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In response to the incident of tourists falling into the sea due to waves on the seawall berm at Macau Road, Qingdao, during the passage of Typhoon "Songda" in 2022, a combination of numerical simulations and physical model experiments was performed to investigate the mechanics of the event, with emphasis on the wave flow characteristics and the flow evolution process on the seawall berm as well as the force exerted on a human body-equivalent cylinder model. The study found that the thickness of the return flow was significantly greater than that of the overtopping flow on the landward part of the berm. The recoil forces applied to the model on the berm were larger than the impact forces, and the ratio tended towards 1 as the wave height increased. In addition, the stability of pedestrians on the seawall berm was analyzed. The instability conditions for pedestrians in cross-wave flows differed slightly from those in floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islam influences Muslim societies through rules, regulations, and legislation. This paper highlights Islamic principles and legislation that protect the rights and dignity of older adults and compares them to policies and laws that have been applied and implemented in the United Arab Emirates. A comparative method was utilised to conduct this study, relying on sources that present the rights of older adults in Islamic Sharia, as well as official sources from the United Arab Emirates, where information on laws and regulations related to older adults is published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript presents a comprehensive review of recent advancements in electrical distribution networks, with a specific focus on the incorporation of direct current (DC) applications. The research aims to comprehensively address the current and future aspects of DC, spanning from the distribution level to the utilization level. The renewed interest in DC power systems has led to the investigation of several transitional challenges in recent years. A significant portion of these efforts has been dedicated to determining the feasibility of applying DC to specific use cases. Additionally, the literature has explored design considerations such as system architecture and voltage levels, the integration of DC into existing distribution networks, load flow (LF) computations, and the distinct safety concerns associated with DC power systems. In this paper, the various research endeavors are categorized, evaluated, and scrutinized to assess the current state of the transition from a purely alternating current (AC) distribution system to a solely DC or hybrid AC/DC distribution system. A bibliometric analysis is conducted, constructing a network of co-occurrence based on author-provided keywords, which reveals the primary research foci in this domain. The barriers hindering the widespread adoption of DC distribution systems and potential solutions are also discussed. Moreover, this article synthesizes ongoing efforts to address these obstacles and delineates future research directions by emphasizing the existing knowledge gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans use collaborative robots as tools for accomplishing various tasks. The interaction between humans and robots happens in tight shared workspaces. However, these machines must be safe to operate alongside humans to minimize the risk of accidental collisions. Ensuring safety imposes many constraints, such as reduced torque and velocity limits during operation, thus increasing the time to accomplish many tasks. However, for applications such as using collaborative robots as haptic interfaces with intermittent contacts for virtual reality applications, speed limitations result in poor user experiences. This research aims to improve the efficiency of a collaborative robot while improving the safety of the human user. We used Gaussian process models to predict human hand motion and developed strategies for human intention detection based on hand motion and gaze to improve the time for the robot and human security in a virtual environment. We then studied the effect of prediction. Results from comparisons show that the prediction models improved the robot time by 3% and safety by 17%. When used alongside gaze, prediction with Gaussian process models resulted in an improvement of the robot time by 2% and the safety by 13%.

Islam influences Muslim societies through rules, regulations, and legislation. This paper highlights Islamic principles and legislation that protect the rights and dignity of older adults and compares them to policies and laws that have been applied and implemented in the United Arab Emirates. A comparative method was utilised to conduct this study, relying on sources that present the rights of older adults in Islamic Sharia, as well as official sources from the United Arab Emirates, where information on laws and regulations related to older adults is published.

Human is usually exposed to environmental radiation from natural and man-made sources. Therefore, it is important to investigate the effects of exposure to environmental radiation, partly related to understanding and protecting against the risk of exposure to environmental radiation with beneficial and adverse impacts on human life. The rapid development of technologies causes a dramatic enhancement of radiation in the human environment. In this study, we address the biological effects caused by different fractions of non-ionizing electromagnetic irradiation to humans and describe possible approaches for minimizing adverse health effects initiated by radiation. The main focus was on biological mechanisms initiated by irradiation and represented protection, and safety approaches to prevent health disorders.

Human is usually exposed to environmental radiation from natural and man-made sources. Therefore, it is important to investigate the effects of exposure to environmental radiation, partly related to understanding and protecting against the risk of exposure to environmental radiation with beneficial and adverse impacts on human life. The rapid development of technologies causes a dramatic enhancement of radiation in the human environment. In this study, we address the biological effects caused by different fractions of non-ionizing electromagnetic irradiation to humans and describe possible approaches for minimizing adverse health effects initiated by radiation. The main focus was on biological mechanisms initiated by irradiation and represented protection, and safety approaches to prevent health disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Industry 5.0 provides a human-centered, sustainable, and resilient manufacturing system with a high emphasis on green technologies. This paper will examine the current use and perception of the green and digital technologies in the internal and external transport systems of Croatian manufacturing companies, relying on the continuous work of the authors in the field of local manufacturing industry development and digitalization. On a sample of 112 companies, statistical analysis of the results has shown that the greatest challenge in the digital technologies implementation is the unavailability of the technology on the market and employee resistance to change. The companies perceive benefits of renewable resource usage in internal transport in the rise in environmental awareness and increased flexibility, while the productivity increase and human safety improvement are the crucial reasons for the digitalization of internal transport in Croatian manufacturing companies. In external transport, the use of renewable energy sources is very rare, due to high price and low endurance of the vehicles, but the main reasons for its future possible implementation are environmental awareness, profitability, and sustainability. The majority of the companies in Croatia are still not familiar with Industry 4.0 or 5.0 concept but have shown a high interest for digital and green technology implementation to enable sustainable future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International exposure guidelines such as ICNIRP guidelines and IEEE C95.1 standard are published to protect human from potential adverse health effect. These guidelines and standards establish the limit for the induced electric field, also called the basic restriction. The permissible external field strength—known as the reference level—is then conservatively derived from the basic restriction. Though the reference level is calculated assuming that the human body is exposed to electric or magnetic fields separately, in reality, simultaneous exposure to both fields may occur. Such exposures are particularly likely when a human body is positioned under overhead transmission lines. Under such circumstances, a phase difference between the electric and magnetic fields occur due to the phase difference between the power line’s voltage and current. We investigated the impact of external electric and magnetic field phase differences on the induced electric field in numerical human models. This was done under simultaneous exposure to a spatially uniform vertical electric field and horizontal magnetic fields at 50 Hz. Our computational findings revealed that the strength of the induced electric field fluctuates with the phase difference and that the variation caused by this difference varies across different body parts. The basic restrictions of the ICNIRP guidelines were met under the simultaneous exposure to electric and magnetic fields at the reference level, even when considering the phase difference.

