Life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost (LCC) studies of lightweight composite flooring systems

The growing need to save material and energy resources, together with the increasing concern over the material impact on the built environment economy has led the need for redesigning critical structural elements and systems. Flooring systems are the top amongst the list of the highest impact after the partition walls when comparing to other non-load bearing construction elements. This paper focuses on the advantages of lightweight flooring systems and contributes towards the development of a novel prefabricated ultra-shallow and lightweight flooring system. The used methodology comprises the environmental (by applying the TRACI method) and economic life cycle analysis (LCA). The environmental and economic impacts of three types of flooring systems are studied and compared. The first type is a prefabricated floor (Cofradal260), is a common solution in residential buildings in France, the second type is a hollow core precast floor with an in-situ concrete finishing layer, and the third type is the proposed system. The assessment showed that the embodied energy and embodied GHG emissions of the proposed flooring system are 28.89% and 37.67% lower than the one using Cofradal floor, and 20.18% and 35.09% lower than the one using hollow core precast floor units. LCA showed that the proposed flooring system reduced 13.08% of construction cost and 41.83% of end of life cost in comparison with Cofradal260 slab, and 1.87% of construction cost and 18.95% of end of life cost in comparison with the hollow composite precast slab

An international survey on the awareness, use, preference and health perception of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS)

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Deligianni, E, Corkery, JM, Schifano, F, Lione, LA. An international survey on the awareness, use, preference, and health perception of novel psychoactive substances (NPS). Hum Psychopharmacol Clin Exp. 2017; 32:e2581, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/hup.2581. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.ObjectiveThis survey investigated the level of public awareness, preference and motivation of NPS use as well as knowledge of potential associated health risks.Methods A Bristol Online Survey was advertised through social media and a drug forum ‘’Bluelight’’ between 7 January and 7 February 2015. ResultsResponses were received from 17 countries, mainly from Europe. Most responses (83%) came from University educated students. Two-thirds (65%) of the 168 respondents were aware of NPS. Awareness was significantly increased in those with bisexual/homosexual orientation (p0.05). Nearly half of the NPS users perceived NPS to carry either a low risk to health (20%) or did not know whether or not they posed a health risk (29%).ConclusionsThese survey data indicate that awareness of NPS and, importantly, perception of the potential health risks associated with NPS use is lacking. NPS awareness and use is higher in those in employment but is unaffected by the level of education. This highlights the need for targeted drugs education intervention by policy-makers in schools and universities.Peer reviewe

Sustainability aspects of using geotextiles

The sustainability of materials and processes is commonly assessed by calculating the carbon emissions (CO2) generated. This is a simplification, but the ease of calculation encourages the comparison of solutions; it makes the output of assessments accessible, transparent and repeatable; and CO2 savings can readily be counted towards industry and national and international targets. This chapter describes a framework for calculating embodied carbon of construction solutions that incorporate geotextiles. It outlines techniques for determining the carbon footprint and common definitions, presents examples of embodied carbon for geotextile materials, defines life cycle boundaries and presents sample calculations for common construction case studies: protection, a working platform and landfill capping. All three examples demonstrate significant CO2 savings that can result from employing geotextiles. These savings are realised by reducing the amount of imported fill material used, which minimises transport-related carbon emissions. The approach that is introduced can be used to undertake site-specific calculations to inform decisions regarding the selection of approaches to construction that contribute to sustainable practice. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved