241 research outputs found

    Technological Monitoring on Recycled Paper

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    The origin of the papermaking took place in China in the year 105 (d.C), its creator, Ts'ai Lun used a process of disintegration of fibers of various materials which resulted in the final product called paper. The discovery of this product has brought humanity several benefits. As important as water and energy, paper, has become an indispensable product in our daily life, everything that is seen, touched and used, paper is constantly present, so much is its use on a world scale that there was a concern of as we would do so that this product could be reused to avoid an environmental catastrophe, polluting our ecosystem. After Law 12,305, the Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy - PNRS sanctioned in 2010, there was a marked increase in the selective collection of this material and a high stimulus to the consumption of recycled paper. The PNRS obliges all public agencies to consume recycled material and demand is increasing, the price of recycled paper tends to fall a lot and finally paper recycling becomes one of the best investments of the sector in Brazil. Nowadays, the paper is manufactured from the extraction of cellulose, through the recycling process. Cellulose can be obtained from any fibrous material, but only a few tree species have the appropriate quality and purity. In Brazil, the most appropriate species for paper production are eucalyptus and pine. Although recycling is considered the core of a circular economy for the return of materials to the supply chain, its procedures are poorly understood. Waste recycling is considered a major source of energy savings and a promoter of CO2 recovery. In addition, it generates jobs and changes markets around the world. This article presents a technological prospection of patent deposits that use paper recycling, as key words were used recycled paper. For the search of patents, the Espacenet database was used, obtaining a total of 244 patent documents, from 1980 to 2017. The results show that the year 2014 obtained the largest number of patent deposits, 17 records. The countries holding patents on recycling are Germany with 47 patent documents, China with 46, the United States with 42, Japan with 40. In short, patent applications in this technology branch have much to grow around the world , since the recycling industry has a high potential to generate innovation, making it an indispensable business in developed economies

    Working on wellness (WOW): a worksite health promotion intervention programme

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    Background: Insufficient PA has been shown to cluster with other CVD risk factors including insufficient fruit and vegetable intake, overweight, increased serum cholesterol concentrations and elevated blood pressure. This paper describes the development of Working on Wellness (WOW), a worksite intervention program incorporating motivational interviewing by wellness specialists, targeting employees at risk. In addition, we describe the evaluation the effectiveness of the intervention among employees at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Methods: The intervention mapping (IM) protocol was used in the planning and design of WOW. Focus group discussions and interviews with employees and managers identified the importance of addressing risk factors for CVD at the worksite. Based on the employees preference for individual counselling, and previous evidence of the effectiveness of this approach in the worksite setting, we decided to use motivational interviewing as part of the intervention strategy. Thus, as a cluster-randomised, controlled control trial, employees at increased risk for CVD (N = 928) will be assigned to a control or an intervention group, based on company random allocation. The sessions will include motivational interviewing techniques, comprised of two face-to-face and four telephonic sessions, with the primary aim to increase habitual levels of PA. Measures will take place at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Secondary outcomes include changes in nutritional habits, serum cholesterol and glucose concentrations, blood pressure and BMI. In addition, healthcare expenditure and absenteeism will be measured for the economic evaluation. Analysis of variance will be performed to determine whether there were significant changes in physical activity habits in the intervention and control groups at 6 and 12 months. Discussion: The formative work on which this intervention is based suggests that the strategy of targeting employees at increased risk for CVD is preferred. Importantly, this study extends the work of a previous, similar study, Health Under Construction, in a different setting. Finally, this study will allow an economic evaluation of the intervention that will be an important outcome for health care funders, who ultimately will be responsible for implementation of such an intervention. Trial registration: United States Clinical Trails Register NCT 01494207

    Pre‐service teacher training and special educational needs in England 1970–2008: is government learning the lessons of the past or is it experiencing a groundhog day?

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    The paper outlines the findings from a literature review of the English government’s response to the issue of training pre‐service teachers in the delivery of effective special educational needs support. The review’s findings detail that although educational practice in mainstream classrooms has changed considerably since the 1970s the training of pre‐service teachers with regards to special educational needs has seemingly changed very little. The paper argues that the government needs to re‐think radically its policy of inclusion to ensure that a coherent plan is formulated which enables higher education institutions’ initial teacher training programmes to train students who are competent and confident in their abilities to work with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities

    A MC6802 testboard design for microprocessor-based projects in microprocessor systems

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    Abstract onlyThis paper presents a testboard design for MC6802 microprocessor-based projects. MC6802 is commonly used because of its availability, low price and simplicity. The testboard design is composed of the microprocessor unit, the memory devices, and the input/output ports. The complete design of the testboard is presented and developed from block diagram, selection of appropriate memory and devices for the system, address decoder for the devices, creation of the schematic diagram from the address decoder design and MC6802 module, and the creation of the program.Includes bibliographical referencesMaster of Engineerin

    Assessing Walking Ability in People with HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy Using the 10 Meter Timed Walk and the 6 Minute Walk Test

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    Five to ten million persons, are infected by HTLV-1 of which 3% will develop HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM) a chronic, disabling inflammation of the spinal cord. Walking, a fundamental, complex, multi-functional task is demanding of multiple body systems. Restricted walking ability compromises activity and participation levels in people with HAM (pwHAM). Therapy aims to improve mobility but validated measures are required to assess change.Prospective observational study.To explore walking capacity in pwHAM, walking endurance using the 6 minute walk (6MW), and gait speed, using the timed 10m walk (10mTW).Out-patient setting in an inner London Teaching hospital.Prospective documentation of 10mTW and 6MW distance; walking aid usage and pain scores measured twice, a median of 18 months apart.Data analysis was completed for twenty-six pwHAM, (8♂; 18♀; median age: 57.8 years; median disease duration: 8 years). Median time at baseline to: complete 10m was 17.5 seconds, versus 21.4 seconds at follow up; 23% completed the 6MW compared to 42% at follow up and a median distance of 55m was covered compared to 71m at follow up. Using the 10mTW velocity to predict the 6MW distance, overestimated the distance walked in 6 minutes (p<0.01). Functional decline over time was captured using the functional ambulation categories.The 10mTW velocity underestimated the degree of disability. Gait speed usefully predicts functional domains, shows direction of functional change and comparison with published healthy age matched controls show that these patients have significantly slower gait speeds. The measured differences over 18 months were sufficient to reliably detect change and therefore these assessments can be useful to detect improvement or deterioration within broader disability grades. Walking capacity in pwHAM should be measured using the 10mTW for gait speed and the 6MW for endurance

    Arsenic Biotransformation as a Cancer Promoting Factor by Inducing DNA Damage and Disruption of Repair Mechanisms

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    Chronic exposure to arsenic in drinking water poses a major global health concern. Populations exposed to high concentrations of arsenic-contaminated drinking water suffer serious health consequences, including alarming cancer incidence and death rates. Arsenic is biotransformed through sequential addition of methyl groups, acquired from s-adenosylmethionine (SAM). Metabolism of arsenic generates a variety of genotoxic and cytotoxic species, damaging DNA directly and indirectly, through the generation of reactive oxidative species and induction of DNA adducts, strand breaks and cross links, and inhibition of the DNA repair process itself. Since SAM is the methyl group donor used by DNA methyltransferases to maintain normal epigenetic patterns in all human cells, arsenic is also postulated to affect maintenance of normal DNA methylation patterns, chromatin structure, and genomic stability. The biological processes underlying the cancer promoting factors of arsenic metabolism, related to DNA damage and repair, will be discussed here

    The radicalization of democracy: conflict, social movements and terrorism

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    The idea of democracy is being championed across the world, with some fifty new countries embracing this type of political system between 1974 and 2011 (Freedom House, 2016). Simultaneously, however, dissatisfaction has grown due to the perceived incapacity of democracy to deal with collective problems, hence the necessity to reconfigure it and redraw some of its principles. This paper links the analysis of the recent evolution of democratic systems with the trajectory of socio-political conflicts and the changing features of contemporary terrorism. It examines, therefore, two intertwined phenomena, namely the radicalization of democracy and the radicalization of the other. It concludes by stressing that encouraging dissent and heeding contentious claims made by social movements may be one way of mitigating both types of radicalization. Embedded in the tradition of critical criminology, this paper attempts to demonstrate that only by outflanking conventional categories of analysis can the criminological community aspire to grasp such thorny contemporary phenomena
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