A meteorological–hydrological regional ensemble forecast for an early-warning system over small Apennine catchments in Central Italy

Abstract. The weather forecasts for precipitation have considerably improved in recent years thanks to the increase of computational power. This allows for the use of both a higher spatial resolution and the parameterization schemes specifically developed for representing sub-grid scale physical processes at high resolution. However, precipitation estimation is still affected by errors that can impact the response of hydrological models. To the aim of improving the hydrological forecast and the characterization of related uncertainties, a regional-scale meteorological–hydrological ensemble is presented. The uncertainties in the precipitation forecast and how they propagate in the hydrological model are also investigated. A meteorological–hydrological offline coupled ensemble is built to forecast events in a complex-orography terrain where catchments of different sizes are present. The Best Discharge-based Drainage (BDD; both deterministic and probabilistic) index, is defined with the aim of forecasting hydrological-stress conditions and related uncertainty. In this context, the meteorological–hydrological ensemble forecast is implemented and tested for a severe hydrological event which occurred over Central Italy on 15 November 2017, when a flood hit the Abruzzo region with precipitation reaching 200 mm (24 h)−1 and producing damages with a high impact on social and economic activities. The newly developed meteorological–hydrological ensemble is compared with a high-resolution deterministic forecast and with the observations (rain gauges and radar data) over the same area. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) statistical indicator shows how skilful the ensemble precipitation forecast is with respect to both rain-gauge- and radar-retrieved precipitation. Moreover, both the deterministic and probabilistic configurations of the BDD index are compared with the alert map issued by Civil Protection Department for the event showing a very good agreement. Finally, the meteorological–hydrological ensemble allows for an estimation of both the predictability of the event a few days in advance and the uncertainty of the flood. Although the modelling framework is implemented on the basins of the Abruzzo region, it is portable and applicable to other areas

Tsunami risk management for crustal earthquakes and non-seismic sources in Italy

publishedVersio

Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments

The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: • Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments• Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks• Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication• Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs• Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks• Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures• Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques• Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications• Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems• Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin

A two-stage framework for designing visual analytics systems to augment organizational analytical processes

A perennially interesting research topic in the field of visual analytics is how to effectively develop systems that support organizational knowledge worker’s decision-making and reasoning processes. The primary objective of a visual analytic system is to facilitate analytical reasoning and discovery of insights through interactive visual interfaces. It also enables the transfer of capability and expertise from where it resides to where it is needed–across individuals, and organizations as necessary. The problem is, however, most domain analytical practices generally vary from organizations to organizations. This leads to the diversified design of visual analytics systems in incorporating domain analytical processes, making it difficult to generalize the success from one domain to another. Exacerbating this problem is the dearth of general models of analytical workflows available to enable such timely and effective designs. To alleviate these problems, this dissertation presents a two-stage framework for informing the design of a visual analytics system. This two-stage design framework builds upon and extends current practices pertaining to analytical workflow and focuses, in particular, on investigating its effect on the design of visual analytics systems for organizational environments. It aims to empower organizations with more systematic and purposeful information analyses through modeling the domain users’ reasoning processes. The first stage in this framework is an Observation and Designing stage, in which a visual analytic system is designed and implemented to abstract and encapsulate general organizational analytical processes, through extensive collaboration with domain users. The second stage is the User-centric Refinement stage, which aims at interactively enriching and refining the already encapsulated domain analysis process based on understanding user’s intentions through analyzing their task behavior. To implement this framework in the process of designing a visual analytics system, this dissertation proposes four general design recommendations that, when followed, empower such systems to bring the users closer to the center of their analytical processes. This dissertation makes three primary contributions: first, it presents a general characterization of the analytical workflow in organizational environments. This characterization fills in the blank of the current lack of such an analytical model and further represents a set of domain analytical tasks that are commonly applicable to various organizations. Secondly, this dissertation describes a two-stage framework for facilitating the domain users’ workflows through integrating their analytical models into interactive visual analytics systems. Finally, this dissertation presents recommendations and suggestions on enriching and refining domain analysis through capturing and analyzing knowledge workers’ analysis processes. To exemplify the generalizability of these design recommendations, this dissertation presents three visual analytics systems that are developed following the proposed recommendations, including Taste for Xerox Corporation, OpsVis for Microsoft, and IRSV for the U.S. Department of Transportation. All of these systems are deployed to domain knowledge workers and are adopted for their analytical practices. Extensive empirical evaluations are further conducted to demonstrate efficacy of these systems in facilitating domain analytical processes

Feasibility Study of Jet-Ejector Refrigeration Systems as a Mechanism for Harnessing Low-Grade Thermal Energy from Different Sources

