33145 research outputs found
Sort by
Nannochloropsis for the bioremediation of brewery side streams and co-production of aquaculture feed and bio-Fertiliser: A comprehensive review
No full textThe brewing industry produces a large amount nutrient-rich wastewater. This review proposes a framework that
harnesses autotrophic microalgae to establish a circular brewing industry. The study focuses on Nannochloropsis
due to their high omega-3 polyunsaturated lipids and protein content, enabling the upcycling of brewery
wastewater into aquaculture feed and biofertiliser. In the proposed system, Nannochloropsis is cultivated on
brewery wastewater under mixotrophic conditions, and the resultant biomass is used as a fishmeal replacement
or biofertiliser. This approach reduces chemical and energy demands for brewery wastewater treatment, while
also alleviating aquaculture’s reliance on fishmeal derived from unsustainable wild-caught fishing and agriculture’s
dependence on carbon-intensive mineral fertilisers. A summary of the research to-date on the cultivation of
microalgae on brewery wastewater, the use of brewer’s spent grain as widely available and inexpensive carbon
for microalgal fermentation, the application of Nannochloropsis in aquaculture and bio-fertiliser, and technoeconomic
and life-cycle assessments of the proposed system are provided. A mass balance of the system suggests
that for every 1000 L of brewery wastewater that is treated, 1.0–1.4 kg of Nannochloropsis biomass can be
produced, enabling the removal of 95–100 % of N and P and 60–90 % COD reduction from the wastewater and
the direct capture of 0.7–1.3 kg of CO2, while producing 0.4–0.8 kg of lipids for aquafeed formulations and
0.6–1.0 kg of biomass residue for biofertilisers. An integrated approach that combines laboratory research with
pilot-scale validation and iterative techno-economic assessments is needed to inform optimisation and guide
scale-up
Distinct Behavioral Profiles and Neuronal Correlates of Heroin Vulnerability Versus Resiliency in a Multi-Symptomatic Model of Heroin Use Disorder in Rats
No full textObjective: The behavioral , diagnostic heterogeneity within the opioid use disorder (OUD) diagnosis is not readily captured in current animal models, limiting the translational relevance of the mechanistic research that is conducted in experimental animals. The authors hypothesized that a nonlinear clustering of OUD-like behavioral traits would capture population het- erogeneity and yield subpopulations of OUD vulnerable rats with distinct behavioral and neurocircuit profiles. Methods: Over 900 male and female heterogeneous stock rats, a line capturing genetic and behavioral heterogeneity present in humans, were assessed for several measures of heroin use and rewarded and non-rewarded seeking behaviors. A nonlinear stochastic block model clustering analysis was used to assign rats to OUD vulnerable, inter- mediate , resilient clusters. Additional behavioral tests and circuit analyses using c-fos protein activation were conducted on the vulnerable and resilient subpopulations. Results: OUD vulnerable rats exhibited greater heroin taking and seeking behaviors relative to those in the intermediate , resilient clusters. Akin to human OUD diagnosis, further vulnerable rat subclustering revealed subpopulations with different combinations of behavioral traits, including sex differences. Lastly, heroin cue-induced neuronal patterns of circuit activation differed between resilient and vul- nerable phenotypes. Behavioral sex differences were re- capitulated in patterns of circuitry activation, including preferential engagement of extended amygdala stress circuitry in males and cortico-striatal drug cue-seeking circuitry in females. Conclusion: Using a nonlinear clustering approach in rats, the analysis captured behavioral diagnostic heterogeneity reflective of human OUD diagnosis. OUD vulnerability and resiliency were associated with distinct neuronal activa- tion patterns, posing this approach as a translational tool in assessing neurobiological mechanisms underpinning OUD
A note on the regularity and the existence of Riemannian k-splines
No full textIn this paper, we present a comprehensive proof concerning the regularity of critical points for the spline energy functional on Riemannian manifolds, even for the general higher-order case. Although this result is widely acknowledged in the literature, a detailed proof was previously absent. Our proof relies on a generalization of the Lemma of DuBois-Reymond. Furthermore, we establish the existence of minimizers for the spline energy functional in cases where multiple interpolation points are prescribed alongside just one velocity
Body temperature monitoring in equines raised in inner areas using GPS tracking
No full textAccurate monitoring of both physiological and environmental parameters is essential to understand animal adaptation
potential and behavior. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS)
collars were used to monitor location and external body temperature (sensor at neck level) of grazing equines
raised for 27 days in winter in semi-extensive conditions in inner areas of Italian Apennines. The study was
conducted at once in two pastures areas: area 1 in Capracotta (41°50′N 14°16′E, 1150-1500 m altitude), and area
2 in Capestrano (42°16’N 13°46’E, 350-400 m altitude). A total of 12 female equines, n= 10 pregnant mares in
area 1 and n= 2 lactating jennies in area 2, were fitted with GPS collars (Digitanimal®, Spain). During the study
period, precipitations and air temperatures were recorded. Jennies had an average (2416 observations) external
body temperature of 26.8 (± 0.11 SEM) °C, ranging from 14.6 to 37.2 °C. Mares had an average (7881 observations)
external body temperature of 24.9 (± 0.16) °C, ranging from 14.7 to 35.5 °C. In area 1, total precipitation
included 21.9 cm of snow and 4 mm of rain, with 2.3 (± 0.39) °C average mean temperature, min-max from -3.3
to 8.5 °C. In area 2, total rainfall was 33.7 mm, with an average mean temperature of 6.5 (± 0.38) °C, with min
and max from -4.3 to 17.7 °C. As expected, observed external body temperature was generally lower than the
average internal body temperature reported in literature. During the study, variations in body temperature did not
match variations of air temperatures and precipitations. These results suggest a further potential application of
GPS-based monitoring systems to be included in the extensive equine production of inner areas. More studies are
needed to boost data collection methodologies and enhance the accuracy of body temperature monitoring systems
for equine applications. The survey was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Molise. The
research is supported by project PRIN 20224L4WSR, funded by Next Generation EU (CUP: H53D23005120)
Characterization of Biological Components of Leaves and Flowers in Moringa peregrina and Their Effect on Proliferation of Staurogyne repens in Tissue Culture Conditions
No full textMoringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori is a tropical tree in southern Iran known as the most important natural coagulant in the world. Today, plant tissue culture is a new method that has a very high potential to produce valuable medicinal compounds on a commercial level. Advances in in vitro cultivation methods have increased the usefulness of plants as renewable resources. In this study, in addition to the phytochemical analysis of the extract of M. peregrina using HPLC, the interaction effect of different concentrations of aqueous extract of M. peregrina (0, 1, 1.5, and 3 mg/L) in two types of MS and 1⁄2 MS basal culture media over three weeks on the in vitro growth of Staurogyne repens (Nees) Kuntze was studied. The amounts of quercetin, gallic acid, caffeic acid, and myricetin in the aqueous extract of M. peregrina were 64.9, 374.8, 42, and 4.6 mg/g, respectively. The results showed that using M. peregrina leaf aqueous extract had a positive effect on the length of the branches, the percentage of green leaves, rooting, and the fresh and dry weight of S. repens samples. The highest increase in growth indices was observed in the MS culture medium supplemented with 3 mg/L of M. peregrina leaf aqueous extract after three weeks of cultivation. Of course, this effect was significantly greater in the MS medium and at higher concentrations compared to the 1⁄2 MS medium. Three weeks after cultivation at a concentration of 3 mg/L of the extract, the length of the S. repens branches was 5.3 and 1.8 cm in the two basic MS and 1⁄2 MS culture media, and the percentage of green leaves was 14 and 4 percent, respectively. Also, rooting was measured at 9.6 and 3.6 percent, fresh weight at 6 and 1.4 g, and dry weight at 1.1 and 0.03 g, respectively. Therefore, adding M. peregrina leaf aqueous extract as a stimulant significantly increased the in vitro growth of S. repens
Il lavoro artigiano secondo Richard Sennett
No full textL'articolo riflette sulla rilevanza perduta ma da ritrovare del lavoro artigiano, attraverso la lettura del lavoro di Richard Sennet
Silver nanoparticles-anchored reduced graphene oxide obtained by orange peel extract-mediated synthesis for visible light photodegradation of organic dye
No full textOrange peel extract, as green alternative to the traditional chemicals, was applied as reducing agent for the preparation of photoactive material (OPE-rGO@AgNPs) composed by silver nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide, starting from silver nitrate and graphene oxide as precursors in alkaline aqueous solution.
