Abstract

The present paper is part of a research that is developed within the sustainable building design through the revisiting of the traditional construction materials. The results obtained show that the natural stone, enhanced by technological innovations, are often capable of providing excellent performance. Based on the tests, it was possible to verify and validate the hypothesis that the proposed new system of external vertical opaque enclosure consisting in a panel in dry-assembled and pre-compressed blocks of natural stone through reinforcing steel has good performances when used both in the case of new design and in the case of recovery of modern buildings, when the intervention is being addressed within of an overall building improvement regarding the security, sustainability, functionality and image. This paper reports the first results obtained by the study of the feasibility of the envelope being tested, through the definition of all the details of links with the existing building structure.

Abstract

The European Parliament has adopted regulation (EU) 2019/2144, which will make several ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) mandatory in new models from June 2022 onward and in all new vehicles from June 2024 onwards. However, due to the slow renewal of the vehicle fleet, it will take several years before a meaningful portion of the fleet is equipped with these lifesaving systems. To compensate for this, the safety of existing vehicles could be improved with retrofit ADAS systems. The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility, costs and benefits of retrofitting ADAS. This study examined the technical feasibility of various retrofit ADAS systems and assessed the following in greater detail: Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Advanced Driver Distraction Warning, Speed Limit Information, Reversing Detection, Tyre Pressure Monitoring system, Turn Assistant for trucks and 112 eCall. The study examines the potential safety impacts of retrofitting the vehicle fleet and presents a cost-benefit assessment for the measures. This report addresses voluntarily installable measures as well as mandatory measures.

Abstract

The growth in container transport volumes, the increase in the size of ships and the concentration of flows through a limited number of port hubs require higher capacity on hinterland connections. Road transport now accounts for most of the connections between ports and hinterland areas in Europe, resulting in port congestion associated with delays, waiting lines and increased permanence of ships and cargo in the port. This translates into additional costs and a negative environmental impact. In most cases, the development of rail transport becomes part of the solution to this problem. The current study contributes to the development of the strategy of the Port of Valencia in order to increase the rail modal share for import/export cargo through the definition and feasibility analysis of an innovative Just-In-Time (JIT) Rail Shuttle service for a key port-hinterland corridor in Spain connecting Valencia with Zaragoza. The proposed solution aims to directly unload the containers from the ship and load them onto trains, in order to minimize the movement of containers at the terminal and to operate as an “air bridge” at the airports, so that the shuttle makes round trips within one day and the containers are loaded on the first available JIT rail service. In order to minimize the cost per unit transported the feasibility study includes designing the operational solution, service characteristics, the requirements of the information system and the definition of the business models needed for its implementation.