The Ni/ZrO2 catalyst and the methanation of CO and CO2

The Ni/ZrO₂ catalyst is one of the most active systems for the methanation of CO to be employed in the hydrogen purification for PEMFC. This contribution aims to study the effect of ZrO₂ on the methanation of CO and CO₂. The catalytic behavior of Ni/ZrO₂, Ni/SiO₂, a physical mixture comprising Ni and ZrO_2, and a double-bed reactor were evaluated. The TPD of CO and CO₂, TPSR and the cyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction were carried out to describe the catalysts and the reactions. The high activity of Ni/ZrO₂ catalyst toward the methanation of CO is related to the presence of active sites on the ZrO₂ surface. The methanation of CO occurs on ZrO₂ due to its ability to adsorb CO and also because of the hydrogen spillover phenomenon. Apparently, the effect of ZrO₂ is less relevant for the methanation of CO₂. Ni/ZrO₂ is a very promising system for the purification of hydrogen.     

Landscape dynamics of Mediterranean montane grasslands over 60 years and implications for habitats conservation. A case study in the northern Apennines (Italy)

Widespread trends of abandonment have strongly affected Mediterranean mountains after the Second World War, triggering spontaneous recolonisation of forests. A diachronic analysis of the landscape in a Natura 2000 site (Tuscany, Italy) was carried out using digital aerial photographs (1954, 2013) and a GIS-based methodology, focusing on territories above 1300 m a.s.l. The detected variations of total areas, patch shape, patch dimensions and selected metrics showed a notable shift of the vegetation towards woody types and a drastic reduction of open grasslands, some with high conservation value, accompanied by a strong increase in patch number, surface and edge. A decrease of SDI and SEI diversity indices was also observed. Considering that fragmentation is one of the main causes threatening habitats and species, our results point out a clear necessity for a monitoring programme and suitable actions aimed at improving the status of biodiversity-rich montane grasslands.     

Changes of the cell surface hydrophobicity of Lactobacillus acidophilus La‐5 in response to pH,temperature and inulin

The main topic of this study was to study how cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) could change in response to pH, temperature and inulin; Lactobacillus acidophilus La‐5 was used as a model microorganism. pH, temperature, inulin and incubation time (exposure to prebiotic or incubation at pH 4.0 and 9.0) were combined through a full factorial design and a Central Composite Design; the results were analysed using a multifactorial anova (first step) and a stepwise regression (second step). Temperature and pH significantly affected CSH: an increase in the temperature determined a significant increase in CSH, whereas the correlation pH vs. CSH was negative, as an increase in pH caused a significant decrease in CSH. Inulin played a significant role, but its effect could be influenced by temperature, pH and exposure time. This study is the first approach on the effects of some environmental factors on CSH and suggests that the culturing conditions and/or the exposure to some prebiotics could modify it with positive or negative effects.     

Empowering cultural heritage professionals with tools for authoring and deploying personalised visitor experiences

User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction - This paper presents an authoring environment, which supports cultural heritage professionals in the process of creating and deploying a wide range of...     

Adaptive tracking control of Euler–Lagrange systems with bounded controls

We solve the simultaneous closed‐loop identification and tracking‐control problems for fully‐actuated Euler–Lagrange systems under input constraints. We use a nonlinear adaptive controller reminiscent of computed‐torque‐type controllers in which linear correction terms are saturated in order to comply with the imposed bounds on the control inputs. Adaptation, reminiscent of gradient methods, is used also with saturation. With respect to related literature, our contribution consists in establishing uniform global asymptotic stability. Therefore, our control scheme ensures robustness with respect to bounded perturbations and uniform convergence of the estimation errors for any initial conditions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Digitalisation and employment in manufacturing

The present work tackles the issue of the effects of digitalisation on employment. This issue has been attracting a growing interest, in particular because of the anxiety generated by the idea that digital technologies could cancel a large number of jobs. Although I agree with argument put forward in opposition to the existence of a causal link between technological innovation and increased productivity at the macroeconomic level, I believe that the novelty and pervasiveness of digital technologies require more in-depth micro-level analysis in order to understand the extent to which new digital technologies are currently employed by leading manufacturing companies and the ways new technologies are affecting employment. The empirical findings show that among the different technologies included under the umbrella of Industry 4.0, mainly robots have received a great deal of attention so far, while the current application and employment impact for other emerging technological opportunities such as 3D printing, Internet of Things, Augmented reality, Big data Analytics have not been studied yet. In relation to the qualitative changes of the labour market, our empirical research confirms that there are new types of skills that will be demanded in the future in manufacturing, in particular in relation to service provision and software development.     

Effects of processing conditions on hybrid filler selective localization,rheological, and thermal properties of poly(ε-caprolactone)/poly(lactic acid) blends

In this study, the effects of processing conditions through different mixing sequences were used to analyze the factors, which could influence the hybrid filler selective localization in an immiscible polymer blend and how localization can influence the rheological and thermal properties. Different selective localizations were observed depending on the mixing sequence used when the hybrid filler was added. Notably, nanoparticles can interact with each other, which favor a synergy between them and alters, besides the localization, the dispersion state, or can interact with one polymer phase, and also alter the nanoparticles' selective localization. An improvement in rheological properties was observed in the hybrid nanocomposite in which there was interaction between the nanoparticles, favoring the hexagonal boron nitride exfoliation. On the other hand, for the storage modulus and degree of crystallinity, the sharpest increase occurred in the hybrid nanocomposite in which the nanoparticles could interact preferably with one polymer phase. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 137, 48711.     

Genomic Instability Is an Early Event in Aluminium-Induced Tumorigenesis

Genomic instability is generally considered as a hallmark of tumorigenesis and a prerequisite condition for malignant transformation. Aluminium salts are suspected environmental carcinogens that transform mammary epithelial cells in vitro through unknown mechanisms. We report here that long-term culture in the presence of aluminium chloride (AlCl₃) enables HC11 normal mouse mammary epithelial cells to form tumours and metastases when injected into the syngeneic and immunocompetent BALB/cByJ strain. We demonstrate that AlCl₃ rapidly increases chromosomal structural abnormalities in mammary epithelial cells, while we failed to detect direct modulation of specific mRNA pathways. Our observations provide evidence that clastogenic activity—a well-recognized inducer of genomic instability—might account in part for the transforming abilities of aluminium in mammary epithelial cells.