Implementation of impact mitigation measures for maritime transport: an analysis of alternative waste management practices, air emissions monitoring and GHG reduction

The problem of waste management and waste generation in the shipbuilding sector is crucial in the context of sustainability, in which context the concept of a circular economy system for both re-use and recycling of waste should also be included. For these considerations, the proposed study examines a combined system for optimising ship waste management and evaluates its possible use for energy purposes. In addition, this work aims to develop indicators to monitor and assess the instantaneous environmental impact in the air from different types of ships. With regard to the first point, a number of systems were analysed in relation to their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of the routes and ports of destination. As a re- sult of this analysis, the case studies of particular interest were identified: the thermochemical treatment of waste oils and sludges to obtain fuel oils, the installation of a waste-to-energy plant and subsequent energy recov- ery on board, a potential innovative pattern of recycling food waste from cruise ships for use as feed in aquaculture and potential green practices with particular attention to paper input and output flows in a waste mini- mization perspective. UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) methodologies were applied to two of these case stud- ies to calculate the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from their implementation. The results obtained are presented with the aim of supporting sustainable on-board waste management strategies in a carbon circular economy perspective. With regard to the second point, the main objective was to make an objective assessment of the ship’s environmental impact in real time to allow for possible adjustments and improve energy efficiency. The definition of these new indicators can be used as a decision support system for shipboard personnel. Environmental performance indi- cators are developed following the evaluation of data collected on board by specific instrumentation, marine exhaust cleaning systems, existing legis- lation. Different ship types, characterised by different propulsion system configurations, are considered using real experimental data provided by CETENA, a Fincantieri Group company. The indicators allow to compare the performance of the ship and the efficiency of the exhaust cleaning sys- tems under different operating conditions. They can be used as new tools, added to existing instrumentation that can be implemented to minimize the ship’s environmental footprint

Photoexcitation in thin films deposited on silicon substrates by reactive pulsed laser ablation

Reactive pulsed laser ablation is a very interesting method to deposit thin films of several materials and compounds such as oxides, nitrides, semiconductors and superconductors. This technique relies on photoablation of pure elements, or a mixture of materials, with simultaneous exposure to a reactive atmosphere. In the case of oxides, reactions between the laser vaporized metals and oxygen lead to the formation of intermediate complexes and finally to oxide thin films. The reactivity of the plume has been already studied by our group in other oxides and nitrides productions and ascertained by Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry measurements [1].Thin films of semiconducting oxides such asIn2O3,SnO2, and multilayers of these two compounds have been deposited by Reactive Pulsed Laser Ablation, with the aim to evaluate the behaviour of such films under variable halogen lamp illumination.Deposition of these thin films has been carried out by a frequency doubled Nd-YAG laser (wavelength = 532 nm) on Silicon (100) substrates. A comparison, among indium oxide, tin oxide, and multilayers of indium and tin oxides, has been performed. The influence of physical parameters, such as substrate temperature and oxygen pressure in the deposition chamber, has been investigated. The deposited films have been characterized by Electric Resistance measurements

Thermal and fire behavior of a bio-based epoxy/silica hybrid cured with methyl nadic anhydride

Thermosetting polymers have been widely used in many industrial applications as adhesives, coatings and laminated materials, among others. Recently, bisphenol A (BPA) has been banned as raw material for polymeric products, due to its harmful impact on human health. On the other hand, the use of aromatic amines as curing agents confers excellent thermal, mechanical and flame retardant properties to the final product, although they are toxic and subject to governmental restrictions. In this context, sugar-derived diepoxy monomers and anhydrides represent a sustainable greener alternative to BPA and aromatic amines. Herein, we report an “in-situ” sol–gel synthesis, using as precursors tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTS) to obtain bio-based epoxy/silica composites; in a first step, the APTS was left to react with 2,5-bis[(oxyran-2-ylmethoxy)methyl]furan (BOMF) or diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) monomers, and silica particles were generated in the epoxy in a second step; both systems were cured with methyl nadic anhydride (MNA). Morphological investigation of the composites through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated that the hybrid strategy allows a very fine distribution of silica nanoparticles (at nanometric level) to be achieved within a hybrid network structure for both the diepoxy monomers. Concerning the fire behavior, as assessed in vertical flame spread tests, the use of anhydride curing agent prevented melt dripping phenomena and provided high char-forming character to the bio-based epoxy systems and their phenyl analog. In addition, forced combustion tests showed that the use of anhydride hardener instead of aliphatic polyamine results in a remarkable decrease of heat release rate. An overall decrease of the smoke parameters, which is highly desirable in a context of greater fire safety was observed in the case of BOMF/MNA system. The experimental results suggest that the eect of silica nanoparticles on fire behavior appears to be related to their dispersion degree

Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Darunavir/Cobicistat in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Findings From the Multicenter Italian CORIST Study

Background: Protease inhibitors have been considered as possible therapeutic agents for COVID-19 patients. Objectives: To describe the association between lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or darunavir/cobicistat (DRV/c) use and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients. Study Design: Multicenter observational study of COVID-19 patients admitted in 33 Italian hospitals. Medications, preexisting conditions, clinical measures, and outcomes were extracted from medical records. Patients were retrospectively divided in three groups, according to use of LPV/r, DRV/c or none of them. Primary outcome in a time-to event analysis was death. We used Cox proportional-hazards models with inverse probability of treatment weighting by multinomial propensity scores. Results: Out of 3,451 patients, 33.3% LPV/r and 13.9% received DRV/c. Patients receiving LPV/r or DRV/c were more likely younger, men, had higher C-reactive protein levels while less likely had hypertension, cardiovascular, pulmonary or kidney disease. After adjustment for propensity scores, LPV/r use was not associated with mortality (HR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13), whereas treatment with DRV/c was associated with a higher death risk (HR = 1.89, 1.53 to 2.34, E-value = 2.43). This increased risk was more marked in women, in elderly, in patients with higher severity of COVID-19 and in patients receiving other COVID-19 drugs. Conclusions: In a large cohort of Italian patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a real-life setting, the use of LPV/r treatment did not change death rate, while DRV/c was associated with increased mortality. Within the limits of an observational study, these data do not support the use of LPV/r or DRV/c in COVID-19 patients

