Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of Energy Valorization of the Residual Agro-Food Industry

This study assesses the potential environmental impacts related to the energy valorization of agro-food industry waste thought the Life Cycle Assessment methodology (ISO 14040). The system examined consists of a real anaerobic digester coupled with a combined anaerobic digester and heat and power plant (AD-CHP) operating in Sicily. The analysis accounts for all the impacts occurring from the delivery of the biomass to the AD-CHP plant up to the electricity generation in the CHP. The main outcomes of the study include the eco-profile of the energy system providing electricity and the assessment of the contribution of each life cycle phase aimed at identifying the potential improvement area. The obtained results highlight that the direct emissions associated with the biogas combustion process in the CHP account for 66% of the impact on climate change, and feedstock transport contributes 64% to the impact on mineral, fossil fuels, and renewable depletion. The contribution to the impacts caused by the electricity consumption is relevant in many of the environmental categories examined. It ranges from a minimum of about 22% for climate change up to 82% for freshwater ecotoxicity. Then actions aimed at reducing electricity consumption can significantly improve the environmental performances of the energy system examined

Selecting Insulating Materials for Building Envelope: A Life Cycle Approach

This paper aims at assessing the embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of two building envelopes, designed for a two floors semi-detached house located in the Central Italy. The analysis is performed by applying the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, following a from cradle-to-gate approach. Fixtures (windows and doors), external and internal opaque walls, roof and floors (including interstorey floors) make the building envelopes. Their stratigraphy allows for achieving the thermal transmittance values established in the Italian Decree on energy performance of buildings. The two examined envelopes differ only for the insulation material: extruded expanded polystyrene (XPS) or cellulose fibers. The results shows that the envelope using cellulose fibers has better performance than that using XPS: it allows for reducing the embodied energy and the GHGs of about 13% and 9.3%, respectively. A dominance analysis allows to identify the envelope components responsible of the higher impacts and the contribution of the insulating material to the impacts. The study is part of the Italian research “Analysis of the energy impacts and greenhouse gas emissions of technologies and components for the energy efficiency of buildings from a life cycle perspective” funded by the Three-year Research Plan within the National Electricity System 2019-2021

Reflectance Confocal Microscopy as an Aid to Dermoscopy to Improve Diagnosis on Equivocal Lesions: Evaluation of Three Bluish Nodules

Nodular lesions can be difficult to diagnose under dermoscopy alone, since they often lack specific diagnostic features. Confocal microscopy can be used as an aid to dermoscopy, to increase the diagnostic accuracy on equivocal skin lesions. We report three cases of bluish nodular lesions, difficult to diagnose under dermoscopy alone. Confocal features were very useful in these cases to lead us to the correct diagnosis, recognizing benign versus malignant entities. Histopathology is also reported, with high correspondence compared to the confocal imaging

Dosimetria tramite Risonanza Elettronica di Spin (ESR) in RadioTerapia IntraOperatoria (IORT): misure di Output Factors e simulazioni Monte Carlo-GEANT4

La RadioTerapia IntraOperatoria (IORT) è una modalità di trattamento in cui una singola dose di radiazioni è impartita direttamente al letto tumorale o al tumore durante l'intervento chirurgico, evitando di colpire i tessuti sani circostanti. La fabbricazione di acceleratori lineari mobili per elettroni dedicati alla IORT ha permesso una grande diffusione di questa tecnica radioterapica. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è il confronto tra la risposta di dosimetri di alanina letti tramite Risonanza Elettronica di Spin (ESR) e di camere a ionizzazione Markus per le misurazioni degli Output Factors (OFs) di fasci di elettroni prodotti da un acceleratore lineare utilizzato per la IORT. Gli OFs dei fasci di elettroni convenzionali ad alta energia sono normalmente misurati utilizzando camera di ionizzazione secondo protocolli dosimetrici internazionali. Tuttavia, i fasci elettronici utilizzati in IORT presentano caratteristiche quali (quali impulso di dose, spettro energetico e distribuzione angolare molto diversa dai fasci solitamente utilizzate in radioterapia esterna), per cui l'applicazione diretta di protocolli dosimetrici internazionali può introdurre ulteriori incertezze dosimetriche. Gli OFs ottenuti mediante dosimetri di alanina letti tramite ESR sono stati confrontati con quelli ottenuti con camere a ionizzazione di tipo Markus. Il confronto è stato completato da simulazioni Monte Carlo utilizzando l’applicazione dedicata alla IORT di Geant4 che consente di ottenere informazioni dettagliate sulla distribuzione di dose

Pigmented Nodular Basal Cell Carcinomas in Differential Diagnosis with Nodular Melanomas: Confocal Microscopy as a Reliable Tool for In Vivo Histologic Diagnosis

Nodular basal cell carcinoma, especially when pigmented, can be in differential diagnosis with nodular melanomas, clinically and dermoscopically. Reflectance confocal microscopy is a relatively new imaging technique that permits to evaluate in vivo skin tumors with a nearly histological resolution. Here, we present four cases of challenging nodular lesions where confocal microscopy was able to clarify the diagnosis

A Conceptual Review on Using Consequential Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for the Energy Sector

Energy is engaged in the supply chain of many economic sectors; therefore, the environmental impacts of the energy sector are indirectly linked to those of other sectors. Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) is an appropriate methodology to examine the direct and indirect environmental impacts of a product due to technological, economic or social changes. To date, different methodological approaches are proposed, combining economic and environmental models. This paper reviews the basic concept of CLCA and the coupling of economic and environmental models for performing CLCA in the energy sector during the period 2006\u20132020, with the aim to provide a description of the different tools, highlighting their strengths and limitations. From the review, it emerges that economic modelling tools are frequently used in combination with environmental data for CLCA in the energy sector, including equilibrium, input-output, and dynamic models. Out of these, the equilibrium model is the most widely used, showing some strengths in availability of data and energy system modelling tools. The input-output model allows for describing both direct and indirect effects due to changes in the energy sector, by using publicly available data. The dynamic model is less frequently applied due to its limitation in availability of data and modelling tools, but has recently attracted more attention due to the ability in modelling quantitative and qualitative indicators of sustainability

Comparison of EPR response of pure alanine and alanine with gadolinium dosimeters exposed to TRIGA Mainz reactor

The development of Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT) for cancer treatments has stimulated the research for beam characterization in order to optimize the therapy procedures. The NCT has found to be promising for treatments of tumours which hardly can be treated with other techniques, such as gliomas. Alongside with the improvements of this technique, the development of procedures for the beam characterization arouses great interest in order to optimize the therapy protocol by reliably determining the various (neutronic and photonic) components of the mixed beam usually employed for therapy. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) dosimetry for electron and photon beams with alanine has attracted the attention of many research groups for dosimetric purposes. Furthermore, the applications of EPR dosimetry for high LET radiation beams, such as carbon ions and neutrons, are continuously increasing. This is because of the very good dosimetric features of alanine EPR detectors such as: tissue equivalence for photon beams, linearity of its dose-response over a wide range, high stability of radiation induced free radicals, no destructive read-out procedure, no need of sample treatment before EPR signal measurement and low cost of the dosimeters. Moreover, in order to improve the sensitivity to thermal neutrons of alanine dosimeters the addition of nuclei such as gadolinium oxidewas previously studied. The choice of Gd as additive nucleus is due to its very high capture cross section to thermal neutrons and to the possibility for secondary particles produced after interaction with thermal neutrons of releasing their energy in the neighbourhood of the reaction site. In particular, it was found that low concentration (i.e. 5% by weight) of gadolinium oxide brings about an neutron sensitivity enhancement of more than 10 times without heavily reducing tissue equivalence. We have studied the response of alanine pellets with and without gadolinium exposed to the thermal column of the TRIGA Mark II research reactor at the University of Mainz. Pure alanine dosimeters used were produced by Synergy Health (Germany) whereas the Gd-added dosimeters were produced at the University of Palermo. The irradiations were performed inside polyethylene holders to guarantee charged particles equilibrium conditions. The results of EPR experiments are compared to Monte Carlo (MC) simulations aimed at obtaining information about the contribution of the various components to the total dose measured by means of EPR dosimeters. For alanine dosimeters a good agreement between experimental data and MC simulation have been achieved

Utility of ocular motility tests in orbital floor fractures with muscle entrapment that is not detected on computed tomography

Purpose: Determine the usefulness of ocular motility testing to detect the presence of muscle entrapment. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study of patients with symptoms of diplopia secondary to facial trauma. Inclusion criteria: age between 20 and 80 years; symptoms of diplopia following facial trauma; presence of orbital floor fracture confirmed radiologically; presence of muscle entrapment confirmed at the time of surgery; best-corrected visual acuity of 0.6 or more. Exclusion criteria: muscle entrapment visible on computed tomography; candidate for immediate surgical correction; prior history of strabismus surgery. Outcome measures: Abnormal Head Position (AHP), Hirschberg Corneal Reflexes (CR), Cover/Uncover and Alternating Cover Test, Hertel exophthalmometry, Near Point of Convergence (NPC), Kestenbaum Limbus test, Red Filter test, and Hess screen test. Results: Forty-six subjects (38 males, 8 females, mean age 27 ± 3.3 SD years). Pre-operative assessment: forty-six (100%) reported diplopia on the Red Filter test and showed some degree of abnormality on the Hess Screen test. Forty-two (91%) showed AHP. Forty-one (89%) had exophthalmometry values that differed 2 mm or more between the two eyes and insufficient NPC. Thirty-two (69.6%) showed deficits of 3 mm or more on the Kestenbaum Limbus test. Sixteen (35%) had abnormal Hirschberg corneal reflexes. Eleven (24%) demonstrated constant or intermittent strabismus. Conclusion: Ocular motility testing can differentiate non-invasively, pre-operatively, and cost-effectively the presence of muscle entrapment even when this is not visible on computed tomography