Base editors (BEs) enable precise genome editing, but their use in microbes remains limited by restricted mutagenesis capabilities and narrow editing windows. Here, we reported MicroDFBEST, a novel dual-function base editor (DFBE) for microbes, by fusing the high-activity deaminases evoCDA1 and TadA9 with nuclease-deficient Cas12b from Bacillus hisashii (dBhCas12b). This engineered system enables simultaneous C-to-T and A-to-G editing within a 26–33 nt window, the broadest range reported for microbial DFBEs. The editing characteristics of MicroDFBEST can be easily adjusted by changing fusion protein expression and editing generations to create diverse mutant libraries. We show that the MicroDFBEST system enables both flexible gene expression modulation via random promoter (PylbP) diversification and targeted protein evolution through mutational hotspot scanning in native genomic contexts. This study offers a versatile platform enabling in situ gene regulation (e.g., biosynthetic gene clusters activation) and protein evolution (e.g., chassis optimization), with broad synthetic biology utility.
Angisenit Reyes-Prezas, Marieli Lavoignet-Ruiz, Gregorio Fernández-Lambert
et al.
In a global context marked by the rising demand for sustainable and biodegradable materials, natural fibres have gained unprecedented significance in scientific and technological research. Known for their low environmental impact and versatility, natural fibres offer innovative solutions to replace non-renewable synthetic materials. This study explores the trends from 2010 to 2023, focusing on the use of Luffa cylindrica, an alternative crop particularly relevant for emerging economies and rural communities. A total of 589 articles and 632 patents were analyzed using a bibliometric and patent review approach to identify industrial advancements related to this plant.The findings reveal a 35 % increase in publications and a 40 % increase in patents related to sectors such as construction, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agriculture between 2010 and 2023, reflecting a significant growth in interest. Literature highlights its applications in lightweight construction materials, such as eco-friendly panels; acoustic insulation, including soundproofing in urban housing; and reinforced composites for automotive interior components, demonstrating its adaptability to diverse industries. Patent data underscores advancements in biotechnological applications, environmental engineering for water and air filtration, and agricultural innovations. Its potential for pollutant remediation, with absorption efficiencies reaching up to 90 % for heavy metals, and sustainable packaging solutions that could reduce reliance on synthetic plastics by an estimated 25 % in specific markets, positions this plant as a key renewable resource for promoting sustainability.The evidence suggests that Luffa cylindrica has the potential not only to replace non-renewable materials but also to drive technological advancements in both emerging and established markets. This study emphasizes the importance of developing new applications while addressing these issues to support the transition to a circular economy and mitigate environmental impacts. The research contributes significantly to the development of cleaner, more sustainable industrial processes.
Renewable energy sources, Environmental engineering
ABSTRACT Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has enabled xylose‐fermenting yeast strains. However, the bioavailability dilemma of xylose has become the core bottleneck restricting the economy of lignocellulose. This study investigates the overexpression of the transketolase gene (TKL1) in the pentose phosphate pathway to enhance xylose utilization efficiency during mixed sugar fermentation. We initially characterized the effects of different carbon and nitrogen sources on xylose consumption and ethanol production. The recombinant yeast strain INVSc‐xylA‐Xltr1p‐TKL1 demonstrated significant improvements in xylose utilization. In a xylose‐only medium (SCX) with organic nitrogen, the strain consumed 1.54 g/L of xylose over 120 h, while in a mixed glucose and xylose medium, xylose consumption reached 3.01 g/L, reflecting increases of 52.4% and 16.2% compared with the control, respectively. With inorganic nitrogen, the strain consumed 1.3 g/L of xylose in a SCX medium and 2.69 g/L in a mixed glucose‐xylose medium, corresponding to increases of 13% and 24.5% compared with the control group, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the recombinant strain achieved a sugar‐to‐ethanol conversion rate of 0.43 g/g, yielding 84.3% and 93.5% of the theoretical ethanol production for glucose and xylose, respectively. Furthermore, qPCR analysis revealed that the expression level of the xylose isomerase (xylA) gene in INVSc‐xylA‐Xltr1p‐TKL1 was significantly upregulated, doubling that of the control. This enhanced expression correlated with reduced xylulose accumulation, suggesting alleviation of xylA repression. These findings demonstrate that transketolase overexpression enhances the co‐utilization of glucose and xylose, improving bioethanol production efficiency.
Renewable energy sources, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
Asfafaw H. Tesfay, Sirak A. Weldemariam, Kalekiristos G. Gebrelibanos
Investing in large-scale hydropower is on the rise in Ethiopia in accordance with the country’s climate-resilient green economy strategy. Rural electrification is a top priority on the development agenda of the country, with very limited off-grid interventions. Although small-scale hydropower can bring various social and economic benefits compared to other off-grid solutions, it is hardly localized in the country. The motivation for this research is to break this technological bottleneck by synergizing and strengthening the local capacity. Accordingly, this paper presents the full-scale crossflow turbine design and development process of a power plant constructed to give electricity access to about 450 households in a rural village called Amentila. Based on a site survey and the resource potential, the power plant was designed for a 125 kW peak at 0.3 m<sup>3</sup>/s of discharge with a 53 m head. The crossflow was selected based on the head, discharge, and simplicity of development with the available local capacities. The detailed design of the turbine and its auxiliary components was developed and simulated using SolidWorks and CFD ANSYS CFX. The power plant has a run-of-river design, targeting provision of power during peak hours. This study demonstrates an off-grid engineering solution with applied research on the water–energy–food–environment nexus.
Abstract Recently, China’s economy has been growing and technology has been updated and iterated. People have been thinking more and more about the traditional construction industry’s rough construction model. The traditional construction industry has a high consumption of building materials, severe environmental pollution, high engineering costs, and a lack of rationalization in construction plans. This article aimed to study how to optimize the construction process, improve efficiency, and reduce resource waste by combining Internet of Things (IoT) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. This article established a construction project model that combined IoT and BIM technology (IoT + BIM) and conducted experiments to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the effectiveness of IoT-sustainable BIM technology in construction projects. The value of technology application was quantified by considering indicators such as construction efficiency, resource utilization efficiency, and safety. The experimental results show that the total construction time of IoT and BIM technology is 5.01 h and 5.14 h longer than that of sustainable BIM technology based on IoT, respectively; the average score of building structural safety, fire safety, and physical safety based on sustainable BIM technology based on IoT is 8.49 points; and the intelligence level is stable at more than 80%. The results of this article indicated that through the IoT and BIM technology, better planning and management can be carried out; resource waste can be avoided; design and construction efficiency can be improved; and sustainable development of construction projects can be achieved.
In the face of limited financial resources, public tertiary institutions are pressured to optimize expenditure on educational building projects. Effective cost reduction techniques can help bridge the gap between limited budgets and the need for quality infrastructure. This research investigates cost reduction techniques implemented on educational building projects in public tertiary institutions in southwestern Nigeria and its relationship with the type of tertiary institution. A quantitative research method was employed in the study using a questionnaire survey. The building projects considered were those completed between the years 2012-2022. 133 projects from 15 public tertiary institutions in southwestern Nigeria were surveyed using purposive sampling techniques. The mean item score and the Kruskal-Wallis test were employed for data analysis. The findings showed that amongst the 16 various cost reduction techniques investigated, value analysis/engineering, supply chain management, target value design, and budget control were top-ranked and used on many elements of the projects. At the same time, automation and circular economy were the least ranked cost reduction techniques used. The study further showed significant differences in implementing 7 of the techniques in the various tertiary institutions. It is concluded that integrating cost reduction techniques into existing policies and guidelines will facilitate the development of a standardized framework for their implementation across public tertiary institutions, promoting broad adoption and ensuring consistency in their application.
