3D Multi-Subband Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulator of FinFETs and nanowire transistors

In this paper we present the development of a 3D Multi Subband Ensemble Monte Carlo (3DMSB-EMC) tool targeting the simulation of nanoscaled FinFETs and nanowire transistors. In order to deliver computational efficiency, we have developed a self-consistent framework that couples a MSB- EMC transport engine for a 1D electron gas with a 3DPoisson- 2DSchro ̈dinger solver. Here we use a FinFET with a physical channel length of 15nm as an example to demonstrate the appli- cability and highlight the benefits of the simulation framework. A comparison of the 3DMSB-EMC with Non-Equilibrium Green’s Functions (NEGFs) in the ballistic limit is used to verify and validate our approach

Sistemi di trasporto pubblico urbano via mare. Un modo per rilanciare il waterfront di Palermo

New sea transport terminals can be major people movers and main centres for various urban activities and functions, determining strong social output. The city of Palermo qualifies as a prominent research territory, due to its densely urbanized and populated waterfront areas, associated with a lack of transport infrastructures and efficient transit systems to meet the mobility demand of residents and commuters. A new waterfront arrangement can improve the city image and opens the way to new urban public transport systems by sea, like ferries and hydrofoils, as an alternative to the conventional land transit systems already affected by unavoidable congestion. Plans to link by sea different destination on the coast, should first identify and locate the several historical docking points of the city, as they will be the connections between the land transit systems and the sea. Local cultural heritage, handicraft, architecture and natural aspects, can be attractions for the sea transit users, occasional visitors, tourists and passengers on a cruise. The basic idea is to create a sea lane independent from the usual land routes which are highly congested by the daily massive and repeated movements of residents, between the south-west and the north-west of Palermo

The development of air traffic in Sicily

The aim of this work is to analyse the air traffic development that interested the airport system in Sicily, consisting of the airport of Palermo “Falcone –Borsellino”, the airport of Catania “Fontanarossa” and that one of Trapani-Birgi “Vincenzo Florio”. The analysis of the possible growth of air traffic volume and performance in Sicily was mainly suggested by the growing importance of the Mediterranean region like a new crossroad of the worldwide traffic on the East-West line. It gives a new chance for the development of this area that mustn’t be loosed. Globalization and the migrant flows from South and East towards the Western Europe, makes of the southern Italy a strategic knot for passengers and goods movements. So, new investments and infrastructures improvements that will be realized in this area are a value added not only for the southern Italy but also for the whole country. We have examined the potential demand attraction for passengers and goods movements in the Sicilian airports considered. For a more careful evaluation of the changes occurred into Sicilian air transport system, the research aimed to: § determine their "catchment area" through the evaluation of accessibility (isochrones); § analyse the air traffic data and the existing degree of integration, not only between the airports and the area, but also in terms of demand in the short and in the long period. Finally, we have evaluated the possibility of integration of traffic flows management among the two airports of Palermo and Trapani, in order to analyse if this two airports are complementary rather than competitors.

Helicopter operations: the environmental impact and ground facilities. Procedures and operational standards for the system’s acceptance.

