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1.
Bo Pedersen Weidema Jannick Schmidt Peter Fantke Stefan Pauliuk 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2018,23(9):1839-1846
Purpose
We investigate how the boundary between product systems and their environment has been delineated in life cycle assessment and question the usefulness and ontological relevance of a strict division between the two.Methods
We consider flows, activities and impacts as general terms applicable to both product systems and their environment and propose that the ontologically relevant boundary is between the flows that are modelled as inputs to other activities (economic or environmental)—and the flows that—in a specific study—are regarded as final impacts, in the sense that no further feedback into the product system is considered before these impacts are applied in decision-making. Using this conceptual model, we contrast the traditional mathematical calculation of the life cycle impacts with a new, simpler computational structure where the life cycle impacts are calculated directly as part of the Leontief inverse, treating product flows and environmental flows in parallel, without the need to consider any boundary between economic and environmental activities.Results and discussion
Our theoretical outline and the numerical example demonstrate that the distinctions and boundaries between product systems and their environment are unnecessary and in some cases obstructive from the perspective of impact assessment, and can therefore be ignored or chosen freely to reflect meaningful distinctions of specific life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. We show that our proposed computational structure is backwards compatible with the current practice of LCA modelling, while allowing inclusion of feedback loops both from the environment to the economy and internally between different impact categories in the impact assessment.Conclusions
Our proposed computational structure for LCA facilitates consistent, explicit and transparent modelling of the feedback loops between environment and the economy and between different environmental mechanisms. The explicit and transparent modelling, combining economic and environmental information in a common computational structure, facilitates data exchange and re-use between different academic fields.2.
Background
Applications in biomedical science and life science produce large data sets using increasingly powerful imaging devices and computer simulations. It is becoming increasingly difficult for scientists to explore and analyze these data using traditional tools. Interactive data processing and visualization tools can support scientists to overcome these limitations.Results
We show that new data processing tools and visualization systems can be used successfully in biomedical and life science applications. We present an adaptive high-resolution display system suitable for biomedical image data, algorithms for analyzing and visualization protein surfaces and retinal optical coherence tomography data, and visualization tools for 3D gene expression data.Conclusion
We demonstrated that interactive processing and visualization methods and systems can support scientists in a variety of biomedical and life science application areas concerned with massive data analysis.3.
Damien Trigaux Lien Wijnants Frank De Troyer Karen Allacker 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(6):938-951
Purpose
The built environment consists of a huge amount of infrastructure, such as roads and utilities. The objective of this paper is to assess the life cycle financial and environmental impact of road infrastructure in residential neighbourhoods and to analyse the relative contribution of road infrastructure in the total impact of neighbourhoods.Methods
Various road sections are analysed based on an integrated life cycle approach, combining life cycle costing and life cycle assessment. To deal with complexity, a hierarchic assessment structure, using the principles of the “element method for cost control”, is implemented. Four neighbourhood models with diverse built densities are compared to gain insight in the relative impact of road infrastructure in neighbourhoods.Results and discussion
The results reveal important financial and environmental impact differences between the road sections analysed. Main contributors to the life cycle financial and environmental impact are the surface layer and electrical and piped services. The contribution of road infrastructure to the total neighbourhood impact, ranging from 2 to 9 % of the total cost, is relatively limited, compared to buildings, but not negligible in low built density neighbourhoods.Conclusions
Good spatial planning of the neighbourhood is recommended to reduce the amount of road infrastructure and the related financial and environmental impact. The priority should be to design denser neighbourhood layouts, before decreasing the financial and environmental impact of the road sections.4.
Ferran Casbas Pinto Srinivarao Ravipati David A. Barrett T. Charles Hodgman 《Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society》2017,13(7):81
Introduction
It is difficult to elucidate the metabolic and regulatory factors causing lipidome perturbations.Objectives
This work simplifies this process.Methods
A method has been developed to query an online holistic lipid metabolic network (of 7923 metabolites) to extract the pathways that connect the input list of lipids.Results
The output enables pathway visualisation and the querying of other databases to identify potential regulators. When used to a study a plasma lipidome dataset of polycystic ovary syndrome, 14 enzymes were identified, of which 3 are linked to ELAVL1—an mRNA stabiliser.Conclusion
This method provides a simplified approach to identifying potential regulators causing lipid-profile perturbations.5.
