Catalytic combustion can be regarded as an intrinsically clean and safe technology which allows a primary air pollution control, since energy is produced with high efficiency burning fuel/air mixtures also outside the flammability limits, at operating temperatures far lower than those of flame combustion and without the instability problems and pollutants (CO, NOx, soot and unburned hydrocarbons) typical of the traditional processes (fig.1). Moreover the catalytic oxidative conversion of natural ...

Nitrogen oxide, carbonaceous particles and policyclic aromatic hydrocarbon produced in combustion processes are among the main responsible of pollution both on global scale, "greenhouse effect", and in the urban areas, effect on human health. A drastic reduction of such emission can be obtained by using a new combustion technology that allows for minimizing the maximum temperature reached during combustion processes by means of high concentration of diluent species, such as nitrogen, water or ...

Introduction The fundamental problem of nuclear fusion research based on magnetic confinement of a plasma of Deuterium and Tritium is the achievement of a high temperature (~100 Million deg. Kelvin) to allow the energy yielding fusion reactions to occur, and keeping the temperature for a sufficiently long "energy confinement time". The problem motivates the study of both experimental techniques and first principle theories to improve the operation regimes of tokamaks in view of an optimal ...

Introduction The European Fusion Development Agency (EFDA), in the strive to develop the first international reactor-tokamak experiment (ITER) of controlled fusion energy production is placing a large number of active (i.e. financially supported) scientific and technical study contracts to the Associated Laboratories within Europe. A specific very important subject concerns the auxiliary plasma heating system based on the injection of high power millimiter waves resonantly absorbed at the ...

The objective of the research is to realize an Intelligent Vision Machine, developed in hierarchical levels, for the detection of illegal activities of stealing in archaeological sites. The first level detects the activities, identified as significant movements, in the area of interest giving rise to an alarm at a remote control station where human operators take decisions about the event by using also the transmitted images. The second level analyses the observed activities in order to reduce ...

Works of art cannot be appreciated without light, but light is also one of the most powerful parameters in altering colour and so causing irreversible damage. Therefore, a compromise has to be found that can balance visitor's requirements and object's safety. It is known that the damage increases with the length of exposure and the irradiance. Rather than limiting the time of exposure for each object, it is advisable to monitor the lighting conditions on site. A continuous monitoring program for ...

Welding of biological tissues induced by laser radiation can integrate or substitute traditional suturing procedures employed in various surgical fields, with remarkable advantages, such as simplification of the surgical technique, reduction of the surgery time, and faster healing process of the wound, without the typical foreign-body reaction caused the presence of the suture wire. Regarding development and application of laser welding techniques in ophthalmic surgery studies were started in ...

Agricultural and forestry tractors are equipped of quick-action hydraulic couplers designed to operate different implements used for agricultural and forestry works. Power supplied by engine can be easy conveyed by high pressure hydraulic fluid in pipes to rotary tools or to cylinders driving apparatus with linear movements on agricultural machinery pulled, pushed or carried by tractors. Higher available oil flow and the rising number of connections for fluid power present on modern agricultural ...

A meaningful step has been completed in the field of radar-interferometry at ISSIA seat of Bari. The interferometric phase, which is normally measured in the principal component alone (i.e. within a cycle of 6,28 rad), is finally measurable in its entirety, directly correlated to the distance between the interferometer and the observed object such as to other quantities that influence its value, the possibility of subtle displacements of targets on the ground or the atmospheric delay on the ...

The investigation was aimed at evaluating the structural response of existing crawler excavator cab to the loads imposed by the ROPS test as proposed in the revision of ISO 12117 (TOPS) as drafted in Doc. ISO/TC 127/SC2 WG5 N4. Though it is clearly understood that the analysis shows limits imposed by the model size and that the geometry will be significantly simplified, this investigation should highlight problems, limits and constraints in the procedure proposed by the standards being ...

Several natural systems are characterized by a large number of agents, interacting only locally, whose individual actions produce a macroscopic organized behavior. Examples of this phenomenon are the collective motion of flocks of birds or schools of fishes, the functioning of multicellular biological organisms and genetic networks (Figure 1). All the above mentioned systems exhibit an emergent behavior stemming from local and simple coordination rules among the entities. The aim of this ...

MEMS, formally the acronym of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, is the term born in the USA to indicate a family of devices made up of mechanical structures and electronic circuits integrated on the same silicon chip. An emerging field of MEMS applications, known as RF MEMS, is that of radio frequency and millimeter wave systems. Devices such as micro switches, tunable capacitors, high-Q inductors, micro-machined antennas, micro transmission lines and micro-mechanical resonators have been ...

In the field of the management of cultural heritage, it is well known the necessity of acquiring a documentation, the most complete and accurate as possible, on works of art belonging to the common cultural patrimony. The aim is to maintain their state of conservation under continuous control. Besides to carry out classification tasks, this documentation would allow one to foresee and plan conservative actions by preventing the spread and worsening of degradation phenomena. Focusing on ...

Grid computing has emerged as an important new field in the distributed computing arena. The Grid computing concept is intended to enable coordinate resource sharing and problem solving in dynamic virtual organizations. The basic idea is to provide computational power to everyone who can access it, just like electric power Grid providing electricity. The sharing in this computational Grid refers to not only file exchanges but also direct access to a spectrum of computers, software, data, and ...

At the robotic lab of the Palermo branch of ICAR CNR, a fruitful activity is currently dealing with the implementation of a human-machine interface based on human gestures. An anthropomorphic robotic hand (the DIST-Hand, made by GraalTech of Genova) and a low cost video acquisition system are the components of a platform for the experimentation of advanced and innovative methodologies. The system user shows his hand to the camera connected to a computer, executing some hand movements that are ...

In order to supply support to Cultural Heritage experts in their work of objective diagnosis of the degradation of historical buildings, in the past decade various specific methodologies were proposed and developed at the IAC. The activities are partially financed by the national project SIINDA and contracts with the Region of Val d'Aosta. In order to overcome traditional investigation protocols, the research is focussed on the optimization of the attainment of environmental information, ...

The prestigious Science magazine reports about ahighly innovative mathematical method which sheds new light into the dynamics of turbulent flows. The method has been developed by a US-italian team, including researchers from the Istituto Applicazioni Calcolo "Mauro Picone", National Research Council, in Rome, Italy. Turbulent processes play an important role in many engineering applications, for example, in the flow of air around cars or aircraft. Even though the basic equations governing the ...

The research activity carried on by the Visual Computing Lab in the field of 3D Modeling and Interactive Graphics for applications to Cultural Heritage has led to new, important results. Such results are described in the papers: [A] Adaptive TetraPuzzles: Efficient Out-of-Core Construction and Visualization of Gigantic Multiresolution Polygonal Models P. Cignoni, F. Ganovelli, F. Ponchio e R. Scopigno (ISTI-CNR, Pisa), E. Gobbetti e F. Marton (CRS4, Cagliari) [B] Protected Interactive 3D ...

E-Science has been defined as large scale scientific research carried out through distributed global collaborations enabled by networks, requiring shared access to large data collections, large computing resources, and high-performance visualisation. The benefits to research and society resulting from the ability to process, disseminate, and share information in unprecedented dimensions, has prompted worldwide initiatives to develop the cyberinfrastructure needed to empower e-Science. An example ...

Begun in 2002 as part of the 5th framework project, the network "Fractal structures and self-organization" was finally concluded during 2003 with the realisation of an experimental apparatus with which the properties of granular materials may be studied. This has been possible also through financing from MIUR within the FIRB project "Rheological propoerties of granular materials," in collaboration with the department of physics at "La Sapienza." The apparatus constitutes the first and only ...

ITC-CNR, in collaboration with ANCE (the National Association of Building Constructors) and F.IN.CO (Federation of Industries Products Installations and Services for Constructions) and with the patronage of the Ministry of Production Activities, has created the website www.aedilitia.itc.cnr.it, completely devoted to Directive 89/106/EEC "Construction Products" and to the EC marking of products. The reasons behind its creation can be found in the more and more pressing need to face up to the ...

In the framework of the project FISR SOFC it has been realised the first SOFC stack prototype designed and realized in Italy. The aim is to operate the stack at intermediate temperatures between 600° and 800°C. The interconnectors are realised in ferritic stainless steel . This materials allow good thermal compatibility with the ceramic materials, high mechanical stability. The problems related with the cathodic corrosion have been mitigated by using perovkite coatings. The stack is equipped ...

The principal reason behind our decision to create a web site on the legislative aspects of the construction industry in the Health sector, is due to the necessity of experts to have a source easily available for consultation in an area under continual change affecting new and revised standards and complex legislation. Over the last 20 years all standards and regulation affecting the construction industry in the Health sector, particularly that of hospital construction, have undergone ...

Alberto Strini and Emanuela Mapelli Titanium dioxide is a well-known catalyst able to degrade by oxidation several organic compounds. Recent studies have proposed to exploit this property to prepare additives for construction materials based on this compound. A particular interest arises from the possibility of obtaining coating materials that, being activated by sun light, are able to destroy the organic compounds which deposit on them. This property might potentially lead to the development ...

The need to improve the acoustic performance of the indoor premises and the will to overcome the limitations imposed by traditional techniques forced ITC-CNR to apply active noise control to building elements such as windows and vertical partitions. Active noise control (ANC), in which additional secondary sources are used to cancel noise from the original primary source, is based on the principle of destructive interference. ITC-CNR designed two prototypes of an active window and of an active ...

In the framework of the research activities for industrial safety, the "Istituto di Ricerche sulla Combustione" identifies risks assessment concerning accident in industrial plants. Furthermore, it studies the related chemical-physical phenomena with a specific focus to thermal explosions of gaseous mixtures. These issues are important from both a scientific and practical point of view. In fact, by understanding the mechanisms leading to explosions and the analysis of the related risks is ...

Progress and technological evolution require an increasing amount of energy and the present shortage of the national production is alarming. An eventual contraction of the energy supplies would have negative repercussion on the national productive system. Possible answer comes by diversification of the energy sources, introduction of energy recovery strategies of industrial wastes and utilization of renewable sources. Of course, the development and the adaptation of energy generation and/or ...

The scientific results here presented derive from the use of an integrated remote sensing system to monitor the quality of surface water resources, manly linked to ecosystems that are stressed by human impacts and exploitations, such as lakes, estuarine areas, lagoons and coastal zones. The research started to support the calibration/validation needs of remote sensing observations, with a further development toward the necessity to monitor the eutrophication processes within the routinely ...

Rare earths are a group of chemical elements well known for their important spectroscopic properties and widely used as dopants of glass or crystalline matrices to constitute active materials. Neodymium is perhaps the most widely used rare earth in laser physics (when excited, it emits in the near-infrared region, at 1060 nm): one of the first solid-state lasers was a Nd:glass, and today Nd:YAG lasers are present both in research laboratories and in manufacturing companies worldwide. ...

In order to "see" what is infinitely small, man uses "eyes" that are made of electron, X-ray, or neutron beams. The use of neutrons, essential in some cases, has gained an increased importance in the last decades, and the role played by neutron spectroscopy is clearly summarised in the motivation of the 1994 Physics Nobel Prize awarded to two pioneers of this technique, Shull from USA and Brockhouse from Canada, for having helped to "understand where the atoms are and what the atoms do". ...