Exploiting the Potential of Public Procurement: Opportunities for Circular Economy

The objective of a circular economy (CE) is to maintain the value of products, materials, and resources in the economy by closing material loops and minimizing waste generation. In recent years, the role of public procurement has been recognized as an important, but as yet not fully exploited, opportunity by cities and municipalities in their transition toward circular societies. This study analyzed public procurement opportunities to promote CE. Different approaches and examples of circular public procurement were identified using case studies. In addition, opportunities to promote CE through sustainable and green public procurement policy were identified analyzing predefined sustainable or green public procurement criteria. The study concludes that public procurement can promote CE and related business models by setting criteria and requirements for the extension of product life spans, efficiency and/or intensity of use, and efficient cycling of biological or technical materials, as well as for the securing of clean and nonrisky cycles. Circular procurement can occur through the procurement of better‐quality products in circular terms, the procurement of new circular products, the use of business concepts that support the CE, and investments in circular ecosystems. Several sectors and product groups were identified as having potential for circular procurement, such as construction, waste, and wastewater management, transportation, food, and catering, furniture, and textiles. The study also suggests that the use of certain tools, such as performance‐based procurement, life cycle approach, and life cycle costing, as well as criteria concerning reuse and recycling of materials, could promote circular procurement. Market dialogue and cooperation between procurers and actors in the supply chains are important for the future development of circular procurement.     

Physiological dynamics,reproduction‐maintenance allocations,and life history evolution

Allocation of resources to competing processes of growth, maintenance, or reproduction is arguably a key process driving the physiology of life history trade‐offs and has been shown to affect immune defenses, the evolution of aging, and the evolutionary ecology of offspring quality. Here, we develop a framework to investigate the evolutionary consequences of physiological dynamics by developing theory linking reproductive cell dynamics and components of fitness associated with costly resource allocation decisions to broader life history consequences. We scale these reproductive cell allocation decisions to population‐level survival and fecundity using a life history approach and explore the effects of investment in reproduction or tissue‐specific repair (somatic or reproductive) on the force of selection, reproductive effort, and resource allocation decisions. At the cellular level, we show that investment in protecting reproductive cells increases fitness when reproductive cell maturation rate is high or reproductive cell death is high. At the population level, life history fitness measures show that cellular protection increases reproductive value by differential investment in somatic or reproductive cells and the optimal allocation of resources to reproduction is moulded by this level of investment. Our model provides a framework to understand the evolutionary consequences of physiological processes underlying trade‐offs and highlights the insights to be gained from considering fitness at multiple levels, from cell dynamics through to population growth.     

不同类型心力衰竭患者心电图QRS波时限与血浆NT-proBNP水平的关系及其临床意义

目的：探讨不同类型心力衰竭患者心电图QRS 波时限与血浆N末端B型利钠肽原（NT-proBNP）水平之间的关系及其临床 意义。方法：选择我院2012 年7 月至2014 年6 月接收的慢性心力衰竭患者300 例,作为研究组,将患者分为收缩性心力衰竭组 （S组）和舒张性心力衰竭组（D组）;另外,选取我院非CHF 患者132 例,作为对照组。测定所有受试者的心电图QRS 波时限,及 血浆中NT-proBNP 水平,分析血浆NT-proBNP 水平与QRS 波时限及NYHA心功能分级关系。结果：与对照组相比,研究组QRS 波时限均延长,血浆NT-proBNP水平显著升高（P<0.05）,其中S 组比D 组明显延长,且S 组血浆NT-proBNP水平高于D 组 （P<0.05）。三组NYHA 分级对比发现,差异均具有统计学意义（P<0.05）;S 组患者血浆NT-proBNP水平与QRS 波时限及NYHA 心功能分级之间呈正相关;D 组患者血浆NT-proBNP水平与QRS 波时限及NYHA心功能分级之间无明显的相关性。结论：临床 上可以将NT-proBNP水平和QRS 波时限结合起来诊断慢性心力衰竭患者的类型,以便于之后的治疗。     

