Chapter 8. Lifecycle and sustainability

International audienceThe concept of sustainability was developed in order to improve the present human living standards while maintaining the availability of the natural resources for future generations. According to this definition, technological development is a way to improve the sustainability, because it enables to meet human needs by transforming natural resources into useful products. By 2050, the urban world population is expected to approximately double to an estimated 6.4 billion2 and we are aware that the Earth’s natural resources are already limited. In this context, less impacting and more efficient industrial processes’ design represents a real challenge for engineers. From now on, the impacts of new technologies have to be assessed in detail, all along their life cycle, even before their massive industrial deployment.We should be sure that the generated impacts are actually counterbalanced by the improvement of the living standards on Earth. In this chapter, we will consider new technologies related to the development and treatment of lithium batteries. In the first part, we will demonstrate how existing studiesare already taking into account environmental impacts assessment and we will particularly emphasize the main assumptions realized using life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches. In the second part, we will focus on the end-of-life (EOL) of lithium batteries to demonstrate that the entire value chain has to be considered while arbitrating on the acceptability or not of a design decision from an environmental perspective.Les batteries de type lithium connaissent et vont connaitre un essor considérable compte tenu d'une part de leurs bonnes performances et d'autre part d'une demande sans cesse croissante d'énergie notamment pour les applications transports. Cet accroissement entraîne une consommation accrue de matières premières et exige, dès aujourd'hui, de penser « cycle de vie » et « développement durable » afin de préserver et de pérenniser les ressources naturelles. Ce chapitre décrit dans un premier temps la méthodologie de l'« analyse du cycle de vie » appliquée aux batteries au lithium à partir de l'analyse de travaux publiés dans la littérature. En particulier les points clefs de ces études sont soulignés et des améliorations indispensables dans l'application de la méthode sont proposées. Dans un deuxième temps, le chapitre décrit un rapide état de l'art du recyclage et pointe la nécessité d'intégrer et de modéliser tout le cycle de vie des batteries depuis l'extraction des ressource primaires jusqu'à la fin de vie

Current Therapy in Autoimmune Bullous Diseases

The goal of the treatment of autoimmune bullous disease is to reduce the production of pathogenic autoantibodies or increase elimination of pathogenic autoantibodies from serum of the patients. Immunosuppressive therapy reduces the production of autoantibodies. The therapy protocol is divided into three phases. The first is a control phase with the highest dose of immunosuppressive drugs suppressing activity of disease, followed with a consolidation phase, when the bulk of lesions is healed. The last phase is a maintenance phase when immunosuppressive medication is gradually tapered to the lowest level that suppresses the appearance of new lesions. In complete remission off therapy, the patient reached complete clinical remission and does not use any immunosuppressive medication. In complete remission on therapy, the patient uses a minimal immunosuppressive therapy. The first-line treatment is corticosteroids in pemphigus and pemphigoid groups. Adjuvant immunosuppressive drugs are combined with systemic corticosteroids and display a corticosteroid sparing effect. First-line immunosuppressive adjuvants comprise azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil and mycophenolic acid. Rituximab, intravenous immunoglobulin G, immunoadsorption, cyclophosphamide, dapsone, and methotrexate are regarded as the second-line adjuvants. In dermatitis herpetiformis, a gluten free diet eliminates the clinical symptoms. Dapsone is regarded to be a valid therapeutic option in management of dermatitis herpetiformis

Students of Special Educational Disciplines – Issue of Socializing and Educating People With Hearing Impairment

The contribution presents results of research which is focused on issue of socialization of people with hearing impairment. It is focused on the point of view of students of special education major. Research included 127 students of special education major who studied full time or distance study form. The questionnaire was used as research method and it included 28 opened and closed questions. The author also used Likert scale. Results showed that students of special education major prefer education of pupils with hearing impairment in the school for pupils with hearing impairment. Hearing impairment influences all areas of life - education, employment, relationships with peers, free time activities and partner relationships.

Legal situation and current practice of waste incineration bottom ash utilisation in Europe

Almost 500 municipal solid waste incineration plants in the EU, Norway, and Switzerland generate about 17.6 Mt/a of incinerator bottom ash (IBA). IBA contains minerals and metals. Metals are mostly separated and sold to the scrap market and minerals are either disposed of in landfills or utilised in the construction sector. Since there is no uniform regulation for IBA utilisation at EU level, countries developed own rules with varying requirements for utilisation. As a result from a cooperation network between European experts an up-to-date overview of documents regulating IBA utilisation is presented. Furthermore, this work highlights the different requirements that have to be considered. Overall, 51 different parameters for the total content and 36 different parameters for the emission by leaching are defined. An analysis of the defined parameter reveals that leaching parameters are significantly more to be considered compared to total content parameters. In order to assess the leaching behaviour nine different leaching tests, including batch tests, up-flow percolation tests and one diffusion test (monolithic materials) are in place. A further discussion of leaching parameters showed that certain countries took over limit values initially defined for landfills for inert waste and adopted them for IBA utilisation. The overall utilisation rate of IBA in construction works is approximately 54 wt.%. It is revealed that the rate of utilisation does not necessarily depend on how well regulated IBA utilisation is, but rather seems to be a result of political commitment for IBA recycling and economically interesting circumstances

Do voluntary civic engagement and non-profit leadership challenge local political leadership in urban development?

EU policies support a place-based approach with the increasing role of local partners in political decision-making. The current crisis of formal political leadership raises the question of whether or not formal leadership is becoming dispersed and informal place leadership can succeed in filling the vacuum. Based on data from the implementation of 58 EU-funded Integrated Urban Development Plans in Czechia, we found that informal leadership is challenging formal local political leadership. Nevertheless, its success has been limited in obtaining political legitimacy due to missing dialogue between the local movements and nonprofit leaders when searching for solutions to local problems

Equine Trail Development in Wellington County

Wellington County represents a region with an extensive and well developed horse industry. As a result there is significant potential for development in its rural areas. This study reveals important facts regarding the development of equine trail networks in Wellington County. The existing number of horses, horse farms, related facilities, as well as the enormous interest of horse riders and horse industry associations suggest high potential for use of these equine trails. In particular the research points out the current lack of horse trails in the county which has one of the highest horse populations in Ontario. Identification of current trends, demands, and overall situation within the industry has led to an elaboration of a framework for the Wellington County equine trail development. The evaluation of the equine trail potential impacts and contributions to rural communities indicates positive outcomes resulting in sustainable community development. The recommendations drawn from this research further suggest a need to elaborate a General Horse Trail Planning and Construction Guide; establish an Equine Trail Organization; create a Master Plan; continue ongoing development of stakeholder relationships; establish equine trail spatial planning considering private land utilization; and integrate future trail plans into County and Regional Planning

Time of Arrival Complementing Method for Cooperative Localization of a Target by Two-Node UWB Sensor Network

Recently, the detection, localization and tracking of moving persons in emergency situations using ultra-wideband (UWB) sensors have attracted the attention of researchers and final users as well. Experiences with single UWB sensors in real applications have shown that their reliability and accuracy in person detection and localization may be considerably reduced. In contrast, the improved performance of a UWB sensor-based localization system can be provided by a UWB sensor network, which benefits from cooperation among spatially distributed sensor nodes. This cooperation extends the coverage of the monitored area and improves detection capability and localization performance, especially in the case of complex environments and multiple targets. In this paper, we will introduce a new approach to cooperative localization of a target, referred to as the time of arrival complementing method (TOACOM). TOACOM, developed for a two-node UWB sensor network, is based on the time of arrival (TOA) complementing and combining algorithms in combination with the conventional direct calculation method (DC). Its properties will be analyzed for through-the-wall single moving person localization. The obtained results will show the superior performance of TOACOM as compared with person localization by a single UWB sensor, or by a two-node sensor network. In the conclusion, we will outline that the presented version of TOACOM can be further modified for a multiple target scenario and an N-node sensor network

Flexural strengthening of RC slabs with prestressed CFRP strips using different anchorage systems

Externally Bonded Reinforcement (EBR) technique has been widely used for flexural strengthening of concrete structures by using carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP). EBR technique offers several structural advantages when the CFRP material is prestressed. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study on reinforced (RC) slabs strengthened in flexure with prestressed CFRP strips as a structural strengthening system. The strips are applied as an externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) and anchored with either a mechanical or a gradient anchorage. The former foresees metallic anchorage plates fixed to the concrete substrate, while the latter is based on an accelerated epoxy resin curing followed by a segment-wise prestress force decrease at the strip ends. Both anchorage systems, in combination with different CFRP strip geometries, were subjected to static loading tests. It could be demonstrated that the composite strip’s performance is better exploited when prestressing is used, with slightly higher overall load carrying capacities for mechanical anchorages than for the gradient anchorage. The performed investigations by means of a cross-section analysis supported the experimental observation that in case a mechanical anchorage is used, progressive strip debonding changes the fully bonded configuration to an unbonded end-anchored system. The inclusion of defined debonding criteria for both the anchorage zones and free length between the anchorage regions allowed to precisely capture the ultimate loading forces.This work is supported by FEDER funds through the Operational Program for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and National Funds through FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project FRPreDur-PTDC/ECM-EST/2424/2012. Additionally, the authors would like to thank all the companies that have been involved supporting and contributing for the development of this study, mainly: S&P Clever Reinforcement Iberica Lda, S&P Clever Reinforcement Company (Switzerland), Tecnipor-Gomes & Taveira Lda., Vialam-Industrias Metalurgicas e Metalomecanicas, Lda., Hilti Portugal-Produtos e Servicos, Lda. The fourth author wishes also to acknowledge the grant SFRH/BD/98309/2013 provided by FCT. This paper is dedicated to Tiago Teixeira (1988-2015), former doctoral student at the ISISE R&D Research Centre at the University of Minho

Economic consequences of work-related disorders

The paper aims to point out the high incidence level of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in society and their related costs, which have an impact on different involved entities. Highlighting the leading cause of MSDs in developed countries could change attitudes and ways to solve this issue. The primary method employed herein is the literature review, supported by the secondary data provided by national and supranational institutions. The costs of MSDs mean a significant burden on society. MSDs belong to one of the most frequent occupational disease categories. Mainly, indirect and intangible costs affect workers, their families, employers, and society, although they are not as apparent as direct costs at the beginning when MSD occurs. Discovering an actual cause should lead to a solution. If most MSDs were work-related, workplaces would have to be changed. The strict application of ergonomics standards could reduce the incidence rate and decrease the total costs of MSDs. The unsolved issue is that employers must be more motivated to apply ergonomic standards fully because they share only a part of the total costs. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are negative externalities whose reduction has to be enforced by the government