AC loss measurements on Cable in Conduit Conductor with random-changing magnetic fields

Beside the generation of the poloidal component of the field, the main function of the poloidal field coils in a tokamak is the control of the shape and the position of the plasma, according to the chosen plasma scenario. A plasma scenario, namely a sequence of plasma shapes, is obtained and controlled by varying the current in the PF coils. The control currents create magnetic fields having complex trends, being almost random waveforms with frequencies in the range between 0.1 and 10 Hz. As a consequence, AC loss is generated in the superconducting coils exposed to those signals, and the feasibility of a plasma scenario is strictly related to the ability to withstand and remove the heat coming from the AC loss.In order to study what the behavior of the loss is in random magnetic fields, namely similar to the control fields, a SULTAN sample is tested under two kinds of random field signals. The first signal is obtained by summing several harmonic frequency components, in the range between 0.2 and 6 Hz, having random amplitude. The second waveform is generated by a random function generator and it has a much broader spectrum of frequencies. The tests are carried out by varying also the maximum amplitude of the signals. The results are here discussed and compared to the results of the single frequency AC loss tests, and a correlation between them is studied.     

Inhibition of Ceramide Synthesis Reduces α-Synuclein Proteinopathy in a Cellular Model of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a proteinopathy associated with the aggregation of α-synuclein and the formation of lipid–protein cellular inclusions, named Lewy bodies (LBs). LB formation results in impaired neurotransmitter release and uptake, which involve membrane traffic and require lipid synthesis and metabolism. Lipids, particularly ceramides, are accumulated in postmortem PD brains and altered in the plasma of PD patients. Autophagy is impaired in PD, reducing the ability of neurons to clear protein aggregates, thus worsening stress conditions and inducing neuronal death. The inhibition of ceramide synthesis by myriocin (Myr) in SH-SY5Y neuronal cells treated with preformed α-synuclein fibrils reduced intracellular aggregates, favoring their sequestration into lysosomes. This was associated with TFEB activation, increased expression of TFEB and LAMP2, and the cytosolic accumulation of LC3II, indicating that Myr promotes autophagy. Myr significantly reduces the fibril-related production of inflammatory mediators and lipid peroxidation and activates NRF2, which is downregulated in PD. Finally, Myr enhances the expression of genes that control neurotransmitter transport (SNARE complex, VMAT2, and DAT), whose progressive deficiency occurs in PD neurodegeneration. The present study suggests that counteracting the accumulation of inflammatory lipids could represent a possible therapeutic strategy for PD.     

β-Hexachlorocyclohexane Drives Carcinogenesis in the Human Normal Bronchial Epithelium Cell Line BEAS-2B

Organochlorine pesticides constitute the majority of the total environmental pollutants, and a wide range of compounds have been found to be carcinogenic to humans. Among all, growing interest has been focused on β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), virtually the most hazardous and, at the same time, the most poorly investigated member of the hexachlorocyclohexane family. Considering the multifaceted biochemical activities of β-HCH, already established in our previous studies, the aim of this work is to assess whether β-HCH could also trigger cellular malignant transformation toward cancer development. For this purpose, experiments were performed on the human normal bronchial epithelium cell line BEAS-2B exposed to 10 µM β-HCH. The obtained results strongly support the carcinogenic potential of β-HCH, which is achieved through both non-genotoxic (activation of oncogenic signaling pathways and proliferative activity) and indirect genotoxic (ROS production and DNA damage) mechanisms that significantly affect cellular macroscopic characteristics and functions such as cell morphology, cell cycle profile, and apoptosis. Taking all these elements into account, the presented study provides important elements to further characterize β-HCH, which appears to be a full-fledged carcinogenic agent.     

Development of a PCR Assay Targeting the rpoA Gene for the Screening of Vibrio Genus

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method based on the RNA polymerase alpha subunit (rpoA) gene was developed for the detection of the Vibrio genus. The specific primers were designed aligning the rpoA gene sequences available in GenBank of all Vibrio species. The specificity of the primers was tested against 35 Vibrio species. In addition, 12 species phylogenetically related to the Vibrio genus were used as negative control. Moreover, in order to eliminate any false-negative results, bacterium-specific primers targeting the 16S rRNA gene were introduced in the test as a noncompetitive internal amplification control. The rpoA primers correctly amplified all the Vibrio species considered. No cross-reaction was observed when tested against closely related species. To estimate the applicability of this method, 336 Vibrio wild-type strains isolated from Italian aquaculture products and from imported seafoods were tested. The sensitivity, tested using serial dilutions of different pure cultures of certified strains, resulted to 10³ colony-forming units per milliliter. The assay proved to be specific, rapid, and reliable. It can be proposed as a routine screening technique for the confirmation of Vibrio genus in isolated colonies.     

