Sequential Production Research Articles

Study on the characterization and thermal conversion behavior of sequential extraction products from medium temperature coal pitch

To achieve the high value-added clean utilization of medium temperature coal pitch (MTP), five fractions were separated from MTP by the sequential extraction method using n-heptane, n-butanol, toluene, tetrahydrofuran and quinoline as solvents. Briefly, the extracts were analysed using proximate analysis, elemental analysis, fourier infrared spectrum (FTIR), ultraviolet visible spectrum (UV–vis), fluorescence spectrum, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to investigate their structural parameters, aromatic condensation degree and pyrolysis properties. Meanwhile, Raman spectrum, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and polarizing microscope were used to quantitatively analyze the microstructures of thermal conversion products of the extracts. This allowed for investigation of the thermal conversion mechanism and determination of the thermal conversion behavior. In fact, the chain index (CH3/CH2), aromatic index (Iar), aromatic condensation degree and thermal stability of the extracts increase gradually with deeper extraction. Extracts with high aromatic condensation degree are more favorable for the formation of mesocarbon microbeads (MCMBs). However, overly aromatic condensation degree will lead to excessive coalescence of MCMBs. The ideal carbon microcrystalline content increases with higher temperatures during the thermal conversion of the same fraction. But the change of amorphous carbon content has no obvious regularity. The results of this work will provide theoretical and experimental support for the selection of precursors for carbon/graphite materials.

Lactic acid responsive sequential production of hydrogen peroxide and consumption of glutathione for enhanced ferroptosis tumor therapy

Ferroptosis is characterized by the lethal accumulation of lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS), which has great potential for tumor therapy. However, developing new ferroptosis-inducing strategies by combining nanomaterials with small molecule inducers is important. In this study, an enzyme-gated biodegradable natural-product delivery system based on lactate oxidase (LOD)-gated biodegradable iridium (Ir)-doped hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (HMONs) loaded with honokiol (HNK) (HNK@Ir-HMONs-LOD, HIHL) is designed to enhance ferroptosis in colon tumor therapy. After reaching the tumor microenvironment, the outer LOD dissociates and releases the HNK to induce ferroptosis. Moreover, the released dopant Ir4+ and disulfide-bridged organosilica frameworks deplete intracellular glutathione (GSH), which is followed by GSH-mediated Ir(IV)/Ir(III) conversion. This leads to the repression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) activity and decomposition of intratumoral hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into hydroxyl radicals (•OH) by Ir3+-mediated Fenton-like reactions. Moreover, LOD efficiently depletes lactic acid to facilitate the generation of H2O2 and boost the Fenton reaction, which in turn enhances ROS generation. With the synergistic effects of these cascade reactions and the release of HNK, notable ferroptosis efficacy was observed both in vitro and in vivo. This combination of natural product-induced and lactic acid-responsive sequential production of H2O2 as well as the consumption of glutathione may provide a new paradigm for achieving effective ferroptosis-based cancer therapy.

Enhanced biodegradable polyester film degradation in soil by sequential cooperation of yeast-derived esterase and microbial community.

The degradation of biodegradable plastics poses a significant environmental challenge and requires effective solutions. In this study, an esterase derived from a phyllosphere yeast Pseudozyma antarctica (PaE) enhanced the degradation and mineralization of poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) film in soil. PaE was found to substitute for esterases from initial degraders and activate sequential esterase production from soil microbes. The PBSA film pretreated with PaE (PBSA-E) rapidly diminished and was mineralized in soil until day 55 with high CO2 production. Soil with PBSA-E maintained higher esterase activities with enhancement of microbial abundance, whereas soil with inactivated PaE-treated PBSA film (PBSA-inact E) showed gradual degradation and time-lagged esterase activity increases. The fungal genera Arthrobotrys and Tetracladium, as possible contributors to PBSA-film degradation, increased in abundance in soil with PBSA-inact E but were less abundant in soil with PBSA-E. The dominance of the fungal genus Fusarium and the bacterial genera Arthrobacter and Azotobacter in soil with PBSA-E further supported PBSA degradation. Our study highlights the potential of PaE in addressing concerns associated with biodegradable plastic persistence in agricultural and environmental contexts.

