234 research outputs found
Trade linked global aluminium cycle - An overview of supply chain and expansion of model to differentiate beverage can cycle
No full textSince the advent of industrialization, humans have been exploiting natural resources more than ever. Extracting oil, wood, minerals, ores and other materials from lithosphere, there has been a massive change in peoples lifestyle and landscape around the world since then. With technological advancement, global population has also been increasing which is further adding pressure to the use of the resources. United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP, 2011) states that 20th century brought a remarkable progress for the human civilization. It highlights that annual extraction of construction materials grew by a factor of 34, ores and minerals by factor of 27, fossil fuels by a factor of 12, biomass by a factor of 3.6 and total material extraction by a factor of about 8 while GDP grew 23-fol
Socio-metabolic analysis of the educational sector in Norway
No full textCurrently, industrial ecology frameworks and methods are increasingly used to study the social metabolism and address environmental implications and climate change mitigation. Despite many models in these studies use the population as a driver, demographical dynamics and interactions in the social environment have not been integrated. To continue the development of this integration in Material Flow Analysis (MFA) models, we focus on the Norwegian education sector from a demographic and anthropological life cycle perspective. Using MFA methods, we designed a stock flow model of users and suppliers in the education system to identify the patterns and drivers of shape these stocks and flows, which in turn may have an effect in the magnitude of the supply of other services. The boundaries of the model include the population of Norway and its transformations when it moves from, within, and across the education system. Our results confirm that the supply of teachers by the Norwegian education system was insufficient in the year of study (2013) and we have identified and quantified patterns in the population that cause such insufficiency. Among them: retirement, deaths, and enrollment and graduation rates
Socio economic metabolism of Norwegain Kindergartens
No full textUsing a socio economic metabolism (SEM) approach, the case of Norwegian kindergartens is studied in the wake of a contemporary challenge facing the system: shortage of qualified staff. Through the case study, the thesis aspires to demonstrate the utility of SEM based models in examining quality provision in the educational service, and for addressing the topic of resource requirements. A dynamic stock driven time cohort type model is constructed that studies the Norwegian kindergarten system in terms of (i) children as demander stock (ii) teachers and assistants as provider stocks (iii) built area as resource stock and their associated flows. The model developed for the thesis is a starting point for SEM studies to develop in the education sector. The model also demonstrates the alternative of modelling population as a dynamic time cohort type model providing an alternative to linear statistical models.
The thesis shows that under a medium growth demographic scenario, between 2015 and 2040 the net stock of children increases by 9.6%. Subsequently, stock of teachers and assistants in the system increases by 10.5% and 9.9% respectively. In 2015, 9.9% teachers and 57.9% assistants were without relevant background. The thesis shows that at least 0.93% of unqualified teachers and 5.58% of unqualified assistants will be present in the system by 2040, assuming that the newly recruited staff in the future have formal qualifications. Through scenario analysis, interventions for achieving target of having all staff with formal background are studied
Socio economic metabolism of Norwegain Kindergartens
No full textUsing a socio economic metabolism (SEM) approach, the case of Norwegian kindergartens is studied in the wake of a contemporary challenge facing the system: shortage of qualified staff. Through the case study, the thesis aspires to demonstrate the utility of SEM based models in examining quality provision in the educational service, and for addressing the topic of resource requirements. A dynamic stock driven time cohort type model is constructed that studies the Norwegian kindergarten system in terms of (i) children as demander stock (ii) teachers and assistants as provider stocks (iii) built area as resource stock and their associated flows. The model developed for the thesis is a starting point for SEM studies to develop in the education sector. The model also demonstrates the alternative of modelling population as a dynamic time cohort type model providing an alternative to linear statistical models.
The thesis shows that under a medium growth demographic scenario, between 2015 and 2040 the net stock of children increases by 9.6%. Subsequently, stock of teachers and assistants in the system increases by 10.5% and 9.9% respectively. In 2015, 9.9% teachers and 57.9% assistants were without relevant background. The thesis shows that at least 0.93% of unqualified teachers and 5.58% of unqualified assistants will be present in the system by 2040, assuming that the newly recruited staff in the future have formal qualifications. Through scenario analysis, interventions for achieving target of having all staff with formal background are studied
Resource Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Residential Buildings: Insights from Local Archetypes and Mitigation Scenarios in Western Asia and Northern Africa
No full textThis thesis explores the intricate patterns of resource use and greenhouse gas emissions in residential buildings across Western Asia and Northern Africa, aiming to identify effective strategies for climate mitigation. The research applies archetype-based building modeling, life cycle assessment, dynamic stock modeling and scenario analysis, structured into three interconnected studies that form the core chapters of the thesis. These studies present critical regional findings that underscore the need for tailored interventions.
Part I includes two chapters. The first chapter outlines the motivation, research questions, and scope of the study. It justifies the research's relevance and defines the objectives, setting the stage for the subsequent analytical work. In the second chapter, the thesis describes the theoretical and methodological framework, which integrates three key modeling aspects: Archetype modeling, lifecycle assessment, and dynamic stock modeling, to address the research questions.
Part II consists of three research papers. The first paper examines energy and material flows in residential buildings within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The study, using a five-stage bottom-up archetype development methodology, analyses 153 multi-scale building archetypes. It finds significant variations between countries, with Kuwait exhibiting the highest per capita energy use and Saudi Arabia leading in natural resource use. Notably, cooling demands account for 75% of Bahrain’s total energy needs, highlighting the critical role of air conditioning in these arid climates.
The second paper broadens the analysis to 19 countries across Western Asia and Northern Africa, focusing on emissions from the production of construction materials and the energy use by buildings. By integrating local archetypes with life-cycle assessment and building energy models, the study evaluates resource use and related greenhouse gas emissions throughout the building lifecycle. The study reveals that energy use contributes 64% of the region’s annual residential emissions, with Qatar’s energy use responsible for 90% of its national residential emissions. Oman shows the highest per capita emissions related to material use, driven by the prevalence of large villas. The study also compares national building stock assessments and residential emissions per individual across all 19 countries.
The third paper projects future scenarios for resource efficiency in the region through 2050, employing dynamic stock modeling to assess the impact of various mitigation strategies. It identifies a combined scenario that could potentially reduce sectoral greenhouse gas emissions by up to 60% for use-phase emissions and 47% for material-related emissions, leading to an overall reduction of 56% across the region. These effects are most pronounced in resource-rich nations like Kuwait, where fossil fuels are predominant. The findings emphasize the need for interdepartmental collaboration to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions in the building sector of Western Asia and Northern Africa.
Part III presents the discussion, synthesis of findings, analysis of objectives, and limitations. It also offers key insights for policymakers and stakeholders interested in promoting sustainable development in the region. The thesis provides a thorough analysis of current and future resource use and emissions in residential buildings, utilizing local archetypes, scenario-based modeling, and industrial ecology tools. This framework aids in understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of residential building stocks in these rapidly developing areas
The vasoactive peptide MR-pro-adrenomedullin in COVID-19 patients: an observational study
No full textObjectives: midregional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is a vasoactive peptide with key roles in reducing vascular hyperpermeability and thereby improving endothelial stability during infection. While MR-proADM is useful for risk stratification in patients with sepsis, clinical data about prediction accuracy in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease (COVID-19) is currently missing.Methods: we included consecutively adult patients hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19 at a tertiary care center in Switzerland between February and April 2020. We investigated the association of MR-proADM levels with in-hospital mortality in logistic regression and discrimination analyses.Results: of 89 included COVID-19 patients, 19% (n=17) died while in the hospital. Median admission MR-proADM levels (nmol/L) were increased almost 1.5-fold increased in non-survivors compared to survivors (1.3 [interquartile range IQR 1.1-2.3]) vs. 0.8 [IQR 0.7-1.1]) and showed good discrimination (area under the curve 0.78). An increase of 1 nmol/L of admission MR-proADM was independently associated with a more than fivefold increase in in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio of 5.5, 95% confidence interval 1.4-21.4, p=0.015). An admission MR-proADM threshold of 0.93 nmol/L showed the best prognostic accuracy for in-hospital mortality with a sensitivity of 93%, a specificity of 60% and a negative predictive value of 97%. Kinetics of follow-up MR-proADM provided further prognostic information for in-hospital treatment.Conclusions: increased levels of MR-proADM on admission and during hospital stay were independently associated with in-hospital mortality and may allow a better risk stratification, and particularly rule-out of fatal outcome, in COVID-19 patients.</p
Applying material flow analysis for optimizing construction aggregates management in the road sector
No full textThe construction of infrastructure presents large issues of environmental impacts, land-use conflicts, and resource scarcity. Good resource management streamlining the material use and waste production is essential to target these issues, however, there are indications that current management of construction aggregates in the construction industry does not comply with the circular economy mindset. In addition, we find a lack of data and tools to support mitigation. In this thesis, we suggest a MFA, which: 1) Visualizes current material manage-ment in the road sector, and thereby allows us to evaluate the system s compliance to circu-lar economy. 2) Acts as a framework for storing data on material flows and stocks within the system over time. 3) Can be used to quantify supplies of and demands for material for a giv-en road project prior to construction, supporting an optimized utilization of material across the construction industry. The MFA is developed specifically to incorporate spatial resolu-tion and differentiation between material types due to the importance of these aspects to the potential for material utilization. Through the development and testing of the MFA, we found four areas, which should be further investigated to properly allow for an optimization of material utilization by the suggested approach. This includes testing the system definition through a regional quantification of material stocks and flows in road infrastructure, devel-oping a good reporting scheme on material stocks and flows, approaching current limitations of 3D software, and modelling current road infrastructure in 3D. In addition, we investigated what underlying barriers prohibit contractors from managing material in a way more com-pliant to the circular economy mindset. These barriers must also be approached, to really secure the possibility of optimizing material management on construction aggregates
Interactive data visualization of the Norwegian phosphorus cycle, coupling phosphorus with dry matter and energy in a multi-layered material flow analysis model
No full textThe utilization of data visualization to explore complex systems is arguably an indispensable method for increasing understanding of a specific problem domain. It is argued that visualization techniques for presenting material flow analysis results should be further developed. This thesis explores the effectiveness of combining material flow analysis with data visualization techniques to communicate the impacts of targeted policies for managing food waste for the Norwegian food production, consumption and waste system. By employing data from ongoing research that examines the use of dry matter, phosphorus and energy in a Norwegian context, the aim of this study was to develop a web application that uses a combination of visualization techniques to communicate the multifaceted issues related to food waste.
