Search Results (173)

Accurate precipitation estimation is essential for hydrological modeling and water resource management in arid regions; however, complex terrain and sparse meteorological station networks introduce substantial uncertainties into gridded precipitation datasets. This study evaluates the performance of nine widely used precipitation products in the arid region of Northwest China (ARNC) at both the meteorological station scale and the sub-basin scale, and applies the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) approach to merge multi-source precipitation estimates. The results reveal pronounced spatial heterogeneity and significant differences in performance among datasets, with the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission performing best at the station scale and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network Land Data Assimilation System performing best at the sub-basin scale. Compared with individual products, the BMA-merged precipitation demonstrates substantial improvements at both scales, providing higher coefficients of determination and agreement indices, and lower relative mean absolute error and relative root mean square error, indicating enhanced accuracy and robustness. The BMA-merged precipitation product generally exhibits superior and more spatially consistent performance than the individual datasets across the ARNC, thereby providing a more reliable basis for regional hydrological and climate-related applications. The merged dataset shows that the mean annual precipitation in the ARNC during 2000–2024 is approximately 230.4 mm, exhibiting a statistically significant increasing trend of 1.4 mm per year, with the strongest increases occurring in the Tianshan and Qilian Mountains. This study provides a reliable foundation for hydrological modeling and climate-change assessments in data-limited arid environments. Full article

“Bog bodies,” ancient human remains found in northern European peat bogs, were often sacrificial kings offered to fertility god during famines. Killing king represents a “Traumatic Structure” identified in the Natural Born Intelligence model—where positive and negative antinomies coexist, that is, heterogeneous things are confused and entangled, but at the same time, the basis of things themselves is lost. This negate structure, or materialized absence, is also found in traditional Japanese painting through the “Kakiwari” expression, which negate near and distant perspectives. Nakamura and Gunji found landscape installed bog body as Kakiwari-ized viewpoint, explored this structure in their work, and created materialization of absence through art. Full article

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill. In recent times, globally, approximately three pandemics and thousands of natural disasters and political upheavals have been recorded. In most cases, tens to hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result, whether from droughts, famines, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, landslides, cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes, extreme heat, emerging or resurgent diseases or longer-term issues such as sustainability, climate change and/or global warming. Whilst many accommodations may have been made to cope with these, we propose that pharmacy education and professional practice benefit from learning from the past, from collaboration globally to manage the hectic and uncertain times that result from these disruptions and from curation and evaluation of these initiatives for ongoing and/or future use. Full article

Background/Objectives: Prenatal exposure to famine can lead to lasting health effects through changes in DNA methylation. This study aims to evaluate the impact of prenatal exposure to the Chinses Great Famine (1959–1961) on human epigenome and the subsequent influence on blood lipids. Methods: We conducted an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of peripheral blood-based DNA methylation and prenatal exposure to the Chinese Great Famine as well as blood lipids among eight participants exposed to famine and eight sex-matched participants (born ≤ 3 years after the famine). Genome-wide DNA methylation sites were profiled using the Illumina EPIC BeadChip, which covers 850K methylation positions. Results: After EWAS analyses, seven probes in genes C8orf31, ELAVL1, U6, GBA2, SHOX2, SLC1A4, and NPHP4 reached p < 1 × 10⁻⁵. Of these, famine exposure was associated with decreased methylation levels of a GBA2 exonic probe cg08258661 (p = 4.9 × 10⁻⁶). After false discovery rate (FDR) correction, pathway enrichment analyses for genes harboring nominally significant (p < 0.05) probes identified 44 significant pathways (q < 0.05), and 5 pathways were related to lipid metabolism. After FDR correction in each pathway, probes cg02622866 (5’UTR of ATF2, p = 1.09 × 10⁻³), cg07316730 (body of GRB2, p = 1.32 × 10⁻³), and cg01105385 (body of PIK3R1, p = 1.94 × 10⁻³) in the PI2K-Akt signaling pathway were associated with blood LDL-C (q ≤ 0.04); probes cg09180702 (3’UTR of PIGQ, p = 9.21 × 10⁻⁵, and q = 0.04) and cg01421548 (body of HS3ST4, p = 5.23 × 10⁻⁵, and q = 0.01) in the metabolism pathway were associated with blood LDL-C and HDL-C, respectively; In addition, probe cg08460387 (5’UTR of MAN1C1, p = 1.09 × 10⁻⁴, and q = 0.02) in the vesicle-mediated transport pathway was associated with log-transformed blood triglycerides. Conclusions: Through an epigenetic study of the Chinese Great Famine, we identified six novel genes involved in lipid metabolism. Full article

Lignocellulosic agro-forestry residues (LARs), such as rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, and wood wastes, are abundant and low-cost feedstocks for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastics. However, their complex cellulose–hemicellulose–lignin matrix requires integrated valorization strategies. This review presents a dual-framework approach: “pretreatment–co-substrate compatibility” and “pretreatment–microbial platform matching”, to align advanced pretreatment methods (including deacetylation–microwave integration, deep eutectic solvents, and non-sterilized lignin recovery) with engineered or extremophilic microbial hosts. A “metabolic interaction” perspective on co-substrate fermentation, encompassing dynamic carbon flux allocation, synthetic consortia cooperation, and one-pot process coupling, is used to elevate PHA titers and tailor copolymer composition. In addition, we synthesize comprehensive kinetic analyses from the literature that elucidate microbial growth, substrate consumption, and dynamic carbon flux allocation under feast–famine conditions, thereby informing process optimization and scalability. Microbial platforms are reclassified as broad-substrate, process-compatible, or product-customized categories to emphasize adaptive evolution, CRISPR-guided precision design, and consortia engineering. Finally, next-generation techno-economic analyses, embracing multi-product integration, regional adaptation, and carbon-efficiency metrics, are surveyed to chart viable paths for scaling LAR-to-PHA into circular bioeconomy manufacturing. Full article

Geopolitical instability poses a significant threat to food systems by disrupting production, trade, and market access, thereby undermining both food security and long-term sustainability. Unlike peacetime food insecurity driven by poverty or climate change, conflict-related crises often involve blockades, agricultural destruction, and deliberate famine. This paper conducts a bibliometric review of the academic literature from 2010 to 2024, and partially 2025, to examine how food security and resilience under the influence of conflict have been conceptualized, focusing on their intersections with war, global food systems, and sustainability. We used the Web of Science database and tools such as VOSviewer version 1.6.18, Microsoft Excel and Bibliomagika version 2.10.0, to map thematic clusters, identify influential authors, publishers, and academic partnerships and trace the evolution of scholarly attention on this topic. Our findings reveal a growing recognition of using food as a tool of war, the increasing politicization of food aid, and heightened awareness of the fragility of agricultural systems under conflict. At the same time, significant gaps still persist, particularly in the study of “unconventional” food systems such as black markets and informal supply chains, which often sustain communities during crises but remain underexplored in mainstream scholarship. By identifying these gaps, this review outlines research priorities for developing inclusive and resilient policies, ultimately enhancing the capacity of global food systems to withstand the pressures of conflict and geopolitical instability. Full article

Soil moisture (SM) estimates are essential for drought monitoring, hydrological modeling, and climate resilience planning applications. While satellite and model-derived SM products effectively capture SM dynamics, their coarse spatial resolutions (~10–36 km) hinder their ability to represent SM variability in heterogeneous landscapes influenced by local factors. This study proposes a novel downscaling framework that employs an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) on a cloud-computing platform to improve the spatial resolution and representation of multi-source SM datasets. A data analysis was conducted by integrating Google Earth Engine (GEE) with the computing capabilities of the python language through Google Colab. The framework downscaled Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation (ERA5-Land), and Famine Early Warning Systems Network Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS) at 500 m for Kenya, East Africa. This was achieved by leveraging ten input variables comprising elevation, slope, surface albedo, vegetation, soil texture, land surface temperatures (day and night), evapotranspiration, and geolocations. The coarse SM datasets exhibited spatiotemporal consistency, with a standard deviation below 0.15 m³/m³, capturing over 95% of the variability in the original data. Validation against in situ SM data at the station confirmed the framework’s reliability, achieving an average UbRMSE of less than 0.04 m³/m³ and a correlation coefficient (r) over 0.52 for each downscaled dataset. Overall, the framework improved significantly in r values from 0.48 to 0.64 for SMAP, 0.47 to 0.63 for ERA5-Land, and 0.60 to 0.69 for FLDAS. Moreover, the performance of FLDAS and its downscaled version across all climate zone is consistent. Despite the uncertainties among the datasets, the framework effectively improved the representation of SM variability spatiotemporally. These results demonstrate the framework’s potential as a reliable tool for enhancing SM applications, particularly in regions with complex environmental conditions. Full article

