1,720,959 research outputs found

    End-of-life and waste management of disposable beverage cups

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    Different human activities have caused and currently cause catastrophic environmental phenomena, and unfortunately, a significant negative contribution to these catastrophic phenomena can be attributed to uncontrolled plastic production, use and release everywhere. On the other hand, the plastics offer numerous comforts and advantages, and for this reason, the modern life is unthinkable without plastic. Currently, numerous scientific papers and large audience advertisings, related to the production and use of polymers made by natural sources, i.e. bio-based polymers, as a valid alternative to the petroleum-based counterparts, have been published. Therefore, for production of daily disposables and usages, the choice of petroleum-based polymers, coming from fossil-based resources, or bio-based polymers, coming from renewable resources, can be correctly understood and evaluated taking into account different issues concerning resources supplying, production technology and costs, application properties and performance, and finally, waste management. Current paper is focused on a reflection point related to waste management through burning/incineration (i.e. oxidation) of disposable beverage cups (volume 200 ml). The simple calculations of oxidation process of petrol-based or bio-based materials, which is the theoretical basis of waste management through burning/incineration, highlights that none of cup materials, can be considered better than the others to produce daily disposables and usages

    Recycling of personal protective equipment: Sanitisation, degradation and polymer blend formulations

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    Despite being one of the most widely used polymers, polypropylene (PP) has a recycling rate of just 5%, mainly due to difficulties in separating it from other polyolefins and contained additives, as well as its tendency to quickly degrade during reprocessing and use. However, face masks, composed of pure PP without additives and designed for short-term use, offer a unique recycling opportunity. This research explores the recycling potential of PP from disposable face masks, focusing on how different sanitisation methods— ultrasounds and aqueous hypochlorous acid (HClO) solution—impact the material's properties. The research evaluates the extrusion reprocessing of both sanitised and unsanitised PP, in its pure form and when blended with virgin PP at different ratios (90/10, 70/30, 50/50 by weight), for potential applications such as cast film extrusion and additive manufacturing. Results highlight that different PP grades are used in the mask's layers for specific filtrations roles. However, the recycling process considered in this study did not separate these layers, simplifying industrial applicability. After sanitisation and extrusion processes, no evidence of chemical oxidation was found, but rheological analyses revealed polymer chain breakdown and reduced molecular weight. Blending the recycled polymer with virgin PP, modified rheological, thermal and mechanical properties with variations depending on the blend composition. Incorporating virgin polypropylene to enhance the performance of the recyclate demonstrates the feasibility of recovering a valuable material that, properly sanitised, retains properties suitable for industrial processes such as cast film extrusion and additive manufacturing. This approach underscores the potential of recycling strategies to convert discarded surgical masks from waste into valuable and make a significant contribution to the circular economy model

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We 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

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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