Cut and Paste

AbstractThe paper develops Editor, a language for manipulating semistructured documents, such as those typically available on the Web. Editor programs are based on two simple ideas, taken from text editors: “search” instructions are used to select regions of interest in a document, and “cut & paste” instructions to restructure them. We study the expressive power and the complexity of these programs. We show that they are computationally complete, in the sense that any computable document restructuring can be expressed in Editor. We also study the complexity of a safe subclass of programs, showing that it captures exactly the class of polynomial-time restructurings. The language has been implemented in Java and is currently used in the Araneus project as a basis for a wrapper-generation toolkit

A new interpretation for null values in the weak instance model

AbstractA new definition of the weak instance model for relational databases is presented, which does not consider the missing values as existent though unknown, but just assumes that no information is available about them. It is possible to associate with the new definition logical theories that do not contain existentially quantified variables. The new model enjoys various desirable properties of the classic weak instance model, with respect to dependency satisfaction, query answering, and associated logical theories

laser powder bed fusion l pbf additive manufacturing on the correlation between design choices and process sustainability

Abstract The specific energy consumption of Additive Manufacturing (AM) unit processes for the production of metal parts could be much higher than that of more traditional manufacturing routes, such as machining. However, AM, due to its intrinsic process peculiarities, including the flexible realization of (almost) any kind of complex shape, has a great potential for improving the material use efficiency, with positive environmental impact benefits from the material production to the product use and disposal at the end of first life. Aim of this paper is to assess the role of the design choices on the environmental AM process sustainability. An integrated design methodology (accounting for the product re-design via topological optimization, the design of support structures, and the design of allowances and features for post-AM finishing operations) for components produced by means of laser powder bed fusion processes is considered. One resource (the cumulated energy demand) and one emission (carbon dioxide) are assumed as metrics for the impact assessment across the product life cycle. The results demonstrate the importance of a proper design for AM to improve the overall energy and emission saving potential

Dental Failure Analysis: The Need of a Comprehensive Failure Classification

For more than thirty percent of patients with implant-supported fixed dental prosthesis, various complications can be observed over five-years of function. In some cases, failure can be ascribed to mechanical reasons such as loosening of the retaining screws or fracture of the implant components. The paper evaluates three different failures of implant-supported prostheses. All cases were analyzed by optical and SEM microscopy to identify the failure modes and the possible failure causes. Improper design or errors in finishing operations or in assembly are identified as dental failure causes. A matrix classification is proposed to collect rupture cases of implant-supported prostheses

Enhancing the dimensional accuracy of a low-cost 3D printer

3D printing is widely used in the entertainment industry by filmmakers, effect studios and game designers to easily and fast fabricate characters or objects that are first virtually modelled through Computer Graphics. There are several commercial proposals in the field of low-cost 3D printers, with prices starting from a few hundred euros for kits that the users should assemble by themselves. However, their performances in terms of part accuracy are quite limited and are basically the consequence of a lack of optimization both in mechanical terms as in software. Starting from these considerations, an optimization project was assigned to the students of the Specializing Master in Industrial Automation of the Politecnico di Torino. The Master is developed in collaboration with COMAU S.p.a., a company worldwide leader in automation expecially for the automotive sector. The task of enhancing the performances of the 3D printer Prusa i3, that is supplied in the assembly box, was assigned to sixteen engineers attending the Master who were divided into 4 groups. The activities have led to the birth of four new 3D printers: Fluo, Ghost, Metallica and Print-Doh. In order to assess and validate the improvements, a benchmarking activity was carried out to evaluate the dimensional accuracy of the four printers. The benchmarking was based on the manufacturing of an innovative reference artifact whose geometrical features are designed to fit within different ISO basic sizes. Each group printed a replica of the reference part with their own new printer and then the replicas were measured by means of a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Measures were used to compare the performances of the four printers and the results of the benchmarking considers the dimensional accuracy of the replicas in terms of ISO IT grades, but also the form errors of the geometrical features through GD&T tolerances

On the Effect of Part Orientation on Stress Distribution in AlSi10Mg Specimens Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF)

Abstract The freedom of design of AM products suffers from some limitations in case of powder bed metal processes, because AM part's integrity is affected by the residual stress state that is a consequence of the thermal history during part fabrication. Aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of part orientation on stress distribution. Thus, flat samples of AlSi10Mg alloy built along different orientations are produced by means of laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process, also known as Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Then, the semi-destructive hole-drilling method is used to evaluate residual stresses beneath the surfaces of samples. The outcomes of the study can be exploited to define design rules in order to both minimize support structures and optimize the orientation of the part in the building volume

Managing polyglot systems metadata with hypergraphs

A single type of data store can hardly fulfill every end-user requirements in the NoSQL world. Therefore, polyglot systems use different types of NoSQL datastores in combination. However, the heterogeneity of the data storage models makes managing the metadata a complex task in such systems, with only a handful of research carried out to address this. In this paper, we propose a hypergraph-based approach for representing the catalog of metadata in a polyglot system. Taking an existing common programming interface to NoSQL systems, we extend and formalize it as hypergraphs for managing metadata. Then, we define design constraints and query transformation rules for three representative data store types. Furthermore, we propose a simple query rewriting algorithm using the catalog itself for these data store types and provide a prototype implementation. Finally, we show the feasibility of our approach on a use case of an existing polyglot system.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The Use of Self-replicated Parts for Improving the Design and the Accuracy of a Low-cost 3D Printer

Abstract Low-cost entry-level 3D printers suffer from reduced optimization, that is a consequence of development cost savings. A student challenge was used to modify four Prusa i3 machines with the aim of enhancing the design and performances by means of self-replicated parts. The challenge results were assessed through benchmarking of the four modified 3D printers, whose dimensional accuracy was evaluated by means of CMM measurements of 3D printed replicas of a reference part. The ISO IT grades related to the dimensional quality of the replicas were considered in the analysis of the CMM measures for the challenge assessment

Integrated sources of entangled photons at telecom wavelength in femtosecond-laser-written circuits

Photon entanglement is an important state of light that is at the basis of many protocols in photonic quantum technologies, from quantum computing, to simulation and sensing. The capability to generate entangled photons in integrated waveguide sources is particularly advantageous due to the enhanced stability and more efficient light-crystal interaction. Here we realize an integrated optical source of entangled degenerate photons at telecom wavelength, based on the hybrid interfacing of photonic circuits in different materials, all inscribed by femtosecond laser pulses. We show that our source, based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion, gives access to different classes of output states, allowing to switch from path-entangled to polarization-entangled states with net visibilities above 0.92 for all selected combinations of integrated devices