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AbstractPublishing scientific articles is an expedition of tenacious efforts with patience and conscientious decision-making; however, even with such careful consideration, researchers may overlook the dubious activities of clandestine organizations or remain oblivious to the unethical aspects of publishing. Paper mills are the latest impediment to academic publishing’s integrity. The increasing number of paper mill publications damages the credibility of genuine journals and jeopardizes academic integrity, adding to the vulnerability of research. This paper deals with the tactics, activity, detection, impact, and solving the menace of such fraudulent practices. This paper is a summary of existing literature and analysis that aims to increase awareness of fraudulent practices like paper mills among researchers and academicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green liquor dregs (GLD) is an alkaline by-product from the pulp and paper industry with a pH between 10 and 14. Today most of the produced GLD in Sweden is landfilled. As a fine-grained alkaline material, it might be possible to use it for acid-generating mining waste remediation. To increase the utilization, quality characteristics and environmental performance need to be determined. In this study samples were collected 5 times from 16 mills during a period of 2.5 years, and were characterized by analyzing dry matter content, loss on ignition (LOI) 550 °C and LOI 950 °C, elemental analysis, pH, electrical conductivity, and calorific value. The results were then evaluated using multivariate statistics (PCA) as well as being compared to other studies and Swedish till. The results show that even if GLD is heterogenous (both within a mill and between different mills) trends can be seen for samples from most mills. When samples do stand out, it is predominately related to the same four mills. Most of the studied parameters showed characteristics favorable for use as a remediant; however, TOC, sulfur, and some of the elements require further study. In general, this study concludes that GLD can be a viable option for the remediation of small orphaned sulfidic mining sites and thus worthy of further studies on the interaction between GLD and acidic mining waste. Overall, GLD can be a good alternative for cost-effective remediation of smaller orphaned mining sites. It is readily available in large quantities, has the qualities needed for remediation of many orphaned acidic mining sites, and can often be locally sourced near the mining site. The use of GLD for mining site remediation is likely also a more sustainable method compared to traditional remediation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pretreated carboxymethylated nanofibrillated cellulose (CM-NFC) was tested as a strength enhancer for specialty paper, such as banknotes made from cotton linter mixed pulp (CLMP). The pretreatment agent was cationic poly(acrylamide) (C-PAM). The CM-CMF prototype was supplied by a Korean manufacturer. Laboratory tests and pilot trials were performed to evaluate the strength enhancement of banknotes incorporated with surface-modified CM-NFC and determine the process problems encountered in a pilot paper machine. The CM-NFC was surface modified with 0.1% C-PAM without any agglomerates. The prepared laboratory handsheets had high paper strength, which was attributed to the higher nanofibril content of surface-modified CM-NFC compared with that of unmodified CM-NFC. Pilot trials showed that the incorporation of 3% surface-modified CM-NFC was highly effective in promoting the strength of banknote without low retention and drainability on the wet-end part of the pilot paper machine. Therefore, surface-modified CM-NFC at a controlled dosage could be used as a strength enhancer for specialty paper without incurring serious problems in a paper mill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While guest or honourary authorship in academic papers is a broadly and widely discussed phenomenon in biomedical research, the issue of the use—or abuse—of article-processing charges (APCs) as a form of potential authorship exchange currency, that is, the 'APC ring,' is neither being considered nor discussed. The APC is central to the open-access (OA) movement, specifically the gold OA model. It is conceivable that, in a hyper-competitive academic publishing environment where the number of gold OA journals is growing, a segment of poorly funded researchers aiming to publish in ranked OA journals with out-of-reach APCs might turn to richer or well-funded researchers to cover the APC bill in exchange for authorship. Despite this, no published cases directly documenting APC-for-authorship schemes as a form of guest authorship appear to exist, which seems inconceivable. One possible explanation is that if such unethical behaviour were to be detected by APC-charging OA journals, it might not be reported as such. In this situation, APC-dependent OA journals would be conflicted between receiving a financial lifeline, the APC, and exposing authors that have abused the APC in their journals in exchange for authorship. How would publishers dependent on the APC-based OA model justify receiving APCs derived from an APC ring? Although this form of guest authorship is currently hypothetical, it seems highly likely, so this issue needs greater debate, and if actual case studies exist, these need to be openly and publicly debated to better appreciate how this phenomenon is taking place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, for analysis, one and half liters of (effluent) waste water from paper mill industry was used in batch reactor, to study the variations in DO values under three operating conditions are speed, concentration of effluent in water and time with respect to step change in oxygen feed. The experiment was done 270 trails under specified operating conditions. Experimental data were collected, many trials were done using response surface method (RSM) and respective optimum values of three operating parameters were obtained for DO value ranging from 5 to 6 ppm. In trials, RSM predicted 82.732 % effluent to water concentration, stirrer speed at 150 rpm and at 0.091 min predicted DO is 5.7 ppm, from obtained experimental results shown in figure 3 for 80 % and 90 % concentration. RSM predicted optimal conditions are considered for experimental study and three control strategies such as particle swarm optimization (PSO) based PID control and state feedback controller with Integral action and state observer were used to achieve desired DO value. A comparative study was done among three controllers and it was concluded that state feedback controller with Integral action based control strategy yield better closed loop results in-terms of time-domain and stability analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation sought to assess the practicality of utilizing a combined pre-treatment approach comprising electrocoagulation, peroxide, and hypochlorite treatments for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and tannin/lignin from paper mill wastewater. The study aimed to optimize the operating parameters with a view to maximizing the removal efficiencies while minimizing energy consumption. A pair of iron electrodes were used as anode and cathode in the study, and the main operating parameters were determined as initial pH, applied current, treatment time and oxidant dosage/COD ratio. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the effect of these parameters on COD and tannin/lignin removals. The primary findings of the investigation indicated that the integration of electrocoagulation with peroxide and hypochlorite treatments exhibited efficacy in removing COD, tannin/lignin, colour, phenol, and turbidity from paper mill wastewater. The optimized conditions resulted in COD removal efficiencies of 48.13 ± 2.2% and 29.53 ± 1.4% for EC with H2O2 and Ca(OCl)2, respectively. Tannin/lignin removal efficiencies were 92.59 ± 3.6% and 94.09 ± 1.8% for EC-H2O2 and EC-Ca(OCl)2, respectively. The specific energy consumption (SEC) values showed that EC-Ca(OCl)2 required 7 times more energy than EC-H2O2 for removing 1 kg COD. The principal deduction drawn from the study was that EC-H2O2 pre-treatment demonstrated superior COD removal efficiency and lower energy consumption, while EC-Ca(OCl)2 pre-treatment exhibited greater efficiency in removing toxic and recalcitrant pollutants. In future studies, it would be useful to conduct research to increase COD removal efficiency in addition to tannin/lignin removal in EC-Ca(OCl)2 process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum) was cultivated for two 90-day sequences at two spacings, and with various soil amendments, to evaluate its potential to arrest the increase in soil salinity and sodicity associated with irrigation using paper- and pulp-mill effluent. Its phytodesalination capacity (PDC) with respect to Na ranged from 162 to 226 kg/ha in the first sequence and 167 to 250 kg/ha in the second sequence; the PDC is reliable even under drought stress. Addition of amendments, in particular pressmud compost, increased the average Na+ uptake by 38%, leading to the highest PDC of 250 kg/ha for a single crop sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing fake paper problem is a cause for concern in the scientific community. These papers look scientific but contain manipulated data or are completely fictitious. So-called paper mills produce fake papers on a large scale and publish them in the name of people who buy authorship. The aim of this study was to learn more about the characteristics of fake papers at the metadata level. We also investigated whether some of these characteristics could be used to detect fake papers. For that purpose, we examined metadata of 12 fake papers that were retracted by Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology (NSAP) in recent years. We also compared many of these metadata with those of a reference group of 733 articles published by NSAP. It turned out that in many characteristics the fake papers we examined did not differ substantially from the other articles. It was only noticeable that the fake papers came almost exclusively from a certain country, used non-institutional email addresses more often than average, and referenced dubious literature significantly more often. However, these three features are only of limited use in identifying fake papers. We were also able to show that fake papers not only contaminate the scientific record while they are unidentified but also continue to do so even after retraction. Our results indicate that fake papers are well made and resemble honest papers even at the metadata level. Because they contaminate the scientific record in the long term and this cannot be fully contained even by their retraction, it is particularly important to identify them before publication. Further research on the topic of fake papers is therefore urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper mill sludge (PMS) is featured with a high content of cellulose and hemicellulose, and using its characteristics to make paperboard can achieve a high-value utilization of PMS, which has attracted growing interest. In this study, currently prevalent landfill, incineration technologies (generating heat and electricity by incineration), and three paperboard technologies (medium density fiberboard, pulp board, and corrugated paper) were evaluated and compared via life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods. LCA results show that the PMS-to-pulp board outperforms others with an energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) value of − 2.86 × 10−8, while the landfill exhibits the highest overall environmental impact with an ECER value of 4.80 × 10−9. LCC results reveal that the PMS-to-pulp board delivers the highest economic profit with $257.357, while the landfill is the lowest with $ − 35.63. The PMS paperboard technologies are more economically friendly than the incineration technologies due to additional electricity/steam consumption during the PMS pre-drying process in incineration. In addition, different scenarios were set up to explore national GHG emission reduction potential by increasing paperboard technologies application rate and reducing the proportion of landfill and incineration. The scenario analysis suggests that replacing 90% of landfill and incineration ratio with PMS paperboard technologies could tremendously improve the overall emission reduction performance with − 9.08 × 1010 kg CO2 eq. This result indicates that the PMS treatment technology transformation has a significant favorable impact on the achievement of the "carbon neutrality" target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to study the application of high-tolerance and flexible indigenous bacteria and fungi, along with the co-metabolism in recycled paper and cardboard mill (RPCM) wastewater treatment (WWT). Design/methodology/approach: The molecular characterization of isolated indigenous bacteria and fungi was performed by 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA gene sequencing, respectively. Glucose was used as a cometabolic substrate to enhance the bioremediation process. Findings: The highest removal efficiency was achieved for both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color [78% COD and 45% color removal by Pseudomonas aeruginosa RW-2 (MZ603673), as well as approximately 70% COD and 48% color removal by Geotrichum candidum RW-4 (ON024394)]. The corresponding percentages were higher in comparison with the efficiency obtained from the oxidation ditch unit in the full-scale RPCM WWT plant. Originality/value: Indigenous P. aeruginosa RW-2 and G. candidum RW-4 demonstrated effective capability in RPCM WWT despite the highly toxic and low biodegradable nature, especially with the assistance of glucose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper has been in common use for centuries and plays an important part in our daily life. The paper making process is a complex process that comprises various steps. Thus, a component's breakdown or failure can lead to poor system performance or in system failure. Therefore, a comprehensive system analysis is necessary for improved performance. In this research, the authors have examined the operation and performance of a paper mill, in order to gauge and enhance its performance. The reliability, availability, maintainability and dependability (RAMD) of the system are analysed. Appropriate mathematical models are developed on the basis of Markov birth-death processes to analyse production under steady-state conditions. The whole system is made up of six subsystems. Measures of the reliability, availability, maintainability, dependability, mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to failure (MTTF), and dependability ratio are evaluated for the entire system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pulp and paper mill sludge (PPMS) landfill sites have GHG assessment challenges. • GHG fluxes measured by chambers with (F +) and without (F-) a frame were compared. • Flux relationships up to 80 % were shown between F- and F + chambers (the standard) • Correction factors for F- chambers were built to estimate fluxes from F + chambers. • The approach can refine GHG inventories on PPMS landfill sites. Assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in managed areas are facing various challenges. A non-flow-through, non-steady-state (NFT-NSS) chamber coupled to a frame permanently inserted into the landfilled substrates is a standard method for quantifying GHG emissions in managed areas, such as pulp and paper mill sludge (PPMS) landfill sites. Frequent measurements are needed to minimize uncertainties on GHG emission factors at the landfill site scale. However, maintaining a frame inserted into the substrates for a long time period is often impossible due to landfilling management operations. Therefore, GHG measurements using NFT-NSS chambers placed directly on substrates' surface could be an interesting option. Our objectives were to determine the relationships between CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O fluxes measured with (F +) and without (F-) a frame inserted in the substrates' surface and to develop correction factors for fluxes measured without a frame. Measurements were made at different PPMS landfill sites in the province of Québec, Canada. Stronger GHG flux relationships were observed at the provincial (across sites) than the specific site scale: the variance in GHG fluxes from F- chambers explained up to 80 % of variance in fluxes from F + chambers. The measured CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O fluxes in F- chambers were on average 53, 78, and 63 % lower, respectively, than those estimated by the models at provincial scale. The correction factors developed with this approach could greatly extend the number of sites where in situ GHG measurements can be done and would help refining GHG inventories at the provincial and national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honesty of publications is fundamental in science. Unfortunately, science has an increasing fake paper problem with multiple cases having surfaced in recent years, even in renowned journals. There are companies, the so-called paper mills, which professionally fake research data and papers. However, there is no easy way to systematically identify these papers. Here, we show that scanning for exchanged authors in resubmissions is a simple approach to detect potential fake papers. We investigated 2056 withdrawn or rejected submissions to Naunyn–Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology (NSAP), 952 of which were subsequently published in other journals. In six cases, the stated authors of the final publications differed by more than two thirds from those named in the submission to NSAP. In four cases, they differed completely. Our results reveal that paper mills take advantage of the fact that journals are unaware of submissions to other journals. Consequently, papers can be submitted multiple times (even simultaneously), and authors can be replaced if they withdraw from their purchased authorship. We suggest that publishers collaborate with each other by sharing titles, authors, and abstracts of their submissions. Doing so would allow the detection of suspicious changes in the authorship of submitted and already published papers. Independently of such collaboration across publishers, every scientific journal can make an important contribution to the integrity of the scientific record by analyzing its own pool of withdrawn and rejected papers versus published papers according to the simple algorithm proposed in the present paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of agriculture waste-based adsorbents in the treatment of real industrial wastewater represents an unexplored frontier with significant potential. In this study, the cobalt ferrite-supported activated carbon derived from orange peels (CF40-AC) was used as a magnetic adsorbent for the treatment of real pulp and paper mill effluent (PPME). Detailed insights into the properties and functionalities of the CoFe2O4-AC adsorbent were obtained through an accurate characterization analysis that included X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), BET and pore size histogram techniques. Both pure activated carbon (AC) and CF40-AC displayed excellent textural properties with surface area (SBET) equal 2014 and 1345 m².g-1, respectively. TEM and SEM images display that the magnetic ferrites were well dispersed on the surface of AC. Following the characterization process, the CoFe2O4-AC adsorbent was evaluated for its ability to remove several key pollutants from PPME, including chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and turbidity. Moreover, various operational parameters, such as pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and stirring rate, were investigated to achieve optimal contaminants removal rates. Remarkably, the CoFe2O4-AC adsorbent demonstrated highly efficient removal rates, with 86.9%, 59,9% and 93.1% for COD, TDS and turbidity, respectively, under optimal conditions (pH 7, adsorbent dose 0.4 gm, contact time 60 min, and stirring rate 150 rpm). The CoFe2O4-AC composite material exhibits promising potential for multiple applications reached 5 cycles without a significant loss in its adsorption or functional properties over successive uses. These results favor the promising potential of CoFe2O4-AC as a sustainable and efficient solution for addressing was- tewater treatment challenges in the pulp and paper industry, contributing to both environmental protection and resource conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pulp and paper sector has become one of the most significant industrial sectors in the world due to its economic