Thermal conductivity of lipidic emulsions and its use for production and quality control

Thermal conductivity of lipidic emulsions has been experimentally determined by the probe method. To this purpose a special probe has been designed and built in laboratory, with small diameter (0.6 mm) and a high length to diameter ratio (100). The temperature sensor of the probe (type T thermocouple) and the heater (Pt wire) were properly calibrated. Moreover, the probe performance has been tested by means of a pure liquid (glycerin) having well known thermal conductivity by literature. Differences of about 1.5% at ambient temperature in thermal conductivity values between literature and experiments were found. On lipidic emulsions first thermal conductivity has been measured in the temperature range 1040°C, second the same property as a function of time at constant temperature (40°C), then the values after freezing at –15°C and reheating at 20 °C; and last the kinetics of degeneration. Results show a significant difference between thermal conductivity values of a new emulsion (0.51 W/m K), compared with the creamed one (0.62 W/m K), and the decayed one (0.68 W/m K ). It has also put into evidence why the frozen emulsion cannot be used for intravenous injection, i.e. viscosity increases because of breaking of the oil particles. Finally information about the kinetics of the degeneration process have been obtained. The uncertainty resulting from the calibration and tests justifies the possible use of the measurement technique for process control of production, and also for quality control in the clinical practice

Recovery trends of commercial fish: the case of an underperforming Mediterranean marine protected area

Temporal trends in the recovery of exploited species in marine protected areas (MPAs) are useful for a proper assessment of the efficacy of protection measures. The effects of protection on the fish assemblages of the sublittoral rocky reefs in the \u201cPenisola del Sinis-Isola di Mal di Ventre\u201d MPA (W. Sardinia, Italy) were evaluated using a multi-year series of data. Four surveys, conducted 7, 10, 13 and 15 years after the area was designated as an MPA and carried out in the period spanning June and July, were used to estimate the abundance and biomass of commercial species. The surveys were carried out in zones with decreasing levels of fishing restrictions within the MPA (zones A, B, C) and in unprotected zones (OUT1 and OUT2), and underwater video visual census techniques were used. Protected zones only occasionally showed higher levels of abundance or biomass, and the trajectories of those metrics were not consistent across the years. In addition, the zone with the highest level of protection (zone A) never presented levels of abundance and biomass higher than those in zones B and C. This study shows that even 15 years after designation, protection has had no appreciable effect in the MPA studied. It is argued that this is emblematic of several shortcomings in the planning, regulation and enforcement frameworks of the MPA

Data from docking simulations to develop an efficient strategy able to evaluate the interactions between RAGE and MDA-induced albumin adducts

This data article contains the results of docking simulations performed in order to develop a suitable in silico strategy able to assess the stability of the putative complexes between RAGE and MDA induced adducts on human albumin as experimentally determined doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2016.12.017, (Degani et al., 2017) [1]. The docking simulations involved different approaches to give a simplified yet realistic representation of the protein adducts and their environment. With increasing complexity, simulations involved the corresponding albumin tripeptides and pentapeptides with the modified residue in the central position as well as pseudo-structures which were generated by collecting the albumin residues around the adducted residue within a sphere of 7.5 \uc5 and 5 \uc5 radius. The reliability of the tested approaches was assessed by monitoring the score differences between adducted and unmodified residues. The obtained results revealed the greater predictive power of the spherical pseudo-structures compared to the simple tri- or pentapeptidic sequences thus suggesting that RAGE recognition involves residues which are spatially close to the modified residue even though not necessarily adjacent in the primary sequence

Temperature increase during composites polymerisation using two LED curing lights

The aim of curing light technology has been the development of lights that would result in faster curing of resin composites and less heat generation (Aravamudhan et al., Dent Mater 2006). The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate thermal changes on the tooth structures during the exposure of two different light emitting diode curing units (LED)

Road Infrastructure Safety Management. Proactive Safety Tools to Evaluate Potential Conditions of Risk

The identification of highly critical sections in a road network is possible by examining the network operation, with the goal of determining the risk factors and observe the critical issues, in order to better plan possible improvements. Therefore, this study proposes a method to evaluate the coherence of existing road layouts, through the analysis of the geometric characteristics, theoretical speeds and drivers operating speeds, under different environmental and flow conditions. The analysis focuses on the road network managed by ANAS SpA in the Veneto Region, for which the reconstruction of the road axes geometry, the curvature graph and the theoretical design speed profile have been obtained, according to the indications of the Italian Ministerial Decree 05/11/2001. The theoretical design speed profile has then been compared with the information relating to the road users' mobility, in terms of the 85th percentile speeds, obtained from the extraction and analysis of the Floating Car Data (FCD). The data were processed by reconstructing the continuous profile of operating speeds with a specific regression function known as "smoothing cubic spline". The comparison with the theoretical design speeds allows to observe whether the users assume a behavior close to or distant from what is expected, based on the technical and geometrical characteristics of the road layout. The proposed methodology can contribute to the implementation of a proactive road safety check, aimed at recognizing and assessing the potential risk conditions for road traffic, with particular attention to the point of view of the road user