Go*Team: A new approach to developing a knowledge sharing culture

In the ideal organisational environment, the voluntary transfer of information and knowledge would be the norm, and this understanding would underpin ongoing collective sense-making, leading to appropriate and creative actions for organizational outcomes. Workplaces are full of learning opportunities and in work life, socially based learning is occurring all the time. This paper describes Go*Team, a micro world simulation, for helping enculture the importance of collaborative processes that are at the heart of a knowledge sharing culture. The design of Go*Team and ways of playing the game are discussed, as are ways that Go*Team can be applied in order to gain a better understanding of the collective processes and behaviour of people in organizations

Monitoring Salish Sea bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) via kayak surveys

Conspicuous declines in the abundance of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), the most common canopy-forming species in Puget Sound, have been observed in many areas. Despite these observations, little information on abundance, or temporal changes in kelp distribution have been scientifically documented. To document and increase attention to changes in kelp populations around the region, the Northwest Straits Initiative formed a Salish Sea International Kelp Alliance and developed a scientifically-driven monitoring protocol. Citizen scientists of the Northwest Straits Marine Resources Committees then applied the protocol to delineate kelp beds via kayak over the summers of 2015-2107. The protocol has now been added to the Washington State Puget Sound Estuarine Monitoring Program PSEMP Nearshore Monitoring Toolbox and is very similar to protocols used by citizen science groups in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. This presentation provides a summary of results on changes in extent observed throughout summer months, as well as, changes observed over the 3 years of sampling. To date, more than 177 Bull kelp kayak surveys, at 42 sites, have been acquired in 7 counties of the Northwest Straits over 3 summers. Fourteen of the sites have a full 3 years of data on presence/absence, acreage and ancillary measurements of depth and temperature. Data will be made available from the Northwest Straits online mapping application SoundIQ linked to interactive maps, data, photos and summary results in Storymap format

Food waste and circular economy:challenges and opportunities

The world’s population is expected to grow at an increasing rate, leading to increased food consumption and waste production. Even though food waste represents one of the most challenging economic and environmental issues of the 21st century, it also provides a vast array of valuable resources. To address the challenge, this study uses resource recovery from food waste to close the supply chain loop, which is the cornerstone of a circular economy. By applying the bibliometric review technique, trends and patterns in food waste and circular economy were studied. The analysis of frequent keywords in the field provided insights into further research directions. A Boolean search of the keywords in the Scopus database resulted in 288 articles, published between 2015 and 2021. Further screening of titles, keywords, and abstracts resulted in 155 journal articles. Bibliometric coupling, including authors’ co-citation data, co-occurrence, and the occurrence of keywords, was graphically mapped using VOSviewer software. From the analysis of the publications, eight broad themes emerged: (1) anaerobic digestion of food waste for circular economy creation; (2) food waste systems and life cycle assessments for circular economy; (3) bio-based circular economy approaches; (4) consumer behavior and attitudes toward circular economies; (5) food supply chains and food waste in a circular economy; (6) material flow analysis and sustainability; (7) challenges, policies, and practices to achieve circularity; and (8) circular economy and patterns of consumption. Based on the eight themes, we emphasize an urgent need to promote the collaboration of governments, the private sector, educational institutions, and researchers, who should combine efforts to promote, integrate and accelerate acceptance of circularity, which will potentially mitigate greenhouse emissions associated with food loss and waste. We also highlight an opportunity to encourage consumer acceptance of upcycled food in the food waste hierarchy. In addition, we deduce that there is a need to quantify food waste and emissions of greenhouse gases due to this waste along the food value chain; this is important as it is one pathway of examining the ‘food leaks’ along the food supply chain. This can then inform optimal strategies targeting specific areas of the food supply chain experiencing food leaks. Lastly, food wastage affects the entire globe; however, future studies and funding need to be channeled towards investigating the possibility of implementing circularity in developing countries.</p

Review of antimicrobial resistance in the environment and its relevance to environmental regulators

