De La Salle University

Plastics debris in the marine environment, including resin pellets, fragments and microscopic plastic fragments, contain organic contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, organochlorine pesticides (2,2'-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane, hexachlorinated hexanes), polybrominated diphenylethers, alkylphenols and bisphenol A, at concentrations from sub ng g(-1) to microg g(-1). Some of these compounds are added during plastics manufacture, while others adsorb from the surrounding seawater. Concentrations of hydrophobic contaminants adsorbed on plastics showed distinct spatial variations reflecting global pollution patterns. Model calculations and experimental observations consistently show that polyethylene accumulates more organic contaminants than other plastics such as polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride. Both a mathematical model using equilibrium partitioning and experimental data have demonstrated the transfer of contaminants from plastic to organisms. A feeding experiment indicated that PCBs could transfer from contaminated plastics to streaked shearwater chicks. Plasticizers, other plastics additives and constitutional monomers also present potential threats in terrestrial environments because they can leach from waste disposal sites into groundwater and/or surface waters. Leaching and degradation of plasticizers and polymers are complex phenomena dependent on environmental conditions in the landfill and the chemical properties of each additive. Bisphenol A concentrations in leachates from municipal waste disposal sites in tropical Asia ranged from sub microg l(-1) to mg l(-1) and were correlated with the level of economic development.

The development of biofuels has been considered as an important countermeasure to abate anthropogenic CO2 emissions, suppress deteriorated atmospheric greenhouse effect, and mitigate global warming. To produce biofuels from biomass, thermochemical conversion processes are considered as the most efficient routes wherein torrefaction has the lowest global warming potential. Combustion is the easiest way to consume biomass, which can be burned alone or co-fired with coal to generate heat and power. However, solid biomass fuels are not commonly applied in the industry due to their characteristics of hygroscopic nature and high moisture content, low bulk density and calorific value, poor grindability, low compositional homogeneity, and lower resistance against biological degradation. In recently developing biomass conversion technologies, torrefaction has attracted much attention since it can effectively upgrade solid biomass and produce coal-like fuel. Torrefaction is categorized into dry and wet torrefaction; the former can further be split into non-oxidative and oxidative torrefaction. Despite numerous methods developed, non-oxidative torrefaction, normally termed torrefaction, has a higher potential for practical applications and commercialization when compared to other methods. To provide a comprehensive review of the progress in biomass torrefaction technologies, this study aims to perform an in-depth literature survey of torrefaction principles, processes, systems, and to identify a current trend in practical torrefaction development and environmental performance. Moreover, the encountered challenges and perspectives from torrefaction development are underlined. This state-of-the-art review is conducive to the production and applications of biochar for resource utilization and environmental sustainability. To date, several kinds of reactors have been developed, while there is still no obviously preferred one as they simultaneously have pros and cons. Integrating torrefaction with other processes such as co-firing, gasification, pyrolysis, and ironmaking, etc., makes it more efficient and economically feasible in contrast to using a single process. By virtue of capturing carbon dioxide during the growth stage of biomass, negative carbon emissions can even be achieved from torrefied biomass.

Understanding the drivers of energy and material flows of cities is important for addressing global environmental challenges. Accessing, sharing, and managing energy and material resources is particularly critical for megacities, which face enormous social stresses because of their sheer size and complexity. Here we quantify the energy and material flows through the world's 27 megacities with populations greater than 10 million people as of 2010. Collectively the resource flows through megacities are largely consistent with scaling laws established in the emerging science of cities. Correlations are established for electricity consumption, heating and industrial fuel use, ground transportation energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and steel production in terms of heating-degree-days, urban form, economic activity, and population growth. The results help identify megacities exhibiting high and low levels of consumption and those making efficient use of resources. The correlation between per capita electricity use and urbanized area per capita is shown to be a consequence of gross building floor area per capita, which is found to increase for lower-density cities. Many of the megacities are growing rapidly in population but are growing even faster in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and energy use. In the decade from 2001-2011, electricity use and ground transportation fuel use in megacities grew at approximately half the rate of GDP growth.

