Kobane Calling: proposta di traduzione verso l'inglese del fumetto di Zerocalcare

Proposta di traduzione dall'italiano all'inglese della recente pubblicazione a fumetti "Kobane Calling", di Zerocalcare. Tavole e commento accademico.

Vita da fansubber: la traduzione dei culture bumps nella serie tv House of Cards

L'elaborato si occupa del problema della traduzione dei riferimenti culturali specifici nell'ambito della traduzione audiovisiva amatoriale (fansubbing). Dopo una breve panoramica sulla storia del fansubbing e sulle principali strategie utilizzate per la traduzione dei riferimenti, vengono analizzati i principali punti critici dell'episodio pilota della serie tv americana "House of Cards".

Parallelization of the algorithm WHAM with NVIDIA CUDA.

The aim of my thesis is to parallelize the Weighting Histogram Analysis Method (WHAM), which is a popular algorithm used to calculate the Free Energy of a molucular system in Molecular Dynamics simulations. WHAM works in post processing in cooperation with another algorithm called Umbrella Sampling. Umbrella Sampling has the purpose to add a biasing in the potential energy of the system in order to force the system to sample a specific region in the configurational space. Several N independent simulations are performed in order to sample all the region of interest. Subsequently, the WHAM algorithm is used to estimate the original system energy starting from the N atomic trajectories. The parallelization of WHAM has been performed through CUDA, a language that allows to work in GPUs of NVIDIA graphic cards, which have a parallel achitecture. The parallel implementation may sensibly speed up the WHAM execution compared to previous serial CPU imlementations. However, the WHAM CPU code presents some temporal criticalities to very high numbers of interactions. The algorithm has been written in C++ and executed in UNIX systems provided with NVIDIA graphic cards. The results were satisfying obtaining an increase of performances when the model was executed on graphics cards with compute capability greater. Nonetheless, the GPUs used to test the algorithm is quite old and not designated for scientific calculations. It is likely that a further performance increase will be obtained if the algorithm would be executed in clusters of GPU at high level of computational efficiency. The thesis is organized in the following way: I will first describe the mathematical formulation of Umbrella Sampling and WHAM algorithm with their apllications in the study of ionic channels and in Molecular Docking (Chapter 1); then, I will present the CUDA architectures used to implement the model (Chapter 2); and finally, the results obtained on model systems will be presented (Chapter 3).

A multi-objective genetic algorithm optimisation using variable speed pumps in water distribution systems

Due to its practical importance and inherent complexity, the optimisation of distribution networks for supplying drinking water has been the subject of extensive study for the past 30 years. The optimization is governed by sizing the pipes in the water distribution network (WDN) and / or optimises specific parts of the network such as pumps, tanks etc. or try to analyse and optimise the reliability of a WDN. In this thesis, the author has analysed two different WDNs (Anytown City and Cabrera city networks), trying to solve and optimise a multi-objective optimisation problem (MOOP). The main two objectives in both cases were the minimisation of Energy Cost (€) or Energy consumption (kWh), along with the total Number of pump switches (TNps) during a day. For this purpose, a decision support system generator for Multi-objective optimisation used. Its name is GANetXL and has been developed by the Center of Water System in the University of Exeter. GANetXL, works by calling the EPANET hydraulic solver, each time a hydraulic analysis has been fulfilled. The main algorithm used, was a second-generation algorithm for multi-objective optimisation called NSGA_II that gave us the Pareto fronts of each configuration. The first experiment that has been carried out was the network of Anytown city. It is a big network with a pump station of four fixed speed parallel pumps that are boosting the water dynamics. The main intervention was to change these pumps to new Variable speed driven pumps (VSDPs), by installing inverters capable to diverse their velocity during the day. Hence, it’s been achieved great Energy and cost savings along with minimisation in the number of pump switches. The results of the research are thoroughly illustrated in chapter 7, with comments and a variety of graphs and different configurations. The second experiment was about the network of Cabrera city. The smaller WDN had a unique FS pump in the system. The problem was the same as far as the optimisation process was concerned, thus, the minimisation of the energy consumption and in parallel the minimisation of TNps. The same optimisation tool has been used (GANetXL).The main scope was to carry out several and different experiments regarding a vast variety of configurations, using different pump (but this time keeping the FS mode), different tank levels, different pipe diameters and different emitters coefficient. All these different modes came up with a large number of results that were compared in the chapter 8. Concluding, it should be said that the optimisation of WDNs is a very interested field that has a vast space of options to deal with. This includes a large number of algorithms to choose from, different techniques and configurations to be made and different support system generators. The researcher has to be ready to “roam” between these choices, till a satisfactory result will convince him/her that has reached a good optimisation point.

Seasonality and diel variation in blue whale D calls recorded in the Southern California Bight

Passive acoustic data have been collected using HARPs (High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages) and were used to assess (1) the seasonality of blue whale D calls in the Southern California Bight, (2) their interannual abundance during 2007-2012 and (3) their diel variation. This goal has been achieved running the GPL (Generalized Power-Law) automated detector. (1) Blue whale D calls were detected in the Southern California Bight from May through November with a peak in July, even though few detections were from December to April as well. A key predictor for blue whale distribution and movement in the California Current region has been identified with zooplankton aggregations, paying a particular attention to those euphausiid species, such as E. pacifica and T. spinifera, which are blue whale favorite krill. The Southern California Bight experiences seasonal upwelling, resulting in an increase of productivity and prey availability. The summer and early fall have been marked as the most favorable periods. This supports the presence of blue whales in the area at that time, supposing these marine mammals exploit the region as a feeding ground. (2) As to the interannual abundance during 2007-2012, I found a large variability. I observed a great increase of vocalizations in 2007 and 2010, whereas a decrease was shown in the other years, which is well marked in 2009. It is my belief that these fluctuations in abundance of D calls detections through the deployed period are due to the alternation of El Nino and La Nina events, which occurred in those years. (3) The assessment of the daily timing of D calls production shows that D calls are more abundant during the day than during the night with a peak at 12:00 and 13:00. Assuming that D calling is associated with feeding, the daily pattern of D calls may be linked to the prey availability. E. pacifica and T. spinifera are among those species of krill which undertake daily vertical migrations, remaining at depth during the day and slowly coming up towards the surface at night. Because of some anatomical arrangements, these euphausiids are very sensitive to the light. Given that we believe D calls have a social function, I hypothesize that blue whales may recognize the hours at the highest solar incidence as the best moment of the day in terms of prey availability, exploiting this time window to advert their conspecifics.

Proposal of a Continuous Read-out Implementation in the ALICE-TOF detector

The main purpose of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is the investigation of the QGP. The ALICE experiment situated at the CERN has been specifically designed to study heavy-ion collisions for centre-of-mass energies up to 5.5 per nucleon pair. Extended particle identification capability is one of the main characteristics of the ALICE experiment. In the intermediate momentum region (up to 2.5 GeV/c for pi/K and 4 GeV/c for K/p), charged particles are identified in the ALICE experiment by the Time of Flight (TOF) detector. The ALICE-TOF system is a large-area detector based on the use of Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) built with high efficiency, fast response and intrinsic time resolution better than 40 ps. This thesis work, developed with the ALICE-TOF Bologna group, is part of the efforts carried out to adapt the read-out of the detector to the new requirements after the LHC Long Shutdown 2. Tests on the feasibility of a new read-out scheme for the TOF detector have been performed. In fact, the achievement of a continuous read-out also for the TOF detector would not be affordable if one considers the replacement of the TRM cards both for hardware and budget reasons. Actually, the read-out of the TOF is limited at 250 kHz i.e. it would be able to collect up to just a fourth of the maximum collision rate potentially achievable for pp interactions. In this Master’s degree thesis work, I discuss a different read-out system for the ALICE-TOF detector that allows to register all the hits at the interaction rate of 1 MHz foreseen for pp interactions after the 2020, by using the electronics currently available. Such solution would allow the ALICE-TOF detector to collect all the hits generated by pp collisions at 1 MHz interaction rate, which corresponds to an amount four times larger than that initially expected at such frequencies with the triggered read-out system operated at 250 kHz for LHC Run 3. The obtained results confirm that the proposed read-out scheme is a viable option for the ALICE TOF detector. The results also highlighted that it will be advantageous if the ALICE-TOF group also implement an online monitoring system of noisy channels to allow their deactivation in real time.