Droughts are natural disasters that have significant implications for agricultural production and human livelihood. Under climate change, the drought process is accelerating, such as the intensification of flash droughts. The efficient and quick monitoring of droughts has increasingly become a crucial measure in responding to extreme drought events. We utilized multi-imagery data from the geostationary meteorological satellite FY-4A within one day; implemented the daily Maximum Value Composite (MVC) method to minimize interference from the clouds, atmosphere, and anomalies; and developed a method for calculating the daily-scale Temperature Vegetation Drought Index (TVDI), which is a dryness index. Three representative drought events (Yunnan Province, Guangdong Province, and the Huanghuai region) from 2021 to 2022 were selected for validation, respectively. We evaluated the spatial and temporal effects of the TVDI with the Soil Relative Humidity Index (SRHI) and the Meteorological Drought Composite Index (MCI). The results show that the TVDI has stronger negative correlations with the MCI and SRHI in moderate and severe drought events. Meanwhile, the TVDI and SRHI exhibited similar trends. The trends of drought areas identified by the TVDI, SRHI, and MCI were consistent, while the drought area identified by the TVDI was slightly higher than the SRHI. Yunnan Province has the most concentrated distribution, which is mostly between 16.93 and 25.22%. The spatial distribution of the TVDI by FY-4A and MODIS is generally consistent, and the differences in severe drought areas may be attributed to disparities in the NDVI. Furthermore, the TVDI based on FY-4A provides a higher number of valid pixels (437 more pixels in the Huanghuai region) than that based on MODIS, yielding better overall drought detection. The spatial distribution of the TVDI between FY-4A and Landsat-8 is also consistent. FY-4A has the advantage of acquiring a complete image on a daily basis, and lower computational cost in regional drought monitoring. The results indicate the effectiveness of the FY-4A TVDI in achieving daily-scale drought monitoring, with a larger number of valid pixels and better spatial consistency with station indices. This study provides a new solution for drought monitoring using a geostationary meteorological satellite from different spatial–temporal perspectives to facilitate comprehensive drought monitoring.
This study focuses on effectively designing reliable systems. Such systems are capable of withstanding failure events by applying multiple realistic workarounds. These workarounds include allocating redundancy, component reliability, and backup strategy that are considered concurrently as decision variables. In this novel view, the strategy and reliability of components are determined freely and independently to achieve optimality. The research problem is implemented in a general case to audit the capabilities of the proposed approach in realistic situations. This case deploys an Erlang time-to-failure probability density function together with incomplete switching. With its improved reliability and resource functions, the proposed model challenges the existing presumption regarding the superiority of the cold-standby approach in the mentioned field and provides a realistic trade-off between different redundancy strategies. This practical view reflects on reliability, cost, weight, and volume of the switch, simultaneously. The findings revealed that the proposed joint reliability-redundancy allocation problem, with an added freedom of strategy choice, outperforms the pure cold-standby counterpart. Owing to the NP-hard nature of the problem, a simplified particle swarm optimization algorithm is suggested and utilized as a solution method. The performance of the novel view is assessed using multiple benchmark instances including some typical problems from the literature. Our numerical analysis demonstrates the superiority of this approach with our maximum possible index reaching up to %96 compared to the existing results in the past works. Furthermore, the selected solution algorithm is compared with a differential evolution algorithm. We show that this simplified particle swarm optimization algorithm performs considerably better in all tested scenarios.
Quentin Baire, Miruna Dobre, Anne-Sophie Piette
et al.
Precipitation is among the most important meteorological variables for, e.g., meteorological, hydrological, water management and climate studies. In recent years, non-catching precipitation gauges are increasingly adopted in meteorological networks. Despite such growing diffusion, calibration procedures and associated uncertainty budget are not yet standardized or prescribed in best practice documents and standards. This paper reports a metrological study aimed at proposing calibration procedures and completing the uncertainty budgets, to make non-catching precipitation gauge measurements traceable to primary standards. The study is based on the preliminary characterization of different rain drop generators, specifically developed for the investigation. Characterization of different models of non-catching rain gauges is also included.
M. Premkumar, Pradeep Jangir, C. Ramakrishnan
et al.
