Simultaneous Goals Research Articles

Highly efficient and selective nitrate and Hg(II) removal from wet oxidation flue gas purification wastewater using bifunctional MXene nanofiltration membrane

The wet oxidation process is a promising method for simultaneously removing SO2, NO, and Hg0 from coal-fired flue gas. However, the resource utilization of the resulting wastewater, which is enriched with complex ions such as Hg2+, NH4+, NO3−, and SO42−, remains a significant challenge. To achieve the simultaneous goals of concentrating NH4+/NO3−/SO42− ions, adsorbing and separating Hg2+ ions, and reusing wastewater, a bifunctional MXene composite nanofiltration membrane with large interlayer spacing and excellent electrostatic repulsion was developed. The membrane was prepared by co-depositing MXene nanosheets, carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) onto an NF-90 membrane. The resulting MXene-MWCNTs-SDS (MMS-COOH) composite membrane demonstrated exceptional salt rejection of 84.4 % for NO3−, 89.0 % for NH4+, 99.8 % for SO42−, and 99.7 % for Hg2+. After 30 cycles, the membrane structure remained stable, maintaining good reusability, with NH4+ and SO42− rejection still reaching 90.0 %. Moreover, the maximum adsorption capacity for Hg2+ was 2869.6 mg g−1, while the capacities for Cr6+ and Pb2+ were 577.6 and 316.8 mg g−1, respectively. The MMS-COOH composite membrane introduces an innovative method for the benign treatment of wet oxidation flue gas purification wastewater and facilitates the recovery of (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3 as fertilizers, holding a promising application prospect.

A hybrid multi-objective solution approach for a reliable truck-drone routing problem integrated with pickup and delivery services

ABSTRACT Humanitarian logistics aims to reduce the arrival time of relief goods and optimize services in disaster-affected regions. This paper introduces a multi-objective hybrid truck-drone routing problem with pickup and delivery services, considering reliability (MHTDRP-PD-R) to enhance relief operations within humanitarian logistics. The model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem with the simultaneous goals of minimizing transportation time and maximizing reliability through routing and inventory decisions made by multiple trucks and drones. An adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) algorithm, coupled with heuristic technique, is developed to tackle the problem. The ALNS algorithm refines initial solutions through destroy and repair operators, integrated with multi-objective optimization methods to create a unified objective function. Small and large-scale test problems are then employed to evaluate solution quality using multi-objective optimization. The calculation results show the superiority of the developed ALNS integrated with the ε-constraint method regarding the objective value and solution time.

Mitigation synergy and policy implications in urban transport sector: a case study of Xiamen, China

The urban transport sector is one of most significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant (AP) emissions. To achieve co-benefits of GHG and AP emission reductions, a synergistic mitigation approach targeting both climate change and air pollution has gained more attention. In this study, we evaluate mitigation synergy and policy implications for GHGs and nine APs, namely, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5), black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia (NH3), in the transport sector of Xiamen, China, during the 2013–2060 period using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform model and quantitative analysis methods. Results show that light-duty vehicles, river boats, buses and heavy-duty trucks are significant common sources of GHG and AP emissions. Road sector abatement during 2013–2020 was most prominent, especially for CO, NO X , VOCs and GHGs. In this sector, guide green travel (GGT) and adjust energy structure (AES) are dominant measures for mitigation synergy between GHGs and APs. From 2021 to 2060, emission pathways for GHGs, SO2, CO, VOCs and NH3 under optimize transport structure (OTS), AES and GGT scenarios will decrease markedly. Their emissions will peak soon relative to those under business as usual scenario. Additionally, the potential of mitigation synergy may mainly be attributed to the road and shipping sectors under AES scenario, which is the most effective in reducing PM10, PM2.5, BC and OC emissions; the mitigation potential under the AES scenario for GHGs and other APs is nearly 1–4 times as high as that under OTS and GGT scenarios. Therefore, mitigation synergy, especially in adjusting the energy structure for the transport sector, is essential for achieving the simultaneous goals of the ‘blue sky’ and ‘carbon peaking and neutrality’.

Variation in Reporting of Incidental Findings on Initial Lung Cancer Screening and Associations With Clinician Assessment

PurposeThe aim of this study was to quantify the distribution, frequency, and clinical significance of incidental findings (IFs) on initial lung cancer screening (LCS) and the association of report characteristics with subsequent assessment. MethodsHealth records of patients undergoing initial LCS from 2015 to 2018 in the Minneapolis VA Health Care System were retrospectively reviewed for demographics, Lung CT Screening Reporting & Data System coding, IFs, and subsequent clinical assessment. IFs were considered potentially significant if they were likely to require any follow-up. High-risk significant IFs (SIFs) were potentially malignant. The primary outcome was the SIF being addressed. Outcomes were analyzed using a mixed-effects model. ResultsPatients (n = 901) were primarily male (94.1%) smokers (62.1%) with a mean age of 65.2 years. IFs were extremely common (93.9%), with an average of 2.6 IFs per scan (n = 2,296). Seven hundred eighty-six IFs (34.2%) were deemed likely SIFs, of which 58 (7.4%) were high risk. Two hundred twenty-two (28.2%) were addressed by clinicians, of which 104 (13.2%) underwent testing. Reporting of SIFs varied among radiologists, with at least one SIF in the impression in 24% to 78% of low-dose CT studies with the S modifier, used to indicate the presence of a SIF, applied to 0% to 51% of reports. In the mutually adjusted model, radiologist recommendation (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 4.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.23-9.76), high-risk finding (adjusted OR, 4.35; 95% CI, 1.81-10.45), and reporting in the impression (adjusted OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.28-5.18) were associated with increased odds of the SIF’s being addressed. ConclusionsRadiologists vary in their reporting of IFs on LCS. Further standardization of reporting of SIFs may improve this process, with the simultaneous goals of generating appropriate testing when needed and minimizing low-value care.

Reckoning with Slavery: Gender, Kinship, and Capitalism in the Early Black Atlantic

Reckoning with Slavery: Gender, Kinship, and Capitalism in the Early Black Atlantic

Technical insights on various routes of hydrogen production from pharmaceutical, hydrothermal, sewage and textile wastewaters: Cost comparison and challenges

Wastewater generation and its complex nature paves way for the need of sustainable treatment regime for effective treatment and safer discharge. This review mainly focuses on clean and sustainable approaches for achieving simultaneous goals of hydrogen and wastewater treatment. Different hydrogen production routes, challenges, opportunities and futuristic research directions are investigated. Photocatalysis, microbial electrolysis, photocatalysis, dark fermentation, super critical water gasification and photoelectrochemical methods are the most common methods investigated for hydrogen production from wastewater in both lab-scale and pilot scale. However, the success of the method depends upon the environmental, economic, exergetic and energetic analysis. It was found that microbial electrolysis and photocatalysis method will serve for lowest global warming potential (GWP). This review will serve in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) like good health and well-being (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), economic growth (SDG 8) and climate action (SDG 13) respectively.

Effects of acid/alkali-pretreated peanut shells as a cheap carbon source for the bio-reduction of sulfate

Sulfate reduction process is a promising approach for simultaneously removing sulfate, metals and metalloids from acid mine drainage (AMD). Abundant lignocellulose waste is an ideal energy source for sulfate bio-reduction (SO42−), but their low bioavailability is a limitation for actual application. In the present study, a representative lignocellulose waste, peanut shells (PS), was pretreated with a 4% H2SO4 and NaOH solution at 80 °C, respectively, and then applied for the bio-reduction of SO42−. The results showed that the carbohydrate proportion of the alkali-pretreated PS (55.45%) was higher than acid-pretreated PS (50.05%), and their specific surface area and pore volume also showed the same trends. The SO42− bio-reduction load of using alkali-pretreated PS (140.61 mg/g) was much higher than that of acid-pretreated PS (125.24 mg/g), which validated that alkali pretreatment can improve the utilization efficiency of PS by microorganisms. UV–vis and 3 DEEM analysis provided alkali pretreatment could improve the biodegradability of PS, which provided more electron donors to sulfate bio-reduction. Microbial community dynamic also indicated that alkali pretreatment increased the enrichment of microorganisms associated with carbohydrate utilization, thus increasing the overall energy supply of the community. This research provides a reference for realizing the simultaneous goals of SO42− bio-reduction and lignocellulose waste utilization.

Pursuing multiple goals during the commute: A dynamic self-regulatory perspective

The current review theorizes that self-regulatory principles can be applied to the commute experience to better understand how spatial navigation and role transition processes interface with each other. Using a multiple goal framework, spatial navigation and role transitions are conceptualized as simultaneous goals, each with their own set of effort allocation processes. Furthermore, the review describes how dynamic and stable features of the commute and of the different roles individuals enact come together to impact spatial navigation and role transition effectiveness, along with well-being and effectiveness in individuals’ “home” and “workplace” roles. The proposed framework offers novel predictions about how and why these two activities impact each other in different ways, providing testable propositions that will help researchers begin to better understand the commute as a time for multiple goal regulation. The review concludes with suggestions for future research aimed at investigating these processes.

Theory-driven game-based assessment of general cognitive ability: Design theory, measurement, prediction of performance, and test fairness.

Games, which can be defined as an externally structured, goal-directed type of play, are increasingly being used in high-stakes testing contexts to measure targeted constructs for use in the selection and promotion of employees. Despite this increasing popularity, little is known about how theory-driven game-based assessments (GBA), those designed to reflect a targeted construct, should be designed, or their potential for achieving their simultaneous goals of positive reactions and high-quality psychometric measurement. In the present research, we develop a theory of GBA design by integrating game design and development theory from human-computer interaction with psychometric theory. Next, we test measurement characteristics, prediction of performance, fairness, and reactions of a GBA designed according to this theory to measure latent general intelligence (g). Using an academic sample with GPA data (N = 633), we demonstrate convergence between latent GBA performance and g (β = .97). Adding an organizational sample with supervisory ratings of job performance (N = 49), we show GBA prediction of both GPA (r = .16) and supervisory ratings (r = .29). We also show incremental prediction of GPA using unit-weighted composites of the g test battery beyond that of the g-GBA battery but not the reverse. We also show the presence of similar adverse impact for both the traditional test battery and GBA but the absence of differential prediction of criteria. Reactions were more positive across all measures for the g-GBA compared to the traditional test battery. Overall, results support GBA design theory as a promising foundation from which to build high-quality theory-driven GBAs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Addressing Shortcomings in Contingency Standards of Care

Addressing Shortcomings in Contingency Standards of Care

Human Readability of Data Files.

In this era of big data and FAIR data, data formats must be machine interpretable. XML, among other standards, satisfies this requirement. Yet many standardization initiatives cite human readability as a second, key property in data format development. Examples include the development of STAR in the field of structural biology, W3C PROV for provenance, and even the continuing development of XML. This begs the question(s), what is meant by human readability and can this property be measured for a given data format or compared between competing standards? The broad topic of readability is considered with attention to the various aspects of written text which either foster or counter readability. Drawing on efforts in the educational system, a metric is proposed for estimating the relative human readability of structured data within an archival file format. Comparison is made between the same data represented in various formats, including JSON and XML, to help judge whether these standards have accomplished their simultaneous goals of machine interpretability and human readability.

The green deal – just transition and sustainable development goals Nexus

Endeavouring to promote sustainability and citizens' well-being, and attempting to avoid or at least mitigate catastrophic climate change; the European Union adopted in 2019 the “Green Deal” as a new growth strategy, to thus become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. As an intermediate 2030 target, it set the goals of at least 40% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, an increase to 32% share for renewable energy, and 32.5% increase in energy efficiency. Reaching these targets was estimated to require investments of €260 billion/year till 2030, which is 1.94% of EU's annual gross domestic product in 2020. The aim of this paper is to introduce a perspective that attempts to analyse relationships between two exceptionally important and ambitious simultaneous goals of the Green Deal: to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, as well as the Sustainable Developments Goals, all based on the sustainability environmental, economic and social pillars. The study shows that the link between these two goals, including the cost-benefit effects for all citizens, should be made clearer. Without adequate understanding and monitoring of the consequences of each action, and quantitative indicators for the environmental, economic and social sustainability pillars, the attainment of the goals would be subject to high uncertainty. With ongoing global changes and problems within and surrounding the European Union, implementation of the Green Deal without the noted adjustments poses a potential risk to sustainable development and to the European Union unity. Transition to climate neutrality can be sustainable only if supported by conviction and accord.

