Tools for optimal operation and planning or urban distribution systems

This paper reports on the results of the implementation of a set of software tools for the comprehensive analysis and optimisation of distribution systems, developed jointly by Azienda Energetica Metropolitana (AEM) Torino S.p.A. and Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica Industriale - Politecnico di Torino. The software tools cover several aspects of distribution system analysis, fault current calculation, reliability assessment, total operating cost evaluation, optimal reconfiguration, optimal planning and service restoration

Animal welfare and gender: a nexus in awareness and preference when choosing fresh beef meat?

The modern consumer is now more attentive towards animal welfare practices and this represents an important factor when purchasing meat, whereby ethical, sociological and economic implications are evaluated. In addition, the socio-demographic characteristics of consumers evidence different sensitivities with regard to selection patterns and consumption styles. This study aims to explore the role of Gender in beef meat purchasing preferences, assessing consumer awareness of responsibility towards animal welfare, through the use of cross-tabulation with χ2 to test the different behaviour of men and women and the use of principal component analysis and cluster analysis to classify attitudes of choice according to gender. Among the research aims, this study examined consumer attitudes towards certain 'ethically incorrect' animal products, as well as their awareness of the institutional responsibility in controlling animal welfare standards during the meat production process. The study conducted in Northwest Italy, involving 512 respondents, shows that women are more sensitive to AW aspects and place trust in those responsible for certification of animal welfare standards, such as veterinarians and consumer associations, and also shows that it is possible to identify an 'animal welfare sensitive' profile of meat consumer.HIGHLIGHTS Modern consumer evaluates ethical, sociological and economic implications in animal friendly meat purchasing process Gender affects awareness of the responsibilities of veterinary, public health control bodies and consumer associations to verify animal welfare Cluster highlighted consumer differences in perception towards animal welfar

Analysis of Devices for Thermal Energy Consumption Monitoring and Design of A Bench Test for their Characterization

Abstract The mandatory introduction in Italy of the accounting of consumption for heating and domestic hot water in centralized heating systems has determined the introduction on the market of many commercial solutions based on different measuring principles. In order to find a proper method for testing the solutions proposed by the vendors, in the present work the uncertainty of the results reachable with the different types of measuring devices has been evaluated. Based on the best theoretical results achievable with the different types of devices the scheme of a test bed for the characterization of commercial systems is proposed

El aire: hábitat y medio de transmisión de microorganismos

La atmósfera no tiene una microbiota autóctona pero es un medio para la dispersión de muchos tipos de microorganismos (esporas, bacterias, virus y hongos), procedentes de otros ambientes. Algunos han creado adaptaciones especializadas que favorecen su supervivencia y permanencia. Los microorganismos dispersados por el aire tiene una gran importancia biológica y económica. Producen enfermedades en plantas, animales y humanos, causan alteración de alimentos y materiales orgánicos y contribuyen al deterioro y corrosión de monumentos y metales. La Microbiología del aire comienza en el siglo XIX, con Pasteur y Miquel que diseñaron métodos para estudiar los microorganismos en el aire y descubrir la causa de algunas enfermedades. Desde entonces numerosos investigadores han trabajado en este campo tanto en el aire exterior como en recintos cerrados. Las enfermedades transmitidas por el aire, producidas por bacterias, virus y hongos, son las respiratorias (neumonía, tosferina, tuberculosis, legionelosis, resfriado, gripe), sistémicas (meningitis, sarampión, varicela, micosis) y alérgicas

Multiplexing of encrypted data using fractal masks

This paper was published in OPTICS LETTERS and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.37.002895. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under lawIn this Letter, we present to the best of our knowledge a new all-optical technique for multiple-image encryption and multiplexing, based on fractal encrypting masks. The optical architecture is a joint transform correlator. The multiplexed encrypted data are stored in a photorefractive crystal. The fractal parameters of the key can be easily tuned to lead to a multiplexing operation without cross talk effects. Experimental results that support the potential of the method are presented.This research was performed under grants TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme at Centres of Excellence in the South, CONICET No. 0863 (Argentina), ANCYT PICT 1167 (Argentina), and Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Nacional de La Plata No. 11/I125 (Argentina), Sostenibilidad 2011-2012, and CODI (Universidad de Antioquia-Colombia). W. D. Furlan and J. A. Monsoriua acknowledge financial support from Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (grant FIS2011-23175), Generalitat Valenciana (grant PROMETEO2009-077), and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (grants PAID-05-11 and PAID-02-11), Spain.Barrera, J.; Tebaldi, M.; Amaya, D.; Furlan, W.; Monsoriu Serra, JA.; Bolognini, NA.; Torroba, RD.... (2012). Multiplexing of encrypted data using fractal masks. Optics Letters. 37(14):2895-2897. doi:10.1364/OL.37.002895S289528973714Refregier, P., & Javidi, B. (1995). Optical image encryption based on input plane and Fourier plane random encoding. Optics Letters, 20(7), 767. doi:10.1364/ol.20.000767Matoba, O., & Javidi, B. (1999). Encrypted optical memory system using three-dimensional keys in the Fresnel domain. Optics Letters, 24(11), 762. doi:10.1364/ol.24.000762Unnikrishnan, G., Joseph, J., & Singh, K. (2000). Optical encryption by double-random phase encoding in the fractional Fourier domain. Optics Letters, 25(12), 887. doi:10.1364/ol.25.000887Nomura, T. (2000). Polarization encoding for optical security systems. Optical Engineering, 39(9), 2439. doi:10.1117/1.1288369Tebaldi, M., Furlan, W. D., Torroba, R., & Bolognini, N. (2009). Optical-data storage-readout technique based on fractal encrypting masks. Optics Letters, 34(3), 316. doi:10.1364/ol.34.000316Situ, G., & Zhang, J. (2005). Multiple-image encryption by wavelength multiplexing. Optics Letters, 30(11), 1306. doi:10.1364/ol.30.001306Liu, Z., & Liu, S. (2007). Double image encryption based on iterative fractional Fourier transform. Optics Communications, 275(2), 324-329. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2007.03.039Hwang, H.-E., Chang, H. T., & Lie, W.-N. (2009). Multiple-image encryption and multiplexing using a modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm and phase modulation in Fresnel-transform domain. Optics Letters, 34(24), 3917. doi:10.1364/ol.34.003917Matoba, O., & Javidi, B. (1999). Encrypted optical storage with angular multiplexing. Applied Optics, 38(35), 7288. doi:10.1364/ao.38.007288Fredy Barrera, J., Henao, R., Tebaldi, M., Torroba, R., & Bolognini, N. (2006). Multiplexing encryption–decryption via lateral shifting of a random phase mask. Optics Communications, 259(2), 532-536. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2005.09.027Henao, R., Rueda, E., Barrera, J. F., & Torroba, R. (2010). Noise-free recovery of optodigital encrypted and multiplexed images. Optics Letters, 35(3), 333. doi:10.1364/ol.35.000333Barrera, J. F., Henao, R., Tebaldi, M., Torroba, R., & Bolognini, N. (2006). Multiple image encryption using an aperture-modulated optical system. Optics Communications, 261(1), 29-33. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2005.11.055Mosso, F., Barrera, J. F., Tebaldi, M., Bolognini, N., & Torroba, R. (2011). All-optical encrypted movie. Optics Express, 19(6), 5706. doi:10.1364/oe.19.005706Monsoriu, J. A., Saavedra, G., & Furlan, W. D. (2004). Fractal zone plates with variable lacunarity. Optics Express, 12(18), 4227. doi:10.1364/opex.12.00422

The economic value of drought information for water management under climate change: a case study in the Ebro basin

Drought events in the Mediterranean are likely to increase in frequency, duration and intensity due to climate change, thereby affecting crop production. Information about drought is valuable for river basin authorities and the farmers affected by their decisions. The economic value of this information and the resulting decisions are of interest to these two stakeholder groups and to the information providers. Understanding the dynamics of extreme events, including droughts, in future climate scenarios for the Mediterranean is being improved continuously. This paper analyses the economic value of information on drought events taking into account the risk aversion of water managers. We consider the effects of drought management plans on rice production in the Ebro river basin. This enables us to compute the willingness to compensate the river basin authority for more accurate information allowing for better decision-making. If runoff is reduced, river basin planners can consider the reduction of water allocation for irrigation in order to eliminate the risk of water scarcity. Alternately, river basin planners may decide to maintain water allocation and accept a reduction of water supply reliability, leaving farmers exposed to drought events. These two alternatives offer different risk levels for crop production and farmers' incomes which determine the value of this information to the river basin authority. The information is relevant for the revision of River Basin Management Plans of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) within the context of climate change

Towards a real-time susceptibility assessment of rainfall-induced shallow landslides on a regional scale

Abstract. In the framework of landslide risk management, it appears relevant to assess, both in space and in time, the triggering of rainfall-induced shallow landslides, in order to prevent damages due to these kind of disasters. In this context, the use of real-time landslide early warning systems has been attracting more and more attention from the scientific community. This paper deals with the application, on a regional scale, of two physically-based stability models: SLIP (Shallow Landslides Instability Prediction) and TRIGRS (Transient Rainfall Infiltration and Grid-based Regional Slope-stability analysis). A back analysis of some recent case-histories of soil slips which occurred in the territory of the central Emilian Apennine, Emilia Romagna Region (Northern Italy) is carried out and the main results are shown. The study area is described from geological and climatic viewpoints. The acquisition of geospatial information regarding the topography, the soil properties and the local landslide inventory is also explained. The paper outlines the main features of the SLIP model and the basic assumptions of TRIGRS. Particular attention is devoted to the discussion of the input data, which have been stored and managed through a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. Results of the SLIP model on a regional scale, over a one year time interval, are finally presented. The results predicted by the SLIP model are analysed both in terms of safety factor (Fs) maps, corresponding to particular rainfall events, and in terms of time-varying percentage of unstable areas over the considered time interval. The paper compares observed landslide localizations with those predicted by the SLIP model. A further quantitative comparison between SLIP and TRIGRS, both applied to the most important event occurred during the analysed period, is presented. The limits of the SLIP model, mainly due to some restrictions of simplifying the physically based relationships, are analysed in detail. Although an improvement, in terms of spatial accuracy, is needed, thanks to the fast calculation and the satisfactory temporal prediction of landslides, the SLIP model applied on the study area shows certain potential as a landslides forecasting tool on a regional scale