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As one of the most important crops in the world, rice (Oryza sativa) is a model plant for metabolome research. Although many studies have focused on the analysis of specific tissues, the changes in metabolite abundance across the entire life cycle have not yet been determined. In this study, combining both targeted and nontargeted metabolite profiling methods, a total of 825 annotated metabolites were quantified in rice samples from different tissues covering the entire life cycle. The contents of metabolites in different tissues of rice were significantly different, with various metabolites accumulating in the plumule and radicle during seed germination. Combining these data with transcriptome data obtained from the same time period, we constructed the Rice Metabolic Regulation Network. The metabolites and co-expressed genes were further divided into 12 clusters according to their accumulation patterns, with members within each cluster displaying a uniform and clear pattern of abundance across development. Using this dataset, we established a comprehensive metabolic profile of the rice life cycle and used two independent strategies to identify novel transcription factors—namely the use of known regulatory genes as bait to screen for new networks underlying lignin metabolism and the unbiased identification of new glycerophospholipid metabolism regulators on the basis of tissue specificity. This study thus demonstrates how guilt-by-association analysis of metabolome and transcriptome data spanning the entire life cycle in cereal crops provides novel resources and tools to aid in understanding the mechanisms underlying important agronomic traits.

Reserves evaluation is crucial in the whole life cycle of a gas reservoir. It is significant to figure out the various methods of reserves calculation in a systematic manner to understand and develop gas reservoirs. In the early evaluation stage, the proved reserves, which form the basis of the conceptual design and development plan for gas field development, can be determined using the volumetric method or the reservoir volume method, depending on the reservoir type. Producing reserves should be determined during the development plan's execution to guide well location. With large-scale development, the dynamic reserves and recoverable reserves of wells or reservoirs are calculated using the material balance and modern decline method to guide the optimization of technical policies such as well pattern, well spacing and production practices. In the middle and late stages of development, gas reservoir fine description and numerical simulation are used to determine the remaining reserves and lead the tapping potential. On the whole, the three factors, the spatial structure of the reservoir, the occurrence state of the fluid, and the boundary of gas reservoir, are important bases for optimizing the methods of calculating different reserves. Likewise, they are the key parameters for continuous understanding of gas reservoir during its entire life cycle development.

Since 2015 3TI Progetti is involved in Doha Metro Project in Qatar, one of the world’s most important and significant construction infrastructure sites. The Project “Phase 1” includes the construction of three (Red, Gold, Green) out of the future four metro lines and 37 passenger stations. In 2017 3TI became “Lead Designer” on the Red Line South Underground that runs for about 40 km from Al Wakra to Lusail connecting Terminal 1 of Hamad International Airport with the Doha city centre. 3TI tasks include the management and coordination of the architectural and the engineering design process of five passenger underground stations and the exchange facilities. One of the main challenges faced during the development of the project was the use of BIM. Given the complexity of the project and the multiplicity of stakeholders involved, the use of BIM allowed the integrated control and update of the information, the timely resolution of clashes even during the progress of the site work, the identification and scheduling of the most effective maintenance strategies during the entire life cycle of the facilities. The BIM technology allowed the management and development of the project from its earliest design stages, through the creation of easily-replicable and automatically-updatable parametric elements, enhancing the operations of realization and construction in order to reduce complexities and to minimize time and costs. The leading role on the entire design process managing all the interdisciplinary BIM interfaces, acquired by 3TI within the JV led by Vinci Construction, was faced and carried out through the creation of a focused team, both in Rome headquarters and in Doha, where up to 90 engineers and architects took turns.

Since the impact of manufacturing industries towards the global environmental issues such as climate change is significant, it is required to adhere to stringent environmental performance measures to survive from different pressure groups in the global markets. To improve the environmental performances of the manufacturing sector, it is essential to consider the entire life cycle of products to identify environmental hotspots mitigated through Life Cycle Management(LCM) by subsequent product designs as eco-design. It is required to have adequate and timely information about the entire product life cycle of the product and processes it manufacture and typically it is a time-consuming and costly operation. This issue can be eased some extent through the Internet of Things (IoT) which is tracking data real time. To manage a product life cycle, it is required to evaluate many alternatives scenarios which is impossible to carry out manually. Therefore, this study develops an IoT base Decision Support tool for LCM.

Although digital technology has altered the innovation processes of firms in every industry, the existing literature continues to describe innovation as a sequence of two discrete and unidirectional activities: creation and diffusion. This study proposes that digital innovation should instead be understood as a development process that continues across the entire life cycle, often in collaboration with users. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 22 managers, the paper proposes an empirically grounded framework that explicates digital innovation as a continuous and iterative effort. The paper specifies principles for organizing digital innovation over time as centered on adaptation (containing core and peripheral elements) and user comprehension (containing user proximity and user sensing) of an already launched digital object. For managers, the key implication is that this process is not the exclusive preserve of any specific unit but should instead involve the whole organization.

