Archivio della ricerca - Fondazione Bruno Kessler
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Modelling a hydrogen production system using solar hierarchical volumetric receivers and a steam gasification reactor
No full textThe use of solar energy in the production of fuels is a compelling and attractive application, as it can mitigate issues related to the intermittency of solar energy, thereby supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. For instance, excess solar energy collected during the day can be used to produce hydrogen, which can then be utilized in the evening or at night to generate electricity or heat. This work addresses a numerical investigation of hydrogen production by steam gasification of biomass, assisted by concentrated solar energy. Air, heated by an innovative hierarchical volumetric receiver installed on a solar dish, powers the steam gasifier. To estimate the hydrogen production, experimental data provided by a parabolic dish with a diameter of 8.6 m, a volumetric receiver, and a lab-scale fixed-bed steam gasifier were used. The gasification reaction was simulated assuming thermodynamic equilibrium. Computational experiments show that hierarchical volumetric receivers can be used to sustain hydrogen production by steam gasification of biomass. In particular, the results point out that the integration of such solar volumetric receivers in steam gasifiers can lead to a significant production of hydrogen, 3.4 tonnes per year, and of carbon monoxide, 15 tonnes per year. Moreover, the use of solar energy is able to mitigate 20.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions equivalent per year
Healthcare utilization data from Piedmont, Italy: An administrative dataset of care episodes (2019–2024)
Get PDFThis publication describes a curated dataset of administrative healthcare records collected by the Local Health Authority of Alba and Bra (Piedmont, Italy) covering the period from January 2019 to April 2024. The dataset includes information on inpatient admissions, ambulatory and emergency care, residential and home-based services, hospice care, and medication use. It covers healthcare utilization for approximately 175,000 patients and supports analyses of healthcare delivery, service utilization patterns, and the effects of major health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to the dataset is provided upon request and is subject to ethical approval
Virtual, Augmented, Mixed, and Immersive Technologies for Prenatal and Childbirth Education: A Scoping Review (Preprint)
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A New Image Sharpening Filter Based on Gradient and Retinex-Inspired Contrast
Get PDFImage edges are essential for understanding and processing the content of the acquired scene, but a clear edge detection is not always possible. Unfavorable environmental conditions, poor lighting, incorrect camera settings and/or vibrations may produce blurry or dark images with unclear content and details. Local spatial filters are integrated into many hardware and software as sharpening tools, but choosing the most adequate filter and its parameters is usually non trivial. This work proposes a new filter, whose kernel is computed by comparing over a pre-defined window the image Prewitt gradient with an image contrast measure inspired by Retinex theory. The experiments, carried out on public real-world images with different edge visibility, show that the proposed image-aware filter efficaciously increases the edge visibility with low computational cost and performs better than a standard Laplacian filter. As an usage example, the sharpening filter is here applied to medical images of retinal fundus: improving the clarity and detail of these images is essential for visualizing and analysing anatomical structures, identifying abnormalities, and assisting in diagnosis and treatments. Finally, a hardware architecture of the sharpening filter, partially integrating on-chip the gradient and contrast computation, is outlined. Such an integration could be beneficial for enhancing in real-time the quality of pictures captured by devices with limited power resources, with an average consumption of ∼ 28 μ W and ~30 kb of embedded memory in case of a color VGA image. The data obtained in filter validation experiments show a marked increase in the Prewitt’s gradient magnitudes in 100% of cases and in the edge thickness in a percentage ranging from 73.3% to 100% of cases, without visibly affecting the image naturalness
Starting the School Year on the Right Foot: Effects of a Summer Learning Program Targeting Vulnerable Students in Italy
No full textWe conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a summer learning program for vulnerable students across nine cities in Italy (N = 1,038). The program included educational workshops in small groups (88 hours) and personalized tutoring (12 hours). Results indicate positive effects of the program on Italian skills and, albeit weaker, on mathematics. The positive results were most pronounced among primary school students and among students with special needs or from vulnerable environments. Explorative analyses of noncognitive skills provide conflicting insights: An increase in students' interest in acquiring new competencies suggests potential enduring effects, but the emergence of dissatisfaction with traditional school activities and heightened school-related stress raises concerns about reduced engagement with conventional schooling
