272 research outputs found
From the third way to the big society: the rise and fall of social capital
No full textThe policies pursued by the coalition and the Conservative government are at odds with calls to civic engagement, argue Emanuele Ferragina and Alessandro Arrigoni. By tracing social capital in British political discourse, they explain why calls for social engagement are not only mere rhetoric, but actually incompatible with the ideas of competition and individualism which form the current neoliberal agenda
Analisi del rapporto di fornitura nell’industria manifatturiera: il percorso verso un rapporto di partnership
No full textHempcrete from cradle to grave: the role of carbonatation in the material sustainability
No full textThe goal of reducing buildings impact to the environment is achieved by minimizing the energy
consumption and through the employment of sustainable materials. However, the sustainability of
building materials is assessed too many times considering a single phase of the material lifecycle
(e.g. the use phase for good insulating materials). Even “LCA” studies focus sometimes on a single
stage of the lifecycle, but this approach is particularly wrong for materials that improve or reduce
their environmental performance during the operational phase or at the end of the building’s life.
This is the case for materials containing lime, whose strength and sustainability increase theoretically
along with the carbonatation process. An innovative building material containing lime is the
hempcrete brick: a non-structural composite material obtained from a mixture of hemp shives
(woody core of the hemp stalk) and a lime based binder; this material shows good thermal performances
( . m) and moisture buffering capacit. LCA studies about hempcrete materials
either leave out the carbonatation process from the assessment or assume that lime is fully recarbonated
in the use phase of the building. The goal of our study is to assess the real rate of
carbonatation of hempcrete bricks in order to include the results in a thorough LCA study and to
understand the weight this process can have in the overall sustainability of the material. The carbonatation
rate has been evaluated on bricks produced by the Italian company Equilibrium Srl. The
degree of carbonatation is evaluated through X-ray diffraction on samples extracted at regular intervals
from the brick production up to 5 months. Carbonatation depth profiles are obtained too.
Results show the importance of evaluating the behavior of a material in all the phases of the lifecycle
and could be used for future LCA studies on hempcrete materials exposed to similar conditions
Life cycle environmental benefits of a forward-thinking design phase for buildings: the case study of a temporary pavilion built for an international exhibition
No full textThe life cycle of a pavilion built for an international exhibition was investigated to understand the role that the design phase may play in the environmental sustainability of buildings. The limited life span of the structure allowed for a complete life cycle assessment (LCA) based on primary data to be undertaken, including the end of the first life. A methodology that considered an extension of the service life was applied to estimate the environmental impacts of distinct end-of-life scenarios. Results confirmed the paramount importance of the design phase in improving the life cycle sustainability of buildings. Accurate selection of materials allowed to markedly reduce the impact of the product stage (e.g. 37% fewer greenhouse gas emissions). Design for disassembly proved to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition to minimise the end-of-life impacts: design phase should not be limited to the appropriate selection of materials and components’ connections but must also foresee a second use for the structure or the materials at the end of the first life. Forecasting an after-life for the structure could reduce the life cycle burden up to 40% for several environmental impact categories. Conversely, if the second use is not predefined, the economic cost in the dismantling operation could become the priority rather than the salvaging of the components. Results of the present study may be used by future (temporary) building designers to improve the sustainability of their structure and to avoid the errors identified in the present case
Oswald Mathias Ungers, Aldo Rossi: regesto delle opere analizzate
No full textIl Laboratorio di Progettazione del l anno è stato suddiviso
in due parti: il ridisegno di un'architettura e l'esercitazione
progettuale sul tema dell'abitare al Rupenhom dì Oswald
Mathias Ungers e nel complesso residenziale San Rocco
di Aldo Rossi. Il ridisegno pone come obbiettivo primario
lo studio preliminare di un'architettura
Agli studenti, suddivisi in gruppi di due persone, è stata
assegnata un'opera da analizzare per mezzo del ridisegno.
Le architetture esaminate riguardano principalmente
le residenze ed edifici pubblici come scuole, musei,
biblioteche. Nella prima parte del corso gli studenti
provenienti da diverse scuole e con formazioni culturali
differenti, si trovano a rapportarsi per la prima volta con
l'architettura e con la disciplina del disegno: risulta quindi
fondamentale fornire loro gli strumenti completi per
un'analisi compositiva dell'architettura Per consentire un
avvicinamento graduale al progetto è stata fornita una
bibliografia riguardante l'autore e l'opera, al fine di indirizzare
lo studio sulla personalità ed il clima culturale, stimolando al
contempo l'attenzione verso l'approfondimento dell'ambito
di ricerca Ed è proprio sulla ricerca bibliografica che
gli studenti hanno impostato l'analisi iniziale dell'opera
Ricerca che consiste principalmente nel reperire i disegni
di progetto: piante, prospetti, sezioni, assonometrie. Parte
delle opere selezionate non sono realizzate e di alcune
non esiste una documentazione completa Pertanto agli
studenti è richiesta una ricostruzione anche tridimensionale
per completarne l'apparato iconografico.
La rielaborazione grafica non rappresenta da questa
prospettiva un semplice procedimento di restituzione del
manufatto studiato, ma costringe lo studente ad un'attenta
verifica dei rapporti tra le parti della composizione stessa,
chiarendo in questo modo il significato profondo del
progetto considerato. Il ridisegno assume dunque il valore
di decisiva assimilazione dei criteri della progettazione:
rapporti di proporzione, modularità, ritmo, simmetria,
conoscenza tipologica divengono i principi informatori con i
quali condurre gli allievi verso il progetto d'architettura
Concrete with Organic Waste Materials as Aggregate Replacement
No full textThe disposal of high volumes of organic waste is a global issue. Using organic waste instead of sand as an aggregate material for concrete could reduce the strain on waste treatment processes and on the extraction of finite resources. At the same time, it could be a climate change mitigation strategy, by storing the biogenic carbon contained in the organic waste. This project investigated the viability of replacing 10% of fine aggregate in concrete with various organic waste materials, namely rice husk ash, wood ash, corncob granules, and wheat straw. The fresh concrete’s properties were studied using the slump test, and the hardened concrete’s mechanical properties were measured using the compressive strength and flexural strength tests. In this study, 14 days of curing were considered for the mechanical tests, although the 28-day mechanical strength is more generally accepted. The mechanical performances along with a life cycle assessment (LCA) comparison between the concrete with organic waste and traditional concrete were conducted. The results suggested that rice husk ash and wood ash are the most-suitable organic waste products for use as aggregate replacers considering the mechanical properties. The concrete samples incorporating wheat straw and corncob granules exhibited relatively low strength; unless advanced treatment methods are applied to enhance the concrete’s performance, the utilization of these organic wastes in concrete may be limited. The environmental impact assessment of traditional concrete shows that the main contributor to almost every impact category is the production of Portland cement. Sand production contributes only marginally to the overall impact of the concrete. In terms of life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, traditional concrete exhibits the lowest GWP impact per cubic meter when mechanical properties are included in the functional unit used for the comparison. Nevertheless, concrete samples with wood ash and rice husk ash partially offset their lower compressive strength with higher carbon sequestration, showing a similar GWP impact to traditional concrete. This makes them promising alternatives, especially for cases where limited compressive strengths are needed. Further investigations to improve their mechanical properties and optimize their performance are warranted
Embracing Digital and Technological Solutions in nursing: A scoping review and conceptual framework
No full textIntroduction: Digital and technological solutions (DTS) are emerging as promising avenues to improve the quality
and efficiency of healthcare. This scoping review aimed to map the literature on embracing DTS in nursing, from
primary to tertiary care settings.
Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute guidance for scoping reviews was used. The authors searched MEDLINE,
Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PROSPERO databases for published articles
and relevant peer-reviewed research protocols. Screening and data abstraction were conducted by two reviewers
independently, with a third reviewer resolving discrepancies. Frequency and thematic analyses were conducted.
Results: The study highlights the crucial role nurses play in introducing, implementing, and using DTS. The
summarized literature emphasizes that cultivating positive attitudes, possessing sufficient knowledge, compe-
tencies, self-efficacy, and displaying appropriate behaviors toward such technologies are vital in ensuring their
effective incorporation into nursing practice.
Discussion and conclusions: The findings of this scoping review provide a foundation for future research on DTS
adoption in nursing and support the development of evidence-based strategies to improve nursing practice
through DTS implementation. Therefore, the article proposes the Digital and Technological Framework (Dig-
itech-F) for healthcare professionals as a comprehensive conceptual framework that addresses skills, knowledge,
attitude, and competence to ensure the effective adoption of DTS in nursing
Tactical Game-theoretic Decision-making with Homotopy Class Constraints
No full textWe propose a tactical homotopy-aware decision-making framework for game-theoretic motion planning in urban environments. We model urban driving as a generalized Nash equilibrium problem (GNEP) with mixed-integer constraints and employ homotopic class constraints to tame the combinatorial aspect of motion planning. More specifically, by utilizing homotopy classes, we partition the high-dimensional solution space into finite, well-defined subregions. Each subregion (homotopy) corresponds to a high-level tactical decision, such as the passing order between pairs of players. The proposed formulation allows finding global optimal Nash equilibria in a computationally tractable manner by solving a mixed-integer quadratic program (MIQP). Each homotopy decision is represented by a binary variable that activates different sets of linear collision avoidance constraints. By guiding the branch-and-bound solver, the introduction of homotopic constraints allows for a more efficient search, leading to..
Life cycle analysis of environmental impact vs. durability of stabilised rammed earth
No full textRammed earth (RE) has enjoyed a revival in recent decades due to the increasing awareness of environmental issues surrounding the building industry. Although RE in its traditional form is deemed a highly environmentally-friendly material, the same cannot be said for its modern stabilised counterpart. Comprehensive experimental procedures exist to estimate mechanical strength properties of stabilised RE (SRE). However, tests for material durability are far less common. Engineers and practitioners therefore assume that strength and durability are interchangeable properties, i.e. the stronger the material, the more durable. Inflated strengths are recommended to ensure adequate durability, leading to high environmental costs through excessive use of stabilisers. This paper rates the relevance of two acknowledged durability tests (accelerated erosion due to sprayed water and mass loss due to wire brushing) and relates outcomes to the strength and the environmental impact of several SRE mixes. The environmental impact of each mix was estimated using attributional and consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches as well as an assessment of cumulative energy demand. Results demonstrated that it is possible to have durable SRE mixes without paying the cost of using environmentally-expensive stabilisers
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