An index for quantifying the aerobic reactivity of municipal solid wastes and derived waste products

The organic matter contained in municipal solid waste (MSW) and in the MSW fractions obtained by mechanical separation has strong environmental impact when the waste is used as landfill. This is partly due to the biological activity that occurs under anaerobic conditions. Negative effects on the environment include unpleasant odors, biogas, leachate and biomass self-heating. Measuring the biological reactivity of waste with the help of indicators is an important tool to prevent waste impact. The aim of this study was to develop an index capable of describing the aerobic reactivity of waste, using both biological and chemical indicators. To develop this index, 71 MSW and MSW-product samples, including biologically treated MSW and mechanically separated MSW fractions, were analyzed. Fifty of the 71 samples analyzed represented MSWs and their derived products collected from a number of Italian waste plants and sites. The remaining 21 were MSW samples collected at different times during 8 different full-scale aerobic biological processes in four treatment plants used to reduce the biological reactivity of wastes. Five of these processes used the entire (unsorted) MSW, while the remaining three used the organic fraction of the MSW obtained by mechanical pre-treatment (waste sieving). Respirometric activity (Dynamic Respiration Index, DRI) and eluates characterization (chemical oxygen demand--COD, and 5 days biological oxygen demand--BOD5) were used as indicators of waste strength, as they had previously been reported to be indirect measures of waste impact on landfill. Summarizing all studied indicators, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to develop the Putrescibility Index (Ip). The results revealed Ip index of 204+/-33 (mean+/-standard deviation) and 159+/-14 for the organic fraction of MSW and MSW untreated waste respectively, and of 106+/-16 and 101+/-22 for the corresponding biologically treated waste.     

Macroindentation of polymers

Macroindentation tests were performed by means of a flat cylindrical indenter on high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyamide 66 (PA66). Commercial sheets were acquired for both materials, and specimens were extracted for differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and thermal recovery tests. In this way, the fabrication effect was correctly identified in terms of degradation, orientation, and mechanical performance. Specimens were also prepared for tensile tests, which were performed for comparison with indentation experiments. Indentation tests were carried out on the external sheet surfaces at different indenter diameters (1 and 2 mm) and test rates (from 0.1 to 20 mm/min). A very high correlation was found between the tensile test and indentation results at the different test rates. In particular, the indentation stress at fixed depth was a linear function of the tensile yield stress, depending only on the indenter diameter and not on the material type. Moreover, a threshold value for the thickness for a correct comparison among samples having different dimensions is discussed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Comparison of electrolyzed oxidizing water with other antimicrobial interventions to reduce pathogens on fresh pork

To date, the effectiveness of electrolyzed oxidizing (EO) water against bacteria associated with fresh pork has not been determined. Using a hand-held, food-grade garden sprayer, distilled water (W), chlorinated water (CL; 25 ppm), 2% lactic acid (LA), acidic EO water (EOA), or "aged" acidic EO water (AEOA; stored at 4 °C for 24 h) was sprayed (15 s) onto pork bellies inoculated with feces containing Listeria monocytogenes (LM), Salmonella typhimurium (ST), and Campylobacter coli (CC). Remaining bacterial populations were determined immediately following treatment, after 2 days of aerobic storage, and again after 5 days of vacuum-packaged, refrigerated storage (day 7). While LA and EOA significantly reduced (p<0.05) populations of CC at days 0 and 7, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between antimicrobial treatments when applied to pork inoculated with ST or LM. This study demonstrates that a 15-s spray with EOA has the ability to reduce CC associated with fresh pork surfaces. However, longer contact times may be necessary to reduce other microbial contaminants.     

Antioxidant activity and dietary fibre in durum wheat bran by-products

Milling of wheat generates by-products, which can be used to improve the technological performance and/or to integrate foods with healthy compounds. The aim of this paper was to select fractions of durum wheat bran having different functional and nutritional characteristics. Wheat bran by-products were obtained by an industrial milling process. Beside the single fractions, two commercial products Bran & Brain 50 and 70, obtained by blending some of the durum wheat fractions were also studied. All samples were investigated for water holding capacity, soluble and insoluble dietary fibre content and for their antioxidant activity. The soluble fibre content of the durum wheat by-product ranged between 0.9% and 4.1%; while that of insoluble fibre between 21% and 64%. B&B 70 has a TDF content of 61%, while B&B 50 has 42%. The water holding capacity of each fraction is strictly related to the amount of insoluble fibre and to the granulometry of the by-products. Cooking-extrusion process does not affect the amount of soluble fibre; by contrast, a significant increase of the insoluble fibre was detected. The antioxidant activity is higher for the internal bran fraction and it increases in fractions having reduced granulometry. The antioxidant activity of some durum wheat by-product fractions is comparable to that of widespread fruits and fresh vegetables, likely due to the presence of fibre-bound phenol compounds. The high fibre content and antioxidant activity of durum wheat bran by-products can be of particular interest for their use in cereal-based products.     

