Resource Footprint Research Articles

Komunikacja niewerbalna a tłumaczenie symultaniczne: aspekt teoretyczny

This paper draws attention to the role of nonverbal communication in the process of simultaneous interpreting. The theoretical basis is provided by the phe-nomenon of audiovisual integration: the ability of the human brain to incorporate both verbal and nonverbal signals into comprehension. Referring to previous works by F. Poyatos, S. Viaggio and K. Seeber, the author attempts to distinguish core functions of nonverbal signals in simultaneous interpreting and to analyse the model of cognitive resource footprint by K. Seeber. Additionally, theoretical and practical ramifications of taking nonverbal signals into consideration for the psychology and quality of work of simultaneous interpreters are pinpointed.

Consumer Perception of Remanufactured Automotive Parts and Policy Implications for Transitioning to a Circular Economy in Sweden

Promoting longer lifetimes and efficient re-use of products has a significant potential to save resources and reduce adverse environmental impacts, especially for products that have large resource footprints related to extraction and production processes, as for instance automobiles. Remanufacturing is a product life extension strategy promoting the effective and efficient re-use of products by replacing worn-out components with used or end-of-life parts restored to “like-new” condition and functionality. For developing remanufacturing processes, it is important to take into account the consumers’ perception of remanufactured products, together with factors such as technology and operations management. Previous research has concluded that the perception of a product or service constitutes a critical factor in consumers’ decision-making. However, there is a lack of studies exploring consumers’ perceptions of remanufactured parts, especially in Europe. This contribution analyses the results of an on-line survey (n = 203) of Swedish consumers, concerning their familiarity with remanufactured auto parts and their perceptions on associated benefits and risks. The survey revealed that Swedish car owners have limited knowledge about remanufactured parts. On the other hand, they do recognise the benefits of using such parts, without showing a significant risk aversion in their purchase decision. The survey also explored consumers’ opinion on potential measures to bridge the identified gap in knowledge, revealing that although they would trust a quality certification scheme for remanufactured auto parts—preferably set up by an industry association—that would not be the most critical factor in their purchase decision. Concluding, the article points out the potential of policy interventions to raise consumers’ perception of remanufactured parts to create a market pull for expanding their uptake, and thus increasing the overall resource efficiency in the automotive sector.

Resource footprint of activities as an element of the digital twin of the enterprise

The issues of creation of a digital twin of the enterprise for the purposes of optimisation and automation of management have been considered. It has been shown, that the existing variants of digital twins, modeling, or physical objects used in the activity, or individual, as a rule, technological processes are not in the full sense of the digital twin of the enterprise, which can be used to automate management activities and enterprise management. Such digital twins can be used to automate individual operations and processes, but not the enterprise as a whole. At the same time, it has been noted, that there are solutions to simulate the activities of people, processes taking place in the company, accurately record any phenomena and events, using a certain set of phase variables (system parameters). This сircumstance allows us to come close to solving the problem of forming a full-fledged simulation model of the enterprise, simulating the behavior of the company in the market environment, including the occurrence of an incoming resource flow, crisis situations, etc. – a digital twin. As one of the essential aspects of enterprise activity modeling, individual participants of corporate relations, the fixation of resource transformations occurring in the process of activity in the social system – the socalled resource footprint of activity is considered. Any activity, if viewed from a resource perspective, goes through a certain cycle of resource transformations. Moreover, this is manifested at any scale of activity – due to the fractal properties of the activity.Thus, using the developed methods, it is possible to fix resource footprint of activity and thereby definitely to fix the state change of the social system, that allows us to estimate its functional stability, to calculate the consequences of the implementation of management actions before performing them, that is, to calculate the action for control.

