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This paper aims to enhance our knowledge about late-medieval epidemic outbreaks in specific parts of Eastern Central Europe. The first part on modern-day Eastern Germany discusses narrative evidence and its use in the current research on plague history, before bringing in municipal records on testaments and conveyances from Görlitz and Stralsund for the reconstruction of seasonality and mortality rates, as well as funeral inscriptions and pictorial evidence from Erfurt as indirect indicators of plague waves. After a brief discussion of the scarce narrative sources, the second part of the paper concerning Bohemia works with the evidence of the Libri Confirmationum, a source originating from the chancellery of the archbishops of Prague. Every new appointment to a benefice was supposed to be approved by one of the vicars general of the archbishop, and this confirmation usually gives the reason for the vacancy. Expanding on Eduard Maur's research, death statistics and their frequency are analyzed statistically. The paper provides insight into new evidence for the reconstruction of plague waves, mortality rates and seasonality, and thereby highlights the characteristics of the plague in Eastern Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an introduction to a collection of nine studies that are intended to fill the gap in the literature associated with landform development and landscape changes related to natural forces and human activities in the Central European Mountains and their close forelands. The papers are grouped into four general categories that describe the influence of climate on glacial landforms and snow avalanches, the evolution of slopes in high mountains, the development of mid-mountain relief, and changes in fluvial systems in mountains and their forelands. This paper summarises the contributions of these studies to this special issue and attempts to outline possible avenues of future research on landforms and landscapes in mountainous areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudos do Seculo XX is the property of Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Building elements, especially partitions, floors and external walls significantly affect indoor acoustic comfort. Their ability to reduce noise transmission from neighbouring rooms or from outdoors depends on the element composition and the building materials used. In Central Europe, the heavyweight masonry or concrete walls and slabs are typical elements both for family and residential buildings. However, increasing popularity of lightweight multi-layered structures is noticeable. This creates new opportunities for the gradual replacement of traditional materials with renewable and recycled ones, both for load-bearing components and for fillings and other layers of building elements. This paper introduces such design changes in relation to acoustics, particularly airborne sound insulation. The greatest attention is paid to the replacement of masonry and mineral wool insulation with timber and wood fibres. The overview is supplemented by examples of low-energy house external wall and timber wall with recycled infill whose sound insulation has been determined by measurements in the acoustic laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critiques of Western Orientalism have been well-known since the Saidean perspective, and in-depth analysis of Frontier Orientalism has also gained prevalence and academic recognition. Yet, another tendency, namely, that of exoticizing Persia, has not been given wide-ranging attention. This paper delivers a theoretical and empirical framework describing another variant of Central European Orientalism, which may be remotely reminiscent of alleged colonial thought, yet with regional peculiarities and without any direct exposition of historical-political conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyse the double-layered diversification of the European integration system represented by the countries of Central Europe (CE). Here exemplified by the Visegrad Four (V4) states (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia), the region offers a unique laboratory of European differentiated integration (DI). The V4 positions itself on the outer-core of the European Union hemispheres. At the same time, the bloc itself is internally diversified in various, important aspects of integration (conflicting trajectories with Brussels, monetary integration, energy policy, relations with Russia, etc.). Unpacking this intra-V4 diversity will be accompanied by an exploration of the economic and institutional factors possibly affecting it. The political-economy perspective allows us to capture the determinants intersecting at the crossroads of economic and political dimensions. The authors will explore the selected building blocks of the system of differentiation inside the V4 group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death and dying were a ubiquitous reality of the world of medieval society, with lasting effects on the living from all social groups in equal measure. However, for the rulers of the day, the process of dying and the subsequent burial was an important social, political and cultural event. Over time, special funerary ceremonial complexes developed that included a variety of rituals and symbols which indicated the status and importance of the medieval monarchs. This paper compares the funerary rituals and symbols of power on display during the processions of three Central European kings: King Charles I Robert of Hungary (1342) in Visegrád, Buda and Szkésfehérvár, Polish King Casimir III the Great (1370) in