Fast model predictive control for hydrogen outflow regulation in ethanol steam reformers

© 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.In the recent years, the presence of alternative power sources, such as solar panels, wind farms, hydropumps and hydrogen-based devices, has significantly increased. The reasons of this trend are clear: contributing to a reduction of gas emissions and dependency on fossil fuels. Hydrogen-based devices are of particular interest due to their significant efficiency and reliability. Reforming technologies are among the most economic and efficient ways of producing hydrogen. In this paper we consider the regulation of hydrogen outflow in an ethanol steam reformer (ESR). In particular, a fast model predictive control approach based on a finite step response model of the process is proposed. Simulations performed using a more realistic non-linear model show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in driving the ESR to different operating conditions while fulfilling input and output constraints.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Surface Brightness Fluctuations from archival ACS images: a stellar population and distance study

We derive Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) and integrated magnitudes in the V- and I-bands using Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) archival data. The sample includes 14 galaxies covering a wide range of physical properties: morphology, total absolute magnitude, integrated color. We take advantage of the latter characteristic of the sample to check existing empirical calibrations of absolute SBF magnitudes both in the I- and V-passbands. Additionally, by comparing our SBF and color data with the Teramo-SPoT simple stellar population models, and other recent sets of population synthesis models, we discuss the feasibility of stellar population studies based on fluctuation magnitudes analysis. The main result of this study is that multiband optical SBF data and integrated colors can be used to significantly constrain the chemical composition of the dominant stellar system in the galaxy, but not the age in the case of systems older than 3 Gyr. SBF color gradients are also detected and analyzed. These SBF gradient data, together with other available data, point to the existence of mass dependent metallicity gradients in galaxies, with the more massive objects showing a non--negligible SBF versus color gradient. The comparison with models suggests that such gradients imply more metal rich stellar populations in the galaxies' inner regions with respect to the outer ones.Comment: ApJ Accepte

L’ATTIVITÀ DELL’ORTO BOTANICO DI PALERMO E DELLE STRUTTURE COLLEGATE PER LA CONSERVAZIONE DEGLI ANTICHI FRUTTIFERI DELLA SICILIA

B6 = L’ATTIVITÀ DELL’ORTO BOTANICO DI PALERMO E DELLE STRUTTURE COLLEGATE PER LA CONSERVAZIONE DEGLI ANTICHI FRUTTIFERI DELLA SICILIA P. MARINO1, M. GERACI2, D. CRISÀ2, F. M. RAIMONDO1, R. SCHICCHI1 1Dipartimento di Biologia ambientale e Biodiversità dell’Università, Via Archirafi, 38 - 90123 Palermo. [email protected] 2Ente Parco dei Nebrodi, Piazza Duomo – 98076 Sant’Agata di Militello, Messina L’attività di individuazione, valutazione e raccolta del germoplasma delle specie arboree da frutto di prevalente interesse negli agrosistemi tradizionali della Sicilia, iniziata nel 2005 (Schicchi et al., 2008a; Schicchi et al., 2008b) si protrae ancora oggi attraverso azioni volte alla conservazione ed alla diffusione delle risorse genetiche vegetali a rischio di erosione, tramite l’adesione ad iniziative a carattere pubblico previste dal PSR Sicilia 2007/2013 Reg. CE 1698/2005 Misura 214/2 - Azione A: Preservazione della biodiversità. Al riguardo, l’Orto botanico di Palermo ha promosso tre progetti attivando collaborazioni con Enti di ricerca, Enti locali e territoriali. L’attività, finalizzata alla costituzione di un network regionale per la conservazione e diffusione della biodiversità degli antichi fruttiferi, si articola in più fasi: a) individuazione, raccolta e caratterizzazione di ecotipi e varietà; b) realizzazione di centri, ex situ, per la conservazione, caratterizzazione, propagazione e utilizzazione del germoplasma agrario, in vivo e in vitro; c) allestimento dei campi collezione; d) realizzazione di centri per la produzione di piante madri; e) attività di diffusione sul territorio; f) predisposizione e implementazione di reti e azioni di accompagnamento. Per il raggiungimento dei suddetti obiettivi sono stati presentati e ammessi a finanziamento tre progetti. Il primo progetto (CenBioS), attivato dal Dipartimento di Biologia ambientale e Biodiversità dell’Università di Palermo, prende in considerazione il germoplasma del ciliegio (Prunus avium L.), melo (Malus domestica Bork.), pero (Pyrus communis L.) e fico (Ficus carica L.) a rischio di erosione genetica, di cui si propone la conservazione nell’ambito di due distinti campi collezione e la realizzazione di un campo di piante madri da realizzare rispettivamente a Montagnareale (Messina) e Cammarata (Agrigento). Il secondo progetto (MadBioS), di cui è soggetto proponente il Consorzio Universitario della Provincia di Palermo, prevede la realizzazione di tre distinti campi collezione. Il primo, nell’agro di Pollina (Palermo), ospiterà il germoplasma delle antiche cultivar di frassini da manna afferenti a Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl e Fraxinus ornus L.; il secondo, nel territorio di Isnello, ospiterà le cultivar locali di pero e melo; il terzo, da realizzare presso l’azienda dell’Istituto Professionale per l’Agricoltura e l’Ambiente di Castelbuono (Palermo), riguarda diverse cultivar di albicocco (Prunus armeniaca L.), pesco [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] e susino (Prunus domestica L.) presenti nell’area delle Madonie. Il terzo progetto, di cui è capofila l’Ente Parco dei Nebrodi, prevede l’implementazione dell’attuale “Banca vivente del germoplasma vegetale dei Nebrodi” attraverso l’allestimento e il potenziamento di campi collezione e di piante madri nella sede di Ucria (Messina) e presso l’Istituto Professionale per l’Agricoltura e l’Ambiente di Caronia (Messina). Tali campi ospiteranno le cultivar tradizionali e antiche dell’area nebroidea di melo, albicocco, pesco, susino e pero. Nel complesso, oltre all’accertamento della corrispondenza varietale e delle condizioni fitosanitarie di oltre 150 etnovarietà, è prevista la caratterizzazione pomologica e genetica e la propagazione delle stesse nel territorio regionale, nell’ambito delle aziende agricole che aderiscono alla Misura 214/2 az. B del PSR. Schicchi R., Marino P. & Raimondo F.M., 2008. Individuazione, valutazione e raccolta del germoplasma delle specie arboree da frutto di prevalente interesse negli agrosistemi tradizionali della Sicilia. Collana Sicilia Foreste, Palermo. Schicchi R., Marino P., Saporito L., Di Noto G. & Raimondo F.M., 2008. Catalogo pomologico degli Antichi fruttiferi di Sicilia. Università di Palermo, Dip. Scienze Botaniche, Palermo

Prevalence of adenomyosis in endometrial cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Several studies have assessed the histological co-existence of endometrial carcinoma (EC) and adenomyosis. However, the significance of this association is still unclear. Objective: To assess the prevalence of adenomyosis in women with EC for a better understanding of the association between the two diseases. Materials and methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed by searching electronics databases from their inception to March 2020, for all studies that allowed extraction of data about prevalence of adenomyosis in EC patients. Adenomyosis prevalence was calculated for each included study and as pooled estimate, with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Eight retrospective cohort studies assessing 5573 EC patients were included in our analysis. Of total, 1322 were patients with adenomyosis, and 4251 were patients without adenomyosis. Pooled prevalence of adenomyosis in EC patients was 22.6% (95% CI 12.7–37.1%). Conclusion: Adenomyosis prevalence in EC patients was not different from that reported for other gynecological conditions. The supposed association between the two diseases appears unsupported

