A Systematic Methodology for Design of Sustainable Urban Neighborhood Energy Infrastructure

The growing share of global energy consumption by cities (currently over 65%) raises the requirements for a systematic holistic approach for designing urban energy infrastructure in order to ensure its sustainability. A literature review of state-of-the-art modeling of urban energy infrastructure design emphasized the incomprehensive sustainability of the performed evaluations, as they accounted for several aspects of sustainability but missed others. Omitting important aspects can have significant implications which can put the sustainability of the energy infrastructure at risk. In this study, we attempted to develop a comprehensive model for designing sustainable energy infrastructure for urban districts, which accounts for the four aspects of sustainability: social, technical, environmental, and economic. The model is based on a four-step methodology: district characterization, a technological survey for distributed generation and energy storage, selecting suitable technologies according to social and technical criteria, and simulations of different energy infrastructure configurations to find the most suitable configurations basing on economic and environmental criteria. The research includes a case study in which the model was implemented for the Technion campus in Haifa. The developed model proved to be a comprehensive, efficient, and versatile tool for designing urban energy infrastructure.

LATAM and Spanish SME barriers to Industry 4.0

PurposeExisting studies are scarce, especially on the Industry 4.0 application to firms' innovation and competitiveness, and even more on the application to LATAM and Spanish SMEs. This paper tries to fill this gap by explaining the results of applying a systematic model, to understand which are the SMEs' strengths and weaknesses in relation to the Industry 4.0 transformation.Design/methodology/approachA systematic methodology involving documentation analysis, visits to the companies, interviews with employees and managers, making a preliminary diagnosis, crossing their needs with the enablers that can apply. The fieldwork was carried out during a two month period (2019), on a target sample of 22 SMEs operating under industrial productive activity already exporting or planning their internationalization toward LATAM regions.FindingsThere are relevant barriers that need to be overcome in order to enter Industry 4.0 and, in this specific analysis, the following major classification was obtained: (1) Technological barrier, (2) Training barrier, (3) Economic barrier and (4) Contextual barrier.Originality/valueThis paper provides new insights and sets a starting point regarding LATAM and Spanish’ Industry 4.0 situation, while contributing to the SMEs competitiveness by providing deeper understanding of the barriers and limitations in adopting Industry 4.0, pointing out some implications and suggestions for organizations to implement.

Rites of Passage Programs for Adolescent Boys in Schools

Formal rites of passage (ROP) processes are largely lacking within Western culture. This scarcity is seen to be detrimental to adolescent boys’ masculine identity formation. With schools bearing increased responsibility for the well-being of students, and as a way of addressing the apparent cultural deficiency, interest in school-based ROP programs has expanded. This scoping review adopted a systematic methodology to refine an initial accumulation of 708 articles. Nine key articles investigating the impact of school-based ROP programs for adolescent boys were examined. The ROP programs were analyzed according to rationale, design, and impact, with each program focusing on three major domains of impact—community, responsibility, and identity. The review found that adolescent boys’ participation in ROP programs may enhance community engagement, build responsible citizenship, and improve self-perception through the development of positive masculine identity.

Fluid-inclusion petrography in calcite stalagmites: Implications for entrapment processes

ABSTRACT Fluids trapped in speleothems have an enormous potential in frontier fields of paleoclimate and paleohydrological research. This potential is, however, hampered by diverse scientific and technical limitations, among which the lack of a systematic methodology for genetically characterizing fluid inclusions is a major one, as these can have different origins, and thus, the trapped fluid (usually water), different meanings. In this work, we propose a systematic petrological classification of fluid inclusions, based on: 1) the temporal relation between fluid inclusions and the host calcite, 2) the spatial relation between fluid inclusions and the “crystallites” and crystals aggregates, and 3) the phases (water, air) trapped inside fluid inclusions. The first criterion allows dividing fluid inclusions in two main categories: primary and secondary, whose identification is critical in any research based on trapped fluids. The other two criteria allow the definition of eight types of primary and four types of secondary fluid inclusions. Primary fluid inclusions contain the drip water that fed stalagmites at the time of crystal growth, and can be intercrystalline, i.e., located between adjacent crystallites, or intracrystalline, i.e., with the fluid trapped within crystallites. We differentiate six main types among the intercrystalline fluid inclusions (elongate, thorn-shaped, down-arrow, interbranch, macro-elongate, and bucket) and other two among intracrystalline inclusions (pyriform and boudin). In primary inclusions, water is the main phase, while gas is much less abundant. The presence of gas could be related to slow drip rates or degassing in the cave, but also to later leakage due to changes in temperature and humidity often occurring during inadequate handling of speleothem samples. Secondary fluid inclusions were clearly related to younger water inlet through stratigraphic disruptions or unconformities. They are formed after water infiltration, but sealed before the renewed crystal growth. We differentiate four main types of secondary inclusions: interconnected, rounded, triangular, and vertical fluid inclusions. The identification of primary and secondary fluid inclusions in speleothems is a key for interpretation in paleoclimate studies. Integration of petrological results allow establishment of three different genetic scenarios for the formation of fluid inclusions, whose identification can be relevant because of their predictive character.