The link between the heliports, environmental quality and safety is an important challenge in the field of helicopter transport. This challenge is especially crucial when the helicopter operations are carried out on densely urbanized areas. Often these areas have significant constraints and obstacles, particularly in terms of noise pollution. These constraints make the approach/takeoff maneuvers very complicated. The theme of the environmental sustainability of the rotorcraft is strongly felt in many countries. The production of noise is subjected to numerous rules and procedures, which tend to improve the acceptability of the helicopter by residents in neighboring areas to verti/heliports. The attention of manufacturers towards the problems of noise compatibility has produced technological innovations to reduce emissions, such as the shape of the tip of rotor blades, a speed reduction of rotation of the rotors, etc. Environmental concerns are becoming increasingly important when siting all aviation facilities. In particular, heliport facilities generate both positive and negative impacts on the surrounding environment. Negative impacts are mainly related to soil quality, water resources, safety issues, air environment (especially during the construction phase), noise (during operations) and biological environment. Positive ones could occur by the increase of emergency services, revenue generation, and the provision of a better connectivity with the neighborhoods located nearby the facility, the raise of employment opportunities and the general improvement of air transport facilities. The current international regulatory framework on heliport facilities seems to be lacking with regards to the evaluation of the environmental impacts of the heliport facilities. Moreover, the national rules on this topic are often undefined or vague. For this reason, it seems necessary to define guidelines to improve the awareness of the consequences which spontaneously arise from the planning and designing phase of heliports. Already from the site selection stage, heliport planners have to take into account all potential environmental issues. Noise is always the primary concern in these cases. A candidate site must be compatible with its surroundings. Compatibility must include any increase in activity resulting from IFR capability. Additional issues that citizens and municipalities are concerned about include air pollution, water pollution, ground access, and safety flight operations. Air pollution by helicopters is negligible although this issue may be brought up by concerned citizens and communities. Water pollution caused by fueling or maintenance facilities at a verti/heliport is coming under greater scrutiny. The ability to deal with all these public issues must be addressed during final site selection and community standards must be upheld. Ground access to a new transportation mode may increase traffic at and en route to that location and create a potential increase in noise and air pollution. These concerns must be dealt with in the design of ground access to the facility and by incorporating the individual community's standards, regulations, and goals. The receptivity of community leaders to work with the vertical landing facility to solve these problems should be measured in the final site selection process. Beyond the direct benefit of affecting the environment as little as possible, addressing environmental issues is an additional, albeit indirect tool, in obtaining and keeping good relations with the local government and its citizens. A heliport that has been developed into an IFR facility must be viable for a sufficient length of time to realize a return on investment (ROI) and to also achieve a contribution to the transportation system. In order to select a potentially viable heliport it is vital to consider the compatibility of surrounding land uses, both existing and future. A heliport that, at the present time, is considered by its neighbors as a nuisance cannot be counted on to remain in operation for an acceptable amount of time. Plans for future land use in the area must be determined through an investigation of planning documents at the appropriate levels (city, county, regional, etc.). Issues that instead will be addressed are related to the identification of the flight phases producing noise, by analyzing the different type of noise emission regarding the flight phase. Moreover, the role of helicopter’s pilot into the restraint of helicopter’s noise with particular regards to the driving behavior and its impact on noisiness’ reduction will be treated. In general, it can be stated that pilots have to do everything for reducing helicopter’s noise while remaining within the safety range’s parameters of the rotorcraft. Here comes the need of developing a worldwide analysis of the regulatory constraints for restricting helicopters’ impact on the populations residing nearby ground facilities. These constraints dictate operational rules for departure and approach phases of rotorcraft. Others factors affecting noise emissions are, for instance, temperature, humidity, wind, rotor blades. Standard procedures for noise abatement are: to fly at the highest altitude possible among those compatible with the airspace and safety rules; to enhance the awareness of the different noise perception that can be induced depending on the overflown environment (e.g. urban areas or country); The proposed study is articulated as follow: identification of measures to be implemented for reducing the environmental impact; analysis of current standard rules in several countries with regards to environmental constraints; proposals for initiatives aiming to the rules’ standardization regarding operations on heliports and helipads; samples of operational actions to be implemented for departure and approach phases; review of international experiences in the flight procedures applied for noise abatement

La riqualificazione della viabilità costiera per la mobilità dolce: il caso di Palermo

The attractiveness and the availability of services offered in urban areas nearby the port terminals are conditioned by the improvement of the connection of different urban transport systems and by the enhancement of the accessibility. But they should be based on the overall improvement of urban mobility. The structural organization of the territory is favored by the presence of links, which realize an infrastructure system to the different levels of connection and accessibility. The interventions could include the requalification of the coastal strip, including the road network component. Attention should be given to the supply quality, the rationalization of a linear model based on the coastal viability and on the access to the poles of the city and its hinterland. It should be also took in to account a rationalization of urban traffic, using exchange parking areas with enhanced public transport systems, and of the creation of pedestrian and bicycle paths for soft mobility on the short and medium range distances

