New model of component-based product-oriented environmental management system (C-POEMS) for small and medium-sized enterprises

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Product-oriented environmental improvement is a great challenge for SMEs. There are two main reasons for this; firstly, a contradictory situation exists because SMEs lack the knowledge and competence to adopt the mainstream principle holistic approach of environmental product policy and regulations, and, secondly, there is a growing demand to incorporate environmental management system (EMS) and product dimension via ecodesign. To address these issues, this research focused on a product-oriented environmental management system (POEMS) that has been specifically developed to solve these problems. However, POEMS studies so far lack methodological development and focus more on how to incorporate EMS and eco-design rather than how to interpret the contents and improve POEMS as a standard tool. This research aimed to develop a new model, namely, component-based POEMS (CPOEMS). The C-POEMS model is a first attempt to define a potential standardised form of POEMS in its contents and structure, and form the basis for a useable self-help format for SMEs. A C-POEMS model, comprising stages of process, categories of functional areas/units, and elements, and a diagnosis template, as a component-based application, are developed and formulated. Through primary research, the C-POEMS conceptual model was verified and applicability of a C-POEMS component to SMEs was validated. C-POEMS made major contributions of two aspects: (1) methodological development of POEMS; (2) improvement of the format applicable for SMEs incorporating mainstream principles. Regarding methodological development of POEMS, arguments of existing POEMS methods were revealed, and the suggestions as well as analytical information in this research would provide benefit for further research in this field. The C-POEMS improved POEMS by providing clear contents and structure with predefined prior and iii correlated categories of functional area/units, which are helpful for SMEs. In addition, a diagnostic approach would help SMEs recognise their own problems and focus areas. As a result, SMEs can reduce the initial time to identify a structure of product-related environmental management, and increase opportunities to focus on major targets and product aspect for environmental improvements. Because of time constraint and underdevelopment of POEMS, there remain problems, in particular, to fully integrate EMS and eco-design, and the asymmetric situation between maintaining the broad scope of POEMS and focusing upon specific areas and user demand. However, this C-POEMS model provides a foundation for the development of EMS for SME’s and for ongoing development of POEMS

A Study on the Healthy Housing Quality of Multi-family Attached House According to Dwelling Unit Age

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to understand the healthy housing quality of four different multi-family attached house complexes that the constructions were finished at different years. In order to evaluate their healthy housing quality, the evaluation indicators of healthy housing, that have already existed, were used and the four complexes with different dwelling unit ages, located in Busan of Korea, were evaluated. For this, this study carry out residents’ evaluations of healthy housing quality through surveys on their satisfaction, and the study mainly identified characteristic according to dwelling unit age. According to the study, the health housing quality of multi-family attached house, of which the dwelling unit age is 10, begins to decrease in terms of managerial aspect. The healthy housing quality of social and managerial aspects is important for dwellers. The evaluation results can then be utilized to develop guidelines to manage and maintain healthy housing environments for apartments

Biological degradation of soluble microbial products in a combined system of anaerobic packed-bed reactors and a down-flow hanging sponge reactor

Anaerobic biological processes are a reliable alternative to the conventional activated sludge process for the treatment of high-strength industrial wastewater, offering various advantages. Such advantages include, for example, less sludge generation, less operational cost, greater energy recovery, and a smaller footprint. An anaerobic up-flow packed-bed reactor maximizes the advantages by retaining a high concentration of biomass in the system, providing sufficient sludge retention time to slow growing anaerobic microorganisms. The inherent configuration of the reactor, however, is prone to increasing soluble microbial products (SMP). SMP are soluble organic cellular components that are released from biomass metabolisms in mixed culture biotechnology, which often result in a hindrance to efficient performance, lower effluent quality, and toxicity and a precursor of disinfectant by-products in discharged water. Despite several attempts to reduce SMP through coagulation and adsorption, a long-term treatment of SMP has not been achieved. In this study, a combined process of anaerobic packed-bed reactors and a down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactor is proposed. As a matter of post-treatment, the DHS reactor further degraded SMP produced from the anaerobic methanogenic reactors, using selectively enriched microbial consortia-utilizing SMP. As such, the primary research aims of this project are as follows: (1) to understand the microbial community structure and ecology treating high-strength organic wastewater in the anaerobic packed-bed reactors; (2) to investigate biological SMP degradation in the DHS reactor; and (3) to explore phylogenetic characteristics and the metabolic functionality of the enriched microbial community involved in SMP degradation. This study discussed the diversity and dynamics of microbial communities in anaerobic packed-bed reactors in the process of optimizing operational parameters. The communities were influenced by an increasing organic loading rate, which indicated a strong association with the abundance of Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi among the dominant populations. These populations may take charge of initiating the degradation of organic compounds in the system. Next, the biological degradation of SMP, with respect to the selective enrichment of the microbial community in the DHS reactor, was demonstrated. SMP produced from the anaerobic reactors originated primarily from biomass metabolisms, exhibiting a bimodal MW distribution with 14-20 kDa and 70%) of the total SMP. Spatial and temporal variability of the DHS microbial communities was significantly influenced by operational parameters. In particular, Saprospiraceae was the most correlated population in the community for increasing SMP loading, which indicated positive co-occurrences with neighboring bacterial populations. Different microbial diversity, along with the vertical depth of the reactor, suggested that stratified microbial communities might participate in the SMP degradation. Lastly, the genetic functional potential and expression of the DHS microbial community, with regard to SMP degradation, were explored. Despite the disparate microbial communities with the increase of SMP loading, a functional convergence for the SMP degradation was observed. The gene expression of the dominant draft genomes, based on carbohydrate-active enzymes, indicated that Bacteroidetes-related draft genomes actively represented cell associated enzyme-related genes, which were specific to the polysaccharide components of peptidoglycan. This finding led to speculation that the majority of SMP herein may be composed of detrital cell structural components released from peptidoglycan. Ultimately, the findings from this study suggest a possible application of the biological SMP degradation, using a DHS reactor, to improve treatment performance and efficiency in bioprocesses. It also broadens current understanding of SMP, which are produced from mixed culture biotechnology, and their microbial utilization

Inter-Organizational Information Systems Visibility in Buyer-Supplier Relationships: Buyer and Supplier Perspectives

Many researchers have called for the need to improve the understanding of the concept and working of supply chain visibility. The facilitating role of inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) in achieving SC visibility has received inadequate research attention. This paper is to elaborate on the novel concept of IOIS visibility and to look into the antecedents and consequences of IOIS visibility. Further, investigating SC cooperation from the perspectives of both partners is important, especially when channel partners depend on each other and there can be asymmetries in IOIS visibility. This study attempts to accommodate both partners’ perspectives in IOIS visibility. The data that this study requires were collected from 51 matched pairs of intermediate producers of telecommunication equipment components and their immediate suppliers. The results show that IOIS visibility from the supplier’s perspectives is an important predictor of supply chain performance. In turn, IOIS visibility is significantly influenced by supply chain partner’s internal IS integration and inter-organizational IT infrastructure compatibility. The impact of asymmetries in IOIS visibility on supply chain performance is also investigated

Selective uptake of epidermal growth factor-conjugated gold nanoparticle (EGF-GNP) facilitates non-thermal plasma (NTP)-mediated cell death

Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma (NTP) has been shown to induce cell death in various mammalian cancer cells. Accumulated evidence also shows that NTP could be clinically used in cancer therapy. However, the current NTP-based applications lack target specificity. Here, a novel method in NTP-mediated cancer therapeutics was described with enhanced target specificity by treating EGF (epidermal growth factor)-conjugated GNP (gold nanoparticle). The treatment with EGF-conjugated GNP complex, followed by NTP irradiation showed selective apoptosis of cells having receptor-mediated endocytosis. NTP triggered gamma-H2AX elevation which is a typical response elicited by DNA damage. These results suggest that EGF-conjugated GNP functions as an important adjuvant which gives target specificity in applications of conventional plasma therapy.111Ysciescopu

Numerical Investigation on Effects of Sub-cooling Methods on Performance of Multi-split Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems with Bypass and Vapor Injection Techniques

The pipeline connected between outdoor units and indoor units is lengthened in the VRF systems because the VRF systems are generally used in light commercial buildings. Therefore, a sub-cooler is installed in the VRF systems to avoid flash gas caused by pressure drop and heat transfer in the liquid pipeline. Usually, the liquid refrigerant in the pipeline can be cooled by bypass and refrigerant injection techniques with an internal heat exchanger (IHX) and electric expansion valve (EEV). In this study, the performance of the VRF systems using bypass and refrigerant injection cycles are compared by numerical method. The simulation for multi-split VRF is developed with considering application of vapor injection and bypass cycle and validated with experimental data. The bypass and refrigerant injection have improvement potential for cooling capacity by 3.11% and 15.5%, respectively due to increasing enthalpy difference in evaporators. The vapor injection technique has more improvement potential of performance than bypass technique. Subcooling degree at inlet of EEV is above 10°C degree in two systems, which can avoid flash gas generation

Selective Immunoproteasome Inhibitors with Non-Peptide Scaffolds

Compounds useful for inhibiting the immunoproteasome have the formula of [image on patent]. Methods and compounds for inhibiting the immunoproteasome, particularly, immunoproteasome inhibitors with non-peptide scaffolds, are described

Curcumin induces stabilization of Nrf2 protein through Keap1 cysteine modification

The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of curcumin, a representative chemopreventive phytochemical with pronounced antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, on activation of Nrf2 and expression of its target protein heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in mouse skin in vivo and in cultured murine epidermal cells. Treatment of mouse epidermal JB6 cells with curcumin resulted in the induction of HO-1 expression, and this was abrogated in cells transiently transfected with Nrf2 siRNA. While curcumin treatment increased protein expression of Nrf2, it did not alter the steady-state level of the Nrf2 mRNA transcript. Treatment of cells with curcumin stabilized Nrf2 by inhibiting ubiquitination and subsequent 26S proteasomal degradation of this transcription factor. Tetrahydrocurcumin, a non-electrophilic analogue of curcumin that lacks the alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl group, failed to induce HO-1 expression as well as nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and its binding to the antioxidant/electrophile response elements. Cells transfected with a mutant Keap1 protein in which cysteine 151 (Cys151) is replaced by serine exhibited marked reduction in curcumin-induced Nrf2 transactivation. Mass spectrometric analysis revealed that curcumin binds to Keap1 Cys151, supporting that this amino acid is a critical target for curcumin modification of Keap1, which facilitates the liberation of Nrf2. Thus, it is likely that the alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl moiety of curcumin is essential for its binding to Keap1 and stabilization of Nrf2 by hampering ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation.

Preventive effects of Korean red ginseng on experimentally induced colitis and colon carcinogenesis

© 2020 Center for Food and Biomolecules, National Taiwan UniversityKorean Red Ginseng (KRG) exerts chemopreventive effects on experimentally induced carcinogenesis through multiple mechanisms. In this study, we investigated effects of KRG on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis and azoxymethane (AOM) plus DSS-induced colon carcinogenesis in mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed diet containing 1% KRG or a standard diet throughout the experiment. The mouse colitis was induced by administration of 3% DSS in drinking water for 1 week. DSS caused body weight loss, diarrhea, rectal bleeding and colon length shortening, and all these symptoms were ameliorated by KRG treatment. KRG inhibited DSS-induced expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by suppressing activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and signal transducer and activation of transcription 3 (STAT3). In another experiment, colon carcinogenesis was initiated by single intraperitoneal injection of AOM (10 mg/kg) and promoted by 2% DSS in drinking water. KRG administration relieved the symptoms of colitis and reduced the incidence, the multiplicity and the size of colon tumor. The up-regulation of COX-2, iNOS, c-Myc and Cyclin D1 by AOM plus DSS was attenuated in KRG fed mice which was associated with suppression of NF-κB and STAT3 activation. These results suggest that KRG is a potential candidate for chemoprevention of inflammation-associated cancer in the colon.