Modeling high-resolution climate change impacts on wheat and maize in Italy

Abstract The Mediterranean basin has been identified as a prominent hotspot of climate change, with expected negative impacts on crop productivity, among others. Given the primary role that agriculture has to sustain cultural values, economic opportunities, and food security, it is crucial to identify specific risks in agriculture due to climate change, which can address more effective adaptation strategies and policies to cope with climate change. This study aims to evaluate the high-resolution impacts of climate change on the length of the growing cycle and yield of durum wheat, common wheat, and maize in Italy by using the CERES-Wheat and CERES-Maize crop models implemented in the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) software. A digital platform (GIS-DSSAT) was developed to couple crop simulation models with dynamically downscaled climate projections at high resolution for Italy, which can better represent the Italian landscape complexity and the spatial distribution of different pedological and crop management features, providing more detailed information on the expected impacts on crops respect to previous studies at a coarser resolution. The projections have been extended for two climate change scenarios and accounting for uncertainty, either considering or not the potential direct effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]). Results show that climate change may affect Italian cereal production in the medium to long term periods. Maize is the main affected crop, with yield reductions homogeneously distributed from North to South Italy. Wheat yield is expected to decrease mainly in southern Italy, while northern Italy may benefit from higher precipitation regimes. Higher levels of atmospheric CO2 concentrations may partially offset the negative impact posed by climate change and increase the benefits in the northern regions, especially for common and durum wheat

Development of an Adaptive Model Predictive Control for Platooning Safety in Battery Electric Vehicles

The recent and continuous improvement in the transportation field provides several different opportunities for enhancing safety and comfort in passenger vehicles. In this context, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) might provide additional benefits, including smoothness of the traffic flow and collision avoidance. In addition, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication may be exploited in the car-following model to obtain further improvements in safety and comfort by guaranteeing fast response to critical events. In this paper, firstly an Adaptive Model Predictive Control was developed for managing the Cooperative ACC scenario of two vehicles; as a second step, the safety analysis during a cut-in maneuver was performed, extending the platooning vehicles’ number to four. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology was assessed for in different driving scenarios such as diverse cruising speeds, steep accelerations, and aggressive decelerations. Moreover, the controller was validated by considering various speed profiles of the leader vehicle, including a real drive cycle obtained using a random drive cycle generator software. Results demonstrated that the proposed control strategy was capable of ensuring safety in virtually all test cases and quickly responding to unexpected cut-in maneuvers. Indeed, different scenarios have been tested, including acceleration and deceleration phases at high speeds where the control strategy successfully avoided any collision and stabilized the vehicle platoon approximately 20–30 s after the sudden cut-in. Concerning the comfort, it was demonstrated that improvements were possible in the aggressive drive cycle whereas different scenarios were found in the random cycle, depending on where the cut-in maneuver occurred

SAR evaluation of wireless antenna on implanted cardiac pacemaker

For many people, a pacemaker represents something scary because it is related to heart disease. However, that is not the main purpose of this paper, the object of the article is the technical aspect of pacemakers, in particular, their calculation of specific absorption rate values, to which the pacemaker is exposed. A pacemaker generates electrical discharges that are transferred into the heart via a lead wire and electrodes. Authors focus on the impact of Wi-Fi signal antennas on a pacemaker. A dipole antenna working in the frequency range around 5 GHz is chosen as a source of electromagnetic radiation because this kind of antennas is relatively new and it is not widely used yet. Nevertheless, it represents a potential for the future. The experiment is performed through electromagnetic simulation software called CST Microwave Studio that provides tools for SAR calculation and it allows to visualise the scatter of the resulting SAR values around the pacemaker or human torso. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0089, ERDF, European Regional Development FundInternal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University [IGA/CebiaTech/2016/005]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [LO1303 (MSMT-7778/2014)]; European Regional Development Fund [CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0089

Conformation-based Molecular Memories for Nanoscale MemComputing

We investigate the use of endohedral fullerenes and 6-(Ferrocenyl)hexanethiol cation as molecular non-volatile memory devices. We demonstrate stable encoding of the information in the geometry and dipole moment of these molecules. The write operation can be performed with external programming electric fields that drive the switching of the molecule conformation. The read operation can be performed by reading the dipole moment through the generated electric fields. Moreover, the dipole moment encoding enables the integration of proposed memories with molecular Field-Coupled Nanocomputing logic. The capability to realize compatible and purely molecular memory and logic devices paves the way for molecular MemComputing, with new possibilities for nanoscale computing paradigms

