1,720,983 research outputs found
Analysis and characterization of residential and non-residential water consumption at different levels of spatio-temporal detail
No full textIncremento demografico, urbanizzazione e cambiamenti climatici stanno esercitando una pressione sempre maggiore sulle risorse idriche. In questo contesto, conoscere le distribuzioni spazio-temporali delle richieste idriche con elevato grado di dettaglio risulta essenziale per lo sviluppo di strategie finalizzate a garantire le attuali e future condizioni di domanda, sviluppare tecnologie per il risparmio idrico e promuovere iniziative di sensibilizzazione a un utilizzo consapevole. Alla luce di ciò, la recente letteratura si è arricchita di numerosi studi finalizzati a investigare i consumi idrici, fino al livello di utilizzi finali dell’acqua (end uses) e con particolare riferimento al settore residenziale, mancando tuttavia di un’analisi dettagliata degli studi esistenti, inclusiva di un confronto sistematico e di un’elaborazione omnicomprensiva dei dati riportati. Inoltre, la maggior parte dei metodi recentemente sviluppati per ottenere dati di consumo idrico a livello di end use partendo dalle informazioni raccolte a livello di intera unità abitativa risulta generalmente in grado di elaborare solo dati a risoluzioni temporali difficilmente a disposizione dei gestori idrici. Nondimeno, ad oggi, solo un numero limitato di studi ha investigato i consumi idrici in contesti non residenziali o le variazioni di consumo a fronte di circostanze straordinarie quali catastrofi o pandemie.
La presente tesi si ripropone di contribuire alla caratterizzazione dei consumi idrici residenziali e non residenziali con elevato grado di dettaglio spazio-temporale e sotto diverse condizioni di domanda idrica. In primis, viene condotta un’analisi estensiva di più di cento pubblicazioni sui consumi idrici residenziali a livello end use, alla quale segue una discussione sistematica dei relativi contenuti e risultati proposti, con al fine di approfondire le caratteristiche di consumo residenziale in diversi contesti del mondo ed evidenziarne gli aspetti maggiormente investigati. Si presenta, altresì, una metodologia per la disaggregazione di dati di consumo idrico monitorato a livello di unità abitativa e la relativa classificazione nei diversi end use. La metodologia, basata su dati a una risoluzione temporale simile a quella della maggior parte degli smart meter tipicamente a disposizione dei gestori idrici, viene validata con dati raccolti in due differenti aree geografiche. La seconda parte della tesi si focalizza invece sulla caratterizzazione dei consumi idrici in contesti non residenziali non ancora investigati o sotto particolari condizioni di domanda idrica. Più nel dettaglio, viene fornita una panoramica sugli effetti del turismo balneare sui consumi idrici – analizzando l’impatto di stabilimenti balneari e case-vacanza in una zona costiera soggetta a elevate fluttuazioni turistiche – e si valuta altresì l’effetto della pandemia da COVID-19 sui consumi idrici, con riferimento a due differenti contesti urbani e fino al livello di singola utenza.
