WorldWideScience

Sample records for sustainably maintain healthy

  1. Sustained anxiety increases amygdala–dorsomedial prefrontal coupling: a mechanism for maintaining an anxious state in healthy adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vytal, Katherine E.; Overstreet, Cassie; Charney, Danielle R.; Robinson, Oliver J.; Grillon, Christian

    2014-01-01

    Background Neuroimaging research has traditionally explored fear and anxiety in response to discrete threat cues (e.g., during fear conditioning). However, anxiety is a sustained aversive state that can persist in the absence of discrete threats. Little is known about mechanisms that maintain anxiety states over a prolonged period. Here, we used a robust translational paradigm (threat of shock) to induce sustained anxiety. Recent translational work has implicated an amygdala–prefrontal cortex (PFC) circuit in the maintenance of anxiety in rodents. To explore the functional homologues of this circuitry in humans, we used a novel paradigm to examine the impact of sustained anticipatory anxiety on amygdala–PFC intrinsic connectivity. Methods Task-independent fMRI data were collected in healthy participants during long-duration periods of shock anticipation and safety. We examined intrinsic functional connectivity. Results Our study involved 20 healthy participants. During sustained anxiety, amygdala activity was positively coupled with dorsomedial PFC (DMPFC) activity. High trait anxiety was associated with increased amygdala–DMPFC coupling. In addition, induced anxiety was associated with positive coupling between regions involved in defensive responding, and decreased coupling between regions involved in emotional control and the default mode network. Limitations Inferences regarding anxious pathology should be made with caution because this study was conducted in healthy participants. Conclusion Findings suggest that anticipatory anxiety increases intrinsic amygdala–DMPFC coupling and that the DMPFC may serve as a functional homologue for the rodent prefrontal regions by sustaining anxiety. Future research may use this defensive neural context to identify bio-markers of risk for anxious pathology and target these circuits for therapeutic intervention. PMID:24886788

  2. Maintaining and restoring sustainable ecosystems in southern Nevada [Chapter 7

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeanne C. Chambers; Burton K. Pendleton; Donald W. Sada; Steven M. Ostoja; Matthew L. Brooks

    2013-01-01

    Managers in southern Nevada are challenged with determining appropriate goals and objectives and developing viable approaches for maintaining and restoring sustainable ecosystems in a time of rapid socio-ecological and environmental change. Sustainable or “healthy” ecosystems supply clean air, water and habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals. As described in...

  3. Maintaining Healthy Skin -- Part 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... and SCI • Depression and SCI • Taking Care of Pressure Sores • Maintaining Healthy Skin (Part I) • Maintaining Healthy Skin ( ... For information on establishing skin tolerance, see our “Pressure Sores” pamphlet.) Pressure releases in a wheelchair can be ...

  4. Diversifying Food Systems in the Pursuit of Sustainable Food Production and Healthy Diets

    OpenAIRE

    Dwivedi, Sangam L.; van Bueren, Edith T. Lammerts; Ceccarelli, Salvatore; Grando, Stefania; Upadhyaya, Hari D.; Ortiz Rios, Rodomiro Octavio

    2017-01-01

    Increasing demand for nutritious, safe, and healthy food because of a growing population, and the pledge to maintain biodiversity and other resources, pose a major challenge to agriculture that is already threatened by a changing climate. Diverse and healthy diets, largely based on plant-derived food, may reduce diet-related illnesses. Investments in plant sciences will be necessary to design diverse cropping systems balancing productivity, sustainability, and nutritional quality. Cultivar di...

  5. Merging building maintainability and sustainability assessment: A multicriteria decision making approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asmone, A. S.; Chew, M. Y. L.

    2018-02-01

    Accurately predicting maintainability has been a challenge due to the complex nature of buildings, yet it is an important research area with a rising necessity. This paper explores the use of multicriteria decision making approach for merging maintainability and sustainability elements into building grading systems to attain long-term sustainability in the building industry. The paper conducts a systematic literature review on multicriteria decision analysis approach and builds on the existing knowledge of maintainability to achieve this. A conceptual framework is developed to bridge the gap between building operations and maintenance with green facilities management by forecasting green maintainability at the design stage.

  6. Sustainable healthy eating behaviour of young adults: towards a novel methodological approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pieniak, Zuzanna; Żakowska-Biemans, Sylwia; Kostyra, Eliza; Raats, Monique

    2016-07-15

    Food, nutrition and health policy makers are poised with two pertinent issues more than any other: obesity and climate change. Consumer research has focused primarily on specific areas of sustainable food, such as organic food, local or traditional food, meat substitution and/or reduction. More holistic view of sustainable healthy eating behaviour has received less attention, albeit that more research is emerging in this area. This study protocol that aims to investigate young consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards sustainable and healthy eating by applying a multidisciplinary approach, taking into account economical, marketing, public health and environmental related issues. In order to achieve this goal, consumers' reactions on interactive tailored informational messages about sustainable from social, environmental and economical point of view, as well as healthy eating behaviour in a group of young adults will be investigated using randomized controlled trial. To undertake the objective, the empirical research is divided into three studies: 1) Qualitative longitudinal research to explore openness to adopting sustainable healthy eating behaviour; 2) Qualitative research with the objective to develop a sustainable healthy eating behaviour index; and 3) Randomised controlled trial to describe consumers' reactions on interactive tailored messages about sustainable healthy eating in young consumers. To our knowledge, this is the first randomised controlled trial to test the young adults reactions to interactive tailor made messages on sustainable healthy eating using mobile smartphone app. Mobile applications designed to deliver intervention offer new possibilities to influence young adults behaviour in relation to diet and sustainability. Therefore, the study will provide valuable insights into drivers of change towards more environmentally sustainable and healthy eating behaviours. NCT02776410 registered May 16, 2016.

  7. Sustainable healthy eating behaviour of young adults: towards a novel methodological approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zuzanna Pieniak

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Food, nutrition and health policy makers are poised with two pertinent issues more than any other: obesity and climate change. Consumer research has focused primarily on specific areas of sustainable food, such as organic food, local or traditional food, meat substitution and/or reduction. More holistic view of sustainable healthy eating behaviour has received less attention, albeit that more research is emerging in this area. Methods/design This study protocol that aims to investigate young consumers’ attitudes and behaviour towards sustainable and healthy eating by applying a multidisciplinary approach, taking into account economical, marketing, public health and environmental related issues. In order to achieve this goal, consumers’ reactions on interactive tailored informational messages about sustainable from social, environmental and economical point of view, as well as healthy eating behaviour in a group of young adults will be investigated using randomized controlled trial. To undertake the objective, the empirical research is divided into three studies: 1 Qualitative longitudinal research to explore openness to adopting sustainable healthy eating behaviour; 2 Qualitative research with the objective to develop a sustainable healthy eating behaviour index; and 3 Randomised controlled trial to describe consumers’ reactions on interactive tailored messages about sustainable healthy eating in young consumers. Discussion To our knowledge, this is the first randomised controlled trial to test the young adults reactions to interactive tailor made messages on sustainable healthy eating using mobile smartphone app. Mobile applications designed to deliver intervention offer new possibilities to influence young adults behaviour in relation to diet and sustainability. Therefore, the study will provide valuable insights into drivers of change towards more environmentally sustainable and healthy eating behaviours. Trial

  8. Experience of maintaining laboratory educational website's sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimenstein, Izak B

    2016-01-01

    Laboratory methodology websites are specialized niche websites. The visibility of a niche website transforms it into an authority site on a particular "niche of knowledge." This article presents some ways in which a laboratory methodology website can maintain its sustainability. The optimal composition of the website includes a basic content, a blog, and an ancillary part. This article discusses experimenting with the search engine optimization query results page. Strategic placement of keywords and even phrases, as well as fragmentation of the post's material, can improve the website's visibility to search engines. Hyperlinks open a chain reaction of additional links and draw attention to the previous posts. Publications in printed periodicals are a substantial part of a niche website presence on the Internet. Although this article explores a laboratory website on the basis of our hands-on expertise maintaining "Grossing Technology in Surgical Pathology" (www.grossing-technology.com) website with a high volume of traffic for more than a decade, the recommendations presented here for developing an authority website can be applied to other professional specialized websites. The authority websites visibility and sustainability are preconditions for aggregating them in a specialized educational laboratory portal.

  9. Is a healthy diet an environmentally sustainable diet?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macdiarmid, Jennie I

    2013-02-01

    The concept of a healthy and environmentally sustainable diet is not new, but with increasing concern about future global food security and climate change there is a renewed interest in this topic. Dietary intakes in UK accounts for approximately 20-30% of total annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), with the greatest contributions coming from high intakes of meat and dairy products. Dietary proposals to help mitigate climate change (i.e. reduce GHGE) have focused on reducing consumption of meat and dairy products, but this must be considered in the context of the whole diet, alongside any possible nutritional consequences for health. Bringing together health and environmental impact of the diet raises the question of whether a healthy diet can also be an environmentally sustainable diet. While recent research showed that it is possible to achieve a realistic diet that meets dietary requirement for health and has lower GHGE, it cannot be assumed that a healthy diet will always have lower GHGE. With different combinations of food it is possible to consume a diet that meets dietary requirements for health, but has high GHGE. It is important to understand what constitutes a sustainable diet, but this then needs to be communicated effectively to try and change well-established dietary intakes of the population. Studies show that understanding of sustainable diets is poor and there are many misconceptions (e.g. the overestimation of the protein requirements for a healthy diet), which could contribute to the barriers towards changing dietary intakes.

  10. Hale and Hearty Policies: How Psychological Science Can Create and Maintain Healthy Habits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothman, Alexander J; Gollwitzer, Peter M; Grant, Adam M; Neal, David T; Sheeran, Paschal; Wood, Wendy

    2015-11-01

    Strategies are needed to ensure that the U.S. Government meets its goals for improving the health of the nation (e.g., Healthy People 2020). To date, progress toward these goals has been undermined by a set of discernible challenges: People lack sufficient motivation, they frequently fail to translate healthy intentions into action, their efforts are undermined by the persistence of prior unhealthy habits, and they have considerable difficulty maintaining new healthy patterns of behavior. Guided by advances in psychological science, we provide innovative, evidence-based policies that address each of these challenges and, if implemented, will enhance people's ability to create and maintain healthy behavioral practices. © The Author(s) 2015.

  11. Evaluation of a web-based lifestyle coach designed to maintain a healthy bodyweight

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kelders, Saskia Marion; van Gemert-Pijnen, Julia E.W.C.; Werkman, Andrea; Seydel, E.R.

    2010-01-01

    We evaluated a web-based intervention, the Healthy Weight Assistant (HWA), which was designed to help people with a healthy bodyweight, or those who are slightly overweight, to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Four evaluation methods were used: (1) pre- and post-test questionnaires; (2) real

  12. Diversifying Food Systems in the Pursuit of Sustainable Food Production and Healthy Diets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwivedi, Sangam L; Lammerts van Bueren, Edith T; Ceccarelli, Salvatore; Grando, Stefania; Upadhyaya, Hari D; Ortiz, Rodomiro

    2017-10-01

    Increasing demand for nutritious, safe, and healthy food because of a growing population, and the pledge to maintain biodiversity and other resources, pose a major challenge to agriculture that is already threatened by a changing climate. Diverse and healthy diets, largely based on plant-derived food, may reduce diet-related illnesses. Investments in plant sciences will be necessary to design diverse cropping systems balancing productivity, sustainability, and nutritional quality. Cultivar diversity and nutritional quality are crucial. We call for better cooperation between food and medical scientists, food sector industries, breeders, and farmers to develop diversified and nutritious cultivars that reduce soil degradation and dependence on external inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, and to increase adaptation to climate change and resistance to emerging pests. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  13. A Co-Word Analysis of Organizational Constraints for Maintaining Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daoyan Guo

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available A good understanding of organizational constraints is vital to facilitate organizational development as the sustainable development of organizations can be constrained by the organization itself. In this study, bibliometric methods were adopted to investigate the research status and trends of organizational constraints. The findings showed that there were 1138 articles and reviews, and 52 high-frequency keywords related to organizational constraints during the period 1980–2016. The research cores were “constraints”, “learning”, “institution”, and “behavior” in the co-occurrence network, and “constraints” played the most significant role. The 52 high-frequency keywords were classified into six clusters: “change and decision-making”, “supply chain and sustainability”, “human system and performance”, “culture and relations”, “entrepreneur and resource”, and “learning and innovation”. Furthermore, the indicators of organizational development (e.g., innovation, supply chain, decision-making, performance, sustainability, and employee behavior were found to be significantly related to the organizational constraints. Based on these findings, future trends were proposed to maintain the sustainability of organizations. This study investigated the state of the art in terms of organizational constraints and provided valuable references for maintaining the sustainable development of organizations.

  14. Experience of maintaining laboratory educational website′s sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Izak B Dimenstein

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Laboratory methodology websites are specialized niche websites. The visibility of a niche website transforms it into an authority site on a particular "niche of knowledge." This article presents some ways in which a laboratory methodology website can maintain its sustainability. The optimal composition of the website includes a basic content, a blog, and an ancillary part. This article discusses experimenting with the search engine optimization query results page. Strategic placement of keywords and even phrases, as well as fragmentation of the post′s material, can improve the website′s visibility to search engines. Hyperlinks open a chain reaction of additional links and draw attention to the previous posts. Publications in printed periodicals are a substantial part of a niche website presence on the Internet. Although this article explores a laboratory website on the basis of our hands-on expertise maintaining "Grossing Technology in Surgical Pathology" (www.grossing-technology.com website with a high volume of traffic for more than a decade, the recommendations presented here for developing an authority website can be applied to other professional specialized websites. The authority websites visibility and sustainability are preconditions for aggregating them in a specialized educational laboratory portal.

  15. Evaluation of a web-based lifestyle coach designed to maintain a healthy bodyweight.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelders, Saskia M; van Gemert-Pijnen, Julia E W C; Werkman, Andrea; Seydel, Erwin R

    2010-01-01

    We evaluated a web-based intervention, the Healthy Weight Assistant (HWA), which was designed to help people with a healthy bodyweight, or those who are slightly overweight, to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Four evaluation methods were used: (1) pre- and post-test questionnaires; (2) real time usability-tests; (3) log-file analysis; (4) qualitative analysis of forum posts, email messages and free-text responses in the questionnaires. A total of 703 respondents received access to the HWA. Six weeks after receiving access, 431 respondents completed a second questionnaire. The enthusiastic responses showed that many people were interested in using an interactive online application to support achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. The preliminary results suggest that improvements with respect to motivation may lead to large effects, yet require only small changes in the design of the HWA. Sending automatic tailored reminders may enhance motivation to keep using the application. Motivation to change behaviour may be enhanced by emphasizing goal setting and visualizing progress.

  16. The Challenge of Maintaining a Healthy Microbiome during Long-Duration Space Missions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voorhies, Alexander A.; Lorenzi, Hernan A.

    2016-01-01

    Astronauts will face a host of challenges on long-duration space missions like a human expedition to Mars, including the difficulty of maintaining a balanced and healthy microbiome. The human microbiome is the collection of all microorganisms residing in and on a human host, and it plays an essential role in keeping humans healthy. However, imbalances in the microbiome have also been linked to many human diseases. Space travel has been shown to alter the microbiome of astronauts in ways that are not yet completely understood. Here we review past and current microbiology and microbiome research with the aim of determining the extent of change to the human microbiome caused by space travel and implications for astronaut health. We also address several challenges that will need to be overcome in order to facilitate long-duration human exploration missions. These challenges include maintaining environmental conditions that favor healthy microbiomes, controlling the microbial organisms astronauts are exposed to, the impact of galactic cosmic radiation on the microbiome, and medical interventions that can potentially damage the microbiome.

  17. The Challenge of Maintaining a Healthy Microbiome during Long-Duration Space Missions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Voorhies, Alexander A.; Lorenzi, Hernan A., E-mail: hlorenzi@jcvi.org [Department of Infectious Disease, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD (United States)

    2016-07-22

    Astronauts will face a host of challenges on long-duration space missions like a human expedition to Mars, including the difficulty of maintaining a balanced and healthy microbiome. The human microbiome is the collection of all microorganisms residing in and on a human host, and it plays an essential role in keeping humans healthy. However, imbalances in the microbiome have also been linked to many human diseases. Space travel has been shown to alter the microbiome of astronauts in ways that are not yet completely understood. Here we review past and current microbiology and microbiome research with the aim of determining the extent of change to the human microbiome caused by space travel and implications for astronaut health. We also address several challenges that will need to be overcome in order to facilitate long-duration human exploration missions. These challenges include maintaining environmental conditions that favor healthy microbiomes, controlling the microbial organisms astronauts are exposed to, the impact of galactic cosmic radiation on the microbiome, and medical interventions that can potentially damage the microbiome.

  18. The Challenge of Maintaining a Healthy Microbiome During Long-Duration Space Missions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Arnot Voorhies

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Astronauts will face a host of challenges on long-duration space missions like a human expedition to Mars, including the difficulty of maintaining a balanced and healthy microbiome. The human microbiome is the collection of all microorganisms residing in and on a human host, and it plays an essential role in keeping humans healthy. However, imbalances in the microbiome have also been linked to many human diseases. Space travel has been shown to alter the microbiome of astronauts in ways that are not yet completely understood. Here we review past and current microbiology and microbiome research with the aim of determining the extent of change to the human microbiome caused by space travel and implications for astronaut health. We also address several challenges that will need to be overcome in order to facilitate long-duration human exploration missions. These challenges include maintaining environmental conditions that favor healthy microbiomes, controlling the microbial organisms astronauts are exposed to, the impact of galactic cosmic radiation on the microbiome, and medical interventions that can potentially damage the microbiome.

  19. Positive Healthy Organizations: Promoting Well-Being, Meaningfulness, and Sustainability in Organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Fabio, Annamaria

    2017-01-01

    This contribution deals with the concept of healthy organizations and starts with a definition of healthy organizations and healthy business. In healthy organizations, culture, climate, and practices create an environment conducive to employee health and safety as well as organizational effectiveness (Lowe, 2010). A healthy organization thus leads to a healthy and successful business (De Smet et al., 2007; Grawitch and Ballard, 2016), underlining the strong link between organizational profitability and workers' well-being. Starting from a positive perspective focused on success and excellence, the contribution describes how positive organizational health psychology evolved from occupational health psychology to positive occupational health psychology stressing the importance of a primary preventive approach. The focus is not on deficiency and failure but on a positive organizational attitude that proposes interventions at different levels: individual, group, organization, and inter-organization. Healthy organizations need to find the right balance between their particular situation, sector, and culture, highlighting the importance of well-being and sustainability. This contribution discusses also the sustainability of work-life projects and the meaning of work in healthy organizations, stressing the importance of recognizing, respecting, and using the meaning of work as a key for growth and success. Finally, the contribution discusses new research and intervention opportunities for healthy organizations.

  20. Mediterranean diet: from a healthy diet to a sustainable dietary pattern

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandro eDernini

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The notion of the Mediterranean Diet has undergone a progressive evolution over the past 60 years, from a healthy dietary pattern to a sustainable dietary pattern, in which nutrition, food, cultures, people, environment and sustainability all interact into a new model of a sustainable diet. An overview of the historical antecedents and recent increased interest in the Mediterranean diet is presented and challenges related how to improve the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet are identified. Despite its increasing popularity worldwide, adherence to the Mediterranean diet model is decreasing for multifactorial influences – life styles changes, food globalization, economic and socio-cultural factors. These changes pose serious threats to the preservation and transmission of the Mediterranean diet heritage to present and future generations. Today’s challenge is to reverse such trends. A greater focus on the Mediterranean diet's potential as a sustainable dietary pattern, instead than just on its well documented healthy benefits, can contribute to its enhancement. More cross-disciplinary studies on environmental, economic and socio-cultural, sustainability dimensions of the Mediterranean diet are foreseen as a critical need.

  1. Mediterranean Diet: From a Healthy Diet to a Sustainable Dietary Pattern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dernini, Sandro; Berry, Elliot M

    2015-01-01

    The notion of the Mediterranean diet has undergone a progressive evolution over the past 60 years, from a healthy dietary pattern to a sustainable dietary pattern, in which nutrition, food, cultures, people, environment, and sustainability all interact into a new model of a sustainable diet. An overview of the historical antecedents and recent increased interest in the Mediterranean diet is presented and challenges related to how to improve the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet are identified. Despite its increasing popularity worldwide, adherence to the Mediterranean diet model is decreasing for multifactorial influences - life styles changes, food globalization, economic, and socio-cultural factors. These changes pose serious threats to the preservation and transmission of the Mediterranean diet heritage to present and future generations. Today's challenge is to reverse such trends. A greater focus on the Mediterranean diet's potential as a sustainable dietary pattern, instead than just on its well-documented healthy benefits, can contribute to its enhancement. More cross-disciplinary studies on environmental, economic and socio-cultural, and sustainability dimensions of the Mediterranean diet are foreseen as a critical need.

  2. Mediterranean Diet: From a Healthy Diet to a Sustainable Dietary Pattern

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dernini, Sandro; Berry, Elliot M.

    2015-01-01

    The notion of the Mediterranean diet has undergone a progressive evolution over the past 60 years, from a healthy dietary pattern to a sustainable dietary pattern, in which nutrition, food, cultures, people, environment, and sustainability all interact into a new model of a sustainable diet. An overview of the historical antecedents and recent increased interest in the Mediterranean diet is presented and challenges related to how to improve the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet are identified. Despite its increasing popularity worldwide, adherence to the Mediterranean diet model is decreasing for multifactorial influences – life styles changes, food globalization, economic, and socio-cultural factors. These changes pose serious threats to the preservation and transmission of the Mediterranean diet heritage to present and future generations. Today’s challenge is to reverse such trends. A greater focus on the Mediterranean diet’s potential as a sustainable dietary pattern, instead than just on its well-documented healthy benefits, can contribute to its enhancement. More cross-disciplinary studies on environmental, economic and socio-cultural, and sustainability dimensions of the Mediterranean diet are foreseen as a critical need. PMID:26284249

  3. Maintaining Healthy Skin -- Part 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... with no breaks in the surface. It is warm (not hot or red) and neither dry and flaky nor moist and wrinkled. Healthy skin is a mirror of a healthy body. How to take care of your skin NUTRITION: To keep your skin healthy, eat a well- ...

  4. Mediterranean Diet: From a Healthy Diet to a Sustainable Dietary Pattern

    OpenAIRE

    Dernini, Sandro; Berry, Elliot M.

    2015-01-01

    The notion of the Mediterranean diet has undergone a progressive evolution over the past 60 years, from a healthy dietary pattern to a sustainable dietary pattern, in which nutrition, food, cultures, people, environment, and sustainability all interact into a new model of a sustainable diet. An overview of the historical antecedents and recent increased interest in the Mediterranean diet is presented and challenges related to how to improve the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet are ide...

  5. Sustainability and public health nutrition at school: assessing the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in Vancouver schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Jennifer L; Velazquez, Cayley E; Ahmadi, Naseam; Chapman, Gwen E; Carten, Sarah; Edward, Joshua; Shulhan, Stephanie; Stephens, Teya; Rojas, Alejandro

    2015-09-01

    To describe the development and application of the School Food Environment Assessment Tools and a novel scoring system to assess the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in elementary and secondary schools. The cross-sectional study included direct observations of physical food environments and interviews with key school personnel regarding food-related programmes and policies. A five-point scoring system was then developed to assess actions across six domains: (i) food gardens; (ii) composting systems; (iii) food preparation activities; (iv) food-related teaching and learning activities; and availability of (v) healthy food; and (vi) environmentally sustainable food. Vancouver, Canada. A purposive sample of public schools (n 33) from all six sectors of the Vancouver Board of Education. Schools scored highest in the areas of food garden and compost system development and use. Regular integration of food-related teaching and learning activities and hands-on food preparation experiences were also commonly reported. Most schools demonstrated rudimentary efforts to make healthy and environmentally sustainable food choices available, but in general scored lowest on these two domains. Moreover, no schools reported widespread initiatives fully supporting availability or integration of healthy or environmentally sustainable foods across campus. More work is needed in all areas to fully integrate programmes and policies that support healthy, environmentally sustainable food systems in Vancouver schools. The assessment tools and proposed indicators offer a practical approach for researchers, policy makers and school stakeholders to assess school food system environments, identify priority areas for intervention and track relevant changes over time.

  6. Best Practices for Financial Sustainability of Healthy Food Service Guidelines in Hospital Cafeterias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jilcott Pitts, Stephanie; Schwartz, Brittany; Graham, John; Warnock, Amy Lowry; Mojica, Angelo; Marziale, Erin; Harris, Diane

    2018-05-17

    In February and March 2017 we examined barriers and facilitators to financial sustainability of healthy food service guidelines and synthesized best practices for financial sustainability in retail operations. We conducted qualitative, in-depth interviews with 8 hospital food service directors to learn more about barriers and facilitators to financial sustainability of healthy food service guidelines in retail food service operations. Analysts organized themes around headers in the interview guide and also made note of emerging themes not in the original guide. They used the code occurrence and co-occurrence features in Dedoose version 7.0.23 (SocioCultural Research Consultants) independently to analyze patterns across the interviews and to pull illustrative quotes for analysis. Two overarching themes emerged, related to 1) the demand for and sales of healthy foods and beverages, and 2) the production and supply of healthy foods and beverages. Our study provides insights into how hospital food service directors can maximize revenue and remain financially viable while selling healthier options in on-site dining facilities.

  7. The "Som la Pera" intervention: sustainability capacity evaluation of a peer-led social-marketing intervention to encourage healthy lifestyles among adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Llauradó, Elisabet; Aceves-Martins, Magaly; Tarro, Lucia; Papell-Garcia, Ignasi; Puiggròs, Francesc; Prades-Tena, Jordi; Kettner, Helle; Arola, Lluis; Giralt, Montse; Solà, Rosa

    2018-02-10

    Sustainability capacity, always considered a challenge, is the ability to maintain effective long-term intervention in a community. The aim of the study was to improve the sustainability capacity of effective "Som la Pera," a school-based, peer-led, social-marketing intervention that encourages healthy diet and physical activity, in low socioeconomic adolescents from Spain. The sustainability capacity was analyzed by a "programme sustainability assessment tool (PSAT)" comprising eight domains: political support, funding stability, partnerships, organizational capacity, programme evaluation, programme adaptation, communications, and strategic planning. Each domain was evaluated from 1 (no or to a small extent) to 7 points (to a great extent). The final score for sustainability capacity was the mean of the eight domain scores. The PSAT was assessed by nine professionals (researchers, staff members, and stakeholders) at two periods during intervention implementation: end of the first year (January 2015) and end of the second year (September 2015). At the end of the first year, strategic planning (4.43 ± 1.98) and funding stability (4.38 ± 1) were considered deficient domains, and at the end of the second year, these domains had improved by 1.67 points (p =.043) and 0.59 points (p = .159), respectively. The funding stability increase was not significant because only one of the five specific items, "policies implemented to ensure sustained funding," improved by 1.08 points (p = .036). The sustainability capacity final score was 5.93 ± 1.13. The sustainability capacity assessment during the intervention allows its improvement before the programme expires, ensuring the long-term implementation of the "Som la Pera" intervention programme to encourage healthy lifestyles in adolescents. © Society of Behavioral Medicine 2018. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Meta-principles for developing smart, sustainable, and healthy cities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramaswami, Anu; Russell, Armistead G; Culligan, Patricia J; Sharma, Karnamadakala Rahul; Kumar, Emani

    2016-05-20

    Policy directives in several nations are focusing on the development of smart cities, linking innovations in the data sciences with the goal of advancing human well-being and sustainability on a highly urbanized planet. To achieve this goal, smart initiatives must move beyond city-level data to a higher-order understanding of cities as transboundary, multisectoral, multiscalar, social-ecological-infrastructural systems with diverse actors, priorities, and solutions. We identify five key dimensions of cities and present eight principles to focus attention on the systems-level decisions that society faces to transition toward a smart, sustainable, and healthy urban future. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  9. Maintaining and restoring sustainable ecosystems in southern Nevada [Chapter 7] (Executive Summary)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeanne C. Chambers; Burton K. Pendleton; Donald W. Sada; Steven M. Ostoja; Matthew L.. Brooks

    2013-01-01

    Resource managers in southern Nevada are faced with the challenge of determining appropriate goals and objectives and developing viable approaches for maintaining and restoring sustainable ecosystems in the face of rapid socio-ecological and environmental change. Many of southern Nevada’s ecosystems are being subjected to anthropogenic stressors that span global,...

  10. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Standards of professional performance for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (Competent, Proficient, and Expert) in Sustainable, Resilient, and Healthy Food and Water Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tagtow, Angie; Robien, Kim; Bergquist, Erin; Bruening, Meg; Dierks, Lisa; Hartman, Barbara E; Robinson-O'Brien, Ramona; Steinitz, Tamara; Tahsin, Bettina; Underwood, Teri; Wilkins, Jennifer

    2014-03-01

    Sustainability is the ability of a system to be maintained over the long term. Resilience is the ability of a system to withstand disturbances and continue to function in a sustainable manner. Issues of sustainability and resilience apply to all aspects of nutrition and dietetics practice, can be practiced at both the program and systems level, and are broader than any one specific practice setting or individual intervention. Given an increasing need to apply principles of sustainability and resilience to nutrition and dietetics practice, as well as growing interest among the public and by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists of health issues related to food and water systems, the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group, with guidance from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Quality Management Committee, has developed the Standards of Professional Performance as a tool for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists working in sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems to assess their current skill levels and to identify areas for further professional development in this emerging practice area. This Standards of Professional Performance document covers six standards of professional performance: quality in practice, competence and accountability, provision of services, application of research, communication and application of knowledge, and utilization and management of resources. Within each standard, specific indicators provide measurable action statements that illustrate how sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems principles can be applied to practice. The indicators describe three skill levels (competent, proficient, and expert) for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists working in sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems. Copyright © 2014 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Diversifying Food Systems in the Pursuit of Sustainable Food Production and Healthy Diets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dwivedi, Sangam L.; Lammerts van Bueren, Edith T.; Ceccarelli, Salvatore; Grando, Stefania; Upadhyaya, Hari D.; Ortiz, Rodomiro

    2017-01-01

    Increasing demand for nutritious, safe, and healthy food because of a growing population, and the pledge to maintain biodiversity and other resources, pose a major challenge to agriculture that is already threatened by a changing climate. Diverse and healthy diets, largely based on plant-derived

  12. Sustainable healthy eating behaviour of young adults: towards a novel methodological approach

    OpenAIRE

    Pieniak, Z; Żakowska-Biemans, S; Kostyra, E; Raats, MM

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Background Food, nutrition and health policy makers are poised with two pertinent issues more than any other: obesity and climate change. Consumer research has focused primarily on specific areas of sustainable food, such as organic food, local or traditional food, meat substitution and/or reduction. More holistic view of sustainable healthy eating behaviour has received less attention, albeit that more research is emerging in this area. Methods/design This study protocol that aims t...

  13. Breeding and maintaining high-quality insects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kim; Kristensen, Torsten Nygård; Heckmann, Lars-Henrik

    2017-01-01

    Insects have a large potential for sustainably enhancing global food and feed production, and commercial insect production is a rising industry of high economic value. Insects suitable for production typically have fast growth, short generation time, efficient nutrient utilization, high...... reproductive potential, and thrive at high density. Insects may cost-efficiently convert agricultural and industrial food by-products into valuable protein once the technology is finetuned. However, since insect mass production is a new industry, the technology needed to efficiently farm these animals is still...... in a starting phase. Here, we discuss the challenges and precautions that need to be considered when breeding and maintaining high-quality insect populations for food and feed. This involves techniques typically used in domestic animal breeding programs including maintaining genetically healthy populations...

  14. Healthy meals at worksite canteens - Social shaping as a framework for understanding sustainable interventions

    OpenAIRE

    Thorsen, Anne Vibeke; Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard; Mikkelsen, Bent Egberg

    2010-01-01

    The challenge of public health nutrition in relation to worksite settings is to improve access to healthier meal options – especially for the groups with a lower educational level. Strategies changing the dietary environment such as increasing the availability of healthy food and reducing barriers towards healthy eating may help consumers change dietary behavior and meet the guidelines for a healthy diet. The sustainability of interventions is found to be a central challenge in public health ...

  15. Healthy and sustainable diets for future generations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Hilary; Broun, Pierre; Cook, Douglas; Cooper, Karen; Drewnowski, Adam; Pollard, Duncan; Sweeney, Gary; Roulin, Anne

    2018-07-01

    Global food systems will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years. They will need to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population and feed an expanding demand for proteins. This is against a backdrop of increasing environmental challenges (water resources, climate change, soil health) and the need to improve farming livelihoods. Collaborative efforts by a variety of stakeholders are needed to ensure that future generations have access to healthy and sustainable diets. Food will play an increasingly important role in the global discourse on health. These topics were explored during Nestlé's second international conference on 'Planting Seeds for the Future of Food: The Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability Nexus', which took place in July 2017. This article discusses some of the key issues from the perspective of three major stakeholder groups, namely farming/agriculture, the food industry and consumers. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

  16. [Reduce Energy Costs While Maintaining Healthy IAQ.] "Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools" Update #17

    Science.gov (United States)

    US Environmental Protection Agency, 2009

    2009-01-01

    This issue of "Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools" Update ("IAQ TfS" Update) contains the following items: (1) News and Events; (2) Feature Article: Reduce Energy Costs while Maintaining Healthy IAQ; (3) Insight into Excellence: North East Independent School District ; (4) School Building Week 2009; and (5) Have Your Questions Answered!

  17. Demographic Variables and Selective, Sustained Attention and Planning through Cognitive Tasks among Healthy Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Afsaneh Zarghi

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Cognitive tasks are considered to be applicable and appropriate in assessing cognitive domains. The purpose of our study is to determine the relationship existence between variables of age, sex and education with selective, sustained attention and planning abilities by means of computerized cognitive tasks among healthy adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented during 6 months from June to November, 2010 on 84 healthy adults (42 male and 42 female. The whole participants performed computerized CPT, STROOP and TOL tests after being content and trained. Results: The obtained data indicate that there is a significant correlation coefficient between age, sex and education variables (p<0.05. Discussion: The above-mentioned tests can be used to assess selective, sustained attention and planning.

  18. Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oostindjer, Marije; Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Wang, Qing; Skuland, Silje Elisabeth; Egelandsdal, Bjørg; Amdam, Gro V; Schjøll, Alexander; Pachucki, Mark C; Rozin, Paul; Stein, Jarrett; Lengard Almli, Valerie; Van Kleef, Ellen

    2017-12-12

    There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed.

  19. Chicago Clean Air, Clean Water Project: Environmental Monitoring for a Healthy, Sustainable Urban Future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    none, none; Tuchman, Nancy [Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES), Chicago, IL (United States)

    2015-11-11

    The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Loyola University Chicago and the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES) $486,000.00 for the proposal entitled “Chicago clean air, clean water project: Environmental monitoring for a healthy, sustainable urban future.” The project supported the purchase of analytical instruments for the development of an environmental analytical laboratory. The analytical laboratory is designed to support the testing of field water and soil samples for nutrients, industrial pollutants, heavy metals, and agricultural toxins, with special emphasis on testing Chicago regional soils and water affected by coal-based industry. Since the award was made in 2010, the IES has been launched (fall 2013), and the IES acquired a new state-of-the-art research and education facility on Loyola University Chicago’s Lakeshore campus. Two labs were included in the research and education facility. The second floor lab is the Ecology Laboratory where lab experiments and analyses are conducted on soil, plant, and water samples. The third floor lab is the Environmental Toxicology Lab where lab experiments on environmental toxins are conducted, as well as analytical tests conducted on water, soil, and plants. On the south end of the Environmental Toxicology Lab is the analytical instrumentation collection purchased from the present DOE grant, which is overseen by a full time Analytical Chemist (hired January 2016), who maintains the instruments, conducts analyses on samples, and helps to train faculty and undergraduate and graduate student researchers.

  20. Feature bindings are maintained in visual short-term memory without sustained focused attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delvenne, Jean-François; Cleeremans, Axel; Laloyaux, Cédric

    2010-01-01

    Does the maintenance of feature bindings in visual short-term memory (VSTM) require sustained focused attention? This issue was investigated in three experiments, in which memory for single features (i.e., colors or shapes) was compared with memory for feature bindings (i.e., the link between the color and shape of an object). Attention was manipulated during the memory retention interval with a retro-cue, which allows attention to be directed and focused on a subset of memory items. The retro-cue was presented 700 ms after the offset of the memory display and 700 ms before the onset of the test display. If the maintenance of feature bindings - but not of individual features - in memory requires sustained focused attention, the retro-cue should not affect memory performance. Contrary to this prediction, we found that both memory for feature bindings and memory for individual features were equally improved by the retro-cue. Therefore, this finding does not support the view that the sustained focused attention is needed to properly maintain feature bindings in VSTM.

  1. Demographic Variables and Selective, Sustained Attention and Planning through Cognitive Tasks among Healthy Adults

    OpenAIRE

    Afsaneh Zarghi; Zali; A; Tehranidost; M; Mohammad Reza Zarindast; Ashrafi; F; Doroodgar; Khodadadi

    2011-01-01

    Introduction: Cognitive tasks are considered to be applicable and appropriate in assessing cognitive domains. The purpose of our study is to determine the relationship existence between variables of age, sex and education with selective, sustained attention and planning abilities by means of computerized cognitive tasks among healthy adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented during 6 months from June to November, 2010 on 84 healthy adults (42 male and 42 female). The whole part...

  2. The Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program: The Environmental Protection Agency’s Research Approach to Assisting Community Decision-Making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kevin Summers

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A sustainable world is one in which human needs are met equitably and without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs on environmental, economic, and social fronts. The United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program aims to assist communities (large and small to make decisions for their long term sustainability with respect to the three pillars of human well-being—environmental, economic and social—and are tempered in a way that ensures social equity, environmental justice and intergenerational equity. The primary tool being developed by the Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC research program to enhance sustainable decision making is called TRIO (Total Resources Impacts and Outcomes. The conceptual development of this tool and the SHC program attributes are discussed.

  3. Cost-free and sustainable incentive increases healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittman, D W; Parker, J S; Getz, B R; Jackson, C M; Le, T-A P; Riggs, S B; Shay, J M

    2012-01-01

    We aimed to develop a cost-free and sustainable program to influence healthier eating decisions during elementary school lunch. Baseline food and beverage choices were assessed for 9 days during lunch service at two racially and economically diverse elementary schools in Spartanburg County, SC, USA. After being informed that the labeled items on the daily lunch menu represented the healthiest choice, students were allowed to ring a call bell in the cafeteria for public recognition when they chose all of the identified healthiest food and beverage items during lunch service. Using menus matched to the baseline phase, food and beverage choices were measured during a 9-day intervention phase. After 30 days, food and beverage choices were reassessed during a 3-day follow-up phase. Healthiest food & beverage choices increased 49% with >60% of students choosing non-flavored milk over flavored milk during the intervention phase. There was no difference in the success of the program between the two schools. The program continued and healthy eating decisions were significantly sustained at a 30-day follow-up assessment. Public recognition through bell ringing appears to be an effective practice to sustain increases in healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch and warrants expansion to larger scale, longitudinal trials.

  4. Towards an integral approach to sustainable agriculture and healthy nutrition : vision of the Scientific Council for Integral Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weijden, van der W.J.; Huber, M.A.S.; Jetten, T.H.; Blom, P.; Egmond, Van N.D.; Lauwers, L.; Ommen, van B.; Vilsteren, van A.; Wijffels, H.H.F.; Zijpp, van der A.J.; Lammerts Van Bueren, E.

    2012-01-01

    Sustainable agriculture and healthy nutrition are high on the social agenda. Work is now being done to face both challenges, often with measurable success. However, huge changes are still needed and some problems have even been exacerbated. Although agriculture and nutrition are closely linked, both

  5. Soil management practices for sustainable crop production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abalos, E.B.

    2005-01-01

    In a sustainable system, the soil is viewed as a fragile and living medium that must be protected and nurtured to ensure its long-term productivity and stability. However, due to high demand for food brought about by high population as well as the decline in agricultural lands, the soil is being exploited beyond its limit thus, leading to poor or sick soils. Sound soil management practices in the Philippines is being reviewed. The technologies, including the advantages and disadvantages are hereby presented. This includes proper cropping systems, fertilizer program, soil erosion control and correcting soil acidity. Sound soil management practices which conserve organic matter for long-term sustainability includes addition of compost, maintaining soil cover, increasing aggregates stability, soil tilt and diversity of soil microbial life. A healthy soil is a key component to sustainability as a health soil produce healthy crop plants and have optimum vigor or less susceptible to pests. (author)

  6. Enhancing a sustainable healthy working life: design of a clustered randomized controlled trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koolhaas Wendy

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To improve a sustainable healthy working life, we have developed the intervention 'Staying healthy at work', which endeavours to enhance work participation of employees aged 45 years and older by increasing their problem-solving capacity and stimulating their awareness of their role and responsibility towards a healthy working life. This research study aims to evaluate the process and the effectiveness of the intervention compared with care as usual. Methods/design The study is a cluster-randomized controlled trial design (randomized at the supervisor level, with a 1-year follow-up. Workers aged 45 years and older have been enrolled in the study. Workers in the intervention group are receiving the intervention 'Staying healthy at work'. The main focus of the intervention is to promote a healthy working life of ageing workers by: (1 changing workers awareness and behaviour, by emphasizing their own decisive role in attaining goals; (2 improving the supervisors' ability to support workers in taking the necessary action, by means of enhancing knowledge and competence; and (3 enhancing the use of the human resource professionals and the occupational health tools available within the organization. The supervisors in the intervention group have been trained how to present themselves as a source of support for the worker. Workers in the control group are receiving care as usual; supervisors in the control group have not participated in the training. Measurements have been taken at baseline and will be followed up at 3, 6 and 12 months. The primary outcome measures are vitality, work ability and productivity. The secondary outcomes measures include fatigue, job strain, work attitude, self-efficacy and work engagement. A process evaluation will be conducted at both the supervisor and the worker levels, and satisfaction with the content of the intervention will be assessed. Discussion The intervention 'Staying healthy at work' has the

  7. Quantifying economic sustainability. Implications for free-enterprise theory, policy and practice

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goerner, Sally J. [Integral Science Institute, 374 Wesley Ct, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (United States); Lietaer, Bernard [Center for Sustainable Resources, 101 Giannini Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3100 (United States); Ulanowicz, Robert E. [University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, MD 20688-0038 (United States)

    2009-11-15

    In a previous paper (Ulanowicz, Goerner, Lietaer, and Gomez, 2009), we combined thermodynamic, network, and information theoretic measures with research on real-life ecosystems to create a generalized, quantitative measure of sustainability for any complex, matter/energy flow system. The current paper explores how this metric and its related concepts can be used to provide a new narrative for long-term economic health and sustainability. Based on a system's ability to maintain a crucial balance between two equally essential, but complementary factors, resilience and efficiency, this generic explanation of the network structure needed to maintain long-term robustness provides the missing theoretical explanation for what constitutes healthy development and the mathematical means to differentiate it quantitatively from mere growth. Matching long-standing observations of sustainable vitality in natural ecosystems and living organisms, the result is a much clearer, more accurate understanding of the conditions needed for free-enterprise networks to produce the kind of sustainable vitality everyone desires, one which enhances and reliably maintains the health and well-being of all levels of global civilization as well as the planet. (author)

  8. Coupling between skeletal muscle fiber size and capillarization is maintained during healthy aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnouin, Yoann; McPhee, Jamie S; Butler-Browne, Gillian; Bosutti, Alessandra; De Vito, Giuseppe; Jones, David A; Narici, Marco; Behin, Anthony; Hogrel, Jean-Yves; Degens, Hans

    2017-08-01

    As muscle capillarization is related to the oxidative capacity of the muscle and the size of muscle fibres, capillary rarefaction may contribute to sarcopenia and functional impairment in older adults. Therefore, it is important to assess how ageing affects muscle capillarization and the interrelationship between fibre capillary supply with the oxidative capacity and size of the fibres. Muscle biopsies from healthy recreationally active young (22 years; 14 men and 5 women) and older (74 years; 22 men and 6 women) people were assessed for muscle capillarization and the distribution of capillaries with the method of capillary domains. Oxidative capacity of muscle fibres was assessed with quantitative histochemistry for succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity. There was no significant age-related reduction in muscle fibre oxidative capacity. Despite 18% type II fibre atrophy (P = 0.019) and 23% fewer capillaries per fibre (P age and sex. Based on SDH, the maximal oxygen consumption supported by a capillary did not differ significantly between young and old people. The similar quantitative and qualitative distribution of capillaries within muscle from healthy recreationally active older people and young adults indicates that the age-related capillary rarefaction, which does occur, nevertheless maintains the coupling between skeletal muscle fibre size and capillarization during healthy ageing. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders.

  9. Maintaining the CSR-identity of Sustainable Entrepreneurial Firms: The role of corporate governance in periods of business growth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roelofsen, M.; Blok, V.; Wubben, E.F.M.

    2015-01-01

    This chapter focuses on the maintenance of the CSR-identity of sustainable entrepreneurial firms (SEFs) during periods of business growth. Our aim is to explore to what extent corporate governance mechanisms can be seen as effective mechanisms to maintain the CSR-identity of growing SEFs. To this

  10. Sustainability : a new look at healthy people and workplaces = Sostenibilidad : una nueva imagen de personas y entornos de trabajo saludables

    OpenAIRE

    Neault, Roberta

    2009-01-01

    In this article, based on a presentation at the International Association of Educational and Vocational Guidance conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September 2009, environmental sustainability is introduced as a metaphor to help examine individual and organizational sustainability. To begin, sustainability challenges are presented, followed by a discussion of the disconnect between public commitments to supporting work-life balance and healthy workplaces and the realities individuals c...

  11. Promoting healthy eating, active play and sustainability consciousness in early childhood curricula, addressing the Ben10™ problem: a randomised control trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skouteris, Helen; Edwards, Susan; Rutherford, Leonie; Cutter-MacKenzie, Amy; Huang, Terry; O'Connor, Amanda

    2014-06-03

    This paper details the research protocol for a study funded by the Australian Research Council. An integrated approach towards helping young children respond to the significant pressures of '360 degree marketing' on their food choices, levels of active play, and sustainability consciousness via the early childhood curriculum is lacking. The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of curriculum interventions that educators design when using a pedagogical communication strategy on children's knowledge about healthy eating, active play and the sustainability consequences of their toy food and toy selections. This cluster-randomised trial will be conducted with 300, 4 to 5 year-old children attending pre-school. Early childhood educators will develop a curriculum intervention using a pedagogical communication strategy that integrates content knowledge about healthy eating, active play and sustainability consciousness and deliver this to their pre-school class. Children will be interviewed about their knowledge of healthy eating, active play and the sustainability consequences of their food and toy selections. Parents will complete an Eating and Physical Activity Questionnaire rating their children's food preferences, digital media viewing and physical activity habits. All measures will be administered at baseline, the end of the intervention and 6 months post intervention. Informed consent will be obtained from all parents and the pre-school classes will be allocated randomly to the intervention or wait-list control group. This study is the first to utilise an integrated pedagogical communication strategy developed specifically for early childhood educators focusing on children's healthy eating, active play, and sustainability consciousness. The significance of the early childhood period, for young children's learning about healthy eating, active play and sustainability, is now unquestioned. The specific teaching and learning practices used by early

  12. FROM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT. THE ECOLONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantin, POPESCU

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Development represents an ecolonomic phenomenon whose fruitage falls within the exigencies of 'harmony of integrated live integers'. The current sustainable aspect of the development is incomplete and does not correspond to the requirements of live integer, as world realities present poverty within abundance, pollution in and from developed and undeveloped countries, inhuman social inequalities, a serious waste of ecolonomic esources because of their use especially in the cosmotechnic alarming field. The way from sustainable development to healthy development is conditioned by the replacement of the current institutional value 'no one is above law', with the wisdom 'no one is above love and truth'. Such long term, comprehensive process is favoured by the transition from the current competence-based educational model to the one of education in the cause of life, based on values. The methodology of approaching such subject is 'nestled' in recent trans-disciplinary, holistic research, to which there contribute quantum physics, holistic medicine, systemic biology, transpersonal psychology and new openings of economic approach considering life as a live organism. There is a fundamental, long term objective interpreting economic life from the perspective of the paradigm 'health of live integer' and sliding partial objectives related to reconstruction of current concepts, theories and policies and their integration in the criterion of people's happiness.

  13. Effect of sustained-release isosorbide dinitrate on post-prandial gastric emptying and gastroduodenal motility in healthy humans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Jan Lysgård; Rasmussen, S L; Linnet, J

    2004-01-01

    and gastroduodenal motility after a meal. Eleven healthy volunteers participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. Each subject ingested 40 mg isosorbide dinitrate orally as a sustained-release formulation or oral placebo, in random order. Gastric emptying and gastroduodenal motility were...... consecutive 15-min periods. A 40 mg single dose of sustained-released isosorbide dinitrate does not seem to alter gastric emptying or gastroduodenal motility after a meal.......Nitric oxide (NO) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter released by non-adrenergic and non-cholinergic neurons that innervate the smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract. We examined whether NO, derived from a sustained-release preparation of isosorbide dinitrate, influenced gastric emptying...

  14. Elements That Contribute to Healthy Building Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loftness, Vivian; Hakkinen, Bert; Adan, Olaf; Nevalainen, Aino

    2007-01-01

    Background The elements that contribute to a healthy building are multifactorial and can be discussed from different perspectives. Objectives We present three viewpoints of designing a healthy building: the importance of sustainable development, the role of occupants for ensuring indoor air quality, and ongoing developments related to indoor finishes with low chemical emissions and good fungal resistance. Discussion Sustainable design rediscovers the social, environmental, and technical values of pedestrian and mixed-use communities, using existing infrastructures including “main streets” and small-town planning principles and recapturing indoor–outdoor relationships. This type of design introduces nonpolluting materials and assemblies with lower energy requirements and higher durability and recyclability. Building occupants play a major role in maintaining healthy indoor environments, especially in residences. Contributors to indoor air quality include cleaning habits and other behaviors; consumer products, furnishings, and appliances purchases, as well as where and how the occupants use them. Certification of consumer products and building materials as low-emitting products is a primary control measure for achieving good indoor air quality. Key products in this respect are office furniture, flooring, paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, wall coverings, wood products, textiles, insulation, and cleaning products. Finishing materials play a major role in the quality of indoor air as related to moisture retention and mold growth. Conclusions Sustainable design emphasizes the needs of infrastructure, lower energy consumption, durability, and recyclability. To ensure good indoor air quality, the product development for household use should aim to reduce material susceptibility to contaminants such as mold and should adopt consumer-oriented product labeling. PMID:17589608

  15. Elements that contribute to healthy building design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loftness, Vivian; Hakkinen, Bert; Adan, Olaf; Nevalainen, Aino

    2007-06-01

    The elements that contribute to a healthy building are multifactorial and can be discussed from different perspectives. WE PRESENT THREE VIEWPOINTS OF DESIGNING A HEALTHY BUILDING: the importance of sustainable development, the role of occupants for ensuring indoor air quality, and ongoing developments related to indoor finishes with low chemical emissions and good fungal resistance. Sustainable design rediscovers the social, environmental, and technical values of pedestrian and mixed-use communities, using existing infrastructures including "main streets" and small-town planning principles and recapturing indoor-outdoor relationships. This type of design introduces nonpolluting materials and assemblies with lower energy requirements and higher durability and recyclability. Building occupants play a major role in maintaining healthy indoor environments, especially in residences. Contributors to indoor air quality include cleaning habits and other behaviors; consumer products, furnishings, and appliances purchases, as well as where and how the occupants use them. Certification of consumer products and building materials as low-emitting products is a primary control measure for achieving good indoor air quality. Key products in this respect are office furniture, flooring, paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, wall coverings, wood products, textiles, insulation, and cleaning products. Finishing materials play a major role in the quality of indoor air as related to moisture retention and mold growth. Sustainable design emphasizes the needs of infrastructure, lower energy consumption, durability, and recyclability. To ensure good indoor air quality, the product development for household use should aim to reduce material susceptibility to contaminants such as mold and should adopt consumer-oriented product labeling.

  16. Sustainability, capitalism and evolution: Nature conservation is not a matter of maintaining human development and welfare in a healthy environment

    OpenAIRE

    Rull, Valentí

    2011-01-01

    Capitalism and sustainable development are mutually exclusive. To protect the environment we need to develop alternative economic systems, even if some predict the next man-made mass extinction is already inevitable.

  17. Eating Healthy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... There is much we can do to promote healthy eating habits. Together we can prevent or delay onset of diabetes, obesity and other chronic conditions and diseases. Benefits Helps maintain a healthy weight A healthy weight reduces risk of chronic ...

  18. Tips for Healthy Voices

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... prevent voice problems and maintain a healthy voice: Drink water (stay well hydrated): Keeping your body well hydrated by drinking plenty of water each day (6-8 glasses) is essential to maintaining a healthy voice. The ...

  19. Authentic leaders creating healthy work environments for nursing practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirey, Maria R

    2006-05-01

    Implementation of authentic leadership can affect not only the nursing workforce and the profession but the healthcare delivery system and society as a whole. Creating a healthy work environment for nursing practice is crucial to maintain an adequate nursing workforce; the stressful nature of the profession often leads to burnout, disability, and high absenteeism and ultimately contributes to the escalating shortage of nurses. Leaders play a pivotal role in retention of nurses by shaping the healthcare practice environment to produce quality outcomes for staff nurses and patients. Few guidelines are available, however, for creating and sustaining the critical elements of a healthy work environment. In 2005, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses released a landmark publication specifying 6 standards (skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership) necessary to establish and sustain healthy work environments in healthcare. Authentic leadership was described as the "glue" needed to hold together a healthy work environment. Now, the roles and relationships of authentic leaders in the healthy work environment are clarified as follows: An expanded definition of authentic leadership and its attributes (eg, genuineness, trustworthiness, reliability, compassion, and believability) is presented. Mechanisms by which authentic leaders can create healthy work environments for practice (eg, engaging employees in the work environment to promote positive behaviors) are described. A practical guide on how to become an authentic leader is advanced. A research agenda to advance the study of authentic leadership in nursing practice through collaboration between nursing and business is proposed.

  20. Naked mole-rats maintain healthy skeletal muscle and Complex IV mitochondrial enzyme function into old age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoll, Elizabeth A; Karapavlovic, Nevena; Rosa, Hannah; Woodmass, Michael; Rygiel, Karolina; White, Kathryn; Turnbull, Douglass M; Faulkes, Chris G

    2016-12-19

    The naked mole-rat (NMR) Heterocephalus glaber is an exceptionally long-lived rodent, living up to 32 years in captivity. This extended lifespan is accompanied by a phenotype of negligible senescence, a phenomenon of very slow changes in the expected physiological characteristics with age. One of the many consequences of normal aging in mammals is the devastating and progressive loss of skeletal muscle, termed sarcopenia, caused in part by respiratory enzyme dysfunction within the mitochondria of skeletal muscle fibers. Here we report that NMRs avoid sarcopenia for decades. Muscle fiber integrity and mitochondrial ultrastructure are largely maintained in aged animals. While mitochondrial Complex IV expression and activity remains stable, Complex I expression is significantly decreased. We show that aged naked mole-rat skeletal muscle tissue contains some mitochondrial DNA rearrangements, although the common mitochondrial DNA deletions associated with aging in human and other rodent skeletal muscles are not present. Interestingly, NMR skeletal muscle fibers demonstrate a significant increase in mitochondrial DNA copy number. These results have intriguing implications for the role of mitochondria in aging, suggesting Complex IV, but not Complex I, function is maintained in the long-lived naked mole rat, where sarcopenia is avoided and healthy muscle function is maintained for decades.

  1. A Novel Dietary Assessment Method to Measure a Healthy and Sustainable Diet Using the Mobile Food Record: Protocol and Methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harray, Amelia J; Boushey, Carol J; Pollard, Christina M; Delp, Edward J; Ahmad, Ziad; Dhaliwal, Satvinder S; Mukhtar, Syed Aqif; Kerr, Deborah A

    2015-07-03

    The world-wide rise in obesity parallels growing concerns of global warming and depleting natural resources. These issues are often considered separately but there may be considerable benefit to raising awareness of the impact of dietary behaviours and practices on the food supply. Australians have diets inconsistent with recommendations, typically low in fruit and vegetables and high in energy-dense nutrient-poor foods and beverages (EDNP). These EDNP foods are often highly processed and packaged, negatively influencing both health and the environment. This paper describes a proposed dietary assessment method to measure healthy and sustainable dietary behaviours using 4-days of food and beverage images from the mobile food record (mFR) application. The mFR images will be assessed for serves of fruit and vegetables (including seasonality), dairy, eggs and red meat, poultry and fish, ultra-processed EDNP foods, individually packaged foods, and plate waste. A prediction model for a Healthy and Sustainable Diet Index will be developed and tested for validity and reliability. The use of the mFR to assess adherence to a healthy and sustainable diet is a novel and innovative approach to dietary assessment and will have application in population monitoring, guiding intervention development, educating consumers, health professionals and policy makers, and influencing dietary recommendations.

  2. A Novel Dietary Assessment Method to Measure a Healthy and Sustainable Diet Using the Mobile Food Record: Protocol and Methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amelia J. Harray

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The world-wide rise in obesity parallels growing concerns of global warming and depleting natural resources. These issues are often considered separately but there may be considerable benefit to raising awareness of the impact of dietary behaviours and practices on the food supply. Australians have diets inconsistent with recommendations, typically low in fruit and vegetables and high in energy-dense nutrient-poor foods and beverages (EDNP. These EDNP foods are often highly processed and packaged, negatively influencing both health and the environment. This paper describes a proposed dietary assessment method to measure healthy and sustainable dietary behaviours using 4-days of food and beverage images from the mobile food record (mFR application. The mFR images will be assessed for serves of fruit and vegetables (including seasonality, dairy, eggs and red meat, poultry and fish, ultra-processed EDNP foods, individually packaged foods, and plate waste. A prediction model for a Healthy and Sustainable Diet Index will be developed and tested for validity and reliability. The use of the mFR to assess adherence to a healthy and sustainable diet is a novel and innovative approach to dietary assessment and will have application in population monitoring, guiding intervention development, educating consumers, health professionals and policy makers, and influencing dietary recommendations.

  3. Indicator report. Danmark's national strategy for sustainable development: a shared future - balanced development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-08-01

    The Danish vision of sustainable development is based on eight objectives and principles: 1) The welfare society must be developed and economic growth must be decoupled from environmental impacts. 2) There must be a safe and healthy environment for everyone, and we must maintain a high level of protection. 3) We must secure a high degree of bio-diversity and protect ecosystems. 4) Resources must be used more efficiently. 5) We must take action at an international level 6) Environmental considerations must be taken into account in all sectors. 7) The market must support sustainable development. 8) Sustainable development is a shared responsibility and we must measure progress. (au)

  4. Towards healthy and sustainable food consumption: an Australian case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friel, Sharon; Barosh, Laurel J; Lawrence, Mark

    2014-05-01

    To articulate a healthy and sustainable (H&S) diet; outline key health and environmental sustainability principles that can be applied in the selection of foods for inclusion in such a diet; and describe a methodology with which to assess the availability and affordability of a H&S food basket. We synthesized publically available evidence on the environmental impact of different foods from academic, government, industry and non-government sources and constructed a hypothetical H&S equivalent of the typical Australian diet. Based on this, we constructed a weekly H&S food basket for a household of two adults and two children. Australia. Australian populations. The H&S diet is based on three overarching principles: (i) any food that is consumed above a person's energy requirement represents an avoidable environmental burden in the form of greenhouse gas emissions, use of natural resources and pressure on biodiversity; (ii) reducing the consumption of discretionary food choices, which are energy-dense and highly processed and packaged, reduces both the risk of dietary imbalances and the use of environmental resources; and (iii) a diet comprising less animal- and more plant-derived foods delivers both health and ecological benefits. We have focused on the articulation of a H&S diet not to facilitate 'policy drift' to focus on individual dietary choice, but rather to provide evidence to extend dietary guideline recommendations so as to integrate environmental considerations within the scope of food and health policy advice in Australia and elsewhere.

  5. Training impulsive choices for healthy and sustainable food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veling, Harm; Chen, Zhang; Tombrock, Merel C; Verpaalen, Iris A M; Schmitz, Laura I; Dijksterhuis, Ap; Holland, Rob W

    2017-06-01

    Many people find it hard to change their dietary choices. Food choice often occurs impulsively, without deliberation, and it has been unclear whether impulsive food choice can be experimentally created. Across 3 exploratory and 2 confirmatory preregistered experiments we examined whether impulsive food choice can be trained. Participants were cued to make motor responses upon the presentation of, among others, healthy and sustainable food items. They subsequently selected these food items more often for actual consumption when they needed to make their choices impulsively as a result of time pressure. This effect disappeared when participants were asked to think about their choices, merely received more time to make their choices, or when choosing required attention to alternatives. Participants preferred high to low valued food items under time pressure and without time pressure, suggesting that the impulsive choices reflect valid preferences. These findings demonstrate that it is possible to train impulsive choices for food items while leaving deliberative choices for these items unaffected, and connect research on attention training to dual-process theories of decision making. The present research suggests that attention training may lead to behavioral change only when people behave impulsively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oostindjer, Marije; Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Wang, Qing

    2017-01-01

    . School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history...... and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical...

  7. Integrated approach for combining sustainability and safety into a RAM analysis, RAM2S (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Sustainability and Safety) towards greenhouse gases emission targets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alvarenga, Tobias V. [Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Hovik, Oslo (Norway)

    2009-07-01

    This paper aims to present an approach to integrate sustainability and safety concerns on top of a typical RAM Analysis to support new enterprises to find alternatives to align themselves to the greenhouse gases emission targets, measured as CO{sub 2} (carbon dioxide) equivalent. This approach can be used to measure the impact of the potential CO{sub 2} equivalent emission levels mainly related to new enterprises with high CO{sub 2} content towards environment and production, as per example, the extraction of oil and gas from the Brazilian Pre-salt layers. In this sense, this integrated approach, combining Sustainability and Safety into a RAM analysis, RAM2S (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Sustainability and Safety), can be used to assess the impact of CO{sub 2} 'production' along the entire enterprise life-cycle, including the impact of possible facility shutdown due to emission restrictions limits, as well as due to the occurrence of additional failures modes related to CO{sub 2} corrosion capabilities. Thus, at the end, this integrated approach would allow companies to find out a more cost-effective alternative to adapt their business into the global warming reality, overcoming the inherent threats of greenhouse gases. (author)

  8. [The enantioselective pharmacokinetic study of desvenlafaxine sustained release tablet in Chinese healthy male volunteers after oral administration].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yin-xia; Du, Jiang-bo; Zhang, Yi-fan; Chen, Xiao-yan; Zhong, Da-fang

    2015-04-01

    A chiral LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous analysis of desvenlafaxine (DVS) enantiomers in human plasma was developed and applied to a pharmacokinetic study on 12 Chinese healthy volunteers. d6-Desvenlafaxine was used as internal standard (IS). Chromatographic separation was performed on the Astec Chirobiotic V chiral column (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 μm). The assay was linear over the concentration range of 0.500-150 ng x mL(-1) for both enantiomers (r2 > 0.99). The method was successfully applied to a stereoselective pharmacokinetic study of 100 mg desvenlafaxine sustained release tablets on 12 Chinese healthy volunteers under fasting conditions. The results showed that the pharmacokinetic parameters were similar to both enantiomers in Chinese healthy volunteers. The AUC(0-t), and C(max) of the two enantiomers were about 1.5 times higher than those of blacks and whites reported in the literature.

  9. Healthy Weight

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... such diets limit your nutritional intake, can be unhealthy, and tend to fail in the long run. The key to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight isn't about short-term dietary changes. It's about a lifestyle that includes healthy eating, regular physical activity, and ...

  10. Feasibility of Conducting a Randomized Trial to Promote Healthy Eating, Active Play and Sustainability Awareness in Early Childhood Curricula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Heather; Skouteris, Helen; Edwards, Susan; Rutherford, Leonie Margaret; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy; O'Connor, Amanda; Mantilla, Ana; Huang, Terry TK; Lording, Kate Marion; Williams-Smith, Janet

    2016-01-01

    We sought to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a preschool/kindergarten curriculum intervention designed to increase 4-year-old children's knowledge of healthy eating, active play and the sustainability consequences of their food and toy choices. Ninety intervention and 65 control parent/child…

  11. The IAEA, nuclear power and sustainable development. Maintaining and increasing the overall assets available to future generations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    In the framework of one of the fundamental objectives of the IAEA mandate to enhance the contribution of nuclear technologies towards meeting the needs of Member States, the present status, all the aspects, and the future of nuclear power are reviewed. The development of nuclear power broadens the natural resource base usable for energy production, increases human and man-made capital, and when safely handled has little impact on ecosystems. This means that it could meet the central goal of sustainable development, considering that it covers maintaining or increasing the overall assets available to future generations, while minimizing consumption of finite resources and not exceeding the carrying capacities of ecosystems

  12. Toward commercialization of FBR cycle (1). Promotion of R and D on technologies maintaining sustainable society

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagaoki, Yoshihiro; Nagura, Fuminori; Sakaguchi, Tomoyoshi; Kawasaki, Hirotsugu; Kikuchi, Shin

    2008-01-01

    The FBR cycle is a key technology maintaining a sustainable society through efficient utilization of limited uranium resources and conformance to global environmental protection. The domestic and overseas R and D of the FBR cycle entered on a new phase aiming at its commercialization and JAEA started the Fast Reactor Cycle Technology Development (FaCT) project. The FaCT project targeted at international standardization of the FBR fuel cycle and promoting the advanced R and D on the innovative technologies to increase cost-efficiency and reliability for the commercialization under international competition and cooperation. The combination of a sodium cooled FBR and advanced fuel cycle system with advanced aqueous reprocessing and simplified pelletizing fuel fabrication was selected a major concept. (T. Tanaka)

  13. Maintaining Respiratory Health in Cystic Fibrosis Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MR Modaresi

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Cystic fibrosis (CF is an inherited disease that primarily affects the lungs and the digestive system, however, it also affects a number of other organs and systems. More than 90% of mortality of  CF patients is due to lung complications.  Healthy lungs are important for a long life for people with CF, We will discuss two important topics for maintaining respiratory health. Chronic use of drugs for maintaining respiratory health There are a number of drugs available to keep CF lungs healthy. We will discuss the science behind the recommendations for use of: Inhaled antibiotics Dornase alfa Azithromycin Hypertonic saline High-dose ibuprofen Ivacaftor CF Airway Clearance Therapies Airway Clearance therapy is very important to keeping CF lungs healthy. Our discussions cover the following topics such as the: Daily airway clearance Different techniques of airway clearance Effect of aerobic exercise on airway clearance  

  14. Promoting sustainable consumption and healthy eating

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    He, Chen

    and food cultures. The questionnaire researched the attitude, policies and serving practices regarding promoting organic foods and healthy eating habits through school food service and classroom activities. The data illustrated that schools with organic supply or policies children tend to behave healthier......The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is currently increasing as trend of globalization. Schools as a setting may play a crucial role in preventing children from becoming obese and overweight, through providing healthy school foods and curricular activities. The current study aims...... to investigate the effectiveness of organic food intervention in school meals and nutritional curricular activities results in healthier eating behaviours among children. The research was conducted among school food coordinators (school staff in charge of the school food service) in the public primary...

  15. Aim For a Healthy Weight

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... out of your control, you can make positive lifestyle changes to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight. These include a healthy eating plan and being more physically active. Take the Challenge When it comes to aiming for a healthy ...

  16. Sustainable Lifestyle Marketing of Individuals: the Base of Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mira Rakic

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper highlights the sustainable lifestyle marketing of an individual (SLMOI. The SLMOI is the activity, a set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating and maintaining the sustainable lifestyle of an individual (SLOI. The SLOI is an individual’s sustainability-oriented pattern of living represented by his or her activities, interests and opinions. The SLOI refers to a sustainable pattern of life (daily activities within the family, a sustainable pattern of consumption, a sustainable pattern of work and production (as employees in organizations and a sustainable pattern of behavior in the society and the environment they live in. The SLOI reflects an individual’s choices with respect to spending time, money and energy in accordance with the sustainable pattern of life. The SLOI stands for sustainable behavioral patterns on the basis of attitudes and values. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of the population towards sustainable lifestyles and the SLMOI (performed by different actors and behaviors on the basis of attitudes.Using a face-to-face questionnaire interview, the study was conducted on a sample of 400 citizens of Serbia. There are three key conclusions. First, the SLMOI leads to the SLOI, and the SLOI further leads to sustainability. Second, the creation and maintenance of the SLOI is a long-term process. Third, a holistic approach is needed as well as the engagement of numerous actors in that process of creating and maintaining the SLOI.

  17. Sustainable transformation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Nicolai Bo

    This paper is about sustainable transformation with a particular focus on listed buildings. It is based on the notion that sustainability is not just a question of energy conditions, but also about the building being robust. Robust architecture means that the building can be maintained and rebuil...

  18. Single-Dose pharmacokinetics of sustained-release fampridine (Fampridine-SR) in healthy volunteers and adults with renal impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, William; Swan, Suzanne; Marbury, Thomas; Henney, Herbert

    2010-02-01

    Fampridine-SR is a sustained-release formulation of fampridine (4-aminopyridine), a potassium channel blocker demonstrated to improve walking ability in patients with multiple sclerosis. This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics of fampridine and its metabolites after administration of fampridine-SR 10 mg in healthy volunteers and in subjects with mild, moderate, or severe renal impairment (5 per group). Analysis of variance was used to calculate 90% confidence intervals (CIs) for the ratios (impaired/healthy) of least squares mean in maximum plasma concentration (C(max)) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC). Clearance was primarily through urinary excretion. In renally impaired subjects, fampridine plasma concentrations were consistently higher than in healthy individuals: ratios for C(max) ranged from 166.5% to 199.9% for mild and severe renal impairment, respectively. AUC(0-infinity) ratios ranged from 175.3% to 398.7%, respectively, for mild and severe renal impairment. Mean terminal disposition half-life was 6.4 hours in healthy individuals, compared with 7.4, 8.1, and 14.3 hours in patients with mild, moderate, and severe renal impairment, respectively. Regression analysis confirmed the significant relationship between creatinine clearance and extent of exposure as quantified by AUC for fampridine and its metabolites, suggesting cautious use in patients with mild renal impairment and avoidance in cases of moderate or severe renal impairment.

  19. Maintaining healthy rivers and lakes through water diversion from Yangtze River to Taihu Lake in Taihu Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Haoyun

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of the Taihu water resources assessment, an analysis of the importance and rationality of the water diversion from the Yangtze River to Taihu Lake in solving the water problem and establishing a harmonious eco-environment in the Taihu Basin is performed. The water quantity and water quality conjunctive dispatching decision-making support system, which ensures flood control, water supply and eco-aimed dispatching, is built by combining the water diversion with flood control dispatching and strengthening water resources monitoring and forecasting. With the practice and effect assessment, measures such as setting the integrated basin management format, further developing water diversion and improving the hydraulic engineering projects system and water monitoring system are proposed in order to maintain healthy rivers and guarantee the development of the economy and society in the Taihu Basin.

  20. Accountability of FCS Education to a Sustainability Ethos: Focus on Sustainable Consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wuest, Beth; Hustvedt, Gwendolyn; Kang, Jiyun

    2014-01-01

    The American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences' (AAFCS) brand, "creating healthy and sustainable families," implies accountability in promoting sustainable consumer behavior. This study compared students majoring in family and consumer sciences (FCS) and its specializations to those majoring in other fields on constructs of…

  1. Sustainable capacity building among immigrant communities: the raising sexually healthy children program in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narushima, Miya; Wong, Josephine Pui-Hing; Li, Anda; Sutdhibhasilp, Noulmook

    2014-03-01

    The Raising Sexually Healthy Children (RSHC) program is a peer-to-peer leadership training program for immigrant parents in Toronto, Canada. It was established in 1998 with the goal of promoting family sex education and parent-child communication. This evaluative study examined the developmental processes and outcomes of the RSHC program to identify the strengths, challenges and insights that can be used to improve the program. It employed a multi-case study approach to compare the RSHC programs delivered in the Chinese, Portuguese and Tamil communities. Data collection methods included focus groups, individual interviews and document analysis. The cross-case analysis identified both common and unique capacity building processes and outcomes in the three communities. In this paper, we report factors that have enhanced and hindered sustainable capacity building at the individual, group/organizational and community levels, and the strategies used by these communities to address challenges common to immigrant families. We will discuss the ecological and synergetic, but time-consuming processes of capacity building, which contributed to the sustainability of RSHC as an empowering health promotion program for immigrant communities. We conclude the paper by noting the implications of using a capacity building approach to promote family health in ethno-racial-linguistic minority communities.

  2. [Healthy Cities projects].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takano, Takehito

    2002-05-01

    This is a review article on "Healthy Cities". The Healthy Cities programme has been developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle urban health and environmental issues in a broad way. It is a kind of comprehensive policy package to carry out individual projects and activities effectively and efficiently. Its key aspects include healthy public policy, vision sharing, high political commitment, establishment of structural organization, strategic health planning, intersectoral collaboration, community participation, setting approach, development of supportive environment for health, formation of city health profile, national and international networking, participatory research, periodic monitoring and evaluation, and mechanisms for sustainability of projects. The present paper covered the Healthy Cities concept and approaches, rapid urbanization in the world, developments of WHO Healthy Cities, Healthy Cities developments in the Western Pacific Region, the health promotion viewpoint, and roles of research.

  3. College Students' Motivation to Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furia, Andrea C.; Lee, Rebecca E.; Strother, Myra L.; Huang, Terry T-K.

    2009-01-01

    Objectives: To develop and refine a scale of motivational factors related to healthy weight achievement and maintenance and to examine differences by gender and weight status. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 300 university students aged 18-24 years. Results: Factor analysis yielded 6 factors--Intrinsic (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73): affective…

  4. Environmental law and sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Oliva Sirgo Álvarez

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the origin and birth of the human right to a safe and healthy environment in order to allow everyone to live a dignified and quality life. It also analyses the essential content of sustainable development, which must always guide the development of environmental law to ensure a healthy environment for human present and future generations, and a sustainable economic growth that contributes to the development of equal opportunities for all people.

  5. Positive Healthy Organizations: Promoting Well-Being, Meaningfulness, and Sustainability in Organizations

    OpenAIRE

    Annamaria Di Fabio

    2017-01-01

    This contribution deals with the concept of healthy organizations and starts with a definition of healthy organizations and healthy business. In healthy organizations, culture, climate, and practices create an environment conducive to employee health and safety as well as organizational effectiveness (Lowe, 2010). A healthy organization thus leads to a healthy and successful business (De Smet et al., 2007; Grawitch and Ballard, 2016), underlining the strong link between organizational profita...

  6. Towards a sustainable America: advancing prosperity, opportunity, and a healthy environment for the 21st century

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    Humanity faces an unprecedented challenge as our numbers grow, while Earth and its capacity to support us do not. People across the United States and around the world aspire to better lives for themselves and for their chil- dren: food, shelter, a stie and healthy environment, education, jobs, and other material needs and conveniences. Industries strive to produce more goods, farmers to grow more crops; and human demands on forests, fields, rivers, and oceans increase. Our challenge is to create a future in which prosperity and opportunity increase while life flourishes and pressures on oceans, earth, and atmosphere - the biosphere - diminish; to create, as the Council's vision suggests, ''a life- sustaining Ear and that supports ''a dignified, peaceful, and equitable existence. '' It is a powerful vision, and the two of us, brought together as co-chairs of the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCS D), fervently believe it is achievable - a uniting and necessary goal for the boundless capacity of human ingenuity so manifest in America. This document addresses climate change, environmental management, metropolitan and rural strategies, and international leadership

  7. Towards a sustainable America: advancing prosperity, opportunity, and a healthy environment for the 21st century

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1999-05-01

    Humanity faces an unprecedented challenge as our numbers grow, while Earth and its capacity to support us do not. People across the United States and around the world aspire to better lives for themselves and for their children: food, shelter, a safe and healthy environment, education, jobs, and other material needs and conveniences. Industries strive to produce more goods, farmers to grow more crops; and human demands on forests, fields, rivers, and oceans increase. Our challenge is to create a future in which prosperity and opportunity increase while life flourishes and pressures on oceans, earth, and atmosphere - the biosphere - diminish; to create, as the Council's vision suggests, "a life- sustaining Earth that supports "a dignified, peaceful, and equitable existence." It is a powerful vision, and the two co-chairs of the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), fervently believe it is achievable - a unifying and necessary goal for the boundless capacity of human ingenuity so manifest in America. This document addresses climate change, environmental management, metropolitan and rural strategies, and international leadership.

  8. The FINUT healthy lifestyles guide: Beyond the food pyramid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil, Angel; Ruiz-Lopez, Maria Dolores; Fernandez-Gonzalez, Miguel; Martinez de Victoria, Emilio

    2014-05-01

    The WHO has proposed that health be promoted and protected through the development of an environment that enables sustainable actions at individual, community, national, and global levels. Indeed, food-based dietary guidelines, i.e., food pyramids, have been developed in numerous countries to disseminate nutritional information to the general population. However, wider recommendations are needed, with information on an active healthy lifestyle, not just healthy eating. The objective of the present work is to propose a three-dimensional pyramid as a new strategy for promoting adequate nutrition and active healthy lifestyles in a sustainable way. Indeed, the Iberoamerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) pyramid of healthy lifestyles has been designed as a tetrahedron, with its 3 lateral faces corresponding to the facets of food and nutrition, physical activity and rest, and education and hygiene. Each lateral face is divided into 2 triangles. These faces show the following: 1) food-based guidelines and healthy eating habits as related to a sustainable environment; 2) recommendations for rest and physical activity and educational, social, and cultural issues; and 3) selected hygiene and educational guidelines that, in conjunction with the other 2 faces, would contribute to better health for people in a sustainable planet. The new FINUT pyramid is addressed to the general population of all ages and should serve as a guide for living a healthy lifestyle within a defined social and cultural context. It includes an environmental and sustainability dimension providing measures that should contribute to the prevention of noncommunicable chronic diseases. © 2014 American Society for Nutrition.

  9. [The finut healthy lifestyles guide: beyond the food pyramid].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil, Angel; Ruiz-Lopez, Maria Dolores; Fernandez-Gonzalez, Miguel; Martinez de Victoria, Emilio

    2015-05-01

    The World Health Organization has proposed that health be promoted and protected through the development of an environment that enables sustainable actions at individual, community, national and global levels. Indeed, food-based dietary guidelines, i.e., food pyramids, have been developed in numerous countries to disseminate nutritional information to the general population. However, wider recommendations are needed, with information on an active, healthy lifestyle, not just healthy eating. The objective of the present work is to propose a three-dimensional pyramid as a new strategy for promoting adequate nutrition and active healthy lifestyles in a sustainable way. Indeed, the Iberomerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) pyramid of healthy lifestyles has been designed as a tetrahedron, its three lateral faces corresponding to the binomials food and nutrition, physical activity and rest, and education and hygiene. Each lateral face is divided into two triangles. These faces show the following: 1. food-based guidelines and healthy eating habits as related to a sustainable environment; 2. recommendations for rest and physical activity and educational, social and cultural issues; 3. selected hygiene and educational guidelines that, in conjunction with the other two faces, would contribute to better health and provide measures to promote environmental sustainability. The new FINUT pyramid is addressed to the general population of all ages and should serve as a guide for living a healthy lifestyle within a defined social and cultural context. It includes an environmental and sustainability dimension providing measures that should contribute to the prevention of non-communicable chronic diseases. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

  10. Influence of sustained submaximal clenching fatigue test on electromyographic activity and maximum voluntary bite forces in healthy subjects and patients with temporomandibular disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, L; Fan, S; Cai, B; Fang, Z; Jiang, X

    2017-05-01

    This study aimed to investigate whether the fatigue induced by sustained motor task in the jaw elevator muscles differed between healthy subjects and patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Fifteen patients with TMD and thirteen age- and sex-matched healthy controls performed a fatigue test consisting of sustained clenching contractions at 30% maximal voluntary clenching intensity until test failure (the criterion for terminating the fatigue test was when the biting force decreased by 10% or more from the target force consecutively for >3 s). The pre- and post-maximal bite forces (MBFs) were measured. Surface electromyographic signals were recorded from the superficial masseter muscles and anterior temporal muscles bilaterally, and the median frequency at the beginning, middle and end of the fatigue test was calculated. The duration of the fatigue test was also quantified. Both pre- and post-MBFs were lower in patients with TMD than in controls (P fatigue test in TMD patients was significantly shorter than that of the controls (P fatigued, but the electromyographic activation process during the fatigue test is similar between healthy subjects and patients with TMD. However, the mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear, and further research is warranted. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Sustainable flood risk management – What is sustainable?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørup, Hjalte Jomo Danielsen; Brudler, Sarah; Lerer, Sara Maria

    2016-01-01

    Sustainable flood risk management has to be achieved since flood protection is a fundamental societal service that we must deliver. Based on the discourse within the fields of risk management and sustainable urban water management, we discuss the necessity of assessing the sustainability of flood...... risk management, and propose an evaluation framework for doing so. We argue that it is necessary to include quantitative sustainability measures in flood risk management in order to exclude unsustainable solutions. Furthermore, we use the concept of absolute sustainability to discuss the prospects...... of maintaining current service levels without compromising future generation’s entitlement of services. Discussions on the sustainability of different overall flood risk schemes must take place. Fundamental changes in the approaches will require fundamental changes in the mind-sets of practitioners as well...

  12. Independent Living for Livespan: a Healthy and Sustainable Architecture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vliet, van A.A.M.; Erkelens, P A; Jonge, de S; Vliet, van A A M

    2000-01-01

    Background Older growing persons face the consequences of their life, including diseases and impairments, which threaten the quality of life. Health definitions and sustainability have the environmental aspect and the quality of life in common. The focus in the sustainability theory is on a balance

  13. Accelerating the transition towards sustainability dynamics into supply chain relationship management and governance structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Govindan, Kannan; Seuring, Stefan; Zhu, Qinghua

    2016-01-01

    successful futures by maintaining a healthy balance among economic, environmental, and social resources/dimensions. Consequently, some organizations have begun to integrate these dimensions in recent years. Researchers and practitioners are also working to accelerate the transition for more equitable......, sustainable, post-fossil carbon societies by working with all relevant stakeholders. This Special Volume of Journal of Cleaner Production is focused upon on diverse types of supply chain relationships, governance mechanisms, and innovations, which can foster effective and efficient sustainable supply chain...... management. This volume is comprised of twenty-seven articles and a book review. Fifteen of the articles address the supply chain relationships domain, while five focus primarily upon governance, five upon innovation, and two on relationships and governance. However, there is a huge potential to further...

  14. THE JUDICIARY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    RAYAN_

    ABSTRACT. The approval of 17 goals and 169 targets for sustainable development by the ... commentary evaluates the role of the judiciary in promoting sustainable .... a healthy quality of life, imposing on the Public Power and the community.

  15. What older adults find useful for maintaining healthy eating and exercise habits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greaney, Mary L; Lees, Faith D; Greene, Geoffrey W; Clark, Phillip G

    2004-01-01

    Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 29 adults 60 years of age and older enrolled in the SENIOR Project, a health promotion intervention study designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and exercise among community-dwelling older adults. The focus groups explored the motivations of older adults to eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables and/or exercise and the strategies used to adopt or maintain these behaviors. Participants stated that maintaining health, remaining independent, and fearing illness provided the motivation needed to adhere to these behaviors. The strategies or the behavioral processes used to adopt or maintain these behaviors included counterconditioning, helping relationships, stimulus control, and self-liberation.

  16. Nuclear power and sustainable development. Maintaining and increasing the overall assets available to future generations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    A central goal of sustainable development is to maintain or increase the overall assets available to future generations, while minimizing consumption of finite resources and not exceeding the carrying capacities of ecosystems. The development of nuclear power broadens the natural resource base usable for energy production, increases human and man-made capital, and, when safely handled, has little impact on ecosystems. Energy is essential for sustainable development. With continuing population and economic growth, and increasing needs in the developing world, substantially greater energy demand is a given, even taking into account continuing and accelerated energy efficiency and intensity improvements. Today, nuclear power is mostly utilized in industrialized countries that have the necessary technological, institutional and financial resources. Many of the industrialized countries that are able and willing to use nuclear power are also large energy consumers. Nuclear power currently generates 16% of the world's electricity. It produces virtually no sulfur dioxide, particulates, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds or greenhouse gases. Globally, nuclear power currently avoids approximately 600 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, about the same as hydropower. The 600 MtC avoided by nuclear power equals 8% of current global greenhouse gases emissions. In the OECD countries, nuclear power has for 35 years accounted for most of the reduction in the carbon intensity per unit of delivered energy. Existing operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) for which initial capital investments are largely depreciated are also often the most cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation. In fact in the United States in 2000, NPPs were the most cost-effective way to generate electricity, irrespective of avoided carbon emissions. In other countries the advantages of existing nuclear generating stations are also increasingly recognized. Interest

  17. Tools for healthy tribes: improving access to healthy foods in Indian country.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleischhacker, Sheila; Byrd, Randi R; Ramachandran, Gowri; Vu, Maihan; Ries, Amy; Bell, Ronny A; Evenson, Kelly R

    2012-09-01

    There is growing recognition that policymakers can promote access to healthy, affordable foods within neighborhoods, schools, childcare centers, and workplaces. Despite the disproportionate risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes among American Indian children and adults, comparatively little attention has been focused on the opportunities tribal policymakers have to implement policies or resolutions to promote access to healthy, affordable foods. This paper presents an approach for integrating formative research into an action-oriented strategy of developing and disseminating tribally led environmental and policy strategies to promote access to and consumption of healthy, affordable foods. This paper explains how the American Indian Healthy Eating Project evolved through five phases and discusses each phase's essential steps involved, outcomes derived, and lessons learned. Using community-based participatory research and informed by the Social Cognitive Theory and ecologic frameworks, the American Indian Healthy Eating Project was started in fall 2008 and has evolved through five phases: (1) starting the conversation; (2) conducting multidisciplinary formative research; (3) strengthening partnerships and tailoring policy options; (4) disseminating community-generated ideas; and (5) accelerating action while fostering sustainability. Collectively, these phases helped develop and disseminate Tools for Healthy Tribes-a toolkit used to raise awareness among participating tribal policymakers of their opportunities to improve access to healthy, affordable foods. Formal and informal strategies can engage tribal leaders in the development of culturally appropriate and tribe-specific sustainable strategies to improve such access, as well as empower tribal leaders to leverage their authority toward raising a healthier generation of American Indian children. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Sustainable Soil Management: Its perception and the need for policy intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basch, Gottlieb; Kassam, Amir; González-Sánchez, Emilio

    2017-04-01

    As stated in the strategic objectives of the Global Soil Partnership "healthy soils and sustainable soil management are the precondition for human well-being and economic welfare and therefore play the key role for sustainable development". Although the functional properties of a healthy soil are well understood, in practice it is easily overlooked what is necessary to achieve and sustain healthy agricultural soils. This contribution intends: to discuss the concept of sustainable soil management in agricultural production with regard to soil health, and to highlight its importance in the achievement of both Sustainable Development Goals and the 4 per mille objectives, as well as for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In Europe, soil and the need for its conservation and stewardship gained visibility at the beginning of this century during the discussions related to the Soil Thematic Strategy. This higher level of awareness concerning the status of Europe's soils led to the introduction of soil conservation standards into the cross-compliance mechanism within the 1st Pillar of CAP. These standards were applied through the definition of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) which are compulsory for all farmers receiving direct payments, and in the last CAP reform in 2014, through the introduction of additional Greening Measures in Pilar 1. Despite these measures and the claim of some writers that they already contributed to significantly reducing soil erosion, the EC Joint Research Centre still reports water erosion in Europe amounting to almost one billion tonnes annually. Regarding soil conservation, soil carbon stocks or the provision of additional ecosystem services, measures called for in GAEC 4 (Minimum soil cover), in GAEC 5 (Minimum land management reflecting site specific conditions to limit soil erosion), and in GAEC 6 (Maintenance of soil organic matter level through appropriate practices, …), give the impression that a lot is being

  19. Food choice motives including sustainability during purchasing are associated with a healthy dietary pattern in French adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allès, B; Péneau, S; Kesse-Guyot, E; Baudry, J; Hercberg, S; Méjean, C

    2017-09-18

    Sustainability has become a greater concern among consumers that may influence their dietary intake. Only a few studies investigated the relationship between sustainable food choice motives and diet and they focused on specific food groups. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the associations between food choice motives during purchasing, with a focus on sustainability, and dietary patterns in a large sample of French adults. Food choice motives were collected in 31,842 adults from the NutriNet-Santé study, using a validated 63 items questionnaire gathered into 9 dimension scores: ethics and environment, traditional and local production, taste, price, environmental limitation (i.e. not buying a food for environmental concerns), health, convenience, innovation and absence of contaminants. Dietary intake was assessed using at least three web-based 24-h food records. Three dietary patterns were obtained through factor analysis using principal component analysis. The associations between food choice motive dimension scores and dietary patterns were assessed using linear regression models, stratifying by sex. Individuals were more likely to have a "healthy diet" when they were more concerned by not buying a food for environmental concerns (only for 3 rd tertile versus 1 st tertile β women =0.18, 95% CI=0.15-0.20, β men =0.20 95% CI=(0.15-0.25)), ethics and environment (women only, β=0.05, 95% CI=0.02-0.08), absence of contaminants (women only, β=0.05, 95% CI=0.01-0.07), local production (women only, β=0.08, 95% CI=0.04-0.11), health (women only) and innovation (men only), and when they were less concerned by price. Individuals were also less likely to have traditional or western diets when they gave importance to food choice motive dimensions related to sustainability. Individuals, especially women, having higher concerns about food sustainability dimensions such as ethics and environment and local production, appear to have a healthier diet. Further

  20. Sustaining the balance : maintaining the basin's competitive edge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carruthers, J.

    1998-01-01

    Competition has been described as the driving force in today's natural gas industry. The issue of how to strengthen the competitive edge of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in the North American marketplace was discussed. The principal suggestion that emerged was that keeping transportation capacity and production capability in balance was crucial as such efforts would provide benefits for pipelines, shippers, consumers and producers. Suggestions on how to achieve and sustain the balance between transportation and production capacity were offered. Creating awareness of who the true competitors are, meeting their challenge, and changing the regulatory system to provide incentives for pipelines to build and to provide greater customer choice and service flexibility, were some of the suggestions discussed

  1. The Role of the Japanese Traditional Diet in Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Patterns around the World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabriel, Ana San; Ninomiya, Kumiko; Uneyama, Hisayuki

    2018-02-03

    As incomes steadily increase globally, traditional diets have been displaced by diets that are usually animal-based with a high content of "empty calories" or refined sugars, refined fats, and alcohol. Dietary transition coupled with the expansion of urbanization and lower physical activity have been linked to the global growth in the prevalence of obesity, overweight and life style-related non-communicable diseases. The challenge is in how to reverse the trend of high consumption of less healthy food by more healthful and more environmentally sustainable diets. The increasing recognition that each individual has specific needs depending on age, metabolic condition, and genetic profile adds complexity to general nutritional considerations. If we were to promote the consumption of low-energy and low salt but nutritious diets, taste becomes a relevant food quality. The Japanese traditional diet (Washoku), which is characterized by high consumption of fish and soybean products and low consumption of animal fat and meat, relies on the effective use of umami taste to enhance palatability. There may be a link between Washoku and the longevity of the people in Japan. Thus Washoku and umami may be valuable tools to support healthy eating.

  2. The Role of the Japanese Traditional Diet in Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Patterns around the World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana San Gabriel

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available As incomes steadily increase globally, traditional diets have been displaced by diets that are usually animal-based with a high content of “empty calories” or refined sugars, refined fats, and alcohol. Dietary transition coupled with the expansion of urbanization and lower physical activity have been linked to the global growth in the prevalence of obesity, overweight and life style-related non-communicable diseases. The challenge is in how to reverse the trend of high consumption of less healthy food by more healthful and more environmentally sustainable diets. The increasing recognition that each individual has specific needs depending on age, metabolic condition, and genetic profile adds complexity to general nutritional considerations. If we were to promote the consumption of low-energy and low salt but nutritious diets, taste becomes a relevant food quality. The Japanese traditional diet (Washoku, which is characterized by high consumption of fish and soybean products and low consumption of animal fat and meat, relies on the effective use of umami taste to enhance palatability. There may be a link between Washoku and the longevity of the people in Japan. Thus Washoku and umami may be valuable tools to support healthy eating.

  3. Elements that contribute to healthy building design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Loftness, V.; Hakkinen, B.; Adan, O.C.G.; Nevalainen, A.

    2007-01-01

    Abstract Background: The elements that contribute to a healthy building are multifactorial and can be discussed from different perspectives. Objectives: We present three viewpoints of designing a healthy building: the importance of sustainable development, the role of occupants for ensuring indoor

  4. Elements that contribute to healthy building design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Loftness, V.; Hakkinen, B.; Adan, O.; Nevalainen, A.

    2007-01-01

    Background: The elements that contribute to a healthy building are multifactorial and can be discussed from different perspectives. Objectives: We present three viewpoints of designing a healthy building: the importance of sustainable development, the role of occupants for ensuring indoor air

  5. DO POST-SOCIALIST URBAN AREAS MAINTAIN THEIR SUSTAINABLE COMPACT FORM? ROMANIAN URBAN AREAS AS CASE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona Raluca GRĂDINARU

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The compact city is regarded as an important concept in promoting sustainable development, especially within the European Union. The socialist urban planning system maintained a high compactness of the urban areas through almost exclusive predominance of the public sector in housing provision, and ideological nature of the planning strategies. After the 1990’s, the administrative decentralization allowed local authorities to adopt particular urban development strategies. However, development was directly influenced by the importance of the urban administrative centre. The aim of the paper is to determine if post-socialist urban areas maintained their compact urban form or they encountered different evolution trajectories. We determined the type of changes by calculating urban form indicators at two time moments: 1990 and 2006. Furthermore, the two-way repeated-measurement ANOVA was used to identify significant changes, and to assess the effect of the development level of the urban area on the variance of form indicators. The results show that Romanian post-socialist urban areas either shifted from the compact form, "inherited" after the collapse of socialism, to more dispersed patterns, either expanded in a compact manner. Moreover, as development level got higher, urban areas were more likely to be affected by suburbanization and periurbanization. In order to respond to these challenges, new instruments such as setting of metropolitan areas or spatial framework plans could be used. Furthermore, planning should be adapted to local circumstances and to the different development trajectories of big and mid-sized urban areas.

  6. Smoke considerations for using fire in maintaining healthy forest ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roger D. Ottmar; Mark D. Schaaf; Ernesto Alvarado

    1996-01-01

    Fire is the single most important ecological disturbance process throughout the interior Pacific Northwest (Mutch and others 1993; Agee 1994). It is also a natural process that helps maintain a diverse ecological landscape. Fire suppression and timber harvesting have drastically altered this process during the past 50 to 90 years. Natural resource specialists generally...

  7. Sustainable Agriculture: Cover Cropping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Megan

    2018-01-01

    Sustainable agriculture practices are increasingly being used by farmers to maintain soil quality, increase biodiversity, and promote production of food that is environmentally safe. There are several types of sustainable agriculture practices such as organic farming, crop rotation, and aquaculture. This lesson plan focuses on the sustainable…

  8. Agriculture: Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the food, feed, and fiber needs of our country and the social, economic and other requirements.

  9. ) and “maintains the balance of healthy microbiota that helps to strengthen the natural defence” (ID 2942) (further assessment) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tetens, Inge

    of Lactobacillus helveticus CNCM I-1722 and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum CNCM I-3470 and alleviation of psychological stress and “maintains the balance of healthy microbiota that helps to strengthen the natural defence”. The food constituent that is the subject of the health claims, a combination of L...... of the claim. On the basis of the data provided, the Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of a combination of L. helveticus CNCM I-1722 and B. longum subsp. longum CNCM I-3470 and alleviation of psychological stress. From the information provided...... for the claimed effect “maintains the balance of healthy microbiota that helps to strengthen the natural defence” it was not possible to establish the specific effect which is the subject of the claim. The Panel considers that the claimed effect is general and non-specific, and does not refer to any specific...

  10. Number skills are maintained in healthy ageing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cappelletti, Marinella; Didino, Daniele; Stoianov, Ivilin; Zorzi, Marco

    2014-03-01

    Numerical skills have been extensively studied in terms of their development and pathological decline, but whether they change in healthy ageing is not well known. Longer exposure to numbers and quantity-related problems may progressively refine numerical skills, similar to what happens to other cognitive abilities like verbal memory. Alternatively, number skills may be sensitive to ageing, reflecting either a decline of number processing itself or of more auxiliary cognitive abilities that are involved in number tasks. To distinguish between these possibilities we tested 30 older and 30 younger participants on an established numerosity discrimination task requiring to judge which of two sets of items is more numerous, and on arithmetical tasks. Older participants were remarkably accurate in performing arithmetical tasks although their numerosity discrimination (also known as 'number acuity') was impaired. Further analyses indicate that this impairment was limited to numerosity trials requiring inhibiting information incongruent to numerosity (e.g., fewer but larger items), and that this also correlated with poor inhibitory processes measured by standard tests. Therefore, rather than a numerical impairment, poor numerosity discrimination is likely to reflect elderly's impoverished inhibitory processes. This conclusion is supported by simulations with a recent neuro-computational model of numerosity perception, where only the specific degradation of inhibitory processes produced a pattern that closely resembled older participants' performance. Numeracy seems therefore resilient to ageing but it is influenced by the decline of inhibitory processes supporting number performance, consistent with the 'Inhibitory Deficit' Theory. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Taking a Holistic Approach to Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Girouard, Miles

    2011-01-01

    The benefits of sustainability go way beyond improving the environment. School districts that choose to build facilities using sustainable principles reap the benefits of environmentally friendly, healthy establishments; attractive work spaces (which improve recruiting and retention); and significant operational cost savings. Districts realize…

  12. Sustainability needs and practices assessment in the building industry of China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Pingjian; He, Gang; Mao, Guozhu; Liu, Yong; Xu, Mingzhu; Guo, Huaicheng; Liu, Xi

    2013-01-01

    The building industry in China has huge potential capacity for energy/resources conservation and pollutants reduction to achieve sustainable development. However, stakeholders are hardly able to reach a consensus on preferential needs and effective solutions, which was a difficulty faced by policy makers. To better identify the common interests on sustainable development in this field, the Sustainability Solutions Navigator (SSN) was adopted in China for the first time to assess the sustainability needs and practices. Based on the participation of stakeholders from the government, businesses, academia, and non-government organizations, prioritized needs and practices were identified using SSN, and gap analyses were conducted for comparison to global benchmarks. According to the results, the top needs were mainly focused on improving government efficiency and implementation, maintaining healthy indoor environments and obtaining adequate funds; priority practices were mainly focused on governmental action, renewable energy development and pollutant source reduction. The gap analysis indicated that the government efficiency and performance had the largest gap to the benchmark. By using a simple interactive tool to bring different stakeholders into policy making process, this study produces all-around information for decision makers. The results imply that the sustainability of the building industry in China has a much better expectation than governmental performance. - Highlights: ► SSN was first used for sustainability assessment in China's building industry. ► Prioritized needs and practices of multiple stakeholders were identified. ► High expectation of improved governmental efforts from the study

  13. [Sustained-release progesterone vaginal suppositories 3-development and clinical feasibility testing].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Ayako; Yamaguchi, Naho; Ohno, Yukiko; Miyata, Chihiro; Kondo, Haruomi; Sunada, Hisakazu; Okamoto, Hirokazu

    2013-01-01

      Although progesterone vaginal suppositories (hospital-formulated) are used for the treatment of infertility, their half-life is so short that multiple doses are required. In this study, we aimed to develop sustained-release vaginal suppositories suitable for clinical use which maintain an effective blood concentration by once-a-day treatment, and prepared 7 types of suppository containing the sustained-release progesterone tablets to characterize their sustained-release performance. We selected one candidate suppository among them, taking recovery rate, reproducibility, and hardness, as well as the sustained-release performance into consideration. The shell of the selected suppository is composed of VOSCO S-55 and progesterone for rapid release. The molded progesterone tablets for sustained release were embedded inside. The distribution of the weight and content of the suppository was limited, and the release rate of progesterone was significantly slower than that of a conventional progesterone suppository prepared in our hospital. The single-dose administration of the selected suppository to five healthy volunteers led to significant extension of the blood concentration. We also confirmed the rise of the basic value by multiple administration. The simulation comparison suggested that the blood progesterone concentration is controlled by once-a-day administration of the selected suppository better than twice-a-day administration of the conventional suppository. In conclusion, the sustained-release vaginal suppository prepared in this study was considered to be useful for clinical treatment.

  14. Sustained-release progesterone vaginal suppositories 1--development of sustained-release granule--.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Ayako; Sunada, Hisakazu; Okamoto, Hirokazu; Furuhashi, Kaoru; Ohno, Yukiko; Ito, Mikio

    2009-02-01

    Progesterone (P) is an important hormone for the establishment of pregnancy, and its administration is useful for luteal insufficiency. Considering the problems of commercially available oral and injection drugs, hospital-formulated vaginal suppositories are clinically used. However, since the half-life of P suppositories is short, it is difficult to maintain its constant blood concentration. To sustain drug efficacy and prevent side-effects, we are attempting to develop sustained-release suppositories by examining the degree of sustained-release of active ingredients. In this study, we examined the combinations of granulation methods and release systems for the preparation of sustained-release granules of P, and produced 13 types of sustained-release granules. We also examined the diameter, content, and dissolution of each type of granules, and confirmed that the sustained-release of all types of granules was satisfactory. Among the sustained-release granules, we selected granules with a content and a degree of sustained-release suitable for sustained-release suppositories.

  15. Identifying Regional Key Eco-Space to Maintain Ecological Security Using GIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hualin Xie

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Ecological security and environmental sustainability are the foundations of sustainable development. With the acceleration of urbanization, increasing human activities have promoted greater impacts on the eco-spaces that maintain ecological security. Regional key eco-space has become the primary need to maintain environmental sustainability and can offer society with continued ecosystem services. In this paper, considering the security of water resources, biodiversity conservation, disaster avoidance and protection and natural recreation, an integrated index of eco-space importance was established and a method for identifying key eco-space was created using GIS, with Lanzhou City, China as a case study. The results show that the area of core eco-space in the Lanzhou City is approximately 50,908.7 hm2, accounting for 40% of the region’s total area. These areas mainly consist of geological hazard protection zones and the core zones of regional river systems, wetlands, nature reserves, forest parks and scenic spots. The results of this study provide some guidance for the management of ecological security, ecological restoration and environmental sustainability.

  16. Healthy Lifestyle: Women's Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... maintain a healthy weight. Try brisk walking, jogging, biking, swimming or water aerobics. If you're a ... as dancing and gardening, also can improve your health. Whatever you choose, take time to warm up ...

  17. Leveraging best practices to promote health, safety, sustainability, and stewardship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Marjorie D

    2013-08-01

    Strategically leveraging health and safety initiatives with sustainability and stewardship helps organizations improve profitability and positively impact team member and customer attachment to the organization. Collective efficacy enhances the triple bottom line: healthy people, healthy planet, and healthy profits. The HS(3)™ Best Practice Exchanges group demonstrated that collective efficacy can leverage the social cohesion, communication channels, and activities within workplaces to promote a healthy, sustainable work culture. This in turn (1) protects the health and safety of workers, (2) preserves the natural environment, and (3) increases attachment to the organization. Community-based participatory research using the Attach21 survey assessed the progress of these companies in their efforts to integrate health, safety, sustainability, and stewardship. Monthly Best Practice Exchanges promoted collective efficacy by providing support, encouragement, and motivation to share and adopt new ideas. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

  18. Sustainable transformation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Nicolai Bo

    This paper is about sustainable transformation with a particular focus on listed buildings. It is based on the notion that sustainability is not just a question of energy conditions, but also about the building being robust. Robust architecture means that the building can be maintained and rebuilt......, that it can be adapted to changing functional needs, and that it has an architectural and cultural value. A specific proposal for a transformation that enhances the architectural qualities and building heritage values of an existing building forms the empirical material, which is discussed using different...... theoretical lenses. It is proposed that three parameters concerning the ꞌtransformabilityꞌ of the building can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of sustainable transformation: technical aspects, programmatic requirements and narrative value. It is proposed that the concept of ꞌsustainable...

  19. Using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to Assess and Plan for Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mainor, Avia; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Maier, Ryan C.; Brossart, Laura; Luke, Douglas A.

    2014-01-01

    Implementing and growing a public health program that benefits society takes considerable time and effort. To ensure that positive outcomes are maintained over time, program managers and stakeholders should plan and implement activities to build sustainability capacity within their programs. We describe a 3-part sustainability planning process that programs can follow to build their sustainability capacity. First, program staff and stakeholders take the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to measure their program’s sustainability across 8 domains. Next, managers and stakeholders use results from the assessment to inform and prioritize sustainability action planning. Lastly, staff members implement the plan and keep track of progress toward their sustainability goals. Through this process, staff can more holistically address the internal and external challenges and pressures associated with sustaining a program. We include a case example of a chronic disease program that completed the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool and engaged in program sustainability planning. PMID:24456644

  20. THE ROLE OF ENERGY IN ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Popescu Maria-Floriana

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The rapid population growth leads to greater daily demand for energy, causing nations to diversify their portfolios and seek new sources of energy, including renewable to provide more energy. In a universe with seriously exhausted natural resources, severe urbanization, climate change and conflicts that go beyond borders, the issue of overpopulation unquestionably causes worldwide debates and can generate a snowball effect for the global economy or human society. Population’s increase in the nearby future will have a central role in challenges such as: global warming, air and water contamination, increase in the level of poverty, food scarcity, deforestation, desertification, health problems and resource shortages. The transformation into a sustainable environmental model, situated in a post-carbon economy, will imply setting barriers to industrial progress (will have to be sustainable and environmental friendly and also to population growth (will have to follow a normal pace. But, the level on vulnerability and uncertainty in the evolution of energy has been threatened lately by major events that took place all around the world. Security of supply, new geopolitical perspectives and ecological and sustainability issues are yet again on the bleeding line. Therefore, the goal of this theoretical article is to give an overview of the current situation concerning the role of energy in ecological sustainability. It expresses routes in which humans and enterprises can act in order to contribute to ecologically sustainable development. The subject of how we live on a congested planet represents the most critical sustainability of all. We are witnessing our current risks and we can also envision our possible, and particularly desirable, future: a steady human population, living and protecting the nature and planet, having finite needs of goods, services, or energy, and maintaining a healthy Earth for us and the animals that also depend on it. This is

  1. College students' motivation to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furia, Andrea C; Lee, Rebecca E; Strother, Myra L; Huang, Terry T-K

    2009-01-01

    To develop and refine a scale of motivational factors related to healthy weight achievement and maintenance and to examine differences by gender and weight status. A cross-sectional survey of 300 university students aged 18-24 years. Factor analysis yielded 6 factors-Intrinsic (Cronbach's alpha=0.73): affective motivation, self-efficacy/interest; Extrinsic (Cronbach's alpha=0.68): social reward, peer pressure, lack of choice, and authority influence. Males and normal-weight students showed higher affective motivation and overall intrinsic motivation compared to females and overweight students, (PIntrinsic motivational factors and gender differences should be considered in developing obesity prevention interventions in this age-group.

  2. DNMT1 Maintains Progenitor Function in Self-Renewing Somatic Tissue

    OpenAIRE

    Sen, George L.; Reuter, Jason A.; Webster, Daniel E.; Zhu, Lilly; Khavari, Paul A.

    2010-01-01

    Progenitor cells maintain self-renewing tissues throughout life by sustaining their capacity for proliferation while suppressing cell cycle exit and terminal differentiation1,2. DNA methylation3,4,5 provides a potential epigenetic mechanism for the cellular memory needed to preserve the somatic progenitor state through repeated cell divisions. DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1)6,7 maintains DNA methylation patterns after cellular replication. Although dispensable for embryonic stem cell maintena...

  3. Interpreting Sustainability for Urban Forests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camilo Ordóñez

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Incisive interpretations of urban-forest sustainability are important in furthering our understanding of how to sustain the myriad values associated with urban forests. Our analysis of earlier interpretations reveals conceptual gaps. These interpretations are attached to restrictive definitions of a sustainable urban forest and limited to a rather mechanical view of maintaining the biophysical structure of trees. The probing of three conceptual domains (urban forest concepts, sustainable development, and sustainable forest management leads to a broader interpretation of urban-forest sustainability as the process of sustaining urban forest values through time and across space. We propose that values—and not services, benefits, functions or goods—is a superior concept to refer to what is to be sustained in and by an urban forest.

  4. Active living by design sustainability strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraft, M Katherine; Lee, Joanne J; Brennan, Laura K

    2012-11-01

    Despite substantial increases in improving the translation of health promotion research into practice, community initiatives still struggle with maintaining changes once grant funding has ended. Researchers, funders, and community practitioners are interested in practices that maintain and sustain their efforts. This qualitative study conducted a content analysis of evaluation findings from Active Living by Design (ALbD) to identify activities that community coalitions implemented to maintain their initiative and secure ongoing influence in communities. Investigators analyzed data from interviews, focus groups, and the Progress Reporting System to identify sustainability approaches clustering into five areas: partnership expansion, sustainable funding, permanent advisory committees, policy change, and institution/organization change. Partnership expansion occurred across sectors and disciplines and into broader geographic areas. Additional funding extended beyond grants to earned income streams and dedicated tax revenues. Permanent advisory committees were established to inform decision makers about a range of active living impacts. Policy changes in zoning and comprehensive plans ensured maintenance of health-promoting built environments. Sustainability through institution/organization changes led to allocation of dedicated staff and incorporation of active living values into agency missions. Active Living by Design partnerships defined and messaged their projects to align with policymakers' interests and broad partnership audiences. They found innovative supporters and adapted their original vision to include quality of life, nonmotorized transport, and other complementary efforts that expanded their reach and influence. These sustainability strategies altered awareness within communities, changed community decision-making processes, and created policy changes that have the potential to maintain environments that promote physical activity for years to come

  5. Dynamic Sustainability. Sustainability Window Analysis of Chinese Poverty-Environment Nexus Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyrki Luukkanen

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability Window is a new analysis tool for assessing the sustainability of development simultaneously in all of its three dimensions (environmental, economic, and social. The analysis method provides information of the maximum and minimum economic development that is required to maintain the direction of social and environmental development towards more sustainable targets. With the Sustainability Window method it is possible to easily analyze the sustainability using different indicators and different time periods making comparative analyses easy. The new method makes it also possible to analyze the dynamics of the sustainability and the changes over time in the width of the window. This provides a new perspective for analyzing the trends of sustainability and the impacts of underlying sustainability policies. As an illustration of the method, we have carried out an analysis of Chinese development using CO2 and SO2 emissions as indicators of the environmental dimension, number of non-poor people as an indicator of the social dimension and GDP as an indicator of the economic dimension.

  6. INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT OF BUILDINGS QUALITY IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mária Kozlovská

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of the paper is to analyse the assumptions for integrated assessment of buildings quality in the context of sustainable development principles. The sustainable (or “green” buildings are cost effective, environmentally friendly and conserving natural resources. The buildings are comfortable for the users, are also healthy and optimally integrated into socio-cultural environment; thereby have long maintained their high added value – for investors, owners as well as users.Design methodology/approach: The methodology of the paper consists in analyses of certification systems that assess buildings sustainability within wider environmental, economic and social relations. An effort to increase the quality of construction and to provide objectified assessment with measurable and comparable results has evoked the origin and development of the tools for buildings sustainability assessment. In the case study, there are analysed the approaches into assessment of one from few certified sustainable projects in Slovakia “EcoPoint Office Center Kosice”. The results are destined for potential investors perhaps even for present owners that have ambitions and responsibility for building sustainability principles performance when designing and using their properties.Findings: The results of the research imply identification of the key characteristics expressing the comprehensive quality of the building and are leading to specification of practical and social implications that are provided by the sustainability philosophy.Originality/value: The force of the paper is to mention the approaches into integrated assessment of construction quality in the context of sustainability principles and the importance of their more extensive implementation in Slovakia. The approaches into the sustainability principles performance as well as the real benefits of the sustainable building are declared through case study of the building EcoPoint Office

  7. Teaching sustainable design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cooper, P.; Haggard, K.; Knuckles, A.; Le Noble, J. [California Polytechnic State Univ., San Luis Obispo, CA (United States)

    1995-11-01

    Sustainable design is inclusive, holistic and integrative. It require humility and guts, caring and a certain degree of stubbornness. It helps to do it cooperatively in a group. Human interest in sustainability has gained a great deal of impetus over the last several years as the problems of the late 20th and the early 21st century have become clearer. Design for sustainability broadens and integrates many previously separate design concerns to create a unified approach that is both compelling and ripe with new possibilities. Ecosystem regeneration, ecological land use planning, biometric design, regional environmental and economic viability, natural landscape maintenance, resource optimization, integrated infrastructure system, neotraditional and pedestrian oriented urban design, passive solar architecture, appropriate technology, renewable building materials, healthy buildings, and the aesthetics of place; are a few of these design concerns that, when welded together, can create sustainability.

  8. Improving the Healthiness of Sustainable Construction: Example of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emina Kristina Petrović

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available With the increasing emphasis on sustainable construction, it has become important to better understand the impacts of common materials. This is especially paramount with the introduction of the United Nations (UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs which call for more comprehensive evaluations, adding many aspects of social consideration to the issues of environmental sustainability, including human health. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC/vinyl can be seen as a material with potential for significant adverse effects on a multiplicity of levels, and the construction industry is its single most significant consumer. This article presents a transdisciplinary review of adverse health impacts associated with PVC showing a number of issues: some that could be eliminated through design, but also some which appear inherent to the material itself and therefore unavoidable. The totality of issues revealed in relation to PVC presents a compelling case for a call for complete elimination of use of this material in sustainable construction.

  9. Sustainable development education, practice, and research: an indigenous model of sustainable development at the College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, WI, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael J. Dockry; Katherine Hall; William Van Lopik; Christopher M. Caldwell

    2015-01-01

    The College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute's theoretical model (SDI model) conceptualizes sustainable development as the process of maintaining the balance and reconciling the inherent tensions among six dimensions of sustainability: land and sovereignty; natural environment #including human beings); institutions; technology; economy; and...

  10. Effects of Combined Training with Breathing Resistance and Sustained Physical Exertion to Improve Endurance Capacity and Respiratory Muscle Function in Healthy Young Adults

    OpenAIRE

    Kido, Satoshi; Nakajima, Yasuhiro; Miyasaka, Tomoya; Maeda, Yusuke; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Yu, Wenwei; Maruoka, Hiroshi; Takayanagi, Kiyomi

    2013-01-01

    [Purpose] In this study, combined training with breathing resistance and sustained physical exertion was carried out to evaluate its physiological effects and its effect on improve endurance capacity. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects were nine healthy adults (mean age 20.4, SD ? 1.7?years). The combined training group (n = 5) carried out 6 weeks of combined training using a cycle ergometer, with exercise load tests and respiratory function tests performed before and after the training. The...

  11. Healthy Kidneys (A Cup of Health with CDC)

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    Kidneys that function properly are critical for maintaining good health, however, more than one in seven American adults have kidney disease and most aren't aware of their condition. In this podcast, Nilka Rios Burrows discusses the importance of maintaining healthy kidneys.

  12. Determination of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors of High School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çelebi, Evrim; Gündogdu, Cemal; Kizilkaya, Aysel

    2017-01-01

    Healthy lifestyle behaviors can be defined as all the behaviors believed and applied by individuals to be healthy, maintain health and be protected from diseases. This study aims to determine the healthy lifestyle behaviors of high school students studying at the high schools in the Province of Elazig, Turkey. The study population of this…

  13. Sustained levels of FGF2 maintain undifferentiated stem cell cultures with biweekly feeding.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven Lotz

    Full Text Available An essential aspect of stem cell culture is the successful maintenance of the undifferentiated state. Many types of stem cells are FGF2 dependent, and pluripotent stem cells are maintained by replacing FGF2-containing media daily, while tissue-specific stem cells are typically fed every 3rd day. Frequent feeding, however, results in significant variation in growth factor levels due to FGF2 instability, which limits effective maintenance due to spontaneous differentiation. We report that stabilization of FGF2 levels using controlled release PLGA microspheres improves expression of stem cell markers, increases stem cell numbers and decreases spontaneous differentiation. The controlled release FGF2 additive reduces the frequency of media changes needed to maintain stem cell cultures, so that human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells can be maintained successfully with biweekly feedings.

  14. Sustaining Participatory Design Initiatives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iversen, Ole Sejer; Dindler, Christian

    2014-01-01

    While many participatory design (PD) projects succeed in establishing new organisational initiatives or creating technology that is attuned to the people affected, the issue of how such results are sustained after the project ends remains an important challenge. We explore the challenge...... these various forms of sustainability may be pursued in PD practice and how they can become a resource in reflecting on PD activities. Finally, we discuss implications for PD practice, suggesting that a nuanced conception of sustainability and how it may relate to PD practice are useful resources for designers...... of sustaining PD initiatives beyond the individual project and discuss implications for PD practice. First, based on current PD literature, we distinguish between four ideal typical forms of sustainability: maintaining, scaling, replicating and evolving. Second, we demonstrate from a case study how...

  15. Industrialization for sustainable construction?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Egmond - de Wilde De Ligny, van E.L.C.; Barrett, P; Amaratunga, D.; Haigh, R; Keraminiyage, K.; Pathirage, C

    2010-01-01

    Sustainable construction (SuCo), which genesis dates in the early 1990’s, advocates the creation and operation of a quality and healthy built environment based on resource efficiency, life cycle economics and ecological principles. (Kibert, 2003). Currently the Construction Industry does not meet

  16. Global commitments and China's endeavors to promote health and achieve sustainable development goals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Xiaodong; Wu, Qian; Shao, Haiyan

    2018-04-12

    With its immense population and as the largest developing country in the world, China has made remarkable achievements in health promotion at a relatively low cost. However, China is still faced with challenges such as changes of disease spectrum, the coming era of an aging society, and the risk of environmental pollution. On October 25, 2016, China formally passed the blueprint of "Healthy China 2030," working towards the national goal of reaching a health standard on par with developed countries by 2030, which was also a response to realize the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. "Healthy China 2030" is comprised of 29 chapters that cover five health areas. China is sparing no effort to transfer from being merely the most populous country, to becoming a leading nation in health education. In "Healthy China 2030," collaborated construction and resource sharing were clearly stated as the core strategy. A shift in concentration towards coordinated development of health-based economy from a previous pursuit of rapid economic growth was also underlined. There are also several major issues, such as severely aging population, the burden of chronic diseases, the insufficiency of health expenditure, and the great demand on health protection, waiting to be dealt with during the implementation process of "Healthy China 2030". "Healthy China 2030" is a momentous move to enhance public health, which is also a response to the global commitments. We also need to rethink our approach to reach the living standards and maintain a better environment.

  17. [Sustainability of food choices: the position of the Italian experts in nutrition].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fatati, Giuseppe; Poli, Andrea

    2013-12-01

    The development of a global food system able to guarantee everyone a balanced food intake requires health professionals an awareness and a commitment to education increasingly complex. FAO strongly recommends the development of a code of conduct for sustainable diets. Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. We wanted to examine, through a specific questionnaire, the opinions of scientific italian opinion leaders on this topic. The comments received confirm the variability of the concept of sustainability among those who participated in our survey. In relation to the consumption of certain foods we detect the potential conflict between "healthy" and "sustainable". The nutritional need of increasing the consumption of healthy foods is widely shared, but more than a doubt emerges about the sustainability of these solution. Our survey shows the absolute necessity of shared documents in this regard (recommendations and/or guidelines) and of a thorough implementation of such documents among opinion makers.

  18. A Legitimate Freedom Approach to Sustainability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Crabtree, Andrew

    2012-01-01

    Although the capability approach has had a tremendous impact on the development debate, it has had little to say about sustainable development. As several Human Development Reports have maintained, the last twenty years' gains in human development are not sustainable. The failure to include...... Index should be combined with the Ecological Footprint to reflect sustainability, and that the Human Development Reports should give way to Sustainable Development Reports...... an integrate sustainability into the Human Development Index would thus give the wrong policy message. Drawing on the works of Amartya Sen and Thomas Scanlon, this article argues that sustainable development can be seen as a process of increasing legitimate freedoms, the freedoms that others cannot reasonably...

  19. What current literature tells us about sustainable diets: emerging research linking dietary patterns, environmental sustainability, and economics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auestad, Nancy; Fulgoni, Victor L

    2015-01-01

    The concept of sustainable diets, although not new, is gaining increased attention across the globe, especially in relation to projected population growth and growing concerns about climate change. As defined by the FAO (Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium, Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets 2010; FAO 2012), "Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations." Consistent and credible science that brings together agriculture, food systems, nutrition, public health, environment, economics, culture, and trade is needed to identify synergies and trade-offs and to inform guidance on vital elements of healthy, sustainable diets. The aim of this article is to review the emerging research on environmental and related economic impacts of dietary patterns, including habitual eating patterns, nutritionally balanced diets, and a variety of different dietary scenarios. Approaches to research designs, methodologies, and data sources are compared and contrasted to identify research gaps and future research needs. To date, it is difficult to assimilate all of the disparate approaches, and more concerted efforts for multidisciplinary studies are needed. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

  20. Sustainability of High-Level Isolation Capabilities among US Ebola Treatment Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herstein, Jocelyn J; Biddinger, Paul D; Gibbs, Shawn G; Le, Aurora B; Jelden, Katelyn C; Hewlett, Angela L; Lowe, John J

    2017-06-01

    To identify barriers to maintaining and applying capabilities of US high-level isolation units (HLIUs) used during the Ebola virus disease outbreak, during 2016 we surveyed HLIUs. HLIUs identified sustainability challenges and reported the highly infectious diseases they would treat. HLIUs expended substantial resources in development but must strategize models of sustainability to maintain readiness.

  1. Social Relationships in Religious Institutions and Healthy Lifestyles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krause, Neal; Shaw, Benjamin; Liang, Jersey

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to see if encouragement from fellow church members helps older people develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. The findings indicate that informal church-based support is associated with healthy lifestyles among older African Americans but not older Whites. In addition, the influence of support from fellow church…

  2. A Consensus Proposal for Nutritional Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of a Healthy Diet: The Mediterranean Diet as a Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donini, Lorenzo M; Dernini, Sandro; Lairon, Denis; Serra-Majem, Lluis; Amiot, Marie-Josèphe; Del Balzo, Valeria; Giusti, Anna-Maria; Burlingame, Barbara; Belahsen, Rekia; Maiani, Giuseppe; Polito, Angela; Turrini, Aida; Intorre, Federica; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Berry, Elliot M

    2016-01-01

    There is increasing evidence of the multiple effects of diets on public health nutrition, society, and environment. Sustainability and food security are closely interrelated. The traditional Mediterranean Diet (MD) is recognized as a healthier dietary pattern with a lower environmental impact. As a case study, the MD may guide innovative inter-sectorial efforts to counteract the degradation of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and homogeneity of diets due to globalization through the improvement of sustainable healthy dietary patterns. This consensus position paper defines a suite of the most appropriate nutrition and health indicators for assessing the sustainability of diets based on the MD. In 2011, an informal International Working Group from different national and international institutions was convened. Through online and face-to-face brainstorming meetings over 4 years, a set of nutrition and health indicators for sustainability was identified and refined. Thirteen nutrition indicators of sustainability relating were identified in five areas. Biochemical characteristics of food (A1. Vegetable/animal protein consumption ratios; A2. Average dietary energy adequacy; A3. Dietary Energy Density Score; A4. Nutrient density of diet), Food Quality (A5. Fruit and vegetable consumption/intakes; A6. Dietary Diversity Score), Environment (A7. Food biodiversity composition and consumption; A8. Rate of Local/regional foods and seasonality; A9. Rate of eco-friendly food production and/or consumption), Lifestyle (A10. Physical activity/physical inactivity prevalence; A11. Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern), Clinical Aspects (A12. Diet-related morbidity/mortality statistics; A13. Nutritional Anthropometry). A standardized set of information was provided for each indicator: definition, methodology, background, data sources, limitations of the indicator, and references. The selection and analysis of these indicators has been performed (where possible) with

  3. Attribute Segmentation and Communication Effects on Healthy and Sustainable Consumer Diet Intentions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verain, Muriel; Sijtsema, Siet; Dagevos, Hans; Antonides, Gerrit

    2017-01-01

    A shift towards more sustainable consumer diets is urgently needed. Dietary guidelines state that changes towards less animal-based and more plant-based diets are beneficial in terms of sustainability and, in addition, will have a positive effect on public health. Communication on these guidelines

  4. What Current Literature Tells Us about Sustainable Diets: Emerging Research Linking Dietary Patterns, Environmental Sustainability, and Economics12

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auestad, Nancy; Fulgoni, Victor L

    2015-01-01

    The concept of sustainable diets, although not new, is gaining increased attention across the globe, especially in relation to projected population growth and growing concerns about climate change. As defined by the FAO (Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium, Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets 2010; FAO 2012), “Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations.” Consistent and credible science that brings together agriculture, food systems, nutrition, public health, environment, economics, culture, and trade is needed to identify synergies and trade-offs and to inform guidance on vital elements of healthy, sustainable diets. The aim of this article is to review the emerging research on environmental and related economic impacts of dietary patterns, including habitual eating patterns, nutritionally balanced diets, and a variety of different dietary scenarios. Approaches to research designs, methodologies, and data sources are compared and contrasted to identify research gaps and future research needs. To date, it is difficult to assimilate all of the disparate approaches, and more concerted efforts for multidisciplinary studies are needed. PMID:25593141

  5. Grazing animal husbandry based on sustainable nutrient management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermans, C.; Vereijken, P.H.

    1995-01-01

    Sustainable husbandry systems for grazing animals (cattle and sheep) can be achieved by sustainable nutrient management (SNM). This implies the tuning of inputs to outputs of nutrients, to achieve and maintain optimum ranges of agronomically wanted and ecologically acceptable reserves of single

  6. Development and application of a community sustainability visualization tool through integration of US EPA’s Sustainable and Health Community Research Program tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maintaining a harmonious balance between economic, social, and environmental well-being is paramount to community sustainability. Communities need a practical/usable suite of measures to assess their current position on a "surface" of sustainability created from the interaction ...

  7. Nanotechnology in Sustainable Agriculture: Recent Developments, Challenges, and Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasad, Ram; Bhattacharyya, Atanu; Nguyen, Quang D.

    2017-01-01

    Nanotechnology monitors a leading agricultural controlling process, especially by its miniature dimension. Additionally, many potential benefits such as enhancement of food quality and safety, reduction of agricultural inputs, enrichment of absorbing nanoscale nutrients from the soil, etc. allow the application of nanotechnology to be resonant encumbrance. Agriculture, food, and natural resources are a part of those challenges like sustainability, susceptibility, human health, and healthy life. The ambition of nanomaterials in agriculture is to reduce the amount of spread chemicals, minimize nutrient losses in fertilization and increased yield through pest and nutrient management. Nanotechnology has the prospective to improve the agriculture and food industry with novel nanotools for the controlling of rapid disease diagnostic, enhancing the capacity of plants to absorb nutrients among others. The significant interests of using nanotechnology in agriculture includes specific applications like nanofertilizers and nanopesticides to trail products and nutrients levels to increase the productivity without decontamination of soils, waters, and protection against several insect pest and microbial diseases. Nanotechnology may act as sensors for monitoring soil quality of agricultural field and thus it maintain the health of agricultural plants. This review covers the current challenges of sustainability, food security and climate change that are exploring by the researchers in the area of nanotechnology in the improvement of agriculture. PMID:28676790

  8. Nanotechnology in Sustainable Agriculture: Recent Developments, Challenges, and Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ram Prasad

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Nanotechnology monitors a leading agricultural controlling process, especially by its miniature dimension. Additionally, many potential benefits such as enhancement of food quality and safety, reduction of agricultural inputs, enrichment of absorbing nanoscale nutrients from the soil, etc. allow the application of nanotechnology to be resonant encumbrance. Agriculture, food, and natural resources are a part of those challenges like sustainability, susceptibility, human health, and healthy life. The ambition of nanomaterials in agriculture is to reduce the amount of spread chemicals, minimize nutrient losses in fertilization and increased yield through pest and nutrient management. Nanotechnology has the prospective to improve the agriculture and food industry with novel nanotools for the controlling of rapid disease diagnostic, enhancing the capacity of plants to absorb nutrients among others. The significant interests of using nanotechnology in agriculture includes specific applications like nanofertilizers and nanopesticides to trail products and nutrients levels to increase the productivity without decontamination of soils, waters, and protection against several insect pest and microbial diseases. Nanotechnology may act as sensors for monitoring soil quality of agricultural field and thus it maintain the health of agricultural plants. This review covers the current challenges of sustainability, food security and climate change that are exploring by the researchers in the area of nanotechnology in the improvement of agriculture.

  9. The Promise of Tailoring Incentives for Healthy Behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kullgren, Jeffrey T; Williams, Geoffrey C; Resnicow, Kenneth; An, Lawrence C; Rothberg, Amy; Volpp, Kevin G; Heisler, Michele

    2016-01-01

    To describe how tailoring financial incentives for healthy behaviors to employees' goals, values, and aspirations might improve the efficacy of incentives. We integrate insights from self-determination theory (SDT) with principles from behavioral economics in the design of financial incentives by linking how incentives could help meet an employee's life goals, values, or aspirations. Tailored financial incentives could be more effective than standard incentives in promoting autonomous motivation necessary to initiate healthy behaviors and sustain them after incentives are removed. Previous efforts to improve the design of financial incentives have tested different incentive designs that vary the size, schedule, timing, and target of incentives. Our strategy for tailoring incentives builds on strong evidence that difficult behavior changes are more successful when integrated with important life goals and values. We outline necessary research to examine the effectiveness of this approach among at-risk employees. Instead of offering simple financial rewards for engaging in healthy behaviors, existing programs could leverage incentives to promote employees' autonomous motivation for sustained health improvements. Effective application of these concepts could lead to programs more effective at improving health, potentially at lower cost. Our approach for the first time integrates key insights from SDT, behavioral economics, and tailoring to turn an extrinsic reward for behavior change into an internalized, self-sustaining motivator for long-term engagement in risk-reducing behaviors.

  10. Sustainable development and public health: rating European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seke Kristina

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sustainable development and public health quite strongly correlate, being connected and conditioned by one another. This paper therein attempts to offer a representation of Europe’s current situation of sustainable development in the area of public health. Methods A dataset on sustainable development in the area of public health consisting of 31 European countries (formally proposed by the European Union Commission and EUROSTAT has been used in this paper in order to evaluate said issue for the countries listed thereof. A statistical method which synthesizes several indicators into one quantitative indicator has also been utilized. Furthermore, the applied method offers the possibility to obtain an optimal set of variables for future studies of the problem, as well as for the possible development of indicators. Results According to the results obtained, Norway and Iceland are the two foremost European countries regarding sustainable development in the area of public health, whereas Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, some of the European Union’s newest Member States, rank lowest. The results also demonstrate that the most significant variables (more than 80% in rating countries are found to be “healthy life years at birth, females” (r2 = 0.880, “healthy life years at birth, males” (r2 = 0.864, “death rate due to chronic diseases, males” (r2 = 0.850, and “healthy life years, 65, females” (r2 = 0.844. Conclusions Based on the results of this paper, public health represents a precondition for sustainable development, which should be continuously invested in and improved. After the assessment of the dataset, proposed by EUROSTAT in order to evaluate progress towards the agreed goals of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS, this paper offers an improved set of variables, which it is hoped, may initiate further studies concerning this problem.

  11. Sustainable development and public health: rating European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seke, Kristina; Petrovic, Natasa; Jeremic, Veljko; Vukmirovic, Jovanka; Kilibarda, Biljana; Martic, Milan

    2013-01-28

    Sustainable development and public health quite strongly correlate, being connected and conditioned by one another. This paper therein attempts to offer a representation of Europe's current situation of sustainable development in the area of public health. A dataset on sustainable development in the area of public health consisting of 31 European countries (formally proposed by the European Union Commission and EUROSTAT) has been used in this paper in order to evaluate said issue for the countries listed thereof. A statistical method which synthesizes several indicators into one quantitative indicator has also been utilized. Furthermore, the applied method offers the possibility to obtain an optimal set of variables for future studies of the problem, as well as for the possible development of indicators. According to the results obtained, Norway and Iceland are the two foremost European countries regarding sustainable development in the area of public health, whereas Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, some of the European Union's newest Member States, rank lowest. The results also demonstrate that the most significant variables (more than 80%) in rating countries are found to be "healthy life years at birth, females" (r2 = 0.880), "healthy life years at birth, males" (r2 = 0.864), "death rate due to chronic diseases, males" (r2 = 0.850), and "healthy life years, 65, females" (r2 = 0.844). Based on the results of this paper, public health represents a precondition for sustainable development, which should be continuously invested in and improved.After the assessment of the dataset, proposed by EUROSTAT in order to evaluate progress towards the agreed goals of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), this paper offers an improved set of variables, which it is hoped, may initiate further studies concerning this problem.

  12. ENVIRONMENT ACCOUNTING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    OpenAIRE

    Florin Boghean

    2007-01-01

    Economic sustainability or intergenerational equity entails maintaining social well being by decisions about investments in different types of asset. Under certain conditions, consumption can be sustained by depleting resources, or various kinds of natural capital, while building up other kinds of capital. Theoretically, the choices involve the use of a set of accounting prices. The question becomes one of finding and implementing accounting prices that express the roles of the various capita...

  13. Characteristics of the home food environment that mediate immediate and sustained increases in child fruit and vegetable consumption: mediation analysis from the Healthy Habits cluster randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyse, Rebecca; Wolfenden, Luke; Bisquera, Alessandra

    2015-09-17

    The home food environment can influence the development of dietary behaviours in children, and interventions that modify characteristics of the home food environment have been shown to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption. However to date, interventions to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption have generally produced only modest effects. Mediation analysis can help in the design of more efficient and effective interventions by identifying the mechanisms through which interventions have an effect. This study aimed to identify characteristics of the home food environment that mediated immediate and sustained increases in children's fruit and vegetable consumption following the 4-week Healthy Habits telephone-based parent intervention. Analysis was conducted using 2-month (immediate) and 12-month (sustained) follow-up data from a cluster randomised control trial of a home food environment intervention to increase the fruit and vegetable consumption of preschool children. Using recursive path analysis, a series of mediation models were created to investigate the direct and indirect effects of immediate and sustained changes to characteristics of the home food environment (fruit and vegetable availability, accessibility, parent intake, parent providing behaviour, role-modelling, mealtime eating practices, child feeding strategies, and pressure to eat), on the change in children's fruit and vegetable consumption. Of the 394 participants in the randomised trial, 357 and 329 completed the 2- and 12-month follow-up respectively. The final mediation model suggests that the effect of the intervention on the children's fruit and vegetable consumption was mediated by parent fruit and vegetable intake and parent provision of these foods at both 2- and 12-month follow-up. Analysis of data from the Healthy Habits trial suggests that two environmental variables (parental intake and parent providing) mediate the immediate and sustained effect of the

  14. Physical activity and healthy weight maintenance from childhood to adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleland, Verity J; Dwyer, Terence; Venn, Alison J

    2008-06-01

    The objective of this study was to determine whether change in physical activity was associated with maintaining a healthy weight from childhood to adulthood. This prospective cohort study examined 1,594 young Australian adults (48.9% female) aged 27-36 years who were first examined at age 9-15 years as part of a national health and fitness survey. BMI was calculated from measured height and weight, and physical activity was self-reported at both time points; pedometers were also used at follow-up. Change in physical activity was characterized by calculating the difference between baseline and follow-up z-scores. Change scores were categorized as decreasing (large, moderate), stable, or increasing (large, moderate). Healthy weight was defined in childhood as a BMI less than international overweight cutoff points, and in adulthood as BMIdecreases in physical activity, females in all other groups were 25-37% more likely to be healthy weight maintainers, although associations differed according to the physical activity measure used at follow-up and few reached statistical significance. Although younger males whose relative physical activity moderately or largely increased were 27-34% more likely to be healthy weight maintainers than those whose relative physical activity largely decreased, differences were not statistically significant. In conclusion, relatively increasing and stable physical activity from childhood to adulthood was only weakly associated with healthy weight maintenance. Examining personal, social, and environmental factors associated with healthy weight maintenance will be an important next step in understanding why some groups avoid becoming overweight.

  15. Sustainability between Necessity, Contingency and Impossibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karl Bruckmeier

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable use of natural resources seems necessary to maintain functions and services of eco- and social systems in the long run. Efforts in policy and science for sustainable development have shown the splintering of local, national and global strategies. Sustainability becomes contingent and insecure with the actors´ conflicting knowledge, interests and aims, and seems even impossible through the “rebound”-effect. To make short and long term requirements of sustainability coherent requires critical, comparative and theoretical analysis of the problems met. For this purpose important concepts and theories are discussed in this review of recent interdisciplinary literature about resource management.

  16. The Experience of Young Women Living in a Prostitution Area in Maintaining Their Reproductive Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dovis, Vonyca; Setyowati; Kurniawati, Wiwit

    Young women face a difficult situation when they live in a prostitution area or red light district. A phenomenological approach was applied to explore the experiences in maintaining reproductive health of 10 young women living in the prostitution area in Lampung, one of the provinces in Sumatra. Thematic content analysis found 7 themes including: (1) The participants' perception of prostitution as a place of naughty women and free sexual activity that can transmit STDs and influence adolescent psychology; (2) The ways the participants kept their reproductive organs healthy were through maintaining friendships, maintaining personal hygiene, avoiding free sexual activity, eating healthy food, and having routine medical checkups; (3) Information support was gained from family, health workers, media, and teachers; (4) Emotional support from family and friends; (5) Barriers to maintaining good health were inaccessible health facilities and an underfunded health service; (6) The needs of the participants were reproductive health services and clean environment; (7) The participants hoped for health education and intensive health services with friendly nurses. The results of this research illustrate that there is a need for socializing intensive ways to maintain reproductive health, especially in a risky environment.

  17. Premises of Sustainable Development on Rural Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anca Turtureanu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the authors want to highlight the opportunity on rural areas and development in termsof durability. The content of sustainable development offers to local communities real and lasting solutions.In this sense for a community to be truly sustainable, it must adopt a holistic approach, taking into accountshort-term environmental and economic sustainability of natural and cultural resources. The authors believethat a sustainable community among its objectives to include their major environmental issues, povertyeradication, improvement of quality of life, developing and maintaining an effective and viable localeconomies, leading to a global vision of sustainable development of all sectors of the community.

  18. Kennedy Space Center Five Year Sustainability Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Ann T.

    2016-01-01

    The Federal Government is committed to following sustainable principles. At its heart, sustainability integrates environmental, societal and economic solutions for present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Building upon its pledge towards environmental stewardship, the Administration generated a vision of sustainability spanning ten goals mandated within Executive Order (EO) 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade. In November 2015, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) responded to this EO by incorporating it into a new release of the NASA Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan (SSPP). The SSPP recognizes the importance of aligning environmental practices in a manner that preserves, enhances and strengthens NASA's ability to perform its mission indefinitely. The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is following suit with KSC's Sustainability Plan (SP) by promoting, maintaining and pioneering green practices in all aspects of our mission. KSC's SP recognizes that the best sustainable solutions use an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach spanning civil servant and contractor personnel from across the Center. This approach relies on the participation of all employees to develop and implement sustainability endeavors connected with the following ten goals: Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Design, build and maintain sustainable buildings, facilities and infrastructure. Leverage clean and renewable energy. Increase water conservation. Improve fleet and vehicle efficiency and management. Purchase sustainable products and services. Minimize waste and prevent pollution. Implement performance contracts for Federal buildings. Manage electronic equipment and data centers responsibly. Pursue climate change resilience. The KSC SP details the strategies and actions that address the following objectives: Reduce Center costs. center dot Increase energy and water efficiencies. Promote smart

  19. Sustainable winegrowing: current perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariani A

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Angela Mariani,1 Antonella Vastola2 1Department of Economic and Legal Studies, University Parthenope, Naples, 2School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy Abstract: The winegrowing sector worldwide is strongly committed to improving environmental and social sustainability. The aim of this work, based on a literature review, is to highlight current sustainability perspectives and the related main issues. There is a broad consensus that the challenge to achieve a greater spread of sustainable practices is to enhance environmental and social sustainability while maintaining economic viability. From the producers' point of view, the priority is to bridge the still substantial knowledge gaps in terms of perceived environmental benefits, economic benefits, and costs. Thus, an increased research effort focusing on the costs and benefits of different winegrowing practices and technical assistance with implementation might support their diffusion. Moreover, targeted marketing strategies are needed to: enhance consumers' involvement and their attitude toward sustainable wine; improve understanding and use of sustainable labels and claims; and raise awareness of some environmental credentials of wine packaging, mainly with reference to lightweight glass bottles. Keywords: winegrower, sustainability, wine, consumer, marketing strategies

  20. Opportunities for public aquariums to increase the sustainability of the aquatic animal trade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tlusty, Michael F; Rhyne, Andrew L; Kaufman, Les; Hutchins, Michael; Reid, Gordon McGregor; Andrews, Chris; Boyle, Paul; Hemdal, Jay; McGilvray, Frazer; Dowd, Scott

    2013-01-01

    The global aquatic pet trade encompasses a wide diversity of freshwater and marine organisms. While relying on a continual supply of healthy, vibrant aquatic animals, few sustainability initiatives exist within this sector. Public aquariums overlap this industry by acquiring many of the same species through the same sources. End users are also similar, as many aquarium visitors are home aquarists. Here we posit that this overlap with the pet trade gives aquariums significant opportunity to increase the sustainability of the trade in aquarium fishes and invertebrates. Improving the sustainability ethos and practices of the aquatic pet trade can carry a conservation benefit in terms of less waste, and protection of intact functioning ecosystems, at the same time as maintaining its economic and educational benefits and impacts. The relationship would also move forward the goal of public aquariums to advance aquatic conservation in a broad sense. For example, many public aquariums in North America have been instrumental in working with the seafood industry to enact positive change toward increased sustainability. The actions include being good consumers themselves, providing technical knowledge, and providing educational and outreach opportunities. These same opportunities exist for public aquariums to partner with the ornamental fish trade, which will serve to improve business, create new, more ethical and more dependable sources of aquatic animals for public aquariums, and perhaps most important, possibly transform the home aquarium industry from a threat, into a positive force for aquatic conservation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Healthy Kidneys (A Cup of Health with CDC)

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2017-03-02

    Kidneys that function properly are critical for maintaining good health, however, more than one in seven American adults have kidney disease and most aren’t aware of their condition. In this podcast, Nilka Rios Burrows discusses the importance of maintaining healthy kidneys.  Created: 3/2/2017 by MMWR.   Date Released: 3/2/2017.

  2. Male sexual function can be maintained without aromatization: randomized placebo-controlled trial of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in healthy, older men for 24 months.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sartorius, Gideon A; Ly, Lam P; Handelsman, David J

    2014-10-01

    Male sexual function is highly androgen dependent but whether aromatization of testosterone (T) to estradiol is required remains contentious. This study aims to investigate the effects of selective estrogen deficiency induced by a nonaromatizable androgen, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), on sexual function of healthy middle-aged and older men. Randomized clinical trial of daily transdermal DHT (70 mg) or placebo gel treatment in 114 healthy middle-aged and older (>50 years, mean 60.5 years) men without known prostate disease maintaining selective estrogen deficiency for 24 months. The end points were responses to a psychosexual and mood questionnaire completed before, at 3 months, then at 6 monthly intervals during and 3 months after study. Data were analyzed by mixed model analysis of variance for repeated measures using age and body mass index (BMI) as covariates and including interactions of treatment with age and time-on-study. DHT treatment increased serum DHT with complete suppression of serum T, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, and estradiol throughout the 24-month study resulting in reduced spinal bone density. There were no spontaneous complaints, or discontinuations for, adverse effects on sexual function during the study. DHT administration had no effects on any of 33 measures of sexual function and mood, apart from a mild, but significant decrease in overall sexual desire, which was reversible after cessation of treatment. Increasing age and less often increasing BMI were associated with significant decreases in most aspects of sexual function. We conclude that aromatization plays only a minimal role in maintenance of sexual function in healthy eugonadal middle-aged or older men, but age and obesity are significantly associated with decreases in most aspects of self-reported sexual function and satisfaction. The dependence of male sexual function on aromatization may be conditional on age and obesity and can be overcome by a

  3. Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) User Manual: A Decision Support Tool (DST) for Supporting Sustainability Efforts in Four Areas - Land Use, Transportation, Buildings and Infrastructure, and Materials Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program is developing methodologies, resources, and tools to assist community members and local decision makers in implementing policy choices that facilitate sustainable approaches in managing their resources affecti...

  4. Improving and Maintaining Physical Activity and Anthropometric Indices in females from Tehran: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeynab Gholamnia-shirvani

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: The amount of physical activity as an essential determinant of healthy lifestyle in females is less than is required. Theory-driven health education interventions, particularly Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB, are effective in promoting and sustaining physical activity. This research evaluated the TPB-based educational intervention on exercise behavior and anthropometric indices in females residing in organizational houses in Tehran. Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled trial was performed on 130 females residing in institutional houses in Tehran (2014. Participants were randomly chosen with multi-stage cluster sampling. The instructional sessions were carried out applying modified methods of the TPB structure (instrumental and affective attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention and behavior. The TPB constructs, physical activity level and intensity, Body Mass Index (BMI and Waist Hip Ratio (WHR were analyzed using the SPSS 16software in baseline, three and six months post-education. Results: Conducting the educational program led to a rise and maintained the mean of the TPB constructs and mean rank of the physical activity level and intensity, three and six months post-intervention in the case group (P0.05 Conclusions: Implementing the TPB-directed instructional sessions resulted in ameliorating and sustaining exercise behavior and anthropometric indices in females.

  5. Achieving Sustainable Value Planning For Malaysian Public Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Faudzi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability is the central development issue in the modern economy. Through sustainable development, quality of life can be improved or maintained over time. Since Malaysia is targeting to become a high-income nation by the year 2020, financial investment in public projects should be planned comprehensively so that it will generate immediate and long-term benefits to the country and the people. Within the currently tight financial environment, achieving value for money in public spending is seen as one of the enablers to maintain the right momentum of economic growth. Previous studies have established the importance of integrating sustainability consideration into Value Planning protocol in order to achieve value for money, underpinned by the sustainable development agenda. Despite the establishment of the framework for the integration, the opportunity of such integration within the Malaysian Value Planning protocol for public projects remains unclear. The present state of sustainability consideration within the Value Planning practice should be first evaluated, so that potential interventions to enhance the integration can be introduced. Responding to the gap, this exploratory study was conducted. The data was collected by means of document analysis, interviews and observations; subsequently analysed using the Template Analysis technique. Based on the current practice of Value Planning in Malaysia, ten interventions are proposed to transform the present practice into Sustainable Value Planning. Sustainable Value Planning is seen as a comprehensive concept in achieving value for money in public spending underpinned by the overarching concept of sustainability

  6. Sustained multiplicity in everyday cholesterol reduction: repertoires and practices in talk about 'healthy living'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Will, Catherine M; Weiner, Kate

    2014-02-01

    This article is concerned with talk about and the practices of healthy living in relation to cholesterol reduction. It draws on qualitative interviews with 89 people who are current or former users of either cholesterol-lowering functional foods or statins for cardiovascular risk reduction. Focusing on data about everyday activities including food preparation, shopping and exercise, we illustrate four repertoires that feature in talk about cholesterol reduction (health, pleasure, sociality and pragmatism). Using Gilbert and Mulkay's notion of a 'reconciliation device', we suggest ways in which apparently contradictory repertoires are combined (for example, through talk about moderation) or kept apart. We suggest that, in contrast to the interactiveness of the repertoires of health and pleasure, a pragmatic repertoire concerning food provisioning, storage and cooking as well as the realities of exercise, appears distinct from talk about health and is relatively inert. Finally we consider the implications of these discursive patterns for daily practices. Our data suggest there is little emphasis on coherence in people's practices and illustrate the significance of temporal, spatial and social distribution in allowing people to pursue different priorities in their everyday lives. Rather than the calculated trade-offs of earlier medical sociology we draw on Mol to foreground the possibility of sustained multiplicity in daily practices. © 2014 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2014 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Stage-Based Healthy Lifestyles Program for Non-College Young Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Jennifer; Kattelmann, Kendra; White, Adrienne

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of implementing a healthy lifestyles intervention to maintain or achieve healthy weight for low-income young adults in vocational education. Design/methodology/approach: Non-randomized, quasi-experimental feasibility test of a ten-week intervention with follow-up assessment designed…

  8. Agrifood systems and the microbial safety of fresh produce: Trade-offs in the wake of increased sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen-the, Christophe; Bardin, Marc; Berard, Annette; Berge, Odile; Brillard, Julien; Broussolle, Véronique

    2016-01-01

    Fresh produce has been a growing cause of food borne outbreaks world-wide prompting the need for safer production practices. Yet fresh produce agrifood systems are diverse and under constraints for more sustainability. We analyze how measures taken to guarantee safety interact with other objectives for sustainability, in light of the diversity of fresh produce agrifood systems. The review is based on the publications at the interface between fresh produce safety and sustainability, with sustainability defined by low environmental impacts, food and nutrition security and healthy life. The paths for more sustainable fresh produce are diverse. They include an increased use of ecosystem services to e.g. favor predators of pests, or to reduce impact of floods, to reduce soil erosion, or to purify run-off waters. In contrast, they also include production systems isolated from the environment. From a socio-economical view, sustainability may imply maintaining small tenures with a higher risk of pathogen contamination. We analyzed the consequences for produce safety by focusing on risks of contamination by water, soil, environment and live stocks. Climate change may increase the constraints and recent knowledge on interactions between produce and human pathogens may bring new solutions. Existing technologies may suffice to resolve some conflicts between ensuring safety of fresh produce and moving towards more sustainability. However, socio-economic constraints of some agri-food systems may prevent their implementation. In addition, current strategies to preserve produce safety are not adapted to systems relying on ecological principles and knowledge is lacking to develop the new risk management approaches that would be needed. - Highlights: • Measures taken to improve safety were assessed for their impact on sustainability. • Fresh produce safety improvements may come at the expense of sustainability. • Environment, food security and human health constituted the

  9. Agrifood systems and the microbial safety of fresh produce: Trade-offs in the wake of increased sustainability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nguyen-the, Christophe, E-mail: christophe.nguyen-the@avignon.inra.fr [UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d' Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon (France); Bardin, Marc, E-mail: marc.bardin@avignon.inra.fr [INRA, UR0407 Plant Pathology, F-84143 Montfavet (France); Berard, Annette, E-mail: annette.berard@avignon.inra.fr [EMMAH, INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon (France); Berge, Odile, E-mail: odile.berge@avignon.inra.fr [INRA, UR0407 Plant Pathology, F-84143 Montfavet (France); Brillard, Julien, E-mail: julien.brillard@univ-montp2.fr [UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d' Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon (France); Broussolle, Véronique, E-mail: veronique.broussolle@avignon.inra.fr [UMR408 SQPOV «Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d' Origine Végétale», INRA, Avignon Université, 84000 Avignon (France); and others

    2016-08-15

    Fresh produce has been a growing cause of food borne outbreaks world-wide prompting the need for safer production practices. Yet fresh produce agrifood systems are diverse and under constraints for more sustainability. We analyze how measures taken to guarantee safety interact with other objectives for sustainability, in light of the diversity of fresh produce agrifood systems. The review is based on the publications at the interface between fresh produce safety and sustainability, with sustainability defined by low environmental impacts, food and nutrition security and healthy life. The paths for more sustainable fresh produce are diverse. They include an increased use of ecosystem services to e.g. favor predators of pests, or to reduce impact of floods, to reduce soil erosion, or to purify run-off waters. In contrast, they also include production systems isolated from the environment. From a socio-economical view, sustainability may imply maintaining small tenures with a higher risk of pathogen contamination. We analyzed the consequences for produce safety by focusing on risks of contamination by water, soil, environment and live stocks. Climate change may increase the constraints and recent knowledge on interactions between produce and human pathogens may bring new solutions. Existing technologies may suffice to resolve some conflicts between ensuring safety of fresh produce and moving towards more sustainability. However, socio-economic constraints of some agri-food systems may prevent their implementation. In addition, current strategies to preserve produce safety are not adapted to systems relying on ecological principles and knowledge is lacking to develop the new risk management approaches that would be needed. - Highlights: • Measures taken to improve safety were assessed for their impact on sustainability. • Fresh produce safety improvements may come at the expense of sustainability. • Environment, food security and human health constituted the

  10. The importance of maintainability in maintenance cost management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, R.R.

    1996-01-01

    This paper provides specific examples and results from ongoing projects at Power Plants, and for offshore oil platforms. The paper describes the vital role maintainability has on plant availability. How the application of equipment maintainability principles, if addressed using state of the art computer tools and advanced business processes can bring annual return on investment results as high as 15 to 1. The maintenance process of today and for the future must provide for high plant availability at the lowest possible cost. The high cost of obtaining equipment reliability levels necessary to meet required availability demands has not proved to be sustainable. Therefore new business decision processes that address equipment failures as part of the maintenance process have been developed. Repair costs require that equipment failures be selective and controlled so that a high level of safety and plant availability is assurance. This can only be accomplished by the use of advanced computer tools in the hands of well trained maintenance-engineering specialist. The relationship between Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Condition Directed Planned Maintenance (CDPM), and maintainability is also presented

  11. Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenzie, Suzanne H; Harris, Mark F

    2013-11-01

    The process of initiating and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex, includes a number of distinct phases and is not static. Theoretical models of behaviour change consider psychological constructs such as intention and self efficacy but do not clearly consider the role of stress or psychological distress. General practice based interventions addressing lifestyle behaviours have been demonstrated to be feasible and effective however it is not clear whether general practitioners (GPs) take psychological health into consideration when discussing lifestyle behaviours. This qualitative study explores GPs' and patients' perspectives about the relationship between external stressors, psychological distress and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 16 patients and 5 GPs. Transcripts from the interviews were thematically analysed and a conceptual model developed to explain the relationship between external stressors, psychological distress and healthly lifestyle behaviours. Participants were motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle however they described a range of external factors that impacted on behaviour in both positive and negative ways, either directly or via their impact on psychological distress. The impact of external factors was moderated by coping strategies, beliefs, habits and social support. In some cases the process of changing or maintaining healthy behaviour also caused distress. The concept of a threshold level of distress was evident in the data with patients and GPs describing a certain level of distress required before it negatively influenced behaviour. Maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex and constantly under challenge from external stressors. Practitioners can assist patients with maintaining healthy behaviour by providing targeted support to moderate the impact of external stressors.

  12. ′Metal to resin′: A comparative evaluation of conventional band and loop space maintainer with the fiber reinforced composite resin space maintainer in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A Garg

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Aims: To compare the clinical efficacy of two space maintainers namely, conventional band and loop and Fiber Reinforced Composite Resin (FRCR space maintainers . Subjects and Methods: Thirty healthy children, aged 5 to 8 years were selected having at least two deciduous molars in different quadrants indicated for extraction or lost previously. FRCR space maintainer was placed in one quadrant and in the other quadrant band and loop space maintainer was cemented. All the patients were recalled at 1 st , 3 rd , and 6 th months for evaluation of both types of space maintainer. Patient acceptability, time taken, and clinical efficacy was recorded. Statistical analysis used: The observations thus obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Chi- square test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Patient acceptability was greater in Group I (FRCR in comparison to Group II (band and loop space maintainer. The time taken by Group I was significantly lower as compared to that of Group II. In Group I, debonding of enamel, composite was the most common complication leading to failure followed by debonding of fiber composite. In Group II, cement loss was the most common complication leading to failure followed by slippage of band and fracture of loop. The success rates of Groups I and Group II weares 63.3% and 36.7%, respectively. Conclusion: The study concluded that FRCRFiber Reinforced Composite Resin (Ribbond space maintainers can be considered as viable alternative to the conventional band and loop space maintainers.

  13. DNMT1 maintains progenitor function in self-renewing somatic tissue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sen, George L; Reuter, Jason A; Webster, Daniel E; Zhu, Lilly; Khavari, Paul A

    2010-01-28

    Progenitor cells maintain self-renewing tissues throughout life by sustaining their capacity for proliferation while suppressing cell cycle exit and terminal differentiation. DNA methylation provides a potential epigenetic mechanism for the cellular memory needed to preserve the somatic progenitor state through repeated cell divisions. DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) maintains DNA methylation patterns after cellular replication. Although dispensable for embryonic stem cell maintenance, the role for DNMT1 in maintaining the progenitor state in constantly replenished somatic tissues, such as mammalian epidermis, is unclear. Here we show that DNMT1 is essential for epidermal progenitor cell function. DNMT1 protein was found enriched in undifferentiated cells, where it was required to retain proliferative stamina and suppress differentiation. In tissue, DNMT1 depletion led to exit from the progenitor cell compartment, premature differentiation and eventual tissue loss. Genome-wide analysis showed that a significant portion of epidermal differentiation gene promoters were methylated in self-renewing conditions but were subsequently demethylated during differentiation. Furthermore, UHRF1 (refs 9, 10), a component of the DNA methylation machinery that targets DNMT1 to hemi-methylated DNA, is also necessary to suppress premature differentiation and sustain proliferation. In contrast, Gadd45A and B, which promote active DNA demethylation, are required for full epidermal differentiation gene induction. These data demonstrate that proteins involved in the dynamic regulation of DNA methylation patterns are required for progenitor maintenance and self-renewal in mammalian somatic tissue.

  14. A consensus proposal for nutritional indicators to assess the sustainability of a healthy diet: the Mediterranean diet as a case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenzo M Donini

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: There is increasing evidence of the multiple effects of diets on public health nutrition, society and environment. Sustainability and food security are closely inter-related. The traditional Mediterranean Diet (MD is recognized as a healthier dietary pattern with a lower environmental impact. As a case study, the MD may guide innovative inter-sectorial efforts to counteract the degradation of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity and homogeneity of diets due to globalization, through the improvement of sustainable healthy dietary patterns.This consensus position paper defines a suite of the most appropriate nutrition and health indicators for assessing the sustainability of diets based on the MD.Methods: In 2011, an informal International Working Group from different national and international institutions was convened. Through online and face-to-face brainstorming meetings over four years, a set of nutrition and health indicators for sustainability was identified and refined.Results: Thirteen nutrition indicators of sustainability relating were identified in five areas: •Biochemical characteristics of food (A1. Vegetable/animal protein consumption ratios; (A2. Average dietary energy adequacy; (A3. Dietary energy density score; (A4. Nutrient density of diet: •Food Quality (A5. Fruit and vegetable consumption/intakes; (A6. Dietary diversity score: •Environment (A7. Food biodiversity composition and consumption; (A8. Rate of Local/regional foods and seasonality; (A9. Rate of eco-friendly food production and/or consumption: •Lifestyle (A10. Physical activity/Physical inactivity prevalence; (A11. Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern•Clinical Aspects; (A12. Diet-related morbidity/mortality statistics; (A13. Nutritional Anthropometry. A standardized set of information was provided for each indicator: definition, methodology, background, data sources, limitations of the indicator and references.Conclusions: The selection and

  15. College Students' View of Biotechnology Products and Practices in Sustainable Agriculture Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, William A.

    2008-01-01

    Sustainable agriculture implies the use of products and practices that sustain production, protect the environment, ensure economic viability, and maintain rural community viability. Disagreement exists as to whether or not the products and practices of modern biotechnological support agricultural sustainability. The purpose of this study was to…

  16. Enhancing Linkages Between Healthy Diets, Local Agriculture, and Sustainable Food Systems: The School Meals Planner Package in Ghana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandes, Meenakshi; Galloway, Rae; Gelli, Aulo; Mumuni, Daniel; Hamdani, Salha; Kiamba, Josephine; Quarshie, Kate; Bhatia, Rita; Aurino, Elisabetta; Peel, Francis; Drake, Lesley

    2016-12-01

    Interventions that enhance linkages between healthy diets and local agriculture can promote sustainable food systems. Home-grown school feeding programs present a promising entry point for such interventions, through the delivery of nutritious menus and meals. To describe the adaptation of the School Meals Planner Package to the programmatic and environmental reality in Ghana during the 2014 to 2015 school year. Guided by a conceptual framework highlighting key considerations and trade-offs in menu design, an open-source software was developed that could be easily understood by program implementers. Readily available containers from markets were calibrated into "handy measures" to support the provision of adequate quantities of food indicated by menus. Schools and communities were sensitized to the benefits of locally sourced, nutrient-rich diets. A behavior change communication campaign including posters and songs promoting healthy diets was designed and disseminated in schools and communities. The School Meals Planner Package was introduced in 42 districts in Ghana, reaching more than 320 000 children. Monitoring reports and feedback on its use were positive, demonstrating how the tool can be used by planners and implementers alike to deliver nutritious, locally-sourced meals to schoolchildren. The value of the tool has been recognized at the highest levels by Ghana's government who have adopted it as official policy. The School Meals Planner Package supported the design of nutritious, locally sourced menus for the school feeding program in Ghana. The tool can be similarly adapted for other countries to meet context-specific needs. © The Author(s) 2016.

  17. Legal Analysis of Coal Mining in Efforts to Maintain The Environmental Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iwan Irawan

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this article was to suggest the government to make the appropriate laws and policies in order to optimize the utilization of coal based on environmental sustainability. The research applied library research from several research results and the Act no. 4 of 2009. Data were analyzed qualitatively by the way of decomposition, connecting with the rules, and the legal experts’ opinion. It can be concluded that investors are not optimal in managing and conserving the coal mining and the government has not standaridized the environmental management. 

  18. Lymphocyte maintenance during healthy aging requires no substantial alterations in cellular turnover

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Westera, Liset; van Hoeven, Vera; Drylewicz, Julia; Spierenburg, Gerrit; van Velzen, Jeroen F.; de Boer, Rob J.; Tesselaar, Kiki; Borghans, José A M

    2015-01-01

    In healthy humans, lymphocyte populations are maintained at a relatively constant size throughout life, reflecting a balance between lymphocyte production and loss. Given the profound immunological changes that occur during healthy aging, including a significant decline in T-cell production by the

  19. Sustainability, energy technologies, and ethics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matson, R.J. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); Carasso, M.

    1999-01-01

    A study of the economic, social-political, and environmental consequences of using renewable energy technologies (RETs, e.g., photovoltaics, wind, solar thermal, biofuels) as compared to those of conventional energy technologies (CETs e.g., oil, coal, gas) would show that RETs are singularly consistent with a whole ethic that is implicit in the concept of sustainability. This paper argues for sustainability as an ethical, as well as a pragmatic, imperative and for RETs as an integral part of this imperative. It brings to the fore some of the specific current economic, political, and environmental assumptions and practices that are inconsistent with both sustainability and with a rapid deployment of RETs. Reflecting an emerging planetary awareness and a pressing need to come to terms with intra- and intergenerational equity, the concept of sustainability explicitly entails the right of future generations to the same opportunity of access to a healthy ecological future and the finite endowment of the Earth`s resources as that of the present generation. (Author)

  20. Economics, Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility

    OpenAIRE

    Tisdell, Clement A.

    2008-01-01

    It is often argued that corporate sustainability requires a corporation to make a profit, to act in a socially responsible manner and to engage in policies that are environmentally sustainable. This is sometimes called the corporation’s triple bottom line. In this paper it is argued that in practice profitability or more general maintaining economic variability constitutes a corporation’s bottom line and that it is limited by this consideration in showing social responsibility and in acting w...

  1. National networks of Healthy Cities in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janss Lafond, Leah; Heritage, Zoë

    2009-11-01

    National networks of Healthy Cities emerged in the late 1980s as a spontaneous reaction to a great demand by cities to participate in the Healthy Cities movement. Today, they engage at least 1300 cities in the European region and form the backbone of the Healthy Cities movement. This article provides an analysis of the results of the regular surveys of national networks that have been carried out principally since 1997. The main functions and achievements of national networks are presented alongside some of their most pressing challenges. Although networks have differing priorities and organizational characteristics, they do share common goals and strategic directions based on the Healthy Cities model (see other articles in this special edition of HPI). Therefore, it has been possible to identify a set of organizational and strategic factors that contribute to the success of networks. These factors form the basis of a set of accreditation criteria for national networks and provide guidance for the establishment of new national networks. Although national networks have made substantial achievements, they continue to face a number of dilemmas that are discussed in the article. Problems a national network must deal with include how to obtain sustainable funding, how to raise the standard of work in cities without creating exclusive participation criteria and how to balance the need to provide direct support to cities with its role as a national player. These dilemmas are similar to other public sector networks. During the last 15 years, the pooling of practical expertise in urban health has made Healthy Cities networks an important resource for national as well as local governments. Not only do they provide valuable support to their members but they often advise ministries and other national institutions on effective models to promote sustainable urban health development.

  2. HR practices for enhancing sustainable employability : implementation, use, and outcomes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ybema, Jan Fekke; van Vuuren, Tinka; van Dam, Karen

    2017-01-01

    With the aging of the workforce, organizations need to maintain or improve the sustainable employability of their workforce throughout their working life. This raises the question which HR practices increase workers’ sustainable employability at work. The aim of this study is to investigate the

  3. Sustainability and resilience in midwifery: A discussion paper.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowther, Susan; Hunter, Billie; McAra-Couper, Judith; Warren, Lucie; Gilkison, Andrea; Hunter, Marion; Fielder, Anna; Kirkham, Mavis

    2016-09-01

    midwifery workforce issues are of international concern. Sustainable midwifery practice, and how resilience is a required quality for midwives, have begun to be researched. How these concepts are helpful to midwifery continues to be debated. It is important that such debates are framed so they can be empowering for midwives. Care is required not to conceptually label matters concerning the midwifery workforce without judicious scrutiny and diligence. the aim of this discussion paper is to explore the concepts of sustainability and resilience now being suggested in midwifery workforce literature. Whether sustainability and resilience are concepts useful in midwifery workforce development is questioned. using published primary midwifery research from United Kingdom and New Zealand the concepts of sustainability and resilience are compared, contrasted and explored. there are obvious differences in models of midwifery care in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Despite these differences, the concepts of resilience and sustainability emerge as overlapping themes from the respective studies' findings. Comparison between studies provides evidence of what is crucial in sustaining healthy resilient midwifery practice. Four common themes have been identified that traverse the different models of care; Self-determination, ability to self-care, cultivation of relationships both professionally and with women/families, and a passion, joy and love for midwifery. the impact that midwifery models of care may have on sustainable practice and nurturing healthy resilient behaviors remains uncertain. The notion of resilience in midwifery as the panacea to resolve current concerns may need rethinking. Resilience may be interpreted as expecting midwives 'to toughen up' in a workplace setting that is socially, economically and culturally challenging. Sustainability calls for examination of the reciprocity between environments of working and the individual midwife. The findings invite

  4. Healthy human gut phageome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manrique, Pilar; Bolduc, Benjamin; Walk, Seth T; van der Oost, John; de Vos, Willem M; Young, Mark J

    2016-09-13

    The role of bacteriophages in influencing the structure and function of the healthy human gut microbiome is unknown. With few exceptions, previous studies have found a high level of heterogeneity in bacteriophages from healthy individuals. To better estimate and identify the shared phageome of humans, we analyzed a deep DNA sequence dataset of active bacteriophages and available metagenomic datasets of the gut bacteriophage community from healthy individuals. We found 23 shared bacteriophages in more than one-half of 64 healthy individuals from around the world. These shared bacteriophages were found in a significantly smaller percentage of individuals with gastrointestinal/irritable bowel disease. A network analysis identified 44 bacteriophage groups of which 9 (20%) were shared in more than one-half of all 64 individuals. These results provide strong evidence of a healthy gut phageome (HGP) in humans. The bacteriophage community in the human gut is a mixture of three classes: a set of core bacteriophages shared among more than one-half of all people, a common set of bacteriophages found in 20-50% of individuals, and a set of bacteriophages that are either rarely shared or unique to a person. We propose that the core and common bacteriophage communities are globally distributed and comprise the HGP, which plays an important role in maintaining gut microbiome structure/function and thereby contributes significantly to human health.

  5. Sustainability in the Qatar national dietary guidelines, among the first to incorporate sustainability principles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seed, Barbara

    2015-09-01

    To present one of the first national dietary guidelines that incorporates food sustainability principles into its public health recommendations. The paper outlines recommendations and utilizes an ecological framework of policy analysis to examine context, drivers, consequences and future suggestions in establishing and maintaining sustainability principles within the Qatar Dietary Guidelines. Qatar. Population of Qatar. Qatar has produced one of the first national dietary guidelines to integrate principles of food sustainability. National interest in environmental sustainability and food security, population concern over food waste (reinforced by Islamic religious law), strong authority of the Supreme Council of Health (supported by an Emirate government), a small domestic food industry and a lack of food industry influence on the guidelines have contributed to the inclusion of sustainability principles within the document. Whether these principles will be embraced or rejected by the population in the long term will likely be determined by the Dietary Guidelines Task Force and the Supreme Council of Health's commitment to educating the population about the relevance and importance of these principles and establishing champions to advocate for them.

  6. The attitude of elementary school pupils towards healthy nutrition recommendations

    OpenAIRE

    Zupančič, Tanja

    2016-01-01

    Positive attitude to healthy diet, recommendations and advice on healthy eating is very important during childhood and teenage years. As children develop healthy eating practices, the choice of foods and their eating style will be part of the lifestyle. This helps to maintain good health through all the stages of their lives and prevents chronic non-contagious diseases as well as promotes a good well-being. The intention of this degree thesis is to determine what is the attitude of pupils ...

  7. Creating healthy work in small enterprises - from understanding to action

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stephen, Legg; Ian S., laird; Olsen, Kirsten Bendix

    2014-01-01

    Although much is known about small and medium enterprises (SMEs), our current knowledge and understanding of occupational health and safety (OHS) and the work environment in SMEs is limited. Far less is known about how SMEs put our knowledge of OSH into action. In short, how do we create healthy...... work and healthy lives as well as ‘healthy business' in SMEs? The present paper, which also acts as an editorial for this special issue, addresses these questions by providing a summary of current knowledge - our understanding - about how to create healthy work and healthy lives for workers and owner......-managers in SMEs whilst concurrently also aiming to create a healthy business (in terms of profitability and sustainability). This paper and the special issue also emphasise the need to convert this knowledge into action - ‘from understanding to action'....

  8. De ciudades saludables a ciudades sostenibles: la experiencia de Castilla-La Mancha en la Agenda Local 21 From healthy cities to sustainable cities: the Castilla-La Mancha experience in Local Agenda 21

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Javier Santamarta Álvarez

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available La cumbre de la Tierra celebrada en Río de Janeiro, en 1992, hace un llamamiento a las autoridades locales para que elaboren la Agenda 21 Local. Posteriormente, la I Conferencia Europea de Ciudades Sostenibles, celebrada en Aalborg en 1994, crea la Campaña de Ciudades Europeas Sostenibles.En Castilla-La Mancha se había creado ya en 1991 la Red de Ciudades Saludables de Castilla-La Mancha. En un principio esta red estaba formada por nueve ciudades que se comprometieron a desarrollar el proyecto de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS, Ciudades Saludables. Durante los 12 años de la Red de Ciudades Saludables se editaron nueve boletines, se realizaron cinco congresos regionales y se presentó el libro La Red de Ciudades Saludables de Castilla-La Mancha 1991-2002. Esta red llegó a tener 100 municipios integrados, que eran gestionados por 30 coordinadores.Con la creación, en el año 2003, de la Consejería de Medio Ambiente, la red se transformó e integró en la Red de Ciudades y Pueblos Sostenibles de Castilla-La Mancha. En la actual Red se suman la larga experiencia de la Red de Ciudades Saludables de Castilla-La Mancha con la más reciente de la Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (FEMP y Diputaciones Provinciales, dando lugar a la creación de una red de ciudades y pueblos sostenibles con unas características propias y con un crecimiento extraordinario que la ha situado como uno de los proyectos más importantes en materia de desarrollo sostenible a nivel regional y una experiencia pionera a nivel nacional.The 1992 Río de Janeiro World Summit issued an appeal to the local authorities for working out the Local Agenda 21. Later on, the First European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns, which took place on 1994 in Aalborg, launched the European Sustainable Cities Campaign.The Castilla-La Mancha Healthy Cities Network had been already created by 1991. In its begining this network was made up of nine cities which

  9. D-T plasma of self-sustained burning under high performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gong Xueyu

    2003-01-01

    By adopting a Bohm-type thermal diffusion coefficient related to the energy confinement enhancement factor H within the conventional magnetic shear regime, and a mixed Bohm-gyro-Bohm thermal diffusion coefficient related to the shear within the negative central magnetic shear regime, considering the effect of the α particle anomalous diffusion and the dynamic feedback heating, and starting from energy transport of electrons and ions, we have studied the high performance self-sustaining burning deuterium-tritium plasma under a given plasma density profile for the two different kinds of magnetic shear regimes. Some conclusions are obtained: under the conventional shear, only when H≥3, the D-T burning can produce a large power output, and when H is larger than a certain value (H≅4), D-T plasma self-sustained burning can be maintained without the dynamic feedback heating; under the negative central shear, the plasmas have a higher plasma performance and a larger power output than that under conventional shear, and D-T plasma self-sustained burning can be maintained without the dynamic feedback heating power, the suitable alpha particle diffusion is advantage ous to D-T plasma burning under the conventional shear, and D-T self-sustained burning cannot be maintained under a large α particle anomalous diffusion for the negative central shear. The dynamic feedback heating power is important for sustaining D-T plasma burning under the conventional shear

  10. Sustainability issues for resource managers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel L. Bottom; Gordon H. Reeves; Martha H. Brookes

    1996-01-01

    Throughout their history, conservation science and sustainable-yield management have failed to maintain the productivity of living resources. Repeated overexploitation of economic species, loss of biological diversity, and degradation of regional environments now call into question the economic ideas and values that have formed the foundation of scientific management...

  11. 76 FR 3638 - Nominations Requested for the 2011 Healthy Living Innovation Awards

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-20

    ... Delivery Healthy Workplace [cir] Large Employer> 500 employees [cir] Small Employer Non-Profit Public... consideration upon review: Creativity and Innovation Leadership Sustainability Replicability Results/Outcomes...

  12. Getting the message out about cognitive health: a cross-cultural comparison of older adults' media awareness and communication needs on how to maintain a healthy brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Daniela B; Laditka, James N; Hunter, Rebecca; Ivey, Susan L; Wu, Bei; Laditka, Sarah B; Tseng, Winston; Corwin, Sara J; Liu, Rui; Mathews, Anna E

    2009-06-01

    Evidence suggests that physical activity and healthy diets may help to maintain cognitive function, reducing risks of developing Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Using a cross-cultural focus, we describe older adults' awareness about cognitive health, and their ideas about how to inform and motivate others to engage in activities that may maintain brain health. Nineteen focus groups were conducted in 3 states (California, North Carolina, South Carolina) with 177 adults aged 50 years and older. Six groups were with African Americans (AAs), 4 with Chinese, 3 with Vietnamese, 4 with non-Hispanic Whites, and 2 with American Indians (AIs). A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. Many participants did not recall reading or hearing about brain health in the media. Participants recommended a multimedia approach to inform others about brain health. Both interpersonal and social/group motivational strategies were suggested. Word of mouth and testimonials were recommended most often by Chinese and Vietnamese. AAs and AIs suggested brain health education at church; AAs, Chinese, and Vietnamese said brain health slogans should be spiritual. Participants' perceived barriers to seeking brain health information included watching too much TV and confusing media information. Findings on communication strategies for reaching racial/ethnic groups with brain health information will help guide message and intervention development for diverse older adults.

  13. Greener on the Other Side: Cultivating Community and Improvement through Sustainability Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterrett, William L.; Kensler, Lisa; McKey, Tania

    2016-01-01

    Sustainability practices that lead to greener schools are often overlooked in leadership preparation programs and in school improvement efforts. An urban middle school principal recognizes the potential to build community, foster a healthy learning environment, and redefine her school through focusing on sustainability practices in a collaborative…

  14. Transformative Learning Factors to Enhance Integral Healthy Organizations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thavinpipatkul, Chanchai; Ratana-Ubol, Archanya; Charungkaittikul, Suwithida

    2016-01-01

    This article focuses on how organizations search for the key factors to develop integral changes and determine broader and higher transcendental learning skills in order to achieve healthy and sustainable organizational growth more effectively and efficiently. This study employed qualitative approaches. The research method used is an in-depth…

  15. Pharmacokinetics and Adverse Effects of 3 Sustained-release Buprenorphine Dosages in Healthy Guinea Pigs (Cavia porcellus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zanetti, Andrea S; Putta, Sumanth K; Casebolt, Donald B; Louie, Stan G

    2017-11-01

    In guinea pigs, studies addressing the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetic profiles of different sustained-release buprenorphine (SRB) formulations are still in their infancy. Here we assessed the pharmacokinetic profiles of 3 SRB dosages (SR-LAB, ZooPharm; SRBLow, 0.15 mg/kg; SRBMedium, 0.3 mg/kg; and SRBHigh, 0.6 mg/kg) for 72 h after a single subcutaneous administration to 8 (4 male and 4 female) healthy guinea pigs. Body weight, fecal output, and cortisol levels were also monitored and the results compared with those of the sham group. Within the first h after administration, the maximal plasma concentration (Cmax) of the drug was 64.3 ± 9.2 ng/mL (males) and 71.3 ± 3.7 ng/mL (females) in the SRBHigh group; 11.5 ± 3.2 ng/mL (males) and 6.9 ± 0.9 ng/mL (females) in the SRBMedium group; and 2.3 ± 0.8 ng/mL (males) and 2.0 ± 0.5 ng/mL (females) in the SRBLow group. After 72 h, therapeutic levels of the drug (>1 ng/mL) were observed only in guinea pigs treated with SRBHigh (both sexes) and males treated with SRBMediu cm. Fecal output (quantity and distribution) and body weight were significantly lower in the SRB groups as compared with the sham group, and with the SRBHigh group showing larger reductions. Baseline levels of serum cortisol in healthy females (1440 ± 106 ng/mL) were significantly greater than in males (550 ± 66 ng/mL). But, independent of the sex, SRB administration significantly reduced those levels. In conclusion, the data indicate that all 3 SRB dosages can be safely used in guinea pigs. However, therapeutic levels of the drug were observed for at least 48 h only guinea pigs treated with SRBHigh and SRBMedium. Further investigation is needed to determine if these dosages can alleviate pain in guinea pigs.

  16. Effects of Corporate Sustainability on Established Brand : the case of IKEA

    OpenAIRE

    Gbanabila, Yenimi

    2014-01-01

    The emergence of Sustainable Development as an alternative approach to changing unsustainable behaviour in today’s business practices to save the planet towards a sustainable society is shifting branding paradigm from the “what of the commodity to the how of shared values”. For marketers responding to this changing paradigm to maintain competitive in today’s market sustainable branding is gaining attention in today’s business practices. But does sustainable practice have effects on branding i...

  17. Sustained attention in language production: an individual differences investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jongman, Suzanne R; Roelofs, Ardi; Meyer, Antje S

    2015-01-01

    Whereas it has long been assumed that most linguistic processes underlying language production happen automatically, accumulating evidence suggests that these processes do require some form of attention. Here we investigated the contribution of sustained attention: the ability to maintain alertness over time. In Experiment 1, participants' sustained attention ability was measured using auditory and visual continuous performance tasks. Subsequently, employing a dual-task procedure, participants described pictures using simple noun phrases and performed an arrow-discrimination task while their vocal and manual response times (RTs) and the durations of their gazes to the pictures were measured. Earlier research has demonstrated that gaze duration reflects language planning processes up to and including phonological encoding. The speakers' sustained attention ability correlated with the magnitude of the tail of the vocal RT distribution, reflecting the proportion of very slow responses, but not with individual differences in gaze duration. This suggests that sustained attention was most important after phonological encoding. Experiment 2 showed that the involvement of sustained attention was significantly stronger in a dual-task situation (picture naming and arrow discrimination) than in simple naming. Thus, individual differences in maintaining attention on the production processes become especially apparent when a simultaneous second task also requires attentional resources.

  18. HR practices for enhancing sustainable employability : implementation, use, and outcomes

    OpenAIRE

    Ybema, Jan Fekke; van Vuuren, Tinka; van Dam, Karen

    2017-01-01

    With the aging of the workforce, organizations need to maintain or improve the sustainable employability of their workforce throughout their working life. This raises the question which HR practices increase workers’ sustainable employability at work. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which organizations implement HR practices for enhancing sustainable employability in terms of workers’ health, motivation, and skills and knowledge from the employer’s perspective. In total,...

  19. Patterns of healthy lifestyle and positive health attitudes in older Europeans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kozlowska, Katarzyna; Szczecinka, A.; Roszkowski, Wojciech

    2008-01-01

    ) the association between healthy lifestyle behaviors and positive attitudes to health. Design: two distinct healthy behavioral measures were developed: (i) healthy lifestyles based on physical activity, no cigarette smoking, no/moderate alcohol drinking, maintaining a "healthy" weight and having no sleeping......Objectives: To determine (i) the extent to which recommended lifestyle healthy behaviors are adopted and the existence of positive attitudes to health; (ii) the relative influence of socio-demographic variables on multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors and positive attitudes to health; (iii...... problems and (ii) positive health attitudes based on having positive emotional attitudes, such as: self-perceived good health status, being calm, peaceful and happy for most of the time, not expecting health to get worse and regular health check-ups. A composite healthy lifestyle index, ranging from 0...

  20. Facility for sustained positive affect as an individual difference characteristic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicola S. Schutte

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available A series of studies investigated a proposed new individual difference characteristic or trait, facility for sustained positive affect, consisting of tendencies that allow individuals to maintain a high level of positive mood. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in the creation of a measure, the self-congruent and new activities (SANA scale which identified two core aspects of sustainable positive affect, engaging in self-congruent activities and engaging in new activities. A higher level of facility for sustainable affect, as operationalized by the SANA scale, was associated with maintenance of positive mood for a month, fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, less negative affect, and more life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, work satisfaction, mindfulness, personal expansion and growth, and emotional intelligence. The results provided initial evidence that facility to maintain positive affect may be an emotion-related individual difference characteristic.

  1. Maintaining and sustaining the On the CUSP: stop BSI model in Hawaii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Della M; Weeks, Kristina; Holzmueller, Christine G; Pronovost, Peter J; Pham, Julius Cuong

    2013-02-01

    Hawaii joined the On the CUSP: Stop BSI national effort in the United States in 2009 (CUSP stands for Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program). In the initial 18-month study evaluation, adult ICUs decreased central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates by 61%. The impact of a series of novel strategies/tools in reducing infections and sustaining the collaborative in ICUs and non-ICUs in Hawaii was assessed. This cohort collaborative consisted of 20 adult ICUs and 18 nonadult ICUs in 16 hospitals. Hawaii developed and implemented six tools between July 2010 and August 2011: a tool to investigate CLABSIs, a video to address cultural barriers, a standardized dressing change kit, a map of the cohort's journey, a 12-strategies leadership dashboard, and a geometric plot of consecutive infection-free days. The primary outcome measure was overall CLABSI rates (mean infections per 1,000 catheter-days). A comparison of baseline data from 28 ICUs with 12-quarter (36-month) postimplementation data indicated that the CLABSI rate decreased across the entire state: overall, 1.57 to 0.29 infections/1,000 catheter-days; adult ICUs, 1.49 to 0.25 infections/1,000 catheter-days; nonadult ICUs, 2.54 to 0.33 infections/1,000 catheter-days, non-ICUs (N= 14), 4.52 to 0.25 infections/1,000 catheter-days, and PICU/NICU (N = 4), 2.05 to 0.53 infections/1,000 catheter-days. Days between CLABSIs in the adult ICUs statewide increased from a median of 5 days in 2009 to 70 days in 2011. Hawaii successfully spread the program beyond adult ICUs and implemented a series of tools for maintenance and sustainment. Use of the tools shaped a culture around the continued belief that CLABSIs can be eradicated, and infections further reduced.

  2. The role of pulses in sustainable and healthy food systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDermott, John; Wyatt, Amanda J

    2017-03-01

    Improving nutrition is a development priority, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and South Asia, in which there is a persistent burden of undernutrition and increasing obesity. Healthy food systems can play a necessary role, aligned with other multisectoral actions, in addressing this challenge. Contributing to improved nutrition and health outcomes through food-based solutions is complex. In considering the role that pulses can play in addressing this challenge, there are useful conceptual frameworks and emerging lessons. National food systems in LMICs provide limited diet quality. Foods for a healthy diet may be produced locally, but they increasingly rely on improved markets and trade. What might be done to transform food systems for healthier diets, and what role can pulses play? Food systems innovations will require a convergence of technical innovation with smarter institutional arrangements and more effective policies and regulations. In many countries in Africa and South Asia, pulses can make important contributions to healthier diets. Options for supporting pulses to make a greater contribution to healthier diets include increasing the efficiency of pulse supply chains, creating more effective public-private institutional arrangements for innovation, and establishing policies, regulations, and investments that are nutrition sensitive. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

  3. Sustainability in nursing: a concept analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anåker, Anna; Elf, Marie

    2014-01-01

    Aim The aim of this study was to describe, explore and explain the concept of sustainability in nursing. Background Although researchers in nursing and medicine have emphasised the issue of sustainability and health, the concept of sustainability in nursing is undefined and poorly researched. A need exists for theoretical and empirical studies of sustainability in nursing. Design Concept analysis as developed by Walker and Avant. Method Data were derived from dictionaries, international healthcare organisations and literature searches in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Inclusive years for the search ranged from 1990 to 2012. A total of fourteen articles were found that referred to sustainability in nursing. Results Sustainability in nursing involves six defining attributes: ecology, environment, future, globalism, holism and maintenance. Antecedents of sustainability require climate change, environmental impact and awareness, confidence in the future, responsibility and a willingness to change. Consequences of sustainability in nursing include education in the areas of ecology, environment and sustainable development as well as sustainability as a part of nursing academic programs and in the description of the academic subject of nursing. Sustainability should also be part of national and international healthcare organisations. The concept was clarified herein by giving it a definition. Conclusion Sustainability in nursing was explored and found to contribute to sustainable development, with the ultimate goal of maintaining an environment that does not harm current and future generations′ opportunities for good health. This concept analysis provides recommendations for the healthcare sector to incorporate sustainability and provides recommendations for future research. PMID:24602178

  4. Sustained attention ability in schizophrenia: Investigation of conflict monitoring mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoonakker, Marc; Doignon-Camus, Nadège; Marques-Carneiro, José Eduardo; Bonnefond, Anne

    2017-09-01

    The main goal of the current study was to assess, with a time-on-task approach, sustained attention ability in schizophrenia, and to investigate conflict monitoring underlying this ability. Behavioral and event-related potentials data (N2 and P3a amplitudes) were recorded in a long-lasting sustained attention Go/NoGo task (sustained attention to response task, SART), over a period of 30min, in 29 patients with schizophrenia and 29 pair-matched healthy subjects. Our results revealed spared sustained attention ability in patients throughout the task. Impairment of conflict detection (N2) in patients was particularly significant at the end of the task. Furthermore, both schizophrenia and healthy subjects exhibited a decline in conflict detection from the beginning to the middle of the task. Whereas controls' conflict detection recovered in the last part of the task, patients' did not, suggesting a deficit in recovery processes reflecting a lack of additional resources sustained attention Go/NoGo task. Conflict resolution (P3a) was preserved throughout the task in both groups. Conflict monitoring processes are increasingly impaired in schizophrenia during a long-lasting sustained attention Go/NoGo task. This impairment at the end of the task may rely on deficit in recovery processes, rather than a deficit in conflict detection per se in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Fresh Food Program Promotes Healthy Eating Habits among Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kish, Stacy

    2008-01-01

    Communities across the nation are fighting the increased incidence of childhood obesity and Type II diabetes. With funding from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), a group in Illinois is promoting environmental sustainability and healthy eating habits in young Americans. Seven Generations Ahead's…

  6. A Demographic Approach to Evaluating Tree Population Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Corey R. Halpin

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Quantitative criteria for assessing demographic sustainability of tree populations would be useful in forest conservation, as climate change and a growing complex of invasive pests are likely to drive forests outside their historic range of variability. In this paper, we used CANOPY, a spatially explicit, individual‐tree model, to examine the effects of initial size distributions on sustainability of tree populations for 70 northern hardwood stands under current environmental conditions. A demographic sustainability index was calculated as the ratio of future simulated basal area to current basal area, given current demographic structure and density‐dependent demographic equations. Only steeply descending size distributions were indicated to be moderately or highly sustainable (final basal area/initial basal area ≥0.7 over several tree generations. Five of the six principal species had demographic sustainability index values of <0.6 in 40%–84% of the stands. However, at a small landscape scale, nearly all species had mean index values >1. Simulation experiments suggested that a minimum sapling density of 300 per hectare was required to sustain the initial basal area, but further increases in sapling density did not increase basal area because of coincident increases in mortality. A variable slope with high q‐ratios in small size classes was needed to maintain the existing overstory of mature and old‐growth stands. This analytical approach may be useful in identifying stands needing restoration treatments to maintain existing species composition in situations where forests are likely to have future recruitment limitations.

  7. Healthy Kidneys (A Minute of Health with CDC)

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2017-03-02

    More than one in seven American adults are estimated to have kidney disease and most are not aware of their condition. This podcast discusses the importance of maintaining healthy kidneys.  Created: 3/2/2017 by MMWR.   Date Released: 3/2/2017.

  8. Promoting Cognitive Health: A Formative Research Collaboration of the Healthy Aging Research Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laditka, James N.; Beard, Renee L.; Bryant, Lucinda L.; Fetterman, David; Hunter, Rebecca; Ivey, Susan; Logsdon, Rebecca G.; Sharkey, Joseph R.; Wu, Bei

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: Evidence suggests that healthy lifestyles may help maintain cognitive health. The Prevention Research Centers Healthy Aging Research Network, 9 universities collaborating with their communities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is conducting a multiyear research project, begun in 2005, to understand how to translate this…

  9. Sustainability in School Building Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Ece ŞAHİN

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable construction is important for the continuation of life in a healthy world for futuregenerations; many issues affecting the quality of life such as effective use of resources, take advantage ofrenewable energy, the choice of recyclable materials that do not harm the environment and waterconservation are considered in the context of sustainable design. Implementations carried out in thisframework are regarded as valuable due to providing the consciousness of sustainability to the society.Creating the awareness of sustainability is given a great importance by educators; thus, “education forsustainability” are included from the preschool program so that children can learn the gainings of suchperspective in their early ages. In support of this concept, it is believed that education structures should bea laboratory where children can practice theoretical knowledge learned at school. In that respect, studiesneed to be considered in the context of sustainable construction are studied in this research. In the study,after a description of the importance of sustainable design as a learning mean, significant subjects such asusing natural light, heating, cooling and air-conditioning methods, wind energy, water protection andmaterial selection are analyzed in terms of designing sustainable schools. It is criticized worldwide thatstructures ground on sustainable design principles are relatively few in numbers. Despite, there is anincreasing interest to the subject in Turkey later years; a lot more steps are required in terms ofimplementation and research of the issue. Thus, the purpose of the study is to provide a supplementaryreference for school designs.

  10. in_focus - Healthy Lives for Vulnerable Women and Children ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    24 oct. 2017 ... Tremendous challenges remain to ensure that the most vulnerable populations, including women, children, and adolescents, are able to enjoy the healthy lives and well-being promised in the Sustainable Development Goals. Much of their poor health is caused by poverty, gender, lack of education, and ...

  11. Towards Sustainable Health Care Organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauro ROMANELLI

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Health care organizations have to develop a sustainable path for creating public value by seeking legitimacy for building and maintaining public trust with patients as social and economic institutions creating value and sustaining both health and wealth for people and communities within society. Health care organizations having at disposal decreasing resources and meeting increasing demands of citizens are following an unsustainable path. Designing sustainable health care systems and organizations is emerging as a strategic goal for developing the wealth of people and communities over time. Building sustainable organizations relies on valuing human resources, designing efficient and effective processes, using technology for better managing the relationships within and outside organizations. Sustainable health care organizations tend to rediscover the importance of human resource management and policies for effectively improving communication with patients and building trust-based relationships. While processes of accreditation contribute to legitimizing effectiveness and quality of health care services and efficient processes, introducing and using new information and communication technologies (ICTs and informatics helps communication leading to restore trust-based relationships between health care institutions and patients for value creation within society.

  12. Sustainable Agriculture in Print: Current Books. Special Reference Briefs: SRB 95-02.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD.

    Prepared by the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) staff and volunteers, this annotated bibliography provides a list of 85 recently published books pertaining to sustainable agriculture. AFSIC focuses on alternative farming systems (e.g., sustainable, low-input, regenerative, biodynamic, and organic) that maintain agricultural…

  13. Sustainable Quality of Work Life and Job Satisfaction [an Indian Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sorab Sadri

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available As HR experts would propound, organizational success is highly dependent on attracting, recruiting, motivating, and retaining its workforce. The quality of work life (QWL pertains to favourable or unfavourable work environment in keeping employees motivated so as to enable increase per capita productivity. It aims at achieving an effective work place environment that satisfies  both the organizational and personal needs and values of employees , promoting well being by job security,  job satisfaction, development and thereby helping to maintain a better  balance between work and non-work life. The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, meaning up. Dictionaries provide more than ten meanings for sustain, the main ones being to “maintain", "support", or "endure”. However, since the 1980s sustainability has been used more in the sense of human sustainability on planet Earth and this has resulted in the most widely quoted definition of sustainability as a part of the concept sustainable, that of the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations on March 20, 1987: “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

  14. Toward malaysian sustainable agriculture in 21st century

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khorramnia, K.; Shariff, A. R. M.; Rahim, A. Abdul; Mansor, S.

    2014-02-01

    Sustainable agriculture should be able to meet various social goals and objectives so that it can be maintained for an indefinite period without significant negative impacts on environment and natural resources. A wide variety of agricultural activities are running in Malaysia. Maintaining high quality of agricultural products with lower environmental impacts through a sustainable economic viability and life satisfaction of farmers and community are important factors helping to meet sustainable agriculture. Human resources are playing key role in directing the community toward sustainable development. The trend of improving the human development index in Malaysia is highest in the East Asia and the Pacific, high human development countries and the world, since 2000. Precision agriculture is providing strong tools to achieve sustainable agriculture. Different types of sensors, positioning and navigation systems, GIS, software and variable rate technology are well known components of precision agriculture. Drones and robots are promising tools that enabling farmers and managers to collect information or perform particular actions in remote areas or tough conditions. According to a survey, forestry and timber, rubber production and oil palm estates are three main agricultural divisions that precision agriculture may improve the productivity in respect to area of cropland/worker. Main factors affecting the adoption of precision agriculture in Malaysia are: a) Political and legal supports, b) Decision support systems and user interfaces c) Experienced research team works d) National educational policy e) Success in commercialization of precision agriculture system.

  15. Toward malaysian sustainable agriculture in 21st century

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khorramnia, K; Shariff, A R M; Rahim, A Abdul; Mansor, S

    2014-01-01

    Sustainable agriculture should be able to meet various social goals and objectives so that it can be maintained for an indefinite period without significant negative impacts on environment and natural resources. A wide variety of agricultural activities are running in Malaysia. Maintaining high quality of agricultural products with lower environmental impacts through a sustainable economic viability and life satisfaction of farmers and community are important factors helping to meet sustainable agriculture. Human resources are playing key role in directing the community toward sustainable development. The trend of improving the human development index in Malaysia is highest in the East Asia and the Pacific, high human development countries and the world, since 2000. Precision agriculture is providing strong tools to achieve sustainable agriculture. Different types of sensors, positioning and navigation systems, GIS, software and variable rate technology are well known components of precision agriculture. Drones and robots are promising tools that enabling farmers and managers to collect information or perform particular actions in remote areas or tough conditions. According to a survey, forestry and timber, rubber production and oil palm estates are three main agricultural divisions that precision agriculture may improve the productivity in respect to area of cropland/worker. Main factors affecting the adoption of precision agriculture in Malaysia are: a) Political and legal supports, b) Decision support systems and user interfaces c) Experienced research team works d) National educational policy e) Success in commercialization of precision agriculture system

  16. Alignment of Healthy Dietary Patterns and Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Miriam E; Hamm, Michael W; Hu, Frank B; Abrams, Steven A; Griffin, Timothy S

    2016-11-01

    To support food security for current and future generations, there is a need to understand the relation between sustainable diets and the health of a population. In recent years, a number of studies have investigated and compared different dietary patterns to better understand which foods and eating patterns have less of an environmental impact while meeting nutritional needs and promoting health. This systematic review (SR) of population-level dietary patterns and food sustainability extends and updates the SR that was conducted by the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, an expert committee commissioned by the federal government to inform dietary guidance as it relates to the committee's original conclusions. In the original SR, 15 studies met the criteria for inclusion; since then, an additional 8 studies have been identified and included. The relations between dietary intake patterns and both health and environmental outcomes were compared across studies, with methodologies that included modeling, life cycle assessment, and land use analysis. Across studies, consistent evidence indicated that a dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts, whole grains) and lower in animal-based foods (especially red meat), as well as lower in total energy, is both healthier and associated with a lesser impact on the environment. This dietary pattern differs from current average consumption patterns in the United States. Our updated SR confirms and strengthens the conclusions of the original US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee SR, which found that adherence to several well-characterized dietary patterns, including vegetarian (with variations) diets, dietary guidelines-related diets, Mediterranean-style diets, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and other sustainable diet scenarios, promotes greater health and has a less negative impact on the environment than current average dietary intakes.

  17. Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) User Manual: A ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program is developing methodologies, resources, and tools to assist community members and local decision makers in implementing policy choices that facilitate sustainable approaches in managing their resources affecting the built environment, natural environment, and human health. In order to assist communities and decision makers in implementing sustainable practices, EPA is developing computer-based systems including models, databases, web tools, and web browsers to help communities decide upon approaches that support their desired outcomes. Communities need access to resources that will allow them to achieve their sustainability objectives through intelligent decisions in four key sustainability areas: • Land Use • Buildings and Infrastructure • Transportation • Materials Management (i.e., Municipal Solid Waste [MSW] processing and disposal) The Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) is designed to support sustainable decision-making for communities, local and regional planners, and policy and decision makers. Document is an EPA Technical Report, which is the user manual for the Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) tool. The purpose of the document is to provide basic guidance on use of the tool for users

  18. Sustainability in nursing: a concept analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anåker, Anna; Elf, Marie

    2014-06-01

    The aim of this study was to describe, explore and explain the concept of sustainability in nursing. Although researchers in nursing and medicine have emphasised the issue of sustainability and health, the concept of sustainability in nursing is undefined and poorly researched. A need exists for theoretical and empirical studies of sustainability in nursing. Concept analysis as developed by Walker and Avant. Data were derived from dictionaries, international healthcare organisations and literature searches in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Inclusive years for the search ranged from 1990 to 2012. A total of fourteen articles were found that referred to sustainability in nursing. Sustainability in nursing involves six defining attributes: ecology, environment, future, globalism, holism and maintenance. Antecedents of sustainability require climate change, environmental impact and awareness, confidence in the future, responsibility and a willingness to change. Consequences of sustainability in nursing include education in the areas of ecology, environment and sustainable development as well as sustainability as a part of nursing academic programs and in the description of the academic subject of nursing. Sustainability should also be part of national and international healthcare organisations. The concept was clarified herein by giving it a definition. Sustainability in nursing was explored and found to contribute to sustainable development, with the ultimate goal of maintaining an environment that does not harm current and future generations' opportunities for good health. This concept analysis provides recommendations for the healthcare sector to incorporate sustainability and provides recommendations for future research. © 2014 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic College of Caring Science.

  19. Protected Natural Areas of Puerto Rico

    Science.gov (United States)

    William A. Gould; Maya Quinones; Mariano Solorzano; Waldemar Alcobas; Caryl Alarcon

    2011-01-01

    Protection of natural areas is essential to conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services. Benefits and services provided by natural areas are complex, interwoven, life-sustaining, and necessary for a healthy environment and a sustainable future (Daily et al. 1997). They include clean water and air, sustainable wildlife populations and habitats, stable...

  20. A proposal to measure absolute environmental sustainability in lifecycle assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bjørn, Anders; Margni, Manuele; Roy, Pierre-Olivier

    2016-01-01

    sustainable are therefore increasingly important. Such absolute indicators exist, but suffer from shortcomings such as incomplete coverage of environmental issues, varying data quality and varying or insufficient spatial resolution. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that life cycle assessment (LCA...... in supporting decisions aimed at simultaneously reducing environmental impacts efficiently and maintaining or achieving environmental sustainability. We have demonstrated that LCA indicators can be modified from being relative to being absolute indicators of environmental sustainability. Further research should...

  1. The FINUT Healthy Lifestyles Guide: Beyond the Food Pyramid 1 2 3

    OpenAIRE

    Gil, Angel; Ruiz-Lopez, Maria Dolores; Fernandez-Gonzalez, Miguel; Martinez de Victoria, Emilio

    2014-01-01

    The WHO has proposed that health be promoted and protected through the development of an environment that enables sustainable actions at individual, community, national, and global levels. Indeed, food-based dietary guidelines, i.e., food pyramids, have been developed in numerous countries to disseminate nutritional information to the general population. However, wider recommendations are needed, with information on an active healthy lifestyle, not just healthy eating. The objective of the pr...

  2. Can School Organic Food Policy Promote Healthy Behaviors in Danish Children?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    He, Chen

    in initiatives which promote healthy foods and physical activity. Concurrently, municipalities and other public bodies increasingly recognize their responsibility to support sustainable food production methods, such as organic agriculture, by choosing this kind of foods in public institutions. The question...... therefore arises whether these two trends - healthier eating strategies for youth, and increased public consumption of organic food, interact. This paper investigates the interrelation between the two trends: healthy eating and organic consumption. In Denmark, public schools are utilised for public organic...... explored the attitudes, policies/intentions and actions in relation to organic and healthy foods served in the schools. Results indicate that organic food intervention strategies can be supportive for strategies to increase the healthiness of school eating patterns....

  3. Healthy Kidneys (A Cup of Health with CDC)

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2016-03-03

    Kidney disease affects more than one in 10 Americans, yet most people with the condition are unaware that they have it. In this podcast, Nilka Rios-Burrows discusses ways to maintain healthy kidneys.  Created: 3/3/2016 by MMWR.   Date Released: 3/3/2016.

  4. Farmer’s motivation to adopt sustainable agricultural practices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davide Menozzi

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The 2014-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP reform defines new rules for farmers including maintenance of the ecological focus area (EFA. Sustainability is also a requirement to meet consumer expectations and a competitive advantage for firms. This paper aims to evaluate the farmers’ intention to implement sustainable practices related to the EFA measure and to the private sustainability schemes proposed by the food industry. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB was applied on a sample of durum wheat producers to analyse intentions 1 to maintain 7% of the arable land as an EFA, and 2 to implement the private sustainability scheme. Structural equation modelling was applied to test for the relative importance of intention determinants. The farmers’ attitude and past behaviour positively affect intentions to implement the EFA, while perceived behavioural control and attitudes predict intentions to adopt the private sustainability scheme. These results suggest possible interventions that public authorities and supply chain leaders might implement to stimulate farmers’ sustainable behaviours. 

  5. A new framework for sustainable hydropower development project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johan, Kartina; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Gani, Nur Syazwani Abdul

    2018-03-01

    This project studies on the establishment of a new framework for sustainable hydropower development. A hydropower development is listed as one of the prescribed activities under the Environmental Quality Order 1987. Thus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines must be referred to comply with the Department of Environment (DoE) requirements. In order to execute EIA, an assessment tool that will be utilized in the final evaluation phase must be determined. The selected assessment tool that will be used is Systematic Sustainability Assessment(SSA) which is a new integrated tool to evaluate the sustainability performance. A pilot run is conducted in five different departments within the Energy Company to validate the efficiency of the SSA tool. The parameters to be evaluated are constructed aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to maintain the sustainability features. Consequently, the performance level of the sustainability with respect to People, Planet and Profit (3P’s) is able to be discovered during evaluation phase in the hydropower development for continuous improvement.

  6. Sustainability in the AAP Bronchiolitis Quality Improvement Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shadman, Kristin A; Ralston, Shawn L; Garber, Matthew D; Eickhoff, Jens; Mussman, Grant M; Walley, Susan C; Rice-Conboy, Elizabeth; Coller, Ryan J

    2017-11-01

    Adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) bronchiolitis clinical practice guideline recommendations improved significantly through the AAP's multiinstitutional collaborative, the Bronchiolitis Quality Improvement Project (BQIP). We assessed sustainability of improvements at participating institutions for 1 year following completion of the collaborative. Twenty-one multidisciplinary hospital-based teams provided monthly data for key inpatient bronchiolitis measures during baseline and intervention bronchiolitis seasons. Nine sites provided data in the season following completion of the collaborative. Encounters included children younger than 24 months who were hospitalized for bronchiolitis without comorbid chronic illness, prematurity, or intensive care. Changes between baseline-, intervention-, and sustainability-season data were assessed using generalized linear mixed-effects models with site-specific random effects. Differences between hospital characteristics, baseline performance, and initial improvement between sites that did and did not participate in the sustainability season were compared. A total of 2275 discharges were reviewed, comprising 995 baseline, 877 intervention, and 403 sustainability- season encounters. Improvements in all key bronchiolitis quality measures achieved during the intervention season were maintained during the sustainability season, and orders for intermittent pulse oximetry increased from 40.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 22.8-61.1) to 79.2% (95% CI, 58.0- 91.3). Sites that did and did not participate in the sustainability season had similar characteristics. BQIP participating sites maintained improvements in key bronchiolitis quality measures for 1 year following the project's completion. This approach, which provided an evidence-based best-practice toolkit while building the quality-improvement capacity of local interdisciplinary teams, may support performance gains that persist beyond the active phase of the

  7. Wood-Based Nanotechnologies toward Sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Feng; Li, Tian; Li, Yiju; Zhang, Ying; Gong, Amy; Dai, Jiaqi; Hitz, Emily; Luo, Wei; Hu, Liangbing

    2018-01-01

    With over 30% global land coverage, the forest is one of nature's most generous gifts to human beings, providing shelters and materials for all living beings. Apart from being sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable, wood and its derivative materials are also extremely fascinating from a materials aspect, with numerous advantages including porous and hierarchical structure, excellent mechanical performance, and versatile chemistry. Here, strategies for designing novel wood-based materials via advanced nanotechnologies are summarized, including both the controllable bottom-up assembly from the highly crystalline nanocellulose building block and the more efficient top-down approaches directly from wood. Beyond material design, recent advances regarding the sustainable applications of these novel wood-based materials are also presented, focusing on areas that are traditionally dominated by man-made nonrenewable materials such as plastic, glass, and metals, as well as more advanced applications in the areas of energy storage, wastewater treatment and solar-steam-assisted desalination. With all recent progress pertaining to materials' design and sustainable applications presented, a vision for the future engineering of wood-based materials to promote continuous and healthy progress toward true sustainability is outlined. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  8. Intergenerational Efforts to Develop a Healthy Environment for Everyone: Sustainability as a Human Rights Issue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruger, Tina M; Savage, Caroline E; Newsham, Patrick

    2014-12-01

    As climate change proceeds at an unprecedented rate, concern for the natural environment has increased. The world's population aging also continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, giving greater attention to the implications of an older population. The two trends are linked through the fact that changes to the environment affect older adults, and older adults affect the environment. Sustainability is, therefore, an intergenerational phenomenon, and protecting resources today leaves a positive legacy and enhances quality of life for future generations. Older adults have much to share with younger generations about behaviors that promote sustainable living, yet few sustainability efforts are intergenerational in nature. As large numbers of people currently subsist without secure access to basic needs, ensuring equitable resource consumption for all generations is urgent and aligns with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through exploring linkages between aging and sustainability, we identify intergenerational strategies to protect the environment and promote human rights and quality of life for older adults. © The Author(s) 2015.

  9. THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR INFLUENCE OVER THE ROMANIAN ECOTOURISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria STOIAN

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Tourism can exacerbate some environmental problems and increase degradation of the environment. Sustainable tourism, a tourism industry that applies principles of sustainable development can on the contrary assist in maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity. In this regard, ecotourism, a form of sustainable tourism based on the observation of natural areas is an interesting niche. Romania has strong major natural to position in advantage in this market.

  10. Sleep disturbance and deficits of sustained attention following stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearce, Samuel C; Stolwyk, Renerus J; New, Peter W; Anderson, Clare

    2016-01-01

    To simultaneously investigate the prevalence of and impact that the poststroke complications of daytime sleepiness, poor sleep quality, depression, and fatigue may be having upon deficits of sustained attention, as assessed using the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Twenty-two patients with stroke (mean age: 68.23 ± 12.17 years) and 20 healthy control participants (mean age: 68.1 ± 9.5 years) completed subjective measures of daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, fatigue, and depression and an objective measure of sustained attention as assessed using the PVT. Patients with stroke compared to controls showed heightened levels of fatigue (p = .001, η(2) = .29) and depression (p = .002, η(2) = .23), plus greater deficits of sustained attention as reflected by poorer performance across all PVT outcome measures including: slower mean reaction times (p = .002, η(2) = .22); increased number of lapses (p = .002, η(2) = .24); and greater variability in reaction time (RT) responses (p = .016, η(2) = .15). Reaction time distribution analysis suggested that daytime sleepiness and sleep quality had little influence across PVT performance; however, depressive symptomology was associated with longer RT responses, indicative of inattention, and fatigue impacted upon the entire distribution of PVT responses. PVT performance illustrated significant deficits across the domain of sustained attention for patients with stroke in comparison to healthy controls, in terms of inattention as well as slower sensory-motor speed. The common poststroke complications of depressive symptomology and fatigue appear to be associated with these deficits in sustained attention, warranting further investigation.

  11. Lymphocyte maintenance during healthy aging requires no substantial alterations in cellular turnover.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westera, Liset; van Hoeven, Vera; Drylewicz, Julia; Spierenburg, Gerrit; van Velzen, Jeroen F; de Boer, Rob J; Tesselaar, Kiki; Borghans, José A M

    2015-04-01

    In healthy humans, lymphocyte populations are maintained at a relatively constant size throughout life, reflecting a balance between lymphocyte production and loss. Given the profound immunological changes that occur during healthy aging, including a significant decline in T-cell production by the thymus, lymphocyte maintenance in the elderly is generally thought to require homeostatic alterations in lymphocyte dynamics. Surprisingly, using in vivo (2) H2 O labeling, we find similar dynamics of most lymphocyte subsets between young adult and elderly healthy individuals. As the contribution of thymic output to T-cell production is only minor from young adulthood onward, compensatory increases in peripheral T-cell division rates are not required to maintain the T-cell pool, despite a tenfold decline in thymic output. These fundamental insights will aid the interpretation of further research into aging and clinical conditions related to disturbed lymphocyte dynamics. © 2015 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Relevant Education for Sustainable Human Development in Nigeria ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In human development, conscious efforts are made to enlarge people's choices to enable them live a healthy and prolonged life, acquire knowledge, and have access to resources needed to earn a decent living. Obviously, sustained improvement in African human development still falls short of those experienced in other ...

  13. Seeds of Knowledge: The Evolution of the Louis Bromfield Sustainable Agriculture Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miraglia, Laurie L.

    The Louis Bromfield Sustainable Agriculture Library is located in Lucas, Ohio, at Malabar Farm State Park. Established in 1992, the library is jointly maintained by the Ohio State University Sustainable Agriculture Program and the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The library's namesake, Louis Bromfield, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and noted…

  14. Maintaining operational excellence: building capability beyond knowledge transfer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramjist, S.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes the issues relating to human resources and maintaining capabilities in an organization. The sustaining elements are: vision and plan for excellence; invest in the plant; invest in human capital; find and fix problems. There is much discussion about knowledge transfer and retention that is mainly focused on technical attributes and proficiency. We are losing more people with the requisite managerial and leadership capability than we can develop and backfill at a Time when our industry is facing increased competition and decreased margins. We are vulnerable because this Increases our dependence on augmented staff for certain key leadership roles. Previous methods for developing people will take too long and does not appeal to current generation. A solution, not the only solution, but the one we have chosen is initial hiring of operators, maintainers and engineers, internal promotion for key roles (FLM, FSOS, Shift Supervisor, Section Manager, ANO) and focus on all three aspects of capability and looking for leadership traits. Look for ambition, drive, initiative and motivation. Identify, separate and stream. Take specific measures to accelerate growth.

  15. Maintaining operational excellence: building capability beyond knowledge transfer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramjist, S. [Ontario Power Generation, Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, Bowmanville, Ontario (Canada)

    2013-07-01

    This paper describes the issues relating to human resources and maintaining capabilities in an organization. The sustaining elements are: vision and plan for excellence; invest in the plant; invest in human capital; find and fix problems. There is much discussion about knowledge transfer and retention that is mainly focused on technical attributes and proficiency. We are losing more people with the requisite managerial and leadership capability than we can develop and backfill at a Time when our industry is facing increased competition and decreased margins. We are vulnerable because this Increases our dependence on augmented staff for certain key leadership roles. Previous methods for developing people will take too long and does not appeal to current generation. A solution, not the only solution, but the one we have chosen is initial hiring of operators, maintainers and engineers, internal promotion for key roles (FLM, FSOS, Shift Supervisor, Section Manager, ANO) and focus on all three aspects of capability and looking for leadership traits. Look for ambition, drive, initiative and motivation. Identify, separate and stream. Take specific measures to accelerate growth.

  16. The dilemma of healthy eating and environmental sustainability: the case of fish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clonan, Angie; Holdsworth, Michelle; Swift, Judy A; Leibovici, Didier; Wilson, Paul

    2012-02-01

    Despite widespread concern over exploitation of the European Union's fish stocks, dietary guidelines in the UK continue to recommend two portions of fish per week. The present study sought to investigate whether health and/or sustainability are motivating factors when purchasing and consuming fish and whether there are sociodemographic trends. A structured, self-completion postal questionnaire exploring consumers' attitudes towards purchasing fish, their dietary intake, stated purchasing behaviour and sociodemographic information. Nottinghamshire, UK. Adults from 842 households randomly selected from the electoral register. Over half of the participants (57·0 %) were aware of the health benefits of fish consumption and reported health as a primary motivator for purchasing fish; however, only 26·8 % actively sought to purchase fish from a sustainable source (e.g. Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fish). Only 30·6 % of participants met current dietary recommendations for fish intake. Older respondents (>60 years of age) were more likely to report purchasing fish for health reasons and to buy MSC fish. Participants were significantly less likely to report MSC purchases if they agreed with the statement 'I am confused about which type of fish I should be eating to protect fish stocks' (P purchasing fish for health reasons was more than those seeking sustainably sourced fish; yet, they still failed to meet the recommended intake set by the Food Standards Agency. Dietary advice to the public to increase consumption of fish conflicts with the prevailing pressure on fish stocks. Clear advice should be communicated enabling consumers to meet nutritional needs while protecting fish stocks.

  17. Sustainable development strategy : moving forward

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    This publication demonstrates the steps that Natural Resources Canada has taken to optimize the contribution of natural resources to sustainable development. Canada's forestry, minerals, metals and energy sectors are key components to Canada's overall economy and society. The Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) focuses on the development and use of Canada's resources in a responsible manner that will maintain the integrity of natural ecosystems and safeguard the quality of life for Canadians. All decision-making takes into account economic, environmental and social considerations. The challenges facing the natural resources sector include the management of forests, the development of clean energy options, and the recycling and reuse of minerals and metals resources. This publication outlines the specific goals and objectives set by Natural Resources Canada that will make the SDS possible through programs, policies, legislation, technology utilization and operations. It also describes Canada's progress in meeting the following 4 commitments: (1) Canadians make better decisions that advance sustainable development, (2) Canadians are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change, (3) Canada is recognized globally as a responsible steward of natural resources and a leader in advancing sustainable development, and (4) Natural Resources Canada demonstrates its commitment to sustainable development in its operations. tabs

  18. Successfully Sustaining Sex and Gender Issues in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Meulen, Francisca; Fluit, Cornelia; Albers, Mieke; Laan, Roland; Lagro-Janssen, Antoine

    2017-01-01

    Although several projects have addressed the importance of gender health issues in medical education, the sustainability of change efforts in medical education has rarely been addressed. Understanding the possible facilitators or barriers to sustainability may help to develop future interventions that are effective in maintaining gender health…

  19. Women and sustainable fisheries exploitation: A review | Francis ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The influential and important roles of women as fishers, fishmongers, processors, concerned citizens of healthy living and organizers of the end use of the fishery resource put women in a vantage position to influence; thereby, enforcing conservation and sustainability in the extraction of the resource when trained in natural ...

  20. Sustainable Livestock Production in The Perspective of National Food Security Policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tjeppy D Soedjana

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an overview of the role that livestock play in various dimensions of food security. Food security is defined as a state of affairs where all people at all times have access to safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of individuals to consume food according to their respective socio-economic conditions are important dimensions. It describes the place of livestock products in human nutrition, the contribution of livestock to the national food supply and the way that livestock can affect food access, as a direct source of food and a source of income. Access to food is the most basic human right, especially for Indonesia with more than 240 million people with annual growth of 1.3%. To secure food availability, a sustainable food production growth more than 2% per year, including animal protein sources, is needed. It is necessary to strengthen food supply by maximizing available resources; improve food distribution system to guarantee a stable food supply and public access; encourage diversified food consumption; and prevent as well as resolve food scarcity. Furthermore, within the national objectives for self-sufficiency in rice, corn, soybean, and white sugar, the current annual percapita consumption of livestock products has reached 6.96 kg (meat, 7.3 kg (eggs and 16.5 kg (milk, which indicates good progress to stimulate sustainable domestic livestock production.

  1. The Role of School Design in Shaping Healthy Eating-Related Attitudes, Practices, and Behaviors among School Staff

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frerichs, Leah; Brittin, Jeri; Intolubbe-Chmil, Loren; Trowbridge, Matthew; Sorensen, Dina; Huang, Terry T.-K.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Schools have increasing responsibility to address healthy eating, but physical barriers influence their ability to adopt and sustain recommended strategies. We took advantage of a natural experiment to investigate the role of the physical environment in shaping healthy eating attitudes and practices among school staff members. Methods:…

  2. Lose Weight, Add Healthy Years (A Cup of Health with CDC)

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    People with obesity are at increased risk for many diseases and chronic conditions. Achieving and maintaining a normal weight is a key factor in a healthy lifestyle. In this podcast, Dr. Cynthia Ogden discusses obesity.

  3. Developing a comprehensive definition of sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Julia E; Mascarenhas, Alekhya; Bain, Julie; Straus, Sharon E

    2017-09-02

    Understanding sustainability is one of the significant implementation science challenges. One of the big challenges in researching sustainability is the lack of consistent definitions in the literature. Most implementation studies do not present a definition of sustainability, even when assessing sustainability. The aim of the current study was to systematically develop a comprehensive definition of sustainability based on definitions already used in the literature. We searched for knowledge syntheses of sustainability and abstracted sustainability definitions from the articles identified through any relevant systematic and scoping reviews. The constructs in the abstracted sustainability definitions were mapped to an existing definition. The comprehensive definition of sustainability was revised to include emerging constructs. We identified four knowledge syntheses of sustainability, which identified 209 original articles. Of the 209 articles, 24 (11.5%) included a definition of sustainability. These definitions were mapped to three constructs from an existing definition, and nine new constructs emerged. We reviewed all constructs and created a revised definition: (1) after a defined period of time, (2) a program, clinical intervention, and/or implementation strategies continue to be delivered and/or (3) individual behavior change (i.e., clinician, patient) is maintained; (4) the program and individual behavior change may evolve or adapt while (5) continuing to produce benefits for individuals/systems. All 24 definitions were remapped to the comprehensive definition (percent agreement among three coders was 94%). Of the 24 definitions, 17 described the continued delivery of a program (70.8%), 17 mentioned continued outcomes (70.8%), 13 mentioned time (54.2%), 8 addressed the individual maintenance of a behavior change (33.3%), and 6 described the evolution or adaptation (25.0%). We drew from over 200 studies to identify 24 existing definitions of sustainability

  4. Leadership and Change in Sustainable Regional Development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sotarauta, M.; Horlings, L.G.; Liddle, J.

    2012-01-01

    This book shows, first of all, that leadership plays a crucial role in reinventing regions and branching out from an old path to something new in order to create more balanced and sustainable regional development. Second, it maintains that leadership is not a solo but a multi-agent and -level

  5. Nutritional sustainability of pet foods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanson, Kelly S; Carter, Rebecca A; Yount, Tracy P; Aretz, Jan; Buff, Preston R

    2013-03-01

    Sustainable practices meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Applying these concepts to food and feed production, nutritional sustainability is the ability of a food system to provide sufficient energy and essential nutrients required to maintain good health in a population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their nutritional needs. Ecological, social, and economic aspects must be balanced to support the sustainability of the overall food system. The nutritional sustainability of a food system can be influenced by several factors, including the ingredient selection, nutrient composition, digestibility, and consumption rates of a diet. Carbon and water footprints vary greatly among plant- and animal-based ingredients, production strategy, and geographical location. Because the pet food industry is based largely on by-products and is tightly interlinked with livestock production and the human food system, however, it is quite unique with regard to sustainability. Often based on consumer demand rather than nutritional requirements, many commercial pet foods are formulated to provide nutrients in excess of current minimum recommendations, use ingredients that compete directly with the human food system, or are overconsumed by pets, resulting in food wastage and obesity. Pet food professionals have the opportunity to address these challenges and influence the sustainability of pet ownership through product design, manufacturing processes, public education, and policy change. A coordinated effort across the industry that includes ingredient buyers, formulators, and nutritionists may result in a more sustainable pet food system.

  6. Neurofunctional Abnormalities during Sustained Attention in Severe Childhood Abuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Mitul A.; Simmons, Andrew; Mirza, Kah; Rubia, Katya

    2016-01-01

    Childhood maltreatment is associated with adverse affective and cognitive consequences including impaired emotion processing, inhibition and attention. However, the majority of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in childhood maltreatment have examined emotion processing, while very few studies have tested the neurofunctional substrates of cognitive functions and none of attention. This study investigated the association between severe childhood abuse and fMRI brain activation during a parametric sustained attention task with a progressively increasing load of sustained attention in 21 medication-naïve, drug-free young people with a history of childhood abuse controlling for psychiatric comorbidities by including 19 psychiatric controls matched for psychiatric diagnoses, and 27 healthy controls. Behaviorally, the participants exposed to childhood abuse showed increased omission errors in the task which correlated positively trend-wise with the duration of their abuse. Neurofunctionally, the participants with a history of childhood abuse, but not the psychiatric controls, displayed significantly reduced activation relative to the healthy controls during the most challenging attention condition only in typical attention regions including left inferior and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula and temporal areas. We therefore show for the first time that severe childhood abuse is associated with neurofunctional abnormalities in key ventral frontal-temporal sustained attention regions. The findings represent a first step towards the delineation of abuse-related neurofunctional abnormalities in sustained attention, which may help in the development of effective treatments for victims of childhood abuse. PMID:27832090

  7. Recommended techniques for effective maintainability. A continuous improvement initiative of the NASA Reliability and Maintainability Steering Committee

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This manual presents a series of recommended techniques that can increase overall operational effectiveness of both flight and ground based NASA systems. It provides a set of tools that minimizes risk associated with: (1) restoring failed functions (both ground and flight based); (2) conducting complex and highly visible maintenance operations; and (3) sustaining a technical capability to support the NASA mission using aging equipment or facilities. It considers (1) program management - key elements of an effective maintainability effort; (2) design and development - techniques that have benefited previous programs; (3) analysis and test - quantitative and qualitative analysis processes and testing techniques; and (4) operations and operational design techniques that address NASA field experience. This document is a valuable resource for continuous improvement ideas in executing the systems development process in accordance with the NASA 'better, faster, smaller, and cheaper' goal without compromising safety.

  8. Sustaining the Entrepreneurship in Rural Tourism Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norhafiza Md Sharif

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Entrepreneurs play an important role in sustaining rural tourism and formulation of sustainable strategies being the initiators of the tourism business and the engine of the local development. Therefore, it is necessary to stimulate the development of entrepreneurial activities for the recovery of rural tourism potential and regional traditions, maintaining local employment growth and increase living standards in line with identifies needs and priorities of regional human resources development. This article aims to discuss the involvement of local communities in development of rural tourism entrepreneurship as well as addressing the issue of entrepreneurship in rural tourism.

  9. Sustainable Design Operations in the Supply Chain: Non-Profit Manufacturer vs. For-Profit Manufacturer

    OpenAIRE

    Qingying Li; Bin Shen

    2016-01-01

    Sustainable design aims to reduce the negative impacts either on people (e.g., create healthy) or on planet (e.g., minimize waste). In other words, sustainable design is the philosophy thattendstoimprovedesignperformancebyincorporatinghealthandsafetyattributes(forpeople), and environmental attributes (for planet) into products. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to examine the sustainable design operations in a supply chain which consists of one retailer and one manufacturer. The m...

  10. Evaluating strategies for sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture through the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sustainable intensification is an emerging model for agriculture designed to reconcile accelerating global demand for agricultural products with long-term environmental stewardship. Defined here as increasing agricultural production while maintaining or improving environmental quality, sustainable i...

  11. Alignment of Healthy Dietary Patterns and Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Review12

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Miriam E; Hamm, Michael W; Hu, Frank B; Abrams, Steven A; Griffin, Timothy S

    2016-01-01

    To support food security for current and future generations, there is a need to understand the relation between sustainable diets and the health of a population. In recent years, a number of studies have investigated and compared different dietary patterns to better understand which foods and eating patterns have less of an environmental impact while meeting nutritional needs and promoting health. This systematic review (SR) of population-level dietary patterns and food sustainability extends and updates the SR that was conducted by the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, an expert committee commissioned by the federal government to inform dietary guidance as it relates to the committee’s original conclusions. In the original SR, 15 studies met the criteria for inclusion; since then, an additional 8 studies have been identified and included. The relations between dietary intake patterns and both health and environmental outcomes were compared across studies, with methodologies that included modeling, life cycle assessment, and land use analysis. Across studies, consistent evidence indicated that a dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts, whole grains) and lower in animal-based foods (especially red meat), as well as lower in total energy, is both healthier and associated with a lesser impact on the environment. This dietary pattern differs from current average consumption patterns in the United States. Our updated SR confirms and strengthens the conclusions of the original US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee SR, which found that adherence to several well-characterized dietary patterns, including vegetarian (with variations) diets, dietary guidelines–related diets, Mediterranean-style diets, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and other sustainable diet scenarios, promotes greater health and has a less negative impact on the environment than current average dietary intakes

  12. Conceptions of healthy eating among ecological farmers in Paraná, Southern Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ell, Erica; Silva, Denise Oliveira e; Nazareno, Eleusis Ronconi de; Brandenburg, Alfio

    2012-04-01

    To describe ecological farmers' conceptions of healthy eating. Study with a qualitative approach. In January and February 2007, supported by a guide, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 women and one man who were living in an agricultural community in Rio Branco do Sul, Southern Brazil. The interviewees were selected randomly from among the 20 ecological farming families in this municipality. Three analysis categories were identified: "awareness of healthy eating"; "purchasing power" and "healthy land". The significance of healthy eating for the female farmers involved the idea that foods should be natural, without agricultural pesticides or manufactured chemical products. The daily routine should include abundant consumption of fruits, greens and other vegetables, in addition to the basic rice, beans and meat, and the composition of dishes should aim towards prevention of obesity and chronic-degenerative diseases. Care regarding natural resources in order to ensure production of healthy foods, food safety, environmental sustainability and the future of life on the planet form part of the concept of healthy eating. Knowledge, self-criticism and discernment accompanied the conceptions of healthy eating.

  13. ROMANIAN SOIL RESOURCES - “HEALTHY SOILS FOR A HEALTHY LIFE”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mircea MIHALACHE

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available After nearly three years of intensive consultations, 2015 has been declared the International Year of Soils by the 68th UN General Assembly (A/RES/68/232. The International Years of Soil is to be a major platform for raising awareness of the importance of soils for food security and nutrition and essential eco-system functions. Key objectives of the International Years of Soil have been identified as follows: to create full awareness of all stakeholders about the fundamental roles of soils for human life; to achieve full recognition of the prominent contributions of soils to food security and nutrition, climate change adaptation and mitigation, essential ecosystem services, poverty alleviation and sustainable development; to promote effective policies and actions for the sustainable management and protection of soil resources; to sensitize decision-makers about the need for robust investment in sustainable soil management activities, to ensure healthy soils for different land users and population groups; to catalyze initiatives in connection with the Sustainable Development Goal process and Post-2015 agenda; to advocate rapid enhancement of capacities and systems for soil information collection and monitoring at all levels (global, regional and national (http://www.fao.org/soils-2015. Applying a proper management of the recovery and conservation of soil resources is a major goal for every nation. The development of a country depends on the production potential of own soil resources. Soil degradation is a serious problem in Europe an also in Romania. It is caused or exacerbated by human activity such as inadequate agricultural and forestry practices, industrial activities, tourism, urban and industrial expansion etc. Soil Quality Monitoring in Romania revealed a number of problems concerning land use in Romania following the manifestation of one or more limiting factors such as: moisture deficit, salinization and alkalization, soil erosion

  14. The Right Balance: Helping Cancer Survivors Achieve a Healthy Weight

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obesity has been linked with increased risks of recurrence and death in several cancers. Interventions are available to help survivors maintain a healthy weight, reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and death, and decrease the likelihood of chronic and late effects of cancer treatment.

  15. Effects of a single, oral 60 mg caffeine dose on attention in healthy adult subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilhelmus, Micha Mm; Hay, Justin L; Zuiker, Rob Gja; Okkerse, Pieter; Perdrieu, Christelle; Sauser, Julien; Beaumont, Maurice; Schmitt, Jeroen; van Gerven, Joop Ma; Silber, Beata Y

    2017-02-01

    Caffeine induces positive effects on sustained attention, although studies assessing the acute effects of low caffeine dose (caffeine on sustained attention in tests lasting up to 45 minutes using 82 low or non-caffeine-consuming healthy male ( n=41) and female ( n=41) adults aged between 40 and 60 years. Vigilance was measured using Mackworth Clock test, Rapid Visual Information Processing Test, adaptive tracking test, saccadic eye movement and attention switch test. Effects on mood and fatigue were analysed using Bond and Lader and Caffeine Research visual analogue scales, and Samn-Perelli questionnaire. Saliva sampling was performed for both compliance and caffeine pharmacokinetic analysis. Administration of a 60 mg caffeine dose resulted in a significant improvement in sustained attention compared with the placebo. Also a significantly improved peak saccadic velocity and reaction time performance was found, and decreased error rate. Significantly increased feelings of alertness, contentment and overall mood after caffeine treatment compared with placebo were observed. This study demonstrated that in healthy adult subjects oral administration of a single 60 mg caffeine dose elicited a clear enhancement of sustained attention and alertness, measured both in multiple objective performances and in subjective scales.

  16. Sustained attention in language production: An individual differences investigation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongman, S.R.; Roelofs, A.P.A.; Meyer, A.S.

    2015-01-01

    Whereas it has long been assumed that most linguistic processes underlying language production happen automatically, accumulating evidence suggests that these processes do require some form of attention. Here we investigated the contribution of sustained attention: the ability to maintain alertness

  17. Urban Big Data and Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities

    OpenAIRE

    Kharrazi, A.; Qin, H.; Zhang, Y.

    2016-01-01

    Cities are perhaps one of the most challenging and yet enabling arenas for sustainable development goals. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the need to monitor each goal through objective targets and indicators based on common denominators in the ability of countries to collect and maintain relevant standardized data. While this approach is aimed at harmonizing the SDGs at the national level, it presents unique challenges and opportunities for the development of innovative ur...

