The CUORE experiment, a ton-scale cryogenic bolometer array, recently began operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The array represents a significant advancement in this ...technology, and in this work we apply it for the first time to a high-sensitivity search for a lepton-number--violating process: \(^{130}\)Te neutrinoless double-beta decay. Examining a total TeO\(_2\) exposure of 86.3 kg\(\cdot\)yr, characterized by an effective energy resolution of (7.7 \(\pm\) 0.5) keV FWHM and a background in the region of interest of (0.014 \(\pm\) 0.002) counts/(keV\(\cdot\)kg\(\cdot\)yr), we find no evidence for neutrinoless double-beta decay. The median statistical sensitivity of this search is \(7.0\times10^{24}\) yr. Including systematic uncertainties, we place a lower limit on the decay half-life of \(T^{0\nu}_{1/2}\)(\(^{130}\)Te) > \(1.3\times 10^{25}\) yr (90% C.L.). Combining this result with those of two earlier experiments, Cuoricino and CUORE-0, we find \(T^{0\nu}_{1/2}\)(\(^{130}\)Te) > \(1.5\times 10^{25}\) yr (90% C.L.), which is the most stringent limit to date on this decay. Interpreting this result as a limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass, we find \(m_{\beta\beta}<(110 - 520)\) meV, where the range reflects the nuclear matrix element estimates employed.
A new experiment with an intense ~2 GeV neutrino beam at CERN SPS is proposed in order to definitely clarify the possible existence of additional neutrino states, as pointed out by neutrino ...calibration source experiments, reactor and accelerator experiments and measure the corresponding oscillation parameters. The experiment is based on two identical LAr-TPCs complemented by magnetized spectrometers detecting electron and muon neutrino events at Far and Near positions, 1600 m and 300 m from the proton target, respectively. The ICARUS T600 detector, the largest LAr-TPC ever built with a size of about 600 ton of imaging mass, now running in the LNGS underground laboratory, will be moved at the CERN Far position. An additional 1/4 of the T600 detector (T150) will be constructed and located in the Near position. Two large area spectrometers will be placed downstream of the two LAr-TPC detectors to perform charge identification and muon momentum measurements from sub-GeV to several GeV energy range, greatly complementing the physics capabilities. This experiment will offer remarkable discovery potentialities, collecting a very large number of unbiased events both in the neutrino and antineutrino channels, largely adequate to definitely settle the origin of the observed neutrino-related anomalies.
•The issue of uncertainty in production programs of wind parks is addresses.•A statistical approach to production forecasting error is applied.•Management principles of a power-to-gas and gas ...turbines balancing system.•Optimization of the size of the devices based on economic parameters.•Comparison of several future economic and policy scenarios.
Limited dispatchability of wind parks and unexpected grid power injections create unbalances between the generated electric power and the actual required power that has to be reduced for proper operation of the electrical grid. The increasing amount of renewable energy sources stresses this problem in several countries, where the responses in terms of reinforcement of transmission lines and ancillary services are not sufficiently fast or effective. In this study, we analyze the potential of a grid balancing system based on different combinations of traditional gas turbine based power plants with innovative ‘power-to-gas’ plants. Power-to-gas is a promising solution to balance the electric grid, based on water electrolysis, which can effectively contribute to reducing the uncertainty of dispatch plans. According to this system, the excess power produced by renewables is converted into hydrogen, which can be then injected into the natural gas grid. Different economic scenarios are assessed in this work, leading to a set of optimal sizes of the proposed system, using a statistical approach in order to estimate wind farm productivity and forecasting errors, as well as each component load conditions. Economic parameters, equivalent operating hours, CO2 emissions and lost wind energy are the main performances indexes considered in this work to compare gas turbine and electrolysis balancing systems. From an economic point of view, hybrid systems including both balancing technologies generally lead to the best performances. The scenario which leads to the highest power-to-gas capacity (with installed electrolysis power of about 6% of wind park nominal power) is determined coupling a mid-term perspective of reduction in investment costs with favorable energy market conditions or with incentives (“green-gas” or carbon taxes). In such conditions, an equivalence between the two technologies in terms of optimum installed power can be reached at an electricity-to-natural gas cost ratio between 1.8 and 2. In most interesting scenarios, the P2G system brings about a lower total wind electricity injected in the grid, due to wind-to-gas energy conversion, while it allows reducing energy losses due to grid congestion and curtailment of the wind park; however, the additional CO2 emissions due to gas turbines operation and due to the reduced electricity production tend to offset or to limit the positive effect of the carbon-free gas production.