The environment is increasingly being recognised for the role it might play in the global spread of clinically-relevant antibiotic resistance. Environmental regulators monitor and control many of the pathways responsible for the release of resistance-driving chemicals into the environment (e.g., antimicrobials, metals, biocides). Hence, environmental regulators should be contributing significantly to the development of global and national antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans. It is argued that the lack of environment-facing mitigation actions included in existing AMR action plans is likely a function of our poor fundamental understanding of many of the key issues. Here, we aim to present the problem with AMR in the environment through the lens of an environmental regulator, using the Environment Agency (England’s regulator) as an example from which parallels can be drawn globally. The issues that are pertinent to environmental regulators are drawn out to answer: What are the drivers and pathways of AMR? How do these relate to the normal work, powers and duties of environmental regulators? What are the knowledge gaps that hinder the delivery of environmental protection from AMR? We offer several thought experiments for how different mitigation strategies might proceed. We conclude that: 1) AMR Action Plans do not tackle all the potentially relevant pathways and drivers of AMR in the environment; and 2) AMR Action Plans are deficient, in part, because the science to inform policy is lacking and this needs to be addressed

Eggshell and Seashells Biomaterials Sorbent for Carbon Dioxide Capture

This review aims to explore the application of natural and renewable bioceramics such as eggshell and seashells in carbon dioxide (CO2) capture from power plant flue gas. CO2 capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is considered a means to deliver low carbon energy, decarbonising industries, power plants and facilitates the net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. The stages involved include CO2 capture, transport of the captured CO2, utilisation and secure storage of the captured CO2. This chapter reports the use of eggshell and seashells biomaterials as an adsorbent to separate CO2 from other gases generated by power plants and industrial processes. The capture of carbon dioxide by adsorption is based on the ability of a material to preferentially adsorb or carbonate CO2 over other gases. In light of this, calcined eggshell and seashells biomaterial rich in calcium carbonate from which calcium oxide (94%) can be obtained have demonstrated a strong affinity for CO2. These biomaterials are abundant and low-cost alternative to zeolite, activated carbon and molecular sieve carbon. The mechanism of CO2 capture by eggshell and seashells derived CaO adsorbent comprises of a series of carbonation-calcination reactions (CCR): calcium oxide (CaO) reacts with CO2 resulting in calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which releases pure CO2 stream upon calcinations for sequestration or utilisation, and as a consequence, the biomaterial is regenerated. Findings reveal that these biomaterials can hold up to eight times its own weight of CO2 from flue gas stream. It was also found that the combination of 2 M acetic acid and water pretreatment improved the reactivity and capture capacity of the biomaterial for successive regeneration over four cycle’s usage. Unlike activated carbon, these biomaterials are considered stable for high-temperature adsorption through carbonation

Value-added materials recovered from waste bone biomass: technologies and applications.

As the world population increases, the generation of waste bones will multiply exponentially, increasing landfill usage and posing health risks. This review aims to shed light on technologies for recovering valuable materials (e.g., alkaline earth material oxide such as CaO, hydroxyapatite, beta tri-calcium phosphate, phosphate and bone char) from waste bones, and discuss their potential applications as an adsorbent, catalyst and catalyst support, hydroxyapatite for tissue engineering, electrodes for energy storage, and phosphate source for soil remediation. Waste bone derived hydroxyapatite and bone char have found applications as a catalyst or catalyst support in organic synthesis, selective oxidation, biodiesel production, hydrocracking of heavy oil, selective hydrogenation and synthesis of bioactive compounds. With the help of this study, researchers can gather comprehensive data on studies regarding the recycling of waste bones, which will help them identify material recovery technologies and their applications in a single document. Furthermore, this work identifies areas for further research and development as well as areas for scaling-up, which will lead to reduced manufacturing costs and environmental impact. The idea behind this is to promote a sustainable environment and a circular economy concept in which waste bones are used as raw materials to produce new materials or for energy recovery

The Recovery Narrative: Politics and possibilities of a genre

Recovery is now widely acknowledged as the dominant approach to the management of mental distress and illness in government, third-sector and some peer-support contexts across the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the Anglophone Global North. Although narrative has long been recognised in practice and in policy as a key “technology of recovery,” there has been little critical investigation of how recovery narratives are constituted and mobilised, and with what consequences. This paper offers an interdisciplinary. critical medical humanities analysis of the politics and possibilities of Recovery Narrative, drawing literary theoretical concepts of genre and philosophical approaches to the narrative self into conversation with the critiques of recovery advanced by survivor-researchers, sociologists and mad studies scholars.. Our focus is not on the specific stories of individuals, but on the form, function and effects of Recovery Narrative as a highly circumscribed kind of storytelling. We identify the assumptions, lacunae and areas of tension which compel a more critical approach to the way this genre is operationalised in and beyond mental health services and conclude by reflecting on the possibilities offered by other communicative formats, spaces and practices

Annual burning decreases seed density in the upper soil layers of the seed bank

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