1,721,019 research outputs found
STUDIO & SPORT: L’ALLEANZA È POSSIBILE. Un’indagine esplorativa sulla gestione del tempo libero di adolescenti sportivi.
No full textCol presente lavoro si è indagata la gestione del tempo libero in relazione a frequenza sportiva e studio scolastico, mediante l’analisi di un campione di adolescenti sportivi residenti nella provincia di Modena. Innanzitutto ci siamo posti le seguenti domande: come sono interconnessi gli impegni sportivi e scolastici nella vita di un-una adolescente? Lo sport può portare ragazzi e ragazze ad affrontare la scuola in modo migliore e/o viceversa? Questi interrogativi hanno costituito la base della ricerca disegnata attraverso la pianificazione di due fasi metodologiche autonome ma complementari: la prima qualitativa, dove attraverso Focus group si sono discussi e definiti i punti nodali della questione, che è culminata con la costruzione di un questionario ad hoc; la seconda, quantitativa, sviluppata attraverso la somministrazione del questionario stesso a 554 soggetti sportivi adolescenti di diversi: età, genere, sport praticato, carico d’impegno sportivo e scolastico, istruzione e lavoro dei genitori. L’indagine di natura empirica ha messo in evidenza come l’affrontare esperienze che comportano il dover conciliare impegni e condividere progetti ed obiettivi, porta a maturare maggiori consapevolezze circa: risultati scolastici, capacità di affrontare le difficoltà e relazioni con i pari e gli adulti
Discovering logical knowledge in non-symbolic domains
Get PDFDeep learning and symbolic artificial intelligence remain the two main paradigms in Artificial Intelligence (AI), each presenting their own strengths and weaknesses. Artificial agents should integrate both of these aspects of AI in order to show general intelligence and solve complex problems in real-world scenarios; similarly to how humans use both the analytical left side and the intuitive right side of their brain in their lives. However, one of the main obstacles hindering this integration is the Symbol Grounding Problem [144], which is the capacity to map physical world observations to a set of symbols. In this thesis, we combine symbolic reasoning and deep learning in order to better represent and reason with abstract knowledge. In particular, we focus on solving non-symbolic-state Reinforcement Learning environments using a symbolic logical domain. We consider different configurations: (i) unknown knowledge of both the symbol grounding function and the symbolic logical domain, (ii) unknown knowledge of the symbol grounding function and prior knowledge of the domain, (iii) imperfect knowledge of the symbols grounding function and unknown knowledge of the domain. We develop algorithms and neural network architectures that are general enough to be applied to different kinds of environments, which we test on both continuous-state control problems and image-based environments. Specifically, we develop two kinds of architectures: one for Markovian RL tasks and one for non-Markovian RL domains. The first is based on model-based RL and representation learning, and is inspired by the substantial prior work in state abstraction for RL [115]. The second is mainly based on recurrent neural networks and continuous relaxations of temporal logic domains. In particular, the first approach extracts a symbolic STRIPS-like abstraction for control problems. For the second approach, we explore connections between recurrent neural networks and finite state machines, and we define Visual Reward Machines, an extension to non-symbolic domains of Reward Machines [27], which are a popular approach to non-Markovian RL tasks
TRIZ Based Computer Aided LCA for Ecodesign
No full textWith the growing environmental conscience, the focus of sustainability has shifted from environmental assessment to improvement. An increasing number of improvement tools are being developed, but they all lack integration with the assessment phase, or provide very simplified and unreliable assessment tools. We propose an integrated approach to environmental assessment and improvement, with a focus on green product development and problem solving. The main novelty of this work lies in the adoption of TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) fundamentals, which allow us to transform traditional LCA criticalities, i.e. the most impacting flows of a product, into eco improvement criticalities, i.e. the potential of improvement of each flow. For this, we developed a graphical ontology that guides the designer in mapping the product life cycle, identifying and highlighting criticalities, and tracking the improvement effort. A new approach is proposed, focused toward problem solving rather than environmental certification. Indeed, available systems fail to highlight the contradictions that normally occur during problem solving, in which any improvement is met with a trade-off that is never fully understood until a new assessment is performed. In the proposed methodology, the mapping scheme is designed to help problem solving, by graphically highlighting the critical product components that need to be improved, suggesting customized guidelines that target specific flows and life cycle phases, and foreseeing possible trade-offs that may arise
Optimized development: defining design rules through product optimization techniques
No full textIn recent years, parametric optimization has become an important part of product development, allowing the designer to explore an unprecedented number of product configurations. However, optimization is often thought of as the last step of the design process; the product has already been defined and the designer aim is toward the optimization of its performance. A this stage, the main performance trade-offs have been set and cannot be solved by the optimization.
We propose an early application of optimization techniques during the product embodiment phase; aimed not at finding the optimal configuration of an existing product, but at highlighting trade-offs and the effect of design variables on the product performance. The output of the proposed procedure is a set of design guidelines that describe the design challenges at an early stage, when there is still time to address trade-offs, and, possibly, resolve them before the final, and more classical, product optimization.
The procedure has been tested on two exemplary case studies pertaining to food product refrigeration: a refrigerated display unit and a cabinet shelf
Anticipating the Identification of Contradictions in Eco-design Problems
Get PDFAbstractEco-improvement tools aim at identifying the most critical areas of a product life cycle, thanks to eco-assessment techniques like LCA. The designer is then encouraged to intervene by modifying the product or the manufacturing process characteristics. However, even a slight change of the product life cycle can seriously affect other parts of the cycle itself. Usually, this influences are hard to predict. Only an expert of LCA could effectively anticipate the major repercussions of a life cycle alteration. However, with the introduction of abridged aLCA, life cycle analysis has become a tool for the common designer, which usually doesn’t have the expertise to identify the great number of interdependences involved. In these cases, the designer's efforts in reducing product environmental impacts can be ineffective or even counterproductive.This paper proposes a method and tool, called contradiction prompter, which integrates TRIZ in Life Cycle Assessment. Once environmental criticalities are defined by LCA, a set of guidelines are suggested to intervene on the product. The contradiction prompter collects a set of predefined typical contradictions that can arise when adopting a specific guideline. This can limit the typical trial and error approach and reduce the risk of ineffective redesigns.The framework has been clarified through an exemplary case study, dealing with the redesign of a moped wheel
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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