Design of an Innovative Graphite Exchanger for Adsorption Heat Pumps and Chillers

Abstract In this work, an innovative adsorber for application in adsorption heat pumps and chillers is presented. The adsorber consists of several assembled graphite plates and the flow path of heat transfer fluid. Each plate consists of a process side (where zeolite is deposited onto) and a heat transfer fluid (HTF) side where liquid water flows. The resulting adsorbent heat exchanger is able to deliver about 0.5-1 kW cooling power and possesses attractive thermo physical properties, especially in term of low weight, volume and thermal capacity. Experimental testing of the full-scale adsorber by a testing station available at CNR ITAE is currently ongoing

Deformation analysis of ATHENA test filters made of plastic thin films supported by a mesh under differential static pressure

Within ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Science Program, ATHENA was selected to be a Large-class high energy astrophysics space mission. The observatory will be equipped with two interchangeable focal plane detectors named X-Ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) and Wide Field Imager (WFI). In order to optimally exploit the detector sensitivity, X-ray transparent filters are required. Such filters need to be extremely thin to maximize the X-ray transparency, that is, no more than a few tens of nm, still they must be able to sustain the severe stresses experienced during launch. Partially representative test filters were made with a thin polypropylene film, coated with Ti, and supported by a thin highly transparent mesh either in stainless steel or niobium. Differential static pressure experiments were carried out on two filter samples. In addition, the roles of the mesh on the mechanical deformation is studied, adopting a finite element model (FEM). The numerical analysis is compared with experimental results and found in good agreement. The FEM is a promising tool that allows to characterize materials and thicknesses in order to optimize the design

Remission of Behcet's disease with anti-tumor necrosis factor monoclonal antibody therapy: a case report

BACKGROUND: Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic relapsing multisystem inflammatory disorder with mucocutaneous, ocular, articular, vascular, gastrointestinal and central nervous system manifestations. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is believed to play a pivotal role in BD. Therapeutic blockade of the activity of TNF has been successfully given in a short course of therapy with favorable effects in patients with BD refractory to conventional immunosuppressive drugs. We aimed to find out whether a 12-month treatment with infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody to TNF-alpha, had any beneficial effect in reducing relapses of a patient with long-standing BD refractory to conventional immunosuppressive drugs. CASE PRESENTATION: A 54 year-old-woman with a 35-year history of BD with orogenital ulcerations, arthritis in the right knee and retinal lesions compatible with vasculitis received infliximab, 5 mg/kg by a two-hour intravenous infusion. Symptoms improved within 24 hours and eight days later the genital and oral ulcers healed as well as the arthritis in the right knee subsided. The retinal infiltrates completely resolved within 10 days. The infusions were repeated at weeks 2, 6, 14, 22 and then every 8 weeks. The patient was able to return to her domestic daily life. No exacerbation of the mucocutaneous ocular or arthritic symptoms occurred during the treatment period. CONCLUSIONS: Previous studies have suggested that infliximab given in a short course of treatment is effective in inducing remission of severe mucocutaneous, gastrointestinal and ocular manifestations of BD. Our patient received a 12-month infliximab treatment showing a favorable effect on remission of BD manifestations. The long-term infliximab treatment appears as a new therapeutic option for patients with active BD who failed to respond to conventional immunosuppressive agents

Trattura della seta - Controllo del titolo e gestione della lavorazione mediante sensore laser.

In questo elaborato di tesi si è affrontato il processo produttivo della seta, soffermandoci in modo particolare sulla fase di trattura della seta. Dopo una breve panoramica sulla sericoltura, coltivazione del gelso e allevamento del baco da seta, si è passata ad un'analisi dei processi industriali che portano all'ottenimento prima della seta grezza e poi al tessuto serico finale. Nello specifico ci siamo concentrati sulla fase di trattura, che rappresenta una delle fasi, se non la fase più importante del processo produttivo, dove vengono determinate la maggior parte delle variabili che contraddistinguono il filo di seta, tra queste il titolo, la presenza di nodi e le imperfezioni superficiali. Effettuata una prima classificazione delle macchine per la trattura ed un analisi specifica del sistema produttivo standard che la riguarda, ci ha consentito di portare alla luce le problematiche più evidenti della macchina, consentendoci di fissare degli obiettivi che hanno fornito una base per la progettazione di un sistema di controllo da impiantare sul corpo macchina, rispettando tuttavia la direttiva di non stravolgerlo. Ciò ha portato alla realizzazione di un sistema di controllo della velocità del motore basato sulle misurazione del diametro del filo mediante un sensore laser a sbarramento con tecnologia a fotodiodo. L'unita di controllo è rappresentata da un Plc con il quale viene gestito l'intero flusso di lavorazione; inoltre l'interfacciamento del Plc con il PC permette una registrazione dei dati di lavorazione ci consente di ottenere a fine lavorazione degli indici qualitativi della bontà del prodotto. I risultati ottenuti hanno dimostrato la validità del sistema, il quale non solo rappresenta un innovazione per le macchine da trattura, le quali sono rimaste invariate da più di cinquantanni, ma consente una lavorazione più fluida ed una interfacciamento con il Pc, ormai un requisito fondamentale per i moderni sistemi produttivi

