Early warning system for the prevention and control of unauthorized accesses to air navigation services infrastructures

Early warning systems are fundamental instruments for the management of critical situations since they are able to signal in advance any anomaly with respect to ordinary situations. The purpose of this paper is to present an early warning system, based on artificial neural networks, for the prevention and control of unauthorized accesses to the air navigation services infrastructure in Italy

Performance of insulation materials for historic buildings: case-studies comparing super insulation materials and hemp-lime

There is a challenge to reduce the energy use of historic buildings while preserving their cultural values. New materials and solutions are being developed that could contribute to improving the energy performance of historic buildings without altering their character defining elements. The aim of this paper is to technically evaluate and compare a ‘high-tech’ material (VIP) with a ‘low-tech’ material (hemp-lime) for adding insulation to historical fa\ue7ades. This comparison was made with respect to thermal properties and moisture performance, as well as available environmental impact data. The VIPs are characterised by reaching a high level of insulation although they are thin, which means they do not alter the proportions of the building the way thick layers of insulation do. Hemp-lime on the other hand has the advantage of being in line with the traditional materials already present in historic buildings

SEM tomography for the investigation of hybrid structures

The morphological investigation at the micrometric scale of a graphene - ZnO nanorods hybrid structure is performed by scanning electron microscopy. When operated in the scanning-transmission imaging mode, the detection strategy allows implementation of a tomographic approach to recover the three dimensional spatial arrangement of the sample constituents. This tomographic approach complements the serial-sectioning imaging methods and is suitable for thin, self-standing specimens

Reduced Graphene Oxide: fundamentals and applications

In this paper we report our recent studies on the fundamental physical/chemical properties of supported reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) obtained either via standard thermal annealing or under extreme-UV (EUV) light exposure alongside with investigations on its possible technological applications. rGO has been studied by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), micro-Raman Spectroscopy (μRS), and Optical Microscopy. rGO reduction degree has been calibrated on the basis of its color contrast (CC) providing a handy tool to quantitatively determine the fraction of sp The original choice of using EUV instead of UV light to photo-reduce supported GO is not only advantageous in terms of reduction efficiency but it also allows to introduce the concept of EUV photolithography (today limited to the silicon technology only) for the processing of graphene-based materials. Here we demonstrate resistless sub-micrometer GO photo-patterning over large areas ( 10 mm 2 ) This result is a relevant upgrade for the graphene-based technology that can take advantage, in this way, from the entire know-how of the EUV-based technology in view of an eco-sustainable all-carbon technology

Building age and energy use : Assessing the energy performance and saving potential in the historic residential building stock in Sweden

The energy use in the existing building stock must be reduced and historic buildings need special attention, both in terms of practice and policies. The general objective of this study is to provide an improved evidence base regarding the energy use in the historic residential building stock in Sweden. Data from the Swedish data base of energy performance certificates (EPC) has been used, which are based on measured energy use.  The aim is to use the building energy data to inform on the energy use in historic buildings. Since national data on heritage values in the building stock are unavailable age, is used as a proxy, and buildings built before 1945 are studied in more detail. In the study policies for energy targets are compared with the real energy performance of the older buildings in the building stock, and based on the results their possible contribution to energy saving on a national level is discussed.  Buildings built before 1945 stand for a significant part of the energy use in the Swedish building stock, and well planned measures, taking heritage values in account, could achieve significant energy savings. Buildings built before 1845 account for a very small part of the energy use for buildings and should not be prioritised in achieving national targets for energy saving. Buildings built 1945–1974 are those that use the most energy and where renovation could have limited impact on heritage values.  Apartment buildings with district heating built between 1845 and 1945 have an average energy performance that is twice the target for new and renovated buildings. The average value or the mode value of the group could be assumed to represent a realistic target. Using this method we could identify buildings or groups of buildings that represent best practice in a given segment of the building stock. General targets for energy saving when applied to historic buildings can result in negative effects on the heritage values of the buildings. This method and the results of this study can be used to set more realistic targets for policy planning and renovation aiming to improve energy performance in the Swedish historic building stock.

Building age and energy use : Assessing the energy performance and saving potential in the historic residential building stock in Sweden

The energy use in the existing building stock must be reduced and historic buildings need special attention, both in terms of practice and policies. The general objective of this study is to provide an improved evidence base regarding the energy use in the historic residential building stock in Sweden. Data from the Swedish data base of energy performance certificates (EPC) has been used, which are based on measured energy use.  The aim is to use the building energy data to inform on the energy use in historic buildings. Since national data on heritage values in the building stock are unavailable age, is used as a proxy, and buildings built before 1945 are studied in more detail. In the study policies for energy targets are compared with the real energy performance of the older buildings in the building stock, and based on the results their possible contribution to energy saving on a national level is discussed.  Buildings built before 1945 stand for a significant part of the energy use in the Swedish building stock, and well planned measures, taking heritage values in account, could achieve significant energy savings. Buildings built before 1845 account for a very small part of the energy use for buildings and should not be prioritised in achieving national targets for energy saving. Buildings built 1945–1974 are those that use the most energy and where renovation could have limited impact on heritage values.  Apartment buildings with district heating built between 1845 and 1945 have an average energy performance that is twice the target for new and renovated buildings. The average value or the mode value of the group could be assumed to represent a realistic target. Using this method we could identify buildings or groups of buildings that represent best practice in a given segment of the building stock. General targets for energy saving when applied to historic buildings can result in negative effects on the heritage values of the buildings. This method and the results of this study can be used to set more realistic targets for policy planning and renovation aiming to improve energy performance in the Swedish historic building stock.

Electronic structure of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminium(III) revisited using the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof hybrid functional: Theory and experiments

The electronic properties of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminium(III) (AlQ3) have been revisited using the screened hybrid Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof density functional theory. We show that such approach very well accounts for the experimental occupied (valence band spectrum) and unoccupied (inverse photoemission spectrum) states. Furthermore, the density of states projected onto nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon are compared with soft x-ray adsorption and emission spectroscopy, showing a very good agreement between theory and experiments. Finally, a fully theoretical interpretation of the carbon 1s core level is proposed

2D Materials for Gas Sensing Applications: A Review on Graphene Oxide, MoS₂, WS₂ and Phosphorene

After the synthesis of graphene, in the first year of this century, a wide research field on two-dimensional materials opens. 2D materials are characterized by an intrinsic high surface to volume ratio, due to their heights of few atoms, and, differently from graphene, which is a semimetal with zero or near zero bandgap, they usually have a semiconductive nature. These two characteristics make them promising candidate for a new generation of gas sensing devices. Graphene oxide, being an intermediate product of graphene fabrication, has been the first graphene-like material studied and used to detect target gases, followed by MoS2, in the first years of 2010s. Along with MoS2, which is now experiencing a new birth, after its use as a lubricant, other sulfides and selenides (like WS2, WSe2, MoSe2, etc.) have been used for the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices and for gas sensing applications. All these materials show a bandgap, tunable with the number of layers. On the other hand, 2D materials constituted by one atomic species have been synthetized, like phosphorene (one layer of black phosphorous), germanene (one atom thick layer of germanium) and silicone (one atom thick layer of silicon). In this paper, a comprehensive review of 2D materials-based gas sensor is reported, mainly focused on the recent developments of graphene oxide, exfoliated MoS2 and WS2 and phosphorene, for gas detection applications. We will report on their use as sensitive materials for conductometric, capacitive and optical gas sensors, the state of the art and future perspectives