Trash Receptacles Research Articles

Assessing the performance of the pedestrian path accessibility standards for people with disabilities

An optimal pedestrian pathway should cater to various user needs, encompassing safety, comfort, and universal accessibility. This research endeavors to evaluate the efficacy of pedestrian pathways, with a particular focus on public green spaces in Kendari City. The study emphasizes the implementation of an inclusive design concept for pedestrian pathways, ensuring the protection and fulfillment of rights for all demographic groups. To achieve its objectives, the research employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. A qualitative case study approach was utilized to assess architectural elements, while a Likert scale was employed for the performance evaluation. The findings from the performance assessment indicate that the service attribute values fall short of being optimal. Observational data suggest that most existing facilities fail to adhere to universal design principles, catering to the needs of all individuals. Consequently, there is a pressing need for physical modifications in the pedestrian pathway areas. These modifications include the installation of ramps, clear markings, and pathways for people with disabilities (guiding blocks), as well as the integration of trees and plants, trash receptacles, traffic signs, and essential utilities such as street lighting and billboards. Furthermore, the research highlights the necessity of organizing street vendor (PKL) zones across all area segments to enhance overall accessibility and usability.

LEAPING FROM LUSH TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTS TO THE L-TRAIN: A CASE OF SEVERE LEPTOSPIROSIS IN NEW YORK CITY

LEAPING FROM LUSH TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTS TO THE L-TRAIN: A CASE OF SEVERE LEPTOSPIROSIS IN NEW YORK CITY

‘Garbology’ as a Determinant of Social Class Stratification, Living Standards and Domestic Waste Foot Print in Selected Urban and Peri-Urban Centers in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya

Garbological audits of a given society can reveal both past and present lifestyles, living standards, professions and health status. That what people have owned and thrown away can speak more eloquently, informatively, and truthfully about the lives they lead than they themselves ever may. Garbology depends on the primary premise that one can conclude a considerable amount of information about an individual or group through the composition of their trash receptacles. The material leftovers of past human activity can exemplify on the lives of individuals that disposed of the items that include; paper, clothing, magazines, books, diaries, minutes of meetings, anniversary brochures, food remnants, fast-food packaging, disposable diapers, and grocery bags. This work examined the role of Garbology as a possible domestic waste foot print, social class and living standards indicator in a classical African urban centre by examining House-hold waste from various neighborhoods. The present study considered Garbology as a means of evaluating the socio-economic profile of residents in selected urban and peri-urban centers in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. In this study 40 subject respondents were purposefully identified and interviewed using a stratified questionnaire to establish their responses in Garbology as a tool to project socio-economic stratification of a given society based on the nature and quantities of waste they dispose. The respondents were classified socio-economically as: -[(Upper class, 45%; middle class, 32.5%; Lower class, 22.5%)]. Data were mainly collected through in-depth interviews. The Garbological audit from the respondents show the following information about the people who disposed the waste:-[(Travel preferences, 26%; Health status, 32%; Household demographics, 86%; Religious convictions, 60%; Profession/career, 25%; Consumer habits/income levels, 92%)].The findings indicate that Garbological audits are effective in determining and projecting socio-economic indicators of a society past and present.

Feeling Environmental Policing: Possibilities and Challenges for Socio-Ecological Justice.

This is a conceptual paper that merges collaborative acts of storying with theoretical contributions from the affective turn (Clough, 2008) to illustrate ways by which mainstream forms of environmentalism (Klein, 2015) may inscribe normative ways of feeling and being with environments while policing others. Methodologically, we draw on our personal and collective storying-while-walking (Springgay & Truman, 2019) in and around the University of British Columbia (UBC) during the Canadian Society for the Study of Education 2019 conference. We consider how our encounters with/in nature are often disciplined by popular environmentalist discourses (e.g., recycling, greening, contaminating). In our walks/storying, we centre material agents (e.g., trash receptacles, kombucha bottle, tree) as part of affective economies (Ahmed, 2013) that align us to particular ways of feeling (with) nature, for example, embarrassment from not knowing how to recycle a kombucha bottle. We attune ourselves to this hegemonic environmental imaginary, in which certain humans assume control and dominion over nature and reinforce that control via green economies. This compels us to ask: in what ways do environmental efforts for cultivating more response-ability towards nature (Wallace, Higgins & Bazzul, 2018) come to exceed our response-ability with each other as part of nature? How might we follow affective economies that discipline how we value, manage and save nature, and how might this open up pedagogical possibilities for relating differently with each other/nature? With science and environmental education and research in mind, we suggest staying with emotions that make visible acts of environmental policing for socio-ecological justice.

