What If States Realized Their Societal Goals Through Alliances Built on Critical Raw Materials?

This scenario explores what could happen if groups of states joined forces with like-minded allies to realize societal goals that can only be attained through an ample supply of raw materials: decarbonization, militarization, digitalization, and securing enough energy to bolster emerging middle classes. By 2030, four alliances emerge. Each one aims to accomplish its own discrete goals, and all are alienated from the others. The EU, which belongs to an alliance of circular economies, asks itself what steps it can take to promote the global stewardship of public goods and civil liberties

Towards a dynamic assessment of raw materials criticality: linking agent-based demand--with material flow supply modelling approaches.

Emerging technologies such as information and communication-, photovoltaic- or battery technologies are expected to increase significantly the demand for scarce metals in the near future. The recently developed methods to evaluate the criticality of mineral raw materials typically provide a 'snapshot' of the criticality of a certain material at one point in time by using static indicators both for supply risk and for the impacts of supply restrictions. While allowing for insights into the mechanisms behind the criticality of raw materials, these methods cannot account for dynamic changes in products and/or activities over time. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework intended to overcome these limitations by including the dynamic interactions between different possible demand and supply configurations. The framework integrates an agent-based behaviour model, where demand emerges from individual agent decisions and interaction, into a dynamic material flow model, representing the materials' stocks and flows. Within the framework, the environmental implications of substitution decisions are evaluated by applying life-cycle assessment methodology. The approach makes a first step towards a dynamic criticality assessment and will enhance the understanding of industrial substitution decisions and environmental implications related to critical metals. We discuss the potential and limitation of such an approach in contrast to state-of-the-art methods and how it might lead to criticality assessments tailored to the specific circumstances of single industrial sectors or individual companies

Beziehungsgestaltung in der Pflege von Patientinnen und Patienten mit einer Substanzabhängigkeit in der Akutsomatik

Hintergrund: Die Substanzabhängigkeit geht mit einer signifikant höheren Komplexitäts-, Komorbiditäts- und Mortalitätsrate einher. Interpersonale und krankheitsbedingte Faktoren dieser Patientinnen und Patienten stellen eine Herausforderung in der Pflegepraxis dar. Pflegefachpersonen sind die Hauptakteure in der Patientinnen- und Patientenversorgung und deren Beziehung nimmt wesentlich Einfluss auf die Behandlungsqualität und den Gesundheitszustand der Patientinnen und Patienten. Ziel: Aufzeigen von Voraussetzungen und evidenzbasierten Strategien für eine professionelle Beziehungsgestaltung mit erwachsenen Patientinnen und Patienten mit einer Substanzabhängigkeit in der Akutsomatik. Methode: Mittels einer systematisierten Literaturrecherche wurden in den pflegerelevanten Datenbanken Medline, CINAHL Complete und Pubpsych sechs geeignete qualitative sowie quantitative Studien gefunden. Ergebnisse: Es wurden überwiegend negativ beeinflussende Faktoren in der Pflegebeziehung identifiziert. Mit Einbezug von Studienergebnissen, welche positive Beziehungserfahrungen aufzeigten, wurde eine differenzierte Bestimmung der Einflussfaktoren auf die Beziehung ermöglicht. Diese Einflussbereiche umfassen Pflegefachperson und Haltung (1), Wissen (2) und Institution (3). Schlussfolgerung: Die Verantwortung einer professionellen Beziehungsgestaltung und deren Potential muss von Institutionen und Pflegefachpersonen erkannt und gestärkt werden. Anhand den Ergebnissen konnten für die einzelnen Bereiche Interventionsempfehlungen formuliert werden. Die Integrierung des Recovery und Caring Konzepts fordert zum Paradigmenwechsel auf und bietet eine Orientierungshilfe in der Beziehungsgestaltung

Building dynamic capabilities for digital transformation: An ongoing process of strategic renewal

In this qualitative study, we explore how incumbent firms in traditional industries build dynamic capabilities for digital transformation. Digital transformation has been defined as the use of new digital technologies, such as mobile, artificial intelligence, cloud, blockchain, and the Internet of things (IoT) technologies, to enable major business improvements to augment customer experience, streamline operations, or create new business models. In making sense of digital transformation, we discovered that leaders in various industry circles use the term inconsistently to describe various strategizing and organizing activities; in addition, the term has gained limited scholarly attention as a context for study of strategic change. Drawing on senior executives' experiences with leading digitalization projects at incumbent firms, we propose a process model comprising of nine microfoundations to reveal the generic contingency factors that trigger, enable, and hinder the building of dynamic capabilities for digital transformation. Our findings reveal that digital transformation is an ongoing process of using new digital technologies in everyday organizational life, which recognizes agility as the core mechanism for the strategic renewal of an organization's (1) business model, (2) collaborative approach, and eventually the (3) culture

