Zoological Record

Models for land cover/land use simulation are appropriate and important tools for decision-makers, helping them build future plausible landscape scenarios. Due to the fact that the simulation results of different models may be different, it is sometimes difficult for users to choose a suitable model. Therefore, in this study, an integrated approach is used, combining the data obtained from remote sensing and GIS with Land Change Modeler (LCM) and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) models to simulate and predict land cover/land use changes for 2028 in Karaj metropolis (Northern Iran as a poor region—in terms of data—which is under intense and rapid urbanization. In this sense, three land cover/land use maps related to the study area were primarily generated using satellite image data for the period 2006, 2011, and 2017. They were used as a basis to define two scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and participatory plausible scenario (PPS) for 2028. Afterwards, the necessary input data used in running of both models were prepared and, then, the outputs of the models were interpreted and compared. According to the results, while human-made coverage and low-density grasslands increased by about 74% and 12%, respectively, it was from 2006 to 2017 that agricultural lands, gardens, and high-density grasslands decreased by 42%, 34%, and 7%, respectively. According to the business-as-usual scenario, which was projected using the LCM model, the increase in human-made cover will continue by about 29% by 2028, and the reduction rate of agricultural lands, gardens, and low-dense and dense grasslands will experience decrease by about 20%, 3%, 11%, and 9%, respectively. The participatory plausible scenario for 2028, which was defined using the InVEST model, confirmed the same results, but having different quantities. Accordingly, while human-made cover will increase by about 73%, the reduction rate of agricultural lands, gardens, and low-dense and dense grasslands will decrease by about 41%, 10%, 16%, and 1%, respectively. The output quantities of InVEST scenario model seem to be closer to reality with less uncertainty, because this model estimates the quantity of demand for land and its suitability for different uses, based on the views of different stakeholders, and considers landscape development future policies and plans. In contrast, the LCM model is based solely on trend extrapolation from the past to current time and changes in the landscape structure.

Simulating total carbon changes in soil and carbon dioxide emissions was carried out using the simulating program DNDC. The assessment covered soils of three different types of land-use (arable, meadow and forest). The aim – simulating of carbon dioxide emissions from arable, meadow and forest soil and total carbon quantity in selected soil evaluating climate change. The assessment used the data received from an analysis of the total carbon quantities in soil of the Neris Regional Park. Data for the assessment of carbon dioxide emission were obtained upon carrying out investigations in autumn in the same locations where the total carbon quantity was determined. The value of total carbon simulated in meadow soil was lower by 3.4%, in arable soil was lower by 4.5%, in forest soil was lower by 1.4% comparing to experimental data. The value of CO2 emission simulated from meadow soil was higher by 24%, from arable soil was higher by 26% and from forest soil was higher by 27% comparing to experimental data.

The links between subjective health, psychological wellbeing, and psychological capital in adolescence are under-researched, even though a lot of studies investigated links between health and wellbeing in adult population. The purpose of this research was to examine psychological wellbeing and psychological capital in groups of subjectively healthy and unhealthy adolescents and identify significant associations. The survey has revealed that, in general, the subjective health relates to psychological capital and psychological wellbeing in adolescent sample. The structural model on associations between the study variables demonstrated some significant links between self-reported quantity of illnesses, psychological wellbeing, and psychological capital (χ2 = 101.4728; DF=24; RMSEA=0.0649 [0.0522- 0.0782]; CFI=0.9145; NFI=0.8933; TLI=0.8997; p=0.000). However, the limitation of this study was that the information on health was self-reported and not checked in a clinical report and the sample size was relatively small. In the future research, it would be essential to compare information on subjective and objective health status and evaluate psychological capital and wellbeing by objective health-illness groups.

Nowadays sustainability, sustainable development and clean environment became important and relevant topic across the world. Sustainability issues have gained particular attention in a transport sector.This sector creates a significant impact on environment, social relationships and economic development. Thus, the sustainability integration in investment projects of a transport sector is inevitable in order to make a positive environmental impact.This paper presents the development of sustainability index for a transport investment project and selection of a transport investment project taking return on investment, risk and sustainability into considerations.Therefore, the novelty of this work lies in constructing a transport sustainability index (TSI) relying on an additional sustainability aspect, i.e., technological dimension. The technological inclusion is particularly important today as it allows for developing new technologies, which, in turn, are able to reduce the impact on climate change, replace natural gas by renewable energy sources, enhancing resource efficiency, bringing a competitive advantage in the market and improving living standards. The index was compiled and the selection of a project was done by applying multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM), such as an expert survey, assessment of the compatibility and reliability of group opinions, subjective weighting, the reference value method, simple additive weighting (SAW) and technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results of this study revealed that 14 sustainability criteria (5 environmental, 3 economic, 3 social and 3 technological) weighted by experts formed the basis of a transport project sustainability index. The developed sustainability index could be useful in assessing and comparing projects of a transport sector. Moreover, a transport sustainability index may be useful in making decisions regarding project selection. When addressing the issue of a project selection, the decision-maker could take into account not only the project’s return and risk, but also its sustainability.In addition, this research revealed that there is a statistically significant, strong linear correlation between sustainability and project return.

The paper investigates key challenges to the successful management of industrial small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under conditions of globalization and provides a model for successful evaluation and monitoring of SME activities. The proposed model is universal and could be applied by industrial SMEs with modest effort for developing databases such as product/material, equipment and production, as well as for measuring and monitoring the suggested key performance indicators (KPIs) in nine value chains: 1) inbound logistics; 2) operations; 3) outbound logistics; 4) marketing & sales; 5) service; 6) human resources management; 7) technology development; 8) procurement; 9) sustainability. The first three value chains serve as a cornerstone of all KPIs for the ʻhouseʼ of an industrial SME, while marketing & sales, and service value chains are intended to measure a companyʼs success via sales. Procurement KPIs should focus on measuring and monitoring the stock level as continuous flow, which would secure smoothness in all the operations of the company. However, special attention should be paid to human resources management, innovations and sustainability by setting and monitoring KPIs within the whole timeframe – the present, past and future.

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between reduced air pollution and ecosystem services in Karaj metropolis, Iran. To the end, the trends in the concentrations of O3, NO2, CO, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 as the main atmospheric pollutants of Karaj were studied. Five time series models of autoregressive (AR), moving average (MA), autoregressive moving average (ARMA), autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) were used to predict changes in air pollutant concentrations. Air pollution zoning is conducted via ArcGIS10.3 by using spline tension interpolation method. Then, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was obtained from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) images to analyze vegetation dynamics as an index of ecosystem functioning. NDVI thresholds were selected to present guidelines for qualitative and quantitative changes in green cover and were divided into five different categories. Based on the results, AR (1) and ARIMA (1,2,1) were recognized as appropriate models for predicting the concentration of air pollutants in the study area. A decrease in very dense vegetation coverage and increase in poor vegetation areas, followed by an increase in air pollution, revealed that the loss of urban green coverage and decreased ecosystem services were positively related. Furthermore, the expansion of urban lands toward the north and the west from the baseline to future condition led to great changes in the land cover and losses in vegetation along these axes, which finally resulted in increased air pollution in these areas. Thus, the results of this study can be directly used in decision-making in the area of air pollution.

Background: The aim of this study was to present the first domestic animal trial of nanosecond electroporation with chemotherapy and CO2 laser surgery. Methods: sixteen-year-old domestic cat with diagnosed melanoma on oral cavity was the case used in the study. Firstly, CO2 laser surgery was used for the removal of most of tumor mass. Then nanoelectrochemotherapy with bleomycin was applied including appropriate margin of healthy tissue. A 15 ± 4 kV/cm × 15 ns pulsing protocol was employed with a total of 800 ± 100 pulses. Only one session of nanoelectrochemotherapy (nanoECT) was performed. Results and conclusions: during the next two weeks areas of focal necrosis were replaced by the granulation tissue. Complete wound healing was observed four weeks after initial treatment. After 15 weeks post treatment, no local recurrence was apparent.

A nonlinear model of temperature dependence on lake depth is proposed for interpreting the vertical thermal structure of a lake. The model has two critical temperatures: T1 * – the maximum density water temperature Tcr = 4ºC and T2* – the lake water surface asymptotic temperature in warm seasons. Although the model depends on four parameters, its solution and properties are effectively determined by only two dimensionless parameters: the constant temperature gradient γ and the nonlinearity parameter v. The proposed thermodepth model is applicable to the interpretation of the vertical thermal regime of Lake Tapeliai by comparing the results of theoretical calculations and experimental measurements. Within the limits of our model, the position of the thermocline can be determined theoretically, i.e., the model parameters allow for expressing the thermocline position. A great match has been obtained between experimental data and theoretical dependencies.

Proteins from hand- and bee-collected pollen were isolated and separated in sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) system as well as by direct gel-free mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Total thirty-six plant proteins with known functions and three uncharacterized were identified using mass spectrometry (MS) techniques front fourteen protein spots separated in 2D gel electrophoresis. Our study revealed two forms of profilin proteins with slightly different mass of 14.19 kDa and 14.09 kDa and beta actin fragment with 33.25 kDa both in hand- and bee-collected pollen as well proteins of thioredoxin family with molecular weight of 47.29 kDa. The antioxidant enzyme glucose oxidase (GOX) activity was investigated in twelve samples of monofloral willow honey, having Salix spp. pollen from 44.7 % to 80.2 %. Data of paired regression analysis between Sulix spp. pollen content and GOX activity show moderate and negative correlation coefficient (r = -0.56).

Proximity to green areas makes a positive impact on citizens’ life quality. Sustainability principles generally govern modern urban public park design. This paper proposes a novel Safety Evaluation Methodology of Urban Public Parks (SEMUPP) which includes a multi-criteria solution to rank a set of urban public parks according to their safety level. Eleven groups of Urban Public Park (UPP) safety factors and seventeen quantifiable criteria are proposed as the basis for UPP safety assessment. Modification of Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) technique is applied to solve the constructed multi-criteria decision-making problem (MCDM). Six urban public parks located in Vilnius (Lithuania) are estimated to test the effectiveness of the SEMUPP.