Publication and patent analysis of European researchers in the field of production technology and manufacturing systems

This paper develops a structured comparison among a sample of European researchers in the field of Production Technology and Manufacturing Systems, on the basis of scientific publications and patents. Researchers are evaluated and compared by a variegated set of indicators concerning (1) the output of individual researchers and (2) that of groups of researchers from the same country. While not claiming to be exhaustive, the results of this preliminary study provide a rough indication of the publishing and patenting activity of researchers in the field of interest, identifying (dis)similarities between different countries. Of particular interest is a proposal for aggregating analysis results by means of maps based on publication and patent indicators. A large amount of empirical data are presented and discusse

1.25 mm Observations of a Complete Sample of IRAS Galaxies: (II) Dust Properties

We present 1.25 mm continuum data for a southern galaxy sample selected from the IRAS PSC and complete to S_60=2 Jy. Two thirds of the galaxies have been detected and significant limits on the remaining objects have been set. We find, on a statistical basis, indications that the dust emission in these galaxies is somewhat more centrally concentrated than that of the optical light, possibly tracing a higher metal content in the inner galactic regions. This result also allows to estimate the aperture corrections to the millimetric data. The latter, together with IRAS photometric data, have been used to compare the broad-band FIR/mm spectra with a simple dust model. According to their far-IR/mm spectrum, the sample galaxies show a dichothomy: almost half of the objects, those displaying bright 25-60um fluxes ascribed to warm dust residing in 'starburst' regions, are characterized by higher values of the bolometric (optical + FIR) luminosity, of the dust-to-gas mass ratio, of the dust optical depths and of the overall extinction. A complementary class of objects dominated by cold dust ('cirrus') shows opposite trends. Because of the favourable observational setup, selection wavelength and completeness, we believe these data provide an exhaustive and unbiased view of dust properties in spiral galaxies.Comment: 9 pg Latex file (using mn.sty) gzip'd tar'd file including 7 ps figures and 3 tables. to appear in MNRA

The Compact Linear e+^+e−^- Collider (CLIC): Physics Potential

The Compact Linear Collider, CLIC, is a proposed e$^+$e$^-$ collider at the TeV scale whose physics potential ranges from high-precision measurements to extensive direct sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model. This document summarises the physics potential of CLIC, obtained in detailed studies, many based on full simulation of the CLIC detector. CLIC covers one order of magnitude of centre-of-mass energies from 350 GeV to 3 TeV, giving access to large event samples for a variety of SM processes, many of them for the first time in e$^+$e$^-$ collisions or for the first time at all. The high collision energy combined with the large luminosity and clean environment of the e$^+$e$^-$ collisions enables the measurement of the properties of Standard Model particles, such as the Higgs boson and the top quark, with unparalleled precision. CLIC might also discover indirect effects of very heavy new physics by probing the parameters of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory with an unprecedented level of precision. The direct and indirect reach of CLIC to physics beyond the Standard Model significantly exceeds that of the HL-LHC. This includes new particles detected in challenging non-standard signatures. With this physics programme, CLIC will decisively advance our knowledge relating to the open questions of particle physics.Comment: Input to the European Particle Physics Strategy Update on behalf of the CLIC and CLICdp Collaboration

