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The Food-Energy-Water-Waste Nexus (FEWWN) represents the interconnections between food, energy, water, and waste production systems, and it has become a key research area. Enormous quantities of agricultural and organic wastes are produced throughout the FEWWN. Often, these wastes are not treated appropriately because their true costs are rarely quantified, and usually externalized to the environment. This shortcoming is addressed from a systems perspective fused with approaches from ecological economics. A regional bioenergy production model where bioenergy may be produced from ethanol and/or agricultural wastes is constructed. Ecosystem service valuation methods are integrated into the framework, allowing for bioenergy production systems to be designed to minimize ecological damage and/or maximize ecological restoration. These values are captured within a Green Gross Domestic Product (Green GDP) objective that values both energy produced and ecosystem service values lost/gained. System profit is another objective in the multi-objective model. The framework is applied to a bioenergy production system for the U.S. state of New York, which aims to produce 10% more bioenergy compared to its current levels. Net changes in Green GDP ranged from -$16.5 M/y to $90.6 M/y, and corresponding profits ranged from $7.2 M/y to -$74.5 M/y. Corn grain ethanol was the dominant source of bioenergy in solutions with higher profits, while ethanol from corn stover and bioelectricity generated from animal manure biogas contributed more bioenergy in solutions with increasing Green GDP. Results show that there is a trade-off between promoting natural capital/ecological health and financial profit. FEWWN system design should consider these trade-offs moving forward. Image 1 • Agricultural wastes of the Food-Energy-Water-Waste Nexus systems degrade ecosystems. • Ecosystem service valuation methods are integrated into FEWWN system design. • Framework applied to New York state bioenergy production. • Results inform ecologically responsible FEWWN system design. • Proposed framework can design many FEWWN systems at various scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) enable unprecedented communication between product designers and manufacturers. Effective use of these technologies both enables and requires a new paradigm of methods and models to identify the most profitable and environmentally friendly production plans for a manufacturing network. The operating system for cyber-physical manufacturing (OSCM) and the paired network operations administration and monitoring (NOAM) software are introduced. These technologies guide our development of a mixed integer bilevel programming (BP) model that models the hierarchy between designers and manufacturers as a Stackelberg game while considering multiple objectives for each of them. Designers select and pay manufacturers, while manufacturers decide how to execute the order with the payment provided by the designer. To solve the model, a tailored solution method combining a decomposition-based approach with approximation of the lower level Pareto-optimal solution set is proposed. The model is applied to a case study based on a network of manufacturers in Wisconsin and Illinois. With the proposed model, designers and manufacturers alike can take full advantage of CPS to increase profits and decrease environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle environmental impacts of a product or process may be global and/or spatially-explicit, such as land use change (LUC) and LUC greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Life cycle optimization (LCO) usually does not account for these impacts. However, for a product or process to be truly sustainable, they must be considered. We integrate computable general equilibrium (CGE)-based LUC modeling and LCO to create a novel multiobjective CGE-LUC-LCO framework to account for global environmental impacts and production costs. The framework is then applied to case studies on life cycle GHG emissions throughout the bioethanol life cycle, considering regional and global agricultural practices, land use, technological impacts, and global economic forces. The framework considers emissions from feedstock production, transportation, direct/indirect processing emissions, end use, and LUC. The model allows for selection of 16 bioethanol production pathways from 5 feedstocks, and 3 case studies with US and EU bioethanol demands are examined. The methodology identifies cleaner production strategies by considering global, spatially-explicit life cycle environmental impacts like LUC and LUC GHG emissions for the first time in LCO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global population grows, consumption of water, energy, and food will also increase, placing stresses on these three sectors, raising the importance of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEFN). This article highlights research challenges and identifies process systems engineering research opportunities to appropriately model and optimize the WEFN. A brief overview of relevant, foundational WEFN research is first presented. We then identify challenges in the multiple scales of the WEFN, ranging from