Digital Europe

ObjectivesThe Certified Reference Material (CRM) ERM®-DA477/IFCC is a new polyclonal IgG anti-beta2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI) material for the harmonization of the laboratory diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). We evaluated CRM’s ability to represent the heterogeneity of APS patient anti-β2GPI antibodies and to calibrate IgG anti-β2GPI methods.MethodsWe characterized CRM for its reactivity against domain-1, using the QUANTA Flash® β2GPI-domain-1 assay, and against domains-4-5 of β2GPI, and single-domain-deleted β2GPI molecules using in-house ELISAs. We used QUANTA Lite® ELISA, QUANTA Flash® CLIA, and EliA™ FEIA methods to evaluate the CRM’s anti-Cardiolipin (anti-CL) activity. Four anti-β2GPI IgG methods (in-house and QUANTA Lite® ELISA, QUANTA Flash® CLIA, and EliA™ FEIA) were also used to evaluate the CRM’s calibration efficacy, alongside 133 clinical samples (CSs) and 99 controls.ResultsThe CRM showed high anti-domain-1 activity and no anti-domain-4-5 activity at the recommended assay dilution. The domain-dependent-β2GPI reactivity profiles were comparable with full-blown APS. There was acceptable dilution linearity for anti-CL assays with R2 ranging from 0.957 to 0.997. For the four anti-β2GPI IgG assays, calibration with the CRM led to a good comparability of the average result of CSs for two of the assays. New cut-offs calculated from this work improved comparability in quantitative results between three of the assays: 85 % concordance with CRM compared to 66 % concordance with assay-specific-calibration.ConclusionsThe CRM is representative of patient anti-β2GPI/CL heterogeneity and should improve anti-β2GPI IgG method harmonization. However, the level of achievable method harmonization is affected by differences in the selectivity among the assays.

Digital illiteracy has been identified as an important indicator that impacts the quality of life of older adults. This work aims to analyze the impact of three different educational approaches (intergenerational, peer-to-peer and online) on older adults’ digital skills in different European countries (Latvia, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom) participating in the Erasmus+ project ICTskills4All.This is a quasi-experimental study. Digital Skills Self-Assessment Questionnaire, which is divided according to the domains of a digital competence framework for citizens (I&DL – information and data literacy; C&C – communication and collaboration; DCC – digital content creation; S – safety), was applied before and after the course. Qualitative evaluation about the pilot courses was also performed.The peer-to-peer and intergenerational (in-person) formats proved to be more effective than the online format in improving I&DL and C&C skills, and the online approach improved the DCC dimension. The results demonstrate that all the educational approaches used in the study are effective possibilities for teaching and learning ICT skills for older adults.

The Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals requires that the risks from the exposure to substances be controlled throughout the life cycle. This includes that conditions of safe use are established via risk assessments, documented and communicated to the downstream users of chemicals. This also applies to the environmental risks originating from downstream uses of chemicals, for instance, those from the industrial uses of adhesives and sealants. Upon application, these products form solid matrices with low emissions to the environment during the application. Hence, it is expected that environmental exposure is low, provided that good industrial practice is followed. To explore this, an environmental risk assessment for industrial uses of adhesives and sealants is performed for the environmentally most hazardous ingredients. These include several solvents, organotin catalysts, fillers, reactive resins, a pigment, and a preservative. Specific environmental release categories (SPERCs) developed by the Association of European Adhesives and Sealants Industries (FEICA) are used to derive emission estimates. In combination with multimedia fate modeling, the environmental risk in water, sediment, soil, and a sewage treatment plant is investigated. The assessment results indicate no environmental risk for any of the ingredients. The discussion evaluates the conservative nature of the assumed values of the use rates, the release factors, the fate modeling, and assessment factors. It concludes that their combination results in a sufficient degree of conservatism. In view of the conservative nature of the assessment and given that the worst‐case ingredients of adhesives and sealants are sufficiently controlled under the generically defined use conditions, it is concluded that the SPERCs used represent safe conditions for use, irrespective of the ingredient substances of adhesives and sealants. The essential SPERC information elements are identified for the purpose of communicating the conditions of safe use. The consolidation of this information in safety data sheets for adhesives and sealants is discussed. Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1288–1296. © 2021 FEICA aisbl. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

This paper presents a study on the evolution of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and technology trends towards 6G. Three timescales are considered, namely short-term (2022`ish), medium-term (2025'ish), and long-term (2030`ish). The evolution of these KPIs is analyzed by accounting for forecasts on the emerging use cases and their requirements together with assumptions on the pace of wireless technology advancements. Being intrinsically predictive, we cannot assert with certainty the values of the target KPIs and the shortlisting of the Top-10 wireless technology trends. It is, however, aimed at driving discussions and collecting feedback over the next decade. Future refinement is therefore expected as the 5G NR evolution journey progresses towards 6G.

A special class of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUF) called strong PUFs are characterized as having an exponentially large challenge-response pair (CRP) space. However, model-building attacks with machine learning algorithms have shown that the CRP space of most strong PUFs can be predicted using a relatively small subset of training samples. In this paper, we investigate the delay model of the Hardware-Embedded deLay PUF (HELP) and apply machine learning algorithms to determine its resilience to model-building attacks. The delay model for HELP possesses significant differences when compared with other delay-based PUFs such as the Arbiter PUF, particularly with respect to the composition of the paths which are tested to generate response bits. We show that the complexity of the delay model in combination with a set of delay post processing operations carried out within the HELP algorithm significantly reduce the effectiveness of model-building attacks.