Time to Regenerate: Ecosystems and Health Promotion

Butler and Friel call upon the health promotion community to strongly reengage with environmental and ecological issues

Before and during COVID-19: parent experiences, perceptions, and preferences regarding community-based physical activity

Participation in community-based recreational physical activity can provide health benefits for children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). This descriptive thematic study aimed to explore and describe the experiences of parents (N=6) of 11 children with IDD (age 4-11) with community-based recreational physical activity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic through online semi-structured interviews. Four main themes emerged from the parent???s descriptions of community-based physical activity participation before the pandemic: Personal experiences in recreation, barriers to community-based recreational physical activity participation, facilitators to community-based recreational physical activity participation, and intrinsic value. Parents??? descriptions of physical activity participation during the pandemic resulted in three main themes: COVID-19 and IDD, impact on recreational physical activity, and insights from COVID-19. The results from this study suggest that community-based recreational physical activity is highly valued by parents of children with IDD and that it belongs on the continuum of intervention services that family???s access

Long fiber thermoplastic pet-based composites: Fiber content and consolidation pressure

PET-based long glass fiber thermoplastic (LFT) composites manufactured from PET fibers and E-glass fibers have been studied. To manufacture these composites, PET and glass fibers are first cut to the same length and laid-down into a mold in thin alternate layers to obtain a regular distribution of the polymer and feinforcing fibers. The charge is then compression molded in a steel mold into rectangular plates. In this study, the influence of the glass fiber content and consolidation pressure on the void content, void distribution and mechanical properties is investigated. Results obtained for the influence of the fiber content show significant improvements of the tensile properties with increasing glass fiber content. Only small improvements are however measured for the flexural properties. This is thought to be related to the presence of large and continuous voids in the fiber bundles. Results of mechanical tests also show an improvement of the tensile modulus with increasing consolidation pressure. Finally, mechanical properties obtained in this work for the composites manufactured from glass and PET fibers and compared with polypropylene-based-D-LFT and GMT composites.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Polyamide 12 (PA12) / clay nanocomposites fabricated by conventional extrusion and water-assisted extrusion processes

This work aims at comparing the efficiency of three melt compounding methods for preparing polyamide 12 (PA12)/untreated clay composites. Conventional extrusion was compared with two water-assisted extrusion methods previously described in the literature and respectively involving injection of water in the polymer/clay stream or injection of aqueous clay slurry in the polymer stream. The dispersion of the clay in the composites was analyzed at the microscale and at the nanoscale using microscopy (optical and electronic) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). The tensile properties of the composites were evaluated. The results showed that injection of aqueous clay slurry in the polymer stream was the most efficient method for preparing PA12/untreated clay composites, although clay particles remained mainly dispersed at the microscale. This method allowed for a drastic size reduction of the microparticles, accompanied by enhancements of ca. +10 % in tensile modulus and tensile strength (compared with equivalent composites obtained by conventional extrusion). The influence of the pH of the aqueous clay slurry was also investigated: neutralization of the clay slurry generated finer dispersions, probably resulting from a better pre-exfoliation of the clay in the water medium. PA12/organophilic clay composites were also prepared as control samples. When an adequate surface treatment was selected, nanoscale dispersion of the clay platelets was easily achieved. In this case, composites prepared by conventional extrusion showed overall similar properties as their equivalents prepared using injection of water in the polymer/clay stream.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye