Three students working on a project in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Department of the New York Trade School

This shows three students working on a unit in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Department of the New York Trade School. Black and white photograph.

Student and library services in cooperation

Abstract At Ångström Laboratory, one of the largest campuses at Uppsala University, the Library and the Student Services Office merged in November 2012. This merger is a pilot project to improve service for students and faculty. Ångström Laboratory has around 900 staff and almost 10,000 students, of whom most also spend time at other campuses. In this paper we describe the background and the implementation of the pilot project. One of the main reasons for moving together was the wish to gather together all kinds of student services, including the distribution of written examinations in one place. The central location and open environment of the Library made it a good choice. The heart of the Library and Student Services is an open office consisting of two service desks located in the library area. There are silent study areas; computers for searching and printing, an area for relaxing with newspapers and journals, meeting rooms and offices for the staff. The result is a lively place with a cosy atmosphere. As the Library and the Student Services still belong to different parts of the University we are now starting to find out how best to collaborate. To understand more we log all the questions we get and the services we deliver. We also have meetings together and use the same lunch room to get to know each other and our different functions. We will define which matters can be solved in common, and how we can back each other up when necessary.

Building a Learning Architecture : e-Learning and e-Services

With the rapid advancement of the webtechnology, more and more educationalresources, including software applications forteaching/learning methods, are available acrossthe web, which enables learners to access thelearning materials and use various ways oflearning at any time and any place. Moreover,various web-based teaching/learning approacheshave been developed during the last decade toenhance the capability of both educators andlearners. Particularly, researchers from bothcomputer science and education are workingtogether, collaboratively focusing ondevelopment of pedagogically enablingtechnologies which are believed to improve theinfrastructure of education systems andprocesses, including curriculum developmentmodels, teaching/learning methods, managementof educational resources, systematic organizationof communication and dissemination ofknowledge and skills required by and adapted tousers. Despite of its fast development, however,there are still great gaps between learningintentions, organization of supporting resources,management of educational structures,knowledge points to be learned and interknowledgepoint relationships such as prerequisites,assessment of learning outcomes, andtechnical and pedagogic approaches. Moreconcretely, the issues have been widelyaddressed in literature include a) availability andusefulness of resources, b) smooth integration ofvarious resources and their presentation, c)learners’ requirements and supposed learningoutcomes, d) automation of learning process interms of its schedule and interaction, and e)customization of the resources and agilemanagement of the learning services for deliveryas well as necessary human interferences.Considering these problems and bearing in mindthe advanced web technology of which weshould make full use, in this report we willaddress the following two aspects of systematicarchitecture of learning/teaching systems: 1)learning objects – a semantic description andorganization of learning resources using the webservice models and methods, and 2) learningservices discovery and learning goals match foreducational coordination and learning serviceplanning.

Unlicensed personnel administering medications to older persons living at home : a challenge for social and care services

BACKGROUND: Administration of medication to care recipients is delegated to home-care assistants working in the municipal social care, alongside responsibility for providing personal assistance for older people. Home-care assistants have practical administration skills, but lack formal medical knowledge. AIM: The aim of this study was to explore how home-care assistants perceive administration of medication to older people living at home, as delegated to them in the context of social care. METHODS: Four focus groups consisting of 19 home-care assistants were conducted. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: According to home-care assistants, health and social care depends on delegation arrangements to function effectively, but in the first place it relieves a burden for district nurses. Even when the delegation had expired, administration of medication continued, placing the statutes of regulation in a subordinate position. There was low awareness among home-care assistants about the content of the statutes of delegation. Accepting delegation to administer medications has become an implicit prerequisite for social care work in the municipality. CONCLUSIONS: Accepting the delegation to administer medication was inevitable and routine. In practice, the regulating statute is made subordinate and consequently patient safety can be threatened. The organisation of health and social care relies on the delegation arrangement to meet the needs of a growing number of older home-care recipients. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This is a crucial task which management within both the healthcare professions and municipal social care needs to address, to bridge the gap between statutes and practice, to create arenas for mutual collaboration in the care recipients' best interest and to ensure patient safety.

Inequality of opportunity in daycare and preschool services in Brazil

In this paper we measure inequality of opportunity in daycare and preschool services in Brazil. For this purpose, we construct an opportunity index that modifies the human opportunity index proposed in the literature and used in Barros et al. (2009) to measure inequality in basic opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Specifically, we construct an opportunity measure that includes not only attendance but also parental choice not to enroll children in daycare or preschool, using data from a supplementary questionnaire included in the 2006 version of Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD). The results show that there are large differences between our opportunity index and the human opportunity index for children aged 0-3 years old and considerably smaller differences for children aged 4-6 years old, which suggests that preschool may be closer to a basic opportunity than daycare.

Air velocity and exposure time to ventilation affect body surface and rectal temperature of broiler chickens

Increasing air movement over poultry by using fans (ventilation) has become an accepted means of reducing environmental heat stress over the last several years. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of air velocity and exposure time to ventilation on body surface and rectal temperature of broiler chickens. Male broiler chickens aged 36-42 days were placed in individual wire cages and exposed to five different air velocities (5.7, 4.2, 3.1, 2.4, or 1.8 m/sec). Throughout the experiment head, back, leg, and rectal temperatures were monitored every 10 min during a 30-min period for each air velocity. The data showed that exposure time to the wind affected (P<.05) leg and body temperature, with a rapid reduction being observed during the first 10 min. There was a reduction in leg temperature with air velocity of 2 m/sec; however, air velocity lower than 4.5 m/sec was not effective in decreasing head and back temperature. The results suggest that air velocity of 2 m/sec, in air temperature of 29 degrees C, improves heat loss in the birds. The data also indicate that exposure time to ventilation seems to be a critical point in the maintenance of bird thermal homeostasis.

Indoor NO2 air pollution and lung function of professional cooks

Studies of cooking-generated NO2 effects are rare in occupational epidemiology. In the present study, we evaluated the lung function of professional cooks exposed to NO2 in hospital kitchens. We performed spirometry in 37 cooks working in four hospital kitchens and estimated the predicted FVC, FEV1 and FEF25-75, based on age, sex, race, weight, and height, according to Knudson standards. NO2 measurements were obtained for 4 consecutive days during 4 different periods at 20-day intervals in each kitchen. Measurements were performed inside and outside the kitchens, simultaneously using Palm diffusion tubes. A time/exposure indicator was defined as representative of the cumulative exposure of each cook. No statistically significant effect of NO2 exposure on FVC was found. Each year of work as a cook corresponded to a decrease in predicted FEV1 of 2.5% (P = 0.046) for the group as a whole. When smoking status and asthma were included in the analysis the effect of time/exposure decreased about 10% and lost statistical significance. on predicted FEF25-75, a decrease of 3.5% (P = 0.035) was observed for the same group and the inclusion of controllers for smoking status and asthma did not affect the effects of time/exposure on pulmonary function parameter. After a 10-year period of work as cooks the participants of the study may present decreases in both predicted FEV1 and FEF25-75 that can reach 20 and 30%, respectively. The present study showed small but statistically significant adverse effects of gas stove exposure on the lung function of professional cooks.

Spray deposition and losses in potato as a function of air-assistance and sprayer boom angle

A cultura da batata possui grande expressão econômica dentro do cenário agrícola. Para isso, equipamentos e técnicas de aplicação de produtos fitossanitários vêm sendo desenvolvidos visando melhorar o rendimento econômico da cultura. Neste sentido, experimentos foram conduzidos no delineamento em blocos ao acaso na cultura da batata cv. Ágata. Objetivando avaliar o efeito da assistência de ar combinada a diferentes ângulos de aplicação sobre a deposição da pulverização, bem como as perdas da calda para o solo utilizou-se um pulverizador com e sem assistência de ar junto à barra de pulverização posicionada a +30º, 0º e -30º (sinal + a favor e - contrário ao deslocamento) em relação a vertical. O volume de calda foi 400 L ha-1 utilizando-se pontas de jato cônico vazio JA-4 na pressão de 633 kPa. Para a avaliação dos depósitos utilizou-se um traçador cúprico. Os depósitos foram removidos dos folíolos por lavagem com água destilada, em ambas as superfícies foliares, nas posições superior e inferior das plantas de batata e quantificados por espectrofotometria de absorção atômica. As perdas da pulverização foram avaliadas em coletores plásticos colocados nas entrelinhas das parcelas experimentais. Os níveis dos depósitos do traçador cúprico nas diferentes posições da planta foram analisados pelo teste estatístico T² de Hotteling. Os maiores depósitos foram obtidos com a barra posicionada a 0º e +30º, em presença da assistência de ar, tanto na posição superior quanto inferior da planta. A presença do ar, além de propiciar maiores depósitos na parte inferior das plantas, possibilitou maior uniformidade na distribuição deles. As perdas da pulverização ficaram abaixo de 4%.

