Innovative Wastewater Treatment Technologies for Resource-Saving Activities of Feed Mills

Introduction. National economies are looking for tools to activate the explicit and hidden resource potential. Innovative resource-saving projects are such a tool. Feed production strives to increase its resource efficiency. Study objects and methods. The present research featured the feed industry of the Russian Federation and regional feed mills. It involved structural, functional, and systematic approaches and standard research methods. Results and discussion. Liquid waste proved to be an important resource potential of modern feed production. It contains substances with high nutritional, biological, and energy value and can be used to produce methionine. The experimental part featured an industrial enterprise in the Voronezh region, which expects to produce 1452 tons of methionine worth 58 080 thousand rubles. The profitability will be 616.76%, the gross return on sales − 86.1%, the payback time – 1.44 months, the efficiency of capital investments – 8.45. Conclusion. The innovative project will reduce the negative impact on the environment, increase the resource efficiency of the enterprise, and provide additional income.

Prioritization of Quality Principles for Health Apps Using the Kano Model: Survey Study

Background Health apps are often used without adequately taking aspects related to their quality under consideration. This may partially be due to inadequate awareness about necessary criteria and how to prioritize them when evaluating an app. Objective The aim of this study was to introduce a method for prioritizing quality attributes in the mobile health context. To this end, physicians were asked about their assessment of nine app quality principles relevant in health contexts and their responses were used as a basis for designing a method for app prioritization. Ultimately, the goal was to aid in making better use of limited resources (eg, time) by assisting with the decision as to the specific quality principles that deserve priority in everyday medical practice and those that can be given lower priority, even in cases where the overall principles are rated similarly. Methods A total of 9503 members of two German professional societies in the field of orthopedics were invited by email to participate in an anonymous online survey over a 1-month period. Participants were asked to rate a set of nine app quality principles using a Kano survey with functional and dysfunctional (ie, positively and negatively worded) questions. The evaluation was based on the work of Kano (baseline), supplemented by a self-designed approach. Results Among the 9503 invited members, 382 completed relevant parts of the survey (return rate of 4.02%). These participants were equally and randomly assigned to two groups (test group and validation group, n=191 each). Demographic characteristics did not significantly differ between groups (all P>.05). Participants were predominantly male (328/382, 85.9%) and older than 40 years (290/382, 75.9%). Given similar ratings, common evaluation strategies for Kano surveys did not allow for conclusive prioritization of the principles, and the same was true when using the more elaborate approach of satisfaction and dissatisfaction indices following the work of Timko. Therefore, an extended, so-called “in-line-of-sight” method was developed and applied for this evaluation. Modified from the Timko method, this approach is based on a “point of view” (POV) metric, which generates a ranking coefficient. Although the principles were previously almost exclusively rated as must-be (with the exception of resource efficiency), which was not conducive to their prioritization, the new method applied from the must-be POV resulted in identical rankings for the test and validation groups: (1) legal conformity, (2) content validity, (3) risk adequacy, (4) practicality, (5) ethical soundness, (6) usability, (7) transparency, (8) technical adequacy, and (9) resource efficiency. Conclusions Established survey methodologies based on the work of Kano predominantly seek to categorize the attributes to be evaluated. The methodology presented here is an interesting option for prioritization, and enables focusing on the most important criteria, thus saving valuable time when reviewing apps for use in the medical field, even with otherwise largely similar categorization results. The extent to which this approach is applicable beyond the scenario presented herein requires further investigation.

Revealing circular material flow in Terrazzo making process

This paper investigates the value in material expression that reveals the material resource flow through terrazzo making process. The potential of the patterning process as a vital practice in terrazzo making is posed through attention to the use of salvaged elements and fragmented pieces of the material. They are an essential part of circular economy practice knowledge. The patterning process, such as reinforcement and recombination of salvaged materials is decreasing carbon emissions produced by fabricating new components of the terrazzo. Besides, the patterning process enables the materialization of the design intention and locals’ interests and particularities; in which it adds value to the material. This study was conducted through a workshop in Lombok, Indonesia, as part of an exhibition of architectural materials that were produced locally from earth-based ingredients. It is found that the value of sustainability lies in its ability to promote such circular strategies that can enable improved material resource efficiency as well as generate material value.

The Monitoring Method of Enterprise Human Resource Efficiency under the Smart City Management Mode

In order to improve the monitoring effect of corporate human resource efficiency under the smart city management model, this paper establishes an evaluation model for the human resource management model between different growth stages of the organization, different organizations in different industries, and different organizations in the same industry. The proposed human resource management model is based on the deduction result of human resource planning and design, work system design and employee system design, and the dynamic matching of the three. Moreover, this paper uses the three-factor vector evaluation model to modify the management efficiency of the human resource model and designs the corresponding intelligent enterprise human resource efficiency monitoring model. In addition, this paper analyzes the system functions and designs experiments to test the model in this paper. Through experimental testing, it can be seen that the enterprise human resource efficiency monitoring system under the smart city management mode proposed in this paper has good practical results.

Improving the unit for melting cheese masses

This paper reports the improved model of the unit for melting cheese masses. The device differs in the technique of heat supply to working tanks through the replacement of a steam jacket with heating by a flexible film resistive electric heater of radiative type (FFREhRT). The heat exchange surface of the working container was increased through heating the mixing device by FFREhRT. In addition, the unit is distinguished by utilizing secondary thermal energy of melting cheese masses (35...95 °C) by converting it with Peltier elements into a low-voltage power supply to autonomous fans (3.5...12 W) in order to cool the control unit. Such a solution would improve the efficiency of the proposed structure, which is explained by reducing the dimensional and weight parameters of the cheese melting unit by replacing the steam heating technique with an electric one. A decrease in the time to enter a stationary mode (85 °C) when melting cheese masses was experimentally confirmed: for the bowl of the examined unit ‒ 575 s, compared to the analog ‒ 725 s. That confirms the reduction in the time to enter a stationary mode by 21 % compared to the base unit B6-OPE-400. The estimation has established a 1.2-time decrease in the main indicator of resource efficiency of the specific energy consumption for heating the volume of a unit of product in the improved plant for melting cheese masses – 3,037.2 kJ/kg, compared to the base B6-OPE-400 – 3,672.5 kJ/kg. The results confirm an increase in resource efficiency that is achieved by the elimination of steam heat networks; the increased heat exchange surface of working bowls by heating the stirrer with the help of FFREhRT. The heat transfer that employs FFREhRT simplifies the operational indicators of the temperature stabilization system in the bowl of the cheese mass melting unit. The results reported here may prove useful when designing thermal equipment with electric heating while using secondary thermal energy.