The circular economy: An interdisciplinary exploration of the concept and application in a global context

There have long been calls from industry for guidance in implementing strategies for sustainable development. The Circular Economy represents the most recent attempt to conceptualize the integration of economic activity and environmental wellbeing in a sustainable way. This set of ideas has been adopted by China as the basis of their economic development (included in both the 11th and the 12th ‘Five Year Plan’), escalating the concept in minds of western policymakers and NGOs. This paper traces the conceptualisations and origins of the Circular Economy, tracing its meanings, and exploring its antecedents in economics and ecology, and discusses how the Circular Economy has been operationalized in business and policy. The paper finds that while the Circular Economy places emphasis on the redesign of processes and cycling of materials, which may contribute to more sustainable business models, it also encapsulates tensions and limitations. These include an absence of the social dimension inherent in sustainable development that limits its ethical dimensions, and some unintended consequences. This leads us to propose a revised definition of the Circular Economy as “an economic model wherein planning, resourcing, procurement, production and reprocessing are designed and managed, as both process and output, to maximize ecosystem functioning and human well-being”

Factors affecting foraging by breeding farmland birds

This thesis investigates nesting success, foraging behaviour, chick diet and growth of three ecologically contrasting species (skylark Alauda arvensis, yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella and song thrush Turdus philomelos) on farmland, in relation to microhabitat and the availability of invertebrates. Fieldwork was conducted on a lowland mixed arable farm in Leicestershire over the breeding seasons 2000 - 2002. Telemetry was used to monitor adult song thrushes and fledgling skylarks. Skylark nest density was highest in set-aside and lowest in crops, yellowhammer nest density was greatest in herbaceous vegetation and field margins whilst song thrush nest density was greatest in hedgerows and woodland. Birds did not utilise the available habitat at random for nesting. Provisioning skylarks and yellowhammers utilised managed set-aside strips more than would be expected, although both foraged in cereals. Song thrushes foraged primarily in woodland and boundary habitats, avoiding cereal crops, permanent pasture and set-aside. The largest cause of nest failure for each study species was predation. Skylark nest survival improved with increasing vegetation density at the nest site. Yellowhammer nest survival was affected by temperature and rainfall. Song thrush nest survival was affected by predator control, nest site location on the farm and habitat. Skylarks selected sparse vegetation and bare ground when foraging in winter cereals. Each species selected some invertebrate taxa over others, independently of chick age. Skylarks and yellowhammers did not forage in sites with greater invertebrate abundance than others, but song thrushes tended to forage in habitats with higher invertebrate biomass. Skylark chick growth rates were positively influenced by set-aside and negatively by spiders in the diet and the proportion of 'other habitats' around the nest. Skylark chicks with higher growth rates were more likely to fledge. No habitat effects or environmental factors were found to affect song thrush chick growth rates. Tagged skylark chicks exhibited a low post-fledgling survival rate, with most predated whilst flightless. This thesis identified actual and potential conservation benefits for nationally declining skylark, yellowhammer and song thrush populations arising from the management of cropped and non-cropped habitats

Outcomes of Asthma Quality Improvement in Pediatric Patients

Introduction. The Utah Pediatric Partnership to Improve Healthcare Quality (UPIQ) and Utah Department of Health (UDOH) Asthma Program Learning Collaborative is a quality improvement initiative designed to standardize asthma care in pediatric patients and improve the overall assessment and patient education process for both healthcare providers and patients. The aim of the Asthma QI Project was to improve the diagnosis and management of asthma for patients in the state of Utah by implementing a standardized approach to the identification and treatment of patients with asthma. Methods. Patients scheduled to see a healthcare provider at our pediatric clinic were screened for a history of asthma during chart review and assessed for whether the patient completed a standardized asthma control tool and whether they were provided with an asthma action plan. The initiative applied a quality improvement approach using Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles to implement a change plan and achieve desired project outcomes. Monthly asthma education webinars and QI coaching were provided to clinicians and support staff. Monthly reports showing rates of standardized asthma control tool administration and provision of asthma action plan were generated and utilized to discuss goal progress. Results. A total of 236 patient visits from the years 2020-2022 were included in the analysis. Standardized asthma control test was administered and completed in 79% of patients in 2022, 70% in 2021, and 55% in 2020. Rates of asthma action plan being provided were 40% in 2022, 36% in 2021, and 32% in 2020. Conclusion. The implementation of a standard process to follow for pediatric patients being treated for asthma allowed us to meet the desired goal of providing better comprehensive care, thus improving the quality of care

