Umweltwissenschaften

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    Produkthaftung in der Apotheke
    (Stuttgart : Deutscher Apotheker Verlag, 2005) Diebold, Steffen M.
    Stellt ein Apotheker Arzneimittel, Medizinprodukte oder andere apothekenübliche Waren (z.B. Kosmetika oder Mixturen nach Angaben von Heilpraktikern, Homöopathen oder Anthroposophen) in seiner Offizin selbst her, so haftet er (grundsätzlich) einem dadurch ggf. geschädigten Kunden (auch) nach den Vorschriften des Produkthaftungsgesetzes. Diese Haftung besteht unabhängig vom eigenen Verschulden. Sie greift auch bei der Einfuhr von Arzneimitteln aus Staaten, die nicht zum Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum gehören, sowie bei Import und Abgabe von aus Drittländern eingeführten und im Geltungsbereich des Arzneimittelgesetzes (AMG) nicht zugelassenen Fertigarzneimitteln nach § 73 (3) AMG.
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    The meso scale as a frontier in interdisciplinary modeling of sustainability from local to global scales
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2023) Johnson, Justin Andrew; Brown, Molly E.; Corong, Erwin; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; C. Henry, Roslyn; Jeetze, Patrick José von; Leclère, David; Popp, Alexander; Thakrar, Sumil K.; Williams, David R.
    Achieving sustainable development requires understanding how human behavior and the environment interact across spatial scales. In particular, knowing how to manage tradeoffs between the environment and the economy, or between one spatial scale and another, necessitates a modeling approach that allows these different components to interact. Existing integrated local and global analyses provide key insights, but often fail to capture ‘meso-scale’ phenomena that operate at scales between the local and the global, leading to erroneous predictions and a constrained scope of analysis. Meso-scale phenomena are difficult to model because of their complexity and computational challenges, where adding additional scales can increase model run-time exponentially. These additions, however, are necessary to make models that include sufficient detail for policy-makers to assess tradeoffs. Here, we synthesize research that explicitly includes meso-scale phenomena and assess where further efforts might be fruitful in improving our predictions and expanding the scope of questions that sustainability science can answer. We emphasize five categories of models relevant to sustainability science, including biophysical models, integrated assessment models, land-use change models, earth-economy models and spatial downscaling models. We outline the technical and methodological challenges present in these areas of research and discuss seven directions for future research that will improve coverage of meso-scale effects. Additionally, we provide a specific worked example that shows the challenges present, and possible solutions, for modeling meso-scale phenomena in integrated earth-economy models.
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    Less extreme and earlier outbursts of ice-dammed lakes since 1900
    (London [u.a.] : Nature Publ. Group, 2023) Veh, Georg; Lützow, Natalie; Tamm, Jenny; Luna, Lisa V.; Hugonnet, Romain; Vogel, Kristin; Geertsema, Marten; Clague, John J.; Korup, Oliver
    Episodic failures of ice-dammed lakes have produced some of the largest floods in history, with disastrous consequences for communities in high mountains1–7. Yet, estimating changes in the activity of ice-dam failures through time remains controversial because of inconsistent regional flood databases. Here, by collating 1,569 ice-dam failures in six major mountain regions, we systematically assess trends in peak discharge, volume, annual timing and source elevation between 1900 and 2021. We show that extreme peak flows and volumes (10 per cent highest) have declined by about an order of magnitude over this period in five of the six regions, whereas median flood discharges have fallen less or have remained unchanged. Ice-dam floods worldwide today originate at higher elevations and happen about six weeks earlier in the year than in 1900. Individual ice-dammed lakes with repeated outbursts show similar negative trends in magnitude and earlier occurrence, although with only moderate correlation to glacier thinning8. We anticipate that ice dams will continue to fail in the near future, even as glaciers thin and recede. Yet widespread deglaciation, projected for nearly all regions by the end of the twenty-first century9, may bring most outburst activity to a halt.
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    More people too poor to move: divergent effects of climate change on global migration patterns
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2023) Rikani, Albano; Otto, Christian; Levermann, Anders; Schewe, Jacob
    The observed temperature increase due to anthropogenic carbon emissions has impacted economies worldwide. National income levels in origin and destination countries influence international migration. Emigration is relatively low not only from high income countries but also from very poor regions, which is explained in current migration theory by credit constraints and lower average education levels, among other reasons. These relationships suggest a potential non-linear, indirect effect of climate change on migration through this indirect channel. Here we explore this effect through a counterfactual analysis using observational data and a simple model of migration. We show that a world without climate change would have seen less migration during the past 30 years, but that this effect is strongly reduced due to inhibited mobility. Our framework suggests that migration within the Global South has been strongly reduced because these countries have seen less economic growth than they would have experienced without climate change. Importantly, climate change has impacted international migration in the richer and poorer parts of the world very differently. In the future, climate change may keep increasing global migration as it slows down countries’ transition across the middle-income range associated with the highest emigration rates.
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    Household Disposal of Pharmaceuticals in Low-Income Settings: Practices, Health Hazards, and Research Needs
    (Basel : MDPI, 2023) Gwenzi, Willis; Simbanegavi, Tinoziva T.; Rzymski, Piotr
    Pharmaceuticals are widely used in Africa due to the high burden of human and animal diseases. However, a review of the current practices and pollution risks arising from the disposal of pharmaceuticals in low-income settings in Africa is still lacking. Therefore, the present review examined the literature to address the following questions: (1) what are the key factors driving the accumulation of unused and expired pharmaceuticals?, (2) what are the current disposal practices for unused and expired pharmaceuticals, and wastewater (feces and urine) containing excreted pharmaceuticals?, (3) what are the potential environmental and human health hazards posed by current disposal practices?, and (4) what are the key research needs on the disposal of pharmaceuticals in low-income settings? Evidence shows that, in low-income settings, wastewater comprising predominantly of feces and urine containing excreted pharmaceuticals often end up in on-site sanitation systems such as pit latrines, septic tanks, and the environment in the case of open defecation. Unused and expired pharmaceuticals are disposed of in pit latrines, household solid waste, and/or burned. The pollution risks of current disposal practices are poorly understood, but pharmaceutical pollution of groundwater sources, including those used for drinking water supply, may occur via strong hydrological connectivity between pit latrines and groundwater systems. Potential high-risk pollution and human exposure hotspots are discussed. However, compared to other environmental compartments, the occurrence, dissemination, fate, and human health risks of pharmaceuticals in the pit latrine-groundwater continuum are still understudied. Future research directions are discussed to address these gaps using the Source-Pathway-Receptor-Impact-Mitigation (SPRIM) continuum as an organizing framework.