A Multi objective inventory model for short food supply chains

Over the past 50 years, vertically integrated multinationals dominated global food markets by providing huge product diversity at low prices. Such systems are characterized by long supply chains capable of achieving high cost efficiencies resulting from the use of cheap raw materials, high chemical inputs, industrial shelf-life extension processes, economies of scale and mechanization. This dominant position on the market, however, has been achieved at a heavy cost on the global environment, generated by massive food wastage, and by a steady supply of fossil fuels. For such reasons, global supply chains are considered unsustainable and new food systems are being promoted in order to replace…

A Decision support system for sustainable operations management in small power plants

The importance of environmentally-friendly electricity production is recognized as one of the most important challenges of our future, covering a broad context of research topics and promoting future scenarios based on renewable energies and new technologies. In the short term, however, energy generation will still be largely relying on power plants fired with fossil fuels whose emissions of pollutants are regulated by the industrial emissions directive in the EU legislation. Such directive does not apply to small and medium combustion plants, which until now, have only been subject to national regulations. As part of its air quality package from December 2013, the EU Commission has propose…

Sensors for the monitoring of analytes in the sweat

In the last decade, can be found an exceptional growth in research activity relating to the development of wearable devices, capable of continuously monitoring the health conditions of the wearer by analyzing body fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, tears and sweat. Among the body fluids available, sweat is a biofluid of particular interest, as it allows a non-invasive, continuous and comfortable collection. Human sweat contains useful information on the health of an individual and therefore is an excellent biofluid for the detection of specific analytes. The most abundant ions in the sweat are Na+ and Cl- (10 - 100 mM), and their monitoring is useful in patients with cystic fibrosis. Othe…

An Agile methodology for Manufacturing Control Systems development

Robotized manufacturing cells are required more and more often to process high variety of short life-cycle product. This increases the need for methods and techniques for easy reconfiguration of software programs running in Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), i.e., devices able to control manufacturing systems. PLCs run embedded code characterized by a procedural nature that does not make it quite reconfigurable. In this paper we propose an AGIle COntrol System Development (AGICOSD) methodology that uses various practices of Agile software development methodologies and the Design By Contract (DBC) practice for modeling and programming manufacturing control systems. In this context we prop…

High-rate cycling performance of lead-acid batteries with nanostructured electrodes

In this work we present lead-acid batteries with nanostructured electrodes cycled with different C-rate from 1C (1 hour to complete charge) up to 30C (120 seconds to complete charge) and imposing a very deep discharge. In comparison to the parameters usually used for commercial batteries, these are much more stressful conditions in terms of cut-off and charge/discharge rate.

An integrated approach for modelling and solving multimode job shop scheduling problem using multi objective genetic algorithm

In this paper, we present a Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) for modelling and solving the Multimode Job-shop Scheduling Problem (MJSP), which aims at finding the start times and execution modes for the operations of different jobs that optimize a given set of objective functions while verifying precedence and resource constraints. The proposed model can be used to generate alternative schedules based on the relative magnitude and importance of different objectives. Its main contributions are the mode assignment procedure in the chromosome generation and the use of three fitness functions. Its performance is demonstrated by computational results obtained on a set of standard instanc…

Alternatives to the traditional waste management: Food recovery for human non-profit organizations

Food supply chains are affected by losses of products which become poorly attractive for the consumers as they get close to their expiration date, therefore remaining unsold on the shelves. Such situation is ethically depreciable considering that many undernourished people rely on non-profit organizations for their survival. Despite of this situation, food recovery through the supply chain is still scarcely practiced, and the potential benefits achievable are frequently ignored. The paper presents a mathematical model for the coordination of the supply chain operating a food recovery policy. The model determines the optimal time for withdrawing the products from the shelves and the quantity…

Multi objective genetic algorithms for unequal area facility layout problems: A survey

The Unequal Area Facility Layout Problem (UA-FLP) comprises a class of extremely difficult and widely applicable optimization problems arising in diverse areas and meeting the requirements for real-world applications. In this paper we present our existing works of the past decade showing the evolutions obtained in the Genetic Algorithms (GA) used to solve the facility layout problem. GA have recently proven their effectiveness in finding (sub) optimal solutions to many NP-Hard problems such as UA-FLP. A main issue in such approach is related to the genetic encoding and to the evolutionary mechanism implemented, which must allow the efficient exploration of a wide solution space, preserving …

