Dai da Ganaceto (Modena) ai da Calaone (Padova) fra conti veronesi, Canossa ed Estensi

Adottando un rigoroso metodo prosopografico, l'autore analizza le vicende di una importante casata aristocratica legata ai Canossa, che tra X e XII secolo giuoca un ruolo di rilievo nella competizione tra i poteri dell'area padano-orientale: le città (Verona, Venezia), la grande aristocrazia di "ufficio" (gli Estensi, i conti di Verona), le istituzioni ecclesiastiche assise sul territorio

A novel ball joint wear sensor for low-cost structural health monitoring of off-highway vehicles

Mechatronic agricultural machines and equipment are continuously increasing their complexity and cost. In order to ensure their efficiency and reliability and preserve their value, it is important to actively monitor damaging and wear occurring on critical components. This approach needs the introduction of sensors on the machine, which allow continuous monitoring of the residual life of components. This work presents the development and testing of a wear sensor for a ball joint which can be applied for monitoring and diagnostic in off-highway vehicles, automotive and the industrial fields. Many peculiar features make this sensor innovative and contribute to the advance of the technology in the sector: there are no other active sensors for this specific and safety-critical joint; it has an ultra-low power consumption and can be self-powered through energy harvesting; it implements wireless connectivity; it is simple, small size and low cost. This wear sensor for the ball joint is firstly aimed at monitoring the damage of the ball joint placed between the steering actuator and the wheel spindle, since failure of the joint leads to complete loss of steering action. However, the sensor can be applied to any application involving a safety-critical ball joint (e.g. the front suspension of a vehicle). The present work describes the conceptual design and development of the whole mechatronic sensor, which includes the mechanical joint sensor and the electronic board which manages the system. Validation of the ball joint wear sensor, which was performed on an agricultural tractor through tests on a track, proved the reliability of the proposed solution

Integrated Surveying System for Landslide Monitoring, Valoria Landslide (Appennines of Modena, Italy)

The research object is the study and prevention of landslide risk through the utilization of integrated surveying systems like GPS and Automatic Total Station (Robotic station).The measurements have been applied to Boschi di Valoria landslide, located on Appennines of Modena in the Northern Italy, which relatively large size, about 1.6 square km, required the use of both techniques. The system is made by Automatic Total Station, looking at 45 reflectors and a GPS master station, reference for three rovers on the landslide. In order to monitor "local" disturbing effects, a bi-dimensional clinometer has been applied on the pilaster where the total station is located. In a first periodically measurements were collected, while the system is now performing continuously. The system permitted to evaluate movements from few millimeter till some meters per day in most dangerous areas; the entity of the movements obliged to plan an alert system that was activated after a first phase of phenomenon study. Topographic measurements have been integrated with geotechnical sensors (inclinometers and piezometers) in a GIS for landslide risk management

Towards a software infrastructure for district energy management

Nowadays ICT is becoming a key factor to enhance the energy optimization in our cities. At district level, real-time information can be accessed to monitor and control the energy distribution network. Moreover, the fine grain monitoring and control done at building level can provide additional information to develop more efficient control policies for energy distribution in the district. In this paper we present a distributed software infrastructure for district energy management, which aims to provide a digital archive of the city in which energetic information is available. Such information is considered as the input for a decision system, which aims to increase the energy efficiency by promoting local balancing and shaving peak loads. As case study, we integrated in our proposed cloud the heating distribution network in Turin and we present exploitable options based on real-world environmental data to increase the energy efficiency and minimize the peak reques