177,331 research outputs found
Charcoal-based products combustion: Emission profiles, health exposure, and mitigation strategies
No full textCharcoal-based products are widely spread and appreciated as fuel for grilling food. However, during their use, they release high emissions that pose significant environmental issues and health risks. Charcoal grilling emissions contain a wide range of pollutants including CO, CO2, NOx, PM, PAHs, VOCs, and trace metals. The emission of these pollutants contributes to both indoor and outdoor air pollution. Factors such as charcoal type and qualitative characteristics, combustion temperature, and the presence of food influence the emission released. Compared to domestic emissions, charcoal grilling restaurants can be a major source of air pollutants affecting both indoor and outdoor air quality. The deterioration of air quality determines health repercussions. This study aimed to review the existing scientific literature on the environmental and health implications of charcoal-based products used in domestic and restaurant settings. The association between charcoal grilling emissions, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and the increased risk of developing carcinogenic conditions was evaluated. Workers in restaurant settings, exposed to cooking fumes for several hours, are particularly vulnerable to these health risks, but even short exposure can lead to health problems. Mitigation strategies involve different approaches, including the use of high-quality charcoal, implementing a certification system to ensure high-quality tested products, using grilling equipment designed to reduce emissions, ensuring proper ventilation, using abatement systems, and promoting responsible and sustainable grilling practices. Implementing these strategies guarantees more eco-friendly and safer grilling conditions while effectively reducing the adverse impacts of charcoal combustion on the environment and human health
Zootechnical wastewater treatments, reduction of the nitrogen load and production of natural amendments for agricultural soils and cultivation substrates
No full textLa gestione e l’applicazione dei reflui zootecnici (LE) pongono significative sfide ambientali, tra cui perdite di azoto, eutrofizzazione ed emissioni di gas serra. I metodi di trattamento basati sull’adsorbimento per il recupero dell’NH4+ dai reflui zootecnici sono particolarmente promettenti grazie alla loro efficacia, all’assenza di sostanze chimiche o tossiche e alla loro accettabilità sociale. Il tufo ricco di zeolite naturale (NZR) rappresenta una soluzione sostenibile ed efficiente, sfruttando l’elevata capacità di scambio cationico e le proprietà di setaccio molecolare. L’uso dell’NZR consente il recupero dell’NH4+ migliorando la fertilità del suolo e riducendo la dipendenza dai fertilizzanti sintetici. Il processo di adsorbimento è fortemente influenzato da diversi fattori, la cui combinazione determina l’efficienza della rimozione dell’NH4+; per questo motivo, lo studio si concentra sulla valutazione delle interazioni tra vari parametri, al fine di individuare le condizioni operative ottimali per diversi scenari reali.
Poiché numerosi studi si sono focalizzati su soluzioni sintetiche e poche zeoliti come adsorbenti, questa ricerca analizza il processo di adsorbimento dell’NH4+ considerando l’interazione tra reflui autentici derivanti da effluenti zootecnici bovini: i) liquame separato (SM), ii) digestato separato (SD) e iii) digestato microfiltrato (MD), con diverse tipologie di tufo ricco di zeolite: i) chabasite (CHA), ii) clinoptilolite (CLP) e iii) phillipsite (PHP). Tutti i materiali utilizzati nello studio sono stati forniti da WAMGROUP S.p.A.
Gli esperimenti di laboratorio hanno indagato variabili chiave che influenzano le prestazioni di adsorbimento, come la granulometria e la temperatura operativa. Per ogni zeolite sono state testate due frazioni granulometriche: fine e granulare. Inoltre, sono state esaminate due temperature operative (25 e 40°C) per i digestati, mentre gli esperimenti sul liquame separato sono stati condotti solo a 25°C. Il contenuto di NH4+ è stato determinato con il metodo Kjeldahl e ulteriori elaborazioni sono state condotte con il software R, mentre l’adattamento ai modelli isotermici è stato eseguito con il pacchetto PUPAIM. Il modello di Langmuir è risultato il più rappresentativo per i materiali trattati, in linea con la letteratura esistente. I dati di equilibrio sperimentali mostrano che le capacità di scambio ionico più elevate si osservano con rapporti solido/liquido tra il 3 e il 6%, pertanto gli studi cinetici successivi sono stati condotti con un rapporto del 3%.
Tutte le curve cinetiche mostrano un andamento simile, caratterizzato da un incremento esponenziale della capacità di adsorbimento seguito da una fase di plateau. Il tempo di agitazione ottimale per garantire l’efficacia economica è di 120 minuti in tutte le condizioni testate. Temperature più elevate e granulometria fine sono associate a una maggiore capacità di adsorbimento, tuttavia l’effetto della temperatura risulta significativamente più marcato rispetto a quello della dimensione delle particelle. L’interazione tra zeolite e digestato microfiltrato (MD) ha dimostrato le migliori prestazioni rispetto a SD e SM, probabilmente grazie a una maggiore omogeneThe management and application of livestock effluents (LE) pose significant environmental challenges, including nitrogen losses, eutrophication, and greenhouse gas emissions. Treatment methods for NH4+ recovery from livestock effluents based on the adsorption process are highly promising due to their effectiveness, lack of chemicals or toxic substances, and social acceptance. Natural zeolite-rich tuff (NZR) offers a sustainable and effective solution by exploiting its high cation-exchange capacity and molecular sieve properties. NZR enables NH4+ recovery while improving soil fertility and reducing dependency on synthetic fertilizers. The adsorption process is heavily influenced by numerous factors, whose combination determines NH4+ removal efficiency. For this reason, the main focus of this study is to evaluate the interaction among various variables to identify the optimal operating conditions for a wide range of real-world scenarios.
