Demystifying academics to enhance university-business collaborations in environmental science

In countries globally there is intense political interest in fostering effective university-business collaborations, but there has been scant attention devoted to exactly how an individual scientist's workload (i.e. specified tasks) and incentive structures (i.e. assessment criteria) may act as a key barrier to this. To investigate this an original, empirical dataset is derived from UK job specifications and promotion criteria, which distil universities' varied drivers into requirements upon academics. This work reveals the nature of the severe challenge posed by a heavily time-constrained culture; specifically, tension exists between opportunities presented by working with business and non-optional duties (e.g. administration and teaching). Thus, to justify the time to work with business, such work must inspire curiosity and facilitate future novel science in order to mitigate its conflict with the overriding imperative for academics to publish. It must also provide evidence of real-world changes (i.e. impact), and ideally other reportable outcomes (e.g. official status as a business' advisor), to feed back into the scientist's performance appraisals. Indicatively, amid 20-50 key duties, typical full-time scientists may be able to free up to 0.5 day per week for work with business. Thus specific, pragmatic actions, including short-term and time-efficient steps, are proposed in a "user guide"to help initiate and nurture a long-term collaboration between an early- to mid-career environmental scientist and a practitioner in the insurance sector. These actions are mapped back to a tailored typology of impact and a newly created representative set of appraisal criteria to explain how they may be effective, mutually beneficial and overcome barriers. Throughout, the focus is on environmental science, with illustrative detail provided through the example of natural hazard risk modelling in the insurance sector. However, a new conceptual model of academics' behaviour is developed, fusing perspectives from literature on academics' motivations and performance assessment, which we propose is internationally applicable and transferable between sectors. Sector-specific details (e.g. list of relevant impacts and user guide) may serve as templates for how people may act differently to work more effectively together

Advanced techniques of fault diagnosis - prognosis in mechanical structures with the use of visual methods: IR thermography case

