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This document is a preface to a themed section in the journal Hydrobiologia, dedicated to honoring the legacy of Dr. Brij Gopal. Dr. Gopal was a respected scientist and member of the Hydrobiologia Advisory Board, known for his work in river, lake, and wetland ecology. He made significant contributions to understanding biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, water quality, and natural resources conservation. Dr. Gopal also mentored numerous students and received several national and international awards for his work. The papers featured in this themed section explore the ecological aspects of the ecosystems that Dr. Gopal studied, including wetlands, streams, mangroves, and reservoirs around the world. [Extracted from the article]

The editorial from Ocean Dynamics provides an overview of the journal's activities in 2023. It begins with the sad news of the passing of Prof. Dr. Jörg-Olaf Wolff, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal. The editors express their appreciation to the 220 reviewers from thirty-six different countries who evaluated manuscripts in 2023. The COVID pandemic had a significant impact on the journal's submissions, but in 2023, the number of published papers increased by approximately 15%. The journal also started publishing special issues again, with the first collection being the 12th International Workshop on Modeling the Ocean in Michigan. The editorial concludes by thanking the guest editors and the editorial and production staff of Springer Nature. [Extracted from the article]

Jelena Subotić's Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism has already received such broad recognition and numerous awards that its invaluable contribution to memory studies likely does not need repeating. It is not only a study of Holocaust remembrance in particular, but contributes broadly to our understanding of memory appropriation by the state, through a careful and vivid analysis of its transformation over time in several Eastern and Central European countries. Subotić provides a study of how memory can serve as a strategic tool for reinforcing state interests. The central argument of the book is that the states in question – Croatia, Lithuania, and Serbia – engage in memory appropriation in order to qualify their ontological insecurities (14). The strategies include "memory inversion," appropriating the Holocaust to emphasize crimes against them (primarily in Serbia), "memory divergence," placing blame for the genocide on German Nazis (Croatia), or "memory conflation," wherein Holocaust memory is combined and equated with Communist crimes (Lithuania, 15). These appropriation strategies, which overlap and are combined in the various states, allow states to paint themselves as the ultimate victims, absolving them of responsibility for their role in Holocaust crimes. The danger, of course, is that this not only set ups the false equivalence between victims of Communism and of the Holocaust, allowing for the relativization of Nazi collaboration as anti-Communist resistance, but also because it banalizes and trivializes the specific suffering of the Jewish population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The principle of virtual energy (PVE) is established based on the modern thermodynamics for the accurate prediction of material strength. • Some examples are presented to show the universality and feasibility of the principle, demonstrating its excellent prospects for all engineering applications. • It is found that material strength may not be an intrinsic property of the material but rather a property of the material specimen. As a matter of safety, the reliable prediction of the structural failure of materials is the most important key issue for various types of engineered structures. Traditional theories of material strength mainly rely on empirical formulas. Although there are a variety of strength theories available in the literature, they are largely limited by the materials and working conditions of their application. To ensure safety, engineering structures are often designed with large safety factors, resulting in a significant use of material resources. However, this still cannot eliminate the occurrence of catastrophic accidents. Recently, the author developed a thermodynamic framework, referred to as the thermodynamic strength theory (TST) [Eng. Fract. Mech., 2021, 254: 107936; Adv. in Mech., 2023, 53: 693–712.], to accurately predict the failure strength of engineering material structures. In this paper, the principle of virtual energy (PVE) is established based on the modern thermodynamics for the practical application in engineering. For a given imaginary small change in the key state variables of a material system, one can establish a failure strength criterion for the loaded material structure by investigating the induced change in the free energy. Some examples are presented to show the universality and feasibility of the principle, which demonstrates its excellent prospects for all engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jelena Subotić's book is an important contribution to memory studies scholarship because it shows how the mechanism of memory appropriation connects state-led remembrance practices with the processes of national identity formation. Through the comparative analysis of Serbia, Croatia, and Lithuania, Subotić argues that Holocaust remembrance in these states is less about remembering the Holocaust – or acknowledging the states' own responsibilities for the forced displacement and mass killing of the Jewish population on their territories – and more about the political use of the memory of the Holocaust in the context of the postcommunist transition and national identity insecurities. Yellow Star, Red Star , and particularly its chapters on Serbia and Croatia, nicely complement the existing literature – such as the work of Keith Brown, Siniša Malešević, Vjekoslav Perica, Dejan Jović, Emil Kerenji, Vjeran Pavlaković, Jelena Đureinović, Tamara Banjeglav, and Ana Ljubojević, among others – analyzing linkages between nationalism and state-sponsored memorialization practices in the post-Yugoslav states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Burmese Silver from the Colonial Period" is a catalog of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Burmese silver objects collected by Graham Honeybill, a retired British banker. The book, authored by Dr. Alexandra Green, provides an extended interpretive essay and a catalog of 120 objects, accompanied by 250 color photographs. Green's essay covers various aspects of colonial Burmese silver objects, including their production, use, and artistic influences from China, India, Thailand, and Europe. The catalog provides detailed information on each object's date of production, dimensions, weight, inscriptions, and central imagery. Overall, the book offers valuable insights into the study of Burmese silver and serves as a comprehensive guide for both academics and nonacademics interested in colonial Burmese silver objects. [Extracted from the article]