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Green economy, multifunctional agriculture and Corporate Social Responsability Models in peri-urban regeneration processes: an Italian experience for the historical farmhouses system"
No full textNowadays the strategies of the agricultural and environmental policies (the Lisbon strategy "EU 2020") -in particular the Sixth Environment Action Programme 2010: Our Future, Our Choice- highlight the need to create a market more environmentally friendly and "responsible". The recent debate shows that the "green" variable in financial management is put at the center of the reflections of employers in both the discretionary dimensional (culture, ethics and responsibility) and in the normative-prescriptive dimension. Some positive experiences bring out the following topics: 1) the approaches of multifunctional agriculture in synergy with the themes of the European debate about the Corporate Social Responsibility, 2) the definition of a new business framework, 3) the management model oriented to the stakeholders and to the ethical management. The vision of the entrepreneur green in managing the company is an innovative point of view with respect to the obligations of law and falls within the sphere "responsible" for environmental management. The literature, in fact, focuses on: 1) a responsible model of business management through "stakeholder" model, as opposed to the "shareholder model", where the creation of value is not confined to equity holders of risk, but companies assume the management objectives that bring mutual benefit to the community; 2) the development of specific items in the analysis of financial statements that takes into account aspects of environmental responsability. According to this, the paper aims to analyze the application of principles of the "responsible" management process to an Italian case study: the scenario of enhancement of historical farmhouses system in Volpiano (Canavese in metropolitan area of Turin, Italy). This territory is paradigmatic, as it is characterized by the coexistence the historical rural settlement patterns (partially altered by the construction of roads infrastructure) with new housing and productive settlement systems: it is an issue of great importance not only local. As a first step, the paper aims reviewing the large literature (Carroll, 1991; Freeman et al, 2007) on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility. It follows a reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of similar operations: the development of structural frameworks of knowledge of rural landscapes and its settlements, the operational aspects of evaluation and feasibility tests with the introduction of environmental items in the traditional economic accounting approach (the green value in the International Standards). The concept of multifunctional agriculture, conceived as agriculture that produces primary goods, on the other as agriculture that produces secondary services. The second step is to elaborate the specific Financial Management Analysis Model for the enhancement of the historical farmhouses, where particular attention was paid to two technical steps: 1) mapping of the stakeholders in accordance with the Corporate Social Responsibility approach; 2) the identification of specific items in the financial statements (in these phase of testing only at the categorial and descriptive level). In fact, the final project scenario was checked with traditional instruments for operational feasibility analysis, foreseeing: the functional recovery and the restoration of the farms, the traditional culture with fodder crops and "new" (hazel) and the creation of spaces for the use of agriculture and animal husbandry as a source of therapy, education and ennobling. Some specific reflections were drawn on the estimate of the investment costs for the restoration and re-functioning, on the timing of site preparation and the management data, and on the identification of financing channels (PSR and the European CAP). Finally, the feasibility conditions are linked to the economic social responsibility and presents elements of originality in the feasibility test performance and the new assumptions on the risk/return ratio
Non-invasive aortic systolic pressure and pulse wave velocity estimation in a primary care setting: An in silico study
No full textSteam batch thermal processes in unsteady state conditions: Modelling and application to a case study in the food industry
No full textMany industrial processes require high amounts of steam. Design and operation of steam plants are particularly complex when the steam supply is required for short periods and with a varying time schedules. To fulfil the discontinuous needs of steam users, avoiding the steam boiler oversizing to the peak value of the steam request, a thermal energy storage (TES) system can be adopted. The proper sizing of TES systems, which, in this application, is constituted by a steam accumulator vessel installed between the steam generator and the consumer, cannot be based on the sole initial and final state conditions of the steam storage, since a performance prediction of the process time-evolution is also required. In this paper, a model of steam batch processes for industrial thermal treatments, able to describe unsteady operative conditions, is presented. More in detail, a three-stage steam plant, with a sequentially interconnected steam boiler, steam accumulator and processing tank, has been considered. The dynamic model of the charging and discharging processes of the steam accumulator has been applied to a real case study in the food industry: the batch debacterisation process of cocoa beans. Nevertheless, the obtained results can be profitably employed in the design and the performance assessments of a wide set of applications involving the steam processing fluid, such as desalination plants, solar thermal power plants, retorts, steam ovens and others
Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry for Land Applications
No full textGlobal Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is based on the concept of receiving GPS signals reflected by the ground using a passive receiver. The receiver can be on the ground or installed on a small aircraft or UAV and collects the electromagnetic field backscattered from the surface of the Earth. The received signals are then analyzed to determine the characteristics of the surface. GNSS-R has gained increasing interest over the last two decades as an efficient tool for remote sensing, thanks to the development of positioning systems. GNSSR finds application in several fields as detection of land geophysical parameters, floods and hazard prevention, weather prediction models. In this thesis, the potentiality of GNSS-R technique as a remote sensing tool for soil moisture monitoring, vegetation biomass and altimetry are investigated. Unlike the radar system, where the transmitter and receiver are in the same place (monostatic radar), in the GNSS-R system the transmitter and receiver are separated by a significant distance (bistatic system). The distribution of the received power can be mapped as a function of delay and frequency forming the so-called Delay-Doppler Map (DDM). The peak power and the signal to noise ratio of the received signal of the DDM can be used to retrieve the desired parameters. The transmitted GPS signals are right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP). The surface scattered signal is predominantly left-hand circularly polarized (LHCP) for incidence angles typical of this application. Previous experimental works have already shown the capabilities of this technique to sense the soil moisture changes by using LH reflected signals. Recently, the use of both LH and RH reflected signals (polarimetric measurement) has been proposed to mitigate the effects of the soil surface roughness. In this dissertation, the GNSS-R signals were used to retrieve the soil moisture contents and the vegetation sensing by considering three retrieval methods: LH signals only; LH and RH direct signals; LH and RH reflected signals (polarimetric measurement). Several measurements campaign were performed in a static condition and on board. The signal to noise ratio of the in-sight satellites was obtained from the received power, and different algorithms to retrieve the permittivity applied with the signal to noise ratio. Two different GNSS-R systems were used during the experiments. The first system is based on commercial GPS receivers and antennas, and suited for ground-based measurements. The second system is a light, small and 4-channnel GNSS-R receiver prototype developed in the framework of the Italian project SMAT-F2 (System of Advanced Monitoring of the Territory- phase 2) by Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) suited to be mounted on board of small aircraft. In the case of static measurements, the values of permittivity obtained from GNSS-R were compared with those obtained with in-situ soil moisture measurements based on TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry). In the case of flight measurements, three observables were defined: the reflectivity of LH, RH reflected signals and LH/RH (Polarimetric ratio). The polarimetric scattering properties in various environments, such as lakes, forests, trees, humid grass and normal grass were analyzed. The estimation of soil moisture and vegetation in the land field is attracting widespread interest in hydrology, climatology and carbon cycles. This work explores the possibility of sensing Earth surface by using GNSS-R technique with feasibility and portability. Several measurements were done on the ground and on board of small aircraft considering different land environments. During the polarimetric measurements, It was observed that the LH was rather more sensitive to SMC than to RH signal. The polarimetric ratio (PR) value was considerably independent of roughness and it proved to be an optimum parameter for soil moisture estimation. The results obtained show the potentiality of GNSS-R for land remote sensing applications (altimetry, soil moisture content, and vegetation biomass determination). Possible future work will cover snow depth, ice topography, sea wind and wave height
Realtà Aumentata e Virtuale
No full textI metodi della rappresentazione e visualizzazione delle informazioni tecniche e specifiche di un manufatto edilizio tradizionali, sono generalmente rappresentazioni bi-dimensionali su supporto. Con l'introduzione del BIM e della componente digitale nella costruzione delle informazioni collegate al manufatto edile, ogni elemento è costituito da una serie di dati che nel complesso sono in grado di descriverlo in una maniera più precisa rispetto all'interpretazione della simbologia tipica della tradizione bi-dimensionale. Grazie al continuo sviluppo delle tecnologie e all'utilizzo dei dati inseriti nel modello parametrico BIM dell'edificio, è possibile integrare quelle informazioni in maniera più specifica nel campo della visualizzazione grazie all'interoperabilità della nel passaggio dalla fase costruttiva a quella manutentiva. Pertanto si decide di approfondire le tematiche di Realtà Aumentata (AR) e Virtuale (VR) come strumenti operativi di visualizzazione delle informazioni, per applicazioni legate al Facility Management (FM). Si è deciso di realizzare due diverse tipologie di applicazioni per mostrare le potenzialità raggiunte dalla metodologia di visualizzazione