benefits. After primary metals and chemicals sectors, the pulp and paper industry produces the third-largest quantity of wastewater. With regard to environmental feedbacks, ongoing legal requirements, and energy efficiency measures, pulp and paper mills have recently encountered difficulties managing the ensuing pollutants. This study identify pulp and paper mill wastewaters properties, quantities and discuss the recent developments of affordable methods dealing with pulp and paper mill wastewaters. According to the results of the current study, employing integrated methods which is a mixture of treatment techniques may be more advantageous from an economic and environmental standpoint in order to reduce environmental contaminants and energy recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic development of a country directly depends upon industries. But this economic development should not be at the cost of our natural environment. A substantial amount of water is spent during paper production, creating water scarcity and generating wastewater. Therefore, the Pollution Control Board classifies this industry into red category. Water is used in different papermaking stages such as debarking, pulping or bleaching, washing, and finishing. The wastewater thus generated contains lignin and xenobiotic compounds such as resin acids, chlorinated lignin, phenols, furans, dioxins, chlorophenols, adsorbable organic halogens (AOX), extractable organic halogens (EOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls, plasticizers, and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins. Nowadays, several microorganisms are used in the detoxification of these hazardous effluents. Researchers have found that microbial degradation is the most promising treatment method to remove high biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from wastewater. Microorganisms also remove AOX toxicity, chlorinated compounds, suspended solids, color, lignin, derivatives, etc. from the pulp and paper mill effluents. But in the current scenario, mill effluents are known to deteriorate the environment and therefore it is highly desirable to deploy advanced technologies for effluent treatment. This review summarizes the eco-friendly advanced treatment technologies for effluents generated from pulp and paper mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Cost and statistical efficiency of posture assessment by inclinometry and observation, exemplified by paper mill work." The correction is related to an error in Figure 2, specifically the efficiency ordinate scale in panel B. The corrected figure is provided in the document. The article discusses the sampling efficiency and costs associated with different strategies for posture assessment using inclinometry and observation in the context of paper mill work. The authors of the article are Svend Erik Mathiassen, Amanda Waleh Åström, Annika Strömberg, and Marina Heiden. [Extracted from the article]

As a continued theme in citation abuses and the need to reform the culture of citation in academic publishing, as well as an extension of the exploration of authors’ rights, this letter highlights a case in which an author’s name was abused in a fabricated citation in a preprints.org preprint that was ultimately retracted. As a punitive measure, the preprints’ authors were blacklisted. The first author then republished (minus the previous co-authors) a modified preprint at another preprint server, Research Square, where it was also retracted for the presence of fictitious citations. In such cases, it is argued that authors whose names are abused in fictitious citations, created by ChatGPT or otherwise, as identified by real authors or the paper’s readers, should have the right to not want to be cited in this manner, because it may carry with it negative reputational consequences. There are also negative reputational consequences for journals which appear in fictional citations.

La transición hacia el uso del papel para la enseñanza de la escritura en las escuelas elementales públicas en México no fue sencilla. Al finalizar el siglo XIX, se había cuestionado el uso de las pizarras por el riesgo que representaban para la salud, pues muchas veces los estudiantes borraban sus escritos con saliva y el material con el que estaban fabricadas no siempre guardaba las especificaciones necesarias, además el ruido al escribir era insoportable. En cambio, el papel, desde el punto de vista higiénico, pedagógico y estético, fue considerado un material superior frente a la dureza de la pizarra, el brillo de la superficie y la poca precisión que se obtenía en el trazo de las letras. Derivado de este planteamiento, se vislumbró seriamente la posibilidad de la adopción de papel en las escuelas oficiales. Sin embargo, este material era escaso y muy caro. Hacia el cambio de siglo, sólo dos fábricas de papel podían surtir a las escuelas y era necesario que abarataran el precio, que el sistema de distribución garantizara el abastecimiento y que el suministro fuera continuo. Este artículo analiza el inicio del proceso de reconversión de una tecnología para la enseñanza como era la pizarra por el papel. Analizo el gasto que significó y cómo esta modificación fue resultado de una multiplicidad de relaciones sociales, culturales, económicas y políticas que se entrecruzaron para dar una nueva configuración del tiempo, el ruido y los valores establecidos en el salón de clases. The transition to the use of paper in public elementary schools in Mexico was not easy. At the end of the nineteenth century, the use of slates had been questioned due to the health risk they represented since students often erased their writing with saliva and the material with which the slates were made did not always meet the necessary specifications. On the other hand, paper, from a hygienic, pedagogical and aesthetic point of view, was considered a superior material compared to the hardness of the slate, the shine of the surface and the lack of precision obtained in the tracing of the letters. Derived from this approach, the possibility of changing materials in official schools was seriously envisioned. However, the paper represented a very high cost. Only two paper mills could supply the schools and it was necessary to lower the price, and guarantee the supply by enhancing the distribution system. This article analyses the beginning of the conversion process of a technology for learning to write such as the slate for paper. I analyse the expense that it meant for the authorities and families, how the change was the result of a multiplicity of social, cultural, economic and political relations that intersected to give a new configuration of time, noise and established values in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early Cold War, it was difficult for American intelligence to penetrate the Iron Curtain but a potential solution soon arose: émigré intelligence groups such as the Magyar Harcosok Bajtársi Közössége (MHBK) or 'Association of Hungarian Veterans'. This group, however, turned out to be an intelligence 'paper mill'. Attempts at trans-Atlantic cooperation with the MHBK and similar groups failed as they lost most of their good sources and were penetrated by communist security services. By the mid-1950s, US intelligence cut these groups off, took over their good sources, and established a source registry to prevent recurrence of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forest products industries play a vital role in the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the Lake States in the United States. While various economic contribution analyses of forest products industries have been conducted to highlight the importance of such industries to regional economies, little effort has yet been made to parse out the contribution of activities in the value chain. The value chain is a series of steps involved in producing goods or services. This study used a matrix decomposition approach to estimate the economic contribution along the value chain through multiple pathways of four forest resource-based industries using wood as inputs: biomass power generation, sawmills, paper mills, and the construction of new single-family residential structures in the Lake States. The direct and indirect economic output values in 2017 resulting from the construction of new single-family residential structures were $19.1 billion, sawmills were $2.5 billion, paper mills were $17.6 billion, and the biomass power generation industry was $759 million. Of the direct and indirect economic output contributed by each industry, the highest percentage of output attributable to the logging industry was observed from the sawmills industry (12%), followed by biomass power generation (9%), paper mills (1.4%), and the construction of new single-family residential structures (<1%), respectively. The percentage of total economic output attributable to the stumpage industry in the region followed a similar trend as commercial logging for all value-chain industries. The relative economic contribution of the value-chain industries to the total economic contribution of the final industry varied based on whether the industry was a primary or secondary forest products industry and the pathways used for sourcing wood inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black liquor (BL) bioconversion into valuable by-products is essential to develop a bioeconomy strategy; however, its furfural content hinders microbial fermentation activities. Hence, this study utilizes paper mill sludge (PMS) to provide extracellular enzymes, furfural-degrading microbial consortia, and electron donor required for promoting the BL hydrogenesis potential. Three up-flow anaerobic sequential batch reactors (UASBRs) are fed with PMS (UASBR1), BL (UASBR2), and PMS + BL (UASBR3) and operated in parallel at 15 min fill, 72 h reaction, and 4 h settling. The UASBR3 achieves the maximum volumetric H 2 of 1.483 ± 0.088 L/L/d and H 2 yield of 2.06 ± 0.12 mol/mol glucose, which drops by 88% in UASBR2 and 24% in UASBR1. The insufficient H 2 productivity values in UASBR2 could be due to a lack of nutrients availability (C:N = 440:1 and C:P = 19:1), higher furfural concentration (2116 ± 422 mg/L), and involvement of the butyrate fermentation pathway. The synergetic effect between PMS and BL overcomes these limitations and enriches the fermentation medium with Proteobacteria phyla (22.8%) and Acinetobacter sp. degrading furfural (6.1%). The microbial community at the phylum level (e.g., Proteobacteria , Firmicutes , and Actinobacteria) in UASBR3 maximizes the migration of electrons (e−eq = 9.34 ± 0.54%) towards efficient H 2 formation. [Display omitted] • Paper mill sludge (PMS) mitigated inhibitory effect of furfural in black liquor (BL). • PMS improved H 2 yield from the BL by 8.3-folds and accounted for 2.1 mol/mol glucose. • e– eq transferred to H 2 was 9.3% in the PMS:BL, 7.4% in PMS, and 1.27% in BL. • Acinetobacter degrading furfural (6.1%) was abundant with PMS addition. • Bacilli (8.9%) and Clostridia (5.4%) was dominant in the hydrogenesis of PMS:BL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key points: Academia is already witnessing the abuse of authorship in papers with text generated by large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT.LLM‐generated text is testing the limits of publishing ethics as we traditionally know it.We alert the community to imminent risks of LLM technologies, like ChatGPT, for amplifying the predatory publishing 'industry'.The abuse of ChatGPT for the paper mill industry cannot be over‐emphasized.Detection of LLM‐generated text is the responsibility of editors and journals/publishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the 18th Academic Publishing in Europe (APE) Conference: Berlin Re-Visited: Building Technological Support for Scholarship and Scientific Publishing, held as a hybrid event 10 and 11 January 2023, and organized by the Berlin Institute of Scholarly Publishing (BISP), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing publishers, researchers, funders, and policymakers together. This year's conference theme "Out with the old, in with the new!" was discussed and presented in keynote speeches, the APE lecture, and several panel discussions. Current challenges within scholarly publishing, e.g., with research integrity, trust, and research assessment, have much to do with the old ways of doing things. To move science forward, new technologies and innovations, like the decentralized web, FAIR digital objects, and blockchain technology are needed to shape new paradigms. In many sessions it was stressed that not just new technologies are needed to move science forward, but human collaboration and partnerships as well. The changing role of the journal and the importance to recognize more diverse research outputs, beyond the journal article, was a topic of importance. Not only research assessment reforms and improved collaboration amongst different stakeholder groups are needed to address this, new publishing systems, better metadata, and open infrastructures as well. A session presenting different start-ups showcased how Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing and software technology can be used to tackle problems in e.g., finding relevant funders and peer reviewers, and detecting image plagiarism. It was also discussed what publishers can do to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Collaboration, data transparency and sharing best practices amongst researchers, funders, and policy makers are key. Another important topic during this year's APE was how publishers can support Early Career Researchers: establishing new workflows and infrastructures that enable publication of a wider range of research outputs, and broader recognition of these outputs, will incentivize ECRs. This year's APE was concluded with the APE Award Ceremony. The winner - Vsevolod Solovyov from Prophy - has used AI