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Purpose: The main objective of this paper is to analyse through life cycle assessment (LCA), the entire water services system in Iasi City (Romania): a representative city for the problems faced by the water services sector in Romania. Furthermore, the study is aimed at demonstrating the usefulness of the LCA approach as a support instrument for water resources management. Methods: The life cycle inventory (LCI) of the Iasi water system was organized considering the water system components, as well as their function related to the water use life cycle: before the tap system as production phase (water abstraction, transport, treatment and distribution) and after the tap section as post-use phase (wastewater collection, treatment and discharge). The foreground data describing the LCI processes were provided directly by the company operating the Iasi water system, while the data for the background processes were sourced or selected from Ecoinvent 2.0 database. The assessment considers the quantification of environmental impacts (according to the CML 2000 baseline and Ecological Scarcity 2006 methodologies) of water supply (abstraction, treatment and distribution) and wastewater disposal (collection and treatment) relative to 1 m of tap water. Results and discussion: For this given system, the results have pointed out that the before the tap system generates higher impacts than the after tap system, mainly due to the energetic effort needed for water supply and the fairly high water losses in the distribution system. However, the after the tap system, specifically the discharge of treated wastewater is still responsible for many of the water-related impact such as Eutrophication (when using CML) or Emissions to surface waters (when using the Ecological Scarcity method). Apart from the LCA approach, this study presents several scenarios for the improvement of the environmental performance of the water services, such as: changing between water sources, improving the distribution system and upgrading the wastewater treatment plant. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated the usefulness of LCA to describe, compare and predict the environmental performance of complex water services systems (and all its components). The results have provided a reference case for the environmental profile of Iasi city water system, and have enabled the identification of its improvement alternatives. Also, this study, which represents a premiere for Romania, has opened future research directions which may include the development perspectives of the Iasi water services system, as well as improvements of LCIA methodologies to better represent the local specific water-related impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Impacts of activities related to freshwater use are gaining interest among the life cycle assessment (LCA) community and several approaches are nowadays available in the literature. However, the general trend still is to ignore the assessment of its impact or, luckily, its inclusion on the inventory. This paper describes a procedure to incorporate water source information at the inventory level and evaluate the influence of that profile on the environmental impact assessment level. Methods: The methodology lies on two main elements: the 'irrigation mix' concept and the freshwater ecosystem impact indicator already defined in the literature. By doing so, the results obtained can be easily integrated in LCA studies of irrigated crops, or more complex studies with agricultural ingredients, where only information regarding the amount (but not the origin) of irrigation water is available. Results and discussion: The results make more visible the benefits associated to the use of nonconventional, artificial water sources, by quantifying the improvement achieved on the water stress of a specific basin. Besides, the irrigation mix gives a better picture of the real contribution of irrigation to other impact categories (here, the global warming potential). Finally, the results were applied in a LCA study of lettuce production (an irrigated product cultivated in the studied region), and the method was analyzed against the criteria defined by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System handbook. Conclusions: The inclusion of the water mix in the inventory level (irrigation profile) as well as in the impact assessment level (water stress index) is straightforward to apply by LCA practitioners, resulting in a more realistic assessment of the impacts of freshwater consumption associated to crops. The implementation on a case study allowed the quantification of promoting alternative water sources in a region suffering from significant water stress as well as to improve knowledge on the environmental impact associated to freshwater consumed by one of the irrigated crops grown there. We recommend using the approach defined here in order to check its applicability to other river basins and products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Biofuels have received special research interest, driven by concerns over high fuel prices, security of energy supplies, global climate change as well as the search of opportunities for rural economic development. This work examines the production of biodiesel derived from the transesterification of crude rapeseed oil, one of the most important sources of biodiesel in Europe, paying special attention to the environmental profile-associated to the manufacture life cycle (i.e., cradle-to-gate perspective). Methods: To do so, a Spanish company with an average annual biodiesel production of 300,000 t was assessed in detail. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study covers the whole life cycle, from the production of the crude rapeseed oil to the biodiesel production and storage. The inventory data for the foreground system consisted of average annual data obtained by on-site measurements in the company, and background data were taken from databases. Seven impact categories have been assessed in detail: abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, ozone layer depletion, land competition, and photochemical oxidant formation. An energy analysis was carried out based on the cumulative nonrenewable fossil and nuclear energy demand as an additional impact category. Furthermore, well-to-wheels environmental characterization results were estimated and compared per ton-kilometer for the biodiesel (B100) and the conventional diesel so as to point out the environmental drawbacks and strengths of using biodiesel as transport fuel in a 28 t lorry. Results and discussion: The results showed that the cultivation of the rapeseed was the main key issue in environmental terms (68 %-100 % depending on the category) mainly because of fertilizer doses and intensive agricultural practices required. With regard to the biorefinery production process, pretreatment and transesterification sections considerably contribute to the environmental profile mostly due to electricity and chemical requirements. Concerning the well-to-wheels comparison, using B100 derived from rapeseed oil instead of petroleum-based diesel would reduce nonrenewable energy dependence (−20 %), GHG emissions (−74 %), and ozone layer depletion (−44 %) but would increase acidification (+59 %), eutrophication (+214 %), photochemical smog (+119 %), and land competition. Conclusions: The information presented in this study could help to promote the use of renewable transport biofuels. However, the extensive implementation of biodiesel (particularly rapeseed oil-derived biodiesel) in our society is enormously complex with many issues involved not only from environmental but also economical and social points of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider estimation of nonlinear panel data models that include multiple individual fixed effects. Estimation of these models is complicated both by the difficulty of estimating models with possibly thousands of coefficients and also by the incidental parameters problem; that is, noisy estimates of the fixed effects when the time dimension is short contaminate the estimates of the common parameters due to the nonlinearity of the problem. We propose a simple variation of existing bias-corrected estimators, which can exploit the additivity of the effects for numerical optimization. We exhibit the performance of the estimators in simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model for the heterogeneity and dynamics of the conditional mean and conditional variance of individual wages. A bias-corrected likelihood approach, which reduces the estimation bias to a term of order 1/ T2, is used for estimation and inference. The small-sample performance of the proposed estimator is investigated in a Monte Carlo study. The simulation results show that the bias of the maximum likelihood estimator is substantially corrected for designs calibrated to the data used in the empirical analysis, drawn from the PSID. The empirical results show that it is important to account for individual unobserved heterogeneity and dynamics in the variance, and that the latter is driven by job mobility. The model also explains the non-normality observed in log-wage data. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background, aim, and scope Life cycle assessment (LCA) was initially developed to answer questions about the environmental impact of available products and services, implying that the product system under study was possible to investigate in detail; however, if new products or processes are to be evaluated, several complications occur. So, this paper aims to review the methodological issues that need careful attention when LCA is used for evaluating novel products, processes, or production from an environmental standpoint, as well as to draw some recommendations related to the best approach when dealing with them. Materials and methods An initial brainstorming on the identification of methodological issues when applying the standard LCA methodology for the evaluation of novel products allowed the identification of the relevant aspects, on which a literature review was then performed. Periodical meetings took place for discussion of the significant references and an agreed approach validated through three case studies on the food sector was defined as result of the procedure. Results Five elements were identified as relevant for the specific application of LCA to novel products: type of LCA, functional unit, system boundaries, data gathering, and scenarios development. An analysis of the state of the art of the LCA methodology concerning each of them led to the definition of the recommended approach: • Type of LCA: prospective attributional LCA. • Functional unit (FU): physical FU or the inclusion of the economic dimension in the FU. • Scenarios development: future perspective of scenarios is required, although the particular method for scenarios development will depend on the aim of the study. • System boundaries: system expansion when possible and exclusion of those steps that are not affected. • Data gathering: specific data for the foreground system, while average data—but checking the suitability of using actual data—for the background system. Discussion The recommended approach was described through three case studies related to food products and processing. All were comparative studies, with the common element of including novel products (such as the production of new products from by-products) or novel processes (such as membrane technology or high pressure processing). Conclusions This paper has, in our opinion, helped in cleaning the area of the application of LCA to novel systems in particular related to food products and food processing which is an area of great development in the last years. The working procedure defined and applied here has worked fluently allowing the identification of the key methodological elements of an LCA and the associated state of the art, together with