As urban forestry continues to evolve as a profession, foresters and arborists can expect many challenges as well as opportunities. The continuing development of cities has become linked to a much greater emphasis on urban vegetation, the growing demand for recreation amenities within the urban environment, and the careful and successful management of vegetation in an urban ecosystem. New ways to incorporate the highly versatile urban forest resource into the urban fabric will undoubtedly benefit the lives of its residents.
The overall mortality and cardiovascular mortality data from Romania within 1989–1995 were processed. They exhibit an increase by about 10% caused by the increase of inhabitants and by the increase of their average age. The percentage of cardiovascular mortality increases as well. Both data series display a pronounced annual wave supplemented by a smaller semiannual wave, resulting in a double maximum in January and April and a minimum in August. There is also a variation with the social week, given by a combination of the 7-day and 3.5-day wave, with a maximum on Thursday and Sunday and a distinct minimum on Friday. The mortality depends also on the lunar synodic cycle. This variation has a form of the semilunar wave with maxima two days before first and last quarter. The difference in the mortality between maxima and minima was tested and appeared to be significant. The semilunar wave is supplemented by some smaller waves with shorter periods but not by a lunar wave. This semilunar variation agrees surprisingly well with the same variation found in the sudden cardiovascular mortality data in Brno (400,000 inhabitants), Czech Republic, within 1975–1983. This data set includes all cases of sudden death due to cardiovascular defeat at home, etc., not in hospital (i.e., earlier than medical assistance arrived). The maxima of the semilunar wave lay two days before the first and two days before the last quarters and their position depends on the solar cycle. Moreover, waves with periods between 3 and 4 days appear to be significant as well. All these periodicities in both data sets (from Romania and from Brno) are only connected with the lunar month and are not pronounced if these data are arranged with respect to some other effects (e.g., solar rotation).
The ongoing discussion about the future of the forestry education can be considered as a part of the present intensive discussion on the European Higher Education System. Both the Sorbonne and the Bologna declarations are calling for the harmonisation of the higher education systems in Europe. The reality, however, is that the existing structures show an extreme complexity and diversity of curricular and degree structures, due to major differences in several key factors. Forestry education in Europe reflects quite well the features of the Higher Education in Europe. Curricula strongly differ, forestry as a science has thoroughly evolved during the last decades, foresters are faced to new challenges and the labour market offers other opportunities. As a result, there is both the need for harmonisation and for increased mobility, meaning that there are several reasons for changing forestry curricula. Fundamental changes in the field of profession and didactic requirements are major reasons to revise the forestry curricula. The shift from developing mainly the professional qualifications of the students to a stronger emphasis on the formation of the personal qualifications are considered as the main general issue in the changes of the forestry curricula.
Decision analysis, as applied in this study, is a numeric approach to support decision making in complex and multiobjective selection problems. It was used interactively to participatory strategic planning of natural resources management in Kainuu by the Finnish Forest and Park Service. The parties defined their own goals through a multiattribute utility function. Due to interactivity, the parties could specify their goals by taking the production possibilities of the planning area and the connections between different goals into account. The function of the interactive decision analysis (IDA) was to produce comprehensive decision support for a forest strategy selection. Such support would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. However, the IDA was not the only source of decision support. It was a part of a wider participation process where citizens and interest groups participated in the planning also through letters, open houses, phone, questionnaires, work groups, and public meetings. The results of the IDA were compared to participatory feedback received through other channels. The IDA was found applicable and worth developing further as a technique of participatory planning in the management of state owned forests.