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Assessment of the impact of the revised National E-Waste Framework on the informal E-Waste sector of Nigeria
Get PDF© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.E-Waste management in Nigeria remains predominantly informal, with unlicensed collectors focusing on extracting valuable materials, primarily for export. Despite policy interventions, including the revised 2022 E-Waste framework and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project, which introduced collection centers in Lagos and bolstered Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), progress has been uneven. This comparative longitudinal study examined informal E-Waste processing practices over a six-year period (2017–2023) to evaluate the impact of these initiatives. Using a mixed-methods approach, including content analysis and field interviews with informal collectors, government officials, and NGOs, our findings reveal that profit is the primary motivator for informal collectors, while E-Waste fractions that are not considered profitable are often discarded in environmentally harmful ways. The findings indicate persistent noncompliance with regulations and stagnant or declining income levels for informal collectors. The revised 2022 regulation resulted in a significant increase in registrations, with EPRON recording its highest number of producers, with 39 in total, including 25.6% renewals and 74.4% new registrations. Although the revised framework and EPR efforts have achieved limited success, critical gaps in implementation and outreach remain, with minimal improvements in collectors’ awareness of health and environmental risks. This study underscores the need for targeted training and financial incentives to redirect E-Waste flows toward formal channels, thereby more effectively safeguarding the environment and wellbeing.Unfunde
Association between 2D landing biomechanics, isokinetic muscle strength and asymmetry in females using novel, task specific metrics based on ACL injury mechanisms
Get PDFCopyright: © 2025 Oxendale, Smith.This study investigated the relationship between isokinetic muscle strength metrics, landing biomechanics, and their asymmetries, in females. Twenty-three female team sport athletes completed unilateral forward drop landings, and isokinetic muscle strength assessment of the knee extensors and flexors, on both limbs. Discrete two-dimensional kinematics of the trunk, hip, knee, and ankle in the sagittal and frontal plane and peak GRF were recorded during the drop landings. Novel, task-specific isokinetic strength metrics related to the landing task, such as peak concentric and eccentric torque, angle specific torque (AST), functional range and traditional/functional ratios were quantified. Asymmetry for kinematic and muscle strength data were quantified based on the individual variability of the task and the population mean and smallest worthwhile change. Functional concentric flexor range explained 15–18% of the variance in peak frontal trunk (P = 0.003) and hip motion (P = 0.007) and 22% in peak frontal knee motion (P = 0.005), when combined with the functional flexion ratio. Peak eccentric extensor torque explained 13–14% of the variance in peak sagittal hip (P = 0.014) and knee (P = 0.009) motion. Asymmetry in concentric extensor AST explained 28% of the variance in peak knee frontal plane asymmetry (P = 0.010), however the direction of asymmetry was rarely present on the same side for kinematic and strength variables. Novel and task specific isokinetic strength metrics explained small but significant variances in sagittal and frontal plane landing kinematics and asymmetry, which have previously been related to ACL injury risk.Unfunde
Enhancing social mobility in the digital learning age
Get PDFThe following paper was commissioned by RISE to investigate digital learning in the HE sector within the context of social mobility, which is central to our ethos. We set out to investigate: what is likely to be the future of digital learning and where is the pressure coming from for this to develop and evolve?Research Institute for Social Mobility and Education (RISE) - Commissioning bod
End extending models of set theory via power admissible covers
Get PDF© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Motivated by problems involving end extensions of models of set theory, we develop the rudiments of the power admissible cover construction (over ill-founded models of set theory), an extension of the machinery of admissible covers invented by Barwise as a versatile tool for generalising model-theoretic results about countable well-founded models of set theory to countable ill-founded ones. Our development of the power admissible machinery allows us to obtain new results concerning powerset-preserving end extensions and rank extensions of countable models of subsystems of ZFC . The canonical extension KP P of Kripke-Platek set theory KP plays a key role in our work; one of our results refines a theorem of Rathjen by showing that Σ 1 P -Foundation is provable in KP P (without invoking the axiom of choice).Unfunde
Eldritch theology - A comparative study of Lovecraft as theologian
