Scientific Programme
Four scientific topics and sessions are identified. Each session is organized with the main contribution of an Invited Speaker. The Reliability Session, organized with the support of the PRIN Project “Experimental Design and Maintenance, a Decision-Making approach driven by Degradation Models” includes a Key-Note Speaker.
Venue: Villa Ruspoli - Florence
Date: 5 September 2026
Submitted Contributions considering these 4 topics are welcome.
PROVISONAL SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
9.30-10.00: Welcome Coffee & Opening Session
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- 10.00-11.30 1st SESSION: Statistics for sustainability, reliability and safety of Railways
Invited Speaker: Ing. Davide Bonaffini (Hitachi Rail - Global Head of Circular Economy & Ecodesign)
Talk Title: Circular Economy & Ecodesign. Roadmap towards Decarbonization
Invited Speaker: Ing. Iacopo Trotta (Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A)
Talk Title: LLM-based Coverage Analysis of Tests and Requirements (Co-authors: Francesco Mariotti, Lorenzo Sarti)
Contributed: Dr. Nedka Dechkova Nikiforova (Università di Firenze, Italy)
Talk Title: An innovative approach for improving freight train braking by Gaussian Process Mixed Models
- 11.30-13.15 2nd SESSION: Experimental Design and Maintenance, a Decision-Making approach driven by degradation Models
Key-Note Speaker: Prof. John K. Andrews (University of Nottingham-UK)
Talk Title: Statistical and analytical tools for understanding the impact of design, maintenance and operation decisions on system failure performance.
Invited Speaker: Prof. Emeritus G. G. Vining (Virginia Tech, USA)
Talk Title: Statistical Analysis of Data without Probability Theory:Building Degradation Models to Predict the Need for Maintenance.
Contributed: Prof. Marco Reis (University of Coimbra: Coimbra, PT)
Talk Title: Development of a Federated Classifier for Delocalized Decision Making (Co-authors: Eugeniu Strelet, Joel Sansana, Tiago J. Rato)
Discussant: Dr. Antonio Pievatolo (CNR - Milano, Italy)
13.15-14.15: Lunch
- 14.15 -15.45 3rd SESSION: Tourism Data in Action: Insights from Predictive Analytics to Sustainable Strategies
Invited Speaker: Prof. Chiara Mocenni (Università di Siena, Italy)
Talk Title: Sustainable Tourism as a Complex System: Nonlinear Dynamics, Game Theory, and Agent-Based Models for Ecological Resilience
Contributed: Prof. Giulia Contu (Università di Cagliari, Italy)
Talk Title: Understanding Tourism Demand: A Tree-Based Analysis of Territorial Drivers (Co-authors: Marco Ortu, Andrea Carta, Francesca Atzori)
Contributed: Dr. Marco Contri (Università di Firenze, Italy)
Talk Title: Beyond the Mainstream: Tourism Development and Visitor Perceptions in an Emerging Tuscan Destination (Co-author: Silvia Fissi)
15.45-16.15: Coffee Break
- 16.15 -17.45 4th SESSION: Statistics for biomedical engineering and multiphysics approaches to study diseases
Invited Speaker: Prof. Francesco Viola (Gran Sasso Science Institute-GSSI)
Talk Title: Statistical modelling and Multiphysics approaches to study cardiovascular diseases.
Invited Speaker: Ing. Dr Francesco Bertocci (Esaote SpA)
Talk Title: A procedure based on observational data to determine the sample size and the critical causes for the failure risk evaluation (Co-authors: Michele Bassani, Daniele Gemmiti)
Contributed: Dr. Sara Prasciolu (Università di Cagliari, Italy)
Talk Title: Graph-based Analysis of Verbal Fluency Tests for Cognitive Decline Assessment (Co-authors: Marco Ortu and Andrea Carta)
17:45 -18.00: Closing Session
- 10.00-11.30 1st SESSION: Statistics for sustainability, reliability and safety of Railways