A New Learning Factory Experience Exploiting LEGO For Teaching Manufacturing Systems Integration

Involving and stimulating students through intensive work in computer laboratories and simulation projects might be a challenging task, often due to the lack of the real manufacturing system that must be modeled and improved. Indeed, studying a manufacturing system that cannot be observed represents a real obstacle for student effective learning. In this paper, we describe the "LEGO FACTORY" initiative, an extra-curricular experience within the Master Degree Study Program in Mechanical Engineering of Politecnico di Milano. The initiative is open to students from any study course of the university. The goal is to exploit learning-by-playing principles to offer scholars the possibility to understand the most common issues in the design and management of manufacturing systems, with a focus on system integration. A miniaturized production system made with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® is provided to students who are asked to accomplish a project aiming at the improvement of the system performances. The participants work in teams and must introduce design modifications and develop technical solutions to address the requirements. The experience is described with the hope that the approach can be replicated in other environments

Automated Generation of Digital Models for Production Lines through State Reconstruction

Thanks to the rapid advances in information technologies, digital twins have been widely adopted in the manufacturing industry to support production planning and control. At the core of a digital twin is a digital model that mirrors the physical system in a virtual space. It is inefficient to develop digital twins by modeling the considered systems manually. Although significant research effort has been made to automate the generation of digital models, most approaches so far impose strong assumptions on the available data or cannot precisely capture the behavior of the physical system. Noticing the current gap, we propose in this paper a novel approach for automatically generating a graph representation of a production line from an event log through state reconstruction. The feasibility of the proposed approach has been demonstrated on three simulated instances

A Cardinality-constrained Approach for Robust Machine Loading Problems

The Machine Loading Problem (MLP) refers to the allocation of operative tasks and tools to machines for the production of parts. Since the uncertainty of processing times might affect the quality of the solution, this paper proposes a robust formulation of an MLP, based on the cardinality-constrained approach, to evaluate the optimal solution in the presence of a given number of fluctuations of the actual processing time with respect to the nominal one. The applicability of the model in the practice has been tested on a case study

Cannabis-Based Products in a Neurological Setting: A Clinical and Pharmacokinetic Survey

Background and aim: Limited data are available in clinical settings on the pharmacokinetics of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). We investigated the use of cannabis-based products in neurological practice, monitoring patients' steady-state cannabinoids (CBs) plasma concentrations matched with different preparations. Methods: This was a prospective, single-center, observational study. Patients underwent venous blood withdrawal before the CBs' morning dose and then 2.5 h post-dosing. Spasticity or pain were patient self-assessed by the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) before the morning CB's administration and 2.5 h post-dosing. Results: Thirty-three patients were enrolled. Main indications for CBs were spasticity and chronic pain. Sixteen patients were treated with oromucosal spray formulation Sativex® and 17 with oil-based solutions. Both CBs trough plasma concentrations were ≤ limit of detection (0.1 ng/ml) in 45% of patients. Intrasubject CB's plasma levels significantly increased over baseline values in patients treated with Bediol® oil (p < 0.05) and Sativex® (p < 0.01). Post-dosing CB's bioavailability did not significantly differ between oral oil and oromucosal spray. NRS scores decreased (p < 0.01), matching the increase (p < 0.01) in CB's plasma concentrations. Conclusion: This is the first study investigating CB's plasma concentrations of oral and oromucosal preparations in real-world neurological practice. Findings of similar bioavailability for both CBD and THC after galenic oil compared with oromucosal spray dosing may be clinically relevant and deserve additional research in larger cohorts

FactoryBricks: a New Learning Platform for Smart Manufacturing Systems

Manufacturing industries are facing radical changes under the technological acceleration of Industry 4.0. The manufacturing workforce is not ready for such disruptions due to the lack of vertical skills on digital technologies. Production planning and control of manufacturing systems is often an experience-based art. Further, the companies need of offering training paths for long-life learning of their employees finds several obstacles in the availability of skilled trainers and the trainee’s low engagement with traditional learning models. This paper presents how the FactoryBricks project aims at overcoming the aforementioned issues. The project delivers effective training courses to enable the uptake of industrial technologies and smart manufacturing systems for professionals, either executives or technicians. Beside digital learning contents, the learners are offered an interaction with lab-scale models of production systems built with modular components such as LEGO®. The courses are designed in a modular way, and aim to teach manufacturing concepts in three main topics: (1) the physical system and its dynamics, (2) the physical-digital data connections for smart online analytics, and (3) the exploitation of digital models for production. The paper also presents the results of the prototypical implementation of the project

Multiparametric MRI dataset for susceptibility-based radiomic feature extraction and analysis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive demyelinating disease impacting the central nervous system. Conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques (e.g., T2w images) help diagnose MS, although they sometimes reveal non-specific lesions. Quantitative MRI techniques are capable of quantifying imaging biomarkers in vivo, offering the potential to identify specific signs related to pre-clinical inflammation. Among those techniques, Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) is particularly useful for studying processes that influence the magnetic properties of brain tissue, such as alterations in myelin concentration. Because of its intrinsic quantitative nature, it is particularly well-suited to be analyzed through radiomics, including techniques that extract a high number of complex and multi-dimensional features from radiological images. The dataset presented in this work provides information about normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in a cohort of MS patients and healthy controls. It includes QSM-based radiomic features from NAWM and its tracts, and MR sequences necessary to implement the pipeline: T1w, T2w, QSM, DWI. The workflow is outlined in this article, along with an application showing feature reliability assessment

Correlations between Molecular Alterations, Histopathological Characteristics, and Poor Prognosis in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a severe malignancy with increasing incidence, poorly understood pathogenesis, and low survival rates. We sequenced 164 EAC samples of naïve patients (without chemo-radiotherapy) with high coverage using next-generation sequencing technologies. A total of 337 variants were identified across the whole cohort, with TP53 as the most frequently altered gene (67.27%). Missense mutations in TP53 correlated with worse cancer-specific survival (log-rank p = 0.001). In seven cases, we found disruptive mutations in HNF1alpha associated with other gene alterations. Moreover, we detected gene fusions through massive parallel sequencing of RNA, indicating that it is not a rare event in EAC. In conclusion, we report that a specific type of TP53 mutation (missense changes) negatively affected cancer-specific survival in EAC. HNF1alpha was identified as a new EAC-mutated gen

Conversion to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: patient awareness and needs. results from an online survey in Italy and Germany

Background: Few studies have investigated the experiences of patients around the conversion to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). ManTra is a mixed-method, co-production research project conducted in Italy and Germany to develop an intervention for newly-diagnosed SPMS patients. In previous project actions, we identified the needs and experiences of patients converting to SPMS via literature review and qualitative research which involved key stakeholders.Aims: The online patient survey aimed to assess, on a larger and independent sample of recently-diagnosed SPMS patients: (a) the characteristics associated to patient awareness of SPMS conversion; (b) the experience of conversion; (c) importance and prioritization of the needs previously identified.Methods: Participants were consenting adults with SPMS since <= 5 years. The survey consisted of three sections: on general and clinical characteristics; on experience of SPMS diagnosis disclosure (aware participants only); and on importance and prioritization of 33 pre-specified needs.Results: Of 215 participants, those aware of their SPMS diagnosis were 57% in Italy vs. 77% in Germany (p = 0.004). In both countries, over 80% of aware participants received a SPMS diagnosis from the neurologist; satisfaction with SPMS disclosure was moderate to high. Nevertheless, 28-35% obtained second opinions, and 48-56% reported they did not receive any information on SPMS. Participants actively seeking further information were 63% in Germany vs. 31% in Italy (p < 0.001).Variables independently associated to patient awareness were geographic area (odds ratio, OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.13-0.78 for Central Italy; OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.08-0.58 for Southern Italy [vs. Germany]) and activity limitations (OR 7.80, 95% CI 1.47-41.37 for dependent vs. autonomous patients).All pre-specified needs were scored a lot or extremely important, and two prioritized needs were shared by Italian and German patients: "physiotherapy" and "active patient care involvement." The other two differed across countries: "an individualized health care plan" and "information on social rights and policies" in Italy, and "psychological support" and "cognitive rehabilitation" in Germany.Conclusions: Around 40% of SPMS patients were not aware of their disease form indicating a need to improve patient-physician communication. Physiotherapy and active patient care involvement were prioritized in both countries

Home-based palliative approach for people with severe multiple sclerosis and their carers: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Preliminary evidence suggests that palliative care may be useful for people with severe multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a home-based palliative approach (HPA) for people with severe MS and their carers. Methods/design: This is a single-blind randomized controlled trial with a nested qualitative study. Seventy-five severe MS-carer dyads are being randomized (at three centers, one in each area of Italy) to HPA or usual care (UC) in a 2:1 ratio. Each center has a specially trained team consisting of four professionals (physician, nurse, psychologist, social worker). The team makes a comprehensive assessment of the needs of the dyads. HPA content is then agreed on, discussed with the patient's caring physician, and delivered over six months. The intervention is not intended to replace existing services. At later visits, the team checks the HPA delivery and reviews/modifies it as necessary. Discussion: The results of our study will show whether the HPA is feasible and beneficial to people with severe MS and their carers living in the three Italian geographic areas. The nested qualitative study will add to the understanding of the strengths and limitations of the intervention