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Buildings consume more than 40% of all the energy we use, and about 50% of it is used for the conditioning systems, for this reason it is important to work on the energy demand, improving the buildings behaviour, in order to save the environment of the future. And sustainability is the keyword. Light constructions, based on the structure/envelope model, where all the envelope's depth is filled with insulation, are the first step to a sustainable architecture. Active House Alliance is a non-profit organization supported and managed by a group of Alliance Partner working on the same vision: the natural step forward for the sustainability, the innovation in the answer of the buildings to the climate stress. The concept of the active house is based on a responsive (active) behaviour of the building, that it is no more an inertial shell but it is capable to answer instantly to the thermal strains, assuring the indoor comfort and saving energy. What makes that possible is the coupling of an innovative envelope, seen as a changeable membrane (due to the external conditions), with a management's automation system. An active house can change its configuration to meet the users need: for example opening the windows or shadowing it, activating the artificial ventilation or enhancing the natural one. The aim of the alliance is to understand the principles of the active buildings and spread the knowledge to a larger public; Politecnico di Milano, as member, investigates the energetic issues for the warm regions of Europe, while the other partners are more focalized on the cold climate regions. The idea of active has a double vision: active is the building behaviour, thanks to its physical features and to the management system, but active is also the skin of the house, thanks to the innovative materials used. The aim of the research is to understand the characteristics that make a building capable to answer itself to the thermal strains, but also how innovative nanomaterials, such as phase change materials and aerogel, could affect the performances. This innovation, especially the coupling of phase pcm to the envelope, thanks to their cyclical capability of taking heat from the room and give it back later, summarize and materialize the possibility of having an active envelope that could assure indoor comfort minimizing the energy request.

Today's electrical grid is undergoing deep changes, resulting from the large integration of distributed Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in an effort to decarbonize the generation of electrical energy. In addition to the emergence of this volatile electricity production, the worldwide demand for electricity increases due to a growing population and the intensified electrification of buildings. Smart-buildings represent promising assets for supporting the electrical grid in balancing demand with a supply based on non-dispatchable RES. A smart-building denotes a building equipped with sensor/actuator hardware connected to a federating Building Data Management System (BDMS) which enables high-level applications and services. Tapping into the flexibility inherent to its various entities (load, storage, and generation), a smart-building can provide Demand Response (DR) functionality through the optimization of its energy profile in response to varying electricity prices or commands from the grid.This PhD thesis provides a set of tools, algorithms, and frameworks, revolving around the notion of smart-buildings that foster an enhanced Building-to-Grid (BtG) integration. The tools developed here aim to fill the gap encountered in the literature created by the recent rollout of BDMSs and the ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT). Furthermore, the mismatch between current DR and the future RES-based smart-grid opens the way to the development of innovative algorithms and frameworks to manage the flexibility offered by smart-buildings for grid-side agents. Built upon BDMSs, two open-source tools have been developed. Firstly, an integrated high-speed emulation and simulation software, dubbed Virtualization Engine (vEngine), allows the simulation of non-existing components of a building directly on-site. The multi-threaded, light architecture of vEngine permits efficient simulations, in a modular environment conceived for developers. Secondly, we describe Open Energy Management System (OpenEMS), a platform that seamlessly connects to any existing BDMS and provides its users with an environment to create their own energy management algorithms, with a focus on Model Predictive Control (MPC). Simulations using a realistic Swiss residential building model demonstrate the effectiveness and modularity of both tools. Additionally, we propose a multi-state load profile identification algorithm tailored to Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM). Applied to energy disaggregation, it shows promising results for enhanced energy feedbacks to the occupants. To attain daily energy balance within the smart-grid, we propose several algorithms and energy management frameworks, using smart-buildings. An incremental MPC formulation is derived to better balance monthly costs associated to energy and peak demand of large commercial buildings. Simulations data show substantial benefits, for both the building's owner and the grid. Furthermore, we present a decentralized framework for autonomously managing the energy in a community of smart-buildings, with RES. Based on blockchain technology and smart-contracts, the framework optimizes an objective common to the whole community without the need for a central agent. Finally, we suggest a unified BtG model that could benefit grid-side aggregators in both microgrids and electricity markets.

