Search results for "circular"
showing 10 items of 856 documents
Eco-efficiency assessment of municipal solid waste services: Influence of exogenous variables.
2020
Abstract Improving the eco-efficiency of municipalities in the provision of municipal solid waste (MSW) services is fundamental in the context of a circular economy. This study evaluates the eco-efficiency of a sample of Spanish municipalities, integrating the total cost as input, recyclable waste as desirable output, and unsorted waste as undesirable output. Following a pioneering approach, the weighted Russell directional distance model (a non-radial data envelopment analysis model) was employed, which allowed us to obtain a global inefficiency score and individual inefficiency scores for each variable integrated in the model. In the second stage of analysis, the potential factors affecti…
Parsimonious scenario for the emergence of viroid-like repliconsde novo
2019
AbstractViroids are small, non-coding, circular RNA molecules that infect plants. Different hypotheses for their evolutionary origin have been put forward, such as an early emergence in a precellular RNA World or severalde novoindependent evolutionary origins in plants. Here we discuss the plausibility ofde novoemergence of viroid-like replicons by giving theoretical support to the likelihood of different steps along a parsimonious evolutionary pathway. While Avsunviroidae-like structures are relatively easy to obtain through evolution of a population of random RNA sequences of fixed length, rod-like structures typical of Pospiviroidae are difficult to fix. Using different quantitative appr…
A Top-Down Approach Based on the Circularity Potential to Increase the Use of Reclaimed Asphalt
2023
Resource depletion and climate change, amongst others, are increasingly worrying environmental challenges for which the road engineering sector is a major contributor. Globally, viable solutions that comply with the principles of circular economy (CE) are being investigated that can replace conventional asphalt mixtures in a post-fossil fuel society. The use of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is a widely used and well-established method to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of asphalt mixtures while increasing their circularity. However, RA’s market supply and demand have not yet been systematically analyzed and established. Moreover, the actual circularity potential and the opportu…
Investigations of methyl lactate in the presence of reverse micelles by vibrational spectroscopy and circular dichroism
2012
Abstract The FT-IR and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra of ( S )- and -( R )-methyl lactate have been recorded for neat samples and at various concentrations in CCl 4 and DMSO solutions. These spectra are used to analyse the FT-IR and VCD spectra of methyl lactates in presence of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) in CCl 4 , where the surfactant molecules are known to form reverse micelles. Some tendency of methyl lactate to interact with AOT micellar aggregates is observed, but not as well defined as previously observed for dimethyl tartrate in analogous circumstances. Besides, near infrared (NIR) absorption and VCD data have been obtained for most of the above system…
A Tunable, Fullerene‐Based Molecular Amplifier for Vibrational Circular Dichroism
2019
Abstract Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) studies are reported on a chiral compound in which a fullerene C60 moiety is used as an electron acceptor and local VCD amplifier for an alanine‐based peptide chain. Four redox states are investigated in this study, of which three are reduced species that possess low‐lying electronic states as confirmed by UV/Vis spectroelectrochemistry. VCD measurements in combination with (TD)DFT calculations are used to investigate (i) how the low‐lying electronic states of the reduced species modulate the amplification of VCD signals, (ii) how this amplification depends on the distance between oscillator and amplifier, and (iii) how the spatial extent of the…
Increasing the Circularity of asphalt mixtures: Integrated Sustainability and Circularity Assessment as a progress monitoring tool towards more Circu…
2021
Sustainability and Circular Economy (CE) are two concepts that lately have been profoundly linked to each other. The road engineering industry has gradually been adapting practices that are considered both circular and sustainable. However, not all of these practices entirely consider the whole life environmental and circularity assessment and implications of asphalt mixtures.; which in turn leads to doubtfully circular and sustainable approaches. For this reason in this thesis, after analysing the ways that National Road Authorities implement and communicate CE through questionnaires and web searches, a Material Circularity Index quantifying framework, based on the proposed methodology of …
Valorization of kiwi agricultural waste and industry by-products by recovering bioactive compounds and applications as food additives : a circular ec…
2021
Currently, agricultural production generates large amounts of organic waste, both from the maintenance of farms and crops (agricultural wastes) and from the industrialization of the product (food industry waste). In the case of Actinidia cultivation, agricultural waste groups together leaves, flowers, stems and roots while food industry by-products are represented by discarded fruits, skin and seeds. All these matrices are now underexploited and so, they can be revalued as a natural source of ingredients to be applied in food, cosmetic or pharmaceutical industries. Kiwifruit composition (phenolic compounds, volatile compounds, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, etc.) is an outstanding basis…
Fatty Acids and Triacylglycerols Profiles from Sicilian (Cold Pressed vs. Soxhlet) Grape Seed Oils
2021
Among the Sicilian economic productive sectors, that of wine production has today a considerable economic value. However, with the growth of this sector, notable was the increase in the production of waste, which to date is not only an economic damage for companies, but also a threat to the environment. It is known that waste from wine production has properties (e.g., antioxidants) which have potential reuse at cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutritional levels to obtain economically sustainable applications. A new goal is given by the recovery of added value compounds from agri-food wastes and by-products. Grape seed oil is a promising vegetable fat and cold pressing does not involve the use …
Diseño y planificación de estrategias de emprendimiento en un aula de Formación Profesional basadas en la economía circular
2020
Esta comunicación se inserta en un proyecto más amplio de análisis de la práctica docente en Formación Profesional (FP). La experiencia que presentamos trata de sensibilizar al alumnado de FP sobre los efectos del calentamiento global, analizar sus causas y reflexionar sobre sus consecuencias. Pretendemos convertir el aula en un espacio de crecimiento y motivación personal para desarrollar proyectos emprendedores que sean sostenibles desde el punto de vista económico, social y ambiental estimulando el potencial creativo del alumnado. This communication is inserted in a broader project of analysis of teaching practice in Vocational Trainin. The experience we present tries to sensitize FP stu…
Nonlinear nystagmus processing causes torsional VOR nonlinearity.
2003
The eye movement component that rotates around the line of sight, i.e., the ocular torsion, is in many aspects different from horizontal and vertical eye movements. While ocular torsion is mediated only by reflexive pathways like the torsional vestibulo-ocular and optokinetic reflexes (TVOR and OKN, respectively), horizontal and vertical components are also subject to intentional control mechanisms that are mediated by the saccadic and the pursuit systems. Dynamic properties of torsional eye movements are also very distinct. While horizontal and vertical VOR components show a gain close to unity and a small neural integration leakage with a time constant around pi=30 s, the TVOR shows a sma…