10081 research outputs found
Sort by
Care as heterotopic space in the informal caregiving of the person with Alzheimer's disease
No full textLa tesi dottorale si propone di esplorare l’esperienza dei caregiver informali che si prendono cura di familiari con Alzheimer. La ricerca adotta una prospettiva qualitativa, la cui domanda di ricerca è: qual è l’esperienza quotidiana di caregiver informali di persone con demenza? Gli obiettivi conoscitivi affrontano vari aspetti: il significato della cura; il ruolo della conoscenza esperienziale nelle pratiche di assistenza; il lavoro invisibile e l’interazione tra cure formali e informali. La base epistemologica comprende un excursus sulle teorie sociologiche della salute, focalizzandosi poi sull’invecchiamento, la malattia di Alzheimer e le teorie femministe sulla cura per le quali il lavoro del caregiver viene definito come body work (Twigg, 2000), emotional labour (Hochschild, 1993), sentimental work (Corbin, Strauss, 1985) e acquisizione di lay-expertise.
La metodologia coinvolge colloqui in profondità a 21 caregiver familiari e 13 operatori sanitari, analizzati utilizzando la content analysis (software NVivo). La restituzione dei dati avviene attraverso lo storytelling: una narrazione idealtipica della storia di una caregiver donna e di un familiare con demenza che rappresentano le esperienze raccontate.
L’interpretazione dei dati evidenzia cinque aspetti rilevanti: le fatiche del curante; l’ambivalenza del sapere esperienziale; sentirsi invisibili; la frammentazione relazionale e l’associazionismo come rifugio. La cura informale emerge come elemento fondamentale nell’offerta complessiva di assistenza, posizionandosi in uno spazio intermedio tra cure formali e informali definito eterotopico (riprendendo il concetto foucaultiano), ovvero una configurazione di pratiche che sfida il dualismo tra cure e care, per agire una cura che, forte delle conoscenze profane, sostiene individui più fragili.
I caregiver offrono pertanto un’opportunità di riflessione sulle condizioni della cura a livello societario. L’etica della cura basata sull’interdipendenza e la vulnerabilità, di matrice femminista, pone le basi per alleanze volte a una cura basata sulla giustizia sociale promuovendo una società che valorizzi e renda visibili gli individui curanti.Doctoral thesis aims to explore the experience of informal caregivers who take care of family members with Alzheimer's. The research adopts a qualitative perspective, with the research question: what is the daily experience of informal caregivers of people with dementia? The cognitive objectives address various aspects: the meaning of care; the role of experiential knowledge in caregiving practices; invisible labor; and the interaction between formal and informal care. The epistemological basis includes an overview of sociological theories of health, focusing on aging, Alzheimer's disease, and feminist theories of care, which define the caregiver's work as body work (Twigg, 2000), emotional labor (Hochschild, 1993), sentimental work (Corbin, Strauss, 1985), and the acquisition of lay expertise.
The methodology involves in-depth interviews with 21 family caregivers and 13 healthcare professionals, analyzed using content analysis (NVivo software). Data presentation occurs through storytelling: an ideal-typical narrative of the story of a female caregiver and a family member with dementia representing the recounted experiences.
Data interpretation highlights five relevant aspects: caregiver's struggles; ambivalence of experiential knowledge; feeling invisible; relational fragmentation; and associationism as a refuge. Informal care emerges as a fundamental element in the overall provision of assistance, positioning itself in an intermediate space between formal and informal care, defined as heterotopic (drawing from Foucault's concept), a configuration of practices that challenges the dualism between cures and care, to enact care that, fortified by lay knowledge, supports more vulnerable individuals.
Caregivers thus offer an opportunity for reflection on the conditions of care at the societal level. The ethics of care based on interdependence and vulnerability, of feminist origin, lay the groundwork for alliances aimed at care based on social justice, promoting a society that values and makes visible caregiving individuals
Ancient to early medieval medical traditions and practices in Tyrrhenian Lucania
No full textFin dall’epoca arcaica (VI sec. a.C.), il territorio anticamente noto come Lucania ha conosciuto la diffusione di tradizioni mediche che sembrano aver resistito nel tempo almeno fino al IX sec. d.C.
Le testimonianze archeologiche e le fonti letterarie di cui disponiamo si concentrano maggiormente sulle città di Velia e Paestum. Per esempio, le tre erme rinvenute a Velia e dedicate ad altrettanti medici, detti ognuno Οὖλις e φώλαρχος, hanno portato la maggior parte degli studiosi a concludere che nella fase più antica della sua storia la città ospitasse un collegium di medici-sacerdoti che praticavano rituali incubatori.
Riguardo alle tradizioni mediche di Poseidonia/Paestum, invece, un’importante mole di testimonianze converge sulla coltivazione di una rinomata varietà di rose, frequentemente citata nelle fonti a partire dal I sec. a.C., che poteva essere utilizzata in diversi ambiti della vita quotidiana, come la cosmesi e la cucina, ma anche la medicina. Nel forum della città, inoltre, trovavano spazio diverse botteghe di unguentarii, tra cui almeno una dotata di una pressa per l’estrazione dell’olio da utilizzare come base per i profumi. L’attività dei profumieri e l’abbondante produzione di rose inducono a pensare che a Paestum fosse confezionato il rosaceum, o ῥόδινον, un unguento alle rose di cui si faceva ampio uso cosmetico, ma al quale i medici riconoscevano anche proprietà curative.
Malgrado in epoca tardoantica le testimonianze diventino più lacunose, interessanti documentazioni sulle attività mediche locali si ritrovano nell’opera di Simmaco e in quella di Cassiodoro. Tra le fonti più tarde va annoverato infine Walahfrido Strabone (IX sec. d.C.), autore del poemetto De cultura hortorum, in cui si accenna a un’ars praticata dai pestani attinente all’ambito medico. Sembrerebbe, quindi, che anche in un’età così tarda la città lucana fosse ancora percepita come terra di conoscenze legate alla medicina.Since archaic times (6th century BC), the territory of Lucania has known the spread of medical traditions that seem to have endured at least until the 9th century AD.
The archaeological evidence and literary sources available focus mainly on the cities of Velia and Paestum. For example, the three herms found in Velia and dedicated to three physicians, each called Οὖλις and φώλαρχος, have led most scholars to conclude that in the earliest phase of its history the city housed a collegium of physician-priests who practised incubator rituals.
Regarding the medical traditions of Poseidonia/Paestum, an important body of evidence converges on the cultivation of a renowned variety of roses, frequently mentioned in sources from the 1st century BC onwards, which could be used in various areas of daily life, such as cosmetics and cooking, but also medicine. The city’s forum was also home to several unguentarii shops, including at least one equipped with a press for extracting oil to be used as a base for perfumes. The activity of the perfumers and the abundant production of roses lead to think that rosaceum, or ῥόδινον, a rose ointment that was widely used for cosmetic purposes, but was also recognised by physicians as having curative properties, was made in Paestum.
Although evidence becomes more lacunar in Late Antiquity, interesting documentation of local medical activities can be found in the works of Simmachus and Cassiodorus. Later sources include Walahfridus Strabo (9th century A.D.), author of the poem De cultura hortorum, in which an ars practised by the people of Paestum related to the medical sphere is mentioned. It would seem, therefore, that even in such a late age the Lucanian city was still perceived as a land of knowledge related to medicine
Deep learning and explainable artificial intelligence in brain tumor segmentation and classification from MRI
No full textConvolutional neural networks (CNNs), a powerful subset of deep learning techniques, have demonstrated remarkable performance in segmenting and classifying brain tumors from medical images. However, the translation of these techniques into clinical applications encounters critical challenges. This thesis starts by presenting a comprehensive review of the CNN methods in brain tumor classification, to identify key challenges hindering the clinical application of CNNs for brain tumor diagnosis. Eighty-three relevant articles were identified using a predefined, systematic procedure. For each, data was extracted regarding training data, target problem, network architecture, validation methods, and reported quantitative performance criteria. The clinical relevance of the studies is then evaluated to identify limitations considering the merits of CNNs and possible directions for future research. I develop an Interpretable Multi-part Attention Network (IMPA-Net) for brain tumor classification to enhance the interpretability and trustworthiness. The model provides global explanation and local explanation. Global explanation is represented as a group of feature patterns the model learns to distinguish HGG and LGG classes. Local explanation interprets the reasoning process of an individual prediction based on the pre-learned task-related features. Experiments demonstrate that 86% of feature patterns were assessed to be valid for representing task-relevant features. The model shows a classification accuracy of 92.12%, among which 81.17% were evaluated to be trustworthy based on local explanations and can be used as a decision aid for glioma classification. Finally, I explore the transferability and applicability of pre-trained DeepMedic and nnUNet on brain tumor segmentation from three datasets (UCSF-PDGM dataset, BraTS 2017 training dataset, and the private OUH dataset) without further fine-tuning. The models were well trained on 3D MRI data from the BraTS 20201. Results demonstrated the pre-trained DeepMedic and nnUNet can generalize well to new, unseen datasets in the same domain as the pre-training dataset
Environmental impact reduction of food packaging plastics: from the exploitation of non-renewable resources to microplastics
No full textThe exploitation of plastic, especially in packaging, has raised growing concerns due to the poor management of plastic waste, leading to environmental contamination. In recent years, bio-based polymers as substitutes for fossil-based polymers are undergoing a phase of growing academic and industrial interest driven by environmental reasons and the expected depletion of crude oil. In this context, this work aims to contribute to the development of a pathway from bio-based building-blocks to new multifunctional polymeric materials. In particular, the present research work described thus concerns the synthesis, characterization and study of the different properties of bio-based materials based on polyfuran. In detail, poly(butylene furanoate) (PBF) and poly(pentamethylene furanoate) PPeF were synthetized and characterized. The welding behavior of amorphous and semi-crystalline PBF films was studied by means of thermal and ultrasonic welding. PBF can be considered an encouraging bio-based alternative for monomaterial packaging with promising sealing properties. Moreover, PPeF was successfully coated on paper obtaining a coating thickness around 20 µm. The study results are a promising starting point to develop novel multilayer materials that can enter the paper recycling stream.
Plastic containers and packaging materials can degrade under different conditions, leading to microplastic formation, which can contaminate food during production processes. Despite the concerning implications, there is a lack of comprehensive research on global trends in microplastic contamination of food and beverages.
To fill this gap, the presented work aims to contribute by developing methods for detecting microplastics in plastic-packaged foods. This study includes three main case studies: commercial vegetable oils, coffee capsules and chocolate bars. Different membranes (silicon filter and Anodisc) for the collection of the microplastics and the analysis via µ-FTIR and µ-Raman were tested. The present study could contribute to further increase knowledge of microplastics presence in the human diet
Movement analysis on the field in young football players: biomechanical patterns of performance and injury prevention
No full textThe integration of quantitative data from movement analysis technologies is reshaping the analysis of athletes’ performances and injury mitigation, e.g., anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture. Most of the movement assessments are performed in laboratory environments. Recent progress provides the chance to shift the paradigm to a more ecological approach with sport-specific elements and a closer examination of “real” movement patterns associated with performance and (ACL) injury risk.
The present PhD thesis aimed at investigating the on-field motion patterns related to performance and injury prevention in young football players. The objectives of the thesis were: (I) in-lab measures of high-dynamics movements were used to validate wearable inertial sensors technology; (II) in-laboratory and on-field agility movement tasks were compared to inspect the effect of football-specific environment; (III) on-field analysis was conducted to challenge wearable sensors technology in the assessment of dangerous movement patterns towards the ACL rupture; (IV) an overview of technologies that could shape present and future assessment of ACL injury risk in daily practice was presented.
The validity of wearables in the assessment of high-dynamics movements was confirmed. Relevant differences emerged between the movements performed in a laboratory setting and on the football pitch, supporting the inclusion of an ecological dynamics approach in preventive protocols. The on-field analysis of football-specific movement tasks demonstrated good reliability of wearable sensors and the presence of residual dangerous patterns in the injured players. A tool to inspect at-risk movement patterns on the field through objective measurements was presented. It discussed how potential alternatives to wearable inertial sensors embrace artificial intelligence and closer collaboration between clinical and technical expertise.
The present thesis was meant to contribute to setting the basis for data-driven prevention protocols. A deeper comprehension of injury-related principles and counteractions will contribute to preserving athletes’ careers and health over time
On the Democratization of AI: Bridging the Gap with AutoML
No full textRiding the wave of recent groundbreaking achievements, artificial intelligence (AI) is currently the buzzword on everybody’s lips and, allowing algorithms to learn from historical data, Machine Learning (ML) emerged as its pinnacle. The multitude of algorithms, each with unique strengths and weaknesses, highlights the absence of a universal solution and poses a challenging optimization problem. In response, automated machine learning (AutoML) navigates vast search spaces within minimal time constraints. By lowering entry barriers, AutoML emerged as promising the democratization of AI, yet facing some challenges.
In data-centric AI, the discipline of systematically engineering data used to build an AI system, the challenge of configuring data pipelines is rather simple. We devise a methodology for building effective data pre-processing pipelines in supervised learning as well as a data-centric AutoML solution for unsupervised learning.
In human-centric AI, many current AutoML tools were not built around the user but rather around algorithmic ideas, raising ethical and social bias concerns. We contribute by deploying AutoML tools aiming at complementing, instead of replacing, human intelligence. In particular, we provide solutions for single-objective and multi-objective optimization and showcase the challenges and potential of novel interfaces featuring large language models.
Finally, there are application areas that rely on numerical simulators, often related to earth observations, they tend to be particularly high-impact and address important challenges such as climate change and crop life cycles. We commit to coupling these physical simulators with (Auto)ML solutions towards a physics-aware AI. Specifically, in precision farming, we design a smart irrigation platform that: allows real-time monitoring of soil moisture, predicts future moisture values, and estimates water demand to schedule the irrigation
Critical thinkings on agreements as to succession according to the Italian legal system with a view to a comprehensive theory.
No full textLa tesi tende alla ricostruzione di una teoria generale dei patti successori.
Segnatamente, si è tentato di ricostruire la categoria dei patti successori a partire non già dall’esegesi del diritto positivo e, in particolare, del divieto di cui all’art. 458 c.c., quanto piuttosto dalla mera speculazione, essenzialmente ponendosi alcuni quesiti sulla fisiologia dei patti successori.
In particolare, quale metodo d’indagine, si è privilegiato altresì il confronto con gli altri ordinamenti giuridici: in tale ottica, il diritto positivo è stato un riferimento per verificare, soltanto ex post, la fondatezza o meno delle conclusioni raggiunte sul piano squisitamente speculativo.The thesis aims to shape a comprehensive theory of agreements as to succession.
Precisely, an attempt has been made to shape the category of agreements as to succession not on the basis of the exegesis of positive law and, in particular, of the prohibition of Article 458 of the Civil Code, but rather on the basis of mere speculation, essentially examining the physiology of agreements as to succession.
In particular, as a method of investigation, the comparison with other legal systems has also been favoured: from this perspective, positive law has been a reference to verify only if the conclusions reached on the purely speculative level were valid or not
Innovative Carbon Fibers recycling and recovery technologies through advanced sustainable processes
No full textThis PhD research explores the strategic role of carbon fiber recycling in addressing the climate crisis, supporting the transition toward a circular economy, and responding to broader societal and industrial challenges. It presents the first comprehensive global analysis of both Virgin Carbon Fiber (VCF) and Recycled Carbon Fiber (RCF), examining their production, consumption, and environmental impacts. Highlighting the high energy intensity, carbon footprint, and significant waste rates of VCF production, the study demonstrates how RCF offers a lower-emission, cost-effective, and increasingly viable alternative. The thesis maps, for the first time, all major global RCF manufacturers, innovative pilot plants, and key research centers. It critically compares all existing recycling technologies—mechanical, chemical, thermal, and hybrid - identifying best practices and limitations, and evaluates emerging innovations from TRL 5–6 and up. A special focus is placed on CURTI’s pyro-gasification technology, developed in partnership with HERA, which enables industrial-scale recycling with minimal fiber degradation and reduced costs, as validated by the EU’s newly launched Imola plant. In parallel, the study introduces a novel pricing model for both VCF and RCF that incorporates sustainability-related factors such as ESG performance, brand value, tax credits, and public grants. This multidimensional approach redefines the economic competitiveness of recycled materials by integrating social and environmental externalities into traditional P&L logic. By combining technical, market, and environmental analysis, the thesis offers a strategic framework for decision-makers across the new RCF value chain - from policymakers and OEMs to sustainability officers and new influencers. Ultimately, it demonstrates how carbon fiber recycling, though still in its early industrial phase, can contribute meaningfully to reducing global carbon emissions, lowering industrial waste, and shaping a more sustainable and resilient future for advanced materials industries
Entomological collections as a tool for interpreting climate change
No full textInsects have long been employed as bioindicators of environmental quality owing to their distinctive ecological traits and their pivotal roles at various trophic levels. Notably, moths serve as invaluable indicators for monitoring vegetation recovery in the aftermath of environmental perturbations, or as precursors for assessing the effects of environmental shifts at a localized scale. For such evaluations, time series data of captures obtained from the same locations are of critical importance as foundational reference datasets. Thus, our investigation focused on the resampling of two areas in the Lucchese Apennines in Tuscany, utilizing as a baseline the esteemed "Marini" collection of nocturnal Lepidoptera housed within the Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA) at the University of Bologna
Political legislation cycles
No full textThis thesis examines Political Legislation Cycles (PLC), defined as the strategic manipulation of the timing and content of legislative production around elections, as a key manifestation of agency problems between voters and politicians. While Political Budget Cycles have been widely studied, PLCs remain largely explored through single-country cases. This dissertation offers the first comparative, multi-level analysis of the institutional, budgetary, and political drivers of PLCs, investigating how, why, and under what conditions legislators exploit the legislative process for electoral gain. Using a rigorous empirical design, the thesis tests PLC theory across three levels: (1) a panel study of twenty countries, (2) a subnational analysis of Italian regions, and (3) a content-based classification of laws in eight countries. The results highlight the central role of institutional design. Legislative activity declines early in the term, followed by a surge before elections, especially in the last six months. The magnitude of these cycles depends on context: proportional systems produce cycles about 67 percentage points larger than majoritarian ones; presidential systems with divided government show stronger cycles than parliamentary ones; and fiscally decentralized countries experience cycles about 64 points higher than centralized states. The democracy–PLC relationship is non-linear. Further, PLCs are more pronounced in Italian regions with lower fiscal autonomy, weaker economies, or alignment with central governments. Content analysis reveals that public goods-oriented laws peak before elections, while private-interest laws display weaker cycles. Overall, the thesis offers new tools to measure political accountability and guide reforms to strengthen democratic governance