Ricardo Fernandes, Alberto Alamia, Sina Kalweit
et al.
The electrification of energy demand across sectors, powered by solar and wind generation, is the best strategy for achieving carbon neutrality. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies are also expected to play a crucial role by providing net-negative emissions that can offset residual CO2 emissions, including those from cement manufacturing. While previous studies have assessed the role of CDRs in Europe's decarbonisation, most either focus solely on combinations of biogenic point-source capture and direct air capture (DAC) coupled with underground sequestration, or consider multiple CDR strategies at low spatial and temporal resolution, thereby limiting the representation of linkages amongst technologies. In this study, the sector-coupled European energy system model PyPSA-Eur is extended to include afforestation, perennialisation, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering (ERW) as additional CDR strategies. Using this model with a 3-hourly resolution and a network comprising 90 nodes, results show that a climate-neutral energy system equipped with these CDR strategies is 9% less expensive. Afforestation, perennialisation, and ERW potentials are fully utilised across regions, whereas biochar is not selected due to limited solid biomass feedstock being allocated to other higher-value processes. Furthermore, when these CDR strategies are combined with underground sequestration and a continental CO2 transport network, DAC is no longer required to achieve climate neutrality in Europe.
Florentin Millour, Guillaume Bourdarot, Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin
et al.
We present in this proceeding the results of the test phase of the GRAVITY+ adaptive optics. This extreme AO will enable both high-dynamic range observations of faint companions (including exoplanets) thanks to a 40x40 sub-apertures wavefront control, and sensitive observations (including AGNs) thanks to the addition of a laser guide star to each UT of the VLT. This leap forward is made thanks to a mostly automated setup of the AO, including calibration of the NCPAs, that we tested in Europe on the UT+atmosphere simulator we built in Nice. We managed to reproduce in laboratory the expected performances of all the modes of the AO, including under non-optimal atmospheric or telescope alignment conditions, giving us the green light to proceed with the Assembly, Integration and Verification phase in Paranal.
Awa Amadou Sall, Elhadji Faye, Pierre Guillemin
et al.
Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) are the main rainfed cereals grown in North-Eastern Senegal. However, faced with constraints such as falling rainfall, rising temperatures and frequent dry spells, their production is tending to decline. This article examines the climatic constraints and other shocks suffered by rainfed millet varieties Souna__3, ICTP 8203, GB 8735, Gawane and Chakti, as well as those as sorghum CE__180-33, Payenne and Golob{é}, which are the main varieties released and currently grown in north-eastern Senegal. Based on data collected in Podor, Matam and Lingu{è}re, the article analyses the adaptation of different millet and sorghum varieties to climatic condition and their evolution over time The results show a rainfall deficit since the early 1970s, combined by greater thermal constraints. Analysis of the differences between cumulative rainfall and maximum evapotranspiration for varieties at different growth stages reveals constant water deficits for Souna__3 millet and CE 180-33 sorghum. In contrast, Chakti millet shows positive water balances in over 80% of years in the east and west of the study area, and in 47% of cases in the north. Only Chakti and ICTP 8203 are adapted to the climatic conditions of the eastern and western zones, with a probability of suitability of over 80% for the periods 1931-1969 and 1999-2020. However, none of the varieties is adapted to the climatic conditions in the north. In addition to these climatic constraints, the interviewed farmers attribute the decline in agricultural production to livestock straying, attacks by bird pests and parasitic infestations. exacerbate agricultural losses. It is therefore essential to develop complementary strategies including wider dissemination of varieties better adapted to current climatic conditions, such as Chakti and ICTP 8203, and the strengthening of crop protection systems, notably through biological control and integrated pest management.
