Characterization Techniques Coupled With Mathematical Tools for Deepening Asphaltenes Structure

Asphaltenes are the heavy fraction of fossil fuels, whose characterization remains a very difficult and challenging issue due to the still-persisting uncertainties about their structure and/or composition and molecular weight. Asphaltene components are highly condensed aromatic molecules having some heteroatoms and aliphatic functionalities. Their molecular weights distribution spans in a wide range, from hundreds to millions of mass units, depending on the diagnostic used, which is mainly due to the occurrence of self-aggregation. In the present work, mass spectrometry along with size exclusion chromatography and X-ray diffraction analysis have been applied to asphaltenes for giving some further insights into their molecular weight distribution and structural characteristics. Relatively small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with a significant degree of aliphaticity were individuated by applying fast Fourier transform (FFT) and double bond equivalent (DBE) number analysis to the mass spectra. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed some aliphaticity, showing peaks specific of aliphatic functionalities. Size exclusion chromatography indicated higher molecular weight, probably due to the aliphatic substituents. Mass spectrometry at high laser power enabled observing a downward shift of molecular masses corresponding to the loss of about 10 carbon atoms, suggesting the occurrence of aryl-linked core structures assumed to feature asphaltenes along with island and archipelago structures

Le ageing cities tra passato e futuro. Strategie, metodi e proposte per migliorare l’accessibilità degli anziani ai servizi urbani

[Italiano]: Il volume raccoglie le conclusioni di un lavoro di ricerca che costituisce il naturale quanto autonomo sviluppo dei risultati del progetto MOBILAGE – Mobility and ageing: daily life and welfare supportive networks at the neighborhood level, finanziato nel biennio 2018-2020 da Fondazione Cariplo (Gant N° 2017-0942) e concluso nel giugno 2020. La questione ageing cities negli ultimi tempi ha assunto la connotazione di vera e propria emergenza soprattutto in ragione dei trend di crescita della popolazione anziana nelle città industrializzate. Il tema, di estrema rilevanza sia nel dibattito scientifico che nella prassi operativa nazionale e internazionale, si configura come una delle sfide/opportunità per ripensare/ridisegnare le città migliorando la qualità di vita degli anziani. Il gruppo di ricerca impegnato in questo lavoro, sotto la guida di Carmela Gargiulo, è costituito da giovani ricercatori che afferiscono al laboratorio TeMALab del Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale (DICEA) dell’Università di Napoli Federico II ./[English]: The volume gathers the conclusions of a research work that constitutes the natural as well as autonomous development of the project MOBILAGE - Mobility and ageing: daily life and welfare supportive networks at the neighborhood level, funded by Fondazione Cariplo in the biennium 2018-2020 (Gant N° 2017-0942) and finished in June 2020. The ageing cities have recently taken on the connotation of an absolute emergency due to the upward trends in the elderly population in industrialized cities. The issue, extremely significant both in the scientific debate and in national and international operational practice, is one of the challenges/opportunities to rethink/redesign cities, with a view to improving the quality of life of the elderly. The research group consists of young researchers, under the guidance of Carmela Gargiulo, who belong to the TemaLab Laboratory of the Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering (DICEA) of the University of Naples Federico II

High annual radon concentration in dwellings and natural radioactivity content in nearby soil in some rural areas of Kosovo and Metohija

Some previous studies on radon concentration in dwellings of some areas of Kosovo and Metohija have revealed a high average radon concentration, even though the detectors were exposed for three months only. In order to better design a larger study in this region, the annual measurements in 25 houses were carried out as a pilot study. For each house, CR-39-based passive devices were exposed in two rooms for the two consecutive six-month periods to account for seasonal variations of radon concentration. Furthermore, in order to correlate the indoor radon with radium in nearby soil and to improve the knowledge of the natural radioactivity in the region, soil samples near each house were collected and 226Ra, 232Th, 40K activity concentration were measured. The indoor radon concentration resulted quite high from the average (163 Bq/m3) and generally it did not differ considerably between the two rooms and the two six-month periods. The natural radionuclides in soil resulted to be distributed quite uniformly. Moreover, the correlation between the226Ra content in soil and radon concentration in dwellings resulted to be low (R2=0.26). The annual effective dose from radon and its short-lived progeny (5.5 mSv, in average) was calculated by using the last ICRP dose conversion factors. In comparison, the contribution to the annual effective dose of outdoor gamma exposure from natural radionuclides in soil is nearly negligible (66 mSv). In conclusion, the observed high radon levels are only partially correlated with radium in soil; moreover, a good estimate of the annual average of radon concentration can be obtained from a six-month measurement with a proper choice of exposure period, which could be useful when designing large surveys

