Blending of Floating Car Data and Point-Based Sensor Data to Deduce Operating Speeds under Different Traffic Flow Conditions

Nowadays, smart mobility can rely on innovative tools for the knowledge of road system conditions, like operating speed data extracted from the so-called Floating Car Data (FCD). Probe vehicles in the traffic flow send to operation centres a large amount of travel information, collected through GPS detection systems, especially with regard to geolocation, date and time, direction and speed. As the sample deriving from these vehicles represents a tiny portion of the entire vehicular fleet, in this paper an analysis and a comparison with data obtained by point-based traffic sensors is proposed.Therefore, the study analyses data collected by inductive loop detectors and microwave radar sensors, that provide information on the entire traffic flow in the time domain, in particular with the aim to identify free flow speed time bands. Afterwards, by means of the fusion between the results obtained from the data coming from these point-based control units and the ones coming from the probe vehicles, a comparison of the operating speeds in the two conditions of constrained and unconstrained traffic flow is performed

Evaluation of right ventricular function performed by 3d-echocardiography in scleroderma patients

The impairment of the right ventricle (RV) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is usually related to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). New echocardiographic techniques, such as 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) and 2-dimensional speckle tracking (2DSTE), allow an accurate evaluation of the RV function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the RV function using 3DE and 2DSTE in SSc patients with no history of heart disease and no PAH. Forty-five SSc patients, 42 females and 3 males, 28 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and 17 with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc), were studied. Forty-three age- and gender-matched healthy subjects were enrolled as controls. All of them underwent a 3DE and 2DSTE ecocardiographic evaluation of the RV function. Systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (sPAP) and total pulmonary vascular resistance (tPVR) were also estimated by power doppler. RV echocardiographic parameters were compared in the different subsets of SSc patients. A statistical analysis was performed by t-test, ANOVA and multiple logistic regression. RV areas in 2DSTE and volumes in 3DE were higher and RV function parameters were reduced in SSc patients compared with controls. Also sPAP and tVPR were higher, but they did not reach pathological values. Echocardiographic alterations were more pronounced in patients with lcSSc. 3DE and 2DSTE echocardiography allowed us to detect morphological and functional alterations of the RV in a group of SSc patients with no clinical signs of heart disease and no PAH. These patients had significantly higher sPAP and tPVR than healthy controls without reporting values compatible with PAH. These data suggest that RV alterations are related to a pressure overload rather than to an intrinsic myocardial involvement in SSc

Data driven theory for knowledge discovery in the exact sciences with applications to thermonuclear fusion

In recent years, the techniques of the exact sciences have been applied to the analysis of increasingly complex and non-linear systems. The related uncertainties and the large amounts of data available have progressively shown the limits of the traditional hypothesis driven methods, based on first principle theories. Therefore, a new approach of data driven theory formulation has been developed. It is based on the manipulation of symbols with genetic computing and it is meant to complement traditional procedures, by exploring large datasets to find the most suitable mathematical models to interpret them. The paper reports on the vast amounts of numerical tests that have shown the potential of the new techniques to provide very useful insights in various studies, ranging from the formulation of scaling laws to the original identification of the most appropriate dimensionless variables to investigate a given system. The application to some of the most complex experiments in physics, in particular thermonuclear plasmas, has proved the capability of the methodology to address real problems, even highly nonlinear and practically important ones such as catastrophic instabilities. The proposed tools are therefore being increasingly used in various fields of science and they constitute a very good set of techniques to bridge the gap between experiments, traditional data analysis and theory formulation

Road Infrastructure Safety Management. Proactive Safety Tools to Evaluate Potential Conditions of Risk

The identification of highly critical sections in a road network is possible by examining the network operation, with the goal of determining the risk factors and observe the critical issues, in order to better plan possible improvements. Therefore, this study proposes a method to evaluate the coherence of existing road layouts, through the analysis of the geometric characteristics, theoretical speeds and drivers operating speeds, under different environmental and flow conditions. The analysis focuses on the road network managed by ANAS SpA in the Veneto Region, for which the reconstruction of the road axes geometry, the curvature graph and the theoretical design speed profile have been obtained, according to the indications of the Italian Ministerial Decree 05/11/2001. The theoretical design speed profile has then been compared with the information relating to the road users' mobility, in terms of the 85th percentile speeds, obtained from the extraction and analysis of the Floating Car Data (FCD). The data were processed by reconstructing the continuous profile of operating speeds with a specific regression function known as "smoothing cubic spline". The comparison with the theoretical design speeds allows to observe whether the users assume a behavior close to or distant from what is expected, based on the technical and geometrical characteristics of the road layout. The proposed methodology can contribute to the implementation of a proactive road safety check, aimed at recognizing and assessing the potential risk conditions for road traffic, with particular attention to the point of view of the road user