Amidst the threat of COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the educators, students, and the school are still coping and adjusting to the distance learning education. This study explored teachers' awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic and their opinion on their respective schools’ readiness, as well as their response to the challenges of conducting distance learning education in the Philippines. A validated questionnaire was developed to collect the relevant data for this study. The initial reliability test obtained 8.9 Cronbach’s alpha. Data gathering procedure was done through Google forms, which, after validation from the respective DepEd divisions and universities, were subsequently sent to the teachers via email. The results show that the teachers were highly aware of the presence and consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The correlation between teacher’s demographic profiles and awareness to COVID-19 shows no relationship at all. Nevertheless, the length of teaching experience and specialization is very strongly correlated to readiness to distance learning education. Simultaneously, the teachers’ geographic location is strongly correlated to readiness to adapt to distance learning education. Furthermore, only the teachers’ gender has a significant difference in their awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, teachers’ gender, length of teaching experience, and geographic location have significant differences with their readiness to distance learning education. This study can be used as a basis for further research particularly in developing institutional plans to better understand the status of their teachers and educational organizations, and schools’ readiness to teach and learn through distance learning approach; hence, preserving and continuing educational mission during the current or future pandemic as well as be prepared for any natural disasters. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.6.8

Social support has been associated with improved mental health; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. This study aimed to explore whether perceived stress mediate the relationship between social support and positive affect, anxiety, and depression. Drawing from Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory, the study emphasized the influential role of social support in appraising stressful events. A cross-sectional survey was conducted online among 426 Filipino adults during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed measures including the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), the Positive Affect subscale of PANAS, and the Depression and Anxiety subscales of DASS-21. The hypotheses of the study were tested using mediation analysis. Consistent with the hypotheses, perceived stress significantly mediated the relationship between family and significant other support with positive affect, anxiety, and depression. Family and significant other support decreased perceived stress, increasing positive affect, and decreasing anxiety and depression. On the other hand, perceived stress did not mediate the relationship between friend support and positive affect, anxiety, and depression. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Lignocellulosic biomass has been recognized as promising feedstock for biofuels production. However, the high cost of pretreatment is one of the major challenges hindering large-scale production of biofuels from these abundant, indigenously-available, and economic feedstock. In addition to high capital and operation cost, high water consumption is also regarded as a challenge unfavorably affecting the pretreatment performance. In the present review, advances in lignocellulose pretreatment technologies for biofuels production are reviewed and critically discussed. Moreover, the challenges faced and future research needs are addressed especially in optimization of operating parameters and assessment of total cost of biofuel production from lignocellulose biomass at large scale by using different pretreatment methods. Such information would pave the way for industrial-scale lignocellulosic biofuels production. Overall, it is important to ensure that throughout lignocellulosic bioethanol production processes, favorable features such as maximal energy saving, waste recycling, wastewater recycling, recovery of materials, and biorefinery approach are considered.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) accounts for at least 30% of the total solid waste produced around the world. At around 924 million tons in the European Union in 2016 and 2.36 billion tons in China in 2018, the amount is expected to increase over the next few years. Dumping these wastes in sanitary landfills has always been the traditional approach to waste management but this will not be feasible in the years to come. To significantly reduce or eliminate the amount of CDW being dumped, circular economy is a possible solution to the increasing amounts of CDW. Circular economy is an economic system based on business models which replaces the end-of-life concept with reducing, reusing, recycling, and recovering materials. This paper discusses circular economy (CE) frameworks-specifically material recovery and production highlighting the reuse and recycling of CDW and reprocessing into new construction applications. Likewise, a literature review into recent studies of reuse and recycling of CDW and its feasibility is also discussed to possibly prove the effectivity of CE in reducing CDW. Findings such as effectivity of recycling CDW into new construction applications and its limitations in effective usage are discussed and research gaps such as reuse of construction materials are also undertaken. CE and recycling were also found to be emerging topics. Observed trends in published articles as well as the use of latent Dirichlet allocation in creating topic models have shown a rising awareness and increasing research in CE which focuses on recycling and reusing CDW.

