Sustainable Promotion of Traditional Rural Buildings as Built Heritage Attractions: A Heritage Interpretation Methodology Applied in South Italy

The study describes the methodology implemented to include a rural cultural heritage attraction within an existing tourist route, i.e., the Sicilian Roads of Wine (“Strade del vino”). The aim was to promote a traditional rural building (TRB) as a tourist attraction and diversify rural tourism offerings. By promoting TRB and wine and food, the rural tourism sector offers a significant opportunity to achieve sustainable socio-economic development in rural areas, rural diversification, and landscape preservation. The inclusion of the TRB within the visitor route is based on a detailed heritage analysis approach as an operative process which could enable the comprehension and collective use of the cultural sites. The valorization of a traditional rural building with wine cellars and oil mills, located within the Chiaramonte Gulfi (RG) boundary, will be described. The objective is to make an architectural heritage building made with local materials and following the traditional Sicilian building techniques accessible to tourists. Special attention is paid to restore the building by respecting its identity and relevant building regulations and focusing on a complete, sustainable approach regarding social, environmental, and economic factors

Livestock Wastes Sustainable Use and Management: Assessment of Raw Sheep Wool Reuse and Valorization

Worldwide, around 998 million tons of agricultural waste are generated yearly, including livestock wastes, which create several critical environmental issues if not properly treated. In this study, a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based model to locate and quantify both the yearly amount of livestock waste, i.e., sheep wool, and the territorial distribution of sheep farms, was carried out and applied within the selected study area. The aim was to identify those territorial areas most suitable for localizing new shared wool collection centers to sustainably manage the reuse of this waste as potential green building material. Data related to both sheep farms and sheep number and the related sheep shared wool (SSW) yearly production were acquired and applied in GIS. By GIS-based model results, two collection centers have been identified within the provinces of Agrigento and Enna. Then, to develop a sustainable reuse in terms of reducing environmental impact due to the SSW logistics and supply phase, a possible third collection center was localized within the territorial area belonging to the province of Ragusa (south area of the Sicily). In this research, for the first time the issue above reported was addressed, by achieving results that contribute at developing an efficient collection chain for recovering and properly reusing SSW to respond adequately to a further industrial scale production

Spatial analysis to quantify and localise the residual cardoon stem fibres as potential bio-reinforcements for building materials

Today in Europe building-sector is responsible for the 50% of air pollution and for 70% of waste production. For this reason, researchers’ interest is focused on new eco-building materials that are sustainable, with low impact, renewable and recyclable. In this context, in the last few years, the use of cellulose-based fibres as potential reinforcements for bio-composite materials, instead of synthetic one, received worldwide growing attention. Among natural fibres, both cellulose and protein-based ones, in literature it was found that, due to its mechanical properties, artichoke fibre is suitable for this use. In this study, a Geographical Information System (GIS)–based model to locate and quantify the yearly amount of agricultural waste coming from Cynara cardunculus L. (CW) cultivation was put forward and was applied in a study area located in Southern Italy. As an additional protein-based fibre, sheep wool fibre was also taken into account due to the high presence of sheep. The estimated available amount of both considered fibres was reported in a GIS map in order to show their distribution at territorial level. The achieved results could represent basic information for both sustainable locating collection centre and analysing the environmental impact related to the logistics and supply phase

Enhancement of sustainable bioenergy production by valorising tomato residues: A GIS-based model

In order to increase the utilization of renewable energy sources, the biomethane production through anaerobic digestion has notably developed over the last years. Although, it is worldwide recognized, that valorising waste resources (i.e., by-products) is an opportunity to improve the efficiency rate of the agro-industrial chains, by reducing economic and environmental impact, it is necessary to support the strategic planning development of a future sustainable biomethane chain in line to circular economy. In this study, by adopting network information technologies, the importance of a strategic planning for sustainable developing biomethane sector was highlighted, since feedstocks logistic and supply phase is a key-aspect of any bioenergy project. The developed Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – methodology, that could be applied in any territorial area considering any type of biomass, allowed to define suitable locations for allocating new anaerobic digestion plants with the aim of developing a sustainable valorisation of tomato residues, by minimising the economic and environmental impacts. The achieved results provided advanced knowledge for the literature on the topic, helping to develop an operational GIS-tool for defining sustainable strategies for planning new plants, and proved that the development of integrated approach to define sustainable strategies for resource management along the whole supply chain is crucial

Assessment of contamination of Salmonella spp. in imported black pepper and sesame seed and salmonella inactivation by gamma irradiation

This study shows the frequency of seeds samples contaminated by Salmonella spp. collected randomly from local markets; on 30 black pepper sample no contaminated sample was found while Salmonella spp. was detected in 3 of 36 (8.3%) analyzed sesame samples; three different serotypes were identified: S. Montevideo, S. Stanleyville e S. Tilene. The efficacy of gamma irradiation to inactivate Salmonella Montevideo in black pepper and sesame irradiated between 1 and 5 kGy was evaluated. 3 kGy is sufficient to reduce of 3-4 log CFU/g; whereas 5 kGy have been need to reduce 5.5-6 log CFU/g for samples of black pepper and sesame. No statistically significant differences were found between black pepper and sesame

Tumor-on-a-chip platforms to study cancer-immune system crosstalk in the era of immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is a powerful therapeutic approach able to re-educate the immune system to fight cancer. A key player in this process is the tumor microenvironment (TME), which is a dynamic entity characterized by a complex array of tumor and stromal cells as well as immune cell populations trafficking to the tumor site through the endothelial barrier. Recapitulating these multifaceted dynamics is critical for studying the intimate interactions between cancer and the immune system and to assess the efficacy of emerging immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and adoptive cell-based products. Microfluidic devices offer a unique technological approach to build tumor-on-a-chip reproducing the multiple layers of complexity of cancer-immune system crosstalk. Here, we seek to review the most important biological and engineering developments of microfluidic platforms for studying cancer-immune system interactions, in both solid and hematological tumors, highlighting the role of the vascular component in immune trafficking. Emphasis is given to image processing and related algorithms for real-time monitoring and quantitative evaluation of the cellular response to microenvironmental dynamic changes. The described approaches represent a valuable tool for preclinical evaluation of immunotherapeutic strategies

Pulse-induced switches in a Josephson tunnel stacked device

Pulse activated transitions from the metastable to the running state and viceversa have been observed in a stacked double tunnel Nb-based Josephson system. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations based on the Sine-Gordon model of the stacked junctions by injecting pulses with variable amplitude in one of the junctions of the stack, and observing the voltage response of the other junction. Both experimental and numerical results show the possibility to induce both direct and back-switching transitions from the metastable to the running state simply by changing the amplitude of the electronic pulses injected across the stack device.Comment: Submitted to Appl.Phys.Letters, May 2001 PDF format: 14 pages, 3 Figure

Zeolite-feldspar epiclastic rocks as flux in ceramic tile manufacturing

Low-cost, naturally-occurring mixtures of feldspar and zeolite occurring in epiclastic rocks are promising substitutes for conventional quartz-feldspathic fluxes in ceramic bodies, since their fusibility and low hardness are expected to improve both grinding and sintering. Three epiclastic outcrops, with a different zeolite-to-feldspar ratio, were characterized (XRPD, fusibility) and tested in porcelain stoneware bodies; their behaviour during processing was appraised and compared with that of a reference. The addition of an epiclastic rock (20 wt.%), replacing rhyolite and aplite fluxes, brought about some significant advantages, mainly represented by better grindability, lower firing temperature with improved mechanical strength and lower porosity. Disadvantages concern increased slip viscosity, worse powder compressibility, resulting in larger firing shrinkage, and a darker colour of the tiles due to relatively high amounts of iron oxide

Femtosecond spectroscopy in a nearly optimally doped Fe-based superconductors FeSe0.5Te0.5 and Ba(Fe 1-xCox)2As2/Fe thin film

Femtosecond spectroscopy has been used to investigate the quasi-particle relaxation times in nearly optimally doped Fe-based superconductors FeSe 0.5Te0.5 and optimally doped Ba-122 thin films growth on a Fe buffer layer. Experimental results concerning the temperature dependence of the relaxation time of such pnictides both in the superconducting state are now presented and discussed. Modelling the T-dependence of relaxation times an estimation of both electron-phonon constant and superconducting energy gap in the excitation spectrum of both Fe(Se,Te) and Ba-122 compounds is obtained