Freezing Biological Time: A Modern Perspective on Organ Preservation

The global effort to curb carbon emissions is accelerating demand for clean energy technologies and the materials they rely on. Demand for these materials will only continue to grow, especially as some nations aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. While some major materials like steel, copper, and aluminum are already powering the fossil fuel economy, others are more minor materials with potential supply risks. These risks could jeopardize the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the desirable timeframe to avoid significant climate change. In some cases, it may be necessary to take action to improve the resilience of material supply chains and mitigate supply risks. Understanding the importance of individual materials to clean energy and the supply risks associated with them is necessary to identify which materials may serve as potential roadblocks to a clean energy future. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a series of 13 supply chain deep dive assessment reports on various energy technologies in 2022 in response to President Biden’s Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains (E.O. 14017). These reports emphasized that supply chain bottlenecks can occur at any stage of the value chain from mining and refining to component and even sub-system manufacturing. The bottlenecks are a combination of factors such as material availability, equipment availability, work force availability and quality, logistics, regulatory framework, and market conditions. These bottlenecks were worsened during the global Covid-19 pandemic. Its lingering impacts have hindered capacity expansion for material supply chains and prevented product lead-time recovery. One approach to reduce supply chain risks for the United States is to have a strong domestic manufacturing sector with a diverse set of producers. Boosting responsible domestic production would require leveraging the latest science not only in material extraction but also in developing substitutes, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing. This report is an updated analysis of previous Critical Materials Strategy (CMS) reports published by the DOE in 2010, 2011, and 2019 based on national and global priorities, technology advancement, and technology adoption trends. Like the CMS reports, this analysis presents the results of a formal material criticality assessment to identify which materials are critical to the continued deployment of clean energy technologies globally. The analysis in this report leveraged the DOE supply chain deep dive assessments to develop the initial list of materials to evaluate. This DOE Critical Materials Assessment (CMA) is conducted independently of criticality assessments performed by other U.S. government agencies, such as that conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This analysis complements the USGS critical minerals determination in three aspects. First, the DOE assessment is performed from a global perspective, while the USGS analysis focusses on the importance of minerals to the U.S. economy. Second, this report focuses on the importance of materials to clean energy technologies, rather than to the economy in general. Lastly, this study is forward looking to 2035 based on clean energy deployment scenarios, whereas the USGS assessment is retrospective. Materials evaluated in this report that do not appear in the USGS Critical Minerals List include copper, uranium, electrical steel, and SiC. A draft version of this report received ~80 public comments related to supporting data and methodological improvement. Those comments have been incorporated as much as possible where appropriate. Highlights of findings from this 2023 CMA include: Rare earth materials (neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium) used in magnets in electric vehicle (EV) motors and wind turbine generators continue to be critical. While dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb) are both heavy rare earth elements that serve the same function in magnets, the criticality of Tb is slightly lower than that for Dy in the short term due to the widespread use of Dy in high-grade magnets and Tb’s present role as a substitute. Similarly, praseodymium (Pr) is critical in the medium term but only near critical in the short term because it is more substitutable in magnets than neodymium (Nd); Materials used in batteries for EVs and stationary storage are now considered to be critical. While cobalt (Co) was found to be critical in this and previous reports, lithium (Li) becomes critical in the medium term due to its broader use in various battery chemistries and the rampant growth of the EV industry. Natural graphite is a new addition in this assessment and is also found to be critical; Platinum group metals used in hydrogen electrolyzers, such as platinum (Pr) and iridium (Ir), are critical due to an increased focus on hydrogen technologies to achieve net zero carbon emissions, while those used in catalytic converters, such as rhodium (Rh) and palladium (Pd), were screened out due to the decreased importance of catalytic converters in the medium term; Gallium (Ga) continues to be critical due to its use in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In addition, the use of Ga has increased in magnet manufacturing and in semiconductor in forms such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) or gallium nitride (GaN); Major materials like Aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and silicon (Si) move from noncritical in the short term to near critical in the medium term due to their importance in electrification; Electrical steel is near critical due to its use in transformers for the grid and electric motors in EVs.

This paper shows a framework of risk assessment models and analyzes the Mexican context of the supply chain for hazardous materials. A new set of risk assessment models is developed for each main activity of the closed-loop supply chain for hazardous materials. This model can be used to evaluate suppliers, transportation routes, outsourcing options and the material itself. A proportional risk-assessment technique is used to define risk cost calculation for the hazardous materials management using the National Fire Protection Agency classification. Hazardous materials represent a logistics challenge because of the risk involved at their handling. From 2006 to 2009 a total of 1,200 accidents were reported at different points of the supply chain. The investigated models require a previous analysis of the activities in order to calculate factors, such as the accident rate and possible affected population, among others; that could affect the cost in case of an accident. Analyzing the risk, cost values can be used by decision makers to determine which activities should be outsourced in order to avoid the risk itself or to fulfill laws and regulations.

As an important component of railway intelligent construction, the intelligent management platform for material supply chain is an integrated platform for material management in intelligent construction and an inevitable trend for the continuous development of the full-process information management of railway engineering material supply chain. This paper analyzes and proposes the architecture of the full-process information management system for the material supply chain, and develops an intelligent management platform for the material supply chain. The main functions include the coding and identification system, intelligent supply and demand matching of materials, procurement management, in-transit tracking management, intelligent warehouse management, collaborative dispatching management, and analysis and decision-making management. The research results show that the full-process information management of the railway engineering materials supply chain is oriented towards the main process of project implementation, conducting real-time control over the life cycle of engineering materials, achieving full-process coordinated dynamic management and dispatching command among all participating construction units and supply units, and improving the multi-level and multi-dimensional intelligent analysis capabilities of discrete business data. Support the continuous development of dynamic control throughout the entire process of railway engineering construction materials.

Construction materials play a crucial role in the project delivery process. However, the process of requisition for the materials on construction site if not handled appropriately can adversely affect the performance of quality, cost, and time. Therefore, the study was aimed at developing an automated materials requisition system which will make the supply chain on construction sites seamless and more effective. A use case diagram and an activity block diagram helped to understand the users and functionalities of the material requisition platform. In addition, using different user interface and a database system including a programming language to connect them, the study developed an automated Web-based material requisition system for construction firms using the model view controller (MVC) model. The MVC model comprised of using MySQL, HTML, and PHP, respectively, in the design. The automated materials requisition system was tested by sending material requisition through the supply chain of a construction firm. Result of the automated system was presented via screenshots of the Web-based platform. In conclusion, any construction firm can register on the platform and make use of the automated materials requisition system in order to maximize the productivity and optimize the use of ICT in their materials’ supply chain process.

Current perspectives in transplant medicine: hypothermic oxygenated perfusion Sebastian G Michel,1 Joren C Madsen2,3 1Department of Cardiac Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany; 2Department of Surgery, Center for Transplantation Sciences, 3Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Abstract: The purpose of this review was to provide an update on hypothermic oxygenated perfusion as a preservation technique for whole organ allografts. Clinical and experimental data in heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas/islet transplantation are summarized with a special emphasis on marginal donors and donation after circulatory death. The rationale behind hypothermic machine perfusion as well as its advantages and disadvantages compared to conventional cold storage and the competing technique, normothermic machine perfusion, are reviewed. Keywords: organ transplantation, organ preservation, hypothermic perfusion

Planning is crucial to an organization whether it is required for the execution of manufacture, repair and overhaul, or another aspect of the engineering supply chain. It is particularly important to the aerospace and defence industry because the supply chain for materials, parts and processes may now stretch around the globe. Planning and controlling this invariably complex set of relationships places considerable demands on both human and IT resources. Additionally, other developments are pushing existing planning systems to their limits. Outsourcing is a case in point, where organizations are increasingly focusing on their core business and delegating the responsibility for specialized requirements to external suppliers with more appropriate or cost‐effective resources.

The Biopreservation Student Association of the University of Alberta and faculty members involved in biopreservation research hosted the meeting. The purpose of this two-day meeting was to highlight presentations and discussions on current research and interdisciplinary ideas related to cold, ice, and biological systems. The theme of the conference reflected the many unsuccessful experiments in the laboratory that may not lead to publishable results but still lead to new insights for the researcher. Participants talked about events that seemed to be failures at first but actually hinted at something unexpected and resulted in a different way of looking at a specific problem. The group hosted approximately 35 people, including world-renowned scientists and leading researchers from the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Indiana University. Dr. Kenneth Storey from Carleton University, Ottawa, presented the keynote address about the ability of some species of frogs to survive freezing and the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate freeze tolerance. Participation in the conference was free for all the attendees, who included principal investigators, research associates, graduate students, and technicians. A variety of topics were discussed during the meeting, including tissue and organ preservation, cryosurgery, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, improved techniques for cell preservation, and mathematical modeling in cryobiology. The meeting was followed by a roundtable discussion. The conference was an excellent opportunity to display Alberta's outstanding contribution to low-temperature biology and applications in transplant medicine, transfusion science, and biomedical engineering. A significant amount of time was allowed after each presentation to promote discussions between attendees, and many new scientific links were established during the meeting.

Forest resource information and real-time order-supply service are significant in wood fuel procurement. Section 1 defines the data sources of solid wood fuel procurement for regional power plants and their material supply chain. Section 2 presents an architecture for the order-supply process of wood fuel, and Section 3 creates an application for managing the supply chain and reporting. The system creates and uses data from different sources: a forest resource information system, wood material webstores, and enterprise resource planning (ERP). The data model, which follows the entity-attribute-value approach, is based on the annual processes of wood fuel procurement. These include wood fuel procurement planning in plants, processing of wood materials, ordering of wood fuel, and reporting. There is the view of the characteristics of PC and mobile services used by the enterprises of solid wood fuels. Reporting includes real-time information for suppliers, effectiveness of transportation and megawatt production, and spatial marking of forest nature reserves and carbon sinks.

Lung transplantation (LuTX) can be the last resort for patients with end-stage lung diseases. In the last decades, improvements were implemented in transplant medicine, from immunosuppression throughout preservation of the donor organ to enhance lung allograft survival. This retrospective study aims to illustrate the development of the LuTX-program at the University Hospital of Munich, LMU, Munich, Germany, since its launch in 1990 by depicting and comparing postoperative outcome. We analyzed all LuTX performed from 1990 to 2019. Data was collected on indication for transplantation (TX), date, type (double/single) and postoperative survival. Survival analysis and Kaplan-Meier estimator were used to identify factors that are detrimental to post-LuTX-outcome. A total of 1,054 LuTX were performed over 30 years, comprising overall 1,024 patients (30 retransplantations). The best results regarding five-year survival rates (5-YSR) were observed in patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) (5-YSR: LAM: 78.6%, HP: 73.6%). We could show that besides that the type of LuTX played a crucial role in post-TX survival, depicting double superior to single LuTX (5-YSR: single: 47.2%, double: 64.5%). Additionally, cytomegalovirus (CMV) risk constellation (high/intermediate risk; P=0.02) and infection (P<0.001) were identified as risk factors for deteriorated survival. Data analysis demonstrates that the field of LuTX has undergone enormous progress over the years. Therapeutic advances and improvements in interdisciplinary cooperation, pre- and postoperative management, changes in immunosuppressive medication, diagnosis and treatment of allograft rejections have clearly improved lung allograft and patient survival.

This study aims to determine the analysis of the chicken raw material supply chain at the Rice Bowl at Miwiti SMEs using a qualitative descriptive approach method based on the results of interviews and direct observations at the Miwiti SME location. The results of the study indicate that the supply chain at the Rice Bowl at Miwiti SMEs cannot be separated from the Upstream supply chain, Internal supply chain, and Downstream supply chain. These results indicate that the upstream supply chain is related to the activity of supplying raw materials starting from chicken traders at Pasar Anyar Bogor - processing into chicken rice bowls - rice bowls at Miwiti SMEs. The internal supply chain includes procurement of raw materials - washing - cutting - draining water - seasoning - frying - draining oil - packaging. The downstream supply chain includes distribution activities to end consumers. The supply chain that occurs at Miwiti SMEs is running well from the procurement of chicken raw materials from suppliers to customers.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to design petroleum products’ supply chain management, which includes efficient integration of suppliers, manufacturers, storehouses and retailers.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes that a three-level supply chain will be turned into a bi-level supply chain of petroleum products by simultaneous integration of the middle level with the upstream and downstream levels. Also, it is integrally optimized by considering the multiple managerial flows' mutual results at various supply chain levels. Also, it is integrally optimized by considering the multiple managerial flows' mutual results at various supply chain levels.FindingsThe concepts of the design, structure and outputs are led by the model's solution. The model also responds to the variations in the market via coordination in the related decisions to the distribution, production and inventory issues, and also coordinating between the demands and production.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper has limited its analysis to definite values due to the over-expansion of calculations and analysis. Future works can study other aspects of the proposed model for a multi-level petroleum product supply chain in different states of certain parameters and time zones.Practical implicationsThe designed model can directly and transparently help the oil managers and decision-makers lower the costs of manufacturing, distribution and sales with respect to the determined criteria.Originality/valueThis paper establishes that effectiveness of the dynamic petroleum materials supply chain design will increase by considering maintained and increased production costs and coordinate management flows at all levels by supply chain creation’s integration.

This paper analyses the development of aerospace material supply chains. The paper begins with an overview of operations management literature, which introduces and conceptualises the research area. Supply chain literature is examined, focusing on supply chain structure and the inter‐organisational links between supply chain actors. Analysis of case study material is presented to illustrate the scope, complexity and interdependent nature of the aerospace supply chain. Recurring themes from the literature are compared with the data categories emergent from the empirical case data. The results are discussed in terms of the changes that are taking place in supply chain structure to increase the overall effectiveness of the network. The paper concludes by identifying the need for, and discussing the nature of, a specialised organisation focused on managing the complex structure of the supply chain.

Having Digital Product Passport (DPPs) as a disruptive technology to enhance transparency, traceability, and circularity in the garment and clothing industry has become a trend. Combining the data on material composition, supply chain, certifications, and end of life pathways, DPPs can enable brands, regulators and consumers to make prudent sustainability decisions. Nevertheless, that which makes DPPs powerful also creates significant problems of privacy, confidentiality and data security. The secrets of suppliers, the trade secrets in the sourcing business and the relations with customers require intense efforts to ensure that the transparency will not disrupt the trust and the competitiveness. The privacy conserving DPPs discussed in this chapter are applicable to the garment industry.

Significance This builds on current work upgrading the Lobito Corridor railway, which runs through Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and is designed to better integrate Europe and the United States into critical raw material (CRM) supply chains. Impacts The small number of committed users of the Lobito route thus far may affect its long-term profitability. Stalled government anti-corruption efforts and judicial capture may deter broader foreign investment in Angola. The project will fail to undermine significantly Chinese influence in Angola and across the region.

Aluminum is the world's second most consumed metal, and its production contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. When formulating decarbonization strategies, it is imperative to ensure their coherence and alignment with existing industrial practices and standards. A material flow analysis (MFA) is needed to gain a holistic and quantitative understanding of the flows and stocks of products/materials associated with all participants within the supply chain. To support risk-informed decision policymaking in decarbonizing aluminum manufacturing, this study develops a dynamic system model that maps global aluminum flows and computes their embedded GHG emissions. A baseline scenario is devised to reflect the current business and operation landscape, and three decarbonization strategies are proposed. Deterministic simulation is performed to generate dynamic material flows and performance metrics. Monte Carlo simulation is then implemented to evaluate the robustness of the system's performance under demand uncertainties. The results reveal the immense carbon implications of material efficiency, as well as the preponderant role of post-consumer scrap recycling in decarbonizing aluminum manufacturing. Informed by simulation outputs, macro decarbonization guidelines are formulated for various criteria. The object-oriented programming framework that underlies the dynamic MFA may be integrated with network analysis, agent-based simulation, and geospatial interfaces, which may lay the foundation for modeling more fine-grained material flows and supply chain structures.