Usable Products Research Articles

Co-production of climate services: challenges and enablers

Climate change is often connected to an increase in weather extreme frequencies and severity, demanding an increased necessity in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to and building resilience to these changes and impacts. This happens in a background of climate variability that already impacts several climate-sensitive sectors. There is an urgent need for fit-for-purpose climate services and service professionals to support these mitigation and adaptation efforts. Co-development of climate services can enhance their usefulness (context-specific and fit for purpose), usability (easy access and handling), and usage (transfer and upscale) by ensuring appropriate and iterative engagement between climate service providers and users, development of timely, reliable and usable products, and the provision of services to users in a truly accessible manner. Achieving co-development asks for reframing and scaled-up transdisciplinary, sustained, and multidirectional approaches between a diversity of information users and providers. For these processes, it is key to also address and further minimize or overcome barriers of co-production, while supporting enabling and accelerating mechanisms, better preparation of climate services providers including National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, private actors, civil society, and academia for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, enhanced individual and institutional capacity development and governance mechanisms.

A Review: Characterization of Bio-Cement Composites Reinforced with Calcium Carbonate Obtained from Chicken Egg-Shells

Cement is frequently utilized in the building business across the world, and experts are currently looking for an acceptable and usable unused product that would substantially reduce cement consumption and production costs. Eggshell is one of the waste materials created by the chicken egg industry, and its production has been gradually rising in recent years, adding to environmental and disposal concerns. The chicken eggshell is a bio-ceramic composite that is a solid waste material whose final disposal is complicated and expensive. Following that, the presence of organic egg shells in the form of calcium carbonate improves the self-compacting capabilities of concrete and increases particle packing and spacer effects. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the mechanical characteristics of bio-cement eggshell composites, investigate the microstructure of eggshells by scanning emission microscope (SEM) and determine the phase distribution of eggshell composites by using x-ray diffraction (XRD).

Comparative metagenomics of tropical reef fishes show conserved core gut functions across hosts and diets with diet-related functional gene enrichments.

The benefits of healthy microbiomes for vertebrate hosts include the breakdown of food into more readily usable forms and production of essential vitamins from their host's diet. Compositions of microbial communities in the guts of fish in response to diet have been studied, but there is a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the genome-based metabolic capabilities of specific microbes and how they support their hosts. Therefore, we assembled genomes of several gut microbes collected from the feces of three fish species that were being fed different diets to illustrate how individual microbes can carry out specific steps in the degradation and energy utilization of various food inputs and support their host. We found evidence that fish gut microbial communities share several core functions despite differences in microbial taxonomy. Herbivorous fish harbored a functionally diverse microbial community with plant matter degraders, while the piscivorous and invertivorous fish had microbiomes more specialized in protein degradation.

Chemical Composition and Storage Study of Debittered Orange-Seed Flour

Sweet oranges are among the most important citrus fruit crops in the world. Waste orange seeds are haphazardly thrown into the environment, creating an unpleasant atmosphere and producing an odor that attracts insects and provides them with a place to reproduce. The study's objective was to ascertain how orange-seed flours' chemical composition and storage characteristics were impacted by debittering processes. After the orange seeds were carefully removed from the fruits, they were submerged in water for twelve hours, boiled for 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 0C, and then manually dehulled, crushed, and filtered, with half of the seeds being defatted with 100% alcohol. The flours' pH, moisture content, titratable acidity, peroxide value, and microbiological quality were all measured. The results reported 0 to 20 cfu/g mold, 0.3 to 2.8 meq/kg peroxide value, 3.0 x 102 to 2.6 x 105 total viable count, 0.15 to 2.25% titratable acidity and 4.41 to 7.10 pH. The flour' titratable acidity, peroxide value, and total viable count all rose while they were stored, but their pH decreased. Microbiologically safe, but the products could become harmful to your health after six months. Materials discarded in the production industry, such as orange seeds, can be upgraded, and used to make valuable commodities that reduce environmental pollution. This research would assure the conversion of orange seed waste into a usable product, because of their nutritive and technological properties.

NP-bioTech: a circular economy approach to catalyst-based biostabilization of citrus processing waste.

