Regulatory relevant and reliable methods and data for determining the environmental fate of manufactured nanomaterials

International audienceThe widespread use of manufactured nanomaterials (MN) increases the need for describing and predicting their environmental fate and behaviour. A number of recent reviews have addressed the scientific challenges in disclosing the governing processes for the environmental fate and behaviour of MNs, however there has been less focus on the regulatory adequacy of the data available for MN. The aim of this paper is therefore to review data, testing protocols and guidance papers which describe the environmental fate and behaviour of MN with a focus on their regulatory reliability and relevance. Given the often identified need for modification of OECD testing guidelines, the use of these cannot per se be assigned high regulatory adequacy. Though the specific test considerations will differ between conventional chemicals and MN, the ultimate endpoints of interest are similar. The water compartment must be considered as one of the main points of entry, facilitating dispersion of MN in the environment and establishing a link to the other environmental compartments such as soil, sediment, air, and biota. Once released to water various processes like dissolution, agglomeration, heteroagglomeration, sedimentation, interaction with natural organic matter, transformation and uptake by biota are processes of high relevance for the fate of MN in water. In the review it is found that the OECD draft test guidelines for dissolution and agglomeration will greatly assist in the generation of regulatory relevant and reliable data. Gaps do however exist in test methods for environmental fate, such as methods to estimate heteroagglomeration and the tendency for MNs to transform in the environment

Applications of periodically structured surfaces on glass

Periodic structures on glass surfaces with dimensions much smaller than a micron can be used in very different applications such as antireflective surfaces and grating couplers for biosensors. The manufacturing technology is briefly described

Integrated natural resource planning

Deciding upon management strategies and use of natural resources becomes more challenging as urban areas expand and human population and consumption levels continue to increase. Given that a larger urban population, interestingly, seems to demand both more resources (products) and greater environmental protection, there will no doubt be a coincident heightening of conflicts over natural resource management in the next century. Making decisions on natural resource allocation and use under such circumstances will become even more complex and difficult than they are today. Skilled people will be needed who can develop an integrated approach to natural resource management that sheds light on the tradeoffs and implications of their decisions. To help address this need, we developed a course in integrated natural resource management with funding received from the Cooperative State Research Service Higher Education Challenge Grants Program. This interdisciplinary course is team-taught and uses a combination of case studies and computerized models

A new and integrated hydro-economic accounting and analytical framework for water resources: A case study for North China

Water is a critical issue in China for a variety of reasons. China is poor of water resources with 2300 m3 of per capita availability, which is less than of the world average. This is exacerbated by regional differences; e.g. North China's water availability is only about 271 m3 of per capita value, which is only of the world's average. Furthermore, pollution contributes to water scarcity and is a major source for diseases, particularly for the poor. The Ministry of Hydrology [1997. China's Regional Water Bullets. Water Resource and Hydro-power Publishing House, Beijing, China] reports that about 65–80% of rivers in North China no longer support any economic activities. Previous studies have emphasized the amount of water withdrawn but rarely take water quality into consideration. The quality of the return flows usually changes; the water quality being lower than the water flows that entered the production process initially. It is especially important to measure the impacts of wastewater to the hydro-ecosystem. Thus, water consumption should not only account for the amount of water inputs but also the amount of water contaminated in the hydro-ecosystem by the discharged wastewater. In this paper we present a new accounting and analytical approach based on economic input–output modelling combined with a mass balanced hydrological model that links interactions in the economic system with interactions in the hydrological system. We thus follow the tradition of integrated economic–ecologic input–output modelling. Our hydro-economic accounting framework and analysis tool allows tracking water consumption on the input side, water pollution leaving the economic system and water flows passing through the hydrological system thus enabling us to deal with water resources of different qualities. Following this method, the results illustrate that North China requires 96% of its annual available water, including both water inputs for the economy and contaminated water that is ineligible for any uses

6G networks : is this an evolution or a revolution?

The lessons learned from the third industrial revolution taught us that the transformation from mechanical and analog technology to digital electronics have changed the world once and forever. While computers and communication networks have become the new oil that defines the wealth of countries, research and industrial communities have been the driving forces that have made this transition possible. In the future, the same communities and stakeholders are required to enable the transition to net-zero communication networks. With reference to mobile communications, 5G is an evolution from all previous networks with the adoption of new radio access technologies, multisliced architecture, cloud-native and automation, and so on. By definition, 5G is a network that adapts to user needs and dynamic changes in traffic, designed to serve a new class of users: “machines.” Therefore, latency has become a critical metric in 5G. Looking forward, 6G shall employ cell-less access networks, integrated nonterrestrial networks, joint sensing and communications, new spectrums such as terahertz (THz) communications, switching from traditional channel-based design paradigms to designing channels through novel technologies such as intelligent reconfigurable surfaces, open interfaces that interconnect all network functions, end-to-end orchestrators, and, most noticeably, artificial intelligence (AI) machines that govern all functional modules and operational services. The various network functions generate traces of various operations that are ingested into databases; then AI will leverage this data for optimized decisions that are reflected into network status transitions, resource utilization, service enhancement, and ultimately lead to self-synthesizing networks. Built upon commercial clouds, 6G will have the flexibility to scale and restructure for more resilient response to traffic fluctuations and user requirements. To this end, cybersecurity features will become an embedded part of network functions to shield the network services not only from external threats but also from hosting domains. From an air interface perspective, 6G will integrate nonterrestrial (space, air, drone, and ocean) communications technologies to connect and route new users such as drones and coastal trading vessels. Furthermore, future wireless networks need to make use of a spectrum that extends into the optical spectrum and includes the THz range. The channel becomes a critical component due to the impact of blockages and random orientations at these frequencies. Active and passive intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs) will become a new wireless system element that will help overcome new challenges related to coverage and the propagation channel

Meeting report : 1st international functional metagenomics workshop May 7–8, 2012, St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada

This report summarizes the events of the 1st International Functional Metagenomics Workshop. The workshop was held on May 7 and 8 in St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada and was focused on building a core international functional metagenomics community, exploring strategic research areas, and identifying opportunities for future collaboration and funding. The workshop was initiated by researchers at the University of Waterloo with support from the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the University of Waterloo

The drivers of Chinese CO2 emissions from 1980 to 2030

China's energy consumption doubled within the first 25 years of economic reforms initiated at the end of the 1970s, and doubled again in the past 5 years. It has resulted of a threefold CO2 emissions increase since early of 1980s. China's heavy reliance on coal will make it the largest emitter of CO2 in the world. By combining structural decomposition and input–output analysis we seek to assess the driving forces of China's CO2 emissions from 1980 to 2030. In our reference scenario, production-related CO2 emissions will increase another three times by 2030. Household consumption, capital investment and growth in exports will largely drive the increase in CO2 emissions. Efficiency gains will be partially offset the projected increases in consumption, but our scenarios show that this will not be sufficient if China's consumption patterns converge to current US levels. Relying on efficiency improvements alone will not stabilize China's future emissions. Our scenarios show that even extremely optimistic assumptions of widespread installation of carbon dioxide capture and storage will only slow the increase in CO2 emissions

Ultrafast X-ray absorption study of longitudinal-transverse phonon coupling in electrolyte aqueous solution

Ultrafast X-ray absorption spectroscopy is applied to study the conversion of longitudinal to transverse phonons in aqueous solution.</p

Wissensmanagement in der Wissenschaft: Wissenschaftsforschung Jahrbuch 2004

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