Women’s safety has been highlighted as one of the major concerns of any society where several women are dealing with various safety issues like harassment, rape, molestation, and domestic violence due to different social or cultural reasons. Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a promising technology to support day-to-day concerns and provide support in handling various affairs. Many IoT-based devices have been introduced by the community to help women deal with their potential safety threats. This study presents a systematic literature review of research studies exhibiting the IoT devices for women’s safety, the main features these devices offer as well as the wearable, sensors used, and the machine learning algorithms used. The review is carried out by carefully examining and synthesizing the research articles published between 2016 to 2022 in well-reputed research venues. The results revealed that different types of sensors are used to capture the state of women undergoing safety issues where the pulse-rate, and pressure sensors are most commonly used sensors in these devices. In addition, the devices used different technology to transmit the alerts including global positing system (GPS), global system for mobile communication (GSM), and Raspberry pi. Furthermore, several machine learning algorithms such as logistic regression, hidden Markov, and decision trees are used to identify the potential under threat women and help prevent the undesirable situation for women beforehand. It was identified that despite producing notable research in the underlying domain the systems emphasizing auto-activation of alert generation with lesser human interaction and improved accuracies are required to be developed for effectively addressing the concern. In addition to reviewing the literature, this study suggests a taxonomy posing different techniques, features, wearables, and sensors used in IoT-based women safety devices. Furthermore, the gaps and challenges pertaining to the IoT devices and their usability for women’s safety have also been highlighted. In addition, this work proposes an architectural model that presents prominent components necessary to develop IoT-based women’s safety devices. Lastly, this study emphasizes the use of combinations of sensors to get multiple types of input data that could lead to determining the possibility of threat with better accuracies and precisions.

This paper is designed to explicate and analyze data acquired from experimental field tests of a Tesla Model 3 lane correction module within the vehicle's Autopilot Suite, a component of Tesla OS. The initial problem was discovered during a nominal drive of the Tesla Model 3, where after a random number of lane correction events, the lane correction module shuts down, issues a visual disable warning on the touchscreen, and control of the vehicle is given to the driver until the next drive. That development was considered problematic, as the driver can be caught off guard or may be medically disabled and unable to respond. During a controlled stress test, a more severe issue was discovered. After a random number of lane correction events, the lane correction module shuts down without warning, then stays activated after the test driver corrects the vehicle's trajectory. This is considered a fatal error in the system and adds a dangerous element to an otherwise standard feature in a modern automotive vehicle. The results established that the number of events needed to trigger a fatal error without warning is unpredictable. Our results also demonstrate that the system is inconsistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accurate prediction of the number of passengers trapped in elevators under earthquakes in urban areas is essential for promoting earthquake emergencies. A probability-based city-scale method for assessing the earthquake-induced risk of passenger entrapment in elevators was proposed, in which city-scale time history analysis was performed to simulate the seismic response of building clusters, and the Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to consider the uncertainty of multiple factors, including the mechanical properties of buildings and elevators, the elevator story position, and the spatiotemporal nature of elevator traffics. A case study of the Tsinghua University campus was performed to demonstrate the practicability of the method. The results show that the number of trapped passengers when an earthquake occurs during the off-peak hours of elevator traffic is approximately a quarter of that when the earthquake occurs at 8:00. The maximum number of trapped passengers under the maximum considered earthquake reaches 195, approximately five times that under the design basis earthquake. This study fills a gap in the research on city-scale earthquake-induced passenger entrapment risk. The proposed method can be used to perform both scenario- and intensity-based assessments, thereby having the potential to facilitate virtual rescuer drills and earthquake emergency plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between humans and wildlife include a number of consumptive and nonconsumptive forms. In some cases, the increased demand for wildlife viewing can precipitate new human-wildlife conflicts. Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus; goats) are native to a number of North American mountain ranges from southeastern Alaska to southwestern Montana, USA. Goat habitat typically consists of steep terrain and cold weather habitats, which has left them particularly vulnerable to climate change. Their alpine environments also make them vulnerable to disturbance by aircraft and land-based motorized human activity. We reviewed and characterized situations in which goats in close proximity to humans on foot may become a nuisance or dangerous to people. We identify how such interactions might occur, focusing on the array of intensity observed in different settings. We summarize and evaluate interventions that have been attempted and may warrant additional research. Goats that tolerate people along hiking trails, perhaps through a habituation-like process, can typically be kept at a safe distance simply by shouting, clapping hands, or vigorous gestures. Goats that have learned to associate people with a salt reward (e.g., typically urine deposited on the ground, less frequently sweat obtained directly by licking) are more likely to be successfully hazed by tossing small stones, hitting the animal in the flank or rear. Salt-conditioned goats sometimes come within touching distance of humans; we strongly advise against prodding or poking these animals with sharp objects such as trekking poles. The recreating public that ventures into goat habitat is the ultimate source of these conflicts. Education, compliance, and possibly some infrastructure improvements can lessen the potential for conflicts and provide new and safer opportunities to view goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathfinding elephants are moving through human dominated landscapes, often across international boundaries, thereby playing a vital role in connecting protected areas. Their movements are a call to action to not only understand their spatial requirements but to urgently work towards innovative ways to make people's livelihoods compatible with conservation outcomes so that coexistence and connected landscapes can prevail. We discuss the first three phases of a long-term strategy to conserve elephant corridors whilst incorporating the socio-economic needs of the people that share the landscape with them. We present a comprehensive satellite-tracking history of elephants across two transfrontier conservation areas (TFCA), represented by Great Limpopo- and Lubombo TFCAs and involving four countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Eswatini) to flag where linking corridors exist. We use innovative cafeteria-style experiments to understand which elephant-unpalatable plants would offer lucrative alternative income streams to farmers living in human–elephant-conflict hotspots. The most suitable unpalatable plants are chosen based not only on whether they are unpalatable to elephants, but also on their life history traits and growth prerequisites. We consider a combination of potential economic values (food, essential oil, medicinal and bee fodder value) to ensure that selected plants would accommodate changing economic markets. Lastly, we highlight the importance of combining food security measures with ensuring people's safety by means of deploying rapid-response units. By implementing these three phases as part of a longer-term strategy, we draw closer to ensuring the protection of bioregions to achieve biodiversity objectives at a landscape scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of a sound event detector is to recognize anomalies in an audio clip and return their onset and offset. However, detecting sound events in noisy environments is a challenging task. This is due to the fact that in a real audio signal several sound sources co-exist. Moreover, the characteristics of polyphonic audios are different from isolated recordings. It is also necessary to consider the presence of noise (e.g. thermal and environmental). In this contribution, we present a sound anomaly detection system based on a fully convolutional network which exploits image spatial filtering and an Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling module. To cope with the lack of datasets specifically designed for sound event detection, a dataset for the specific application of noisy bus environments has been designed. The dataset has been obtained by mixing background audio files, recorded in a real environment, with anomalous events extracted from monophonic collections of labelled audios. The performances of the proposed system have been evaluated through segment-based metrics such as error rate, recall, and F1-Score. Moreover, robustness and precision have been evaluated through four different tests. The analysis of the results shows that the proposed sound event detector outperforms both state-of-the-art methods and general purpose deep learning-solutions.

After centuries of persecution, European wolf populations are recovering across many areas due to favorable legislation and the rise of the “rewilding” movement over the past few decades. The central mechanism triggering the rewilding of Europe was the European Union Habitat Directive, approved in May of 1992. The directive classifies the wolf as a strictly protected species and all EU-countries have implemented the directive in their legislation. Since the 1990’s, the number of wolves in Europe has steadily increased and the total number of wolves, excluding Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, exceeds 12,000 wolves. At the same time conflicts between farmers, wolf protectors and authorities are becoming more frequent. Wolves living in Central Europe, Finland and Scandinavia must cope with the fact that there are human settlements throughout their habitat. This results in a strong habituation to humans and a growing number of attacks against cattle and sheep under the cover of darkness as well during dawn, dusk, and night. The appearance of wolves in settled areas in broad daylight seems to be more and more the rule rather than the exception. While authorities explain this as being a part of the wolf's normal behavior, human tolerance in areas where wolves return is rapidly lowering. Wolves’ depredation on livestock, and especially a behavior called surplus killing, has resulted in several clashes between farmers and authorities in France and Italy. Surplus killing is a behavior exhibited by wolves in which they kill more prey than they are able to consume and then abandon the remainder. Incidents from Southern Europe show that a single wolf pack may kill hundreds of sheep in one single attack. In this paper I will review the implications of human-wolf coexistence in settled areas in different parts of Europe. I will highlight a number of problems experienced as well as solutions and their outcome.

Person-borne improvised explosive devices (PBIEDs) are often used in terrorist attacks in Western countries. This study aims to predict the trajectories of PBIED fragments and the subsequent safety risks for people exposed to this hazard. An explosive field test with a typical PBIED composed of a plastic explosive charge and steel nut enhancements was performed to record initial fragment behaviour, including positions, velocity, and trajectory angles. These data were used to predict the full trajectory of PBIED fragments using a probabilistic analysis. In the probabilistic analyses a probability of fatality or serious injury was computed. Based on the results presented, many practical conclusions can be drawn, for instance, regarding safe evacuation distances if a person were exposed to a suspected PBIED.

Although it has been shown in numerous studies that immunization of the population by vaccination is the most effective way to protect against smallpox or other polioviruses, the anti-vaccination public rhetoric recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to influence the populations acceptance of vaccination against newly emerging viruses. This fact influenced our decision to study the vaccination of the Romanian population against the virus that causes monkeypox, aiming to identify the degree of compliance regarding the decision related to vaccination acceptance/non-acceptance/hesitation, based on the survey of a representative sample of respondents. The study is based on an online questionnaire completed between 1 July and 31 July 2022 by 820 individuals, aged 18 years or above, with a permanent residency in Romania. The study was undertaken in order to observe the attitudes of the respondents regarding the acceptance, refusal, or hesitation of vaccination against monkeypox. The sociological data resulting from the application of the questionnaire on 820 people highlighted that 97.16% were vaccinated with the vaccines of the national mandatory scheme and 53.32% were vaccinated with the optional vaccines (rotavirus vaccine, anti-hepatitis A, meningococcal vaccine, etc.). Although 47.13% of respondents considered monkeypox to be a real problem facing humanity today, only 26.37% of those surveyed expressed their fear of becoming infected, and 29.30% were willing to immunize themselves against the virus by vaccination. Only 19.59% of respondents believed that the monkeypox disease will generate a new global pandemic, while 31.86% considered pandemics to be a human security issue, and 30.28% expressed their desire to accept a reduction in some rights and freedoms, in the short term, for the adoption of institutional measures to combat a possible pandemic caused by monkeypox. The study clearly highlights the fact that monkeypox is perceived as a threat to the health of the population, with relatively low acceptance of conspiracy theories regarding its origins/manifestation/consequences among respondents (between 21.7% and 28.9%). The vaccination of the population against monkeypox is strongly influenced by the validity of the results obtained over time, in the vaccination campaigns against the smallpox virus (vaccine found in the mandatory vaccination scheme in Romania until 1979). We believe that the negative public rhetoric regarding the COVID-19 vaccination is likely to negatively influence monkeypox vaccination. Although specialized studies and practical results showed that the immunization of the population through vaccination represents an important vector in the prevention/management of pandemic-type issues, we believe that a national pro-vaccination campaign, based on scientific evidence, can lead the population to accept vaccination when the epidemiological context requires it. We also believe that a culture of health security needs to be developed among citizens to raise awareness of the role of vaccines as an important vector in the field of population health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides might remain unknown or unnoticed for a long time in various remote areas due to the unavailability of optical images caused by cloud persistence, which creates difficulties for civil protection rescue operations, and disaster management as well. Rapid crisis response for humanitarian and reconstruction operations in the affected area after such dangerous landslides is necessary. Thus, a rapid detection map is necessary to detect the affected area with damage grade and level for further investigation and human safety protocols. To detect landslide incidents, the unprecedented availability of Sentinel-1 SAR-C band images provides new solutions and better safety reports. In this study, we performed an efficient evaluation of Sentinel-1 SAR C band images before and after landslide incidents. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation based on the advanced space-borne remote sensing technology aiming at SAR products for rapid damage detection and analysis with respect to the interferometric coherence and intensity correlation. We presented the results of a pilot study on the Rudraprayag Uttarakhand massive landslide incident, which includes the different types, sizes, slope expositions, and human safety aspects. Our study and outcomes represent an updated method, which provides a solution for critical terrain rescue operations and an upgraded geomatics map that provides subsidence data with historical data with topographical statistics. Finally, an outlook into the Sentinel-1 SAR-C analysis demonstrates probable solutions to certain constraints, enabling global applicability of the proposed damage assessment methods with the improved accuracy from 50 to 60 % for the obtained temporal resolution datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of pesticides remains a necessary measure for pest management in agriculture, particularly in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. After harvest, the presence of pesticide residues in greengrocery (fruits and vegetables) is significantly influenced by various factors, including storage conditions, handling practices, and subsequent processing methods. The mitigation of these residues to levels compliant with regulated maximum thresholds ensures the safety of raw and processed fruits and vegetables for consumption. A contemporary survey of pesticide residues in greengrocery has gathered considerable attention from consumers, driven by concerns over the potential health risk of pesticide exposure. Consequently, consumers want to be extensively informed about household processing techniques to minimize associated risks. Meanwhile, a critical question arises: does household processing effectively eliminate pesticide residues? A comprehensive review of the literature reveals that conventional methods, such as washing and soaking, offer only limited reduction in residue levels, while emerging treatments, suitable both at household and industrial scale, demonstrate increased efficiency in residues mitigation. This study aims to emphasise the ubiquitous use of pesticides in crop cultivation while providing recommendations for the implementation of efficient treatment protocols to address residue concerns. Following upon available evidence and database mining, the worldwide purpose must be to outline agriculturally and economically viable strategies that prioritize both the health and safety of consumers, as well as the green cultivation and processing of fruits and vegetables.

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to discuss from an interdisciplinary perspective some lessons learnt from the global COVID 19 pandemic in the area of security, social policy and culture. Prior Work: Theoretical and experimental research of the authors in these three fields. Approach: Overview and analysis of the data collected by the authors with the application of two methods - focus group and method of critical incidents. Results: The empirical results identify the respondents’ perceptions and attitudes towards a number of issues like: human safety, societal and social security, culturally specific reactions and behaviour, etc. Implications: The paper can stimulate a larger discussion in the scientific circles about the necessity of joint research on different aspects of COVID 19 pandemic and its reflections. Value: The study will contribute to positioning the global pandemic and its various dimensions as one of the most topical issues in the contemporary interdisciplinary research.

In the era of Industry 4.0 and agile manufacturing, the conventional methodologies for risk assessment, risk reduction, and safety procedures may not fulfill the End-User requirements, especially the SMEs with their product diversity and changeable production lines and processes. This work proposes a novel approach for planning and implementing safe and flexible Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI) workspaces using multilayer HRI operation modes. The collaborative operation modes are grouped in different clusters and categorized at various levels systematically. In addition to that, this work proposes a safety-related finite-state machine for describing the transitions between these modes dynamically and properly. The proposed approach is integrated into a new dynamic risk assessment tool as a promising solution toward a new safety horizon in line with industry 4.0.

An analysis of more than eight years of data from vaccination forums on mothering.com shows that the antivaccination movement is well-organized and widely dispersed, and that it emerged long before concerns about immunity were expressed. The findings are evidence of a formidable challenge to the social norms surrounding vaccination.

The global desire for modernization through technology has thrown up a major disposal challenge for e-wastes, especially in low-economic countries. This study assessed the environmental impacts and possible health risks of potentially toxic metals emanating from poorly managed e-wastes across three main representative sites in southwest Nigeria. Soil samples were collected from three major cities in Southwestern Nigeria and analyzed for As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni and Zn. Pollution assessments were done using indices including contamination factor (Cf), pollution load index (PLI) and potential ecological risk index (PERI) coupled with evaluation of non-cancer and cancer health risks. Results showed enrichment of the local soil with metals due to e-wastes related activities, with an elevated level of Cf (>6), revealing that the soils around the e-waste dumpsites were severely contaminated. In addition, the assessment of individual metal potential ecological risk index (Eif) showed a high level of potential ecological risk for Cd (Eif >320) at all the sites while As, Pb, Cu and Ni exhibited high ecological risk at the sites, especially at topsoil layer. Furthermore, the study established varying potentials for carcinogenic health risks for residents around the dumpsites, such that while a negligible risk index occurred for Cd and Ni (RI < 10−6), the risk is tolerable for Pb (0−6 < RI < 10–4) but within cancer-development range for As and Cr (RI > 10−4). The study concluded that poorly managed e-wastes in the area poses significant threats to the health of humans and the entire ecosystem. Further study is recommended to identify similar e-waste dumpsites at regional and national – scales for sustainable restoration and improved e-waste management.

This paper is designed to explicate and analyze data acquired from experimental field tests of a Tesla Model 3 lane correction module within the vehicle’s Autopilot Suite, a component of Tesla OS. The initial problem was discovered during a nominal drive of the Tesla Model 3, where after a random number of lane correction events, the lane correction module shuts down, issues a visual disable warning on the touchscreen, and control of the vehicle is given to the driver until the next drive. That development was considered problematic, as the driver can be caught off guard or may be medically disabled and unable to respond. During a controlled stress test, a more severe issue was discovered. After a random number of lane correction events, the lane correction module shuts down without warning, then stays activated after the test driver corrects the vehicle’s trajectory. This is considered a fatal error in the system and adds a dangerous element to an otherwise standard feature in a modern automotive vehicle. The results established that the number of events needed to trigger a fatal error without warning is unpredictable. Our results also demonstrate that the system is inconsistent.

From the outset, humans evolved with severe conflict with wildlife, but which they mastered with great ingenuity. We are the only primate that can exist on the ground with large predators, day and night, and are not dependent on climbing trees or cliffs for security. Consequently, we regressed in climbing adaptations and body strength. Without that mastery over predators, there would have been no human evolution. This mastery led to a transfer of resources from predators and competitors to our self, followed very early by dispersal out of Africa into Europa and Asia. The archaeological record keeps hinting at predator-free conditions. At the end of the last glaciation, mega-faunal extinctions generated new challenges for humans, as the virtual absence of mega-herbivores profoundly changed the ecosystems, as fires replaced herbivores in consuming vegetation. Also, wolves escaped extinction, but not their enemies and competitors. Consequently, since the natural limitations on their numbers had been diminished, wolves had to be controlled, and native people rose to the task. Only in societies with disarmed citizens were wolves a menace, and legislation that frees wolves from human control eventually recreates that very menace. North America’s Pleistocene native wildlife survived under extremes in predation, such as was not experienced in Eurasia or Africa. Consequently, our native wildlife species, being quick and accurate learners, readily habituate and are very good at taking advantage of us. Problem wildlife may be created by humans’ irrational wishes which conflict with the biology of a species. This is well illustrated by current efforts at wolf conservation here and in Europe, where the unintended consequence is the assured destruction of the wolf as a species.

Habituation of wildlife, deliberate or accidental, can be a useful tool in research, a profitable tourist attraction, a serious nuisance, and even a mortal danger. It is the first stage of an animal gaining familiarity with humans and is always a state of unconsummated interest by the animal in us. The next stage following habituation, taming, is always initiated by a habituated animal, which thereby continues gaining information about us. In some carnivores this may be an attack to test for edibility. Even tame animals may continue to explore humans by addressing us in their species-specific sign language as if we were social companions of their own species. In my work with free-living but tame bighorn sheep, females began to treat me as a super-female, while males addressed me with dominance displays and attacked me. Since the sign language of different species of mammals may be unintelligible to us, it has led to “unpredictable” fatal attacks in zoological gardens and national parks. In reality, species that are testing us for dominance will signal the intention to attack redundantly and long before it happens. Inability to read the body language, coupled with ignorance of a species’ biology can have fatal consequences. Exemplary is a large and rather safe tourist industry that has developed around habituated and tame bears in North America, while some persons have lived with tamed black and grizzly bears for decades. Negative conditioning to habitat can lead to deliberate or inadvertent population crashes. The survival of large predators may depend on systematic conditioning to avoid humans. Cannibalism among predators involves larger stalking smaller, with predators made wary of being stalked. It is proposed that by targeting stimuli to which large carnivores cannot habituate, such as the sounds of stalking or the bold behavior of armed humans, they can be systematically conditioned to avoid humans. Inefficient and enduring hunting does that, generating a “Freedom of the Woods” – that is, safety for all outdoor users.

Beginning with the developing pattern of urban and suburban coyotes attacking humans in southern California in the late 1970s, we have gathered information on such incidents in an effort to better understand the causes of such changes in coyote behavior, as well as to develop strategies that can reduce the incidence of such attacks. Here, we update information from our knowledge of conflicts between humans and coyotes occurring largely in urban and suburban environments in the United States and Canada during the past 30 years. This problem emerged in states beyond California and in Canadian provinces in the 1990s, and it appears to be growing. We have documented 367 attacks on humans by coyotes from 1977 through 2015, of which 165 occurred in California. Of 348 total victims of coyote attack, 209 (60%) were adults, and 139 (40%) were children (age ≤10 years). Children (especially toddlers) are at greater risk of serious injury. Attacks demonstrate a seasonal pattern, with more occurring during the coyote breeding and pup-rearing season (March through August) than September through February. We reiterate management recommendations that, when enacted, have been demonstrated to effectively reduce risk of coyote attack in urban and suburban environments, and we note limitations of non-injurious hazing programs. We note an apparent growing incidence of coyote attack on pets, an issue that we believe will drive coyote management policy at the local and state levels.

Interest groups are lobbying local authorities nationwide to manage the increasingly dangerous problem of nuisance urban-coyotes by adopting a so-called “hazing” regime, whereby the populace is educated to actively engage coyotes with hostile actions, such as yelling and throwing objects at them. While there is some scientific basis for including an organized hazing regime as one component of a comprehensive urban-coyote management plan, these interest groups have been successful in convincing many local authorities that a public hazing regime is, aside from removing attractants, the only acceptable approach for addressing aggressive or habituated coyotes and that any lethal measures are not only inhumane but ineffective, as a matter of science. However, there is no mainstream scientific literature that supports their view. To the contrary, the only scientific literature on the subject casts doubt on the efficacy of hazing, at least as a long-term solution. Nevertheless, many municipalities have accepted these objectively biased groups’ representations as scientifically valid with little question and have adopted coyote policies based on such representations, without the usual hyper concern for public safety and liability that municipalities are famous for. This paper puts the urban-coyote management plans pushed by interest groups, like the Humane Society of the United States and Project Coyote, under the microscope to evaluate their scientific pedigree to show how widespread their campaign of misinformation reaches.

In many cities across the United States, incidences of coyote encounters (Canis latrans) and human-coyote conflicts are rising. This is especially true for cities in Southern California, where conflicts including pet attacks have been recorded since the 1960s. The only coyote-related human fatality in the United States occurred in Southern California in 1981 and, although no fatal attacks have occurred since, coyote bites to humans are still occurring. Coyote attacks on pets appear to be common in Southern California; however, data are lacking in this area of human-coyote conflicts. This paper examines data from multiple sources that record human-coyote conflicts in Southern California. Coyote reports have been more frequently received by the entities involved in this analysis as their recording time progresses, with data from 243 cities and unincorporated areas suggesting that the majority of reports (68%) are related to non-conflict events. Conflicts were significantly higher in the pup-rearing season compared to the breeding season. There appears to be spatial clustering of coyote reports from Los Angeles County; however, complex analysis is needed to determine the relationship between frequency of complaints and land use in all of the counties to help determine what is driving human-coyote conflicts in Southern California.

Bird-aircraft collisions (bird strikes) pose a serious safety risk to aircraft. Raptors (i.e., hawks and owls) are one of the most frequently struck guild of birds within North America. Integrated wildlife damage management programs combine a variety of non-lethal and lethal management tools to reduce the presence and duration of raptors at airports. Live-capture and translocation away from an airport is a commonly used method to reduce the risk of raptor-aircraft collisions. In 2007, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (WS) developed an airport program-specific plastic leg band (i.e., black with yellow alpha-numerics) for use in operational raptor management activities by the agency at airports. As part of this nation-wide effort, WS airport biologists live-captured, marked with auxiliary markers (i.e., project-specific leg band), and conducted over 3,900 raptor translocations from airports and military bases located in 16 states during January 2008-May, 2015. This represents a large portion of the raptors that were managed using this non-lethal method by WS during these years. Not unexpectedly, raptor translocation efforts and the raptor species managed varied among geographic regions/states and at specific airport locations due to a variety of logistical factors. Fifteen different raptor species were marked and translocated during this effort. Red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, and great horned owls accounted for 58%, 14%, and 6% of marked/translocated birds, respectively. Although research is needed to better understand and increase the efficacy of such management efforts, this non-lethal method of reducing the presence of individual raptors at airports will be an important component of future wildlife damage mitigation programs.

