114 research outputs found
Distributed Storage for the Provision of Ancillary Services to the Main Grid: Project PRESTO
AbstractThis paper presents the three-year PRESTO research project (2013-2015). PRESTO is a self-funded project developed by the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano in cooperation with FIAMM Storage, Elvi Energy and MCM Energy Lab (an Italian spin-off). Within the project, experimental tests and numerical simulations were performed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of an Energy Storage System (ESS) in the provision of ancillary services to the main grid. This paper focuses specifically on the experimental and numerical analyses carried out in the project to develop an innovative control law for the primary frequency regulation, able to maximize the performances of the regulating service and effectively manage the ESS state of charge
Spatial Transmission of Swine Vesicular Disease Virus in the 2006-2007 Epidemic in Lombardy
In 2006 and 2007 pig farming in the region of Lombardy, in the north of Italy, was struck by an epidemic of Swine Vesicular Disease virus (SVDV). In fact this epidemic could be viewed as consisting of two sub-epidemics, as the reported outbreaks occurred in two separate time periods. These periods differed in terms of the provinces or municipalities that were affected and also in terms of the timing of implementation of movement restrictions. Here we use a simple mathematical model to analyse the epidemic data, quantifying between-farm transmission probability as a function of between-farm distance. The results show that the distance dependence of between-farm transmission differs between the two periods. In the first period transmission over relatively long distances occurred with higher probability than in the second period, reflecting the effect of movement restrictions in the second period. In the second period however, more intensive transmission occurred over relatively short distances. Our model analysis explains this in terms of the relatively high density of pig farms in the area most affected in this period, which exceeds a critical farm density for between-farm transmission. This latter result supports the rationale for the additional control measure taken in 2007 of pre-emptively culling farms in that area
A pan-European epidemiological study reveals honey bee colony survival depends on beekeeper education and disease control
Reports of honey bee population decline has spurred many national efforts to understand the extent of the problem and to identify causative or associated factors. However, our collective understanding of the factors has been hampered by a lack of joined up trans-national effort. Moreover, the impacts of beekeeper knowledge and beekeeping management practices have often been overlooked, despite honey bees being a managed pollinator. Here, we established a standardised active monitoring network for 5 798 apiaries over two consecutive years to quantify honey bee colony mortality across 17 European countries. Our data demonstrate that overwinter losses ranged between 2% and 32%, and that high summer losses were likely to follow high winter losses. Multivariate Poisson regression models revealed that hobbyist beekeepers with small apiaries and little experience in beekeeping had double the winter mortality rate when compared to professional beekeepers. Furthermore, honey bees kept by professional beekeepers never showed signs of disease, unlike apiaries from hobbyist beekeepers that had symptoms of bacterial infection and heavy Varroa infestation. Our data highlight beekeeper background and apicultural practices as major drivers of honey bee colony losses. The benefits of conducting trans-national monitoring schemes and improving beekeeper training are discussed
Linee guida e sistema delle fonti: unâipotesi ricostruttiva
The emergency context due to Covid-19 pandemic has produced remarkable effects on the sources of
Italian administrative law, increasing inter alia the role of the so-called tertiary sources, especially
regarding guidelines. Moving from these considerations, the paper briefly analyses the issue concer-
ning the position of guidelines within the framework of sources, by taking into account the aspects
of normativity, validity, and binding nature, and by examining also the legal regime of guidelines
from a judicial review perspective. The paper ends with some suggestions relating to the need to re-
consider the theory of sources of law, taking into greater consideration the plurality of subsystems in
which the legal system is divided today due to the complex regulatory needs emerging from reality
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