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In this paper we looked for the most suitable method for benthic ecological quality status (EcoQS) assessment of the North-western Adriatic Sea. Taking into account the historical and present information, we inter-compared our expectations in terms of EcoQS, with the Bentix, AMBI and M-AMBI classification metrics results, and investigated the sensitivity of these indices to the spatial, seasonal and inter-annual variability of benthic communities. The sampling sites were located at increasing distances with respect to the Po River mouth, along an (inverse) gradient of eutrophication. Moreover, a 2-year monthly monitoring plan (October 2004–September 2006) was carried out at the CEBEB site, located in a central position with respect to the investigated area. The results highlighted that the three indices differed in the sensitivity to spatial and temporal variability of the benthic communities. The strong seasonal and inter-annual changes in the benthic communities had a significant effect on the Bentix, whereas no relevant modifications were observed on the EcoQS assignation obtained using the M-AMBI and AMBI methods. The environmental quality ratios (EQR) values and EcoQS classification obtained by the Bentix and AMBI did not match expectations, as they were not inversely correlated with the site distances with respect to the Po mouth, whereas the M-AMBI clearly discriminated the most and the least eutrophicated sites. It thus appears that the M-AMBI could be considered to be the most valuable method for the ecological-status assessment of the North-western Adriatic Sea benthic ecosystem.

Impacts on water quality and quantity are among the most contentious aspects of mining projects. Companies insist that the use of modern technologies will ensure environmentally friendly mining practices. However, evidence of the negative environmental impacts of past mining activity causes local and downstream populations to worry that new mining activities will adversely affect their water supply. We report on one mine site in Peru where water has become a particularly conflictive issue. We then provide a detailed proposal for a monitoring plan to recover trust among stakeholders. A well-designed and executed monitoring plan for water quantity and quality is critical to foster dialogue, consensus, trust, and transparency between mine and community.

A method is given for generating the best plan for inspecting a batch of components on the criterion for minimum mean producer’s risk.

The aim of the study involved evaluation of the presence of aflatoxin M1 in milk for sale in a specific North West Italian region, Piedmont. The study, conducted from November 2003 to July 2005, was linked to the specific emergency situation which arose due to the climatic conditions during the summer of 2003 which encouraged the development of aflatoxin B1 in items used for animal feed. This in turn led to the transfer of the metabolite, aflatoxin M1, into the milk. In total some 316 milk samples were collected during the commercial phase by the official control bodies and analysed. The analysis involved the use of high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with fluorimetric measurement, and purification of the extracts using immunoaffinity columns. The results indicated only 2 non conforming samples (0.6%), with limits higher than those set out in the regulations (0.05 μg L−1). In addition, the analyses revealed, in 5 samples (1.6%), threshold values of 0.05 μg L−1. From the data obtained it can be seen that the “aflatoxins” problem only marginally affected Piedmont Region though the trend for average monthly values suggests a return to the use of contaminated animal feed as soon as official controls are less intensive.

The life-cycle environmental and usage conditions of a product or system can be monitored and analyzed to assess its on-going health, provide advance warning of failure, and provide information to improve the design and qualification of fielded and future products. The challenge lies in the implementation of this method in application conditions. This paper presents methods to effectively collect and analyze life-cycle environmental and usage data for in-situ health assessments. An integrated hardware-software micro-programmable module for health and usage monitoring of electronic products in their application environment is presented. The hardware incorporates local sensors, and on-board processing power using embedded software. These data processing capabilities are intended to enable immediate and localized processing of the raw sensor data to reduce the power and memory consumption anticipated during load monitoring. Guidelines are also provided to develop a life cycle monitoring plan, that en...

Methods The monitoring plan in a large long-term multicentre international trial required that sites received routine monitoring visits every nine months. Oversight of this trial was augmented by central statistical monitoring that identified high scoring sites as priority for further investigation. To validate this approach high scoring sites, and some low scoring sites (in the same countries) identified by the country teams as potentially problematic were visited.