In recent years, urban flooding has occurred frequently in different cities in China. This has caused huge economic and environmental damages. As one of the main elements in the concept of sponge city – a potential solution to this problem – permeable pavements have attracted great attentions. This new technology has the ability to mitigate urban flooding effectively and it also provides other environmental benefits. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a newly developed evaluation approach that can be applied to estimate the environmental impacts of pervious pavements in the entire life cycle.This study propose a basic model which can be applied to both permeable asphalt pavements and permeable concrete pavements to evaluate their environmental impacts. The impacts of this technology are investigated on urban flooding, water recycling and water purification. Then a comparison between permeable asphalt pavement and dense-graded asphalt pavement is conducted for a typical four-lane secondary road. Results indicate that in 10 km of the modeled road, 49TJ of energy consumption, 6700 t of equivalent carbon dioxide emissions, 0.1 t of lead emissions and 1 t of zinc emissions can be avoided if the permeable pavements is used. Moreover, the most significant reduction in energy consumption, GHG emissions, lead emissions and zinc emissions occurs in the use phase. Keywords: Life cycle assessment, Permeable pavements, Permeability, Environmental impacts

While an ever-growing percentage of the world's population is urban, the rate at which cities grow is not uniform. The lifetime of individual cities includes periods of fast growth, slow growth and periods of shrinkage. There exists an extensive literature concerned with possible means to manage specific pathologies. It is our view that the design of specific policies should be the result of a comprehensive model of urban health. While not all cities go through the entire life cycle, a comprehensive theory of cities and specific policies need to include specification of the interaction of the various forces that shape the entire range of urban patterns and identification of specific combinations of values that create phase transitions among these patterns. To sort these ideas we suggest that there is a need to consider and incorporate the structure and timing of innovation activities, agglomeration effects that they generate, interurban migration patterns and assorted feedback mechanisms. We hypothesize that these flows depend on the activity rhythms of the various processes and their differential impact on cities. We present a biology inspired rudimentary framework as a basis for the construction of an ABM of cities with a focus on the nature of time and as a basis for analyzing urban dynamics. 1

Chinese libraries, from academic to public, are undergoing or preparing for transformation, to meet users' ever changing needs and expectations in the new social, economic, and technological environment. However, there are many factors deeply embedded in the process which may cause potential risks for the transformation. This paper has surveyed the perceptions of library professionals on such risks, and proposes 40 possible risk indicators (RIs) which comprehensively cover the entire life cycle of library transformation. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and multi-dimensional analysis have been used to categorize risks into different types and dimensions. It reveals that library professionals are aware of potential risks, especially the ones from inside the field. Their awareness is positively affected by their current positions in the profession. In general, they are likely to overlook some types of potential risks such as the ones from the leadership, originating outside the library community, or involving long-term uncertainty. The authors suggest library practitioners should be fully aware of the potential risks and their dynamic nature, and should take the opportunity to promote leadership and management in the process of transformation, and to cooperate with parties outside of the library community, thus making the library transformation rational and successful.

It is essential to design buildings that take on the dynamics of the climate throughout their entire life cycle, guaranteeing the development of a building stock that is certainly sustainable and resilient. This study's main objective is to demonstrate that the official Spanish climate zones for building do not represent the current climatic conditions and to show how these climate zones will evolve due to the impact of climate change. Given the significant impact that climate change will have on this country, as well as its climatic variety, the proposed methodology can be used as a reference in other regions. Updating of the climate zones of peninsular Spain for 49 cities has been carried out, through the adaptation of these zones to the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. The results show that two-thirds of these cities are currently designing and constructing buildings with obsolescent climate data that do not take into account the current or future climate reality, which is significantly affecting previous calculations on the thermal performance of buildings. This work represents a significant scientific contribution in terms of reflecting on the current capacities and the possibilities of improving the building stock.

There is a drastic rise and evolution of Software and Systems Product Lines (SSPL) as a potential solution to deliver quality software products in a shorter time and with less effort. This has led to a plethora of diversified tools across the entire life cycle of SSPL, making it difficult for product line organizations to select the right set of tools for product line realization and tool vendors to develop interoperable tools. In this paper, we motivate the need for standardization of tools and methods for SSPL. The ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 (Software and Systems Engineering) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has proposed a set of interrelated standards in the area of SSPL to cater to the emerging demands of software and systems industry. We present the foundation of SSPL family of standards that are driven by market needs and discuss the core patterns and processes of SSPL. We then present an overview of ISO/IEC 26550, which is the reference model for SSPL family of standards and provide examples from current and ongoing standards. We highlight a few examples of industry adoption of SSPL and standards and emphasize the need for further research for standards in SSPL. We see this paper as a first step to bring standards knowledge into the academic world in the field of SSPL.

A requirement of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) in the European Union states that construction works must be designed in such a way that throughout their entire life cycle, they have no exceedingly high environmental impact. The objective of the current work was to simulate the leaching of selected metals and sulfate in vertical test panels (VTPs) covered by plaster and mortar. The investigation is based on 18-month leaching outdoor tests (LOT) under real weather conditions. A leaching model was developed using the geochemical model PHREEQC with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) thermodynamic data base and coupled with MATLAB in order to optimize the run-off and weather parameters. The model was calibrated by comparing the data from laboratory Dynamic Surface Leaching Tests (DSLT) with simulation results up to an acceptable fit. The parameters obtained were then used in the LOT simulations and validated. The model allows predictions on the substance discharge from various plasters and mortars under real weather conditions. Physical characteristics of the material (e.g., thickness and absorption capacity) play an important role in the leaching of substances in façades covered with plaster and mortar. The lower the thickness and absorption capacity of the material applied, the greater the run-off and discharge of leached substances.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are one of the most important elements used for transformation of the fossil era into a decarbonized future. REEs are essential for wind, electric and hybrid vehicles, and low-energy lighting. However, there is a general understanding that REEs come along with multiple environmental problems during their extraction and processing. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a well-established method for a holistic evaluation of environmental effects of a product system considering the entire life cycle. This paper reviews LCA studies for determining the environmental impacts of rare earth oxide (REO) production from Bayan Obo and ion adsorption clays (IAC) in China, and shows why some studies lead to over- and underestimated results. We found out that current LCA studies of REE production provide a good overall understanding of the underlying process chains, which are mainly located in China. However, life cycle inventories (LCI) appear often not complete. Several lack accuracy, consistency, or transparency. Hence, resulting environmental impacts are subject to great uncertainty. This applies in particular to radioactivity and the handling of wastewater and slurry in tailing ponds, which have often been neglected. This article reviews 35 studies to identify suitable LCAs for comparison. The assessment covers the world's largest REO production facility, located in Bayan Obo, as well as in-situ leaching of IACs in the Southern Provinces of China. A total of 12 studies are selected, 8 for Bayan Obo and IACs each. The LCIs of these studies are reviewed in detail. The effects of over- and underestimated LCIs on the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) are investigated. The partly controversial results of existing LCAs are analyzed thoroughly and discussed. Our results show that an increased consistency in LCA studies on REO production is needed.

Recent decades have witnessed increased public awareness of refrigerants, due to their significant global warming potential (GWP) and ozone depletion potential (ODP). Using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, this study estimates and predicts the potential GWP and ODP of refrigerants over the entire life cycle of household air conditioners during 1998–2035 in Macau. The results show that the total environmental impacts of refrigerants were 2.19 ± 0.63 t CFC-11 eq. and 111.62 ± 17.44 Kt CO2 eq. in 2018, respectively. If uncontrolled, cumulative emissions of ODP and GWP will rise to approximately 15.54 ± 2.63 t CFC-11 eq. and 1.31 ± 0.21 Mt. CO2 eq. between 2019 and 2035. Specifically, ODP effects experienced a historical peak of 3.24 ± 0.54 t CFC-11 eq. in 2013, and GWP effects peaked at 128.05 ± 20.83 Kt CO2 eq. in 2014. Furthermore, the GWP contribution in the use stage decreased from 88% in 2002 to 11% in 2028, while the end-of-life stage will gradually become the dominant stage of GWP effects. Under the most optimistic scenario (S4), the reduction rates of ODP and GWP will be 44% ± 12% and 38% ± 14%, respectively, compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario in 2035, and will realize zero ODP emissions by 2032 (2 years earlier than the BAU). In the future, the management and disposal of large-scale electronic waste need to be further improved for the effective control of refrigerants in Macau.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is "primarily a steady-state-tool" and few studies to date have included dynamic temporal and spatial information in matrix-based LCA. Because of this many environmental impacts cannot be determined accurately in conventional LCA. We have integrated both temporal and spatial information in a novel dynamical life cycle inventory (LCI) framework that can produce detailed spatiotemporal results and thus offering more insights for sustainability assessment. This framework employs the existing Enhanced Structural Path Analysis (ESPA) method combined with spatial analysis to determine spatialised LCI over time. Previously we tested this new approach with a local spatial dispersion model using wheat production as an illustration. In this paper we demonstrate the new spatiotemporal LCI method over an entire life cycle, using wind energy as an example and a different approach to spatial analysis at a global scale.

The building sector contributes substantially to worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and efforts to meet emission reduction targets have been gaining importance. Accordingly, the present study investigates the importance of building embodied emissions to the entire life cycle and potential approaches for low-carbon development in China. Life-cycle assessment was proposed for the analysis of building emissions, dividing the life cycle into production, construction, operation, and disposal phases. The temporal perspectives of emissions were considered, including the potential improvements to energy efficiency and the weighted average impacts for delayed emissions in the operation and disposal phases. A case study of a residential building in a cold region was analyzed, and scenario analyses were conducted. The results indicated that the relative contribution of embodied emissions (10551 tCO2e) considering the temporal perspectives could be twice that of conventional calculations. Further discussion revealed that the payback time of constructing a new building could be 45 years compared to the current regional average buildings. Hence, with respect to the high costs and technical limits of passive houses, renovating old buildings with energy saving measures might be the most appropriate approach for implementing the short-term low-carbon development target. Overall, the present study is helpful to better understand the importance of embodied emissions and for policy-making in the regional building sector.

Extrusion dies, in which melted raw materials are forced continuously into a profile to produce various plastic products, are often empirically designed leading to overweight and waste in materials, energy and emissions. Lightweight design method has been applied to reduce weight and increase material efficiency of extrusion dies at design stage. However, the research work was often focused on weight reduction with function requirements as the design constricts. Environmental impacts (EIs) over the entire life cycle of dies are not considered, as a result, it may result in environmental burdens being shifted from design stage to other stages of life cycle of products. Aiming at it, a new lightweight design method is proposed to integrate life cycle assessment (LCA) with shape optimization. The optimization mathematic models for the proposed method are developed, in which the EIs of extrusion dies are modeled as a function of shape variables and processing parameters. An example of extrusion dies for plastic pipe was presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results showed that 13% weight reduction whist achieving reduction in EIs over the life cycle of dies in comparison with 18% weight reduction yet 29% increase in EIs at manufacturing stage and resultant increase in EIs over the life cycle using conventional lightweight design method in which EIs are not taken into account. It indicated that the proposed lightweight method could have great potentials to reduce weight and prevent environmental burdens shift problem.

Concrete waste can be recycled to produce an aggregate product; referred to as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). While RCA is mainly used as a road base filler material, it has the potential to replace natural coarse aggregate (NA) in structural concrete. In determining the environmental performance of the resultant concrete product from this substitution, referred to as recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) against its counterpart, natural aggregate concrete (NAC), it is important to consider the effects of the entire life cycle including the upstream processes associated with each. This paper evaluates “cradle-to-gate” embodied energy (EE) of RAC received at a construction site, in comparison to NAC, using the input-output-based hybrid approach, using an Australian context. The paper constructs a model to evaluate EE of RAC and analyses the incremental energy of RAC as opposed to NAC, to identify what contribute to the difference out of four primary factors discussed in previous research. It was found that the EE of RAC is marginally different to that of NAC by +2.1 to −1.1%, and the variation was subject to the magnitude and direction of the four factors considered. The mix composition, primarily the binder composition, was found to have the highest contribution to the difference, significantly standing out from the direct energy difference between RCA and NA, difference of sourcing distance between RCA and NA and the difference of direct manufacturing energy between RAC and NAC.

In the drive towards a sustainable Bioeconomy, a growing interest in the development of composite materials made of plastics compounded with wood particles, known as wood-plastic composites (WPC), can be observed. Wood is seen as one of the cornerstones for sustainable economic growth, while the use of thermoplastics from hydrocarbon fossil resources and additives for WPC potentially cause severe environmental impacts along the entire life cycle. In this study, the life cycle stages of raw material supply and end-of-life pathways of WPC were assessed environmentally from different perspectives with life cycle assessment (LCA). The utilization of alternative raw materials reflected the WPC producer’s point of view. Harmonized product LCA standards were applied and combined with physical parameters of actually produced composites to give credit to substitution potentials in terms of resource quality. The downstream pathways of post-consumer WPC products reflected the recycler’s perspective. A system LCA approach was needed where systems with equal functions were generated to secure a comparison of end-of-life (EoL) treatment systems. Results showed that WPC produced from secondary materials is the ecologically and technically superior alternative. Recycling of the composites would be the ecologically preferable pathway, but the recycled WPC content in novel WPC is a sensitive issue when comparing both EoL treatment systems. Yet, incineration of the composites is the predominant EoL pathway due to current recycling directives and lack of markets for secondary WPC material.

To realize the effective reuse of mechanical parts for the development of a sustainable society, it is essential to effectively manage individual parts over their entire life cycle. For this purpose, we are developing a part agent system using network agents. A part agent manages all information about a part throughout its life cycle and predicts possible states of the part in the near future in order to generate appropriate recommendations for their maintenance. User behavior is important for this prediction because, in the life cycle of a part, its states are affected by the user behavior. The behavior of users is modeled using prospect theory in order to simulate its nature so as to avoid the risk of failure. This paper compares the decisions for maintenance actions in the simulations with and without applying prospect theory. The initial results are presented in a life cycle simulation of the developed part agents.

The cohorts of women born at the turn of the 20th century increased markedly their participation in the labor market when older. These are the first cohorts who worked after their childbearing years. In this paper, we document a link between their work behavior and the Great Depression. We show that the 1929 Crash attracted young women 15 to 34 years old in 1930 (whom we name D-cohort) into the labor market, possibly via an added-worker effect. Using several years of Census micro data, we further document that the same cohort remained or re-entered the labor market in the 1940s and 1950s and that its entire life cycle labor supply is tightly linked to the conditions dating back to the Great Depression. We argue that these facts are consistent with the hypothesis of a labor supply shift for this cohort triggered by the 1929 Crash.

There has been a growing awareness of the potential environmental impacts from the tire industry in the last two decades. Life cycle assessment (LCA), as an efficient technique, was applied to quantify the environmental impacts of industrial tires through the four stages of life cycle, i.e., production, transportation, use, and end-of-life. In response to the rapid development of LCA applications on tires, this article conducted a comprehensive and critical review on the related literature. The methodology, on-going trends, challenges, and future opportunities in the LCA study of tires are investigated based on a systematic review method. It is found that most studies investigated the end-of-life stage of tires, while ignoring the transportation stage. The use stage is the contributor to most environmental impacts in the entire life cycle of a tire. Notably, the carbon emissions in the use stage range from 550 kg CO2 eq to 840 kg CO2 eq per car tire. There are inconsistencies in several LCA aspects, i.e., functional units, impact assessment methods, impact categories, etc. To improve the environmental performance, the recovery of end-of-life tires (ELT), adoption of secondary materials, and new tire designs are recommended.

Over the past three decades, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been increasingly employed to evaluate the environmental impacts of products and buildings. However, the reliability of LCA is frequently weakened by the practice of arbitrary omission of processes and materials and the problem of insufficient data, both leading to inconsistencies in the LCA results. This study proposes an Index of Completeness (IoC) to account for the completeness of an LCA study for a variety of impact categories. An IoC calculation tool is developed to cover the entire life cycle of buildings, including stages of product, construction, use and end-of-life as well as the benefits from recycling and reuse. The IoC helps to identify and remove the inconsistencies in LCA and to enhance its comparability. Residential building projects are tested as case studies. It is found that the IoCs of most impact categories are as high as 98%–99%, whereas of the category of human toxicity the IoC is 85%, mainly due to the fact that plywood formwork was not included in the original model. Sensitivity analysis reveals that dataset changes in an LCA model can not only affect the impact assessment results, but also possibly have influence on the completeness of the LCA model. The LCA practitioners are suggested to combine the newly developed IoCs with the standard four phases of LCA when applying to complex products. Future research should focus on case studies implementing the IoC calculation tool, inclusion of more impact categories in the IoC model, and continuing development to include other complex products.

Buildings are responsible for more than 40% of global energy usage and as much as 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions in both developed and developing countries. However, the study of carbon emissions over a building's life cycle based on Ecotect and building information modeling in developing areas of Nanjing has yet to be conducted. Therefore, the results and recommendations of this paper represent a contribution to the literature on this topic. The scientific value of this paper is that Ecotect and building information modeling can be helpful in simplifying the estimation of carbon emissions over a building's life cycle because they can provide a majority of the information and calculation tools necessary for performing an life cycle assessment (LCA), which may alleviate the problem of insufficient information when executing an LCA of a building. A sensitivity analysis was performed by changing several parameters to identify the parameters that have the largest impacts on the performance a building. A comparison of the life cycle carbon emissions for each stage showed that the operational stage is the largest contributor to carbon emissions. Approximately 85.4% of the total carbon emissions were generated during operation. The construction stage accounted for 12.6% of the total carbon emissions. Approximately 2% of the total carbon emissions occurred during the demolition stage. Compared to the total carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of the building, carbon sequestration by vegetation was minimal. Thus, these findings indicate that governments can achieve the greatest reductions in carbon emissions by targeting the operational phase of buildings. However, the opportunity for addressing non-operational phases should not be ignored because the average carbon emissions per working area per year of non-operational stages are far greater than those of the use phase.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has become an enticing and rapidly growing manufacturing method for the production of components due to its unique advantages over conventional manufacturing (CM), including complex geometric capabilities and functional features. Sustainability concerns for AM products are still among the major technological challenges. A holistic sustainability analysis of such products covering the entire life cycle is lacking in the current literature. This paper presents the total life cycle sustainability analysis of AM products, through the recently established Product Sustainability Index ( ProdSI ) framework. A case study is presented with two iterations of AM product validating the ProdSI metrics for AM products.

PUR foams are one of the more frequent used thermal insulation materials, especially as pipe insulation. The main parameter characterizing materials in terms of thermal insulation is the thermal conductivity coefficient signed as λ. In the case of PUR foams, aging occurs, consisting in the diffusion of gases contained in the foam cells, as a result of which material insulating properties go worse. Prediction of changes in the λ coefficient is essential and its value after aging should be included in the calculation of the long-term insulation performance. The use of methods that accelerate the aging process contributes to shortening the time and costs associated with testing new products. In this work, for the purpose of testing cylindrical products, the methodology of aging of flat products contained in the standard EN 14308 was adapted. Coatings made of closed cell PUR foam with densities of 40 kg/m3, 60 kg/m3, 80 kg/m3 and 120 kg/m3, foamed with n-pentane were aged by conditioning at 70 °C for 175 days. Based on the λ coefficient measurements, its increment after 7, 21 and 90 days was also determined. The effects of foam density, sample diameter, sample thickness and average test temperature on the velocity and range of λ coefficient changes after successive conditioning periods were analyzed. The final λ coefficient values obtained using two aging procedures were compared. The obtained results indicate an increase in the importance of choosing the aging procedure along with an increase in foam density and an increase in average measurement temperature. Quantitative estimation of changes in the λ coefficient value caused by material aging is very important for both manufacturers and designers of heating networks and other industrial installations.

Omosita colon (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) is a species widely distributed in the Holarctic that usually appears during more advanced stages of decay. It is one of the species found on highly decomposed remains. Although O. colon may be a promising indicator of post-mortem interval (PMI) in cases with longer PMI, there is currently no existing research on its growth and development. Therefore, we studied the development of O. colon at seven constant temperatures between 16 and 34 °C and found that O. colon can complete its entire life cycle between 16 and 31 °C, but failed to complete development at 34 °C. At 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, and 31 °C, the developmental duration of O. colon from egg to adult is 95.3 ± 11.4, 62.4 ± 8.5, 45.9 ± 2.8, 34.9 ± 3.4, 30.0 ± 2.6, and 25.2 ± 2.6 d, respectively. Based on the results of development time and accumulated degree days, an isomorphen diagram was plotted and a thermal summation model was established. The mean (±SE) developmental threshold temperature D0 and the thermal summation constant K calculated using the thermal summation model were 10.65 ± 0.16 °C and 514.1 ± 8.7° days, respectively. The results of this study provide fundamental developmental data for the use of O. colon in minimum post-mortem interval (PMImin) estimations.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become the prevalent approach for quantifying the environmental impact of products over their entire life cycle. Unfortunately, LCA studies require large amounts of data that are difficult to collect in practice, which makes them expensive and time consuming. This work introduces a method that simplifies standard LCA studies by using proxy metrics that are identified following a systematic approach. Our method, which combines multi-linear regression and mixed-integer linear programming, builds in an automatic manner simplified multi-linear regression models of impact that predict (with high accuracy) the damage in different environmental categories from a reduced number of proxy metrics. Our approach was applied to data retrieved from ecoinvent. Numerical results show that few indicators suffice to describe the environmental performance of a process with high accuracy. Our findings will help develop general guidelines for simplified LCA studies that will focus on quantifying a reduced number of key indicators.

The environmental impact associated with a SOFC (solid-oxide fuel-cell) power generation system has been assessed using a LCA (life cycle assessment) method. LCA is a technique assessing the environmental aspects associated with a system during its entire life cycle. To calculate the environmental impact of the analyzed system, a commercial software package, SimaPro version 7.3.3., was used; the ReCiPe method, endpoint approach, and the hierarchist's perspective were selected for calculating the values. The calculation results reveal that the manufacturing stage and the disposal stage have small contributions to the total environmental impact, which just cover 2.1%–9.5% and 0.1%–0.6% of the total, respectively, depending on the assumption made for the lifetime of the SOFC stack and the overall system. The SOFC stack is a dominant contributor to the environmental impact associated with manufacturing; 72% of the total environmental impact of manufacturing comes from the SOFC stack; the remaining balance-of-plant (BOP) components account for 28% of the total environmental impact. Options for reducing the overall environmental impact are presented.

To realize effective reuse of mechanical parts for the development of a sustainable society, it is essential to manage individual parts over their entire life cycle. For that purpose, we are developing a part agent system using network agents. This paper describes a method for a part agent to predict possible states of its corresponding part in the near future. Bayesian network is applied to estimate a failure probability of the part and a simple deterioration model is applied to evaluate properties of the part. Initial results are shown on a life cycle simulation of the developed part agent.

