Search results for "tower"
showing 10 items of 83 documents
Vibration Tests and Structural Identification of the Bell Tower of Palermo Cathedral
2019
Background: The recent seismic events in Italy have underlined once more the need for seismic prevention for historic constructions of architectural interest and in general, the building heritage. During the above-mentioned earthquakes, different masonry monumental buildings have been lost due to the intrinsic vulnerability and ageing that reduced the structural member strength. This has made the community understand more that prevention is a necessary choice for the protection of monuments. Objective: The paper aims at demonstrating a strategy of investigation providing the possibility of health judgment, identifying a computational model for the assessment of structural capacity under se…
Design of a telescopic tower for wind energy production with reduced environmental impact
2019
A prototype of a telescopic pole for wind energy production with low environmental impact and its lifting system for a 60 to 250 kW turbine and a height of 30 m have been designed and manufactured. A telescopic tower, which is raised and lowered by automation or by remote control, allows to differentiate the presence of the generator within the landscape over time. The technology currently available for lifting and lowering wind turbines is made up of telescopic poles of heights of less than 10 meters and with tilting posts of height below 30 m. Without a state of the art to refer to, the telescopic pole and its lifting system have been designed starting from scratch and solving with innova…
Suggestions for revised scoring of the Tower of Hanoi test
2000
Detailed time and error analyses of the Tower of Hanoi (TOH) test was performed using four repeated assessments of eight children (ages 9-12 years), who had perceptual and problem solving deficits. The time before each move was measured. In addition to the traditionally counted time scores, new, relative time scores were computed in order to separate the planning time from the general reaction speed. New error scores were defined and sum scores of serious errors (perserative moves, illegal moves, and wrong results) and mild errors (self-corrected moves, almost performed moves, and interrupted trials) were computed. The relative planning time correlated positively with the achieved score, a…
Effects of rainfall events on the evapotranspiration retrieved by an energy balance model
2009
An alternative way to map the actual evapotranspiration (ET) spatial distribution at daily scale is the application of residual surface energy balance models to satellite images that are characterised by high temporal frequency and moderate spatial resolution, like those acquired by the MODIS sensors on board of TERRA and AQUA platforms. Within this research the well-known SEBAL model has been applied on an area located in the southern part of Sicily (Imera Meridionale catchment) using four images acquired between the 27th of March and the 11th of April 2007. The catchment extends for about 2000 km2 and includes both mountains and hill areas: the first are located in the northern part (the …
Assessing Planning Ability Across the Adult Life Span in a Large Population-Representative Sample: Reliability Estimates and Normative Data for the T…
2019
AbstractObjectives:The Tower of London (TOL) test has probably become the most often used task to assess planning ability in clinical and experimental settings. Since its implementation, efforts were made to provide a task version with adequate psychometric properties, but extensive normative data are not publicly available until now. The computerized TOL-Freiburg Version (TOL-F) was developed based on theory-grounded task analyses, and its psychometric adequacy has been repeatedly demonstrated in several studies but often with small and selective samples.Method:In the present study, we now report reliability estimates and normative data for the TOL-F stratified for age, sex, and education …
Energy-saving potential of ground source multiple chillers in simple and hybrid configurations for Mediterranean climates
2022
Air conditioning accounts for a large share of energy usage in residential and tertiary sectors. Renewable energy technologies offer promising solutions to reduce the environmental impacts of meeting buildings’ energy loads. The possibility of using the soil as a thermal reservoir for heating and cooling systems has gained growing attention in the last decade due to its high potential for energy saving. In this paper, the benefits achievable using ground source chillers for air conditioning in an office building located in Southern Italy are discussed. A multiple chillers system coupled with a borehole heat exchanger is investigated and compared to conventional air-cooled and water-cooled s…
Analytical studies of the Sirocco room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri: A XVI century passive cooling structure in Palermo (Sicily)
2015
Abstract This work focuses on a passive cooling architecture particularly popular from the Renaissance in Palermo area, as building sumptuous suburban villas became a real hobby for the Sicilian aristocracy. A Sirocco room is an artificial subterranean construction, built close to a water spring in order to reproduce the pleasant conditions of freshness that could be experienced in a natural cavern. In these places, nobles used to spend their time with friends to escape from the hot summer. The room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri is nowadays the best preserved in Palermo thanks to its owners’ conservation care and it is unique for its cooling operating principle. The above-mentioned consideration…
Valuing cultural heritage: the social benefits of restoring and old Arab tower
2005
Abstract Cultural heritage protection is a key issue around the world today. In this paper, the contingent valuation method has been applied to obtain the social benefits that stem from the restoration of an old Arab tower in the Valencia Region of Spain. Due to a current and past lack of protection, the remains of this historic monument are few. Therefore, 252 individuals were randomly interviewed. On conducting our study we distinguished between low, average, and high consumers of cultural goods. Our main finding is that the mean willingness to pay (WTP) is considerably higher for the second group. To give further credence to this observation both parametric and non-parametric approaches …
Spectroscopic analysis used to uncover the original paint colour of the Helsinki Government Palace tower clock faces
2016
The paint stratigraphy of the two clock faces from the tower clock of the Government Palace in Helsinki (Finland) was analysed in order to determine their original colour before restoration works. Paint cross-section samples from both clock faces were analysed by confocal Raman microscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled to an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS). The results revealed the complex superimposition of paint layers applied over the original black colour. FTIR/ATR analyses proved that the original paint was prepared with linseed oil-resin media. Most likely not all of the different layer colours were visible. Some of the layers were likely to have been a primer…
Diagnostics for the knowledge: the case of the tower of Palazzo Termine Pietragliata in Palermo (Italy)
2015
[EN] Developing a methodological approach is crucial to assess the state of conservation of a monument, starting from the overall analysis, progressively moving from small to medium scale and reaching the grand scale at the end. Considering the territory, causes are investigated in order to understand the propensities, as well as considering a single monument, evidences are carefully read to assess the overall conditions, that will be lately detailed by the analysis on materials and their degradation. The object of this study is the tower of the Palazzo Pietragliata in Palermo, one of the most important examples of the late Gothic civil architecture in Sicily. The Palace, built in 1473 by P…