scholarly journals Influence of the Lockdown on PM2.5 Concentrations around an Urban School in the South of Belgium

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1333
Author(s):  
Claudia Falzone ◽  
Jérémy Muller ◽  
Anne-Claude Romain

In 2020, the world was affected by an unprecedented health crisis. Europe had to close its internal and external borders, and the majority of countries had to impose lockdowns on their people. Shops, restaurants, building sites, and industries had to close, and working from home became the rule. This paper reflects a study conducted from 17 March to 25 June 2020, in which homemade low-cost devices measured PM2.5 concentrations at three different locations around a Belgian school and background concentrations. The period monitored covered seven reopening stages from lockdown to the reopening of borders. The overall analysis did not show any correlation between traffic and PM2.5 concentrations in the streets in any of the phases. However, the analysis of each reopening showed that it was possible to observe significant differences in the background concentrations measured in a rural town and on urban streets.

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 352
Author(s):  
Md. Jahidul Islam Shohag ◽  
Farhana Zerin Khan ◽  
Lin Tang ◽  
Yanyan Wei ◽  
Zhenli He ◽  
...  

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant public health crisis all over the world. The rapid spreading nature and high mortality rate of COVID-19 places a huge pressure on scientists to develop effective diagnostics and therapeutics to control the pandemic. Some scientists working on plant biotechnology together with commercial enterprises for the emergency manufacturing of diagnostics and therapeutics have aimed to fulfill the rapid demand for SARS-CoV-2 protein antigen and antibody through a rapid, scalable technology known as transient/stable expression in plants. Plant biotechnology using transient/stable expression offers a rapid solution to address this crisis through the production of low-cost diagnostics, antiviral drugs, immunotherapy, and vaccines. Transient/stable expression technology for manufacturing plant-based biopharmaceuticals is already established at commercial scale. Here, current opinions regarding how plant biotechnology can help fight against COVID-19 through the production of low-cost diagnostics and therapeutics are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-124
Author(s):  
Sandy Henderson ◽  
Ulrike Beland ◽  
Dimitrios Vonofakos

On or around 9 January 2019, twenty-two Listening Posts were conducted in nineteen countries: Canada, Chile, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin), Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy (two in Milan and one in the South), Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. This report synthesises the reports of those Listening Posts and organises the data yielded by them into common themes and patterns.


Author(s):  
Alyshia Gálvez

In the two decades since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, Mexico has seen an epidemic of diet-related illness. While globalization has been associated with an increase in chronic disease around the world, in Mexico, the speed and scope of the rise has been called a public health emergency. The shift in Mexican foodways is happening at a moment when the country’s ancestral cuisine is now more popular and appreciated around the world than ever. What does it mean for their health and well-being when many Mexicans eat fewer tortillas and more instant noodles, while global elites demand tacos made with handmade corn tortillas? This book examines the transformation of the Mexican food system since NAFTA and how it has made it harder for people to eat as they once did. The book contextualizes NAFTA within Mexico’s approach to economic development since the Revolution, noticing the role envisioned for rural and low-income people in the path to modernization. Examination of anti-poverty and public health policies in Mexico reveal how it has become easier for people to consume processed foods and beverages, even when to do so can be harmful to health. The book critiques Mexico’s strategy for addressing the public health crisis generated by rising rates of chronic disease for blaming the dietary habits of those whose lives have been upended by the economic and political shifts of NAFTA.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 232-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ya. Doroshina ◽  
E. Yu. Kuzmina ◽  
I. A. Nikolajev

Information on the Sphagnum mosses of the South Ossetia is generalized, the resulted list is presented. Nine species of Sphagnum are included in the list, whereabouts data and references to the publications are given, and the presence of a sample in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute RAS (LE) is noted. The species Sphagnum platyphyllum (Lindb. ex Braithw.) Warnst. rarely occurring in the Caucasus is reported in the South Ossetia for the first time. The species was found in the Caucasus, South Ossetia, at the side of the Ertso Lake (42°28ʹN, 43°45ʹE), 1720 m a. s. l., among sedge thickets at the margin of the overgrowing lake. The peculiarities of its occurrence and ecological conditions are considered. Its distribution in the Caucasus and in the world is discussed.


2018 ◽  
pp. 91-110
Author(s):  
Tatiana Kochanova

Тhe subject of this study is the young Republic of South Sudan (RSS), the “young” – both in terms of the age of an independent state, and in terms of its demographic potential. RSS, as a member of the United Nations and as a sovereign state, appeared on the world map in 2011, but, possessing super-rich natural resources, has not yet gained sustainable development, moreover, it fell into a deep military-political crisis. Like most countries of the African continent, South Sudan had real demographic capacity, but the authorities were unable to extract any “demographic dividends” from the truly main national resource for the development of the country’s economy, moreover, the number of refugees of young working age is constantly growing. Through the example of South Sudan, which so hard achieved separation of the South from the North and failed to take advantage of the conquered democratic values, the article explores the understudied problem of modification of the consciousness of the younger generation, dictated both by the specifics of the deep historical and cultural tradition of the South Sudanese nationalities and by new trends in global evolutionary processes. Studying the stories from the lives of multi-member families affected during the military-political conflict in the RSS, the author, based on the facts, strongly criticizes the ineffective, even often vicious, youth policy of the South Sudanese government. On the other hand, analyzing the origins, nature, basic traditional moral and sociocultural aspects of child employment in the region, the researcher finds a reasoned explanation of the cause for such a policy of universal child mobilization and tries to define this phenomenon that has not been studied in the scientific literature before. Summarizing the study of the causes of a humanitarian catastrophe in the RSS, the author, in addition to generally accepted factors that influenced the current situation (such as: the intervention of major world financial players in the affairs of a sovereign state, national discord, the struggle for power and resources), also highlights the subjective and not always correct work of the world information agencies and other mass media and, of course, the incompetent state policy of the leadership of the RSS in the Youth Field. Relying on the positive events of the past few months to resolve the conflict in the RSS, the author is still trying to predict in the foreseeable future the time for growth and development of the Republic of South Sudan, with the proviso that it can happen only in case of the inclusion of restraining leverage and expansion of the range of priorities of the main national resource – the youth.


Author(s):  
Tatiani De Azevedo Lobo ◽  
Marli M. Moraes Da Costa

Resumo: O presente ensaio busca apresentar e fomentar algumas questões pertinentes ao debate contemporâneo sobre a pobreza, demonstrando a importância do tema no cenário mundial. Para tanto, inicialmente discorre-se sobre a construção histórico-social da pobreza e suas características contemporâneas. Com efeito, aponta-se a limitação dos fatores tradicionalmente apresentados como causadores da pobreza, como cultura, genética, geografia etc. Além disso, apresentam-se as formas atuais de monitorar o fenômeno, como o coeficiente de Gini e o IDH. Posteriormente, aborda-se a distribuição mundial da pobreza. Nesse ponto, colaciona-se que a pobreza é um problema mundial. No entanto, é perceptível que o Sul ainda concentra maior número de indivíduos pobres do que o Norte. Na esteira dos últimos dados da pesquisa realizada pelas Nações Unidas, houve uma nítida ascensão do Sul, especialmente nos indicadores sociais ligados à educação. A seguir, trata-se do capital social e da Teoria das Capacidades, apresentando-se novas abordagens da pobreza. Assim, o capital social trata de uma ideia utilizada para verificar a rede de relacionamento dos indivíduos. Já a Teoria das Capacidades está ligada com a ideia de oportunidade da liberdade. Por fim, estuda-se as políticas públicas, bem como seu aspecto fragmentário. Conclui-se, assim, sobre a necessidade de implementação de políticas públicas elaboradas sob a égide de novos paradigmas, a fim de possibilitar o tratamento específico do fenômeno da pobreza, conforme as peculiaridades de cada local. Para tanto foi utilizado neste trabalho o método de abordagem hipotético-dedutivo, o método de procedimento monográfico e a técnica de pesquisa, operacionalizados por meio do emprego de vasta pesquisa bibliográfica. Abstract: This essay seeks to provide and foster some relevant to the contemporary debate on poverty issues, demonstrating the importance of the issue on the world stage. For this purpose, initially spoke about the historical and social construction of poverty and its contemporary features. Indeed, he pointed out the limitation of the factors traditionally presented as the cause of poverty, as a culture, genetics, geography, etc. Furthermore, we presented the current ways of monitoring the phenomenon, such as the Gini coefficient and the HDI. Subsequently addressed the global distribution of poverty. At this point, if collated that poverty is a worldwide problem. However, it is apparent that the South still more concentrated than the poor North individuals. In the wake of recent data from research conducted by the United Nations, there was a sharp rise in the South, especially in social indicators related to education. Next, we treated the capital and the Theory of Capabilities, presenting new approaches to poverty. Thus, social capital is an idea used to verify the relationship network of individuals. Already Capabilities Theory is linked with the idea of freedom of opportunity. Finally, we studied public policy, as well as its fragmentary appearance. Thus, it is concluded on the need to implement public policies prepared under the aegis of new paradigms to enable specific treatment of the phenomenon of poverty, according to the peculiarities of each site. For that was used in this work the method of hypothetical-deductive approach, the method of procedure and the monographic research technique, operationalized through the use of extensive academic research.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Lefebvre-Ropars ◽  
Catherine Morency ◽  
Paula Negron-Poblete

The increasing popularity of street redesigns highlights the intense competition for street space between their different users. More and more cities around the world mention in their planning documents their intention to rebalance streets in favor of active transportation, transit, and green infrastructure. However, few efforts have managed to formalize quantifiable measurements of the balance between the different users and usages of the street. This paper proposes a method to assess the balance between the three fundamental dimensions of the street—the link, the place, and the environment—as well as a method to assess the adequation between supply and demand for the link dimension at the corridor level. A series of open and government georeferenced datasets were integrated to determine the detailed allocation of street space for 11 boroughs of the city of Montréal, Canada. Travel survey data from the 2013 Origine-Destination survey was used to model different demand profiles on these streets. The three dimensions of the street were found to be most unbalanced in the central boroughs of the city, which are also the most dense and touristic neighborhoods. A discrepancy between supply and demand for transit users and cyclists was also observed across the study area. This highlights the potential of using a distributive justice framework to approach the question of the fair distribution of street space in an urban context.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003802292110146
Author(s):  
Ananta Kumar Giri

Our contemporary moment is a moment of crisis of epistemology as a part of the wider and deeper crisis of modernity and the human condition. The crisis of epistemology emerges from the limits of the epistemic as it is tied to epistemology of procedural certainty and closure. The crisis of epistemology also reflects the limits of epistemology closed within the Euro-American universe of discourse. It is in this context that the present essay discusses Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide. It also discusses some of the limits of de Sousa Santos’ alternatives especially his lack of cultivation of the ontological in his exploration of epistemological alternatives beyond the Eurocentric canons. It then explores the pathways of ontological epistemology of participation which brings epistemic and ontological works and meditations together in transformative and cross-cultural ways. This helps us in going beyond both the limits of the primacy of epistemology in modernity as well as Eurocentrism. It also explores pathways of a new hermeneutics which involves walking and meditating across multiple topoi of cultures and traditions of thinking and reflections which is called multi- topial hermeneutics in this study. This involves foot-walking and foot-meditative interpretation across multiple cultures and traditions of the world which help us go beyond ethnocentrism and eurocentrism and cultivate conversations and realisations across borders what the essay calls planetary realisations.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 459
Author(s):  
Ignacio Cazcarro ◽  
Albert E. Steenge

This article originates from the theoretical and empirical characterization of factors in the World Trade Model (WTM). It first illustrates the usefulness of this type of model for water research to address policy questions related to virtual water trade, water constraints and water scarcity. It also illustrates the importance of certain key decisions regarding the heterogeneity of water and its relation to the technologies being employed and the prices obtained. With regard to WTM, the global economic input–output model in which multiple technologies can produce a “homogeneous output”, it was recently shown that two different mechanisms should be distinguished by which multiple technologies can arise, i.e., from “technology-specific” or from “shared” factors, which implies a mechanism-specific set of prices, quantities and rents. We discuss and extend these characterizations, notably in relation to the real-world characterization of water as a factor (for which we use the terms technology specific, fully shared and “mixed”). We propose that the presence of these separate mechanisms results in the models being sensitive to relatively small variations in specific numerical values. To address this sensitivity, we suggest a specific role for specific (sub)models or key choices to counter unrealistic model outcomes. To support our proposal we present a selection of simulations for aggregated world regions, and show how key results concerning quantities, prices and rents can be subject to considerable change depending on the precise definitions of resource endowments and the technology-specificity of the factors. For instance, depending on the adopted water heterogeneity level, outcomes can vary from relatively low-cost solutions to higher cost ones and can even reach infeasibility. In the main model discussed here (WTM) factor prices are exogenous, which also contributes to the overall numerical sensitivity of the model. All this affects to a large extent our interpretation of the water challenges, which preferably need to be assessed in integrated frameworks, to account for the main socioeconomic variables, technologies and resources.


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