5 research outputs found
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Impact of Organizational-level Factors on Cancer Screening Activities in Fire Departments: A Cross-sectional Study from the Sylvester Firefighter Cancer Initiative
Despite known individual-level facilitators of cancer screening, the impact of work-related organizational-level characteristics on cancer screening is unknown particularly in the firefighter workforce who is experiencing a disproportionate burden of cancer. We examine the association between fire service organizational-level factors and implementation of cancer screening activities within Florida fire departments. We used a cross-sectional observational study design to survey fire department leaders attending the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association Health and Safety conference about cancer screening activities implemented by their fire departments. Measures assessing organizational-level characteristics include: fire department workforce size, total health and safety officers, fire department geographic location, employment type, leadership support and capacity. Among the 126 fire departments participating (response rate = 47.7%), approximately 44% reported some type of cancer screening activity in the 12 months prior to survey administration. The proportion of fire departments with two or more health and safety officers was significantly greater among those with cancer screening activities as compared with departments without cancer screening activities (46.3% vs. 24.2%;
= 0.016). There were no statistical differences noted for cancer screening activities among all other organizational-level characteristics including workforce size, fire department geographic location, employment type, leadership support, and individual capacity measures. Most organizational-level characteristics of a fire department evaluated in this study were not associated with cancer screening activities; however, having two or more dedicated health and safety officers supports the delivery of cancer screening activities. These officers may be a key to improving availability of cancer screening activities at work
Combining Solar Steam Processing and Solar Distillation for Fully Off-Grid Production of Cellulosic Bioethanol
Conventional
bioethanol for transportation fuel typically consumes
agricultural feedstocks also suitable for human consumption and requires
large amounts of energy for conversion of feedstock to fuel. Alternative
feedstocks, optimally those not also in demand for human consumption,
and off-grid energy sources for processing would both contribute to
making bioethanol far more sustainable than current practices. Cellulosic
bioethanol production involves three steps: the extraction of sugars
from cellulosic feedstock, the fermentation of sugars to produce ethanol,
and the purification of ethanol through distillation. Traditional
production methods for extraction and distillation are energy intensive
and therefore costly, limiting the advancement of this approach. Here
we report an initial demonstration of the conversion of cellulosic
feedstock into ethanol by completely off-grid solar processing steps.
Our approach is based on nanoparticle-enabled solar steam generation,
in which high-efficiency steam can be produced by illuminating light-absorbing
nanoparticles dispersed in H<sub>2</sub>O with sunlight. We used solar-generated
steam to successfully hydrolyze feedstock into sugars; we then used
solar steam-distillation to purify ethanol in the final processing
step. Coastal hay, a grass grown for livestock feed across the southern
United States, and sugar cane as a control are successfully converted
to ethanol in this proof-of-concept study. This entirely off-grid
solar production method has the potential to realize the long-dreamed-of
goal of sustainable cellulosic bioethanol production