Scalable methodology for the photovoltaic solar energy potential assessment based on available roof surface area: further improvements by ortho-image analysis and application to Turin (Italy)

The ongoing rush of the UE member states to the 2020 overall targets on the national renewable energy share (see Directive 2009/28/EC), is propelling the large exploitation of the solar resource for the electricity production. However, the incentives to the large employment of PV solar modules and the relative perspective profits, are often cause of massive ground-mounted installations. These kind of installations are obviously the preferred solution by the investors for their high economic yields, but their social impact should be also considered. Over the Piedmont Region for instance, the large proliferation of PV farms is jeopardizing wide agricultural terrains and turistic areas, therefore the policy of the actual administration is to encourage the use of integrated systems in place of massive installations. For these reasons, an effort to demonstrate that the distributed residential generation can play a primary role in the market is mandatory. In our previous work “Scalable methodology for the photovoltaic solar energy potential assessment based on available roof surface area: application to Piedmont Region (Italy)”, we already proposed a basic methodology for the evaluation of the roof-top PV system potential. However, despite the total roof surface has been computed on a given cartographical dataset, the real roof surface available for PV installations has been evaluated through the assumption of representative roofing typologies and empirical coefficients found via visual inspection of satellite images. In order to overcome this arbitrariness and refine our methodology, in the present paper we present a brand new algorithm to compute the available roof surface, based on the systematical analysis and processing of aerial georeferenced images (ortho-images). The algorithm, fully developed in MATLAB®, accounts for shadow, roof surface available (bright and not), roof features (i.e. chimneys or walls) and azimuthal angle of the eventual installation. Here we apply the algorithm to the whole city of Turin, and process more than 60,000 buildings. The results achieved are finally compared with our previous work and the updated PV potential assessment is consequently discussed

Public policies and food security and family farming networks: contributions to the construction of effectiveness indicators.

This work presents a methodology for investigating the performance of public politics regarding food security networks formed in Brazilian municipalities aimed at increasing income and employment in familiar farming. These programs need to further develop the methodologies used for studying their efficiency so that they can reach a new stage in the improvement and use of management tools thereby achieving beteer results of social inclusion and/or food security. This paper constitutes a first effort to bring together indicators for the evaluation of the efficiency of public politicies

Behavioral analysis of preterm neonates included in a tactile and kinesthetic stimulation program during hospitalization

OBJETIVO: Avaliar o efeito da estimulação tátil-cinestésica na evolução do padrão comportamental e clínico de recém-nascidos pré-termos (RNPT) durante o período de internação hospitalar. MÉTODOS: Trinta e dois RNPT, com peso ao nascimento inferior a 2.500 gramas, clinicamente estáveis e destituídos de asfixia perinatal importante foram divididos em 16 bebês do grupo controle (GC) e 16 do experimental (GE). Foram coletados dados da evolução clínica a partir dos registros hospitalares e da avaliação comportamental por meio de filmagens semanais de oito minutos, desde a inclusão do RNPT na amostra até a alta hospitalar. RESULTADOS: Tendência a redução do tempo de internação hospitalar, aumento do ganho de peso diário e predominância de comportamentos auto-organizados (respiração regular, estado de alerta, tônus equilibrado, posturas mistas, movimentação coordenada, movimentos de mão na face, sucção, preensão, apoio) para os RNPT do GE. A análise comparativa das idades pós-conceptuais divididas em intervalos (I - 31 a 33 semanas 6/7; II - 34 a 36 semanas 6/7; e III - 37 a 39 semanas 6/7) ressaltou, no aspecto motor, um tônus equilibrado e movimentação voluntária coordenada para os três períodos, maior permanência em posturas mistas (intervalo I) ou em flexão (intervalo II) e a obtenção de respiração mais regular na faixa etária I do GE. CONCLUSÃO: Destaque da estimulação tátil-cinestésica como método de intervenção durante o período de internação hospitalar, contribuindo para a auto-organização e regulação comportamental de RNPT. Artigo registrado no Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) sob o número ACTRN12610000133033.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of tactile and kinesthetic stimulation on behavioral and clinical development in preterm neonates while still in the hospital. METHODS: Thirty-two clinically stable preterm infants weighing <2.500 grams, with no significant perinatal asphyxia, were allocated to two groups: a control group (CG) in which no intervention was made (n=16) and a study group (SG) in which the newborn infants received tactile and kinesthetic stimulation (n=16). Data on the infants' clinical progress were collected from medical charts and behavioral evaluations by means of a series of weekly, eight-minute films recorded from the time of inclusion into the study until hospital discharge. RESULTS: There was a trend towards a shorter duration of hospital stay, increased daily weight gain and a predominance of self-regulated behavior (regular breathing, state of alertness, balanced tonus, a range of postures, coordinated movements, hand-to-face movement control, suction, grip, support) in infants in the SG. With respect to motor control, comparative analysis of postconceptional ages according to age-bracket (I - 31-33 weeks 6/7; II - 34-36 weeks 6/7; and III - 37-39 weeks 6/7) revealed balanced tonus and coordinated voluntary movements in all three periods, a longer time spent in a range of postures (age bracket I) or in flexion (age bracket II) and more regular breathing in age bracket I in the SG. CONCLUSION: In the hospital, tactile and kinesthetic stimulation was shown to have a positive effect, contributing towards adjustment and self-regulation of behavior in the preterm newborn infant. Article registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) under the number ACTRN12610000133033

On the correct surface stress for the prediction of the wind wave field and the storm surge in the Northern Adriatic Sea

This paper discusses which formulation of the surface stress over the sea determines the most accurate prediction of the wind wave field and storm surge in the Northern Adriatic Sea. The study shows that the results of the storm surge and wind wave models, when compared to the available observations, can be used for the validation of the surface stress and of the expression adopted for the ssr (sea surface roughness). The results are representative of short fetch and young wind sea conditions. The agreement between the results and the measurements shows the feasibility of the wind wave and storm surge predictions in the Adriatic Sea and supports the dependence of the ssr, and, therefore, of the surface stress, on the spectrum of the surface wave

Effects of the physical properties of water masses on microbial activity during an Ice Shelf Water overflow in the central Ross Sea

During the 1997-98 Italian Expedition to Antarctica a five-day mesoscale experiment was carried out on the continental shelf-break in the central Ross Sea. This area is oceanographically characterized by shelf/slope interactions, through intense mixing processes, between the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) and the Ice Shelf Water (ISW), coming from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf and spilling over the shelf edge. The export of dense shelf waters is of crucial importance not only for the mass balance of the basin, but also for carbon export from the upper layers into the abyssal ones. The study investigated how the ISW interactions with the CDW may influence bacterial metabolism during an ISW downslope event. In particular, what effect does this have on the bacterial activities related to the utilization and transformation of the organic carbon substrate (ectoenzymatic activities, carbon production, growth rate) within the ISW and the CDW cores? Our data show that in the CDW the metabolic response was to increase the biomass and enzymes were less active due to a higher nutritional value for the substrate. In the ISW the bacterial metabolic activity shifted towards degradative processes. These results suggest differences in the quality of the organic carbon pool with a greater concentration of labile organic matter in the CDW and of low-degradable compounds in the ISW. The use of microbial parameters seems to be very promising in the evaluation of the carbon export during mixing processes, when the refractory fraction of the organic carbon pool might play a key role

Formação de agentes de ATER em sistemas agroflorestais: a experiência da região sudeste.

Este trabalho apresenta a experiência de realização de capacitação e formação em sistemas agroflorestais para técnicos de assistência técnica e extensão rural da região sudeste, num curso de 80 horas, denominado Extensão Rural e Sistemas Agroflorestais: especificidades e práticas que teve o objetivo de sensibilizar e envolver técnicos de nível médio e superior para a implantação e manejo de sistemas agroflorestais junto a grupo de agricultores familiares. O referido curso foi realizado numa parceria entre o (MDA), através de seu (DATER) da Secretaria de Agricultura Familiar (SAF), e a Faculdade de Engenharia Agrícola (FEAGRI) da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) num projeto denominado Redescobrindo Saberes: novos caminhos da ATER. Foram abordados temas como a contextualização e problematização da ATER em Sistemas Agroflorestais, histórico de uso e ocupação dos biomas da região Sudeste, princípios de ecologia e sustentabilidade florestal; classificação de tipos de sistemas agroflorestais e seus princípios ecológicos e socioeconômicos; planejamento, implantação, manejo, sistematização e monitoramento de sistemas agroflorestais; políticas públicas. As aulas tiveram reflexões teóricas em articulação com práticas vivenciadas, com a finalidade de estimular a participação dos alunos do curso em processos reflexivos, partindo de suas percepções e conhecimentos, de modo a propiciar a construção coletiva do conhecimento e sua aplicação prática. Um resultado importante baseado na teoria e vivência prática foi a de construção de conceitos pelo grupo, e outro, o comprometimento com a temática, bem como a preocupação com a continuidade das discussões gerais e mais pontuais

