Assessment of required torque and power by-big square baler during the wrapping and baling process

The big square baler is an operating machine that performs the harvesting of hay and crop residues (straw) and the wrapping and baling process of big prismatic bales. The main operating organs of the machine are: i) the harvesting head; ii) the feeder; iii) the compression chamber and iv) the binding apparatus. The required power by the HD1270 big square baler, manufactured by Cicoria in Palazzo San Gervasio (near Potenza, Italy) has been studied. This big baler HD1270 is equipped with specially designed and manufactured devices aimed at reducing the costs of wrapping and baling. Practically these devices are the “Leverage Piston System”, the “Top Feeding System” and the “Controlled Binding System”, which manage, respectively, the motion of the piston, the feeding of the product and the binding operations. According to the manufacturer's technical specifications, these devices allow minimum required power from the tractor down to only 60 kW. Using an ad hoc high precision torque meter and tachometer, mounted between the tractor power take-off (PTO) and the cardan shaft connecting the HD 1270 big baler, the required torque values and power during the straw wrapping and baling process were measured and recorded. The tests were repeated considering different operating conditions. The obtained results were statistically evaluated in the time domain and clearly showed that the effective required power complies with technical specifications. The variability in stress could induce fatigue phenomena in the components that make up the piston motion transmission chain, with a reduction in their useful life

Splenomegaly impacts prognosis in essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera: A single center study

Splenomegaly is one of the major clinical manifestations of primary myelofibrosis and is common also in other chronic Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms, causing symptoms and signs and affecting quality of life of patients diagnosed with these diseases. We aimed to study the impact that such alteration has on thrombotic risk and on the survival of patients with essential thrombocythemia and patients with Polycythemia Vera (PV). We studied the relationship between splenomegaly (and its grade), thrombosis and survival in 238 patients with et and 165 patients with PV followed at our center between January 1997 and May 2019

Speeding up critical system dynamics through optimized evolution

The number of defects which are generated on crossing a quantum phase transition can be minimized by choosing properly designed time-dependent pulses. In this work we determine what are the ultimate limits of this optimization. We discuss under which conditions the production of defects across the phase transition is vanishing small. Furthermore we show that the minimum time required to enter this regime is $T\sim \pi/\Delta$, where $\Delta$ is the minimum spectral gap, unveiling an intimate connection between an optimized unitary dynamics and the intrinsic measure of the Hilbert space for pure states. Surprisingly, the dynamics is non-adiabatic, this result can be understood by assuming a simple two-level dynamics for the many-body system. Finally we classify the possible dynamical regimes in terms of the action $s=T\Delta$.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Micro-beam and pulsed laser beam techniques for the micro-fabrication of diamond surface and bulk structures

Micro-fabrication in diamond is involved in a wide set of emerging technologies, exploiting the exceptional characteristics of diamond for application in bio-physics, photonics, radiation detection. Micro ion-beam irradiation and pulsed laser irradiation are complementary techniques, which permit the implementation of complex geometries, by modification and functionalization of surface and/or bulk material, modifying the optical, electrical and mechanical characteristics of the material. In this article we summarize the work done in Florence (Italy) concerning ion beam and pulsed laser beam micro-fabrication in diamond.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Report on advances for pediatricians in 2018: allergy, cardiology, critical care, endocrinology, hereditary metabolic diseases, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, neonatology, nutrition, respiratory tract disorders and surgery.

This review reported notable advances in pediatrics that have been published in 2018. We have highlighted progresses in allergy, cardiology, critical care, endocrinology, hereditary metabolic diseases, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, neonatology, nutrition, respiratory tract disorders and surgery. Many studies have informed on epidemiologic observations. Promising outcomes in prevention, diagnosis and treatment have been reported. We think that advances realized in 2018 can now be utilized to ameliorate patient car

Valence-bond states in dynamical Jahn-Teller molecular systems

We discuss a hopping model of electrons between idealized molecular sites with local orbital degeneracy and dynamical Jahn-Teller effect, for crystal field environments of sufficiently high symmetry. For the Mott-insulating case (one electron per site and large Coulomb repulsions), in the simplest two-fold degenerate situation, we are led to consider a particular exchange hamiltonian, describing two isotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg problems coupled by a quartic term on equivalent bonds. This twin-exchange hamiltonian applies to a physical regime in which the inter-orbital singlet is the lowest-energy intermediate state available for hopping. This regime is favored by a relatively strong electron-phonon coupling. Using variational arguments, a large-N limit, and exact diagonalization data, we find that the ground state, in the one dimensional case, is a solid valence bond state. The situation in the two dimensional case is less clear. Finally, the behavior of the system upon hole doping is studied in one dimension.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Analytical expressions for the charge-charge local-field factor and the exchange-correlation kernel of a two-dimensional electron gas

We present an analytical expression for the static many-body local field factor $G_{+}(q)$ of a homogeneous two-dimensional electron gas, which reproduces Diffusion Monte Carlo data and embodies the exact asymptotic behaviors at both small and large wave number $q$. This allows us to also provide a closed-form expression for the exchange and correlation kernel $K_{xc}(r)$, which represents a key input for density functional studies of inhomogeneous systems.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The theory of vibrational wave movement in drying grain mixture

This paper outlines a theory that involves the vibrational wave transportation of bulk grain during the course of passing that grain under an infrared radiation source, in a working thermal radiation drying chamber, and using a vibrational wave transporter belt that has been developed by the authors of this paper. The main outstanding feature of the proposed design is the presence of mechanical off-centre vibration drives which generate the vibration in the working rollers at a preset amplitude and frequency, thereby generating a mechanical wave on the surface of the flexible transporter belt which ensures the movement of bulk grain along the processing zone which itself is being subjected to infrared radiation. A calculation method was developed for the oscillation system that is used in conjunction with the vibrational transportation of the grain mass, in order to be able to determine the forces that may be present in the vibrational system and to prepare the differential calculations for the movement of the vibrational drive’s actuators, utilising for this purpose Type II Lagrange equations. The solving of the aforementioned integral equations on a PC yielded a number of graphical dependencies in terms of kinetic and dynamic parameters for the vibrational system described above; the analysis of those dependencies provided a rational structural, along with kinetic and dynamic indicators. According to the results that were taken from theoretical and experimental studies on the functioning of the developed infrared grain dryer combined with a vibrational exciter, stable movement for its working roller takes place if the angular velocity of a drive shaft is changed within the range of between 50–80 rads-1, whereas the amplitude of the indicated oscillations falls within the range of 3.0–4.0 mm. It has been discovered that a rational speed when transporting soy seeds during infrared drying falls between the range of between 0.15–0.60 cm·s-1, whereas the amplitude of the indicated oscillations falls within the range of 3.0–4.0 mm. An increase of this parameter within the stated limits increases the time that it takes to achieve the stage in which a constant drying soy speed is reached by more than 2.5 times (from 205 seconds to 520 seconds), stabilising the figure at a level of 520 seconds, which makes it possible to recommend a range of transport speeds of between 0.15–0.40 cm·s-1 under infrared radiation for the seeds in order to achieve the required moisture content with a single pass of the produce on the wave transporter. With that in mind, the power consumption levels for the vibrational exciter do not exceed 50W, while the angular velocity of the drive shaft’s rotation falls within the range of between 100– 120 rads-1 . The results of the experimental study that has been conducted indicated that a rational transportation speed for the soy seeds on the wave transporter under infrared radiation is between 0.15–0.40 cm·s-1