76 research outputs found
Forme di intensificazione e identità degeneri. Strategie identitarie ed esempi di alterità nel De reditu suo di Rutilio Namaziano
No full textThis paper focuses on Rutilius Namatianus, praefectus Urbi, who around 417 AD. is forced from Rome to return to his native Gaul, to take care of his possessions. He tells of this journey in De reditu suo, after years of political commitment at the highest levels in the city: during the stops of the journey the author provides large portraits of friends and associates, which he praises virtutes and cursus honorum of. The constant reference to the office of the urban prefecture (or other high government offices) suggests the concern of Rutilius for what makes Rome an excellent place of civilization: temples, roads, aque-ducts, ports, infrastructures that were under direct responsibility of praefectus Urbi. These elements are very significant in the very moment of serious identity crisis in the senatorial class. Rutilius through the portraits of his associates builds the image of a so-cial structure that wants to present itself as the true custodian of the values of the senato-rial class, but not really compact and therefore in need of a renewed identity model. On the other side the invectives and the merciless portraits are served for the "others", the anti-models, who counterbalance this model to be renewed; perhaps the most insidious forms of otherness are the degenerate forms of identical, who - contrary to expectations - deny or subvert the identity model of the senatorial class. Finally, examples of perma-nent liminality are the iuvenis of Gorgona and the shameful lineage of Lepidi, real dys-functional models of identity
Blockchain as a universal tool for business improvement
No full textAbstract: The aim of this work is to present the characteristics of the blockchain
technology and its potential in corporate case study applications. The paper presents
in detail an example of the implementation of permissioned blockchain and other
examples of blockchain (also of semantic type) applied to the temporal certification
of business processes of some brilliant southern Italy realities
Sea-level variability in the Mediterranean Sea from altimetry and tide gauges
No full textSea-level variability in the Mediterranean Sea was investigated by means of in-situ (tide-gauge) and satellite altimetry data over a period spanning two decades (from 1993 to 2012). The paper details the sea-level variations during this time period retrieved from the two data sets. Mean sea-level (MSL) estimates obtained from tide-gauge data showed root mean square differences (RMSDs) in the order of 40–50 % of the variance of the MSL signal estimated from satellite altimetry data, with a dependency on the number and quality of the in-situ data considered. Considering the individual time-series, the results showed that coastal tide-gauge and satellite sea-level signals are comparable, with RMSDs that range between 2.5 and 5 cm and correlation coefficients up to the order of 0.8. A coherence analysis and power spectra comparison showed that two signals have a very similar energetic content at semi-annual temporal scales and below, while a phase drift was observed at higher frequencies. Positive sea-level linear trends for the analysis period were estimated for both the mean sea-level and the coastal stations. From 1993 to 2012, the mean sea-level trend (2.44 ± 0.5 mm year- 1) was found to be affected by the positive anomalies of 2010 and 2011, which were observed in all the cases analysed and were mainly distributed in the eastern part of the basin. Ensemble empirical mode decomposition showed that these events were related to the processes that have dominant periodicities of ∼ 10 years, and positive residual sea-level trend were generally observed in both data-sets. In terms of mean sea-level trends, a significant positive sea-level trend (> 95 %) in the Mediterranean Sea was found on the basis of at least 15 years of data. © 2016, The Author(s)
Blockchain as a universal tool for business improvement
No full textAbstract: The aim of this work is to present the characteristics of the blockchain
technology and its potential in corporate case study applications. The paper presents
in detail an example of the implementation of permissioned blockchain and other
examples of blockchain (also of semantic type) applied to the temporal certification
of business processes of some brilliant southern Italy realities
Functional mimicry of Ruffini receptors with fibre Bragg gratings and deep neural networks enables a bio-inspired large-area tactile-sensitive skin
No full textCollaborative robots are expected to physically interact with humans in daily living and the workplace, including industrial and healthcare settings. A key related enabling technology is tactile sensing, which currently requires addressing the outstanding scientific challenge to simultaneously detect contact location and intensity by means of soft conformable artificial skins adapting over large areas to the complex curved geometries of robot embodiments. In this work, the development of a large-area sensitive soft skin with a curved geometry is presented, allowing for robot total-body coverage through modular patches. The biomimetic skin consists of a soft polymeric matrix, resembling a human forearm, embedded with photonic fibre Bragg grating transducers, which partially mimics Ruffini mechanoreceptor functionality with diffuse, overlapping receptive fields. A convolutional neural network deep learning algorithm and a multigrid neuron integration process were implemented to decode the fibre Bragg grating sensor outputs for inference of contact force magnitude and localization through the skin surface. Results of 35 mN (interquartile range 56 mN) and 3.2 mm (interquartile range 2.3 mm) median errors were achieved for force and localization predictions, respectively. Demonstrations with an anthropomorphic arm pave the way towards artificial intelligence based integrated skins enabling safe human–robot cooperation via machine intelligence
Coastal sea responses to atmospheric forcings at two different resolutions
No full textWe investigated coastal sea responses to three, multi-day strong wind episodes that occurred in the middle Adriatic during the Target Operational Period (TOP) of the European COastal sea OPerational observing and forecasting system (ECOOP) project. A high-resolution oceanographic model (1 km horizontal, 16 σ vertical layers) based on the modified Princeton Ocean Model (POM) was applied to a highly complex domain located in the coastal area of the eastern Adriatic Sea. The oceanographic model was nested into the Adriatic REGional model (AREG-2) covering the entire Adriatic Sea. Meteorological forcing was prepared by two atmospheric models. The coarser model was the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast model (ECMWF, with horizontal and temporal resolutions of 0.25° and 6 h, respectively), and the finer one was the Aire Limitée Adaptation dynamique Développement InterNational model (ALADIN, with horizontal and temporal resolutions of 8 km and 3 h, respectively, and winds dynamically adapted to a horizontal resolution of 2 km). The results show that small-scale atmospheric features, which arise due to the orographically complex mainland and the number of islands and were not reproduced by the coarser atmospheric model, substantially affected surface currents, mass transports, sea surface temperature (SST) and surface salinity in the coastal area during strong Bora. For strong Sirocco, the atmospheric model's resolution was important for currents on the lee sides of islands. © Author(s) 2011
Numerical simulation and decomposition of kinetic energy in the Central Mediterranean: Insight on mesoscale circulation and energy conversion
No full textThe spatial and temporal variability of eddy and mean kinetic energy of the Central Mediterranean region has been investigated, from January 2008 to December 2010, by mean of a numerical simulation mainly to quantify the mesoscale dynamics and their relationships with physical forcing. In order to understand the energy redistribution processes, the baroclinic energy conversion has been analysed, suggesting hypotheses about the drivers of the mesoscale activity in this area. The ocean model used is based on the Princeton Ocean Model implemented at 1/32° horizontal resolution. Surface momentum and buoyancy fluxes are interactively computed by mean of standard bulk formulae using predicted model Sea Surface Temperature and atmospheric variables provided by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast operational analyses. At its lateral boundaries the model is one-way nested within the Mediterranean Forecasting System operational products. The model domain has been subdivided in four sub-regions: Sardinia channel and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Sicily channel, eastern Tunisian shelf and Libyan Sea. Temporal evolution of eddy and mean kinetic energy has been analysed, on each of the four sub-regions, showing different behaviours. On annual scales and within the first 5 m depth, the eddy kinetic energy represents approximately the 60 % of the total kinetic energy over the whole domain, confirming the strong mesoscale nature of the surface current flows in this area. The analyses show that the model well reproduces the path and the temporal behaviour of the main known sub-basin circulation features. New mesoscale structures have been also identified, from numerical results and direct observations, for the first time as the Pantelleria Vortex and the Medina Gyre. The classical kinetic energy decomposition (eddy and mean) allowed to depict and to quantify the permanent and fluctuating parts of the circulation in the region, and to differentiate the four sub-regions as function of relative and absolute strength of the mesoscale activity. Furthermore the Baroclinic Energy Conversion term shows that in the Sardinia Channel the mesoscale activity, due to baroclinic instabilities, is significantly larger than in the other sub-regions, while a negative sign of the energy conversion, meaning a transfer of energy from the Eddy Kinetic Energy to the Eddy Available Potential Energy, has been recorded only for the surface layers of the Sicily Channel during summer. © Author(s) 2011. CC Attribution 3.0 License
Intracranial pressure and outcome in critically ill patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage : a systematic review
No full textBACKGROUND: Evidences supporting the use of intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) are limited. The aim of our paper was to examine whether elevated intracranial pressure and ICP- derived variables predict mortality and functional outcomes after aSAH. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A systematic review of the literature was performed through PubMed and Cochrane databases up to June 2015. Population was restricted to aSAH patients requiring admission to the intensive care unit. ICP was included in the analysis as absolute value as well as variables derived from ICP monitoring (pressure reactivity index. ICP pulse wave amplitude. ICP-arterial blood pressure wave amplitude correlation and ICP variability). Outcomes included mortality, neurological recovery and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI). Quality of evidence was rated using the GRADE system. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Twenty-six studies were examined. Due to heterogeneity in qualifying studies, a meta-anal- ysis could not be generated. We found a correlation between elevated ICP and mortality. However. ICP absolute values were not independent predictors of long-term functional outcomes (low quality of evidence). A variable relationship between elevated ICP and DCI was found (very low quality of evidence). ICP-derived variables had higher accuracy than ICP absolute values in predicting functional outcomes (moderate quality of evidence). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated ICP was associated with higher mortality however absolute ICP values per se were not independent predictors of functional recovery. Variables derived from ICP monitoring are more accurate than ICP absolute values in predicting outcome. Given the absence of good quality data, additional large studies may help to better define the prognostic value of ICP after aSAH
Development of super-ensemble techniques for ocean analyses: The Mediterranean Sea case
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.A super-ensemble methodology is proposed to improve the quality of short-term ocean analyses for sea surface temperature (SST) in the Mediterranean Sea. The methodology consists of a multiple linear regression technique applied to a multi-physics multi-model super-ensemble (MMSE) data set. This is a collection of different operational forecasting analyses together with ad hoc simulations, created by modifying selected numerical model parameterizations. A new linear regression algorithm based on empirical orthogonal function filtering techniques is shown to be efficient in preventing overfitting problems, although the best performance is achieved when a simple spatial filter is applied after the linear regression. Our results show that the MMSE methodology improves the ocean analysis SST estimates with respect to the best ensemble member (BEM) and that the performance is dependent on the selection of an unbiased operator and the length of training. The quality of the MMSE data set has the largest impact on the MMSE analysis root mean square error (RMSE) evaluated with respect to observed satellite SST. The MMSE analysis estimates are also affected by training period length, with the longest period leading to the smoothest estimates. Finally, lower RMSE analysis estimates result from the following: a 15-day training period, an overconfident MMSE data set (a subset with the higher-quality ensemble members) and the least-squares algorithm being filtered a posteriori.This work was supported by the University
of Bologna as part of the graduate programme in geophysics and
by the MyOcean2 Project. The CMCC Gemina project funded
J. Pistoia’s studies at the University of Exeter. Publication was
supported from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and
Research under the project RITMARE
Investigating the use of agile practices in avionics software development
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALEEssendo resistenti ai disturbi esterni ed adattabili, le pratiche Agile sono state sempre
più adottate con incredibile successo in molte aree dello sviluppo di prodotti e sistemi. Il
software militare e il software critico per la sicurezza, tuttavia, sono rimasti aree non
influenzate da queste tendenze, poiché molti affermano che è necessario fare un lavoro
significativo per applicare e adattare le pratiche Agile al raggiungimento del rigore
richiesto dalle industrie per la sicurezza. Questo documento sottolinea la necessità di
passare all'Agile nel settore dell'avionica, analizza la compatibilità delle pratiche Agile
con il settore dell'avionica evidenziando le principali insidie e i benefici che da esse
derivano e descrive dove e come adattare le pratiche Agile al processo avionico per
meglio adattarsi al quadro attuale dell’avionica (e quindi alle complessità attuali e gli
orientamenti di mercato recenti) senza mettere a rischio la certificabilità e la
commerciabilità del prodotto. Le pratiche Agile sono quindi adattate per conformarsi
adeguatamente allo standard di sviluppo del software avionico DO-178C (e i suoi
relativi allegati) garantendo la aero-navigabilità. Dopo aver analizzato i casi di successo
in cui vengono adottate pratiche Agile ed aver intervistato TXT e-Solutions, forniamo
indicazioni su ciò in cui le organizzazioni devono investire e su come prepararsi per una
struttura di supporto stabile per una transizione parziale ad Agile.In being robust to external disturbances and adaptable, Agile software development has
been increasingly adopted with incredible success in many very areas of product and
system development. Military-software and safety-critical software however have
remained areas unaffected by these trends, as many state that significant work is to be
done to apply and tailor Agile practices to the reach the rigor required by the safetycritical industries. This paper stresses the need to transition to Agile in the avionics
sectors, analyses the key-practices’ compatibility to the avionics sectors highlighting key
pitfalls and derived benefits and describes where and how to tailor Agile practices to
better suit the current landscape (current complexities and market orientations) without
risking the product’s certifiability and marketability. Agile practices are therefore tailored
to comply adequately with the safety-critical DO-178C avionics software-development
standard (and its related annexes). After analysing reports of successful cases of Agile
adoption and interviewing TXT e-Solutions, we provide guidance on what organizations
must invest on and how to prepare for a stable support structure for a partial transition
to Agile
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