Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe : A Synthesis of National Perspectives

Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009-2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action "Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society" funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence.Peer reviewe

PRIMENA KISINDŽEROVE METODE ZA ODREĐIVANJE KINETIČKIH PARAMETARA PIROLIZE TREŠNJINOG DRVETA

In the global quest for substitution of fossil fuels, biomass is regarded as one of the most promising alternatives. Thermochemical conversion is one of the dominant biomass-to-energy processing routes with pyrolysis as one of the options that gained importance in recent years. In this paper pyrolysis experiments of cheery tree samples were performed. The objective of this research was to determine selected physical and chemical properties of cheery related to thermochemical conversion. The samples were pyrolysed in a thermogravimetric analyzer in an inert, nitrogen, atmosphere at four different heating rates 1, 2, 5 and 10 °C/min. Pyrolysis occurred, as expected, in three step: loss of moisture and light volatiles, active and passive pyrolysis. With an increase in heating rate a lateral shift of the maximum rate of weight loss for the thermal decomposition to higher temperatures was observed, as well as an increase in the amount of residual char. Moreover, kinetic studies were performed using the Kissinger method. The activation energy was calculated to be 155.26 kJ/mol, while the pre-exponential factor was 1.685×1012 min-1. Obtained results are comparable to values reported in literature. Kissinger method is straightforward and offers the possibility for fast and reliable determination of kinetic parameters.U globalnoj protrazi za zamenom fosilnih goriva, biomasa se smatra jednom od značajnih alternative. Termohemijska konverzija predstavlja jedan od dominantnih načina za iskorišćenje biomase u energetske svrhe dok je piroliza jedna od opcija koja dobija na značaju poslednjih godina. U ovom radu proučavan je proces priolize drveta trešnje u cilju određivanja fizičkih i hemijskih karakteristika, koje se odnose na termohemijsku konverziju, drveta trešnje. Najpre je izvršena piroliza uzoraka u termogravimetrijskom analizatoru, u inertnoj atmosferi azota, na četiri različite brzine grejanja 1, 2, 5 and 10 °C/min. Piroliza se odvijala, kako se i očekivalo, u tri koraka: gubitak vlage i lako isparljivih volatila, aktivna i pasivna piroiza. Porast brzine grejanja uzrokovao je lateralni pomak ka višim temperaturama svakog koraka termalne degradacije, kao i porast u količini rezidualnog koksnog ostatka. Pored toga, određeni su i kinetički parametri primenom Kisindžerove metode. Izračunato je da aktivaciona energija iznosi 155,26 kJ/mol, a pre-eksponencijalni faktor 1,685×1012 min-1. Dobijeni kinetički parametri su uporedivi sa rezultatima iz literature. Kisindžerova metoda je jednostavna i pruža mogućnost brzog i pouzdanog određivanja kinetičkih parametara

Prospective Randomized Study Comparing Sentinel Lymph Node Evaluation With Standard Pathologic Evaluation for the Staging of Colon Carcinoma: Results From the United States Military Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Group Study GI-01

One hundred sixty-one patients with stage I–III colon cancer were assigned randomly to standard histopathologic evaluation or sentinel lymph node mapping and ultrastaging with pan-cytokeratin IHC in conjunction with standard histopathology. Targeted nodal assessment identified small volume nodal disease and improved staging in patients with resectable colon cancer

Integrated approach for sustainable development of energy, water and environment systems

The Conferences on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) at the beginning of the 21st century have become a significant venue for researchers to meet, and initiate, discuss, share, and disseminate new ideas in various disciplines of sustainable development. In 2002, the first conference was organised in Dubrovnik, Croatia and since then, 10 more successful conferences were realised. Following the success of international conferences in Dubrovnik, the organizing committees decided to organize the main conference and regional conferences all over the world in even years. In 2016, the second regional SDEWES conference, namely the 2nd South East European Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, was held June 15-18 in Piran/Portorose, Slovenia while the 11th SDEWES conference was organised in Lisbon, Portugal on September 4-8. There were 10 special sessions dedicated to various sustain ability topics organised in both conferences

Current wildland fire patterns and challenges in Europe: a synthesis of national perspectives

Summarization: Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009–2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action “Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society” funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence.Presented on