A selection of different visualization techniques were applied and evaluated in relation to their ability to communicate the research utilized in this thesis. A combination of both commonly used visualization techniques from material flow analysis with more novel visualization techniques, were applied showing promising results. In the end, a user test was conducted to assess the learnability and usability of the application. The results of the user test indicates that there is a potential to develop a tool for effective resource management of biomass, including phosphorous and energy, by communicating material flow analysis results more efficiently using modern data visualization methods
Socio-metabolic analysis of the specialist health care sector infrastructural stock in Norway
No full textAbstract
We often do not mentally connect the provision of services like healthcare and education to the emissions of greenhouse gasses. Because we often do not regard the service of healthcare as a physical product, disregarding the materials involved. In addition, there is a knowledge gap of understanding how demographics and the populations demand for services affects the throughput of materials and energy in the social metabolism, which further relates to greenhouse gas emissions.
The service economy we currently have in Norway calls for new methods for understanding how we affect and interact with our environment.
In an attempt to assess part of this gap, we have built two models for the service of treating and investigating colorectal cancer in Norway. A sector that is expected to account for 174,2 billion NOK in 2015 and are under an enormous pressure of delivering a high level of service to the population, with a low cost and within a limited timeframe.
To do this we have looked at the overall treatment capacity in Norway for 2013 and built scenarios for 2040, in an attempt to understand how the aging of the population will affect the demand for treatment. Our second model looks at waiting times for colorectal cancer treatment, due to data availability this is built as a conceptual model exemplifying how we can model waiting times. Both models are only conducted for the patient flow, due to data availability.
Essential in both is the understanding of where the emissions occur; we therefor have three layers in our model (1) the patient layer, (2) the employment layer and (3) the infrastructure. And it is in the third layer in which we interact with our environment.
Although we have not gotten as far as assessing the two other layers we have used this as a basis for how to move forward with this research. However, our results for the patient layer clearly shows that there is a need for long-term management in the healthcare sector. In addition, that by 2040, as the age distribution differs from 2013, we will need more healthcare personnel and more infrastructure if we aim to provide the same level of service as we currently do
Socio-metabolic analysis of the specialist health care sector infrastructural stock in Norway
No full textAbstract
We often do not mentally connect the provision of services like healthcare and education to the emissions of greenhouse gasses. Because we often do not regard the service of healthcare as a physical product, disregarding the materials involved. In addition, there is a knowledge gap of understanding how demographics and the populations demand for services affects the throughput of materials and energy in the social metabolism, which further relates to greenhouse gas emissions.
The service economy we currently have in Norway calls for new methods for understanding how we affect and interact with our environment.
In an attempt to assess part of this gap, we have built two models for the service of treating and investigating colorectal cancer in Norway. A sector that is expected to account for 174,2 billion NOK in 2015 and are under an enormous pressure of delivering a high level of service to the population, with a low cost and within a limited timeframe.
To do this we have looked at the overall treatment capacity in Norway for 2013 and built scenarios for 2040, in an attempt to understand how the aging of the population will affect the demand for treatment. Our second model looks at waiting times for colorectal cancer treatment, due to data availability this is built as a conceptual model exemplifying how we can model waiting times. Both models are only conducted for the patient flow, due to data availability.
Essential in both is the understanding of where the emissions occur; we therefor have three layers in our model (1) the patient layer, (2) the employment layer and (3) the infrastructure. And it is in the third layer in which we interact with our environment.
Although we have not gotten as far as assessing the two other layers we have used this as a basis for how to move forward with this research. However, our results for the patient layer clearly shows that there is a need for long-term management in the healthcare sector. In addition, that by 2040, as the age distribution differs from 2013, we will need more healthcare personnel and more infrastructure if we aim to provide the same level of service as we currently do
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