This article compares the land surface temperature (LST) and sky view factor (SVF) as indicator of the impact of urban morphology on the urban heat island effect. For this purpose, the work ...investigates the dependence of this relationship to spatial resolutions varying from coarse to very fine and related scaling effect. For this purpose, several daytime Landsat 8, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer and airborne TASI-600 images acquired in different months of the year were used to retrieve LST. Moreover, a three-dimensional building vector database was used to produce SVF maps at different spatial resolutions, according to the thermal ones. The results show a positive relationship between LST and SVF; these trends are almost superimposable for same-sensor images, but vary for images at different resolutions. This is likely due to the interference on the SVF and LST values of micro-scale factors, e.g. thermal properties of building materials, anthropogenic heat, humidity and pollutants, and others, which in a macro-scale analysis are smoothed becoming irrelevant. Therefore, a digital database able to represent urban features at suitable spatial scale is a requirement for a reliable analysis. In particular, when airborne thermal data are used, the lack of a reliable cartographic digital data could represent a limiting factor. Specifically, the data set used in the computation of SVF and other geographical parameters involved in the LST assessment should be consistent with the resolution of airborne thermal data.
Coherent diffractive imaging is unique, being the only route for achieving high spatial resolution in the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray regions, limited only by the wavelength of the light. Recently, ...advances in coherent short-wavelength light sources, coupled with progress in algorithm development, have significantly enhanced the power of X-ray imaging. However, so far, high-fidelity diffraction imaging of periodic objects has been a challenge because the scattered light is concentrated in isolated peaks. Here, we use tabletop 13.5 nm high-harmonic beams to make two significant advances. First, we demonstrate high-quality imaging of an extended, nearly periodic sample for the first time. Second, we achieve subwavelength spatial resolution (12.6 nm) imaging at short wavelengths, also for the first time. The key to both advances is a novel technique called 'modulus enforced probe', which enables robust and quantitative reconstructions of periodic objects. This work is important for imaging next-generation nano-engineered devices.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the three dimensional (3D) point cloud density derived from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry (using Structure from Motion (SfM) ...and Multi-View Stereopsis (MVS) techniques), the interpolation method for generating a digital terrain model (DTM), and the resolution (grid size (GS)) of the derived DTM on the accuracy of estimated heights in small areas, where a very accurate high spatial resolution is required. A UAV-photogrammetry project was carried out on 13 m × 13 m bare soil with a rotatory wing UAV at 10 m flight altitude (equivalent ground sample distance = 0.4 cm), and the 3D point cloud was derived. A stratified random sample (200 points in each square metre) was extracted and from the rest of the cloud, 15 stratified random samples representing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90% were extracted. Five replications of each percentage were extracted to analyse the effect of cloud density on DTM accuracy. For each of these 15 × 5 = 75 samples, DTMs were derived using four different interpolation methods (Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Multiquadric Radial Basis Function (MRBF), Kriging (KR), and Triangulation with Linear Interpolation (TLI)) and 15 DTM GS values (20, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.67, 0.50, and 0.40 cm). Then, 75 × 4 × 15 = 4500 DTMs were analysed. The results showed an optimal GS value for each interpolation method and each density (most of the cases were equal to 1 cm) for which the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was the minimum. IDW was the interpolator that yielded the best accuracies for all combinations of densities and GS. Its RMSE when considering the raw cloud was 1.054 cm and increased by 3% when a point cloud with 80% extracted from the raw cloud was used to generate the DTM. When the point cloud included 40% of the raw cloud, RMSE increased by 5%. For densities lower than 15%, RMSE increased exponentially (45% for 1% of raw cloud). The GS minimizing RMSE for densities of 20% or higher was 1 cm, which represents 2.5 times the ground sample distance of the pictures used for developing the photogrammetry project.
Abstract
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 CO
2
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.
Abstract
SDG 7 “affordable and clean energy” aims at expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide clean and more efficient energy in all countries, encouraging socio-economic growth ...and helping the environment. Its implementation through legislative instruments led to the writing of the Sapienza Energy Plan and the Energy Implementation Program, which define a series of medium-term implementation strategies on buildings inside and outside the Sapienza University campus. Strategies aimed at the energy redevelopment of the building envelope to achieve the minimization of energy needs and the construction of PV systems as well as the technical and regulatory adaptation of existing HVAC systems to improve the environmental comfort conditions. By the requirements of current legislation, the Energy Performance has been quantified through the energy efficiency analysis of the building in its current state and post-interventions, led using a simulation on an energy diagnostic software. After the analyses, the refurbishment interventions have allowed defining the guidelines, in compliance with the contents of the Guidelines for the energy efficiency of cultural heritage and the PES, through a series of strategies aimed at the conservation and improvement of the building envelope and at improving the energy efficiency and the IEQ of the School of Mathematics.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic psychiatric disease resulting from the experience or witnessing of traumatic events. Persistent PTSD symptoms impair patients’ daily quality of ...life, jeopardizing sleep, mood, sociability, and arousal. Recommended psychological or pharmacological interventions are effective only in a small portion of patients and often lead to relapse. Thus, there is a critical need to address a lack of advancement in the treatment of PTSD. The combination of psychological interventions, aimed at facilitating the extinction of the traumatic memory, and pharmacological medications, represents a promising tool for PTSD treatment. Timely use of psychotherapy in conjunction with pharmacological treatments, rather than monotherapy, could thus determine a synergistic effect by potentiating the effects of psychological interventions. In such a scenario, drugs that modulate cognitive processes involved in the development and/or persistence of post-traumatic symptomatology could be of great help to improve the outcome of psychotherapies and patients' prognosis. The purpose of the present article is to review the current data available from clinical trials on combined pharmacological treatments with psychological interventions in PTSD therapy. An overview of findings from animal studies that prompted clinical research is also discussed.
This study focuses on landslide susceptibility mapping in the Daunia area (Apulian Apennines, Italy) and achieves this by using a multivariate statistical method and data processing in a Geographical ...Information System (GIS). The Logistic Regression (hereafter LR) method was chosen to produce a susceptibility map over an area of 130 000 ha where small settlements are historically threatened by landslide phenomena. By means of LR analysis, the tendency to landslide occurrences was, therefore, assessed by relating a landslide inventory (dependent variable) to a series of causal factors (independent variables) which were managed in the GIS, while the statistical analyses were performed by means of the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software. The LR analysis produced a reliable susceptibility map of the investigated area and the probability level of landslide occurrence was ranked in four classes. The overall performance achieved by the LR analysis was assessed by local comparison between the expected susceptibility and an independent dataset extrapolated from the landslide inventory. Of the samples classified as susceptible to landslide occurrences, 85% correspond to areas where landslide phenomena have actually occurred. In addition, the consideration of the regression coefficients provided by the analysis demonstrated that a major role is played by the "land cover" and "lithology" causal factors in determining the occurrence and distribution of landslide phenomena in the Apulian Apennines.
Typhoid and paratyphoid fevers have a high incidence worldwide and coexist in many geographical areas, especially in low-middle-income countries (LMIC) in South and Southeast Asia. There is extensive ...consensus on the urgent need for better and affordable vaccines against systemic
infections. Generalized modules for membrane antigens (GMMA), outer membrane exosomes shed by
bacteria genetically manipulated to increase blebbing, resemble the bacterial surface where protective antigens are displayed in their native environment. Here, we engineered
Paratyphi A using the pDC5-
plasmid to generate GMMA displaying the heterologous
Typhi Vi antigen together with the homologous O:2 O antigen. The presence of both Vi and O:2 was confirmed by flow cytometry on bacterial cells, and their amount was quantified on the resulting vesicles through a panel of analytical methods. When tested in mice, such GMMA induced a strong antibody response against both Vi and O:2, and these antibodies were functional in a serum bactericidal assay. Our approach yielded a bivalent vaccine candidate able to induce immune responses against different
serovars, which could benefit LMIC residents and travelers.
Abstract
In haemoglobin the change from the low-spin (LS) hexacoordinated haem to the high spin (HS, S = 2) pentacoordinated domed deoxy-myoglobin (deoxyMb) form upon ligand detachment from the haem ...and the reverse process upon ligand binding are what ultimately drives the respiratory function. Here we probe them in the case of Myoglobin-NO (MbNO) using element- and spin-sensitive femtosecond Fe K
α
and K
β
X-ray emission spectroscopy at an X-ray free-electron laser (FEL). We find that the change from the LS (S = 1/2) MbNO to the HS haem occurs in ~800 fs, and that it proceeds via an intermediate (S = 1) spin state. We also show that upon NO recombination, the return to the planar MbNO ground state is an electronic relaxation from HS to LS taking place in ~30 ps. Thus, the entire ligand dissociation-recombination cycle in MbNO is a spin cross-over followed by a reverse spin cross-over process.
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