State of Art of Small Scale Biomass Gasification Power Systems: A Review of the Different Typologies

The security of supply and climate change issues and the linked recent growth of the local power generation by means of renewable energies technologies are providing real opportunities for the development of small scale biomass gasification systems. The present paper reports the state of art of the small scale gasification power plants. Initial attention has been given to the different biomass feedstock suitable for gasification, focusing on residues with low cost and low environmental impact. Then the two major typologies of gasifiers (fixed and fluidized bed) have been analyzed in terms of raw gas yield, composition and tar and particulate content. The different cold and hot raw gas conditioning systems, highlighting their compatibility with the different gasification system, are described. High efficiency examples of power production by means of internal combustion engine, micro gas turbine, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell or a mix of them, both as realized plants and process simulated ones, have been then reported. The paper provides an overview of the different power plants in terms of efficiency, reliability and cost. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ATI NAZIONALE

TRAP1 regulates stemness through Wnt/β-catenin pathway in human colorectal carcinoma

Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is a common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Indeed, treatment failures are triggered by cancer stem cells (CSCs) that give rise to tumor repopulation upon initial remission. Thus, the role of the heat shock protein TRAP1 in stemness was investigated in CRC cell lines and human specimens, based on its involvement in colorectal carcinogenesis, through regulation of apoptosis, protein homeostasis and bioenergetics. Strikingly, co-expression between TRAP1 and stem cell markers was observed in stem cells located at the bottom of intestinal crypts and in CSCs sorted from CRC cell lines. Noteworthy, TRAP1 knockdown reduced the expression of stem cell markers and impaired colony formation, being the CSC phenotype and the anchorage-independent growth conserved in TRAP1-rich cancer cells. Consistently, the gene expression profiling of HCT116 cells showed that TRAP1 silencing results in the loss of the stem-like signature with acquisition of a more-differentiated phenotype and the downregulation of genes encoding for activating ligands and target proteins of Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Mechanistically, TRAP1 maintenance of stemness is mediated by the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, through the modulation of the expression of frizzled receptor ligands and the control of β-catenin ubiquitination/phosphorylation. Remarkably, TRAP1 is associated with higher expression of β-catenin and several Wnt/β-catenin target genes in human CRCs, thus supporting the relevance of TRAP1 regulation of β-catenin in human pathology. This study is the first demonstration that TRAP1 regulates stemness and Wnt/β-catenin pathway in CRC and provides novel landmarks in cancer biology and therapeutics

New pyrrole derivatives with potent tubulin polymerization inhibiting activity as anticancer agents including hedgehog-dependent cancer

We synthesized 3-aroyl-1-arylpyrrole (ARAP) derivatives as potential anticancer agents having different substituents at the pendant 1-phenyl ring. Both the 1-phenyl ring and 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)carbonyl moieties were mandatory to achieve potent inhibition of tubulin polymerization, binding of colchicine to tubulin, and cancer cell growth. ARAP 22 showed strong inhibition of the P-glycoprotein-overexpressing NCI-ADR-RES and Messa/Dx5MDR cell lines. Compounds 22 and 27 suppressed in vitro the Hedgehog signaling pathway, strongly reducing luciferase activity in SAG treated NIH3T3 Shh-Light II cells, and inhibited the growth of medulloblastoma D283 cells at nanomolar concentrations. ARAPs 22 and 27 represent a new potent class of tubulin polymerization and cancer cell growth inhibitors with the potential to inhibit the Hedgehog signaling pathway

Wireless Sensor Networking in the Internet of Things and Cloud Computing Era

AbstractIn the recent past we have observed many technological revolutions, including the transition from the analog world into its digital counterpart and from centralized wired solutions to distributed and pervasive wireless systems. In particular, the advent of low- cost and low-power transceivers, together with the development of compact-size and open standard stacks, have made possible Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), largely adopted for both home/office and industrial monitoring applications. The nowadays ambitious goal is to sample, collect and analyze every piece of information around us, in order to improve production efficiency and ensure optimal resource consumption. The “Internet of Things” (IoT), i.e. the capability of connecting every possible device to the World Wide Web, is the practical answer to this request. The very large amount of information that is consequently generated could be profitably handled using “cloud” services, i.e. flexible and powerful hardware/software frameworks capable to deliver computing as a service. The aim of this work is to resume pros and cons of well-accepted WSN technologies, suggesting their possible extension towards already available cloud services

Isochronous wireless communication system for industrial automation

none2nononeSisinni, E.*; Tramarin, F.Sisinni, E.; Tramarin, F