Industrial chemistry and chemoecology are linked together to realize a modern and sustainable chemistry

Meeting society's needs without damaging the environment requires new ways of thinking. The link of industrial chemistry and chemoecology will be one of the key factors of sustainable development within the chemicals industry

Cerebral Arterial Asymmetries in the Neonate: Insight into the Pathogenesis of Stroke

Neonatal and adult strokes are more common in the left than in the right cerebral hemisphere in the middle cerebral arterial territory, and adult extracranial and intracranial vessels are systematically left-dominant. The aim of the research reported here was to determine whether the asymmetric vascular ground plan found in adults was present in healthy term neonates (n = 97). A new transcranial Doppler ultrasonography dual-view scanning protocol, with concurrent B-flow and pulsed wave imaging, acquired multivariate data on the neonatal middle cerebral arterial structure and function. This study documents for the first-time systematic asymmetries in the middle cerebral artery origin and distal trunk of healthy term neonates and identifies commensurately asymmetric hemodynamic vulnerabilities. A systematic leftward arterial dominance was found in the arterial caliber and cortically directed blood flow. The endothelial wall shear stress was also asymmetric across the midline and varied according to vessels’ geometry. We conclude that the arterial structure and blood supply in the brain are laterally asymmetric in newborns. Unfavorable shearing forces, which are a by-product of the arterial asymmetries described here, might contribute to a greater risk of cerebrovascular pathology in the left hemisphere

An engineering perspective of vacuum assisted delivery devices in obstetrics: A review

Complications during childbirth result in the need for clinicians to use ‘assisted delivery’ in over 12% of cases (UK). After more than 50 years in clinical practice, vacuum assisted delivery (VAD) devices remain a mainstay in physically assisting child delivery; sometimes preferred over forceps due to their ease of use and reduced maternal morbidity. Despite their popularity and enduring track-record, VAD devices have shown little evidence of innovation or design change since their inception. In addition, evidence on the safety and functionality of VAD devices remains limited but does present opportunities for improvements to reduce adverse clinical outcomes. Consequently in this review we examine the literature and patent landscape surrounding VAD biomechanics, design evolution and performance from an engineering perspective, aiming to collate the limited but valuable information from a disparate field and provide a series of recommendations to inform future research into improved, safer, VAD systems

Temporal issues in life cycle assessment—a systematic review

PURPOSE: Case studies on life cycle assessments frequently admit that the precision of their outcome could be undermined due to temporal issues, though they usually refrain from offering much more detail. In addition, available overview papers and reviews on problems and challenges in LCA do not address the whole range of temporal issues. As those are major sources of inaccuracies and influence each other, it is important to get a clear picture of them, to close gaps in definitions, to systemize temporal issues, and to show their interdependencies and proposed solutions. In order to identify the state of science on those questions, we conducted a systematic literature review. METHODS: We first systematized temporal issues based on ISO 14040ff and divided them into six types: time horizon, discounting, temporal resolution of the inventory, time-dependent characterization, dynamic weighting, and time-dependent normalization. Building on that, we identified suitable search terms and developed an analysis grid for the content analysis. We included only methodological papers and case studies with original findings on solutions for temporal issues. Bibliographic data, impact types, industrial fields, and methodological contributions were analyzed. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Literature differentiates between different types of time horizons. There is one for the whole assessment, defined in goal and scope, one for the life cycle inventory, and one for the impact characterization. Setting a time horizon for the assessment is regarded as equivalent to the application of discounting. Both very long and very short time horizons of the assessment are not practical depending on the topic assessed in the LCA. Very short ones would offend the principle of intergenerational equality, while very long ones would marginalize short-term actions and thereby reduce incentives to act. There is consensus in the literature that temporally differentiated life cycle inventories and time-dependent, or at least time horizon dependent, characterization improve the accuracy of LCA. Generally, dynamic life cycle assessments are attractive for companies because the calculation results are not only more accurate but are often also lower than in static life cycle assessments. CONCLUSION: The main questions where we did not find consensus are the issue of the length of the time horizon of the assessment and the issue of discounting. Those are regarded as subjective and are encountered with sensitivity or scenario analysis. Further investigations should be taken for a better understanding of this issue and for concrete solutions because their influence on the results of life cycle assessments is often fundamental

Industrial Applications Using BASF Eco-Efficiency Analysis: Perspectives on Green Engineering Principles

Life without chemicals would be inconceivable, but the potential risks and impacts to the environment associated with chemical production and chemical products are viewed critically. Eco-efficiency analysis considers the economic and life cycle environmental effects of a product or process, giving these equal weighting. The major elements of the environmental assessment include primary energy use, raw materials utilization, emissions to all media, toxicity, safety risk, and land use. The relevance of each environmental category and also for the economic versus the environmental impacts is evaluated using national emissions and economic data. The eco-efficiency analysis method of BASF is briefly presented, and results from three applications to chemical processes and products are summarized. Through these applications, the eco-efficiency analyses mostly confirm the 12 Principles listed in Anastas and Zimmerman (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37(5), 94A), with the exception that, in one application, production systems based on bio-based feedstocks were not the most eco-efficient as compared to those based on fossil resources. Over 180 eco-efficiency analyses have been conducted at BASF, and their results have been used to support strategic decision-making, marketing, research and development, and communication with external parties. Eco-efficiency analysis, as one important strategy and success factor in sustainable development, will continue to be a very strong operational tool at BASF

How to measure social impacts? A socio-eco-efficiency analysis by the SEEBALANCE� method

BASF has, in cooperation with Karlsruhe University, Jena University and the Oko-Institut e.V. (Germany), developed a socio-eco-efficiency analysis – the so-called SEEBALANCE�. The objective was the integration of quantified social indicators into the BASF eco-efficiency analysis. Many life cycle analyses do not include an assessment of social impacts and effects. However, in order to arrive at a comprehensive assessment of products or processes, it is necessary to include all three dimensions of sustainability. The objective was to develop a tool, comparable to the BASF eco-efficiency analysis, which is simple to use by LCA-experts and easy-to-understand for people without any prior experience in the field.decision making tools; eco-efficiency portfolio; ecology fingerprint; LCA; life cycle assessment; LCM; life cycle management; SEEcube; SEEBALANCE; social fingerprint; social life cycle assessment; socio-eco-efficiency; sustainable development; social impact; sustainability; social indicators; eco-efficiency analysis.

Vascular Underpinnings of Cerebral Lateralisation in the Neonate

Traditionally, adult and neonatal cerebral perfusion have been presumed to be symmetrical. Contrary to this, our adult work shows that supra-aortic cerebral supply is systematically biased towards the left, in terms of both vessel geometry and blood flow volumes. Although this asymmetry is meaningfully related to hand preference, the developmental origins of this association remain unknown. Our detailed investigations of the cerebral vasculature confirm analogous asymmetries in term neonates. Specifically, we demonstrate that the structure and flow of neonatal middle cerebral vessels are consistently asymmetric and predominantly left-dominant. Building on our work from the same cohort, we now report further analyses of these new-found asymmetries. Namely, exploring for the first time, the relationship between arterial lateral biases and the neonatal head-turning response—a reliable early behavioural precursor of handedness that shows a systematic rightward bias in the population. Here, we demonstrate a contralateral relationship between vessel morphology and primitive expressions of lateralisation that predate the establishment of definitive handedness in the course of postnatal development. This relationship mimics patterns observed in adults and suggests that lateralising trends in angiogenesis may ultimately influence the emergence of human lateral preferences