The purpose of the present study is to evaluate accelerometric parameters of gait in different neurological conditions with pathological gait impairment compared to healthy subjects. We studied 17 patients affected by Parkinson's disease, 24 with ataxic gait due to different diseases and 24 healthy subjects supplied with a triaxial accelerometer with a portable datalogger which measures acceleration and deceleration on an anterior-posterior, mediolateral and vertical plane at an approximate level of the center of mass (back sacral localization) and in other two positions (sternal and frontal sacral region) during a steady-state walking. Analyses of the basic accelerometric parameters associated with a jerk analysis allowed us to differentiate between the population groups. We observed a significant reduction of acceleration parameters in neurological patients when compared with healthy subjects, with a reduction of the mean acceleration of 0.30 m/s(2) for ataxic and 0.64 m/s(2) for parkinsonian patients (t test, p < 0.01). The root-mean square of the accelerations was used to quantify the attenuations of accelerations. This study suggests that a triaxial accelerometer is a good practical and an economic tool for assessing the alteration of perambulation. Moreover, it is plausible to use these data to obtain objective parameters in the evaluation of the progression of the disease and the efficacy of therapeutic tools.

Three different waste animal fats (bone, chicken, and tallow) have been studied to evaluate whether they could be used as bioliquids according to the European Regulation (EC) No.1069/2009. The analyses showed that they contained an unsuitable amount of free fatty acids (FFA) and impurities content (total sediment) if compared with the standards for power generation (set by UNI 6579:2009), with the exception of tallow fat (class C, UNI/TS 11163:2018). A series of physical-chemical processes already applied at industrial scale have been considered to manage the acid value and the impurities content. The FFA esterification was carried out with methanol, comparing two acid catalysts (sulfuric acid or Amberlyst -15), followed by neutralization of the residual acidity with two different bases (ammonia solution or solid sodium carbonate monohydrate) when necessary. The final purification has been achieved by treatment with powdered activated carbon. In particular, the bone fat was studied as reference material, having the worst initial physical-chemical characteristics. The UNI/TS 11163:2018 standard would allow to classify the bioliquid from bone fat belonging to class B, while the one from chicken would require further degumming and purification processes to reduce the metals, sulfur, and phosphorus content.

The urban environmental planning, a fundamental dynamic process for cities’ sustainability, could benefit from the soundscape approach, dealing with the perception of the acoustic environment in which sound is considered as a resource rather than a waste (noise). Noise and soundscape maps are useful tools for planning mitigation actions and for communication with citizens. Both mappings can benefit from crowdsourcing and participatory sound monitoring that has been made possible due to the large use of internet connections and mobile devices with dedicated apps. This paper is a “scoping review” to provide an overview of the potential, benefits, and drawbacks of participatory noise monitoring in noise and soundscape mapping applications, while also referring to metrological aspects. Gathering perceptual data on soundscapes by using digital questionnaires will likely be more commonly used than printed questionnaires; thus, the main differences between the experimental protocols concern the measurement of acoustic data. The authors propose to classify experimental protocols for in-field soundscape surveys into three types (GUIDE, MONITOR, and SMART) to be selected according to the survey’s objectives and the territorial extension. The main future developments are expected to be related to progress in smartphone hardware and software, to the growth of social networks data analysis, as well as to the implementation of machine learning techniques.

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