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Unsealed roads are the backbone for many countries' growth and development. Given low traffic volumes, economic considerations cannot justify higher class paved roads, as a result, are prone to distress. Research studies have shown that the targeted application of additives and specific techniques to unsealed pavements can improve its engineering and geotechnical properties. This paper covers a comprehensive up to date literature review of various techniques for improving unsealed road durability. The literature is categorised based on non-chemical and chemical additive techniques. These techniques are reviewed and discussed to provide a critical overview of the stabilisation mechanisms, properties, performance, durability, and suitability in unsealed roads. This review highlights the shift towards sustainable stabilisation without considerable impact to current unsealed pavement practices, but at the effect of a sound understanding of stabilisation approaches and longterm performance data. The review captures the current state-of-knowledge in the field of unsealed road pavements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with schizophrenia generally show difficulties in interpersonal communication. Linguistic analyses shed new light on speech atypicalities in schizophrenia. However, very little is known about conversational interaction management by these individuals. Moreover, the relationship between linguistic features, psychopathology, and patients' subjectivity has received limited attention to date. We used a novel methodology to explore dyadic conversations involving 58 participants (29 individuals with schizophrenia and 29 control persons) and medical doctors. High-quality stereo recordings were obtained and used to quantify turn-taking patterns. We investigated psychopathological dimensions and subjective experiences using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS), the Examination of Anomalous Self Experience scale (EASE), the Autism Rating Scale (ARS) and the Abnormal Bodily Phenomena questionnaire (ABPq). Different turn-taking patterns of both patients and interviewers characterised conversations involving individuals with schizophrenia. We observed higher levels of overlap and mutual silence in dialogues with the patients compared to dialogues with control persons. Mutual silence was associated with negative symptom severity; no dialogical feature was correlated with anomalous subjective experiences. Our findings suggest that individuals with schizophrenia display peculiar turn-taking behaviour, thereby enhancing our understanding of interactional coordination in schizophrenia., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Contaminant leaching from asphalt pavements poses a significant environmental concern, potentially damaging soil and groundwater quality. The growing interest in incorporating recycled materials in asphalt pavements has further raised concerns over the potential environmental hazards due to contaminant leaching. Consequently, this paper offers a comprehensive review of the literature over the past three decades structured into six sections: groundwater contamination via leaching, methodologies for evaluating leaching, analysis of contaminants, contaminants and leaching from road materials incorporating recycled waste, other factors affecting leaching of pollutants from asphalt pavements, and mathematical models to predict leaching from asphalt pavements. Despite the importance of addressing leaching issues, there is a lack of standardised leaching tests and guidelines specific to asphalt materials, limited attention to evaluating contaminants beyond heavy metals and PAHs in asphalt leachates, insufficient understanding of optimal instrument parameters for asphalt leachate analysis, and a scarcity of mathematical models to predict future leaching potential., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bitumen is heated at high temperatures during asphalt paving applications. In these circumstances, there is the possibility for fuming. These fumes can vary in intensity and, if significant, may attract complaints. The bitumen's chemical composition depends on the crude oil from which it originates. A tool to screen bitumen and evaluate its potential to release fumes would be highly beneficial. In this study, three methods have been employed to investigate a series of bitumen samples that were known to produce complaints by (a) quantifying benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and m , o , p -xylene (BTEX), (b) measuring the partition coefficients of these analytes, and (c) measuring the volatile mass of bitumen exposed to isothermal heating. It was found that the concentration of BTEX varied significantly between bitumen samples. The partition coefficients of these analytes are substantially the same between samples. Finally, the volatile mass of each sample varies significantly between samples, independent of bitumen grade or country of origin. These volatile masses correlate strongly with fuming complaints from bitumen and can be used as predictors of bitumen fuming risk., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

This study assesses the financial viability and environmental evaluation of Photovoltaic (PV) panels from the perspective of the recent economic recession due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The financial viability of PV installation is calculated based on the estimated price, solar rebates, feed-in tariff, energy supply cost, and other evaluation parameters available at the assessment time. This calculation implicitly assumes variable discount rates (4%, 7%, and 12%) to show how the future will unfold and its correlations with design parameters. Details of economic appraisal integrating current inflation, rebates, and incentives of solar systems have been analyzed for the first time in this study. Financial indicators reveal the advantages of installing a grid-connected solar system (SS) over a solar battery storage system (SSWB). Compared to other installation systems, the lowest payback (PB) and highest internal rate of return (IRR) are observed for a 7 kW grid-connected solar system. Relative uncertainties of solar installation systems represent the necessity of government subsidies (r = -0.602) for solar storage batteries. LCA signifies the energy-intensive process of manufacturing metallurgical-grade (MG) silicon is the primary cause of significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cumulative energy demand (CED) for PV panels. A potential amount of metal and fossil fuels is depleted for interconnective components of solar installation systems. Amorphous solar panels exhibit lower impacts than polycrystalline, but further upgradation in service life is required to become cost-effective and cope with current inflation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The use of recycled plastic in asphalt is raising interest since contributing to increase the sustainability of roads pavements. The engineering performance of such roads are commonly assessed but scarcely correlated to the environmental impacts of incorporating recycled plastic in asphalt. This research encompasses an evaluation of the mechanical behaviour and environmental impact of introducing low melting point recycled plastics, low density polyethylene and commingled polyethylene/polypropylene, to conventional hot mix asphalt. While this investigation reveals a reduction in moisture resistance between 5 and 22 % contingent on the plastic content, the benefits include a significant 150 % enhancement in fatigue resistance and 85 % improvement in rutting resistance when compared with conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA). From an environmental perspective, high-temperature asphalt production with higher plastic content resulted in decreased gaseous emissions for both types of recycled plastics up to 21 %. Further comparison studies indicate that microplastic generation from recycled plastic-modified asphalt is comparable to that from commercial polymer-modified asphalt products, long employed by the industry. Overall, the use of low melting point recycled plastics as an asphalt modifier is promising since offering both engineering and environmental benefits when compared to conventional asphalt., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The study aims to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of mixed glass waste (MGW) recycling processes to quantify the environmental impacts of crushed glass as a partial substitute for virgin aggregate. Upstream washing, crushing, and sorting conducted at material recycling facilities (MRF) are the prime activities to assess whether reprocessed MGW in pavement construction is an alternate feasible solution. None of the previous studies explicitly account for the relative uncertainties and optimization of waste glass upstream processes from an environmental perspective. The study calculates environmental impacts using the LCA tool SimaPro considering design factors attributed to transportation, electricity consumption, use of chemicals, and water for reprocessing glass waste. Relative uncertainties of design variables and the national transition policy (2021-2030) from non-renewable to renewable energy sources have been validated by performing detailed Monte Carlo simulations. The correlation coefficients (r = 0.64, 0.58, and 0.49) of successive variables explain how the higher environmental gains of the glass recycling process are outweighed by diesel, energy consumption, and transportation distances. Compared to natural quarry sand, the recycled glass aggregate produced through crushing and recycling of its by-products reduces CO 2 eq emissions by 16.2 % and 46.7 %, respectively. The need for a washing line at the plant, in addition to crushing, results in a higher environmental impact over natural sand by 90.1 % and emphasizes the benefits of collecting waste glass through a separate bin, hence avoiding contamination. The result indicates that the benefit of lowering emissions varies significantly when considering waste glass landfilling. Moreover, this study evaluates the potential impacts on asphalt and reinforced concrete pavements (RCP) with 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, and 20 % replacement of natural sand with recycled glass aggregate. The LCA emphasizes the limitations of energy-intensive waste glass reprocessing. The obtained results and uncertainty analysis based on primary MRF data and recycled product applications provide meaningful suggestions for a more fit-for-purpose waste management and natural resource conservation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The contamination of the environment by microplastics (MPs) in road dust poses a serious ecological and health concern. MPs have been detected in road dust worldwide and their presence has been mainly attributed to plastic litter fragmentation and vehicle tyre abrasion. Although current technologies such as Raman and Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy as well as Scanning Electron Microscopy are capable of detecting MPs in road dust, the analysis of MPs shape and MPs smaller than 20 μm is limited and often labour demanding. More accurate, cost-effective and rapid techniques have now become necessary to analyse MPs in road dust, particularly since the development of large infrastructure projects that incorporate recycled plastic into road assets and roadside furniture. Nile red (NR) staining is a promising technique to identify MPs in environmental samples; however, it has not yet been applied to road dust. This study investigates the use of NR fluorescence microscopy to detect MPs in road dust and provides information about MP amount, shape and size distribution. The staining duration and temperature, solvent selection and NR concentration were optimised considering 33 different road dust materials, including 13 types of plastic. The NR staining procedure developed in this work is capable of successfully differentiating between MPs down to 1 μm and other non-plastic road dust materials. Future applications include assessing the contribution of plastic-modified roads to MP pollution, comparing the level of MP pollution in urban and rural areas and providing a rapid, simple, inexpensive and reliable monitoring approach for further studies to compare MP using a singular optimised methodology., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The incorporation of recycled plastics in asphalt mixtures is getting a growing interest, however, exposing recycled plastics to the high working temperatures of asphalt has posed health and safety concerns. Few studies have paid attention to assessing health and environmental risks concerning recycled plastic-modified asphalt. This study investigates the release of 6 carcinogenic compounds from asphalt modified with recycled plastics, 4 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 2 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The concentration of each compound was quantified by GC-MS. Human health risk assessments were conducted using probabilistic methods to assess the risk for an average Australian construction worker to get non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health issues when exposed to conventional and plastic-modified asphalt fumes. Results showed that non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks related to VOC carcinogens (benzene, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene and styrene) are negligible while PAHs (benzo[a]pyrene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene) constitute a possible non-carcinogenic risk and low carcinogenic risk for workers exposed to asphalt fumes. Overall the incorporation of recycled plastic in asphalt reduced the risk for workers to get non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health issues compared to conventional asphalt mixes. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: With increasing trends of using recycled plastics as road materials, concerns about the exposure of workers to carcinogenic gaseous emissions have been raised. This study demonstrates a non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk assessment on exposure to recycled plastic modified asphalt fumes. The findings suggest that recycled plastics decrease non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks compared to conventional asphalt., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study conducts a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) on converting waste vehicle tyres into recycled crumb rubber (CR) granules as an alternative polymer for enhancing asphalt properties. The LCA study has been performed on acquired industrial primary data by incorporating CR at different proportions of binder in one ton (1-ton) of asphalt mix following the wet method. The uncertainty analysis of design variables identified a relatively strong positive relation of emissions with the equipment energy consumption (r = 0.98). Monte Carlo simulations evaluate the potential renewable sources (solar, hydro, and wind) in sequence over fossil fuels for the possible transition in the Australian grid by 2030 and 2050, as per the Paris Agreement. 71.91% reduction of CO 2 emissions is achievable by recycling vehicle tyres into crumb rubber compared to landfill and incineration. Recycling by-products of CR production, such as steel and textile, significantly mitigates negative impacts. A decrease of 2.23% emissions was associated to the use of crumb rubber as a binder modifier in the asphalt mixture via the midpoint assessment. In endpoint LCA, a higher association of resource (US$) saving costs was observed than for other protective zones, i.e., human health and ecosystem damage. Recycling 466,000 tonnes of disposable waste tyres contributes to 16.1 million US$ worth of resource savings. An equitable industry-based LCA and uncertainty analysis of design parameters can assist in prioritizing suitable options to improve efficiency and future emission strategies on a global scale., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although plastic-modified roads are a promising approach to reducing the amount of landfilled and incinerated plastic and improving asphalt pavement performance, the contribution of plastic-modified roads to microplastic pollution is unknown. This study aimed to develop a new abrasion procedure to quantify the release of microplastics from recycled plastic-modified asphalt depending on environmental factors, the type and content of plastic used, and the incorporation method in bitumen/asphalt. A Wet Track Abrasion machine was used to simulate road traffic abrasion on a plastic-modified asphalt sample, and a novel microplastic extraction procedure was designed to extract the generated microplastics. Incorporating recycled plastic as a polymer modifier in the bitumen matrix resulted in an early release of microplastics compared to its addition as a synthetic aggregate substitute in the asphalt mix. Cold temperatures and low pH values favoured the generation of microplastics from plastic-modified asphalt. Due to the lack of universal thresholds for the release of microplastics into the environment, environmental agencies and local authorities could benefit from this novel laboratory-based microplastic assessment procedure to foster the sustainable use of recycled plastic in roads., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Hypothesis: A primary disruption of the bodily self is considered a core feature of schizophrenia (SCZ). The "disembodied" self might be underpinned by inefficient body-related multisensory integration processes, normally occurring in the peripersonal space (PPS), a plastic sector of space surrounding the body whose extent is altered in SCZ. Although PPS is a malleable interface marking the perceptual border between self and others, no study has addressed the potential alteration of its plasticity in SCZ. We investigated the plasticity of PPS in SCZ patients after a motor training with a tool in the far space., Study Design: Twenty-seven SCZ patients and 32 healthy controls (HC) underwent an audio-tactile task to estimate PPS boundary before (Session 1) and after (Session 3) the tool-use. Parameters of PPS, including the size and the slope of the psychometric function describing audio-tactile RTs as a function of the audio-tactile distances, were estimated., Study Results: Results confirm a narrow PPS extent in SCZ. Surprisingly, we found PPS expansion in both groups, thus showing for the first time a preserved PPS plasticity in SCZ. Patients experienced a weaker differentiation from others, as indicated by a shallower PPS slope at Session 1 that correlated positively with negative symptoms. However, at Session 3, patients marked their bodily boundary in a steeper way, suggesting a sharper demarcation of PPS boundaries after the action with the tool., Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of investigating the multisensory and motor roots of self-disorders, paving the way for future body-centred rehabilitation interventions that could improve patients' altered body boundary., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.)

Bitumen is a major construction material that can emit harmful fumes when heated. These fumes pose health risks to workers and communities near construction projects or asphalt mixing plants. The chemical complexity of bitumen fumes and the increasing use of additives add to the difficulty of analytically quantifying the harmful chemicals emitted using a single technique. Research on bitumen emissions consists of numerous sample preparation and analytical methods. There are a range of considerations to be made when deciding on an appropriate sample preparation method and instrumental configuration to optimise the analysis of specific organic contaminants in emissions. Researchers investigating emissions from bituminous materials may need to consider a range of analytical techniques to quantify harmful chemicals and assess the efficacy of new additives. This review summarises the primary methodologies for sample preparation and analytical techniques used in bitumen research and discusses future challenges and solutions.