Life-LCA: assessing the environmental impacts of a human being—challenges and perspectives

Purpose

The life-cycle assessment (LCA) method is typically applied to products, but the potential and demand for extending its use also to other applications are high. In this respect, this paper proposes an LCA concept to be used for the assessment of human beings as new study objects, namely Life-LCA. Key challenges of such a new approach and potential solutions for those are identified and discussed.

Methods

The Life-LCA concept was developed based on a detailed desktop research. Several Life-LCA-specific challenges were identified and categorized under three research questions. One of these questions focusses on the conceptual design of a Life-LCA method while the others are addressing operational issues, which are the definition of the new study system and the practical assessment of complex human consumption behaviors. Methodological solutions are proposed, e.g., based on suggestions provided in the existing methods product LCA and organizational LCA (O-LCA).

Results and discussion

Conceptual challenges arise from the general diversity, complexity, and temporal development of human lives and consumption behaviors. We introduce Life-LCA as a two-dimensional method that covers both, the new human life cycle (dimension 1) and the life cycle of the consumed products (dimension 2). Furthermore, the two types Individual Life-LCA and Lifestyle-LCA are differentiated. Especially, the definition of a general system boundary for Life-LCA and data collection and evaluation face many operational challenges. For example, the social behavior of human beings is a new factor to be considered which causes new allocation problems in LCA. Moreover, the high demand for aggregated LCA data requires specific rules for data collection and evaluation as well as a new bottom-up product clustering scheme.

Conclusions

Life-LCA, either used for the assessment of individual lives or lifestyles, has the potential to raise environmental awareness of people by making their specific environmental impacts comprehensively measurable and thus, tangible. However, many challenges need to be solved in future interdisciplinary research to develop a robust and applicable method. This paper conceptualizes such an approach and proposes solutions that can serve as a framework for ongoing method development.

     

Stories and photographs of William A. Arnold (1904–2001), a pioneer of photosynthesis and a wonderful friend

William A. Arnold discovered many phenomena in photosynthesis. In 1932, together with Robert Emerson, he provided the first experimental data that led to the concept of a large antenna and a few reaction centers (photosynthetic unit); in 1935, he obtained the minimum quantum requirement of 8–10 for the evolution of one O₂ molecule; in 1951, together with Bernard L. Strehler, he discovered delayed fluorescence (also known as delayed light emission) in photosynthetic systems; and in 1956, together with Helen Sherwood, he discovered thermoluminescence in plants. He is also known for providing a solid-state picture of photosynthesis. Much has been written about him and his research, including many articles in a special issue of Photosynthesis Research (Govindjee et al. (eds.) 1996); and a biography of Arnold, by Govindjee and Srivastava (William Archibald Arnold (1904–2001), 2014), in the Biographical Memoirs of the US National Academy of Sciences, (Washington, DC). Our article here offers a glimpse into the everyday life, through stories and photographs, of this remarkable scientist.     

Salvador E. Luria (1912–1991), a unique human being

In Memory of Salvador E. Luria     

Jean Lavorel (1928–2021): a great scientist,a model of integrity

Photosynthesis Research - This paper is a tribute to a great scientist and an authentic “honest man” that was Jean Lavorel (1928–2021). He was a pioneer in research on the primary...     

Patients who leave the pediatric emergency department without being seen: a case–control study

Background

Children who visit pediatric emergency departments (EDs) and leave before being seen by a physician may present with particular health problems and may be at risk for preventable health outcomes. We compared children who left without being seen with those who stayed and were seen by a pediatrician, and followed all of the study subjects after they left the ED.

Methods

We asked all parents of children who visited the ED between July 1 and Oct. 31, 2002, to participate. Parents were interviewed by a trained ED research assistant. We abstracted data from the ED medical records. We used the Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) to measure the acuity of the illness or injury. Each child who left without being seen was matched with 2 children who had been seen by selecting the next patients on an alphabetical list by day, sex and age (within 1 year). We did follow-up interviews with parents within 96 hours of the visit to determine the reason for leaving and any treatment and diagnoses received subsequent to the ED visit.

