scholarly journals International workshop on safety assessment of consumer goods coming from recovered materials in a global scale perspective

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Bernd Bilitewski ◽  
Damià Barceló ◽  
Rosa Mari Darbra ◽  
Ester V.d. Voet ◽  
Mohammed Belhaj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Workshop ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Essential Chemical ◽  
Risk Reduction Measures ◽  
International Experts ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Chemical Testing ◽  
The Eu

Chemicals and additives in products being produced and marketed globally, this makes an international harmonised assessment and management essential. Chemical testing, research on risks, impacts and management options are carried out throughout the globe but quite fractionated to certain areas and sectors and much too often with little linkages between the different scientific communities. The coordination action (CA) "RISKCYCLE" is aimed to establish and co-ordinate a global network of European and international experts and stakeholders to define together future needs of R+D contributions for innovations in the risk-based management of chemicals and products in a circular economy of global scale leading to alternative strategies to animal tests and reduced health hazards. The partners joining this action seek to explore the synergies of the research carried out within different programmes and countries of the EU, in Asia and overseas to facilitate the intensified communication with researchers, institutions and industries about the risks of hazardous chemicals and additives in products and risk reduction measures and to improve the dispersion of available information. The RISKCYCLE network will closely collaborate with related projects, EU and international bodies and authorities such as for example the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) and the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks in Europe. Mục đích chính của RISKCYCLE là xác đinhcác nghiện cứu và sự phát triển trong tương lai cấn thiết để thành lập một phương pháp đánh giá dựa trện rủi ro cho các hoá chất và các sản phấm. Phương pháp này sẽ giúp giảm bớt các thủ nghiệm trện động vật, đổng thời đảm bảo sự phát triển các hóa chất mới và một mô hình quản lý sản phấm để giảm thiểu rủi ro đối với sức khởe và môi trường. để đạt được mục tiệu này, trước hết cấn thu thập và đánh giá thông tin hiện có về các hoá chất và đặc biệt là các chất phụ gia được sủ dụng trong sản phấm công nghiệp và tiệu dùng. Nhiều hợp chất độc hại tiềm tàng được giao dich mua bán trện toàn thế giới như là chất phụ gia trong các sản phấm khác nhau. RISKCYCLE sẽ tập trung vào tác động và hậu quả của các chất phụ gia trong sáu lĩnh vực: dệt may, điện tủ, nhựa, da, giấy và dấu mớ bôi trơn. Trong ngành công nghiệp dệt may việc sủ dụng các chất phụ gia sẽ được nghiện cứu, trong khi ở ngành điện tủ và công nghiệp dệt may, việc sủ dụng các chất chống cháy, đặc biệt là chất chống cháy chứa brôm như PBDEs và HBCD, sẽ được phân tích. Trong công nghiệp da, kim loại nặng như crom sẽ được quan tâm. Việc sủ dụng chất diệt côn trùng trong ngành công nghiệp giấy cũng sẽ là một mối quan tâm chính của các hoạt động phối hợp.

scholarly journals Do We Need to Use Bats as Bioindicators?

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 693
Author(s):  
Danilo Russo ◽  
Valeria B. Salinas-Ramos ◽  
Luca Cistrone ◽  
Sonia Smeraldo ◽  
Luciano Bosso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
River Quality ◽  
Surrogate Taxa ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Sampling Problems ◽  
The Eu

