Dennis Zanutto, Christos Michalopoulos, Lydia Tsiami
et al.
The highly anticipated 'Battle of the Water Networks' is back with a new challenge for the water community. This competition will be hosted at the 4th International Joint Conference on Water Distribution Systems Analysis and Computing and Control in the Water Industry (WDSA/CCWI 2026), taking place in Paphos, Cyprus, from May 18-21, 2026. This competition embodies the core mission of Water-Futures and the theme for WDSA/CCWI 2026: "Designing the next generation of urban water (and wastewater) systems." The objective is to design and operate a water distribution system over a long-term horizon under deep uncertainty, with interventions applied in stages. For the first time, this challenge features a staged-design approach, unobservable and unknown uncertainties, and incorporates elements of policymaking and artificial intelligence. The solutions will be assessed using a transparent and inspectable open-source evaluation framework.
The development of large language models (LLMs) has provided new tools for research in supply chain management (SCM). In this paper, we introduce a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) framework that dynamically integrates external knowledge into the inference process, and develop a domain-specialized SCM LLM, which demonstrates expert-level competence by passing standardized SCM examinations and beer game tests. We further employ the use of LLMs to conduct horizontal and vertical supply chain games, in order to analyze competition and cooperation within supply chains. Our experiments show that RAG significantly improves performance on SCM tasks. Moreover, game-theoretic analysis reveals that the LLM can reproduce insights from the classical SCM literature, while also uncovering novel behaviors and offering fresh perspectives on phenomena such as the bullwhip effect. This paper opens the door for exploring cooperation and competition for complex supply chain network through the lens of LLMs.
We propose a conceptual, empirically testable framework for Robot Fostering, -a curriculum-driven, governance-first approach to domestic robot deployments, emphasizing long-term, curated interaction trajectories. We formalize trajectory quality with quantifiable metrics and evaluation protocols aligned with EU-grade governance standards, delineating a low-resource empirical roadmap to enable rigorous validation through future pilot studies.
This paper goes into depth on the effect that US News Sentiment from national newspapers has on US interstate migration trends. Through harnessing data from the New York Times between 2010 and 2020, an average sentiment score was calculated, allowing for data to be entered into a neural network. Then a logistic regression model was used to predict interstate migration. The results indicate the model was highly accurate as the mean margin of error was +/- 900 citizens. The predictions from the model were compared with the US Census data from 2010 to 2020 that was used to train the model. Since the input for the model was not exposed to any migration data, the model clearly demonstrated that its results were drawn from sentiment data alone. These findings are significant as they indicate that the role of the press could be used as a predictor for domestic migration which can help the government and businesses understand better what is influencing people to move to certain places.
We study how product specialization choices affect supply chain resilience. We propose a theory of supply chain formation in which only compatible inputs can be used in final production. Intermediate producers choose how much to specialize their goods, trading off higher value added against a smaller pool of compatible final producers. Final producers operate complex supply chains, requiring multiple complementary inputs. Specialization choices determine how quickly final producers can replace suppliers after disruptions, and thus supply chain resilience. In equilibrium, production inputs are over-specialized due to a novel network externality. Intermediate producers fail to internalize how their specialization choices affect the likelihood that final producers source all required inputs, and therefore the lost value added from complementary inputs if production halts. As a result, supply chains are more productive in normal times but less resilient than socially desirable. We characterize the optimal transfer that restores the efficient allocation and show that non-fiscal interventions, such as compatibility standards, are generally welfare-enhancing.
Nesto Amulike Lwinga, Fides J. Izdori, Edwin N. Richard
ABSTRACT The decline in water quality in various bodies of water has led to significant health risks for individuals relying on these sources for drinking and domestic use. The prevalence of waterborne diseases in some areas is attributed by inadequate water quality assessments of supply sources. This study focused on evaluating the potability of domestic water sources in the Kilombero district of Tanzania, where approximately 70% of the population depends on untreated natural sources. Two models were utilized: the Weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index (WAWQI) and the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI), analysing 15 water quality parameters. The WAWQI identified three groundwater sources as poor quality for consumption, while indicating seasonal improvements in water quality – from 12 in the wet season to 13 in the dry season. Conversely, the CCME WQI classified all 15 sources as potable, with an increase in ‘Excellent’ ratings from 9 to 13 between seasons. The findings showed that all surface water sources were deemed potable, while 67% of groundwater sources met quality standards. The remaining 33% of boreholes were categorized as having poor quality. Overall, both models indicated better water quality during the dry season, with surface water generally exhibiting higher quality than groundwater.
In the rapidly evolving automotive industry, Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) are playing an increasingly crucial role in enhancing vehicle intelligence, connectivity, and safety features. For enterprises whose business encompasses automotive SoCs, the sustained and stable provision and receipt of SoC relevant goods or services are essential. Considering the imperative for a resilient and adaptable supply network, enterprises are concentrating their efforts on formulating strategies to address risks stemming from supply chain disruptions caused by technological obsolescence, natural disasters, and geopolitical tensions. This study presents an open supply knowledge extraction and complement approach and build a supply chain network of automotive SoC enterprises in China, which incorporates cross-domain named entity recognition under limited information, fuzzy matching of firm entities, and supply relation inferring based on knowledge graph. Subsequently, we exhibit the degree and registered capital distribution across firms, and analyze the correlations between centrality metrics in the supply chain network. Finally, based on recovery capacity and risk transfer, two interaction disruption models (IDMs) are developed to elucidate the adaptive behaviors and effect of network disruptions under various business and attack strategies. This research not only aids in exploring the complexities of Chinese automotive SoC supply chain but also enriches our understanding of the dynamics of firm behavior in this crucial industry sector.
ُShahriar Mahdavi, Behnaz Taherinia, Amir Hossein Sayyah zadeh
Sulfate is an important anion in natural waters, and its excessive concentration can be harmful. Therefore, in this study, the efficiency of sulfate removal using nanoclay montmorillonite (adsorbent) from water was investigated by determining the effect of adsorbent concentration, pH, time, and temperature to determine the optimal conditions. The sulfate adsorption isotherms were also examined. The highest sulfate removal was achieved at a concentration of 1 g/l of nanoclay montmorillonite, resulting in 4.47 mg/g or 23% removal, at pH 3 with 2.87 mg/g or 27% removal, at a time of 90 minutes with 2.15 mg/g or 21% removal, and at a temperature of 25°C with 3.54 mg/g or 35% removal. Thermodynamic constants indicated that sulfate adsorption on the adsorbent surfaces is endothermic and spontaneous. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model provided a better fit to the time data, indicating chemical adsorption of sulfate. Among the isotherm equations, the Langmuir equation showed a better fit compared to Freundlich, indicating monolayer adsorption surfaces. Furthermore, the maximum adsorption capacity of nanoclay montmorillonite for sulfate (SO4˭-S) was found to be 9.7 mg/g. SEM-EDX analysis also revealed surface adsorption of sulfur and changes in the surface. Therefore, this nanoclay was effective in removing sulfate from water.
Environmental sciences, Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes
Abstract The biodegradable polymer poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a promising carbon source for biological mitigation of nitrogen pollution, a significant problem in aquaculture that physical and chemical methods have not provided a comprehensive solution. Here we investigated the impact of PHB on the zero-water-change largemouth bass culture by 30- and 40-day experiments. PHB loaded into the filter circulation pump at 4 g L− 1, optimum value determined by the first experiment, significantly reduced the levels of nitrate by 99.65%, nitrite by 95.96%, and total nitrogen by 85.22% compared to the control without PHB. PHB also significantly increased denitrifying bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria) and expression of denitrification genes (e.g., nirK and nirS) in the microbial community, improving growth and health parameters of largemouth bass. While the impact may vary in other culture systems, PHB thus demonstrated its remarkable utility in aquaculture, highlighting ecological assessment and application to larger aquaculture operations as future considerations.
Abstract Aging infrastructure and climate change present emerging challenges for clean water supply and reliable wastewater services for communities in the United States (US). In Georgia, for example, the failure rates of on-site wastewater systems (OWTS) have increased from 10% to 35% in the last two decades as the systems age. In this work, we develop a hierarchical Bayesian model to understand the different contributions of physical and social factors driving OWTS failures using a long-term collection of 201,000 Georgia’s OWTS inspection records. The out-of-sample validation accuracy of our hierarchical Bayesian model is 70% within Georgia, outperforming other machine learning models that do not consider the multiscale nature of the problem. Overall, we find counties that experience more extreme precipitation and are situated in steeper-sloped regions are significantly associated with increased failure risks. Uncertainties, meanwhile, are largely associated with counties experiencing more precipitation and have lower median housing value.
