Implementation of Sensors and Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Hazards Assessment in Urban, Agriculture and Forestry Systems

The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI), together with robotics, sensors, sensor networks, Internet of Things (IoT), and machine/deep learning modeling, has reached the forefront of research activities, moving towards the goal of increasing the efficiency in a multitude of applications and purposes related to environmental sciences. The development and deployment of AI tools requires specific considerations, approaches, and methodologies for their effective and accurate applications. This Special Issue focused on the applications of AI to environmental systems related to hazard assessment in urban, agriculture, and forestry areas

Academic Year 2019-2020 Faculty Excellence Showcase, AFIT Graduate School of Engineering & Management

An excerpt from the Dean\u27s Message: There is no place like the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). There is no academic group like AFIT’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. Although we run an educational institution similar to many other institutions of higher learning, we are different and unique because of our defense-focused graduate-research-based academic programs. Our programs are designed to be relevant and responsive to national defense needs. Our programs are aligned with the prevailing priorities of the US Air Force and the US Department of Defense. Our faculty team has the requisite critical mass of service-tested faculty members. The unique composition of pure civilian faculty, military faculty, and service-retired civilian faculty makes AFIT truly unique, unlike any other academic institution anywhere

INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES TO OPTIMIZE WATER RESOURCES

The focus on the rationalisation of the industrial consumption of energy and water has become central worldwide in the academic, governmental and industrial debate over the last 30 years. It is clear that water scarcity will become more and more critical worldwide, and that the increasing energy demand involved by the industrialisation of developing countries will provide a substantial contribution to this phenomena. However, Industry does not make many efforts to reduce freshwater demand, mainly for the low profitability of water optimisation projects, but also for practical issues that the operators may face when pursuing the water optimisation goal in existing factories not originally designed with this target in mind. The rationalisation of freshwater supply to industrial complexes involves the integrated application of different methodologies in the areas of Data Validation and Reconciliation, Pinch Techniques and Optimisation Methods. This study aims at testing the effectiveness of State of the Art methodologies for actual industrial cases to propose solutions to the potential technological gaps and limitations which might hinder their application. To pursue this goal, three practical exercises focused on actual industrial cases have been studied, the first two concerning a retrofit case and the last one a new design case: \u2022 The first exercise covers an existing industrial complex in the food industry (maize milling factory producing starch, sugars and co-products), where the problem of flowrates data reconciliation have been deepened. In this context, the issues related to the lack of measurements and fluctuating water (unavailability of direct analysis of water content in feedstock and product streams) have been addressed. A suitably modified data reconciliation approach, able to fit these specific requirements have been developed. \u2022 The second exercise consists in a Water Pinch Study aimed at targeting the potential freshwater saving in the base case and assuming the Reverse Osmosis treatment of a portion of the streams currently fed to the wastewater treatment facilities. \u2022 The third exercise covers the new design of a Reverse Osmosis Network (RON), where the problem related to the identification of the optimal arrangements of RO modules considering the goals of the treatment, the economics and the specific technical constraints of the system and RO modules have been studied. In this context, a numerical modelling algorithm suitably modified to reach robust and reliable solutions have been developed. The meaningful results obtained during the research activity can be summarized as follows: \u2022 the inclusion of statistical fluctuations in the composition of water in products, obtained by modifying the usual reconciliation algorithms; \u2022 the estimate the water savings obtainable, through the application of a well-established water pinch methodology; \u2022 the identification of the optimal arrangement of a RON (Process Synthesis problem) which involved the use of a modified Simulated Annealing algorithm

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2012

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering Physics

Development of a Local and Alternative Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) suitable for Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition

In order to produce a local Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) alternative to Plumpy 'Nut ® commercial, based on dehusked, roasted and pulverized soy and sorghum ingredients, Arthrospira maxima (Spirulina) dried and pulverized, sunflower oil and powdered sugar, based on nutritional specifications suggested by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the RUTF for the treatment of Acute Severe Malnutrition (MAS), a experimental design D-Optimal Design with three variables (sorghum and soy flours, sugar, oil) Of the twenty RUTF formulations generated by the software, thanks to the analysis of the selected response variables for rheological-mechanical and technological instrumental discrimination, are four optimal formulations were hypothesized, subsequently submitted to validation. Moreover, on these creams oxidative stability tests have been carried out, assuming extreme conservation conditions (30 ° C, 40 ° C and 60 ° C, exposure to atmospheric oxygen, without any barrier), typical of developing countries , where this type of product is intended to be used. Two of the four optimal ones were found to be more stable than the others. Furthermore, following a scale up that involved the use of a discontinuous semi-industrial ball mill, sensorial analyzes were carried out on the four optimal formulations, in order to obtain a sensory profile useful for assessing the potential acceptability of creams. Of the four, two, in particular, were more welcome by a trained panel and then by a hundred-person consumer test. Still, on the four optimal creams obtained in the semi-industrial mill, nutritional analyzes were performed on macronutrients and micronutrients. Finally, a bibliographic analysis was carried out on the latest updates on the socio-economic aspects of food supply in developing countries and on the costs of ingredients used