Hybrid constraint programming and metaheuristic methods for large scale optimization problems

This work presents hybrid Constraint Programming (CP) and metaheuristic methods for the solution of Large Scale Optimization Problems; it aims at integrating concepts and mechanisms from the metaheuristic methods to a CP-based tree search environment in order to exploit the advantages of both approaches. The modeling and solution of large scale combinatorial optimization problem is a topic which has arisen the interest of many researcherers in the Operations Research field; combinatorial optimization problems are widely spread in everyday life and the need of solving difficult problems is more and more urgent. Metaheuristic techniques have been developed in the last decades to effectively handle the approximate solution of combinatorial optimization problems; we will examine metaheuristics in detail, focusing on the common aspects of different techniques. Each metaheuristic approach possesses its own peculiarities in designing and guiding the solution process; our work aims at recognizing components which can be extracted from metaheuristic methods and re-used in different contexts. In particular we focus on the possibility of porting metaheuristic elements to constraint programming based environments, as constraint programming is able to deal with feasibility issues of optimization problems in a very effective manner. Moreover, CP offers a general paradigm which allows to easily model any type of problem and solve it with a problem-independent framework, differently from local search and metaheuristic methods which are highly problem specific. In this work we describe the implementation of the Local Branching framework, originally developed for Mixed Integer Programming, in a CP-based environment. Constraint programming specific features are used to ease the search process, still mantaining an absolute generality of the approach. We also propose a search strategy called Sliced Neighborhood Search, SNS, that iteratively explores slices of large neighborhoods of an incumbent solution by performing CP-based tree search and encloses concepts from metaheuristic techniques. SNS can be used as a stand alone search strategy, but it can alternatively be embedded in existing strategies as intensification and diversification mechanism. In particular we show its integration within the CP-based local branching. We provide an extensive experimental evaluation of the proposed approaches on instances of the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem and of the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows. The proposed approaches achieve good results on practical size problem, thus demonstrating the benefit of integrating metaheuristic concepts in CP-based frameworks.

Componentistica avanzata per Impianti di Combustione a Biomassa

In un quadro internazionale di forte interesse verso uno sviluppo sostenibile e sfide energetiche per il futuro, il DIEM, in collaborazione con altri istituti di ricerca ed imprese private, sta progettando l’integrazione di componentistica avanzata su di una caldaia alimentata a biomasse. Lo scopo finale è quello di realizzare una caldaia a biomasse che produca energia in maniera più efficiente e con un impatto ambientale ridotto. L’applicazione è indirizzata inizialmente verso caldaie di piccola-media taglia (fino a 350 kW termici) vista la larga diffusione di questa tipologia di impianto. La componentistica in oggetto è: - filtro sperimentale ad alta efficienza per la rimozione del particolato; - celle a effetto Seebeck per la produzione di energia elettrica direttamente da energia termica senza parti meccaniche in movimento; - pompa Ogden per la produzione di energia meccanica direttamente da energia termica; La finalità dell’attività di ricerca è la progettazione dell’integrazione dei suddetti dispositivi con una caldaia a biomassa da 290 kW termici per la realizzazione di un prototipo di caldaia stand-alone ad impatto ambientale ridotto: in particolare, la caldaia è in grado, una volta raggiunte le condizioni di regime, di autoalimentare le proprie utenze elettriche, garantendo il funzionamento in sicurezza in caso di black-out o consentendo l’installazione della caldaia medesima in zone remote e prive di allaccio alla rete elettrica. Inoltre, la caldaia può fornire, tramite l'utilizzo di una pompa a vapore o pompa Ogden, energia meccanica per il pompaggio di fluidi: tale opportunità si ritiene particolarmente interessante per l'integrazione della caldaia nel caso di installazione in ambito agricolo. Infine, l'abbinamento di un filtro ad alta efficienza e basso costo consente l'abbattimento delle emissioni inquinanti, favorendo una maggiore diffusione della tecnologia senza ulteriori impatti sull'ambiente.

Advanced CMOS Interfaces for Bio-Nanosensors

The improvement of devices provided by Nanotechnology has put forward new classes of sensors, called bio-nanosensors, which are very promising for the detection of biochemical molecules in a large variety of applications. Their use in lab-on-a-chip could gives rise to new opportunities in many fields, from health-care and bio-warfare to environmental and high-throughput screening for pharmaceutical industry. Bio-nanosensors have great advantages in terms of cost, performance, and parallelization. Indeed, they require very low quantities of reagents and improve the overall signal-to-noise-ratio due to increase of binding signal variations vs. area and reduction of stray capacitances. Additionally, they give rise to new challenges, such as the need to design high-performance low-noise integrated electronic interfaces. This thesis is related to the design of high-performance advanced CMOS interfaces for electrochemical bio-nanosensors. The main focus of the thesis is: 1) critical analysis of noise in sensing interfaces, 2) devising new techniques for noise reduction in discrete-time approaches, 3) developing new architectures for low-noise, low-power sensing interfaces. The manuscript reports a multi-project activity focusing on low-noise design and presents two developed integrated circuits (ICs) as examples of advanced CMOS interfaces for bio-nanosensors. The first project concerns low-noise current-sensing interface for DC and transient measurements of electrophysiological signals. The focus of this research activity is on the noise optimization of the electronic interface. A new noise reduction technique has been developed so as to realize an integrated CMOS interfaces with performance comparable with state-of-the-art instrumentations. The second project intends to realize a stand-alone, high-accuracy electrochemical impedance spectroscopy interface. The system is tailored for conductivity-temperature-depth sensors in environmental applications, as well as for bio-nanosensors. It is based on a band-pass delta-sigma technique and combines low-noise performance with low-power requirements.

Percutaneous Cement Discoplasty: Biomechanical and clinical assessment of a minimally invasive treatment of lumbar intervertebral disc disease

With population ageing, spine diseases have an increasing prevalence and induce high economic and social costs. The development of minimally invasive surgeries allows reducing the surgery-associated risks in elderly and polymorbid patients, and save costs by treating more patients in shorter time and reducing the complications. Percutaneous Cement Discoplasty (PCD) is a minimally invasive technique developed to treat highly degenerated intervertebral discs exhibiting a vacuum phenomenon. Filling the disc with bone cement creates a stand-alone spacer which partially restores the disc height and re-opens the foraminal space. PCD has recently been introduced to clinical use. However, the spine biomechanics following this treatment remained unravelled. The aim of this PhD thesis is to bridge the clinical experience with in vitro methodologies, to provide a multilateral evaluation of PCD outcome and a better understanding of its impact on the spine biomechanics, and of its possible contraindications. Firstly, a suitable in vitro porcine model to test the biomechanics of discoplasty by comparing specimens in the preoperative and postoperative conditions was developed. The methodology was then applied to investigate the biomechanics of discoplasty in cadaveric human segments. The in vitro specimens were mechanically investigated in flexion and extension, while a DIC system quantified the range of motion, disc height, and strains on the disc surface. Then, a versatile tool to measure the impact of discoplasty on the foramen space was developed and applied both to clinical and experimental work. The vertebrae reconstructed from CT scans were registered to match the loading configuration, using ex vivo DIC measurements under loading. The foramen volumetric changes caused by PCD was measured using a 3D geometrical method clinically developed by the research group. In conclusion, this project significantly extended the understanding of PCD biomechanics, highlighting its benefits in the treatment of advanced cases of intervertebral disc degeneration.

Luminescent Systems for Genomics and Proteomics

The present PhD project was focused on the development of new tools and methods for luminescence-based techniques. In particular, the ultimate goal was to present substantial improvements to the currently available technologies for both research and diagnostic in the fields of biology, proteomics and genomics. Different aspects and problems were investigated, requiring different strategies and approaches. The whole work was thus divided into separate chapters, each based on the study of one specific aspect of luminescence: Chemiluminescence, Fluorescence and Electrochemiluminescence. CHAPTER 1, Chemiluminescence The work on luminol-enhancer solution lead to a new luminol solution formulation with 1 order of magnitude lower detection limit for HRP. This technology was patented with Cyanagen brand and is now sold worldwide for Western Blot and ELISA applications. CHAPTER 2, Fluorescescence The work on dyed-doped silica nanoparticles is marking a new milestone in the development of nanotechnologies for biological applications. While the project is still in progress, preliminary studies on model structures are leading to very promising results. The improved brightness of these nano-sized objects, their simple synthesis and handling, their low toxicity will soon turn them, we strongly believe, into a new generation of fluorescent labels for many applications. CHAPTER 3, Electrochemiluminescence The work on electrochemiluminescence produced interesting results that can potentially turn into great improvements from an analytical point of view. Ru(bpy)3 derivatives were employed both for on-chip microarray (Chapter 3.1) and for microscopic imaging applications (Chapter 3.2). The development of these new techniques is still under investigation, but the obtained results confirm the possibility to achieve the final goal. Furthermore the development of new ECL-active species (Chapter 3.3, 3.4, 3.5) and their use in these applications can significantly improve overall performances, thus helping to spread ECL as powerful analytical tool for routinary techniques. To conclude, the results obtained are of strong value to largely increase the sensitivity of luminescence techniques, thus fulfilling the expectation we had at the beginning of this research work.

