1,721,109 research outputs found
"L’organizzazione e i processi di senso” in Niero M. “L’analisi dei bisogni formativi fra attore sociale e sistema"
No full textDalle solidarietà istituzionalizzate al capitale sociale: problemi e prospettive del volontariato in italia.
No full textImplementation of the European Union´s packaging and packaging waste regulation: A decision support framework combining quantitative environmental sustainability assessment methods and socio-technical approaches
Full text linkThe recent proposal for a European Union Regulation on packaging and packaging waste has a two-fold aims: i) to reduce the negative environmental impacts of packaging and packaging waste and ii) to improve the functioning of the internal market. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has historically been able to address the specific objectives of the proposal and is recognized as a key decision support tool in the circular economy context. In this short communication, it is argued that the new EU regulation calls for systemic changes, i.e. changes that are not simply just technological changes, but changes that might give rise to conflicts among actors and that are reliant on the active involvement of end-users. Therefore, to tackle the challenges in the implementation of the requirements of the new regulation a multi-disciplinary research approach able to address both technical aspects and social relations is needed. Accordingly, a conceptual framework combining quantitative environmental sustainability assessment tools (i.e. LCA and Material Flow Analysis) and qualitative socio-technical approaches (i.e. Actor-Network mapping and Practice Theory) is presented. The added value of such combination is illustrated in relation to two cases relevant for packaging, i.e. take-away food and food waste sorting. To exploit the full potential of LCA as a support to the decision-making process, the need to move beyond a product-centric analysis and instead adopt a socio-material perspective is outlined and the packaging sector has the potential to be a frontrunner in this context
Operazioni Unitarie dell'Ingegneria Alimentare. Modelli fisici e matematici. Macchine e impianti.
No full textLa produzione industriale degli alimenti richiede lo studio tecnologico dei processi che dalla materia prima conducono al prodotto (tecnologia alimentare). I processi possono essere visti come il susseguirsi di singole operazioni (unitarie) ciascuna
delle quali richiede anche una modellazione fisica e matematica e, di conseguenza, l’approntamento di strumenti di calcolo delle relative macchine ed impianti
(ingegneria alimentare).
Questo tipo di indagine sulle operazioni unitarie dell’ingegneria alimentare, costituisce l’obiettivo del presente volume. In esso vengono richiamati, di volta in volta, alcuni argomenti di base, come la meccanica dei solidi e dei fluidi, la
trasmissione del calore e il trasporto di materia. Quindi vengono affrontate le più diffuse operazioni unitarie: trasporto di prodotti fluidi e semifluidi, estrazione meccanica e per solvente, decantazione statica e centrifuga, filtrazione, filtrazione con membrane, pastorizzazione, sterilizzazione, concentrazione, refrigerazione, surgelazione, essiccazione, liofilizzazione e distillazione. Esistono altre operazioni,
più rare perché specifiche di particolari prodotti, alle quali non si è potuto dare spazio.
Il testo è destinato agli allievi dei corsi di laurea in Scienze e Tecnologie Alimentari, sia di primo che di secondo livello, ma è organizzato anche con alcuni paragrafi e appendici di approfondimento per fornire ulteriori strumenti di calcolo ai tecnologi e agli ingegneri operanti nel mondo dell’industria. Per il livello degli argomenti, tipico dei corsi di insegnamento di Operazioni unitarie e di Macchine e impianti
dell’industria alimentare, queste parti possono essere omesse senza che venga a perdersi la continuità del percorso didattico.
