Permeability of different size waste particles

The world and life style is changing, but the most popular disposal route for waste is landfill globally until now. We have to think about waste prevention and preparing for re-use or recycling firstly, according to the waste disposal hierarchy. Disposed waste to the landfill must be the last opportunity. In a landfill, during waste degradation processes leachate is formed that can potentially cause clogging of bottom drainage layers. To ensure stability of a landfill construction, the physical properties of its components have to be controlled. The hydrology of precipitation, evaporation, runoff and the hydraulic performance of the capping and liner materials are important controls of the moisture content. The water balance depends also on the waste characteristics and waste particle size distribution. The aim of this paper is to determine the hydraulic permeability in a landfill depending on the particle size distribution of municipal solid waste disposed. The lab experiment results were compared with the results calculated with DEGAS model. Samples were taken from a landfill operated for five years. The samples particle sizes are: >100 mm, 80 mm, 60 mm, 40 mm, 20 mm, 0.01 mm and <0.01 mm. The permeability test was conducted using the column test. The paper presents the results of experiment and DEGAS model water permeability with waste particle size. Article in English. Skirtingo dydžio atliekų dalelių laidumas drėgmei Santrauka  Gyvenimo būdas kiekvieną dieną keičiasi, bet vienas populiariausių būdų šalinti atliekas yra sąvartynai. Pagal atliekų šalinimo hierarchiją pirmiausia, jas šalindami, turėtumėme galvoti apie tai, kaip išvengti atliekų ir paruošti jas naudoti dar kartą. Šalinti atliekas sąvartynuose turėtų būti paskutinė galimybė. Sąvartyne vykstant biodegradacijai susiformuoja filtratas, kuris dėl sudėtingos sudėties lemia filtrato surinkimo sistemų kolmataciją. Siekdami užtikrinti stabilumą sąvartyne, turime smulkinti ar suslėgti atliekas. Kritulių, garavimo kontroliavimas yra svarbus, užtikrinant tam tikrą komunalinių atliekų drėgnumą. Vandens balansas atliekų masėje taip pat priklauso nuo atliekų savybių ir atliekų dalelių dydžio. Šio darbo tikslas yra nustatyti vandens laidumą sąvartyne priklausomai nuo komunalinių atliekų dalelių dydžio pasiskirstymo. Laboratorinio eksperimento metu gauti rezultatai buvo palyginti su DEGAS modeliu gautais rezultatais. Tyrimui mėginiai buvo paimti iš sąvartyno, kurio amžius yra penkeri metai. Mėginių dalelių dydžiai yra: >100 mm, 80 mm, 60 mm, 40 mm, 20 mm, 0,01 mm ir <0,01 mm. Laidumo tyrimas buvo atliktas taikant kolonėlės testą. Straipsnyje pateikiami eksperimento metu ir taikant DEGAS modelį apskaičiuoti vandens laidumo rezultatai, esant skirtingo dydžio atliekų dalelėms. Reikšminiai žodžiai: dalelių dydis, atliekų laidumas vandeniui, komunalinės atliekos, komunalinių atliekų fizikinės savybės

The control of attentional target selection in a colour/colour conjunction task

To investigate the time course of attentional object selection processes in visual search tasks where targets are defined by a combination of features from the same dimension, we measured the N2pc component as an electrophysiological marker of attentional object selection during colour/colour conjunction search. In Experiment 1, participants searched for targets defined by a combination of two colours, while ignoring distractor objects that matched only one of these colours. Reliable N2pc components were triggered by targets and also by partially matching distractors, even when these distractors were accompanied by a target in the same display. The target N2pc was initially equal in size to the sum of the two N2pc components to the two different types of partially matching distractors, and became superadditive from about 250 ms after search display onset. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the superadditivity of the target N2pc was not due to a selective disengagement of attention from task-irrelevant partially matching distractors. These results indicate that attention was initially deployed separately and in parallel to all target-matching colours, before attentional allocation processes became sensitive to the presence of both matching colours within the same object. They suggest that attention can be controlled simultaneously and independently by multiple features from the same dimension, and that feature-guided attentional selection processes operate in parallel for different target-matching objects in the visual field

