Power per aumentare il benessere e la resilienza nell’allevamento del suino biologico

Attraverso il miglioramento combinato della gestione e della stabulazione dei suini, verranno incrementati il benessere e la salute degli animali, migliorando nel contempo la competitività economica e ecologica della produzione europea dei suini biologici

I produttori di suini biologici di tutta Europa aprono la strada alla ricerca per migliorare il benessere degli animali e ridurre le emissioni di ammoniaca

Il progetto POWER del CORE Organic Cofund chiede, agli allevatori biologici di otto nazioni Europee, idee innovative da testare; lo scopo è migliorare il benessere degli animali e ridurre le emissioni di ammoniaca nei parchetti esterni negli allevamenti biologici di suini in accrescimento

Morphological instability of core-shell metallic nanoparticles

Bimetallic nanoparticles (often known as nanoalloys) with core-shell arrangement are of special interest in several applications, such as in optics, catalysis, magnetism and biomedicine. Despite wide interest in applications, the physical factors stabilizing the structures of these nanoparticles are still unclear to a great extent, especially for what concerns the relationship between geometric structure and chemical ordering pattern. Here global-optimization searches are performed in order to single out the most stable chemical ordering patterns corresponding to the most important geometric structures, for a series of weakly miscible systems, including AgCu, AgNi, AgCo and AuCo. The calculations show that (i) the overall geometric structure of the nanoalloy and the shape and placement of its inner core are strictly correlated; (ii) centered cores can be obtained in icosahedral nanoparticles but not in crystalline or decahedral ones, in which asym- metric quasi-Janus morphologies form; (iii) in icosahedral nanoparticles, when the core exceeds a critical size, a new type of morphological instability develops, making the core asymmetric and extending it to- wards the nanoparticle surface; (iv) multi-center patterns can be obtained in polyicosahedral nanoalloys. Analogies and differences between the instability of the core in icosahedral nanoalloys and the Stranski- Krastanov instability occurring in thin-film growth are discussed. All these issues are crucial for designing strategies to achieve effective coatings of the cores.Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Innovative farming in Italy: pasture rotation in the forest

On this innovative organic farm in Italy the local heritage breed Cinta Senese are kept in rotational pasture system with bushes and trees. This publication presents pasture management and costs as well as the Core Organic Cofund project POWER’s assessment of productivity, animal welfare and environmental impact of this farm

Combined pasture and housing systems in Italy: year-round access to pasture for growing-finishing pigs

On this best practice farm in Italy organic pregnant sows, a boar, weaners and growing-finishing pigs are kept on pasture all year round. This publication presents pasture management and costs as well as the Core Organic Cofund project POWER’s assessment of productivity, animal welfare and environmental impact of this farm

Improved health, welfare and viability in young pigs: using microorganisms to improve piglet health

This factsheet evaluates strategies of probiotic supplementation to improve gut health and reduce piglet mortality and health problems. Additionally, it presents the results of the Core Organic Cofund project POWER on probiotic supplementation’s relevance for animal welfare and its environmental impact

Development of a transferable coarse-grained model of polydimethylsiloxane

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a popular silicon-based polymer with advanced applications in microfluidics and nanocomposites. The slow dynamics of polymer chains in such complex systems hinders molecular dynamics investigations based on all atom force fields. This limitation can be overcome by exploiting finely tuned coarse-grained (CG) models. This paper develops a transferable CG model of PDMS, compatible with the recent Martini 3 force field, using structural and thermodynamic properties as targets in the parametrization, including a vast set of experimental free energies of transfer. We validate the model transferability by reproducing the correct scaling laws for the PDMS gyration radius in the melt and good and bad solvents. We successfully test the model by reproducing the wetting behavior of water and acetonitrile on PDMS and the phase behavior of a PDMS-peptide triblock copolymer system. This work sets the stage for computational studies involving the interaction between PDMS and many synthetic and biological molecules modeled within the Martini framework

Organic Pig Production in Europe - Health Management in Common Organic Pig Farming

Organic farmers in Europe have developed different housing systems for pigs based on the availability of land, soil characteristics, climate, tradition and national organic certification schemes. This guide gives an overview of the typical housing systems used for pigs in organic farming. It lists advantages and disadvantages of the different systems and provides relevant recommendations to farmers for health managment

Au Nanoparticles in Lipid Bilayers: a Comparison between Atomistic and Coarse Grained Models

The computational study of the interaction between charged, ligand-protected metal nanoparticles and model lipid membranes has been recently addressed both at atomistic and coarse grained level. Here we compare the performance of three versions of the coarse grained Martini force field at describing the nanoparticle-membrane interaction. The three coarse-grained models differ in terms of treatment of long-range electrostatic interactions and water polarizability. The NP-membrane interaction consists in the transition from a metastable NP- membrane complex, in which the NP is only partially embedded in the membrane, to a configuration in which the NP is anchored to both membrane leaflets. All the three coarse grained models provide a description of the metastable NP-membrane complex that is consistent with that obtained using an atomistic force field. As for the anchoring transition, the polarizable- water Martini correctly describes the molecular mechanisms and the energetics of the transition. The standard version of the Martini model, instead, underestimates the free energy barriers for anchoring and does not completely capture the membrane deformations involved in the transition process

Grafting heterogeneities rule water intrusion and extrusion in nanopores

Hydrophobic nanoporous materials can be intruded by water only by exerting an external action, typically increasing pressure. For some materials, water extrudes when the pressure is lowered again. Controlling intrusion/extrusion hysteresis is central in a number of technological applications, including materials for energy applications and for high performance liquid chromatography, and experimental techniques, as liquid porosimetry, but is still far from being understood. In this work, we consider water intrusion and extrusion in common mesoporous materials grafted with hydrophobic chains, showing that the macroscopic properties of the system are significantly affected by subnanometric heterogeneities in the grafting. For example, intrusion and extrusion pressures can vary more than 20 MPa depending on the chain length and density of the grafting. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations reveal that local changes of radius and contact angle produced by grafting heterogeneities can pin the interface during intrusion or facilitate bubble nucleation in extrusion. These unprecedented microscopic insights can directly impact the design of energy materials and chromatography columns, as well as the interpretation of porosimetry results