DESIGN for COASTALSCAPE. The spatial dimension of land-sea planning

The PhD examines the phenomenon of coastal territories and their land and sea dynamics by a planning perspective. The study starts from the consideration that half of the world\u2019s population interacts daily with the sea through living in coastal cities and that these geographical areas are under constant pressure from anthropic activities and climate change threats. This doctoral dissertation aims to understand how a well-structured framework of knowledge about land-sea interactions might enhance the resilience of coastalscapes. The research considers multiple approaches to tackle the topic from diverse points of view. The PhD path is divided into two key milestones. The first key milestone of the research, coming along on a double literature review on land-sea interactions, attempts to detect, find gaps and build a framework of knowledge on land-sea interactions in order to make more accessible the topic to scientists and policymakers. The second key milestone endeavours to enlarge the knowledge gained from the first key milestone; by looking at the coastal area through a different lens, it tries to interpret the land-sea interactions phenomena that shape the coastalscape. This milestone is based on multiple case studies approach through a mapping analysis. The first phase is focused on understanding the typologies of anthropic and natural environments present in the case studies through three types of mapping analysis. The second phase zooms in on edge to understand the components of the coastalscape by revealing a common mapping language. The approach and methods used in the research - the double literature review, fluxes schemes and mapping - have contributed to the knowledge and even though applied on four specific cases can be relevant as guidance through the study of other cases

On the nanoscopic structural heterogeneity of liquid n-alkyl carboxylic acids

Herein we report the first in-depth structural characterisation of simple linear carboxylic acids with alkyl tail length ranging from one to six carbon atoms. By means of the SWAXS technique, a pronounced nanoscopic heterogeneity evolving along the aliphatic portion of the molecule is highlighted. Via classical molecular dynamics, the origin of such heterogeneity is unambiguously assigned to the existence of aliphatic domains resulting from the self-segregation of the polar and apolar portions of the molecules. Furthermore, the structural correlation of aliphatic-separated polar domains is responsible for observing the so-called “pre-peak” in the SAXS region

In vivo kinematics of knee replacement during daily living activities: Condylar and post-cam contact assessment by three-dimensional fluoroscopy and finite element analyses

In total knee replacement, the investigation on the exact contact patterns at the post-cam in implanted patients from real in vivo data during daily living activities is fundamental for validating implant design concepts and assessing relevant performances. This study is aimed at verifying the restoration of natural tibio-femoral condylar kinematics by investigating the post-cam engagement at different motor tasks. An innovative validated technique, combining three-dimensional fluoroscopic and finite element analyses, was applied to measure joint kinematics during daily living activities in 15 patients implanted with guided motion posterior-stabilized total knee replacement. Motion results showed physiological antero-posterior translations of the tibio-femoral condyles for every motor task. However, high variability was observed in the position of the calculated pivot point among different patients and different motor tasks, as well as in the range of post-cam engagement. Physiological tibio-femoral joint rotations and contacts at the condyles were found restored in the present knee replacement. Articular contact patterns experienced at the post-cam were found compatible with this original prosthesis design. The present study reports replaced knee kinematics also in terms of articular surface contacts, both at the condyles and, for the first time, at the post-cam

Analysis of Flat Plate Honeycomb Seals Aerodynamic Losses: Effects of Clearance☆

Abstract Among the various type of seals used in gas turbine secondary air system to guarantee sufficient confinement of the main gas path, honeycomb seals well perform in terms of enhanced stability and reduced leakage flow. Reliable estimates of the sealing performance of honeycomb packs employed in industrial gas and steam turbines, are however missing in literature, thus, in order to evaluate the complete characteristic curve of the seals in the wide range of working conditions, an experimental campaign was planned. This work reports the findings of an experimental campaign aimed at evaluating aerodynamic losses within honeycomb seals. Due to the generally large amount of honeycomb cells typically present in real seals, it would be convenient to treat the sealing effect of the honeycomb pack as an increased distributed friction factor on the plain top surface that is why the simplest config- uration, the honeycomb facing a flat plate, is employed in this paper. The geometry of the hexagonal cell and the investigated clearances were chosen to well represent actual honeycomb packs employed in industrial compressors. First the pressure distribu- tion within the seal was analysed verifying that downstream the first 5 rows of cells, where entrance effects are predominant, the relative pressure drop is almost constant thus the use of an equivalent friction factor is appropriate to characterize the seal. Subse- quent analysis focused on the characterization of the friction factor as function of the Reynolds number with the aim of establishing the proper geometrical scaling to achieve flow conditions similar to real turbine most critical ones. The different behaviour of the honeycomb sealing depending on the hexagonal cell arrangement and dimensions was evaluated in terms of friction factor. Comparison with results coming from a previous CFD investigation is also presented and discussed in this paper

Addressing the Passenger Transport and Accessibility Enablers for Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development (SD) is a fundamental objective in the European Union (EU) and transport is considered one of the key challenges necessary to achieve it. Although transport is mostly contested from the environmental dimension, an investigation of peer-reviewed literature along with EU policy documents suggests that the transport and accessibility (T&A) criteria of infrastructure, accessibility distance, and multimodality can positively contribute to SD. However, despite this synergetic relation between T&A and SD, a practical analysis of such enablers is unknown at the regional European level. Therefore, this study investigates the Mediterranean as a study area by analyzing 79 identified passenger ports as passenger transport land-sea interaction points. Based on open access data, port infrastructure and ship accessibility, hinterland accessibility, and multimodality are evaluated as the passenger T&A enablers for SD. Comparative geo-spatial analyses are also carried out among the passenger ports\u2019 levels of enablers by using the data normalization method. These data driven comprehensive analytical results can bring added value to SD policy and planning initiatives in the Mediterranean. This study may also contribute to the development of relevant passenger port performance indicators for boosting port or regional competition and attractiveness towards SD

Physical Implementation of a Tunable Memristor-based Chua's Circuit

Nonlinearity is a central feature in demanding computing applications that aim to deal with tasks such as optimization or classification. Furthermore, the consensus is that nonlinearity should not be only exploited at the algorithm level, but also at the physical level by finding devices that incorporate desired nonlinear features to physically implement energy, area and/or time efficient computing applications. Chaotic oscillators are one type of system powered by nonlinearity, which can be used for computing purposes. In this work we present a physical implementation of a tunable Chua's circuit in which the nonlinear part is based on a nonvolatile memristive device. Device characterization and circuit analysis serve as guidelines to design the circuit and results prove the possibility to tune the circuit oscillatory response by electrically programming the device.Comment: Accepted by IEEE 48th European Solid State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC 2022