How does iso/dis 14042 on life cycle impact assessment accommodate current best available practice?

This article discusses to which extent the forthcoming ISO standard on life cycle impact assessment (ISO/DIS 14042) will be able to accommodate current best available practice in this field. There is, particularly, the risk that the requirement of scientific validity for public comparative assertions cannot be met sufficiently so that the standard may become counterproductive. It is concluded that current best practice for most of the impact categories is compatible with the forthcoming standard. However, difficulties will arise with the toxicity categories, in particular with human toxicity. There is no encompassing indicator is available which does not involve weighting between subcategories. A major improvement would be if, for weighting within categories, internationally accepted value choices would be established as a sufficient condition for public comparative assertion

Metformin promotes lifespan through mitohormesis via the peroxiredoxin PRDX-2

The antiglycemic drug metformin, widely prescribed as first-line treatment of type II diabetes mellitus, has lifespan-extending properties. Precisely how this is achieved remains unclear. Via a quantitative proteomics approach using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, we gained molecular understanding of the physiological changes elicited by metformin exposure, including changes in branched-chain amino acid catabolism and cuticle maintenance. We show that metformin extends lifespan through the process of mitohormesis and propose a signaling cascade in which metformin-induced production of reactive oxygen species increases overall life expectancy. We further address an important issue in aging research, wherein so far, the key molecular link that translates the reactive oxygen species signal into a prolongevity cue remained elusive. We show that this beneficial signal of the mitohormetic pathway is propagated by the peroxiredoxin PRDX-2. Because of its evolutionary conservation, peroxiredoxin signaling might underlie a general principle of prolongevity signaling

Midpoints versus endpoints: The sacrifices and benefits

On May 25-26, 2000 in Brighton (England), the third in a series of international workshops was held under the umbrella of UNEP addressing issues in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). The workshop provided a forum for experts to discuss midpoint vs. endpoint modeling. Midpoints are considered to be links in the cause-effect chain (environmental mechanism) of an impact category, prior to the endpoints, at which characterization factors or indicators can be derived to reflect the relative importance of emissions or extractions. Common examples of midpoint characterization factors include ozone depletion potentials, global warming potentials, and photochemical ozone (smog) creation potentials. Recently, however, some methodologies have adopted characterization factors at an endpoint level in the cause-effect chain for all categories of impact (e.g., human health impacts in terms of disability adjusted life years for carcinogenicity, climate change, ozone depletion, photochemical ozone creation; or impacts in terms of changes in biodiversity, etc.). The topics addressed at this workshop included the implications of midpoint versus endpoint indicators with respect to uncertainty (parameter, model and scenario), transparency and the ability to subsequently resolve trade-offs across impact categories using weighting techniques. The workshop closed with a consensus that both midpoint and endpoint methodologies provide useful information to the decision maker, prompting the call for tools that include both in a consistent framewor

Explaining quality of life with crisis theory

Based on the premises of crisis theory. we expected cancer patients in-crisis to report a poorer quality of life (QL) and cancer patients post-crisis to report a similar level of overall QL in comparison to healthy individuals. To explain these hypothesized findings, we expected the coping resources and strategies of patients in-crisis to be equally effective and those of patients post-crisis to be more effective as compared to those of healthy individuals. The sample consisted of: (a) 217 consecutive cancer patients in the acute phases of their illness (patients in-crisis) (b) 192 disease-free cancer patients (patients post-crisis): and (c) 201 randomly selected healthy individuals. Established measures of QL, self-esteem and neuroticism (coping resources) and coping behavior (coping strategies) were mailed. As expected. patients in-crisis reported a poorer QL (p <0.001) and patients post-crisis a similar overall QL as compared to healthy individuals. There were no significant or systematic differences between the mean levels of coping resources and strategies between the respective groups, Two-way analysis of variance indicated a group X coping resource interaction effect on overall QL for self-esteem (p <0.01). As expected, the amount of variance of overall QL explained by self-esteem was largest for patients post-crisis (27%) and comparable for patients in-crisis and healthy individuals (10 and 11%). Patients in-crisis were not able to make their coping resources and strategies more effective, whereas patients post-crisis seemed to have enhanced the effectiveness of self-esteem in restoring their QL as compared to healthy persons. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd

IT Governance Structures in Brazilian, Dutch and Portuguese Universities

Published by Elsevier B.V. Effective IT governance is determined by how the IT function is organized and where the IT decision-making authority is located within the organization. Three different IT governance structures may be considered: centralized, decentralized and federal. The appropriacy of these structures is based on the organizatiońs context. This article aims at analyzing how appropriate the IT governance structure adopted by universities is. Using a qualitative approach, we carried out six interviews in three countries, namely Portugal, the Netherlands and Brazil. The findings show that the centralized structure allows economizing on skills and applications, leading to cost reduction and standardization. While the decentralized mode calls for a duplication of resources, higher risks and a difficulty in communication in faculties, a centralized IT system emerges in the university. We can conclude that the federal structure is more suitable for universities where the infrastructure and strategy is centralized and the execution and operation are decentralized. Our findings are in consonance with the literature. This article will end presenting the limitations and future work.CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil Process n. º10415/13-0 and by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

UNEP/SETAC life cycle initiative: background, aims and scope

The conclusions about the development of the content of the LC Initiative are the following: A specific niche for the Life Cycle Initiative has developed, compared with the role of SETAC, the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE) and ISO. The aims of the initiative have step by step been extended, by bringing the initiative at a world level, by including both LCI and LCIA, and by including a program on Life Cycle Management (LCM). In the LCM program due attention is to be given to other tools and approaches than quantitative LCA which are relevant for life-cycle thinking in general, and also to the other two dimensions of sustainability, i.e. the social and economic dimensions. A number of important questions regarding the scope of the initiative and the methodological set-up have been in-depth discussed, thus resulting in a clear basis for the technical content of work to come. Three definition studies will now be implemented which will define the work program for the three programs of the initiative; these studies will be finalised by the end of 200

Energy from waste and the food processing industry

The provision of a secure, continuous energy supply is becoming an issue for all sectors of society and the foodprocessingindustry as a major energy user must address these issues. This paper identifies anaerobic digestion as an opportunity to go some way to achieving energy security in a sustainable manner. However, a number of energy management and waste reduction concepts must also be brought into play if the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability are to be balanced. The reporting of such activity will help to promote the green credentials of the industry. Cleaner production, supply chain and life cycle assessment approaches all have a part to play as tools supporting a new vision for integrated energy and waste management. Our reliance on high-energyprocessing, such as canning and freezing/chill storage, might also need re-assessment together with processing based on hurdle technology. Finally, the concepts of energy and power management for a distributed energy generation system must be brought into the foodprocessingindustry

Ecosysteemdiensten: nieuw anker voor omgevingsbeleid?

Ecosysteemdiensten krijgen in het beleid steeds meer aandacht. Éen van de redenen is dat binnen dit concept veel aandacht wordt gegeven aan de financiële waardering ervan. Ecologie en economie worden met elkaar verbonden, maar onomstreden is dat niet. Kan deze verbinding voor toepassing in het beleid geloofwaardig worden uitgewerkt en zijn daar niet grote risico's mee verbonden? Een verkennin