Commission Of Community Research Articles

Under-reporting of trauma from lorry mirrors?

This note describes two recent cases of trauma from lorry mirrors protuding from the vehicles; its author considers it very likely that this is not an uncommon event. Details of the two cases are presented briefly, and the author knows of two other cases. Specifications of lorry mirrors in the UK are currently regulated within a European Economic Community Commission (EEC) Directive, dated 18 February 1985. The author considers that trauma from lorry mirrors, though perhaps unusual, could be under-reported. He suggests that: (1) the backs of mirrors should be of lighter colour, to become more visible; (2) the mirror should be made of a material less likely to cause injury on impact; (3) the mirror pivoting device should be checked at the MOT test; (4) the Department of Transport should be considering a review of its regulations to improve pedestrian safety.

The product of the YCR105 gene located on the chromosome III from Saccharomyces cerevisiae presents homologies to ATP‐dependent permeases

During the systematic sequencing of chromosome III from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, carried out by a network of laboratories sponsored by the Commission of the European Community, we have identified the open reading frame YCR105 located on fragment J11D from the circular derivative of chromosome III in strain XJ24-24a (Palzkill et al., 1986). YCR105 is immediately centromere proximal to the PGK gene (opposite strand) on the right arm of chromosome III about 20 kb from the centromere.

Distance learning in Europe: a Norwegian Perspective

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsErling LjosåThis paper is based on an address given by Erling Ljoså to a seminar on the potential for Distance and Open Learning in the European Context, hosted by the Delegation to Norway of the Commission of the European Community and the Norwegian Centre for Distance Education, held in Oslo, 26th April, 1990.

Monitoring Safety with Particular Reference to the European Community

The European Community (EC) Commission has recently proposed extensive changes in the processes of drug registration and adverse reactions monitoring in Europe. This paper suggests that these EC proposals should be rejected and that effective methods of harmonization should be developed in their place. Finally, the paper emphasizes that, in the interests of the public health, changes in the methods of drug licensing and safety monitoring should be driven by scientific imperatives and not by political or economic considerations.

Solar power steps out of the shadows

At the 1982 Versailles meeting of the leaders of the seven major Western countries (the G7 countries), photovoltaics (PV) was identified as one of the major renewable sources of energy for the next century. Since then the technology has advanced dramatically in tandem with a rapid increase in the volume of production for commercial markets. The governments of all the industrialized nations, except the UK, have mounted R&D programmes in photovoltaics which have helped to being about these advances and, in Europe, the Commission of the European Community (CEC) has established very successful programmes in many of its member countries.

Lifestyle and environmental factors as determinants of blood lead levels in a Swiss population

The determination of blood lead levels was included in a Swiss population survey on cardiovascular risk factors in 1984-1985; 931 men and 843 women aged 25 to 75 years participated in the study. Mean blood lead levels (+/- SD) were 0.63 +/- 0.27 mumole/liter for men and 0.44 +/- 0.19 mumole/liter for women, respectively, with a slight increase with age for both sexes. These values are below the maximum level recommended by the Commission of the European Community in 1977; 18 cases were found with blood lead higher than 1.5 mumole/liter and in six of these, a professional exposure was suspected. Smoking habits, drinking habits, and consumption of dairy products were selected as lifestyle descriptors and educational level, occupational category, and size of the community as sociodemographic indicators. Smoking and alcohol consumption show a direct association with blood lead, consuming dairy products an inverse one. Occupation and level of education are significantly related to blood lead only for men, blue-collar workers and less-educated men being more exposed. A higher blood lead level in cities was only found for women presumably because they stay at home more often than men and are therefore more sensitive to local exposure. In a multiple stepwise logistic regression, the lifestyle indicators showed a consistently stronger effect on blood lead than sociodemographic indicators. For men, smoking has an effect on blood lead for blue-collar workers much stronger than that for nonindustrial employees and may compound in some way the professional exposure to lead. This stresses the fact that interactions between lifestyle and environmental factors on blood lead are significant, complex, and need further investigation.

The preparation, validation and certification of the aflatoxin content of two peanut butter reference materials

The preparation of two peanut butter reference materials and the certification of their aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2 and total aflatoxin contents is described. The materials were prepared and certified within the BCR Programme of the Commission of the European Community as part of a broad activity to improve accuracy and agreement of measurements of importance in food and agriculture (Wagstaffe and Belliardo 1990). Reference material RM 385 was prepared from naturally contaminated peanuts, roasted and ground into a paste and then blended with uncontaminated peanut butter to achieve the desired aflatoxin concentrations. Details are given of the blending and canning procedure, and the checks to ensure homogeneity and stability of the material. Reference material RM 401 was similarly prepared but from an uncontaminated peanut butter. The certification exercise was carried out by nine laboratories using a variety of extraction and clean-up procedures, but all using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as the determinative stage although operating under a variety of chromatographic conditions. RM 385 was certified as containing aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 at levels of 7.0 +/- 0.8 micrograms/kg, 1.1 +/- 0.2 micrograms/kg, 1.7 +/- 0.3 micrograms/kg and 0.3 +/- 0.2 micrograms/kg respectively (total aflatoxin content of 10.1 +/- 1.5 micrograms/kg) and RM 401 as containing aflatoxin B1, B2 and G2 at less than 0.2 micrograms/kg and aflatoxin G1 at less than 0.3 micrograms/kg (total aflatoxin content less than 0.9 micrograms/kg). The materials are intended for the verification of methods used to determine aflatoxins in nuts and nut products.

