Srinivas Vasista, Alessandro De Gaspari, Sergio Ricci, Johannes Riemenschneider, Hans Peter Monner and Bram van de Kamp
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the design and experimental work of compliant wing and wingtip morphing devices conducted within the EU FP7 project NOVEMOR…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the design and experimental work of compliant wing and wingtip morphing devices conducted within the EU FP7 project NOVEMOR and to demonstrate that the optimization tools developed can be used to synthesize compliant morphing devices.
Design/methodology/approach
The compliant morphing devices were “designed-through-optimization”, with the optimization algorithms including Simplex optimization for composite compliant skin design, aerodynamic shape optimization able to take into account the structural behaviour of the morphing skin, continuum-based and load path representation topology optimization methods and multi-objective optimization coupled with genetic algorithm for compliant internal substructure design. Low-speed subsonic wind tunnel testing was performed as an effective means of demonstrating proof-of-concept.
Findings
It was found that the optimization tools could be successfully implemented in the manufacture and testing stage. Preliminary insight into the performance of the compliant structure has been made during the first wind tunnel tests.
Practical implications
The tools in this work further the development of morphing structures, which when implemented in aircraft have potential implications to environmentally friendlier aircrafts.
Originality/value
The key innovations in this paper include the development of a composite skin optimization tool for the design of highly 3D morphing wings and its ensuing manufacture process; the development of a continuum-based topology optimization tool for shape control design of compliant mechanisms considering the stiffness and displacement functions; the use of a superelastic material for the compliant mechanism; and wind tunnel validation of morphing wing devices based on compliant structure technology.
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Lorenzo Travaglini, Sergio Ricci and Giampiero Bindolino
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an integrated framework suitable for preliminary airframe design, called PyPAD (Python module for Preliminary Aircraft…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an integrated framework suitable for preliminary airframe design, called PyPAD (Python module for Preliminary Aircraft Design), providing the capability to define models to compute loads and to perform the structural sizing.
Design/methodology/approach
The modules developed until now allow for the definition of multi-fidelity aero-structural models starting from a Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema (CPACS) input file and to compute static loads (trim) and flutter margin with minimum user effort. PyPAD take advantages of Abaqus-CAE, and the main functions are developed in Python, to take advantages of the simplicity in terms of software development and maintenance, but the core routines are developed in Fortran, taking advantages of parallel programming to get the best performances.
Findings
A complete test case, starting from the CPACS input and ending with the definition of structural, aerodynamic and aero-elastic models, with the computation of different design loads, is reported. An example will show that the framework developed is able to handle different problematics of the preliminary projects using quite complex global models.
Practical implications
All the tools developed in the framework, and the ones currently under development, could be a valid help during the preliminary design of a new aircraft, speeding up the iterative process and improving the design solution.
Originality/value
PyPAD is the first framework developed around Abaqus-CAE for the preliminary aircraft design and is one of the few tools looking at the different problematics involved in a preliminary airframe design: design, loads and aero-elasticity, sizing and multi-disciplinary optimization.
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Luca Riccobene and Sergio Ricci
The purpose of this paper is to present a formulation that couples equivalent plate and beam models for aircraft structures analysis, suitable in conceptual design in which fast…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a formulation that couples equivalent plate and beam models for aircraft structures analysis, suitable in conceptual design in which fast model generation and efficient analysis capability are required.
Design/methodology/approach
Assembling the complete model with common techniques such as Lagrange multipliers or penalty function method would require a solver capable of handling the combined set of linear equation. The alternative approach proposed here is based on a static reduction of the beam model at specified connection points and the subsequent “embedding” into the equivalent plate model using a coordinate transformation, translating physical dfs in Ritz coordinates, i.e. polynomial coefficients. Displacements and forces on beam elements are recovered with the inverse transformation once the solution is computed.
Findings
An aeroelastic trim analysis on a Transonic CRuiser (TCR) civil aircraft conceptual model validates the hybrid model: as the TCR features a slender flexible fuselage and a wide root chord wing, the capability to reduce the beam model for the fuselage at more than one connection point improved aeroelastic corrections to steady longitudinal aerodynamic derivatives.