Scope of this Doctoral Dissertation is the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the potential of infrared (IR) thermography, as a vision-based condition monitoring (CM) method, for fault (defect) diagnosis and prognosis in mechanical structures, with main objective and focus on photovoltaic (PV) modules. The potential of the intended method for PV modules’ fault diagnosis, was assessed through three individual case studies, which were diversified as for: i) the performed IR radiometric approach, ii) the inspected elements and iii) the featured thermal image processing and diagnosis technique. Towards the investigation of fault propagation mechanisms and prognosis of their long-term impact to the PV modules’ efficiency, the prospect of IR thermography was evaluated by a comparative case study of IR, electrical I-V and optical microscopy measurements of faults’ evolution, through accelerated ageing tests to PV modules. From the overall results and discussion of both diagnostic and prognostic studies, it was concluded that IR thermography comprises a fairly promising and valuable method of fault diagnosis for PV modules, able provide fast and reliable detection of faults’ thermal signatures, in the form of temperature fluctuations and abnormal temperature profiles in solar cells. Moreover, in most cases, this diagnosis was achieved by using simple thermal image processing techniques, without interrupting the operation of any inspected module. On the other hand, the proposed method presented limited reliability in prognosis of fault evolution and/or propagation through the modules’ lifetime, as well as weak fault classification ability; in principle, the diagnosed faults can be classified according to their location, severity (in terms of temperature rise) or extent, without providing any classification upon the fault type or source. Ultimate goal of such field of research, is to extend the research benefit obtained from this Doctoral Dissertation towards production, energy, financial/investment and, finally, social benefit, through: i) improved long-term reliability and efficiency, ii) reduced life cycle costs, iii) optimized maintenance scheduling of PV modules, as well as iv) decreased costs of electrical energy produced by a PV system.Σκοπός της παρούσας Διδακτορικής Διατριβής είναι η ποιοτική και ποσοτική αποτίμηση του δυναμικού αξιοποίησης της υπέρυθρης θερμογραφίας, ως εποπτικής μεθόδου, στην διάγνωση και πρόγνωση βλαβών σε μηχανολογικές κατασκευές, με βασική στόχευση και αντικείμενο εφαρμογής τα φωτοβολταϊκά (Φ/Β) πλαίσια. Σε επίπεδο εντοπισμού και διάγνωσης βλαβών σε Φ/Β πλαίσια, η δυναμική της μεθόδου της υπέρυθρης θερμογραφίας αποτιμήθηκε με την εκπόνηση τριών πειραματικών μελετών περιπτώσεων, διαφοροποιημένων ως προς: i) την προσέγγιση της υπέρυθρης ραδιομέτρησης, ii) τα προς διάγνωση στοιχεία και iii) την τεχνική ανάλυσης των θερμικών αποτυπωμάτων και εξαγωγής της κάθε διάγνωσης. Σε επίπεδο πρόγνωσης της μετάδοσης και της επίδρασης βλαβών στην διάρκεια ζωής των Φ/Β πλαισίων, καθώς και στην αξιοπιστία και τελική απόδοσή τους, οι δυνατότητες της μεθόδου αξιολογήθηκαν με την διερεύνηση της εξέλιξης συγκεκριμένων βλαβών στον χρόνο, μέσα από την συγκριτική μελέτη πειραματικών μετρήσεων υπέρυθρης θερμογραφίας, ηλεκτρικής απόδοσης και οπτικής μικροσκοπίας, πριν και μετά την εφαρμογή τεχνητής επιταχυνόμενης γήρανσης σε Φ/Β πλαίσια. Τα συνολικά αποτελέσματα των μελετών, έδειξαν ότι η υπέρυθρη θερμογραφία, συνιστά εξαιρετικά υποσχόμενη μέθοδο διάγνωσης βλαβών σε Φ/Β πλαίσια, ικανή να ανιχνεύσει και να αποδώσει γρήγορα και αξιόπιστα, το θερμικό αποτύπωμα βλαβών, υπό μορφή θερμοκρασιακών διακυμάνσεων και “ανωμαλιών” σε κλίμακα ηλιακής κυψέλης. Μάλιστα, στην πλειοψηφία των εφαρμογών, η διάγνωση επιτεύχθηκε με την χρήση απλών τεχνικών επεξεργασίας θερμικών εικόνων, δίχως την προϋπόθεση διακοπής λειτουργίας των υπό έλεγχο Φ/Β πλαισίων. Από την άλλη πλευρά, η μέθοδος εμφάνισε αδυναμία αξιόπιστης πρόγνωσης της εξέλιξής των βλαβών στον χρόνο και ταξινόμησής τους ως προς τον τύπο και την προέλευσή τους, περιοριζόμενη στην ταξινόμησή τους ως προς την θέση, την σοβαρότητα ή/και την έκτασή τους. Απώτερη στόχευση αυτού του πεδίου έρευνας, είναι η αναγωγή του σημαντικού ερευνητικού οφέλους αυτής της Διατριβής, σε κατασκευαστικό, ενεργειακό, οικονομικό/επενδυτικό και – εν τέλει – κοινωνικό όφελος, μέσα από: i) την βελτίωση της αξιοπιστίας και της απόδοσης των Φ/Β πλαισίων, ii) την μείωση του κόστους κύκλου ζωής τους, iii) τον σχεδιασμό καταλληλότερων στρατηγικών συντήρησης τους και, iv) τον περιορισμό του κόστους παραγόμενης ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας από ένα Φ/Β σύστημα