High-Fat Diet Impairs Mouse Median Eminence: A Study by Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy Coupled with Raman Spectroscopy

Hypothalamic dysfunction is an initial event following diet-induced obesity, primarily involving areas regulating energy balance such as arcuate nucleus (Arc) and median eminence (ME). To gain insights into the early hypothalamic diet-induced alterations, adult CD1 mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 weeks were studied and compared with normo-fed controls. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy and histological staining were employed for morphological studies of the ME, while Raman spectroscopy was applied for the biochemical analysis of the Arc-ME complex. In HFD mice, ME β2-tanycytes, glial cells dedicated to blood-liquor crosstalk, exhibited remarkable ultrastructural anomalies, including altered alignment, reduced junctions, degenerating organelles, and higher content of lipid droplets, lysosomes, and autophagosomes. Degenerating tanycytes also displayed an electron transparent cytoplasm filled with numerous vesicles, and they were surrounded by dilated extracellular spaces extending up to the subependymal layer. Consistently, Raman spectroscopy analysis of the Arc-ME complex revealed higher glycogen, collagen, and lipid bands in HFD mice compared with controls, and there was also a higher band corresponding to the cyanide group in the former compared to the last. Collectively, these data show that ME β₂-tanycytes exhibit early structural and chemical alterations due to HFD and reveal for the first-time hypothalamic cyanide presence following high dietary lipids consumption, which is a novel aspect with potential implications in the field of obesity.     

Differential Proteomic Analysis of Astrocytes and Astrocytes-Derived Extracellular Vesicles from Control and Rai Knockout Mice: Insights into the Mechanisms of Neuroprotection

Reactive astrocytes are a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease including multiple sclerosis. It is widely accepted that astrocytes may adopt alternative phenotypes depending on a combination of environmental cues and intrinsic features in a highly plastic and heterogeneous manner. However, we still lack a full understanding of signals and associated signaling pathways driving astrocyte reaction and of the mechanisms by which they drive disease. We have previously shown in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model that deficiency of the molecular adaptor Rai reduces disease severity and demyelination. Moreover, using primary mouse astrocytes, we showed that Rai contributes to the generation of a pro-inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) microenvironment through the production of nitric oxide and IL-6 and by impairing CD39 activity in response to soluble factors released by encephalitogenic T cells. Here, we investigated the impact of Rai expression on astrocyte function both under basal conditions and in response to IL-17 treatment using a proteomic approach. We found that astrocytes and astrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles contain a set of proteins, to which Rai contributes, that are involved in the regulation of oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination, nitrogen metabolism, and oxidative stress. The HIF-1α pathway and cellular energetic metabolism were the most statistically relevant molecular pathways and were related to ENOA and HSP70 dysregulation.     

Nanocomposite pyrite-greigite reactivity toward Se(IV)/Se(VI)

A nanopyrite/greigite composite was synthesized by reacting FeCl(3) and NaHS in a ratio of 1:2 (Wei et al. 1996). Following this procedure, the obtained solid phases consisted of 30-50 nm sized particles containing 28% of greigite (Fe(2+)Fe(3+)(2)S(4)) and 72% pyrite (FeS(2)). Batch reactor experiments were performed with selenite or selenate by equilibrating suspensions containing the nanosized pyrite-greigite solid phase at different pH-values and with or without the addition of extra Fe(2+). XANES-EXAFS spectroscopic techniques revealed, for the first time, the formation of ferroselite (FeSe(2)) as the predominant reaction product, along with elemental Se. In the present experimental conditions, at pH 6 and in equilibrium with Se(0), the solution is oversaturated with respect to ferrosilite. Furthermore, thermodynamic computations show that reaction kinetics likely played a significant role in our experimental system.     

Two-Stage vs Single-Stage Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion: Comparison of Energy Production and Biodegradation Efficiencies

Two-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) for integrated biohydrogen and biomethane production from organic materials has been reported to promise higher process efficiency and energy recoveries as compared to traditional one-stage AD. This work presents a comparison between two-stage (reactors R1 and R2) and one-stage (reactor R3) AD systems, fed with identical organic substrates and loading rates, focusing the attention on chemical and microbiological aspects. Contrary to previous experiences, no significant differences in overall energy recovery were found for the two-stage and one-stage AD systems. However, an accumulation in R2 of undegraded intermediate metabolites (volatile fatty acids, ketones, amines, amino acids, and phenols) was observed by GC-MS. These compounds were thought to be both cause and effect of this partial inefficiency of the two-stage system, as confirmed also by the less diverse, and thereby less efficient, population of fermentative bacteria observed (by PCR-DGGE) in R2. The extreme environment of R1 (low pH and high metabolites concentrations) probably acted as selector of metabolic pathways, favoring H(2)-producing bacteria able to degrade such a wide variability of intermediate metabolites while limiting other strains. Therefore, if two-stage AD may potentially lead to higher energy recoveries, further efforts should be directed to ensure process efficiency and stability.     

Objective and subjective quality assessment between JPEG XR with overlap and JPEG 2000

JPEG XR (eXtended Range) is a recently standardized format for still images compression. It adopts a Lapped Biorthogonal Transform (LBT) that helps in reducing visual artifacts, in particular those due to blocking effects. In this paper, we compare JPEG XR with JPEG 2000, in terms of both objective and subjective visual quality. The adopted objective parameters are the computational complexity and the PSNR. In order to improve the analysis, and to evaluate if JPEG XR can be a feasible alternative to JPEG 2000, subjective tests in a projector-based environment have been set up, from which the benefits of the overlap operator of JPEG XR have been assessed, especially at high compression ratios.