Similarities and differences between radon surveys across Europe: results from MetroRADON questionnaire

Background: As a major cause of lung cancer after smoking, indoor radon is a hazard for human health. Key steps of radon surveys are numerous and include metrology, survey design, development of maps, communication of results to stakeholders, etc. The Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM introduced new challenges for European Union Member States, such as the identification of radon priority areas, which calls for efforts to improve all the key steps involved in radon surveys. Objective: This study aims to compare existing radon measurement procedures between different European countries and to use the results to optimize the consistency of indoor radon data across Europe. Design: A questionnaire was developed and sent to more than 70 European institutions working in this field to collect information on indoor radon surveys carried out in the respective countries, in order to identify the rationale and methodologies used. Results: A total of 56 questionnaire forms on indoor radon surveys were completed and returned by universities, research institutions, and competent authorities on national and regional surveys from 24 European countries. The replies have been analyzed, and the main findings have been reported, although these replies did not allow to answer all the questions about comparability. Conclusions: From the replies given by the respondents, there is evidence that European indoor radon surveys are comparable regarding measurement methods but not comparable regarding the survey design. Comparability regarding data management, statistical treatment, aggregation, and mapping is unclear on the basis of the replies putting in evidence the need of further information

A 10-year follow-up of yearly indoor radon measurements in homes, review of other studies and implications on lung cancer risk estimates

Uncertainty on long-term average radon concentration has a large impact on lung cancer risk assessment in epidemiological studies. The uncertainty can be estimated by year-to-year radon concentration variability, however few data are available. In Italy a study has been planned and conducted to evaluate year-to-year radon variability over several years in normally inhabited dwellings, mainly located in Rome. This is the longest study of this kind in Europe; repeat radon measurements are carried out for 10 years using LR-115 radon detectors in the same home in consecutive years. The study includes 84 dwellings with long-term average radon concentration ranging from 28 to 636 Bq/m3. The result shows that year-to-year variability of repeated measurements made in the same home in different years is low, with an overall coefficient of variation of 17%. This is smaller than most of those observed in studies from other European countries and USA, ranging from 15% to 62%. Influencing factors that may explain the differences between this study and other studies have been discussed. Due to the low yearly variability estimated in the present 10-year study, a negligible impact on lung cancer risk estimate for the Italian epidemiologica

European Atlas of Natural Radiation

Natural ionizing radiation is considered as the largest contributor to the collective effective dose received by the world population. The human population is continuously exposed to ionizing radiation from several natural sources that can be classified into two broad categories: high-energy cosmic rays incident on the Earth’s atmosphere and releasing secondary radiation (cosmic contribution); and radioactive nuclides generated during the formation of the Earth and still present in the Earth’s crust (terrestrial contribution). Terrestrial radioactivity is mostly produced by the uranium and thorium radioactive families together with potassium. In most circumstances, radon, a noble gas produced in the radioactive decay of uranium, is the most important contributor to the total dose. This Atlas aims to present the current state of knowledge of natural radioactivity, by giving general background information, and describing its various sources. This reference material is complemented by a collection of maps of Europe displaying the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources. It is a compilation of contributions and reviews received from more than 80 experts in their field: they come from universities, research centres, national and European authorities and international organizations. This Atlas provides reference material and makes harmonized datasets available to the scientific community and national competent authorities. In parallel, this Atlas may serve as a tool for the public to: • familiarize itself with natural radioactivity; • be informed about the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources; • have a more balanced view of the annual dose received by the world population, to which natural radioactivity is the largest contributor; • and make direct comparisons between doses from natural sources of ionizing radiation and those from man-made (artificial) ones, hence to better understand the latter.JRC.G.10-Knowledge for Nuclear Security and Safet

The elderly and urban accessibility before and during the Covid-19 lockdown: a comparative analysis of Mediterranean cities with a focus on Naples and Milan.

