Hybridisation of forklift trucks

In the past years, forklift manufacturers have started to hybridise their products under the worldwide interest toward electrification. This is generally made starting from existing standard products, and converting them into hybrid versions, rather than start from scratch and designing fully new vehicles. This approach involves several gaps from the inaccurate evaluation of the powertrain architecture and relative energy management strategy, up to a rough sizing of components. Therefore, this study suggests a structured methodology to follow, aimed to properly design hybrid forklift trucks. The first step is the analysis of the conventional working machine to hybridise, identifying one set of duty cycles. Then, the design of the new powertrain architecture, with a proper energy management strategy, and the definition of a numerical simulation model realised through a multiphysics object-oriented software package, to properly size the new powertrain components, and to verify energy and power flows. Finally, it is also presented a brief-cost–benefit analysis, as last verification of the proposed methodology, to verify the cost-effectiveness to bring the new products to the market. Results have shown the general feasibility of the operation since the significant reduction in fuel consumption is combined with sustainable costs of the new electrified components

Molecular biology meets Logic : context-sensitiveness in focus

Some real life processes, including molecular ones, are context-sensitive, in the sense that their outcome depends on side conditions that are most of the times difficult, or impossible, to express fully in advance. In this paper, we survey and discuss a logical account of context-sensitiveness in molecular processes, based on a kind of non-classical logic. This account also allows us to revisit the relationship between logic and philosophy of science (and philosophy of biology, in particular)

Coniugare ricerca e sviluppo professionale. Un percorso di formazione degli educatori nell’utilizzo dell’Easy to Read (ETR) Language

Il presente contributo descrive un’attività di sviluppo professionale realizzata presso il Dipartimento di Scienze della formazione dell’Università degli studi di Catania con educatori di associazioni del territorio catanese. L’attività è stata volta a far conoscere i principi dell’Easy to Read Language e a consentire una loro immediata applicazione nei contesti di lavoro degli educatori. Il percorso di formazione costituisce un output del progetto Erasmus Plus Accessible Information Material (AIM), finalizzato a favorire l’alfabetizzazione digitale delle persone adulte con disabilità intellettiva e/o con bassi livelli di alfabetizzazione. Il testo, introdotto da una breve presentazione del progetto, offre spunti di riflessione sull’importanza di utilizzare i risultati della ricerca per favorire lo sviluppo dei professionisti dell’educazione. This contribution describes a professional development activity carried out at the Department of Education of the University of Catania with educators from local associations. The activity was aimed at spreading the principles of Easy to Read Language and allowing their immediate application in the educational work. The training session constitutes an output of the Erasmus Plus Accessible Information Material project (AIM), aimed at promoting digital literacy of adults with intellectual disabilities and/or with low levels of literacy. The paper, introduced by a short presentation of the project, reflects on the importance of using research results to foster the development of professionals in education area

The CFD code karalis

Karalis is a paralle MPI, Finite-Volume, multiblock CFD code which solves the fully compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations where all couplings between dynamics and thermodynamics are allowed. This the most general mathematical model for all fluid flows. The code solves the coupled system of continuity, momentum and full energy equation for the velocity components, pressure and temperature. Once, u, v, w, p are and T are updated, arbitrary thermodynamics is supplied. The second order Roe’s upwind TVD scheme is used to compute convective fluxes through the Finite-Volume cell interfaces. A V-cycle Coarse Grid Correction Multi-Grid algorithm is used, together with a 5-stage Runge-Kutta explicit time-marching method, to accelerate convergence to a steady state. This formulation, typical of aerodynamic flows, shows an eccellent efficiency even for incompressible flows as well as for flows of incompressible fluids (typically buoyancy flows), once equipped with a preconditioner. Merkel’s preconditioner has been chosen because it can be easily formulated for arbitrary equations of state given as a functional relation of two independent thermodynamic variables (typically the pressure p and the temperature T), or even in tabular form, read in as an input file and used with bilinear interpolation. Karalis implement two among the most popular turbulence models, namely the one-equation model by Spalart and Allmaras and the two-equations model by Wilcox, the k-ω model, which allow a good compromise between accuracy, robustness and stability of turbulent calculations. Code validation is presented for some typical benchmark test cases of incompressible fluid dynamics. Comparison with solutions obtained with a few popular commercial CFD codes is also presented

