Cell and gene therapy manufacturing capabilities in Australia and New Zealand.

Cell and gene therapy products are rapidly being integrated into mainstream medicine. Developing global capability will facilitate broad access to these novel therapeutics. An initial step toward achieving this goal is to understand cell and gene therapy manufacturing capability in each region. We conducted an academic survey in 2018 to assess cell and gene therapy manufacturing capacity in Australia and New Zealand. We examined the following: the number and types of cell therapy manufacturing facilities; the number of projects, parallel processes and clinical trials; the types of products; and the manufacturing and quality staffing levels. It was found that Australia and New Zealand provide diverse facilities for cell therapy manufacturing, infrastructure and capability. Further investment and development will enable both countries to make important decisions to meet the growing need for cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine in the region.

An Exploratory Assessment of Applying Risk Management Practices to Engineered Nanomaterials.

The widespread industrial application of nanotechnology has increased the number of workers exposed to engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), but it is not clear to what extent prevention guidance is practiced. Our aim was to explore the extent that companies manufacturing and/or using ENMs apply risk assessment and management measures. Thirty-four companies were surveyed with an international 35-item questionnaire investigating company and workforce features, types of ENM handled, and risk evaluation and preventive measures adopted. Among participating companies, 62% had a maximum of 10 employees. Metal-based nanomaterials were most frequently identified (73%). Environmental monitoring was performed by 41% of the companies, while engineering exposure controls were approximately reported by 50%. Information and training programs were indicated by 85% of the sample, only 9% performed specific health surveillance for ENM workers. Personal protective equipment primarily included gloves (100%) and eye/face protection (94%). This small-scale assessment can contribute to the limited amount of published literature on the topic. Future investigations should include a greater number of companies to better represent ENM workplaces and a direct access to industrial settings to collect information on site. Finally, deeper attention should be paid to define standardized frameworks for ENM risk assessment that may guide nano-specific preventive actions.

A multiscale simulation framework for the manufacturing facility and supply chain of autologous cell therapies.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Autologous cell therapy (AuCT) is an emerging therapeutic treatment that is undergoing transformation from laboratory- to industry-scale manufacturing with recent regulatory approvals. Various challenges facing the complex AuCT manufacturing and supply chain process hinder the scale out and broader application of this highly potent treatment. METHODS: We present a multiscale logistics simulation framework, AuCT-Sim, that integrates novel supply chain system modeling algorithms, methods, and tools. AuCT-Sim includes a single facility model and a system-wide network model. Unique challenges of the AuCT industry are analyzed and addressed in AuCT-Sim. Decision-supporting tools can be developed based on this framework to explore "what-if" manufacturing and supply chain scenarios of importance to various cell therapy stakeholder groups. RESULTS: Two case studies demonstrate the decision-supporting capability of AuCT-Sim where one investigates the optimal reagent base stocking level, and the other one simulates a reagent supply disruption event. These case studies serve as guidelines for designing computational experiments with AuCT-Sim to solve specific problems in AuCT manufacturing and supply chain. DISCUSSION: This simulation framework will be useful in understanding the impact of possible manufacturing and supply chain strategies, policies, regulations, and standards informing strategies to increase patient access to AuCT.

Assessment of hotspots using sparse autoencoder in industrial zones.

Remote sensing satellite systems can be used to detect industrial zones by means of thermal infrared bands. There are several satellite systems loaded with thermal infrared sensors such as Landsat and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). In this study, ASTER thermal infrared data were converted to land surface temperature (LST) in order to determine hotspots caused by industrial zones. High LST values surrounded by low LST values are called hotspots here. These hotspots can be determined by applying different methodologies. One of these methods of sparse autoencoder can be used to indicate hotspots using different sizes of hidden layers. The principle of sparse autoencoder depends on unlabeled data in unsupervised learning. It does not need any information about labeled data as in supervised learning. The autoencoder reproduces its output with the same dimensions as the input image by managing the size of the hidden layer. The reconstruction of the image depends on the minimization of a cost function. The size of the hidden layer sets the fitting degree of the function for the reproduced image. A low-order reproduced image is the main target for hotspot detection. In this study, the difference between the original image and the reproduced image was analyzed for hotspot detection. Sparse autoencoder was successfully applied to ASTER thermal band 10 for hotspot detection in 7 pre-defined sites of a region known for steel industry for the two different days.

Assessing Regional Differences in Green Innovation Efficiency of Industrial Enterprises in China.

Green technology innovation is an important means to break out of the constraints of resources and the environment, enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, and achieve the upgrading of industrial structures, and promote high-quality economic growth. In order to realize the overall improvement of the green technology innovation capability of Chinese enterprises, it is necessary to measure the efficiency of industrial enterprises' green technology innovation and explore their regional differences. In this paper, from the perspective of a two-stage innovation value chain, by introducing the industrial carbon emissions per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the "three wastes" pollutants into the research framework of green technology innovation efficiency, we established a novel green innovation efficiency evaluation indicator system for industrial enterprises. Furthermore, we used a two-stage network DEA with shared input to measure the efficiency of regional enterprises' green technology innovation and explored the regional differences in industrial enterprises' green technology R&D and the efficiency of green technology achievement transformation. Finally, we provide some suggestions for improving China's industrial enterprises' green innovation efficiency, so that they can ameliorate the significant regional imbalances and differences and realize high-quality economic growth.

Modified-DRASTIC, modified-SINTACS and SI methods for groundwater vulnerability assessment in the southern Tehran aquifer.

This study aims to modify the SINTACS and DRASTIC models with a land-use (LU) layer and compares the modified-DRASTIC, modified-SINTACS and SI methods for groundwater vulnerability assessment (GVA) in the southern Tehran aquifer, Iran. Single parameter sensitivity analysis (SPSA) served to determine the most significant parameters for the modified-DRASTIC, modified-SINTACS and SI approaches, and to revise model weights from "theoretical" to "effective." The inherent implementation of LU in the SI model may explain its better performance compared to unenhanced versions of DRASTIC and SINTACS models. Validation of all models, using nitrate concentrations from 20 wells within the study area, showed the modified-SINTACS model to outperform other models. The SPSA showed that the vadose zone and LU strongly influenced the modified-DRASTIC and modified-SINTACS models, while SI was strongly influenced by aquifer media and LU. To improve performance, models were implemented using "effective" instead of "theoretical" weights. Model robustness was assessed using nitrate concentrations in the aquifer and the outcomes confirmed the positive impact of using "effective" versus "theoretical" weights in the models. Modified-SINTACS showed the strongest correlation between nitrate and the vulnerability index (coefficient of determination = 0.75). Application of the modified-SINTACS while using "effective" weights, led to the conclusion that 19.6%, 55.2%, 23.4%, and 1.6% of the study area housed very high, high, moderate and low vulnerability zones, respectively.

Racial disparities in pollution exposure and employment at US industrial facilities.

Proximity to industrial facilities can have positive employment effects as well as negative pollution exposure impacts on surrounding communities. Although racial disparities in exposure to industrial air pollution in the United States are well documented, there has been little empirical investigation of whether these disparities are mirrored by employment benefits. We use facility-level data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEO-1 database to assess the extent to which the racial and ethnic distribution of industrial employment corresponds to the distribution of exposure to air toxics emitted by the same facilities. The share of pollution risk accruing to minority groups generally exceeds their share of employment and exceeds their share of higher paying jobs by a wide margin. We find no evidence that facilities that create higher pollution risk for surrounding communities provide more jobs in aggregate.

Life cycle assessment of a printed circuit board manufacturing plant in Turkey.

The objective of this study is to investigate the environmental impacts of a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing plant through streamlined life cycle assessment approach. As a result, the most effective recommendations on minimizing the environmental impacts for the mentioned sector are revealed and first steps towards establishing a country specific database are taken. The whole PCB production consists of two consecutive stages: namely board fabrication followed by the manufacturing of PCB. Manufacturing of PCB contributes the highest shares to freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP) and ozone layer depletion potential (ODP). Eighty-nine percent of FAETP is found to be generated from the manufacturing of PCB. Almost all of this contribution can be attributed to the disposal of copper containing wastewater treatment sludge from etching operations to incineration. On the other hand, PCB manufacturing has 73% share in total ODP. Within the manufacturing of PCB, as etching operations are found to be of importance for all the impact categories except eutrophication potential (EP), it is recommended to focus further studies on in-plant control of etching.

Heat stress assessment in artistic glass units.

Heat stress in glass industry is mainly studied in large and highly mechanized manufacturing Units. To the contrary, few studies were carried out in small factories specialized in hand-made products. To stress the need of combined objective and medical surveys in these environments, this paper deals with a simultaneous climatic and physiological investigation of working conditions in artistic crystal glass factories in Tuscany (Italy). The microclimatic monitoring, through a continuous survey has been carried out in early spring. The main physiological parameters (metabolic rate, heart rate, tympanic temperature and water loss) were measured over the whole shifts. The results show that, despite the arduousness of the working conditions, the heat stress levels are physiologically tolerable. The predictions made using the PHS model at the Analysis level described in ISO 15265 agree closely to the observed values, validating the use of PHS model in these conditions. This model was then used to analyse what is likely to be the situation during the summer. It is concluded that the heat constraint will be very high and that some steps must be taken from the spring to monitor closely the exposed workers in the summer and take measures to prevent any heat accident.