Recent Trends and Perspectives on Defect-Oriented Testing

Electronics employed in modern safety-critical systems require severe qualification during the manufacturing process and in the field, to prevent fault effects from manifesting themselves as critical failures during mission operations. Traditional fault models are not sufficient anymore to guarantee the required quality levels for chips utilized in mission-critical applications. The research community and industry have been investigating new test approaches such as device-aware test, cell-aware test, path-delay test, and even test methodologies based on the analysis of manufacturing data to move the scope from OPPM to OPPB. This special session presents four contributions, from academic researchers and industry professionals, to enable better chip quality. We present results on various activities towards this objective, including device-aware test, software-based self-test, and memory test

Misfire and Partial Burn Detection based on Ion Current Measurement

The paper presents the implementation of a combustion diagnosis system that integrates crankshaft speed oscillations analysis with ion current signal processing, for V8 and V12 high performance engines. Ion current sensing has been introduced in the last V8 and V12 Ferrari models in order to improve combustion control by implementing ion current based closed-loop sparkadvance control systems, both under knocking and nonknocking conditions (respectively based on measured knocking level, and on ion current peak position control). Another area where ion current sensing can improve the engine controller performance is related to the ability of detecting and isolating missing and partial burn combustions. The typical approach to misfire detection (based on engine speed oscillation measurement) is in fact particularly critical for engines with a large number of cylinders, and ion current sensing provides additional information not only about presence (or absence) of combustion, but also about the causes that generated the fault. Moreover, the paper shows that real-time analysis of specific ion current signal features allows isolating incomplete and inefficient combustion events, thus providing extremely useful information to the engine control system, which can for example be used to activate multi-spark discharge ignition mode. The first part of the paper shows the main critical aspects of speed-measurement based misfire detection, and introduces the ion current signal main features during regular engine operation. Then, ion current signal is analyzed during abnormal combustion events: absence of combustion (both due to missing injections and missing ignitions) and partial burn cycles. It is shown how it is possible to isolate missing and incomplete combustions in a relatively straightforward way, and also how the causes that induced the fault may be isolated by integrating standard diagnostic functions with specific ion current signal processing algorithms. Finally, the performance of the diagnostic system that integrates engine speed oscillation analysis and information extracted from the ion signal has been evaluated during on-board tests, and the main results are presented at the end of the paper

Musica : dalla Resistenza al mood pre-partita

Lo scopo di questo studio \ue8 stato quello di verificare se l\u2019ascolto di musica durante l\u2019esercizio possa apportare benefici, partendo da un circuito di resistenza specifico per la pallacanestro fino ad arrivare al riscaldamento pre-partita. In particolare, i partecipanti sono stati divisi in maniera randomizzata in due gruppi, gruppo \u201cMusica\u201d e gruppo \u201cNo musica\u201d e hanno effettuato un circuito di resistenza specifico per la pallacanestro. Sono stati valutati anche i mood nel warm-up pre-partita. Comparando questi risultati con studi scientifici, si pu\uf2 ritenere che nel campione Musica si siano determinati un aumento motivazionale e una diminuzione dello sforzo percepito

Morphological re-assessment of the Boodlea composita - Phyllodictyon anastomosans species complex (Siphonocladales: Chlorophyta)

Boodlea composita ( Harvey) F. Brand and Phyllodictyon anastomosans ( Harvey) Kraft & M. J. Wynne, two widespread tropical siphonocladalean green algae, have had a long and confusing history because of the vague taxonomic boundaries between the two species. Molecular phylogenetic studies on the basis of nuclear- encoded rDNA sequences have resolved these indistinct species boundaries and suggest these taxa are part of a species complex. Detailed morphological investigations in combination with field and culture observations show that the concept of traditionally recognised taxa in this species complex is clouded by an ecologically induced phenotypic plasticity and developmental variability. Examination of a large number of specimens of B. composita, P. anastomosans and morphologically allied taxa including Boodlea siamensis Reinbold, Boodlea montagnei ( Harvey ex J. E. Gray) Egerod, Nereodictyon imitans Gerloff and Struveopsis siamensis ( Egerod) P. C. Silva, worldwide, including types, shows a wide morphological variety. We recognise seven more or less distinct morphological entities based on differences in thallus architectures, branching systems, cell dimensions and tenacular cell types. Awaiting the recovery of the true nature of the defined entities in this species complex ( different species or growth forms of the same species), they are referred to as morphotypes, i. e. making no assumptions as to which taxonomic level they best apply