Explore the vast range of titles available.

Transatlantic Relations and the Great War explores the relations between the Danube Monarchy of Austria-Hungary and the modern U.S. democracy and how that relationship developed over decades until it ended in a final rupture. As the World War I drew to a close in late 1918, the Mid-European Union was created to fill the vacuum in Central and Eastern Europe as the old Danube Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was falling apart. One year before, in December 1917, the United States had declared war on Austria-Hungary and, overnight, huge masses of immigrants from the Habsburg Empire became enemy aliens in the United States. Offering a major deviation from traditional historiography, this book explains how the countdown of mostly diplomatic events in that fatal year 1918 could have taken an alternative course. In addition to providing a narrative account of Austrian-Hungarian relations with the United States in the years leading up to the World War I, the author also demonstrates how an almost total ignorance of the affairs of the Dual Monarchy was to be found in the United States and vice versa. This book is a fascinating and important resource for students and scholars interested in modern European and U.S. history, diplomatic relations, and war studies.

Large rivers are worldwide under severe pressure and there is a lack of information on large river restoration. The present paper represents a meta-analysis of available data on river rehabilitation projects performed at the Austrian Danube River consisting of six rehabilitation projects addressing 19 sites. The overall goal was to analyse the response of fish assemblages to different rehabilitation types based on (1) morphological type (“Instream Habitat Enhancement”, “backwater Enhancement”, “extended Enhancement”), (2) length of rehabilitation measure (3) time after construction (4) applied monitoring design. Biological metrics evaluated included number of fish species and relative density, habitat guilds and Leitbild species. In total, number of species increases by 55% comparing rehabilitated with unrestored sites. The number of species of all habitat guilds is higher after rehabilitation. The proportion of rheophilic species increased and the community evolved toward a more type-specific community, according to the Leitbild. Significant differences between measure types were not detected. The rehabilitation success depends mainly on its spatial extent. Highest positive response of number of rheophilic species is achieved by a length >3.9 km. The results show that habitat rehabilitation of large rivers is effective if the spatial extent of the measure is in accordance with river size.

Restoration projects often aim to initiate side erosion processes in order to improve the ecological situation, leading to banks of gentle slopes which positively affect biotic habitats. However, within navigable reaches such measures have to be planned under consideration of the impact of vessel-generated waves on YOY-fish. Hence an extensive study was conducted at different bank types to analyze and describe waves, induced by passing vessels. A high resolution wave gauge was exposed, to obtain wave data of different vessel types over a broad discharge range. Simultaneously vessel passage was recorded using an automatic identification system. Attributed to the ships, different wave types could be distinguished and their specific parameters (e.g., wave height) were described. Additionally we analyzed by which of these parameters wave height is primarily affected. For passenger ships a speed reduction of 5 km h⁻¹ results in a reduction of wave height of 14 cm at the Danube. A morphological analysis was accomplished to identify habitat loss and shift of the water’s edge based on ship induced maximum drawdown. Habitat loss, expressed as retrogression of the water’s edge, ranged between 0.88 and 35 m for the highest drawdown recorded.

The effects of navigation on young-of-the-year (YOY) fish were investigated for the Danube River based on an integrative approach. During YOY growing season, wave height, wave frequency and water currents were recorded. Synchronously, fish drift and fish abundance of YOY were monitored in two distinct inshore nursery habitats—a gravel bar and a groyne field. The characteristics of vessel-induced waves were correlated to YOY-drift. In both habitats, an increase in drift densities during ship passages was observed. At the same time, assemblage composition and drift densities differed between habitat types. At the gravel bar, drift densities of larval cyprinids—representing many keystone species of the Danube—were higher during ship passages. In the groyne field, drift was low and percids dominated the YOY-assemblage along the shore. Banks with gentle slopes in the main channel seem to be particularly affected by vessel-induced wave wash. Precisely such habitats are often established within the scope of modern river restoration projects because they provide suitable nursery habitats for riverine fish species. Beside the positive effects on biota, the establishment of these habitats in navigable reaches may create problems for YOY-fish due to displacement effects induced by ship-generated waves.

Autochthonous production of potamoplankton has recently attracted greater interest as it was incorporated into expanded river concepts such as the flow pulse concept or the riverine productivity model (RPM). This review assembles data on primary production from the River Danube to evaluate the importance of productivity in large rivers. Results indicate positive net production in the middle reach of the river and in impoundments. These sections are characterised by favourable conditions for algal growth. Reduction in flow, reduced concentrations of suspended solids and improved under-water light result in significant increase in plankton biomass. Maximum chlorophyll concentrations were below 20 mg m⁻³ in 2007 but concentrations up to 130 mg m⁻³ have been recorded in the past. Since nutrients are not limiting, as in most large rivers, net primary production is largely controlled by availability of photosynthetic active radiation under water, chlorophyll-a, water depth and discharge. Hourly carbon uptake rates of 3–130 mg C m⁻³ h⁻¹ observed in the Danube are well within the range of 0–790 mg C m⁻³ h⁻¹ for large rivers of the world. Autochthonous autotrophic production must be regarded as an important feature of large rivers supporting the RPM concept.

The rip-rap along an approx. 3-km-long shore in the main channel of the River Danube in Austria was completely removed to initiate the formation of a river bank through natural erosional and depositional processes. This study aimed to determine the short-term effect of this restoration measure on species composition and abundance of different developmental stages of fish at two spatial scales (micro- and mesohabitat). For this purpose, changes in abundance of early stages, as well as assemblage structure and species diversity of the benthic and the sub-littoral fish community were studied before and after restoration. No significant effects of restoration measures on the benthic fish assemblage were found. Significant and contradictory effects of the measures on the early stages and on the sub-littoral assemblage were observed. The abundance of fish larvae decreased after restoration, and this change could be attributed to the generally higher flow velocities in the new inshore microhabitats. Simultaneously, the species number and the abundance of fishes from the sub-littoral assemblage increased after restoration. This study has found that the main channel of the Danube still contain a high fish species diversity, and potentially plays a crucial role in recruitment of characteristic fluvial fishes.

Danube main channel deep pools are in-stream habitats of high ecological relevance. We used dual-frequency identification sonar to investigate seasonal and diel fish abundance in two hydrodynamically different deep pools in the main channel of the Danube River in 2008. In general, fish of different species were present in both deep pools throughout the year, irrespective of water level. High fish abundance was recorded during autumn and winter, low abundance during spring and summer. During low discharge and low temperature and particularly during low flow velocity, low kinetic energy and low shear stress, high fish abundance in densely packed aggregations were observed, a clear indication for the refuge capacity of deep pools. In contrast, during turbulent hydraulic conditions with high flow velocity, high turbulent kinetic energy and high shear stress, low fish abundance occurred, mainly consisting of single fish, small fish shoals and benthic fish specimens. Furthermore, we could reveal that calm as well as turbulent pools fulfil the requirements as refuge and feeding habitat of eurytopic, piscivorous catfish throughout the year. The application of a multiple linear model based on the hydrological parameters discharge and water temperature as well as the hydraulic parameters flow velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and shear stress provided highly significant evidence between the observed and the expected seasonal fish abundance in the deep pools (R ² = 0.77, P < 0.001). For the first time these results make clear that the main channel deep pools are important refuge and resource habitats of different species of the Danube fish community. Deep pools are key habitats for the in-stream fish community of the Danube River.

The territory of the Danube Region represents one fifth of the European Union's total area and is home to more than 100 million inhabitants. The Danube Region is characterized by a divergent group of 11 countries (9 of them are EU member states, 5 are non-EU countries) concerning the process of integration and the preconditions in geographic, economic, cultural and socio-demographic terms. In order to increase growth and strengthen cooperation at a macro-regional level, the European Union established the Danube Region Strategy with eleven priority areas, among them one focusing on energy. The aim of the paper is to perform quantitative evaluation on the relationship between economic development and energy consumption based on decoupling model theory. The paper focuses on the case of the Danube region countries in the period of 1994 - 2014. Throughout 20 year period examined, the countries spread out into different forms of decoupling. The results of analysis suggest that in most observed partial variables occurs the absolute or relative decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption, what can be considered as positive trend. Though decoupling index convey a positive message, the Danube region countries will need to accelerate their implementation of new policies, while restructuring the ways how they meet their demand for energy.

Task of shipping operations control of the Gabčíkovo project (GAP) is to synchronise several requirements. These come from versatility of GAP and must meet following goals (maximization of the ship locks capacity, maximization of income from electricity production in hydropower plant, navigable depth below minimal shipping depths in ford sections caused by flow changes on GAP and ships crushing into riverbed of the Danube river). By taking these goals into account, we can, in general, define operation of GAP as complex multicriterial optimization task with many technological, water management, energetic and environmental constrains. Standard approach in solving this problem includes elaboration of optimization or simulation model of GAP operation. If mathematical description of problem does not exist, \"classic\" expert control system management must be applied [1]. Based on above stated criteria, most effective approach to this problem appears to be creating software application, that combines both approaches. In this case, Expert control system of shipping operation on GAP (ECS) will be software application to model hydraulic links and hydraulic regimes (discharges, water levels and flow velocities) based on relevant inputs on the ship locks and whole section of the Danube river, that is affected by GAP operation. Model of shipping operation should be modelled to meet minimalization of ship's delay while waiting to transit and minimalization of destruction parameters due to fast flowing water in the filling and emptying system and assuring the shipping safety by keeping parameters of river specially on ford sections of river on whole part of river affected by GAP. The paper describes architecture of proposed Expert control system and focuses mainly on analysing suitability of heuristic optimization methods for solving above the stated optimization problems.

In order to preserve this world for future generations, we must strive for sustainable development — a development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising options and resources for future generations to meet their own needs.