La recalificación arquitectónico-ambiental del centro histórico: Recuperación y resignificación de los “Sassi de Matera” The Architectonic-Environmental Requalification of the Historical Centre: Recovery and Resignification of the “Sassi of Matera”

Los Sassi de Matera se encuentran sobre una colina de piedra empinada, donde grupos de casas se asientan paralelamente sobre el terreno, de manera superpuesta, en círculos concéntricos. Conforman un enorme patrimonio arquitectónico que estuvo habitado hasta el año 1952 en condiciones prehistóricas, careciendo de servicios básicos de habitabilidad y urbanismo adaptados a la vida moderna. Durante cuarenta años de abandono, se han estudiado técnicas de restauración y conservación tradicionales para garantizar la adecuada recuperación del lugar. Se presentan dos intervenciones realizadas por los autores, tomadas como casos de estudio, sus problemáticas particulares, y las soluciones concretas dadas a cada uno. Matera ofrece un recorrido por la historia más antigua de la humanidad y sus tradiciones: su adecuada recalificación arquitectónica puede servir de modelo en un futuro para la conservación de los ecosistemas urbanos logrados gracias al correcto uso de los recursos hídricos, del sol y de la piedra disponibles en su momento

A virtual platform for real-time performance analysis of electromagnetic tracking systems for surgical navigation

Electromagnetic Tracking Systems (EMTSs) are widely used in surgical navigation, allowing to improve the outcome of diagnosis and surgical interventions, by providing the surgeon with real-time position of surgical instruments during medical procedures. However, particular effort was dedicated to the development of efficient and robust algorithms, to obtain an accurate estimation of the instrument position for distances from the magnetic field generator beyond 0.5 m. Indeed, the main goal is to improve the limited range of current commercial systems, which strongly affects the freedom of movement of the medical team. Studies are currently being conducted to optimize the magnetic field generator configuration (both geometrical arrangements and electrical properties) since it affects tracking accuracy. In this paper, we propose a virtual platform for assessing the performance of EMTSs for surgical navigation, providing real-time results and statistics, and allowing to track instruments both in real and simulated environments. Simulations and experimental tests are performed to validate the proposed virtual platform, by employing it to assess the performance of a real EMTS. The platform offers a real-time tool to analyze EMTS components and field generator configurations, for a deeper understanding of EMTS technology, thus supporting engineers during system design and characterization.</p

Pioneering strategies in the digital world. Insights from the Axel Springer's case

Digital technologies present some distinctive characteristics: they simultaneously enable pervasive connectivity, immediacy of interactions and wide access to data and computing power. Based on a detailed historical analysis of Axel Springer, we suggest that pioneering strategies in new markets created by the diffusion of digital technologies is negatively moderated by the fit between firms’ legacy core capabilities and those required to enter the new market. We then show that pioneering strategies in non-core legacy markets are instrumental in creating the capabilities necessary for the sustainability of first-mover advantages (FMA) in the legacy core markets. Finally, we show the role of managerial cognition as a key individual-level enabler in achieving pioneering advantages

The Identity Value of Vernacular Productive Architecture Knowledge, Recovery and Enhancement of the Val D’Agri Water Mills

The Industrial Heritage (I.H) is made of rests of the industrial culture with its historical, technological, social, architectural and scientific elements – parts of buildings, machinery, laboratories, firms, mines and locations where pro- cessing and refining procedures took place, warehouses and shops, energy produc- tion and transfer sites. Such electricity is used for transport and all its infrastructure as it occurs for places where social activities take place such as accomodation, training or religion worship facilities. The patrimonialisation process of the I.H. is essential as it recognises a com- munity heritage made of memories and identity. The research is based on the Italian productive and vernacular patrimony, especially in the south of Italy, by taking into consideration the proto-industrial period – from the second half of the17th century to the second half of the 19th century – and analyses the organisa- tion of the industrial system before the real industrialisation Era starting in the19th century. Italy is rich in working places, in fact, in southern Italy agribusiness has a great impact with its range of productive activities connected to agricultural products processing. Indeed, the milling vernacular industry represented an economical development source between the 17th and the first half of 20th century, this is the reason why there are lots of mills and bakeries for bread. The study deeply analyses the economic and social impact of water mills – vernacular and productive architectures of rural areas used to process wheat into flour. The “Val D’Agri” presents a large number of water mills and is located in the south-west part of Basilicata region. Its name comes from the river crossing the area. This analysis considers the functional recovery of watermills with a multidisciplinar criterion

