Economic and environmental optimization of waste treatment.

This article presents the new systems engineering optimization model, OptiWaste, which incorporates a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and captures important characteristics of waste management systems. As part of the optimization, the model identifies the most attractive waste management options. The model renders it possible to apply different optimization objectives such as minimizing costs or greenhouse gas emissions or to prioritize several objectives given different weights.

Life cycle assessment of an advanced bioethanol technology in the perspective of constrained biomass availability.

Among the existing environmental assessments of bioethanol, the studies suggesting an environmental benefit of bioethanol all ignore the constraints on the availability of biomass resources and the implications competition for biomass has on the assessment We show that toward 2030, regardless of whether a global or European perspective is applied, the amount of biomass, which can become available for bioethanol or other energy uses, will be physically and economically constrained. This implies that use of biomass or land for bioethanol production will most likely happen at the expense of alternative uses. In this perspective, we show that for the case of a new advanced bioethanol technology, in terms of reducing greenhouse emissions and fossil fuel dependency, more is lost than gained when prioritizing biomass or land for bioethanol.

Persisting high hospital and community childhood mortality in an urban setting in Guinea-Bissau.

Aim: To describe paediatric hospitalization in a West African capital in relation to overall childhood mortality in the community and to evaluate the potential impact of improved management at the hospital.

Methods: Hospital data on child admissions in a 6-year period were linked to information in a community-based longitudinal surveillance system. Paediatric hospitalization rates, risk factors for hospitalizations, community mortality, in-hospital mortality and the proportion of deaths occurring at hospital were examined.

Comparison of the effect of glycerol and triamcinolone acetonide on cumulative skin irritation in a randomized trial.

Background: So-called anti-irritants are added to cosmetic formulations because of their alleged beneficial effect on irritated skin. Documentation for these claims is often limited. However, glycerol has shown anti-irritant properties in experimentally induced irritation from sodium lauryl sulfate and nonanoic acid (NON).