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Despite acknowledging the centrality of Anna's illness in studies of John Banville's The Sea, scholars have not attended to the close relationship between Anna's cancer and her husband Max's process of self-stigmatization. Drawing on Paul Ricoeur's notion of the trace, I analyze Max's experience of his wife's illness to show how Banville depicts disease imprinting psychic traces not only on the patient but also on his/her family. My main contention is that an assay of Max's self-stigma creates new insights into The Sea that show how the novel's superb reflections on disease, stigma, pain, suffering, age, death, and artistic creation promote a narrative destabilization of time categories. This destabilization underscores the fact that consciousness of finitude is inherent in the human experience-not just in the late stages of one's life but throughout the entire life cycle.

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.

Purpose . Develop a mathematical model of a rational maintenance system for the tractive rolling stock, which takes into account the optimization of three indicators: financial resources and time spent on repairs, as well as consumption of environmental resources during repairs. Methodology . Modern researches of the organization of locomotives maintenance and repair system are analyzed. Vector optimization of three indicators is used as a mathematical tool for determining the rational maintenance system. The conditions for the solution existence of the problem are formulated. Properties that a rational locomotive content system should possess are described. Findings . A mathematical model is proposed that allows choosing the locomotive maintenance and repair system that will meet the optimality conditions for the parameters: repair cost, repair time, environmental resources costs. Originality. A new, integrated approach is proposed for the selection of a tractive rolling stock rational maintenance system. This approach allows us to solve not one problem in the construction of an optimal system of maintenance and repair, but to build a rational maintenance system for three indicators. The first indicator takes into account the cost of financial resources for the maintenance of traction rolling stock for the entire life cycle. The second indicator optimizes the time spent on repairs and technical inspections. The third indicator allows to take into account the costs of environmental resources (water, fuel, electricity, etc.) by the locomotive maintenance system. Practical value . Implementation of the proposed mathematical model will reduce operational costs for maintenance and repair of the locomotive. This model allows to optimize the total costs of the maintenance system for repairs and replacement of locomotive parts, the total time spent on repairs and the costs of natural resources. It is advisable to use the proposed mathematical model in developing such a locomotive content system that will reduce the negative impact on the environment during the operation of traction rolling stock.

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.

Energy savings in the use phase of a building’s life cycle increased the relative importance of environmental impacts of the product-, construction- and end-of-life stages of a building. The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) thus developed horizontal standards to enable the sustainability assessment of construction works over their entire life cycle. Consistent with the European standards EN 15804, EN 15978 and EN 16485, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out to determine the environmental impacts of the production and construction stages of an average prefabricated timber house produced in Germany as well as its particular building elements (1 m² inner/outer wall, 1 m² roof element, 1 m² ceiling element). The life cycle inventories (LCIs) were compiled on the basis of annual data of 12 participating manufacturers of prefabricated timber houses. A specific LCA model was developed for the calculation of the input- and output flows referring to the functional units on factory level. Furthermore, one focus was laid on the application of the modular principle according to EN 15804/15978 to construction systems with a high level of prefabrication. The normalization to the overall German impacts shows that the contributions to the environmental categories global warming potential (GWP), acidification (AP) and to the abiotic depletion potential (ADPe) are most important. The highest impacts originate from the manufacturing of the building materials. However, for the categories GWP and AP, around 30% of the impacts originate from the prefabrication of the building elements, their transport and the processes at the construction site.

Bromeliads constitute a good example of symbiosis with organisms that spend their entire life cycle inside the plants, and often depend on them to breed. The bromeliads benefit from this interaction by increasing their nutrients intake. Conservation efforts tend to focus on a single endangered species, but in symbiotic associations, the viability of one species depends on that of the other. Based on IUCN criteria, any species that depends on another to complete its life cycle should be assigned a conservation status equivalent to that of the host taxon, where appropriate. We gathered published plus fieldwork data on the frog-bromeliad mutualism and compiled a checklist of 99 bromeligenous frogs species associated to 69 bromeliad hosts, and found threatened bromeliads hosting non-threatened frogs. We found that 62% bromeligenous frogs inhabit unspecified bromeliads. Finally, we propose strategies for improving understanding and conservation of the frog-bromeliad mutualism.

 With the development of economy and technological progress, the civil building design system based on BIM technology can build simulation modeling building model of all building information such as the nature of materials and physical characteristics, which not only integrates all the building information, but also can be used in construction cost analysis,structural design, equipment management and the entire life cycle of the building plays a management role. In this paper, based on the overview of BIM technology, this paper analyzes the application advantages of BIM technology in civil architecture design, and then studies the concrete application and related enlightenment of BIM technology in civil architecture design, so as to provide a reference for practical application of BIM technology.

