Graphene is a carbon-based nanomaterial used in various industries to improve the performance of hundreds of materials. For instance, graphene-like materials have been employed as asphalt binder modifying agents in pavement engineering. In the literature, it has been reported that (in comparison to an unmodified binder) the Graphene Modified Asphalt Binders (GMABs) exhibit an enhanced performance grade, a lower thermal susceptibility, a higher fatigue life, and a decreased accumulation of permanent deformations. Nonetheless, although GMABs stand out significantly from traditional alternatives, there is still no consensus on their behavior regarding chemical, rheological, microstructural, morphological, thermogravimetric, and surface topography properties. Therefore, this research conducted a literature review on the properties and advanced characterization techniques of GMABs. Thus, the laboratory protocols covered by this manuscript are atomic force microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic shear rheometer, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Consequently, the main contribution of this investigation to the state-of-the-art is the identification of the prominent trends and gaps in the current state of knowledge.

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, most of the countries have achieved gender parity in educational attainment. Furthermore, Latin America and Europe have more women than men enrolled in tertiary education. The problem arises when those numbers are analysed by degree studies. There is a gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), with a low number of women enrolled in those programs and even lower numbers of graduates. The universities have a key role to steer new conceptions and understanding of the females in STEM. The higher education institutions have to define measures and policies to reduce the gender gap in the careers of the future. This work aims to provide a proposal to analyse the gender equality gap in STEM as a first step to define gender equality action plans focused on processes of attraction, access and retention and guidance in STEM programs. The proposal was applied in ten Latin American universities from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico, and five European universities from Finland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom.

In this research, a methodology was developed to optimize the design of Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) with the inclusion of three recycled materials as partial replacement of natural aggregates (NAs), namely Crumb Rubber (CR), Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP), and Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA). The methodological proposal is composed of 4 sections denominated: (I) environmental module, (II) economic module, (III) decision-support module, and (IV) results report module. Initially, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is carried out to quantify the environmental impacts associated with WMA production. Similarly, in the second module, a Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is performed to estimate the financial investment required by the process under evaluation. Meanwhile, a computational model based on genetic algorithms (GAs) is created in the decision-support module to execute multi-objective optimization (minimization of costs and contaminating potential). In the last module, the more accurate WMA designs are presented employing a Pareto front, ternary plot, composition pie chart, and statistical analysis of the influence of the CR, RAP, and RCA on the validation criteria. This study concludes that even under long hauling distances and huge prices, it is possible to design WMA with CR, RAP, and/or RCA additions that form sustainability benefits compared to conventional WMA.