Sviluppo di modelli e metodi per la simulazione delle avarie del sistema Dati-Aria di un moderno velivolo Fly-by-Wire.

La presente tesi si inserisce all’interno di un’ attività di ricerca svolta presso il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale (DIA) e relativa allo studio del sistema Dati Aria di un moderno velivolo con Flight Control System (FCS) di tipo Fly-by-Wire. Tale sistema, mediante opportuni algoritmi di calcolo, permette la derivazione dei parametri di volo (quota, velocità, angoli di incidenza e derapata) a partire dalla misurazione di grandezze locali esterne affidata ad apposite sonde di pressione installate sulla fusoliera. Presso il DIA sono stati sviluppati opportuni algoritmi per la stima dei parametri di volo (procedura di elaborazione) e modelli capaci di generare i segnali forniti dalle sonde (procedura di simulazione) La presente tesi ha ripreso ed aggiornato il modello relativo alla procedura di simulazione, realizzato in ambiente Matlab-Simulink®, del Sistema Dati Aria, concepito e sviluppato presso il DIA. La procedura di simulazione si basa su un database proveniente da prove in galleria del vento su un modello in scala di un velivolo di elevate prestazioni. Dato che tale database non ricopre tutto l’inviluppo di volo, in una prima fase del lavoro si è proceduto ad un ampliamento di quest’ultimo. Tale ampliamento è stato realizzato sviluppando modelli basati sulla tecnica di approssimazione ai Minimi Quadrati. La successiva fase di lavoro è stata dedicata ad individuare le possibili failure che possono provocare un malfunzionamento delle sonde di pressione e allo sviluppo di modelli di simulazione di tali failure. Per la gestione delle failure e la visualizzazione delle uscite di simulazione è stato realizzato un pannello di controllo in ambiente LabVIEW®. Infine il modello di simulazione completo di pannello di gestione delle failure è stato sottoposto a prove di simulazione in tempo reale in ambiente Matlab-Simulink-xPC Target®

Globalization and Health: Impact Pathways and Recent Evidence

The last two decades of the twentieth century recorded a slowdown in health gains and widespread increases in health inequality across and within countries. The paper explores the causes of such trends on the basis of five main mortality models. To do so, it regresses IMR/LEB on 15 determinants of health. The results underscore the negative health effects of the trends observed between 1980-2000, such as rising inequality, greater income volatility, declining health expenditure, increasing migration and so on. Finally, the paper simulates the level of LEB that would have been achieved in ten regions of the world if the determinants of health had continued developing over these decades as they did over 1960-80. The results indicate that in seven of such regions (including China and India) LEB would have been higher than actually observed. In this regard, the paper raises doubts about the way globalization has taken place and the way public policy oriented it.health status, health inequalities, globalization

Boosting the full potential of PyMOL with structural biology plugins

Over the past few decades, the number of available structural bioinformatics pipelines, libraries, plugins, web resources and software has increased exponentially and become accessible to the broad realm of life scientists. This expansion has shaped the field as a tangled network of methods, algorithms and user interfaces. In recent years PyMOL, widely used software for biomolecules visualization and analysis, has started to play a key role in providing an open platform for the successful implementation of expert knowledge into an easy-to-use molecular graphics tool. This review outlines the plugins and features that make PyMOL an eligible environment for supporting structural bioinformatics analyses

Dirk Van Hulle, Modern Manuscripts: The Extended Mind and Creative Undoing from Darwin to Beckett and Beyond

Dirk Van Hulle’s rapidly growing body of work is always informed by a comparative and genetic approach that highlights the interconnections within modern literature and grounds critical statements on textual evidence. For both reasons, it would be hard to praise fully Van Hulle’s laudable efforts in his field. As he makes clear in the introduction, Modern Manuscripts is imbued with the same approach, showing the ambition to establish a link between source- and discourse-oriented research (see..

Cochlear Implant Outcomes and Genetic Mutations in Children with Ear and Brain Anomalies

Background. Specific clinical conditions could compromise cochlear implantation outcomes and drastically reduce the chance of an acceptable development of perceptual and linguistic capabilities. These conditions should certainly include the presence of inner ear malformations or brain abnormalities. The aims of this work were to study the diagnostic value of high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children with sensorineural hearing loss who were candidates for cochlear implants and to analyse the anatomic abnormalities of the ear and brain in patients who underwent cochlear implantation. We also analysed the effects of ear malformations and brain anomalies on the CI outcomes, speculating on their potential role in the management of language developmental disorders. Methods. The present study is a retrospective observational review of cochlear implant outcomes among hearing-impaired children who presented ear and/or brain anomalies at neuroimaging investigations with MRI and HRCT. Furthermore, genetic results from molecular genetic investigations (GJB2/GJB6 and, additionally, in selected cases, SLC26A4 or mitochondrial-DNA mutations) on this study group were herein described. Longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis was conducted using statistical tests. Results. Between January 1, 1996 and April 1, 2012, at the ENT-Audiology Department of the University Hospital of Ferrara, 620 cochlear implantations were performed. There were 426 implanted children at the time of the present study (who were <18 years). Among these, 143 patients (64 females and 79 males) presented ear and/or brain anomalies/lesions/malformations at neuroimaging investigations with MRI and HRCT. The age of the main study group (143 implanted children) ranged from 9 months and 16 years (average = 4.4; median = 3.0). Conclusions. Good outcomes with cochlear implants are possible in patients who present with inner ear or brain abnormalities, even if central nervous system anomalies represent a negative prognostic factor that is made worse by the concomitant presence of cochlear malformations. Common cavity and stenosis of the internal auditory canal (less than 2 mm) are negative prognostic factors even if brain lesions are absent

Dinamica delle galassie a spirale e delle galassie ellittiche

In questa tesi si cerca di affrontare in maniera abbastanza esaustiva la dinamica delle galassie a spirale ed ellittiche. Inizialmente viene data una panoramica sulla classificazione morfologica di Hubble ed un sommario elenco dei principali processi di radiazione dei due tipi di galassie in esame. Nel corpo centrale della tesi vengono spiegate le teorie fisiche principali su cui si basa la dinamica stellare. Nei due ultimi capitoli finali invece vengono descritte le principali relazioni fotometriche e spettroscopiche, in particolare per le galassie ellittiche abbiamo la relazione Faber-Jackson e di Kormendy; mentre per le galassie e spirale viene mostrata la relazione di Tully-Fisher. Inoltre per le galassie e spirale vengono descritti in maniera superficiale la curva di rotazione e la natura ed evoluzione dei bracci

HBIM-BASED INFORMATION SHARING FOR THE EXCHANGE AND SAFEGUARD OF MODELLING EXPERTISE

This paper demonstrates an approach for sharing and safeguarding modelling expertise based on the use of Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM). The approach involves the exchange of information between subjects involved in the creation of HBIM models, an exchange enhanced by Semantic Web Technologies.HBIM datasets usually contain rich and detailed information about historic buildings and their construction; this experiment, in a slightly unusual way, deals with another type of information regarding something that happens in the background during the definition of an HBIM model: the procedures that create the complex three-dimensional geometries typical of historical architecture. This kind of information does not usually live inside BIM models and is even less likely the subject of semantic enrichment. It is however beneficial to record and make available this kind of information for several reasons, discussed in the text.</p