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Promoting the learning of modern and contemporary physics in high schools in informal and non-formal contexts
Get PDFIn this paper, we introduce active learning strategies developed by the Educational Division of the Physics Department of the University of Cagliari to promote the learning of modern and contemporary physics (e.g., general relativity, particle physics, cosmology, and related topics) in high schools in informal and non- formal contexts. We discuss their features and potential role in facilitating science and physics instruction by integrating pedagogical theory and education research. We illustrate our theoretical framework and the methodologies we implemented to design specific educational strategies —and the evaluation of their effectiveness— to improve motivation, curiosity, and interest in modern and contemporary physics, as well as bring these topics more extensively to high schools. Finally, examples of the proposed educational activities are presented and their implications in informal and non-formal contexts are discussed
Misure organizzative per la protezione dei dati
Get PDFIl presente rapporto tecnico nasce dall’esigenza di offrire un quadro normativo di riferimento per il trattamento di dati personali per finalità di ricerca. A tal fine è proposta una breve ricostruzione dell’evoluzione del concetto di privacy che ne evidenzi i fondamenti valoriali allo scopo di facilitarne l’interpretazione e la comprensione delle profonde connessioni con i principi e le norme di etica e integrità nella ricerca. In questo contesto, sono illustrate le misure organizzative adottate dal Centro Interdipartimentale per l’Etica e l’Integrità nella Ricerca nell’implementazione delle disposizioni del Regolamento (UE) 2016/679, della normativa nazionale e interna all’Ente
Dialogo tra le scienze. Linguaggi, metodi e modelli per un “nuovo umanesimo scientifico”
Get PDFThe paper presents and discusses the dialogue between the humanities and STEM disciplines, with a particular focus on the encounter between philosophy and physical chemistry. The perspective is to overcome the concept of ‘two cultures’ by describing some positive experiences of cross- and multidisciplinary research in the exercise of dialogue and mutual exchange in the construction of interdisciplinarity. Overcoming disciplinary boundaries, as we have tried to describe, is very complex, it requires a continuous effort of translation from one language to another, a translation between different cultures and different world views. For this reason, interdisciplinarity is not considered in this article as an arrival point, but as a journey, a project that goes through different stages of exchanges (cross-disciplinarity) and collaboration (multidisciplinarity)
Codex4D viaggio interdisciplinare nel manoscritto antico
Get PDFThe goal of the Codex4D project, carried out by CNR ISPC and the University of Rome Tor Vergata, is to create an interdisciplinary experience with the ancient codex, from a historical-artistic and diagnostic-conservative point of view. In order to integrate in a coherent space all the information about the visible elements and the hidden elements in the underlying layers of matter, a 4D model of the ancient codex is elaborated, explorable in the three canonical dimensions and in the different levels of stratigraphic depth. This is made possible by the integration of photogrammetry and reflectography and thermography techniques. Through the creation of a multimedia website, a Web3D environment dedicated to the scientific visualization of the artifact, and a holographic showcase for museums, the project pushes the languages of scientific communication into new territories of experimentation that can arouse emotion and motivate the public to knowledge
Delta-T noise in an inhomogeneous quantum Hall junction
Get PDFThecurrent fluctuations due to a temperature bias, i.e., the delta-T noise, allow accessing properties of strongly interacting systems which cannot be addressed by the usual voltage-induced noise. In this work, we theoretically study
the delta-T noise between two different fractional quantum Hall edge states, with filling factors (νL, νR) in the Laughlin sequence, coupled through a quantum point contact and connected to two reservoirs at different temperatures
Assessment of an automatic pipeline for probabilistic tractography in drug-resistant epileptic patients
Get PDFDiffusion Tensor Imaging is a special technique of Magnetic Resonance Imaging employed for fiber-tracking studies for neurosurgical planning. The aim of this work is to validate the fiber-tracking probabilistic workflow in drug resistant epileptic patients explored by stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) at ASST GOM Niguarda Hospital. The method is based on anatomical Regions-Of Interest (ROI) definition in a common brain template co-registered on each patient’s image. The pipeline was developed in Python language using the prob