Effect of air temperature and humidity on ingestive behaviour of sheep

Thirty-two Polwarth ewes, of ages up to 1 year, were observed in a climatic chamber (24 to 45° C) for eight periods of 5 h each. The observations were made through a window in the chamber wall. All animals were observed four times, then shorn and observed four times again. The animals were given weighed quantities of water and feed consisting of commercial concentrate plus Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay. The water and feed remaining after 5 h of observation were weighed. The following traits were analysed: time eating hay (TEH), time eating concentrate (TEC), time drinking water (TDW), weight of hay eaten (WHE), weight of concentrate eaten (WCE), volume of ingested water (VIW), ruminating time standing up (RTS), ruminating time lying down (RTL), idling time standing up (ITS), and idling time lying down (ITL). Shearing had a significant effect for all traits except ITS. Shearing resulted in higher values for all traits except for ITS and ITL. Ingestion of hay (TEH and WHE) decreased with increased air temperature and humidity, while the ingestion of concentrate (TEC) and WHE) and water (TDW and VIW) increased. Rumination decreased with increased air temperature and humidity, and was higher in shorn than in unshorn sheep. © 1992 International Society of Biometeorology.

Air quality and emissions management in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

The São Paulo State has 36 million people, 25 million living in three metropolitan areas. Only the São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR) includes the state capital (São Paulo City) plus 38 cities, where ≈ 18 million people live, affected by frequent episodes of ozone, NOx, and fine particulate matter. In 2003, it was estimated that 15.1% of the SPMR vehicles used ethanol and 70.2% used the local gasoline. Natural gas vehicles have witnessed a booming participation in the last years, mainly through conversion of gasoline cars, and the present fleet is almost one million vehicles. To face the problems generated by light vehicles emissions the Federal Government set a program called PROCONVE - Program of Air Pollution Control from Vehicles - in 1986 and since then until now a significant reduction was reached, but the growth of the fleet hides most of the emission cuts. A discussion covers the evolution of the air pollution management in São Paulo; and innovative tools for air pollution management - both for mobile and stationary sources. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 98th AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition (Minneapolis, MN 6/21-24/2005).

Air pollution and citizen awareness

Includes bibliography

Air-assistance and low volume application to control of asian rust on soybean crop

Currently, one of factors that cause the production cost increase of soybean crop is the pesticide application. The most important disease in soybean crop is Asian rust, caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi Sydon & P. Sydon fungus, which can cause significant loss of the production. Therefore, this work aimed at evaluation of different spraying techniques on the spray deposits and some parameters of soybean crop: grain size, weight of 1 000 seeds and the crop productivity. Two experiments were carried out in the experimental area of FCA/UNESP (Faculdade de Ciencias Agronomicas/Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho) - Botucatu, S P, Brazil, in soybean crop, Conquista variety, in the 2007/2008 season. In the first experiment, three air levels (0, 9 and 29 km/h of the air speed generated by fan) with flat fan nozzle XR 8002 with a spray volume of 130 l/ha were compared with a rotating nozzle - using low volume oily - LVO at 40 l/ha of spray volume. The second experiment was carried out under the same conditions as the previous experiment, including a control treatment (untreated plants). The disease severity was evaluated using a diagrammatic scale with a visual evaluation of the disease on 15 leaves of each plot. The grades varied between 0.6 and 78.5% of the disease severity. The use of air assistance when compared with the rotating system nozzle did not show significant differences for spray deposits on adaxial and abaxial surface of the leaves in bottom part of the plant. The air assistance with maximum air speed (29 km/h) increased the productivity with respect of the other treatments.

Trade between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Central American Common Market (CACM) countries: the role to play for ports and shipping services

Includes bibliography

Drinking water supply and sanitation services on the threshold of the XXI century

Includes bibliography