Industrial Ecology and Ecological Engineering

Ecological engineering (EE) and industrial ecology (IE) strive to balance humanity's activities with nature. The disciplines have emerged separately but share theoretical foundations and philosophies on how to address today's complex environmental issues. Although EE and IE share motive, goals, theories, and philosophies, there are many differences. These similarities and differences may make for a strong symbiotic relationship between the two fields. The goals of this article are (1) to compare and contrast the two fields to identify opportunities for collaboration and integration and (2) to suggest three cross-disciplinary focal areas that bridge EE and IE.
The first symbiotic area, ecosystem engineering for byproduct recovery, is defined as the design, creation, and management of living ecosystems (e.g., forests, wetlands) that utilize the by-products of industrial systems. Examples of this exist, including constructed wetlands for lead recovery and phyto-mining of nickel tailings. The second symbiotic focus is entitled "ecosystem analogues for industrial ecology", which fits with a founding principle of IE to strive to have industry emulate the energy efficiencies and material cycles of natural ecosystems. This focal area quantifies the ecological analogy and exploits the tremendous library of design alternatives that nature has developed over thousands of years to deal with varied resource situations. The third focal area is termed "eco-system information engineering." The means by which living ecosystems have created robust knowledge systems and information cycles should be understood in terms useful for managing current society's information explosion. As industrial society evolves toward the information society, holistic models are needed that account for the available energy and material resources required to operate effective information ecosystems, such as service industries.     

An advanced taxi movement model in the working day movement for delay-tolerant networks

Vehicle safety communications is an important technology for preventing automobile accidents. The number of neighbor nodes is important in the automobile industry, which is becoming increasingly more customer-oriented. The Opportunistic Network Environment (ONE) simulator is a specialized tool for the simulation of a routing protocol in a delay-tolerant network (DTN). Various movement models, including random waypoint, working day movement, and post-disaster movement, have been studied. DTN is a network suggested for communication between networks with significantly varied delay times. In order to raise the accuracy of simulation results in DTNs, a movement model that considers an actual situation is very important. As for the ONE simulator, a working day movement model shows actual movement patterns of people among various movement models. For types of transportation, a road, a vehicle and a bus are provided, but a real-life situation is not provided for a taxi. A taxi moves to a destination via the shortest route when there is a customer; otherwise, it moves at fast speeds randomly. Such movement can generate various communication situations and packet transmission in a DTN. Therefore, this paper aims to design an advanced taxi movement model.     

Success and Its Price: The Institutionalization and Political Relevance of Industrial Ecology

As industrial ecology (IE) solidifies conceptually and methodologically, and as it gains visibility and legitimacy in academia, industry, and government, it is important that the IE community periodically evaluate the status of its emerging institutional arrangements. At the same time, industrial ecologists should assess the political relations developing between the field and the larger world. We analyze four institutional criteria: professional legitimacy, viable clientele, entrepreneurial acumen, and occupational opportunities, as well as a more controversial fifth measure-political relevance. Drawing a comparison with the field of ecology, we argue that efforts to foster IE institutionally can, ironically, conflict with the objective of seeing IE become "the science and engineering of sustainability". The article concludes by reflecting on the importance of this kind of critical appraisal and on why many observers of the field remain hopeful.     

Industrial Ecology Education at Tsinghua University

As a leading university in engineering education in China, Tsinghua University implemented industrial ecology (IE) education in the 1990s. This article describes the evolution of IE education at Tsinghua. Tsinghua mainstreams IE education into green education and engineering education not only by establishing independent courses of IE for both undergraduate and graduate students, but also by incorporating IE principles and knowledge modules into an increasing number of courses. During 2002–2015, a total of 1,023 undergraduates from 33 schools and departments participated in an IE course. To cope with the diversity of participants, four knowledge modules were customized for an undergraduate course: concepts and history; methods and tools; topics and applications; and policy and perspectives. Meanwhile, an interdisciplinary teaching method was adopted by inviting experts from diverse disciplines and organizing group discussions. Though the course has received strong positive feedback, four challenges still remain in IE education: defining the knowledge boundary, presenting an integrated view, utilizing an interdisciplinary methodology, and cultivating a class culture.     