Assessing the consequences of policy measures on long-term agricultural productivity – Quantification for Flanders

Abstract Policy can influence the long-term agricultural resource productivity by stimulating/discouraging farmers to apply certain land use practices (LUP), as LUPs may affect the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock, hence influencing crop productivity. We introduce six policy strategies, each characterized by its own mix of LUPs, for the Flemish agricultural sector. Three strategies reveal the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the past, while others reflect the potential of the CAP and the application of compost. We use the life cycle impact assessment indicators ‘SOC change’ and ‘biomass productivity loss’, which account for the impact of LUPs on SOC and yield, to assess the effects on long-term productivity. To avoid burden shifting, also the resource footprint is calculated. Several farm management systems (FMS) are distinguished, each characterized by a specific combination of farm type, agricultural region, rotation system and manure type. The results highlight that policies such as the CAP significantly contribute to a better SOC stock and (to a lesser extent) productivity. Furthermore, applying extra compost seems to be promising: it can result in an increasing resource productivity and reduced resource footprint. It is important to consider the resource footprint as only for one strategy the resource consumption outweighs the benefit (i.e. reduction in N fertilizer) in the short or medium term, while also being beneficial in terms of resource productivity. As the results differ per FMS, a differentiated approach is advisable when specific LUPs are stimulated in the context of sustainable farming.

A Binary Line Buffer Circuit Featuring Lossy Data Compression at Fixed Maximum Data Rate

Video processing requires an increasing amount of buffered data. The paper proposes a multi-line buffer circuit that stores compressed data thus saving logic and power. The lossy compression algorithm provides the output stream with a fixed, decided by the user, delay from the input stream. Further, the amount of memory of the compressed buffer can be designed to trade off the correctness of the output with the logic resources footprint. The circuit is tested in a computer vision processing chain as a binary line buffer for the stream of foreground pixels. The paper also proposes a multi-line buffer circuit that integrates a morphological operation. The latter, when compared against the state of the art and against the proposed multi-line lossy buffer, allows larger saving of logic resources (up to 75%) and power (up to 85%), with reduced penalty on video quality.

Toward Science-Based and Knowledge-Based Targets for Global Sustainable Resource Use

The article discusses key aspects to be considered for the orientation of sustainable resource policies. Resource management at the local scale needs to be supplemented by governmental action in order to adjust production and consumption toward acceptable levels of global resource use. What is acceptable is being informed by scientific findings on environmental degradation and relevant cause–effect relationships. However, the desired state of the environment, the tolerable level of uncertainties about environmental impacts, risks of societal conflicts, and ethical considerations all involve normative considerations. Policy decisions for sustainable global resource use must be taken on the basis of imperfect information. A wider systems perspective, longer time horizon, and broader involvement of available knowledge could provide a sufficiently valid basis to derive directionally safe targets. Possible proxy targets for global biotic and abiotic resource use, considering land, biodiversity, and water issues, are presented on a per-person basis for 2050 for further discussion and research. These values could be used to assess the resource footprints of countries with regard to sustainability, providing orientation for governments and industry.

Improving the resource footprint evaluation of products recovered from wastewater: A discussion on appropriate allocation in the context of circular economy

Shifting from a linear to a circular economy has consequences on how the sustainability of products is assessed. This is the case for products recovered from resources such as sewage sludge. The “zero-burden” assumption is commonly used in Life Cycle Assessment and considers that waste streams are burden-free, which becomes debatable when comparing waste-based with virgin material-based products in the context of the growing circular economy. If waste streams are considered as resources rather than waste, upstream burdens should be partly allocated to all products to allow a fair comparison with their virgin material-based equivalents. In this paper, five allocation approaches are applied to allocate the resource use of upstream processes (consumer goods production) to products recovered from the processing of sewage sludge in the Netherlands, which produces biogas, (phosphorus-based) chemicals and building materials.Except for the approach which allocates 100% of the impact from resource recovery processes to the preceding consumer goods, the allocation approaches show a resource use 27 to 80% higher than with the “zero-burden” assumption. In this particular case, using these allocation approaches is likely to find little support from recyclers. The producers of household products, recyclers and policy makers should find a consensus to consider the shift from a linear to a circular economy in sustainability assessment studies while avoiding discouraging the implementation of recovery technologies. This paper suggests starting the discussion with the approach which allocates the impacts from upstream processes degressively to the downstream products as it best translates the industrial ecology principles.

Greener treatments: the NHS carbon footprint.

British Journal of Community NursingVol. 24, No. 5 TreatmentsGreener treatments: the NHS carbon footprintAysha MendesAysha MendesE-mail Address: [email protected]Freelance journalist specialising in psychology and healthcareSearch for more papers by this authorAysha MendesPublished Online:6 May 2019https://doi.org/10.12968/bjcn.2019.24.5.248AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References American Chemical Society. Greener drugs: benign by design strategies. 2011. https://tinyurl.com/y5c2lpsk (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarCharlesworth M, Swinton F. Anaesthetic gases, climate change, and sustainable practice. Lancet Planet Health. 2017; 1(6):e216–e217. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30040-2 Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarKing's Fund. Sustainable services: future trends. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/y6qau78q (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarKümmerer K, al-Ahmad A, Bertram B, Wiessler M. Biodegradability of antineoplastic compounds in screening tests: influence of glucosidation and of stereochemistry. Chemosphere. 2000; 40(7):767–773 Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Patient decision aid: inhalers for asthma. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/y2ee7gws (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarNHS. NHS long term plan. 2019. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-term-plan/ (accessed 24 April 2019) Google ScholarNHS Digital. Core carbon footprint of NHS trusts and foundation trusts— emissions per full time equivalent. 2018. https://tinyurl.com/y6c9evnz (accessed 24 April 2019) Google ScholarRobinson J. NICE publishes patient decision aid to help patients choose greener asthma inhalers. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/y32m3qur (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarRyan S, Nielsen C. Global warming potential of inhaled anaesthetics: application to clinical use. Anesthes Analges. 2010; 111(1):92–98. https://doi.org/10.1213/ANE.0b013e3181e058d7 Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarSustainable Development Unit. Natural resource footprint. 2019a. https://tinyurl.com/y8rps5a4 (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarSustainable Development Unit. NHS carbon footprint. 2019b. https://tinyurl.com/y24xtdxy (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarTuhus-Dubrow R. The little green pill. 2011. https://tinyurl.com/y3r4cg3g (accessed 16 April 2019) Google ScholarVollmer M, Rhee T, Rigby M et al.. Modern inhalation anesthetics: potent greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere. Geophys Res Lett. 2015; 42:1606–1611. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062785 Crossref, Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 May 2019Volume 24Issue 5ISSN (print): 1462-4753ISSN (online): 2052-2215 Metrics History Published online 6 May 2019 Published in print 2 May 2019 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Conceptualization of an Indicator System for Assessing the Sustainability of the Bioeconomy

The increased use of biogenic resources is linked to expectations of “green” economic growth, innovation spurts through biotechnology, development options for rural areas, and an increasingly regenerative resource base that is also climate-neutral. However, for several years the signs for unintentional and unwanted side effects have been increasing. In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was published at the international level in order to address this problem and deliver a starting point for a comprehensive sustainability criteria evaluation catalogue. Impact indicators to quantify the environmental burden induced by national activities in foreign countries are especially lacking. In this article a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of the sustainability of the bioeconomy, considering key objectives and relevant criteria for environmental, economic, and social sustainability is developed. A special focus is set to the intersection area of the three pillars of sustainability, where the particularly important integrative key objectives and the indicators assigned to them (e.g., resource footprints) apply. This indicator set can be used as a basis for bio-economy monitoring, which uses and produces differently aggregated information on different levels of action, with a focus at the national level but also including global impacts of domestic production and consumption.

