The Codex Alimentarius Commission regularly reviews and updates its standards and guidelines to reflect the latest scientific knowledge and technological advancements in the food industry. These standards are voluntary, but they serve as a reference for countries and international organizations when developing their own food safety and quality regulations. Compliance with Codex standards can facilitate international trade by ensuring that food products meet common criteria for safety and quality.
Some of the key areas addressed by Codex standards include:
Food safety:Codex sets standards for food contaminants, residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs, food additives, and microbiological criteria to ensure that food products are safe for consumption.
Food labeling:Codex provides guidelines on how food products should be labeled, including information on ingredients, nutrition, allergens, and more.
Food hygiene: It establishes principles and guidelines for food handling, processing, and storage to prevent foodborne illnesses.
Food quality:Codex standards also cover the quality attributes of various food products, including fruits, vegetables, and various processed foods.
Food additives:Codex regulates the use of food additives to ensure they are safe for consumption and serve a specific purpose in food production.
Residue limits:It sets maximum residue limits for various chemicals, such as pesticides and veterinary drugs, in food products to protect consumers from potential harm.
Cultural geography has witnessed profound changes in recent years on three interrelated levels: theoretical, methodological, and sociopolitical. In terms of theory, new conceptions of culture have emerged that examine social and geographical differentiation as involving objects, affect, nonhumans, mobility, emotion, queerness, assemblage, materiality, the unconscious, biopolitics, relationality, and intersectionality.
At the level of methodology, experiments with fieldwork and writing practices demonstrate the extent to which cultural geography has learned from and contributes to many areas of policy, science, therapy, ethics, aesthetics, and activism. Finally, in terms of the sociopolitical engagements with the world outside of academia, cultural geographers are exploring the multiple crises of energy, climate change, nationalism, (sub)urban expansion, loss of biodiversity, inequality, and fragmentation of social life under the spell of digital technologies and consumerism.
Contemporary cultural geography, a distinctive and dynamic subdiscipline in geography, is an efflorescence of many strands of research exploring cultural phenomena with the shared commitment to spatiality. Arguably, the new hopes, dangers, and intensities that are rewriting the earth are best addressed through the unique perspectives of cultural geography.
This series, Cultural Geographies + Rewriting the Earth, provides a forum for cutting-edge research that embraces theoretical creativity, methodological experimentation, and ethico-political urgency. It provides a forum for a wide readership who desire to keep up with the innovations, debates, and agendas that define the humanities and social sciences today.
Cranberry Mule: A holiday twist on the classic Moscow Mule, featuring cranberry juice, ginger beer, and vodka. Garnish with a slice of lime and fresh cranberries. Here’s a simple recipe for a “Cranberry Mule”:
2 oz vodka
4 oz ginger beer
2 oz cranberry juice
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
Ice
Cranberries and lime slices for garnish
Instructions:
Fill a copper mug (or another glass of your choice) with ice.
Pour in the vodka and cranberry juice.
Add the fresh lime juice.
Top off with ginger beer.
Stir gently to combine the ingredients.
Garnish with cranberries and a lime slice.
ASHRAE 90.4 defines an alternate compliance path, specific to data centers, while the compliance requirements for “non-data center” components are contained in ASHRAE 90.1 . The 90.4 structure also streamlines the ongoing maintenance process as well ensures that Standards 90.1 and 90.4 stay in their respective lanes to avoid any overlap and redundancies relating to the technical and administrative boundaries. Updates to ASHRAE 90.1 will still include the alternate compliance path defined in ASHRAE 90.4. Conversely the 2022 Edition of 90.4-2022 refers to ASHRAE 90.1-2022; cross-referencing one another synchronously
Links to noteworthy coverage from expert agencies on the 2022 revisions:
This title resides on the standing agenda of our Infotech 400 colloquium; hosted several times per year and as close coupled with the annual meetings of ASHRAE International as possible. Technical committees generally meet during these meetings make decisions about the ASHRAE catalog. The next all committee conference will be hostedJanuary 20-24, 2024 in Chicago. As always we encourage education industry facility managers, energy conservation workgroups and sustainability professionals to participate directly in the ASHRAE consensus standard development process. It is one of the better facilities out there.
Proposed Addendum g makes changes to definitions were modified in section 3 and mandatory language in Section 6 to support the regulation of process heat and process ventilation was moved in the section for clarity. Other changes are added based on comments from the first public review including changes to informative notes.
Consultation closes June 4th
Update: February 10, 2023
The most actively managed consensus standard for data center energy supply operating in education communities (and most others) is not published by the IEEE but rather by ASHRAE International — ASHRAE 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers (2019). It is not required to be a free access title although anyone may participate in its development. It is copyrighted and ready for purchase but, for our purpose here, we need only examine its scope and purpose. A superceded version of 90.4 is available in the link below:
It is likely that the technical committee charged with updating this standard are already at work preparing an updated version that will supercede the 2019 Edition. CLICK HERE for a listing of Project Committee Interim Meetings.
We maintain many titles from the ASHRAE catalog on the standing agenda of our Mechanical, Energy 200/400, Data and Cloud teleconferences. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Originally posted Summer 2020.
ASHRAE International has released four new addenda to its energy conservation consensus document ASHRAE 90.4-2016 Energy Standard for Data Centers. This document establishes the minimum energy efficiency requirements of data centers for design and construction, for the creation of a plan for operation and maintenance and for utilization of on-site or off-site renewable energy resources.
It is a relatively new document more fully explained in an article published by ASHRAE in 2016 (Click here). The addenda described briefly:
Addendum a – clarifies existing requirements in Section 6.5 as well as introduce new provisions to encourage heat recovery within data centers.
Addendum b – clarifies existing requirements in Sections 6 and 11 and to provide guidance for taking credit for renewable energy systems.
Addendum d – a response to a Request for Interpretation on the 90.4 consideration of DieselRotary UPS Systems (DRUPS) and the corresponding accounting of these systems in the Electrical Loss Component (ELC). In crafting the IC, the committee also identified several marginal changes to 90.4 definitions and passages in Section 8 that would add further clarity to the issue. This addendum contains the proposed changes for that aim as well as other minor changes to correct spelling or text errors, incorporate the latest ELC values into Section 11, and to refresh information in the Normative Reference.
Addendum e adds language to Section 11 intended to clarify how compliance with Standard 90.4 can be achieved through the use of shared systems.
Comments are due September 6th. Until this deadline you may review the changes and comment upon them by by CLICKING HERE
Education facility managers, energy conservation workgroups and sustainability professionals are encouraged to participate directly in the ASHRAE standard development process. Start at ASHRAE’s public commenting facility:
The ASHRAE catalog is a priority title in our practice. This title appears on the standing agenda of our Infotech sessions. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is an ANSI-accredited continuous-maintenance standards developer (a major contributor to what we call a regulatory product development “stream”). Continuous maintenance means that changes to its consensus products can change in as little as 30 days so it is wise to keep pace.
Among the leading titles in its catalog is ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. Standard 90.1 has been a benchmark for commercial building energy codes in the United States and a key basis for codes and standards around the world for more than 35 years. Free access to ASHRAE 90.1 version is available at the link below:
Redlines are released at a fairly brisk pace — with 30 to 45 day consultation periods. A related title — ASHRAE 189.1 Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings — first published in 2009 and far more prescriptive in its scope heavily references parent title 90.1 so we usually them as a pair because 189.1 makes a market for green building conformance enterprises. Note the “extreme prescriptiveness” (our term of art) in 189.1 which has the practical effect of legislating engineering judgement, in our view.
Education estate managers, energy conservation workgroups, sustainability officers, electric shop foreman, electricians and front-line maintenance professionals who change lighting fixtures, maintain environmental air systems are encouraged to participate directly in the ASHRAE consensus standard development process.
We also maintain ASHRAE best practice titles as standing items on our Mechanical, Water, Energy and Illumination colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Issue: [Various]
Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy Conservation, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy, #SmartCampus
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Larry Spielvogel, Richard Robben
* Many standards-developing organizations aim to broaden their influence by entering the product standard and certification domain. Although our primary focus is on interoperability standards (within a system of interoperable products), we also consider market dynamics when product performance specifications are incorporated by reference into public law.
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
There are several ANSI accredited standards that apply to mortuary science, particularly in the areas of forensic science and medicolegal death investigation. These standards are developed to ensure the highest levels of professionalism, quality, and consistency in the field. Here are some key standards:
ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendations: The American National Standards Institute in collaboration with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences has developed various standards, including those related to the handling and processing of human remains. For example, the ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 094-2021 outlines procedures for postmortem friction ridge print recovery, emphasizing systematic approaches and legal compliance during the process ANSI/ASB Standard 125-2021: This standard focuses on the general requirements for medicolegal death investigation systems. It covers infrastructure, personnel training, and competency requirements to ensure high-quality death investigations. It also references other professional guidelines and accreditation checklists from organizations such as the National Association of Medical Examiners and the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.
These standards are integral to maintaining rigorous protocols and ethical practices within mortuary science and related fields. They help ensure that procedures are consistent, legally compliant, and respectful of the deceased, ultimately contributing to the reliability and credibility of forensic investigations. For more detailed information, you can refer to the ANSI and ASB standards documentation available through their respective organizations.
Anatomical donation programs are supported by relatively stable best practice literature that are highly cross-referencing. The organ donation industry grows at a surprising clip and, as such, has its share of sketchy actors.
Our discussion today — at 15:00 UTC– is limited to the safety and sustainability of the support facilities for human cadavers only; with attention to the most recent construction projects.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