Water-cooled Pb–17Li test blanket module for ITER: Impact of the structural material grade on the neutronic responses

Abstract The Water-Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) DEMO blanket is one of the two EU lines to be further developed with the aim of manufacturing by 2010 a Test Blanket Module for ITER (TBM). In this paper results of a 3D-Monte Carlo neutronic analysis of the TBM design are reported. A fully 3D heterogeneous model of the WCLL–TBM has been inserted into an existing ITER model accounting for a proper D–T neutron source. The structural material assumed for the calculations was martensitic 9% Cr steel code named Z 10 CDV Nb 9-1. Results have been compared with those obtained using MANET. The main nuclear responses of the TBM have been determined, such as detailed power deposition density, material da…

An Efficient Approach for Constructing Dynamic Multicast Trees

Electrochemical quantification of oxidative stress in airway epithelial cells

Cosmogonia e cosmopoiesi, ovvero gesti e saperi di un fabbricante di cocci

Safety optimized shift-scheduling system based on wireless vibration monitoring for mechanical harvesting operations

Traditional approaches to vibration risk assessment are often carried out manually on the basis of reference data, whereas an automated approach, can yield more valuable information that can be beneficial for improving the health and safety conditions of the workers. In particular, the exposure to prolonged vibration is a potential cause of pathologies such as the hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), therefore national and international regulations establish recommended limits to the workers’ exposure to vibration within an allowable daily limit. However, evaluating the maximum allowable operating time is not straightforward, therefore reference vibration values are provided by the manufactu…

Behaviour of Interacting Protons: The Average-Mass Approach to its Study and its Possible Biological Relevance

Among all other kinds of ions occurring in the solid, liquid and living states of matter, positive hydrogen ions (which we shall henceforth call protons for brevity) are singled out by their exceptionally small mass. This is the reason for their specific property of tunnelling through potential barriers, which in turn is responsible for such properties as hydrogen bonding. This is also responsible for the unique properties exhibited in many cases by (sub)systems of interacting protons. Examples are the intriguing properties of liquid water and ice [1]; the para-ferroelectric transition in hydrogen-bonded ferroelectrics [2]; the cooperative transitions in ammonium salts [3] and in hexamine h…

Composite Coatings of Chitosan and Silver Nanoparticles Obtained by Galvanic Deposition for Orthopedic Implants

In this work, composite coatings of chitosan and silver nanoparticles were presented as an antibacterial coating for orthopedic implants. Coatings were deposited on AISI 304L using the galvanic deposition method. In galvanic deposition, the difference of the electrochemical redox potential between two metals (the substrate and a sacrificial anode) has the pivotal role in the process. In the coupling of these two metals a spontaneous redox reaction occurs and thus no external power supply is necessary. Using this process, a uniform deposition on the exposed area and a good adherence of the composite coating on the metallic substrate were achieved. Physical-chemical characterizations were car…

A multi objective approach to short food supply chain management

Conventional supply chains, involving several stages and various intermediaries, are affected by some well- known forms of inefficiencies and drawbacks. Besides the increase of market price consequent to multiple marginalization, such supply chains generally suffer of significant post-harvest losses and product waste. In this context, short food supply chains have been recently proposed as different systems capable of delivering higher quality products while promoting sustainability and efficiency. Across the EU, a growing number of consumers choose to buy food products on local farmers' markets, associating local products with higher quality standards (freshness, nutritional value), health…

Neutronic and photonic analysis of the single box water-cooled lithium lead blanket for a DEMO reactor

Abstract The water-cooled Pb–17Li demonstration plant (DEMO) breeding blanket line was selected in 1995 as one of the two EU lines to be further developed in the next decade. In this paper the results of a neutronic and photonic analysis of the `single box' concept is presented. A full three-dimensional model, including the whole assembly and many of the DEMO reactor components, has been developed, together with a three-dimensional neutron source. A tritium breeding ratio (TBR) value of 1.16, with no ports and a Li6 enrichment of 90%, has been obtained and a further analysis has been performed to determine Li6 enrichment that would still ensure tritium breeding self-sufficiency. Selected po…