‘Forebears’, ‘saints’ and ‘martyrs’: the politics of commemoration in Bulgaria in the 1880s and 1890s

Book description: The relationship between states, societies, and individuals in Central and Eastern Europe has been characterised by periods of change and redefinition. The current political, economic, social and cultural climate necessitates a discussion of these issues, both past and present. It is this theme which the proposed publication intends to discuss using a selection of papers given at the 5 th Annual Postgraduate Conference on Central and Eastern Europe held at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) in 2003. The papers represent work from young international scholars from Europe and North America writing on Central and Eastern Europe. The book consists of seven papers and develops an interdisciplinary framework reflecting the range of topics discussed during the conference. It embraces the regional breadth of Central and Eastern Europe containing analyses of Russia, the former Soviet Republics, Central Europe and South Eastern Europe. The papers chosen cover a variety of fields and adopt a corresponding range of approaches with a view to assessing from a multidisciplinary perspective the relationship between state, society and individuals. The papers in the book have been ordered chronologically. The volume starts with an analysis by Julia Mannherz of social conflict in late imperial Russia and moves on to Sergei Zhuk’s discussion of the Stundist movement in Ukraine. The third paper from Stefan Detchev is a discussion of the late-nineteenth-century politics of commemoration surrounding the Bulgarian war of independence. The theme of the politics of commemoration is also present in Andrzej Michalczyk’s analysis of the commemoration of the plebiscite in Silesia by Germans and Poles during the interwar period. Michalczyk examines how a shared event is commemorated and interpreted differently by the two national groups. The idea of common and shared histories is further developed by Rüdiger Ritter in his study of the history and the historiography of post-Communist Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. The move into the contemporary period is completed in the final two papers. The use of historical imagery for political purposes is explored in Markus Wien’s study of the King Simeon II Party in Bulgaria as well as the way in which the historical image of the monarchy has been changed for political purposes during the transition from communism to democracy. The final paper by Maria Aluchna continues the discussion of the process of transition by examining the economic transformation from a communist command economic system to a modern capitalist economy

Traditional Eastern European diet and mortality: prospective evidence from the HAPIEE study

PURPOSE: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern Europe are among the highest in the world. Although diet is an important risk factor, traditional eating habits in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European cohorts. METHODS: Data from the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe prospective cohort were used, including participants from Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Based on food frequency questionnaire data, we constructed an Eastern European diet score (EEDS) from nine food groups which can be considered as traditional in this region. The relationship between categorical (low, moderate, high) and continuous (range 0-18) EEDS and mortality was estimated with Cox-regression. RESULTS: From 18,852 eligible participants, 2234 died during follow-up. In multivariable adjusted models, participants with high adherence to the traditional Eastern European diet had significantly higher risk of all-cause (HR 1.23; 95% CI 1.08-1.42) and CVD (1.34; 1.08-1.66) deaths compared to those with low adherence. The association with cancer mortality was only significant in Poland (high vs. low EEDS: 1.41; 1.00-1.98). From the specific EEDS components, high consumption of lard was significantly positively related to all three mortality outcomes, while preserved fruit and vegetable consumption showed consistent inverse associations. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that traditional eating habits may contribute to the poor health status, particularly the high CVD mortality rates, of populations in Eastern Europe. Adequate public health nutritional interventions in this region are essential

Calibration of multi-camera photogrammetric systems

Due to the low-cost and off-the-shelf availability of consumer grade cameras, multi-camera photogrammetric systems have become a popular means for 3D reconstruction. These systems can be used in a variety of applications such as infrastructure monitoring, cultural heritage documentation, biomedicine, mobile mapping, as-built architectural surveys, etc. In order to ensure that the required precision is met, a system calibration must be performed prior to the data collection campaign. This system calibration should be performed as efficiently as possible, because it may need to be completed many times. Multi-camera system calibration involves the estimation of the interior orientation parameters of each involved camera and the estimation of the relative orientation parameters among the cameras. This paper first reviews a method for multi-camera system calibration with built-in relative orientation constraints. A system stability analysis algorithm is then presented which can be used to assess different system calibration outcomes. The paper explores the required calibration configuration for a specific system in two situations: major calibration (when both the interior orientation parameters and relative orientation parameters are estimated), and minor calibration (when the interior orientation parameters are known a-priori and only the relative orientation parameters are estimated). In both situations, system calibration results are compared using the system stability analysis methodology

