Quantifying Faculty Perception of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Within Academic Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Departments.

OBJECTIVE: Investigating faculty perceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among academic otolaryngology programs. STUDY DESIGN: Quantitative survey. SETTING: Academic otolaryngology departments. METHODS: The DEI Inventory was developed by a multi-institutional health equity consortium and disseminated within 16 academic otolaryngology programs. The inventory consisted of 25 items graded on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree), 2 yes/no questions, and 5 items reflecting overall DEI, stress, and burnout among academic otolaryngologists. Validated imposter phenomenon and personality trait measures were also included. RESULTS: The inventory received 158 (31.0%) partial and 111 (21.8%) full responses. No significant differences were identified in DEI scores by race. Compared to males, females reported lower scores on the overall DEI Inventory (3.6 vs 4.3, p < .001). Female respondents also reported greater levels of imposter phenomenon than their male counterparts (53.2 vs 47.5, p = .049). CONCLUSION: Preliminary responses to our DEI Inventory suggest that faculty perception of DEI is not impacted by race. Female faculty report considerably lower perceptions of DEI than their male counterparts and experience greater levels of imposter phenomenon. The results of the DEI Inventory can help departments design meaningful interventions to improve levels of DEI among faculty.

A modest proposal for a new way forward for clinical research: Involve insurance companies.

Is it time for medical insurance companies to organize and fund clinical research that evaluates the role of new treatments (drugs or device-based therapies) in the context of existing clinical paradigms for common diseases?

Artificial intelligence to diagnose ear disease using otoscopic image analysis: a review.

AI relates broadly to the science of developing computer systems to imitate human intelligence, thus allowing for the automation of tasks that would otherwise necessitate human cognition. Such technology has increasingly demonstrated capacity to outperform humans for functions relating to image recognition. Given the current lack of cost-effective confirmatory testing, accurate diagnosis and subsequent management depend on visual detection of characteristic findings during otoscope examination. The aim of this manuscript is to perform a comprehensive literature review and evaluate the potential application of artificial intelligence for the diagnosis of ear disease from otoscopic image analysis.

Industry-Informed Workshops to Develop Graduate Skill Sets in the Circular Economy Using Systems Thinking.

Increasing demand for chemicals worldwide, depleting resources, consumer pressure, stricter legislation, and the rising cost of waste disposal are placing increasing pressure on chemical and related industries. For any organization to survive in the current arena of growing climate change laws and regulations, and increasing public influence, the issue of sustainability must be fundamental to the way it operates. A sustainable manufacturing approach will enable economic growth to be combined with environmental and social sustainability and will be realized via collaboration between a multidisciplinary community including chemists, biologists, engineers, environmental scientists, economists, experts in management, and policy makers. Hence, employees with new skills, knowledge, and experience are essential. To realize this approach, the design and development of a series of workshops encompassing systems thinking are presented here. After close consultation with industry, an annual program of interactive workshops has been designed for graduate students to go beyond examining the "greening" of chemical reactions, processes, and products, and instead embed a systems thinking approach to learning. The workshops provide a valuable insight into the issues surrounding sustainable manufacturing covering change management, commercialization, environmental impact, circular economy, legislation, and bioresources incorporating the conversion of waste into valuable products. The multidisciplinary course content incorporates industrial case studies, providing access to real business issues, and is delivered by experts from academic departments across campus and industry.

Toward Financially Viable Phytoextraction and Production of Plant-Based Palladium Catalysts.

Although a promising technique, phytoextraction has yet to see significant commercialization. Major limitations include metal uptake rates and subsequent processing costs. However, it has been shown that liquid-culture-grown Arabidopsis can take up and store palladium as nanoparticles. The processed plant biomass has catalytic activity comparable to that of commercially available catalysts, creating a product of higher value than extracted bulk metal. We demonstrate that the minimum level of palladium in Arabidopsis dried tissues for catalytic activity comparable to commercially available 3% palladium-on-carbon catalysts was achieved from dried plant biomass containing between 12 and 18 g·kg-1 Pd. To advance this technology, species suitable for in-the-field application: mustard, miscanthus, and 16 willow species and cultivars, were tested. These species were able to grow, and take up, palladium from both synthetic and mine-sourced tailings. Although levels of palladium accumulation in field-suitable species are below that required for commercially available 3% palladium-on-carbon catalysts, this study both sets the target, and is a step toward, the development of field-suitable species that concentrate catalytically active levels of palladium. Life cycle assessment on the phytomining approaches described here indicates that the use of plants to accumulate palladium for industrial applications has the potential to decrease the overall environmental impacts associated with extracting palladium using present-day mining processes.

