Cleaner production techniques in the Peruvian mining sector based on ISO 14001 audits

El sector minero es uno de los de más rápido crecimiento en el Perú y actualmente es responsable de más del 50% de las exportaciones totales peruanas donde más del 30% de la inversión directa extranjera ha sido colocada. Asimismo, es el sector más regulado en el Perú debido a la presión que ejercen diversos grupos de interés. Debido a ello, entre otras razones, muchas empresas mineras decidieron lograr la certi-ficación ISO 14001. Este estudio presenta evidencia a partir de once auditorias ambientales referidas a la norma ISO 14001 y efectuadas a cuatro empresas mineras y siete subcontratistas mineras dedicadas a la labor de exploración, explotación y extracción. Se encontraron desviaciones significativas relacionadas con los controles operativos que conducían a impactos medioambientales negativos. Desafortunadamen-te la respuesta más común a estas desviaciones fue la adopción de tecnologías que buscan remediar el daño ambiental efectuado (end-of-pipe) en lugar de tecnologías de producción mas limpia. Finalmente,algunas tecnologías de producción más limpia son sugeridas para las empresas que operan en el sector minero en el Perú.The mining sector accounts for more than 50% of the Peruvian total exports and it is the fastest growing industry in Peru where more than 30% of the foreign direct in-vestment has been allocated. Furthermore, it is the most regulated sector in Peru, so it faces, more than ever, pressure from regulators as well as stakeholders. Given this situation, several mining related companies decided to comply with the ISO 14001 standard. In this study one presents findings from ISO 14001 environmental audits performed to 11 mining related companies (4 mining companies and 7 mining sub-contractors dedicated to blasting, exploration and extraction). One finds several deviations related to operational controls that lead to negative environmental impacts. Unfortunately, the most common response to these deviations was the adoption of end-of-pipe technologies instead of cleaner production techniques. Hence, one also suggests some cleaner production techniques that could be adopted in order to cope with these deviations

Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 12 (July - December 2011) - New South Wales

Introduction PCOC aims to assist services to improve the quality of the palliative care they provide through the analysis and benchmarking of patient outcomes. In this, the twelfth PCOC report, data submitted for the July - December 2011 period are summarised and patient outcomes benchmarked to enable participating services to assess their performance and identify areas in which they may improve. This report is broken into three sections: Section 1 summarises each of the four major benchmark measures and subsets and presents national benchmarking results for these benchmarks Section 2 presents additional analysis for each of the sixteen benchmarks Section 3 provides descriptive analysis of the data items at each of the patient, episode and phase levels In each of the three sections, data and analysis for NSW is presented alongside the national figures for comparative purposes. The national figures reflect all palliative care services who submitted data for the July - December 2011 period. A full list of these services can be found at www.pcoc.org.a

Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 12 (July - December 2011) - Queensland

PCOC aims to assist services to improve the quality of the palliative care they provide through the analysis and benchmarking of patient outcomes. In this, the twelfth PCOC report, data submitted for the July - December 2011 period are summarised and patient outcomes benchmarked to enable participating services to assess their performance and identify areas in which they may improve. This report is broken into three sections: Section 1 summarises each of the four major benchmark measures and subsets and presents national benchmarking results for these benchmarks Section 2 presents additional analysis for each of the sixteen benchmarks Section 3 provides descriptive analysis of the data items at each of the patient, episode and phase levels In each of the three sections, data and analysis for QLD is presented alongside the national figures for comparative purposes. The national figures reflect all palliative care services who submitted data for the July - December 2011 period. A full list of these services can be found at www.pcoc.org.a

PCOC National Report on Outcomes in Palliative Care in Australia July to December 2011

The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) was established in mid-2005 and is funded under the National Palliative Care Program supported by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. The goal of the PCOC is to use standardised, validated, clinical assessment tools to benchmark and measure outcomes in palliative care; and assist palliative care services to improve the quality of care. Further information on the tools can be found at www.pcoc.org.au. Each service involved in PCOC submits data every six months. The data are then collated and fed back to services to inform service improvement. Participation in PCOC is voluntary. There are three levels of data items - patient, episode and phase. The broad detail is found at the patient level, where the data items look at patient demographics. At the episode level, the items focus on characterising each setting of palliative care. They also describe the reasons behind why and how palliative care episodes start/end, the level of support patients receive both before and after an episode and (where applicable) the setting in which the patient died. The clinical focus of the data is at the phase level. The items at this level describe the patient\u27s stage of illness, functional impairment as well as their levels of pain and symptom distress. The items at the phase level are used to quantify patient outcomes, and are the focus of the PCOC benchmarks. The current PCOC data set (Version 2) was introduced in July 2007 following consultation with palliative care services and approval by PCOC\u27s Scientific and Clinical Advisory Committee. The data set includes five clinical assessment tools: Phases of Care, Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS), Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS), Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status Scale (AKPS) and Resource Utilisation Groups - Activities of Daily Living (RUG-ADL). The items included in the PCOC data set serve the dual purpose of: - defining a common clinical language to allow communication between palliative care providers - facilitating the routine collection of national palliative care data for the purpose of reporting and benchmarking to drive quality improvement. Revised phase definitions were implemented in January 2012 but the data in this report does not reflect the revised definitions

Surface Engineering and Characterization of Laser Deposited Metallic Biomaterials

Novel net shaping technique Laser Engineered Net shaping (LENS) laser based manufacturing solution (Sandia Corp., Albuquerque, NM); Laser can be used to deposit orthopedic implant alloys. Ti-35Nb-7Zr-5Ta (TNZT) alloy system was deposited using LENS. The corrosion resistance being an important prerequisite was tested electrochemically and was found that the LENS deposited TNZT was better than conventionally used Ti-6Al-4V in 0.1N HCl and a simulated body solution. A detailed analysis of the corrosion product exhibited the presence of complex oxides which are responsible for the excellent corrosion resistance. In addition, the in vitro tests done on LENS deposited TNZT showed that they have excellent biocompatibility. In order to improve the wear resistance of the TNZT system boride reinforcements were carried out in the matrix using LENS processing. The tribological response of the metal matrix composites was studied under different conditions and compared with Ti-6Al-4V. Usage of Si3N4 balls as a counterpart in the wear studies showed that there is boride pullout resulting in third body abrasive wear with higher coefficient of friction (COF). Using 440C stainless steel balls drastically improved the COF of as deposited TNZT+2B and seemed to eliminate the effect of “three body abrasive wear,” and also exhibited superior wear resistance than Ti-6Al-4V

Ethics Shock: Technology, Life Styles and Future Practice

During the past ten years a new movement has developed in the United States which has taken as its major emphasis the study of the future. The futureologists led by Kahn, Weiner, and Theobald, have projected a number of alternatives for the United States. The value of this movement has been: 1) to alert the country to the fact that change is occurring at an extremely rapid pace; 2) to provide a transdisciplinary view, not only utilizing projections from various disciplines, but illustrating the multiplier effect that the combination of developments from many disciplines may have on our society; and 3) to illustrate that we can, if we wish, and if we act soon enough, influence the change. The purpose of this paper is to examine selected changes from the vast visions of possible change, most likely to have impacts on society which will have to be taken into account by social work. How will these changes influence our profession? And, what techniques and approaches will our profession have to construct in order to deal with the changes taking place? If we do not prepare, we too will find ourselves in shock - reacting on the spur of the moment, reeling without plan, purpose, professional means or goals to guide us. Weightless, we will drift, seeking a role in a society which needs help, but in which we make no impact. Clearly this would constitute failure to meet our professional responsibilities. We shall conclude by examining the potential of the ethical code of the profession as a source of guidance in dealing with these dilemmas and questions. In evaluating the code we shall consider the extent to which it meets the standards set in other areas for achieving a cognitive base for action. We shall propose that steps be taken to make it more scientific

Ethics Shock: Technology, Life Styles and Future Practice

During the past ten years a new movement has developed in the United States which has taken as its major emphasis the study of the future. The futureologists led by Kahn, Weiner, and Theobald, have projected a number of alternatives for the United States. The value of this movement has been: 1) to alert the country to the fact that change is occurring at an extremely rapid pace; 2) to provide a transdisciplinary view, not only utilizing projections from various disciplines, but illustrating the multiplier effect that the combination of developments from many disciplines may have on our society; and 3) to illustrate that we can, if we wish, and if we act soon enough, influence the change. The purpose of this paper is to examine selected changes from the vast visions of possible change, most likely to have impacts on society which will have to be taken into account by social work. How will these changes influence our profession? And, what techniques and approaches will our profession have to construct in order to deal with the changes taking place? If we do not prepare, we too will find ourselves in shock - reacting on the spur of the moment, reeling without plan, purpose, professional means or goals to guide us. Weightless, we will drift, seeking a role in a society which needs help, but in which we make no impact. Clearly this would constitute failure to meet our professional responsibilities. We shall conclude by examining the potential of the ethical code of the profession as a source of guidance in dealing with these dilemmas and questions. In evaluating the code we shall consider the extent to which it meets the standards set in other areas for achieving a cognitive base for action. We shall propose that steps be taken to make it more scientific

Análise da relação entre o desempenho acadêmico e as estratégias de aprendizagem de graduandos de Contabilidade do EAD

This research aimed to identify the relations between the learning strategies adopted by distance education accounting students and their academic performances. In the context of the pandemic caused by Covid-19, several Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) needed to invest in technologies that facilitate the introduction and dissemination of the distance education. Despite the similarities in content between face-to-face and distance education, the learning process is different between the modalities, making it necessary to understand the strategies that help explain the performance of these students. To achieve the objective proposed by the research, a survey was carried out with 174 students of accounting undergraduate course in the distance education modality of a private HEI based in the city of São Paulo. The data used in this research was based in quantitative techniques, such as test of means, analysis of principal components and simple and multiple linear regressions. From the research results, it was possible to identify a positive correlation between the main strategies used by the students and the performance in the course, corroborating the literature consulted. Cognitive strategies, specially, proved to be more important for students in the research sample. The study results help to understand how accounting students use strategies that help their academic performance, which can be useful for course managers, students in the area, professors, and for the conduction of educational polices by the accounting association.Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar a relação existente entre as estratégias de aprendizagem adotadas por graduandos de contabilidade do Ensino a Distância (EAD) e seus respectivos desempenhos acadêmicos. Com a pandemia provocada pela Covid-19, várias Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) precisaram investir em tecnologias que facilitam a introdução e disseminação do EAD. Apesar das similaridades de conteúdo entre o ensino presencial e o EAD, o processo de aprendizagem é distinto entre as modalidades, tornando-se necessário compreender as estratégias que ajudam a explicar o desempenho desses discentes. Para atingir o objetivo proposto pela pesquisa, foi conduzido um levantamento com 174 discentes do curso de Ciências Contábeis EAD de uma IES privada com sede na cidade de São Paulo. A análise dos dados contou com técnicas quantitativas, como teste de médias, análise de componentes principais e regressões lineares simples e múltiplas. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa, foi possível identificar uma correlação positiva entre as principais estratégias utilizadas pelos discentes e o desempenho no curso, corroborando com a literatura sobre o tema. Em especial, as estratégias cognitivas mostraram-se mais importantes para os estudantes da amostra da pesquisa. Os resultados do estudo ajudam a compreender como os discentes de contabilidade do EAD utilizam estratégias que ajudam no seu desempenho acadêmico, o que pode ser útil para os gestores de curso, estudantes da área, professores e para a condução de políticas educacionais pela classe contábil

