An important issue for the growth and management of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems is the possibility to forecast the power output over different horizons. In this work, statistical methods based on multiregression analysis and the Elmann artificial neural network (ANN) have been developed in order to predict power production of a 960 kW_P grid-connected PV plant installed in Italy. Different combinations of the time series of produced PV power and measured meteorological variables were used as inputs of the ANN. Several statistical error measures are evaluated to estimate the accuracy of the forecasting methods. A decomposition of the standard deviation error has been carried out to identify the amplitude and phase error. The skewness and kurtosis parameters allow a detailed analysis of the distribution error.

The main purpose of this study is to present a complete irrigation solution for the farmer based on wireless sensor network. The challenge is to create an automated irrigation system which can reduce in the same time the water's waste and is cost effective. Different parameters are important to measure in order to calculate the efficient quantity of water needed by plants. In this study, the proposed solution is the use of low-cost sensor nodes having reduced power consumption able to realise necessary requirements. The system is composed of different types of nodes. Each node consists of a TelosB mote and adequate sensors or actuators. Soil nodes are used to detect the level of moisture and temperature in soil. Weather nodes monitor the climatic changes. Other nodes are connected to actuators which are able to control the opening of the irrigation valve if necessary.

Two dimensions primary soot diameter calculation in a laminar diffusion liquid petroleum gas flame by means of laser induced incandescence (LII) is presented in present paper. LII is a high sensitive technique in which a high energy Nd-Yag laser sheet heats soot particles up to a temperature of about 4000 K but without exceeding the sublimation temperature. Radiation from exited soot particles is acquired by means of an intensified coupled charge device (CCD) camera (low gate opening time of 10 ns) synchronised with the laser pulse. By delaying the acquisition time with respect to laser pulse, LII signal decay as function of time has been reconstructed. Performing acquisition at two different wavelengths by means of two interferometric filters (two colour LII) a soot temperature behaviour (related to particles primary diameter) has been calculated. For quantitative measurements of the soot volume fraction a tungsten lamp calibration method for optics was used. Using laser fluence and self-absorption corrections for LII signal, bi-dimensional quantitative measurements can be achieved for soot dimensions and distribution. By means of a flame centre-of-mass alignment on the corrected images for different time steps, it is possible to achieve the soot decay curve for each pixel of the images, performing a two-dimensional (2D) soot primary particles visualisation.

In this work, the Proficiency Testing Scheme (PTScheme) was used for evaluation of the motorcycle emissions laboratories to measure the emission levels of this kind of vehicle, supplying subsidies to the laboratories to identify and solve analytical problems and contributing for the measurement harmonisation in the country. The PTScheme of automotive emissions is a type of study, provided only in Brazil, and it was the first time that this procedure was carried out for motorcycles. Such proficiency tests showed satisfactory results and shows the importance for the industry, society and environment.

Human activities are, more or less directly, responsible for increasing pollution in running waters, making this an important issue over the last decades and the ones to come. Many documents define a legal frame on the water pollutants underlying the importance of the surveillance of their presence in the environment. The difficulty in the surveillance of these products is due to the great diversity of the pollutant families, leading to the necessity to use several analytical techniques. This study shows the relevance of using Raman spectrometry for the detection and the quantification of several major pollutant families in an aqueous media such as drugs, pesticides or salts coming from fertilisers.

Landslide is a natural phenomenon widely spread in the Mediterranean. It is a process that shapes the Earth's surface. Landslide events affect principally mountainous areas and zones with cut slopes. Consequences can be catastrophic when they occur in proximity of residential areas. Therefore a landslide event is often a cause of death and economic damages. Risk evaluation, hazard assessment or prediction of landslides represent an interesting field of research. Landslide risk assessment needs for measurements and data processing with specific requirements of accuracy. As a consequence, the development of reliable risk models and prediction systems is a current and important challenge for researchers. In the manuscript, the authors deal with the landslide issue. A risk model for landslide hazard assessment is proposed. Information on landslide triggering events and historical data on previous landslides are used to draw hazard maps for the monitored area. Topographical and environmental information is used to divide the area in several local zones. For each zone, the associated risk level is estimated. A final hazard map provides general information on landslide risk, so to single out hazard situations for exposed population. The model can support the management and planning of suitable interventions and actions to reduce death and economic damages.

A dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (PA) was designed and manufactured with microscale dimensions using photolithographic process on fibre glass substrate. AC operation under sinusoidal voltage was investigated experimentally by means of electrical characterisation, smoke flow visualisations and particle image velocimetry. The performances of the micro PA were evaluated and compared with the ones of a macro PA found in this literature. The velocity induced by the micro PA was comparable with the macro PA one, but with lower applied voltage, electrical power dissipation and actuator size. This is particularly interesting for potential applications in turbomachinery.

The peculiarity of lidar systems is to provide profiles of optical properties of the atmosphere. The use of specific wavelengths and the selection of different kinds of backscattering (elastic, Raman, polarisation selective) permit to obtain information about suspended particles (aerosols). The authors show here a case study in which particle signals are detected from the boundary layer up to the stratosphere. Information on the size distribution of the different layers can be obtained, using a graphical method relying on the spectral dependence of aerosol extinction. The authors apply this method, for the first time to their knowledge, to stratospheric aerosol.

In this work, the relation between building materials and radon indoor pollution is evaluated. The relation is performed by non-invasive monitoring of buildings made of different materials. The work is part of a wider monitoring in progress in the Calabria Region (Southern Italy). The area under investigation is San Giovanni in Fiore (CS) located in the Sila upland plain. An annual non-invasive monitoring is carried out on many buildings of the Sila area, with reference to their different building materials. A nuclear track detector has been used (Solid State Nuclear Track Detector). The results obtained underline that the buildings made of local granite have greater indoor radon concentrations. The local granitic rocks, representative of the geological area, have been analysed by gamma spectrometry involving a Canberra system HPGe fixed detector cooled by liquid nitrogen high radio-emission values of standard radionuclides such as ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K.