Tools for Assessing Climate Impacts on Fish and Wildlife

Climate change is already affecting many fish and wildlife populations. Managing these populations requires an understanding of the nature, magnitude, and distribution of current and future climate impacts. Scientists and managers have at their disposal a wide array of models for projecting climate impacts that can be used to build such an understanding. Here, we provide a broad overview of the types of models available for forecasting the effects of climate change on key processes that affect fish and wildlife habitat (hydrology, fire, and vegetation), as well as on individual species distributions and populations. We present a framework for how climate-impacts modeling can be used to address management concerns, providing examples of model-based assessments of climate impacts on salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest, fire regimes in the boreal region of Canada, prairies and savannas in the Willamette Valley-Puget Sound Trough-Georgia Basin ecoregion, and marten Martes americana populations in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. We also highlight some key limitations of these models and discuss how such limitations should be managed. We conclude with a general discussion of how these models can be integrated into fish and wildlife management

Childhood Obesity, Sustainable Development, and Behavioral Economics

To understand the rising prevalence of obesity in affluent societies, it is necessary to take into account the growing obesity infrastructure, which over past decades has developed into an obesogenic environment. This infrastructure is a direct reflection of the mainstream economic growth paradigm that the literature on consumer culture characterizes as chronic overconsumption. This study examines the effects of one of the constituent factors of consumer societies and a key contributory factor to childhood obesity: commercial food communication targeted to children and its impact on their food knowledge and food preferences. Because evaluations of traditional information- and education-based interventions suggest that they may not sustainably change food patterns, we combine insights from behavioral economics and traditional consumer behavior theory to formulate seven hypotheses, which we then test using a subsample from the IDEFICS study. The results reveal not only that advertising has divergent effects on children’s food knowledge and preferences but that food knowledge is unrelated to food preferences, a finding that has important implications for future research and public policy

Systematic review of exercise therapy in the management of post-thrombotic syndrome

Objectives Exercise improves haemodynamic parameters in patients with chronic venous disease. There is a paucity of evidence on its effect in post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS). The aim of this systematic review is to assess the impact of exercise in PTS. Methods Adhering to PRISMA guidelines and following PROSPERO registration (CRD42021220924), MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE database, and trial registries were searched on 19th May 2022. Results One article met the inclusion criteria and a narrative synthesis was carried out. The included randomised controlled trial reported a between-group mean difference of 4.6 points (p = .027) in the VEINES-QOL score and −2.0 points (p = .14) in the Villalta score, in favour of exercise therapy. The statistical significance threshold was not reached. Conclusion Data on exercise in PTS remains sparse but exercise appears to be a safe intervention. In the context of this literature, a potential future trial and outcome reporting measures are suggested

Systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise therapy for venous leg ulcer healing and recurrence

Objective: National guidelines in the United Kingdom have recommended regular exercise for individuals with venous leg ulceration. However, data on the effects of exercise on ulcer healing and recurrence are sparse. In the present study, we aimed to quantify the evidence for exercise regarding venous ulcer healing with respect to the primary outcomes of the proportion of healed ulcers and rate of ulcer recurrence. The secondary outcomes were improvement in ulcer symptoms, ulcer healing time, quality of life, compliance, and adverse events reported. Methods: The review followed PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) guidelines using a registered protocol (CRD42021220925). The MEDLINE and Embase databases and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, European Union Clinical Trials, and International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number registries were searched up to April 6, 2022 and included studies comparing exercise therapy and compression vs compression alone. Data for the proportion of healed ulcers were pooled using a fixed effects meta-analysis. Results: After screening 1046 reports, 7 were included, with 121 participants allocated to exercise therapy and 125 to compression alone. All the reports were of randomized controlled trials and had reported ulcer healing at 12 weeks, with a pooled relative risk of ulcer healing of 1.38 for exercise vs compression (95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.71). Only one study had reported on recurrence; thus, data pooling was not performed. No differences between exercise and usual care were demonstrated. Compliance with exercise ranged from 33% to 81%. The included studies demonstrated low enrollment and a high risk of bias. Also, most of the trials had failed to demonstrate any differences in activity completed between the intervention and control arms. Conclusions: A paucity of studies has examined leg ulcer recurrence after exercise programs, with no evidence to show that exercise is beneficial. Furthermore, the quality of evidence supporting exercise as an adjunct to ulcer healing is very low, and the trials demonstrated serious methodologic flaws, chiefly in recording the activity undertaken by the participants in the intervention arm. Future randomized controlled trials should implement activity monitoring and standardize the reporting of key patient, ulcer, and reflux characteristics to enable future meaningful meta-analyses to determine the role of exercise as an adjunct to venous leg ulceration healing

Shape-controlled monolayer MoSe2 flakes by chemical vapor deposition towards tuning the photoluminescence emission

In this study, we report on the controllable chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis of monolayer MoSe2 flakes with different shapes such as hexagons, triangles, sawtooth hexagons, dendrites and fractals deposited on SiO2/Si substrates. This broad range of morphologies is due to the change in the vapor composition resulting from the confinement of the MoO3 and Se vapor and to the variation in the growth rate of the variable shaped MoSe2 crystals. It is also revealed that the photoluminescence (PL) response of the MoSe2 flakes is strongly affected by their shape and size. Our findings will open new avenues towards achieving morphology-controlled monolayer MoSe2 flakes for optoelectronic and energy harvesting systems.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding Contracts UIDB/04540/2020, UIDB/00100/2020 and UIDB/04650/2020. The author C. G. acknowledges a scholarship funded by the UIDB/04540/2020 contract. The author K. G. would like to thank the statutory grant (No. 8211104160) of Department of Quantum Technologies of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

The first study on Danish consumers’ tendency to compulsive buying

The present study is the first study of Danish consumers on compulsive buying. It draws on a representative sample of 1,015 Danish consumers (aged between 15 and 84 years) and extends prior research undertaken in other countries (such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Canada, the US). It is the first study to shed light on the situation in a Scandinavian context and is designed to allow for a comparison with the situation in other countries

Informationen und Berichte

„Ich bin nicht von hier und doch kein Fremder – autobiographisches Schreiben über die Herkunft aus einem fremden Land“. 6. Polnisch-deutsch-nordisches Symposium, Szczecin und Pobierowo 25.-28.4.2013   „Die andere Seite mit ihren eigenen Augen sehen? Deutschlandund Polenbilder in der deutschen und polnischen Literatur nach 1989“. Wrocław, 3.-5.10.2013   „Vom kritischen Intellektuellen zum Medienpromi? Zur Rolle der Intellektuellen in Literatur und Gesellschaft vor und nach 1989“. 6. Hans Werner Richter-Literaturtage. Bansin, 14.-16.11.201

Responsibility Attribution and Consumer Behaviour in the Light of the Bangladesh Factory Collapse

The current fashion system is highly unsustainable, as continuous overproduction and overconsumption is contributing to environmental as well as social degradation. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between consumers’ perceived responsibility for the non-sustainability of the fashion industry, diffusion of responsibility between different actors, label knowledge and use, perceived external barriers and environmental apparel consumption. Theoretically, we combine the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability-Model with norm activation theory. We use a representative sample of young Swedish consumers for our analysis. Findings show that perceived personal responsibility as well as label knowledge and use enhance environmental apparel consumption. The small but significant negative effect of perceived responsibility diffusion on environmental apparel consumption indicates that responsibilities between relevant actors might have to be delegated more explicitly than it happens today

Exercise capacity and cardiac hemodynamic response in female ApoE/LDLR^{-/-} mice : a paradox of preserved V'O_{2max} and exercise capacity despite coronary atherosclerosis

We assessed exercise performance, coronary blood flow and cardiac reserve of female ApoE/LDLR-/- mice with advanced atherosclerosis compared with age-matched, wild-type C57BL6/J mice. Exercise capacity was assessed as whole body maximal oxygen consumption (V'O2max), maximum running velocity (vmax) and maximum distance (DISTmax) during treadmill exercise. Cardiac systolic and diastolic function in basal conditions and in response to dobutamine (mimicking exercise-induced cardiac stress) were assessed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in vivo. Function of coronary circulation was assessed in isolated perfused hearts. In female ApoE/LDLR-/- mice V'O2max, vmax and DISTmax were not impaired as compared with C57BL6/J mice. Cardiac function at rest and systolic and diastolic cardiac reserve were also preserved in female ApoE/LDLR-/- mice as evidenced by preserved fractional area change and similar fall in systolic and end diastolic area after dobutamine. Moreover, endothelium-dependent responses of coronary circulation induced by bradykinin (Bk) and acetylcholine (ACh) were preserved, while endothelium-independent responses induced by NO-donors were augmented in female ApoE/LDLR-/- mice. Basal COX-2-dependent production of 6-keto-PGF1α was increased. Concluding, we suggest that robust compensatory mechanisms in coronary circulation involving PGI2- and NO-pathways may efficiently counterbalance coronary atherosclerosis-induced impairment in V'O2max and exercise capacity