Italian and Argentine olive oils: a NMR and gas chromatographic study

High-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography (GC) were used to analyze 16 monovarietal olive oils obtained from few matched Mediterranean cultivars grown in experimental fields located in Italy and in the Catamarca region of Argentina. The Catamarca region is characterized by extreme pedoclimatic conditions and by a wild spontaneous vegetation. The proposed sampling allows to study the effect of different pedoclimatic conditions on olive oil composition. GC gives the fatty acid profile of olive oil samples. 1H and 13C NMR techniques provide different information: the 1H NMR spectrum allows the measurement of minor components of olive oils such as b-sytosterol, hexanal, trans-2-hexenal, formaldehyde, squalene, cycloartenol and linolenic acid; the 1C NMR spectrum allows to obtain information about glycerol tri-esters of olive oils, i.e., about their acyl composition and positional distribution on glycerol moiety. All the NMR and GC results have been submitted to Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Tree Cluster Analysis (TCA). A careful analysis of the statistical results allows to select the Mediterranean cultivars less affected by the climatic conditions present in the Catamarca region. The selected cultivars produce olive oils which keep their Mediterranean characteristics and which can be proposed as colonizing plants in this wild Argentine region.La espectroscopía de Resonancia Magnética Nuclear de alta resolución (RMN) y Cromatografía Gaseosa (CG) fueron utilizadas para analizar 16 monovariedades de aceites de oliva, obtenidas de algunos olivares Mediterráneos cultivados contemporáneamente en campos experimentales localizados en Italia y en la región de Catamarca en Argentina. Estas muestras permiten estudiar diferentes condiciones pedoclimáticas en la composición de los aceite de oliva. La CG proporciona el perfil en ácidos grasos de los aceites de oliva y las técnicas RMN 1H y RMN 13C suministran diferentes informaciones: el espectro RMN 1H permite medir los componentes menores del aceite de oliva tales como b-sitoesterol, hexanol, trans - 2 hexanol, formaldehido, escualeno, cicloartenol y ácido linolénico y el espectro RMN 13C da información referente a los triésteres de glicerol de los aceites de oliva, por ejemplo, la composición y distribución de la posición acílica en el glicerol. Los datos de CG y RMN han sido sometidos a un análisis discriminante lineal (LDA) y a un análisis cluster en árbol (TCA). Un minucioso análisis de estos resultados ha permitido seleccionar olivares que han sido menos afectados por las condiciones climáticas presentes en la región de Catamarca. Los olivares seleccionados producen aceites de oliva que pueden mantener sus características Mediterráneas y pueden ser propuestos como plantas colonizantes en esta región silvestre de Argentina

Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Water Demand Modeling

The actual level of water demand is the driving force behind the hydraulic dynamics in water distribution systems. Consequently, it is crucial to estimate it as accurately as possible in order to result in reliable simulation models. In this paper, a copula-based multivariate analysis has been proposed and used for demand prediction for given return period. The analysis is applied to water consumption data collected in the water distribution network of Palermo (Italy). The approach showed to produce consisted demand patterns and to be a powerful tool to be coupled with water distribution network models for design or analysis problems. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Aerogels for energy and environmental applications

Aerogels are emerging as one of the most intriguing and promising groups of microporous materials, characterized by impressive properties such as low density, high surface area, high porosity and tunable surface chemistry. Fostering unique thermal and acoustic insulation features, for several decades they mainly received attention from the aerospace and building sectors. More recently, new great opportunities arose due to significant advances in the drying technologies that currently, represent the enabling step for aerogel synthesis and fabrication. This process-ability dramatically increased the interest toward aerogels from new disciplines. This explains why in the last decade the Environmental Science and Energy fields significantly contributed to the expansion of the aerogel technology, suggesting novel uses and applications and contributing to extend the group of materials that can be synthetized by aerogel processing. New, unforeseen properties emerged for aerogel materials, such as adsorption of contaminants and fluids purification, catalysis of different reactions, electrical conductivity. The present short-review aims at providing a critical overview of the key advances in the development of aerogels for energy and environmental applications, especially emphasizing the common strategies and properties that are turning aerogels into one of the new key emerging technologies of these areas of science

Definition of Water Meter Substitution Plans based on a Composite Indicator

This paper presents a water meter substitution plan based on a composite "Replacement indicator" which was defined and compared with common substitution strategies based on meter age and on run-to-fail approaches. The methodology was applied to one of the 17 sub-networks in which the Palermo city water distribution network (Italy) is divided. The analysis was carried out considering a substitution budget limitation and the results showed that the use of "Replacement indicator" outperform the classical substitution strategies based on meter age because it takes into account some other variables that may affect meter precision and wearing. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

The Effect of Damage Functions on Urban Flood Damage Appraisal

Flooding damage appraisal can been obtained by interpolating real damage data caused by historical flooding events or accounting the effects of a flood in terms of the depreciation of assets. Most often, the expected damage is evaluated by means of damage functions describing the relationship occurring between the damage and hydraulic characteristics of flood. The present paper aims to evaluate the uncertainty linked to the choice of the depth-damage function adopted in the flood damage analysis. Several possible depth-damage function formulations were selected in literature and applied to historical flooding events monitored in the "Centro Storico" catchment in Palermo (Italy). (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Analysis of the impact of intermittent distribution by modelling the network-filling process

In many countries, users acquire private tanks to reduce their vulnerability to water scarcity. In such conditions, water managers often apply intermittent distribution in order to reduce the water volumes supplied to the users. This practice modifies the hydraulic behaviour of the network and determines competition among users that need to collect enough water resource for their uses. Intermittent distribution is thus responsible for the inequality that can occur among users: those located in advantaged positions of the network are able to obtain water resources soon after the service period begins, while others have to wait much longer, after the network is full. This paper analyses the inequalities that take part when intermittent distribution is applied in water scarcity scenarios. Considering the complexity of the process, the analysis was performed by means of an unsteady numerical model. The model was applied to a real case study which provided interesting insights into the network filling process, helping to highlight the advantaged and disadvantaged areas of the network in different water scarcity scenarios

Energy Recovery in Water Distribution Networks. Implementation of Pumps as Turbine in a Dynamic Numerical Model

In complex networks characterized by the presence of private tanks, water managers usually apply intermittent distribution, thus reducing the water volumes supplied to the users, or use Pressure Reduction Valves (PRV) for controlling pressure in the network. The application of Pump As Turbines (PATs) appears as an alternative and sustainable solution to either control network pressure as well as to produce energy. In the present paper, the hydrodynamic model, already presented by De Marchis et al. (2011) was further developed introducing the dynamic analysis of PATs. The model was applied to a district of Palermo network (Italy) characterized by intermittent distribution and by inequities among the user in term of water supply. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd