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AbstractBACKGROUND: Inappropriate utilisation of biosolids may adversely impact agrosystem productivity. Here, we address the response of wheat (Triticum durum) to different doses (0, 40, 100, 200 and 300 t ha−1) of either municipal solid waste (MSW) compost or sewage sludge in a greenhouse pot experiment. Plant growth, heavy metal uptake, and antioxidant activity were considered.RESULTS: Biomass production of treated plants was significantly enhanced at 40 t ha−1 and 100 t ha−1 of MSW compost (+48% and +78% relative to the control, respectively). At the same doses of sewage sludge, the increase was only 18%. Higher doses of both biosolids restricted significantly the plant growth, in concomitance with the significant accumulation of heavy metals (Ni2+, Pb2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+), especially in leaves. Leaf activities of antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, catalase and superoxide dismutase) were unchanged at 40 t ha−1 MSW compost or sewage sludge, but were significantly stimulated at higher doses (200–300 t ha−1), together with higher leaf concentration of reduced glutathione.CONCLUSION: This preliminary study suggests that a MSW supply at moderate doses (100 t ha−1) could be highly beneficial for wheat productivity. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry

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.

Hot water heat stores with stratification are a common technology used in solar energy systems and reuse of waste heat. Adding a PCM module at the top of the water tank would give the system higher storage density, and compensate heat loss in the top layer. The work presented here includes experimental results and numerical simulation of the system using an explicit finite-difference method. Experiments and simulations were carried out using different cylindrical PCM modules. With only 1/16 of the volume of the store being PCM, 3/16 of water at the top of the store was held warm for 50% to 200% longer and the average energy density was increased by 20% to 45%. Furthermore, these 3/16 of water were reheated by the heat from the module after being cooled down in only 20 min.

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.

Systemic delivery of therapeutic agents remains ineffective against diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), possibly due to an intact blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and to dose-limiting toxicity of systemic chemotherapeutic agents. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) into the brainstem may provide an effective local delivery alternative for DIPG patients.The aim of this study is to develop a method to perform CED into the murine brainstem and to test this method using the chemotherapeutic agent carmustine (BiCNU). To this end, a newly designed murine CED catheter was tested in vitro and in vivo. After determination of safety and distribution, mice bearing VUMC-DIPG-3 and E98FM-DIPG brainstem tumors were treated with carmustine dissolved in DW 5% or carmustine dissolved in 10% ethanol.Our results show that CED into the murine brainstem is feasible and well tolerated by mice with and without brainstem tumors. CED of carmustine dissolved in 5% DW increased median survival of mice with VUMC-DIPG-3 and E98FM-DIPG tumors with 35% and 25% respectively. Dissolving carmustine in 10% ethanol further improved survival to 45% in mice with E98FM-DIPG tumors.Since genetically engineered and primary DIPG models are currently only available in mice, murine CED studies have clear advantages over CED studies in other animals.CED in the murine brainstem can be performed safely, is well tolerated and can be used to study efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents orthotopically. These results set the foundation for more CED studies in murine DIPG models.

Despite the well-established finding from questionnaire studies that positive expectancies are associated with drinking behavior, there is comparatively little known about the mechanisms through which they may affect drinking behavior. Incentive motivation models suggest that alcohol itself may alter the value of the expected outcomes of drinking. The current study was designed to examine the influence of low-dose alcohol on the activation of alcohol outcome expectancy value.Forty-eight hazardous drinkers (34 men) between the ages of 21 and 35 years were recruited from advertisements in local newspapers for a social drinking study. Participants, whose most frequently consumed beverage was beer, were administered a dose of either alcoholic (8.5%) beer, based on gender and weight to reach a blood alcohol concentration of 40 mg/dl, or an equivalent volume of placebo beer. Following an absorption phase, a computerized evaluative priming task was completed in which participants made a series of judgments about the value of positive and negative outcomes following either alcohol or neutral word primes.Those who consumed alcohol made faster evaluative responses to positive relative to negative outcomes, compared with individuals who consumed the placebo beverage.These findings suggest that moderate doses of alcohol may influence the incentive value of positive relative to negative outcome expectancies. It is suggested that these processes may play a role in patterns of hazardous alcohol use.

A seawater spray scrubber was set up and tested with focus to desulfurization of marine engine exhaust gas. Experimental tests were carried out simulating typical exhaust conditions of a marine diesel engine burning heavy fuel oil and using real seawater. Different flue gas flow rates, seawater flow rates, and SO2 concentrations were tested. Liquid‐to‐gas ratios were in the range 1–10 × 10−3. A comparison between seawater and distilled water was also carried out to elucidate the effect of seawater alkalinity. In all conditions, the liquid phase was analyzed for alkalinity, pH, and sulfate content before and after the tests. Finally, the spray droplet size distribution was measured as a function of liquid flow rate.Experimental results indicated that seawater performed better than distilled water, by exploiting its inherent alkalinity. The desulfurization performance was improved by increasing the liquid flow rate and the gas residence time and by decreasing the SO2 concentration. SO2 capture efficiencies up to 93% were measured under the present operating conditions. The experimental data were further compared with calculations performed with an available model for SO2 absorption in fall‐down droplets within a simple plug‐flow reactor. Model calculations were carried out by using all parameters' values as measured in the present experimental campaign. Model results well fit the experimental data, even if a slight underestimation of the desulfurization efficiency is reported. The likely reasons are the assumed plug flow of gas as well as the neglected contribution to SO2 capture by water film falling at the wall. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 32: 1179–1186, 2013

Hydromorphological features are crucial in structuring habitats for freshwater organisms. The quantification of these variables is often performed through accurate measuring or detailed estimation, but their assessment is not always feasible for river management purposes. Economic and time constraints often lead to difficulty in creating simple summaries of collected data for practical use. The Lentic-lotic River Descriptor (LRD) was developed to identify the character of a river site in terms of local hydraulic conditions. Information about the presence of flow types, channel substrates, in-stream vegetation, organic debris and artificial features is included in its calculation. The main aim of this paper is to investigate whether the lentic-lotic character of a river site, as summarized with the LRD descriptor, is relevant to aquatic invertebrate communities in nearly natural river sites. Invertebrate data were collected with multi-habitat, proportional sampling and hydromorphological information was gained by applying the CARAVAGGIO method (river habitat survey technique) in the field. The dataset was generated from High or Good ecological status river sites located in Mediterranean areas of Italy. Correspondence Analysis was performed to relate the invertebrate community structure to a set of catchment-scale, reach-scale and chemical environmental variables. The results of the multivariate analysis indicate that LRD provides a persuasive explanation of the most important axis of variation in benthic data. This paper also presents the optimal LRD range for a set of invertebrate taxa, accompanied by a short discussion of their potential use in conservation issues.