Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation
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Architecture of the landform and settlements identities.Cycle-routes as new linear public spaces
No full textOne of the contemporary problems of dwelling concerns a threat to the interrelationship between settlements and geomorphology. We think that one of the most important peculiarities of public space is the power to represent these relations by means of architecture. Good quality architecture in public spaces would allow inhabitants to be a part of the places and territories in which they live. In the context of these problems, cycle-routes could play an important role, as a new kind of linear public space. They could become "geographical architecture"
Fracture toughness and failure mechanism of high performance concrete incorporating carbon nanotubes
No full textAn investigation of the beneficial effects of adding carbon nanotubes to standard injection grout
No full textDual-Band Dual-Mode Textile Antenna on PDMS Substrate for Body-Centric Communications
No full textA dual-band antenna for off- and on-body communications in the 2.45- and 5.8-GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical bands is presented. The two radiation characteristics, i.e., patch-like radiation for the off-body link and monopole-like radiation for the on-body link, are achieved by utilizing inherently generated TM11 and TM02 modes of a circular patch antenna. A shorting pin and two arc-shaped slots are employed to tune both modes to the desired operating frequencies. This approach allows a realization of a dual-band dual-mode antenna with a very simple structure, i.e., a single radiator with a simple feed. A further advantage of the proposed antenna is its realization using a silver fabric integrated onto a flexible polydimethylsiloxane substrate that makes it more practical for wearable applications. An experimental investigation of the antenna performance has been carried out in free space and on a semisolid human muscle equivalent phantom, which shows a robust performance against the human body loading effect. When placed on the phantom, the measured bandwidths of 84 and 247 MHz in the 2.45- and 5.8-GHz bands, respectively, are achieved with the corresponding peak gains of 4.16 and 4.34 dBi, indicating a promising candidate for body-centric communications
Development and application in clinical practice of Computer-aided Diagnosis systems for the early detection of lung cancer
No full textLung cancer is the main cause of cancer-related deaths both in Europe and United States, because often it is diagnosed at late stages of the disease, when the survival rate is very low if compared to first asymptomatic stage. Lung cancer screening using annual low-dose Computed Tomography (CT) reduces lung cancer 5-year mortality by about 20% in comparison to annual screening with chest radiography. However, the detection of pulmonary nodules in low-dose chest CT scans is a very difficult task for radiologists, because of the large number (300/500) of slices to be analyzed. In order to support radiologists, researchers have developed Computer aided Detection (CAD) algorithms for the automated detection of pulmonary nodules in chest CT scans. Despite proved benefits of those systems on the radiologists detection sensitivity, the usage of CADs in clinical practice has not spread yet. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and tackle the issues underlying this inconsistency. In particular, in Chapter 2 we introduce M5L, a fully automated Web and Cloud-based CAD for the automated detection of pulmonary nodules in chest CT scans. This system introduces a new paradigm in clinical practice, by making available CAD systems without requiring to radiologists any additional software and hardware installation. The proposed solution provides an innovative cost-effective approach for clinical structures. In Chapter 3 we present our international challenge aiming at a large-scale validation of state-of-the-art CAD systems. We also investigate and prove how the combination of different CAD systems reaches performances much higher than any best stand-alone system developed so far. Our results open the possibility to introduce in clinical practice very high-performing CAD systems, which miss a tiny fraction of clinically relevant nodules. Finally, we tested the performance of M5L on clinical data-sets. In chapter 4 we present the results of its clinical validation, which prove the positive impact of CAD as second reader in the diagnosis of pulmonary metastases on oncological patients with extra-thoracic cancers. The proposed approaches have the potential to exploit at best the features of different algorithms, developed independently, for any possible clinical application, setting a collaborative environment for algorithm comparison, combination, clinical validation and, if all of the above were successful, clinical practice
Thermo-Physical and Mechanical Characterisation of Novel Materials under Development for HL-LHC Beam Intercepting Devices
No full textJoining of CFRP and low-CTE glass-ceramics for aerospace applications
No full textJoining of dissimilar materials is a crucial point in aerospace applications; in particular CFRP and low-CTE glass-ceramics that are widely employed in space structures. The main challenge in this context is manufacture light and stable joints able to withstand aerospace conditions. Joining materials for this purpose, in order to be used in aerospace atmosphere, need to be lightweight, with low coefficient of thermal expansion, low moisture absorption, mechanical strength to sustain the component weight and low curing temperature to avoid damage of the composite polymeric matrix. For these reasons use of organic joining materials is limited by their moisture absorption and relatively high CTE values. In this study several inorganic joining materials, such as inorganic cements and pre-ceramic adhesives, were selected and tested. Inorganic cements have the advantage of room temperature curing and low CTE, but the disadvantage of relatively low mechanical properties. For this reason addition of fibers (e.g. glass fibers) to these materials was performed to improve mechanical strength. For ceramic adhesives, curing temperature might damage the polymeric matrix of CFRP, therefore the treatment was modified to preserve the matrix and at the same time ensure sufficient mechanical strength. Joints have been manufactured using the selected inorganic materials and mechanical strength was evaluated with tensile and shear strength tests. Most promising materials were also tested after ageing cycles developed to simulate aerospace conditions. Furthermore surface modification of CFRP was also studied, with different techniques, to improve the adhesion of inorganic materials. Each joining technique and joining material has been studied in order to offer an innovative approach in the field of CFRP/low-CTE glass-ceramic joining. Moreover, selected joining solutions take into account scalability and the possibility to transfer the process to larger structures. This activity was developed in the frame of the H2020-SMS (Sandwich Material and Structure) project
An Innovative Cloud-based Supervision System for the Integration of RPAS in Urban Environments
No full textThis paper proposes the outline of a Cloud-based supervision system for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), which are operating in urban environments. The novelty of this proposed concept is dual: (i) a Cloud-based supervision system focusing on safety and robustness, (ii) the definition of technical requirements allowing the RPAS to fly over urban areas, as a possible evolution of drone use in future smart cities. A new concept for the regulatory issues is also proposed, compared with existing worldwide regulations. The Cloud framework is intended to be an automated system for path planning and control of RPAS flying under its coverage, and not limited to conventional remote control as if supervised by a human pilot. Future works will be based on the experimental validation of the proposed concept in an urban area of Turin (Italy)
Operational performance of an Air Handling Unit: insights from a data analysis
No full textSpace heating and cooling is one of the most relevant causes of energy consumption in both residential and tertiary sector buildings. In particular, service buildings and offices are mostly served by all-air HVAC systems in which control logics are fundamental to guarantee reliability and performance. Building automation systems are therefore becoming more and more relevant as a support tool for reducing the energy consumption in these contexts. For this reason, the detailed analysis of operational data from real units can help in understanding the main variables that affect the performance and functioning of all-air systems. This paper presents some results from operation data analysis of an Air Handling Unit (AHU) serving a large university classroom. The main drivers of the energy consumption are highlighted, and the classroom occupancy is found to have a significant importance in the energy balance of the system. The availability of historical operation data allows performing a comparison between the actual operation of the AHU and the expected performance from nominal parameters. An example of fault detection is proposed, considering the operation analysis of the heat recovery unit over different years
MNM3D: a modelling tool for simulation of nanoparticle injection and transport in 3D geometries
No full textThe design of a field-scale injection of engineered nanoparticle (NP) suspensions for the remediation of a polluted site requires the development of quantitative predictive models for the system design and implementation. In general, micro- and nanoparticle transport in porous media is controlled by particle-particle and particle-porous media interactions, which are in turn affected by flow velocity and pore water chemistry. During the injection, a strong perturbation of the flow field is induced around the well, and the particle transport is mainly controlled by the consequent sharp variation of pore-water velocity, and by the hydro-chemical properties of the injected fluid. Conversely, when the injection is stopped, the particles are transported solely due to the natural flow, and the influence of groundwater geochemistry (ionic strength, IS, in particular) on the particle behaviour becomes predominant. Pore-water velocity and IS are therefore important parameters influencing particle transport in groundwater, and have to be taken into account by the numerical codes used to support nanoremediation design. Several analytical and numerical tools have been developed in recent years to model the transport of colloidal particles in simplified geometry and boundary conditions. For instance, the numerical tool MNMs was developed by the authors of this work to simulate colloidal transport in 1D Cartesian and radial coordinates. Only few simulation tools are instead available for 3D colloid transport, and none of them implements direct correlations accounting for variations of groundwater IS and flow velocity. In this work a new modelling tool, MNM3D (Micro and Nanoparticles transport Model in 3D geometries), is proposed for the simulation of injection and transport of nanoparticle suspensions in generic complex scenarios. MNM3D implements a new formulation to account for the simultaneous dependency of the attachment and detachment kinetic coefficients on groundwater IS and velocity. The software was developed in the framework of the FP7 European research project NanoRem and can be used to predict the NP mobility at different stages of a nanoremediation application, both in the planning and design stages (i.e. support the design of the injection plan), and later to predict the long-term particle mobility after injection (i.e. support the monitoring, final fate of the injected particles). In this work MNM3D is used to model a 2D pilot scale injection of CARBO-IRON® in a small scale flume carried out at the VEGAS facilities in the framework of the NanoRem project. Moreover, the long term fate of an hypothetical release of nanoparticles into the environment from a landfill is simulated