125878 research outputs found
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ChatGPT and University Students: How Family Education and Disciplinary Fields of Study Matter?
No full textAdvanced AI models, like ChatGPT, offer significant innovation potential in higher education. Their ability to adapt learning to users’ individual needs results in improvements in performance, engagement and self-efficacy contributing to a deeper understanding of the topics covered. The use of chatbots in learning is pushing the scientific community to examine the potential and also the relative risks of these tools. This study aims to preliminarily investigate the level of knowledge and propensity to use ChatGPT to understand the key factors influencing the adoption of these tools among university students. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to over 300 students at the University of Salerno (Italy), involving various faculties to explore how the field of study influences interest in using ChatGPT. The results will allow profiling of students based on the variables examined, revealing their level of knowledge and attitude towards using ChatGPT for educational purposes. This research, involving students from humanities and scientific disciplines, underscores their crucial role in shaping the future of educational technologies. Practical and theoretical implications could lead to more effective and personalized forms of learning, revolutionizing the education and learning sector
S-iNAS: A Performance-Centric SRN Modeling and Analysis of Time and Event Based Scaling Strategies in Ceph-Based Industrial Network-Attached Storage
No full textEmerging Industry 4.0 applications and digital twin paradigms generate massive, highly dynamic data streams that pose significant challenges for storage infrastructures in industrial environments. In this study, we address the issue of scalable performance by introducing S-iNAS, a scalable Ceph-based framework capable of adapting to sharply fluctuating workloads while maintaining high throughput and low latency for industrial network-attached storages (iNAS). Our approach leverages a SRN model to rigorously capture key performance factors: concurrent read/write workflows, replication overhead, and dynamic scaling triggers for Ceph Object Storage Daemons (OSDs). We investigate two principal Scaling Policies—time-based (scheduled expansions) and event-based (threshold-triggered)—under varied arrival rates, client concurrency levels, VM instantiation delays, and read/write compositions. Experimental results from extensive Sensitivity Analyses demonstrate that time-based scaling, although maintaining throughput stability under moderate loads, risks delayed responsiveness when demands spike. By contrast, event-based scaling offers agile adaptation and mitigates latency at the cost of more frequent reconfigurations. These findings highlight how even small modifications to scale-out thresholds or scheduling intervals can substantially influence performance. Compared with existing Petri Net or autoscaling research, our SRN driven modelling helps practitioners comprehend Ceph’s replication and I/O concurrency behaviors, thereby filling a critical gap in performance-centric solutions for iNAS. Ultimately, S-iNAS equips practitioners with actionable guidelines to fine-tune scaling policies, ensuring robust, cost-effective, and high-throughput data services for mission-critical industrial workflows and digital twin ecosystems
A Sociological Study of Hope: Is Hope what Will Save Us? Interview with Emiliana Mangone
No full textThis year saw the publication of Guido Gili and Emiliana Mangone’s Towards a So¬ciology of Hope: Looking Beyond. This book will be of significant interest to schol¬ars of the sociology of culture, sociology of emotions and comparative sociology. It raises complex questions that offer a new perspective on key sociological issues and concepts, such as social solidarity, social action and social relations. Here, Emiliana Mangone elucidates many of their arguments and demonstrates the potential for sociological inquiry into society through the lens of hope in an interview
Black hole spectroscopy and tests of general relativity with GW250114
No full textThe binary black hole signal GW250114, the loudest gravitational wave detected to date, offers a unique opportunity to test Einstein’s general relativity (GR) in the high-velocity, strong-gravity regime and probe whether the remnant conforms to the Kerr metric. Upon perturbation, black holes emit a spectrum of damped sinusoids with specific, complex frequencies. Our analysis of the postmerger signal shows that at least two quasinormal modes are required to explain the data, with the most damped remaining statistically significant for about one cycle. We probe the remnant’s Kerr nature by constraining the spectroscopic pattern of the dominant quadrupolar (l =m =2) mode and its first overtone to match the Kerr prediction to tens of percent at multiple postpeak times. The measured mode amplitudes and phases agree with a numerical-relativity simulation having parameters close to GW250114. By fitting a parametrized waveform that incorporates the full inspiral-merger-ringdown sequence, we constrain the fundamental (l =m =4) mode to tens of percent and bound the quadrupolar frequency to within a few percent of the GR prediction. We perform a suite of tests—spanning inspiral, merger, and ringdown—finding constraints that are comparable to, and in some cases 2–3 times more stringent than those obtained by combining dozens of events in the fourth Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. These results constitute the most stringent single-event verification of GR and the Kerr nature of black holes to date, and outline the power of black-hole spectroscopy for future gravitational-wave observations
