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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations state that cities and human settlements need to be more inclusive, safe and resilient. In Europe cities have experienced dramatic physical, social and economic changes during the last decades while historic centres of European cities, among the most important assets of the European cultural heritage, are living paradoxes. They are defined as “a collection of beauty, icon of well-being, model of sustainability, but abandoned”. This study investigates the changes in the urban landscape of Nicosia, a particular historical centre in the Mediterranean region (Cyprus). The city centre is characterised by exceptionally well-preserved Venetian fortifications. Due to political circumstances, the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, is still divided and has been ruled by two different administrations for several decades. This study used optical multi-spectral satellite datasets processing, like the Landsat and the most recent Sentinel-2 products, to detect, identify and characterise significant morphological transformations within the walled city and around it. This paper’s central thesis promotes a more systematic use of earth observation products and derivatives in decision-making processes that regard planning, use and management of urban resources in Europe, especially in support of urban planning strategies of historic cities.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations state that cities and human settlements need to be more inclusive, safe and resilient. In Europe cities have experienced dramatic physical, social and economic changes during the last decades while historic centres of European cities, among the most important assets of the European cultural heritage, are living paradoxes. They are defined as “a collection of beauty, icon of well-being, model of sustainability, but abandoned”. This study investigates the changes in the urban landscape of Nicosia, a particular historical centre in the Mediterranean region (Cyprus). The city centre is characterised by exceptionally well-preserved Venetian fortifications. Due to political circumstances, the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, is still divided and has been ruled by two different administrations for several decades. This study used optical multi-spectral satellite datasets processing, like the Landsat and the most recent Sentinel-2 products, to detect, identify and characterise significant morphological transformations within the walled city and around it. This paper’s central thesis promotes a more systematic use of earth observation products and derivatives in decision-making processes that regard planning, use and management of urban resources in Europe, especially in support of urban planning strategies of historic cities.

Externally fired gas turbines represent one of the investigated solutions for the electrical production starting from heat at relatively high temperatures, such as from biomass combustion or high concentration solar power. This solution is particularly attractive for small and micro-scale plants, because they do not require many auxiliary components such as condensers, circulation pumps and so on, thereby showing a large potential for cost reduction. A further cost reduction may be obtained by converting automotive turbochargers into stationary powerplants. This paper tries to focus some issues, which need to be well discussed, such as the capability of extracting mechanical power from a turbocharger. Particularly, the proposed solution relies in a free turbine working in parallel to the main shaft instead than in series. The paper shows the modelling of the system in the AMESim environment and the results from the use of different thermodynamic parameters and turbocharger models. Gross efficiencies between 8 and 17% were found for plant sizes between 2 and 15 kW of mechanical power.

Externally fired gas turbines represent one of the investigated solutions for the electrical production starting from heat at relatively high temperatures, such as from biomass combustion or high concentration solar power. This solution is particularly attractive for small and micro-scale plants, because they do not require many auxiliary components such as condensers, circulation pumps and so on, thereby showing a large potential for cost reduction. A further cost reduction may be obtained by converting automotive turbochargers into stationary powerplants. This paper tries to focus some issues, which need to be well discussed, such as the capability of extracting mechanical power from a turbocharger. Particularly, the proposed solution relies in a free turbine working in parallel to the main shaft instead than in series. The paper shows the modelling of the system in the AMESim environment and the results from the use of different thermodynamic parameters and turbocharger models. Gross efficiencies between 8 and 17% were found for plant sizes between 2 and 15 kW of mechanical power.

This paper presents an analysis of competition between generators when incentive-based demand response is employed in an electricity market. Thermal and hydropower generation are considered in the model. A smooth inverse demand function is designed using a sigmoid and two linear functions for modeling the consumer preferences under incentive-based demand response program. Generators compete to sell energy bilaterally to consumers and system operator provides transmission and arbitrage services. The profit of each agent is posed as an optimization problem, then the competition result is found by solving simultaneously Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions for all generators. A Nash-Cournot equilibrium is found when the system operates normally and at peak demand times when DR is required. Under this model, results show that DR diminishes the energy consumption at peak periods, shifts the power requirement to off-peak times and improves the net consumer surplus due to incentives received for participating in DR program. However, the generators decrease their profit due to the reduction of traded energy and market prices.

This paper presents an analysis of competition between generators when incentive-based demand response is employed in an electricity market. Thermal and hydropower generation are considered in the model. A smooth inverse demand function is designed using a sigmoid and two linear functions for modeling the consumer preferences under incentive-based demand response program. Generators compete to sell energy bilaterally to consumers and system operator provides transmission and arbitrage services. The profit of each agent is posed as an optimization problem, then the competition result is found by solving simultaneously Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions for all generators. A Nash-Cournot equilibrium is found when the system operates normally and at peak demand times when DR is required. Under this model, results show that DR diminishes the energy consumption at peak periods, shifts the power requirement to off-peak times and improves the net consumer surplus due to incentives received for participating in DR program. However, the generators decrease their profit due to the reduction of traded energy and market prices.

AbstractThe solubility of polyamide 6 (PA6) in water under pressure has been reported recently and is explored further here using a pressurized differential scanning calorimeter equipped with a pressure regulator, enabling operation at constant pressure. The optimum parameters for solubility (temperature, pressure, concentration) were determined. Crystallization and melting temperature depressions of a maximum of 60 °C were found. The minimum water concentration needed to reach the maximum temperature depression was found to be approximately 30 mass%. Because in such a case the end melting/dissolution temperature for PA6 in water is approximately 165 °C, the pressure level has to be high enough to prevent water from evaporating, i.e. above 8 bar (0.8 MPa). The expected industrial uses of the water solubility of polyamides under pressure are to ease the processing of polyamides by extrusion; to make polyamide composites; to disperse temperature‐sensitive fillers in polyamides; and, in general, to realize ‘green’ routes for the formation of polyamides. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry