Comparison between two cases study on water kiosks

Bottled water consumption in Europe began in the 70s. Environmental impact derived from water production chain is very significant: for example plastic bottles use, oil consumption for bottle production, air emission from vehicles transporting bottles, not recycled plastic packages, etc. In this research an environmental and economic impact evaluation was presented for two case studies, regarding water kiosk design with the aim of supplying controlled natural and sparkling water with better organoleptic quality compared to water directly supplied from aqueduct

SVILUPPO DI METODI IFENATI ASSOCIATI ALLA SPETTROMETRIA DI MASSA MALDI: APPLICAZIONI PROTEOMICHE E GLICOSFINGOLIPIDOMICHE.

L\u2019interesse per lo sviluppo di nuovi metodi e per l\u2019applicazione di tecniche ifenate \ue8 generato dalla necessit\ue0 di caratterizzare campioni biologici complessi. Questo lavoro affronta l\u2019applicazione e la messa a punto di tecniche ifenate allo scopo di: a) identificare un nuovo biomarcatore da associare al PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) per la diagnostica del cancro prostatico, b) sviluppare una nuova tecnica ifenata per l\u2019analisi di glicosfingolipidi. Negli studi di proteomica clinica, destinati all\u2019identificazione di nuovi biomarcatori, i maggiori problemi sono legati all\u2019incompatibilit\ue0 dell\u2019intervallo di sensibilit\ue0 degli strumenti di rivelazione con l\u2019intervallo di concentrazione delle specie proteiche e peptidiche presenti nei fluidi biologici. Pertanto, poich\ue9 l\u2019intervallo di sensibilit\ue0 degli strumenti di rivelazione non pu\uf2 essere variato, il passaggio cruciale \ue8 rappresentato dalla riduzione dell\u2019intervallo di concentrazione tra le specie pi\uf9 abbondanti e le specie meno abbondanti nei fluidi biologici in esame. Nel caso del siero ci\uf2 \ue8 stato ottenuto grazie all\u2019eliminazione della frazione contenente le proteine a maggior abbondanza mediante immunodeplezione selettiva. Le frazioni seriche a bassa abbondanza preparate da 30 pazienti affetti da cancro alla prostata (ADK) e da 30 soggetti controllo sono state analizzate tramite MALDI profiling. La metodica applicata ha permesso di individuare delle differenze statisticamente significative nell\u2019espressione di alcune componenti proteiche, rivelate dalla presenza di picchi differenzialmente espressi negli spettri di massa ottenuti. Tuttavia, il punto fondamentale per il trasferimento dei risultati ottenuti in diagnostica clinica \ue8 rappresentato dall\u2019identificazione delle specie proteiche contenute nel profilo di massa MALDI al fine di poter utilizzare tecniche immunometriche per la validazione dei dati e sviluppare metodi di dosaggio su larga scala applicabili in diagnostica clinica. Grazie all\u2019ifenazione tra tecniche cromatografiche, quali la cromatogafia per gel filtrazione e la cromatografia a fase inversa, condotte rispettivamente su uno strumento HPLC e su uno strumento nano LC, e tecniche di spettrometria di massa MALDI, \ue8 stato possibile identificare il picco 2021 m/z, statisticamente variato, che corrisponde al peptide C3f, derivato dalla proteolisi del fattore del complemento C3, e la sua aumentata espressione in pazienti ADK+ a bassi valori di PSA, \ue8 stata confermata attraverso un esperimento di immunoblotting. I risultati sono stati validati su un secondo gruppo di pazienti e controlli. L\u2019aumento di tale peptide indica una deregolazione del fattore del complemento C3 che viene inattivato a iC3b, il quale inibisce il ciclo della via alternativa del sistema del complemento impedendo l\u2019associazione del fattore C3b al fattore B. Il peptide C3f potrebbe pertanto essere usato in associazione con il valore serico di PSA per ridurre il numero di pazienti \u201cfalsi negativi\u201d. Un altro aspetto importante della ricerca biomedica e indirettamente della diagnostica clinica \ue8 rappresentato da una classe di molecole di segnale che si sono rivelate importanti in numerose patologie quali malattie cardiovascolari e neurodegenerative, tumori, malattie d\u2019accumulo lisosomiale e sindrome metabolica. Nonostante il crescente interesse clinico, l\u2019analisi dei glicosfingolipidi non gode di tecnologie ad alta automazione che permettano una facile identificazione e quantizzazione di specie con pesi molecolari spesso molto simili. Attualmente tale caratterizzazione avviene tramite l\u2019utilizzo di precursori radioattivi, oppure di coloranti che non permettono una quantizzazione precisa, o di metodi III LC-MS di grande precisione ma dispendiosi in termini di tempo e di coinvolgimento dell\u2019operatore. Attraverso l\u2019ifenazione diretta HPTLC-MALDI, \ue8 stato possibile effettuare una fine analisi qualitativa e quantitativa del profilo glicosfingolipidomico estratto da mioblasti