Flow cytometric assessment of the antimicrobial activity of essential oils against Listeria monocytogenes

Flow cytometry was applied to assess the antimicrobial activity of oregano, thyme and cinnamon essential oils against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19114, using combined staining with propidium iodide (PI) for membrane damage evaluation and carboxyfluorescein diacetate (cFDA) for esterase activity detection. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was also tested at different NaCl concentrations.Significant differences were observed between plate count results and flow cytometric data, which suggested the presence of a sublethally stressed subpopulation, not able to form colonies on agar plates.Following treatments, flow cytometric assessment clearly discriminated three different subpopulations: viable, dead and injured cells. Cinnamon essential oil exerted a different impact on the cellular subpopulations, with a lower overall activity and a large percentage of cells having minimally damaged membranes. On the contrary, membrane disintegration seemed to be the primary inactivation mechanism of oregano and thyme essential oils.The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils increased with NaCl concentration increase, but higher NaCl concentrations were necessary following treatments with cinnamon essential oil.Our findings suggest differences in the mode of action of cinnamon essential oil against L. monocytogenes, in comparison with thyme and oregano essential oils.     

EU Research and Innovation (R&I) in renewable energies: The role of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan)

The SET-Plan established a strategy to use Research and Innovation (R&I) to green the EU energy sector while ensuring a secure supply and increasing EU competitiveness. The strategy sets clear objectives and programming plans and takes stock of existing initiatives in the energy sector, fosters a cooperative approach to R&I, introduces a high-level steering group (the SET-Plan Steering Group) to monitor progress, creates a dedicated information system (the SETIS) to fill the void in policy information and produces estimates of financial needs over the programming period. In this respect, the SET-Plan could serve as a blueprint for R&I strategies to tackle other societal challenges. To be effective, such strategies should further clarify the hierarchy of existing objectives and instruments, introduce specific instruments to pull the demand of new technologies, strengthen links with education and training policies and formalize links with the governance structures of existing initiatives.     

Creating portable and efficient packet processing applications

Network processors are special-purpose programmable units deployed in many modern high-speed network devices, which combine flexibility and high performance. However, software development for these platforms is traditionally cumbersome due both to the lack of adequate programming abstractions and to the impossibility of reusing the same software on different hardware platforms.     

The field-standardized average impact of national research systems compared to world average: the case of Italy

The study presents a time-series analysis of field-standardized average impact of Italian research compared to the world average. The approach is purely bibliometric, based on census of the full scientific production from all Italian public research organizations active in 2001–2006 (hard sciences only). The analysis is conducted both at sectorial level (aggregated, by scientific discipline and for single fields within disciplines) and at organizational level (by type of organization and for single organizations). The essence of the methodology should be replicable in all other national contexts. Its offers support to policy-makers and administrators for strategic analysis aimed at identifying strengths and weaknesses of national research systems and institutions.     

New method to calibrate and validate a high-resolution 3D scanner,based on photogrammetry

In the last years close-range photogrammetric scanning systems, are acquiring a larger market share. This is due to low-cost hardware, components and to new user-friendly software. The ultimate, photogrammetric 3D scanning systems are very accurate and precise because, of the high-resolution cameras (over 10 Mpixels) they are equipped of and, the more precise algorithms of their software. The calibration phase is the primary step for the development of a, precise photogrammetric scanner. Through a good calibration it is indeed, possible to eliminate optical aberration issues and to obtain precise and, accurate three-dimensional measurements. In this study a powerful, calibration method, named full-field calibration, was implemented to, obtain high-precision values, using an original three-dimensional, calibrator, developed so as to increase the performance of this type of, calibration. Prior to using any measurement or 3D scanning system, precision and, accuracy have to be assessed. In this study a robust validation method, for photogrammetric scanning systems has been proposed. The validation, procedure consisted in: (1) operator error analysis, (2) reproducibility, error-analysis, (3) control-system error analysis, (4) scanning system, error analysis., The measurements taken using the “control system” (certified equipment in, terms of precision and accuracy) were considered as “gold standard”. The, photogrammetric measurements, subsequently obtained by the scanning, system, were aligned to the “gold standard” using Procrustes, registration. The system error was expressed as the displacement between, these two sets of measurements.     

Exploiting Behavioral Information in Gate-Level ATPG

This paper aims at broadening the scope of hierarchical ATPG to the behavioral-level. The main problem is identified, namely the mismatch of timing models between the behavioral- and gate-levels. As a main contribution of this paper, a theoretical analysis of this problem led to the definition of a novel concept, that of dominated patterns, that captures the needed link between the levels. Some metrics are defined, taken from the software realm, that allow generation of test patterns at the behavioral-level. To validate the concept correctness, different ATPG systems are presented, and experimental results show an improvement in the test quality, thanks to the exploitation of behavioral-level information.     

Building energy performance: A LCA case study of kenaf-fibres insulation board

The paper presents a life cycle assessment of a kenaf-fibre insulation board following the international standards of the ISO 14040 series. Each life-cycle step has been checked, from kenaf production and board manufacture by an Italian firm, to use and disposal.     

高雅运动

Pershing115’号第一次亮相就赢得满堂喝彩,在2004热那亚(意大利西北名城)国际船只展上,首次向公众展示的Pershing115’号就获得了室内设计特别奖。紧接着,在2005年摩纳哥久负盛名的航海展上它又获得大会的最高奖“Show B oats Aw ard2005”。应该说,所有的奖项都不仅仅因为Per