The Industrial Platinum Cycle for Russia: A Case Study of Materials Accounting

Platinum is a strategic resource for the world economy and appears to be unsubstitutable in many of its uses. As a consequence, establishing its life cycle and quantifying net increases and decreases may serve as a basis for detecting lifecycle wide opportunities for increasing recycling and reuse of platinum. With this aim, we have characterized the platinum cycle for the Russian Federation for the year 2000. It was found that most of the platinum produced in Russia was exported immediately(21,300 kg Pt/yr (82%)), while the remainder was stockpiled (2,200 kg Pt/yr (8.5%)) or used domestically (2,450 kg Pt/yr, (9.4%)). Russia has a continuing reliance on fabricated platinum imports (1,600 kg Pt/yr). Recovery of platinum from waste and scrap is undeveloped, although there are significant domestic sources, particularly the military sector

Should we mine the deep seafloor?

As land-based mineral resources become increasingly difficult and expensive to acquire, the potential for mining resources from the deep seafloor has become widely discussed and debated. Exploration leases are being granted, and technologies are under development. However, the quantity and quality of the resources are uncertain, and many worry about risks to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems. Deep-sea mining has become part of the discussion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In this article we provide a summary of benefits, costs, and uncertainties that surround this potentially attractive but contentious topic

Flow and Fates of Discarded Copper in Sofia, Bulgaria, and New Haven CT, USA

In order to better understand the fate of copper following its use, the discard flows of copper were analyzed in Sofia, Bulgaria, and New Haven, CT, USA. These cities were chosen to compare discard copper generation and recovery between a city in a developed country and a city in a developing country. The comparison between these two cities can be problematic due to their different relative sizes, and generalizing the results to other cities cannot be done without some error. However, as the first study of its kind, this study provides insights into the relative copper recovery rates indifferent socioeconomic contexts. The total yearly per capita copper discards from in-use stocks in Sofia were found to be about 1.9 kg/person (for year 2003), while New Haven has total yearly per capita copper discards from in-use stocks of about 4.7kg/person (for year 2000). The associated recovery rates for copper in both cities are quite high, at about 87% in New Haven, and 97% in Sofia. The higher per capita copper discards and the lower recovery rate in New Haven is thought to be attributable to the higher average income level relative to Sofia

REGULATION OF CORONARY BLOOD FLOW DURING ETHER AND HALOTHANE ANAESTHESIA

SUMMARY The effects of ether (6-10%) and halothane (1-2%) were studied on coronary flow regulation in dogs. In one group of experiments the kft coronary artery was perfused mechanically, coronary perfusion pressure being either kept constant or adjusted to aortic pressure, and the heart itself had to pump the blood to all other arteries. The preload on the heart was changed by varying die intravascular volume. In another group, bodi coronary arteries were perfused mechanically under constant pressure; the other arteries were also perfused mechanically by a cardiopulmonary bypass. In this group measurements were carried out on the empty beating heart. Halothane had a direct effect on die heart, myocardial contractility was reduced, cardiac work and myocardial oxygen consumption were diminished and coronary vasoconstriction followed. Edier effects on the heart were principally die same as diose due to halodiane, but to a lesser degree. Coronary vasoconstriction caused by halodiane did not produce myocardial hypoxia. Coronary vasoconstriction occurred as an autorcgulatory mechanism preventing "unnecessary ” hyperperfusion as long as cardiac work and oxygen consumption were diminished. Bodi edier and halodiane reduced systemic vascular resistanc

Addressing decision making for remanufacturing operations and design-for-remanufacture

Remanufacturing is a process of returning a used product to at least original equipment manufacturer original performance specification from the customers' perspective and giving the resultant product a warranty that is at least equal to that of a newly manufactured equivalent. This paper explains the need to combine ecological concerns and economic growth and the significance of remanufacturing in this. Using the experience of an international aero-engine manufacturer it discusses the impact of the need for sustainable manufacturing on organisational business models. It explains some key decision-making issues that hinder remanufacturing and suggests effective solutions. It presents a peer-validated, high-level design guideline to assist decision-making in design in order to support remanufacturing. The design guide was developed in the UK through the analysis of selections of products during case studies and workshops involving remanufacturing and conventional manufacturing practitioners as well as academics. It is one of the initial stages in the development of a robust design for remanufacture guideline

Angiotensin II-receptor subtypes in human atria and evidence for alterations in patients with cardiac dysfunction

Angiotensin II (All) has been implicated as an important factor in the pathophysiology of heart diseases. Following the recent identification of two subtypes of the All receptor in cardiac tissue of animals, we investigated the possible occurrence of these, or similar, subtypes in human atrial tissue. In right-atrial tissue from patients undergoing heart surgery, we determined the All-receptor profile in receptor binding studies, using [125I]-angiotensin as radioligand and All as well as two compounds selective for the receptor subtypes to identify and quantify All-receptor subpopulations. In 35 patients (23 requiring coronary bypasses, 10 vaivular surgery and two combined coronary and valvular surgery), the left-ventricular ejection fraction was determined in the preoperative phase, and right- and left-atrial pressure during surgery. In membranes of human right atria, All receptors are present in high density (median: Bmax= 294 fmol. mg−1 protein, range: 111-2073) and two different subtypes can be distinguished. Type-1 receptors (AT1) accounted for 33 ± l0% of the population whereas type-2 receptors (AT2) made up 67 ± 10% of the population. There was no correlation between any of the measured cardiac functions and total All-receptor density or receptor affinity. However, the percentage of AT1 receptors was higher in the atria of patients with normal right-atrial pressure; left-ventricular ejection fraction was positively and right-atrial pressure inversely correlated with the percentage of AT1 receptors (r=0·740 and -0·901, respectively; P<0·001, for both). Moreover, the percentage of AT receptors was directly correlated with the levels of left-atrial pressure (r=0·853; P<0·001). It is concluded that the ratio of AT1 to AT2 receptors correlates well with right-atrial pressure and left-ventricular function. This is a first indication of a possible involvement of All-receptor subtypes in the pathophysiology of cardiac dysfunction

A Northern Hemisphere Volcanic Chemistry Record (1869-1984) and Climatic Implications using a South Greenland Ice Core

The effect of volcanic emISSIOn of acidic aerosols on climate is well documented. The presence of acid droplets in the stratosphere can reduce transmissivity and hence decrease surface temperatures. Since the amount and chemical composition of erupted material has important effects on regional climate, knowledge of past volcanic events is of extreme importance. Detailed glaciochemical records provide the only milieu wherein the geochemistry of paleovolcanic events can be fully documented. We present a detailed sulfate and chloride record from an ice core drilled at site 20 D, 40 km SW of Dye 3 in southern Greenland. The record spans the time period 1869-1984 with chemical analyses of approximately eight samples per year. Time series decomposition and locally weighted scatter plot smoothing techniques were used to extract long term trends from the data so that individual volcanic eruptions could be documented. A number of events identified here have been unnoticed previously and a high percentage of the major chemical signatures documenting these events is associated with large decreases in temperature in the latitudinal zone 60-90° N. Many authors have pointed out that the amount of volcanic acids such as HCI and H2S04 injected into the atmosphere has a very important influence on global climate, yet this volcanic input has been difficult to quantify prior to ~1960. Our data help to alleviate this problem. These individual events can be compared to available frost tree ring data from North America, further establishing a volcanism—climatic linkage

Chemical sensitivity to the ratio of the cosmic-ray ionization rates of He and H2 in dense clouds

Aim: To determine whether or not gas-phase chemical models with homogeneous and time-independent physical conditions explain the many observed molecular abundances in astrophysical sources, it is crucial to estimate the uncertainties in the calculated abundances and compare them with the observed abundances and their uncertainties. Non linear amplification of the error and bifurcation may limit the applicability of chemical models. Here we study such effects on dense cloud chemistry. Method: Using a previously studied approach to uncertainties based on the representation of rate coefficient errors as log normal distributions, we attempted to apply our approach using as input a variety of different elemental abundances from those studied previously. In this approach, all rate coefficients are varied randomly within their log normal (Gaussian) distribution, and the time-dependent chemistry calculated anew many times so as to obtain good statistics for the uncertainties in the calculated abundances. Results: Starting with so-called ``high-metal'' elemental abundances, we found bimodal rather than Gaussian like distributions for the abundances of many species and traced these strange distributions to an extreme sensitivity of the system to changes in the ratio of the cosmic ray ionization rate zeta\_He for He and that for molecular hydrogen zeta\_H2. The sensitivity can be so extreme as to cause a region of bistability, which was subsequently found to be more extensive for another choice of elemental abundances. To the best of our knowledge, the bistable solutions found in this way are the same as found previously by other authors, but it is best to think of the ratio zeta\_He/zeta\_H2 as a control parameter perpendicular to the ''standard'' control parameter zeta/n\_H.Comment: Accepted for publicatio

YSTAFDB, a unified database of material stocks and flows for sustainability science

We present the Yale Stocks and Flows Database (YSTAFDB), which comprises most of the material stocks and flows (STAF) data generated at the Center for Industrial Ecology at Yale University since the early 2000s. These data describe material cycles, criticality, and recycling in terms of 62 elements and various engineering materials, e.g., steel, on spatial scales and timeframes ranging from cities to global and the 1800s to ca. 2013. YSTAFDB integrates this diverse collection of STAF data, previously scattered across various non-uniformly formatted electronic files, into a single data structure and file format. Here, we discuss this data structure as well as the usage and formatting of data records in YSTAFDB. YSTAFDB contains 100,000+ data records that are all situated in their systems contexts, with additional metadata included as available. YSTAFDB offers a comprehensive basis upon which STAF data can be accumulated, integrated, and exchanged, and thereby improves their accessibility. Therefore, YSTAFDB facilitates deeper understanding of sustainable materials use and management, which are key goals of contemporary sustainability science