Intelligent Approach to Solvent Substitution: The Identification of a New Class of Levoglucosenone Derivatives.

With the increasing restriction and control of hazardous solvents, safer alternatives need to be identified. Here a contemporary approach to solvent selection and substitution is presented that offers a more scientific alternative to the simple "like-for-like" exchange. A new family of levoglucosenonederived compounds is proposed, modeled to determine their solvent properties, synthesized, and tested. These new molecules show promise as replacements for polar aprotic solvents that have chronic toxicity issues, such as dichloromethane, nitrobenzene, and N-methylpyrrolidinone. The success of this approach makes it possible for academia and industry to make calculated, intelligent choices for solvent substitution in the future.

Opportunities for Bio-Based Solvents Created as Petrochemical and Fuel Products Transition towards Renewable Resources.

The global bio-based chemical market is growing in size and importance. Bio-based solvents such as glycerol and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran are often discussed as important introductions to the conventional repertoire of solvents. However adoption of new innovations by industry is typically slow. Therefore it might be anticipated that neoteric solvent systems (e.g., ionic liquids) will remain niche, while renewable routes to historically established solvents will continue to grow in importance. This review discusses bio-based solvents from the perspective of their production, identifying suitable feedstocks, platform molecules, and relevant product streams for the sustainable manufacturing of conventional solvents.

Generation, capture, and utilization of industrial carbon dioxide.

As a carbon-based life form living in a predominantly carbon-based environment, it is not surprising that we have created a carbon-based consumer society. Our principle sources of energy are carbon-based (coal, oil, and gas) and many of our consumer goods are derived from organic (i.e., carbon-based) chemicals (including plastics, fabrics and materials, personal care and cleaning products, dyes, and coatings). Even our large-volume inorganic-chemicals-based industries, including fertilizers and construction materials, rely on the consumption of carbon, notably in the form of large amounts of energy. The environmental problems which we now face and of which we are becoming increasingly aware result from a human-induced disturbance in the natural carbon cycle of the Earth caused by transferring large quantities of terrestrial carbon (coal, oil, and gas) to the atmosphere, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon is by no means the only element whose natural cycle we have disturbed: we are transferring significant quantities of elements including phosphorus, sulfur, copper, and platinum from natural sinks or ores built up over millions of years to unnatural fates in the form of what we refer to as waste or pollution. However, our complete dependence on the carbon cycle means that its disturbance deserves special attention, as is now manifest in indicators such as climate change and escalating public concern over global warming. As with all disturbances in materials balances, we can seek to alleviate the problem by (1) dematerialization: a reduction in consumption; (2) rematerialization: a change in what we consume; or (3) transmaterialization: changing our attitude towards resources and waste. The "low-carbon" mantra that is popularly cited by organizations ranging from nongovernmental organizations to multinational companies and from local authorities to national governments is based on a combination of (1) and (2) (reducing carbon consumption though greater efficiency and lower per capita consumption, and replacing fossil energy sources with sources such as wind, wave, and solar, respectively). "Low carbon" is of inherently less value to the chemical and plastics industries at least in terms of raw materials although a version of (2), the use of biomass, does apply, especially if we use carbon sources that are renewable on a human timescale. There is however, another renewable, natural source of carbon that is widely available and for which greater utilization would help restore material balance and the natural cycle for carbon in terms of resource and waste. CO(2), perhaps the most widely discussed and feared chemical in modern society, is as fundamental to our survival as water, and like water we need to better understand the human as well as natural production and consumption of CO(2) so that we can attempt to get these into a sustainable balance. Current utilization of this valuable resource by the chemical industry is only 90 megatonne per year, compared to the 26.3 gigatonne CO(2) generated annually by combustion of fossil fuels for energy generation, as such significant opportunities exist for increased utilization of CO(2) generated from industrial processes. It is also essential that renewable energy is used if CO(2) is to be utilized as a C1 building block.

Clean, reusable and low cost heterogeneous catalyst for amide synthesis.

We have developed a heterogeneous silica catalyst that can effectively catalyse amide synthesis from acid and amine, without production of toxic by-products and with the advantage of being readily available, low cost, environmentally benign and reusable.