Biowaste accounts for about 40% of total waste. Food-industry waste is one major biowaste stream. The available technological approaches to biowaste treatment are expensive, not circular, unsustainable, and they require pre-treatments such as dehydration, extraction of inhibitors, pH correction, or the addition of other organic matrices. The NP-bioTech process uses a biocatalyst adsorbed onto an inert material enabling accelerated fermentation of critical biomass without pre-treatments, transforming it into biostabilized and pasteurized material, and converting waste into new usable products rapidly. Biocatalysts consist of naturally fortified selections of microbial colonies, enzymes, and fungi that are resistant to the action of d-limonene and other fermentation inhibitors. The NP-bioTech process was able to activate vigorous fermentation of citrus waste without any of the pre-treatments required by other available biowaste-treatment technologies. The horticultural use of the biostabilized output of such process for greenhouse crops was verified. The addition of such output to the growth media was beneficial for plants and did not show negative effects on quality and yield of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum L.). The concentration of Ca, K, Zn, Fe, and polyphenol increased; the average number of berries per plant was improved; the concentration of Pb and Cd contaminants decreased. The NP-bioTech process emits no odors or pollutants. It does not generate leachate, and its output can be used in agriculture. It is capable of reconciling compliance with strict environmental restrictions, industrial feasibility, and economic sustainability. Its potential impact thus aligns well with the circular economy model. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.

Исследование износа многогранных плаcтин режущего инструмента

There are many factors of failure of a carbide tool, and one of them is wear, discoloration of the blade and breakage. An increase in the durability of the tool is possible due to increased wear resistance, reliability and the number of periods of durability due to overfilling. In this case, the resource of the cutting tool is understood as a measure equal to the total amount of usable products processed by the cutting tool during its service life. The low quality of the workpieces means higher wear and more plates with breakages and discolorations, and with high precision of the processed products, we have less tool wear. The aim of this study is to increase the wear resistance of cutting tools by selecting the optimal geometry of the carbide plate.

Exploring pyrolysis-based alternatives for the valorization of used diapers through a comprehensive understanding of all generated products

Exploring pyrolysis-based alternatives for the valorization of used diapers through a comprehensive understanding of all generated products

Increasing the efficiency of manufacturing products from dolerite of the Severo-Buskunskoye deposit by gluing them with polymer composites

The North Buskun dolerite deposit is located 10 km from Sibai RB. This deposit belongs to highly decorative stones, which is due to the uniformity and saturation of its black color and good polishability. At the same time, the main disadvantage of the North Baksan deposit is the low yield of usable products from mined blocks, which is approximately 35% of the extracted stone. The paper examines the types of cracks on the dolerite and the possibility of gluing them with polyester-based glue. It has been established that sawn blanks do not break through glued small cracks when they are ground and polished on a knee-lever machine. At the same time, frost resistance, color, tonality, uniformity, quality of polishing and stuffing of drawings on glued blanks with small cracks practically did not differ from the indicated quality indicators in areas of dolerite without defects.The restoration of the quality indicators of the dolerite of the North Baksan deposit due to the gluing of small cracks with polymer composites ensured an increase in the yield of usable products from 35 to 85%.

Comparative metagenomics of tropical reef fishes show conserved core gut functions across hosts and diets with diet-related functional gene enrichments.

Fish gut microbial communities are important for the breakdown and energy harvesting of the host diet. Microbes within the fish gut are selected by environmental and evolutionary factors. To understand how fish gut microbial communities are shaped by diet, three tropical fish species (hawkfish, Paracirrhites arcatus; yellow tang, Zebrasoma flavescens; and triggerfish, Rhinecanthus aculeatus) were fed piscivorous (fish meal pellets), herbivorous (seaweed), and invertivorous (shrimp) diets, respectively. From fecal samples, a total of 43 metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) were recovered from all fish diet treatments. Each host-diet treatment harbored distinct microbial communities based on taxonomy, with Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Firmicutes being the most represented. Based on their metagenomes, MAGs from all three host-diet treatments demonstrated a baseline ability to degrade proteinaceous, fatty acid, and simple carbohydrate inputs and carry out central carbon metabolism, lactate and formate fermentation, acetogenesis, nitrate respiration, and B vitamin synthesis. The herbivorous yellow tang harbored more functionally diverse MAGs with some complex polysaccharide degradation specialists, while the piscivorous hawkfish's MAGs were more specialized for the degradation of proteins. The invertivorous triggerfish's gut MAGs lacked many carbohydrate degrading capabilities, resulting in them being more specialized and functionally uniform. Across all treatments, several MAGs were able to participate in only individual steps of the degradation of complex polysaccharides, suggestive of microbial community networks that degrade complex inputs.

Absorptive capacity in a more (or less) absorptive environment: A meta‐analysis of contextual effects on firm innovation

AbstractThe effects of the knowledge environment on a firm's ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and utilize new knowledge—its absorptive capacity (AC)—to produce innovation (INN) have been largely overlooked in prior literature. Drawing on the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, we conduct a meta‐analysis summarizing findings from 145 empirical studies on 434,985 firms with 798,650 firm‐year observations. We distinguish between knowledge‐rich environments with abundant, easily accessible information; knowledge‐protected environments with high levels of intellectual property rights protection; and knowledge‐intensive environments with high levels of reliance on knowledge. Our study assesses the impact of the environment on the AC–INN relationship. First, we confirm that knowledge‐rich environments create more opportunities to reap innovation benefits from AC compared to knowledge‐scarce environments. Driven by the development of communication technologies and increased information sharing, the effects of AC on innovation are almost twice larger in the smartphone era as they were during the preinternet or early internet era. Second, our analysis indicates that high levels of knowledge protection, as seen in North America and Europe, while safeguarding intellectual property, also dampen positive effects of absorptive capacity on innovation. In environments with less knowledge protection, the effects of AC on innovation are stronger. Finally, our findings suggest that AC is beneficial across industry sectors, but its effects are stronger in less knowledge‐intensive sectors. The mean effect size in low‐tech manufacturing and services is two times larger than in high‐tech industries. Beyond contextual effects, we assess AC's effects on two major creativity outputs: invention, as a breakthrough scientific discovery, and commercialization, as a socially usable and marketable product. Our findings show that AC overall boosts innovation and is more strongly associated with commercialization than with invention. The implications of this study aim to inform practitioners and policymakers and advance future research on knowledge environments.

Cost-effective walnut shell biosorbent for efficient Cr(VI) removal from water: Batch adsorption and optimization using RSM-BBD

Cost-effective walnut shell biosorbent for efficient Cr(VI) removal from water: Batch adsorption and optimization using RSM-BBD

Ballistic-Aggregated Carbon Nanofoam in Target-Side of Pulsed Laser Deposition for Energy Storage Applications.

In pulsed laser deposition, along the traditionally exploited deposition on the front-side of the plasma-plume, a coating forms on the surface of the target as well. For reproducibility, this residue is usually cleaned and discarded. Here we instead investigate the target-side coated materials and employ them as a binder-free supercapacitor electrode. The ballistic-aggregated, target-side nanofoam is compact and features a larger fraction of sp2-carbon, higher nitrogen content with higher graphitic-N and lower oxygen content with fewer COOH groups than that of diffusive-aggregated conventional nanofoams. They are highly hydrogenated graphite-like amorphous carbon and superhydrophilic. The resulting symmetric micro-supercapacitor delivers higher volumetric capacitance of 522 mF/cm3 at 100 mV/s and 104 % retention after 10000 charge-discharge cycles over conventional nanofoam (215 mF/cm3 and 85 % retention) with an areal capacitance of 134 μF/cm2 at 120 Hz and ultrafast frequency response. Utilizing the normally discarded target-side material can therefore enable high performing devices while reducing waste, cost and energy input per usable product, leading towards a greater sustainability of nanomaterials synthesis and deposition techniques.

Analysis of the Impact of Biomass/Water Ratio, Particle Size, Stirring, and Catalysts on the Production of Chemical Platforms and Biochar in the Hydrothermal Valorization of Coffee Cherry Waste

In Colombia alone, 12.6 million bags of green coffee are produced, but at the same time, 784,000 tons of waste biomass are dumped in open fields, of which only 5% is recovered or used, and 10 million tonnes of coffee emit 28.6 million tonnes of CO2 eq annually. This presents a worrying dilemma, and the need to develop a technology to transform the waste into usable products is increasing. As a response to this, the valorization of coffee waste was explored through the production of biochar and platform chemicals by implementing a set of hydrothermal experiments with different biomass/water ratios (1:5, 1:10, 1:20, 1:40), particle sizes (0.5, 1, 2, 5 mm), stirring rates (5000 and 8000 rpm), and catalysts (H2SO4, NaHCO3 and CH3COOH) at 180, 220, and 260 °C in a batch reactor with autogenous pressure. Notably, the smaller B:W ratios of 1:20 and 1:40, as well as smaller particle sizes of 0.5 and 1 mm, yielded higher amounts of platform chemicals, while stirring showed minimal influence. CH3COOH significantly enhanced the process compared to other catalysts. The biochar was characterized as anthracite, and this obtaining of coal-like materials from biomass itself represents a remarkable feat. Said anthracite presented little to no variation in physical parameters, while catalysts induced functionalization. By optimizing factors like B:W ratio, particle size, and catalyst application, valuable insights have been gained into enhancing the yield of platform chemicals and quality of biochar from coffee waste. The findings not only contribute to sustainable waste management practices but also highlight the importance of exploring innovative solutions for utilizing agricultural by-products effectively.

Effective waste management through Co-pyrolysis of EFB and tire waste: Mechanistic and synergism analysis

Effective waste management through Co-pyrolysis of EFB and tire waste: Mechanistic and synergism analysis

A comprehensive review on different leaf fiber loading on PLA polymer matrix composite

Bio-sourced plastics are most widely essence among all potential materials to replace fossil based plastics which have many unfavorable impacts to the environment like global warming, land pollution, water pollution and global warming etc. Fossil based polymers that is polypropylene are mainly non biodegradable in nature and that tends to cause pollution on the earth surface and causes different harmful diseases if we do not provide proper disposal to waste polymers. To keep eye on that, this review paper focused on the replacement fossil based polymer with introducing biopolymer Polylatic Acid (PLA) polymer matrix composite with the incorporation of different leaf fiber. The intention of the current review is to represent the detailed idea for the development of PLA polymer matrix composite with the incorporation of different leaf fiber and with the proper selection compatibilizer to enhance the mechanical, degradation and other properties. Among these, leaves, once relegated to the realms of waste, have risen as potent contributors to the realm of fiber composites. The spotlight of exploration falls on green composites reinforced with leaf fibers, showcasing mechanical properties and modulus that surpass other classes of polymer composites. This revelation not only reshapes our understanding of plant-based fibers but also propels them into the forefront of innovation across industries. The modified composite can be used as various packaging materials in different areas like in textile industry, medicine and drug packaging, food industry for food packaging etc. This overview will support the researchers to engage in the development of degradation capability with enhancing mechanical properties of bio-sourced materials as composite materials. In essence, this review not only describes the essence of leaf fiber based composites but also acts as a main role for a greener, more sustainable future. It deliberates the necessity of leaves, transforming them from waste into a usable product thereby producing more strength in composite materials.

An Analysis of the Círcular Economy in Europe through Comparative Research Employing the CRITIC-Based MAUT and COPRAS Methods

Purpose: The circular economy is an approach to sustainability that takes into account both the economic and environmental benefits of repurposing waste or underutilized inert assets into new, useable products or services. The research aims to present a comparative analysis of EU countries with multi-criteria decision-making methods using various indicators covering many topics, including emphasis on recycling, use of circular materials, material efficiency and collective management of waste. Methodology: The research aims to determine the weights through the application of the CRITIC method. It is gathered in 22 sub-indicators under three main categories, including sustainable resource management, social behaviour, and business operations, so as to assess effectiveness with regard to this notion while comparing nations. Additionally, every nation in the EU that has indicator data is assessed employing cluster analysis, a method of data mining, in addition to multi-criteria decision-making techniques like MAUT and COPRAS. Findings: Based on the assessments of nations, Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Germany exhibit a favourable and noteworthy distinction from other nations. Originality: This study offers the opportunity to make comparisons with a multi-criteria decision-making approach when it comes to environmental and circular economy goals.