目标教学法在护理教学查房中的应用价值分析

目的:探讨目标教学法在护理教学查房中的临床应用价值,以培养护生的临床思维能力,并且提高实践工作能力。方法:选取我院2014年5月~2014年9月在急诊科实习的护生120人为研究对象,在实习之初,按照随机的原则将其分为观察组与对照组,每组60人。在查房中,观察组实施目标教学法,对照组实施常规护理教学法。实习结束后,调查两组护生对查房时教学与课堂效果的满意程度,记录两组护生病历书写的质量以及在实习结束后,通过考核,统计两组护生的在理论成绩、基础护理成绩、专科护理成绩以及护理综合技能方面的成绩,然后对所得到的数据进行统计,以探讨目标教学法在护理教学查房中的临床应用价值。结果:从查房时教学的满意程度及对课堂效果的满意程度来看,观察组都高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);观察组病历书写优良的人数为48,优良率为80%,高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);观察组护生的理论成绩、基础护理成绩、专科护理成绩及护理综合技能的成绩均高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:目标教学法是一种科学、合理并且适合时代发展要求的新型教学法,应用于护理教学查房中,能提高护生的主动性,激发护生的学习兴趣,充分发掘其潜能,做到理论与实际的结合,从而提高学习者的自身能力,值得临床推广应用。     

Current views on insect feed and its future

Population growth and the subsequent increased demand for food, along with the rise in cost of feed, have led insect feed to be considered as an alternative to conventional animal feed. Insect feed is a sustainable and nutritious option; however, it does carry the risk of lower microbiological safety than conventional feed. Although there is some hesitancy from farmers in adapting insect feed due to fear of market rejection of insect‐fed animals, surveys seem to show positive attitudes of people towards insect feed when they informed of the benefits. Traditional methods of harvesting insects is not a sustainable method of production, and therefore further research will be needed to access appropriate methods of mass‐producing insects without putting a strain on the natural ecosystem. This review discusses the benefits and risks of using insect feed, its acceptance, type of animals that can be fed by insects, and future directions of insect feed.     

Evaluation of method performance for oxidative stress biomarkers in urine and biological variations in urine of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic nephropathy

Background

Oxidative stress biomarkers such as superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) play an important role in the pathogenesis or progression of numerous diseases. Data regarding the biological variation and analytical quality specifications (imprecision, bias and total error) for judging the acceptability of method performance for oxidative stress biomarkers in urine are conspicuously lacking in the literature. Such data are important in setting analytical quality specifications, assessing the utility of population reference intervals (index of individuality) and assessing the significance of changes in serial results from an individual (reference change value; RCV).

Materials and methods

20 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), 20 patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) and 14 healthy individuals as control were involved in this study. Timed first morning urine samples were taken from patients and healthy groups on the zero, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 15th and 30th days. Index of individuality and reference change value were calculated from within-subject and between-subject variations. Methods of oxidative stress biomarkers in human blood were adopted in human urine and markers were measured as spectrophotometrically. Also, analytical quality specifications for evaluation of the method performance were established for oxidative stress biomarkers in urine.

Results

Within-subject variations of oxidative stress biomarkers were significantly higher in patients with DN and T2DM compared to healthy subjects. MDA showed low individuality, and within-subject variances of MDA were larger than between-subject variances in all groups. However, CAT and CuZnSOD showed strong individuality, but within-subject variances of them were smaller than between-subject variances in all groups. RCVs of all analytes in diabetic patients were relatively higher, because of high within-subject variation, resulting in a higher RCV. Also, the described methodology achieves these goals, with analytical CVs of < 3.5% for all analytes. Goals for bias and total error were 6.0-7.9% and 12.5-23.3%, respectively.

Conclusions

RCVs concept for predicting the clinical status in diabetic patients represents an optimization of laboratory reporting and could be a valuable tool for clinical decision. Furthermore, for oxidative stress biomarkers’ measurements in urine, the desirable imprecision goals based on biological variation are obtainable by current methodologies.     

