A Large-Scale European Union Study of Aircrew Fatigue During Long Night and Disruptive Duties

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 628-635
Author(s):  
Mikael Sallinen ◽  
Henk van Dijk ◽  
Daniel Aeschbach ◽  
Anneloes Maij ◽  
Torbjörn Åkerstedt
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Flight Time ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Fatigue Management ◽  
Wrist Actigraphy ◽  
High Fatigue ◽  
Karolinska Sleepiness Scale ◽  
Time Limitations

INTRODUCTION: We examined aircrew fatigue during the following flight duty periods (FDPs) mentioned in the European Union (EU) Flight Time Limitations (FTLs): night FDPs longer than 10 h and FDPs typical of disruptive schedules (early starts, late finishes, and nights). An alternative way of classifying night FDPs was also examined to reveal possible subcategories that warrant special attention.METHODS: A total of 392 aircrew members (96 women) representing 24 airlines participated in the study. Their FDPs were measured by a diary, sleep by the diary and wrist-actigraphy, and fatigue by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) over 14 consecutive days. The KSS ratings given at top of descent (TOD) served as the main outcome.RESULTS: The probability of high fatigue (KSS ≥ 7) at TOD was 0.41 and 0.32 during long (>10 h) and short night (≤10 h) FDPs, respectively. The corresponding value was 0.19 for early starts, 0.31 for late finishes, 0.34 for night FDPs, and 0.15 for day FDPs (reference). The main predictors of high fatigue were FDP’s encroachment on the window of circadian low (WOCL, 02:00 h–05:59 h) and prior sleep. Within the night category, FDPs fully covering the WOCL showed the highest probability of high fatigue at TOD (0.42).DISCUSSION: Late finish and night FDPs warrant special attention in fatigue management. Within the night category, the same holds for FDPs that fully cover the WOCL. To manage fatigue, adjustments of the FTLs seem to be a limited strategy and therefore other measures, including maximizing preflight sleep, are needed.Sallinen M, van Dijk H, Aeschbach D, Maij A, Åkerstedt T. A large-scale European Union study of aircrew fatigue during long night and disruptive duties. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(8):628–635.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Models of Farms in the European Union

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4772
Author(s):  
Hanna Klikocka ◽  
Aneta Zakrzewska ◽  
Piotr Chojnacki
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Family Farms ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Standard Output ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Eu

The article describes and sets the definition of different farm models under the categories of being family, small, and large-scale commercial farms. The distinction was based on the structure of the workforce and the relationship between agricultural income and the minimum wage. Family farms were dominated by the farming family providing the labour and their income per capita exceeded the net minimum wage in the country. The larger commercial farms feature a predominance of hired labour. Based on surveys, it was found that in 2016 in the EU-28 there were 10,467,000 farms (EU-13—57.3%, EU-15—42.7%). They carried out agricultural activities on an area of 173,338,000 ha (EU-13—28.5%, EU-15—71.5%). Countries of the EU-28 generated a standard output (SO) amounting to EUR 364,118,827,100 (EU-13—17.2% and EU-15—82.8%). After the delimitation, it was shown that small farming (70.8%) was the predominant form of management in the European Union (EU-13—88.2% and EU-15—79.8%) compared to family farming (18.4%) (EU-13—10.5% and EU-15—29%). In most EU countries the largest share of land resources pertains to small farms (35.6%) and family farms (38.6%) (UAA—utilised agricultural area of farms).

Discourse and Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-261
Author(s):  
Chris Heffer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Voter Fraud

This chapter summarizes the main analytical moves in the TRUST heuristic for analyzing untruthfulness. It then applies the heuristic to three short texts that have been widely called out as lies: Trump’s tweet about large-scale voter fraud just before the 2016 presidential elections; the “Brexit Battle Bus” claim that the United Kingdom sent £350 million per week to the European Union; and Tony Blair’s 2002 statement to Parliament about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. The cases share a common theme: the capacity of untruthful public discourse to undermine democratic legitimacy by, respectively, questioning the integrity of electoral procedures, harming the capacity of voters to make a rational choice, and undermining faith in the rational and responsible deliberation of one’s leaders. The chapter troubles the simple attribution of lying in these cases and shows how a TRUST analysis can lead to a deeper understanding of the types and ethical value of untruthfulness.

scholarly journals Upsetting the agenda: the clout of external focusing events in the European Council

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petya Alexandrova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
European Council ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Focusing Events ◽  
Combining Data

