Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation
PORTO@iris (Publications Open Repository TOrino - Politecnico di Torino)Not a member yet
146173 research outputs found
Sort by
Riga. Three Hundred Years of Urban Planning
No full textCome ricordato da Irna Bakule e Arnis Siksna in Riga beyond the walls (2009), la città è una delle poche metropoli europee la cui estensione oltre il cuore medievale sia stata condotta attraverso una rigorosa successione di piani urbanistici che ne hanno chiaramente determinato la forma fisica e, non ultimo, l’aspetto verdeggiante e il carattere armonioso. Come Torino e Berlino, pur in contesti storico-politici diversi la pianificazione detta lo sviluppo della città, ma – diversamente da questi esempi – non ampliandosi per addizioni e parti bensì governando il processo intimamente legato alle fortificazioni e al loro superamento, in un’ottica sempre globale. Riga presenta oggi un poderoso tessuto urbano di pregio, tra Storicismo e Art Nouveau, adagiato in una struttura radiale e in grandi arterie semianulari, il viale Elisabetta e i due boulevards interni, che sono il risultato dei piani del 1857-72. A Riga la pianificazione segue le progressive esigenze militari svedesi e russe, governando fortificazioni e sobborghi a più riprese, nel 1652, nel 1771, e poi ancora nel 1813 e nel 1815. Una città fondata nel 1201, membro della Lega Anseatica e che, nonostante le diverse dominazioni straniere, vede l’ininterrotto dominio della componente tedesca sul Consiglio comunale e l’apertura occidentale degli ingegneri e degli architetti attivi nei piani, di provenienza o ascendenza olandese, tedesca e svizzera
Exploring Circularity in Ceramic 3D Printing: Possibilities and Implementation
Get PDFNowadays, concepts such as recycling, reusing, and sustainability are gaining ground in a wide range of fields and sectors, including manufacturing. This paradigm shift from “produce-dispose” to “produce-reuse” is pushing manufacturers and producers to move from a linear economy to a circular one. This change in perspective seems more readily applicable to the world of additive manufacturing, as it offers the potential not only to reduce waste generation, but also to reintroduce discarded and recycled materials into the production chain. This implementation of a circular manufacturing approach could be applied to ceramic additive manufacturing. Is it a straightforward process to implement a circular solution into the production chain? Which are the implications for costs, energy requirements, emissions, and waste management? This open discussion aims to identify potential starting points and gaps for further evaluation of future application of circular economy concepts in the ceramic industry
Titanium Alloys at the Interface of Electronics and Biomedicine: A Review of Functional Properties and Applications
Get PDFRecent studies show that titanium (Ti)-based alloys combine established mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility with emerging electrical and electrochemical properties relevant to bioelectronics. The main goal of the present manuscript is to give a wide-ranging overview on the use of Ti-alloys in electronics and biomedicine, focusing on a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of the existing literature to identify gaps and future directions. Concurrently, the identification of possible correlations between the effects of the manufacturing process, alloying elements, and other degrees of freedom influencing the material characteristics are put in evidence, aiming to establish a global view on efficient interdisciplinary efforts to realize high-added-value smart devices useful in the field of biomedicine, such as, for example, implantable apparatuses. This review mostly summarizes advances in surface modification approaches—including anodization, conductive coatings, and nanostructuring that improve conductivity while maintaining biological compatibility. Trends in applications demonstrate how these alloys support smart implants, biosensors, and neural interfaces by enabling reliable signal transmission and long-term integration with tissue. Key challenges remain in balancing electrical performance with biological response and in scaling laboratory modifications for clinical use. Perspectives for future work include optimizing alloy composition, refining surface treatments, and developing multifunctional designs that integrate mechanical, biological, and electronic requirements. Together, these directions highlight the potential of titanium alloys to serve as foundational materials for next-generation bioelectronic medical technologies
A Quantum-Compliant Formulation for Network Epidemic Control
Get PDFWe deal with controlling the spread of an epidemic disease on a network by isolating one or multiple locations by banning people from leaving them. To this aim, we build on the susceptible–infected–susceptible and the susceptible–infected– removed discrete-time network models, encapsulating a control action that captures mobility bans via removing links from the network. Then, we formulate the problem of optimally devising a control policy based on mobility bans that trades-off the burden on the healthcare system and the social and economic costs associated with interventions. The binary nature of mobility bans hampers the possibility to solve the control problem with standard optimization methods, yielding a NP-hard problem. Here, this is tackled by deriving a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) formulation of the control problem, and leveraging the growing potentialities of quantum computing to efficiently solve it
Prime convolutional model: Breaking the ground for theoretical explainability
Get PDFIn this paper, we propose a new theoretical approach to Explainable AI. Following the Scientific Method, this approach consists of formulating, on the basis of empirical evidence, a mathematical model to explain and predict the behaviors of Neural Networks. We apply the method to a case study created in a controlled environment, which we call Prime Convolutional Model (p-Conv for short). p-Conv operates on a dataset consisting of the first one million natural numbers and is trained to identify the congruence classes modulo a given integer m. Its architecture uses a convolutional-type neural network that contextually processes a sequence of B consecutive numbers for each input. We take an empirical approach and exploit p-Conv to identify the congruence classes of numbers in a validation set using different values for m and B. The results show that the different behaviors of p-Conv (i.e., whether it can perform the task or not) can be modeled mathematically in terms of m and B. The inferred mathematical model reveals interesting patterns able to explain when and why p-Conv succeeds in performing task and, if not, which error pattern it follows
Coffee and turmeric bio-based shape-stabilized composite PCMs for thermal and solar energy storage applications
Get PDFBio-based shape-stabilized composite phase change materials (ss-PCMs) are emerging as sustainable solutions for thermal and solar energy harvesting. However, typical shape-stability issues, poor thermal/optical properties, and complex synthesis methods hinder the use of such materials at large scale. This study reports the design of nanofiller-loaded bio-based composite PCMs with enhanced thermo-optical and mechanical properties (shape-stability). Incorporating a 25 wt% biomass-derived porous matrix (coffee/turmeric powder) significantly enhanced the material's structural integrity by effectively controlling PCM leakage while achieving a high latent thermal energy storage (TES) capacity of ~130 J/g. Graphene-loaded ss-composite PCMs demonstrated a significant photothermal conversion efficiency enhancement (106 %) and effective thermal management (TM) potential (superheat degree reduced by ~10 deg C) compared to pristine PCM, due to the improved photo-thermal properties and power density. Thermal cycling (up to 500 cycles) and load-bearing capacity tests (~212,566 and ~31,242 N/m2 across the phase transition zone) confirm the high reliability of the proposed novel ss-composite PCMs in terms of thermal and shape stability. These results highlight their strong potential for long-term TES applications, with stable performance even under adverse environmental conditions such as humidity and wetting. This research contributes to the design of bio-compatible (possibly edible) substance-based strategies for creating cost-effective composite PCMs with enhanced thermo-optical and shape stability characteristics, offering significant advancement for latent TES systems and TM technologies
Influence of 3D printing path and continuous Flax yarn reinforcement on the performance of additively manufactured T-joints for large-scale components
No full textThe design of optimized 3D printing paths is a key factor in improving the structural performance of continuous fiber-reinforced composites, especially for complex geometries are difficult to achieve using conventional manufacturing techniques. This study investigates the combined influence of continuous flax yarns as a bio-based reinforcement for Polylactic Acid and layer-wise printing path strategies on the mechanical response of printed components. Special emphasis is placed on T-joint configurations, which represent critical structural regions subjected to complex multi-axial stress states and govern load transfer and failure mechanism. Printing paths were specifically engineered to follow load-transfer directions, and intermediate reinforcement layers were introduced to enhance joint behavior. Experimental results demonstrate that both path optimization and continuous natural fiber reinforcement significantly improve the rotational response of the joints, leading to increased stiffness and moment capacity, as well as reduced brittleness and improved ductility when compared to unreinforced specimens. The results further indicate a synergistic interaction between adaptive path design and bio-based continuous yarn reinforcement, offering a viable route toward high-performance and sustainable continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites capable of sustaining complex loading conditions. In addition, a simplified bilinear model is proposed to describe the moment–rotation behavior of T-joint profiles, supporting structural interpretation and facilitating future numerical and design-oriented applications
Modulating the biological response in vitro through hydrofluoric acid surface etching of ceria-stabilized zirconia/alumina/strontium hexa-aluminate composites
No full textCeria-stabilized Zirconia/Alumina/Strontium hexa-Aluminate composites are promising candidates as metal-free dental implants. Isostatic pressed and sintered Ce11ZA8Sr8 composites were prepared as regular disks starting from powders with composition 84 vol% ceria-stabilized zirconia (at 11 mol% ceria), 8 vol% α-Al2O3 and 8 vol% SrAl12O19 and they were either exposed to increasing etching treatment time (1 h, 2 h, 3 h) with hydrofluoric acid, or kept as a control, to determine the biological response elicited in human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (ASCs), oral epithelial cells (SGs), and oral primary fibroblasts (PFs) cultured in vitro. FESEM microscopy and surface roughness assessment evidenced qualitatively and quantitatively an increasing roughness according to the etching time. Surface free energy was increased on roughened surfaces. The three cell types responded differently in terms of immediate adhesion (20 min), cell morphology (24 h), and proliferation up to 3 days. ASCs grew slowly, while SGs proliferated increasingly on all the surfaces, and PFs grew significantly more on the non-etched surface than on the etched surfaces (second and third day). ASCs were osteodifferentiated up to 4 weeks, studying gene expression and osteocalcin release. The interface characteristics of Ce11ZA8Sr8 composites could be exploited to modulate cell response in vitro, with promising results for future in vivo application
Towards Smaller, Lighter, and More Transparent AI
Get PDFL'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen
Hypergraphs and simplicial complexes in focus: A roadmap for future research in higher-order interactions
Get PDFHigher-order interactions are increasingly being recognised as fundamental to our understanding of complex systems, networks, and the development of the next generation of AI algorithms. However, modelling higher-order interactions requires us to go beyond graphs and networks, which can only encode pairwise interactions, and so demands a new theory. Hypergraphs and simplicial complexes (also called higher-order networks), which arise as natural mathematical representations of higher-order complex systems, are therefore attracting increasing attention. The mathematics of higher-order networks is already providing important insights, yet many fundamental mathematical questions remain unsolved; for instance, in spectral graph theory, discrete topology, and higher-order network dynamics. This roadmap summarizes the scientific discussions that took place on these topics between pure mathematicians, theoretical physicists, computer and network scientists at the Newton Institute Satellite meeting on `Hypergraphs: Theory and Applications'. We survey the current state-of-the-art in higher-order network research, and propose some trajectories for future research, including in areas such as extremal and spectral hypergraph theory, discrete topology, higher-order dynamics, higher-order machine learning, and applications in the brain and social sciences