Sequential fabrication of multiple Ge nanomembranes from a single wafer: Towards sustainable recycling of Ge substrates

Germanium (Ge) substrates are employed for III-V multijunction solar cells (MJSCs). However, due to limited availability and environmental impact, Ge is a critical raw material. Detachable Ge nanomembranes (NMs) are gaining attention to reduce Ge consumption through substrate reuse. The Porous germanium Efficient Epitaxial LayEr Release (PEELER) process enables Ge NM detachment and substrate reuse, reducing costs and Ge material consumption. In this work, we demonstrate the sequential production of three NMs from one parent substrate using the PEELER process, yielding monocrystalline NMs, with a surface suitable for further epitaxial growth of III-V layers (RMS < 3.2 nm). By avoiding the costly Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP), our approach enables a more economical and sustainable production of high-efficiency Ge-based solar cells, compared to the conventional production process.

On gradient normalized Ricci-harmonic solitons in sequential warped products

&lt;p&gt;Our investigation involved sequentially warped product manifolds that contained gradient-normalized Ricci-harmonic solitons. We presented the primary connections for a gradient-normalized Ricci-harmonic soliton on sequential warped product manifolds. In practical applications, our research investigated gradient-normalized Ricci-harmonic solitons for sequential generalized Robertson-Walker spacetimes and sequential standard static space-times. Our finding generalized all results proven in &lt;sup&gt;[&lt;xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b26"&gt;26&lt;/xref&gt;]&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

Sequential Product Innovation: The Role of Operational and Development Flexibility

Sequential Product Innovation: The Role of Operational and Development Flexibility

Corporate Social Responsibility along the global value chain

Locating substantial parts of the production process in developing and emerging economies, many firms face an increasing demand by stakeholders for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) along their value chains. Contractual incompleteness between firms and their suppliers at different stages of production can exacerbate the ability to meet these demands. We analyze a model of sequential production with incomplete contracts where CSR by independent suppliers differentiates the final product in the eyes of caring consumers. Progressing down the value chain, our model predicts an increasing CSR profile from upstream suppliers with low CSR to downstream suppliers with higher CSR. We confirm this prediction using Indian firm-level data – computing a firm’s value chain position by combining its product-level sales information with the World Input–Output Database. We find that more downstream firms report higher CSR expenditures as measured by a combination of staff welfare spending and social community spending.

Sustainable inflammatory activation following spinal cord injury is driven by thrombin-mediated dynamic expression of astrocytic chemokines

Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) always results in sustainable recruitment of inflammatory cells driven by sequentially generated chemokines, thereby eliciting excessive neuroinflammation. However, the underlying mechanism of temporally produced chemokines remains elusive. Reactive astrocytes are known to be the main sources of chemokines at the lesion site, which can be immediately activated by thrombin following SCI. In the present study, SCI was shown to induce a sequential production of chemokines CCL2 and CCL5 from astrocytes, which were associated with a persistent infiltration of macrophages/microglia. The rapidly induced CCL2 and later induced CCL5 from astrocytes were regulated by thrombin at the damaged tissues. Investigation of the regulatory mechanism revealed that thrombin facilitated astrocytic CCL2 production through activation of ERK/JNK/NFκB pathway, whereas promoted CCL5 production through PLCβ3/NFκB and ERK/JNK/NFκB signal pathway. Inhibition of thrombin activity significantly decreased production of astrocytic CCL2 and CCL5, and reduced the accumulation of macrophages/microglia at the lesion site. Accordingly, the locomotor function of rats was remarkably improved. The present study has provided a new regulatory mechanism on thrombin-mediated sequential production of astrocytic chemokines, which might be beneficial for clinical therapy of CNS neuroinflammation.

