Evaluating and improving social awareness of energy communities through semantic network analysis of online news

The implementation of energy communities represents a cross-disciplinary phenomenon that has the potential to support the energy transition while fostering citizens' participation throughout the energy system and their exploitation of renewables. An important role is played by online information sources in engaging people in this process and increasing their awareness of associated benefits. In this view, this work analyses online news data on energy communities to understand people's awareness and the media importance of this topic. We use the Semantic Brand Score (SBS) indicator as an innovative measure of semantic importance, combining social network analysis and text mining methods. Results show different importance trends for energy communities and other energy and society-related topics, also allowing the identification of their connections. Our approach gives evidence to information gaps and possible actions that could be taken to promote a low-carbon energy transition

Pandemia e mondo del lavoro: cosa è successo e cosa abbiamo imparato?

Il ricorso massiccio al telelavoro durante la pandemia da Covid-19, ha fatto emergere la consapevolezza che questo strumento potrebbe comportare anche importanti conseguenze da un punto di vista energetico-ambientale. Un nuovo studio ha analizzato i potenziali pro e contro del lavoro a distanz

Evaluation of a questionnaire to detect the risk of developing ESGD or EGGD in horses

Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) affects various categories of horses worldwide. This syndrome is now divided into two different diseases, based on the presence of lesions on either the squamous (Equine Squamous Gastric Disease, ESGD) or the glandular (Equine Glandular Gastric Disease, EGGD) mucosa. Diagnosis is based on the evaluation of the presence of gastric lesions with gastroscopic examination. As a gastroscopy can be considered expensive by clients, therapy is started often on the basis of clinical signs only. The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire to detect the risk of developing ESGD or EGGD. The owners of 418 horses that were submitted to gastroscopic evaluation were asked to answer a questionnaire on risk factors for ESGD and EGGD. Horses were divided into three groups based on the results of the questionnaire and their risk of developing gastric lesions. In our population the survey was not useful to detect the presence and the severity of the lesions detected during gastroscopic examination, however answers to some of the questions did correlate with the development of gastric lesions. The questionnaire could therefore be a useful tool to evaluate the risk of ESGD or EGGD. Having owners periodically complete the survey could also make them more aware of changes in the conditions of the horses that could lead to gastric lesions. This could then help them seek advice from veterinarians on how to manage this potential ris

Analysis of the urban heat island effects on building energy consumption

Urban areas usually experience higher temperatures when compared to their rural surroundings. Several studies underlined that specific urban conditions are strictly connected with the Urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, which consists in the environmental overheating related to anthropic activities. As a matter of fact, urban areas, characterized by massive constructions that reduce local vegetation coverage, are subject to the absorption of a great amount of solar radiation (short wave) which is only partially released into the atmosphere by radiation in the thermal infrared (long wave). On the contrary, green areas and rural environments in general show a reduced UHI effect, that is lower air temperatures, due to evapo-transpiration fluxes. Several studies demonstrate that urban microclimate affects buildings’ energy consumption and calculations based on typical meteorological year could misestimate their actual energy consumption. In this study, two different sets of meteorological data are used for the calculation of the heating and cooling energy needs of an existing university building. The building is modeled using TRNSYS v.17 software. The first set of data was collected by a weather station located in the city center of Modena, while the second set of data was collected by another station, located in the surrounding area of the city, near to the studied building. The influence of the different meteorological situations described by the two weather stations are analyzed and assumed to be representative of the UHI effect. Furthermore, the effects of UHI mitigation strategies on the building energy needs are evaluated and discussed

Spectral investigation of volcanic alteration deposits on Vulcano island /Italy as planetary analog for acid alteration conditions on Mars

During the fifth International Summer School held on Vulcano (Eolian Islands, Italy) in June 2019 we started the investigation of volcanic deposits with different spectral instruments combining mineralogical, elemental and molecular information [1, 2]. The island of Vulcano presents an extremely large variety of volcanic products [3] in extreme acid alteration conditions. Acidic alteration may also have been a key process throughout Martian geologic history making Vulcano a perfect analog for studies on Mars by defining the geochemistry at these sites. In this work we present an update of our spectral investigations based on the VIS-NIR spectral measurements

Anesthesia in Treacher Collins Syndrome for bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA) surgery.

Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) is a rare genetic disor- der characterized by distinctive abnormalities of the head and face, affecting about one child in every 50000. Ab- normalities such micrognathia, cleft palate and cervical spine alterations are common and may represent an addi- tional risk in airway management for general anesthesia. As a matter of fact, difficult OTI prevalence in paediatric surgery rises from 1-2% to 50% when considering the subpopulation of paediatric patients with cervical spine diseases, as TCS ones. This article describes a case report of our anesthesiological management in bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) implant surgery in a 7-year-old fe- male Treacher Collins Syndrome patient born without the long process of the incus, the stapes and with hypoplasia of the oval window bilaterally. A careful preoperative evaluation and anesthesiological plan based on the use of videolaryngoscopy, routine practice in our centre, granted a successful outcome and no complications

Bioclimatic rehabilitation of an open market place by a computational fluid dynamics simulation assessment

These days urban design of open spaces is strongly related to bioclimatic techniques and practices. It is here presented the procedure of a bioclimatic study by the use of simulation tools. The area of an open market place is characterized of decreased human thermal comfort conditions during summer time. The employment of computational fluid dynamics has contributed in the understanding of what interventions should be made at the open space in order to succeed the defined thermal related targets. Table of the proposed rehabilitation explains what the interventions would contribute in the improvement of the local environment.The authors greatly acknowledge the support of the Mayor of Eordaia Mrs Paraskevi Vrizidou during all simulation stages. ANSYS-CFD simulations were carried out in the framework of student instruction and demonstration of the Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace in Greece

Bioclimatic Architecture and Urban Morphology. Studies on Intermediate Urban Open Spaces

This paper deals with the interactions between biophysical and microclimatic factors on the one hand with, on the other, the urban morphology of intermediate urban open spaces, the relationship between environmental and bioclimatic thermal comfort, and the implementation of innovative materials and the use of greenery, aimed at the users’ well-being. In particular, the thermal comfort of the open spaces of the consolidated fabrics of the city of Rome is studied, by carrying out simulations of cooling strategies relating to two scenarios applied to Piazza Bainsizza. The first scenario involves the use of cool materials for roofs, cladding surfaces, and pavement, while the second scenario, in addition to the cool materials employed in the first scenario, also includes the use of greenery and permeable green surfaces. The research was performed using summer and winter microclimatic simulations of the CFD (ENVI-met v. 3.1) type, in order to determine the dierent influences of the materials with cold colors, trees, and vegetated surfaces on the thermal comfort of the urban morphology itself. Meanwhile, the comfort assessment was determined through the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) calculated with the RayMan program. The first scenario, with the use of cool materials, improves summer conditions and reduces the urban heat island eect but does not eliminate thermal discomfort due to the lack of shaded surfaces and vegetation. The second scenario, where material renovations is matched with vegetation improvements, has a slightly bad eect on winter conditions but drastically ameliorates the summer situation, both for direct users and, thanks to the strong reduction of the urban heat island eect, to urban inhabitants as a whole

From the Sum of Near-Zero Energy Buildings to the Whole of a Near-Zero Energy Housing Settlement: The Role of Communal Spaces in Performance-Driven Design

Almost a century ago Modernism challenged the structure of the city and reshaped its physical space in order to, amongst other things, accommodate new transportation infrastructure and road networks proclaiming the,nowadays much-debated ‘scientificated’ pursuit of efficiency for the city. This transformation has had a great impact on the way humans still design, move in, occupy and experience the city. Today major cities in Europe, such as Paris and London, are considering banning vehicles from their historic centers. In parallel, significant effort is currently underway internationally by designers, architects, and engineers to integrate innovative technologies and sophisticated solutions for energy production, management, and storage, as well as for efficient energy consumption, into the architecture of buildings. In general, this effort seeks for new technologies and design methods (e.g., DesignBuilder with EnergyPlus simulation engine; Rhicoceros3D with Grasshopper plugin and Ecotect, Radiance and EnergyPlus tools) that would enable a holistic approach to the spatial design of Near-Zero Energy buildings, so that their ecological benefits are an added value to the architectural design and a building’s visual, and material, impact on its surrounding space. The paper inquires how the integration of such technological infrastructure and performance-orientated interfaces changes yet again the structure and form of cities, and to what extent it safeguards social rights and enables equal access to common resources. Drawing from preliminary results and initial considerations of ongoing research that involve the construction of four innovative NZE settlements across Europe, in the context of the EU-funded ZERO-PLUS project, this paper discusses the integration of novel infrastructure in communal spaces of these settlements. In doing so, it contributes to the debate about smart communities and their role in the sustainable management of housing developments and settlements that are designed and developed with the concept of smart territories