Reliability Assessment of a Packaging Automatic Machine by Accelerated Life Testing Approach

Industrial competitiveness in innovation, the time of the market introduction of new machines and the level of reliability requested implies that the strategies for the development of products must be more and more efficient. In particular, researchers and practitioners are looking for methods to evaluate the reliability, as cheap as possible, knowing that systems are more and more reliable. This paper presents a reliability assessment procedure applied to a mechanical component of an automatic machine for packaging using the accelerated test approach. The general log-linear (GLL) model is combined based on a relationship between a number strains, in particular mechanical and time based. The complete Accelerated Life Testing - ALT approach is presented by using Weibull distribution and Maximum Likelihood verifying method. A test plan is proposed to estimate the unknown parameters of accelerated life models. Using the proposed ALT model, the reliability function of the component is evaluated and then compared with data from the field collected by customers referring to 8 years of real work on a fleet of automatic packaging machines. The results confirm that the assessment method through ALT is effective for lifetime prediction with shorter test times, and for the same reason it can improve the design process of automatic packaging machines

The ‘Deluge’ of 25 October 1822 in Genoa, Italy

Due to meteorological, geomorphological, and urban landscape features, the city of Genoa is frequently exposed to hydrological instability. Historical sources refer to floods since the early Middle Ages, while in the last few years the most impactful events with human losses took place in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Two centuries since its occurrence, using written reports, iconographical material and scientific reconstructions, the paper examines the flood of Genoa of 25 October 1822. In terms of rainfall data, surface effects and dynamics, this flood was one of the most destructive events of the city’s history

La liberta' di portare armi come diritto costituzionalmente protetto. Il Secondo Emendamento della Costituzione degli Stati uniti d'America

L'argomento trattato dalla tesi riguarda il Secondo Emendamento della Costituzione degli Stati Uniti d'America; la parte iniziale tratta l'evoluzione storica del secondo emendamento fino ad arrivare ai pareri dei giuristi del XIX secolo. Nella seconda parte, gli argomenti trattati sono la giurisprudenza federale, la giurisprudenza statale, la legislazione federale e quella statale. Nella parte finale viene affrontata ed analizzata la questione del secondo emendamento durante l'amministrazione Obama

Development of innovative plant design solutions, sustainable and efficient for humanitarian organizations

In the last decades, the problem of refugees and the humanitarian organizations took a great significance because of the continuous increasing number of humanitarian crises. To this day, this problem is still more current than ever, due to the last crises in Syria and in the middle eastern, with the consequently movement of thousand people, call refugees, escaping wars and battle fields and looking for somewhere better. Crises born or by natural catastrophes, also call disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, blazes, tornado, blizzard, and other geologic processes, or are caused by man such as wars, economic crises, and social disparities. After these events are arrange by the humanitarian agencies camps to gather and give relief to refugees, where people can find shelters, food and a safe place to live temporarily. The humanitarian logistics becomes more and more important, not only as worldwide relief organizations, but also for the scientific community, takes suddenly interest, on this new research field. The humanitarian camps and the whole relief supply chains in fact suffered from inefficiency and other operational and management problems. Thanks to researchers works, humanitarian agencies start a gradual improving using methods, knowledge and equipment proper of industrial context and other innovative sectors never used before. The introduction of these improvements achieves the desire goals, makes the humanitarian supply chain more efficient and then more incisive during humanitarian missions. This triennial research thesis is focus on the improvements and innovations of mechanical plants usually use, or to be introduce in humanitarian camps. The projects present are real solutions for daily issues presents both in humanitarian logistics and developing regions in general. In this thesis will present three macro themes of research: the waste management, the lack of drinkable water and the production of energy (electricity) by renewable resources

Heatwaves and physiological discomfort: the strange case of the year 2022 on the ‘Kiss Pass’ of Portofino Natural Park, Italy

Due to its cultural and landscape attractions, Portofino Natural Park is walked by thousands of hikers per year. In the Park's trail network, the path between Batterie and San Fruttuoso (known as “Passo del Bacio” translated to “Kiss Pass”) is one of the most popular because it is located on the edge of high rocky cliffs. Due to slope exposure and meteorological features, interventions by National Corp of Alpine and Speleological Rescue occur annually. The year 2022 was a record year, either for the particularly warm meteorological profile and the exceptional number of accidents recorde

PEO/LAGP hybrid solid polymer electrolytes for ambient temperature lithium batteries by solvent-free, “one pot” preparation