Plano Ambiental Inter-Sectorial Ambiente e Gestão Sustentável da Biodiversidade

Em Cabo Verde, desde a independência, os sucessivos Governos têm-se mostrado preocupados com a questão da preservação dos ecossistemas e com o enquadramento dos organismos vocacionados para a gestão ambiental. Essas preocupações estão expressas nos diversos instrumentos como: -A Constituição da República; -As Grandes Opções do Plano para o período 2001-2006; -O Programa do Governo da VI Legislatura; -As Acções de desenvolvimento. A Constituição da República consagra “o direito do cidadão a um ambiente de vida sadio, ecologicamente equilibrado, devendo defendê-lo e conservá-lo.” Ainda de acordo com a Constituição: “Ao Estado e aos Municípios, com a colaboração das Associações de defesa do Ambiente compete adoptar políticas de defesa e de preservação do ambiente e velar pela utilização racional de todos os recursos naturais.” Na estratégia expressa nas Grandes Opções para o Plano Nacional do Desenvolvimento (2002), o ambiente é um dos temas mais importantes da política. Projecta-se uma sociedade dotada de um sentimento profundo para o ambiente e de uma consciência ecológica desenvolvida sendo as medidas de preservação encaradas de forma sistémica e transversal, pretendendo-se que sejam equitativas. A política ambiental aparece expresso no programa do actual Governo da seguinte forma: “A conservação e o desenvolvimento dos ecossistemas das ilhas de Cabo Verde e a valorização dos seus recursos naturais constituirão uma preocupação central do Governo que deverá ser traduzida numa orientação política de carácter horizontal, em concertação com as outras políticas sectoriais. O Programa do Governo da VI Legislatura, assume a conservação e o desenvolvimento dos ecossistemas das ilhas de Cabo Verde e a valorização dos seus recursos naturais, como uma preocupação central do Governo. Assim, propõe uma orientação política de carácter horizontal, em concertação com as outras políticas sectoriais. Nesta via, a política de desenvolvimento e gestão dos diversos sectores da economia do país, aponta para a valorização dos recursos naturais e a conservação dos ecossistemas, tendo como objectivo, um desenvolvimento durável. Dentro desta linha de orientação e com o objectivo de obter um plano de políticas do ambiente, e definir as orientações estratégicas de aproveitamento dos recursos naturais, e, ainda, os seus efeitos sobre a gestão sustentável das actividades económicas, por forma a que o desenvolvimento económico e social seja sustentável, o Governo de Cabo Verde, com o apoio financeiro e técnico do Governo da Holanda, criou o PANA II para um horizonte temporal de dez anos (2004-2014). O sucesso do PANA II exige o estabelecimento de cenários, etapas, programas, metas e objectivos com índices de verificação concretas, socialmente assumidos por todos os intervenientes no domínio do ambiente: os poderes públicos, o sector privado, as ONGs, e as sociedades civil. Assim, a criação de um sistema de monitorização, que atribui as responsabilidades, delimita etapas, estabelece as normas de conduta, e que padroniza os níveis de qualidade para cada área específica, constitui uma peça imprescindível para uma valorização do nível de vida no país, no horizonte do fim do PANA II. Portanto, a operacionalização do desenvolvimento sustentável exige a elaboração de uma estratégia e a sua monitorização, através de um sistema coerente de indicadores, nomeadamente, ambientais, sociais, institucionais e económicos.Governo dos Países Baixo

COSMO-CLM2: a new version of the COSMO-CLM model coupled to the Community Land Model

This study presents an evaluation of a new biosphere-atmosphere Regional Climate Model. COSMO-CLM2 results from the coupling between the non-hydrostatic atmospheric model COSMO-CLM version 4.0 and the Community Land Model version 3.5 (CLM3.5). In this coupling, CLM3.5 replaces a simpler land surface parameterization (TERRA_ML) used in the standard COSMO-CLM. Compared to TERRA_ML, CLM3.5 comprises a more complete representation of land surface processes including hydrology, biogeophysics, biogeochemistry and vegetation dynamics. Historical climate simulations over Europe with COSMO-CLM and with the new COSMO-CLM2 are evaluated against various data products. The simulated climate is found to be substantially affected by the coupling with CLM3.5, particularly in summer. Radiation fluxes as well as turbulent fluxes at the surface are found to be more realistically represented in COSMO-CLM2. This subsequently leads to improvements of several aspects of the simulated climate (cloud cover, surface temperature and precipitation). We show that a better partitioning of turbulent fluxes is the central factor allowing for the better performances of COSMO-CLM2 over COSMO-CLM. Despite these improvements, some model deficiencies still remain, most notably a substantial underestimation of surface net shortwave radiation. Overall, these results highlight the importance of land surface processes in shaping the European climate and the benefit of using an advanced land surface model for regional climate simulation