Vision systems are essential in building a mobile robot that will complete a certain task like navigation, surveillance, and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD). This will make the robot controller or the operator aware what is in the environment and perform the next tasks. With the recent advancement in deep neural networks in image processing, classifying and detecting the object accurately is now possible. In this paper, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) is used to detect objects in the environment. Two state of the art models are compared for object detection, Single Shot Multi-Box Detector (SSD) with MobileNetV1 and a Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Faster-RCNN) with InceptionV2. Result shows that one model is ideal for real-time application because of speed and the other can be used for more accurate object detection.

Parachute science is the practice whereby international scientists, typically from higher-income countries, conduct field studies in another country, typically of lower income, and then complete the research in their home country without any further effective communication and engagement with others from that nation. It creates dependency on external expertise, does not address local research needs, and hinders local research efforts. As global hotspots of marine biodiversity, lower-income nations in the tropics have for too long been the subject of inequitable and unfair research practices1De Vos A. The problem of ‘Colonial Science’. Sci. Am..2020https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-of-colonial-science/Google Scholar. However, to date there has been little quantifiable evidence of this phenomenon in marine science. Here, we provide evidence through systematic literature searches and queries that parachute science practices are still widespread in marine research and make some recommendations to help change the current status quo.Video Abstracthttps://www.cell.com/cms/asset/4ae7ae2d-6c8c-4938-b432-91c017cc2bb9/mmc2.mp4Loading ...(mp4, 42.48 MB) Download video

Future 100% renewable energy systems will have to integrate different sectors, including provision of power, heating, cooling and transport. Such energy systems will be needed to mitigate the negative impacts of economic development based on the use of fossil fuels, but will rely on variable renewable energy resources. As two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to fossil fuel combustion, decarbonization of energy systems is imperative for combating the climate change. Integrating future energy systems with CO2 capture and utilization technologies can contribute to deep decarbonization. As these technologies can be operated flexibly, they can be used to balance the grid to allow for high levels of variable renewable energy in the power mix. The captured CO2 can be either utilized as a feedstock for various value-added applications in the chemical industry and related sectors such as the food and beverage industries. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art literature on CO2 capture and utilization technologies, with an emphasis on their potential integration into a low-carbon, high-renewables penetration grid. The potential market size for CO2 as raw material is also elaborated and discussed. The review paper provides an insight to the development and the technological needs of different energy system sectors, as well the limitations, challenges and research gaps to the integration of the variable renewable energy sources and flexible carbon capture and utilization technologies.

Abstract Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of regulated necrosis associated with lipid peroxidation. Despite its key role in the inflammatory outcome of ferroptosis, little is known about the molecular events leading to the disruption of the plasma membrane during this type of cell death. Here we show that a sustained increase in cytosolic Ca 2+ is a hallmark of ferroptosis that precedes complete bursting of the cell. We report that plasma membrane damage leading to ferroptosis is associated with membrane nanopores of a few nanometers in radius and that ferroptosis, but not lipid peroxidation, can be delayed by osmoprotectants. Importantly, Ca 2+ fluxes during ferroptosis induce the activation of the ESCRT-III-dependent membrane repair machinery, which counterbalances the kinetics of cell death and modulates the immunological signature of ferroptosis. Our findings with ferroptosis provide a unifying concept that sustained increase of cytosolic Ca 2+ prior to plasma membrane rupture is a common feature of regulated types of necrosis and position ESCRT-III activation as a general protective mechanism in these lytic cell death pathways.