River pollution: an ecological perspective

What is pollution? pollution, ancient and modern ecosystems and pollution the effect of pollution on plants effect of pollution on animals when one thing is added to another diagnostic methods structural damage - physical damage not due to pollution within-river pollution domestic and industrial pollution pollution from rural land use. Appendices: early river vegetation recommendations for maintaining dykes (ditches) in alluvial plains, for conservation methods for the examination of waters and associated materials directives of the Commission of the European Community governing the required water quality in the Community EEC Black and Grey list substances list of principal insecticides, grouped according to the three main types a key to the commoner species of rivers.

From Summer Voluntary Schemes to European Community Bureaucracy: The Development of Special Provision for Traveller Education in the United Kingdom since 1967

Abstract This paper attempts to present an overall statistical picture of the development of educational provision for Gypsy children, which has recently culminated in major new policy initiatives from both the Department of Education and Science in the United Kingdom, and the European Community Commission and Council. Studies by educationalists have tended to concentrate on case histories and ‘good practice’, because any picture of overall statistical trends depends on a multitude of diverse and possibly unreliable or incommensurable sources. When the attempt is made, however, to categorise and quantify previous provision, very clear trends emerge, which set educational provision in the general context of Gypsy policy and politics. The paper shows how voluntary projects were followed by local and national state action, and finally by a concerted policy approach by the European Community, and argues that a comparative macrosociological approach reveals a pattern of development consistent with the original...

Negotiating the Single European Act: national interests and conventional statecraft in the European Community

The unexpected approval in 1986 of the Single European Act and its program for completing the European Community's internal market by 1992 did not, according to the historical data presented in this article, result from an elite alliance of the European Community Commission, European Parliament, and pan-European business groups. Instead, it rested on interstate bargains involving Britain, France, and Germany, for which the two essential preconditions were the convergence of European economic policy prescriptions following the French turnaround in 1983 and the bargaining leverage that France and Germany gained by threatening to create a “two-track” Europe and exclude Britain. This suggests that theories stressing supranational factors, including certain variants of neofunctionalism, should be supplanted by an “intergovernmental institutionalise” approach combining a realist emphasis on state power and national interests with a proper appreciation of the important role of domestic factors in determining the goals that governments pursue.

Ethics of New Reproductive Technologies: The Glover Report to the European Commission

Debate regarding the appropriate use of new reproductive technologies (such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization) continues to broaden both in the United States and Europe. Many Western European countries have established national commissions to study the ethical and public policy issues related to these new medical techniques. The Benda Commission in West Germany, the Santosuosso Commission in Italy, and the Warnock Committee in the United Kingdom were organized for just this purpose. Similarly, the Commission of the European Community invited specialists under the chairmanship of Jonathan Glover to examine the ethical issues raised by the use of these new techniques of assisted reproduction. Their report constitutes the content of this book. The book itself has six major sections. The first chapter provides an overview of ethical theory and an approach to resolving the conflicts of interest that frequently attend the use of these new reproductive techniques. Chapters 2

Multi-temporal remote sensing study of spectral signatures of crops in the Thessaloniki test site

Abstract In the framework of a pilot project of the Commission of the European Community concerning the application of remote sensing techniques for agricultural statistics, a specific study of an area in Northern Greece is being carried out at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra. This study involves the use of multi-temporal TM and SPOT data, in order to combine the spatial resolution of SPOT with the spectral resolution of TM and to gain in flexibility for the choice of dates. This approach is expected to overcome ambiguities in the spectral definition of crops, but significant problems are introduced, due mainly to the different atmospheric conditions present at the various dates. A study of the effect of the various factors on the spectral response of the crops will help to define a classification criterion based on their phenological variation.

Integration of air pollution control technologies in linear energy—environmental models

In most of the European countries the level of the ambient air pollution is unsatisfactory. Accordingly, in 1986 the Commission of the European Community started a research project Energy and Environment , with the aim of extending the energy model EFOM by an environmental module and applying it for the analysis of national air pollution control strategies. The study is being carried out by the authors and participating institutes in member countries of the European Community. This report demonstrates the methodological procedure for the integration of emission reduction technologies into the model. Scenarios are defined and, moreover, verified and validated model results from the Federal Republic of Germany are described.

