FAIRMODE: A FORUM FOR AIR QUALITY MODELLING IN EUROPE

FAIRMODE (Forum for AIR quality MODelling in Europe) is an air quality modelling network that was established as a joint initiative of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). In a common effort EEA and JRC aim at responding to the requirements of the new Air Quality Directive, with particular focus on the introduction of modelling as a necessary tool for air quality assessment and air quality management. The main aim of the modelling network is to bring together air quality modellers and model users in order to promote and support harmonised use of modelling for the assessment of air quality by EU and EEA member countries. The network will thus encourage synergy – at a local, national and European level - through the development and implementation of a common infrastructure based on best practices for reporting and storing information relevant to air quality modelling. A major objective of the FAIRMODE initiative is to provide guidance to present and future air quality model users in EEA’s EIONET partnership network. FAIRMODE also aims to enhance awareness of model usefulness, reliability and accuracy through model validation and intercomparison exercises at a national or European level. The JRC has taken on a leading role in the co-ordination of the latter activities gaining from its experience in leading the “Eurodelta” and “CityDelta” intercomparison exercises. A centralised web portal has been created in support of FAIRMODE, which is currently being used for internal communication purposes of the network participants, but will also provide the means for exchange of relevant material and experiences between all interested modellers and model users. The initial activities of the network will be organised by two main Work Groups, focusing on the preparation of a Guidance Document for model use and on model QA/QC procedures (input data, other uncertainties) respectively. The progress of the preparation of these documents as well as of the rest of the regular activities of the network will be reviewed and discussed within the frame of annual Plenary meetings and Steering Committee meetings

DIMAS Development of an integrated database for the management of accidental spills. Part 2. Global change, ecosystems and biodiversity - SPSDII: final report

DIMAS is a 2-year project executed by three Belgian partners (EURAS, VLIZ and Ghent University) and funded by the SPSD II research program of the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO). Several shipping accidents in Belgian territorial waters, made the various government agencies involved aware of the need to develop tools to assess the risks and impact on marine resources in the case of an accidental release of hazardous substances. DIMAS aims at the protection of the North Sea and Western Scheldt in case of accidental spills from ships. In the present project, a relational database is developed, providing reliable, easy to interpret and up-to-date information on marine specific issues. The database contains the latest information on effects (acute and chronic), absorption, distribution, bioaccumulation/biomagnification, GESAMP hazard profiles and physico-chemical properties for a selection of priority substances and is publicly available (www.vliz.be/projects/dimas). The selection of the substances is based on criteria such as occurrence on priority lists, volumes transported over sea, frequency of involvement in accidental spills and frequency of transports over sea. The first beneficiaries of this database are the people directly involved in the first phase of a containment plan for an accidental spill. The final indirect beneficiaries are the general public (scientists, journalists, general public, etc.) who will be better informed about the potential impact to man and the environment

How and why DNA barcodes underestimate the diversity of microbial eukaryotes

Background: Because many picoplanktonic eukaryotic species cannot currently be maintained in culture, direct sequencing of PCR-amplified 18S ribosomal gene DNA fragments from filtered sea-water has been successfully used to investigate the astounding diversity of these organisms. The recognition of many novel planktonic organisms is thus based solely on their 18S rDNA sequence. However, a species delimited by its 18S rDNA sequence might contain many cryptic species, which are highly differentiated in their protein coding sequences. Principal Findings: Here, we investigate the issue of species identification from one gene to the whole genome sequence. Using 52 whole genome DNA sequences, we estimated the global genetic divergence in protein coding genes between organisms from different lineages and compared this to their ribosomal gene sequence divergences. We show that this relationship between proteome divergence and 18S divergence is lineage dependant. Unicellular lineages have especially low 18S divergences relative to their protein sequence divergences, suggesting that 18S ribosomal genes are too conservative to assess planktonic eukaryotic diversity. We provide an explanation for this lineage dependency, which suggests that most species with large effective population sizes will show far less divergence in 18S than protein coding sequences. Conclusions: There is therefore a trade-off between using genes that are easy to amplify in all species, but which by their nature are highly conserved and underestimate the true number of species, and using genes that give a better description of the number of species, but which are more difficult to amplify. We have shown that this trade-off differs between unicellular and multicellular organisms as a likely consequence of differences in effective population sizes. We anticipate that biodiversity of microbial eukaryotic species is underestimated and that numerous ''cryptic species'' will become discernable with the future acquisition of genomic and metagenomic sequences

A novel approach to screen and compare emission inventories

A methodology is proposed to support the evaluation and comparison of different types of emission inventories. The strengths and weaknesses of the methodology are presented and discussed based on an example. The approach results in a “diamond” diagram useful to flag out anomalous behaviors in the emission inventories and to get insight in possible explanations. In particular, the “diamond” diagram is shown to provide meaningful information in terms of: discrepancies between the total emissions reported by macrosector and pollutant, contribution of each macro-sector to the total amount of emissions released by pollutant, and the identification and quantification of the different factors causing the discrepancies between total emissions. A practical example in Barcelona is used for testing and to provide relevant information for the analyzed emission datasets. The tests show the capability of the proposed methodology to flag inconsistencies in the existing inventories. The proposed methodology system may be useful for regional and urban inventory developers as an initial evaluation of the consistency of their inventories

Hippocampal and Cortical Pyramidal Neurons Swell in Parallel with Astrocytes during Acute Hypoosmolar Stress

Normal nervous system function is critically dependent on the balance of water and ions in the extracellular space (ECS). Pathological reduction in brain interstitial osmolarity results in osmotically-driven flux of water into cells, causing cellular edema which reduces the ECS and increases neuronal excitability and risk of seizures. Astrocytes are widely considered to be particularly susceptible to cellular edema due to selective expression of the water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4). The apparent resistance of pyramidal neurons to osmotic swelling has been attributed to lack of functional water channels. In this study we report rapid volume changes in CA1 pyramidal cells in hypoosmolar ACSF (hACSF) that are equivalent to volume changes in astrocytes across a variety of conditions. Astrocyte and neuronal swelling was significant within 1 min of exposure to 17 or 40% hACSF, was rapidly reversible upon return to normosmolar ACSF, and repeatable upon re-exposure to hACSF. Neuronal swelling was not an artifact of patch clamp, occurred deep in tissue, was similar at physiological vs. room temperature, and occurred in both juvenile and adult hippocampal slices. Neuronal swelling was neither inhibited by TTX, nor by antagonists of NMDA or AMPA receptors, suggesting that it was not occurring as a result of excitotoxicity. Surprisingly, genetic deletion of AQP4 did not inhibit, but rather augmented, astrocyte swelling in severe hypoosmolar conditions. Taken together, our results indicate that neurons are not osmoresistant as previously reported, and that osmotic swelling is driven by an AQP4-independent mechanism

A multi-model study of the hemispheric transport and deposition of oxidised nitrogen.

Fifteen chemistry-transport models are used to quantify, for the first time, the export of oxidised nitrogen (NOy) to and from four regions (Europe, North America, South Asia, and East Asia), and to estimate the uncertainty in the results. Between 12 and 24% of the NOx emitted is exported from each region annually. The strongest impact of each source region on a foreign region is: Europe on East Asia, North America on Europe, South Asia on East Asia, and East Asia on North America. Europe exports the most NOy, and East Asia the least. East Asia receives the most NOy from the other regions. Between 8 and 15% of NOx emitted in each region is transported over distances larger than 1000 km, with 3–10% ultimately deposited over the foreign regions

Orientações para a avaliação das intervenções visando a prevenção dos Problemas Músculo-Esqueléticos ligados ao trabalho

Mejorar las prácticas de intervención constituye hoy en día un desafío en el campo de la prevención de lesiones músculo esqueléticas (LMS) relacionadas con el trabajo. El desarrollo de conocimientos sobre la intervención en las empresas es un desafío para la intervención dirigida a su evaluación. La investigación internacional en el campo de las LMS concentra sus trabajo y recomendaciones sobre la evaluación de los efectos de las intervenciones mediante la evaluación de los síntomas de salud o de las exposiciones. En este texto mostramos en primer lugar, que esta orientación supone que se reúnan un cierto número de condiciones importantes, generalmente subestimadas y a menudo difíciles de reunir. Proponemos que se tomen en cuenta, en tanto criterios complementarios de la evaluación, los indicadores relacionados a la actividad de trabajo y a los márgenes de maniobra, aunque señalamos que estos indicadores necesitan ser trabajados para volverlos operacionales. En segundo lugar, sostenemos que para desarrollar conocimientos sobre la intervención se necesita describir precisamente el proceso de intervención y tomar en cuenta el contexto en el que se desarrolla, por ello, la evaluación de sus efectos es insuficiente para desarrollar conocimientos sobre la intervención. Por último, la discusión señala que, desde nuestra perspectiva, la evaluación de las intervenciones constituye un proyecto en sí y que este contribuye directamente a la transformación del trabajo

A global perspective on marine photosynthetic picoeukaryote community structure

A central goal in ecology is to understand the factors affecting the temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of microorganisms and the underlying processes causing differences in community structure and composition. However, little is known in this respect for photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs), algae that are now recognised as major players in marine CO2 fixation. Here, we analysed dot blot hybridisation and cloning–sequencing data, using the plastid-encoded 16S rRNA gene, from seven research cruises that encompassed all four ocean biomes. We provide insights into global abundance, α- and β-diversity distribution and the environmental factors shaping PPE community structure and composition. At the class level, the most commonly encountered PPEs were Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae. These taxa displayed complementary distribution patterns, with peak abundances of Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae in waters of high (25:1) or low (12:1) nitrogen:phosphorus (N:P) ratio, respectively. Significant differences in phylogenetic composition of PPEs were demonstrated for higher taxonomic levels between ocean basins, using Unifrac analyses of clone library sequence data. Differences in composition were generally greater between basins (interbasins) than within a basin (intrabasin). These differences were primarily linked to taxonomic variation in the composition of Prymnesiophyceae and Prasinophyceae whereas Chrysophyceae were phylogenetically similar in all libraries. These data provide better knowledge of PPE community structure across the world ocean and are crucial in assessing their evolution and contribution to CO2 fixation, especially in the context of global climate change