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IL GABINETTO DI ARCHITETTURA: UNA COLLEZIONE TRA LE COLLEZIONI DELLA CITTÀ
No full textL'articolo intende tratteggiare il panorama della Torino postunitaria relativamente al ruolo pedagocico delle collezioni pubbliche che si vanno via via formando. Dai Musei della città, a quelli disciplinari, in particolare focalizzati sull'architettura e le arti applicate. In questo quadro si inserisce il "Gabinetto di Architettura" del Politecnico che riveste un ruolo come strumento per l'insegnamento e per la condivisioni di saperi tecnico, storici e operativ
Colonic stenting as a bridge to surgery versus emergency surgery for malignant colonic obstruction: results of a multicentre randomised controlled trial (ESCO trial)
No full textBACKGROUND: The aim of colonic stenting with self-expandable metallic stents in neoplastic colon obstruction is to avoid emergency surgery and thus potentially reduce morbidity, mortality, and need for a stoma. Concern has been raised, however, about the effect of colonic stenting on short-term complications and long-term survival. We compared morbidity rates after colonic stenting as a bridge to surgery (SBTS) versus emergency surgery (ES) in the management of left-sided malignant large-bowel obstruction. METHODS: This multicentre randomised controlled trial was designed with the endorsement of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery. The study population was consecutive patients with acute, symptomatic malignant left-sided large-bowel obstruction localised between the splenic flexure and 15 cm from the anal margin. The primary outcome was overall morbidity within 60 days after surgery. RESULTS: Between March 2008 and November 2015, 144 patients were randomly assigned to undergo either SBTS or ES; 29/144 (13.9%) were excluded post-randomisation mainly because of wrong diagnosis at computed tomography examination. The remaining 115 patients (SBTS n = 56, ES n = 59) were deemed eligible for analysis. The complications rate within 60 days was 51.8% in the SBTS group and 57.6% in the ES group (p = 0.529). Although long-term follow-up is still ongoing, no statistically significant difference in 3-year overall survival (p = 0.998) and progression-free survival rates between the groups has been observed (p = 0.893). Eleven patients in the SBTS group and 23 in the ES group received a stoma (p = 0.031), with a reversal rate of 30% so far. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the two treatment strategies are equivalent. No difference in oncologic outcome was found at a median follow-up of 36 months. The significantly lower stoma rate noted in the SBTS group argues in favour of the SBTS procedure when performed in expert hands
Nonlinear stability control of autonomous vehicles: a MIMO D2-IBC solution
No full textStability control represents one of the most challenging tasks in autonomous vehicle dynamics. Within this context, model uncertainty may play a crucial role in determining the quality of the overall control system. In this work, we deal with nonlinear vehicle stability control design by using the D2-IBC (Data Driven - Inversion Based Control) method, wherein the dynamics of the system are modeled from data not to optimize the open-loop model matching but to maximize the closed-loop performance. Specically, a multivariable extension of the method is derived and discussed in detail as far as the stability control application is concerned. This method will prove its eectiveness on a multi-body simulator of a 4-wheel steering autonomous vehicle
P.I.G.R.O.: an active exoskeleton for robotic neurorehabilitation training driven by an electropneumatic control
No full textThis paper presents the structure and the main innovations of P.I.G.R.O. (Pneumatic Interactive Gait Rehabilitation Orthosis). It is an active exoskeleton electro-pneumatically controlled with 6 DoF (Degree of Freedom) in the sagittal plane. Robotic neurorehabilitation trainings are its main field of application. Some preliminary tests are carrying on with brain stroke and ictus patients
Design and validation of a flexible software-based generator of realistic GNSS signals
No full textN-FUELS (FUll Educational Library of Signals for Navigation) is a software-based generator of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals [1]. One of the most relevant aspects of N-FUELS can be individuated in its versatility, being a collection of MATLAB® modules. This paper introduces a new module of N-FUELS suitable to simulate realistic GNSS signals from multiple satellites, with plausible code delays and Doppler frequency shifts. With the new module, N-FUELS can reproduce GNSS signals as received by both static and dynamic users. The work done to upgrade the software is described in the paper together with some examples of possible applications of the new version of the tool
An electrolyte study on Na2BDA anode for Na-based organic batteries
No full textEnergy production and storage plays a key role in the development of portable devices, hybrid and electric vehicles and in the energy storage system for renewable energy, such as wind and solar resources. Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) dominate the global market on these, but the geographically constrained resources and the difficult extraction of metallic lithium lead to prices increment, removing the idea of low-cost technologies. An alternative on lithium technology is sodium, very abundant, cheap and with suitable electrochemical properties, close to those of lithium. A lot of work on sodium technology has to be done in order to catch up with lithium. Electrode materials research is the first step which must be done for meet the high energy storage demand. At the moment the most common chemistries used in batteries are based on inorganic compounds (e. g. LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, Li4Ti5O12, etc…), that are expensive and synthesized from high temperature reactions, and also the end-of-life treatment is difficult and energy greedy. One possible approach as alternative is switching to the organic based materials, in which a lot of synthesis routes can be chosen and a lots of compounds can be synthesized. Furthermore, the possibility to prepare materials from recyclable organic materials (e. g. biomass) is really appealing. However, organic compounds are often associated with drawbacks such as poor conductivity, low energy density and high solubility in liquid electrolytes. Especially for the last point an accurate study on the electrolytes involved in the batteries is mandatory, because is well known how the ion-transport media affect the performances of the batteries system. In this work we present an overview on our recent results on using disodium benzenediacrylate (Na2BDA) as electrode material for Na-based organic batteries, in different electrolyte media. In particular, the galvanostatic cycling behaviors in NaǀelectrolyteǀNa2BDA pouch-cell configuration are shown
Topographic Maps of Mount Etna's Summit Craters, updated to December 2015
No full textNew maps of the summit of Mount Etna volcano (1:5000-1:4000), derived from helicopter photogrammetry, thermal images and terrestrial laser scanner survey, are here presented. These maps indicate the main morpho-structural changes occurring during the powerful explosive and effusive eruptions involving the summit craters of Etna over the first two weeks of December 2015. The survey enabled identifying the proximal erupted volume (7.2 ± 0.14 × 106 m3) and the size and location of the vent causing the powerful explosive activity inside the Central Crater. Our survey also outlines the growth of a recent (2011-2015) summit cone on top of a former pit crater, named New SE-Crater. This new cone is by now comparable in size to the former SE-Crater. The shape and size of two small cinder cones that formed on the upper eastern flank of the summit zone in May-July 2014 are also shown. This approach can be used in fast and frequent monitoring of very active volcanoes
A COTS-Based Microwave Imaging System for Breast-Cancer Detection
No full textMicrowave imaging is an emerging breast cancer diagnostic technique, which aims at complementing already established methods like mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound. It offers two striking advantages: no-risk for the patient and potential low-cost for national health systems. So far, however, the prototypes developed for validation in labs and clinics used costly lab instruments such as a vector network analyzer (VNA). Moreover, the CPU time required by complex image reconstruction algorithms may not be compatible with the duration of a medical examination. In this paper, both these issues are tackled. Indeed, we present a prototype system based on low-cost and off-the-shelf microwave components, custom-made antennas, and a small form-factor processing system with an embedded field-programmable gate array for accelerating the execution of the imaging algorithm. We show that our low-cost system can compete with an expensive VNA in terms of accuracy, and it is more than 20x faster than a high-performance server at image reconstruction