354 research outputs found
Are You SURE You Want to Waste Policy Chances? Waste Generation, Landfill Diversion and Environmental Policy Effectiveness in the EU15
We empirically test delinking of waste dynamics with regard to economic growth and the effectiveness of environmental and specific waste-related policies, by exploiting a newly constructed, integrated waste-economic-policy dataset based on official data for the EU15 for 1995-2007. We find that absolute delinking for waste generation is far from being achieved in the EU despite fairly stringent and longstanding policy commitment that goes back to the mid 1990s, but which however is biased towards waste management and waste disposal rather than waste prevention. Policy as well as country structural factors seem to impact instead on landfill diversion. Nevertheless, country heterogeneity matters: SURE based analyses show that EU average figures often hide high variance. Their results provide food for thought for a future most comprehensive EU waste policy strategy, which is now aimed mainly at landfill diversion, within a framework strongly oriented to allowing countries to decide about the implementation of EU directives.Waste Generation, Landfill Diversion, SUR, EU Waste Policy, Environmental Policy, Delinking
Measurement of small forces in the physics of gravitation and geophysics
The measurement of weak forces or accelerations is of fundamental importance in a variety of problems in science and technology. This topic is addressed in this paper with particular attention to gravity measurements. A general
review of the current gravity measurement techniques in geophysics, general relativity and gravitation is first presented. Then, a general description of the instruments used for gravitational measurements and a brief analysis of the noise sources are discussed
Innovative Configuration for a Far Infrared Space Interferometer
In the last ten years many proposals and studies have been advanced for a far-IR kilometer baseline interferometer. This paper shows the results of FISICA (Far Infrared Space Interferometer Critical Assessment), an FP7 program of the European Community. In particular, we focus on an innovative strategy to cover the plane of observation with a minimal propellant consumption. Results of some numerical simulations, carried out for a three-booms configuration, are provided
Tidal tilts observations in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory
A new tiltmeter, based on the technology for building a space-borne high-sensitivity accelerometer and manufactured at IFSI/CNR, has been operating during several years in the INFN Gran Sasso underground laboratory. The results of the analysis of a three-year data set, processed with the program package ETERNA, to estimate earthtidal parameters are reported. For the best series of data (1998) tide measurement accuracies are: 0.5–1% for the M2 (lunar principal) amplitude and 3–4% for the O1 (lunar declination) amplitude. The tiltmeter installed at a depth
of 1400m shows no clear evidence of meteorological effects. Observed tidal parameters are compared with theoretical tidal parameters predicted for a non-hydrostatic inelastic Earth model and demonstrate good agreement for the M2 component. Due to the high accuracy of the tidal components prediction (better than 1%) tidal measurements were used to estimate the long-term stability of the instrument response
Experimental gravitation and geophysics
Seismic noise is the major obstacle to performing sensitive
measurements of the gravitational field on the ground. The INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) underground laboratory in Gran Sasso, L’Aquila(Italy), seems to be a favourable place from the environmental noise point of view.
This paper describes briefly two, relatively low cost, gravity experiments that can be performed in the underground laboratory: a) A measurement of preferred-frame and preferred-location effects. b) A test of the equivalence principle. Preliminary experimental data of the seismic noise are also presented
Deep Sea Gravity Measurements: GEOSTAR-2 Mission Results
A new concept gravity meter with sensitivity close to Hz ms / 10 2 8 − − in the range of 10 -5 −1Hz intended for observation of the vertical component of the Earth gravity and
teleseismic waves was implemented at the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
(IFSI), CNR and successfully operated during the GEOSTAR-2 mission. The gravimeter has
demonstrated a capability to operate for long time in an autonomous regime and a good
reliability for operation in extreme environments; at the same time the experimental
measurements gave the information for the further gravimeter’s implementation. Results of
observation and data analysis included the registration of seismic waves excited by global
earthquakes and the evaluation of the low frequency modes of free oscillations of the Earth
are reported
Machine learning-based method for linearization and error compensation of an absolute rotary encoder
The main objective of this work is to develop a miniaturized, high accuracy,
single-turn absolute, rotary encoder called ASTRAS360. Its measurement
principle is based on capturing an image that uniquely identifies the rotation
angle. To evaluate this angle, the image first has to be classified into its
sector based on its color, and only then can the angle be regressed. In-spired
by machine learning, we built a calibration setup, able to generate labeled
training data automatically. We used these training data to test, characterize,
and compare several machine learning algorithms for the classification and the
regression. In an additional experiment, we also characterized the tolerance of
our rotary encoder to eccentric mounting. Our findings demonstrate that various
algorithms can perform these tasks with high accuracy and reliability;
furthermore, providing extra-inputs (e.g. rotation direction) allows the
machine learning algorithms to compensate for the mechanical imperfections of
the rotary encoder.Comment: This paper was submitted for publication to Measurement (Elsevier) on
the 7th July 202
Ambient vibrations of age-old masonry towers: results of long-term dynamic monitoring in the historic centre of Lucca
The paper presents the results of an ambient vibration monitoring campaign
conducted on so-called Clock Tower (Torre delle Ore), one the best known and
most visited monuments in the historic centre of Lucca. The vibrations of the
tower were continuously monitored from November 2017 to March 2018 using
high-sensitivity instrumentation. In particular, four seismic stations provided
by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and two three-axial
accelerometers developed by AGI S.r.l., spin-off of the Istituto Nazionale di
Astrofisica, were installed on the tower. The measured vibration level was
generally very low, since the structure lies in the middle of a limited traffic
area. Nevertheless, the availability of two different types of highly sensitive
and accurate instruments allowed the authors to follow the dynamic behaviour of
the tower during the entire monitoring period and has moreover provided
cross-validation of the results
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