Development of an online tool to support financial and legal planning in dementia.

Objective: To develop, assess, and refine an online educational tool, Plan for Clarity, to support financial and legal planning in dementia.

Methods: A Delphi mixed-method study with three rounds of anonymous review by lay and professional stakeholders was designed to reach consensus about the content of the online tool and explore the socio-cultural and behavioral factors that could affect access and use.

Results: Consensus showed that the online tool covered key information, knowledge, and communication skills for financial and legal planning.

Recycling rice husk ash as a filler on biodegradable cassava starch-based foams.

Starch-based foams can be used in packaging development to replace nonbiodegradable petrochemical plastics. However, starch-based materials possess poor mechanical properties and low water resistance. These properties can be improved by adding plasticizers and fillers to the bulk composition.

Non-Supported and PET-Supported Chitosan Membranes for Pervaporation: Production, Characterization, and Performance.

The objective of this study was to develop non-supported and PET-supported chitosan membranes that were cross-linked with glutaraldehyde, then evaluate their physical-chemical, morphological, and mechanical properties, and evaluate their performance in the separation of ethanol/water and limonene/linalool synthetic mixtures by hydrophilic and target-organophilic pervaporation, respectively. The presence of a PET layer did not affect most of the physical-chemical parameters of the membranes, but the mechanical properties were enhanced, especially the Young modulus (76 MPa to 398 MPa), tensile strength (16 MPa to 27 MPa), and elongation at break (7% to 26%), rendering the supported membrane more resistant. Regarding the pervaporation tests, no permeate was obtained in target-organophilic pervaporation tests, regardless of membrane type.

Making the reuse of agro-industrial wastes a reality for starch-based packaging sector: A storage case study of carrot cake and cherry tomatoes.

Cassava inner bark (CIB) and grape stalks (GS), residues from agro-industrial activities, were applied in the development of biodegradable foams by thermocompression. The samples produced with untreated stalks (sample GSWT) and with stalks only physically treated (sample GSP) presented good mechanical strength (2.1 MPa and 2.

The influence of aeration rate on the sorption of emerging pharmaceuticals in activated sludge.

The sorption of pharmaceuticals on activated sludge during the wastewater treatment process has been widely studied and considered one of the main mechanisms for the removal of these micropollutants from domestic sewage. Understanding the removal mechanism is important to reduce the environmental risk associated with these compounds. To the best of our knowledge, no data are reporting the influence of the aeration rate and, consequently, of the physicochemical properties of the sludge flocs, on the sorption of pharmaceutical compounds.