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The criteria on green public procurement of the European Union establish that the economic budgets of building projects must be complemented by their derived environmental and social costs. These criteria are currently being adapted to the requirements related to the circular economy, such as the use of methods to evaluate buildings environmentally. However, most methods available in the European and Spanish markets require prior training, which makes their use difficult. This paper presents an evaluation method, CEACE, for housing construction based on the determination of their footprints (ecological, carbon, and water footprints), also called the footprint family, to which the economic and social evaluation is added, as is the quantification of the construction and demolition waste generated. This method is validated with the assessment of fifteen residential buildings in Andalusia and creates an indicator that will allow technicians, companies, and administrations to evaluate projects in accordance with the criteria of green public procurement. The method is sensitive to changes in the type of building, foundation solution, and underground construction.

The tools used for budgeting in the building design phase are still insufficient to address the life cycle of the building in terms of environmental and cost impacts. The main objective of this research is to define a model for extending existing cost databases to accommodate life cycle sustainability assessment. For this, current classification systems are reviewed and a case study has been analysed using the new approach. To this end, a new system of classification of construction information is proposed for the evaluation of early design costs, when data are scarce and the only information available refers to the gross interior area and the plot. The classification organizes the costs in a similar way to the sustainability assessment in EN-15643. A subcategory has been added for revenue, developer costs, and taxes at all stages of the lifecycle. The resulting classification is applied to the functional elements of a secondary school project. In the case study, construction costs represent 21% while the use stage accounts for 72% in a 100-year lifespan. The results show that, starting from generic cost bases, more complex costs and functional costs can be defined at different stages of the life cycle and adjusted to sustainability assessment standards.

Background and purpose: Hemorrhagic transformation is the main complication of revascularization therapies after stroke. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is implicated in cerebral damage and inflammation in stroke. This study was designed to determine the role of TLR4 in hemorrhagic transformation development after tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) administration. Methods: Mice expressing (TLR4+/+) or lacking functional TLR4 (TLR4-/-) were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion using an in situ thromboembolic model by thrombin injection into the middle cerebral artery, and tPA (10 mg/kg) was administered 20 minutes or 3 hours after ischemia. Infarct size, hemorrhages, IgG extravasation, matrix metalloproteinase 9 expression, and neutrophil infiltration were assessed 24 hours after ischemia. Results: In TLR4+/+, early reperfusion (tPA at 20 minutes) resulted infarct volume, whereas late recanalization (tPA at 3 hours) did not modify lesion size and increased the rate of the most severe hemorrhages. In TLR4-/- mice, both early and late reperfusion did not modify lesion size. Importantly, late tPA administration did not result in worse hemorrhages and in an increased bleeding area as occurred in TLR4+/+ group. In TLR4-/- animals, late reperfusion produced a lesser increase in matrix metalloproteinase 9 expression when compared with TLR4+/+ animals. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate TLR4 involvement in hemorrhagic transformation induced by delayed tPA administration, very likely by increasing matrix metalloproteinase 9 expression., Unión Europea, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Depto. de Farmacología y Toxicología, Fac. de Medicina, TRUE, pub

The objective of this article is to develop a measurement system with optical vision to obtain the convergence angle, with the tire track pattern of the front axle based on computer vision. To this end, two ramps capable of storing cell phone cameras were built in such a way that clear images of the investigative tire tracks can be obtained, while the vehicle is stopped on top of the ramps. Tests were carried out with a certain brand and model of tires sold in the local market and images of the tread imprint were obtained. In parallel, a computer program was developed from these images for digital processing in order to determine the tire alignment angles. The results obtained meet the purpose of the work, since the images obtained were clear and the computer program shows results that are approximate to the results obtained by commercial alignment equipment., El presente artículo tiene por objetivo desarrollar un sistema de medición con visión óptica para la obtención del ángulo de convergencia, en función del patrón de huellas de neumáticos del eje delantero basándose en visión por computadora. Para ello, se construyó dos rampas capaces de almacenar cámaras de celular de tal manera que se pueda obtener imágenes claras de las huellas de neumáticos de investigación, mientras el vehículo está parado encima de las rampas. Se realizaron pruebas con una determinada marca y modelo de neumáticos comercializados en el mercado local y se obtuvieron imágenes de la huella de la banda de rodadura. Paralelamente se desarrolló un programa de computadora a partir de estas imágenes para su procesamiento digital a fin de determinar los ángulos de alineación de los neumáticos. Los resultados obtenidos cumplen con el propósito del trabajo, ya que las imágenes obtenidas fueron claras y el programa de computadora muestra resultados aproximados a los resultados obtenidos por equipos comerciales de alineación.