Max Bill in Italia . Lo spazio logico dell'architettura

I Max Bill is an intense giornata of a big fresco. An analysis of the main social, artistic and cultural events throughout the twentieth century is needed in order to trace his career through his masterpieces and architectures. Some of the faces of this hypothetical mural painting are, among others, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Ernesto Nathan Rogers, Kandinskij, Klee, Mondrian, Vatongerloo, Ignazio Silone, while the backcloth is given by artistic avant-gardes, Bauhaus, International Exhibitions, CIAM, war events, reconstruction, Milan Triennali, Venice Biennali, the School of Ulm. Architect, even though more known as painter, sculptor, designer and graphic artist, Max Bill attends the Bauhaus as a student in the years 1927-1929, and from this experience derives the main features of a rational, objective, constructive and non figurative art. His research is devoted to give his art a scientific methodology: each work proceeds from the analysis of a problem to the logical and always verifiable solution of the same problem. By means of composition elements (such as rhythm, seriality, theme and its variation, harmony and dissonance), he faces, with consistent results, themes apparently very distant from each other as the project for the H.f.G. or the design for a font. Mathematics are a constant reference frame as field of certainties, order, objectivity: ‘for Bill mathematics are never confined to a simple function: they represent a climate of spiritual certainties, and also the theme of non attempted in its purest state, objectivity of the sign and of the geometrical place, and at the same time restlessness of the infinity: Limited and Unlimited ’. In almost sixty years of activity, experiencing all artistic fields, Max Bill works, projects, designs, holds conferences and exhibitions in Europe, Asia and Americas, confronting himself with the most influencing personalities of the twentieth century. In such a vast scenery, the need to limit the investigation field combined with the necessity to address and analyse the unpublished and original aspect of Bill’s relations with Italy. The original contribution of the present research regards this particular ‘geographic delimitation’; in particular, beyond the deep cultural exchanges between Bill and a series of Milanese architects, most of all with Rogers, two main projects have been addressed: the realtà nuova at Milan Triennale in 1947, and the Contemporary Art Museum in Florence in 1980. It is important to note that these projects have not been previously investigated, and the former never appears in the sources either. These works, together with the most well-known ones, such as the projects for the VI and IX Triennale, and the Swiss pavilion for the Biennale, add important details to the reference frame of the relations which took place between Zurich and Milan. Most of the occasions for exchanges took part in between the Thirties and the Fifties, years during which Bill underwent a significant period of artistic growth. He meets the Swiss progressive architects and the Paris artists from the Abstraction-Création movement, enters the CIAM, collaborates with Le Corbusier to the third volume of his Complete Works, and in Milan he works and gets confronted with the events related to post-war reconstruction. In these years Bill defines his own working methodology, attaining an artistic maturity in his work. The present research investigates the mentioned time period, despite some necessary exceptions. II The official Max Bill bibliography is naturally wide, including spreading works along with ones more devoted to analytical investigation, mainly written in German and often translated into French and English (Max Bill himself published his works in three languages). Few works have been published in Italian and, excluding the catalogue of the Parma exhibition from 1977, they cannot be considered comprehensive. Many publications are exhibition catalogues, some of which include essays written by Max Bill himself, some others bring Bill’s comments in a educational-pedagogical approach, to accompany the observer towards a full understanding of the composition processes of his art works. Bill also left a great amount of theoretical speculations to encourage a critical reading of his works in the form of books edited or written by him, and essays published in ‘Werk’, magazine of the Swiss Werkbund, and other international reviews, among which Domus and Casabella. These three reviews have been important tools of analysis, since they include tracks of some of Max Bill’s architectural works. The architectural aspect is less investigated than the plastic and pictorial ones in all the main reference manuals on the subject: Benevolo, Tafuri and Dal Co, Frampton, Allenspach consider Max Bill as an artist proceeding in his work from Bauhaus in the Ulm experience . A first filing of his works was published in 2004 in the monographic issue of the Spanish magazine 2G, together with critical essays by Karin Gimmi, Stanislaus von Moos, Arthur Rüegg and Hans Frei, and in ‘Konkrete Architektur?’, again by Hans Frei. Moreover, the monographic essay on the Atelier Haus building by Arthur Rüegg from 1997, and the DPA 17 issue of the Catalonia Polytechnic with contributions of Carlos Martì, Bruno Reichlin and Ton Salvadò, the latter publication concentrating on a few Bill’s themes and architectures. An urge to studying and going in depth in Max Bill’s works was marked in 2008 by the centenary of his birth and by a recent rediscovery of Bill as initiator of the ‘minimalist’ tradition in Swiss architecture. Bill’s heirs are both very active in promoting exhibitions, researching and publishing. Jakob Bill, Max Bill’s son and painter himself, recently published a work on Bill’s experience in Bauhaus, and earlier on he had published an in-depth study on ‘Endless Ribbons’ sculptures. Angela Thomas Schmid, Bill’s wife and art historian, published in end 2008 the first volume of a biography on Max Bill and, together with the film maker Eric Schmid, produced a documentary film which was also presented at the last Locarno Film Festival. Both biography and documentary concentrate on Max Bill’s political involvement, from antifascism and 1968 protest movements to Bill experiences as Zurich Municipality councilman and member of the Swiss Confederation Parliament. In the present research, the bibliography includes also direct sources, such as interviews and original materials in the form of letters correspondence and graphic works together with related essays, kept in the max+binia+jakob bill stiftung archive in Zurich. III The results of the present research are organized into four main chapters, each of them subdivided into four parts. The first chapter concentrates on the research field, reasons, tools and methodologies employed, whereas the second one consists of a short biographical note organized by topics, introducing the subject of the research. The third chapter, which includes unpublished events, traces the historical and cultural frame with particular reference to the relations between Max Bill and the Italian scene, especially Milan and the architects Rogers and Baldessari around the Fifties, searching the themes and the keys for interpretation of Bill’s architectures and investigating the critical debate on the reviews and the plastic survey through sculpture. The fourth and last chapter examines four main architectures chosen on a geographical basis, all devoted to exhibition spaces, investigating Max Bill’s composition process related to the pictorial field. Paintings has surely been easier and faster to investigate and verify than the building field. A doctoral thesis discussed in Lausanne in 1977 investigating Max Bill’s plastic and pictorial works, provided a series of devices which were corrected and adapted for the definition of the interpretation grid for the composition structures of Bill’s main architectures. Four different tools are employed in the investigation of each work: a context analysis related to chapter three results; a specific theoretical essay by Max Bill briefly explaining his main theses, even though not directly linked to the very same work of art considered; the interpretation grid for the composition themes derived from a related pictorial work; the architecture drawing and digital three-dimensional model. The double analysis of the architectural and pictorial fields is functional to underlining the relation among the different elements of the composition process; the two fields, however, cannot be compared and they stay, in Max Bill’s works as in the present research, interdependent though self-sufficient. IV An important aspect of Max Bill production is self-referentiality: talking of Max Bill, also through Max Bill, as a need for coherence instead of a method limitation. Ernesto Nathan Rogers describes Bill as the last humanist, and his horizon is the known world but, as the ‘Concrete Art’ of which he is one of the main representatives, his production justifies itself: Max Bill not only found a method, but he autonomously re-wrote the ‘rules of the game’, derived timeless theoretical principles and verified them through a rich and interdisciplinary artistic production. The most recurrent words in the present research work are synthesis, unity, space and logic. These terms are part of Max Bill’s vocabulary and can be referred to his works. Similarly, graphic settings or analytical schemes in this research text referring to or commenting Bill’s architectural projects were drawn up keeping in mind the concise precision of his architectural design. As for Mies van der Rohe, it has been written that Max Bill took art to ‘zero degree’ reaching in this way a high complexity. His works are a synthesis of art: they conceptually encompass all previous and –considered their developments- most of contemporary pictures. Contents and message are generally explicitly declared in the title or in Bill’s essays on his artistic works and architectural projects: the beneficiary is invited to go through and re-build the process of synthesis generating the shape. In the course of the interview with the Milan artist Getulio Alviani, he tells how he would not write more than a page for an essay on Josef Albers: everything was already evident ‘on the surface’ and any additional sentence would be redundant. Two years after that interview, these pages attempt to decompose and single out the elements and processes connected with some of Max Bill’s works which, for their own origin, already contain all possible explanations and interpretations. The formal reduction in favour of contents maximization is, perhaps, Max Bill’s main lesson.

Analytical challenges in the fields of Nanobioscience and Nanobiotecnology: integrated methods for separation and characterization

Nano(bio)science and nano(bio)technology play a growing and tremendous interest both on academic and industrial aspects. They are undergoing rapid developments on many fronts such as genomics, proteomics, system biology, and medical applications. However, the lack of characterization tools for nano(bio)systems is currently considered as a major limiting factor to the final establishment of nano(bio)technologies. Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (FlFFF) is a separation technique that is definitely emerging in the bioanalytical field, and the number of applications on nano(bio)analytes such as high molar-mass proteins and protein complexes, sub-cellular units, viruses, and functionalized nanoparticles is constantly increasing. This can be ascribed to the intrinsic advantages of FlFFF for the separation of nano(bio)analytes. FlFFF is ideally suited to separate particles over a broad size range (1 nm-1 μm) according to their hydrodynamic radius (rh). The fractionation is carried out in an empty channel by a flow stream of a mobile phase of any composition. For these reasons, fractionation is developed without surface interaction of the analyte with packing or gel media, and there is no stationary phase able to induce mechanical or shear stress on nanosized analytes, which are for these reasons kept in their native state. Characterization of nano(bio)analytes is made possible after fractionation by interfacing the FlFFF system with detection techniques for morphological, optical or mass characterization. For instance, FlFFF coupling with multi-angle light scattering (MALS) detection allows for absolute molecular weight and size determination, and mass spectrometry has made FlFFF enter the field of proteomics. Potentialities of FlFFF couplings with multi-detection systems are discussed in the first section of this dissertation. The second and the third sections are dedicated to new methods that have been developed for the analysis and characterization of different samples of interest in the fields of diagnostics, pharmaceutics, and nanomedicine. The second section focuses on biological samples such as protein complexes and protein aggregates. In particular it focuses on FlFFF methods developed to give new insights into: a) chemical composition and morphological features of blood serum lipoprotein classes, b) time-dependent aggregation pattern of the amyloid protein Aβ1-42, and c) aggregation state of antibody therapeutics in their formulation buffers. The third section is dedicated to the analysis and characterization of structured nanoparticles designed for nanomedicine applications. The discussed results indicate that FlFFF with on-line MALS and fluorescence detection (FD) may become the unparallel methodology for the analysis and characterization of new, structured, fluorescent nanomaterials.

Jasmonates and abscisic acid influence fruit ripening and plant water use: practical, physiological and morphological aspects