Background
The DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) are associated with the cis-regulatory DNA elements. An efficient method of identifying DHSs can enhance the understanding on the accessibility of chromatin. Despite a multitude of resources available on line including experimental datasets and computational tools, the complex language of DHSs remains incompletely understood.Methods
Here, we address this challenge using an approach based on a state-of-the-art machine learning method. We present a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) which combined Inception like networks with a gating mechanism for the response of multiple patterns and longterm association in DNA sequences to predict multi-scale DHSs in Arabidopsis, rice and Homo sapiens.Results
Our method obtains 0.961 area under curve (AUC) on Arabidopsis, 0.969 AUC on rice and 0.918 AUC on Homo sapiens.Conclusions
Our method provides an efficient and accurate way to identify multi-scale DHSs sequences by deep learning.6.
Anne Landfield Greig Sandra Carey 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(11):1554-1558
Purpose
In 2001, the International Molybdenum Association (IMOA) initiated their life cycle assessment (LCA) program performing cradle-to-gate life cycle inventories (LCIs) of three molybdenum metallurgical products, followed by LCIs of eight molybdenum chemicals and an update to the metallurgical LCIs. From 2012 to 2014, IMOA participated in a multi-metal industry initiative to harmonize the methodological approach to metal-related LCAs. This paper describes some of IMOA’s conclusions formed from its program and, coupled with its involvement in the multi-metal initiative, provides some lessons learned.Methods
For this paper, IMOA evaluated the benefits of its LCI program, including its ability to communicate effectively with member companies and stakeholders on the development, use, and application of life cycle data. Likewise, IMOA developed the competence to recognize and provide input on potentially inappropriate use of LCA. IMOA performed a literature review to highlight some of the scientific research using the molybdenum LCI data. IMOA also reviewed the metal industry’s guidance document to provide its perspective on it, including similarities, differences, and substantiation of elements of the four topic areas.Results and discussion
The metal industry’s guidance document identified four topic areas as essential for alignment with respect to metal-related LCAs: (1) system boundaries, (2) coproduct modelling, (3) life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and (4) metals recycling modelling. IMOA is largely in agreement with the approaches described in the document. The paper provides examples of how these have been applied to LCAs on Mo-bearing products as well as examples of how some LCA work can benefit from the guidance document.Conclusions
Having taken part in the harmonization effort, IMOA is poised to educate its member companies and stakeholders about some of the challenging issues encountered in LCA and will continue to lead through active industry participation. IMOA supplies its LCI data via a formal request process which enables open dialogue with stakeholders and LCA practitioners while providing IMOA with insights into how its products fit into the broader lifecycle context and facilitating stakeholders’ awareness of LCA and metals.7.
8.
Background
In recent years the visualization of biomagnetic measurement data by so-called pseudo current density maps or Hosaka-Cohen (HC) transformations became popular.Methods
The physical basis of these intuitive maps is clarified by means of analytically solvable problems.Results
Examples in magnetocardiography, magnetoencephalography and magnetoneurography demonstrate the usefulness of this method.Conclusion
Hardware realizations of the HC-transformation and some similar transformations are discussed which could advantageously support cross-platform comparability of biomagnetic measurements.9.
Mark A. J. Huijbregts Zoran J. N. Steinmann Pieter M. F. Elshout Gea Stam Francesca Verones Marisa Vieira Michiel Zijp Anne Hollander Rosalie van Zelm 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(2):138-147
Purpose
Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) translates emissions and resource extractions into a limited number of environmental impact scores by means of so-called characterisation factors. There are two mainstream ways to derive characterisation factors, i.e. at midpoint level and at endpoint level. To further progress LCIA method development, we updated the ReCiPe2008 method to its version of 2016. This paper provides an overview of the key elements of the ReCiPe2016 method.Methods
We implemented human health, ecosystem quality and resource scarcity as three areas of protection. Endpoint characterisation factors, directly related to the areas of protection, were derived from midpoint characterisation factors with a constant mid-to-endpoint factor per impact category. We included 17 midpoint impact categories.Results and discussion
The update of ReCiPe provides characterisation factors that are representative for the global scale instead of the European scale, while maintaining the possibility for a number of impact categories to implement characterisation factors at a country and continental scale. We also expanded the number of environmental interventions and added impacts of water use on human health, impacts of water use and climate change on freshwater ecosystems and impacts of water use and tropospheric ozone formation on terrestrial ecosystems as novel damage pathways. Although significant effort has been put into the update of ReCiPe, there is still major improvement potential in the way impact pathways are modelled. Further improvements relate to a regionalisation of more impact categories, moving from local to global species extinction and adding more impact pathways.Conclusions
Life cycle impact assessment is a fast evolving field of research. ReCiPe2016 provides a state-of-the-art method to convert life cycle inventories to a limited number of life cycle impact scores on midpoint and endpoint level.10.
Introduction
Untargeted metabolomics is a powerful tool for biological discoveries. To analyze the complex raw data, significant advances in computational approaches have been made, yet it is not clear how exhaustive and reliable the data analysis results are.Objectives
Assessment of the quality of raw data processing in untargeted metabolomics.Methods
Five published untargeted metabolomics studies, were reanalyzed.Results
Omissions of at least 50 relevant compounds from the original results as well as examples of representative mistakes were reported for each study.Conclusion
Incomplete raw data processing shows unexplored potential of current and legacy data.11.
Antonio Rosato Leonardo Tenori Marta Cascante Pedro Ramon De Atauri Carulla Vitor A. P. Martins dos Santos Edoardo Saccenti 《Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society》2018,14(4):37
Introduction
Metabolomics is a well-established tool in systems biology, especially in the top–down approach. Metabolomics experiments often results in discovery studies that provide intriguing biological hypotheses but rarely offer mechanistic explanation of such findings. In this light, the interpretation of metabolomics data can be boosted by deploying systems biology approaches.Objectives
This review aims to provide an overview of systems biology approaches that are relevant to metabolomics and to discuss some successful applications of these methods.Methods
We review the most recent applications of systems biology tools in the field of metabolomics, such as network inference and analysis, metabolic modelling and pathways analysis.Results
We offer an ample overview of systems biology tools that can be applied to address metabolomics problems. The characteristics and application results of these tools are discussed also in a comparative manner.Conclusions
Systems biology-enhanced analysis of metabolomics data can provide insights into the molecular mechanisms originating the observed metabolic profiles and enhance the scientific impact of metabolomics studies.12.
Renato de Souza Pinto Lemgruber Kaspar Valgepea Mark P. Hodson Ryan Tappel Sean D. Simpson Michael Köpke Lars K. Nielsen Esteban Marcellin 《Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society》2018,14(3):35
Introduction
Quantification of tetrahydrofolates (THFs), important metabolites in the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway (WLP) of acetogens, is challenging given their sensitivity to oxygen.Objective
To develop a simple anaerobic protocol to enable reliable THFs quantification from bioreactors.Methods
Anaerobic cultures were mixed with anaerobic acetonitrile for extraction. Targeted LC–MS/MS was used for quantification.Results
Tetrahydrofolates can only be quantified if sampled anaerobically. THF levels showed a strong correlation to acetyl-CoA, the end product of the WLP.Conclusion
Our method is useful for relative quantification of THFs across different growth conditions. Absolute quantification of THFs requires the use of labelled standards.13.
Kirti Richa Callie W. Babbitt Nenad G. Nenadic Gabrielle Gaustad 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(1):66-81
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to analyze the environmental trade-offs of cascading reuse of electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in stationary energy storage at automotive end-of-life.Methods
Two systems were jointly analyzed to address the consideration of stakeholder groups corresponding to both first (EV) and second life (stationary energy storage) battery applications. The environmental feasibility criterion was defined by an equivalent-functionality lead-acid (PbA) battery. A critical methodological challenge addressed was the allocation of environmental impacts associated with producing LIBs across the EV and stationary use systems. The model also tested sensitivity to parameters such as the fraction of battery cells viable for reuse, service life of refurbished cells, and PbA battery efficiency.Results and discussion
From the perspective of EV applications, cascading reuse of an LIB in stationary energy storage can reduce net cumulative energy demand and global warming potential by 15 % under conservative estimates and by as much as 70 % in ideal refurbishment and reuse conditions. When post-EV LIB cells were compared directly to a new PbA system for stationary energy storage, the reused cells generally had lower environmental impacts, except in scenarios where very few of the initial battery cells and modules could be reused and where reliability was low (e.g., life span of 1 year or less) in the secondary application.Conclusions
These findings demonstrate that EV LIB reuse in stationary application has the potential for dual benefit—both from the perspective of offsetting initial manufacturing impacts by extending battery life span as well as avoiding production and use of a less-efficient PbA system. It is concluded that reuse decisions and diversion of EV LIBs toward suitable stationary applications can be based on life cycle centric studies. However, technical feasibility of these systems must still be evaluated, particularly with respect to the ability to rapidly analyze the reliability of EV LIB cells, modules, or packs for refurbishment and reuse in secondary applications.14.
N. Cesbron A.-L. Royer Y. Guitton A. Sydor B. Le Bizec G. Dervilly-Pinel 《Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society》2017,13(8):99
Introduction
Collecting feces is easy. It offers direct outcome to endogenous and microbial metabolites.Objectives
In a context of lack of consensus about fecal sample preparation, especially in animal species, we developed a robust protocol allowing untargeted LC-HRMS fingerprinting.Methods
The conditions of extraction (quantity, preparation, solvents, dilutions) were investigated in bovine feces.Results
A rapid and simple protocol involving feces extraction with methanol (1/3, M/V) followed by centrifugation and a step filtration (10 kDa) was developed.Conclusion
The workflow generated repeatable and informative fingerprints for robust metabolome characterization.15.
Hugo Henrique de Simone Souza Ângela Maria Ferreira Lima Karla Oliveira Esquerre Asher Kiperstok 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(12):2030-2041
Purpose
Many applications of life cycle assessment do not consider the variability of the service lifetime of different structures, and this may be a relevant factor in an environmental impact assessment. This paper aims to determine the influence of the service lifetime on the potential environmental impacts of wooden and concrete poles in the electricity distribution system.Methods
The estimation of service lifetime was conducted using the factorial method. The life cycle assessment was applied using SimaPro software and considered the entire life cycle of utility poles, from the extraction of raw materials to the final disposal. Then, an evaluation of the environmental impacts using the CML IA baseline method was performed. The study included the analysis of uncertainty using the Monte Carlo method.Results and discussion
In general, the wooden poles had a lower potential environmental impact compared to the concrete poles. The result of the sensitivity analysis considering the variability of the chromated copper arsenate wood preservative retention rate suggests that the frequency of maintenance affects the service lifetime. Often, the comparison of products in the LCA perspective is carried out by considering similar useful lifetime services for the different alternatives, and this study shows that the environmental performance of products or services is directly proportional to the lifetime. It is a crucial parameter that has to be clarified in order to reduce uncertainty in the results.Conclusions
Thus, some factors such as material quality, design adjustments and routine maintenance extend the service lifetime of a product or process and are shown to be effective ways to reduce environmental impacts. Therefore, the service lifetime has a significant influence on the development of the life cycle assessment. Comparative LCA studies are often sensitive to parameters that may even change the ranking of selected impact categories. All in all, from the sensitivity analysis highlighted in this study, the variability of lifetime service has proven to be one of the most prominent factors influencing comparative LCA results.16.
