Search results for "House"

A composite indicator for water meter replacement in an urban distribution network

2012

In water supply management, volumetric water meter are typically used to measure users' consumption. With water meters, utilities can collect useful data for billing, assess the water balance of the system, and identify failures in the network, water theft and anomalous user behaviour. Despite their importance, these instruments are characterised by intrinsic errors that cause so-called apparent losses. The complexity of the physical phenomena associated with metering errors in aging water meters does not allow meter replacement to be guided by single parameters, such as the meter age or the total volume passed through the meter. This paper presents a meter replacement strategy based on a c…

Mono and Stereoscopic Image Analysis for Detecting the Transverse Profile of Worn-Out Rails

2012

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to suggest a new procedure for reconstructing the transverse profile of rails in operation by means of image-processing technique. This methodological approach is based on the “information” contained in high-resolution photographic images of tracks and on specific algorithms which allow to obtain the exact geometric profile of the rails and therefore to measure the state of the rail-head extrados wear. The analyses and the results concern rails taken from railway lines under upgrading by means of mono- and stereoscopic methods which are appropriate to be employed in laboratory applications or in high-efficiency surveys in situ.

A FAST PROCEDURE TO ESTIMATE HYDRAULIC CHARACTERISTICS OF GREENHOUSE SUBSTRATES FROM ONE-STEP OUTFLOW DATA

2011

First results of iButton® loggers and infrared camera application inside a greenhouse

2017

Greenhouse microclimate management (temperature, relative humidity) plays a very important role in order to optimize the production process improving pest and disease control, irrigation and energy efficiency. The systems mostly used in Sicily (south Italy) to record the ambient parameters are made up of fixed measuring stations able to give useful information about the climate inside the greenhouse limited to some pre-fixed points. In this study we texted a novel system made up of humidity and temperature data loggers (iButton®) placed inside a greenhouse. The iButton® temperature/humidity logger (DS1923) is a rugged, self-sufficient system that measures temperature and/or humidity and r…

Performance Measurement Framework with Formal Indicator Definitions

2011

Definition of appropriate measures of organization’s performance should be conducted in a systematic way. In this paper the performance measurement and indicators are discussed not only from the side of management models, but also from the point of view of measurement theories to find out appropriate definitions. In our work we propose a formal specification of indicators. The principles of indicator reformulation from free form indicators to formal requirements are formulated and applied in several examples from performance measures database. The formally defined indicators could be used in the proposed performance measurement framework that covers five-step indicator lifecycle.

Die Wirkung funktionaler, emotionaler und relationaler Nutzendimensionen auf die Markenloyalität

2005

Drawing on existing marketing literature three dimensions of utility are suggested: functional, emotional and relational. It is argued that the importance of these dimensions vary over time. In the early phase of the product life cycle, the functional utility is crucial for the success in the market place. Over time the emotional and relational dimension become more and more important. An empircial study carried out in the telecom industry provides evidence that this shift of importance actually takes place. The managerial implication is twofold. Firstly, the value proposition needs to be adapted in order to meet customer expectations. Secondly, an organizational change is necessary to be a…

Clean and Sustainable Biodiesel Production

2015

To date, the majority of world's primary energy is derived from fossil fuels. However, the fossil fuel recourses are in an inevitable decline as energy demand continues to grow exponentially with population growth, urbanization, and improved standards of living. Crude oil prices have recently risen several times and their current annual volatility exceeds 30%. The potential scarcity of fossil fuels has prompted a global search for alternative energy resources. Biodiesel fulfills the major requirements for production of alternative fuels such as feedstock availability, technical feasibility, and economic competitiveness. Together with other renewable biofuels, the use of biodiesel as a subst…

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of protected crops: an Italian case study

2012

Abstract In this paper a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of protected crops was carried out. In particular, energy and environmental performances of peppers, melons, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini in different typologies of greenhouses (tunnel and pavilion) were assessed. The study aimed at assessing the ecoprofile of each product and the share of each life-cycle step on the total environmental impacts. The related process flow chart, the relevant mass and energy flows and the key environmental issues were identified for each product. Collection of primary data was conducted by means of a detailed questionnaire distributed to a producer company in southern Italy. The analysis was devel…

Annual heating energy requirements of office buildings in a European climate

2016

Abstract The concept of implementing energy savings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has become a key element of energy policies of any industrialized country. In the civil sector and specifically, energy savings for office buildings, there are still opportunities for further enhancements related to correctly determining the air conditioning thermal requirements. However, there is a lack of simple correlations that allow a preliminary assessment for a single building or correlations that can be quickly applied at the district level. This paper proposes several simple correlations that determine the heating loads of a typical office building by only knowing the Degree-Days of a specific Eu…

Preliminary analysis of warehouse localization systems based on RFID technology

2010

In the industrial warehouse design domain, today's computerized information systems have gained a relevant interest due to the issues related to asset tracking and traceability. In such context, the employment of new information technologies on warehouse management systems has opened new business opportunities due to the sensible price reduction in the last years. This paper focuses on the technical issues related to the realization of wireless localization systems for warehouses, which are necessary for the implementation of random allocation policies, and in particular investigates the opportunities offered by RFID technology in such context. The enforcement of random allocation policies …