5,813 research outputs found
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Systematic assessment of wastewater resource circularity and sustainable value creation
Data availability:
Data will be made available on request.Supplementary materials are avalable online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135424000411#sec0032 .Copyright © 2024 The Authors. The circular use of wastewater has attracted significant attention in recent years. However, there is a lack of universal definitions and measurement tools that are required to achieve the circular economy's full potential. Therefore, a methodology was developed using three indicator typologies, namely resource flow, circular action, and sustainability indicators, to facilitate a robust and holistic circularity assessment. The method uses value propositions to integrate the assessment of intrinsic circularity performance with consequential circularity impacts, by quantifying sustainable value creation (using techniques such as life cycle assessment or cost-benefit analysis). Assessment method capabilities were exhibited by applying the defined steps to a wastewater treatment plant, comparing conventional and novel photobioreactor technologies. The resource flow indicator taxonomy results highlight improved outflow circularity, renewable energy usage, and economic efficiency of the novel system. Action indicators revealed that the photobioreactor technology was successful at achieving its defined circular goals. Lastly, sustainability indicators quantified a reduction of carbon footprint by two thirds and eutrophication by 41%, a M€ 0.5 per year increase of economic value, and that disability adjusted life year impacts are 58% lower. This supports that improving wastewater system circularity using photobioreactor technology results in environmental, economic, and social value for stakeholders.Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme DEEP PURPLE. The H2020 DEEP PURPLE project has received funding from the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 837998. The JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Bio-based Industries Consortium
Computer-Aided Drug Design and Drug Discovery: A Prospective Analysis
In the dynamic landscape of drug discovery, Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) emerges as a transformative force, bridging the realms of biology and technology. This paper overviews CADDs historical evolution, categorization into structure-based and ligand-based approaches, and its crucial role in rationalizing and expediting drug discovery. As CADD advances, incorporating diverse biological data and ensuring data privacy become paramount. Challenges persist, demanding the optimization of algorithms and robust ethical frameworks. Integrating Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence amplifies CADDs predictive capabilities, yet ethical considerations and scalability challenges linger. Collaborative efforts and global initiatives, exemplified by platforms like Open-Source Malaria, underscore the democratization of drug discovery. The convergence of CADD with personalized medicine offers tailored therapeutic solutions, though ethical dilemmas and accessibility concerns must be navigated. Emerging technologies like quantum computing, immersive technologies, and green chemistry promise to redefine the future of CADD. The trajectory of CADD, marked by rapid advancements, anticipates challenges in ensuring accuracy, addressing biases in AI, and incorporating sustainability metrics. This paper concludes by highlighting the need for proactive measures in navigating the ethical, technological, and educational frontiers of CADD to shape a healthier, brighter future in drug discovery
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Board’s strategy for a future-ready business in an uncertain world
Innovation and business excellence are inter-related. Excellence in innovation can increase options and expand choices. As innovation creates new possibilities, boards may need to redefine what is considered excellent. Innovation and excellence are essential for future-proofing a business, and for coping with multiple challenges, related opportunities, global risks and existential threats. They will be required for adaptation, survival, relevance and success in the context of an evolving new world order. Boards need to ensure that the corporate leadership and the strategic direction they provide inspires and enables effective and collective responses. The purpose of this Theme Paper is to explore areas on the agenda for the forthcoming 2024 UAE Global Convention and 31st Annual World Congress on Leadership for Innovation and Business Excellence the theme of which is “Board’s Strategy to Build a Future-Proof Business in an evolving New World”. It suggests issues and questions that directors, speakers and other convention participants might wish to consider. The theme paper also includes selected references to investigations and recent studies related to the convention’s agenda, which covers strategies for future-proofing businesses, open innovation and future-proofing excellence, transformational strategy for excellence and growth, strategic and transformational roles of corporate boards, capabilities for futuristic and sustainable operating models, excellence and innovation in the digital economy, digital technology applications, risks and inclusive growth, corporate boards, net zero and climate governance, board strategies for limiting damage and pursuing opportunities, strategies for enabling excellence through good governance, board composition and culture for good governance, innovation, excellence and superior governance and recognising realities and rebuilding trust. Coming so soon after COP 28, the 2024 UAE Global Convention represents an opportunity for leaders to discuss, share, learn and consider options for immediate action and future possibilities. To ensure responsible leadership for innovation and excellence and strategies for future-proofing businesses and contributing to our collective survival, a diverse and effective board of competent directors remains a key requirement
Methodological challenges in pregnancy pharmacoepidemiology : the case of antiseizure medication and offspring neurodevelopment
This thesis is driven by the overarching aim of elucidating methodological challenges
inherent in pharmacoepidemiology during pregnancy, with a particular focus on
antiseizure medications. In Study I, a substantial surge in antiseizure medication use in
the United Kingdom is observed, notably linked to increases in psychiatric indications.
This shift in the medication landscape raises questions about the predominant
contributors to this rise and underscores the necessity of understanding evolving
patterns in drug utilization during pregnancy. In Study II, a large-scale examination of
associations between specific antiseizure medications and neurodevelopmental
conditions across Sweden and the United Kingdom emphasizes the importance of
considering drug classes and shared confounders, providing valuable insights into the
possible causal effect of these drugs.
Study III explores the intricate interplay between epilepsy and psychiatric conditions,
unveiling a heightened risk of neurodevelopmental conditions in individuals diagnosed
with epilepsy. These findings shed light on the complex within-individual links between
these conditions, potentially explaining the observed higher likelihood of
neurodevelopmental diagnoses in children of women using antiseizure medications in
pregnancy. In Study IV, a critical evaluation of drug safety studies warns against
indication-based sampling, advocating for comprehensive regression adjustments to
mitigate biases. Finally, Study V introduces the marginalized between-within model, a
novel approach to derive absolute measures of occurrence in sibling analysis, enhancing
the interpretability of findings.
This thesis, collectively, calls for a concerted effort to improve the methodology of
pharmacoepidemiology during pregnancy, fostering a more nuanced understanding of
medication risks, and ultimately enhancing maternal and fetal health outcomes
Computer-Simulated Environments in the Commercial Sector: Enhancing Customer Experience through 3D Spherical Image Technology
This build and test study investigated the use of immersive environments in the commercial sector, focusing on 3D Spherical Image Technology to enhance the customer experience and explored user engagement in virtual reality experiences, in the context of integrated marketing communication (IMC). A 3D immersive shop was developed and tested on seven people with marketing experience to determine customer satisfaction. Seven themes emerged from the interview data: Pandemic challenges, design challenges, design improvement, safety during the pandemic, accessibility, business growth and efficiency. Four themes emerged for further research: Effectiveness and Impact of immersive marketing, technical considerations, business strategies and adaptation, and social media and consumer behavior
Dataflow Programming and Acceleration of Computationally-Intensive Algorithms
The volume of unstructured textual information continues to grow due to recent technological advancements. This resulted in an exponential growth of information generated in various formats, including blogs, posts, social networking, and enterprise documents. Numerous Enterprise Architecture (EA) documents are also created daily, such as reports, contracts, agreements, frameworks, architecture requirements, designs, and operational guides. The processing and computation of this massive amount of unstructured information necessitate substantial computing capabilities and the implementation of new techniques. It is critical to manage this unstructured information through a centralized knowledge management platform. Knowledge management is the process of managing information within an organization. This involves creating, collecting, organizing, and storing information in a way that makes it easily accessible and usable. The research involved the development textual knowledge management system, and two use cases were considered for extracting textual knowledge from documents. The first case study focused on the safety-critical documents of a railway enterprise. Safety is of paramount importance in the railway industry. There are several EA documents including manuals, operational procedures, and technical guidelines that contain critical information. Digitalization of these documents is essential for analysing vast amounts of textual knowledge that exist in these documents to improve the safety and security of railway operations. A case study was conducted between the University of Huddersfield and the Railway Safety Standard Board (RSSB) to analyse EA safety documents using Natural language processing (NLP). A graphical user interface was developed that includes various document processing features such as semantic search, document mapping, text summarization, and visualization of key trends. For the second case study, open-source data was utilized, and textual knowledge was extracted. Several features were also developed, including kernel distribution, analysis offkey trends, and sentiment analysis of words (such as unique, positive, and negative) within the documents. Additionally, a heterogeneous framework was designed using CPU/GPU and FPGAs to analyse the computational performance of document mapping
Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies
Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial
The Pragmatic Development of a Carbon Management Framework for UK SMEs
The UK's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 is challenged by critics citing current government strategies as inadequate, marked by a lack of concrete action and aspirational guidelines. Notably, businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which constitute about half of all business emissions, are pivotal to this goal. Yet, existing policies and standards often neglect the significant role of SMEs, who face barriers such as limited knowledge and resources in implementing carbon management practices.
This thesis explores the development of a novel carbon management framework specifically designed for medium-sized organisations in the UK to address these problems. The research adopts a practical approach through collaboration with an industry partner, facilitating a case study for real-world application.
Adopting a mixed-methods research design grounded in pragmatism, the study commenced with a qualitative study in the form of a focus group. This exploratory phase, critical for understanding SME challenges, yielded rich data revealing key management themes in strategy, energy, and data. The framework design was supported by a materiality assessment and input from key stakeholders on three major iterations. The final framework comprises three phases: establishing a baseline carbon footprint, creating a carbon reduction plan, and strategically implementing this plan. The validation process, conducted at Knowsley Safari, successfully tested the initial two phases but faced constraints in fully assessing the third phase due to time limitations.
While the research achieved its primary aim of developing a novel carbon management framework for SMEs, it encountered limitations, notably in time and the generalisability of findings due to reliance on a single case study. Future research could test the framework across diverse SME settings to establish its broader applicability and effectiveness in aiding the UK's net-zero emission goals
Cultures of Citizenship in the Twenty-First Century: Literary and Cultural Perspectives on a Legal Concept
In the early twenty-first century, the concept of citizenship is more contested than ever. As refugees set out to cross the Mediterranean, European nation-states refer to "cultural integrity" and "immigrant inassimilability," revealing citizenship to be much more than a legal concept. The contributors to this volume take an interdisciplinary approach to considering how cultures of citizenship are being envisioned and interrogated in literary and cultural (con)texts. Through this framework, they attend to the tension between the citizen and its spectral others - a tension determined by how a country defines difference at a given moment
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