Evaluating the impacts on biodiversity by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) is a task researchers are currently facing. One impact assessment method that aims to do so is the recently ...developed biodiversity impact assessment BIA+. The aim of the present paper is to test this method and to show its applicability and feasibility. Additionally opportunities and challenges of this method shall be revealed. For this purpose, a case study for assessing the impacts of biodiesel production on freshwater biodiversity is introduced. Two substances, namely phosphorus and 1,4-dichlorobenzene (DCB), which are used for the biodiesel production for fertilization and the usage of pesticides, are being considered. The inventory data needed for the case study is gathered through the grey water footprint of the crop production that forms the basis of the European biodiesel consumption. Further, the BIA+ method is applied in order to assess the impacts of the biodiesel consumption in Europe for the year 2010 on freshwater biodiversity. The results reveal that even though assumptions have to be made and the results are highly uncertain, this method helps to identify hotspots within production processes. By including the BIA+ as an impact assessment method into LCA, impacts of products can be assessed with regard to biodiversity including genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. The main impact hotspot occurs in France with a potential loss of the biodiversity of 0.5 points. The lowest loss of the biodiversity occurs in Brazil (loss of 8.05*10–06 points). The results are mainly influenced by the impact of the toxic substance 1,4-DCB. By means of the case study, it is shown that the BIA+ method is applicable.
In this article, the authors propose an impact assessment method for life cycle assessment (LCA) that adheres to established LCA principles for land use-related impact assessment, bridges current ...research gaps and addresses the requirements of different stakeholders for a methodological framework. The conservation of biodiversity is a priority for humanity, as expressed in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing biodiversity across value chains is a key challenge for enabling sustainable production pathways. Life cycle assessment is a standardised approach to assess and compare environmental impacts of products along their value chains. The impact assessment method presented in this article allows the quantification of the impact of land-using production processes on biodiversity for several broad land use classes. It provides a calculation framework with degrees of customisation (e.g., to take into account regional conservation priorities), but also offers a default valuation of biodiversity based on naturalness. The applicability of the method is demonstrated through an example of a consumer product. The main strength of the approach is that it yields highly aggregated information on the biodiversity impacts of products, enabling biodiversity-conscious decisions about raw materials, production routes and end user products.
Alsub.2Osub.3 coatings, which can be produced by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) on aluminum substrates, provide an excellent protection against corrosion and wear. However, due to the brittle ...nature of the oxide ceramic, the fracture toughness is limited. One approach to enhance the tolerance to fracture is the incorporation of ZrOsub.2 to form zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA). In addition to its use as a bulk material, the application as a coating material enables a broader field of application. In this study, an Alsub.2Osub.3-ZrOsub.2 composite coating was applied on a 6082 aluminum alloy using an aluminate-phosphate-based electrolytic solution containing a Zr-based salt. Polarization measurement as an indicator of the passivability of a given system revealed that Zr-based salt improves the passivation of the aluminum alloy. The coatings' characteristics were evaluated by SEM, EDS, and XRD. ZrOsub.2 incorporated into alumina as a metastable high-temperature modification led to a thicker coating with new morphologies including lamellar and dendritic structures. Nano-indentation showed that the incorporated Zr increase the average hardness of the compact layer from 16 GPa to 18 GPa. The fracture toughness of the coatings was investigated locally with nano-scratches applied on the compact outer layer of the coatings' cross-sections. The Zr-containing electrolytic solution resulted in a coating with significantly higher fracture toughness (6.9 MPa∙msup.1/2) in comparison with the Zr-free electrolytic solution (4.6 MPa∙msup.1/2). Therefore, it is shown, that the PEO process stabilized a high-temperature allotrope of zirconia at room temperature without the need for rare-earth dopants such as Ysub.2Osub.3. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the nano-scratch method is a suitable and accurate technique for the investigation of the fracture toughness of coatings with inherent cracks.
