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In the conditions of rising air temperature and changing precipitation regimes in Central Europe and Slovakia over the last two decades, it is necessary to analyse drought, develop high-quality tools for drought detection, and understand its reactions to the emerging drought situation. One of the frequently used meteorological drought indices is the Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Several parameters can be modified in different steps of the calculation process of SPEI. In the article, we analyse the influence of selected adjustable parameters on the index results. Our research has shown that the choice of a statistical distribution (Log-logistic, Pearson III, or Generalized Extreme Value) for fitting water balance can affect the feasibility of calculating distribution parameters (and thus the index) from the provided input data, as well as lead to either underestimation or overestimation of the index. The normality test of SPEI can be used as a tool for the detection and elimination of highly skewed indices and cases when the indices were not well determined by the distribution function. This study demonstrated improved results when using the GEV distribution, despite the common use of the Log-logistic distribution. With the Pearson III distribution, unusually high or low SPEI values (|SPEI| > 6) were detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present our work on the engine for integration of environmental data. We present a suite of selected environmental scenarios, which are integrated into a novel data mining and integration environment, being developed in the project ADMIRE . The scenarios have been chosen for their suitability for data mining by environmental experts. They deal with meteorological and hydrological problems, and apply the chosen solutions to pilot areas within Slovakia. The main challenge is that the environmental data required by scenarios are maintained and provided by different organizations and are often in different formats. We present our approach to the specification and execution of data integration tasks, which deals with the distributed nature and heterogeneity of required data resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to evaluate occurrences of hydro-meteorological drought in the Danube Plain territory, located in northern Bulgaria. As a natural hazard, drought is best characterized by multiple climatological and hydrological parameters. In this study, meteorological drought is analyzed with the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and hydrologic drought is defined by the Streamflow Drought Index (SDI). Both indices are calculated on a time scale of 6 to 12 months over the 1993-2009 period. Future drought occurrence probability is analyzed for two periods: 2021-2050 and 2051-2080 by downscaling the data from regional model KNMI. The results based on the SPI and SDI showed that almost all the investigated areas suffered from mild to moderate droughts during the study period. It is expected that there will be an increasing frequency of occurrences of moderate drought during the second half of 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) appears to be the most stigmatized diagnosis among personality disorders. This study aims to assess attitudes of psychiatric nurses towards patients with BPD compared to patients with depressive disorder., Method: 37 psychiatric nurses were randomized to an experimental between-subject design, in form of two questionnaires with different vignettes. The vignettes examined main outcomes such as negative attitudes, social distance and emotional reactions., Results: Significant moderate to large differences in terms of social distance ( p  = 0.033 , d  = -0.736) and single emotional reactions towards patients with BPD ( p  = 0.017, d  = 0.82), e. g. "I have compassion with her" were found., Conclusion: Patients with BPD have a substantial need for support. Quality and standards of inpatient care of patients with a BPS disorder can only guaranteed by giving adequate information about the causes of the disorder and professional treatment of the patients. Personnel must be trained to be able to cope with the specifics of the symptoms in BPD patients., Competing Interests: Die Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)