Bio-derived sodium silicate for the manufacture of alkali-activated binders: Use of bamboo leaf ash as silicate source

Alkali activated binders are a promising alternative to the use of Portland cement in the manufacture of concrete for curbing CO₂ emissions. Novel sources of silicates have been investigated in recent years for reducing cost and environmental impacts associated with the use of chemical activators. This study describes the production of solid sodium silicate (SS) activating powder from bamboo leaf ash (BLA). Bamboo leaves were calcined at 550–800°C, mixed with NaOH pellets, and heated in an oven at 300°C. The obtained silicate powder was used for activating blended fly ash/slag samples. Mechanical and microstructural properties of BLA-based samples were compared to those of samples made with commercially available chemicals. The strength of BLA-activated mortars matched the commercially-sourced activators, being 25–30 MPa at 7 days and exceeding 40 MPa at 28 days. The microstructural analysis suggested that BLA-based SS showed a lesser degree of dissolution of precursors at 7 days, but the quality of the matrix was higher than that of NaOH-activated samples. These results confirmed that the reactivity of BLA-silicate powder was similar to that of commercial SS solutions, and show the potential valorization of future biomass renewable waste in the production of low carbon, alkali-activated concretes.     

The Role of Vitamin D in Sleep Disorders of Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

This review investigates the association between vitamin D and sleep disorders. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient known to play an important role in the growth and bone health of the human body, but it also appears to play a role in sleep. The goal of our review is to examine the association between vitamin D and sleep disorders in children and adolescents. We summarize the evidence about the role and the mechanism of action of vitamin D in children and adolescents with sleep disorders such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), and other sleep disorders. Systematic electronic database searches were conducted using Pubmed and Cochrane Library. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed. The studies that met the established inclusion criteria were analyzed and compared. Results suggest a strict relationship between vitamin D deficiency in children and sleep disorders. There is evidence that vitamin D is implicated in the different neurochemical mechanisms involved in sleep regulation and mainly in the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways. This might be responsible for the association of vitamin D deficiency and restless sleep, sleep hyperhidrosis, OSA, and RLS.     

New insights into the psychological dimension of wood–human interaction

The effect a wooden-built environment exerts on the physical and psychological well-being of people has mostly been investigated by evaluation, through a limited number of sensory modalities, of small size stimuli. In this research, two real-size wooden and plaster indoor settings were used to examine the influence of wood on people’s emotions and perceptions. Three questionnaires assessed participants’ multimodal sensory, affective, and cognitive responses to the settings (Semantic Differential questionnaire), their emotional state (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), and their environmental behaviour and biophilia degree (Nature Relatedness Scale). The results revealed that wood induces more positive emotions than plaster, and that individual biophilia degree appears to influence the tactile, auditory, and olfactory evaluation of the settings. It furthermore indicates how wood used in real buildings positively influences human psychological well-being and highlights the importance of considering multiple sensory modalities when investigating wood–human interaction.     

Integrated Approach for Supporting Sustainable Water Resources Management of Irrigation Based on the WEFN Framework

Irrigated agriculture plays a vital role for the socio-economic development of the Mediterranean area, although it has significant impacts on both water and energy resources. Therefore, in a context in which water resources are also experiencing increasing pressures, there is an urgent need for supporting their sustainable management. This may be an extremely challenging task, especially at the local scale, due to the several interconnected dynamics affecting the state of a complex irrigation system. In fact, multiple actors are involved in decision-making processes, and the use of natural resources (and their mutual interactions) strongly depends on their behaviors, which affect the system as a whole. In this context, the present study proposes an integrated methodology, based on the Water Energy Food Nexus (WEFN), specifically focused on the sustainable management of water resources for irrigation. Firstly, a model based on Causal Loop Diagrams (CLD) is developed in order to get a deep insight into the key dynamics behind a complex irrigation system. Secondly, three indices based on the “footprint” concept are identified, in order to synthesize such dynamics. The integration of these two approaches support investigating the whole system and, particularly, understanding the influence of multiple decisional actors on it, as well as the role of a set of key drivers and constraints. This might also allow drawing some relevant conclusions, useful for supporting effective decisions oriented to a sustainable water resources management. Specific reference is made to a case study, the Capitanata irrigation system, located in the Southern Italy.

     

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance rapid and structure-specific determination ofω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish lipids

Based on proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy, a rapid and structure-specific method for the determination of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in fish lipids is presented. The different chemical shift observed for the methyl resonance of ω-3 PUFAs (δ=0.95 ppm) with respect to the methyl resonance of all other fatty acids (δ=0.86 ppm) has provided the possibility of proposing a new and rapid method for the determination of ω-3 PUFA content. Twenty-four fish lipid samples (raw, cooked and canned albacore tuna) produced results that showed good agreement between¹H-NMR analysis and gas chromatographic determination. Raw and cooked samples showed significantly higher levels of ω-3 PUFA than canned tuna.     

On the Spatial Distribution of Fingerprint Singularities

Fingerprint singularities play an important role in several fingerprint recognition and classification systems. Although some general relationships and constraints about the location of singularities in the different fingerprint classes are well known, to the best of our knowledge no statistical models have been developed until now. This paper studies the spatial distributions of singularity locations in nature and derives, from a representative dataset of labelled samples, the probability density functions of the four main fingerprint classes. The results obtained can be directly exploited to improve the accuracy of many techniques relying on the position of singularities, as confirmed by the results of two experiments on fingerprint classification and synthesis.     

Hydrogen production by photoreforming of formic acid in aqueous copper/TiO2 suspensions under UV-simulated solar radiation at room temperature

A new photocatalytic system consisting of two subsystems – Cu⁰/Cl⁻/H⁺/UV_ssr and Cu^II/H⁺/TiO₂/formic acid/UV_ssr – is proposed as a tool to produce hydrogen by reforming an organic species. Formic acid is used as hole scavenger during the experimental runs. An experimental campaign is carried out to demonstrate that the systems can generate hydrogen and to assess how the generation rate depends upon experimental conditions such as copper and TiO₂ loads, chloride and proton ions, and formic acid concentrations. A strong dependence of the Cu⁰/Cl⁻/H⁺/UV_ssr subsystem reactivity upon copper load, chloride concentration and pH is observed. The investigation on the complete system, starting from zero-valent copper, indicates that the addition of TiO₂ and formic acid to the Cu⁰/Cl⁻/H⁺/UV_ssr subsystem does not result into any gain in terms of hydrogen produced and, renders the system totally unreactive under some conditions. On the other hand, when a complete system, starting from cupric ions, is adopted, hydrogen production is observed also for prolonged reaction times with a surplus of hydrogen production with respect to that generated by the Cu⁰/Cl⁻/H⁺/UV_ssr subsystem with the same Cu⁰ starting load and in absence of TiO₂ and sacrificial agent.     

Energetic and exergetic analysis of steam production for the extraction of coniferous essential oils

Bioenergy production is optimal when the energy production process is both efficient and benefits from local resources. Energetic and exergetic analyses are applied to highlight efficiency differences between small-size systems that are based on the co-generation of heating and power (CHP) versus the co-generation of heating and power with steam production (CHP-S). Both systems use the Organic fluid Rankine Cycle (ORC).The recovery of heat from flue gases is considered to be a way of increasing energy efficiency. In the CHP-S case, steam (at low pressure) is used to extract essential oils from fresh twigs and needles of coniferous trees throughout a steam distillation process. When the systems work at a thermal combustion power of 1350 kW, energetic analysis shows that the energy efficiency of the CHP-S plant (89.4%) is higher than that of the CHP plant (77.9%). Exergetic analysis shows that the efficiency of the CHP-S plant is 2.2% higher than that of the CHP plant.     

Wood chips size distribution in relation to blade wear and screen use

The study investigated the effect of wearing chipper knives on machine productivity, fuel consumption and particles size distribution. The test included two different tree species (poplar and pine), two tree parts (branches and logs) and two screen types (large and medium). Chip quality was defined by CEN international technical standards. Knife wear causes a significant reduction of chipping productivity and a remarkable increase of fuel consumption. The replacement of the standard wide mesh screen with a narrower screen has a similar effect, further decreasing productivity and increasing fuel consumption. For the same screen type and knife wear level, productivity and fuel consumption are the same for poplar and pine. Knife, tree species and tree part also have a significant impact on chip size distribution. Chips produced from logs always contain a smaller proportion of oversize particles and a higher proportion of accepts. For the same large mesh screen, poplar chips tend to be larger than pine chips and to contain a higher proportion of oversize particles. On the contrary, pine chips tend to be smaller and to contain a higher proportion of fines. The use of a narrower mesh screen on pine material does not seem to offer any significant reduction of oversize particles, whose presence is already very limited. Therefore, a standard large mesh screen should be used when chipping pine material.     

Degradation of lincomycin in aqueous medium: Coupling of solar photocatalysis and membrane separation

The photocatalytic oxidation of a common antibiotic, the lincomycin was carried out in aqueous suspensions of polycrystalline TiO₂ Degussa P25 irradiated by sunlight. In order to improve the performance of the lincomycin degradation a hybrid system consisting of a solar photoreactor with the photocatalyst in suspension coupled with a membrane module, used to confine both photocatalyst and pollutants in the reaction environment, was tested.A preliminary study was carried out in order to determine some kinetics parameters of the drug photodegradation. The influence of initial substrate concentration on the lincomycin photooxidation rate was investigated. The photooxidation rate follows a pseudo-first order kinetics with respect to the lincomycin concentration under the used experimental conditions. The presence of the membrane reactor allows the catalyst separation and to operate in continuous mode as the membranes rejection for lincomycin and its oxidation products was quite high.