Improving carbon management through maximizing hydrolysis and fermentation at water resource recovery facilities

Wastewater treatment plants are transitioning from a sole focus on treatment objectives to integrated resource recovery and upcycling. Effective carbon management is critical for upcycling within a water resource recovery facility (WRRF) to produce energy or other usable products, which involves carbon diversion at primary treatment and waste activated sludge (WAS) from biological treatment processes. Many WRRFs are also driven to meet stringent effluent nutrient discharge targets while minimizing energy usage and chemical addition. Nutrient removal systems still rely on biodegradable organic carbon to support denitrification and enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). Biological nutrient removal not only requires sufficient organic substrate, but also the right type of bioavailable carbon for optimal utilization. The main objective of this pilot fermentation testing was to evaluate the most effective utilization of the range of organic-carbon rich feedstocks within a WRRF. Preliminary results suggest that a 50–50 blend of primary sludge (PS) and return activated sludge (RAS) fermentation leads to highest volatile fatty acid (VFA) yield. PS fermentation resulted in the minimum nutrients release per unit of volatile suspended solids (VSS), which makes it a best suited for biological nutrients removal WRRFs with stringent nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limits. The volatile fatty acids fractions produced from different combinations of RAS and PS can impact the most suitable end use for each sludge type fermentation. PS resulted into higher levels of propionate, which are ideal for selecting phosphate accumulating organisms (PAO) over glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAO). On the other hand, for denitrification, acetate is the preferred substrate, which was most abundant with RAS only fermentation. Our research outcomes will be of value to utilities aiming to integrate the stringent effluent nutrient (N and P) discharge targets with energy and resource recovery.

The balance between a usable and emotional product design – a comparison of different methods for prioritising relevant influencing factors

AbstractDesigning an equally usable and emotionally appealing product remains a challenge for product developers, not least due to conflicting goals. Product developers need to constantly map the affective user requirements to the product, whereby the requirements for the emotional and usable product design often cannot be equally addressed. The systematic approach presented can help product developers in conflicting decision-making situations to represent these affective user requirements by selecting and prioritising context-relevant influencing factors using multi-criteria decision-making methods.

Monsoon-Based Linear Regression Analysis for Filling Data Gaps in Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellite Observations

Over the past two decades, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission and its successor, GRACE-follow on (GRACE-FO), have played a vital role in climate research. However, the absence of certain observations during and between these missions has presented a persistent challenge. Despite numerous studies attempting to address this issue with mathematical and statistical methods, no definitive optimal approach has been established. This study introduces a practical solution using Linear Regression Analysis (LRA) to overcome data gaps in both GRACE data types—mascon and spherical harmonic coefficients (SHCs). The proposed methodology is tailored to monsoon patterns and demonstrates efficacy in filling data gaps. To validate the approach, a global analysis was conducted across eight basins, monitoring changes in total water storage (TWS) using the technique. The results were compared with various geodetic products, including data from the Swarm mission, Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation (IGG), Quantum Frontiers (QF), and Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) coefficients. Artificial data gaps were introduced within GRACE observations for further validation. This research highlights the effectiveness of the monsoon method in comparison to other gap-filling approaches, showing a strong similarity between gap-filling results and GRACE’s SHCs, with an absolute relative error approaching zero. In the mascon approach, the coefficient of determination (R2) exceeded 91% for all months. This study offers a readily usable gap-filling product—SHCs and smoothed gridded observations—with accurate error estimates. These resources are now accessible for a wide range of applications, providing a valuable tool for the scientific community.

Fostering self-efficacy through usability and emotional product design? An explorative study

Raising the user’s self-confidence is a promising strategy to reduce product-related user stigma. In the context of product usage, the commonly used term self-confidence refers to the psychological construct of self-efficacy. To strengthen a user’s self-efficacy through product design, providing both good usability and emotionality in a product seems to be a reasonable starting point. However, their suitability and validity for this purpose has not yet been sufficiently assessed. This paper examines whether self-efficacy would be associated with perceptions of a product’s usability and emotionality. By conducting an online survey (n = 105; stigma-sensitive product demonstrator: walker), it was confirmed that the perception of good usability and emotionality of walkers were positively associated with the user’s perceived self-efficacy. Moreover, a negative interaction effect was identified showing that the association between emotionality and self-efficacy increased with lower levels of perceived usability and vice versa. This may indicate that emotions can compensate the importance of usability at least to some extent.