The waste management of plastic has become a pressing environmental issue, with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being one of the major contributors. To address this challenge, the utilization of recycled PET fibers and strips in geotechnical engineering applications for soil stabilization has gained considerable attention. This review aims to provide a comprehensive study of the geotechnical engineering properties of recycled-PET-reinforced soils. The review examines various factors influencing the performance of PET-reinforced soils, including PET percent content, fiber length, and aspect ratio. It evaluates the mechanical properties, like shear strength, compressibility, bearing capacity, hydraulic behavior, and durability of recycled-PET-reinforced soils. The findings reveal PET reinforcement enhances shear strength, reduces settlement, and increases the bearing capacity and stability of the soil. However, it is observed that the incorporation of recycled PET fibers and strips does not lead to a significant impact on the dry density of the soil. Finally, an environmental and cost comparison analysis of recycled PET fibers and strips was conducted. This review serves as a valuable resource for researchers, engineers, and practitioners involved in the field, offering insights into the geotechnical properties of PET-reinforced soils and outlining future research directions to maximize their effectiveness and sustainability.

The collective meals market generates significant revenue for the world economy. Food services are responsible for consuming large amounts of water and energy, as well as generating a substantial volume of waste, which is often improperly disposed of. Given the unchecked expansion of food services, the lack of proper management of environmental resources can undermine sustainability principles, posing a threat to future generations. This scoping review aimed to synthesize the existing scientific literature on carbon and water footprints in food services, describing the main methods and tools used and what strategies have been proposed to mitigate the high values of these footprints. The search for articles was performed on 6 June 2024 in seven electronic databases, using MeSH Terms and adaptations for each database from database inception. The search for local studies was complemented by a manual search in the list of references of the studies selected to compose this review. It included quantitative studies assessing footprints (water or carbon) in food services and excluded reviews, studies that reported footprints for diets, and protocols. A total of 2642 studies were identified, and among these, 29 were selected for this review. According to the findings, it was observed that meats, especially beef, contribute more to water and carbon footprint compared to other proteins. Mitigation strategies for the water footprint include promoting plant-based diets, menu changes, and awareness.

BACKGROUND: In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, changing demographics, and evolving healthcare needs, the landscape of health services has been undergoing a profound transformation. Innovation has emerged as a central force driving change in the healthcare sector, as stakeholders across the globe strive to enhance the quality, accessibility, and efficiency of healthcare services.
OBJECTIVE: Within this dynamic context, this systematic literature review explored the barriers and driving forces behind successful health service innovation.
METHODS: A comprehensive systematic literature review was conducted using the Griffith University Library search engine and databases that included PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus, and CINHAL. To achieve the study goal, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and the associated PRISMA checklist guided the review and reporting method.
RESULTS: Findings from this review identified a need for a universal definition of health innovation that encompasses the unique complexities and challenges within this context. In our comprehensive analysis of healthcare innovation, we have uncovered pivotal findings that underscore the indispensable nature of a well-structured framework.
CONCLUSIONS: To succeed in fostering innovation within the health and social care sectors, it is imperative to establish an overarching organisational culture that meticulously addresses the following key components: team challenges; communication and collaboration; governance goals and authentic leadership, environmental engagement; and innovation endurance. Through systematic analysis of existing literature, this review offers a definition of health innovation, covering its conceptual foundations, determinants, and barriers, and provides a framework for creating an innovative culture.

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) has substantially boosted global unconventional hydrocarbon production but has also introduced various environmental and operational challenges. Understanding the interactions between abundant and diverse microbial communities and chemicals, particularly polymers used for proppant delivery, thickening, and friction reduction, in HF water cycles is crucial for addressing these challenges. This review primarily examined the recent studies conducted in China, an emerging area for HF activities, and comparatively examined studies from other regions. In China, polyacrylamide (PAM) and its derivatives products became key components in hydraulic fracturing fluid (HFF) for unconventional hydrocarbon development. The microbial diversity of unconventional HF water cycles in China was higher compared to North America, with frequent detection of taxa such as Shewanella, Marinobacter, and Desulfobacter. While biodegradation, biocorrosion, and biofouling were common issues across regions, the mechanisms underlying these microbe-polymer interactions differed substantially. Notably, in HF sites in the Sichuan Basin, the use of biocides gradually decreased its efficiency to mitigate adverse microbial activities. High-throughput sequencing proved to be a robust tool that could identify key bioindicators and biodegradation pathways, and help select optimal polymers and biocides, leading to more efficient HFF systems. The primary aim of this study is to raise awareness about the interactions between microorganisms and polymers, providing fresh insights that can inform decisions related to enhanced chemical use and biological control measures at HF sites.

BACKGROUND: Climate change has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the greatest existing threat to human health. Given the direct exposure of the upper aerodigestive system to pollutants, patients in otolaryngology are at high risk for increased disease burden in the setting of climate change and worsening air quality. Given this and the environmental impact of surgical care, it is essential for surgeons to understand their role in addressing climate health through quality-driven clinical initiatives, education, advocacy, and research.
METHODS: A state-of-the-art review was performed of the existing literature on the otolaryngologic health impacts of climate change and environmental sustainability efforts in surgery with specific attention to studies in otolaryngology - head and neck surgery.
RESULTS: Climate variables including heat and air pollution are associated with increased incidence of allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis and head and neck cancer. A number of studies have shown that sustainability initiatives in otolaryngology are safe and provide direct cost benefit.
CONCLUSIONS: Surgeons have the opportunity to lead on climate health and sustainability to address the public health burden of climate change.

By 2050, approximately 43 million tons of wind-turbine blade (WTB) waste materials will have accumulated, emphasizing the critical importance of effective waste management strategies for WTBs at the end of their life cycle to ensure sustainability. Comparing current WTB waste management methods, reuse emerges as a highly-sustainable method that can also serve as a sustainable solution to environmental challenges, including global warming and natural resource depletion associated with civil engineering activities. This paper presents a comprehensive review of sustainable solutions for reusing WTB waste materials in civil engineering applications. Repurposing WTB waste materials as structural elements in housing, urban furniture, recreational facilities, and slow-traffic infrastructure can be a viable option. WTB waste can also be utilized in powder, fiber, and aggregate forms as an eco-friendly material for construction and pavement (e.g., mortar, concrete, asphalt) to replace cement and natural resource aggregates while meeting necessary strength and performance standards. Through a detailed analysis of reusing WTB waste materials, economic and environmental challenges are also discussed. According to the findings, the properties of mortar, concrete, and asphalt can be affected by the type, shape, and content of fibers, polymers, and impurities present in the blades, as well as the cutting direction. Furthermore, while reuse is considered a sustainable end-of-life (EoL) option for WTB waste management from both economic and environmental perspectives, further research is required to fully understand the environmental consequences of this method.

Environmental pollution poses a critical global challenge, and traditional wastewater treatment methods often prove inadequate in addressing the complexity and scale of this issue. On the other hand, microalgae exhibit diverse metabolic capabilities that enable them to remediate a wide range of pollutants, including heavy metals, organic contaminants, and excess nutrients. By leveraging the unique metabolic pathways of microalgae, innovative strategies can be developed to effectively remediate polluted environments. Therefore, this review paper highlights the potential of microalgae-mediated bioremediation as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional methods. It also highlights the advantages of utilizing microalgae and algae-bacteria co-cultures for large-scale bioremediation applications, demonstrating impressive biomass production rates and enhanced pollutant removal efficiency. The promising potential of microalgae-mediated bioremediation is emphasized, presenting a viable and innovative alternative to traditional treatment methods in addressing the global challenge of environmental pollution. This review identifies the opportunities and challenges for microalgae-based technology and proposed suggestions for future studies to tackle challenges. The findings of this review advance our understanding of the potential of microalgae-based technology wastewater treatment.