Telecommunications

The telecommunications blueprint for a single Europe after 1992 is examined. This 'green paper' is an ambitious three-year-old document in which the European Community's Commission calls for a Western-Europe-wide telecommunications infrastructure based on the integrated-services digital network (ISDN) and other digital communication links. The progress that has been made toward this goal is assessed, showing that progress toward opening national markets and establishing an infrastructure varies greatly from country to country. The highly variable quality of network services throughout Europe presents a further obstacle to unification. Nevertheless, the national segments of a trans-European ISDN system are beginning to emerge, and work on the specific technologies, standards, and regulations for cross-border telecommunications systems are advancing.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

ICARE Radon Calibration Device.

An aerodynamic calibration device called ICARE is briefly described. ICARE is currently being used at the Nuclear Research Center of Saclay in France for the certification of instruments employed in measurement of artificial radioactive particulate airborne contamination. ICARE is essentially a blower. Aerosols calibrated in size and labelled with 137Cs or 239Pu are injected in the mainstream of the blower upstream of the test section.To extend ICARE’s field of application to the case of instruments employed in measurement of 222Rn and of its decay products, a new line of injection has been designed and is under construction, in the frame of a contract financed by the European Community Commission. The main effort is presently oriented to-ward the development of a reliable 222Rn source, based on a solid deposit of 226Ra on organic fibers, and of a reference method for the measurement of 222Rn activity per unit volume of air. This reference is based on a modified version of standard containers being used in the French reference method for calibrated measurements of 133Xe and 85Kr by gamma spectroscopy.

The EEC Downstream Oil Industry in 1993

Over the last 15 years traditional state intervention in the downstream oil industry has decreased in the 12 countries of the European Community, making way for increased competition. This has come about partly as a result of the influence of the Commission of the European Community, which has taken part in the setting of common aims for member-countries concerning oil (e.g., reductions in refining capacity, increases in imports of refined products, harmonizing oil taxation). However, this movement has not been entirely to the satisfaction of the petroleum companies, who believe that oil is still handicapped by discriminatory policies in its competition with other energy forms .

Marking of personal protective equipment

Jung K. and Ziegenfuß, 1989. Marking of personal protective equipment. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 11: 87–96. Whenever technical or organizational measures do not suffice to protect employees against danger of accidents and risks to health, personal protective equipment (hereafter called: PPE) has to be used. The dangers presented in the work process have to be determined and the appropriate PPE chosen. Due to the variety of dangers and the large range of PPE, considerable difficulties are encountered in the choice of suitable PPE. These difficulties will increase in view of progress towards a Common European Market. A proposal for the uniform marking of the PPE has already been submitted by the FRG to the European Community (EC) Commission in Luxemburg for the formulation of the Annexes of the European Community Guidelines for the use of PPE. The marking systems proposed by Jung and Ziegenfuß are based on three different versions. One of them is given preference. By use of symbols for the main types of work conditions and risks the protective function can be recognized without having to consult an explanatory catalogue.

Umberto Agnelli

The European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) was established in 1978 as a non-governmental international organization for development and improvement of engineering education.In 1986/87 SEFI initiated in close co-operation with the Commission of the European Community, and the Standing Conference of Rectors (CRE) the European Programme for Advanced Continuing Education (PACE).The PACE programme is based on experiences from the Association of Media-Based Continuing Education for Engineers (AMCEE) and the National Technological University (NTU) in the USA. The organization and preliminary course program of PACE is described. The PACE programme is supported by the Commission of the European Communities under the COMETT programme, which is one out of a more than ten EEC programmes for development of technology.Supplementary to these activities is described the NATO Science Programme within which Advanced Study Institutes and Advanced Research Workshops are organized.lt is recommended that the field of Automatic Control is included as a High-Tech field within the PACE programme and that the IFAC Technical Committee on Education is made responsible for the corresponding Programme Advisory Group.

Criteria for the Detection of Analytes in Test Samples

Abstract Analytical control must be carried out by validated methods. Validation of methods for all possible situations, i.e., for all kinds of analytes in many different matrixes, by interlaboratory studies of meticulously described methods is unworkable because of the financial burden, the lack of analytical capacity, and the impossibility of standardizing highly sophisticated instrumentation between laboratories. Yet methods, particularly those used in regulatory control, must be validated. To overcome this dilemma, we suggest another approach for validation of quantitative analytical methods, viz., the application of certain "criteria." Such criteria are presented here for a number of analytical methods, including low and high resolution mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, gas and liquid chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, spectrometric detection after TLC and LC, as well as general consideration of the whole analytical procedure. The criteria for a given method must be adopted by a board of experts for that method. Then, once an analysis fulfills the adopted criteria of the applied method, the presence of the investigated analy te can be taken as proved within the limits of ambiguity of the method. The criteria are already incorporated in a European Communities Commission Decision for detecting residues of substances having hormonal or thyrostatic action; criteria are submitted for a Commission Decision on analysis of residues of organic compounds in general.

European certificate in the pathology and treatment of anxiety under the auspices of the Commission of the European Community (Erasmus programm)

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