The Sign of Consequence

The “sign of consequence” is a notation for propositional logic that Peirce invented in 1886 and used at least until 1894. It substituted the “copula of inclusion” which he had been using since 1870

Rhemata

The article offers an analysis of Peirce's notion of “rhema.” It examines and explains Peirce's definition of the rhema; it identifies and solves two problems that are direct consequences of the definition. The first problem is that proper names, while classified as rhemata, do not satisfy Peirce's definition of the rhema. The second problem is that Peirce also calls “rhemata” the results of propositional analysis that however do not satisfy his own definition of the rhema. Peirce himself solves the first problem by generalizing the notion of rhema into that of “seme.” I argue that we can solve the second problem if, following M. Dummett, we distinguish propositional analysis from propositional decomposition

Eco and Peirce on Abduction

This paper argues that Umberto Eco had a sophisticated theory of abductive reasoning and that this theory is fundamentally akin to Peirce’s both in the analysis and in the justification of this kind of reasoning. The first section expounds the essentials of Peirce’s theory of abduction, and explains how Peirce moved from seeing abduction as a kind of reasoning to seeing it as a stage of the larger process of inquiry. The second section deals with one of Eco’s paradigmatic examples of abduction, i.e., William of Baskerville’s abduction concerning the horse Brunellus in the overture of The Name of the Rose, and shows that, just like in Peirce’s three-stages model of inquiry, William’s abductions are verified by means of deduction and induction. The third section examines the problem of the justification of abductive reasoning, and argues that both Peirce and Eco solved this problem through the idea that the justification of abduction is itself abductive (meta-abduction in Eco, ur-abduction in Peirce)

Sviluppo di un modello Simulink per la gestione termica di un veicolo elettrico a batteria

Obiettivo di questo progetto di tesi è la realizzazione di un modello per la gestione termica di un veicolo elettrico a batteria: l’elettrificazione in ambito automotive richiede un approfondito studio delle problematiche termiche allo scopo di incrementare l’efficienza del veicolo, le performance e la vita della batteria. In particolare, l’oggetto di ricerca consiste nella modellazione di una pompa di calore. Partendo dalla definizione dei requisiti e degli obiettivi del sistema di gestione termica, ogni componente della pompa di calore viene analizzato modellato e connesso all’intero sistema. La modellazione è stata affrontata mediante l’utilizzo dell’ambiente MATLAB/Simulink. Il primo passo è stato avanzato nell’analisi del ciclo termodinamico ideale, analizzando il comportamento di vari fluidi frigorigeni, la funzionalità dei singoli componenti e l’interazione di quest’ultimi al variare delle condizioni di funzionamento, principalmente potenze scambiate, pressioni, temperature e portata massica di refrigerante. Il principale lavoro di simulazione è legato alla realizzazione di un modello configurabile dell’intero apparato di gestione termica della batteria per un veicolo elettrico. Per mezzo dello studio delle relazioni termodinamiche dei componenti principali del ciclo frigorifero sono state valutate tutte le grandezze che variano durante le trasformazioni che compie il fluido refrigerante all’interno del ciclo frigorifero. L’attività di validazione del modello implementato è stata svolta mediante il confronto tra le condizioni del fluido refrigerante determinate mediante le relazioni termodinamiche e quelle ottenute valutando le trasformazioni sui diagrammi di stato dei fluidi frigorigeni trattati. Il modello implementato è da ritenersi primordiale nel contesto legato alla modellazione e controllo dei sistemi di gestione termica per i sistemi propulsivi dei veicoli elettrici a batteria

Materiale didattico Modulo 2

Nota: il saggio di Fisch è diviso in due parti (il file era troppo grande) Nota 2: la copia di "On A New List of Categories" è tratta dalla versione originale, quella pubblicata nei Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. La versione ri-pubblicata alle pp. 49-59 del vol. 2 dei Writings è praticamente identica all'originale Nota 3: tutti i testi in programma, tranne le Lectures on British Logicians, sono ora dispoinibil

Pragmatism and Logic

The paper seeks to explain in what sense pragmatism was for Peirce a doctrine of logic. It is argued that pragmatism is a doctrine of logic for Peirce because its maxim, the pragmatic maxim, is a maxim of the methodeutic of abduction, i.e., concerns the method of selecting hypotheses for experimental testing. The paper also connects this idea to Peirce’s 1913 thesis according to which pragmatism contributes to the security but not to the uberty of reasoning. The connection consists in that by excluding hypotheses that cannot be tested, the maxim renders the whole process of reasoning more secure, while any explanatory hypotheses is “uberous” in Peirce’s sense as any other

Correlation between electrochemical impedance measurements and corrosion rate of magnesium investigated by real-time hydrogen measurement and optical imaging

The corrosion behaviour of magnesium in chloride-containing aqueous environment was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) performed simultaneously with real-time hydrogen evolution measurements and optical imaging of the corroding surface. The potentiodynamic investigation revealed substantial deviations from linearity in close proximity of the corrosion potential. In particular, differences in the slope of the current/potential curves were observed for small polarizations above or below the corrosion potential. These observations, suggest that the usual method based on the use of the Stern–Geary equation to convert a value of resistance into a value of corrosion current is inadequate. Nonetheless, a very good correlation between values of resistances estimated by EIS and corrosion currents obtained from real-time hydrogen measurement was found. Real-time hydrogen measurement also enabled, for the first time, direct measurement of an ‘apparent’ Stern–Geary coefficient for magnesium. In order to rationalize the complex behaviours experimentally observed, an electrical model for the corroding magnesium surface is presented

The Effect of Graphene on the Protective Properties of Water-Based Epoxy Coatings on Al2024-T3

0.5 and 1% wt. of graphene nanoflakes were added to an anticorrosive additives-free water-based epoxy resin applied to Al2024-T3 samples. Calorimetric (DSC) and adhesion (cross-cut test) tests indicated that the presence of graphene did not affect the polymerization process of the resin or its adhesion to the substrate while it had some effect on its wettability. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) results obtained suggested that the addition of a small amount of graphene greatly enhanced the protective properties of the epoxy coating, retarding electrolytes absorption and reducing the total amount of adsorbed water. The latter occurrence suggests that the graphene effect on coating performances is related to both extended diffusion pathway length and graphene/matrix interaction due to the unique properties of graphene

TiO2 Nanotubes on Ti Dental Implant. Part 2: EIS Characterization in Hank’s Solution

Titania nanotubes are widely studied for their potential applications in several fields. In this paper, the electrochemical characterization of a dental implant, made of commercially pure titanium grade 2, covered by titania nanotubes, when immersed in Hank’s solution, is proposed. Few papers were found in the scientific literature regarding this topic, so a brief review is reported, concerning the use of some equivalent circuits to model experimental data. The analysis of results, obtained by using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, showed that: (i) a good correlation exists between the variation of Ecorr and the estimated values of the charge transfer resistance for both the bare- and the nanotube-covered samples, (ii) the nanostructured surface seems to possess a more active behaviour, while the effect could be over-estimated due to the real extent of the surface covered by nanotubes, (iii) the analysis of the “n” parameter, used to fit the experimental data, confirms the complex nature of nanostructured layer as well as that the nanotubes are partially filled by compounds containing Ca, P and Mg, when immersed in Hank’s solution. The results obtained in this work give a better understanding of the electrochemical behaviour of the nanotubes layer when immersed in Hank’s solution and could help to design a surface able to improve the implant osseointegration