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This paper deals with 24-GHz circuits developed by exploiting a system-in-package approach. In order to reduce the cost as much as possible, a standard multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) technology has been adopted. Such a circuit consists of a package built utilizing a 0.3-mm thick fiber-glass substrate with 3.38 relative permittivity. The contacts between the substrate and the mother board are realized along the package perimeter exploiting 0.6-mm via-hole metalization and half halo shield soldering pad. First, the developed package is simulated and optimized by means of commercial electromagnetic software. Then a prototype is fabricated and measured. The obtained results show that the whole frequency band from DC to 30 GHz can be covered. A packaged 26.5-mm straight microstrip line exhibits an |S11| value better than -12 dB and an |S21| value of about -1.4 dB at 24 GHz. This value is only 0.6-dB worse than that of the unpackaged line. A single-balanced diode mixer and a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for industrial, scientific, and medical applications are then designed. The integration of these building blocks within the PCB package is finally demonstrated and experimentally verified. The packaged mixer shows a 6.8-dB conversion loss. The packaged LNA, instead, features a 9.1-dB gain with a 3.4-dB noise figure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract European food law states that official checks on goods exchanged within the community should be performed at the place of origin, trusting in the guarantees provided by the supplier Member State. However, spot checks at the destination are also allowed. The Veterinary Offices for Compliance with EU Requirement (UVAC) are uniquely Italian offices implementing destination controls on EU products of animal origin. In this study, a data analysis on the control activity of the UVAC of Tuscany on seafood products in the period 2014–2016 was performed. Consignments were analysed according to their category (fish, fillets, crustaceans, molluscs, processed products) and country origin and data on seafood market flows were provided. Checks performed on consignments were investigated and cases of non-compliances with the EU standard safety requirements were analysed. Fish category was the most representative (49%), followed by molluscs (24%), fillets (12%), crustaceans (8%) and processed seafood (5%) and consignments were mainly provided by Spain, France and Netherlands. These outcomes were relatively in accordance with national and European data. The percentage of checked consignments was higher than the national one, although decreasing (from 0.73% in 2014 to 0.57% in 2016). 26 consignments (3.4% of the total checked) were found as non-compliant with the standard EU requirements: 12 (46.2%) involved chemical risks (mercury, additives), 9 involved biological risks (L. monocytogenes, Anisakis spp., Norovirus), and 5 involved physical risks and other minor irregularities. These outcomes proved the actual usefulness of ancillary checks performed at national level in protecting consumers’ health and even represents a further data source for evaluating EU citizens risk exposure. Highlights • A data analysis on the 2014–2016 seafood checks of the UVAC of Tuscany was performed. • Fish was the most representative category, with Spain, France as major suppliers. • Checks rate was higher than the national one and 26 non-compliant consignments were found. • Chemical (mercury, additives) and biological (L. monocytogenes , Anisakis , Norovirus) risks were revealed. • UVAC checks were proved as usefulness for further protecting EU consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importation of fishery products into the European Union (EU) is constantly rising. The aim of this study was to conduct a survey on labeling non-compliances on fishery products imported from extra-European countries, in collaboration with the veterinary staff of the Border Inspection Post of Livorno-Pisa (BIP), of the Italian Ministry of Health. The correspondence between the products' identity and the scientific denominations reported on the accompanying certificates was checked using the DNA barcoding method. Overall, 277 products belonging to different categories (fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, bivalves, amphibian) were submitted to analysis for species identification. The comparison of the molecular results with the scientific names declared on the accompanying documents showed that 22.5% (95%CI 17.8–28.0) of the analyzed products were mislabeled. The highest percentage of mislabeling was observed on cephalopod based products (43.8%, 95% CI 32.3–55.9), followed by crustaceans (17.0%, 95% CI 9.2–29.2) and fish (14.0%, 95% CI 8.7–21.9). A higher rate was found in products imported from China, Vietnam and Thailand. The present study is the first survey on mislabeling in products sampled at BIPs in Italy. The results highlight the need of implementing analytical checks, based on DNA analysis, on incoming fishery products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an autonomous battery-less wireless sensor node that combines on a single printed circuit board an ultra-wideband (UWB) transmitter and its printed antenna, together with a piezoelectric cantilever and a solar cell array to harvest vibrations and light energy, respectively. The co-design of the solar cell array with the printed UWB antenna allows a prototype size of only 85 × 35 mm 2 , i.e., less than 65% of a credit card size. Low-cost is achieved by using inexpensive FR4 dual-layer substrate, standard-ceramic capacitors, and low-cost harvesters. The vibrational energy scavenger is fabricated at the wafer scale based on commercially available bulk polycrystalline Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT), and the solar cells are fabricated by depositing amorphous-Si on 0.5 mm thick glass substrate. The cold-startup time of the demonstrator is about 42 min under indoor-ambient light conditions, and about 34 min under 700 mg vibrations at a frequency of 100 Hz. Once started, the sensor requires only 12.6 μW to allow a transmission rate of one temperature sensor readout every 34 s, thanks to the UWB transmitter that consumes only 206 pJ per pulse and a custom protocol with a reduced overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]