In recent decades, European forests have faced an increased incidence of fire disturbances. This phenomenon is likely to persist, given the rising frequency of extreme events expected in the future. Estimating canopy recovery time after disturbance serves as a critical assessment for understanding forest resilience, which can ultimately help determine the ability of forests to regain their capacity to provide essential ecosystem services. This study estimated fire severity and post-disturbance recovery in European forests using a remote sensing--based time series approach. MODIS Leaf Area Index (LAI) time series data were used to track the evolution of vegetation cover over burned areas from 2001 to 2024. Fire severity was defined relative to pre-disturbance conditions by comparing vegetation status before and after fire events. Recovery intervals were determined from temporal evolution of vegetation greening as the duration required to reach the pre-disturbance LAI baseline. Furthermore, this study analyzed the severity and recovery indicators in relation to forest species diversity and landscape heterogeneity metrics across Europe, offering valuable insights into the spatial variability of forest response dynamics across diverse forest ecosystems across Europe. Results revealed a consistent pattern across vegetation cover types: higher forest species diversity and greater landscape shape complexity were associated with lower fire severity and, notably, shorter recovery times following fire disturbance.
Mostafa Barani, Konstantin Löffler, Pedro Crespo del Granado
et al.
Europe is warming at the fastest rate of all continents, experiencing a temperature increase of about 1°C higher than the corresponding global increase. Aiming to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 under the European Green Deal, Europe requires an in-depth understanding of the potential energy transition pathways. In this paper, we develop four qualitative long-term scenarios covering the European energy landscape, considering key uncertainty pillars -- categorized under social, technological, economic, political, and geopolitical aspects. First, we place the scenarios in a three-dimensional space defined by Social dynamics, Innovation, and Geopolitical instabilities. These scenarios are brought to life by defining their narratives and focus areas according to their location in this three-dimensional space. The scenarios envision diverse futures and include distinct features. The EU Trinity scenario pictures how internal divisions among EU member states, in the context of global geopolitical instability, affect the EU climate targets. The REPowerEU++ scenario outlines the steps needed for a self-sufficient, independent European energy system by 2050. The Go RES scenario examines the feasibility of achieving carbon neutrality earlier than 2050 given favourable uncertain factors. The NECP Essentials scenario extends current national energy and climate plans until 2060 to assess their role in realizing climate neutrality. The scenarios are extended by incorporating policies and economic factors and detailed in a Qualitative to Quantitative (Q2Q) matrix, linking narratives to quantification. Finally, two scenarios are quantified to illustrate the quantification process. All the scenarios are in the process of being quantified and will be openly available and reusable.
Arctic sea ice is in reduction and has been a key significant indicator of climate change. In this paper, we explore Arctic Sea ice extent data to identify teleconnection with weather change in the polar and sub-tropical jet stream intersection in eastern United States (US) and hence the potential influence in ground level ozone pollution. Several statistical methods including Bayesian techniques such as: spatio-temporal modelling and Bayesian network are implemented to identify the teleconnection and also validated based on theories in atmospheric science. We observe that the teleconnection is relatively strong in autumn, winter and spring seasons compared to the summer. Furthermore, the sudden decremental effect of Arctic sea-ice extent in mid-2000s has a shifting influence in ozone pollutions compared to the previous years. A similar downward shift in the Arctic sea-ice extent has been projected in 2030. These findings indicate to initiate further strategic policies for the Arctic influence, ozone concentrations together the seasonal and global changing patterns of climate.
Emile Esmaili, Michael J. Puma, Francis Ludlow
et al.
The complex interplay between famine, warfare, and climate constitutes a multifaceted and context-dependent relationship that has profoundly influenced human history, particularly in early modern Europe. This study advances the literature on climate-economy interactions by leveraging multi-scale statistical techniques to quantify the compounded effects of climate variability and socio-political factors on food prices, offering novel model-based insights into the historical dynamics of climate and economic systems. Using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), we investigate the influence of temperature fluctuations and drought severity on food prices across 14 European cities from 1565 to 1785. Our findings confirm a persistent negative relationship between temperature and food prices over the long term, while the relationship between drought severity and price dynamics appears positive yet inconsistent. Extending our analysis to higher-frequency patterns, we demonstrate that cold anomalies are strongly associated with food price that caused large-scale famines of the 1590s and 1690s. Likewise, we show that the severe and consecutive droughts of 1634 to 1636, coinciding with the Thirty Years' War, significantly amplified food price volatility, illustrating how climatic shocks can compound socio-economic and political crises. Furthermore, we identify years characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of extreme cold and drought as periods of heightened price instability, underscoring the compounded impact of concurrent climatic stressors on food prices during the early modern period.