Empty Discarded Pack Data and the Prevalence of Illicit Trade in Cigarettes

Illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP) is big business in the United States and creates many harms including reduced tax revenues; damages to the economic interests of legitimate actors; funding for organized-crime and terrorist groups; negative effects of participation in illicit markets, such as violence and incarceration; and reduced effectiveness of smoking-reduction policies, leading to increased damage to health. To improve data availability for study in this area, we describe and make available a large, novel set of data from empty discarded pack (EDP) studies. In EDP studies, teams of researchers collect all cigarette packs discarded (either in trash receptacles or as litter) in the public spaces of selected neighborhoods. Packs are examined for the absence of local tax stamps, signs of non-authentic packaging or stamps, and other indications of potential tax evasion or counterfeit product. We describe the data and analyze the prevalence of ITTP. Data from 23 collections in 10 U.S. cities from 2010 to 2014 are available, yielding 106,500 observations (by far the largest dataset of its kind available for academic study). Each observation includes dozens of variables covering the brand, location to the ZIP code level, tax status, counterfeit status, and other information about the pack. There is significant evidence of tax avoidance (up to 74% of packs in New York City). In some markets there is also a significant amount of illicit trade (up to over half the market in New York City), which includes bootlegging, counterfeits, cigarettes produced for illicit-market sales, and cigarettes without any tax stamps. These data will be highly useful for research in illicit markets and organized crime.

Littering in Context

This article reports the results from a large-scale study of littering behavior. Findings are reported from coded observations of the littering behavior among 9,757 individuals at 130 outdoor public locations in the United States. The focus was on littering behavior of any item, but a separate sample is also reported on the littering behavior of only smokers. For smokers, the observed littering rate for cigarette butts was 65%. Results from the general littering observations showed that of all the disposal behaviors observed, 17% resulted in litter. Statistical analyses using multilevel modeling showed that age (negatively) was predictive of individual littering. At the level of the site, the presence of existing litter (positively) and the availability of trash receptacles (negatively) predicted littering. Supplemental analyses showed that among individuals who disposed of an item, distance to the receptacle was positively predictive of littering. Implications for litter prevention strategies are discussed.

