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Hybrid Control For Aerospace Systems
Full text linkHybrid dynamical systems are dynamical systems in which continuous and discrete evolutions coexist and interact.
Their twofold nature makes them particularly powerful for both describing and synthesizing complex dynamical behaviors.
In this work we exploit this capability for designing innovative control and estimation algorithms that cope with challenges in aerospace applications.
In particular:
1. we propose different impulsive control strategies for the problem of close-range rendezvous between two spacecrafts in elliptic orbits;
2. we design a robust time-sub-optimal controller for a class of linear systems emerging in aerospace applications where the control input is limited in magnitude;
3. we synthesize an observer to estimate the speed of rotary systems providing angular measurements that evolve on the unit circle.
To this end, we make use of a recent formalism tailored to hybrid dynamical systems for both modeling and proving desirable properties of the proposed algorithms, which are as well confirmed by simulative and experimental validations
Tra spazio e paesaggio. Studi su Calvino, Biamonti, Del Giudice e Celati
Full text linkLa tesi indaga le forme della rappresentazione spaziale e paesaggistica nelle opere di quattro autori della letteratura italiana del secondo Novecento: Calvino, Biamonti, Del Giudice e Celati. La scelta di tali autori è motivata dal fatto che si tratta di scrittori di "scuola" calviniana, che hanno esordito, pur con aspetti di indubbia originalità, sotto l'egida di Calvino, risentendo in modo diverso del modello di riferimento rappresentato dallo scrittore ligure
L'opposizione ordinaria del terzo
Full text linkLa prima parte dell’elaborato si occupa della ricerca di
una matrice originaria del rimedio in oggetto, nel tentativo di comprenderne la funzione tradizionale in rapporto con gli istituti esistenti, posti a tutela sia delle parti che dei terzi; matrice da individuarsi (potenzialmente) in alcuni istituti del diritto romano. Si dedicherà poi un’attenzione peculiare all’esperienza francese – sia dal punto di vista storico che comparato, e quindi in una prospettiva diacronica e sincronica – per poi soffermarsi sulle peculiarità della dottrina tedesca, la quale, malgrado lo spiccato interesse manifestato tra il XIX e il XX secolo per il tema del presente studio, non è stata recepita dalla propria prassi giudiziaria e ha trovato scarso seguito
negli sviluppi successivi.
Anche alla luce degli esiti della prima indagine, si tornerà ad analizzare le possibili soluzioni interpretative sorte nel nostro ordinamento attraverso una lunga elaborazione dottrinale e di frequenti – quanto incostanti- pronunce della Suprema Corte di Cassazione
Deep Learning for Abnormal Movement Detection using Wearable Sensors: Case Studies on Stereotypical Motor Movements in Autism and Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease
Full text linkInertial measurement sensing technology with the capability of capturing disease-relevant data has a great potential for improving the current clinical assessments and enhancing the quality of life in patients with neuro-developmental and neuro-degenerative diseases such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). The current clinical assessments can be improved by developing objective tools for the disease diagnosis and continuous monitoring of patients in out of clinical settings. To this end, it is necessary to develop automatic abnormal movement detection methods with the capability of adjusting on new patients' data in real-life settings. However, achieving this goal is challenging mainly because of the inter and intra-subject variability in acquired signals and the lack of labeled data. The research presented in this thesis investigates the application of deep neural networks to address these challenges of abnormal movement detection using inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors with case studies on stereotypical motor movements in ASD and freezing of gait in PD patients. In this direction, this thesis provides four main contributions: i) A convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is proposed to learn discriminative features which are sufficiently robust to inter and intra-subject variability. It is further shown how the proposed CNN architecture can be used for parameter transfer learning to enhance the adaptability of the abnormal movement detection system to new data in a longitudinal study. ii) An application of recurrent neural networks and more specifically long short-term memory (LSTM) in combination with CNN is proposed in order to incorporate more the temporal dynamics of IMU signals in the process of feature learning for abnormal movement detection. iii) An ensemble learning approach is proposed to improve the detection accuracy and at the same time to reduce the variance of models. iv) In the normative modeling framework, the problem of abnormal movement detection is redefined in the context of novelty detection and it is shown how a probabilistic denoising autoencoder can be used to learn the distribution of the normal human movements. The resulting deep normative model then is used in a novelty detection setting for unsupervised abnormal movement detection. The experimental results on three benchmark datasets collected from ASD and PD patients illustrate the high potentials of deep learning paradigm to address the crucial challenges toward real-time abnormal movement detection systems using wearable technologies
Decentralised International Cooperation: Enhancing Conservation and Sustainable Management of Transboundary Natural Resources
Full text linkThe concept of decentralised international cooperation promotes the involvement of sub-national actors, both local communities and local authorities, in the governance of transboundary natural resources and spaces. This concept describes a global legal phenomenon that can be observed in different regions of the world wherever decentralised cooperative mechanisms are at work. These mechanisms are context-specific and tailor cooperation to geographical peculiarities and local needs. They have a transboundary but localised spatial dimension that is ecologically functional, complements inter-state cooperation, and enables the participation of sub-national actors across borders.
This thesis explores both the theoretical and practical dimensions of decentralised international cooperation. This concept is framed in existing international environmental law principles and regimes, and is used as an interpretative approach to provide an innovative and bottom-up reading of international environmental law. I argue that this concept acknowledges and legitimises the role of local actors at the international level and has implications in terms of effective participation, benefit-sharing, and environmental governance more generally.
Four case studies are used to show how this concept has been operationalised in the European and southern African contexts: respectively, two European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) – the ZASNET and Alpi Marittime-Mercantour – and two Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) – the Kavango Zambezi and Great Limpopo. A comparative analysis of these cases provides a useful approach not only for understanding and potentially strengthening existing instances of decentralised international cooperation, but also for facilitating the developement of such cooperation in other contexts. This comparison revealed a number of trends (legal harmonisation, stretching of normative boundaries, etc.) that may be useful in improving biodiversity conservation. Moreover, the availability of institutional mechanisms appears to affect how quickly and efficiently participation of local actors can take place.
The main strengths of decentralised international cooperation are that it promotes the transboundary dimension of nature conservation and the active involvement of sub-national actors. By so doing, it bridges between governance levels and can contribute to shaping a more appropriate and participatory framework for the governance of shared natural resources
"Sweep all like a Deluge". Lavoro e cittadinanza nella filosofia di John Locke
Full text linkLa tesi indaga la risignificazione storico-concettuale del lavoro in rapporto alla cittadinanza nell'opera di Locke, evidenziando come l'attività lavorativa abbia operato come un dispositivo di inclusione differenziale degli abitanti del Commonwealth. Sulla linea della tipologia di lavoro, del rapporto di dipendenza/indipendenza e dello status Locke marca la distanza tra coloro che possono godere dei pieni diritti di cittadinanza, estesi anche ai ceti produttivi ma non nobili, e coloro che ne sono esclusi (i poveri e i salariati). Lo studio del pensiero lockiano, raffrontato con le considerazioni sul tema di altri autori della tradizione filosofica occidentale e del contesto inglese coevo, ci consente di vedere sotto un'altra luce il legame tra cittadinanza e lavoro, che storicamente ha contribuito non solo a comprendere nei termini della cittadinanza le classi subalterne, ma anche a consolidare le gerarchie sociali. Tale punto di vista risulta utile alla comprensione delle aporie del presente che interessano il nesso tra cittadinanza e lavoro, messo in crisi della trasformazioni sociali e produttive della contemporaneità
Conditional Cash Transfers, Risk-coping Strategies and Aspirations: Impact Evaluations from Peru
Full text linkThe objective of this thesis is to analyse the promotive, preventive and transformative role of a conditional cash transfer programme in Peru. In particular, we analyse the unintended impact of Juntos on risk-coping strategies (migration and assets accumulation) and aspirations. Since the way risk-coping strategies and aspirations are formed may determine important consequences in terms of poverty, it is relevant to analyse to what extent conditional cash transfers may affect these dimensions. This thesis shows that the Juntos programme is able, not only to deter domestic migration from rural to urban areas, but also to allow beneficiary households to invest in productive assets and activities used for income generating activities. Additionally, the programme has also a psychological effect on beneficiary children who have higher aspirations about their future studies and work
From perceptual to semantic representations in the human brain
Full text linkHumans are capable of recognizing a myriad of objects in everyday life. To do that, they have evolved the ability to detect their commonalities and differences, moving from perceptual details to construct more abstract representations that we call concepts, which span entire categories (such as the one of people) or refer to very specific and individual entities (such as our parents). Organizing our knowledge of the world around concepts, rather than around individual experiences, allows us for more rapid access to behavioural relevant information (for instance, how to behave when we encounter a dangerous animal), and to quickly generalize this information to what we never encountered before. In few words, this is what permeates the world with meaning.
The present work is about the neural bases of learning novel object concepts, a process that in our species is vastly supported by symbols and language: for this reason, I talk about semantic representations. The word “semantics” generally refers to the study of meaning (and to what a “meaning” ultimately is) as it is conveyed by a symbol; in the specific case of cognitive neuroscience, it deals with the neural mechanisms that allow symbols to re-present the meanings or concepts they refer to in the brain. For instance, we can easily describe what is the meaning of the word “DOG”, pretty much as we can explain what “DEMOCRACY” means. However, although cognitive neuroscience has focused on the neuro-cognitive bases of semantic representations for decades, the neural mechanisms underlying their acquisition remain elusive. How does the human brain change when learning novel concepts using symbols? How does a symbol acquire its meaning in the brain? Does this learning generate novel neural representations and/or does it modify pre-existing ones? What internal representational format (neural code) supports the representation of newly learnt concepts in the human brain?
The contribution of this work is three-fold. First, I show how new semantic representations learned by categorizing novel objects (defined through a combination of multisensory perceptual features) memory systems. Second, I show results converging on the idea that brain regions that evolved in lower-level mammals to represent spatial relationships between objects and locations, such as the hippocampal formation and medial prefrontal cortex, in humans are recruited to encode relationships between words and concepts by means of the same neural codes used to represent and navigate the physical environment. Finally, I present preliminary data on the cognitive effects of using symbols during learning novel object concepts, showing how language supports the construction of generalizable semantic representations
L'altra pedagogia di Rosmini. Dilemmi, occultamenti, traduzioni.
Full text linkLa dissertazione si apre con la ricerca della definizione degli strumenti e dei metodi necessari per effettuare l’operazione di comprensione e ri-significazione attualizzante della pedagogia rosminiana. Il primo capitolo ha quindi per oggetto proprio quest’indagine strumentale: partendo da un’analisi storica delle diverse linee di filosofia dell’educazione, s'inquadra il modello di filosofia dell’educazione attuale che fornisce il metodo della ricerca filosofico-educativa più efficace per l’analisi della teoria pedagogica rosminiana. Una volta portata a termine quest’operazione preliminare, si avvia la disamina dei testi rosminiani. Nel secondo capitolo la tematica educativa viene globalmente inquadrata all'interno dell’indagine antropologica: discostandomi dall’interpretazione spiritualista, propongo una lettura dell’antropologia rosminiana che prende in considerazione l’altro elemento fondamentale dell’uomo, il sentimento fondamentale nella specificità corporea, che spesso è stato dimenticato dagli studiosi rosministi, rinunciando conseguentemente a indagini accurate sulla dimensione sensitiva e istintiva dell’essere umano. Riprendere a esaminare criticamente questa dimensione non solo conduce a una comprensione più globale dell’antropologia rosminiana, ma offre spazi di continuità per l’indagine propriamente pedagogica, oggetto del terzo capitolo. È questo lo spazio privilegiato per l’analisi della pedagogia rosminiana, focalizzata principalmente su "Del principio supremo della Metodica". Vengono messi in luce i nodi e le discrasie in termini di contenuti e di metodi che affiorano nella ricerca sui processi educativi effettuata dal Rosmini, verificando come alcune questioni teoretiche siano alla base della mancata pubblicazione e dell’occultamento del saggio da parte di Rosmini. Infine, a completare la dissertazione, il quarto capitolo indaga nelle pieghe del sistema rosminiano – dalla questione sull’animalità nell’umano ai rapporti tra sviluppo infantile e origine linguistica e coscienziale – mostrando non solo le criticità presenti nella speculazione rosminiana, ma permettendo di tracciare spazi di continuità e insospettabile vicinanza del pensiero di Rosmini rispetto al panorama culturale odierno. In questo modo vengono fornite - sulla base dell’aderenza ai concetti rosminiani - nuove interpretazioni per una filosofia dell’educazione feconda per la contemporaneità
A Quantum Monte Carlo approach to dark matter-nuclei interaction
Full text linkUsing quantum Monte Carlo Methods, we compute the differential cross sections for elastic scattering of dark matter (DM) particles off light nuclei, up to
(d, H, He, He, and Li).
DM-nucleon one- and two-body currents are obtained to next-to-leading order in chiral effective theory, and they are derived from a DM-quark and DM-gluon effective interaction.
The nuclear ground states wave functions are obtained from a phenomenological nuclear Hamiltonian, composed of the Argonne two-body interaction and the three-body Urbana IX. In this framework, we study the impact of one- and two-body currents and discuss the size of nuclear uncertainties.
This work evaluates for the first time two-body effects in systems and provides the nuclear structure input
that can be used to assess the sensitivity of future experimental searches of (light) dark matter,
especially relevant for possible experimental targets such as He and He