Rubbish Bags Research Articles

Posture and Muscle Activity during Waste Collection Work.

The musculoskeletal load in waste collection has been examined through simulated assessment of pulling and pushing bins as well as lifting and throwing rubbish bags. With the onset of mechanization, many of these tasks do not exist and workers are faced with other loads not previously assessed. The purpose of this study was to quantify the postures and muscle activity during mechanized waste collection work. Three subtasks of mechanized waste collection were identified, namely driving, bin collection, and egress and access of the vehicle. Spinal, shoulder, and upper limb kinematics along with surface electromyography from three muscles were collected during these tasks in a typical work shift. During driving and bin collection, participants adopted a head-extended, torso forward-flexed posture with frequent rotations of the head and neck. Egress and access of the vehicle produced substantially larger ranges of movement compared with driving and bin collection. The forward-flex, sitting posture can increase the risk of low back pain if there are undulations in the terrain and if this posture is adopted for prolonged periods. The frequent head and neck rotations can increase the incidence and severity of neck pain. Prolonged driving has been linked with an increased cardiometabolic risk and egress and access has increased risk of trips and falls from a height. Managers of waste collection workers should consider implementing interventions to reduce the exposure of this important workforce to the deleterious demands of their work.

Urinary exosome and beyond

The first publication on exosomes dates back to the 1980’s. Exosomes are membrane-derived vesicles that are specified by particle size (30–100 nm in diameter), density (1.13–1.19 g/mL), and surface markers. Once referred to as a “rubbish bag” to wrap up and dump out waste, the term “exosome” gained newfound meaning following the discovery of its biogenesis mechanism via multivesicular bodies and the joint effort of Nobel Prize winners, Sudhof, Schekman and Rothman, in discovering the machinery of vesicle transport. For the past decade, the number of exosome-related publications upsurged from fewer than 20 in the year 2001 to more than 1,000 in the year 2015. The nomenclature pertaining to “exosomes” was ambiguously used in literature, that is, “extracellular vesicles (EVs)” and “exosomes” were often used interchangeably or imprecisely. The criteria for exosomes have been refined over the decades to distinguish exosomes from other EVs (e.g., ectosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies, see Table 1 ) by expression of distinct molecular markers such as TSG101, Aliex and CD63, and nanometer size in exosomes. However, the surface markers are overlapped in EV subgroups, making it fairly difficult to set a clear boundary. In this article, we will use “exosomes”, unless a specific subpopulation of EV is mentioned.

Scepticism and Reliable Belief * By JOSE ZALABARDO

Nozick (1981) famously advocated a tracking theory of knowledge according to which S knows that p only if S would not believe p if p were false and S would believe p if p were true. These two modal conditions on knowledge, sensitivity and adherence respectively, seem initially to provide a neat solution to the Gettier problem and the problem about scepticism. For instance, the reason you fail to know there�s a barn in fake barn county despite having a justified true belief is that you would still believe there�s a barn if instead you were looking at one of the many barn facades. And while both conditions are met when it comes to your belief that you have hands, your belief that you are not a handless brain in a vat (BIV) is insensitive, and so you cannot know that you are not a BIV. So, your lack of knowledge of the negation of sceptical hypotheses seems to inflict no damage on your putative knowledge of everyday propositions. So far, so good. The problem with the requirement that sensitivity be a necessary condition on knowledge is twofold. First off, given your knowledge that having hands entails not being a BIV, Nozick�s anti-sceptical strategy implies that knowledge is not invariably closed under known entailment. Secondly, there are intuitive cases of insensitive knowledge. Some of these, including Nozick�s own grandmother case, can be handled by insisting that S sensitively believes p just in case S would not believe p using the same method that S uses in the actual world if p were false. But, as Zalabardo notes, method-relativization of sensitivity fails to deal with all such cases, including Sosa�s (1999) rubbish chute. You drop a rubbish bag down the chute in a high-rise condo. Intuitively, moments later you know that �

The Elusive Substance of the Archive

I am a writer. In other words, I am an archive amateur. My private archive is a hazy, subconscious space in which the camera of my eye has randomly stored dozens of faces, dozens of chance gestures, sounds and sentences. It is a house that does not exist, but of which I regularly dream, full of staircases, balconies, cubby-holes, cobwebs and holes in the wall through which a harsh wind blows. This archive is home to the real and imagined conversations I have had, objects and memories of objects, images, scents and books whose contents resemble the house from my recurring dream. But the thing is, I am not the one who walks this subconscious archival space picking out files: files rush out at me. They leap from the archive, jostling for my attention, pushing and shoving, hustling, all so embarrassingly promiscuous: so many things slip into bed with so many other things, and I am really not sure why. I recently visited the island of Bali. Night falls early on Bali, and the morning rises late. In the silence of the evening I would listen out for the sound of heavy leaves falling from the trees. Always one leaf after the other, never two at once. The giant ants that out of nowhere would come crawling down the computer screen, and the books grey with damp, left behind by tourists and stacked on an open shelf for anyone to read, were the triggers for the file-storm to come. (I mean, I think they were.) The hotel staff spent the day with brooms and rubbish bags in hand, diligently sweeping up every fallen leaf. They would even do so when it was windy – actually, especially then – as if they were in competition with the wind. Other staff changed the bed linen daily, and the hand towels several times a day. I would wake up at night, sit on the veranda in a wicker armchair and stare out into the muggy tropical darkness. Invisible files from my archive would fall on me like leaves and at times I thought

The Robot DustCart

Peccioli, a small medieval town in Italy, became one of the first places in the world where a robot was used (not demonstrated) to carry out a public service in the urban environment (from 15 June 2010 to 7 August 2010). Thirty-five real users accepted to trash their domestic waste using the robot DustCart, a mobile robot designed to collect, transport, and discharge rubbish bags in complete autonomy. During the testing period, the robot safely traveled along the public streets of Peccioli, carrying out its daily service and sharing the urban environment with the passers-by, bicycles, and cars, without causing any problems.

Heavy metal content in rubbish bags used for separate collection of biowaste

The heavy metal content of several rubbish bags used to collect the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is shown in this paper. Nowadays, several public awareness campaigns carried out by municipalities have promoted rubbish bags based mainly on their appearance, without concern for their heavy metal content. A high amount of heavy metals was detected in some polyethylene bags promoted in different campaigns for OFMSW source-sorted collection, while compostable bags presented low quantities of heavy metals. Some other rubbish bags, as well as commercial bags, were also analysed for comparison. These results should be taken into account before promoting the use of one or other type of bag. Moreover, the rubbish bag manufacturers should reduce the heavy metal content in order to avoid heavy metal scattering in the environment, and also to reduce the consumption of raw materials.

Commentary on: Do school break-time policies influence child dental health and snacking behaviours? An evaluation of a primary school programme

Objective The aim of the two-year controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of the 'Boosting Better Breaks' (BBB) break-time policy to reduce obvious decay experience and sugar snacking in a cohort of nine-year-old children attending intervention and control primary schools. Study design A matched controlled prospective trial design. Participants Children in Year 5 were invited with their parents/guardians to take part. The children were assessed at baseline and at 24-month follow-up. One hundred and eighty-nine children attended intervention schools and 175 attended control schools which were matched for socio-economic status (SES), school location and co-education status. Method The outcome variables were obvious decay experience and evidence of sugar snacks found in the children's rubbish bags. All children were asked to complete a questionnaire and keep evidence of the snacks they consumed starting from school-time break to when they retired for bed in a numbered and coded 'rubbish bag' on a specific collection day at baseline and 24-month follow-up. All children had a dental examination at baseline and 24-month follow-up. Results Sixty percent of children at baseline and all of the children at follow-up had at least one sugar snack in their rubbish bag. The most popular snacks at follow-up were sweets, chocolate, crisps and carbonated drinks. In the school environment children attending BBB policy schools had significantly lower mean scores for sugar snacks scores at baseline but equivalent mean sugar snacks scores at follow-up compared with children attending control schools. In the outside school environment there was no effect of school intervention on sugar snack scores. Decay into dentine at follow-up was predicted by school intervention status and evidence of sugar snacks consumption outside school and at home. Conclusions The BBB break-time policy did not achieve its health promotion goals of promoting child dental health or encouraging children to adopt healthier dietary habits in school or in the wider environment in which they lived.

Do school break-time policies influence child dental health and snacking behaviours? An evaluation of a primary school programme

The aim of the two-year controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of the 'Boosting Better Breaks' (BBB) break-time policy to reduce obvious decay experience and sugar snacking in a cohort of nine-year-old children attending intervention and control primary schools. A matched controlled prospective trial design. Children in Year 5 were invited with their parents/guardians to take part. The children were assessed at baseline and at 24-month follow-up. One hundred and eighty-nine children attended intervention schools and 175 attended control schools which were matched for socio-economic status (SES), school location and co-education status. The outcome variables were obvious decay experience and evidence of sugar snacks found in the children's rubbish bags. All children were asked to complete a questionnaire and keep evidence of the snacks they consumed starting from school-time break to when they retired for bed in a numbered and coded 'rubbish bag' on a specific collection day at baseline and 24-month follow-up. All children had a dental examination at baseline and 24-month follow-up. Sixty percent of children at baseline and all of the children at follow-up had at least one sugar snack in their rubbish bag. The most popular snacks at follow-up were sweets, chocolate, crisps and carbonated drinks. In the school environment children attending BBB policy schools had significantly lower mean scores for sugar snacks scores at baseline but equivalent mean sugar snacks scores at follow-up compared with children attending control schools. In the outside school environment there was no effect of school intervention on sugar snack scores. Decay into dentine at follow-up was predicted by school intervention status and evidence of sugar snacks consumption outside school and at home. The BBB break-time policy did not achieve its health promotion goals of promoting child dental health or encouraging children to adopt healthier dietary habits in school or in the wider environment in which they lived.

A child‐to‐child approach to promoting healthier snacking in primary school children: a randomised trial in Northern Ireland

Aims to assess the effectiveness of a child‐to‐child approach to promote healthier snacking in primary school children. A total of 55 schools in North and West Belfast were matched for socio‐economic status (SES). Ten schools were randomly selected and allocated into intervention and control groups. A total of 482 children took part. Older intervention children were given the “snacks facts” programme and became “teachers” in the child‐to‐child intervention. All children had baseline and final assessments made of their dental health knowledge (older children only), snacking knowledge and behaviours using questionnaires and rubbish bags. Older intervention children had greater increases in their mean knowledge scores compared with control children. Older intervention children had greater decreases in mean cariogenic snacking scores compared with control children. Younger children attending higher SES schools had significant decrease in mean cariogenic snacking score compared with children attending lower SES schools. Concludes that the child‐to‐child approach provided an avenue by which children improved their dental health knowledge and modified their snacking habits during break‐time at school.

Reported versus actual snacking behaviours: a note on methodology

Self-reporting surveys have been used extensively in research to obtain information on dental health practices, snacking behaviours, motivation and lifestyles. However, how reliable and valid are questionnaire assessments of children's snacking behaviours? The purpose of this study is to do with methodology—to compare the use of questionnaires and activity sheets with the collection of ‘rubbish’ (an indicator of the actual snacks consumed) as a means of assessing the snacking behaviours in children in primary education. Four hundred and eighty-two children aged 5 and 11 years of age took part in the study. They completed a questionnaire assessment of the foods and drinks they consumed during their morning break. In addition they were required to collect the wrappers, cans or provide evidence of their actual snacks taken on each occasion in their named and dated ‘rubbish bag’. On visual inspection the results showed that there were discrepancies between the questionnaire responses and the rubbish bag collection. When the data were subjected to kappa analysis there were in general poor levels of correspondence between actual and reported snacking behaviours. The findings from this study suggest that the collection in ‘rubbish bags’ of the physical evidence of the snacks children devour may be a more appropriate indicator of the dietary habits of children in primary education.

The influence of socio-demographic factors upon children's breaktime food consumption in North and West Belfast

Children in primary education in Northern Ireland have a diet which is charac terised by a high consumption of fatty and sugary snacks. Evidence shows that a relationship exists between such dietary habits and socio-demography. Previous work has relied upon reports of dietary habits rather than assessing the snacks actually taken. The aim of this study was to examine how socio- demographic factors affected the actual type of breaktime snack taken by children in primary education in North and West Belfast. Four hundred and eighty-two children took part in the study. Using the 'rubbish bag' meth odology as an indicator of actual snacking behaviour, the results showed that gender and socio-economic profile of the school attended were associated with the food consumption of children at breaktime in North and West Belfast.