Search

The IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation (TAP) introduced an Associate Editor for Communications and Membership in December 2020. Prof. Marco Salucci, University of Trento, Italy, became the first to fulfill this role. The purpose of this new position is twofold. One purpose is to communicate to readers, external and internal to IEEE, the value of our contributions to the technologies that are used daily by billions of people around the world. Another purpose is to increase membership by introducing creative strategies to: 1) attract people that exploit the devices and methodologies developed by our authors; 2) to educate and inform people about our society; and 3) reach out to people traditionally affiliated with other societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at relating the stickiness parameter ($\tau$) of the dense media radiative transfer theory in quasi-crystalline approximation of Mie scattering of densely packed sticky spheres (DMRT-QMS), to the physical parameters of the layered snowpack. A relationship has been derived to express $\tau $ , which modulates the attractive contact force between ice spheres, as a function of ice volume fraction ($\phi $) and coordination number ($n_{c}$). Since $\tau $ is not a measurable parameter, this is a step forward with respect to what is commonly made in the literature, where $\tau $ is assumed as an arbitrary parameter, generally ranging between 0.1 and 0.3, to fit simulated backscattering data with those measured. As a first validation, DMRT-QMS was integrated with the SNOWPACK model to simulate backscattering at X-band (9.6 GHz) driven by nivo-meteorological data acquired on a test area located in Monti Alti di Ornella, Italy. The simulations were compared with Synthetic Aperture Radar COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) satellite observations. The results show a significant agreement ($R^{2} =0.68$), although for a limited dataset of eight points in a unique winter season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alpine ski-resorts are conventionally powered by the electrical distribution network to perform the snow-making operations throughout the ski slopes. On one hand, these grids can present a low capacity, and on the other, the line lengths are not negligible due to natural obstacles and altitude changes. As a consequence, the voltage drops are remarkable when several power loads are fed by the low voltage section. Based on this aspect, a novel evolution of ski-resorts power grids toward microgrids is pursued to improve the power system quality of service and to foster the implementation of distributed energy resources (DERs). The article examines the ac electrical distribution system installed in the ski-resort of San Vito di Cadore, Italy. A preliminary power flow analysis identifies bottlenecks on voltage profiles and weights effective solutions to evolve the power grid. Four system configurations are contrasted in terms of voltage drop in order to establish the most convenient redesign. A proper voltage profile along the entire ski-resort is ensured by the last solution, which redistributes the loads powering among the five resort's substations. Finally, a techno-economical-environmental analysis explores the possibility of installing DER and storage to feed the resort loads. The study demonstrates the capability of hydropower plant in enhancing microgrid sustainability and environmental friendliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's opinion around social and political issues is currently witnessed by messages ordinarily posted on social media. With reference to a specific case study, namely the vaccination topic in Italy, this article discusses a crucial aspect in structuring the data processing pipeline in intelligent systems aimed at monitoring the public opinion through Twitter messages: A plain analysis of tweet contents is not sufficient to grasp the diversity of behavior across users. To get a sharper picture of the public opinion as expressed on social media, user-related information must be incorporated in the analysis. Relying on a dataset of tweets about vaccination and on an established text classification system, we present the results of a stance monitoring campaign with advanced analysis on temporal and spatial scales. The overall methodological workflow provides a sound solution for public opinion assessment from Twitter data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we provide an overview of the early developments of theoretical computer science research in Italy in the Sixties and early Seventies. In the same years, the community of researchers working in this domain were organizing to gain an identity among the more traditional disciplines and to obtain a recognition for the "new science" that was taking its first steps. This led in Italy to the creation of Group of Researchers in Theoretical Informatics, in parallel to the institution of European Association for Theoretical Computer Science at European level. In this article, we characterize the Italian contribution to theoretical computer science research in those early years by describing the landscape of activities developed in Italian Universities and research centers in the late sixties and early seventies, on the basis of a census run in 1971 by the newly born GRIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recombination dipoles D2 (MBRD) for the luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are double aperture magnets to be placed on each side of ATLAS and CMS experiments, generating 4.5 T along a magnetic length of 7.78 m and a bore diameter of 105 mm. Its development plan foresees the construction of a short model 1.6 m long, followed by a prototype and by the series of 6 magnets. The magnet design was carried out at INFN Genova in a collaboration framework with CERN and the construction is ongoing in the industry (ASG Superconductors, Italy). The short model activities have just been accomplished after a successful power test performed at CERN, while the prototype is in its construction phase. In this contribution, the main features of the D2 magnet will be described, underlining the improvements implemented in the prototype with respect to the short model design. Then, the main results of the power test will be presented, focusing on training performance, protection scheme effectiveness and magnetic measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]