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Emission factors from urban food systems in a circular city
Get PDFUrban Agriculture (UA) plays a crucial role in building resilient and sustainable cities by ensuring a steady food supply and offering environmental, economic, and societal benefits. Despite its potential, implementing UA, which includes Rooftop Greenhouses (iRTGs) and Vertical Farms (VFs), faces challenges such as air quality concerns and regulatory issues. Indoor pollution, particularly Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), poses health risks, and the expansion of UA installations is expected to increase biogenic VOCs (BVOCs) emitted by plants. Monitoring BVOC emissions is essential to understand their impact on air quality and human health. Research conducted in a building iRTG and an indoor VF assessed BVOC emissions from plants like green beans, tomatoes, and basil. The study aimed to define safety thresholds for BVOC emissions, considering factors influencing emissions and potential health risks. BVOC levels remained within safe limits on average, peaking during initial growth phases and decreasing later. In iRTGs, monoterpenes dominated early emissions, followed by lipoxygenase derivatives and oxygenated monoterpenes, while in VFs, emission patterns varied with light treatment. Safety assessments compared BVOC concentrations against indoor limits set by regulatory bodies, showing that emissions from UA spaces were significantly lower than reference limits. Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, and lighting significantly influenced BVOC emissions, with artificial lighting playing a crucial role in VFs. Plant morphology also affected emissions, with variations observed across growth stages. Various volatile sampling techniques were employed, with active sampling in a static enclosure preferred for its reliability and accuracy. Alternative approaches using different sorbent materials and analytical techniques yielded consistent findings, showing technical advancements in BVOC sampling. Future research could explore additional plant species, alternative fertilizers, and new sampling methods to enhance outcomes and understand BVOCs' positive effects on agronomic development and UA expansion
Binary neural networks at the edge
Get PDFIn the last decade, Artificial Intelligence demonstrated to achieve great advancements in many areas such as (but not limited to) Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning, and Autonomous Driving. Nowadays, AI systems potentially overcome the intelligence observed in human beings as the ambition of developing AI models with cognitive, learning, and problem-solving abilities is the driving force in AI research and development. Achieving this goal would imply the creation of highly sophisticated AI systems capable of generalizing knowledge, learning from diverse data sources, and exhibiting a level of adaptability and creativity comparable to human intelligence. Most of the performance improvements obtained by AI systems have been reached by increasing the complexity and memory footprint of the models, leading to solutions whose deployment is most of the time prevented on resource-constrained hardware. Even though many works in literature addressed the problem of compressing and reducing the computational overhead of a neural network, a lot of effort is still required to successfully deploy a complex AI solution on tiny/embedded devices. Additionally, current AI solutions achieve poor performances at adapting incrementally to new data. This phenomenon, named catastrophic forgetting, happens naturally in Deep Learning architectures when a classical training algorithm, such as backpropagation, is applied. By learning through a sequence of experiences incrementally, where the model cannot access old training data, the model knowledge falls resulting in the forgetting of past samples
Comparative research between italian and chinese women writing: studies based on the works of Dacia Maraini and Eileen Chang.
Get PDFIl presente lavoro si pone come primo studio comparativo tra le autrici Dacia Maraini e Zhang Ailing. Ci concentreremo sull’analisi dettagliata di un campione di romanzi, con particolare attenzione agli elementi che meglio rappresentano il ruolo dei personaggi all’interno della famiglia, alle complesse relazioni madre-figlia e ai testi che si oppongono o si sottomettono all’oppressione patriarcale. Nel primo capitolo, esploreremo il contesto storico-culturale della letteratura femminile contemporanea in Italia e in Cina. Nel secondo capitolo, considereremo l’influenza dell’ambiente familiare e della crescita personale delle due scrittrici sulle loro opere letterarie, nonché la loro evoluzione stilistica, introducendo i casi studio. Il terzo capitolo costituirà la parte principale della tesi, in cui analizzeremo il modo in cui i ruoli delle donne nelle opere delle due autrici riflettono le visioni delle società italiana e cinese sulla condizione femminile. Successivamente, approfondiremo il tema della corporeità, della sessualità, della violenza contro le donne, nonché le sfide dell’espressione femminile e il rapporto tra il corpo femminile ed il sesso e lo Stato attraverso le strategie narrative delle scrittrici. Infine, esamineremo le rappresentazioni delle relazioni madre-figlia nei loro romanzi, e l’impatto dei rapporti personali con le madri sulla loro scrittura. Le due autrici che abbiamo scelto di analizzare, assieme alle figure femminili nate sotto la loro penna, sono le rappresentanti dell’epoca e della Storia che hanno vissuto. Nel corso di tutta la ricerca, prenderemo in considerazione le differenze e le analogie nello stile e negli argomenti romanzeschi di Maraini e Zhang, operando osservazioni e discussioni originali sulle opere e sui personaggi, e discutiamo dei concetti delle teorie femministe nei romanzi.The present work sets itself as the first comparative study between the authors Dacia Maraini and Eileen Chang. We will focus on the detailed analysis of a sample of novels, with particular attention to the elements that best represent the role of characters within the family, the complex mother-daughter relationships, and the texts that oppose or submit to patriarchal oppression. In the first chapter, we will explore the historical-cultural context of contemporary women writing in Italy and China. In the second chapter, we will consider the influence of the family environment and the personal growth of the two writers on their literary works, as well as their stylistic evolution, introducing case studies. The third chapter will constitute the main part of the thesis, in which we will analyze how the roles of women in the works of the two authors reflect the views of Italian and Chinese societies on the female condition. Subsequently, we will delve into the theme of corporeality, sexuality, violence against women, as well as the challenges of female expression and the relationship between body, sex and the State through the narrative strategies of the writers. Finally, we will examine the representations of mother-daughter relationships in their novels, and the impact of personal relationships with mothers on their writing. The two authors we have chosen to analyze, along with the female figures born under their pen, are representatives of the era and history they have experienced. Throughout the research, we will take into consideration the differences and analogies in the style and novelistic topics of Maraini and Zhang, making original observations and discussions on the works and characters, and discussing feminist theory concepts in the novels
Toward electrocardiogram acquisition via a novel wearable device and analysis via artificial intelligence
Get PDFThere is a fast-growing interest in several aspects of wearables and artificial intelligence algorithms applied to an electrocardiogram (ECG) as monitoring and diagnostic tools, showing the potential to augment the patient’s data analysis and enhance healthcare. This Ph.D. thesis aimed to improve the features of a novel smart t-shirt by developing new algorithms applied to the ECG for signal processing and disease detection and prediction and testing its performance compared to gold standard devices to understand its potential and possible limitations.
The advantages and limitations of combining wearable devices with artificial intelligence were studied when acquiring and analyzing the ECG. The most significant limitations are the relatively low use of wearables for research purposes due to the preference for publicly available databases and the lack of standardization in using performance measurements to compare research results. Due to the importance of the QRS complex detection for ECG analysis and feature extraction, we developed and tested a novel algorithm for its detection. We obtain a more efficient and accurate solution to serve wearable and mobile applications better. An innovative artificial intelligence algorithm for predicting sudden cardiac arrest was developed. Using a public dataset, a deep learning model could predict which patients will suffer cardiac arrest. The promising results are valid with both 12 leads and a single-lead ECG. Finally, a clinical trial revealed the features and limitations of the ECG signal acquired by the smart t-shirt when compared with a gold-standard Holter monitor, helping to address the next developments.
Our research highlighted the potential of wearable devices in combination with dedicated signal processing and the application of artificial intelligence for detecting and predicting diseases. Future research will be dedicated to improving wearables ECG signal acquisition and artificial intelligence algorithms and collecting more specific and high-quality datasets
Metacognition and motivation in reading comprehension: the case of italian as a foreign language
Get PDFThis dissertation focuses on the B1 level reading comprehension task of the high-school-leaving exam undertaken by Italian as a Foreign Language (FL) learners enrolled in Allgemeinbildende Höhere Schulen (AHS) in Austria. The research project aims to offer support to teachers and learners by examining the domain of reading comprehension through a metacognitive and motivational pedagogical lens.
The study adopts a pre-test and post-test design involving an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group undergoes a metacognitive-motivational training session specifically designed for the reading and comprehension task of Italian as a Foreign Language. The learning objectives of the experimental training are identified through a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) approach, utilizing a triangulation of methods to define task characteristics, cognitive-linguistic requirements, and strategic pathways. Additionally, the CTA examines learners' metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and their motivational attitude towards Italian as a FL.
The primary objective of this research is to assess whether the experimental training induces any changes in the complex dynamic system of the FL classroom. This assessment encompasses aspects such as performance, metacognitive awareness, and motivational attitudes within the sample. The study aims to contribute valuable insights into the effectiveness of metacognitive-motivational interventions in enhancing the reading and comprehension abilities of Italian FL learners in the Austrian educational context
The critic's trade(s): Guido Aristarco and the institutionalisation of Italian film criticism. Private history, collaborations and transnational ties.
