pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Assessment of sustainability for the bioprocesses: Does it (really) follow life cycle thinking?

In the wake of eco‐design methodology development, the time has come to propose a sustainable process design that integrates not only environmental evaluation but also economic and social issues. All strategic decisions should respect the principles of sustainability. The environmental, economic, and social assessment of engineering choices is thus necessary and the agro‐industry is not exempt. Design or re‐design of any product relies on the choice of processes, which naturally leads to the development of an integrated product‐process approach to agro‐industrial processes
Evaluation of oil production from oil palm empty fruit bunch by oleaginous micro-organisms

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a readily available, lignocellulosic biomass that has potential to be utilized as a carbon substrate for microbial oil production. In order to evaluate the production of microbial oil from EFB, a technical study was performed through the cultivation of oleaginous micro-organisms (Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Aspergillus oryzae, and Mucor plumbeus) on EFB hydrolyzates. EFB hydrolyzates were prepared through dilute acid pre-treatment of the biomass, where the liquid fraction of pre-treatment was detoxified and used as an EFB liquid hydrolyzate (EFBLH). The solid residue was enzymatically hydrolyzed prior to be used as an EFB enzymatic hydrolyzate (EFBEH). The highest oil concentrations were obtained from M. plumbeus (1.9 g/L of oil on EFBLH and 4.7 g/L of oil on EFBEH). In order to evaluate the feasibility of large-scale microbial oil production, a techno-economic study was performed based on the oil yields of M. plumbeus per hectare of plantation, followed by the estimation of the feedstock cost for oil production. Other oil palm biomasses (frond and trunk) were also included in this study, as it could potentially improve the economics of large-scale microbial oil production. Microbial oil from oil palm biomasses was estimated to potentially increase oil production in the palm oil industry up to 25%, at a cheaper feedstock cost. The outcome of this study demonstrates the potential integration of microbial oil production from oil palm biomasses with existing palm oil industry (biodiesel, food and oleochemicals production), that could potentially enhance sustainability and profitability of microbial oil production
Case Study on Bioeconomy Campus, Central Finland

This article studies the development path, the assets and the challenges of an initiative for bioeconomy innovation ecosystem located in sparsely populated rural area. The case studied is Bioeconomy Campus in northern Central Finland. Central Finland was one of the European bioregions whose bioeconomy was analyzed from the clustering point of view by the FP7 project of BERST - BioEconomy Regional Strategy Toolkit (2013-2015). In this article, the role of the Bioeconomy Campus in the Finnish RDI system is described and the development path of the campus is studied in the context of the BERST results from Central Finland. The cluster analyses in BERST were based on information about Bioeconomy clusters located mostly in central European densely populated areas with big industries. The potential of the Bioeconomy Campus to further develop and to promote smart growth in the surrounding rural environment is discussed by comparing the findings of this case study with the BERST results and with some results presented in literature on clusters and innovation ecosystems. The main aim of the comparison is to get indication about the relevance and usefulness of that type of down-scaling for further exploitation of BERST
results
Sustainable design of biorefinery processes: existing practices and new methodology

Nowadays, eco-designing products is increasingly practiced. The next challenge for sustain- ability is to optimize production processes. Biorefi neries are particularly concerned with this improve- ment, because they use renewable resources. To identify the contribution of transformation processes  to the overall environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) appears as the adequate method.  A literature review highlights that LCA is mainly performed on biorefi neries to compare biomass feed- stocks between them and to a fossil reference. Another part of environmental LCA compares the  impacts of different processing routes. Nevertheless, these evaluations concern already designed pro- cesses. Generally, processes are considered as a unique operation in assessments. However, some  criteria like operating can notably modify environmental burdens. The eco-design of biorefi nery pro- cesses can be guided by coupling process simulation to LCA. This method has been emerging in the  chemical sector in recent years. Consequently, this paper proposes a new methodological approach  to assessing the complete sustainability of biorefi nery processes, since its fi rst design stages. In addi- tion to coupling process simulation and environmental LCA, the other pillars of sustainability will be  assessed. Indeed, Life Cycle Costing and Social Life Cycle Assessment can be performed to obtain an  integrated methodological framework. The simultaneous optimization of the environmental, economic,  and social performances of the process can lead to antagonist ways of improving. Consequently,  compromises should be realized. Thereby, the multi-objective optimization can be accomplished by a  metaheuristic method supported by a decision-making tool. Finally, the main limits of this method and  some perspectives and ways for improving are discussed
Second-generation bio-based plastics are becoming a reality - Non-renewable energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of succinic acid-based plastic end products made from lignocellulosic biomass

Bio-based and bio-degradable plastics such as polybutylene succinate (PBS) have the potential to become sustainable alternatives to petrochemical-based plastics. Polybutylene succinate can be produced from bio-based succinic acid and 1,4-butanediol using first-generation (1G) or second-generation (2G) sugars. A cradle-to-grave environmental assessment was performed for PBS products in Europe to investigate the non-renewable energy use (NREU) and greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts. The products investigated are single-use trays and agricultural film, with incineration, industrial composting and degradation on agricultural land as end-of-life scenarios. Both end products manufactured from fully bio-based PBS and from partly bio-based PBS (made from bio-based succinic acid and fossil fuel-based 1,4 butanediol) were analysed. We examine corn (1G) as well as corn stover, wheat straw, miscanthus and hardwood as 2G feedstocks. For the cradle-to-grave system, 1G fully bio-based PBS plastic products were found to have environmental impacts comparable with their petrochemical incumbents, while 2G fully bio-based PBS plastic products allow to reduce NREU and GHG by around one third under the condition of avoidance of concentration of sugars and energy integration of the pretreatment process with monomer production. Without energy integration and with concentration of sugars (i.e., separate production), the impacts of 2G fully bio-based PBS products are approximately 15–20% lower than those of 1G fully bio-based PBS products. The environmental analysis of PBS products supports the value proposition related to PBS products while also pointing out areas requiring further research and development
Global biomass trade for energy— Part 2: Production and trade streams of wood pellets, liquid biofuels, charcoal, industrial roundwood and emerging energy biomass

Many countries have limited low-cost biomass resources to satisfy their own demand for bioenergy; consequently, international trade in biomass in various liquid and solid forms is ­increasing. The aim of this study is to present a quantitative overview of the development of international biomass trade for energy purposes. This paper focuses on the main biomass producing and consuming countries, as well as exporters and importers of liquid and solid biofuels, such as wood pellets, biodiesel, and bio-ethanol, and biomass products, for example industrial roundwood. The study ­discusses changes in trends that have occurred over the past decade, and investigates emerging energy ­biomass trade streams. Due to increased demand for wood pellets from the heating and ­industrial sectors, global wood pellet markets and international trade have increased significantly in the past decade. The United States and Brazil remain leaders in bio-ethanol production with about 45 Mt and 24 Mt respectively. In recent years, Asian markets such as China (industrial roundwood), South Korea (wood pellets), Malaysia, and Indonesia (palm oil) have developed considerably. In the EU-28, more than 60% of total palm oil consumption is used for energy purposes. The EU is the global leader in biomass for energy utilization and also the main importer of most biomass products, particularly wood pellets.Post-print / final draf
Biological conversion of carbon monoxide: rich syngas or waste gases to bioethanol

Bioconversion of syngas/waste gas components to produce ethanol appears to be a promising alternative compared to the existing chemical techniques. Recently, several laboratory-scale studies have demonstrated the use of acetogens that have the ability to convert various syngas components (CO, CO2, and H2) to multicarbon compounds, such as acetate, butyrate, butanol, lactate, and ethanol, in which ethanol is often produced as a minor end-product. This bioconversion process has several advantages, such as its high specificity, the fact that it does not require a highly specific H2/CO ratio, and that biocatalysts are less susceptible to metal poisoning. Furthermore, this process occurs under mild temperature and pressure and does not require any costly pre-treatment of the feed gas or costly metal catalysts, making the process superior over the conventional chemical catalytic conversion process. The main challenge faced for commercializing this technology is the poor aqueous solubility of the gaseous substrates (mainly CO and H2). In this paper, a critical review of CO-rich gas fermentation to produce ethanol has been analyzed systematically and published results have been compared. Special emphasis has been given to understand the microbial aspects of the conversion process, by highlighting the role of different micro-organisms used, pathways, and parameters affecting the bioconversion. An analysis of the process fundamentals of various bioreactors used for the biological conversion of CO-rich gases, mainly syngas to ethanol, has been made and reported in this paper. Various challenges faced by the syngas fermentation process for commercialization and future research requirements are also discussed
The conversion of lignocellulosics to levulinic acid

Biomass represents an abundant and relatively low cost carbon resource that can be utilized to produce\ud
platform chemicals such as levulinic acid. Current processing technology limits the cost-effective production of levulinic acid in commercial quantities from biomass. The key to improving the yield and effi ciency of levulinic acid production from biomass lies in the ability to optimize and isolate the intermediate products at each step of the reaction pathway and reduce re-polymerization and side reactions. New technologies (including the use of microwave irradiation\ud
and ionic liquids) and the development of highly selective catalysts would provide the necessary step change for\ud
the optimization of key reactions. A processing environment that allows the use of biphasic systems and/or continuous\ud
extraction of products would increase reaction rates, yields and product quality. This review outlines the chemistry of levulinic acid synthesis and discusses current and potential technologies for producing levulinic acid from\ud
lignocellulosics
Jatropha biodiesel fueling sustainability?