[ES] Los sistemas de refrigeración por eyección activados por calor de origen renovable o fuentes de calor residual tienen el potencial de alcanzar ahorros energéticos significativos al sustituir o asistir a los sistemas de refrigeración tradicionales. Su campo de aplicabilidad es muy amplio y el presente trabajo se ha centrado en un estudio detallado de dos aplicaciones con gran potencial siguiendo un enfoque computacional: (i) generación de aire acondicionado activado por energía solar térmica y (ii) refrigeración de la admisión de un motor de combustión reutilizando la energía térmica disponible en la línea de escape de este. Las actividades de investigación han estado dirigidas a mitigar dos de los principales puntos débiles que caracterizan a los ciclos de refrigeración por eyección: su eficiencia relativamente baja y la incapacidad mostrada por la configuración base del ciclo de eyección para operar de forma robusta en condiciones de operación alejadas de las de diseño. La primera cuestión ha sido abordada principalmente diseñando geometrías de eyector altamente optimizadas usando técnicas de mecánica de fluidos computacional y optimizando la integración del eyector en el conjunto del sistema de refrigeración. La segunda cuestión se ha abordado caracterizando el comportamiento del sistema en condiciones de diseño y fuera de diseño. Se han propuesto dos estrategias avanzadas para hacer frente a la caída de prestaciones que sufre el sistema al operar en condiciones fuera de diseño, como son la utilización de eyectores de geometría ajustable o la implementación de tanques de almacenamiento térmico. La respuesta del sistema se ha analizado en condiciones fuera de diseño con dos aproximaciones temporales complementarias. Los modelos estacionarios se han usado para optimizar las diferentes arquitecturas de eyector y la operación global del sistema en ciertas condiciones de operación representativas, mientras que el análisis transitorio representa un enfoque más realista y tiene en cuenta la naturaleza impredecible e inestable de la climatología. El estudio se ha concluido con un análisis termoeconómico, el cual ha sido útil para discernir si los diseños altamente optimizados son competitivos al ser comparados con las soluciones de refrigeración que se encuentran actualmente consolidadas en el mercado. La principal conclusión del análisis en condiciones estáticas para la aplicación termosolar es que la transformación de potencia térmica a potencia de refrigeración puede alcanzar un rendimiento del 37.7%, mientras que el rendimiento global del sistema alcanza el 20.1% con diseños altamente optimizados de eyector para unas condiciones de evaporación y condensación de 13°C y 40°C, respectivamente. En condiciones dinámicas, la implementación de la geometría variable mejora en torno a un 40% el rendimiento del sistema de refrigeración, además de incrementar su operatividad. El tanque de almacenamiento térmico juega un papel relevante en este aspecto y, para una envergadura de colector parabólico de 7.1 m, un consumo nominal de 13.3 kW de potencia térmica del tanque ha resultado ser una solución de compromiso para mantener en equilibrio los principales indicadores de prestaciones. El análisis termoeconómico de la arquitectura más prometedora sugiere que el ahorro de coste operativo está lejos de poder compensar la elevada inversión inicial en equipamiento (16.905€ para una capacidad de refrigeración aproximada de 5.6 kW), destacando la dificultad del sistema para competir con las soluciones de refrigeración actualmente consolidadas en el mercado y resaltando la necesidad de considerar soluciones híbridas. La principal conclusión de la aplicación en motor de combustión es que la reducción de temperaturas en la línea de admisión por debajo de 4°C es factible, produciendo mejoras en el rendimiento volumétrico de en torno al 11%, no obstante, el sistema muestra vulnerabilidades al operar en puntos de motor diferentes al de diseño.[CA] Els sistemes de refrigeració per ejecció activats per calor d'origen renovable o fonts de calor residual tenen el potencial d'assolir estalvis energètics significatius al substituir o assistir als sistemes de refrigeració tradicionals. El seu camp d'aplicabilitat es ampli i el present treball s'ha centrat en un estudi detallat de dos aplicacions amb gran potencial seguint un enfocament computacional: (i) generació d'aire condicionat activat per energia solar tèrmica i (ii) refrigeració de l'admissió d'un motor de combustió reutilitzant l'energia tèrmica disponible en la línia d'escapament d'aquest. Les activitats d'investigació han estat dirigides a mitigar dos dels principals punts dèbils que caracteritzen als cicles de refrigeració per ejecció: la seua eficiència relativament baixa i la incapacitat mostrada per la configuració base del cicle d'ejecció per a operar de forma robusta en condicions d'operació allunyades de les de disseny. La primera qüestió ha sigut abordada principalment dissenyant geometries d'ejector altament optimitzades usant tècniques de mecànica de fluids computacional i optimitzant la integració de l'ejector en el conjunt del sistema de refrigeració. La segona qüestió s'ha abordat caracteritzant el comportament del sistema en condicions de disseny i fora de disseny. S'han proposat dos estratègies avançades per a fer front a la caiguda de prestacions que pateix el sistema quan opera en condicions fora de disseny, com són la utilització d'ejectors de geometria ajustable o la implementació de tancs de emmagatzemament tèrmic. La resposta del sistema s'ha analitzat en condicions fora de disseny amb dos aproximacions temporals complementàries. Els models estacionaris s'han usat per a optimitzar les diferents arquitectures d'ejector i l'operació global del sistema en certes condicions d'operació representatives, mentre que l'anàlisi transitori representa un enfocament més realista i té en compte la natura impredictible i inestable dels canvis en les condiciones climàtiques. L'estudi s'ha conclòs