Glycerol: Production, consumption, prices, characterization and new trends in combustion

The demand for petroleum has been rising rapidly due to increasing industrialization and modernization. This economic development has led to a huge demand for energy, most of which is derived from fossil fuel. However, the limited reserve of fossil fuel has led many researchers to look for alternative fuels which can be produced from renewable feedstock. Increasing fossil fuel prices have prompted the global oil industry to look at biodiesel, which is from renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is produced from animal fats and vegetable oils and has become more attractive because it is more environmentally friendly and is obtained from renewable sources. Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production; about 10% of the weight of biodiesel is generated in glycerol. The large amount of glycerol generated may become an environmental problem, since it cannot be disposed of in the environment. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the different approaches and techniques used to produce glycerol (hydrolysis, transesterification, refining crude glycerol). The world biodiesel/glycerol production and consumption market, the current world glycerin and glycerol prices as well as the news trends for the use of glycerol mainly in Brazil market are analyzed. The technological production and physicochemical properties of glycerol are described, as is the characterization of crude glycerol obtained from different seed oil feedstock. Finally, a simple way to use glycerol in large amounts is combustion, which is an advantageous method as it does not require any purification. However, the combustion process of crude glycerol is not easy and there are technological difficulties. The news and mainly research about the combustion of glycerol was also addressed in this review. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

The historical relationship between energy-consumption and gross national product in the United States

Includes bibliography

Production of food for consumption and export: the need to achieve optimal balance

Includes bibliography

The impacts on family consumption of the Bolsa Família subsidy programme

Includes bibliography.

Energy Consumption and Efficiency: Emerging Challenges from Reefer Trade in South American Container Terminals

This issue of the FAL Bulletin discusses the relevance of energy consumption as a basis for identifying energy efficiency potential and calculating the carbon footprints of ports and terminals in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), focusing on the Southern Cone countries of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Labour productivity and distribution issues

Although the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew more slowly in 2011 than in 2010, there were some improvements on the employment front. Workers benefited from the region’s satisfactory economic performance in an increasingly complex international setting. The unemployment rate fell from 7.3% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2011 thanks to a halfpercentage- point gain in the urban employment rate. Both rates are at levels that have not been seen for a long time. The proportion of formal jobs with social benefits rose as well, and underemployment declined. The average wage and the minimum wage both increased in real terms, albeit only moderately. Economic performance and the employment situation varied widely among the subregions. The unemployment rate dropped by 0.6 percentage points in South America but 0.4 percentage points in the countries of the northern part of Latin America. In the countries of the Caribbean, the employment rate was up by 0.2 percentage points. The data show that substantial labour market gaps and serious labour-market insertion issues remain. This is especially the case for women and young people, for whom unemployment rates and other labour indicators are still unfavourable. The second part of this report looks at whether the fruits of economic growth and rising productivity have been distributed equitably between workers and companies. Between 2002 and 2008 (the most recent expansionary economic cycle), wages as a percentage of GDP fell in 13 of the 21 countries of the region for which data are available and rose in just 8. This points to redistribution that is unfavourable to workers, which is worrying in a region which already has the most unequal distribution of income in the world. Underlying this trend is the fact that, worldwide, wages have grown less than productivity. Beyond the ethical dimension of this issue, it jeopardizes the social and economic sustainability of growth. For example, one of the root causes of the recent financial crisis was that households in the United States responded to declining wage income by borrowing more to pay for consumption and housing. This turned out to be unsustainable in the long run. Over time, it undermines the labour market’s contribution to the efficient allocation of resources and its distributive function, too, with negative consequences for democratic governance. Among the triggers of this distributive worsening most often cited in the global debate are market deregulation and its impact on financial globalization, technological change that favours capital over labour, and the weakening of labour institutions. What is needed here is a public policy effort to help keep wage increases from lagging behind increases in productivity. Some countries of the region, especially in South America, saw promising developments during the second half of the 2000s in the form of a positive trend reversal in wages as a percentage of GDP. One example is Brazil, where a minimum wage policy tailored to the dynamics of the domestic market is considered to be one of the factors behind an upturn in the wage share of GDP. The region needs to grow more and better. Productivity must grow at a steady pace, to serve as the basis for sustained improvements in the well-being of the populace and to narrow the gap between the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean and the more advanced economies. And inequality must be decreased; this could be achieved by closing the productivity gap between upgraded companies and the many firms whose productivity is low. As set out in this report, the region made some progress between 2002 and 2010, with labour productivity rising at the rate of 1.5% a year. But this progress falls short of that seen in other regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa (2.1%) and, above all, East Asia (8.3%, not counting Japan and the Republic of Korea). Moreover, in many of the countries of the region these gains have not been distributed equitably. Therein lies a dual challenge that must be addressed: continue to increase productivity while enhancing the mechanisms for distributing gains in a way that will encourage investment and boost worker and household income. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate that the pace of economic growth in the region will be slightly slower in 2012 than in 2011, in a global economic scenario marked by the cooling of several of the main economic engines and a high degree of uncertainty concerning, above all, prospects for the euro zone. The region is expected to continue to hold up well to this worsening scenario, thanks to policies that leveraged more favourable conditions in the past. This will be felt in the labour markets, as well, so expectations are that unemployment will edge down by as much as two tenths of a decimal point.