to enhance the current peer review system and made a very important contribution to improving the scholarly communication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser cutting provides more precise and higher quality cuts than other thermal cutting processes, and is adaptable to automation requirements. On the other hand, laser cutting with oxygen assist gas of thick steel plates is a complex process in which various factors affect laser cutting quality compared to the thin plates. When laser cutting of the plate with mill scale is performed, the mill scale on the surface of plate generally plays a role in supporting stable laser cutting, although self-burning may also occur due to peeling of the mill scale. Therefore, this paper focuses on the mill scale and investigates the effects of the adhesion, thickness, and surface roughness of the mill scale on the laser cutting quality. As a result, it was found that the laser cutting quality is higher when the adhesion of the mill scale is high, the thickness of the mill scale is between 20 μm and 40 μm, and the surface roughness is small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, we focus on a very curious and bibliometrically important case of a 2017 moth pheromone paper published in Cell Press' Current Biology that has already accumulated over 1600 Google Scholar-based citations within the past 4 years (i.e., since 2020) to appreciate whether all those citations are valid, i.e., within thematic scope, or whether a portion of those citations might be invalid, and which we colloquially refer to herein as "unwanted citations". Our investigation assessed Scopus-based data (1088 citations on 10 August 2023). In addition to creating a SciVal thematic profile, which indicated a wide diversity of topics of papers citing the 2017 paper, a manual screen revealed only one paper that was directly thematically relevant to the topic of insect reproductive biology. The remaining > 99% of citations, or "unwanted citations", are invalid. To reflect a valid state of scientific truthfulness, those papers should be corrected to reflect that citation abuse has taken place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of coagulation and flocculation (C/F) process and economic analysis for the advanced primary treatment in order to obtain a semi-closed water circuit in the pulp mills in the cardboard recycling industry. Since the high water quality level is not required in the pulpers, the dosages in this research were determined without pH changes or adjustment to decrease the capital and operational expenditures. The results showed that FeCl3 with the concentration of 2000 mg/L gave the best quality when coagulants were used solely. Moreover, using alum with the concentration of 1500 mg/L provided acceptable quality for the effluent re-circulation and the removal/reduction percentages of 42, 82, 71 and 97 were achieved for chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity and colour, respectively. It was also found that the combination of coagulants did not improve the process performance significantly. The best combination was ferric chloride (500 mg/L) and alum (2000 mg/L) with the efficiency of 47% and 98% in terms of COD and colour removal/reduction, respectively, while the best couple in TSS removal was FeCl3 (500 mg/L) and CaCO3 (500 mg/L) with the efficiency of 88%. The chemicals coupled with cationic polyacrylamide (C-PAM) did not enhance the quality of pre-treated solutions when the settling time reduced up to 15 minutes. The cost analysis also showed that alum is the most cost-effective coagulant with the costs in the range of 0.06–0.12 $/kg removed TSS, 0.06 to 0.11 $/kg removed COD and 0.06–0.1 $/m3·reduced NTU whereas calcium carbonate is the economic coagulant regarding colour reduction with the cost of 0.003 $/m3·reduced unit and more than the reduction efficiency of 90%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater deriving from cellulose and paper manufacturing is one of the most important industrial effluents due to its large-volume production and high pollution load. Effluent deriving from the pulp bleaching stage (Kraft E1 effluent) remains one of the major issues faced by paper mills among all wastewaters generated in each stage of paper-making processes. Kraft E1 effluent was submitted to a sequential chemical (ozonization) – biological (immobilized laccase) treatment. Laccase was obtained from Trametes versicolour in liquid medium of culture using 2,5 -xylidine as inducer. Crude laccase extract was immobilized through covalent binding in Montmorillonite KSF and Eupergit®C supports based on different protocols. Eupergit®C has shown the best protein immobilization (51%), retention activity (100%), and operational stability (ten oxidative cycles) results. Enzymatic treatments using free and immobilized laccase onto Eupergit®C were applied to Kraft E1 effluent. After 18-h treatment, total phenol removal reached 20% and 40% in free and immobilized laccase, respectively. Ozone combined to enzymatic processes using reactor assembled with immobilized laccase (31 U g−1, total mass = 10.0 g) had effect on decolonization efficiency and on total phenols' removal from Kraft effluent. Ozone treatment was capable of removing 52% of total phenols and 76% of colour from the investigated effluent. Sequential enzymatic treatment has increased total phenols' removal to 64% within 30-minute treatment and reached 70% removal within 60 minutes. The herein observed additional phenol removal based on enzymatic treatment is an important outcome if one takes into consideration the fraction of total phenols that could not be removed by the ozone process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trace elements have a significant effect on biochemical reactions and therefore the presence of optimum levels of trace elements is essential for bioreactor performances. In this study, the effects of five trace elements on biomethane production have been investigated. Experimental studies have been carried out with multiple batch reactors at 15 day HRT and mesophilic temperatures. The optimum concentrations for each of the trace elements Fe, Cu, Ni, Co and Mg were found as 5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 and 100 mg/L, respectively. Among tested trace elements, Cu was the one which provided the highest biomethane production. Cu addition was resulted in a 46 % increase in biomethane production followed by Co with 24 %. The biomethane production rate for these two trace elements was 191.70 and 110.77 ml CH4/g COD, respectively. Optimum levels for Ni, Fe and Mg increased biomethane production rate by approximately 14.3, 10 and 17 % compared to control groups, respectively. Because the exact amount of trace element requirement for each industry/reactor is different, specific case studies should be performed for each application. These results could be used as initial trace element concentrations for further continuous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copy of the volume Cultura e laicità published in 1914 by Gaetano Salvemini, with Antonio Gramsci’s signature, found years ago in a paper mill, adds a few elements to our knowledge of Gramsci’s training and early political activity in Turin. In 1917, he edited a publication published by the Turin editorial office of ‘Avanti!’, entitled La Cittàfutura, in which he included excerpts from writings by Benedetto Croce and Armando Carlini, and a long quotation from Salvemini’s opening essay, entitled Cosa è la coltura, in his words ‘a little book that all young people should read’. In October 1918, 17-year-old Piero Gobetti bought a copy of Gaetano Salvemini’s book, a fundamental cultural and political reference for young Gramsci. In early 1919 Gobetti was introduced to Gramsci by Andrea Viglongo, friend and collaborator of the same age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To the Editor: I have followed, with great interest, the passionate debate held between Lichtman, and Ashkenazi and Olsha in Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal. Lichtman put forward a curious and enlightening proposal to offer a fractional value to each author, depending on the value of their relative contribution, with the total amounting to 1, as a way to reduce authorship abuses, such as gift or guest authorship, which are two very prevalent forms of authorship abuses in academic publishing today.

The valorization of paper mill sludge (PMS) is the main goal of this study. The emissions of PMS continue to increase at global scale, especially from packaging paper and board sectors. The raw sludge was used to prepare an adsorbent to remove toxic pollutants from wastewater, the methylene blue (MB), an organic dye. Firstly, the physico-chemical characterization of PMS was done determining the crystalline phases of PMS fibers, the content of main elements, and the pH zero point charge, which was determined at around pH 7. The adsorption of MB on PMS powder was studied at 18 °C with an agitation of 200 rpm, being the best operating conditions 30 min of contact time, 250 mg L−1 of initial MB concentration and 0.05 g in 25 mL of adsorbent dose. Experimental data of MB adsorption was fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm equations. The Langmuir model was more accurate for the equilibrium data of MB adsorption at pH 5.1. The PFOM and PSOM were adjusted to experimental adsorption kinetics data, being PSOM, which describes better the MB adsorption by PMS powder. This was confirmed by calculating the maximum adsorption capacity with PSOM, which was 42.7 mg g−1, being nearly similar of the experimental value of 43.5 mg g−1. The analysis of adsorption thermodynamics showed that the MB was adsorbed exothermically with a ΔH0 = − 20.78 kJ mol−1, and spontaneously with ΔG0 from − 0.99 to − 6.38 kJ mol−1 in the range of temperature from 291 to 363 K, respectively. These results confirm that the sludge from paper industry can be used as biosorbent with remarkable adsorption capacity and low cost for the treatment of wastewater. PMS can be applied in the future for the depollution of the effluents from the textile industry, which are highly charged with dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, cellulose nanofiber (CNF) production has primarily relied on virgin cellulose sources. Yet, the shift to using paper mill sludge (PMS) as a source for CNF underscores the significance of reusing and recycling industrial byproducts. PMS contains significant amounts of cellulose that can be extracted as a raw material. The purpose of present study is to provide a sustainable approach to PMS utilization as a paper coating additive in the cellulose nanofibrils (CNFPMS) form via simply scalable wire-wound rod coating method. The effect of CNFPMS additive amounts at two coating layers on microstructure and surface properties of coatings such as porosity, air permeability surface roughness and optical properties such as brightness, gloss and CIE L*a*b* is studied, which they can also provide insight for the eventual print performance. Results indicated that the obtained CNFPMS in paper coating shows 52% decrease in porosity, presenting significant improvement in the coating microstructure. The marginal increase in permeability coefficient and surface roughness, 54% and 10%, respectively, suggests improving color reproduction and preventing color density losses. Optical analysis showed slight decrease in brightness and gloss, as was expected. Notably, the lightness was improved, which also indicates increasing color gamut volume in printing applications. As a result, the current work offers a sustainable approach to manage PMS for use in paper coatings as a high-value-added material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, I established an energy benchmark for the pulp and paper industry of Vietnam. I, therefore, focus on three major paper product families, including packaging paper, printing and writing paper, and tissue paper. In this research, I use specific energy consumption (SEC) as the energy performance indicator (EnPI) for computing energy benchmarks for the main sub-sectors in the pulp and paper industry of Vietnam. The factories in the pulp and paper industry of Vietnam are divided into three production scales, and the energy benchmarks are specified by production scales. Energy surveys and energy audits have been used to calculate energy benchmarks. Here, I establish the energy benchmark for the main sub-sectors in the pulp and paper industry of Vietnam according to the three production scales. I also estimate the energy saving potential for the pulp and paper industry of Vietnam based on surveying and auditing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper mills, companies that write scientific papers and gain acceptance for them, then sell authorships of these papers, present a key challenge in medicine and other healthcare fields. This challenge is becoming more acute with artificial intelligence (AI), where AI writes the manuscripts and then the paper mills sell the authorships of these papers. The aim of the current research is to provide a method for detecting fake papers. The method reported in this article uses a machine learning approach to create decision trees to identify fake papers. The data were collected from Web of Science and multiple journals in various fields. The article presents a method to identify fake papers based on the results of decision trees. Use of this method in a case study indicated its effectiveness in identifying a fake paper. This method to identify fake papers is applicable for authors, editors, and publishers across fields to investigate a single paper or to conduct an analysis of a group of manuscripts. Clinicians and others can use this method to evaluate articles they find in a search to ensure they are not fake articles and instead report actual research that was peer reviewed prior to publication in a journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postures at work are paramount in ergonomics. They can be determined using observation and inclinometry in a variety of measurement scenarios that may differ both in costs associated with collecting and processing data, and in efficiency, i.e. the precision of the eventual outcome. The trade-off between cost and efficiency has rarely been addressed in research despite the obvious interest of obtaining precise data at low costs. Median trunk and upper arm inclination were determined for full shifts in 28 paper mill workers using both observation and inclinometry. Costs were estimated using comprehensive cost equations; and efficiency, i.e. the inverted standard deviation of the group mean, was assessed on basis of exposure variance components. Cost and efficiency were estimated in simulations of six sampling scenarios: two for inclinometry (sampling from one or three shifts) and four for observation (one or three observers rating one or three shifts). Each of the six scenarios was evaluated for 1 through 50 workers. Cost-efficiency relationships between the scenarios were intricate. As an example, inclinometry was always more cost-efficient than observation for trunk inclination, except for observation strategies involving only few workers; while for arm inclination, observation by three observers of one shift per worker outperformed inclinometry on three shifts up to a budget of €20000, after which inclinometry prevailed. At a budget of €10000, the best sampling scenario for arm inclination was 2.5 times more efficient than the worst. Arm inclination could be determined with better cost-efficiency than trunk inclination. Our study illustrates that the cost-efficiency of different posture measurement strategies can be assessed and compared using easily accessible diagrams. While the numeric examples in our study are specific to the investigated occupation, exposure variables, and sampling logistics, we believe that inclinometry will, in general, outperform observation. In any specific case, we recommend a thorough analysis, using the comparison procedure proposed in the present study, of feasible strategies for obtaining data, in order to arrive at an informed decision support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to detect papers originating from the Russia‐based paper mill 'International Publisher' LLC. A total of 1,063 offers to purchase co‐authorship on a fraudulent papers published from 2019 to mid‐2022 on the 123mi.ru website were analysed. This study identifies at least 451 papers that are potentially linked to the paper mill, including one preprint, a duplication paper and 16 republications of papers erroneously published in hijacked journals. Evidence of suspicious provenance from the paper mill is provided: matches in title, number of co‐authorship slots, year of publication, country of the journal, country of a co‐authors and similarities of abstracts. These problematic papers are co‐authored by scholars from at least 39 countries and are submitted to both predatory and reputable journals. This study also demonstrates collaboration anomalies in questionable papers and examines indicators of the Russia‐based paper mill. The value of co‐authorship slots offered by 'International Publisher' LLC from 2019 to 2021 is estimated at $6.5 million. Since this study only analysed a single paper mill, it is likely that the number of papers with forged authorship is much higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fly ash–lime–gypsum bricks are an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient alternative to burnt clay bricks. Nowadays, the scarcity of fly ash and lime adversely affects the production of fly ash bricks. To mitigate this, the current study examines incinerated paper mill sludge ash as a supplement to fly ash and lime. In the current study, in blend 1, coal fly ash is replaced by incinerated paper mill sludge ash (2.5–30 wt%), and in blend 2, lime is completely replaced by incinerated paper mill sludge ash (2.5–15 wt%). Based on Indian standards, bricks were tested for compressive strength, water absorption, weight density, percentage voids, efflorescence, drying shrinkage, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and impact energy. Before developing bricks, the materials have to be examined by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry differential thermal analysis, and scanning electron microscope techniques. Results from X-ray diffraction showed that higher replacement of incinerated paper mill sludge ash does not produce any phase transformation and merely improves porosity, which reduces weight. Higher replacement of incinerated paper mill sludge ash leads to a reduction in strength and a higher water requirement. The study found that incorporating incinerated paper mill sludge ash at replacement 2.5–15 wt% in blend 1 and 2.5–5 wt% in blend 2 satisfied the building brick requirements. By incorporating incinerated paper mill sludge ash into bricks, the brick industry can produce sustainable bricks that utilize resources effectively. Graphical abstract illustrating the reuse of incinerated paper mill sludge ash in the manufacturing of building bricks to minimize the demand for fly ash and lime. The visual shows the drawbacks of paper mill sludge in land dumping, the suggested methodology for reusing incinerated paper mill sludge ash to minimize environmental degradation, improved sustainability through waste utilization, its benefits, and the characterization of bricks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pith is the internal part of the sugarcane plant with short and variable fiber length. The presence of pith creates process-related issues in papermaking, so it must be removed from the bagasse. Pith has low calorific value, and burning of pith in boilers also creates boiler operational issues as well as environmental pollution and health hazards. The imposition of stringent emission norms by the environmental regulatory bodies is compelling these industries to search for cleaner alternatives to fuels. Pith is generated in huge quantities so its disposal or management will become a major challenge if industries shift to cleaner fuel. Considering these pressing issues and some recent relevant research reported on pith valorization, this study was planned to explore the potential of pith valorization. Therefore, in the present review, research studies available on alternate routes for the valorization of pith into value-added products have been extensively covered. Since pith is also lignocellulosic biomass, therefore, its valorization after pretreatment and as such direct utilization (without pretreatment) has also been categorically discussed. Furthermore, the promising pathways and prospective research in pith valorization are discussed that will make the sugar and associated pulp and paper mill more economically and environmentally sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]