The aim of the present thesis was to better understand the physiological role of the phytohormones jasmonates (JAs) and abscisic acid (ABA) during fruit ripening in prospect of a possible field application of JAs and ABA to improve fruit yield and quality. In particular, the effects of exogenous application of these substances at different fruit developmental stages and under different experimental conditions were evaluated. Some aspects of the water relations upon ABA treatment were also analysed. Three fruit species, peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch), golden (Actinidia chinensis) and green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa), and several of their cvs, were used for the trials. Different experimental models were adopted: fruits in planta, detached fruit, detached branches with fruit, girdled branches and micropropagated plants. The work was structured into four sets of experiments as follows: (i) Pre-harvest methyl jasmonate (MJ) application was performed at S3/S4 transition under field conditions in Redhaven peach; ethylene production, ripening index, fruit quality and shelf-life were assessed showing that MJ-treated fruit were firmer and thus less ripe than controls as confirmed by the Index of Absorbance Difference (IAD), but exhibited a shorter shelf-life due to an increase in ethylene production. Moreover, the time course of the expression of ethylene-, auxin- and other ripening-related genes was determined. Ripening-related ACO1 and ACS1 transcript accumulation was inhibited though transiently by MJ, and gene expression of the ethylene receptor ETR2 and of the ethylene-related transcription factor ERF2 was also altered. The time course of the expression of several auxin-related genes was strongly affected by MJ suggesting an increase in auxin biosynthesis, altered auxin conjugation and release as well as perception and transport; the need for a correct ethylene/auxin balance during ripening was confirmed. (ii) Pre- and post-harvest ABA applications were carried out under field conditions in Flaminia and O’Henry peach and Stark Red Gold nectarine fruit; ethylene production, ripening index, fruit quality and shelf-life were assessed. Results show that pre-harvest ABA applications increase fruit size and skin color intensity. Also post-harvest ABA treatments alter ripening-related parameters; in particular, while ethylene production is impaired in ABA-treated fruit soluble solids concentration (SSC) is enhanced. Following field ABA applications stem water potential was modified since ABA-treated peach trees retain more water. (iii) Pre- and post-harvest ABA and PDJ treatments were carried out in both kiwifruit species under field conditions at different fruit developmental stages and in post-harvest. Ripening index, fruit quality, plant transpiration, photosynthesis and stomatal conductance were assessed. Pre-harvest treatments enhance SSC in the two cvs and flesh color development in golden kiwifruit. Post-harvest applications of either ABA or ABA plus PDJ lead to increased SSC. In addition, ABA reduces gas exchanges in A. deliciosa. (iv) Spray, drench and dipping ABA treatments were performed in micropropagated peach plants and in peach and nectarine detached branches; plant water use and transpiration, biomass production and fruit dehydration were determined. In both plants and branches ABA significantly reduces water use and fruit dehydration. No negative effects on biomass production were detected. The present information, mainly arising from plant growth regulator application in a field environment, where plants have to cope with multiple biotic and abiotic stresses, may implement the perspectives for the use of these substances in the control of fruit ripening.

Development and performance assessment of a Plasma Focus electron beam generator for Intra-Operative Radiation Therapy

The Plasma Focus is a device designed to generate a plasma sheet between two coaxial electrodes by means of a high voltage difference. The plasma is then driven to collapse into a “pinch”, where thermonuclear conditions prevail. During the “pinch phase” charged particles are emitted, with two main components: an ion beam peaked forward and an electron beam directed backward. The electron beam emitted backward by Plasma Focus devices is being investigated as a radiation source for medical applications, using it to produce x-rays by interaction with appropriate targets (through bremsstrahlung and characteristic emission). A dedicated Plasma Focus device, named PFMA-3 (Plasma Focus for Medical Applications number 3), has been designed, put in operation and tested by the research groups of the Universities of Bologna and Ferrara. The very high dose rate (several gray per discharge, in less than 1 µs) is a peculiarity of this device that has to be investigated, as it might modify the relative biological effectiveness (RBE). Aim of this Ph.D. project was to investigate the main physical properties of the low-energy x-ray beams produced by a Plasma Focus device and their potential medical applications to IORT treatments. It was necessary to develop the optimal geometrical configuration; to evaluate the x-rays produced and their dose deposited; to estimate the energy electron spectrum produced in the “pinch phase”; to study an optimal target for the conversion of the x-rays; to conduct simulations to study the physics involved; and in order to evaluate the radio-biological features of the beam, cell holders had to be developed for both irradiations and cell growth conditions.

