256 research outputs found
Energy, water and environmental balance of a complex water supply system
The present paper describes the analysis of water and energy balance in a complex
urban water supply system. The analysis was carried out employing Life Cycle
Analysis (LCA) methodologies. The LCA approach was integrated with the
analysis of the system energy and water balance. For a real size water supply
system, based on the results of the individual LCAs, the current baseline was
constructed highlighting the water, energy and environmental (in terms of CO2eq
emissions in the atmosphere) costs of supplied water. Then, three different
mitigation measures have been evaluated: the first is based on energy production
by installation of photovoltaic systems; the second is based on energy recovery by
means of hydraulic turbines, exploiting the available pressure potential to produce
energy; the third based on energy optimization of pumping stations by installing
inverter systems, replacement of rotors with optimized blade profiles and
installation of automation systems and self-control. Also the possibility of
substituting some of the pipes of the water supply system was considered in the
recovery scenario in order to reduce leakages and recovery the energy needed for
leakages transport and treatment. The analysis of the results shown that energy
recovery scenario is the most reliable solution even without any pipe substitution.
Thanks to the recovery of energy and limiting the environmental impact of the
system, the CO2eq production per cubic meter of supplied water was reduced from
0.41 to 0.07 kg CO2eq/m3 of supplied water
Revolutionaries and spies: Spy-good and spy-bad graphs
We study a game on a graph played by {\it revolutionaries} and
{\it spies}. Initially, revolutionaries and then spies occupy vertices. In each
subsequent round, each revolutionary may move to a neighboring vertex or not
move, and then each spy has the same option. The revolutionaries win if of
them meet at some vertex having no spy (at the end of a round); the spies win
if they can avoid this forever.
Let denote the minimum number of spies needed to win. To
avoid degenerate cases, assume |V(G)|\ge r-m+1\ge\floor{r/m}\ge 1. The easy
bounds are then \floor{r/m}\le \sigma(G,m,r)\le r-m+1. We prove that the
lower bound is sharp when has a rooted spanning tree such that every
edge of not in joins two vertices having the same parent in . As a
consequence, \sigma(G,m,r)\le\gamma(G)\floor{r/m}, where is the
domination number; this bound is nearly sharp when .
For the random graph with constant edge-probability , we obtain constants
and (depending on and ) such that is near the
trivial upper bound when and at most times the trivial lower
bound when . For the hypercube with , we have
when , and for at least spies are
needed.
For complete -partite graphs with partite sets of size at least , the
leading term in is approximately
when . For , we have
\sigma(G,2,r)=\bigl\lceil{\frac{\floor{7r/2}-3}5}\bigr\rceil and
\sigma(G,3,r)=\floor{r/2}, and in general .Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures. The most important changes in this revision are
improvements of the results on hypercubes and random graphs. The proof of the
previous hypercube result has been deleted, but the statement remains because
it is stronger for m<52. In the random graph section we added a spy-strategy
resul
Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Water Demand Modeling
The actual level of water demand is the driving force behind the hydraulic dynamics in water distribution systems. Consequently, it is crucial to estimate it as accurately as possible in order to result in reliable simulation models. In this paper, a copula-based multivariate analysis has been proposed and used for demand prediction for given return period. The analysis is applied to water consumption data collected in the water distribution network of Palermo (Italy). The approach showed to produce consisted demand patterns and to be a powerful tool to be coupled with water distribution network models for design or analysis problems. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd
A Hybrid optimization method for real-time pump scheduling
Session S6-02, Special Session: Evolutionary Computing in Water Resources Planning and Management IILinear, non-linear and dynamic programming, heuristics and evolutionary computation are amongst the techniques which have been applied to obtain solutions to optimal pump-scheduling problems. Most of these either greatly simplify the complex water distribution system or require significant time to solve the problem. The scheduling of pumps is frequently undertaken in near-real time, in order to minimize cost and maximize energy savings. However, this requires a computationally efficient algorithm that can rapidly identify an acceptable solution. In this paper, a hybrid optimization model is presented, coupling Linear Programming and Genetic Algorithms. The resulting hybrid optimization model has demonstrated more rapid convergence with respect to the traditional metaheuristic algorithms, whilst maintaining a good level of reliability
Multi-stage linear programming optimization for pump scheduling
Open Access journalCopyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.12th International Conference on Computing and Control for the Water Industry, CCWI2013This study presents a methodology based on Linear Programming for determining the optimal pump schedule on a 24-hour basis, considering as decision variables the continuous pump flow rates which are subsequently transformed into a discrete schedule. The methodology was applied on a case study derived from the benchmark Anytown network. To evaluate the LP reliability, a comparison was made with solutions generated by a Hybrid Discrete Dynamically Dimensioned Search (HD-DDS) algorithm. The cost associated with the result derived from the LP initial solution was shown to be lower than that obtained with repeated HD-DDS runs with differing random seeds
Development and Validation of an Algorithm for the Digitization of ECG Paper Images
The electrocardiogram (ECG) signal describes the heart’s electrical activity, allowing it to detect several health conditions, including cardiac system abnormalities and dysfunctions. Nowadays, most patient medical records are still paper-based, especially those made in past decades. The importance of collecting digitized ECGs is twofold: firstly, all medical applications can be easily implemented with an engineering approach if the ECGs are treated as signals; secondly, paper ECGs can deteriorate over time, therefore a correct evaluation of the patient’s clinical evolution is not always guaranteed. The goal of this paper is the realization of an automatic conversion algorithm from paper-based ECGs (images) to digital ECG signals. The algorithm involves a digitization process tested on an image set of 16 subjects, also with pathologies. The quantitative analysis of the digitization method is carried out by evaluating the repeatability and reproducibility of the algorithm. The digitization accuracy is evaluated both on the entire signal and on six ECG time parameters (R-R peak distance, QRS complex duration, QT interval, PQ interval, P-wave duration, and heart rate). Results demonstrate the algorithm efficiency has an average Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.94 and measurement errors of the ECG time parameters are always less than 1 mm. Due to the promising experimental results, the algorithm could be embedded into a graphical interface, becoming a measurement and collection tool for cardiologists
Dataset of Electoral Volatility in the European Parliament elections since 1979
This dataset provides data on electoral volatility and its internal components in the elections for the European Parliament (EP) in all European Union (EU) countries since 1979 or the date of their accession to the Union. It also provides data about electoral volatility for both the class bloc and the demarcation bloc. This dataset will be regularly updated so as to include the next rounds of the European Parliament elections.
How to cite this dataset?
Emanuele, V., Angelucci, D., Marino, B., Puleo, L., and Vegetti, F. (2019), Dataset of Electoral Volatility in the European Parliament elections since 1979, Rome: Italian Center for Electoral Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.7802/1905
Definition of Water Meter Substitution Plans based on a Composite Indicator
This paper presents a water meter substitution plan based on a composite "Replacement indicator" which was defined and compared with common substitution strategies based on meter age and on run-to-fail approaches. The methodology was applied to one of the 17 sub-networks in which the Palermo city water distribution network (Italy) is divided. The analysis was carried out considering a substitution budget limitation and the results showed that the use of "Replacement indicator" outperform the classical substitution strategies based on meter age because it takes into account some other variables that may affect meter precision and wearing. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd
The Effect of Damage Functions on Urban Flood Damage Appraisal
Flooding damage appraisal can been obtained by interpolating real damage data caused by historical flooding events or accounting the effects of a flood in terms of the depreciation of assets. Most often, the expected damage is evaluated by means of damage functions describing the relationship occurring between the damage and hydraulic characteristics of flood. The present paper aims to evaluate the uncertainty linked to the choice of the depth-damage function adopted in the flood damage analysis. Several possible depth-damage function formulations were selected in literature and applied to historical flooding events monitored in the "Centro Storico" catchment in Palermo (Italy). (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd
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