MEI is a project for DG Research of the European Commission (Call FP6-2005-SSP-5A, Area B, 1.6, Task 1) about measuring eco-innovation. The project is done in collaboration with Eurostat, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission. MEI offers a conceptual clarification of eco-innovation (developing a typology) and discusses possible indi...

Eco-labels emphasize information disclosure as a tool to induce environmentally friendly behaviors by both firms and consumers. The goal of eco-labels is to reduce information asymmetry between producers and consumers over the environmental attributes of a product or service. However, by focusing on this information asymmetry, rather than on how the label meets consumer needs, eco-labels may se...

OBJECTIVES The main goal of the study was to assess possible association between fetal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and exhaled carbon monoxide (eCO) measured in non-asthmatic children. MATERIAL AND METHODS The subjects include 118 children taking part in an ongoing population-based birth cohort study in Kraków. Personal samplers of PM2.5 were used to measure fine particle mass...

The upper reaches of Minjiang River-valley, located on the eastern edge of Qinghai–Tibet Plain, is characterized by the complex distribution of hills and valleys. It is a typical and key mountainous region with apparent upland ecosystem vulnerability and sensitivity according to National Eco-environmental Renovating Scheme of china. In order to analyze eco-environmental vulnerability, remote se...

Deamination of cytosines results in accumulation of uracil residues in DNA, which unless repaired lead to GC-->AT transition mutations. Uracil DNA glyco-sylase excises uracil residues from DNA and initiates the base excision repair pathway to safeguard the genomic integrity. In this study, we have investigated the effect of single-stranded DNA binding proteins (SSBs) from Escherichia coli (Eco ...

This paper discusses a practical, computerised eco-management system for agriculture which has been developed at the University of Hertfordshire, UK for use by farmers and their advisers to encourage more sustainable practices. The research and software development has been funded by the UK’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Milk Development Council. The computerised system h...

Product design is one of the most important sectors influencing global sustainability, as almost all the products consumed by people are outputs of the product development process. In particular, early design decisions can have a very significant impact on sustainability. These decisions not only relate to material and manufacturing choices but have a far-reaching effect on the product’s entire...

Climate change is strongly linked to human behavior and technologies, and many of the barriers to sustainable behavior are rather psychological than technological. More sustainable technologies and food products have been introduced to combat climate change, most often labeled with morally loaded labels such as “organic” or “environmentally friendly”. The purpose of this thesis was, first, to g...

Agricultural fertilization may change processes of elemental biogeochemical cycles and alter the ecological function. Ecoenzymatic stoichiometric feature plays a critical role in global soil carbon (C) metabolism, driving element cycles, and mediating atmospheric composition in response to agricultural nutrient management. Despite the importance on crop growth, the role of phosphorous (P) in co...

This article describes the study of the eco-impact of plastic and paper bags using the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) technique under three different options: usage and disposal criteria with the existing usage behavior to reuse and governmental policies to recycle (option1), usage and disposal criteria as per consumers’ perceptions if systems are in place (option2) and usage and disposal ...