origami inspired smart building skin

We propose the design of an environment-responsive, deployable origami-inspired structure to be used as a smart building skin. The folding structure is composed by rigid panels connected to each other through hinge-like connectors. The overall degree of openness of the whole structure is adjusted in response to variations of environmental parameters like lighting and temperature, recorded by a network of embedded sensors. The geometry and kinematics of the origami are selected so as the deployment of each module can be induced at some key points that only slide along a linear axis; in this way, electric motors with a positional control logic can prove efficient. By properly tuning the properties of each panel mounted on the frames, the proposed solution can be adopted as a shading or light refraction system, thus improving the comfort of the building interiors. Through digital prototyping and small-scale models, the effectiveness of the proposed solution is assessed. Some site-specific applications are finally discussed from the self-sensing, self-actuation and self-powering viewpoints

All’ombra del mago astuto W.B. Yeats

In 1949 Giorgio Manganelli published his first review of W.B. Yeats’s poetry in «La Fiera Letteraria». It was an impressive and enthusiastic appreciation of Yeats as the most intelligent and interesting poet among his contemporaries. In addition there was a very fine Italian translation of <em>Sailing to Byzantium</em> – at that time Manganelli himself was a young poet under the influence of the Symbolist Movement. In the late 1940s he had translated into Italian about 80 poems by Yeats, and was eager to publish them together with some of the Irish poet’s plays, but he was utterly disappointed. For the first time, here are published three typewritten letters to Manganelli’s friend, Oreste Macrì, in which he describes his attempts to publish his translations with Guanda and other companies. Also there are some interesting holographic pages from his cahier «9 aprile 1954-19 gennaio 1956/Roma», in which he discusses Yeats’s early poems with subtle critical acumen

La tradizione orale della poesia somala

Recensione dell'antologia di poesie somale a cura di Francesco Antinucci e Axmed Faarax Cali 'Idaajaa', "Poesia orale somala: storia di una nazione", apparsa nel 1987 sul quotidiano Il Manifesto.Tacliiq ku saabsan diiwaanka maansada soomaaliyeed oo isku soo duway Francesco Antinucci iyo Axmed Faarax Cali "Idaajaa", oo lagu soo bandhigay wargayska "Il Manifesto" sannadka 1987.Book review of an anthology of Somali poems edited by Francesco Antinucci and Axmed Faarax Cali 'Idaajaa', "Poesia orale somala: storia di una nazione", featured in 1987 in the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto

Analysis of the Effects of Catalytic Converter on Automotive Engines Performance Through Real-Time Simulation Models

Today restrictions on pollutant emissions require the use of catalyst-based after-treatment systems as a standard both in SI and in Diesel engines. The application of monolith cores with a honeycomb structure is an established practice: however, to overcome drawbacks such as weak mass transfer from the bulk flow to the catalytic walls as well as poor flow homogenization, the use of ceramic foams has been recently investigated as an alternative showing better conversion efficiencies (even accepting higher flow through losses). The scope of this paper is to analyse the effects of foam substrates characteristics on engine performance. To this purpose a 0D “crank-angle” real-time mathematical model of an I.C. Engine developed by the authors has been enhanced improving the heat exchange model of the exhaust manifold to take account of thermal transients and adding an original 0D model of the catalytic converter to describe mass flows and thermal processes. The model has been used to simulate a 1.6l turbocharged Diesel engine during a driving cycle (EUDC). Effects of honeycomb and foam substrates on fuel consumption and on variations of catalyst temperatures and pressures are compared in the paper

Self-adaptive Multi-purpose Modular Origami Structure

A research line in architecture and interior design has been focused for years on the selection of materials with properties specifically tailored for light, thermal and acoustic comforts. An adaptive origami-based structure is here proposed in order to overcome the limited capability of a single material to adjust its response to environmental changes. Such structure is highly flexible, with applications ranging from indoor to outdoor environments. We focus on building facades, to show some results relevant to a small-scale prototype aimed to provide shading to the sunlight