I principali contributi della presente tesi risultano i seguenti: (1) viene fornito un ampio database a scala mondiale degli utilizzi finali dell’acqua a livello residenziale; (2) si presenta una metodologia robusta e versatile per la disaggregazione end use dei dati di consumo idrico, ampiamente trasferibile ad altri contesti residenziali; (3) si dimostra l’impatto del turismo balneare sui consumi idrici e sulle relative distribuzioni; (4) si quantificano gli impatti del lockdown da COVID-19 sui consumi idrici a diverse scale spazio-temporali e con riferimento a differenti tipologie di utilizzo dell’acqua. Nel complesso, i risultati della corrente tesi possono essere di interesse per meglio comprendere le principali caratteristiche del consumo idrico in diversi contesti e scenari, supportando i gestori idrici nell’efficientamento dei sistemi di distribuzione e indirizzando gli utenti a un consumo più consapevole della risorsa idrica.Population growth, urbanization, and climate changes are leading large areas under water stress. Within this framework, a detailed information on where, when, and how water is being used is an essential requirement for effective strategies aimed at meeting current and future demand. To pursue this, more attention has been recently devoted to the investigation of water consumption at fine levels of spatio-temporal detail (e.g. up to the level of individual end uses of water), the knowledge of which can aid demand modelling, technologies for water saving, or campaigns aimed at increasing people’s awareness towards consumption. As a result, the recent literature includes numerous publications exploring the residential end uses of water, but systematic comparisons and elaborations of these fragmented data are missing. Moreover, collecting and processing end-use data may be challenging, since most of the developed methods to obtain end-use information from user-level data can exploit only data collected at temporal resolutions which may be unavailable to water utilities. Also, in some cases, non-residential users may consume a more relevant quantity of water, and with profiles different from those related to the residential uses of water. However, to date, research on non-residential consumption has been mostly carried out in relation to specific users, and typically at very coarse temporal resolutions. Nevertheless, it has scarcely focused on water consumption in the event of non-ordinary situations affecting people’s habits or the operational conditions of water distribution systems, such as disasters or pandemics.
The aim of this thesis is to take a step forward in the characterization of residential and non-residential water consumption at different levels of spatio-temporal detail, and by considering different demand conditions. First, with reference to the residential sector, a comprehensive analysis of more than one hundred end-use studies conducted worldwide is carried out – along with an in-depth discussion of their scope, features, and results – to investigate the main perspectives from around the world and highlighting which aspects have been mostly explored. In addition, an automated method for residential end-use disaggregation and classification – exploiting user-level data collected at a sampling resolution which is close to that of the smart meters available to water utilities – is developed and validated with data from two different geographical areas. Second, the water consumption of some still unexplored non-residential contexts, or under non-ordinary demand conditions, is investigated: in greater detail, insight into the effects of seaside tourism on water consumption is provided by exploring the impacts of bathing facilities and holiday homes in coastal area subjected to high tourist fluctuations, whereas an overview of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on water consumption is provided in relation to different urban contexts for which analyses are conducted up to the level of individual users.
Overall, the current thesis: (1) provides an extensive, worldwide database of residential end uses of water from which many future studies can be developed; (2) presents a generalized and robust method for end-use disaggregation and classification, widely applicable to several residential water consumption contexts; (3) demonstrates the effects of seaside tourism on water consumption and its profiles; and (4) quantifies the impacts of the lockdown imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19 on water consumption based on multiple temporal scales and in relation to different types of consumption. This thesis's findings can aid water utilities and their users in better understanding the major characteristics of water consumption in different contexts and scenarios, supporting the formers in efficiently managing water systems, and encouraging the latter to a more conscious use of water resources
Exploiting high-resolution data to investigate the characteristics of water consumption at the end-use level: A Dutch case study
No full textIn the water industry, an accurate estimation of end-use water consumption is helpful for the implementation of efficient water systems and water-saving technologies. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of water consumption at nine households north of Amsterdam (the Netherlands), subjected to water consumption monitoring at high temporal resolution (i.e. 1 s). Overall, 36,297 water-use events monitored over about 447 days were automatically segmented into 44,115 individual events by means of a new rule-based filtering algorithm, and then labelled by expert analysts. A multi-stage analysis was then conducted in order to evaluate daily per capita end-use water consumption, daily end-use profiles, average end-use parameter average, and their statistical distributions. The results achieved provide insight into the features of end-use consumption, confirming that the largest components are typically related to showers/bathtubs, toilets, and washing machines, whereas different end-use parameter distributions can emerge.Sanitary Engineerin