Predictive Analysis of Sales Using the Apriori Algorithm: A Comprehensive Study on Sales Forecasting and Business Strategies in the Retail Industry.

In the digital age, businesses are increasingly leveraging the internet as a pivotal platform for expansion. Establishing an online presence, whether through official websites or e-commerce platforms, has become imperative. Within this landscape, the integration of data mining technology has introduced innovative predictive techniques, revolutionizing the relationship between customers and businesses. Entrepreneurs are driven to curate their products systematically, aligning them with patterns derived from extensive data analyses, including user ratings, behavior, and purchasing history. Such analyses hold the key to predicting consumer outcomes, shaping strategies that resonate with customer preferences. In this context, the Apriori algorithm emerges as a beacon of insight and prediction. By identifying frequent itemsets—sets of items that meet specific support and confidence thresholds—Apriori empowers businesses to discern meaningful patterns in customer preferences. Support quantifies the frequency of specific items, while confidence illuminates sequential product acquisition behaviors. These insights are invaluable in attracting and retaining customers. Notably, the Apriori algorithm transcends traditional sales prediction paradigms. Its versatility extends beyond commerce, finding applications in diverse domains such as weather forecasting, disease prediction, and intrusion detection. This paper adopts a quantitative method and delves into the strategic application of the Apriori algorithm, specifically in the realm of sales forecasting.

Sequential product positioning and entry timing under differential costs in a continuous-time model

Sequential product positioning and entry timing under differential costs in a continuous-time model

Sequential versus concurrent final phase product development: Approval uncertainty, time‐sensitive consumers, asymmetric competition, and government subsidy

Should a firm begin its production even before its new product is approved? In a competitive market with time‐sensitive consumers, a firm may choose to adopt the “concurrent process” by conducting the approval process and the production process in parallel so that the product will become available for sale once approved. However, to avoid incurring upfront (production related) investments that are nonrecoverable should the product fail to receive approval, a firm may opt for the “sequential process” so that the production process will only begin after approval. But such a sequential process can delay product launch, making the firm less competitive. These trade‐offs between the concurrent and sequential development processes and the recent Covid‐19 vaccine development motivate us to examine the process choice in the presence of three salient factors: (a) uncertain product approval, (b) time‐sensitive consumers, and (c) asymmetric firm competition—firms have different ex ante approval probabilities. Our equilibrium analysis reveals that it is possible for the laggard firm (the firm with lower ex ante approval probability) to aggressively adopt the concurrent process whereas the leading firm (the firm with higher ex ante approval probability) adopts the sequential process. First, as the approval requirement tightens, both firms have a lower chance of receiving approval, and the laggard firm is more likely to adopt the sequential process than the leading firm. Second, as consumers become more time sensitive, the leading firm is more eager to adopt the concurrent process than the laggard firm. Finally, when the firm asymmetry is large, competition does not always soften and both firms may compete directly by adopting the sequential process. We also examine the case when consumers are “forward‐looking” instead of “myopic.” We find that forward‐looking behavior increases competition and motivates both firms to adopt the concurrent process. Finally, we consider the case when the government offers subsidies to defray the nonrecoverable investments to increase the chance of having an approved product available sooner. Interestingly, we find such a subsidy can backfire resulting in lower consumer welfare and lower profit for the firms especially when consumers are time insensitive.

Enhanced environmental and economic sustainability of VMI-CS agreement-based closed-loop supply chain for deteriorating products

The present study aims to enhance the environmental and economic sustainability of any supply chain, where a single vendor collaborates with multiple buyers following a vendor-managed inventory-based consignment stock policy for deteriorating products. In contrast to the prevailing literature, a distinctive feature of this research is that each and every chain partner invests in green equipment initially, in compliance with the carbon cap-and-trade regulation of the Paris Accord. Incorporating sequential remanufacturing of used products transforms the supply chain into a closed-loop system, significantly diminishing the reliance on fresh raw materials. Albeit traditional, this study classically determines the optimal values of six major decisions that minimize the total cost of the proposed model. In terms of results, the vendor’s sequential production process of new and remanufactured items substantially reduces total cost and raises green investments for all chain partners. This study pleads to employ advanced demand forecasting tools that shall mitigate the impact of fluctuating demand. Also, this study proposes to uphold equitable partnerships between vendors and buyers in any sustainability endeavors, including emissions control. Investing upfront in the efficient collection of used items is a crucial element of sustainability.

Certain investigations of sequential warped product submanifolds on cosymplectic manifolds

In a special class of almost contact metric manifolds known as cosymplectic manifolds, the current study aims to establish the existence result and a few inequalities for sequential warped product submanifolds. These results and inequalities represent fruitful connections between the primary intrinsic and extrinsic invariants. Furthermore, findings related to Dirichlet energy have been addressed. Finally, some exceptional cases resulting in several inequities are examined.

Bound productivity in stem-formation and categorial separation

This study argues that individually unproductive processes of morphology can be highly productive for certain other tasks in sequential productions when they occur in combination with certain other processes. Unlike the relevant literature, which generally treats -(y)I as a phonological piece of the agentive suffixation in Modern Turkish, -(y)ICI, the study argues that -(y)I in instances like kır-ı-cı (break-nominalizer-agentive) ‘breaker/offending, hurtful’, is a stem-formative, creating novel stems required for further operation, -CI. Importantly, the -(y)I nominalization, with no semantic motivation, provides numerous (bound) V-(y)I- forms which are unattested in isolation without further derivation. Thus, the recognition of such a stem-formative is crucial. It shows that (i) form, meaning, and categorial separateness is necessary, and (ii) bound derivations and bound productivity can constitute a good part of the grammar. The study supports the formal analyses via the experimental findings of a recent survey of the productivity of a group of paradigmatic nominalizations including -(y)I in Turkish, and concludes that stem-formative operations may output “preforms”, which are bound but productive derivatives fulfilling the formal conditions of forthcoming operations, and that semantics-free stem-formations may involve categorial modifications. This leads us to categorial separation and its possible autonomy in grammar.

Investigating the Production Atmosphere for Sulfide-Based Electrolyte Layers Regarding Occupational Health and Safety

In all-solid-state battery (ASSB) research, the importance of sulfide electrolytes is steadily increasing. However, several challenges arise concerning the future mass production of this class of electrolytes. Among others, the high reactivity with atmospheric moisture forming toxic and corrosive hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a major issue. On a production scale, excessive exposure to H2S leads to serious damage of production workers’ health, so additional occupational health and safety measures are required. This paper investigates the environmental conditions for the commercial fabrication of slurry-based sulfide solid electrolyte layers made of Li3PS4 (LPS) and Li10GeP2S12 (LGPS) for ASSBs. First, the identification of sequential production steps and processing stages in electrolyte layer production is carried out. An experimental setup is used to determine the H2S release of intermediates under different atmospheric conditions in the production chain, representative for the production steps. The H2S release rates obtained on a laboratory scale are then scaled up to mass production dimensions and compared to occupational health and safety limits for protection against H2S. It is shown that, under the assumptions made for the production of a slurry-based electrolyte layer with LPS or LGPS, a dry room with a dew point of τ=−40 ∘C and an air exchange rate of AER=30 1h is sufficient to protect production workers from health hazards caused by H2S. However, the synthesis of electrolytes requires an inert gas atmosphere, as the H2S release rates are much higher compared to layer production.

Recycling of catering waste for sequential production of biohydrogen and biomethane; pre-treatments, batch, and continuous mode studies

Dark fermentation has emerged as a sustainable bio-based economy for bio-fuels production in accord with “carbon neutrality”. Herein, catering waste was collected, pre-treated with a series of multilevel (acidic, alkaline, Triton X100, ultrasonication, and microwave radiation) pathways, and employed as substrates to inspect their characteristics on two-stage mesophilic biohydrogen/biomethane production process through batch assays under initial pH of 6.5, and 7.5, respectively. The findings revealed that the optimized pre-treated catering waste (CW) with Triton X-100 recorded the highest biohydrogen, and biomethane production yield of 5.9 mL/g VS added (BHP of 368.5 mL), and 17.7 ± 26.8 mL/g VS (BMP 1108.5 mL), at 37 °C, respectively. Overall, the kinetic data was strongly matched with the Gompertz equation (R2 = 0.92–0.99). Afterward, the pre-treated Triton X-100-CW was introduced into a second series of continuous experiments (continuously stirred tank reactors) for sequential production of biohydrogen/ biomethane. An average yield of biohydrogen and biomethane production of 22.24 ± 2.29 mL/g VS, and 98.7 ± 10.4 mL/g VS was accomplished at hydraulic retention time (HRT), and organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.0 day, 91.5 gCOD/L.day and 10.0 days, 7.2 gCOD/L.day, respectively. Economically, the configured system displays a total energy yield of 1.634 KWh/KgVS, and the inspected 1600 kg CW produces about 2614.41 KW/day. As such, the present work broadens a salience pattern for scalable upcycling of CW organic constituent stream into biohydrogen/biomethane for potential applications in the energy sector.

Comparison of commingled and sequential production schemes by sensitivity analysis for Gulf of Mexico Paleogene Deepwater turbidite oil fields: A simulation study

A commingled production scheme, where wells are simultaneously completed in multiple reservoir units, offers a cost-effective alternative worldwide. However, their behavior can be more complex than single-unit wells in sequential production. Limited completion studies exist for the unique Paleogene Gulf of Mexico fields. To aid decision-making, we conducted a numerical study using geological and reservoir models of Lower and Upper Wilcox units, based on publicly available data. Results show that commingled production maximizes per-well oil production compared to sequential schemes. Over 30 years, it provides 61% more oil recovery, and over 50 years, it yields 21% more. One-factor-at-a-time design of experiments sensitivity analysis identifies that key reservoir properties influencing oil recovery in both schemes are upper and lower unit thicknesses, facies proportion of the upper unit. Additionally, average permeability of the lower unit plays a significant role in sequential production schemes.

Spectrality in Convex Sequential Effect Algebras

For convex and sequential effect algebras, we study spectrality in the sense of Foulis. We show that under additional conditions (strong archimedeanity, closedness in norm and a certain monotonicity property of the sequential product), such effect algebra is spectral if and only if every maximal commutative subalgebra is monotone sigma -complete. Two previous results on existence of spectral resolutions in this setting are shown to require stronger assumptions.

Improved sequential production of hydrogen and caproate by addition of biochar prepared from cornstalk residues

This study proposes a new model in which ethanol and acetate produced by dark fermentation are processed by Clostridium kluyveri for chain elongation to produce caproate with an addition of biochar prepared from cornstalk residues after acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis (AERBC) in the dark fermentation and chain elongation processes. The results show a 6–25% increase in hydrogen production in dark fermentation with adding AERBC, and the maximum concentration of caproate in the new model reached 1740 mg/L, 61% higher than that in the control group. In addition, caproate was obtained by dark fermentation, using liquid metabolites as substrates with an initial pH range of 6.5–7.5. Finally, the electron balance and electron transfer efficiency in the new model were analyzed, and the role of AERBC in dark fermentation and chain elongation was investigated. This study provides a new reference for the use of dark-fermented liquid metabolites and cornstalk residue.

Penalty lottery*

AbstractTo control sequential public bad productions under imperfect monitoring, this paper proposes a penalty lottery: a violator passes the responsibility of the fine to the next potential violator with some probability and pays all the accumulated fines with the complementary probability. The penalty lottery does not merely impose extreme fines because an absorbing state is practically unreachable. It self‐selects people more willing to produce public bads and endogenously imposes the larger expected fines on them. It has advantages over the day‐fine system in which the fine depends on the offender's daily income. Experimental evidence is consistent with the proposed theoretical predictions.