generations, may also be a good starting point for a phytotherapeutic supplement in the treatment of farm animals in veterinary practice. Pharmaceutical and feed law framework conditions must be adhered to.