Study of an onboard wired-wireless health monitoring system equipped with power save algorithm for freight railway wagons

Goods transport is an essential factor for the European market for its significant contribution to economic growth and thus to the creation of new employment. Nowadays, approximately 75% of goods are transported by road within the European Union. The use of more efficient and sustainable modes of transportation, such as rail transport and inland waterways, would reduce oil imports and pollution abatement. The growth of rail goods transport must be accompanied by an increasing introduction of tools and technologies that make possible to constantly monitor the European rolling stock. The introduction of monitoring technologies that allow to constantly know the status of the wagon would bring real and concrete benefits to the world of rail transport enabling to optimize the maintenance of rolling stock thus reducing costs but ensuring at the same time a maximization of the safety. Currently, the only information available are provided by the equipment installed along the railway network, separated by tens of kilometers. However, to identify and intervene on an incipient failure, it is necessary to have continuous monitoring and a communication system that can warn the train conductor and the maintenance staff of wagon’s owners. A good monitoring system has to be: cheap, energy autonomous, wireless and reliable. Currently monitoring systems can be divided into two large groups. The former are those developed by universities or research centres within projects financed by third parties, while the latter are monitoring systems developed individually by companies operating in the logistics sector. In light of the existing research projects and products already available on the market, the following thesis work aims to develop a monitoring system demonstrator dedicated to freight wagons that can demonstrate the effectiveness of these devices. The results of preliminary literature and market analyses served as the base for the realization of a first wired demonstrator. All the subsystems of the first demonstrator were long tested in laboratory in order to guarantee the maximum reliability of the device and maximum repeatability of the recorded data. The parameters monitored were the pressures of the pneumatic braking system, the temperature of the cast-iron brake blocks and the dynamics of the body frame. The second demonstrator developed was significantly more complex. In fact, it consists of two wireless units: a base station which represents the further development of the first demonstrator and a completely new axle box node monitoring system. From the analysis of the brake block temperature data two fundamental aspects emerge. The first is the need and importance of maintaining the braking system always in good conditions, doing maintenance in line with the regulations. The second is related to the adoption of new brake blocks in synthetic material. In fact, in addition to the complete review of the brake system as prescribed by the regulation, also the material of the wheelsets must be suitable for the use of new type of brake blocks. Another aspect subject to monitoring in this work is the vibration monitoring. Vibrations of particular interest for freight wagon monitoring are those along the vertical axis and the longitudinal axis. The accelerations along the vertical axis in fact describe the stability of the vehicle and its interaction with the rails. Vertical acceleration is a parameter that allows to determine if the wagon is traveling safely or not. In fact, this parameter makes it possible to identify a possible derailment, if the acceleration level recorded is anomalous. The longitudinal acceleration is a parameter monitored by all the railway monitoring devices present on the market. It is important to know the longitudinal accelerometric levels both in the phases of train composition and during the braking operations in order to identify possible incorrect behaviour. The second demonstrator allowed to monitor the external temperature of the axle box cover and verified the correct behaviour of bearings. The most important result of the second demonstrator was the creation of a wireless network that makes it possible to monitor any quantities without invasive wiring. The creation of a wireless network has also required the development of power saving algorithms for the reduction of energy consumption in order to obtain the maximum operating time. In both prototypes developed, the monitored parameters were very numerous and were sampled with a very high frequency, especially those related to temperatures and pressures. This is a typical feature of the demonstrators. Instead, in order to monitor and study the phenomena related to the dynamics of the wagon it is necessary a sampling frequency as the one adopted. The developed prototypes, even if marked by a strong manual activity, have shown a very high reliability. Monitoring all these parameters for such a long distance led to the creation of a large database. Generally, only large industrial groups can boast such prolonged tests. The prototypes made, thanks to their hardware and software effectiveness, were the basis for the most complex monitoring system that we have set ourselves to achieve with the SWAM Rail project. In conclusion, the project carried out in these three years has therefore obtained as results the realization of demonstrators of monitoring devices, the collection of data that would allow to understand and study the operation of a wagon in optimal maintenance conditions, the development of thermal models and the identification of threshold parameters for delimiting conditions of normal operation by fault conditions

Conservation and Management of Agricultural Landscapes through Expert-Supported Participatory Processes: The “Declarations of Public Interest” in an Italian Province

The adoption of the European Landscape Convention by the member states of the Council of Europe emphasized the importance of raising awareness of, promoting and educating local communities in, and fostering the activism of all European citizens in the process of transforming the European landscape. The work carried out by the Landscape Observatory for Montferrat and Astigiano was to raise awareness in local communities regarding landscape protection processes that those communities could steer, as required by the Code of the Cultural and Landscape Heritage of the Italian State (2004). Consequently, for the first time, a participatory model was established in the province of Asti and the Piedmont region in Italy to support the community-driven requests for a special protection decree for some targeted areas. In this paper, the process and novel multisource methodology used for the two pilot cases are reported, where the landscape values to be protected were identified through local community involvement. Supported by the Landscape Observatory and experts, the broad participation allowed their recognition of Public Interest. These recognitions are relevant because they rely on a shared perspective of populations for the self-management of their landscapes. They represent an operational model for other local communities in the Council of Europe countries

Simulation of the Thermal Behavior of Cast Iron Brake Block during Braking Maneuvers

In recent years, the interest in monitoring the operating conditions of freight wagons has grown significantly to improve the safety of railway vehicles. The railway research group of the Politecnico di Torino has been working for years on the development of solutions to effectively monitor the operating conditions of passenger and freight rail vehicles. As part of the national Cluster ITS Italy 2020 project funded by Italian ministry of education, university and research (MIUR), the Politecnico di Torino has collected a considerable amount of data thanks to the wired and wireless prototypes developed. The data obtained are used in this paper for the validation and calibration of a finite element (FE) model that simulates the temperature variation of a cast iron brake block due to braking operations of an intermodal freight wagon. The developed model can be a useful tool to predict the temperature at the wheel–shoe interface as a function of the current operating conditions since a direct measurement is not easy to perform

Urban Green Development and Resilient Cities: A First Insight into Urban Forest Planning in Italy

The research proposes an application of a modification of the 3–30–300 rule to identify areas that require Urban Forestry implementation in small and medium-sized Roman and/or medieval urban areas. The selected case study is that of Asti in Piedmont, Italy. An open source, cross-platform desktop geographic information system is used to process geospatial datasets via qualitative analyses of electoral sections (or wards). An analysis of the number and distribution of trees around each building is performed, in addition to the calculation of tree canopy cover and distance between buildings and green spaces. Findings reveal that 64 out of 70 wards have an average of at least three trees per building and sufficient green areas of at least 0.5 hectares within 300 m of the buildings. Additionally, the tree canopy cover ranges from approximately 0.6% (lowest) to about 55% (highest) for the electoral sections. Lastly, findings suggest that the highly built-up urban fabric in these areas may significantly affect the availability and quality of green spaces. In conclusion, the case study proves the benefits of applying the 3–30–300 rule to small and medium-sized urban areas using an integrated assessment approach based on nature-based solutions and ecosystem services

Desarrollo de módulos para la obtención de información de switches Cisco y presentación en dashboard

En la actualidad, la tecnología forma parte de nuestro día a día. Esto es aún más cierto para las empresas, que deben disponer de una infraestructura tecnológica funcional y eficaz para llevar a cabo las tareas diarias con éxito. La dificultad que conlleva gestionar estos aspectos ha propiciado la creación de empresas de servicios profesionales que se dedican a administrar las infraestructuras TI (Tecnologías de la Información) de otras entidades. Esto permite a quienes les confían esta tarea reducir costes en sus departamentos TI y la tranquilidad de dejar en manos de expertos este trabajo. El trabajo fin de grado (TFG) aquí presentado se ha llevado a cabo en la empresa aragonesa Nologin Consulting S.L., siendo uno de sus servicios la gestión y administración de infraestructuras tecnológicas. El trabajo desarrollado se enmarca en su proyecto “Work On Data”, diseñado para mejorar la calidad de los servicios gestionados de los clientes, y cuya función principal consiste en el desarrollo de un producto de administración remota que permite la obtención de información de forma automática de los sistemas administrados. Dicho producto se materializa en un portal web (www.workondata.com), donde los clientes disponen de varios dashboard en los que se presenta información sobre sus “assets”, es decir, los elementos gestionados. Work On Data constituye pues una novedosa herramienta personalizada basada en el desarrollo de módulos específicos para cada tipo de asset que se desea gestionar. Por lo tanto, se requiere una gran inversión de tiempo y esfuerzo para generar suficientes módulos lo cual permita gestionar el máximo número de assets. El objetivo de este TFG ha sido el de colaborar en su proyecto mediante el desarrollo del módulo de conocimiento para los switches CiscoCatalyst (producidos por la empresa norteamericana Cisco Systems). Es decir, de la implementación de las herramientas que permiten obtener información sobre assets CiscoCatalyst, y de la presentación en el portal web de los datos obtenidos, de forma coherente con el resto de los módulos ya existentes y operativos. Se ha usado como apoyo para ello el trabajo ya desarrollado hasta el momento y la infraestructura existente

A comparative analysis of a disposable and a reusable pedicle screw instrument kit for lumbar arthrodesis: integrating HTA and MCDA

Objective: Lumbar arthrodesis is a common surgical technique that consists of the fixation of one or more motion segments with pedicle screws and rods. However, spinal surgery using these techniques is expensive and has a significant impact on the budgets of hospitals and Healthcare Systems. While reusable and disposable instruments for laparoscopic interventions have been studied in literature, no specific information exists regarding instrument kits for lumbar arthrodesis. The aim of the present study was to perform a complete health technology assessment comparing a disposable instrument kit for lumbar arthrodesis (innovative device) with the standard reusable instrument. Methods: A prospective and observational study was implemented, by means of investigation of administrative records of patients undergoing a lumbar arthrodesis surgical procedure. The evaluation was conducted in 2013, over a 12- month time horizon, considering all the procedures carried out using the two technologies. A complete health technology assessment and a multi-criteria decision analysis approach were implemented in order to compare the two alternative technologies. Economic impact (with the implementation of an activity based costing approach), social, ethical, organisational, and technology-related aspects were taken into account. Results: Although the cost analysis produced similar results in the comparison of the two technologies (total cost equal to € 4,279.1 and € 4,242.6 for reusable instrument kit and the disposable one respectively), a significant difference between the two instrument kits was noted, in particular concerning the organisational impact and the patient safety. Conclusions: The replacement of a reusable instrument kit for lumbar arthrodesis, with a disposable one, could improve the management of this kind of devices in hospital settings

Preceding anti-spike IgG levels predicted risk and severity of COVID-19 during the Omicron-dominant wave in Santa Fe city, Argentina

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has increased infectivity and immune escape compared with previous variants, and caused the surge of massive COVID-19 waves globally. Despite a vast majority (~90%) of the population of Santa Fe city, Argentina had been vaccinated and/or had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 when Omicron emerged, the epidemic wave that followed its arrival was by far the largest one experienced in the city. A serosurvey conducted prior to the arrival of Omicron allowed to assess the acquired humoral defences preceding the wave and to conduct a longitudinal study to provide individual-level real-world data linking antibody levels and protection against COVID-19 during the wave. A very large proportion of 1455 sampled individuals had immunological memory against COVID-19 at the arrival of Omicron (almost 90%), and about half (48.9%) had high anti-spike immunoglobulin G levels (>200 UI/ml). However, the antibody titres varied greatly among the participants, and such variability depended mainly on the vaccine platform received, on having had COVID-19 previously and on the number of days elapsed since last antigen exposure (vaccine shot or natural infection). A follow-up of 514 participants provided real-world evidence of antibody-mediated protection against COVID-19 during a period of high risk of exposure to an immune-escaping highly transmissible variant. Pre-wave antibody titres were strongly negatively associated with COVID-19 incidence and severity of symptoms during the wave. Also, receiving a vaccine shot during the follow-up period reduced the COVID-19 risk drastically (15-fold). These results highlight the importance of maintaining high defences through vaccination at times of high risk of exposure to immune-escaping variants.Fil: Eberhardt, María Ayelen Teresita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Simoncini, Melina Soledad. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Piña, Carlos Ignacio. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Galoppo, Germán Hugo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Parachu Marco, Maria Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Racca, Andrea Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Arce, Sofía Irene. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Viotto, Evangelina del Valle. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Facelli Fernández, Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Valli, Florencia Elizabeth. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Botto, Cecilia Cristina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Scarpa, Leonardo Javier. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Junges, Celina Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Palavecino, Cintia Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Beccaría, Camila. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Sklar, Diego Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Mingo, Graciela Laura. Universidad Nacional de Entre Rios. Instituto de Estudios Sociales. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Estudios Sociales.; ArgentinaFil: Genolet, Alicia Susana Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional de Entre Rios. Instituto de Estudios Sociales. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Estudios Sociales.; ArgentinaFil: Muñoz de Toro, Monica Milagros. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Aimar, Hugo Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Marignac, Veronica Lucrecia. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Bossio, Juan Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias ‘Dr Emilio Coni’; ArgentinaFil: Armando, Gustavo. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias ‘Dr Emilio Coni’; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, Hugo. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias ‘Dr Emilio Coni’; ArgentinaFil: Beldomenico, Pablo Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral; Argentin

Potential theory results for a class of PDOs admitting a global fundamental solution

We outline several results of Potential Theory for a class of linear par-tial differential operators L of the second order in divergence form. Under essentially the sole assumption of hypoellipticity, we present a non-invariant homogeneous Harnack inequality for L; under different geometrical assumptions on L (mainly, under global doubling/Poincar\ue9 assumptions), it is described how to obtainan invariant, non-homogeneous Harnack inequality. When L is equipped with a global fundamental solution \u393, further Potential Theory results are available (such as the Strong Maximum Principle). We present some assumptions on L ensuring that such a \u393 exists