Environmental and Economic LCA Comparison of Flexural Strengthening Solutions for a Reinforced Concrete Beam.

The construction sector is one of the largest creators and distributors of wealth, contributing to economic growth worldwide. However, this economic growth comes together with very high environmental impacts. Thus, rehabilitation solutions that can adapt the current building stock to today's structural requirements are needed, increasing structural safety, while avoiding the production of demolition waste and the extraction of virgin raw materials, hence lowering the construction sector's environmental impacts.

Can Grapevine Leaf Water Potential Be Modelled from Physiological and Meteorological Variables? A Machine Learning Approach.

Climate change is affecting global viticulture, increasing heatwaves and drought. Precision irrigation, supported by robust water status indicators (WSIs), is inevitable in most of the Mediterranean basin. One of the most reliable WSIs is the leaf water potential (Ψleaf), which is determined via an intrusive and time-consuming method.

A comparative approach to evaluate the toxicity of building materials through life cycle assessment.

Background: This paper addresses the lack of research that compares the toxicity of commonly used construction materials. The toxicity of construction materials has received less attention, despite its importance within the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. All aspects, including toxicity, need to be analysed throughout the life cycle of the material to understand its true behaviour.

Integrated Performance Evaluation of Aerogel-Based Fibre-Enhanced Thermal Renders Applied on Building Walls.

In this work, aerogel renders were enhanced with fibres for use in new building walls, emphasising a Mediterranean climate. The main novelty of the study relies on an integrated evaluation of the aerogel-based fibre-enhanced thermal renders from environmental, energy and economic approaches. Therefore, optimum insulation thicknesses, life cycle savings, payback periods, abiotic depletion potential from fossil fuels (ADP-ff) and global warming potential (GWP) impacts were quantified as a function of the energy consumption.

Application of Silica-Aerogel-Fibre-Based Thermal Renders for Retrofits in Building Walls: A Comparative Assessment with Benchmark Solutions.

The current climate change context raises the demand for reducing energy and environmental impacts while keeping an economic balance and building users' comfort. Thermal insulation solutions are potential allies in ensuring the adequacy of existing buildings for challenging sustainability requirements. In this scenario, silica-aerogel-fibre-based thermal renders are innovative solutions for which integrated approaches still lack information, and they should be compared with benchmark multilayer solutions, such as those based on expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), mineral wool (MW), and insulated corkboard (ICB), to evidence their prospective economic, environmental, and energy benefits.

First Approach to the Aroma Characterization of Monovarietal Red Wines Produced from Varieties Better Adapted to Abiotic Stresses.

Adaptation strategies in the wine sector consist of the use of cultural techniques to limit damages caused by climate change, using, among other resources, varieties better adapted to the scenarios of abiotic stress exacerbation, namely water and thermal stress, as well as those more tolerant to heatwaves. With the intention to determine the aromatic characterization of ten monovarietal wines produced from cultivars with high productive performance in a global warming scenario ('Petit Verdot', 'Marselan', 'Merlot', 'Touriga Franca', 'Syrah', 'Vinhão', 'Bobal', 'Preto Martinho', 'Trincadeira', and 'Alicante Bouschet'), grown in Esporão vineyard (Alentejo, Portugal) and submitted to deficit irrigation (Ks ± 0.5), their aromatic character has been analyzed.

Learning curve for performing laparoscopic common bile duct exploration in biliary surgery 2.0 era.

Background: Recent trials and metanalysis have demonstrated the favorable results of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) and laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) for the treatment of cholecysto-choledocholithiasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the LC + LCBDE learning curve including transcystic and transductal approaches and its effect on the outcomes.

Methods: We identified all unselected patients who underwent LC + LCBDE by a single surgeon between May 2017 and July 2021.

More extensive land loss expected on coastal deltas due to rivers jumping course during sea-level rise.

River deltas are home to hundreds of millions of people worldwide and are in danger of sinking due to anthropogenic sea-level rise, land subsidence, and reduced sediment supply. Land loss is commonly forecast by averaging river sediment supply across the entire delta plain to assess whether deposition can keep pace with sea-level rise. However, land loss and deposition vary across the landscape because rivers periodically jump course, rerouting sediment to distinct subregions called delta lobes.

Ecotoxicity of Recycled Aggregates: Application of a Prediction Methodology.

Due to environmental concerns, the search for sustainable construction solutions has been increasing over the years. This global concern is creating a trend in the use of recycled aggregates resulting from construction and demolition wastes from different sources. In addition to their physical and mechanical properties, it is important to analyse their ecotoxicological risk to determine whether their leachates might be an issue.

Where rivers jump course.

Rivers can abruptly shift pathways in rare events called avulsions, which cause devastating floods. The controls on avulsion locations are poorly understood as a result of sparse data on such features. We analyzed nearly 50 years of satellite imagery and documented 113 avulsions across the globe that indicate three distinct controls on avulsion location.

Environmental and Economic Life Cycle Assessment of Recycled Coarse Aggregates: A Portuguese Case Study.

The incorporation of recycled aggregates in concrete not only reduces the extraction of natural resources, but also decreases landfill disposal of construction and demolition waste. Hence, environmental impacts and costs are reduced, promoting the use of recycled aggregates and circular economy. However, the impacts of transport depend on the distance between facilities and longer distances may result in recycled aggregates being more costly and having larger environmental impact than natural aggregates.

Chemical composition and sensory properties of Albariño wine: Fertigation effects.

Interannual climate variability and management practices, including fertigation, can alter volatile compound concentrations in wines from a given grapevine cultivar. These compounds are highly relevant for wine aroma. The current study aimed to assess the effect of two levels of fertigation on the volatile composition and sensory properties of wines from Albariño grown in two vineyards in NW Spain over three years.

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Insulation Tiles for Flat Roofs.

Envelope insulation and protection is an important technical solution to reduce energy consumption, exterior damage, and environmental impacts in buildings. Thermal insulation tiles are used simultaneously as thermal insulation of the building envelope and protection material of under layers in flat roofs systems. The purpose of this research is to assess the environmental impacts of the life cycle of thermal insulation tiles for flat roofs.

Dynamic Assessment of Construction Materials in Urban Building Stocks: A Critical Review.

There is a lack of understanding on the different types of dynamics of building stocks, in real life and in models. Moreover, there is now a particular interest in the embodied impacts of construction materials, since with the increasing efficiency of buildings operation, embodied impacts gain more importance in the overall building life cycle. This critical review wants to advance the understanding of the type of dynamics, methods, and tools used.

Influence of potassium levels on one-year outcomes in elderly patients with acute heart failure.

Background: Abnormal serum potassium levels (K) in patients with heart failure (HF) relate to worse prognosis. We evaluated whether admission K levels predict 1-year outcomes in elderly patients admitted for acute HF.

Methods: We evaluated 2865 patients aged >74 years from the RICA Spanish Heart Failure Registry, classified according to admission serum K levels: hyperkalemia (>5.

Toxicity and environmental and economic performance of fly ash and recycled concrete aggregates use in concrete: A review.

This paper presents an overview of previous studies on the environmental impact (EI) and toxicity of producing recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), fly ash (FA), cement, superplasticizer, and water as raw materials, and also on the effect of replacing cement and natural aggregates (NA) with FA and RCA, respectively, on the mentioned aspects. EI and toxicity were analysed simultaneously because considering concrete with alternative materials as sustainable depends on whether their risk assessment is high. Therefore, this study mainly focuses on the cradle-to-gate EI of one cubic meter of concrete, namely abiotic depletion potential (ADP), global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), photochemical ozone creation (POCP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), non-renewable energy (PE-NRe) and renewable energy (PE-Re).

Methodology for the Assessment of the Ecotoxicological Potential of Construction Materials.

Innovation in construction materials (CM) implies changing their composition by incorporating raw materials, usually non-traditional ones, which confer the desired characteristics. However, this practice may have unknown risks. This paper discusses the ecotoxicological potential associated with raw and construction materials, and proposes and applies a methodology for the assessment of their ecotoxicological potential.

Insulation Cork Boards-Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of an Organic Construction Material.

Envelope insulation is a relevant technical solution to cut energy consumption and reduce environmental impacts in buildings. Insulation Cork Boards (ICB) are a natural thermal insulation material whose production promotes the recycling of agricultural waste. The aim of this paper is to determine and evaluate the environmental impacts of the production, use, and end-of-life processing of ICB.