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, estuaries and coastal regions around the globe. These organisms produce a variety of bioactive secondary metabolites that are of public health concern. Because there is no broadly accepted protocol for monitoring and managing these organisms, the focus of this chapter is to outline all necessary information to develop a CyanoHAB monitoring strategy. Topics covered include: 1) sampling methodology and frequency; 2) sample processing and storage; 3) microscopy identification and enumeration; 4) toxin analysis by ELISA, HPLC and LC/MS; 5) DNA analysis by PCR/QPCR; 6) interpretation of the data and establishment of a monitoring plan.

This National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) Annual Report has been prepared in a format to comply with the reporting requirements of 40 CFR 61.94 and the April 5, 1995 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the EPA approved NESHAP Monitoring Plan for the Tonopah Test Range (TTR), 40 CFR 61, subpart H, and the MOA, no additional monitoring or measurements are required at TTR in order to demonstrate compliance with the NESHAP regulation.

This report provides information concerning groundwater monitoring data obtained by the Los Alamos National Laboratory under its interim monitoring plan and contains results for chemical constituents that meet seven screening criteria laid out in the Compliance Order on Consent. Tables are included in the report to organize the findings from the samples. The report covers groundwater samples taken from wells or springs that provide surveillance of the groundwater zones indicated in the table.

Since the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), dispersants have been used as part of a combined response to mitigate seven oil spills in United States Gulf of Mexico (GOM) waters. Of the dispersant operations reported, four utilized the Regional Response Team VI pre-approval authority to the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) that requires a monitoring plan. The successful integration of dispersant pre-authorization along with a fully funded ready response delivery system maintained by industry contributed to the successful use of dispersants to aid in mitigating spilled oil. A key element to gaining the original pre-approval authority was a functional operational monitoring plan. While each response was considered a successful dispersant operation, each incident provided valuable lessons learned that have been integrated into subsequent contingency planning and modifications to existing pre-authorization requirements in the GOM. This paper provides a chronological review of oil spill responses where dispersants were applied in the GOM since OPA 90.

During the year 2000, energy-efficient buildings for low-income students at La Pampa University were designed and constructed. Buildings are located at the centre of La Pampa province, in a temperate semi-arid region of central Argentina Socio-economic, educational and environmental reasons have driven the design. Energy conservation devices, passive solar heating, natural ventilation and solar protection were the main strategies. The resulting design comprises two blocks of apartments with a useful floor area of 700 m 2 and main spaces. Two bedrooms, a dining room and essential services make up each apartment. Solar windows are provided for all main spaces. Northern shading devices and metallic pergolas protect all windows in summer. Once the building was finished, a monitoring plan started on December 2000. This paper shows the results of the thermal and energy behavior of apartments. The evolution of internal temperature was different in each apartment. The consumption of natural gas varied among dwellers, but the volume consumed was lower than that of conventional dwellings. Without extra building cost dwellers live under good higrothermal conditions at 50% of the auxiliary energy consumed by conventional dwellings.

Construction of precast, prestressed concrete bridges has only become common method of construction in Portugal in the last ten years. That coincided with a major highway construction initiative begun by the Portuguese Road Network. This article discusses the new bridge over the Ave River in northeast Portugal. Provided is a detailed description of the design, fabrication and construction of this most innovative precast concrete highway bridge in Portugal. Also provided are results of load tests, details of the monitoring plan, and measurements obtained during prefabrication and in various construction stages.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) uses a cost-effective sampling (CES) methodology to evaluate and review ground water contaminant data and optimize the site's ground water monitoring plan. The CES methodology is part of LLNL's regulatory approved compliance monitoring plan (Lamarre et al. 1996). It allows LLNL to adjust the ground water sampling plan every quarter in response to changing conditions at the site. Since the use of the CES methodology has been approved by the appropriate regulatory agencies, such adjustments do not need additional regulatory approval. This permits LLNL to respond more quickly to changing conditions. The CES methodology bases the sampling frequency for each location on trend, variability, and magnitude statistics describing the contaminants at that location, and on the input of the technical staff (hydrologists, chemists, statisticians, and project leaders). After initial setup is complete, each application of CES takes only a few days for as many as 400 wells. Effective use of the CES methodology requires sufficient data, an understanding of contaminant transport at the site, and an adequate number of monitoring wells downgradient of the contamination. The initial implementation of CES at LLNL in 1992 produced a 40% reduction in the required number of annual routine ground water samples at LLNL. This has saved LLNL $390,000 annually in sampling, analysis, and data management costs.

Organic pollutants are nowadays part of our environment and they can be found in every compartment, though in different levels of concentration. Studies which are related to the content of these substances in precipitation deal with very low concentration levels which, nevertheless, cannot be ignored. The city of Trier, with nearly 100,000 inhabitants, is located at the river Moselle, in south–west Germany, and is one of the main centres of the vinicultural area of the Moselle-Saar-Ruwer, where pesticides, among them many fungicides, are widely used. In this study, rain samples were weekly collected, from July 1999 till December 2000, in nine different sites, and two classes of compounds were investigated: PAHs and pesticides, with a particular attention on selected fungicides. Sampling sites were selected in order to evaluate the dispersion of pollutants in relation to their main sources, therefore urban sites were chosen as well as industrial and rural sites. Such a monitoring plan allowed an investigation on the spatial and temporal variation of typology and amount of the detected substances. As a result, urban sites, relatively far from vinicultural areas, showed to be contaminated by pesticides; on the other hand, samples collected in open land areas showed different levels of contamination by PAHs. Pesticides could be detected only during the application time (spring and summer), while PAHs, due to the characteristics of the emitting sources, could be detected during the whole period of monitoring.

Changes effected by environmental factors on the biological colonization of an historic marine limestone quay were considered, as a baseline study for the monitoring and test plan definition. Environmental factors play a fundamental role in the deterioration of stone monuments, particularly those located in a marine environment. This eighteenth century quay, situated at the Royal Square of the Portuguese capital, is subject to tidal movement, marine aerosol, high levels of pollution and vibration and is partly submerged in polluted water. Part of the quay was dismantled in 1997 and returned to the river water in 2008; since then, progressive (re)colonization by biological organisms has occurred. By means of periodic photographic registry, from 2010 to 2014, the main alterations and deposits on its surfaces were registered. The present paper discusses and presents a vulnerability assessment and monitoring plan for monuments in a marine environment with a view to establishing a preventive conservation plan.

Building a reliable yet cost-effective monitoring plan that all interested parties have faith in is a key challenge in carbon dioxide (CO2) geological storage projects. Several objectives need to be achieved: accurate CO2 and pressure front tracking, CO2 follow up in case of migration outside the primary reservoir. Many constraints need to be taken into account: legislation, geology, risks, costs, public perception. We present the scheduled monitoring plan of a candidate site in Spain, where 42 million tons of CO2 are planned to be injected over 30 years. The reservoir consists of high porosity/high permeability sandstone with some alternating shale packages, ~200 m thick, located at ~2200 m depth. It is overlaid by a carbonate formation, the secondary reservoir, and by a shaly primary seal. The secondary seal, mainly shaly with some alternating sand beds, goes almost up to surface.

The presence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in milk was assessed in Italy in the framework of designing a monitoring plan actuated by the milk industry in the period 2005-10. Overall, 21,969 samples were taken from tankers collecting milk from 690 dairy farms. The milk samples were representative of the consignments of co-mingled milk received from multiple (two to six) farms. Systematic, biweekly sampling of consignments involved each of the 121 districts (70 in the North, 17 in the Central and 34 in the South regions of Italy). AFM1 concentration was measured using an enzyme-linked immunoassay method (validated within the range of 5-100 ng kg(-1)) whereas an HPLC method was used for the quantification of levels in the samples that had concentrations higher than 100 ng kg(-1). Process control charts using data collected in three processing plants illustrate, as an example, the seasonal variation of the contamination. The mean concentration of AFM1 was in the range between 11 and 19 ng kg(-1). The 90th and 99th percentile values were 19-34 and 41-91 ng kg(-1), respectively, and values as high as 280 ng kg(-1) were reached in 2008. The number of non-compliant consignments (those with an AFM1 concentration above the statutory limit of 50 ng kg(-1)) varied between 0.3% and 3.1% per year, with peaks in September, after the maize harvest season. The variability between different regions was not significant. The results show that controlling the aflatoxins in feed at farm level was inadequate, consequently screening of raw milk prior to processing was needed. The evaluation of the AFM1 contamination level observed during a long-term period can provide useful data for defining the frequency of sampling.

Food allergens are substances able to induce an abnormal immunological response in sensitive individuals. The presence of allergens in food must be reported in tables (Directive 2003/89/EC). In this study we report the data of a monitoring plan carried out in the Campania Region during the 2012 for the detection of allergens (ovoalbumine and β-lattoglobulin) in food of different origin. The analisys were performed by means of ELISA assays. The percentage of analyzes with the presence of allegens not declared on the label is 4.3%, out of a total of 208 analyzes. It is therefore important to continue monitoring activities by the competent Authorities.

In this paper, we will show how microseismic technology can benefit the different phases of such a project, by answering the following two questions: first in the feasibility phase: “how to design a microseismic network consistent with the monitoring plan?”; second, during the microseismic network full implementation phase, how to validate the feasibility results - in other words: “how can long term microseismic monitoring bring reliable evidence for reservoir integrity?”. The paper will conclude with our current thinking about lessons, benefits and prospective.

Submitted by Carlos Alberto Diogo Soares Borrego (cborrego@ua.pt) on 2012-03-07T15:13:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Atmospheric baseline levels of PCDD_ PCDF in the region of Oporto..pdf: 161371 bytes, checksum: 351c746fb2c38294dfbdaa7ce55dca1d (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Nuno Cruz(nuno@ua.pt) on 2012-05-09T09:59:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Atmospheric baseline levels of PCDD_ PCDF in the region of Oporto..pdf: 161371 bytes, checksum: 351c746fb2c38294dfbdaa7ce55dca1d (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Nuno Cruz(nuno@ua.pt) on 2012-05-09T10:05:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Atmospheric baseline levels of PCDD_ PCDF in the region of Oporto..pdf: 161371 bytes, checksum: 351c746fb2c38294dfbdaa7ce55dca1d (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2012-05-09T10:05:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Atmospheric baseline levels of PCDD_ PCDF in the region of Oporto..pdf: 161371 bytes, checksum: 351c746fb2c38294dfbdaa7ce55dca1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2001

Recognizing the adverse effects of acid deposition and its transboundary nature, efforts have been made for the past six years by countries in the East Asian region to establish acid deposition monitoring network in the region by taking a step-by-step approach towards the formal establishment. The First Intergovernmental Meeting held in March 1998 agreed as the first step to implement preparatory-phase activities for two years with the aim to officially establish the EANET in the year 2000. With the successful implementation of the preparatory-phase activities, the Second Intergovernmental Meeting held in October 2000 subsequently agreed to start the activities of the EANET on a regular basis from January 2001. Thailand developed and carried out the national monitoring plan for the preparatory-phase activities through the cooperation of various agencies. Four monitoring sites were included in the preparatory-phase activities of the EANET. Monitoring capacity in Thailand has been gradually built during the preparatory-phase and Thailand is now ready to start monitoring activities of the EANET on a regular basis. Efforts should be continued to study the complex nature of acid deposition phenomena, to quantify the adverse environmental impacts of acid deposition, and to eventually reduce emissions of acid precursors. Strong supports from international and regional organizations are essential for effective implementation of the EANET activities and to address acid deposition problem in the East Asian region.

Food allergies are an important health problem in industrialized countires. Undeclared allergens in the label represent a big risk for consumers. The Directive 2003/89/EC oblige to declare in the label all ingredients and derived substances, abolishing the rule of 25% and the possibility to indicate only one of the ingredients under the name of the class as in the old Directive 2000/13EC. In this study it is presented a monitoring plan of allergens in meat products during the year 2007 in the Pedmont Region. The analyses are carried out with an ELISA test for the detection of the egg-proteins and for the detection of milk protein; an UV-method is used to detect the lactose. The results show a percentage of 4.72% of analyses with a detection of allergens not declared in the label; for this reason it is important to continue an efficient and constant monitoring.

The approach to analytical quality control adopted for the UK National Marine Analytical Quality Control Scheme is described. The Scheme began in 1991 and is in its fifth year of operation. The aim of the programme of work is to ensure adequate control over the accuracy of analysis, such that the aims of the UK National Marine Monitoring Plan are satisfied. The results of interlaboratory tests for the determination of nutrients in water samples and metals, organic compounds in waters, sediments and biological samples are summarised.

Groundwater monitoring for underground storage tanks can be a complex endeavor. Each site is generally different and a site‐specific monitoring plan should be designed. Elements or components that should be evaluated for a successful and practical underground storage tank plan for hydrocarbon detection have been identified. Some of the elements may be omitted or modified depending of the site, but the resulting plan may suffer corresponding deficiencies in hydrocarbon detection. An effective groundwater monitoring plan should encompass several factors which should be very carefully considered and prioritized site‐specifically. Soil gas sensing coupling with groundwater sampling provide a more intelligent approach to underground storage tank monitoring for hydrocarbon contamination. As a guiding principle, significantly more attention should be focused on the risks associated with failing to detect a plume more than any other variables or factors.

As part of the UK's National Monitoring Plan (UKNMP) marine sediments have been collected from Scottish coastal and estuarine sites. The samples have been subjected to a total digestion technique and analysed for major (Al and organic carbon) and minor (Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn, As, Ni and Hg) elements. Normalization procedures have been used to assess whether the concentrations observed represent background or contaminated levels. It is concluded that trace metal concentrations at offshore sites are at or close to background levels. The Clyde and Forth Estuaries are demonstrated to be the most contaminated areas, trace metal concentrations in these estuaries are shown to be more closely correlated to those of Al than to organic carbon or the

In this statement, the EFSA GMO Panel responds to a request from the European Commission (EC) to assess the safety of soybean MON 87705 oil for commercial frying. The applicant provided exposure assessments based on total and partial substitutions of conventional soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oils with the soybean MON 87705 oil in foods (salad dressings, margarines and spreads, mayonnaise, crackers and salty snacks and soybean/rapeseed/sunflower oils processed foods). No distinction was made between commercial and domestic use, nor whether the oils were used in frying or not. The EFSA GMO Panel considers that this exposure scenario is the most pertinent in that it addresses not only the question raised by the EC about the possible use of soybean MON 87705 oil in frying, but also other possible food uses. Having assessed total replacement, the most conservative scenario arising from both domestic and commercial use of the oil, the EFSA GMO Panel concluded that the use of soybean MON 80775 oil does not impact on human health and nutrition. The Panel recommends a post‐market monitoring plan for the marketed foods and feed.

The IOM clinician is part of a patient care team that consists of the surgeon, nurses, technologists, and anesthesiologists. You will recognize that each team member has a specific role to fulfill in order to provide the best care for the patient. As an IOM clinician, you will spend the majority of your working hours inside a hospital operating room (OR). The OR is a unique environment that may take some time getting used to. You will encounter different types of equipment as well as rules for navigating the space and interacting with other team members. This chapter will introduce you to the operating room along with the equipment and personnel you will encounter there.

After a release of genetically modified organisms, monitoring of potential adverse effects on the environment is mandatory. The protocol used for monitoring should be previously tested in practical studies and must be standardised. Moreover, sampling methods and the evaluation of results must meet current scientific and technical standards. Due to their particular role in maintaining soil quality and in a multitude of ecological processes in agro-ecosystems, soil organisms belong to those groups for which VDI guidelines are being developed. The guideline 4331 Part 1 describes fundamental criteria for the selection and sampling of soil organisms for GMO monitoring and gives guidance for sampling design, sampling strategy and statistical evaluation. In the guideline three approaches are followed: (1) a compilation of previously known effects and exposure pathways, (2) a documentation of ecological functions of soil organisms (ecosystem services) as well as (3) a description of characteristic species compositions in the soil. The aim was to develop a selection matrix that helps to choose the appropriate animal groups to be sampled. Besides the habitat type and the ecological relevance, the selection matrix also considers the suitability of animal groups in terms of practical issues and, in specific cases, anticipated effects. Further parts of the guideline 4331 will describe sampling methods for relevant soil animal groups.

Cotton T304-40 contains a single insert consisting of the cry1Ab and the bar expression cassettes, providing insect resistance and herbicide tolerance, respectively. Bioinformatic analyses and genetic stability studies did not raise safety issues. Levels of the Cry1Ab and PAT proteins in cotton T304-40 have been sufficiently analysed. No biologically relevant differences were identified in the compositional analysis when the seed of T304-40 was compared with its conventional counterpart and non-GM cotton varieties. The safety assessment identified no concerns regarding the potential toxicity and allergenicity of the newly introduced Cry1Ab and PAT proteins. Based on the information available, there is no evidence that the genetic modification might significantly change the overall allergenicity of cotton T304-40. Nutritional equivalence of cotton T304-40 to its conventional counterparts was indicated by compositional data. The EFSA GMO Panel concludes that cotton T304-40 is as safe and nutritious as its conventional counterpart and that it is unlikely that the overall allergenicity of the whole plant is changed. There are no indications of an increased likelihood of establishment and spread of feral cotton plants. Considering its intended uses as food and feed, interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment were not considered to be an issue. Risks associated with an unlikely but theoretically possible horizontal gene transfer from cotton T304-40 to bacteria have not been identified. The monitoring plan and reporting intervals are in line with the intended uses of cotton T304-40. The EFSA GMO Panel considers that the information available for cotton T304-40 addresses the scientific comments raised by the Member States and states that cotton T304-40, as described in the application, is as safe as its conventional counterpart with respect to potential effects on human and animal health and the environment in the context of its intended uses as proposed by the applicant.

1 Background and Objectives 1 Project Description 3 Monitoring Locations and Frequency 4 Target Species 4 Data-Quality Objectives 7 Field Sampling and Sample Processing 8 Safety and Crew Training 8 Permits and Coordination 9 Standard Procedures for Sample Collection and Processing 9 Laboratory Methods 11 Mercury 11 Biological Total Mercury in Fish Tissue 11 Total Mercury in Water 12 Selenium in Fish Tissue 12 Quality Assurance and Quality Control 12 Reporting 13 References Cited 14 Appendix A. Excerpt of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Permit No.: ID-002398-1 Requirements for Methylmercury Fish Tissue Monitoring (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012a, p., 19–20) 17 Appendix B. Map of Study Sites 19 Appendix C. Standard Operating Procedures for Fish Collection and Processing 20

The highway n° 164, in 1994, was struck by a complex composite landslide activated in Bagnaschino (Torre Mondovi, Cuneo) due to flood events. In order to continuously monitor the stability conditions, the Cuneo County established a borehole monitoring plan in 2008 with DMS column 60 m long. DMS (patents CSG Srl Italy) is a multiparametric system for the stability monitoring of slopes, excavation fronts and engineering works; the column is like a spiral cord composed of a sequence of hard tubular modules connected to each other by special flexible junctions. Correlation between DMS column and rain data allowed identifying critical events that have reactivated the landslides, along the sliding surface at 7 m blg, allowing the adoption of preventive interventions (closing the road during the March 2011 rain event). Moreover with the DMS system was possible to calculate the site specific rainfall threshold curve that shows the limit stability condition related to the rain intensity and duration.