Indicator species for avian biodiversity hotspots: Combination of specialists and generalists is necessary in less natural environments

In this work, I tested the premise that the distribution of a group of few common bird species can be used to predict bird species hotspots in Central Italy. The data on bird observations were collected on 530 sampled sites (150 in cultivated, 150 in forest, 150 in grassland and 80 in urban and peri-urban environments). In each environment, sampled sites with values of bird species richness in the upper than third quartile were classified as high species richness spots (HSRS), while sites with lower bird species richness were classified as non-HSRS (binary classification system).Generalized Linear Models (GLM) were applied using HSRS or non-HSRS as binomial response variable and bird species occurrence was used as the predictor variable. All selected models showed “fair” or “good” capacities to predict the avian hotspots, using only few common birds (4–6) species. However, bird species selected as predictors were different on each environment. In more natural environments (grassland, forest), specialist species were selected, while in most disturbed environments (cultivated and urban) both generalist and specialist species were selected. The results are in agreement with other studies which show how homogenization of bird communities is strongly correlated to landscape disturbance. The findings supports the hypothesis that indicators have to incorporate both specialists and generalist’s species simultaneously. Furthermore, the groups of birds selected as surrogates are easy to detect and this makes it possible to involve citizen-science programmes in obtain data. This approach can be a cheap and efficient and can help to significantly speed up the process of assessing ecosystems that might be under threat.     

辽河流域大型底栖动物耐污值

大型底栖动物耐污值是构建河流生物评价指标的基础。受自然地理区域影响,同一分类单元的耐污值会出现地域上的差异,因此计算和修订适用于某一研究区域的耐污值是准确评价该区域河流健康状况的前提。目前尚未有针对我国北方河流大型底栖动物耐污值计算和修订的报道,基于2009年春季、秋季和2010年夏季在辽河流域308个样点的大型底栖动物数据,采用Simpson多样性指数的水质分级标准对所有样点的水质等级进行了划分,并利用累积分位数法计算获得了辽河流域大型底栖动物195个分类单元的耐污值;同时参考专家经验和相关文献核定了其余71个分类单元的耐污值。依据耐污值敏感特征划分标准,辽河流域大型底栖动物优势类群以敏感种和一般耐污种为主,两者几乎占到总分类单元数的84%,耐污类群种类较少,仅占16%。其中敏感类群有齿蛉科Corydalidae,襀科Perlidae,原石蛾科Rhyacophilidae,细裳蜉科Leptophlebiidae等;一般耐污类群有纹石蛾科Hydropsychidae,四节蜉科Baetidae,扁蜷螺科Planorbidae等;耐污类群有颤蚓科Tubificidae、石蛭科Erpobdellidae等。     

Composition and distribution of indigenous trees and shrubs as possible criteria for indicating adapted species in semi‐arid rangelands

This study assessed the composition and natural distribution of indigenous trees and shrubs as possible criteria for selecting suitable species for rehabilitation of degraded sites in semi‐arid rangelands. Study sites were identified at Nthangu, Kathonzweni and Kibwezi forests of Makueni County, Kenya using existing vegetation, agro‐climatic maps and Landsat imageries. The sites had mean annual rainfalls of 974 mm, 700 mm and 616 mm, respectively, and moisture indices of 49%, 35% and 32%. Data were collected by establishing sample plots and assessing species counts and diameters at breast height (DBH). Basal area, relative dominance, relative abundance, relative frequency and important value indices (IVIs) were computed for individual families and species at each site. The number of families, genera and species declined from Nthangu (33, 60, 77) through Kibwezi (30, 48, 70) to Kathonzweni (28, 42, 69). Corresponding mean basal areas were 16.7 m² ha^?1, 76.8 m² ha^?1 and 19.3 m² ha^?1. The families Combretaceae, Burseraceae and Mimosaceae were the most important and widely distributed. Based on ecological importance values, candidate species for rehabilitation of degraded sites at Nthangu, Kathonzweni and Kibwezi were Combretum molle and Acacia hockii; Combretum collinum, Commiphora campestris and Acacia tortilis; and Commiphora africana and A. tortilis, respectively.