Nanostructured Hybrid Materials for the Selective Recovery and Enrichment of Rare Earth Elements

The importance of rare‐earth elements (REEs) in the global economy is booming as they are used in numerous advanced technologies. Industrially, the extraction and purification of REEs involve multiple liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) steps as they exhibit very similar complexation properties with most common ligands. In order to substantially improve this process and provide a greener alternative to LLE, functional porous hybrid materials, demonstrating enhanced selectivity towards heavier REEs compared to commercially‐available products, are proposed. In addition, because of the grafting procedure used in the synthesis, the proposed materials demonstrate a higher degree of reusability, increasing their marketable potential.     

How to improve the assessment of BPM maturity in the era of digital transformation

For almost 30 years, the way of building business process management maturity models (BPM MMs), the importance assigned to individual maturity levels, and the criteria and critical success factors chosen for BPM maturity assessment have not changed significantly, despite the fact that during those three decades, the business environment and organizations themselves have changed enormously. The impact of hyperautomation and the increasing pace of change require the integration of maturity assessment with the BPM implementation methodology, including the repetition of maturity assessment for selected groups of processes. This causes an urgent need to adapt both process maturity assessment methods and BPM MMs to changing working conditions and business requirements. This conceptual paper is based on a model approach. The framework presented in the article continues and at the same time clearly deviates from the tradition of building BPM MMs on the basis of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). It proposes a two-stage comprehensive process of organizational process maturity assessment, fully integrated into the process of BPM implementation and further business process management. The presented framework makes it possible to assess the process maturity of Industry 4.0 organizations in which dynamic knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs) play a key role in creating value.

     

An overview of fruit and vegetable edible packaging materials

Various edible fruit and vegetable materials, including purees, residues, extracts, and juices, have been investigated in terms of their matrix‐forming properties to produce edible packaging materials to be applied to food products influencing their overall quality and improving the efficiency of synthetic packaging, thus leading to the reduction in amount of synthetic polymers used for each application. The potential of fruit and vegetables to be used as components of edible packaging materials is discussed. Such application of fruits and vegetables is possible thanks to the presence of matrix‐forming polysaccharides and proteins in their composition while the presence of bioactive compounds such as vitamins and polyphenols may confer, eg, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of active packaging materials. The development of edible fruit and vegetable packaging materials is a promising way of combining the barrier and mechanical properties of biopolymers with the nutritional and sensory properties. The application of fruit and vegetables as a component of edible packaging materials enables the utilization of raw materials with low commercial value. Edible packaging materials are a new method of their utilizing. There is also the possibility of just decreasing the amount of synthetic packaging waste by application of fruit and vegetable packaging materials simply as a passive or active layer partially replacing the non‐renewable materials.     

Structures of Alcohol Dehydrogenases from Ralstonia and Sphingobium spp. Reveal the Molecular Basis for Their Recognition of ‘Bulky–Bulky’ Ketones

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) are applied in industrial synthetic chemistry for the production of optically active secondary alcohols. However, the substrate spectrum of many ADHs is narrow, and few, for example, are suitable for the reduction of prochiral ketones in which the carbonyl group is bounded by two bulky and/or hydrophobic groups; so-called ‘bulky–bulky’ ketones. Recently two ADHs, RasADH from Ralstonia sp. DSM 6428, and SyADH from Sphingobium yanoikuyae DSM 6900, have been described, which are distinguished by their ability to accept bulky–bulky ketones as substrates. In order to examine the molecular basis of the recognition of these substrates the structures of the native and NADPH complex of RasADH, and the NADPH complex of SyADH have been determined and refined to resolutions of 1.5, 2.9 and 2.5 Å, respectively. The structures reveal hydrophobic active site tunnels near the surface of the enzymes that are well-suited to the recognition of large hydrophobic substrates, as determined by modelling of the bulky–bulky substrate n-pentyl phenyl ketone. The structures also reveal the bases for NADPH specificity and (S)-stereoselectivity in each of the biocatalysts for n-pentyl phenyl ketone and related substrates.     

Protection of flavonoids against hypochlorite-induced protein modifications

Plant polyphenols, such as flavonoids, are ubiquitous components of human diet, and have been recognised as efficient radical scavengers and antioxidants. Their protective effects were especially seen in cell-free assays. Whilst in living cells, depending on experimental conditions, polyphenols may manifest both anti- and pro-oxidative activity. In the present study, the effectiveness of fifteen structurally different flavonoids against hypochlorite-mediated changes in in vitro systems, with and without cells, was tested and compared. Quercetin was found to be the best protector against hypochlorite-mediated fluorescein bleaching and BSA thiol groups oxidation, whilst in living cells its effects on hypochlorite-associated cytotoxicity were moderate. Contrary, epigallocatechin gallate, pelargonidin and catechin, with less impressive hypochlorite scavenging activity in cell-free assays, were the most effective against 3-chlorotyrosine formation after hypochlorite treatment. Taken together, special care should be taken when extrapolating the results on antioxidant propensity of food bioactive compounds in vitro to the cellular milieu.     

New Al2O3–Cu–Ni functionally graded composites manufactured using the centrifugal slip casting

The aim of this paper was to establish the general suitability of the centrifugal slip casting technique for fabrication of graded material from the Al₂O₃–Cu–Ni system. The present investigation is a preliminary one and the obtained results may be regarded as a point for acquiring the new knowledge in the ternary ceramic metal system fabricated using centrifugal slip casting. The rheological study provided the evidence that the suspension used to fabricate composites is a non-Newtonian slurry. Moreover, the results demonstrated that the prepared slurry is stable over time. The obtained composites has a hollow cylindrical shape with relative density of > 95%. The XRD study results revealed three phases: Al₂O₃, Ni, and CuNi. The microscopic investigations revealed a nonhomogeneous distribution of the metallic phase in the composite. It has been shown that the content of the metallic phase decreased with the increased distance from the outside to the inner edge of the ceramic-metal composite. The study results allow to conclude that the interface between the phases is more continuous when sintering was carried out in a solid phase. However, it was found that when sintering was carried out in a liquid phase separated metal particles with spherical phase are formed.     

Hydrological performance of green roofs in the context of the meteorological factors during the 5‐year monitoring period

Green roofs as solutions that can offer varying levels of stormwater management are the topic of current interest. In order to use this form of reconstructing retention capacity, it is important to understand the influence of meteorological conditions on the functioning of living roofs. The study presents the results of research, using of the ANOVA variance analysis method, on retention performance (i.e. volumetric control) and detention (temporal delay run‐off) carried out in the years 2009–2014. The results indicate that the green roof can effectively retain rainfall and delay the initiation of run‐off from the rainfall events included in the analysis. Understanding the hydrological performance of green roofs in different local meteorological conditions is key to the successful implementation and development of sustainable practices to control run‐off in urban areas.