Global warming accelerates land surface drying, increasing the incidence of extreme climatic events such as severe droughts with detrimental effects on ecosystem functions and structure. We investigated the effects of an imposed severe drought (24 days) on fully established synthesized grassland communities with three species richness (S) levels (one, three or nine species), grown for 3 years at either ambient air temperatures (unheated) or ambient +3°C (heated). Since water supply during these 3 years was equal in all treatments, heated communities experienced more frequent, short mild droughts, but it was unknown whether this conferred greater or smaller resistance for facing prolonged droughts. During the 24-day drought period, soil matric potential decreased in a similar way over time in both temperature treatments and was lower at increasing S-levels. Although green vegetation cover was significantly reduced by the drought in both temperature treatments, the decrease was higher in heated than unheated communities indicating a lower resistance of heated communities to the drought. After only 13 days of recovery, green vegetation cover of both temperature treatments approached values similar to those observed before the imposed drought, suggesting similar resilience in both treatments. Above-ground biomass was reduced by elevated temperature, consistently in all S-levels, showing that the drought period did not change the biomass production patterns observed in the treatments before the imposed drought. Our results suggest that, regardless of the continuous exposure to elevated temperatures and associated short mild droughts, heated communities had not developed clear mechanisms to better cope with extended summer droughts.

Modern approaches to physical therapy often use electric currents induced by time-varying magnetic fields. Although some of these methods are already commonly used, and only a few studies are looking at applying particular techniques on exposed tissue. In this study, a high-induction magnetic stimulation (HIMS) was applied to the chest area to affect the electrical conduction system of the heart. The animal model Sus scrofa domesticus was used for the study. Standard methods were used to make the subsequent analysis, i.e., heart rate variability in time and frequency domain. Concerning the nonlinear character of the electrocardiographic signal and evaluating complex variability (complexity), recurrent quantification analysis was used. The results show high resistance to a physiologically working heart, but there are also specific changes concerning complex variability. Thus, the results indicate that the HIMS application in the chest area may not pose a significant risk to healthy individuals in terms of the short-term effect of this technique on cardiac activity. However, cardiac activity is still, to some extent, affected by the HIMS application. In view of this and the fact that the study was conducted on an animal model, further research in this area would be appropriate.

The initial motivation for studying and researching air transport socio-economic impacts is quantifying the value that air transport brings to the Czech Republic. The main challenge is to explore a methodology that would describe the macroeconomic and microeconomic relations within the Air transport industry. These relations will define the directions of the market forces flow and thus the Czech Republic’s value. The authors of the paper use an approach that follows methods and standards for collecting and processing economic and statistical data introduced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Eurostat, and the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO). The authors incorporate economic definitions and standards published by the United Nations under the World Trade Organization (UNWTO) and other accounting and statistical entities, which results in creating a methodical description of chosen relations. The methodical description leads to the quantification of the value. In a practical sense, it is a matter of determining the origin of the data sets according to which the selected relations will be defined. The paper focuses on the expression of Air transport’s primary and secondary effects and the description of the proposals, which will be part of the methodology.

The article's main purpose is to describe the proposed Methodology, which aims to present an approach to expressing the value of the air transport industry in the Czech Republic. This approach methodically divides the primary and secondary effects and finds metrics based on which the value of the air transport can be quantified. The proposed approach is based on equivalent methodological materials by ICAO, FAA, and other organizations describing and analyzing the value of air transports. The calculations are based on open data sources as well as data that are available by request. The methodology also proposes collecting new data to complete the picture of the value of air transport.

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