On capabilities and limitations of current fast neutron-flux monitoring instrumentation for the DEMO LFR ALFRED

Among Gen IV projects for future nuclear power plants, Lead cooled Fast Reactors (LFR) seem to be a very interesting solution due to its benefits in terms of fuel cycle, coolant-safety and waste management. The novelty of the matter causes some open issues about coolant chemical aspect, structural aspects, monitoring instrumentation, etc. Particularly hard neutron flux spectra would make traditional neutron instrumentation unfit to all reactor conditions, i.e. source, intermediate, and power range. Identification of new models of nuclear instrumentation specialized for LFR neutron flux monitoring asks for an accurate evaluation of the environment the sensor will work in. In this study, thermal-hydraulics and chemical conditions for LFR core environment will be assumed, as the neutron flux will be studied extensively by means of the Monte Carlo transport code MCNPX. The core coolant’s high temperature drastically reduces the candidate instrumentation, because only some kind of fission chambers and Self Powered Neutron Detectors can be operated in such an environment. This work aims at evaluating the capabilities of the available instrumentation (usually designed and tailored for Sodium cooled Fast Reactors, SFRs) when exposed to the neutron spectrum derived from ALFRED, a pool-type LFR project to demonstrate the feasibility of this technology into the European framework. This paper shows that such class of instrumentation does follow the power evolution, but is not completely suitable to detect the whole range of reactor power, due to excessive burn-up, damages or gamma interferences. Some improvements are possible in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, by optimizing each instrument in the range of reactor power, such to get the best solution. The design of some new detectors are here proposed, together with a possible approach for prototyping and testing them by means of a fast reactor

new efficiency opportunities arising from intelligent real time control tools applications the case of compressed air systems energy efficiency in production and use

Abstract Most of the production facilities in Europe make use of compressed air to drive equipment for manufacturing and Compressed Air Systems (CAS) account for about 10% of the total electrical energy consumption of European industries. Therefore, reducing CAS energy consumption is a crucial task to meet the European goals of improving energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact of the industrial sector. This work is part of a wider research activity aimed at developing a strategy to optimize the energy use in CAS. In particular, this paper shows the importance of monitoring energy consumption and control energy use in compressed air generation, to enable energy saving practices, enhance the outcomes of energy management projects, and to guide industries in energy management. We propose a novel procedure in which measured data are compared to a baseline obtained through mathematical modelling (i.e. regression functions) to enable faults detection and energy accounting, through the use of control charts (i.e. variations' control and the Cumulative Sums). The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated in a case study, namely the compressed air system of a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant

The evaluation of buildings energy consumption and the optimization of district heating networks: a GIS-based model

The European buildings occupy a key place among the major energy consumer sectors, with high savings potential. The development of urban planning tools helpful to understand the right policy strategies turning the settled sustainable targets into real energy consumption savings is now a real challenge. Into this paper is described a methodology, for the mid-long term scenarios analysis, able to asses the buildings energy consumption of a municipality by means of a simulation approach and of a geo-referenced characterization of the stock. A thermal model, based on real consumption data, has been used to evaluate space heating energy demand; different savings opportunities have been simulated. Moreover, from the geo-referenced representation of the district heating network, through the integrated procedure, it is possible to perform the optimization of the network layout. A case study application in Turin is presented. Main results are the evaluation of energy consumptions, total costs of the interventions and the release of policy suggestions. Thanks to geo-referenced maps is allowed to put in evidence criticalities and policy effects through thematic maps. The methodology highlights the advantages of coupling a geographical information system application and energy demand forecasting model to build up a tool aimed at supporting decision-making

Topoi of technology in Italian 'experimental' industrial film (1959-1973)