This proposal describes an experimental search for sterile neutrinos beyond the Standard Model with a new CERN-SPS neutrino beam. The experiment is based on two identical LAr-TPC's followed by ...magnetized spectrometers, observing the electron and muon neutrino events at 1600 and 300 m from the proton target. This project will exploit the ICARUS T600, moved from LNGS to the CERN "Far" position. An additional 1/4 of the T600 detector will be constructed and located in the "Near" position. Two spectrometers will be placed downstream of the two LAr-TPC detectors to greatly complement the physics capabilities. Spectrometers will exploit a classical dipole magnetic field with iron slabs, and a new concept air-magnet, to perform charge identification and muon momentum measurements in a wide energy range over a large transverse area. In the two positions, the radial and energy spectra of the nu_e beam are practically identical. Comparing the two detectors, in absence of oscillations, all cross sections and experimental biases cancel out, and the two experimentally observed event distributions must be identical. Any difference of the event distributions at the locations of the two detectors might be attributed to the possible existence of {\nu}-oscillations, presumably due to additional neutrinos with a mixing angle sin^2(2theta_new) and a larger mass difference Delta_m^2_new. The superior quality of the LAr imaging TPC, in particular its unique electron-pi_zero discrimination allows full rejection of backgrounds and offers a lossless nu_e detection capability. The determination of the muon charge with the spectrometers allows the full separation of nu_mu from anti-nu_mu and therefore controlling systematics from muon mis-identification largely at high momenta.
Under physiological conditions the gut-associated lymphoid tissues not only prevent the induction of a local inflammatory immune response, but also induce systemic tolerance to fed antigens. A ...notable exception is coeliac disease, where genetically susceptible individuals expressing human leukocyte antigen (HLA) HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8 molecules develop inflammatory T-cell and antibody responses against dietary gluten, a protein present in wheat. The mechanisms underlying this dysregulated mucosal immune response to a soluble antigen have not been identified. Retinoic acid, a metabolite of vitamin A, has been shown to have a critical role in the induction of intestinal regulatory responses. Here we find in mice that in conjunction with IL-15, a cytokine greatly upregulated in the gut of coeliac disease patients, retinoic acid rapidly activates dendritic cells to induce JNK (also known as MAPK8) phosphorylation and release the proinflammatory cytokines IL-12p70 and IL-23. As a result, in a stressed intestinal environment, retinoic acid acted as an adjuvant that promoted rather than prevented inflammatory cellular and humoral responses to fed antigen. Altogether, these findings reveal an unexpected role for retinoic acid and IL-15 in the abrogation of tolerance to dietary antigens.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In a carbon constrained economy which targets a massive reduction of the CO2 emissions, biogenic carbon is bound to be a scarce resource with high economic value. In such scenario, the carbon ...efficiency may become the key performance index to represent the revenues of the biomass-to-X conversion plants.
In this work, the potential carbon efficiency (PCE) indicator is defined to quantify the achievable carbon efficiency (i.e. the amount of carbon contained in the final product with respect to the available input carbon), of a stream or of a process unit. Compared to the conventional carbon efficiency (CE), that is affected only by the separation/addition of carbon-containing species, the PCE allows quantifying the potential variation of the achievable carbon efficiency in process units where no carbon separation occurs, but where a limiting element is added (e.g. hydrogen through steam addition) or oxygen content is increased (e.g. oxygen injection in a reformer).
The difference between the CE and the PCE along a biomass conversion process is typically due to the excess of oxygen atoms in the syngas, which is removed as CO2 in the syngas conditioning unit. Therefore, the difference between CE and PCE shows the potential gain in carbon efficiency that can be obtained by the addition of H2 from an electrolysis process.
In this paper, the PCE and the CE have been calculated along the process units of different biomass-to-X plants. The selected case studies allow comparing different gasification technologies (direct gasification, indirect gasification and sorption enhanced gasification) in plants for the production of methanol and synthetic natural gas, showing how CE and PCE are influenced by process units such as the gasification technology, syngas reforming, syngas conditioning and hydrogen addition.
•New index “potential carbon efficiency” (PCE) defined and compared with conventional “carbon efficiency” (CE) index.•PCE depends on presence of limiting elements and excess oxygen in the output stream of a certain process unit.•PCE quantifies the variation of the achievable CE in units with no C separation.•Direct gasification has higher gap between CE and PCE compared to indirect gasification along the process units.•High gap between CE and PCE involves high benefits from integration with electrolysis.
•An analysis of three configurations of a biomass-to-methanol plant is provided.•Each plant includes a CFB O2-blown biomass gasifier and a SOEC.•All the integration options can achieve high carbon ...efficiency, above 90 %.•LCOF between 28.2 and 30.9 €/GJ have been found for the assessed plants.•The capital investment cost of SOEC accounts for 36–41 % of the total plant cost.
