Search Results (265)

Since the first emergence of the Bluetongue virus (BTV) in 2006 in Northern Europe, there has been a reported association between BTV Serotype 8 (BTV-8) and brain malformations in calves. The first BTV-3 outbreak in Germany was registered in October 2023. Since then, numbers have increased steadily. In a suckler cow herd in the Lower Saxony region, two Angus calves with clinical signs of diffuse encephalopathy, including ataxia, abnormal gait, and central blindness, were born in autumn 2024. Both calves were submitted for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and pathological examination, revealing hydranencephaly and internal hydrocephalus, respectively. BTV-3 was detected in blood and tissue samples of both calves using BTV-specific real-time PCR. The presented findings demonstrate that there seems to be an association between transplacental BTV-3 infections and congenital malformations in calves, as previously reported for BTV-8 and -10. Full article

Venturia inaequalis, the cause of apple scab, readily develops resistance to fungicides with specific modes of action. Knowledge of the spatial and temporal pattern of resistance development is therefore relevant to fruit producers and their consultants. In the Lower Elbe region of Northern Germany, a two-year survey based on a conidial germination test was conducted, examining fungicide resistance in 35 orchards under Integrated Pest Management (IPM), 16 orchards of susceptible cultivars as well as a further 12 orchards of scab-resistant (Vf) cultivars under organic management, and 34 abandoned or unmanaged sites. No evidence of resistance to SDHI compounds (fluopyram, fluxapyroxad) was found after >5 yr of their regular use. Resistance to anilinopyrimidines (cyprodinil, pyrimethanil) had disappeared 15 yr after its widespread occurrence. Isolates from a few IPM orchards showed a reduced sensitivity to dodine. Double resistance to the MBC compound thiophanate-methyl and the QoI trifloxystrobin was rare in V. inaequalis strains that had achieved breakage of Vf-resistance, but very common (>50%) on scab-susceptible cultivars in IPM, organic and abandoned orchards in the ‘Altes Land’ core area of the Lower Elbe region, and in IPM orchards in the periphery. We conclude that resistance to QoI and MBC fungicides is persistent even decades after their last use, and that the core area harbours a uniform population adapted to intensive crop protection, whereas isolated orchards in the periphery are colonised by discrete populations of V. inaequalis. Full article

The European automotive industry, particularly in Germany, faces a significant crisis, heavily impacting suppliers reliant on OEMs. To enhance resilience, participation in the platform economy has been proposed as a solution. This study employs a qualitative research approach by conducting 18 expert interviews with automotive companies in the Northern Black Forest region to assess their awareness, perceived potential, and support needs regarding platform-based business models. The findings reveal diverse perspectives: smaller firms perceive higher risks, while larger companies recognize potential but struggle with limited expertise. The results highlight the novelty of the platform economy within the supplier industry and the need for increased awareness, strategic guidance, and tailored support measures. This study provides original insights into regional supplier engagement with platform ecosystems, contributing to the limited research on this topic and offering a foundation for future industry adaptation strategies. Full article

This study assesses the projected impacts of climate change on hydrological processes in the Gersprenz catchment, a representative low mountain range basin in central Germany, under the RCP8.5 scenario. Using the SWAT+ model and a bias-corrected climate projection ensemble, it simulates the temporal and spatial dynamics of water availability, discharge and water temperature through 2100. The results indicate a substantial reduction in seasonal discharge, with summer minima decreasing by 85% and autumn minima decreasing by 38% compared to the baseline. Rising air temperatures drive substantial warming, with maximum summer water temperatures projected to exceed 28 °C, increasing thermal stress on aquatic ecosystems. Spatial analysis reveals strong variability: Southern subcatchments, located in the upstream part of the catchment, face severe water deficits, while groundwater-fed springs provide localized thermal refuges but with limited buffering capacity. Northern regions generally show higher resilience, with exceptions. The findings highlight the fine-scale sensitivity of hydrological processes to climate change, shaped by catchment characteristics and amplified by natural seasonal variations. This study presents a framework for identifying spatio-temporal hotspots of water scarcity at the subcatchment scale, providing a basis for spatially targeted adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on regional water resources and ecosystems. Full article

Coal mining in Upper Bavaria ended in the 1960s and the mines were flooded. This study investigates the mining-influenced water and its environmental implications in the Hausham Mine, one of many unmonitored coal mines in the region and along the northern edge of the Molasse zone in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Water and solid samples were collected in the vicinity of the discharge area within a waste rock pile and downstream of a nearby lake. The samples were subjected to chemical and isotopic analysis, with a focus on the potential for natural attenuation. The mine waste discharge has high initial concentrations of calcium, sulfate, and iron, and elevated concentrations of nickel, zinc, and strontium. These element concentrations are significantly reduced along the flow path so that the water is environmentally safe for discharge into the Loidlsee. The reduced contaminant levels are related to the formation of secondary iron precipitates and associated sorption processes, the formation of secondary calcium carbonates, and mixing with another groundwater source. The results indicate that the carbonate-dominated sediments of the Molasse zone contribute substantially to the natural remediation of a potential environmental problem. Full article