Interaction Patterns between Climate Action and Air Cleaning in China: A Two-Way Evaluation Based on an Ensemble Learning Approach

China will attempt to achieve its simultaneous goals in 2060, whereby carbon neutrality will be accomplished and the PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) level is expected to remain below 10 μg/m3. Identifying interaction patterns between air cleaning and climate action represents an important step to obtain cobenefits. Here, we used a random sampling strategy through the combination of chemical transport modeling and machine learning approach to capture the interaction effects from two perspectives in which the driving forces of both climate action and air cleaning measures were compared. We revealed that climate action where carbon emissions were decreased to 1.9 Bt (billion tons) could lead to a PM2.5 level of 12.4 μg/m3 (95% CI (confidence interval): 10.2-14.6 μg/m3) in 2060, while air cleaning could force carbon emissions to reach 1.93 Bt (95% CI: 0.79-3.19 Bt) to achieve net carbon neutrality based on the potential carbon sinks in 2060. Additional controls targeting primary PM2.5, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds were required as supplements to overcome the partial lack of climate action. Our study provides novel insights into the cobenefits of air-quality improvement and climate change mitigation, indicating that the effect of air cleaning on the simultaneous goals might have been underestimated before.

Sustainable water resource planning at the basin scale with simultaneous goals of agricultural development and wetland conservation

Abstract Reducing the quantity of water in recent years has increased the competition between development projects and the environment. Wetlands are increasingly under pressure due to human activities. The most serious threats to wetlands are excessive agriculture and the diversion of water for irrigation. In recent years, due to water shortage and drought, wetland dryness in Iran has caused many problems, including the dust crisis. Therefore, planning at the basin scale is necessary to achieve sustainable development, which emphasizes the employment of mathematical models. In this study, using a reliability-based simulation–optimization approach, development planning in the Karkheh basin with the following two objectives is investigated: (1) total area under cultivation of agricultural development sectors and (2) supply reliability of the environmental flow requirement. The Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model is used for the simulation of water resources and the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is employed for optimization. The results show that in addition to significantly improving the supply reliability of the wetland requirement (from 55 to 79%), the design of agricultural development projects has been optimized. The reliability-based model has prevented unsustainable developments in the basin. Also, the average supply reliability of agricultural demands has increased from 51% (in previous studies) to 72%.

Invited Commentary: Conducting and Emulating Trials to Study Effects of Social Interventions.

All else being equal, if we had 1 causal effect we wished to estimate, we would conduct a randomized trial with a protocol that mapped onto that causal question, or we would attempt to emulate that target trial with observational data. However, studying the social determinants of health often means there are not just 1 but several causal contrasts of simultaneous interest and importance, and each of these related but distinct causal questions may have varying degrees of feasibility in conducting trials. With this in mind, we discuss challenges and opportunities that arise when conducting and emulating such trials. We describe designing trials with the simultaneous goals of estimating the intention-to-treat effect, the per-protocol effect, effects of alternative protocols or joint interventions, effects within subgroups, and effects under interference, and we describe ways to make the most of all feasible randomized trials and emulated trials using observational data. Our comments are grounded in the study results of Courtin et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2022;191(8):1444–1452).

Recycling Past and Present and the New Innovation Challenge for Materials at End-of-Life

Recycling is critical for the drive towards a circular economy and sustainable materials. More than ever, consumers, industries, governments, and academics are looking at end-of-life materials processing with the simultaneous goals of reducing emissions and energy consumption from primary materials production, encouraging sustainable practices, and securing the supply chains of key materials. However, attention on recycling practices and markets has been inconsistent over the years and critical market trends were largely unnoticed up until three years ago. Consequently, when China instituted its import ban on over 20 classes of recycled materials that failed to meet its strict low contamination limit in 2018, widespread and immediate global repercussions were felt throughout the recycling industry, particularly in the United States (U.S.). To understand the magnitude of this most recent market disruption to the U.S. recycling industry, it is instructive to trace recycling’s origins and evolution to identify where the recycling model has succeeded and where there exist opportunities for improvement. In this vein, this assessment gives a brief overview of the historical development of recycling in the U.S., the state of the industry today, and a discussion of specific materials classes where recycling has achieved varying degrees of success. By providing this context, this assessment aims to generate a discussion based on a systems-wide approach and provide examples of intervention strategies that help move communities toward more sustainable materials management.

