Search results for "CITIES"
showing 10 items of 447 documents
A methodology for assessing the impact of salinity gradient power generation in urban contexts
2018
Abstract The paper proposes a methodology to assess the potential impact of salinity gradient power technology in urban contexts. The idea to employ such energy source in urban contexts derives from the observation that, among the energy districts outputs, low-salinity treated wastewater can be used to produce electricity if a suitable source of high salinity feed (seawater of a salt-works) is also available. The methodology uses the HOMER software for assessing the district’s electric energy production, consumption and exchange with the main grid. Then, starting from the total gross surface and the number of inhabitants of the district, some possible realistic scenarios characterized by di…
Smart Cities Atlas Western and Eastern Intelligent Communities
2016
The book discusses the concept of the smart city, and is based on a multi-service and multi-sectoral approach to urban planning, including various urban functions and the human capital of cities. The work is divided into three parts. The first is an introductory section which covers definitions, policies and tools used at European level for the development and classification of a smart city. The second presents a selection of examples of Western and Eastern communities, which experienced technologies and strategies that have made them smart. The third describes in detail the main three possible approaches (economical, technological and social) to the smart city concept which are the focus a…
A Network Tomography Approach for Traffic Monitoring in Smart Cities
2018
Traffic monitoring is a key enabler for several planning and management activities of a Smart City. However, traditional techniques are often not cost efficient, flexible, and scalable. This paper proposes an approach to traffic monitoring that does not rely on probe vehicles, nor requires vehicle localization through GPS. Conversely, it exploits just a limited number of cameras placed at road intersections to measure car end-to-end traveling times. We model the problem within the theoretical framework of network tomography, in order to infer the traveling times of all individual road segments in the road network. We specifically deal with the potential presence of noisy measurements, and t…
Human Mobility Simulator for Smart Applications
2019
Several issues related to Smart City development require the knowledge of accurate human mobility models, such as in the case of urban development planning or evacuation strategy definition. Nevertheless, the exploitation of real data about users' mobility results in severe threats to their privacy, since it allows to infer highly sensitive information. On the contrary, the adoption of simulation tools to handle mobility models allows to neglect privacy during the design of location-based services. In this work, we propose a simulation tool capable of generating synthetic datasets of human mobility traces; then, we exploit them to evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms which aim to detect…
Evaluating Correlations in IoT Sensors for Smart Buildings
2021
International audience; In this paper we introduce a dataset of environmental information obtained via indoor and outdoor sensors deployed in the SMART Infrastructure Facility of the University of Wollongong (Australia). The acquired dataset is also made open-sourced along with this paper. We also propose a novel approach based on an evolutionary algorithm to determine pairs of correlated sensors. We compare our approach with three other standard techniques on the same dataset: on average, the accuracy of the evolutionary method is about 62,92%. We also evaluate the computational time, assessing the suitability of the proposed pipeline for real-time applications.
Time-Constrained Node Visit Planning for Collaborative UAV-WSN Distributed Applications.
2022
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are often studied as tools to perform data collection from Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Path planning is a fundamental aspect of this endeavor. Works in the current literature assume that data are always ready to be retrieved when the UAV passes. This operational model is quite rigid and does not allow for the integration of the UAV as a computational object playing an active role in the network. In fact, the UAV could begin the computation on a first visit and retrieve the data later. Potentially, the UAV could orchestrate the distributed computation to improve its performance, change its parameters, and even upload new applications to the sensor network…
Mediterranea: Città negata
2020
C’è una città dei morti, in fondo al Mediterraneo, che se i suoi abitanti parlassero ancora racconterebbe tutti gli orrori del misconoscimento della condizione umana, tutti i suoi mali: ogni ingiustizia giace lì, irredimibile. Ma se le città dovrebbero essere quelle dei vivi, più che mai il Mediterraneo è oggi città impossibile, città negata. Perché una città è tale quando una collettività condivide almeno un certo grado di appartenenza ad essa, e ancor di più quando diventa comunità e possiede anche il potere diffuso – seppure solo nelle utopie in misura veramente eguale – di deciderne funzionamenti e modalità di governo. Una città è tale, a prescindere dalle sue dimensioni o dalla moltepl…
Città (in)vivibili
2021
Questo volume è strutturato in tre parti e raccoglie i contributi di studiosi con lunga esperienza e di giovani ricercatori che hanno voluto incuriosire il lettore con appassionanti e complessi viaggi in città (in)vivibili. This volume is structured in three parts and collects the contributions of scholars with long experience and young researchers who wanted to intrigue the reader with exciting and complex trips to (in) livable cities.
Tra chiostro e secolo: le benedettine di S. Maria delle Vergini nella Palermo medievale
2019
In the fourteenth century Preziosa Abbate, widow of Garsiolo de Yvar from Navarre, founded the benedectine convent of S. Maria delle Vergini, in the Cassaro quarter. Since its foundation, it was linked to important and prestigious families of Palermo, was supported by the kings of Sicily and received movable and immovable property, money, and precious objects by lay people of different social classes. In the fifteenth century the number of nuns grew, so maintenance costs increased and the monastery was enlarged, by buying new buildings. The relationship with the secular world was always very strong because the nuns kept close ties with their families; in the convent, besides the nuns, there…
Potere signorile, consenso, dissenso e controllo del territorio nella Sicilia del Trecento: l’esempio dei Chiaromonte
2021
The essay analyses the reasons why the governments created by Chiaromonte family in the cities of eastern Sicily failed, and investigates the cause of their success in the long lasting urban signorie of western Sicily. To create consensus, they had to ensure the supply of grain for the population, to defend the territory from external attacks, and to maintain public order. In addition to military prowess, they used their speaking skills to influence citizens and showed a magnificent lifestyle by building imposing palaces, celebrating sumptuous weddings and funerals, and commissioning works of art. They created spy networks and used violent methods to repress dissent (imprisonment, torture, …