Previous studies show there is little or no association between perceived emotional support and well-being in European American culture. The authors hypothesized that this paradoxical absence of any benefit of perceived support is unique to cultural contexts that privilege independence rather than interdependence of the self. Study 1 tested college students and found, as predicted, that among Euro-Americans a positive effect of perceived emotional support on subjective well-being (positive affect) was weak and, moreover, it disappeared entirely once self-esteem was statistically controlled. In contrast, among Asians in Asia (Japanese and Filipinos) perceived emotional support positively predicted subjective well-being even after self-esteem was controlled. Study 2 extended Study 1 by testing both Japanese and American adults in midlife with respect to multiple indicators of well-being and physical health. Overall, the evidence underscores the central significance of culture as a moderator of the effectiveness of perceived emotional support.

Excessive production, indiscriminate consumption, and improper disposal of plastics have led to plastic pollution and its hazardous environmental effects. Various approaches to tackle the challenges of reducing the plastic footprint have been developed and applied, such as the production of alternative materials (design for recycling), the production and use of biodegradable plastic and plastics from power-to-X, and the development of recycling approaches. This study proposes an optimisation strategy based on regression to evaluate and predict plastic use and end-of-life fate in the future based on historical trends. The mathematical model is formulated and correlations based on functions of time are developed and optimised by minimising the sum of squared residuals. The plastic quantities up to the year 2050 are projected based on historical trends analysis, and for improved sustainability, projections are additionally based on intervention analyses. The results show that the global use of plastics is expected to increase from 464 Mt in 2020 up to 884 Mt in 2050, with up to 4725 Mt of plastics accumulated in stock in 2050 (from the year 2000). Compared to other available forecasts, a slightly lower level of plastic use and stock are obtained. The intervention analysis estimates a range of global plastics' consumption between 594 Mt and 1018 Mt in 2050 by taking into account its different increment rates (between −1 % and 2.65 %). In the packaging sector, the implementation of reduction targets (15 % reduction in 2040 compared to 2018) could lead to a 27.3 % decrease in plastic use in 2050 as compared to 2018, while achieving recycling targets (55 % in 2030) would recycle >75 % of plastic packaging in 2050. The partial substitution of fossil-based plastics with bioplastics (polyethylene) will require significant land area, between 0.2 × 10 6 km 2 for obtaining switchgrass and up to around 1.0 × 10 6 km 2 for obtaining forest residue (annual yields of 58.15 t/ha and 3.5 t/ha) in 2050. The intervention analysis shows that proactive policies can mitigate sustainability challenges, however achieving broader sustainability goals also requires reduction of footprints related to energy production and virgin plastic production, the production of bio-based plastics, and the full implementation of recycling initiatives.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown how academic emotions are related to achievement and to cognitive/motivational variables that promote achievement. Mediated models have been proposed to account for the relationships among academic emotions, cognitive/motivational variables, and achievement, and research has supported such mediated models, particularly with negative emotions. AIMS: The study tested the hypotheses: (1) self-regulation and the positive academic emotions of enjoyment and pride are positive predictors of achievement; and (2) enjoyment and pride both moderate the relationship between self-regulation and achievement. SAMPLE: Participants were 1,345 students enrolled in various trigonometry classes in one university. METHODS: Participants answered the Academic Emotions Questionnaire-Math (Pekrun, Goetz, & Frenzel, 2005) and a self-regulation scale (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991) halfway through their trigonometry class. The students' final grades in the course were regressed to self-regulation, positive emotions, and the interaction terms to test the moderation effects. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Enjoyment and pride were both positive predictors of grades; more importantly, both moderated the relationship between self-regulation and grades. For students who report higher levels of both positive emotions, self-regulation was positively associated with grades. However, for those who report lower levels of pride, self-regulation was not related to grades; and, for those who reported lower levels of enjoyment, self-regulation was negatively related to grades. The results are discussed in terms of how positive emotions indicate positive appraisals of task/outcome value, and thus enhance the positive links between cognitive/motivational variables and learning.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on everyday functioning, considerable measures being taken to reduce the spread of the virus. Schools and social avenues have been placed on prolonged lockdowns, with people continuing to maintain physical distance. Adolescents and young people have had to endure significant stress alongside dealing with developmental characteristics. Amidst all of this, studies report an increase in gaming addiction and internet use with detrimental impact on psychosocial well-being. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of lockdown on internet use in adolescents, comparing their habits from before the pandemic. Furthermore, this research aimed to investigate the relationship between gaming addiction, internet use and COVID-19 worries. Adolescents from several countries (e.g., India, Malaysia, Mexico and the UK) completed online questionnaires, shared via social media and youth networks. These measures included questions on internet, social media, gaming, depression, loneliness, escapism and COVID-19. Results show that adolescents generally have increased their use of social media sites and streaming services. Further, those who scored highly on gaming addiction, compulsive internet use and social media use also reported high scores of depression, loneliness, escapism, poor sleep quality and anxiety related to the pandemic. Our findings indicate that, regardless of country of residence, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant effect on adolescent internet use and psychosocial well-being. The need to address pandemic related distress to reduce the effect of maladaptive coping strategies is highlighted

