In December of 2004 the Directorate General for Research and Technological Development (DG RTD) of the European Commission (EC) set up a High-Level Expert Group to propose a series of measures to stimulate the reporting of Intellectual Capital in research intensive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The Expert Group has focused on enterprises that either perform Research and Development (R&D), or use the results of R&D to innovate and has also considered the implications for the specialist R&D units of larger enterprises, dedicated Research & Technology Organizations and Universities. In this report the Expert Group presents its findings, leading to six recommendations to stimulate the reporting of Intellectual Capital in SMEs by raising awareness, improving reporting competencies, promoting the use of IC Reporting and facilitating standardization.
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Illicit data markets have emerged on Telegram, a popular online instant messaging application, bringing together thousands of users worldwide in an unregulated exchange of sensitive data. These markets operate through vendors who offer enormous quantities of such data, from personally identifiable information to financial data, while potential customers bid for these valuable assets. This study describes how Telegram data markets operate and discusses what interventions could be used to disrupt them. Using crime script analysis, we observed 16 Telegram meeting places encompassing public and private channels and groups. We obtained information about how the different meeting places function, what are their inside rules, and what tactics are employed by users to advertise and trade data. Based on the crime script, we suggest four feasible situational crime prevention measures to help disrupt these markets. These include taking down the marketplaces, reporting them, spamming and flooding techniques, and using warning banners. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Trends in organized crime . The final authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-024-09532-6
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Developing a reliable method to compare food sustainability is gaining traction, with efforts like those by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This research aims to contribute to a comprehensive scientific comparison of food categories based on CO2 emissions linked not to weight but to their primary function: nutrient availability and uptake in the consumer’s body. The study utilizes a multi-criteria evaluation for sustainability, incorporating the Nutrient Rich Food (NRF) score, protein digestibility, and essential amino acid content. A case study compares one serving of semi-skimmed milk (SSM) with various plant-based beverages (oat, soy, rice, coconut, and almond), considering their carbon footprints in relation to nutrient content and environmental costs. The analysis integrates protein quality through essential amino acid proportion and digestibility. Findings reveal that achieving an NRF11.3 score of 50 requires more servings of unfortified plant-based beverages than semi-skimmed milk, resulting in higher carbon footprints, except for soy drink. However, when considering emerging farm management measures, semi-skimmed and soy drinks show comparable carbon footprints for a given NRF score. Fortified plant-based beverages (soy, oat, and almond) exhibit lower footprints relative to the calculated NRF scores. Yet, when converting carbon footprints to euros using the European Union Emissions Trading System and adding them to retail prices per kilogram, semi-skimmed milk emerges as the option with the lowest “societal costs” (environment and consumer costs). The research underscores that understanding a food product’s nutritional value requires more than knowledge of its composition; uptake into the body maintenance and potential synergistic effects of other components in the food matrix play crucial roles.
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Since March 2013, Paul Peeters is a member of the ICAO/CAEP Working Group 3, which is responsible for setting a new fuel efficiency standard for of civil aviation. He does so for the International Coalition for Sustainable Aviation (ICSA). ICSA was established in 1998 by a group of national and international environmental NGOs as official observers. Since its inception, ICSA has contributed to CAEP’s work on technical means to reduce emissions and noise, the role of market-based measures, supporting economic and environmental analysis, modelling and forecasting, and ICAO’s carbon calculator. It has also been invited to present its views at ICAO workshops on carbon markets and bio-fuels, and has presented to the high-level Group on Internation Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC). ICSA uses the expertise within its NGO membership to formulate its co-ordinated positions. To gain the broadest level of understanding and input from environmental NGOs, ICSA communicates with, and invites comment from, other NGO networks and bodies working in related areas. ICSA’s participation in ICAO and CAEP meetings is currently provided by the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT) and Transport and Environment (T&E). See http://www.icsa-aviation.org
