Catalytic Biomass Gasification in Supercritical Water and Product Gas Upgrading

The gasification of biomass with supercritical water, also known as SCWG, is a sustainable method of hydrogen production. The process produces a mixture of hydrogen, carbon oxides, and hydrocarbons. Upgrading this mixture through steam or dry reforming of hydrocarbons to create synthesis gas and then extra hydrogen is a viable way to increase hydrogen production from biomass. This literature review discusses combining these two processes and recent experimental work on catalytic SCWG of biomass and its model compounds and steam/dry reforming of produced hydrocarbons. It focuses on catalysts used in these processes and their key criteria, such as activity, selectivity towards hydrogen and methane, and ability to inhibit carbon formation and deposition. A new criterion is proposed to evaluate catalyst performance in biomass SCWG and the need for further upgrading via reforming, based on the ratio of hydrogen bound in hydrocarbons to total hydrogen produced during SCWG. The review concludes that most catalysts used in biomass SCWG trap a large proportion of hydrogen in hydrocarbons, necessitating further processing of the product stream

Reduction of CO2_{2} Emission from Off-Gases of Steel Industry by Dry Reforming of Methane

In a novel process, CO$_{2}$ and CH$_{4}$ from the off‐gases of the coke oven and blast furnace are used in homogeneous reforming of those greenhouse gases to valuable syngas, a mixture of H$_{2}$ and CO. Synthetic mixtures of the off‐gases from those large apparatuses of steel industry are fed to a high‐temperature, high‐pressure flow reactor at varying temperature, pressure, residence time, and mixing ratio of coke oven gas (COG) to blast furnace gas (BFG). In this study, a maximal reduction of 78.5 % CO$_{2}$ and a CH$_{4}$ conversion of 95 % could be achieved at 1350 °C, 5.5 bar, and a COG/BFG ratio of 0.6. Significant carbonaceous deposits were formed but did not block the reactor tube in the operational time window allowing cyclic operation of the process. These measurements were based on prior thermodynamic analysis and kinetic predictions using an elementary‐step reaction mechanism

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

The Gaia mission

Gaia is a cornerstone mission in the science programme of the EuropeanSpace Agency (ESA). The spacecraft construction was approved in 2006, following a study in which the original interferometric concept was changed to a direct-imaging approach. Both the spacecraft and the payload were built by European industry. The involvement of the scientific community focusses on data processing for which the international Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) was selected in 2007. Gaia was launched on 19 December 2013 and arrived at its operating point, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, a few weeks later. The commissioning of the spacecraft and payload was completed on 19 July 2014. The nominal five-year mission started with four weeks of special, ecliptic-pole scanning and subsequently transferred into full-sky scanning mode. We recall the scientific goals of Gaia and give a description of the as-built spacecraft that is currently (mid-2016) being operated to achieve these goals. We pay special attention to the payload module, the performance of which is closely related to the scientific performance of the mission. We provide a summary of the commissioning activities and findings, followed by a description of the routine operational mode. We summarise scientific performance estimates on the basis of in-orbit operations. Several intermediate Gaia data releases are planned and the data can be retrieved from the Gaia Archive, which is available through the Gaia home page. http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gai

I prodotti efficaci contro Drosophila suzukii

Nel biennio 2010-2011 è stata condotta in provincia di Trento una sperimentazione sul lampone e mirtillo di campo per verificare l' efficacia di alcuni insetticidi nel contenimento di D. suzukii, nuova specie invasiva per le produzioni frutticole europee. Tra gli insetticidi valutati fosmet, dimetoato e deltametrina hanno offerto le migliori performance di efficacia e di persistenza d' azione. Per questi è stato richiesto l' uso eccezionale per il 2012

The rise of fintech in the Philippines: A study on the impact of digital finance and demographics on financial inclusion and its effect on economic growth

The focus of this study is on two things: (1) to examine the impact of digital finance on financial inclusion in the Philippines, and (2) to explore the relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth of the Philippines. The data used in this study was obtained from the Global Findex Database published by the World Bank and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), specifically for the years 2014, 2017, and 2021. The design of the study is quantitative wherein the researchers formulated an index that will measure financial inclusion and utilized the probit model and the Arellano-Bover Generalized Method of Moment (GMM). Through this, the researchers were able to establish whether demographic characteristics can be utilized as predictors of financial inclusion and also see if there is a relationship between economic growth and financial inclusion

Theia: Faint objects in motion or the new astrometry frontier

In the context of the ESA M5 (medium mission) call we proposed a new satellite mission, Theia, based on relative astrometry and extreme precision to study the motion of very faint objects in the Universe. Theia is primarily designed to study the local dark matter properties, the existence of Earth-like exoplanets in our nearest star systems and the physics of compact objects. Furthermore, about 15 $\%$ of the mission time was dedicated to an open observatory for the wider community to propose complementary science cases. With its unique metrology system and "point and stare" strategy, Theia's precision would have reached the sub micro-arcsecond level. This is about 1000 times better than ESA/Gaia's accuracy for the brightest objects and represents a factor 10-30 improvement for the faintest stars (depending on the exact observational program). In the version submitted to ESA, we proposed an optical (350-1000nm) on-axis TMA telescope. Due to ESA Technology readiness level, the camera's focal plane would have been made of CCD detectors but we anticipated an upgrade with CMOS detectors. Photometric measurements would have been performed during slew time and stabilisation phases needed for reaching the required astrometric precision