Compensation of Thermal Gradients Effects on a Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCM) are widely used instruments thanks to their stability, low mass, and low cost. Nevertheless, the sensitivity to temperature is their main drawback and is often a driver for their design. Though the crystal average temperature is mostly considered as the only disturbance, temperature affects the QCM measurements also through the in-plane temperature gradients, an effect identified in the past but mostly neglected. Recently, it has been shown that this effect can prevail over that of the average temperature in implementations where the heat for thermal control is released directly on the crystal through deposited film heaters. In this study, the effect of temperature gradients for this kind of crystal is analyzed, the sensitivity of frequency to the average temperature gradient on the electrode border is determined, and a correction is proposed and verified. A numerical thermal model of the QCM has been created to determine the temperature gradients on the electrode borders. The frequency versus temperature-gradient function has been experimentally determined in different thermal conditions. The correction function has been eventually applied to a QCM implementing a crystal of the same manufacturing lot as the one used for the characterization. The residual errors after the implementation of the correction of both average temperature and temperature gradients were always lower than 5% of the initial temperature disturbance. Moreover, using the correlation between the heater power dissipation and the generated temperature gradients, it has been shown that an effective correction strategy can be based on the measurement of the power delivered to the crystal without the determination of the temperature gradient

THE PATHOGENESIS OF MALARIA ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME (MA-ARDS): MODIFICATION OF THE LIPID PROFILE, ANTIOXIDANT DEFENCES AND CYTOKINE CONTENT IN DIFFERENT TISSUES OF MALARIA INFECTED MICE

INTRODUCTION Malaria is a major health problem, with more than 650.000 deaths and 200 million clinical cases each year. Respiratory distress as malaria associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (MA-ARDS) is a common complication. The pathogenesis of MA-ARDS is mainly inflammatory and one of the main observation is the presence of abundant monocytes and macrophages inside the blood capillaries, in the interstitium and also in alveolar spaces. Malaria pigment or haemozoin (Hz) is often seen in these cells reflecting active phagocytosis and leads to the production of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators. Multiple organ dysfunctions are described in MA-ARDS, including liver damages. ARDS in non malarious patients is often associated with disorders of the lung surfactant, which can lead to the increase in surface tension, alveolar collapse and loss of the liquid balance in the lungs. Surfactant is known to reduce the surface tension at the air\u2013liquid interface of lung epithelia and to regulate the local host immune response. It can be separated into a surface active Large Aggregate fractions (LA), representing a reservoir for the surface film located at the air-liquid interface of the alveoli and a less surface active, Small Aggregate fraction (SA). It is not known at present if alterations of the surfactant also exist in MA-ARDS and how they may contribute to the pathology and the development of the inflammatory response. AIM The aim of our studies was to perform a comprehensive analysis of the local and systemic inflammatory response present in MA-ARDS and to analyse the lipid profile of the pulmonary surfactant, the lung and liver tissues and plasma using two different models of murine malaria of similar gravity, but different involvement of lungs or liver. In particular, we studied C57BL/6J mice infected with two different species of Plasmodium: Plasmodium berghei NK65 strain which induces MA-ARDS and Plasmodium chabaudi (PcAS), which does not. The two models allowed us to directly compare the different pathological manifestation of the same infection in order to identify peculiarities which could be exploited for novel therapeutic interventions. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Macroscopic and functional analysis of lung tissues in the two strains. The lungs of PbNK65 infected mice were swollen, increased in weight and with a dark brown aspect due to micro haemorrhages and to the deposition of Hz clusters in concentrations significantly higher compared to the lungs of mice infected with PcAS. The expression of TNF-\u3b1 and IFN-\uf067 was increased only in PbNK65 mice, indicating that these cytokines are induced specifically during MA-ARDS and are not a consequence of malaria infection. This hypothesis was confirmed by the decrease of lung weight and of the CD8+ cells infiltrate, and the reduction /delay in mortality rates seen in PbNK65 mice treated with DEX without a concomitant reduction in parasitaemia. Therefore, DEX seems to ameliorate MA-ARDS, not by inhibiting parasite growth but rather by modulating the immunopathology and the inflammatory response. A significant increase of the total phospholipid (PL) content and cholesterol esters (ChoE) was observed in PbNK65 lungs and was reverted by DEX. Moreover, compared to the control mice (CTR), the fatty acid distribution of lung ChoE was characterized by higher levels of the polyunsaturated fatty acid and an high linoleic/oleic ratio typical of plasma ChoE. All these features confirm a strict correlation between the interstitial oedema and the infiltration of plasma lipoproteins during MA-ARDS. Protein and lipid composition of surfactant and plasma of infected mice. The total bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of PbNK65 mice showed a significant increase in the protein levels compared to CTR or PcAS mice, probably due to plasma derived proteins being incorporated into or associated with microstructures in the alveolar hypophase. This event is known to decrease the intrinsic surface activity of surfactant. The total content of PL was not different from CTR, whereas the PL profile of the LA and SA fractions in PbNK65 infected mice showed a significant increase in the amounts of sphingomyelin and a decrease in phosphatidylglycerol. These changes were absent in PcAS mice and may be related to the altered re-uptake and synthesis of PL by injured cells or to PL contamination due to inflammatory cells. The plasma levels of PL and triacylglycerol (TG) were significantly higher in PbNK65 mice than in CTR or PcAS mice. Compared to PcAS or CTR mice in PbNK65 group all the PL classes were significantly increased with the exception of lisophosphatidilcholine (LisoPC) that was decreased. These plasma alterations may be related to an impaired activity of the enzymes involved in the lipoprotein metabolism during infections or inflammatory diseases. The most important observation, both in PbNK65 and PcAS mice, was the significant increase of docosahexahenoic acid (C22:6 n-3, DHA) compared to CTR, which was only partially reverted by DEX treatment, suggesting that the increase of DHA is not related to lung pathology but rather to the malaria infection. Analysis of the liver tissue of infected mice. The hypothesis that the higher PL and TG content of PbNK65 plasma might be due to an enhanced hepatic lipogenesis was confirmed by the higher TG and ChoE content of the liver of PbNK65 mice compared to PcAS and CTR. An increased ratio linoleic (LA)/arachidonic acid (AA) was also present possibly due to the impairment of the elongation/desaturation pathway from LA to AA acid. Higher levels of Hz, compared to PcAS, were present in PbNK65 mice and, in agreement with the Hz capability of stimulating Kupffer cells, we found higher levels of TNF-\u3b1. Both Hz and TNF-\u3b1 can induce lipoperoxidation as confirmed by the elevated levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the liver of PbNK65 mice. This finding was paralleled by the lower content of glutathione and of antioxidant enzymes particularly in the late stage of the pathology. CONCLUSIONS This is the first time that a comprehensive analysis of the lipid content and inflammatory response of different organs in a model of murine MA-ARDS has been performed. All together the data suggest that in MA-ARDS as in other severe non infectious pathologies, a pulmonary-liver metabolic interplay exist which may contribute to the pathology. In PbNK65 mice, Hz and the derived inflammation play an important role in the lung pathology inducing changes in the lipid composition of lung and surfactant, cellular infiltration and cytokine production. Lung pathology is associated with liver disorders and alterations in the lipoprotein profile. Hz accumulation may induce macrophages to produce TNF-\u3b1 and ROS that can interfere with liver functions by inducing lipogenesis and affecting the lipid profile of liver and plasma, which in turn contribute to the altered lipid composition of the lung tissue. These results confirm that severe malaria is a multi-organ dysfunction in which inflammation has an important role in different organs and thus, in addition to antimalarial treatment, adjunct therapies with anti-inflammatory drugs can be envisaged

Lab and Field Tests of a Low-Cost 3-Component Seismometer for Shallow Passive Seismic Applications

We performed laboratory tests and field surveys to evaluate the performance of a low-cost 3-component seismometer, consisting of three passive electromagnetic spring-mass sensors, whose 4.5 Hz natural frequency is extended down to 0.5 Hz thanks to hyper damping. Both lab and field datasets show that the −3 dB band of the seismometer ranges approximately from 0.7 to 39 Hz, in agreement with the nominal specifications. Median magnitude frequency response curves obtained from processing field data indicate that lower corner of the −3 dB band could be extended down to 0.55 Hz and the nominal sensitivity may be overestimated. Lab results confirm the non-linear behavior of the passive spring-mass sensor expected for high-level input signals (a few to tens of mm/s) and field data confirm relative timing accuracy is ±10 ms (1 sample). We found that absolute timing of data collected with USB GPS antennas can be affected by lag as large as +0.5 s. By testing two identical units, we noticed that there could be differences around 0.5 dB (i.e., about 6%) between the components of the same unit as well as between the same component of the two units. Considering shallow passive seismic applications and mainly focusing on unstable slope monitoring, our findings show that the tested seismometer is able to identify resonance frequencies of unstable rock pillars and to generate interferograms that can be processed to estimate subsurface velocity variations

Environmental and health-related external costs of meat consumption in Italy: estimations and recommendations through life cycle assessment

The literature on the external costs of food consumption is limited. This study aims at advancing in this field by translating the environmental and health-related impacts generated by the life-cycle of meat into external costs via monetization. The main types of meat consumed in Italy are used as a case study. The potential external costs are estimated via attributional life cycle assessment (LCA), using: i) the ReCiPe method for the environmental impact assessment (fourteen impact categories), ii) the population attributional fractions for the health damage from meat ingestion, and iii) the CE Delft environmental prices for monetization. Results show that processed pork and beef generate the highest costs on society, with an external cost of approximately 2€ per 100 g. Fresh pork and poultry follow, with a cost of 1€ and 0.5€ per 100 g, respectively. For comparison, the potential external costs of legumes (i.e., a plant-based alternative to meat) are estimated to be from eight to twenty times lower than meat (around 0.05€ per 100 g of legumes). In 2018, meat consumed in Italy potentially generated a cost on society of 36.6 bn€. The burden arises almost equally from impacts generated before meat ingestion (mainly associated with the emissions arisen from farming), and after the ingestion (due to diseases potentially associated with meat consumption). A sensitivity analysis on the main parameters revealed a large uncertainty on the final yearly cost, ranging from 19 to 93 bn€. Although more research is needed to improve the accuracy and the validity of the models used in the study (e.g., human health impact assessment, monetization) and to include potential external costs currently unaccounted for (e.g., water use, animal welfare, occupational health), results show unequivocal significant costs associated with meat consumption. We thus advocate for policies aimed at reducing these costs and allocating them properly