Different amounts of silver ions were used and the optimized photocatalysts were fully characterized by UV–Vis, FT-IR, Raman and SEM analysis confirming the effective reduction of graphene oxide and the incorporation of the AgNPs. The photocatalysts were supported on a regenerated cellulose filter and the photodegradation efficiency, under visible light, was measured monitoring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye, as a target pollutant.
The photodegradation efficiency of MB, tested at 20 ppm, increased from a 40 % for the non-modified OPE-rGO material, up to 81 % of MB degradation for the OPE-rGO@AgNPs5 photocatalyst; this material showed a 95 % of MB photodegradation at 10 ppm. The photodegradation results correlated with the calculated band gap values of the different tested materials, showing a progressive decrease in band gap for the material modified with AgNPs, from 3.22 eV for OPE-rGO to 2.90 eV for the OPE-rGO@AgNPs5, that exhibited the best efficiency as photocatalyst for the MB photodegradation
BME Model: Forecasting Electricity Supply and Demand Curves Using Disentangled Prices and Volumes
No full textThis paper introduces a novel modeling setup for forecasting day-ahead electricity market demand and supply curves, seen as bid prices as a function of bid volumes. These curves are different for each different next-day hour. The daily data structures on which these curves are assembled have very peculiar features, which make them very difficult to handle. One of these features is that each curve can be seen as defined on a set of volume values that each day and for each hour change in position and number in a non-deterministic way. Thus, modeling, comparing, and forecasting such curves cannot be made in standard econometric ways. In this paper, it is proposed to carry on the forecasting task by looking at the curves as sequences of bid points, and by tokenizing them into three structurally significant special points and a special segment, without relying on the functional approaches that are so common in related electricity finance literature. The modeling setup is mainly based on linear forecasting methods, with a very modest addition of nonlinearity by means of a simple feedforward neural network. The setup is modular and can be used both in what is called a “pure variant” and a “combined variant”. Three standard and important benchmarks, namely the naive and smarter naive models adapted to curves, and the stochastic-functional autoregressive model already present in the literature, are used for comparison. The forecasting ability of the proposed setup is comparatively tested on data from the NORD zone of the Italian IPEX electricity market. Overall, numerical results demonstrate that the “combined variant” of the setup is the most effective forecaster among all benchmarks, for both demand and supply curves, and across all hours
Rediscovering Olive Mill Wastewater: New Chemical Insights Through Untargeted UHPLC-QTOF-MS Data-Dependent Analysis Approach
No full textWith the advent of new analytical technologies and the urgent environmental problem, reopening investigations into polluting waste matrices becomes a priority. Olive mill wastewater is a pollutant and phytotoxic by-product of olive oil production. An untargeted UHPLC-QTOF analysis of three olive mill wastewaters from three different olive cultivars was performed, and modern informatic platforms were involved to characterize the chemical components in-depth. Data elaboration and statistical analysis confirmed the differences between samples and revealed a total of 364 annotated compounds, including iridoids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, lignans, cinnamic acid derivatives, and pyrrolidine derivatives. Many of these metabolites, including compounds with known antioxidant and bioactive potential, are scarcely reported in olive products and by-products. The outcomes of this work could be useful for rethinking olive mill wastewater as a source of bioactive compounds to develop and optimize new detoxification strategies