The Effect of Yerba Mate (Ilex Paraguariensis) Supplementation on Nutrient Degradability in Dairy Cows: in Sacco and in Vitro Study

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Yerba Mate supplementation on nutrients’ degradation, in vitro dry matter disappearance, gas production and rumen ammonia concentration. Three rumen-fistulated Holstein Friesian cows were used for the in situ incubations and provided rumen liquor for in vitro incubations. The inclusion of Yerba Mate (YM) in a control diet (pasture + pellets) affected some in sacco degradation parameters. YM supplementation decreased the effective degradability and degradation rate of pasture CP and it seems to slow down the degradation of pasture NDF. A significant increase of degradation of pasture ADF was detected after YM inclusion in the control diet. YM supplementation reduced in vitro gas production of pasture and ammonia concentration of pellets. The addition of Yerba Mate in ruminant diet could decrease ammonia production and increase protein availability for productive purposes. The moderate presence of tannins in Yerba Mate could have affected the degradation kinetics of pasture CP and ADF and the ammonia production of pellet

Inhalation therapy in the next decade : Determinants of adherence to treatment in asthma and COPD

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

U-PHOS Project: Development of a Large Diameter Pulsating Heat Pipe Experiment on board REXUS 22

U-PHOS Project aims to analyse and characterise the behaviour of a large diameter Pulsating Heat Pipe (PHP) on board REXUS 22 sounding rocket. A PHP is a passive thermal control device consisting of a serpentine capillary tube, evacuated, partially filled with a working fluid and finally sealed. In this configuration, the liquid and vapour phases are randomly distributed in the form of liquid slugs and vapour plugs. The heat is efficiently transported by means of the self-sustained oscillatory fluid motion driven by the phase change phenomena. On ground conditions, a small diameter is required in order to obtain a confined slug flow regime. In milli-gravity conditions, buoyancy forces become less intense and the PHP diameter may be increased still maintaining the slug/plug flow configuration typical of the PHP operation. Consequently, the PHP heat power capability may be increased too. U-PHOS aims at proving that a Large Diameter PHP effectively works in milli-g conditions by characterizing its thermal response during a sounding rocket flight. The actual PHP tube is made of aluminum (3 mm inner diameter, filled with FC-72), heated at the evaporator by a compact electrical resistance, cooled at the condenser by a Phase Change Material (PCM) embedded in a metallic foam. The tube wall temperatures are recorded by means of Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors; the local fluid pressure is acquired by means of a pressure transducer. The present work intends to report the actual status of the project, focusing in particular on the experiment improvements with respect to the previous campaign

Upgraded Pulsating Heat Pipe Only For Space (U-Phos): Results of the 22nd Rexus Sounding Rocket Campaign

A large tube may still behave, to a certain extent, as a capillary in a micro-gravity environment. This very basic concept is here applied to a two-phase passive heat transfer devices in order to obtain a new family of hybrid wickless heat pipes. Indeed, a Loop Thermosyphon, which usually consists of a large tube, closed end to end in a loop, evacuated and partially filled with a working fluid and intrinsically gravity assisted, may become a capillary tube in space condition and turn its thermo-fluidic behavior into a so called Pulsating Heat Pipe (PHP), or better, a Space Pulsating Heat Pipe (SPHP). Since the objective of the present work is to experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of such a hybrid device, a SPHP has been designed, built, instrumented and tested both on ground and microgravity conditions on the 22nd ESA REXUS Sounding Rocket Campaign. Ground tests demonstrate that the device effectively work as a gravity assisted loop thermosyphon, whether the sounding rocket data clearly reveal a change in the thermal hydraulic behavior very similar to the PHP. Since a microgravity period of approximately 120s is not sufficient to reach a pseudo steady state regime, further investigation on a longer term weightless condition is mandatory