Results

Of the 11 087 children seen in the ED during the study period, 289 (3%) left without being seen. Of the 289, the families of 158 (56%) consented to participate in the study and met the study criteria. The case and control groups thus consisted of 158 and 316 children respectively. Of the children who left without being seen, 24 (15%) were triaged as “urgent,” and none had a CTAS score of less than 3. A total of 99 children (63%) who left were taken by their families elsewhere for further medical care, compared with 89 (28%) of those who stayed. Waiting too long and resolution of symptoms accounted for 92 (58%) and 59 (37%) of the premature departures respectively. One child who left without being seen was subsequently admitted to hospital. Multivariate analysis showed that, after adjustment for time of arrival and time to reach the ED, children who left without being seen had lower acuity than those who stayed (odds ratio [OR] 4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2–7.2) and were more likely to register in the ED between midnight and 4 am (OR 5.9, 95% CI 2.8– 12.5). Children in the premature departure group were also more likely to be taken elsewhere for follow-up care (unadjusted OR 4.3, 95% CI 2.9–6.4).

Interpretation

Children who left the ED without being seen had lower acuity levels and were more likely to be taken elsewhere for follow-up care than children who stayed. Most of those who left did so because the wait was too long or their symptoms resolved.The characteristics of children who visit pediatric emergency departments (EDs) and leave before being seen by a physician are not well documented. Of potential concern are possible adverse outcomes related to a lack of timely assessment and treatment, worsening symptoms and decreased patient satisfaction. Studies conducted in general EDs treating primarily adult patients have shown an increased frequency of patients'' leaving without being seen¹ and the effect of leaving on patient satisfaction.² Despite the importance of this problem, there is a paucity of studies on this topic in children.^{3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12}Adult patients are more likely to leave the ED as waiting times increase,^4,5,12 if they perceive difficulties communicating with the staff, or if they have pressing commitments,^4,12 and they are less likely to leave if length of wait is reduced.⁶ Pediatric studies^10,13 and a survey of pediatric ED directors^1,4 in North America showed rates of premature departure of 0.2%–3.9%, and a rate of 5.5% was reported from Australia.¹¹ However, none of the authors of the pediatric studies compared the patients who left without being seen with those who stayed, and only 1 group reported the acuity level of pediatric patients.¹¹We performed a study to determine and compare the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of children who leave the ED without being seen and of those who stay to be seen. We also wanted to discover why pediatric patients leave the ED, and whether and where they are taken by their families for further medical care.     

William E. Vidaver (1921–2017): an innovator,enthusiastic scientist,inspiring teacher and a wonderful friend

William (Bill) E. Vidaver (February 2, 1921–August 31, 2017), who did his Ph.D. with Laurence (Larry) R. Blinks at Stanford (1964) and a postdoc with C. Stacy French (1965), taught and did research at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for almost 30 years. Here he published over 80 papers in photosynthesis-related areas co-authored by his graduate students, postdocs, visiting professors and SFU colleagues. He developed a unique high-pressure cuvette for the study of oxygen exchange and studied high-pressure effects in photosynthesis. Ulrich (Uli) Schreiber, as a postdoctoral fellow from Germany, introduced measurements on chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence to Bill’s lab, leading to the discovery of reversible inhibition of excitation energy transfer between photosynthetic pigments and of a pivotal role of O₂ in the oxidation of the electron transport chain between Photosystem II (PS II) and PS I. Bill’s and Uli’s work led to a patent of a portable chlorophyll fluorometer, the first available commercially, which was later modified to measure whole plantlets. The latter was used in pioneering measurement of the health of forest and crop plants undergoing in vitro clonal micropropagation. With several other researchers (including Doug Bruce, the late Radovan Popovic, and Sarah Swenson), he localized the quenching site of O₂ and showed a dampening effect on measurements of the four-step process of O₂ production by endogenous oxygen uptake. Bill is remembered as a hard-working but fun-loving person with a keen mind and strong sense of social justice.     

Obituary: Ron K. Pickerill (1947–2018)

Recently discovered tracks in alluvial sediments of the Late Paleocene Bullion Creek Formation of western North Dakota have been identified as belonging to the large eusuchian crocodile Borealosuchus formidabilis and an associated small arthropod. They are described as two new ichnotaxa. The first of these, Borealosuchipus hanksi igen. et isp. nov., is based on a partly complete trackway having fore- and hind-footprints as well as body marks preserved in hyporelief. These tracks are directly associated with numerous body fossils including articulated bones which provide strong implications for their probable origin. The second specimen, Koupichnium pentapodus isp. nov., is founded on a trackway of a small invertebrate in which a series of five pairs of footprints are arranged along a midline drag mark which is continuous throughout the length of its trackway. This trackway shares features with other fossils as well as living arthropod trackways in which four small feet and a larger posterior hind “pusher” foot are present. The two described new ichnotaxa represent the first recognized tracks from the Wannagan Creek local fauna.