  18. Recent theoretical, neural, and clinical advances in sustained attention research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortenbaugh, Francesca C.; DeGutis, Joseph; Esterman, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Models of attention often distinguish between attention subtypes, with classic models separating orienting, switching, and sustaining functions. Compared to other forms of attention, the neurophysiological basis of sustaining attention has received far less attention yet it is known that momentary failures of sustained attention can have far ranging negative impacts in healthy individuals and lasting sustained attention deficits are pervasive in clinical populations. In recent years, however, there has been increased interest in characterizing moment-to-moment fluctuations in sustained attention in addition to the overall vigilance decrement and understanding how these neurocognitive systems change over the lifespan and across various clinical populations. The use of novel neuroimaging paradigms and statistical approaches has allowed for better characterization of the neural networks supporting sustained attention, and highlighted dynamic interactions within and across multiple distributed networks that predict behavioral performance. These advances have also provided potential biomarkers to identify individuals with sustained attention deficits. These findings have led to new theoretical models of why sustaining focused attention is a challenge for individuals and form the basis for the next generation of sustained attention research, which seeks to accurately diagnose and develop theoretically-driven treatments for sustained attention deficits that affect a variety of clinical populations. PMID:28260249

  19. Recent theoretical, neural, and clinical advances in sustained attention research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortenbaugh, Francesca C; DeGutis, Joseph; Esterman, Michael

    2017-05-01

    Models of attention often distinguish among attention subtypes, with classic models separating orienting, switching, and sustaining functions. Compared with other forms of attention, the neurophysiological basis of sustaining attention has received far less notice, yet it is known that momentary failures of sustained attention can have far-ranging negative effects in healthy individuals, and lasting sustained attention deficits are pervasive in clinical populations. In recent years, however, there has been increased interest in characterizing moment-to-moment fluctuations in sustained attention, in addition to the overall vigilance decrement, and understanding how these neurocognitive systems change over the life span and across various clinical populations. The use of novel neuroimaging paradigms and statistical approaches has allowed for better characterization of the neural networks supporting sustained attention and has highlighted dynamic interactions within and across multiple distributed networks that predict behavioral performance. These advances have also provided potential biomarkers to identify individuals with sustained attention deficits. These findings have led to new theoretical models explaining why sustaining focused attention is a challenge for individuals and form the basis for the next generation of sustained attention research, which seeks to accurately diagnose and develop theoretically driven treatments for sustained attention deficits that affect a variety of clinical populations. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

  20. Food choice motives including sustainability during purchasing are associated with a healthy dietary pattern in French adults

    OpenAIRE

    All?s, B.; P?neau, S.; Kesse-Guyot, E.; Baudry, J.; Hercberg, S.; M?jean, C.

    2017-01-01

    Background Sustainability has become a greater concern among consumers that may influence their dietary intake. Only a few studies investigated the relationship between sustainable food choice motives and diet and they focused on specific food groups. Objective This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the associations between food choice motives during purchasing, with a focus on sustainability, and dietary patterns in a large sample of French adults. Design Food choice motives were collect...

  1. Collaboration and Sustainable Agri-Food Suply Chain: A Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prima Dania Wike Agustin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Maintaining collaboration among the entire stages in the agri-food supply chain to achieve sustainability is complex. All the stakeholders involved in the activities have to prioritize their financial benefits without putting aside social development and environmental responsibilities. Some scholars have paid attention to this topic. The objective of this paper is to review current research on sustainable supply chain and collaboration model in agri-food industry. Sustainability aspects that consist of economic, environment, and social and the model of sustainable supply chain in agri-food industry are analyzed. Moreover, collaboration in sustainable agri-food supply chain management is also studied thoroughly from vertical and horizontal perspectives. The result shows that there are few studies focusing on the integrated collaboration to achieve sustainable supply chain system. Additionally, not all sustainable aspects are covered thoroughly. The scholars pays more attention to economic and environmental aspects than social aspects. Furthermore, some studies only focus on one type of collaboration in sustainable agri-food supply chain. Often, these studies do not even consider all elements in the triple bottom line.

  2. Fostering sustainable dietary habits through optimized school meals in Sweden – OPTIMAT

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eustachio Colombo, Patricia; Schäfer-Elinder, Liselotte; Parlesak, Alexandr

    2017-01-01

    The fulfilment of commitments to international agreements that relate to sustainable development requires fundamental changes in food consumption. This project aims to promote healthy and sustainable dietary habits in Sweden through optimized school meals. Several studies are planned. The first...... to contribute to more sustainable procurement and consumption patterns, a more efficient use of public resources, and to fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development....... is an analysis of children’s dietary intake in relation to school meal quality. The second is a modelling study where nutritious, affordable and theoretically acceptable food baskets, optimized for low emissions of greenhouse gases, are developed. Menus based on these baskets will be developed and tested...

  3. Modeling Sustainable Food Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Thomas; Prosperi, Paolo

    2016-05-01

    The processes underlying environmental, economic, and social unsustainability derive in part from the food system. Building sustainable food systems has become a predominating endeavor aiming to redirect our food systems and policies towards better-adjusted goals and improved societal welfare. Food systems are complex social-ecological systems involving multiple interactions between human and natural components. Policy needs to encourage public perception of humanity and nature as interdependent and interacting. The systemic nature of these interdependencies and interactions calls for systems approaches and integrated assessment tools. Identifying and modeling the intrinsic properties of the food system that will ensure its essential outcomes are maintained or enhanced over time and across generations, will help organizations and governmental institutions to track progress towards sustainability, and set policies that encourage positive transformations. This paper proposes a conceptual model that articulates crucial vulnerability and resilience factors to global environmental and socio-economic changes, postulating specific food and nutrition security issues as priority outcomes of food systems. By acknowledging the systemic nature of sustainability, this approach allows consideration of causal factor dynamics. In a stepwise approach, a logical application is schematized for three Mediterranean countries, namely Spain, France, and Italy.

  4. ADHD patients fail to maintain task goals in face of subliminally and consciously induced cognitive conflicts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gohil, K; Bluschke, A; Roessner, V; Stock, A-K; Beste, C

    2017-07-01

    Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients have been reported to display deficits in action control processes. While it is known that subliminally and consciously induced conflicts interact and conjointly modulate action control in healthy subjects, this has never been investigated for ADHD. We investigated the (potential) interaction of subliminally and consciously triggered response conflicts in children with ADHD and matched healthy controls using neuropsychological methods (event-related potentials; ERPs) to identify the involved cognitive sub-processes. Unlike healthy controls, ADHD patients showed no interaction of subliminally and consciously triggered response conflicts. Instead, they only showed additive effects as their behavioural performance (accuracy) was equally impaired by each conflict and they showed no signs of task-goal shielding even in cases of low conflict load. Of note, this difference between ADHD and controls was not rooted in early bottom-up attentional stimulus processing as reflected by the P1 and N1 ERPs. Instead, ADHD showed either no or reversed modulations of conflict-related processes and response selection as reflected by the N2 and P3 ERPs. There are fundamental differences in the architecture of cognitive control which might be of use for future diagnostic procedures. Unlike healthy controls, ADHD patients do not seem to be endowed with a threshold which allows them to maintain high behavioural performance in the face of low conflict load. ADHD patients seem to lack sufficient top-down attentional resources to maintain correct response selection in the face of conflicts by shielding the response selection process from response tendencies evoked by any kind of distractor.

  5. The Role of Sustained Attention in the Production of Conjoined Noun Phrases: An Individual Differences Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongman, S.R.; Meyer, A.S.; Roelofs, A.P.A.

    2015-01-01

    It has previously been shown that language production, performed simultaneously with a nonlinguistic task, involves sustained attention. Sustained attention concerns the ability to maintain alertness over time. Here, we aimed to replicate the previous finding by showing that individuals call upon

  6. Managing for Multifunctionality in Urban Open Spaces: Approaches for Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenzheng Shi

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Landscape management plays a key role in improving the quality of urban environments and enhancing the multifunctionality of green infrastructure. It works to guide the efficient and effective management of green spaces for sustainability and the well-being of users. However, while most researchers have emphasised spatial planning as a basis for developing green infrastructure to promote new strategic connections in urban green space, they have simultaneously ignored the impact of management. Against this background, this paper argues that if our towns and cities seek to maintain the well-being of citizens while also achieving sustainable environments, they must engage in effective landscape management to improve their green infrastructure. It is not enough to simply design or maintain parks and green spaces so as to keep up their physical condition; rather, green infrastructure work should be adapted to the understanding and implementation of managers, users and stakeholders in an integrated management process in order to provide more services for sustainable development. A selected study in Sheffield investigated the management planning required for sustainable development. It is beneficial to learn the experiences of management planning in Sheffield, a city which has rich management practices for green and open spaces. This study will analyse how management planning helps local authorities and managers to improve multifunctional green and open spaces in the context of sustainable development. As a result, the study also explores the framework of management planning with regard to the transferability of the existing practices in Sheffield. It also attempts to provide a primer for sustainability impact assessments in other cities with a considered knowledge exchange. KEYWORDS: Management planning, green infrastructure, multifunctionality, sustainability, knowledge exchange

  7. Rapid and sustained cost management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, D.

    2009-01-01

    Accenture helps clients develop comprehensive, process-driven strategies for rapid and sustained cost management that leverage deep insights and analytics. This approach enables companies to gain operating cost advantages by rationalizing, simplifying and automating current operating capabilities. It drives structural cost advantages by optimizing business mix, capital structure, organizational structure and geographic presence. This paper discussed how successful companies achieve high performance during times of economic turmoil. It also discussed the value of the winner's strategy in terms of rapid and sustained cost management (RSCM). It discussed how Accenture operates and its leveraged capabilities, improved efficiency, margins and cash flow while maintaining customer service levels. Building structural advantage and the Accenture difference were also discussed. It was concluded that RSCM is one vital way that Accenture can help companies achieve success. 4 figs

  8. Sustainability : Intergeneration Equity and Environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Y.D. [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

    2001-06-01

    Regarding intergenerational equity as prerequisite for sustainability, we derive an optimal investment rule for intergenerational equity from an optimization model allowing for capital accumulation and pollution. This rule provides a condition for intergenerational equity such that an economy maintains constant net value of investment the difference between the physical capital investment value and the environmental resource depletion(pollution) value. This rule is more generalized condition for intergenerational equity than the 'keep capital intact' rule suggested by Hartwick(1977) and Solow(1999), in a sense that this rule includes their condition as a special. Also, we expect this rule to offer an empirical measure of sustainability. In addition, we discuss a variety of recent environmental issues in practice, especially associated with the implications from the rule. (author). 13 refs.

  9. Sustainable geothermal utilization - Case histories; definitions; research issues and modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Axelsson, Gudni

    2010-01-01

    Sustainable development by definition meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Earth's enormous geothermal resources have the potential to contribute significantly to sustainable energy use worldwide as well as to help mitigate climate change. Experience from the use of numerous geothermal systems worldwide lasting several decades demonstrates that by maintaining production below a certain limit the systems reach a balance between net energy discharge and recharge that may be maintained for a long time (100-300 years). Modelling studies indicate that the effect of heavy utilization is often reversible on a time-scale comparable to the period of utilization. Thus, geothermal resources can be used in a sustainable manner either through (1) constant production below the sustainable limit, (2) step-wise increase in production, (3) intermittent excessive production with breaks, and (4) reduced production after a shorter period of heavy production. The long production histories that are available for low-temperature as well as high-temperature geothermal systems distributed throughout the world, provide the most valuable data available for studying sustainable management of geothermal resources, and reservoir modelling is the most powerful tool available for this purpose. The paper presents sustainability modelling studies for the Hamar and Nesjavellir geothermal systems in Iceland, the Beijing Urban system in China and the Olkaria system in Kenya as examples. Several relevant research issues have also been identified, such as the relevance of system boundary conditions during long-term utilization, how far reaching interference from utilization is, how effectively geothermal systems recover after heavy utilization and the reliability of long-term (more than 100 years) model predictions. (author)

  10. The sustainability, base for the agriculture of next century

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baquero Haeberlin, I.B.

    1997-01-01

    It is defined the sustainability concept, their origin and the operation form to the interior of CORPOICA. It discusses the concept of sustained development and the characteristics that it should have the agricultural technology to involve the concept in the agricultural development, under the perspective of satisfying the necessities of people presently, maintaining options for the future generations. The sustainable agricultural development is analyzed in connection with the ecological, economic and social sustainability and the situation of the agricultural producer in the application of the concept. It thinks about the agriculture ecology like strategy guided to achieve a sustainable agriculture by means of the knowledge of the relationships that they are given among the production systems and the processes that govern the behavior and offer of the intervened ecosystems. Complementarity the technology use of under environmental impact and the development of productive systems adapted to the environment, taking advantage of the biodiversity. It concludes that the sustainability should be above all an ethical concept that makes part of the investigator's formation inside a holistic and interdisciplinary context

  11. Crossing scales and disciplines to achieve forest sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael J. Papaik; Brian Sturtevant; Christian Messier

    2008-01-01

    Forest land managers are faced with unprecedented global pressures to produce resources for human consumption (e.g., Liu and Diamond 2005), while still maintaining essential ecosystem services benefiting society at multiple spatial scales (Costanza et al. 1997). These global pressures alone present daunting challenges to sustainable forest management (SFM) worldwide (...

  12. What the Willow Teaches: Sustainability Learning as Craft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cato, Molly Scott

    2014-01-01

    Whilst the importance of mainstreaming sustainability in higher education curricula is now widely acknowledged, the challenge for educators at university level is to develop and maintain authority and confidence in an area dominated by limited knowledge and uncertainty. This article suggests that the most empowering and authentic response is to…

  13. The Century Ahead: Searching for Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard A. Rosen

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available The global future lies before us as a highly uncertain and contested landscape with numerous perils along the way. This study explores possible pathways to sustainability by considering in quantitative detail four contrasting scenarios for the twenty-first century. The analysis reveals vividly the risks of conventional development approaches and the real danger of socio-ecological descent. Nonetheless, the paper underscores that a Great Transition scenario—turning toward a civilization of enhanced human well-being and environmental resilience—remains an option, and identifies a suite of strategic and value changes for getting there. A fundamental shift in the development paradigm is found to be an urgent necessity for assuring a sustainable future and, as well, a hopeful opportunity for creating a world of enriched lives, human amity, and a healthy ecosphere.

  14. Healthy Aging After Age 65: A Life-Span Health Production Function Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferdows, Nasim B; Jensen, Gail A; Tarraf, Wassim

    2018-06-01

    This article examines the determinants of healthy aging using Grossman's framework of a health production function. Healthy aging, sometimes described as successful aging, is produced using a variety of inputs, determined in early life, young adulthood, midlife, and later life. A healthy aging production function is estimated using nationally representative data from the 2010 and 2012 Health and Retirement Study on 7,355 noninstitutionalized seniors. Using a simultaneous equation mediation model, we quantify how childhood factors contribute to healthy aging, both directly and indirectly through their effects on mediating adult outcomes. We find that favorable childhood conditions significantly improve healthy aging scores, both directly and indirectly, mediated through education, income, and wealth. We also find that good health habits have positive effects on healthy aging that are larger in magnitude than the effects of childhood factors. Our findings suggest that exercising, maintaining proper weight, and not smoking are likely to translate into healthier aging.

  15. Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Educational Institutions: A Suggested Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzarol, Tim; Soutar, Geoffrey Norman

    1999-01-01

    Outlines a model of factors critical to establishing and maintaining sustainable competitive advantage for education-services enterprises in international markets. The model, which combines industrial economics, management theory, and services marketing, seeks to explain the strategic decision-making environment in which the education exporter…

  16. Sustainability Challenge for Academic Libraries: Planning for the Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jankowska, Maria Anna; Marcum, James W.

    2010-01-01

    There is growing concern that a variety of factors threaten the sustainability of academic libraries: developing and preserving print and digital collections, supplying and supporting rapidly changing technological and networking infrastructure, providing free services, maintaining growing costs of library buildings, and lowering libraries'…

  17. Sustained and selective attention deficits as vulnerability markers to psychosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulet, B; Valero, J; Gutiérrez-Zotes, A; Montserrat, C; Cortés, M J; Jariod, M; Martorell, L; Vilella, E; Labad, A

    2007-04-01

    The first descriptions of schizophrenia emphasized attention problems patients with schizophrenia have but recent results evidence that other psychotic disorders share them. We compared the performance in sustained and selective attention between psychotic patients (P), their healthy first degree relatives (R) and healthy volunteers (C) to prove whether these alterations could be an endophenotype of vulnerability to psychosis. We also compared the performance of schizophrenic patients (SZP) and that of patients with other functional psychoses (OP) in order to prove whether these alterations are specific of any psychotic disorder. Seventy-six P, 70 R and 39 C were included in the study. A selective attention index, comprising TMT A and B and Stroop Test, and a sustained attention index comprising the Continuous Performance Test were calculated. We conducted an univariant general linear model to compare three group performances in these indexes, with age, sex and years of education as a covariables. We found significant differences between the indexes when we compared P, R and C. No differences in performance were found between SZP and OP. Our data showed that sustained and selective attention alterations could be a vulnerability factor to psychotic disorders in general, but they were not specific of schizophrenia.

  18. Nutritional Sustainability of Pet Foods12

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanson, Kelly S.; Carter, Rebecca A.; Yount, Tracy P.; Aretz, Jan; Buff, Preston R.

    2013-01-01

    Sustainable practices meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Applying these concepts to food and feed production, nutritional sustainability is the ability of a food system to provide sufficient energy and essential nutrients required to maintain good health in a population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their nutritional needs. Ecological, social, and economic aspects must be balanced to support the sustainability of the overall food system. The nutritional sustainability of a food system can be influenced by several factors, including the ingredient selection, nutrient composition, digestibility, and consumption rates of a diet. Carbon and water footprints vary greatly among plant- and animal-based ingredients, production strategy, and geographical location. Because the pet food industry is based largely on by-products and is tightly interlinked with livestock production and the human food system, however, it is quite unique with regard to sustainability. Often based on consumer demand rather than nutritional requirements, many commercial pet foods are formulated to provide nutrients in excess of current minimum recommendations, use ingredients that compete directly with the human food system, or are overconsumed by pets, resulting in food wastage and obesity. Pet food professionals have the opportunity to address these challenges and influence the sustainability of pet ownership through product design, manufacturing processes, public education, and policy change. A coordinated effort across the industry that includes ingredient buyers, formulators, and nutritionists may result in a more sustainable pet food system. PMID:23493530

  19. Scale-free functional connectivity of the brain is maintained in anesthetized healthy participants but not in patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaolin Liu

    Full Text Available Loss of consciousness in anesthetized healthy participants and in patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS is associated with substantial alterations of functional connectivity across large-scale brain networks. Yet, a prominent distinction between the two cases is that after anesthesia, brain connectivity and consciousness are spontaneously restored, whereas in patients with UWS this restoration fails to occur, but why? A possible explanation is that the self-organizing capability of the brain is compromised in patients with UWS but not in healthy participants undergoing anesthesia. According to the theory of self-organized criticality, many natural complex systems, including the brain, evolve spontaneously to a critical state wherein system behaviors display spatial and/or temporal scale-invariant characteristics. Here we tested the hypothesis that the scale-free property of brain network organization is in fact fundamentally different between anesthetized healthy participants and UWS patients. We introduced a novel, computationally efficient approach to determine anatomical-functional parcellation of the whole-brain network at increasingly finer spatial scales. We found that in healthy participants, scale-free distributions of node size and node degree were present across wakefulness, propofol sedation, and recovery, despite significant propofol-induced functional connectivity changes. In patients with UWS, the scale-free distribution of node degree was absent, reflecting a fundamental difference between the two groups in adaptive reconfiguration of functional interaction between network components. The maintenance of scale-invariance across propofol sedation in healthy participants suggests the presence of persistent, on-going self-organizing processes to a critical state--a capacity that is compromised in patients with UWS.

  20. Reading in Healthy Aging: Selective Use of Information Structuring Cues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, Jessica M.; Sanford, Anthony J.

    2018-01-01

    Previous research has shown that information referring to a named character or to information in the main clause of a sentence is more accessible and facilitates the processing of anaphoric references. We investigated whether the use of such cues are maintained in healthy aging. We present two experiments investigating whether information…

  1. Sustainable development in agriculture: is it really sustainable?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, S.R.K.; Srinivas, K.; Kumar, L.R.; Gupta, H.S.

    2005-01-01

    Indian agriculture has achieved remarkable success in the food grain production due to inception of 'rainbow revolution', which made the country self-sufficient in food production. Sustainable agriculture (SA) is an ongoing process, in which people take actions leading to development of agriculture that meets their current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It advocates avoiding all those actions, which reduce the ability of future generations to meet out the present generations. It is based on the optimal interaction between clean environment, healthy economy, and vital society by avoiding trade-off of problems to other regions on to the future. Moreover, sustainable agriculture is the function of people's progress and nature's capacity. In fact, SA commits us to considering the long-term effect and to recognize our place within the ecosystem. It encourages a continuous reflection on the implications of human activity on the ecosystem. Empirical evidences shows that in the race of self-sufficiency in food grain production, we compromised a lot on social and environmental fronts. The aftermath of green revolution is not so sustainable as it showed reverse side too, in the form of environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. Such threats have led to the need for promoting sustainable development in agriculture. Due to several unsustainable activities which resulted in resource degradation in the form of top soil loss, ground water depletion and forest degradation. The average soil loss is estimated to be over 16 tonnes/ha/year. The ground water depletion resulted in several blocks as 'grey blocks' and 'dark blocks'. This happened mainly due to increase in number of tube-wells and free supply of electricity making the cost of pumping water very low. Rate of human induced land degradation is very high. Out of total geographical area of 329.0 million ha, 187 million ha (57.0 %) are reported to have degraded, of

  2. Picture Yourself Healthy-How Users Select Mediated Images to Shape Health Intentions and Behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Brianna; Knobloch-Westerwick, Silvia; Robinson, Melissa J

    2018-02-20

    Hypotheses on how selective viewing of mediated images may sustain eating habits and aid healthier eating were derived from the Selective Exposure Self- and Affect Management model. The model posits that individuals select to view media to manage their self-concepts-and that this exposure affects subsequent intentions and behaviors. Participants (N = 265) selectively viewed Instagram-like postings featuring healthy or unhealthy food imagery. Beforehand, participants reported habits and perceived expert recommendations regarding food intake. After viewing postings, participants chose gift cards representing healthy or unhealthy food purchases and indicated food intake intentions. Results show that existing eating behavior predicts selective exposure to healthy or unhealthy food imagery, which in turn shapes gift card choices and (both healthy and unhealthy) food intake intentions.

  3. Work, eat and sleep : towards a healthy ageing at work program offshore

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Riethmeister, Vanessa; Brouwer, Sandra; van der Klink, Jac; Bültmann, Ute

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Health management tools need to be developed to foster healthy ageing at work and sustain employability of ageing work-forces. The objectives of this study were to 1) perform a needs assessment to identify the needs of offshore workers in the Dutch Continental Shelf with regard to

  4. Adopting a healthy lifestyle when pregnant and obese - an interview study three years after childbirth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dencker, Anna; Premberg, Åsa; Olander, Ellinor K; McCourt, Christine; Haby, Karin; Dencker, Sofie; Glantz, Anna; Berg, Marie

    2016-07-30

    Obesity during pregnancy is increasing and is related to life-threatening and ill-health conditions in both mother and child. Initiating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle when pregnant with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m(2) can improve health and decrease risks during pregnancy and of long-term illness for the mother and the child. To minimise gestational weight gain women with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2) in early pregnancy were invited to a lifestyle intervention including advice and support on diet and physical activity in Gothenburg, Sweden. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of women with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2) regarding minimising their gestational weight gain, and to assess how health professionals' care approaches are reflected in the women's narratives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 women who had participated in a lifestyle intervention for women with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2) during pregnancy 3 years earlier. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed in full. Thematic analysis was used. The meaning of changing lifestyle for minimising weight gain and of the professional's care approaches is described in four themes: the child as the main motivation for making healthy changes; a need to be seen and supported on own terms to establish healthy routines; being able to manage healthy activities and own weight; and need for additional support to maintain a healthy lifestyle. To support women with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2) to make healthy lifestyle changes and limit weight gain during pregnancy antenatal health care providers should 1) address women's weight in a non-judgmental way using BMI, and provide accurate and appropriate information about the benefits of limited gestational weight gain; 2) support the woman on her own terms in a collaborative relationship with the midwife; 3) work in partnership to give the woman the tools to self-manage healthy activities and 4) give continued personal support and

  5. Energy in Brazil: Toward sustainable development?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pereira, Amaro Olimpio; Soares, Jeferson Borghetti; Gorini de Oliveira, Ricardo Gorini; Pinto de Queiroz, Renato

    2008-01-01

    The objective of this study is to analyze the evolution of the Brazilian energy sector with reference to the results of the business-as-usual scenario of the National Energy Outlook 2030 studies. The analysis was made with, as a starting point, energy indicators for sustainable development, which take into account social, economic and environmental aspects. The study demonstrates that the country has great availability of energy resources and that renewable sources can contribute to maintain a big participation in the production and use of energy, giving the country considerable advantages in economic and environmental terms. As regards the social aspect, on the other hand, the unequal distribution of income continues to be the country's principal weak point in achieving sustainable development

  6. The shaping of organic & healthy school meal provision concepts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    He, Chen; Mikkelsen, Bent Egberg

    2009-01-01

    School food in Denmark has unlike many other European countries traditionally been the responsibility of parents. However publically driven healthy school food and nutrition strategies is increasingly being applied as a measure to counteract the growing prevalence of obesity among young people. I...... for studying this shaping process and thus has the potential to give valuable insight into the further development of healthy and organic school meals in Denmark.......School food in Denmark has unlike many other European countries traditionally been the responsibility of parents. However publically driven healthy school food and nutrition strategies is increasingly being applied as a measure to counteract the growing prevalence of obesity among young people....... In addition school food has become a major focus for public organic procurement strategies that seeks to create more sustainable public service provision. Since there are no national regulation of school food provision the school and its food supply in Denmark has become an arena for development...

  7. What is on our plate? : Safe, healthy and sustainable diets in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ocke MC; Toxopeus IB; Geurts M; Mengelers MJB; Temme EHM; Hoeymans N; V&G; V&Z

    2017-01-01

    Huge challenges and ambitions
    Most Dutch people are healthy and life expectancy is growing. Simultaneously, half of the Dutch population is overweight and this rate is even higher in lower socioeconomic groups. In addition, 9 out of 10 people eat too little fruit and vegetables, and nearly 30

  8. Incentives to create and sustain healthy behaviors: technology solutions and research needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teyhen, Deydre S; Aldag, Matt; Centola, Damon; Edinborough, Elton; Ghannadian, Jason D; Haught, Andrea; Jackson, Theresa; Kinn, Julie; Kunkler, Kevin J; Levine, Betty; Martindale, Valerie E; Neal, David; Snyder, Leslie B; Styn, Mindi A; Thorndike, Frances; Trabosh, Valerie; Parramore, David J

    2014-12-01

    Health-related technology, its relevance, and its availability are rapidly evolving. Technology offers great potential to minimize and/or mitigate barriers associated with achieving optimal health, performance, and readiness. In support of the U.S. Army Surgeon General's vision for a "System for Health" and its Performance Triad initiative, the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center hosted a workshop in April 2013 titled "Incentives to Create and Sustain Change for Health." Members of government and academia participated to identify and define the opportunities, gain clarity in leading practices and research gaps, and articulate the characteristics of future technology solutions to create and sustain real change in the health of individuals, the Army, and the nation. The key factors discussed included (1) public health messaging, (2) changing health habits and the environmental influence on health, (3) goal setting and tracking, (4) the role of incentives in behavior change intervention, and (5) the role of peer and social networks in change. This report summarizes the recommendations on how technology solutions could be employed to leverage evidence-based best practices and identifies gaps in research where further investigation is needed. Reprint & Copyright © 2014 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

  9. Healthy Places for Healthy People

    Science.gov (United States)

    Describes the Healthy Places for Healthy People technical assistance program that helps communities create walkable, healthy, economically vibrant places by engaging with local health care facility partners

  10. Strategies and willingness of rural restaurateurs to promote healthy foods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, W

    1995-01-01

    Nutritionists need to understand the willingness of restaurateurs to prepare and sell healthy foods, as Canadians frequently eat meals at food services. The lunch trade restaurants under the jurisdiction of a rural and semi-rural Alberta health unit were surveyed by telephone. Two thirds of the restaurants were family-style and had 100 seats or fewer. Five of 20 healthy foods were rated as difficult to serve, due to: lack of customer demand; lack of food availability; and the need to maintain the quality of fresh vegetables, fruits and milk products. Many restaurateurs are willing to change internally by training staff (88%) and by trying new recipes (84%). Staff education materials perceived to be helpful by 80% of restaurateurs included video/audio tapes, information sheets and posters. Restaurateurs were most willing to use menu inserts (76%), table tents (68%) and door decals (72%) to promote healthy foods. Nutrition services should focus on how restaurants can make changes to include healthy foods through food preparation and menu items.

  11. Maintainability allocation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guyot, Christian.

    1980-06-01

    The author gives the general lines of a method for the allocation and for the evaluation of maintainability of complex systems which is to be developed during the conference. The maintainability objective is supposed to be formulated under the form of a mean time to repair (M.T.T.R.) [fr

  12. Sustained attention problems in children with early treated congenital hypothyroidism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kooistra, L.; Van der Meere, J.J.; Vulsma, T.; Kalverboer, A.F.

    Sustained attention was studied in 48 children with early treated congenital hypothyroidism and 35 healthy controls, using a computer-paced and a self-paced continuous performance task. The performance of the patients, particularly those in the low T4 group (38 patients with T4 levels 50 nmol/l at

  13. Good choices make healthy homes: Reflections on sustainable human settlements in SA

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Leuta, T

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available than human issues, resulting in ?sustainable housing? being informed by technological rather than health rationales. Current evidence shows that the home environment is still a major contributor to ill health through exposure to factors... such as ?home injuries, chemical substances, mould and damp, noise, pests and infestations, poor access to water and sanitation, proximity to pollution sources, or flooding, and inadequate protection from extreme weather?. Added to this is the fact...

  14. Experiences Sustaining a Conference and Building a Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grady, Marilyn L.

    2016-01-01

    The Women in Educational Leadership Conference (WELC) was founded at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1987. The 28th conference was held in October 2014. A database related to the conference has been maintained throughout these years. Using these data, the following report includes the factors that have sustained the conference, the network…

  15. Characteristics of healthy weight advertisements in three countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettigrew, Simone; Talati, Zenobia; Henriques, Isla; Morley, Belinda; Ball, Kylie

    2018-02-01

    High rates of population obesity have resulted in the dissemination of mass media campaigns that focus on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. The aim of the present study was to analyse advertising techniques used in such campaigns to identify common and differential approaches in three countries with similar cultures and rates of obesity (Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States). An Internet search was conducted to identify healthy weight television advertisements aired in the three countries. Seventy-two advertisements were located and coded according to the advertising techniques employed. Despite the cultural similarity and comparable obesity rates of the three countries, there were few consistencies in advertising techniques employed. A main focus of the ads was diet, but disparate approaches were used to convey the message in each country. The identified wide variation in advertising techniques may suggest that campaign managers would benefit from greater certainty about which advertising approaches are most effective in encouraging lifestyle behaviours associated with a healthy weight. Implications for public health: A more robust evidence base would be useful to guide the development of healthy weight campaigns. © 2017 The Authors.

  16. Development of Healthy Cities networks in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goepel, Eberhard

    2007-01-01

    The Healthy Cities network in Europe was inspired by the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion when it was launched in 1987. The networking process was initiated by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, but developed its own dynamics in different European countries during a time marked by fundamental political transformations in many of the countries of Eastern Europe. The networks then connected with the 'Local Agenda 21' and the 'Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign' to create a new and broader programmatic agenda at the local level. In particular, the ''Aalborg plus 10 - commitments"--of local governments in 2004 have the potential to inspire a new phase of participatory and sustainable policies at the level of local communities in Europe. However, the extent to which these initiatives will influence the macro-politics of the European Union towards a proclaimed "Europe of Citizens" remains to be watched carefully during the coming years.

  17. Housing Stakeholder Preferences for the "Soft" Features of Sustainable and Healthy Housing Design in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prochorskaite, Agne; Couch, Chris; Malys, Naglis; Maliene, Vida

    2016-01-07

    It is widely recognised that the quantity and sustainability of new homes in the UK need to increase. However, it is important that sustainable housing is regarded holistically, and not merely in environmental terms, and incorporates elements that enhance the quality of life, health and well-being of its users. This paper focuses on the "soft" features of sustainable housing, that is, the non-technological components of sustainable housing and neighbourhood design that can impact occupants' health and well-being. Aims of the study are to ascertain the relative level of importance that key housing stakeholders attach to these features and to investigate whether the opinions of housing users and housing providers are aligned with regards to their importance. An online survey was carried out to gauge the level of importance that the key stakeholders, such as housing users, local authorities, housing associations, and developers (n = 235), attach to these features. Results revealed that while suitable indoor space was the feature regarded as most important by all stakeholders, there were also a number of disparities in opinion between housing users and housing providers (and among the different types of providers). This implies a scope for initiatives to achieve a better alignment between housing users and providers.

  18. Postural Control Can Be Well Maintained by Healthy, Young Adults in Difficult Visual Task, Even in Sway-Referenced Dynamic Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lions, Cynthia; Bucci, Maria Pia; Bonnet, Cédrick

    2016-01-01

    To challenge the validity of existing cognitive models of postural control, we recorded eye movements and postural sway during two visual tasks (a control free-viewing task and a difficult searching task), and two postural tasks (one static task in which the platform was maintained stable and a dynamic task in which the platform moved in a sway-referenced manner.) We expected these models to be insufficient to predict the results in postural control both in static-as already shown in the literature reports-and in dynamic platform conditions. Twelve healthy, young adults (17.3 to 34.1 years old) participated in this study. Postural performances were evaluated using the Multitest platform (Framiral®) and ocular recording was performed with Mobile T2 (e(ye)BRAIN®). In the free-viewing task, the participants had to look at an image, without any specific instruction. In the searching task, the participants had to look at an image and also to locate the position of an object in the scene. Postural sway was only significantly higher in the dynamic free-viewing condition than in the three other conditions with no significant difference between these three other conditions. Visual task performance was slightly higher in dynamic than in static conditions. As expected, our results did not confirm the main assumption of the current cognitive models of postural control-i.e. that the limited attentional resources of the brain should explain changes in postural control in our conditions. Indeed, 1) the participants did not sway significantly more in the sway-referenced dynamic searching condition than in any other condition; 2) the participants swayed significantly less in both static and dynamic searching conditions than in the dynamic free-viewing condition. We suggest that a new cognitive model illustrating the adaptive, functional role of the brain to control upright stance is necessary for future studies.

  19. Postural Control Can Be Well Maintained by Healthy, Young Adults in Difficult Visual Task, Even in Sway-Referenced Dynamic Conditions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cynthia Lions

    Full Text Available To challenge the validity of existing cognitive models of postural control, we recorded eye movements and postural sway during two visual tasks (a control free-viewing task and a difficult searching task, and two postural tasks (one static task in which the platform was maintained stable and a dynamic task in which the platform moved in a sway-referenced manner. We expected these models to be insufficient to predict the results in postural control both in static-as already shown in the literature reports-and in dynamic platform conditions.Twelve healthy, young adults (17.3 to 34.1 years old participated in this study. Postural performances were evaluated using the Multitest platform (Framiral® and ocular recording was performed with Mobile T2 (e(yeBRAIN®. In the free-viewing task, the participants had to look at an image, without any specific instruction. In the searching task, the participants had to look at an image and also to locate the position of an object in the scene.Postural sway was only significantly higher in the dynamic free-viewing condition than in the three other conditions with no significant difference between these three other conditions. Visual task performance was slightly higher in dynamic than in static conditions.As expected, our results did not confirm the main assumption of the current cognitive models of postural control-i.e. that the limited attentional resources of the brain should explain changes in postural control in our conditions. Indeed, 1 the participants did not sway significantly more in the sway-referenced dynamic searching condition than in any other condition; 2 the participants swayed significantly less in both static and dynamic searching conditions than in the dynamic free-viewing condition. We suggest that a new cognitive model illustrating the adaptive, functional role of the brain to control upright stance is necessary for future studies.

  20. Sustainable diets: The interaction between food industry, nutrition, health and the environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alsaffar, Ayten Aylin

    2016-03-01

    Everyday great amounts of food are produced, processed, transported by the food industry and consumed by us and these activities have direct impact on our health and the environment. The current food system has started causing strain on the Earth's natural resources and that is why sustainable food production systems are needed. This review article discusses the need for sustainable diets by exploring the interactions between the food industry, nutrition, health and the environment, which are strongly interconnected. The most common environmental issues in the food industry are related to food processing loss, food wastage and packaging; energy efficiency; transportation of foods; water consumption and waste management. Among the foods produced and processed, meat and meat products have the greatest environmental impact followed by the dairy products. Our eating patterns impact the environment, but the environment can impact dietary choices as well. The foods and drinks we consume may also affect our health. A healthy and sustainable diet would minimise the consumption of energy-dense and highly processed and packaged foods, include less animal-derived foods and more plant-based foods and encourage people not to exceed the recommended daily energy intake. Sustainable diets contribute to food and nutrition security, have low environmental impacts and promote healthy life for present and future generations. There is an urgent need to develop and promote strategies for sustainable diets; and governments, United Nations agencies, civil society, research organisations and the food industry should work together in achieving this. © The Author(s) 2016.

  1. What Is Your Body Mass Index?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanik, H. Bahadir; Memis, Yasin

    2016-01-01

    Billions of dollars are spent each year in efforts to prevent and treat diseases caused by unhealthy eating habits. Promoting awareness among young children regarding the importance of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for preparing them to sustain healthy lives as adults. This article aims to highlight ways to help students…

  2. Health promotion and sustainability programmes in Australia: barriers and enablers to evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick, Rebecca; Kingsley, Jonathan

    2017-08-01

    In an era characterised by the adverse impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, health promotion programmes are beginning to actively link human health with environmental sustainability imperatives. This paper draws on a study of health promotion and sustainability programmes in Australia, providing insights to evaluation approaches being used and barriers and enablers to these evaluations. The study was based on a multi-strategy research involving both quantitative and qualitative methods. Health promotion practitioners explained through surveys and semi-structured interviews that they focused on five overarching health and sustainability programme types (healthy and sustainable food, active transport, energy efficiency, contact with nature, and capacity building). Various evaluation methods and indicators (health, social, environmental, economic and demographic) were identified as being valuable for monitoring and evaluating health and sustainability programmes. Findings identified several evaluation enablers such as successful community engagement, knowledge of health and sustainability issues and programme champions, whereas barriers included resource constraints and competing interests. This paper highlights the need for ecological models and evaluation tools to support the design and monitoring of health promotion and sustainability programmes.

  3. Site Sustainability Plan with FY2015 Performance Data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nichols, Teresa A. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lapsa, Melissa Voss [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Hudey, Bryce D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2015-12-01

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is both the largest science and energy laboratory in the US Department of Energy (DOE) complex and one of the oldest national laboratories still operating at its original site. ORNL implemented an aggressive modernization program in 2000, providing modern, energy-efficient facilities that help to support the growth of important national scientific missions while faced with the unique and challenging opportunity to integrate sustainability into legacy assets. ORNL is committed to leveraging the outcomes of DOE-sponsored research programs to maximize the efficient use of energy and natural resources across a diverse campus. ORNL leadership in conjunction with the Sustainable Campus Initiative (SCI) maintains a commitment to the integration of technical innovations into new and existing facilities, systems, and processes with a comprehensive approach to achieving DOE directives and the new Executive Order 13693. Energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reductions, climate change resiliency, and other pursuits toward integrated sustainability factor in all we do. ORNL continues to pursue and deploy innovative solutions and initiatives to advance regional, national, and worldwide sustainability and continues to transform its culture and engage employees in supporting sustainability at work, at home, and in the community.

  4. Sustained eruptions on Enceladus explained by turbulent dissipation in tiger stripes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kite, Edwin S.; Rubin, Allan M.

    2016-04-01

    Spacecraft observations suggest that the plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus draw water from a subsurface ocean, but the sustainability of conduits linking ocean and surface is not understood. Observations show eruptions from “tiger stripe” fissures that are sustained (although tidally modulated) throughout each orbit, and since the 2005 discovery of the plumes. Peak plume flux lags peak tidal extension by ˜1 rad, suggestive of resonance. Here, we show that a model of the tiger stripes as tidally flexed slots that puncture the ice shell can simultaneously explain the persistence of the eruptions through the tidal cycle, the phase lag, and the total power output of the tiger stripe terrain, while suggesting that eruptions are maintained over geological timescales. The delay associated with flushing and refilling of O(1)-m-wide slots with ocean water causes erupted flux to lag tidal forcing and helps to buttress slots against closure, while tidally pumped in-slot flow leads to heating and mechanical disruption that staves off slot freezeout. Much narrower and much wider slots cannot be sustained. In the presence of long-lived slots, the 106-y average power output of the tiger stripes is buffered by a feedback between ice melt-back and subsidence to O(1010) W, which is similar to observed power output, suggesting long-term stability. Turbulent dissipation makes testable predictions for the final flybys of Enceladus by Cassini. Our model shows how open connections to an ocean can be reconciled with, and sustain, long-lived eruptions. Turbulent dissipation in long-lived slots helps maintain the ocean against freezing, maintains access by future Enceladus missions to ocean materials, and is plausibly the major energy source for tiger stripe activity.

  5. Sustaining U.S. Nuclear Submarine Design Capabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    million annually in the NSWC’s Card- erock Division submarine design workforce in excess of reimburs - able demand to sustain skills that might...large testing infrastructure. Conse- quently, the Navy retains management and operation of these facili- ties under direct reimbursement from private...the water. 4 These facilities are maintained within the naval warfare centers, which, as working capi- tal organizations, require reimbursement from

  6. The concept and principles of sustainable architectural design for national parks in Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milošević Predrag

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper elaborates the concept of sustainable architectural design that has come to the forefront in the last 20 years, and in the light of the National Park. This concept recognizes that human civilization is an integral part of the natural world and that nature must be preserved and perpetuated if the human community itself is to survive. Sustainable design articulates this idea through developments that exemplify the principles of conservation and encourage the application of those principles in our daily lives. A corollary concept, and one that supports sustainable design, is that of bio-regionalism - the idea that all life is established and maintained on a functional community basis and that all of these distinctive communities (bio-regions have mutually supporting life systems that are generally self-sustaining. The concept of sustainable design holds that future technologies must function primarily within bioregional patterns and scales. They must maintain biological diversity and environmental integrity contribute to the health of air, water, and soils, incorporate design and construction that reflect bio-regional conditions, and reduce the impacts of human use. Sustainable design, sustainable development, design with nature environmentally sensitive design, holistic resource management - regardless of what it's called, "sustainability," the capability of natural and cultural systems being continued over time, is the key. Sustainable design must use an alternative approach to traditional design and the new design approach must recognize the impacts of every design choice on the natural and cultural resources of the local, regional, and global environments. Sustainable park and recreation development will succeed to the degree that it anticipates and manages human experiences. Interpretation provides the best single tool for shaping experiences and sharing values. By providing an awareness of the environment, values are taught that are

  7. The Healthy Aging Research Network: Modeling Collaboration for Community Impact.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belza, Basia; Altpeter, Mary; Smith, Matthew Lee; Ory, Marcia G

    2017-03-01

    As the first Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Research Centers Program thematic network, the Healthy Aging Research Network was established to better understand the determinants of healthy aging within older adult populations, identify interventions that promote healthy aging, and assist in translating research into sustainable community-based programs throughout the nation. To achieve these goals requires concerted efforts of a collaborative network of academic, community, and public health organizational partnerships. For the 2001-2014 Prevention Research Center funding cycles, the Healthy Aging Research Network conducted prevention research and promoted the wide use of practices known to foster optimal health. Organized around components necessary for successful collaborations (i.e., governance and infrastructure, shaping focus, community involvement, and evaluation and improvement), this commentary highlights exemplars that demonstrate the Healthy Aging Research Network's unique contributions to the field. The Healthy Aging Research Network's collaboration provided a means to collectively build capacity for practice and policy, reduce fragmentation and duplication in health promotion and aging research efforts, maximize the efficient use of existing resources and generate additional resources, and ultimately, create synergies for advancing the healthy aging agenda. This collaborative model was built upon a backbone organization (coordinating center); setting of common agendas and mutually reinforcing activities; and continuous communications. Given its successes, the Healthy Aging Research Network model could be used to create new and evaluate existing thematic networks to guide the translation of research into policy and practice. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Healthy Cities in a global and regional context

    OpenAIRE

    Lawrence, Roderick J.; Fudge, Colin

    2017-01-01

    Since the beginning of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network in 1987, the global and regional contexts for the promotion of health and well-being have changed in many ways. First, in 2000, the United Nations Millennium Goals explicitly and implicitly addressed health promotion and prevention at the global and regional levels. Second, the concern for sustainable development at the Rio Conference in 1992 was confirmed at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. During the same period, in man...

  9. Sustainability in Australia, past, present and future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sligar, J.

    2001-01-01

    Over the last 50 years Australia has generally maintained adequate energy supplies to its population in an increasingly efficient and sustainable manner It has also been able to help sustain other economies in supplying energy resources of coal, gas and uranium. This provides 20% of Australia's export income, contributing to the quality of life experienced by Australians.Presently the reserve margin in the electricity power system is adequate and, with the exception of oil, ample local energy resources are available. Over the same period the doubling in energy generation efficiency has matched the population growth in NSW The same contributions by technology and population can be expected over the next 50 years. The growth in demand has however increased by a factor of about five.Sensible demand management could reduce this to a more acceptable figure over the next 50 years as shown in two possible scenarios. This, coupled with ongoing energy exports will help sustain the quality of life in this economy

  10. Sustainability, the Greenhouse effect, silviculture, and overpopulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, F.K.

    1991-01-01

    Ever since man became conscious of the finite dimensions of Planet Earth, he has worried about his ability to survive in an ever-more crowded environment. This paper reports that the fundamental question underlying this concern is sustainability: Can we indefinitely supply, maintain, and prolong that which we have? This question is, of course, multifaceted. Man's early concerns quickly polarized the scientists and economists of this world into two philosophical camps---the Malthusians and the Cornucopians. Over time, economists learned that Malthus seriously underestimated the capacity of technology to enhance productivity, although Malthusian sympathizers (both scientists and economists) continually raised the specter of imminent doom. Much of what lies ahead will provide a series of daunting challenges for us all, and the engine that drives sustainability has to be technology. The central issue is to ensure that the right kind of technology is available, and that it is used widely to ensure sustainability

  11. Sustainability, the Greenhouse effect, silviculture, and overpopulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hall, F.K. (International Paper Co., Corporate Research Center, Tuxedo Park, NY (US))

    1991-10-01

    Ever since man became conscious of the finite dimensions of Planet Earth, he has worried about his ability to survive in an ever-more crowded environment. This paper reports that the fundamental question underlying this concern is sustainability: Can we indefinitely supply, maintain, and prolong that which we have This question is, of course, multifaceted. Man's early concerns quickly polarized the scientists and economists of this world into two philosophical camps---the Malthusians and the Cornucopians. Over time, economists learned that Malthus seriously underestimated the capacity of technology to enhance productivity, although Malthusian sympathizers (both scientists and economists) continually raised the specter of imminent doom. Much of what lies ahead will provide a series of daunting challenges for us all, and the engine that drives sustainability has to be technology. The central issue is to ensure that the right kind of technology is available, and that it is used widely to ensure sustainability.

  12. GREEN CONCEPTS AND MATERIAL FLOW COST ACCOUNTING APPLICATION FOR COMPANY SUSTAINABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rochman Marota

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Health equipment and furniture become a complementary factor for good health services to the communities. Management of health equipment and furniture is started by manufacturers within the industry scope and sustainable business processes. This study aimed to apply green concepts and MFCA at PT XYZ, and to analyze their effects on the dimensions of the company sustainability. To measure the effects of green concepts and MFCA on the dimensions of corporate sustainability, a multiple regression analysis was used. The analysis showed that they gave significant effects from the results of the F test, t test and probability test. From these results, a number of suggestions for improvement of production process performance as managerial implications for maintaining the stability of the company sustainability index were formulated.Keywords: efficiency and effectiveness of production cost, green concepts, the company sustainability, material flow cost accounting

  13. Theoretical Review on Sustainable Leadership (SL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    binti Zulkiffli Noorul Adharina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Leadership has been identified as one of the factor contributes to construction organisation success. Therefore, leadership has acts as an admixture to the sum of leader’s effort and subordinates teamwork in order to accomplish organisational goals. There are several types of leadership style that have been practiced by leaders in the construction industry, however, there are still several morality issues such as corruptions, mismanagement and spillages occurred among leaders in the industry. Therefore, a new established leadership style such as sustainable leadership (SL is needed to reduce any circumstances that can affect both individual and organisation in the construction industry. SL has been recognised by its holistic approaches, which include sustainability elements into it. Additionally, SL is not just depending on leader’s ability and resolution only, but to maintain the continuously efforts and achieving results are important. The aim of this paper is to explore the theoretical review of sustainable leadership (SL. A literature review on sustainable leadership (SL is gained from journals and books of SL and leadership style in construction industry. The overall intent of this paper is to highlight the values and benefits of SL so that it can be adapted by leaders in construction organisation.

  14. Lose Weight, Add Healthy Years (A Cup of Health with CDC)

    Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

    2017-12-21

    People with obesity are at increased risk for many diseases and chronic conditions. Achieving and maintaining a normal weight is a key factor in a healthy lifestyle. In this podcast, Dr. Cynthia Ogden discusses obesity.  Created: 12/21/2017 by MMWR.   Date Released: 12/21/2017.

  15. Using evidence-based leadership initiatives to create a healthy nursing work environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nayback-Beebe, Ann M; Forsythe, Tanya; Funari, Tamara; Mayfield, Marie; Thoms, William; Smith, Kimberly K; Bradstreet, Harry; Scott, Pamela

    2013-01-01

    In an effort to create a healthy nursing work environment in a military hospital Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU), a facility-level Evidence Based Practice working group composed of nursing.Stakeholders brainstormed and piloted several unit-level evidence-based leadership initiatives to improve the IMCU nursing work environment. These initiatives were guided by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments which encompass: (1) skilled communication, (2) true collaboration, (3) effective decision making, (4) appropriate staffing, (5) meaningful recognition, and (6) authentic leadership. Interim findings suggest implementation of these six evidence-based, relationship-centered principals, when combined with IMCU nurses' clinical expertise, management experience, and personal values and preferences, improved staff morale, decreased staff absenteeism, promoted a healthy nursing work environment, and improved patient care.

  16. Healthy meals at worksite canteens - Social shaping as a framework for understanding sustainable interventions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorsen, Anne Vibeke

    The challenge of public health nutrition in relation to worksite settings is to improve access to healthier meal options – especially for the groups with a lower educational level. Strategies changing the dietary environment such as increasing the availability of healthy food and reducing barriers...... by the involved local actors' ideas of health and nutrition and also by their concepts of how these ideas interrelate with the worksite’s working conditions and working performance. A combination of a social shaping approach and a worksite policy process approach to the shaping and embedding of healthy worksite...... a crucial role. The results of this thesis point to the need for a more widespread implementation of strategies that promote healthier eating at worksite canteens. The results indicate that a worksite intervention needs to be tailored to the needs of the particular worksite environment in which...

  17. LOCAL WISDOM OF SABANG ISLAND SOCIETY (ACEH, INDONESIA IN BUILDING ECOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dian ASWITA

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available One of the existing natural and environmental uses in Aceh (Indonesia is tourism. One of the aspects that determine the development and sustainability of tourism is the institutional and community aspects. Sustainable tourism is a picture of the ecosystem sustainability and socio-economic development of the community. This study aims to reveal and find local wisdom practices and explore local knowledge owned by Sabang Island community in the management and conservation of the environment so as to support the realization of sustainable tourism. This study uses rationalistic paradigm and uses qualitative research method. The data that has been collected is analyzed descriptively. Local wisdom and local knowledge are reflected in how society has a unique way of looking at and understanding nature and interacting with it. In the Aceh community, there are customary institutions that regulate the rules or interactions of the community with the environment, including “panglima laot”, “keujreun blang”, “peutua seuneubok”, “pawang glee or peutua uteun”, “haria peukan” and “syahbanda”. Local wisdom and local knowledge have great potential in maintaining, preserving and sustainability of the environment used by communities to meet their living needs. Ecological, social and religious intelligence formed through local wisdom and local knowledge can be an aspect in maintaining environmental sustainability in order to build sustainable tourism on Sabang Island.

  18. Environmental Sustainability based on Welfare

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørgaard, Jørgen

    2005-01-01

    The paper argues that the Scandinavian countries have some traditions of equity and social welfare, which are essential for reaching a truly environmentally sustainable society. But for the highly polluting Denmark, this would require a dramatic change in the political visions. Maintaining...... the present low birth rate is one condition necessary, environmentally better technology is another, and finally a saturation with material consumption, which is required. The latter is in line with people's quest for more leisure time rather than more consumption, but unfortunately counteracted by government...

  19. Pharmacokinetics of Sustained-Release Analgesics in Mice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kendall, Lon V; Hansen, Ryan J; Dorsey, Kathryn; Kang, Sooah; Lunghofer, Paul J; Gustafson, Daniel L

    2014-01-01

    Buprenorphine and carprofen, 2 of the most commonly used analgesics in mice, must be administered every 8 to 12 h to provide sustained analgesia. Sustained-release (SR) formulations of analgesics maintain plasma levels that should be sufficient to provide sustained analgesia yet require less frequent dosing and thus less handling of and stress to the animals. The pharmacokinetics of SR formulations of buprenorphine (Bup-SR), butorphanol (Butp-SR), fentanyl (Fent-SR), carprofen (Carp-SR), and meloxicam (Melox-SR) were evaluated in mice over 72 h and compared with those of traditional, nonSR formulations. Bup-SR provided plasma drug levels greater than the therapeutic level for the first 24 to 48 h after administration, but plasma levels of Bup-HCl fell below the therapeutic level by 4 h. Fent-SR maintained plasma levels greater than reported therapeutic levels for 12 h. Therapeutic levels of the remaining drugs are unknown, but Carp-SR provided plasma drug levels similar to those of Carp for the first 24 h after administration, whereas Melox-SR had greater plasma levels than did Melox for the first 8 h. Butp-SR provided detectable plasma drug levels for the first 24 h, with a dramatic decrease over the first 4 h. These results indicate that Bup-SR provides a stable plasma drug level adequate for analgesia for 24 to 48 h after administration, whereas Carp-SR, Melox-SR, Fent-SR, and Butp-SR would require additional doses to provide analgesic plasma levels beyond 24 h in mice. PMID:25255070

  20. Reliability and Maintainability Engineering - A Major Driver for Safety and Affordability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safie, Fayssal M.

    2011-01-01

    The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is in the midst of an effort to design and build a safe and affordable heavy lift vehicle to go to the moon and beyond. To achieve that, NASA is seeking more innovative and efficient approaches to reduce cost while maintaining an acceptable level of safety and mission success. One area that has the potential to contribute significantly to achieving NASA safety and affordability goals is Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) engineering. Inadequate reliability or failure of critical safety items may directly jeopardize the safety of the user(s) and result in a loss of life. Inadequate reliability of equipment may directly jeopardize mission success. Systems designed to be more reliable (fewer failures) and maintainable (fewer resources needed) can lower the total life cycle cost. The Department of Defense (DOD) and industry experience has shown that optimized and adequate levels of R&M are critical for achieving a high level of safety and mission success, and low sustainment cost. Also, lessons learned from the Space Shuttle program clearly demonstrated the importance of R&M engineering in designing and operating safe and affordable launch systems. The Challenger and Columbia accidents are examples of the severe impact of design unreliability and process induced failures on system safety and mission success. These accidents demonstrated the criticality of reliability engineering in understanding component failure mechanisms and integrated system failures across the system elements interfaces. Experience from the shuttle program also shows that insufficient Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability (RMS) engineering analyses upfront in the design phase can significantly increase the sustainment cost and, thereby, the total life cycle cost. Emphasis on RMS during the design phase is critical for identifying the design features and characteristics needed for time efficient processing

  1. Eco-innovation, Responsible Leadership and Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorel Mihai Paraschiv

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Creating a sustainable development strategy is essential for organizations that seek to reduce risks associated with tightening legislation, increased energy prices and natural resources and growing customer demands. Sustainability requires the full integration of social and environmental aspects into the vision, culture and operations of an organization, a profound process of organizational change being essential. The purpose of this paper is to present the main drivers of corporate sustainability, illustrating – after a thorough literature review – the link between the following elements: corporate sustainability – a necessity in the current global context; eco-innovation – as a way to implement sustainability in an organization; responsible leadership – as the art of building and maintaining strong and moral relationships with all stakeholders; organizational culture and organizational change – the basic elements through which organizations continuously renew their processes and products, adapting them to the new context. Furthermore, the paper provides an overview of organizations active in Romania in terms of sustainability practices, in general, and the ecological component of sustainable development, in particular, by presenting the results of an exploratory questionnaire-based research. The research reflects the importance of visionary management in adopting and implementing sustainability in the responding organizations.

  2. European Food and Drink Wholesalers and Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Jones

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose- The aim of this paper is to review and reflect on the sustainability agendas and achievements reported by Europe's leading food and drinks wholesalers. Design/Methodology/Approach- The paper begins with a short introduction to corporate sustainability, sustainability reporting and food and drinks wholesaling within Europe and the empirical material for the paper is drawn from reports and information posted on the leading food and drinks wholesalers' corporate websites. Findings- There are marked variations in the extent to which Europe's leading food and drinks wholesalers reported and provided information on their sustainability agendas and achievements. These agendas and achievements embraced a wide range of environmental, social and economic issues but the reporting process had a number of weaknesses that undermine its transparency and credibility. The authors also argue that the leading food and drinks wholesalers' definitions of, and commitments to, sustainability are principally driven by business imperatives as by any fundamental concern to maintain the viability and integrity of natural and social capital. More critically the authors argue that this approach is couched within existing business models centred on continuing growth and consumption Limitations- The paper is a preliminary review of the sustainability agendas and achievements publicly reported by Europe's leading food and drinks wholesalers. Originality- The role of Europe's wholesale sector in addressing sustainability has received scant attention in the academic literature and this paper will interest academics and students in business management and marketing and employees and executives working in the distribution sector of the economy.