After discussing some problematic premises of topic theory in relation to the study of cinema, the paper proposes to investigate audiovisual topoi by combining Rick Altman’s “semantic/syntactic/pragmatic” approach to film genre with the structural perspective on audiovisual “textuality” developed by Gianmario Borio starting from the reflections of Michel Chion and Nicholas Cook. This methodological framework is applied to the case of Italian industrial cinema. An outline of the history of this non-fiction genre presents technology as a semantic field emerging in relation to the rapid industrialization process during the period of the so-called Italian “economic miracle” (1958-1963). Pragmatic aspects play a significant role. In those years the major industrial corporations and centres for scientific research (Enea, Eni, Fiat, Innocenti, Italsider, Olivetti) invested in cinematographic communication as a means to promote their image and popularize scientific-technological information, taking advantage of state subsidies. On this basis industrial cinema became a field of conscious audiovisual experimentation. Among the musical collaborators we find prominent avantgarde composers engaged in the field of both electroacoustic and instrumental music, such as Luciano Berio and Egisto Macchi. Their contribution produced a radical change in the soundscape of the genre, directly affecting the audiovisual representation of technology. Particularly electronic and concrete music were the fundamental component in the recurrence of audiovisual structures forming new topoi. Among these emerge both topical configurations aiming at producing simple communicational effects and elaborate constructions involving the use of rhetoric figures

Search for dark Higgsstrahlung in e+e-→μ+μ- and missing energy events with the KLOE experiment

We searched for evidence of a Higgsstrahlung process in a secluded sector, leading to a final state with a dark photon U and a dark Higgs boson h', with the KLOE detector at DA Phi NE. We investigated the case of h' lighter than U, with U decaying into a muon pair and h' producing a missing energy signature. We found no evidence of the process and set upper limits to its parameters in the range 2m(mu) < m(U) < 1000 MeV, m(h') < m(U). (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

A Concurrent Perspective on Smart Contracts

In this paper, we explore remarkable similarities between multi-transactional behaviors of smart contracts in cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and classical problems of shared-memory concurrency. We examine two real-world examples from the Ethereum blockchain and analyzing how they are vulnerable to bugs that are closely reminiscent to those that often occur in traditional concurrent programs. We then elaborate on the relation between observable contract behaviors and well-studied concurrency topics, such as atomicity, interference, synchronization, and resource ownership. The described contracts-as-concurrent-objects analogy provides deeper understanding of potential threats for smart contracts, indicate better engineering practices, and enable applications of existing state-of-the-art formal verification techniques.Comment: 15 page

A long-term time series of global and diffuse photosynthetically active radiation in the Mediterranean: interannual variability and cloud effects

Abstract. Measurements of global and diffuse photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) have been carried out on the island of Lampedusa, in the central Mediterranean Sea, since 2002. PAR is derived from observations made with multi-filter rotating shadowband radiometers (MFRSRs) by comparison with a freshly calibrated PAR sensor and by relying on the on-site Langley plots. In this way, a long-term calibrated record covering the period 2002–2016 is obtained and is presented in this work. The monthly mean global PAR peaks in June, with about 160 W m−2, while the diffuse PAR reaches 60 W m−2 in spring or summer. The global PAR displays a clear annual cycle with a semi amplitude of about 52 W m−2. The diffuse PAR annual cycle has a semi amplitude of about 12 W m−2. A simple method to retrieve the cloud-free PAR global and diffuse irradiances in days characterized by partly cloudy conditions has been implemented and applied to the dataset. This method allows retrieval of the cloud-free evolution of PAR and calculation of the cloud radiative effect, CRE, for downwelling PAR. The cloud-free monthly mean global PAR reaches 175 W m−2 in summer, while the diffuse PAR peaks at about 40 W m−2. The cloud radiative effect, CRE, on global and diffuse PAR is calculated as the difference between all-sky and cloud-free measurements. The annual average CRE is about −14.7 W m−2 for the global PAR and +8.1 W m−2 for the diffuse PAR. The smallest CRE is observed in July, due to the high cloud-free condition frequency. Maxima (negative for the global, and positive for the diffuse component) occur in March–April and in October, due to the combination of elevated PAR irradiances and high occurrence of cloudy conditions. Summer clouds appear to be characterized by a low frequency of occurrence, low altitude, and low optical thickness, possibly linked to the peculiar marine boundary layer structure. These properties also contribute to produce small radiative effects on PAR in summer. The cloud radiative effect has been deseasonalized to remove the influence of annual irradiance variations. The monthly mean normalized CRE for global PAR can be well represented by a multi-linear regression with respect to monthly cloud fraction, cloud top pressure, and cloud optical thickness, as determined from satellite MODIS observations. The behaviour of the normalized CRE for diffuse PAR can not be satisfactorily described by a simple multi-linear model with respect to the cloud properties, due to its non-linear dependency, in particular on the cloud optical depth. The analysis suggests that about 77 % of the global PAR interannual variability may be ascribed to cloud variability in winter