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Abstract Vanadium redox flow battery performance is actually hindered by increased overpotentials at high current, due to poor electrochemical activity of the most commonly used carbon electrodes and to electrolyte distribution, implying local mass transport limiting conditions. Moreover, vanadium cross-contamination leads to coulombic efficiency reduction and uncontrolled electrolytes imbalance. This work presents the application of through-plate reference electrodes at inlet and outlet of both positive and negative electrodes. The utility of the electrodes potential measurement is firstly demonstrated in the identification of a relation between electrolytes potential and the corresponding state of charge. Subsequently, local overpotentials and impedance spectra at both electrodes are evaluated, evidencing that the negative electrode is kinetically dominated and presents high overpotential even at low current, while the positive exhibits mass transport effects at high current, especially at cell outlet. Finally, during cycling operation with fixed capacity reference electrode measurements permit to monitor electrolytes imbalance induced by cross-contamination, that mainly affects negative electrolyte. Moreover, additional insights into electrodes potential loss during cycling are provided. Highlights • We applied through-plate reference electrodes at electrodes inlet and outlet of a VRFB. • Negative electrode is kinetically dominated and the positive is mass transport limited. • Electrodes OCP trends reveal electrolytes imbalance during cycling. • Cross-contamination mainly affects the negative electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feral cats (Felis catus) are considered to be one of main successful invasive species of island ecosystems. The introduced cats often negatively affect seabird populations due to the lack of anti-predatory strategies resulting from the absence of mammalian terrestrial predators during their evolutionary development. Linosa Island hosts the second largest colony of Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) of the species. In this study, we estimated the number of cats on Linosa Island and we evaluated their diet using a non-invasive method: scat analysis. Scat collection took place in the northern part of the island in the Scopoli’s shearwater colony, where a feral cat colony lives permanently. We analysed a total of 188 cat scats, collected during the different stages of the shearwater breeding period. Introduced mammals were the most frequent preys: wild rabbits and black rats occurred in scats with the same frequency (28.72%). Birds were the second most frequent prey category found, primarily represented by the seabird Scopoli’s shearwater (16.49%). The cats’ diet varied seasonally in relation to prey availability and accessibility: shearwaters were mainly preyed upon during spring when they exhibited the greatest vocal activity and spent the most time out of their nests. Regarding the biomass, mammals were the dominant prey, and wild rabbits were the most consumed species. However, Scopoli’s shearwater represented approximately one-third of the total biomass consumed. Consequently, the management of feral cats living in proximity of the seabird colony is strongly required, and the increase of “trap-neuter-release” (TNR) programmes is necessary in order to avoid uncontrolled gains in the cat population on Linosa Island. Since the cats have a crucial role in controlling the rat population (the main threat for shearwaters), before planning management strategies, the complex inter-relationship that exists between species must be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The INSIDE collaboration aims to build an on-line hadrontherapy monitoring system, based on a dual-head in-beam PET scanner and a secondary charged particles profiler. In this work preliminary experimental results are presented. The validation of the FLUKA-based Monte Carlo simulation tool is shown together with the expected scanner performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The INSIDE project addresses the online dose monitoring in particle therapy issue. The proposed detectors exploit the secondary neutral and charged particles emitted during the treatment by the irradiated volumes. The new detection techniques allow to return and online a measurement of the released dose and the Bragg peak position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]