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Due to the rapid urban population, Indonesia's housing policy was developed to address the housing backlog that currently, the demand is expected to increase every year. By linkage housing provision and barriers in terms of housing technology, this paper is aimed to propose potential building materials and the construction technology. An experimental study has been conducted to develop disposable diaper waste as potential building materials for composite panel. By constructing the material using prefabrication method with a modular system becomes one of the best choices to accelerate construction speed compared to on site construction. Based on experimental study, maximum replacement of composite material by disposable diaper waste is 30% for wall panel and 5% for floor panel. In addition, the construction cost of prototype housing using prefabrication method is more affordable compared to on site construction.

Children's faecal waste is a major environmental health issue despite increasing access to sanitation facilities and sanitary products in Indonesia. This cross-sectional study investigated child faecal management practice and disposable diaper usage among under-fives living in an urban slum of Indonesia. Data on household socio-demographics, child characteristics, and child faeces management practices were collected from 184 randomly selected pairs of mothers and children through interviews and observations. Findings revealed children's common defaecation sites as improved toilet, disposable diaper, and reusable diaper at 33.7, 33.2, and 16.3%, respectively. However, hygienic child faeces disposal was at 45%. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that the common use of disposable diapers and bathroom floor as the child's defaecation site increased unhygienic disposal. This prevalence decreased for mothers with higher education and those who had initiated toilet training. Promoting mothers' disposal of child faeces from disposable diapers, preventing child defaecation on the bathroom floor, and initiating toilet training as soon as a child can walk alone are thus potential interventions.

Summary Introduction and objective During the last decades, the development of the modern disposable diaper (DD) has changed the way we diaper our children, as they are safe, easy to use, comfortable and easy to dispose, compared to cloth diapers used earlier. Concurrently, the age of initiating toilet training (TT) is rising. We aimed to investigate the connection between DD usage and the tendencies seen in TT and childhood urinary incontinence, with specific interest on studies evaluating the effect of diapering on enuresis. Study design A literature search was conducted in PubMed and Embase. A systematic literature search was conducted, revealing 309 studies in Embase and 269 studies in Pubmed. After removing duplicates, 400 studies were eligible for screening. All abstracts were screened, and 12 relevant abstracts where identified, but only eight studies were eligible. No prospective intervention studies specifically evaluating the effect of diaper on enuresis were identified. Literature on TT and diapers in general was identified using the respective search terms on both databases. Results The eight studies identified showed a tendency towards diaper use being related to a delay on obtaining continence in children, but no secure conclusions can be made, as the literature is inadequate. Discussion and conclusion Based on the available literature no secure conclusions can be drawn although an association is suggested. In order to evaluate the effect of diapers on incontinence, prospective randomized studies are needed. Download : Download high-res image (516KB) Download : Download full-size image Summary figure . Does diapers affect bladder control?.

Between 1965 and 1980, disposable diapers became the norm among middle-class American families, altering resource flows as they became more popular. Diapers crafted from wood and water of t...

Urinary tetranor-PGDM is a useful diagnostic biomarker for food allergy which often affects infants. We attempted to extract and measure urinary tetranor-PGDM absorbed in polymer of diapers. We applied CaCl2 to the collected polymer, determined the adequate time length of shaking the polymer to release urine, and measured tetranor-PGDM in the extracted urine. This procedure provided high linearity and recovery rate in tetranor-PGDM measurement. We also found that urinary tetranor-PGDM was stable for 24 h at 4°C in diapers. This method can be useful to monitor the food allergic condition of non-toilet trained children.

A disposable diaper is a necessary product in the baby early life. Today, it is subjected to many developments to improve its performances. In this study, a new approach is proposed aiming to solve...

BACKGROUND Super-absorbent diaper is a disposable diaper with new technology which has a soft-airy structure, breathable sheet, and rich absorbent core. This study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of super-absorbent diaper with standard absorbent diaper. METHODS A single-blinded, randomized, controlled, cross-over study was performed in 3–24 months babies. A safety study was performed in 113 babies without diaper rash (group A: super-absorbent to standard and B: standard to super-absorbent) and efficacy study in 59 babies with mild-to-moderate diaper rash (group C: super-absorbent to standard and D: standard to super-absorbent). Each group used super-absorbent or standard diaper for 2 weeks. Skin assessment scores (SAS) were recorded at baseline, week-2, and week-4. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze the data. RESULTS In the safety study, there was no significant increase of SAS in group A at week-2 and -4, but in group B there was a significant increase of SAS (1.9 to 4.1, p = 0.001) at week-2 with a significant reduction at week-4 (4.1 to 2.2, p

Disposable diapers have become a prominent feature of solid waste dumped in landfills. It is estimated that disposable diapers take anywhere between 300 to 500 years to decompose. Despite the associated environmental challenges, a plethora of studies show that disposable diapers have become a popular choice for parents when compared with cloth diapers. Disposable diapers are argued to be more convenient for parents because of their once-off use and super-absorbent ability, of which they are able to absorb 200-300 times the weight as compared to the cloth diapers. This study investigates thermal devolatilisation profiles of disposable diapers as well as their iso-conventional kinetic parameters, elemental and fractional composition. In this study, the two most dominant disposable diaper brands were sampled and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. It was observed that the exterior fraction of both diapers showed a single peak devolatilisation at a temperature of around 500°C, while the interior fraction showed two distinctive devolatilisation peaks observed below 400°C and above 500°C. However, the pyrolysis heating rate produced no effect on the pyro-char fraction. Furthermore, the devolatilisation pathways of different types of disposable diaper fractions showed that there is a potential for conducting stepwise pyrolysis to promote fractional recovery of valuable products. Disposable diapers waste conversion can be better handled by separating the outer fraction (mainly fossil-based plastics and rubbery materials) from the inner fraction (mainly bio-based fibers and absorbents). It is further illustrated that the kinetic parameters, Ea and k0 are different for each disposable diaper fraction.

Toilet training is the challenging stages of development that all children are required to successfully complete it to achieve independence and self-esteem. In the last few decades, there has been a trend of late success on toilet training accompanied by a change in diapering habit, which today tends to be more disposable diaper than cloth diaper. In addition, toilet training method (parent oriented, child oriented and combination of the two) is a training provided by parents also have an important aspect in the success of toilet training. The research aim to know the effect of history of the diaper usage and toilet training method to the success of toilet training in children aged 18-48 months in five Posyandu Malang 2017. The research used analytic observational with case-control approach by using chi square and logistic regression test. The number of selected samples is 70 based on cluster random sampling technique. The result is a history of diaper usage on the success of toilet training (p = 0,003), as well as toilet training method (p = 0,003). In logistic regression, the results of cloth diaper users have a tendency to reach toilet training success of 4.6 times than disposable diaper users and who use parent oriented methods tend to achieve successful toilet training of 5.6 times than those using child oriented methods. The research conclude that there is a significant effect of the history of diaper usage and toilet training method on the success of toilet training. Key words: toilet training, disposable diaper, cloth diaper, toilet training method ABSTRAK Toilet training adalah salah satu tahap perkembangan yang menantang pada awal kehidupan anak, yang semua anak diharuskan dapat berhasil menyelesaikannya untuk mencapai kemandirian dan penghargaan diri. Beberapa dekade terakhir, terjadi tren keterlambatan keberhasilan toilet training yang disertai dengan perubahan kebiasaan pemakaian popok yang saat ini cenderung lebih banyak pemakaian popok sekali pakai daripada popok kain. Oleh karena itu, pemakaian popok diduga menjadi salah satu faktor yang berpengaruh terhadap keberhasilan toilet training . Selain itu, metode toilet training merupakan pelatihan yang diberikan oleh orang tua juga berperan penting dalam keberhasilan toilet training . Metode toilet training yang paling sering digunakan saat ini yaitu parent oriented, child oriented dan kombinasi antara keduanya. Tujuan penelitian adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh riwayat pemakaian popok dan metode toilet training terhadap keberhasilan toilet training pada anak balita usia 18-48 bulan di lima Posyandu Kota Malang Tahun 2017. Desain penelitian ini adalah observasional analitik dengan pendekatan case-control dengan menggunakan uji chi square dan regresi logistik. Jumlah sampel terpilih adalah 70 berdasarkan teknik cluster random sampling. Hasilnya adalah riwayat pemakaian popok berpengaruh terhadap keberhasilan toilet training (p = 0,003), begitu pula dengan metode toilet training (p = 0,003). Pada regresi logistik, didapatkan hasil pemakai popok kain memiliki kecenderungan mencapai keberhasilan toilet training sebesar 4,6 kali daripada pemakai popok sekali pakai dan yang menggunakan metode parent oriented cenderung mencapai keberhasilan toilet training sebesar 5,6 kali daripada yang menggunakan metode child oriented. Kesimpulan penelitian ini adalah terdapat pengaruh yang bermakna dari riwayat pemakaian popok dan metode toilet training terhadap keberhasilan toilet training. Kata Kunci: toilet training, popok sekali pakai, popok kain, metode toilet training

Gait maturation in infants develops gradually through several phases. However, external factors such as childrearing practices, especially the wearing of diapers, may affect an infant’s motor development. This study investigated the influence of different bulk stresses on the gait of toddlers wearing a disposable diaper. Twenty-six healthy toddlers (age: 19.2 ± 0.9 months) participated in this study. We measured the joint kinematics (pelvis angle and hip-joint angle) and spatiotemporal parameters (step length and step width) of the toddlers’ gait under four dress conditions (wearing Type A_WET, Type A_DRY, and Type B_WET diapers and naked). Type B_WET had a higher bulk stress than Type A_WET, and Type A_DRY had lower stress than Type A _ WET. Our results indicate that the walk of toddlers when wearing a diaper differs from that when naked. This difference is due to the effect of the bulk of the diaper on the lower limb. A high bulk stress has a greater influence than that of a low bulk stress on joint dynamics and step width. Therefore, our findings suggest that wearing diapers with high bulk stress may inhibit the natural gait patterns of toddlers.

The cultural aspect of managing disposable diapers and sanitary napkins in Indonesia is very important. The purpose of this study was to obtain an overview of the cultural aspects of the waste management process. The method used literature review. The data analysis used thematic analysis. The articles obtained from the selection were 18 titles. The results of the review show that the culture that is most discussed in the issue of disposable diapers and sanitary napkin waste management is the culture of industrial society, then Javanese society, and the last one is colonial. Culture is discussed in the realm of practice and reasons for use as well as practices and reasons for waste management. Things that need to be deepened are culture in the form of (1) cultural engineering and cultural environment and (2) the realm of the impact of using and managing disposable diapers and sanitary napkins. Another suggestion is to expand database searches and perform SLRs for more detailed results.

Materials based on highly porous fibers are now becoming increasingly popular as thermal insulators to fight severely increasing temperatures due to climate change (Khedari, et al., 2004). In this study, fibers from solid waste materials like coconut husk and absorbent pads of used disposable diapers were evaluated for their synergistic effect as thermal insulating material. Dried coconut husk fibers and cleaned used disposable diapers were heated at 1500C-3000C for 2 hours and then molded to make pads. Scanning Electron Microscopy and HD digital microscope were used in the analytical imaging of the fibers. Fiber pads from coconut husk fibers, used disposable diapers and their combination, and polyethylene foam (+control) were evaluated for their burning rate based on ASTM D 1992 while thermal conductivity, and thermal resistance were obtained using the testing hot box (Frawley & Kennedy, 2007). The morphology of the coconut husk fibers with used disposable diapers showed thicker and rougher surface with foamy coatings which confirmed porous fiber structure. One-Factor ANOVA showed significant difference among the different set-ups for burning rate (F=926.506; p=0.000), thermal conductivity (F=203.993; p=0.000), and thermal resistance (F=197.820; p=0.000) wherein the set-up for the combination of the coconut husk fibers and used disposable diapers exhibits satisfactory burning rate (M=3.268), lowest thermal conductivity (M=0.037) and highest thermal resistance (M=0.273).The results affirm that the natural coconut husk fibers and used disposable diapers have synergistic effect for better thermal properties, thus, producing a more effective and safer thermal insulating material.

TK Wiji is a nursery school which was built at Jl. Untung Suropati no. 10 kelurahan Tegalrejo kota Pekalongan based on NPSN 69879295 of 2005 by Yayasan 99. TK Wiji is growing fast due to its education system which is in line to the 2013 national curriculum with the vision of toodler characteristic development. The most fundamental of character education is environment education. Considering to this situation, we have found that the most common litter of the nursery is disposable diaper. This kind of diaper is hardly degraded into its monomer. Colon’s research in 2013 has found a strategy to use this diaper as compost. Based on the problem of disposable diaper wastes in the nursery and also the result of the background research about exploiting the waste as compost, then the environment education for toodler of TK Wiji by using diaper waste as a material for hidroponic cultivation was done. In the beginning, guidances were given to the teacher in 2 phases which are making diaper waste composite into organic fertilizer and making hidrogel for interior plant cultivation by using the gel of the waste. In the next step, the teachers were asked to make improvisation regarding toodler environment education by using the skills. In spite of this, there was still an argument about the time management in the learning process by using diaper waste as the material. Thus an implementation of the skill for toodler extracuricular was stated.

Seven disposable diaper brands that are commonly used in Clermont, Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa) and some frequently found along river bodies (due to illegal dumping) were characterised through proximate analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), ultimate analysis and analytical pyrolysis&ndash, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py&ndash, GC/MS). A novel approach entailing separation of the diapers into two fractions, interior (constituting mainly biomass fibres) and exterior (mainly constituting non-biomass polyethylene), assisted in assessing thermochemical conversion of the disposable diaper&rsquo, s potential as well as likely threats to the environment. In a comparison of the volatile matter between the two fractions, the exterior fraction is more combustible (due to a higher volatile fraction). Hence, it is more suitable for energy recovery. The present study investigates the use of pyrolysis to manage disposable diapers to potentially recover pyro-oil, pyro-gas and pyro-char. In this primary investigation, it was observed that each disposable diaper brand reacts differently to constant heating. However, the proximate and elemental analysis also highlights the likely negative environmental threats, such as that the high volatile content can potentially release dangerous permanent gases such as chlorine and cobalt into the atmosphere after the diaper is disposed of illegally and in landfill.

This essay compares the public memory narratives surrounding two key players in the invention of one important mid-twentieth century innovation: the disposable diaper. Although Procter and Gamble’s Victor Mills and the entrepreneurial inventor Marion Donovan have each been hailed as success stories in the history of invention, their stories have often been framed differently in popular media, such as website blurbs, newspaper articles, and obituaries. The essay considers how four gendered tropes surrounding the act of invention—space, motive, training and preparation, and scope—contribute to this differential remembering and, relatedly, to a tacit demarcation between high-status masculine invention and its amateur counterpart, feminine ingenuity.

Recycling of disposable diaper can help to alleviate many of the problems associated with landfills and waste incinerators, such as ground water and air pollution. Along with the consideration of the environmental effects, technology, social acceptance, and economic feasibility also need to be taken into account in promoting the recycling of diaper. With respect to the environmental effect, the environmental enhancement of diaper recycling comparing to current disposal method need to be identified. This study validates that accurate statistical data on diaper generation, material information and usage should be collected to assess the environmental aspect quantification. Life cycle assessment was conducted to measure the environmental impact caused by the utilization of diaper recycling process. Since the environmental effects of diaper recycling are largely avoided by the regeneration of pulp and plastic, the environmental improvement effect is significantly higher than current disposal method considering the production of pulp and plastic. It was found that the improvement effect of 131% in terms of eutrophication and 185% in terms of resource depletion was shown to be improvement. For actual diaper recycling to be realized in the future, an additional study on the optimal size, location, and target rate needs to be carried out through a variety of pilot projects and an environmental analysis should be conducted based on actual operational data.

Due to the widespread use of disposable diapers in healthy babies as well as children prone to allergies and premature babies with reduced immunity, disposable diapers should only be made of non-toxic and natural ingredients. Unfortunately, disposable diaper manufacturers are reluctant to present their exact chemical composition, claiming that their trade secrets apply. However, several reports show that disposable diapers of well-known brands, “store” brands and “bio” brands may contain a number of toxic compounds. There is very little study focused on the chemical composition of disposable baby diapers. Commonly, diapers may contain different pollutants including polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), organically active compounds of ethylene benzene, xylene and toluene, polyacrylates or phthalates. Some of them may be risky for children's health. Only few methodologies are reported for the determination of some groups of compounds that could have a negative impact on the baby's skin condition. These procedures are mainly based on chromatographic separation. Another issue connected with disposable baby diapers is its enormous impact on the environment, starting from the production step, finishing at disposal procedure. Thus, the aim of this review is to present problems connected with disposable baby diapers and its impact on the baby's health and on the environment. One of the important issues in this range is the limited knowledge in society and this aspect is also described. Another topic discussed here is related to the occurrence of toxic compounds in disposable baby diapers. Moreover, the importance of analysis and monitoring of these xenobiotics is reviewed in the article.

This study was conducted to explore the potential of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) from used disposable diapers as soil moisture retainer. Swelling behavior of the proposed hydrogel in response to external stimuli such as salt solutions, temperature and pH was studied. In addition, laboratory experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of incorporation hydrogel on germination of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and pumpkin (C. pepo) seeds. The structure of the used superabsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results indicate that the proposed SAP exhibited a maximum swelling capacity of 189 g-g-1 of dry gel. It was observed that the swelling capacity decreased with an increase in the ionic strength of the swelling medium. When this SAP was mixed with sandy soil, the mixture was able to lose water more slowly. The seeds germination and seedling growth was remarkably influenced by the application of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 w/w% of SAP compared to the untreated soil. Therefore, it follows that it is possible to take advantage of SAPs property from used disposable diapers to retain the moisture in soil as an alternative to value the use of such waste, showing that it has potential for agricultural applications.

This research assessed the viability to use disposable diapers as a substrate for the production of biohydrogen, a valuable clean-energy source. The important content of cellulose of disposable diapers indicates that this waste could be an attractive substrate for biofuel production. Two incubation temperatures (35 °C and 55 °C) and three diaper conditioning methods (whole diapers with faeces, urine, and plastics, WD; diapers without plastic components, with urine and faeces, DWP; diapers with urine but without faeces and plastic, MSD) were tested in batch bioreactors. The bioreactors were operated in the solid substrate anaerobic hydrogenogenic fermentation with intermittent venting mode (SSAHF-IV). The batch reactors were loaded with the substrate at ca. 25% of total solids and 10% w/w inoculum. The average cumulative bioH2 production followed the order WD > MSD > DWP. The bio-H2 production using MSD was unexpectedly higher than DWP; the presence of plastics in the first was expected to be associated to lower degradability and H2 yield. BioH2 production at 55 °C was superior to that of 35 °C, probably owing to a more rapid microbial metabolism in the thermophilic regime. The results of this work showed low yields in the production of H2 at both temperatures compared with those reported in the literature for municipal and agricultural organic waste. The studied process could improve the ability to dispose of this residue with H2 generation as the value-added product. Research is ongoing to increase the yield of biohydrogen production from waste disposable diapers.

This study examined the characteristics of young infants’ lower limb spontaneous movements based on differences in shape of diapers. Twenty-seven healthy infants (103 ± 16.3 days old) were enrolled in this study. We measured the spontaneous movements of their lower limbs in four conditions (Naked, wearing Normal type diapers, wearing Type A diapers, and wearing Type B diapers). The Normal diaper has a wider waist belt than the Type A diaper, and the Type B diaper has a narrower crotch area than the Type A diaper. We observed them in seven indices (the velocity of lower limb movements, the trajectory area of knee movement in the sagittal plane and the frontal plane, the distance between both knees and between side of abdomen and knee, and correlation of velocities between side of abdomen and knee and between left and right ankles). The results showed that the velocity of the lower limb movements in the Naked condition was higher than when wearing Normal diapers. The value for the trajectory area of knee movement in sagittal plane, which reflects the range of lower leg lifting movements and closeness of such movements to the trunk, for the Type B diaper condition was higher than that for the Normal diaper condition. This result indicates that the shape of the diaper affects the spontaneous movements of the lower limbs of young infants.

A baby feels uncomfortable in a wet diaper and it can cause health issues such as diaper rash. Diaper rash can be avoided by changing the diaper as soon as the baby urinates or passes stool. In this project, a smart wearable gadget is developed which sends an automatic notification to a caregiver’s smartphone whenever the baby urinates. The proposed wearable detects urination event noninvasively by sensing the temperature rise on the outer surface of the diaper and quantifies the event using a decision tree and a midpoint based k-nearest neighbor (KNN) hybrid classification algorithm. The gadget is a small size, low power, low cost and reusable electronic device that is attached externally to the outer surface of the diaper. The gadget can be used with any disposable diaper, thus no change in the diaper production process or price increase is required. The smartphone app shows the diaper change urgency score and logs all the urination events. This record can facilitate treating diseases where accurate records of urination are required. A prototype of the hardware gadget and a smartphone app is developed and tested.

A method for recycling diaper waste pulp was developed. Super-absorbent polymer (SAP) in diapers was dehydrated by oxidizing it using ozone, then the pulp in the diaper waste was recycled. The diaper waste was washed and centrifugally separated, then the SAP and pulp mixture was oxidized using ozone to separate the SAP and pulp to allow the pulp to be recycled. A sample of SAP that had absorbed either 400 mL of distilled water or 80 mL of a 0.9% NaCl solution was placed in 2000 mL of a 45 g/m3 ozone solution produced by passing ozone through the solution at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The SAP concentration decreased as the reaction time increased. Oxidation by ozone destroyed the cross-linked SAP structure and therefore eliminated the ability of the SAP to retain water. Ozone treatment also broke the ether bonds of the cross-linking agent in the SAP. This caused the water-insoluble SAP to be converted into a water-soluble sodium acrylate polymer. The molecular weight and degree of dispersion of the SAP also decreased as the reaction time increased. The water-absorptivity of the recovered pulp was almost the same as the water-absorptivity of virgin pulp and was higher than the standard value of 10 g/g. The water-absorptivity of the recovered pulp was not affected by the ozone treatment. We concluded that the method can be used to recycle disposable diaper pulp.

Diapering practices vary among different countries from the use of cloth diapers to the modern disposable diaper. In the last few decades, diaper technology has advanced significantly thus decreasing the prevalence of diaper dermatitis. Recent innovative techniques used in the manufacturing of diapers include incorporation of superabsorbent polymer gel that can absorb 30 times its weight in liquid. Recently, smart diapers have been developed which not only prevents diaper dermatitis but significantly has reduced the burden on parents. This article reviews how changes in disposable diaper technology have improved diapering practices.

Objective Many indications justifiably drive the pediatrician to request a urine sample in order to assess the health status of the incontinent baby or infant. Urine collection by means of an adhesive perineal bag is the most widely used in children who do not control urine emission, despite its inaccurate reflection of bacteriuria. We suggest a novel technique to immediately visualize the micturition event upon occurrence, in attempt to shorten waiting times and exhausting checking and rechecking opaque diapers in order to determine whether the desired sample has finally been delivered. Methods The perineal urine collection bag is pulled through a vertical slit created in the front of the disposable diaper. The bag is now visible at all times. Results In general, waiting times appear shortened since the implementation of this practice. Since the adoption of this technique at a number of our clinics, we have not experienced bag displacement as was previously experienced. Forgoing the need to manipulate the diaper and repeatedly awakening irritable infants was gladly welcomed by parents. Conclusions Widespread adoption of the diaper slit technique seems a promising procedure enhancing comfort and facilitating the process of obtaining a urine sample in the incontinent child. Assumptions that this procedure actually shortens waiting times and raises the success rates of sample retrieval remain to be proven by formal comparative trials.

Wearing a wet diaper for a long time can be uncomfortable and cause health issues such as diaper rash. The best way to avoid diaper rash is to change the diaper often and as soon as possible after the baby urinates or passes stool. Daycare caregivers or parents sometimes forget or do not have time to manually check the diaper condition of the babies throughout the day. In this age of smart devices, many people are busy with their cell phones or tablets for social networking, texting, gaming, music etc. In this project, a novel wearable gadget is developed which sends an automatic notification to caregivers smart devices whenever the baby urinates. The proposed wearable detects urination event noninvasively by sensing the temperature rise on the outer surface of the diaper. The gadget is a small size, low power, low cost and reusable electronic device that is attached externally to the outer surface of the diaper using hook-and-Ioop fasteners. The gadget can be used with any disposable diaper, thus no change in the diaper production process or price increase is required. The smartphone app logs the urination events and creates databases and reports. This record can facilitate treating disease such as dehydration, where accurate previous records of urination are required. A prototype of the hardware gadget and a smartphone app is developed and tested.

This study was designed to analyze the feasibility of economic aspects assuming that the policy of diaper recycling is necessary. With respect to economic feasibility, the collection and transportation of the diaper waste, which accounts for much of the cost, need to be optimized. Starting with the results of a collection trial in Scotland (2012), the method used in a collection trial in Korea (2014) was analyzed to identify problems incurring additional costs. This paper targeted daycare centers in Nowon-Gu, Seoul—because of the quantity of waste diapers they produce and the efficiency of collection—to identify the problems and to predict the cost of collection. This study evaluated multiple scenarios in light of their collection costs, discovering factors that could improve the system and reduce the cost and created the most economically feasible and optimized collection model. This paper will serve as empirical evidence proving the economics of diaper collection when the regulation is revised or amended in the future.

The emergence of consolidated nighttime sleep and the formation and maintenance of parent-infant relationships are 2 primary developmental achievements of the infancy period. Despite the development of a transactional model that links parenting behaviors to infant sleep, limited attention has been devoted to examining experimental manipulations of infant sleep that may impact the discrete parent-infant interactions that may form the foundation for emerging attachment relationships. In the present study, infants were randomly assigned to wear high-absorbency disposable diapers or to continue using traditional low-absorbency cloth diapers that necessitate frequent changes and associated disruptions of nighttime sleep. Parents reported on infant sleep before and during the 6-week experimental manipulation; a subset of infants also wore actigraphs. Parents and infants also participated in a parent-infant interaction task both before and near the end of the experimental manipulation. Infants who wore cloth diapers experienced more frequent sleep disruptions overall as well as a greater number of disruptions that did and did not wake the infant from sleep. Infants who wore disposable diapers were rated as experiencing more engagement and positive affect near the end of the intervention relative to infants who wore cloth diapers; mothers of infants who wore disposable diapers were rated as more engaged and sensitive near the end of the intervention relative to mothers of infants who wore cloth diapers. These findings suggest that the disposable diaper manipulation was causally related to characteristics of mother-infant interactions that may form the foundation for emerging attachment relationships.

Disposable diaper has been used in order to handle urine and feces conveniently. At present the amount of disposable diaper waste increases gradually. Incineration and landfill have been the only ways to dispose of disposable diapers. However, if they are disposed by landfill, decomposition will take more than one hundred years. In addition, another way of dispose incineration has caused air pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to study recycling process for disposable diaper since plastic and wood fibers of diaper are useful materials to recycle. In this study, pulping condition of disposable diaper waste was studied in order to effectively separate the components. Recovery rates of plastic and fibers were analyzed under different pulping conditions. It was found that optimum pulping consistency was 5%, time was 60 minutes, temperature was 50°C, and cut size is 21 cm×21 cm. The recovery rate of plastic and fibers can be achieved above 70% under the optimum pulping condition.

An extensive literature survey and personal communication with relevant experts made it possible to understand economicand technical feasibility of disposable diaper recycling. Commercial level of soiled diaper recycling technology is currently avail-able from a Dutch company, Knowaste Co., who owns a proprietary separation technology of the pulps, plastics and superabsorbing polymer (SAP). In Korea, on the other hand, pre-consumer diaper recycling technology without material separationat its infancy converts manufacturing scraps into refuse plastic fuel (RPF), container/truck cargo boards or automobile boards/sheets. Although previous studies on feasibility of post-consumer recycling in Korea showed mutually contradictory implication,it was found out in this research that significantly positive economic feasibility can be obtained with pre-consumer diaper recy-cling. Subsequent recycling R&D including pre-consumer scrap and policy support may expedite 'Establishment of SustainableSociety.Key words : diaper waste, recycling, economic and technical feasibility · Received : January 9, 2015 · Revised : January 29, 2015 · Accepted : February 3, 2015Corresponding Author : Joong Woo Ahn (E-mail : jwahn@sungshin.ac.kr)Department of Interdisciplinary Eco-Science, Sungshin Women’s University, 55 Dobong-ro 76ga-gil, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, 142-732 KoreaTel : +82-2-920-7897 / Fax : +82-2-920-2786ⓒThe Korean Institute of Resources Recycling. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the termsof the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permitsunrestricted non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

For centuries, diapering has been a global practice. Most cultures around the world have historically implemented mechanisms to cover the genital area, both for privacy and to contain waste. The latest and most important innovation was the advent of the disposable diaper in the mid-twentieth century. Modern disposable diapers have considerably decreased the incidence of irritant diaper dermatitis through their design and construction. Disposable diaper use continues to grow globally. This article reviews the history of diaper practices worldwide.

* Abbreviations: EC — : elimination communication MRSA — : methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus When we were planning to have our third child, we made a conscious decision to not use disposable diapers. We felt sheepish that we had already contributed 2 children’s worth of diapers to our nation’s landfills. Unfortunately, washing and drying cloth diapers could triple the amount of work for us. Further, exchanging disposable diapers for energy- and water-consuming laundering was not an environmentally guilt-free option. How did we as humans take care of children before disposable diapers? Researching this question, we soon learned about elimination communication (EC). EC, also known as natural infant hygiene, is the practice of using the infant’s natural timing and cues to recognize when they need to defecate or urinate. By identifying these cues, caregivers can coordinate elimination in the toilet rather than in a diaper. Contrary to the notion that infants relieve themselves randomly and constantly throughout the day, infants naturally eliminate at predictable times, such as on waking or after feeding. Caregivers can incorporate audio cues (soft whistle or hum) to associate with the act of eliminating. With practice, many children learn to eliminate when they are in proper position and hear the cue. EC is not a new concept. Humans have been doing this for millennia and still do in most resource-limited regions. As little as 3 to 4 generations ago, most Americans did as well. So, why has the pendulum in mainstream American culture swung so far away from EC? The disposable diaper was first patented in 1955.1 In 1962, pediatric developmental specialist Dr T. Berry Brazelton published … Address correspondence to Jeffrey M. Bender, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd, MS 51, Los Angeles, CA 90027. E-mail: jbender{at}chla.usc.edu

Hydrogels are commonly used and novel smart materials . They are superabsorbent polymers with interesting properties. Hydrogels can also motivate students for playing and learning science because they reflect the trends in current research. Literature review yielded no results about students’ conceptions of hydrogels. Therefore we decided to explore students’ knowledge about hydrogels, acquired through informal learning process. The paper first presents the description of hydrogels , list of experiments with hydrogels and describes the prior research about hydrogels in some detail. The results of the study, which included 104 1st year pre-service primary school teachers from Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, are then presented. On February 2015 students filled in a paper-pencil questionnaire about hydrogels (QH) with 26 items. Results show that informal knowledge about hydrogels is limited, since students on average achieved 8 % of possible points on the QH. Results have further influenced the design of a pilot teaching module about hydrogels.