Population quantiles and their functions are important parameters in many applications. For example, the lower quantiles often serve as crucial quality indices for forestry products. Given several independent samples from populations satisfying the density ratio model, we investigate the properties of empirical likelihood (EL) based inferences. The induced EL quantile estimators are shown to admit a Bahadur representation that leads to asymptotically valid confidence intervals for functions of quantiles. We rigorously prove that EL quantiles based on all the samples are more efficient than empirical quantiles based on individual samples. A simulation study shows that the EL quantiles and their functions have superior performance when the density ratio model assumption is satisfied and when it is mildly violated. An example is used to demonstrate the new method and the potential cost savings., Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-AOS1129 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)

Anticipating the rise and degenerate of the degradation processes for urban landscape, is an area of research that requires the deployment of analysis and forecasting, informed to the impacts induced by climatic and environmental pressures on settlements. Taking into account historic areas, the study focuses upon the need to set up a practice-based research, rethinking the processes of condition's relief, by integrating deterioration data with the prediction of the impact-induced by microclimate processes. The paper introduces as a case study, a nineteenth-century neighborhood in Naples, completed in 1869-80, with the reorganisation of the waterfront, filling the beach and constructing new buildings. The degradation reliefs, on sight and instrumental, carried out with the support of the infrared camera in three different moments of the building life cycle (2002, 2011, 2013), constitutes the knowledge base to relate degenerative phenomena with the constructive, morphological and dimensional characteristics and contextual conditions. The infrared remote sensing, long used through the two-dimensional display of the measurement of irradiation in order to evaluate the performance of the building (to detect insulation defects, thermal bridges, the heat loss through the windows, the humidity) is adopted to bind information about the phenomena taking place in location factors, climatic and environmental conditions. The observation of the related iterated and superimposed effects of decay allows the scheduling of control actions, with the intent to prevent an overrun of critical performance thresholds. A recursive approach characterizes the investigation procedure, based on forecast and verifiability.

A taxonomy of the monitoring of programmed tasks is presented. Rather than classifying the existing monitoring systems with respect lo their application domain, this taxonomy refers to the functional aspects of the systems considered. In particular, the aspects analysed include the capacity of self-generating the monitoring plan and the ability to cope with tasks to be accomplished under variable operating conditions

This scientific opinion reports an evaluation of a risk assessment for placing on the market the genetically modified (GM) insect-resistant maize MIR162 for food and feed uses, import and processing. Maize MIR162 contains a single insert consisting of the vip3Aa20 and pmi expression cassettes. The Vip3Aa20 protein confers resistance against certain lepidopteran pests and phosphomannose isomerase (PMI) serves as a selection marker. Bioinformatic analyses of the inserted DNA and flanking regions do not raise safety concerns. The levels of Vip3Aa20 and PMI proteins in maize MIR162 have been sufficiently analysed. The stability of the genetic modification has been demonstrated. Comparative analyses established that there are no biologically relevant differences in the compositional, agronomic or phenotypic characteristics of maize MIR162 compared with its conventional counterpart, and its composition falls within the range of non-GM commercial varieties, except for the expression of the Vip3Aa20 and PMI proteins. The safety assessment identified no concerns regarding potential toxicity and allergenicity of Vip3Aa20 and PMI proteins or of maize MIR162. A feeding study on broiler chickens confirmed that grain produced by maize MIR162 is as nutritious as that produced by its conventional counterpart and a non-GM commercial variety. There are no indications of an increased likelihood of establishment and spread of feral maize plants. Considering its intended use as food and feed, interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment were not considered to be an issue. Risks associated with an unlikely but theoretically possible horizontal gene transfer from maize MIR162 to bacteria have not been identified. The monitoring plan and reporting intervals are in line with the intended uses of maize MIR162. In conclusion, the EFSA GMO Panel considers that information available for maize MIR162 addresses scientific comments raised by Member States and that maize MIR162, as described in this application, is as safe as its conventional counterpart and non-GM commercial varieties with respect to potential effects on human and animal health and the environment in the context of its intended uses.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are used to specify the negotiated conditions between the provider and the consumer of services. In this paper we present a stepwise method to identify and categorize a set of test requirements that represent the potential situations that can be exercised regarding the specification of each isolated guarantee term of an SLA. This identification is addressed by means of devising a set of coverage levels that allow grading the thoroughness of the tests. The utilization of these test requirements would focus on twofold objectives: (1) the generation of a test suite that allows exercising the situations described in the test requirements and (2) the support for the derivation of a monitoring plan that checks the compliance of these requirements at runtime. The approach is illustrated over an eHealth case study.