With the increasing pressures imposed upon industries on the environmental impacts of the manufacturing industry and chemical processes, numerous methodologies have been developed for the quantification, assessment and minimisation of waste and emissions. Meanwhile, methods for the simultaneous maximisation of economic performance within a product life cycle have also been developed. Similarly, various methodologies for screening of process alternatives based on the above factors have also been developed. However, the human lives put at risk in a supply chain constituting a life cycle tend to be overlooked as a factor of assessment, selection and optimisation of the process. Despite having life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies for environmental assessment, no methodology has been developed for the minimisation of work-related casualties due to the unpredictable nature of workplace accidents. To address this problem, this paper develops a multi-objective optimisation model that utilises realistic statistical data for estimating the best possible pathway. The model results in the least potential fatality directly involved within the product life cycle while simultaneously minimising operating costs throughout the entire life cycle. A case study involving the utilisation of palm-based biomass formed for the production of value-added green products in Malaysia is used to demonstrate the model.

Due to the current environmental situation, saving energy and reducing CO 2 emission have become the leading drive in modern research. For buildings that require heating, one of the solutions is to optimize a thickness of their thermal insulation and thus improve energy efficiency and reduce energy needs. In this paper, for a small residential house in Serbia, an optimization in the thickness of its thermal insulation layer is investigated by using EnergyPlus software and Hooke–Jeeves direct search method. The embodied energy of thermal insulation is taken into account. The optimization is done for the entire life cycle of thermal insulation. The results show the optimal thickness of thermal insulation that yields the minimum primary energy consumption.

ResumenEl objetivo del documento es contribuir al debate sobre los avances hacia la universalización de la protección social en América Latina. Se aboga a favor de una estrategia que privilegie políticas orientadas a lograr el pleno empleo formal y a consolidar esquemas de regulaciones laborales protectoras pero que se articulen con otras políticas –especialmente sociales– para que, en conjunto, aseguren el acceso universal a servicios sociales básicos de calidad homogénea así como a niveles de ingresos adecuados a lo largo del ciclo de vida.AbstractThis work aims to contribute to the debate on progress towards achieving universal social protection in Latin America. It advocates a strategy emphasizing policies oriented towards obtaining full formal employment and consolidating protective labor regulations in conjunction with other policies, especially in the social realm, so that together, these ensure universal access to basic social services of the same quality for everyone and adequate income throughout the entire life cycle.

A major skeletal problem of conventional- ly caged hens is increased susceptibility to osteoporosis mainly due to lack of exercise. Osteoporosis is charac- terized by a progressive decrease in mineralized struc- tural bone. Whereas considerable attention has been given to enriching laying cages, little research has been conducted on providing caged pullets with furnish- ments, in particular perches. The objective of the cur- rent study was to determine if metal perches during all or part of the life cycle of White Leghorns affected hen musculoskeletal health, especially at end of lay. Treat- ments during the pullet phase (hatch to 16.9 wk) en- tailed cages with and without perches. Four treatments were used during the laying phase (17 to 71 wk of age). Treatment 1 chickens never had access to perches at any point during their life cycle, typical of egg industry practices in the United States for conventional cages. Treatment 2 chickens had access to perches only during the egg-laying phase, which was from 17 to 71 wk of age. Treatment 3 chickens had access to perches only during the pullet phase (0 to 16.9 wk of age). Treatment 4 chickens had perch access throughout their entire life cycle (0 to 71 wk of age). Musculoskeletal health was assessed by measuring muscle weights, bone mineraliza- tion, bone fracture incidence, and keel bone deviations. Muscle deposition of 71-wk-old hens increased when given access to perches as pullets. Bone mineralization of 71-wk-old hens also increased if given perch access as adults. However, the disadvantage of the adult perch was the higher incidence of keel deviations and keel fractures at end of lay. The increase in bone mineraliza- tion of the keel bone as a result of perch access during the pullet and laying phases was not great enough to prevent a higher incidence of keel bone fractures at end of lay. Perch redesign and placement of perches within the cage to minimize keel fractures and deviations are possible solutions.

If the minerals and metals sector is to contribute successfully to sustainable development, it must adopt principles and practices which address the entire life cycle of the materials it creates. This paper examines how the social and environmental sustainability performance of products influences the sustainability agenda of the mining and metals sector. It illustrates how access to markets drives improvements in sustainability. It also considers how the sustainability of metal and non-metal products are using lifecycle approaches and outlines the importance of using appropriate tools for metals.

The aim of this paper is to assess the energy required by wall's unit during their building process. With constant characteristics over time, we study the impact of lifespan of building wall on the environmental performance. We separate the energy consumption deriving from the use of the building from the one depending on the choice of the technical solutions. We study the result considering the entire life cycle. The results suggest that lifespan has a significant impact over the value of the energy's indicator. The best technical solution considered on a short time span may be worst on a longer duration or vice versa. Then, we consider each technical solution with different lifespans to observe the evolution of the energy consumed. We show that equivalent energy consumptions may be found among different technical solutions but under different lifespans.

To reduce the amount of materials that are extracted from and emitted to the environment, reutilization and long-term use within our socio-economic system are important goals. From this perspective, the average number of times a material comes into use and the total average lifetime of a material are useful indicators for measuring the status of our material use. In general, multiple uses and long lifetime indicate effective and efficient material use. In this article, we estimate these usage and lifetime indicators for stainless steel (SS) for the Japanese socio-economic system and discuss the meanings of these indicators given its main alloying elements. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) Based on Japanese SS use in 2005, SS is estimated to be used 1.9–4.3 times in average over its entire life cycle depending on possible low and high collection rate scenarios of SS obsolete scrap. SS is estimated to be used for 19–100 years in average over its entire life cycle, under the low collection rate and short product lifetime (LCR&SPL) to high collection rate and long product lifetime (HCR&LPL) scenarios. (2) Some SS scrap is used for carbon and other alloyed steels (COAS) production. Although SS scrap that is recycled within COAS cycles no longer functions as SS, iron contained in SS does serve a function in COAS products, considering an elemental interpretation. Iron contained in SS is estimated to be used 3.2–6.8 times and for 56–170 years in average over its entire life cycle, under the LCR&SPL to HCR&LPL scenarios. (3) From the viewpoint of sustainable material use, estimated total average lifetime of SS is not considered to be satisfactory. More effective and efficient material use needs to be achieved through the improvement in collection rates of obsolete scrap and lifetimes of final products.

