Life cycle analysis of road construction and use

Both the construction and use of roads have a range of environmental impacts; therefore, it is important to assess the sources of their burdens to adopt correct mitigation policies. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a useful method to obtain demonstrable, accurate and non-misleading information for decision-making experts. The study presents a "cradle to gate with options" LCA of a provincial road during 60 year-service life. Input data derive from the bill of quantity of the project and their impacts have been evaluated according to the European standard EN 15804. The study considers the impacts of the construction and maintenance stages, lighting, and use of the vehicles on the built road. The results obtained from a SimaPro model highlight that the almost half of impacts took place during the construction stage rather than the use stage. Therefore, the adoption of environmentally friendly road planning procedures, the use of low-impact procedures in the production of materials, and the use of secondary raw materials could have the largest potential for reducing environmental impacts

The impact of the Traghetti ruling: reinforcing the supremacy principle of the EU law or revealing new internal constitutional problems?

1Il contributo, prendendo le mosse dalla nota sentenza ne analizza le conseguenze nei termini più problematici relativi al rapporto fra giurisdizione interna e giurisdizione comunitaria, senza trascurare le problematiche relative al bilanciamento fra norme costituzionali e limiti e portata dei principi europei.openopenD'Andrea AntonioD'Andrea, Antoni

New patents on topical anesthetics.

Anesthesia is defined as a total or partial loss of sensation and it may be general, local or topical, depending on the method of drug administration and area of the body affected. General anesthesia is a reversible state of unconsciousness produced by anesthetic agents, characterized by amnesia, muscle relaxation and loss of sensitivity to pain of the whole body. General anesthetic drugs can be classified into two main groups according to their predominant molecular pharmacological effects: volatile and intravenous agents. Local anesthesia produce a reversible loss of sensation in a portion of the body and it reversibly block impulse conduction along nerve axons and other excitable membrane. All local anesthetics (LA) are membrane stabilizing drugs; they reversibly decrease the rate of depolarization and repolarization of excitable membranes. They act mainly by inhibiting sodium influx through sodium-specific ion channels in the neuronal cell membrane, in particular the voltage-gated sodium channels. When the influx of sodium is interrupted, an action potential cannot arise and signal conduction is inhibited. The main local anesthetic (LA) agents for skin anesthesia are benzocaine (aminoester), prilocaine and lidocaine (aminoamides) which are commercially available as gels, ointments and creams (benzocaine and eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine) or as a bioadhesive (lidocaine) with different compositions (vehicles and excipients) for adults or pediatric use. Topical anesthetics decrease anxiety, pain and discomfort during cutaneous procedures and provide effective analgesia with rapid onset, prolonged duration and minimal side effects. This article outlines the different classes of topical anesthetics available and gives an overview of the mechanism of action, metabolism of each different class, of the possible complications that can occur because of their use and their possible treatment options and new patents. © 2014 Bentham Science Publishers

La luce della Costituzione e lo sguardo in avanti di Valerio Onida (oltre l’effimero contingente)

Abstract [IT]: L'importanza della riflessione scientifica di Valerio Onida è rappresentata dallo sforzo di ricondurre in ogni caso ai principi del costituzionalismo democratico, in linea con la Costituzione del 1948, le vicende spesso turbolente del sistema politico-parlamentare italiano, come pure di cogliere il significato delle regole da far valere nell'ordinamento partendo sempre dalla salvaguardia della dignità della persona, anche laddove il disagio sociale appare grave e non facilmente superabile. Abstract [EN]: The importance of Valerio Onida's scholarly reflection is represented by the effort to always trace back to the principles of democratic constitutionalism, the turbulent events of the Italian political-parliamentary system. At the same time, his commitment to grasping the meaning of the rules to be enforced in the legal system has always been strong, starting from the safeguarding of the human dignity, even where the social malaise appears serious and not easily overcome

