University Of Calabria Research Articles

An advanced solutions for operators’ training working in confined and /or pollution suspected space

Carrying out maintenance, regulation, installation of mechanical parts, cleaning and other activities in confined and / or suspected pollution spaces, often represents a challenge; indeed many are the cases of fatal incidents for operators. As in every country, there are ad-hoc regulations to increase the safety of operators at work: as far as Italy is concerned, the decree 177/2011 requires the qualification of companies operating in confined and / or suspected of pollution spaces with the aim of raising the level of safety, also defining strict criteria for all those business contracts related to confined spaces. However, while regulations clearly define what confined spaces are, the training issues are not appropriately addressed (e.g. the Italian legislation only makes reminder to general laws such as the decree 81/2008) and there is no uniformity in terms of methods, procedures and required training times for operators working in confined spaces.The Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) has conceptualized and developed a physical simulator for training those operators working in confined spaces. The research activities carried out by using the physical simulator points out that the integration of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies (such as Virtual and Augmented Reality developed in cooperation with University of Calabria) may further extend the training capabilities and operators’ skills. The idea proposed in this article is to show how live exercises made with a physical simulator combined with Virtual Immersive and Interactive Reality can be profitably used to tackle the operators’ training problem within confined spaces.

ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANALYTICAL AND NUMERICAL INVERSE MODELING APPROACH FOR SLUG TESTS INTERPRETATION

Groundwater management or remediation requires the knowledge of the main hydrodynamic parameters of the hydrological system. The aim of the study focused on the investigation of the reliability of the methods used for the estimation of these important parameters. Several pumping and slug tests were performed in the Hydraulics Laboratory of University of Calabria, where a high controlled experimental apparatus was designed and constructed. The data collected during the experiments have been used to estimate the hydraulic conductivity and the storage coefficient of the porous medium. The analysis was carried out both through classical analytical methods and by the development of an ad hoc three-dimensional finite element model of the apparatus working in transient conditions. An extreme variability in the results was observed but the estimates obtained by the inverse numerical modelling were the ones returning, on average, the best outcomes among all the characterisation methods.

An Energy Community Implementation: The Unical Energy Cloud

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, limiting the effects of climate change and decreasing the environmental, social and economic costs of energy production are some of the main issues related to the sustainable development of modern society. Energy communities, envisioned to enable local energy exchange between consumers and producers of renewable energy, represent a possible scenario towards a cleaner and sustainable energy system. In this paper, an energy community management model called Power Cloud and presented in previous papers is proposed for a real-world practical application at the University of Calabria. In particular, the implementation of the information and communication technology (ICT) architecture and other enabling technologies, such as the nanogrid and the smart energy box, are discussed in detail. The experiment results show that by adopting the Power Cloud management model it is possible to obtain significant savings in terms of energy cost, which provide benefit for a community, such as a university campus.

An integrated methodology for supporting the development and the performance evaluation of academic spin-offs

PurposeThis paper aims to propose an integrated methodology for evaluating academic spin-offs (ASOs) for supporting both the development phase and performance evaluation. The ASOs have peculiar characteristics compared to other start-up companies and the debate on their evaluation is still open.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed methodology, adopting a lean approach, faces the typical problems that characterize the growth of an ASO: the excessive attention to the technological aspects with respect to the commercial and managerial ones; and the need for evaluation systems that try to evaluate all risk areas and to highlight any misalignment. The methodology was built also starting from the results of an Erasmus + research project, co-funded by the European Commission, called spin-off lean acceleration.FindingsThe methodology proposes to monitor the main risk areas (market, technological, implementation, governance and financial). For each of these areas, at first, a framework and a checklist are proposed for supporting the qualitative assessment of the potential of each areas. In the second part, a set of metrics for monitoring the performances and to understand if the spinoff is developing in the right direction is proposed. Moreover, the methodology was applied to the spin-offs at the University of Calabria (Italy), and the paper reports the first results obtained.Originality/valueA new canvas model (lean acceleration canvas), more specific and suited to the context of ASOs, was developed and tested. A lean approach has been adopted also for understanding the weakness of traditional methods. The proposed methodology could be used by the technology transfer offices in their institutional activity of supporting ASOs.

IMPROVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A SYSTEM FOR MONITORING ROTATIONS AND DISPLACEMENTS OF BRIDGES BASED ON LASER POINTER AND DIGITAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Abstract. A system for monitoring rotations and displacements of bridges based on laser pointer and digital photogrammetry is described. The system uses three common laser pointers and image processing. The inclination of the elastic line is measured by analysing the individual frames of an HD video of the laser beam footprint projected onto a flat target. The methodology, able to conjugate a high precision, low cost, and easiness of use, is an evolution of a method developed at University of Calabria, Italy. The use of three laser pointers allows to improve the performance of the previous method, obtaining both displacements and rotations at a generic point of the bridge deck, and deriving the transverse rotation of the deck cross section. The investigated method exploits the laser pointers’ property to provide a steady pointing direction, a long-range and a high-brightness visible imprint. The method and the results of an experimental test are described and discussed.

An experimental and numerical study on solitary wave loads at cylinders near the bed

The present study describes an experimental and numerical investigation on the horizontal and vertical hydrodynamic forces given by solitary waves on horizontal circular cylinders placed near a rigid horizontal bed. The experimental campaign was conducted in the wave channel of the University of Calabria in which twelve pressure sensors were installed along the external surface of a cylinder located at gap-to-diameter ratios equal to 0.25 and 0.1. The numerical modeling was carried out using the open source OlaFlow model, based on the OpenFOAM solver, in order to simulate the wave forces, also extending the range of experiments. The resulting force field was defined by the dominance of the horizontal inertia force along the flow direction and by the lift force along the transversal one. The values of the hydrodynamic forces and the free stream kinematics were adopted to calibrate the hydrodynamic coefficients (drag, lift and horizontal and vertical inertia) involved in the Morison formula and in a proposed version of the transverse equation through the use of the weighted least square approach. For practical aims, semi-analytical relationships to determine the hydrodynamic coefficients as a function of wave amplitude and water depth are presented.

The 19th European Carabidologists' Meeting in brief

The European Carabidologists' Meeting (ECM) is a scientific meeting where researchers from Europe and other countries discuss their work about the main topics of ecology, biogeography and evolution, to foster a sense of community among researchers with a common background on carabid beetles, and to promote collaborations. The 19th ECM is organized by the “Parco Naturale di Paneveggio - Pale di San Martino”, and by the Dept. of Biology Ecology and Earth Sciences of the Calabria University, and will be held on Monday 16 th to Friday 20 th September 2019 in the town of Fiera di Primiero, Italy. The main theme of the Meeting is "Carabids in extreme environments". Carabidae as model organisms was the topic of the discussion when several researchers met in Wijster (The Netherlands) in 1969, giving rise to the tradition of the European Carabidologists' Meetings. Since then a lot of people joined the carabidologists "family", producing sound science, not restricted to carabids' study. Traditionally the ECM is a place where to present new/old ideas, hypotheses not yet tested, preliminary results or relevant discoveries and participants are strongly encouraged to present original research, not yet published. As usual, the proceedings of the 19th ECM will be published, as peer reviewed full papers, in a scientific journal. Three plenary talks characterise the 19th ECM. The first is on "Global warNing: what we know and what we should know about carabid beetles in high altitude habitats", and it is followed by talks on different aspects of the biology of carabids in extreme environments. The second plenary is on a long-debated topic of carabidology, i.e. "A standardized European trapping protocol – perspectives for long-term studies". The third plenary gives a scientific perspective of the carabidologists work: "Progress and knowledge gaps in carabidology – a bibliometric analysis of the last 50 years". Two workshops close the days of Tuesday and Thursday. The first is entitled "What to do with the standardized trapping method?" and it may give prompts to develop joint projects in carabidology. During the second workshop "IUCN Red List of European Ground Beetles", a badly needed field of application for carabid research will be discussed. The Scientific Board is composed of: Assmann Thorsten, Leuphana University (Germany); Brandmayr Pietro, University of Calabria (Italy); Di Giulio Andrea, University of Roma Tre (Italy); Fattorini Simone, University of L'Aquila (Italy), Gobbi Mauro, MUSE Museo delle Scienze (Italy); Lovei Gabor, Aarhus University (Denmark ); Plantagenest Manuel, Agrocampus-Ouest (France); Saska Pavel, Crop Research Institute (Czech Rep.); Šerić Jelaska Lucija, University of Zagreb (Croatia); Serrano José, University of Murcia (Spain); Sklodowski Jaroslaw, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Poland); Spence John, University of Alberta (Canada); Venn Stephen, University of Helsinki (Finland ). Seventy people registered for the Meeting, coming from 22 regions depicted in Fig. 1, where it is possible to see that the ECM is a scientific agorà attracting not only European scientists. Forty two talks and thirty three posters were scheduled.

Gender-related differences in perceived productivity and indoor environmental quality acceptance. Results of a questionnaire survey in university workplaces

Improving occupant's satisfaction represents an important target oriented both towards the increment of productivity and towards the reduction of operational costs related to health and safety of employees. These considerations are the bases of an interdisciplinary cross-country survey on the human-building interaction in office buildings. The proposed study presents findings from the survey conducted at the University of Calabria (Italy). In particular, both demographic characteristics of the sample and data regarding comfort, satisfaction, and productivity are processed and investigated. Descriptive statistical analysis is developed with the aim of highlighting the influence of indoor comfort conditions on the perceived productivity of employees. Particular attention is dedicated to the study of gender-related differences in internal environment perception. Indoor temperature, quality of indoor air, and acoustics are the most selected causes of dissatisfaction and low perceived productivity both for women and men. The responses regarding satisfaction level and perceived productivity are also combined by defining a quantitative indicator named Office Productivity and Satisfaction index (OPSi) that is the ratio between the perceived productivity and the satisfaction level of the considered comfort condition. Causes of discomfort are also analyzed and demonstrated gender-related differences in workplaces quality evaluation.

Post-Cracking B-FRCM Strengthening of a Traditional Anti-Seismic Construction Technique (<i>Casa baraccata</i>): Extensive Experimental Investigations

In the framework of the Mediterranean cultural heritage, the term “fictile tubule” identifies a peculiar type of brick, characterized by a cylindrical shape and a hollow core. Its unique geometry and characteristics rank it among the first hollow clay bricks in history. The large-scale production of fictile tubules allegedly began in the Roman provinces of Northern Africa during the 2nd Century A.D., where they were employed for building vaulted and domed structures without the need of centrings. Over the following Centuries, the construction technique of fictile tubules embedded in mortar was constantly refined and improved. This led to an extensive use of such technique in several buildings - as part of different structural elements (vaults, domes, floors, walls) - all over the Mediterranean area, and especially in Southern Italy. In 1909, after the disastrous earthquake in Messina and Reggio Calabria, Calabrian engineer Pasquale Frezza devised and patented an anti-seismic construction system which evolved the technology of casa baraccata. Frezza’s take on this traditional Calabrian way of erecting buildings involved the use of a specific type of fictile tubule, named carosello, alternated with common bricks in masonry walls, which are then encased in a timber frame. This paper presents an investigation on the structural behavior of Frezza’s evolution of casa baraccata, aimed at its possible revival as a relevant anti-seismic construction technique. Two specimen walls with dimensions equal to 60×60×15 cm3 are built according to Frezza’s patent and experimentally examined through a diagonal compressive test at the Civil Engineering Laboratory of University of Calabria. For the first specimen wall the test is carried out until failure to identify the collapse load. Conversely, for the second specimen wall the test is halted immediately after the formation of the first vertical cracks. The specimen is subsequently repaired using B-FRCM (Basalt Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix) as reinforcement, and the diagonal compressive test is repeated, this time until failure. The results in terms of collapse load and shear strength for both specimens are then compared and critically discussed, highlighting the increased load-bearing capacity of the wall built according to Frezza’s patent and reinforced with B-FRCM.

Smoothing of Slug Tests for Laboratory Scale Aquifer Assessment—A Comparison among Different Porous Media

A filtering analysis of hydraulic head data deduced from slug tests injected in a confined aquifer with different porous media is proposed. Experimental laboratory tests were conducted in a large-scale physical model developed at the University of Calabria. The hydraulic head data were deduced from the records of a pressure sensor arranged in the injection well and subjected to a processing operation to filter the high-frequency noise. The involved smoothing techniques are the Fourier transform and two types of wavelet transform. The performances of the filtered hydraulic heads were examined for different slug volumes and four model layouts in terms of optimal fitting of the Cooper’s analytical solution. The hydraulic head variations in the confined aquifer were analyzed using wavelet transform in order to discover their energy contributions and frequency oscillations. Finally, the raw and smoothed hydraulic heads were adopted to calculate the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer.

Hydrological Effectiveness of an Extensive Green Roof in Mediterranean Climate

In urban water management, green roofs provide a sustainable solution for flood risk mitigation. Numerous studies have investigated green roof hydrologic effectiveness and the parameters that influence their operation; many have been conducted on the pilot scale, whereas only some of these have been executed on full-scale rooftop installations. Several models have been developed, but only a few have investigated the influence of green roof physical parameters on performance. From this broader context, this paper presents the results of a monitoring analysis of an extensive green roof located at the University of Calabria, Italy, in the Mediterranean climate region. To obtain this goal, the subsurface runoff coefficient, peak flow reduction, peak flow lag-time, and time to the start of runoff were evaluated at an event scale by considering a set of data collected between October 2015 and September 2016 consisting of 62 storm events. The mean value of subsurface runoff was 32.0% when considering the whole dataset, and 50.4% for 35 rainfall events (principally major than 8.0 mm); these results indicate the good hydraulic performance of this specific green roof in a Mediterranean climate, which is in agreement with other studies. A modeling approach was used to evaluate the influence of the substrate depth on green roof retention. The soil hydraulics features were first measured using a simplified evaporation method, and then modeled using HYDRUS-1D software (PC-Progress s.r.o., Prague, Czech Republic) by considering different values of soil depth (6 cm, 9 cm, 12 cm, and 15 cm) for six months under Mediterranean climate conditions. The results showed how the specific soil substrate was able to achieve a runoff volume reduction ranging from 22% to 24% by increasing the soil depth.

Design of a Remote-Controlled Platform for Green Roof Plants Monitoring via Hyperspectral Sensors

The combination of an appropriate design and careful management of green infrastructures may contribute to mitigate flooding (stormwater quantity) and pollutant discharges (stormwater quality) into receiving water bodies and to coping with other extreme climate impacts (such as temperature regime) on a long-term basis and water cycle variability. The vegetation health state ensures the green infrastructure’s effectiveness. Due to their remarkable spatial and spectral resolution, hyperspectral sensing devices appear to be the most suited for green infrastructure vegetation monitoring according to the peculiar spectral features that vegetation exhibits. In particular, vegetation health-state detection is feasible due to the modifications the typical vegetation spectral signature undergoes when abnormalities are present. This paper presents a ground spectroscopy monitoring survey of the green roof installed at the University of Calabria fulfilled via the acquisition and analysis of hyperspectral data. The spectroradiometer, placed on a fixed stand, was used to identify stress conditions of vegetation located in areas where drought could affect the plant health state. Broadband vegetation indices were employed for this purpose. For the test case presented, data acquired agreed well with direct observations on the ground. The analyses carried out showed the remarkable performances of the broadband indices Red Difference Vegetation Index (Red DVI), Simple Ratio (SR) and Triangular Vegetation Index (TVI) in highlighting the vegetation health state and encouraged the design of a remote-controlled platform for monitoring purposes.

The Seventh Answer Set Programming Competition: Design and Results

AbstractAnswer Set Programming (ASP) is a prominent knowledge representation language with roots in logic programming and non-monotonic reasoning. Biennial ASP competitions are organized in order to furnish challenging benchmark collections and assess the advancement of the state of the art in ASP solving. In this paper, we report on the design and results of the Seventh ASP Competition, jointly organized by the University of Calabria (Italy), the University of Genova (Italy), and the University of Potsdam (Germany), in affiliation with the 14th International Conference on Logic Programming and Non-Monotonic Reasoning (LPNMR 2017).

A new species of Psathyrella (Psathyrellaceae, Agaricales) from Italy.

Sporophores of a new Psathyrella species have been reported for the first time as growing at the base of Cladiummariscus culms in the Botanical Garden of the University of Calabria, Rende, Cosenza, southern Italy. The fungus was initially identified as P.thujina (= P.almerensis) by means of both ecology and macro- and microscopic characteristics of the basidiomes, then referred to P.cladii-marisci sp. nov. after extraction, amplification, purification and analysis of the rDNA ITS region. We came to this conclusion after comparing our specimen with the descriptions of the taxa available in the literature for the genus Psathyrella.

Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus carriage and pattern of antibiotic resistance, including methicillin resistance, among contact sport athletes in Italy.

Background and purpose: Athletes participating in contact or collision sports have a great chance of acquiring Staphylococcus aureus infections. The risk factors for colonization and infections include frequent antibiotic use, close contact situations, skin trauma, sharing of sports equipment, and poor hygiene. Therefore, our specific goals were to determine (1) prevalence of S. aureus among different types of contact sport athletes which were barely studied in the European region, (2) antimicrobial resistance of S. aureus isolates, and (3) association of carriage with particular risk factors of spor t practices.Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among contact or collision sport athletes in Italy. A questionnaire was used to gather information about sociodemographic characteristics, specific sport activities, and participants’ health conditions. Swabs were collected from the nares, oropharynx, and fingers and tested for S. aureus isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility.Results: S. aureus was carried by 42% of 238 enrolled athletes. Colonization was associated with number of weekly training days, sharing of sports equipment, not taking a shower immediately after training, and a previous history of pharyngitis or sinusitis and skin manifestations. Isolates were resistant to clindamycin (24.8%) and erythromycin (15.8%). Of all athletes, 1.3% carried methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA); MRSA were 3% of all S. aureus isolates. No strains were resistant to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim.Conclusion: Our results have shown a high prevalence of S. aureus carriage and a relevant resistance to antimicrobials used for the treatment of S. aureus infections. Prevention efforts aimed at reducing S. aureus colonization, and thus potentially reducing infections, should be improved.

On intellectual capital management as an evaluation criterion for university managers: a case study

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether universities performance management systems (PMS), consider intellectual capital (IC) management as a criterion for evaluating their managers. The issue has been addressed investigating the case study of the University of Calabria. The evaluation systems for managers of the University of Calabria were analyzed with a longitudinal approach, investigating two different systems (2012–2014 and 2015–2017). Two qualitative tools were employed: document analysis and semi-structured interviews. From a formal analysis of the evaluation systems for managers of the University of Calabria, it emerges that the reference to IC and its subcomponents is easier to identify within the individual performance component, which reduces its weight switching from the 2012–2014 to 2015–2017 evaluation system. From the analysis of semi-structured interviews, it emerges that the University of Calabria is far from considering IC substantially as a key criterion to evaluate its managers. Focusing on IC will require the development of an IC specific project addressed to make sense of this new object and of the consequent new managerial practices to give sense to IC measurements and diffuse them within the organization. The originality of the paper lies in the novelty of its aim, linking together the evaluation of universities managers, too often clouded by respect for the academicians in managerial roles, and the role of IC management as an evaluation criteria to assess their performance. The paper offers both theoretical contributions to different streams of the literature, namely the IC and PMS and public sector literature and practical contributions, filling the void between the evaluation systems of university managers as provided by theory and the application of these models in practice, a gap especially significant for public organizations.

Command and control system for the STAR X-ray source

The Southern Europe Thomson Backscattering Source for Applied Research (STAR) is a compact hard Xray source designed by INFN, for advanced applied materials-science research. It is funded by Progetto MaTeRiA, a partnership between the University of Calabria and CNISM (Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze fisiche della Materia).The machine has been installed at the University of Calabria (UNICAL); the X-ray beam is produced using the Thomson Back-scattering process, where relativistic electron bunches, accelerated by a 60 MeV Linear Accelerator (LINAC), interact with very short photon pulses, produced a by a 30 mJ@5 ps IR (Infrared) Pulsed Laser.The EPICS-based command/control system (ComConS) of the STAR machine has been designed and currently is under commissioning, using state of the art technologies and making extensive use of COTS hardware and software, assuring full control and supervision of the whole machine and all relevant subsystems: Beam diagnostics, Magnets power supplies, RF devices, Laser systems, Vacuum subsystem, Machine Protection System, Personnel Protection System and Trigger and Timing system.A growth potential has been considered since design phase, in order to take into account any future expansions of the control system during the lifecycle of the facility, without impact on the performance. Scalability of systems is also a crucial issue. The current design allows to generate tunable collimated monochromatic X-rays in the range between 10 and 200 keV. Possible future evolution will be to obtain a machine to generate higher energy X-ray beams, towards the MeV. The control system from both SW and HW points of view has to accommodate this need, as well as operating the machine for a long lifecycle.

XXth scientific meeting of the Italian Association of Developmental and Comparative Immunobiology (IADCI), 13 - 15 February 2019, Department of Biology, Ecology and Life Sciences, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy

XXth scientific meeting of the Italian Association of Developmental and Comparative Immunobiology (IADCI), 13 - 15 February 2019, Department of Biology, Ecology and Life Sciences, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy

An Instrumented Flume for Infiltration Process Modeling, Landslide Triggering and Propagation

Rainfall is the most common cause of landslides, so it is important to know the processes underlying failure starting with the rainfall infiltration processes into the granular soils, the distribution of the water content and pore pressure in both saturated and unsaturated layers, to include their effects in terms of slope stability. Although the literature is full of simulation models, the complexity of phenomena would impose a more detailed analysis by a well-equipped flume. For that purpose, a meter-scale laboratory experiment at the University of Calabria was designed and built. It is very useful for carrying out complex tests to analyze the response of loose soils or debris in terms of stability. It is composed of two channels: the first one was adopted for analyzing the triggering mechanisms, the second one for the propagation phases. Both channels are equipped with suitable sensors for monitoring the main physical variables, i.e., spray nozzle systems to apply a specific rainfall intensity; minitensiometers and TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) for measuring, respectively, suction values and water content; miniaturized pressure transducers for pore water pressures; and laser displacement sensors. This paper describes in detail the instrumented flume and explores its potential through the analysis of a homogeneous slope of pyroclastic soil. An experiment was carried out to reproduce landslide triggering in pyroclastic soils, evolving in mudflow, by considering a homogeneous deposit. The measurements carried out allowed testing the apparatus, describing the behavior of the soil after rainfall infiltration and better identifying factors particularly significant in the collapse mechanism and process evolution.

A model-driven approach to enable the simulation of complex systems on distributed architectures

The increasing complexity of modern systems makes their design, development, and operation extremely challenging and therefore new systems engineering and modeling and simulation (M&S) methods, techniques, and tools are emerging, also to benefit from distributed simulation environments. In this context, one of the most mature and popular standards for distributed simulation is the IEEE 1516-2010 - Standard for M&S high level architecture (HLA). However, building and maintaining distributed simulations components, based on the IEEE 1516-2010 standard, is still a challenging and effort-consuming task. To ease the development of full-fledged HLA-based simulations, the paper proposes the MONADS method (MOdel-driveN Architecture for Distributed Simulation), which relies on the model-driven systems engineering paradigm. The method takes as input system models specified in Systems Modeling Language, the reference modeling language in the systems engineering field, and produces as output the final code of the corresponding HLA-based distributed simulation through a chain of model-to-model and model-to-text transformations. The obtained simulation code is based on the HLA Development Kit software framework, which has been developed by the SMASH-Lab (System Modeling and Simulation Hub - Laboratory) of the University of Calabria (Italy), in cooperation with the Software, Robotics, and Simulation Division (ER) of NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston (TX, USA). The effectiveness of the method is shown through a case study that concerns a military patrol operation, in which a set of drones are engaged to patrol the border of a military area, in order to prevent both ground and flight attacks from entering the area.