This study examined the biological characteristics of the insect and examined potential cultural controls using peduncle topping methods. Ginseng stem fungus gnat eggs hatched after 5 days; ecdysis lasted 3-4 weeks, and after 5 days pupation, adults emerged. Adults deposited eggs 1-2 days after emerging, and the entire life cycle lasted 32-40 days. The fungus gnats laid eggs 327 × 220 μm in size on cut planes of stems, but not on intact stem parts that had not been topped or wounded. Analyses of major weather data for the experimental areas and weather data for the past 30 years acquired from the Korea Meteorological Administration revealed that fungus gnat dispersion was prevalent under highly humid conditions and in areas with thick and frequent fogging. Among the topping times examined, fungus gnat damage to ginseng was lowest when topping occurred in late May. Among the five different topping methods evaluated on experimental ginseng farms, the cumulative fungus gnat damage to ginseng was low (0.8%) under partial peduncle topping (removal of peduncle with lateral fruit remaining) and removal of only flower buds (0.6%), with fungus gnat control effects of 82% and 86%, respectively, compared to conventional topping (removal of peduncle about 5 cm above its base). No fungus gnat damage to ginseng was observed under the no-topping treatment. These results suggest that partial topping of peduncles, while letting lateral fruits remain, is a potentially environmentally friendly method of controlling the ginseng stem fungus gnat.

The present article presents the main results of a research project that aimed to establish guidelines on sustainable design for marble and granite products, a non-renewable material. The study was carried out within an association of 13 small and medium companies in Brazil. During the investigation it was identified a significant lack of literature on these materials which could support the design process, particularly regarding the issue of recycling. The study has unveiled the potential of applying in this sector the “cascade approach for recycling” where it is anticipated destinations to all possible wastage for the entire life cycle of a given product.

To help provide a clear understanding of the relative performance potential of HFCs (R-404A and R-410A) as compared to R-290 for walk-in refrigeration systems representing direct expansion commercial refrigeration systems with small charge, an experimental evaluation of the three refrigerants was investigated. To compare the environmental impact of refrigerants over the entire life cycle of fluid and equipment, including power consumption, the life cycle climate performance (LCCP) of the three refrigerants were evaluated based on measured data. The estimated LCCPs at various emission rates indicate that the LCCP of R-290 is always lower than that of R-404A. The LCCP of R-410A is lower than that of R-290 as long as the annual emission is kept below 10%. It was concluded that R-410A has less or equivalent environmental impact as compared to R-290 when safety (toxicity and flammability), environmental impact (climate change), cost and performance (capacity and COP) are considered.

We investigate how early life circumstances — childhood health and socioeconomic status (SES) — are associated with labor market outcomes over an individual’s entire life cycle. A life cycle approach provides insights not only into which labor market outcomes are associated with adverse childhood events but also into whether these associations show up early or only later in working life, and whether they vanish or persist over the life cycle. The analysis is conducted using the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, which contains retrospective information on early life circumstances and full work histories for over 20,000 individuals in thirteen European countries. We find that the associations between early life circumstances and (accumulated) labor market outcomes vary over an individual’s life cycle. For men and women, the effect of childhood SES on lifetime earnings accumulates over the life cycle through the associations with both working years and annual earnings. Moreover, for men this association with lifetime earnings reverses sign from negative to positive over their working life. We also find a smaller, positive long-term association between childhood health and lifetime earnings operating mainly through annual earnings and only to a lesser extent through working years, and which is not present at the beginning of the working life for women. Most of these life cycle profiles differ between European country-groups. Finally, for women we find a so-called buffering effect, i.e. that a higher parental SES reduces the negative impact of poor health during childhood on accumulated earnings over the life cycle.

In this work, a comparison of the commonly deployed commercial desalination technologies worldwide—multistage flash (MSF), multieffect evaporation and reverse osmosis (RO)—is assessed by applying life cycle analysis (LCA). LCA, a powerful, and internationally accepted tool used to examine environmental cradle-to-grave consequences of making and using products and services, identifies and quantifies energy and material usage and waste discharges. The International Standard Organization (ISO) 14000 impact factors, which are internationally accepted standard indicators for environmental impact assessment, have been evaluated, and different evaluation methods (Centre for Environmental Studies (CML) 2 baseline 2000, Eco-Points 97 and Eco-Indicator 99) have been applied to different scenarios. The assessment includes the entire life cycle of each desalination process, encompassing extraction and processing raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, plant operation and final reject disposal.

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is the original developer of the CANDU ® reactor, one of the three major commercial power reactor designs now used throughout the world. For over 60 years, AECL has continued to evolve the CANDU design from the CANDU prototypes in the 1950s and 1960s through to the second-generation reactors now in operation, including the Generation II+ CANDU 6. The next phase of this evolution, the Generation III+ Advanced CANDU Reactor™ (ACR™), continues the strategy of basing next generation technology on existing CANDU reactors. Beyond the ACR, AECL is developing the Generation IV CANDU Super Critical Water Reactor. Owing to the evolutionary nature of these advanced reactors, advanced technology from the development programs is also being applied to operating CANDU plants, for both refurbishments and upgrading of existing systems and components. In addition, AECL is developing advanced technology that covers the entire life cycle of the CANDU plant, including waste management and decommissioning. Thus, AECL maintains state-of-the-art expertise and technology to support both operating and future CANDU plants. This paper outlines the scale of the current core knowledge base that is the foundation for advancement and support of CANDU technology. The knowledge base includes advancements in materials, fuel, safety, plant operations, components and systems, environmental technology, waste management, and construction. Our approach in each of these areas is to develop the underlying science, carry out integrated engineering scale tests, and perform large-scale demonstration testing. AECL has comprehensive R&D and engineering development programs to cover all of these elements. The paper will show how the ongoing expansion of the CANDU knowledge base has led to the development of the Advanced CANDU Reactor. The ACR is a Generation III+ reactor with substantially reduced costs, faster construction, and enhanced passive safety and operating margins. The ACR is also the basis for the Generation IV Super Critical Water Reactor, which extends operation to higher temperatures and pressures.

