Katrin Wendt-Potthoff, Chenxi Mi, Pouyan Ahmadi
et al.
Abstract Background Microplastic (MP) pollution has garnered global attention due to its ubiquity in marine and freshwater systems, as well as its potential—though still uncertain—risks to human health. While MP concentrations in drinking water remain relatively low, safeguarding reservoir-based drinking water supplies against potential contamination remains a pressing concern. In this study, we applied a rigorously validated, two-dimensional hydrodynamic model (CE-QUAL-W2) to Germany’s largest drinking water reservoir, the Rappbode Reservoir, to examine MP retention under realistic inflow, meteorological, and operational conditions. Our primary aim was to quantify how varying particle settling velocities (0.1–1.0 m d⁻1) influence MP transport, sedimentation, and breakthrough to the raw water outlet over a 2-year simulation period. Results We demonstrate that reservoir-scale retention efficiency rises sharply with increasing MP settling velocity, with near-complete retention (> 95%) achieved at settling velocities of 0.9 m d⁻1 or higher. Conversely, slower-sinking particles (≤ 0.3 m d⁻1) exhibit significant downstream export, indicating that weak sedimentation can negate the reservoir’s inherent trapping capacity even under long residence times (~ 1 year). Furthermore, episodic phenomena such as stratification breakdown or shortcut currents can rapidly redistribute or mobilise MP particles, bypassing much of the reservoir volume and potentially delivering MP particles directly to outflows. These findings highlight the critical roles of both hydrodynamics (stratification, mixing, and lateral transport) and particle-specific traits such as settling velocity in determining MP fate. Conclusions By integrating comprehensive field-derived meteorological inputs and a validated numerical framework, this study provides novel insights into MP retention in drinking water reservoirs and underscores the vulnerability of such systems to episodic transport events. Our approach offers a robust tool for reservoir managers and policy-makers to anticipate MP contaminant pathways, optimise withdrawal strategies, and develop early warning systems for drinking water preparation. This work thus advances both the scientific understanding of MP dynamics in lentic systems and supports more informed, adaptive water-resource management.
Compound extremes, specifically concurrent low wind power (wind droughts) and heat waves, threaten ecological stability and renewable energy. However, their dynamics and impacts remain poorly understood. This study introduces compound wind droughts and heat waves (WDHW) indicator to assess their patterns in mainland China from 2000 to 2022. Using observational data and explainable machine learning (XGBoost and SHAP), we analyzed the spatiotemporal distributions, underlying drivers, and ecological implications of WDHW. Results reveal spatial heterogeneity, with high-frequency WDHW (>70 cumulative days) concentrated in northwestern China and a national increase in event frequency within affected regions (0.042 d yr–1). The XGBoost model performed well, with R2 values of 0.88, 0.83, and 0.84 for training, cross-validation, and test datasets, respectively. SHAP analysis highlights maximum temperature (Tmax; SHAP = 0.722) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD; SHAP = 0.698) as primary drivers, with their interaction (SHAP = 0.321) demonstrating how heat and dryness link with 100-m hub-height winds. Ecological analysis shows peak WDHW frequencies in Half Protected ecoregions (28.8 days) and Deserts & Xeric Shrublands biomes (28.75 days), indicating dual vulnerabilities to biodiversity and energy systems. This study advances understanding of concurrent wind droughts and heat waves, providing implications for sustainable ecological and energy adaptation strategies.
Aim of the study:
The purpose of the study is to substantiate the conceptual approaches of the complex and to consider its main components regarding the restoration of territories affected by the war in Ukraine, with an emphasis on the incompleteness of current legal acts. It is therefore essential to develop new legal mechanisms that will ensure the procedure for removing contaminated lands into state ownership for their long-term restoration, with appropriate compensation to landowners for the period of time that the contaminated land remains in state ownership.
