Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 16, July 2018
This paper contributes to the understanding of metal demand development over time by illustrating the impacts of different aspects of technological change using historical data. We provide a direct, quantitative comparison of relative change in global primary production for 30 metals over 21 years (1993–2013), capturing the range and variation of demand development for different metals within this period. The aspects of technological change contributing to this variation are investigated in more depth for nine metals.
Elsevier, Journal of Building Engineering, Volume 18, July 2018
The European Union implemented Ecodesign and Labelling Directives to support the market diffusion of energy efficient products. Accurate signals for consumers on energy efficiency (EE) are essential, as disinformation might lead to sub-optimal market allocations. Considering complex devices such as heat pumps (HPs), a conflict between simplicity of calculation on the one hand and accuracy on the other hand arises.
Elsevier, Marine Policy, Volume 93, July 2018
Achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) results in many ecological, social, and economic consequences that are inter-related. Understanding relationships between sustainability goals and determining their interactions can help prioritize effective and efficient policy options. This paper presents a framework that integrates existing knowledge from literature and expert opinions to rapidly assess the relationships between one SDG goal and another.
About 7000 rare, or orphan, diseases affect more than 350 million people worldwide. Although these conditions collectively pose significant health care problems, drug companies seldom develop drugs for orphan diseases due to extremely limited individual markets. Consequently, developing new treatments for often life-threatening orphan diseases is primarily contingent on financial incentives from governments, special research grants, and private philanthropy.
Elsevier, Land Use Policy, Volume 76, July 2018
As an extension of a previous work (Chen and Han, 2015a), this study explored the arable land use of the world economy from source of exploitation to sink of final consumption via the global supply chain, by means of embodiment accounting that includes the indirect feedbacks associated with both intermediate and primary inputs. In magnitude, the global transfer of arable land use is estimated to be around 40% of the total direct exploitation. The connections as well as imbalances of major economies in intermediate and final trades of arable land use are discussed.
Elsevier, Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 234, July 2018
Objective: Sedentary behaviour (SB) is harmful for health and well-being and may be associated with depression. However, little is known about the correlates of SB in people with depression. Thus, we investigated SB correlates among community-dwelling adults with depression in six low- and middle-income countries. Methods: Cross-sectional data from the World Health Organization's Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health were analyzed. The analysis was restricted to those with DSM-IV Depression or receiving depression treatment in the last 12 months.
Elsevier, Pedobiologia, Volume 69, July 2018
When biochar (BC) ages in soil, its properties change substantially: cation exchange capacity (CEC), surface area and porosity increase and water repellency decreases, consequently affecting the interactions with soil microorganisms. Activation of BC by organic acids may be regarded as artificial aging. Here, we study the effect of acid-activated BCs on soil microbial enzyme activities (EA) in comparison to several different control treatments without activated BC. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted using a vineyard soil treated with multiple soil additives (four replications).
Elsevier, Pedobiologia, Volume 69, July 2018
This study assessed the carbon (C) budget and the C stocks in major compartments of the soil food web (bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes, meso- and macrofauna) in an arable field with/without litter addition. The C stocks in the food web were more than three times higher in topsoil (0–10 cm) compared to subsoil (>40 cm). Microorganisms contained over 95% of food web C, with similar contributions of bacteria and fungi in topsoil. Litter addition did not alter C pools of soil biota after one growing season, except for the increase of fungi and fungal feeding nematodes in the topsoil.
Elsevier, Disability and Health Journal, Volume 11, July 2018
Background: Disability and poverty are interconnected and although this relationship has been recognised, there is a lack of empirical evidence to support any possible causal relationship in this topic, particularly in the context of Latin America (LA). Hypothesis: This study tests the hypothesis “Disability increases the risk of multidimensional poverty of people living with disabilities and their families”.
Elsevier, Annals of Anatomy, Volume 218, July 2018
Background: In Germany, currently two out of three medical students are female. Several studies corroborate that medical students show a significantly higher prevalence of stress-related mental disorders than the population in general. Aims: We aimed to evaluate, if gender has an influence on the distribution of mental stress parameters and learning style among male and female medical students.
