Resource savings by urban mining : the case of desktop and laptop computers in Belgium

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has become increasingly important over the last years. Additionally, the European Union recognizes the growing importance of raw materials, and the crucial role of recycling. In this study the performance of WEEE recycling was assessed for the case of desktop and laptop computers in Belgium in 2013. The analysis was performed in four steps. First, the recycling chain is analyzed through material flow analysis (MFA) at the level of specific materials. Second, an indicator is calculated, which quantifies the effectively recycled weight ratios of the specific materials. Third, a second indicator expresses the recycling efficiency of so-called critical raw materials. Finally, the natural resource consumption of the recycling scheme in a life cycle perspective is calculated using the Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment (CEENE) method, and is benchmarked with a landfill scenario. Overall, the results show that base metals such as ferrous metals, aluminium and copper are recycled to a large extent, but that for precious metals improvements still can be made. The input of criticality (arising from the incoming mass, as well as the individual criticality value of the assessed material) mainly comes from base metals, resulting in a high recovery performance of raw materials criticality. Finally, the natural resource consumption of the recycling scenario is much smaller than in case of landfilling the WEEE: 80 and 87% less resource consumption is achieved for desktops and laptops respectively, hence saving significant primary raw materials

Applying Q-methodology to study customer satisfaction with quality of community pharmacy services in Vietnam

Purpose: To determine the pattern of customers’ viewpoints regarding their satisfaction with the quality of services of community pharmacies in Vietnam.Methods: Q-methodology was applied to identify distinct patterns of subjective perception on community pharmacy services. A Q-sample of 40 statements was developed following a review of the literature. The study recruited 144 customers from 40 pharmacies in four Vietnamese cities. They were required to sort 40 statements into a quasi-normal distribution grid according to their degree of satisfaction with the quality of community pharmacy services. Data collected were analyzed using PQ Method software version 2.35.Results: This study identified three factors indicating three patterns of perspectives concerning customer satisfaction on the quality of community pharmacy services: Factor 1: accessibility of the community pharmacy; Factor 2: availability of medication consultations; Factor 3: accessibility of medicines.Conclusion: There are three main patterns of viewpoints concerning customer satisfaction with community pharmacy services in Vietnam. The findings should contribute to improving the understanding of pharmaceutical policymakers and pharmacy staff regarding customer satisfaction with current pharmaceutical services.Keywords: Community pharmacy, Customer satisfaction, Q-methodology, Pharmaceutical policymakers, Pharmacy staf

Quality properties Of Vietnamese cocoa liquors

Vietnam (VN) is an emerging country targeting cocoa as a potential industrial domain. It is however still unclear how the quality of VN cocoa liquors can be positioned in the world cocoa supply. Three VN cocoa liquors exhibiting high to intermediate acidity (pH: 4.7 – 5.2) were selected to produce dark chocolate (48.0% sugar, 17.6% cocoa solids, 34.0% cocoa butter and 0.4% lecithin). A comparison study was conducted to investigate the difference between VN and Ghanaian (GH; pH: 5.6) dark chocolates in terms of Casson flow properties (yield stress sCA and viscosity hCA), hardness (F 20°C and F 30°C), water-soluble organic acid content, aroma profile and sensory evaluation. The impact of pre-treatments of cocoa liquor by ball-milling at different fat contents and conching (-C) was also examined

On Bisimulations for Description Logics

We study bisimulations for useful description logics. The simplest among the considered logics is $\mathcal{ALC}_{reg}$ (a variant of PDL). The others extend that logic with inverse roles, nominals, quantified number restrictions, the universal role, and/or the concept constructor for expressing the local reflexivity of a role. They also allow role axioms. We give results about invariance of concepts, TBoxes and ABoxes, preservation of RBoxes and knowledge bases, and the Hennessy-Milner property w.r.t. bisimulations in the considered description logics. Using the invariance results we compare the expressiveness of the considered description logics w.r.t. concepts, TBoxes and ABoxes. Our results about separating the expressiveness of description logics are naturally extended to the case when instead of $\mathcal{ALC}_{reg}$ we have any sublogic of $\mathcal{ALC}_{reg}$ that extends $\mathcal{ALC}$. We also provide results on the largest auto-bisimulations and quotient interpretations w.r.t. such equivalence relations. Such results are useful for minimizing interpretations and concept learning in description logics. To deal with minimizing interpretations for the case when the considered logic allows quantified number restrictions and/or the constructor for the local reflexivity of a role, we introduce a new notion called QS-interpretation, which is needed for obtaining expected results. By adapting Hopcroft's automaton minimization algorithm and the Paige-Tarjan algorithm, we give efficient algorithms for computing the partition corresponding to the largest auto-bisimulation of a finite interpretation.Comment: 42 page

Investigating and implementing a student vocational education model for educational innovation

The development of each student's awareness serves as the governing principle for high school vocational education programs. This awareness then becomes the driving force behind the progression of the educational process. Career education activities for students are the relationships between the objectives, contents, methods and forms of organization of educational activities that are directly and constantly influenced by the educational environment. Student career education activities are the relationships between these aspects of educational activities as determined by research into the programs, textbooks, systematization and theoretical analysis of these activities. This investigation focuses on the following areas: (1) Developing preschool and high school teachers in the province of Dong Thap to meet the criteria of the new educational program (2) Developing models of applying local educational material for students in the province of Dong Thap. Both of these initiatives are part of the Dong Thap Educational Development Project. Findings: Assess the current state of activities for students in the province of Dong Thap that are related to vocational education between 2018- 2021. Develop a model for carrying out activities for students participating in vocational education in the province of Dong Thap to fulfill educational innovation requirements