Information Sharing Among Disaster Responders - An Interactive Spreadsheet-Based Collaboration Approach

Recent natural disasters have led crisis management organizations to revise their protocols so as to rely on the contribution of a wider range of actors, including simple citizens as well as expert operators, to support decision making activities. Reliable and timely information sharing among members of distributed teams of disaster responders has become paramount for the success of the overall crisis management process. In this paper we propose a crisis management system based on spreadsheet-mediated collaboration among on-site responders and decision makers. To share data a common spreadsheet artifact has been developed by using a participatory design approach which is accessed through mobile user interfaces. The evaluation results showed that the use of the spreadsheet artifact has resulted in more effective decision making relating to set of earthquake management scenarios in high-risk areas located in Italy.     

1H nuclear magnetic resonance study of polyurethane prepolymers from toluene diisocyanate and polypropylene glycol

Polyurethane prepolymers prepared from toluene 2,4‐diisocyanate, toluene 2,6‐diisocyanate, and polypropylene glycol with a ratio between the isocyanate and hydroxyl groups equal to 2 were analyzed by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in acetone‐d₆. Different temperatures and concentrations were used. Toluene 2,4‐dimethylurethane and toluene 2,6‐dimethylurethane were synthesized and used as model compounds to assign prepolymers signals. Measurements of spin–lattice relaxation time T₁ by “inversion recovery” experiments were carried out on toluene 2,4‐diisocyanate, toluene 2,6‐diisocyanate, toluene 2,4‐dimethylurethane, toluene 2,6‐dimethylurethane, and polyurethane prepolymers. Differences in T₁ times were used to interpret prepolymers spectra, by means of the strong observed effect on protons due to the presence of adjacent isocyanate groups. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 347–357, 2003     

A framework for home energy management and its experimental validation

With the Smart Grid revolution and the increasing interest in renewable energy sources, the management of the electricity consumption and production of individual households and small residential communities is becoming an essential element of new power systems. The electric energy chain can greatly benefit from a flexible interaction with end-users based on the optimization of load profiles and the exploitation of local generation and energy storage. This paper proposes a framework for the development of a complete energy management system for individual residential units and small communities of domestic users, taking into account both the power system and the final users’ perspectives. All the main elements of the framework are considered, and contributions are provided on the users’ habits profiling, electricity generation forecast, energy load, and storage optimization. Specifically, we propose a linear regression model to predict the photovoltaic panels production, a stochastic method to forecast the home appliances usage, and two optimization models to optimize the electricity management of residential users with the goal of minimizing their bills. The study shows that it is possible to reduce the energy bill of residential users through the electricity optimization driven by dynamic energy prices. Moreover, remarkable improvements of the electric grid efficiency can be achieved with the cooperation among users, confirming that services for the coordination of the demand of groups of users allow huge benefits on the power system performance.     

Rapid and direct determination of fructose in food: A new osmium-polymer mediated biosensor

This paper describes the development and performance of a new rapid amperometric biosensor for fructose monitoring in food analysis. The biosensor is based on the activity of fructose dehydrogenase (FDH) immobilised into a carbon nanotube paste electrode according to two different procedures. The direct wiring of the FDH in a highly original osmium-polymer hydrogel was found to offer a better enzyme entrapment compared to the immobilisation of the enzyme in an albumin hydrogel. The optimised biosensor required only 5 U of FDH and kept the 80% of its initial sensitivity after 4 months. During this time, the biosensor showed a detection limit for fructose of 1 μM, a large linear range between 0.1 and 5 mM, a high sensitivity (1.95 μA cm⁻² mM), good reproducibility (RSD = 2.1%) and a fast response time (4 s).     

Vapor barrier properties of polycaprolactone montmorillonite nanocomposites: effect of clay dispersion

Different compositions of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and (organo-modified) montmorillonite were prepared by melt blending or catalyzed ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone. Microphase composites were obtained by direct melt blending of PCL and sodium montmorillonite (MMT-Na⁺). Exfoliated nanocomposites were obtained by in situ ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone with an organo-modified montmorillonite (MMT-(OH)₂) by using dibutyltin dimethoxide as an initiator/catalyst. Intercalated nanocomposites were formed either by melt blending with organo-modified montmorillonite or in situ polymerization within sodium montmorillonite. The barrier properties were studied for water vapor and dichloromethane as an organic solvent. The sorption (S) and the zero concentration diffusion coefficient (D₀) were evaluated for both vapors. The water sorption increases with increasing the MMT content, particularly for the microcomposites containing the unmodified MMT-Na⁺. The thermodynamic diffusion parameters, D₀, were compared to the value of the parent PCL: both microcomposites and intercalated nanocomposites show diffusion parameters very near to PCL. At variance exfoliated nanocomposites show much lower values, even for small montmorillonite content. In the case of the organic vapor, the value of sorption at low relative pressure is mainly dominated by the amorphous fraction present in the samples, not showing any preferential adsorption on the inorganic component. At high relative pressure the isotherms showed an exponential increase of sorption, due to plasticization of the polyester matrix. The D₀ parameters were also compared to those of the unfilled PCL; in this case, both the exfoliated and the intercalated samples showed lower values, due to a more tortuous path for the penetrant molecules.     

Exploitation of the Antibacterial Properties of Photoactivated Curcumin as ‘Green’ Tool for Food Preservation

In the search for non-chemical and green methods to counteract the bacterial contamination of foods, the use of natural substances with antimicrobial properties and light irradiation at proper light waves has been extensively investigated. In particular, the combination of both techniques, called photodynamic inactivation (PDI), is based on the fact that some natural substances act as photosensitizers, i.e., produce bioactive effects under irradiation. Notably, curcumin is a potent natural antibacterial and effective photosensitizer that is able to induce photodynamic activation in the visible light range (specifically for blue light). Some practical applications have been investigated with particular reference to food preservation from bacterial contaminants.     

Biogenic Amine Content in Red Wines from Different Protected Designations of Origin of Southern Italy: Chemometric Characterization and Classification

Biogenic amines are contaminants naturally present in wines. Their occurrence is influenced by several factors including oenological and agricultural practices, grape variety, and geographical origin. For these reasons, they have been chosen as marker to characterize and classify 56 Italian red wines belonging to four protected designations of origin (PDO) from Southern Italy. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were applied on data obtained by HPLC/RF in order to highlight the natural grouping of samples. Afterward, linear discriminant analysis and partial least squares were used to classify the wines according to their PDO. Biogenic amines are demonstrated to be a reliable and useful marker for the characterization and classification of the four Southern Italian PDOs investigated. Both the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) achieved 100 % of wines correctly classified and predicted. Therefore, the determination of these compounds in red wines can play an important role in wine quality assessment, by providing information for the prevention of potential detrimental effects on health and for the characterization of PDO labeled wines.     

Effect of genotype,maturity stage and post‐harvest storage on phenolic compounds,carotenoid content and antioxidant capacity,of Andean mashua tubers (Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruiz & Pavón)

The total phenolics, anthocyanins, flavan 3‐ols, carotenoids and antioxidant capacity of mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruiz & Pavón) tubers from 10 yellow and purple cultivars were determined at different maturity stages (5–7.5 months after planting) and sunning post‐harvest storage periods (7–35 days). Both the antioxidant capacity (ORAC and ABTS assays) and the content of the bioactive compounds tested varied markedly between cultivars. Purple varieties reached the highest antioxidant capacity during tuber development (271–446 µmol Trolox equiv g^?1 DM, ORAC assay). The kinetics of accumulation or disappearance of the bioactive compounds tested during maturation was dependent both on the cultivar and on the compound considered. For anthocyanins, there was a marked increase during maturation in all the purple cultivars. During the sunning post‐harvest storage, the changes in antioxidant capacity (ABTS assay) and content of the bioactive compounds tested also varied between cultivars. A marked decrease in anthocyanins was observed for the anthocyanin‐containing cultivars. In general, the correlation between antioxidant capacity and the content of bioactive compounds varied markedly between cultivars. Antioxidant capacity in purple varieties correlated with total phenolics or flavan 3‐ols while only in some yellow varieties antioxidant capacity correlated with total phenolics. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry