Bio-Hydrocarbons through Catalytic Pyrolysis of Used Cooking Oils: towards sustainable jet and road fuels

Vegetable Oil (VO) is today the most used feedstock for transport biofuel production by transesterification to biodiesel. Other commercial technologies for renewable fuels production are mainly based either on Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis from coal, natural gas and possibly biomass, or hydro treating of vegetable oil (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, HVO): this also includes Hydrotreated Renewable Jet fuel, HRJ, Used Cooking Oil (UCO) is a highly sustainable feedstock (based on EC-RED scheme): it is therefore considered as a possible alternative to VOs for greening of air transport and, under proper circumstances, for reducing the feedstock cost component. However, the use of UCO is not trivial in reactors, as catalysts are sensitive to impurities and contaminations, which are typical of waste oils. Moreover, the chemical composition of UCO is variable regionally as well as seasonally, because the type of base-vegetable oils vary with Country and period of the year. In the framework of the ITAKA EU FP7 project, (catalytic) thermochemical conversion of UCO has been considered to obtain an intermediate biofuel suitable for upgrading by hydrotreating. The catalytic conversion of UCO and Fatty Acids were investigated in a 1.5 kg/h pilot unit. UCO, properly filtered and conditioned, was characterized, and then converted in bio-oil by means of thermal and catalytic reactionsunder controlled conditions. The type of catalyst and the reaction conditions, including several parameters such as temperature, reactor geometry, heating rate and residence time, were evaluated, and selected combinations were tested. The bio-oil was characterized in terms of main constituents and hydrocarbons content, and GC-MS and GC-FID analyses were used to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the composition of the fuel

An automated microreactor for semi-continuous biosensor measurements.

Living bacteria or yeast cells are frequently used as bioreporters for the detection of specific chemical analytes or conditions of sample toxicity. In particular, bacteria or yeast equipped with synthetic gene circuitry that allows the production of a reliable non-cognate signal (e.g., fluorescent protein or bioluminescence) in response to a defined target make robust and flexible analytical platforms. We report here how bacterial cells expressing a fluorescence reporter ("bactosensors"), which are mostly used for batch sample analysis, can be deployed for automated semi-continuous target analysis in a single concise biochip. Escherichia coli-based bactosensor cells were continuously grown in a 13 or 50 nanoliter-volume reactor on a two-layered polydimethylsiloxane-on-glass microfluidic chip. Physiologically active cells were directed from the nl-reactor to a dedicated sample exposure area, where they were concentrated and reacted in 40 minutes with the target chemical by localized emission of the fluorescent reporter signal. We demonstrate the functioning of the bactosensor-chip by the automated detection of 50 μgarsenite-As l(-1) in water on consecutive days and after a one-week constant operation. Best induction of the bactosensors of 6-9-fold to 50 μg l(-1) was found at an apparent dilution rate of 0.12 h(-1) in the 50 nl microreactor. The bactosensor chip principle could be widely applicable to construct automated monitoring devices for a variety of targets in different environments

An IoT-Aware Smart System Exploiting the Electromagnetic Behavior of UHF-RFID Tags to Improve Worker Safety in Outdoor Environments

Recently, different solutions leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have been adopted to avoid accidents in agricultural working environments. As an example, heavy vehicles, e.g., tractors or excavators, have been upgraded with remote controls. Nonetheless, the community continues to encourage discussions on safety issues. In this framework, a localization system installed on remote-controlled farm machines (RCFM) can help in preventing fatal accidents and reduce collision risks. This paper presents an innovative system that exploits passive UHF-RFID technology supported by commercial BLE Beacons for monitoring and preventing accidents that may occur when ground-workers in RCFM collaborate in outdoor agricultural working areas. To this aim, a modular architecture is proposed to locate workers, obstacles and machines and guarantees the security of RCFM movements by using specific notifications for ground-workers prompt interventions. Its main characteristics are presented with its main positioning features based on passive UHF-RFID technology. An experimental campaign discusses its performance and determines the best configuration of the UHF-RFID tags installed on workers and obstacles. Finally, system validation demonstrates the reliability of the main components and the usefulness of the proposed architecture for worker safety

Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: The Role of Scent

Prostate cancer (PCa) represents the cause of the second highest number of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and its clinical presentation can range from slow-growing to rapidly spreading metastatic disease. As the characteristics of most cases of PCa remains incompletely understood, it is crucial to identify new biomarkers that can aid in early detection. Despite the prostate-specific antigen serum (PSA) levels, prostate biopsy, and imaging representing the actual gold-standard for diagnosing PCa, analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has emerged as a promising new frontier. We and other authors have reported that highly trained dogs can recognize specific VOCs associated with PCa with high accuracy. However, using dogs in clinical practice has several limitations. To exploit the potential of VOCs, an electronic nose (eNose) that mimics the dog olfactory system and can potentially be used in clinical practice was designed. To explore the eNose as an alternative to dogs in diagnosing PCa, we conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of available studies. PRISMA guidelines were used for the identification, screening, eligibility, and selection process. We included six studies that employed trained dogs and found that the pooled diagnostic sensitivity was 0.87 (95% CI 0.86–0.89; I2, 98.6%), the diagnostic specificity was 0.83 (95% CI 0.80–0.85; I2, 98.1%), and the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (sROC) was 0.64 (standard error, 0.25). We also analyzed five studies that used an eNose to diagnose PCa and found that the pooled diagnostic sensitivity was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.80–0.88; I2, 57.1%), the diagnostic specificity was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.84–0.91; I2, 66%), and the area under the sROC was 0.93 (standard error, 0.03). These pooled results suggest that while highly trained dogs have the potentiality to diagnose PCa, the ability is primarily related to olfactory physiology and training methodology. The adoption of advanced analytical techniques, such as eNose, poses a significant challenge in the field of clinical practice due to their growing effectiveness. Nevertheless, the presence of limitations and the requirement for meticulous study design continue to present challenges when employing eNoses for the diagnosis of PCa

Development of a bacterial biosensor for arsenite detection

In order to provide an alternative measurement tool for arsenic contamination, we are developing a sensor that uses agarose beads containing a genetically engineered Escherichia coli strain producing a fluorescent signal in response to arsenite. Beads with cells are incorporated into a microfluidic system where they can be exposed to aqueous samples containing arsenic

peri operative mortality and long term survival after partial versus radical cystectomy for muscle invasive bladder cancer

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare partial cystectomy (PC) and radical cystectomy (RC) with respect to 90-day mortality as well as long-term, all cause (ACM) and cancer specific mortality (CSM). Methods: Using the SEER-Medicare database 3913 patients with T2-T3 urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder (UCUB) who underwent either RC (n = 3419) or PC (n = 494) were identified. After propensity score matching to reduce potential treatment selection bias, 90-day mortality, ACM-free and CSM-free rates between patients treated with PC and RC were estimated. Multivariable regression models (MVA) addressed 90-day mortality as well as 5-years ACM and CSM. Results: After matching, 33% (n = 494) and 67% (n = 988) patients treated respectively with PC or RC remained. Median follow-up was 26 months. The 90-day mortality rate was 3.2% (n = 16) after PC and 8.1% (n = 80) after RC (P = 0.001). In MVA, PC vs. RC was associated with a lower 90-day mortality (P < 0.001). At 5 years the ACM-free survival rate was 38% after PC and 40% after RC (P = 0.3) and failed to differ in MVA (P = 0.9). At 5 years the CSM-free survival rate was 59% after PC and 62% after RC (P = 0.2) and also failed to differ in MVA (P = 0.57). The same results were observed after restriction to patients with pT2N0 UCUB. Conclusions: Relative to RC, PC is associated with lower short-term mortality and the same long-term ACM and CSM rates. These observations should encourage greater consideration to PC in those selected cases when this type of surgery may be applied

Location and Tracking of Items Moving on a Conveyor Belt and Equipped with UHF-RFID Tags

In this paper, the numerical investigations of the performance of a new synthetic array phase-based technique for localization and tracking of items equipped with UHF-RFID tags are presented. The technique takes advantage of the fact that the tagged items move along a conveyor belt, whose instantaneous speed and path are known a priori. Effects on the location accuracy of thermal noise, environment clutter and multipath, have been considered by numerical simulations in a realistic scenario

Location and Tracking of UHF-RFID tags

Techniques for localization/tracking of UHF-RFID tags are briefly reviewed in this paper, mainly focusing on location of tagged objects moving along a transport chain. The basic principles of a technique based on a synthetic aperture radar approach is presented for this application. The proposed technique does not require any modification of the antennas usually adopted in RFID readers and the location algorithm can be implemented in a conventional reader with an I-Q receiver. Promising algorithm performance is shown through a numerical model

Method for determining the location of a moving RFID tag

There is provided a method for determining the location of an RFID tag moving along a known path with known speed. The phases of the tag response signals from successive interrogations are stored. For a given location of the tag at the time of the first reading, the phase relative to the first response changes in a characteristic way for a given distance. The set of obtained phase values (phase history) is correlated to nominal phase trend curves, each representing the phases for successive readings where the distance between the reader and the tag at the first reading had a respective particular value, i.e. a particular distance is associated with a predetermined phase change pattern. Since the trajectory and speed are known, the position at a given time is implicitly known, i.e. it can be extrapolated from the position determined for the first reading