Get PDFThis study aims to build a cohesive and considered picture of the implicit theology present within Lovecraft’s fiction, using comparative methods of study that value the contrast between Lovecraft’s work and the work of major existential theologians. Arguing along thematic lines, the study looks at five different aspects of Lovecraft’s thought in order to develop an ‘Eldritch Theology’. This theology considers Lovecraft’s presentation of the divine and the idea of ‘Gods’ as both transcendent and fundamentally other as the base of his theology, and Lovecraft’s method of using divine characters as symbols upon which both worldbuilding and major theological beliefs are grounded. This study further considers the nature of religious experience as often confronting and fearful, both within Lovecraft’s presentation and within the experience of real believers, yet nevertheless leading to glimpses of ultimate truth. Religious experiences of this kind not only build a very distinct sense of connection to truth, but also drastically influence the lives and praxis of those individuals who undergo them. Taking into account both the reality of religious experience within Lovecraft’s work and the lives which spring forth from those experiences, the final chapters of this study consider the question of human proximity to truth. To wit, Lovecraft presents our access to truth as at once a pressing and immanent need as well as a futile endeavour which will never see fulfilment. Nevertheless, the human separation from ultimate truth as expressed within his work is a useful and powerful critique of the religiosity of Lovecraft’s day and a continually relevant dialogue partner in our own, suited for the refining and development of theology and religious thought in a pessimistic modern world
Physical activity volume and intensity for healthy body mass index and cardiorespiratory fitness: Enhancing the translation of children and adolescent’s accelerometer physical activity reference values
Get PDF© 2025 The Author(s). Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Introduction: This secondary data analysis aimed to demonstrate the utility of physical activity (PA) wrist accelerometer outcome reference values by identifying the PA volume (average acceleration) and intensity distribution (intensity gradient) centiles and values associated with body mass index (BMI) status (normal weight, overweight, obese) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF, multi-stage shuttle runs test) status (low, moderate high) in children and adolescents.
Methods: We assessed the dose-response associations between average acceleration and intensity gradient with BMI and CRF outcomes using restricted cubic spline linear mixed models. To aid translation of the findings we calculated the increases in average acceleration needed to shift exemplar participants to ‘healthy’ weight and CRF status.
Results: For boys and girls there was a non-linear inverse association between average acceleration and BMI. In both sexes a positive dose-response was observed between average acceleration and intensity gradient with CRF. The values and centiles of average acceleration and intensity gradient that aligned with BMI and CRF statuses were identified. To move from an average acceleration associated with overweight to healthy weight 10-year-old boys and girls would need to increase daily average acceleration by 23 mg (~30 minutes running) and 16 mg (~18 minutes running) respectively.
Conclusions: These findings further demonstrate the importance of PA in relation to BMI and CRF and the utility of PA reference values for the translation of accelerometer outcomes into meaningful information. Additional studies demonstrating how PA reference values can be used to track behaviours and provide insights into health associations could inform practice further.Funding for selected contributing studies was provided by the Waterloo Foundation (#1669/3509), West Lancashire Sport Partnership, West Lancashire Leisure Trust, Edge Hill University, Wigan Council and Liverpool John Moores University. Alex Rowlands is supported by the Lifestyle Theme of the Leicester NHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Applied Research Collaborations East Midlands (ARC-EM).Author uploaded a copy of the VoR to CR via Elements 20/08/2025. AAM archived and CR metadate updated 27/08/202
Machiavelli, marketing and management: Revisited
No full textThis edited book is not available on ChesterRepThis second fascinating and cutting-edge text provides insight into the meaning and interpretation of Machiavelli and his works for management, marketing and political thought and highlights their particular relevance to the manager and policymaker today. By bringing together contributions from authors, both academic and practitioner, this book addresses a number of common themes relating to the influences and arguments of perhaps the first political scientist and advocate of sound management and marketing principles.
The volume covers a wide range of topics including modern management and leadership, public affairs, technology, marketing, populist and fascist governments, and strategic corporate philanthropy.
Machiavelli, Marketing and Management: Revisited will be of great interest to all practitioners, students and scholars of management, marketing, political science and public affairs.unfunde
Circulating angiopoietin-like protein 8 (ANGPTL8) and steatotic liver disease related to metabolic dysfunction: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFBackground: Steatotic liver disease related to metabolic dysfunction is the most common cause of chronic liver disease globally. The spectrum of this condition includes steatosis and steatohepatitis and was previously referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) but has been renamed as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and more recently as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Angiopoietin-like protein 8 (ANGPTL8), also known as betatrophin or lipasin, regulates triglycerides and has emerged as a potential novel biomarker for steatosis/steatohepatitis. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to identify and synthesize the evidence on the possible association of circulating ANGPTL8 concentrations with NAFLD, MAFLD or MASLD. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched for studies published in English reporting circulating ANGPTL8 concentrations in adults with NAFLD or MAFLD or MASLD and controls. A meta-analysis was performed, reporting the standardized mean difference (SMD) of circulating ANGPTL8 concentrations between these two groups. Study quality and risk of bias were assessed using the NIH quality assessment tool and RoBANS 2, respectively. Results: Of the 104 identified publications, eight studies were eligible for this systematic review, whilst seven were also eligible for meta-analysis (543 NAFLD or MAFLD cases vs. 352 controls). Circulating ANGPTL8 concentrations were significantly higher in patients with NAFLD or MAFLD compared with controls (SMD: 0.62, 95%CI: 0.28-0.97; p<0.001). Considerable heterogeneity was noted among these studies, with six studies having high risk of bias in at least one RoBANS 2 domain. Conclusion: These findings present up-to-date comprehensive evidence indicating that adults with steatotic liver disease related to metabolic dysfunction exhibit higher circulating ANGPTL8 concentrations compared with controls. Given the need for novel screening/diagnostic biomarkers for steatosis/steatohepatitis, as well for additional drug targets, large and prospective studies are required to confirm this association and explore its temporal direction, particularly under the new MASLD diagnosis/term.N/
Sustainable manufacturing of a Conformal Load-bearing Antenna Structure (CLAS) using advanced printing technologies and fibre-reinforced composites for aerospace applications
No full textConformal load-bearing antenna structures (CLAS) offer significant advantages in aerospace by reducing drag and weight through highly integrated designs. However, challenges remain in manufacturing, as traditional PCB methods create discontinuous arrays, while directly printed antennas on flexible substrates often lack mechanical strength. Additionally, neither approach integrates well with fibre-reinforced composites, which are widely used in modern aircraft. To address this, the next generation of CLAS must employ continuous surface substrates to maintain aerodynamic profiles and embed antenna systems within composite structures.
This research introduces an innovative CLAS manufacturing method that integrates inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle antennas with composite fabrication. The antenna is printed onto Kapton film, which is then co-cured with woven glass fibre composites to ensure mechanical robustness and compatibility with aerospace materials. Flat and 100mm curvature samples were fabricated to investigate electromagnetic performance, with curvature effects analysed.
Results confirm that the proposed method achieves both reliability and sustainability, producing smoothly curved CLAS with embedded antenna elements. However, frequency shifts and impedance mismatches were observed, attributed to discrepancies in dielectric constants and substrate volume variations. The conformality study revealed that curvature lowers resonant frequencies due to extended effective electric fields.
This research establishes a promising CLAS fabrication approach, integrating sustainable printing with composites. The findings provide a benchmark for future conformal antenna studies and support industry-level advancements in high-integration aerospace antenna systems
Mobile Heritage Walking and the Environment through Future and Historical Perspectives
Get PDFCopyright © 2025 by Daniele Valisena, Simon Poole, Yue Hu, Katarina Saltzman, Daniel Svensson, Špela Ledinek Lozej, Dani
Schrire, Nataša Rogelja Caf, Viktorija Bogdanova, Inkeri Aula, Masood Masoodian, Emily Höckert, Neal Cahoon, Outi Rantala, and Max VlasovProceedings of a conference held by One by Walking at Hanaholmen Cultural Center for Sweden and Finland in Helsinki, Finland, 16-17 September 2024. The conference addresses issues regarding the significance of walking for cultural heritage and conservation concerns. These include the need to redefine the right of public access to land, ideas of what constitutes a future good life, and novel conceptions of life in the “great” outdoors.N/
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