Integrating vehicle specific power methodology and microsimulation in estimating emissions on urban roundabouts

In this study pollutant emissions were estimated from VSP modal emission rates and the distribution of time spent in each VSP mode obtained from the speed profiles both gathered in the field and simulated in AIMSUN at a sample of urban roundabouts. The versatility of the micro-simulation model for a calibration aimed at improving accuracy of emissions estimates was tested in order to ensure that second-by-second trajectories experienced in the field by a test vehicle through the sampled roundabouts properly reflected the simulated speed profiles. The first results which the thesis will refer, confirmed the feasibility of the smart approach that integrates the use of field-observed and simulated data to estimate emissions at urban roundabouts. It is also revealed friendly in collecting information via smartphone and in the subsequent data analysis and provided suggestions for large-scale data collection through a digital community. Another goal of this research is to investigate about the environmental performance after a conversion of a traditional existing roundabout into a turbo-roundabout. This aspect has been considered a positive approach for a novel attitude in the performance evaluation of road networks to align the infrastructural design with the aim of sustainable and low-emission mobility. The main finding provided from this study is referred to the positive potential of a novel attitude in the conceptualization and performance evaluation of road units in order to align urban infrastructural projects with the worldwide shared long-term ambitions for a low-emission mobility

Gas rotation in massive galaxy clusters with axisymmetric potential: models and perspectives for X-ray observations

L'obiettivo della Tesi è lo studio del moto dell’ICM in rotazione in ammassi e fare dei test osservativi per i futuri telescopi in banda X, come ATHENA. Nel lavoro realizzato da Bianconi (2013) studiarono la rotazione del gas in ammassi con un potenziale sferico di NFW utilizzando profili di velocità, valutandone gli effetti sull’ellitticità delle isofote X; nella seconda parte il lavoro si focalizzò nello studio di spettri simulati utilizzando le specifiche del calorimetro di Astro-H. Utilizzando il metodo presentato da Ciotti and Bertin abbiamo espanso il potenziale gravitazionale in forma ellissoidale.Abbiamo assunto uno schiacciamento del potenziale di ∼0.4. Abbiamo ricreato potenziali oblati e prolati per verificare come le diverse geometrie avessero effetti sugli osservabili dell’ICM.In particolare abbiamo considerato aloni di dark matter assialsimmetrici con un profilo di NFW e con un rapporto assiale di ∼0.6 e abbiamo confrontato lo schiacciamento delle isofote con i risultati di Lau (2012). Abbiamo misurato uno schiacciamento medio di ~0.13 per quanto riguarda i modelli non rotanti e di ~0.16 per quanto concerne i modelli rotanti, sia nel caso oblato che prolato. L’ultima parte del lavoro presenta uno studio degli spettri X simulati a diversi raggi dal centro degli ammassi dopo che si è convoluta la brillanza con la risposta strumentale dello spettrometro X-IFU di ATHENA per misurare il moto coerente del gas. Abbiamo misurato uno spostamento Doppler della riga a 6.7 keV dell’ordine di ∼5 eV, corrispondente ad una velocità di ~1000 km/s, per i modelli oblati.Nei modelli prolati invece abbiamo trovato uno spostamento del centroide di ∼15 eV, consistente con una velocità superiore a 2400 km/s. Dopo aver valutato lo spostamento della riga abbiamo analizzato l’allargamento dovuto alla dispersione di velocità. Abbiamo quindi trovato che nelle regioni interne si raggiunge un allargamento di 1000 km/s per i modelli prolati mentre per gli oblati di ~300 km/s

Landscapes of inequality, spectacle and control: Inka social order in provincial contexts, with comments of Sonia Alconini, Gabriel Cantarutti, R. Alan Covey, Ian Farrington, Martti Pärssinen y Simón Urbina

