Risk assessment for small farmers exposed to plant protection products in the Niger River valley

peer reviewedPlant protection products play a very important role in agriculture. However, their misuse can have serious negative impacts both on human health and environment. A study was carried out to identify the plant protection products used in the Niger River valley and to observe the local pesticide management practices. Ten active substances were identified as the most used chemicals by farmers. Their toxicological properties were characterized and their respective Potential Dermal Exposures (PDE) was evaluated in order to assess the risk level for the local small growers. The UK Predictive Operator Exposure Model was used to quantify the PDE during mixing/loading and application according to the local practices. The survey shows that the most common active substances are organophosphate or pyrethroids insecticides. In addition, some other prohibited and counterfeit pesticides cocktails are also used. All active substances used in Niger River valley are highly toxic. When sprayed without personal protective equipment (PPE) they could induce significant harmful impacts on the human health after exposure. The predictive exposure levels vary from 0.0013 mg/kg bw/day to 0.4125 mg/kg bw/day, several times higher the Acceptable Operator Exposure Level (AOEL) for all actives substances. The survey also revealed that 76% of operators do not use any PPE during mixing/loading or spraying. Other bad practices observed in study area can increase the exposure of operators. Moreover, local consumers could also be exposed through intake of pesticide residues on harvested products

A Concept for Attribute-Based Authorization on D-Grid Resources

In Germany's D-Grid project numerous Grid communities are working together to provide a common overarching Grid infrastructure. The major aims of D-Grid are the integration of existing Grid deployments and their interoperability. The challenge lies in the heterogeneity of the current implementations: three Grid middleware stacks and different Virtual Organization management approaches have to be embraced to achieve the intended goals. In this article we focus oil the implementation of an attribute-based authorization infrastructure that not only leverages the well-known VO attributes but also campus attributes managed by a Shibboleth federation

Temperature and Strain-Rate Effects on Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Alloy 800H

The effects of strain rate (4 x 10(exp -6) to 4 x 10(exp -3)/s) and temperature on the Low-Cycle Fatigue (LCF) behavior of alloy 800H have been evaluated in the range 750 C to 950 C. Total axial strain controlled LCF tests were conducted in air at a strain amplitude of +/- 0.30 pct. LCF life decreased with decreasing strain rate and increasing temperature. The cyclic stress response behavior showed a marked variation with temperature and strain rate. The time- and temperature- dependent processes which influence the cyclic stress response and life have been identified and their relative importance assessed. Dynamic strain aging, time-dependent deformation, precipitation of parallel platelets of M(23)C6 on grain boundaries and incoherent ledges of twins, and oxidation were found to operate depending on the test conditions. The largest effect on life was shown by oxidation processes

IPM in Asia - A review of existing projects in the Philippines and Indonesia

peer reviewedIntegrated Pest Management means a pest management system that, in the context of the associated environment and the population dynamics of the pest species, utilizes ail suitable techniques and methods in as compatible a manner as possible and maintains the pest populations at levels below those causing economically unacceptable damage or 1055. FAO-Code- of Conduct 1984

IPM in Asia - A review of existing projects in the Philippines and Indonesia

peer reviewedIntegrated Pest Management means a pest management system that, in the context of the associated environment and the population dynamics of the pest species, utilizes ail suitable techniques and methods in as compatible a manner as possible and maintains the pest populations at levels below those causing economically unacceptable damage or 1055. FAO-Code- of Conduct 1984

WS-PGRADE/gUSE in European Projects

Besides core project partners, the SCI-BUS project also supported several external user communities in developing and setting up customized science gateways. The focus was on large communities typically represented by other European research projects. However, smaller local efforts with the potential of generalizing the solution to wider communities were also supported. This chapter gives an overview of support activities related to user communities external to the SCI-BUS project. A generic overview of such activities is provided followed by the detailed description of three gateways developed in collaboration with European projects: the agINFRA Science Gateway for Workflows for agricultural research, the VERCE Science Gateway for seismology, and the DRIHM Science Gateway for weather research and forecasting

Increasing girls' knowledge about human papillomavirus vaccination with a pre-test and a national leaflet: A quasi-experimental study

Background: Adolescent girls are at an age to be involved in the decision about HPV vaccination uptake and therefore need adequate information about the vaccination. This study assesses to what extent reading an official information leaflet about HPV contributes to girls' knowledge levels, and to what extent an increase in knowledge is boosted by a pre-test measurement. Methods. Participants (girls aged 11-14 years) were systematically allocated to group A that completed a pre-test measurement (12 true/false statements) or to group B that did not complete it. Subsequently, both groups read the HPV leaflet and completed the post-test measurement. Results: The response rate was 237/287 (83%). Pre-test scores in group A (M = 3.6, SD = 1.81, p < 0.001) were lower than post-test mean knowledge scores (0-10) in group B (M = 4.6, SD = 2.05). Post-test knowledge scores in group A were higher than those in group B [6.2 (SD = 2.06) versus 4.6 (SD = 2.05), p < 0.001]. In the post-test measurement, about a third of both groups knew that vaccinations do not give 100% protection against cervical cancer and that the duration of protection is unknown. Conclusions: Reading the information leaflet had a positive effect on knowledge, even more so when boosted by a pre-test measurement. However, knowledge on the degree and duration of protection against cervical cancer remained limited. Focusing girls' attention on important aspects before they start reading the leaflet (e.g. by including a quiz on the first page) may serve to raise their awareness of these aspects

Integrating evolution into ecological modelling: accommodating phenotypic changes in agent based models.

PMCID: PMC3733718This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Evolutionary change is a characteristic of living organisms and forms one of the ways in which species adapt to changed conditions. However, most ecological models do not incorporate this ubiquitous phenomenon. We have developed a model that takes a 'phenotypic gambit' approach and focuses on changes in the frequency of phenotypes (which differ in timing of breeding and fecundity) within a population, using, as an example, seasonal breeding. Fitness per phenotype calculated as the individual's contribution to population growth on an annual basis coincide with the population dynamics per phenotype. Simplified model variants were explored to examine whether the complexity included in the model is justified. Outputs from the spatially implicit model underestimated the number of individuals across all phenotypes. When no phenotype transitions are included (i.e. offspring always inherit their parent's phenotype) numbers of all individuals are always underestimated. We conclude that by using a phenotypic gambit approach evolutionary dynamics can be incorporated into individual based models, and that all that is required is an understanding of the probability of offspring inheriting the parental phenotype