The goal of present study is to improve a method for determining a residual technical resource and expected life cycle of power transformer of the traction substations of electrified railroads under operating conditions with the influence of different factors. Solving this task makes it possible to use technical resource of the transformer in full, to decrease economic costs and labor expenses. It was established that even after a normative period of operation a substantial part of power transformers at the traction substations of railroads retains working ability under conditions of compliance with permissible load regimes, timely conducting of tests, diagnosis and maintenance. We improved a method for determining a technical resource of power transformer by introducing the rate of change in the relative wear of insulation. The essence of improvement consists in the comprehensive account of the content of indicators of humidity in a solid insulation, the content of acids and oxygen in the oil, rate of an increase in their concentration in the calculation of technical resource and the remained time of operation of the transformer. The given method allowed us to increase the accuracy of calculation of the residual resource of a transformer by 10…12 %, which enables effective planning of the substantiated periodicity and the volumes of operations on the restoration of technical resource over entire life cycle.

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.

Purpose Life cycle assessments (LCAs) are considered common quantitative environmental techniques to analyze the environmental impact of products and/or services throughout their entire life cycle. A few LCA studies have been conducted in West Africa. This study aimed to discuss the availability of LCA (and similar) studies in Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast.

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.

In the article discusses approaches to the formation of the methodological apparatus for estimating the cost of the life cycle of weapons and military equipment. Attention is drawn to the fact that the formation of this apparatus is not a one-time act, but a complex and long process in which all stages of the life cycle should be covered. The nomenclature and hierarchical structure of cost indicators are proposed, factors that influence the objective non-stationarity in time of these indicators and, accordingly, the accuracy of planning of financial resources needs are analyzed. The expediency of creating an information analytical system for monitoring prices for high-tech defense industry products is substantiated.

Analytical testing and its control strategy play critical roles during the entire life cycle of the drug product in the pharmaceutical industry. Chromatography, especially high performance liquid chromatography, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography, represent the key techniques employed throughout many aspects of pharmaceutical analyses, including the determination of assays, dissolution, and impurity profiles, process control testing, and drug metabolism studies. Analytical method development generally consists of two main stages, namely method scouting and method optimization. In the method scouting stage, the column/eluent combination considered preferable for the analytical method is selected through rough screening. Chromatographic software dedicated to liquid chromatography can be employed for the simulation of chromatograms. Software tools allow the scientist to model chromatographic separations based upon retention data from a limited number of experiments. The final stage of analytical method development involves evaluation of the robustness of the optimized method.

This study explores how firms manage the entire life cycle of innovation projects based on the framework of harvesting and planting innovation. While harvesting innovation seeks new products in the expectation of financial performance in the short term, planting innovation pursues creating value over a long time period. Without proper management of the process of planting and harvesting innovation, firms with limited resources may not be successful in launching innovative new products to seize a momentum in high tech industries. To examine this issue, the case of Samsung Electronics (SE), now an electronics giant originated from a former developing country, is analyzed. SE has shown to effectively utilize co-innovation to maintain numerous planting and harvesting innovation projects. Both researchers and practitioners would be interested in learning about how SE shared risks of innovation investment with external partners at the early stage of innovation cycles.

Designed technical systems are considered from the standpoint of the interaction of developing information systems with the external environment. As part of this systematic approach, it is possible to optimize the developed systems by the criterion of cost-effectiveness throughout their entire life cycle.

Designing systems important for NPP safety is basing on fulfilling the demands of normative documents and ensuring the quality of soft- and hardware systems throughout the entire life cycle. The most critical tasks in ensuring the quality of soft- and hardware complex are the phase for the formation of demands for a designed or modifiable system and their consequent verification. An increase in demands for the quality of software (SW) for systems important for NPP safety at all phases of the life-cycle is associated with an increase in the complicity and functionality of the software and has led to the need to develop methods to justify the safety of the systems themselves and the software included in them. The paper discusses a method based on the construction of "safety functions," the implementation of which subsequently verified. This method is using in SW verification for upper-level systems of APCS and can be used to analyze cybersecurity, information, and fault tolerance of soft- and hardware systems.

