In the life of almost every household appliance, there comes that moment of out with the old and in with the new. However, while electrical and electronic equipment have never been more efficient, economical or in demand, consumers' desire to own the best and the latest is contributing to an environmental issue of increasing seriousness and concern. "E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in developing, emerging and developed regions and it covers all electrical and electronic equipment and parts discarded by consumers," says Dr Sunil Herat, Associate Editor ...

Nanowires are wired-shaped materials with diameters that are tens of nanometers or less. There are many types of nanowires, including semiconducting composite nanowires, metal oxide composite nanowires, and organic polymer nanowires, and they are typically used in functional materials and devices used as sensors, transistors, semiconductors, photonics devices, and solar cells. Molecular wires composed of only inorganic materials have attracted significant attention due to their stable structures, tunable chemical compositions, and tunable properties. However, there have ...

The research team led by Dr. Jongsoo Jurng and Dr. Gwi-Nam at KIST stated that, "In cooperation with KT&G, KIST has developed a nano-catalyst filter coated with a manganese oxide-based nano-catalyst, which can be used in a smoking room to reduce and purify major harmful substances of cigarette smoke. the KIST-developed catalyst removes 100% of the particle substances of cigarette smoke, such as nicotine and tar, converting those into water vapor and carbon dioxide. According to the research team, the air cleaning equipment based on the newly-developed catalyst can purify ...

Heavy rainfall events setting ever new records have been increasing strikingly in the past thirty years. While before 1980, multi-decadal fluctuations in extreme rainfall events are explained by natural variability, a team of scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research detected a clear upward trend in the past few decades towards more unprecedented daily rainfall events. They find the worldwide increase to be consistent with rising global temperatures which are caused by greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Short-term torrential rains ...

Male badgers that spend their youth fighting tend to age more quickly than their passive counterparts according to new research from the University of Exeter. The 35-year study revealed that male badgers living alongside a high density of other males grow old more quickly than those living with lower densities of males. The results, which are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, indicate that competition between males in early life accelerates ageing in later life, providing a potential explanation for why males age faster than females. Author Christopher ...

A review in The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist (TOG) finds that reducing the risk of stillbirth calls for better monitoring of women during their pregnancy to help find those whose babies' lives could be saved by early delivery. In the UK the absolute risk of stillbirth is low, affecting approximately 4 in 1000 babies (MBRRACE). Although for most cases the exact cause of death is unclear, stillbirth is associated with complications during childbirth, maternal infections during pregnancy, maternal health conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, foetal growth restriction ...

Several recent U.S. health policies, including the Affordable Care Act, provide incentives for transforming the delivery of health care to improve its value for dollar. Michael K. Gusmano, a Hastings Center scholar, and Frank J. Thompson, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University, critically examine efforts to shape the delivery of Medicaid through demonstration projects called Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Initiatives (DSRIP). Despite political enthusiasm for DSRIP, they conclude in an article in Health Affairs that the evidence supporting its effectiveness ...

Experiments by Carnegie Mellon University showed that significantly fewer women than men were shown online ads promising them help getting jobs paying more than $200,000, raising questions about the fairness of targeting ads online. The study of Google ads, using a CMU-developed tool called AdFisher that runs experiments with simulated user profiles, established that the gender discrimination was real, said Anupam Datta, associate professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering. Still unknown, he emphasized, is who or what is responsible. Was ...

Office work will become much less of a pain in the neck if Julie Côté has her way. That`s because this kinesiology researcher who teaches at McGill University is interested in finding ways to reduce or even prevent the kinds of muscular and skeletal stresses and pains that will affect one in ten office workers at some point in their careers. "Even though office workers may not naturally see it that way, their body is basically their work instrument, just as it is for an athlete," says Côté. "It can get injured in similar ways and for similar reasons: ...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, Stanford University, University of Valencia and IGENOMIX have discovered that chromosomal abnormalities in human embryos created for in vitro fertilization, or IVF, can be predicted within the first 30 hours of development at the cell-1 stage which results from the union of a female egg and male sperm. This discovery, published online today in the journal Nature Communications, could improve IVF success rates, which has hovered around 30 to 35 percent for numerous years worldwide. It is estimated that ...

We ask a lot of the land: feed the world with crops, power the world with bioenergy, retain nutrients so they don't pollute our water and air. To help landscapes answer these high demands, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are designing ways to improve--and hopefully optimize--land use. In collaboration with the farming community of the Indian Creek Watershed in central Illinois, these researchers are finding ways to simultaneously meet three objectives: maximize a farmer's production, grow feedstock for bioenergy and protect ...

How much a child's pupil dilates in response to seeing an emotional image can predict his or her risk of depression over the next two years, according to new research from Binghamton University. VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Wxn6WevWJdk According to Brandon Gibb, professor of psychology at Binghamton University and director of the Mood Disorders Institute and Center for Affective Science, the new findings suggest that physiological reactivity to sad stimuli, assessed using pupillometry, serves as one potential biomarker of depression risk among children of depressed mothers. ...

Fairfax, Va., July 7, 2015--A study of women with cervical or endometrial cancer who require treatment to the para-aortic (PA) lymph nodes can safely receive extended-field intensity modulated radiation therapy (EF-IMRT) without increased risk of duodenal toxicity, according to a study published in the July-August 2015 issue of Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) journal focused on the clinical practice of radiation oncology. IMRT is one of the radiation therapy (RT) treatment options for cervical and endometrial ...

Everyone's muscles have different limits. While professional athletes can train for hours before feeling fatigued, others struggle to mow the lawn or climb stairs. No panacea exists to create an equal playing field, nor will one likely be discovered, but a new study from Duke University questions whether this limit can be nutritionally extended. The research appears July 7 in Cell Metabolism as part of a special issue on "Physical Activity and Metabolic Health." The researchers began by identifying an enzyme in skeletal muscle that helps to enhance how much moderate or ...

DURHAM, N.C. - The benefits of exercise are well known, but physical fitness becomes increasingly difficult as people age or develop ailments, creating a downward spiral into poor health. Now researchers at Duke Medicine report there may be a way to improve exercise tolerance and, by extension, its positive effects. Reporting in the July 7 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, the research team describes a small molecule and its metabolic pathway that work together to optimize energy use in exercising muscles. In mouse studies, animals that received a nutrient supplement ...

CLEVELAND - T cells from patients with melanoma can trigger a protective immune response against the disease according to a new study out of University Hospitals Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Published in the July/August issue of Journal of Immunotherapy, these new findings demonstrate that T cells derived from lymph nodes of patients with melanoma can be expanded in number and activated in the laboratory for intravenous administration in the treatment of patients. Led by Julian Kim, MD, Chief Medical ...

If you're seeing more goat meat in grocery stores and on restaurant menus these days, you can probably chalk it up to a particular expression of ethnic identity--an expression that has important implications for immigrants, marketers, and policymakers, according to a recent study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. "Goat meat is becoming more popular in America, and in large part it's been due to the desire of immigrants to retain the tastes and preferences of their country of origin," write the authors of the study, Denver D'Rozario and Guang Yang (both at Howard ...

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Nangka on July 6 and took an infrared look at the large storm as it strengthened from a tropical storm into a typhoon. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite gathered infrared temperature data on Nangka on July 6 at 15:11 UTC (1:11 p.m. EDT). The infrared data showed a large storm with the bulk of thunderstorms east of the low-level center. The 20 nautical-mile-wide (23 miles/37 km) eye of the storm is also visible on the image. Fragmented bands of powerful thunderstorms surrounded ...

Bringing reusable bags to the grocery store often means you are an environmentally friendly shopper. But it also influences the very things you buy. According to a new study in the Journal of Marketing, bringing your own bags makes you more likely to purchase organic food--and junk food as well. "Grocery store shoppers who bring their own bags are more likely to purchase organic produce and other healthy food. But those same shoppers often feel virtuous, because they are acting in an environmentally responsible way. That feeling easily persuades them that, because they ...

The competition for customers in the service sector is fierce, and new customers are entering the market all the time. So when a company such as Time Warner, Travelocity, or AT&T loses a customer, is it worth it to try to win that customer back? Yes, says a new study in the Journal of Marketing. "Our results show that lost customers, if won back, can be profitable to a company and that so-called win-back initiatives are worth the time and effort," write V. Kumar (Georgia State University), Yashoda Bhagwat , and Xi (Alan) Zhang (both Georgia State University). "In particular, ...

If you feel particularly annoyed when Michelin raises the prices of their tires, blame the Michelin Man. According to a new study in the Journal of Marketing, companies whose brands are represented by or associated with human or humanlike figures (think the Michelin Man or Colonel Sanders or Mrs. Paul) are often perceived to be taking advantage of consumers when they raise their prices. "When brands are humanized, consumers attribute human motives to those brands. Consumers are more likely to see price increases in those brands as the result of a manager trying to see ...

Inside Gramercy maximum security prison, the market for nearly any kind of good or service is extremely limited, to say the least. But according to a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, the severely restricted consumption choices faced by the 3,000 or so inmates at Gramercy create opportunities to pursue innovative and entrepreneurial business ventures. "The men at Gramercy quickly come to understand that the formal system of exchange, from public provision of goods and services to the commissary, is primarily responsive to needs of third parties such ...

In the most inclusive study to date on friendship, Chapman University research looks at gender, age, and sexual orientation differences in the number of friends people rely on for support, to what extent they choose friends of the same gender, and overall life satisfaction. In a survey of more than 25,000 participants from all walks of life, this study examines at how U.S. adults rely on friends for expressive, instrumental and companionate support. Specifically, how many same-gender and cross-gender friends people have who they can talk to about their sex life, who they ...

Over a billion entrepreneurs in the world operate in subsistence economies, often living hand to mouth. Is there a relationship between such poverty and entrepreneurial activity? A new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing says yes and sheds light on the way in which two kinds of constrained consumption spur--or in some cases impede--entrepreneurial activity. "There is a complex interplay when it comes to entrepreneurship between what we define as 'chronic' constrained consumption and 'periodic' constrained consumption," write the authors of the study, Srinivas ...

In a study that included nearly 24,000 participants, those who experienced a stroke had an acute decline in cognitive function and also accelerated and persistent cognitive decline over 6 years, according to an article in the July 7 issue of JAMA. Each year, approximately 795,000 U.S. residents experience a stroke. In 2010, almost 7 million adults were stroke survivors. Cognitive decline is a major cause of disability in stroke survivors. The magnitude of survivors' cognitive changes after stroke has been uncertain, according to background information in the article. Deborah ...