Powerline Communication in Home-Building Automation Systems

Domotics, Smart Home Systems, Ambient Intelligence are all terms that describe the intelligent cooperation of several different equipments to manage the home environment in an intelligent, safe and comfortable way. The same idea is also applicable to bigger constructions, and in that case it takes the name of Building Automation. Whatever term one wants to use, it refers to a multidisciplinary field that includes informatics, electronics, automation and telecommunication, and also touches fields like building constructions and architecture. In fact, during the process of designing a building, people have to consider appropriate spaces for the electric plant, and if the presence of a domotic system is planned, it is better to take it into account during the design phase, just to optimize spaces, the amount of used wires, the position of the modules and so on. There are really many home system producers in the world (Smart Home Systems, EIB-Konnex, Lonworks, Bticino, Vimar, Duemmegi, EasyDom Corporation, Futurware, Digital Cybermasters, Hills Home Systems, Intellihome etc, just to mention a few) , and their products differ from each others in many characteristics, such as functionality, dimension, weight, typology of installation, materials, net topology, power consumes, aesthetic appearance, communication protocol and communication mean. Regarding this last point, the majority of the domotic systems, especially in Europe, tend to use a dedicated bus cable to exchange data among modules, to make the communication link more robust and reliable. Lately, using radio communication is in fashion, but radio modules, respect to their equivalent standard ones, are more expensive, and in the bargain many people don’t want to use them due to the fear of radio signals (even if it were proved that they are completely harmless). Another communication mean, that is often not taken into account, is the powerline. In point of fact, using the installed poweline wires to send information is a very smart idea: there is no additional cost to install other dozens of meters of wires, there is not the necessity to break the walls and to do building works at home, there are no interferences with other devices (like in the radio communication case) or reflection problems (like in the infrared case), there is the possibility to put the modules in every place (it is sufficient to have an electrical socket in the nearness, or to use an extension cable), there is no need to have an extra power source (usually, in a bus cable domotic system, there is a direct voltage generated by a power supply and distribuited on the whole domotic net). Moreover, powerline communication (PLC, also called BPL in the USA, where the acronym stays for Broadband over Power Line, or NPL, Narroband over Power Line) is not only used in a home environment to create a virtual net among domotic modules, but is also used on the power distribution net to perform actions like reading the electricity meter, monitoring the power consumes and the state of a building, finding faults along the net, detecting illegal electricity usages and to solve the so-called last mile problem , that is the problem related to the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. In fact a cheap possibility to cover this final leg is using powerline communication. The intent of this work is therefore to illustrate, going into more details, advantages and disadvantages of the powerline communication systems (PLCS), to show the differences between PLCS for power distribution net and PLCS for home and building environments, to indagate the methods to send data over the powerline, to explain which are the automations that is possible to connect and to control in a powerline domotic system and to show some case studies tackled by the authors

Striking, Marching, Tweeting. Studying How Online Networks Change Together with Movements

This article aims to achieve a better understanding of how online networks contribute to the organization and the symbolic production of social movements using big data coming from social media platforms. It traces and compares online social and semantic networks that emerged on Twitter during two protest events organized by the feminist Italian movement Non Una Di Meno (NUDM) – a national strike organized on March 8th, 2017 and a march organized on November 25th of the same year. Our results suggests that, over time, online networks created on Twitter remain sparse and centralized around the movement handle but that they continue to host an interactive dialogue between the movement, its activists, and supporters. Also, over time, participants to online conversations around NUDM tend to use Twitter to discuss different aspects of the mobilization – paying more attention to the spaces of the pro-test during the strike and to the issue of gender-based violence in November

Systemisation of knowledge for the conservation and cultural development uf piedmont's mosaic heritage

Mosaics, in all their possible variants of form, material and location, can and must be recognised within the definition of Architectural Heritage. A further examination also reveals that mosaics are fully included within the definition of Cultural Heritage and, so, constitute part of the CH of a territorial area. In the absence of specific regulations, studies have been carried out in relation to source data and scheduling instruments at national and regional level with a view to devising a schedule model specifically for the mosaic, so that it is no longer regarded as an archaeological finding in its own right, but as a systematic element. These have been compared with other local situations, in Italy and abroad, which need unambiguous parameters for standardisation. These operations pass unavoidably through the identification of parameters, metadata, final users and methods through which the project could be developed in the future. Of no small importance is the diversified input of specific and inter-disciplinary skills, which are necessary for a correct cataloguing of resources; that means determining the obligatory fields and structuring the various headings, devising also appropriate key words. The cataloguing procedure is fundamental in the process for an effective cultural development of Piedmont's mosaic heritage. More precisely, it becomes an element in a structure for multi-level querying of the Territorial Information System, devised in particular for visualising data relating to files on interactive support, but also for a web-GIS configuration

Systemisation of knowledge for the conservation and cultural development uf piedmont's mosaic heritage

Mosaics, in all their possible variants of form, material and location, can and must be recognised within the definition of Architectural Heritage. A further examination also reveals that mosaics are fully included within the definition of Cultural Heritage and, so, constitute part of the CH of a territorial area. In the absence of specific regulations, studies have been carried out in relation to source data and scheduling instruments at national and regional level with a view to devising a schedule model specifically for the mosaic, so that it is no longer regarded as an archaeological finding in its own right, but as a systematic element. These have been compared with other local situations, in Italy and abroad, which need unambiguous parameters for standardisation. These operations pass unavoidably through the identification of parameters, metadata, final users and methods through which the project could be developed in the future. Of no small importance is the diversified input of specific and inter-disciplinary skills, which are necessary for a correct cataloguing of resources; that means determining the obligatory fields and structuring the various headings, devising also appropriate key words. The cataloguing procedure is fundamental in the process for an effective cultural development of Piedmont's mosaic heritage. More precisely, it becomes an element in a structure for multi-level querying of the Territorial Information System, devised in particular for visualising data relating to files on interactive support, but also for a web-GIS configuration

High Risk of Secondary Infections Following Thrombotic Complications in Patients With COVID-19

Background. This study’s primary aim was to evaluate the impact of thrombotic complications on the development of secondary infections. The secondary aim was to compare the etiology of secondary infections in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Methods. This was a cohort study (NCT04318366) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients hospitalized at IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital between February 25 and June 30, 2020. Incidence rates (IRs) were calculated by univariable Poisson regression as the number of cases per 1000 person-days of follow-up (PDFU) with 95% confidence intervals. The cumulative incidence functions of secondary infections according to thrombotic complications were compared with Gray’s method accounting for competing risk of death. A multivariable Fine-Gray model was applied to assess factors associated with risk of secondary infections. Results. Overall, 109/904 patients had 176 secondary infections (IR, 10.0; 95% CI, 8.8–11.5; per 1000-PDFU). The IRs of secondary infections among patients with or without thrombotic complications were 15.0 (95% CI, 10.7–21.0) and 9.3 (95% CI, 7.9–11.0) per 1000-PDFU, respectively (P = .017). At multivariable analysis, thrombotic complications were associated with the development of secondary infections (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.788; 95% CI, 1.018–3.140; P = .043). The etiology of secondary infections was similar in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Conclusions. In patients with COVID-19, thrombotic complications were associated with a high risk of secondary infections

Acute Delta Hepatitis in Italy spanning three decades (1991–2019): Evidence for the effectiveness of the hepatitis B vaccination campaign

Updated incidence data of acute Delta virus hepatitis (HDV) are lacking worldwide. Our aim was to evaluate incidence of and risk factors for acute HDV in Italy after the introduction of the compulsory vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 1991. Data were obtained from the National Surveillance System of acute viral hepatitis (SEIEVA). Independent predictors of HDV were assessed by logistic-regression analysis. The incidence of acute HDV per 1-million population declined from 3.2 cases in 1987 to 0.04 in 2019, parallel to that of acute HBV per 100,000 from 10.0 to 0.39 cases during the same period. The median age of cases increased from 27 years in the decade 1991-1999 to 44 years in the decade 2010-2019 (p < .001). Over the same period, the male/female ratio decreased from 3.8 to 2.1, the proportion of coinfections increased from 55% to 75% (p = .003) and that of HBsAg positive acute hepatitis tested for by IgM anti-HDV linearly decreased from 50.1% to 34.1% (p < .001). People born abroad accounted for 24.6% of cases in 2004-2010 and 32.1% in 2011-2019. In the period 2010-2019, risky sexual behaviour (O.R. 4.2; 95%CI: 1.4-12.8) was the sole independent predictor of acute HDV; conversely intravenous drug use was no longer associated (O.R. 1.25; 95%CI: 0.15-10.22) with this. In conclusion, HBV vaccination was an effective measure to control acute HDV. Intravenous drug use is no longer an efficient mode of HDV spread. Testing for IgM-anti HDV is a grey area requiring alert. Acute HDV in foreigners should be monitored in the years to come

Nuova generazione di protesi mioelettriche INAIL di arto superiore

Negli ultimi anni l'evoluzione delle tecnologie ha permesso a molti dispositivi di divenire sempre più versatili e facili da utilizzare. Non sono da meno le protesi elettromiografiche di arto superiore, all'interno delle quali trovano ora spazio trasmettitori bluetooth, dispositivi di comando wireless a palmare, dispositivi per il riconoscimento vocal

Focus Domotica

Giornata di studio dedicata ai temi della domotica per il risparmio energetico, l'integrazione di impianti e la disabilit

Striking, Marching, Tweeting. Studying How Online Networks Change Together with Movements

This article aims to achieve a better understanding of how online networks contribute to the organization and the symbolic production of social movements using big data coming from social media platforms. It traces and compares online social and semantic networks that emerged on Twitter during two protest events organized by the feminist Italian movement Non Una Di Meno (NUDM) – a national strike organized on March 8th, 2017 and a march organized on November 25th of the same year. Our results suggests that, over time, online networks created on Twitter remain sparse and centralized around the movement handle but that they continue to host an interactive dialogue between the movement, its activists, and supporters. Also, over time, participants to online conversations around NUDM tend to use Twitter to discuss different aspects of the mobilization – paying more attention to the spaces of the pro-test during the strike and to the issue of gender-based violence in November.<br /

Design of a new EMG sensor for upper limb prosthetic control and real time frequency analisys

Myoelectric prosthesis are aids that try to give back to patients a bit of autonomy and indipendence in their life. Several control techniques were explored in the past, but still the electromyographic (EMG) control remains the most widely used method. Most of the commercial EMG electrodes for prosthetic control available on the market modify the acquired signal acting a heavy frequency filtering, making the signal more clear and better suitable for prosthetic control even if the information related to its frequency behaviour are lost. This information instead would be precious for a frequency analysis, to face and solve the problem of musclular fatigue, an effect that arises in case both of repetitive movements and sustained isometric contraction, as literature reports, causing an amplitude increasing and a spectrum shift toward lower frequencies of the EMG signal. This, in turn, can cause problems in the control of myoelectric prostheses [1]. The aim of this work is hence to illustrate the design of a new EMG electrode suitable both for prosthetic control and frequency analisys, taking into account the problem of muscular fatigue