Managing creative eco-innovation: Structuring outputs from eco-innovation projects

Increasing legislative pressures and consumer awareness of environmentally efficient products are causing businesses to look at Sustainable Product Design (SPD) as an opportunity to improve their products and processes. Business and academia have identified a need for strategic approaches to SPD that will result in ‘step-change’ improvements in the design of products and services. Eco-innovation aims to develop new products and processes which provide customer and business value but significantly decrease environmental impact. Eco-innovation considers environmental aspects of the product at early stages of the New Product Development process. The research presented in this paper looks at the use of eco-innovation tools and focuses on idea generation within ecoinnovation processes. Two novel tools were developed to help review the results from previously conducted eco-innovation workshops: the Standard Design Process Form and the Product Ideas Tree (PIT) diagram. This paper shows the development of these two tools and demonstrates their potential to assist in structuring and documenting ideas throughout the eco-innovation process. The paper discusses the benefits of using such documentation and how it may subsequently improve the management of eco innovation throughout the design process

An investigation of the grindability of two torrefied energy crops

The process of torrefaction alters the physical properties of biomass, reducing its fibrous tenacious nature. This could allow increased rates of co-milling and therefore co-firing in coal fired power stations, which in turn would enable a reduction in the amount of coal used and an increase in the use of sustainable fuels, without the need for additional plant. This paper presents an experimental investigation of the pulverisation behaviour of two torrefied energy crops, namely: willow and Miscanthus. A multifactorial method approach was adopted to investigate the three process parameters of temperature, residence time and particle size, producing fuels treated using four different torrefaction conditions. The untreated and torrefied fuels were subjected to standard fuel analysis techniques including ultimate analysis, proximate analysis and calorific value determination. The grindability of these fuels was then determined using a laboratory ball mill and by adapting the Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) test for hard coals. After grinding, two sets of results were obtained. Firstly a determination similar to the HGI test was made, measuring the proportion of sample passing through a 75 mu m sieve and plotting this on a calibrated HGI chart determined using four standard reference coals of known HGI values. Secondly the particle size distributions of the entire ground sample were measured and compared with the four standard reference coals. The standard fuel tests revealed that temperature was the most significant parameter in terms of mass loss, changes in elemental composition and energy content increase. The first grindability test results found that the untreated fuels and fuels treated at low temperatures showed very poor grindability behaviour. However, more severe torrefaction conditions caused the fuels to exhibit similar pulverisation properties as coals with low HGI values. Miscanthus was found to have a higher HGI value than willow. On examining the particle size distributions it was found that the particle size distributions of torrefied Miscanthus differed significantly from the untreated biomass and had comparable profiles to those of the standard reference coals with which they had similar HGI values. However, only the torrefied willow produced at the most severe conditions investigated exhibited this behaviour, and the HGI of torrefied willow was not generally a reliable indicator of grindability performance for this energy crop. Overall it was concluded that torrefied biomass can be successfully pulverised and that torrefied Miscanthus was easier to grind than torrefied willow

Quality of life of patients treated surgically for head and neck cancer

The quality of survival of 48 patients treated surgically for head and neck cancer was assessed using a problem-orientated self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on the European Organization for Research into the Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) core questionnaire to which a specific head and neck module was added. The following domains were studied: pain, fatigue, physical symptoms (gastrointestinal and 'other'), functional activity, psychological symptoms, overall physical condition and overall quality of life. For the analysis, five groups of patients were considered: laryngectomy (n = 15), pharyngolaryngoesophagectomy (n = 5), craniofacial procedure (n = 11), 'other operations' (n = 9) and patients with disease recurrence (n = 8). Each group identified different problem areas. Laryngectomees and 'other operation' patients reported relatively few problems, whereas patients with disease recurrence described difficulties in all of the domains examined. Symptoms of fatigue were common. Information collected in this way may facilitate improved rehabilitation and thus better quality of survival

Management of treatment resistant schizophrenia

Whilst gains have been made in recent years in the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia, a number of patients still have residual symptoms and disabilities, or simply do not show response to antipsychotic medications. For such 'treatment resistant' patients, there is little by way of randomised controlled data to support any particular type of further intervention, but combinations of agents (combined antipsychotics, augmentation with mood stabilisers, antidepressants, and other agents)can show benefit in certain patients in certain domains of symptomatology and psychosocial functioning. Certain psychological and psychosocial treatment strategies can also be of benefit in this regard. This article selectively reviews the literature treatment resistance in schizophrenia, and emphasises the importance of an holistic approach to individual patients. Keywords: schizophrenia, treatment resistance, antipsychotics, augmentation, psychosocial treatments South African Psychiatry Review Vol. 9(1) 2006: 17-2

Targeting conservation actions at species threat response thresholds

To improve the status of the world’s biodiversity by 2030, conservation actions must not only seek to halt or slow biodiversity loss, they must increase species’ populations. A better mechanistic understanding of biodiversity loss and of species’ sensitivities to certain intensities of threats is needed to target conservation actions effectively. Moving beyond ordinal space-for-time substitution analyses, towards monitoring concurrent changes in threats and species’ populations over time will help achieve this. We propose a framework to quantify species’ response thresholds along gradients of threat intensity, using a combination of threat-sensitive taxa, biogeographic regions, and biomes. This framework will allow efficient targeting of conservation actions, of relevance to global policy-making

How do different lighting conditions affect the vision and quality of life of people with glaucoma? A systematic review

This article is a systematic review of evidence regarding the impact of different lighting conditions on the vision and quality of life (QoL) of people with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). A systematic literature search was carried out using CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Embase, and Ovid Nursing Database for studies: published up to April 2019; including people diagnosed with POAG; and assessing visual function or QoL in response to changing lighting/luminance levels or glare. Two researchers independently screened studies for eligibility. Data were extracted from eligible studies regarding study design, participant characteristics, outcomes, and results. Quality of included studies was critically appraised. Of 8437 studies, 56 eligible studies were included. Studies investigated the effects of lighting on the following domains among people with POAG: QoL (18/56), psychophysical measures (16/56), functional vision (10/56), activities of daily living (10/56), and qualitative findings (2/56). POAG negatively affects low-luminance contrast sensitivity, glare symptoms, and dark adaptation time and extent. In vision-related QoL questionnaires, people with POAG report problems with lighting, glare, and dark adaptation more frequently than any other domain. These problems worsen with progressing visual field loss. Early-stage POAG patients experience significantly more difficulties in low-luminance or changing lighting conditions than age-matched controls (AMCs), challenging perceptions of early-stage POAG as asymptomatic. However, performance-based studies seldom show significant differences between POAG participants and AMCs on tasks simulating daily activities under non-optimal lighting conditions. Further research with larger samples is required to optimise ambient and task-oriented lighting that can support patients’ adaptation to POAG