People’s Perception of Experimental Installations for Sustainable Energy: The Case of IFMIF-DONES

Nuclear facilities are a main milestone in the long way to sustainable energy. Beyond the well-known fission centrals, the necessity of cleaner, more efficient and almost unlimited energy reducing waste to almost zero is a major challenge in the next decades. This is the case with nuclear fusion. Different experimental installations to definitively control this nuclear power are proliferating in different countries. However, citizens in the surroundings of cities and villages where these installations are going to be settled are frequently reluctant because of doubts about the expected benefits and the potential hazards. In this framework, knowing the opinion of people and their perception of experimental fusion facilities is essential for researchers, administrations and rulemaking bodies planning future fusion plants. This is the case for IFMIF-DONES, a neutron irradiation facility to determine the most suitable materials for the future fusion reactors. The construction of this installation is starting in Escúzar (Granada, Spain), and this work presents a large survey among 311 people living or working in the village. Their perception, fears, hopes and other variables are analyzed, and the conclusions for future installations and their impact on the energy policy are presented.

Human Health and Ecosystem Quality Benefits with Life Cycle Assessment Due to Fungicides Elimination in Agriculture

Industrial agriculture results in environmental burdens due to the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. Fungicides is a class of pesticides whose application contributes (among others) to human toxicity and ecotoxicity. The European Union aims to increase organic agriculture. For this reason, this work aims to analyze climate change, freshwater ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, human toxicity, (terrestrial) acidification, and freshwater eutrophication impacts of fungicides and calculate expected benefits to human health (per European citizen) and ecosystem quality (terrestrial) with life cycle assessment (LCA) during crop production. The Scopus database was searched for LCA studies that considered the application of fungicides to specific crops. The analysis shows how many systemic and contact fungicides were considered by LCA studies and what was the applied dosage. Furthermore, it shows that fungicides highly contribute to freshwater ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, human toxicity, and freshwater eutrophication for fruits and vegetables, but to a low extent compared to all considered environmental impacts in the case of cereals and rapeseed. Expected benefits to human health and ecosystem quality after fungicides elimination are greater for fruits and vegetables, ranging between 0 to 47 min per European citizen in a year and 0 to 90 species per year, respectively.

Feasibility of the Smart Excretion Care System tethered to Electronic Medical Records in a tertiary hospital and community care setting: A formative research study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND No studies have been conducted on smart devices that provide integrated nursing for patients' urinary & bowel elimination needs. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the feasibility of a smart excretion care system tethered to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) in a tertiary hospital and community care setting and discuss the expectations of the reducing burden of nursing care. METHODS Focus group interviews were conducted based on the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research Guidelines. The interviews were conducted in March, 2021, involving 67 participants who had worked at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital for more than one year and had experience assisting patients with excretion care. Data were collected using both purposive and snowball sampling methods. RESULTS This research found four themes relevant to the Smart Excretion Care System: expectations of reducing burdens of nursing care, applicable indications (by departments and diseases), preferred features/functions, and expected benefits of using the Smart Excretion Care system at the clinical facilities. Nurses from the Comprehensive Nursing Service wards were found to have the highest burden of excretion care. It was a common opinion that the Smart Excretion Care System would be very useful in the Intensive Care Unit, and it should be applied first to patients with stroke or dementia. CONCLUSIONS Excretion care is one of the most bothersome tasks for nurses that increase their workload. The further development of the Smart Excretion Care System, as a digital health intervention, can help improve nurses’work efficiency and reduce their burden as well as expand to caregivers and guardians.

Applying an Evolutionary Approach of Risk-Taking Behaviors in Adolescents

Risk-taking behaviors in adolescents have traditionally been analyzed from a psychopathological approach, with an excessive emphasis on their potential costs. From evolutionary theory we propose that risk-taking behaviors can be means through which adolescents obtain potential benefits for survival and reproduction. The present study analyses sex differences in three contexts of risk (i.e., risk propensity, expected benefits and risk perception) in the evolutionary specific domains and the predictive value of these domains over risk-taking behaviors, separately in female and male adolescents. 749 adolescents (females = 370) valued their risk perception, expected benefits and risk propensity through the Evolutionary Domain-Specific Risk Scale, as well as their engagement in risk-taking behaviors through the Risky Behavior Questionnaire. Male adolescents showed lower risk perception in two evolutionary domains, expected higher benefits in two other domains and showed higher risk propensity in six domains. Female adolescents showed lower risk perception in two domains. Additionally, risk perception, expected benefits and risk propensity in the evolutionary domains predicted the engagement in risk-taking behaviors in male adolescents, whereas in female adolescents only expected benefits and risk propensity showed a predictive effect over risk-taking behaviors. These results suggest the potential role of evolutionary mechanisms on risk-taking behaviors in adolescents. Results have practical implications for interventions programs aimed at reducing risk-taking behaviors. In addition to considering sex differences, intervention programs should consider alternative behaviors through which adolescents can reach their evolutionary goals, and handle the risks related to those behaviors that cannot be replaced but have potential benefits for adolescents.

Increasing Added Value of Seaweed Products for Noodle and Jelly Candy in Petemon Surabaya

In this PKM program, our partner is residents in Petemon, Surabaya, East Java Province. This community has generated the production of noodle and jelly candy from seaweed. Seaweed processing has a very broad market potential due to the increasing demand and use of seaweed processing products, whether used in the health, pharmaceutical or industrial fields. Development of seaweed with an industrial concept approach that starts from upstream, processing basic products into formulation products with a lot of derivative products, both food and non-food products. In food ingredients, seaweed can be formulated, among others, into ice cream, pudding, jelly candy or other foods and soft drinks Based on interviews and observations in the field, there are 2 main focuses of the problems currently faced by partners, namely: 1) lack of knowledge about seaweed and 2) product diversification of seaweed which have an added value. Some of the things planned by the PKM team are innovating seaweed to be noodle and jelly candy as well as providing training and mentoring for financial analysis, packaging and marketing. The purpose of this activity is to transfer knowledge of making product diversification of seaweed, develop the creativity of the partner, increase the noodle and jelly candy production and improve the welfare of the partner. This activity was realized with an approach in the form of making a sustainable cooperation program until the end of PKM, creating a family atmosphere between the two and understanding that the problems experienced were a shared problem so that they could be solved together according to the level of responsibility to achieve the expected benefits, namely increased yields, production and productivity and competitiveness, independence and welfare of the community.

Social Media Analysis to Understand the Expected Benefits by Plant-Based Meat Alternatives Consumers

The plant-based alternative meat products market has attracted attention in recent years, as the demand for these products has grown worldwide. To meet the needs of this promising market, marketers must pay attention to the expected benefits of consumers and the insights that can be gleaned from comments posted on social media. This article proposed an investigation of the potential of the content analysis of comments posted on the Instagram social network of food companies that manufacture plant-based alternative meat products to understand the expected benefits by end consumers from the perspective of the classic marketing mix variables. The content posted voluntarily by consumers was organized into 13 categories of expected benefits analyzed within a proposal of evidence from the perspective of the marketing mix. The results showed that, among the insights obtained, 63% were related to the place variable, 21% to the product variable, 11% to the price variable, and 5% to the promotion variable. The insights reinforce the notion that marketing mix variables are crucial factors for companies to make products available in the right place, in the right quantity, and at a fair price, in addition to engaging with consumers through social media.

Performance Analysis of Direct Torque Controllers in Five-Phase Electrical Drives

The industrial application of electric machines has grown in the last decades, thanks to the development of microprocessors and power converters, which have permitted their use as variable-speed drives. Although three-phase machines are the common trend, the interest of the research community has recently focused on machines with more than three phases, known as multiphase machines. The principal reason lies in the exploitation of their advantages in terms of reliability, i.e., post-fault operating capability. Additionally, multiphase machines provide a better current distribution among phases, and lower current harmonic production in the power converter, than conventional three-phase machines. However, multiphase drive applications require the development of complex controllers to regulate the torque (or speed) and flux of the machine. In this regard, direct torque controllers have appeared as a viable alternative due to their easy formulation and high flexibility to incorporate control objectives. However, these controllers face some peculiarities and limitations in their use that require attention. This work aims to tackle direct torque control as a viable alternative for the regulation of multiphase drives. Special attention will be paid to the development of the control technique and the expected benefits and limitations in the obtained results. Case examples based on symmetrical five-phase induction machines with distributed windings in the motoring mode of operation will be used to this end.

The Active Ageing Index and policy making in Italy

Although the active ageing concept generally has positive connotations, with expected benefits at the micro, meso and macro levels, the application of this concept in terms of policy making presents challenges and risks to be avoided (for instance, a predominantly productivist interpretation and a top-down imposition with limited possibilities for bottom-up exchanges; or a disregard for the risk of excluding older people with more disadvantaged backgrounds). Two crucial strategies to minimise risks are the implementation of policies by considering and respecting territorial diversity, and the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders in a participatory consultative and co-decisional approach. This paper entwines both strategies together by focusing on Italian in-country differences in terms of active ageing, and employing the Active Ageing Index for policy-making purposes. This activity is part of a governmental national pilot project aimed at promoting multilevel co-managed co-ordination of active ageing policies across Italy. The analysis identified five groups of regions that differ from the classical, geographic and socio-economic division between the North, Centre and South. Additional in-group analyses were conducted to investigate within-cluster differences. This study will inform a large multilevel stakeholder network for evidence-based policies and their monitoring at both the national and regional levels, in line with the perspective of mainstreaming ageing.