Battery choice and management for New Generation Electric Vehicles

Different types of electric vehicles (EVs) have been recently designed with the aim of solving pollution problems caused by the emission of gasoline-powered engines. Environmental problems promote the adoption of new-generation electric vehicles for urban transportation. As it is well known, one of the weakest points of electric vehicles is the battery system. Vehicle autonomy and, therefore, accurate detection of battery state of charge (SoC) together with battery expected life, i.e., battery state of health, are among the major drawbacks that prevent the introduction of electric vehicles in the consumer market. The electric scooter may provide the most feasible opportunity among EVs. They may be a replacement product for the primary-use vehicle, especially in Europe and Asia, provided that drive performance, safety, and cost issues are similar to actual engine scooters. The battery system choice is a crucial item, and thanks to an increasing emphasis on vehicle range and performance, the Li-ion battery could become a viable candidate. This paper deals with the design of a battery pack based on Li-ion technology for a prototype electric scooter with high performance and autonomy. The adopted battery system is composed of a suitable number of cells series connected, featuring a high voltage level. Therefore, cell equalization and monitoring need to be provided. Due to manufacturing asymmetries, charge and discharge cycles lead to cell unbalancing, reducing battery capacity and, depending on cell type, causing safety troubles or strongly limiting the storage capacity of the full pack. No solution is available on the market at a cheap price, because of the required voltage level and performance, therefore, a dedicated battery management system was designed, that also includes a battery SoC monitoring. The proposed solution features a high capability of energy storing in braking conditions, charge equalization, overvoltage and undervoltage protection and, obviously, SoC information in order to optimize autonomy instead of performance or vice-versa

MM Observations of IRAS Galaxies: Dust Properties, Luminosity Functions and Contributions to the Sub-MM Background

We have studied the FIR/{\it mm} spectrum of IR galaxies by combining IRAS photometry with new {\it mm} data on a complete southern IRAS galaxy sample. The observed spectra and a dust model emphasize a dicothomy in the galaxy population: half of the objects with a lot of warm dust are characterized by higher values of the bolometric (UV-FIR) luminosity, of the dust-to-gas mass ratio, of the dust optical depths and extinction, while those dominated by cold ({\it cirrus}) dust show opposite trends. From these data we derive the {\it mm} luminosity function of galaxies and estimate their contribution to the sub-{\it mm} background (BKG).Comment: 4 pg Latex file (using included crckapb.sty) gzip'd tar'd file including 3 ps figures. Proceedings of 'Cold dust Morphology Conference', Johannesburg, South Africa, January 21-26 1996 A wrong figure is replace

Combining Physical galaxy models with radio observations to constrain the SFRs of high-z dusty star forming galaxies

We complement our previous analysis of a sample of z~1-2 luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs), by adding deep VLA radio observations at 1.4 GHz to a large data-set from the far-UV to the sub-mm, including Spitzer and Herschel data. Given the relatively small number of (U)LIRGs in our sample with high S/N radio data, and to extend our study to a different family of galaxies, we also include 6 well sampled near IR-selected BzK galaxies at z~1.5. From our analysis based on the radiative transfer spectral synthesis code GRASIL, we find that, while the IR luminosity may be a biased tracer of the star formation rate (SFR) depending on the age of stars dominating the dust heating, the inclusion of the radio flux offers significantly tighter constraints on SFR. Our predicted SFRs are in good agreement with the estimates based on rest-frame radio luminosity and the Bell (2003) calibration. The extensive spectro-photometric coverage of our sample allows us to set important constraints on the SF history of individual objects. For essentially all galaxies we find evidence for a rather continuous SFR and a peak epoch of SF preceding that of the observation by a few Gyrs. This seems to correspond to a formation redshift of z~5-6. We finally show that our physical analysis may affect the interpretation of the SFR-M* diagram, by possibly shifting, with respect to previous works, the position of the most dust obscured objects to higher M* and lower SFRs.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS on Dec. 4th, 201

Analysis of the Hirsch index's operational properties

The h-index is a relatively recent bibliometric indicator for assessing the research output of scientists, based on the publications and the corresponding citations. Due to the original characteristics of easy calculation and immediate intuitive meaning, this indicator has become very popular in the scientific community. Also, it received some criticism essentially because of its ‘‘low" accuracy. The contribution of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of the h-index, from the point of view of the indicator operational properties. This work can be helpful to better understand the peculiarities and limits of h and avoid its misuse. Finally, we suggest an additional indicator ðf Þ that complements h with the information related to the publication age, not compromising the original simplicity and immediacy of understandin