Διερεύνηση Της Επιφανειακής Ξηρασίας Στην Υδρολογική Λεκάνη Του Ποταμού Λούρου

151 σ.Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματοποιήθηκε μια ολοκληρωμένη διερεύνηση της επιφανειακής ξηρασίας της υδρολογικής λεκάνης του ποταμού Λούρου. Χρησιμοποιήθηκαν χρονοσειρές υψών βροχής και θερμοκρασίας σε μηνιαίο βήμα από το 1969-70 έως και το πιο πρόσφατο διαθέσιμο έτος 2000-01. Επιγραμματικά, η πορεία της εργασίας αυτής διαρθρώθηκε ως εξής: Αρχικά έγινε ψηφιοποίηση χαρτών της Γεωγραφικής Υπηρεσίας Στρατού κλίμακας 1:50.000, που οδήγησε στη δημιουργία του ψηφιακού μοντέλου εδάφους και του υδρολογικού δικτύου της εξετασθείσας λεκάνης απορροής. Στη συνέχεια έγινε η επιλογή των κατάλληλων βροχομετρικών και μετεωρολογικών σταθμών, τα δεδομένα των οποίων συμπληρώθηκαν, αφού έτυχαν της κατάλληλης επεξεργασίας (π.χ. συσχετίσεις τιμών υψών βροχής διαφορετικών σταθμών λαμβανομένων ανά δύο, εξαγωγή διπλών αθροιστικών καμπυλών κλπ). Επίσης, με τη βοήθεια του προγράμματος MEDBASIN, υπολογίστηκε στις θέσεις των σταθμών η μηνιαία δυνητική εξατμισοδιαπνοή. Με βάση τα δεδομένα της βροχόπτωσης και της δυνητικής εξατμισοδιαπνοής υπολογίστηκαν, χρησιμοποιώντας το λογισμικό Drinc, οι δείκτες ξηρασίας RDIst και SPI σε ετήσια βάση, καθώς και για το πρώτο τρίμηνο του κάθε υδρολογικού έτους. Ακολούθησε η εφαρμογή της μεθόδου της ψηφιδωτής διαμέρισης, κατά την οποία η περιοχή ενδιαφέροντος διαμερίστηκε σε 1075 ισομεγέθη στοιχειώδη κύτταρα με την εφαρμογή ενός ορθογωνικού κανάβου με δεδομένη ισαποχή (1km) των οριζόντιων και κατακόρυφων γραμμών του. Στη συνέχεια δημιουργήσαμε μια βάση δεδομένων, η οποία έδωσε τις τιμές των δεικτών στα κέντρα των κυττάρων και η οποία εισήχθη στο λογισμικό Arcmap. Έτσι έγινε η απεικόνιση της χωρικής κατανομής της ξηρασίας στην περιοχή μελέτης. Τέλος, η ανάλυση των χαρτών δίνει μία ανάγλυφη εικόνα των συνθηκών ξηρασίας που εμφανίζεται στην περιοχή μελέτης, για τη χρονική περίοδο που εξετάστηκε.In this work, a comprehensive investigation of surface drought in the Louros river basin, was performed. Time series of both precipitation and temperature on a monthly basis from 1969-70 until the most current available year 2001-01, were used. Briefly, the path of this work was structured as follows: Initially, digitalized maps of Military Geographic Service in scale 1:50,000 were constructed, leading to the digital terrain model and the basin’s hydrographic network. Moreover, the selection of suitable precipitation and meteorological stations, whose data were completed after the suitable elaboration, has been carried out. Also, using the software MEDBASIN, potential evapotranspiration values were calculated in the locations of the stations. Then, taking into consideration the data of both precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, the drought indices RDIst and SPI were calculated on an annual basis, using the DrinC software. Additionally, the same indices were calculated for the first quarter of each hydrological year. The present study was then proceeded with the implementation of partitionning mosaic method, in which the region of interest was divided into 1075 equally sized primary cells by applying a rectangular grid (1km) of horizontal and vertical lines, with the same distance. This led to the creation of a database, which was introduced in the Arcmap software, based on the imaging of the spatial distribution of drought in the study area. Finally, the analysis of the maps offered a clear picture of drought conditions occurring in the study area for the time period examined.Ιωάννης Π. Τσανάκα

Enabling Artificial Intelligent Virtual Sensors in an IoT Environment

The demands for a large number of sensors increase as the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities applications are continuing at a rapid pace. This also increases the cost of the infrastructure and the installation and maintenance overhead and creates significant performance degradation in the end-to-end communication, monitoring, and orchestration of the various connected devices. In order to solve the problem of increasing sensor demands, this paper suggests replacing physical sensors with machine learning (ML) models. These software-based artificial intelligence models are called virtual sensors. Extensive research and simulation comparisons between fourteen ML models provide a solid ground decision when it comes to the selection of the most accurate model to replace physical sensors, such as temperature and humidity sensors. In this problem at hand, the virtual and physical sensors are designed to be scattered in a smart home, while being connected and run on the same IoT platform. Thus, this paper also introduces a custom lightweight IoT platform that runs on a Raspberry Pi equipped with physical temperature and humidity sensors, which may also execute the virtual sensors. The evaluation results of the devised virtual sensors in a smart home scenario are promising and corroborate the applicability of the proposed methodology

A Case Report of Pulmonary Exacerbation after Initiation of Lumacaftor/Ivacaftor Therapy in a CF Female with Complicated Lung Disease

