农业生命周期评价研究进展

作为评价产品系统全链条环境影响的有效工具,生命周期评价（LCA）方法已广泛用于工业领域。农业领域也面临着高强度的资源和环境压力,LCA在农业领域的应用应运而生。旨在综述已有农业LCA研究的基础上,鉴别农业LCA应用存在的问题,并为农业LCA未来的发展提出建议。目前农业LCA存在系统边界和功能单位界定不明晰、缺少区域清单数据库、生命周期环境影响评价模型（LCIA）不能准确反映农业系统环境影响、结果解释存在误区等方面的问题。为了科学准确地衡量农业系统的环境影响,促进农业系统的可持续发展,文章认为农业LCA应该从以下几个方面加强研究,即科学界定评价的参照系、系统边界的扩大及功能单位的合理选取、区域异质性数据库构建与LCIA模型开发、基于组织农业LCA的开发以及对于利益相关者行为的研究。     

生命周期评价方法在城市生活垃圾管理中的应用研究述评

结合城市生活垃圾管理系统特征,系统归纳基于生命周期评价(Life cycle assessment,LCA)方法的城市生活垃圾管理模型的发展现状,并对LCA方法在城市生活垃圾管理中的实践以及在我国开展城市生活垃圾管理LCA研究的应用前景进行评述。分析表明,LCA是城市生活垃圾管理领域的重要工具之一,基于LCA方法的城市生活垃圾管理模型在全生命周期环境影响评价与识别、处置工艺选择与改进、可持续生活垃圾管理决策支持等方面具有十分重要的应用价值。中国在本地化生活垃圾管理系统LCA模型开发、清单数据库和评价指标体系构建以及与其他研究方法集成等方面面临挑战。     

环境足迹的核算与整合框架——基于生命周期评价的视角

环境足迹及其与生命周期评价(LCA)的关系是工业生态学关注的新热点。从探讨环境足迹与LCA的关系入手,以碳足迹、水足迹、土地足迹和材料足迹为例,分别对每一项足迹指标两个版本的核算方法进行了比较。根据清单加和过程的特点,将所有足迹指标划分为基于权重因子和基于特征因子两类,总结了两者的适用性和局限性。在此基础上提出了一个环境足迹核算与整合的统一框架。该框架基于LCA视角建立,但对系统边界和清单数据的要求相对灵活,因而也适用于生命周期不甚明确的情形。研究在一定程度上揭示了足迹指标的方法学实质,同时也为环境影响综合评估提供了一条规范化的途径。     

萤火素酶互补实验检测蛋白互作

蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用在真核生物的各项生命活动中发挥重要作用。与其它蛋白质互作研究技术相比,借助于烟草(Nicotiana benthamiana)瞬时表达系统的萤火素酶互补实验(LCA)具有简单、灵敏、可靠、高效和低背景等优点,并可轻松扩展为大规模蛋白质互作的筛选和验证研究。该文介绍了萤火素酶互补实验的具体操作过程,通过2种数据收集方法来定性并定量分析生物发光或发光强度,从而检测植物目标蛋白之间的相互作用。     

萤火素酶互补实验检测蛋白互作

蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用在真核生物的各项生命活动中发挥重要作用。与其它蛋白质互作研究技术相比,借助于烟草(Nicotiana benthamiana)瞬时表达系统的萤火素酶互补实验(LCA)具有简单、灵敏、可靠、高效和低背景等优点,并可轻松扩展为大规模蛋白质互作的筛选和验证研究。该文介绍了萤火素酶互补实验的具体操作过程,通过2种数据收集方法来定性并定量分析生物发光或发光强度,从而检测植物目标蛋白之间的相互作用。     

GPS项圈系统在野生动物管理与监测中的应用

野生动物管理与监测是生物多样性保护工作的重要内容。而监测手段决定了保护工作中收集数据的质量和数量。收集动物活动位点数据是野生动物管理与监测中的一项重要工作,可通过样线法收集动物活动痕迹(实体)位点或采用无线电遥测获取动物的活动位点等,采用这些位点数据可以研究野生动物种群数量、家域、运动、栖息地利用和选择等。通过给野生动物佩戴GPS项圈,利用GPS项圈系统进行定位记录其活动位点,较前述常规方法更为便利,能高效地收集大量高质量位点,这种方法可以为野生动物的管理与生物多样性保护提供更为可靠的数据基础。     

病案首页数据分布式集成管理平台的设计与应用

为满足全国医院服务能力和医疗质量评价需求,针对复杂的病案首页源数据,设计实现了自下而上包含数据集成层、存储与管理层、分析与挖掘层、分析结果展现层,以及贯穿整个系统的数据安全和质量控制的病案首页数据集成与分布式管理平台。系统平台已应用于全国多家医院的病案首页数据的集成与处理,获得了很好的效果。     

我国城市可持续发展能力评估指标的元数据分析与管理

在我国大力推动城市可持续发展,推进国家可持续发展实验区建设的同时,采用何种评估方法和数据开展城市可持续发展能力评估是需要重点解决的问题。近年来兴起的元数据理论与技术在解决评估数据质量控制方面被视为是一种行之有效的方法。针对我国现阶段使用的一些城市可持续发展能力评估指标体系的特点,通过深入剖析每一个指标数据的来源、获取手段、适用方法等特征,提出从软件工程学思路研发城市可持续发展能力评估元数据管理系统的具体方法,帮助可持续发展实验区高效获取和管理评估所需数据信息;以"十二五"科技支撑计划项目"城市可持续发展能力评估及信息管理关键技术研究与示范"中所建立的元数据规范,对其所包含的"数据发布日期"、"数据发布形式"、"空间范围"、"时间范围(起始时间、结束时间)"、"统计频率"、"数据安全限制分级"、"数据志说明"、"在线资源链接地址"和"数据统计单位信息(单位名称、联络人、联系电话、单位地址、邮件地址)"共14项为评估数据的关键元数据项,以此追踪对标的评估数据。并通过量化数据质量评分法针对数据质量在运用元数据追踪法前后的评价结果对比发现,被评估指标的数据质量在获得元数据支持时,其数据可靠性、可比性和可持续性方面的评价分值都获得了十分显著的改善。研究认为采用元数据理论在控制和保障城市可持续发展能力评估数据质量方面具有优势作用,开发有针对性的城市可持续发展能力评估元数据管理系统能够有效提高评估数据的综合评价结果。     

传染病临床研究信息系统的建立

目的:建立传染病临床研究信息系统,实现传染病临床研究的信息化管理.方法:按照FDA 21 CFR Part11规则,基于J2EE 技术、Struts三层体系架构以及Hibernate数据库技术,建立传染病临床研究信息系统.结果:开发了传染病临床研究信息系统,能够满足患者基本信息收集、病历管理、病情随访、目标数据挖掘及科研标本管理等多方面需求.结论:该信息系统满足传染病临床病例信息收集与科研的个性化需求,将显著增强传染病病例数据收集的效率和质量,为传染病临床与科研工作提供强有力的信息化保障.     

应用远程质量控制体系对CT性能监测的效果评价

目的 通过对CT远程质量控制体系应用前后其性能状态对比分析,检验CT远程质量控制模式的价值与效果。方法 收集3家医疗机构41份CT指标检测数据,对远程质量控制体系应用前、后CT的性能指标数据进行对比分析。结果 CT远程质量控制体系应用后,CT性能指标（噪声、空间分辨力)较前显著改善（P﹤0.01）,CT合格率明显提高（P﹤0.01）。结论 质量控制是提高临床质量,促进精准医疗发展的重要保障,远程质量控制体系可靠性好,为全国各医疗机构开展CT远程质量控制工作提供了借鉴依据,也为实现MRI、DSA、DR等大型设备远程质量控制开辟了可靠路径。     

Life Cycle Attribute Assessment

Practitioners of life cycle assessment (LCA) have recently turned their attention to social issues in the supply chain. The United Nations life cycle initiative's social LCA task force has completed its guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products, and awareness of managing upstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues has risen due to the growing popularity of LCA. This article explores one approach to assessing social issues in the supply chain—life cycle attribute assessment (LCAA). The approach was originally proposed by Gregory Norris in 2006, and we present here a case study. LCAA builds on the theoretical structure of environmental LCA to construct a supply chain model. Instead of calculating quantitative impacts, however, it asks the question “What percentage of my supply chain has attribute X?” X may represent a certification from a CSR body or a self‐defined attribute, such as “is locally produced.” We believe LCAA may serve as an aid to discussions of how current and popular CSR indicators may be integrated into a supply chain model. The case study demonstrates the structure of LCAA, which is very similar to that of traditional environmental LCA. A labor hours data set was developed as a satellite matrix to determine number of worker hours in a greenhouse tomato supply. Data from the Quebec tomato producer were used to analyze how the company performed on eight sample LCAA indicators, and conclusions were drawn about where the company should focus CSR efforts.     

Ecosystem Services in Life Cycle Assessment while Encouraging Techno‐Ecological Synergies

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has enabled consideration of environmental impacts beyond the narrow boundary of traditional engineering methods. This reduces the chance of shifting impacts outside the system boundary. However, sustainability also requires that supporting ecosystems are not adversely affected and remain capable of providing goods and services for supporting human activities. Conventional LCA does not account for this role of nature, and its metrics are best for comparing alternatives. These relative metrics do not provide information about absolute environmental sustainability, which requires comparison between the demand and supply of ecosystem services (ES). Techno‐ecological synergy (TES) is a framework to account for ES, and has been demonstrated by application to systems such as buildings and manufacturing activities that have narrow system boundaries. This article develops an approach for techno‐ecological synergy in life cycle assessment (TES‐LCA) by expanding the steps in conventional LCA to incorporate the demand and supply of ecosystem goods and services at multiple spatial scales. This enables calculation of absolute environmental sustainability metrics, and helps identify opportunities for improving a life cycle not just by reducing impacts, but also by restoring and protecting ecosystems. TES‐LCA of a biofuel life cycle demonstrates this approach by considering the ES of carbon sequestration, air quality regulation, and water provisioning. Results show that for the carbon sequestration ecosystem service, farming can be locally sustainable but unsustainable at the global or serviceshed scale. Air quality regulation is unsustainable at all scales, while water provisioning is sustainable at all scales for this study in the eastern part of the United States.     

Import‐based Indicator for the Geopolitical Supply Risk of Raw Materials in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessments

There is a growing concern over the security and sustainable supply of raw material among businesses and governments of developed, material‐intensive countries. This has led to the development of a systematic analysis of risk incorporated with raw materials usage, often referred as criticality assessment. In principle, this concept is based on the material flow approach. The potential role of life cycle assessment (LCA) to integrate resource criticality through broadening its scope into the life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework has been discussed within the LCA communities for some time. In this article, we aim at answering the question of how to proceed toward integration of the geopolitical aspect of resource criticality into the LCSA framework. The article focuses on the assessment of the geopolitical supply risk of 14 resources imported to the seven major advanced economies and the five most relevant emerging countries. Unlike a few previous studies, we propose a new method of calculation for the geopolitical supply risk, which is differentiated by countries based on the import patterns instead of a global production distribution. Our results suggest that rare earth elements, tungsten, antimony, and beryllium generally pose high geopolitical supply risk. Results from the Monte Carlo simulation allow consideration of data uncertainties for result interpretation. Issues concerning the consideration of the full supply chain are exemplarily discussed for cobalt. Our research broadens the scope of LCA from only environmental performance to a resource supply‐risk assessment tool that includes accessibility owing to political instability and market concentration under the LCSA framework.     

Triple bottom line study of a lignocellulosic biofuel industry

Growing concerns about energy security and climate change have prompted interest in Australia and worldwide to look for alternatives of fossil fuels. Among the renewable fuel sources, biofuels are one such alternative that have received unprecedented attention in the past decade. Cellulosic biofuels, derived from agricultural and wood biomass, could potentially increase Australia's oil self‐sufficiency. In this study, we carry out a hybrid life‐cycle assessment (LCA) of a future cellulose‐refining industry located in the Green Triangle region of South Australia. We assess both the upstream and downstream refining stages, and consider as well the life‐cycle effects occurring in conventional industries displaced by the proposed biofuel supply chains. We improve on conventional LCA method by utilising multi‐region input–output (IO) analysis that allows a comprehensive appraisal of the industry's supply chains. Using IO‐based hybrid LCA, we evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts of lignocellulosic biofuel production. In particular, we evaluate the employment, economic stimulus, energy consumption and greenhouse gas impacts of the biofuel supply chain and also quantify the loss in economic activity and employment in the paper, pulp and paperboard industry resulting from the diversion of forestry biomass to biofuel production. Our results reveal that the loss in economic activity and employment will only account for 10% of the new jobs and additional stimulus generated in the economy. Lignocellulosic biofuel production will create significant new jobs and enhance productivity and economic growth by initiating the growth of new industries in the economy. The energy return on investment for cellulosic biofuel production lies between 2.7 and 5.2, depending on the type of forestry feedstock and the travel distance between the feedstock industry and the cellulose refinery. Furthermore, the biofuel industry will be a net carbon sequester.     

Same Supply Chain,Different Models: Integrating Perspectives from Life Cycle Assessment and Supply Chain Management

Within industrial ecology, there is a substantial community focusing on life cycle assessment (LCA) and corresponding tools and methods. Within the field of supply chain management, an increasing community is converging around sustainable supply chains. These two communities study the same underlying systems, but bring different perspectives to bear. We review seven issues that arise at this intersection of LCA and supply chain management, with the aim of illustrating how both communities can enrich each other by closer interaction. We conclude with some suggestions for how the two communities can further collaborate.     

中国生命周期评价理论与实践研究进展及对策分析

主要分析了我国生命周期评价的理论与实践研究进展与数据库构建现状,针对当前我国生命周期评价理论与应用研究的关键薄弱环节即不确定性分析、本土化数据库构建、本土化生命周期环境影响评价模型构建,指出了利用泰勒系列展开模型进行符合我国产业链生产现状的精确、完整、具有代表性、具有时空动态特征的生命周期数据库构建的必要性;并指出需要根据我国国情(例如:环境、地理、人口、暴露等)来构建生命周期环境影响评价模型的紧迫性。     

Global Supply Chains of Coltan

The spot price for tantalum, a metal used in high‐performance consumer electronics, spiked in 2000, triggering a boom in artisanal mining of surface deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The profit from columbite‐tantalite ore, or coltan, is alleged to have funded militants during that country's civil war. One warlord famously claimed that in 2000, coltan delivered a million dollars per month. While coltan mining was neither a necessary nor sufficient cause for the civil war, there is nevertheless a clear association between mining and conflict. In order to trace global flows of coltan out of the DRC, we used a high‐resolution multiregion input‐output (MRIO) table and a hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to trace exports through international supply chains in order to estimate a “coltan footprint” for various products. In this case study, our aim is to highlight the power and utility of hybrid LCA analysis using high‐resolution global MRIO accounts. We estimate which supply chains, nations, and consumer goods carry the largest loads of embodied coltan. This hybrid LCA case study provides estimates on illicit flows of coltan, estimates a coltan footprint of consumption, and highlights the advantages and challenges of using hybrid monetary‐physical input‐output/LCA approaches to study and quantify a negative social impact as an input to production. If successful, the hybrid LCA approach could be a useful and expedient measurement tool for understanding flows of conflict minerals embodied in supply chains.     

Insights on the Use of Hybrid Life Cycle Assessment for Environmental Footprinting

Establishing a comprehensive environmental footprint that indicates resource use and environmental release hotspots in both direct and indirect operations can help companies formulate impact reduction strategies as part of overall sustainability efforts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful approach for achieving these objectives. For most companies, financial data are more readily available than material and energy quantities, which suggests a hybrid LCA approach that emphasizes use of economic input‐output (EIO) LCA and process‐based energy and material flow models to frame and develop life cycle emission inventories resulting from company activities. We apply a hybrid LCA framework to an inland marine transportation company that transports bulk commodities within the United States. The analysis focuses on global warming potential, acidification, particulate matter emissions, eutrophication, ozone depletion, and water use. The results show that emissions of greenhouse gases, sulfur, and particulate matter are mainly from direct activities but that supply chain impacts are also significant, particularly in terms of water use. Hotspots were identified in the production, distribution, and use of fuel; the manufacturing, maintenance, and repair of boats and barges; food production; personnel air transport; and solid waste disposal. Results from the case study demonstrate that the aforementioned footprinting framework can provide a sufficiently reliable and comprehensive baseline for a company to formulate, measure, and monitor its efforts to reduce environmental impacts from internal and supply chain operations.     

Attributional and Consequential Environmental Assessment of the Shift to Lead-Free Solders (10 pp)

- Goal, Scope, Background. As of July 1st, 2006, lead will be banned in most solder pastes used in the electronics industry. This has called for environmental evaluation of alternatives to tin-lead solders. Our life cycle assessment (LCA) has two aims: (i) to compare attributional and consequential LCA methodologies, and (ii) to compare a SnPb solder (62% tin, 36% lead, 2% silver) to a Pb-free solder (95.5% tin, 3.8% silver, 0.7% copper). Methods An attributional LCA model describes the environmental impact of the solder life cycle. Ideally, it should include average data on each unit process within the life cycle. The model does not include unit processes other than those of the life cycle investigated, but significant cut-offs within the life cycle can be avoided through the use of environmentally expanded input-output tables. A consequential LCA model includes unit processes that are significantly affected irrespective of whether they are within or outside the life cycle. Ideally, it should include marginal data on bulk production processes in the background system. Our consequential LCA model includes economic partial equilibrium models of the lead and scrap lead markets. However, both our LCA models are based on data from the literature or from individual production sites. The partial equilibrium models are based on assumptions. The life cycle impact assessment is restricted to global warming potential (GWP). Results and Discussion The attributional LCA demonstrates the obvious fact that the shift from SnPb to Pb-free solder means that lead is more or less eliminated from the solder life cycle. The attributional LCA results also indicate that the Pb-free option contributes 10% more to the GWP than SnPb. Despite the poor quality of the data, the consequential LCA demonstrates that, when lead use is eliminated from the solder life cycle, the effect is partly offset by increased lead use in batteries and other products. This shift can contribute to environmental improvement because lead emissions are likely to be greatly reduced, while batteries can contribute to reducing GWP, thereby offsetting part of the GWP increase in the solder life cycle. Conclusions The shift from SnPb to Pb-free solder is likely to result in reduced lead emissions and increased GWP. Attributional and consequential LCAs yield complementary knowledge on the consequences of this shift in solder pastes. At present, consequential LCA is hampered by the lack of readily available marginal data and the lack of input data to economic partial equilibrium models. However, when the input to a consequential LCA model is in the form of quantitative assumptions based on a semi-qualitative discussion, the model can still generate new knowledge. Recommendations and Outlook Experts on partial equilibrium models should be involved in consequential LCA modeling in order to improve the input data on price elasticity, marginal production, and marginal consumption.