the validation through different case studies. The general application of our approach is difficult to assess; however, we feel confident regarding the recommendations proposed here and we hope they can be of use for other LCA users. Recommendations and perspectives We recommend using the approach defined here in order to check its applicability to other industrial sectors. By doing so, both us and other LCA users will benefit from the methodological improvements of this environmental management tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background, aim, and scope Life cycle assessment (LCA) has traditionally been considered a site-independent tool, but nowadays, there is a trend towards making LCA more site-dependent. Site-dependent characterization factors have been calculated for regional impact categories such as acidification, terrestrial and aquatic eutrophication, and smog. Specifically, for aquatic eutrophication, characterization factors have been proposed for large geographical areas (mainly European and North American countries). Those factors are not detailed enough for countries which present large geographical, climatic, and economical variability such as Spain. Therefore, this work aims to calculate the characterization factors and the normalization reference for aquatic eutrophication at a regional level, using Galicia (NW Spain), a region with increasing problems of eutrophication, as a case study. Finally, the comparison of the factors obtained here with literature values will be used to analyze the influence of spatial differentiation with increasing coverage of the causality chain. Materials and methods Particular ecological and economic reasons justify the estimation of characterization factors in Galicia taking into account the specific characteristics of three different ecosystems: Atlantic Ocean, freshwaters, and rias (a specific ecosystem that takes place when a river valley is submerged by a rise in sea level). Taking into account that the state of the art does not allow the calculation of an exhaustive effect factor, the work was focused on the calculation of transport and equivalency factors. Results Both the principal pathways of transport and the sources of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were considered to calculate the characterization factors, and from them, the normalization reference was also obtained. An analysis on uncertainty identified the estimations of fractions of NHx-N and NOx-N deposited on maritime waters, land, and freshwaters and the fraction of N and P deposited in the soil that reaches water ecosystems, as the more uncertain values. Discussion As the rias are both N- and P-limited ecosystems, which is a characteristic of coastal and brackish waters in general, the approximation followed in this study to establish characterization factors for the rias can be applied to these types of ecosystems elsewhere (e.g., fiords in Norway) in order to better define aquatic eutrophication impact. By comparing the results obtained with those available in the literature, it is clear that the application of transport factors in the calculation of characterization factors leads to a more realistic definition of aquatic eutrophication, especially when P inputs to the soil are present.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background, Aims and Scope. It is clear that a wastewater treatment plant brings about an enhanced quality of wastewater; however, it also implies such environmental side effects as material and energy consumption as well as involving the generation of waste. This study is maintained within the boundaries of a re- search project that aims at the evaluation, from an environmental perspective, of the most common technical options focused on the removal of the organic matter present in urban wastewater. In particular, the paper presents the results for four centres of population with more than 50,000 inhabitants. The differences present among the facilities on their configurations will allow their comparison and the definition of the less environmentally damaging scheme for the treatment of this type of wastewater. Methods. As done before, LCA was the tool used for the evaluation of the environmental performance of the systems under study. In particular, the Centre of Environmental Science (CML) of Leiden University methodology was considered. The collection and transportation of wastewater across the pipeline was considered to be unaffected by the operation of the WTP and therefore, these stages were excluded. Within the boundaries of the treatment plants, the analysis was limited to the operation stage and no considerations were given to the building phase. Average annual data from several years were provided to obtain the inventory data, avoiding extraordinary conditions such as flooding or prolonged stop of units. CML factors (updated in 2002) were chosen for the impact assessment stage. SimaPro 5.1 software was used to make the calculations easier and to provide the data for the background systems. Results and Discussion. The comparison performed showed that the different configurations entail variations on the impact categories under study. Although higher electricity consumption was reported for those facilities with secondary treatment, its implementation is recommended as better results are obtained for eutrophication, undoubtedly an important criteria when wastewater treatment systems are analysed. In particular, the discharge of ammonium and phosphorous was identified as the main contributor within this impact category. The digestion of the sludge entails several benefits as the sludge is partially stabilised, its volume significantly reduced and the impacts associated to its application to soil are minor. Concerning the several dewatering systems compared, the use of different chemicals to facilitate the water removal turned to have an influence on the environmental performance so attention to this should be paid in addition to the energy consumption