Get PDFL’elaborato si propone di studiare i rapporti della critica cinematografica italiana con altri campi culturali e istituzioni pubbliche e private sia in Italia che all’estero. La ricerca mira a contribuire allo studio della cultura cinematografica e della storia intellettuale in Italia attraverso l’analisi, su una dimensione spazio-temporale, delle reti sociali, delle collaborazioni, delle routine professionali e dei processi di istituzionalizzazione e legittimazione della critica cinematografica. Particolare attenzione è posta alla traiettoria professionale, alla pratica critica, agli sviluppi transnazionali delle discussioni e delle reti relazionali di Guido Aristarco (1918-1996). Come redattore e successivamente direttore di rivista, come saggista, autore per radio, televisione e quotidiani, organizzatore di rassegne e convegni, docente universitario e responsabile di collane editoriali, Aristarco è stato una delle figure centrali della critica e della cultura cinematografica italiana del dopoguerra. I molti ruoli che Aristarco ha svolto lo hanno situato al centro di una vasta rete relazionale che ha toccato non solo i campi del cinema, del giornalismo e di altri media ma anche di istituzioni diverse, una rete che negli anni ha raggiunto un’estensione di portata internazionale. Per questi motivi, la traiettoria professionale di una figura nodale come Aristarco – indagata a partire dai materiali provenienti dal suo archivio personale – si presenta come un soggetto ideale da cui partire per mettere a fuoco questioni di più ampia portata come il processo di istituzionalizzazione della critica cinematografica e la circolazione internazionale della cultura cinematografica italiana nel dopoguerra.The dissertation aims to study the relations of Italian film criticism with other cultural fields and public and private institutions both in Italy and abroad. The research aims to contribute to the study of film culture and intellectual history in Italy through the analysis, on a spatio-temporal dimension, of social networks, collaborations, professional routines and the processes of institutionalisation and legitimisation of film criticism. Particular attention is paid to the professional trajectory, critical activity and transnational developments of the discussions and relational networks of Guido Aristarco (1918-1996). As an editor and later magazine director, as an essayist, author for radio, television and newspapers, organiser of seminars and conferences, as university lecturer and head of editorial series, Aristarco was one of the central figures of post-war Italian film criticism and culture. The many roles Aristarco played over the course of his career placed him at the centre of a vast relational network that spanned not only the fields of cinema, journalism and other media, but also different institutions, a network that over the years has reached an international scope. For these reasons, the professional trajectory of a nodal figure like Aristarco - investigated through the materials found in his personal archive - presents itself as an ideal case study to focus on broader issues such as the institutionalisation of film criticism and the international circulation of Italian film culture in the post-war period
Advances in the design of carpet cloaks for surface elastic waves
Get PDFThe objective of this Ph.D. thesis pertains to the conception and design of an innovative device, called elastic carpet cloak, to protect structures from surface elastic waves, i.e. Love and Rayleigh waves. The cloak smoothly redirects surface waves around objects, without any scattering or energy loss by adjusting its material properties based on transformational elastodynamics principles.
Initially, we delve into cloaking of Love waves within an isotropic layered medium. By leveraging the form invariance of the governing equation, we derive the requisite anisotropic mechanical characteristics of ideal cloaks to hide triangular and parabolic-shaped defects. We validate our approach through dispersion analyses and harmonic simulations, matching ideal cloaks with pristine mediums. Then, for triangular defects, we adapt the ideal properties into layered cloaks of monoclinic double-material unit cells, demonstrating great convergence with ideal case, as the unit cell size decreases.
Next, we explore cloaking of Rayleigh waves in homogeneous mediums. By utilizing transformation elastodynamics and assuming identity gauge for the displacements, we obtain the effective cloaking properties, characterized by non-symmetric elastic tensors. To address this, we employ a symmetrization technique to approximate the non-symmetric behavior by symmetric, yet anisotropic, composites. Symmetrized cloaks with triangular and semi-circular shapes are evaluated through simulations and dispersion analyses, with a semi-circular design exhibiting superior performance.
Finally, we construct 3-D cloaks for Rayleigh and Love waves, pointing out the distinctions between 3-D cloaking with the superposition of Love and Rayleigh waves and its impact on symmetrization. In particular, prismatic, and cylindrical cloaks are designed according to symmetrization method driven by the weak form solution of Love waves. Time-harmonic simulations and dispersive analyses show that a symmetrized cylindrical cloak, constructed by the "Maximal" mean, provides significant cloaking protection across all computed frequencies.
This study advances the design of feasible and efficient broadband elastic cloaks for surface waves
Data-driven multivariate flood hazard modeling
Get PDFThe present Dissertation shows how recent statistical analysis tools and open datasets can be exploited to improve modelling accuracy in two distinct yet interconnected domains of flood hazard (FH) assessment.
