Fostering sustainable micro district heating: A tool for biomass boiler design

Biomass micro district heating networks can represent an opportunity for small communities to comply with European directives and achieve a sustainable energy supply. To foster their adoption, a facility management provider should rely on methods and tools to properly size the biomass energy conversion system, so that it can better suit the local community characteristics and requirements. To this end, the concepts of partial and complementary degrees-hour are introduced in order to partition energy flows along the whole heating season between the biomass boiler and the fossil fuel peak load one for each possible biomass boiler size. Basing on such division, the operational profile of the plant and related costs as well as carbon dioxide equivalent emissions can be evaluated. The methodology is embedded in a decision support tool, which provides the minimum cost solutions as well as the more environment-friendly ones. Results from the application of the tool to a real case of a mountain village are discussed

Assessment of LNG cold energy utilization for road vehicles and data-centres cooling using liquid air

This paper assesses a novel use for LNG cold energy utilization which liquefies air to be used in cryo-cogeneration systems adopted in road vehicles and data centres. The study investigates four scenarios which contemplate different combinations and levels of integration between the LNG terminal, the cryo-cogeneration system, the road vehicles (namely Transport Refrigerated Units and Public buses). The comparison amongst the four scenarios was conducted by considering the impact of the proposed solutions on CO2 emissions reduction and running costs savings.Published versio

Universal and Specific Services for University Students with Specific Learning Disabilities: The Relation to Study Approach, Academic Achievement, and Satisfaction

In recent years, an increasing number of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) have enrolled in universities. The present exploratory study examined the frequency of use and appreciation of universal (open to every student) and specific services (offered to students with SLDs) and their relation to age, academic achievement, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies. Participants were 147 Italian university students with SLD diagnoses (42 males; mean age: 22.49, SD = 3.29). Results showed that, overall, the frequency of use and appreciation of specific services were positively related to academic satisfaction, self-efficacy, and SRL strategies. Furthermore, frequency of use of compensatory tools and dispensatory measures was positively associated with academic achievement. These findings suggest that universities play an important role in supporting students with SLDs during their academic years by providing them with useful services and accommodations

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Optimizing allocation in floor storage systems for the shoe industry by Constraint Logic Programming

Floor storage systems are used in the shoe industry to store fashion products of seasonal collections with low quantity and high variety. Since space is precious and order picking must be sped up, stacking of shoe boxes should be optimized. The problem is modeled by assigning an integer code to each box basing on shoe characteristics (model, material, color, and size) and trying to force similar boxes into near locations to improve pickers ability of fast order retrieval. The model is encoded in Constraint Logic Programming and solved comparing different strategies, also using Large Neighborhood Search

Greening the food supply chain: An optimisation model for sustainable design of refrigerated automated warehouses

An optimisation model for the sustainable design of refrigerated automated storage and retrieval systems is proposed, which takes into account specific features of the food supply chain, such as temperature control. Rack configuration as well as surfaces and volumes of the cold cell are conjointly optimised in order to minimise the total yearly cost of the automated storage facility, introducing energy requirements both for refrigeration and picking operations explicitly, other than investment costs. Crane plus satellite systems are modelled in order to enable deep lane solutions and space savings, as suitable for cold storage. The model allows a deep analysis of the impact of supply chain decision variables, such as the facility location, the storage temperature and the incoming product temperature on costs, energy use and carbon dioxide emissions, so that storage facilities attributes for supply chain design models can be properly assessed to re-optimise the whole cold chain. The design problem is modelled and solved by Constraint Programming in order to easily manage non-linear functions

Multiple-weight unit load storage assignment strategies for energy efficient automated warehouses

Energy-efficient manufacturing claims for a change in warehousing operations management, moving from the traditional time-based perspective to the energy-based one. In automated storage and retrieval systems, this new approach leads to revise storage assignment policies, so that the least energy can be consumed by cranes for unit load movements. Dedicated energy-based policies and related zone shapes are analysed with particular attention to the role of unit load weight and the design option of rack stratification from floor to ceiling. Energy performance of dedicated, class-based, and random storage policies are then compared for different demand curves and rack shape. In order to enhance flexibility while maximising energy efficiency, new dynamic energy-based policies are also introduced and evaluate