Seyed Mehdi Sajjadi Abbas Khosravi Jalil Pakravesh Zahra-soheila Soheili Shahram Samiei Saeed Mohammadi Mohammad Ali Jalali far 《生物学前沿》2016,11(6):471-475
BACKGROUND
Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a heterogeneous condition and thrombophilias have been considered as a probable cause.OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the coagulation factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism among women with unexplained RPL.METHODS
A total of 140 women with a history of unexplained RPL and 100 age-matched healthy fertile women were recruited. The presence of FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism among the cases and controls was investigated using PCR-RFLP method.RESULTS
Genotype analyses of the subjects revealed that the patients had a significantly higher prevalence of V/L and L/L than the controls (P<0.05): 33.5% vs. 15%, and 9.2% vs. 2%, respectively.CONCLUSION
These results indicate a significant association between FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism and unexplained RPL in the Iranian patient.17.
Wenhao Chen Nicholas M. Holden 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(9):1459-1472
Purpose
The majority of sustainability studies of dairy farms focused on environmental performance and profitability; however, social aspect has been hardly assessed. This study aims to investigate the social impacts of dairy farm via a case study using a social life cycle assessment framework.Methods
The assessment was carried out applying the social LCA Guideline by UNEP-SETAC. Nineteen suitable social indicators were selected from four stakeholder categories of the guideline. Characterization and normalization were further developed based on data availability. National farm survey data was used as foreground data for farm activities, supplemented with background data from public database and life cycle working environment (LCWE) data by Gabi database. All indicators were divided into three groups: functional unit-related quantitative indicators, non-functional unit-related quantitative indicators and semi-quantitative indicators.Results and discussion
Irish dairy farming has positive social impacts on value chain actors and society, predominantly positive impacts for local community and generally positive values for workers. The main negative impacts are health and safety issue, equal opportunity for workers, and safe and healthy living conditions for the local community. Possible actions to improve the social performance include introducing more efficient and robotic milk production systems; applying better handling methods and using real time decision support to operational management for emissions reduction.Conclusions
This study is the first attempt of social LCA in Ireland. It demonstrated a possible method to carry out SLCA for Irish dairy sector. The results identified the positive and negative social hotspot of dairy farm with recommendation for future improvement.18.
Silvia Cecchel Daniel Chindamo Massimo Collotta Giovanna Cornacchia Andrea Panvini Giuseppe Tomasoni Marco Gadola 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2018,23(10):2043-2054
Purpose
Currently, the reduction of weight in automotive is a very important topic in order to lower the air pollution. In this context, the purpose of the present paper was to analyze a real case study through a comparison of the environmental sustainability between a conventional steel crossbeam for light commercial vehicles and an innovative lightweight aluminum one.Methods
For both scenarios, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment methodology and a sensitivity analysis has been used through the study of the following phases: mineral extraction, component manufacturing, use on vehicle, and end of life. In particular, many primary data and a complete vehicle model simulation with three different European driving cycles have been used in order to reach the highest possible level of accuracy during the analysis.Results and discussion
Regarding the manufacturing phase, the aluminum component’s production gave the highest impact because of the high energy required in the mineral reduction. Anyway, this stage of the analysis had a low effect on the entire LCA, because the benefit of weight reduction during vehicle use showed a strongly higher contribution. The urban driving cycle had the most relevant impact, as a consequence of the frequent start and stop operations and the longest time with engine at idle speed, while the extra-urban cycle is the less demanding due to its higher average speed and no start and stop.Conclusions
In conclusion, the present research demonstrated the environmental importance of the lightweight for an actual case study in the commercial vehicles field.19.
Haresh Devalia Anushka Chaudhry Richard M Rainsbury Neda Minakaran Dibyesh Banerjee 《International Seminars in Surgical Oncology : ISSO》2007,4(1):29
Background
Lateral skin folds or 'dog-ears' are frequent following mastectomy, particularly in patients with large body habitus.Methods
We describe a method of modifying the mastectomy incision and suturing to eliminate these lateral 'dog-ears'.Conclusion
This surgical technique, as compared to others described in the literature, is simple, does not require additional incisions and is cosmetically acceptable to the patient.20.
Stephanie Carlisle Elizabeth Friedlander 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(11):1645-1657