murini, distinguendo per ogni glicosfingolipide tutte le varianti a diversa catena di acido grasso presenti. Un aspetto importante \ue8 che lo sviluppo metodologico \ue8 stato accoppiato ad una analisi di campioni biologici i cui risultati sono stati confrontati con quelli precedentemente ottenuti attraverso l\u2019utilizzo di precursori radioattivi e successiva analisi densitometrica su glicosfingolipidi estratti da mioblasti wild-type e overesprimenti la sialidasi NEU3. Pertanto, l\u2019ifenazione proposta si \ue8 rivelata di grande applicabilit\ue0 alla caratterizzazione dei glicosfingolipidi in quanto riduce i passaggi analitici necessari evitando l\u2019uso di precursori radioattivi e di procedure di estrazione della banda dal gel di silice, e potr\ue0 essere applicata allo studio di diverse condizioni fisiologiche e patologiche per identificare potenziali biomarcatori.The interest for the development of new methods and the application of hyphenated techniques for complex biological samples characterization is growing, nowadays, more and more. This work faces the application and setup of hyphenated techniques with two aims: a) to identify a new biomarker that can be associated to PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) for prostate cancer (ADK) diagnosis, b) to develop a hyphenated technique for glycosphingolipids analysis. In clinical proteomics, the identification of new biomarkers is hampered by the discrepancy between the quantitative range of detection of instruments and the concentration range of proteins and peptides in biological fluids. Since the quantitative range of detection of instruments cannot be changed, the critical point is to reduce the dynamic range in examined biological fluids. In serum, this can be obtained by the elimination of high abundant proteins thanks to a selective immunodepletion. The serum low abundant protein fraction from 30 ADK patients and 30 controls was analyzed by MALDI profiling. The applied methodology was able to detect differentially abundant peaks in spectra of ADK vs no ADK controls. To transfer the obtained results in clinical diagnostic, the identification of species revealed by MALDI profiles is mandatory for two main reasons: data validation through the use of immunometric techniques and methodological development for a large scale test. Thanks to the hyphenation between chromatografic techniques, such as gel filtration on a HPLC and reverse phase on a nanoLC, and MALDI mass spectrometry, we were able to identify the highly changed 2021 m/z peak, that corresponds to C3f peptide and that derives from the proteolyses of Complement C3b. To confirm its increment in ADK patients with low PSA values an immunoblotting experiment was conducted. The results were validated on a second group of patients and controls. The increase of C3f expression could be related to a deregulation of C3 complement, cleft to iC3b, that inhibits the selffeeding cycle of the alternative pathway hampering the association of C3b to factor B. Therefore C3f peptide could be used in association to PSA serum value to decrease the number of \u201cfalse negative\u201d. An important aspect of the biomedical research and, indirectly, of clinical diagnostic is represented by a class of signal molecules that are important in a number of diseases, including neurological and cardiovascular disorders, cancer, lipid storage diseases, and the metabolic syndrome. Despite the increasing clinical interest, glycosphingolipids (GSLs) analysis cannot benefit by high-throughput techniques that allow an easy identification and quantitation of these species, characterized by similar molecular weights. Actually, their characterization is based on radioactive counts after metabolic radiolabeling, or on staining with proper dyes that doesn\u2019t allow a precise quantitation. New approaches including LC-MS are largely used but they are time consuming and operator dependent. We develop the direct hyphenation HPTLC-MALDI, to obtain a precise qualitative and quantitative analysis of the glycosphingolipids profile from murine myoblasts, and to distinguish every fatty acid chain variant for each GSL. An important aspect is that the methodological setup was coupled to biological samples analysis and results were compared to those obtained through the use of radioactive precursors and densitometric analysis on GSLs extracted from wild type and NEU3 overexpressing murine myoblasts. The proposed hyphenation is of great applicability to the glycosphingolipids characterization because it reduces the V analytical steps, it avoids the use of radioactive precursors and silica scraping, and it could be applied to the study of different physiological and pathological conditions to identify potential biomarkers

Critical Analysis of the GreenMetric World University Ranking System: The Issue of Comparability

The Universitas Indonesia GreenMetric World Ranking is the most widely adopted system nowadays to rank worldwide universities' sustainability. The number of participating universities has consistently increased throughout the last decade. An in-depth analysis of this ranking system is made to assess how sustainability in universities is measured through specific indicators. Specifically, based on expert knowledge, common logic and the scientific literature, these indicators are assessed with respect to whether they can be used to fairly quantify and rank worldwide universities' sustainability development. Some indicators proposed by the ranking system, such as the number of renewable energy sources on campus and the number of various types of programs for sustainable development, were found to be unable to measure any sustainability development effectively and fairly. Many others, such as the opted sewage disposal modality, the percentage of university budget for sustainability efforts and the ratio of sustainability research funding to total research funding, were found to need adjustment to account for context-specific factors such as availability of renewable energy sources, weather, landscape, original construction and the cultural habits of the enrolled people. Taking into account these considerations, a fairer evaluation and comparison of universities' sustainability could be achieved which provides universities with information on how to effectively improve their sustainability

Poultry manure gasification and its energy yield

The disposal of poultry manure is one of the main problems of the poultry sector. The results of some tests developed in a gasification pilot plant are presented in this paper. The aim was to preliminarily analyze the energy generation from poultry manure treated by gasification. The level of energy yields and the quantification of the produced syngas are also reported. The good results suggests an possible application at full scale

Modeling for use of water in agriculture

The present paper examines and evaluates the results of a survey carried out to define the criteria for restoring the surface water of the karstic stream "Gravina" (Southern-Italy). The stream runs through a watershed including several agricultural areas. The stream shows an environmental heterogeneity which is of great value to the conservation of biodiversity. The analysis supports a more general water pollution control strategy aimed at safeguarding natural water quality in the urbanized watershed with the aim, also, to reuse partially the water in agriculture. The methodology was based on the surface water sampling, quality parameter analysis and simulation by modelling. The variation and compatibility of wastewater discharge and water stream quality were verified by using a model available in literature in function of biodegradable pollutant load and dissolved oxygen. Several scenarios based on the fixed yield of treatment plants were examined

Perspectives of decentralised gasification of residual municipal solid waste

In the European Union (EU), the dominant technology for high-temperature thermal treatment of residual Municipal Solid Waste (i.e., the unsorted waste where source separation is performed) is the moving grate incineration. The process of combustion in this sector has been optimised thanks to the introduction of stringent criteria of operation both in the combustion chamber and in the treatment of the generated off-gas. However, the costs of treatment can be sustainable only if the tariff to be applied for the service is coherent with the average value found in the sector. The literature demonstrates that, under a capacity threshold, the grate system is out of market, thus limiting the implementation of small decentralised plants. This paper discusses the potential benefits of small-scale and decentralised thermo-chemical treatment plants replacing a single large-scale one. In addition, the present article analyses the consequences of the results of a recent survey that zoomed in on the availability of small-scale gasifiers for implementing such a strategy. The results of this analysis show that small-scale gasification is preferable to other technologies (e.g., incineration and pyrolysis) in terms of scale effect and flexibility/modularity. Compared to other thermal treatments, the local environmental impact could be reduced by converting syngas into fuels or chemicals rather than burning it for direct energy recovery. The paper also shows that small-scale gasification is able to respond to different needs in both EU and non-EU countries, like the management of progressively lower amounts of residual waste requiring treatment/management of uncontrolled dump sites

LivHeart: A Multi Organ-on-Chip Platform to Study Off-Target Cardiotoxicity of Drugs Upon Liver Metabolism

The drug discovery and development process is still long, costly, and highly risky. The principal attrition factor is undetected toxicity, with hepatic and cardiac toxicities playing a critical role and being the main responsible of safety-related drug withdrawals from the market. Multi Organs-on-Chip (MOoC) represent a disruptive solution to study drug-related effects on several organs simultaneously and to efficiently predict drug toxicity in preclinical trials. Specifically focusing on drug safety, different technological features are applied here to develop versatile MOoC platforms encompassing two culture chambers for generating and controlling the type of communication between a metabolically competent liver model and a functional 3D heart model. The administration of the drug Terfenadine, a cardiotoxic compound liver-metabolized into the noncardiotoxic Fexofenadine, proved that liver metabolism and a fine control over drug diffusion are fundamental to elicit a physio-pathological cardiac response. From these results, an optimized LivHeart platform is developed to house a liver model and a cardiac construct that can be mechanically trained to achieve a beating microtissue, whose electrophysiology can be directly recorded in vitro. The platform is proved able to predict off-target cardiotoxicity of Terfenadine after liver metabolism both in terms of cell viability and functionality

Indicators of biodiversity in an intensively cultivated and heavily human modified landscape

Nowadays, the loss of biodiversity in agroecosystems due to the intensification of farming practices is happening very fast, and therefore, stopping or slowing it down should be a priority for conservation. To detect changes in these environmental contexts, one approach contemplates focusing on a limited set of indicator species that can alert us to ongoing changes in progress. In this research, we aimed to measure the biodiversity of vertebrates using a multi-taxa approach in an intensively cultivated and highly inhabited area located in northern Italy. We investigated the relationships between biodiversity and environmental characteristics and we identified the taxonomic groups that can be used as indicators of biodiversity. Data collection was carried out in 2016 with different methods depending on the taxonomic group, in 131 sampling units chosen using a Tessellation Stratified Sampling. Then we calculated for each sampling unit a standardized Biodiversity Index, which was related to environmental variables concerning the land use and the landscape configuration using Multiple Linear Regression Analysis and Information-Theoretic approach. We used correlation analyses and the Indicator Species Analysis (IndVal) to identify the taxonomic groups and species that can be used as indicators of biodiversity. Biodiversity was positively related to the number of patches of natural vegetation, whereas it was negatively affected by the number of patches of artificial surfaces and by habitat diversity. Our findings agree with those obtained by many other researchers, which pointed out that agroecosystems provide adequate shelters, suitable foraging habitats and nesting sites. The negative effect of habitat diversity was explained by the area-heterogeneity trade-off. Therefore, sites with high heterogeneity will not contain enough cover of residual natural vegetation, essential to maintain high biodiversity, because increasing compositional heterogeneity within a fixed area simultaneously reduces the surface of each cover type. The analyses showed that birds and reptiles might be used as biodiversity indicators of vertebrates. Eurasian Magpie and Green Whip Snake, both generalist species, were associated with sites of low biodiversity, whereas seven birds, both generalists and farmland specialists, were associated with sites of medium biodiversity. In high biodiversity sites there were not indicator species. To conclude, in less natural environments, such as urban and agricultural landscapes, a combination of specialist and generalist indicator species seems adequate to monitor biodiversity changes. Our findings increase the knowledge of these very dynamic ecosystems, being important both to plan strategies for biodiversity conservation and to guarantee ecosystems services useful for humans

Hide-and-seek in a highly human-dominated landscape: insights into movement patterns and selection of resting sites of rehabilitated wolves (Canis lupus) in Northern Italy

Assessing the behavioural responses of floating wolves to human presence is crucial for investigating the chance of wolf populations expanding into urbanised landscapes. We studied the movement ecology of three rehabilitated wolves in a highly human-dominated landscape (Po Plain, Italy) to explore wolf’s plasticity amid widespread human pressure. To reach this aim, we estimated individual 95% utilisation distributions (UD) after the release and inspected both 95% UDs and net squared displacements to identify individual movement patterns; tested for differences in movement patterns during day and night; and analysed the selection of resting sites during dispersal movement in a highly human-altered environment. Both the 95% UDs and step lengths were smaller for wolves settling in suitable areas than for those settling in more urbanised areas. All wolves exhibited strong temporal segregation with humans during all movement phases, particularly while dispersing across highly urbanised areas. Main roads and proximity to built-up areas were shown to limit wolves’ dispersal, whereas small-wooded patches that provide shelter during rest facilitated long-distance movements. This study provides important insights into wolf movement and settling in urban and peri-urban areas, providing critical knowledge to promote human–carnivore coexistenc

Assessment of biological kinetics in a conventional municipal WWTP by means of the oxygen uptake rate method

Pollution control of surface water bodies requires stringent checks on wastewater treatment plants performances. The satisfactory operation of biological treatment, commonly performed by means of activated sludge processes, requires a number of controlling and monitoring procedures. Suitable respirometric techniques for the determination of the kinetic parameters that regulate biological processes have been implemented in order to achieve this aim. This paper describes the results of an experimental research carried out in a conventional Italian municipal wastewater treatment plant. Particularly, the research has been finalized to both evaluate the biological process for the removal of biodegradable pollutants, such as carbonaceous substrates and ammonia nitrogen, and to collect data in order to evaluate a possible plant upgrade. Heterotrophic and autotrophic biomass kinetic parameters have been examined using respirometric techniques based on oxygen uptake measurements. The research performed makes a valuable contribution toward verifying the reliability of the values proposed in the literature for some kinetic parameters, which have been commonly used for a long time