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Background: Tobacco-smoke, airborne, and dietary exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been associated with reduced prenatal growth. Evidence from biomarker-based studies of low-exposed populations is limited. Bulky DNA adducts in cord blood reflect the prenatal effective dose to several genotoxic agents including PAHs. Objectives: We estimated the association between bulky DNA adduct levels and birth weight in a multicenter study and examined modification of this association by maternal intake of fruits and vegetables during pregnancy. Methods: Pregnant women from Denmark, England, Greece, Norway, and Spain were recruited in 2006–2010. Adduct levels were measured by the 32P-postlabeling technique in white blood cells from 229 mothers and 612 newborns. Maternal diet was examined through questionnaires. Results: Adduct levels in maternal and cord blood samples were similar and positively correlated (median, 12.1 vs. 11.4 adducts in 108 nucleotides; Spearman rank correlation coefficient = 0.66, p < 0.001). Cord blood adduct levels were negatively associated with birth weight, with an estimated difference in mean birth weight of –129 g (95% CI: –233, –25 g) for infants in the highest versus lowest tertile of adducts. The negative association with birth weight was limited to births in Norway, Denmark, and England, the countries with the lowest adduct levels, and was more pronounced in births to mothers with low intake of fruits and vegetables (–248 g; 95% CI: –405, –92 g) compared with those with high intake (–58 g; 95% CI: –206, 90 g). Conclusions: Maternal exposure to genotoxic agents that induce the formation of bulky DNA adducts may affect intrauterine growth. Maternal fruit and vegetable consumption may be protective. ; The NewGeneris (Newborns and Genotoxic exposure risks) study was funded by the European Union (EU contract FOOD-CT-2005-016320). The study/nwas also supported by the National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom (programme grant RP-PG-0407-10044), the Norwegian Ministry of/nHealth, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, the Norwegian Research Council/FUGE (grant 151918/S10), the EU funded HiWATE (contract Food-CT-2006-036224), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (contract NO-ES-75558), and the U.S. NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grant 1 UO1 NS 047537-01). M.P. holds a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship awarded from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (JCI-2011-09479)

"What are corporations, and to whom are they responsible? Anthropologist Marina Welker draws on two years of research at Newmont Mining Corporation's Denver headquarters and its Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Sumbawa, Indonesia, to address these questions. She shows how, against the backdrop of an emerging Corporate Social Responsibility movement and changing state dynamics in Indonesia, people enact the mining corporation in multiple ways: as an ore producer, employer, patron, promoter of sustainable development, religious sponsor, auditable organization, foreign imperialist, and environmental threat. Rather than assuming that corporations are monolithic, profit-maximizing subjects, Welker turns to anthropological theories of personhood to develop an analytic model of the corporation as an unstable collective subject with multiple authors, boundaries, and interests. Enacting the Corporation demonstrates that corporations are constituted through continuous struggles over relations with--and responsibilities to--local communities, workers, activists, governments, contractors, and shareholders"--

Conservation biology was founded on the idea that efforts to save nature depend on a scientific understanding of how it works. It sought to apply ecological principles to conservation problems. We investigated whether the relationship between these fields has changed over time through machine reading the full texts of 32,000 research articles published in 16 ecology and conservation biology journals. We examined changes in research topics in both fields and how the fields have evolved from 2000 to 2014. As conservation biology matured, its focus shifted from ecology to social and political aspects of conservation. The 2 fields diverged and now occupy distinct niches in modern science. We hypothesize this pattern resulted from increasing recognition that social, economic, and political factors are critical for successful conservation and possibly from rising skepticism about the relevance of contemporary ecological theory to practical conservation. Article Impact statement: Quantitative literature evaluation reveals that the research topics of ecology and conservation biology are drawing apart. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Relevance. The rapid development of the transportation industry has led to economic development and at the same time has had a negative impact on the environment, especially in developing countries. Taxation can play an important role in regulating the number of vehicles in the country. Unfortunately, in China, taxation does not fully play its regulatory role.Research objective. This article focuses on the problems of environmental pollution and traffic congestions in large cities and ways of tackling them with the help of transportation tax reforms. Data and methods. This article adopts the method of comparative analysis and selects countries such as Japan, Singapore, and France to analyze their experience with that of China in the sphere of transportation taxation. The analysis concentrates around the three main aspects of taxation: vehicle purchase, vehicle use and discarding of old vehicles. The research data are taken from the Chinese government's official website and the results of previous research.Results. There is still a lot of room for improvement in China's transportation taxation system. Feasible suggestions should be drawn up to improve the existing taxation policies.Conclusions. In order to improve China's transport taxation policy, the study makes a number of proposals regarding the tax on the purchase of vehicles, tax on the use of vehicles and ships, tax on the consumption of refined oil, etc. These proposals can help China embark on a sustainable development path to achieve the goal of coordinated economic, environmental and energy development.

This book examines trade and trafficking in endangered animal species and how the trade increasingly puts large numbers of nonhuman species at risk. Focusing on illegal trafficking, the book also discusses the harmful aspects of the trade and trafficking which is taking place in concordance with laws and regulations. Drawing on the findings of empirical research from Norway and Colombia, the study discusses how this global, transnational trend is addressed, and features of the trade and the ways in which it is controlled in the two case study locations. It also explores the motives driving the trade, and the consequences in terms of animal abuse and environmental harm. The book discusses whether internationally agreed measures, such as international conventions, actually help prevent the trade. Possible ways to address the harms of wildlife trade are considered, including a total ban. The work draws on a green criminology and eco feminist theoretical framework to provide a broad perspective on concepts such as harm, animal rights, species justice and speciesism

The concept of ecofascism describes the distortion of ecology for the purpose of gaining greater and wider audience, popularising ideologies and fulfilling xenophobic and nationalistic goals by regimes such as the far-right agenda and the radical ecological groups. This study investigates the issue of ecofascism in Europe, using the example of Greece, by examining the views of the citizens of Greece on the links between the political parties and ecology and environment. A survey of 600 people was conducted in Greece, using questionnaires on ecofascism, politics and ecological issues. The survey showed that the sample has, in general, humanistic, democratic and quite left-wing ideals. However, some of the respondents indicated nationalistic, even fascist, trends. Because the current socio-economic and political conditions in Europe can fuel an outbreak of fascism, we should be very cautious about these findings, due to the growing impact of far-right ideas on society. Some aspects of the ecofascist rhetoric still continue to mislead, revealing the sly and worrying penetration of fascism in Greek society on the pretext of the protection of the Greek environment.

"In Thinking beyond Boundaries--written under the direction of West Point social sciences faculty for its Student Conference on US Affairs, or SCUSA--contributors introduce undergraduates to aspects of transnational conflict that extend beyond traditional political and intellectual boundaries, providing context to a variety of contemporary issues, including immigration, terrorism, and environmental security. This volume aims to challenge students by asking them to behave not as passive observers, but as decision makers who engage in policy-level debate and formulate specific policy recommendations. Well acquainted with the demands of classroom discussion, the contributors know how to make world politics and foreign policy accessible to students, and they provide recommended readings and resources at the end of each chapter.The book asks students to consider how the United States promotes or even determines an effective and appropriate policy response to boundary-spanning problems. Since future political and military leaders, as well as policymakers, will face the challenge of collective action within the confines of an uncoordinated international system, the book urges them to consider what role domestic and foreign factors should play in their decision-making processes. Thinking beyond Boundaries's three-part organization--which considers the blurred line between domestic and foreign policy; the cross-border implications of foreign policy; and the challenges and opportunities that extend beyond the boundaries separating the world's regions--coupled with recommended reading lists will help students develop a foundation with which to approach the substantial topic of "foreign policy." Touching on a number of concerns--including civil-military relations and the global challenges involved with hacking, foreign aid, weapons proliferation, international trade, and climate change--this book draws thoughtful conclusions about the proper role of the United States around the world"--

This open access book covers comprehensive but fundamental principles and concepts of disaster and accident prevention and mitigation, countermeasures, and recovery from disasters or accidents including treatment and care of the victims. Safety and security problems in our society involve not only engineering but also social, legal, economic, cultural, and psychological issues. The enhancement needed for societal safety includes comprehensive activities of all aspects from precaution to recovery, not only of people but also of governments. In this context, the authors, members of the Faculty of Societal Safety Science, Kansai University, conducted many discussions and concluded that the major strategy is consistent independently of the type and magnitude of disaster or accident, being also the principle of the foundation of our faculty. The topics treated in this book are rather widely distributed but are well organized sequentially to provide a clear understanding of the principles of societal safety. In the first part the fundamental concepts of safety are discussed. The second part deals with risks in the societal and natural environment. Then follows, in the third part, a description of the quantitative estimation of risk and its assessment and management. The fourth part is devoted to disaster prevention, mitigation, and recovery systems. The final, fifth part presents a future perspective of societal safety science. Thorough reading of this introductory volume of societal safety science provides a clear image of the issues. This is largely because the Japanese have suffered often from natural disasters and not only have gained much valuable information about disasters but also have accumulated a store of experience. We are still in the process of reconstruction from the Great East Japan earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. This book is especially valuable therefore in studying the safety and security of people and their societies.

Soutenue le 24 octobre Diplôme : Dr. d'Universite ; During this study, a bibliographic review on hydrogen production has been performed together with applied mathematics considerations such as modelling, estimation and control. This has been combined with a survey paper on biogas production which showed that nowadays, biogas is under produced by 25 to 40%. Optimisation of industrial biogas processes has thus a great potential and should provide a better economy of these plants, independent of political decisions. Moreover, a techno-economical comparison demonstrated the benefits of a 2- step process (H2+CH4) compared to the classical 1-step methane production. From experimental data obtained using industrial molasses, a pseudo-stoichiometric matrix of hydrogen production has been determined based on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the metabolites fluxes. Coefficients of the matrix were identified from a non linear optimisation that guaranteed positive reaction rates. This procedure used the eigen vectors of the PCA combined with a sequential quadratic programming algorithm. A dynamic mass balanced model was then proposed based on the stoichiometric matrix and models parameters were identified for pH values around 5.5. Values very close to theoretical ones were obtained and the model was validated using experimental data from our lab scale process and from different data found in the literature. Finally, hydrogen production was optimised using a predictive control law using asymptotic and an input observers. These observers were used to generate the initial conditions and a predictive horizon of 3.5 h. was chosen. Experiments demonstrated that hydrogen production could be almost doubled (360 to 630 ml-H2.h-1) while keeping substrate conversion higher than 95%. ; Au cours de ce travail, une étude bibliographique a été effectuée sur la problématique de la production de l'hydrogène et sur divers aspects de l'Automatique: modélisation, estimation et commande. Elle a été complétée par un article de synthèse ...

The textile manufacturing industry (NAICS 313) has played an important role in the history of the United States and continues to be a major industrial employer, not only in the U.S., but also around the world. Textiles are mainly considered a component part of the supply chain, with end uses ranging from apparel to home textiles to industrial goods to medical textiles. Even though apparel is the largest end use of textiles and has increasingly moved offshore to low-cost labor countries, there remains a growing textile manufacturing industry in the U.S. for capital and technology-intensive products, such as nonwovens and those with military end uses. One unique aspect of textile manufacturing is that it includes sectors from agriculture, chemicals, industrial manufacturing, cutting-edge research and development, in addition to the fashion aspects of apparel and home goods. It is highly dependent on economic conditions and consumer demand, and competition is primarily based on price. Another unique aspect of the textile manufacturing industry is its fragmented nature. Whereas a few major players define most industries, there are over 8,000 textile establishments in the U.S., and no major textile firm has more than 2 percent share of the market. Also, unique to the textile industry is its importance in the global economy and to the economic development of other countries, particularly related to labor rights and women's issues. The textile manufacturing industry illustrates a variety of concepts including economics, technology and engineering, agriculture, history, marketing and fashion, globalization, social studies, labor issues, and environmental regulations, which would be useful to a number of audiences including students, industry, and public policymakers.

Intro -- Preface -- PART ONE: POLICY -- 1. Regional problems in socio-economic policy -- 2. Social planning in a regional framework -- 3. Normative problems and social issues in regional analysis -- 4. Regional policy and planning in social perspective: A planner's point of view -- 5. Regional policy as social planning -- 6. The impact of social organization and environment upon the time-use of individuals and households -- 7. Regional and environmental planning in social perspective -- PART TWO: INTEGRATION -- 1. Welfare economics and the 'unified approach' to development planning -- 2. The city as development centre -- 3. A sociological concept of polarized development -- 4. Towards an operational definition of psychological distance -- 5. Social issues in regional policy and regional planning -- 1. Problems of social policies in regional planning: The experience of Poland -- 2. Social aspects of regional planning -- 3. Some social aspects of regional development in Latin America -- 4. Social disparities and regional policy in Britain -- 5. Urban planning and its impact on the quality of urban life in West European cities -- 6. Urbanisation, domestic planning problems and Swedish geographic research -- PART FOUR: RESEARCH -- 1. The role of social equipment and environment in regional economic growth -- 2. A framework for dealing with the urban environment: Introductory statement -- 3. The urban-regional dimension in regional planning research -- 4. The integrated social science approach to regional planning in developing countries -- 5. Sociological aspects of regional development and of planning for regional development: Some issues and areas for further exploration -- 6. Regional or spatial sociology? -- 7. The sociological failure in regional planning: Comments on some recent publications in the field of sociology and planning.

