A Manufacturing Sector's Experience of integrating EPD alongside product, management system and responsible sourcing certification for public procurement

CARES is a Certification body operating in over 40 countries, providing several product certification schemes covering reinforcing steel and associated products for use primarily in construction, most significantly the Steel for the Reinforcement of Concrete (CARES SRC) scheme. This scheme covers the entire supply chain for reinforcing steels, including welding and the application of mechanical couplers, thereby ensuring reinforcement is correctly produced, processed and delivered to site. CARES also developed the Sustainable Constructional Steel (CARES SCS) scheme. Its objective is to provide independent certification of the sustainability performance of steel products. The assessment is based on certified management systems to ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001 as well as the identification, collection, auditing and reporting to CARES of performance criteria covering environmental, social, labour, business ethics and local economic impacts. The criteria were developed by a group of industry experts, and cover the supply chain from raw material purchase and the production of the steel through its processing to the delivery of the finished product. The CARES SCS scheme aims to establish a dynamic framework to improve the sustainability performance of products and provide a robust and transparent mechanism for communicating the sustainability performance of steel products to designers, specifiers and clients. The Sustainable Construction Steel scheme also allows CARES to provide annually updated industry KPIs based on audited data from its members and to set sector targets for improvements which are published in CARES Annual Sustainability Reports. A core KPI has been the “cradle to gate” carbon footprint for the production of 1 tonne steel which CARES have produced for each scheme member using a bespoke Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool developed by thinkstep using their GaBi Envision software. Since 2013, the CARES Sustainable Constructional Steel scheme has also provided an integrated approach to providing Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for steel products using environmental data from members which it has audited, again using a bespoke LCA tool in GaBi Envision developed by thinkstep. The EPD tool has been verified by BRE Global using their EN 15804 verified EPD Scheme, and to date within this EPD Scheme, 19 reinforcing steel bar producers have produced verified EPD, alongside a sector average EPD for reinforcing bar produced using the secondary production route covering 13 CARES members, and a number of EPD for structural steel and flat steel. Additionally, the CARES SCS scheme has provided 19 CARES members with certification for responsible sourcing to BES 6001, BRE Global’s Framework Standard for Responsible Sourcing Scheme for construction products. In 2015, the UK Government highlighted the need, when procuring steel for major projects, to assess the health and sustainability of potential suppliers through the supply chain, including compliance with relevant health and safety and employment legislation, and to take account of appropriate social and environmental impacts. Addressing this need for additional assurance in public procurement, this paper will provide a manufacturing sector’s perspective on the lessons learnt from its integrated approach to the production of EPD alongside product, management system and responsible sourcing certifications

Sustainability and Life Cycle Analysis Data in Construction Materials Certifications - A Case Study from the Steel Industry

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s) and other social and environmental data are used by construction material certifications to provide confidence to construction clients and public procurement processes that sustainability impacts are understood and that performance is being managed to reduce negative impacts. This paper explores the drivers behind this certification approach through the context of the CARES Sustainable Constructional Steels certification scheme and its markets. It explores the trends shown by data collection and the challenges and opportunities for improvement and differentiation. The findings suggest that requests for information from clients are getting more sophisticated and detailed, with the scope of criteria expanding to include human rights and social responsibility issues and are increasingly being used in procurement processes. The use of EPD’s to demonstrate environmental performance is becoming more common. They have shown that the difference between supplier efficiency is more important than the transport impacts and distances. Value could be gained by integrated LCA and EPD with wider sustainability information and making it accessible in other formats, such as, building information modelling systems

Operational Research: Methods and Applications

Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order

Assessment of Ophtalmologists' Approach to Medical, Legal and Ethical Problems in Process of Corneal Transplantation

Objective: This study was carried out with the aim of investigating medical, ethical and legal problems experienced in the course of cornea transplantation and developing new recommendations in the light of the data obtained from ophthalmologists. Material and Methods: The study was carried out in the ophthalmology clinics of the hospitals affiliated to the Istanbul Health Management. Using a questionnaire, the researchers attempted to determine the level of awareness of the doctors on the issue of cornea donation. A total of 81 ophthalmologists aged between 24 and 54 years, with an experience ranging from 1 to 27 years participated in the study. Results: According to the results obtained from the questionnaire, the number of corneal transplantations carried out by the ophthalmologists included in the study increased significantly with age and professional experience. Below are the percentages of the ophthalmologists and the number of corneal transplantations that they have carried out: 66.7%-none; 11.1%-between 1 and 20; 8.6%-between 11 and 20; 2.5%-between 21 and 50; 1.11%-51 and more. The vast majority of the participants in all the age groups were opposed to the constitution of a national cornea waiting list. It was observed that, as the ophthalmologists gained experience, they became more likely to be accused of unauthorized cornea transplantation. Conclusion: As a result of this study, new recommendations have been developed in order to increase the number of cornea donations in our country and help ophthalmologists to become more aware of the legal procedures and regulations. Cornea centres in various hospitals should be transformed into regional, independent centers so that more cornea removals can be performed. Besides, corneal transplantation should first aim treating the patient, not a cosmetic surgery

Assessment of Ophtalmologists’ Approach to Medical, Legal and Ethical Problems in Process of Corneal Transplantation

Objective: This study was carried out with the aim of investigating medical, ethical and legal problems experienced in the course of cornea transplantation and developing new recommendations in the light of the data obtained from ophthalmologists. Material and Methods: The study was carried out in the ophthalmology clinics of the hospitals affiliated to the Istanbul Health Management. Using a questionnaire, the researchers attempted to determine the level of awareness of the doctors on the issue of cornea donation. A total of 81 ophthalmologists aged between 24 and 54 years, with an experience ranging from 1 to 27 years participated in the study. Results: According to the results obtained from the questionnaire, the number of corneal transplantations carried out by the ophthalmologists included in the study increased significantly with age and professional experience. Below are the percentages of the ophthalmologists and the number of corneal transplantations that they have carried out: 66.7%-none; 11.1%-between 1 and 20; 8.6%-between 11 and 20; 2.5%-between 21 and 50; 1.11%-51 and more. The vast majority of the participants in all the age groups were opposed to the constitution of a national cornea waiting list. It was observed that, as the ophthalmologists gained experience, they became more likely to be accused of unauthorized cornea transplantation. Conclusion: As a result of this study, new recommendations have been developed in order to increase the number of cornea donations in our country and help ophthalmologists to become more aware of the legal procedures and regulations. Cornea centres in various hospitals should be transformed into regional, independent centers so that more cornea removals can be performed. Besides, corneal transplantation should first aim treating the patient, not a cosmetic surgery

Histological Results of Sclerotherapy, Phototherapy, and Pulsed 980-nm Laser Irradiation of the Dorsal Rabbit Ear Vein

Objective: To compare the histological changes occurring after three different treatment modalities for telangiectasias

Inhibitory effects of ticlopidine and clopidogrel on the intimal hyperplastic response after arterial injury

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of ticlopidine and clopidogrel on the development of neointimal hyperplasia after experimental arterial injury