2,189 research outputs found
A roadmap for sustainability assessment in the food supply chain
Purpose: To develop a roadmap of sustainability practices and assessment mechanisms to advance in the sustainable supply chain (SSC) performance assessment in the food supply chain. The analysis is grounded on the contingency and stakeholder theories.
Design/methodology/approach: The study follows a multiple case study approach analyzing the sustainability practices implementation and assessment across different supply chain stages in the food industry in Italy. The set of cases comprises 12 companies in the fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV), and seven companies in the “Balsamic Vinegar of Modena” (BVM) supply chains.
Findings: The sustainability practices and assessment in each company in both supply chains according to their objectives are identified. Different stakeholder pressures for sustainability implementation and assessment are analyzed. The contingency factors that foster sustainability assessment are outlined as well. Finally, the study develops a roadmap with five levels of progress considering the groups of practices implemented and the type of assessment applied.
Practical implications: The roadmap is a decision-making tool for planning and monitoring progress on SSC performance along five possible levels of progress. While identifying the assessment mechanisms implemented for different kind of sustainability practices, companies can develop a strategy according to their aims and capabilities and stakeholder's expectations.
Originality/value: The novelties in this study are threefold. First, the roadmap with five levels of progress. Second, investigating two different food supply chains that allowed for a broader view regarding sustainability practices and assessment. Third, the adoption of stakeholder and contingency theories in SSC studies
Step-to-step reproducibility and asymmetry to study gait auto-optimization in healthy and cerebral palsied subjects
AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of our study was to compare plantar pressure asymmetry and step-to-step reproducibility in both able-bodied persons and two groups of hemiplegics. The relevance of the research was to determine the efficiency of asymmetry and reproducibility as indexes for diagnosis and rehabilitation processes.Material and methodThis study comprised 31 healthy young subjects and 20 young subjects suffering from cerebral palsy hemiplegia assigned to two groups of 10 subjects according to the severity of their musculoskeletal disorders. The peaks of plantar pressure and the time to peak pressure were recorded with an in-shoe measurement system. The intra-individual coefficient of variability was calculated to indicate the consistency of plantar pressure during walking and to define gait stability. The effect size was computed to quantify the asymmetry and measurements were conducted at eight footprint locations.ResultsResults indicated few differences in step-to-step reproducibility between the healthy group and the less spastic group while the most affected group showed a more asymmetrical and unstable gait.ConclusionFrom the concept of self-optimisation and depending on the neuromotor disorders the organism could make priorities based on pain, mobility, stability or energy expenditure to develop the best gait auto-optimisation
Freeze-out Configuration in Multifragmentation
The excitation energy and the nuclear density at the time of breakup are
extracted for the reaction at beam energies of 1 and 3.6
GeV/nucleon. These quantities are calculated from the average relative velocity
of intermediate mass fragments (IMF) at large correlation angles as a function
of the multiplicity of IMFs using a statistical model coupled with many-body
Coulomb trajectory calculations. The Coulomb component and
thermal component are found to depend oppositely on the
excitation energy, IMFs multiplicity, and freeze-out density. These
dependencies allow the determination of both the volume and the mean excitation
energy at the time of breakup. It is found that the volume remained constant as
the beam energy was increased, with a breakup density of about ,
but that the excitation energy increased to about 5.5 MeV/nucleon.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures available upon resues
Temperature-induced pair correlations in clusters and nuclei
The pair correlations in mesoscopic systems such as -size superconducting
clusters and nuclei are studied at finite temperature for the canonical
ensemble of fermions in model spaces with a fixed particle number: i) a
degenerate spherical shell (strong coupling limit), ii) an equidistantly spaced
deformed shell (weak coupling limit). It is shown that after the destruction of
the pair correlations at T=0 by a strong magnetic field or rapid rotation,
heating can bring them back. This phenomenon is a consequence of the fixed
number of fermions in the canonical ensemble
Fission studies with 140 MeV -Particles
Binary fission induced by 140 MeV -particles has been measured for
Ag, La, Ho and Au targets. The measured
quantities are the total kinetic energies, fragment masses, and fission cross
sections. The results are compared with other data and systematics. A minimum
of the fission probability in the vicinity is observed.Comment: 4 figures, 2 table
Modelling of compound nucleus formation in fusion of heavy nuclei
A new model that includes the time-dependent dynamics of the single-particle
(s.p.) motion in conjunction with the macroscopic evolution of the system is
proposed for describing the compound nucleus (CN) formation in fusion of heavy
nuclei. The diabaticity initially keeps the entrance system around its contact
configuration, but the gradual transition from the diabatic to the adiabatic
potential energy surface (PES) leads to fusion or quasifission. Direct
measurements of the probability for CN formation are crucial to discriminate
between the current models.Comment: 4 pages,2 figures,1 table, Submitted to PR
Size Matters: Origin of Binomial Scaling in Nuclear Fragmentation Experiments
The relationship between measured transverse energy, total charge recovered
in the detector, and size of the emitting system is investigated. Using only
very simple assumptions, we are able to reproduce the observed binomial
emission probabilities and their dependences on the transverse energy.Comment: 14 pages, including 4 figure
A statistical interpretation of the correlation between intermediate mass fragment multiplicity and transverse energy
Multifragment emission following Xe+Au collisions at 30, 40, 50 and 60 AMeV
has been studied with multidetector systems covering nearly 4-pi in solid
angle. The correlations of both the intermediate mass fragment and light
charged particle multiplicities with the transverse energy are explored. A
comparison is made with results from a similar system, Xe+Bi at 28 AMeV. The
experimental trends are compared to statistical model predictions.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Health effects of living near an incinerator: A systematic review of epidemiological studies, with focus on last generation plants
Huge reductions in incinerators' emissions occurred over time, and results of older studies cannot be directly generalized to modern plants. We conducted a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence of the health
effects of incinerators, classifying plants in three generations, according to emission limits. A systematic search identified 63 epidemiologic studies, published in English, investigating health effects of incinerators on humans. We focused on cancer, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) and respiratory diseases, pregnancy outcomes and congenital anomalies. Only six studies in the general population were on third generation incinerators providing data on pregnancy outcomes and congenital anomalies. Given the heterogeneity of methods, the abundance of ecological/semi-ecological studies and the lack of reliable quantitative measures of
exposure in several studies we did not perform any meta-analysis. No excesses emerged concerning all cancers and lung cancer. An excess of non-Hodgkin lymphoma was reported in some earlier studies, but not for second generation plants. Possible excesses of soft tissue sarcomas were confined to earlier incinerators and the areas closer to the plants. No clear association emerged for CVD and diseases of the respiratory system. Several different pregnancy outcomes were considered, and no consistent association emerged, in spite of a few positive results. Studies were negative for congenital anomalies as a whole. Sporadic excesses were reported in a few studies for specific types of anomalies, but no consistent pattern emerged. Evaluation of the evidence was hindered by heterogeneity in reporting and classification of outcomes across studies.
Direct evidence from third generation plants is scarce. Methodological issues in study design (mainly related to exposure assessment, confounding and ecological design) and analysis make interpretation of results complex. In spite of this, the overall evidence suggests that, if there were any excesses at all for older incinerators, they were modest at most. Additional monitoring of third generation plants needs to overcome methodological weakness
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