An innovative, fast and facile soft-template approach for the fabrication of porous PDMS for oil-water separation

Oil wastewater and spilled oil caused serious environmental pollution and damage to public health in the last years. Therefore, considerable efforts are made to develop sorbent materials able to separate oil from water with high selectivity and sorption capacity. However most of them are low reusable, with low volume absorption capacity and poor mechanical properties. Moreover, the synthesis is time-consuming, complex and expensive limiting its practical application in case of emergency. Here we propose an innovative approach for the fabrication of porous PDMS starting from an inverse water-in-silicone procedure able to selectively collect oil from water in few seconds. The synthesis is dramatically faster than previous approaches, permitting the fabrication of the material in few minutes independently from the dimension of the sponges. The porous material evidenced a higher volume sorption capacity with respect to other materials already proposed for oil sorption from water and excellent mechanical and reusability properties.This innovative fast and simple approach can be successful in case of emergency, as oil spill accidents, permitting in situ fabrication of porous absorbents

Measuring the Net Economic Impact of an International Sporting Event

Sporting events are a phenomena shared by numerous communities throughout the country and generally make a positive contribution to the local economy. To be able to determine the economic impact of races, tournaments, and championships is of great value to both public and private groups in any town. Economic gain may be the deciding factor for the future provision of these staged tourist attractions. The specific methods used to accurately assess the economic impact of sporting events have received considerable attention in the literature, contributing to the development of a refined economic impact methodology, however, relatively few studies have applied these valid procedures in aggregate. Further, considerable revenues leak from the local economy with events with nonresident allied businesses (i.e., food and beverage concessionaires, souvenir vendors, etc.) This research details the economic impact assessment model developed and applied to the 1991 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Issues specifically addressed by the model include the vendor factor, sample and recall bias, and switching of expenditures. Other methodological concerns in economic impact studies and research recommendations are discussed with direct implications to recreation, sport, and tourism researchers and practitioners

The forecaster's added value in QPF

Abstract. To the authors' knowledge there are relatively few studies that try to answer this question: "Are humans able to add value to computer-generated forecasts and warnings?". Moreover, the answers are not always positive. In particular some postprocessing method is competitive or superior to human forecast. Within the alert system of ARPA Piemonte it is possible to study in an objective manner if the human forecaster is able to add value with respect to computer-generated forecasts. Every day the meteorology group of the Centro Funzionale of Regione Piemonte produces the HQPF (Human Quantitative Precipitation Forecast) in terms of an areal average and maximum value for each of the 13 warning areas, which have been created according to meteo-hydrological criteria. This allows the decision makers to produce an evaluation of the expected effects by comparing these HQPFs with predefined rainfall thresholds. Another important ingredient in this study is the very dense non-GTS (Global Telecommunication System) network of rain gauges available that makes possible a high resolution verification. In this work we compare the performances of the latest three years of QPF derived from the meteorological models COSMO-I7 (the Italian version of the COSMO Model, a mesoscale model developed in the framework of the COSMO Consortium) and IFS (the ECMWF global model) with the HQPF. In this analysis it is possible to introduce the hypothesis test developed by Hamill (1999), in which a confidence interval is calculated with the bootstrap method in order to establish the real difference between the skill scores of two competitive forecasts. It is important to underline that the conclusions refer to the analysis of the Piemonte operational alert system, so they cannot be directly taken as universally true. But we think that some of the main lessons that can be derived from this study could be useful for the meteorological community. In details, the main conclusions are the following: – despite the overall improvement in global scale and the fact that the resolution of the limited area models has increased considerably over recent years, the QPF produced by the meteorological models involved in this study has not improved enough to allow its direct use: the subjective HQPF continues to offer the best performance for the period +24 h/+48 h (i.e. the warning period in the Piemonte system); – in the forecast process, the step where humans have the largest added value with respect to mathematical models, is the communication. In fact the human characterization and communication of the forecast uncertainty to end users cannot be replaced by any computer code; – eventually, although there is no novelty in this study, we would like to show that the correct application of appropriated statistical techniques permits a better definition and quantification of the errors and, mostly important, allows a correct (unbiased) communication between forecasters and decision makers

The digitization of museum collections for the research, management and enhancement of Cultural Heritage

The research project takes part of the pilot initiative “Create a network around your research idea”, funded within the framework of the collaboration between Politecnico di Torino and Compagnia di San Paolo. The initiative promotes the research projects proposed by researchers of the Politecnico di Torino in collaboration with universities, companies and other entities of the socio-economic system located in Italy and in any other State Member of EU. The research draws inspiration from BIM (Building Information Modeling) methodologies - more conventionally applied in the field of Construction Industry - to build a workflow capable of virtually reproducing 3D objects, integrating geometric and semantic information. The case studies are some small objects belonging to the collections of the Egyptian Museum of Turin and pursuing three different levels of knowledge: from the scientific research to the data management system up to the settlement of virtual platforms for dissemination. The research project B.A.C.K. TO T.H.E. F.U.T.U.RE. - BIM Acquisition as Cultural Key TO Transfer Heritage of ancient Egypt For many Uses To many Users Replayed - tries to set up a new methodology in which the Information Modeling tools are used in an unconventional way, to build 3D models and linked databases of small objects, in particular belonging to museum collections and not publicly accessible. Inspired by Ministerial Decree n. 113/2018, entitled “Adoption of uniform minimum levels of quality for museums and places of culture of public belonging and activation of the National Museum System”, we have reinterpreted the improvement objectives described in the document and associated them to the three defined macro areas, through the use of interoperable digital technologies

PARAMETRIC HERITAGE. THE DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION OF P.L. NERVI'S PALAZZO DEL LAVORO IN THE 3DMODELLING AGE

Abstract. One of the main themes of this work is to incorporate the geometric aspects that characterize a certain type of architecture within a broader rule system, which, in the whole, generate the forms. Therefore, the solution would be to draw the reconstruction of a parametric model, through the application to a selected case study: Palazzo del Lavoro of Pier Luigi Nervi. The identification of some weaknesses of the project is important in order to digitally intervene on them, to prefigure a new life of the artifact in a virtual environment. By doing so, it will be possible to have truthful feedback in the real environment. The survey phase did not intend to reason on the architecture in its complexity, but rather on the observation of the matrices that regulate the similar geometries between them. The translation of these matrices into mathematical models, following the logic of HBIM and Algorithmic Design (AD), has allowed the creation of two different models. The first one, an informed model, characterized by a more traditional workflow, consists of building components based on design drawings of the time, aimed at graphically and quantitatively describe the entire artifact. The second one, a partial model of the only vertical component of the facade, is based on the canons of the element, and it is structured through algorithms that describe only a part of the architecture. The research wanted to deepen the interoperability of the information coming from the parametric models BIM with those generated by the algorithms.</p

A Comparison of Traditional and Refined Conversion Study Procedures

A critical issue in hospitality marketing is determining the effectiveness of advertising campaigns conducted by state and local tourism offices. Conversion studies are the most common method of evaluating tourism advertising programs. This article focuses on the traditional methods of tourism conversion studies and suggests procedures for more accurate research and improved interpretation. These refined procedures were used in a conversion study for a convention and visitors bureau located in the southwest of the United States. Findings further illustrate the inaccuracies of traditional conversion study principles while demonstrating the enhanced validity of the recommended methodology

On the key role of droughts in the dynamics of summer fires in Mediterranean Europe

Summer fires frequently rage across Mediterranean Europe, often intensified by high temperatures and droughts. According to the state-of-the-art regional fire risk projections, in forthcoming decades climate effects are expected to become stronger and possibly overcome fire prevention efforts. However, significant uncertainties exist and the direct effect of climate change in regulating fuel moisture (e.g. warmer conditions increasing fuel dryness) could be counterbalanced by the indirect effects on fuel structure (e.g. warmer conditions limiting fuel amount), affecting the transition between climate-driven and fuel-limited fire regimes as temperatures increase. Here we analyse and model the impact of coincident drought and antecedent wet conditions (proxy for the climatic factor influencing total fuel and fine fuel structure) on the summer Burned Area (BA) across all eco-regions in Mediterranean Europe. This approach allows BA to be linked to the key drivers of fire in the region. We show a statistically significant relationship between fire and same-summer droughts in most regions, while antecedent climate conditions play a relatively minor role, except in few specific eco-regions. The presented models for individual eco-regions provide insights on the impacts of climate variability on BA, and appear to be promising for developing a seasonal forecast system supporting fire management strategies.We thank the European Forest Fire Information System-EFFIS (http://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu) of the European Commission Joint Research Centre for the fire data. We acknowledge the SPEI data providers (http://sac.csic. es/spei/database.html). Special thanks to Joaquín Bedia, Esteve Canyameras, Xavier Castro and Andrej Ceglar for helpful discussions on the study. This work was partially funded by the Project of Interest “NextData” of the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research and by the EU H2020 Project 641762 “ECOPOTENTIAL: Improving Future Ecosystem Benefits through Earth Observations”. Ricardo Trigo was supported by IMDROFLOOD funded by Portuguese FCT (WaterJPI/0004/2014).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Ecotourism: Where Business and the Environment Meet

Ecotourism has become a powerful economic segment of the wider tourism industry despite a lack of consensual definition and standards that define operating parameters. This paper explores ecotourism by reviewing, the statistics of the phenomenon, potential reasons for its unprecedented growth and attempts at definitional consistency. The pejorative impacts on host cultures and the environment, and positive steps that are rectifying earlier mismanagement in both demand and supply side sectors are also considered. A final section addresses questions that need to be answered by the principles involved in the promotion and supply of the ecotourism business

Application of HTFC powered by LNG on a cruise ship: a case study

The 8th European Fuel Cell Technology & Applications Piero Lunghi Conference - EFC19, aims to bring together academia, research world, industry, public sector to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells technologies and clean energy. It also provides a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells technologies and clean energy. EFC19 promotes the exchange of ideas on several topics, covering different areas, such as Transport, Infrastructures, Energy Storage, Energy Generation and Cross-cutting& Overarching. In particular, EFC19 covers research activities and studies on material development, manufacturing processes, modelling, diagnostics and process control, system engineering, market and deployment, demonstration and real-world experience. The Proceedings of the Conference collect 220 abstracts of papers presented during the Conference

Which drawing to deliver more information?

The paper explores the potential of methods and languages designed to facilitate the communication of appropriate information content for the different levels of detail required in the creation of an architectural design, levels with different purposes, but nevertheless co-ordinated. Within this thesis, the many different facets of drawing and the language of graphics are confirmed as agents of intellectual mediation, as a support for expression and also as dynamic cultural and evolving factors. In order to reply to the new demands of performance, due to the increasing fragmentation of responsibility for design, some adjustments in the workflow are needed, essential to support renewed practices; in fact, supporting this dynamic, the representation seems to have recovered a role of increased visibility and importance, regaining an effective recognition through a reconfirmation that remarks the delicate function of communication, interpretation and criticism. The added value of the BIM methodologies (Building Information Modeling), is not limited by the ability to handle graphical representations at different scales with a single 3D model, but it answers to some requests connected by the data complexity inherent with the design and construction, actively supporting the engineering process: this means to relate actors or the building process to each other in a new way, reforming the assets and the processing modes, requiring explicit coordination for activities and procedures. At this regard, we analyze new operational workflow through a brief description of some designs carried out through the collaboration between DISEG (Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering) and the Building Service of the Politecnico di Torino, speaking about drawings and representations