Connectivity Benefits of Small Zero-Emission Autonomous Ferries in Urban Mobility—Case of the Coastal City of Gdańsk (Poland)

An increase in energy-efficient transportation is one way that cities try to mitigate climate change. In coastal cities, public water transit is also undergoing transitions. A small zero-emission autonomous ferry seems to be a cutting-edge technology in this field. This study aims to decrease the knowledge gap in research on the impacts of autonomous passenger ferry development on urban mobility. In particular, the central theme regards the extent to which the new transport solution can help improve sustainable mobility patterns. This study explores the local spatial context of ferry development, land-use patterns, and transport network structure, and moderates the shift in urban mobility practices. Regarding land use patterns, the case of the coastal city of Gdańsk has been documented in secondary qualitative and quantitative data, including in a large body of policy documents, accompanying expert opinions, and scholarly literature. This study strongly emphasises that a typical short river crossing, due to autonomous vessels, can regain a competitive position, which was partially lost due to linear routes along the river. The research identified crucial benefits of autonomous ferry shipping on urban mobility by increasing public transport network connectivity, reducing travel distance, and creating modal shifts towards foot travel and bike riding. It appears as an exciting scalable solution for cities where limited or dispersed demand prevents achievement of economies of scale, therefore diminishing the necessary expenditures.

Aerogels Materials for Applications in Thermal Energy Storage

Over the years, aerogel materials reduced thermal conductivity, so proved to be the key method for preventing large consumption of thermal energy. In the class of insulating materials, aerogels have been found, these materials reduce the intermorphosis of heat between ambient sol−gel and various drying methods. Due to Aerogel's tremendous qualities, researchers and engineers showed keen interest in its construction. It showed various characteristics such as nano dimensions, minimum density, narrow, structured, small zero and exposed pore structure, forming through sol components in an arbitrary three-dimensional network. Notable, related to aerogel components, involves storage due to the significant capacity of thermal insulation and its minimum power of operation which means that heat can be stored for a longer period. Due to narrow structural entities, it easily captures light in the meso and nanoporous structure. Aerogels have a greater tendency regarding its heat storing efficacy, creating a simple nature, working consistency other than a commercial insulator. Therefore, this chapter focuses on aerogel's new strategy, which is constantly trending to increase the efficiency of aerogels and improving diverse structurally designed openings, especially insulation effectiveness and low thermal conductivity. Herein, we reviewed the formation of porous aerogels by using carbon nanomaterials, and their corresponding materials comprise GO, rGO, and fabrication with polymer, biomaterial which intrinsically embedded in the aerogel structure to achieve outstanding thermal storage characteristics for higher thermal behavior.

Small Zero-Utility Passive Houses as a Method of Lowering Smog and Protecting the Environment

The chapter describes the concept of sustainable development to minimize the environmental footprint and introduces the concept of the zero-utility solar passive house. The purpouse of the chapter is presentation of sollution for small zero-utility passive houses as a method of lowering smog and protecting the environment. The different concepts of the solar passive residential dwellings are being discussed and evaluated from the perspective of lowering carbon emissions. Energy savings as a result of increasing energy efficiency are also being calculated. The chapter analyzes the procedure for selecting the photovoltaic (PV) system to power the passive house and charge an electric car. Authors calculate the environmental benefits. There were some suggestions and recommendations for industry.

Low energy configurations of topological singularities in two dimensions: A Γ-convergence analysis of dipoles

This paper deals with the variational analysis of topological singularities in two dimensions. We consider two canonical zero-temperature models: the core radius approach and the Ginzburg–Landau energy. Denoting by [Formula: see text] the length scale parameter in such models, we focus on the [Formula: see text] energy regime. It is well known that, for configurations whose energy is bounded by [Formula: see text], the vorticity measures can be decoupled into the sum of a finite number of Dirac masses, each one of them carrying [Formula: see text] energy, plus a measure supported on small zero-average sets. Loosely speaking, on such sets the vorticity measure is close, with respect to the flat norm, to zero-average clusters of positive and negative masses. Here, we perform a compactness and [Formula: see text]-convergence analysis accounting also for the presence of such clusters of dipoles (on the range scale [Formula: see text], for [Formula: see text]), which vanish in the flat convergence and whose energy contribution has, so far, been neglected. Our results refine and contain as a particular case the classical [Formula: see text]-convergence analysis for vortices, extending it also to low energy configurations consisting of just clusters of dipoles, and whose energy is of order [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text].

Observed Recent Change in Climate and Potential for Decay of Norwegian Wood Structures

The wood rot decay of structures and buildings in Norway represents high costs. This paper reports the observed trends for the potential rot decay of Norwegian wood structures in the cities of Oslo and Bergen over the recent 55 years, calculated as the “wood rot climate index” developed by Scheffer, and compares the reports with previous reported values based on climate change modelling. The observed change in the wood rot climate index was close to the modelling result. Bergen is exposed directly to the westerly Atlantic winds and has among the highest rain amounts in Norway, whereas Oslo is shielded by the Scandinavian mountain chain and has much less rain. The change in the wood rot climate index since 1961 was about 20% in both cities, but the trend in the index (climate index change per year) was about 80% stronger in Bergen. The absolute index changes were largest in the summer; then spring (50 to 60% of the summer increase); and small, zero, or even negative (autumn in Oslo) in the remaining seasons. The relative changes were higher in the spring than summer and very high in Bergen in the winter from a low value. The change to positive index values in the spring and winter indicates temperature and humidity conditions favoring the growth of wood rot and, thus, extended the rot duration through the year. The expected increase in the future wood rot decay potential in Norway shows the need for increased focus on adaption measures to reduce the related damages and costs.

Chromium(iii)-based potential molecular quantum bits with long coherence times

[Cr(ddpd)2]3+ displays record phase memory times of up to 8.4 μs at 7 K. This is likely enabled by the very small zero-field splitting of D = 0.18 cm−1 which is due to the ligand field quartet state lying at very high energy.