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This paper explores Climate Protection at a local level. Initially it was essential to define and understand the “Greenhouse Effect” before evaluating local authorities’ potential to counteract it. We examined strategies dealing with the problem of climate change and particular emphasis was placed on the potential for local authorities to exert an influence. We examined the frameworks, policies, challenges, problems and best practices for climate protection at a local level. Our research examined ten municipalities on the island of Rhodes in Greece and assessed their current contribution to climate protection. Results showed that all ten municipalities implement a range of measures to protect the climate and reduce CO2 emissions

The purpose of this manuscript will be to present scientific evidence regarding the effects of videogame playing on different aspects of the social life of children and adolescents, as well as the general potential psychological and physiological effects. A literature review from relevant databases has been performed, and experimental and meta-analytical studies have been scrutinized for positive and negative effects of videogames in children and adolescents. In general, it has been found that there is a billionaire videogame industry and yet, despite the worldwide popularity of videogames, research is still scarce and sometimes contradictory. Some research suggests a correlation between excess time video gaming on negative social and psychological aspects such as isolation and aggressive behavior; while other research suggests a positive association with motor learning, motor re-training and resilience. As far as physiological effects it has been reported that active videogames might promote higher energy expenditure than passive videogames; therefore, given an adequate parental instruction might provide videogames beneficial properties to combat the global epidemic of sedentary behavior and obesity. Videogames and everything related «to be» in front of a screen will be common to future generations, and therefore more systematic studies are required to determine the long-term exposure effects to these devices.

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Science, Vol.\n305, No. 5686, 2004, pp. 932-934."]} This paper contributes to the debate on the proximate causes of climate change. Also, it discusses the impact of the global temperature increases since the beginning of the twentieth century and the effectiveness of climate change models in isolating the primary cause (anthropogenic influences or natural variability in temperature) of the observed temperature increases that occurred within this period. The paper argues that if climate scientist and policymakers ignore the anthropogenic influence (greenhouse gases) on global warming on the pretense of lack of agreement among various climate models and their inability to account for all the necessary factors of global warming at all levels the current efforts of greenhouse emissions control and global warming as a whole could be exacerbated.

Piotr H Pawłowski Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, PolandCorrespondence: Piotr H Pawłowski Tel +48-22-659-70-72Email piotrp@ibb.waw.plAbstract: The change in the formal charge of 34 SARS-CoV-2 lineages from September 2020 to June 2021 was analyzed according to the monthly evidence of the European agency. The reported point mutations and small insertions are electrically neutral (17), positive (12), or negative (3). They had been found in the spike glycoprotein S, in the RBD and S1/S2 regions, crucial for initiation of viral infection. The most often observed were positive mutations, especially D614G and E484K, located in the region of S1/S2 junction, and in the receptor-binding domain (RBD), respectively. They are related to G and A switching. Positive mutations are stretching equally in both areas, but in the RBD region, they are more dispersed. In the set of analyzed virus variants, the increasing tendency in the number of positively charged residues in spike protein was observed. Furthermore, the well-documented WHO classes show an increase in the COVID-19 percentage case fatality with the positive increase in the spike crucial region’s total charge. The data mining, applying classifier algorithm based on the artificial neuronal network, confirms that the value and the distribution of additional positive charge in S may be important factors enabling virus impact to immunity. This may be promoted by the stronger long-range electrostatic attraction of the virus particle to the host cell, preceding the infection. The estimation of the potential energy for the RBD approaching the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) was presented.Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, spike protein S, amino acids, charge, potential energy, electrostatic interactions

In experiments in non-inbred rats, it has been established that chronic intoxication of ethanol (30 days, total dose – 6.0 LD50) essentially reduces concentration of cytokines IFNγ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 in blood, increases concentration of IL-6, reduces an interrelation IFNγ/IL-4 in comparison with the control, suppresses of immune responses, which displays the greater lesion of Th1-cells in comparison with Th2-lymphosytes.

Pressure is rising to alter the accounting system used to calculate emissions due to bioenergy under the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme because it does not capture the full extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from bioenergy use. Both the European Union (EU) and United States (U.S.) are engaged in consultation processes targeted on how to treat emissions connected with use of biomass for energy within regulatory systems hence this discussion of accounting options is timely. The paper first classifies alternative accounting systems into the following three basic approaches: 1) CO2 emissions produced when biomass is burnt for energy are not counted at the point of combustion but are accounted for in the land use sector as carbon stock losses (a combustion factor = 0 approach);. 2) CO2 emissions produced when biomass is burnt for energy are accounted for in the energy sector; uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere by plants and soils may, or may not, be accounted for (a combustion factor = 1 approach); 3) End users are responsible for all or a specified subset of emissions that occur along the bioenergy value chain regardless of where these emissions occur (a value chain approach). The paper then evaluates these approaches against general criteria, and assesses their impacts on a selected set of stakeholder goals. The general criteria are: (a) comprehensiveness; (b) simplicity; and (c) scale independence. Stakeholder goals to be examined are: (a) stimulation of rural economies (b) food security, (c) GHG reductions, and (d) preservation of forests. Given that it is unlikely that all countries will accept greenhouse gas emission targets in the future, we find that: 0-combustion factor accounting systems rank low on comprehensiveness but are relatively simple and scale­independent. Systems with a 1-combustion factor tend to be more comprehensive, and can be both simple and scale­independent. End-user systems vary in comprehensiveness, tend to be complicated and are scale-dependent. While stimulating rural economies, the current system (0-combustion factor) does not foster food security, reduce GHG emissions or preserve forests. 1-combustion factor approaches can support rural economies and food security but tend not to preserve forest. In value-chain approaches, mandates to use biofuels determine impacts on rural economies and food security. These systems can be effective in forest preservation and achieving GHG reductions. Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 2398-2407