Comparative Effectiveness of Step-up Therapies in Children with Asthma Prescribed Inhaled Corticosteroids : A Historical Cohort Study

This work was supported by the Respiratory Effectiveness Group. Acknowledgments We thank the Respiratory Effectiveness Group for funding this work, Annie Burden for assistance with statistics, and Simon Van Rysewyk and Lisa Law for assistance with medical writing.Peer reviewedPostprin

Combinatorial biomaterials discovery strategy to identify new macromolecular cryoprotectants

Cryoprotective agents (CPAs) are typically solvents or small molecules, but there is a need for innovative CPAs to reduce toxicity and increase cell yield, for the banking and transport of cells. Here we use a photochemical high-throughput discovery platform to identify macromolecular cryoprotectants, as rational design approaches are currently limited by the lack of structure–property relationships. Using liquid handling systems, 120 unique polyampholytes were synthesized using photopolymerization with RAFT agents. Cryopreservation screening identified “hit” polymers and nonlinear trends between composition and function, highlighting the requirement for screening, with polymer aggregation being a key factor. The most active polymers reduced the volume of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) required to cryopreserve a nucleated cell line, demonstrating the potential of this approach to identify materials for cell storage and transport

The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context

There have long been calls from industry for guidance in implementing strategies for sustainable development. The Circular Economy represents the most recent attempt to conceptualize the integration of economic activity and environmental wellbeing in a sustainable way. This set of ideas has been adopted by China as the basis of their economic development (included in both the 11th and the 12th ‘Five Year Plan’), escalating the concept in minds of western policymakers and NGOs. This paper traces the conceptualisations and origins of the Circular Economy, tracing its meanings, and exploring its antecedents in economics and ecology, and discusses how the Circular Economy has been operationalized in business and policy. The paper finds that while the Circular Economy places emphasis on the redesign of processes and cycling of materials, which may contribute to more sustainable business models, it also encapsulates tensions and limitations. These include an absence of the social dimension inherent in sustainable development that limits its ethical dimensions, and some unintended consequences. This leads us to propose a revised definition of the Circular Economy as “an economic model wherein planning, resourcing, procurement, production and reprocessing are designed and managed, as both process and output, to maximize ecosystem functioning and human well-being”

Emotion recognition and processing style in children with an intellectual disability

Research aims: People with an intellectual disability generally have poorer emotion recognition than their typically developing peers, but there is limited research on how processing style might influence this. Our study aimed to explore this. Methods: Children with (n = 45) and without (n = 57) an intellectual disability completed an emotion recognition naming task and a processing style task. A path mediation model was used to evaluate whether having an intellectual disability predicted poorer emotion recognition and whether this was mediated by a more local processing style. Results: We found that, while children with an intellectual disability were significantly less accurate at emotion recognition, having a local processing preference was not a significant factor in this. Conclusion: The results of the present study may be helpful for nurses who are involved in developing, delivering and evaluating interventions to improve the emotion recognition of people with an intellectual disability

Exploring the relative importance of factors that influence the job retention of social care staff working in intellectual disability services

We wanted to find out what would help care staff to stay in their jobs. The most important thing for them was getting on well with the person they supported. The next most important thing was their pay. These results can be used to find ways to help staff stay in their jobs. This is important to make sure that people with a learning disability get good support. Abstract: Background: High staff turnover presents a challenge to the provision of good quality community-based support to people with an intellectual disability. While recent research has identified factors that are thought to be important for staff retention, their relative importance to social care staff is unknown. The aim of this study was to address this gap. Methods: 205 social care staff who worked in intellectual disability services completed an online questionnaire that asked them to: rank factors that had been previously identified as influencing staff retention in order of importance; identify the extent to which their most important factor was met by their organisation (fulfilment score); and rate their recent job-seeking intentions. Findings: The most important factor overall was the relationship of the staff member with the person they supported. This was also identified as the most important factor by the most participants, followed by pay. All of the factors, with the exception of “benefits” (such as pensions), were rated by at least one person as the most important factor. A significant negative relationship was found between fulfilment score and job-seeking score; that is, the lower the former, the more the person agreed that they had been seeking a new job. Conclusion: The results suggest that interventions to improve staff retention should take account of differences in staff views about which work-related factors are most important to them; use multi-component approaches where possible; prioritise staff pay; and help ensure that staff relationships with those they support are positive and fulfilling