A conceptual framework for circular design

Design has been recognised in the literature as a catalyst to move away from the traditional model of take-make-dispose to achieve a more restorative, regenerative and circular economy. As such, for a circular economy to thrive, products need to be designed for closed loops, as well as be adapted to generate revenues. This should not only be at the point of purchase, but also during use, and be supported by low-cost return chains and reprocessing structures, as well as effective policy and regulation. To date, most academic and grey literature on the circular economy has focused primarily on the development of new business models, with some of the latter studies addressing design strategies for a circular economy, specifically in the area of resource cycles and design for product life extension. However, these studies primarily consider a limited spectrum of the technical and biological cycles where materials are recovered and restored and nutrients (e.g., materials, energy, water) are regenerated. This provides little guidance or clarity for designers wishing to design for new circular business models in practice. As such, this paper aims to address this gap by systematically analysing previous literature on Design for Sustainability (DfX) (e.g., design for resource conservation, design for slowing resource loops and whole systems design) and links these approaches to the current literature on circular business models. A conceptual framework is developed for circular economy design strategies. From this conceptual framework, recommendations are made to enable designers to fully consider the holistic implications for design within a circular economy

University contributions to the circular economy: Professing the hidden curriculum

In a world dominated by linear economic systems, the road to improving resource use is multi-faceted. Whilst public and private organisations are making progress in introducing sustainable practices, we ask ourselves the extent to which education providers are contributing to the circular economy. As engines for skills and knowledge, universities play a primary role in propelling circular economy approaches into reality and, as such, hold the potential for raising the bar on sustainable performance. A rapid evidence assessment (REA) was therefore undertaken to examine the interactions between university estate management and the circular economy. This assessment identified six pertinent themes: campus sustainability, the hidden curriculum, environmental governance, local impact, university material flows, and the role of universities as catalysts for business and examined 70 publications. A second part of the study reviewed the environmental activities of 50 universities ranked highly in terms of their environmental credentials or their environmental science courses. The results are presented and then discussed in terms of how universities can affect material flows, promote sustainability outside of the formal curriculum, and act as catalysts with business. The economic significance of universities provides an appreciable demand for circular products and services. Universities should develop “hidden curriculum” plans to promote improved environmental behaviours of staff and students. Universities can also catalyse a circular economy by working with business to improve eco-effectiveness as well as eco-efficiency. For example, projects should extend the focus from decreasing carbon footprint to achieving carbon positivity, from improving water efficiency to treating wastewater, and from recycling to reverse logistics for repurposing. Pilot projects arising from such work could provide valuable research bases and consultancy opportunities

Propuesta modelo gerencia de la felicidad en Medishi medicina seguridad e higiene industrial SAS

Conceptos como “gerencia de la felicidad” “felicidad laboral” “felicidad organizacional” son actualmente utilizados en el ámbito organizacional de algunas instituciones nacionales e internacionales como recurso innovador orientado o mejor centrado en el bienestar del cliente interno y enfocado en el mejoramiento continuo y el aumento de los niveles de producción. Actualmente no es mucha la literatura que se encuentra respecto al tema, ni tampoco se encuentra un modelo concreto de implementación de la gerencia de la felicidad a nivel organizacional; a pesar que ya son varias las organizaciones que aplican la herramienta, son las necesidades propias de cada institución las que llevan al planteamiento de acciones requeridas para tal fin. Atendiendo al deseo de MEDISHI, una IPS con 30 años de experiencia en la prestación de servicios de seguridad y salud en trabajo, de implementar en su organización esta nueva forma de administración con el ánimo de mejorar el clima laboral y aumentar el desempeño de sus colaboradores, se realizó una búsqueda de la literatura relacionada con el tema de gerencia de la felicidad con el fin de obtener un acercamiento al tema que permitiera construir una propuesta de un modelo de gerencia de la felicidad aplicable. El presente trabajo, presenta una recopilación de elementos básicos para el conocimiento del tema, propone una definición propia y una serie de acciones dirigidas a la implementación del modelo de Gerencia de la Felicidad en MEDISHI SAS y pone a consideración de quien lo requiera, la adopción y adecuación del modelo a nivel organizacional.Concepts such as "happiness Management" "Happiness in Work" "Organizational Happiness" are currently used in the organizational field of some national and international institutions as an innovative resource oriented or better focused on the Internal customer welfare and focused on continuous improvement and increased production levels. Currently there is not much literature on the subject, nor is there a specific model of implementation of the management of happiness at organizational level. Although there are already several organizations that apply the tool, are the needs of each institution that lead to the approach of actions required for that purpose. Attending to the desire of MEDISHI SAS, an IPS with 30 years of experience in providing health and safety services at work, to implement in its organization this new form of administration with the aim of improving the working environment and increasing the performance of its employers. A search for literature related to the theme of happiness management was carry out in order to obtain an approach to the topic that would allow building a proposal for an applicable model of happiness management. This work presents a compilation of basic elements for the knowledge of the topic, proposes a definition of its own and a series of actions directed to the implementation of the management model of happiness in MEDISHI SAS and puts to consideration of whom require the adoption and adaptation of the model at the organizational level.Especialista en Gerencia HospitalariaEspecializació

Childhood acute leukemias are frequent in Mexico City: descriptive epidemiology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Worldwide, acute leukemia is the most common type of childhood cancer. It is particularly common in the Hispanic populations residing in the United States, Costa Rica, and Mexico City. The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of acute leukemia in children who were diagnosed and treated in public hospitals in Mexico City.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Included in this study were those children, under 15 years of age and residents of Mexico City, who were diagnosed in 2006 and 2007 with leukemia, as determined by using the International Classification of Childhood Cancer. The average annual incidence rates (AAIR), and the standardized average annual incidence rates (SAAIR) per million children were calculated. We calculated crude, age- and sex-specific incidence rates and adjusted for age by the direct method with the world population as standard. We determined if there were a correlation between the incidence of acute leukemias in the various boroughs of Mexico City and either the number of agricultural hectares, the average number of persons per household, or the municipal human development index for Mexico (used as a reference of socio-economic level).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although a total of 610 new cases of leukemia were registered during 2006-2007, only 228 fit the criteria for inclusion in this study. The overall SAAIR was 57.6 per million children (95% CI, 46.9-68.3); acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was the most frequent type of leukemia, constituting 85.1% of the cases (SAAIR: 49.5 per million), followed by acute myeloblastic leukemia at 12.3% (SAAIR: 6.9 per million), and chronic myeloid leukemia at 1.7% (SAAIR: 0.9 per million). The 1-4 years age group had the highest SAAIR for ALL (77.7 per million). For cases of ALL, 73.2% had precursor B-cell immunophenotype (SAAIR: 35.8 per million) and 12.4% had T-cell immunophenotype (SAAIR 6.3 per million). The peak ages for ALL were 2-6 years and 8-10 years. More than half the children (58.8%) were classified as high risk. There was a positive correlation between the average number of persons per household and the incidence of the pre-B immunophenotype (Pearson's r, 0.789; P = 0.02).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The frequency of ALL in Mexico City is among the highest in the world, similar to those found for Hispanics in the United States and in Costa Rica.</p

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase&nbsp;1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation&nbsp;disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age&nbsp; 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score&nbsp; 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc&nbsp;= 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N&nbsp;= 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in&nbsp;Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Optimización del proceso de clarificación de meladura mediante el seguimiento de nueve variables Fisicoquímicas en el ingenio Risaralda S.A

El siguiente documento dará una explicación breve y precisa acerca del funcionamiento del Clarificador de meladura, un equipo ubicado en la sección de Elaboración del Ingenio Risaralda S.A, el cual tiene como fin mejorar la calidad de la producción de azúcar, ya que este es el último paso previo a la cristalización donde se obtendrá en una primera fase el grano de azúcar, y a partir de este estará determinada la calidad del producto final. Se realizó un seguimiento durante seis meses al funcionamiento del equipo, dentro de la actividad normal de la planta, con el fin de determinar las variables fisicoquímicas que se encuentran implicadas dentro del procedimiento y que afectan la calidad del proceso que se lleva a cabo en esta estación intermedia de purificación, estableciendo el perfil de cada equipo involucrado en el proceso, y los insumos utilizados generando una optima dosificación de los mismos, reflejándose lo anterior en un producto final de buena calidad

Intertidal copepods (Crustacea) in Chilean oceanic islands: a standpoint by null models and island biogeography

Chilean intertidal copepods have been a littleies studied group, there are isolated reports for the central Chilean coast and island territories. The aim of this study was to analyze intertidal copepod assemblies on Chilean islands territories (Easter Island, San Felix, San Ambrosio, Alejandro Selkirk and Robinson Crusoe islands) and compare them with respect to an area of the continental coastal zone (Montemar, Valparaiso), through null model analysis of species co-occurrence and a cluster analysis. Null model results indicated. for a simulation, the existence of regulatory factors, while two simulations showed no regulatory factors, that would presumably due to the low number of species reported. Moreover, cluster analysis revealed the existence of a core group comprising the islands Alejandro Selkirk, San Felix, and Robinson Crusoe, followed later by Easter Island, and finally Montemar. Ecological topics were analyzed, mainly related with regulation patterns of species richness, as possible explanations for the observed results