The performance of a PhotoVoltaic (PV) system could be inferred from the features of its current–voltage relationships, but the PV model parameters are uncertain. Because of its multimodal, multivariable, and nonlinear properties, the PV model requires that its parameters be extracted with high accuracy and efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes an enhanced version of the Gradient-Based Optimizer (GBO) to estimate the uncertain parameters of various PV models. The Criss-Cross (CC) algorithm and Nelder–Mead simplex (NMs) strategy are hybridized with the GBO to improve its performance. The CC algorithm maximizes the effectiveness of the population and avoids local optima trapping. The NMs strategy enhances the individual search capabilities during the local search and produces optimum convergence speed; therefore, the proposed algorithm is called a Criss-Cross-based Nelder–Mead simplex Gradient-Based Optimizer (CCNMGBO). The primary objective of this study is to propose a simple and reliable optimization algorithm called CCNMGBO for the parameter estimation of PV models with five, seven, and nine unknown parameters. Firstly, the performance of CCNMGBO is validated on 10 benchmark numerical optimization problems, and secondly, applied to the parameter estimation of various PV models. The performance of the CCNMGBO is compared to several other state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. The results proved that the proposed algorithm is superior in handling the numerical optimization problem and obtaining the uncertain parameters of various PV models and performs better during different operating conditions. The convergence speed of the proposed CCNMGBO is also better than selected optimization algorithms with highly reliable output solutions. The average objective function value for case 1 is 9.83E−04, case 2 is 2.43E−04, and the average integral absolute error and relative error values are 1.05E−02 and 3.51E−03, respectively, for all case studies. With Friedman’s rank test values of 2.21 for numerical optimization and 1.66 for parameter estimation optimization, the CCNMGBO stood first among all selected algorithms.
Krishneel Prakash, Muhammad Ali, Md Nazrul Islam Siddique
et al.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are essential for increasing distribution network performance. Appropriate location, size, and operation of BESS can improve overall network performance. The appropriately scaled and installed BESS helps meet peak energy demand, improve the advantages of integrating renewable and distributed energy sources, improve power quality control, and lower the cost of expanding or re-configuring the distribution networks. This paper investigates the feasibility of BESS for providing short-term and long-term ancillary services in power distribution grids by reviewing the developments and limitations in the last decade (2010–2022). The short-term ancillary services are reviewed for voltage support, frequency regulation, and black start. The long-term ancillary services are reviewed for peak shaving, congestion relief, and power smoothing. Reviewing short-term ancillary services provides renewable energy operators and researchers with a vast range of recent BESS-based methodologies for fast response services to distribution grids. Long-term ancillary services will provide the distributed network system operators and researchers with current BESS-based bulk-energy methods to improve network reliability and power quality and maximize revenue from renewable energy generation. The review presents a list of energy storage policies and BESS projects worldwide with a cost-benefit analysis. The challenges for deploying BESS in distribution grids recommended solutions for the implementation challenges, and future research directions are also presented.
Shima Nazari, Jason Siegel, Robert Middleton
et al.
This work studies a novel low voltage (<60 V) hybrid system that supports engine boosting and downsizing in addition to start-stop, regenerative braking, and constrained torque assist/regeneration. The hybrid power split supercharger (PSS) shares a 9 kW motor between supercharging the engine or providing hybrid functionalities through a planetary gear set, a brake and a bypass valve. The PSS operation is limited to only one of the parallel hybrid or boosting modes at a time, necessitating a highly optimized decision making algorithm to select the device mode and power split ratio. In this work an adaptive equivalent consumption minimization strategy (A-ECMS) is developed for energy management of the PSS. The A-ECMS effectiveness is compared against a dynamic programming (DP) solution with full drive cycle preview through hardware-in-the-loop experiments on an engine dynamometer testbed. The experiments show that the PSS with A-ECMS reduces a vehicle fuel consumption by 18.4% over standard FTP75 cycle compared to a baseline turbocharged engine, while global optimal DP solution decreases the fuel consumption by 22.8% compared to baseline.
Mashudu David Mbedzi, Huibrecht Margaretha van der Poll, John Andrew van der Poll
The South African coalmining industry has a rich and long history and contributes significantly to the economic wellbeing of the country. Despite its importance in developing the economy, the industry is causing severe environmental challenges. For example, Emalahleni, a city situated in the Mpumalanga Province in South Africa, has been exposed for over a century to the continuous mining of coal. Challenges experienced include the sterilisation of land due to underground fires, water pollution, surface collapse, and acidification of topsoil. Previous work by the researchers formulated a conceptual framework aimed at addressing some of these challenges. In an extension of this work, the authors comprehensively enhance the preliminary framework on the strength of a set of qualitative propositions coupled with a parallel, exploratory survey. Interviews among various stakeholders were conducted, aimed at enhancing the components of the framework, followed by a focus group to validate the associations among the components of the framework. Aspects reinforced by the survey findings include the role of environmental management accounting, tools like material-flow cost accounting and life-cycle costing, and regulatory and accountability aspects. New aspects elicited from the interviews and the focus group include stakeholder education and training with respect to the value of environmental management accounting for the coalmining industry; adherence to risk management linked to environmental challenges; advanced technologies, for example, financial modelling; and an improved understanding of waste management aspects around acid mine drainage, volatile organic components, CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, and post-mine closure. The novelty of the work lies in the approach taken to address coalmining challenges. Previous authors concentrated mostly on scientific and engineering aspects, while this research looks at it from an accounting perspective using environmental management accounting tools to address these challenges.
Leonid M. Taraniuk, Jianping Wang, Hongzhou Qiu
et al.
One of the main conditions for improving the overall competitiveness of the country is the formation of its sustainable logistic potential, since logistics is responsible for promoting the country’s products, both in the domestic and foreign markets. This is also characteristic for agricultural companies of the main countries of agricultural production in the world, which need to manage their logistic business processes effectively. The business processes of logistics sphere include the processes of warehousing, transportation and further distribution of agricultural products between the entities of the agrarian market (warehousing, traders, wholesale and retail trade network, consumers) at the national, as well as international level. Internationalization of agricultural production includes the formation of cooperative industrial relations in the agrarian sphere between the countries in the chain of “production, processing and marketing”, and the management of business processes in the logistics sphere. The latter is characterized by the business process management of the warehousing, transport, distribution areas at the national and international levels and food safety, which represents increasing demand for food in many countries of the world. These are some of the main signs of sustainable logistic development at the national and international levels. A methodical approach to assessing the logistic potential of the main countries of agricultural production in the world is improved; this method is characterized by a set of competitive elements and includes the assessment of logistics management of countries by blocks: product safety, internationalization of production and logistics, management of business processes. The result of this improved method of assessing the logistic potential of the world countries is a developed criterial basis, which allows making effective managerial decisions at the interstate and state levels regarding the logistic development of agrarian productions.
In this digital world, organisations are facing global competition as well as manpower pressures leading towards the knowledge economy, which heavily impacts on their local and international businesses. The trend is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to cope with these problems. With the advancement of technologies and social engineering that can connect people in the virtual world across time and distance, several organisations are embarking on knowledge management (KM) systems, implementing a community of practice (CoP) approach. However, virtual communities are relatively new paradigms, and there are several challenges to their successful implementation from an organisation’s point of interest. There is lack of CoP implementation framework that can cater to today’s dynamic business and sustainability requirements. To fill the gap in literature, this paper develops a practical framework for a CoP implementation with a view to align KM strategy with business strategy of an organization. It explores the different steps of building, sharing, and using tacit and explicit knowledge in CoPs by applying the Wiig KM cycle. It proposes a practical CoP implementation framework that adopts the Benefits, Tools, Organisation, People and Process (BTOPP) model in addressing the key questions surrounding each of the BTOPP elements with a structured approach. Finally, it identifies key challenges such as organizational culture and performance measurements, and provides practical recommendations to overcome them for a successful CoP implementation.