Characteristics of direct human impacts on the rivers Karun and Dez in lowland south-west Iran and their interactions with earth surface movements

Two of the primary external factors influencing the variability of major river systems, over river reach scales, are human activities and tectonics. Based on the rivers Karun and Dez in south-west Iran, this paper presents an analysis of the geomorphological responses of these major rivers to ancient human modifications and tectonics. Direct human modifications can be distinguished by both modern constructions and ancient remnants of former constructions that can leave a subtle legacy in a suite of river characteristics. For example, the ruins of major dams are characterised by a legacy of channel widening to 100's up to c. 1000 m within upstream zones that can stretch to channel distances of many kilometres upstream of former dam sites, whilst the legacy of major, ancient, anthropogenic river channel straightening can also be distinguished by very low channel sinuosities over long lengths of the river course. Tectonic movements in the region are mainly associated with young and emerging folds with NW–SE and N–S trends and with a long structural lineament oriented E–W. These earth surface movements can be shown to interact with both modern and ancient human impacts over similar timescales, with the types of modification and earth surface motion being distinguishable. This paper examines the geomorphological evidence and outlines the processes involved in the evolution of these interactions through time. The analysis shows how interactions between earth surface movements and major dams are slight, especially after ancient dam collapse. By contrast, interactions between earth surface movements and major anthropogenic river channel straightening are shown to be a key factor in the persistence of long, near-straight river courses. Additionally, it is suggested that artificial river development, with very limited river channel lateral migration, may promote incision across an active fold at unusually long distances from the fold “core” and may promote markedly increased sinuosity across a structural lineament

Facilitating the analysis of COVID-19 literature through a knowledge graph

At the end of 2019, Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) of the outbreak of a new strain of the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, which struck humanity by an unprecedented disaster a few months later. In response to this pandemic, a publicly available dataset was released on Kaggle which contained information of over 63,000 papers. In order to facilitate the analysis of this large mass of literature, we have created a knowledge graph based on this dataset. Within this knowledge graph, all information of the original dataset is linked together, which makes it easier to search for relevant information. The knowledge graph is also enriched with additional links to appropriate, already existing external resources. In this paper, we elaborate on the different steps performed to construct such a knowledge graph from structured documents. Moreover, we discuss, on a conceptual level, several possible applications and analyses that can be built on top of this knowledge graph. As such, we aim to provide a resource that allows people to more easily build applications that give more insights into the COVID-19 pandemic

A 1500‐year record of North Atlantic storm flooding from lacustrine sediments, Shetland Islands (UK)

Severe storm flooding poses a major hazard to the coasts of north‐western Europe. However, the long‐term recurrence patterns of extreme coastal flooding and their governing factors are poorly understood. Therefore, high‐resolution sedimentary records of past North Atlantic storm flooding are required. This multi‐proxy study reconstructs storm‐induced overwash processes from coastal lake sediments on the Shetland Islands using grain‐size and geochemical data, and the re‐analysis of historical data. The chronostratigraphy is based on Bayesian age–depth modelling using accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C and 137 Cs data. A high XRF‐based Si/Ti ratio and the unimodal grain‐size distribution link the sand layers to the beach and thus storm‐induced overwash events. Periods with more frequent storm flooding occurred 980–1050, 1150–1300, 1450–1550, 1820–1900 and 1950–2000 ce, which is largely consistent with a positive North Atlantic Oscillation mode. The Little Ice Age (1400–1850 ce ) shows a gap of major sand layers suggesting a southward shift of storm tracks and a seasonal variance with more storm floods in spring and autumn. Warmer phases shifted winter storm tracks towards the north‐east Atlantic, indicating a possible trend for future storm‐track changes and increased storm flooding in the northern North Sea region

An ecosystem for linked humanities data

The main promise of the digital humanities is the ability to perform scholar studies at a much broader scale, and in a much more reusable fashion. The key enabler for such studies is the availability of suciently well described data. For the eld of socio-economic history, data usually comes in a tabular form. Existing eorts to curate and publish datasets take a top-down approach and are focused on large collections. This paper presents QBer and the underlying structured data hub, which address the long tail of research data by catering for the needs of individual scholars. QBer allows researchers to publish their (small) datasets, link them to existing vocabularies and other datasets, and thereby contribute to a growing collection of interlinked datasets.We present QBer, and evaluate our rst results by showing how our system facilitates two use cases in socio-economic history

Resilience in education: An example from primary school in Fiji and technical vocational education and training

In the Pacific, the capacity of curriculum writers for integrating the content of climate change into their curricula and/or taught Resilience [Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) & Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)] in education is limited. This paper described the findings of a 2018 study on the integration of climate change into primary and secondary schools’ curricula and taught resilience in education in TVET. It involves teachers (n = 30) from Kadavu and Levuka islands, curriculum writers and editors from the Ministry of Education, GIZ, SPC, and USP—in Fiji. An exploratory design was used to explore the curricula for Fiji and the EU PacTVET project at SPC. Information was collected from workshops and training events, interviews and project documents. Using BEKA (Benchmarking, Evidencing, Knowing, Applying) and the concept of ako (e.g. to study or educate), a model of climate change and resilience in education was designed as part of this research to help Pacific schools with their curricula. These results indicate how behavioural changes may shape Resilience, thus placing them in a better position to achieve the UNFCCC, the SDGs, the Sendai Framework and the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP) targets and objectives by 2030 and beyond

M & L Jaargang 4/4

RedactioneelAnn Bergmans en Chris De Maegd i.s.m. W.A. Olyslager en D. Vande Gaer De Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk van het Groot Begijnhof in Leuven. [The Saint John-the-Baptists church in the Great Beguingage at Louvain.]- A. Fauconnier Het Goltfuss-orgel in de Begijnhofkerk in Leuven. [The organ by Goltfuss in the Beguinage church at Louvain.]- Lode De Clercq De restauratie van een monumentale sculptuurreeks in de Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk in Leuven. [The restoration of a monumental series of sculptures in the Beguinage church Saint John-the-Baptist at Louvain.]- M. Buyle De polychromie van het noorderportaal van de Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk in Leuven. [The polychromy of the northem portal of the Saint John-the-Baptists church at Louvain.]B. Bailleul, L. Heyvaert, D. Laporte en N. Poulain Een toren voor boeken 1935-1985, Henry van de Velde en de bouw van de Universiteitsbibliotheek en het Hoger Instituut voor Kunstgeschienis en Oudheidkunde in Gent. [A tower for books 1935-1985, Henry van de Velde and the construction of the University Library and the Higher Institute for Art History and Archaeology at Ghent.]M.M. Celis en W.J. Slock Op de valreep van teloorgang: het Georges Hobé-gebint in Tervuren na jaren aftakeling gerestaureerd en heropgericht. [The Hobé carcass at Tervuren restored and set up again after years of decay.]SummaryM&L Binnenkran

HIV testing within general practices in Europe : A mixed-methods systematic review

Funding Information: This work was supported by IWT (Belgium) and the ANRS (France) through the framework of HIVERA JTC 2014. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s).Background: Late diagnosis of HIV infection remains a key challenge in Europe. It is acknowledged that general practitioners (GPs) may contribute greatly to early case finding, yet there is evidence that many diagnostic opportunities are being missed. To further promote HIV testing in primary care and to increase the utility of available research, the existing evidence has been synthesised in a systematic review adhering to the PRISMA guidelines. Methods: The databases PubMed, Scopus and Embase were searched for the period 2006-2017. Two authors judged independently on the eligibility of studies. Through a mixed-methods systematic review of 29 studies, we provide a description of HIV testing in general practices in Europe, including barriers and facilitators. Results: The findings of the study show that although various approaches to target patients are used by GPs, most tests are still carried out based on the patient's request. Several barriers obstruct HIV testing in general practice. Included are a lack of communication skills on sexual health, lack of knowledge about HIV testing recommendations and epidemic specificities, difficulties with using the complete list of clinical HIV indicator diseases and lack of experience in delivering and communicating test results. The findings also suggest that the provision of specific training, practical tools and promotion programmes has an impact on the testing performance of GPs. Conclusions: GPs could have an increased role in provider-initiated HIV-testing for early case finding. To achieve this objective, solutions to the reported barriers should be identified and testing criteria adapted to primary healthcare defined. Providing guidance and training to better identify priority groups for HIV testing, as well as information on the HIV epidemic's characteristics, will be fundamental to increasing awareness and testing by GPs.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Mercury flux to sediments of Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 210 (2010): 399-407, doi:10.1007/s11270-009-0262-y.We report estimates of mercury (Hg) flux to the sediments of Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada: 2 and 15-20 µg/m2/yr in preindustrial and modern sediments, respectively. These values result in a modern to preindustrial flux ratio of 7.5-10, which is similar to flux ratios recently reported for other alpine lakes in California, and greater than the value of 3 typically seen worldwide. We offer plausible hypotheses to explain the high flux ratios, including (1) proportionally less photoreduction and evasion of Hg with the onset of cultural eutrophication and (2) a combination of enhanced regional oxidation of gaseous elemental Hg and transport of the resulting reactive gaseous Hg to the surface with nightly downslope flows of air. If either of these mechanisms is correct, it could lead to local/regional solutions to lessen the impact of globally increasing anthropogenic emissions of Hg on Lake Tahoe and other alpine ecosystems.Funding was provided by Miami University, EPA-STAR, the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the USGS