Challenges and opportunities of value-added applications of canola proteins in both food and non-food area

This paper examines some of the challenges and opportunities for development in Africa presented by the globalization of production through a qualitative-historical case study analysis of the condition of labour in the garment industry in Madagascar. It argues that this case demonstrates that attempts to incorporate national economies into the global economy on the basis of a comparative advantage in low-value added, labour intensive industries are unlikely to lead to significant development benefits. The paper first develops a historical overview of the development of the Malagasy export garment industry. It is situated within global and local trends towards economic liberalization, the re-orientation of development finance towards foreign direct investment, and the globalization of garment production. Three main structural features of the Malagasy Zone Franche garment industry are emphasized: the centrality of low cost labour, the dominance of low value added labour intensive activities, and reliance on access to markets in the industrialized north. These structural conditions are reinforced by the fluidity and volatility of the sector. The final section considers the impacts of these structures on labour relations in the garment industry. It argues that these structural conditions have kept wages and working conditions chronically poor. This failure to improve the condition of work is indicative of the weak structural position of peripheral economies and the challenges this poses to private sector-led development.

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An Insight into Valorization of Lignocellulosic Biomass by Optimization with the Combination of Hydrothermal (HT) and Biological Techniques: A Review

Sustainable Chemistry ◽

10.3390/suschem3010003 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 35-55

Author(s):

Nalok Dutta ◽

Muhammad Usman ◽

Gang Luo ◽

Shicheng Zhang

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Value Added ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Biomass Valorization ◽

Total Potential ◽

Treatment Conditions ◽

Yield Value ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Energy Balances ◽

Insight Into

Biomass valorization plays a significant role in the production of biofuels and various value-added biochemicals, in addition to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In terms of biorefining methods, hydrothermal (HT) and biological techniques have demonstrated the capability of valorizing biomass raw materials to yield value added end-products. An inter-disciplinary bio-economical approach is capable of optimizing biomass’s total potential in terms of environmental perspective and circular bioeconomy standpoint. The aim of this review is to provide an in-depth overview of combinatorial HT and biological techniques to maximize biomass value, which includes biological valorization following HT pretreatment and HT valorization of lignocellulosic substrates emanating from biocatalytic hydrolysis/anaerobic digestion and/or pretreated food waste for the ultimate yield of biogas/biochar and biocrude. In this study, we discuss recent advances regarding HT and biological treatment conditions, synergies between the two technologies, and optimal performance. Additionally, energy balances and economic feasibility assessments of alternative integrated solutions reported in previous studies are compared. Furthermore, we conclude by discussing the challenges and opportunities involved in integrating HT and biologicals methods toward complete biomass utilization.

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Ukraine’s commitments under Association Agreement: challenges and opportunities for the steel industry

Matériaux & Techniques ◽

10.1051/mattech/2018044 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 107 (1) ◽

pp. 108 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Volodymyr Shatokha

Keyword(s):

Steel Industry ◽

Value Added ◽

Global Scale ◽

Association Agreement ◽

Iron And Steel ◽

Steel Output ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Steel Sector ◽

Additional Costs ◽

The Eu

The steel sector stands for a quarter of Ukraine’s industrial gross value added and is a backbone of the country’s economy. However, owing to lastingly insufficient investments to modernisation, the industry is largely obsolete: 70–80% of the production facilities are in operation beyond their final designed term of exploitation. Technology backwardness, coupled with excessive iron ore mining, results in an enormous environmental footprint. Owing to the domestic political and socioeconomic factors and severe competition on the global scale, the steel output hit its historic low in 2017. Recently, the EU became major Ukraine’s trade partner with steel export share of 32% in 2017. Modalities of this partnership will be gradually shaped in context of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (entered into force since 01.09.2017), which stipulates transposition into Ukrainian law of some European directives, potentially sensitive for the iron and steel sector. In this paper, the current state of Ukraine’s steel industry was analysed, focusing competitiveness and environmental impact. The analysis performed reveals that short-term implications of the Association Agreement may expose the Ukrainian steelmakers to additional costs; however, the need to comply with the EU regulations is seen as an important factor, motivating the steel industry to modernise and, in the long-term, improve its economic performance and reinforce competitiveness.

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Opportunities Surrounding the Use of Sargassum Biomass as Precursor of Biogas, Bioethanol, and Biodiesel Production

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.791054 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Jorge Gabriel Orozco-González ◽

Fernando Amador-Castro ◽

Angela R. Gordillo-Sierra ◽

Tomás García-Cayuela ◽

Hal S. Alper ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brown Algae ◽

Value Added ◽

Local Economy ◽

Biodiesel Production ◽

Commercial Application ◽

Mexican Caribbean ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Multiple Value ◽

Potential Use ◽

Value Added Products

Climate change (along with other factors) has caused an increase in the proliferation of brown algal mats floating freely along the Atlantic Ocean since 2011. These brown algae mats are composed of sea plants from the Sargassum genus. The gargantuan agglomeration of biomass flows alongside currents and lands in beaches belonging to the Eastern coasts of the Mexican Caribbean and several other countries in the region. These events, dubbed golden tides, harm the local economy and environment. Current elimination approaches involve the mechanical harvesting of the Sargassum and ultimate landfill disposal. However, explorations into the commercial application of other brown algae have elucidated the potential of Sargassum as a feedstock for valorization. This review informs the trends, challenges, and opportunities presented by the coastal invasion of this biomass. Primarily, the potential use of this material is as a precursor in biorefineries where multiple value-added products are generated concurrent with the ultimate production of biofuels.

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Student Collaboration in Action: A Case Study Exploring the Role of Youth Work Pedagogy Transforming Interprofessional Education in Higher Education

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11120761 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 761

Author(s):

Tim Howell

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Critical Pedagogy ◽

Interprofessional Education ◽

Informal Education ◽

Value Added ◽

Youth Work ◽

Youth Workers ◽

Pedagogical Practice ◽

Challenges And Opportunities

The College of Health, Psychology, and Social Care at the University of Derby has transformed its Interprofessional Education (IPE) offer from a top-down standalone event into a five-year strategy designed and delivered in genuine collaboration with students. Across the higher education sector, IPE has been a struggle, tokenistic at best, with limited buy-in from students. When academic-led it prevents deep learning; however, by utilising an informal education approach students bring their life, programme, and practice learning together to genuinely break down barriers between professional disciplines. This paper will use an autoethnographic case study to explore the challenges and opportunities of genuine collaboration based on youth work principles in the creation of a ‘value-added curriculum’, not aligned to modules or assessments. It found that buy-in from academics and students comes when students are empowered to take the lead. This is based on youth work pedagogical principles of group work, relationships with shrinking professional distance, critical pedagogy, genuine agency, and an emotional connection made between the professionals and service users. It suggests the potential is considerable as youth workers bring their pedagogical practice to a broader range of spaces within and beyond higher education.

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Microbiology challenges and opportunities in the circular economy

Microbiology ◽

10.1099/mic.0.001026 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 167 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kevin E. O'Connor

Keyword(s):

Circular Economy ◽

Critical Role ◽

Value Added ◽

Resource Efficiency ◽

Novel Foods ◽

Biological Resources ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Development Goals ◽

Safe Food ◽

Micro Organisms

Our knowledge and understanding of micro-organisms have led to the development of safe food, clean water, novel foods, antibiotics, vaccines, healthier plants, animals and soils, and more, which feeds into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The circular economy can contribute to the UN SDGs and micro-organisms are central to circular nutrient cycles. The circular economy as described by the Ellen MacArthur foundation has two halves, i.e. technical and biological. On the technical side, non-biological resources enter manufacturing paths where resource efficiency, renewable energy and design extend the life of materials so that they are more easily reused and recycled. Biological resources exist on the other half of the circular economy. These are used to manufacture products such as bioplastics and paper. The conservation of nature’s stocks, resource efficiency and recycling of materials are key facets of the biological half of the circular economy. Microbes play a critical role in both the biological and technical parts of the circular economy. Microbes are key to a functioning circular economy, where natural resources, including biological wastes, are converted by microbes into products of value and use for society, e.g. biogas, bioethanol, bioplastics, building block chemicals and compost for healthy soils. In more recent times, microbes have also been seen as part of the tool kit in the technical side of the circular economy, where microbial enzymes can degrade plastics and microbes can convert those monomers to value-added products.

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Renewable Energy Challenges and Opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

International Journal of Economics and Finance ◽

10.5539/ijef.v12n9p1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Mohammed A. Al Yousif

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Value Added ◽

Energy Sector ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽

Technical Problems ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

The Impact ◽

Further Development

This paper seeks to introduce the advantages of investing in renewable energy in Saudi Arabia. It concludes that investment in renewable energy is a promising strategy for creating more sustainable jobs for Saudi citizens and promoting the domestic economic diversification. The Saudi renewable energy sector shall increase the Saudi non-oil private sector’s contribution to the total Saudi economic activities. This research paper uses Leontief’s method to estimate the impact of investment in renewable energy through three main scenarios (investment of 25, 50, and 85 billion Saudi Riyal) over 5 years (2020-2025). The total value added, an additional expected growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) during the period from 2020 to 2025, is estimated to be around 2.7, 4.7, and 6.0 percent of the investment of 25, 50, and 80 billion Saudi Riyal in renewable energy respectively. The expected number of new jobs that would be generated in all three scenarios are 44,000, 90,000, and 150,000 thousand jobs. Moreover, further development of the Saudi renewable energy sector should encourage domestic energy consumption to be more efficient and less polluted. However, challenges typically thwart progress in the renewable energy sector. These challenges include technical problems, cost issues, and lack of financial sources. This paper proposes some solutions that should help circumvent these particular challenges.

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Advancing Ocean Governance in Marine Regions Through Stakeholder Dialogue Processes

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.645576 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Weiand ◽

Sebastian Unger ◽

Julien Rochette ◽

Alexander Müller ◽

Barbara Neumann

Keyword(s):

Goal Orientation ◽

Value Added ◽

Collaborative Governance ◽

International Governance ◽

Stakeholder Dialogue ◽

Ocean Governance ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Transformative Action ◽

Multi Stakeholder ◽

Collaborative Efforts

The poor state of the ocean and the transboundary nature of the marine environment require bold action by States coordinated across sectors and territorial boundaries in order to deal with the manifold challenges the ocean is facing—and with it humankind. Cooperation and coordination among States and stakeholders in marine regions have proven to be important levers for policy implementation and to strengthen ocean governance, yet remain challenging. Transparent and engaging stakeholder dialogue processes have the potential to provide guidance for the necessary transformation toward ocean sustainability and support the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for the ocean, SDG 14 and other interlinked ocean-related targets. The aim of this study is to review the challenges and opportunities of current collaborative efforts, namely multi-stakeholder dialogue and exchange processes, within and between marine regions to accelerate transformative action, contributing to these global goals. This paper builds on knowledge co-production and collaborative governance literature, and reviews experiences by stakeholders with ocean-related science-policy interfaces in an effort to strengthen regional ocean governance. As an exemplary case of such interfaces, this study assesses the Marine Regions Forum, a newly established inclusive dialogue and exchange platform for diverse actors from marine regions that aims to provide an informal space for joint learning and support regional action and international governance processes alike. Employing latent content analysis of interviews with experts, critical common barriers that hamper current collaborative efforts amongst stakeholders in marine regions are identified, such as fragmented governance frameworks, power and resource imbalances, and lack of meaningful stakeholder engagement. Pathways to address these challenges, such as through common goal orientation, contextualisation, inclusivity, trust building and meaningful continuous interactions are also identified. This paper concludes by discussing the value added of transparent and inclusive collaborative processes in the transformation of ocean governance toward achieving sustainability.

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Challenges and Opportunities in Identifying and Characterising Keratinases for Value-Added Peptide Production

Catalysts ◽

10.3390/catal10020184 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 184 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Juan Pinheiro De Oliveira Martinez ◽

Guiqin Cai ◽

Matthias Nachtschatt ◽

Laura Navone ◽

Zhanying Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Value Added ◽

Critical Discussion ◽

Poultry Meat ◽

Acid Modification ◽

Mild Conditions ◽

Amino Acid Modification ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Protease Substrate ◽

Inherent Problem

Keratins are important structural proteins produced by mammals, birds and reptiles. Keratins usually act as a protective barrier or a mechanical support. Millions of tonnes of keratin wastes and low value co-products are generated every year in the poultry, meat processing, leather and wool industries. Keratinases are proteases able to breakdown keratin providing a unique opportunity of hydrolysing keratin materials like mammalian hair, wool and feathers under mild conditions. These mild conditions ameliorate the problem of unwanted amino acid modification that usually occurs with thermochemical alternatives. Keratinase hydrolysis addresses the waste problem by producing valuable peptide mixes. Identifying keratinases is an inherent problem associated with the search for new enzymes due to the challenge of predicting protease substrate specificity. Here, we present a comprehensive review of twenty sequenced peptidases with keratinolytic activity from the serine protease and metalloprotease families. The review compares their biochemical activities and highlights the difficulties associated with the interpretation of these data. Potential applications of keratinases and keratin hydrolysates generated with these enzymes are also discussed. The review concludes with a critical discussion of the need for standardized assays and increased number of sequenced keratinases, which would allow a meaningful comparison of the biochemical traits, phylogeny and keratinase sequences. This deeper understanding would facilitate the search of the vast peptidase family sequence space for novel keratinases with industrial potential.

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Developing diatoms for value-added products: challenges and opportunities

New Biotechnology ◽

10.1016/j.nbt.2015.03.016 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 32 (6) ◽

pp. 547-551 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Weiqi Fu ◽

Kristine Wichuk ◽

Sigurður Brynjólfsson

Keyword(s):

Value Added ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Value Added Products

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