Design Space Exploration of Hybrid Quantum–Classical Neural Networks

The unprecedented success of classical neural networks and the recent advances in quantum computing have motivated the research community to explore the interplay between these two technologies, leading to the so-called quantum neural networks. In fact, universal quantum computers are anticipated to both speed up and improve the accuracy of neural networks. However, whether such quantum neural networks will result in a clear advantage on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices is still not clear. In this paper, we propose a systematic methodology for designing quantum layer(s) in hybrid quantum–classical neural network (HQCNN) architectures. Following our proposed methodology, we develop different variants of hybrid neural networks and compare them with pure classical architectures of equivalent size. Finally, we empirically evaluate our proposed hybrid variants and show that the addition of quantum layers does provide a noticeable computational advantage.

Wire Laser Metal Deposition Additive Manufacturing of Duplex Stainless Steel Components—Development of a Systematic Methodology

A systematic four-stage methodology was developed and applied to the Laser Metal Deposition with Wire (LMDw) of a duplex stainless steel (DSS) cylinder > 20 kg. In the four stages, single-bead passes, a single-bead wall, a block, and finally a cylinder were produced. This stepwise approach allowed the development of LMDw process parameters and control systems while the volume of deposited material and the geometrical complexity of components increased. The as-deposited microstructure was inhomogeneous and repetitive, consisting of highly ferritic regions with nitrides and regions with high fractions of austenite. However, there were no cracks or lack of fusion defects; there were only some small pores, and strength and toughness were comparable to those of the corresponding steel grade. A heat treatment for 1 h at 1100 °C was performed to homogenize the microstructure, remove nitrides, and balance the ferrite and austenite fractions compensating for nitrogen loss occurring during LMDw. The heat treatment increased toughness and ductility and decreased strength, but these still matched steel properties. It was concluded that implementing a systematic methodology with a stepwise increase in the deposited volume and geometrical complexity is a cost-effective way of developing additive manufacturing procedures for the production of significantly sized metallic components.

Lightweight Structural Materials in Open Access: Latest Trends

The aeronautical and automotive industries have, as an essential objective, the energy efficiency optimization of aircraft and cars, while maintaining stringent functional requirements. One working line focuses on the use of lightweight structural materials to replace conventional materials. For this reason, it is considered enlightening to carry out an analysis of the literature published over the last 20 years through Open Access literature. For this purpose, a systematic methodology is applied to minimize the possible risks of bias in literature selection and analysis. Web of Science is used as a search engine. The final selection comprises the 30 articles with the highest average numbers of citations per year published from 2015 to 2020 and the 7 articles published from the period of 2000–2014. Overall, the selection is composed of 37 Open Access articles with 2482 total citations and an average of 67.1 citations per article/year published, and includes Q1 (62%) and Q2 (8%) articles and proceeding papers (30%). The study seeks to inform about the current trends in materials and processes in lightweight structural materials for aeronautical and automotive applications with a sustainable perspective. All the information collected is summarized in tables to facilitate searches and interpretation by interested researchers.

Driving and Flying Simulators: A Review on Relevant Considerations and Trends

Flying and driving simulation has encouraged an enormous and growing community in a wide variety of areas such as research centers, driver or pilot training academies, vehicle-testing facilities, amusement parks, and even at home by household enthusiasts, providing carefully integrated visual and perceptual illusions of driving or flying real vehicles. The global research on this subject is explored during the period 2000 to 2019 from an interdisciplinary perspective based on a systematic methodology, providing both new and experienced researchers with broad guidance toward key aspects for further investigations and developments. Emphasis is given to the analysis of the findings and in particular to their applicability, to an extent not attempted earlier, by considering both human and machine aspects.

Trapping Sets of Quantum LDPC Codes

Iterative decoders for finite length quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes are attractive because their hardware complexity scales only linearly with the number of physical qubits. However, they are impacted by short cycles, detrimental graphical configurations known as trapping sets (TSs) present in a code graph as well as symmetric degeneracy of errors. These factors significantly degrade the decoder decoding probability performance and cause so-called error floor. In this paper, we establish a systematic methodology by which one can identify and classify quantum trapping sets (QTSs) according to their topological structure and decoder used. The conventional definition of a TS from classical error correction is generalized to address the syndrome decoding scenario for QLDPC codes. We show that the knowledge of QTSs can be used to design better QLDPC codes and decoders. Frame error rate improvements of two orders of magnitude in the error floor regime are demonstrated for some practical finite-length QLDPC codes without requiring any post-processing.