Goal. The purpose of the proposed research is to highlights the creation, functioning, reorganization of the Faculty of Political Education of the O. Potebnia Kharkiv Institute of Public Education, the prospects for its museumization.
Research methodology. The research methodology consists of the principles of historicism, systematicity, objectivity, comprehensiveness and integrity in combination with methods of analysis and synthesis, historical-comparative, historical-typological and problem-chronological.
Scientific novelty. For the first time, a comprehensive research of the Faculty of Political Education as a structural unit of the Kharkiv Institute of Public Education was conducted: the reasons for its creation and reorganization were identified, the structure, curriculum, and practical training bases were analyzed; a list of graduates of 1929 was presented.
Conclusions. The Faculty of Political Education at the Kharkiv Institute of Public Education was founded in 1925. Its main function was to train specialists in political education of a wide profile, however, specialization took place within the framework of the school-course, book-library and anti-religious profile. The unpreparedness of the institute for the emergence of a new structural unit affected the material and technical support of the faculty during its existence in 1925-1929. The orderliness of the staff, the specifics of the training of higher education applicants, and the provision of premises led to the reorganization of the faculty into a separate Institute of Political Education. Its successor is the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, whose employees began the process of museumizing the history of the institution of higher education.
Актуальність. Стаття присвячена аналізу матеріалів журналу «Український збірник» Інституту з вивчення історії та культури СРСР у Мюнхені. Збірник виходив у другій половині 1950-х років в умовах формування біполярного світу, холодної війни, коли після смерті Й. Сталіна М. Хрущов продовжував стратегію радянізації окупованих країн Східної Європи. Західний світ потребував знань про стан народів по той бік «залізної завіси», що породило численні совєтологічні центри та інститути. Саме в межах совєтології в той час розвивалося українознавство як його конкретно-історична форма.
Метою статті є виокремлення українознавчого сегмента совєтології та відтворення образу України, поданого в матеріалах німецького Інституту з вивчення історії та культури СРСР (1954–1960).
Висновки. Оцінюючи внесок Інституту з вивчення історії та культури СРСР у розвиток українознавства, потрібно чітко усвідомлювати загальну функцію ідеологічного протистояння радянській системі, заради якої й було створено цю інституцію. Результатами наукових розвідок мюнхенських совєтологів користувалися в умовах холодної війни американська розвідка та пропаганда. Експерти Мюнхенського інституту свідомо і цілеспрямовано працювали на руйнацію СРСР, наближаючи мить відновлення Української державності. Водночас такі пріоритети не перекреслюють наукового характеру їхньої діяльності, як це стверджує у своїй праці американський історик Ч. О’Конелл. Відштовхуючись від аналізу біографій восьми «батьків-засновників» Інституту, він дійшов висновку, що «початковий склад з політичних кон’юнктурників з невеликим науковим доробком полегшив перетворення Інституту на інструмент ЦРУ». Такий категоричний висновок не враховує подальшої кадрової динаміки, внаслідок якої чисельність співробітників Мюнхенського інституту досягла 250 осіб, серед яких було чимало видатних науковців. Слід враховувати також внесок американських совєтологів першого ешелону, які співпрацювали з Інститутом. Тому попри очевидну антирадянську спрямованість MІS USSR та політичну заангажованість його кадрів не можна не визнати позитивного внеску науковців Інституту в європейську гуманітаристику. Українознавство як частина совєтології в середині ХХ століття було важливим джерелом знань не лише про українське суспільство, а й про механізми функціонування радянської імперії. В межах цього дискурсу акцентувалась увага на особливостях національної політики КПРС і радянського уряду, на збереженні національної ідентичності через мову, релігію, літературу, мистецтво, на викритті історичних фактів, що заборонялися радянською цензурою, замовчувалися чи викривлювалися, як-от Голодомор 1932–1933 років, сталінські репресії, депортації тощо. Образ України, що постає на сторінках «Українського збірника», фіксує досягнення та проблеми повоєнного відновлення радянської республіки, розвиток її економіки, ідеології, культури. Особлива роль приділялася аналізу промислового розвитку Радянської України, демографічним, міграційним та урбанізаційним процесам. Саме ці дослідження сприяли глибшому розумінню причин подальшої дезінтеграції СРСР та утвердження незалежної України.