Methanol is considered a promising solution for decarbonizing the transportation and chemical industry sectors, being a worldwide traded commodity that can be synthesized from biomass, renewable electricity, CO2 and other carbon-rich gases. This study investigates the potential of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOEC) in enhancing the performance of bio-methanol production from biomass gasification. The research explores three distinct biomass-to-methanol plant configurations, incorporating an oxygen-blown Circulating Fluidized Bed Gasifier (CFBG) and different SOEC systems, namely: (i) steam electrolysis for hydrogen generation, (ii) co-electrolysis of steam and CO2 separated from syngas and (iii) direct supply of purified bio-syngas to the SOEC. The study reveals that, although the choice of SOEC type and system configuration could impact energy conversion efficiency and carbon efficiency, all plants show similar performance. In terms of Levelized Cost of Fuel (LCOF) and total efficiency, the syngas-electrolysis configuration exhibits the lowest LCOF, 21.56 €/GJ, and comparable total efficiency of around 80 % to the steam-electrolysis configuration. On the other hand, the CO2-H2O-electrolysis configuration showed the highest LCOF due to higher electricity consumption and capital investment.
•Tear film interferometry was feasible in horses.•It gave more information on ocular surface health than ophthalmological exam alone.•Non-Invasive Break-Up Time values of 13.0–27.0s were considered ...normal.•Tear Meniscus Height values of 0.267–0.424mm were considered normal.•Equine subepithelial keratomycosis was enhanced by tear film interferometry imaging.
This retrospective study evaluated tear film (TF) interferometry on horses examined in Northern Italy in 2019-2021. The objectives were to evaluate horses affected by keratitis, and to describe TF values in horses with no evidence of ocular disease. All horses received a complete ophthalmic examination and were examined with the Ocular Surface Analyser, Veterinary-setting, prior to eye manipulation, staining and sample collection. Eighteen horses with no evidence of ocular disease were included in the comparison group. Additionally, 46 horses displaying signs of keratitis (neovascularization, corneal opacities, ulceration, epithelial and subepithelial infiltrates) were evaluated. These horses were divided into presumed non-infectious and infectious or presumed infectious keratitis groups (one with proven bacterial origin, and the others with diagnosed or presumptive keratomycosis) with the former including immune-mediated keratitis. From the observations of TF interferometry in the comparison population the authors concluded that for non-invasive break-up time (NIBUT), the estimated preliminary reference interval was 10.4-31.2s, and for tear meniscus height (TMH), it was 0.215-0.457mm. Moreover, within the keratitis population, from an interferometric point of view punctate lesions of the ocular surface were present in all cases of active diagnosed or presumptive subepithelial keratomycosis but not in any of the non-infectious cases, either non-ulcerative or ulcerative. Limitations of the study include a relatively low number of horses examined and the fact that the diagnosis of infectious keratitis was presumptive and based on clinical improvement after treatment in some cases. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of TF interferometry performed in horses.
There is a need for consensus on the recommendations for follow‐up of children and adolescents with celiac disease.
Objectives:
To gather the current evidence and to offer recommendations for ...follow‐up and management.
Methods:
The Special Interest Group on Celiac Diseases of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition formulated ten questions considered to be essential for follow‐up care. A literature search (January 2010–March 2020) was performed in PubMed or Medline. Relevant publications were identified and potentially eligible studies were assessed. Statements and recommendations were developed and discussed by all coauthors. Recommendations were voted upon: joint agreement was set as at least 85%.
Results:
Publications (n = 2775) were identified and 164 were included. Using evidence or expert opinion, 37 recommendations were formulated on: The need to perform follow‐up, its frequency and what should be assessed, how to assess adherence to the gluten‐free diet, when to expect catch‐up growth, how to treat anemia, how to approach persistent high serum levels of antibodies against tissue‐transglutaminase, the indication to perform biopsies, assessment of quality of life, management of children with unclear diagnosis for which a gluten‐challenge is indicated, children with associated type 1 diabetes or IgA deficiency, cases of potential celiac disease, which professionals should perform follow‐up, how to improve the communication to patients and their parents/caregivers and transition from pediatric to adult health care.
Conclusions:
We offer recommendations to improve follow‐up of children and adolescents with celiac disease and highlight gaps that should be investigated to further improve management.
Purpose of the Review
The scope of this work is to present a critical review of the novel class of plants for the enhanced production of bioproducts in power and biomass-to-X (PBtX) plants, where the ...excess carbon in the feedstock is converted into a product thanks to the addition of hydrogen from water electrolysis, rather than being vented as CO
2
.
Recent Findings
The review of the recent literature shows that (i) a significant gain in carbon efficiency can be achieved with this class of plants compared to corresponding biomass-to-X plants; (ii) there is high dependency of the power-to-X efficiency on the efficiency of the electrolysis system and a relatively low dependency on the final product; and (iii) the economic competitivity of PBtX plants is closely associated to the cost of hydrogen (i.e., electrolysis capital cost, electricity cost, and capacity factor) and such systems cannot rely only on green hydrogen from the low expected amounts of excess electricity from intermittent renewables.
Summary
In this work, through a simplified economic analysis, the region of competitiveness of this class of plants compared to other possible uses of biomass has been qualitatively identified. The research gaps mainly lie in the lack of assessments on the design and operating criteria of flexible PBtX plants and of studies providing insights on the value of flexibility for a PBtX plant, when integrated in the electric energy systems of the future.
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