The topic of consumer food choice has received much attention among researchers and stakeholders within the food industry. However, in order to better facilitate food consumption towards a more sustainable direction, we need increased knowledge and understanding of factors that influence consumers\' food choice. This study is a systematic review of reviews conducted between 2017 and 2021, summarising and synthesising reviews on food choice. The aim is to provide an update of the current knowledge on consumer food choice, point out what is already known, and identify knowledge gaps to enable a prioritisation for future research. The analysis highlights decisive factors in food choice, i.e. product, available information, price, context, personal and group influences and sensory perceptions. The synthesis of findings follows a socioecological model, integrating four different levels of the social and environmental systems: the physical food environment, the social and community level, interpersonal relations and, finally, individual characteristics such as psychological and behavioural factors. Results show that behavioural patterns, influenced by strong informal institutions, such as culture and norms, can be difficult to break; for example, changing into more sustainable food behaviour. The findings suggest that more interdisciplinary research and studies in real-life settings are needed to grasp the complexity of food choice. This would allow for us to better understand consumers as social beings shaped by, among other things, the physical environment, social interactions, and culture.

In the last decades, several studies have highlighted the significant impacts of the food sector. Therefore, enhancing sustainability within this sector has become of paramount importance. A crucial step towards achieving this goal involves the definition and implementation of effective sustainability metric and measurements. In this regard, the adoption of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods can be seen as one of the most suitable and promising approach to comprehensively capture the complex and broad-ranging effects of agricultural practices and food supply chains. In such context, a systematic review of the scientific literature on multi-criteria approaches and tools for measuring the sustainability of food supply chains (harvest and post-harvest stages) has been carried out, resulting in the selection and analysis of 42 articles. To delve into the selected articles, three main areas of focus have been identified. The first about MCDA methods and their features, revealing the most adopted methods for sustainability assessments of food supply chains. The second, focusing on the participatory approach, led to the definition of a stakeholder\'s engagement map, highlighting the typology of stakeholders involved, the reasons of their involvement and engagement methods. Lastly, the third focus is related to the analysis and classification of indicators adopted in each study and the sustainability dimensions to which they refer to. The results of the present review study provide a comprehensive overview of the essential aspects to be considered when developing a MCDA for sustainability assessment in the food sector, serving as a valuable resource for both scholars and practitioners.

BACKGROUND: The implementation of digital disease surveillance systems at national levels in Africa have been challenged by many factors. These include user applicability, utility of IT features but also stable financial support. Funding closely intertwines with implementations in terms of geographical reach, disease focus, and sustainability. However, the practice of evidence sharing on geographical and disease coverage, costs, and funding sources for improving the implementation of these systems on the continent is unclear.
OBJECTIVE: To analyse the key characteristics and availability of evidence for implementing digital infectious disease surveillance systems in Africa namely their disease focus, geographical reach, cost reporting, and external funding support.
METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature for the period 2003 to 2022 (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022300849). We searched five databases (PubMed, MEDLINE over Ovid, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) and websites of WHO, Africa CDC, and public health institutes of African countries. We mapped the distribution of projects by country; identified reported implementation cost components; categorised the availability of data on cost components; and identified supporting funding institutions outside Africa.
RESULTS: A total of 29 reports from 2,033 search results were eligible for analysis. We identified 27 projects implemented in 13 countries, across 32 sites. Of these, 24 (75%) were pilot projects with a median duration of 16 months, (IQR: 5-40). Of the 27 projects, 5 (19%) were implemented for HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis, 4 (15%) for malaria, 4 (15%) for all notifiable diseases, and 4 (15%) for One Health. We identified 17 cost components across the 29 reports. Of these, 11 (38%) reported quantified costs for start-up capital, 10 (34%) for health personnel compensation, 9 (31%) for training and capacity building, 8 (28%) for software maintenance, and 7(24%) for surveillance data transmission. Of 65 counts of external funding sources, 35 (54%) were governmental agencies, 15 (23%) foundations, and 7 (11%) UN agencies.
CONCLUSIONS: The evidence on costing data for the digitalisation of surveillance and outbreak response in the published literature is sparse in quantity, limited in detail, and without a standardised reporting format. Most initial direct project costs are substantially donor dependent, short lived, and thus unsustainable.