The current socio-economic, environmental and public health challenges that countries are facing clearly need common-defined strategies to inform and support our transition to a sustainable economy. ...Here, the technology-critical elements (which includes Ga, Ge, In, Te, Nb, Ta, Tl, the Platinum Group Elements and most of the rare-earth elements) are of great relevance in the development of emerging key technologies—including renewable energy, energy efficiency, electronics or the aerospace industry. In this context, the increasing use of technology-critical elements (TCEs) and associated environmental impacts (from mining to end-of-life waste products) is not restricted to a national level but covers most likely a global scale. Accordingly, the European COST Action TD1407: Network on Technology-Critical Elements (NOTICE)—from environmental processes to human health threats, has an overall objective for creating a network of scientists and practitioners interested in TCEs, from the evaluation of their environmental processes to understanding potential human health threats, with the aim of defining the current state of knowledge and gaps, proposing priority research lines/activities and acting as a platform for new collaborations and joint research projects. The Action is focused on three major scientific areas: (i) analytical chemistry, (ii) environmental biogeochemistry and (iii) human exposure and (eco)-toxicology.
Summary
The modern concept of zoonosis considers any detriment to the health and/or quality of human life resulting from relationships with (other) vertebrate or edible or toxic invertebrate animals. ...Whereas exposure to toxicants through foods of animal origin (a.o.) is a well‐established issue, hereby we discuss it as novel zoonoses, from the standpoints of health implications as well as similarities and differences with classical zoonoses caused by biological agents. Novel toxicant‐related zoonoses are linked with new issues in food safety, such as the environment‐feed‐food chain. In fact, the potential effect of the combined and repeated exposure to dietary toxicants is generally long‐term and not readily discernible. Endocrine disrupting chemicals in staple foods of a.o. are discussed as a telling example of a food safety issue summing up critical points covered by the definition of sustainable development, also implicating health risks for generations to come. We suggest some critical points to implement the veterinary public health action in sustainable food safety, such as enhancement of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points systems for toxicological risk management.
The Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for residues and contaminants in food of animal origin at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) plans and undertakes on a regular basis Proficiency Tests ...Schemes (PTSs) focused on the residues under its responsibility, as prescribed by the Council Directive 96/23/EC of April 29, 1996. In consideration of the benefits ensuing from a constant monitoring of the daily activities of the National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) for residues in the Member States, the ISS–CRL frequently prepares test materials to promote comparability of data and support harmonisation of routine analytical procedures. When target values for the analytes are set, the PTSs also provide objective assessment and improvement of the analytical trueness in the daily work.
In this context, an interlaboratory comparison for trace elements in tuna fish matrix was organised in cooperation with the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Joint Research Centre, European Commission. Freeze-dried tuna fish samples were sent out to the NRLs for chemical elements in the Member States. Participants were requested to carry out at least three independent measurements of the elements As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Pb and Zn. The assessment of the proficiency was based on the
z-score approach and a relative bias better than or equal to 10% of the target value was deemed to be an acceptable performance for this kind of measurements. On this basis, more than 50% of the laboratories returned accurate results for As, Cu, Fe, Hg and Zn, whereas the analysis of Cd, Cr and Pb appeared to be more problematic.
Several functional and biochemical parameters have been proposed as biomarkers of effect of environmental pollutants. A rapid biosensor working with immobilized human U-937 cells was developed and ...applied to environmentally relevant chemicals with different structures and toxicological pathways, i.e. benzalkonium chloride, clofibric acid, diclofenac, mercury nitrate, ofloxacin, and sodium dodecyl sulphate. Respiration of cells was relied upon as a comprehensive biochemical effect for screening purposes. Analytical parameter (ΔppmO2) and toxicological index (respiratory inhibition, δ%) measured after 1h of exposure were utilized for dose–response relationship study. Results (toxicity rating scales based on δ50% and steepness) were compared with those obtained by the same approach previously optimized on Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The toxicity rating scale obtained by the biomarker based on human mitochondrial and cell metabolic activities compared well with previous scale obtained on yeast cells and with available in-vivo acute toxicity indexes; respiration was confirmed as toxicological endpoint reliably measurable by the biosensor.
Over the past decade, the increasing use of car catalytic converters based on platinum-group elements (PGEs) has been raising more and more concern. Human exposure to these metals occurs indirectly ...also through the diet. Thus, a pilot investigation was undertaken in order to ascertain the actual intake of PGEs through bread and cow milk. All manipulations were performed in a Class-100 clean room so as to minimize the risk of sample contamination. Digestion of samples was achieved by means of a mixture of HNO
and H
with the assistance of microwave irradiation.
Determinations were performed by sector field inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) to quantify Pd, Pt, and Rh. The isotopes
Pd
,
Rh
, and
Pt
were used for the quantification. Major interferences were caused by
Ar
Cu
on
Pd
,
Hf
on
Pt
, and
Rb
and
Sr
on
Rh
. Both physical and mathematical approaches for the interference correction were used. The mean values for PGEs were found to be as follows (in ng kg
): full-cream milk: Pd, 3790; Pt, 83.2; Rh, 1680; skim milk: Pd, 12 400; Pt, 83.6; Rh, 1090; wholemeal bread: Pd, 3210; Pt, 171; Rh, 139; white bread: Pd, 27 400; Pt, 257; Rh, 2230. The preliminary data obtained in this study are probative of the significant portion of the total exposure to PGEs, which is due to the diet.