Since numerous studies have been conducted on synthetic solutions and few zeolites as adsorbents, this work investigates the NH4+ adsorption process considering the interaction between authentic cattle livestock effluents i) separated liquid manure (SM), ii) separated digestate (SD), and iii) microfiltered digestate (MD) and different types of zeolite-rich tuffs i) chabazite (CHA), ii) clinoptilolite (CLP), and iii) phillipsite (PHP). All materials used in this study were supplied by WAMGROUP S.p.A.
Laboratory experiments examined key variables affecting adsorption performance, such as particle size and operating temperature. For each zeolite, two different particle sizes fine and granular were tested. Additionally, two operating temperatures (25°C and 40°C) were tested for digestates, while experiments on SM were conducted only at 25°C. The NH4+ content was measured using the Kjeldahl method, and further data processing was performed with R. Isotherm model fitting was conducted using the PUPAIM package, with the Langmuir Model identified as the most representative for the treated materials, in line with existing literature. Experimental equilibrium data reveal that higher ion exchange capacities are associated with solid-liquid ratios ranging between 3% and 6%; therefore, subsequent kinetic studies were conducted at 3%.
All kinetic curves follow similar trends, characterized by an exponential increase in adsorption capacity followed by a plateau phase. The optimal agitation time for cost-effectiveness is 120 minutes for all tested conditions. Higher temperature and fine particle size are associated with increased adsorption capacities; however, the temperature effect is significantly more pronounced than the particle size effect. The interaction between zeolite and MD showed better performance than SD and SM, likely due to greater homogeneity and a slightly higher initial NH4+ concentration, which is also a crucial factor in the adsorption process. CHA and CLP exhibited the most favorable response to treatment compared to PHP.
Based on these findings, a prototype machine was developed to test NZR-based treatment at a farm scale. Operational trials demonstrated effective nitrogen recovery, with significant NH4+ reductions across three treatment cycles. However, open-system configurations led to ammonia volatilization, particularly under warmer conditions. The objective of this research to scale up the zeolite-based treatment from a laboratory setting to a real-farm environment has been successfully achieved. Nonetheless, further optimizations of the prototype machine are required to enhance its efficiency and adaptability to diverse operational conditions
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Peripheral Inflammation Markers Identify a Subset of Patients With Schizophrenia and Related Psychoses who Display Intellectual Decline From Premorbid Levels
No full textPoster AbstractThomas Weickert, Seetha Ramanathan, Rhoshel Lenroot, Dennis Liu, Ryan Balzan, Cherrie Galletly, and Cynthia Shannon Weicker
Sowing the seeds of doubt: a narrative review on metacognitive training in schizophrenia
No full textAbstract not availableSteffen Moritz, Christina Andreou, Brooke C. Schneider, Charlotte E. Wittekind, Mahesh Menon, Ryan P. Balzan, Todd S. Woodwar
Istruire, organizzare e tradurre: un'interpretazione storico-linguistica del processo architettonico
No full textLa trasmissione di istruzioni per informare il processo produttivo è un momento chiave del progetto architettonico. Per Roberto Gabetti, la ricerca progettuale architettonica “ha bisogno di far convergere l’apporto di competenze diverse sull’unico tema dell’intervento, e di rendere chiari, trasmissibili agli altri, i contenuti del progetto”. Assumendo che le modalità con cui si è svolta questa dinamica si siano presentate in diverse forme in vari momenti storici, viene ipotiato che sia possibile denire una correlazione tra queste formalizzazioni, il ruolo del progettista e, in senso lato, un modo linguistico di trasmettere il progett
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Letter from R. R. Zellick, Assistant Trust Officer, Anglo California National Bank of San Francisco, to Joseph R. Goodman, October 2, 1942
No full textLetter from R. R. Zellick, Assistant Trust Officer at The Anglo California National Bank of San Francisco, to Joseph R. Goodman, regarding property owned by Dave Tatsuno. Zellick mentions a dispute between current tenants and Tatsuno, and that Tatsuno has asked Goodman to help locate trustworthy tenants.Personal correspondence, organizational records, government documents, publications, and other papers created or collected by Joseph R. Goodman documenting the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as organized resistance to incarceration. Included in the collection are records of the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association and the Japanese American Citizens' League in San Francisco, including papers of the Japanese YMCA's executive secretary Lincoln Kanai; Sakai family papers; Goodman's correspondence to and from Japanese American incarcerees, organizations opposing forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, the War Relocation Authority, and others; publications, photographs, and ephemera from the Topaz Relocation Center, where Goodman taught high school; War Relocation Authority records and publications; and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and reports about forced removal and incarceration created by various government, religious, and civic organizations, in California and nationwide
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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