Genetically modified crops in Switzerland: implications for agrosystem sustainability evidenced by multi-criteria model

International audienceAbstractIn Switzerland, genetically modified (GM) crops have been banned in 2005 and have never been used in agriculture. The relevance and sustainability of genetically modified crops for agrosystems have been assessed following a mandate from the Swiss Parliament defined by the Federal Act on Agriculture (187d al.1). For that, an ex ante study based on a multi-criteria decision analysis model that summarises literature and the opinion of experts has been done.The impacts of genetically modified crops on both environmental and socio-economical sustainability in Switzerland have been assessed. Here, we review four model crops for Swiss agriculture: maize, sugar beet, potato and apple. Each crop was compared for both conventional and genetically modified farming systems that contain a specific trait, namely insecticide production (Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)), herbicide tolerance (HT), fungal resistance (FR), or bacterial resistance (BR). Results show that six out of seven scenarios showed a lower socio-economical sustainability for genetically modified compared to the conventional systems, whereas a slight improvement in the environmental component, mostly resources use, was observed in all scenarios. In conclusion, our work indicates that only carefully tailored and designed genetically modified crops would meet the high standard of requirements of Swiss agrosystems. Our model has thus allowed a quick diagnostic on the impact of genetically modified cultivation on sustainability

A geological reconnaissance of electrical and electronic waste as a source for rare earth metals

The mining of material resources requires knowledge about geogenic and anthropogenic deposits, in particular on the location of the deposits with the comparatively highest concentration of raw materials. In this study, we develop a framework that allows the establishment of analogies between geological and anthropogenic processes. These analogies were applied to three selected products containing rare earth elements (REE) in order to identify the most concentrated deposits in the anthropogenic cycle. The three identified anthropogenic deposits were characterised according to criteria such as “host rock”, “REE mineralisation” and “age of mineralisation”, i.e. regarding their “geological” setting. The results of this characterisation demonstrated that anthropogenic deposits have both a higher concentration of REE and a longer mine life than the evaluated geogenic deposit (Mount Weld, Australia). The results were further evaluated by comparison with the geological knowledge category of the United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources 2009 (UNFC-2009) to determine the confidence level in the deposit quantities. The application of our approach to the three selected cases shows a potential for recovery of REE in anthropogenic deposits; however, further exploration of both potential and limitations is require

Characterizing the Urban Mine—Challenges of Simplified Chemical Analysis of Anthropogenic Mineral Residues

Anthropogenic mineral residues are characterized by their material complexity and heterogeneity, which pose challenges to the chemical analysis of multiple elements. However, creating an urban mine knowledge database requires data using affordable and simple chemical analysis methods, providing accurate and valid results. In this study, we assess the applicability of simplified multi-element chemical analysis methods for two anthropogenic mineral waste matrices: (1) lithium-ion battery ash that was obtained from thermal pre-treatment and (2) rare earth elements (REE)-bearing iron-apatite ore from a Swedish tailing dam. For both samples, simplified methods comprising ‘inhouse’ wet-chemical analysis and energy-dispersive Xray fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectrometry were compared to the results of the developed matrix-specific validated methods. Simplified wet-chemical analyses showed significant differences when compared to the validated method, despite proven internal quality assurance, such as verification of sample homogeneity, precision, and accuracy. Matrix-specific problems, such as incomplete digestion and overlapping spectra due to similar spectral lines (ICP-OES) or element masses (ICP-MS), can result in quadruple overestimations or underestimation by half when compared to the reference value. ED-XRF analysis proved to be applicable as semi-quantitative analysis for elements with mass fractions higher than 1000 ppm and an atomic number between Z 12 and Z 50. For elements with low mass fractions, ED-XRF analysis performed poorly and showed deviations of up to 90 times the validated value. Concerning all the results, we conclude that the characterization of anthropogenic mineral residues is prone to matrix-specific interferences, which have to be addressed with additional quality assurance measures.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität BerlinEC/H2020/641999/EU/ Prospecting Secondary raw materials in the Urban mine and Mining waste/ProSU

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