Narrow Results

The rapid development of chemical enterprises has not only improved the material foundation of society, but also brought serious environmental and pollution problems. In order to provide decision-making basis for basic chemical enterprises to achieve green Supply Chain Management (SCM) and green innovation, the study proposes a hypothesis and conceptual model on the impact of green SCM on enterprise performance under the influence of green innovation. Measurement scales for each dimension are designed and a questionnaire survey is conducted. The reliability and validity of the sample data are examined in turn, the consistency of each dimension is determined through correlation analysis. Finally, a regression model is used to examine the correlation of the three variables. The results indicated that the cumulative total deviation variance explained by the dimensions of green supply chain innovation, business performance and green innovation in basic chemical enterprises were 80.101%, 77.425% and 74.526%, respectively. Green procurement had a significant negative impact on the performance of basic chemical enterprises. Green recycling and internal environmental management had a negative influence on enterprise performance. The research results contribute to promoting the sustainable development of chemical enterprises, providing new perspectives and methods for the practice of knowledge management, and offering guidance for chemical enterprises on how to better manage and apply knowledge, which is beneficial for the research and practice of knowledge management.

In the field of Internet of Things, mobile communication will be deeply integrated with industrial construction, biomedicine, agricultural production, transportation and other industries to fully realize the “Internet of Everything” and realize smart city and sustainable development. This paper intends to solve problems in increasing latency and consumption of energy and security after deploying Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) servers in single cell multi-user network model, and has advocated a strategy of allocating the resources of 5G communication in regards to the protection mechanism for privacy in the environment of edge computing. First of all, solution model for the problem is characterized as a model with time delay and energy consumption. Second, privacy is used to measure the uncertainty of data in order to quantify privacy data while computing the allocation of tasks and facilitate the design of objective function. Finally, the task migration problem of minimizing energy consumption under the limitation of completion time is constructed as a nonlinear 0–1 programming problem. Besides, we design the optimal resource allocation strategy of discrete algorithm of binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) for problem solution. Results indicate that while the quantity of users is 100, the total user expenditure of proposed method is 18.3J, which is lower than 20.0J and 30.7J of the compared methods. Moreover, the proposed method has lower latency and energy consumption, which can well balance the load of MEC servers.

INDIA – A novel form of gene regulation in bacteria.

INDIA – Algal biofuels are no energy panacea.

JAPAN – Medical Data Vision enhances the quality of medical care with Actian Vectorwise.

SINGAPORE – Singapore heart surgeon to receive honour from The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

SINGAPORE – ELGA^® to deliver innovative water purification at new Singapore General Hospital expansion.

AUSTRALIA – Specialised Therapeutics Australia: New drug to fight hospital superbug infection.

AUSTRALIA – Group of genes hold the clue in migraine cases.

AUSTRALIA – CT scans can triple risk of brain cancer, leukemia.

BRAZIL – Science can do more for sustainable development.

MIDDLE EAST – Particles and persecution: why we should care about Iranian physicists.

EUROPE – Medicyte coordinates EU-funded collaboration on Biomimetic Bioartificial Liver.

EUROPE – Selvita and Orion Pharma achieve a research milestone in Alzheimer's Disease Program.

EUROPE – Zinforo (ceftaroline fosamil) receives positive CHMP opinion in the European Union for the treatment of patients with serious skin infections or community acquired pneumonia.

USA – Vein grown from girl's own stem cells transplanted.

USA – Hidden vitamin in milk yields remarkable health benefits - Weill Cornell researchers show tiny vitamin in milk, in high doses, makes mice leaner, faster and stronger.

USA – New report finds biotechnology companies are participating in 39% of all projects in development for new medicines and technologies for neglected diseases.

USA – TriReme Medical receives FDA clearance for expanded matrix of sizes of Chocolate PTA balloon catheter.

USA – New data show investigational compound dapagliflozin demonstrated significant reductions in blood sugar levels when added to sitagliptin in adults with type 2 diabetes at 24 weeks, with results maintained over 48 weeks.

USA – Zalicus successfully completes Phase 1 single ascending dose study with Z944, a novel, oral T-Type Calcium Channel Blocker.

USA – Study provides clues to clinical trial cost savings.

BAYER HealthCare and Economic Development Board to foster translational and clinical research for diseases prevalent in Asia

Ludwig Cancer Research and University of Oxford launch Cancer Immunotherapy Spinout

OmniComm Systems® Announces Reseller Agreement with Tri-I Biotech Shanghai Inc. Market Leading Life Sciences Consultancy to Resell OmniComm’s TrialOne® eSource Solution

Resverlogix Closes License Agreement and Enters Into Definitive Stock Purchase Agreement with Hepalink

Immunovaccine and PharmAthene Sign Exclusive Worldwide License Agreement to Develop and Commercialize an Anthrax Vaccine Formulated in DepoVax™

Commonwealth Financing Authority Announces New Alternative, Clean Energy Investment

ContraFect Corporation Announces Issuance of Key Patent Covering Novel Lysin Technology

M Pharmaceutical Inc. Rebrands Itself to Better Reflect Growing Family of Biomedical Technologies

Sustainable Apparel Coalition Recognizes SCS Global Services as Approved Verifier for New Pilot Program

StemCell United Announces Plans for PO and Listing on ASX

Roche Diagnostics Strengthens Footprint in Asia Pacific

For the month of November 2020, APBN takes a dive into the genetic links behind the diabetes epidemic in Asia. Looking specifically at genetic markers for diabetes in Asian populations, researchers have discovered unique identifiers that could promote development precision medicine for diabetes in the Asia Pacific region. In the Spotlights, we explore innovative research from the 2020 Tokyo Tech Research Showcase and how they are helping to build a greener and sustainable future. Check out in our columns the future of commercial space flight and how space tourism is becoming a reality.

All the United Nations' members have already committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce by half the proportion of 1.1 billion people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. The problem is that with all the limiting capacities, which half should be prioritized and what kind of policy intervention can be used to achieve the goal.

This paper proposes a methodology on water supply vulnerability assessment, specifically for meeting basic human needs. Based on the impacts to the five assets owned by a certain household and the causes of the lack of access, the policy intervention can be tailored made as to what problems the community faces. Hopefully the method can be used by multilateral donors or agencies and all levels of government to focus on a certain community or area that should be prioritized to meet the MDG target.

This study measures the cost-effectiveness of alternate energy sources for irrigation in Pakistan. Primary data has been collected from eight districts of three provinces of Pakistan. Overall, 223 farmers were personally interviewed out of which, 58 farmers were using electric tube-well, 95 diesel tube-well, and 35 each for solar and biogas-operated tube-wells. The cost of extracting one cubic meter of water through electricity, diesel, subsidized electricity, biogas, and solar was $0.180, $0.013, $0.011, $0.010, and $0.005, respectively. The paper concludes that water pumping using alternative energy sources is cost-effective. Major constraints to adopting solar-powered water pumping systems were the high upfront cost, the lack of awareness, and the lack of available spare parts. The constraints to adopting biogas were difficulty operating and managing through winter.

Flexible dielectric materials with environmental-friendly, low-cost and high-energy density characteristics are in increasing demand as the world steps into the new Industrial 4.0 era. In this work, an elastomeric nanocomposite was developed by incorporating two components: cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and recycled alum sludge, as the reinforcement phase and to improve the dielectric properties, in a bio-elastomer matrix. CNF and alum sludge were produced by processing waste materials that would otherwise be disposed to landfills. A biodegradable elastomer polydimethylsiloxane was used as the matrix and the nanocomposites were processed by casting the materials in Petri dishes. Nanocellulose extraction and heat treatment of alum sludge were conducted and characterized using various techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis/derivative thermogravimetric (TGA/DTG) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. When preparing the nanocomposite samples, various amount of alum sludge was added to examine their impact on the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Results have shown that it could be a sustainable practice of reusing such wastes in preparing flexible, lightweight and miniature dielectric materials that can be used for energy storage applications.

Generally, public investments in irrigation projects fail to deliver the desired outcomes largely due to inefficient management and use of the assets by the local level institutions. Against this backdrop, the present paper attempts to understand how the Pani Panchayats have performed in sustainable management and use of minor irrigation structures in the Indian state of Odisha. Using primary data and information collected from selected state-funded minor irrigation projects implemented in Cuttack district of the state, the paper finds that the Pani Panchayats, being backed by The Orissa Pani Panchayat Act (2002) and following a democratic decision making process, have been successful in managing the irrigation projects efficiently, especially in respect of pricing and distribution of irrigation water, maintenance of the systems, and their expansion, leading to socially inclusive and sustainable agricultural intensification in the area.

Yuan Tseh Lee was instrumental in the development and construction of an apparatus that utilized crossed molecular beams, presenting a break-through technique that allowed for the understanding of the dynamics of elementary chemical reactions. This was done by following the trajectories of reactants and reaction products in single collision events, allowing the visualization of the dynamics of how chemical reactions take place. This article also highlights Prof. Lee’s belief in the severity of the consequences of global warming and his concerns relating to the need to substantially reduce carbon emissions.