Design of Pyrrole-Based Gate-Controlled Molecular Junctions Optimized for Single-Molecule Aflatoxin B1 Detection

Food contamination by aflatoxins is an urgent global issue due to its high level of toxicity and the difficulties in limiting the diffusion. Unfortunately, current detection techniques, which mainly use biosensing, prevent the pervasive monitoring of aflatoxins throughout the agri-food chain. In this work, we investigate, through ab initio atomistic calculations, a pyrrole-based Molecular Field Effect Transistor (MolFET) as a single-molecule sensor for the amperometric detection of aflatoxins. In particular, we theoretically explain the gate-tuned current modulation from a chemical–physical perspective, and we support our insights through simulations. In addition, this work demonstrates that, for the case under consideration, the use of a suitable gate voltage permits a considerable enhancement in the sensor performance. The gating effect raises the current modulation due to aflatoxin from 100% to more than 103÷104 %. In particular, the current is diminished by two orders of magnitude from the μA range to the nA range due to the presence of aflatoxin B1. Our work motivates future research efforts in miniaturized FET electrical detection for future pervasive electrical measurement of aflatoxins

Electronic Transport Study of Bistable Cr@C28 Single-Molecule Device for High-Density Data Storage Applications

We investigate through ab initio calculation the endohedral monometallofullerene Cr@C28 as a candidate for data storage applications. First, we study the encapsulation energy and the electronic properties of two stable states of the Cr@C28 - namely I-Cr@C28 and II-Cr@C28. Then, we address the adsorption of C28, I-Cr@C28, and II-Cr@C28 onto a gold substrate. Finally, by emulating a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) break-junction experimental setup, we analyze the STM-mediated transport characteristics for the most probable adsorption configurations. We find and discuss a significant and measurable current difference between the two stable states. This outcome enables the binary encoding of the information, making the proposed device promising as a single-molecule data storage element for future high-density integrated circuits

Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor: Impact of the Asymmetric and Symmetric Ambipolarity on Fault and Performance in Digital Circuits

Tunnel Field-Effect Transistors (TFETs) have been considered one of the most promising technologies to complement or replace CMOS for ultra-low-power applications, thanks to their subthreshold slope below the well-known limit of 60 mV/dec at room temperature holding for the MOSFET technologies. Nevertheless, TFET technology still suffers of ambipolar conduction, limiting its applicability in digital systems. In this work, we analyze through SPICE simulations, the impact of the symmetric and asymmetric ambipolarity in failure and power consumption for TFET-based complementary logic circuits. Our results clarify the circuit-level effects induced by the ambipolarity feature, demonstrating that it affects the correct functioning of logic gates and strongly impacts power consumption. We believe that our outcomes motivate further research towards technological solutions for ambipolarity suppression in TFET technology for near-future ultra-low-power application

A Review of Model Predictive Controls Applied to Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems

Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADASs) are currently gaining particular attention in the automotive field, as enablers for vehicle energy consumption, safety, and comfort enhancement. Compelling evidence is in fact provided by the variety of related studies that are to be found in the literature. Moreover, considering the actual technology readiness, larger opportunities might stem from the combination of ADASs and vehicle connectivity. Nevertheless, the definition of a suitable control system is not often trivial, especially when dealing with multiple-objective problems and dynamics complexity. In this scenario, even though diverse strategies are possible (e.g., Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy, Rule-based strategy, etc.), the Model Predictive Control (MPC) turned out to be among the most effective ones in fulfilling the aforementioned tasks. Hence, the proposed study is meant to produce a comprehensive review of MPCs applied to scenarios where ADASs are exploited and aims at providing the guidelines to select the appropriate strategy. More precisely, particular attention is paid to the prediction phase, the objective function formulation and the constraints. Subsequently, the interest is shifted to the combination of ADASs and vehicle connectivity to assess for how such information is handled by the MPC. The main results from the literature are presented and discussed, along with the integration of MPC in the optimal management of higher level connection and automation. Current gaps and challenges are addressed to, so as to possibly provide hints on future developments