Two Families of W-Methods: Analysis and Application on Battery Models
No full textThis paper focuses on the efficient numerical solution of stiff initial value problems arising from the spatial discretization of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). In particular, this work shows an efficient implementation of two families of linearly implicit numerical methods recently introduced in the scientific literature: the TASE-W methods and the singly TASE-Runge-Kutta methods. These methods are derived exploiting the so-called TASE (Time-Accurate and highly Stable Explicit) operators, and are particular cases of W-methods. We deeply analyze the properties of consistency, stability, and computational cost of TASE-W and singly TASE-Runge-Kutta methods, employing them for the solution of a system of two coupled PDEs for the description of the charge/discharge processes in electric batteries
Integrative longitudinal study of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri’ epidemic dynamics using molecular and remote sensing approaches
No full textPear decline (PD), associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri’, is one of the most severe
diseases affecting pear cultivation in Europe and the United States. Several psyllid species
act as vectors of phytoplasmas belonging to the 16SrX group and play a key role in the
epidemiology of the disease. This study aimed to characterize the epidemiology of pear
decline in Sicily using integrated field, molecular, vector, and remote sensing approaches,
four years after the first detection of PD in the region. Visual surveys and molecular
analyses were conducted over two years in eight pear orchards. A total of 115 plant
samples and 101 Cacopsylla spp. specimens, selected from 1435 collected individuals, were
analysed, confirming the presence of ‘Ca. P. pyri’ in 69% of symptomatic plants and in
4.6% of C. pyri individuals. Genetic characterization revealed a high degree of similarity
among the phytoplasma isolates analysed. Remote sensing analyses conducted since 2018,
combined with vector population monitoring, confirmed the epidemic nature of PD and
indicated the persistence of a risk of further pathogen spread within the region, supporting
the use of remote sensing as a complementary tool for large-scale disease monitoring
NP-Hardness and Approximation Algorithms for Constrained Entropy Maximization
No full textGiven a random variable X that takes values in a finite set X = {x1,..., xn}, and a positive number R, we consider the problem of finding a deterministic function f: X → Y that maximizes the entropy H(f(X)), while satisfying the constraint H(f(X)) ≤ R. This problem occurs in several contexts, including lossy compression with logarithmic loss and the well-known Deterministic Information Bottleneck problem. We prove the NP-hardness of finding the optimal solution to the above maximization problem. On the positive side, we design approximation algorithms that achieve improved approximation factors compared to existing methods in the literature
Le antinomie dello sviluppo economico italiano. Il divario Nord/Sud tra policy statali e ruolo della ruling class
No full textI più recenti studi sui temi del divario territoriale tra il Nord e il Sud tendono, finalmente, a guardare il Mezzogiorno come versante di una prospettiva europea e ad inserire il problema dei suoi ritardi socioeconomici nel quadro di dinamiche economiche di carattere globale. Già il “nuovo meridionalismo” del secondo dopoguerra aveva inteso prendere le distanze da una visione dicotomica che aveva assegnato al Sud un ineluttabile destino agricolo, per promuovere ricette di politica economica di matrice industrialista che avrebbero trovato in seno alla Svimez e alla Cassa per il Mezzogiorno la loro più matura espressione. I fondatori e gli esponenti di punta di queste e di altre istituzioni, in parte provenienti dall’esperienza nittiana del primo 900 e in parte dal “trust di cervelli” del primo IRI, sarebbero stati i capofila del progetto di industrializzazione del Mezzogiorno nel secondo dopoguerra, assurgendo a moderna classe dirigente in grado di rappresentare le peculiarità e le esigenze socioeconomiche del Mezzogiorno in un teatro non più locale ma nazionale e internazionale. Infatti non furono solo i contributi finanziari e progettuali di soggetti pubblici nazionali ma anche quelli di istituzioni internazionali, come la Banca Mondiale, a sostenere l’industrializzazione del Mezzogiorno, e a consentire negli anni della golden age un duplice catching-up, del Sud rispetto al Settentrione e dell’Italia nei confronti delle economie più avanzate dell’Europa. Ruolo delle classi dirigenti, peso ed impatto dei finanziamenti interni e esteri, coinvolgimento delle istituzioni internazionali e inserimento anche dal punto di vista scientifico dell’intervento straordinario per il Mezzogiorno nell’alveo del dibattito internazionale sulle depressed areas: sono questi i driver della ricerca di questo volume che ha inteso fornire una originale ricostruzione della stagione dell’intervento straordinario facendo leva, oltre che sulla letteratura di riferimento, sul reperimento e l’analisi di originali fonti archivistiche