YAP enhances the pro-proliferative transcriptional activity of mutant p53 proteins

Mutant p53 proteins are present in more than half of human cancers. Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a key transcriptional regulator controlling organ growth, tissue homeostasis, and cancer. Here, we report that these two determinants of human malignancy share common transcriptional signatures. YAP physically interacts with mutant p53 proteins in breast cancer cells and potentiates their pro-proliferative transcriptional activity. We found YAP as well as mutant p53 and the transcription factor NF-Y onto the regulatory regions of cyclin A, cyclin B, and CDK1 genes. Either mutant p53 or YAP depletion down-regulates cyclin A, cyclin B, and CDK1 gene expression and markedly slows the growth of diverse breast cancer cell lines. Pharmacologically induced cytoplasmic re-localization of YAP reduces the expression levels of cyclin A, cyclin B, and CDK1 genes both in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, primary breast cancers carrying p53 mutations and displaying high YAP activity exhibit higher expression levels of cyclin A, cyclin B, and CDK1 genes when compared to wt-p53 tumors

The Italian genome reflects the history of Europe and the Mediterranean basin

Recent scientific literature has highlighted the relevance of population genetic studies both for disease association mapping in admixed populations and for understanding the history of human migrations. Deeper insight into the history of the Italian population is critical for understanding the peopling of Europe. Because of its crucial position at the centre of the Mediterranean basin, the Italian peninsula has experienced a complex history of colonization and migration whose genetic signatures are still present in contemporary Italians. In this study, we investigated genomic variation in the Italian population using 2.5 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a sample of more than 300 unrelated Italian subjects with well-defined geographical origins. We combined several analytical approaches to interpret genome-wide data on 1272 individuals from European, Middle Eastern, and North African populations. We detected three major ancestral components contributing different proportions across the Italian peninsula, and signatures of continuous gene flow within Italy, which have produced remarkable genetic variability among contemporary Italians. In addition, we have extracted novel details about the Italian population's ancestry, identifying the genetic signatures of major historical events in Europe and the Mediterranean basin from the Neolithic (e.g., peopling of Sardinia) to recent times (e.g., ‘barbarian invasion' of Northern and Central Italy). These results are valuable for further genetic, epidemiological and forensic studies in Italy and in Europe

Thermophoresis of Brownian particles driven by coloured noise

The Brownian motion of microscopic particles is driven by the collisions with the molecules of the surrounding fluid. The noise associated with these collisions is not white, but coloured due, e.g., to the presence of hydrodynamic memory. The noise characteristic time scale is typically of the same order as the time over which the particle's kinetic energy is lost due to friction (inertial time scale). We demonstrate theoretically that, in the presence of a temperature gradient, the interplay between these two characteristic time scales can have measurable consequences on the particle long-time behaviour. Using homogenization theory, we analyse the infinitesimal generator of the stochastic differential equation describing the system in the limit where the two characteristic times are taken to zero; from this generator, we derive the thermophoretic transport coefficient, which, we find, can vary in both magnitude and sign, as observed in experiments. Furthermore, studying the long-term stationary particle distribution, we show that particles can accumulate towards the colder (positive thermophoresis) or the warmer (negative thermophoresis) regions depending on the dependence of their physical parameters and, in particular, their mobility on the temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Innovative usage and application-oriented simulation of veneer based hybrid materials in vehicle structures

Based in a builing kit approach, a wood-based generic floor structur for vehicles was developped. A methodology to simulate veneer-based engineered woods was developped. Comparison between the results from quasi-static impact with a pole and the respectively simulation shows good results. Thus validating the methodology used