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When it comes to long-distance voyages to the other side of the world, the decade of the 1590s is perhaps the most exciting one in Dutch history. In these years, several companies were established in several cities in the coastal provinces of Holland and Zeeland, which would in 1602 merge into the United Dutch East India Company. In the 1910s and 1920s, on the wave of modern imperialism and a developing national self-consciousness, growing interest in Dutch maritime and colonial history, paired with a demand for Dutch heroes, resulted in the appearance of many travel journals. Several of the first Dutch endeavours to reach Asia in the late sixteenth century were recounted in some of the first volumes they produced. During the first voyages, travel knowledge, especially geographical knowledge, not only had to be gathered prior to departure, but it also had to be collected during the voyage, guarded closely when recorded and submitted back to the company upon return.

ObjectivesTo examine changes in planning, selecting, and preparing healthy foods in relation to personal factors (time, money, stress) and social distancing policies during the COVID-19 crisis.MethodsUsing cross-sectional online surveys collected in 38 countries worldwide in April-June 2020 (N = 37,207, Mage 36.7 SD 14.43, 73.6% women), we compared changes in food literacy behaviors to changes in personal factors and social distancing policies, using hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for sociodemographic variables.ResultsIncreases in planning (4.7 SD 1.2, 4.9 SD 1.3), selecting (3.8 SD 1.7, 3.8 SD 1.7), and preparing (4.6 SD 1.3, 4.7 SD 1.3) healthy foods were found for women and men, and positively related to perceived time availability among women and stay-at-home policies for planning and preparing in women. Psychological distress was a barrier for women, and an enabler for men. COVID-19 induced financial stress was a barrier depending on various sociodemographic variables (all p < 0.01).ConclusionStay-at-home policies and feelings of having more time during COVID-19 seem to have improved food literacy among women. Stress and other social distancing policies relate to food literacy in more complex ways, highlighting the necessity of a health equity lens.

Background and aims: Wastewater-based epidemiology is an additional indicator of drug use that is gaining reliability to complement the current established panel of indicators. The aims of this study were to: (i) assess spatial and temporal trends of population-normalized mass loads of benzoylecgonine, amphetamine, methamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in raw wastewater over 7 years (2011–17); (ii) address overall drug use by estimating the average number of combined doses consumed per day in each city; and (iii) compare these with existing prevalence and seizure data. Design: Analysis of daily raw wastewater composite samples collected over 1 week per year from 2011 to 2017. Setting and Participants: Catchment areas of 143 wastewater treatment plants in 120 cities in 37 countries. Measurements: Parent substances (amphetamine, methamphetamine and MDMA) and the metabolites of cocaine (benzoylecgonine) and of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) were measured in wastewater using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Daily mass loads (mg/day) were normalized to catchment population (mg/1000 people/day) and converted to the number of combined doses consumed per day. Spatial differences were assessed world-wide, and temporal trends were discerned at European level by comparing 2011–13 drug loads versus 2014–17 loads. Findings: Benzoylecgonine was the stimulant metabolite detected at higher loads in southern and western Europe, and amphetamine, MDMA and methamphetamine in East and North–Central Europe. In other continents, methamphetamine showed the highest levels in the United States and Australia and benzoylecgonine in South America. During the reporting period, benzoylecgonine loads increased in general across Europe, amphetamine and methamphetamine levels fluctuated and MDMA underwent an intermittent upsurge. Conclusions: The analysis of wastewater to quantify drug loads provides near real-time drug use estimates that globally correspond to prevalence and seizure data. © 2019 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction

In investigation and monitoring of contaminated sites and delineation of contamination plumes and flow paths in groundwater aquifers, the ability to adequately determine the inherent hydrogeological heterogeneities (different geological settings and fractures) is essential prior to choosing and designed remedial actions. The FLUTe Activated Carbon Technique® (FACT®) is a new way to do multi-level sampling (measurements from different depths using the same borehole) which has shown to have great potential (Cherry, Parker & Keller, 2007). The method seems to be cost-effective, versatile, have low detection limits, and have other advantages over the currently preferred methods. At this time, there is a lack of knowledge and approaches to interpret obtained data and this is an obstacle to the widespread adoption of the technology. Moreover, there is ample room for improvement and optimisation of the system design. In this project, the limitations and possibilities of data interpretation were evaluated using a simple 2D model in COMSOL Multiphysics®. Field monitoring data obtained at a field site in Denmark were interpreted using the model and used to benchmark the method.