Thermoeconomic analysis of Earth system in relation to sustainability: a thermodynamic analysis of weather changes due to anthropic activities

Recently, a new bioeconomic indicator has been introduced in order to avoid the difficulties in evaluating the process and technologies for sustainability. Indeed, the indicator has been based on the exergy and irreversibility analysis. The aim of this paper is to highlight how this new indicator could be used for the analysis of climate and weather changes. To do so, the thermoeconomic bases of the indicator are developed in order to link them to the thermodynamic analysis of the Earth system. The result is to describe analytically the effect of the anthropic activities on the Earth system, related to the variation of the Earth internal energy. So, this internal energy variation is linked to the increase in the intensity of the present rainfalls, by using the concept of mass of water vapour present in the dry air, used in the thermodynamic analysis of moist air. It is possible to point out the effect on the increase in mass of water vapour in the atmosphere, due to the increase in the mean Earth temperature and the related partial saturation pressure of water vapour itself

COVID-19 fear, post-traumatic stress, growth, and the role of resilience

Understanding the factors through which pandemic fear may be associated not just with distress, but also with growth outcomes is crucial to informing interventions across population groups and cultural settings. To achieve this aim, in a cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between the fear of COVID-19, post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth while assessing the moderating role of trait resilience. Findings showed that fear of COVID-19 was associated with both stress and growth outcomes and that resilience was a significant moderator of these effects. Specifically, trait resilience acted as a buffer against post-traumatic stress and as a booster factor for appreciation for life. Given the imbalance between needs and resources in times of global pandemic, interventions promoting psychological wellbeing should leverage existing resources and consider psychological resilience as a valuable target to protect against negative and optimise positive outcomes

Biomethanation of Rice Straw: A Sustainable Perspective for the Valorisation of a Field Residue in the Energy Sector

Rice straw represents a field waste. Indeed, only 20% of the rice straw produced is used in the pulp and paper industry. The larger amount of this field residue is burned or left in the field, which has very important environmental consequences. Recently, analogous to a barrel of oil, a metric approach to rice straw, the rice straw barrel, was introduced in order to assign economic value to this waste. In this paper, potential annual biomethane production from anaerobic digestion is evaluated, resulting in a range of biomethane created for each rice straw barrel depending on volatile solid (VS) content as a percentage of total solid (TS) content and on biomethane yield: 23.36 m3 (VS=73.8%TS, 92 L kg−1VS), 26.61 m3 (VS=84.08%TS, 186 L kg−1VS), 29.27 m3 (VS=95.26%TS, 280 L kg−1VS). The new concept of the rice straw barrel is improved based on a new indicator for sustainability, the Thermodynamic Human Development Index (THDI), which was introduced within the last three years. The improvement in sustainability by using rice straw barrels for different countries is analysed based on the THDI

A thermoeconomic indicator for the sustainable development with social considerations: A thermoeconomy for sustainable society

The United Nations action plan Agenda 21 has represented a milestone toward Sustainable Development. On its 40th Chapter, it is introduced the requirement to dispose of an accurate and continuous collection of information, essential for decision-making. Besides bridging the data gap and improving the information availability, it is highlighted the need to dispose of sustainable development indicators, in order to assess and monitor the performances of countries toward sustainability. In this paper, we develop an improvement of a new indicator, recently introduced linking environmental anthropic footprint and social and industrial targets. Here, we suggest a link with the Income Index, in order to consider also a condition of people well-being. Our results consists in an improvement of the present approaches to sustainability; indeed, we link the socio-economic considerations, quantified by the Income Index and the Human Development Index, to the engineering approach to optimization, introducing the thermodynamic quantity entropy generation, related to irreversibility. In this way, two different new indicators are introduced, the Thermodynamic Income Index and the Thermodynamic Human Development Index, which quantitatively express a new viewpoint, which goes beyond the dichotomy between socio-economic considerations on one hand and engineering and scientific approach to sustainability on the other one. So, the result leads to a unified tool useful for the designing of new policies and interventions for a sustainable development for the next generations

The Interpersonal Dimension of Pandemic Fear and the Dual-Factor Model of Mental Health: The Role of Coping Strategies

