Exploring Scenedesmus obliquus and nannochloropsis sp. potential as a sustianable raw material for biofuels amd high added value compounds

In this work, the authors propose a microalga-based integrated system, where optimization of several energy vectors (biodiesel, bioethanol and bioH2) is highlighted under the concept of biorefinery (Project PTDC/AAC-AMB/100354/2008). This involves the integration of different processes such as oil and sugar extraction from microalgae for biodiesel and bioethanol production respectively, and bioH2 production from the whole and/or biomass leftovers. The extraction of high value added compounds, such as carotenoids, contributes to the economic viability of the overall process

Observation of environment-induced double sudden transitions in geometric quantum correlations

Correlations in quantum systems exhibit a rich phenomenology under the effect of various sources of noise. We investigate theoretically and experimentally the dynamics of quantum correlations and their classical counterparts in two nuclear magnetic resonance setups, as measured by geometric quantifiers based on trace-norm. We consider two-qubit systems prepared in Bell diagonal states, and perform the experiments in decohering environments resulting from Bell diagonal-preserving Markovian local noise. We then report the first observation of environment-induced double sudden transitions in the geometric quantum correlations, a genuinely nonclassical effect not observable in classical correlations. The evolution of classical correlations in our physical implementation reveals in turn the finite-time relaxation to a pointer basis under nondissipative decoherence, which we characterize geometrically in full analogy with predictions based on entropic measures.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. v2: Minor corrections. Published versio

Synthesis of esters derived from [4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-[1,2,3]triazol-1-yl]-2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranose

The synthesis of six novel esters containing a triazole ring and an acetylated glucose residue are presentedFCT and FEDER, for National NMR Network (Bruker Avance II 400). We are also grateful for research grant VZ MSMT-0021627501, Czech Republi

Synthesis of esters derived from [4-(2-hydroxy-ethyl)-[1,2,3]triazol-1-YL-2,3,4,6-tetra-o-acetylglucopyranose

2,3,4-Tri-O-benzyl-alpha-D-methylglucoside was prepared and reacted with several acids: benzoic, phenylacetic, 2-(3-bromo-propoxy)-benzoic, acetylsalicylic and 4-(toluene-4-sulfonylamino)-benzoic. The products were isolated with low to fair yields and fully characterized by usual analytical techniquesFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and FEDER, for National NMR Network (Bruker Avance III 400). We are also grateful for research grant VZ MSMT-0021627501, Czech Republic

A proactive approach to the conservation of historic and cultural Heritage: The HeritageCare methodology

Presently, no systematic policy for the preventive conservation of the built cultural heritage exists in South-West Europe. Current approaches for inspection, diagnosis, monitoring and reactive conservation are normally intermittent, unplanned, expensive and lack methodical strategy. The available financial resources are scarce and are mostly addressed to listed buildings. Besides, owners and stakeholders often reveal reluctance to invest in preventive conservation and maintenance programs. In view of these considerations, and driven by the principle “prevention is better than cure”, the HeritageCare project has developed a system for the preventive conservation and maintenance of the built heritage. The main aim of this paper is to briefly describe the methodology, including its three levels of service, and present the main results of the implementation and validation of the service level 1 on a case study belonging to the Portuguese architectural heritage.This work was carried out within the scope of the project HeritageCare (SOE1/P5/P0258), co-funded by the Interreg-Sudoe/FEDER program and included in the research activities of the ISISE Research Centre, also financed by FEDER funds through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Program – COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007633. Authors would like to express their gratitude to the Centre for Computer Graphics, HeritageCare partner, for the development of the platform (and supporting database) and the mobile application, outputs of the project HeritageCare. Authors would like to express their gratitude to the Santa Maria de la Real Foundation, HeritageCare partner, for the placement of the monitoring system at the Ducal Palace, Guimarães, Portugal

Silkworms with Spider Silklike Fibers Using Synthetic Silkworm Chow Containing Calcium Lignosulfonate, Carbon Nanotubes, and Graphene

Silkworm silk has become increasingly relevant for material applications. However, the industry as a whole is retracting because of problems with mass production. One of the key problems is the inconsistent properties of the silk. A means by which to improve the silk material properties is through enhanced sericulture techniques. One possible technique is altering the feed of the silkworms to include single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) or graphene (GR). Recently published results have demonstrated substantial improvement in fiber mechanical properties. However, the effect of the surfactant used to incorporate those materials into the feed on the fiber mechanical properties in comparison to normal silkworm silk has not been studied or reported. Thus, the total effect of feeding the SWNT and GR in the presence of surfactants on silkworms is not understood. Our study focuses on the surfactant [calcium lignosulfonate (LGS)] and demonstrates that it alone results in appreciable improvement of mechanical properties in comparison to nontreated silkworm silk. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that mixing the LGS, SWNT, and GR directly into the artificial diet of silkworms yields improved mechanical properties without decline below the control silk at high doses of SWNT or GR. Combined, we present evidence that mixing surfactants, in this case LGS, directly with the diet of silkworms creates a high-quality fiber product that can exceed 1 GPa in tensile strength. With the addition of nanocarbons, either SWNT or GR, the improvement is even greater and consistently surpasses control fibers. However, feeding LGS alone is a more economical and practical choice to consistently improve the mechanical properties of silkworm fiber