Material and methods:
The theoretical basis consists of academic research by domestic and international scientists in the field of land management and environmental protection, legislative and regulatory acts, methodological and instructional materials, statistical and analytical data of ministries and departments of Ukraine, as well as public organizations regarding the use of land resources and socio-economic development of the regions of Ukraine. Methods used include: monographic analysis; synthesis method; structural and logical method; systemic approach; dialectical principle of connection /interaction.
Results and conclusions:
The land relations during the reconstruction of Ukraine should be based on the following principles and approaches: openness of the public cadastral map of Ukraine; simplification of permit procedures; assessment of land and soil quality, inventory; continuation of the trend of decreasing arable land; conservation of lands, the use of which could harm human life and health as well as the state of the environment; expropriation of land from tenants who are connected to Russia or Belarus; soil conservation in the context of war; introduction of the state system for the control of land resources and the responsibility of land users.
Existe un creciente interés en el ámbito de las ciencias sociales por el estudio de fenómenos relacionados con la denominada gig economy o economía de plataformas y, entre ellos, por la figura del rider, un término que alude a los repartidores de productos a domicilio que se emplean a través de plataformas digitales. Dentro de estas plataformas el trabajo de los riders se configura desde lógicas de gestión algorítmica, una mediación en la que ha tendido a enfatizarse la cualidad panóptica de sus formas de control y gubernamentalidad. Frente a estas aproximaciones, este trabajo presenta un enfoque teórico-metodológico que subraya la co-constitución, en un agenciamiento abierto, del rider y la aplicación, con el objetivo de aproximarnos etnográficamente a la cotidianidad de las prácticas laborales de los repartidores. Con el interés de explorar cómo funciona la mediación algorítmica en la diversidad de experiencias de los riders, analizamos los trabajos de coordinación encargados de producir una geografía de espacio-tiempos compartida y las estrategias de control flexible que media la aplicación. El texto describe cómo el algoritmo genera una suerte de andamiajes que definen espaciotemporalidades directivas en la operativa de los riders, dentro de las cuales los repartidores extienden el paisaje de calculabilidad a aquellos elementos que el algoritmo no puede contemplar y a aquellos otros que debe incorporar el rider para hacer compatible su actividad con la lógica algorítmica. Este artículo presenta resultados iniciales de una etnografía desarrollada en Madrid desde septiembre del 2021 con riders de varias de las principales plataformas digitales de reparto a domicilio: Glovo, Uber Eats y Getir. Junto al trabajo de campo con los riders, esta investigación se ha complementado con entrevistas a cuatro tecnólogos del ámbito de la logística urbana. Los resultados muestran cómo entre los riders el tipo de contratación asalariado ha generado una vivencia menos intensa de la cronografía directiva del algoritmo, poniendo en evidencia cómo la autonomía no es necesariamente homóloga a la capacidad de elección de los repartidores.
There is a growing interest in the field of social sciences in the study of topics related to the so-called gig economy or platform economy and, among them, in the figure of the rider—a term that refers to the home delivery workers employed through digital platforms. In these platforms, the work of the riders is organized from algorithmic management logics, a mediation in which the panoptic quality of their forms of control and governmentality has tended to be emphasized. In contrast to these frameworks, this paper presents a theoretical-methodological approach that emphasizes the co-constitution—in an open agency—of the rider and the application, to ethnographically approach the everyday labor practices of riders. In the interest of exploring how algorithmic mediation functions in the diversity of riders’ experiences, we analyze the coordination tasks responsible for producing the shared space-time geography and the flexible control strategies that mediate the application. The text describes how the algorithm generates a kind of scaffolding that defines directive spatiotemporalities in the riders’ operations, within which the deliverers extend the landscape of calculability to those elements that the algorithm cannot consider and to those others that the rider must incorporate in order to make his activity compatible with the algorithmic logic. This article presents the initial results of an ethnography carried out in Madrid since September 2021 with riders from several of the main digital home delivery platforms: Glovo, Uber Eats, and Getir. Along with the fieldwork with riders, we interviewed four technologists in urban logistics. The results show that salaried riders have a less intense experience of the directive chronography of the algorithm, showing how autonomy is not necessarily equivalent to the riders’ capability to choose.
Matthew G. Hethcoat, João M. B. Carreiras, Robert G. Bryant
et al.
Tropical forests play a key role in the global carbon and hydrological cycles, maintaining biological diversity, slowing climate change, and supporting the global economy and local livelihoods. Yet, rapidly growing populations are driving continued degradation of tropical forests to supply wood products. The United Nations (UN) has developed the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme to mitigate climate impacts and biodiversity losses through improved forest management. Consistent and reliable systems are still needed to monitor tropical forests at large scales, however, degradation has largely been left out of most REDD+ reporting given the lack of effective monitoring and countries mainly focus on deforestation. Recent advances in combining optical data and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data have shown promise for improved ability to monitor forest losses, but it remains unclear if similar improvements could be made in detecting and mapping forest degradation. We used detailed selective logging records from three lowland tropical forest regions in the Brazilian Amazon to test the effectiveness of combining Landsat 8 and Sentinel-1 for selective logging detection. We built Random Forest models to classify pixel-based differences in logged and unlogged regions to understand if combining optical and SAR improved the detection capabilities over optical data alone. We found that the classification accuracy of models utilizing optical data from Landsat 8 alone were slightly higher than models that combined Sentinel-1 and Landsat 8. In general, detection of selective logging was high with both optical only and optical-SAR combined models, but our results show that the optical data was dominating the predictive performance and adding SAR data introduced noise, lowering the detection of selective logging. While we have shown limited capabilities with C-band SAR, the anticipated opening of the ALOS-PALSAR archives and the anticipated launch of NISAR and BIOMASS in 2023 should stimulate research investigating similar methods to understand if longer wavelength SAR might improve classification of areas affected by selective logging when combined with optical data.
Otávio Augusto de Oliveira Lima Barra, Fredson Pereira da Silva, Danilo Vieira dos Santos
et al.
Os livros didáticos representam um dos recursos mais utilizados na educação básica brasileira. Tais recursos seguem padrões estabelecidos pelos parâmetros curriculares ora vigentes no país. Por serem obras desenvolvidas para atender o grande quantitativo de demandas da educação pública, muitas especificidades regionais e culturais são, em muitas vezes, pouco contempladas. A exemplo dos sistemas ambientais locais que, por vezes, não atendem a geografia física do local onde o livro é adotado. Assim, o objetivo central deste artigo é analisar a abordagem dos conteúdos relacionados aos ecossistemas litoral e caatingas em livros didáticos (LDs) de Geografia do Ensino Básico. O estudo é do tipo documental – aqui livros didáticos do Ensino Fundamental II – cujos pontos de análise foram os conteúdos acerca do litoral e da caatinga. Os resultados apontaram que, na análise do litoral no LD1, as definições conceituais dos sistemas oceânicos sobrepujaram a abordagem das relações homem-meio, bastantes relevantes nas regiões costeiras, fato que se assemelha ao que foi analisado no LD2, onde somente a parte física do litoral, com base na descrição da morfologia praial esteve contemplada, não sendo observada a relação do homem como agente transformador do espaço costeiro. No LD 3 foi apresentado apenas um mapa da região Nordeste, mostrando a degradação dos biomas brasileiros, dando pouca atenção à caatinga e no LD 4, estimulou-se o uso das plantas da caatinga para uso farmacológico no tratamento de doenças, como também para o consumo humano mencionando a associação do relevo com a vegetação da caatinga. A análise dos 4 livros demonstrou que os mesmos carecem de uma maior contextualização dos assuntos físicos abordados, que perpasse a mera reprodução de conteúdos.
In a context of expanding the field of thought on autonomous vehicles, the LAET have produced the desk game "RoboSpectif", This paper deals firstly with the theoretical framework which is the base of this game. It presents the reasons why we choose a gaming method to produce prospective data. It addresses the methodological issues of RoboSpectif’s conception and its main principles and rules. It looks back on the first experiences of diffusion of this game, in order to access which public it applies. At last, it deals with limits of this game device to produce data.