The advent of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in modern oncology has significantly improved survival in several cancer settings. A subgroup of women with breast cancer (BC) has immunogenic infiltration of lymphocytes with expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). These patients may potentially benefit from ICI targeting the programmed death 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 signaling axis. The use of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) as predictive and prognostic biomarkers has been under intense examination. Emerging data suggest that TILs are associated with response to both cytotoxic treatments and immunotherapy, particularly for patients with triple-negative BC. In this review from The International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group, we discuss (a) the biological understanding of TILs, (b) their analytical and clinical validity and efforts toward the clinical utility in BC, and (c) the current status of PD-L1 and TIL testing across different continents, including experiences from low-to-middle-income countries, incorporating also the view of a patient advocate. This information will help set the stage for future approaches to optimize the understanding and clinical utilization of TIL analysis in patients with BC.

The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

The undeniable environmental ramifications of continued dependence on oil-derived jet fuel have spurred international efforts in the aviation sector toward alternative solutions. Due to the limited options for decarbonization, the successful implementation of bio-aviation fuel is crucial in contributing to the roster of greenhouse gas emissions mitigation strategies for the aviation sector. Since fleet replacement with low-carbon technologies may not be a feasible option, due to the long lifetime and significant capital cost of aircraft, “drop-in” alternatives, which can be used in the engines of existing aircraft in a seamless transition, may be required. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the supply chain components of bio-aviation fuel provision: feedstocks, production pathways, storage, and transport. The economic and environmental performance of different potential bio-feedstocks and technologies are investigated and compared in order to make recommendations on short- and long-term strategies that could be employed internationally. Hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids production pathway, utilizing second-generation oil-seed crops and waste oils, could be an effective immediate solution with the potential for substantial greenhouse gas emissions savings. Microalgal oil could potentially offer far greater yields of bio-aviation fuel and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but the technology for large-scale algae cultivation is inadequately mature at present. Fischer-Tropsch production pathway using lignocellulosic biomass has the potential for the highest greenhouse gas emissions savings, which could potentially be the solution within the medium- to long-term plans of the aviation industry, but further research and optimization are required prior to its large-scale implementation due to its limited technological maturity and high capital costs. In practice, the “ideal” feedstocks and technologies of the supply chains are heavily dependent on spatial and temporal criteria. Moreover, many of the parameters investigated are interlinked to each other and the measures that are effective in greenhouse gases emissions reduction are largely associated with increased cost. Hence, policies must be streamlined across the supply chain components that could help in the cost-effective and sustainable deployment of bio-aviation fuel.

The innovation of polyolefin with unique architecture, composition and topology continues to inspire polymer chemists. An exciting recent direction in the polyolefin field is the design of new catalysts based on late-transition metals. In this review, we highlight recent developments in rationally designing late-transition metal catalysts for olefin polymerization. The examples described in this review showcase the power of the design of well-defined late-metal catalysts for tailored polyolefin synthesis, which may usher in a new era in the polymer industry.