74 research outputs found
A Tool for Evaluating Environmental Sustainability of Plastic Waste Reduction Innovations
Plastics and their byproducts are littering our cities, oceans, and waterways, and
contributing to health problems in humans and animals. Since plastics have become
significant in our economic and social activities, it is urgent and essential to make
progress in plastic waste reduction. Many large investors are looking into technologies
and solutions that reduce plastic waste, but a sole plastic waste reduction innovation or
project does not guarantee or equate to sustainability performance. In this Master’s
project, the team at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) investigated
the plastics industry, with the objective of developing a framework and sustainability
assessment tool for evaluating plastic reduction innovations to support investment
decisions.
The team reviewed sustainability assessment literature and studied plastic waste
reduction strategies to determine key criteria and a process for evaluating sustainability
performance of plastic waste reduction innovations. Through this work, the Plastic
Waste Reduction Innovation Sustainability Evaluation Tool (PRISET) was created,
setting educational guidelines around the criteria for both investors and other potential
users. General guidance is presented for evaluating environmental sustainability of
basic business models that focuses on the company’s mission & vision, circular
economy attributes, and potential scale of the waste reduction innovation. More indepth tools for evaluating specific technology innovations include third party
certifications and life cycle assessments that require expertise to conduct. Waste
reduction innovations were classified into four categories: reuse & refill, alternative
materials, innovative design and recycling; and specific guidance criteria in the form of
questions were presented to highlight key drivers of sustainability performance in each
category. Finally, we also conducted a case study to test the feasibility of the tool. Those
innovations that address a wider set of criteria are expected to be more preferrable,
while feedback from the assessment will also be useful for innovation companies
themselves to focus efforts on those criteria they have not addressed.Master of ScienceSchool for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167287/1/Eval Env Sus of Plastic Waste Red.pd
Religious Music in the Dialogue : Inter-religious Encounters of People Engaged with Buddhism and Christianity in Malaysia
Performance across Borders : Twenty-Four Drums, Two Cities: Performing Glocalization of the Sinophones with the 24 Festive Drums in Malaysia and China
LIFE DISRUPTED AND REGENERATED : COPING WITH THE ‘NEW NORMAL’ CREATIVE ARTS IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS
A global pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus since December 2019 has developed into a fearsome situation more than any common global contagion. In combating COVID-19 worldwide, governments instigated a precautionary cordon sanitaire in various degrees. Live music, cinema and film festivals were inevitably cancelled, causing artists to become alienated from their audience. This paper aims to illuminate how
practitioners of the creative industry cope with t
as the means of regenerating ‘life’, which refers to that of a creative artist in a narrower sense, and to that of
the industry in a broader sense. Adopting a combined methodology of autoethnography and virtual ethnography, the authors explore their encounters with the informants and the development of the creative arts scene. The subject of disruption and regeneration in the creative arts industry is approached through feasible methods and tools they could render in this unique lived experience. They hope to construct a view containing some perspectives on the transcendence of creative practitioners from the disruption to the survival of the pandemic’s impact, as well as the regeneration of how creative arts would persevere in the ‘new normal’ of the post-COVID-19 era
Poultry Drinking Water Used for Avian Influenza Surveillance
Samples of drinking water from poultry cages, which can be collected conveniently and noninvasively, provide higher rates of influenza (H9N2) virus isolation than do samples of fecal droppings. Studies to confirm the usefulness of poultry drinking water for detecting influenza (H5N1) should be conducted in disease-endemic areas
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Chinese Language and Reading Abilities
This study investigated the etiology of individual differences in Chinese language and reading skills in 312 typically developing Chinese twin pairs aged from 3 to 11 years (228 pairs of monozygotic twins and 84 pairs of dizygotic twins; 166 male pairs and 146 female pairs). Children were individually given tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary, phonological memory, tone awareness, syllable and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness and orthographic skills, and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. All analyses controlled for the effects of age. There were moderate to substantial genetic influences on word reading, tone awareness, phonological memory, morphological awareness and rapid automatized naming (estimates ranged from .42 to .73), while shared environment exerted moderate to strong effects on receptive vocabulary, syllable and rhyme awareness and orthographic skills (estimates ranged from .35 to .63). Results were largely unchanged when scores were adjusted for nonverbal reasoning as well as age. Findings of this study are mostly similar to those found for English, a language with very different characteristics, and suggest the universality of genetic and environmental influences across languages
Characterization of Avian Influenza Viruses A (H5N1) from Wild Birds, Hong Kong, 2004–2008
Repeated detection of subclade 2.3.2 viruses in nonpasserine birds from different regions suggests possible establishment of this lineage in wild bird species
Oxidative stress in children late after Kawasaki disease: relationship with carotid atherosclerosis and stiffness
Background: Persistent arterial dysfunction in patients with a history of Kawasaki disease (KD) and an integral role of oxidative stress in the development of cardiovascular disease are increasingly recognized. We sought to test the hypothesis that oxidative stress is increased in KD patients and related to carotid atherosclerotic changes and stiffness. Methods: We compared the serum levels of oxidative stress biomarkers, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), and carotid stiffness index among KD patients with coronary aneurysms (n = 32), those without coronary complications (n = 19), and controls (n = 32). Results: Compared with controls, patients with coronary aneurysms had significantly higher serum levels of malonaldehyde (2.62 ± 0.12 μM vs 2.22 ± 0.07 μM, p = 0.014) and hydroperoxides (26.50 ± 1.13 μM vs 22.50 ± 0.62 μM, p = 0.008). A linear trend of the magnitude of oxidative stress in relation to inflammatory damage was observed for malonaldehyde (p = 0.018) and hydroperoxides (p = 0.014) levels. Serum malonaldehyde and hydroperoxide levels correlated positively with carotid IMT (p < 0.001 and p = 0.034, respectively) and stiffness index (p = 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively). Multiple linear regression analysis identified serum malonaldehyde level as a significant determinant of carotid IMT (β = 0.31, p = 0.006) and stiffness (β = 0.27, p = 0.008). Conclusion: Our findings suggestoxidative stress is increased in KD patients with coronary aneurysms and is associated with carotid intima-media thickening and stiffening. © 2008 Cheung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio
Risk of chronic kidney disease after cancer nephrectomy.
The incidence of early stage renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is increasing and observational studies have shown equivalent oncological outcomes of partial versus radical nephrectomy for stage I tumours. Population studies suggest that compared with radical nephrectomy, partial nephrectomy is associated with decreased mortality and a lower rate of postoperative decline in kidney function. However, rates of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients who have undergone nephrectomy might be higher than in the general population. The risks of new-onset or accelerated CKD and worsened survival after nephrectomy might be linked, as kidney insufficiency is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality. Nephron-sparing approaches have, therefore, been proposed as the standard of care for patients with type 1a tumours and as a viable option for those with type 1b tumours. However, prospective data on the incidence of de novo and accelerated CKD after cancer nephrectomy is lacking, and the only randomized trial to date was closed prematurely. Intrinsic abnormalities in non-neoplastic kidney parenchyma and comorbid conditions (including diabetes mellitus and hypertension) might increase the risks of CKD and RCC. More research is needed to better understand the risk of CKD post-nephrectomy, to develop and validate predictive scores for risk-stratification, and to optimize patient management
Genetic and environmental influences on learning Chinese language and literacy skills
This thesis investigated the etiology of individual differences in Chinese language and literacy skills with a two-wave longitudinal design using a sample of 312 Chinese twin pairs aged 3 to 11 in Hong Kong. Children were individually given tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary, phonological memory, tone awareness, syllable and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness, and orthographic skills, as well as nonverbal reasoning and audiometric screening tests. They were tested again on the same tasks, except nonverbal reasoning, one year after the initial testing. Children’s saliva was collected to perform SNP testing for zygosity determination. Also, their demographic information, home literacy environment profile, and motivation for learning text, were obtained from parent-rated questionnaires. Overall, there were four major findings on Chinese language and literacy abilities with the effects of age and nonverbal reasoning controlled for. First, genes and environments had differential influences on various skills, and there was a possibility of different etiology in language and reading development. Second, socioeconomic status and home literacy environment were plausible mediators but not moderators of general language and reading abilities. Third, the stability of various skills across a one-year time period was mainly mediated by genetic influences, but shared environmental factors also influenced syllable and rhyme awareness. Also, new genetic and environmental factors came into play at Time 2 for word reading, and results suggested new genetic influences and new shared environmental influences emerged at Time 2 for tone awareness and morphological awareness respectively. Fourth, both genes and environments contributed to parent-rated communicative ability and motivation for learning text. Furthermore, the link between word reading and parent-rated motivation was mediated by genetic processes. The universality of the genetic and environmental origins across languages and their specificity to Chinese, as well as the implications of these findings, were discussed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
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