In the first Part, unsupervised artificial neural networks are employed as regional models for sub-daily rainfall extremes. The models aim to learn a robust relation to estimate locally the parameters of Gumbel distributions of extreme rainfall depths for any sub-daily duration (1-24h). The predictions depend on twenty morphoclimatic descriptors. A large study area in north-central Italy is adopted, where 2238 annual maximum series are available. Validation is performed over an independent set of 100 gauges.
Our results show that multivariate ANNs may remarkably improve the estimation of percentiles relative to the benchmark approach from the literature, where Gumbel parameters depend on mean annual precipitation. Finally, we show that the very nature of the proposed ANN models makes them suitable for interpolating predicted sub-daily rainfall quantiles across space and time-aggregation intervals.
In the second Part, decision trees are used to combine a selected blend of input geomorphic descriptors for predicting FH. Relative to existing DEM-based approaches, this method is innovative, as it relies on the combination of three characteristics: (1) simple multivariate models, (2) a set of exclusively DEM-based descriptors as input, and (3) an existing FH map as reference information.
First, the methods are applied to northern Italy, represented with the MERIT DEM (∼90m resolution), and second, to the whole of Italy, represented with the EU-DEM (25m resolution). The results show that multivariate approaches may (a) significantly enhance flood-prone areas delineation relative to a selected univariate one, (b) provide accurate predictions of expected inundation depths, (c) produce encouraging results in extrapolation, (d) complete the information of imperfect reference maps, and (e) conveniently convert binary maps into continuous representation of FH
The contagion of uncertainty. The articulation of the pandemic landscape and the experts' discourse
Get PDFAttraverso un approccio multidisciplinare e interdisciplinare, il lavoro indaga il rapporto tra la produzione e la comunicazione del sapere scientifico durante l'emergenza pandemica da Covid-19 in Italia.
Nell'ottica di una teoria della complessità la cui epistemologia portante è di tipo semiotico, la ricerca indaga i rapporti dinamici tra i domini e sistemi socio-culturali da cui è dipesa la gestione della condizione di incertezza epistemico-gestionale, applicando questo sguardo teorico-metodologico alla comunicazione pubblica degli esperti scientifici.Through a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, this study investigates the relationship between the production and communication of scientific knowledge during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency in Italy.
Within the framework of a complexity theory whose guiding epistemology is semiotic in nature, the research examines the dynamic relationships between domains and socio-cultural systems that have influenced the control of the uncertainty condition from both an epistemological and managerial perspective, applying this theoretical-methodological perspective to the public communication of scientific experts
Spaces of meaning: an enactive account of bodily space
Get PDFWhile Enactive Cognitive Science (ECS) continues to be increasingly prevalent, spatiality is a notably absent or understudied topic within it. This absence is especially puzzling when considering how deeply interconnected spatiality is with celebrated themes of ECS, such as embodiment, intersubjectivity, affectivity, temporality and environmental coupling generally, all of which feature a spatial register. Indeed, ECS regularly employs the biosemiotic-spatial term ‘Umwelt’ yet rarely thematises its structure as such.
Compounding this is that one of the most flourishing research areas in cognitive neuroscience of spatiality, that of peripersonal space, had strong philosophical ties from the beginning. Soon after the discovery of peripersonal neurons, the concept's key developers noted the compatibility between PPS and phenomenological accounts of bodily space (Rizzolatti et al., 1997). Although notable exceptions exist in research articles (e.g., De Preester, 2012; Jackson, 2014; Gallese & Sinigaglia, 2010), this striking compatibility has not yet received doctoral-length or monographic attention. Simultaneously, PPS scholarship remains plagued with conceptual and definitional issues (Bufacchi & Iannetti, 2018) that can benefit from interdisciplinary re-evaluation. To address these lacunae, I combine the resources of cognitive neuroscience, phenomenology and semiotics to explicate bodily space from an embodied-enactive standpoint. Firstly, I develop a theoretical account of lived space, utilising phenomenology and semiotics, especially Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, von Uexküll and Peirce. Using this account of ‘lived space’ as a theoretical baseline, I interpret several empirical studies through this conceptual lens, dividing the literature into accounts of spatial interactions with both ‘Objects’ and ‘Others’. This culminates in an interdisciplinary, enactive model of bodily space, where I propose that human beings engage their spatial surroundings not as a geometric grid or abstract volume, but as a qualitatively-structured space of meaning. Simultaneously, I showcase how this model contributes to its antecedent philosophical disciplines and toward a more comprehensive definition of peripersonal space