Cultivar based selection and genetic analysis of strawberry fruits with high levels of health promoting compounds

Twenty different strawberry genotypes from phenolic compound content and genetic diversity have been investigated. Twelve phenolic derivatives in the strawberry fruit extracts, their total phenolic content (TPC) and their radical scavenging activity have been quantified.     

Timed-automata based schedulability analysis for distributed firm real-time systems: a case study

The growing level of complexity of modern embedded systems, which are increasingly distributed and heterogeneous, calls for new design approaches able to reconcile mathematical rigour with flexibility, user-friendliness and scalability. In the last few years, Timed Automata (TA) have emerged as a very promising formalism for the availability of very effective verification tools. However, their adoption in the industrial community is still slow. The reluctance of industrial practitioners is partly motivated by persistent concerns on the ease of use of this formalism, on the scalability of the verification process and on the quality of the feedback that the designer receives. In this paper, we discuss these issues by showing the application of the TA formalism on a case study of industrial complexity. We expose the generality of the approach, the efficiency of state of the art tools, but also the limitations in the semantics and in dealing with free design parameters.     

Studies on comb-like polymers: 5 A d.s.c. investigation of samples of poly(octadecylethylene) with different history

The crude product of the stereospecific polymerization of octadecylethylene shows, on d.s.c. analysis, two enthalpy changes associated with the melting or the crystallization of two immiscible crystalline phases. It is shown that the crystallization of the crude polymer from dilute heptane solutions leads to a satisfactory separation of supposedly isotactic from atactic material. Contrary to previous statements, it is demonstrated that both these materials display single melting and crystallization phenomena. It is also shown that appropriate annealing treatments lead to a narrow distribution of the crystallite sizes for all the crystalline structured formed by poly(octadecylethylene).     

The synthesis in vivo of choline and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides in different brain areas during aging

The biosynthesis of choline and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides was tested in vivo in different brain areas of the rat during aging. Mixtures of [2−³H] glycerol and [Me-¹⁴C] choline or [2-³H] glycerol and [2-¹⁴H] ethanolamine were injected into lateral ventricle of the brain as lipid precursors and their incorporation into corresponding phospholipid was examined. A significant decrease of synthesis of both phosphoglycerides takes place in cerebral cortex and in the striatum, and is already apparent at 9 months of age with no further decrease or change therafter. No significant change takes place in the cerebellum. The unchanged absorption of injected water-soluble precursors, together with the lack of any significant change of phospholipid/protein ratio in all examined brain areas, suggests that the incorporation of both glycerol and nitrogen bases are affected by aging.     

Aging material evaluation and studies by non-destructive techniques (AMES-NDT) — a European network project

This paper presents results obtained in a round-robin action organized in a concerted action of ten partners in the EURATOM program of the European Community. The objective of the research was to document the state of the art of available non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques in order to characterize material aging phenomena based on a reduction of Charpy-V energy and a shift in the fracture appearance transition temperature. Therefore, samples from the Japanese nuclear reactor pressure vessel JRQ-steel (ASMT Standard A533-B Class 1) have been thermally treated at 700°C for 18 h with a subsequent water quenching. Besides micromagnetic and electromagnetic NDT, the positron annihilation technique, ultrasonic reverberation by using Laser ultrasonics and the thermo-electrical power have been applied to characterize the aged material states.     

Zeolites direct synthesis on heat exchangers for adsorption heat pumps

Improving performances of adsorption heat pumps involves developments in adsorbent materials as well as in design of more efficient adsorbers and heat exchangers. The aim of the present work was to study some aspects of the “direct synthesis” of zeolites on metal surfaces for the preparation of coated adsorbent beds for more efficient adsorption heat pumps. Different zeolites were grown on stainless steel, copper and aluminium and the results were analysed in terms of phenomena at the zeolite–metal interface, coating thickness, adhesion properties and protective effects. Direct synthesis, indeed, has demonstrated to be a valuable technique but influenced by requirements and limitations strictly dependent on the physico–chemical interaction between the material used for support and the zeolite coating considered.     

Inoculum pretreatment differentially affects the active microbial community performing mesophilic and thermophilic dark fermentation of xylose

The influence of different inoculum pretreatments (pH and temperature shocks) on mesophilic (37 °C) and thermophilic (55 °C) dark fermentative H₂ production from xylose (50 mM) and, for the first time, on the composition of the active microbial community was evaluated. At 37 °C, an acidic shock (pH 3, 24 h) resulted in the highest yield of 0.8 mol H₂ mol^?1 xylose. The H₂ and butyrate yield correlated with the relative abundance of Clostridiaceae in the mesophilic active microbial community, whereas Lactobacillaceae were the most abundant non-hydrogenic competitors according to RNA-based analysis. At 55 °C, Clostridium and Thermoanaerobacterium were linked to H₂ production, but only an alkaline shock (pH 10, 24 h) repressed lactate production, resulting in the highest yield of 1.2 mol H₂ mol^?1 xylose. This study showed that pretreatments differentially affect the structure and productivity of the active mesophilic and thermophilic microbial community developed from an inoculum.     

A versatile modeling approach to monitoring and reduction of energy consumption of telecommunication cooling systems

The paper presents and discusses the versatility of a first principle based model aimed at performing extensive energy scenario analyses for single telecommunication (TLC) equipment rooms. Such a modeling approach is currently under implementation on an intranet platform specifically developed to perform real-time monitoring and diagnosis, as well as offline optimization analyses based on real data acquired on the field. Specifically in this work, a model of room thermal dynamics previously developed by the authors was upgraded, in such a way as to enable its extension to any TLC room, thus also being versatile for application in different room typology and in all possible climatic locations as well. Through the model, specific energy management strategies were tested and extensively analyzed by exploring a large number of control parameters ranges. The model was also coupled to a sub-model enabling the simulation of air handling unit operated in cold ventilation, thus allowing assessing the effect of including such a low-cost operating mode, whose main features are detailed in a specific section. The performed simulations not only clearly indicate the high accuracy granted by the model in all analyzed rooms, but also demonstrate the great potential offered by well-constructed model-based optimization analyses to single out the best control parameters to be applied on a given TLC room.