A Study of State Parameters for Road Construction of MSWI Bottom Ash

The current work tries to valorize the bottom ash from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI). The bottom ash from waste incineration consists of atypical granular materials. They are industrial by-products resulting from the incineration of domestic waste and the way of the considered valorization is road gravel. In this paper, we present the state parameters of bottom ash taken from a recycling company in the North of France. These features can help us evaluate our bottom ash according to the technical guide of realization of embankments and subgrades.

Technical guide for the development, evaluation, and modification of stream assessment methods for the Corps Regulatory Program

The U.S. Army Corps Regulatory Program considers the loss (impacts) and gain (compensatory mitigation) of aquatic resource functions as part of Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting and compensatory mitigation decisions. To better inform this regulatory decision-making, the Regulatory Program needs transparent and objective approaches to assess the function and condition of aquatic resources, including streams. Therefore, the Regulatory Program needs function-based stream assessments (1) to characterize a stream’s condition or function, (2) to improve understanding of the impact of a proposed action on an aquatic resource, and/or (3) to inform the development of stream compensatory mitigation tools rooted in stream condition and/or function. A function-based stream assessment can provide regulatory decision makers with the resources to objectively consider alternatives, minimize impacts, assess unavoidable impacts, determine mitigation requirements, and monitor the success of mitigation projects. A multiagency National Committee on Stream Assessment (NCSA) convened to create these guidelines to inform the development of new methods and evaluation of both national-level and regional methods currently in use. The resulting guidelines present nine phases, including rationale and recommendations to facilitate work efforts. The NCSA hopes that this technical guide promotes transparency, technical defensibility, and consistent application of stream assessments in the Regulatory Program.

Locating the Italian Radioactive Waste Repository: Issues and Perplexities Arisen from Open Data-Based Analyses about the TO-10 Site (NW Italy)

Recently, Italy has started the procedure for the selection of suitable sites for hosting the National Repository for Low-Medium Activity Radioactive Wastes. Sogin spa, a public company, taking into account the criteria of the ISPRA Technical Guide no. 29, solicited by the EU Directive 2011/70/Euratom, has presented the CNAPI (National Map of the Potentially Suitable Areas) which has become operative since 5 January 2021. Sixty-seven sites were identified in Italy as potentially suitable for hosting the repository. Some criticalities immediately appeared concerning the properness of the selection. An analysis was, therefore, achieved to explore part of the rationales underlying the adopted procedure. A paradigmatic site, namely the TO-10 one (NW Italy), was chosen for the analysis, which highlighted significant anomalies affecting both the procedure rationales and its results. Since the selection process majorly relies on geographical data, attention was particularly paid on the role of official data from open archives. With reference to the most updated and detailed ones, we demonstrated that the Sogin procedure suffers from several critical points. In particular, with reference to the TO-10 site, we found that it cannot be absolutely considered to be suitable for hosting the National Deposit. In fact, it proved to match several exclusion criteria included in the ISPRA Technical Guide n. 29. These include: the potentially high “seismic risk” due to a “seismic gap” and complex tectonics associated with uplift (up to 1–1.5 mm/y); a highly vulnerable and extremely superficial groundwater table; a high permeability (10−2–10−3 m/s) of the cover sedimentary units; not proper buffer zones around local settlements. In spite of the local specificity of the analysis, results concerning procedure weaknesses are general. Consequently, we expect that they can be a stimulus for Sogin to more properly face the next steps of the selection procedure.

Effects of Sintering Behaviors on Dimensional Accuracy, Surface Quality, and Mechanical Properties of Stereolithography-printed 3Y-ZrO2 Ceramics

Sintering process is essential to acquire the final components by stereolithography (SLA), which is a promising additive manufacturing technology for the fabrication of complex, custom-designed dental implants. 3Y-ZrO2 ceramics at different sintering behaviors in air atmosphere were successfully obtained in this study. Firstly, the curing properties of homemade pastes were studied, and the penetration depth and critical exposure of the pastes were calculated as 17.2 μm and 4.80 mJ/cm2, respectively. The green ceramic parts were performed at 154 mW laser power and 6000 mm/s scanning speed. Then, the dimensional accuracy, surface quality, and mechanical properties of 3Y-ZrO2 ceramics were investigated. The shrinkages of length, width, and height were 26%~27 %, 30%~31 %, and 27%~33 % in sintered ceramics, respectively. The Ra values of XOY, YOZ, and XOZ surfaces showed an anisotropic feature, and they were smallest as 0.52 μm, 2.40 μm, and 2.46 μm, respectively. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties presented a similar trend that they grew first and then dropped at various sintering behaviors. The optimal parameters were 1500 ℃, 60 min, and 4 ℃/min, and the maximum relative density of 96.18 %, Vickers hardness of 12.45 GPa, and fracture toughness of 6.35 MPa·m1/2 were achieved. Finally, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis demonstrated that no change was observed in crystal transformation and phase composition, and the organic was completely removed in sintered ceramics. This research is expected to provide a technical guide for the fabrication of ceramics for dental implants using SLA technique.

Comparison of Methodological Approaches for the Evaluation of Ecosystem Services for Options to Develop Sustainable Tourism Forms (Ecotourism) (Example: Bratislava IV)

Ecosystem services are the benefits provided to human society by natural ecosystems, which are generally understood as the ecosystem processes that sustain human life. In particular, an ecosystem’s cultural services include intangible benefits derived from aesthetic and other experiences, recreation, cognition and spiritual enrichment, and the ability to discern values. The study focuses on the comparison of two methodological approaches to the evaluation of landscape and the benefits of ecosystems for the development of ecological forms of tourism, using Bratislava IV as an example. The basis for database information is the processing of secondary landscape structure. The first methodological approach is based on a detailed mapping of land cover classes (Land Cover) in accordance with the legend of the Technical Guide CORINE Land Cover – supplement at the fourth and fifth levels of mapping in 2014‒2018 and determining the degree of landscape-ecological significance. The second approach is based on creating a set of relevant indicators and their evaluation using the scaling and weighting method. We reached the conclusion that the first methodological approach is more suitable for smaller territories at the cadastral level, while the second is better suited for regional-level territories.