Kraków and Bohemian King and Roman Emperor Charles IV (1378) in Prague. Each of these monumental events included a number of common motifs and ritual sequences, though at the same time, local flavour or innovations always came into play. The common denominator of these three ceremonies was that in the spirit of the political theology of the time, all referenced the immortality of the sovereign power and its timeless essence, which sprung from a sacred character sanctioned by God's grace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the first record of Lithurgus cornutus (Fabricius, 1787) in Poland. Until recently, bees of the genus Lithurgus have not been recorded in Poland. Five females and one male of L. cornutus were caught in Lublin Region, SE Poland. The localities are beyond the range of this species, being the northernmost known records from Central Europe. The following information is provided: short diagnosis, ecology, distribution, recent records and threat status of L. cornutus in Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis: Folia Archaeologica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The countries of NATO's eastern flank representing the so-called Bucharest Nine include Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Over recent decades, NATO has adapted to new challenges and threats to the security environment. This article attempts to examine the ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine from the perspective of NATO's eastern flank countries as well as to answer the following research questions: are NATO member states adequately responding to the threats arising from the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and will NATO be revitalised as a result of Russia's revisionist policy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums are complex architectural works with many distinctive elements. One of the most significant museum features are routes or paths on which visitors circulate museums and perceive exhibitions. Children and people with special needs often have specific demands on physical accessibility of the surrounding environment, chronological arrangement of spaces and amount of information presented at a time. The arrangement of functional units in museum layouts affects wayfinding in space, understanding of the exhibition, as well as visitor guidance. The order in which people visit particular segments in a museum can also be described as one of the most important architectural and operational characteristics of this type of cultural buildings and areas. The article examines ways of arranging spaces in a museum building and the suitability of their application. These forms are evaluated based on various aspects; some of the created effects are studied, e.g. creation of a desired atmosphere. Existing concepts are compared and supplemented with other theoretical knowledge. The article aims to present variant suitable ways of composing routes that would meet the needs of different people, and bring them a quality leisure and educational experience from a museum tour. Various types of museum layout organisation and arrangement of exhibition spaces are illustrated with abstract schemes, as well as with specific case studies of five selected museums. The selection consists of architecturally exceptional and high-quality museums in Central Europe, which are able to attract a whole range of various groups of people including a younger audience. They are examples of both modern museums in this area and route planning options. The case studies highlight interesting local ideas, space concepts, routing methods, and also solutions for increasing inclusion of all visitors and children in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the literature on small state foreign policy predicts that smaller states of the international community attempt to enlarge their influence by seeking a constructive status or proving their adherence to positive norms, the cases in which small states use a negative image to better their international position are almost completely neglected. The article aims to assess how the status of Visegrád countries in interstate society changed since their accession to the European Union in light of the generally negative perception of their governments' ideological background connected to different kinds of populism and nationalism. Using the GDELT Database, the number of government-level interactions initiated towards the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia was analysed in a European context between 2004 and 2020. The results of the inquiry showed a drastic decrease in the interactions initiated towards the four countries between 2004 and the mid-2010s with a slightly higher ratio of confrontative interactions than in the case of other small and middle-sized states. Data show that Hungary, governed by populist parties since 2010, witnessed the smallest drop in attention in the last decade. These results defy the expectations of the small state literature and suggest a more complicated relationship between international status and the image of small states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the uncertainties of transitional periods, particularly in East Central Europe between 1918 and 1923, highlighting the intertwined processes of democratization and nationalism. It explores how the end of World War I led to a significant political and social upheaval, resulting in the emergence of new states and democratic forms of governance alongside challenges and conflicts at regional and local levels.

This article aims to show that extraordinary taxes, introduced after WWI, performed better in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries than in Western countries, even though they were originally a Western idea. The research reveals that these taxes generated some revenue, but their main function was to show that governments were trying to tackle the unfairness that had resulted from years of running a war economy. It is doubtful that these taxes are useful components of fiscal systems, as they are something of a paradox. They create more injustice (Adam Smith's principles of taxation were partially broken when these taxes were applied), although they should theoretically reduce the inequalities caused by war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical changes in land use and development over the last century were analysed to identify the main causes and directions of changes in depression wetland ecosystems in the Włoszczowa Basin, an area of 1600 km2 in southern Poland. The analysis of Military Cartographic Institute maps and orthophotomaps, as well as field surveys, made it possible to determine the scale of degradation of 247 treeless depression wetlands. It was shown that the nature and extent of transformation of individual wetlands varied depending on the type of wetland and the method of land use in adjacent areas. However, the main anthropogenic factor affecting these changes was land drainage, of which the greatest intensity in Central Europe was pursued during the socialist rule between 1945 and 1989. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the case of the interwar Yugoslav Sokol (Sokol Kraljevine Jugoslavije), this article examines the complex relationship between the discourses of organic nationhood and political socialization in what was the largest voluntary association in the country. While Sokol typically projected a vision of itself as an apolitical entity--as it claimed to represent the organic national body--this article will explore the dynamics, as well as contradictions, between such discourses and the socio-political reality they aimed to describe and eventually alter in their pursuit of improving the 'national body.' In conversation with scholarship on the conceptual history of modern East Central European nationalisms, including the social history of ideas and movements and political socialization more specifically, this article provides insight into the contextual, conceptual history of nationhood by focusing on selected thinkers engaged in Sokol, against the backdrop of particular mass practices and modes of political socialization in the organization. The tension between the involvement of the masses in the allegedly apolitical formations and the reality of subjecting them to political socialization en masse provides the central axis around which the argument is organized. The article concludes that their concept of nationhood was intimately intertwined with that of democracy and simultaneously posited against (party) politics and statism. Moreover, it demonstrates that Sokol was rooted in notions of civilizational hierarchies and directly linked to producing modern political subjects for the new Yugoslav state by means of the gymnastic and educational practices they promoted and conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ongoing climate change is anticipated to increase the frequency and intensity of drought events, thereby affecting forest recovery dynamics and elevating tree mortality. The drought of 2018, with its exceptional intensity and duration, had a significant adverse impact on tree species throughout Central Europe. However, our understanding of the resistance to and recovery of young trees from drought stress remains limited. Here, we examined the recovery patterns of native deciduous tree sapling species following the 2018 drought, and explored the impact of soil depth, understory vegetation, and litter cover on this recovery. Methods: A total of 1,149 saplings of seven deciduous tree species were monitored in the understory of old-growth forests in Northern Bavaria, Central Germany. The vitality of the saplings was recorded from 2018 to 2021 on 170 plots. Results: Fagus sylvatica was the most drought-resistant species, followed by Betula pendula, Acer pseudoplatanus, Quercus spp., Corylus avellana, Carpinus betulus, and Sorbus aucuparia. Although the drought conditions persisted one year later, all species recovered significantly from the 2018 drought, albeit with a slight decrease in vitality by 2021. In 2018, the drought exhibited a more pronounced adverse effect on saplings in deciduous forests compared to mixed and coniferous forests. Conversely, sapling recovery in coniferous and mixed forests exceeded that observed in deciduous forests in 2019. The pivotal factors influencing sapling resilience to drought were forest types, soil depth, and understory vegetation, whereas litter and forest canopy cover had a negative impact. Conclusion: Long-term responses of tree species to drought can be best discerned through continuous health monitoring. These findings demonstrate the natural regeneration potential of deciduous species in the context of climate change. Selective tree species planting, soil management practices, and promoting understory diversity should be considered when implementing adaptive management strategies to enhance forest resilience to drought events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hotel & Tourism Management is the property of Faculty of Hotel Management & Tourism in Vrnjacka Banja and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Precipitation and surface temperature are two of the most important variables that describe our weather and climate. Several