The Role of Standardisation in the Shaping of a Vision for Nanotechnology

International audienceNanotechnologies are known as emerging technologies. In contrast to this there are already products on the market that claim to incorporate these technologies. This has contributed to the growing interest in the regulation of this field. In this paper, we first introduce the question of regulation in nanotechnologies, then describe the standardisation process and ISO more specifically. This introduction is followed by the main point of the article: we show the specific role that the ISO TC 229 plays in the beginning of the shaping of a collective vision for nanotechnologies. We point to the organisation and re-organisation of TC 229 that allows actors to build a collective representation of the evolving field and build legitimacy at the global level. We argue that beyond the production of standards, this aspect is central in an emerging field that will impact regulators as they design new rules

Pursuing More Sustainable Consumption by Analyzing Household Metabolism in European Countries and Cities

Bringing about more sustainable consumption patterns is an important challenge for society and science. In this article the concept of household metabolism is applied to analyzing consumption patterns and to identifying possibilities for the development of sustainable household consumption patterns. Household metabolism is determined in terms of total energy requirements, including both direct and indirect energy requirements, using a hybrid method. This method enables us to evaluate various determinants of the environmental load of consumption consistently at several levels—the national level, the local level, and the household level. The average annual energy requirement of households varies considerably between the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden, as well as within these countries. The average expenditure level per household explains a large part of the observed variations. Differences between these countries are also related to the efficiency of the production sectors and to the energy supply system. The consumption categories of food, transport, and recreation show the largest contributions to the environmental load. A comparison of consumer groups with different household characteristics shows remarkable differences in the division of spending over the consumption categories. Thus, analyses of different types of households are important for providing a basis for options to induce decreases of the environmental load of household consumption. At the city level, options for change are provided by an analysis of the city infrastructure, which determines a large part of the direct energy use by households (for transport and heating). At the national level, energy efficiency in production and in electricity generation is an important trigger for decreasing household energy requirements.

Risk, responsibility, rights, regulation and representation in the value chain of nano-products

This chapter reports on a research project which addresses one key question and a number of sub-questions. The key question is, what are the salient dimensions of the commercialisation and governance of nano-enabled products, covering regulation, risks, responsibilities, consumer rights, and representations to the consumer? The sub-question, and the particular focus of this paper is, how are nano-enabled products destined for consumer markets labelled and marketed? Within this more specifically, how do producers perceive and strategically target consumers, and communicate with them (or not) about the nano-component of their products? Then, does the way that consumers are conceived of and understood by different actors along the value chain change in terms of how the product is marketed? Finally, what are the ethical, governance and regulatory implications of the answers to these questions? The chapter builds on an ongoing collaborative project between SIFO (Norway's National Institute for Consumer Research) and the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research at Manchester Business School, UK. The work is a comparison of ethical aspects in the marketing of nanoproducts in Norway and the UK. This chapter provides preliminary findings and some reflections based on empirical material; an analysis of web-based and other communications, interviews along the value chain, i.e. with producers, importers , retailers and other 'intermediaries'; and eight group discussions across the two countries focussing on cosmetics and textiles. © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved

Dual-polarized chipless humidity sensor tag

In this letter, a miniaturized, flexible and high data dense dual-polarized chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is presented. The tag is designed within a minuscule footprint of 29 × 29 mm2 and has the ability to encode 38-bit data. The tag is analyzed for flexible substrates including Kapton® HN DuPont™ and HP photopaper. The humidity sensing phenomenon is demonstrated by mapping the tag design, using silver nano-particle based conductive ink on HP photopaper substrate. It is observed that with the increasing moisture, the humidity sensing behavior is exhibited in RF range of 4.1–17.76 GHz. The low-cost, bendable and directly printable humidity sensor tag can be deployed in a number of intelligent tracking applications

The regulatory landscape of plastic governance - a Norwegian perspective

In this report we co-produced a matrix of governance fragmentation in the Norwegian plastic value chain to assess where there are overlaps, interplay and synergies to be aligned. This also included an assessment of the global level of plastic regulatory fragmentation as it relates to the upcoming negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution.Norges forskningsrådpublishedVersio

The genome sequence of the hydrocarbon-degrading Acinetobacter venetianus VE-C3

Here we report the genome sequence of Acinetobacter venetianus VE-C3, a strain isolated from the Venice Lagoon and known to be able to degrade n-alkanes. Post sequencing analyses revealed that this strain is relatively distantly related to the other Acinetobacter strains completely sequenced so far as shown by phylogenetic analysis and pangenome analysis (1285 genes shared with all the other Acinetobacter genomes sequenced so far). A. venetianus VE-C3 possesses a wide range of determinants whose molecular functions are probably related to the survival in a strongly impacted ecological niche. Among them, genes probably involved in the metabolism of long-chain n-alkanes and in the resistance to toxic metals (e.g. arsenic, cadmium, cobalt and zinc) were found. Genes belonging to these processes were found both on the chromosome and on plasmids. Also, our analysis documented one of the possible genetic bases underlying the strategy adopted by A. venetianus VE-C3 for the adhesion to oil fuel droplets, which could account for the differences existing in this process with other A. venetianus strains. Finally, the presence of a number of DNA mobilization-related genes (i.e. transposases, integrases, resolvases) strongly suggests an important role played by horizontal gene transfer in shaping the genome of A. venetianus VE-C3 and in its adaptation to its special ecological niche

Crude oil depletion by bacterial strains isolated from a petroleum hydrocarbon impacted solid waste management site in California

This research is part of a multidisciplinary research program to develop a bioremediation protocol for a solid waste management (SWM) site in Northern California - a site which is heavily contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. In this initial study, 30 bacterial strains were isolated and evaluated for their efficiencies to deplete crude oil. The 3 most efficient bacterial isolates for crude oil depletion were designated as S1BD1, OPKDS2, and OSDS1; they were identified as Serratia proteamaculans, Alcaligenes sp. and Rhodococcus erythropolis, respectively, based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequences. Determination of crude oil depletion efficiency by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed that Serratia proteamaculans S1BD1 was the most efficient (68.0 ± 1.78%), followed by Alcaligenes sp. OPKDS2 (63.7 ± 3.28%), and Rhodococcus erythropolis OSDS1 (54.9 ± 5.07%). S. proteamaculans S1BD1 was able to deplete a wide spectrum of carbon compounds within the individual components of crude oil. Alcaligenes sp. OPKDS2 was the most efficient at depleting BTEX (91.2 ± 1.90%), and R. erythropolis OSDS1 exhibited a substrate preference of n-alkanes. All three strains exhibited unusually high crude oil depletion efficiencies and tolerated a wide range of salinity and pH levels, which makes them excellent candidates for bioaugmentation of the SWM site