Ticks infesting animals in the Sudan and southern Sudan: Past and current status

In this review, we collate information about ticks identified in different parts of the Sudan and South Sudan since 1956 in order to identify gaps in tick prevalence and create a map of tick distribution. This will avail basic data for further research on ticks and policies for the control of tick-borne diseases. In this review, we discuss the situation in the Republic of South Sudan as well as Sudan. For this purpose we have divided Sudan into four regions, namely northern Sudan (Northern and River Nile states), central Sudan (Khartoum, Gazera, White Nile, Blue Nile and Sennar states), western Sudan (North and South Kordofan and North, South and West Darfour states) and eastern Sudan (Red Sea, Kassala and Gadarif states)

Contaminated land risk assessment: Variability in site assessment and decision making in the UK

Judgement forms an integral part of a risk-based approach to the assessment of land affected by contamination. Legislation and guidance suggest that the assessor should use a rational step-wise process to identify pollutant linkages in order to assess risk from land contamination. The present study aims to investigate the decision-making processes that are used by experienced contaminated land assessors. This study required 29 participants with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience to rate the level of risk from land contamination on 27 hypothetical housing development sites. Each site was designed with specific information (variables) used as indicators of the potential for unacceptable risk. Linear regression analysis was used to identify the significance of each of the variables in determining the level of risk assessed by participants. The first of the key findings was that considerable disagreement was observed between participants, and this was correlated to cases with contradictory information. This may have also been related to the participant’s perception of the available risk scale. The linear regression analysis showed that the most influential variables were chemical-test data and the presence of human-exposure pathways. These findings would suggest that experienced assessors focus on a few key aspects of the information available to assess risk from land contamination. However, analysis of the qualitative data collected in the study supported a more holistic decision-making process, in line with use of pollutant linkages described in guidance. The results suggest that when presented with limited data for development sites, assessors may rely on a few variables to rate the risk, but that a coherent picture of the interaction of all of the variables is required for a more confident assessment. The findings of the study presented here can be used to inform training and future guidance in this sector

Contaminated land risk assessment: Variability in site assessment and decision making in the UK

Judgement forms an integral part of a risk-based approach to the assessment of land affected by contamination. Legislation and guidance suggest that the assessor should use a rational step-wise process to identify pollutant linkages in order to assess risk from land contamination. The present study aims to investigate the decision-making processes that are used by experienced contaminated land assessors. This study required 29 participants with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience to rate the level of risk from land contamination on 27 hypothetical housing development sites. Each site was designed with specific information (variables) used as indicators of the potential for unacceptable risk. Linear regression analysis was used to identify the significance of each of the variables in determining the level of risk assessed by participants. The first of the key findings was that considerable disagreement was observed between participants, and this was correlated to cases with contradictory information. This may have also been related to the participant’s perception of the available risk scale. The linear regression analysis showed that the most influential variables were chemical-test data and the presence of human-exposure pathways. These findings would suggest that experienced assessors focus on a few key aspects of the information available to assess risk from land contamination. However, analysis of the qualitative data collected in the study supported a more holistic decision-making process, in line with use of pollutant linkages described in guidance. The results suggest that when presented with limited data for development sites, assessors may rely on a few variables to rate the risk, but that a coherent picture of the interaction of all of the variables is required for a more confident assessment. The findings of the study presented here can be used to inform training and future guidance in this sector

Recommendations for assessing materials criticality

This paper provides recommendations for assessing the criticality of materials (metals and non-fuel minerals), including the need for context-dependent assessment methods, providing a framework for conducting criticality assessments. Materials criticality captures concerns over the accessibility of materials, as the product of assessing a material's 'supply risk' and the impact of a supply restriction. Through a review of selected studies, problems with criticality assessments are discussed, highlighting how these become particularly important when the results of assessments are used in decision making. Considering how the results of criticality assessments are used in decision making highlights how criticality exhibits some of the characteristics of a 'complex context'. Building on predefined attributes of effective decision support in complex contexts, recommendations are made on how these problems can be addressed to better assess criticality in the future. These also include building on metric-based assessment methods by developing scenarios of future material supply and demand

Study on the Fault-Tolerance Concept of the Five-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator

International audienceno abstrac