Self-Assembly of Polyhedral Hybrid Colloidal Particles

We have developed a new method to produce hybrid particles with polyhedral shapes in very high yield (liter quantities at up to 70% purity) using a combination of emulsion polymerization and inorganic surface chemistry. The procedure has been generalized to create complex geometries, including hybrid line segments, triangles, tetrahedra, octahedra, and more. The optical properties of these particles are tailored for studying their dynamics and self-assembly. For example, we produce systems that consist of index-matched spheres allowing us to define the position of each elementary particle in three-dimensional space. We present some preliminary studies on the self-assembly of these complex shaped systems based on electron and optical microscopy.Engineering and Applied SciencesPhysic

Los Indicadores de calidad de agua como una herramienta para la integración de contenidos de recursos hídricos, mediante la metodología de enseñaza por proyectos

La enseñanza de las ciencias tiene potencialidades muy significativas para desarrollar competencias que requieren los alumnos para su desempeño en la sociedad, esto se lograría a través de dos procesos largos y complejos que son la alfabetización científica y la educación ambiental. Ambos procesos actúan como herramientas para la toma de medidas. Actualmente los temas relacionados con el medio ambiente, se han posicionado en las agendas sociales, políticas y educativas con gran fuerza. La enseñanza de temas medioambientales, dado su complejidad y su abordaje sistémico, implica la reformulación de las estrategias didácticas a utilizar. En particular, el método de enseñanza por proyectos, puede considerarse como apropiado para tal fin. Es por ello que esta metodología de enseñanza permite vincular temáticas o problemas que sean de interés para los alumnos y que merezcan ser tratados por sí mismos, como lo es el Índice de Calidad de Agua (ICA) del Arroyo del Azul, situado en el centro de la Pcia. de Buenos Aires. Así mismo, en el desarrollo de la presente ponencia se incluye la aplicación del ICA en agua del Arroyo del Azul, con el fin de reconocer su Calidad de Agua. Este tipo de trabajos permite reformular prácticas que lleven a los alumnos a trabajar en forma conjunta con el docente, el trabajo en temas que sean de interés o que tengan un significado en la sociedad y que los alumnos realicen actividades y experiencias que los lleve a comprender y realizar un cambio conceptual.Trabajos del área Ciencias NaturalesDepartamento de Ciencias Exactas y Naturale

Los Indicadores de calidad de agua como una herramienta para la integración de contenidos de recursos hídricos, mediante la metodología de enseñaza por proyectos

La enseñanza de las ciencias tiene potencialidades muy significativas para desarrollar competencias que requieren los alumnos para su desempeño en la sociedad, esto se lograría a través de dos procesos largos y complejos que son la alfabetización científica y la educación ambiental. Ambos procesos actúan como herramientas para la toma de medidas. Actualmente los temas relacionados con el medio ambiente, se han posicionado en las agendas sociales, políticas y educativas con gran fuerza. La enseñanza de temas medioambientales, dado su complejidad y su abordaje sistémico, implica la reformulación de las estrategias didácticas a utilizar. En particular, el método de enseñanza por proyectos, puede considerarse como apropiado para tal fin. Es por ello que esta metodología de enseñanza permite vincular temáticas o problemas que sean de interés para los alumnos y que merezcan ser tratados por sí mismos, como lo es el Índice de Calidad de Agua (ICA) del Arroyo del Azul, situado en el centro de la Pcia. de Buenos Aires. Así mismo, en el desarrollo de la presente ponencia se incluye la aplicación del ICA en agua del Arroyo del Azul, con el fin de reconocer su Calidad de Agua. Este tipo de trabajos permite reformular prácticas que lleven a los alumnos a trabajar en forma conjunta con el docente, el trabajo en temas que sean de interés o que tengan un significado en la sociedad y que los alumnos realicen actividades y experiencias que los lleve a comprender y realizar un cambio conceptual.Trabajos del área Ciencias NaturalesDepartamento de Ciencias Exactas y Naturale