1,720,960 research outputs found
Energy System Optimization Modelling and Electrical Grid Management: The Case of Italy
No full textGlobal awareness of the need to decrease environmental impacts and the critical increase in the costs of traditional energy sources have motivated many countries to develop sustainable strategies based on the increasing use of renewables in their energy mix. Therefore, the way in which pathways towards a sustainable energy transition will be designed plays a central role for global sustainability. The energy planning is fundamental to ensure a sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy mix. In this context, energy system optimization models rise as accurate tools to support decision-making in energy efficiency and energy management. The aim of this paper is to review and update an optimization cost model for the energy mix planning and the electric grid management and its application to the Italian scenario. Considering a mid-term horizon from 2023 to 2030, the proposed case study considers a significant subset of the existing power plants and connections currently operating in Italy. Furthermore, the probable electricity demand, fuel cost, and carbon price profiles until 2030 are included as well as the main features of the renewables and fossil fuel plants. The results include the optimal production mix planning, the energy flows analysis, and the identification of critical energy areas
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Early Defect Prediction in Manufacturing: A Cross-Sectorial Review to Enhance Quality and Sustainability Targets
No full textReducing defects and waste in manufacturing systems and processes leads to increased quality and sustainability standards. Low-quality production not only undermines economic viability but also exacerbates environmental degradation due to the overuse of resources, materials, and energy and higher waste generation, as indicated by lean philosophy. Defect prediction, a recent and promising practice within the Zero-Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) paradigm, enables the early management of product non-conformities. The comprehensive understanding of the root causes of defects and the development of sustainable long-term strategies to promptly intercept them are fundamental to the sustainability of manufacturing systems from a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) perspective. This review paper aims to explore existing knowledge on predicting and preventing defects in manufacturing systems and processes in various industrial sectors, with a specific focus on strategies that foster quality improvement and environmental sustainability. Insights gleaned from previous research allow for identifying pathways for integrating sustainability principles into defect prediction and prevention strategies, thereby aligning manufacturing practices to sustainability objectives
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Reconfigurable Manufacturing System Design Using a Genetic Algorithm
No full textIn the modern context governed by Industry 4.0, Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) rose as an effective production strategy able to cope with the increased product variety, the dynamic market demand and the need for flexible production batches. The manufacturing environment is usually made of a set of intelligent machines, i.e. Reconfigurable Machine Tools (RMTs), consisting of basic and auxiliary modules, which allow performing different operations. In this context, this paper proposes an optimization model for the dynamic design of RMSs with alternative part routing and multiple time periods, aiming at determining the part routing mix and the auxiliary module allocation best balancing the part flows among RMTs and the effort to install the modules on the machines. The model is solved through the application of a genetic algorithm applying different crossover operators and different threshold values for the occurrence of crossover and mutation processes. Results from the considered instance highlight that the two point crossover operator allows achieving the lowest fitness value, i.e. the lowest value of the defined objective function, getting a manufacturing system configuration characterized by low inter-cell part flow and machine reconfiguration time
The potential of Industry 4.0 toward smart grids: opportunities and challenges
Get PDFThe technology progresses based on the ‘Industry 4.0’ paradigm, the cornerstone role of the electrical energy grid to feed industries and the need of increasing the share of the renewable energy sources in the global energy mix to address the climate change, are some of the key factors asking for efficient, reliable and smart energy systems. Smart grid projects are emerging across the European continent as a promising approach for relieving the energy crisis, increasing the adoption of the renewables, and building high-resilient grids. Decentralized systems, compared to the traditional energy grids fuelled by large scale fossil-fuel power plants, join greater flexibility to high efficiency. In addition, they increase the overall system reliability, limiting supply interruptions and facility inefficiencies. In this context, the ‘Industry 4.0’ technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, Big Data analytics, can help and enable the real-time system running. However, integrating and coordinating a complex and bidirectional network of nodes is more challenging than a conventional centralized grid system. At the same time, ‘Industry 4.0’ provides several solutions in this field. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential of smart grids, ‘Industry 4.0’ enabling technologies, and current applications focusing on the architecture of smart grid energy systems. Opportunities and challenges of the smart grids are presented and exemplified through an energy and information flows management framework ‘Industry 4.0’-based
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