Infrastructure, Tariff and Legal Action: How to Achieve a Climate-Friendly Transport System

Transportation absorbs about 70% of oil consumption in EU countries. The fuels that burn in the field of transport are composed of 96% of oil. Energy efficiency of road and air traffic must also be improved. But transport environmental impacts reductions should be made necessarily through a transfer of traffic from the car, lorries and aircraft to train, ship, and non motorized two-wheelers into the EU cities. In fact the former are large producers of greenhouse gases, while the latter are more environmentally friendly means of transport in climate. Reaching an annual increase of 1% of the modal split in favour of more sustainable means of transport on the environment must be set as a goal ecologic. Legal, infrastructure and tariff measures have to be proposed, in addition to technical measures (reduction of traffic, growth in the energy efficiency of vehicles, reduction of ravelled distances, improved logistics, etc.). Legal measures refer to possible law limits in terms on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions due to traffic set by the EU. Infrastructure measures can be distinguished on the basis of the concerned territory. On the one hand there is the city, where it seems appropriate to move with intermodal chain, more secure and environmentally friendly. On the other hand there are fundamentally the suburbs, where investment in new transport infrastructures may be contradictory in terms of climate protection. Tariff measures express the already established concept of "who produces pollution, he pays". The external costs generated by different modes of transport have to be progressively turned over to users

IL RUOLO DELLA QUALITÀ PERCEPITA DEI PERCORSI PEDONALI NELLA SCELTA DEL TRASPORTO PUBBLICO

Il fenomeno del pendolarismo oggigiorno coinvolge ampie fasce della popolazione, manifestandosi attraverso spostamenti sistematici, spesso quotidiani, dal proprio luogo di residenza verso altra destinazione, per motivi di studio o di lavoro. La definizione di spostamento pendolare prescinde dalla distanza percorsa o dal tempo di viaggio. Tipicamente, i pendolari si spostano tra differenti aree di regioni metropolitane, seguendo percorsi multimodali, costituiti anche da itinerari di “mobilità dolce” (pedonale o ciclabile). La mancanza di una cultura della pianificazione urbanistica, la diffusione sul territorio delle funzioni residenziali e l’accentramento delle attività produttive e commerciali hanno determinato, negli ultimi decenni, una crescita intensa dei fenomeni di pendolarismo. A causa del notevole sviluppo dei centri urbani, divenuti delle vere e proprie “città diffuse”, la durata degli spostamenti pendolari ha subito forti incrementi, occupando, in molti casi, gran parte della vita dei viaggiatori. Il pendolarismo, inoltre, è considerato uno dei fattori che maggiormente contribuiscono all’inquinamento atmosferico, a causa della congestione della rete stradale metropolitana. Ne deriva un crescente degrado della “qualità” della vita per gli stessi pendolari e per gli individui residenti nelle aree limitrofe alle grandi arterie di collegamento. Per risolvere questi problemi, si è da tempo affermato l’orientamento ad elaborare politiche per la promozione dell’uso del trasporto collettivo, volte, in particolare, a conseguire miglioramenti dei servizi pubblici sia sul piano dell’efficienza sia su quello dell’efficacia. Tuttavia, in generale, l’attenzione è rivolta alla progettazione dell’offerta del singolo modo di trasporto pubblico, senza considerare l’integrazione con altre forme di trasporto collettivo e con le modalità di “mobilità dolce”. Ne discende una scarsa competitività dei servizi di trasporto pubblico, con la conseguenza di una ripartizione modale molto sbilanciata a favore dell’auto

Gli itinerari turistici in ambito urbano tra accessibilità e informazione

Palermo è una delle città, culturalmente ed economicamente, più importanti dell’intera area del Mediterraneo. Ricca di un notevole patrimonio architettonico e archeologico, è caratterizzata da un elevato potenziale turistico a cui non corrisponde un’adeguata rete di collegamenti e di servizi di trasporto multimodali. Oggi i centri urbani, dalle metropoli ai borghi, rappresentano uno degli anelli più importanti del sistema di offerta turistica, perché sono i luoghi in cui il turista, occasionale e/o di lunga permanenza, si trova di fronte a beni, servizi, cultura ed esperienze, diventandone consumatore. È proprio in questo processo che il visitatore ha necessità di percepire servizi di qualità, specialmente nel campo dei trasporti per rendere accessibili i punti nodali della città. Infatti, per favorire l’organizzazione strutturale del territorio non basta sviluppare i centri urbani in termini di attrattività, ma è necessario assicurare i collegamenti realizzando un sistema infrastrutturale ai vari livelli di connessione e accessibilità. Molte città europee, nel loro programma di rivalutazione dei contesti urbani, hanno sviluppato un sistema di indicatori per valutare la vivibilità delle città, puntando molto sulle interrelazioni tra servizi di trasporto e itinerari turistici, mettendo in primo piano elementi come la qualità dei servizi pubblici, la sicurezza, le aree pedonali e la mobilità, che, sinergicamente, contribuiscono a rendere un centro urbano accogliente e competitivo. Sul piano europeo il programma degli itinerari culturali si fa portatore dei principi insiti nel processo di costruzione comunitaria, in particolar modo per la conoscenza della diversità culturale e del patrimonio storico sotto forma di tradizioni, arte e storia. In questa ottica va prendendo piede la volontà sovranazionale del sostegno per lo sviluppo dell’impresa culturale, anche appartenente al terzo settore, mirato al potenziamento del ruolo delle città siciliane nella promozione dell’europartenariato con realizzazione di circuiti di produzione congiunta. Gli itinerari sono testimonianza della storia e, quindi, fattore di rafforzamento degli ideali e del sentirsi cittadini europei, oltre che costituire di per sé un bene culturale, con le sue complessità sia in termini di individuazione e riconoscimento sia come progettazione e gestione. Connessa all’idea di “itinerario” c’è quella di strada, di via, di movimento e di connessione tra essi. Accessibilità e mobilità assumono rilevanza crescente per qualsiasi politica di sviluppo turistico. I trasporti, infatti, svolgono un ruolo centrale nello sviluppo economico del territorio che trascende le finalità del turismo, anche se è proprio in questo settore che si confermano essenziali. Non solo essenzialità ma anche qualificazione: l’accessibilità di un’area e la componente infrastrutturale del sistema dei trasporti contribuiscono a qualificare l’offerta orientandone i flussi turistici. Il sistema dei trasporti quindi rappresenta un aspetto dinamico dell’offerta turistica, che va formulata attraverso la realizzazione di un quadro organico delle risorse culturali, strutturato in circuiti, reti e itinerari, allo scopo di recuperare i contesti e le identità culturali locali, in una prospettiva di valorizzazione turistica, e di favorire l’emergere dei luoghi di maggiore concentrazione delle risorse (poli attrattori) che costituiranno la struttura portante alla quale saranno agganciate le realtà locali. Il recupero e la valorizzazione di tali contesti potrà avvenire attraverso la creazione di itinerari integrati che, collegando le variegate risorse, potranno attrarre particolari segmenti della domanda turi-stica e attivare occasioni di sviluppo economico e sociale duraturo per le collettività locali, di cui sarà possibile rafforzare l’identità storico-culturale. Da qui l’esigenza dell’individuazione e attivazione di circuiti museali, circuiti delle aree archeologiche, circuiti monumentali, ecc., gestiti in rete attraverso sistemi avanzati di informazione e di comunicazione, anche in funzione del miglioramento dell’integrazione tra i modi di trasporto e dell’interconnessione delle reti di trasporto. Obiettivo dello studio proposto è lo sviluppo di una metodologia progettuale capace di identificare il livello di accessibilità ottimale, dal punto di vista spazio-temporale, ai vari siti tramite la costruzione di itinerari turistici multimodali, basati sullo straordinario patrimonio storico-artistico, di cui dispone la città di Palermo, vero e proprio museo all’aperto (in particolare nel Centro Storico), all’interno del quale sono leggibili le vestigia dei popoli conquistatori, dai palazzi alle antiche mura, dai giardini ai parchi arabo-normanni. Gli itinerari prefigurabili partono da un determinato punto e ripercorrono la città per temi, migliorandone l’accessibilità spaziale e temporale, cosicché il turista possa usufruire qualitativamente del territorio che lo ospita. La ricezione turistica portuale, dal mese di marzo ad ottobre, è molto elevata e, a tal proposito, si potrebbe pensare ad un progetto che proponga di sviluppare una metodologia di accoglienza e gestione dei visitatori. La coniugazione dei tre elementi connessi ad accessibilità, accoglienza e informazione passa attraverso interventi di miglioramento dei collegamenti del porto con il sistema dei trasporti e per la predisposizione di sistemi informativi dei percorsi utili per la fruizione dei luoghi principali dell’offerta turistica, anche al fine del monitoraggio delle attività espositive e culturali per l’attivazione di un sistema integrato regionale ed euromediterraneo. Il piano della segnaletica turistica, la predisposizione di SIT per settore (naturalistico, monumentale, archeologico, museale, ecc.) e per favorire l’accessibilità ai luoghi di interesse turistico (integrazione modale, costi, orari, ecc.), e di siti Web, l’uso del GIS sono ulteriori e importanti strumenti per supportare la mobilità dei flussi turistici nel territorio prescelto come destinazione dei loro viaggi e delle loro vacanze

3D Multi-Subband Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulator of FinFETs and nanowire transistors

In this paper we present the development of a 3D Multi Subband Ensemble Monte Carlo (3DMSB-EMC) tool targeting the simulation of nanoscaled FinFETs and nanowire transistors. In order to deliver computational efficiency, we have developed a self-consistent framework that couples a MSB- EMC transport engine for a 1D electron gas with a 3DPoisson- 2DSchro ̈dinger solver. Here we use a FinFET with a physical channel length of 15nm as an example to demonstrate the appli- cability and highlight the benefits of the simulation framework. A comparison of the 3DMSB-EMC with Non-Equilibrium Green’s Functions (NEGFs) in the ballistic limit is used to verify and validate our approach

A demand-based methodology for planning the bus network of a small or medium town

This work aims at developing a demand-based methodology for designing the bus network of a small or medium town. The proposed modelling tool adopts a multi-agent objective function which evaluates performance in the context of different stakeholders: the surplus of travellers (car and bus users); the bus service provider’s revenues and operation costs. This approach was applied to an existing bus network, serving Trapani, which is a medium town in the south of Italy (Sicily), with 100000 inhabitants. The busbased public transport system attracts only about 5% of commuter trips within Trapani (source: National Institute of Statistics, 2005). This paper reports on an analysis of the application of the proposed multiagent modelling tool to two planning scenarios: the first is short-term and characterized by a budget constraint (slight changes in the availability of drivers and vehicles) and the second long-term with new investments in new buses to improve services and increase patronage. In both cases, the impact of the recent car park charging policy launched by the local administration was considered. The decision variables for the optimisation procedure were route, service frequency and capacity of each bus line. A random utility model was employed to forecast the mode choices for trips within Trapani and the travel demand-supply equilibrium was obtained using the DUE (deterministic user equilibrium) assignment algorithm, for private transport, and the hyperpath network loading algorithm, for public transport. The optimisation procedure led to a more efficient bus network characterized by increase in bus frequencies and a better performance in terms of reduced travel time, especially for trips bound for the “old town” in the morning. In addition, a higher number of origin-destination pairs were served, at the expense of the need to interchange between the inner more frequent and the outer less frequent services. This implied that the number of transfers from one bus line to another significantly increased