Radiation safety with breast sentinel node biopsy

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy with Technetium 99m sulfur colloid (Tc99m) is an evolving technique that offers the potential for improved staging of breast cancer with decreased morbidity. However, the use of radioactive materials in the operating room generates significant concern about radiation exposure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate radiation exposure to operating room personnel, pathologist, and equipment from specimens during breast sentinel lymph node biopsy.Methods: Twenty patients were injected with 0.7 to 1.1 mCi of Tc99m sulfur colloid 1.5 to 3 hours before sentinel lymph node biopsy. A calibrated Geiger counter was used to measure dose rates from the breast injection site before skin incision (n = 20), lumpectomy specimens (n = 8), and sentinel nodes (n = 20) at distances of 3, 30, and 300 cm. This represented exposure to the surgeon’s hands, surgeon’s torso, and scrub nurse, respectively. Exposure to the pathologist’s hands and torso was represented as dose-rate measurements from lumpectomy and nodal specimens. The operative instruments, trash receptacles, suction canisters, pathology slides, and cryostat machines were measured at 3 cm at the conclusion of each procedure. Specimens or equipment emitting radiation doses equal to background levels (0.04 mRem/h) were exempt from special handling and disposal.Results: The highest exposure rate was to the surgeon’s hands from the breast injection site before skin incision (34.25 mRem/h). Exposure to the surgeon’s torso measured 1.33 mRem/h, and exposure to the scrub nurse’s torso measured 0.15 mRem/h from the injection site. Exposure to the pathologist’s hands was 18.62 and 0.06 mRem/h from the lumpectomy specimen and sentinel node, respectively. Exposure to the pathologist’s torso measured 0.34 and 0.04 mRem/h from the lumpectomy specimen and sentinel node, respectively. One hundred percent of lumpectomy specimens measured above the exempt level. Thirty-two of 46 (70%) sentinel lymph nodes emitted radiation equal to the exempt background level. Seventeen of 20 trash receptacles (85%) and 4 of 12 (33%) suction canisters measured equal to background levels. All operative instruments, pathology slides, and cryostat machines were equal to background levels.Conclusions: Radiation exposure to operating room personnel, pathologists, and operative equipment during a breast sentinel node biopsy using Tc99m is minimal. A primary surgeon can perform 2,190 hours, a scrub nurse 33,333 hours, and a pathologist 14,705 hours of procedural work before surpassing Occupational Safety and Health Administration limits. Operative instruments, pathology slides, and cryostat machines do not require special handling. All lumpectomy specimens should be stored for decontamination until the dose rate equals background levels. Intraoperative dose-rate monitoring allows selective decontamination of nodal specimens, trash receptacles, and suction canisters, which decreases disposal time and cost.

Case Studies: Lead Exposure during Custodial Activities

Abstract Summary: In August 1994 a university in Maryland was selected by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for the evaluation of potential lead exposure during custodial operations, including painting, carpentry, housekeeping, plumbing, and general maintenance. Airborne lead concentrations among 16 university workers surveyed in October 1994 ranged up to 36 μg/m3, expressed as time-weighted averages (TWAs) over the period sampled [23 of 52 air samples collected (44%) had no detectable (ND) lead]. The two highest short-term exposures were during power belt sanding of a painted wooden door (36 μg/m3) and heating lead in an open ladle during a plumbing repair (26 μg/m3). Lead concentrations from four of the five personal breathing zone (PBZ) air samples collected on housekeepers performing tasks such as emptying trash receptacles, sweeping floors, and vacuuming carpets were ND (the remaining air concentration was 0.34 μg/m3). All of the PBZ results were below the Occupational...

A behavioral community program for litter control

The implementation of a large-scale community intervention program and the relative efficacy of three components with respect to antilitter behavior were analyzed. These components were (a) the availability of numerous trash receptacles, (b) publicity campaigns whose purpose was to make citizens aware of the importance of keeping the city clean and of the negative social and legal consequences of failing to do so, and (c) active participation of citizens in cleaning up and maintaining their neighborhood. Increasing the number of trash receptacles, when implemented alone or along with publicity campaigns, produced a minimal decrease in litter. However, an important decrease in litter was observed when active participation of citizens in cleaning up their neighborhood was added to the two previous components. This decrease in litter was maintained during the follow-up period.

An evaluation of three litter control procedures--trash receptacles, paid workers, and the marked item technique.

This study assessed the effectiveness of three litter control procedures on the grounds of a residential retardation facility. Fifty-seven areas were divided into five groups according to the amount of litter they contained. Daily litter counts were made in one randomly chosen area for four of the groups and weekly litter counts were made from one randomly chosen area from the fifth group. After the baseline period, trash receptacles were placed a high traffic areas on the grounds of the facility. This was followed by the payment of two resident workers for picking up trash. In the next phase, marked pieces of litter were placed on the grounds, and residents voluntarily collected litter and turned it in at a central location. When a marked piece was turned in, that resident received $1.00 and had his or her picture taken and posted. This phase was followed by a return to the trash receptacles phase and then a return to the marked item phase. The results indicated that the marked item procedure was effective in reducing the amount of litter on the campus grounds, but the use of trash receptacles and the payment of resident workers for picking up litter did not noticeably reduce the amount of litter. The results are discussed in terms of the cost effectiveness of the procedures.