Framework for Enhanced Stormwater Management by Optimization of Sewer Pumping Stations

: Control and reduction of pollution from stormwater overflow is a major concern to be addressed by municipalities in order to improve the quality of the receiving water bodies and the environment in general. In the European context, these actions are driven by the Water Directive 2000/60/CE. In this regard, assessment studies of the potential load from sewer networks recognize the need for adaptation and upgrade of existing networks with waterworks and management measures. In many cases this is done by building first-flush detention tanks that, however, present consistent practical and economical burdens. In this work, simple rules to manage existing pumping stations in combined sewer systems are proposed as a way to apply management rules that mitigate pollution load. Such rules can be easily implemented in real cases with minimal cost of activation and no need of additional infrastructures. The procedure is based on the previous knowledge of the precipitation forcing and of a quantity/quality model of the sewer network. The steps adopted are (1) use of a (long-term, high-resolution) sequence of rainfall events to compute a wide spectrum of flow conditions (hydrographs and pollutographs) to the pumping stations; (2) definitions of a pumping rule to apply to the whole sequence of events to filter the incoming flow toward the wastewater treatment plant, so to compute outflows; and (3) efficiency assessment of the pumping rule by cumulative frequency analysis of water volume, pollutant mass, and pollutant mean concentration. Rule optimization can be performed by iterating points (2) and (3). An example is proposed to show how two simple parameters (a discharge threshold on the inflow and a maximum pumping time) can control the management of water and pollutant fluxes. Numerical results show that a proper optimization allows one to reduce the pumped volumes (thus reducing energy requirements and increasing the treatment plant efficiency) without significant changes to the overall pollutant mass outflow. The new pumping rules can be implemented on real stations with minimal and economically sustainable intervention

Long-term spatial and temporal rainfall trends over Italy

In this work, we investigate the spatial and temporal trend of short-duration (1 to 24 h) annual maximum rainfall depths, derived from the Improved Italian—Rainfall Extreme Dataset (I2-RED). The investigation is conducted using time series of at least 30 years of data both at the national and regional level using the record-breaking analysis, the Mann-Kendall test, the Regional Kendall test and the Sen’s slope estimator. The results confirm that rainfall extremes of different durations are not increasing uniformly over Italy and that separate tendencies emerge in different sectors, even at close distances

Making cheese with caprifig sap in Apulia, Italy: possible rebirth of an ancient tradition

Abstract Background and objectives Making cheese by coagulating milk with extracts or parts of plants is a tradition of many countries facing the Mediterranean basin. Such cheeses were historically produced from sheep and goat milk and represent an important cultural heritage. In the European Union (EU), nowadays, their production is allowed only after legal validation of the manufacturing process under the hygienic point of view. Unfortunately, validation has been possible only for a few Protected Designation of Origin cheeses, but other dairy products exist for which it has not been carried out. It is the case of the caprifig sap cheeses produced in the "Murgia" highplain, Apulia region, Southern Italy. In this rural marginal area, three cheeses have been historically made by this coagulant: milk sap ricotta, Pampanella, and Cacioricotta. Due to the above legal concerns, they have become very rare and, if no action is taken, they will disappear very soon. The main purpose of the present work was to make a survey about the status of preservation of their processing methods and to document them before it is too late. A second aim was to perform a first summary investigation about their safety and compositional and sensory characteristics. Methods A series of face-to-face interviews was conducted to owners and cheesemakers of sheep and goat farms laying in the Murgia Hills territory. Cheese samples were prepared at three different rural dairies and subjected to chemical, microbiological, and sensory analyses. Results and conclusions The survey confirmed that caprifig sap cheeses are still occasionally produced for family consumption, mainly from goat milk in the southern part of the highplain. They have the common characteristic of deriving from milk subjected to strong heat treatment and containing both casein and whey proteins. The manufacturing procedures were observed, and two different methods of preparing and using caprifig sap were documented. The cheesemaking process was analyzed and discussed under a technological point of view, and geo-sociological connections were hypothesized. The three cheeses presented significant sensory differences and proved to potentially match the EU hygienic standards if the post-vat operations are performed under correct conditions. Overall, the study gave a contribution for the hygienic validation of the manufacturing process in view of a possible rebirth

Diaphragmatic Breathing Reduces Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress

Diaphragmatic breathing is relaxing and therapeutic, reduces stress, and is a fundamental procedure of Pranayama Yoga, Zen, transcendental meditation and other meditation practices. Analysis of oxidative stress levels in people who meditate indicated that meditation correlates with lower oxidative stress levels, lower cortisol levels and higher melatonin levels. It is known that cortisol inhibits enzymes responsible for the antioxidant activity of cells and that melatonin is a strong antioxidant; therefore, in this study, we investigated the effects of diaphragmatic breathing on exercise-induced oxidative stress and the putative role of cortisol and melatonin hormones in this stress pathway. We monitored 16 athletes during an exhaustive training session. After the exercise, athletes were divided in two equivalent groups of eight subjects. Subjects of the studied group spent 1 h relaxing performing diaphragmatic breathing and concentrating on their breath in a quiet place. The other eight subjects, representing the control group, spent the same time sitting in an equivalent quite place. Results demonstrate that relaxation induced by diaphragmatic breathing increases the antioxidant defense status in athletes after exhaustive exercise. These effects correlate with the concomitant decrease in cortisol and the increase in melatonin. The consequence is a lower level of oxidative stress, which suggests that an appropriate diaphragmatic breathing could protect athletes from long-term adverse effects of free radicals

Spatially-smooth regionalization of flow duration curves in non-pristine basins

The flow duration curve (FDC) is a fundamental signature of the hydrological cycle to support water management strategies. Despite many studies on this topic, its estimation in ungauged basins is still a relevant issue as the FDC is controlled by different types of processes at different time-space scales, thus resulting quite sensitive to the specific case study. In this work, a regional spatially-smooth procedure to evaluate the annual FDC in ungauged basins is proposed, based on the estimation of the L-moments (mean, L-CV and L-skewness) through regression models valid for the whole case study area. In this approach, homogeneous regions are no longer required and the L-moments are allowed to continuously vary along the river network, thus providing a final FDC smoothly evolving for different locations on the river. Regressions are based on a set of topographic, climatic, land use and vegetation descriptors at the basin scale. Moreover, the model ensures that the mean annual runoff is preserved at the river confluences, i.e. the sum of annual flows of the upstream reaches is equal to the predicted annual downstream flow. The proposed model is adapted to incorporate different “sub-models” to account for local information within the regional framework, where man-induced alterations are known, as common in non-pristine catchments. In particular, we propose a module to consider the impact of existing/designed water withdrawals on the L-moments of the FDC. The procedure has been applied to a dataset of daily observation of about 120 gauged basins on the upper Po river basin in North-Western Italy

Trophic state and seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton communities in two sand-pit lakes at different successional stages

The seasonal and inter-annual dynamics of phytoplankton in two Italian sand-pit lakes have been analysed over three years (2004-2006). The studied lakes, Ca' Morta (CM) and Ca' Stanga (CS), have a common origin and are contiguous, but are of different ages and have been managed in different ways. CM was created in 2002 and was still being dredged during the study period, while sand quarrying in CS began in 1998 and ended at the beginning of the study period. These conditions were thought to be of particular interest in assessing the influence of dredging activities on algal assemblages. Physical and chemical water parameters were also analysed to characterise the two lakes and investigate the effects of hydro-chemical features on phytoplankton. CS was stratified from April to October each year during the study period, while CM showed weaker thermal stratification. Conductivity, dissolved nitrate and dissolved reactive silica concentrations were greater in CM than in CS. The mixing depth/euphotic depth ratio was also higher in CM, probably because of water column mixing induced by hydraulic dredging. Overall, 185 phytoplankton taxa were found, of which ca 50% were present in both lakes. No significant differences in species richness were observed between lakes, but the decreasing trend of Simpson index values measured in CS showed a reduction in biodiversity after the excavation phase. Phytoplankton biomass was higher in CS than in CM, the latter being oligo-mesotrophic and the former mesotrophic. Diatoms and dinoflagellates were the dominant taxa in both lakes. The main differences in phytoplankton assemblages were related to the persistence of chryptophytes and chlorophytes in CM. Multivariate analyses support the hypothesis that different thermal patterns induced by dredging activities, along with certain physico-chemical parameters of the water, were the major factors shaping phytoplankton communities

CFD sensitivity analysis on bumped airfoil characteristics for inflatable winglet

The new aerospace technological milestone is aimed to reducing direct operating costs and pol- lution. In order to obtain pollution reductions via high aerodynamic efficiency, a performance anal- ysis for bumped airfoil based winglet has been pro- posed. Most conventional aircrafts are equipped with fixed winglets to decrease the induced drag; thus, saving more fuel. New projects point to- wards advanced smart materials and telescopic wing tip devices to obtain an adaptive morphing shape that gives, through performance improve- ment, a fuel consumption reduction resulting in less pollutants. The focus of this paper is to evalu- ate the aerodynamic performance, in terms of lift, drag and moment coefficient for a bumped airfoil in climb/descent flight condition at 5000 meters altitude. The performance analysis has been con- ducted via a numerical investigation of the effects of bumps number, height and width for inflatable winglet airfoil, a system that would guarantee a more comfortable arrangement of extraction sys- tem and just minor surplus of weight compared to classical winglet solutions, with all the subsequent advantages