The Utility of the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in Tracking Implementation and Environmental Impact of Industrial Green Chemistry Practices in the United States

The Toxics Release Inventory is a rich data source with nearly 30 years of reported data from industrial facilities located in the United States. Annually, these facilities report on their chemical waste management practices, including the quantities they release to air, water, and land; treat; combust for energy recovery; or recycle. Facilities are also required to disclose any green chemistry or other pollution prevention practices, and have the option to provide additional details on these practices or on barriers they encounter in implementing such practices. The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) provides a means by which a facility’s or industry sector’s implementation of green chemistry practices can be tracked, and the impact that these practices have on environmental performance. This chapter describes analytical options for tracking implementation of green chemistry practices and assessing the environmental impact of such practices. Key TRI data elements are highlighted as well as where to obtain the information

Desarrollo de la técnica por cromatografía de gases (GC-FID) y extracción en fase sólida (SPE) para la determinación de contaminantes emergentes de tipo productos de cuidado personal

Los contaminantes emergentes de tipo productos de cuidado personal (PCPs), han generado un alto riesgo para la salud de los seres vivos y el medio ambiente, ya que estos compuestos son denominados disruptores endocrinos, es decir afectan el sistema endocrino alterando el equilibrio hormonal del organismo, la reproducción, el crecimiento y otras funciones fisiológicas. Debido a esto se hace necesario buscar técnicas analíticas que permitan la identificación y cuantificación de estas sustancias. En el siguiente trabajo se analizaron siete de los estándares de los contaminantes emergentes de tipo productos de uso personal, (Trietanolamina, Benzofenona, Hidroquinona, Hexametilentetramina, Bromuro de cetil-Trimetilamonio, Galaxolide, Dihidrojasmonato), a través de las técnicas de extracción en fase sólida (SPE) y cromatografía de gases (GC-FID). Se realizó el análisis cromatográfico de los analitos de interés, elaborándose curvas de calibración del método a partir de diluciones de los estándares, Para cada curva de calibración de los PCPs, se calcularon datos estadísticos necesarios para la confiabilidad del método tales como R2, Relación lineal, LD: Limite de detección LC: Limite de cuantificación, exactitud. Se evaluaron porcentajes de recuperación de los estándares a través de la contaminación de una muestra, obteniéndose porcentajes de recuperación de 70% al 130% según la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA)

Análisis del impacto sociocultural que se genera en las relaciones interpersonales entre la población universitaria foránea y las familias anfitrionas

Este trabajo presenta una investigación de la prestación del servicio de alojamiento familiar en la ciudad de Medellín; la cual pretende establecer las condiciones de estandarización para el alojamiento de estudiantes foráneos. Para llevar a cabo este estudio se tomó como referencia la experiencia de otros países, que en la actualidad ofrecen servicios de calidad para el intercambio estudiantil a nivel internacional. Como es el caso de los Estados Unidos, Australia, Canadá e Inglaterra y a nivel nacional con otras ciudades como Cartagena y Bogotá.98 p., anexos.Contenido parcial: Condiciones de prestación del servicio – Legislación turística -- Capacitación para las familias para mejorar la calidad del servicio prestado -- Programas de inglés del SENA

Female university students' preferences for different types of sexual relationships: implications for gender-based violence prevention programs and policies

Background: Gender-based violence among young women is a growing problem worldwide. The consequences of this victimization have been well reported in the scientific literature, among which negative health outcomes stand out. The factors influencing this problem are many; one highlighted by research is socialization into a dominant coercive discourse that associates sexual-affective attraction to males with violent attitudes and behaviors, while in turn, such discourse empties males with egalitarian behaviors from sexual attractiveness. This coercive discourse may be shaping the sexual preferences of female youth. The current paper explores young women's preferences for different types of sexual relationships and, more particularly, for what type of sexual affective relationships they coercively preferred men with violent attitudes and behavior. Methods: A quantitative, mixed-design vignette study was conducted with 191 college females in Spain. We focused the analysis only on responses about vignettes including narratives of men with violent attitudes and behaviors. In addition, we examined whether participants would report higher coerced preferences for violent men when asked about the coerced preferences of their female friends than when asked about their own preferences. Results: Only 28.95% of participants responded that their female friends would prefer a young man with violent behavior for a stable relationship, meanwhile 58.42% would do it for hooking up. When reporting about themselves, the difference was greater: 28.42% would prefer a young man with violent behavior for hooking up and just 5.78% for a stable relationship. Conclusions: The dominant coercive discourse that links attractiveness to people with violent attitudes and behaviors may be explaining the results obtained in this study. The findings can help eliminate the stereotype largely adopted by some intervention and prevention programs which assume that gender-based violence occurs mainly in stable relationships, considering that falling in love is the reason that lead women to suffer from violence. Our results can also support health professionals and others serving young women to enhance their identification of gender violence victimization, as well as our findings point to the need to include the evidence of gender violence in sporadic relationships in prevention programs and campaigns addressed to young women

'Your Friends do Matter': Peer Group Talk in Adolescence Gender and Violence

Research on gender violence has identified as one main component leading to gender violence a dominant socialization process which associates attractiveness to men who show violent behaviors and attitudes, while egalitarian and non-violent men are emptied of attractiveness. This is known as coercive dominant discourse. Starting from the evidence that the peer group is a main context of socialization in adolescence, quantitative data were collected from six classes of secondary education (14-15-year-old adolescents) to explore whether the coercive dominant discourse is displayed in social interactions in the peer group and, if so, how it influences attractiveness patterns and sexual-affective behavior in adolescence. The analyses reveal that the coercive dominant discourse is often reproduced in the peer group interactions, creating group pressure, and pushing some girls to violent relationships. Alternative ways of interaction are also reported, which allow a socialization leading to more freedom, less coercion, and more healthy relationships

Decomposing the rural-urban differential in student achievement in Colombia using PISA microdata

Despite the large number of studies that draw on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) microdata in their analyses of the determinants of educational outcomes, no more than a few consider the relevance of geographical location. In going some way to rectify this, our paper examines the differences in educational outcomes between students attending schools in rural areas and those enrolled in urban schools. We use microdata from the 2006 and 2009 PISA survey waves for Colombia. The Colombian case is particularly interesting in this regard due to the structural changes suffered by the country in recent years, both in terms of its political stability and of the educational reform measures introduced. Our descriptive analysis of the data shows that the educational outcomes of rural students are worse than those of urban students. In order to identify the factors underpinning this differential, we use the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and then exploit the time variation in the data using the methodology proposed by Juhn-Murphy-Pierce. Our results show that most of the differential is attributable to family characteristics as opposed to those of the school. From a policy perspective, our evidence supports actions addressed at improving conditions in the family rather than measures of positive discrimination of rural schools

Sobre el marco normativo para formular una propuesta de Políticas públicas para la formación por ciclos y la evaluación por competencias en la educación superior colombiana

En este artículo, producto de la investigación 'Identificación de competencias orientadas a la formación por ciclos en Ingeniería Sanitaria, Mecánica, Electrónica e Industrial de la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad de Antioquia', se describe el marco normativo sobre el sistema de ciclos y competencias en la educación superior en el país y se realiza una propuesta en torno a las políticas publicas que deben orientarla, pretendiendo, desde un enfoque hermenéutico, hacer un aporte fundamental desde el punto de vista de las políticas y las normas que tienen que ver con la materia en nuestro sistema jurídico y un punto de partida básico para la implementación de una formación por ciclos y una evaluación por competencias en la educación superior colombiana

Decomposing the rural-urban differential in student achievement in Colombia using PISA microdata

Although there are hundreds of works using PISA microdata to analyse the determinants of educational outcomes, only a few of them have considered the relevance of geography. In this paper, we focus on the analysis of differences in educational outcomes between students in rural and urban schools. Previous studies on this topic started in the United States during the eighties and they have not arrived to a sound conclusion yet. Some authors do not find significant differences between rural and urban students while others find better outcomes for urban ones. It is not clear if this gap is explained by family characteristics or it is related to lower spending in rural schools. The policy debate on how public spending in education should be distributed between rural and urban areas in developing countries is very intense, although academic studies are scarce. However, during the last decades some studies have focused on some Latinamerican countries (Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Colombia), but again, there is no consensus on the factors behind the rural-urban gap in educational outcomes. Taking into account this background, we use microdata from the 2006 and 2009 PISA waves for Colombia. The Colombian case is particularly interesting from this perspective due to the structural changes suffered by this country during the last years, both in terms of political stability and educational reforms. The descriptive analysis of the data shows that the educational outcomes of urban students are higher than the rural ones in the three subjects covered by the PISA study: Mathematics, Reading and Science in both samples. In order to identify the factors behind this differential, we apply decomposition techniques that have been extensively in Labour Economics but not so much in the context of Economics of Education. In particular, in a first step we use the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and, next, we exploit the time variation of the data using the methodology proposed by Juhn-Murphy-Pierce. The results show that most part of the differential is related to family characteristics more than to school characteristics. From a policy perspective, the obtained evidence support actions addressed to improve family conditions and not so much to positive discrimination of rural schools

Propuesta de implementación metodológica de la estrategia de lectura 3x5: análisis de la competencia lingüística

Leer como herramienta fundamental de la comprensión de materiales impresos, escritos y gráficos se constituye en la mejor opción que una persona desde su vida escolar pueda adquirir para el desarrollo óptimo de sus habilidades y el fortalecimiento de sus competencias comunicativas. Leer bien abre la mente y posibilita la comprensión permitiendo al lector abordar con solvencia su propio aprendizaje y llevándolo a otros campos del conocimiento con menos problemas de aprehensión del conocimiento. En la práctica cotidiana en la adquisición de las destrezas lectoras y comunicativas existe una profunda deficiencia lectora en los distintos niveles de escolaridad lo que muestra la necesidad de implementar una estrategia metodológica que marque una posible solución y con excelentes resultados. La estrategia de lectura se llama 3x5 que tiene como punto central la palabra, significando que en el proceso de lectura por ningún motivo la palabra ha de fraccionarse para evitar la distorsión de la semántica y la fragmentación de lo leído. La metodología incluye la parte mecánica del proceso lector desde evitar el movimiento de cabeza y la de realizarla con los dedos u objetos que ayuden al seguimiento de las palabras, el titubeo y el alargamiento de las vocales hasta la repetición en voz alta para favorecer la memoria a largo plazo, buscando así la comprensión de lo leído