Moomba reset – breathing new life into a 50 year old asset

Santos has big ambitions for the asset that started it all. We are setting up Moomba for the next 50 years. Moomba is more than just a gas plant, it is a township. Its primary industry is processing oil and gas, it operates off the grid by generating its own power, produces its own water, and provides accommodation to many businesses and hundreds of workers each night. The gas plant had received the most attention, in a structured program of maintenance and rejuvenation, generating high levels of safety and reliability that will extend the life of the facility for many years. However, Santos has now adopted an integrated town-plan approach towards Moomba to restore this nationally vital asset as a state of the art processing, storage and transportation hub, servicing east coast and southern gas markets. Whereas Santos has been successful in reducing its field-based resources footprint through technology and efficiency, Moomba’s physical footprint had not kept pace. Through consolidation of working places and delivery locations, reduction in physical footprints for warehousing, yards and accommodation, and a major renovation of the camp facilities, Santos is breathing new life into an aging asset. At the same time, Santos is keeping costs down through cooperative and sustainable arrangements with existing suppliers and contractors. It has also identified real value through the opportunity to provide Cooper Basin-wide services to maintenance, operations and projects from the Moomba Township.

Outsourcing natural resource requirements within China

Consumption demands are final drivers for the extraction and allocation of natural resources. This paper investigates demand-driven natural resource requirements and spatial outsourcing within China in 2012 by using the latest multi-regional input-output model. Exergy is adopted as a common metric for natural resources input. The total domestic resource exergy requirements amounted to 125.5 EJ, of which the eastern area contributed the largest share of 44.5%, followed by the western area (23.9%), the central area (23.0%) and the northeastern area (8.6%). Investment was the leading final demand category, accounting for 52.9% (66.4 EJ) of national total embodied resource use (ERU). The total trade volumes of embodied resource were equivalent to 69.6% of the total direct resource input (DRI), mostly transferred from the central and western regions such as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Xinjiang to the eastern regions such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Shanghai. The northeastern and eastern areas had physical net imports of 1213.5 PJ and 38452.6 PJ, while the central and western inland areas had physical net exports of 6364.5 PJ and 33301.5 PJ, respectively. Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong had prominent ERUs which respectively were 101.6, 12.6, 11.7, 8.4 and 4.3 times of their DRIs. The ERUs of Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Ningxia and Guizhou were equal to only 17.6%, 25.3%, 27.9%, 46.0% and 50.2% of their DRIs, respectively. Regional uneven development resulted in imbalanced resource requirements across China. The findings can provide a deep understanding of China's resource-driven economic development mode, and contribute to reducing regional resource footprints and their environment outcomes under the “new normal economy”.

Estimating the Blue Water Footprint of In-Field Crop Losses: A Case Study of U.S. Potato Cultivation

Given the high proportion of water consumption for agriculture, as well as the relatively common occurrence of crop losses in the field, we estimate the amount of water embedded in crops left on the farm. We are particularly interested in understanding losses associated with fruits and vegetables, having a higher level of harvesting selectivity and perishability (and thus, losses) than grain crops. We further refined the study to focus on potatoes, as they represent the largest acreage under cultivation of all fruit and vegetable crops in the U.S. We attempt to get the most complete understanding of pre-harvest and harvest loss data for potatoes by leveraging three centralized data sets collected and managed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). By integrating these three distinct data sets for the five-year period 2012–2016, we are able to estimate water consumption for potato cultivation for total in-field losses by production stage and driver of loss for seven major potato-producing states (representing 77% of total U.S. potato production). Our results suggest that 3.6%–17.9% of potatoes are lost in the field with a total estimated blue water footprint of approximately 84.6 million cubic meters. We also find that the leading driver for crop loss for in-field potato production is harvest sorting and grading, accounting for 84% of total lost production at the farm. We conclude with a discussion of opportunities for improved national level data collection to provide a better understanding of in-field crop losses over time and the resource footprints of these losses.

