PDEs for engineers

Statistical mechanics with applications to materials science 

The goal of the course is providing an introduction to the basic concepts and applications of equilibrium statistical mechanics. 

The program will cover the following topics:

THERMODYNAMICS
Thermodynamic Potentials; Free Energy; Entropy; Equations of State.

POSTULATES AND ENSEMBLES
Phase Space; Observables; Probability distribution; Microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles, partition function.

INTRODUCTION TO PHASE TRANSITIONS
Critical points; Universality and scaling; Correlation functions; Symmetry breaking and order parameter; Ising model: solution in one and two dimensions, mean field solution.

Coordinamento SCUDO

ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE MITIGATION OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND AND CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS

How to write a technical paper and to present it effectively to an educated audience

Il corso ha lo scopo di insegnare agli studenti di dottorato a scrivere un articolo scientifico che soddisfi gli standard di una rivista internazionale.

Lab and field data acquisition and processes in hydraulics

Goal. The course provides the basic concepts necessary to i) carry out measurements, ii) process data and iii) derive hydrodynamic and physical meanings form large data sets.

Program. The following topics are studied, combining theory and practical examples.

Measurement definition and concept. Measurement instrumentation and sensors. Sources of error. Measurement uncertainty. Measurement in static and dynamic conditions. Sensitivity, accuracy and precision. Measurement range and frequency response. Instrument precision. Measurement error. Theory of errors.
Instrument calibration. How to get a calibration curve from laboratory data.
How to carry out a measurement. Nyquist theorem. Sampling duration. Signal analysis in time and frequency domain. FFT and IFFT. How to obtain a spectrum of the measured signal with FFT technique.
Chain of measures. Control and management of remote measuring stations, with sensors sampling hydrodynamic parameters.
Acoustic and laser signal sources. Doppler effect. Measuring flow velocity with LDA and ADV sensors.
Practical trials at the Coastal Engineering Laboratory - LIC of the DICATECh and analysis of acquired data.

Multidisciplinary approach to solve complex environmental problems


Environmental issues are generally complex and in most cases require multidisciplinary skills. The optimal solution is the result of a broader evaluation which affects more thematic areas such as environmental, economic and social, paradigm of sustainable development. Additionally, with reference to a fixed environmental matrix, such as water, it may involve more professional profiles, from the chemical to the biologist, from the engineer to the physical. In this context, the course aims to explain to doctoral students examples of multidisciplinary approaches applied to solving complex environmental problems. The presence of a total environment, intended as presence of different thematic areas connected to each other, is the common element in all the case studies addressed.

Research Methodology

This course aims at providing PhD students with the knowledge of Fundamentals of Research Methodology and how to use them effectively in their scientific research.

The course of Research Methodology comprises six main sections:
  1. Research Theory
  2. Research Ethics
  3. Research Methods
  4. Research Instruments/Techniques
  5. Research Project
  6. Bibliographic Search
Each of them is presented by considering also examples and case studies

Applications of MATLAB