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Trends expected to accelerate in the biopharma industry
Jane Marsh Waste Management & EnvironmentalAs eco-consumerism rises, individuals call for higher sustainability standards in the medical industry. Research and development are booming, and in the process, are generating surface-level and atmospheric waste. Fortunately, environmental researchers are developing sustainable procedures for biopharma companies to follow. Various trends are rising in the industry, decreasing the ecological degradation associated with production and distribution.
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Infographic: How to become an entrepreneur
Brian Wallace Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIf you go back a few generations in time, entrepreneurs were not all about the glitz and glamor of today. It was actually a looked down upon profession. So, what’s changed in the world? Entrepreneurship only works properly with a contract with society to succeed.
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Infographic: A look at the modern energy market
Brian Wallace Waste Management & EnvironmentalIn four years, the renewable energy market will reach $1.5 trillion. Climate awareness is increasing demand; half of Americans say they would purchase renewable energy and even pay $15 more a month for the chance. The issue with renewable, reliable energy today is the battery. Renewable energy is generated inconsistently. People still need electricity when the wind is still. Lithium-ion batteries, used since 1912, aren’t a good fit for future demands. Their capacity degrades over time and the batteries are difficult to recycle when they read the end of their lives.
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Price adjustment clauses optimization
Martin Hinterwimmer and Pablo Scaffidi Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementThe aim of this article is to extrapolate the concepts related to portfolio management for the optimization of price adjustment clauses in service and material supply contracts. Given that the Argentine Republic is recurrently affected by inflation, private service contracts and material supply contracts in the oil and gas industry normally include price adjustment clauses, which allow the parties to keep prices at a reasonable level for the term of the contract.
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Study: Dryer weather connected to an increase in COVID-19 cases
Amanda Ghosh Medical & Allied HealthcareThere is yet another reason to wear your mask. A recent study published in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases confirms that drier air is associated with an increase in COVID-19 cases. The study, entitled "Humidity is a Consistent Climatic Factor Contributing to SARS‐CoV‐2 Transmission," is the second to confirm the impact of humidity on the spread of COVID-19. Specifically, a 1% drop in relative humidity was associated with a 7-8% increase in COVID-19 cases.
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White oak genetics and tree improvement program: A range-wide collaboration
Laura DeWald Natural ResourcesAn eastern U.S. project focused on developing improved white oak (Quercus alba) and understanding its genetic potential has been established at the University of Kentucky. The project is working with forest, wood, and distilling industries and forestry, conservation, and wildlife agencies and organizations to answer a wide variety of questions associated with genetic variation in white oak. Any interested individual or organization is welcome to join the white oak genetics and tree improvement collaboration.
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Rare-earth elements spark resource war
Dave G. Houser Natural ResourcesRare-earth elements (REE) — also known as rare-earth minerals or rare-earth metals — are a group of 17 chemical elements of the periodic table. Although most of them are not terribly rare, they are highly strategic substances and vital components in most of the technology we employ every day. What is rare are deposits of these minerals in high enough concentrations to be feasibly and economically extracted. Presently, about 90% of the global supply of rare-earth elements comes from just one country: China.
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How local, urban farming could help alleviate international food supply…
Scott E. Rupp Food & BeverageGlobalization has meant a lot of things: More opportunities for economic advancement, an easier way for pandemics to spread (as we've seen with COVID-19), and the rise in internationally supported food production and consumption in recent decades. Regarding food stocks, cultivation has become more efficient, and diets have diversified. People are eating food that their parents never experienced nor knew previously existed. But this edible bounty is leading to a situation where the majority of the world's population lives in countries now dependent on — partially — imported food.
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Deforestation, human activity may be more responsible for viruses’…
Scott E. Rupp Waste Management & EnvironmentalDeforestation across the globe is negatively impacting the world's population and leading to the spread of disease, including coronaviruses. According to a new Stanford study, as large swaths of dense forestland are cleared for farming or other human use, viruses that jump from animals to people, like COVID-19, will likely become more common. Published in Landscape Ecology, the study suggests that deforestation puts people at higher risk of interactions with wild primates — and the viruses they carry — meaning the emergence and spread of infectious animal-to-human diseases.
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COVID-19 continues to be good for the planet — for now
Scott E. Rupp Waste Management & EnvironmentalWith the coronavirus raging, there's little that's not connected to the topic. The environment continues to be a bright spot among the bad news. It's a topic we've covered here before, but social distancing and the near-shutdown of the world's economy are having overwhelmingly positive impacts on the health of the planet. Manufacturing and most pollution-producing industries have ground to a halt due to the spread of the virus. Paul Monks, professor of air pollution at the University of Leicester, called it the "largest-scale experiment ever" regarding the reduction of industrial emissions.
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