Dimensionamento di invasi per il controllo dei deflussi nei bacini urbanizzati

Urbanization is a continuing phenomenon in all the world. Grasslands, forests, etc. are being continually changed to residential, commercial and industrial complexes, roads and streets, and so on. One of the side effects of urbanization with which engineers and planners must deal with, is the increase of peak flows and volumes of runoff from rainfall events. As a result, the urban drainage and flood control systems must be designed to accommodate the peak flows from a variety of storms that may occur. Usually the peak flow, after development, is required not to exceed what would have occurred from the same storm under conditions existing prior to development. In order to do this it is necessary to design detention storage to hold back runoff and to release it downstream at controlled rates. In the first part of the work have been developed various simplified formulations that can be adopted for the design of stormwater detention facilities. In order to obtain a simplified hydrograph were adopted two approaches: the kinematic routing technique and the linear reservoir schematization. For the two approaches have been also obtained other two formulations depending if the IDF (intensity-duration-frequency) curve is described with two or three parameters. Other formulations have been developed taking into account if the outlet have a constant discharge or it depends on the water level in the pond. All these formulations can be easily applied when are known the characteristics of the drainage system and maximum discharge that these is in the outlet and has been defined a Return Period which characterize the IDF curve. In this way the volume of the detention pond can be calculated. In the second part of the work have been analyzed the design of detention ponds adopting continuous simulation models. The drainage systems adopted for the simulations, performed with SWMM5, are fictitious systems characterized by different sizes, and different shapes of the catchments and with a rainfall historical time series of 16 years recorded in Bologna. This approach suffers from the fact that continuous record of rainfall is often not available and when it is, the cost of such modelling can be very expensive, and that the majority of design practitioners are not prepared to use continuous long term modelling in the design of stormwater detention facilities. In the third part of the work have been analyzed statistical and stochastic methodologies in order to define the volume of the detention pond. In particular have been adopted the results of the long term simulation, performed with SWMM, to obtain the data to apply statistic and stochastic formulation. All these methodologies have been compared and correction coefficient have been proposed on the basis of the statistic and stochastic form. In this way engineers which have to design a detention pond can apply a simplified procedure appropriately corrected with the proposed coefficient.

Life Cycle Assessment comparativo tra il processo di co-digestione della frazione organica dei rifiuti solidi urbani e dei fanghi di depurazione disidratati e il sistema di gestione attuale. Il caso di Bagnacavallo (RA)

Waste management is becoming, year after year, always more important both for the costs associated with it and for the ever increasing volumes of waste generated. The discussion on the fate of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) leads everyday to new solutions. Many alternatives are proposed, ranging from incineration to composting passing through anaerobic digestion. “For Biogas” is a collaborative effort, between C.I.R.S.A. and R.E.S. cooperative, whose main goal is to generate “green” energy from both biowaste and sludge anaerobic co-digestion. Specifically, the project include a pilot plant receiving dewatered sludge from both urban and agro-industrial sewage (DS) and the organic fraction of MSW (in 2/1 ratio) which is digested in absence of oxygen to produce biogas and digestate. Biogas is piped to a co-generation system producing power and heat reused in the digestion process itself, making it independent from the national grid. Digestate undergoes a process of mechanical separation giving a liquid fraction, introduced in the treatment plant, and a solid fraction disposed in landfill (in future it will be further processed to obtain compost). This work analyzed and estimated the impacts generated by the pilot plant in its operative phase. Once the model was been characterized, on the basis of the CML2001 methodology, a comparison is made with the present scenario assumed for OFMSW and DS. Actual scenario treats separately the two fractions: the organic one is sent to a composting plant, while sludge is sent to landfill. Results show that the most significant difference between the two scenarios is in the GWP category as the project "For Biogas" is able to generate “zero emission” power and heat. It also generates a smaller volume of waste for disposal. In conclusion, the analysis evaluated the performance of two alternative methods of management of OFMSW and DS, highlighting that "For Biogas" project is to be preferred to the actual scenario.

