Life cycle assessment of emerging technologies: Evaluation techniques at different stages of market and technical maturity

Life cycle assessment (LCA) analysts are increasingly being asked to conduct life cycle‐based systems level analysis at the earliest stages of technology development. While early assessments provide the greatest opportunity to influence design and ultimately environmental performance, it is the stage with the least available data, greatest uncertainty, and a paucity of analytic tools for addressing these challenges. While the fundamental approach to conducting an LCA of emerging technologies is akin to that of LCA of existing technologies, emerging technologies pose additional challenges. In this paper, we present a broad set of market and technology characteristics that typically influence an LCA of emerging technologies and identify questions that researchers must address to account for the most important aspects of the systems they are studying. The paper presents: (a) guidance to identify the specific technology characteristics and dynamic market context that are most relevant and unique to a particular study, (b) an overview of the challenges faced by early stage assessments that are unique because of these conditions, (c) questions that researchers should ask themselves for such a study to be conducted, and (d) illustrative examples from the transportation sector to demonstrate the factors to consider when conducting LCAs of emerging technologies. The paper is intended to be used as an organizing platform to synthesize existing methods, procedures and insights and guide researchers, analysts and technology developer to better recognize key study design elements and to manage expectations of study outcomes.     

Research priorities for natural ecosystems in a changing global climate

Climate change poses significant emerging risks to biodiversity, ecosystem function and associated socioecological systems. Adaptation responses must be initiated in parallel with mitigation efforts, but resources are limited. As climate risks are not distributed equally across taxa, ecosystems and processes, strategic prioritization of research that addresses stakeholder‐relevant knowledge gaps will accelerate effective uptake into adaptation policy and management action. After a decade of climate change adaptation research within the Australian National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, we synthesize the National Adaptation Research Plans for marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. We identify the key, globally relevant priorities for ongoing research relevant to informing adaptation policy and environmental management aimed at maximizing the resilience of natural ecosystems to climate change. Informed by both global literature and an extensive stakeholder consultation across all ecosystems, sectors and regions in Australia, involving thousands of participants, we suggest 18 priority research topics based on their significance, urgency, technical and economic feasibility, existing knowledge gaps and potential for cobenefits across multiple sectors. These research priorities provide a unified guide for policymakers, funding organizations and researchers to strategically direct resources, maximize stakeholder uptake of resulting knowledge and minimize the impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems. Given the pace of climate change, it is imperative that we inform and accelerate adaptation progress in all regions around the world.     

Ethical principles for promoting health research data sharing with sub‐Saharan Africa

A powerful feature of global health research is data‐sharing with regions which bear the heaviest burden of disease. It offers novel opportunities for aggregating data to address critical global health challenges in ways higher than relying on individual studies. Yet there exist important stratifiers of the capacity to share data, particularly across the Global North‐South divide. Systemic challenges that characterize sub‐Saharan Africa and disadvantage the region's scientific productivity threaten the burgeoning data‐sharing culture too. Like all endeavors requiring equal commitments under unequal circumstances, a strong ethical impetus is needed to help reduce inequities and imbalances to encourage adherence. This article discusses mandatory data‐sharing in relation to peculiar challenges faced by sub‐Saharan African scientists to suggest ethical principles for rethinking and reframing solutions. We propose six principles which mirror guidelines from the Institute of Medicine and encapsulate principles from the Emanuel Framework, Nairobi Data Sharing Principles, and the COHRED guidelines.     

From theory to experiments for testing the proximate mechanisms of mast seeding: an agenda for an experimental ecology

Highly variable and synchronised production of seeds by plant populations, known as masting, is implicated in many important ecological processes, but how it arises remains poorly understood. The lack of experimental studies prevents underlying mechanisms from being explicitly tested, and thereby precludes meaningful predictions on the consequences of changing environments for plant reproductive patterns and global vegetation dynamics. Here we review the most relevant proximate drivers of masting and outline a research agenda that takes the biology of masting from a largely observational field of ecology to one rooted in mechanistic understanding. We divide the experimental framework into three main processes: resource dynamics, pollen limitation and genetic and hormonal regulation, and illustrate how specific predictions about proximate mechanisms can be tested, highlighting the few successful experiments as examples. We envision that the experiments we outline will deliver new insights into how and why masting patterns might respond to a changing environment.     

葡萄属野生资源分类研究进展

葡萄属野生资源在整个葡萄属(Vitis L.)的系统演化中占有十分重要的地位。葡萄属野生资源分布广泛,种间杂交容易,形态变异较为复杂,造成分类工作难度较大。长期以来,部分野生种的分类一直存在争议。本文从世界葡萄属植物的分类历史出发,对葡萄属野生种分类研究进展进行了综述。传统的分类方法不能够很好地解决不同种之间的亲缘关系,近十几年来,多种分子标记被应用于葡萄属的系统发育研究,并构建了葡萄属系统发育的基本框架。但是,分子系统学研究工作开展的远远不够,而且多数研究仍然受到资源的限制。未来建议加强葡萄属野生资源的收集和保护,并开展更全面的分类学修订工作。同时,充分利用分子系统学的相关技术手段,进一步阐明各野生种的分类地位。     

直径小于1 cm孤立性肺结节的18F-FDG PET/CT诊断研究进展

孤立性肺结节的鉴别诊断一直是胸部影像学的研究热点。早期且准确地鉴别肺内小结节的良恶性,对于患者治疗方案的确定以及随访情况的评估均具有重要的临床意义。~(18)F-FDG PET/CT在鉴别诊断恶性肿瘤方面具有明显优于其他传统检查的高特异性和高敏感性,其公认的恶性肿瘤的诊断阈值是最大化标准摄取值(maximum standard uptake value, SUVmax)为2.5,然而部分临床数据显示一些直径小于1 cm的恶性肺结节的SUVmax数值小于2.5。因此在早期研究中,~(18)F-FDG PET/CT在诊断直径较小的肺结节的其临床价值仍存在争议。为了尽量降低SUVmax的测量误差,提高~(18)F-FDG PET/CT诊断的准确率,衍生出了许多SUVmax辅助诊断方法以及优化的重建算法、放射性显像剂的联合应用等手段。本文将对~(18)F-FDG PET/CT鉴别诊断直径小于1 cm孤立性肺结节的研究进展进行综述。     

心元胶囊联合曲美他嗪治疗冠心病心绞痛的临床研究

目的:探讨心元胶囊联合曲美他嗪治疗冠心病心绞痛的临床疗效及安全性。方法:选择2016年7月-2018年3月我院收治的冠心病心绞痛患者134例,按治疗方式分为对照组67例及观察组67例,对照组予以曲美他嗪治疗,观察组在对照组基础上予以心元胶囊治疗。比较分析两组患者疗效、心绞痛发作次数及持续时间、血清总胆固醇(TC)、甘油三酯(TG)、肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)、可溶性细胞黏附因子-1(sICAM-1)水平的变化及不良反应的发生情况。结果:治疗后,观察组和对照组临床总有效率分别为92.54%、79.10%,心电图总有效率分别为89.55%、76.12%,观察组均显著高于对照组两(P0.05);两组心绞痛发作次数及持续时间均显著降低治疗前(P0.05),且观察组显著低于对照组(P0.05)。观察组治疗后血清TC、TG、TNF-α、s ICAM-1水平显著低于对照组(P0.05)。两组治疗过程中均未发生恶心、头晕头痛、心绞痛复发等不良反应。结论:心元胶囊联合曲美他嗪治疗心肾阴虚兼心血瘀阻证冠心病心绞痛患者可有效提升患者的临床疗效,其机制可能与改善血脂水平及降低炎症反应有关。     

对微生物工程类虚拟仿真实验建设与共享应用的思考

微生物工程是一门实践性和应用性较强的课程。让学生走进企业的生产线进行实践性学习是必不可少的教学环节。实习资源不足一直是限制微生物工程课程开展高水平实习教学的瓶颈。利用信息技术搭建的虚拟化生产线不但可以使学生从中学习复杂的生产系统中的理论性知识,还能进行更深层次的虚拟操作,从而促进学生实践能力和创新能力的形成。为了更好地发挥虚拟仿真实验项目在本科教学中的作用,文中对微生物工程类虚拟仿真实验项目的教学价值进行了归纳,对其建设进展和特点进行了总结,对限制其共享应用的主要问题进行了分析并提出了解决方案。     

生态系统服务级联效应研究进展

生态系统服务级联效应(ESC)将生态系统服务各组成部分与社会价值联系起来,构建了自然科学到社会科学跨学科研究的桥梁,可以帮助决策者更好地将生态系统服务概念融入到决策制定中。本文梳理了生态系统服务级联效应的概念,回顾了级联效应的研究进展。从理论角度看,ESC的理论研究主要集中在如何准确定义各成分及各成分间的因果关系,提高ESC模型的实用性与适用性,以及如何有效连接利益相关者与生态系统服务结构。从应用角度看,ESC在生态系统服务制图、生态系统服务评估及政策制定发挥了巨大作用。当前研究在指标筛选和互馈机制上仍存在较大不确定性。建议未来应从以下几个方面加强研究:更加关注生态系统服务结构过程及分类标准,通过多模型融合和区域调查来弥补ESC对反馈机制描述的不足,结合区域特征为人地耦合和可持续发展提供科学指导。