Radar observations of tropospheric and lower-stratospheric winds and density-normalized momentum flux made in northern Germany with two 53.5 MHz VHF MST radars over a period of one week in August 1986 are presented. One MST radar was a permanent installation, the SOUSY VHF Harz radar, located in the Harz Mountains, and the other temporarily installed about 27 km away from the Harz. The latter radar, the SOUSY VHF Lindau radar, was operated with a limited number of antennas and much-reduced power, making it effectively a tropospheric radar. Unusually, this small radar was successfully operated in Doppler beam steering (DBS) mode to measure winds and density-normalized momentum fluxes after correcting for biases in the beam look directions resulting from its small antenna aperture. We compared the winds and density-normalized upward fluxes in horizontal momentum measured using these two radars. The mean winds show good agreement between the two radars and with winds from radiosondes launched from Essen and Hannover. Density-normalized zonal momentum fluxes are similar in form between the two radars, but do show an offset when calculated over the entire observational period. Because of the agreement in form, the zonal mean flow accelerations calculated from them are similar, and so these results are consistent between the radars even though the topography is quite different. Although the observations were made many years ago, the results we present here are still of interest, because comparisons of closely spaced wind profiling radar observations are still relatively rare, radar measurements of tropospheric and stratospheric momentum fluxes are sparse, and the successful operation of a very small DBS radar operating in the lower VHF band is of particular interest from a technical perspective. Full article

This study explores the importance of considering regional aspects and different calculation approaches when assessing the environmental impact of passenger cars in Germany. The transportation sector, in general, needs to improve its transition to comply with national and international goals, and more efficient measures are necessary. To achieve this, the spatial heterogeneity of underlying data, such as vehicle stocks, cubic capacity classes as a proxy for consumption values, and annual mileage, is investigated with respect to regional differences. Using data samples for the year 2017, the average emission values per car and year are calculated as well as Germany’s total emission values from the utilization of passenger cars. Conducting a spatially informed allocation algorithm, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are added to certain regional fleets, replacing cars with internal combustion engines (ICEs). The results show significant regional differences in the underlying data, with a divergence between rural and urban areas as well as northern and southern regions, while the spread in mileage values is higher than that in consumption values. Comparing the tank-to-wheel (TtW) and well-to-wheel (WtW) approaches reveals different values with an increased spread as more BEVs are introduced to the fleet. Using the presented concept to allocate BEVs, emissions can be reduced by 1.66% to 1.35%, depending on the calculation perspective, compared to the extrapolation of historical values. Furthermore, rural areas benefit more from optimized allocation compared to urban ones. The findings suggest that regional distribution strategies could lead to more efficient reductions in GHG emissions within the transportation sector while incorporating both TtW and WtW approaches, leading to more comparable and precise analyses. Full article

Invasive species pose a growing threat to global biodiversity, agricultural productivity, and ecosystem health, as climate change worsens their spread. This study focused on modelling the current and projected distribution of the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica Newman), an invasive pest with potentially devastating impacts on crops and natural vegetation across Europe. Using the MaxEnt species distribution model, we integrated beetle occurrence data with bioclimatic variables, analyzing current and future climate scenarios based on Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5) for near-term (2021–2040) and mid-term (2041–2060) periods. By reclassifying the model results, we identified European regions with negligible, low, medium, and high exposure to this invasive pest under climate change pathways. The results identified regions in central Europe covering an area of 83,807 km² that are currently at medium to high risk of Japanese beetle infestation. Future projections suggest northward expansion with suitable areas potentially increasing to 120,436 km² in the worst-case scenario, particularly in northern Italy, southern Germany, the Western Balkans, and parts of France. These spatially explicit findings can inform targeted monitoring, early detection, and management strategies to mitigate the economic and ecological threats posed by the Japanese beetle. Integrating species distribution modelling with climate change scenarios is imperative for science-based policies to tackle the growing challenge of biological invasions. This research provides a framework for assessing invasion risks at the European scale and guiding adaptive responses in agricultural and natural systems. Full article

The area along the Missouri River west of St. Louis, Missouri was a major locus of immigration from Germany between 1850 and 1860, in part due to a publication by Gottfried Duden that received wide attention in Germany. While a fair amount has been written about the lives of immigrants in Missouri, most has focused on the experiences of men. The lives of women are largely restricted to recordings of marriage, births and death. Lacking is context on what occurred between these life events. Using a variety of public and private sources, we describe the lives of five sisters from the first generation of women born in Franklin County, Missouri, bordered on its northern edge by the Missouri River. The process sheds light on the lives of immigrant women from Germany in Franklin County. Our sources allow us to shed light on the sisters’ day-to-day life experiences over time, thus better capturing the challenges that they faced and the grace and strength that they displayed in facing them. Although their childhoods were homogeneous, their adult paths diverged from one another markedly. We conclude with a discussion of the factors that might have been responsible for their divergence of experience. Full article

To computer-simulate solar-concentrating facilities, an accurate knowledge of the Sun’s position as a function of latitude, longitude, time and date is required. In this work, it is reported first a simplified description of a general algorithm, developed by the astronomy community to accomplish that. Our implementation of this algorithm (included in our Light Analysis Modelling package) has been successfully validated against well trusted astronomy data. The software was then used to produce a wide range of results for 2024, for two well-known research facilities, the most northern (Jülich, Germany) and the most southern (Protaras, Cyprus) heliostat fields listed in the official SFERA-III EU project. This includes altitude and azimuth data, sunrise and sunset data, analemma curves, angular speed data and geocentric Sun trajectories around the observer’s position. Other ray-tracing techniques are also reported to help simulate the Sun vectors reaching the solar devices. The truly inspiring results obtained show how important this type of software is, from the scientific and industrial point of view, to better understand our relationship with our neighbor star, the Sun. Full article

The new global pandemic of COVID-19, declared on 11 March 2020 by the World Health Organization, has already had an unprecedented impact on health and socioeconomic activities worldwide. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the United States of America and Europe in late September 2020. Compared with other southern countries, such as Greece, where there was a significant increase in cases at the end of October 2020, Northern European countries (Germany, France, Austria, Finland, and Sweden) experienced this second wave of the pandemic earlier in September 2020. To understand the epidemiological behavior of the virus from an environmental perspective, we examined the effects of air temperature, humidity, and wind on the spread of COVID-19 in two of the largest population Regional Units (R.U.) of Greece, namely the R.U. of the Central Sector of Athens in Central Greece and the R.U. of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. We applied Pearson correlation analysis and generalized linear models (GLM) with confirmed COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions from the National Public Health Organization as dependent variables and the corresponding air temperature, humidity, and wind speed from the Greek National Meteorological Service as independent covariates. The study focused on the period from 4 May 2020 to 3 November 2020 to investigate the impact of weather on the spread of COVID-19, in a period where human activities had partially returned to normal after the gradual lifting of the restrictive measures of the first lockdown (23 March 2020). The end date of the study period was set as the date of imposition of a new local lockdown in the R.U. of Thessaloniki (3 November 2020). Our findings showed that COVID-19 ICU admissions in both Regional Units decreased significantly with the temperature (T) and wind speed (WS) increase. In the R.U. of the Central Sector of Athens, this picture is reflected in both the single and cumulative lag effects of meteorological parameters. In the R.U. of Thessaloniki, this correlation was differentiated only in terms of the cumulative lag effect of the average daily temperature, where an increase (+17.6%) in daily confirmed COVID-19 ICU admissions was observed. On the other hand, relative humidity (RH) was significantly associated with an increase in cases in both R.U. This study, in addition to its contribution to the global research effort to understand the effects of weather on the spread of COVID-19, aims to highlight the need to integrate meteorological parameters as predictive factors in surveillance and early warning systems for infectious diseases. The combination of weather and climate factors (e.g., humidity, temperature, wind) and other contagious disease surveillance indicators (e.g., wastewater, geographic and population data, human activities) would make the early identification of potential epidemic risks more effective and would contribute to the immediate initiation of public health interventions and the more rational allocation of resources. Full article

Understanding the global trade network in the printing industry is crucial for promoting sustainable development and cultural exchange and knowledge dissemination. However, the extant literature does not reveal the contours of the global cultural printed material trade network. This paper uses a social network analysis and QAP analysis to explore the global printing industry trade network pattern. The aim of this paper is to discern the core and emerging nodes and explore the evolutional characteristics on the network spatial linkage and country role. The results show the following: ① The printing industry’s global trade network is growing increasingly intricate, with trade links between nations (regions) becoming closer, the network’s connectivity steadily improving, and the hierarchical structure becoming more apparent. ② Germany, France, and Belgium are important intermediary bridges. The “circle of friends” in the trade of cultural products has a growing effect, and China can more easily establish close ties with Southeast Asia, Northern Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe. ③ The industrial chain and geographical proximity are the primary factors in the formation of the trade network. Economic proximity and political proximity significantly and positively contribute to the formation of the trade network, while institutional stability gradually plays a weaker role. As for cultural proximity, a common language and colonial relationship will positively contribute to the formation of a network, while immigrants have no obvious impact. Digital technology is becoming an “emerging force”. Additionally, this paper extends sustainable policies and recommendations for the global cultural trade. Full article

