Le piante vascolari del litorale trapanese: da Ronciglio a Capo San Vito

Vascular flora of the Trapani littoral between Ronciglio and Capo San Vito (NW Sicily). – The list of the vascular plants observed and collected in the Trapani littoral between Ronciglio and Capo San Vito (NW Sicily) during the last 20 years is presented here and commented. In total, 541 specific and infraspecific taxa were recorded. This flora has marked Mediterranean characteristics as shown by the absolute prevalence of therophytes as well as Mediterranean chorotypes. Among the most interesting taxa belonging to this flora are some halophytes and rare endemics such as Biscutella maritima, Calendula maritima, Cynomorium coccineum, Erica sicula, Galium litorale, Halocnemum strobilaceum, Limonium bocco- nei, L. ponzoi, Limoniastrum monopetalum e Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia

A simple and sensitive gas chromatography–electron capture detection method for analyzing perfluorocarbon tracers in soil gas samples for storage of carbon dioxide

Co-injection of a conservative tracer during the geological sequestration of CO2 can imprint a marker to the injected gas that can be easily recognized during soil gas surveys in case of CO2 leakage from the reservoir toward the surface. In this work, an ultra-trace detection method, based on gas chromatography with electron capture detection for analyzing perfluorocarbon tracers (PFTs) in soil gas samples was optimized. Three totally fluorinated cycloalcane compounds consisting of five and six atom carbon rings were selected for this purpose. We evaluated the feasibility of collecting PFTs on adsorbent tube packed with a commercial graphitized carbon black (Carbotrap™ 100) sampling 2 L of soil gas. The sorbent tubes were then analyzed by using a two-stage thermal desorption process. The developed method allows to quickly determine these compounds at very low fL/L level, method identification limits ranged from 1.3 to 5.8 fL/L. Moreover, it shows good precision, evaluated by within-day and between-day studies. A preliminary survey of the PFT soil gas background concentrations, conducted by analyzing some soil gas samples collected in two different areas in Central Italy and in the Po Plain, ascertained the PFT background concentration lower than MIL

Epidemiological and virological assessment of influenza activity in Apulia, Italy, during the seasons 2004 - 2005 and 2005 - 2006.

This study evaluated the impact of influenza and vaccination coverage in Apulia, Italy, during the 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 seasons, using epidemiological and virological surveillance data collected through the Italian Net of Surveillance of Influenza (InfluNet) organized by the Superior Institute of Health (ISS) and the Inter-University Centre of Research on Influenza (CIRI). Vaccination coverage was calculated from the number of doses administered to individuals aged ≤ 65 years. Sentinel physicians reported weekly influenza-like illness (ILI) and acute respiratory illness (ARI) occurrences among patients. Influenza viruses were isolated and identified by cell culture on Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells and polymerase chain reaction techniques. Vaccination coverage reached 72.7% and 77.0% during the 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 seasons, respectively. Incidence of ILI was higher during the 2004–2005 season compared with the 2005–2006 season, whereas the incidence ARI appeared to show a more constant trend. Incidence rates for ILI and ARI were higher in the 0 − 14-year age group. The increase in vaccination coverage and implementation of a network of epidemiological and virological surveillance are fundamental for the control and prevention of influenza

Optimization methodologies study for the development of prognostic artificial neural network

In this work, we discuss the implementation and optimization of an artificial neural network (ANN) based on the analysis of the back-EMF coefficient capable of making electromechanical actuator (EMA) prognostics. Starting from the pseudorandom generation of failure values related to static rotor eccentricity and partial short circuit of the stator coils, we simulated through a MATLAB-Simulink model the values of currents, voltages, position and angular velocity of the rotor and thanks to these we obtained the back-electromotive force which represents the input layer of the ANN. In this paper, we will turn our attention to optimizing the hyperparameters which influence supervised learning and make it more performing in terms of computational cost and complexity. The results are satisfactory dealing with the number of examples present in the available dataset

Development of an Italian catalogue of potential CO2storage sites: an approach from deep wells data

Stabilize and reduce the atmospheric concentration of anthropogenic greenhouse gases is one of the principal goal that have to be accomplished in short time, in order to reduce the climate changes and the global warming, following the World Energy Outlook 2007 program by IEA. The most promising remedy, proposed for large CO2 sources like thermoelectric power plants, refineries and cement industries, is to separate the flue gas capturing the CO2 and to store it into deep sub-surface geological reservoirs, such as deep saline aquifers, depleted oil and gas fields and unminable coal beds. Among these options, deep saline aquifers are considered the reservoirs with the larger storage potentiality, as a consequence of a wide availability with respect to deep coal seems, depleted oil fields and gas reservoirs. The identification of a possible storage site necessarily passes through the demonstration that CO2 can be injected in extremely safe conditions into geological deep formations, with impermeable caprock above the aquifer/s, which physic-chemical-mineralogical conditions are useful to a better mineral and solubility trapping as well as the hydrodynamic or physical/ structural ones. In order to support the identification of potential storage reservoirs in Italy, INGV jointly with CESI RICERCA S.p.A. accomplished a detailed reworking of available geological, geophysical, geochemical and seismological data, in order to support the existing European GESTCO as well as the CO2GeoCapacity projects. Aim of this work is to establish some site selection criteria to demonstrate the possibility of the geological storage of CO2 in Italy, even if it is located in an active geodynamical domain. This research started from the study of 7575 wells drilled on Italian territory during the last 50 years for gas/oil and geothermal exploration. Among this data-set as a whole, only 1700 wells (deeper than 800 m) have been selected. Only 1290 of these wells have a public-available composite log and fit with the basic prerequisites for CO2 storage potential, mostly as deep saline aquifer/s presence. Wells data have been organized into a geodatabase containing information about the nature and the thickness of geological formations, the presence of fresh, saline or brackish water, brine, gas and oil, the underground temperature, the permeability, porosity and geochemical characteristics of the caprock and the reservoirs lithologies. Available maps, seismic and geological profiles containing or closer to the analyzed wells have been catalogued too. In order to constrain the supercritical behaviour of the CO2 and to prevent the escape of gaseous CO2 to the surface, a first evaluation of the caprock presence and quality has been done on these selected wells. Using a numerical parameterization of the caprock lithologies, a “Caprock Quality Factor” (Fbp) has been defined, which clustered the wells into 5 different classes of caprock impermeability (ranging between the lowest 1 to highest 5). The analysis shows that more than 50% of the selected wells have an Fbp Factor between 4 and 5 (good and optimal quality of caprock), and are mostly located in foredeep basins of the Alps-Apenninic Chain. The geodatabase also includes: i) the seismogenetic sources (INGV DISS 3.0.4 Database of Individual Seismogenetic Sources), ii) an elaboration of seismic events catalogues (INGV CFTI, CPTI04, NT4.1), iii) the Diffuse Degassing Structures (DDS), as part of the INGV project V5 diffuse degassing in Italy geodatabase, considered as “CO2 analogue” field-tests, iv) the distribution of the thermal anomalies on the Italian Territory, linked to the presence of volcanic CO2 emissions, in order to consider the CO2 diffuse degassing risk assessment on the Italian territory Successively it has been created a geodatabase on the nature and quality of deep aquifers for the high-ranking wells sub-dataset (where the aquifers data are available), containing the following parameters: i) presence of one or more aquifers deeper than 800 meters; ii) thickness of the aquifer/s; iii) lithology of the reservoir/s; iv) available chemical analysis; v) distance from closer power plants or other anthropogenic CO2 sources.The final aim of these work is to help to find potential areas in Italy where CO2 storage feasibility studies can be done. In these cases it is necessary to implement the knowledge by: i) better evaluation of saline aquifer quality; ii) estimation of CO2 storage capacity by 3D-modeling of deep crustal structures; iii) fluid-dynamic and geochemical modelling of water-rock-CO2 interaction paths

Lumped parameters multi-fidelity digital twins for prognostics of electromechanical actuators

The growing affirmation of on-board systems based on all-electric secondary power sources is causing a progressive diffusion of electromechanical actuators (EMA) in aerospace applications. As a result, novel prognostic and diagnostic approaches are becoming a critical tool for detecting fault propagation early, preventing EMA performance deterioration, and ensuring acceptable levels of safety and reliability of the system. These approaches often require the development of various types of multiple numerical models capable of simulating the performance of the EMA with different levels of fidelity. In previous publications, the authors already proposed a high-fidelity multi-domain numerical model (HF), capable of accounting for a wide range of physical phenomena and progressive failures in the EMA, and a low-fidelity digital twin (LF). The LF is directly derived from the HF one by reducing the system degrees of freedom, simplifying the EMA control logic, eliminating the static inverter model and the three-phase commutation logic. In this work, the authors propose a new EMA digital twin, called Enhanced Low Fidelity (ELF), that, while still belonging to the simplified types, has particular characteristics that place it at an intermediate level of detail and accuracy between the HF and LF models. While maintaining a low computational cost, the ELF model keeps the original architecture of the three-phase motor and the multidomain approach typical of HF. The comparison of the preliminary results shows a satisfactory consistency between the experimental equipment and the numerical models

Study of FBG-based optical sensors for thermal measurements in aerospace applications

Optical fibers have revolutionized several technological sectors in recent decades, above all that of communication, and have also found many applications in the medical, lighting engineering, and infrastructural fields. In the aerospace field, many studies investigated the adoption of fiber optics considering the planned transition from fly-by-wire to fly-by-light flight controls. A significant feature of optical fiber is its ability to be used not only as a transmission medium but also as a basis for fiber-embedded sensors; one of the most prominent types is based on Bragg gratings (FBGs). FBGs can replace several traditional sensors, providing measures of temperature, vibrations, and mechanical deformation. Optical sensors provide many advantages over traditional, electrical-based sensors, including EMI insensitivity, ease of multiplexing on a single line, resilience to harsh environments, very compact sizes and global weight saving. Furthermore, punctual knowledge of the temperature field is essential to perform the thermal compensation of the optical sensors used for strain measurements. In this work, the authors analyzed the performance of thermal sensors based on FBGs to verify their stability, accuracy, and sensitivity to operating conditions. Two different methods of FBGs surface application have been considered (gluing with pre-tensioning vs. non-tensioned bonding). The results were then compared to those acquired using typical temperature sensors to determine the relationship between the observed temperature and the Bragg wavelength variation (i.e. the proportionality coefficient Kt). The effects on the proportionality coefficient Kt, arising from fiber pre-tensioning and thermal expansion of the structural support, were then evaluated by comparing the results obtained with the two bonding approaches

Plastic adjustments of biparental care behavior across embryonic development under elevated temperature in a marine ectotherm

Phenotypic plasticity in parental care investment allows organisms to promptly respond to rapid environmental changes by potentially benefiting offspring survival and thus parental fitness. To date, a knowledge gap exists on whether plasticity in parental care behaviors can mediate responses to climate change in marine ectotherms. Here, we assessed the plasticity of parental care investment under elevated temperatures in a gonochoric marine annelid with biparental care, Ophryotrocha labronica, and investigated its role in maintaining the reproductive success of this species in a warming ocean. We measured the time individuals spent carrying out parental care activities across three phases of embryonic development, as well as the hatching success of the offspring as a proxy for reproductive success, at control (24℃) and elevated (27℃) temperature conditions. Under elevated temperature, we observed: (a) a significant decrease in total parental care activity, underpinned by a decreased in male and simultaneous parental care activity, in the late stage of embryonic development; and (b) a reduction in hatching success that was however not significantly related to changes in parental care activity levels. These findings, along with the observed unaltered somatic growth of parents and decreased brood size, suggest that potential cost-benefit trade-offs between offspring survival (i.e., immediate fitness) and parents' somatic condition (i.e., longer-term fitness potential) may occur under ongoing ocean warming. Finally, our results suggest that plasticity in parental care behavior is a mechanism able to partially mitigate the negative effects of temperature-dependent impacts

Diagnostics of electro-mechanical actuators based upon the back-EMF reconstruction

Electrical systems are gradually replacing the more traditional hydraulic and pneumatic solutions for the transmission of secondary energy for onboard aircraft equipment. Therefore fault detection and health management strategies properly conceived for electrical devices are becoming a highly relevant topic for research and development in the aerospace disciplines. One possible practical implementation of these methodologies would be the identification of parameters for diagnostic and prognostic monitoring, which are highly sensitive to incipient faults but, at the same time, are less influenced by operating conditions (external loads, command input, temperatures, etc.). In this paper, the authors evaluated the effectiveness of counter-electromotive force (back-EMF) coefficient as a prognostic parameter, emphasizing a novel sampling approach that significantly lower the computational effort required while maintaining a good back-EMF coefficient curve reconstruction. The approach is virtual sensor-like, using only already available data for the correct operation of the BLDC motor. The proposed method was tested by evaluating the back-EMF coefficient reconstruction as a function of some progressive failures typical of EMA motors, such as inter-turn partial shorts and rotor static eccentricity. Its robustness to external disturbances has been tested by evaluating different actuation commands and operating conditions. As expected, the back-EMF signal shows a marked dependence on the considered failure modes and, at the same time, a suitable insensitivity to the other external factors