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Les biens du fisc royal dans la région du Nord-Est du Royaume Italique (VIII-XI siècles). Une tentative de reconstruction
Get PDFLa tesi consiste in un tentativo di ricostruzione del patrimonio del fisco regio nell'area nordorientale del regno italico, tra VIII e XI secolo. La ricostruzione si concentra sia sulle strategie regie di gestione del patrimonio fiscale sia sul coinvolgimento dei funzionari regi e delle élites monastiche ed ecclesiastiche nella redistribuzione di beni e rendite di origine pubblica. La prima parte è intitolata "Strategie regie" e traccia le politiche fiscali sviluppate dai sovrani fino all'inizio dell'XI secolo, con particolare attenzione ai diplomi destinati ad attori nordorientali. La seconda parte, intitolata "Ribaltare la Prospettiva", analizza due casi di studio tratti da serie documentarie più dense e coerenti, focalizzandosi sulla prospettiva dei beneficiari delle concessioni. In questa seconda parte, la documentazione considerata arriva fino al XII secolo. Ciò ha consentito di ricostruire le dinamiche di produzione e conservazione dei documenti legati al possesso delle proprietà fiscali.The thesis aims to study the fiscal estates in the northeastern region of the Italic kingdom, from the 8th to the 11th century. The thesis focuses on the royal strategies and the revenues managed by royal officials and ecclesiastical elites during this period. The first part is titled "Royal Strategies" and traces the fiscal policies developed by the sovereigns until the beginnig of the 11th century, with a particular emphasis on the value of diplomas in favor of northeastern actors. The second part, entitled "Changing Perspective," analyzes two case studies from denser and more coherent documentary series, focusing on the perspective of concession beneficiaries. In this second part, documentation is considered up to the 12th century, attempting to reconstruct the dynamics of document production and conservation related to the possession of fiscal estates.La thèse vise à retracer les modes de gestion du patrimoine du fisc royal dans la région du Nord-Est du royaume italique, du VIIIe siècle au XIe siècle. La reconstruction se concentre à la fois sur les stratégies royales de gestion du patrimoine fiscal et sur l'implication des fonctionnaires royaux et des élites monastiques et ecclésiastiques dans la redistribution des biens et des revenus d'origine publique. La première partie est intitulée "Stratégies royales" et retrace les politiques fiscales élaborées par les souverains jusqu'au XIe siècle, en mettant particulièrement l'accent sur la valeur des diplômes en faveur des acteurs nord orientaux. La deuxième partie, intitulée "Renverser la perspective", analyse deux cas d'étude à partir de séries documentaires plus denses et cohérentes, en se concentrant sur le point de vue des bénéficiaires des concessions. Dans cette deuxième partie, on prend en considération la documentation jusqu'au XIIe siècle et on tente de reconstruire les dynamiques de production et de conservation documentaire liées à la détention de biens du fisc
Hermeneutics of the fantastic in pedagogy: a path between narratives, imaginary, needs for sense and education
Get PDFL’idea di questo progetto nasce da una constatazione confermata anche dai dati della produzione libraria: la fiction continua a confermarsi tra le letture preferite dai più giovani.
Ma perché queste narrazioni riescono a catturare la loro attenzione? Quali bisogni immaginativi, di senso, educativi e formativi soddisfano? Come sono presenti tra le molteplici offerte dell’industria culturale? Quale potrebbe essere oggi il loro significato pedagogico rispetto anche al passato? Perché è importante continuare a proporle nella relazione educativa?
L’indagine, nel tentativo di rispondere a questi interrogativi, ha rilevato come la narrativa fantastica per bambini e ragazzi sia influenzata dall’odierna tendenza alla contaminazione dei generi letterari, che rende difficile tracciarne una mappa esaustiva e precisa. Il fantastico appare infatti articolarsi in una pluralità piuttosto ampia di identità e linguaggi di espressione. Ma si tratta anche di una modalità che, trascinando il lettore in un mondo diverso da quello reale, induce all’uso di un ragionamento di tipo analogico. Tramite connessioni e similitudini, questo può rivelarsi importante in un momento di grande complessità storico-sociale come quello presente, contrassegnato pure da tristezza, sbandamento, egocentrismo, competitività e tendenza a uniformarsi a modelli standardizzati.
Se fossero quindi affrontate, nei contesti educativi, con uno sguardo più attento, queste narrazioni potrebbero risultare preziose per far acquisire a bambini e ragazzi abilità comunicative, negoziali, di pensiero critico e creativo e rimediare all’impoverimento delle risorse linguistiche e di empatia conseguenti anche a una disaffezione per la lettura o alla difficoltà di accedervi o a un interesse per prodotti culturali di bassa qualità.The idea for this project was born from an observation also confirmed by book industry data: fiction continues to confirm itself as one of the favorite readings of young people.
But why do these narratives manage to capture their attention? What imaginative, meaning, educational and training needs do they satisfy? How are they present among the multiple offers of the cultural industry? What could their pedagogical meaning be today compared to the past? Why is it important to continue proposing them in the educational relationship?
In an attempt to answer these questions, the investigation has revealed how fantasy fiction for children and teenagers is influenced by today's tendency of a contamination of literary genres, which makes it difficult to draw an exhaustive and precise map. In fact, the fantastic appears to be articulated in a rather broad plurality of identities and languages of expression. But it is also a method that by dragging the reader into a world different from the real one, leads to the use of analogical reasoning.
Through connections and similarities, this can prove important in a moment of great historical-social complexity like the current one, also marked by sadness, confusion, egocentrism, competitiveness and the tendency to conform to standardized models.
If they were to be addressed, in educational contexts, with a more careful look, these narratives could prove precious for children and young people to acquire communication, negotiation, critical and creative thinking skills. A remedy to the impoverishment of linguistic and empathy resources also resulting from a disaffection for reading or difficulty in accessing or an interest in low-quality cultural products
Architecting the edge-cloud continuum for IoT-based monitoring applications
Get PDFMonitoring the status and ensuring the integrity of appliances in civil and industrial scenarios in real-time and over time is a top priority worldwide. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to have a strong synergy between multiple tools, disciplines, and approaches, which can be attained through a joint hardware-software co-design of the different components in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. Layered IoT architectures facilitate understanding of the different software components, hardware, sensing, and networking roles of smart IoT applications.
These architectures are inherently distributed, spanning from devices installed in the field up to the cloud, passing through intermediary stages at different levels of edge computing infrastructure -- constituting a computational infrastructure known as the edge-cloud continuum.
IoT software platforms based on layered architectures are expected to be adaptable to scenarios with varying characteristics, requirements, and constraints from stakeholders and applications.
However, they still face challenges, such as the lack of interoperability and managing data across the edge-cloud continuum. A fine balance exists between providing data with minimal delay and satisfying data freshness constraints. The lack of generality also hampers using the same architecture in multiple deployment scenarios.
This thesis proposes, implements, and evaluates a multi-layer IoT architecture that is infrastructure-agnostic and designed to meet the challenges of interconnecting system components.
The architecture seamlessly interfaces devices, applications, and subsystems through abstractions.
It efficiently manages data across the edge-cloud continuum, enabling timely access to data by utilizing customizable proactive edge-caching techniques.
Finally, we demonstrate the architecture's versatility by deploying it in different structural health monitoring (SHM) settings with varying requirements, sensing units, and infrastructure configurations
Machine learning for quantum models and quantum optimization for classical problems
Get PDFThis manuscript is divided in two parts. In the first one we explore different machine learning inspired techniques to reconstruct the topological phase diagram of a few variants of the Kitaev chain and the extended Hubbard model in 1D. By applying four algorithms to a dataset of correlation functions we show how reliable this methods can be at predicting unknown phases and transfer the knowledge of one model to the other allowing also for interpretability of the results. In the second part we study Bayesian optimization and use it to run the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm on the neutral atom quantum computer of the company PASQAL to solve a classical combinatorial problem. We show that the fast convergence and resilience to noise of the algorithm makes it suitable for this type of platforms. We conclude with an analysis of a measurement-based quantum computation approach on neutral atoms with an estimation of resources needed to perform it
Interpretations of competencies and interpretations of intentions. A semiotic enquiry between cross-cultural dimensions and childhood
Get PDFIl presente lavoro mostra l’apporto che uno sguardo semiotico può fornire alle ricerche sulla cognizione sociale infantile e di soggetti con neuro-sviluppo atipico a partire dalla primità che la disciplina attribuisce alla dimensione intersoggettiva.
A partire da una ricognizione interdisciplinare mostreremo come la semiotica, intesa come capacità di costruire superfici significanti al fine di agire più efficacemente nell’ambiente, denunci una competenza semiotica infantile di interpretazione degli altri già durante l’intersoggettività secondaria (9-18 mesi).
La rilevazione della precocità di tale competenza è stata testata con successo attraverso la realizzazione del progetto Erasmus+ “New Monitoring Guidelines to develop innovative ECEC teachers curricula” che ha portato alla realizzazione di uno strumento di monitoraggio ausiliare per gli educatori dell’infanzia europei basato su metodologie semiotiche narrative e dell’interazione.
Le analisi e i casi-studio del progetto hanno permesso di rilevare, successivamente, come le interpretazioni delle intenzioni e delle competenze dell’infante influenzino radicalmente le modalità di attunement con cui i caregiver co-regolarizzano le loro interazioni con il bambino. La ricerca indaga dunque il modo in cui diverse modalità di attunement espresse in diverse comunità culturali appaiano condizionate proprio dalle ipotesi che i caregiver manifestano riguardo competenze e intenzioni infantili le quali, a loro volta, rinviano a una diversa idea di cosa sia una persona. Conseguentemente l’elaborato volge lo sguardo verso alcuni sistemi culturali che estendono il concetto di persona in un paradigma prospettivistico e metamorfico evadendo dall’identità tra persona e singolo essere umano.
Tali possibilità permettono al nostro percorso di tornare, infine, a delle ipotesi che la semiotica enunciò all’inizio del suo percorso e notare come l’idea di persona come segno e la dimensione pre-logica permettano di delineare una efficace teoria semiotica della cognizione sociale che possa mettere in conto tutte le forme attraverso cui tale fenomeno si manifesta.The research illustrates the contribution that a semiotic perspective can provide to infant social cognition researches and to the interaction studies with ASD subjects in consideration of the relevance the discipline attributes to the intersubjective dimension.
By starting from an interdisciplinary landscape, the research demonstrates how semiotics, conceived as the ability to scaffold niches of meaning in order to act more effectively within the environment, detects an infant semiotic competence to interpret others as early as during secondary intersubjectivity (9-18 months).
The detection of such earliness was successfully tested through the implementation of the Erasmus+ project "New Monitoring Guidelines to develop innovative ECEC teachers curricula," which led to the creation of an auxiliary monitoring tool for European early childhood educators based on narrative and interaction methodologies informed by semiotics theory.
The project's outcomes and case studies subsequently revealed how interpretations of the infant's intentions and skills radically influence the attunements performed by caregivers committed to co-regulate their interactions with the children. Consequently, the research investigates how different modes of attunement expressed in different cultural communities appear to be conditioned precisely by the assumptions caregivers express about infant competencies and intentions which, in turn, defer to a different idea of what a person is. Finally, the research turns its gaze toward certain cultural systems that extend the concept of person in a perspectival and metamorphic paradigm by evading the identity between person and individual human being.
Such possibilities allow our path to return to some assumptions that semiotics affirmed at the beginning of its journey and note how the idea of person as sign combined with the pre-logical dimension allow for the delineation of an effective semiotic theory of social cognition that can account for all the forms through which this phenomenon manifests itself
Nuclear fragmentation reaction cross sections for hadrontherapy and radioprotection: the FOOT experiment
Get PDFThe characterization of nuclear fragmentation reactions of light nuclei (A < 20) in the 100-800 MeV/u energy range is of great interest in applied physics research. As a matter of fact, a complete understanding of such interactions would lead to improvements in both Hadrontherapy treatment planning and in risk-assessment for radiation exposure in long-term human Space missions. However, nuclear reaction databases lack the experimental measurements needed to accurately model fragmentation. A phenomenological description of such processes is inherently subject to significant uncertainties, which could become too large for an evaluation of risks related to radiation exposure.
The aim of the FOOT experiment is to improve the knowledge on nuclear fragmentation by performing a set of high accuracy cross section measurements. The experiment foresees an extensive program of data acquisition campaigns with light ion beams ( 4He, 12C and 16O) at 200-800 MeV/u impinging on targets with chemical composition representative of human tissues. The final goal is the measurement of double differential cross sections in kinetic energy and emission angle with a maximum 5% and 10% uncertainty for projectile and target fragmentation, respectively. FOOT will employ two complementary setups capable of measuring the kinematic characteristics of primary ions and secondary fragments: an Emulsion Cloud Chamber, focused on light fragments (Z ≤ 3), and a setup composed of electronic sub-detectors, optimized for heavier ions (3 ≤ Z ≤ 8).
In this thesis, the development and implementation of particle tracking and full event reconstruction in the electronic setup is shown. Extensive studies on Monte Carlo simulated experimental setups were carried out to accurately characterize the tracking performance of the setup in terms of efficiency and resolution for momentum and angular measurements. Moreover, the first full test of the reconstruction and analysis chain is described, showing the capabilities of FOOT for cross section evaluation
Modelling the sinoatrial node across the scales: the role of heterogeneity in pacemaking and atrial driving
Get PDFDuring a human being’s life, the heart beats on average 2 to 3 billion times. At each cycle, the primary pacemaker of the heart – the sinoatrial node – automatically depolarizes and excites the atria. The stimulus then travels along the cardiac conduction system and spreads to the ventricles, determining contraction.
Why the sinoatrial node is able to show spontaneous and rhythmic electrical activity, as well as how it manages to drive the surrounding tissue, is still in-completely understood. The contribution of neural control to the physiology and pathology of the sinoatrial node is even less known. All this limits the chances of preventing and treating diseases originating from the disruption of these mechanisms, as it happens during aging. In this dissertation, the sub-cellular, cellular, tissue and organism levels of cardiac pacemaking are investigated using computational models and heart rate variability analysis. In particular, the aim of this work is that of providing quantitative information about the role of heterogeneity in sinoatrial node functioning. In summary, the main results show that heterogeneity I) regulates the relative contribution of ion channels and intracellular calcium handling to the beating rate; II) increases the robustness of the sinoatrial node in originating the heartbeat and propagating it to the atrium, in both physiological and pathological conditions and III) vagal nerve stimulation stabilizes spectral heart rate variability metrics and promotes heart rate reduction and variability after myocardial infarction in pigs. In conclusion, this PhD dissertation represent a step forward in the comprehension of fundamental aspects of cardiac pacemaking
Numerical algorithms for mass conservation applications
Get PDFThis dissertation focuses on the well-known issue of mass conservation in the context of the finite element technique for computational fluid dynamic simulations. Specifically, non-conventional finite element families for solving Navier-Stokes equations are investigated to address the mathematical constraint of incompressible flows. Raviart-Thomas finite elements are employed for the achievement of a discrete free-divergence velocity. Quadrilateral and hexahedral finite element spaces are considered to investigate the error convergence of different variables. In particular, the proposed algorithm projects the velocity field into the discrete free-divergence space by using the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas element. This decomposition is applied in the context of the projection method, a numerical algorithm employed for solving Navier-Stokes equations. Numerical examples validate the approach’s effectiveness, considering different types of computational grids.
Additionally, the dissertation considers an interface advection problem using marker approximation, in the context of multiphase flow simulations. A C++ library is presented, where the implemented algorithm is able to initialize, advect, and reconstruct a marker cloud performing a best-fit quadratic interpolation. Several numerical tests, equipped with an analytical velocity field for the surface advection, are presented to demonstrate the robustness of the algorithm. Lastly, a comparison with an interpolated velocity by using Raviart-Thomas basis functions is shown, with the aim of maintaining zero divergence, mitigating the classical issue of finite element mass loss
Neural Nets: applications to two relevant seismological problems
Get PDFItaly is among the Mediterranean countries with a high seismic hazard, and risk. Over the past century, it experienced several earthquakes that caused human and economic losses. There is not yet a way to predict earthquakes, but through appropriate monitoring techniques, seismic studies and anti-seismic engineering design, we can enhance our level of prevention against this natural event.
In this thesis we aim at providing a contribution to two subsets of the site effect assessment branch of research, and specifically to some aspects related to the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) technique and Ground Motion Modelling (GMM). To this aim, we employ machine learning techniques, here applied in a not-yet-experimented way.
In conclusion, in this thesis we explored a number of different neural network-based approaches, such as artificial neural network, convolutional neural network which includes also U-Net, to different classification or prediction problems in seismology. This was important to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and constitutes a first basis to build more robust studies in the future and to expand the applications studied so far.
In the first case, we employed Artificial Neural Networks and a pre-trained SqueezeNet to separate stratigraphic from non-stratigraphic H/V peaks. This is important to capture the features of H/V curves that are really linked to the soil properties and not to external interference. Implementing neural networks for HVSR analysis could complement traditional methods (e.g. SESAME criteria), simplifying peak recognition and supporting operators in data interpretation.
In the second case, we used a U-Net neural net capable of generating region-specific, fully non-ergodic, and data-driven GMM, an approach not previously explored in the Italian context. Afterwards, we compared the outcomes with traditional ground motion prediction equations. Potential future developments of this methodology could offer shaking maps in areas currently lacking seismic data
Bridging the gap:exploring the cognitive impact of InterpretBank on Chinese interpreting trainees
Get PDFThis exploratory research project developed a cognitive situated approach to studying aspects of simultaneous interpreting with quantitative, confirmatory methods. To do so, it explored how to determine the potential benefits of using a computer-assisted interpreting tool, InterpretBank, among 22 Chinese interpreting trainees with Chinese L1 and English L2. The informants were mostly 2nd-year female students with an average age of 24.7 enrolled in Chinese MA interpreting programs.
The study adopted a pretest and posttest design with three cycles. The independent variable was using Excel or InterpretBank. After Cycle I (pre-test), the sample split into control (Excel) and experimental (InterpretBank) groups. Tool choice was compulsory in Cycle II but not Cycle III. The source materials for each cycle were pairs of matching transcripts from popular science podcasts. Informants compiled glossaries out of one transcript, while the other one was edited for simultaneous interpreting, with 39 terms as potential problem triggers.
Quantitative profiling results showed that InterpretBank informants spent less time on glossary compilation, generated more terms faster than Excel informants, but their glossaries were less diverse (personal) and longer. The booth tasks yielded no significant differences in fluency indicators except for more bumps (200-600ms silent time gaps) for InterpretBank in Cycle II. InterpretBank informants had more correct renditions in Cycles II and III but there was no statistically significant difference among accuracy indicators per cycle.
Holistic quality assessments by PhD raters showed InterpretBank consistently outperforming Excel, suggesting a positive InterpretBank impact on SI quality. However, some InterpretBank implementations raised cognitive ergonomic concerns for Chinese, potentially undermining its utility. Overall, results were mixed regarding InterpretBank benefits for Chinese trainees, but the project was successful in developing cognitive situated interpreting study methods, constructs and indicators