Search results for "Environmental Biotechnology"
showing 10 items of 568 documents
Impact of diffusion and dispersion of contaminants in water distribution networks modelling and monitoring
2019
Abstract In recent years, there has been a need to seek adequate preventive measures to deal with contamination in water distribution networks that may be related to the accidental contamination and the deliberate injection of toxic agents. Therefore, it is very important to create a sensor system that detects contamination events in real time, maintains the reliability and efficiency of measurements, and limits the cost of the instrumentation. To this aim, two problems have to be faced: practical difficulties connected to the experimental verification of the optimal sensor configuration efficiency on real operating systems and challenges related to the reliability of the network modelling …
Subsurface flow and large-scale lateral saturated soil hydraulic conductivity in a Mediterranean hillslope with contrasting land uses
2017
Abstract The lateral saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks,l , is the soil property that mostly governs subsurface flow in hillslopes. Determinations of Ks,l at the hillslope scale are expected to yield valuable information for interpreting and modeling hydrological processes since soil heterogeneities are functionally averaged in this case. However, these data are rare since the experiments are quite difficult and costly. In this investigation, that was carried out in Sardinia (Italy), large-scale determinations of Ks,l were done in two adjacent hillslopes covered by a Mediterranean maquis and grass, respectively, with the following objectives: i) to evaluate the effect of land use change o…
Wastewater-based epidemiology: current status and future prospects
2019
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been consolidated as a tool to provide real-time information on consumption of legal and illegal drugs of abuse by the population. However, WBE is expected to achieve more ambitious objectives such as establishing exposure to certain agents (pesticides, personal care products, persistent organic pollutants, and pathogens), incidence of specific diseases (diabetes, allergies, oxidative stress, and cancer), and determination of some lifestyle consequences (exposure to personal care products, consumption of doping substances or products for the treatment of erectile dysfunction) or environmental factors (increase in temperature) in populations. Herein, w…
The on-line coupled atmospheric chemistry model system MECO(n) – Part 5: Expanding the Multi-Model-Driver (MMD v2.0) for 2-way data exchange includin…
2018
Abstract. As part of the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy), the Multi-Model-Driver (MMD v1.0) was developed to couple online the regional Consortium for Small-scale Modeling (COSMO) model into a driving model, which can be either the regional COSMO model or the global European Centre Hamburg general circulation model (ECHAM) (see Part 2 of the model documentation). The coupled system is called MECO(n), i.e., MESSy-fied ECHAM and COSMO models nested n times. In this article, which is part of the model documentation of the MECO(n) system, the second generation of MMD is introduced. MMD comprises the message-passing infrastructure required for the parallel execution (multiple programme mul…
A carbon sink-driven approach to estimate gross primary production from microwave satellite observations
2019
Abstract Global estimation of Gross Primary Production (GPP) - the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by plants through photosynthesis - is commonly based on optical satellite remote sensing data. This presents a source-driven approach since it uses the amount of absorbed light, the main driver of photosynthesis, as a proxy for GPP. Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) estimates obtained from microwave sensors provide an alternative and independent data source to estimate GPP on a global scale, which may complement existing GPP products. Recent studies have shown that VOD is related to aboveground biomass, and that both VOD and temporal changes in VOD relate to GPP. In this study, we build upon…
Assessing the sustainability of water companies: A synthetic indicator approach
2016
Performance indicators (PIs) are essential in the benchmarking process used to rate and rank water companies. However, a set of individual PIs does not provide a holistic assessment of company performance from multiple perspectives. A multidimensional evaluation of the performance of water companies can be achieved by aggregating the PIs into a synthetic indicator. Although the concept of sustainability involves economic, environmental and social criteria, most of the previous studies have not considered these three dimensions simultaneously. This paper discusses a process of indicator aggregation using two approaches based on multi-criteria decision analysis to evaluate and compare the sus…
Coupled hydraulic and electronic regulation of cross-flow turbines in hydraulic plants
2017
The potential benefit of coupling hydraulic and electronic regulation to maximize the energy production of a cross-flow turbine in hydraulic plants is analyzed and computed with reference to a specific case. Design criteria of the cross-flow turbine inside hydraulic plants are first summarized, along with the use of hydraulic regulation in the case of constant water head and variable discharge. Optimal turbine impeller rotational speed is derived, and traditional as well as innovative systems for electrical regulation are presented. A case study is analyzed to evaluate the potential energy production according to the expected monthly mean flow distribution and two possible choices: CFT1 wit…
A New Device for Pressure Control and Energy Recovery in Water Distribution Networks
2017
The potential energy of the water in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) usually exceeds the amount needed for delivery and consumption and, at the present time, it is mainly dissipated through Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs) or Open Water Tanks. The present study suggests the use of a new energy-producing device, a Cross-flow turbine with positive outlet pressure named PRS (Power Recovery System), which can provide the same service as PRVs and water tanks, with additional significant hydropower production. After a short presentation of the PRS, the management rules of the proposed device are laid out, according to two possible modes. In the ‘passive’ mode, the piezometric level downstream o…
Dimensional analysis and stage-discharge relationship for weirs: a review
2017
Deducing the weir flow stage-discharge relationship is a classical hydraulic problem. In this regard Buckingham’s theorem of dimensional analysis can be used to find simple and accurate formulas to obtain the rating curves of different weir types. At first, in this review paper the rectangular weir that is a very common hydraulic structure is studied. It is indicated that the crest shape, approach channel width, obliquity (angle between the weir crest and the direction normal to the flow motion) and vertical inclination (pivot weir) are the key-parameters affecting the flow over the rectangular weirs. The flow over the triangular, labyrinth, parabolic, circular, elliptical, and W-weirs are …
Measurements and Observations in the XXI century (MOXXI) : innovation and multi-disciplinarity to sense the hydrological cycle
2018
ISI Document Delivery No.: FV7JXTimes Cited: 4Cited Reference Count: 249Tauro, Flavia Selker, John van de Giesen, Nick Abrate, Tommaso Uijlenhoet, Remko Porfiri, Maurizio Manfreda, Salvatore Caylor, Kelly Moramarco, Tommaso Benveniste, Jerome Ciraolo, Giuseppe Estes, Lyndon Domeneghetti, Alessio Perks, Matthew T. Corbari, Chiara Rabiei, Ehsan Ravazzani, Giovanni Bogena, Heye Harfouche, Antoine Brocca, Luca Maltese, Antonino Wickert, Andy Tarpanelli, Angelica Good, Stephen Alcala, Jose Manuel Lopez Petroselli, Andrea Cudennec, Christophe Blume, Theresa Hut, Rolf Grimaldi, SalvatoreTaylor & francis ltdAbingdon; To promote the advancement of novel observation techniques that may lead to new so…