CO2, Environmental Emergencies, and Industrial Pollution Assessment in China from the Perspective of the Circular Economy

The rise of energy consumption has also increased emissions of the “three wastes” (wastewater, waste gas, and industrial solid waste), and environmental emergencies caused by pollutants, natural disasters, and production safety accidents have aroused social concerns. As few scholars have combined treatment efficiency of the three wastes with environmental emergencies to explore their relationships, this research thus uses a two-stage undesirable Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to explore the situations of 4 regions and 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2017 based on such interactive perspectives. The study finds that the overall regional environmental efficiency in China is generally low, and in terms of regional differences, the eastern and northeastern regions are better than the central and western regions. The efficiency values of the three wastes in China have also fluctuated greatly from 0.7 down to 0.2 in recent years. The efficiency of environmental emergencies in China is greatly impacted by the efficiency of environmental governance inputs. Based on the results, the study proposes that the eastern provinces can be an example for promoting balanced regional development and offers policy recommendations such as taking precautions against environmental emergencies.

Impact of the Sanitation Regime on Production Safety of Paff Pastry in the Food Processing Plant

Food is essential for a person's life, it is a source of energy and substances that enable the activity of all his organs. However, food is also a biological substance, which itself is subject to certain changes, sometimes targeted in their production or cooking, sometimes undesirable changes due to the activity of certain food components or the action of microorganisms.The primary role of each food processing plant should be to ensure daily proper cleaning and sanitation, thus ensuring perfect hygiene of the premises in operation due to the prevention of foodborne diseases. Based on the results obtained in our study, we can concluce that the sanitation regime in the evaluated premises of paff pastry production is at a good level and the disinfection in the production of puff pastry is effective. Aspiral Persteril 15 disinfectant at 0.4 % concentration and time exposure of 30 minutes was effective on all evaluated surfaces in individual monitored parts of production with the exception of puff pastry production part, where we recorded on technology, specifically on slicing knife 35 CFU (colony forming units) of total count of bacteria and 3 CFU of coliform bacteria after disinfection. The situation did not improve even until the begining of production, the total count of bacteria increase to 45 CFU and coliform bacteria to 4 CFU.

Antifungal Metabolites as Food Bio-Preservative: Innovation, Outlook, and Challenges

Perishable food spoilage caused by fungi is a major cause of discomfort for food producers. Food sensory abnormalities range from aesthetic degeneration to significant aroma, color, or consistency alterations due to this spoilage. Bio-preservation is the use of natural or controlled bacteria or antimicrobials to enhance the quality and safety of food. It has the ability to harmonize and rationalize the required safety requirements with conventional preservation methods and food production safety and quality demands. Even though synthetic preservatives could fix such issues, there is indeed a significant social need for “clean label” foods. As a result, consumers are now seeking foods that are healthier, less processed, and safer. The implementation of antifungal compounds has gotten a lot of attention in recent decades. As a result, the identification and characterization of such antifungal agents has made promising advances. The present state of information on antifungal molecules, their modes of activity, connections with specific target fungi varieties, and uses in food production systems are summarized in this review.

Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Quay Crane Hoist Gearbox Bearing under Dynamic Operating Conditions Based on ARIMA-CAPF Framework

The remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of quay crane (QC) bearings is of great significance to port production safety. An RUL prediction framework of QC bearing under dynamic conditions is proposed. Firstly, the load is discretized, and the corresponding operating conditions are classified. Then, the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is utilized to predict the load and corresponding operating conditions. Secondly, a Wiener process considering degradation rates and jump coefficients under different operating conditions is developed as the state transfer function. Finally, a condition-activated particle filter (CAPF) is proposed to predict the system state and the bearing’s RUL. The proposed prediction framework is verified by the hoist bearing life cycle data from a port in Shanghai collected by the NetCMAS system. The prediction results by the ARIMA-CAPF framework in comparison with three other prediction strategies identify the effectiveness.

Ginsenosides Conversion and Anti-Oxidant Activities in Puffed Cultured Roots of Mountain Ginseng

CRMG (Cultured Roots of Mountain Ginseng) have the advantages in scale-up production, safety, and pharmacological efficacies. Though several methods are available for the conversion of major to minor ginsenosides, which has more pharmacological activities, a single step process with high temperature and pressure as a puffing method took place in this study to gain and produce more pharmacologically active compounds. Puffed CRMG exhibited an acceleration of major ginsenosides to minor ginsenosides conversions, and released more phenolic and flavonoid compounds. HPLC analysis was used to detect a steep decrease in the contents of major ginsenosides (Re, Rf, Rg1, Rg2, Rb1, Rb2, Rb3, Rc and Rd) with increasing pressure; on the contrary, the minor ginsenosides (20 (S, R)-Rg3, Rg5, Rk1, Rh1, Rh2, Rg6, F4 and Rk3) contents increased. Minor ginsenosides, such as Rg6, F4 and Rk3, were firstly reported to be produced from puffed CRMG. After the puffing process, phenolics, flavonoids, and minor ginsenoside contents were increased, and also, the antioxidant properties, such as DPPH inhibition and reducing the power of puffed CRMG, were significantly enhanced. Puffed CRMG at 490.3 kPa and 588.4 kPa had a low toxicity on HaCaT (immortalized human epidermal keratinocyte) cells at 200 μg/mL, and could significantly reduce ROS by an average of 60%, compared to the group treated with H2O2. Therefore, single step puffing of CRMG has the potential to be utilized for functional food and cosmeceuticals.

Evaluation Method of Chemical Technology Safety Practical Operation Ability Based on Stochastic Model

The current evaluation method does not consider the coordination and overall situation of various practical skills, which affects the evaluation contact degree and leads to hidden dangers of production safety. Therefore, an evaluation method of chemical technology safety practical operation ability based on a stochastic model is proposed. Using association rules to design the feature mining algorithm of practical operation ability, combined with crosslayer coding strategy, the mapping relationship between safety accidents and practical operation ability is established. The chemical safety practical operation skills are simulated by a random model, and the practical operation skills are classified and coordinated according to the simulation predictive control results. According to the coordination results, the evaluation index system is constructed, the index weight is determined, and the evaluation model of chemical technology safety operation ability is constructed. The experimental results show that the maximum connection degree of the evaluation method designed in this paper is 88.06%, and the evaluation results are more accurate, which is helpful to improve the production safety of chemical enterprises.

Risk assessment on drug production safety based on Grey-Analytic Network Process

PurposeTo strengthen the correlation analysis on risk factors of drug production safety and reduce the influence due to fuzzy judgments, a safety risk assessment method based on Grey-Analytic Network Process (G-ANP) is proposed.Design/methodology/approachFirst, an index system evaluating drug production safety risk is constructed according to the “Good Manufacture Practice of Medical Products,” next the influence weight of each risk index is derived by using the Analytic Network Process, then the grey number of each risk index is determined by further utilizing the grey statistical theory, and finally the risk level of drug production is obtained.FindingsAn empirical study is conducted and the results support the feasibility and practicability to use G-ANP method for drug production safety risk evaluation. The results of the case show that it is feasible and practical to use G-ANP method for drug production safety risk evaluation.Originality/valueThe innovation lies in the use of G-ANP method to fully consider the interdependence and interaction between the risk factors of drug production safety, which improves the objectivity in judging the risk level of drug production and provides a scientific basis for pharmaceutical manufacturers to formulate further decisions and management in the case of insufficient quantification of risk factors. Based on the findings, more targeted suggestions are made to reduce the production risk of pharmaceutical enterprises.

THE CASE ANALYSIS OF UPPER BIG BRANCH MINE

This article aims to analyze a catastrophic mining explosion which resulted in 29 deaths in West Virginia, U.S. The first reports upon the explosion suggested that the explosion happened due to lack of appropriate safety measures. However, further investigation revealed that the issue was deeper than merely the absence of appropriate safety measures. The negative organizational culture created by the leadership was considered as the root cause of this catastrophic incident. According to a case study published by The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2012, it appeared that the organization made systematic and aggressive efforts to prioritize production over the safety of its employees. The disaster could have been prevented if the leadership had taken appropriate safety measures. Leadership, who can see the big picture, understands that prioritizing safety results in overall performance improvement in the long term (Krause, 2005). It is possible to see the implications of such leadership mindset in the organization’s culture. Showing workers that the organization will always do the right thing to assure their safety is an important step toward building trust across the board. Otherwise, lack of trust and communication may eventually lead to tragic incidents as in the case of the Massey Energy. The despotic leadership, that constantly imposed fear on its employees to discourage them from voicing their opinions and questioning the existing conditions, eventually brought organizational deviance. Members of the organization neither had any meaningful communication nor appropriate information exchange. The absence of mutual trust and respect in the work environment was apparent. This paper offers further insights into the role of leadership in the prevention of future catastrophic incidence while promoting both safety and enhanced performance. KEYWORDS: Inclusive, leadership, organization, production, safety

Functions of responsible for training in digital systems for industrial safety

The functional capabilities provided by the digital production safety training system for those responsible for training allow the software complex to be maintained in a stable operational state when exposed to emergency situations, to fulfill all the necessary needs of responsible users with the authority to create effective training programs and to test the knowledge of workers on production safety, to quickly form up-to-date digital reporting documentation for the organization.