1,720,984 research outputs found

    Urban weather dataset for building energy simulations: Data collection and EPW file generation for Torino, Italy (2014–2023)

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    This dataset provides urban climate data collected from seven weather stations in Torino, Italy, spanning the years 2014 to 2023. The weather stations, operated by ARPA Piemonte, measure key meteorological variables, including air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and solar radiation. The data, initially in CSV format, were processed using Python to clean and merge the variables, computing missing parameters such as splitting global irradiation into its components and generating an hourly dataset for each year. Subsequently, a Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) was generated following the ISO 15927-4 standard. Missing data points were estimated using various interpolation and statistical methods to ensure data completeness. Finally, the data were converted into EnergyPlus Weather (EPW) format using custom Python scripts. This dataset serves as a crucial resource for urban climate studies and building energy simulations. It is especially valuable for assessing urban heat island (UHI) effects, supporting the generation of accurate weather files for simulation purposes, and enabling the refinement of design choices in urban planning. The data pipeline can be applied to other cities with weather stations and can also be used in future updates for Torino

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

    Hydrological Verification of Two Rainfall Short-Term Forecasting Methods with Floods Anticipation Perspective

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    Flood forecasting remains a significant challenge, particularly when dealing with basins characterized by small drainage areas (i.e., 103 km2 or lower with response time in the range 0.5–10 h) especially because of the rainfall prediction uncertainties. This study aims to investigate the performances of streamflow predictions using two short-term rainfall forecast methods. These methods utilize a combination of a nowcasting extrapolation algorithm and numerical weather predictions by employing a three-dimensional variational assimilation system, and nudging assimilation techniques, meteorological radar, and lightning data that are frequently updated, allowing new forecasts with high temporal frequency (i.e., 1–3 h). A distributed hydrological model is used to convert rainfall forecasts into streamflow prediction. The potential of assimilating radar and lightning data, or radar data alone, is also discussed. A hindcast experiment on two rainy periods in the northwest region of Italy was designed. The selected skill scores were analyzed to assess their degradation with increasing lead time, and the results were further aggregated based on basin dimensions to investigate the catchment integration effect. The findings indicate that both rainfall forecast methods yield good performance, with neither definitively outperforming the other. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that, on average, assimilating both radar and lightning data enhances the performance

    An innovative approach to select urban-rural sites for Urban Heat Island analysis: the case of Turin (Italy)

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    A novel metric – the Mean Temperature Difference (MTD) – is proposed for the selection of urban-rural pairs of stations needed in the Urban Heat Island (UHI) quantification. This metric highlights the thermal pattern typical of each weather station with respect to the average one of the area of interest. Afterwards, Principal Component Analysis is adopted to cluster stations into subsets exhibiting similar thermal behaviors. The joint use of MTD and PCA allows one to classify stations objectively and without the need of preliminary assumptions about the station landscapes. An application to the metropolitan area of Turin (Italy) and a comparison with validated methods to select urban-rural pairs demonstrate that the proposed approach is easily interpretable and reliable also when the study area exhibits a non-trivial landscape categorization

    The role of citizen science in assessing the spatiotemporal pattern of rainfall events in urban areas: a case study in the city of Genoa, Italy

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    <jats:p>Abstract. Climate change in the Mediterranean region is manifesting itself as an increase in average air temperature and a change in the rainfall regime: the value of cumulative annual rainfall generally appears to be constant, but the intensity of annual rainfall maxima, between 1 and 24 h, is increasing, especially in the period between late summer and early autumn. The associated ground effects in urban areas consist of flash floods and pluvial floods, often in very small areas, depending on the physical-geographical layout of the region. In the context of global warming, it is therefore important to have an adequate monitoring network for rain events that are highly concentrated in space and time. This research analyses the meteo-hydrological features of the 27 and 28 August 2023 event that occurred in the city of Genoa, Italy, just 4 d after the record maximum air temperature was recorded: between 19:00 and 02:00 UTC almost 400 mm of rainfall was recorded in the eastern sector of the historic centre of Genoa, with significant ground effects such as flooding episodes and the overflowing of pressurised culverts. Rainfall observations and estimates were made using both official or “authoritative” networks (rain gauges and meteorological radar) and rain gauge networks inspired by citizen science principles. The combined analysis of observations from authoritative and citizen science networks reveals, for the event analysed, a spatial variability of the precipitation field at an hourly and a sub-hourly timescale that cannot be captured by the current spatial density of the authoritative measurement stations (which have one of the highest densities in Italy). Monthly total rainfall and short-duration annual maximum time series recorded by the authoritative rain gauge network of the Genoa area are then analysed. The results show significant variation even at distances of less than 2 km in the average rainfall depth accumulated over sub-hourly duration. Extreme weather monitoring activity is confirmed as one of the most important aspects in terms of flood prevention and protection in urban areas. The integration between authoritative and citizen science networks can prove to be a valid contribution to the monitoring of extreme events. </jats:p&gt

    Variations on the Author

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    “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

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We 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
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