Activiteit

Countries’ growth along with the need to protect the environment has made waste management a major global concern. In this study, a detailed analysis is carried out of the current situation in 41 countries belonging to the OECD and/or the European Union, in order to identify the most sustainable practices that could be successfully implemented in other nations with similar characteristics. Cluster analysis is used to detect homogeneous groups, shedding light on the possible connection between environmental policies and waste treatment. Contingency tables are employed to determine the relationship between the effectiveness of the policies adopted and two indicators of sustainable practices material recycling and waste generation. The study is conducted using statistical information from the Sustainable Governance Indicators project and the OECD, with data referring to 2018. Five internally homogeneous groups of countries have been identified, where Israel, Turkey and USA have the lowest participation and compliance in environmental policies. Also, the results show that countries with a high degree of participation in environmental treaties (Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) are making great progress, reducing the use of landfills in favour of other, more environmentally friendly options. Moreover, the contingency tables confirm that the effectiveness of policies translates into a clear trend towards recycling and, to some extent, reduces waste generation.The aim of this study was to assess the maturity indicators of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) enrichment with different byproduct of (sugar and fertilizer industry) sulphur (S). The concentration of total S (TS), water-soluble S (WSS), HCl extractable S and available S were significantly different in composts prepared through different byproduct of S with MSW. WSS varied from 4.6 to 5.9% of TS after 120 days of the composting period, whereas, available S varied from 14.5 – 8.6% of TS. S enriched MSW compost had lower C/N, C/S ratio and higher nitrification index as well as lower phyto-toxicity, demonstrating that composts are properly matured and stabilised. Highest compost quality index (0.97) was recorded with S1 compost. Arylsulphatase activity significantly increased with compost maturity. Results stated that all S enriched products maintained a superior amount of plant nutrients and quality indices, indicating that S enriched compost could be a possible substitute for expensive fertilizers.Reducing the usage of plastic bags has been a pressing task for governments around the world. In China, the government also makes extensive efforts to contrast the negative effects of plastic bag usage by issuing different laws and policies. Conducting an on-site counting of bags used by consumers, this study investigates the usage of plastic bags in China and evaluates the effectiveness of these policies within both supermarkets and vegetable markets (popular markets primarily for vegetables in China). Besides, 5 different factors are investigated to learn their potential influence on the usage of plastic bags, including generation, gender, the price for plastic carrier bags, the packaging style of products, and market type. Results show a boomerang effect of the pricing policy (i.e., charging for plastic carrier bags) in China. Specifically, the policy decreases the usage of plastic carrier bags by 44%. However, the total usage of plastic bags increases, rather than decreases due to the excessive usage of free inner plastic packaging bags used as alternatives to plastic carrier bags. Old and middle-young consumers are disproportionately affected by the pricing policy and behave significantly differently in their usage of plastic bags. Loopholes in management and policies are also discussed.This study investigated the performance of anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of pig manure and food waste on the reduction of antibiotic resistomes under wet and dry AcoD conditions. High-throughput quantitative PCR technology was utilized for a comprehensive assessment of the performances of the two processes. The results show that dry AcoD with a total solids (TS) content of 20% effectively reduced total antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) by 1.24 log copies/g wet sample, while only 0.54 log copies/g wet sample was reduced in wet AcoD with a TS content of 5%. Dry AcoD was more efficient in reduction of aminoglycosides, multidrug and sulfonamide resistance genes compared with the reduction of other classes of ARGs. Dry AcoD caused a significant reduction of ARGs with resistance mechanisms of efflux pump and antibiotic deactivation. In contrast, there was no obvious difference in reductions of ARGs with different resistance mechanisms in wet AcoD. Network analysis showed that ARGs were significantly correlated with mobile genetic elements (MGEs) (Spearman’s r > 0.8, P less then 0.05), as well as microbial communities. Cu-CPT22 Enrichment of ARGs and MGEs was found at the early period of AcoD processes, indicating some ARGs and MGEs increased during the hydrolysis and acidogenesis stages. But after a long retention time, their abundances were effectively reduced by dry AcoD in the subsequent stages.Exercise may be a strategy for improvement of cognitive deficits commonly present in people with idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGE). We investigated the relationship between cognition and level of physical exercise in leisure (PEL) in people with IGE who have been seizurefree for at least 6 months (IGE-) as compared to those who have not been seizurefree (IGE+) and healthy controls (HCs). We hypothesized that higher level of physical exercise is associated with better cognitive functioning in patients with IGE and HCs, and that seizure control affects both PEL levels and cognitive functioning in patients with IGE. We recruited 75 participants aged 18-65 31 people with IGE (17 IGE-, 14 IGE+) and 44 HCs. Participants completed assessments of quality of life (SF-36), physical activity levels (Baecke questionnaire and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)) and cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT), and flanker task). Group differences (HCs vs.