Th is article explores Inka colonial order from a landscape perspective. It is argued that the Inkas strategically employed the spatial organization and architecture of the settlements they built throughout the Empire in order to regulate interactions, create particular representations, and assemble specific experiences. In this sense, this paper examines the spatial layout of Inka provincial centers in order to understand the world the Inkas sought to create within these places. I argue that there are three main principles that organized Inka spatiality in conquered lands: stratifi cation, rituality, and control. It is claimed that those who resided in or visited Inka provincial centers experienced three overlapping landscapes: 1) a landscape of inequality, 2) a landscape of commemoration and spectacle, and 3) a landscape of control.Este artículo explora el orden colonial Inka desde la perspectiva del paisaje. Se argumenta que los Inkas emplearon estratégicamente la organización espacial y la arquitectura de los asentamientos que construyeron a lo largo del Imperio con el objeto de regular las interacciones, crear representaciones particulares y ensamblar experiencias específicas. En este sentido, este trabajo examina el diseño espacial de los centros provinciales Inkas para entender el mundo que los Inkas buscaban crear dentro de estos lugares. Argumento que hubo tres principios que organizaron la espacialidad Inka en las tierras conquistadas: la estratificación, la ritualidad y el control. Se sostiene que aquellos que residían o visitaban un centro provincial Inka experimentaron tres paisajes superpuestos: 1) un paisaje de desigualdad, 2) un paisaje de conmemoración y espectáculo y 3) un paisaje de control

Towards an Engaged, Militant Archaeology

It is not a secret that archaeology is not a politically innocuous enterprise. Throughout its history, and in the name of science, modernity, and the state, the discipline has appropriated minorities’ heritage, generating representations that have contributed with their subordination and denial. For some decades now, scholars have critically reflected about archaeology’s social role, its contribution to sustain Western, capitalist hegemony, and the negative impact that archaeological narratives have had on different collectives. In this light, the decolonisation of the discipline and the construction of a more reflexive, open, tolerant, and democratic archaeology have become valuable goals. Although some believe that archaeology is no longer what it used to be, in actuality only a small group of scholars have developed an engaged, activist archaeology. Just by attending any archaeology congress in the First World or in Latin America, we can easily realize that the great majority of our colleagues still maintain a bourgeois fascination about the exotic, conducting an uncommitted, apolitical, and increasingly hyper specialized archaeology. Archaeologists keep discussing topics that, in the great majority of the cases, only interest other archaeologists

Leave no city behind

Close to 4 billion people live in cities. As the driver of environmental challenges, accounting for nearly 70% of the world's carbon emissions, and as sites of critical social disparities, with 863 million dwellers now living in slums, urban settlements are at the heart of global change. This momentum is unlikely to disappear, as approximately 70 million more people will move to cities by the end of this year alone. The good news is that recent multilateral processes are now appreciating this key role of cities and are increasingly prioritizing urban concerns in policy-making. Yet, how can we ensure that these steps toward a global urban governance leave no city, town, or urban dweller behind

The Foreign Policy of Cities

Over the last decade, cities have gained increasing prominence on the world stage. Simon Curtis and Michele Acuto show how and why cities are increasingly flexing their economic and political muscles, and discuss some of the constraints cities face in developing their own foreign policies, as well as the differences between city-based diplomatic activity and traditional state foreign policy. Finally, they discuss the significance of city diplomacy trends for thinking about the international system

Publishers respond to growing need for collaboration by offering an open access home for interdisciplinary research.

The new journal Palgrave Communications aims to support interdisciplinary development by offering a high-quality outlet for research in the humanities, the social sciences and business, hoping to foster interaction, creativity and reflection within and between disciplines. Sam Burridge provides an initial overview of the new outlet. But developing truly collaborative research takes time, a feature with little appreciation in funding and policy demands, and dialogue. Editorial board member Michele Acuto finds that as we strive for truly interdisciplinary research, between social and natural sciences, and for truly global research, as a balanced dialogue between north and south, the issue of how and where we publish is an important facet of interdisciplinary development

Science Diplomacy: Introduction to a Boundary Problem

Scientific advancements, their application through technological development, and world politics have been long acknowledged as affecting each other, and are today more than ever at the heart of global policy. Speaking of ‘science diplomacy’ as the encounter of world politics and the world of science at the heart of these advancements might be a unique window into our time. This potential is what prompts this special issue to gather views from a variety of scholarly and practical viewpoints, linking the well‐established world of reflective practitioners in science diplomacy to the growing field of international relations (IR) scholars theorising this realm. Can speaking of ‘science diplomacy’ situate our attention at the crossroads of science and international relations, and spur greater appreciation for their intersections? This introduction to the special issue summarises the rise of science diplomacy as field of inquiry, and casts questions as to the need to advance, where not reform, these conceptualisations. It defines science diplomacy as a ‘boundary problem’ par excellence and emphasises its ‘productive tension’ that emerges between the various ways of knowing of actors belonging to ‘different social worlds’, seeking to gather a productive tension of views on this theme in the issue