Assessment of maturity degree of composts from domestic solid wastes by fluorescence and fourier transform infrared spectroscopies

Methods of assessment of compost maturity are needed so the application of composted materials to lands will provide optimal benefits. The aim of the present paper is to assess the maturity reached by composts from domestic solid wastes (DSW) prepared under periodic and permanent aeration systems and sampled at different composting time, by means of excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). EEM spectra indicated the presence of two different fluorophores centered, respectively, at Ex/Em wavelength pairs of 330/425 and 280/330 nm. The fluorescence intensities of these peaks were also analyzed, showing trends related to the maturity of composts. The contour density of EEM maps appeared to be strongly reduced with composting days. After 30 and 45 days of composting, FT-IR spectra exhibited a decrease of intensity of peaks assigned to polysaccharides and in the aliphatic region. EEM and FT-IR techniques seem to produce spectra that correlate with the degree of maturity of the compost. Further refinement of these techniques should provide a relatively rapid method of assessing the suitability of the compost to land application.

Maturity degree of composts from municipal solid wastes evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in association with chemical analysis was applied to assess the maturity reached by the organic fraction of Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) subjected to composting processes with manual and fixed aeration and sampled at different composting times. Thermograms showed that the difference in the treatments, i.e., the manual aeration and the fixed aeration, had no relevant effect on the stabilization and maturation of OM in the substrates. Common thermal effects observed were: a low temperature endotherm assigned to dehydration and/or loss of peripheral polysaccharides chains; a medium temperature exotherm assigned to loss of peptidic structures, and a high temperature exotherm assigned to oxydation and polycondensation of aromatic nuclei of the molecule. Results obtained suggest that in the experimental conditions used, a shorter time of composting (about 30 d) appears adequate, in order to limit the extended mineralization of OM, whereas a prolonged composting time (up to 132 d) would produce a compost of poor quality with high ash content and low OM content.

Cooking enhances but the degree of ripeness does not affect provitamin A carotenoid bioavailability from bananas

Banana is a staple crop in many regions where vitamin A deficiency is prevalent, making it a target for provitamin A biofortification. However, matrix effects may limit provitamin A bioavailability from bananas. The retinol bioefficacies of unripe and ripe bananas (study 1A), unripe high-provitamin A bananas (study 1B), and raw and cooked bananas (study 2) were determined in retinol-depleted Mongolian gerbils (n = 97/study) using positive and negative controls. After feeding a retinol-deficient diet for 6 and 4 wk in studies 1 and 2, respectively, customized diets containing 60, 30, or 15% banana were fed for 17 and 13 d, respectively. In study 1A, the hepatic retinol of the 60% ripe Cavendish group (0.52 ± 0.13 μmol retinol/liver) differed from baseline (0.65 ± 0.15 μmol retinol/liver) and was higher than the negative control group (0.39 ± 0.16 μmol retinol/liver; P < 0.0065). In study 1B, no groups differed from baseline (0.65 ± 0.15 μmol retinol/liver; P = 0.20). In study 2, the 60% raw Butobe group (0.68 ± 0.17 μmol retinol/liver) differed from the 60% cooked Butobe group (0.87 ± 0.24 μmol retinol/liver); neither group differed from baseline (0.80 ± 0.27 μmol retinol/liver; P < 0.0001). Total liver retinol was higher in the groups fed cooked bananas than in those fed raw (P = 0.0027). Body weights did not differ even though gerbils ate more green, ripe, and raw bananas than cooked, suggesting a greater indigestible component. In conclusion, thermal processing, but not ripening, improves the retinol bioefficacy of bananas. Food matrix modification affects carotenoid bioavailability from provitamin A biofortification targets.

Effect of environmental conditions on degree of hoof wall hydration in horses

Objective: To determine the effect of various environmental conditions on the degree of hydration in hoof wall horn tissue from feral horses and investigate the effect of short-term foot soaking on moisture content in hoof wall and sole tissue in domestic horses. Animals: 40 feral horses from 3 environments (wet and boggy [n = 10], partially flooded [20], and constantly dry desert [10]) and 6 nonferal Quarter Horses. Procedures: The percentage of moisture content of hoof wall samples from feral horses was measured in vitro. In a separate evaluation, the percentage of moisture content of hoof wall and sole tissue was measured in the dry and soaked forefeet of Quarter Horses. Results: Mean ± SD percentage of moisture content was 29.6 ± 5.1%, 29.5 ± 5.8%, and 29.5 ± 2.9% for feral horses from the wet and boggy, partially flooded, and constantly dry desert environments, respectively. Moisture content did not differ among the 3 groups, nor did it differ between dry and soaked hoof wall samples from nonferal horses. However, soaking in water for 2 hours resulted in a significant increase in the percentage of moisture content of the sole. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Environmental conditions do not appear to affect moisture content in the hoof wall horn. Soaking horses' feet regularly in water would be unlikely to change the degree of hydration in the hoof wall horn but may further hydrate the sole.

Prolegomenon to the study of the concepts of maturity and maturity model : from Black Horse to White Knight?

This paper takes its root in a trivial observation: management approaches are unable to provide relevant guidelines to cope with uncertainty, and trust of our modern worlds. Thus, managers are looking for reducing uncertainty through information’s supported decision-making, sustained by ex-ante rationalization. They strive to achieve best possible solution, stability, predictability, and control of “future”. Hence, they turn to a plethora of “prescriptive panaceas”, and “management fads” to bring simple solutions through best practices. However, these solutions are ineffective. They address only one part of a system (e.g. an organization) instead of the whole. They miss the interactions and interdependencies with other parts leading to “suboptimization”. Further classical cause-effects investigations and researches are not very helpful to this regard. Where do we go from there? In this conversation, we want to challenge the assumptions supporting the traditional management approaches and shed some lights on the problem of management discourse fad using the concept of maturity and maturity models in the context of temporary organizations as support for reflexion. Global economy is characterized by use and development of standards and compliance to standards as a practice is said to enable better decision-making by managers in uncertainty, control complexity, and higher performance. Amongst the plethora of standards, organizational maturity and maturity models hold a specific place due to general belief in organizational performance as dependent variable of (business) processes continuous improvement, grounded on a kind of evolutionary metaphor. Our intention is neither to offer a new “evidence based management fad” for practitioners, nor to suggest research gap to scholars. Rather, we want to open an assumption-challenging conversation with regards to main stream approaches (neo-classical economics and organization theory), turning “our eyes away from the blinding light of eternal certitude towards the refracted world of turbid finitude” (Long, 2002, p. 44) generating what Bernstein has named “Cartesian Anxiety” (Bernstein, 1983, p. 18), and revisit the conceptualization of maturity and maturity models. We rely on conventions theory and a systemic-discursive perspective. These two lenses have both information & communication and self-producing systems as common threads. Furthermore the narrative approach is well suited to explore complex way of thinking about organizational phenomena as complex systems. This approach is relevant with our object of curiosity, i.e. the concept of maturity and maturity models, as maturity models (as standards) are discourses and systems of regulations. The main contribution of this conversation is that we suggest moving from a neo-classical “theory of the game” aiming at making the complex world simpler in playing the game, to a “theory of the rules of the game”, aiming at influencing and challenging the rules of the game constitutive of maturity models – conventions, governing systems – making compatible individual calculation and social context, and possible the coordination of relationships and cooperation between agents with or potentially divergent interests and values. A second contribution is the reconceptualization of maturity as structural coupling between conventions, rather than as an independent variable leading to organizational performance.

A meshfree-based local Galerkin method with condensation of degree of freedom

Condensation technique of degree of freedom is firstly proposed to improve the computational efficiency of meshfree method with Galerkin weak form. In present method, scattered nodes without connectivity are divided into several subsets by cells with arbitrary shape. The local discrete equations are established over each cell by using moving kriging interpolation, in which the nodes that located in the cell are used for approximation. Then, the condensation technique can be introduced into the local discrete equations by transferring equations of inner nodes to equations of boundary nodes based on cell. In the scheme of present method, the calculation of each cell is carried out by meshfree method with Galerkin weak form, and local search is implemented in interpolation. Numerical examples show that the present method has high computational efficiency and convergence, and good accuracy is also obtained.

A meshfree-based local Galerkin method with condensation of degree of freedom for elastic dynamic analysis

Condensation technique of degree of freedom is first proposed to improve the computational efficiency of meshfree method with Galerkin weak form for elastic dynamic analysis. In the present method, scattered nodes without connectivity are divided into several subsets by cells with arbitrary shape. Local discrete equation is established over each cell by using moving Kriging interpolation, in which the nodes that located in the cell are used for approximation. Then local discrete equations can be simplified by condensation of degree of freedom, which transfers equations of inner nodes to equations of boundary nodes based on cells. The global dynamic system equations are obtained by assembling all local discrete equations and are solved by using the standard implicit Newmark’s time integration scheme. In the scheme of present method, the calculation of each cell is carried out by meshfree method, and local search is implemented in interpolation. Numerical examples show that the present method has high computational efficiency and good accuracy in solving elastic dynamic problems.

Degree of value alignment : a grounded theory of rural nurse resignations

INTRODUCTION: The shortage of nurses willing to work in rural Australian healthcare settings continues to worsen. Australian rural areas have a lower retention rate of nurses than metropolitan counterparts, with more remote communities experiencing an even higher turnover of nursing staff. When retention rates are lower, patient outcomes are known to be poorer. This article reports a study that sought to explore the reasons why registered nurses resign from rural hospitals in the state of New South Wales, Australia. METHODS: Using grounded theory methods, this study explored the reasons why registered nurses resigned from New South Wales rural hospitals. Data were collected from 12 participants using semi-structured interviews; each participant was a registered nurse who had resigned from a rural hospital. Nurses who had resigned due to retirement, relocation or maternity leave were excluded. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and imported into NVivo software. The constant comparative method of data collection and analysis was followed until a core category emerged. RESULTS: Nurses resigned from rural hospitals when their personal value of how nursing should occur conflicted with the hospital's organisational values driving the practice of nursing. These conflicting values led to a change in the degree of value alignment between the nurse and hospital. The degree of value alignment occurred in three dynamic stages that nurses moved through prior to resigning. The first stage, sharing values, was a time when a nurse and a hospital shared similar values. The second stage was conceding values where, due to perceived changes in a hospital's values, a nurse felt that patient care became compromised and this led to a divergence of values. The final stage was resigning, a stage where a nurse 'gave up' as they felt that their professional integrity was severely compromised. The findings revealed that when a nurse and organisational values were not aligned, conflict was created for a nurse about how they could perform nursing that aligned with their internalised professional values and integrity. Resignation occurred when nurses were unable to realign their personal values to changed organisational values - the organisational values changed due to rural area health service restructures, centralisation of budgets and resources, cumbersome hierarchies and management structures that inhibited communication and decision making, out-dated and ineffective operating systems, insufficient and inexperienced staff, bullying, and a lack of connectedness and shared vision. CONCLUSIONS: To fully comprehend rural nurse resignations, this study identified three stages that nurses move through prior to resignation. Effective retention strategies for the nursing workforce should address contributors to a decrease in value alignment and work towards encouraging the coalescence of nurses' and hospitals' values. It is imperative that strategies enable nurses to provide high quality patient care and promote a sense of connectedness and a shared vision between nurse and hospital. Senior managers need to have clear ways to articulate and imbue organisational values and be explicit in how these values accommodate nurses' values. Ward-level nurse managers have a significant responsibility to ensure that a hospital's values (both explicit and implicit) are incorporated into ward culture.

Correlation of carotid atheromatous plaque inflammation using USPIO-enhanced MR imaging with degree of luminal Stenosis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Inflammation is a recognized risk factor for the vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. The study explores the relationship between the degree of Magnetic Resonance (MR)"defined inflammation using Ultra Small Super-Paramagnetic Iron Oxide (USPIO) particles and the severity of luminal stenosis in asymptomatic carotid plaques. METHODS Seventy-one patients with an asymptomatic carotid stenosis of ĝ‰¥40% underwent multi-sequence USPIO-enhanced MR imaging. Stenosis severity was measured according to the NASCET and ECST methods. RESULTS No demonstrable relationship between inflammation as measured by USPIO-enhanced signal change and the degree of luminal stenosis was found. CONCLUSIONS Inflammation and stenosis are likely to be independent risk factors, although this needs to be further validated.

Effect of exposure period on degree of dominance of phosphine resistance in adults of Rhyzopertha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrychidae) and Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Degree of dominance of phosphine resistance was investigated in adults of Rhyzopertha dominica F and Sitophilus oryzae L. Efficacy of the grain fumigant phosphine depends on both concentration and exposure period, which raises the possibility that dominance levels vary with exposure period. New and published data were used to test this possibility in adults of R dominica and S oryzae fumigated for periods of up to 144 h. The concentrations required for control of homozygous resistant and susceptible strains and their F1 hybrids decreased with increasing exposure period. For both species the response lines for the homozygous resistant and susceptible strains and their F1 hybrids were parallel. Therefore, neither dominance level nor resistance factor was affected by exposure period. Resistance was incompletely recessive and the level of dominance, calculated at 50% mortality level, was -0.59 for R dominica and -0.65 for S oryzae. The resistant R dominica strain was 30.9 times more resistant than the susceptible strain, compared with 8.9 times for the resistant S oryzae strain. The results suggest that developing discriminating doses for detecting heterozygote adults of either species will be difficult.

Optimum design of a Lanchester damper for a viscously damped single degree of freedom system subjected to inertial excitation

The problem of designing an optimum Lanchester damper for a viscously damped single degree of freedom system subjected to inertial harmonic excitation is investigated. Two criteria are used for optimizing the performance of the damper: (i) minimum motion transmissibility; (ii) minimum force transmissibility. Explicit expressions are developed for determining the absorber parameters.

Variation in the walking time to bus stop by the degree of transit captivity

Measures of transit accessibility are important in evaluating transit services, planning for future services and investment on land use development. Existing tools measure transit accessibility using averaged walking distance or walking time to public transit. Although the mode captivity may have significant implications on one’s willingness to walk to use public transit, this has not been addressed in the literature to date. Failed to distinguish transit captive users may lead to overestimated ridership and spatial coverage of transit services. The aim of this research is to integrate the concept of transit captivity into the analysis of walking access to public transit. The conventional way of defining “captive” and “choice” transit users showed no significant difference in their walking times according to a preliminary analysis. A cluster analysis technique is used to further divide “choice” users by three main factors, namely age group, labour force status and personal income. After eliminating “true captive” users, defined as those without driver’s licence or without a car in respective household, “non-true captive” users were classified into a total of eight groups having similar socio-economic characteristics. The analysis revealed significant differences in the walking times and patterns by their level of captivity to public transit. This paper challenges the rule-of-thumb of 400m walking distance to bus stops. In average, people’s willingness to walk dropped drastically at 268m and continued to drop constantly until it reached the mark of 670m, where there was another drastic drop of 17%, which left with only 10% of the total bus riders willing to walk 670m or more. This research found that mothers working part time were the ones with lowest transit captivity and thus most sensitive to the walking time, followed by high-income earners and the elderly. The level of captivity increases when public transit users earned lesser income, such as students and students working part time.