Deep Learning for Safe Human-Robot Collaboration

in Advances in Automation and Robotics Research (2021, November 21)

Digital Euro: opportunity or (legal) challenge?

in Ianus: Diritto e Finanza (2021), (22), 27

In the euro area today, there are two ways in which the central bank provides money to its economy. The first consists in the issue of physical banknotes, while the second is expressed through the ... [more ▼]

In the euro area today, there are two ways in which the central bank provides money to its economy. The first consists in the issue of physical banknotes, while the second is expressed through the electronic accreditation of deposits on current accounts that credit institutions hold at the central bank. In the last five years, following both the increase in the digitalisation of the modern economy and the example of hegemonic economies (such as China), the possible introduction of a new form of currency to provide a safe and stable mean of payment to citizens of the euro area has had the power to create a growing interest towards such ambitious solutions. As a result, in the very near future we could experience a different way in which money works. We refer to the uncharted world of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). While projects for the creation of central bank digital currencies are booming all around the world, such interest is driven by various reasons that will be analysed in this paper, including the need to react to private initiatives for the creation of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins and, an increasing demand for fast and interconnected digital financial instruments and products. In the euro area, even if the debate for the creation of a Digital Euro has recently started, the ECB has proven to be already engaged in investigations, public consultations, and discussions with focus groups with the aim to provide European citizens, firms, and intermediaries with a “public” payment instrument suitable for a new digital era. In this framework, the role of a Eurosystem central bank digital currency will be analysed from a legal perspective. First, apart from the abovementioned reasons leading to the creation of a CBDC, it will be crucial to examine the structure and design of the Digital Euro, together with its objectives and the needs of its users. Consequently, while investigating on the legal framework which will permit the introduction of this digital currency, through a light review of similar models adopted (or in adoption) by other countries, we will seek to assess whether legal issues might hinder the realisation of this project or its actual implementation, especially concerning the impact on monetary policy, the international role of the euro and the banking sector. [less ▲]

Ma thèse en 180 secondes version blogdroiteuropéen- par Simona Demková

Article for general public (2021)

Not yet another digital identity

Article for general public (2021)

About AI and Arts

Speeches/Talks (2021)

From a technical point of view, one can say that there have been extraordinary developments in the broad areas of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science that increasingly determine our lives. Think, for ... [more ▼]

From a technical point of view, one can say that there have been extraordinary developments in the broad areas of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science that increasingly determine our lives. Think, for example, of the many intelligent assistants that are playing an ever greater role in road traffic, in hospitals and in many other areas of application. Art is affected by this as well, because the computer-assisted and AI-supported implementation of creative ideas and thoughts and experimentation with new things have led to innovative results. [less ▲]

Enhancing Photovoltaic Hosting Capacity in Distribution Grid via Grid Reconfigurations, PV Droops and Battery Inverter Control

Doctoral thesis (2021)

The EU 2030 climate and energy framework has set a mandatory goal to achieve a renewable energy share in the final energy demand of 32% by 2030. Moreover, in the final National Energy and Climate Plan ... [more ▼]

The EU 2030 climate and energy framework has set a mandatory goal to achieve a renewable energy share in the final energy demand of 32% by 2030. Moreover, in the final National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) Luxembourg has defined its renewable generation share goal at 25% by 2030. Between 2018 and 2019, three times more photovoltaic (PV) panels were installed than in the previous years. To achieve the NECP target and to ensure further smooth integration of PV systems, the PV hosting capacity (HC) of the grid should be enhanced. This thesis discusses the common issues and current developments of HC enhancement and presents three HC enhancement techniques: grid reconfiguration and grid-code modification, extended current droop control and transformer loading control. First, the thesis analyzes the potential of grid reconfiguration in HC enhancement. For the analysis the grid configurations are divided into meshed and radial subsets. The grid reconfiguration analysis and HC calculation are done using pandapower and NetworkX library. The cross-influence and the location of DG are considered while determining the HC of the grid. The analysis shows that proper grid configuration selection is important as it can substantially increase the HC and decrease the average loading in the lines. Second, the impact of extended current droops on HC enhancement is investigated. In the designed extended current droops (Id(V ), Iq(V )), extra reactive power reserve is made available by changing the droop gain of the reactive current droop when the overvoltage is not cleared by the existing reactive power reserve. The simulations proved that the extended current droops are a viable grid reinforcement strategy which can not only regulate the voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC), but also relax the transformer loading and improve overall voltage and frequency stability. Additionally, oversizing of the inverter increases the reactive power reserve, which in turn lowers the voltage profile and decreases the amount of curtailed active power. Finally, two novel communication-less transformer overloading protection strategies based on a battery energy storage (BES): transformer protection droops (TPD) and direct loading control (DLC), are designed and compared. Both strategies force the PV inverters to curtail their active power output without relying on communication. The strategies have been tested on detailed models, where the total installed PV power varies between 0.9 to 2 times the transformer rating. The static and dynamic performance of the DLC is superior to the TPD control strategy. DLC is a robust control strategy. It can reduce the transformer loading by 41%, compared to the grid configuration without BES and bring the system to the steady-state within 700ms in the worst-case scenario. It also ensures to keep the system voltages within safe operational limits. It can be used as a backup active power curtailment solution in the cases of communication failure in centralized control. [less ▲]

Auswirkungen der Covid-19-Krise auf die Soziale Arbeit in Luxemburg aus Sicht der Praxis : Ergebnisse einer Online-Befragung im Sommer 2020

E-print/Working paper (2021)

This publication presents the findings of an online survey on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on social work in Luxembourg from the perspective of practitioners. It shows what effects the crisis as well ... [more ▼]

This publication presents the findings of an online survey on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on social work in Luxembourg from the perspective of practitioners. It shows what effects the crisis as well as the hygiene and protection measures had on daily social work practice, on the addressees and on the practitioners themselves. The findings are then reflected upon and discussed in relation to international research findings and professional publications on the topic of social work in times of Covid-19. [less ▲]

Die Logik der Verschwörungstheorie : Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven

Conference given outside the academic context (2021)

Performance assessment of the relative gravimeter Scintrex CG-6

in Journal of Geodesy (2021), 95:116

The new-generation relative gravimeter Scintrex CG6 is put on the test bench: Its performance is compared to its predecessor, the Scintrex-CG5. A CG5 Scintrex and a CG6 Scintrex were both submitted to the ... [more ▼]

The new-generation relative gravimeter Scintrex CG6 is put on the test bench: Its performance is compared to its predecessor, the Scintrex-CG5. A CG5 Scintrex and a CG6 Scintrex were both submitted to the same rigorous tests, which have been developed in recent years to highlight some defects of the CG5. The results show that the CG6 always performs better than the CG5. For instance, the instrumental drift is 5 times smaller for the CG6 than for the CG5. In the tidal bands, the noise level of the CG6 is 3 times lower than of the one of the CG5. We confirmed the tilt susceptibility of the CG5 and found that the CG6 is barely affected by long duration tilts before taking measurements. Unlike the CG5, the CG6 measurements are not influenced by external temperature variations. Overall, the CG6 provides more precise and stable gravity measurements compared to the CG5. [less ▲]

Visualizing Visions: Re-viewing the seventeenth-century genre of constcamer paintings

Doctoral thesis (2021)