Confirmation of the topology of the Wendelstein 7-X magnetic field to better than 1:100,000

Fusion energy research has in the past 40 years focused primarily on the tokamak concept, but recent advances in plasma theory and computational power have led to renewed interest in stellarators. The largest and most sophisticated stellarator in the world, Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), has just started operation, with the aim to show that the earlier weaknesses of this concept have been addressed successfully, and that the intrinsic advantages of the concept persist, also at plasma parameters approaching those of a future fusion power plant. Here we show the first physics results, obtained before plasma operation: that the carefully tailored topology of nested magnetic surfaces needed for good confinement is realized, and that the measured deviations are smaller than one part in 100,000. This is a significant step forward in stellarator research, since it shows that the complicated and delicate magnetic topology can be created and verified with the required accuracy

Experimental comparison of dynamic tracking performanceof iGPS and laser tracker

External metrology systems are increasingly being integrated with traditional industrial articulated robots, especially in the aerospace industries, to improve their absolute accuracy for precision operations such as drilling, machining and jigless assembly. While currently most of the metrology assisted robotics control systems are limited in their position update rate, such that the robot has to be stopped in order to receive a metrology coordinate update, some recent efforts are addressed toward controlling robots using real-time metrology data. The indoor GPS is one of the metrology systems that may be used to provide real-time 6DOF data to a robot controller. Even if there is a noteworthy literature dealing with the evaluation of iGPS performance, there is, however, a lack of literature on how well the iGPS performs under dynamic conditions. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the dynamic measurement performance of the iGPS, tracking the trajectories of an industrial robot. The same experiment is also repeated using a laser tracker. Besides the experiment results presented, this paper also proposes a novel method for dynamic repeatability comparisons of tracking instrument

Cooperative diagnostics for distributed LSDM systems based on triangulation

In the field of large-scale dimensional metrology (LSDM), new distributed systems based on different technologies have blossomed over the last decade. They generally include (i) some targets to be localized and (ii) a network of portable devices, distributed around the object to be measured, which is often bulky and difficult to handle. The objective of this paper is to present some diagnostic tests for those distributed LSDM systems that perform the target localization by triangulation. Three are the tests presented: two global tests to detect the presence of potential anomalies in the system during measurements, and one local test aimed at isolating any faulty network device(s). This kind of diagnostics is based on the cooperation of different network devices that merge their local observations, not only for target localization, but also for detecting potential measurement anomalies. Tests can be implemented in real-time, without interrupting or slowing down the measurement process. After a detailed description of the tests, we present some practical applications on MSCMS-II, a distributed LSDM system based on infrared photogrammetric technology, recently developed at DIGEP-Politecnico di Torino

Flexible aggregation operators to support hierarchization of Engineering Characteristics in QFD

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a management tool for organizing and conducting design activities of new products and/or services together with their relevant production and/or supply processes, starting from the requirements directly expressed by the end-users. It is organized in a series of operative steps which drive from the collection of the customer needs to the definition of the technical characteristics of the production/supply processes. The first step entails the construction of the House of Quality (HoQ), a planning matrix translating the Customer Requirements (CRs) into measurable product/service technical characteristics (Engineering Characteristics – ECs). One of the main goals of this step is to transform CR importances into an EC prioritization. A robust evaluation method should consider the relationships between CRs and ECs while determining the importance levels of ECs in the HoQ. In traditional approaches, such as for example Independent Scoring Method, ordinal information is arbitrarily converted in cardinal information introducing a series of controversial assumptions. Actually, the current scientific literature presents a number of possible solutions to this problem, but the question of attributing scalar properties to information collected on ordinal scales is far from being settled. This paper proposes a method based on ME-MCDM techniques (Multi Expert / Multiple Criteria Decision Making), which is able to compute EC prioritization without operating an artificial numerical codification of the information contained in the HoQ. After a general description of the theoretical principles of the method, a series of application examples are presented and discussed

Prevention and therapy of leg ischaemia in extracorporeal life support and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with peripheral cannulation.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and extracorporeal life support (ECLS) have been around for a long time, but it is only in recent years, with the advent of acute respiratory distress syndrome consecutive to influenza A (H1N1) infection, that these life-saving technologies have seen a broader application. Although the results of ECLS and ECMO are perceived as generally encouraging, there are still disturbing complications related to peripheral cannulation in general and, more specifically, to cannulation in the groin. The present review was designed to assess the magnitude of this latter problem, i.e. leg ischaemia related to ECLS and ECMO, in the literature and to identify strategies for possible therapies and, more importantly, prevention. The search strategy selected identified seven original articles with more than twenty patients, totalling 407 patients who underwent veno-arterial ECMO, and one large review dealing with all kinds of complications. For the original reports, the number of cases with veno-arterial support ranged from 21 to 143, with, as far as available, frequency of ischaemic complications between 11% and 52%, a reported range of surgical intervention between 9% and 22%, and a leg amputation rate from 2% to 10%. It appears that the number of reports dealing with lower extremity ischaemia during ECMO increases in parallel with the number of reports about ECMO. Strategies for early detection of peripheral ischaemia, interventions for efficient reperfusion, and measures for prevention including new concepts with smaller and eventually bidirectional arterial cannulas are discussed

Remote monitoring and telemedicine in heart failure: implementation and benefits

Purpose of review: Remote monitoring (RM) of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) is recommended as part of the individualized multidisciplinary follow-up of heart failure (HF) patients. Aim of this article is to critically review recent findings on RM, highlighting potential benefits and barriers to its implementation. Recent findings: Device-based RM is useful in the early detection of CIEDs technical issues and cardiac arrhythmias. Moreover, RM allows the continuous monitoring of several patients' clinical parameters associated with impending HF decompensation, but there is still uncertainty regarding its effectiveness in reducing mortality and hospitalizations. Summary: Implementation of RM strategies, together with a proactive physicians' attitude towards clinical actions in response to RM data reception, will make RM a more valuable tool, potentially leading to better outcomes

MScMS-II: an innovative IR-based indoor coordinate measuring system for large-scale metrology applications

According to the current great interest concerning large-scale metrology applications in many different fields of manufacturing industry, technologies and techniques for dimensional measurement have recently shown a substantial improvement. Ease-of-use, logistic and economic issues, as well as metrological performance are assuming a more and more important role among system requirements. This paper describes the architecture and the working principles of a novel infrared (IR) optical-based system, designed to perform low-cost and easy indoor coordinate measurements of large-size objects. The system consists of a distributed network-based layout, whose modularity allows fitting differently sized and shaped working volumes by adequately increasing the number of sensing units. Differently from existing spatially distributed metrological instruments, the remote sensor devices are intended to provide embedded data elaboration capabilities, in order to share the overall computational load. The overall system functionalities, including distributed layout configuration, network self-calibration, 3D point localization, and measurement data elaboration, are discussed. A preliminary metrological characterization of system performance, based on experimental testing, is also presente

Publication and patent analysis of European researchers in the field of production technology and manufacturing systems

This paper develops a structured comparison among a sample of European researchers in the field of Production Technology and Manufacturing Systems, on the basis of scientific publications and patents. Researchers are evaluated and compared by a variegated set of indicators concerning (1) the output of individual researchers and (2) that of groups of researchers from the same country. While not claiming to be exhaustive, the results of this preliminary study provide a rough indication of the publishing and patenting activity of researchers in the field of interest, identifying (dis)similarities between different countries. Of particular interest is a proposal for aggregating analysis results by means of maps based on publication and patent indicators. A large amount of empirical data are presented and discusse

Atrial Fibrillation in the Setting of Acute Pneumonia: Not a Secondary Arrhythmia

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in the setting of critically ill patients. Pneumonia, and in particular communityacquired pneumonia, is one of the most common causes of illness and hospital admission worldwide. This article aims to review the association between AF and acute diseases, with specific attention to pneumonia, from the pathophysiology to its clinical significance. Even though the relationship between pneumonia and AF has been known for years, it was once considered a transient bystander. In recent years there has been growing knowledge on the clinical significance of this arrhythmia in acute clinical settings, in which it holds a prognostic role which is not so different as compared to that of the so-called "primary"AF. AF is a distinct entity even in the setting of pneumonia, and acute critical illnesses in general, and it should therefore be managed with a guidelines-oriented approach, including prescription of anticoagulants in patients at thromboembolic risk, always considering patients' individuality. More data on the significance of the arrhythmia in this setting will help clinicians to give patients the best possible care

Repositionable Versus Balloon-Expandable Devices for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in Patients With Aortic Stenosis.

The safety and effectiveness of the fully repositionable LOTUS valve system as compared with the balloon-expandable Edwards SAPIEN 3 prosthesis for the treatment of aortic stenosis has not been evaluated to date. All patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the Edwards SAPIEN 3 or the LOTUS valve system were included into the Swiss Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Registry. An adjusted analysis was performed to compare the early clinical safety outcome according to the Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 definition. Between February 2014 and September 2015, 140 and 815 patients were treated with the LOTUS and the Edwards SAPIEN 3 valve, respectively. There was no difference in crude and adjusted analyses of the early safety outcome between patients treated with LOTUS (14.3%) and those treated with Edwards SAPIEN 3 (14.6%) (crude hazard ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.61-1.56 [P=0.915]; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.64-1.67 [P=0.909]). More than mild aortic regurgitation was <2% for both devices. A total of 34.3% of patients treated with LOTUS and 14.1% of patients treated with Edwards SAPIEN 3 required a permanent pacemaker (HR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.97-3.87 [P<0.001]). The repositionable LOTUS valve system and the balloon-expandable Edwards SAPIEN 3 prosthesis appeared comparable in regard to the Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 early safety outcome, and the rates of more than mild aortic regurgitation were exceedingly low for both devices. The need for new permanent pacemaker implantation was more frequent among patients treated with the LOTUS valve