trackx algorithm for fiber-tracking available in FSL platform with ROIs as input (http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/). The accuracy of the method was assessed by automatically comparing reconstructed fibers with pathways previously elaborated during clinical practice, in which ROIs were drawn manually in each patient’s images. In 60% of the cases, automatic fibers were found to be anatomically consistent, if compared to anatomical knowledge, while in 36% of the cases, minimal manual corrections enabled appropriate anatomically consistent fibers to be obtained through a fast process. The proposed fibre tracking methodology suggested the feasibility of the process standardization and the achieved results will be further employed for mutual validation of tractographic process and electrophysiological data, which is the reference method for the clinical validation of fiber-tracking preoperative planning
Non-invasive brain cortex hemodynamic monitoring: A step towards motor disorder assessment via TD fNIRS
Get PDFThe state of the art in diagnosing motor impairments involves looking for anomalies as the patient performs particular movements. However, subjectivity of perception, which is influenced by the operator’s experience, has an impact on this procedure. A more rigorous approach involves monitoring cerebral response to motor stimuli by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). However, given the bulkiness of current fMRI devices, this solution forces the subject to maintain a static condition, limiting the range of response. Moreover, the temporal resolution of such acquisition is often sub-optimal in following fast hemodynamic variations in short motor tasks. In this framework, time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD fNIRS) that exploits the diffusion of picosecond laser pulses in cerebral tissue allows for quantitative and non-invasive acquisition of brain functional activity. Given the latest hardware development, it is now possible to exploit compact and wearable TD-fNIRS devices allowing for real time brain monitoring of unconstrained moving subjects. To assess the potential of the TD fNIRS technique in the field of motor disorders, we studied motor cortex hemodynamic response functions on healthy subjects performing standard physiotherapy protocols and simple motor tasks including goal-oriented and non-goal-oriented activities
X-ray phase contrast tomography with an immuno-histochemical approach
Get PDFIn the study of neurodegenerative diseases, a crucial point is the possibility of monitoring cells and tissues of interest within the body and tracking their modifications during the course of the disease or treatment. Currently, it is not possible to achieve this goal in-vivo, due to unsatisfactory image resolution, while conventional post-mortem analysis necessitates the use of sample-destructive tech- niques. In this work, we propose to exploit the special characteristics of nanoparticles and nanobodies to enrich the abilities of nano and micro-XPCT, an innovative tech- nique already used in the study of neurodegenerative disorders, and enhance it to tissue-selective 3D imaging, in addition to the morphological information provided by the 3D tomography
Chromatic sensitivity and tinted lenses: A preliminary study with the CAD test
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to assess the extreme effects of tinted lenses on colour vision by examining changes in chromatic sensitivity when viewing visual displays through a slightly tinted (“blue-blocking”) filter and through a heavily tinted, “orange” coloured filter. The CAD test was used to measure both red/green (RG) and yellow/blue (YB) chromatic sensitivity in ten subjects when viewing visual displays through each of the two filters. The measured RG and YB colour thresholds were then compared with similar measurements made without coloured filters in front of the eye. The blue-blocking filter absorbs only a small amount of short- wavelength light, whilst the “orange” filter preferentially attenuates more short- wavelength and some middle-wavelength light. The results show that the blue- blocking filter does not significantly affect either RG or YB colour vision. The orange filter, on the other hand, causes large changes in colour discrimination. The results were statistically analysed by comparing the results obtained with the coloured filters with those measured without any filters in front of the eye. More experimental work is now needed to establish how much short-wavelength light can be removed without significantly affecting the subject’s colour discrimination performance
Does blue-violet filtering in contact or ophthalmic lenses improve contrast sensitivity?
Get PDFhe effects of blue-violet filtering lenses (yellow lenses) on visual performances and more specifically on contrast sensitivity (CS) are still debated in the literature. In this work, results obtained with contact lenses (CLs) and oph- thalmic lenses (OphLs) with different optical properties are compared and discussed. A negative statistically significant (p < 0.05) moderate correlation of the CS varia- tion with different lenses as a function of the CS of the subject with the clearer one was observed. This means that filtering is expected to produce a CS worsening in subjects showing a relatively high initial CS. On the contrary, subjects showing a relatively low initial CS are expected to show a CS improvement