AbstractFocusing events are sudden, striking large-scale occurrences that attract political attention. However, not all potential focusing events appear on the agenda. Combining data from multiple sources, this study conducts an analysis of the determinants of prioritisation of external focusing events in the European Council over a period longer than two decades. The results demonstrate that decisions regarding the placement of crises on the agenda are underscored by exogenous (humanitarian) and endogenous (geopolitical interest) considerations. Those events with a higher likelihood of agenda access include manmade incidents (versus natural disasters), events with larger death tolls and crises in the neighbourhood. Stronger competition between potential focusing events across time and space reduces the chances of access. The level of attention each event receives depends on purely strategic interests. Focusing events in neighbouring countries gain a higher portion of attention, as do occurrences in states having a larger trade exchange with the European Union.

scholarly journals Sharing Pandemic Vaccination Certificates through Blockchain: Case Study and Performance Evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
José L. Hernández-Ramos ◽  
Georgios Karopoulos ◽  
Dimitris Geneiatakis ◽  
Tania Martin ◽  
Georgios Kambourakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Use Case ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Satisfactory Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Network Response Time

During 2021, different worldwide initiatives have been established for the development of digital vaccination certificates to alleviate the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic to vaccinated individuals. Although diverse technologies can be considered for the deployment of such certificates, the use of blockchain has been suggested as a promising approach due to its decentralization and transparency features. However, the proposed solutions often lack realistic experimental evaluation that could help to determine possible practical challenges for the deployment of a blockchain platform for this purpose. To fill this gap, this work introduces a scalable, blockchain-based platform for the secure sharing of COVID-19 or other disease vaccination certificates. As an indicative use case, we emulate a large-scale deployment by considering the countries of the European Union. The platform is evaluated through extensive experiments measuring computing resource usage, network response time, and bandwidth. Based on the results, the proposed scheme shows satisfactory performance across all major evaluation criteria, suggesting that it can set the pace for real implementations. Vis-à-vis the related work, the proposed platform is novel, especially through the prism of a large-scale, full-fledged implementation and its assessment.

scholarly journals Protection of Individuals in the light of EU Regulation 2016/679 on the Protection of Natural Persons with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free Movement of such Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
Mirosław Tokarski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Eu Regulation

The process of establishing normative acts in the European Union does not  occur out of nowhere, but in the context of specific social needs. That was the case of the genesis of establishing legal regulations regarding the protection of personal data in the European Union. Socio-economic integration, which resulted from the functioning of internal market in the European Union, has led to a significant increase in cross-border transfers of personal data. It led to situation in which various economic operators or state institutions of the Member States have increasingly processed the personal data of the EU citizens. Within time, these data have become an equally valuable commodity - not to say even more valuable – compared to goods and services (Costa-Cabral, and Lynskey Orla, 2017, p. 11). Making use of personal data on a large scale especially by public and private entities, associations and companies over time has posed a threat to the security of personal data. This has made it necessary to introduce legal protection measures for personal data in the European Union that would eliminate the negative effects of any form of personal data processing. The purpose of this article is to evaluate legal regulations regarding legislative protection of personal data in the European Union against the background of EU Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council with respect to the protection of individuals due to processing personal data, its free movement and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (hereinafter referred to as Regulation 2016/679). Due to initially adopted purpose of the considerations there arose a problem which was formulated in the form of a question: Do the legal measures introduced by the Regulation constitute an effective tool for the protection of personal data in the event of a violation of the law by personal data administrators and entities while processing such data? The presented purpose of the considerations and the research problem determined the order of the analysis.

scholarly journals How Far Does the European Union Reach? Foreign Land Acquisitions and the Boundaries of Political Communities

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Menge
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Land Acquisitions ◽  
The People ◽  
Global Power ◽  
Foreign Land ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
Political Communities

The recent global surge in large-scale foreign land acquisitions marks a radical transformation of the global economic and political landscape. Since land that attracts capital often becomes the site of expulsions and displacement, it also leads to new forms of migration. In this paper, I explore this connection from the perspective of a political philosopher. I argue that changes in global land governance unsettle the congruence of political community and bounded territory that we often take for granted. As a case study, I discuss the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive as a significant driver of foreign land acquisitions. Using its global power, the European Union (EU) is effectively governing land far outside of its international borders and with it the people who live on this land or are expelled from it. As a result, EU citizens ought to consider such people fellow members of their political community. This has implications for normative debates about immigration and, in particular, for arguments that appeal to collective self-determination to justify a right of political communities to exclude newcomers. The political community to which EU citizens belong reaches far beyond the EU’s official borders.

