Stefano De Falco

Is it possible to control and optimize technology transfer process

Is it possible to control and optimize technology transfer process? Engineers and quality practitioners are often faced with the problem of determining the optimal choice of key factor in the tolerance process evaluation regarding the quality of the process to be monitored. To guarantee a prefixed quality level of the monitored process, lower specification limit (LSL) and upper specification limit (USL) for a certain quality characteristic have been determined. These limits, LSL and USL, could be defined as μ� δσ and μ+ δσ, respectively, where δ>0. Here, the key factor δ represents the number of standard deviations at which each specification limit is located from the process mean. This paper shows an innovative use of SPC tools in a different field aspect, one in which they are usually employed. Generally, these instruments are used for the control of the industrial process or service, but they could be used in an innovative way to control and to optimize a particular process: the technology transfer process. When determining the key factor level, it is important to consider a trade-off between costs incurred by the supplier, in terms of technology offer, and the user, in terms of technology request, of the process examined. This paper shows how these costs are quantified and integrated; it also shows how a particular mathematical tool, the Lambert W function, is incorporated into this choice optimization problem by deriving a closed-form solution. This proposed model and solution may be appealing to managers and technology transfer operators since the Lambert function is found in a number of standard optimization software. Experimental results are presented and related to a real data set of technology transfer actions developed by the Technology Transfer Office.AbstractIs it possible to control and optimize technology transfer process? Engineers and quality practitioners are often faced with the problem of determining the optimal choice of key factor in the tolerance process evaluation regarding the quality of the process to be monitored. To guarantee a prefixed quality level of the monitored process, lower specification limit (LSL) and upper specification limit (USL) for a certain quality characteristic have been determined. These limits, LSL and USL, could be defined as μ − δσ and μ + δσ, respectively, where δ > 0. Here, the key factor δ represents the number of standard deviations at which each specification limit is located from the process mean. This paper shows an innovative use of SPC tools in a different field aspect, one in which they are usually employed. Generally, these instruments are used for the control of the industrial process or service, but they could be used in an innovative way to control and to optimize a particular process: the technology transfer process. When determining the key factor level, it is important to consider a trade-off between costs incurred by the supplier, in terms of technology offer, and the user, in terms of technology request, of the process examined. This paper shows how these costs are quantified and integrated; it also shows how a particular mathematical tool, the Lambert W function, is incorporated into this choice optimization problem by deriving a closed-form solution. This proposed model and solution may be appealing to managers and technology transfer operators since the Lambert function is found in a number of standard optimization software. Experimental results are presented and related to a real data set of technology transfer actions developed by the Technology Transfer Office.

A Soft Computing-Based Measurement System for Medical Applications in Diagnosis of Cardiac Arrhythmias by ECG Signals Analysis

In this paper a telemedicine application in support of heart patients homecare is proposed. Diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias typically requires heart monitoring for 24 or 48 consecutive hours, so it causes long waiting lists in hospital. In this sight the authors have projected an user-friendly virtual assistant able to acquire and analyze patient ECG signals by soft computing procedures. The system is based on a PDA equipped with a DAQ card acquiring, to a fixed sampling frequency, the heart electrical impulses by means of an ECG sensor. Then an embedded algorithm allows to depict the graph of the electrocardiogram on the PDA display. By build-in models the ECG waveform is analyzed in order to diagnose possible arrhythmias occurrences or the happening of a heart attack. In fact, the developed computational intelligence application enables the system to perform a patterns recognition taking into account information on the measurement uncertainty. In this way, according to some patient parameters like age, sex and physical constitution, a set of warning lights on display provides information on the current heart status of the patient. Consequently the heart report can be sent by a GPRS modem to a confidential Web page containing patient personal data. The M2M application allows information to be made available to expert medical staff of hospital or clinic for a further remote analysis. In presence of a potential emergency, an online doctor can decide the typology of intervention for the patient assistance

Geographic determinism Vs urban resilience: italian scenario analysis

Since many years the analysis of the resilience concept transversally enriches the scientific debate from the technical- scientific to the socio-humanistic one. In urban areas, particularly, the scientific literature offers a consolidated panorama of theories and applications. The present work is animated by the objective of complementing this background with a geographic approach in which the characteristics of urban resilience, synthesized by a wide review of scientific articles, are associated with determinants of geographic type (urban dimension, latitude and prevalent urban attribute). The proposed analysis both introduce methodological elements of evaluation useful for this topic and both shows, based on the stratification of real data regarding some main urban variables (Living, Environment, Mobility and Legality), the scenario of Italian cities characterized by high, medium and low resilience actions as a function of their geographical characteristics, trying to make clearer the question regarding the geographic determinism paradigm declined to the urban frame, analyzing the eventual geographical influence on the processes of urban resilience.

From the “smart city” to the “smart metropolis”? Building resilience in the urban periphery

The “smart city” has risen to global prominence over the past two decades as an urban planning and development strategy. As a broad but contested toolkit of technological services and policy interventions aimed at improving the efficacy and efficiency of urban systems, the “smart city” is subject to several pressing critiques. This paper acknowledges these concerns, but recognizes the potential of “urban intelligence” to enhance the resiliency of metropolitan areas. As such, we focus on an under-researched dimension of smart city urbanism: its application in peripheral urban areas. The paper introduces a threefold typology of: (a) geographic (spatial); (b) hard (material); and (c) soft (social) urban peripherality. Second, it reviews the concept of urban resilience and considers how its central characteristics can inform the objectives and implementation of “smart city” infrastructures and planning. Six European smart city plans are assessed via a qualitative content analysis, to identify the target of smart city actions; the characteristics of urban resilience mobilized; and the spatial focus of planned interventions. The comparative analysis reveals a variegated set of smart-city approaches. Notably, “smart” actions aimed at enhancing social innovation are the most common type of intervention, while overall there remains a strong tendency for smart urbanism to focus on the urban core. We conclude by calling for a research agenda addressing smartness in, of, and for, peripheral urban spaces and communities.

University-led innovation in and for peripheral urban areas: new approaches in Naples, Italy and Newark, NJ, US

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the spatial development problem of university-led innovation in peripheral urban areas. Highlighting issues of proximity, uneven geographic development, and multi-scalar urban governance as weaknesses of the regional innovation systems literature, we provide a novel synthesis of regional economics, innovation policy, and critical urban studies to assess the development roles of universities in concrete contexts. A comparative investigation of Naples and Newark, NJ captures the functional operation of regional innovation and urban development as a contested product of discourses, technologies (material and governance), and territorial arrangements. Our analysis demonstrates the significance of multi-scalar relationships in structuring innovation policy and practice in peripheral urban areas. The architecture of innovation is not simply rolled out into pre-determined spatial containers in places lacking established ‘institutional thickness’ or urban centrality. The spatial development of university-led innovation is a social product: material and governance infrastructures are essential components of the urban fabric and are essential to its co-constitution. Universities are shown to contribute differing resources dependent on their institutional strategic goals and the capacities and spatial imaginaries afforded to them by their situation in broader territorial governance regimes. We conclude by drawing comparative lessons and identifying directions for future research.