Modelling and analysing the relationship between innovation and the European Regulations on hazardous waste shipments

In Europe, there are different regulations regarding hazardous waste management with which European Union Member States must comply. On the one hand, Member States must meet the recovery targets that are set in the different waste Directives, and they have two options here: material recovery facilities in the country of origin, or recovery through the shipment of waste. In addition, EU Member States must comply with the regulations governing the shipment of hazardous waste (HW), that is, the Basel Convention and the European Regulation on the shipment of waste. Two main questions arise: where is hazardous waste sent, and why? We analyse the European regulation on the shipment of waste, and we consider the above questions by combining network analysis methodology, to examine which countries in the network can be grouped in HW-trading communities, and ANOVA technique to study how the groups created in the network behave in different contexts. These HW-trading communities can be assessed according to European Innovation Indicators, GDP, and other variables. The results allow us to understand the drivers behind the shipment of HW for recovery in Europe. First, this study provides a descriptive overview of the relationships between European countries, the way in which they cooperate and describes how each country is positioned in the joint network. Second, the study is able to identify the most relevant countries in the network. Third, the HW-trading communities are analysed to discover whether they behave differently from the other groups according to GDP and other variables, amongst which we have included the following Europe Innovation Indicators: innovation index, research systems, innovation friendly environment, or innovators. The results show that the Nordic countries are outstanding in the way in which their waste is managed with other countries and reveal a community that works both in the context of hazardous waste shipment and innovation

Understanding hazardous waste exports for disposal in europe: A contribution to sustainable development

The concept of sustainable development was introduced in Europe by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and was extended to waste management in the Waste Framework Directive. In order to achieve sustainable development, hazardous waste (HW) must be managed safely and in accordance with regulations. This also applies to worldwide HW transport, especially when HW is shipped for disposal. The United Nations, through the Basel Convention, aims to prevent the export of HW from developed countries to developing countries for disposal. In Europe, HW shipments are regulated by Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and by the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste. Additionally, all HW shipments must be in accordance with two principles contained in the Waste Framework Directive: proximity and self-sufficiency. Using data from 2014 and network analysis methodology, this paper fills the gaps in the scientific literature by looking at how shipments of HW travel for disposal in Europe, how the regulations affect these shipments and how GDP per capita influences the shipment of waste. The results show that countries with a high GDP per capita play an important role in the network (having the highest in-degree) and that the absence of landfill taxes for HW does not influence HW shipments for disposal. Therefore, countries in the EU act in accordance with the proximity and self-sufficiency principles. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

A review of the peri-operative management of paediatric burns: Identifying adverse events

Background. Burn injuries are common in poverty-stricken countries. The majority of patients with large and complex burns are referred to burn centres. Of the children who qualify for admission, according to burn admission criteria, about half require some kind of surgical procedure to obtain skin cover. These range from massive full-thickness fire burns to skin grafts for small, residual unhealed wounds. Burn anaesthetic procedures are of the most difficult to perform and are known for high complication rates. Reasons include peri-operative sepsis, bleeding, issues around thermoregulation, the hypermetabolic state, nutritional and electrolyte issues, inhalation injuries and the amount of movement during procedures to wash patients, change drapes and access different anatomical sites. The appropriate execution of surgery is therefore of the utmost importance for both minor and major procedures.Objective. To review the peri-operative management and standard of surgical care of burnt children.Methods. This was a retrospective review and analysis of standard peri-operative care of burnt children at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. A total of 558 children were operated on and supervised by the first author. Factors that could adversely affect surgical and anaesthetic outcomes were identified.Results. There were 257 males and 301 females in this study, with an average age of 50.1 months and average weight of 19.5 kg. The total body surface area involved was 1 - 80%, with an average of 23.5%. Inhalational injury was present in 11.3%, pneumonia in 13.1%, wound sepsis in 20.8%, and septicaemia in 9.7%, and organ dysfunction in more than one organ was seen in 6.1%. The average theatre temperature during surgery was 30.0°C. Core temperatures recorded at the start, halfway through and at completion of surgery were 36.9°C, 36.8°C and 36.5°C, respectively. The average preoperative and postoperative haemoglobin levels were 11.28 g/dL and 9.64 g/dL, respectively. Blood loss was reduced by the use of clysis from 1.5 mL/kg/% burn to 1.4 mL/kg/% burn. Adverse intraoperative events were seen in 17.6% of children.Conclusion. Burn surgery is a high-risk procedure and comorbidities are common. Anaesthesia and surgery must be well planned and executed with special reference to temperature control, rapid blood loss, preceding respiratory illnesses and measures to reduce blood loss

Nonlinear Structural Analysis of the Elliptical Dome of the Church in the Universidad Laboral, Gijon, Spain

The Church of the Laboral University of Gijón has the world's largest elliptical masonry roof with 40.8 meters of mayor axis. This big structure is vertically supported with no columns using twenty pairs of masonry ribs crossing each other, and horizontally supported by means of two elliptical ring beams located at the top of the Church. In order to study this historical building, this paper presents the overall three-dimensional structural numerical analysis of the Church, taking into account different material nonlinearities - including masonry and reinforced concrete - as well as geometrical nonlinearities, such as contact effects among the different structural components of the building. Furthermore, a coupled thermal-structural analysis was carried out considering the summer temperature distribution and the Spanish standard rule dead and live loads. The most relevant results, in terms of maximum displacement, stress and, cracking and crushing phenomena are presented. Finally, valuable information from the interaction among the structural elements of the Church are discussed and the most critical points of the building are located, giving place to the most important conclusions of the nonlinear numerical analysis of this interesting structure

Surface Structure of Tetrahedral-Coordinated Amorphous Diamond-Like Carbon Films Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

The structure and composition of tetrahedral-coordinated amorphous diamond-like carbon films (a-tC) grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of graphite has been studied with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The nanometer-scale surface structure has been studied as a function of growth parameters (e.g., laser energy density and film thickness) using contact-mode and tapping-mode AFM. Although the surfaces were found to be generally smooth, they exhibited reproducible structural features on several size scales which correlate with the variation of laser energy and th excited ion etching

Remotely‐sensed slowing down in spatially patterned dryland ecosystems

Environmental Biolog

Remotely‐sensed slowing down in spatially patterned dryland ecosystems

Environmental Biolog

A dysregulation in CES1, APOE and other lipid metabolism-related genes is associated to cardiovascular risk factors linked to obesity

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the differential expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in subcutaneous adipose tissue and metabolic syndrome features in lean and obese subjects with habitual high fat intake. METHODS: Microarray and RT-PCR analysis were used to analyze and validate differential gene expression in subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue samples from lean and obese phenotype subjects. RESULTS: Several genes and transcripts involved in lipolysis were down-regulated, such as AKAP1, PRKAR2B, Gi and CIDEA, whereas NPY1R and CES1 were up-regulated, when comparing obese to lean subjects. Similarly, transcripts associated with cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism showed a differential expression, with APOE and ABCA being decreased and VLDLR being increased in obese versus lean subjects. In addition, positive correlations were found between different markers of the metabolic syndrome and CES1 and NPY1R mRNA expressions, while APOE showed an inverse association with some of them. CONCLUSION: Different expression patterns in transcripts encoding for proteins involved in lipolysis and lipoprotein metabolism were found between lean and obese subjects. Moreover, the dysregulation of genes such as CES1 and APOE seems to be associated with some physiopathological markers of insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors in obesity