amb un anàlisi termoeconòmic, el qual ha sigut útil per a discernir si els dissenys altament optimitzats són competitius quan es comparen amb les solucions de refrigeració que es troben actualment consolidades al mercat. La principal conclusió de l'anàlisi en condicions estàtiques per a l'aplicació termosolar és que la transformació de potència tèrmica a potència de refrigeració pot arribar a un rendiment del 37.7%, mentre que el rendiment global del sistema arriba al 20.1 % amb dissenys altament optimitzats d'ejector per a unes condicions d'evaporació i condensació de 13°C i 40°C, respectivament. En condicions dinàmiques, la implementació de la geometria variable millora al voltant d'un 40% el rendiment del sistema de refrigeració, a més d'incrementar la seua capacitat de romandre en funcionament. El tanc d'emmagatzemament tèrmic juga un paper rellevant en aquest aspecte i, per a una llargària de col·lector parabòlic de 7.1 m, un consum nominal de 13.3 kW de potencia tèrmica del tanc ha resultat ser una solució de compromís per a mantenir en equilibri els principals indicadors de prestacions. L'anàlisi termoeconòmic de l'arquitectura més prometedora suggereix que l'estalvi de cost operatiu està lluny de poder compensar l'elevada inversió inicial en equipament (16.905€ per a una capacitat de refrigeració aproximada de 5.6 kW), posant de manifest la dificultat del sistema per a competir amb les solucions de refrigeració actualment consolidades al mercat i ressaltant la necessitat de considerar solucions híbrides. La principal conclusió de l'aplicació en motor de combustió és que la reducció de temperatures a la línia d'admissió per baix de 4°C és factible, produint millores en el rendiment volumètric de al voltant de l'11%, no obstant això, el sistema mostra vulnerabilitats a l'hora d'operar en punts de motor diferents al de disseny.[EN] Jet-ejector refrigeration systems powered by renewable heat or waste heat sources have the potential to achieve significant primary energy savings when substituting or aiding traditional refrigeration systems. Their field of applicability is vast and the present work has been focused on a detailed study of two applications with great potential following a computational approach: (i) air-conditioning generation powered by solar thermal energy and (ii) internal combustion engine intake air refrigeration powered by its exhaust line waste heat. The research efforts have been directed towards mitigating the negative effect of two of the main weak points of jet-ejector refrigeration systems: their relatively low efficiency and the incapacity of the baseline configuration to operate robustly away from the design conditions. The first issue has been addressed mainly by designing highly optimized jet-ejector geometries using computational fluid dynamics techniques and optimizing the jet-ejector integration in the overall system. The second one has been addressed by carrying out complete characterizations of the refrigeration system response in design and off-design conditions. Advanced strategies to face the refrigeration system performance decay away from design conditions have been proposed, like the utilization of adjustable jet-ejector architectures or the implementation of hot thermal storage tanks. The system response has been analyzed in off-design conditions with two complementary temporal schemes. The steady-state models have been used to optimize the jet-ejector architectures and the overall system operation for representative operating scenarios, while the transient analysis represents a more realistic approach and accounts for changes in climatic conditions, which have an unpredictable and unstable nature. The study has been concluded with a thermoeconomic analysis, which has been useful to discern if the highly optimized designs are competitive when compared to existing refrigeration solutions consolidated in the market. The main conclusions of the steady-state analysis for the solar application are that the transformation from thermal power to refrigeration power can achieve an efficiency of 37.7%, while the global efficiency achieves 20.1% when highly optimized jet-ejectors are used for an evaporating and condensing conditions of 13°C and 40°C, respectively. In dynamic conditions, the implantation of an adjustable jet-ejector brings improvements in refrigeration system efficiency of around 40%, besides improving its capacity to remain in operation. The thermal storage system plays a relevant role in this sense and, for a fixed parabolic trough collector span of 7.1 m, a nominal thermal power consumption of 13.3 kW represents a trade-off between the performance indicators subject to analysis. The thermoeconomic assessment of the most promising system architecture suggests that the operating cost savings are far from compensating for the capital expenditures (16,905€ for a refrigeration capacity of approximately 5.6 kW), evidencing the difficulties of the system to compete against refrigeration solutions currently consolidated in the market and outlining the interest in hybrid solutions. The main conclusion of the automotive application is that it is feasible to achieve in the engine intake line temperatures below 4°C, bringing improvements in volumetric engine efficiency of around 11%. Nevertheless, the system shows vulnerabilities when operating in engine operating points different from the design one.My most sincere acknowledgment to the whole CMT-Motores Térmicos team for giving me the opportunity of being part of it and the grant program Subvenciones para la contrataci ́on de personal investigador predoctoral for doctoral studies (reference ACIF/2018/124), awarded by Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital and the European Union for funding this project.Ponce Mora, A. (2022). Feasibility Study of Jet-Ejector Refrigeration Systems as a Mechanism for Harnessing Low-Grade Thermal Energy from Different Sources [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/18171

Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments

The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: • Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments• Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks• Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication• Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs• Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks• Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures• Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques• Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications• Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems• Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin

Correctness of services and their composition

We study correctness of services and their composition and investigate how the design of correct service compositions can be systematically supported. We thereby focus on the communication protocol of the service and approach these questions using formal methods and make contributions to three scenarios of SOC.Wir studieren die Korrektheit von Services und Servicekompositionen und untersuchen, wie der Entwurf von korrekten Servicekompositionen systematisch unterstützt werden kann. Wir legen dabei den Fokus auf das Kommunikationsprotokoll der Services. Mithilfe von formalen Methoden tragen wir zu drei Szenarien von SOC bei

Volume II: Thermal Behaviour, Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Sustainable Construction

This second volume of the Special Issue includes 13 contributions, from across the world, with very interesting research topics such as: Energy Intensity Reduction; Large-Scale Non-Residential Buildings; Dynamic Control of HVAC with Heat Pumps; Reed Potential as a Regenerative Building Material and Their Performance Characterisation; Experimental Evaluation of Energy-Efficiency in a Holistically Designed Building; A Case Study of Design and Energy Performance Analysis of a Hotel Building in a Hot and Dry Climate; Internal Convective and Radiative Heat Transfer Coefficients for a Vertical Wall in a Residential Building; Passive Façade Performance Evaluation with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) during the Architectural Design Process; Thermal Performance Improvement of Double-Pane Lightweight Steel Framed (LSF) Walls Using Thermal Break Strips (TBS) and Reflective Foils; Energy Performance of Buildings with Thermochromic Windows in Mediterranean Climates; Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates; Effect of HVAC’s Management on Indoor Thermo-Hygrometric Comfort and Energy Balance: In Situ Assessments on a Real nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB); Stochastic-Based Optimisation Approach towards the Integration of Photovoltaic Panels in Multi-Residential Social Housing; Effect of Climate Change and Occupant Behaviour on the Environmental Impact of the Heating/Cooling Systems of a Real Apartment: A Parametric Study through Life Cycle Assessment; Road Thermal Collector for Building Heating in South Europe (Italy): Numerical Modeling and Design of an Experimental Set-Up

Relational Quantum Mechanics and the PBR Theorem: A Peaceful Coexistence

According to Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) the wave function $\psi$ is considered neither a concrete physical item evolving in spacetime, nor an object representing the absolute state of a certain quantum system. In this interpretative framework, $\psi$ is defined as a computational device encoding observers' information; hence, RQM offers a somewhat epistemic view of the wave function. This perspective seems to be at odds with the PBR theorem, a formal result excluding that wave functions represent knowledge of an underlying reality described by some ontic state. In this paper we argue that RQM is not affected by the conclusions of PBR's argument; consequently, the alleged inconsistency can be dissolved. To do that, we will thoroughly discuss the very foundations of the PBR theorem, i.e. Harrigan and Spekkens' categorization of ontological models, showing that their implicit assumptions about the nature of the ontic state are incompatible with the main tenets of RQM. Then, we will ask whether it is possible to derive a relational PBR-type result, answering in the negative. This conclusion shows some limitations of this theorem not yet discussed in the literature