Here, we report hybrid solid polymer electrolytes (HSPE) obtained by rapid, truly solvent-free, thus scalable preparation process. HSPE composition is very simple: a LiTFSI added poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) polymer matrix encompassing NASICON-type Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 (LAGP) super Li+ ion conducting ceramic. Homogeneous, self-standing, mechanically robust solid electrolyte films are obtained by simply mixing in “one pot” and hot pressing the solid mixture of dry powders at moderate temperature. Noteworthy, unlike several other super ionic conductors used for composite electrolytes, LAGP is relatively stable in air atmosphere and can be processed in a dry-room, which is more favorable, cheap and scalable than Ar-filled dry glove box for industrial fabrication of safe lithium batteries. The proper, homogeneous mixing of LAGP powder, PEO and LiTFSI leads to HSPE with interesting electrochemical behavior in lab-scale lithium cells, especially under high current regimes, and even at ambient temperature. HSPE-based cells outperform the PEO-LiTFSI-based counterpart, in terms of specific capacity output (about 70% of the theoretical value retained at very high 2C rate), limited fading and excellent Coulombic efficiency (>99.5%) even at low rate. Interfacial stability issues remain to be solved, chiefly linked to the reactivity of LAGP in contact with lithium metal, but results here proposed represent a step further toward truly all-solid-state batteries conceived for high energy/power technologies, assuring safety and performance in a wide range of operating conditions

A comprehensive theoretical framework for the optimization of neural networks classification performance with respect to weighted metrics

In many contexts, customized and weighted classification scores are designed in order to evaluate the goodness of the predictions carried out by neural networks. However, there exists a discrepancy between the maximization of such scores and the minimization of the loss function in the training phase. In this paper, we provide a complete theoretical setting that formalizes weighted classification metrics and then allows the construction of losses that drive the model to optimize these metrics of interest. After a detailed theoretical analysis, we show that our framework includes as particular instances well-established approaches such as classical cost-sensitive learning, weighted cross entropy loss functions and value-weighted skill scores

Geoheritage map of the Portofino Natural Park (Italy)

This paper introduces a novel geoheritage map of the Portofino Natural Park. The park is an internationally well-known area, protected since 1935, located in the Ligurian Apennines, 25 km E of Genoa. It has 80 km of hiking trails which are used by visitors all year around. The map was produced by combining geological and geomorphological data, geoheritage elements and data from hiking and tourist maps. It is intended to be a base map from which can be derived applied maps. With appropriate integrations and simplifications, these can be useful tools for the management of highly frequented protected areas. The methodological approach involved aerial photo interpretation, bibliographical research, field work and the use of data from the Park archives. The original base map was produced by using a Digital Terrain Model raster (5 m) and vector layers for the different cartographical elements

Historical Geomorphological Research of a Ligurian Coastal Floodplain (Italy) and Its Value for Management of Flood Risk and Environmental Sustainability

The alluvial plain of the Entella River (Eastern Liguria), historically affected by damaging flood events, has been heavily modified over the past 250 years by human activity and natural processes. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the morphological and land use evolution of the Entella floodplain since the 18th century was carried out using base maps and aerial photos ranging from 1758 to 2016. These diverse sources were Geographical Information System (GIS) georeferenced. Additional information on land-use change was gathered from historical documents and recent research reports. The main transformations to the floodplain include morphological changes, e.g., narrowing, channelization, displacement of the river channel and the advance of the coastal line due to fills and embankments. In addition, there has been very significant urbanization with loss of vegetated and agricultural areas. Our results indicate the primary role of human disturbance on morphological changes and landscape modifications of the coastal floodplain, particularly over the last 200 years. Furthermore, the historical geomorphological and cartographical analysis we adopted to reconstruct the floodplain transformation represents an essential tool in flood risk mitigation and environmental sustainability management, particularly in an urbanized coastal plain historically affected by floods

Geological landscape and stone heritage of the genoa walls Urban park and surrounding area (Italy)

In the last 20 years the conservation and enhancement of cultural and landscape heritage sites have been increasingly promoted by specific national and international laws. Thematic maps from scientific studies facilitate the public promotion and understanding of landscape and cultural heritage. This work introduces a novel geological landscape and stone heritage map of the Genoa Walls Urban Park (1:10.000 scale). The park is located in the immediate surroundings of Genoa city centre and it includes a complex system of historical fortifications. Today the park is frequented by hikers, mountain bikers and tourists. The map shows three different elements of the park: lithological and geomorphological elements, cultural and landscape heritage sites and the trail network. This map offers new insights into the way in which the park authority can promote the sustainable fruition of a highly valuable area, characterised by landscape and historical interest next to one of the largest historical centres of Europe, part of which is inscribed in the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites