Numerical analyses of high Reynolds number flow of high pressure fuel gas through rough pipes

In this paper, a CFD commercial code is used to evaluate the pressure drop through pipes in a stream of high pressure gas. Both hexahedral and tetrahedral grids are considered. Preliminarily, a grid sensitivity analysis is carried out by comparing CFD results with analytical results. Each grid is characterized by a different number and thickness of layers in order to investigate the behavior of the grid with respect to the boundary layer. Then, the model is validated by using a literature test case, in which high pressure gas flow through a rough pipe is experimentally studied. Moreover, various equations of state (i.e., constant properties, Ideal Gas and Redlich–Kwong equations) and boundary conditions (e.g., pressure, mass flow, etc.) are taken into consideration and compared. Finally, the model is used to extrapolate the behavior of gaseous fuels (i.e., natural gas, biogas and hydrogen–methane mixture) flowing at high pressure through pipes of different roughness. The analyses show that the radial depth of the prism layers on pipe wall has to be controlled to allow the correct resolution of the boundary layer. Moreover, the results highlight that the first element height of the prism layer should be high enough to avoid inconsistencies in the rough model application. At the same time, the grid used for calculations does not strongly influence the numerical results and hence tune of the first element height to perfectly fit the roughness is not always justified. The final analysis on the different gaseous fuels put into evidence the capability of the CFD analysis to determine the energy performance of fuel transportation in gas pipeline.     

Chemical–physical properties of bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)imide-based ionic liquids

The chemical–physical properties of hydrophobic ionic liquids, tailored as electrolyte components for supercapacitors and lithium batteries, were investigated and compared. The ionic liquid samples are based on bis(perfluroalkylsulfonyl)imide anions coupled with different types of cation. The effect of the cation as well as the main cationic aliphatic side group, in combination with different anions, on the chemical–physical properties of the investigated ionic liquid samples was evaluated and discussed. The activation energy for the conduction mechanism and the glass transition temperature were obtained by fitting the conductivity vs. temperature data.     

The influence of the enzymatic composition of lamb rennet paste on some properties of experimentally produced PDO Fiore Sardo cheese

An experiment on PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) Fiore Sardo cheese making was carried out to assess the influence of rennet paste on cheese quality. Four different preparations of lamb rennet paste (A, B, C and D) were used. Rennet A came exclusively from suckling lambs slaughtered immediately after suckling, rennet B from suckling lambs not fed for 12 h, and rennets C and D from suckling lambs allowed to graze and slaughtered in the same way as A and B, respectively. In vitro lipolysis and multiple cheese-making trials were carried out for each rennet. The enzymatic composition of the prepared rennets was different. Lipolytic activity was assessed in vitro by measuring the quantity of free fatty acids released by hydrolysis of a sheep milk cream substrate. Rennet A had the greatest lipolytic activity, which had a strong preference for esters of short-chain fatty acids. The cheeses made using the different rennets did not differ significantly in their moisture, protein and fat content or in the nitrogen fractions which resulted from proteolysis. The cheese produced with rennet A had the highest lipolysis. Short-chain fatty acids, in particular butyric acid, were prevalent, as they were in the in vitro trials. The diet and the presence of milk in the abomasa was responsible for the enzymatic peculiarities of rennet A. Suckling stimulated the secretion of pre-gastric lipase from the pharingeal tissue. Thus, if one wishes to produce a rennet with the particular enzymatic composition necessary for a particular cheese, the diet and the slaughtering conditions of the lambs should be controlled.     

Isolated superior gluteal nerve injury: two case reports

Isolated superior gluteal nerve injury has been infrequently described in the literature, mainly from injections or hip surgery. Its course through the greater sciatic foramen renders it at risk in pelvic or hip trauma. We report 2 cases of electromyographically documented isolated superior gluteal nerve injury following pelvic trauma. These cases illustrate that weakness in hip abduction following pelvic trauma may indicate the presence of a superior gluteal nerve injury, warranting further clinical and electrodiagnostic evaluation.     

Mutagenicity of chemicals of industrial and agricultural relevance in Salmonella,streptomyces and Aspergillus

Five chemicals of industrial and agricultural relevance—ethylene dibromide, ethylene dichloride, propylene dichloride, allyl alcohol and sulphallate—were tested for their ability to induce reverse mutations in Salmonella typhimurium and forward mutations in Streptomyces coelicolor and Aspergillus nidulans. Ethylene dibromide was positive in all the genetic systems employed; sulphallate gave a positive response, to different degrees, in all the microorganisms; ethylene dichloride was weakly active in S. typhimurium following microsomal activation; propylene dichloride was detected as a direct acting mutagen in S. typhimurium and A. nidulans but not in S. coelicolor; allyl alcohol was completely negative in all test systems.     

Electrochemical Micromachining as an Enabling Technology for Advanced Silicon Microstructuring

Based on previous theoretical and experimental results on the electrochemical etching of silicon in HF‐based aqueous electrolytes, it is shown for the first time that silicon microstructures of various shapes and silicon microsystems of high complexity can be effectively fabricated in any research lab with sub‐micrometer accuracy and high aspect ratio values (about 100). This is well beyond any up‐to‐date wet or dry microstructuring approach and is achieved using a wet etching, low‐cost technology: silicon electrochemical micromachining (ECM). Dynamic control of the etching anisotropy (from 1 to 0) as the electrochemical etching progresses allows the silicon dissolution to be switched in real‐time from the anisotropic to the isotropic regime and enables advanced silicon microstructuring to be achieved through the use of high‐aspect‐ratio functional and sacrificial structures, the former being functional to the microsystem operation and the latter being sacrificed for accurate microsystem fabrication. World‐wide dissemination of the ECM technology for silicon microstructuring is envisaged in the near future, due to its low cost and high flexibility, with high‐potential impact on, though not limited to, the broad field of microelectronics and microfabrication.     

Fruit quality and bioactive compounds relevant to human health of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivars grown in Italy

The fruit quality characteristics, phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacities of 24 sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivars grown on the mountainsides of the Etna volcano (Sicily, Italy) were evaluated. High-performance liquid chromatographic methods were used to identify and quantify sugars, organic acids and phenolics. A total of seven phenolic compounds were characterised as hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives (neochlorogenic acid, p-coumaroylquinic acid and chlorogenic acid) and anthocyanins (cyanidin 3-glucoside, cyanidin 3-rutinoside, pelargonidin 3-rutinoside and peonidin 3-rutinoside). The total anthocyanin content ranged from 6.21 to 94.20 mg cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalents/100 g fresh weight (FW), while the total phenol content ranged from 84.96 to 162.21 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g FW. The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay indicated that fruit of all genotypes possessed considerable antioxidant activity. The high level of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of some sweet cherry fruits implied that they might be sources of bioactive compounds that are relevant to human health.     

Organic Light-Emitting Transistors in a Smart-Integrated System for Plasmonic-Based Sensing

The smart integration of multiple devices in a single functional unit is boosting the advent of compact optical sensors for on-site analysis. Nevertheless, the development of miniaturized and cost-effective plasmonic sensors is hampered by the strict angular constraints of the detection scheme, which are fulfilled through bulky optical components. Here, an ultracompact system for plasmonic-sensing is demonstrated by the smart integration of an organic light-emitting transistor (OLET), an organic photodiode (OPD), and a nanostructured plasmonic grating (NPG). The potential of OLETs, as planar multielectrode devices with inherent micrometer-wide emission areas, offers the pioneer incorporation of an OPD onto the source electrode to obtain a monolithic photonic module endowed with light-emitting and light-detection characteristics at unprecedented lateral proximity of them. This approach enables the exploitation of the angle-dependent sensing of the NPG in a miniaturized system based on low-cost components, in which a reflective detection is enabled by the elegant fabrication of the NPG onto the encapsulation glass of the photonic module. The most effective layout of integration is unraveled by an advanced simulation tool, which allows obtaining an optics-less plasmonic system able to perform a quantitative detection up to 10⁻² RIU at a sensor size as low as 0.1 cm³.