Sustainability performance of enhanced weathering across countries: a triple bottom line approach

Enhanced weathering (EW) is a promising negative emission technology involving the application of crushed silicate rocks to croplands for carbon capture. There is limited research about the broad sustainability impacts in rolling out this intervention on a large scale. This research assesses the triple bottom line sustainability of EW in eight top-emitting countries using an extended input-output model. Results indicate that overall sustainability performance of EW is influenced by each country's environmental and social metrics than the economic. Compared to developed countries (UK, France, Germany, USA), emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) show relatively lower economic sustainability due to high working hours impact but benefit from higher socio-economic contributions. Improving practices, particularly reducing emissions, energy use, labour rights and health and safety risk for silicate rock production, is vital for better sustainability outcomes

Macro-level economic and environmental sustainability of negative emission technologies; case study of crushed silicate production for enhanced weathering

Enhanced weathering (EW) involves application of crushed silicate rocks on croplands to capture CO2. Although research on EW is gaining traction, the missing elements in the literature however are the supply chain sustainability impacts associated with large-scale production and deployment of crushed silicates for EW purposes. The need to conduct sustainability assessments for EW systems in addition to validated technical feasibility remains a relevant research gap. In this work, the potential economic and environmental impacts associated with production of crushed silicates is assessed for eight countries, belonging to two separate groups: emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and developed economies (USA, UK, France, and Germany). A total of six economic and environmental impact categories are included in the assessment; gross domestic product (GDP), gross operating surplus (GOS), imports, greenhouse gas emissions, energy, and material use. The input-output model is used to estimate the economy-wide and macro-level sustainability impacts derived from producing crushed silicates. Findings show developed economies have relatively high levels of positive economic benefits and may experience less negative environmental impacts within their national boundaries by ‘leaking’ such impacts via imports. Imported consumption for crushed silicate production in developed countries were found to be substantially higher than that of emerging economies. For the emerging economies, imported consumption associated with crushed silicate production constitutes on average, less than 10% whereas for developed economies, imported consumption averages 20%. The UK mining and quarrying sector has the highest imported consumption at approximately 30%. The results of the study provide insightful outlook into the opportunities and challenges surrounding EW sustainability and is important in informing both national and global policy decisions regarding this technique

Towards sustainable food production and climate change mitigation: an attributional life cycle assessment comparing industrial and basalt rock dust fertilisers

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this recordData availability: The data supporting the findings of this study are available in the manuscript and its supporting analysis.Purpose Food production is set to double by 2050 to feed the increasing world population. This poses a global challenge to minimise environmental impacts from intensified production and use of chemical fertilisers. The study investigates whether basalt rock dust fertiliser can be an environmentally sustainable close substitute to expensive conventional rock-derived P and K fertilisers. Method The study uses the attributional life cycle assessment method to estimate and compare 15 environmental impacts between basalt rock dust fertiliser, a potential source of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), and five widely used industrial P and K fertilisers. In addition, we model hypothetical basalt substitution rates for PK fertilisers to highlight potential ecological savings in terms of carbon capture. Results Basalt rock dust fertiliser has minimal embodied environmental impacts across all 15 impact categories, including global warming, compared to industrial P and K fertilisers. Conclusion Our results suggest that transitioning to milled basalt as a natural geo-fertiliser to support food production may help address several UN Sustainable Development Goals such as ‘Responsible consumption and production’ and ‘Climate Action and Zero Hunger’

Preliminary Evaluation of Indoor Radon Exposure Levels in Students' Halls of Residence at the Northern Campus (New Site) of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract: The study seeks to present Radon exposure levels in some rooms within halls of residence at the New Site of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana determined using LR-115 TypeII Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD) and E-PERM detecting systems. Pieces of the plastic LR-115 detectors were covered with aluminium foil and fixed in plastic holder such that the active part (coated part) of the detector was exposed (bare), facing downwards and together with the E-PERM were placed at a location in each of the selected rooms in the halls of residence for 30 days. The voltages of the E-PERMs were taken using the SPER-1 Reader whilst the LR-115 was chemically etched to reveal the alpha tracks. The mean radon exposure level for LR-115 was 6.8 mSv (range: 3.1-9.1 mSv) whiles the mean exposure for the E-PERM was 3.6 mSv (range: 1.7-5.3 mSv). The results obtained also indicated that the exposure levels measured by both the E-PERM and the LR-115 detectors were generally below the Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) guideline limit of 8 mSv. However, some rooms had their exposure levels (measured with the LR-115 detector) above the remedial guideline limit of 8 mSv, but far below the immediate action limit of 20 mSv. Most of a student time is spent indoors. There is therefore the need to have a fair idea the radon concentration and exposure levels in rooms since radon has been identified as a carcinogenic gas

Cross-species gene expression analysis of species specific differences in the preclinical assessment of pharmaceutical compounds

Animals are frequently used as model systems for determination of safety and efficacy in pharmaceutical research and development. However, significant quantitative and qualitative differences exist between humans and the animal models used in research. This is as a result of genetic variation between human and the laboratory animal. Therefore the development of a system that would allow the assessment of all molecular differences between species after drug exposure would have a significant impact on drug evaluation for toxicity and efficacy. Here we describe a cross-species microarray methodology that identifies and selects orthologous probes after cross-species sequence comparison to develop an orthologous cross-species gene expression analysis tool. The assumptions made by the use of this orthologous gene expression strategy for cross-species extrapolation is that; conserved changes in gene expression equate to conserved pharmacodynamic endpoints. This assumption is supported by the fact that evolution and selection have maintained the structure and function of many biochemical pathways over time, resulting in the conservation of many important processes. We demonstrate this cross-species methodology by investigating species specific differences of the peroxisome proliferatoractivator receptor (PPAR) a response in rat and human

Rules extraction from neural networks applied to the prediction and recognition of prokaryotic promoters

Promoters are DNA sequences located upstream of the gene region and play a central role in gene expression. Computational techniques show good accuracy in gene prediction but are less successful in predicting promoters, primarily because of the high number of false positives that reflect characteristics of the promoter sequences. Many machine learning methods have been used to address this issue. Neural Networks (NN) have been successfully used in this field because of their ability to recognize imprecise and incomplete patterns characteristic of promoter sequences. In this paper, NN was used to predict and recognize promoter sequences in two data sets: (i) one based on nucleotide sequence information and (ii) another based on stability sequence information. The accuracy was approximately 80% for simulation (i) and 68% for simulation (ii). In the rules extracted, biological consensus motifs were important parts of the NN learning process in both simulations

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans metabolism: from genome sequence to industrial applications

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans </it>is a major participant in consortia of microorganisms used for the industrial recovery of copper (bioleaching or biomining). It is a chemolithoautrophic, γ-proteobacterium using energy from the oxidation of iron- and sulfur-containing minerals for growth. It thrives at extremely low pH (pH 1–2) and fixes both carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere. It solubilizes copper and other metals from rocks and plays an important role in nutrient and metal biogeochemical cycling in acid environments. The lack of a well-developed system for genetic manipulation has prevented thorough exploration of its physiology. Also, confusion has been caused by prior metabolic models constructed based upon the examination of multiple, and sometimes distantly related, strains of the microorganism.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The genome of the type strain <it>A. ferrooxidans </it>ATCC 23270 was sequenced and annotated to identify general features and provide a framework for <it>in silico </it>metabolic reconstruction. Earlier models of iron and sulfur oxidation, biofilm formation, quorum sensing, inorganic ion uptake, and amino acid metabolism are confirmed and extended. Initial models are presented for central carbon metabolism, anaerobic metabolism (including sulfur reduction, hydrogen metabolism and nitrogen fixation), stress responses, DNA repair, and metal and toxic compound fluxes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Bioinformatics analysis provides a valuable platform for gene discovery and functional prediction that helps explain the activity of <it>A. ferrooxidans </it>in industrial bioleaching and its role as a primary producer in acidic environments. An analysis of the genome of the type strain provides a coherent view of its gene content and metabolic potential.</p

Identification of Parkinson's disease candidate genes using CAESAR and screening of MAPT and SNCAIP in South African Parkinson's disease patients

Assuming that a significant cause of Parkinson's disease (PD) is genetic, genetic factors have been shown to account for <10% of all PD cases to date, and it is therefore necessary to identify novel genes. The aim of the present study was to identify PD candidate genes using a bioinformatic approach and to screen them for possible PD-causing mutations. The CAESAR (CAndidatE Search And Rank) program was used in the present study to identify and prioritize PD candidate genes. CAESAR ranks annotated human genes as candidates by using ontologies to semantically map natural language descriptions of the trait under investigation to gene-centric databases. Two of the candidates were selected and screened for mutations in 202 South African PD patients using the High-Resolution Melt (HRM) method. Samples exhibiting altered HRM profiles were sequenced. CAESAR generated a prioritized list of candidates including both known and novel PD genes. The MAPT and SNCAIP genes were selected for mutation screening from the list of ten highest scoring genes. Two novel missense (A91V and V635I), four synonymous and three intronic sequence variants were identified in MAPT. For SNCAIP, three novel missense (T383N, R606Q, N906H), one known (E709Q), four synonymous and one intronic sequence variant were found. A bioinformatic approach was used to aid in the identification and selection of PD candidate genes in a group of South African patients. Mutation screening of MAPT and SNCAIP identified novel sequence variants in both genes and further studies are necessary to determine their possible functional consequences. © Springer-Verlag 2011.Articl