previous studies investigated aspects of their relationship, for instance the climatological dependence of daily precipitation on daily mean temperature, P (T). However, the role of specific weather systems in shaping this relationship has not been analysed yet. This study therefore identifies the weather systems (WSs) that are associated with intense precipitation days as a function of T , focusing on the question of how this relationship, symbolically expressed as P (T , WS), varies regionally across the Northern Hemisphere and between seasons. To this end, we first quantify if intense precipitation occurs on climatologically warmer or on colder days. In winter, over most continental and ocean regions, intense precipitation falls on warmer days apart from the Mediterranean area and regions in the lee of the Rocky Mountains, where intense precipitation is favoured on colder days. In summer, only at high latitudes is intense precipitation favoured on warmer days, whereas continental areas experience intense precipitation on colder days. For selected regions in Europe and North America, we then identify the weather systems that occur preferentially on days with intense precipitation (referred to as wet days). In winter, cyclones are slightly dominant on colder wet days, whereas warm conveyor belts and atmospheric rivers occur preferentially on warmer wet days. In summer, the overall influence of atmospheric rivers increases, and the occurrence of weather systems depends less on wet day temperature. Wet days in the lee of the Rocky Mountains are influenced by most likely convective systems in anticyclones. Finally, we investigate P (T , WS) during the wettest and driest season in central Europe and the central United States (US). In qualitative agreement with the results from the first part of this study, the wettest winter is warmer than normal in central Europe but colder in the central US, and the wettest summer is colder in both regions. The opposite holds for the driest winter and summer, respectively. During these anomalous seasons, both the frequency and the precipitation efficiency of weather systems change in central Europe, while the wettest and driest seasons in central US mainly arise from a modified precipitation efficiency. Our results show that the precipitation–temperature–weather system relationship strongly depends on the region and that (extreme) seasonal precipitation is influenced by the frequency and precipitation efficiency of the different weather systems. This regional variability is reflected in the relative importance of weather system frequency and efficiency anomalies for the formation of anomalously wet and dry seasons. Interestingly, in some regions and seasons, the precipitation efficiency of weather systems is increased during anomalously cold seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regiokutatas Szemle is the property of University of Debrecen and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The issue of democratic backsliding and moves towards illiberalism in Central Europe have been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Much of this discussion has focused, not without reason, on Hungary and Poland. However, Slovakia has already had its own experience of illiberalism, one which was largely defeated following the 1998 elections, allowing the country to recover and claim its place within international institutions such as the EU and NATO. This article assesses what lessons can be learned from Slovakia’s experience. There are four main lessons gained from studying this example: 1) the similarities through time and space indicate that there is reason to believe that future episodes may well follow the same path, at least in terms of techniques; 2) the inclusive and united front of the Slovak opposition was highly important, but still eludes the presently backsliding nations; 3) the role of international pressure was central to defeating illiberalism in Slovakia and will likely be so in any successful defeating of illiberalism again in the future; 4) the watershed moment of the 1998 election in Slovakia was important but it was not the end of the struggle against illiberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to present the frequencies and characteristics of paediatric spine fractures, focusing on injury mechanisms, diagnostics, management, and outcomes. This retrospective, epidemiological study evaluated all patients aged 0 to 18 years with spine fractures that were treated at a level 1 trauma centre between January 2002 and December 2019. The study population included 144 patients (mean age 14.5 ± 3.7 years; 40.3% female and 59.7% male), with a total of 269 fractures. Common injury mechanisms included fall from height injuries (45.8%), with an increasing prevalence of sport incidents (29.9%) and a decreasing prevalence of road incidents (20.8%). The most common localisation was the thoracic spine (43.1%), followed by the lumbar spine (38.2%), and the cervical spine (11.8%). Initially, 5.6% of patients had neurological deficits, which remained postoperatively in 4.2% of patients. Most (75.0%) of the patients were treated conservatively, although 25.0% were treated surgically. A small proportion, 3.5%, of patients presented postoperative complications. The present study emphasises the rarity of spinal fractures in children and adolescents and shows that cervical spine fractures are more frequent in older children, occurring with a higher rate in sport incidents. Over the last few years, a decrease in road incidents and an increase in sport incidents in paediatric spine fractures has been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]