Landscape-seascape dynamics in the isthmus between Sørkapp Land and the rest of Spitsbergen : Will a new big Arctic island form?

Transformation of the glaciated isthmus between Sørkapp Land and the rest of Spitsbergen since 1900 is described. The landscape–seascape dynamics depends on the glacial recession determined by climate warming after the Little Ice Age (i.e., since the beginning of the twentieth century, and especially since the 1980s). The isthmus has been narrowed from 28 km in 1899–1900 to 6.2 km in 2013, and lowered by 60–200 m from 1936 to 2005. Two isthmus’ glaciers will have melted, given the current thermic conditions, by 2030–2035. It cannot be ruled out that Sørkapp Land will become an island after that period, because the altitude of the glaciers’ bedrock is close to the sea level. The disappearance of this huge ice mass, even without origin of a sound and island, will lead to a great transformation of the landscape and the ecosystem

Railway network of Galicia and Austrian Silesia (1847-1914)

We describe and share reconstructed data of the historical railway network of Galicia and Austrian Silesia – two regions of the Habsburg Empire that covered more than 80 000 km2 that are currently divided among Czechia, Poland and Ukraine. The network dataset includes the times of railway appearance and of the most dynamic development until 1914, which marked the outbreak of the First World War. Most of the lines were reconstructed based on OpenStreetMap data, and the lines, which were closed down between 1914 and 2019 and are no longer available in spatial datasets, were reconstructed based on high-resolution satellite imagery and historical maps. Altogether, the network dataset covers nearly 5000 km on 127 lines. The data are accompanied by a set of attributes, i.e. the year of construction, length, starting point, finish point, and type (normal, narrow-gauge, etc.), and are available for download in the shp format

Changes in spatial discontinuity in settlement patterns in the Czech-Polish border area : a case study of Těšín Silesia

The paper presents a discontinuity-based analysis of the settlement pattern changes in the Czechia–Poland cross-border historical region of Těšín Silesia. An approach based on a well-known and popular method (regression discontinuity design) was applied to measure spatial discontinuity. To describe the spatiotemporal changes, a combination of spatial, statistical and cartographic methods was used. The observed differences have been developing for more than 150 years; at the start, this area belonged to the territory of one state, and later it was divided by a national border. The division of the region resulted in areas following different development trajectories

How does students motivation to acquire new geospatial skills influence their choices of e-learning content?

Higher education in many disciplines is affected nowadays by an evident orientation to assist students in developing a certain set of skills required by the labour market. This trend is visible also in the field of Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIS&T). The composition of competencies encompasses, apart from industry-specific technical competencies, also soft skills related to personal effectiveness, academic and workplace competencies. Moreover, soft skills are gaining in importance, being identified as future work skills. As a result, students may search for certain skills when they come into contact with a particular learning content. In this study, we investigated how the motivation to acquire specific skills influences students’ behaviour on the e-learning platform. As a case study, we selected a study programme in land management carried out at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management (Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland). Several different motivating factors, like GIS&T skills and the ability to co-operate, were identified and compared with students’ behaviour on the e-learning platform in certain modules of the study programme. The results indicated that students only partially prospected for certain competencies during their work with the content of the e-learning platform. Students’ motivation was more evident in their on-line behaviour when they wanted to acquire technical skills than when they planned to develop soft skills

Mid-19th-century building structure locations in Galicia and Austrian Silesia under the Habsburg Monarchy

We produced a reconstruction of mid-19th-century building structure locations in former Galicia and Austrian Silesia (parts of the Habsburg Monarchy), which are located in present-day Czechia, Poland, and Ukraine and cover more than 80 000 km2. Our reconstruction was based on a homogeneous series of detailed Second Military Survey maps (1:28 800) that were the result of a cadastral mapping (1:2880) generalization. The dataset consists of two types of building structures based on the original map legend - residential and outbuildings (mainly farm-related buildings). The dataset's accuracy was assessed quantitatively and qualitatively by using independent data sources and may serve as an important input in studying long-term socioeconomic processes and human-environmental interactions or as a valuable reference for continental settlement reconstructions. The dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.17632/md8jp9ny9z.2 (Kaim et al., 2020a)

Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) - oral supplementation and its effects in resistance training and treatment

Introduction: Branched - chain amino acids (BCAAs) are essential components of proteins that play a crucial role in regulating numerous physiological processes in the human body. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of scientific research on BCAAs, including their involvement in metabolism, protein biosynthesis, and the regulation of anabolic processes. We reviewed the supplementation of BCAAs and its impact on sports performance, body composition, and the therapeutic applications of BCAAs Materials and methods: This study is based on medical articles collected from the PubMed database spanning the years 2011-2023. The research was conducted through the analysis of keywords such as "BCAA supplementation", "BCAA metabolism", and "BCAA treatment". Results: The physiology of BCAAs is well understood. The use of oral supplements containing BCAAs does not have a positive impact on muscle hypertrophy, muscle strength, and post-workout muscle soreness in resistance training. However, branched chain amino acids may serve as a safe and effective therapeutic approach in the treatment of liver cirrhosis

Mid-19th century road network dataset for Galicia and Austrian Silesia, Habsburg Empire

In this paper, we present the vector dataset of the historical road network of Galicia and Austrian Silesia (>80 000 km^{2}) in the mid-19th century - two regions of the former Habsburg Empire, located in Central Europe. The data were acquired manually from 455 map sheets of the Austrian second military survey map (1:28,800) for the four main road categories, according to the map legend. All the road categories present the roads passable at any time of the year, which was strategic information from the military point of view and build a network of 15 461 km. Currently, the data can be used by various researchers studying migrations, regional development, but also human impact on the environment, like land use change, invasive species introduction or landscape fragmentation. The dataset presents the times just before the most dynamic economic changes of the 19th century, which had a great impact on the region. On the other hand, the road network presented here was developed in the conditions of one country, the Habsburg Empire, which collapsed after the First World War, triggering the rise of new states and remodelling the transport network connections in Central Europe. Additionally, the data are accompanied by the layer of towns and villages with more than 2000 inhabitants, based on the 1857 Austrian census data

Problem doboru jednostek odniesienia przestrzennego w integracji danych z drugiej połowy XIX i początku XX w. z terenów Galicji i Śląska Austriackiego

To map and analyze spatial historical data, accurate territorial units are needed. Changes of administrative boundaries could cause a problem for linked maps to tabular socio-economic census data. A cadastral commune can be the appropriate spatial level for mass published census data. It allows to become independent from later changes of administrative units and it could be a good starting point to link similar data for higher level of administrative hierarchy. The article presentsvarious aspects of the selection of administrativeunits for the mid-nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century for Galicia and Austrian Silesia