Risk Assessment in the International Food Safety Policy Arena - Can the Multilateral Institutions Encourage Unbiased Outcomes?

In this paper we provide a description of how food safety related scientific evidence is generated and how it is used in the context of risk assessment for international standard-setting at CODEX and in WTO trade disputes. In particular, we discuss the processes leading to policy conclusions on the basis of scientific evidence, with a focus on the interactions involved between private and public sector actors and those between "scientific experts" and others. We identify weaknesses in the current institutional set-up and provide suggestions on how to improve the interaction between different players at the national and international level so as to strengthen the existing system and increase its cost efficiency

Engineering seismological studies on the proposed location of Aswan New City, Egypt

The study area lies in south Egypt on the west bank of the River Nile about 12 km north to the Aswan City. The aim of the present study is a trial to investigate subsurface structure conditions, to determine the dynamic characteristics of the subsurface rocks and to study the effect of the near earthquake activities on the proposed location of Aswan New City. In this study nineteen seismic refraction P- and S-waves profiles were conducted. The output results include velocities of P-and S-wave and the thickness of each layer. The bulk density of soil layers was calculated from determined P-wave values.  The measured shear wave velocity and bulk density for each layer were used to compute the maximum shear modulus. These parameters for each layer are used as input data to compute the responses of horizontally layered soil profiles subjected to bedrock input motion from strong earthquake using EERA program. The obtained response values of soil layers are represented by the surface acceleration, from which response spectra with damping ratio of 5 % are obtained, surface Fourier amplitude spectra, amplification ratio between rock outcrop and free surface, and the shear stresses and strains characteristics at the sublayer No. 2 in all selected profiles sites. The output of this study is very important for solving the problems, which associated with the construction of various civil engineering purposes and for earthquake resistance structure design