SVILUPPO DI DISPOSITIVI APTICI E USO DI REALTÀ VIRTUALE PER LA RIABILITAZIONE DELLA MANO E DELLE DITA

In the past decade, there has been an increasing attention for the development of personal and rehabilitation robots to assist, enhance, and quantify the rehabilitation therapy. This interest is expected to continue due to the improvements in health care that will allow people to live longer. A promising approach is the use of virtual reality in combination with haptic devices, i.e. manipulators that are capable of providing realistic force stimuli and accurate measurements of user’s movements, to treat the disability induced by stroke or chronic musculo-skeletal pathologies. The use of this technology not only helps to recover lost motor skills, but allows to obtain objective information on the rehabilitation process. In this research we have investigated the application of this approach in hand/finger rehabilitation of stroke patients. The first objective has been the development of a software framework that could support the flexibility and adaptability required by the addressed applications. Indeed, rehabilitation exercises have to be adapted to the patient disability, different devices must be integrated depending on the target of the rehabilitation, and different quantitative inforamtion should be recorded according to the objective of the trainign session. Based on the available tools, a software framework was developed using the Model/View/Controller software pattern that allows to decouple the different modules composing the application. Three main components were developed, namely: device management, virtual environment state evolution, and user interface. To reduce the cost, the framework was implemented only through the use of freely available libraries. The software framework was then used to develop a prototype application based on a five-bar linkage haptic device. During its development we paid special attention to the medial device regulations. Two main areas were identified as the most critical ones: the mechanical and physiological safety. A mechanical protection barrier for the hand/finger device was developed to ensure safe use by the user. At the same time, we investigated how to pursue physiological safey, i.e. how to monitor patients fatigue through the analysis of their physiological signals. When the patient enters a state of fatigue, it is necessary to change the intensity of the exercise according to the rehabilitation needs of the patient. The recognition of such state is a further element to be monitored during the control loop of the device, and that should be integrated in the analysis in real time. A first attempt to recognize the satte of fatigue was the observation of changes in the frequency band of electromyographic signals (EMG) of the patient. A framework for the acquisition of electromyographic signals, interfacing the rehabilitation system with an EMG amplifier, was developed. In the last part of the research, we investigated a different strategy for acquiring physiological signals of patient fatigue using the analysis of electroencephalographic signals (EEG). From an in-depth analysis of related literature, a software framework to integrate the analysis of EEG signals within the rehabilitation device conrol was identified. Additionally, a set of indexes for the definition of the level of mental fatigue of the patient was also designed

“Dinheiro duro” e preferência temporal: uma perspectiva do Bitcoin

Money is what allows individuals to face uncertainty, by controlling and debasing money, governments of the world shift the time preference of individuals to somewhere closer to the present time. This currency inflation disincentivizes saving with societal consequences that go much beyond economics. By giving back to individuals the possibility of saving, Bitcoin emulates what gold did for a number of centuries and provides a much-needed solution to the interference of governments in the money market. The Bitcoin standard will provide for much higher levels of social development, because it will incentivize and facilitate savings as well as the exercise of proper economic calculation.el dinero es lo que permite que los individuos enfrenten la incertidumbre, y al controlar y degradar el dinero, los gobiernos del mundo desplazan la preferencia temporal de los individuos hacia un lugar más cercano al presente. Esta inflación monetaria desincentiva el ahorro con consecuencias sociales que van mucho más allá de lo económico. Al devolverles a las personas la posibilidad de ahorrar, Bitcoin emula lo que hizo eloro, el patrón oro, durante varios siglos y brinda una solución muy necesaria a la interferencia de los gobiernos en el mercado monetario. El patrón Bitcoin permitirá niveles mucho más altos de desarrollo social, porque incentivará y facilitará el ahorro, así como el ejercicio del cálculo económico.O dinheiro é o que permite aos indivíduos enfrentarem a incerteza, ao controlar e desvalorizar o dinheiro, os governos do mundo todo aumentam a preferência temporal dos indivíduos, trazendo-a mais próximo do presente. Tal inflação monetária desincentiva a poupança com consequências sociais que vão muito além da economia. Ao devolver aos indivíduos a possibilidade de poupar, o Bitcoin emula o que o ouro, o padrão ouro, fez por muitos séculos e oferece uma solução necessária contra a interferência dos governos no mercadomonetário. O padrão Bitcoin permitirá níveis muito mais elevados de desenvolvimento social, pois incentivará e facilitará a poupança, separando-a dos investimentos, bem como facilitará o exercício do cálculo econômico

Proposal for a methodology based on XRD and SEM-EDS to monitor effects of lime-treatment on clayey soils

The aim of this paper is to present the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analyses on a natural and lime-treated clay, in order to determine the percentage of lime able to stabilize soil. For this reason, XRD test analyses have been conducted on natural soil (TQ0) and on two different mixtures (TQ3 and TQ5): The former with 3% and the latter with 5% by mass of quicklime. These mixtures have been analyzed at different curing times: At the addition of lime (0 d), and after a mellowing period of 7 and 28 d. The obtained results show that 3% of CaO is the percentage of quicklime able to modify the material (initial consumption of lime (ICL) and 5% of CaO is the percentage able to stabilize it (lime stabilization optimum (LSO). Finally, SEM images allowed for the monitoring of the process of reactions between the soil and lime during the mellowing period, while EDS analyses validated the XRD results in terms of chemical composition of the examined soil. For the examined natural clay, statistical analysis of the obtained EDS results identified a linear regression curve between the added quicklime and the after-treatment Ca content. The proposed approach could be adopted to calculate the content of calcium after the treatment and verify the in situ-added CaO during roadworks or at the end of them