Modelling solid waste management solutions: The case of Campania, Italy

The waste crisis in Campania has inspired a huge body of literature that has described its complex nature. Quantitative analysis in this regard provides useful insight into single aspects of the problem but from a static perspective. In this work, a dynamic model has been developed to analyse the interactions between the main elements of the waste system in Campania and their evolution over the critical time horizon. The model considers the process of capacity construction that has been developed to deal with the crisis and the flow of waste through the treatment options available, showing how the waste system behaves if such infrastructures are not able to cope with the amounts expected. The model also provides the analytical framework to explore the effects of alternative waste policies. © 2018 Elsevier Lt

Genomic Evolution of Two Acinetobacter baumannii Clinical Strains from ST-2 Clones Isolated in 2000 and 2010 (ST-2_clon_2000 and ST-2_clon_2010)

Acinetobacter baumannii is a successful nosocomial pathogen due to its ability to persist in hospital environments by acquiring mobile elements such as transposons, plasmids, and phages. In this study, we compared two genomes of A. baumannii clinical strains isolated in 2000 (ST-2_clon_2000) and 2010 (ST-2_clon_2010) from GenBank project PRJNA308422

Repercusiones de los ritmos reproductivos en un rebaño extensivo de raza manchega de carne

Se muestra la evolución de los resultados productivos en los últimos 22 años de una explotación de ovino de carne de la raza Manchega, destinado a la producción de lechazo, en función del sistema de cubriciones aplicado, el número de machos en cubrición y la utilización de melatonina para las cubriciones en épocas de anestro. Desde 1985 a 1992 se aplicaba en la explotación un sistema de tres partos en dos años. En 1993 se comenzó a utilizar el sistema STAR, de 5 cubriciones al año. En 2000 se aumentó el número de machos a más de un 5%. A partir de 2002 se comenzó a aplicar melatonina en las cubriciones que establece el sistema STAR en anestro estacionario (marzo y junio). Todas las modificaciones han mostrado beneficios en los resultados productivos. Los resultados de los últimos 5 años muestran la eficacia y la compatibilidad del sistema STAR en nuestras explotaciones de ovino en extensivo, acompañado de un número de machos importante que asegure buenas cubriciones (>5%). La aplicación de la melatonina optimiza este sistema de manejo, estabilizando las cubriciones de anestro, lo que hace que se produzca un mayor número de corderos útiles (vendidos + reposición), una venta de corderos mayor en el segundo semestre y se estabilicen los resultados entre años

Injectable hydrogels based on pluronic/water systems filled with alginate microparticles: Rheological characterization

In this paper the rheological characterization of Pluronic/water systems filled with alginate microparticles is presented. The rheological characterization of the Pluronic/water systems allowed for the choice of the best Pluronic concentration taking into account its applications as injectable hydrogels for tissue repair. The effect on the rheological behavior of the addition of alginate microparticles, to be loaded with the drug, was analyzed and the maximum concentration of microparticles determined.Spanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadV Plan Propio Universidad de SevillaEuropean Union (EU)Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology 288 UID/CTM/50025/201

Moduli Stabilisation and de Sitter String Vacua from Magnetised D7 Branes

Anomalous U(1)'s are ubiquitous in 4D chiral string models. Their presence crucially affects the process of moduli stabilisation and cannot be neglected in realistic set-ups. Their net effect in the 4D effective action is to induce a matter field dependence in the non-perturbative superpotential and a Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term. We study flux compactifications of IIB string theory in the presence of magnetised D7 branes. These give rise to anomalous U(1)'s that modify the standard moduli stabilisation procedure. We consider simple orientifold models to determine the matter field spectrum and the form of the effective field theory. We apply our results to one-modulus KKLT and multi-moduli large volume scenarios, in particular to the Calabi-Yau P^4_{[1,1,1,6,9]}. After stabilising the matter fields, the effective action for the Kahler moduli can acquire an extra positive term that can be used for de Sitter lifting with non-vanishing F- and D-terms. This provides an explicit realization of the D-term lifting proposal of hep-th/0309187.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure. v2: Minor changes, references adde

