scholarly journals Research analysis on urban flora and vegetation in Southeast Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Slobodan Jovanović ◽  
Milan Glišić
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
European Regions ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Urban Flora ◽  
Floristic Studies ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Research Analysis

In the last two decades, the number of research articles with a focus on urban ecosystems in Europe has increased significantly. However, explored cities are very unevenly distributed, and most of the studies are focused on Central Europe. The aim of this analysis was to provide a realistic insight into the results of previous research on urban flora and vegetation in Southeast Europe. The analysis covers a total of 149 articles, which are classified according to the topic and concept of research. The rates of exploration of urban flora and vegetation vary considerably across the countries of Southeast Europe. The floristic approach was the most common in most of the countries. Although some countries of Southeast Europe have a significant number of floristic studies (e.g. Serbia and Croatia with more than 20 of each country), their urban flora is still insufficiently explored compared to other European regions. Also, the use of different methodologies makes it impossible to compare results in an adequate way and draw relevant conclusions. Unlike the studies in most of Europe, with a broader spatial framework and uniform methodology, in Southeast Europe they usually referred to individual cities, specific habitats or certain parts of the cities. Hence, including Southeast Europe in large-scale studies would be beneficial.

scholarly journals Holocene vegetation, fire and land use dynamics at Lake Svityaz, an agriculturally marginal site in northwestern Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schwörer ◽  
Erika Gobet ◽  
Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen ◽  
Sarah Bögli ◽  
Rachel Imboden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mixed Forest ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Fire Dynamics

AbstractObserving natural vegetation dynamics over the entire Holocene is difficult in Central Europe, due to pervasive and increasing human disturbance since the Neolithic. One strategy to minimize this limitation is to select a study site in an area that is marginal for agricultural activity. Here, we present a new sediment record from Lake Svityaz in northwestern Ukraine. We have reconstructed regional and local vegetation and fire dynamics since the Late Glacial using pollen, spores, macrofossils and charcoal. Boreal forest composed of Pinus sylvestris and Betula with continental Larix decidua and Pinus cembra established in the region around 13,450 cal bp, replacing an open, steppic landscape. The first temperate tree to expand was Ulmus at 11,800 cal bp, followed by Quercus, Fraxinus excelsior, Tilia and Corylus ca. 1,000 years later. Fire activity was highest during the Early Holocene, when summer solar insolation reached its maximum. Carpinus betulus and Fagus sylvatica established at ca. 6,000 cal bp, coinciding with the first indicators of agricultural activity in the region and a transient climatic shift to cooler and moister conditions. Human impact on the vegetation remained initially very low, only increasing during the Bronze Age, at ca. 3,400 cal bp. Large-scale forest openings and the establishment of the present-day cultural landscape occurred only during the past 500 years. The persistence of highly diverse mixed forest under absent or low anthropogenic disturbance until the Early Middle Ages corroborates the role of human impact in the impoverishment of temperate forests elsewhere in Central Europe. The preservation or reestablishment of such diverse forests may mitigate future climate change impacts, specifically by lowering fire risk under warmer and drier conditions.

scholarly journals Geo-Spatial Analysis of Population Density and Annual Income to Identify Large-Scale Socio-Demographic Disparities

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Nicolai Moos ◽  
Carsten Juergens ◽  
Andreas P. Redecker
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Postal Code ◽  
Annual Income ◽  
Choropleth Maps ◽  
Clustering Approach ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Insight Into

This paper describes a methodological approach that is able to analyse socio-demographic and -economic data in large-scale spatial detail. Based on the two variables, population density and annual income, one investigates the spatial relationship of these variables to identify locations of imbalance or disparities assisted by bivariate choropleth maps. The aim is to gain a deeper insight into spatial components of socioeconomic nexuses, such as the relationships between the two variables, especially for high-resolution spatial units. The used methodology is able to assist political decision-making, target group advertising in the field of geo-marketing and for the site searches of new shop locations, as well as further socioeconomic research and urban planning. The developed methodology was tested in a national case study in Germany and is easily transferrable to other countries with comparable datasets. The analysis was carried out utilising data about population density and average annual income linked to spatially referenced polygons of postal codes. These were disaggregated initially via a readapted three-class dasymetric mapping approach and allocated to large-scale city block polygons. Univariate and bivariate choropleth maps generated from the resulting datasets were then used to identify and compare spatial economic disparities for a study area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany. Subsequently, based on these variables, a multivariate clustering approach was conducted for a demonstration area in Dortmund. In the result, it was obvious that the spatially disaggregated data allow more detailed insight into spatial patterns of socioeconomic attributes than the coarser data related to postal code polygons.

scholarly journals Metachronal waves in magnetic micro-robotic paddles for artificial cilia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Bryan ◽  
Elizabeth L. Martin ◽  
Aleksandra Pac ◽  
Andrew D. Gilbert ◽  
Feodor Y. Ogrin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Hydrodynamic Response ◽  
Flow Speeds ◽  
Break Time ◽  
Large Scale Manufacture ◽  
Fresh Insight ◽  
Metachronal Waves ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Phase Differences

AbstractBiological cilia generate fluid movement within viscosity-dominated environments using beating motions that break time-reversal symmetry. This creates a metachronal wave, which enhances flow efficiency. Artificially mimicking this behaviour could improve microfluidic point-of-care devices, since viscosity-dominated fluid dynamics impede fluid flow and mixing of reagents, limiting potential for multiplexing diagnostic tests. However, current biomimicry schemes require either variation in the hydrodynamic response across a cilia array or a complex magnetic anisotropy configuration to synchronise the actuation sequence with the driving field. Here, we show that simple modifications to the structural design introduce phase differences between individual actuators, leading to the spontaneous formation of metachronal waves. This generates flow speeds of up to 16 μm/s as far as 675 μm above the actuator plane. By introducing metachronal waves through lithographic structuring, large scale manufacture becomes feasible. Additionally, by demonstrating that metachronal waves emerge from non-uniformity in internal structural mechanics, we offer fresh insight into the mechanics of cilia coordination.

scholarly journals Address of the President Sir Henry Dale, C.B.E., at the Anniversary Meeting, 1 December 1941

1942 ◽  
Vol 179 (978) ◽  
pp. 233-260 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Technical College ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Electrical Engineering ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pure Mathematics ◽  
Symbolic Structure ◽  
The Church ◽  
Insight Into

This is the first occasion on which I have had the great honour of addressing the Royal Society on this anniversary of its foundation. According to custom, I begin with brief mention of those whom death has taken from our Fellowship during the past year, and whose memories we honour. Alfred Young (1873-1940), distinguished for his contributions to pure mathematics, was half brother to another of our Fellows, Sydney Young, a chemist of eminence. Alfred Young had an insight into the symbolic structure and manipulation of algebra, which gave him a special place among his mathematical contemporaries. After a successful career at Cambridge he entered the Church, and passed his later years in the country rectory of Birdbrook, Essex. His devotion to mathematics continued, however, throughout his life, and he published a steady stream of work in the branch of algebra which he had invented, and named ‘quantitative substitutional analysis’. He lived to see his methods adopted by Weyl in his quantum mechanics and spectroscopy. He was elected to our Fellowship in 1934. With the death of Miles Walker (1868-1941) the Society loses a pioneer in large-scale electrical engineering. Walker was a man of wide interests. He was trained first for the law, and even followed its practice for a period. Later he studied electrical engineering under Sylvanus Thompson at the Finsbury Technical College and became his assistant for several years. Thereafter, encouraged by Thompson, he entered St John’s College, Cambridge, with a scholarship, and graduated with 1st Class Honours in both the Natural Sciences and the Engineering Tripos. Having entered the service of the British Westinghouse Company, he was sent by them to the United States of America to study electrical engineering with the parent company in Pittsburgh. On his return to England he became their leading designer of high-speed electrical generators

Position Selectivity in Scene- and Object-Responsive Occipitotemporal Regions

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 2089-2098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean P. MacEvoy ◽  
Russell A. Epstein
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Scene Perception ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Retinal Position ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Retinal Stimulation ◽  
Natural Vision ◽  
Visual Hemifields ◽  
Insight Into

Complex visual scenes preferentially activate several areas of the human brain, including the parahippocampal place area (PPA), the retrosplenial complex (RSC), and the transverse occipital sulcus (TOS). The sensitivity of neurons in these regions to the retinal position of stimuli is unknown, but could provide insight into their roles in scene perception and navigation. To address this issue, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural responses evoked by sequences of scenes and objects confined to either the left or right visual hemifields. We also measured the level of adaptation produced when stimuli were either presented first in one hemifield and then repeated in the opposite hemifield or repeated in the same hemifield. Although overall responses in the PPA, RSC, and TOS tended to be higher for contralateral stimuli than for ipsilateral stimuli, all three regions exhibited position-invariant adaptation, insofar as the magnitude of adaptation did not depend on whether stimuli were repeated in the same or opposite hemifields. In contrast, object-selective regions showed significantly greater adaptation when objects were repeated in the same hemifield. These results suggest that neuronal receptive fields (RFs) in scene-selective regions span the vertical meridian, whereas RFs in object-selective regions do not. The PPA, RSC, and TOS may support scene perception and navigation by maintaining stable representations of large-scale features of the visual environment that are insensitive to the shifts in retinal stimulation that occur frequently during natural vision.

scholarly journals The history of settlement and agrarian land use in a boreal forest in Värmland, Sweden, new evidence from pollen analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir ◽  
Eva Svensson ◽  
Stefan Nilsson ◽  
Anneli Ekblom ◽  
Karl-Johan Lindholm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractShielings are the historically known form of transhumance in Scandinavia, where livestock were moved from the farmstead to sites in the outlands for summer grazing. Pollen analysis has provided a valuable insight into the history of shielings. This paper presents a vegetation reconstruction and archaeological survey from the shieling Kårebolssätern in northern Värmland, western Sweden, a renovated shieling that is still operating today. The first evidence of human activities in the area near Kårebolssätern are Hordeum- and Cannabis-type pollen grains occurring from ca. 100 bc. Further signs of human impact are charcoal and sporadic occurrences of apophyte pollen from ca. ad 250 and pollen indicating opening of the canopy ca. ad 570, probably a result of modification of the forest for grazing. A decrease in land use is seen between ad 1000 and 1250, possibly in response to a shift in emphasis towards large scale commodity production in the outlands. Emphasis on bloomery iron production and pitfall hunting may have caused a shift from agrarian shieling activity. The clearest changes in the pollen assemblage indicating grazing and cultivation occur from the mid-thirteenth century, coinciding with wetter climate at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The earliest occurrences of anthropochores in the record predate those of other shieling sites in Sweden. The pollen analysis reveals evidence of land use that predates the results of the archaeological survey. The study highlights how pollen analysis can reveal vegetation changes where early archaeological remains are obscure.

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