  3. The Role of Design in Healthy Buildings – An Actornetwork Perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Øien, Turid Borgestrand; Frandsen, Anne Kathrine

    2015-01-01

    in the field of indoor environment. The ANT analysis shows a wide gap between the theory and practice of indoor environment. The phenomenon of mold growth can be inaccessible to laymen and makes it difficult for habitants to actively maintain a good and healthy living environment. Furthermore, the focuses...... on energy-efficiency and new technologies in construction reinforce the power of the specialist, to a degree where the user is excluded from the indoor environment network. Because the arrangement and practices of a household is critical for a healthy home, we suggest that the user practices are taken...

  4. PENERAPAN PRINSIP SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PADA PERANCANGAN PONDOK PESANTREN ENTERPRENEUR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Achmad Siddiq Annur

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Unhealthy competition among economic actors, and exploitation of natural resources without preservation,caused a complicated problem in the community. Poor-quality education, especially in moral and religiouseducation, to be one of the causes of these problems. Therefore, the existence of boarding school as aneducational institution based on Islam is expected to be a solution to decline moral values and religion in thisnation. Through a combination of formal and religious education at a boarding school will provide a strongmental training for the formation of individual intelligent and noble. In addition, a boarding school with speechentrepreneurship curriculum in the education system, can provide an added value to the institution.Prospective employers are responsible for each other and the environment, and economic actors are honestand committed. Entrepreneur Boarding can be part of an effort to maintain the sustainability of resources,both natural and human resources. Sustainable development, as the purpose of the object, is a theme thatdescribes every aspect of the design object. Sustainable development has three principles of sustainability; thenatural environment sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. Starting from the planningof design, the building process, until the use of the building, always accompanied by the consideration of thethree aspects of sustainability. Through the application of sustainable development as the design theme of theboarding school entrepreneurs will produce buildings that are environmentally and socially friendly, in additionto continue to provide investment for owners, users, and the surrounding community.

  5. Integrating a Strategic Sustainability Perspective into Eco-Labelling, Procurement and Supply Chain Management

    OpenAIRE

    Bratt, Cecilia

    2014-01-01

    Maintaining the current course of the global society is threatening the human civilization. The urgency of the situation, understood from empirical research, has caused many researchers to call for more prescriptive research as a necessary supplement, to better support decision making for sustainability. While policymakers need to direct and stimulate sustainable production and consumption through, e.g., legislation and market phenomena such as eco-labelling, business represents a significant...

  6. Return to work helps maintain treatment gains in the rehabilitation of whiplash injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Michael; Adams, Heather; Thibault, Pascal; Moore, Emily; Carriere, Junie S; Larivière, Christian

    2017-05-01

    This study examined the relation between return to work and the maintenance of treatment gains made over the course of a rehabilitation intervention. The study sample consisted of 110 individuals who had sustained whiplash injuries in rear collision motor vehicle accidents and were work-disabled at the time of enrolment in the study. Participants completed pre- and post-treatment measures of pain severity, disability, cervical range of motion, depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and catastrophizing. Pain severity was assessed again at 1-year follow-up. At 1-year follow-up, 73 participants had returned to work and 37 remained work-disabled. Analyses revealed that participants who returned to work were more likely to maintain treatment gains (77.5%) than participants who remained work-disabled (48%), χ = 6.3, P whiplash injury are maintained. Clinical implications of the findings are also addressed.

  7. Ergonomics Contribution in Maintainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teymourian, Kiumars; Seneviratne, Dammika; Galar, Diego

    2017-09-01

    The objective of this paper is to describe an ergonomics contribution in maintainability. The economical designs, inputs and training helps to increase the maintainability indicators for industrial devices. This analysis can be helpful, among other cases, to compare systems, to achieve a better design regarding maintainability requirements, to improve this maintainability under specific industrial environment and to foresee maintainability problems due to eventual changes in a device operation conditions. With this purpose, this work first introduces the notion of ergonomics and human factors, maintainability and the implementation of assessment of human postures, including some important postures to perform maintenance activities. A simulation approach is used to identify the critical posture of the maintenance personnel and implements the defined postures with minimal loads on the personnel who use the equipment in a practical scenario. The simulation inputs are given to the designers to improve the workplace/equipment in order to high level of maintainability. Finally, the work concludes summarizing the more significant aspects and suggesting future research.

  8. A Conceptual Study on the Sustainability of Nuclear Power

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ko, Won Il; Kwon, Eun Ha; Choi, Hang Bok; Lim, Chae Young; Yoon, Ji Sup; Park, Seong Won

    2007-06-15

    Due to the current population growth and industrialization, energy consumption is increasing continuously. The world population and energy consumption were 2.5 billion and 1.5 billion tons of equivalent oil in 1950, but they are expected to be 9.2 billion and 60 tons, respectively, in 2100. This amount of energy consumption will result in an exhaustion of fossil resources and cause a serious environmental problem such as global warming. Therefore it is necessary to develop sustainable energy resources that maintain current economic growth and social welfare level without burdening a next generation's life style. Nuclear energy has an excellent competitiveness from the viewpoint of a sustainability. Especially nuclear power can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and can be developed in a complementary way with a new and renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, and hydrogen energy. It is expected that nuclear power will maintain its sustainability in the following directions: Implementation of a fast reactor fuel cycle with a high uranium utilization efficiency, Implementation of a pyro-process with an excellent proliferation-resistance, Activity on the enhancement of a domestic social acceptance for nuclear power, International cooperation and joint research for the enhancement of an international nuclear transparency, Optimization of a nuclear grid structure through an accommodation of new and renewable energy resources, Application to a mass production of hydrogen energy.

  9. The employment effects of sustainable development policies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McNeill, Judith M.; Williams, Jeremy B.

    2007-01-01

    This paper argues that it is time for ecological economists to bring the employment impacts of sustainable development policies to the forefront of the research agenda. Important conservation efforts continue to founder because of their perceived employment effects. The paper examines the evidence on the employment impacts of sustainable development policies and argues that maintaining or even increasing employment depends critically on appropriate policy design and attention to the political economy of implementation of policies. The paper concludes that a better understanding of these issues, fair labour market and structural adjustment programs, and especially forward planning to anticipate problem areas, must replace the piecemeal, 'knee-jerk' reactions to environmental issues, such as were evident in Australia during the last federal election. (author)

  10. Modelling vertical human walking forces using self-sustained oscillator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Prakash; Kumar, Anil; Racic, Vitomir; Erlicher, Silvano

    2018-01-01

    This paper proposes a model of a self-sustained oscillator which can generate reliably the vertical contact force between the feet of a healthy pedestrian and the supporting flat rigid surface. The model is motivated by the self-sustained nature of the walking process, i.e. a pedestrian generates the required inner energy to sustain its repetitive body motion. The derived model is a fusion of the well-known Rayleigh, Van der Pol and Duffing oscillators. Some additional nonlinear terms are added to produce both the odd and even harmonics observed in the experimentally measured force data. The model parameters were derived from force records due to twelve pedestrians walking on an instrumented treadmill at ten speeds using a linear least square technique. The stability analysis was performed using the energy balance method and perturbation method. The results obtained from the model show a good agreement with the experimental results.

  11. Healthy Families America state systems development: an emerging practice to ensure program growth and sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Lori; Schreiber, Lisa

    2007-01-01

    In an era of fiscal constraints and increased accountability for social service programs, having a centralized and efficient infrastructure is critical. A well-functioning infrastructure helps a state reduce duplication of services, creates economies of scale, coordinates resources, supports high-quality site development and promotes the self-sufficiency and growth of community-based programs. Throughout the Healthy Families America home visitation network, both program growth and contraction have been managed by in-state collaborations, referred to as "state systems." This article explores the research base that supports the rationale for implementing state systems, describes the evolution of state systems for Healthy Families America, and discusses the benefits, challenges and lessons learned of utilizing a systems approach.

  12. Ten objectives for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, A

    2000-02-01

    Sustainable development is one of the fundamental strategies for China's socioeconomic development in its 10th 5-Year Plan (2001-2005) period and beyond. It is a human-centered strategy focusing on improved quality of life in which environmental quality is an important part. This article presents 10 objectives that must be achieved for the sustainable development strategy to succeed. These objectives are: 1) continue to implement the family planning program; 2) maintain a dynamic balance of arable land (not less than 123 million hectares) and implement an agricultural development strategy; 3) maintain a dynamic balance of water resources by reducing water consumption for every unit of gross development product growth and agricultural value added; 4) import large quantities of oil and natural gas; 5) control emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide by large cities and industries and close high-pollution thermal power plants; 6) compensate for ¿forest deficit¿ with ¿trade surplus¿ by reducing timber production and increase timber import; 7) import large quantities of iron ore, copper, zinc, aluminum, and other minerals and encourage foreign participation in resource exploration and development; 8) make time-bound commitments to clean up large cities, rivers, and lakes and forcefully close down seriously polluting enterprises; 9) implement a massive ecological construction project to slow down ecological degradation; and 10) develop the environmental industry and eco-buildup to expand domestic demand, increase employment, and alleviate poverty.

  13. Food Sustainable Model Development: An ANP Approach to Prioritize Sustainable Factors in the Romanian Natural Soft Drinks Industry Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Răzvan Cătalin Dobrea

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The latest developments in natural soft drinks in the Romanian market signal significant changes in consumers’ perceptions of the sustainability concept. While the necessity of preserving natural resources and ensuring a decent level of healthiness seem to be steadily embraced by the Romanian society, the lack of long enough time series to acknowledge this shift render impossible a traditional econometric validation of these recent trends in economic thinking. The large number of European-funded projects for upgrading technology in the Romanian sector of natural soft drinks raises the question whether the learning by doing effect dispersed into the Romanian managers’ investment decision making from the perspective of both economic and food sustainability. This paper presents the construction and the evaluation of an Analytical Network Process (ANP market share model, which emerged from extended in-depth interviews with 10 managers of the main Romanian natural soft drinks producers. This model differs from traditional market share ANP ones since concepts like either food of economic sustainability were considered as significant driving factors. The coincidence between the estimated market share and the actual one, expressed by Saaty’s compatibility index, validate this model and offer comparative numerical weights’ of importance for food or economic sustainability.

  14. Role of soil health in maintaining environmental sustainability of surface coal mining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acton, Peter M; Fox, James F; Campbell, J Elliott; Jones, Alice L; Rowe, Harold; Martin, Darren; Bryson, Sebastian

    2011-12-01

    Mountaintop coal mining (MCM) in the Southern Appalachian forest region greatly impacts both soil and aquatic ecosystems. Policy and practice currently in place emphasize water quality and soil stability but do not consider upland soil health. Here we report soil organic carbon (SOC) measurements and other soil quality indicators for reclaimed soils in the Southern Appalachian forest region to quantify the health of the soil ecosystem. The SOC sequestration rate of the MCM soils was 1.3 MgC ha(-1) yr(-1) and stocks ranged from 1.3 ± 0.9 to 20.9 ± 5.9 Mg ha(-1) and contained only 11% of the SOC of surrounding forest soils. Comparable reclaimed mining soils reported in the literature that are supportive of soil ecosystem health had SOC stocks 2.5-5 times greater than the MCM soils and sequestration rates were also 1.6-3 times greater. The high compaction associated with reclamation in this region greatly reduces both the vegetative rooting depth and infiltration of the soil and increases surface runoff, thus bypassing the ability of soil to naturally filter groundwater. In the context of environmental sustainability of MCM, it is proposed that the entire watershed ecosystem be assessed and that a revision of current policy be conducted to reflect the health of both water and soil.

  15. BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS AND ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: A PROPOSAL BEYOND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos Felipe Gonçalves Maia

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Environmentalism and ecology have gained ground in the discussions and in the daily practices of university libraries. Objective: To describe the importance of integrating metadata records of biological collections in the catalogs of libraries of UFT as an action "environmentally contextualized" beyond sustainable development. Methodology: descriptive and explanatory research with a qualitative approach with data collection through bibliographical and documentary research. Theoretical reading through Jacques Derrida's deconstructionism. Results: The concepts of sustainable development, institutional sustainability and information ecology have been used by information professionals in an uncritical manner, without regard to its marketing perspective and maintaining the operating system of exploration of the nature. Conclusions: if informational professionals intend to participate in the concern/preservation for nature should be alert to develop actions beyond sustainable development. Should help local knowledge construction process and help in building information utilization through their daily practices.

  16. Sustainability of the good behaviour game in Dutch primary schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dijkman, Marieke A M; Harting, Janneke; van Tol, Lenneke; van der Wal, Marcel F

    2017-02-01

    Sustainability of health promotion programs is essential to maintain their positive effects. However, few studies have examined the extent of program sustainability and the factors influencing it. We examined these issues through the Good Behaviour Game (GBG), a classroom-based program in primary schools with beneficial behavioural and health-related effects that was implemented in 2008. GBG coordinators of 17 participating schools were invited in the study 2 years after the initial program implementation. Sustainability was measured using a 20-item checklist comprised of four dimensions of routinization including: memory, adaptation, values and rules. A semi-structured interview was then completed with 16 of the GBG coordinators to discuss the checklist scores and to probe in more depth the current level of sustainability. Based on the checklist scores, sustainability of the GBG was considered ‘high’ in five schools, ‘medium’ in another five and ‘weak’ in six. Factors influencing sustainability identified by GBG coordinators were organizational strength, strong leadership, program championship and the perceived modifiability and effectiveness of the GBG. Also, different factors were related to different dimensions of routinization. The combination of a sustainability checklist and an interview about influential factors may help to further clarify the sustainability construct and reveal which implementation sites, routinization dimensions and influential factors should be explored to further facilitate the sustaining of programs with proven effectiveness.

  17. Socio-Economic Priorities for the Sustainable Development of Russian Arctic Macro-Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladimir Nikolaevich Leksin

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available To properly justify the priorities for the Russian Arctic Zone sustainable development is methodologically challenging for two reasons. Firstly, this challenge is due to fast changes of external and internal conditions for the development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF. Secondly, the interpretation of the concept of “sustainability” is too wide inconsistent. As the concepts of “sustainability” as well as the concept of “sustainable growth” in this wide sense are frequently used to characterize economic, social and other processes and systems, these key categories are difficult to apply as development’ targets and evaluation criteria practice of public administration in Russia. Using the case of Arctic macro-region, the paper substantiates the concept of spatial systems’ sustainability as their ability to maintain functionality under destabilizing impact of exogenous and endogenous factors. Such an ability is particularly important because of variations in structure and intensity of these negative impacts, including from climate change. Within this methodological framework, we have specified the indicators of sustainability relating to the practice of public management in the AZRF development. The paper has discussed the existing and emerging exogenous and endogenous impacts on the AZRF development sustainability. We set two priorities among the goals and objectives for ensuring the AZRF sustainable functioning under the conditions of climate. In social (socio-economic sphere, it is necessary to maintain and improve the public health. In economic sphere, the most needed are strengthening of coherency and reliability of the transportation system, energy supplies to distant consumers, and stimulating of investment and industrial activities of the large industrial corporations.

  18. Assessing Various Aspects of Sustainability in Wheat and Pistachio Agro-ecosystems of Kerman Province

    OpenAIRE

    Mehdi Naghizadeh; Rooholla Moradi

    2018-01-01

    Introduction Agricultural sustainability is the ability of an agro-ecosystem to either maintain or to implement the productive characteristics and taking into consideration both the ecological-environmental and socio-economic aspects. Sustainable agriculture implies long term maintenance of natural systems, optimal production with minimum input, adequate income per farming unit, fulfillment of basic food needs, and provision for the demands and necessities of rural families and communities...

  19. Challenges, responses and partnership for achieving sustainable tourism and heritage preservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maksin Marija

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The process of globalization has created the situation where the expectations of tourists are the same both with respect to the quality of services in all destinations and with respect to the authencity based on local attractions and experiences, which should be unique and different for each destination. The key element in maintaining destination attractiveness is the protection and presentation of natural and cultural heritage and its sustainable utilization for tourism development. The sustainability concept is of equal importance for long-term tourism development, destination competitiveness and heritage protection. The paper deals with the main challenges to achieving sustainable tourism and points to some key responses to them. Participation, cooperation and partnership should be a vital prerequisite for the implementation and performance of sustainable tourism and heritage protection. This attitude has been tested on several examples of good practice in heritage protection and the sustainable development of tourism destinations in Serbia. .

  20. Sustainability of Advanced Fuel Cycles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abe, Tomoyuki

    2013-01-01

    Effect of FR Deployment for New Scenarios with Decreased Nuclear Contribution after 3.11: • Uranium utilization in constant contribution scenario: - Many countries maintain their nuclear energy program after 3.11. - Uranium shortage is still fatal issue of this century. - FR system has significant contribution to enhanse sustainability in uranium utilization. • Spent Fuel (SF) management in constant contribution scenario: - Reprocessing of spent fuels will be essential to remain the SF stockpile within the storage capacity. • Pu/waste management in all scenarios: - FR systems can provide flexibility to Pu/waste management

  1. SUSTAINABLE URBAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AGENDA 21

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zainal Md Zan

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The much-talked about issues such as the rising of heavy crime cases, problems in solid waste management, air and water pollution as well as traffic congestion detering the quality of life among urban community members. Urgent and proactive measure is highly desireable in order to preserve and maintain the integral parts of urban’s higher quality of life. All parties should take part in ongoing efforts to achieve sustainable development through various means. Local Agenda 21 (LA21 serves as one of the efforts in achieveing the ultimate goal of sustainable development through better collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders including local government, non-governmental organisations and the community at large. The core principle of the LA21 program lies in the spirit of cooperation among community members, local authorities and the private sectors. This could be achieved through various activities including from the beginning such as through a comprehensive planning for the local area to achieve the sustainable development. Community members should be involved in brainstorming of the ideas and expressing their views so that authorities would be able to identify the real and arising issues in the community. Through this way a sustainable town and municipal planning could be developed and initiated. This paper discusses the importance of urbancommunity participation in achieving sustainable development as practicedthrough LA21 in Seberang Perai Municipal Council, Penang.

  2. Evidence-Based Background Material Underlying Guidance for Federal Agencies in Implementing Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans - Implementing Sustainability: The Institutional-Behavioral Dimension

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malone, Elizabeth L. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Sanquist, Tom [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Wolfe, Amy K. [ORNL; Diamond, Rick [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); Dion, Jerry [ORNL

    2013-06-01

    This document is part of a larger, programmatic effort to assist federal agencies in taking action and changing their institutions to achieve and maintain federal sustainability goals, while meeting their mission goals. FEMP is developing guidance for federal agency efforts to enable institutional behavior change for sustainability, and for making sustainability “business as usual.” The driving requirement for this change is Executive Order (EO) 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. FEMP emphasizes strategies for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy utilization as critical components of attaining sustainability, and promotes additional non-energy action pathways contained in EO 13514. This report contributes to the larger goal by laying out the conceptual and evidentiary underpinnings of guidance to federal agencies. Conceptual frameworks focus and organize the development of guidance. We outline a series of progressively refined conceptual frameworks, including a multi-layer approach, key steps in sustainability implementation, a process view of specific approaches to institutional change, the agency Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans (SSPPs), and concepts related to context-specific rules, roles and tools for sustainability. Additionally, we tap pertinent bodies of literature in drawing eight evidence-based principles for behavior change. These principles are important foundations upon which to build in selecting strategies to effect change in organizations. Taken together, this report presents a suite of components that inform the training materials, presentations, web site, and other products that provide guidance to federal agencies.

  3. Sustaining self-management in diabetes mellitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell-Brown, Fay

    2014-01-01

    Successful management of diabetes depends on the individual's ability to manage and control symptoms. Self-management of diabetes is believed to play a significant role in achieving positive outcomes for patients. Adherence to self-management behaviors supports high-quality care, which reduces and delays disease complications, resulting in improved quality of life. Because self-management is so important to diabetes management and involves a lifelong commitment for all patients, health care providers should actively promote ways to maintain and sustain behavior change that support adherence to self-management. A social ecological model of behavior change (McLeroy, Bibeau, Steckler, & Glanz, 1988) helps practitioners provide evidence-based care and optimizes patients' clinical outcomes. This model supports self-management behaviors through multiple interacting interventions that can help sustain behavior change. Diabetes is a complex chronic disease; successful management must use multiple-level interventions.

  4. Toward Knowledge Systems for Sustainability Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaks, D. P.; Jahn, M.

    2011-12-01

    Managing ecosystems for the outcomes of agricultural productivity and resilience will require fundamentally different knowledge management systems. In the industrial paradigm of the 20th century, land was considered an open, unconstrained system managed for maximum yield. While dramatic increases in yield occurred in some crops and locations, unintended but often foreseeable consequences emerged. While productivity remains a key objective, we must develop analytic systems that can identify better management options for the full range of monetized and non-monetized inputs, outputs and outcomes that are captured in the following framing question: How much valued service (e.g. food, materials, energy) can we draw from a landscape while maintaining adequate levels of other valued or necessary services (e.g. biodiversity, water, climate regulation, cultural services) including the long-term productivity of the land? This question is placed within our contemporary framing of valued services, but structured to illuminate the shifts required to achieve long-term sufficiency and planetary resilience. This framing also highlights the need for fundamentally new knowledge systems including information management infrastructures, which effectively support decision-making on landscapes. The purpose of this initiative by authors from diverse fields across government and academic science is to call attention to the need for a vision and investment in sustainability science for landscape management. Substantially enhanced capabilities are needed to compare and integrate information from diverse sources, collected over time that link choices made to meet our needs from landscapes to both short and long term consequences. To further the goal of an information infrastructure for sustainability science, three distinct but interlocking domains are best distinguished: 1) a domain of data, information and knowledge assets; 2) a domain that houses relevant models and tools in a curated

  5. Fiscal sustainability and oil wealth: Managing oil and gas volatility in Azerbaijan

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Budina, N.; van Wijnbergen, S.

    2008-01-01

    Assessing fiscal sustainability - i.e. considering whether or not a country can maintain its current fiscal policies without running into solvency problems and possible default - requires projections on a government's future revenue stream, expenditures and contingent liabilities within a

  6. Sustainability: orthopaedic surgery wait time management strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amar, Claudia; Pomey, Marie-Pascale; SanMartin, Claudia; De Coster, Carolyn; Noseworthy, Tom

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine Canadian organizational and systemic factors that made it possible to keep wait times within federally established limits for at least 18 months. The research design is a multiple cases study. The paper selected three cases: Case 1 - staff were able to maintain compliance with requirements for more than 18 months; Case 2 - staff were able to meet requirements for 18 months, but unable to sustain this level; Case 3 - staff were never able to meet the requirements. For each case the authors interviewed persons involved in the strategies and collected documents. The paper analysed systemic and organizational-level factors; including governance and leadership, culture, resources, methods and tools. Findings indicate that the hospital that was able to maintain compliance with the wait time requirements had specific characteristics: an exclusive mandate to do only hip and knee replacement surgery; motivated staff who were not distracted by other concerns; and a strong team spirit. The authors' research highlights an important gradient between three cases regarding the factors that sustain waiting times. The paper show that the hospital factory model seems attractive in a super-specialized surgery context. However, patients are selected for simple surgeries, without complications, and so this cannot be considered a unique model.

  7. Housing Stakeholder Preferences for the “Soft” Features of Sustainable and Healthy Housing Design in the UK

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prochorskaite, Agne; Couch, Chris; Malys, Naglis; Maliene, Vida

    2016-01-01

    It is widely recognised that the quantity and sustainability of new homes in the UK need to increase. However, it is important that sustainable housing is regarded holistically, and not merely in environmental terms, and incorporates elements that enhance the quality of life, health and well-being of its users. This paper focuses on the “soft” features of sustainable housing, that is, the non-technological components of sustainable housing and neighbourhood design that can impact occupants’ health and well-being. Aims of the study are to ascertain the relative level of importance that key housing stakeholders attach to these features and to investigate whether the opinions of housing users and housing providers are aligned with regards to their importance. An online survey was carried out to gauge the level of importance that the key stakeholders, such as housing users, local authorities, housing associations, and developers (n = 235), attach to these features. Results revealed that while suitable indoor space was the feature regarded as most important by all stakeholders, there were also a number of disparities in opinion between housing users and housing providers (and among the different types of providers). This implies a scope for initiatives to achieve a better alignment between housing users and providers. PMID:26751465

  8. Process optimization on ambitious sustainability goals through the framework of DGNB

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Espenhein, Kasper; Jensen, Lotte Bjerregaard

    2017-01-01

    The need for designing buildings with a sustainable approach is higher than ever before, but using building sustainability assessment tools, such as DGNB, is a comprehensive and complex activity. This has led to attempts to optimize the tangibility for usage of sustainability assessment tools...... the use of Grounded Theory. The findings expose that the project brief must define a healthy framework for both collaboration and projectmanagement, and a specific two-step approach to obtain the certification goal should be performed. The size of the criteria determined how it should be addressed...... in the project. DGNB was also found to have an impact on the architectural quality leading to certain architectural traits. An important finding was that it is paramount that all stakeholders take an integrated holistic approach when applying DGNB....

  9. [Physical activity and healthy eating in Brazilian students: a review of intervention programs].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, Evanice Avelino de; Barbosa Filho, Valter Cordeiro; Nogueira, Júlia Aparecida Devidé; Azevedo Júnior, Mario Renato de

    2011-08-01

    This article provides a systematic literature review on physical activity and/or healthy eating interventions among Brazilian students. Complete articles published from 2004 to 2009 were searched in the SciELO, MEDLINE, and CAPES electronic databases, in the articles' references, and through contacts with authors. Six studies covered nutritional interventions, another six analyzed nutrition and physical activity, and one discussed changes in body composition. Interventions produced different results according to their objectives: increase in weekly physical activity; improvement in eating habits and knowledge on nutrition; and decrease in overweight and obesity. School health promotion programs are essential for raising awareness on the relevance of health promotion and the adoption of healthy habits. However, further longitudinal studies are needed to produce evidence on sustainability of programs and healthy habits.

  10. Pursuing a Low Meat Diet to Improve Both Health and Sustainability : How Can We Use the Frames that Shape Our Meals?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Boer, Joop; Aiking, H.

    2017-01-01

    This paper adds to the food, health and sustainability literature by examining the content, merits, and limitations of a frame-based approach to assist consumers on the path to a healthy and sustainable diet, focusing on reducing conventional meat consumption. The paper combined literature on frames

  11. Positive performance and health effects of a football training program over 12 weeks can be maintained over a 1-year period with reduced training frequency

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Randers, Morten Bredsgaard; Nielsen, Jens Jung; Krustrup, Birgitte Rejkjær

    2010-01-01

    We examined whether improvements in the performance and health profile of an intensive 12-week football intervention could be maintained with a reduced training frequency. Seventeen healthy untrained males completed the study. Ten subjects trained 2.4 times/week for 12 weeks and another 52 weeks ...... unaltered for CG. In conclusion, positive adaptations in cardiovascular fitness obtained over 12 weeks of regular recreational football training can be maintained over a 1-year period with a reduced training frequency, with further development in musculo-skeletal fitness.......We examined whether improvements in the performance and health profile of an intensive 12-week football intervention could be maintained with a reduced training frequency. Seventeen healthy untrained males completed the study. Ten subjects trained 2.4 times/week for 12 weeks and another 52 weeks...... (P12 weeks. After 64 weeks, quadriceps muscle mass (11%), mean fiber area (10%) and citrate synthase activity (18%) were higher (P

  12. Maintaining reduced noise levels in a resource-constrained neonatal intensive care unit by operant conditioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramesh, A; Denzil, S B; Linda, R; Josephine, P K; Nagapoornima, M; Suman Rao, P N; Swarna Rekha, A

    2013-03-01

    To evaluate the efficacy of operant conditioning in sustaining reduced noise levels in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Quasi-experimental study on quality of care. Level III NICU of a teaching hospital in south India. 26 staff employed in the NICU. (7 Doctors, 13 Nursing staff and 6 Nursing assistants). Operant conditioning of staff activity for 6 months. This method involves positive and negative reinforcement to condition the staff to modify noise generating activities. Comparing noise levels in decibel: A weighted [dB (A)] before conditioning with levels at 18 and 24 months after conditioning. Decibel: A weighted accounts for noise that is audible to human ears. Operant conditioning for 6 months sustains the reduced noise levels to within 62 dB in ventilator room 95% CI: 60.4 - 62.2 and isolation room (95% CI: 55.8 - 61.5). In the preterm room, noise can be maintained within 52 dB (95% CI: 50.8 - 52.6). This effect is statistically significant in all the rooms at 18 months (P = 0.001). At 24 months post conditioning there is a significant rebound of noise levels by 8.6, 6.7 and 9.9 dB in the ventilator, isolation and preterm room, respectively (P =0.001). Operant conditioning for 6 months was effective in sustaining reduced noise levels. At 18 months post conditioning, the noise levels were maintained within 62 dB (A), 60 dB (A) and 52 dB (A) in the ventilator, isolation and pre-term room, respectively. Conditioning needs to be repeated at 12 months in the ventilator room and at 18 months in the other rooms.

  13. [Socioenvironmental dilemmas of sustainable development].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, H D

    1992-01-01

    The literature on sustainable development published in advance of the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro, focuses on the social politics of the environment and the problems of the correlation of population and the environment. There is an intense preoccupation with the Brazilian environmental agenda and excessive treatment of topics related to the natural environment and the tropical forest of the Amazon. The fact that 75% of the Brazilian population lives in urban areas is ignored. Some works maintain that there is profound division between the conservators of the contemporary predatory and wasteful civilization and those progressive forces that point to the direction of a socially just and ecologically sustainable civilization. Issues that cannot be reduced to environmental questions have come into the forefront in recent years: race, gender, human rights, and pacifism. The question of population growth and pressure on the finite resources have also forcefully featured in debates. The sociology of environment submits that the contemporary civilization cannot be sustained in the medium or long term because of exponential population growth, spatial concentration of the population, depletion of natural resources, systems of production that utilized polluting technologies and low energy efficiency, and values that encourage unlimited material consumption.

  14. Toward a sustainability label for food products: an analysis of experts' and consumers' acceptance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engels, Stéphanie V; Hansmann, Ralf; Scholz, Roland W

    2010-01-01

    The recent proliferation of standards and labels for organic, fair-trade, locally produced, and healthy food products risks creating confusion among consumers. This study presents a standardized approach to developing a comprehensive sustainability label that incorporates ecological, economic, and social values. The methodology is based on an extension of modular life-cycle assessment to non-environmental sustainability criteria. Interviews with a wide range of experts (n=65) and a consumer survey (n=233) were conducted to analyze the feasibility and potential effectiveness of the approach. Responses indicated that a comprehensive sustainability label could considerably influence consumption patterns and facilitate cross-product comparisons. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

  15. Does environmental friendliness equal healthiness? Swiss consumers' perception of protein products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazzarini, Gianna A; Zimmermann, Jasmin; Visschers, Vivianne H M; Siegrist, Michael

    2016-10-01

    Food production and consumption have major impacts on the environment. At the same time, changes in human diets worldwide are increasingly leading to health problems. Both issues are highly influenced by consumers' everyday food choices and could be addressed by reducing consumption of meat and other animal products. To promote sustainable food consumption, we need to know how consumers perceive the environmental friendliness and healthiness of food products, on which criteria they base their evaluations of environmental friendliness and healthiness, and how their estimations relate to life cycle assessments and nutrient profiling. We presented 30 protein products, which varied in provenance, production methods, and processing, to 85 participants from Switzerland. They were asked to sort the products once according to their perceived environmental friendliness and once according to their perceived healthiness. The mean distances between the products were compared to the products' life cycle assessments and nutrient profiles. The results showed that perceived environmental friendliness and healthiness are highly correlated. The main predictors of the products' perceived environmental friendliness were product category, presence of an organic label, and provenance; and for perceived healthiness, these predictors were product category, fat content, processing, and presence of an organic label. Environmental friendliness and healthiness estimations were significantly correlated to the life cycle assessments and the nutrient profiles of the products, respectively. Hence, to promote healthy and environmentally friendly food choices, motivators related to environmental friendliness and healthiness could be used in synergy. Awareness about meat's environmental impact should be increased and better information is needed for consumers to make an accurate environmental impact and healthiness assessments of protein products. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Social-economic and environmental sustainability of short supply chains: opportunities for development rural territories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mykola Babych

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The paper substantiates the expediency of developing short supply chains at the local level. The focus of this paper is to determine opportunities for developing rural territories in Ukraine on the basis of the development of short supply chains in terms of ensuring social, economic and environmental sustainability. It is established that such an approach provides stability of development of rural territory, in particular, it promotes: social interaction (trust, justice, solidarity and common values between consumers and producers, community development (just relationships, pride, social cohesion and community affiliation, strengthening local culture and identity, health and well-being of the population (healthy diet; access to healthy food, health improvement, which ensures social sustainability of the system; rural development and economic recovery (increase of workplaces, tourism development, increase of local incomes, development of small and medium-sized farms, achievement of economic benefits to farms (reduction of overheads, fixed margin and premium for quality, increase of competitiveness and economic viability, sustainable use resources, which ensures economic stability of the system; reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions (reducing transport and storage time; using alternative technologies; maximizing manual labor; reducing the use of plastic packaging; reducing food losses; sustainability of agro-systems (promoting agro-biodiversity; using local varieties; highlighting ecological and organic production, which ensures the ecological stability of the system.

  17. Improving urban environment through public commitment toward the implementation of clean and healthy living behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartini, Nurul; Ariana, Atika Dian; Dewi, Triana Kesuma; Kurniawan, Afif

    2017-01-01

    Some parts of northern Surabaya are slum areas with dense populations, and the majority of the inhabitants are from low-income families. The condition of these areas is seemingly different from the fact that Surabaya city has won awards for its cleanliness, healthy environment preservation, and maintenance. This study aimed at turning the researched site into a clean and healthy environment. The research was conducted using a quasi-experiment technique with a non-randomized design and pretest-posttest procedures. The research subjects were 121 inhabitants who actively participated in the public commitment and psychoeducation program initiated by the researchers to learn and practice clean and healthy living behaviors. The statistical data showed that there was a substantial increase in the aspects of public commitment ( t -value = 4.008, p = 0.001) and psychoeducation ( t -value = 4.038, p = 0.001) to begin and maintain a clean and healthy living behaviors. A public commitment in the form of a collective declaration to keep learning and practicing a clean and healthy living behaviors were achieved. This commitment followed by psychoeducation aimed at introducing and exercising such behaviors was found to have effectively increased the research subjects' awareness to actively participate in preserving environmental hygiene. Developing communal behaviors toward clean and healthy living in inhabitants residing in an unhealthy slum area was a difficult task. Therefore, public commitment and psychoeducation must be aligned with the formulation of continuous habits demonstrating a clean and healthy living behaviors. These habits include the cessation of littering while putting trash in its place, optimizing the usage of public toilets, planting and maintaining vegetation around the area, joining and contributing to the "garbage bank" program, and participating in the Green and Clean Surabaya competition.

  18. Traffic-light labels and choice architecture: promoting healthy food choices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thorndike, Anne N; Riis, Jason; Sonnenberg, Lillian M; Levy, Douglas E

    2014-02-01

    Preventing obesity requires maintenance of healthy eating behaviors over time. Food labels and strategies that increase visibility and convenience of healthy foods (choice architecture) promote healthier choices, but long-term effectiveness is unknown. Assess effectiveness of traffic-light labeling and choice architecture cafeteria intervention over 24 months. Longitudinal pre-post cohort follow-up study between December 2009 and February 2012. Data were analyzed in 2012. Large hospital cafeteria with a mean of 6511 transactions daily. Cafeteria sales were analyzed for (1) all cafeteria customers and (2) a longitudinal cohort of 2285 hospital employees who used the cafeteria regularly. After a 3-month baseline period, cafeteria items were labeled green (healthy); yellow (less healthy); or red (unhealthy) and rearranged to make healthy items more accessible. Proportion of cafeteria sales that were green or red during each 3-month period from baseline to 24 months. Changes in 12- and 24-month sales were compared to baseline for all transactions and transactions by the employee cohort. The proportion of sales of red items decreased from 24% at baseline to 20% at 24 months (pchoice architecture cafeteria intervention resulted in sustained healthier choices over 2 years, suggesting that food environment interventions can promote long-term changes in population eating behaviors. © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine Published by American Journal of Preventive Medicine All rights reserved.

  19. MONITORING OF TOURISM ACTIVITIES IN TARGU-JIU - WAY OF MAINTAINING REGIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enea Constanta

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Tourism is one of the external factors of influence on an area. To minimize adverse effects and to enhance positive ones may be adopted various policies. A basic approach already highlighted, referring to encourage community participation in the tourism sector. Most important ways to enhance economic benefits are strong links between tourism and other economic sectors, encourage employment of local labor, property ownership and management of tourism enterprises by the local and tourist expenditure growth mainly through the purchase of articles of local production [5]. Between tourism and the environment are closely linked. Impact tourism can have both positive and negative, depending on how it is planned, developed and managed. Have taken various measures to protect the environment, such as the development of appropriate systems for utilities and transport, proper use of land and application of principles and standards development, managing the flow of visitors and tourists access their control objectives. Negative impacts of tourism can be minimized through planning, development and proper management. Turism development should be monitored continuously, and if problems arise, they must be addressed to ensure sustainable development [6].

  20. Maintaining the Harmonious Family

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jonasson, Charlotte; Lauring, Jakob

    2006-01-01

    Harmony and social sustainability has been described as almost inborn aspects of Korean corporations dating far back in history. After the East Asian economic crisis in 1997, however, most Korean organizations faced new demands for productivity and competitiveness. Sustaining the fragile balance ...

  1. Killing Mosquitoes and Keeping Practice: Teacher Education as Sustaining Paradox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keiser, David Lee

    2013-01-01

    The moral and ethical charge of teaching and teacher education includes sustaining equanimity and paradox, and maintaining poise amongst contradicting policies and interests. This paper draws upon the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching to address some paradoxes in education and teacher preparation. Specifically, the article looks at four chapters of the…

  2. Sustainability considerations for health research and analytic data infrastructures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilcox, Adam; Randhawa, Gurvaneet; Embi, Peter; Cao, Hui; Kuperman, Gilad J

    2014-01-01

    The United States has made recent large investments in creating data infrastructures to support the important goals of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and comparative effectiveness research (CER), with still more investment planned. These initial investments, while critical to the creation of the infrastructures, are not expected to sustain them much beyond the initial development. To provide the maximum benefit, the infrastructures need to be sustained through innovative financing models while providing value to PCOR and CER researchers. Based on our experience with creating flexible sustainability strategies (i.e., strategies that are adaptive to the different characteristics and opportunities of a resource or infrastructure), we define specific factors that are important considerations in developing a sustainability strategy. These factors include assets, expansion, complexity, and stakeholders. Each factor is described, with examples of how it is applied. These factors are dimensions of variation in different resources, to which a sustainability strategy should adapt. We also identify specific important considerations for maintaining an infrastructure, so that the long-term intended benefits can be realized. These observations are presented as lessons learned, to be applied to other sustainability efforts. We define the lessons learned, relating them to the defined sustainability factors as interactions between factors. Using perspectives and experiences from a diverse group of experts, we define broad characteristics of sustainability strategies and important observations, which can vary for different projects. Other descriptions of adaptive, flexible, and successful models of collaboration between stakeholders and data infrastructures can expand this framework by identifying other factors for sustainability, and give more concrete directions on how sustainability can be best achieved.

  3. Sustainable development of the Republic of Macedonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The concept of 'Sustainable development' is a completely new concept for the Republic of Macedonia. It will be included into the Europe's campaign for a 'Sustainable Development of Europe' which will be used as a foundation for the concept of changes to take place in Europe, our common home, in order to preserve the European space for the generations to come. The aim of this paper is to promote a new vision about the future of Macedonia. It includes elements not only about its ecological prospects, but also about the prospects of the industrial and energy development, the use of available space and how to maintain harmony between man and nature in the immediate future. Data about the social, health, and economic conditions of the population are also included

  4. Multi-criteria approach to support strategically sustainable decisions in organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Diogho Heuer de Carvalho

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Keeping the social and environmental conditions in a favorable conservation status for allowing the society to develop itself without restrictions is the central idea which underpins the sustainability concept. Different spheres such as media, academia and business organizations started to give more importance to the study of sustainability, once it directly affects aspects that influence the economy in the world. Organizationally, the use of sustainable strategies can bring returns in favor of a healthy development and a conscious culture about the waste as well as reflecting how organizations connect with society and the environment. The objective of this work is to propose a model for prioritizing strategies to support the creation of an environment and a culture based on sustainability in organizations. This model has four steps, beginning with the problem structuring, including the definition of criteria and alternatives, the application of a multi-criteria method for prioritization, and finally, the implementation of the alternatives according to the decision maker opinion as well as on prioritization results.

  5. The Academic and Psychological Benefits of Exercise in Healthy Children and Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Martin; Laumann, Karin

    2013-01-01

    This review examines the psychological benefits exercise is connected to in healthy children and adolescents. Studies on the effect of exercise on academic performance, self-esteem, emotions, and mood were examined. Academic performance is found to be maintained when normal academic classes are reduced and replaced by an increase in exercise,…

  6. Building Theory at the Intersection of Ecological Sustainability and Strategic Management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borland, Helen; Ambrosini, Véronique; Lindgreen, Adam

    2016-01-01

    This article builds theory at the intersection of ecological sustainability and strategic management literature—specifically, in relation to dynamic capabilities literature. By combining industrial organization economics–based, resource-based, and dynamic capability–based views, it is possible...... to develop a better understanding of the strategies that businesses may follow, depending on their managers’ assumptions about ecological sustainability. To develop innovative strategies for ecological sustainability, the dynamic capabilities framework needs to be extended. In particular, the sensing......–seizing–maintaining competitiveness framework should operate not only within the boundaries of a business ecosystem but in relation to global biophysical ecosystems; in addition, two more dynamic capabilities should be added, namely, remapping and reaping. This framework can explicate core managerial beliefs about ecological...

  7. FOOD SECURITY, NUTRITION AND SUSTAINABILITY AT RESTAURANT UNIVERSITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thainara Araujo Franklin

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Healthy eating is one of the factors that may influence the establishment of the health of an individual and the health quality of food consumed. Faced with the daily rush, with long days of activities, a large number of the population uses University restaurants for food. Thus, these sites should pay attention to the variables involved in the process of food production through the use of safe food and adequate nutrition for consumers. For this reason, knowledge of food security and sustainable development condition are relevant for discussion and information about employee training for food handling and conservation of these. Thus, the sanitary conditions and knowledge of restaurant employees on this topic were collected through a questionnaire composed of 18 questions containing information on sociodemographic, food security, nutrition and sustainability. We used the Packcage The Statistical Software for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS version 21.0 for tabulation and analysis of data. It was found that most employees responded correctly to questions relating to hygiene and sanitary practices and have knowledge about the sustainable development of the restaurant.

  8. [WHO Healthy City Initiative in Japan].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshizawa, Kazuko

    2013-01-01

    City environmental conditions are associated with health outcomes in people living there. World Health Organization (WHO) initiated Healthy City in 1986. To promote the networking, Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC) was launched in 2003 with local offices including AFHC Japan. As of 2010, 26 cities are members of AFHC Japan. A questionnaire was sent to those member cities. It includes questions on why they became an AFHC member, which section is in charge of the initiatives, what factors are important for promotion, and others. Out of the 26 cities, 13 cities returned the completed questionnaire. As for factors important for promoting the initiatives, 10 (77%) out of the 13 cities answered "consciousness of residents", while five (38%) chose "budget". This result suggests that community participation is a more important factor than budget for promoting and succeeding in the initiatives. Aging is a problem in any of the member cities, and six cities out the 13 falls under the category of superaged society, which is defined as a society with the proportion of aged people cities (85%) agreed that bicycles are an alternative means of transportation to cars; however, infrastructure for ensuring safety needs further improvement. In the promotion of Healthy City, networking among the member cities in Japan and worldwide should be promoted. Community participation with empowerment from the planning stage should lead to sustainable initiatives. The function of AFHC in collaboration among the members should be strengthened to cope with the rapidly changing city environment.

  9. Contribution of Nuclear Science in Agriculture Sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soliman, S.M.; Galal, Y.G.M.

    2017-01-01

    Sustainable agricultural systems employ natural processes to achieve acceptable levels of productivity and food quality while minimizing adverse environmental impacts. Sustainable agriculture must, by definition, be ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible. Sustainable agriculture must nurture healthy co systems and support the sustainable management of land, water and natural resources, while ensuring world food security. To be sustainable, agriculture must meet the needs of present and future generations for its products and services, while ensuring profitability, environmental health and social and economic equity. The global transition to sustainable food and agriculture will require major improvements in the efficiency of resource use, in environmental protection and in systems resilience. In Mediterrane an environments, crops are grown mainly in the semiarid and sub-humid are as. In arid and semiarid are as dry land farming, techniques are of renewed interest in the view of sustain ability. They are aimed to increase water accumulation in the soil, reduce runoff and soil evaporation losses, choose species and varieties able to make better use of rainwater, and rationalize fertilization plans, sowing dates, and weed and pest control. Fertilization plans should be based on well-defined principles of plant nutrition, soil chemistry, and chemistry of the fertilizer elements. Starting from the calculation of nutrient crop uptake (based on the actually obtainable yield), dose calculation must be corrected by considering the relation ship between the availability of the trace elements in soil and the main physical and chemical parameters of the soil (ph, organic matter content, mineralization rate, C/N, ratio of solubilization of phosphorus, active lime content, presence of antagonist ions, etc.). In the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Soil and Water Research Department, nuclear techniques including radio and stable isotopes in addition to

  10. Earthworms, pesticides and sustainable agriculture: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datta, Shivika; Singh, Joginder; Singh, Sharanpreet; Singh, Jaswinder

    2016-05-01

    The aim of this review is to generate awareness and understand the importance of earthworms in sustainable agriculture and effect of pesticides on their action. The natural resources are finite and highly prone to degradation by the misuse of land and mismanagement of soil. The world is in utter need of a healthy ecosystem that provides with fertile soil, clean water, food and other natural resources. Anthropogenic activities have led to an increased contamination of land. The intensification of industrial and agricultural practices chiefly the utilization of pesticides has in almost every way made our natural resources concave. Earthworms help in a number of tasks that support many ecosystem services that favor agrosystem sustainability but are degraded by exhaustive practices such as the use of pesticides. The present review assesses the response of earthworm toward the pesticides and also evaluates the relationship between earthworm activity and plant growth. We strictly need to refresh and rethink on the policies and norms devised by us on sustainable ecology. In an equivalent way, the natural resources should be utilized and further, essential ways for betterment of present and future livelihood should be sought.

  11. THE PRACTICE OF CHEMISTRY AND ENGINEERING IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABILITY

    Science.gov (United States)

    It is generally recognized that the current rate of resource use to maintain our standard of living is not sustainable for the long term. This idea calls for satisfying our needs by finding resources that are renewable. The question remains as to how we ascertain that the means a...

  12. Descending pain modulation and its interaction with peripheral sensitization following sustained isometric muscle contraction in fibromyalgia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ge, H-Y; Nie, Hongling; Graven-Nielsen, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Sustained isometric muscle contraction (fatiguing contraction) recruits segmental and/or extrasegmental descending inhibition in healthy subjects but not in fibromyalgia (FM). We hypothesized that fatiguing contraction may shift descending pain modulation from inhibition towards...

  13. Mobile Healthcare Applications and Gamification for Sustained Health Maintenance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Changjun Lee

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines how gamification affects user intention to use mobile healthcare applications (mHealth and how the effect of gamification works differently according to health status, age, and gender. We use data from a mobile survey conducted by a Korean representative survey agency. We estimate the effect of gamification on user intention to use mobile healthcare applications based on a structural equation model and examine the moderating effects of self-reported health status, age, and gender. We find that gamification is effective in increasing user intention to use mHealth, especially in the healthy and younger groups. These findings suggest that mHealth, with the gamification factor, would encourage healthy (but lack exercise people as well as unhealthy people to maintain their health status, and thus the mHealth developers need to consider the gamification factor when they develop mHealth services for healthy people.

  14. The role of lactobacilli and probiotics in maintaining vaginal health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borges, Sandra; Silva, Joana; Teixeira, Paula

    2014-03-01

    The vaginal microbiota of healthy women consists typically of a diversity of anaerobic and aerobic microorganisms. Lactobacilli are the most prevalent and often numerically dominant microorganisms and are relevant as a barrier to infection. The capacity of lactobacilli to adhere and compete for adhesion sites in the vaginal epithelium and the capacity to produce antimicrobial compounds (hydrogen peroxide, lactic acid, bacteriocin-like substances), are important in the impairment of colonization by pathogens. This review summarizes the role of lactic acid bacteria in preventing illness of the host, including bacterial vaginosis, yeast vaginitis, urinary tract infection and sexually transmitted diseases. The administration of probiotics that colonize the vaginal tract can be important in maintaining a normal urogenital health and also to prevent or treat infections.

  15. Healthy Cities in a global and regional context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, Roderick J; Fudge, Colin

    2009-11-01

    Since the beginning of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network in 1987, the global and regional contexts for the promotion of health and well-being have changed in many ways. First, in 2000, the United Nations Millennium Goals explicitly and implicitly addressed health promotion and prevention at the global and regional levels. Second, the concern for sustainable development at the Rio Conference in 1992 was confirmed at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. During the same period, in many regions including Europe, the redefinition of the roles and responsibilities of national, regional and local governments, reductions in budgets of public administrations, the privatization of community and health services, the instability of world trade, the financial system and employment, migration flows, relatively high levels of unemployment (especially among youth and young adults) have occurred in many countries in tandem with negative impacts on specific policies and programmes that are meant to promote health. Since 1990, the European Commission has been explicitly concerned about the promotion of health, environment and social policies by defining strategic agendas for the urban environment, sustainable development and governance. However, empirical studies during the 1990s show that urban areas have relatively high levels of tuberculosis, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, adult obesity, malnutrition, tobacco smoking, poor mental health, alcohol consumption and drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), crime, homicide, violence and accidental injury and death. In addition, there is evidence that urban populations in many industrialized countries are confronted with acute new health problems stemming from exposure to persistent organic pollutants, toxic substances in building structures, radioactive waste and increasing rates of food poisoning. These threats to public health indicate an urgent need for new strategic policies and

  16. Empowerment for healthy nutrition in German communities: a study framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandstetter, Susanne; Curbach, Janina; Lindacher, Verena; Rueter, Jana; Warrelmann, Berit; Loss, Julika

    2017-06-01

    Empowerment is seen as a key strategy for sustainable health promotion efforts. However, there is only limited research on how to link the empowerment approach to the promotion of healthy eating, which is a major current public health issue. The article presents the development of a study framework for implementing and evaluating an empowerment intervention for healthy nutrition. This framework was created for a community intervention study meaning to involve elderly citizens in Bavaria, Germany. The study protocol was developed in an iterative process basing on (i) literature reviews on the topics empowerment in relation to healthy nutrition and mixed-methods evaluation, (ii) workshops with empowerment and public health experts and (iii) consultations with local community representatives. Through these measures we identified good practice criteria as well as specific challenges of integrating empowerment and healthy nutrition, e.g. engaging people in healthy nutrition, reconciling participants' nutrition preferences with public health nutrition priorities and evaluating bottom-up activities in the community. Consequences for the study design were deducted from the literature and the consultations, e.g. practical recommendations as to how power could be gradually assigned to group members. A qualitative mixed-method evaluation design was chosen to capture emergent empowerment processes. The study framework presented here is the first on empowerment and nutrition to provide explicit guidance on how empowerment may be applied to healthy nutrition and implemented and evaluated in the community context. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Methadone Recycling Sustains Drug Reservoir in Tissue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linares, Oscar A; Fudin, Jeffrey; Daly, Annemarie; Schiesser, William E; Boston, Raymond C

    2015-09-01

    We hypothesize that there is a tissue store of methadone content in humans that is not directly accessible, but is quantifiable. Further, we hypothesize the mechanism by which methadone content is sustained in tissue stores involves methadone uptake, storage, and release from tissue depots in the body (recycling). Accordingly, we hypothesize that such tissue stores, in part, determine plasma methadone levels. We studied a random sample of six opioid-naïve healthy subjects. We performed a clinical trial simulation in silico using pharmacokinetic modeling. We found a large tissue store of methadone content whose size was much larger than methadone's size in plasma in response to a single oral dose of methadone 10 mg. The tissue store measured 13-17 mg. This finding could only be explained by the contemporaneous storage of methadone in tissue with dose recycling. We found that methadone recycles 2-5 times through an inaccessible extravascular compartment (IAC), from an accessible plasma-containing compartment (AC), before exiting irreversibly. We estimate the rate of accumulation (or storage) of methadone in tissue was 0.029-7.29 mg/h. We predict 39 ± 13% to 83 ± 6% of methadone's tissue stores "spillover" into the circulation. Our results indicate that there exists a large quantifiable tissue store of methadone in humans. Our results support the notion that methadone in humans undergoes tissue uptake, storage, release into the circulation, reuptake from the circulation, and re-release into the circulation, and that spillover of methadone from tissue stores, in part, maintain plasma methadone levels in humans.

  18. A Sustainability Model for Bringing Core Villages into Eco-tourism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Öztan TUĞUN

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Eco villages comprise a part of eco-tourism in rural regions, and are the destination of choice for those who wish to experience a taste of traditional life. In 2004, through a series of by-laws, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC initiated an eco-tourism movement in the Karpaz Peninsula. It was envisioned then that a planning approach within the framework of sustainability would be of importance to the island, and the project was developed using a sustainable planning approach with a view to contributing to the state’s initiative to incorporate core villages into tourism on the island. Eco-tourism and the eco-village were explored within the framework of environmental problems, sustainable development and environmental sustainability, and the concept of core village was explained, with an emphasis on its benefits for tourism on the island. To ensure sustainability of the villages, a conceptual framework based on the principles of sustainable planning was established, specifically, in this case, on the Wheeler principles. These are grouped as: a. Compact, efficient land use, b. Less automobile use, better access, c. Efficient use of resources, reduction of pollution and waste, d. Restoration of natural systems, e. Good housing and living environments, f. Healthy social ecology, g. Sustainable economics, h. Community participation, i. Preservation of local culture and wisdom. These are used as cross references in assessing the situation in Büyükkonuk Village, the place nominated as the pilot area for eco-tourism.

  19. Creating healthy work environments: a strategic perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamson, Bonnie J

    2010-01-01

    Although I find Graham Lowe and Ben Chan's logic model and work environment metrics thought provoking, a healthy work environment framework must be more comprehensive and consider the addition of recommended diagnostic tools, vehicles to deliver the necessary change and a sustainability strategy that allows for the tweaking and refinement of ideas. Basic structure is required to frame and initiate an effective process, while allowing creativity and enhancements to be made by organizations as they learn. I support the construction of a suggested Canadian health sector framework for measuring the health of an organization, but I feel that organizations need to have some freedom in that design and the ability to incorporate their own indicators within the established proven drivers. Reflecting on my organization's experience with large-scale transformation efforts, I find that emotional intelligence along with formal leadership development and front-line engagement in Lean process improvement activities are essential for creating healthy work environments that produce the balanced set of outcomes listed in my hospital's Balanced Scorecard.

  20. Low intensity magnetic field influences short-term memory: A study in a group of healthy students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro, Enrique A; Gomez-Perretta, Claudio; Montes, Francisco

    2016-01-01

    This study analyzes if an external magnetic stimulus (2 kHz and approximately 0.1 μT applied near frontal cortex) influences working memory, perception, binary decision, motor execution, and sustained attention in humans. A magnetic stimulus and a sham stimulus were applied to both sides of the head (frontal cortex close to temporal-parietal area) in young and healthy male test subjects (n = 65) while performing Sternberg's memory scanning task. There was a significant change in reaction time. Times recorded for perception, sustained attention, and motor execution were lower in exposed subjects (P short-term working memory, as well as perception, binary decision, motor execution, and sustained attention. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chein-Chi; DiGiovanni, Kimberly; Mei, Ying; Wei, Li

    2016-10-01

    This review on Sustainability covers selected 2015 publications on the focus of Sustainability. It is divided into the following sections : • Sustainable water and wastewater utilities • Sustainable water resources management • Stormwater and green infrastructure • Sustainability in wastewater treatment • Life cycle assessment (LCA) applications • Sustainability and energy in wastewater industry, • Sustainability and asset management.

  2. Working Relationships for Sustainability: Improving Work-based Relationships in Local Government to bring about Sustainability Goals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jade Herriman

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available There’s no escape: we are always in relationship. Being aware of this matters. Doing something to build constructive relationships for sustainability, matters even more. This paper considers the connection between good relationships and effective sustainability work in local government. It draws on the collective experiences of four practitioners who have worked over many years in, with or for local government and argues that a good deal of project success is contingent upon the development of positive relationships with stakeholders, contractors, communities, businesses, colleagues, partners and other agencies and agency officers. Relationships can help or hinder project process, progress and outcomes. This paper identifies some approaches for building quality relationships and uses examples to highlight these strategies. These include: recognising that developing and maintaining resilient relationships and high quality communication is a critical foundation for success; designing projects with explicit relationship outcomes; and allocating time, money and other resources to support the development of effective relationships.

  3. Special issue on"social responsibility accounting and reporting in times of ‘sustainability Downturn/crisis

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    Carmen Correa-ruiz

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available At a time when sustainability performance does not seem to match the expectations raised by the sustainable development concept and, moreover, when the economic downturn and crisis could be further eroding social and environmental concerns and values, the notion of sustainability crisis provides an interesting starting point to reflect on the role of Social and Environmental Accounting Research. Lack of humanity and values, short term economic approach, institutional capture and misunderstanding and misuse of democracy, have all served as catalysts of sustainability downturn and crisis. Thus, this editorial attempts to advance public interest accounting by discussing the controversy around Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, expecting that the constitutive effects of researchers’ words in this special issue and in future research agendas, will result in more transformative power relations able to enhance a healthy democracy inspired by the capacity to do things and to transform individuals’ attitudes and behaviours, as well as the institutional response to the sustainability crisis.

  4. Sustainability of NGO capacity building in southern Africa: successes and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphries, Debbie; Gomez, Ligia; Hartwig, Kari

    2011-01-01

    Despite an increase in organizational capacity building efforts by external organizations in low and middle income countries, the documentation of these efforts and their effects on health programs and systems remains limited. This paper reviews key frameworks for considering sustainability of capacity building and applies these frameworks to an evaluation of the sustainability of an AIDS non-governmental organization (NGO) capacity building initiative. From 2004-2007 Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's Secure the Future(TM) initiative in southern Africa funded a five country program, the NGO Training Institute (NGOTI), to build capacity of NGOs working to address HIV/AIDS. Lessons learned from this project include issues of ownership, the importance of integrating planning for sustainability within capacity-building projects, and the value of identifying primary capacity-building objectives in order to select sustainability strategies that are focused on maintaining program benefits. Sustainability for capacity building projects can be developed by discussing key issues early in the planning process with all primary stakeholders. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. "How to" of fiscal sustainability in oil-rich countries: the case of Azerbaijan

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bandiera, L.; Budina, N.; van Wijnbergen, S.

    2008-01-01

    Assessing fiscal sustainability - i.e. considering whether or not a country can maintain its current fiscal policies without running into solvency problems and possible default - requires projections on a government’s future revenue stream, expenditures and contingent liabilities within a

  6. Sustainable Forest Management and Social-Ecological Systems: An Institutional Analysis of Caatinga, Brazil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mattei Faggin, Joana; Behagel, J.H.; Arts, B.J.M.

    2017-01-01

    Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) has globally gained support as a strategy to use and manage forest resources while maintaining forest ecosystem services. However, type, relevance, and utilisation of forest ecosystem services vary across eco-regions, countries, and policy implementation pathways.

  7. Key Sustainability Performance Indicator Analysis for Czech Breweries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward Kasem

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability performance can be said to be an ability of an organization to remain productive over time and hold on to its potential for maintaining long-term profitability. Since the brewery sector is one of the most important and leading markets in the foodstuff industry of the Czech Republic, this study depicts the Czech breweries’ formal entry into sustainability reporting and performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide an efficiency level evaluation which would represent the level of corporate performance of Czech breweries. For this reason, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA is introduced. In order to apply it, we utilize a set of key performance indicators (KPIs based on two international standard frameworks: the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI and its GRI 4 guidelines, and the guideline KPIs for ESG 3.0, which was published by the DVFA Society. Four sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social and governance are covered, making it thus possible to adequately evaluate sustainability performance in Czech breweries. The main output is not only the efficiency score of the company but also the input weights. These weights are used to determine the contribution of particular criteria to the breweries’ achieved score. According to the achieved efficiency results for Czech breweries, the percentage of women supervising the company does not affect the sustainability performance.

  8. Evaluation on Sustainability of Technological Dimension Biopore Absorption Hole Management for Soil Water Conservation in Semarang City

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    Elesvera Destry

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Biopore technology innovation is an easy and cheap technology that can be applied in any class of society. Biopore Absorption Hole (BAH is a cylincric vertical hole with a relatively small diameter. Eventhough the diameter is not so big, it is still effective to absorb groundwater.The dimension of technology reflected how this BAH tecnology is applied to the Management of BAH within the society of Semarang City.In order to achieve maximum results, an evaluation toward the sustainability of the dimension of BAH Management technology in Semarang City needs to be performed.The objectives of this research are to:1 studying the status of technology dimension in maintaining BAH, 2 studying sensitive attributes having influence toward index value and the sustainability status of technology dimension in maintaining BAH, as well as 3 formulating the priorities for policies applicable to technology in maintaining BAH in Semarang.The research took place in three administrative villages (Srondol Wetan, Jatingaleh, and Bendan Ngisor in the city of Semarang.Those three locations were chosen to represent upper, middle, and lower regions of Semarang as water absorption area.The analysis of status determining data and leveraging factor was conducted using RAP – biopore method, while the the making of policy priorities was performed by using Analitycal Hierarchy Process (AHP.Results suggest that the status of the sustainability of Semarang’s BAH Management technology dimension was on “less sustainable” status (25,01 – 50,00. The strategy of enhancing influential sensitive attributes to improve sustainability status was a great success in affecting the values and sustainability status.

  9. QUALITY MILESTONES OF THE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomescu Ada Mirela

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available At this stage there are numerous studies about how tourism activity is related and affects the environment. The purpose of this paper is to examine theoretically, and to analyse activities that occur in hotels, linking this activity to the principles and activities that reduce the tourism negative environmental impact. When we have the objective to discuss sustainable development we must balance between a trilogies that enclose the following three concepts: economic, social/ equity and ecology/environment. In fact in our opinion we agree that “sustainable development is a fractal” concept. Sustainable development is examined here, specifically - taking account of the activity of accommodation in hotels, and also the frame that such activity must integrates. The principles of sustainable development are the most important factors beside clients` expectations, such that to maintain a standard that not only is high, so the coefficients satisfy tourists, but to suit the requirements sustainability, which in this instance means rationalization repeated on different levels and plans (this concerns to energy consumption, water, to waste disposal, etc.. The relationship between tourism and the environment is particular complex, since these two factors are interrelated, and each of them is, at their turn characterised by complexity and variability. The fundamental premise for a friendly, high quality tourism is harmony on the one hand, with the operators (for sustainable development and secondly with tourists (for a correct use of the facilities. As a syntagma, this can mean: the promotion and adoption of "green behaviour". It is believed today that more and more hoteliers should adopt this behaviour, an ecological framework in which hotel has the benefits of normal economic activity, showing competitiveness, but customer satisfaction in the highest grade (quality remains the central plan in spite of rigors required by the so-called: "green behaviour

  10. A healthy diet and regular exercise are essential for type-2 diabetes sufferers

    OpenAIRE

    Sutphin, Michael D.

    2007-01-01

    The American Diabetes Association estimates that more than 20.8 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes and many others are at risk for developing the chronic disease. But with proper nutrition and regular physical activity, a diabetic or borderline diabetic can still maintain a healthy lifestyle.

  11. Consumers’ Motivations Driving Organic Demand: Between Selfinterest and Sustainability

    OpenAIRE

    Monier-Dilhan, Sylvette; Berges, Fabian

    2016-01-01

    We study consumers’ motivations for buying organic food by analyzing their shopping baskets. Buying organic can be motivated by concern about sustainable development and/or self-interest (considerations related to health or product quality). Pro-social motivation is inferred from the presence of fair trade products in the consumer's basket; consumer self-interest is deduced from the presence of healthy and higher-quality products bearing special quality labels or certifications. Our results i...

  12. Association of blood antioxidants status with visual and auditory sustained attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiraseb, Farideh; Siassi, Fereydoun; Sotoudeh, Gity; Qorbani, Mostafa; Rostami, Reza; Sadeghi-Firoozabadi, Vahid; Narmaki, Elham

    2015-01-01

    A low antioxidants status has been shown to result in oxidative stress and cognitive impairment. Because antioxidants can protect the nervous system, it is expected that a better blood antioxidant status might be related to sustained attention. However, the relationship between the blood antioxidant status and visual and auditory sustained attention has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of fruits and vegetables intake and the blood antioxidant status with visual and auditory sustained attention in women. This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 healthy women (20-50 years) who attended the sports clubs of Tehran Municipality. Sustained attention was evaluated based on the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test using the Integrated Visual and Auditory (IVA) software. The 24-hour food recall questionnaire was used for estimating fruits and vegetables intake. Serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were measured in 90 participants. After adjusting for energy intake, age, body mass index (BMI), years of education and physical activity, higher reported fruits, and vegetables intake was associated with better visual and auditory sustained attention (P attention (P visual and auditory sustained attention after adjusting for age, years of education, physical activity, energy, BMI, and caffeine intake (P visual and auditory sustained attention is associated with a better blood antioxidant status. Therefore, improvement of the antioxidant status through an appropriate dietary intake can possibly enhance sustained attention.

  13. Which functional unit to identify sustainable foods?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masset, Gabriel; Vieux, Florent; Darmon, Nicole

    2015-09-01

    In life-cycle assessment, the functional unit defines the unit for calculation of environmental indicators. The objective of the present study was to assess the influence of two functional units, 100 g and 100 kcal (420 kJ), on the associations between three dimensions for identifying sustainable foods, namely environmental impact (via greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE)), nutritional quality (using two distinct nutrient profiling systems) and price. GHGE and price data were collected for individual foods, and were each expressed per 100 g and per 100 kcal. Two nutrient profiling models, SAIN,LIM and UK Ofcom, were used to assess foods' nutritional quality. Spearman correlations were used to assess associations between variables. Sustainable foods were identified as those having more favourable values for all three dimensions. The French Individual and National Dietary Survey (INCA2), 2006-2007. Three hundred and seventy-three foods highly consumed in INCA2, covering 65 % of total energy intake of adult participants. When GHGE and price were expressed per 100 g, low-GHGE foods had a lower price and higher SAIN,LIM and Ofcom scores (r=0·59, -0·34 and -0·43, respectively), suggesting a compatibility between the three dimensions; 101 and 100 sustainable foods were identified with SAIN,LIM and Ofcom, respectively. When GHGE and price were expressed per 100 kcal, low-GHGE foods had a lower price but also lower SAIN,LIM and Ofcom scores (r=0·67, 0·51 and 0·47, respectively), suggesting that more environment-friendly foods were less expensive but also less healthy; thirty-four sustainable foods were identified with both SAIN,LIM and Ofcom. The choice of functional unit strongly influenced the compatibility between the sustainability dimensions and the identification of sustainable foods.

  14. Sustainability of Fossil Fuels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lackner, K. S.

    2002-05-01

    effects of injecting excess carbon into the environment need to be eliminated before fossil fuels can be considered sustainable. Sustainable fossil fuel use would likely rely on abundant, low-grade hydrocarbons like coal, tar, and shale. It would require a closed cycle approach in which carbon is extracted from the ground, processed for its energy content, and returned into safe and stable sinks for permanent disposal. Such sequestration technologies already exist and more advanced approaches that could maintain access to fossil energy for centuries are on the drawing boards. I will review these options and outline a pathway towards a zero emission fossil fuel based economy that could provide energy at prices comparable to those of today for several centuries. A successful implementation will depend not only on technological advances but also on the development of economic institutions that allow one to pay for the required carbon management. If done correctly the markets will decide whether renewable energy, or sustainable fossil energy provides a better choice.

  15. What distinguishes weight loss maintainers of the German Weight Control Registry from the general population?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feller, Silke; Müller, Astrid; Mayr, Andreas; Engeli, Stefan; Hilbert, Anja; de Zwaan, Martina

    2015-05-01

    Differences between successful long-term weight loss maintainers and the general population with regard to eating and weighing habits, non-normative eating behaviors, and eating-related and general psychopathological parameters are unknown. Self-identified weight loss maintainers from the German Weight Control Registry (GWCR, n = 494) were compared with a representative sample of the general German population (n = 2,129). The samples did not differ in current BMI. Using the same assessment instruments in both cohorts, a variety of eating-related and psychological variables were determined. The GWCR participants reported more self-weighing and higher eating frequency but less hot meal consumption and more eating-out-of-home. Binge eating, compensatory behaviors, and concerns about shape and weight were reported more often by successful weight loss maintainers. Scores of depression and worrying about health were slightly higher whereas severity of somatic symptoms was less pronounced in the GWCR participants. Overall, our data suggest that successful weight loss maintainers are characterized by more concerns about shape and weight, greater binge eating frequency, and higher use of compensatory behaviors. The latter suggests that weight loss maintenance might not only be achieved by healthy strategies but also by non-normative behaviors which might increase the vulnerability for weight regain. © 2015 The Obesity Society.

  16. Effect of Misoprostol on the Pharmacokinetics of Sustained Release Diclofenac in Myanmar Healthy Male Volunteers

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    Htet Htet Aung

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Sustained release diclofenac (diclofenac SR is the commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Misoprostol, prostaglandin analogue, is the agent that enhances gastrointestinal mucosal defense. Concomitant administration of misoprostol with diclofenac SR can prevent the gastrointestinal side effects of diclofenac SR. Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore the effect of misoprostol on the pharmacokinetics of diclofenac SR in healthy volunteers. Methods: Crossover study was evaluated in 14 male volunteers. Single oral dose of 100 mg diclofenac SR was concomitantly administered with 200 μg misoprostol with one-week wash out period. Plasma concentrations at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 6 and 10 hrs were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC. Pharmacokinetic parameters such as area under concentration-time curve (AUC0-α, peak plasma concentration (Cmax, time to achieve peak plasma concentration (Tmax, absorption half-life (T½(ab, elimination half-life (T1/2(el, absorption rate constant (Kab, and elimination rate constant (Kel were determined. Results: With misoprostol, the mean AUC0-α of diclofenac SR was significantly reduced from 12.11±5.25μg/ mL×hr to 4.17±2.72μg/mL×hr (p0.05. The mean T½(ab was decreased from 0.56±0.23hr to 0.54±0.19hr (p>0.05. The mean Kab were almost the same 1.43±0.54hr-1 and 1.43±0.48hr-1. The mean T1/2(el was decreased from 3.68±1.64hr to 3.03±1.08hr (p>0.05. The mean Kel was increased from 0.21±0.09hr-1 to 0.25±0.09hr-1 (p>0.05. Conclusion: There was a significant reduction in the extent of absorption of diclofenac SR when concomitantly administered with misoprostol. Therefore, the dose of diclofenac SR may need to be increased to avoid therapeutic failure of diclofenac SR or concurrent use with misoprostol may need to be changed to other gastroprotective agents.

  17. Healthy weight regulation and eating disorder prevention in high school students: a universal and targeted Web-based intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Megan; Taylor Lynch, Katherine; Kass, Andrea E; Burrows, Amanda; Williams, Joanne; Wilfley, Denise E; Taylor, C Barr

    2014-02-27

    Given the rising rates of obesity in children and adolescents, developing evidence-based weight loss or weight maintenance interventions that can be widely disseminated, well implemented, and are highly scalable is a public health necessity. Such interventions should ensure that adolescents establish healthy weight regulation practices while also reducing eating disorder risk. This study describes an online program, StayingFit, which has two tracks for universal and targeted delivery and was designed to enhance healthy living skills, encourage healthy weight regulation, and improve weight/shape concerns among high school adolescents. Ninth grade students in two high schools in the San Francisco Bay area and in St Louis were invited to participate. Students who were overweight (body mass index [BMI] >85th percentile) were offered the weight management track of StayingFit; students who were normal weight were offered the healthy habits track. The 12-session program included a monitored discussion group and interactive self-monitoring logs. Measures completed pre- and post-intervention included self-report height and weight, used to calculate BMI percentile for age and sex and standardized BMI (zBMI), Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) nutrition data, the Weight Concerns Scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. A total of 336 students provided informed consent and were included in the analyses. The racial breakdown of the sample was as follows: 46.7% (157/336) multiracial/other, 31.0% (104/336) Caucasian, 16.7% (56/336) African American, and 5.7% (19/336) did not specify; 43.5% (146/336) of students identified as Hispanic/Latino. BMI percentile and zBMI significantly decreased among students in the weight management track. BMI percentile and zBMI did not significantly change among students in the healthy habits track, demonstrating that these students maintained their weight. Weight/shape concerns significantly decreased among participants in

  18. Nutritional Intervention Preconception and During Pregnancy to Maintain Healthy Glucose Metabolism and Offspring Health ("NiPPeR"): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godfrey, Keith M; Cutfield, Wayne; Chan, Shiao-Yng; Baker, Philip N; Chong, Yap-Seng

    2017-03-20

    Improved maternal nutrition and glycaemic control before and during pregnancy are thought to benefit the health of the mother, with consequent benefits for infant body composition and later obesity risk. Maternal insulin resistance and glycaemia around conception and in early pregnancy may be key determinants of maternal physiology and placental function, affecting fetal nutrient supply and maternal-feto-placental communications throughout gestation, with implications for later postnatal health. This double-blind randomised controlled trial will recruit up to 1800 women, aged 18-38 years, who are planning a pregnancy in the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore and New Zealand, with a view to studying 600 pregnancies. The primary outcome is maternal glucose tolerance at 28 weeks' gestation following an oral glucose tolerance test. Secondary outcomes include metabolic, molecular and health-related outcomes in the mother and offspring, notably infant body composition. Participants will be randomly allocated to receive a twice-daily control nutritional drink, enriched with standard micronutrients, or a twice-daily intervention nutritional drink enriched with additional micronutrients, myo-inositol and probiotics, both demonstrated previously to assist in maintaining healthy glucose metabolism during pregnancy. Myo-inositol is a nutrient that enhances cellular glucose uptake. The additional micronutrients seek to address deficiencies of some B-group vitamins and vitamin D that are both common during pregnancy and that have been associated with maternal dysglycaemia, epigenetic changes and greater offspring adiposity. Women who conceive within a year of starting the nutritional drinks will be followed through pregnancy and studied with their infants at six time points during the first year of life. Blood, urine/stool, hair and cheek swabs will be collected from the mothers for genetic, epigenetic, hormone, nutrient and metabolite measurements, and assessments of the mother

  19. Food security and sustainability: can one exist without the other?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Elliot M; Dernini, Sandro; Burlingame, Barbara; Meybeck, Alexandre; Conforti, Piero

    2015-09-01

    To position the concept of sustainability within the context of food security. An overview of the interrelationships between food security and sustainability based on a non-systematic literature review and informed discussions based principally on a quasi-historical approach from meetings and reports. International and global food security and nutrition. The Rome Declaration on World Food Security in 1996 defined its three basic dimensions as: availability, accessibility and utilization, with a focus on nutritional well-being. It also stressed the importance of sustainable management of natural resources and the elimination of unsustainable patterns of food consumption and production. In 2009, at the World Summit on Food Security, the concept of stability/vulnerability was added as the short-term time indicator of the ability of food systems to withstand shocks, whether natural or man-made, as part of the Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security. More recently, intergovernmental processes have emphasized the importance of sustainability to preserve the environment, natural resources and agro-ecosystems (and thus the overlying social system), as well as the importance of food security as part of sustainability and vice versa. Sustainability should be considered as part of the long-term time dimension in the assessment of food security. From such a perspective the concept of sustainable diets can play a key role as a goal and a way of maintaining nutritional well-being and health, while ensuring the sustainability for future food security. Without integrating sustainability as an explicit (fifth?) dimension of food security, today's policies and programmes could become the very cause of increased food insecurity in the future.

  20. Vitality at work and its associations with lifestyle, self-determination, organizational culture, and with employees' performance and sustainable employability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Scheppingen, Arjella R; de Vroome, Ernest M M; Ten Have, Kristin C J M; Zwetsloot, Gerard I J M; Wiezer, Noortje; van Mechelen, Willem

    2015-01-01

    Vitality at work is an important factor for optimal functioning and sustainable employability. To date, knowledge on how to promote vitality at work is fragmented. Contribute to knowledge on how to promote vitality at work. Determinants of vitality at work are identified from three scientific fields, and used in a comprehensive model. Regression analyses on cross-sectional data from a Dutch dairy company (N= 629) are performed to examine the associations between these factors, vitality at work, and employees' perceived effective personal functioning and sustainable employability. Vitality at work is most strongly associated with basic psychological needs of self-determination, but also with healthy lifestyle behavior, having a balanced workstyle, and social capital. Vitality at work is also associated with effective personal functioning and with sustainable employability. The study confirms the multifactorial nature of vitality at work. Since organizational culture may support self-determination, and cultural aspects themselves are positively associated with vitality, organizational culture seems particular important in promoting vitality at work. Additionally, a healthy lifestyle appears important. The associations between vitality at work and effective personal functioning and sustainable employability endorse the combined health-based, business-related and societal importance of vitality at work.

  1. How healthy and sustainable is the Dutch housing mix? Measuring and comparing the theoretical housing market balance of Dutch regional housing markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonie B. Janssen-Jansen

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Housing and its distribution over groups of households dominates debates on urban socio-spatial justice. Amsterdam even received the label ‘Just City’ as the large stock of social housing in the core of the city is said to increase societal equity. Within the Netherlands, however, the Greater Amsterdam housing market is perceived to be the most dysfunctional. As the discussion is fed by highly political and ideological perspectives, it is difficult to assess at face value how balanced the housing mix of a housing market is and to what extent it meets the community’s needs. Consequently, it is difficult to inform politicians about strategies that contribute to a healthy and sustainable housing mix and address the lack of affordable housing which is high on urban policy agendas worldwide. In an attempt to go beyond ideological and political discussions, the aim of this interdisciplinary paper is to develop a metric to measure and compare the theoretical balance of housing markets across regions and across groups of households based on income. The metric will be applied to the case of the Netherlands. The findings of the theoretical model show that large-scale provisions for low-income households may not always result in an improved housing market balance.

  2. Transition to Sustainability: Science Support Through Characterizing and Quantifying Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plag, Hans-Peter; Jules-Plag, Shelley

    2013-04-01

    Humanity's sustainability crisis caused by a growing, resource-demanding population on a finite, rapidly changing planet challenges us with large uncertainties. While some see the planet on the edge, it is more likely that humanity as a global species is on the edge. However, science, Earth observations, and socio-economic data do not provide clear indications of where this edge is, and how close we are to this edge. The instruments in the cockpit of a modern airplane provide more relevant and actionable information to the pilots than the "cockpit" of planet Earth provides to those involved in the governance of our planet. There is no manual for those responsible to keep us on a track within the "safe operational space" of humanity. What science and research is needed to make progress towards a future, where knowledge of sustainability and resilience allows for an evidence-based, adaptive policy and decision-making? Paradoxically, innovation over the recent decades have worsened the sustainablity crisis, but more innovation is imperative to bring us out of it. The comprehensive, conceptual framework for sustainability research that would provide an umbrella identifying the key challenges and a basis for this innovation seems to be missing. Defining sustainability as a characteristic of a process that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely, we need to agree in a societal deliberation on a few aspects, including what processes we want to consider (the anthroposphere as embedded in the Earth system?), what time frames we want to aim at (not infinity, but very long time frames, e.g., 10,000 years?), and what spatial scales we need to look at (from local to global?). Most importantly, we need to acknowledge that humanity's sustainability is the result of intertwined social, economic, and environmental (s2e) processes that can not be separate. The research then has to clarify in the s2e context what are the attributes of sustainability, the relevant processes

  3. Sustainability of evidence-based healthcare: research agenda, methodological advances, and infrastructure support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proctor, Enola; Luke, Douglas; Calhoun, Annaliese; McMillen, Curtis; Brownson, Ross; McCrary, Stacey; Padek, Margaret

    2015-06-11

    Little is known about how well or under what conditions health innovations are sustained and their gains maintained once they are put into practice. Implementation science typically focuses on uptake by early adopters of one healthcare innovation at a time. The later-stage challenges of scaling up and sustaining evidence-supported interventions receive too little attention. This project identifies the challenges associated with sustainability research and generates recommendations for accelerating and strengthening this work. A multi-method, multi-stage approach, was used: (1) identifying and recruiting experts in sustainability as participants, (2) conducting research on sustainability using concept mapping, (3) action planning during an intensive working conference of sustainability experts to expand the concept mapping quantitative results, and (4) consolidating results into a set of recommendations for research, methodological advances, and infrastructure building to advance understanding of sustainability. Participants comprised researchers, funders, and leaders in health, mental health, and public health with shared interest in the sustainability of evidence-based health care. Prompted to identify important issues for sustainability research, participants generated 91 distinct statements, for which a concept mapping process produced 11 conceptually distinct clusters. During the conference, participants built upon the concept mapping clusters to generate recommendations for sustainability research. The recommendations fell into three domains: (1) pursue high priority research questions as a unified agenda on sustainability; (2) advance methods for sustainability research; (3) advance infrastructure to support sustainability research. Implementation science needs to pursue later-stage translation research questions required for population impact. Priorities include conceptual consistency and operational clarity for measuring sustainability, developing evidence

  4. Sustaining NGOs in the developing world: a perspective from the developing world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damodaran, A

    1993-01-01

    The issue of sustainable development is attracting a lot of attention in the 1990s in the developing world. The author therefore draws upon experience from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh to consider the related issue of sustaining nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in developing countries. Vision, credibility and trust, stable management, pragmatic leadership, good staff, team work, and public accountability are called for to develop and maintain a successful NGO. Further, pre-project studies, realistic budgeting, time frame, relationship between funding agency and NGO, multi-source funding, flexibility, scaling up, and resource mobilization are issues with which NGOs reckon throughout the world. Some criteria for financial sustainability, however, are strongly influenced by conditions and experiences particular to developing countries. In closing, the author stresses that NGOs working with the very poor must strive to sustain any process of social change leading toward community empowerment and social justice.

  5. Healthy lifestyle and leukocyte telomere length in U.S. women.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qi Sun

    Full Text Available Whether a healthy lifestyle may be associated with longer telomere length is largely unknown.To examine healthy lifestyle practices, which are primary prevention measures against major age-related chronic diseases, in relation to leukocyte telomere length.Cross-sectional analysis in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS.The population consisted of 5,862 women who participated in multiple prospective case-control studies within the NHS cohort. Z scores of leukocyte telomere length were derived within each case-control study. Based on prior work, we defined low-risk or healthy categories for five major modifiable factors assessed in 1988 or 1990: non-current smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight (body mass index in 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2, engaging in regular moderate or vigorous physical activities (≥150 minutes/week, drinking alcohol in moderation (1 drink/week to <2 drinks/day, and eating a healthy diet (Alternate Healthy Eating Index score in top 50%. We calculated difference (% of the z scores contrasting low-risk groups with reference groups to evaluate the association of interest.Although none of the individual low-risk factors was significantly associated with larger leukocyte telomere length z scores, we observed a significant, positive relationship between the number of low-risk factors and the z scores. In comparison with women who had zero low-risk factors (1.9% of the total population and were, therefore, considered the least healthy group, the leukocyte telomere length z scores were 16.4%, 22.1%, 28.7%, 22.6%, and 31.2% (P for trend = 0.015 higher for women who had 1 to 5 low-risk factors, respectively.Adherence to a healthy lifestyle, defined by major modifiable risk factors, was associated with longer telomere length in leukocytes.

  6. Does the environmental gain of switching to the healthy New Nordic Diet outweigh the increased consumer cost?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saxe, Henrik; Jensen, Jørgen Dejgård

    2014-01-01

    The new Nordic diet (NND) was designed by gastronomic, nutritional and environmental specialists to be a palatable, healthy and sustainable diet containing 30%-40% less meat than the average Danish diet (ADD), ≥ 75% organics, and more locally grown wholegrain products, nuts, fruit and vegetables...

  7. Does the Environmental Gain of Switching to the Healthy New Nordic Diet Outweigh the Increased Consumer Cost?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saxe, Henrik; Jensen, Jørgen Dejgard

    2014-01-01

    The new Nordic diet (NND) was designed by gastronomic, nutritional and environmental specialists to be a palatable, healthy and sustainable diet containing 30%-40% less meat than the average Danish diet (ADD), ≥ 75% organics, and more locally grown wholegrain products, nuts, fruit and vegetables...

  8. Radical Contagion and Healthy Literature in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Jessica

    During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the revolution in France served as a catalyst for heavily allegorical political rhetoric, and the idea that radical politics were contagious became commonplace in conservative writing and oratory. This political contagion is described by Blackwood's as raging through the ranks of the rural poor as late as 1830. Confronted by this threat, Blackwood's promoted itself alternatively as a stimulant or as a cure for the metaphorical poison or infection that radical publications were seen to be spreading amongst the poor. Blackwood's also strove to maintain the political health of its readership by identifying healthy literature for its readers and the lower order. This article analyzes Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine's application of the vocabulary of disease and contagion to radical politics and publications, and considers questions of taste, class, and Britishness in discussions of healthy reading habits.

  9. Does Repeated Ticking Maintain Tic Behavior? An Experimental Study of Eye Blinking in Healthy Individuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel J. V. Beetsma

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Tics in Tourette Syndrome (TS are often preceded by 'premonitory urges': annoying feelings or bodily sensations. We hypothesized that, by reducing annoyance of premonitory urges, tic behaviour may be reinforced. In a 2X2 experimental design in healthy participants, we studied the effects of premonitory urges (operationalized as air puffs on the eye and tic behaviour (deliberate eye blinking after a puff or a sound on changes in subjective evaluation of air puffs, and EMG responses on the m. orbicularis oculi. The experimental group with air puffs+ blinking experienced a decrease in subjective annoyance of the air puff, but habituation of the EMG response was blocked and length of EMG response increased. In the control groups (air puffs without instruction to blink, no air puffs, these effects were absent. When extrapolating to the situation in TS patients, these findings suggest that performance of tics is reinforced by reducing the subjective annoyance of premonitory urges, while simultaneously preventing habituation or even inducing sensitisation of the physiological motor response.

  10. A case study from Turkey: Turkish auto-gas market towards sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mme Kaya

    2008-01-01

    Turkish auto-gas market grew uncontrollably trough its initial years, leading to auto-gas product, retrofit cars, auto-gas filing stations and conversion shops in compliance with standards. Moreover, standards were not even adequate for a healthy market. Auto-gas accidents occurred due to mis-applications. Consequently, real benefits of auto-gas could not come into the picture, and general public as well as auto-gas customers came to perceive auto-gas as an inferior, unsafe and low-performance fuel. Today's market is really different than the markets in its initial years and it has covered a long way towards sustainability. To exemplify, the standards and inspections are well established and more strict than before. The image of auto-gas has improved considerably and now customers know that auto-gas is not only economic but also environment-friendly safe and good performance. The critical factor, bringing the market into sustainability and healthiness, are the developments in 4 crucial areas, namely, the government, LPG distribution companies, OEMs and auto-gas conversion firms and lastly, customers. Another important key success factor is cooperation between these 4 forces. The presentation will mainly focus on developments in these areas. (author)

  11. Sustainable Society Formed by Unselfish Agents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kikuchi, Toshiko

    It has been pointed out that if the social configuration of the three relations (market, communal and obligatory relations) is not balanced, a market based society as a total system fails. Using multi-agent simulations, this paper shows that a sustainable society is formed when all three relations are integrated and function respectively. When agent trades are based on the market mechanism (i.e., agents act in their own interest and thus only market relations exist), weak agents who cannot perform transactions die. If a compulsory tax is imposed to enable all weak agents to survive (i.e., obligatory relations exist), then the fiscal deficit increases. On the other hand, if agents who have excess income undertake the unselfish action of distributing their surplus to the weak agents (i.e., communal relations exist), then trade volume increases. It is shown that the existence of unselfish agents is necessary for the realization of a sustainable society. However, the survival of all agents is difficult in a communal society. In an artificial society, for all agents survive and fiscal balance to be maintained, all three social relations need to be fully integrated. These results show that adjusting the balance of the three social relations well lead to the realization of a sustainable society.

  12. Investing in Our Children's Future: Building Sustainable Environmental Health Programs in Our Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grevatt, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Providing safe and healthy learning environments for our children is a fundamental way to advance sustainability in our K-12 schools. However, according to reports by the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Education, the American Federation of Teachers and other organizations, many schools are in poor condition, and many have…

  13. Sustainable employability for older workers: an explorative survey of belgian companies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verbrugghe, Mathieu; Kuipers, Yoline; Vriesacker, Bart; Peeters, Ilse; Mortelmans, Katrien

    2016-01-01

    The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is developing an online e-guide, which will provide tips and practical information for each EU country (in their national language(s)) on ageing and occupational health and safety. The e-guide will be launched in 2016 as part of the EU-OSHA campaign on Healthy Workplaces for all ages. The e-guide will present evidence, tools and practical examples of how companies can take action and effectively promote sustainable employability. As part of the development of the e-guide, a cross-sectional study was conducted to survey Belgian employers in April 2015 to determine their specific needs concerning older workers' occupational health and safety issues. Researchers from Milieu Ltd. (Brussels, Belgium), the consultancy company coordinating the e-guide project, and Mensura Occupational Health Services (Brussels, Belgium) developed a 13-item questionnaire. The survey addressed the needs and importance given to sustainable employability of older workers in Belgian companies and evaluated corporate knowledge regarding relevant national policies. The questionnaire was distributed electronically to the management of 22,084 private-sector companies affiliated with Mensura. Ten percent (n = 2133) of recipients opened the e-mail, and 37 % (n = 790) of these completed the questionnaire. In 89 % of the responding companies, sustainable employability of workers aged ≥55 years plays an important role; 70 % have no active sustainable employability policy/initiative; 18 % experience difficulties promoting sustainable employability; and 86 % indicate no need for support to promote sustainable employability. Respondents noted the following health complaints among workers aged ≥55 years: work-related health problems (31 %), stress (26 %), work agreements/type of work (17 %), work/life balance (15 %), and career development and/or training (9 %). Topics concerning health and well-being of workers aged ≥55

  14. A systematic review on the influence of pre-existing disability on sustaining injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yung, A; Haagsma, J A; Polinder, S

    2014-01-01

    To systematically review studies measuring the influence of pre-existing disability on the risk of sustaining an injury. Systematic review. Electronic databases searched included Medline (Pubmed), ProQuest, Ovid and EMBASE. Studies (1990-2010) in international peer-reviewed journals were identified with main inclusion criteria being that the study assessed involvement of injury sustained by persons with and without pre-existing disability. Studies were collated by design and methods, and evaluation of results. Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria of our review. All studies found that persons with disabilities were at a significantly higher risk of sustaining injuries than those without. Persons with disability had a 30-450% increased odds (odds ratio 1.3-5.5) of sustaining injury compared to persons without disability. Among persons with pre-existing disability, the high risk groups of sustaining an injury are children and elderly. People with disabilities experience a higher risk to sustain an injury in comparison to the healthy population. There is a high need for large epidemiological studies of injury among persons with disability, to better address these unique risk profiles in order to prevent additional disability or secondary conditions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. A minimal model of self-sustaining turbulence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, Vaughan L.; Gayme, Dennice F.; Farrell, Brian F.; Ioannou, Petros J.

    2015-01-01

    In this work, we examine the turbulence maintained in a Restricted Nonlinear (RNL) model of plane Couette flow. This model is a computationally efficient approximation of the second order statistical state dynamics obtained by partitioning the flow into a streamwise averaged mean flow and perturbations about that mean, a closure referred to herein as the RNL ∞ model. The RNL model investigated here employs a single member of the infinite ensemble that comprises the covariance of the RNL ∞ dynamics. The RNL system has previously been shown to support self-sustaining turbulence with a mean flow and structural features that are consistent with direct numerical simulations (DNS). Regardless of the number of streamwise Fourier components used in the simulation, the RNL system’s self-sustaining turbulent state is supported by a small number of streamwise varying modes. Remarkably, further truncation of the RNL system’s support to as few as one streamwise varying mode can suffice to sustain the turbulent state. The close correspondence between RNL simulations and DNS that has been previously demonstrated along with the results presented here suggest that the fundamental mechanisms underlying wall-turbulence can be analyzed using these highly simplified RNL systems

  16. Ensuring Support for Research and Quality Improvement (QI) Networks: Four Pillars of Sustainability?An Emerging Framework

    OpenAIRE

    Holve, Erin

    2013-01-01

    Multi-institutional research and quality improvement (QI) projects using electronic clinical data (ECD) hold great promise for improving quality of care and patient outcomes but typically require significant infrastructure investments both to initiate and maintain the project over its duration. Consequently, it is important for these projects to think holistically about sustainability to ensure their long-term success. Four ?pillars? of sustainability are discussed based on the experiences of...

  17. Sustainable diets within sustainable food systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meybeck, Alexandre; Gitz, Vincent

    2017-02-01

    Sustainable diets and sustainable food systems are increasingly explored by diverse scientific disciplines. They are also recognised by the international community and called upon to orient action towards the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the fulfilment of sustainable development goals. The aim of the present paper is to briefly consider some of the links between these two notions in order to facilitate the operationalisation of the concept of sustainable diet. The concept of sustainable diet was defined in 2010 combining two totally different perspectives: a nutrition perspective, focused on individuals, and a global sustainability perspective, in all its dimensions: environmental, economic and social. The nutrition perspective can be easily related to health outcomes. The global sustainability perspective is more difficult to analyse directly. We propose that it be measured as the contribution of a diet to the sustainability of food systems. Such an approach, covering the three dimensions of sustainability, enables identification of interactions and interrelations between food systems and diets. It provides opportunities to find levers of change towards sustainability. Diets are both the results and the drivers of food systems. The drivers of change for those variously involved, consumers and private individuals, are different, and can be triggered by different dimensions (heath, environment, social and cultural). Combining different dimensions and reasons for change can help facilitate the transition to sustainable diets, recognising the food system's specificities. The adoption of sustainable diets can be facilitated and enabled by food systems, and by appropriate policies and incentives.

  18. Does organic school food service provide more healthy eating environments than their non organic counterparts?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    He, Chen; Mikkelsen, Bent Egberg

    Organic food strategies are increasingly developing within European school food services at the same time as these services are being involved in measures aiming at promoting healthy eating at school and counter acting obesity. Schools have an important role to play in teaching children fundamental...... as sustainable consumption strategies are contributing to shaping the future school food culture. It is therefore imperative to study how these changes in agendas influences each other and to study the associations between healthy eating and organic supply strategies at school....... life skills, including good food habits according to a number of authoritative policy papers from Council of Europe, the WHO and the EU platform. Although there are great national differences, European school food culture seems to be in a transitional state in which both healthy eating as well...

  19. Tourism Partnerships in Protected Areas: Exploring Contributions to Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfueller, Sharron L.; Lee, Diane; Laing, Jennifer

    2011-10-01

    Partnerships between natural-area managers and the tourism industry have been suggested to contribute to sustainability in protected areas. This article explores how important sustainability outcomes of partnerships are to their members, how well they are realised and the features of partnerships leading to their achievement. In 21 case studies in Australia, interviews ( n = 97) and surveys ( n = 100) showed that of 14 sustainability outcomes, improved understanding of protected areas values and improved biodiversity conservation were the most important. Other highly ranked outcomes were greater respect for culture, heritage, and/or traditions; improved quality of environmental conditions; social benefits to local communities; and improved economic viability of the protected area. Scores for satisfaction with outcomes were, like those for importance, all high but were less than those for importance for the majority, with improvement in quality of environmental conditions showing the largest gap. The satisfaction score exceeded that for importance only for increased competitiveness of the protected area as a tourist destination. "Brown" aspects of sustainability, i.e., decreased waste or energy use, were among the lowest-scoring outcomes for both importance and satisfaction. The most important factor enabling sustainability outcomes was provision of benefits to partnership members. Others were increased financial support, inclusiveness, supportive organisational and administrative arrangements, direct involvement of decision makers, partnership maturity, creation of new relationships, decreased conflict, and stimulation of innovation. Improving sustainability outcomes, therefore, requires maintaining these partnership attributes and also increasing emphasis on reducing waste and resource use.

  20. The relationship between healthy work environments and retention of nurses in a hospital setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritter, Desiree

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of the present paper was to determine the effect a healthy work environment has on the retention of nurses in a hospital setting. There is a nursing shortage that has been ongoing and is expected to continue, resulting in challenges for the healthcare system in the United States. The significance of this issue is the impact the nursing shortage will have on healthcare organizations and patients. The present paper included an extensive review of the current literature. The literature reviewed encompassed scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles. This article focused on nurses, work environments and the impact of the work environments on retention. Important issues that emerged from this analysis were the dangers of an unhealthy environment, the impact a healthy work environment has on patient outcomes and retention, the Magnet link to healthy work environments and the manager's role in creating and sustaining a healthy work environment. The literature provided evidence of the link between healthy work environments and the retention of nurses in a hospital setting. The implications for management are to implement changes now to create a healthy work environment that will recruit and retain nurses to secure their position in the future. © 2010 The Author. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  1. A review of the knowledge base on healthy worksite culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aldana, Steven G; Anderson, David R; Adams, Troy B; Whitmer, R William; Merrill, Ray M; George, Victoria; Noyce, Jerry

    2012-04-01

    To identify the need for worksite cultures of health, the organizational factors that support worksite cultures of health, the tools that have been used to measure worksite cultures of health, and the research needs related to healthy worksite culture. A cross-sectional survey involving a sample of 500 companies representing a broad spectrum of industries and business sectors. A literature review was conducted. Similar to a culture of safety that encourages safer behaviors and enables a safer workplace, a culture of health provides a supportive work leadership with a favorable work environment and health-related policies that promote employee health and result in substantial decrease in employee health risks and medical costs. Worksite policies and environments supporting a culture of health are important to helping employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviors.

  2. Does the environmental gain of switching to the healthy New Nordic Diet outweigh the increased consumer cost?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saxe, Henrik; Jensen, Jørgen Dejgård

    2014-01-01

    The New Nordic Diet (NND) was designed by gastronomic, nutritional and environmental specialists to be a palatable, healthy and sus-tainable diet containing 30-40% less meat than the Average Danish Diet (ADD), ≥75% organics, and more locally grown wholegrain products, nuts, fruit and vegetables...

  3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONNECTIONS IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANDREEA CONSTANTINESCU

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Following the distancing of current policy from economic rigors and ethical demands aimed at redistribution of wealth, modern societies are parasitized by post-truth of actual facts. It distorts the shape and content of general interest data, for example political distortion of scientific evidence proving anthropogenic climate change. Under these circumstances, the question "to what extent economist’s truth stating what you cannot measure you cannot manage is sustained?" becomes absolutely legitimate. Regarding sustainable development management, monitoring the degree of achievement of Sustainable Development Goals is no longer sufficient to track progress in this area. Therefore, experts propose to introduce as much as possible qualitative data which, combined with quantitative data, will enhance their relevance and make them harder to be diverted for political purposes. This paper follows this direction, trying to prove that protection of data’s real meaning can be achieved by systemic analysis of all data originating from monitoring certain processes, which can be aggregated, with applicability in sustainable development. Thus, analyzing together data on sustainable development and those that indicates the state of human development emphasizes on one hand, the intrinsic link between these concepts and, on the other, maintain the sense of sustainability even in the post-truth era.

  4. Improving diet sustainability through evolution of food choices: review of epidemiological studies on the environmental impact of diets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perignon, Marlène; Vieux, Florent; Soler, Louis-Georges; Masset, Gabriel; Darmon, Nicole

    2017-01-01

    The Food and Agriculture Organization defines sustainable diets as nutritionally adequate, safe, healthy, culturally acceptable, economically affordable diets that have little environmental impact. This review summarizes the studies assessing, at the individual level, both the environmental impact and the nutritional quality or healthiness of self-selected diets. Reductions in meat consumption and energy intake were identified as primary factors for reducing diet-related greenhouse gas emissions. The choice of foods to replace meat, however, was crucial, with some isocaloric substitutions possibly increasing total diet greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, nutritional adequacy was rarely or only partially assessed, thereby compromising the assessment of diet sustainability. Furthermore, high nutritional quality was not necessarily associated with affordability or lower environmental impact. Hence, when identifying sustainable diets, each dimension needs to be assessed by relevant indicators. Finally, some nonvegetarian self-selected diets consumed by a substantial fraction of the population showed good compatibility with the nutritional, environmental, affordability, and acceptability dimensions. Altogether, the reviewed studies revealed the scarcity of standardized nationally representative data for food prices and environmental indicators and suggest that diet sustainability might be increased without drastic dietary changes. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute.

  5. Sustaining biological welfare for our future through consistent science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shimomura Yoshihiro

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Physiological anthropology presently covers a very broad range of human knowledge and engineering technologies. This study reviews scientific inconsistencies within a variety of areas: sitting posture; negative air ions; oxygen inhalation; alpha brain waves induced by music and ultrasound; 1/f fluctuations; the evaluation of feelings using surface electroencephalography; Kansei; universal design; and anti-stress issues. We found that the inconsistencies within these areas indicate the importance of integrative thinking and the need to maintain the perspective on the biological benefit to humanity. Analytical science divides human physiological functions into discrete details, although individuals comprise a unified collection of whole-body functions. Such disparate considerations contribute to the misunderstanding of physiological functions and the misevaluation of positive and negative values for humankind. Research related to human health will, in future, depend on the concept of maintaining physiological functions based on consistent science and on sustaining human health to maintain biological welfare in future generations.

  6. [Ecosystemic and communicative approaches in the implementation of territorial agendas for sustainable development and health promotion].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallo, Edmundo; Setti, Andréia Faraoni Freitas

    2012-06-01

    This paper analyzes the sustainability of ecosystemic and communicative approaches in terms of strategic planning for the implementation of territorial agendas that seek to integrate the principles of Sustainable Development and Health Promotion. It takes the Sustainable Development and Health Promotion project: Implementation of the Healthy Cities Agenda integrated with Agenda 21 in Traditional Communities of Protected Areas of the Bocaina Region" as a point of reference. It involves action-research that strives to contribute to the promotion of quality of life by means of the implementation of a participative strategic agenda and the promotion of mutual economic sustainability. The work seeks to build theoretical/practical bridges between the approaches and the methodologies and technologies used, assessing their consistency and effectiveness in relation to the principles of sustainable development and health promotion, especially in the empowerment of the local population and the broadening of the autonomy of the community.

  7. Forming technology motivational-valued attitudes toward healthy appearance and lifestyle for students institutes of higher Ministry of internal affairs of Russia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klimenko B.A.

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Directions of forming healthy lifestyle are considered for students. 62 students took part in experiment. New conception of the health physical training is grounded high-quality for students. Tests are developed as evaluated by the measure of formed of healthy lifestyle for students. Offered approach to the maintainance of professional health, level of physical preparedness at the change of appearance and lifestyle. It is set that the author program forms for students motivational-valued attitude toward the healthy lifestyle.

  8. Sustainability Challenge of Micro Hydro Power Development in Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Didik, H.; Bambang, P. N.; Asep, S.; Purwanto, Y. A.

    2018-05-01

    Rural electrification using renewable energy is the best choice for many locations that far away from national grid. Many renewable energy project have been built for rural electrification such as micro hydro power plant (MHPP) and solar photovoltaic (SPV). Sustainability still the main challenge of off-grid renewable energy development for off-grid rural electrification in Indonesia. The objective of this paper is to review sustainability of micro hydro power development in Indonesia. The research method was done by field observation, interview with MHPP management, and reviewing some research about MHPP in Indonesia. Sustainability issues include various aspects that can be classified into 5 dimensions: technical, economic, socio-cultural, institutional, and environmental. In technical factors that lead to sustainability problem are: improper MHPP design and construction, improper operation and maintenance, availability of spare parts and expertise. In the economic dimension are generally related to: low electricity tariff and utilization of MHPP for productive use. In the social dimension are: the growth of consumer’s load exceeding the capacity, reduced number of consumers, lack of external institutional support. In the institutional side, it is generally related to the ability of human resources in managing, operating and maintaining of MHPP. Environmental factors that lead the sustainability problems of MHPP are: scarcity of water discharge, conflict of water resources, land conversion over the watershed, and natural disasters.

  9. Authentic leadership, organizational culture, and healthy work environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirey, Maria R

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to showcase the relationship among authentic leadership, organizational culture, and healthy work environments using a stress and coping lens. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to determine what situations contribute to nurse manager stress, what coping strategies they utilize, what health outcomes they report, and what decision-making processes they follow to address stressful situations in their roles. A purposive sample of 21 nurse managers employed at 3 US acute care hospitals completed a demographic questionnaire and 14-question interview incorporating components of the Critical Decision Method. A secondary analysis of the data was conducted to identify differences in nurse manager narratives based upon differences in the organizational cultures where the managers worked. Of the 21 nurse managers studied, differences were evident in the organizational cultures reported. Nurse managers working in the positive organizational cultures (n = 12) generally worked in healthy work environments and engaged in more authentic leadership behaviors. Conversely, nurse managers working in the negative organizational cultures (n = 9) worked in unhealthy work environments and reported less optimism and more challenges engaging in authentic leadership practices. Organizational culture and leadership matter in creating and sustaining healthy work environments. Nurse managers play a pivotal role in creating these environments, yet they need supportive structures and resources to more effectively execute their roles.

  10. Concept for Sustained Plant Production on ISS Using VEGGIE Capillary Mat Rooting System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stutte, Gary W.; Newsham, Gerard; Morrow, Robert M.; Wheeler, Raymond M.

    2011-01-01

    Plant growth in microgravity presents unique challenges associated with maintaining appropriate conditions for seed germination, seedling establishment, maturation and harvest. They include maintaining appropriate soil moisture content, nutrient balance, atmospheric mixing and containment. Sustained production imposes additional challenges of harvesting, replanting, and safety. The VEGGIE is a deployable (collapsible) plant growth chamber developed as part of a NASA SBIR Phase II by Orbitec, Madison, WI. The intent of VEGGIE is to provide a low-resource system to produce fresh vegetables for the crew on long duration missions. The VEGGIE uses and LED array for lighting, an expandable bellows for containment, and a capillary matting system for nutrient and water delivery. The project evaluated a number of approaches to achieve sustained production, and repeated plantings, using the capillary rooting system. A number of different root media, seed containment, and nutrient delivery systems were evaluated and effects on seed germination and growth were evaluated. A number of issues limiting sustained production, such as accumulation of nutrients, uniform water, elevated vapor pressure deficit, and media containment were identified. A concept using pre-planted rooting packs shown to effectively address a number of those issues and is a promising approach for future development as a planting system for microgravity conditions.

  11. Bioavailability of suppository acetaminophen in healthy and hospitalized ill dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sikina, E R; Bach, J F; Lin, Z; Gehring, R; KuKanich, B

    2018-05-13

    To determine the plasma pharmacokinetics of suppository acetaminophen (APAP) in healthy dogs and clinically ill dogs. This prospective study used six healthy client-owned and 20 clinically ill hospitalized dogs. The healthy dogs were randomized by coin flip to receive APAP orally or as a suppository in crossover study design. Blood samples were collected up to 10 hr after APAP dosing. The hospitalized dogs were administered APAP as a suppository, and blood collected at 2 and 6 hr after dosing. Plasma samples were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. In healthy dogs, oral APAP maximal concentration (C MAX =2.69 μg/ml) was reached quickly (T MAX =1.04 hr) and eliminated rapidly (T1/2 = 1.81 hr). Suppository APAP was rapidly, but variably absorbed (C MAX =0.52 μg/ml T MAX =0.67 hr) and eliminated (T 1/2  = 3.21 hr). The relative (to oral) fraction of the suppository dose absorbed was 30% (range <1%-67%). In hospitalized ill dogs, the suppository APAP mean plasma concentration at 2 hr and 6 hr was 1.317 μg/ml and 0.283 μg/ml. Nonlinear mixed-effects modeling did not identify significant covariates affecting variability and was similar to noncompartmental results. Results supported that oral and suppository acetaminophen in healthy and clinical dogs did not reach or sustain concentrations associated with efficacy. Further studies performed on different doses are needed. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. A GIS-based performance measurement system for assessing transportation sustainability and community livability : final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-08-31

    Sustainability and livability in transportation, as the concepts referring to the capability of transportation systems to maintain the well being of our society, have been widely : accepted as the critical principles to improve quality of life and he...

  13. Healthy Family 2009: Assuring Healthy Aging

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Navigation Bar Home Current Issue Past Issues Healthy Family 2009 Assuring Healthy Aging Past Issues / Winter 2009 ... for steady, modest loss. Seek emotional support from family and friends. Expect setbacks; forgive yourself. Make physical ...

  14. Sustainability and integration of radioecology-position paper.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muikku, M; Beresford, N A; Garnier-Laplace, J; Real, A; Sirkka, L; Thorne, M; Vandenhove, H; Willrodt, C

    2018-03-01

    This position paper gives an overview of how the COMET project (COordination and iMplementation of a pan-European instrumenT for radioecology, a combined Collaborative Project and Coordination and Support Action under the EC/Euratom 7th Framework Programme) contributed to the integration and sustainability of radioecology in Europe via its support to and interaction with the European Radioecology ALLIANCE. COMET built upon the foundations laid by the FP7 project STAR (Strategic Network for Integrating Radioecology) Network of Excellence in radioecology. In close association with the ALLIANCE, and based on the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), COMET developed innovative mechanisms for joint programming and implementation of radioecological research. To facilitate and foster future integration under a common federating structure, research activities developed within COMET were targeted at radioecological research needs identified in the SRA. Furthermore, COMET maintained and developed strong mechanisms for knowledge exchange, dissemination and training to enhance and maintain European capacity, competence and skills in radioecology. In the short term the work to promote radioecology will continue under the H2020 project EJP-CONCERT (European Joint Programme for the Integration of Radiation Protection Research). The EJP-CONCERT project (2015-2020) aims to develop a sustainable structure for promoting and administering joint programming and open research calls in the field of radiation protection research for Europe. In the longer term, radioecological research will be facilitated by the ALLIANCE. External funding is, however, required in order to be able to answer emerging research needs.

  15. Policy initiatives to promote healthy aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Infeld, Donna Lind; Whitelaw, Nancy

    2002-08-01

    An overwhelming array of policies and programs can be used to help older people (and future older people) maintain healthy lifestyles. How can clinicians help ensure that their patients take advantage of these opportunities? How can these broad-scope policies, educational and information initiatives, and direct service programs be turned into tools to help older people maximize health and independence? First, physicians do not need to do it all themselves. They need to know where to send their patients. For example, case managers in local aging service organizations and social workers, nurses, and discharge planners in hospitals can help connect elderly patients to appropriate benefits and services. Physicians play a critical role in creating a bridge between patients and the array of programs and information that can help them change their individual patterns of behavior. A serious lack of integration exists between what is known about healthy behaviors and lifestyles and what is really happening and available to older people today. From the earlier articles in this issue we know that much can be done to prevent many types of age-related disease and disability. This article provides examples of mechanisms that can be used to broadly disseminate knowledge about effective behavior and treatment changes and create mechanisms to turn this knowledge into real and widespread client-level, practice-level, health system, and community-wide interventions. Second, physicians need to understand that they are not merely subject to these policies and initiatives. They can help formulate and shape them. This political involvement includes active participation in policy initiatives of professional associations, involvement in research and demonstration activities, keeping informed about policy proposals at the federal and state levels, and helping advance ideas for improving health behaviors by speaking up and working toward change. These changes go beyond health initiatives to

  16. Opportunities and challenges within urban health and sustainable development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fisher, Jack E.; Andersen, Zorana J.; Loft, Steffen

    2017-01-01

    The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals mark aunique window of opportunity for both human and planetaryhealth. With rising life expectancy and rapidly expanding urbanpopulations exposed to pollution and sedentary lifestyles, thereis a greater focus on reducing the gap between life...... expectancyand number of healthy years lived, whilst limiting anthropogenicactivities contributing to pollution and climate change. Thus,urban development and policies, which can create win–winsituations for our planet and human health, falls into the realmand expertise of public health. However, some...

  17. Proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance: The mediating effect of sustainability control systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wijethilake, Chaminda

    2017-07-01

    This study examines to what extent corporations use sustainability control systems (SCS) to translate proactive sustainability strategy into corporate sustainability performance. The study investigates the mediating effect of SCS on the relationship between proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance. Survey data were collected from top managers in 175 multinational and local corporations operating in Sri Lanka and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). SCS were observed to only partially mediate the relationship between proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance. The mediating effect of SCS is further examined under three sustainability strategies; environmental and social strategies reveal a partial mediation, while the economic strategy exhibits no mediation. The study also finds that (i) a proactive sustainability strategy is positively associated with SCS and corporate sustainability performance and (ii) SCS are positively associated with corporate sustainability performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Assessing sustainable remediation frameworks using sustainability principles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ridsdale, D Reanne; Noble, Bram F

    2016-12-15

    The remediation industry has grown exponentially in recent decades. International organizations of practitioners and remediation experts have developed several frameworks for integrating sustainability into remediation projects; however, there has been limited attention to how sustainability is approached and operationalized in sustainable remediation frameworks and practices - or whether sustainability plays any meaningful role at all in sustainable remediation. This paper examines how sustainability is represented in remediation frameworks and the guidance provided for practical application. Seven broad sustainability principles and review criteria are proposed and applied to a sample of six international remediation frameworks. Not all review criteria were equally satisfied and none of the frameworks fully met all criteria; however, the best performing frameworks were those identified as sustainability remediation frameworks. Intra-generational equity was addressed by all frameworks. Integrating social, economic and biophysical components beyond triple-bottom-line indicators was explicitly addressed only by the sustainable remediation frameworks. No frameworks provided principle- or rule-based guidance for dealing with trade-offs in sustainability decisions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. [Establishment of modern multi-component sustained-release preparations of oral traditional Chinese medicines].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Hai-Jian; Zhang, Zhen-Hai; Liu, Dan; Yu, Dan-Hong; Jia, Xiao-Bin

    2013-10-01

    Traditional Chinese medicines have a long history, with a large quantity of efficient traditional Chinese medicines and prescriptions. However, the vast majority of pharmaceutical dose forms remain common preparations, with very few efficient, long-lasting and low-dose preparations. The sustain-release preparation allows sustained drug release in a longer period of time, maintains blood drug concentration, reduces the toxic effect and medication frequency, and improves medication compliance. Unlike monomer drugs, the material base of traditional Chinese medicine and compounds is multi-component, instead of single or several active monomers. Therefore, under the guidance of the Chinese medicine theories, modern multi-component sustained-release preparations were developed for oral traditional Chinese medicines, with the aim of finally improving the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines.

  20. Mere exposure to palatable food cues reduces restrained eaters' physical effort to obtain healthy food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Koningsbruggen, Guido M; Stroebe, Wolfgang; Aarts, Henk

    2012-04-01

    We examined whether exposure to cues of attractive food reduces effortful behavior toward healthy foods for restrained eaters. After manipulating food pre-exposure, we recorded handgrip force while presenting participants with pictures of healthy food objects. Because participants were led to expect that they could obtain each object (not specified beforehand) by squeezing the handgrip as forcefully as possible while the object was displayed on the screen, the recorded handgrip force constitutes a measure of spontaneous effortful behavior. Results show that restrained eaters, but not unrestrained eaters, displayed less forceful action toward healthy food objects (i.e., lower exertion of force) when pre-exposed to tempting food cues. No effects were found on palatability perceptions of the healthy foods. The results provide further insight into why restrained eaters have difficulties in maintaining a low-calorie diet in food-rich environments. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Forming of Sustainable City Competitiveness in the PRC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shvydanenko Oleg

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article describes theoretical principles of international competitiveness of cities. The main methodological grounds of modern models of countries sustainable competitive development are studied. Taking into account the key trends in globalization, the main determinants of forming high competitive status of cities are comprehensively described. Benchmarking of sustainable competitiveness of PRC cities and provinces has been performed, and up-to-date priorities of balanced development of the People's Republic of China PRC have been analyzed. Chinese competitive development strategies has been investigated, and the benchmarking of sustainable competitiveness of Chinese cities has been accomplished. The nature and scale of urbanization processes in China are revealed. The main priorities in the structure of contemporary urbanization strategy of the PRC are defined, being focused on such areas as demographic planning, land management, financial security, residential construction in cities, ecology and environmental protection. The essence of smart cities in the context of their role in formation of local competitive development systems is determined. On the basis of qualitative indicators, the balanced competitiveness of cities of the PRC and the development of smart cities in Chinese provinces has been analyzed. The principles of government influence on the growth of sustainable competitiveness of Chinese megacities is investigated. The supporting evidence is provided for that the main objectives of Chinese megacities development for the next 5 years are to maintain sustainable rates of economic development, to increase the living standards of a specific city population, and to modernize the industrial sector. The strategic priorities for developing individual plans of competitive development for certain cities of the PRC and forming the sustainable competitiveness thereof, are specified.

  2. Role of wood production in ecosystem management : proceedings of the Sustainable Forestry Working Group at the IUFRO All Division 5 conference, Pullman, Washington, July 1997

    Science.gov (United States)

    R. J. Barbour; K. E. Skog

    1997-01-01

    The presentations at this symposium discussed concepts of ecosystem management and sustainability as viewed by various levels of government and private land managers. The theme was to integrate ecology, silviculture, forest operations, wood products, and economics to find ways to develop healthy sustainable ecosystems under financially sound management practices....

  3. Sustaining attention to simple visual tasks: a central deficit in schizophrenia? A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoonakker, Marc; Doignon-Camus, Nadège; Bonnefond, Anne

    2017-11-01

    Impairments in sustained attention, that is, the ability to achieve and maintain the focus of cognitive activity on a given stimulation source or task, have been described as central to schizophrenia. Today, sustained attention deficit is still considered as a hallmark of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, current findings on this topic are not consistent. To clarify these findings, we attempt to put these results into perspective according to the type of assessment (i.e., overall and over time assessment), the participants' characteristics (i.e., clinical and demographic characteristics), and the paradigms (i.e., traditionally formatted tasks, go/no-go tasks, and the sustained attention task) and measures used. Two types of assessment lead to opposite findings; they do not evaluate sustained attention the same way. Studies using overall assessments of sustained attention ability tend to reveal a deficit, whereas studies using over time assessments do not. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate the underlying cognitive control mechanisms of changes in sustained attention in schizophrenia. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

  4. Soil quality: key for sustainable production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefano Mocali

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available In the last few years several definitions of “soil quality” have been advanced, but among them the most appreciated is “the ability of soils to interact with the ecosystem in order to maintain the biological productivity, the environmental quality and to promote animal and vegetal health” as defined by Doran and Parkin in 1994. Many researchers place more emphasis on its conceptual meaning for land planning and farm management, while others consider that definition to be worth nothing in order to understand soil properties and the concept of soil quality looks like the concept of “to be suitable for”. For this reason a definition of “soil use” is needed. The food quality is characterized by several properties: the healthiness and the nutritional value, the amount of the production, the typicalness and organoleptic properties, etc.. A lot of these properties depend on environmental quality and, in particular, on soil quality. In fact soil represents the natural substrate for growth and productivity of most of the plants that live on the Hearth because they get all the essential nutritional elements from it for their own development; consequently each nutritional element present into the soil as bioavailable form for the plants is potentially destined to entry in the animal (and human food chain. In the quality process of food productive process it will be important to assure the best soil quality as possible, without any unwanted element (which will not be discussed in this note and with the right amount of fertility elements in order to guarantee the best production. In this paper the relationships between soil quality, soil biodiversity and crop sustainability will be discussed. Finally the concept of soil “biota” as nodal point for the environment regulation and the application of the indicators for soil quality will be discussed.

  5. Soil quality: key for sustainable production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Benedetti

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available In the last few years several definitions of “soil quality” have been advanced, but among them the most appreciated is “the ability of soils to interact with the ecosystem in order to maintain the biological productivity, the environmental quality and to promote animal and vegetal health” as defined by Doran and Parkin in 1994. Many researchers place more emphasis on its conceptual meaning for land planning and farm management, while others consider that definition to be worth nothing in order to understand soil properties and the concept of soil quality looks like the concept of “to be suitable for”. For this reason a definition of “soil use” is needed. The food quality is characterized by several properties: the healthiness and the nutritional value, the amount of the production, the typicalness and organoleptic properties, etc.. A lot of these properties depend on environmental quality and, in particular, on soil quality. In fact soil represents the natural substrate for growth and productivity of most of the plants that live on the Hearth because they get all the essential nutritional elements from it for their own development; consequently each nutritional element present into the soil as bioavailable form for the plants is potentially destined to entry in the animal (and human food chain. In the quality process of food productive process it will be important to assure the best soil quality as possible, without any unwanted element (which will not be discussed in this note and with the right amount of fertility elements in order to guarantee the best production. In this paper the relationships between soil quality, soil biodiversity and crop sustainability will be discussed. Finally the concept of soil “biota” as nodal point for the environment regulation and the application of the indicators for soil quality will be discussed.

  6. MARKETING PROGRAMS FOR GREEN PRODUCTS IN ACHIEVING ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

    OpenAIRE

    Gabriela CĂPĂȚÎNĂ; Roxana-Denisa STOENESCU

    2015-01-01

    This article explores one dimension of green marketing programs: their potential application as a solution in achieving and maintaining the ecological sustainability on global market. We examine the necessity to develop and launch green products which can respond to environment degradation as a treatment against this phenomenon. This paper is structured in three sections: the first section is related to a clear delimitation and a better understanding of terms; the second one is an overvi...

  7. Promoting obesity prevention together with environmental sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skouteris, Helen; Cox, Rachael; Huang, Terry; Rutherford, Leonie; Edwards, Susan; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy

    2014-09-01

    There is mounting evidence that current food production, transport, land use and urban design negatively impact both climate change and obesity outcomes. Recommendations to prevent climate change provide an opportunity to improve environmental outcomes and alter our food and physical activity environments in favour of a 'healthier' energy balance. Hence, setting goals to achieve a more sustainable society offers a unique opportunity to reduce levels of obesity. In the case of children, this approach is supported with evidence that even from a young age they show emerging understandings of complex environmental issues and are capable of both internalizing positive environmental values and influencing their own environmental outcomes. Given young children's high levels of environmental awareness, it is easy to see how environmental sustainability messages may help educate and motivate children to make 'healthier' choices. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a new approach to tackling childhood obesity by tapping into existing social movements, such as environmental sustainability, in order to increase children's motivation for healthy eating and physical activity behaviours and thus foster more wholesome communities. We contend that a social marketing framework may be a particularly useful tool to foster behaviour change beneficial to both personal and environmental health by increasing perceived benefits and reducing perceived costs of behaviour change. Consequently, we propose a new framework which highlights suggested pathways for helping children initiate and sustain 'healthier' behaviours in order to inform future research and potentially childhood obesity intervention strategies. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Crowd-sourcing higher education architecting the sustainable design and development of E-Learning in Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Griff Richards

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Post-secondary access in Africa hovers around 6%, in part because there is a lack of access to physical campuses. In Phase I of the African Virtual University’s Multinational Project, 73 undergraduate courses were developed and published as OERs in English, French and Portuguese. These in turn were adopted and localized by African universities. While over 1.3 million downloads of the materials have taken place in the last 5 years, no attempt was made to harness the input of user to maintain or improve the courses. Seven years later, the African Virtual University will renew these courses along with another 50 or so in disciplines of high demand. But this time the AVU architecture will call for a sustainable approach to e-learning that challenges the 22 universities in 15 countries to not only help further develop the courses, but also to maintain them and sustain them across multiple languages.This article discusses the potential role of crowd-sourcing in curriculum development, and sketches a preliminary architecture for building a community of practice to sustain e-Learning in Africa. 

  9. THE ACCEPTANCE OF SUSTAINABLE FOOD CONCEPT: A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION IN STENDEN UNIVERSITY HOTEL, THE NETHERLANDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sia Tjun Han

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available As customers concern more about the environment, sustainable food demands, which are locally produced, organic, seasonal, and vegetarian or semi-vegetarian, are increasing. Besides, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB explains that behavior is guided by intentions with the factors of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control to predict food choices; food purchasing habits and intake; and attitudes and preferences. Therefore, the research purpose is to examine customers’ acceptance of The Netherlands restaurant implementing sustainable food concept using TPB. Data analysis of 10 semi structured interviews shows that the customers of Restaurant NL are more likely guided by external factors of subjective norms: work related dine-in; others’ encouragement to eat more healthy and more responsibly, as the intentions are to have sustainable benefits.

  10. Beryllium-specific immune response in primary cells from healthy individuals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaudhary, Anu; Sauer, Nancy N.; Gupta, Goutam

    2004-01-01

    The effect of beryllium (Be) exposure has been extensively studied in patients with chronic beryllium disease (CBD). CBD patients carry mutated MHC class II alleles and show a hyperproliferation of T cells upon Be exposure. The exact mechanism of Be-induced T-cell proliferation in these patients is not clearly understood. It is also not known how the inflammatory and suppressive cytokines maintain a balance in healthy individuals and how this balance is lost in CBD patients. To address these issues, we have initiated cellular and biochemical studies to identify Be-responsive cytokines and other cellular markers that help maintain a balance in healthy individuals. We have established an immune cell model derived from a mixture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and dendritic cells (DCs). In this article, we demonstrate that pro-inflammatory cytokine IL6 shows decreased release whereas suppressive cytokine IL10 shows enhanced release after 5-10 h of Be treatment. Furthermore, the Be-specific pattern of IL6 and IL10 release is dependent upon induction of threonine phosphorylation of a 45 kDa cytosolic protein (p45), as early as 90 min after Be treatment. Pharmacological inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3' kinase (PI3'K) by wortmannin and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) by SB203580 reveal that PI3'K mediates Be-specific p45 phosphorylation and IL6 release, whereas p38 MAPK regulates the release of IL6 and IL10 and the phosphorylation of p45 independent of metal-salt treatment. While the IL10 and IL6 release pathways are uncoupled in these cells, they are linked to phosphorylation of p45. These findings suggest that the balance between IL10 and IL6 release and the correlated p45 phosphorylation are important components of the Be-mediated immune response in healthy individuals

  11. The self-regulatory function of anticipated pride and guilt in a sustainable and healthy consumption context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Onwezen, M.C.; Bartels, J.; Antonides, G.

    2014-01-01

    Although individuals generally value health and sustainability, they do not always behave in a manner that is consistent with their standards. The current study examines whether attitudes and social norms (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms) can evoke anticipted pride and guilt, which, in turn,

  12. Sustainable rice production in Malaysia beyond 2000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nashriyah Mat; Ho Nai Kin; Ismail Sahid; Ahyaudin Ali; Lum Keng Yeang; Mashhor Mansor

    2002-01-01

    This book is a compendium of works carried out by various institutions on subjects related to sustainable rice production. The institutions comprise Department of Agriculture, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research, Muda Agricultural Development Authority, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, International Islamic University of Malaysia and the Agrochemical Company Mosanto. Integrated Biodiversity Management parallel with the Integrated Weed / Pest / Disease Management, rice-fish farming networking, agrochemical residue monitoring in rice and marine ecosystems, and application of biotechnology in rice productivity are taken as the future direction towards achieving sustainable rice production beyond 2000. Challenges from social and technical agroecosystem constraints, agricultural input management and maintenance of agroecosystem biodiversity are highlighted. It is imperative that the challenges are surmounted to attain the target that would be reflected by tangible rice output of 10 t/ha, and at the same time maintaining the well-being of rice-farmers. (Author)

  13. Engineering crop nutrient efficiency for sustainable agriculture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Liyu; Liao, Hong

    2017-10-01

    Increasing crop yields can provide food, animal feed, bioenergy feedstocks and biomaterials to meet increasing global demand; however, the methods used to increase yield can negatively affect sustainability. For example, application of excess fertilizer can generate and maintain high yields but also increases input costs and contributes to environmental damage through eutrophication, soil acidification and air pollution. Improving crop nutrient efficiency can improve agricultural sustainability by increasing yield while decreasing input costs and harmful environmental effects. Here, we review the mechanisms of nutrient efficiency (primarily for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and iron) and breeding strategies for improving this trait, along with the role of regulation of gene expression in enhancing crop nutrient efficiency to increase yields. We focus on the importance of root system architecture to improve nutrient acquisition efficiency, as well as the contributions of mineral translocation, remobilization and metabolic efficiency to nutrient utilization efficiency. © 2017 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  14. Sustainable Design Operations in the Supply Chain: Non-Profit Manufacturer vs. For-Profit Manufacturer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qingying Li

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable design aims to reduce the negative impacts either on people (e.g., create healthy or on planet (e.g., minimize waste. In other words, sustainable design is the philosophy thattendstoimprovedesignperformancebyincorporatinghealthandsafetyattributes(forpeople, and environmental attributes (for planet into products. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to examine the sustainable design operations in a supply chain which consists of one retailer and one manufacturer. The manufacturer designs the products by investigating sustainable design efforts, such that the products can better coordinate human needs. Motivated by the real industry practice, we consider two business modes for the manufacturer: a nonprofit organization (i.e., a demand quantity seeker or a commercial firm (i.e., a profit seeker. We obtain the optimal operational decisions in both the decentralized case and the centralized case, and we also compare the results. Managerial insights are derived, and the efficiency of the sustainable design is also discussed.

  15. A Pilot Study On The Sustainability Of The Engineers’ Technical Knowledge Repository (KR Establishment: A Malaysian Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siti Arpah Binti Noordin

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge is an important resource in this current economic condition where organizations are competing in creating more innovation in order to maintain their business in the marketplace. Thus, it is important for an establishment to continue their capitalizing their knowledge asset as knowledge is vital to gain competitive advantage in this current epoch. With regards to that, an organization needs to plan and design the most appropriate approach which enable the organizational knowledge asset to be captured, stored and utilized its valuable benefits. Establishing a knowledge repository (KR is one of the approaches organizations adapt in maintaining organizational knowledge asset and promoting knowledge reuse. The focal point of this research is on the sustainability of knowledge repository establishment in sharing, transferring, storing the technical knowledge of the key personnel from the Malaysian public sector. The study adopted the qualitative research approach as its aim is to look into the sustainability of KR in an in-depth manner which concerned with the societal facet of that particular system. Therefore, the paper discusses the outcomes from the pilot study on which elements that sustain the significant impact in contributing to the process of knowledge repository sustainability in an organization.

  16. The Challenge of Urban Heat Exposure under Climate Change: An Analysis of Cities in the Sustainable Healthy Urban Environments (SHUE Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Milner

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The so far largely unabated emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs are expected to increase global temperatures substantially over this century. We quantify the patterns of increases for 246 globally-representative cities in the Sustainable Healthy Urban Environments (SHUE database. We used an ensemble of 18 global climate models (GCMs run under a low (RCP2.6 and high (RCP8.5 emissions scenario to estimate the increase in monthly mean temperatures by 2050 and 2100 based on 30-year averages. Model simulations were from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5. Annual mean temperature increases were 0.93 degrees Celsius by 2050 and 1.10 degrees Celsius by 2100 under RCP2.6, and 1.27 and 4.15 degrees Celsius under RCP8.5, but with substantial city-to-city variation. By 2100, under RCP2.6 no city exceeds an increase in Tmean > 2 degrees Celsius (relative to a 2017 baseline, while all do under RCP8.5, some with increases in Tmean close to, or even greater than, 7 degrees Celsius. The increases were greatest in cities of mid to high latitude, in humid temperate and dry climate regions, and with large seasonal variation in temperature. Cities are likely to experience large increases in hottest month mean temperatures under high GHG emissions trajectories, which will often present substantial challenges to adaptation and health protection.

  17. Sustaining recruitment of oak reproduction in uneven-aged stands in the Ozark Highlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    David R. Larsen; Edward F. Loewenstein; Paul S. Johnson

    1999-01-01

    Successful application of the single-tree selection system in Ozark oak forests depends on sustaining adequate recruitment of reproduction into the overstory. In turn, this requires maintaining stand density at ecologically appropriate levels. The ecological requirements for oak recruitment are discussed and guiding curves are presented that meet those requirements...

  18. Ugly bugs in healthy guts! Carriage of multidrug-resistant and ESBL-producing commensal Enterobacteriaceae in the intestine of healthy Nepalese adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maharjan, Anjila; Bhetwal, Anjeela; Shakya, Shreena; Satyal, Deepa; Shah, Shashikala; Joshi, Govardhan; Khanal, Puspa Raj; Parajuli, Narayan Prasad

    2018-01-01

    Fecal carriage of multidrug-resistant and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae is one of the important risk factors for infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In this report, we examined the prevalence of multidrug-resistant and ESBL-producing common enterobacterial strains colonizing the intestinal tract of apparently healthy adults in Kathmandu, Nepal. During a 6-month period (February-July 2016), a total of 510 stool specimens were obtained from apparently healthy students of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal. Stool specimens were cultured, and the most common enterobacterial isolates ( Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species) were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests according to the standard microbiologic guidelines. Multidrug-resistant isolates were selected for ESBL confirmation by combined disk test and E-test methods. Molecular characterization of plasmid-borne ESBL genes was performed by using specific primers of cefotaximase Munich (CTX-M), sulfhydryl variant (SHV), and temoniera (TEM) by polymerase chain reaction. Among 510 bacterial strains, E. coli (432, 84.71%) was the predominant organism followed by Klebsiella oxytoca (48, 9.41%) and K. pneumoniae (30, 5.88%). ESBLs were isolated in 9.8% of the total isolates including K. oxytoca (29.17%), E. coli (7.87%), and K. pneumoniae (6.67%). Among ESBLs, bla -TEM was the predominant type (92%) followed by bla -CTX-M (60%) and bla -SHV (4%). Multidrug-resistant and ESBL-producing enterobacterial commensal strains among healthy individuals are of serious concern. Persistent carriage of ESBL organisms in healthy individuals suggests the possibility of sustained ESBL carriage among the diseased and hospitalized patients. We recommend similar types of epidemiologic surveys in larger communities and in hospital settings to ascertain the extent of ESBL resistance.

  19. Intelligent Buildings: Key to Achieving Total Sustainability in the Built Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tulika Gadakari

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available ‘Are intelligent buildings a pragmatic approach towards achieving a sustainable built environment?’ is the research question that this review article aims to answer. It has been argued that there is a serious need for intelligent buildings to be evaluated against the parameters of total sustainability (environmental, economic and social so as to help the agenda of living in a technologically advanced, healthy and comfortable world. This paper reviews existing theoretical concepts of intelligence and sustainability in the built environment, through an exploration of various scientific literature and U.S Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design databases. A systematic qualitative review approach has been employed to select an appropriate definition of sustainable development and use it as a theoretical framework to assess the technological impact of intelligent buildings on the environmental, economic and social front. Subsequently five case study buildings from around the world, which exemplify the use of intelligent technologies to achieve sustainable gains were chosen and analyzed to further validate the literature findings. Outputs from the study highlight the various benefits of intelligent buildings, which include decrease in energy and water consumption, operational costs, as well as increase in productivity and investments. Additionally the analysis of the case studies revealed that the use of intelligent building technologies has contributed significantly towards a higher sustainability rating on the LEED rating scale. Moreover, the comparison of the attributes of intelligent buildings and sustainable practices in buildings, illustrates the fact that there is a considerable overlap between the two and intelligence can aid sustainability in the built environment. Thus the research suggests that green technologies and intelligence in combination may be a pragmatic approach towards the sustainability

  20. Med Diet 4.0: the Mediterranean diet with four sustainable benefits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dernini, S; Berry, E M; Serra-Majem, L; La Vecchia, C; Capone, R; Medina, F X; Aranceta-Bartrina, J; Belahsen, R; Burlingame, B; Calabrese, G; Corella, D; Donini, L M; Lairon, D; Meybeck, A; Pekcan, A G; Piscopo, S; Yngve, A; Trichopoulou, A

    2017-05-01

    To characterize the multiple dimensions and benefits of the Mediterranean diet as a sustainable diet, in order to revitalize this intangible food heritage at the country level; and to develop a multidimensional framework - the Med Diet 4.0 - in which four sustainability benefits of the Mediterranean diet are presented in parallel: major health and nutrition benefits, low environmental impacts and richness in biodiversity, high sociocultural food values, and positive local economic returns. A narrative review was applied at the country level to highlight the multiple sustainable benefits of the Mediterranean diet into a single multidimensional framework: the Med Diet 4.0. Setting/subjects We included studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals that contained data on the characterization of sustainable diets and of the Mediterranean diet. The methodological framework approach was finalized through a series of meetings, workshops and conferences where the framework was presented, discussed and ultimately refined. The Med Diet 4.0 provides a conceptual multidimensional framework to characterize the Mediterranean diet as a sustainable diet model, by applying principles of sustainability to the Mediterranean diet. By providing a broader understanding of the many sustainable benefits of the Mediterranean diet, the Med Diet 4.0 can contribute to the revitalization of the Mediterranean diet by improving its current perception not only as a healthy diet but also a sustainable lifestyle model, with country-specific and culturally appropriate variations. It also takes into account the identity and diversity of food cultures and systems, expressed within the notion of the Mediterranean diet, across the Mediterranean region and in other parts of the world. Further multidisciplinary studies are needed for the assessment of the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet to include these new dimensions.

  1. Sustainable development strategy 2001-2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    This report defines what Transport Canada can do to incorporate environmental considerations into its mandate. While governments are faced with more pressures to finance and expand transportation infrastructure to meet the growth in transportation, environmental pressures are also increasing to make efficient use of land and natural resources, preserve vital habitats and maintain biodiversity. A greater use of non-renewable resources and new technologies such as fuel cells for automobiles will play an important role in addressing these environmental challenges related to the transportation sector. In addition, the transportation infrastructure will have to evolve to promote less polluting modes of travel and to better integrate different modes to make the system more efficient. This report presented the following 7 strategic challenges facing the transportation sector in Canada: (1) improving education and awareness of sustainable transportation, (2) developing tools for better decision-making, (3) promoting the adoption of sustainable transportation technology, (4) improving environmental management for Transport Canada operations and lands, (5) reducing air emissions, (6) reducing water pollution, and (7) promoting efficient transportation. For each challenge, the department has defined specific commitments for action, with a total of 29 commitments. tabs., figs

  2. Environmental ethics and regional sustainable development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHENG Du; DAI Erfu

    2012-01-01

    The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human-environment interactions.Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior.The development of environmental ethics theory,as well as its application in reality,determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics.Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter-generation responsibility,with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population,resources,environment and development,so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations.The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics.The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature,care for the individual human race,and respect for the development of future generations,which means giving consideration to natural values,individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations.The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition,criticism,education,inspiration,adjusting,legislation and promoting environmental regulations.The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration,fast population growth,irrational industrial structure,unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development.The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development,can not only harmonize the relationship of population,resource,environment and economic development,but also guide behavior selection,push social and political system transformation,strengthen the legal system,and raise environmental awareness of the public.

  3. Limits to sustainable muscle performance: interaction between glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conley, K E; Kemper, W F; Crowther, G J

    2001-09-01

    This paper proposes a mechanism responsible for setting the sustainable level of muscle performance. Our contentions are that the sustainable work rate is determined (i) at the muscle level, (ii) by the ability to maintain ATP supply and (iii) by the products of glycolysis that may inhibit the signal for oxidative phosphorylation. We argue below that no single factor 'limits' sustainable performance, but rather that the flux through and the interaction between glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation set the level of sustainable ATP supply. This argument is based on magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements of the sources and sinks for energy in vivo in human muscle and rattlesnake tailshaker muscle during sustained contractions. These measurements show that glycolysis provides between 20% (human muscle) and 40% (tailshaker muscle) of the ATP supply during sustained contractions in these muscles. We cite evidence showing that this high glycolytic flux does not reflect an O(2) limitation or mitochondria operating at their capacity. Instead, this flux reflects a pathway independent of oxidative phosphorylation for ATP supply during aerobic exercise. The consequence of this high glycolytic flux is accumulation of H(+), which we argue inhibits the rise in the signal activating oxidative phosphorylation, thereby restricting oxidative ATP supply to below the oxidative capacity. Thus, both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation play important roles in setting the highest steady-state ATP synthesis flux and thereby determine the sustainable level of work by exercising muscle.

  4. Corporate Sustainability Reporting in the BIST Sustainability Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burcu Demirel

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there is a growing focus on corporate operations especially since the publication of the first environmental reports in 1989. Companies have started to publish information about its environmental, social and sustainability policies. The study examines the sustainability reporting elements of Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index (BIST in Turkey and to evaluate which elements is most vital in this context. This study will begin with the sustainability reporting that will be examined under the roof of corporation sustainability and end with the examination of sustainability reports of 15 firms, which are included in the BIST Sustainability Index in Turkey, and a content analysis. The reports of companies under study were taken from special web site and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative database of companies. Being the first study in examining the sustainability report of companies in BIST Sustainability Index, it is expected to contribute in literature about sustainability reporting recently started to gain importance in Turkey. Overall our findings suggest that the sustainability index established in Turkey is still in development stage, but the enterprises in the endeavor are working day by day to develop the sustainability qualities.

  5. Using a Smartphone Application to Promote Healthy Dietary Behaviours and Local Food Consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilliland, Jason; Sadler, Richard; Clark, Andrew; O'Connor, Colleen; Milczarek, Malgorzata; Doherty, Sean

    2015-01-01

    Smartphone “apps” are a powerful tool for public health promotion, but unidimensional interventions have been ineffective at sustaining behavioural change. Various logistical issues exist in successful app development for health intervention programs and for sustaining behavioural change. This study reports on a smartphone application and messaging service, called “SmartAPPetite,” which uses validated behaviour change techniques and a behavioural economic approach to “nudge” users into healthy dietary behaviours. To help gauge participation in and influence of the program, data were collected using an upfront food survey, message uptake tracking, experience sampling interviews, and a follow-up survey. Logistical and content-based issues in the deployment of the messaging service were subsequently addressed to strengthen the effectiveness of the app in changing dietary behaviours. Challenges included creating relevant food goal categories for participants, providing messaging appropriate to self-reported food literacy and ensuring continued participation in the program. SmartAPPetite was effective at creating a sense of improved awareness and consumption of healthy foods, as well as drawing people to local food vendors with greater frequency. This work serves as a storehouse of methods and best practices for multidimensional local food-based smartphone interventions aimed at improving the “triple bottom line” of health, economy, and environment. PMID:26380298

  6. Using a Smartphone Application to Promote Healthy Dietary Behaviours and Local Food Consumption

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason Gilliland

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Smartphone “apps” are a powerful tool for public health promotion, but unidimensional interventions have been ineffective at sustaining behavioural change. Various logistical issues exist in successful app development for health intervention programs and for sustaining behavioural change. This study reports on a smartphone application and messaging service, called “SmartAPPetite,” which uses validated behaviour change techniques and a behavioural economic approach to “nudge” users into healthy dietary behaviours. To help gauge participation in and influence of the program, data were collected using an upfront food survey, message uptake tracking, experience sampling interviews, and a follow-up survey. Logistical and content-based issues in the deployment of the messaging service were subsequently addressed to strengthen the effectiveness of the app in changing dietary behaviours. Challenges included creating relevant food goal categories for participants, providing messaging appropriate to self-reported food literacy and ensuring continued participation in the program. SmartAPPetite was effective at creating a sense of improved awareness and consumption of healthy foods, as well as drawing people to local food vendors with greater frequency. This work serves as a storehouse of methods and best practices for multidimensional local food-based smartphone interventions aimed at improving the “triple bottom line” of health, economy, and environment.

  7. Using a Smartphone Application to Promote Healthy Dietary Behaviours and Local Food Consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilliland, Jason; Sadler, Richard; Clark, Andrew; O'Connor, Colleen; Milczarek, Malgorzata; Doherty, Sean

    2015-01-01

    Smartphone "apps" are a powerful tool for public health promotion, but unidimensional interventions have been ineffective at sustaining behavioural change. Various logistical issues exist in successful app development for health intervention programs and for sustaining behavioural change. This study reports on a smartphone application and messaging service, called "SmartAPPetite," which uses validated behaviour change techniques and a behavioural economic approach to "nudge" users into healthy dietary behaviours. To help gauge participation in and influence of the program, data were collected using an upfront food survey, message uptake tracking, experience sampling interviews, and a follow-up survey. Logistical and content-based issues in the deployment of the messaging service were subsequently addressed to strengthen the effectiveness of the app in changing dietary behaviours. Challenges included creating relevant food goal categories for participants, providing messaging appropriate to self-reported food literacy and ensuring continued participation in the program. SmartAPPetite was effective at creating a sense of improved awareness and consumption of healthy foods, as well as drawing people to local food vendors with greater frequency. This work serves as a storehouse of methods and best practices for multidimensional local food-based smartphone interventions aimed at improving the "triple bottom line" of health, economy, and environment.

  8. Biosensors for Sustainable Food Engineering: Challenges and Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragavan, Vasanth; Weng, Xuan; Chand, Rohit

    2018-01-01

    Current food production faces tremendous challenges from growing human population, maintaining clean resources and food qualities, and protecting climate and environment. Food sustainability is mostly a cooperative effort resulting in technology development supported by both governments and enterprises. Multiple attempts have been promoted in tackling challenges and enhancing drivers in food production. Biosensors and biosensing technologies with their applications, are being widely applied to tackling top challenges in food production and its sustainability. Consequently, a growing demand in biosensing technologies exists in food sustainability. Microfluidics represents a technological system integrating multiple technologies. Nanomaterials, with its technology in biosensing, is thought to be the most promising tool in dealing with health, energy, and environmental issues closely related to world populations. The demand of point of care (POC) technologies in this area focus on rapid, simple, accurate, portable, and low-cost analytical instruments. This review provides current viewpoints from the literature on biosensing in food production, food processing, safety and security, food packaging and supply chain, food waste processing, food quality assurance, and food engineering. The current understanding of progress, solution, and future challenges, as well as the commercialization of biosensors are summarized. PMID:29534552

  9. Biosensors for Sustainable Food Engineering: Challenges and Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neethirajan, Suresh; Ragavan, Vasanth; Weng, Xuan; Chand, Rohit

    2018-03-12

    Current food production faces tremendous challenges from growing human population, maintaining clean resources and food qualities, and protecting climate and environment. Food sustainability is mostly a cooperative effort resulting in technology development supported by both governments and enterprises. Multiple attempts have been promoted in tackling challenges and enhancing drivers in food production. Biosensors and biosensing technologies with their applications, are being widely applied to tackling top challenges in food production and its sustainability. Consequently, a growing demand in biosensing technologies exists in food sustainability. Microfluidics represents a technological system integrating multiple technologies. Nanomaterials, with its technology in biosensing, is thought to be the most promising tool in dealing with health, energy, and environmental issues closely related to world populations. The demand of point of care (POC) technologies in this area focus on rapid, simple, accurate, portable, and low-cost analytical instruments. This review provides current viewpoints from the literature on biosensing in food production, food processing, safety and security, food packaging and supply chain, food waste processing, food quality assurance, and food engineering. The current understanding of progress, solution, and future challenges, as well as the commercialization of biosensors are summarized.

  10. Improvements in concentration, working memory and sustained attention following consumption of a natural citicoline-caffeine beverage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruce, Steven E; Werner, Kimberly B; Preston, Brittany F; Baker, Laurie M

    2014-12-01

    This study examined the neurocognitive and electrophysiological effects of a citicoline-caffeine-based beverage in 60 healthy adult participants enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Measures of electrical brain activity using electroencephalogram (EEG) and neuropsychological measures examining attention, concentration and reaction time were administered. Compared to placebo, participants receiving the citicoline-caffeine beverage exhibited significantly faster maze learning times and reaction times on a continuous performance test, fewer errors in a go/no-go task and better accuracy on a measure of information processing speed. EEG results examining P450 event-related potentials revealed that participants receiving the citicoline-caffeine beverage exhibited higher P450 amplitudes than controls, suggesting an increase in sustained attention. Overall, these findings suggest that the beverage significantly improved sustained attention, cognitive effort and reaction times in healthy adults. Evidence of improved P450 amplitude indicates a general improvement in the ability to accommodate new and relevant information within working memory and overall enhanced brain activation.

  11. International Alliance of Green Hotels to Reach Sustainable Competitive Advantages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hufei Ge

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Under increasing environmental pressure, hotel firms need to improve their ability to access international alliances while maintaining good performance for sustainable development. This paper uses survey data from 784 hotels running at different levels of service in China to test the hypothesis in an integrated analytical model, and the findings show that the impact of international alliances varies with different levels of green hotels. Despite operating in the same sector, hotels running at different levels of service vary their respective tactics to gain sustainable competitive advantage and achieve significantly different results. This study intends to inform hotel managers in obtaining specific performance goals by developing absorptive capacity, and by choosing the most suitable alliance for their level of operation.

  12. Plant genetic resources for the sustainability of agro-industrial production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bacchetta, L.; Del Fiore, A.; Di Giovanni, B.; Padovani, M.L.; Santi, C.; Troiani, V.; Tronci, C.

    2015-01-01

    Retrieving, characterization and conservation of agro-biodiversity ' are the European Union's priority objectives in the context of the strategies to preserve the genetic resources deemed essential for sustainable development, for the support of the community and to encourage a balanced economic growth. A holistic, integrated strategy can create the most propitious conditions to retrieve, maintain, and use in a sustainable way and according to models of circular economy and continuous innovation, the potential of plant systems (also by-products and wastes) for the development of new sectors of economic and social interest through innovative processes with a low environmental impact, according with the European strategy to 2020 which gives priority to the development of the bio-economy. [it

  13. Insta-Grams: The Effect of Consumer Weight on Reactions to Healthy Food Posts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinard, Brian R

    2016-08-01

    Each day, social networking sites become increasingly inundated with food imagery. Since many of these images are of fresh, vibrant, and healthy eats, photo sharing of food through social media should have a long-term positive effect on consumption habits. Yet, obesity rates in the United States continue to rise, suggesting that people are spending more time posting images of healthy foods and paying less attention to the actual foods they consume. This confounding relationship could be explained by consumer weight, in that overweight consumers desire to engage with social media maybe for the purpose of expressing, presenting, and identifying with a healthy lifestyle. In the context of food posts, individuals higher in body mass index may be more likely to engage in social media activity (e.g., likes, shares, comments) that validates healthy food choices to others in their online community. A between-subjects experimental design tested this proposed effect using a manipulated Instagram post of a healthy food item (i.e., black bean veggie burger). Results indicate that obese individuals are more likely to engage with healthy food posts compared with their normal weight and overweight counterparts. The effect is even more pronounced when posts are absent of prior social media activity. Based upon these results, obese individuals are encouraged to establish and maintain social network connections with others who routinely post images of healthy food in their social media feeds. Limitations and directions for future research are provided.

  14. An Information Theory-Based Approach to Assessing the Sustainability and Stability of an Island System

    Science.gov (United States)

    It is well-documented that a sustainable system is based on environmental stewardship, economic viability and social equity. What is often overlooked is the need for continuity such that desirable system behavior is maintained with mechanisms in place that facilitate the ability ...

  15. Analyzing Forces to the Financial Contribution of Local Governments to Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In many countries, the economic crisis brought high volumes of deficit and debt in public entities, which jeopardized the ability of governments to continue providing public services and caused considerable imbalances of economic growth in different regions. In this context, from the recognition of the linkage between economic development and efficiency in public management, previous research indicates that local governments are called to play a key role in promoting sustainable development through environment, economic and social policies based on financial sustainability of the public services. This paper aims to identify influencing factors on the financial sustainability of local governments, as an indicator of their capacity to maintain the delivery of public services over time. Based on a sample of 139 Spanish municipalities with large population for the period 2006–2014, our findings reveal the influence of variables such as the unemployment rate by sector, the dependent population, the immigrant population and the level of education of the population, on the financial sustainability in local governments, providing new useful knowledge to managers, policymakers, researchers and others stakeholders interested in the sustainability of public services.

  16. Scalability of Sustainable Business Models in Hybrid Organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Jabłoński

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The dynamics of change in modern business create new mechanisms for company management to determine their pursuit and the achievement of their high performance. This performance maintained over a long period of time becomes a source of ensuring business continuity by companies. An ontological being enabling the adoption of such assumptions is such a business model that has the ability to generate results in every possible market situation and, moreover, it has the features of permanent adaptability. A feature that describes the adaptability of the business model is its scalability. Being a factor ensuring more work and more efficient work with an increasing number of components, scalability can be applied to the concept of business models as the company’s ability to maintain similar or higher performance through it. Ensuring the company’s performance in the long term helps to build the so-called sustainable business model that often balances the objectives of stakeholders and shareholders, and that is created by the implemented principles of value-based management and corporate social responsibility. This perception of business paves the way for building hybrid organizations that integrate business activities with pro-social ones. The combination of an approach typical of hybrid organizations in designing and implementing sustainable business models pursuant to the scalability criterion seems interesting from the cognitive point of view. Today, hybrid organizations are great spaces for building effective and efficient mechanisms for dialogue between business and society. This requires the appropriate business model. The purpose of the paper is to present the conceptualization and operationalization of scalability of sustainable business models that determine the performance of a hybrid organization in the network environment. The paper presents the original concept of applying scalability in sustainable business models with detailed

  17. Urban planning, public transit and related initiatives for more sustainable transportation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-11-01

    The characteristics of ten Canadian cities and their transportation systems were summarized. The need to conserve resources and to maintain environmental quality has lead to initiatives aimed at achieving more sustainable urban transportation. The most promising initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve other sustainability objectives were described. Ways to overcome the most significant barriers were suggested. Since suburban areas are generally automobile-dependant, the major challenge is how to retrofit these areas with high quality transit services. A corollary objective is to achieve more compact, mixed-use urban structure and pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, thereby reducing average trip distances and making it feasible for the transit, walking and cycling modes to be used more extensively. refs., tabs., figs

  18. Rewards boost sustained attention through higher effort: A value-based decision making approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massar, Stijn A A; Lim, Julian; Sasmita, Karen; Chee, Michael W L

    2016-10-01

    Maintaining sustained attention over time is an effortful process limited by finite cognitive resources. Recent theories describe the role of motivation in the allocation of such resources as a decision process: the costs of effortful performance are weighed against its gains. We examined this hypothesis by combining methods from attention research and decision neuroscience. Participants first performed a sustained attention task at different levels of reward. They then performed a reward-discounting task, measuring the subjective costs of performance. Results demonstrated that higher rewards led to improved performance (Exp 1-3), and enhanced attentional effort (i.e. pupil diameter; Exp 2 & 3). Moreover, discounting curves constructed from the choice task indicated that subjects devalued rewards that came at the cost of staying vigilant for a longer duration (Exp 1 & 2). Motivation can thus boost sustained attention through increased effort, while sustained performance is regarded as a cost against which rewards are discounted. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Equity, sustainability and governance in urban settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Marilyn; Hancock, Trevor

    2016-03-01

    In this commentary the urban setting is explored from the perspective of ecological sustainability and social equity. Urban-related issues are highlighted related to social inequality, deficits in urban infrastructures, behavior-related illnesses and risks, global ecological changes, and urban sprawl. Approaches to addressing these issues are described from the perspective of urban governance, urban planning and design, social determinants of health, health promotion, and personal and community empowerment. Examples of successful strategies are provided from Latin America, including using participatory instruments (assessments, evaluation, participatory budgeting, etc.), establishing intersectoral committees, increasing participation of civil society organizations, and developing virtual forums and networks to channel participatory and collaborative processes. A way forward is proposed, using the urban setting to show the imperative of creating intersectoral policies and programs that produce environments that are both healthy and sustainable. It will be important to include new forms of social participation and use social media to facilitate citizen decision-making and active participation of all sectors of society, especially excluded groups. © The Author(s) 2015.

  20. THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET AS A SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Lopes

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Central theme in society these days, the diet went through several phases during the evolution of the human being. Currently human’s advanced civilizational, deplete resources, develops forms of reproduction and rapid growth of animals, genetically alter plants to make them more resilient and artificially prolongs life. All these factors lead to an overload in nature and revolve to a group of environmentalists and animal rights. Sustainability is part of everyday life of political and social discourse as the fundamental way to our relationship with the environment. Sustainable food systems are those that are able to survive over time, promoting sustainable use of resources and a balance in the economic, social and environmental aspects. Changing diet to the Mediterranean Diet would bring benefits: on the health level, with better nutrition and increased use of some processed products; economic, by encouraging the consumption of local and national production of products; social, with the creation of jobs in agriculture; and environmental, using organic production and the reduction of transportation needs. The Mediterranean Diet encourages a more balanced and healthy eating style, with great positive impact on the environment. With the globalization phenomena is was gradually lost, but is now being revived due to the awakening to health and ecological problems.

  1. Maintaining an outward image: a Korean immigrant's life with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pistulka, Gina M; Winch, Peter J; Park, Hyunjeong; Han, Hae-Ra; Kim, Miyong T

    2012-06-01

    Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) disproportionately affect minority populations in the United States, including Korean American immigrants (KAI). We conducted qualitative interviews with middle-aged KAI in Maryland living with DM and HTN to examine the illness experience to inform future intervention strategies. Study results show that participants utilized strategies to maintain respect and Korean identity, including an image of being healthy and in control of their behavior in the public arena. These strategies included the lack of disclosure of their illness, even to family members, and avoiding outside assistance when engaging in problem solving. Maintaining an outward image of health was a common goal that affected the self-care of KAI in this study, a finding that might prove significant in the management of other chronic illnesses affecting this population. The study findings demonstrate the importance of in-depth understanding of specific populations when treating chronic illness, and caretakers' sensitivity to each population's unique cultural issues regarding identity, image, and disclosure.

  2. Data Updating Methods for Spatial Data Infrastructure that Maintain Infrastructure Quality and Enable its Sustainable Operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murakami, S.; Takemoto, T.; Ito, Y.

    2012-07-01

    The Japanese government, local governments and businesses are working closely together to establish spatial data infrastructures in accordance with the Basic Act on the Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information (NSDI Act established in August 2007). Spatial data infrastructures are urgently required not only to accelerate computerization of the public administration, but also to help restoration and reconstruction of the areas struck by the East Japan Great Earthquake and future disaster prevention and reduction. For construction of a spatial data infrastructure, various guidelines have been formulated. But after an infrastructure is constructed, there is a problem of maintaining it. In one case, an organization updates its spatial data only once every several years because of budget problems. Departments and sections update the data on their own without careful consideration. That upsets the quality control of the entire data system and the system loses integrity, which is crucial to a spatial data infrastructure. To ensure quality, ideally, it is desirable to update data of the entire area every year. But, that is virtually impossible, considering the recent budget crunch. The method we suggest is to update spatial data items of higher importance only in order to maintain quality, not updating all the items across the board. We have explored a method of partially updating the data of these two geographical features while ensuring the accuracy of locations. Using this method, data on roads and buildings that greatly change with time can be updated almost in real time or at least within a year. The method will help increase the availability of a spatial data infrastructure. We have conducted an experiment on the spatial data infrastructure of a municipality using those data. As a result, we have found that it is possible to update data of both features almost in real time.

  3. Empowering individuals to make environmentally sustainable and healthy transportation choices in mega-cities through a smartphone app.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-01

    A paradox of industrialized society is the overreliance on unsustainable fossil fuel energy for transportation and insufficient use of sustainable : bodily energy for more physically active modes of transport. Different modes of transportation requir...

  4. Energy, sustainability and the environment technology, incentives, behavior

    CERN Document Server

    2011-01-01

    The complexity of carbon reduction and economic sustainability is significantly complicated by competing aspects of socioeconomic practices as well as legislative, regulatory, and scientific requirements and protocols. An easy to read and understand guide, Sioshansi, along with an international group of contributors, moves through the maze of carbon reduction methods and technologies, providing steps and insights to meet carbon reduction requirements and maintaining the health and welfare of the firm. The book's three part treatment is based on a clear and rigorous exposition of a wide range of options to reduce the carbon footprint Part 1 of the book, Challenge of Sustainability, examines the fundamental drivers of energy demand - economic growth, the need for basic energy services, and the interdependence of economic, political, environmental, social, equity, legacy and policy issues. Part 2 of the book, Technological Solutions, examines how energy can be used to support basic energy service needs of homes...

  5. Short-Term Memory Performances during Sustained Wakefulness in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greneche, Jerome; Krieger, Jean; Bertrand, Frederic; Erhardt, Christine; Maumy, Myriam; Tassi, Patricia

    2011-01-01

    Both working and immediate memories were assessed every 4 h by specific short-term memory tasks over sustained wakefulness in 12 patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and 10 healthy controls. Results indicated that OSAHS patients exhibited lower working memory performances than controls on both backward digit span and…

  6. "Eat as If You Could Save the Planet and Win!" Sustainability Integration into Nutrition for Exercise and Sport.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Nanna; Reguant-Closa, Alba

    2017-04-21

    Today's industrial food production contributes significantly to environmental degradation. Meat production accounts for the largest impact, including greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use. While food production and consumption are important aspects when addressing climate change, this article focuses predominantly on dietary change that promotes both health for planet and people with focus on athletes. Healthy, sustainable eating recommendations begin to appear in various governmental guidelines. However, there remains resistance to the suggested reductions in meat consumption. While food citizens are likely to choose what is good for them and the planet, others may not, unless healthy eating initiatives integrate creative food literacy approaches with experiential learning as a potential vehicle for change. This concept paper is organized in three sections: (1) Environmental impact of food; (2) health and sustainability connections; and (3) application in sports and exercise. For active individuals, this article focuses on the quantity of protein, highlighting meat and dairy, and quality of food, with topics such as organic production and biodiversity. Finally, the timing of when to integrate sustainability principles in sport nutrition is discussed, followed by practical applications for education and inclusion in team, institutional, and event operations.

  7. PRACTICING ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF TOURISM FOR MAINTAINING HEALTH IN AREAS OF GORJ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camelia Daniela Plăstoi

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Climate of the mountain body improves health through ozone and negative ions, whose ratio is three times higher in the mountain air, than in plain air. Leisure activities practiced in Rinca and Sohodol ecotourism areas are: respiratory therapy, hiking, jogging, cycling and gymnastics exercises. Ecotourism areas are areas where you can practice a form of alternative tourism, which aims at protecting and maintaining a manageable size products impacts on the environment. Ecotourism areas Sohodolului Rinca and keys can perform controlled activities, directed, investment or development and leisure activities, while respecting the principle of sustainable use of natural resources and prevent any significant adverse effects on biodiversity. Spent in leisure activities with friends and family are recreational, pleasurable, leisure, entertainment and amusement.

  8. Interdependences between sustainable development and sustainable economy

    OpenAIRE

    Emilia Mioara CÂMPEANU; Carmen Valentina RĂDULESCU

    2014-01-01

    Sustainable development and sustainable economy are mostly used concepts. Understanding clearly their meaning allows their use in an appropriate context and, therefore, their boundaries in terms of theoretical and practical approaches on which occasion it can be given their interdependencies. The paper aim is to analyze the interdependences between sustainable development and sustainable economy.

  9. Healthy Cooking Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Healthy Lifestyle Nutrition and healthy eating Healthy-cooking techniques capture the flavor and nutrients of food without extra fat or salt. By Mayo Clinic Staff Healthy cooking doesn't mean that ...

  10. Awakening: a qualitative study on maintaining weight loss after bariatric surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liebl, Lori; Barnason, Susan; Brage Hudson, Diane

    2016-04-01

    To describe the experiences of adults who were successful in maintaining weight loss after bariatric surgery. The majority of studies examine a homogenous demographic group of postbariatric surgical patients who have gone through initial weight loss, which occurs within the first 12-24 months post surgery. Maintenance of weight loss begins 24 months after bariatric surgery; however, there is a paucity of research examining experiences during this period. The lack of conclusive research related to interactions between intrapersonal, behavioural and environmental influences suggests a need to develop a better understanding of patients' experiences related to weight loss maintenance post bariatric surgery. Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory provided the framework for the semi-structured interviews for this qualitative descriptive study. In-person interviews with n = 14 participants who were able to maintain weight loss at least 24 months after a bariatric surgery. Participants experienced an awakening and gained a new perspective on their life. They identified negative attitudes, influences and behaviours and modified their environment to support their desired healthy behaviour. To maintain weight loss, an individual must seek out and be surrounded by positive family and peer support influences. Positive support may provide the opportunity for an individual to place personal health needs as a priority. Therapeutic education and counselling for individuals, couples and families should occur during all phases of bariatric surgery. Communication techniques may empower clients to deflect negative comments and influences in a constructive manner. Support groups should accommodate the various phases of bariatric surgery. Clients should be prepared for how to work through emotions associated with weight fluctuations. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. The Role of Sustained Attention in the Production of Conjoined Noun Phrases: An Individual Differences Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jongman, Suzanne R; Meyer, Antje S; Roelofs, Ardi

    2015-01-01

    It has previously been shown that language production, performed simultaneously with a nonlinguistic task, involves sustained attention. Sustained attention concerns the ability to maintain alertness over time. Here, we aimed to replicate the previous finding by showing that individuals call upon sustained attention when they plan single noun phrases (e.g., "the carrot") and perform a manual arrow categorization task. In addition, we investigated whether speakers also recruit sustained attention when they produce conjoined noun phrases (e.g., "the carrot and the bucket") describing two pictures, that is, when both the first and second task are linguistic. We found that sustained attention correlated with the proportion of abnormally slow phrase-production responses. Individuals with poor sustained attention displayed a greater number of very slow responses than individuals with better sustained attention. Importantly, this relationship was obtained both for the production of single phrases while performing a nonlinguistic manual task, and the production of noun phrase conjunctions in referring to two spatially separated objects. Inhibition and updating abilities were also measured. These scores did not correlate with our measure of sustained attention, suggesting that sustained attention and executive control are distinct. Overall, the results suggest that planning conjoined noun phrases involves sustained attention, and that language production happens less automatically than has often been assumed.

  12. A framework for sustainable invasive species management: environmental, social and economic objectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Diane L.; Phillips-Mao, Laura; Quiram, Gina; Sharpe, Leah; Stark, Rebecca; Sugita, Shinya; Weiler, Annie

    2011-01-01

    Applying the concept of sustainability to invasive species management (ISM) is challenging but necessary, given the increasing rates of invasion and the high costs of invasion impacts and control. To be sustainable, ISM must address environmental, social, and economic factors (or *pillars*) that influence the causes, impacts, and control of invasive species across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Although these pillars are generally acknowledged, their implementation is often limited by insufficient control options and significant economic and political constraints. In this paper, we outline specific objectives in each of these three *pillars* that, if incorporated into a management plan, will improve the plan's likelihood of sustainability. We then examine three case studies that illustrate how these objectives can be effectively implemented. Each pillar reinforces the others, such that the inclusion of even a few of the outlined objectives will lead to more effective management that achieves ecological goals, while generating social support and long-term funding to maintain projects to completion. We encourage agency directors and policy-makers to consider sustainability principles when developing funding schemes, management agendas, and policy.

  13. Benefits of Sleep Extension on Sustained Attention and Sleep Pressure Before and During Total Sleep Deprivation and Recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnal, Pierrick J; Sauvet, Fabien; Leger, Damien; van Beers, Pascal; Bayon, Virginie; Bougard, Clément; Rabat, Arnaud; Millet, Guillaume Y; Chennaoui, Mounir

    2015-12-01

    To investigate the effects of 6 nights of sleep extension on sustained attention and sleep pressure before and during total sleep deprivation and after a subsequent recovery sleep. Subjects participated in two experimental conditions (randomized cross-over design): extended sleep (EXT, 9.8 ± 0.1 h (mean ± SE) time in bed) and habitual sleep (HAB, 8.2 ± 0.1 h time in bed). In each condition, subjects performed two consecutive phases: (1) 6 nights of either EXT or HAB (2) three days in-laboratory: baseline, total sleep deprivation and after 10 h of recovery sleep. Residential sleep extension and sleep performance laboratory (continuous polysomnographic recording). 14 healthy men (age range: 26-37 years). EXT vs. HAB sleep durations prior to total sleep deprivation. Total sleep time and duration of all sleep stages during the 6 nights were significantly higher in EXT than HAB. EXT improved psychomotor vigilance task performance (PVT, both fewer lapses and faster speed) and reduced sleep pressure as evidenced by longer multiple sleep latencies (MSLT) at baseline compared to HAB. EXT limited PVT lapses and the number of involuntary microsleeps during total sleep deprivation. Differences in PVT lapses and speed and MSLT at baseline were maintained after one night of recovery sleep. Six nights of extended sleep improve sustained attention and reduce sleep pressure. Sleep extension also protects against psychomotor vigilance task lapses and microsleep degradation during total sleep deprivation. These beneficial effects persist after one night of recovery sleep. © 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

  14. Unreliable Sustainable Infrastructure: Three Transformations to Guide Cities towards Becoming Healthy 'Smart Cities'

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sperling, Joshua [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Fisher, Stephen [Tetra Tech; Reiner, Mark B. [Non Sequitur, LLC

    2017-10-26

    The term 'leapfrogging' has been applied to cities and nations that have adopted a new form of infrastructure by bypassing the traditional progression of development, e.g., from no phones to cell phones - bypassing landlines all together. However, leapfrogging from unreliable infrastructure systems to 'smart' cities is too large a jump resulting in unsustainable and unhealthy infrastructure systems. In the Global South, a baseline of unreliable infrastructure is a prevalent problem. The push for sustainable and 'smart' [re]development tends to ignore many of those already living with failing, unreliable infrastructure. Without awareness of baseline conditions, uninformed projects run the risk of returning conditions to the status quo, keeping many urban populations below targets of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. A key part of understanding the baseline is to identify how citizens have long learned to adjust their expectations of basic services. To compensate for poor infrastructure, most residents in the Global South invest in remedial secondary infrastructure (RSI) at the household and business levels. The authors explore three key 'smart' city transformations that address RSI within a hierarchical planning pyramid known as the comprehensive resilient and reliable infrastructure systems (CRISP) planning framework.

  15. Ranking of Sustainability Indicators for Assessment of the New Housing Development Projects: Case of the Baltic States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Tupenaite

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is inconceivable without healthy real estate market. A housing project can be regarded as sustainable only when all the dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social are dealt with. There has been an increased interest in using sustainability indicators for evaluating the impacts of the new development projects. Although international literature is rich in sustainability assessments, there are no tools developed for assessment of new residential projects in the specific context of the Baltic States. Therefore, the aim of this article is to fill this gap and to propose an integrated, hierarchically structured system of sustainability indicators to be used for assessment of the new housing development projects. This aim is achieved through accomplishing three objectives. First, based on a review of literature related to assessing building project performance and sustainable development in construction, the paper proposes an original hierarchically structured system of sustainability indicators suitable for the Baltic context. Second, based on a survey of experts, significances of criteria are estimated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP method. Finally, paper proposes recommendations to government authorities and real estate developers as to how to enhance the performance of new residential projects according to the principles of sustainability.

  16. The effects of patterned electrical stimulation combined with voluntary contraction on spinal reciprocal inhibition in healthy individuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Takahashi, Yoko; Fujiwara, Toshiyuki; Yamaguchi, Tomofumi

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the effects of voluntary contraction (VC) on the modulation of reciprocal inhibition induced by patterned electrical stimulation (PES) in healthy individuals. Twelve healthy volunteers participated in this study. PES was applied to the common peroneal nerve...... a soleus H-reflex conditioning-test paradigm at the time points of before, immediately after, 10 min after, 20 min after, and 30 min after the tasks. PES+VC increased the amount of reciprocal inhibition, with after-effects lasting up to 20 min. PES alone increased reciprocal inhibition and maintained...

  17. Sustainability in Orthodontics: what can we do to save our planet?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pithon, Matheus Melo; de Faria, Lucianne Cople Maia; Tanaka, Orlando Motohiro; Ruellas, Antônio Carlos de Oliveira; Primo, Laura Salignac de Souza Guimarães

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT The sustainability of the natural resources of our planet is a topic for worldwide debate. Mankind, during its evolution as a species, has not been greatly concerned about conserving the environment in which we live. Nowadays we are reaping the fruits of this neglect. Climatic changes and storms are good examples of this. We, humans, must re-think our attitudes in order to leave the planet in a healthy state to be used by our descendants. But thinking of orthodontics, what can we do as orthodontists? From this perspective, the authors of the present study aimed, in a clear and objective manner, to present simple and sustainable ways to proceed during our activity as orthodontists, in order to minimize the effects on nature, caused by man. PMID:28902257

  18. International Alliance of Green Hotels to Reach Sustainable Competitive Advantages

    OpenAIRE

    Hufei Ge; Silu Chen; Yujie Chen

    2018-01-01

    Under increasing environmental pressure, hotel firms need to improve their ability to access international alliances while maintaining good performance for sustainable development. This paper uses survey data from 784 hotels running at different levels of service in China to test the hypothesis in an integrated analytical model, and the findings show that the impact of international alliances varies with different levels of green hotels. Despite operating in the same sector, hotels running at...

  19. Long-term outcomes from Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program for overweight people with heart disease and diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alharbi, Muaddi; Gallagher, Robyn; Kirkness, Ann; Sibbritt, David; Tofler, Geoffrey

    2016-02-01

    The benefits of exercise and weight reduction for overweight or obese people with coronary heart disease and/or diabetes mellitus are well recognised. The Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program demonstrated these outcomes at 4 months, but longer-term outcomes are not yet reported. To determine whether positive weight, body mass index, waist and exercise duration outcomes were sustained in the long term (12 months) and to identify the independent predictors of these outcomes at 4 and 12 months. Longitudinal design, combining data of all Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program participants (intervention and wait-list control, n = 134). Participants had a body mass index between 27 and 39 kg/m(2) and had completed cardiac rehabilitation and/or diabetes education programmes. Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program intervention included an active phase of two 1-hour group-based supervised structured exercise sessions every week for 4 months and four 90-minute group information and support sessions. The maintenance phase included one 90-minute group-based booster information session and three 15-minute goal-focused telephone follow-up calls over 8 months. Participants had statistically significant reductions from baseline in weight, body mass index and waist circumference and improvements in exercise duration and capacity at 4 and 12 months. Time, self-efficacy, depressive symptoms and male gender were independent predictors for body mass index, waist and/or exercise duration (p Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program was an effective programme to achieve and sustain weight loss and increase exercise participation over 1 year. © The European Society of Cardiology 2014.

  20. Picture Naming in Typically Developing and Language-Impaired Children: The Role of Sustained Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jongman, Suzanne R.; Roelofs, Ardi; Scheper, Annette R.; Meyer, Antje S.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have problems not only with language performance but also with sustained attention, which is the ability to maintain alertness over an extended period of time. Although there is consensus that this ability is impaired with respect to processing stimuli in the auditory perceptual…