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This paper describes the needs an challenges in the sector of Life Cycle Assessment of Algae Biofuels

Abstract The implementation of energy efficiency measures is an effective way to gain energy savings in the Italian residential sector. This paper assesses the embodied energy impact related to the envelope insulation and evaluates the energy and carbon payback of the efficiency measures. The proposed method consists of (1) an estimation of the baseline operational energy consumption, (2) simulations of realistic retrofit solutions and, (3) the assessment of the ‘retrofitting’ embodied energy and the energy and carbon payback time calculation. The payback is based on the comparison between the saved operational energy and the embodied energy of the materials selected for insulation. Ten Italian cities are analysed, and the results show a deep dependence on the climate zone. In Northern Italian cities, envelope insulation gains relevance as the energy and carbon payback periods are shorter, about 3 years against the 84 years for the Southern city of Palermo. The optimal thickness is estimated for the city of Milan considering the building’s typology, the insulation materials, and the energy payback. This study shows how the total energy savings can be used as a criterion to obtain design indications.

Effectively incorporating external advice is an important problem in reinforcement learning, especially as it moves into the real world. Potential-based reward shaping is a way to provide the agent with a specific form of additional reward, with the guarantee of policy invariance. In this work we give a novel way to incorporate an arbitrary reward function with the same guarantee, by implicitly translating it into the specific form of dynamic advice potentials, which are maintained as an auxiliary value function learnt at the same time. We show that advice provided in this way captures the input reward function in expectation, and demonstrate its efficacy empirically.

Urban environments provide opportunities for greater resource efficiency and the fostering of urban ecosystems. Brownfield areas are a typical example of underused land resources. Brownfield redevelopment projects that include green infrastructure allow for further ecosystems to be accommodated in urban environments. Green infrastructure also deliver important urban ecosystem services (UES) to local residents, which can greatly contribute to improving quality of life in cities. In this case study, we quantify and assess the economic value of five UES for a brownfield redevelopment project in Antwerp, Belgium. The assessment is carried out using the “Nature Value Explorer” modelling tool. The case includes three types of green infrastructure (green corridor,infiltration gullies and green roofs) primarily intended to connect nature reserves on the urban periphery and to avoid surface runoff. The green infrastructure also provides air filtration, climate regulation, carbon sequestration and recreation ecosystem services. The value of recreation far exceeds other values, including the value of avoided runoff. The case study raises crucial questions as to whether existing UES valuation approaches adequately account for the range of UES provided and whether such approaches can be improved to achieve more accurate and reliable value estimates in future analyses.

Abstract Silicon carbide-based filter elements were catalytically activated to provide filter elements for catalytic tar removal from biomass-derived syngas. The filter element support was coated with CeO 2 , CaO–Al 2 O 3 and MgO with a specific surface of 7.4, 15.9 and 21.9 m 2 /g synthesized by exo-templating with activated carbon. Doping of a MgO coated filter element with 60 wt% NiO has led to an increase of the specific surface from 0.15 to 0.21 m 2 /g, whereas in case of a MgO–Al 2 O 3 coated filter element a decrease from 1.18 to 0.91 m 2 /g was found. An increase of the NiO loading from 6 to 60 wt% on a MgO coated filter element resulted in an increase of the naphthalene conversion from 91 to 100% at 800 °C and a face velocity of 2.5 cm/s at a naphthalene concentration of 5 g/Nm 3 in model biomass gasification gas. In case of a MgO–Al 2 O 3 coated filter element with 60 wt% NiO in addition to complete naphthalene conversion in the absence of H 2 S, a higher conversion of 66% was found in the presence of 100 ppmv H 2 S compared to 49% of the MgO–NiO coated filter element. After scaling up of the catalytic activation procedure to a 1520 mm long filter candle, which shows an acceptable differential pressure of 54.9 mbar, 58 and 97% naphthalene conversion was achieved in the presence and absence of H 2 S, respectively. The calculated WHSV value of 209.6 Nm 3 h −1 kg −1 indicates the technical feasibility of a further increase of the catalytic performance by an increase of the NiO loading.

Samples of two hundred finger‐ and toenails cultured after a 70% alcohol disinfection for 2 min were compared with non‐disinfected samples cultured on a classical way. Alcohol treatment caused a significant decrease in isolation of yeast and moulds. Both organisms were cultivated at 25.5 and 31%, respectively, when not treated with alcohol, whereas the isolation rate dropped to 10 and 17.5%, respectively, after alcohol treatment. Isolation of dermatophytes decreased from 27.5 to 23.5% when alcohol disinfection was used. In conclusion, although alcohol disinfection of nail samples in the laboratory effectively decreases the isolation rate of unwanted contaminants on Sabouraud glucose agar without cycloheximide, it hampers the isolation of dermatophytes and pathogenic yeasts on cycloheximide‐containing media.

There is a growing need to assist those who have suffered an amputation due to vascular diseases, especially in those who have general lower limb weakness and need additional assistance to retain independence and overall quality of life. The CYBERLEGs system is a new artificial physical and cognitive lower-limb replacement system for dysvascular transfemoral amputees intended for assistance in activities of daily living. By lowering the cognitive and metabolic effort of using a prosthetic system, CYBERLEGs is intended to increase the number of amputees using prosthetic systems as well as expand the capabilities of those who use currently available technology.