(1) Background: Current COVID-19 research has mainly focused on negative outcomes associated with fear of the pandemic with the examination of potentially positive outcomes remaining underexplored. Based on the dual-factor model of mental health, which postulates positive and negative dimensions, we assessed the influence of COVID-19 fear on both negative and positive mental health outcomes and examined the mediational role of coping strategies. (2) Methods: A convenience sample of 231 respondents participated in an online survey reporting on measures of pandemic fear (SFS), distress (HADS), post-traumatic growth (PTGI) and individual differences in terms of coping strategies (CSI-SF). (3) Results: Respondents’ main concerns related with the pandemic highlighted the interpersonal and social dimensions implicated in fear of COVID-19. As expected, fear of the pandemic was associated not just with negative but also positive outcomes, while different coping strategies played a role in determining such effects. More specifically, disengagement coping mediated the effects of fear on anxiety and depression, whereas engagement coping was the only mediator of the relationship between COVID-19 fear and post-traumatic growth. (4) Conclusions: Approaches to promote psychological wellbeing in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic should on the one hand be sensitive to the needs of the more vulnerable population groups, while on the other leverage existing resources to harness the potential for growth. Strengthening engagement coping in the context of fears triggered by the pandemic may constitute a valuable target to protect against negative and optimize positive mental health outcomes in the general population

Strengthening strategies for an Al alloy processed by in-situ alloying during laser powder bed fusion

In this work, a high strength Al alloy was successfully processed via in-situ alloying of AlSi10Mg and Cu elemental powders during Laser Powder Bed Fusion. To get superior strength, 4 wt% of Cu was added to AlSi10Mg composition to benefit from the additional solid solution and precipitation strengthening mechanisms induced by Cu atoms. Microstructure, chemical composition, hardness, and tensile properties of as-built samples were firstly determined. The microstructure showed a dual eutectic formed by Si precipitates intermixed with -Al2Cu phase. The average Cu concentration was 3.96 ± 0.26 wt% in line with the theoretical one. Hardness and yield strength of AlSi10Mg + 4Cu alloy showed an increase of respectively 8.8 % and 35.6 % compared to the as-built AlSi10Mg, owing to the highly super-saturated solid solution of Si and Cu atoms upon rapid solidification. After that, a direct aging heat-treatment strategy was pursued to fully exploit the potential alloy precipitation by heating as-built samples at temperatures between 160 and 190 °C. A maximum hardness response was achieved after 1 h at 175 °C. The high hardening was primarily attributed to a mix of -Al2Cu and Si phases coupled with a still high solid solution content. Nevertheless, direct aging slightly decreased the alloy ductility due to the prominent precipitation of brittle Si particles during aging and the presence of Cu inhomogeneities formed after in-situ alloying

THERMODYNAMIC APPROACH TO MODELING BIOFUELS PRODUCTION FROM MICROALGAE AND CYANOBACTERIA: THE ROLE OF ELECTROCHEMICAL POTENTIAL

Biofuels from 3rd-generation feed-stocks like microalgae and cyanobacteria are considered possible replacements of fossil fuels and a means to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2. There is a need to understand how to control microbial growth by manipulating environmental conditions to increase photosynthetic biofuel productivity and/or reduce manufacturing costs. A novel, non-equilibrium, bio-thermodynamic-based model was developed here to fundamentally link electrochemical potential, membrane electric potential, trans-membrane pH gradient, and external temperature with microbial proliferation and bio-system behaviour

Calabi-Yau cones from contact reduction

We consider a generalization of Einstein-Sasaki manifolds, which we characterize in terms both of spinors and differential forms, that in the real analytic case corresponds to contact manifolds whose symplectic cone is Calabi-Yau. We construct solvable examples in seven dimensions. Then, we consider circle actions that preserve the structure, and determine conditions for the contact reduction to carry an induced structure of the same type. We apply this construction to obtain a new hypo-contact structure on S^2\times T^3.Comment: 30 pages; v2: typos corrected, presentation improved, one reference added. To appear in Ann. Glob. Analysis and Geometr