In order to manage and share the geological information of tunnel engineering in rock mass more effectively, data standardization is applied and extended in the study based on the structure of AGS4.0 (Document standard format, Version 4.0), which was proposed by Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS). By the data standardization, the geological information obtained on the entire life cycle of tunnel engineering is expressed and stored. Then a detail process of data standardization for the constructing period is presented. Taking the Yanjingwan tunnel from Guizhou province in China as an example, the data standardization of geological information as the strength of rock mass, the rock mass structure level, the condition of discontinuity, and so on, is compiled and marked out step by step. Moreover, several data standards for the geological information are added to satisfy the requirement of the tunnel engineering throughout the entire life cycle. Finally, an integrated system of data standardization is realized based on the SQL (Structured Query Language) server. The study establishes a theoretical basis and practical basis for the intelligent construction and information-oriented construction of rock mass tunnel engineering.

One way of defining a Cleaner Production is saying that it is a set of rules with the objective of protecting the environment and minimizing waste, ranging not only from manufacturing processes but to the entire life cycle of a product. This concept can even be applied on a personal level, addressing one’s lifestyle and daily choices. The first concerns regarding pollution arouse in the 1960s in the USA and started spreading across the world. However, the rate at which this concept is diffused as well as the seriousness that it receives varies immensely from country to country. Here, the main concept of CP is debated as well as its initial stages across all continents.

The research aim of the paper is to review and to describe best practices for marketing and to highlight the characteristics of marketing-management. System analysis, analytical and comparative methods were used for this research. The paper deals with marketing changes, which have been happening in the business community for last years. Nowadays a number of companies define marketing as a basis for management decision-making, abandoning the traditional model in which marketers were only focused on selling already produced goods. The authors of the paper consider that such a model is the future of a client-oriented business. Using this model, the company's marketing structures are connected at the stage of creating a new product and are actively involved in its entire life cycle. This concept allows companies to create a necessary product for the consumer, and sometimes to anticipate his/her needs, which makes the companies stand out from the majority of competitors. The paper also notes that in our society the main values of companies are not production facilities that are owned, but intellectual resources and the ability to use information about customers. Thus, the development of the brand and focus on the consumer, rather than building up physical assets, becomes the main driving force of the company's development. The companies that learn how to handle a huge amount of information about their customers and anticipate their needs, creating new products and services, will be able to succeed in a highly competitive environment.

The goal of this case study is to demonstrate the application and utility of a developed System Dynamics (SD) model to assess the sustainability of strategic decisions for managing the wastewater collection (WWC) pipe network system for a medium-size municipality in Southern Ontario. Two asset management scenarios, suggested by the research-partnered municipality, are adapted based on the acceptable maximum fraction of pipes in the worst condition (ICG5) being equal to (1) 10% of the network-length/year, and (2) the initial 2.8% of network-length/year for the entire life cycle of the asset. The urban densification scenarios are restricted to a 50% urban densification rate. The least maximum rehabilitation rates of 1.41% and 1.85% of network length/year are found necessary to keep the ICG5 pipes fractions below the selected 10% and 2.8% thresholds, respectively. The maximum and minimum user fee-hike rates for WWC and wastewater treatment (WWT) services are adjusted to support the financial self-sustainability aspect. Results from the SD model, as presented over a 100 year simulation period, show that an accelerated rehabilitation strategy will have a lower financial cost with the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study highlights the implications of integrating asset management of wastewater-collection and -treatment systems. Applying such an integrated SD model will help decision makers to forecast the future trends related to social, economic, and environmental performances of wastewater infrastructure systems, and evaluate the behavior of interrelated and complex WWC and WWT systems to find synergistic cost-saving opportunities while at the same time improve sustainability.

Semiconductor fabrication processes have evolved enormously with time, largely driven by the demand for advanced device architectures and increased performance. To continue to drive innovation and to achieve the desired electrical functionality required by today’s market, the industry relies on a number of highly sophisticated chemicals and materials. The semiconductor industry has traditionally adopted risk-based programs to reduce exposure potentials and environmental emissions or found safer alternatives when possible. For example, the industry was successfully able to phase out the use of perfluorooctanyl sulfonates (PFOS) and was able to surpass its 10-year goal in reducing the emissions of perfluorocompound (PFC) gases from semiconductor fabs. These two examples highlight recent voluntary initiatives undertaken by the industry to ensure the continued safe and responsible use of chemicals in semiconductor manufacturing processes. In June 2016, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act was signed into law significantly amending the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which is the main chemical safety law in the United States. TSCA has a broad scope and applies to the full life cycle of a chemical substance (i.e., manufacturing, processing, use, and disposal). Since TSCA reform the process as well as the data required to bring new chemicals to the market has changed dramatically. Therefore, chemical issues which have historically been managed singularly between the EPA and a specific company may be more effectively dealt with through industry-wide consortiums, including both chemical manufacturers and users. Consortiums of this nature are likely better positioned to generate data and information relevant to the entire life cycle of a chemical. For example, EPA recently denied low volume exemption requests (LVEs) for photoacid generators (PAGs) due to increased concerns regarding the environmental, health, and safety aspects of onium–based compounds. To address EPA’s concerns, a "PAG onium" consortium was formed to fill critical data gaps throughout the life cycle of these chemicals that will allow for a more accurate assessment of the potential risks associated with the use of these chemistries. Other photolithography chemistries that are under an increased level of scrutiny include short chain perfluorinated compounds (e.g., perfluorobutanesulfonic acid derivatives) and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). This talk will discuss how recent changes to the regulatory landscape have changed EPA’s chemical reviews and the resulting implications on the information/ data required to evaluate a chemical before bringing it to market.

Despite the increasing significance of embodied impacts of buildings, efforts to reduce their environmental footprints have been concentrated on the operational impacts of buildings. This study investigates the changing significance of embodied carbon over the entire life cycle of whole buildings. A case study of an office building was modelled with Revit, and sensitivity analyses of the modelled building were performed by varying the material specification and energy use pattern for seven other typologies. Using Revit, BIMWASTE tool, ATHENA Impact Estimator and Green Building Studio, comparative life-cycle analyses were carried out for the eight building typologies. The study suggests that notwithstanding the enormous impacts of the operational stage on life-cycle carbon of fossil fuel-based buildings, embodied impacts could vary between 8.4 and 22.3%. A key determinant of the proportional impacts of embodied energy is the nature of materials used for building construction. Similarly, embodied impacts of buildings become more significant and could contribute up to 60% of their life cycle impacts as they become more energy-efficient during their operational stage. As the study confirms the varying significance of embodied energy as construction materials and energy use patterns change, it implies the need for policy measures based on a whole life assessment methodology, instead of the usual ways of giving sole importance to the operational impacts of buildings. With buildings becoming more energy-efficient during their operational stage, there is an urgent need for an increased focus on the embodied impacts of buildings, especially as renewable energy resources are becoming widely adopted.

The article presents the results of the analysis of the use of large amounts of data in the construction industry, new trends such as BIM, IOT, cloud computing, intelligent buildings and smart cities with great prospects for application. These problems are related to the presence of huge amounts of data produced by the construction industry during the entire life cycle of a building, which are not fully used for optimizing processes and making decisions in construction.

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.

The paper presents research that investigated the Life Cycle Assessment of multi-crystalline photovoltaic (PV) panels, by considering environmental impacts of the entire life cycle for any solar PVsystems. The overall manufacturing process of a solar PV panel ranging from silica extraction, crystalline silicon ingot growth, wavering to module fabrication and packing of the solar PV panel. The results from this research showed that the module assembly and cell processing of the manufacturing process contributed towards the main environmental impacts of the life cycle of solar PV systems.

Improvement of building materials, optimization and development of technological processes of construction production require the development of promising areas of research to improve the efficiency of management of construction waste, which will provide economic and environmental benefits. The article provides statistical data on the volumes of formation and processing of construction and demolition waste, confirming the relevance and need for attention to the area of construction waste disposal. To improve the efficiency of construction and demolition waste management processes, it is proposed to create specialized centers that perform specific functions of coordinating material and information resources, which will track and coordinate the entire life cycle of waste from the source of education to the place of disposal or recycling. To improve the efficiency of processes for optimizing the management of construction waste, it is proposed to attract to them the organizational, economic and technological capabilities of private business.

We review dominant approaches to evaluate the intergenerational justice of public policies. We distinguish between justice over complete lives (for which we analyze birth cohorts), and at a given moment in time (for which we study age groups). We note that it is not prima facie problematic if at one given point in time different age groups receive an unequal treatment from the state. But if such inequalities are perpetuated across different birth cohorts over the entire life cycle, then this does point to intergenerational inequities.

Improving the methods of integrated engineering surveys for the design, construction, reconstruction and operation of transport facilities is carried out using the latest methods of information support. They are implemented by presenting real-time data with progressive analytical processes. The article discusses the methods of obtaining primary information using georadar-laser scanning and further processing of the source data in order to create the first module of the Digital Passport of the transport object. The management of a full-fledged "passport" will provide an opportunity to conduct research on the interaction of traffic flows with transport facilities. And the very creation of a "passport" will improve the efficiency of transport facilities, convenience, safety and environmental friendliness of traffic, which will positively affect the reliability of the entire life cycle of a transport facility.

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. Part agent system that supports maintenance of part and/or product using network agent and RFID technology has been developed to support reuse of products by giving users advices on replacement of products. We have reported the development of a function of part agent that supports disassembly of products. For that purpose, assembly model and disassembly process model relating to it were developed. Based on this information that is predefined and stored in a part agent of used product, the part agent shows the user the procedure how to disassemble an appropriate part from the product by displaying it using augmented reality. In this paper, a prototype system is proposed that supports disassembly of used products with improved function that deals with possible deterioration of parts. The paper shows a preliminary result of the experiment with the implemented system and discusses remaining issues.

That renewable energy technologies, particularly in the production phase, are currently those that generate a lower environmental impact compared to traditional fossil fuel systems is now well-established. Despite this, many studies fail to include an evaluation of the impacts generated by systems designed and built for energy production over their entire life cycle. The aim of this paper is to provide, with the aid of LCA, a preliminary environmental assessment of a solar power tower.

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.

This article deals with the problem of voltage class selection taking into consideration all of the life-cycle periods of a gas field based on the data from the existing gas fields in Western Siberia. The incorrect voltage class may hinder the operation of the gas field at the final relief stage. The work aims to develop criteria and algorithms for the selection of the best voltage class for the external power supply system at gas fields taking into consideration their entire life cycle. To achieve the goal set, we dealt with the following objectives: analyzing literature on gas field development technology, analyzing the actual rated electrical load in every life cycle period of the gas fields in Western Siberia; analyzing literature on the methods of determining the voltage class for industrial facilities; analyzing the existing criteria and developing new criteria for the selection of the best voltage class taking into consideration the entire life cycle of the gas fields in Western Siberia; developing a formula for the objective function to calculate the voltage class; developing selection guidelines for the best voltage class of the power supply system of gas fields that would take a number of shifting parameters throughout their life cycles; developing a generic programmatic selection algorithm for the best voltage class, and studying the power mains of the external power supply system at the existing gas fields in Western Siberia. Our research relied on the following methods: experiment planning (complete factorial experiment) and computer programming methods.

Sustainability is now fully integrated into the entire life cycle of the Olympic Games. The planning, preparation, and staging of the Winter Olympics have opportunities to create a sustainable legacy for the host cities for decades. The tangible and/or intangible impacts of the Winter Olympics on the host city are multidimensional, including economic, social, and environmental aspects. However, there are still few studies on the multidimensional impact of the Winter Olympics on the sustainable development of the host city. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the 2022 Winter Olympics on host city sustainability from public perspective. Using a survey of 806 host residents in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the authors performed descriptive statistics and regression analysis to analyze the effects of the Winter Olympic Games on the city’s sustainable development. The Winter Olympic Games are divided into three stages, including the pre-game phase, in-game phase, and post-game phase, and the impacts cover three dimensions, including economic, social, and environmental aspects. The results show that the 2022 Winter Olympics integrate sustainability into the whole process of the Winter Olympics, the Winter Olympics have an important catalytic effect on the host city’s sustainable development.

All gas fields go through four periods of their life cycle with their technological scheme changes. The engineering of electricity supply system for gas fields in West Siberia was performed without taking into account the final stage of their life cycle. To extend the period of profitability of low-pressure Cenomanian gas at the final stage of the life cycle an energy-intensive technology of gas compression distribution with usage of mobile compressor units (MCU) is implemented. The implementation of this technology in the gas fields requires the construction of a new electricity supply system or the reconstruction of the entire existing one. The objective of the paper is to assess the dynamics of electric loads of gas fields, considering the entire life cycle. The average annual calculated electric load for each life cycle period for active fields in West Siberia for 2019 is determined. The coefficient of increase in electric load is calculated. The tasks are solved using the empirical method (measurement, comparison) and the experimental-theoretical method (analysis and synthesis). The analysis shows that during the life cycle of a gas field, when the well outcrop and average reservoir pressure decrease over time, the calculated electrical load increases in many times.

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.