Municipal waste is a cost-effective and valuable source of organic matter for agricultural soils. In recent years, MSW compost has been widely used in agriculture as a soil conditioner and fertilizer. However, the excessive use of organic and mineral fertilizers in the production of greenhouse crops leads to the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil and health risks for humans. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of the municipal waste and manure application on heavy metals in the soil. Also, the health risks for humans were evaluated through the consumption of cucumber cultivated in these soil. In this study, the concentration of heavy metals Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in soil, mobility of metals, bioavailability, fractionation of metals, effects of pollution in the greenhouse soil and uptake of these metals by cucumber plant following 3 cultivation years of application of municipal waste compost and manure were studied in a randomized complete block design with three replicates in a greenhouse located in the south of Theran province. Also, environmental pollution risks were evaluated. The results showed that the application of municipal waste compost and manure increased both the total and available concentration of heavy metals in the soil. However, the concentration of the measured metals was at the permissible limit of the concentrations of heavy metals in Iranian soils. Copper and Zn were detected as the most mobile metals in control and treated soils with municipal waste compost and manure, respectively. The amount of Pb (2.26 mg kg-1) and Cd (0.06 mg kg-1) in cucumber in treated soil with municipal waste exceeded the limit value for edible vegetables. Based on the results obtained from the health risk index, Pb and Cu represented a high potential risk for the health of adults and children by consuming cucumbers in compost-treated soils. The results of this study showed that despite the three-year application of municipal waste compost and manure, the concentration of heavy metals measured was not higher than the allowed guideline level. However, considering the high bioavailability of heavy metals, repeated application of municipal waste compost would carry a risk of gradual accumulation in the soil over time. Therefore, measuring the total and extractable concentration of heavy metals and metal mobility when assessing likely effects on plant yields and metal uptakes and setting soil quality criteria is important.
Technology, Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes
María Molinos-Senante, Manel Poch, Diego Rosso
et al.
Current wastewater management practices underutilize wastewater as a valuable source of water, energy, and essential plant nutrients. A new paradigm shift is needed, one that integrates the water-energy-food nexus into wastewater management. Decentralized wastewater management has the power to redefine not only the urban water cycle but also reshape society towards a more economic and environmentally sustainable future.
While domestic violence (DV) is prevalent in all socioeconomic settings, identity highly impacts how one experiences and recovers from abuse. This work examines US-based Muslim women's challenges when seeking help and healing from domestic violence. Through participatory interviews with 23 participants within the DV ecosystem, we find that victim-survivors' autonomy is compromised throughout the abuse, within their immediate communities, and when involving the criminal justice system. To address such harms, we adapt a survivor-centered transformative justice (SCTJ) approach, a framework to discern individual and systemic harm, to understand how to design alongside victim-survivors, and to focus on victim-survivors' autonomy. We explain under what conditions an SCTJ approach may be productive for designers. We use insights from our interviews to highlight intervention areas for reducing harm, repairing harm, and promoting healing for victim-survivors. Lastly, we offer guidelines to design for harm reduction, accountability, and systemic change.
Global crises and regulatory developments require increased supply chain transparency and resilience. Companies do not only need to react to a dynamic environment but have to act proactively and implement measures to prevent production delays and reduce risks in the supply chains. However, information about supply chains, especially at the deeper levels, is often intransparent and incomplete, making it difficult to obtain precise predictions about prospective risks. By connecting different data sources, we model the supply network as a knowledge graph and achieve transparency up to tier-3 suppliers. To predict missing information in the graph, we apply state-of-the-art knowledge graph completion methods and attain a mean reciprocal rank of 0.4377 with the best model. Further, we apply graph analysis algorithms to identify critical entities in the supply network, supporting supply chain managers in automated risk identification.
Abstract Downwelling aeration has become a widely applied approach to cope with the water eutrophication in stratified reservoirs, rivers and lakes. The aeration parameters involving flow rate, flow locations and working periodicity and their impacts on the temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) distributions of water have been largely unclarified, causing extra time and energy consumptions in practice. In this study, a home-built water tank and an aeration pump are used to model the downwelling aeration processes in stratified water. Temporal influences of aeration parameters on the water stratifications and eutrophicated elements are systemically investigated, with the purpose of searching parametric configurations to enhance the anti-eutrophication efficiency. It is found that the variation rates of temperature destratification and DO distribution in the water body could be saturated and strongly correlated with the flow rate. Based on such experimental saturation rates, we find an optimized working condition from the aspect of energy saving: a 300 rpm pump speed and a 15 cm distance between the flow exit and the sediment surface. In such conditions, the total nitrogen and phosphorus dissolved in the bottom layer of water decrease exponentially with aeration time, and can be reduced by 53.8 and 86% in the first 6 h of aerations, respectively, taking full advantage of the microbial bonding to the sedimentations. The present work provides better understandings for efficient implementations of downwelling aerations.
Sania Kadanyo, Christine N. Matindi, Nozipho N. Gumbi
et al.
Abstract Controlling membrane morphology is crucial to improving the mechanical strength (MS) and hydrophilicity of porous membranes. Here we report on the fabrication of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) free of macrovoids via non-solvent-induced phase separation (NIPS). Hydrophilic Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and poly (ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) were mixed with Hydrophobic polysulfone (PSF) in the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to fabricate MMMs. The results showed the formation of PSF/EVOH-MMMs with a spongy structure when the content of HNTs varied from 0.06- 0.12 wt.%, owing to the formation of strong hydrogen bonds between PSF, EVOH, PEG, and HNTs, confirmed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MS of MMMs with 0.12 wt.% HNTs was increased 2.2-fold (up to 6.22 MPa), while the contact angle (CA) was lowest at 47.42 ± 1.9°. In addition, the water permeability increased by a factor of 1.7 up to 419 L m−2 h−1 bar−1. The rejection rates of MMMs (M12) for oil and BSA were >90% and >95%, respectively. While the MMMs had > 90% flux recovery for both oil and BSA. We predict that this study will provide a method for controlling dope thermodynamics, formation dynamics, and morphology of MMMs while maintaining promising properties for improved separation performance.
Kelvin Mutevu Mwanzia, Stephen Ondimu, Patrick Ajwang
Developing countries require simple low-technology methods to desalinate drinking water. Passive solar stills are an example of a simple low-technology innovation that can desalinate saline water for small populations. Compared to single-chamber solar stills, double-chamber solar stills have the potential of increasing the yield of solar stills due to an increased condensation surface area. An experiment was carried out to determine the optimal angle of double-chamber solar stills. The set-up comprised double-chamber solar stills with angles of 10°, 20°, 30° and 40°, with a control set-up of a 20° single-chamber solar still. The experiment was conducted in January 2022 at Juja in Kiambu County, Kenya. The double-chamber solar stills comprised an evaporation chamber and a condensation chamber. The dimensions of the chambers were 0.5 m × 0.5 m with a height of 0.25 m. The main assumptions were that there existed steady-state conditions and that the solar still was leakproof. The research found that the 40° double-chamber solar still had the highest yield of 3.756 l/m2/day and the 10° double-chamber solar still had the least yield of 1.644 l/m2/day. Comparing the 20° double-chamber still and the 20° single-chamber still (control), the double-chamber solar still had a higher external efficiency.
HIGHLIGHTS
The configuration of the double-slope single-chamber has not been experimented on before.;
The geographical location is unique (Kenya (1°north of the equator)).;
River, lake, and water-supply engineering (General), Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes
Abstract A helical air gap membrane desalination (HAGMD) system is designed in the present study. The condenser is designed as a cylindrical shape with helical fins machined on the outer surface of a hollow copper condenser. A detailed theoretical model, studying heat and mass transfer in the HAGMD module, was developed. The theoretical model for a cylindrical system with fins is developed for the first time and is unique in the MD literature. Experimentation was carried out to examine the behavior of the HAGMD module under diverse design and operating conditions. The effect of cold flow rate, feed flow rate, feed temperature, the height of fins, the number of fins, and the length of the module is determined on the performance of the HAGMD system. Permeate flux and gained output ratio (GOR) were considered as the performance indicators of the system. Results showed that permeate flux increases with cold flow rate, feed temperature, feed flow rate, as well as number of fins, while the increase in height of fins negatively affects the flux. Theoretical model and experimental results are found to be in excellent agreement with only 6.7% of error which shows that the present theoretical model is excellent to predict the performance of any HAGMD system. For similar design parameters, the average flux increased by 135% for the finned HAGMD module, with 35 fins over the one with that only for 1 fin. Maximum experimental distillate flux is found to be 20 kg/m2 hr, and GOR is found to be 0.75.
Seyyed Ali Razavikia, Sayed Aboutaleb Mousavi Parsa, Mehdi Faramarzi
et al.
Disposal of dyes containing dyes from related industries has caused global concern. Therefore, removing dyes from aqueous solution is very important and necessary. In this work, a novel magnetic glycodendrimer is introduced as effective adsorbent for malachite green adsorption. Firstly, magnetic graphene oxide was prepared by co-precipitation method and then modified with ethylenediamine to generate amine group on the surface which was further reacted with mercaptoacetic acid to provide polymerizable MGO nanosheets. Thereafter, Allylamine was grafted onto nanosheets and subsequently, reacted with methacrylate in a Michael type reaction to generate methyl ester groups. Finally, amidation of the terminal methyl ester groups with chitosan resulted in the formation of glycodendrimer. The properties of the synthesized adsorbent were investigated using XRD, FTIR, BET, FESEM and TEM. The results showed that pH=5, temperature of 40 °C, initial concentration of 600 mg/mL and contact time of 10 min as optimal values for removing malachite green dye with nanosorbent (MGD) were obtained. The maximum adsorption capacity of green malachite was 452.97 μg/mg. The high correlation coefficient (R2=0.9947) for the Freundlich model confirms that the Freundlich model is suitable for fitting laboratory data. According to the compliance model, the heat absorption for malachite green is B=8.1447 j/mol and indicates that the process of dye adsorption with nanosorbent is physical. According to the results of fitting the kinetic models of dye adsorption kinetics by nanosorbent shows that Hu and McKay model with higher correlation coefficient (R2=0.994) than other models is more consistent with experimental data. Due to the fact that a large decrease in dye removal is not observed in 10 consecutive recovery cycles and therefore nanosorbent has a high stability and can be used several times.
Technology, Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes