Direct Biocatalytic Processes for CO₂ Capture as a Green Tool to Produce Value-Added Chemicals

Direct biocatalytic processes for CO₂ capture and transformation in value-added chemicals may be considered a useful tool for reducing the concentration of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Among the other enzymes, carbonic anhydrase (CA) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH) are two key biocatalysts suitable for this challenge,...

Sustainable Setups for the Biocatalytic Production and Scale-Up of Panthenyl Monoacyl Esters under Solvent-Free Conditions

A sustainable scaling-up process for the biocatalytic production of new bioactive provitamin-B₅ monoacyl esters has been demonstrated. A solvent-free reaction protocol, based on the formation of eutectic mixtures between neat substrates, renders highly efficient direct esterification of free fatty acids (i.e., from C₆ to...

Reference Network and Localization Architecture for Smart Manufacturing Based on 5G

5G promises to shift Industry 4.0 to the next level by allowing flexible production. However, many communication standards are used throughout a production site, which will stay so in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, localization of assets will be equally valuable in order to get to a higher level of automation. This paper proposes a...

Efficient long-range conduction in cable bacteria through nickel protein wires

Filamentous cable bacteria display long-range electron transport, generating electrical currents over centimeter distances through a highly ordered network of fibers embedded in their cell envelope. The conductivity of these periplasmic wires is exceptionally high for a biological material, but their chemical structure and underlying electron...

Effect of steering limit constraints on the performance of variable stiffness laminates

A method to optimise the fibre angle distribution of variable stiffness laminates is proposed. The proposed method integrates a fibre angle retrieval step with a fibre angle optimisation procedure. A multi-level approximation approach is used in combination with the method of successive approximations. First, fibre angle retrieval is done by...

Near-field resonance at far-field-induced transparency in diffractive arrays of plasmonic nanorods

We numerically demonstrate that a periodic array of metallic nanorods sustains a maximum near-field enhancement and a far field (FF)-induced transparency at the same energy and in-plane momentum. The coupling of bright and dark plasmonic lattice resonances, and electromagnetic retardation along the nanorod length, are responsible for this effect...

Jumping sustainability meme; SD transfer from society to universities

Since the 1972 Stockholm Conference, many Sustainable Development declarations, charters, and partnerships have been developed, both in the overall societal context and within higher education frameworks. This paper addresses two issues: (1) a comparison of the development of sustainable development initiatives in society and in universities and...

A Guideline to corporate volunary efforts to contribute to sustainable development

This article explores the contribution from different corporate voluntary efforts to sustainable development (SD). It aims to provide a brief overview of the most widely used tools, initiatives, and approaches that have been developed by and for corporations to address environmental and social concerns, within and outside the company. The paper...

The state of sustainability reporting in European universities

Although there have been calls for universities to report their Sustainability performance, currently a limited number of universities provide Sustainability reports, and an even lesser number base their reports on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Guidelines. This article assesses the sustainability reports from six European...