Post-Soviet vs. new East: the inland other for the "West"

“Post-Sovietness” is considered a negative auto-stereotype in Eastern Europe

Ecological design of an urban meadow informed by contemporary approaches to lower-intensity management

20 pagesGreen spaces are an essential part of the urban environment. They should provide multiple benefits, including enhancing people’s well-being and affording ecological benefits. Rapidly changing economic conditions often lead to significant shortages of maintenance funding and skilled labor resources (Sutton 2022). This promotes a greatly disturbed urban environment due to neglect and climate change, and a decrease in biodiversity. The design of green spaces in the urban environment becomes more challenging. It was calculated that currently, potentially one hundred sixty-three thousand and eight hundred (163,800 km2 (± 35,850 km2) of land are cultivated with turf grasses in the continental United States, which is three times larger than any irrigated crop (Milesi et al., 2005). “A 2017 projection by the California Air Resources Board cautioned that, beginning in 2020, the most ubiquitous instruments of landscape care—gasoline-powered landscape maintenance equipment, —could generate more ozone pollution than all the cars in the state of California combined”(Sutton, 2022).One of the approaches to these challenges that is gaining more attention is to incorporate into more urban environment ecological planting with low-intensity management (Dunnett and Hitchmough 2004) such as meadow. My project seeks to design a pollinator meadow near the new site of the Urban Farm Riverfront as an alternative land cover type to mown amenities to increase the overall productivity of an ecosystem and create space for activities and exploration

Re‐evaluation of celluloses E 460(i), E 460(ii), E 461, E 462, E 463, E 464, E 465, E 466, E 468 and E 469 as food additives

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient sources added to Food (ANS) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the re-evaluation of microcrystalline cellulose (E 460(i)), powdered cellulose (E 460(ii)), methyl cellulose (E 461), ethyl cellulose (E 462), hydroxypropyl cellulose (E 463), hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (E 464), ethyl methyl cellulose (E 465), sodium carboxy methyl cellulose (E 466) and enzymatically hydrolysed carboxy methyl cellulose (E 469) as food additives. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) ‘not specified’ for unmodified and modified celluloses. Celluloses are not absorbed and are excreted intact in the faeces; in addition, microcrystalline cellulose, powdered and modified celluloses could be fermented by the intestinal flora in animals and humans. Specific toxicity data were not always available for all the celluloses evaluated in the present opinion and for all endpoints. Given their structural, physicochemical and biological similarities, the Panel considered it possible to read-across between all the celluloses. The acute toxicity of celluloses was low and there was no genotoxic concern. Short-term and subchronic dietary toxicity studies performed with E 460(i), E 461, E 462, E 463, E 464, E 466 and E 469 at levels up to 10% did not indicate specific treatment related adverse effects. In chronic toxicity studies performed with E 460(i), E 461, E 463, E 464, E 465 and E 466, the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) values reported ranged up to 9,000 mg/kg body weight (bw) per day. No carcinogenic properties were detected for microcrystalline cellulose and modified celluloses. Adverse effects on reproductive performance or developmental effects were not observed with celluloses at doses greater than 1,000 mg/kg bw by gavage (often the highest dose tested). The combined exposure to celluloses (E 460–466, E 468 and E 469) at 95th percentile of the refined (brand-loyal) exposure assessment for the general population was up to 506 mg/kg bw per day. The Panel concluded that there was no need for a numerical ADI and that there would be no safety concern at the reported uses and use levels for the unmodified and modified celluloses (E 460(i); E 460(ii); E 461–466; E 468 and E 469). The Panel considered an indicative total exposure of around 660–900 mg/kg bw per day for microcrystalline, powdered and modified celluloses

Post-Soviet vs. new East: the inland other for the "West"

“Post-Sovietness” is considered a negative auto-stereotype in Eastern Europe