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- Danielsson, Erna, Professor, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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Risk Communication : A Comparative Study of Eight EU Countries
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How do EU member states communicate risks to their citizens? In this study, we define risk communication as the information provided by different levels of government to citizens regarding possible future crises. The questions serving as departure points for this study are as follows: How is the administrative system for risk communication set up in the countries studied? How the different risk communication campaigns are (provided that they exist) embedded in the larger administrative context? How is risk communication strategy formulated in each country and what kind of threats are emphasized? In order to tackle these questions, we examine the risk communication strategy of eight countries: Sweden, Finland, Germany, England, France, Estonia, Greece and Cyprus. Our data consist of governmental web sites, publications, campaigns, as well as other modes of communication, such as videos posted on YouTube, with questions centering on institutional actors, methods of delivery, content, and effectiveness. We acknowledge that risk communication aims at supporting vulnerable populations and evening out imbalances, but at the same time we flesh out the power dimension of risk. In our analysis, we search for reproduction of norms and social inequality in risk communication practices. The results show that some patterns emerge regarding the way different EU countries convey information to the public, but they do not hold strictly to geography or administrative system. Digital media are the foremost vehicle of risk communication and the message generally conveyed is geared towards traditional, middle class households with the main language of the country as their first language. Volunteer organizations are present in all the countries in question, though not at the same degree. The conveyance of “self-protection” guidelines implicitly places the responsibility of protection to the individual. The results also show that in some countries, materiality has become more prevalent than the social dimension of risk in the message the public sector conveys, and that there is a move from focusing on risk to focusing on security.
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| 2. |
- Rostkowski, Pawel, et al.
(författare)
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The strength in numbers : comprehensive characterization of house dust using complementary mass spectrometric techniques
- 2019
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Ingår i: Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1618-2642 .- 1618-2650. ; 411:10, s. 1957-1977
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Untargeted analysis of a composite house dust sample has been performed as part of a collaborative effort to evaluate the progress in the field of suspect and nontarget screening and build an extensive database of organic indoor environment contaminants. Twenty-one participants reported results that were curated by the organizers of the collaborative trial. In total, nearly 2350 compounds were identified (18%) or tentatively identified (25% at confidence level 2 and 58% at confidence level 3), making the collaborative trial a success. However, a relatively small share (37%) of all compounds were reported by more than one participant, which shows that there is plenty of room for improvement in the field of suspect and nontarget screening. An even a smaller share (5%) of the total number of compounds were detected using both liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thus, the two MS techniques are highly complementary. Most of the compounds were detected using LC with electrospray ionization (ESI) MS and comprehensive 2D GC (GCxGC) with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electron ionization (EI), respectively. Collectively, the three techniques accounted for more than 75% of the reported compounds. Glycols, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and various biogenic compounds dominated among the compounds reported by LC-MS participants, while hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon derivatives, and chlorinated paraffins and chlorinated biphenyls were primarily reported by GC-MS participants. Plastics additives, flavor and fragrances, and personal care products were reported by both LC-MS and GC-MS participants. It was concluded that the use of multiple analytical techniques was required for a comprehensive characterization of house dust contaminants. Further, several recommendations are given for improved suspect and nontarget screening of house dust and other indoor environment samples, including the use of open-source data processing tools. One of the tools allowed provisional identification of almost 500 compounds that had not been reported by participants.
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