It has been shown that the functionality of the macula lutea depends on the nutritional uptake of lutein and zeaxanthin and that it is inversely associated with the risk of age-related macular ...degeneration (AMD). Additionally, ω-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) may also be protective.
To investigate the effect of a 12-month intervention with macular xanthophylls and ω-3 LC-PUFAs on xanthophylls and fatty acids in plasma, antioxidant capacity, and optical density of the macular pigment of patients with nonexudative AMD.
The LUTEGA study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel clinical trial that was conducted for 12 months.
University Eye Hospital and Institute of Nutrition, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.
A total of 172 individuals with nonexudative AMD.
Individuals were enrolled and randomly divided as follows: placebo group, group 1 (a capsule containing 10 mg of lutein, 1 mg of zeaxanthin, 100 mg of docosahexaenoic acid, and 30 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid administered each day), and group 2 (same substances but twice the dose used in group 1). One hundred forty-five participants completed the study successfully.
Plasma xanthophyll concentrations and fatty acid profiles, optical density of the macular pigment, and antioxidant capacity in plasma (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity and photochemiluminescence).
The concentrations of the administered carotenoids in plasma as well as the optical density of the macular pigment increased significantly in the groups randomized to receive supplementary macular xanthophylls and ω-3 LC-PUFAs after 1 month of intervention and remained at this level through the end of the study. Use of the double dose resulted in a beneficial alteration of the fatty acid profile in the plasma of patients with AMD in comparison with the dose in group 1. The lipophilic antioxidant capacity in plasma was significantly elevated with the intervention.
A supplement containing a fixed combination of lutein, zeaxanthin, and ω-3 LC-PUFAs during 12 months significantly improved plasma antioxidant capacity, circulating macular xanthophyll levels, and the optical density of the macular pigment.
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00763659.
We investigate the relationship between X-ray and optical line emission in 340 nearby (z ≃ 0.04) AGN selected above 10 keV using Swift BAT. We find a weak correlation between the extinction corrected ...O iii and hard X-ray luminosity (
$L_{\left{\rm O}\,\small {III}\right }^{\text{int}} \propto L_{14\text{--}195}$
) with a large scatter (R
Pear = 0.64, σ = 0.62 dex) and a similarly large scatter with the intrinsic 2–10 keV to O iii luminosities (R
Pear = 0.63, σ = 0.63 dex). Correlations of the hard X-ray fluxes with the fluxes of high-ionization narrow lines (O iii, He ii, Ne iii and Ne v) are not significantly better than with the low-ionization lines (H α, S ii). Factors like obscuration or physical slit size are not found to be a significant part of the large scatter. In contrast, the optical emission lines show much better correlations with each other (σ = 0.3 dex) than with the X-ray flux. The inherent large scatter questions the common usage of narrow emission lines as AGN bolometric luminosity indicators and suggests that other issues such as geometrical differences in the scattering of the ionized gas or long-term AGN variability are important.
The needs of children and their vulnerability to diseases, violence and poverty are different from those of adults. The Sustainable Child Development Index (SCDI) was thus developed in previous work ...to evaluate the status of sustainable development for countries with a focus on children and triple-bottom-line thinking. This study proposes application options to put the SCDI into practice. The SCDI can be performed similarly to existing development indices, for comparing and tracing the performance of sustainable development on different geographic levels and between population groups. In addition, the SCDI can be integrated into existing social sustainability assessment approaches (e.g., Social Life Cycle Assessment and Social Organizational Life Cycle Assessment) and databases (e.g., The Social Hotspots Database) to take children into account and enhance impact assessment of social sustainability assessment approaches. As an exemplification, this study demonstrates the application of the SCDI framework to support the development of social impact pathways. Due to the importance of tertiary education in reducing poverty, a preliminary social impact pathway addressing completion of tertiary education was established. By putting the SCDI into practice, the SCDI can support decision making in child as well as sustainable development policies.
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