Enabling technologies that drive Industry 4.0 and smart factories are pushing in new equipment and system development also to prevent human workers from repetitive and non-ergonomic tasks inside manufacturing plants. One of these tasks is the order-picking which consists in collecting parts from the warehouse and distributing them among the workstations and vice-versa. That task can be completely performed by a Mobile Manipulator that is composed by an industrial manipulator assembled on a Mobile Robot. Although the Mobile Manipulators implementation brings advantages to industrial applications, they are still not widely used due to the lack of dedicated standards on control and safety. Furthermore, there are few integrated solutions and no specific or reference point allowing the safe integration of mobile robots and cobots (already owned by company). This work faces the integration of a generic mobile robot and collaborative robot selected from an identified set of both systems. The paper presents a safe and flexible mechatronic interface developed by using MBSE principles, multi-domain modeling, and adopting preliminary assumptions on the hardware and software synchronization level of both involved systems. The interface enables the re-using of owned robot systems differently from their native tasks. Furthermore, it provides an additional and redundant safety level by enabling power and force limiting both during cobot positioning and control system faulting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Person-borne improvised explosive devices (PBIEDs) are often used in terrorist attacks in Western countries. This study aims to predict the trajectories of PBIED fragments and the subsequent safety risks for people exposed to this hazard. An explosive field test with a typical PBIED composed of a plastic explosive charge and steel nut enhancements was performed to record initial fragment behaviour, including positions, velocity, and trajectory angles. These data were used to predict the full trajectory of PBIED fragments using a probabilistic analysis. In the probabilistic analyses a probability of fatality or serious injury was computed. Based on the results presented, many practical conclusions can be drawn, for instance, regarding safe evacuation distances if a person were exposed to a suspected PBIED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International guidelines/standards for the protection of humans from radiofrequency exposure have set a limit by assuming the lowest threshold for a classical heating effect, among other effects. However, no computational study has been reported that evaluates temperature rise due to contact currents. This paper presents the computational dosimetry of a specific absorption rate (SAR) and temperature rise due to touch contact currents in the frequency range 100 kHz to 100 MHz using a detailed numerical model of a human hand. Tissue dielectric properties obtained from a conventional 4-Cole-Cole dispersion model have often been considered in dosimetry studies. However, a comparison of the computed electrical impedance with experimental results suggests that the conductivity of the subcutaneous fat in the finger should be higher than the 4-Cole-Cole values-potentially attributable to collagen fibers. We then proposed a set of tissue dielectric conductivities estimated from recent measurement results of conductivities for the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. Consequently, the computed electrical impedances exhibited good agreement with the measured ones. In addition, the SAR and temperature rise obtained using the proposed tissue conductivities were lower than those obtained using 4-Cole-Cole values. Therefore, the SAR and temperature rise obtained based on the 4-Cole-Cole dispersion model may be overstated. We also observed that the steady-state maximum temperature rise due to the contact current at the guidance/limit level was equivalent to 2.5 °C, which is the maximum permissible temperature rise (5 °C) divided by a reduction factor of 2.

Pathfinding elephants are moving through human dominated landscapes, often across international boundaries, thereby playing a vital role in connecting protected areas. Their movements are a call to action to not only understand their spatial requirements but to urgently work towards innovative ways to make people’s livelihoods compatible with conservation outcomes so that coexistence and connected landscapes can prevail. We discuss the first three phases of a long-term strategy to conserve elephant corridors whilst incorporating the socio-economic needs of the people that share the landscape with them. We present a comprehensive satellite-tracking history of elephants across two transfrontier conservation areas (TFCA), represented by Great Limpopo- and Lubombo TFCAs and involving four countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Eswatini) to flag where linking corridors exist. We use innovative cafeteria-style experiments to understand which elephant-unpalatable plants would offer lucrative alternative income streams to farmers living in human–elephant-conflict hotspots. The most suitable unpalatable plants are chosen based not only on whether they are unpalatable to elephants, but also on their life history traits and growth prerequisites. We consider a combination of potential economic values (food, essential oil, medicinal and bee fodder value) to ensure that selected plants would accommodate changing economic markets. Lastly, we highlight the importance of combining food security measures with ensuring people’s safety by means of deploying rapid-response units. By implementing these three phases as part of a longer-term strategy, we draw closer to ensuring the protection of bioregions to achieve biodiversity objectives at a landscape scale.

Actually, the second part of the 20th century characterized by the beginning of the conceptual understanding of “human security” in a system of the international security and international law, in general. It had linked with the historical past, such as world wars, many local military conflicts which claimed the lives millions of people, repressions, scientific and technological progress (the invention of nuclear weapons, various weapons of mass destruction), etc. Besides, it has linked with the present, such as terrorism, human trafficking, acts of aggression, etc., that entails the inevitable destruction of mankind, where the safety/ security plays a crucial role. That`s why, in the early 1990s, the concept of “human security” was introduced into the international discussion. A number of international instruments of the universal and regional character were adopted about the issue of the protection of human rights in the context of “human security”, was termed the new concept of the 20th and the 21st centuries. In this context, the essential objective of this manuscript is the analysis of doctrinal, legal understanding of the concept of the “Humans Security”, taking into account the present conditions and the example of Ukraine (the situation of the East part of the country).

Nowadays, the category of security has become the main criterion for assessing and changing the duration of human, social groups. Modern civilisation has introduced man into a period of dynamic changes, which also causes an increase in natural and cultural threats to security. To a certain extent we are able to foresee natural threats, but when it comes to cultural, political, military threats, we encounter high unpredictability of these threats. Security and related education are currently important concepts in the theory and practice of individual human life, as well as society. The aim of this narrative is to try to show the importance of education for security, in a situation of diverse challenges and contexts, in order to be able to build a culture of happy life, both in natural and cultural aspects.

Copyright of International Journal of Engineering & Management Sciences (2498-700X) / Műszaki és Menedzsment Tudományi Közlemények is the property of University of Debrecen and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although it has been shown in numerous studies that immunization of the population by vaccination is the most effective way to protect against smallpox or other polioviruses, the anti-vaccination public rhetoric recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to influence the populations acceptance of vaccination against newly emerging viruses. This fact influenced our decision to study the vaccination of the Romanian population against the virus that causes monkeypox, aiming to identify the degree of compliance regarding the decision related to vaccination acceptance/non-acceptance/hesitation, based on the survey of a representative sample of respondents. The study is based on an online questionnaire completed between 1 July and 31 July 2022 by 820 individuals, aged 18 years or above, with a permanent residency in Romania. The study was undertaken in order to observe the attitudes of the respondents regarding the acceptance, refusal, or hesitation of vaccination against monkeypox. The sociological data resulting from the application of the questionnaire on 820 people highlighted that 97.16% were vaccinated with the vaccines of the national mandatory scheme and 53.32% were vaccinated with the optional vaccines (rotavirus vaccine, anti-hepatitis A, meningococcal vaccine, etc.). Although 47.13% of respondents considered monkeypox to be a real problem facing humanity today, only 26.37% of those surveyed expressed their fear of becoming infected, and 29.30% were willing to immunize themselves against the virus by vaccination. Only 19.59% of respondents believed that the monkeypox disease will generate a new global pandemic, while 31.86% considered pandemics to be a human security issue, and 30.28% expressed their desire to accept a reduction in some rights and freedoms, in the short term, for the adoption of institutional measures to combat a possible pandemic caused by monkeypox. The study clearly highlights the fact that monkeypox is perceived as a threat to the health of the population, with relatively low acceptance of conspiracy theories regarding its origins/manifestation/consequences among respondents (between 21.7% and 28.9%). The vaccination of the population against monkeypox is strongly influenced by the validity of the results obtained over time, in the vaccination campaigns against the smallpox virus (vaccine found in the mandatory vaccination scheme in Romania until 1979). We believe that the negative public rhetoric regarding the COVID-19 vaccination is likely to negatively influence monkeypox vaccination. Although specialized studies and practical results showed that the immunization of the population through vaccination represents an important vector in the prevention/management of pandemic-type issues, we believe that a national pro-vaccination campaign, based on scientific evidence, can lead the population to accept vaccination when the epidemiological context requires it. We also believe that a culture of health security needs to be developed among citizens to raise awareness of the role of vaccines as an important vector in the field of population health.

Strictly lytic phages are considered powerful tools for biocontrol of foodborne pathogens. Safety issues needed to be addressed for the biocontrol of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) include: lysogenic conversion, Shiga toxin production through phage induction, and emergence/proliferation of bacteriophage insensitive mutants (BIMs). To address these issues, two new lytic phages, vB_EcoS_Ace (Ace) and vB_EcoM_Shy (Shy), were isolated and characterized for life cycle, genome sequence and annotation, pH stability and efficacy at controlling STEC growth. Ace was efficient in controlling host planktonic cells and did not stimulate the production of the Stx prophage or Shiga toxin. A single dose of phage did not lead to the selection of BIMs. However, when reintroduced, BIMs were detected after 24 h of incubation. The gain of resistance was associated with lower virulence, as a subset of BIMs failed to agglutinate with O157-specific antibody and were more sensitive to human serum complement. BIM's biofilm formation capacity and susceptibility to disinfectants was equal to that of the wild-type strain. Overall, this work demonstrated that phage Ace is a safe biocontrol agent against STEC contamination and that the burden of BIM emergence did not represent a greater risk in environmental persistence and human pathogenicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar to the pharmaceutical compounds, pesticides require human safety assessment for their registration and distribution; however, it is absolutely impossible to assess human safety by dosing humans with pesticides. Thus, how to appropriately evaluate the safety of pesticides in humans remains a great subject of debate. In this article, we present some examples of pesticide toxicity studies that identify species differences in toxicity and evaluate human safety by applying combinations of novel in vivo, in vitro, and in silico techniques to separately assess the key toxicodynamic (i.e., sensitivity) and/or toxicokinetic (i.e., exposure) factors. Because it is scientifically sound, the safety assessment strategy illustrated for three compounds in this article is expected to play an important role in the human safety assessment of agricultural compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Central European Political Studies / Środkowoeuropejskie Studia Polityczne is the property of Faculty of Political Science & Journalism, Adam Mickiewicz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

High Voltage Direct Systems (HVDC) are in operation for many years; however, their underlying technology is rapidly advancing. Depending on technology, their operating characteristics can vary under fault and maintenance conditions. Thus, when evaluating the interference activity from such systems, expert knowledge is required with regard to the physical and electrical component aspects of transmitting HVDC electrical power. This paper provides an insightful review, by explicitly elaborating the relevance and importance of such aspects when evaluating their interference activity on collocated pipeline systems. To this end, the paper firstly elaborates on dc interference issues. However, other prevailing interference conditions rely not only on the HVDC steady-state system operation, but also on its transient conditions under dc fault conditions. This is because the transient conditions can exacerbate voltages accumulating on nearby buried pipelines –thus posing safety related concerns. In essence, the paper engages constructively with key source material and provides explicit insights and recommendations that should be considered when addressing the impact of both dc interference and short-term electromagnetic interference on pipeline systems. Exclusive emphasis is given on the operation and fault conditions of VSC-based HVDC cable networks that are using distant, earth or sea electrodes to facilitate the current return process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background General antiviral agents such as oseltamivir are associated with certain adverse effects and the emergence of resistance. This study investigated the phytochemical properties, antiviral activities, and safety of three herbs used in traditional Korean medicine. Methods Extracts of three medicinal herbs (Brassica juncea, Forsythia suspensa, and Inula britannica) were prepared using ethanol or water. The total phenolic, flavonoid, and saponin content, condensed tannin content, and reducing sugar content of the herb extracts were determined via phytochemical screening. Tandem mass analysis was performed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-electrospray ionization (ESI)-Q/Orbitrap instrument. Virus titrations were determined via tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) and cytotoxicity assays. Hemolysis and hepatotoxicity were measured to determine safety. Results Among the three medicinal herbs, F. suspensa showed the highest concentration of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and saponins. The number of phytochemical compounds detected via tandem mass analysis of B. juncea, F. suspensa, and I. britannica was 5 (including sinigrin, m/z [M-H] = 358.02), 14 (including forsythoside A, m/z [M-H] = 623.19), and 18 (including chlorogenic acid, m/z [M-H] = 353.20), respectively. The antiviral effects of the B. juncea extracts (ethanol and water) and I. britannica extract (ethanol) were further investigated. The ethanol extract of B. juncea showed a 3 Log TCID50/25 μL virus titration reduction and the water extract showed a selectivity index of 13.668 against infected influenza H1N1 virus A/NWS/33. The B. juncea extracts did not show hemolysis activities and hepatotoxicity (

ICNIRP and IEEE publish standards/guidelines for exposures to low-frequency electromagnetic fields and their associated in situ electric fields. Two methods are prescribed for spatially averaging the in situ electric field to evaluate compliance: averaging (1) over a 2 mm × 2 mm × 2 mm volume (ICNIRP) and (2) along a 5 mm linear segment of neural tissue (IEEE). However, detailed calculation procedures for these two schemes are not provided, particularly when the averaging volume/line straddles a tissue/air or tissue/tissue interface. This study proposes detailed schemes for implementing the volume- and line-averaging in such cases, applying them to both a spherical model of layered tissues and a human anatomical model. To extend the applicability of the proposed averaging schemes to the voxels at the tissue boundaries, a parameter, pmax, is introduced and defined as the maximum permissible percentage of air/other tissues in the averaging volume/line. For most inner-tissue voxels results show good agreement between the two averaging schemes, in general. Excluding skin, the relative differences between the two averaging schemes were less than 9% for the 99th percentile in situ electric field, and these differences decrease as pmax increases. Results indicate that around 20-30% inclusion of air or other tissues for volume averaging of internal tissues provides stable percentile values; less stability is observed across pmax for linear averaging. Invoking the suggestion of ICNIRP (2010) that the averaging cube for skin “may extend to subcutaneous tissue,” ≥10% inclusion of air results in stable averaged induced electric fields.

Abstract The intersection of wildlife and people on roads raises two critical issues: the barrier and mortality effects of roads on wildlife and risks to people from animal‐vehicle collisions (AVCs). Road mitigation decisions are typically made at the discretion of transportation departments that are mandated to primarily address motorist safety. Therefore, prioritization of road sections for mitigation currently focuses on identification of spatial clusters of AVCs. We sought to understand if AVC clusters align with multispecies connectivity across roads to accurately identify multipurpose mitigation hotspots. We developed a decision‐support tool based on weighted priorities for mitigation planning across 7,900 km of roads over an 84,000‐km2 area of southern Alberta, Canada. To assess alignment, we built functional connectivity models for four focal species (prairie rattlesnake, grizzly bear, mule deer, and pronghorn) and a species‐neutral structural connectivity model. We integrated AVC risk and wildlife connectivity indices into Mitigation Priority Indices that varied the weighting of individual indices. Our results demonstrated poor spatial alignment between road sections of high motorist safety risk and those of high value for wildlife connectivity. Transportation planning would benefit from integrating motorist safety risk and wildlife management needs to prioritize mitigation neighborhoods along roadways.

The intersection of wildlife and people on roads raises two critical issues: the barrier and mortality effects of roads on wildlife and risks to people from animal‐vehicle collisions (AVCs). Road mitigation decisions are typically made at the discretion of transportation departments that are mandated to primarily address motorist safety. Therefore, prioritization of road sections for mitigation currently focuses on identification of spatial clusters of AVCs. We sought to understand if AVC clusters align with multispecies connectivity across roads to accurately identify multipurpose mitigation hotspots. We developed a decision‐support tool based on weighted priorities for mitigation planning across 7,900 km of roads over an 84,000‐km2 area of southern Alberta, Canada. To assess alignment, we built functional connectivity models for four focal species (prairie rattlesnake, grizzly bear, mule deer, and pronghorn) and a species‐neutral structural connectivity model. We integrated AVC risk and wildlife connectivity indices into Mitigation Priority Indices that varied the weighting of individual indices. Our results demonstrated poor spatial alignment between road sections of high motorist safety risk and those of high value for wildlife connectivity. Transportation planning would benefit from integrating motorist safety risk and wildlife management needs to prioritize mitigation neighborhoods along roadways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event DP-2Ø2216-6 (referred to as DP202216 maize) was genetically modified to increase and extend the expression of the introduced zmm28 gene relative to endogenous zmm28 gene expression, resulting in plants with enhanced grain yield potential. The zmm28 gene expresses the ZMM28 protein, a MADS-box transcription factor. The safety assessment of DP202216 maize included an assessment of the potential hazard of the ZMM28 protein, as well as an assessment of potential unintended effects of the genetic insertion on agronomics, composition, and nutrition. The history of safe use (HOSU) of the ZMM28 protein was evaluated and a bioinformatics approach was used to compare the deduced amino acid sequence of the ZMM28 protein to databases of known allergens and toxins. Based on HOSU and the bioinformatics assessment, the ZMM28 protein was determined to be unlikely to be either allergenic or toxic to humans. The composition of DP202216 maize forage and grain was comparable to non-modified forage and grain, with no unintended effects on nutrition or food and feed safety. Additionally, feeding studies with broiler chickens and rats demonstrated a low likelihood of unintentional alterations in nutrition and low potential for adverse effects. Furthermore, the agronomics observed for DP202216 maize and non-modified maize were comparable, indicating that the likelihood of increased weediness or invasiveness of DP202216 maize in the environment is low. This comprehensive review serves as a reference for regulatory agencies and decision-makers in countries where authorization of DP202216 maize will be pursued, and for others interested in food, feed, and environmental safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) for use as topical biopesticides in agriculture was recently discussed during an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Conference on RNA interference (RNAi)-based pesticides. Several topics were presented and these covered different aspects of RNAi technology, its application, and its potential effects on target and non-target organisms (including both mammals and non-mammals). This review presents information relating to RNAi mechanisms in vertebrates, the history of safe RNA consumption, the biological barriers that contribute to the safety of its consumption, and effects related to humans and other vertebrates as discussed during the conference. We also review literature related to vertebrates exposed to RNA molecules and further consider human health safety assessments of RNAi-based biopesticides. This includes possible routes of exposure other than the ingestion of potential residual material in food and water (such as dermal and inhalation exposures during application in the field), the implications of different types of formulations and RNA structures, and the possibility of non-specific effects such as the activation of the innate immune system or saturation of the RNAi machinery.