Originality/value
Although the equivalent model proposed is simpler than others found in literature, it offers automatic mesh generation capabilities, and it is fully integrated into an aeroelastic framework. The hybrid model represents an enhancement allowing both dynamical and static analyses.
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Salvatore Cincimino, Salvatore Gnoffo, Fabio La Rosa and Sergio Paternostro
Scholarly interest in the business effects of organised crime (OC) has recently increased. This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on the conditions under…
Abstract
Purpose
Scholarly interest in the business effects of organised crime (OC) has recently increased. This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on the conditions under which OC could pose a threat to or take control of firms within a particular context.
Design/methodology/approach
We use narrative synthesis and thematic analysis, with a sample of 46 theoretical and empirical studies published over the past 30 years on the relationship between OC and firms within the disciplines of Business, Management and Accounting (BMA).
Findings
SLR and thematic analysis show that scholarly interest has focused on four key domains: OC as a firm, the impact of OC on firms, firms’ efforts to counter OC’s influence and governmental interventions. Using medical metaphors, we also develop a diagram depicting the interplay between OC and firms within the BMA literature.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature shaping an agenda to steer future research towards these four key themes. The effectiveness of anti-OC tools and measures depends on a thorough understanding of local norms, behaviours and business practices. In addition to measurement and methodological challenges, several grey areas remain, including the distinction between criminal enterprises and legitimate businesses. Ambiguities also surround the circumstances under which the OC preys upon firms or employs them to establish dominance over a territory.
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Jacopo Santambrogio, Michela Russo, Sergio Terrevazzi, Gianluca Peschi, Massimo Clerici and Marco O. Bertelli
Persons with intellectual disability and/or low-functioning autism spectrum didorder are with high support need (ID/ASD-HSN) are among the people who are most vulnerable to the…
Abstract
Purpose
Persons with intellectual disability and/or low-functioning autism spectrum didorder are with high support need (ID/ASD-HSN) are among the people who are most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific vulnerability and the protective factors for persons with ID/LF-ASD attending residential and rehabilitative facilities have however received little attention. This paper aims to describe how two facilities located in the Italian COVID-19 red zone faced the risks associated with the spread of the pandemic and the results they have achieved so far.
Design/methodology/approach
Interventions to contrast the spread of the pandemic and preserve clients’ health conditions have been systematically monitored and recorded since the very beginning of the pandemic.
Findings
26/138 clients had to undergo clinical screening and laboratory tests for COVID-like symptomatology, but only one resulted affected by COVID-19 and survived. Considering that Lombardy had 89,595 cases and 16,262 deaths (January–May 2020), one COVID-19 case/138 clients is a good result. Temporarily limiting physical contacts with friends/family in favor of reducing the burden of risk and adopting a system of prevention/safety strategies directed for persons with ID/LF-ASD attending and their caregivers have been useful measures.
Research limitations/implications
Structured or semi-structured interviews (using professional caregivers as informant) to confirm behavioral and emotional changes in the clients could not be carried out because of lack of time and resources (which were captured by the management of the pandemic) and could be the next goal for our residential facilities to implement the management of epidemic acute phases in a research-oriented view.
Originality/value
This study is a service evaluation report about facing COVID-19 pandemic. Only few such studies are present in medical literature about ID/ASD.
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Oronzio Manca, Sergio Nardini and Daniele Ricci
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the flow and the heat transfer characteristics of a two‐dimensional rib‐roughned rectangular duct with the two principal walls…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the flow and the heat transfer characteristics of a two‐dimensional rib‐roughned rectangular duct with the two principal walls subjected to uniform heat flux. In particular, the main goal is to generate friction and heat transfer data, for different values of p/e with square, rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular shape ribs for Reynolds numbers in the range between 20,000 and 60,000 and different heights and to describe the temperature and fluid‐dynamic fields around the ribs.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is constituted by a two‐dimensional duct. On the duct wall square, rectangular, triangular and trapezoidal ribs are introduced by changing different geometry ratios. Governing equations are solved numerically by means of the finite‐volume method.
Findings
Simulations show that maximum Nusselt numbers are detected in correspondence with dimensionless pitch equal to 12 and 10 for the square, trapezoidal and rectangular ribs, and triangular ones, respectively. Heat transfer rate is at most 2.45 times higher than the smooth duct, when dimensionless height is equal to 0.05, and 1.85 at a dimensionless height equal to 0.02; furthermore, the friction factor is the highest at a pitch ratio of ten for the rectangular, trapezoidal and square ribs while the triangular ones show the maximum values at a dimensionless pitch equal to 8. For Re>40,000 an asymptotic behavior is detected. Best thermal performances are provided by triangular ribs with w/e=2.0 while the rectangular ribs with w/e=2.0 present the lowest friction factor values. Local Nusselt number profiles reveal that the maximum values are detected from three to five times the rib height from the downstream turbulator. Finally, temperature fields and stream function contours are given in order to visualize the temperature distribution and flow pattern in presence of d‐type and k‐type roughness behavior also for triangular ribs.
Originality/value
The paper investigates evaluation of temperature and velocity fields thermal and fluid‐dynamic behaviors (in terms of average and local Nusselt number profiles and friction factors ones) of roughned ducts with different shapes, heights and aspect ratios of ribs in turbulent regime. The thermo‐physical properties of fluid are assumed to be dependent on temperature. The paper is useful to thermal designers.
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Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to…
Abstract
Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.
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Keywords
Government-INE tensions.
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB250778
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Cristina Calvo-Porral and Sergio Rivaroli
Ultra-processed food products are omnipresent in our homes and in grocery stores, and everybody consumes these food products once in a while. In this context, the present study…
Abstract
Purpose
Ultra-processed food products are omnipresent in our homes and in grocery stores, and everybody consumes these food products once in a while. In this context, the present study aims to analyse what factors influence the consumption behaviour of ultra-processed food products and, more precisely, what factors drive consumer satisfaction and purchase intention of these food products in one specific market – Spain-.
Design/methodology/approach
A model of consumer behaviour of ultra-processed food products is proposed and analysed through structural equation modelling on a sample of 608 consumers.
Findings
Findings indicate that the effortlessness of ultra-processed food products, as well as their affordability, are the factors that exert the higher influence on consumer satisfaction and purchase intention of ultra-processed food products. On the other hand, the product quality and the ability to save time show a negative influence on both consumer satisfaction and intention to purchase. Contrary to the initial expectations, product convenience and the hedonistic nature of ultra-processed food products do not influence consumer behaviour.
Practical implications
Food policymakers and public health interventions may consider possible actions to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed food products, the reduction of their affordability through taxation or the compulsory inclusion of nutritional warnings in the front of the package to confront marketing actions developed by food companies.
Originality/value
This study examines the factors that drive the purchase and consumption of ultra-processed food products in one European mature market: Spain.
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Sergio Barile, Maria Vincenza Ciasullo, Mario Testa and Antonio La Sala
Rooting in the literature on training and laying on Kirkpatrick model, this paper aims to explore key drivers of corporate training to identify how they can be combined into an…
Abstract
Purpose
Rooting in the literature on training and laying on Kirkpatrick model, this paper aims to explore key drivers of corporate training to identify how they can be combined into an integrated framework of learning for human capital development.
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting the constructivist grounded theory, this contribution analyzes the experience carried out in the last ten years by Virvelle, an Italian corporate training firm.
Findings
Results show the rise of five core categories, g1iving rise to an integrated model of Kirkpatrick. Their dynamic interplay led to a new orientation of Kirkpatrick model giving rise to a metalearning ecosystem.
Research limitations/implications
Managerial implications have identified key factors on which building and implementing appropriate corporate training programmes capable of triggering co-generative processes of value creation. Particularly, the essential role of learning quality culture, digital technology and personalization are detected in integrating not only hard but furthermore soft shades of learning. Concerning theoretical implications, the emergence of key structural and systems enabling dimensions for learning, and contextual mechanisms involved in reshaping training effectiveness and achieving integrated learning outcomes are detected. The main limitation of this study lies in the need to generalize results: the conceptualized framework needs to be empirically tested.
Originality/value
The value of this research is built along three main points. The first is the integration among the core categories that an integrated learning system can be built on, promoting learning quality culture through positive feedback loops. The second is represented by the chance to enhance an integrated mutual knowledge development among engaged actors, thereby shaping a more holistic and multidimensional learning model. The third is related to the transversal role that digital technology plays in all phases of the training process as it integrates and enriches them.