Search Results (14)

The composting sector plays a crucial role in the urban waste management system and is essential for advancing towards a circular economy. All organic matter can be entirely recovered from waste collection, except for the extraneous fractions present as impurities. In the studied waste composting plant, three fractions are produced: >50 mm (waste not idoneous for compost), <12 mm (suitable for compost market) and 50–12 mm (overflow). The latter is used as inoculum and therefore recirculates many times, reducing the sizes of its constituents, which are mainly plastic films falling into the lower class <12 mm, where they are concentrated. The goal of this study is to reduce the quantity of undesirable materials present in the 50–12 mm class in order to increase the quality of the compost produced. For this reason, a compost characterization was carried out and a plant solution was proposed: the inclusion of a mesh conveyor belt, with beater rollers and an aspiration system at the end. The fine organic material passes through the mesh sieve, and it is moved apart from the overflow material, in which the light plastics are aspirated. More than 10% of the overflow weight is recovered as clean compost, with very low percentages of undesired remaining. A reduction in plastic impurity of 75% is reached. Full article

Efficient RNA isolation from filamentous fungi is crucial for gene expression studies, but it poses significant technical challenges due to the robust cell walls and susceptibility of RNA to degradation by ribonucleases. This study presents the effectiveness of two RNA isolation protocols for four species of filamentous fungi: Penicillium crustosum, Penicillium rubens, Penicillium griseofulvum, and Aspergillus fumigatus. Both protocols utilized Fenzol Plus for cell lysis but varied in the mechanical disruption methods: bead-beating versus manual vortexing. The results show that the bead-beater method (Protocol 1) yielded significantly higher RNA quantities, with better purity and integrity, as demonstrated by higher A260/A280 and A260/A230 ratios. RNA concentrations ranged from 30 to 96 µg/g of dry biomass in Penicillium species and up to 52 µg/g in A. fumigatus. The use of chloroform in Protocol 1 also enhanced RNA purity, effectively separating contaminants such as DNA, proteins, and polysaccharides. This optimized protocol is highly efficient and can be applied in routine laboratories handling large numbers of fungal samples, making it a robust method for downstream applications such as cDNA synthesis and transcriptome analysis. Full article

Cereal grain crops are used as main food and raw feed materials all over the world. Among cereal crops, wheat occupies a leading place as the most valuable crop. Harvesting is the most energy-intensive stage in wheat cultivation. Therefore, improving technologies and tools to reduce energy costs in this process is an urgent task. A new stripping and threshing unit for harvesting cereal crops has been developed, allowing the harvesting of grain at both full maturity and in the early stages of maturity, when the grain has an increased content of protein and amino acids and is a valuable raw feed material. The new unit consists of a stripping and threshing unit. The stripping unit consists of a stripping drum and stripping combs. The threshing unit contains replaceable decks that collide with the grain, separating it from the ear; an auger for transporting the heap to the unloading device; and a blade beater with a cut-off shield. Wheat grain in the early stages of maturity has a strong connection with the ear, as a result of which harvesting such grain can be energy-intensive and impractical. In this regard, the purpose of this research was to study the dynamics of changes in the energy intensity of the wheat grain harvesting process during ripening and to compare the energy intensity of the harvesting process with the new unit with the energy intensity of a combine harvester. The methodology is based on measuring torque on the shaft of the stripping and threshing unit. The results show that the power required for stripping by the new unit is reduced from 8–10 kW to 2–4 kW, which is 2.5–4 times lower. The difference in power values between harvesting at the hard wax ripeness stage and full ripeness is only 1–1.5 kW, indicating the feasibility of harvesting grain at this stage. Full article

The Pyrenean grey partridge (Perdix perdix hispaniensis) is an endangered and insufficiently studied galliform occurring in upland habitats dominated by shrublands in Spain, France, and Andorra. Aiming to develop tailored management to favour the species, we studied the effect of habitat management on a partridge population located in Zamora province within the Galician–Duero mountains as part of a long-term project promoted by the regional government (Junta Castilla y León). Management was based on carrying out conservation and recovery of optimal habitats through clearing shrublands (either plots or linear) distributed in a “core area” of 45 km², conducting tracks with beaters and pointing dogs during autumn in three areas, and comparing the partridge abundance before (2000–2006) and after (2007–2023) management. Habitat management increased partridge abundance values in two areas (1.46 and 1.68 times higher) and had no effect on the remaining one. The pattern of grey partridge abundance during the study was irregular and not influenced by the weather, and the highest abundance values were reached 8–10 years after habitat measures were implemented for the first time. Habitat management allowed high autumn abundance to be reached (mean kilometre abundance values of 2.94 and 3.74 birds/km in two areas), while the mean number of birds per family group was not affected by management (nine birds/group). When aiming to recover Pyrenean grey partridge populations, habitat management should be based on the conservation and management of shrublands to provide mixed habitats in the medium and long term, ensuring regular partridge monitoring. Full article

(1) Background: Nanostructured cellulose has emerged as an efficient bio-adsorbent aerogel material, offering biocompatibility and renewable sourcing advantages. This study focuses on isolating (ligno)cellulose nanofibers ((L)CNFs) from barley straw and producing aerogels to develop sustainable and highly efficient decontamination systems. (2) Methods: (Ligno)cellulose pulp has been isolated from barley straw through a pulping process, and was subsequently deconstructed into nanofibers employing various pre-treatment methods (TEMPO-mediated oxidation process or PFI beater mechanical treatment) followed by the high-pressure homogenization (HPH) process. (3) Results: The aerogels made by (L)CNFs, with a higher crystallinity degree, larger aspect ratio, lower shrinkage rate, and higher Young’s modulus than cellulose aerogels, successfully adsorb and remove organic dye pollutants from wastewater. (L)CNF-based aerogels, with a quality index (determined using four characterization parameters) above 70%, exhibited outstanding contaminant removal capacity over 80%. The high specific surface area of nanocellulose isolated using the TEMPO oxidation process significantly enhanced the affinity and interactions between hydroxyl and carboxyl groups of nanofibers and cationic groups of contaminants. The efficacy in adsorbing cationic dyes in wastewater onto the aerogels was verified by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. (4) Conclusions: This study offers insights into designing and applying advanced (L)CNF-based aerogels as efficient wastewater decontamination and environmental remediation platforms. Full article

Traditional centrifuges, extensively employed in biology, chemistry, medicine, and other domains for tasks such as blood separation and pathogen extraction, have certain limitations. Their high cost, substantial size, and reliance on electricity restrict their range of application. Contemporary centrifuges, inspired by everyday items like paper trays and egg beaters, boast characteristics such as ease of operation, independence from electricity, and portability. These features offer unique advantages in specific situations, such as electricity shortages, inadequate infrastructure, and challenging medical conditions. Consequently, we designed a hand-powered portable centrifuge driven by pulling a rope. Our experiments revealed significant performance factors, including load capacity, rope length, and frequency of rope pulling. The results demonstrated that the revolutions per minute (RPM) of a hand-powered portable centrifuge were directly proportional to the length of the rope and the frequency of pulling, up to a certain limit, while inversely proportional to the load. When used for separating and washing polystyrene microspheres, the portable centrifuge’s performance equaled that of traditional centrifuges. According to relevant calculations, this centrifuge could be capable of meeting the application of blood separation. Therefore, we believe this portable centrifuge will find meaningful applications in similar areas, particularly in resource-poor settings. Full article

Wild boar Sus scrofa populations have increased dramatically in recent decades throughout Europe. While hunting is widely used in management activities; it rarely has an important role in regulating and reducing wild boar populations. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of hunting is a compelling issue. In this study, we used a three-year dataset (2016–2018) on a wild boar population living in Campania (southern Italy) as a case study to explore how the hunting effort made in collective drive hunts affected the hunting rate, estimated as the number of individuals culled per day. We fitted a Linear Mixed Model, in which we included the number of wild boars culled per drive hunt as the dependent variable, and the number of beaters, shooters and dogs and the month during which hunting occurred as the predictors. A mean of 1.81 wild boars were culled per drive hunt. The number of culled animals per hunt increased with the increasing number of hunting dogs and with the progression of the hunting season (i.e., from October to December), whereas the number of beaters and shooters had no effect. Overall, we observed a low hunting rate. We suggest that adjusting the hunting calendar and reorganising wild boar collective hunts, e.g., through an appropriate management of the number and training of hunting dogs, are essential to increase the hunting rate. Our results can be useful for wildlife managers to enhance hunting contribution in counteracting the negative impact of wild boar. Full article

The purpose of the study was to design a device for the dissolution of fertilizers for agricultural use in an automatic and environmentally sustainable way to facilitate the work of farmers. To achieve this goal, an outdated blade design was used, which generates turbulent and laminar flows thanks to the angle of inclination of its blades. In tests, the combination of these two flows gave a better result compared to laminar and turbulent flows separately. The best results were achieved by varying the spin and speed, the time between spins, and the rest time. The time it would take to dissolve the mixture was drastically reduced if it were conducted in the traditional way (manually) or compared with commercial mixers. In conclusion, the technique used for the dissolution of agricultural minerals is more effective and reduces time, energy, and effort. This was able to reduce the time necessary to dissolve the fertilizer by 93 percent compared to doing it manually and by 66 percent compared to using commercial mixers, in a solution of 100 L of water per 100 kg of ammonium sulfate. Full article

This study introduces the Live Spam Beater (LiSB) framework for the execution of email filtering techniques during SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) transactions. It aims to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of existing proactive filtering mechanisms, mainly based on simple blacklists. Since it implements some proactive filtering schemes (during SMTP transaction), when an email message is classified as spam, the sender can be notified by an SMTP response code as a result of the transaction itself. The presented framework is written in Python programming language, works as an MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) server that implements an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) reverse proxy and allows the use of plugins to easily incorporate new filtering techniques designed to operate proactively. We also include a plugin to perform proactive content-based filtering through the analysis of words included in the body of the email message. Finally, we measured the performance of the plugin and the framework (time required for operation and accuracy) obtaining values suitable for their use during SMTP transactions. Full article

We describe azophenylindane based molecular motors (aphin-switches) which have two different rotamers of trans-configuration and four different rotamers of cis-configuration. The behaviors of these motors were investigated both experimentally and computationally. The conversion of aphin-switch does not yield single isomer but a mixture of these. Although the trans to cis conversion leads to the increase of the system entropy some of the cis-rotamers can directly convert to each other while others should convert via trans-configuration. The motion of aphin-switches resembles the work of a mixing machine with indane group serving as a base and phenol group serving as a beater. The aphin-switches presented herein may provide a basis for promising applications in advanced biological systems or particularly in cases where on demand disordering of molecular packing has value, such as lipid bilayers. Full article

PC is a bioactive and colorant compound widely sought in the food, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries, and one of the most important pigments produced by Synechocystis salina. However, the general extraction process is usually time-consuming and expensive, with low extraction yields—thus compromising a feasible and sustainable bioprocess. Hence, new extraction technologies (e.g., ultrasound assisted-extraction or UAE) emerged in the latest years may serve as a key step to make the overall bioprocess more competitive. Therefore, this study aimed at optimizing the yields of phycocyanin (PC) rich-extracts of S. salina by resorting to UAE; in attempts to explore this process in a more economically feasible way; valorization of the remaining cyanobacterial biomass, via extraction of other bioactive pigments and antioxidants, was tackled within a biorefinery perspective. A two-stage extraction (using ethanol and water) was thus performed (because it favors PC extraction); other bioactive pigments, including chlorophyll a (chl a), carotenoids, and other phycobiliproteins (PBPs), but also antioxidant (AOX) capacity and extraction yields were also evaluated for their optimum UAE yields. A factorial design based on Box–Behnken model was developed; and the influence of such extraction parameters as biomass to solvent ratio (B/S ratio = 1.5–8.5 mg·mL⁻¹), duty cycle (DT = 40–100%), and percentage of amplitude (A = 40–100%) were evaluated. The model predicted higher PC yields with high B/S ratio = 6 mg·mL⁻¹, lower DT = 80% and an A = 100%. Classical extraction was compared with UAE under the optimum conditions found; the latter improved PC yields by 12.5% and 47.8%, when compared to freeze-thawing extraction, and bead beater homogenization-based extraction, respectively. UAE successive extractions allowed to valorize other important bioactive compounds than PC, by reusing biomass, supporting a favorable contribution to the economic feasibility of the S. salina-based process towards a biorefinery approach. Full article