Il cane come modello animale spontaneo di patologie neoplastiche dell'uomo: ene Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) Nnella predisposizione al cancro ed importanza dei riarrangimanti genici dei geni Ig/TCR per la diagnosi e prognosi delle malattie linfoproliferative

“Naturally occurring cancers in pet dogs and humans share many features, including histological appearance, tumour genetics, molecular targets, biological behaviour and response to conventional therapies. Studying dogs with cancer is likely to provide a valuable perspective that is distinct from that generated by the study of human or rodent cancers alone. The value of this opportunity has been increasingly recognized in the field of cancer research for the identification of cancer-associated genes, the study of environmental risk factors, understanding tumour biology and progression, and, perhaps most importantly, the evaluation and development of novel cancer therapeutics”.(Paoloni and Khanna, 2008) In last years, the author has investigated some molecular features of cancer in dogs. The Thesis is articulated in two main sections. In section 1, the preliminary results of a research project aimed at investigating the role of somatic mutations of Ataxia-Telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene in predisposing to cancer in boxer dogs, are presented. The canine boxer breed may be considered an unique opportunity to disclose the role of ATM somatic mutation since boxer dogs are known to be dramatically susceptible to cancer and since they may be considered a closed gene pool. Furthermore, dogs share with human the some environment. Overall, the abovementioned features could be considered extremely useful for our purposes. In the section 2, the results of our studies aimed at setting up accurate and sensitive molecular assays for diagnosing and assessing minimal residual disease in lymphoproliferative disorders of dogs, are presented. The results of those molecular assay may be directly translated in the field of Veterinary practice as well as the may be used to improve our objective evaluation of new investigational drugs effectiveness in canine cancer trials.

Analisi di immagini termiche aeree e satellitari per indagini multiscala in ambito urbano

L’alta risoluzione nel telerilevamento termico (Thermal Remote Sensing) da aereo o satellitare si rivela molto importante nell’analisi del comportamento termico delle superfici, in particolare per lo studio dei fenomeni climatici locali dello spazio urbano. La stato termico dell'ambiente urbano è oggi motivo di grande interesse per ricercatori, organi istituzionali e cittadini. Uno dei maggiori campi di studio del comportamento termico urbano interessa il problema energetico: la riduzione dei consumi e delle emissioni di CO2 è un obiettivo primario da perseguire per uno sviluppo sostenibile, spesso supportato da criteri legislativi e progetti comunitari. Su scala differente e con caratteristiche differenti, un altro degli argomenti che scuote da anni e con notevole interesse la ricerca scientifica, è il fenomeno termico urbano che prende il nome di isola di calore; questa si sviluppa non solo in conseguenza al calore sensibile rilasciato da attività antropiche, ma anche a causa della sempre maggiore conversione del territorio rurale in urbanizzato (inurbamento), con conseguente riduzione del fenomeno dell’evapotraspirazione. Oggetto di questa dissertazione è lo studio del comportamento termico delle superfici in ambito urbano, sperimentato sulla città di Bologna. Il primo capitolo si interessa dei principi e delle leggi fisiche sui quali è basato il telerilevamento effettuato nelle bende spettrali dell’infrarosso termico. Viene data una definizione di temperatura radiometrica e cinematica, tra loro legate dall’emissività. Vengono esposti i concetti di risoluzione (geometrica, radiometrica, temporale e spettrale) dell’immagine termica e viene data descrizione dei principali sensori su piattaforma spaziale per l’alta risoluzione nel TIR (ASTER e Landsat). Il secondo capitolo si apre con la definizione di LST (Land Surface Temperature), parametro del terreno misurato col telerilevamento, e ne viene descritta la dipendenza dal flusso della radiazione in atmosfera e dalle condizioni di bilancio termico della superficie investigata. Per la sua determinazione vengono proposti metodi diversi in funzione del numero di osservazioni disponibili nelle diverse bande spettrali dell’IR termico. In chiusura sono discussi i parametri che ne caratterizzano la variabilità. Il capitolo terzo entra nel dettaglio del telerilevamento termico in ambito urbano, definendo il fenomeno dell’Urban Heat Island su tutti i livelli atmosferici interessati, fornendo un quadro di operabilità con gli strumenti moderni di rilievo alle differenti scale (analisi multiscala). Un esempio concreto di studio multiscala dei fenomeni termici urbani è il progetto europeo EnergyCity, volto a ridurre i consumi energetici e le emissioni di gas serra di alcune città del centro Europa. Il capitolo quarto riporta la sperimentazione condotta sull’isola di calore urbana della città di Bologna tramite immagini ASTER con risoluzione spaziale 90 m nel TIR e ricampionate a 15 m dal VIS. Lo studio dell’isola di calore si è effettuata a partire dal calcolo della Land Surface Temperature utilizzando valori di emissività derivati da classificazione delle superfici al suolo. Per la validazione dei dati, in alternativa alle stazioni di monitoraggio fisse dell’ARPA, presenti nell’area metropolitana della città, si è sperimentato l’utilizzo di data-loggers per il rilievo di temperatura con possibilità di campionamento a 2 sec. installati su veicoli mobili, strumentati con ricevitori GPS, per la misura dei profili di temperatura atmosferica near-ground lungo transetti di attraversamento della città in direzione est-ovest.