The work presented here uses a library of behavior models of system components as a core for supportive tools for several work processes during the life cycle. Models of complex systems can be automatically composed from such library elements and provide the basis for the automated generation, instead of programming, of diagnostics and fault analysis. The feasibility of this model-based methodology is illustrated by case studies in the automotive and aeronautics industry. This includes a demonstrator for the automated generation of on-board diagnostics for a vehicle system. The same model basis is used to perform other tasks, such as failure-modes-and-effects analysis, diagnosability analysis, and the generation of tests.

A life cycle assessment was carried out based on a detailed life cycle inventory for a typical GSM 900 mobile phone network and related End of Life (EOL) treatment infrastructure. The environmental relevance of the three life cycle phases: production, use and EOL treatment was analysed using IMPACT2002+. The environmentally preferable EOL treatment alternative was identified on the basis of six previously developed EOL treatment scenarios. The results indicate that the environmental impacts attributable to the use phase dominate the environmental impacts incurred over the entire life cycle of the network. The impacts of the production phase are primarily attributable to the energy intensive manufacturing of printed wiring boards (PWB). The EOL phase dominates the impacts on ecosystem quality. In particular the longterm emissions of heavy metals have critical effects. Detailed analysis of the EOL phase shows that recycling of network materials in general leads to a two fold reduction of environmental impacts: in the EOL phase itself as well as by means of the avoided primary production of materials recovered in

Ubiquitous access to the Internet, especially from mobile phones, offers the possibility of easy access for the user to desirable contents such as songs, videos, ringtones and books. However, this easy access also exposes the owners of this content to potential fraud and piracy. Digital Rights Management technologies are used to ensure that digital content can only be consumed on authorised devices that enforce copyright protection and allow the management of content throughout its entire life cycle. This article provides an overview of Digital Rights Management with particular focus on the Open Mobile Alliances DRM standards.

Morphogenesis and nuclear events during conjugation have been investigated for the aloricate oligotrich Pelagostrobilidium sp. using cytological staining methods. While several similarities between Pelagostrobilidium and sister groups (hypotrichs and stichotrichs) reported previously were recognized in the preconjugation behaviour, conjugation type and general nuclear division patterns, significant differences were found between them in the behaviour of oral and somatic ciliatures. In Pelagostrobilidium there was no reorganization in the somatic kineties during conjugation, in addition, it showed a very simple pattern of reorganization in the oral ciliature, which was very similar to stomatogenesis in asexual reproduction. A replacement oral apparatus was completed during the conjugation process and it very quickly replaced the old adoral zone when the conjugants separated. A noteworthy fact is that most of the parental adoral membranelles of Pelagostrobilidium persisted and were active during the entire conjugation period in spite of the loss of functional feeding organelles such as the cytostome and paroral membrane. The need to retain locomotion throughout the entire life cycle might be one of the adaptive features of oligotrichs required to occupy a certain niche in oceanic waters. The relatively short duration of the conjugation process (5.6 h) of Pelagostrobilidium is also likely to be important for life in oceanic waters.

In the attempt to reorient Society's development in a more sustainable direction attention is focused on the environmental impact of products and systems over their entire life cycle, but how can the environmental life cycle perspective be introduced into the design of new solutions and how much can be obtained through life cycle design? The authors' experience with integration of environmental considerations in product development is presented, ranging from the detailed interactive approach of the EDIP-method through various simplified approaches. The potential for environmental improvements is reviewed and the overall question of to what extent life cycle design is a route to the sustainable industrial culture is discussed.

The engineering life cycle is being supported by more or less isolated methods and tools. For the application area of automation technology for hybrid processes in plant engineering, this paper discusses newly developed and upcoming standards covering more than just interfaces. They refer to the entire life cycle, the infrastructure, or to the lowest level of data structures. As practice in this manufacturing industry shows, not only the users' view on the tools needs integration, but also the underlying methodologies that give rise to appearance as well as to functionality. By extending methodologies to adjacent processes or pooling methods with consistent contexts, breaks can be avoided in using these tools during the life cylce stages.

Social spiders build communal nests and capture webs, share food, and care for offspring communally. They do not have distinct castes, nor is there clear evidence for reproductive division of labour. This study examines the possibility of division of labour occurring in non-reproductive tasks in colonies of the social spider Achaearanea wau (Theridiidae). Observations of marked individuals and of activities in colonies over the entire life cycle demonstrate that (1) there is no clear division of labour among adult females and (2) juveniles add tasks to their repertoire of activities as they mature. The lack of a clear separation of tasks by different individuals in a colony raises the question: what constrains the evolution of division of labour in social spiders? Constraints associated with inbreeding and selection favouring rapid colony growth through individual reproduction may explain the lack of both reproductive and non-reproductive division of labour.

One of the future goals in Leishmania research will be to reproduce the entire life cycle oxenically, in vitro. In this article, Paul Bates reviews recent progress in the axenic culture of amastigotes and addresses some of the remaining problems associated with culture methods for both amostigote and promostigote forms.