121 research outputs found
Sustainability of sunflower cultivation for biodiesel production in Tuscany within the EU Renewable Energy Directive
No full textThe European Union Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC (RED) has adopted climate change assessment as one of the environmental criteria used to evaluate the level of sustainability by indicating the impact values for every phase of the biofuel chain. This paper shows the results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cultivation of sunflower for biodiesel production in Tuscany, Italy. In the five case studies, the GHG emissions of sunflower cultivation exceed the default value (18 g [CO 2eq] MJ -1) indicated by the RED. This is mainly due to diesel consumption and emissions from nitrogen fertilisers that are on average 180% and 255% higher than the reference values, respectively. GHG emissions allocation among sunflower biodiesel and co-products was made according to energy content principle. Only the biodiesel from sunflower cultivated in the two most efficient farms achieved a GHG saving with respect to conventional diesel (36%) that made it possible to fulfil the RED's requirements. From these results, it seems that the observance of such requirements on GHG emissions for sunflower biodiesel cultivation phase in Tuscany will not be easy to satisfy without a significant revision of local farm practices, aimed primarily at reducing the use of nitrogen fertilisers and diesel consumption. In fact, the GHG emissions reported in the RED for sunflower cultivation were calculated using excessively low farm inputs compared with the typical amounts for sunflower cultivation practices in Tuscan
A new method for Espresso Coffee brewing: Caffè Firenze
No full textEspresso coffee is the most popular choice for Italian coffee consumers. It has been estimated that every day, in the world, over of 50 million of Espresso cups are taken. As a consequence of this success, a large number of devices to make Espresso have been developed. In this scenario, a new device has been recently developed and patented (Eu. Patent 06 023 798.9; US 2010/0034942 A1). This brew method, named “Caffè Firenze”, uses a sealed extraction chamber, where water and gas provides pressure higher than the other extraction methods. Three main parts compose the apparatus: the gas source, the extraction chamber and the heat exchanger. The gas source provides the pressured gas required to raise the pressure of the system. The extraction chamber is made with chrome-brass and accessorized with two heating glow plugs. Many are the factors affecting Espresso quality: it is known that, coffee type, roasting conditions and degree, grinding and storage strongly affect the obtained brew. Also, several studies have been carried out on the effect of the setting parameters on quality, for example water pressure, water temperature, and brew time. Among the characteristics that determine Espresso quality, the main attribute for the visual analysis is, without doubts, the foam, also called “crema”. Indeed, height, aspect, and persistency of foam are features much appreciates by consumers. Two distinguish Espresso foam parameters are the persistency and foam index. Equipping a commercial bar machine with the new designed extraction chamber makes feasible the comparison between the traditional way to brew Espresso and the new device. The comparison was made holding the previous mentioned conditions, and differences were evaluated in terms of physical parameters and aromatic profiles. Caffè Firenze shows pronounced differences compared with traditional Espresso in term of foam-related parameters. Also, the new extraction device produces coffees with higher values of body-related parameters, such density and viscosity. The two kinds of Espressos are perceived different at visual analysis and taste by a panel test
In vitro and in vivo microbiological evaluations of cefoperazone
No full textEvaluations of minimum inhibitory concentrations MICs) were carried out with cefoperazone on 35 gram-positive, 60 gram-negative, and 64 anaerobic strains. Results were compared to those obtained with cefuroxime, cefoxitin, cephaloridine, cefazolin, cephalexin and (for the anaerobic bacteria only) cephalothin. In vitro activity of cefoperazone was excellent against strains of Streptococcus faecalis (MICs between 6.25 and 12.5 μg/ml) and Staphylococcus aureus (100% of the tested strains were inhibited by ≤ 12.5 μg/ml). Cefoperazone activity against gram-negative strains was superior to that of all the other cephalosporins tested. It is noteworthy that all of the Proteus species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were inhibited by ≤ 50 μg/ml cefoperazone, a level readily achievable in serum with normal dosages. All Escherichia coli were inhibited by ≤ 1.56 μg/ml. In vitro activity of cefoperazone was extremely high against anaerobic bacteria: 100% of the strains tested were susceptible at ≤ 1.56 μg/ml. The PD50 values in experimental infections in mice confirmed the high in vitro activity of cefoperazone, with lower doses required for protection than for the other cephalosporins tested. This may be due to the favorable pharmacokinetics of cefoperazone. The stability of cefoperazone in the presence of beta-lactamase was also confirmed
In vitro activity of ciprofloxacin against aerobic bacteria isolated in a southern European hospital
No full textThe activity of ciprofloxacin was evaluated against 1,204 isolates freshly isolated in Southern Europe, including 193 isolates of 10 species never studied before. Ciprofloxacin proved more active than other quinolones and very active in absolute terms against the 10 new species and showed against the other species an activity close to that reported for isolates from other geographic areas
T-MOD PATHWAY, A REDUCED SEQUENCE FOR IDENTIFICATION OF GRAM-NEGATIVE URINARY-TRACT PATHOGENS
No full textIn this paper, we describe a reduced sequence of identification that includes T-mod medium, a selective and
differential isolation medium which allows accurate presumptive identification of the most common gramnegative
bacteria encountered in urine samples. The present study, performed on bacteria isolated from 1,762
independent urine samples, has shown that a few selected tests (lysine and ornithine decarboxylase, urease and
trehalose fermentation tests) improve the identification accuracy of T-mod, making it possible both to identify
the less frequent species and to prevent some misidentifications of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis.
The proposed work flow agreed with conventional identification protocols to a 99.3% extent and allowed
identification of 87.4% of the isolates directly from the primary plate, 11.4% after 1 to 3 additional tests, and
1.2% after an identification gallery
NEW PLATE MEDIUM FOR SCREENING AND PRESUMPTIVE IDENTIFICATION OF GRAM-NEGATIVE URINARY-TRACT PATHOGENS
No full textA new selective, differential plating medium to screen the common gram-negative urinary tract pathogens is
described. The medium combines adonitol fermentation, phenylalanine deaminase, and P-glucuronidase tests
and allows the indole and cytochrome oxidase tests to be performed directly from the plates. High-level
agreement with individual conventional tests was recorded in comparative studies with 504 cultures of
gram-negative rods. There was 100% agreement, except for the Providencia spp. indole spot test (61.6%
agreement). Adonitol fermentation by Providencia species could not be determined. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella
pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were identified with a high efficiency (100, 85.7,
83.5, and 100% agreement, respectively) without further testing. There was 96% overall agreement for the 267
infected urine samples tested
Particle detection in rare gas solids: DEMIURGOS experiment
No full textLow energy threshold detectors are necessary in many frontier fields of the experimental physics. In particular these are extremely important for probing Dark Matter (DM) possible candidates. We present the activity of the DEMIURGOS R&D project, a novel detection approach that exploits Rare Gas crystals maintained at low temperature both pure and doped. In both the schemes, the detection approach takes advantage of the single-electron detection combined with a very low dark count rate typical of microchannel plate or channeltron sensors. Moreover, to ensure electrons’ drift, we need high quality crystals with an impurity level lower than ppb especially for high electronegativity atoms. Through these schemes, we could be able to detect low energy release in the range sub eV-tens of eV in large volume crystals opening thus the possibility to investigate lighter DM candidates and other feeble interacting phenomena
Oil crop sustainability assessment: three years of Brassica napus L. cultivation in North East Italy for biodiesel production.
No full textDOUBLE SUGAR-TYROSINE MEDIUM IMPROVES O-1 PHAGE SALMONELLA SCREENING
No full textA modification of the procedure for O-1 phage Salmonella screening is presented. The novel method is based on the use of two media, i.e., a new medium (double sugar-tyrosine [DST]), which permits the combination of adonitol and sucrose fermentation and tyrosine clearing tests, and the previously described o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside urease indole medium. In comparative trials, the new procedure and the conventional one were used to screen for Salmonella isolates from 553 lactose-negative strains of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The O-1 phage test, performed on DST medium, recognized the same number of phage-susceptible Salmonella strains as did the standardized method; however, it permitted the correct identification of a greater number of phage-resistant strains for discard (95.6 versus 85.3%). In particular, DST medium presented a higher efficacy than triple sugar iron agar (which is the corresponding medium in the reference procedure) in correctly identifying phage-negative cultures for discard (69.1 versus 28.5%)
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