LA RECALIFICACIÓN ARQUITECTÓNICO-AMBIENTAL DEL CENTRO HISTÓRICO: RECUPERACIÓN Y RESIGNIFICACIÓN DE LOS "SASSI DE MATERA"

La antigua y escondida ciudad de Matera ofrece a los visitantes una vista totalmente inesperada. Es una ciudad atemporal ubicada en una colina empinada, donde grupos de casas se ramifican en terreno llano moviéndose hacia abajo en círculos concéntricos formando así los "Sassi". Aquí existe un enorme patrimonio edilicio y arquitectónico, abandonado desde hace más de 40 años, que es hoy escenario de lentas y cuidadosas intervenciones para recuperar este monumento cultural bajo el patrocinio de la UNESCO. La restauración y recuperación que se lleve a cabo deberá aplicar las más estrictas leyes de conservación en cuanto a los materiales utilizados, las técnicas de conservación y los colores tradicionales para evitar un uso inadecuado. Matera nos ofrece un recorrido por la historia más antigua de la humanidad y sus tradiciones y puede servir de modelo para el futuro en la gestión de los ecosistemas urbanos realizada como resultado del correcto uso de los recursos hídricos, del sol y de la piedra. La iniciativa de convertir una zona de los Sassi de Matera en un centro de acogida turística pretende responder a las crecientes demandas sociales de un uso alternativo de la zona, de un nuevo concepto de turismo ecológico y cultural, de ocio y vacaciones

Assessment of Position Repeatability Error in an Electromagnetic Tracking System for Surgical Navigation

In this paper we present a study of the repeatability of an innovative electromagnetic tracking system (EMTS) for surgical navigation, developed to overcome the state of the art of current commercial systems, allowing for the placement of the magnetic field generator far from the operating table. Previous studies led to the development of a preliminary EMTS prototype. Several hardware improvements are described, which result in noise reduction in both signal generation and the measurement process, as shown by experimental tests. The analysis of experimental results has highlighted the presence of drift in voltage components, whose effect has been quantified and related to the variation of the sensor position. Repeatability in the sensor position measurement is evaluated by means of the propagation of the voltage repeatability error, and the results are compared with the performance of the Aurora system (which represents the state of the art for EMTS for surgical navigation), showing a repeatability error about ten times lower. Finally, the proposed improvements aim to overcome the limited operating distance between the field generator and electromagnetic (EM) sensors provided by commercial EM tracking systems for surgical applications and seem to provide a not negligible technological advantage

Additive Manufacturing for Sensors: Piezoresistive Strain Gauge with Temperature Compensation

Additive manufacturing technologies allow the fabrication of smart objects, which are made up of a dielectric part and an embedded sensor able to give real-time feedback to the final user. This research presents the characterization of a low-cost 3D-printed strain sensor, fabricated using material extrusion (MeX) technology by using a conductive material composed of a polylactic acid (PLA)-based matrix doped with carbon black and carbon nanotubes (CNT), thus making the plastic conductive. A suitable measurement set-up was developed to perform automatic characterization tests using a high repeatability industrial robot to define either displacement or force profiles. The correlation between the applied stimulus and the variation of the electrical resistance of the 3D-printed sensor was evaluated, and an approach was developed to compensate for the effect of temperature. Results show that temperature and hysteresis affect repeatability; nevertheless, the sensor accurately detects impulse forces ranging from 10 g to 50 g. The sensor showed high linearity and exhibited a sensitivity of 0.077 Ω g−1 and 12.54 Ω mm−1 in the force and displacement range of 114 g and 0.7 mm, respectively, making them promising due to their low cost, ease of fabrication, and possible integration into more complex devices in a single-step fabrication cycle