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE POLYMORPHISM AT CASEIN LOCI AND MILK FATTY ACID COMPOSITION IN GIRGENTANA GOATS

composition is an important trait for the goat dairy industry because of its influence on cheese yield and the organoleptic properties of dairy products (Chilliard et al., 2003). Goat milk is particularly rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA) whereas monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA) FA are less abundant (Fontecha et al., 2000).The aim of this work was to provide new data to better understand the influence of polymorphism at casein loci on fatty acid profile in Girgentana goat milk. One hundred lactating Girgentana goats, homogeneous for milk production, days of lactation, body weight and diet were used. The procedure was developed using individual raw milk samples, collected in three different stages of lactation: (October, February and June) from individuals with known genotypes at casein loci. Were analyzed animals with A*A*, B*B*, A*B*, FF, A*F, B*F, A*E, EF, FN, NN and A*N genotypes (where A* indicates A, G, I, and H alleles while B* indicates B1, B2, B3, B4 and C alleles) at αs1‐casein; CC, AC, A0', AC', C0', CC', and C'C' genotypes at β‐casein; AA, AC, AF, CF, EF and FF genotypes at αs2‐casein; and AA, AB, AD, AN, BB, BD, BN, DD and D'G genotypes at κ‐casein. Milk samples were prepared following the Rose‐Gottlieb’s method (1996) for FA extraction. For transesterification of the lipids KOH in methanol 2 N was used and thereafter the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were analyzed with a chromatographic method (Sağdiç et al., 2003).The determination of the fatty acid profile was performed by gas chromatography SHIMADZU GC‐2010 with flame ionization detector (GC‐FID). The FAMEs were injected into a capillary column (Zebron ZB‐WAX Plus 30m x 0:32 mm id, 0.2 mM film), identified according to the retention times and quantified by calibration curves. The results of fatty acid were expressed as g/100g total fat.Data set was analyzed using GLM procedures for repeated measure of SAS System v9.2. For almost all the fatty acid the environmental factors flock and month of sampling showed statistically significant differences. Among all the fatty acids investigated only two showed statistically significant differences between genotypes for κ‐casein, in particular C18 (stearic acid) and C18:01 (oleic acid). For αs1‐ , αs2‐ and β‐casein were not found statistically significant differences. The results showed that genetic polymorphisms at casein genes, in particular at κ‐casein, have important effects on goat milk fat and FA composition, especially for MUFA and PUFA, which are potentially involved as positive factors in the health of human consumers

QUANTIFICATION OF GENETIC VARIANTS OF CASEINS IN MILK OF GIRGENTANA GOAT BREED

In the milk of ruminants, more than 95% of proteins are synthesized by six structural genes, four caseins (alphas1, beta, alphas2 and κ-caseins) and two whey proteins (alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin). Goat casein genes have been found to show high polymorphism, which influences not only the quantity of casein in milk but also the structural and nutritional characteristics and technological properties of milk. The aim of this work was to separate and quantify the most common allelic variants of caseins in milk of Girgentana goat breed, a Sicilian autochthonous breed, and to evaluate the effect of casein polymorphisms on casein content. The alleles at different casein genes were detected using PCR, PCR-RFLP, AS-PCR and sequencing analysis. Milk samples were prepared following the method proposed by Bobe et al. (1998) and analyzed by RP-HPLC method. A reversed-phase analytical column C8 (Zorbax 300SB-C8 RP, 3.5µm, 300Å, 150×4.6 I.D.) was used and the detection was made at wavelength of 214 nm. The procedure was developed using individual raw milk samples of Girgentana goats. For calibration experiments, pure genetic variants were extracted from individual milk samples of animals with known genotypes, considering that commercial standards for goat allelic variants were not available. In particular, were used animals with AA, BB, FF and NN genotypes at alphas1-casein; CC and C'C' genotypes at beta-casein; AA and FF genotypes at alphas2-casein; and AA and BB genotypes at κ-casein. Method validation consisted in testing linearity, repeatability, reproducibility and accuracy. A linear relationship between the concentrations of proteins and peak areas was observed over the concentration range, with low detection limits. Repeatability and reproducibility were satisfactory for both retention times and peak areas. For Girgentana goat breed the following levels of caseins for allele were obtained: alphas1-casein A 3.2±0.4 g/L, B 5.4±0.5 g/L and F 0.7±0.1 g/L; beta-casein C 3.0±0.8 g/L and C' 2.0±0.7 g/L; alphas2-casein A 2.9±0.8 g/L and F 1.8±0.4 g/L; and κ-casein A 1.6±0.3 g/L and B 1.1±0.2 g/L

Electroplated bismuth absorbers for planar NTD-Ge sensor arrays applied to hard x-ray detection in astrophysics

Single sensors or small arrays of manually assembled neutron transmutation doped germanium (NTD-Ge) based microcalorimeters have been widely used as high energy-resolution detectors from infrared to hard X-rays. Several planar technological processes were developed in the last years aimed at the fabrication of NTD-Ge arrays, specifically designed to produce soft X-ray detectors. One of these processes consists in the fabrication of the absorbers. In order to absorb efficiently hard X-ray photons, the absorber has to be properly designed and a suitable material has to be employed. Bismuth offers interesting properties in terms of absorbing capability, of low heat capacity (needed to obtain high energy resolution) and deposition technical feasibility, moreover, it has already been used as absorber for other types of microcalorimeters. Here we present the electroplating process we adopted to grow bismuth absorbers for fabricating planar microcalorimeter arrays for hard X-rays detection. The process was specifically tuned to grow uniform Bi films with thickness up to ∼ 70 μm. This work is part of a feasibility study for a stratospheric balloon borne experiment that would observe hard X-rays (20-100 keV) from solar corona