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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.

Activity pacing (AP) is a concept that is central to many chronic pain theories and treatments, yet there remains confusion regarding its definition and effects.To review the current knowledge concerning AP and integrate this knowledge in a manner that allows for a clear definition and useful directions for future research.A narrative review of the major theoretical approaches to AP and of the empirical evidence regarding the effects of AP interventions, followed by an integrative discussion.The concept of AP is derived from 2 main traditions: operant and energy conservation. Although there are common elements across these traditions, significant conceptual and practical differences exist, which has led to confusion. Little empirical evidence exists concerning the efficacy of AP as a treatment for chronic pain.Future research on AP should be based on a clear theoretical foundation, consider the context in which the AP behavior occurs and the type of pacing problem ("underactivity" vs. "overactivity"), and should examine the impact of AP treatment on multiple clinical outcomes. We provide a provisional definition of AP and specific recommendations that we believe will move the field forward.

In the recent years, some experimental forms of housing (cohousing and social housing) have developed in Italy, which also take on the features of real energy communities. These initiatives have been planned and implemented thanks to the active participation and investments of the people involved in the project. Their primary aim is to implement new form of shared housing, but by adopting renewable generation systems and sharing both energy production and consumption, they are contributing to foster the energy transition process. In this research, we studied the management of the energy resource and the social interactions among the cohousers. Moreover, we analysed the social impacts on the surrounding territory in order to know as they can widespread the clean energy technologies and social innovation processes. To do this, we compared two experiences of collaborative housing: the first one, active since some years in Northern Italy, is a bottom-up initiative set up by the voluntary action of some families and individuals. Its goal is to share common spaces and activities, but also to produce and use renewable energy with a view to economic and environmental sustainability. The second one is a social cohousing, established in Messina (Southern Italy) and implemented by the Fondazione di Comunità di Messina. The project involves people who live in socio-economic difficulties. Through the ESCO Solidarity & Energy, the Fondazione has designed and applied energy systems to allow the tenants to become prosumers and prosumagers.

An electrochemical supercapacitor in all solid configuration using perfluorosulfonate ionomer as polymer electrolyte has been successfully realized. Electrodes of supercapacitor have been prepared using activated carbon material and Nafion ionomer. This latter had the double function of binder and electrolyte. Nafion 115 membrane has been used as electrolyte separator in the preparation of small scale supercapacitors. The capacitance performance of these devices is comparable or better than traditional systems, which use sulfuric acid as electrolyte. The electrochemical evaluation of studied supercapacitor has been carried out by cyclic voltammetry, dc charge/discharge measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. A capacitance of 90 F/g (referred to the weight of active carbon material in the electrode) has been obtained with carbon having surface area (SA) of about 1000m2/g and, a capacitance of 130 F/g with activated carbon having SA of 1500m2/g. These interesting results have been tentatively explained with an optimal configuration of electrodes and with the concomitant beneficial effects on the carbon pores of adsorbed water and Nafion distribution, which produce low distribute resistance in the carbon composite electrodes.

In this work some electrochemical characteristics of all solid double layer capacitors prepared by high surface carbon and Nafion polymer electrolyte are reported. Carbon composite electrodes with a Nafion loading of 30 wt.% were prepared and evaluated. Nafion 115 membrane, recast Nafion membrane and 1 M H2SO4 solution in a matrix of glass fiber have been used as electrolyte, in the double layer capacitors. The different double layer capacitors (DLCs) have been evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The capacitor with a recast Nafion electrolyte exhibits a proton conductivity of about 3x10-2 S cm-1 at ambient temperature, that is higher of that reported for solid electrolytes (10-3 to 10-4 S cm-1) in the current literature on capacitors. A maximum of specific capacitance of 13 F/g of active materials ( ) corresponding to 52 F/g for a single electrode measured in a three-electrode arrangement has been achieved with the capacitor with recast Nafion. The capacitance of the capacitor with recast Nafion electrolyte, evaluated in low-frequency region below 10 mHz, was practically equivalent at that with sulphuric acid electrolyte. The interpretation of the characteristics of the microporous structure of carbon material of the electrodes by impedance analysis is also discussed.

Experimental study we present is a full-scale energy recovery system able to extract, by means of a water sourced heat pump, the leftover thermal bioenergy available in a Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactor (SBBGR) within the wastewater treatment process. Heat pump compressor engine was powered by a 5.1 kW Photovoltaic plant, thermal energy being recovered is accumulated by two phase change materials tanks (PCM) for heat and cold latent energy storage whose capacity is 0.3 and 0.5 m3 respectively, thermal energy excess was dissipated through evaporator and condenser devices. Thermal energy extracted from SBBGR ranged from 0 to 14.5 kWh as function of environmental temperature and temperature set point of SBBGR. It was largely affected by environmental temperature during radiation and no deterioration of SBBGR performances were recorded during energy extraction even at lowest temperature set point (i.e. 15 °C). Results obtained demonstrated that SBBGR technology, thanks to its particular process scheme, allows wastewater heat extraction within the treatment process operation, making it actually the only wastewater treatment system able to exchange energy at low temperature (15 °C) without prejudice to treatment performances and, at the same time, to operate a thermal regulation of the treatment reactors, integrating the optimization of thermo-dependent biological processes with energy recovery systems.

An ultracapacitor (UCap) based on carbon xerogel electrodes and sodium sulfate electrolyte was investigated in the voltage range between 0 and 1.8 V. Notwithstanding the high value of maximum voltage (1.8 V) the UCap exhibited excellent stability during 20000 of cycling test. Moreover, the achievement of this high voltage made possible to obtain high value of specific energy. The stability was possible because the potential limits of electrode-electrolyte decomposition at positive and negative electrodes were never achieved. This is because an asymmetric UCap with different amounts of carbon xerogel in the electrodes was used. The UCap with the carbon xerogel of BET specific surface area of 3100 m(2) g(-1) demonstrated a specific energy of 17.5 Wh kg(-1) and a specific capacitance of 156 F g(-1) and, retained 91% of initial capacitance after 20000 cycles of duration test. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The internal combustion engines (ICEs) are still playing a dominant role in the powertrain vehicles although they are the main source of particle emissions in the urban area. Particle emissions are typically associated to Diesel engine, anyway direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engines play a relevant role in particle emissions because of the less time for fuel evaporation and mixing and because of the fuel impingement. The use of the oxygenated biofuels allows reducing the particle emissions. For the SI engines ethanol is the most used alternative fuel because of the higher octane number and the higher heat of vaporization compared to gasoline. Anyway, typically emit a larger number of particles smaller than 100 nm. Several studies have pointed out that health effect on human health is strongly related to particle number and size. For this reason, a particle number (PN) emission limit of 6 × 1011 #/km from Diesel and DISI engines was introduced. Anyway, only particles larger than 23 nm were taken in to account. Several researches evidenced a large presence of particles smaller than 23 nm from both Diesel and SI engines. The emissions of sub-23 nm particles can be more harmful to human health than bigger particles as they have higher deposition efficiency in the respiratory system and can translocate to other areas such as the brain. Their nature is not fully clear and their measure can be biased by the sampling conditions. The necessity to better understand the nature of sub-23 nm particles to define a proper procedure to measure them leads to the promotion of several European projects that aims to characterize particle nature as well as to develop instruments that can measure particle smaller than 23 nm. In order to properly define a measurement procedure for particle number emissions of the internal combustion engines it has to be better characterize the effect of the sampling parameters on the sub-23 nm particles. This paper aims to understand the sub-23 nm particle nature by means of the analysis of the effect of the temperature of sampling. The investigation was performed on small displacement SI DI/PFI engines fueled with gasoline, ethanol and a blend of 25%v/v of ethanol in gasoline. The tests were carried out at full load and 2000 and 4000 rpm representative of the European homologation urban driving cycle. Particle emissions were measured by means of a smokemeter, to measure the particle concentration at raw exhaust, and an Engine Exhaust Particle Sizer (EEPS), for the measurement of number and size in the range from 5.6 to 560 nm. The tests were carried out at two sampling conditions, Cold and Hot in order to estimate the presence of Volatile Organic Fraction (VOF). The results evidenced that the presence of sub-23 nm particle and of the VOF are strongly dependent on fuel and engine conditions. For each fuel the sampling conditions play a governing role on the measurement of the sub-23nm particles highlighting the necessity to a definition of a proper measurement protocol for their measure

Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is an ethanol metabolite and EtG is used as a biomarker of alcohol drinking. EtG can be detected in the blood and in several biological matrices including urine, hair and nails. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a strong risk factor for fetus health so in the recent years different strategies to reveal alcohol use have been planning including the use of screening questionnaires as the AUDIT-C, T-ACE and TWEAK. The present study aims to investigate in pregnant women the specificity and predictive value of the AUDIT-C, T-ACE and TWEAK plus a food diary in use in Sapienza University Hospital compared with the results of urine EtG measurement. Seventy pregnant women were enrolled and examined. Urine samples were provided by pregnant women immediately after the interviews. EtG determinations were performed by Enzyme Immunoassay with a cut-off established at 100ng/mL. Data show that 34.28% of the enrolled pregnant women overcame the EtG cut off. No direct correlation was found between EtG data and the alcohol screening interviews showing lower levels of alcohol consumption, although T-ACE revealed the same at risk percentage. However, a significant concordance was observed with food diary data and T-ACE only in patients with higher EtG urinary concentration. This study provides clinical evidence that the diagnosis of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy only based on indirect methods, such as questionnaires and food diary, may significantly underestimate alcohol use.