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Diesel engine exhausts from a common rail 3.0 L F1C diesel engine were analyzed at two different load conditions of the WLTC testing cycle downstream of both the diesel particulate filter (DPF) and selective catalytic reactor (SCR) to verify their effect on the characteristics of carbon particulate matter. An array of chemical, physical and spectroscopic techniques (gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), mobility analyzer, UV-Visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy) was applied for characterizing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), heavy aromatic compounds and soot, constituting the particulate matter (PM) sampled from the exhaust. The engine was operated in half load (HL) (188 Nm, representing the more common condition for engine in urban traffic) and full load (FL) (452 Nm, representing the best performance of the engine operation) conditions, at the same engine speed (2000 rpm). Soot formation was enhanced in HL condition, with respect to FL, but, just because of the much lower soot amount, the after-treatment systems in this last condition resulted to be less efficient in the soot abatement. Indeed, the abatement through DPF was about 40% lower in the FL condition with respect to HL condition, and any significant further concentration decrease was found after SCR, in both conditions. By contrast, PAH concentration after DPF abatement was found to be higher in the HL with respect to FL condition. A further PAH concentration decrease of about 30% was found after the SCR in the HL condition whereas in FL the reduction was only about 5-6%. Also the heavy aromatic compounds having molecular weight above the GC-MS detection limit (300 u), were mitigated by SCR. Therefore, SCR did not cause a further soot reduction, whereas it was effective in largely reducing PAH and heavy aromatics emissions, especially in the lower temperature condition featuring the half-load condition, when combustion efficiency is worse. Moreover, SCR system reduced the emission of small particles probably due to an enhanced agglomeration of particles, with beneficial effect on the harmfulness to human health.

M.J.M. acknowledges funding from FCT through the grant SFRH/BPD/115566/2016. ALTALUZ (Reference PTDC/CTM-ENE/5125/2014). The optical properties of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) sustained by self-assembled silver nanoparticles are of great interest for enhancing light trapping in thin film photovoltaics. First, we report on a systematic investigation of the structural and the optical properties of silver nanostructures fabricated by a solid-state dewetting process on various substrates. Our study allows to identify fabrication conditions in which circular, uniformly spaced nanoparticles are obtainable. The optimized NPs are then integrated into plasmonic back reflector (PBR) structures. Second, we demonstrate a novel procedure, involving a combination of opto-electronic spectroscopic techniques, allowing for the quantification of useful and parasitic absorption in thin photovoltaic absorber deposited on top of the PBR. We achieve a significant broadband useful absorption enhancement of 90% for 0.9 µm thick μc-Si:H film and demonstrate that optical losses due to plasmonic scattering are insignificant below 730 nm. Finally, we present a successful implementation of a plasmonic light trapping scheme in a thin film a-Si:H solar cell. The quantum efficiency spectra of the devices show a pronounced broadband enhancement resulting in remarkably high short circuit current densities (Jsc). preprint published

Wood biomass is turned into industrial fuel through chipping. The efficiency of chipping depends on many factors, including chipper knife wear. Chipper knife wear was determined through a long-term follow-up study, conducted at a waste wood recycling yard. Knife wear determined a sharp drop of productivity (>20%) and a severe decay in product quality. Dry sharpening with a grinder mitigated this effect, but it could not replace proper wet sharpening. Increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions determined a moderate increase of knife depreciation cost, but it could drastically enhance machine performance and reduce biomass processing cost. Since benefits largely exceed costs, increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions may be an effective measure for reducing overall chipping cost. If the main goal of a chipper operator is to increase productivity and/or decrease fuel consumption, then managing knife wear should be a primary target. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The study tested the use of a trommel screen originally designed for compost materials to reject oversize particles from hog fuel, processed from several sources and by two different comminution devices. The experiment consisted in screening material previously comminuted by a convertible crusher, designed to use both hammers and knives. Three different feedstock types were used, and namely: discarded pallets, logs and branches from park maintenance. Each feedstock type came in two different qualities, depending on the tool used for comminution, i.e. hammers or knives. Trommel screen productivity varied between 4.2 t h-1, and 5.2 t h-1 of oven dry material. Screening hog fuel derived from pallets was 30% and 40% less productive than screening fuel derived from logs and branches, respectively. Screening cost varied from 16.2 EUR t-1 dry material in the case of branches, to 19.9 EUR t-1 oven dry material for pallets. Screening allowed an increase of fuel quality only when applied to pallet-derived hog fuel.

The BELIEF Project is a Coordination Action funded by the European Commission in the context of the FP6 and FP7 Programmes. It aims to create a platform where e-Infrastructures providers and users can collaborate and exchange knowledge, ensuring that e-Infrastructures are developed and effectively used worldwide, filling the gap separating the e-Infrastructures providers from the users, and thus contribute to the emergence of a competitive knowledge-based economy. To create this synergy among multi-disciplinary communities, BELIEF created a one-stop-shop providing a Portal and a Digital Library with a huge number of e-Infrastructures open access publications. The Digital Library offers uniform access to multimedia documentation providing continuously updated information on e-Infrastructures-related projects, initiatives and events. The contents are harvested from different sources, such as projects web sites, repositories and databases. The DL - implemented on top of the OpenDLib Digital Library Management System - provides services to support the submission, description, searching, browsing, retrieval, access, preservation and visualization of multimedia documents. Although designed to meet the needs of the e-Infrastructures community, the technology adopted by BELIEF can be easily adapted to meet the information and collaborative needs of other scientific communities.

It is recognised that several constraints such as the lack of knowledge and expertise of farmers, land users and policy makers concerning agroforestry systems establishment and management hamper the adoption of agroforestry systems (Camilli et al. 2017). AFINET project acts at EU level in order to direct research results into practice and promote innovative ideas to face challenges and solve practitioners' problems. AFINET proposes an innovative methodology based on the creation of a European Interregional Network, linking different Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks (RAINs). RAINs represent different climatic, geographical, social and cultural conditions and enclose a balanced representation of the key actors with complementary types of expertise (farmers, policy makers, advisory services, extension services, etc.). The Italian RAIN is focused on the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) value chain, with the main aim to promote agroforestry management of local olive orchards. Olive trees are still managed traditionally, often in marginal sites, with minimal mechanization and relatively low external inputs such as chemical treatments in comparison to other crops. The presence of permanent crops (olive trees) guarantees a partially tree cover reducing hydrogeological risk. Soil management usually keeps natural grassing reducing soil carbon emission and increasing soil fertility (Bateni et al. 2017). Intercropping with cereals and/or fodder legumes and livestock can also be practiced in olive orchards, increasing the complexity of the olive tree multifunctional system. Moreover, olive orchards can be managed as agroforestry systems since they can be intercropped with arable crops (cereals, legumes) and/or combined with livestock (sheep, poultry). The RAIN process, involving local stakeholders, highlighted the main bottlenecks of the EVOO value chain related to communication and dissemination of knowledge, technical and management aspects, market and policy. In order to contrast bottlenecks and exploit opportunities of the olive oil supply chain, the identified innovations are: i) adoption of best practices: testing and experimenting innovative agroforestry systems introducing different crop/animals species and varieties; ii) improve the management of the olive orchards: encouraging and increasing the organic production; iii) valorisation of olive processing residues: identifying and testing innovative products (bio-materials, olive paste as example); iv) arise the awareness among consumers: educating people about the benefits of olive oil consumption, creating networks among stakeholders, improving marketing and commercialization. Creating a Bio-district, defined as a geographical area where farmers, citizens, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, emerged a powerful tool to implement the innovation in the local EVOO value chain.

This paper illustrates a formulation of a continuous state space model in dq frame of the Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR), which can be used for stability studies by eigenvalue analysis. Differently from the previous approaches, this model is just addressed to reproduce the operation of the non-linear part of the TCR system, without considering shunted capacitor or control system, thus obtaining a characterization of the TCR independent from the application. A typical problem of the continuous models in dq frame of the TCR system is the presence of an un-damped homogenous current component in the solution, which is inconsistent with the real operation; the proposed model solves this problem improving the accuracy. The model performance has been also evaluated in the frequency domain comparing the obtained results with a numerical simulation of the TCR implemented by PSIM program.

The correlations between skeletal parameters (bulk density, micro-density and porosity), coral age and sea surface temperature were assessed along a latitudinal gradient in the zooxanthellate coral Balanophyllia europaea and in the azooxanthellate coral Leptopsammia pruvoti. In both coral species, the variation of bulk density was more influenced by the variation of porosity than of micro-density. With increasing polyp age, B. europaea formed denser and less porous skeletons while L. pruvoti showed the opposite trend, becoming less dense and more porous. B. europaea skeletons were generally less porous (more dense) than those of L. pruvoti, probably as a consequence of the different habitats colonized by the two species. Increasing temperature had a negative impact on the zooxanthellate species, leading to an increase of porosity. In contrast, micro-density increased with temperature in the azooxanthellate species. It is hypothesized that the increase in porosity with increasing temperatures observed in B. europaea could depend on an attenuation of calcification due to an inhibition of the photosynthetic process at elevated temperatures, while the azooxanthellate species appears more resistant to variations of temperature, highlighting possible differences in the sensitivity/tolerance of these two coral species to temperature changes in face of global climate change.

We report the properties of a shape-persistent tetra-terpyridine ligand whose coordination to transition metal ions guides its three-dimensional self-assembly in two steps: at first, nanoscale objects form, which with time, self-assemble into micrometer structures. This work highlights the potential for control of the molecular self-assembly of molecules on the nanoscale, and the successive self-assembly of the formed supramolecular nanosystems to yield mesoscopic objects.