Cryosphere-hydrosphere interactions: Numerical modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) at different scales

Conveyor belt circulation controls global climate through heat and water fluxes with atmosphere and from tropicalto polar regions and vice versa. This circulation, commonly referred to as thermohaline circulation (THC), seems to have millennium time scale and nowadays—a non-glacial period—appears to be as rather stable. However, concern is raised by the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (IPCC, Third assessment report: Climate Change 2001. A contribution of working group I, II and III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK) 2001, http://www.ipcc.ch) as these may affect the THC conveyor paths. Since it is widely recognized that dense-water formation sites act as primary sources in strengthening quasi-stable THC paths (Stommel H., Tellus, 13 (1961) 224), in order to simulate properly the consequences of such scenarios a better understanding of these oceanic processes is needed. To successfully model these processes, airsea-ice–integrated modelling approaches are often required. Here we focus on two polar regions using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In the first region investigated, the North Atlantic-Arctic, where open-ocean deep convection and open-sea ice formation and dispersion under the intense air-sea interactions are the major engines, we use a new version of the coupled hydrodynamic-ice ROMS model. The second area belongs to the Antarctica region inside the Southern Ocean, where brine rejections during ice formation inside shelf seas origin dense water that, flowing along the continental slope, overflow becoming eventually abyssal waters. Results show how nowadays integrated-modelling tasks have become more and more feasible and effective; numerical simulations dealing with large computational domains or challenging different climate scenarios can be run on multi-processors platforms and on systems like LINUX clusters, made of the same hardware as PCs, and codes have been accordingly modified. This relevant numerical help coming from the computer science can now allow scientists to devote larger attention in the efforts of understanding the deep mechanisms of such complex processes

A Presença do MST e da COCAMP nos Assentametos São Bento e Santa Clara/CHE Guevara

A agricultura familiar no Brasil apesar de ter ocupado um lugar secundário nas políticas agrícolas, persistiu e é atualmente um setor de grande importância social e econômica para o país, possuindo um papel de extrema relevância nos debates sobre a reforma agrária. No Estado de São Paulo, apesar da agricultura altamente modernizada e industrializada, a agricultura familiar faz parte da paisagem rural e, muitas vezes, esse tipo de agricultura é representada pelos assentamentos rurais. Desta forma, esse Estado configura-se no cenário de programas de reforma agrária, uma vez que conta com 167 projetos de assentamentos rurais, acolhendo 10.049 famílias em uma área total de 220.411,82 ha, com uma área agrícola total de 163.620,57 ha (Fundação Itesp, dez. 2005)

Etiological diagnosis, prognostic significance and role of electrophysiological study in patients with Brugada ECG and syncope.

BACKGROUND: Syncope is considered a risk factor for life-threatening arrhythmias in Brugada patients. Distinguishing a benign syncope from one due to ventricular arrhythmias is often difficult, unless an ECG is recorded during the episode. Aim of the study was to analyze the characteristics of syncopal episodes in a large population of Brugada patients and evaluate the role of electrophysiological study (EPS) and the prognosis in the different subgroups. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred ninety-five Brugada patients with history of syncope were considered. Syncope were classified as neurally mediated (group 1, 61%) or unexplained (group 2, 39%) on the basis of personal and family history, clinical features, triggers, situations, associated signs, concomitant therapy. Most patients underwent EPS; they received ICD or implantable loop-recorder on the basis of the result of investigations and physician's judgment. At 62±45months of mean follow-up, group 1 showed a significantly lower incidence of arrhythmic events (2%) as compared to group 2 (9%, p<0.001). Group 2 patients with positive EPS showed the highest risk of arrhythmic events (27%). No ventricular events occurred in subjects with negative EPS. CONCLUSION: Etiological definition of syncope in Brugada patients is important, as it allows identifying two groups with different outcome. Patients with unexplained syncope and ventricular fibrillation induced at EPS have the highest risk of arrhythmic events. Patients presenting with neurally mediated syncope showed a prognosis similar to that of the asymptomatic and the role of EPS in this group is unproven