The role of digital technologies for the LCA empowerment towards circular economy goals: a scenario analysis for the agri-food system

Purpose This paper aims to develop a scenario analysis on the experts' perceptions of benefits and barriers related to adopting digital technologies for the life cycle assessment (LCA) to catalyse a circular economy transition in the agri-food system. Methods A literature review was performed to identify LCA's digital technologies that can be implemented within the agri-food system. Furthermore, an in-depth interview with a panel of senior researchers was conducted to establish a set of items and assess the perceived benefits and barriers associated with an "empowered LCA", i.e. a future-oriented LCA based on digital technologies. To this end, a two-stage exploratory factor analysis relying on the principal component analysis technique was carried out to refine the set of items. Finally, a covariance-based structural equation model was performed, built on a confirmatory factor analysis, to test the measurement model. Results and discussion The study's findings provide five constructs to explore the potential benefits and barriers related to adopting a digital technologies-based LCA (empowered LCA) for a circular economy transition in the agri-food system. More specifically, the benefits can be assessed using the following constructs: "benefits for the data collection and analysis", "benefits for the LCA analysts", "benefits for the management" and "benefits for traceability". In addition, the barriers have been evaluated using a single construct labelled "general barriers". Conclusions The study highlights the relevance of digital technologies for a circular economy transition to develop a more reliable LCA, enhancing legislative compliance and supporting the traceability processes in the agri-food system. The associated implications for LCA experts, agri-food managers and policymakers are presented. Furthermore, limitations and future research directions are also discussed

Context-aware and automatic configuration of mobile devices in cloud-enabled ubiquitous computing

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00779-013-0698-3. Copyright @ Springer-Verlag London 2013.Context-sensitive (or aware) applications have, in recent years, moved from the realm of possibilities to that of ubiquity. One exciting research area that is still very much in the realm of possibilities is that of cloud computing, and in this paper, we present our work, which explores the overlap of these two research areas. Accordingly, this paper explores the notion of cross-source integration of cloud-based, context-aware information in ubiquitous computing through a developed prototypical solution. Moreover, the described solution incorporates remote and automatic configuration of Android smartphones and advances the research area of context-aware information by harvesting information from several sources to build a rich foundation on which algorithms for context-aware computation can be based. Evaluation results show the viability of integrating and tailoring contextual information to provide users with timely, relevant and adapted application behaviour and content

Simulating the sensitivity of cell nutritive environment to composition changes within the intervertebral disc

Altered nutrition in the intervertebral disc affects cell viability and can generate catabolic cascades contributing to extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. Such degradation is expected to affect couplings between disc mechanics and nutrition, contributing to accelerate degenerative processes. However, the relation of ECM changes to major biophysical events within the loaded disc remains unclear. A L4-L5 disc finite element model including the nucleus (NP), annulus (AF) and endplates was used and coupled to a transport-cell viability model. Solute concentrations and cell viability were evaluated along the mid-sagittal plane path. A design of experiment (DOE) was performed. DOE parameters corresponded to AF and NP biochemical tissue measurements in discs with different degeneration grades. Cell viability was not affected by any parameter combinations defined. Nonetheless, the initial water content was the parameter that affected the most the solute contents, especially glucose. Calculations showed that altered NP composition could negatively affect AF cell nutrition. Results suggested that AF and NP tissue degeneration are not critical to nutrition-related cell viability at early-stage of disc degeneration. However, small ECM degenerative changes may alter significantly disc nutrition under mechanical loads. Coupling disc mechano-transport simulations and enzyme expression studies could allow identifying spatiotemporal sequences related to tissue catabolism

Dynamic filopodial forces induce accumulation, damage, and plastic remodeling of 3D extracellular matrices

The mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM)–a complex, 3D, fibrillar scaffold of cells in physiological environments–modulate cell behavior and can drive tissue morphogenesis, regeneration, and disease progression. For simplicity, it is often convenient to assume these properties to be time-invariant. In living systems, however, cells dynamically remodel the ECM and create time-dependent local microenvironments. Here, we show how cell-generated contractile forces produce substantial irreversible changes to the density and architecture of physiologically relevant ECMs–collagen I and fibrin–in a matter of minutes. We measure the 3D deformation profiles of the ECM surrounding cancer and endothelial cells during stages when force generation is active or inactive. We further correlate these ECM measurements to both discrete fiber simulations that incorporate fiber crosslink unbinding kinetics and continuum-scale simulations that account for viscoplastic and damage features. Our findings further confirm that plasticity, as a mechanical law to capture remodeling in these networks, is fundamentally tied to material damage via force-driven unbinding of fiber crosslinks. These results characterize in a multiscale manner the dynamic nature of the mechanical environment of physiologically mimicking cell-in-gel systems