Impact of Industry 4.0 and Lean Manufacturing on the Sustainability Performance of Plastic and Petrochemical Organizations in Saudi Arabia

Plastic and petrochemical industries are lagging behind in terms of environmental sustainability performance because of the nature of these industries. Although plastic and petrochemical industries have adopted lean manufacturing and/or Industry 4.0 technologies, more efforts are needed to enhance sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to explore the integrated impact of Industry 4.0 technologies and lean manufacturing on the sustainability performance of plastic and petrochemical industries in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it investigates the casual relationship between Industry 4.0 technologies and sustainability performance as well as the direct linkage between Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing. A questionnaire is used as the primary instrument for collecting data from 112 plastic and petrochemical organizations. A hypothesized relationship is formulated and then analyzed using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The outcome of the analysis shows that Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing have a positive impact on sustainability performance. The study also presents a list of valid constructs for Industry 4.0 technologies, lean manufacturing, and sustainability performance. Furthermore, the study shows that the plastic and petrochemical industries in Saudi Arabia acknowledge and recognize the contribution of Industry 4.0 technologies and lean manufacturing principles to the protection of the environment as a dimension of sustainability performance.

The Phospholipid N-Methyltransferase and Phosphatidylcholine Synthase Pathways and the ChoXWV Choline Uptake System Involved in Phosphatidylcholine Synthesis Are Widely Conserved in Most, but Not All Brucella Species

The brucellae are facultative intracellular bacteria with a cell envelope rich in phosphatidylcholine (PC). PC is abundant in eukaryotes but rare in prokaryotes, and it has been proposed that Brucella uses PC to mimic eukaryotic-like features and avoid innate immune responses in the host. Two PC synthesis pathways are known in prokaryotes: the PmtA-catalyzed trimethylation of phosphatidylethanolamine and the direct linkage of choline to CDP-diacylglycerol catalyzed by the PC synthase Pcs. Previous studies have reported that B. abortus and B. melitensis possess non-functional PmtAs and that PC is synthesized exclusively via Pcs in these strains. A putative choline transporter ChoXWV has also been linked to PC synthesis in B. abortus. Here, we report that Pcs and Pmt pathways are active in B. suis biovar 2 and that a bioinformatics analysis of Brucella genomes suggests that PmtA is only inactivated in B. abortus and B. melitensis strains. We also show that ChoXWV is active in B. suis biovar 2 and conserved in all brucellae except B. canis and B. inopinata. Unexpectedly, the experimentally verified ChoXWV dysfunction in B. canis did not abrogate PC synthesis in a PmtA-deficient mutant, which suggests the presence of an unknown mechanism for obtaining choline for the Pcs pathway in Brucella. We also found that ChoXWV dysfunction did not cause attenuation in B. suis biovar 2. The results of these studies are discussed with respect to the proposed role of PC in Brucella virulence and how differential use of the Pmt and Pcs pathways may influence the interactions of these bacteria with their mammalian hosts.

Making of Modernity in the Vernacular: On the Grassroots Variations of Finnish Socialism in the Early Twentieth Century

The article scrutinises the concept of socialism at the grassroots of the Finnish labour movement during the early twentieth history. Primary sources consist of three handwritten newspapers, produced by industrial workers, housemaids and the rural proletariat. While factory workers could adopt the orthodox formulation of socialism from The CommunistManifesto, the socialism of the housemaids had a more existential function for it gave them a political voice to articulate a greater meaning in life that stood in sharp contrast to the silent servility demanded by their mistresses. The concept of socialism gained most explanatory breadth among the rural proletariat in north-eastern Finland, where it was usedas an indicator of inequality locally, as a weapon in national elections and as a direct linkage to the international labour movement. The examples demonstrate that vernacular socialism was more multidimensional than what the contemporary critics and later researchers have suggested. The concept of socialism was one of the main tools in the making of proletarianmodernity: it was used to claim political subjectivity in the public sphere, to imagine a gap between the old world left behind and the new coming world, and to extend their spatial horizons beyond the local community.

Sapaan Kekerabatan pada Guyub Tutur Bahasa Lio

This study aims at describing the kinship greeting in Lio's speech using sociolinguistic theory. The approach used in this study is a qualitative approach. Data collection uses the method of listening, proficient and fishing rod. This means that researchers directly communicate with informants to gather information about kinship greetings in Lio's spoken language. Both of these methods are complemented by interview, note-taking, and documentation techniques. The results showed that in the kinship relationship based on lineage (direct linkage) in Lio's speech in Ende district, there were 16 greeting words, namely Ema, Ine, Babo, Mamo, Eda, No`o, Weta, Nara, Ka`e, Aji, Ana mamo, Ana embu, Ame du`a, Ine du`a, Ame Lo`o and Ine Lo`o. It is stressful that there are 13 kinship greeting words based on the line of marriage in Lio's speech, namely Ema (tu`a), Ine (tu`a), (Ana) tu`a, Ane, Tata / fai eda, No`o, Haki no` o, Weta, Nara, Kae, Aji, Ipa, and Eja.

Selecting indicators of drought impacts: the importance of context

<p>Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS) and Drought Monitoring Systems (DMS) are the principal tools used to tackle drought at an early stage and reduce the possibility of harm or loss. They are based on the use of drought indicators attributed to either : meteorological, agricultural and hydrological drought. This means that it is mostly hydro-climatic variables that are used to determine the onset, end and severity of a drought.  Drought impacts are rarely continuously monitored or even not included in DEWS and DMS. In this configuration, the likelihood of experiencing impacts is linearly linked to the severity of climatic features only. The aim of our study is to question the direct linkage between the delivery of hydro-climatic information and the detection of drought impacts and their severity. We reviewed scientific literature on drought drivers and impacts and analyzed how these two compare. We conducted a bibliometric analysis based on 4000+ scientific studies sorted by geographic area in which selected (i) drought indicators and (ii) impacts of drought were mentioned. Our review points toward an attachment to a conceptual view of drought by the main and broader use of meteorological (computed and remotely sensed) drought indicators. Studies reporting impacts related to food and water securities are more localized, respectively in Sub-Saharan Africa and Australasia. This mismatch suggests a tendency to translate hydroclimatic indicators of drought directly into impacts while neglecting relevant local contextual information. With the aim of sharpening the information provided by DEWS and DMS, we argue in favor of an additional consideration of drought indicators oriented towards the SDGs.</p>

Well-Flux Surveillance and Ramp-Up Method for Openhole Standalone Screen Completion

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Judy Feder, contains highlights of paper SPE 201662, “A Well-Flux Surveillance and Ramp-Up Method for Openhole Standalone Screen Completion,” by Mehmet Karaaslan and George K. Wong, University of Houston, and Kevin L. Soter, SPE, Shell, et al., prepared for the 2020 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, originally scheduled to be held in Denver, Colorado, 5-7 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Production and surveillance engineers need practical models to help maximize production while avoiding ramping up the well to an extent that the completion is damaged, causing well impairment or failure. The complete paper presents a well-flux surveillance method to monitor and ramp up production for openhole standalone screen (OH-SAS) completions that optimizes production by considering risks of production impairment and screen-erosion failure. Challenges of Increased Production vs. Well Failure The problem of increased production vs. the risk of well impairment or failure is a pressing problem for sand-control wells in deepwater, where projects tend to have a small number of high-rate wells. In such environments, any well impairments or failures greatly affect the project economics. Following unloading, well surveillance faces the critical step of ramping up to-ward the well’s designed peak rate for the first time when the actual well performance is uncertain. To reduce risk of well impairment or failure, surveillance information and models are needed to help make adjustments during the ramp-up process. Different models are available, from simple to complex and from small to large amounts of input data and computational efforts. Simple nonsurveillance models use field-derived operating limits of completion pressure drop and flow velocity or flux. They are non-surveillance models in the sense that no direct linkage of surveillance results to update flux calculations exists. Simple surveillance models use pressure transient analysis (PTA) results and completion information to evaluate changing well performance and adjust the ramp-up and long-term surveillance operations. The complex surveillance model evaluates well performance and adjusts well operations using probabilistic completion failure risks and coupled reservoir and completion simulations. These models mainly focus on cased-hole gravel pack and frac-pack applications. For openhole completions with sand control, the literature offers limited ramp-up surveillance references. The objective of the well-flux model described in the complete paper is to ramp up the well safely and optimize production using PTA results as surveillance inputs to calculate completion fluxes for well impairment or failure assessment. The method follows an approach presented in the literature.

Theranostic supramolecular polymers formed by the self-assembly of a metal-chelating prodrug

The direct linkage of two camptothecin moieties to a metal chelator creates a self-assembling prodrug capable of associating in aqueous solution into theranostic supramolecular polymers.

Foreign Direct Investment in Nepal

This article is about the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It explores the FDI’s linkage with the national income. The data for the study comprised different factors that have a direct linkage with the national economy and its impact. This article is based on the FDI in various sectors in terms of the number of projects, employment created, and the amount invested. It is based on secondary data. The study revealed that FDI sometimes has an independent influence on the economy of the country. A fresh finding of this article is that the contribution of FDI in capital formation and employment is not significant in the Nepalese economy, eventually making less contribution to the GDP of the Nepalese economy. It also revealed that FDI comprises new technologies, management techniques, finance and market access for the production and movement of goods and services. So, Nepal should adopt policies to attract more FDI and implement accordingly.

Influence of meso-linker attachment on the formation of core···π interactions in urea-functionalized porphyrins

The ability to cover the face of a porphyrin macrocycle selectively is an attractive feature for concepts such as catalysis and anion binding that is reliant on porphyrin core interactions. Herein, we have synthesized a family of mono-urea functionalized porphyrin complexes with intent to investigate their potential to form core···π interactions selectively to one face of the porphyrin macrocycle. By altering the distance between the urea moiety and the porphyrin through direct linkage or introducing a linker group we can control the formation of the core interactions. This is clearly seen in the crystal structure of 1-phenyl-3-(2-([10,15,20-triphenylporphyrinato]zinc(II)-5-yl)phenyl)urea where a unique face capping effect is demonstrated. In the crystal of this complex, there is a hydrogen-bonding network between the urea group and the axial methanol ligand forming head-to-tail aggregates with the Zn–O axis all molecules pointing in one direction.