Development of a preliminary design tool for microsatellites structure in a concurrent engineering facility

This project deals with the work done in a Concurrent Design Facility environment in order to develop a new Matlab calculus tool for the structure subsystem of microsatellites. This tool is based on another simple Excel document which was able to do some calculus for a preliminary design of the main structure of a satellite, but then it has been improved in term of versatility and quality, type and number of results. Its capabilities have been compared with some FEM models created in Nastranope

Traveling in a fragile world: the value of ecoturism

What is ecotourism and why is it a current topic today more than ever? Tourism represents a significant economic sector and further forecasted to grow at a global level – exceeding even in the first few months of 2018 the most optimistic growth expectations according to WTTC (2018a)1. According to the International Ecotourism society2, ecotourism can be defined as a form of responsible tourism that prefers natural areas and that focuses its attention and commitment to conserve the environment and sustain the well-being of local people through interpretation (of heritage, traditions) and education (habitats, animals, cultures). Ecotourism has the potential to contribute, directly or indirectly, to all the objectives set by the 2030 Agenda3 for Sustainable Development4, which establishes ambitious global targets for people, planet, prosperity and peace through partnerships (UNWTO 2019; WCED 1987). Moreover, it provides the opportunity to preserve natural areas, through natural resources management and increasing environmental awareness and eco-friendly practices; provide sustainable economic growth of local communities in countries like Nepal, Costa Rica or Ecuador; preserve indigenous culture and tradition through educational programs; and reinvest money for conservation efforts like the protection of species or reforestation. However, critics to Ecotourism claim the negative impacts that this industry has on local people and environments as consequence of long travel distances (like the pollution generated by planes) and the negative impacts deriving from the presence of tourists in delicate environments (and the related production of waste or pollution). This paper aims to provide a general examination of the available data about the ecotourism activities on a global level, presenting examples from representative countries worldwide. We consider both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of this industry, trying to focus on what it represents in terms of its impacts and benefits for the country’s natural resources, communities and economy. In the first part of the manuscript, we compare ecotourism to other forms of natural resources’ use such as trophy hunting and mass tourism, trying to evaluate whether these represent a preferable alternative or not in terms of sustainability and economic benefits. The next section is divided by regions: Africa, The Americas, Europe, and Australia. For the study, we used statistics made available mainly by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), together with information from specialized international literature

Wireless communication, identification and sensing technologies enabling integrated logistics: a study in the harbor environment

In the last decade, integrated logistics has become an important challenge in the development of wireless communication, identification and sensing technology, due to the growing complexity of logistics processes and the increasing demand for adapting systems to new requirements. The advancement of wireless technology provides a wide range of options for the maritime container terminals. Electronic devices employed in container terminals reduce the manual effort, facilitating timely information flow and enhancing control and quality of service and decision made. In this paper, we examine the technology that can be used to support integration in harbor's logistics. In the literature, most systems have been developed to address specific needs of particular harbors, but a systematic study is missing. The purpose is to provide an overview to the reader about which technology of integrated logistics can be implemented and what remains to be addressed in the future

A Sensing Platform to Monitor Sleep Efficiency

Sleep plays a fundamental role in the human life. Sleep research is mainly focused on the understanding of the sleep patterns, stages and duration. An accurate sleep monitoring can detect early signs of sleep deprivation and insomnia consequentially implementing mechanisms for preventing and overcoming these problems. Recently, sleep monitoring has been achieved using wearable technologies, able to analyse also the body movements, but old people can encounter some difficulties in using and maintaining these devices. In this paper, we propose an unobtrusive sensing platform able to analyze body movements, infer sleep duration and awakenings occurred along the night, and evaluating the sleep efficiency index. To prove the feasibility of the suggested method we did a pilot trial in which several healthy users have been involved. The sensors were installed within the bed and, on each day, each user was administered with the Groningen Sleep Quality Scale questionnaire to evaluate the user’s perceived sleep quality. Finally, we show potential correlation between a perceived evaluation with an objective index as the sleep efficiency.</p

GAUSSIAN MIXTURE MODELS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF WISC-IV DIMENSIONS: A MULTIVARIATE APPROACH TO IMPROVE THE ASSESSMENT OF INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV provides four indexes that analyze the intellectual functioning in specific cognitive fields and a full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) as a measure of the general cognitive ability. However, often the diagnostic process considers the FSIQ score only. This study exploits the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) as a statistical tool to analyze WISC-IV capability to support the diagnostic decision-making process in a multidimensional approach based on the joint evaluation of the four main indexes. The study was conducted on two groups of participants (10 and 12 years old with N=52 and N=47, respectively) with clinical diagnosis. In addition, N=50 observations were randomly generated from the distribution of the Italian reference populations referred to each age group. In both groups, GMM detected two components underlining different behaviors in central tendency, variability, and correlation. Comparison of GMM partitions with a supervised classification shows that group memberships are congruent

Bimodal buckling governs human fingers luxation

Equilibrium bifurcation in natural systems can sometimes be explained as a route to stress shielding for preventing failure. Although compressive buckling has been known for a long time, its less-intuitive tensile counterpart was only recently discovered and yet never identified in living structures or organisms. Through the analysis of an unprecedented all-in-one paradigm of elastic instability, it is theoretically and experimentally shown that coexistence of two curvatures in human finger joints is the result of an optimal design by nature that exploits both compressive and tensile buckling for inducing luxation in case of traumas, so realizing a unique mechanism for protecting tissues and preventing more severe damage under extreme loads. Our findings might pave the way to conceive complex architectured and bio-inspired materials, as well as next generation artificial joint prostheses and robotic arms for bio-engineering and healthcare applications

Bioengineered vascular scaffolds: the state of the art

To date, there is increasing clinical need for vascular substitutes due to accidents, malformations, and ischemic diseases. Over the years, many approaches have been developed to solve this problem, starting from autologous native vessels to artificial vascular grafts; unfortunately, none of these have provided the perfect vascular substitute. All have been burdened by various complications, including infection, thrombogenicity, calcification, foreign body reaction, lack of growth potential, late stenosis and occlusion from intimal hyperplasia, and pseudoaneurysm formation. In the last few years, vascular tissue engineering has emerged as one of the most promising approaches for producing mechanically competent vascular substitutes. Nanotechnologies have contributed their part, allowing extraordinarily biostable and biocompatible materials to be developed. Specifically, the use of electrospinning to manufacture conduits able to guarantee a stable flow of biological fluids and guide the formation of a new vessel has revolutionized the concept of the vascular substitute. The electrospinning technique allows extracellular matrix (ECM) to be mimicked with high fidelity, reproducing its porosity and complexity, and providing an environment suitable for cell growth. In the future, a better knowledge of ECM and the manufacture of new materials will allow us to "create" functional biological vessels - the base required to develop organ substitutes and eventually solve the problem of organ failure