Electroplating and pvd finishing technologies in the fashion industry: Perspectives and scenarios

This work deals with a comparison between electroplating and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) finishing technologies applied in the fashion industry, with a special focus on their environmental impacts. The goal of this work is to present and validate a Decision Support System (DSS) allowing companies to identify, through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis, which of the two types of finishing processes is more suitable in comparison with specific KPIs. After an investigation on the literature and an industrial background regarding the two technologies, the model and, in particular, the sequence of activities that were conducted, are presented. Since LCA is an articulated process, requiring specific and adequate skills that are often unavailable within companies operating in this specific sector, a tool that facilitates LCA execution is a requisite. This tool, though potential publicity will facilitate the adoption of these approaches and sustainability as a driver in the selection of different production process strategies

Insights on the DNA stability in aqueous solutions of ionic liquids

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) carries the genetic information essential for the growth and functioning of living organisms, playing a significant role in life sciences research. However, the long-term storage and preservation of DNA, while ensuring its bioactivity, are still current challenges to overcome. In this work, aqueous solutions of ionic liquids (ILs) were investigated as potential preservation media for double stranded (dsDNA). A screening of several ILs, by combining the cholinium, tetrabutylammonium, tetrabutylphosphonium, and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, cations with the anions bromide, chloride, dihydrogen phosphate, acetate, and glycolate, was carried out in order to gather fundamental knowledge on the molecular features of ILs that improve the dsDNA stability. Different IL concentrations and the pH effect were also addressed. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy was used to evaluate the conformational structure and stability of dsDNA. IL-DNA interactions were appraised by UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The results obtained demonstrate that pH has a significant effect towards the dsDNA stability. Amongst the ILs investigated, cholinium-based ILs are the most promising class of ILs to preserve the dsDNA structure, in which electrostatic interactions between the cholinium cation and the DNA phosphate groups play a significant role as demonstrated by the 31P NMR data, being more relevant at higher IL concentrations. On the other hand, the denaturation of dsDNA mainly occurs with ILs composed of more hydrophobic cations and able to establish dispersive interactions with the nucleobases environment. Furthermore, the IL anion has a weaker impact when compared to the IL cation effect to interact with DNA molecules. The experimental data of this work provide relevant fundamental knowledge for the application of ILs in the preservation of nucleic acids, being of high relevance in the biotechnology field.publishe

Design Product-Service Systems by Using a Hybrid Approach: The Fashion Renting Business Model

As is known, sustainability issues represent one of the main challenges companies have to face. Among all, the fashion industry is considered one of the most impactful, both in terms of resource utilization and pollution. Fashion renting is a recent business model for companies to reduce their environmental footprint, following a circular economy approach. The study aims to develop and discuss the proposed hybrid approach to effectively support fashion companies in designing new business models, taking into account both the customer and the company perspective. On the one hand, agent-based modeling (ABM) allow us to represent customers’ behaviour and interaction. On the other hand, discrete event simulation (DES) paradigm is used to model fashion renting processes. Because customers’ attitude to that service reflects its successful implementation, motivators and barriers have been investigated to be included in the model. The practical implication is defining a model to support fashion companies in designing rental business models before implementing them. From a theoretical point of view, it overcomes the literature gap about the definition of a unique model for fashion renting, including processes, customers and interactions between agents. Follow-up research will include the presentation of simulation results

Teacher Responsibility: Its Meaning, Measure, and Educational Implications.

Teachers’ personal sense of responsibility potentially influences their instructional practices, psychological well-being, and ultimately their students’ learning and performance. Furthermore, the assumption that teachers are personally responsible, or that they should assume personal responsibility for their students’ educational outcomes—primarily test performance—is at the core of high-impact educational policies such as the implementation of accountability systems in American schools. Yet, the extant literature on teacher responsibility is plagued by conceptual and operational ambiguity: the term responsibility has been used interchangeably with related constructs such as internal locus of control, measurement instruments have incorporated items originally designed to assess other constructs such as efficacy, and have generally failed to acknowledge the multidimensional nature of teacher responsibility, and the literature lacks a comprehensive and consistent definition of the term. Accordingly, this multiple manuscript dissertation begins with a review of the theoretical status of teacher responsibility in the context of current education policy and a comprehensive definition of the term. The second manuscript is an empirical study focusing on the measurement of teacher responsibility that (a) reviews existing measures of teacher responsibility, (b) introduces a multidimensional assessment of teacher responsibility for critical educational outcomes such as student motivation, student achievement, for having positive relationships with students, and for providing high quality instruction (the Teacher Responsibility Scale), and (c) demonstrates that teacher responsibility and teacher efficacy are conceptually and empirically distinct. The third manuscript examines how teachers conceptualize their professional responsibility and how they perceive its antecedents and consequences. The concluding chapter discusses the current status of teacher responsibility research, and outlines directions for future research.PHDEducation & PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99839/1/fanim_1.pd