Bats show responses to anthropogenic stressors linked to changes in other ecosystem components such as insects, and as K-selected mammals, exhibit fast population declines. This speciose, widespread mammal group shows an impressive trophic diversity and provides key ecosystem services. For these and other reasons, bats might act as suitable bioindicators in many environmental contexts. However, few studies have explicitly tested this potential, and in some cases, stating that bats are useful bioindicators more closely resembles a slogan to support conservation than a well-grounded piece of scientific evidence. Here, we review the available information and highlight the limitations that arise in using bats as bioindicators. Based on the limited number of studies available, the use of bats as bioindicators is highly promising and warrants further investigation in specific contexts such as river quality, urbanisation, farming practices, forestry, bioaccumulation, and climate change. Whether bats may also serve as surrogate taxa remains a controversial yet highly interesting matter. Some limitations to using bats as bioindicators include taxonomical issues, sampling problems, difficulties in associating responses with specific stressors, and geographically biased or delayed responses. Overall, we urge the scientific community to test bat responses to specific stressors in selected ecosystem types and develop research networks to explore the geographic consistency of such responses. The high cost of sampling equipment (ultrasound detectors) is being greatly reduced by technological advances, and the legal obligation to monitor bat populations already existing in many countries such as those in the EU offers an important opportunity to accomplish two objectives (conservation and bioindication) with one action.

scholarly journals Maintaining paediatric cardiac services during the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country in sub-Saharan Africa: guidelines for a “scale up” in the face of a global “scale down”

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 1588-1594
Author(s):  
Ogochukwu J. Sokunbi ◽  
Ogadinma Mgbajah ◽  
Augustine Olugbemi ◽  
Bassey O. Udom ◽  
Ariyo Idowu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scale Up ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Tertiary Centre ◽  
The Face ◽  
Scale Down ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
International Experts

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic is currently ravaging the globe and the African continent is not left out. While the direct effects of the pandemic in regard to morbidity and mortality appear to be more significant in the developed world, the indirect harmful effects on already insufficient healthcare infrastructure on the African continent would in the long term be more detrimental to the populace. Women and children form a significant vulnerable population in underserved areas such as the sub-Saharan region, and expectedly will experience the disadvantages of limited healthcare coverage which is a major fall out of the pandemic. Paediatric cardiac services that are already sparse in various sub-Saharan countries are not left out of this downsizing. Restrictions on international travel for patients out of the continent to seek medical care and for international experts into the continent for regular mission programmes leave few options for children with cardiac defects to get the much-needed care.There is a need for a region-adapted guideline to scale-up services to cater for more children with congenital heart disease (CHD) while providing a safe environment for healthcare workers, patients, and their caregivers. This article outlines measures adapted to maintain paediatric cardiac care in a sub-Saharan tertiary centre in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic and will serve as a guide for other institutions in the region who will inadvertently need to provide these services as the demand increases.

scholarly journals Reproducing scientists’ mobility: a data-driven model

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Vaccario ◽  
Luca Verginer ◽  
Frank Schweitzer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Rules ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Hiring Process ◽  
Geographical Distances

AbstractHigh skill labour is an important factor underpinning the competitive advantage of modern economies. Therefore, attracting and retaining scientists has become a major concern for migration policy. In this work, we study the migration of scientists on a global scale, by combining two large data sets covering the publications of 3.5 million scientists over 60 years. We analyse their geographical distances moved for a new affiliation and their age when moving, this way reconstructing their geographical “career paths”. These paths are used to derive the world network of scientists’ mobility between cities and to analyse its topological properties. We further develop and calibrate an agent-based model, such that it reproduces the empirical findings both at the level of scientists and of the global network. Our model takes into account that the academic hiring process is largely demand-driven and demonstrates that the probability of scientists to relocate decreases both with age and with distance. Our results allow interpreting the model assumptions as micro-based decision rules that can explain the observed mobility patterns of scientists.

scholarly journals Atmospheric Mercury Concentrations observed at ground-based monitoring sites globally distributed in the framework of the GMOS network

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Sprovieri ◽  
Nicola Pirrone ◽  
Mariantonia Bencardino ◽  
Francesco D’Amore ◽  
Francesco Carbone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Observation System ◽  
Large Network ◽  
Deposition Processes ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Long-term monitoring data of ambient mercury (Hg) on a global scale to assess its emission, transport, atmospheric chemistry, and deposition processes is vital to understanding the impact of Hg pollution on the environment. The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project was funded by the European Commission (www.gmos.eu), and started in November 2010 with the overall goal to develop a coordinated global observing system to monitor Hg on a global scale, including a large network of ground-based monitoring stations, ad-hoc periodic oceanographic cruises and measurement flights in the lower and upper troposphere, as well as in the lower stratosphere. To date more than 40 ground-based monitoring sites constitute the global network covering many regions where little to no observational data were available before GMOS. This work presents atmospheric Hg concentrations recorded worldwide in the framework of the GMOS project (2010–2015), analyzing Hg measurement results in terms of temporal trends, seasonality and comparability within the network. Major findings highlighted in this paper include a clear gradient of Hg concentrations between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, confirming that the gradient observed is mostly driven by local and regional sources, which can be anthropogenic, natural or a combination of both.

scholarly journals Social Bots and Fake News as (not) seen from the Viewpoint of Digital Education Frameworks

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (Occasional Papers) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar Janetzko
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Digital Competence ◽  
Digital Education ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Eu

Over recent years, international organisations like the EU and UNESCO have set up a number of proposals, models and frameworks that seek (i) to map and to conceptualize digital literacy and related concepts, e. g. information, digital or media literacy, digital competence, digital skills and (ii) to formulate policies and recommendations based on the conceptualizations developed. The resulting frameworks, such as Digital Competence (DigComp) developed by the EU, or Media and Information Literacy (MIL) developed by UNESCO, have a strong formative power on a global scale. Affected are policies, laws, regulations, research activities, and academic disciplines like media pedagogy and mindsets. Do these frameworks consider the effects of disruptive attempts by digital media to intervene in public debates e. g. social bots, fake news and other manifestations of biased or false information online? Do they offer avenues for reflection and action to address them? Guided by these questions, this paper studies the flagship frameworks on digital education of the EU and UNESCO, DigComp and MIL. It finds biases in both frameworks. To different degrees, both tend to overemphasize the practical and instrumental use of digital literacy.

The Global Network of Deviant Revelatory Marian Movements

2019 ◽  
pp. 663-685
Author(s):  
Peter Jan Margry
Keyword(s):  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Marian Devotion ◽  
Institutional Church ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter discusses contemporary deviant—contested or condemned—Marian devotional movements and cultures, situated at and concentrated around modern apparitional sites, which collectively represent an implicit Marian network. This devotional network is largely independent from—or runs parallel to—mainstream Marian devotion, although the separation is not absolute as interaction with the institutional Church continues to take place. Most of these deviant revelatory devotions have emerged since the 1960s. Spiritually and devotionally, they are created, shaped, and propagated informally from the bottom up by the visionaries, the cult leadership, and in particular the associated communities of often dissenting, conservative, or (neo-) traditionalist devotees. The chapter identifies and describes this network as it has manifested itself on a transnational and global scale on the basis of fieldwork examples.

scholarly journals Current and future levels of mercury atmospheric pollution on global scale

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozef M. Pacyna ◽  
Oleg Travnikov ◽  
Francesco De Simone ◽  
Ian M. Hedgecock ◽  
Kyrre Sundseth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Deposition ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Emission Scenarios ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Future Emission ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Air Concentrations

Abstract. An assessment of current and future emissions, air concentrations and atmospheric deposition of mercury world-wide are presented on the basis of results obtained during the performance of the EU GMOS (Global Mercury Observation System) project. Emission estimates for mercury were prepared with the main goal of applying them in models to assess current (2013) and future (2035) air concentrations and atmospheric deposition of this contaminant. The artisanal and small- scale gold mining, as well as combustion of fossil fuels (mainly coal) for energy and heat production in power plants and in industrial and residential boilers are the major anthropogenic sources of Hg emissions to the atmosphere at present. These sources account for about 37 % and 25 % of the total anthropogenic Hg emissions globally, estimated to be about 2000 tonnes. The emissions in Asian countries, particularly in China and India dominate the total emissions of Hg. The current estimate of mercury emissions from natural processes (primary mercury emissions and re-emissions), including mercury depletion events, were estimated to be 5207 tonnes per year which represent nearly 70 % of the global mercury emission budget. Oceans are the most important sources (36 %) followed by biomass burning (9 %). A comparison of the 2035 anthropogenic emissions estimated for 3 different scenarios with current anthriopogenic emissions indicates a reduction of these emissions in 2035 up to 85 % for the best case scenario. Two global chemical transport models (GLEMOS and ECHMERIT) have been used for the evaluation of future Hg pollution levels considering future emission scenarios. Projections of future changes in Hg deposition on a global scale simulated by these models for three anthropogenic emissions scenarios of 2035 indicate a decrease of up to 50 % deposition in the Northern Hemisphere and up to 35 % in Southern Hemisphere for the best case scenario. The EU GMOS project has proved to be a very important research instrument for supporting, first the scientific justification for the Minamata Convention, and then monitoring of the implementation of targets of this Convention, as well as, the EU Mercury Strategy. This project provided the state-of-the art with regard to the development of the latest emission inventories for mercury, future emission scenarios, dispersion modelling of atmospheric Hg on global and regional scale, and source – receptor techniques for Hg emission apportionment on a global scale.

Coordination Action: NMP3-CA-2008-218331-NaPolyNet Setting up Research-Intensive Clusters across the EU on Characterization of Polymer Nanostructures

2009 ◽  
Vol 151 ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Clara Silvestre
Keyword(s):  
Nanostructured Materials ◽  
Mechanical Characterization ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Polymer Nanostructures ◽  
Polymer Devices ◽  
Coordination Action ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Polymer Nanostructure ◽  
The Eu

NaPolyNet is a 36 month project involving 15 partners from 10 European countries. The objectives are: 1) to network at regional, national and international level with experts on the characterization of polymer nanostructured materials in the field of packaging, textiles and membranes, bridging the gap between scientific and engineering approaches for the improved understanding of the structure-performance correlation in polymer devices; 2) to facilitate transnational access to important and unique equipment and to train young scientists and SMEs technologists; 3) to harmonize the work necessary for new standards in the field of characterization of polymer nanostructures for packaging, textiles and membranes. NaPolyNet will also focus on latest findings for managing the safety implications of polymer nanostructure along the life-cycle of those products. The activities are grouped into 7 work-packages (WP). After setting up the procedures for managing the project, the team will map the competences in the different field of characterization of polymer nanostructures and will set up an European Open Laboratory (EOL) open to outside the consortium partners incorporating the best and novel characterization methodologies and expertises. The EOL will allow average trained users of equipment for thermal, structural, morphological, mechanical characterization to produce reliable data on nanostructured materials and correctly interpret them. An international Workshop is planned on processing-structure-dynamics-and-properties of polymer nanostructures in order to further support development and design of intrinsically safe nanomaterials. The last part of the project will be dedicated to harmonize the work for preparation of new standards for polymeric nanomaterials characterization and to overcome barriers to the industrial application of polymer nanostructured materials especially in SMEs.

scholarly journals Transnational Municipal Climate Networks and the Politics of Standardisation: The Contested Role of Climate Data in the New Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Gesing
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Standard Tool ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Eu

This article analyses the formation of a new global network, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), by two existing initiatives, the EU-based Covenant of Mayors and the UN-supported Compact of Mayors. While this merger of two transnational networks provides evidence for the increased coordination and standardisation of transnational municipal climate action, this remains a contentious and incomplete process. The article identifies different modes of transnational climate governance that have contributed to conflict between the founding networks and zooms in on the role of municipal climate data. Using empirical evidence, it analyses the contested politics of municipal climate data, including the role of the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) as a standard tool, the definition of a common target, and the inclusion of financial actors. Concerns over the reshaping of public-private boundaries and the possible commodification of public data are identified as major obstacles for the (EU) Covenant of Mayors, which consequentially seeks to remain as independent as possible within the new GCoM. Data politics emerges as a crucial factor for the future direction of transnational municipal climate policy and the ongoing processes of standardisation and coordination.

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