NEW VARIETIES OF DURUM WHEAT (TRITICUM DURUM DESF.) IN SICILY: EVALUATION OF GENOTYPE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is the typical cereal crop in semi-arid Italian environments, and Sicily, is one of the regions of southern Italy where the cultivation of durum wheat is very spread. The thesis was the comparison of 14 genotypes of durum wheat located in 11 locations typical of the Sicilian cropland in the years 2006-2011. The analysis of the results has allowed to study the productive and qualitative behavior of the tested genotypes. In addition, the study of interaction genotype-environment, has allowed to verify the yield stability in quantity and the quality of the grain by the individual genotypes

Inkjet Printing Functionalization of SOFC LSCF Cathodes.

An important segment of the future renewable energy economy is the implementation of novel energy generation systems. Such electrochemical systems are solid oxide fuel cells, which have the advantage of direct conversion of the chemical energy stored in the fuel to electrical energy with high efficiency. Improving the performance and lowering the cost of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are strongly dependent on finding commercially viable methods for nano-functionalization of their electrodes via infiltration. Inkjet printing technology was proven to be a feasible method providing scalability and high-resolution ink delivery. LaxSr1-xCoyFe1-yO3-δ cathodes were modified using inkjet printing for infiltration with two different materials: Gd-doped ceria (CGO) commonly used as ion-conductor and La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ (LCO) commonly used as a mixed ionic electronic conductor. As-modified surface structures promoted the extension of the three-phase boundary (TPB) and enhanced the mechanisms of the oxygen reduction reaction. Electrochemical impedance measurements revealed significantly lowered polarization resistances (between 2.7 and 3.7 times) and maximum power output enhancement of 24% for CGO infiltrated electrodes and 40% for LCO infiltrated electrodes

Predictive factors of polycystic ovary syndrome in girls with precocious pubarche

Objective: The aim of this study is to clarify, in girls with premature pubarche (PP), the influence of premature androgenization on the prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design and patients: Ninety-nine PP girls, 63 who developed PCOS and 36 who did not develop PCOS, were retrospectively included. Clinical, anthropometric, and metabolic parameters were evaluated at the time of diagnosis of PP and after 10 years from menarche to find predictive factors of PCOS. Results: Young females with PP showed a PCOS prevalence of 64% and showed a higher prevalence of familial history of diabetes (P = 0.004) and a lower prevalence of underweight (P = 0.025) than PP-NO-PCOS. In addition, girls with PP-PCOS showed higher BMI (P < 0.001), waist circumference (P < 0.001), total testosterone (P = 0.026), visceral adiposity index (VAI) (P = 0.013), total cholesterol (P < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol (P < 0.001), non-HDL cholesterol (P < 0.001) and lower age of menarche (P = 0.015), ISI-Matsuda (P < 0.001), DIo (P = 0.002), HDL cholesterol (P = 0.026) than PP-NO-PCOS. Multivariate analysis showed that WC (P = 0.049), ISI-Matsuda (P < 0.001), oral disposition index (DIo) (P < 0.001), VAI (P < 0.001), total testosterone (P < 0.001) and LDL-cholesterol (P < 0.001) are independent predictive factors for PCOS in girls with PP. Conclusions: Our study established a strong association between multiple risk factors and development of PCOS in PP girls. These risk factors are predominantly related to the regulation of glucose, lipid, and androgen metabolism. Among these factors, WC, ISI-Matsuda, DIo, VAI, total testosterone, and LDL-cholesterol predict PCOS

Inkjet Printing Infiltration of the Doped Ceria Interlayer in Commercial Anode-Supported SOFCs.

Single-step inkjet printing infiltration with doped ceria Ce0.9Ye0.1O1.95 (YDC) and cobalt oxide (CoxOy) precursor inks was performed in order to modify the properties of the doped ceria interlayer in commercial (50 × 50 × 0.5 mm3 size) anode-supported SOFCs. The penetration of the inks throughout the La0.8Sr0.2Co0.5Fe0.5O3-δ porous cathode to the Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 (GDC) interlayer was achieved by optimisation of the inks' rheology jetting parameters. The low-temperature calcination (750 °C) resulted in densification of the Gd-doped ceria porous interlayer as well as decoration of the cathode scaffold with nanoparticles (~20-50 nm in size). The I-V testing in pure hydrogen showed a maximum power density gain of ~20% at 700 °C and ~97% at 800 °C for the infiltrated cells. The latter effect was largely assigned to the improvement in the interfacial Ohmic resistance due to the densification of the interlayer. The EIS study of the polarisation losses of the reference and infiltrated cells revealed a reduction in the activation polarisations losses at 700 °C due to the nano-decoration of the La0.8Sr0.2Co0.5Fe0.5O3-δ scaffold surface. Such was not the case at 800 °C, where the drop in Ohmic losses was dominant. This work demonstrated that single-step inkjet printing infiltration, a non-disruptive, low-cost technique, can produce significant and scalable performance enhancements in commercial anode-supported SOFCs

3D printed catalytic reactors for aerobic selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde in continuous multiphase flow

In this work, novel, patterned monolithic reactors were devised to explore more efficient routes for reactant conversion in order to investigate their potential to replace the packed bed and batch reactors conventionally employed in chemical industries. Well-defined bimetallic formulations were developed to substitute platinum group metals and critical raw materials such as palladium and cobalt, at least in part, by less active, but more sustainable and cost-effective metals such as earth-abundant iron. FePd and FeCo based monoliths were 3D printed and stacked in a continuous flow tubular reactor for testing the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BA) into benzaldehyde (BZ) under mild conditions (80–100 °C and atmospheric pressure). The novel monolithic reactors were evaluated against current state-of-the-art reactor technologies, conventional packed bed and batch reactors. The FeCo- and FePd-Al2O3-supported monolithic catalyst beds showed higher conversion and TOF than their packed bed counterparts under the same operating conditions, revealing the impact of the novel design on both regular geometry and composition. What is of particular interest in the catalytic measurements shown is that the combined stacking of two monoliths in a flow reactor, Al2O3-supported Fe and GO-supported FePd catalysts, can significantly improve the performance with an increase in TOF of up to 90% in comparison to their FePd analogues. Mathematical modelling was used to obtain additional insights into the physical and chemical processes governing the rate of BA conversion. It was found that due to the flow regime inside the microchannels, an axial dispersion model was appropriate, which allowed for mapping the concentration profiles of the reactants and products within the respective monolith geometries

Application of CRISPR/Cas9 editing and digital droplet PCR in human iPSCs to generate novel knock-in reporter lines to visualize dopaminergic neurons

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have become indispensable for disease modelling. They are an important resource to access patient cells harbouring disease-causing mutations. Derivation of midbrain dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons from hiPSCs of PD patients represents the only option to model physiological processes in a cell type that is not otherwise accessible from human patients. However, differentiation does not produce a homogenous population of DA neurons and contaminant cell types may interfere with the readout of the in vitro system. Here, we use CRISPR/Cas9 to generate novel knock-in reporter lines for DA neurons, engineered with an endogenous fluorescent tyrosine hydroxylase \u2013 enhanced green fluorescent protein (TH-eGFP) reporter. We present a reproducible knock-in strategy combined with a highly specific homologous directed repair (HDR) screening approach using digital droplet PCR (ddPCR). The knock-in cell lines that we created show a functioning fluorescent reporter system for DA neurons that are identifiable by flow cytometry

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

A catalog of new Blazar candidates with Open Universe by High School students

Blazars are active galactic nuclei whose ultra-relativistic jets are coaligned with the observer direction. They emit throughout the whole e.m. spectrum, from radio waves to VHE gamma rays. Not all blazars are discovered. In this work, we propose a catalog of 54 new candidates based on the association of HE gamma ray emission and radio, X-ray an optical signatures. The relevance of this work is also that it was performed by four high school students from the Liceo Scientifico Statale Ugo Morin in Venice, Italy using the open-source platform Open Universe, in collaboration with the University of Padova. The framework of the activity is the Italian MIUR PCTO programme. The success of this citizen-science experience and results are hereafter reported and discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the 12th Cosmic Ray International Symposium (CRIS 2022), 12-16 September 2022, Naples (Italy). Send correspondence to: [email protected], [email protected]

blaKPC and rmtB on a single plasmid in Enterobacter amnigenus and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from the same patient

Enterobacter amnigenus (EA76) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP76) isolates with multidrug-resistant (MDR) patterns were identified from the same patient in the neurosurgery department of our hospital. An outbreak of MDR K. pneumoniae had also occurred in this department. To characterize the resistance mechanism and molecular epidemiology of these isolates, sequential experiments including antimicrobial susceptibility testing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), plasmid analysis, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were performed. EA76 and KP76 were resistant to all of the antibiotics tested, except colistin and tigecycline. blaKPC-2, blaTEM-1, blaSHV-12, blaCTX-M-3, blaCTX-M-14, and rmtB genes were identified in both isolates, with blaKPC-2, blaTEM-1, blaCTX-M-14, and rmtB being co-carried on one plasmid in each isolate. Further analysis showed different restriction patterns between the two KPC-carrying plasmids. Of the 11 carbapenem-resistant isolates found in the outbreak, all were resistant to all of the β-lactams tested, with 63.64% (7/11) also exhibiting resistance to aminoglycosides and 72.73% (8/11) exhibiting resistance to quinolones. PCR analysis and molecular typing of the 11 K. pneumoniae strains revealed that the seven aminoglycoside-resistant isolates shared the same antibiotic-resistant gene pattern and identical or one-band-difference PFGE profiles relative to KP76. In addition, all of the eight aminoglycoside-resistant isolates, including KP76, belonged to the national epidemic clone ST11. The overall results indicate the emergence of E. amnigenus and outbreak of ST11 K. pneumoniae, with both co-harboring blaKPC and rmtB genes on a single plasmid in our neurosurgery wards

Silicon microfabricated reactor for operando XAS/DRIFTS studies of heterogeneous catalytic reactions

Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and mass spectrometry (MS) provide complementary information on the catalyst structure, surface reaction mechanisms and activity relationships. The powerful combination of the techniques has been the driving force to design and engineer suitable spectroscopic operando reactors that can mitigate limitations inherent to conventional reaction cells and facilitate experiments under kinetic regimes. Microreactors have recently emerged as effective spectroscopic operando cells due to their plug-flow type operation with no dead volume and negligible mass and heat transfer resistances. Here we present a novel microfabricated reactor that can be used for both operando XAS and DRIFTS studies. The reactor has a glass–silicon–glass sandwich-like structure with a reaction channel (3000 μm × 600 μm; width × depth) packed with a catalyst bed (ca. 25 mg) and placed sideways to the X-ray beam, while the infrared beam illuminates the catalyst bed from the top. The outlet of the reactor is connected to MS for continuous monitoring of the reactor effluent. The feasibility of the microreactor is demonstrated by conducting two reactions: i) combustion of methane over 2 wt% Pd/Al2O3 studied by operando XAS at the Pd K-edge and ii) CO oxidation over 1 wt% Pt/Al2O3 catalyst studied by operando DRIFTS. The former shows that palladium is in an oxidised state at all studied temperatures, 250, 300, 350, 400 °C and the latter shows the presence of linearly adsorbed CO on the platinum surface. Furthermore, temperature-resolved reduction of palladium catalyst with methane and CO oxidation over platinum catalyst are also studied. Based on these results, the catalyst structure and surface reaction dynamics are discussed, which demonstrate not only the applicability and versatility of the microreactor for combined operando XAS and DRIFTS studies, but also illustrate the unique advantages of the microreactor for high space velocity and transient response experiments