Food categories reconstruction and feeding consumption estimates for the Sciaenid Macrodon ancylodon (Bloch & Schneider), and the congeneric fishes Stellifer rastrifer (Jordan) and Stellifer naso (Jordan) (Pisces, Perciformes) in the Caeté Estuary, Northern Coast of Brazil

Um método quantitativo para se estimar o consumo alimentar e o aporte energético das diferentes categorias alimentares é apresentado através da reconstrução das presas ingeridas com base em estruturas corporais não digeríveis. Para tal, o presente estudo estabelece, através do exame dos conteúdos estomacais de 1.086 exemplares dissecados de Macrodon ancylodon (Bloch & Schneider, 1801), Stellifer rastrifer (Jordan, 1889) e Stellifer naso (Jordan, 1889), as equações das relações funcionais entre o peso das presas e estruturas corporais. Com as categorias reconstruídas foi possível quantificar o alimento ingerido pelos espécimes. Os resultados indicaram que existe uma marcada diferença, tanto na composição das categorias alimentares, bem como no aporte energético acompanhando o desenvolvimento ontogênico do predador.

Contributions of the old urban homegardens for food production and consumption in Rio Claro, Southeastern Brazil

Urban homegardens are green areas of households within the city limits and they have the potential to provide families with a cheap alternative for diet improvement, and to complement the income of the families who sell cultivated products. This research analyzes the contributions of old urban homegardens on food consumption and household economy. Data related to homegardens composition were collected by interviews and by collecting cultivated plants. Diets were assessed through a retrospective method (last 24 hours food recall) and administered every two months, during a year, to include seasonal variations. The diet of the sampled population was found to be dependent on certain foods, indicating a narrow food niche (Levins index = 25.9; Levins standardized index = 0.23). Variations in interviewees' diet are related to the consumption of fruits and vegetables, which are partly supplied by homegardens. Spices and teas consumed were obtained from homegardens, revealing its importance in food consumption and health. Among the 98 species found in homegardens, only 38% appeared in the interviewees' diet, indicating an under-exploitation of these homegardens. Our study found that the main role of homegardens is to supply variation in the diet, contributing to the consumption of different types of products.

Stress Abolishes the Effect of Previous Chronic Ethanol Consumption on Drug Place Preference and on the Mesocorticolimbic Brain Pathway

BackgroundConditioned place preference (CPP) to ethanol (EtOH) is an important addiction-related alteration thought to be mediated by changed neurotransmission in the mesocorticolimbic brain pathway. Stress is a factor of major importance for the initiation, maintenance, and reinstatement of drug abuse and modulates the neurochemical outcomes of drugs. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of concomitant exposure to chronic EtOH and stress on CPP to this drug and alterations of dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission in mice.MethodsMale Swiss mice were chronically treated with EtOH via a liquid diet and were exposed to forced swimming stress. After treatment, animals were evaluated for conditioning, extinction, and reinstatement of CPP to EtOH. Also, mice exposed to the same treatment protocol had their prefrontal cortex (PFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and amygdala dissected for the quantitation of dopamine, serotonin, and their metabolites content.ResultsData showed that previous chronic exposure to EtOH potentiated EtOH conditioning and increased dopaminergic turnover in PFC. Exposure to stress potentiated EtOH conditioning and decreased dopaminergic turnover in the NAc. However, animals exposed to both chronic EtOH and stress did not display alterations of CPP and showed an elevated content of dopamine in amygdala. No treatment yielded serotonergic changes.ConclusionsThe present study indicates that previous EtOH consumption as well as stress exposure induces increased EtOH conditioning, which can be related to dopaminergic alterations in the PFC or NAc. Interestingly, concomitant exposure to both stimuli abolished each other's effect on conditioning and PFC or NAc alterations. This protective outcome can be related to the dopaminergic increase in the amygdala.

Cleaner Production initiatives and challenges for a sustainable world: an introduction to this special volume

This special volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production is comprised of articles presented at the 3rd International Workshop Advances in Cleaner Production held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2011. The content underscores the recognition of the pressing and inescapable need for making changes from unsustainable to sustainable production and consumption patterns. The 48 articles from 15 countries provide different, but complimentary approaches to help industrial and societal sectors in advancing on their paths towards sustainability. Initiatives and challenges are included, which systematically address problems affecting raw material changes, technological modifications, product and policy changes. The findings range from proposals for alternative uses of wastes, substitution of raw materials for environmentally friendlier substances, optimization of industrial processes by source reductions of wastes and emissions and documented economic and environmental advantages of a wide array of initiatives. The roles of operational and managerial practices are also stressed, highlighting the role of diverse stakeholders as promoters of implementation and internalization of innovative cleaner technologies within companies. Systemic assessment tools are employed and experimented with in order to more effectively evaluate the environmental performance of systems on the biosphere scale. The methodological procedures and proposals presented can help in the design and management of production systems, for governmental and corporate policy development, for implementing and monitoring CP Programs, prevention and mitigation strategies, and evaluation of the outcomes of CP initiatives in the production and service sectors. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Elevated Plasma Hemoglobin Levels Increase Nitric Oxide Consumption in Experimental and Clinical Acute Pulmonary Thromboembolism

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

NodePM: A Remote Monitoring Alert System for Energy Consumption Using Probabilistic Techniques

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)