Postsecondary Education in Industrial Ecology Across the World

In recent years, industrial ecology (IE) has become increasingly integrated into formal education as a distinct body of work. The aim of this article is to describe the state of IE in postsecondary education across the world by providing an inventory of programs and courses offered from a search conducted during the summer of 2012. Although some interpretation of the results is conducted, the aim of this article is to provide a snapshot of the state of IE in higher education in 2012 and serve as a starting point for future work. Data were collected on IE courses and programs across the world by Internet search in order to determine the prevalence of IE in postsecondary curricula. Subsequently, 190 universities and colleges from 46 countries were identified as offering courses and/or programs in IE. From this research, a total of 409 courses and 78 programs were inventoried and course content was analyzed (where available). The results indicate that IE is mainly studied at the graduate level within engineering and environmental disciplines, although undergraduate‐level curricula are emerging. In terms of disciplinary departments offering said curricula, IE is presented as a topic of instruction in varied fields of study, such as business and administration, and the arts. From the course syllabi analyzed, the main subjects being taught within IE education are introductory principles and general tools. Advanced or specialized aspects of the field are also covered, however, less frequently.     

新工科背景下“微生物生理学”虚拟仿真实验教学模式探索：以“微生物絮凝剂合成机制及应用”为例

微生物生理学是哈尔滨工业大学微生物学及环境科学与工程学科领域的硕士研究生精品核心课程,但由于传统微生物学实验教学耗时长、过程不确定及不可逆等因素,难以开展“微生物生理学”综合性研究生专业课程实验。将先进的虚拟仿真和互联网技术相结合构建“微生物生理学”虚拟仿真实验系统,可以有效突破课程实验教学的时空障碍,推进微生物学及环境科学与工程的研究生教育改革。本文以“微生物絮凝剂合成机理研究及应用”为例,从微观尺度到宏观尺度逐渐展开,实验内容涵盖微生物絮凝剂合成机理和微生物絮凝剂的应用,以培养学生综合利用所学知识探索微生物絮凝剂合成及应用的内在机理的能力,并鼓励学生独立思考,激发其科研热情。     

国际工程教育认证下基于成果导向教育(OBE)理念重构闭环式环境工程微生物学课程教学

工程教育专业认证是国际通行的工程教育质量保障制度,也是实现工程教育国际互认和工程师资格国际互认的重要基础.工程教育专业认证要求按照成果导向教育(Outcome Based Education,OBE)理念设计课程教学,教学过程要以学生为中心,最终形成持续改进的闭环式教学模式.环境工程微生物学是环境工程专业的核心课程之一...     

Life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to the process industry: a review

Purpose

Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is a well-established analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, which has been mainly applied to products. However, recent literature would suggest that it has also the potential as an analysis and design tool for processes, and stresses that one of the biggest challenges of this decade in the field of process systems engineering (PSE) is the development of tools for environmental considerations.

Method

This article attempts to give an overview of the integration of LCA methodology in the context of industrial ecology, and focuses on the use of this methodology for environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization.

Results

The review identifies that LCA is often used as a multi-objective optimization of processes: practitioners use LCA to obtain the inventory and inject the results into the optimization model. It also shows that most of the LCA studies undertaken on process analysis consider the unit processes as black boxes and build the inventory analysis on fixed operating conditions.

Conclusions

The article highlights the interest to better assimilate PSE tools with LCA methodology, in order to produce a more detailed analysis. This will allow optimizing the influence of process operating conditions on environmental impacts and including detailed environmental results into process industry.     

Genome-based approaches to develop epitope-driven subunit vaccines against pathogens of infective endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) has emerged as a public health problem due to changes in the etiologic spectrum and due to involvement of resistant bacterial strains with increased virulence. Developing potent vaccine is an important strategy to tackle IE. Complete genome sequences of eight selected pathogens of IE paved the way to design common T-cell driven subunit vaccines. Comparative genomics and subtractive genomic analysis were applied to identify adinosine tri phosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) transporter ATP-binding protein from Streptococcus mitis (reference organism) as common vaccine target. Reverse vaccinology technique was implemented using computational tools such as ProPred, SYFPEITHI, and Immune epitope database. Twenty-one T-cell epitopes were predicted from ABC transporter ATP-binding protein. Multiple sequence alignment of ABC transporter ATP-binding protein from eight selected IE pathogens was performed to identify six conserved T-cell epitopes. The six selected T-cell epitopes were further evaluated at structure level for HLA-DRB binding through homology modeling and molecular docking analysis using Maestro v9.2. The proposed six T-cell epitopes showed better binding affinity with the selected HLA-DRB alleles. Subsequently, the docking complexes of T-cell epitope and HLA-DRBs were ranked based on XP Gscore. The T-cell epitope (208-LNYITPDVV-216)–HLA-DRB1^?0101 (1T5?W) complex having the best XP Gscore (?13.25?kcal/mol) was assessed for conformational stability and interaction stability through molecular dynamic simulation for 10?ns using Desmond v3.2. The simulation results revealed that the HLA-DRB–epitope complex was stable throughout the simulation time. Thus, the epitope would be ideal candidate for T-cell driven subunit vaccine design against infective endocarditis.     

The value of applying molecular biology tools in environmental engineering: Academic and industry perspective in the USA

The integration of molecular biology tools in environmental engineering is a challenge. We discuss our views on the following four critical issues: (i) faculty career development, (ii) tool standardization, (iii) teaching, and (iv) the application of molecular biology tools in practice. For (i), we suggest that administrators and faculty need to understand the special challenges inherent to research and teaching within this highly interdisciplinary area. Furthermore, we suggest preparing two white papers aimed at educating administrators in universities and agencies. For (ii), we conclude that, because molecular biology tools are still in a state of rapid development, proposing standards at this time is premature. In the future, standards for widely applied tools should be in an on-line, peer-reviewed format. Concerning (iii), we believe that molecular biology should be taught only to the degree needed to achieve program goals. For example, environmental engineering practitioners only need to know the vocabulary and basic concepts of molecular biology tools, not be experts at doing them hands on. To help engineering students gain the right level and type of information, learning modules should be developed for them. Finally, although engineering successes applying molecular biology tools are available (iv), the biggest value will come when the tools are fully integrated with practice. Therefore, we encourage the creation of a demonstration project to document the value of applying molecular biology tools in environmental engineering. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Computer simulation of human body dynamics

Understanding human body dynamics is important in many situations, such as automobile and aircraft crashes, aircraft ejections, falls, and other acceleration environments. The design of automobile interiors, cockpits, and safety equipment requires knowledge of the forces and accelerations encountered during an emergency. Because of the limited information available from actual events and the various constraints in testing, computer simulations are often the only means of obtaining detailed information. The Armstrong Laboratory (AL) developed the Articulated Total Body (ATB) model to predict the human body dynamics in many of these environments. This model is a three-dimensional rigid body dynamics program in which the human body is modeled as a series of segments. Forces on the body segments are calculated based on their interaction with the surroundings including seat and cockpit surfaces. The model also calculates the internal joint resistive and constraint forces. Because of this capability to predict both internal and external forces acting on the body, the ATB model can be used in investigating injuries. It is also a valuable design tool for evaluating safety of proposed systems before prototypes are built or costly tests conducted. When testing is conducted, the model provides data that cannot be measured, such as forces within the body, and supplementing test data with parameter variation simulations. To validate the model, tests such as those conducted on the AL impact sled are simulated. Test films and instrumentation data are compared with simulation graphics and quantitative output to gain confidence in the simulation results.     

The Role of Voluntary Industry Standards in Environmental Supply-Chain Management

Our article uses a new institutional economics (NIE) framework to explore the role of voluntary industry standards in the development and implementation of environmental supplier-management programs in the computer industry. We examine two different voluntary standards, one for the management of design for environment (DfE) in the semiconductor fabrication equipment sector and the other for assessing the implementation and use of environmental management systems throughout the computer industry supply chain. We compare and contrast the two standards to explain why the former was widely adopted and has helped integrate DfE into buyer-supplier relations among adopters, whereas the latter failed to gain acceptance. In line with NIE logic, both standards aimed to lower transaction and customization costs by setting "rules of the game" for interfirm transactions that would help simplify and routinize novel environmental supply-chain programs and activities. Their differential success can be elucidated in terms of how well each met the NIE criteria for remediableness and legitimacy. We conclude that voluntary standards have the potential to play an important role in promoting DfE in industrial supply chains. We further conclude that NIE provides a conceptual framework of great value to industrial ecologists who analyze how industry standards and other institutions help firms move toward more sustainable supply-chain management practices.     

A Systems Approach to Sustainable Technical Product Design

Many existing methods for sustainable technical product design focus on environmental efficiency while lacking a framework for a holistic, sustainable design approach that includes combined social, technical, economic, and environmental aspects in the whole product life cycle, and that provides guidance on a technical product development level. This research proposes a framework for sustainable technical product design in the case of skis. We developed a ski under the Grown brand, benchmarked according to social, environmental, economic, and technical targets, following an initial sustainability assessment, and delivered the first environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA) and the first social life cycle assessment (SLCA) of skis. The framework applies a virtual development process as a combination of ELCA to calculate the environmental footprint as carbon equivalents of all materials and processes and a technical computer‐aided design (CAD) and computer‐aided engineering (CAE) simulation and virtual optimization using parameter studies for the nearly prototype‐free development of the benchmarked skis. The feedback loops between life cycle assessment (LCA) and virtual simulation led to the elimination of highly energy intensive materials, to the pioneering use of basalt fibers in skis, to the optimization of the use of natural materials using protective coatings from natural resins, and to the optimization of the production process. From an environmental perspective, a minimum 32% reduction in carbon equivalent emissions of materials in relation to other comparably performing skis has been achieved, as well as a pioneering step forward toward transparent communication of the environmental performance by the individual, comparable, and first published ski carbon footprint per volume unit.     

Integrating life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) in the early phases of aircraft structural design: an elevator case study

Purpose

The main objective of this paper is to develop a model that will combine economic and environmental assessment tools to support the composite material selection of aircraft structures in the early phases of design and application of the tool for an aircraft elevator.

Methods

An integrated life cycle cost (LCC) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used as part of the sustainable design approach for the laminate stacking sequence design. The model considered is the aircraft structure made of carbon fiber reinforce plastic prepreg and processed via hand layup-autoclave process which is the preferred method for the aircraft industry. The model was applied to a cargo aircraft elevator case study by comparing six different laminate configurations and two different carbon fiber prepreg materials across aircraft’s entire life cycle.

Results and discussion

The results show, in line with other studies using different methodologies (e.g., life cycle engineering, or LCE), that the combination of LCA with LCC is a worthwhile approach for comparing the different laminate configurations in terms of cost and environmental impact to support composite laminate stacking design by providing the best trade-off between cost and environment. Elevator LCC reduces 19% by changing the material type and applying different ply orientations. Elevator LCA score reduces 53% by selecting the optimum instead of best technical solution that minimizes the displacement. Improving the structural performance does not always lead to an increase in the cost.

     

Digital game design-based STEM activity: Biodiversity example

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to design a digital game design-based STEM activity for fifth-grade students learning about endangered organisms and significance of biodiversity for living. This activity was carried out with twenty students in a public school in Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey during academic year of 2018–2019 spring term. This study planned as eight-lesson time (8?×?40?minutes) and completed at this lesson time. The students were given the digital game design challenge in real-life problem context that has been created based on design-based science learning and for which they shall use their knowledge and skills in each of the STEM disciplines. During this design challenge, students worked like a scientist and an engineer. They carried out scientific research and inquiry process in the science discipline, understood the engineering design process in the engineering discipline, established mathematical relations in the mathematics discipline, learned how to make coding in the technology discipline, and used this knowledge and skills thus acquired in their suggested solutions for the design challenge. They designed a digital game by coding and presented science knowledge and skills that acquired from inquiry process.     

Visualization in simulation tools: requirements and a tool specification to support the teaching of dynamic biological processes

Simulation tools are playing an increasingly important role behind advances in the field of systems biology. However, the current generation of biological science students has either little or no experience with such tools. As such, this educational glitch is limiting both the potential use of such tools as well as the potential for tighter cooperation between the designers and users. Although some simulation tool producers encourage their use in teaching, little attempt has hitherto been made to analyze and discuss their suitability as an educational tool for noncomputing science students. In general, today's simulation tools assume that the user has a stronger mathematical and computing background than that which is found in most biological science curricula, thus making the introduction of such tools a considerable pedagogical challenge. This paper provides an evaluation of the pedagogical attributes of existing simulation tools for cell signal transduction based on Cognitive Load theory. Further, design recommendations for an improved educational simulation tool are provided. The study is based on simulation tools for cell signal transduction. However, the discussions are relevant to a broader biological simulation tool set.     

Combining industrial ecology tools to assess potential greenhouse gas reductions of a circular economy: Method development and application to Switzerland

Industrial ecology (IE) methodologies, such as input/output or material flow analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA), are often used for the environmental evaluation of circular economy strategies. Up to now, an approach that utilizes these methods in a systematic, integrated framework for a holistic assessment of a geographic region's sustainable circular economy potential has been lacking. The approach developed in this study (IE4CE approach) combines IE methodologies to determine the environmental impact mitigation potential of circular economy strategies for a defined geographic region. The approach foresees five steps. First, input/output analysis helps identify sectors with high environmental impacts. Second, a refined analysis is conducted using material flow and LCA. In step 3, circular strategies are used for scenario design and evaluated in step 4. In step 5, the assessment results are compiled and compared across sectors. The approach was applied to a case study of Switzerland, analyzing 8 sectors and more than 30 scenarios in depth. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from waste incineration, biogas and cement production, food waste prevention in households, hospitality and production, and the increased recycling of plastics had the highest mitigation potential. Most of the scenarios do not influence each other. One exception is the CCS scenarios: waste avoidance scenarios decrease the reduction potential of CCS. A combination of scenarios from different sectors, including their impact on the CCS scenario potential, led to an environmental impact mitigation potential of 11.9 Mt CO₂-eq for 2050, which equals 14% of Switzerland's current consumption-based impacts.     

Abiotic Resource Depletion Different perceptions of the problem with mineral deposits

Goal, Scope and Background The goal of the present paper is to demonstrate how environmental product declarations (EPDs) are developed based on a set of product category rules (PCRs) in accordance with the requirements in the ISO 14025-standard. This is demonstrated by examples from the furniture industry in Norway, where several case models are evaluated. To ease the capability of developing EPDs in this industry, a database with specific environmental data for materials in furniture is developed. The database is used to produce the LCA for selected furniture models, and further, the database is the backbone of a data-assistance tool used to create the EPDs. Methods The LCA-data are produced based on traditional LCA-methodology. The PCR is based on a stakeholder analysis and the proposed methodology in the ISO 14025-standard. The EPDs developed so far, are results of close collaboration between companies and research centres in the Nordic countries. For the verification of the EPDs, auditing methodologies are used as a part of the audit of the companies' environmental management systems (EMS). Results and Conclusion Based on a hearing of a set of suggested PCRs, a consensus document for seating accommodation is developed. This is further the model for how to develop PCR-documents for all types of furniture, for example sleeping accommodations. Likewise, the database shall contain the most important data for the parts of a furniture model. Within the goal of the project period, EPDs will be developed for 80% of Norwegian furniture. The verification of the EPDs is done as a part of the certification procedures of EMS in accordance with the ISO 14001. Recommendation and Perspective The results presented in the paper are mainly for the pilot models in the project. However, the results will be further tested and the data-tool will be developed as a part of a product design tool where environmental requirements will be combined with quality requirements. The product design tool will be implemented in the furniture industry. Information on how to use EPDs in public purchasing will also be a part of future work.     

Introducing an inquiry-based experiment-integrated science game for elementary students: the shadow races game

Abstract

This article introduces a science game which can be used for innovative teaching and as an assessment tool. The Shadow Races Game is designed for first and second grade students to learn the phenomenon of shadow through inquiry-based activities and questions that require the children to apply inferences from those activities. In this amusing board game, students will discover the relationship between light, objects and shadows using familiar objects.