In recent scholarship, the impact of palaeoclimate change is often understood as a main factor contributing to the fragmentation and “fall” of Rome’s empire. The various attempts at postulating disastrous effects of temperature shifts in the fifth to sixth centuries—cooling caused harvest failures, famine, political and social unrest, and disruptions in food supply—have been criticized for a good reason: compelling causal links between cooler weather conditions and decreasing agricultural productivity are missing. The socio-economic and political impact of a prolonged climate-related Late Roman drought (ca. 360–440 CE), however, has been widely overlooked. This paper aims to compare palaeoecological data from cave speleothems and lake sediments that indicate palaeoclimate and environmental change through precipitation shifts in the southern Black Sea region with the archaeological data of the urban granary in Pompeiopolis. Combining these data offers fresh insights into Roman environmental imperialism, command ecologies and economies, and the impact of climate change on Rome’s tax system that kept the network of redistributive food supply running. This archaeo-environmental approach sheds light on the ecological vulnerability of integrated economies, failures of the dysfunctional metabolic regimes of ›polis command economies‹, and the chain of cause-and-effect provoking the “fall” of Rome. Full article

Background/Objectives: Animal models have suggested a link between maternal nutrition and offspring pubertal onset. Due to ethical and practical concerns, human studies on this topic remained scarce and focused on extreme nutritional shocks in high-income settings, such as Dutch famine. This paper expands on these findings by investigating the effects of a milder form of nutritional alteration during pregnancy—Ramadan fasting—in a middle-income context, Indonesia. We use offspring age at menarche (AAM) as an indicator of pubertal timing and female reproductive health. Our research has broader implications beyond the Muslim community, as intermittent fasting during pregnancy is also widely practiced by non-Muslims, e.g., meal-skipping. Methods: We used data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (1993–2014, n = 8081) and Indonesian Demographic and Health Surveys (2002–2007, n = 13,241). OLS and Cox regressions were applied to compare the AAM of female Muslims who were prenatally exposed to Ramadan and those of female Muslims who were not. Exposure was determined based on the overlap between pregnancy and a Ramadan. We further subdivided this overlap into trimester-specific categories, adjusting for urban–rural residence, birth month, birth year, birth year squared, and survey wave. Results: No associations between Ramadan during pregnancy and AAM were found, irrespective of the pregnancy trimester overlapping with Ramadan. These results were stable when we restricted the sample to women with shorter recall periods and younger women at the time of survey. Conclusions: While subtle restrictions in maternal nutrition during pregnancy are critical for offspring health, the impact on menarcheal onset might be limited. Full article

Jacob Gens, the head of the Vilnius Ghetto Police Force, and eventually the entire Ghetto during the Holocaust, was murdered on 14 September 1943 by the head of the Vilnius Gestapo. Historical documents and Holocaust survivor testimonies indicate that he was killed at a site that became known as the Rasu Street Prison, and not the Gestapo Headquarters, as it is widely believed. In 2016, research was completed at the Rasu Street Prison site using ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to locate subsurface reflection patterns that possibly indicate the location of where Jacob Gens is buried. Intersecting GPR and ERT reflection patterns were discovered and a plan was put in place to excavate that location. The excavation revealed the presence of human remains at 1.45 m below the surface. A skull and upper torso were exposed, and two teeth were collected for DNA and radiocarbon analysis. The DNA from the tooth was compared to Jacob Gens’ daughter’s DNA, and this comparison yielded a negative result, so the human remains were not those of Jacob Gens. The radiocarbon analysis provided a date between 1685 and 1735. In 1705, a plot of land was donated to the Visitation Monastery, which used this plot, and which coincides with the location of the Rasu Street Prison, as a cemetery for the poor. In 1709 and 1710, a plague epidemic was prevalent in Vilnius, as was turmoil and famine associated with the Great Northern War (1700 to 1721). Based on these discoveries, rather than finding the remains of Jacob Gens, it is likely that we found human remains that are part of a forgotten 18th century cemetery associated with the Visitation Monastery. Full article

The production of short-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (scl-PHAs) from municipal solid waste-derived volatile fatty acids (VFAs) has been demonstrated. The objective of the study was to evaluate the technical feasibility of the process under real operational conditions. Moreover, the process operation was conducted without pH and temperature control to reduce potential industrial implementation barriers, i.e., by simplifying the process control and minimizing the auxiliary services available for the process. A two-step bioprocess was developed, consisting of an enrichment phase in a 20 m³ fermenter operated for 214 days and an accumulation phase carried out in a 3 m³ batch fermenter across 39 accumulation cycles. In the enrichment phase, steady-state conditions were achieved once the feast/famine ratio was lower than 0.2 h/h. Thus, the impact of environmental conditions was analyzed. It was found that the system’s response was a destabilization of the culture under sharp variations at environmental temperature, followed by an adaptation period and final recovery of the system. During the accumulation phase, the impact of chemical oxygen demand (COD) feeding rates was assessed, with a maximum scl-PHA accumulation of 59 wt.% (2.87 g/L) recorded. The extraction process was also performed at demonstrative scale using dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as the solvent, yielding a scl-PHA recovery of 92% with a purity of 90%. These results confirm the technical feasibility of producing scl-PHAs from municipal organic waste at demonstrative scale, supporting the circular bioeconomy model. Full article

