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Abstract The prenatal exposure to ethanol (Eth), fluconazole (FLUCO) and sodium valproate (VPA) is related to effects on development, producing characteristic syndromic pictures. Among embryotoxic effects described for the three molecules, the alteration on craniofacial morphogenesis is a common feature in humans and animal models, including rodent embryos developed in vitro. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the developmental effects of low Eth serum concentration (17 mM, corresponding to the legal limit to drive in UK, USA, Canada, and many other countries) in mixture with increasing realistic concentrations of the antifungal drug FLUCO (62.5–500 µM) or with increasing realistic concentrations of the antiepileptic drug VPA (31.25–250 µM). Groups exposed to Eth alone (17–127.5 mM), FLUCO alone (62.5–500 µM) or VPA alone (31.25–750 µM) were also included. The chosen alternative animal model was the post-implantation rat whole embryo culture (WEC). E9.5 embryos were exposed in vitro to the test molecules during the whole test period (48 h, corresponding to the developmental stages characteristics of any vertebrate, for human embryos post-fertilization days 23–31). Data were statistically analyzed and processed for modelling applying the benchmark dose (BMD) and relative potency factor (RPF) approaches. Concentration-related effects on facial outcomes were observed in all experimental groups, with a significant enhancement in the groups co-exposed with Eth in comparison to the single exposures. Data obtained by the present work suggest an additional alert for the assumption of even low levels of alcohol in pregnant women during FLUCO or VPA therapy.

Abstract The increasing worldwide energy demand is rising the interest on alternative power production technologies based on renewable and emission-free energy sources. In this regard, the closed-loop reverse electrodialysis heat engine is a promising technology with the potential to convert low-grade heat into electric power. The reverse electrodialysis technology has been under investigation in the last years to explore the real potentials for energy generation from natural and artificial solutions, and recent works have been addressing also the potential of its coupling with regeneration strategies, looking at medium and large energy supply purposes. In this work, for the first time, a comprehensive exergy analysis at component level is applied to a reverse electrodialysis heat engine with multi-effect distillation in order to determine the real capability of the waste heat to power conversion, identifying and quantifying the sources of exergy destruction. In particular, sensitivity analyses have been performed to assess the influence of the main operating conditions (i.e. solutions concentration and velocity) and design features (aspect ratio of the pile), characterizing the most advantageous scenarios and including the effect of new generations of membranes. Results show that the multi-effect distillation unit is the main source of exergy destruction. Also, using high-performing membranes, inlet solutions concentration and velocity of 4.5–0.01 mol/L and 0.2–0.36 cm/s, respectively, a global exergy efficiency of 24% is reached for the system, proving the high potential of this technology to sustainably convert waste heat into power.

In recent years, evaluating the emissions embodied in trade (EEIT) has become an important area of policy and research. Multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis, which links producers and final consumers, is a widely-used method for quantifying the EEIT. However, the role of intermediate trade in driving changes in the EEIT is still not fully incorporated in MRIO analysis and as a result poorly understood. Here, we present a framework that separately identifies the drivers of the emissions embodied in the trade of final and intermediate products. We implement this framework in a case study in which we analyse the changes in CO2 emissions embodied in interprovincial trade in China from 2007 to 2012. We find that the largest changes are a rising final demand, which is associated with increased emissions that are to some extent offset by decreasing emissions intensity and changing interregional dependency. The rising imports and the growth in final demand in less developed regions in the north and central (e.g., Hebei and Henan) led to reductions in the CO2 emissions outsourced by central coastal regions. The framework enriches our understanding of the role played by intermediate trade in the relocation of emissions.

Benthic deep-sea archaea are mainly controlled by temperature, whereas bacteria are controlled by food availability.

AbstractStudies show that climate variability drives interannual changes in meteorological variables in Europe, which directly or indirectly impacts crop production. However, there is no climate-based decision model that uses indices of atmospheric oscillation to predict agricultural production risks in Europe on multiple time-scales during the growing season. We used Fast-and-Frugal trees to predict sugar beet production, applying five large-scale indices of atmospheric oscillation: El Niño Southern Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, Scandinavian Pattern, East Atlantic Pattern, and East Atlantic/West Russian pattern. We found that Fast-and-Frugal trees predicted high/low sugar beet production events in 77% of the investigated regions, corresponding to 81% of total European sugar beet production. For nearly half of these regions, high/low production could be predicted six or five months before the start of the sugar beet harvesting season, which represents approximately 44% of the mean annual sugar beet produced in all investigated areas. Providing early warning of crop production shortages/excess allows decision makers to prepare in advance. Therefore, the use of the indices of climate variability to forecast crop production is a promising tool to strengthen European agricultural climate resilience.

To advance commercialisation of ocean wave energy and for the technology to become competitive with other sources of renewable energy, the cost of wave energy harvesting should be significantly reduced. The Mediterranean Sea is a region with a relatively low wave energy potential, but due to the absence of extreme waves, can be considered at the initial stage of the prototype development as a proof of concept. In this study, we focus on the optimisation of a multi-mode wave energy converter inspired by the CETO system to be tested in the west of Sicily, Italy. We develop a computationally efficient spectral-domain model that fully captures the nonlinear dynamics of a wave energy converter (WEC). We consider two different objective functions for the purpose of optimising a WEC: (1) maximise the annual average power output (with no concern for WEC cost), and (2) minimise the levelised cost of energy (LCoE). We develop a new bi-level optimisation framework to simultaneously optimise the WEC geometry, tether angles and power take-off (PTO) parameters. In the upper-level of this bi-level process, all WEC parameters are optimised using a state-of-the-art self-adaptive differential evolution method as a global optimisation technique. At the lower-level, we apply a local downhill search method to optimise the geometry and tether angles settings in two independent steps. We evaluate and compare the performance of the new bi-level optimisation framework with seven well-known evolutionary and swarm optimisation methods using the same computational budget. The simulation results demonstrate that the bi-level method converges faster than other methods to a better configuration in terms of both absorbed power and the levelised cost of energy. The optimisation results confirm that if we focus on minimising the produced energy cost at the given location, the best-found WEC dimension is that of a small WEC with a radius of 5 m and height of 2 m.

Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) was used for the extraction of carotenoids from pre-treated biomass of Dunaliella salina microalgae. The total carotenes and lutein were extracted using different solvents i.e., acetone, chloroform: methanol (C:M) in the ratio of 1:1, ethanol, and hexane. The effects of various experimental parameters, such as temperature (20, 40, 60 and 80 °C), pressure (50 and 100 bar) and static time (2 cycles of 5 and 10 minutes) on the ASE extraction efficiency were investigated systematically. The properties of the solvent and the extraction temperature were found to be the most important parameters affecting the ASE extraction efficiency of thermolabile natural compounds. Moreover, 99% recovery of total carotenes was achieved during extraction with hexane solvent at 40 °C, 100 bar and 2 cycle of 10 minutes. While solvent mixture of C:M was suitable for lutein extraction and resulted 92% recovery at 20 °C, 100 bar and 2 cycle of 10 minutes. Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 112-118