New set of standards for the qualification of instruments towards extreme conditions

The present report aims to address the topic of robustness of instruments and equipment to extreme environmental conditions issue. We are interest to define standard test methods suitable to the specific activities of ENVRI RIs. In this sense, attention need to be devoted not only to commercial instruments, but also to technical solutions often adopted to adapt commercial and/or custom instruments to the extreme environmental conditions in which they will be deployed and will operate. In this report, for our scopes, the concept of extreme environment/conditions is always intended in a very broad sense. First two chapters are mainly devoted to provide a brief but exhaustive introduction about the concept of standards and actual landscape of international as well as national organizations, normative panorama and ongoing tendency arising from rapid technological transformation and global economy. We focus on technical standards, from definitions until description of the whole tailoring process needed to be implemented to carry on in a correct way standard test methods for ruggedness. About this process, Chapter 3 is devoted to describe the typical life cycle of instrumentation operated by RIs of different domains. Based on an analysis of technical standards available for robustness (chapter 4), four standards have been identified to provide necessary information and standard procedures for scope of ENVRI RIs. They are MIL-STD-810G, NF-X 10-812, IEC 60068 and IEC 60259 (IP code). These standards, briefly described in Chapter 4, are considering different environmental parameters and induced effects, providing for all of part of them standard test methods. They group test methods into categories, and, when necessary, include guidelines and suggestions on how to fix or control other environmental parameters affecting the results. For the scope of this Report, categories provided by selected standards have been revisited considering usual environmental conditions in which ENVRI RIs operate, determining a comprehensive list of 24 categories (environmental condition in which we are interested) spanning from cold to low pressure/altitude, from icing/freezing rain to immersion/temperature shock, from corrosion to sand and dust. Categories provided by single standards have been, sometimes merged into a broader category, when necessary retaining only some of proposed test methods. New categories and groups of test methods have been created with the scope to be more compact and suitable for ENVRI RIs and serve more than one environmental domain (Chapter 5). In addition to that, we provide recommendations, as well as illustrate an alternative approach for the most classical and expected harsh environment, polar regions (Chapter 7), and we also illustrate (Chapter 6) how resources and facilities for testing robustness and qualify instruments/systems are not only provided by the private sector, but also inside the ENVRI RIs community, sometimes also supported by EU. Finally, in chapter 8, the issue of implementing a dedicated service is addressed through a sustainable approach based on several steps

An iterative multifrequency approach in Lp spaces for multiscaling detection of buried objects

The electromagnetic detection of buried objects is addressed in this paper, where a three-loop iterative imaging technique is proposed. A quantitative solution of the nonlinear inverse scattering problem is obtained by integrating a multiscaling strategy with a multifrequency inexact-Newton technique formulated in Lp spaces. Numerical results, where ground penetrating radar measurements have been simulated by a finite-difference time-domain method with various levels of data noise, demonstrate the advantages of the proposed strategy

Rheological properties, biocompatibility and in vivo performance of new hydrogel-based bone fillers

reserved7Three different heterologous substitutes for bone regeneration, manufactured with equine-derived cortical powder (CP), cancellous chips (CC) and demineralized bone matrix granules (DBM), were compared in in vitro and in vivo settings. We tested: a commercially available bone paste (Osteoplant-Activagen™, consisting of aqueous collagenous carrier, CP, DBM; named A); a second-generation injectable paste (20 kDa polyethylene glycol/hydroxypropyl-methyl cellulose-based hydrogel, CP, DBM; B); a pre-formed bone filler (400 kDa polyethylene oxide/hydroxypropyl-methyl cellulose-based hydrogel, CP, CC, DBM; C). Vitamin C acted as a visco-modulator during C and B β-rays sterilization, modifying graft injectability. For each filler, we examined dissolution in culture medium, gene expression of the substitute-exposed osteogenically-induced human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSC), and performance in a rabbit bone defect model. A dissolved after 1 h, while fragmentation of B peaked after 8 h. C remained unaltered for 2 days, but affected the microenvironmental pH, slowing the proliferation of exposed cells. B-exposed hBMSC overexpressed bone sialoprotein, osteocalcin and RUNX2. For all fillers histological results evidenced bridged lesion margins, marrow replenishment and bone-remodeling. However, B-treated lesions displayed a metachromatic type II collagen-rich matrix with prehypertrophic-like cells, matching the in vitro expression of cartilage-specific markers, and suggesting a possible application of B/C double-layer monolithic osteochondral plugs for full-thickness articular defects.mixedGiannoni, Paolo; Villa, Federico; Cordazzo, Cinzia; Zardi, Luciano; Fattori, Paolo; Quarto, Rodolfo; Fiorini, MauroGiannoni, Paolo; Villa, Federico; Cordazzo, Cinzia; Zardi, Luciano; Fattori, Paolo; Quarto, Rodolfo; Fiorini, Maur

XXIX Convegno di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, Trento, 7-10 settembre 2004

Ventinovesima edizione di un evento che dal 1947, a cadenza biennale, costituisce un punto di riferimento a livello nazionale per gli studiosi e i professionisti delle discipline idrauliche. I lavori del convegno si sono articolati su quattro giornate, da martedì 7 a venerdì 10 settembre presso il Centro Servizi Santa Chiara di Trento - prevedendo seminari, conferenze e dibattiti su tematiche riguardanti le discipline idrauliche nella formazione universitaria, la previsione e il controllo del dissesto idrogeologico, i sistemi di protezione civile, gli ecosistemi fluviali, lo sviluppo sostenibile e la cooperazione con i Paesi in via di sviluppo. Negli anni il convegno è stato seguito da un numero sempre crescente di partecipanti e l'edizione trentina ha registrato un interesse ancora maggiore con 470 iscritti. Gli organizzatori hanno lanciato per quest'anno anche una nuova iniziativa, le master classes, sedute in cui studenti di dottorato e giovani ricercatori si confrontano, anche con contributi individuali, su temi di comune interesse nel settore dell'idraulica e delle costruzioni idrauliche. Le master classes offrono così ai giovani la possibilità di cimentarsi subito nel dibattito scientifico ad alto livello e di inserirsi così più rapidamente nella comunità di studiosi

An Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Depletion Event During Spring 2020 and its Impacts Across Europe

International audienceThe response of the ozone column across Europe to the extreme 2020 Arctic ozone depletion was examined by analysing ground-based observations at 38 European stations. The ozone decrease at the northernmost site, Ny-Ålesund (79°N) was about 43% with respect to a climatology of more than 30 years. The magnitude of the decrease declined by about 0.7 % deg-1 moving to south to reach nearly 15% at 40°N. In addition, it was found that the variations of the ozone column at each of the selected stations in March-May were similar to those observed at Ny-Ålesund but with a delay increasing to about 20 days at mid-latitudes with a gradient of approximately 0.5 days deg-1. The distributions of reconstructed ozone column anomalies over a sector covering a large European area show decreasing ozone that started from the north at the beginning of April 2020 and spread south. Such behaviour was shown to be similar to that observed after the Arctic ozone depletion in 2011. Stratospheric dynamical patterns in March to May 2011 and during 2020 suggested that the migration of ozone-poor air masses from polar areas to the south after the vortex breakup caused the observed ozone responses. A brief survey of the ozone mass mixing ratios at three stratospheric levels showed the exceptional strength of the 2020 episode. Despite the stronger and longer-lasting Arctic ozone loss in 2020, the analysis in this work indicates a similar ozone response at latitudes below 50°N to both 2011 and 2020 phenomena