Building a Renewable Energy Community for the Tor Sapienza district in Rome

The transition away from fossil fuels towards a carbon-neutral, clean and circular economy is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Energy communities are one of the tools to re-structure our energy systems by harnessing the energy and allowing citizens to participate actively in the energy transition and thereby enjoy greater benefits. The definition of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) given by the European Commission, places the REC as an association that produces and shares renewable energy, generating and managing cost-effective green energy autonomously, reducing CO2 emissions and energy waste. Observing this definition, the new Italian regulations concerning RECs boost distributed generation, encouraging the development of ‘zero-mile’ local energy production and smart grids. This research aims to evaluate the conditions to propose a REC in the Tor Sapienza district, as an Italian prototype, assessing the possibilities and advantages of transforming it into a large-scale sustainable infrastructure by means of a deep energy transition and the active role of local citizens, public administrations and small and medium-sized enterprises. Thanks to an in-depth technological, environmental and demographic survey of the neighbourhood, the study focuses on the retrofitting of a social housing complex in Tor Sapienza, as the main prosumer of the REC

Design standards for residential N-ZEBs in mild Mediterranean climate

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Bionanocomposites based on chitosan and few layers graphene. The effect of tailor-made functionalization

Bionanocomposites are an emerging class of material. They are designed and developed to achieve advanced structural and functional properties, by using biobased polymers. Among the bio-polymers, focus is on chitosan (CS), poly (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine), a copolymer of [1,4]-linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose and 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose. Research is steadily increasing on bionanocomposites with graphene and graphene related materials. It is here presented a research on bionanocomposites based on CS and graphene layers (G). Particular focus of the research was on the integration of the graphene layers in the nanocomposite. Materials were prepared based on the supramolecular interaction between CS and G. The core of the research was then on the edge functionalization of the layers. OH groups were added through the cycloaddition reaction with a biosourced pyrrole compound, serinol pyrrole (SP), carried out with the help of either thermal or mechanical energy, with an atom efficiency up to 96% and a very low E Factor. The preparation of CS/G adducts was very simple, even by using only mortar and pestle. OH groups were also added to the G edges by performing the reaction of G with KOH. The Reimer-Tiemann reaction on the G-OH adduct led to the introduction of aldehydic groups, which promote the crosslinking of CS. The CS/G adducts were characterized by means of wide angle X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopies. Thermal stability of the composites was studied by thermogravimetric analysis. Carbon papers and aerogels were prepared, studying the flexibility and the stability in various solvents in a wide pH range

OBTENÇÃO, AVALIAÇÃO E RECUPERAÇÃO DE MICROPARTÍCULAS DE ALGINATO-POLOXÂMERO UTILIZANDO TÉCNICA DE EMULSÃO A/O

Torna-se cada vez mais importante reduzir doses e melhorar o desempenho dos fármacos em tratamentos, onde micropartículas tem sido uma ferramenta cada vez mais empregada. Portanto, abordamos os principais métodos gerais de obtenção de micropartículas, como também os que utilizam polímeros biodegradáveis que trazem características novas e promissoras para fármacos hidrofílicos e termossensíveis. Uma das técnicas que utilizam este tipo de polímero é a de emulsificação a/o que pode ser conduzida à temperatura ambiente e, sob aquecimento para fármacos hidrofílicos e não termossensíveis, possibilitando observar variabilidades de forma e tamanho das partículas obtidas nas duas situações.

An Interdisciplinary Approach for the Geometric, Constructive, and Structural Assessment of Historical Masonry Domes with Application to the ‘Badia di Sant’Agata’ in Catania, Sicily

Masonry domes have always represented one of the most fascinating and daring architectural structures, with great symbolic relevance. However, their structural behaviour under environmental actions, such as earthquakes, has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This paper defines an interdisciplinary methodological approach, based on advanced digital survey techniques to evaluate constructive, geometrical, and structural aspects of historical domes. The applied procedure comprises the study of archival documents and diagnostic reports, in-situ analyses and advanced three-dimensional surveys, the development of simplified discrete-element-based structural models, and the performing of pushover analyses. The procedure is applied to a case study represented by the dome of the ‘Badia di Sant’Agata’ church in Catania, an earthquake-prone town located in Eastern Sicily. This church was built after the devastating 1693 earthquake and its dome represents one of the most significant examples among hundreds of masonry domes built in Sicily. The historical and constructive investigation showed that the dome was built without supporting formworks, by laying 21 concentric courses of limestone voussoirs on a peculiar springing ring made of mortared rubble stones. The numerical simulations highlighted that this peculiar ring affects the dome’s failure mechanism and limits its displacement capacity and the maximum shear transferred to the substructure