in VR delle informazioni di carattere gestionale e manutentivo degli edifici, che nello specifico risultano essere: (I) visualizzazione degli impianti dell'edificio, (II) visualizzazione di un percorso di esodo in caso di incendio. Entrambe sono state realizzate per un edificio caso studio. Per quanto riguarda il tema della AR si è deciso di realizzare due diverse applicazioni, utili in termini di manutenzione dell'edificio nella fase di occupazione e gestione dello stesso, riferite al medesimo caso studio, che sono: (III) visualizzazione dei dispositivi di illuminazione di un'aula e della posizione del quadro elettrico generale di riferimento; (IV) collegamento alla scheda di manutenzione di un asset tecnologico, che a titolo d'esempio corrisponde ad un ventilconvettore. In definitiva si dimostra come il percorso di digitalizzazione del settore delle costruzioni possa solo favorire la nascita di una rivoluzione tecnologica del settore che porterà ad innumerevoli vantaggi in termini ecologici, economici ed operativi
Influence of envelope design in the optimization of the energy performance of a multi-family building
No full textIn Europe, the recast of the Directive on the Energy Performance of Building and the consequent Zero Energy Buildings objective that has to be reached for all new buildings by 2020, lead designers to re-think building design as a complex optimization problem aimed at identifying the most effective strategies to improve building performance.These strategies can help reducing not only the climate change effect, but also the risk of energy poverty for low-income households. This work is intended to apply a simulation-based optimization methodology for optimizingthe energy performance of a multi-family building for social housing. The method combines the use of TRNSYS® withGenOpt®. A typical floor of a real case study was modeled and the impacts of the variation of several design parameters on the heating and cooling demand wereassessed.The optimization lead to reduce the primary energy demand of a floor by 36%. The resulted differences in performance and energy rating between flats were analyzed
The Variational Principle and the Phonon Boltzmann Equation
No full textThe thermal transport in a solid happens when the material is subjected to a thermal gradient. If free electrons are absent, the thermal transport is due to the phonons, the quasiparticles corresponding to the vibrations of the atoms of the crystal. The equation that describes this transport is the phonon Boltzmann equation. Here we show how to solve it by means of the variational principle
Environmental impacts of detergents and benefits of their recovery in the laundering industry
No full textDetergents are important compounds in numerous industrial processes with laundering industry being among their largest consumers. Due to their wide application, detergents are continuously developed to meet higher quality and environmental standards. Following this trend, this study discusses a life cycle analysis conducted on different detergents and industrial washing systems. In particular, detergent production, use, and feasible recovery in the laundering industry is evaluated. Detergent production shows wide impact distribution related to the various detergent sources, with a large influence on the ecosystem compared to the other impact categories. Calculations of the primary energy demand and the global warming potential reveal the fundamental role of the application of renewable resources in the detergent production phase. The calculated contribution of detergents in the overall impacts of washing processes is also significant: detergent use and discharge represent crucial issues to be addressed to reduce the environmental burdens of the laundering industry. Two membrane-based processes are thus proposed to recover water and detergents coupling the washing cycle with wastewater treatment and partial reuse. Addition of membrane setups to existing washing systems has negligible environmental burdens and energy demand, but it results in significant environmental gains: up to 50% of the overall impact can be reduced thanks to the recovery of resources in situ
Preparation and characterisation of an innovative injectable calcium sulphate based bone cement for vertebroplasty application
No full textDesign Thinking Applied to Data Storage Innovation: A Case Study
No full textThis paper presents part of a larger study that seeks to investigate the potential of the Design Thinking (DT) approach when applied to innovation processes especially on product and service development in the ICT industry. In particular, the DT approach is applied to the case study of a backup and storage service as a distributed, fog-computing infrastructure. Its functionality is based on sharing the available disk storage of personal and organizational devices. The case study presents the process of applying the DT approach and the way this can contribute not just to improve the solution in terms of customer desirability and market viability, but also the collaborative way of current technological design process. In particular, the DT approach, apparently hard, fuzzy and time consuming during the initial steps of the design process, proved successful in studying the relationship between the value propositions and the target clients of the innovative data storage service. A first co-design session helped to understand that the most important features enabled by the fog-computing paradigm, such as data security and privacy could be more valuable for a corporate context; thus the proposed solution shifted to a Business-to-Business (B2B) model. Other co-design sessions helped better understanding the service value proposition and final users