Concept papers outlining parameters for further development of Organic Food Processing - Crucial topics for the revision of the EU regulation 2092/91

Four concept papers outline parameters for the further development of organic food processing. They are based on other work already executed in the subproject 5 Processing in the QLIF-project, in particular the literature survey on “Underlying Principles in Organic and "Low-Input Food“ Processing – Literature Survey” published in 2004 by Schmid, Beck and Kretzschmar, as well as the “Approaches used in Organic/Low Input Food Processing - impact on food quality and safety” results of a Delphi survey from an expert consultation in 13 European countries.“ (Kretzschmar, Schmid, 2006). The four crucial topics highlighted in concept papers that have been chosen are summarised below: - 1rd Concept paper on the chances for a concept of “quality of origin” and on criteria and procedures for the evaluation of additives for organic food processing -2nd concept paper on environmental orientation of organic foods producing processing companies -3rd concept paper on processing methods and their labelling -4th concept paper on the improvement of separation practice by parallel processing of conventional and organic product

Computerization of workflows, guidelines and care pathways: a review of implementation challenges for process-oriented health information systems

There is a need to integrate the various theoretical frameworks and formalisms for modeling clinical guidelines, workflows, and pathways, in order to move beyond providing support for individual clinical decisions and toward the provision of process-oriented, patient-centered, health information systems (HIS). In this review, we analyze the challenges in developing process-oriented HIS that formally model guidelines, workflows, and care pathways. A qualitative meta-synthesis was performed on studies published in English between 1995 and 2010 that addressed the modeling process and reported the exposition of a new methodology, model, system implementation, or system architecture. Thematic analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and data visualisation techniques were used to identify and cluster the underlying implementation ‘challenge’ themes. One hundred and eight relevant studies were selected for review. Twenty-five underlying ‘challenge’ themes were identified. These were clustered into 10 distinct groups, from which a conceptual model of the implementation process was developed. We found that the development of systems supporting individual clinical decisions is evolving toward the implementation of adaptable care pathways on the semantic web, incorporating formal, clinical, and organizational ontologies, and the use of workflow management systems. These architectures now need to be implemented and evaluated on a wider scale within clinical settings

Enhancing the food security of the peri-urban and urban poor through improvements to the quality, safety and economics of street-vended foods

There has been a continuing growth in urbanisation in developing countries, and governments’ face a major challenge in ensuring that city dwellers are able to procure sufficient food. Street foods are sold in almost every country in the world. In most towns and cities in Ghana, selling of snacks and whole meals on the streets is an important way to obtain income, especially among the poor women. Street foods have a long tradition in most countries. The role of this sector in the urbanisation process and the urban economy reflects the way of life and the survival and coping strategies adopted in most African cities. Some earlier studies on street food vending in Ghana have taken place. The FAO and WHO have funded these. Unfortunately, the studies did not include potential food safety concerns such as the presence of heavy metals, pesticide residues and the presence of mycotoxins. The studies did not also examine the contribution of these informal microenterprises to the Ghanaian economy. The DFID/NRI/FRI project on improved street-vended foods was a one-year exploratory study aimed at assessing the safety and quality of food sold in Accra as well as estimates the contribution of this sector to the national economy of Ghana. The project complemented previous work carried on the sector by other workers. This workshop was therefore organized to present findings and identifies new areas where further knowledge is required. As part of this dissemination, key stakeholders of the streetfood vending business in Ghana made short presentations on the status of the foods sold in Accra. These short presentations are also included in this report.Streetfood; microenterprises; mycotoxins; public health; economics; Organochlorines; Poverty

Pathways to Accountability II

This report summarises the results of the 2009-2010 review process on the One World Trust Global Accountability Framework and the piloting of the draft framework during 2011, and presents the full One World Trust Pathways to Accountability II indicator framework. Our work in this field work is motivated by a concern about the persisting weakness and insufficient effectiveness of global organisations from all sectors in responding to the challenge of delivering global public goods to citizens and communities, the very people whom they claim to serve and benefit, and who are most often dependent on them

Advancing Human Rights Through the United Nations

Today's high oil prices and more stringent environmental requirements have led to that manufacturers of mobile construction equipment try to make their products more energy efficient. With this in mind a project about hybridization of hydraulic systems has been formed. The purpose of this project was to analyze the savings that can be achieved by hybridization of hydraulic systems. A reach stacker truck (Kalmar DRD450-80S4XS) were simulated in some load cases with conventional hydraulic systems and with three types of hybridized hydraulic systems. Different parts of the hydraulic systems were also analyzed separately. The analysis has shown that significant energy savings can be achieved by hybridizing hydraulic systems. The analysis showed that between 9-30% energy savings could be achieved by hybridizing the truck's various subsystems.Med dagens höga oljepriser och samhällets allt strängare miljökrav, stävar tillverkare av mobila entreprenadmaskiner efter att energieffektivisera sina produkter. Med detta i tanke formades ett projekt om att regenerera hydraulisk energi på entreprenadmaskiner. Syftet med detta projekt var att analysera vilka besparingar som kan åstakommas genom att hydraulsystemet på entrprenadmaskiner hybridiseras. En reachstacker truck (Kalmar DRD450-80S4XS) simulerades i några lastfall med konventionellt hydraulsystem samt med tre typer av hybridiserade hydraulsystem. Olika delar av de hydrauliska systemen analyserades även var för sig. Analysen har visat att stora energibesparingar kan åstakommas genom att hybridisera hydraulsystem. Den genomförda analysen visade på att mellan 9-30% energibesparing kunde uppnås genom att hybridisera truckens olika delsystem

A survey of users of earth resources remote sensing data

The results of a NASA supported Battelle survey to obtain user views on the nature and value of LANDSAT data use, on current LANDSAT capabilities, and on ways to improve data use were summarized. Questionnaire and interview responses from over 1000 private and public sector users were analyzed and discussed