Recycling glass-polishing sludge and aluminum anodising sludge in polyurethane and cement composites: fire performance and mechanical properties

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This article aims to study the mechanical strength and fire resistance of polyurethane/cement (PuCem) composites containing glass sludge and sludge...     

The Impact of Biodegradable Plastics in the Properties of Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Since biodegradable materials are unwittingly mixed with synthetic materials, this work aimed to study the feasibility of reliably identifying some...     

An Observation Method for Analyzing Operators’ Routine Activity in Computerized Control Rooms

An activity analysis method was developed for studying the structure and dynamics of control room operators’ activity during normal operation based on directly observable elements of the operators’ behavior. The method assesses current activity along three dimensions in each 5-min period of the shift. Intensity characterizes arousal level, direction shows whether the activity is directed predominantly at the process control task, at something else, or miscellaneous. Motivation reflects if the activity is driven by intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. A case study is presented, in which 3 morning, 3 afternoon, and 3 night shifts of a Nuclear Power Plant operator crew are involved. The obtained results gave a deeper understanding of the operators’ activity and also revealed an “arousal compensation” tendency.     

Company Strategies and Program for Implementing Ergonomics

Three periods of work environmental activity in the company will be presented: (a) A period without a work environmental organization and an environmental budget, covered approximately 1 year; (b) A period when an environmental organization with a separate work environmental budget was established. This period covered 15 years; (c) A period when the company was divided in 3 companies without a separate work environmental budget, but still an environmental organization, covering the last 12 years.     

A new simple methodology for evaluation of explosion risk in underground coal mines

The key objective of this paper is the presentation of a new risk assessment tool for underground coal mines based on a simplified semi-quantitative estimation and assessment method.In order to determine the risk of explosion of any work process or activity in underground coal mines it is necessary to assess the risk. The proposed method is based on a Risk Index obtained as a product of three factors: frequency of each individual scenario P_ucm, associated severity consequences C_ucm and exposure time to explosive atmospheres E_ucm. The influence of exposure time is usually not taken into account up to now. Moreover, the exposure to explosive atmospheres may affect factors of hazardous event probability as much as its consequences. There are many definitions of exposure to explosive atmospheres but in the case of underground coal mines the exposure is defined as frequency risk of firedamp and coal dust. The risk estimation and risk assessment are based on the developed of a risk matrix.The proposed methodology allows not only the estimation of the explosion risk but also gives an approach to decide if the proposal investment is well-justified or not in order to improve safety.     

Telos and the Ethics of Animal Farming

The concept of animal welfare in confinement agriculture—and an ethical theory based upon this concept—necessitates an idea of what kind of being it is that fares well and what “well” is for this being. This double-question is at the heart of understanding and adequately defining welfare as qualitatively embedded in the experiencing subject. The notion of telos derives (philosophically) from Aristotle and is a way of accounting for the good life of an animal from the unique speciesness of the animal in question. The first part of the article will address the contemporary philosophical and ethical analysis of animals based upon this Aristotelian idea (Rollin in Animal rights and human morality (1st ed. 1981). Prometheus Books, New York, 2006b). Telos is here employed to illustrate the dimensions of what matters in welfare assessment and ethical evaluation. The second half of the article addresses some of the welfare problems in modern animal agriculture and how they relate to the telos concept. Two main examples are dealt with: Boredom (Wemelsfelder in Mental health and well-being in animals. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2005) is argued as being the suffering of choicelessness in animals that are inherently beings that choose—and loneliness is the suffering of social isolation in animals for whom standing in active relations to others is part of what they are.     

Convergent evolution in the antennae of a cerambycid beetle, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Onychocerus albitarsis,</Emphasis> and the sting of a scorpion

Venom-injecting structures have arisen independently in unrelated arthropods including scorpions, spiders, centipedes, larval owlflies and antlions, and Hymenoptera (wasps, ants, and bees). Most arthropods use venom primarily as an offensive weapon to subdue prey, and only secondarily in defense against enemies. Venom is injected by biting with fangs or stinging with a specialized hypodermic structure used exclusively for the delivery of venom (usually modified terminal abdominal segments). A true sting apparatus, previously known only in scorpions and aculeate wasps, is now known in a third group. We here report the first known case of a cerambycid beetle using its antennae to inject a secretion that causes cutaneous and subcutaneous inflammation in humans. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the terminal antennal segment of Onychocerus albitarsis (Pascoe) has two pores opening into channels leading to the tip through which the secretion is delivered. This is a novel case of convergent evolution: The delivery system is almost identical to that found in the stinger of a deadly buthid scorpion.     

Why do <Emphasis Type="Italic">Manduca sexta</Emphasis> feed from white flowers? Innate and learnt colour preferences in a hawkmoth

Flower colour is an important signal used by flowering plants to attract pollinators. Many anthophilous insects have an innate colour preference that is displayed during their first foraging bouts and which could help them locate their first nectar reward. Nevertheless, learning capabilities allow insects to switch their colour preferences with experience and thus, to track variation in floral nectar availability. Manduca sexta, a crepuscular hawkmoth widely studied as a model system for sensory physiology and behaviour, visits mostly white, night-blooming flowers lacking UV reflectance throughout its range in the Americas. Nevertheless, the spectral sensitivity of the feeding behaviour of naïve moths shows a narrow peak around 450 nm wavelengths, suggesting an innate preference for the colour blue. Under more natural conditions (i.e. broader wavelength reflectance) than in previous studies, we used dual choice experiments with blue- and white-coloured feeders to investigate the innate preference of naïve moths and trained different groups to each colour to evaluate their learning capabilities. We confirmed the innate preference of M. sexta for blue and found that these moths were able to switch colour preferences after training experience. These results unequivocally demonstrate that M. sexta moths innately prefer blue when presented against white flower models and offer novel experimental evidence supporting the hypothesis that learning capabilities could be involved in their foraging preferences, including their widely observed attraction to white flowers in nature.     

Plant surface wax affects parasitoid’s response to host footprints

The plant surface is the substrate upon which herbivorous insects and natural enemies meet and thus represents the stage for interactions between the three trophic levels. Plant surfaces are covered by an epicuticular wax layer which is highly variable depending on species, cultivar or plant part. Differences in wax chemistry may modulate ecological interactions. We explored whether caterpillars of Spodoptera frugiperda, when walking over a plant surface, leave a chemical trail (kairomones) that can be detected by the parasitoid Cotesia marginiventris. Chemistry and micromorphology of cuticular waxes of two barley eceriferum wax mutants (cer-za.126, cer-yp.949) and wild-type cv. Bonus (wt) were assessed. The plants were then used to investigate potential surface effects on the detectability of caterpillar kairomones. Here we provide evidence that C. marginiventris responds to chemical footprints of its host. Parasitoids were able to detect the kairomone on wild-type plants and on both cer mutants but the response to cer-yp.949 (reduced wax, high aldehyde fraction) was less pronounced. Experiments with caterpillar-treated wt and mutant leaves offered simultaneously, confirmed this observation: no difference in wasp response was found when wt was tested against cer-za.126 (reduced wax, wt-like chemical composition) but wt was significantly more attractive than cer-yp.949. This demonstrates for the first time that the wax layer can modulate the detectability of host kairomones.