Jatropha curcas is a multipurpose, drought-resistant, biofuel tree originating from Central and South America, but now growing pantropic. The tree produces seeds containing 27–40% inedible oil, which is easily convertible into biodiesel. Although even some basic agronomic characteristics of J. curcas are not yet fully understood, the plant enjoys a booming interest, which may hold the risk of unsustainable practice. Our qualitative sustainability assessment, focusing on environmental impacts and strengthened by some socio-economic issues, is quite favorable as long as only wastelands or degraded grounds are taken into J. curcas cultivation. Preliminary lifecycle energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) balances are positive, but the GHG balance is expected to be much dependent on the type of land use which is converted to J. curcas. Removing natural forest will have a severe impact on the global warming potential of the jatropha biodiesel. The cultivation intensity and the distance to markets are expected to have a signifi cant impact on the GHG balance as well. Similar reasoning applies for the impact on soil, water, vegetation structure and biodiversity, although the latter will always depend on local circumstances. Next to biodiesel production and wasteland reclamation, J. curcas also hosts socio-economic development potential. The multipurpose character of the plant and the labor-intensive production chain are thought to be the main drivers for rural development, but are uncertain. In order to achieve best results with respect to both environmental and socio-economic issues, decisions have to be based on local environmental, economical, cultural and social characteristics.status: publishe
Physiologically based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling of an antagonist (SM‐406/AT‐406) of multiple inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) in a mouse xenograft model of human breast cancer

The inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) are a class of key apoptosis regulators overexpressed or dysregulated in cancer. SM‐406/AT‐406 is a potent and selective small molecule mimetic of Smac that antagonizes the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs). A physiologically based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PBPK‐PD) model was developed to predict the tissue concentration–time profiles of SM‐406, the related onco‐protein levels in tumor, and the tumor growth inhibition in a mouse model bearing human breast cancer xenograft. In the whole body physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for pharmacokinetics characterization, a well stirred (perfusion rate‐limited) model was used to describe SM‐406 pharmacokinetics in the lung, heart, kidney, intestine, liver and spleen, and a diffusion rate‐limited (permeability limited) model was used for tumor. Pharmacodynamic (PD) models were developed to correlate the SM‐406 concentration in tumor to the cIAP1 degradation, pro‐caspase 8 decrease, CL‐PARP accumulation and tumor growth inhibition. The PBPK‐PD model well described the experimental pharmacokinetic data, the pharmacodynamic biomarker responses and tumor growth. This model may be helpful to predict tumor and plasma SM‐406 concentrations in the clinic. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Computational approaches to analyse and predict small molecule transport and distribution at cellular and subcellular levels

Quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) studies and mechanistic mathematical modeling approaches have been independently employed for analysing and predicting the transport and distribution of small molecule chemical agents in living organisms. Both of these computational approaches have been useful for interpreting experiments measuring the transport properties of small molecule chemical agents,  in vitro  and  in vivo . Nevertheless, mechanistic cell‐based pharmacokinetic models have been especially useful to guide the design of experiments probing the molecular pathways underlying small molecule transport phenomena. Unlike QSAR models, mechanistic models can be integrated from microscopic to macroscopic levels, to analyse the spatiotemporal dynamics of small molecule chemical agents from intracellular organelles to whole organs, well beyond the experiments and training data sets upon which the models are based. Based on differential equations, mechanistic models can also be integrated with other differential equations‐based systems biology models of biochemical networks or signaling pathways. Although the origin and evolution of mathematical modeling approaches aimed at predicting drug transport and distribution has occurred independently from systems biology, we propose that the incorporation of mechanistic cell‐based computational models of drug transport and distribution into a systems biology modeling framework is a logical next step for the advancement of systems pharmacology research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Pharmacokinetic modeling of tranexamic acid for patients undergoing cardiac surgery with normal renal function and model simulations for patients with renal impairment

Tranexamic acid (TXA), an effective anti-fibrinolytic agent that is cleared by glomerular filtration, is used widely for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery. However, an effective dosing regimen has not been fully developed in patients with renal impairment. The aims of this study were to characterize the inter-patient variability associated with pharmacokinetic parameters and to recommend a new dosing adjustment based on the BART dosing regimen for CPB patients with chronic renal dysfunction (CRD). Recently published data on CPB patients with normal renal function (n = 15) were re-examined with a two-compartment model using the ADAPT5® and NONMEMVII® to identify covariates that explain inter-patient variability and to ascertain whether sampling strategies might affect parameter estimation. A series of simulations was performed to adjust the BART dosing regimen for CPB patients with renal impairment. Based on the two-compartmental model, the number of samples obtained after discontinuation of TXA infusion was found not to be critical in parameter estimation (p > 0.05). Both body weight and creatinine clearance were identified as significant covariates (p < 0.005). Simulations showed significantly higher than normal TXA concentrations in CRD patients who received the standard dosing regimen in the BART trial. Adjustment of the maintenance infusion rate based on the percent reduction in renal clearance resulted in predicted plasma TXA concentrations that were safe and therapeutic (~100 mg·L(-1) ). Our proposed dosing regimen, with consideration of renal function, is predicted to maintain effective target plasma concentrations below those associated with toxicity for patients with renal failure for CPB
Do Student Evaluations of University Reflect Inaccurate Beliefs or Actual Experience? A Relative Rank Model.

