Decision-support for selecting demolition waste management strategies

The construction industry is increasingly challenged to reduce its waste production, resource consumption and energy emissions. Moving towards more circular and sustainable practices therefore seems imperative. Demolition contractors play a vital role in this move as they need to select waste management strategies for distinct obsolete building elements. Previous research has nevertheless overlooked how demolition contractors can gain insights into the consequences of such strategies. This research therefore adopts a design science research methodology to iteratively develop a decision-support tool for selecting demolition waste management strategies. Through collaborating with a pioneering demolition contractor in the Netherlands, in-depth insights into actual decision-making processes were obtained. A tool was subsequently designed that compares and ranks three different waste management strategies (reuse, recycle and recover) by evaluating their impacts in terms of technical feasibility, economic costs, environmental gain and social gain. This tool enables demolition contractors to make more informed waste management decisions and, as such, offers new opportunities to adopt circular and sustainable demolition methods. Practice relevance Demolition contractors are pressured to adopt more circular and sustainable methods. This requires these firms to consider waste management strategies other than traditional energy recovery or landfilling. A new decision-support tool offers demolition firms insights into the consequences of different waste management strategies. This tool compares and ranks reuse, recycle, and recover waste management strategies. The tool was demonstrated and evaluated by a demolition contractor in the Netherlands. It was found that the decision-support tool assists in making more informed waste management decisions through illuminating technical feasibility, economic costs, environmental gains and social gains. A suggested ranking of strategies is provided for distinct obsolete building elements. Implementing the tool will require changes to local project routines

Pharmacological screening identifies SHK242 and SHK277 as novel arginase inhibitors with efficacy against allergen-induced airway narrowing in vitro and in vivo

Arginase is a potential target for asthma treatment. However, there are currently no arginase inhibitors available for clinical use. Here, a novel class of arginase inhibitors was synthesized, and their efficacy was pharmacologically evaluated. The reference compound 2(S)-amino-6-boronohexanoic acid (ABH) and >200 novel arginase inhibitors were tested for their ability to inhibit recombinant human arginase 1 and 2 in vitro. The most promising compounds were separated as enantiomers. Enantiomer pairs SHK242 and SHK243, and SHK277 and SHK278 were tested for functional efficacy by measuring their effect on allergen-induced airway narrowing in lung slices of ovalbumin-sensitized guinea pigs ex vivo. A guinea pig model of acute allergic asthma was used to examine the effect of the most efficacious enantiopure arginase inhibitors on allergen-induced airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR), early and late asthmatic reactions (EAR and LAR), and airway inflammation in vivo. The novel compounds were efficacious in inhibiting arginase 1 and 2 in vitro. The enantiopure SHK242 and SHK277 fully inhibited arginase activity, with IC50 values of 3.4 and 10.5 μM for arginase 1 and 2.9 and 4.0 µM for arginase 2, respectively. Treatment of slices with ABH or novel compounds resulted in decreased ovalbumin-induced airway narrowing compared with control, explained by increased local nitric oxide production in the airway. In vivo, ABH, SHK242, and SHK277 protected against allergen-induced EAR and LAR but not against AHR or lung inflammation. We have identified promising novel arginase inhibitors for the potential treatment of allergic asthma that were able to protect against allergen-induced early and late asthmatic reactions. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Arginase is a potential drug target for asthma treatment, but currently there are no arginase inhibitors available for clinical use. We have identified promising novel arginase inhibitors for the potential treatment of allergic asthma that were able to protect against allergen-induced early and late asthmatic reactions. Our new inhibitors show protective effects in reducing airway narrowing in response to allergens and reductions in the early and late asthmatic response

Calibration of a complex activated sludge model for the full-scale wastewater treatment plant

In this study, the results of the calibration of the complex activated sludge model implemented in BioWin software for the full-scale wastewater treatment plant are presented. Within the calibration of the model, sensitivity analysis of its parameters and the fractions of carbonaceous substrate were performed. In the steady-state and dynamic calibrations, a successful agreement between the measured and simulated values of the output variables was achieved. Sensitivity analysis revealed that upon the calculations of normalized sensitivity coefficient (Si,j) 17 (steady-state) or 19 (dynamic conditions) kinetic and stoichiometric parameters are sensitive. Most of them are associated with growth and decay of ordinary heterotrophic organisms and phosphorus accumulating organisms. The rankings of ten most sensitive parameters established on the basis of the calculations of the mean square sensitivity measure (δjmsqr) indicate that irrespective of the fact, whether the steady-state or dynamic calibration was performed, there is an agreement in the sensitivity of parameters

Supporting primary school teachers in differentiating in the regular classroom

Many primary school teachers experience difficulties in effectively differentiating in the regular classroom. This study investigated the effect of the STIP-approach on teachers' differentiation activities and self-efficacy, and children's learning outcomes and instructional value. Teachers using the STIP-approach for their science lessons were compared to teachers using their regular programme. 16 teachers and 306 children were observed and received questionnaires at four different times. Results show that using the STIP-approach resulted in more differentiation in task, content, and process. Moreover, children of STIPteachers who showed many types of differentiation activities learnt more than children of STIP-teachers who differentiated less