Optimisation of photoluminescent painting treatments on different surface layers

Improving drivers visibility in night time conditions is vital. Night-time visibility represents one of the most important features of road safety. Within such context, the use of photoluminescent road markings could represent an enhancement with regard to road safety. Consequently, the objective of the investigation here described was confined into the analysis of photoluminescent paints by referring to dense-graded and open-graded friction courses. Measurements, based on photometry technique, were carried out in the laboratory. Cores extracted from the surface layer of known pavements were used. Transitory effects (charge and discharge) and decay phenomena were investigated and modelled as a function of treatment and pavement characteristics (paint quantity, hot mix asphalt volumetrics, etc.). The results highlight that the photoluminescent performance depends on the volumetric characteristics of bituminous mixtures. Results can benefit both researchers and practitioners and can allow optimising painting treatments for different bituminous mixtures

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Phosphate recovery from exhausted extinguishing powders: A case study of circular economy in the chemical industry

Nowadays in Europe, an exhausted extinguishing powders (EEP) industrial recovering process is still missing, fertilizer demand is increasing, phosphorous is a critical raw material. In this perspective, an EEP treatment pilot plant was realized, allowing the recovery of a high-value, non-renewable raw material, phosphate, transformed into fertilizers. This case study offers an example of circular economy and industrial symbiosis in the chemical industry (EEP are valorised as secondary raw materials in another sector, otherwise disposed of as special waste and not recovered) and highlights how to tackle with chemical processes using waste as secondary raw material. The boundaries choice between first and second life and on how to assess processes comparative analyses are the main critical points to deal with. The innovative PHOSave process is based on a mechanical treatment, a washing phase with an aprotic solvent and a biological treatment. To evaluate its environmental feasibility an LCA study was performed at the design stage. The scenario considered is from cradle-to-gate, from the collected EEP to the micro-fertilizer produced. Life cycle impact assessment of the innovative PHOSave process, using the CML impact method, has demonstrated that solvent choice for the washing phase has a huge influence on the overall environmental performance; in any case, the highest burden comes from the granulation phase