Short-Term Land use Planning and Optimal Subsidies

Networks and Spatial Economics - Urban planning is a complex problem which includes choosing a social objective for a city, finding the associated optimal allocation of agents and identifying...     

Characterisation of chickpea flour‐based gluten‐free batters and muffins with added biopolymers: rheological,physical and sensory properties

Chickpea flour (CF)‐based muffin formulations were made with CF alone and with added biopolymers [whey protein (WP), xanthan gum (XG) and inulin (INL)] to evaluate their suitability to be a wheat flour (WF) substitute in muffins. Structural characteristics of the batters and muffins were studied by means of rheometry, microscopy, physicochemical properties, and texture and sensory analysis. Partial replacement of CF with XG, alone (at 0.5 and 1%) or blended with either WP or INL, significantly increased the batter viscoelasticity as denser matrices developed; moreover, the muffins with XG added at 1% had similar hardness to wheat gluten muffins. The replacement of WF decreased the springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, resilience and specific volume of the muffin. However, baked muffins with added XG also showed higher sensory sponginess and moisture associated with numerous air bubbles in the batter and were perceived to be easier to swallow and to have better general appearance.     

Energy Efficient Cloud Service Provisioning: Keeping Data Center Granularity in Perspective

The cost of power and its associated delivery are becoming significant factors in the total expenditure of large-scale data centers. Numerous techniques have been proposed to address the energy efficiency issue in cloud systems. Recently, some efforts have been made to decentralize the cloud via distributing data centers in diverse geographical positions, at different scales. In this paper, we elaborate on the energy effectiveness of service provisioning on different cloud architectures, from a mega-data center to a nano data center, which provides the extreme decentralization in terms of cloud architecture, as well as P2P-clouds or community network clouds. We study the energy consumption through an analytical and simulation framework for video streaming and MapReduce applications.     

Sustainability assessment of dwellings – a comparison of methodologies

Building sustainability assessment tools (BSATs) aim to promote and rank the sustainability of building stock. This paper makes a deep comparative analysis on how dwellings are evaluated by five BSAT and one performance-based design tool. The comparison is based on: (i) the purpose of assessment; (ii) sustainability dimensions considered; (iii) indicators addressed; (iv) life cycle phases considered by the indicators; (v) type of indicators; (vi) measurements; (vii) aggregation processes; and (vii) life cycle phases during which the assessment was carried out. The evaluation showed that the scope of BSAT varies significantly as well as the life cycle phases addressed in the assessment. Financial issues are often excluded from the assessment. None of the schemes is totally quantitative or qualitative in their measurement system; all have different types of indicators and different ways to assess them. This research provides researchers and stakeholders with important inside knowledge on the tools that allow the development and construction of more sustainable buildings.     

Improved Accuracy of the Inherent Shrinkage Method for Fast and More Reliable Welding Distortion Calculations

This paper describes the implementation of a simple strategy adopted for the inherent shrinkage method (ISM) to predict welding-induced distortion. This strategy not only makes it possible for the ISM to reach accuracy levels similar to the detailed transient analysis method (considered the most reliable technique for calculating welding distortion) but also significantly reduces the time required for these types of calculations. This strategy is based on the sequential activation of welding blocks to account for welding direction and transient movement of the heat source. As a result, a significant improvement in distortion prediction is achieved. This is demonstrated by experimentally measuring and numerically analyzing distortions in two case studies: a vane segment subassembly of an aero-engine, represented with 3D-solid elements, and a car body component, represented with 3D-shell elements. The proposed strategy proves to be a good alternative for quickly estimating the correct behaviors of large welded components and may have important practical applications in the manufacturing industry.