On the usefulness of life cycle assessment of packaging

In reaction to a paper inEnvironmental Management in which the sense and sensibility of environmental assessments of packaging were questioned, it is argued that these types of assessments may be very useful, provided the relevant types of questions are posed. These boundary conditions are discussed, along with an overview of more recent methodological developments with respect to environmental assessment of products.     

Assessment of sampling and chemical analysis of source-separated organic household waste

The quality of the waste sampling procedure and chemical analysis was evaluated in a research program on characterization of organic waste obtained after disc screening of source-separated organic household waste. The sampling procedures focused on a truckload of waste and involved several steps of subsampling including shredding, mixing, blending, high-speed-blending, drying and milling prior to analysis of the organic waste with respect to ash content, crude fibers, crude fat, crude protein, sugar, starch, enzyme-digestible organic matter, P, N, C, H, S and calorific value. The statistical evaluation of the procedures involved 10 samples of the same truckload of waste obtained by splitting the sample at each level in the procedure according to a staggered, incomplete nested statistical design. Furthermore, one sample was analysed six times over a period of approximately one year. The statistical evaluation showed that no single step in the sampling procedure contributed with excessive variance and that the variance caused by the sampling procedure was approximately the same as the variance in the chemical analysis observed over a year. The variance varied with the analytical parameter but for most parameters the uncertainty was satisfactorily low (of the order of 3-10% expressed as the relative standard deviation, which is considered to be satisfactory for waste characterization).     

Fetal brain imaging in isolated congenital heart defects – a systematic review and meta-analysis

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are associated with neurodevelopmental (ND) delay. This study aims to assess evidence for impaired prenatal brain development, in fetuses with CHD. A systematical search was performed, and 34 studies evaluating the fetal brain [magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound] in isolated CHD were included (1990–2015). Data regarding cerebral abnormalities, head circumference growth and middle cerebral artery flow were extracted. Prenatal MRI was studied in ten articles (445 fetuses), resulting in a pooled prevalence of 18% (95%CI −6%; 42%) for combined structural and acquired cerebral abnormalities. Prenatal head circumference was studied in 13 articles (753 fetuses), resulting in a pooled z-score of −0.51 (95%CI −0.84; −0.18). Doppler was studied in 21 articles (1412 fetuses), resulting in a lower middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (z-score −0.70 95%CI −0.99; −0.41) in left-sided CHD only. We conclude that prenatal MRI and ultrasound demonstrate brain abnormalities, delay in head growth and brainsparing in subgroups of CHD. However, large MRI studies are scarce, and ultrasound data are biased towards severe and left-sided CHD. Long-term follow-up studies correlating prenatal findings with postnatal ND outcome are limited, and data are lacking to support counseling families regarding ND outcome based on prenatal findings suggestive of altered brain development. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive co-management and network learning in the Room for the River programme

Adaptive co-management and learning are paramount for integrated flood risk management. Relevant literature focuses on adaptation at the level of physical and societal systems. The level of projects and programmes is largely overlooked, but they comprise interventions that adapt our physical systems and they provide opportunities for learning to contribute to transitions of societal systems. This paper aims to increase understanding on how learning takes place and can be stimulated within a programme. The mixed-method case study of Room for the River, a €2.3 billion programme for flood risk management, shows that a programme can be organised using various governance arrangements to stimulate learning and be a means for adaptive co-management to deliver upon environmental objectives.