LNG Small Scale Bunkering Services - La Spezia Port case study: potential scenarios for LNG supply, associated costs, energy consumption, GHGs and air pollutants for different transport modes.

Emission Control Areas (ECAs) in EU waters already have imposed a 0.1% sulphur cap and IMO has set a global limit for sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships of 0.50% m/m (mass by mass) from 1 January 2020, which enforces the cap already applicable in EU waters under the Sulphur Directive. It is widely recognized that the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) instead of conventional residual and distillate fuels will substantially reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM). Nonetheless, considerable uncertainty remains about the net effects of LNG- fuelled vessels on emissions. At issue are the upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (mainly CO2 and methane) impacts of LNG, including the energy required to transport and handle the fuel as well as the leakage of natural gas into the atmosphere, which are highly pathway-specific and should be taken into account when a supply chain for Small Scale LNG bunkering is to be set up. As of 2014, the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive (AFID) requires Member States to ensure that an appropriate number of refuelling points for LNG are put in place at maritime ports, to enable LNG seagoing ships to circulate throughout the TEN-T Core Network by 31 December 2025. Following DAFI Adoption, Italy has transposed the Directive in its legislative framework (D.lgs. 257/2016), developed the NPF for natural gas deployment and launched the GAINN_IT Initiative, coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, with the aim of conceiving, defining, prototyping, testing, validating and deploying, in the period 2017-2030, the Italian Network of Infrastructures of Alternative Fuels (LNG in particular) for maritime and surface transport

Preliminary analysis of the November 10, 2014 rainstorm and related landslides in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria)

On the evening of November 10, 2014, eight rainfall-induced shallow landslides were triggered on a slope in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria, Italy). Most of the shallow landslides were channelled as flows into steep hollows and reached the toe of the slope, where some sparse houses were built. One of these landslides impacted and destroyed a building located just at a steep channel outlet, causing two fatalities. Damage affected also agricultural terracing as well as some other buildings and a road running at the toe of the slope, which was buried for long tracts by landslide deposits. Since a few days after the landslides occurrence, various activities were carried out, with the aim of better understanding both the triggering and predisposing factors of landslides. These activities included field surveys, rainfall data analysis, topographic/thematic maps, DEM and aerial photo analyses, preliminary laboratory tests on soil samples. From the analyses performed, it seems that, in addition to the rainfall characteristics of the November 10, 2014 event, the antecedent rainfall may have played an important role as landslides predisposing factor. Other relevant predisposing factors can be referred to slope steepness, presence of hollows, stratigraphic and structural settings at the source areas and lack of maintenance of terracing. Investigations are still in progress to achieve a complete geotechnical and hydraulic characterization of soils. Furthermore, it is also expected to extend the analyses performed to the whole area affected by shallow landslides. However, we believe the results of this study can be helpful in shallow landslide modelling, hazard assessment and planning of appropriate risk mitigation measures

Analysis and evaluation of potential nutracentical milk and dairy products derived from the Centrale del latte di Salerno

2013 - 2014The main objective of my PhD has been focused to the analysis and characterization of milk and dairy products derived from “Centrale del Latte di Salerno” in order to assess their potential use as dietary supplements and functional foods. To fulfill these objectives, in these three years my research group developed innovative analytical methods for the qualitative characterization of the protein fraction, contained in commercial bovine milk products and preserved at room temperature after expiration date. The chromatographic characterization of caseins is a challenging task due to the tendency of such molecules to form, in aqueous solution, micellar structures, highly stabilized by non-covalent interactions. For this reason, in order to optimize chromatographic resolution, we studied the effects of various solvents and denaturant solutions capable of altering the three-dimensional structure, for a better identification of the individual components. The best chromatographic separation was obtained by incubation of casein powder, for one hour at room temperature, with a denaturing solution containing 8 M urea, 165 mM Tris-HCl, 44 mM sodium citrate, 0.3% β-mercaptoethanol. The caseins were, thereafter, characterized by Cap-LC-HRMS experiments, carried out by employing a lab-made monolithic capillary column (Protein-Cap-RP-Lauryl-γ- Monolithic). The newly developed method allowed to study the degradation pattern of the protein fraction in milk samples. Results obtained highlighted the stability of αS- and κ-casein to proteolysis as well the formation of polypeptides (proteose-peptones) deriving from cleavage of the N-terminal and of the C-terminal β-CN by bovine plasmin. Moreover, a different protein degradation pattern was observed in different milk samples. We hypothesized that a possible stabilizing role is exerted by the lipid fraction, able in inhibiting casein degradation in whole milk. This effect was, in fact, not evidenced in skim milk and only partially observed in semi-skimmed milk. Similarly, the whey protein stability in semi-skimmed milk samples has been studied, underlining a time-dependent degradation of β-lactoglobulin A and B, associated to the formation of a large number of peptides. Analysis of soluble peptides fraction four week after the expiry date, was performed by an on-line comprehensive two dimensional liquid chromatography, using the high performance combined with the ultra high performance conditions. Through the use of a differential pHs between the two dimensions and a continuous shifted gradient in 2D, high values of peak capacity, satisfactory selectivity as well as good employment of the 2D separation space were obtained. At the best of our knowledge this is the first time that these chromatographic conditions are applied for peptide separation and analysis. Finally, peptide sequences corresponding to the β-Casomorphins have been identified by 1D-LC-ESI-IT-TOF analysis. These results confirmed that -casein is the protein mainly subjected to proteolytic degradation in semi-skim milk samples, stored at room temperature four weeks after expiration date. [edited by autor]XIII n.s

Preliminary analysis of the November 10, 2014 rainstorm and related landslides in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria)

On the evening of November 10, 2014, eight rainfall-induced shallow landslides were triggered on a slope in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria, Italy). Most of the shallow landslides were channelled as flows into steep hollows and reached the toe of the slope, where some sparse houses were built. One of these landslides impacted and destroyed a building located just at a steep channel outlet, causing two fatalities. Damage affected also agricultural terracing as well as some other buildings and a road running at the toe of the slope, which was buried for long tracts by landslide deposits. Since a few days after the landslides occurrence, various activities were carried out, with the aim of better understanding both the triggering and predisposing factors of landslides. These activities included field surveys, rainfall data analysis, topographic/thematic maps, DEM and aerial photo analyses, preliminary laboratory tests on soil samples. From the analyses performed, it seems that, in addition to the rainfall characteristics of the November 10, 2014 event, the antecedent rainfall may have played an important role as landslides predisposing factor. Other relevant predisposing factors can be referred to slope steepness, presence of hollows, stratigraphic and structural settings at the source areas and lack of maintenance of terracing. Investigations are still in progress to achieve a complete geotechnical and hydraulic characterization of soils. Furthermore, it is also expected to extend the analyses performed to the whole area affected by shallow landslides. However, we believe the results of this study can be helpful in shallow landslide modelling, hazard assessment and planning of appropriate risk mitigation measures

G_2 gauge theory at finite temperature

The gauge group being centreless, $G_2$ gauge theory is a good laboratory for studying the role of the centre of the group for colour confinement in Yang-Mills gauge theories. In this paper, we investigate $G_2$ pure gauge theory at finite temperature on the lattice. By studying the finite size scaling of the plaquette, the Polyakov loop and their susceptibilities, we show that a deconfinement phase transition takes place. The analysis of the pseudocritical exponents give strong evidence of the deconfinement transition being first order. Implications of our findings for scenarios of colour confinement are discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure

Quantum crossover in moderately damped epitaxial NbN/MgO/NbN junctions with low critical current density

High quality epitaxial NbN/MgO/NbN Josephson junctions have been realized with MgO barriers up to a thickness of d=1 nm. The junction properties coherently scale with the size of barrier, and low critical current densities down to 3 A/cm$^2$ have been achieved for larger barriers. In this limit, junctions exhibit macroscopic quantum phenomena for temperatures lower than 90 mK. Measurements and junction parameters support the notion of a possible use of these devices for multiphoton quantum experiments, taking advantage of the fast non equilibrium electron-phonon relaxation times of NbN

Citrus sinensis and Vitis vinifera Protect Cardiomyocytes from Doxorubicin-Induced Oxidative Stress: Evaluation of Onconutraceutical Potential of Vegetable Smoothies

The interest towards nutraceuticals able to counteract drug side effects is continuously growing in current chemotherapeutic protocols. In the present study, we demonstrated that smoothies containing mixtures of Citrus sinensis and Vitis vinifera L. cv. Aglianico N, two typical fruits of the Mediterranean diet, possess bioactive polyphenols that protect cardiomyocytes against doxorubicin-induced oxidative stress. The polyphenolic extracts isolated from Citrus sinensis- and Vitis vinifera-based functional smoothies were deeply characterized by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry methods. Subsequently, the functional smoothies and relative mixtures were tested to verify their ability to affect cellular viability and oxidative stress parameters in embryonic cardiomyocyte cells (H9c2), and human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7) exposed to doxorubicin. Interestingly, we found that the mix resulting from Citrus sinensis and Vitis vinifera association in ratio 1:1 was able to reduce cardiomyocytes damage induced by anthracyclines, without significantly interfering with the pro-apoptotic activity of the drug on breast cancer cells. These results point out the potential use of vegetable smoothies as adjuvants functional foods for chemotherapeutic anticancer protocols

Four-loop free energy for the 2D O(n) nonlinear sigma-model with 0-loop and 1-loop Symanzik improved actions

We calculate up to four loops the free energy of the two-dimensional (2D) O(n) nonlinear sigma-model regularized on the lattice with the 0-loop and 1-loop Symanzik improved actions. An effective coupling constant based on this calculation is defined.Comment: 26 pages, Revtex. More details about the calculation procedur

Detailed peptide profiling of “Scotta”: from a dairy waste to a source of potential health-promoting compound

“Scotta” is a liquid waste deriving from Ricotta cheese production, which is wrongly considered only a dairy by-product. In this work, with the aim to elucidate the presence of valuable bioactive compounds in Buffalo’s Scotta, a peptide fraction under 3000 Da was isolated by ultra-filtration, purified by solid-phase extraction, and,subsequently, characterized in detail by liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Analytical results revealed a complex profile, leading to the identification of 226 peptides, belonging to alpha, beta, and kappa caseins. A database-driven search approach was used to assess the biological effects of some of the identified peptides. A wide range of healthy properties was ascribed to the encrypted peptides, comprising antihypertensive, antimicrobial, immunomodulating, opioid, antioxidant, and antithrombotic. The peptidomic profile of Scotta was highlighted in depth for the first time, and the results revealed that this matrix should not be considered only a mere by-product, but a source of potential health-promoting peptides, which can be recovered and employed in nutraceuticals and functional foods