1,721,069 research outputs found
Virtual Prototyping: un approccio innovativo per la gestione del processo di sviluppo prodotto
Full text linkL’attività di ricerca si basa sull’analisi delle componenti del Product Life cycle Management. Per l’elaborazione di una definizione di PLM comprensiva dei diversi significati attribuiti nel mercato a tale acronimo sono state condotte diverse attività di ricerca, affrontate con metodologie diverse, che hanno interessato
(i) lo studio dello stato dell’arte sotto l’acronimo commerciale di PLM
(ii) Lo studio di casi aziendali di rilievo. Da questa attività, si è quindi potuto formulare una
definizione generale che considera il fenomeno un nuovo modello di business, che attraverso l’ausilio di tecnologie informatiche, permette una gestione collaborativa in tutte le fasi. In tale definizione sono pertanto presenti i diversi elementi costitutivi del PLM.
(iii) Definizione delle aree ove la ricerca è chiamata a contribuire in ambito PLM. Dalla prima attività di definizione, si sono individuate diverse aree di ricerca, di natura diversa, definendo una serie di research questions di varia natura, dal carattere strategico, tattico ed operativo, ma anche tecnologico, informativo ed infrastrutturale. Le diverse questioni di ricerca sono state quindi condivise, individuando così una area di indagine ove far confluire le intuizioni e le competenze di ricerca di entrambi, Università e azienda. Per i motivi che sono meglio chiariti nella tesi, si è provveduto ad individuare come area di approfondimento la tematica sinteticamente individuata con “studio di sistemi adattivi”, attinente alla gestione di prodotto dalla fase di progettazione alla fase di realizzazione.
(iv) Definizione del contributo innovativo. All’interno sotto-contesto, si è provveduto ad uno studio dello stato dell’arte, mantenendo la visione più ampia proveniente dalla definizione PLM elaborata. In effetti, proprio la provenienza da una visione “generale”, ha permesso l’individuazione e la definizione di uno spazio di ricerca ove apportare un forte contributo innovativo, consistente nello sviluppo di sistemi che si interfaccino nell’intero ciclo vita del prodotto. Il modello proposto corrisponde ad un salto innovativo fondamentale nella gestione integrata dei dati di prodotto, che vede nell’applicazione di metodologie/tecnologie quali Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, una soluzione ad alcuni dei problemi maggiormente presenti nel contesto produttivo. Il modello così realizzato, nei limiti dei suoi contenuti, è stato validato attraverso alcuni casi aziendali.The research activity is based on the analysis of the components of the Product Life cycle Management. The elaboration of definition of PLM including the different meanings attributed in the market to this acronym, various research activities were carried out, addressed with different methodologies, which involved
(i) the study of the state of the art under the commercial acronym of PLM
(ii) The study of relevant business cases. From this activity, it was therefore possible to formulate a general definition that considers the phenomenon a new business model, which through the help of information technology, allows collaborative management in all phases. In this definition the various constituent elements of the PLM are therefore present.
(iii) Definition of the areas where the research is called to contribute in PLM. From the first definition activity, different research areas have been identified, of a different nature, defining a series of research questions of various kinds, with a strategic, tactical and operational character, but also technological, informative and infrastructural. The different research questions were then shared, thus identifying an area of investigation in which the intuitions and research skills of both the University and the company were merged. For the reasons that are better clarified in the thesis, we have identified as a deepening area the theme synthetically identified with "study of adaptive systems", related to the management of the product from the design phase to the construction phase.
(iv) Definition of the innovative contribution. Within the sub-context, a state-of-the-art study was carried out, maintaining the widest view coming from the elaborated PLM definition. In fact, it is precisely the origin of a "general" vision that has allowed the identification and definition of a research space in which to make a strong innovative contribution, consisting in the development of systems that interlink in the entire product life cycle. The proposed model corresponds to a fundamental innovative leap in the integrated management of product data, which sees in the application of methodologies / technologies such as Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, a solution to some of the problems most present in the production context. The model thus created, within the limits of its contents, has been validated through some business cases
A Multipath Methodology to Link Ergonomics, Safety and Efficiency in Factories
No full textRisk Management has become a taken-for-granted form of practice for manufacturing companies and in most cases a strategic for their success. The research goal is to define a multipath methodology that drives the analysts to find the proper ergonomics factors impacting on specific safety elements, how they relate to the workspace, the adopted tools, the overall production environment and to the workers’ job, how to quantitatively and qualitatively measure these factors and which VP tools and experimental set-ups could be used to conduct simulations. A case study is used to illustrate the methodology
A Scalable “Design for Costing” Platform: A Practical Case in Ball Valves Industry
No full textAbstractMarket competitiveness forces companies to explore novel methods and tools to make the overall product development (PD) agile and flexible and to reduce time to market. Accurate and fast cost estimation during design represents one of the most promising strategic actions to achieve these goals.In this context, a knowledge-based system that analyses the 3D CAD model of the product and automatically determines the manufacturing operations is developed. It consists of a scalable platform implementing “Design for Costing” paradigm. It is actually able to recognize geometric and non-geometric features from the 3D model and its attributes and calculate the final cost as the sum of raw materials, production cycles and setting operations thanks to the application of a set of knowledge-based rules mapping manufacturing processes and modeling features. While previous research works deepened the main technological issues of system development, this paper presents a practical case in ball valves industry to illustrate a structured methodology based on systematic engineering approach to apply the platform at the different stages of the product lifecycle and to verify the reliability of the implemented rules and the efficiency of the achieved process. The obtained results are compared to the traditional PD process to calculate product costs in order to highlight the main benefits
Epigenetic regulation of myocardial homeostasis, self-regeneration and senescence
No full textThe adult myocardium has limited capacity to preserve, renew or rejuvenate itself. The local microenvironment may induce epigenetic changes affecting the survival, proliferation, function and senescence of cardiac cells at rest and following the exposure to different stressors. The cellular response to microenvironment is characterized by the release of ions, oxygen free radicals, auto/paracrine factors and RNAs that drive the magnitude of gene reprogramming through the interaction with specific promoters. The epigenetic alterations may act at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level and change cardiac physiological traits. The abnormal DNA methylation underlies the progressive decay of contractile function and the angiogenic ability; while, the histone acetylation promotes the survival, function and proliferation of cardiac cells in the presence of ischemic microenvironment. At least, the expression and secretion of microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs may regulate the threshold to stress tolerance of adult cardiac cells and induce the matrix turnover as well. Natural or synthetic active compounds effectively modulate the epigenetic state of cardiac cells. Plant foods contain many active compounds with epigenetic properties and might assume a clinical significance as natural cardiac regenerators or rejuvenators. Our review describes novel epigenetic mechanisms that underpin myocardial remodeling, repair/ regeneration or senescence in order to support the development of most effective and reproducible rescue therapy of adult heart
Exosomes released from sulforaphane-treated fibroblasts protect the cardiomyocytes from angiotensin II-induced hypertrophy
No full textIntroduction: The communication between fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes underlies the pathological cardiac hypertrophy induced by angiotensin-II (AngII), which contributes to heart failure. Fibroblast-derived exosomes (F-Exo) have been implicated in mediating AngII-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. However, how release of anti-hypertrophic F-Exo is induced, remains an unanswered issue. Sulforaphane (SFN), a naturally occurring isothiocyanate extracted from cruciferous vegetables, attenuates AngII-induced cardiomyocytes hypertrophy. We tested the effects of SFN on the release of anti-hypertrophic F-Exo in vitro. Methods: Murine embryo fibroblasts were treated with non-toxic dose of SFN (3 μM/7 days). Intact F-Exo were isolated from cell culture media by differential centrifugation. F-Exo were quantified by Western blot using CD63. Hypertrophy of HL-1 cardiomyocytes was induced by AngII (100 nM/12 h). Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. Cell surface area, an indicator of cell hypertrophy, was measured after 3 or 24 h incubation with 30 μg exosomes isolated from SFN-treated (SFN-F-Exo) or untreated (F-Exo, control) fibroblasts. Uptake by HL-1 of DiA-labeled exosomes was measured under rest or AngII. Exosomal content of Maspin, a protease inhibitor with function of inhibitor of histone deacetylase 1, was assessed by Western blot. Results: Treatment with F-Exo significantly increased HL-1 viability by 53% under stress compared to control. Stressed HL-1 treated for 24 h with SFN-F-Exo displayed cell surface area similar to resting cells, but not those treated with F-Exo. Stressed HL-1 exhibited a ~3-fold increase in SFN-F-Exo uptake rather than F-Exo. SFN-F-Exo are enriched in Maspin. Summary/conclusion: SFN increases the uptake of F-Exo which display the ability to prevent AngII-induced cardiomyocytes hypertrophy. Higher content of Maspin in SFN-F-Exo suggests that modulation of exosomal uptake and hypertrophy in stressed cardiomyocytes may be epigenetically driven
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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