Detection and pre-localization of anomalous consumption events in water distribution networks through automated, pressure-based methodology
No full textAnomalous water-consumption events (AEs) can significantly impact the functioning of water distribution networks, and their prompt identification can improve the service provided by water utilities. This study proposes a new methodology for AE detection and pre-localization in water distribution networks relying exclusively on pressure-data collected in the field, which are exploited to evaluate differential-pressure trends for all possible pressure-sensors couples located in the WDN. In greater detail, AEs are detected and pre-localized by analysing differential-pressure trends over time. The level of deviation of these trends from the standard is considered to provide information about (i) AE alert levels and (ii) the area of the network where the AE is most likely to occur. The application of the methodology to two real case studies featuring different characteristics in terms of residential and industrial users demonstrated method effectiveness in detecting and pre-localizing individual and simultaneous AEs of different magnitude and occurring at different times of the day, providing useful information about the presence of AEs without the need for hydraulic models, and allowing the evaluation of their effects in terms of piezometric head alteration in the different areas of the system
Disaggregation of Household Water Use by Means of a Rule-based, Automated Methodology
No full textAn improved management of water resources is required to face the demand increase in urban areas and improve water infrastructure efficiency. The application of smart-metering technology to the residential sector allows to understand where and when the water is used supporting both customers and utilities. Moreover, additional information about water use at the domestic individual level can be obtained by coupling smart-metered data with a methodology for water disaggregation into end-uses. Recently, several techniques for automated water disaggregation have been introduced. Most of the developed disaggregation methods include the installation of a single smart meter (typically at the household water inlet point) and require high temporal resolution data, e.g. 1-10 second [1]. On the other hand, methods relying on medium resolution data e.g. minute [2], have not been tested in the water field yet, while lower temporal resolutions are not sufficient to perform a complete water use disaggregation at end-use level.
In this work, a new, rule-based and automated disaggregation methodology is presented. The approach relies on volume information recorded with minute readings by a single smart meter at the household inlet point. The developed algorithm makes use of deterministic rules based on physical water use parameters (i.e. duration, flow rate, consumed volume) to classify water events into end-uses. Unlike similar approaches, the disaggregation can be achieved with medium frequency (i.e. minute resolution), which is comparable to the frequencies characterizing the most widespread commercial smart meters
[Case report: the psychotic-mystical effects related to an unaware use of Salvia divinorum.]
No full textIt's well known that exotoxicosis can originate various psychiatric clinical pictures. The psychic impact of "classic" substances of abuse is well known and easily detectable with the usual methods of examination. In the last years new psychoactive substances (NPS) are spreading worldwide, determining not easily recognizable situations, with a significant clinical and organizational impact on psychiatry. In this case report, we present a clinical picture treated in hospital and outpatient settings in Vigevano (Pavia - Italy) and characterized by a psychotic onset secondary to an unaware use of Salvia divinorum. After the failure of two psychopharmacological treatment, the patient showed an excellent response to brexiprazole, with substantial restitutio ad integrum in the absence of significant side effects
An enhanced method for automated end-use classification of household water data
No full textAn accurate estimation of residential end uses of water is helpful in developing efficient water systems. If not obtainable through direct metering, this information can be gathered by disaggregating and classifying household-level water-use data. However, most automated techniques require fine-resolution data (e.g., 1 s) and end-use parameters which may be unavailable to water utilities. To fill the above gap, this study presents a method for the automated disaggregation and classification of indoor water-use data collected at the 1-min temporal resolution, and by exclusively relying on the end-use parameter values available in the literature. Specifically, the features of each water-use event detected at the household level are compared against the most common event features for the selected end-use category. The results obtained by testing the method with real data collected at 14 households in two different countries (Italy and the Netherlands) confirm its potential in disaggregating and classifying water end-use events with an average accuracy higher than 90% and an average (normalized) root-mean-square lower than 0.06 despite the lack of information about end uses in individual households. This demonstrates that end-use detection is possible even with data whose resolution is closer to that of most commercial water meters. HIGHLIGHTS An enhanced method for water end-use classification is presented. The method processes household water-use data collected at the 1-min resolution. Method performance is evaluated with data collected in different spatial contexts. General, literature-based, end-use parameter values are applied to test the method. Method average accuracy is demonstrated to be higher than 90%
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
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