Electronic Waste and Human Health Frazzoli, Chiara; Orisakwe, Orish Ebere; Ilo, Elochukwu Cajetan
Encyclopedia of Environmental Health,
2019
Book Chapter
In the name of bridging the digital divide, Asian and African countries have become the world’s latest destination for obsolete electrical equipments. The toxic nature of e-waste (mixtures of ...toxicants, mainly chemical elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and persistent organic pollutants), coupled with lack of efficient waste management system and unawareness of risky handling practices (e.g., crude recycling, open burning) has made the e-waste traffic a subject of great global importance. E-waste is a generic term encompassing various forms of electrical and electronic equipment that are old, end-of-life electronic appliances. Weak or weakly enforced e-waste regulations pose severe health risks for those working and living near e-waste sites. Due to severe environmental toxic pollution and the contamination of the food chains, the general population is exposed too. E-waste poses severe health risks to the populations, especially fetuses and children; toxic exposure is involved in the etiology of both chronic/noncommunicable diseases and infectious diseases. The e-waste widespread and chronic exposure in receiver countries poses an actual public health emergency, as it entrain significant health risks (disruption of reproductive, neurobehavioral, and immune development, increased risk of chronic diseases including cancer and infectious diseases) also for the generations to come.
Over the last two decades, there has been increased concern regarding the impact of some noble metals, such as Pd and Pt, on human health. These elements pollute the environment due to their ...widespread use as catalytic converters and in medical applications. The risk they pose to human health and the environment is still controversial; however, literature data point to diet as an important source of uptake by the human body. Within this context, the total Pd and Pt content of several Italian food commodities has been investigated. A total of 90 samples, including flour products, vegetables and foodstuffs of animal origin (meat, milk and eggs), were collected and freeze-dried. Samples were analyzed by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) after chopping or crushing followed by freeze-drying and microwave (MW)-assisted acid digestion in a Class-100 clean-room. A mathematical approach was adopted to correct the mass signals for still unresolved interference (m delta m = 300, 10 000). The lowest and highest concentrations of Pt, i.e. 17 and 93 ng kg-1 (dry weight, dw), were found in vegetables and flour products, respectively. The lowest Pd level (2830 ng kg(-1) dw) was found in eggs and the highest (47 800 ng kg(-1) dw) in vegetables.
•Comparison of four fleet operational strategies for automated mobility.•Rebalancing-based strategies allow for acceptable wait times and costs.•Fleet sizing for an automated mobility system in ...Zurich, Switzerland.
We evaluate performance of four different operational policies to control an automated mobility-on-demand system with sequential vehicle-sharing in one public open-source-accessible, agent-based, high fidelity simulation environment. Detailed network dynamics on a road level of precision are taken into account. The case study is conducted in a simulation scenario of Zurich city. The results indicate that automated vehicles’ shared mobility systems can provide approximately six times higher occupancy rates than conventional private cars, but that their costs – in Switzerland – are considerably higher than those of subsidized public transport or private cars in the short term. However, these services are predicted to be considerably cheaper than the full costs of owning and using a private car, which makes the long-term adoption of automated taxi services likely. Simulations demonstrate that choice of fleet operational policy determining customer-vehicle assignment and repositioning of empty vehicles (rebalancing) heavily influences system performance, e.g., wait times and cost. This aspect must thus be regarded as an important factor in the interpretation of existing and future simulation studies.
In this paper, different research trends that use symbolic techniques for robot motion planning and control are illustrated. As it often happens in new research areas, contributions to this topic ...started at about the same time by different groups with different emphasis, approaches, and notation. This article tries to describe a framework in which many of the current methods and ideas can be placed and to provide a coherent picture of what the authors want to do, what have they got so far, and what the main missing pieces are. Generally speaking, the aim of symbolic control as is envisioned in this article is to enable the usage of methods of formal logic, languages, and automata theory for solving effectively complex planning problems for robots and teams of robots. The results presented in this article can be divided in two groups: top-down approaches, whereby formal logic tools are employed on rather abstract models of robots; and bottom up approaches, whose aim is to provide means by which such abstractions are possible and effective. The two ends do not quite tie as yet, and much work remains to be done in both directions to obtain generally applicable methods. However, the prospects of symbolic control of robots are definitely promising, and the challenging nature of problems to be solved warrants for the interest of a wide community of researchers
Accurate positioning is a key factor for enabling innovative applications in intelligent transportation systems. Cutting-edge communication technologies make cooperative localization a promising ...approach for accurate vehicle positioning. In this paper, we first propose a ranging technique called weighted least squares double difference (WLS-DD), which is used to detect intervehicle distances based on the sharing of GPS pseudorange measurements and a weighted least squares method. It takes the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of raw pseudorange measurements into consideration for mitigating noises so that it can improve the accuracy of the distance detection. We show the superiority of WLS-DD by conducting a series of field experiments. Based on intervehicle distance detection, we propose a distributed location estimate algorithm (DLEA) to improve the accuracy of vehicle positioning. The implementation of DLEA only relies on inaccurate GPS pseudorange measurements and the obtained intervehicle distances without using any reference points for positioning correction. Moreover, to evaluate the joint effect of WLS-DD and DLEA, we derive a data fitting model based on the observed distance detection bias from field experiments, which generates parameters in a variety of environments for performance evaluation. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions via a comprehensive simulation study.
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