The Organic Market in Switzerland and the EU - Overview and market access information for producers and international trading companies

The organic market is highly diverse. Production standards and certification and trade rules place considerable demands upon market participants. At the same time, this market holds out excellent opportunities for creative and circumspect producers, processors and traders. To operate successfully in organic import and export business alike, it is crucial to have accurate information on the potential of the specific organic market and on the conditions governing market access. The attractively designed handbook offers the very latest market information for producers an international trading companies, organized both by product group an by country on 80 pages. This second edition is updated in all chapters and has in addition three new markets: Austria, Italy and Sweden. In addition, the handbook provides an easily accessible overview of the - in some instances - quite complicates - import requirements applicable in Switzerland and the EU. In a further 50-page appendix, the handbook contains an extensive collection of addresses (trading companies, authorities, certification bodies, organizations etc.) and Internet Websites. The second edition of this handbook has been produced in English

Bildung relational denken. Eine strukturtheoretische Präzisierung des transformatorischen Bildungsbegriffs anhand von Robert Kegans Entwicklungstheorie

Embedded in the theory of adult education (andragogy) this PhD-thesis takes up the chal-lenge proclaimed by the biography research based on the concept of Bildung and seeks to define the concept of transformational Bildung more precisely. To overcome the identified stagnation in this research field, this thesis proposes a change from qualitative research para-digm to relational paradigm and introduces the relational logic of development as methodol-ogy of relational thinking. The application of the results of the informal axiomatization of Robert Kegan’s theory of human development to the concept of transformational Bildung as well as the use of various approaches based on relational communication theories allowed to provide a more precise definition of the concept of transformational Bildung. In this thesis Bildung is defined as a process of transformation of individual’s rules of mean-ing making caused by a person’s confrontation with the rules of meaning making of a higher order. From the observer’s perspective the structure of the Bildung process can be described as a transition from one context rule to another. The developed model of context levels of meaning making allows defining types of signs (ZA) that enable to measure the levels in the process of Bildung. Furthermore, this model allows determining three types of context rules (XR), which – according to the relational logic of development – represent principles of meaning making seen as rules for relating signs. Thus, on the one hand, the model of context levels of meaning making has succeeded to specify the concept of transformational Bildung and, on the other hand, has proven the effectiveness of the structuralist method for the rela-tional adult education research

Assessment of irregularities in organic imports from Ukraine to the EU in 2016, notified in OFIS

The underlying study of this report set out to improve the understanding situation concerning residues found in organic food products exported from Ukraine, and to formulate guidelines for identifying and reducing risks for contamination through non-permitted substances based on the results of an in-depth analysis of those residue cases notified in the European Commission’s Organic Farming Information System (OFIS) in 2016. Not surprisingly, the combination of various factors such as (i) the additional sampling required by the new EU import guidelines, (ii) the growing number of exported organic lots from Ukraine, and (iii) the improved analysis technology, led to an increased total number of cases of irregularities notified in OFIS in comparison to previous years. Nevertheless, the number of irregularities in Ukraine in 2016, notified in OFIS, is moderate (affecting estimated < 1% of all exported consignments from Ukraine). Of the lots affected, two thirds were ultimately released as “organic” after additional investigations had been carried out by the respective export CB. Yet, if analysis results of samples taken by the CB’s prior the export, i.e. from crops during the growing season and from lots before they are released for export are included in the risk assessment, Ukraine and its neighbouring countries do need to be considered as relatively high risk countries in terms of contamination and irregularities. It is further interesting to note that the likeliness of residue findings vary a lot among different CBs. The reasons why some CB’s have a high share of residue findings whereas for others proportionally much less residues are found are unclear and should be the subject of further assessments. One assumption is that some CBs took risk-oriented samples whereas others did not. Sampling during the production process (field/leafs and dust) effectively supports organic integrity. Most CB nevertheless focus on residue free final products. The way a CB responds on detected irregularities, i.e. investigates a case and derives “lessons learnt” is very important. A majority of OFIS cases from Ukrainian exports seems to be linked to insufficient management of handling procedure during the storage processes and the transport. However, drift on the field or the intentional use of unauthorised substances are also potential sources of irregularities related to exports from Ukraine. Apart from those cases for which likely root causes have been identified, no clear explanation for discrepancies between lab results between export and import countries could be found for nearly one third of the Ukrainian OFIS cases. Further investigations should be carried out to help identify the reasons for the relatively large differences between the lab results of samples taken from the same trade lots. It is important to better understand these discrepancies in sample measurements because these may lead to significant negative economic impacts for everyone involved in the value chain, even though no rules may have been broken. Another recommendation resulting from this study is to focus more on detecting potential contaminations on the field during the period of crop cultivation. Special attention should be given here to the testing of leaf sample of crops in which contamination has been detected in the past: rapeseeds, sunflower seeds or high quality milling wheat. CB’s should have guidelines on how and when leaf samples should be best taken. Ukrainian organic operators often complain that all Ukrainian operators are put in the same basket and treated as high-risk suppliers. In response to the stricter regulations imposed on them, operators and experts participating in the International Conference “Improving Integrity of Organic Supply Chains” in Odesa 2017 called for an amendment of the inspection policy. Instead of labelling entire countries as high-risk, focus should rather be placed on risky value chains. Supply chains considered high-risk should be relieved from extra measures, once they have demonstrated consistent compliance

Group Certification. Internal Control Systems in Organic Agriculture: Significance, Opportunities and Challenges

About 80% of the world’s organic producers are smallholders in low and middle income countries, for whom individual certification would be unaffordable and administratively too complex to manage. These producers are recognised as organic due to group certification, a system in which groups of farmers implement an Internal Control System (ICS) and are certified by a third party certification body, which assesses the performance of the ICS and performs a representative number of spot-check inspections of group members. The approach of using ICS based group certification was pioneered by IFOAM – Organics International (IFOAM) and Fair Trade over the past twenty years has been adopted by the entire organic sector, including the EU and the US National Organic Programme. Very similar approaches are used, and have been further developed, by other voluntary sustainability certification programmes. Group certification is the only way that smallholder farmers in low-income countries can access certified international markets and besides reducing certification costs and complexity it also provides other important benefits. Yet, despite the (increasing) global importance of group certification in organic agriculture, there have been few studies that explicitly address the specific issues related to it. This study aims to fill that gap. It examines the current scale and scope of group certification by region and country and draws on a literature review, a stakeholder survey and expert interviews in order to identify the strengths of, success factors, and challenges facing, ICS. It assesses the importance of the individual elements of ICS, how effectively they are implemented and the opportunities for the further development of group certificatio

Henne, Hahn und Ei – ein Marketingexperiment zur Vermarktung von Zweinutzungshuhnprodukten

Die vorliegende explorative Studie untersucht die situativen Faktoren am POS zur Erklärung der Wahrnehmung und des Einkaufsverhaltens bei Fleisch von Zweinutzungsgeflügel. Im Rahmen eines transdisziplinären Forschungsprojektes wurde ein Marketingexperiment durchgeführt. Der Test eines Regals für die Präsentation von Eiern und TK Fleisch von Zweinutzungsgeflügel zeigte, dass Flexitarier im Biosupermarkt ein auf die Frischetheke ausgerichtetes routiniertes Einkaufsverhalten haben. Das Marktpotential für Fleisch von Zweinutzungsgeflügel zu erschließen, bedeutet dass Wertschöpfungskettenakteure - z.T. auch entgegen kurzfristigen ökonomischen Interessen - koordiniert kommunizieren müssen

Editorial: Intracellular Mechanisms of α-Synuclein Processing

Editorial on the Research Topic Intracellular Mechanisms of α-Synuclein Processin

Microdosing for drug delivery application—A review

There is an increasing amount of research on microfluidic actuators with the aim to improve drug dosing applications. Micropumps are promising as they reduce the size and energy consumption of dosing concepts and enable new therapies. Even though there are evident advantages, there are only few examples of industrial microdosing units and micropump technology has not yet found widespread application. To answer the evoked question of what limits the application of microdosing technology for drug delivery, this work provides a comprehensive insight into the subject of drug dosing. We highlight and analyse specific microfluidic challenges and requirements in medical dosing: safety relevant aspects, such as prevention of freeflow and backflow; dosing-specific requirements, such as dosing precision and stability; and system-specific aspects, such as size, weight, and power restrictions or economic aspects. Based on these requirements, we evaluate the suitability of different mechanical micropumps and actuation mechanisms for drug administration. In addition to research work, we present industrial microdosing systems that are commercially available or close to market release. We then summarize outstanding technical solutions that ensure sufficient fluidic performance, guarantee a safe use, and fulfil the specific requirements of medical microdosing

Management von Innovationsprozessen für nachhaltige Entwicklung

Ein Wandel in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit erfordert Innovationen in vielen Bereichen wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Handelns. Ein neues Instrument erleichtert die Steuerung der notwendigen Innovationsprozesse

Composites en matières premières renouvelables et leurs procédés

National audienceThe development of new bio-based composites and efficient manufacturing methods that are suitable for series processing is the purpose of the current sub-project C4 of the Excellence Cluster MERGE, sponsored by DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Two different types of materials are combined: bio-based thermoplastic biopolymers such as bio-polyethylene (BioPE) or bio-polyamides (BioPA) and renewable reinforcing materials such as thin wood veneer or unidirectional flax fibers. To achieve a high-efficiency in terms of mass-production, reproducibility and flexibility, it is required to overlap several steps in the realization of semi-finished and final products. The improvement of the adhesion at the interface of the components, the implementation of continuous processes in order to increase energetically the yielding and the final design, through several methods, for the future potential applications are so many perspectives to achieve. MOTS-CLÉS : polymère bio-basé thermoplastique; renforcement naturel (Lin ou placage en bois) ; Amélioration de l'adhésion à l'interface matrice/renforcement ; Procédés plastic/textile continu ; Application dans l'automobile et équipement sportifsLe développement de matériaux bio-basés et de méthodes efficaces de mise en forme, adaptable à la production en série, est le but de l'actuel sous-projet C4 du programme d'excellence MERGE financé par la DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Ainsi, deux types de matériaux sont combinés : Des polymères bio-ressourcés thermoplastiques tels que bio-polyéthylène (BioPE) ou bio-polyamide (BioPA) et des matériaux de renforcements renouvelables tels que le placage en bois ou des fibres de lin unidirectionnelles continues. Pour atteindre un haut rendement en termes de production en masse, de reproductibilité et de flexibilité, il est requis de suivre plusieurs étapes dans la réalisation de produits semi-finis et finis. L'amélioration de l'adhésion à l'interface des composantes, la mise en place de procédés continus afin d'augmenter leur rendement, et la mise en forme finale, par diverses méthodes, pour des futures potentiels applications sont autant d'objectifs à atteindre