Measurement method for quality control of cylinders in roll-to-roll printing machines

This paper describes a measurement method for the quality control of cylinders for printing machines based on roll-to-roll presses. If the surface finishing of the cylinders is not adequate, the printing is unacceptable, and the defective cylinders must be reworked. The performed quality check of the cylinder surface roughness by means of contact methods was unable to identify the cylinder defects, and acceptance of the manufactured cylinders before integration was demanded to the visual inspection performed by trained operators. In this work a contactless measurement method based on the eddy current displacement sensor was proposed and validated as a tool for quality check as an alternative to optical roughness measurements. A test bench for the characterization of printer cylinders was designed and manufactured, allowing for the validation of the proposed method on different batches of cylinders and the identification of a threshold to guide the acceptance of tested cylinders prior to mounting on the roll-to-roll press

LCA Towards Sustainable Agriculture: The Case Study of Cupuaçu Jam from Agroforestry

Abstract Appropriate design of agricultural systems for the regeneration of deforested lands in critical areas, like the Amazon, may be an effective action to restore forest ecosystem functions and to mitigate biodiversity loss and climate change. Among the possible strategies, agroforestry may represent a viable trade-off between economic and environmental aspects. In this study, the production of a jam made of fruits from agroforestry was analysed from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective. The agroforestry system investigated was implemented in a reforested area of the Peruvian Amazon. A cradle-to-grave approach, from the cultivation phase to the end-of-life of the jam, was adopted. Additionally to LCA, the focus is on the agricultural phase and, in particular, on the comparison of alternative agro-ecosystems from an environmental viewpoint. Therefore, LCA indicators are integrated with biodiversity indicators to account for the ecological dimension. Preliminary results highlight the benefits of producing jam from fruits harvested in an area of the Amazon reforested via agroforestry, as well as the high variability of environmental impacts due to the differences in the alternative agricultural systems considered

The Use of Antimalarial Drugs against Viral Infection

In recent decades, drugs used to treat malaria infection have been shown to be beneficial for many other diseases, including viral infections. In particular, they have received special attention due to the lack of effective antiviral drugs against new emerging viruses (i.e., HIV, dengue virus, chikungunya virus, Ebola virus, etc.) or against classic infections due to drug-resistant viral strains (i.e., human cytomegalovirus). Here, we reviewed the in vitro/in vivo and clinical studies conducted to evaluate the antiviral activities of four classes of antimalarial drugs: Artemisinin derivatives, aryl-aminoalcohols, aminoquinolines, and antimicrobial drugs

Y6 Organic Thin-Film Transistors with Electron Mobilities of 2.4 cm2 V−1 s−1 via Microstructural Tuning

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] There is a growing demand to attain organic materials with high electron mobility, μe, as current reliable reported values are significantly lower than those exhibited by their hole mobility counterparts. Here, it is shown that a well-known nonfullerene-acceptor commonly used in organic solar cells, that is, BTP-4F (aka Y6), enables solution-processed organic thin-film transistors (OTFT) with a μe as high as 2.4 cm2 V−1 s−1. This value is comparable to those of state-of-the-art n-type OTFTs, opening up a plethora of new possibilities for this class of materials in the field of organic electronics. Such efficient charge transport is linked to a readily achievable highly ordered crystalline phase, whose peculiar structural properties are thoroughly discussed. This work proves that structurally ordered nonfullerene acceptors can exhibit intrinsically high mobility and introduces a new approach in the quest of high μe organic materials, as well as new guidelines for future materials design.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; PGC2018-094620-A-I00Xunta de Galicia; ED431F 2021/00

A Simplified Approach Based on Cellular Automata for Describing Direct Reduced Iron Production in Different Reducing Conditions

A quick computation approach based on cellular automata is developed and implemented to describe the reduction of iron ore pellets by a mixture of reducing agents featured by different H2/CO ratios. The evolution of oxygen concentration inside the pellet is followed from the beginning to the end of contact between reducing agent and pellet. The variation of thermal state of pellets and gas mixture is computed based on their initial temperature, considering the heat involved and the convective heat exchange between pellet and gas mixture. The use of cellular automata and finite-difference method to solve the diffusion equation point out the absence of any diffusion coefficient value, allowing to make the model fit the experimental trial, because the problem is that it is not ruled just by diffusion but also by the concentration variation of reducing agent inside the pellet due to porosity increasing during reduction. The updating of the reducing agents concentration implies a sharp decrease of oxygen concentration that the cellular automata model considers. The developed model is able to provide the in-line control of reduction process and could be used to adjust the chemical concentration and temperature of injected reducing agents