Dei sedici capitoli totali i primi nove sono stati scritti da Dario Friso, i successivi sette da Mario Niero. All’interno di ognuno di essi, sono presenti varie applicazioni numeriche di calcolo, nonché tabelle e grafici relativi alle proprietà meccaniche e
termiche di molti prodotti alimentari
Modelling the influence of changing climate in present and future marine eutrophication impacts from spring barley production
No full textNitrate concentration and runoff are site-specific and driven by climatic factors and crop management. As such, nitrate emissions may increase in the future due to climate change, affecting the marine eutrophication mechanism. In this context, and considering the case of spring barley production in Denmark, the paper has two objectives: (i) to estimate the present and future marine eutrophication impacts by combining a novel Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) modelling approach with a quantification of the effects of climate change on its parameterisation, and (ii) to discuss the implications of different normalisation references when comparing future Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) scenarios with current production systems. A parameterised characterisation model was developed to gauge the influence of future climatic-driven pressures on the marine eutrophication impact pathway. Spatial differentiation was added to the resulting 'present' and 'future' characterisation factors (CFs) and calculated for the Baltic and North Sea. The temporal variability of both midpoint normalised impact scores and damage scores reflect a 34% and 28% increase of the CFs in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, respectively. The temporal variability is mostly explained by CF variation and increasing future nitrogen flows. The marine eutrophication indicator scores at both midpoint and damage levels suggest that the differentiation of impacts to various receiving (and potentially perturbed) ecosystems is relevant. Damage scores are quantified with a factor 2.5 and 23 differentiation between the Baltic (higher) and North Seas (lower) for the present and future scenarios, respectively. The comparison of the normalisation methods, either based on total annual impacts (domestic inventory of background interventions), on ecological carrying capacity, or on the presently proposed method, point to the value of adding Spatial differentiation to LCIA models. The inclusion of time variation and spatial differentiation in characterisation modelling of marine eutrophication and the identification of a paucity of adequate inventory data for future scenario analysis constitute the main outcomes of this study. Further research should aim at reducing the uncertainty of the parameterisation under future conditions and strengthening emissions projections. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Feminist LCAs: Finding leverage points for wellbeing within planetary boundaries
Full text linkLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies are valuable tools for identifying high impact processes and redesigning supply chains. However, LCAs have limits, in the sense that they offer insight into relative sustainability and don't question whether a product, or its use, is sustainable in absolute terms. In this intentionally provocative paper, you join Emma, a fictional average American 15-year-old, as she consults an LCA researcher, a sustainable consumption expert and a sociologist to investigate the best way to reduce the environmental impact of her hair removal. This paper presents a streamlined LCA for shaving, waxing and laser and connects this to a socio-material analysis of the history of hair removal in the USA to offer intervention into leverage points beyond Emma's choice of product. Our argument is not that avoiding shaving or waxing or laser is ‘the best’ action an individual could take to lower their environmental impact, instead we highlight how even the smallest activities coalesce into billion-dollar industries globally, with attendant billion tonne emissions. Thus, we utilise some of Danielle Meadows' twelve strategic leverage points to change systems in order to identify other interventions, such as (6) shifting information flows to make LCAs more impactful and accessible; (4) self-organising to normalise hairiness; or (3) changing the goals of the system. For example, valuing wellbeing over profit would arguably lead to regulation preventing medical professionals from marketing painful non-medical procedures. This paper reflects on how individuals make sense of their environmental impact within systems and argues for an increased emphasis on global wellbeing and absolute sustainability
Environmental sustainability of liquid food packaging: Is there a gap between Danish consumers' perception and learnings from life cycle assessment?
Full text linkThe environmental impact of packaging has already been studied since the early development of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, and today an extensive amount of studies exists. LCAs inform policy makers and guide companies in developing more environmentally sustainable packaging. From both a policy and a business perspective it is also relevant to understand what citizens and consumers recognize as being an environmentally sustainable packaging. Does perceived environmental sustain ability align with the results of LCAs? And if not, where do consumers go wrong? In this study, we investigate how well-educated young consumers living in Denmark understand the environmental sustainability of five different kinds of packaging for liquid food (milk, beer, soft drink, olive oil and skinned tomatoes) based on an on-line survey and qualitative interviews. The results are compared with a streamlined LCA we performed for packaging of beer and soft drinks, and they are validated by means of comparative LCAs of these five product categories published in scientific literature. The results of the consumer research show that consumers assess the environmental sustainability of the tested types of packaging primarily based on the material type and on what they can personally do at the disposal stage. The consumers covered in this study do, in general, not consider the impacts of production and of transport. Amongst the investigated packaging types, bio-based types and glass are perceived as the most environmentally sustainable ones, and plastic in general is perceived least favourable. Laminated cartons receive a mixed perception. LCA results show that plastic - and especially laminated cartons - can be environmentally preferable solutions, even though they may be difficult to recycle. Our streamlined LCA on beer and soft drink shows that there is a significant difference in environmental performance between one-way glass and refillable glass, but consumers seem not to be aware of this difference. Our findings show i) that there is a gap between Danish consumers' perception of environmental sustainability of packaging and LCA results, and ii) that consumers have limited knowledge of sustainability-related eco-labels. In order to close these gaps, actions are needed both from producers, retailers and policy makers. The final aim of such improvement efforts should be to give to the consumers the possibility to make choices based on better information. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Item generation of a quality of life questionnaire specific for ileal orthotopic neobladder
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