Analytic estimates and topological properties of the weak stability boundary

The weak stability boundary (WSB) is the transition region of the phase space where the change from gravitational escape to ballistic capture occurs. Studies on this complicated region of chaotic motion aim to investigate its unique, fuel saving properties to enlarge the frontiers of low energy transfers. This “fuzzy stability” region is characterized by highly sensitive motion, and any analysis of it has been carried out almost exclusively using numerical methods. On the contrary this paper presents, for the planar circular restricted 3 body problem (PCR3BP), 1) an analytic definition of the WSB which is coherent with the known algorithmic definitions; 2) a precise description of the topology of the WSB; 3) analytic estimates on the “stable region” (nearby the smaller primary) whose boundary is, by definition, the WSB

Microwave pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass to release maximum phenolic acids

[EN] The objectives fixed by world’s governments concerning energy transition have aroused interest on lignocellulosic biomass utilization for bioenergy and green chemistry applications. However, due to their resistant structure, deconstructive pretreatments are necessary to render possible biological conversions of these lignocellulosic residues. Microwave (MW) treatment has been reported as efficient in many biotechnology fields; biomass pretreatment for biorefinery purposes is another possible application. This work presents the effects of MW pretreatment on underexploited natural agri-food biomass of economic interest: wheat bran, miscanthus stalks and corn stalks. Various parameters were studied including solvent, power density, treatment duration, pressure. Effects were evaluated by a complete biomass characterization before and after treatment, with main focus on phenolic acids release. In the tested conditions and when compared to the high NaOH consumption reference extraction method for phenolic acids, the atmospheric pressure (open vessel) microwave treatment did not allow attaining high acid yields (Fig.1). The most important parameters for improving treatment efficiency were power density and solvent. In order to increase yields, microwave treatments under pressure were carried out to reach higher temperatures while taking care as to not exceed the acid denaturation temperature (150°C) and to avoid the formation of inhibitors. Phenolic acids yields and biomass composition are currently being processed and will be discussed.Authors would like to thank Nicolas Holfeltz, NH Verre France for his help in designing the microwave reactor. The authors also thank Yannick Sire from INRA Pech Rouge for phenolic acids analysis.Bichot, A.; Radoiu, M.; Bernet, N.; Mechin, V.; Delgenès, J.; García Bernet, D. (2019). Microwave pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass to release maximum phenolic acids. En AMPERE 2019. 17th International Conference on Microwave and High Frequency Heating. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 182-188. https://doi.org/10.4995/AMPERE2019.2019.9629OCS18218

Injectable Hydrogels Based on Pluronic/Water Systems Filled with Alginate Microparticles for Biomedical Applications

A (model) composite system for drug delivery was developed based on a thermoresponsive hydrogel loaded with microparticles. We used Pluronic F127 hydrogel as the continuous phase and alginate microparticles as the dispersed phase of this composite system. It is well known that Pluronic F127 forms a gel when added to water in an appropriate concentration and in a certain temperature range. Pluronic F127 hydrogel may be loaded with drug and injected, in its sol state, to act as a drug delivery system in physiological environment. A rheological characterization allowed the most appropriate concentration of Pluronic F127 (15.5 wt%) and appropriate alginate microparticles contents (5 and 10 wt%) to be determined. Methylene blue (MB) was used as model drug to perform drug release studies in MB loaded Pluronic hydrogel and in MB loaded alginate microparticles/Pluronic hydrogel composite system. The latter showed a significantly slower MB release than the former (10 times), suggesting its potential in the development of dual cargo release systems either for drug delivery or tissue engineering

Scattering of dipole-mode vector solitons: Theory and experiment

We study, both theoretically and experimentally, the scattering properties of optical dipole-mode vector solitons - radially asymmetric composite self-trapped optical beams. First, we analyze the soliton collisions in an isotropic two-component model with a saturable nonlinearity and demonstrate that in many cases the scattering dynamics of the dipole-mode solitons allows us to classify them as ``molecules of light'' - extremely robust spatially localized objects which survive a wide range of interactions and display many properties of composite states with a rotational degree of freedom. Next, we study the composite solitons in an anisotropic nonlinear model that describes photorefractive nonlinearities, and also present a number of experimental verifications of our analysis.Comment: 8 pages + 4 pages of figure