Solid waste has become a major environmental concern globally in recent years due to the tremendous increase in waste generation. However, these wastes (e.g., plastics and agro-residues) can serve as potential raw materials for the production of value-added products such as composites at low cost. The utilization of these waste materials in the composite industry is a good strategy for maintaining the sustainability of resources with economic and environmental benefits. In this report, the environmental impacts and management strategies of solid waste materials are discussed in detail. The study described the benefits of recycling and reusing solid wastes (i.e., plastic and agro-waste). The report also reviewed the emerging fabrication approaches for natural particulate hybrid nanocomposite materials. The results of this survey reveal that the fabrication techniques employed in manufacturing composite materials could significantly influence the performance of the resulting composite products. Furthermore, some key areas have been identified for further investigation. Therefore, this report is a state-of-the-art review and stands out as a guide for academics and industrialists.

Taking the 13 years pure artificial forest Phoebe chekiangensis and heterogeneous mixed forests in Tiantong mountain, Zhejiang Province as the research object, the characteristics of stand development, tree competition differentiation, tree height/breast diameter ratio and dominant wood growth were compared and analyzed from the perspective of ecology. The results show that compared with pure forests, the growth advantages of heterogeneous mixed-age forests were significant. Average breast diameter growth of stand increased 1.8%; the growth of single plant wood accumulation increased 7.4%. The relationship between tree height and diameter showed that the high growth of Phoebe chekiangensis individuals in the heterogeneous mixed forest was significantly promoted, and the high growth of the tree was 8.4% higher than that of pure forest. 1–5 grade wood scale sizes Phoebe chekiangensis in heterogeneous mixed forests and pure forests are ranked grade 3 (43.7%) > grade 2 (26.5%) > grade 4 (15.7%) > grade 1 (12.9%) > grade 5 (1.2%); grade 3 (34.7%) > level 2 (25.6%) > level 4 (20.0%) > level 1 (18.2%) > level 5 (1.2%); the straight-diameter structure shows a normal distribution, and the degree of differentiation of pure forests is greater than that of heterogeneous forests. The dominant trees of Phoebe chekiangensis pure forest and heterogeneous forest accounted for 18.2% and 12.9% of the total number of plants respectively, providing a reserve of 51.1% and 35.4% respectively, reflecting the contribution of dominant trees caused by the self-thinning effect.

The power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with the surgeons’ expertise leads to breakthroughs in surgical care, bringing new hope to patients. Utilizing deep learning-based computer vision techniques in surgical procedures will enhance the healthcare industry. Laparoscopic surgery holds excellent potential for computer vision due to the abundance of real-time laparoscopic recordings captured by digital cameras containing significant unexplored information. Furthermore, with computing power resources becoming increasingly accessible and Machine Learning methods expanding across various industries, the potential for AI in healthcare is vast. There are several objectives of AI’s contribution to laparoscopic surgery; one is an image guidance system to identify anatomical structures in real-time. However, few studies are concerned with intraoperative anatomy recognition in laparoscopic surgery. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state-of-the-art semantic segmentation techniques, which can guide surgeons during laparoscopic procedures by identifying specific anatomical structures for dissection or avoiding hazardous areas. This review aims to enhance research in AI for surgery to guide innovations towards more successful experiments that can be applied in real-world clinical settings. This AI contribution could revolutionize the field of laparoscopic surgery and improve patient outcomes.

Bagasse fiber from sugarcane waste is used with epoxy resin to make natural composites. The raw fibers are treated chemically to improve compatibility and adherence with the epoxy polymer. It’s anticipated that epoxy resin matrix composites reinforced with bagasse particles would work as a trustworthy replacement for conventional materials utilized in the building and automobile sectors. The amount and distribution of reinforcing particles inside the matrix are two factors that impact the composite’s strength. Furthermore, the precise proportion of reinforcing elements—roughly 20–30 weight percent—into the matrix plays a critical role in providing a noticeable boost in improving the properties of the composites. This research investigates the impact of reinforcing alkali-treated bagasse and untreated bagasse powder into an epoxy matrix on aspects of mechanical and morphological characteristics. The hand layup technique is used to create alkali-treated bagasse and untreated bagasse powder-reinforced epoxy composites. Composites are designed with six levels of reinforcement weight percentages (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%). Microstructural analysis was performed using SEM and optical microscopes to assess the cohesion and dispersion of the reinforcing particles throughout the hybrid composites’ matrix phase. With reinforcement loading up to 20 wt%, the tensile strength, impact strength, and toughness of epoxy-alkali-treated bagasse and untreated bagasse powder-reinforced composites increased. In contrast, treated bagasse epoxy composites were superior to untreated epoxy composites in terms of efficacy. The results indicate that 20 wt% alkali bagasse powder provides better mechanical properties than other combinations.

To increase inter-region connectivity, the Indonesian government initiated infrastructure projects such as toll roads, airport, highways, as well as agriculture ones throughout the countries. One of the big projects in road infrastructure was the Cikampek–Palimanan (Cipali) toll road in West Java with a budget of more than USD1 billion which started to operate in July 2015. This paper is aimed to evaluate the impact of the toll road on accessibilities, trades, and investments in the region it traverses. To carry out the analysis, we used qualitative approach, difference-in-difference approach, and ANOVA, utilizing three kinds of data. The first data is collected from a survey of 331 small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the logistics and the hotel and restaurant industries. The second one is bank loan data sourced from Bank Indonesia, while the third one is investment data from Investment Coordinating Board of Indonesia (BKPM).
After two years of its operation, Cipali toll road has increased accessibility, mobility, trade, and investment in the region it traverses. The travel time was reduced by 39%, while the cargo volume of the local businesses increased by 30% to 40%. These led to an improvement of wholesale trade volume in almost all regencies. However, SMEs in the hotel and restaurant industry along the traditional northern coastal highway in Subang, Indramayu, and Brebes experienced a decline due to the traffic shifting. Meanwhile, investments from national companies especially those of labor-intensive manufacturing industries flowed significantly especially to Subang and Majalengka, which reflected a “sorting effect”. However, investments from local and foreign businesses did not increase significantly yet after 2.5 years of toll operation.
To reap the benefit from the presence of Cipali toll road, the local governments should improve the ease of doing business to attract investments that boost employment in return. In addition, given a better accessibility from Greater Jakarta and a large number of potential visitors passing through the toll road, local businesses in the trade sector would benefit if they could promote the local attractions such as in tourism activities supported by the local government. The latter strategy should also be implemented by the local governments and local businesses in the northern coastal traditional route to minimize the negative impact of the toll road due to the traffic shifting. This strategy should be strengthened through increasing connectivity from the toll exits to local business areas and through increasing the ease of doing business.