Focal Active Colitis: What Are Its Clinical Implications? A Narrative Review

Focal active colitis (FAC) is described as a histolopathological term indicating the isolated finding of focal neutrophil infiltration in the colonic crypts. Currently, there exist numerous debates regarding the clinical significance of diagnosing FAC, which may or may not have clinical relevance as it is frequently detected in colorectal biopsies without any other microscopic abnormalities. The objective of this narrative review is to provide an overview of the available evidence concerning the clinical implications of FAC, both in the adult population (among five studies available in the scientific literature) and in the pediatric context (based on two available studies)

Multifrequency observations of XTE J0421+560/CI Cam in outburst

We report on two X-ray observations of the transient source XTE J0421+560 performed by BeppoSAX, and on a series of observations performed by the 0.7m Teramo-Normale Telescope. Outburst peak occurrence time and duration depend on photon energy: the outburst peak is achieved first in the X-ray band, then in the optical and finally in the radio. An exponential decay law fits well the X-ray data except in the TOO2 0.5-1.0 keV band, where erratic time variability is detected. During TOO1 the e-folding time scale decreases with energy up to ~ 20 keV, when it achieves a saturation; during TOO2 it decreases up to ~ 2 keV and then increases. This change is correlated with a spectral change, characterized by the onset of a soft (< 2 keV) component in TOO2 (Orr et al. 1998). This component might originate from the relativistic jets, while the hard component is more likely associated to processes occurring in the circumstellar matter and/or near the compact object. Optical observations show that the object appears intrinsically red even during the outburst. The nature of the compact object is discussed.Comment: Four pages. Accepted for publication in A&A Lette

An injectable bone marrow-like scaffold enhances T cell immunity after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative treatment for multiple disorders, but deficiency and dysregulation of T cells limit its utility. Here we report a biomaterial-based scaffold that mimics features of T cell lymphopoiesis in the bone marrow. The bone marrow cryogel (BMC) releases bone morphogenetic protein-2 to recruit stromal cells and presents the Notch ligand Delta-like ligand-4 to facilitate T cell lineage specification of mouse and human hematopoietic progenitor cells. BMCs subcutaneously injected in mice at the time of HSCT enhanced T cell progenitor seeding of the thymus, T cell neogenesis and diversification of the T cell receptor repertoire. Peripheral T cell reconstitution increased ~6-fold in mouse HSCT and ~2-fold in human xenogeneic HSCT. Furthermore, BMCs promoted donor CD4+ regulatory T cell generation and improved survival after allogeneic HSCT. In comparison to adoptive transfer of T cell progenitors, BMCs increased donor chimerism, T cell generation and antigen-specific T cell responses to vaccination. BMCs may provide an off-the-shelf approach for enhancing T cell regeneration and mitigating graft-versus-host disease in HSCT

Anthriscus sylvestris—Noxious Weed or Sustainable Source of Bioactive Lignans?

Anthriscus sylvestris (L.) Hoffm. (Apiaceae), commonly known as wild chervil, has gained scientific interest owing to its diverse phytochemical profile and potential therapeutic applications. The plant, despite being categorized as a noxious weed, is traditionally used in treating various conditions like headaches, dressing wounds, and as a tonic, antitussive, antipyretic, analgesic, and diuretic. Its pharmacological importance stems from containing diverse bioactive lignans, especially aryltetralins and dibenzylbutyrolactones. One of the main compounds of A. sylvestris, deoxypodophyllotoxin, among its wide-ranging effects, including antitumor, antiproliferative, antiplatelet aggregation, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and insecticidal properties, serves as a pivotal precursor to epipodophyllotoxin, crucial in the semisynthesis of cytostatic agents like etoposide and teniposide. The main starting compound for these anticancer medicines was podophyllotoxin, intensively isolated from Sinopodophyllum hexandrum, now listed as an endangered species due to overexploitation. Since new species are being investigated as potential sources, A. sylvestris emerges as a highly promising candidate owing to its abundant lignan content. This review summarizes the current knowledge on A. sylvestris, investigating its biological and morphological characteristics, and pharmacological properties. Emphasizing the biological activities and structure–activity relationship, this review underscores its therapeutic potential, thus encouraging further exploration and utilization of this valuable plant resource