PMCID: PMC4297360It was shown that student satisfaction ratings are influenced by context in ways that have important theoretical and practical implications. Using questions from the UK's National Student Survey, the study examined whether and how students' expressed satisfaction with issues such as feedback promptness and instructor enthusiasm depends on the context of comparison (such as possibly inaccurate beliefs about the feedback promptness or enthusiasm experienced at other universities) that is evoked. Experiment 1 found strong effects of experimentally provided comparison context-for example, satisfaction with a given feedback time depended on the time's relative position within a context. Experiment 2 used a novel distribution-elicitation methodology to determine the prior beliefs of individual students about what happens in universities other than their own. It found that these beliefs vary widely and that students' satisfaction was predicted by how they believed their experience ranked within the distribution of others' experiences. A third study found that relative judgement principles also predicted students' intention to complain. An extended model was developed to show that purely rank-based principles of judgement can account for findings previously attributed to range effects. It was concluded that satisfaction ratings and quality of provision are different quantities, particularly when the implicit context of comparison includes beliefs about provision at other universities. Quality and satisfaction should be assessed separately, with objective measures (such as actual times to feedback), rather than subjective ratings (such as satisfaction with feedback promptness), being used to measure quality wherever practicable.Economic and Social Research\ud
Council (grant numbers RES-062-23-2462 and ES/K002201/1)\ud
and the Leverhulme Trust (grant number RP2012-V-022).Peer-reviewedPublisher Versio
“Put your money where your mouth is!” Effects of streaks on confidence and betting in a binary choice task

This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bdm.1844/abstract.Human choice under uncertainty is influenced by erroneous beliefs about randomness. In simple binary choice tasks such as red/black predictions in roulette, long outcome runs (e.g. red, red, red) typically increase the tendency to predict the other outcome (i.e. black), an effect labelled the ‘gambler’s fallacy’. In these settings, participants may also attend to streaks in their predictive performance. Winning and losing streaks are thought to affect decision confidence, although prior work indicates conflicting directions. Over three laboratory experiments involving red/black predictions in a sequential roulette task, we sought to identify the effects of outcome runs and winning/losing streaks upon color predictions, decision confidence and betting behavior. Experiments 1 (n = 40) and 3 (n = 40) obtained trial-by-trial confidence ratings, with a win / no win payoff and a no loss / loss payoff, respectively. Experiment 2 (n = 39) obtained a trial-by-trial bet amount on an equivalent scale. In each experiment, the gambler’s fallacy was observed on choice behavior after color runs and, in experiment 2, on betting behavior after color runs. Feedback streaks exerted no reliable influence on confidence ratings, in either payoff condition. Betting behavior, on the other hand, increased as a function of losing streaks. The increase in betting on losing streaks is interpreted as laboratory loss-chasing; these data help clarify the psychological mechanisms underlying loss chasing, and caution against the use of betting measures (‘post-decision wagering’) as a straightforward index of decision confidence
Eye Movements in Risky Choice

We asked participants to make simple risky choices while we recorded their eye movements. We built a complete statistical model of the eye movements and found very little systematic variation in eye movements over the time course of a choice or across the different choices. The only exceptions were finding more (of the same) eye movements when choice options were similar, and an emerging gaze bias in which people looked more at the gamble they ultimately chose. These findings are inconsistent with prospect theory, the priority heuristic, or decision field theory. However, the eye movements made during a choice have a large relationship with the final choice, and this is mostly independent from the contribution of the actual attribute values in the choice options. That is, eye movements tell us not just about the processing of attribute values but also are independently associated with choice. The pattern is simple—people choose the gamble they look at more often, independently of the actual numbers they see—and this pattern is simpler than predicted by decision field theory, decision by sampling, and the parallel constraint satisfaction model.This work was supported by funding from the University of Essex Research Promotion Fund, Economic and Social Research Council grants ES/K002201/1 and ES/K004948/1, and Leverhulme grant RP2012-V-022. Raw data and R code are available from the authors and will be posted on publication.This is the final version. It was first published by Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bdm.1854/pd