the household scale to the global scale. There are further challenges with appropriate system boundary definitions, and challenges in modeling the decision-making and conflicting objectives of multiple stakeholders in the WEFN. Uncertainties of all kinds appear at all scales of the WEFN and must also be considered. We use two motivating WEFN examples to frame these challenges and propose future avenues and opportunities for research. Possible approaches to the abovementioned challenges are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal supply chain design is vital to the success of industrial concerns now more than ever before. This paper reviews some principal research opportunities and challenges in the field of supply chain design. The growing area of enterprise-wide optimization and the increasing importance of energy and sustainability issues provide plentiful opportunities for supply chain design research. However, modeling, algorithmic, and computational challenges arise from these research opportunities. There are three major technical challenge areas where knowledge gaps can be addressed in supply chain design, namely multi-scale challenges, multi-objective and sustainability challenges, and multi-player challenges. This paper provides an overview of opportunity areas, a description of relevant technical challenges, and a perspective on how these challenges might be addressed in supply chain design. Illustrative examples are presented to illuminate avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our investigation supports the existence of barriers to female authorship in the cataract and refractive surgery literature from 2015 to 2022. COVID-19 may also have affected female authorship past 2020. Purpose: To evaluate whether gender barriers persist specifically in the cataract and refractive surgery (CRS) literature. In addition, no literature exists investigating the long-term effect of COVID-19 on female authorship in ophthalmology past 2020. Setting: Scopus 2015 to 2022. Design: Retrospective data review. Methods: Articles published in the Journal of Refractive Surgery and the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery were recorded from January 2015 to February 2022 from Scopus. Articles with only 1 author or where gender could not be identified were excluded. The first author (FA) gender, senior author (SA) gender, affiliated country, type of literature, and number of citations were collected. Pearson chi-squared tests with phi coefficients and multivariate logistic regression were performed. Results: 3153 articles were included in analysis. There were 910 works with female FAs and 648 with female SAs. Gender did not predict publishing in one journal over the other (P >.050). Women made up less than 30% of authorship of all types of literature, except for prospective/observational studies as FA (31.3%). Compared with before 2020, female FAs from 2020 onward were associated with increased retrospective analysis (phi = 0.072, P =.030) and letters/editorials (phi = 0.134, P <.001) but decreased case reports (phi = 0.087, P =.009) and "others" (phi = −0.164, P <.001). Similar associations were observed for female SAs. Females were more likely to publish in Asian countries. Female SAs predicted an increased likelihood of female FAs (odds ratio, 1.401, 95% CI, 1.165-1.684, P <.001). Conclusions: Gender disparities exist in authorship of the CRS literature. COVID-19 has altered the types of literature published by women, but men still publish most of all types of CRS research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SWI/SNF complexes are major targets of mutations in cancer. Here, we combined multiple "-omics" methods to assess SWI/SNF composition and aberrations in LUAD. Mutations in lung SWI/SNF subunits were highly recurrent in our LUAD cohort (41.4%), and over 70% of the mutations were predicted to have functional impact. Furthermore, SWI/SNF expression in LUAD suffered an overall repression that could not be explained exclusively by genetic alterations. Finally, SWI/SNF mutations were associated with poorer overall survival in TCGA-LUAD. We propose SWI/SNF-mutant LUAD as a separate clinical subgroup with practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 30 year-old PuF4 sample consisting of brown powder (PuF4-b) and pink granules (PuF4-p) was analyzed. X-ray diffraction shows the bulk is comprised of three compounds: PuF4, PuO2, and PuF4·1.6H2O. Broadening of PuF4 XRD peaks suggests possible α -damage. After annealing at 650 °C, crystalline PuF4 and PuO2 remain. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry—with simultaneous evolved gas analysis—of the separated PuF4-p and PuF4-b components reveal a distinct sequence of reactions. Dehydration occurs between ~ 90 and 300 °C. Exothermic annealing of the α -damage occurs in two stages: at 350–355 °C and at 555–558 °C. Hydrofluoric acid, fluorine and helium desorb during the first exotherm. Above 700 °C, PuF4 reacts with PuO2, resulting in oxygen release and mass loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) successfully polished 120kg of plutonium from surplus nuclear weapons for the European Mixed Oxide (MOX) Lead Test Assembly (LTA), managed by Duke, COGEMA, and Stone & Webster (DCS). The purified oxide was fabricated into fuel pellets, which comprised the LTAs. The LTAs have been inserted into the Catawba (SC, USA) nuclear reactor, where they are presently being used to generate electricity. The material used in the MOX LTA represents the first plutonium oxide from LANL to be polished under the quality requirements set forth by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In addition, the MOX project has been hailed as the “largest single nonproliferation project in history” by US Ambassador Linton Brooks (23/9/04). The process flow for PuO2 purification was based on aqueous recovery that included various unit operations (dissolution, ion exchange, oxalate precipitation, and calcination). Data from a variety of chemical and physical analyses demonstrate product quality and process consistency. Further process optimization experiments will be performed prior to polishing an additional 330kg of PuO2 for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at Savannah River Site. During LTA production in 2004, approximately 500L of 7M nitric acid was used for washing impurities from the plutonium in order to meet product purity specifications. The majority of this acid was sent to the LANL Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (TA-50) as effluent. Optimization experiments during 2006 and 2007 will investigate the use of recycled HNO3 for PuO2 washing and ion exchange. If successful, aqueous polishing processes will re-use almost all of the nitric acid that would otherwise have been sent to TA-50. In addition, an overall reduction in the volume of nitric acid used during ion exchange will be tested. The use of new Inconel calcination boats will also be verified. Additional process optimization activities will be conducted to validate the use of 100% quaternized Reillex ion exchange resin. Qualification exercises will include a series of process runs, followed by chemical analyses to assess product oxide impurity levels. Once the optimized processes have been qualified, the production phase of the project will begin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been tasked to produce 120 kg of plutonium as highly purified PuO2 for the European Mixed Oxide (MOX) Lead Test Assembly managed by Duke, COGEMA, Stone & Webster (DCS). To meet stringent and challenging technical requirements for PuO2 production, the LANL aqueous polishing team recently established consistency in generating quality material from weapons-grade PuO2. Polishing was required to remove undesirable quantities of trace metal impurities, particularly gallium, and to produce a material with appropriate powder characteristics, such as particle size and surface area. The process flow sheet for PuO2 polishing was based on aqueous purification and included the unit operations of dissolution, ion exchange, oxalate precipitation, and calcination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Mammalian SWI/SNF complexes regulate gene expression by reorganizing the way DNA is packaged into chromatin. SWI/SNF subunits are recurrently altered in tumors at multiple levels, including DNA mutations as well as alteration of the levels of RNA and protein. Cancer cell lines are often used to study SWI/SNF function, but their patterns of SWI/SNF alterations can be complex. Here, we present a comprehensive characterization of DNA mutations and RNA and protein expression of SWI/SNF members in 38 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cell lines. We show that over 85% of our cell lines harbored at least one alteration in one SWI/SNF subunit. In addition, over 75% of our cell lines lacked expression of at least one SWI/SNF subunit at the protein level. Our catalog will help researchers choose an appropriate cell line model to study SWI/SNF function in LUAD. Mammalian SWI/SNF (SWitch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable) complexes are ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers whose subunits have emerged among the most frequently mutated genes in cancer. Studying SWI/SNF function in cancer cell line models has unveiled vulnerabilities in SWI/SNF-mutant tumors that can lead to the discovery of new therapeutic drugs. However, choosing an appropriate cancer cell line model for SWI/SNF functional studies can be challenging because SWI/SNF subunits are frequently altered in cancer by various mechanisms, including genetic alterations and post-transcriptional mechanisms. In this work, we combined genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic approaches to study the mutational status and the expression levels of the SWI/SNF subunits in a panel of 38 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cell lines. We found that the SWI/SNF complex was mutated in more than 76% of our LUAD cell lines and there was a high variability in the expression of the different SWI/SNF subunits. These results underline the importance of the SWI/SNF complex as a tumor suppressor in LUAD and the difficulties in defining altered and unaltered cell models for the SWI/SNF complex. These findings will assist researchers in choosing the most suitable cellular models for their studies of SWI/SNF to bring all of its potential to the development of novel therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]