Amateur football game on artificial turf: Players’ perceptions

The purpose of this study was to establish whether players’ perceptions in football competitions played on artificial turf can be influenced by the pitch under examination, the kind of infill material used, the weather conditions and by player's role in the team.A multifactorial statistical analysis was made of the results obtained from over 1600 U.E.F.A. questionnaires completed by amateur footballers.Pitch and weather factors were demonstrated to be relevant to the aspects investigated. Conversely, the players’ role and the infill material were significant for only a few aspects; for each variable, the analysis indicated the most favourable conditions. Overall, the analysis provided insight into amateur players’ favourable feelings about artificial turf, compared with its natural alternative (actually made of earth, without grass in the case of amateur players).     

A framework for the deployment of adaptable web service compositions

The basic paradigm of service-oriented architectures—publication, discovery, and use—can be interpreted in different ways. Current technologies assume a static and rigid approach: UDDI was conceived with the idea of a centralized repository for service publication and BPEL only supports design–time bindings between the orchestrated workflow and the external services. The trend, however, is towards more flexibility and dynamism. The single centralized repository is being substituted by dedicated repositories that cooperate and exchange information about stored services on demand. Design–time compositions are complemented by mechanisms to allow for the selection and binding of services at runtime. This paper presents the research results of our group in delivering a framework for the deployment of adaptable Web service compositions. The publication infrastructure integrates existing heterogeneous repositories and makes them cooperate for service discovery. The deployment infrastructure supports BPEL-like compositions that can select services dynamically, and also adjust their behavior in response to detected changes and unforeseen events. The framework also provides a monitoring-based validation of running compositions: we provide suitable probes to oversee the execution of deployed compositions. The various parts of the framework are exemplified on a common case study taken from the automotive domain. This research is partially supported by the European IST project SeCSE (Service Centric System Engineering) and the Italian FIRB project ARTDECO (Adaptive infRasTructures for DECentralized Organizations).     

Synthesis and Characterization of New Functional Polystyrenes Containing Tributyltin Carboxylate Moieties Linked to the Aromatic Ring by a Trimethylene Spacer

A novel trialkyltin carboxylate monomer, tributyltin 4-(p-styryl)-butanoate, characterized by the presence of a trimethylenic spacer linking the tin carboxylate moiety to the aromatic group, has been prepared and submitted to radical homo- and copolymerization with styrene in order to obtain the corresponding copolymers with variable contents of organometallic moiety. For the sake of comparison, tributyltin 4-(4-isopropylphenyl)-butanoate has also been synthesized as the structural model of the repeating unit of the polymers. All the products prepared have been characterized both in solution and in the solid state by spectroscopic and thermal techniques with the aim to establish the coordination state of the tin atom, a feature which is of importance for future application of these derivatives.     

Effect of high pressure homogenization on lactic acid bacteria phages and probiotic bacteria phages

To investigate the effect of high pressure homogenization on virus inactivation, phages specific for Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus helveticus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus plantarum were studied. The influence of pressure, number of passes, suspension medium and phage concentration were studied at 25 °C. Reductions in viability were proportional to pressure and number of passes, though the inactivation extent was phage-dependent. At 100 MPa, some bacteriophages were completely inactivated (6 log₁₀ reduction) after 3 or 5 passes, while others remained infective after 8 passes. For all phages, treatment at 60 MPa was insufficient for complete inactivation, even after 8 passes. No clear influence of suspending medium was observed. Inactivation seems to depend on phage concentration; the higher the initial load, the bigger the reduction achieved. Although these results showed that several phages studied are resistant to high-pressure homogenization, this strategy could be combined with others to control their presence in raw milk.     

Effect of ester group bulkiness of polyacrylates on miscibility with poly(vinyl acetate)

BACKGROUND: The miscibility of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) with a series of polyacrylates, namely poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA), poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA) and poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA), with ester chains of varying bulkiness was studied from both qualitative and quantitative points of view. RESULTS: The evidence from thermal (differential scanning calorimetry) and Fourier transform infrared analyses demonstrates that the miscibility of PVAc with the polyacrylates is rapidly reduced on increasing the bulkiness of their ester chains. Miscibility is quantitatively discussed in the framework of the corresponding states theory applying the approximate Patterson form. For this reason the characteristic values of volume, temperature and pressure were preliminarily evaluated both experimentally, through dilatometric measurements, and by calculations. At the same time, calorimetric measurements allowed the evaluation of the enthalpies of mixing of the components. CONCLUSION: The conclusions reached with this approach are that polar interactions are active among the repeat units of the blend components, but the intensities of these forces are progressively reduced by the shielding of the apolar groups of the polyacrylates. The steric hindrance of the hydrocarbon groups shields the interactions of the polar groups of PVAc with the COOR moieties of the acrylates, so that the miscibility progressively decreases from PMA to PEA to PBA. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry