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Not so twin: how paradoxes undermine digital and sustainable transition in the public sector
No full textPurpose – This study aims to examine the main tensions that public administrations encounter when pursuing the twin transition, defined as the simultaneous advancement of digital transformation and sustainability goals. It explores how these tensions emerge, interact and influence policy implementation. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis draws on a qualitative examination of thirty institutional reports and nine expert interviews. Using an abductive coding approach, the study identifies and classifiesthe paradoxes experienced by public administrations and assesses whether they act as generative (enabling) or pathological (constraining) forces. Findings – Nine paradox types are identified. While most align with existing theory, two – technology vs sustainability and knowledge and awareness – span multiple dimensions, indicating a need to refine current theoretical categories. The results also show that paradoxes evolve over time, intersect with one another and shape the capacity of administrations to implement twin transition initiatives. Practical implications – The findings offer public managers actionable guidance on how to recognize, prioritize and manage tensions through adaptive and inclusive governance approaches, helping turn paradoxes into drivers of organizational and policy innovation. Originality/value – The study extends paradox theory to the context of the twin transition in public administration, offering a more nuanced classification and highlighting the dynamic, context-dependent nature of tensions. It provides a new interpretive framework and introduces governance innovations such as the proposal of a twin transition officer
Spazi e tempi della cultura. Le Capitali italiane della cultura alla prova della ricerca sociale e della valutazione d'impatto
No full textLa tesi indaga lungo due direttive di analisi, di cui una legata allo studio del concetto e del ruolo di cultura in prospettiva diacronica e comparativa, attraverso un percorso storico-interpretativo del lemma e l’altra legata alla valutazione degli impatti generati da politiche ed iniziative culturali complesse.
La strategia della ricerca, tenendo in debito conto la complessità e la forte trasversalità del tema, fa ricorso ad una pluralità di strumenti che gli studi sulla comunicazione e quelli metodologici in senso stretto utilizzano nel campo delle loro ricerche sociali avanzate.
Tali strumenti permettono di cogliere aspetti diversi afferenti allo stesso tema, ponendoli in prospettiva dialogica fra loro, lungo gli assi dimensionali spazio-tempo.
L’obiettivo è ricostruire dapprima le radici concettuali del lemma ‘cultura’, come chiave di lettura delle società contemporanee, indagando in seconda analisi, la portata trasformativa che la leva culturale può azionare sui territori.
La prima parte esplora il lemma ‘cultura’ tracciandone un’interpretazione storico-evolutiva sul piano politico-istituzionale, avvalendosi di tecniche di analisi testuale quanti-qualitativa dirette a restituire nuovi universi semantici e nuovi concetti in trasformazione.
La seconda parte indaga il rapporto esistente fra territorio e Grande Evento, attraverso lo studio e il confronto tra le iniziative “Capitale italiana della Cultura” e “Capitali europee della Cultura” le quali, attraverso la veste della competizione fra le diverse realtà territoriali, mirano a promuovere progetti e attività di valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale, incentivandone la partecipazione, l’inclusione e lo sviluppo.
L’analisi, sostenuta da una florida letteratura di settore, pone in risalto gli approcci metodologici adottati a livello nazionale ed internazionale, restituendo con chiarezza la pluralità dei processi e degli strumenti adoperabili attraverso accurate tavole sinottiche che ne rilevano opportunità e criticità e proponendo una tassonomia delle candidature per la valutazione delle pratiche territoriali, comunicative e di impatto.
La terza parte della tesi indaga le pratiche valutative d’impatto, introducendo il tema della misurazione e della valutazione d’impatto sociale (VIS), oggetto di un continuo e vivace dibattito internazionale, presente anche in contesti non accademici, proponendo un framework concettuale per la misurazione d’impatto volto ad indagare attività, processi ed impatti dell’iniziativa “Capitale italiana della Cultura” con un approccio metodologico misto (mixed methods), al contempo analitico e dinamico.
Il cuore empirico della tesi si concentra sullo studio di caso “Procida Capitale italiana della cultura 2022”, oggetto di survey e interviste in profondità sul campo, gestite e analizzate tramite software NVivo e analisi SWOT, riconsegnando con chiarezza, organicità e sistematicità la pluralità di visioni e la multidimensionalità delle relazioni tra cultura, inclusione, economia e governance
Individual disease trajectory modifiers in Parkinson’s Disease: how motor compensation and biological phenotypes shape disease evolution
No full textParkinson’s disease (PD) is not a uniform disorder but a dynamic spectrum of biological processes interacting with the brain’s intrinsic capacity for adaptation. Disease manifestation and progression vary widely across individuals. Understanding the individual trajectory modifiers, the biological and neurophysiological factors that determine how pathology translates into symptoms, is essential for explaining clinical heterogeneity and developing stage-specific interventions.
This thesis explores PD evolution in individual trajectories through two complementary perspectives: (I) how neurophysiological adaptations delay the clinical manifestation of PD despite ongoing dopaminergic loss, and (II) dissects why patients with apparently similar motor diagnoses follow vastly different clinical trajectories by identifying and validating pathophysiology-grounded phenotypes that diverge in their pathological origin and spread, molecular signatures, and clinical outcomes.
In the first part, we established an empirical framework to quantify motor compensation in early PD by integrating dopaminergic imaging, clinical data, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. We identified a subgroup of patients with bilateral nigrostriatal degeneration but unilateral symptoms, revealing that enhanced plasticity in the presymptomatic hemisphere sustains motor function despite substantial dopamine loss. These results provide direct in vivo evidence that cortical adaptability can mask neurodegeneration, effectively decoupling biological and clinical disease stages.
In the second part, we tested the Synuclein Origin and Connectome model in over 2,000 prodromal and clinical PD cases from the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative. This model proposes two biologically distinct subtypes defined by the presumed site of α-synuclein pathology onset, peripheral autonomic structures in the body-first form and central brain regions in the brain-first form. We demonstrated that body-first and brain-first forms of PD represent distinct biological entities with specific clinical trajectories, imaging signatures, and genetic determinants. Body-first PD presenting with early autonomic and REM sleep dysfunction showed symmetrical dopaminergic and glymphatic alterations, and faster motor and cognitive decline, whereas brain-first PD exhibited asymmetric top-down propagation, slower progression. The phenotypes were linked with unique genetic associations.
Together, these studies propose an integrated model of PD evolution in which disease expression emerges from the balance between neurodegeneration and compensation, modulated by individual biological architecture. By linking molecular, imaging, and physiological dimensions, this work moves toward a biologically grounded stratification of PD, proposing updates to the actual PD staging system frameworks, redefining how we conceptualise, monitor, and treat the disease across its continuum
Assessment of Delay Propagation Effects Within the Framework of Track Access Charges and Performance Regimes in European Rail Networks
No full textThis study investigates the economic consequences of railway delays and their propagation, with a specific focus on the structure of Track Access Charges (TAC) and associated Performance Regimes (PR). While advanced methods exist for identifying primary delays and attributing their causes, the interplay between these delays and their economic consequences remains underexplored. To address this gap, we propose an integrated framework that links the dynamics of delay propagation to the regulatory and economic mechanisms shaped by the European Union’s railway market liberalization. In this context, pricing frameworks, specifically PRs, tie Infrastructure Managers (IMs) and Railway Undertakings (RUs) together through financial incentives and penalties aimed at enhancing punctuality and service quality. The methodology includes: (1) a comparative analysis of PR schemes across selected European countries, identifying variations in them; (2) a formalized simulation of delay propagation under defined operational and infrastructural conditions. In this framework, the chain of events is based on: (A) primary delay generation, (B) secondary delay propagation, and (C) resulting economic outcomes via bonuses or penalties. By comparing different regimes across multiple national networks, the study provides insight into how different PR structures influence both operational efficiency and financial performance. The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the economic levers available to improve railway punctuality and the sustainability of rail services under liberalized market conditions
Virtue, Sex, and Reputation. Hume and Wollstonecraft on Chastity and Modesty
No full textThis paper reconstructs a conceptual dialogue between David Hume and Mary Wollstonecraft on sexual virtues—chastity and modesty—and their relation to manners, reputation, and female character. It argues that, despite their shared commitment to a constructivist account of virtue, Hume and Wollstonecraft embody two incompatible visions of the moral significance of feminine norms. For Hume, sexual virtues exemplify the civilising function of artificial virtues, grounded in public interest and stabilized through custom and reputation. For Wollstonecraft, by contrast, these same norms reflect and reproduce women’s subjection, and must be re-described as instances of vice. Juxtaposing their accounts sheds light on the internal tensions of Hume’s moral theory and the normative force of Wollstonecraft’s critique. By examining how passions, gender norms, and virtue interact in their respective systems, the paper offers new insights into eighteenth-century moral philosophy and its legacy for contemporary feminist theory
The Ordinary as Ceremony: Wittgenstein on Language and Religion
No full textThis paper examines Wittgenstein’s shifting engagement with religion, from the early
emphasis on the limits of the world in the Tractatus to the later attention to the ordinary and
to the ways religious expressions inhabit forms of life. An analysis of later Wittgenstein
shows that the religious functions within ordinary language-games, in which expressions
tied to religion have established places and contexts of use. These uses, in turn, are
intelligible against the background of many kinds of talk and observation that are not
ordinarily characterized as religious. At the same time, Wittgenstein is concerned with the
way in which words can be intensified through personal use, acquiring an inflection that
responds to individual experience and is exposed to the possibility of acknowledgment or
failure. What emerges is a way of inhabiting language in which the religious is understood
as a renewal of one’s gaze upon the everyday. This is the region in which philosophy
and religion meet in Wittgenstein: the work of finding again the words that speak for us,
allowing them to regain their depth and to return us, moment by moment, to ordinary life
L’IMPATTO DELL’IFRS16 SULLA RAPPRESENTAZIONE DELLE PERFORMANCE AZIENDALI E SULLA STRUTTURA FINANZIARIA DELLE IMPRESE ITALIANE
No full textObiettivo
L’obiettivo della ricerca è analizzare se l’introduzione dell’IFRS 16 – Leases abbia effettivamente modificato la rappresentazione economico-finanziaria delle imprese italiane quotate o se i suoi effetti si siano tradotti principalmente in variazioni contabili e strategie di comunicazione. In particolare, lo studio verifica se il nuovo standard abbia avuto un impatto reale su EBITDA margin e PFN/Passivo e se le imprese abbiano reagito attraverso l’uso di indicatori Adjusted o altre pratiche di reporting strategico.
Metodologia
L’analisi adotta un approccio quantitativo e multimetodo, articolato in diverse fasi integrate. In primo luogo, viene condotta un’analisi qualitativa (content analysis, sentiment analysis e topic modeling) su documenti e comunicati aziendali per esaminare la percezione dell’IFRS 16 da parte delle imprese. Successivamente, l’analisi econometrica su dati panel 2015-2023 utilizza modelli Panel Fixed Effects, Difference-in-Differences (Italia vs Giappone) e Pooled OLS, seguiti da un modello Difference-in-Differences (DiD) per confrontare imprese Adjusted e Non Adjusted. Viene poi stimata una versione estesa del DiD con interazione tripla (Post * Adjusted * Lease-Intensive) per valutare le differenze settoriali. La robustezza dei risultati è verificata mediante placebo test per gli anni 2017 e 2023, controlli di multicollinearità (VIF), autocorrelazione (Durbin-Watson e Prais-Winsten) ed eteroschedasticità (Breusch-Pagan, Huber-White HC0-HC3). Tutte le stime sono corrette con errori standard Driscoll-Kraay per tenere conto della dipendenza temporale e trasversale. In aggiunta, viene stimato un modello Logit per analizzare la probabilità di appartenenza al gruppo Adjusted, una regressione LASSO per la selezione automatica delle variabili più rilevanti e, infine, modelli previsionali (ARIMA, ETS, BSTS e XGBoost) per stimare l’andamento futuro di EBITDA e PFN/Passivo nel periodo 2019-2026.
Risultati principali
I risultati mostrano che l’adozione dell’IFRS 16 ha avuto un impatto negativo e significativo sia sull’EBITDA margin sia sul rapporto PFN/Passivo, evidenziando come la nuova disciplina sui leasing abbia ridotto la redditività operativa e, al tempo stesso, modificato la struttura del capitale delle imprese. L’effetto negativo sull’EBITDA margin risulta coerente con l’aumento degli ammortamenti e degli oneri finanziari derivanti dalla capitalizzazione dei contratti di leasing, mentre la riduzione del PFN/Passivo riflette un aggiustamento contabile più che un miglioramento reale della solidità finanziaria. Le imprese lease-intensive e quelle che adottano indicatori Adjusted mostrano comportamenti differenziati e più opportunistici, utilizzando strategie di comunicazione per mitigare l’impatto percepito della riforma. I placebo test confermano la robustezza dei risultati, mentre la regressione LASSO individua liquidità, leverage e intensità del leasing come variabili determinanti. I modelli previsionali (ARIMA, ETS, BSTS e XGBoost) mostrano che gli effetti dell’IFRS 16 tendono a stabilizzarsi nel medio periodo, senza segnali di recupero strutturale. Il modello Logit, infine, indica che la probabilità di utilizzo di indicatori Adjusted è più elevata per le imprese meno liquide e con maggiore complessità operativa, suggerendo una logica strategica e non puramente informativa nell’adozione di tali metriche.
Conclusioni
Nel complesso, l’evidenza empirica suggerisce che l’IFRS 16 ha modificato la forma, ma non la sostanza della rappresentazione contabile. Le imprese italiane hanno utilizzato strategie di reporting per mitigare gli effetti visibili del nuovo standard, trasformando un intervento volto alla trasparenza in una leva di comunicazione. I risultati si inseriscono nel quadro teorico della trasparenza informativa (Bushman & Smith, 2001), della value relevance (Francis & Schipper, 1999) e della agency theory (Jensen & Meckling, 1976), evidenziando come la regolamentazione contabile riduca le asimmetrie formali ma non elimini la discrezionalità manageriale
Optimisation of high-speed interconnects for scientific computing
No full textEthernet-based or Ethernet-compatible interconnects are gaining traction as the evolution of today’s scientific and technological landscape pushes the integration of High Performance Computing (HPC), Big Data (BD), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). On the other hand, in research-oriented environments, custom HPC solutions are able to reach a higher level of performance with respect to standardized counterparts, by providing an optimized and power efficient architecture tailored to the specific field of application.
This thesis explores strategies to improve communication efficiency in modern HPC systems. Following the requirements of relevant scientific applications, it focuses on providing a low-latency communication primitive within a Network Interface Card (NIC) to accompany the throughput-optimized Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA), while managing congestion through the development of Quality-of-Service (QoS) mechanisms, and a flexible router hosting network offloads. The work also evaluates the integration of a RISC-V core within an FPGA platform, with the aim of assessing its readiness for control and processing responsibilities in the network stack.
Throughout this thesis, several aspects of the interconnect will be addressed and accompanied by an in-depth study of the current state of the art, starting from host CPU-NIC communication to efficient packet routing mechanisms. These investigations will be conducted on top of a custom NIC, APEnetX, a high-performance, FPGA-based interconnection network developed as part of ongoing european exascale research initiatives
Ripensare alla costituzione in senso materiale, oggi
No full textIl contributo esamina la teoria della costituzione in senso materiale di Costantino Mortati e si interroga su una sua possibile attualizzazion
Neurodevelopment at Two Years in Preterm Infants: Corrected Versus Chronological Age
No full textBackground: Preterm birth is a significant risk factor for neurodevelopmental delays, but the appropriate use and timing of age correction for developmental assessment remain de- bated. Objective: This study investigated psychomotor development in preterm children at two years of age, with the aim of clarifying whether age correction remains necessary at this stage, particularly across different gestational age groups. Methods: A total of 161 preterm infants were assessed at a mean chronological age of 25.4 months (mean corrected age: 23.3 months) and compared with two control groups of typically developing children matched for gender and either corrected age (Control–Corr, N = 88) or chronological age (Control–Chron, N = 87). The preterm group was further stratified by gestational age: extremely preterm (<28 weeks), very preterm (28–31 weeks), and moderate-to-late preterm (32–36 weeks). Cognitive, Language (Receptive, Expressive), and Motor (fine, gross) scales of Bayley-III were analysed using t-tests and MANOVAs. Results: Using corrected age, preterm children showed a selective profile, with deficits in Receptive Language, borderline mean score in Gross Motor, and preserved performance in Cognitive, Expressive Communication, and Fine Motor. When compared with controls of the same age, significant differences emerged in the Cognitive, Language, and Gross Motor, but not Fine Motor, domains. In contrast, scoring by chronological age produced a generalised delay, with preterm children performing significantly worse than chronological-age controls across all domains. Subgroup analyses further showed that extremely preterm children already displayed marked Language vulnerabilities at corrected age, which became more severe with chronological scoring and extended to other domains. Very preterm children also fell into the deficit range in Cognitive, Language, and Gross Motor scales/subscales when chronological age was applied, whereas moderate-to-late preterm children performed comparatively better. Conclusions: Developmental assessment using corrected age remains essential at least until 24 months, especially for extremely and very preterm children, to avoid substantial overestimation of developmental difficulties. Chronological scoring, while helpful to highlight persistent vulnerabilities, may inflate delay classification if used too early. Tailoring correction strategies by gestational age and developmental do- main could provide a more accurate and clinically meaningful representation of preterm children’s developmental trajectories