Ключові слова: українознавство, совєтологія, холодна війна, Інститут з вивчення історії та культури СРСР у Мюнхені.
In the theoretical study of distributed communication networks, "history trees" are a discrete structure that naturally models the concept that anonymous agents become distinguishable upon receiving different sets of messages from neighboring agents. By conveniently organizing temporal information in a systematic manner, history trees have been instrumental in the development of optimal deterministic algorithms for networks that are both anonymous and dynamically evolving. This note provides an accessible introduction to history trees, drawing comparisons with more traditional structures found in existing literature and reviewing the latest advancements in the applications of history trees, especially within dynamic networks. Furthermore, it expands the theoretical framework of history trees in new directions, also highlighting several open problems for further investigation.
Growing evidence is found in observations and numerical modelling of the importance of steep seafloor topography for turbulent diapycnal mixing leading to redistribution of suspended matter and nutrients, especially in waters with abundant internal tides. One of the remaining questions is the extent of turbulent mixing away from and above nearly flat topography, which is addressed in this paper. Evaluated are observations from an opportunistic, week-long mooring of high-resolution temperature sensors above a small seafloor slope in about 1200 m water depth of the Eastern Mediterranean. The environment has weak tides, so that near-inertial motions and -shear dominate internal waves. Vertical displacement shapes suggest instabilities to represent locally generated turbulent overturns, rather than partial salinity-compensated intrusions dispersed isopycnally from turbulence near the slope. This conclusion is supported by the duration of instabilities, as all individual overturns last shorter than the mean buoyancy period and sequences of overturns last shorter than the local inertial period. The displacement shapes are more erratic than observed in stronger stratified waters in which shear drives turbulence, and better correspond with predominantly buoyancy-driven convection-turbulence. This convection-turbulence is confirmed from spectral information, generally occurring dominant close to the seafloor and only in weakly stratified layers well above it. Mean turbulence values are 10-100 times smaller than found above steep ocean topography, but 10 times larger than found in the open-ocean interior.
Актуальність. Для національно-патріотичного виховання, особливо в умовах сучасної російсько-української війни, дуже важливо актуалізувати знання про особистий вагомий внесок борців у відновлення української державної незалежності, розбудову української публічної дипломатії та становлення української політичної нації, зокрема, такої легендарної постаті, як Я. Стецько. Це дослідження дає можливість засвоїти історичний урок, суть якого полягає в тому, що протистояння російській окупації та боротьба за збереження геополітичної суб’єктності Української держави є важливим для українців на всіх рівнях міжнародного співробітництва. Міжнародна громадсько-політична діяльність Я. Стецько є яскравим прикладом національно-визвольної боротьби проти російського поневолення, цей досвід треба вивчати задля формування свідомої національно-патріотичної позиції.
Мета дослідження – узагальнити та проаналізувати основні напрями міжнародної національно-патріотичної та громадсько-політичної діяльності Я. Стецько, охарактеризувати її особистий внесок у становлення української публічної дипломатії, розбудову Української держави та української політичної нації в середині ХХ – на початку ХХІ ст.
Висновки. Узагальнено досвід міжнародної національно-визвольної та громадсько-політичної діяльності Я. Стецько, проаналізовано її участь у національно-визвольній боротьбі за відновлення державної незалежності України та становлення української політичної нації в середині ХХ – на початку ХХІ ст. Актуалізовано знання про те, що Я. Стецько є прикладом української жінки-політика міжнародного рівня, ім’я якої асоціюється з українським національним патріотизмом та борцями за незалежність України. Охарактеризовано її особистий внесок у становлення та розвиток української публічної дипломатії.
Open access to scientific publications has progressively become a key issue for European policy makers, resulting in concrete measures by the different country members to promote its development. The aim of paper is, after providing a quick overview of OA policies in Europe, to carry out a comparative study of OA practices within European countries, using data from the Web of Science (WoS) database. This analysis is based on two indicators: the OA share that illustrates the evolution over time, and the normalized OA indicator (NOAI) that allows spatial comparisons, taking into account disciplinary structures of countries. Results show a general trend towards the development of OA over time as expected, but with large disparities between countries, depending on how early they begin taking measures in favor of OA. While it is possible to stress the importance of policy and its influence on open access at country level, this does not appear to be the case at the regional level. There is not much variability between regions, within the same country, in terms of open access indicators.
Niels C. M. Martens, Miguel Ángel Carretero Sahuquillo, Erhard Scholz
et al.
Editorial of a special issue on dark matter & modified gravity, distributed across the journals Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics and Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Published version of the open access editorial (in SHPS) available here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.08.015. The six papers are collected here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/studies-in-history-and-philosophy-of-science-part-b-studies-in-history-and-philosophy-of-modern-physics/special-issue/10CR71RJLWM.
With the urgent need to implement the EU countries pledges and to monitor the effectiveness of Green Deal plan, Monitoring Reporting and Verification tools are needed to track how emissions are changing for all the sectors. Current official inventories only provide annual estimates of national CO$_2$ emissions with a lag of 1+ year which do not capture the variations of emissions due to recent shocks including COVID lockdowns and economic rebounds, war in Ukraine. Here we present a near-real-time country-level dataset of daily fossil fuel and cement emissions from January 2019 through December 2021 for 27 EU countries and UK, which called Carbon Monitor Europe. The data are calculated separately for six sectors: power, industry, ground transportation, domestic aviation, international aviation and residential. Daily CO$_2$ emissions are estimated from a large set of activity data compiled from different sources. The goal of this dataset is to improve the timeliness and temporal resolution of emissions for European countries, to inform the public and decision makers about current emissions changes in Europe.
Three Greek inscriptions found in Mtskheta reveal interesting information about Ancient Iberian royal court. However, identification of each of the persons, especially the king, is quite problematic. Still, there are some possibilities to deal. King of Iberia is mentioned in all three inscriptions, one of them reveals his name fully, another one partially, while king’s name is lost in the third one, however, one passage may still give us some hints about his identity or at least about Roman aspirations of Iberian court. Queen Dracontis is known only from one inscription. As for the royal official — commander in-chief and the only minister of Iberian king Anagranes, he is mentioned in all three inscriptions, being himself the sponsor of all the constructions. The paper focuses more on the issue of identification of King Amazasp mentioned in these inscriptions and some other issues connected with the major topic.
The prototypes of Sarmatian mirrors-pendants with tamgas known in the 2nd — 1st centuries BCE around Balkhash Lake, Kazakhstan. There are also late Tagar subjects in art and also tamgas of future rulers of more western territories. In the Tagar Great Salbyk Barrow tamgas of late time, similar to Sarmatian ones, were depicted in narrow stripes along the edges. In the late period of use of Bayte III temple the signs of the Lower Don and the “Barbarian” Crimea predominate among the Sarmatian regional tamgas in the 1st — early 2nd cc. CE when trade was most intense. The rituals over the stele with tamgas in Minguriuk are interesting. On the horse harness and belts of the Roman officers of the 2nd quarter — middle 2nd c. CE the tamgas belong to the Middle Sarmatian culture and represent the strongest groups (Aorsia in the west of Ukraine and Alania on the Lower Don). These signs on spectacular trophies become the part of “Sarmatian fashion” for cavalry, along with the military equipment of nomads. The single important finds with tamgas associated with Olbia and Panticapaeum are analyzed also.