associated. Conclusions and Recommendations. Four WWTPs of capacity ranging from 75,000 to 125,000 inhabitants were evaluated in order to get more knowledge of their environmental performance. Data on material and energy consumption as well as characterisation of the water and the sludge entering and leaving the facilities were collected from the facilities in order to build the inventory required to perform the environmental assessment. The comparison performed among the four facilities made possible the definition of a less environmentally damaging WWTP, where secondary treatment at the water line as well as filter band and anaerobic digestion at the sludge line should be included. As mentioned, this study is part of a research project in which twenty treatment plants (divided in groups according to their capacity of treatment) are being evaluating. At the present time only results from the study of those from the highest populated areas were considered. On-going research is focused on the analysis of the plants representative for less populated areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal, Scope and Background. Wood has many applications and it is often in competition with other materials. Chipboard is the most common item of wood-based materials and it has attained the highest economical development in recent years. Relevant up-to-date environmental data are needed to allow the environmental comparison of wood with other materials. There are several examples of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) evaluations of some wood products and forest-technology systems, but no comprehensive Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data for particleboard manufacture is available in the literature. The main focus of this study is to generate a comprehensive LCI database for the manufacture of resin-bonded wood particleboards. Methods. In this work, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and Ecoindicator 99 methodology were considered to quantify the potential environmental impact associated to the system under study. A Spanish factory considered representative of the ‘state of art’ was studied in detail. The system boundaries included all the activities taking place inside the factory as well as the activities associated with the production of the main chemicals used in the process, energy inputs and transport. All the data related to the inputs and outputs of the process were obtained by on-site measurements. Results and Discussion. LCI methodology was used for the quantification of the impacts of the particleboard manufacture. The inventory data of the three defined subsystems are described: — Wood preparation: a comprehensive inventory of data including storage, debarking, particle production, storage and measurement of particles, drying and combustion of the bark for energy purposes. — Board shaping: data related to particle classification, resin mixing, mattress formation and the pressing stage. — Board finishing: cooling data, finishing, storage and distribution of the final product. The system was characterised with Ecoindicator 99 methodology (hierarchic version) in order to identify the 'hot spots'. Damage to Human Health was mainly produced by the subsystem of Board finishing. The subsystem of Board shaping was the most significant contributor to damage to the Ecosystem Quality and Resources. Conclusion,;. With the final aim of creating a database to identify and characterise the manufacture of particleboard, special attention was paid to the inventory analysis stage of the particle-board industry. A multicriteria approach was applied in order to define the most adequate use of wood wastes. Environmental, economic and social considerations strengthen the hypothesis that the use of forest residues in particleboard manufacture is more sustainable than their use as fuel. Recommendations and Outlook. In this work, particleboard was the product analysed, as it is one of the most common wood-based materials. Future work will focus on the study of another key wood board: Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). Moreover, factors with strong geographical dependence, such as the electricity profile and final transport of the product, will be analysed. In addition, the definition of widespread functional unit to study the use of wood wastes at the end-of-life stage may be another issue of outstanding interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lip volumization and perioral rejuvenation with hyaluronic‐acid (HA) based dermal fillers are generating increasing interest and demand. However, this topic is still having many unmet needs nowadays. This document aimed to provide tips and recommendations that may help clinicians to achieve optimal and more predictable aesthetic outcomes. Methods: A multidisciplinary group of aesthetic medicine doctors from Spain and Portugal reviewed the tools used for assessing the patient and aesthetic outcomes, as well as the different techniques and products used in lips/perioral rejuvenation. Results: The consensus panel provided specific recommendations focusing on the basic information to collect before performing the aesthetic procedure; comprehensive approach to lips/perioral region rejuvenation; clinical and aesthetic assessment tools; product and technique selection; patient profile and needs; and safety issues (complications/adverse‐events). Conclusions: The rapid evolution of techniques and tools for assessing the patient and aesthetic outcomes, as well as the development of new HA‐based fillers makes it necessary to update the clinical recommendations that guide the daily practice of clinicians, particularly those who have less experience with these procedures. This document addressed relevant subjects related to lip/perioral‐region rejuvenation to perform the correct procedure, with the appropriate HA‐based, on the right patient; to help specialists to obtain optimal and predictable aesthetic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]