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Aerosols are an important part of the atmosphere, they are defined as liquid or solid particles suspended in air, ranging from one nanometer to tens of micrometers in diameter. Aerosols affect the climate directly, via aerosol radiation interactions, and indirectly, via aerosol-cloud interactions. While pollution in cities does not have the largest impact on global climate, it does affect local climate and weather. Aerosols can also be deadly; in 2019 lower respiratory infections were reported as the third leading cause of death globally, which are largely caused by aerosols. Since around 55% of the world’s population live in cities, it is important to understand the key drivers of urban aerosol formation and growth. Ammonium nitrate is an important component of aerosols, but not much is known about its contribution to aerosol formation and early growth. In this thesis, we aim to understand how nitric acid (HNO3) and ammonia (NH3) can impact aerosol formation in urban environments. Previous understanding of urban air conditions led to a puzzle of competing growth rates and loss rates, where it appeared that measured growth rates in cities were not high enough to explain the persistence of particle number concentrations in the face of high loss rates from coagulation with pre-existing large particles. Results from the CLOUD chamber at CERN presented in this thesis show a newly discovered mechanism of rapid growth by formation of ammonium nitrate onto pre-existing particles. We find that in situations of excess NH3 and HNO3, with respect to ammonium nitrate saturation ratios, particles can grow orders of magnitude faster than previously measured in ambient environments. Since this mechanism is consistent with the nano-Köhler theory, there is an activation diameter above which ammonium nitrate can form on the particles, and particles as small as a few nanometers can be affected. Furthermore, this mechanism was found to have a strong temperature dependence where at lower temperatures the same gas phase concentrations result in higher growth rates. At temperatures as low as −25°C, ammonia and nitric acid were found to be able to nucleate even in the absence of sulfuric acid or other known nucleating species. In order to determine whether these rapid growth rates are in fact high enough to overcome high coagulation loss rates, further experiments were undertaken at the CLOUD chamber at CERN at 5°C in the presence of a high condensation sink, analogous to haze. Experimental results showed that in experiments with higher NH3 and HNO3 concentrations, particle number concentrations were sustained with a steady formation of 2.5 nm particles. Newly formed particles are found to be effectively lost to the condensation sink, thus confirming that loss rates have not been over-estimated, and high growth rates are more likely to be the explanation for particle survival in haze conditions. Alongside experimental results, a kinetic model was developed which is capable of quantitatively reproducing growth from ammonium nitrate formation. We used this model to predict particle survival over a wide range of NH3 and HNO3 concentrations and condensation sinks. Results showed that survival of newly formed particles was drastically increased in the presence of supersaturated conditions of NH3 and HNO3.

This paper reports on the long-term objectives and current research results of the on-going Renewable Energy to Africa (REAfrica) project. The purpose of the REAfrica project is to increase knowledge of renewable energy solutions and markets in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to support Finnish renewable energy sector companies in entering the African market. Entry into a new geographical area also involves entry into a new business culture. This paper considers the potential for collaboration and networking with local partners in both business and research as a means of fostering business innovation. To achieve this, it is proposed that research collaboration needs to evolve as ecosystem-level collaboration on three levels - business, research and governmental - in order to create a 'piloting gateway' for new technologies.

An unprecedented fire disaster, in which 196 mechanised fishing boats were gutted, took place at Malpe, a major fishing harbour in Karnataka State in the afternoon of 19th July, 1979. The total loss due to this havoc has been estimated at 2.3 crores of rupees. Though the total loss to the nation on accountof the fire disaster is to the tune of Rs. 2.3 crores, the individual loss of the owners of mechanised vessels was much less. A member of C. M. F. R. I. staff has been deployed to gather information relating to the progress made towards the normalisation of fishing activities in the affected area. This would enable monitoring of the process of rehabilitation in the coming months

Earth’s climate is always changing. In the past, it has gone through warmer and cooler periods which last for thousands of years. The changing climate can be due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Natural causes include changes in earth's orbit, sunspot activity; ocean changes and volcanic eruptions. Recently earth’s climate has been warming alarmingly which is mainly due to human activities like burning of coal, oil and natural gas which can lead to severe impacts across the globe.

Calcinosis cutis is a frequent, difficult to treat manifestation of systemic sclerosis (SSc) associated with high morbidity. The aim of this prospective, controlled, monocentric study was to assess safety and efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) for calcinosis cutis of the finger in SSc patients.A 12-week proof of concept study in which 4 SSc patients with calcinosis cutis were treated at one painful finger with high-energy, focused ESWT, in 3 sessions with one-week interval between each session. A second, untreated finger, served as control. The outcome parameters were: change in pain, change in size of calcification measured by ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) and of the force by pressing the finger against a Dolorimeter.Pain was reduced (by 91% and 60%) in the treated finger in two out of four patients. There was no change in the control fingers. The size of the calcinosis in the treated finger was reduced in three (US) and four patients (CT). Inter-assessor agreement was acceptable for US volume measures (ICC=0.863).We could show promising evidence for safety and efficacy of ESWT for chronic, treatment resistant calcinosis cutis in SSc patients, thus justifying the initiation of larger multicentre controlled trials.

The experiment of the NA61/SHINE Collaboration at the CERN SPS is performing a unique study of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter by varying collision energy and nuclear mass number of colliding nuclei. In central Pb+Pb collisions, the experiment of the NA49 Collaboration found structures in the energy dependence of several observables in the energy range of the CERN SPS that had been predicted for the transition to a deconfined phase. New measurements of the NA61/SHINE Collaboration find intriguing similarities in p+p interactions for which no deconfinement transition is expected at the energies of the SPS. Possible implications will be discussed.