This contribution aims to assess accessibility to public transport services for the elderly. We propose a method to evaluate the service area on foot around public transport stops, based on the mobility of the elderly, considering both the more detailed sub-district urban level. The first section of this contribution deals with the significant demographic changes in Mediterranean countries and their consequences. The second section proposes a review of the literature on urban accessibility to support planning processes in order to deal with demographic changes in urban areas. The third section analyses demographic and public transport characteristics in twenty-one northern Mediterranean cities. Section 4 proposes a Gis-based spatial analysis method to support local administrators in identifying critical areas where there are evident disparities in accessibility for the elderly. In the last section, for the experimentation of the method, two case studies were selected, Naples and Milan, which differ greatly in their urban and population structures and transport services. In addition, there is a focus at both city and neighbourhood level on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic for urban accessibility assessments. This work is part of the research project «Mobilage. Mobility and ageing: daily life and welfare supportive networks at the neighbourhood level», funded by the Fondazione Cariplo and involving the University of Naples, the University of Groningen and the Polytechnic University of Milan. The aim of the project is to develop strategies and decision-making tools to improve the quality of life of the elderly in urban environments and their accessibility to essential services

MOBILAGE. Mobility and aging: daily life and welfare supportive networks at the neighborhood level

In a time of aging society and of local welfare policies’ restructuring, significant programs are favoring the development of services supporting “aging in place” versus institutionalized solutions such as nursing homes. A lot is to be investigated to understand how joint innovation in the provision of care services, and in the reorganization of urban living environments may provide quality of life (QofL) and wellbeing to those aging at home. Within this context, the aim of the research is twofold. First it aims at investigating which role local public transport (LPT), and welfare and community services play in improving the QofL of elderly. For this purpose, an analysis of the supply and demand of local public transport (LPT), and of welfare and community services concerning the elderly (people aged 65+, divided into three groups: 65-69; 70-74; 75+), living in the municipality of Milan, is carried out. Second, it aims at providing the public administration with a GIS decision support tool to find out the most appropriate forms of governance to improve and integrate care services for the elderly and urban policy and mobility measures in the city of Milan. The integration of research approaches and policy tools that are developed in the domain of social and healthcare policies with those developed in the domain of urban planning and mobility is relevant to develop an effective integrated and spatially sound governance of welfare and community services. The methodology consists of: (i) an investigation and literature review on the issues concerned with policies aimed at “aging in place” with a focus on the implications in terms of related mobility issues and on the supply and demand of welfare services and community welfare; (ii) data collection on the macro neighborhoods (Nuclei di Identità Locale – NIL) concerning: residential density of elderly, demographic turnover; socio-economic data; functional mix; local public transport (LPT) accessibility index; origin and destination (O/D) matrix of elderly; LPT customer satisfaction for elderly; physical location barriers; use of the bike sharing system by elderly; location and physical and functional characteristics of community welfare services (inclusing bottom-up practices); (iii) a survey addressed to a representative sample of elders living in some selected neighborhoods and aiming at integrating quantitative data with qualitative information on the specific and context related constraints that the elderly experience in their daily life and in the accessibility to welfare services; (iv) monitoring of a group of selected elders in their daily activities using wearable sensors and GPS trackers and combined with diary with a written overview of their activities in order to understand their mobility practices, their satisfaction in using LPT system and welfare services; (iv) the development of a GIS decision support tool for public administrations is to find out the most appropriate forms of governance to improve and integrate care services for the elderly and urban policy and mobility measures in the city of Milan. Besides, the GIS-based supply demand mapping tool is able to determine the impact assessment of different scenarios, by analyzing the relationship between the several social, housing and economic needs of the elderly population and welfare services mainly in terms of accessibility. In other words, the tool will be able to merge the different ageing people’s aspirations together with the physical and functional urban resources through the integration of traditional data as well as techniques (e.g. usual ISTAT data, surveys) with more innovative analysis techniques such as the lessical, network, big data ones, in order to better detect the ageing social demand