UK microgeneration. Part I: policy and behavioural aspects

A critical review of the literature relating to government policy and behavioural aspects relevant to the uptake and application of microgeneration in the UK is presented. Given the current policy context aspiring to zero-carbon new homes by 2016 and a variety of minimum standards and financial policy instruments supporting microgeneration in existing dwellings, it appears that this class of technologies could make a significant contribution to UK energy supply and low-carbon buildings in the future. Indeed, achievement of a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 80% (the UK government's 2050 target) for the residential sector may entail substantial deployment of microgeneration. Realisation of the large potential market for microgeneration relies on a variety of interrelated factors such as microeconomics, behavioural aspects, the structure of supporting policy instruments and well-informed technology development. This paper explores these issues in terms of current and proposed policy instruments in the UK. Behavioural aspects associated with both initial uptake of the technology and after purchase are also considered

Variation in recorded child maltreatment concerns in UK primary care records: a cohort study using The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database.

Objectives: To determine variation over time and between practices in recording of concerns related to abuse and neglect (maltreatment) in children's primary care records. Design: Retrospective cohort study using a United Kingdom representative primary care database. Setting: 448 General Practices. Participants: In total 1,548, 972 children (<18 y) registered between 1995 and 2010. Main Outcome Measures: Change in annual incidence of one or more maltreatment-related codes per child year of registration. Variation between general practices measured as the proportion of registered children with one or more maltreatment-related codes during 3 years (2008–2010). Results: From 1995–2010, annual incidence rates of any coded maltreatment-related concerns rose by 10.8% each year (95% confidence interval 10.5, 11.2; adjusted for sex, age and deprivation). In 2010 the rate was 9.5 per 1000 child years (95%CI: 9.3, 9.8), equivalent to a prevalence of 0.8% of all registered children in 2010. Across all practices, the median prevalence of children with any maltreatment-related codes in three years (2008 to 2010) was 0.9% (range 0%–13.4%; 11 practices (2.5%) had zero children with relevant codes in the same period). Once we accounted for sex, age, and deprivation, the prevalence for each practice was within two standard errors of the grand mean. Conclusions: General Practitioners (GPs) are far from disengaged from safeguarding children; they are consistently and increasingly recording maltreatment concerns. As these results are likely to underestimate the burden of maltreatment known to primary care, there is much scope for increasing recording in primary care records with implications for resources to respond to concerns about maltreatment. Interventions and policies should build on this evidence that the average GP in the UK is engaged in child safeguarding activity

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Medium-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on multiple vital organs, exercise capacity, cognition, quality of life and mental health, post-hospital discharge.

BACKGROUND: The medium-term effects of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on organ health, exercise capacity, cognition, quality of life and mental health are poorly understood. METHODS: Fifty-eight COVID-19 patients post-hospital discharge and 30 age, sex, body mass index comorbidity-matched controls were enrolled for multiorgan (brain, lungs, heart, liver and kidneys) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), spirometry, six-minute walk test, cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), quality of life, cognitive and mental health assessments. FINDINGS: At 2-3 months from disease-onset, 64% of patients experienced breathlessness and 55% reported fatigue. On MRI, abnormalities were seen in lungs (60%), heart (26%), liver (10%) and kidneys (29%). Patients exhibited changes in the thalamus, posterior thalamic radiations and sagittal stratum on brain MRI and demonstrated impaired cognitive performance, specifically in the executive and visuospatial domains. Exercise tolerance (maximal oxygen consumption and ventilatory efficiency on CPET) and six-minute walk distance were significantly reduced. The extent of extra-pulmonary MRI abnormalities and exercise intolerance correlated with serum markers of inflammation and acute illness severity. Patients had a higher burden of self-reported symptoms of depression and experienced significant impairment in all domains of quality of life compared to controls (p<0.0001 to 0.044). INTERPRETATION: A significant proportion of patients discharged from hospital reported symptoms of breathlessness, fatigue, depression and had limited exercise capacity. Persistent lung and extra-pulmonary organ MRI findings are common in patients and linked to inflammation and severity of acute illness. FUNDING: NIHR Oxford and Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centres, British Heart Foundation Centre for Research Excellence, UKRI, Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation