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The Global AI Regulatory Framework
No full textThis chapter provides an overview of the key questions posed to policy makers and regulators as they define a sound regulatory framework that will not unintentionally limit the evolution of this technology. How to reduce or even eliminate the range of concerns raised by AI? A selection of the most relevant approaches to the problem and already developed regulatory frameworks are included as examples to stimulate discussion and action
Model-Based Safety Assessment for Flight Control Systems: Methodology and Case Study
No full textTechnological advances have increased complexity of avionics systems, requiring methods to efficiently and accurately derive both quantitative and qualitative safety assessments for certification. To address this challenge, Model-Based Safety Assessment techniques have emerged as promising solutions over the years. In December 2023, the new version of ARP4761A integrates MBSA formalism into the recommended practices for safety processes, as an alternative to classical safety assessment techniques (e.g. Fault Tree Analysis). The main contribution of the paper is to provide a case study demonstrating a successful application of an MBSA technique, to support the aforementioned safety process required by the certification authority. Accordingly, the generated outputs include probability of occurrence, DAL allocation, the elicitation of independence principles and requirements traceability. The example reported is a comprehensive MBSA process of an industrial rotorcraft Flight Control System: the article follows the architecture description, explains the safety model creation and comments on the derived results. In the final part of the article, lessons learned from the implementation of MBSA technology in an industrial environment are reported
Analysis of high flux membranes for desalination in waste-heat driven vacuum membrane distillation plants: Experimental validation and techno-economic analysis
No full textVacuum membrane distillation is a promising technology for seawater desalination, as it enables high recovery ratios, with reasonable thermal and minimal electric consumption. Ceramic membranes can offer notable advantages over polymeric membranes, mainly due to their robust thermal and mechanical stability, yet they have limited representation in the literature. Accordingly, this work investigates ceramic membranes and their techno-economic performance for large scale desalination plants, with target recovery ratios above 85 %. First, a one-dimensional model for multilayered membranes was developed in MATLAB, validated against experimental data of water fluxes with different membrane materials, including ceramic ones, specifically collected within this work. This also enabled the fitting of the membrane characteristic parameters with the collected experimental data. With the aim of reducing the thermal consumption, a full-scale plant layout was defined with various stages in cascade and a sensible waste heat source at 90 °C. Results demonstrate that thermal consumption level in the 180–250 kWh/m3 range is possible, with average water fluxes around 20 kg/(m2·h). With reasonable assumptions on capital costs and plant availability, the levelized cost of water was found to be between 3 and $8/m3
Crowdsensing-based automated operational modal analysis for indirect bridge structural health monitoring
No full textIn this study, an automated identification procedure for crowdsensing-based indirect Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (iBSHM) is presented. The scope is to estimate the modal parameters of a cycle-pedestrian bridge using only acceleration data collected by smartphones installed on board. The proposed method introduces several innovations. First, natural frequencies are identified using the Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) algorithm. Second, the method enables the estimation of damping ratios, which are typically neglected in existing crowdsensing applications. Third, it uses the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) step within the SSI framework to extract singular vectors corresponding to dominant frequencies, thereby isolating the modal components of the signal and enabling the estimation of mode shapes. The proposed identification procedure is experimentally tested and validated with data from a real footbridge in Bologna (Italy). The field test was carried out with multiple passages of a commercial bicycle, using a single smartphone installed on board. The obtained results are compared with those from a previous test conducted with the same experimental setup and case study, but using a different analysis methodology. Satisfactory comparability and repeatability of the results were achieved
Volcanic deposits from mount Etna (Italy) as high-fidelity lunar simulants for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) applications
No full textTerrestrial analogues of lunar regolith are crucial for developing In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies and testing mission hardware before lunar deployment. Mount Etna's (Southern Italy) diverse volcanic products, generated by complex slab-edge processes, offer exceptional compositional variability that encompasses both mare-like and highland-like lithologies, making it an ideal natural laboratory for planetary analogue studies. By investigating pyroclastic deposits and basaltic samples from the Cisternazza pit crater, and the Monte Nunziata and Tre Livelli lava tubes, we discovered that the sample from the Cisternazza pit crater exhibits remarkable chemical and mineralogical similarity to Apollo 14 highlands materials. The principal component analysis confirms its affinity with the lunar Fra Mauro formation samples, while X-ray diffraction reveals a plagioclase-pyroxene-olivine assemblage with 40 % amorphous phase mimicking lunar impact glass. VIS-NIR spectral signatures show characteristic 1-μm absorption features matching agglutinate-rich lunar regolith. Engineering geomechanical tests demonstrate that these materials achieve compressive strengths up to 16.40 MPa in earth environmental conditions when processed as alkali-activated materials, comparable to other lunar highlands simulants tested as reference materials for lunar construction. Our carbothermal reduction modeling indicates favorable oxygen and water extraction yields, validating Mount Etna volcanic deposits as high-fidelity simulants for advancing lunar ISRU technologies and mission preparation
Geospatial energy poverty assessment and clustering for policy prioritization
No full textEnergy poverty remains a critical challenge, marked by households struggling to access or afford adequate energy services. Previous research focuses on metrics for investigating energy poverty geospatially. Some of these metrics fail in spotting the vulnerabilities, considering average values in a territory. Moreover, the connection between energy poverty assessment and policy proposal is often missing. This paper presents a geospatial analysis of energy poverty in a developed country, focusing on Italian municipalities, using a novel multiparameter indicator to measure both economic and energy vulnerabilities. Building on previous research, the indicator integrates economic indices reflecting income-to-cost ratios and energy indices based on building efficiency and age. It concentrates on the critical tails of the distribution of incomes and buildings, to avoid being misled by mean values. Through clustering, the study identifies municipalities in three categories: highly vulnerable, energy poverty-relevant, and nonvulnerable. Each cluster highlights the socioeconomic and energy challenges faced by households, offering tailored policy recommendations. In particular, the energy poverty-relevant cluster includes 85 % of Italian municipalities and shows a clear correlation between low-performance building share and economic situation of poorer households. The findings suggest the importance of targeted interventions, including direct financial aid for the most vulnerable, energy efficiency incentives for middle-tier municipalities, and nonfinancial measures for better-performing areas (where barriers to energy efficiency could be regulatory, instead of economic). This approach allows policymakers to optimize public expenditures while addressing both immediate and structural drivers of energy poverty
Microwave‐Assisted Recycling of Lithium‐Ion Batteries: Linking Process Optimization to Volatile Organic Compounds and Fluorinated Gases Emission Mitigation
No full textThis work investigates the volatile fraction released from black mass (BM) obtained from spent lithium-ion batteries subjected to microwave (MW) thermal treatment. MW processing is emerging as an alternative to conventional pyrometallurgy for improving energy efficiency and recovery of critical metals such as lithium, yet the associated emission profile remains poorly characterized. However, the studies of the emissions associated with these treatments are quite limited. Here, a multilevel full factorial Design of Experiments is applied for the first time to evaluate the influence of MW power, exposure time, and BM mass on heating dynamics and lithium extraction efficiency. Volatile organic compounds generated during MW processing are identified by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS), showing a complex mixture of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, carbonate esters, and phosphorus- and fluorine-containing species. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy (1H, 7Li, 19F, 31P) confirms the presence of electrolyte-derived residues such as Li+, PF6−, and phosphate esters. The combined analytical approach clarifies degradation pathways during MW heating and highlights the need to monitor and mitigate the formation of potentially hazardous volatile species in future MW-assisted recycling processes. Statistical models reveal that the time to reach 600°C and the maximum temperature depend primarily on power and exposure time, while Li recovery is governed by BM mass and its interaction with power
Harnessing EO and Natural Experiments for Urban Development: The UDENE Approach
No full textUrban Development Explorations using Natural Experiments (UDENE) is a forward-looking initiative under the Horizon Europe program that merges Earth Observation (EO) technologies with urban planning to tackle pressing urban challenges. By utilizing Copernicus satellite imagery and organizing local in-situ data into interoperable data cubes, UDENE provides a comprehensive framework for data-driven decision-making. Further, it is applied the concept of “natural experiments” - real-life changes analyzed with the rigor of controlled studies - to uncover causal relationships in urban development. A primary goal is to incorporate struc- tured urban data into the broader Copernicus data cube federation, enabling consistent analysis of urban impacts across different times and locations. To support this, UDENE develops advanced sensitivity analysis methods for validating and applying multivari- ate causal models, enhancing predictions on factors such as air pollution, urban heat, mobility, and disaster resilience. To close the gap between high-level EO technologies and real-world planning needs, we are introducing the three core tools: the UDENE’s Data Cube, which populates in-situ data EO based analysis-ready data and datasets; the Exploration Tool, which empowers planners and policymakers to simulate, assess, and visualize urban interventions; and a matchmaking tool connecting users with EO-based services. Together, these tools foster informed urban strategies grounded in EO data and causal inference