The Welfare and Allocative Impact of Targeted Advertising

We investigate the welfare implications and the allocative effects of different consumer data-handling regimes in online targeted advertising. We develop a three-players model that includes firms, consumers, and an intermediary - the ad exchange – and analyze three scenarios that differ in the type of consumers\u27 data available during the targeting: a case in which only the horizontal information (consumers\u27 brand preferences) is available; a case in which only vertical information (consumers\u27 purchasing power) is available; a case in which both pieces of information are available. We find that there exist conditions under which the intermediary obtains the highest proportion of benefits from targeting and, in general, the intermediary\u27s incentives regarding the type of consumer information to be used for targeting are misaligned with the incentives of firms and/or consumers. Furthermore, consumers\u27 surplus from targeting is higher when specific types of personal information are made available during the targeting process

Green approaches in the synthesis of furan-based diepoxy monomers

Two eco-respectful, one-step synthetic routes for the preparation of a bio-based epoxy monomer derived from furan precursors are developed

Analysis, comparisons and potential of a Hybrid Solar Power System through a life cycle approach

The sun is the most environmentally sound resource to produce clean and renewable energy, even though environmental score for solar technologies are representative only for the most common devices such as photovoltaic panels. Hybrid solar plants that combine solar power with another source of energies have never being compared with traditional solar technologies such as photovoltaic panels. The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the environmental score of a Solar Hybrid Combined Cycle with a traditional photovoltaic system and find out the potential and possible future development of the new technology. Thus the technologies analyzed are: a 100 kWp photovoltaic plant (PV) and a 100 kW hybrid solar-gas turbine systems (HSGT) that use as fuel a mix of solar radiation and natural gas. Using a life cycle approach, the potential environmental impact of the two solar power technologies is evaluated. The energy produced and expressed in kWh has been choosing as a functional unit. To better understand the potential of the new technology the heat produced by the plant has been accounted by substitution with a gas boiler, highlighting the potential of the HSGT technology. Despite that fact PV results as the best environmental sound technology between the two system under study while a Solar Hybrid Combined Cycle could become a better choice in a not so far future

The impact of the GDPR on content providers

International audienceWe study the impact of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the advertising-supported online ecosystem. We focus on online content providers (such as news websites) and their users. We investigate whether restrictions on online tracking enforced by the regulation ultimately affect down-stream variables such as the quantity of content that websites offer to their visitorsand users’ engagement with such content. The results suggest that the GDPR reduced the number of third-party cookies and tracking responses in both US andEU websites. Furthermore, the enactment of the GDPR may have to some extent negatively affected traffic to EU websites, relative to US websites. However, the enactment does not seem to have negatively affected the amount of content that EU websites were able to publish (relative to US websites), or the degree ofaverage social media engagement and interaction with such content. Our analysisis ongoing, as data collection is continuing

Sustainability in Maritime Sector: Waste Management Alternatives Evaluated in a Circular Carbon Economy Perspective

Sustainability and waste management on board are key issues that need to be addressed by the maritime sector also in terms of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). With the aim of evaluating waste management alternatives in a circular economy perspective, the study examines a combined system for the optimisation of ship waste management and assesses its possible use for energy purposes. Different systems are analysed in relation to their GHG emission reduction potential regardless of routes and ports of destination. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis was carried out on waste management alternatives in order to preliminary identify their potential in terms of GHG emissions reduction, cost, environmental sustainability, methodological coherence, feasibility and replicability. Following this analysis, two case studies of particular interest were identified: 1) the thermo-chemical treatment of waste oils and sludge to obtain fuel oils; 2) the installation of a waste-to-energy plant and subsequent energy recovery on board. UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) methodologies were applied to these two case studies to calculate GHG emission reduction resulting from their implementation. The obtained results are presented with the aim of supporting sustainable waste management strategies on board in a circular carbon economy perspective

University campus waste prevention and reduction: A circular-economy approach

One of the most important challenges to improve sustainability is the management of climate change and the reduction of green house gas emissions. In 2014 the University of Genoa and the Ministry of the Environment signed an agreement to assess the Carbon footprint of the university, in order to promote the mitigation of climate change and to study possible innovative solutions to reduce the environmental burdens. Following the agreement, the university want to implement a project for the sustainable management of waste within it. A circular economy methodology has been used to implement a project that will help in diminish the pollutants impacts deriving from the waste management recovering and recycling high quality materials. In cooperation with municipal local companies for the management of waste, the project foresees to implement studies and research in the field of guidelines, attitudes and behaviour of the population towards the recovery, recycling and reuse, pushing for a transition to a circular economic approach. Considered the lack of an accounting model and monitoring of waste products it has been decided to implement it. Waste produced by the university have been estimated and calculated through experiments and on field analyses and its GHG potential have been evaluated through a LCA methodology. The general outcome of this research shows that it is possible to create a circular economy model applicable to other universities and medium-sized communities, even if future development are presented in order to improve future investigation