Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries

2010 ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Ny ◽  
Jamie P. MacDonald ◽  
Göran Broman ◽  
Karl-Henrik Robèrt
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Management ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The One ◽  
Strategic Perspective ◽  
Tools And Methods

Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. Many tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is life-cycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This article applies a framework for strategic sustainable development to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed “strategic life-cycle management.” This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. Early experiences indicate that the resulting overview could help avoiding costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability or strategic perspective and help in identifying strategic knowledge gaps that need further assessment.

Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries

2011 ◽  
pp. 73-94
Author(s):  
Henrik Ny ◽  
Jamie P. MacDonald ◽  
Göran Broman ◽  
Karl-Henrik Robèrt
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Management ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The One ◽  
Strategic Perspective ◽  
Tools And Methods

Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. Many tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is life-cycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This article applies a framework for strategic sustainable development to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed “strategic life-cycle management.” This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. Early experiences indicate that the resulting overview could help avoiding costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability or strategic perspective and help in identifying strategic knowledge gaps that need further assessment.

scholarly journals MAPPING AND ENHANCING DESIGN STUDIES WITH PSI META-THEORETIC DESIGN FRAMEWORK

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 2007-2016
Author(s):  
Yoram Reich ◽  
Eswaran Subrahmanian
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Design Studies ◽  
Abstraction Level ◽  
Follow Up Studies ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Abstract Framework ◽  
Tools And Methods

AbstractDesign research as a field has been studied from diverse perspectives starting from product inception to their disposal. The product of these studies includes knowledge, tools, methods, processes, frameworks, approaches, and theories. The contexts of these studies are innumerable. The unit of these studies varies from individuals to organizations, using a variety of theoretical tools and methods that have fragmented the field, making it difficult to understand the map of this corpus of knowledge across this diversity.In this paper, we propose a model-based approach that on the one hand, does not delve into the details of the design object itself, but on the other hand, unifies the description of design problem at another abstraction level. The use of this abstract framework allows for describing and comparing underlying models of published design studies using the same language to place them in the right context in which design takes place and to enable to inter-relate them, to understand the wholes and the parts of design studies.Patterns of successful studies could be generated and used by researchers to improve the design of new studies, understand the outcome of existing studies, and plan follow-up studies.

scholarly journals Major projects in urban sites: Challenge of the Builders

2018 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Ammar Dhouib
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
The Other ◽  
Observational Method ◽  
Urban Construction ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
The One ◽  
Urban Sites ◽  
Displacement Measurements

Faced with the complexity of urban construction projects and difficulties in the field, engineers must, on the one hand, dimension with rigor and common sense the foundations with all the requirements of today of quality, conformity and respect of deadlines and budget and take into account, on the other hand, safety and environmental requirements and societal and sustainable development criteria, the purpose of this communication is to present concrete projects of foundations and excavation deep in geologically heterogeneous and highly urbanized sites, with monitoring and displacement measurements in order to compare predictions with reality and to promote the "observational method".

scholarly journals Klimaforandringer: Perspektiv og skala i studiet af det høje nord

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Hastrup
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
The One ◽  
Strategic Perspective

Klima og klimaforandringer er blevet nye store temaer i antropologien, og det er påtrængende at stille kritiske spørgsmål til brugen af disse begreber, der synes at indeholde både konkret (lokalt) vejr og abstrakt (globalt) klima. Spørgsmålet er, hvordan man kan bruge „klimaet“ strategisk og produktivt i antropologiske analyser uden at gøre det til endnu en udefrakommende ulykke, der rammer klodens svage befolkninger. I artiklen argumenteres der for en nytænkning af skalabegrebet, som kan rumme både det „lokale“ og det „globale“, i og med at der er tale om et analytisk perspektiv snarere end et empirisk forhold. Herigennem åbnes der for en komparativ analyse af „klimaets“ infiltrering i det sociale og dets varierende forklaringsværdi. Artiklen trækker på forfatterens arbejde i Island og Grønland. Søgeord: klimaforandringer, skala, worlding, Island, Grønland English: Climate Explanations: Perspective and Scale in the Study of the High North“Climate” has entered into everyday parlance across the globe. In anthropology, “climate change” has opened up a new field of concern for vulnerable populations on the one hand and for the distinctiveness of the discipline on the other. In this article it is argued that while climate as such is a meteorological abstraction, it may also function as a strategic perspective, which allows for a comparison between ascribed values and dynamisms in social worlds. It is further shown how the implications of worldwide climate change open up for a new understanding of scale as an analytical rather than an empirical category. The substance draws from the author’s work in Northwest Greenland and in Iceland. Keywords: Climate change, scale, worlding, Iceland, Greenland 

scholarly journals MUTATIONS INCREASING ASEXUAL PLASMODIUM FORMATION IN PHYSARUM POLYCEPHALUM

Genetics ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-420
Author(s):  
Paul N Adler ◽  
Charles E Holt
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Physarum Polycephalum ◽  
The Other ◽  
Type Allele ◽  
Cold Sensitive ◽  
The One

ABSTRACT Rare plasmodia formed in clones of heterothallic amoebae were analyzed in a search for mutations affecting plasmodium formation. The results show that the proportion of mutants varies with both temperature (18°, 26° or 30°) and mating-type allele (mt1, mt2, mt3, mt4). At one extreme, only one of 33 plasmoida formed by mt2 amoebae at 18° is mutant. At the other extreme, three of three plasmodia formed by mt1 amoebae at 30° are mutant. The mutant plasmodia fall into two groups, the GAD (greater asexual differentiation) mutants and the ALC (amoebaless life cycle) mutants. The spores of GAD mutants give rise to amoebae that differentiate into plasmodia asexually at much higher frequencies than normal heterothallic amoebae. Seven of eight gad mutations analyzed genetically are linked to mt and one (gad-12) is not. The gad-12 mutation is expressed in strains with different alleles of mt. The frequency of asexual plasmodium formation is heat sensitive in some (e.g., mt3 gad-11), heat-insensitive in two (mt2 gad-8 and mt2 gad-9) and cold-sensitive in one (mt1 gad-12) of twelve GAD mutants analyzed phenotypically. The spores of ALC mutants give rise to plasmodia directly, thereby circumventing the amoebal phase of the life cycle. Spores from five of the seven ALC mutants give rise to occasional amoebae, as well as plasmodia. The amoebae from one of the mutants carry a mutation (alc-1) that is unlinked to mt and is responsible for the ALC phenotype in this mutant. Like gad-12, alc-1 is expressed with different mt alleles. Preliminary observations with amoebae from the other four ALC mutants suggest that two are similar to the one containing alc-1; one gives rise to revertant amoebae, and one gives rise to amoebae carrying an alc mutation and a suppressor of the mutation.

scholarly journals To transport waste or transport recycling plant: Insights from life-cycle analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 105 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Guilhem Grimaud ◽  
Bertrand Laratte ◽  
Nicolas Perry
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Analysis ◽  
Treatment Cost ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Balance ◽  
The One ◽  
Waste Deposit ◽  
Centralized System

The purpose of this study is to determine the environmental and economic balance between a collection of waste requiring the transport to a centralized recycling plant versus the displacement of a recycling plant near the waste production’s location. Two systems are compared in the study with economic and environmental Life cycle analysis (LCC and LCA) tools. The first one considers a centralized recycling plant that gathers batch of cables from different locations in Europe. The second scenario considers a transportable recycling plant, the Cablebox (designed by MTB Manufacturing), which is regularly carried to be close to the waste deposit to recycle waste cables. On the one hand, the study demonstrates huge environmental benefits for transportable recycling plants in comparison with the centralized system. The overall environmental impact is halved on the climate change indicator. On the other hand, the results show the economic advantages of such solution. The treatment cost per ton of recycling is reduced by 5 to 8%. Transportable recycling solutions seem to be a good answer to solve End-of-Life logistic issues, both from an economic and an environmental point of view.

scholarly journals The Theory of Democratic Antinomies and the Identification of Value Trade-Offs in Political Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Relevant Issue ◽  
General Argument ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The One ◽  
Existence Of Value

