Efficient management of industrial electric vehicles by means of static and dynamic wireless power transfer systems

Industrial companies are moving toward the electrification of equipment and processes, in line with the broader energy transition taking place across the economy. Particularly, the energy efficiency and, consequently, the reduction of environmental pollution of intralogistics activities have become a competitive element and are now an actual research and development objective. A wireless power transfer is a contactless electrical energy transmission technology based on the magnetic coupling between coils installable under the ground level and a coil mounted under the vehicle floor, and it represents an excellent solution to decrease the demand for batteries by reducing vehicle downtimes during the recharge. This work aims to define a methodology to determine the optimal positioning of wireless charging units across the warehouse, both for static and dynamic recharging. To this aim, firstly, a mathematical model of the warehouse is proposed to describe transfers and storage/retrieval operations executed by the forklifts. Then, an integer linear programming problem is applied to find the best possible layout of the charging infrastructures. The optimal solution respects the energetic requirements given by the customer and minimizes the overall system cost. The proposed approach was applied to optimize the installation in a real-size warehouse of a tire manufacturing company. Several scenarios were computer generated through discrete event simulation in order to test the optimizer in different warehouse conditions. The obtained results show that integrated dynamic and static WPT systems ensure a constant state of charge of the electric vehicles during their operations

Conway games, algebraically and coalgebraically

Using coalgebraic methods, we extend Conway's theory of games to possibly non-terminating, i.e. non-wellfounded games (hypergames). We take the view that a play which goes on forever is a draw, and hence rather than focussing on winning strategies, we focus on non-losing strategies. Hypergames are a fruitful metaphor for non-terminating processes, Conway's sum being similar to shuffling. We develop a theory of hypergames, which extends in a non-trivial way Conway's theory; in particular, we generalize Conway's results on game determinacy and characterization of strategies. Hypergames have a rather interesting theory, already in the case of impartial hypergames, for which we give a compositional semantics, in terms of a generalized Grundy-Sprague function and a system of generalized Nim games. Equivalences and congruences on games and hypergames are discussed. We indicate a number of intriguing directions for future work. We briefly compare hypergames with other notions of games used in computer science.Comment: 30 page

The Category of Node-and-Choice Forms, with Subcategories for Choice-Sequence Forms and Choice-Set Forms

The literature specifies extensive-form games in many styles, and eventually I hope to formally translate games across those styles. Toward that end, this paper defines $\mathbf{NCF}$, the category of node-and-choice forms. The category's objects are extensive forms in essentially any style, and the category's isomorphisms are made to accord with the literature's small handful of ad hoc style equivalences. Further, this paper develops two full subcategories: $\mathbf{CsqF}$ for forms whose nodes are choice-sequences, and $\mathbf{CsetF}$ for forms whose nodes are choice-sets. I show that $\mathbf{NCF}$ is "isomorphically enclosed" in $\mathbf{CsqF}$ in the sense that each $\mathbf{NCF}$ form is isomorphic to a $\mathbf{CsqF}$ form. Similarly, I show that $\mathbf{CsqF_{\tilde a}}$ is isomorphically enclosed in $\mathbf{CsetF}$ in the sense that each $\mathbf{CsqF}$ form with no-absentmindedness is isomorphic to a $\mathbf{CsetF}$ form. The converses are found to be almost immediate, and the resulting equivalences unify and simplify two ad hoc style equivalences in Kline and Luckraz 2016 and Streufert 2019. Aside from the larger agenda, this paper already makes three practical contributions. Style equivalences are made easier to derive by [1] a natural concept of isomorphic invariance and [2] the composability of isomorphic enclosures. In addition, [3] some new consequences of equivalence are systematically deduced.Comment: 43 pages, 9 figure

Dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, and cancer risk: Results from the EPIC-Italy study

Abstract Factors linked to glucose metabolism are involved in the etiology of several cancers. High glycemic index (GI) or high glycemic load (GL) diets, which chronically raise postprandial blood glucose, may increase cancer risk by affecting insulin-like growth factor. We prospectively investigated cancer risk and dietary GI/GL in the EPIC-Italy cohort. After a median 14.9 years, 5112 incident cancers and 2460 deaths were identified among 45,148 recruited adults. High GI was associated with increased risk of colon and bladder cancer. High GL was associated with: increased risk of colon cancer; increased risk of diabetes-related cancers; and decreased risk of rectal cancer. High intake of carbohydrate from high GI foods was significantly associated with increased risk of colon and diabetes-related cancers, but decreased risk of stomach cancer; whereas high intake of carbohydrates from low GI foods was associated with reduced colon cancer risk. In a Mediterranean population with high and varied carbohydrate intake, carbohydrates that strongly raise postprandial blood glucose may increase colon and bladder cancer risk, while the quantity of carbohydrate consumed may be involved in diabetes-related cancers. Further studies are needed to confirm the opposing effects of high dietary GL on risks of colon and rectal cancers

Amphoteric dissolution of two-dimensional polytriazine imide carbon nitrides in water

Crystalline two-dimensional carbon nitrides with polytriazine imide (PTI) structure are shown to act amphoterically, buffering both HCl and NaOH aqueous solutions, resulting in charged PTI layers that dissolve spontaneously in their aqueous media, particularly for the alkaline solutions. This provides a low energy, green route to their scalable solution processing. Protonation in acid is shown to occur at pyridinic nitrogens, stabilized by adjacent triazines, whereas deprotonation in base occurs primarily at basal plane NH bridges, although NH 2 edge deprotonation is competitive. We conclude that mildly acidic or basic pHs are necessary to provide sufficient net charge on the nanosheets to promote dissolution, while avoiding high ion concentrations which screen the repulsion of like-charged PTI sheets in solution. This article is part of the theme issue 'Exploring the length scales, timescales and chemistry of challenging materials (Part 2)'

The local ordering of polar solvents around crystalline carbon nitride nanosheets in solution

The crystalline graphitic carbon nitride, poly-triazine imide (PTI) is highly unusual among layered materials since it is spontaneously soluble in aprotic, polar solvents including dimethylformamide (DMF). The PTI material consists of layers of carbon nitride intercalated with LiBr. When dissolved, the resulting solutions consist of dissolved, luminescent single to multilayer nanosheets of around 60–125 nm in diameter and Li+ and Br− ions originating from the intercalating salt. To understand this unique solubility, the structure of these solutions has been investigated by high-energy X-ray and neutron diffraction. Although the diffraction patterns are dominated by inter-solvent correlations there are clear differences between the X-ray diffraction data of the PTI solution and the solvent in the 4–6 Å −1 range, with real space differences persisting to at least 10 Å. Structural modelling using both neutron and X-ray datasets as a constraint reveal the formation of distinct, dense solvation shells surrounding the nanoparticles with a layer of Br − close to the PTI-solvent interface. This solvent ordering provides a configuration that is energetically favourable underpinning thermodynamically driven PTI dissolution. This article is part of the theme issue 'Exploring the length scales, timescales and chemistry of challenging materials (Part 2)'

Recommendations for post-surgical thyroid ablation in differentiated thyroid cancer: a 2015 position statement of the Italian Society of Endocrinology

Post-surgical ablation of thyroid remnant with radioactive iodine (RAI) in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is aimed to destroy any thyroid remnant in the thyroid bed (remnant ablation) and any microscopic foci of cancer cells eventually present within the thyroid remnant (adjuvant therapy). The present text is an attempt to offer practice guidelines for the indication of thyroid ablation and the preparation of DTC patients considering the latest achievement in the field and the changing epidemiology of DTC observed in the last 10 years

Variable Curvature Slab Molecular Dynamics as a Method to Determine Surface Stress

A thin plate or slab, prepared so that opposite faces have different surface stresses, will bend as a result of the stress difference. We have developed a classical molecular dynamics (MD) formulation where (similar in spirit to constant-pressure MD) the curvature of the slab enters as an additional dynamical degree of freedom. The equations of motion of the atoms have been modified according to a variable metric, and an additional equation of motion for the curvature is introduced. We demonstrate the method to Au surfaces, both clean and covered with Pb adsorbates, using many-body glue potentials. Applications to stepped surfaces, deconstruction and other surface phenomena are under study.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, REVTeX, submitted to Physical Review

Noncrystalline structures of ultrathin unsupported nanowires

Computer simulations suggest that ultrathin metal wires should develop exotic, non-crystalline stable atomic structures, once their diameter decreases below a critical size of the order of a few atomic spacings. The new structures, whose details depend upon the material and the wire thickness, may be dominated by icosahedral packings. Helical, spiral-structured wires with multi-atom pitches are also predicted. The phenomenon, analogous to the appearance of icosahedral and other non-crystalline shapes in small clusters, can be rationalized in terms of surface energy anisotropy and optimal packing

Modular and predictable assembly of porous organic molecular crystals

Nanoporous molecular frameworks are important in applications such as separation, storage and catalysis. Empirical rules exist for their assembly but it is still challenging to place and segregate functionality in three-dimensional porous solids in a predictable way. Indeed, recent studies of mixed crystalline frameworks suggest a preference for the statistical distribution of functionalities throughout the pores rather than, for example, the functional group localization found in the reactive sites of enzymes. This is a potential limitation for 'one-pot' chemical syntheses of porous frameworks from simple starting materials. An alternative strategy is to prepare porous solids from synthetically preorganized molecular pores. In principle, functional organic pore modules could be covalently prefabricated and then assembled to produce materials with specific properties. However, this vision of mix-and-match assembly is far from being realized, not least because of the challenge in reliably predicting three-dimensional structures for molecular crystals, which lack the strong directional bonding found in networks. Here we show that highly porous crystalline solids can be produced by mixing different organic cage modules that self-assemble by means of chiral recognition. The structures of the resulting materials can be predicted computationally, allowing in silico materials design strategies. The constituent pore modules are synthesized in high yields on gram scales in a one-step reaction. Assembly of the porous co-crystals is as simple as combining the modules in solution and removing the solvent. In some cases, the chiral recognition between modules can be exploited to produce porous organic nanoparticles. We show that the method is valid for four different cage modules and can in principle be generalized in a computationally predictable manner based on a lock-and-key assembly between modules