Search Results for: Research

BY MARK ROWE

IT is a sign of how pressing the issue of converting archive material into digital format has become that, not only does a British national award exist for digital preservation, but that last year (2005) the prize was awarded for a guide on how to create and use digital materials.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL symposium is being staged at the University of London next month to debate ongoing efforts to reach a sophisticated and global definition of the amount and type of food required to be healthy. New ‘human energy expenditure’ guidelines have been developed over the past two years by the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).…

BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the USA are using a form of plastic sheeting called Hytibar to develop an environmentally safe way of preventing ozone-depleting gas from the pesticide methyl bromide reaching the atmosphere.

The plastic, manufactured by Klerk’s Plastic in Belgium, is made by putting a barrier polymer (ethylene vinyl alcohol) between two layers of polyethylene; this makes the film less permeable and therefore better able to keep the chemical from escaping into the air.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUCCESSFUL European Union (EU) research project, which has developed plant-based health treatment alternatives to antibiotics in feed for ruminants is being expanded into the poultry and pig sectors. The RUMEN-UP project found 23 out of 500 samples of plant materials with beneficial effects on ruminants, especially cattle.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A LINKED system that treats, filters and conserves fresh water in networks of fish farming tanks has been developed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the United States. It is designed to support multiple rearing tanks connected to a centralised water filtration and treatment system, maintaining water quality while recirculating up to about 90% of tank water.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is an unlikely scenario: setting up nuclear devices to reduce, not increase, environmental pollution in one of the world’s filthiest cities, but it is happening in Mexico City. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has donated new air particle analysis technology called PIXE (proton induce x-ray emissions) to city authorities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is developing intelligent technology using ozone and ultraviolet light to destroy odours and particulates polluting the air around restaurants and cafes. The NOZONE project is building a modular device for industrial extraction systems destroying such organic compounds.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has reported an outbreak of Bonamia Ostreae amongst 580 oysters in Morocco. The OIE said that the oysters were destroyed at Khnifiss lagoon, Laayoune province, in the contested Western Sahara region.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Medicines Agency (EMEA) is to develop detailed guidance on the manufacture, market approval and use of drugs that can treat alcoholism, given that no such formal advice currently exists at a European Union (EU)-level. The guidance will focus on clearly defining target patients, treatment success (whether drugs should end alcoholism, or also reduce drinking), and drug research project organisation.…