Technical effectiveness of cement-based mortar for high-reflective building envelope through building energy simulations: preliminary results

In areas with high levels of solar radiation, decreasing the amount of solar energy absorbed by the building envelope is useful to reduce the need of air conditioning and "heat island" effects. Most high-reflective products, however, suffer from low durability. The COOL-IT project is developing an innovative high-reflective cement based mortar for precast products to be used as outer layer in buildings for both vertical and horizontal surfaces, or for road pavement. The mix design is aimed at increasing the durability of this cement-based component while retaining high reflectance to solar radiation. This paper presents the preliminary results of the project, based on the simulation of the energy demand of a residential building, intended as a support to optimize the proposed mixes. The model is analysed in three different locations in Italy, for one year of operation. This allows evaluating the trade-off of the energy demand between the winter increase and the summer reduction

A new collaborative model for a holistic and sustainable metropolitan planning

The purpose of our contribution is to provide insight into an innovative, shared and transferable model to assist the evolution and sustainable planning of an urban-industrial metropolitan area through a bottom-up involvement of the industrial community and local stakeholders. The presence of industrial urban districts has become a typical feature in Italy as a result of urban spreading. The presence of SMEs in urban ecosystems is a new fundamental opportunity for the design and planning of spaces as well as for the planning of smart energy systems and life quality in the cities. We tested this approach in Roveri, a historical industrial district in transition located within the urban boundary of Bologna. This paper describes the first results obtained with a number of tools and actions aimed at making the community and stakeholders conscious of the district’s potential and to enable them to lead its development

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Cosmic ray oriented performance studies for the JEM-EUSO first level trigger

JEM-EUSO is a space mission designed to investigate Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos (E > 5 ⋅ 1019 eV) from the International Space Station (ISS). Looking down from above its wide angle telescope is able to observe their air showers and collect such data from a very wide area. Highly specific trigger algorithms are needed to drastically reduce the data load in the presence of both atmospheric and human activity related background light, yet retain the rare cosmic ray events recorded in the telescope. We report the performance in offline testing of the first level trigger algorithm on data from JEM-EUSO prototypes and laboratory measurements observing different light sources: data taken during a high altitude balloon flight over Canada, laser pulses observed from the ground traversing the real atmosphere, and model landscapes reproducing realistic aspect ratios and light conditions as would be seen from the ISS itself. The first level trigger logic successfully kept the trigger rate within the permissible bounds when challenged with artificially produced as well as naturally encountered night sky background fluctuations and while retaining events with general air-shower characteristics

A new collaborative model for a holistic and sustainable metropolitan planning

<p>The purpose of our contribution is to provide insight into an innovative, shared and transferable model to assist the evolution and sustainable planning of an urban-industrial metropolitan area through a bottom-up involvement of the industrial community and local stakeholders. The presence of industrial urban districts has become a typical feature in Italy as a result of urban spreading. The presence of SMEs in urban ecosystems is a new fundamental opportunity for the design and planning of spaces as well as for the planning of smart energy systems and life quality in the cities. We tested this approach in Roveri, a historical industrial district in transition located within the urban boundary of Bologna. This paper describes the first results obtained with a number of tools and actions aimed at making the community and stakeholders conscious of the district’s potential and to enable them to lead its development.</p