European Council

Abstract Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a threat to poultry production. It is desirable to be able to forecast HPAI outbreaks to allow for the implementation of elevated biosecurity measures. The Bird Flu Radar tool is an early warning system for HPAI based on wild bird movement and abundance. Here we develop the wild bird movement component of the Bird Flu Radar model by exploiting abundance data, which have greater spatio‐temporal coverage than movement (ring‐recovery or tracking) data. We explore two approaches for estimating bird movement from abundance data, building on recent migratory connectivity studies. In the first, week‐to‐week movement between areas of high abundance was estimated using a graph‐theoretic approach, with abundance in the intervening area also informing connectivity between locations. In the second, movement from breeding areas to wintering areas and back was simulated using an individual‐based model, the parameter values of which were calibrated for each species using weekly abundance maps. The output pseudo‐movements from the individual‐based model were easily integrated into the long‐distance movement model in the early warning system for HPAI, to update the long‐distance movement estimates for all 25 wild bird study species. Overall, we find that there are fundamental shortcomings of abundance data for inferring bird movement. However, when the accuracy of abundance‐derived pseudo‐movements can be confirmed, then they can complement ring‐recovery or tracking data. Spatio‐temporal coverage is still sparser for movement data than for abundance data, and so efforts to develop methods to exploit abundance data are likely to be useful in future endeavours estimating bird movement, and in downstream applications such as forecasting HPAI transmission.

During the European Archaeological Council (EAC)’s 26th Annual Meeting in Gdańsk, Poland, in March 2025, workshops were held to explore four key heritage management priorities identified by members in a survey conducted in Brussels, Belgium, the previous year, namely: the potential of citizen science; the challenge of heritage crime; the role of heritage and archaeology in landscape management processes; and the issues posed by climate change and the need for sector sustainability. The priorities and key points raised in the workshops are reported here, with reflections regarding the future actions that EAC might take to support its members in addressing them.

The strong pH sensitivity and the activity toward free radical reactions limit the use of anthocyanins as food colorants in emulsion-based food applications. The aim of this study was to gain a comprehensive understanding of color stability of anthocyanin-rich black carrot extracts in ω-3 fatty acid-rich oil-in-water emulsions as a function of pH. The stability of the anthocyanins was influenced by the degree of lipid oxidation, which in turn depended on the pH value. The formation of lipid oxidation products was accelerated in emulsions without added black carrot extract, which is associated with the antioxidant activity of anthocyanins. Furthermore, lipid oxidation increased with decreasing pH due to a higher solubility of catalyzing metals like iron. The anthocyanins showed a pH-dependent degradation kinetics: pH2 (k=1.44h-1)>pH3 (k=0.3h-1)>pH4 (k=0.06h-1)≅ pH6 (k=0.09h-1), which correlated with reduced concentrations of lipid oxidation products. This is contrary to the common behavior of anthocyanins in aqueous solutions, where their stability increases with decreasing pH. The best color stability of the black carrot extract in the oil-in-water emulsion was observed at pH 4 instead of pH 6, due to a pH-dependent deprotonation reaction. Gaining insights into the complex relationship between pH, lipid oxidation, and the color stability of anthocyanin-rich black carrot extracts in ω-3 fatty acid-rich emulsions challenges conventional understanding and offers valuable guidance for improving the use of anthocyanins as food colorants in emulsion-based applications. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This study provides insight into the stability of anthocyanin-based natural colorants, such as black carrot extract, in oil-in-water emulsions, facilitating their application in lipid-containing food systems. It provides a more comprehensive understanding of the pH-dependent degradation mechanisms of anthocyanins, extending current knowledge from aqueous solutions to emulsion-based conditions.

The systemic right ventricle (SRV) represents one of the most complex congenital heart diseases (CHD), involving two main anatomical presentations: D-looped transposition of the great arteries and congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries. Recent therapeutic advances have attempted to improve prognosis in adults with an SRV, but the impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has not been clearly established. Adult patients aged >18 years with an SRV were prospectively enrolled in a multicentre cross-sectional study with recruitment across 13 CHD centres. Demographic, clinical, biological, and imaging data were analysed to assess HRQoL and its determinants. A total of 99 patients (mean age, 38.7 ± 9.2 years; 52% male) were included. Most were symptomatic (NYHA II: 52.2%; NYHA III: 33.7%) with reduced exercise capacity (mean VO₂max = 20 ± 6.1 mL/Kg/min, i.e. 62.4±16.8% of predicted values). HRQoL showed moderate impairment with a physical component score of 45.9 ± 8.7 and a mental component score of 46.2 ± 9.5. A lower physical component score was independently associated with a reduced VO₂max, a recent episode of decompensated heart failure, vitamin K antagonist medication, and being unemployed. The use of antiarrhythmic medications, the number of heart-failure related treatments, and being unemployed were independently associated to a lower mental component score, but having undergone interventional cardiac catheterization was associated with a better mental component score. HRQoL in adults with SRV shows moderate impairment compared to normative data. Cardiopulmonary fitness and clinical factors significantly influence physical and mental components of HRQoL, underscoring the importance of targeted interventions to optimize patient outcomes. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03379831.

Focusing on the nexus of humour and the right to free speech, this article introduces the concept of ‘dark parody’ to address parodies that reuse existing material with a dark, humorous twist and explores how courts deal with two of the main interpretive challenges presented by a ‘dark parody’: (1) interpreting the distance between the parody and the copyright/trademark protected work it parodies, and (2) its use of dark humour. Using a metahermeneutic approach, the article analyses how the main features of parody, the legal criteria applied to parody in courts of law, and the role of dark humour influence the judicial interpretation process regarding (dark) parody in the context of copyright and trademark law. Based on this analysis, the article proposes the theoretical framework of ‘parodic distance’ to address the interpretive challenges systematically presented by dark parody via six main categories—content, style, context, message, function and affect—from which the distance between a parody and the original can be interpreted. Applying this framework to two case studies [Mercis c.s. v. Punt.nl, Court of Appeal of Amsterdam; Laugh It Off Promotions v. South African Breweries, Constitutional Court of South Africa], the article provides a comparative analysis of how these courts currently deal with interpretive issues surrounding dark humour in copyright and trademark law and shows how the framework of parodic distance can be a potentially useful conceptual tool that provides a shared vocabulary to complement judicial interpretation and legal discourse at the nexus of dark parody and the law.

El artículo analiza 21 casos decididos el 12 de septiembre de 2023 por el TEDH. En 12 de las demandas relativas a decisiones de las autoridades noruegas en relación con la tutela de me-nores, los jueces de Estrasburgo fallaron por unanimidad que eran inadmisibles porque la interferencia en el derecho de los padres estaba debidamente motivada por las autoridades y los tribunales internos a causa del abandono y/o malos tratos. Las cuestiones controvertidas incluían además los derechos de visita, las órdenes de acogida y la adopción. En general, no había habido deficiencias en el proceso de toma de decisiones. Se desestimaron las solicitudes por considerarlas manifiestamente infundadas, considerando que los hechos no tenían ningún parecido con otros casos contra Noruega en los que se habían encontrado violaciones. Como contraste en 9 de las demandas, el Tribunal decidió que sí que se había dado una violación del Artículo 8 del Convenio, derecho al respeto de su vida privada y familiar. Concluyó que los hechos no diferían de casos anteriores en los que había habido una violación del Convenio Europeo.