Indoor radon survey in university buildings: a case study of Sapienza - University of Rome

The indoor radon concentration in underground workplaces pertaining to Sapienza – University of Rome have been monitored since the 90’s according to prescription of Italian Legislative Decree 230/95. In the last years, the recommendations contained in the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom have shifted the focus to all indoor exposure situations by promoting actions to identify workplaces and dwellings with radon concentrations exceeding the reference level of 300 Bq/m3. In response to the upcoming transposition into national legislation, Sapienza has promoted the first Italian survey addressing workplaces in university buildings, regardless of the position with respect to the ground floor. The survey has interested more than three hundred workplaces, i.e. administration and professors’ offices, research and educational laboratories, conference rooms and classrooms, distributed in fifteen different buildings. Places monitored are strongly heterogeneous in terms of users’ habit, occupancy pattern and building characteristics. The influence of these parameters into seasonal variation have been addressed by organizing the survey in four quarters. The indoor radon concentration is measured by solid state nuclear track detectors, CR39. The aim of the paper is to present features, methods and intermediate results of the survey. The work, relying on the analysis of previous measurements interesting underground workplaces, focuses on methodology followed during all the preliminary and preparatory phases: active measurements by ionization chamber radon continuous monitor, radon progeny equilibrium factor estimations by radon daughters monitor, strategies for occupants’ awareness, positioning protocol and provisions to maximize representativity of results

Mathematical simulation of power conditioning systems. Volume 1: Simulation of elementary units. Report on simulation methodology

Methods and algorithms used for the simulation of elementary power conditioning units buck, boost, and buck-boost, as well as shunt PWM are described. Definitions are given of similar converters and reduced parameters. The various parts of the simulation to be carried out are dealt with; local stability, corrective network, measurements of input-output impedance and global stability. A simulation example is given

Miscible displacement fronts of shear thinning fluids inside rough fractures

The miscible displacement of a shear-thinning fluid by another of same rheological properties is studied experimentally in a transparent fracture by an optical technique imaging relative concentration distributions. The fracture walls have complementary self-affine geometries and are shifted laterally in the direction perpendicular to the mean flow velocity {\bf U} : the flow field is strongly channelized and macro dispersion controls the front structure for P\'{e}clet numbers above a few units. The global front width increases then linearly with time and reflects the velocity distribution between the different channels. In contrast, at the local scale, front spreading is similar to Taylor dispersion between plane parallel surfaces. Both dispersion mechanisms depend strongly on the fluid rheology which shifts from Newtonian to shear-thinning when the flow rate increases. In the latter domain, increasing the concentration enhances the global front width but reduces both Taylor dispersion (due to the flattening of the velocity profile in the gap of the fracture) and the size of medium scale front structures

Self Piercing Riveting for Metal-Polymer Joints

Self-Piercing Riveting (SPR) is a sheet metal joining technique based on the insertion of a rivet into two or more sheets, with no preparatory hole. This process has gained wide diffusion in the automotive industry, due to the increasing use of materials alternative to steel, that are difficult or impossible to join with traditional techniques. In particular, polymeric materials are becoming increasingly used, due to their favorable weight/strength ratio. This paper reports the results of experimental investigations, aimed at identifying the variables affecting the mechanical characteristics of mixed metal-plastic joints. A statistic model for the optimization of the geometrical parameters has been computed. The paper demonstrates that self-piercing riveting appears competitive for metal/polymer junction. The results analyzed in light of statistical techniques show that some geometrical parameters affect joint performance more than others and can therefore be used as independent variables for joint performance optimizatio

Superfluid and Pseudo-Goldstone Modes in Three Flavor Crystalline Color Superconductivity

We study the bosonic excitations in the favorite cubic three flavor crystalline LOFF phases of QCD. We calculate in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation the masses of the eight pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Bosons (NGB) present in the low energy theory. We also compute the decay constants of the massless NGB Goldstones associated to superfluidity as well as those of the eight pseudo NGB. Differently from the corresponding situation in the Color-Flavor-Locking phase, we find that meson condensation phases are not expected in the present scenario.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX4 class. Section IIIA enlarged, to appear on Phys. Rev.

Phase sensitive detection of dipole radiation in a fiber-based high numerical aperture optical system

We theoretically study the problem of detecting dipole radiation in an optical system of high numerical aperture in which the detector is sensitive to \textit{field amplitude}. In particular, we model the phase sensitive detector as a single-mode cylindrical optical fiber. We find that the maximum in collection efficiency of the dipole radiation does not coincide with the optimum resolution for the light gathering instrument. The calculated results are important for analyzing fiber-based confocal microscope performance in fluorescence and spectroscopic studies of single molecules and/or quantum dots.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Influence of the disorder on tracer dispersion in a flow channel

Tracer dispersion is studied experimentally in periodic or disordered arrays of beads in a capillary tube. Dispersion is measured from light absorption variations near the outlet following a steplike injection of dye at the inlet. Visualizations using dye and pure glycerol are also performed in similar geometries. Taylor dispersion is dominant both in an empty tube and for a periodic array of beads: the dispersivity $l\_d$ increases with the P\'eclet number $Pe$ respectively as $Pe$ and $Pe^{0.82}$ and is larger by a factor of 8 in the second case. In a disordered packing of smaller beads (1/3 of the tube diameter) geometrical dispersion associated to the disorder of the flow field is dominant with a constant value of $l\_d$ reached at high P\'eclet numbers. The minimum dispersivity is slightly higher than in homogeneous nonconsolidated packings of small grains, likely due heterogeneities resulting from wall effects. In a disordered packing with the same beads as in the periodic configuration, $l\_d$ is up to 20 times lower than in the latter and varies as $Pe^\alpha$ with $\alpha = 0.5$ or $= 0.69$ (depending on the fluid viscosity). A simple model accounting for this latter result is suggested.Comment: available online at http://www.edpsciences.org/journal/index.cfm?edpsname=epjap&niv1=contents&niv2=archive

Improving angle stability by switching shunt reactors in mixed overhead cable lines. An Italian 400 kV case study

Stringent environmental constraints make the construction of new transmission overhead lines more and more difficult. Alternatively, today it is possible to use cable lines for high (HV) and extra-high (EHV) voltage systems. The configuration of the so-called mixed lines can create some problems in the operation of the electrical system, both during steady-state and transient conditions. In particular, the system stability is one of the main concerns when analyzing the dynamic response of power systems. In this paper, the study of angular stability of a system containing a mixed line is presented: a specific control logic applied to the shunt reactors of the mixed line is proposed as improvement of the overall system stability. The proposed switching logic is first discussed from a theoretical point of view and validated with two different testing systems. Then, the existing overhead-cable lines connecting Sicily to the rest of continental Europe 400 kV power system are taken as case study for the application of the proposed switching strategy. Several simulations are performed in the power system analysis software NEPLAN360: the results show the fundamental role of the timing of the control actions applied on the shunt reactors in helping the system to keep the stability. The proposed control proves to be an effective support to the system subjected to critical contingencies, contributing decisively to avoid the angular separation between areas and therefore to preserve the stability of the system