Semivolatile and Volatile Compound Evolution during Pyrolysis and Combustion of Colombian Coffee Husk

Thermal characterization of coffee husk (Coffea arabica) from Colombian coffee has been studied. Different products, mostly volatile and semivolatile compounds, were analyzed, paying special attention to 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) classified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) as priority pollutants, frequently used for checking toxicity in environmental samples. A fixed amount of raw material was exposed to different excess air ratios (λ = 0–2.33) and nominal temperature of 1123 K in a horizontal quartz reactor. The results show that coffee husk is a promising biomass for energetic exploitation with reduced formation of PAHs in a low air excess ratio. This implies reduction of carcinogenic potential in the limited presence of oxygen, demonstrated by calculating the carcinogenic potential (KE) for each experimental condition. Most volatile and semivolatile compounds followed different trends, with the oxygen presence prevailing their decomposition with increasing the air excess ratio.

Pulling the Strings: Party Group Coordinators in the European Parliament

Since its post-Lisbon increase in (legislative and non-legislative) powers, the European Parliament (EP) is more relevant than ever in the geographically diversified multilevel system of the EU. Party group coordinators occupy a crucial position in collective decision-making within the EP. However, knowledge about these pivotal actors is absent. This raises the question as to who these party group coordinators are, what they do, and what indeed makes a good coordinator. A new data set shows that in 2012, more than one-fifth of coordinators of the three largest and most influential groups are German, with British and Spanish coordinators ranking a distant second before Romanians. Among coordinators from NMS, only one-eighth were newcomers.

The Theory of Interhybridity: Socio-political Dimensions and Migration Experiences of Post-communist Western Balkan States

The Western Balkans integration within the EU has started a legal process which is the rejection of former communist legal/political approaches and the transformation of former communist institutions. Indeed, the EU agenda has brought vertical/horizontal integration and Europeanization of national institutions (i.e. shifting power to the EU institutions and international authorities). At this point, it is very crucial to emphasize the fact that the Western Balkans as a whole region has currently an image that includes characteristics of both the Soviet socialism and the European democracy. The EU foreign policies and enlargement strategy for Western Balkans have significant effects on four core factors (i.e. Schengen visa regulations, remittances, asylum and migration as an aggregate process). The convergence/divergence of EU member states’ priorities for migration policies regulate and even shape directly the migration dynamics in migrant sender countries. From this standpoint, the research explores how main migration factors are influenced by political and judicial factors such as; rule of law and democracy score, the economic liberation score, political and human rights, civil society score and citizenship rights in Western Balkan countries. The proposal of interhybridity explores how the hybridization of state and non-state actors within home and host countries can solve labor migration-related problems. The economical and sociopolitical labor-migration model of Basu (2009) is overlapping with the multidimensional empirical framework of interhybridity. Indisputably, hybrid model (i.e. collaboration state and non-state actors) has a catalyst role in terms of balancing social problems and civil society needs. Paradigmatically, it is better to perceive the hybrid model as a combination of communicative and strategic action that means the reciprocal recognition within the model is precondition for significant functionality. This will shape social and industrial relations with moral meanings of communication.