Abstract Local community resilience has been a solution to reduce human and natural origin damages for several decades in global studies. Various studies have addressed different aspects of resilience. However, using the results of this research to create local community resilience has always faced limitations. In fact, the neglected role of political economy in these studies has caused the application of policies and strategies resulting from these studies to face challenge to create local communities' resilience. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate how political economy affects the resilience of local communities. The research method is mixed and qualitative analysis was used to analyze the impact of political economy on resilience and quantitative analysis was used to measure the extent of resilience. The research has investigated the impact of political economy on the aspects of resilience and measured the extent of resilience from economic, social, institutional, environmental, and physical aspects by selecting the central part of Zanjan. The results of the research show that political economy has caused the lack of role-playing of local communities in resilience creation. In fact, policy-making influenced by political economy has led to the formation of a rent economy, a top-down and centralized management system, and this was the main obstacle in creating resilient local communities directly and indirectly through the reduction of the role of local institutions, spatial segregation, housing rent, reduction of social capital, increasing greenhouse gases and poverty. Therefore, we need a transition from the current institutional environment take steps towards evolution, dynamism, and institutional transformation to create local communities' resilience in order to create a resilient local society.

Health Safety Security and Environmental (HSSE) concept are commonly used to assess company's operating performance and their supply chain majority at oil and gas industry. However, this concept has largely been underutilized within the ferry port terminal's operation. This study asks whether the HSSE principles can be applied in the ferry port terminal in Indonesia. In particular, it examines whether Ferry port terminal of Merak can be considered as Ecoseaport. The term 'Ecoseaport' is used instead of 'Ecoport' as commonly apply in European countries. It focuses on major ferry port teminals at inter-island hub because of the increasing volume and movement of people and vehicles in the last five years. This research is in line with the Indonesia government policy on 'Maritime Axis' and is relevant with the cancellation of the Sunda Strait bridge development. Through the multi-dimensional scaling, this research ultimately aims to contribute to the improvement of knowledge of stakeholders that will influence the formulation and implementation of policy and stands appropriately of HSSE aspect. Multi-Dimensional Scaling approach of this research is intended to transform respondents through similarity or their preferences which are represented in constructed a multi-dimensional space variables of Ecoseaport principles through HSSE aspect approached. It was concluded that during Muslim's feast period with number of motor cycle and vehicle variables were drastically increased than normal operation will affected to HSSE performance. Perception majority of respondent involved parties has put safety and security aspect as the priority. Meanwhile, health cases that reported by port medical officer is the major concerned which need takes attention into port management operation.Â

This book examines India's transboundary river water disputes with its South Asian riparianneighbours -- Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. It explores the history of disputes and cooperation over the transboundary river water in this region as well as discusses current disputes and future concerns. It analyses how and why existing transboundary river water sharing treaties between India and its South Asian riparian neighbours are confronted with challenges. The book indicates that India's transboundary river water disputes with its South Asian riparianneighbours are likely to escalate in coming years due to the widening of the demand-supply gap in the respective countries. It further shows the impact of bilateral relations on the resolution of transboundary river water disputes, even as cordial relationships do not always guarantee the absence of river water disputes between riparian states. The book looks at some key questions: How political are India's transboundary rivers water disputes in South Asia? Why do the roots of India's river water disputes with Bangladesh and Pakistan lie in the partition of the British India in 1947? Why are there reservations against India's hydroelectricity projects or allegations of water theft? Is it possible to resolve transboundary river water disputes among these South Asian countries? This book will greatly interest scholars and researchers working in the areas of river management, environmental politics, transnationalism, water resources, politics and international relations, security studies, peace and conflict studies, geopolitics, development studies, governance and public administration, and South Asian studies in addition to policymakers and journalists.

This book envisages a different form of our economies where care work and care-full relationships are central to social and cultural life. It sets out a feminist vision of a caring economy and asks what needs to change economically and ecologically in our conceptual approaches and our daily lives as we learn to care for each other and non-human others. Bringing together authors from 11 countries (also representing institutions from 8 countries), this edited collection sets out the challenges for gender aware economies based on an ethics of care for people and the environment in an original and engaging way. The book aims to break down the assumed inseparability of economic growth and social prosperity, and natural resource exploitation, while not romanticising social-material relations to nature. The authors explore diverse understandings of care through a range of analytical approaches, contexts and case studies and pays particular attention to the complicated nexus between re/productivity, nature, womanhood and care. It includes strong contributions on community economies, everyday practices of care, the politics of place and care of non-human others, as well as an engagement on concepts such as wealth, sustainability, food sovereignty, body politics, naturecultures and technoscience. Feminist Political Ecology and the Economics of Care is aimed at all those interested in what feminist theory and practice brings to today's major political economic and environmental debates around sustainability, alternatives to economic development and gender power relations.