Insect decline, an emerging global environmental risk

The Earth’s entomofauna seems in an ongoing state of collapse. Insect decline could pose a global risk to key insect-mediated ecosystem functions and services such as soil and freshwater functions (nutrient cycling, soil formation, decomposition, and water purification), biological pest control, pollination services and food web support that all are critical to ecosystem functioning, human health and human survival. At present the attention for insect decline is low in all domains, ranging from scientific research to policy-making to nature conservation. Scientists made urgent calls to prioritise insect conservation. An international treaty for global pollinator stewardship and pollinator ecosystem restoration is urgently needed to counteract the current crisis. A review of insect pollinator conservation policies found that despite scientific calls and public outcry to develop polices that addresses declines, governments have not delivered such legislation, nor have they met basic monitoring needs recommended by experts.publishedVersio

Silver as a constraint for a large-scale development of solar photovoltaics? Scenario-making to the year 2050 supported by expert engagement and global sensitivity analysis

In this study we assess whether availability of silver could constrain a large-scale deployment of solar photovoltaics (PV). While silver-paste use in photovoltaics cell metallization is becoming more efficient, solar photovoltaics power capacity installation is growing at an exponential pace. Along photovoltaics, silver is also employed in an array of industrial and non-industrial applications. The trends of these uses are examined up to the year 2050. The technical coefficients for the expansion in photovoltaics power capacity and contraction in silver paste use have been assessed through an expert-consultation process. The trend of use in the non-PV sectors has been estimated through an ARIMA (auto-regressive integrated moving average) model. The yearly and cumulative silver demand are evaluated against the technological potential for increasing silver mining and the estimates of its global natural availability, respectively. The model implemented is tested with a quasi-random Monte Carlo variance-based global sensitivity analysis. The result of our inquiry is that silver may not represent a constraint for a very-large-scale deployment of photovoltaics (up to tens TW in installed power capacity) provided the present decreasing trend in the use of silver paste in the photovoltaics sector continues at an adequate pace. Silver use in non-photovoltaic sectors plays also a tangible influence on potential constraints. In terms of natural constraints, most of the uncertainty is dependent on the actual estimates of silver natural budget

A dynamical system approach to higher order gravity

The dynamical system approach has recently acquired great importance in the investigation on higher order theories of gravity. In this talk I review the main results and I give brief comments on the perspectives for further developments.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, talk given at IRGAC 2006, July 200

Bench-to-bedside review: Bacterial pneumonia with influenza - pathogenesis and clinical implications

Seasonal and pandemic influenza are frequently complicated by bacterial infections, causing additional hospitalization and mortality. Secondary bacterial respiratory infection can be subdivided into combined viral/bacterial pneumonia and post-influenza pneumonia, which differ in their pathogenesis. During combined viral/bacterial infection, the virus, the bacterium and the host interact with each other. Post-influenza pneumonia may, at least in part, be due to resolution of inflammation caused by the primary viral infection. These mechanisms restore tissue homeostasis but greatly impair the host response against unrelated bacterial pathogens. In this review we summarize the underlying mechanisms leading to combined viral/bacterial infection or post-influenza pneumonia and highlight important considerations for effective treatment of bacterial pneumonia during and shortly after influenza

Здійснення колективного управління авторськими і суміжними правами

Стаття присвячена основним тенденціям розвитку національного законодавства про колективне управління майновими правами суб’єктів авторського права і суміжних прав. Виявлення суперечностей між національним та міжнародним законодавством, розробка пропозицій подолання цих суперечностей та внесення пропозицій щодо створення та діяльності в Україні єдиної організації, яка б опікувалась проблемами захисту авторських і суміжних прав, справедливо контролювала не тільки збір, а й розподіл відрахувань за авторськими і суміжними правами, що б і поліпшило захист прав її учас­ників.Статья посвящена основным тенденциям развития национального законодатель­ства о коллективном управлении имущественными правами субъектов авторского права и смежных прав. Выявлению противоречий между национальным и международ­ным законодательством, разработка предложений о преодолении этих противоречий и внесение предложений о создании и деятельности в Украине единой организации, которая бы опекалась проблемами защиты авторских и смежных прав, и которая бы справедливо контролировала не только сбор, но и распределение отчислений по авторским и смежным правам, в следствии чего и улучшилась бы защита прав ее участни­ков.The article is dedicated to the main national legislation trends which is regulated relations in the sphere of the collective management of copyrights and related rights of subjects’ copyrights and related rights. Detection of collision between national and international legislation, elaboration of suggestions for theirs overcoming. Also making a motion about creat­ing and working the single collective management of copyrights and related rights in Ukraine for monitoring not only collection but also distribute royalties. Thus the defence of subjects’ copyrights and related rights would be improved

Dealing with uncertainties in environmental burden of disease assessment

Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) combine the number of people affected by disease or mortality in a population and the duration and severity of their condition into one number. The environmental burden of disease is the number of DALYs that can be attributed to environmental factors. Environmental burden of disease estimates enable policy makers to evaluate, compare and prioritize dissimilar environmental health problems or interventions. These estimates often have various uncertainties and assumptions which are not always made explicit. Besides statistical uncertainty in input data and parameters – which is commonly addressed – a variety of other types of uncertainties may substantially influence the results of the assessment. We have reviewed how different types of uncertainties affect environmental burden of disease assessments, and we give suggestions as to how researchers could address these uncertainties. We propose the use of an uncertainty typology to identify and characterize uncertainties. Finally, we argue that uncertainties need to be identified, assessed, reported and interpreted in order for assessment results to adequately support decision making

Анализ отдаленных результатов санаторно-курортного лечения детей с реактивными артритами

На підставі вивчення віддалених результатів санаторно-курортного лікування з використанням клініко-лабораторних і функціональних параметрів 50 дітей з реактивними артритами встановлений сприятливий ефект в перебігу захворювання, що виявлялося відсутністю загострень, поліпшенням клінічної картини захворювання, зменшенням проявів суглобового синдрому, підвищенням функціональної активності нервово-м'язового апарату, поліпшенням показників якості життя.On the basis of study of remote results of resort medical treatment with the use of clinics,-laboratory and functional at 50 children with reactive arthritics a favorable effect in the flow of disease is set, that showed up absence of intensifications, improvement of clinical picture of disease, reduction of displays of joint syndrome, rise of functional activity of muscle vehicle, by the improvement of indexes of quality of life