{"references": ["European Commission: \"Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area - Towards a competitive and resource-efficient transport system\", pp. 5, 2011.", "G. Szendro, \"Congestion charging in Budapest - a comparison with existing systems\", Periodica Polytechnica, To be published.", "G. Szendro, \"Sustainable biofuels in Hungary and Europe - self-defeating incentives?\" Gazdalkodas Scientific Journal on Agricultural Economics, English Special Edition, pp. 71-78, ISSN 0046-5518, 2010.", "P. R. Ehrlich, J. P. Holdren, \"Impact of population growth\", Science, 1971.", "The World Bank: \"World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance\", 2010", "British Petrol: Statistical Review of World Energy 2011", "G. Szendro, M. Csete, A. Torok,\"Unbridgeable gap between transport policy and practice in Hungary\", Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, To be published.", "International Energy Agency, FIA Foundation: \"50 by 50, global fuel economy initiative\", pp. 6., 2008.", "http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/data/vehicles.html,\taccessed \n2011.09.19\n[10] http://www.eurocarblog.com/post/3322/electric-cars-europe-vs-the-us, accessed 2011.09.19"]} The effects of the transport sector on the environment are a well-recognized issue in the European Union and around the world. This area is a subject of much discussion as to how these negative effects could be minimized, especially with regards to impacts contributing to climate change. This paper aims to investigate the results of the economic crisis and how its consequences could be exploited to combat air pollution.

Defining alternatives for non-renewable energy sources constitutes a priority to the development of our societies. One of these alternatives is biofuels production starting from energy crops, agricultural wastes, forest products or wastes. In this context, a "second generation" biofuels production, aiming at utilizing the whole plant, including ligno-cellulosic (hemicelluloses, cellulose, lignin) fractions (Ogier et al., 1999) that are not used for human food, would allow the reduction of the drawbacks of bioethanol production (Schoeling, 2007). However, numerous technical, economical, ethical and environmental questions are still pending. One of the aims of the BioEtha2 project, directed by the Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, is to define the position of bioethanol produced from ligno-cellulosic biomass among the different renewable energy alternatives that could be developed in Wallonia towards 2020. With this aim, and in order to answer the numerous questions in this field, the project aims at using tools and methods coming from the concept of "forecasting scenarios" (Sebillotte, 2002; Slegten et al., 2007; For-learn, 2008). This concept, based on a contemporary reality, aims to explore different possible scenarios for the future development of alternative sources of energy production. The principle is to evaluate, explore, possible futures of the studied problematic, through the establishment of possible evolution trajectories. We contribute to this prospective through a systemic approach (Vanloqueren, 2007) that allows lightening the existing interactions within the system "ligno-cellulosic biomass chain" without isolating it from its environment. We explain and sketch the two contexts needed to identify primary stakes. The global context includes inter-dependant and auto-regulating fields such as society, politics, technology and economy. These four fields influence each part of the "chain" with specific tools. However, the interest and possible action fields lay within the intermediary context representing the "resources" such as agriculture, forestry, "driving" elements such as mobility, mediation elements such as territories and environment and concurrent elements such as non-cellulosic biomass, the energy mix and the non-energy valorization.

OBJETIVO: Avaliar os efeitos do consumo crônico de etanol e da desintoxicação alcoólica sobre a resistência mecânica do osso e neoformação óssea junto a implantes de hidroxiapatita densa (HAD) realizados em ratos. MÉTODOS: Foram utilizados 15 ratos divididos em três grupos, sendo controle (CT), alcoolista crônico (AC) e desintoxicado (DE). Após quatro semanas, foi realizada implantação de HAD na tíbia e produzida falha no osso parietal, em seguida o grupo AC continuaram a consumir etanol e o grupo DE iniciaram a desintoxicação. Ao completar 13 semanas os animais sofreram eutanásia, os ossos foram coletados para o processamento histomorfométrico e os fêmures encaminhados ao teste mecânico de resistência. RESULTADOS: Os animais do grupo AC apresentaram menores valores de neoformação óssea, de calcemia e resistência mecânica, quando comparado aos grupos CT e DE. Os animais dos grupos DE apresentaram valores superiores em todas as variáveis avaliadas em relação ao grupo AC. CONCLUSÃO: O consumo de etanol interferiu na osteogênese ao redor de implante de HAD, nos níveis de cálcio e na resistência mecânica óssea. A desintoxicação alcoólica se mostrou eficaz, pois aumentou à osteogênese e osseointegração da HAD, a calcemia e resistência mecânica óssea. Nivel de Evidência I, estudo terapeutico.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of chronic ethanol consumption and alcohol detoxication on the mechanical resistance of bone and bone neoformation around dense hydroxyapatite implants (DHA) in rats. METHODS: Fifteen rats were separated into three groups: (1) control group (CT); (2) chronic alcoholic (CA), and (3) disintoxicated (DI). After four weeks, a DHA was implanted in the right tibia of the animals, and the CA group continued consuming ethanol, while the DI group started detoxication. The solid and liquid feeding of the animals was recorded, and a new alcohol dilution was effected every 48 hours. After 13 weeks, the animals were euthanized and their biological material was collected. RESULTS: Bone tissue was found around DHA in all the animals. Group CA showed less bone neoformation, lower levels of ionic and total calcium when compared to the animals of the CT and DI groups. The DI animals showed higher values in all the variables in relation to the CA group. CONCLUSION: Ethanol consumption interfered in osteogenesis around the DHA implants, and in calcium levels and mechanical bone resistance. Alcohol detoxication was effective, as it increased osteogenesis, DHA osteointegration, calcemia, and mechanical resistance of the bone. Level of Evidence: Level I, therapeutic studies