Consideration of hydromorphology and sediment in the implementation of the EU water framework and floods directives: a comparative analysis of selected EU member states

The EU Water Framework and Floods Directives represent important legislative instruments introduced in the water policy during the last two decades. Despite their holistic and complementary approaches, which should yield many benefits, the lack of importance given to the consideration of hydromorphology and sediments is a weakness. This will hinder the achievement of the Directives' goals, since hydrology and geomorphology of rivers and the character and dynamics of sediments are essential components of the aquatic habitat and ecosystem health. The entrainment, transport and deposition of sediments determine the interrelationships between river channel geometry and flow regime, which affect flood risk. The paper reports on the findings of a survey undertaken in 2015 as part of the HYTECH project, which questioned 20 EU Water Authorities about the importance they attached to hydromorphological quality elements and sediment transport during the implementation cycles of both Directives

Agriculture and European Union Enlargement

Potential accession of a number of eastern and central European countries into the European Union (EU) seems destined to lead to further reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The financial costs of absorbing these countries may be extreme. This report documents the modeling framework (European Simulation Model, ESIM) used to analyze the 1992 CAP reform and discusses possible effects of EU enlargement.CAP reform, European Union, EU, European Union enlargement, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Cohesion and subsidiarity: towards good territorial governance in Europe

The message of this paper is twofold: (a) the pursuit of territorial cohesion, the importance of which the new European Constitution recognises, requires coordination of national planning systems; and (b) subsidiarity, a Community principle usually invoked to counteract it, should instead become the principle underlying a feasible and effective form of such coordination at the EU (European Union) level. Indeed, the Constitution should at least encourage planners to discuss principles of good EU territorial governance by addressing the performance of statutory planning systems in the common area of territorial cohesion. In brief, these principles might be termed vertical subsidiarity, horizontal subsidiarity, and the coordination between subsidiarity and cohesion

THE EUROPEAN UNION, INDONESIA, AND THE RENEWABLE ENERGY DIRECTIVE

This research tries to explain how to overcome the problems that occur in the EU (European Union). The concept used is environmental diplomacy. The concept of environmental diplomacy is used to explain the environmental conflict between the EU and Indonesia. Keywords: EU Clean Energy, Diplomacy, Environment

Modelling Possible Impacts of GM Crops on Australian Trade

This paper looks at the impact on Australia’s trade in crops (non-wheat grains and oilseeds) where GM technology has been introduced. The model includes assumptions about the productivity gains of GM crops, possible consumer responses and regulatory costs for Australia and its major trading partners. The modelling work shows that, under current market conditions, the introduction of GM technology into the non-wheat grains and oilseeds sectors will have minimum impact on Australia’s trade position.Agriculture; Barley; Biotechnology; Canola; Corn; Cotton; EU; European Union; Food; Gene technology; Genes; Genetically modified crops; Genetically modified organisms; GM; GMO; Grains; GTAP; Herbicides; New Zealand; NZ; Oilseeds; Policy; Primary industry; Productivity; Regulation; SIP; Segregation and identity preservation systems; Soybeans; Sugarcane; Trade; United States; USA; Wheat; World Trade Organization; WTO;

Birth Weight and Prenatal Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE): A Meta-analysis within 12 European Birth Cohorts

Objectives: Exposure to high concentrations of persistent organochlorines may cause fetal toxicity, but the evidence at low exposure levels is limited. Large studies with substantial exposure contrasts and appropriate exposure assessment are warranted. Within the framework of the EU (European Union) ENRIECO (ENvironmental Health RIsks in European Birth Cohorts) and EU OBELIX (OBesogenic Endocrine disrupting chemicals: LInking prenatal eXposure to the development of obesity later in life) projects, we examined the hypothesis that the combination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) adversely affects birth weight

Matsushita early on RoHS

AbstractMatsushita Electric Industrial group companies will accelerate efforts to globally abolish the use of hazardous substances as specified by the EU (European Union)’s RoHS Directive on chemical substances. Beginning with products shipped from April 2005 onwards, all Matsushita group companies are expected to meet the RoHS requirements more than one year before required by the law. The RoHS Directive will require manufacturers to ban the use of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and specified bromine_based flame retardants (PBBs and PBDEs).This is a short news story only. Visit www.three-fives.com for the latest advanced semiconductor industry news

Quality changes of spotless shad during storage at different conditions

KORAL, SERKAN/0000-0001-7424-2481; Kose, Sevim/0000-0001-6029-0458WOS: 000377012900006This study investigates the effect of using ice in combination with refrigeration on the sensory, physico-chemical and microbiological attributes of spotless shad during storage. Spotless shad kept in ice under refrigerated conditions had better sensory, physicochemical and microbiological quality as compared with control groups. the shelf life of samples kept at ambient temperature without ice was 2 days. Using ice and refrigeration only extended the shelf-life for 3 days and 4 days, respectively, while ice application with refrigeration further increased the shelf-life by 10 days. Physico-chemical and microbiological results usually supported sensory values. Histamine values were below EU (European Union) and FDA permitted levels for the shelf-life of fish

The EMPRISES pan-European Framework:

There is a need for further integration of information systems globally for tackling Serious Organised Economic Crime (SOEC). Taking Europe as the illustration, and levering existing pan-EU (European Union) systems such as Europol's SIENA and the FIU.NET as well as national systems, further steps can be taken to provide a more coherent and coordinated approach for detecting and deterring SOEC. This aim is achievable through the EMPRISES framework, which adds value to national, SIENA and FIU.NET systems by increasing the effectiveness of communication across Europe. EMPRISES would introduce an agreed common language (taxonomy) of SOEC, including multi-lingual support. Moreover, by enriching the taxonomy with current business tools and analysis techniques through the SOEC Architecture that EMPRISES embodies, the illegitimate businesses of SOEC can be monitored and combatted

Interdigitated μ-electrodes for development of an impedimetric immunosensor for atrazine detection.

This contribution describes the development of an impedimetric immunosensor for atrazine detection. This immunosensor is based on the use of interdigitated metallic μ-electrodes (IDμEs) The method described in this work does not use any redox mediator and relies on the direct detection of immunochemical competitive reaction between the pesticide and a haptenized-protein immobilized on interdigitated μ-electrodes for the specific antibody. The immunoreagents used were specifically developed to detect atrazine. The immunochemical detection of this pesticide is achieved without using any label. The immunosensor shows a limit of detection of 8.34±1.37 μg L-1, witch is lower than the Maximun Residue Level (MRL) (50μg L-1)established by EU (European Union)for residues of atrazine as herbicide in the wine grapes and other foodstuff products.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version