Novel targeted treatments for Cystic Fibrosis give rise to new hope for an ever-growing number of CF patients with various mutations. However, very little evidence and guidelines exist to steer clinical decisions regarding patients whose illness takes an unexpected course. In such cases, the benefits and risks of discontinuing these treatments must be carefully and individually weighed, since their long-term effects remain mainly uncharted territory. In this report we document the case of a homozygous F508del CF patient with severe lung disease who presented with a pulmonary exacerbation shortly after the beginning of treatment with lumacaftor/ivacaftor and the complicated initial phase of therapy, which was followed by significant improvements

Enabling Artificial Intelligent Virtual Sensors in an IoT Environment

The demands for a large number of sensors increase as the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities applications are continuing at a rapid pace. This also increases the cost of the infrastructure and the installation and maintenance overhead and creates significant performance degradation in the end-to-end communication, monitoring, and orchestration of the various connected devices. In order to solve the problem of increasing sensor demands, this paper suggests replacing physical sensors with machine learning (ML) models. These software-based artificial intelligence models are called virtual sensors. Extensive research and simulation comparisons between fourteen ML models provide a solid ground decision when it comes to the selection of the most accurate model to replace physical sensors, such as temperature and humidity sensors. In this problem at hand, the virtual and physical sensors are designed to be scattered in a smart home, while being connected and run on the same IoT platform. Thus, this paper also introduces a custom lightweight IoT platform that runs on a Raspberry Pi equipped with physical temperature and humidity sensors, which may also execute the virtual sensors. The evaluation results of the devised virtual sensors in a smart home scenario are promising and corroborate the applicability of the proposed methodology

Mitigating Snow on Rooftop PV Systems for Higher Energy Yield and Safer Roofs

publishedVersio

Pancreatic Cystosis in Two Adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis

We present pancreatic cystosis in two adolescents with cystic fibrosis, a 13-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy. In pancreatic cystosis, which is a rare manifestation of CF, the pancreatic parenchyma is replaced with multiple cysts of different sizes. Pancreatic cystosis is mainly an imaging based diagnosis and frequent follow-up should be recommended

Effects of a Long-Term Wearable Activity Tracker-Based Exercise Intervention on Cardiac Morphology and Function of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

Several studies have shown that patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), even at a young age, have pulmonary and cardiac abnormalities. The main complications are cardiac right ventricular (RV) systolic and/or diastolic dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension, which affects their prognosis. Exercise training (ET) is recommended in patients with CF as a therapeutic modality to improve physical fitness and health-related quality of life. However, questions remain regarding its optimal effective and safe dose and its effects on the patients’ cardiac function. The study aimed to provide a wearable activity tracker (WAT)-based ET to promote physical activity in CF patients and assess its effects on cardiac morphology and function. Forty-two stable CF individuals (aged 16.8 ± 3.6 years) were randomly assigned to either the intervention (Group A) or the control group (Group B). Group A participated in a 1-year WAT-based ET program three times per week. All patients underwent a 6-min walking test (6-MWT) and an echocardiographic assessment focused mainly on RV anatomy and function at the baseline and the end of the study. RV systolic function was evaluated by measuring the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), the systolic tricuspid annular velocity (TVS’), the RV free-wall longitudinal strain (RVFWSL), and the right ventricular four-chamber longitudinal strain (RV4CSL). RV diastolic function was assessed using early (TVE) and late (TVA) diastolic transtricuspid flow velocity and their ratio TVE/A. Pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) was also estimated. In Group A after ET, the 6MWT distance improved by 20.6% (p < 0.05), TVA decreased by 17% (p < 0.05), and TVE/A increased by 13.2% (p < 0.05). Moreover, TAPSE, TVS’, RVFWSL, and RV4CSL increased by 8.3% (p < 0.05), 9.0% (p < 0.05), 13.7% (p < 0.05), and 26.7% (p < 0.05), respectively, while PASP decreased by 7.6% (p < 0.05). At the end of the study, there was a significant linear correlation between the number of steps and the PASP (r = −0.727, p < 0.01) as well as the indices of RV systolic function in Group A. In conclusion, WAT is a valuable tool for implementing an effective ET program in CF. Furthermore, ET has a positive effect on RV systolic and diastolic function