To better understand the migration properties of hybrid carrageenan from the seaweed tissue during carrageenan extraction, the effect of increasing the seaweed surface area by the mechanical disintegration of gametophyte Chondrus crispus chips was studied under various temperature and time extraction conditions. Dried Chondrus crispus seaweed chips were milled by a rotor beater mill and classified into eight different size fractions by sieving with varying mesh sizes from 50 to 2000 μm. During extraction at 22 °C, the red color of the filtrate increased significantly with the decreasing particle size of the fraction, correlating with the increasing phycoerythrin concentration (from 0.26 mg PE/g dry seaweed in the >2000 μm size fraction to 2.30 mg PE/g dry seaweed in the <50 μm size fraction). On the other hand, under the same extraction conditions, only a small increase in carrageenan precipitate was obtained with the decreasing size fractions (from no recovery in the >2000 μm size fraction to 2.1 ± 0.1 g/kg filtrate in the <50 μm size fraction). This yield was significantly lower than the ones from extractions at 45 °C (5.4 ± 0.1 g/kg) or at 90 °C (9.9 ± 2.1 g/kg) for the same particle size and time conditions. It could be concluded that hybrid carrageenan extraction is not surface area dependent, while phycoerythrin is. Therefore, it seems that phycoerythrin and carrageenan extraction follow different mechanisms. This creates potential for the selective extraction of each of those two compounds. Full article

The article examined selected individual protection used during rescue and fire-extinguishing activities. Fire helmet and special shoes were examined under conditions resembling the operational conditions of LNG gases. The assessment of the equipment consumption was based on strength tests. The main threats come from thermal and mechanical factors. Therefore, firefighters must properly protect their head and legs. At −80 °C, the energy of the impact force of the beater in the headache was, 12.4 J and 15.1 J for points P1 and P2, respectively. The studies showed that cooling the chamber to −80 °C adversely affected the structure of the fire helmet exposed to impact Dynamic. Research work was carried out as part of the Research and Development project No. DOB-BIO9/15/02/2018. Full article

Nanocellulose was extracted from short bast fibers, from hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) plants harvested at seed maturity, non-retted, and mechanically decorticated in a defibering apparatus, giving non-aligned fibers. A chemical pretreatment with NaOH and HCl allowed the removal of most of the non-cellulosic components of the fibers. No bleaching was performed. The chemically pretreated fibers were then refined in a beater and treated with a cellulase enzyme, followed by mechanical defibrillation in an ultrafine friction grinder. The fibers were characterized by microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction after each step of the process to understand the evolution of their morphology and composition. The obtained nanocellulose suspension was composed of short nanofibrils with widths of 5–12 nm, stacks of nanofibrils with widths of 20–200 nm, and some larger fibers. The crystallinity index was found to increase from 74% for the raw fibers to 80% for the nanocellulose. The nanocellulose retained a yellowish color, indicating the presence of some residual lignin. The properties of the nanopaper prepared with the hemp nanocellulose were similar to those of nanopapers prepared with wood pulp-derived rod-like nanofibrils. Full article