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF THE ISPRS STUDENT CONSORTIUM

The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Student Consortium (SC) is a network for young professionals studying or working within the fields of photogrammetry, remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and other related geo-spatial sciences. The main goal of the network is to provide means for information exchange for its young members and thus help promote and integrate youth into the ISPRS. Over the past four years the Student Consortium has successfully continued to fulfil its mission in both formal and informal ways. The formal means of communication of the SC are its website, newsletter, e-mail announcements and summer schools, while its informal ones are multiple social media outlets and various social activities during student related events. The newsletter is published every three to four months and provides both technical and experiential content relevant for the young people in the ISPRS. The SC has been in charge or at least has helped with organizing one or more summer schools every year. The organization's e-mail list has over 1,100 subscribers, its website hosts over 1,300 members from 100 countries across the entire globe, and its public Facebook group currently has over 4,500 joined visitors, who connect among one another and share information relevant for their professional careers. These numbers show that the Student Consortium has grown into a significant online-united community. The paper will present the organization’s on-going and past activities for the last four years, its current priorities and a strategic plan and aspirations for the future four-year period

The ISPRS Student Consortium: From launch to tenth anniversary

The ISPRS Student Consortium is an international organization for students and young professionals in the fields of photogrammetry, remote sensing, and the geospatial information sciences. Since its start ten years ago, the number of members of the Student Consortium has been steadily growing, now reaching close to 1000. Its increased popularity, especially in recent years, is mainly due to the organization's worldwide involvement in student matters. The Student Consortium has helped organize numerous summer schools, youth forums, and student technical sessions at ISPRS sponsored conferences. In addition, the organization publishes a newsletter, and hosts several social media outlets in order to keep its global membership up-to-date on a regular basis. This paper will describe the structure of the organization, and it will give some example of its past student related activities

Traditional Eastern European diet and its relationship with mortality: results from the HAPIEE study

Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern European countries are among the highest in the world. Although unhealthy diet is an important risk factor for both of these chronic diseases, traditional eating habits and their health effects in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European population-based cohorts. Methods We used data from the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) multi-centre prospective cohort study based in Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic (age range at baseline: 45-70 years). Diet was assessed by food frequency questionnaire, and we constructed an Eastern European diet score (EEDS) from nine food groups considered as “traditional” in this region. The relationship between EEDS and all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality was calculated with Cox-regression models. Results From the 18,852 participants, 2,234 died during the average follow-up of 11.7 years. In multivariable adjusted models, participants with high adherence to the traditional Eastern European diet had significantly higher risk of all-cause (HR 1.20; 95% CI 1.05-1.38) and CVD deaths (1.32; 1.05-1.64) compared to those with low adherence. The association with cancer mortality was not significant (1.12; 0.90-1.40). From the specific EEDS components, high consumption of lard was significantly positively related to all three mortality outcomes, while processed fruit or vegetable consumption showed consistent inverse associations. Conclusions Our results suggest that traditional eating habits may contribute to the poor health status, particularly the high CVD mortality rates, of populations in Eastern Europe. Adequate public health nutritional interventions in this region are essential. Key messages This work indicates that traditional dietary habits in Eastern European countries may be one of the reasons for the poor health status of populations in this region. Public health nutritional interventions which target traditional but unhealthy foods, such as lard, have the potential to considerably improve population health in Eastern Europe. </jats:sec