Organic waste derived bioethanol supply chain network: Multiobjective snapshot model with a real-Korea case study.

Bioethanol, a promising biofuel gasoline additive, was recently produced by a new technology using acetic acid derived from organic waste. This study develops a multiobjective mathematical model with two competing minimization objectives: economy and environmental impact. The formulation is based on a mixed integer linear programming approach. The configuration of the organic-waste (OW)-based bioethanol supply chain network is optimized in terms of the number and locations of bioethanol refineries. The flows of acetic acid and bioethanol between the geographical nodes must meet the bioethanol regional demand. The model is validated in three real-scenario case studies with different OW utilization rates (30%, 50%, and 70%) in South Korea in the near future (2030). The multiobjective problem is solved using the ε-constraint method and the selected Pareto solutions balance the trade-off between the economic and environmental objectives. At the "best-choice" solution points, increasing the OW utilization rate from 30% to 70% decreased the total annual cost from 904.2 to 707.3 million $/yr and the total greenhouse emissions from 1087.2 to -15.7 CO2 equiv./yr.

Health and happiness of older Korean women participating in dance activities.

This study aimed to determine the health and happiness of older women participating in dance activities using the phenomenological analysis method. The study used snowball sampling to recruit eight participants among older women participating in a 3-month dance program in Korea, starting from March 2019. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and participatory observations, after which the gathered raw data were codified, systematically arranged, and analysed. The contents were then categorized by topic or content into different categories to derive meaningful interpretations and research results. To enhance the reliability and validity of the analysis, objectivity was ensured by applying appropriate criteria for assessing qualitative research. The analysis determined the participants' motivations for participation, health satisfaction, and happiness. The results conclusively and theoretically confirm the importance of dance-induced feelings of health and happiness among the older women in the study. The results should encourage relevant government agencies and other organizations to put increased effort into enacting policy measures to promote older women's health by revitalizing their participation in dance activities and providing them with long-term recreational interventions.

Reducing vaccine hesitancy by explaining vaccine science.

Vaccine hesitancy in the COVID-19 pandemic remained a problem long after mRNA vaccines became available. This may be due in part to misunderstandings about the vaccines, arising from complexities of the science involved. Two experiments, conducted on unvaccinated Americans at two periods postvaccine rollout in 2021, demonstrated that providing explanations, expressed in everyday language, and correcting known misunderstandings, reduced vaccine hesitancy compared to a no-information control group. Four explanations addressing misunderstandings about mRNA vaccine safety and effectiveness were tested in Experiment 1 (n = 3,787). Some included expository text while others included refutational text, explicitly stating and refuting the misunderstanding. Vaccine effectiveness statistics were expressed either as text or an icon array. Although all four explanations reduced vaccine hesitancy, the refutational format of those addressing vaccine safety (explaining the mRNA mechanism and mild side effects) was the most effective. These two explanations were retested individually and jointly in Experiment 2 (n = 1,476) later in the summer of 2021. Again, vaccine hesitancy was significantly reduced by all explanations despite differences in political ideology, trust, and prior attitudes. These results suggest that nontechnical explanations of critical issues in vaccine science can reduce vaccine hesitancy, especially when accompanied by refutational text. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

COVID-19: Risk perception, risk communication, and behavioral intentions.

Critical to limiting the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and future pandemics is compliance with behavioral recommendations such as mask wearing and social distancing. Compliance may depend upon understanding the seriousness of the health consequences and the likelihood they will occur. However, the statistics that speak to these issues in an ongoing pandemic are complex and may be misunderstood. An online experiment with a U.S. sample tested the impact on perceived likelihood, trust, concern, behavioral intentions, and agreement with government response of numeric (mortality/infection percentage by age group) and gist expressions (which age group was smaller [mortality] or roughly equivalent [infected]). While the differences in risk perception and willingness to engage in activities between younger and older participants were small, "gist infection and mortality" increased willingness to wear a mask among younger participants. Government restrictions (e.g., social distancing) impacted willingness to engage is risk-reduction and risk-seeking activities. The biggest differences were due to political ideology. Although conservatives perceived similar levels of risk as did liberals, they were much less willing to engage in protective behaviors and support government policies. However, conservatives were affected by some risk communication formats and restrictions suggesting that future work should be aimed at this issue. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Mesoporous platinum electrodes for amperometric determination of sugars with anion exchange chromatography.

A simple amperometric detection (AD) method based on mesoporous platinum (Pt) electrodes has been developed for the determination of sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose) with high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC). The amperometric detection is based on the direct oxidation of sugars on mesoporous Pt films formed on a gold electrode. The mesoporous Pt electrode (roughness factor of 243) sensitively responded to glucose, fructose, and sucrose in 80 mM sodium hydroxide solution as an alkaline mobile-phase for HPAEC. Under the optimum conditions, the limits of detection (S/N = 3) in these sugars were 0.24, 0.29, and 1.8 mM, for glucose, fructose, and sucrose, respectively. The reproducibility (relative standard deviation) of the measurements was less than 3.5%. The present method was applied to the determination of sugars in apple juice. The recoveries for all sugars ranged from 97 to 99%.