Plug-in hybrid fuel cell vehicles market penetration scenarios

The main objective of this research is to analyze the impact of the market share increase of hydrogen based road vehicles in terms of energy consumption and CO₂, on today's Portuguese light-duty fleet. Actual yearly values of energy consumption and emissions were estimated using COPERT software: 167112 TJ of fossil fuel energy, 12213 kton of CO₂ emission and 141 kton of CO, 20 kton of HC, 46 kton of NO_x and 3 kton of PM. These values represent 20–40% of countries total emissions. Additionally to base fleet, three scenarios of introduction of 10–30% fuel cell vehicles including plug-in hybrids configurations were analysed. Considering the scenarios of increasing hydrogen based vehicles penetration, up to 10% life cycle energy consumption reduction can be obtained if hydrogen from centralized natural gas reforming is considered. Full life cycle CO₂ emissions can also be reduced up to 20% in these scenarios, while local pollutants reach up to 85% reductions. For the purpose of estimating road vehicle technologies energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in a full life cycle perspective, fuel cell, conventional full hybrids and hybrid plug-in technologies were considered with diesel, gasoline, hydrogen and biofuel blends. Energy consumption values were estimated in a real road driving cycle and with ADVISOR software. Materials cradle-to-grave life cycle was estimated using GREET database adapted to Europe electric mix. The main conclusions on CO₂ full life cycle analysis is that light-duty vehicles using fuel cell propulsion technology are highly dependent on hydrogen production pathway. The worst scenario for the current Portuguese and European electric mix is hydrogen produced from on-site electrolysis (in the refuelling stations). In this case full life cycle CO₂ is 270 g/km against 190 g/km for conventional Diesel vehicle, for a typical 150,000 km useful life.     

Physico-chemical characterization of protein fraction from stabilized wheat germ

Food Science and Biotechnology - Wheat germ shows the highest nutritional value of the kernel. It is highly susceptible to rancidity due to high content of unsaturated fat and presence of oxidative...     

Generalized additive neural network with flexible parametric link function: model estimation using simulated and real clinical data

Neural Computing and Applications - Artificial neural networks have been proposed in medical research as an alternative to some regression models such as the generalized linear models, being the...     

Remote sensing of wetlands in South America: status and challenges

South America has a large proportion of wetlands compared with other continents. While most of these wetlands were conserved in a relatively good condition until a few decades ago, pressures brought about by land use and climate change have threaten their integrity in recent years. The aim of this article is to provide a bibliometric analysis of the available scientific literature relating to the remote sensing of wetlands in South America. From 1960 to 2015, 153 articles were published in 63 different journals, with the number of articles published per year increasing progressively since 1990. This rise is also paralleled by an increase in the contribution of local authors. The most intensively studied regions are the wetland macrosystems of South American mega-rivers: the Amazon and Paraná Rivers, along with the Pantanal at the headwaters of Paraguay River. Few studies spanned more than two countries. The most frequent objectives were mapping, covering all types of wetlands with optical data, and hydrology, focusing on floodplain wetlands with microwave data as the preferred data source. The last decade substantial growth reflects an increase in technological and scientific capacities. Nevertheless, the state of the art regarding the remote sensing of wetlands in South America remains enigmatic. Fundamental questions and guidelines which may contribute to the understanding of the functioning of these ecosystems are yet to be fully defined and there is considerable dispersion in the use of data and remote-sensing approaches.     

Hydrogen Peroxide-Preconditioned Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Enhance the Recovery of Oligodendrocyte-Like Cells after Oxidative Stress-Induced Damage

Oxidative stress associated with neuroinflammation is a key process involved in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, and therefore, has been proposed as a crucial target for new therapies. Recently, the therapeutic potential of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) has been investigated as a novel strategy for neuroprotection. These cells can be preconditioned by exposing them to mild stress in order to improve their response to oxidative stress. In this study, we evaluate the therapeutic potential of hASCs preconditioned with low doses of H₂O₂ (called HC016 cells) to overcome the deleterious effect of oxidative stress in an in vitro model of oligodendrocyte-like cells (HOGd), through two strategies: i, the culture of oxidized HOGd with HC016 cell-conditioned medium (CM), and ii, the indirect co-culture of oxidized HOGd with HC016 cells, which had or had not been exposed to oxidative stress. The results demonstrated that both strategies had reparative effects, oxidized HC016 cell co-culture being the one associated with the greatest recovery of the damaged HOGd, increasing their viability, reducing their intracellular reactive oxygen species levels and promoting their antioxidant capacity. Taken together, these findings support the view that HC016 cells, given their reparative capacity, might be considered an important breakthrough in cell-based therapies.     

Synergistic antimicrobial effect of lactocin AL705 and nisin combined with organic acid salts against Listeria innocua 7 in broth and a hard cheese

The effectiveness of antimicrobial mixtures against Listeria innocua 7, used as a L. monocytogenes surrogate, was investigated in broth and a food system. Synergistic effects were found for nisin (Nis), potassium sorbate (PS), calcium propionate (CP) and sodium lactate (SL), Nis + PS being the most effective binary mixture that exhibited listericidal activity in broth. To assess the effect of adding lactocin AL705 (AL705) to Nis + organic acid salt combinations, tridimensional isobolograms were generated. Sub-MIC combinations of the antimicrobials exerted bactericidal activity against L. innocua 7 after AL705 addition to the binary mixtures. However, when applied on Sardo cheese contaminated with L. innocua 7 (initial inoculum 4.45 ± 0.06 CFU g⁻¹), only Nis + PS + AL705 produced count reductions respect to the control, reaching 3.04 ± 0.35 CFU g⁻¹ counts after 15 days at 15 °C. Ternary combinations containing AL705 showed potential to reduce antimicrobial usages for L. innocua 7 inhibition.