Can a national afforestation plan achieve simultaneous goals of biodiversity and carbon enhancement? Exploring optimal decision making using multi-spatial modeling

There is a growing awareness of the need to integrate climate and biodiversity policies. As forests play an important role in mitigating biodiversity loss and climate change, numerous countries have established goals and are managing their forests to achieve them. However, forest management measures and land prioritization may differ depending on the target chosen, leading to conflicts. This research aims to seek optimized national afforestation plans in the Republic of Korea by assessing trade-offs between plant biodiversity persistence and carbon stocks. To this end, afforestation scenarios were spatially established based on the national forest management plans, with a target of 5800 ha expansion by 2022. Generalized Dissimilarity Modeling (GDM) and Global Forest Model (G4M) were applied to the selected afforestable regions to obtain scenarios that maximize biodiversity and carbon, respectively. Furthermore, another afforestation scenario that considers both objectives equally, was proposed using spatial simulated annealing (SSA) optimization algorithm to mitigate trade-offs. The constructed scenarios were compared, both spatially and quantitatively. As a result, the maximization scenarios were found to have few overlapping areas, with both scenarios resulting in ~50% trade-offs. These findings reveal that there is no universal solution and different management strategies are needed to enhance biodiversity persistence and carbon stocks. Thus, to strike a balance among the various goals, forest management requires a compromise solution to minimize trade-offs. Our national-scale assessment can help to guide future planning of national forest management with the consideration of the joint goals of biodiversity and carbon enhancement.

CIndex: compressed indexes for fast retrieval of FASTQ files.

Ultrahigh-throughput next-generation sequencing instruments continue to generate vast amounts of genomic data. These data are generally stored in FASTQ format. Two important simultaneous goals are space-efficient compressed storage of the genomic data and fast query performance. Toward that end, we introduce compressed indexing to store and retrieve FASTQ files. We propose a compressed index for FASTQ files called CIndex. CIndex uses the Burrows-Wheeler transform and the wavelet tree, combined with hybrid encoding, succinct data structures and tables REF and Rγ, to achieve minimal space usage and fast retrieval on the compressed FASTQ files. Experiments conducted over real publicly available datasets from various sequencing instruments demonstrate that our proposed index substantially outperforms existing state-of-the-art solutions. For count, locate and extract queries on reads, our method uses 2.7-41.66% points less space and provides a speedup of 70-167.16 times, 1.44-35.57 times and 1.3-55.4 times. For extracting records in FASTQ files, our method uses 2.86-14.88% points less space and provides a speedup of 3.13-20.1 times. CIndex has an additional advantage in that it can be readily adapted to work as a general-purpose text index; experiments show that it performs very well in practice. The software is available on Github: https://github.com/Hongweihuo-Lab/CIndex. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Blind Multipurpose Image Watermarking with Perfect Security

Nowadays, from one hand multimedia authentication techniques are widely used to achieve trustworthiness, on the other hand, due to the rapid growth of image processing software technologies, having a secure method to protect the copyright of these data seems fairly essential. Multipurpose watermarking emerged in order to simultaneously accomplish multimedia authentication and copyright protection. In this paper, we propose a multipurpose watermarking method which achieves perfect security, the ability to detect tampered areas of the watermarked image as well as a lower BER rate, at the cost of reducing capacity by half. This watermarking scheme is blind in the sense that on the receiver side, neither the original host image nor the embedded watermark is needed for ownership watermark extraction or tamper detection. Experimental results show that our method is able to reconstruct extracted tampered watermarks even after various attacks such as JPEG compression, average filtering, gamma correction, median filtering, speckle noise, JPEG compression, sharpening, Wiener filter, and median filtering. Comparisons are provided with other multipurpose watermarking methods which primarily aim at simultaneous goals of copyright protection and authentication. We also show the superiority of our proposed method to three watermarking methods attaining these objectives on a one-goal-at-a-time basis.

Human performance in three-hands tasks

The successful completion of complex tasks like hanging a picture or laparoscopic surgery requires coordinated motion of more than two limbs. User-controlled supernumerary robotic limbs (SL) have been proposed to bypass the need for coordination with a partner in such tasks. However, neither the capability to control multiple limbs alone relative to collaborative control with partners, nor how that capability varies across different tasks, is well understood. In this work, we present an investigation of tasks requiring three-hands where the foot was used as an additional source of motor commands. We considered: (1) how does simultaneous control of three hands compare to a cooperating dyad; (2) how this relative performance was altered by the existence of constraints emanating from real or virtual physical connections (mechanical constraints) or from cognitive limits (cognitive constraints). It was found that a cooperating dyad outperformed a single user in all scenarios in terms of task score, path efficiency and motion smoothness. However, while the participants were able to reach more targets with increasing mechanical constraints/decreasing number of simultaneous goals, the relative difference in performance between a dyad and a participant performing trimanual activities decreased, suggesting further potential for SLs in this class of scenario.