Search results for "Reliability and Quality"
showing 10 items of 386 documents
Smartphone-based bridge monitoring through vehicle-bridge interaction: analysis and experimental assessment
2022
AbstractIn this study, the results of a vast experimental campaign on the applicability of a smartphone-based technique for bridge monitoring are presented. Specifically, the vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI)-based approach is exploited as a cost-effective means to estimate the natural frequencies of bridges, with the final aim of possibly developing low-cost and diffused infrastructure monitoring system. The analysis is performed using a common hybrid vehicle, fully equipped with classical piezoelectric accelerometers and a smartphone MEMS accelerometer, to record its vertical accelerations while passing over the bridge. In this regard, the experimental campaign is carried out considering t…
The reaction structure of the LEDA research centre: Development and design
2017
In the last twenty years, the field of earthquake engineering experienced a noticeable improvement. The results of experimental and theoretical researches have contributed to the development of modern technical codes, which provide innovative solutions for the structural assessment and new design approaches. Despite this large amount of improvements, several open questions are still open, and the need for large scale testing has been deeply proved and discussed. A new research facility, namely the Laboratory of Earthquake engineering and Dynamic Analysis (LEDA), has been recently completed at the University of Enna "Kore". This research centre, funded with a grant from Italian Ministry of E…
Continuous design control for machine learning in certified medical systems
2022
AbstractContinuous software engineering has become commonplace in numerous fields. However, in regulating intensive sectors, where additional concerns need to be taken into account, it is often considered difficult to apply continuous development approaches, such as devops. In this paper, we present an approach for using pull requests as design controls, and apply this approach to machine learning in certified medical systems leveraging model cards, a novel technique developed to add explainability to machine learning systems, as a regulatory audit trail. The approach is demonstrated with an industrial system that we have used previously to show how medical systems can be developed in a con…
Epistemic uncertainty in fault tree analysis approached by the evidence theory
2012
Abstract Process plants may be subjected to dangerous events. Different methodologies are nowadays employed to identify failure events, that can lead to severe accidents, and to assess the relative probability of occurrence. As for rare events reliability data are generally poor, leading to a partial or incomplete knowledge of the process, the classical probabilistic approach can not be successfully used. Such an uncertainty, called epistemic uncertainty, can be treated by means of different methodologies, alternative to the probabilistic one. In this work, the Evidence Theory or Dempster–Shafer theory (DST) is proposed to deal with this kind of uncertainty. In particular, the classical Fau…
Investigation of design strategies and quantification of energy flexibility in buildings: A case-study in southern Italy
2021
Abstract The need for nearly (net) zero energy buildings in the current European landscape does not merely refer to energy balances: the aim to investigate the interaction between generation and load and find sources of technical-economic energy efficiency is marking the rise in interest throughout research and practice of energy flexibility solutions in buildings. In this regard, the study aims at enhancing the energy flexibility of a building in southern Italy through Rule-Based Control algorithms for the control of the space heating system and the charge and discharge of an electricity storage. The influence of electricity pricing and the thermal comfort conditions on flexibility is also…
Development of a Model to Estimate the Risk of Emission of Greenhouse Gases from Forest Fires
2022
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Flood frequency analysis for an urban watershed: comparison between several statistical methodologies simulating synthetic rainfall events
2016
To obtain the flooding frequency distribution for an urban watershed, different methods based on simulations of synthetic rainfall events were compared with an empirical analysis of the flooding data and with the results of long-term simulations. A copula-based multivariate statistical analysis of the main hydrological variables was proposed to generate synthetic hyetographs. Two different approaches were adopted to assess a temporal pattern to the synthetic rainfall: one analyses all available historical rainfall patterns, and another adopts the cluster analysis in three different variants to reduce the computational effort of the analysis. To test the methodology reliability, the analysis…
Human error contribution to accidents in the manufacturing sector: A structured approach to evaluate the interdependence among performance shaping fa…
2023
Since the 1970s, Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) methods have received a great interest for the quantification of the Human Error Probability (HEP) in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). To this purpose, the second-generation HRA methods consider contextual and cognitive factors - named Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs) - that may influence the workers’ performance during tasks execution. Despite the recent extension of HRA methods to different fields, only few studies refer to the manufacturing sector. In addition, the majority of contributions assume the independence among PSFs, which may result in an over or under estimation of HEP. Therefore, the present paper focuses on the manufacturing se…
Polyphenols, methylxanthines, fatty acids and minerals in cocoa beans and cocoa products
2019
In this study, the nutritional profile and some health benefit of three cocoa bean samples of different origins, including Perù, Ecuador (Criollo) and Ghana (Hybrid) and five samples of cocoa products from Criollo variety at different percentage of cocoa solids (from 70 to 100%), are investigated. The Ecuadorian beans were of the same batch used to obtain the chocolate samples (70% cocoa solids) by processing without conching. All samples were analyzed for their proximate composition, mineral content, fatty acids, total polyphenols, catechin, epicathechin theobromine and caffeine. Fatty acid profiles of the cocoa products were quite similar to those obtained in cocoa beans. The atherogenici…
LONG-TERM STRUCTURAL DEFICIENCIES IN A MAT FOUNDATION ON CLAY SOIL
2013
A 3-story building with a mat foundation consisting of a slab on a grid of grade beams performed poorly on clay soil. Cracking of the slab became rogressively worse as a result of the incorrect esign and fluctuations in the groundwater pressure under the foundation. The cyclic presence and absence of water rusted the steel reinforcement, and the sulfates in the clay soil caused formation of ettringite in the concrete. Plastic hinges formed in the slab and settlements occurred, causing damage to the beams. The situation is still in progress and may lead to the collapse of the structure under normal service conditions. The geotechnical and structural investigations performed to survey and ass…