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MISLEADING GAZE: IMAGE AND DESIRE IN THE ROVER
No full textThis paper explores Aphra Behn’s The Rover (1677) as a complex interrogation of gender roles, libertinism, and the commodification of female sexuality in Restoration comedy. Drawing from Thomas Killigrew’s Thomaso, the Wanderer (1664), Behn both inherits and subverts the conventions of the genre, particularly through her treatment of masquerade, gaze, and social identity. Focusing on the figures of Angellica Bianca, Hellena, and Florinda, the study analyses how female characters navigate patriarchal constraints, erotic desire, and the unstable dichotomy between virgin and whore. It also examines Behn’s critique of violent male libertinism, exemplified by the character of Willmore, and her strategic use of theatrical devices such as costuming and misrecognition. The carnival setting, with its temporary suspension of societal norms, serves as a crucial backdrop for exploring the fluidity of gendered performance. Ultimately, the paper argues that The Rover challenges contemporary sexual ideologies while simultaneously revealing the limits of female agency within patriarchal structures
Estimation of pedestrian flows with open-source crowding data: an integrated modelin Nomentano-Tiburtina district, Rome
No full textThis research aims to investigate pedestrian crowding in the urban area of the Nomentano-Tiburtina district in Rome, through a methodology that sees an integrated approach between a configurational digital model, created with the Space Syntax tool by Qgis, and a physical model based on data collection through the mobile observer mode and therefore directly and through the use of Google Street View, in virtual terms. An innovative methodology was therefore developed to be able to obtain a physical model through virtual data collection, and this made it possible to calibrate the digital model. The calibration highlighted, with a Pearson of 0.88, the effectiveness of the methodology developed. At the same time, all the factors influencing the digital model, such as demand-driven and land-use, were also studied. From the analysis of these factors, it was found that the presence of shops on the pedestrian network plays a strategic role in the assessment of pedestrian crowding, recording a better correlation than the data measured on site. The conclusions drawn from this research, therefore, are of considerable help in urban planning, emphasizing concepts such as accessibility and pedestrian safety
Affective Inflationism And Atmospheric Competence
No full textThe contribution presents an inflationary theory of atmospheres conceived as quasi-things. It proposes a distinction between prototypical, derivative-relational, and spurious-idiosyncratic atmospheres, analyzes the different levels of authority and power that atmospheric feelings can exert, and examines both the case in which an atmosphere is perceived without the perceiver being affectively involved, and the case in which the initial atmospheric impression changes over time. Finally, it outlines a theory of atmospheric competence (concerning both those who generate atmospheres and those who perceive them), at the center of which lies the possibility that an initial pathic immersion may be followed by a reflective re-emergence
MDR: an ontology vocabulary and registry service for dataset catalogs
No full textThe web has establshed itself as a worldwide data hub facilitating the publication and unification of data. Nonetheless, machines still seem not ready to exploit this data for independently executing complex tasks. In pursuit of fulfilling the unachieved promise of the Semantic Web to facilitate machine functionality, we have focused on one particular aspect: ensuring a comprehensive experience in any consuming application. To this end, we have investigated how the appropriate reuse and exploitation of metadata can realize this vision. We have thus defined a metadata model combining an interpretation of existing metadata vocabularies with a new lightweight ontology concerned with dataset accessibility. Then, we have developed a metadata registry and a set of associated services that complement the proposed model in satisfying our elicited requirements. As tangible evidence of our solution's effectiveness and influence, we describe and examine the implementation of the metadata registry in three distinct, open-source applications
A new methodology for using hybrid configurational tools for local analysis of pedestrian flows in large areas
No full textIn recent years, the concept of sustainable mobility has been increasingly pursued; as a result, the need for effective planning of pedestrian infrastructure is highlighted. This research employs configurational analysis, specifically the spatial syntax methodology, to examine pedestrian flows in urban environments. Spatial analysis was integrated with demographic data to assess pedestrian movement patterns and network accessibility. The area in question falls within a district of the city of Rome, such as the Nomentano-Tiburtina. To improve predictive accuracy, an approach is proposed that studies the influence of neighboring municipalities on the estimation of pedestrian crowding. The results reveal that this consideration significantly influences the integration and estimates of pedestrian flow. This study offers valuable insights for urban planners seeking to optimize pedestrian networks and promote sustainable urban mobility
A pathway for firm and dispatchable solar/wind supply through generation and markets splitting
Full text linkThe current mainstream strategy to allow a high share of variable renewable energy feed-in is mainly aimed at enabling new flexibility resources, but at high penetration, these resources are unlikely to be sufficient. On the contrary, the firmness and dispatchability of solar/wind could reduce/eliminate any demand for additional flexibility. In this work, we showed that solar/wind facilities can produce both variable/intermittent and baseload/dispatchable 24/365 energy by installing battery energy storage, grid forming inverters and suitable power plant controller. Then, we propose a new market design more suitable for this generation splitting approach. Using Italy as a case study, we have shown through energy simulations and cost optimization/analysis that the proposed market reform, combined with a firm energy feed-in tariff (always below 100 €/MWh), would make it profitable to reduce variable energy feed-in from large PV/wind power plants and related induced flexibility requirements by 20 %–30 %–40 %, in 2024–2030–2050. This flexibility reduction increases to 50 %–60 %–70 % dealing with the joint generation of an optimal mix of PV/wind farms. In addition, in 2050, for PV and the optimal mix of solar/wind systems, incentives below 100 €/MWh will push producers to generate only dispatchable energy. We also showed that our approach could solve or mitigate the significant misalignments between the current market structure and the techno-economic characteristics of renewables: wholesale market price volatility and cannibalization, growth of balancing prices and system-charges required to increase grid hosting capacity and adequacy
Human–AI synergy: finding cognitive balance in idea generation for product innovation
Full text linkThis study examines how innovators and AI work together during idea generation for product innovation. It examines how varying levels of reliance on AI impact cognitive engagement and, in turn, influence the quantity, originality and feasibility of ideas as well as innovators’ overconfidence. The study highlights AI’s role as a cognitive amplifier, showing how human intuition and AI's analytical power interact to support creativity and innovation. A controlled experiment was conducted with 123 product innovators, testing three conditions: no AI, moderate AI assistance and high AI assistance, to measure cognitive engagement, number of ideas generated, originality, feasibility and innovator overconfidence. ANOVA, polynomial regression and mediation tests were performed to determine the effects of AI assistance on innovative idea generation. The results reveal an inverted U relationship between AI assistance, cognitive engagement and the generation of ideas for product innovation. Moderate AI assistance optimally enhances cognitive engagement, producing the highest number of original and feasible ideas. In contrast, excessive AI assistance may foster automation bias, reducing originality and increasing overconfidence. At the same time, the absence of AI constrains idea generation due to cognitive limitations in relying only on human abilities. The findings show that moderate AI use maximizes the quantity, originality and feasibility of ideas while minimizing overconfidence. Innovation managers should structure ideation sessions to cap AI interactions, promote critical evaluation of AI outputs and combine them with human insight. This balanced approach enables firms to optimize cognitive engagement and generate higher-quality product innovations. This research uniquely contributes to product innovation literature by explicitly focusing on human–AI synergy, highlighting AI’s optimal role as a cognitive enhancer rather than a substitute. It elucidates conditions that maximize innovative outcomes through balanced human–AI collaboration, providing actionable managerial guidelines for structuring AI integration to amplify creativity and mitigate biases in idea generation for product innovation
A cooperative approach to Range-Only SLAM with undelayed initialization
No full textA 2D cooperative Range-Only SLAM problem is considered in this paper. In addition to odometry, available through noisy encoder readings on the actuated wheels, the robots measure the distances to a set of landmarks in unknown positions within the environment, as well as to other robots. Inter-landmark distances are not assumed to be available. The robots start at unknown locations, with their relative positions also assumed unknown. A Multi-Hypotheses Extended Kalman Filter, endowed with a Federated Information Sharing mechanism, is proposed to solve the problem in a computationally efficient way, without any delay in the initialization of landmark and robot position estimates. Simulation and experimental results are reported in the paper to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, showing significant improvements in both steady-state and transient performance compared to the single-robot scenario
