Climate Change Mitigation: Application of Management Production Philosophies for Energy Saving in Industrial Processes

Quality analysis of the clinical laboratory literature and its effectiveness on clinical quality improvement: a systematic review

Quality improvement in clinical laboratories is crucial to ensure accurate and reliable test results. With increasing awareness of the potential adverse effects of errors in laboratory practice on patient outcomes, the need for continual improvement of laboratory services cannot be overemphasized. A literature search was conducted on PubMed and a web of science core collection between October and February 2021 to evaluate the scientific literature quality of clinical laboratory quality improvement; only peer-reviewed articles written in English that met quality improvement criteria were included. A structured template was used to extract data, and the papers were rated on a scale of 0-16 using the Quality Improvement Minimum Quality Criteria Set (QI-MQCS). Out of 776 studies, 726 were evaluated for clinical laboratory literature quality analysis. Studies were analyzed according to the quality improvement and control methods and interventions, such as training, education, task force, and observation. Results showed that the average score of QI-MQCS for quality improvement papers from 1981-2000 was 2.5, while from 2001-2020, it was 6.8, indicating continuous high-quality improvement in the clinical laboratory sector. However, there is still room to establish a proper system to judge the quality of clinical laboratory literature and improve accreditation programs within the sector.

Dynamic contribution and structural changes of carbon emissions in China's energy chemical industry with high-emission subsectors heterogeneity

China's energy chemical industry accounts for about 12.01% of the national carbon emissions, while the heterogeneous carbon emission characteristics exhibited by the subsectors have not been reliably investigated. Based on the energy consumption data of the energy chemical industry subsectors in 30 Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2019, this study systematically identified the carbon emission contributions of high-emission subsectors, examined the evolutionary changes and correlation characteristics of carbon emissions from different perspectives, and further explored the carbon emission drivers. According to the survey, coal mining and washing (CMW) and petroleum processing, coking, and nuclear fuel processing (PCN) were high-emission sectors of the energy chemical industry, with annual emissions of more than 150 million tons, accounting for about 72.98% of the energy chemical industry. In addition, the number of high-emission areas in China's energy chemical industries has gradually increased, and the spatial disequilibrium of carbon emissions in industrial sectors has gradually deepened. The development of upstream industries had a strong correlation with carbon emissions, and the upstream industry sector still has not achieved carbon decoupling. The decomposition of the driving effects of carbon emissions showed that the economic output effect is the largest contributor to the growth of carbon emissions in the energy chemical industry, while energy restructuring and energy intensity reduction help reduce carbon emissions, but there is heterogeneity in the driving effects of subsectors.

Computable general equilibrium models for sustainable development: past and future

Computable general equilibrium models (CGE) are used to estimate the ex-ante quantitative impact of a change in economic policy. There is a bulk of research in the field of sustainable development applying it for testing implementation of carbon taxation, analyzing reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG), or addressing agricultural issues to work the land efficiently. The main objective of this review is to provide an exhaustive analysis of the literature about these models and their evolution over the last 50 years. The search was conducted in the main academic databases (Scopus and Web of Science), where 1353 articles were found from 1966 to 2019 related to the topic. The results of the descriptives, relational, and content analyses carried out show the current state of the-art, trends, subfields of research, and future gaps to fulfill. This article contributes to the literature that uses CGE models providing an overview of its different applications in the field of sustainability. It gives useful insights to academics who want to further research the field.

Prospection of Psychrotrophic Filamentous Fungi Isolated from the High Andean Paramo Region of Northern Ecuador: Enzymatic Activity and Molecular Identification

The isolation of filamentous fungal strains from remote habitats with extreme climatic conditions has led to the discovery of a series of enzymes with attractive properties that can be useful in various industrial applications. Among these, cold-adapted enzymes from fungi with psychrotrophic lifestyles are valuable agents in industrial processes aiming towards energy reduction. Out of eight strains isolated from soil of the paramo highlands of Ecuador, three were selected for further experimentation and identified as Cladosporium michoacanense, Cladosporium sp. (cladosporioides complex), and Didymella sp., this last being reported for the first time in this area. The secretion of seven enzymes, namely, endoglucanase, exoglucanase, β-D-glucosidase, endo-1,4-β-xylanase, β-D-xylosidase, acid, and alkaline phosphatases, were analyzed under agitation and static conditions optimized for the growth period and incubation temperature. Cladosporium strains under agitation as well as incubation for 72 h mostly showed the substantial activation for endoglucanase reaching up to 4563 mU/mL and xylanase up to 3036 mU/mL. Meanwhile, other enzymatic levels varied enormously depending on growth and temperature. Didymella sp. showed the most robust activation at 8 °C for endoglucanase, β-D-glucosidase, and xylanase, indicating an interesting profile for applications such as bioremediation and wastewater treatment processes under cold climatic conditions.

Management of Innovation in Azerbaijan: Relationships with Competitiveness and Sustainable Development

The COVID-19 pandemic, negatively affecting the achievement of most of the Sustainable Development Goals, is leading to a significant crisis, especially in less developed economies, and poses serious challenges to governments around the world. Negative annual GDP growth per capita in Azerbaijan in 2020 amounted to -4.95% (below the world average of 0.56%), necessitating the resumption of short-term economic growth and achieving long-term competitiveness, sustainable development, and inclusive economy. Azerbaijan's positions in these areas, namely 58th place out of 141 countries in the global competitiveness ranking (63rd place for innovation potential and 73rd place for ICT implementation), 55th place out of 165 countries in the Sustainable Development Index, 80th place out of 131 countries according to the Global Innovation Index testify to the important role of innovation management in Azerbaijan. The article's main purpose is to study the relationship between innovation development, competitiveness, and sustainable development of the country. To empirically confirm the hypotheses, a sample of 9 countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Germany, France, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic) was formed. Several indicators were analysed based on data from the statistical department of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and the World Intellectual Property Organization from 2010 to 2020. Statistical analysis of indicators of sustainable development, competitiveness, and innovative development of the studied countries. With the help of correlation-regression analysis and the Granger test (using the STATA software package), the mutual directions of influence of indicators of innovative development, the competitiveness of the country, and sustainable development in Azerbaijan and other sample countries were established. A regression model with random effects was built. The impact of the parameters of innovative development on the annual GDP growth per capita as a key component of the country's competitiveness and its sustainable development was formalized and assessed. The obtained results could be useful in developing measures to increase competitiveness and achieve sustainable development goals in Azerbaijan and further research.

Sustainability through Operational Excellence: An Emerging Country Perspective

Operational excellence is directly related to improving performance and efficiency in every dimension of sustainability (i.e., economic, environmental and social). Consequently, companies are implementing this initiative to remain competitive in their industries. Previous works measured operational excellence in first-world companies. However, it is expected that the productivity level in many companies from developing or emerging countries is far below the average level of developed companies. In this context, the research objectives of this study are to (1) evaluate the level of implementation of operational excellence, impacting the three dimensions of sustainability simultaneously in some companies from the central-savanna region of Colombia; (2) compare their implementation status with similar studies carried out in companies of developed countries. In order to solve it, we first present an empirical assessment of operational excellence in that region using semistructured interviews in 79 different companies. Then, we compare the obtained results with the assessments available in the literature. Our results show that operational excellence performance in Colombian companies is lower than in developed companies in terms of economic performance by operations standards and continuous improvement schemes, environmental sustainability and social sustainability.

Investigating the Theoretical Constructs of a Green Lean Six Sigma Approach towards Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Directions

Green lean six sigma (GLSS) is an emerging approach towards environmental sustainability in conjunction with operational achievements. The success of this approach is premised on an understanding of the different components of a GLSS program; being the determinants for its outcomes. The aim of this paper is to investigate the various constructs of GLSS that play an essential role in achieving environmental sustainability. For this purpose, a systematic review of available literature has been conducted to evaluate the drivers, enablers (tools), and outcomes of a GLSS strategy as well as its critical success factors and barriers. Findings reveal that these constructs of GLSS as a holistic approach can facilitate an organization to better accomplish environmental objectives such as waste minimization, emission reduction, and resource conservation as compared to constructs of only one or any two of these strategies. Based on the analysis, an integrated GLSS framework is developed for environmental sustainability in addition to identifying vital research gaps and future directions.

Active Power Management of Virtual Power Plant under Penetration of Central Receiver Solar Thermal-Wind Using Butterfly Optimization Technique

Striving for the suppression of greenhouse emissions, the modern power network is facing fundamental changes with the utilization of renewable energies (REs) for the future carbon-free society. The utilization of intermittent renewable-green power needs a better power management system and virtual power plant (VPP) can be a vital candidate that meets this demand. This study investigates a coordinated control grid integrated virtual power plant (VPP) in the presence of Central Receiver Solar Thermal System (CRSTS), Wind Turbine Generator (WTG), and Electric Vehicle (EV). To this end, CRSTS employed with thermal storage acts as a dispatchable renewable generating unit and coordinated control of the system units are achieved using the available control strategy on interconnected microgrids in the modified form, employing communication time delay. The proposed control strategy employs the proportional-integral (PI) and PI-derivative (PID) controller. Coordinated power control with real-time communication delay in grid integrated VPP in presence of CRSTS, WTG, and EV is a novel approach. Genetic algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Slap Swarm Algorithm (SSA), and recent Butterfly Optimization Algorithm (BOA) are used for tuning the necessary control parameters. The results establish the superiority of the BOA over SSA and PSO in suppressing system frequency deviations and tie line power deviation. The analysis of the dynamic response reveals that the consideration of the communication delay in the system expressively impedes the stable operation of the power system.

Mitigation of Heat Stress in Solanum lycopersicum L. by ACC-deaminase and Exopolysaccharide Producing Bacillus cereus: Effects on Biochemical Profiling

Soil microorganisms might be assessed for their capabilities of plant growth promotion in order to identify heat tolerant strategies for crop production. The planned study was conducted to determine the potential of heat tolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in mitigating heat stress effects in tomato. Bacillus cereus was evaluated for plant growth promoting activities and assessed for 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC-deaminase) (0.76–C0.9 μM/mg protein/h), and exopolysaccharide (0.66–C0.91 mg/mL) under normal and heat stressed conditions. Plant growth regulators were evaluated through High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Bacterial inoculation effects on important physiological and biochemical parameters were evaluated under normal and heat stressed conditions in growth chamber. The morphological-physiological traits significantly revealed drastic effects on both of un-inoculated tomato varieties under heat stress conditions. Bacterial augmentation significantly promoted shoot, root length, leaf surface area, fresh and dry weight. Heat stress enhanced extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production and cleavage of ACC into a-ketobutyrate and ammonia due to ACC-deaminase producing bacteria that significantly reduced the adverse effects of heat on tomato growth. In conclusion, the applied plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) bacterial strain proved as potential candidate for improving tomato crop growing under heat stressed conditions. However, it is highly suggested to validate the current results by conducting field trials.