Slopes of road subbase and subgrade under operation are subjected to deformation and destruction while being affected by atmospheric precipitation, deicing agents and temperature drops. Stabilization of road slopes should proceed throughout the entire life cycle of the road. There arose a need to work out the most effective and durable design solution. Structures being under operation are exposed to external factors that cause washouts and defects of expansion joints. Washouts of geocell reinforcement structures may occur as well. Structural repairs sometimes are not effective, so destructions continue and progress. Analysis of the use of conventional technologies has shown that implementation of a polyurethane binder for stabilization of slopes is the most effective design solution under certain conditions. Binder based on polyurethane, when applied to rock material (crushed stone or gravel), forms a durable structure that is resistant to external influences and has high strength properties. A set of national standards for application of this technology is currently being developed. It is confirmed that the material under consideration meets the requirements of fire protection, sanitation and epidemiology, hygiene, and environmental safety. By these days, this technology has been implemented at more than 30 highway structures in the city of Moscow and in the Moscow and Smolensk Regions.

This note addresses some issues that are creating constraints and an unbalanced situation between communities and the mining industry. The purpose is to stimulate discussion about the long range impact for the mining industry’s future expansion path as well as the challenges to obtain and maintain social license during the entire life cycle of a mine.

The goal of alternatives assessment (AA) is to facilitate a comparison of alternatives to a chemical of concern, resulting in the identification of safer alternatives. A two stage methodology for comparing chemical alternatives was developed. In the first stage, alternatives are compared using a variety of human health effects, ecotoxicity, and physicochemical properties. Hazard profiles are completed using a variety of online sources and quantitative structure activity relationship models. In the second stage, alternatives are evaluated utilizing an exposure/risk assessment over the entire life cycle. Exposure values are calculated using screening-level near-field and far-field exposure models. The second stage allows one to more accurately compare potential exposure to each alternative and consider additional factors that may not be obvious from separate binned persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity scores. The methodology was utilized to compare phosphate-based alternatives for decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in electronics applications.

BACKGROUND:The integration of ergonomics knowledge into engineering projects leads to both healthier and more efficient workplaces. There is a lack of knowledge about integrating ergonomic knowledge into the design practice in engineering consultancies.OBJECTIVES:This study explores how organizational resources can pose constraints for the integration of ergonomics knowledge into engineering design projects in a business-driven setting, and how ergonomists cope with these resource constraints.PARTICIPANTS:An exploratory case study in an engineering consultancy was conducted. A total of 27 participants were interviewed.METHODS:Data were collected applying semi-structured interviews, observations, and documentary studies. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and categorized into themes.RESULTS:From the analysis five overall themes emerged as major constituents of resource constraints: 1) maximizing project revenue, 2) payment for ergonomics services, 3) value of ergonomic services, 4) role of the client, and 5) coping strategies to overcome resource constraints.CONCLUSION:We hypothesize that resource constraints were shaped due to sub-optimization of costs in design projects. The economical contribution of ergonomics measures was not evaluated in the entire life cycle of a designed workplace. Coping strategies included teaming up with engineering designers in the sales process or creating an alliance with ergonomists in the client organization

The entire life cycle of influenza virus involves viral attachment, entry, replication, and release. Previous studies have demonstrated that neuraminidase (NA) is an essential glycoprotein on the surface of influenza virus and that it is responsible for release of progeny virions from the host cell to infect new cells. However, recent studies have also suggested that NA may play other roles in the early stages of the viral life cycle, that is, viral attachment and entry. This review focuses on the new role of NA in the early stages of influenza life cycle and the corresponding development of novel NA inhibitors. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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.

Technological advances, coupled with increasing demands by consumers, have led to a drastic increase in plastic production. After serving their purposes, these plastics reach our water bodies as their destination and become ingested by aquatic organisms. This ubiquitous phenomenon has exposed humans to microplastics mostly through the consumption of sea food. This has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to make an urgent call for the assessment of environmental pollution due to microplastics and its effect on human health. This review summarizes studies between 1999 and 2020 in relation to microplastics in aquatic ecosystems and human food products, their potential toxic effects as elicited in animal studies, and policies on their use and disposal. There is a paucity of information on the toxicity mechanisms of microplastics in animal studies, and despite their documented presence in food products, no policy has been in place so far, to monitor and regulates microplastics in commercial foods meant for human consumption. Although there are policies and regulations with respect to plastics, these are only in a few countries and in most instances are not fully implemented due to socioeconomic reasons, so they do not address the problem across the entire life cycle of plastics from production to disposal. More animal research to elucidate pathways and early biomarkers of microplastic toxicity that can easily be detected in humans is needed. This is to create awareness and influence policies that will address this neglected threat to food safety and security.