Geography (General), Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
El proyecto europeo Europeana Archaeology tiene como objetivo mejorar la cantidad y calidad del patrimonio arqueológico digital presente en la biblioteca europea (Europeana). Con este objetivo se pone de manifiesto el potencial del patrimonio arqueológico como recurso de desarrollo económico, social y cultural. El patrimonio arqueológico de Jaén muestra una riqueza amplia y variada que le hacen especialmente adecuado para su inclusión digital en Europeana. A través de este proyecto se harán visibles algunos de los bienes patrimoniales más significativos de la provincia de Jaén desde el siglo IV hasta el siglo XV presentes en la colección Patrimonio arqueológico medieval de Andalucía oriental (España).
Daniela Martins, Maria Luiza Teofilo Gandini, Nadiane Smaha Kruk
et al.
ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to present disaggregation coefficients for intense daily rainfalls for E2-046 rainfall station, located at Caraguatatuba, São Paulo state. The data obtained through rain gauge refer to a continuous period (31 years of series) and had a strong correlation with the measurements of the rain gauge, validating the pluviographs reading, which attributed greater reliability to the results. The average coefficient “24 hours”/“1-day” found for the study region was 1.075, which differs significantly from the values found in literature. The relative deviation considering other durations, and consequently other precipitation coefficients in relation to the mean values of the disaggregation values of the E2-046 station reached 22.06% (18 hours/“24 hours”). The relative deviation of rainfall disaggregation coefficients of the station studied in relation to the mean coefficients for the cities of São Paulo State to small durations was quite high, reaching almost 50% (10 minutes /“24 hours”). This reinforces the need of using local disaggregation coefficients.
El turismo es uno de los principales impulsores de la economía a nivel mundial, que se ve inmerso en un constante cambio por las nuevas exigencias de turistas, operadores, transportadores, guías e inversores, entre otros. Como consecuencia, surge la actividad de innovación, presente en todos sus ámbitos.
Se profundiza en lo que es la gestión de la actividad turística en el Caribe colombiano, en lo que han propuesto los expertos, como son los aspectos de diversificación territorial de los flujos turísticos, de planeamiento estratégico, de cooperación público-privada, de profesionalización de redes de cooperación, hasta la integración con estrategias y programas del Viceministerio de Turismo.
Las empresas turísticas en general están generando una dinámica orientada a fomentar su capacidad de innovación; se observa así que las organizaciones que incorporan la innovación a sus procesos y adoptan una actitud abierta al cambio se posicionan y compiten mejor en el mercado.
As relações entre as imagens do nacional e o romance brasileiro contemporâneo oscilam entre a crítica à tradição de fazer representar a nação na narrativa e a adesão a modelos estabelecidos no século XIX. O artigo discute como os romances Cidade de Deus , de Paulo Lins, e Dois irmãos, de Milton Hatoum, representam uma permanência da relação entre o romance e a representação da nação por meio de aspectos temáticos e formais.
Literature (General), Manners and customs (General)
One of the most fundamental concepts of evolutionary dynamics is the ‘fixation’ probability, i.e. the probability that a gene spreads through the whole population. Most natural communities are geographically structured into habitats exchanging individuals among themselves. The topology of the migration patterns is believed to influence the spread of a new mutant, but no general analytical results were known for its fixation probability. We show that, for large populations, the fixation probability of a beneficial mutation can be evaluated for any migration pattern between local communities. Specifically, we demonstrate that for large populations, in the framework of the Voter model of the Moran model, the fixation probability is always smaller than or, at best, equal to the fixation probability of a non-structured population. In the ‘invasion processes’ version of the Moran model, the fixation probability can exceed that of a non-structured population; our method allows migration patterns to be classified according to their amplification effect. The theoretical tool we have developed in order to perform these computations uses the fixed points of the probability-generating function which are obtained by a system of second-order algebraic equations.