Innovation and economic performance of the firms in the service sector: relevant issues and open problems

This thesis is a collection of essays related to the topic of innovation in the service sector. The choice of this structure is functional to the purpose of single out some of the relevant issues and try to tackle them, revising first the state of the literature and then proposing a way forward. Three relevant issues has been therefore selected: (i) the definition of innovation in the service sector and the connected question of measurement of innovation; (ii) the issue of productivity in services; (iii) the classification of innovative firms in the service sector. Facing the first issue, chapter II shows how the initial width of the original Schumpeterian definition of innovation has been narrowed and then passed to the service sector form the manufacturing one in a reduce technological form. Chapter III tackle the issue of productivity in services, discussing the difficulties for measuring productivity in a context where the output is often immaterial. We reconstruct the dispute on the Baumol’s cost disease argument and propose two different ways to go forward in the research on productivity in services: redefining the output along the line of a characteristic approach; and redefining the inputs, particularly analysing which kind of input it’s worth saving. Chapter IV derives an integrated taxonomy of innovative service and manufacturing firms, using data coming from the 2008 CIS survey for Italy. This taxonomy is based on the enlarged definition of “innovative firm” deriving from the Schumpeterian definition of innovation and classify firms using a cluster analysis techniques. The result is the emergence of a four cluster solution, where firms are differentiated by the breadth of the innovation activities in which they are involved. Chapter 5 reports some of the main conclusions of each singular previous chapter and the points worth of further research in the future.

Integration of MFA and LCA methodologies: the anthropogenic aluminium cycle in Italy

MFA and LCA methodologies were applied to analyse the anthropogenic aluminium cycle in Italy with focus on historical evolution of stocks and flows of the metal, embodied GHG emissions, and potentials from recycling to provide key features to Italy for prioritizing industrial policy toward low-carbon technologies and materials. Historical trend series were collected from 1947 to 2009 and balanced with data from production, manufacturing and waste management of aluminium-containing products, using a ‘top-down’ approach to quantify the contemporary in-use stock of the metal, and helping to identify ‘applications where aluminium is not yet being recycled to its full potential and to identify present and future recycling flows’. The MFA results were used as a basis for the LCA aimed at evaluating the carbon footprint evolution, from primary and electrical energy, the smelting process and the transportation, embodied in the Italian aluminium. A discussion about how the main factors, according to the Kaya Identity equation, they did influence the Italian GHG emissions pattern over time, and which are the levers to mitigate it, it has been also reported. The contemporary anthropogenic reservoirs of aluminium was estimated at about 320 kg per capita, mainly embedded within the transportation and building and construction sectors. Cumulative in-use stock represents approximately 11 years of supply at current usage rates (about 20 Mt versus 1.7 Mt/year), and it would imply a potential of about 160 Mt of CO2eq emissions savings. A discussion of criticality related to aluminium waste recovery from the transportation and the containers and packaging sectors was also included in the study, providing an example for how MFA and LCA may support decision-making at sectorial or regional level. The research constitutes the first attempt of an integrated approach between MFA and LCA applied to the aluminium cycle in Italy.

Interpreting Judgements using Knowledge Representation Methods and Computational Models of Argument

The goal of the present research is to define a Semantic Web framework for precedent modelling, by using knowledge extracted from text, metadata, and rules, while maintaining a strong text-to-knowledge morphism between legal text and legal concepts, in order to fill the gap between legal document and its semantics. The framework is composed of four different models that make use of standard languages from the Semantic Web stack of technologies: a document metadata structure, modelling the main parts of a judgement, and creating a bridge between a text and its semantic annotations of legal concepts; a legal core ontology, modelling abstract legal concepts and institutions contained in a rule of law; a legal domain ontology, modelling the main legal concepts in a specific domain concerned by case-law; an argumentation system, modelling the structure of argumentation. The input to the framework includes metadata associated with judicial concepts, and an ontology library representing the structure of case-law. The research relies on the previous efforts of the community in the field of legal knowledge representation and rule interchange for applications in the legal domain, in order to apply the theory to a set of real legal documents, stressing the OWL axioms definitions as much as possible in order to enable them to provide a semantically powerful representation of the legal document and a solid ground for an argumentation system using a defeasible subset of predicate logics. It appears that some new features of OWL2 unlock useful reasoning features for legal knowledge, especially if combined with defeasible rules and argumentation schemes. The main task is thus to formalize legal concepts and argumentation patterns contained in a judgement, with the following requirement: to check, validate and reuse the discourse of a judge - and the argumentation he produces - as expressed by the judicial text.

Design and Characterization of Curved and Spherical Flexure Hinges for Planar and Spatial Compliant Mechanisms

A flexure hinge is a flexible connector that can provide a limited rotational motion between two rigid parts by means of material deformation. These connectors can be used to substitute traditional kinematic pairs (like bearing couplings) in rigid-body mechanisms. When compared to their rigid-body counterpart, flexure hinges are characterized by reduced weight, absence of backlash and friction, part-count reduction, but restricted range of motion. There are several types of flexure hinges in the literature that have been studied and characterized for different applications. In our study, we have introduced new types of flexures with curved structures i.e. circularly curved-beam flexures and spherical flexures. These flexures have been utilized for both planar applications (e.g. articulated robotic fingers) and spatial applications (e.g. spherical compliant mechanisms). We have derived closed-form compliance equations for both circularly curved-beam flexures and spherical flexures. Each element of the spatial compliance matrix is analytically computed as a function of hinge dimensions and employed material. The theoretical model is then validated by comparing analytical data with the results obtained through Finite Element Analysis. A case study is also presented for each class of flexures, concerning the potential applications in the optimal design of planar and spatial compliant mechanisms. Each case study is followed by comparing the performance of these novel flexures with the performance of commonly used geometries in terms of principle compliance factors, parasitic motions and maximum stress demands. Furthermore, we have extended our study to the design and analysis of serial and parallel compliant mechanisms, where the proposed flexures have been employed to achieve spatial motions e.g. compliant spherical joints.

Detection and molecular characterization of viruses infecting Actinidia spp.

Kiwifruit (genus Actinidia) is an important horticultural crop grown in the temperate regions. The four world’s largest producers are China, Italy, New Zealand and Chile. More than 50 species are recognized in the genus but the principal species in cultivation are A. deliciosa and A. chinensis. In Italy, as well as in many other countries, the kiwifruit crop has been considered to be relatively disease free and then no certification system for this species has been developed to regulate importation of propagation plant material in the European Union. During the last years a number of fungal and bacterial diseases have been recorded such as Botrytis cinerea and Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae. Since 2003, several viruses and virus-like diseases have been identified and more recent studies demonstrated that Actinidia spp can be infected by a wide range of viral agents. In collaboration with the University of Auckland we have been detected thirteen different viral species on kiwifruit plants. During the three years of my PhD I worked on the characterization of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Pelargonium zonate spot virus (PZSV). The determination of causal agents has been based on host range, symptom expression in the test plant species and morphological properties of the virus particles using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and using specific oligonucleotide primers in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Both viruses induced several symptoms on kiwifruit plants. Moreover with new technologies such as high-throughput sequencing we detected additional viruses, a new member of the family Closteroviridae and a new member of the family Totiviridae. Taking together all results of my studies it is clear that, in order to minimize the risk of serious viral disease in kiwifruit, it is vital to use virus-free propagation material in order to prevent the spread of these viruses.

Visual-somatosensory interactions in mental representations of the body and the face

The body is represented in the brain at levels that incorporate multisensory information. This thesis focused on interactions between vision and cutaneous sensations (i.e., touch and pain). Experiment 1 revealed that there are partially dissociable pathways for visual enhancement of touch (VET) depending upon whether one sees one’s own body or the body of another person. This indicates that VET, a seeming low-level effect on spatial tactile acuity, is actually sensitive to body identity. Experiments 2-4 explored the effect of viewing one’s own body on pain perception. They demonstrated that viewing the body biases pain intensity judgments irrespective of actual stimulus intensity, and, more importantly, reduces the discriminative capacities of the nociceptive pathway encoding noxious stimulus intensity. The latter effect only occurs if the pain-inducing event itself is not visible, suggesting that viewing the body alone and viewing a stimulus event on the body have distinct effects on cutaneous sensations. Experiment 5 replicated an enhancement of visual remapping of touch (VRT) when viewing fearful human faces being touched, and further demonstrated that VRT does not occur for observed touch on non-human faces, even fearful ones. This suggests that the facial expressions of non-human animals may not be simulated within the somatosensory system of the human observer in the same way that the facial expressions of other humans are. Finally, Experiment 6 examined the enfacement illusion, in which synchronous visuo-tactile inputs cause another’s face to be assimilated into the mental self-face representation. The strength of enfacement was not affected by the other’s facial expression, supporting an asymmetric relationship between processing of facial identity and facial expressions. Together, these studies indicate that multisensory representations of the body in the brain link low-level perceptual processes with the perception of emotional cues and body/face identity, and interact in complex ways depending upon contextual factors.