Research findings and decision making: the case of renewable energy

Energy policies from local to global scale are increasingly questioned in terms of sustainability. Evidence-based and science-based decision making in this field need a robust and transparent integrated assessment of policy options. Nevertheless, scientific findings do not lead straight to political conclusions, and the relationship between science and decision making is a debated issue. The article discusses the main barriers to effective interaction and communication between scientific enquiry and decision making and proposes some effective ways to overcome these barriers, starting from experiences in the biomass energy sector. The article discusses the case of wood fuel, focusing on one of the European hot spots for air pollution, namely the Po valley in Northern Italy. It proves to be an interesting case, especially because of the ambiguity between the positive and the negative aspects of wood burning, which, if not adequately integrated by information about the specific conditions that influence pollution levels, can lead to opposite political decisions about the use of wood in local energy plans. Starting from scientific findings it is possible to derive guidelines about the best practices to adopt in order to reduce environmental impacts along the whole wood fuel chain. In this, associations of producers and of consumers and other existing networks (e.g. forestry consortia) can be very useful, either as a source of information not published in the scientific literature and as intermediaries for translating the knowledge into a more usable format and to convey information to the final targets identified (e.g. policy makers, firms and final users).JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Estimation of local and external contributions of biomass burning to PM2.5 in an industrial zone included in a large urban settlement

A total of 85 PM2.5 samples were collected at a site located in a large industrial zone (Porto Marghera, Venice, Italy) during a 1-year-long sampling campaign. Samples were analyzed to determine water-soluble inorganic ions, elemental and organic carbon, and levoglucosan, and results were processed to investigate the seasonal patterns, the relationship between the analyzed species, and the most probable sources by using a set of tools, including (i) conditional probability function (CPF), (ii) conditional bivariate probability function (CBPF), (iii) concentration weighted trajectory (CWT), and (iv) potential source contribution function (PSCF) analyses. Furthermore, the importance of biomass combustions to PM2.5 was also estimated. Average PM2.5 concentrations ranged between 54 and 16 μg m−3 in the cold and warm period, respectively. The mean value of total ions was 11 μg m−3 (range 1–46 μg m−3): The most abundant ion was nitrate with a share of 44 % followed by sulfate (29 %), ammonium (14 %), potassium (4 %), and chloride (4 %). Levoglucosan accounted for 1.2 % of the PM2.5 mass, and its concentration ranged from few ng m−3 in warm periods to 2.66 μg m−3 during winter. Average concentrations of levoglucosan during the cold period were higher than those found in other European urban sites. This result may indicate a great influence of biomass combustions on particulate matter pollution. Elemental and organic carbon (EC, OC) showed similar behavior, with the highest contributions during cold periods and lower during summer. The ratios between biomass burning indicators (K+, Cl−, NO3−, SO42−, levoglucosan, EC, and OC) were used as proxy for the biomass burning estimation, and the contribution to the OC and PM2.5 was also calculated by using the levoglucosan (LG)/OC and LG/PM2.5 ratios and was estimated to be 29 and 18 %, respectively

Five primary sources of organic aerosols in the urban atmosphere of Belgrade (Serbia)

Biomass burning and primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) represent important primary sources of organic compounds in the atmosphere. These particles and compounds are able to affect climate and human health. In the present work, using HPLC-orbitrapMS, we determined the atmospheric concentrations of molecular markers such as anhydrosugars and phenolic compounds that are specific for biomass burning, as well as the concentrations of sugars, alcohol sugars and D- and L-amino acids (D-AAs and L-AAs) for studying PBAPs in Belgrade (Serbia) aerosols collected in September-December 2008. In these samples, high levels of all these biomarkers were observed in October. Relative percentages of vanillic (V), syringic compounds (S) and p-coumaric acid (PA), as well as levoglucosan/mannosan (L/M) ratios, helped us discriminate between open fire events and wood combustion for domestic heating during the winter. L-AAs and D-AAs (1% of the total) were observed in Belgrade aerosols mainly in September-October. During open fire events, mean D-AA/L-AA (D/L) ratio values of aspartic acid, threonine, phenylalanine, alanine were significantly higher than mean D/L values of samples unaffected by open fire. High levels of AAs were observed for open biomass burning events.Thanks to four different statistical approaches, we demonstrated that Belgrade aerosols are affected by five sources: a natural source, a source related to fungi spores and degraded material and three other sources linked to biomass burning: biomass combustion in open fields, the combustion of grass and agricultural waste and the combustion of biomass in stoves and industrial plants. The approach employed in this work, involving the determination of specific organic tracers and statistical analysis, proved useful to discriminate among different types of biomass burning events. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Management of hemodynamically unstable pelvic trauma: results of the first Italian consensus conference (cooperative guidelines of the Italian Society of Surgery, the Italian Association of Hospital Surgeons, the Multi-specialist Italian Society of Young Surgeons, the Italian Society of Emergency Surgery and Trauma, the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology -Section of Vascular and Interventional Radiology- and the World Society of Emergency Surgery)

Hemodynamically Unstable Pelvic Trauma is a major problem in blunt traumatic injury. No cosensus has been reached in literature on the optimal treatment of this condition. We present the results of the First Italian Consensus Conference on Pelvic Trauma which took place in Bergamo on April 13 2013. An extensive review of the literature has been undertaken by the Organizing Committee (OC) and forwarded to the Scientific Committee (SC) and the Panel (JP). Members of them were appointed by surgery, critical care, radiology, emergency medicine and orthopedics Italian and International societies: the Italian Society of Surgery, the Italian Association of Hospital Surgeons, the Multi-specialist Italian Society of Young Surgeons, the Italian Society of Emergency Surgery and Trauma, the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology, Section of Vascular and Interventional Radiology and the World Society of Emergency Surgery. From November 2012 to January 2013 the SC undertook the critical revision and prepared the presentation to the audience and the Panel on the day of the Conference. Then 3 recommendations were presented according to the 3 submitted questions. The Panel voted the recommendations after discussion and amendments with the audience. Later on a email debate took place until December 2013 to reach a unanimous consent. We present results on the 3 following questions: which hemodynamically unstable patient needs an extraperitoneal pelvic packing? Which hemodynamically unstable patient needs an external fixation? Which hemodynamically unstable patient needs emergent angiography? No longer angiography is considered the first therapeutic maneuver in such a patient. Preperitoneal pelvic packing and external fixation, preceded by pelvic binder have a pivotal role in the management of these patients. Hemodynamically Unstable Pelvic Trauma is a frequent death cause among people who sustain blunt trauma. We present the results of the First Italian Consensus Conference

Non-destructive method based on infrared spectroscopy and partial least square regression for the quantification of the ionic component of atmospheric particulate matter

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Atmospheric aerosols influence radiative forcing through interaction with solar radiation and indirectly by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and have a negative impact on air quality especially in urban scenarios. With socio-economic models suggesting that in a growing global population, 70% of the humans will live in urban areas by 2050, the adverse impact on urban air quality is a prominent societal and health issue, expected to become more and more severe in the future. In order to introduce effective mitigation strategies and monitor their effect, the state and characteristics of pollution need to be characterized and main sources identified. Offline-analysis of particulate matter (PM) collected on filter samples offers such insight. However, PM chemical composition is highly complex, and its comprehensive characterization and quantification requires advanced instrumentation and data analysis techniques and strategies.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Here, we present the development and application of a novel analytical nondestructive method. We acquired Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra of ambient PM collected on Teflon filters at various locations in Italy. FTIR allows to obtain high-resolution spectral data non-destructively and therefore to detect and quantify functional groups of organic and inorganic species present in the aerosol PM. The spectral dataset was analyzed by applying partial least squares regression (PLS regression) methods in order to allow quantification of ammonium, sulphate and nitrate ionic PM components. This statistical method allowed to disentangle the inner complexity of the PM sample and to train a statistical model for each of the three ionic species. In our conference contribution, the so developed models are discussed and compared with the more traditional analytical method, ionic chromatography (IC).&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;References:&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Cuccia, et al. (2011). Atmospheric Environment, 45(35), 6481&amp;amp;#8211;6487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.08.004&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Piazzalunga, A., et al. (2013). Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 405(2&amp;amp;#8211;3), 1123&amp;amp;#8211;1132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6433-5&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Russell, L. M., et al. (2009). Atmospheric Environment, 43(38), 6100&amp;amp;#8211;6105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.09.036&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; </jats:p