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) has a wide distribution range through Central and Western Europe, and is tolerant to a range of environmental factors and shade. Due to the high wood quality and growth rate, there is increasing interest in the cultivation of this species in Northern Europe, and European beech is appropriate for closer-to-nature forestry management practices, where shade-tolerant species are essential. Latvia is located to the north of the natural range of European beech, but stands have been successfully established in the 19th century, using reproductive material of unknown origin. This study investigated the natural regeneration, genetic diversity, population structure, and provenance of Latvian F. sylvatica populations from two areas in western Latvia—Skede and Kaleti. Parent–offspring analyses did not identify a decrease in genetic diversity parameters in the naturally regenerated offspring, indicating that natural regeneration has not decreased the genetic viability of these populations. The three stands located in Skede were genetically very similar (pairwise Fst values ranged from 0.004 to 0.007). The Kaleti stand was more differentiated from the Skede stands (pairwise Fst values with the Skede stands ranged from 0.047 to 0.051), and the genetic diversity was low (H_e = 0.638). This is probably a result of the use of reproductive material collected from a very limited number of individuals to establish this stand, which also prevented the determination of the origin of this material. The Skede stand was compared to German, Polish, and Swedish F. sylvatica populations, and a Bayesian clustering analysis indicated that the most likely provenance of the Skede stand in Latvia was from southern Germany. Full article

Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) are emerging as significant in the global paradigm shift towards a smart and sustainable energy environment. By empowering energy consumers to actively participate in local energy generation, and sharing, using renewable energy sources, energy storage, and flexible loads, REC participants can reduce costs, and also contribute to low-carbon objectives, providing the flexibility needed to address modern smart grid challenges. This article presents a mixed integer linear programming model for optimal sizing of the solar PVs and battery energy storage systems (BESS) of REC participants who engage in P2P energy exchange. The model is formulated using a two-stage stochastic optimization to address load and PV uncertainty, and unsupervised clustering to structure the data for the stochastic optimization process. The model enables sizing solar PVs for different rooftop geometries and the objective function includes comprehensively defined electricity, operational, and scaled investment costs for solar PV and BESS, where economic fairness constraints are analyzed and implemented. The model is validated on real solar and atmospheric measured data from Zagreb, Croatia, and publicly available household consumption data from Northern Germany. The article also analyzes how tariff models, and electricity prices affect PV and BESS sizes, cost reductions, and P2P energy exchange for different REC participants with varying consumption and production profiles. Full article

Adopting a new milking system at a dairy farm causes various changes. This study examined the impact on udder health when changing from a conventional milking system to an automatic milking system. For this purpose, quarter milk samples were taken six times from 138 cows at one conventional dairy farm in Northern Germany over a five-week period around the time of the milking system changeover. To assess udder health, the absolute number of new intramammary infections and the causative pathogen genera and species were analysed for each individual study time point. Pathogen species were detected using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight, and the infection dynamics were analysed using two Poisson regression models. In addition, the prevalence and incidence of new intramammary infections and the infection dynamics of the four most frequently isolated pathogen species were calculated. Mixed models were used to determine the development of the new infection rate, the somatic cell count, the teat-end condition, and the udder hygiene between the individual study time points and to compare the new infection rate before and after the changeover of the milking system. After the automatic milking system had been installed, a significant increase in the quarter-level somatic cell count occurred (p < 0.001). Two days before the installation of the automatic milking system, the mean quarter-level somatic cell count was 11,940 cells/mL milk; one sampling date later, 8 days after the changeover, a mean quarter-level somatic cell count of 60,117 cells/mL milk was measured. The significant increase in somatic cell count was probably caused by the time between the last milking and the quarter milk sampling. Additionally, significantly more udders were scored as clean 8 days (95%) and 15 days (96%) after the changeover of the milking system compared to at the last sampling date (88%). Also, significantly more teat ends were classified as free of hyperkeratosis 15 days (80%) compared to 22 days (67%) after the changeover of the milking system. The highest number of absolute new intramammary infections was detected 8 days before the transition of the milking system (28.6%). The lowest number of absolute new intramammary infections occurred 8 days after the change to the automatic milking system (11.0%). Minor mastitis pathogens, such as non-aureus staphylococci and coryneform bacteria, were mainly responsible for the development of new intramammary infections. The most frequently isolated pathogen species were Staphylococcus sciuri, Staphylococcus chromogenes, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, and Corynebacterium amycolatum, with a prevalence of up to 23.9, 10.7, 8.4, and 5.3%, respectively. By comparing the new infection rate before and after the changeover of the milking system, it was possible to establish that the changeover to the automatic milking system had no significant influence on the new intramammary infection rate (p = 0.988). Therefore, this trial confirmed that the changeover from a conventional milking system to an automatic milking system had no negative influence on udder health. Full article