Methanol-water co-electrolysis for sustainable hydrogen production with PtRu/C-SnO2 electro-catalyst

Hydrogen at present is mainly produced from fossil fuels for use in ammonia synthesis, the petrochemical industry, and chemical production. In the future, hydrogen will be increasingly used as an energy vector. Although water electrolysis to produce hydrogen with renewable electricity offers a clean process, the approach is energy intensive, requiring a large renewable resource footprint. Methanol-water co-electrolysis can reduce the energy input by > 50%; its electrochemical oxidation poses complex issues such as poisoning of the catalyst, sluggish oxidation kinetics, and degradation over time. The addition of nano-sized SnO2 to PtRu/C catalyst, to reduce noble metal loading, has been shown here to reduce catalyst leaching and increase the chemical, micro-structural, and performance stability of the methanol-water co-electrolysis process during extended periods of testing. The electrochemical characterization, analysis of the methanol solution, and exit gases, post-cell testing, revealed complete oxidation of methanol with little performance degradation. This is further supported by the stability of the catalyst composition and structure as revealed by the post-mortem XRD and XPS analysis of the cell. The energy balance calculations show that methanol-water co-electrolysis can significantly reduce the renewable energy footprint, and the process can become carbon neutral if bio-methanol is used with renewable electricity.

Role of compostable tableware in food service and waste management. A life cycle assessment study

It is estimated that in Europe 88–100 million tonnes of food waste are generated every year, with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of around 227 MT of CO2 equivalents generated for their collection and disposal. A 12% of this waste is estimated to arise from food service within the hospitality sector, which includes quick service restaurants, casual and fine dining, contract catering (canteens, prisons, hospitals, schools etc.) as well as indoor and outdoor events and exhibitions. Given this considerable amount and that the mixed unsorted collection is often the only practicable way to handle such waste flows, the choice of tableware and cutlery can make a big difference in facilitating waste collection as well as in reducing the overall environmental impact of food waste management. This study compares the environmental performance of using biodegradable & compostable single use tableware with organic recycling of food waste through composting against a traditional scenario using fossil-based plastic tableware and disposal of the waste flows through incineration and landfill. The study has taken into account the main requirements of the recently published Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology of the European Commission. The results confirm that the use of biodegradable and compostable tableware combined with organic recycling is the preferred option for catering in quick service restaurants, contract catering and events, since it reduces significantly the carbon, water and resource footprint and is fully in line with the principles of a circular economy.

Environmental and natural resource implications of sustainable urban infrastructure systems

As cities grow, their environmental and natural resource footprints also tend to grow to keep up with the increasing demand on essential urban services such as passenger transportation, commercial space, and thermal comfort. The urban infrastructure systems, or socio-technical systems providing these services are the major conduits through which natural resources are consumed and environmental impacts are generated.This paper aims to gauge the potential reductions in environmental and resources footprints through urban transformation, including the deployment of resource-efficient socio-technical systems and strategic densification. Using hybrid life cycle assessment approach combined with scenarios, we analyzed the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use, metal consumption and land use of selected socio-technical systems in 84 cities from the present to 2050. The socio-technical systems analyzed are: (1) bus rapid transit with electric buses, (2) green commercial buildings, and (3) district energy. We developed a baseline model for each city considering gross domestic product, population density, and climate conditions. Then, we overlaid three scenarios on top of the baseline model: (1) decarbonization of electricity, (2) aggressive deployment of resource-efficient socio-technical systems, and (3) strategic urban densification scenarios to each city and quantified their potentials in reducing the environmental and resource impacts of cities by 2050.The results show that, under the baseline scenario, the environmental and natural resource footprints of all 84 cities combined would increase 58%–116% by 2050. The resource-efficient scenario along with strategic densification, however, has the potential to curve down GHG emissions to 17% below the 2010 level in 2050. Such transformation can also limit the increase in all resource footprints to less than 23% relative to 2010. This analysis suggests that resource-efficient urban infrastructure and decarbonization of electricity coupled with strategic densification have a potential to mitigate resources and environmental footprints of growing cities.

Using Regional Virtual Water Trade and Water Footprint Accounting for Optimizing Crop Patterns to Mitigate Water Crises in Dry Regions

AbstractThe Qazvin Plain is one of the most important crop‐producing regions in Iran that are facing water shortage crises. Therefore, agricultural water management has been taken into consideration. In this study, water footprint (WF) accounting and virtual water (VW) trade were employed to determine the current condition of the plain's water resources. The total WF was obtained as 2050 MCM yr−1, of which green, blue, grey and white WF accounted for 31, 25, 2 and 42%, respectively. Having 44% of the total WF as the sum of the grey and white WFs revealed the low irrigation efficiency and overuse of nitrogen fertilizers. VW, water resources footprint (WRF) and net benefit achieved through export of agricultural crops were about 1020 MCM yr−1, 783 MCM yr−1 and US$95.2 million, respectively. Twelve scenarios were defined to determine the best crop patterns. Scenarios 9 and 11 were close to the current situation in terms of keeping the cultivated area and net benefit, as they would save 23.3 and 23.8% of WRF, respectively. Furthermore, in these scenarios economic water footprint (WFE) would improve from 21.5 to 15.9 and 15.5 m3 US$−1, respectively. This study showed that accepting the VW trade concept and using WF accounting for agricultural water planning and management can lead to sustainable development in areas suffering from water shortage. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Recycling portable alkaline/ZnC batteries for a circular economy: An assessment of natural resource consumption from a life cycle and criticality perspective

It has been recognized that a proper and sustainable management strategy might help prevent the risks of leaching from waste portable batteries (WPBs), which are an important waste stream, and aid the conservation of raw materials. Unlike existing studies on WPB management, which focus mainly on emissions, this case study uses a resource-oriented approach to thoroughly analyze the performance of a WPB collection and recycling scheme. This study focused on the WPB take-back and recycling system managed by Bebat in Belgium. Life cycle assessment was conducted using three different existing life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods representing three different perspectives: Cumulative Exergy Extracted from the Natural Environment; Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP), split into impact categories called ADPelements and ADPfossilfuels; and damage to Resource Cost. A new LCIA method, the criticality-based impact assessment method, has also been introduced to cover the socioeconomic aspects of natural resource consumption. The performance of the mixed waste (i.e., batteries, flashlights) collection and sorting system was assessed from 2011 to 2013. This analysis showed that in 2012, the use of collection receptacles made of plastic bags with 30% recycled content, instead of non-recycled paper or cardboard with 30% recycled content, was one of the main reasons for the low impact of the whole system from all assessment perspectives. The performance of entire take-back and recycling system for alkaline and zinc-carbon (ZnC) batteries, the two most popular portable batteries, was subsequently analyzed and benchmarked against two incineration scenarios: with and without bottom ash recovery. The comparisons of the four LCIA methods show differing results. The most prominent result is that the ADPelements score of the recycling scenario is 7–9 times lower than that of the incineration scenario, mainly due to metals (i.e., iron and zinc) savings via recycling. The recycling system requires 17–52% less material criticality, but extracts 13–18% more exergy from the natural environment and has a higher ADPfossilfuels score (about 14–16%) than the incineration system. These comparisons indicate that although the alkaline/ZnC battery management system run by Bebat does not reduce consumption of all resources, especially fossil fuels and land, it is beneficial in terms of minerals and metals savings. To further improve the efficiency and environmental performance of the collection system, different measures were implemented. A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the impacts of those measures on the mixed waste collection and sorting system and the alkaline/ZnC battery take-back and recycling system. The results suggested that a combination of different measures, especially reducing the number of receptacles used and enhancing their environmental performance, can considerably reduce the resource footprint.

Low-resource Multi-task Audio Sensing for Mobile and Embedded Devices via Shared Deep Neural Network Representations

Continuous audio analysis from embedded and mobile devices is an increasingly important application domain. More and more, appliances like the Amazon Echo, along with smartphones and watches, and even research prototypes seek to perform multiple discriminative tasks simultaneously from ambient audio; for example, monitoring background sound classes (e.g., music or conversation), recognizing certain keywords (‘Hey Siri' or ‘Alexa'), or identifying the user and her emotion from speech. The use of deep learning algorithms typically provides state-of-the-art model performances for such general audio tasks. However, the large computational demands of deep learning models are at odds with the limited processing, energy and memory resources of mobile, embedded and IoT devices. In this paper, we propose and evaluate a novel deep learning modeling and optimization framework that specifically targets this category of embedded audio sensing tasks. Although the supported tasks are simpler than the task of speech recognition, this framework aims at maintaining accuracies in predictions while minimizing the overall processor resource footprint. The proposed model is grounded in multi-task learning principles to train shared deep layers and exploits, as input layer, only statistical summaries of audio filter banks to further lower computations. We find that for embedded audio sensing tasks our framework is able to maintain similar accuracies, which are observed in comparable deep architectures that use single-task learning and typically more complex input layers. Most importantly, on an average, this approach provides almost a 2.1× reduction in runtime, energy, and memory for four separate audio sensing tasks, assuming a variety of task combinations.

Environmental and resources footprints between China and EU countries

International trade has accelerated the trend of globalization, giving consumers and countries the opportunity to reach new markets and products. However, it also brought negative externalities in the forms of pollution and environmental degradation. Plus, the large amounts of resource flows among different countries may aggravate resource depletion. Thus, it is necessary to uncover the embodied resource flows and corresponding environmental impacts so that sustainable trade policies can be raised. Under such a circumstance, this paper accounts environmental and resources footprints embodied in the China-EU trade for the year of 2008 by employing a multi-regional input-output model, including both the global and sectoral environmental and resource footprints which caused by the trade between China and the EU-27 countries. Research results show that from the global footprints perspective, the total environmental footprints of China and EU countries are 4.73 Gt and 4.53 Gt in 2008, respectively. The total resource footprints of China are 8.19E+07 TJ of energy, 0.66 Bha of land, 14.5 Gt of materials, and 1.47 Tm3 of water, while such figures for EU countries are 1.17E+08 TJ of energy, 0.66 Bha of land, 12.1 Gt of materials, and 1.26 Tm3 of water, respectively. The transfer trend of environmental and resources footprints between China and EU was also analyzed, indicating that EU countries caused 8.21 times of emission footprint than China's, and China provided 6.25 times of energy footprint, 16.76 times of land footprint, 12.26 times of material footprint, and 17.38 times of water footprint for EU countries' final consumption. In addition, the sectoral footprints between China and the five selected EU countries were analyzed. Finally, policy implications from environmental and resources management perspectives are proposed.

Scarcity-weighted global land and metal footprints

Resource scarcity poses an increasing threat to the supply security of modern economies. Some grand challenges ahead are the limits to agricultural expansion and the geologic scarcity of metals. To better understand the drivers behind land and metal depletion, footprint-type indicators are gaining importance. Such indicators, however, fail to differentiate between vastly different degrees of resource availability across regions. Using crop suitability areas and metal reserve base data, we calculate scarcity-weighted land and metal footprints for the major economies with the EXIOBASE global multi-regional input-output model. Scarcity-weighting causes a significant reordering of the global rankings of countries for both land and metal footprints. Land scarcity focuses mostly on cereals (∼54% from the total agricultural land used) and oil crops (∼15%), the former being notably affected by water scarcity issues in Asia and the Middle East. Metal scarcity focuses on copper ores (∼69%) and iron (∼11%), the former being a globally scarce metal impacting multiple economies. The large impact of scarcity-weighting suggests that, while non-weighted resource footprints are a valid proxy of resource use, these are not always aligned with further implications of resource depletion and supply security. In this sense, scarcity-weighting can offer an initial overview of those countries where analyses at finer scales may be more valuable. Our results also show that international trade is a major driver of land and metal depletion in some developing regions. This highlights the intersection of environmental justice and globalization, as the burden of resource depletion often falls into poorer regions which critically rely on exports.