In theory, the idea of democracy consists of several insoluble contradictions, aporias, and conflicts. In practice, democracy demands an effective balancing of its essentially opposing principles and values in order to preserve an authentic character as well as to avoid its inherent self-destructive tendencies. In this regard, the concept of value trade-offs promises a heuristic tool to grasp both the analytical and normative impact of a political theory which takes the complexity of democracy seriously. Proceeding from this, the contribution will demonstrate to what extent the conceptualisation of democratic antinomies and the notion of value trade-offs can be seen as a kind of communicating vessel. The article’s general argument is that democracy is defined by several antinomies that are irreducible in theory and therefore require trade-offs in political practice. Moreover, it will discuss three relevant issue areas to suggest the approach’s empirical relevance and to prove the existence of value trade-offs as an operating benchmark for the legitimacy and consolidation of democratic processes on the one hand but also for their shortcomings and risks on the other. Correspondingly, the article concerns the antinomic relationships between freedom and security, economic growth and sustainability, and finally, democracy and populism to underpin the general perception that the success of democratic institutions first and foremost depends on the balance of the necessarily conflicting principles of democracy.

Energy Sustainability of Countries

2015 ◽  
pp. 96-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Grigoroudis ◽  
Vassilis S. Kouikoglou ◽  
Yannis A. Phillis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Energy Sustainability ◽  
Energy Services ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
The One ◽  
Energy Challenge

The provision of adequate, reliable, and affordable energy, in conformity with social and environmental requirements is a vital part of sustainable development. Currently, countries are facing a two-fold energy challenge: on the one hand they should assure the provision of environmentally sustainable energy, while, on the other, energy services should be reliable, affordable, and socially acceptable. To evaluate such aspects of energy services one needs energy sustainability barometers, which provide the means to monitor the impacts of energy policies and assist policymakers in relevant decision making. Although sustainability is an ambiguous, complex, and polymorphous concept, all energy sustainability barometers incorporate the three major sustainability dimensions: social, economic, and environmental. In this chapter, we review three models for assessing the sustainability of energy development of countries: ESI, SAFE, and EAPI. We also present a brief discussion of the results, the applied methodologies, and the underlying assumptions of these sustainability barometers.

Protected Natural Areas and Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Zaharia Marian ◽  
Rodica-Manuela Gogonea ◽  
Daniela Ruxandra Andrei
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Environmental Resources ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Tourism Potential ◽  
The One

The process of tourism development has come to include, step by step, the expansion potential of areas where it could be practiced in less accessible natural spaces, which are more problematic from the point of view of tourist penetration and the organization of tourism activities. In this context, making tourism under the umbrella of this concept of expansion, has led, on the one hand, to the expansion of protected natural areas, to their advertising and implicitly to the increase of demand for this type of tourism, and, on the other hand, to the amplification of danger posed to the integrity of the ecosystems included in the tourism circuit. The paper, starting from the actual context of sustainable development, highlights the fact that the tourism potential of protected natural areas constitute an important factor for sustainable development only, if is doing in condition of responsibility and respect for environmental conservation and regeneration of environmental resources

scholarly journals Somatic Narratives about Illness. Biometric Visualization of Diseased and Disabled Bodies in Art and Science Projects

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Ewelina Twardoch-Raś
Keyword(s):  
Medical Imaging ◽  
Open Source ◽  
The Other ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
The One ◽  
Tools And Methods

This article proposes investigating how the problem of chronic and deadly diseases and bodily injuries is explored in selected contemporary artistic projects based on biometric technologies and medical imaging. All of the projects that will be analysed use specific medical tools and methods (e.g., roentgenography or bio-tracking) to provide detailed, affective images of disability and illness. Nonetheless, these projects were created as pieces of art that combine visual and verbal elements: photographs, collages, and other illustrated stories (e.g., “biometric diaries” or open-source art). On the one hand, they show the “inner” and often invisible face of illness and suffering, but on the other hand they also raise questions related to algorithmic reductionism and politicization of such forms of representation of disease. This article will focus on artistic projects created by Diane Covert, Salvatore Iaconesi and Laurie Frick. It refers to the ‘ethos of health’ and the conception of ethopolitics (Nicolas Rose) to show the place in contemporary biopolitical society of illness (Thomas Lemke), which can be seen as an exceptional form of the body’s condition. Moreover, it considers the problem of the politicization of the biological body and affective experiences (Britta Timm Knudsen and Carsten Stage) and the category of untold histories explored by Joanne Garde-Hansen and Kristyn Gorton.

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