The Gompertz distribution has proven highly valuable in modeling human mortality rates and assessing the impacts of catastrophic events, such as plagues, financial crashes, and famines. Record data, which capture extreme values and critical trends, are particularly relevant for analyzing such phenomena. In this study, we propose an objective Bayesian framework for estimating the parameters of the Gompertz distribution using record data. We analyze the performance of several objective priors, including the reference prior, Jeffreys’ prior, the maximal data information (MDI) prior, and probability matching priors. The suitability and properties of the resulting posterior distributions are systematically examined for each prior. A detailed simulation study is performed to assess the effectiveness of various estimators based on the performance criteria. To demonstrate the practical application of the methodology, it is applied to a real-world dataset. This study contributes to the field by providing a thorough comparative evaluation of objective priors and showcasing their impact and applicability in parameter estimation for Gompertz distribution based on record values. Full article

(1) Background. Although Arum spp. are toxic in their raw state, they are sometimes used as food within their native ranges. (2) Methods. We review the available literature in order to provide an overview of its use and detoxification procedures worldwide. (3) Results. The food use of lords-and-ladies was already mentioned by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Matthioli, Durante, Gerard, and Sirennius. In the references concerning 19th–21st-century use, seven species were identified: A. cyrenaicum, A. discoridis, A. italicum, A. maculatum, A. orientale, A. palaestinum, and A. rupicola. Past or current culinary use of the plant has been recorded in Morocco, Libya, the United Kingdom, the Scilly Islands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Ukraine (including Crimea), Czechia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Georgia, Türkiye, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, and Iran. (4) In Europe, rhizomes were used, mainly as a famine food. In SW Asia, the aerial parts remain an important element of local cuisine. Several detoxification procedures are used before consumption, such as prolonged boiling, often involving straining the boiled water and lowering the pH with lemon juice, sumac, citric acid, sorrel leaves, or pomegranate juice. (5) Conclusions. Further studies are needed to assess the safety of Arum use and record traditional local recipes in SW Asia. Full article

In every era, climate variability and frequent food shortages have made it necessary to store harvested grains for more than one season. Underground grain storage has been used since ancient times throughout the world. Italy (Cerignola) and Malta (Valletta and Floriana) have preserved rare examples of more recent (from the 16th century onward) large concentrations of grain pits, capable of accumulating substantial reserves to cope with famine or siege. No longer in operation, they represent an important part of the cultural heritage of the agricultural economy. The purpose of this narrative review was, after a geographical framing of grain pits in the Eurasian and African macro-areas, to take the Italian and Maltese grain pits as historical case studies to draw attention to the reevaluation of underground grain storage in the context of climate change and food insecurity. Today, as in the past, grain reserves play a significant role in food security in developing countries and, due to climate change and geopolitical events that can cause disruptions in grain supplies, are also increasingly important for developed countries. A comparison of traditional and modern underground storage systems reveals the great flexibility of this technology, ranging from basic pits of different sizes to large underground granaries equipped with a support structure. The advantages of underground storage, such as environmental sustainability due to thermal insulation of the soil and airtight conditions that make high energy inputs for grain cooling and pesticide use unnecessary, are still useful today, perhaps more so than in the past. Prospects for development include technical solutions involving the application of innovative information technology-based monitoring systems and the use of modern materials to ensure the performance of waterproofing, seepage control, and static safety, all tools for further evolution of this ancient storage system. Full article

The polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production process that uses mixed microbial cultures combined with main stream wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is a competitive integrated resource recovery process in which non-oxygen electron acceptors can be used to enrich the PHA producer. Trials carried out in operating plants are very scarce, and there are no simulation tools available to analyse the feasibility of integrating the two processes. This research presents a novel analysis tool for a techno-economic assessment of value-added biopolymers. A general model for a conventional WWTP has been designed and eventually validated using the operating data collected in the database of a fully operational plant. In the model, a simulation of a PHA production line based on thickened primary sludge as a substrate has been integrated. The assembly has been treated as a closed-loop system with an accuracy level of 0.1% with a limit of 1000 iterations. Two strategies based on internal (ADF) or external (AN/AD) limitations of some nutrients have been contrasted for the selection of a biomass capable of feast–famine PHA synthesis. The ADF strategy was found to be the most favourable system, with a production of 0.226 kg of COD_PHA·kg⁻¹ COD. The calculated production cost was EUR 0.11·kg⁻¹ COD_PHA. The sludge production was reduced by 6%. Full article