Recent Antiviral Treatment and Vaccination Strategies Against SARS-CoV-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 238 (05) ◽  
pp. 569-578
Author(s):  
Maren Bormann ◽  
Lukas van de Sand ◽  
Oliver Witzke ◽  
Adalbert Krawczyk
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Antiviral Treatment ◽  
Therapeutic Options ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Pulmonary Vascular Disease ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Antiviral Compound

AbstractSince the end of 2019, the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading worldwide and has caused severe health and economic issues on a global scale. By the end of February 2021, more than 100 million SARS-CoV-2 cases had been reported worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that can be divided into three phases: An early phase with fever and cough (phase I), a pulmonary vascular disease (phase II) and a hyperinflammatory syndrome (phase III). Since viral replication plays a particularly important role in the early stage of the disease and the patientʼs immune system in the later course of infection, different therapeutic options arise depending on the stage of the disease. The antiviral nucleoside analogue remdesivir is the only antiviral compound with conditional approval in the European Union. Treatment with remdesivir should be initiated early (within the first seven days of symptom onset) in patients receiving supplemental oxygen without invasive ventilation. In turn, the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid dexamethasone should be administered later in the course of disease in patients receiving oxygen therapy. Since autopsies indicate an increased frequency of thromboembolic events due to COVID-19, additional treatment with anticoagulants is recommended. Since the development of novel antivirals may take years, the application of convalescent plasma from patients who recovered from a SARS-CoV-2 infection for the treatment of COVID-19 is reasonable. However, large-scale studies indicated low efficacy of convalescent plasma. Furthermore, vaccination of the population is essential to control the pandemic. Currently, the mRNA vaccine Tozinameran from BioNTech and Pfizer, the mRNA-1273 vaccine from Moderna as well as the vector vaccine AZD1222 from AstraZeneca are licensed in the European Union. All three vaccines have demonstrated high efficacy in large clinical trials. In addition to these licensed vaccines, many others are being tested in clinical trials. In the present article, an overview of therapeutic options for COVID-19 as well as vaccines for protection against SARS-CoV-2 is provided.

scholarly journals The role of food standards in international trade: assessing the Brazilian beef chain

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (spe) ◽  
pp. 33-51
Author(s):  
Luciana Marques Vieira
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
International Markets ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Full Compliance ◽  
Food Standards ◽  
Managerial Implications

The purpose of this paper is to identify how Brazilian beef managers have responded to a rapid expansion and intensification of standards for beef exports. This issue relates to how some Brazilian beef exporters are strategically repositioning themselves in the supply chains. The literature of this study reviews global chain governance and international standards. The method uses case studies consisting of six medium and large scale beef exporters who export fresh beef to the European Union. The main findings describe the kinds of governance that stimulate upgrading and transferral of the best practices and, consequently, full compliance with mandatory standards. This study suggests that standards do matter for companies trying to increase international competitiveness. These results contribute an understanding of the Brazilian beef chain, and also of other supply chains coping with demanding and changing international markets. Managerial implications show the challenges facing Brazilian beef exporters in their efforts to sustain exports to the European Union and how they are using chain governance to improve their compliance with international standards and increase competitiveness.

scholarly journals Identifying Refugees and Other Migrant Groups in European Large-scale Surveys: An Explorative Analysis of Integration Outcomes by Age Upon Arrival, Reasons for Migration and Country-of-birth Groups Using the European Union Labour Force Survey 2014 Ad Hoc Module

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (Special_Issue_1) ◽  
pp. i183-i193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erling F Solheim ◽  
Daniel La Parra-Casado
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Survey ◽  
Country Of Birth ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Migrant Groups

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore the association between self-reported reasons for migration, age upon arrival and Eurostat’s country-of-birth classification, and to study these measures in relation to education, employment and language skills. The European Union Labour Force Survey 2014 (11,345 women; 9,825 men) was used to study the immigrant working-age population (20–64 years) from seven West European countries with a substantial number of refugees. A third had arrived as children (0–19 years). Each reason for migration was well represented within all country-groups and the proportion of respondents reporting each reason was fairly similar across the country-groups. Regression analysis identified significant variation in education, employment and language skills by reasons for migration within country-groups and vice versa, with (female) refugees and family migrants arriving as adults faring worse than other migrants in language skills and employment. There were few significant gender differences. We recommend implementing reasons for migration and age upon arrival as core variables in quantitative migration studies.

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