Analisi e progettazione di un sistema di link discovery semi-automatico nell'ambito dei Linked Open Data

Lo scopo di questo elaborato è di analizzare e progettare un sistema in grado di supportare la definizione dei dati nel formato utilizzato per definire in modo formale la semantica dei dati, ma soprattutto nella complessa e innovativa attività di link discovery. Una attività molto potente che, tramite gli strumenti e le regole del Web Semantico (chiamato anche Web of Data), permette data una base di conoscenza sorgente ed altre basi di conoscenza esterne e distribuite nel Web, di interconnettere i dati della base di conoscenza sorgente a quelli esterni sulla base di complessi algoritmi di interlinking. Questi algoritmi fanno si che i concetti espressi sulla base di dati sorgente ed esterne vengano interconnessi esprimendo la semantica del collegamento ed in base a dei complessi criteri di confronto definiti nel suddetto algoritmo. Tramite questa attività si è in grado quindi di aumentare notevolmente la conoscenza della base di conoscenza sorgente, se poi tutte le basi di conoscenza presenti nel Web of Data seguissero questo procedimento, la conoscenza definita aumenterebbe fino a livelli che sono limitati solo dalla immensa vastità del Web, dando una potenza di elaborazione dei dati senza eguali. Per mezzo di questo sistema si ha l’ambizioso obiettivo di fornire uno strumento che permetta di aumentare sensibilmente la presenza dei Linked Open Data principalmente sul territorio nazionale ma anche su quello internazionale, a supporto di enti pubblici e privati che tramite questo sistema hanno la possibilità di aprire nuovi scenari di business e di utilizzo dei dati, dando una potenza al dato che attualmente è solo immaginabile.

Computational design of a new type of sandwich cross-section for a defined solution of a tree-like column produced by wire-and-arc additive manufacturing

When it comes to designing a structure, architects and engineers want to join forces in order to create and build the most beautiful and efficient building. From finding new shapes and forms to optimizing the stability and the resistance, there is a constant link to be made between both professions. In architecture, there has always been a particular interest in creating new shapes and types of a structure inspired by many different fields, one of them being nature itself. In engineering, the selection of optimum has always dictated the way of thinking and designing structures. This mindset led through studies to the current best practices in construction. However, both disciplines were limited by the traditional manufacturing constraints at a certain point. Over the last decades, much progress was made from a technological point of view, allowing to go beyond today's manufacturing constraints. With the emergence of Wire-and-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) combined with Algorithmic-Aided Design (AAD), architects and engineers are offered new opportunities to merge architectural beauty and structural efficiency. Both technologies allow for exploring and building unusual and complex structural shapes in addition to a reduction of costs and environmental impacts. Through this study, the author wants to make use of previously mentioned technologies and assess their potential, first to design an aesthetically appreciated tree-like column with the idea of secondly proposing a new type of standardized and optimized sandwich cross-section to the construction industry. Parametric algorithms to model the dendriform column and the new sandwich cross-section are developed and presented in detail. A catalog draft of the latter and methods to establish it are then proposed and discussed. Finally, the buckling behavior of this latter is assessed considering standard steel and WAAM material properties.

Investigating perceptual multisensory impairments in Autism through a neural network: a possible neural implementation for the shift from cross-modal competition to facilitation

Resolution of multisensory deficits has been observed in teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) for complex, social speech stimuli; this resolution extends to more basic multisensory processing, involving low-level stimuli. In particular, a delayed transition of multisensory integration (MSI) from a default state of competition to one of facilitation has been observed in ASD children. In other terms, the complete maturation of MSI is achieved later in ASD. In the present study a neuro-computational model is used to reproduce some patterns of behavior observed experimentally, modeling a bisensory reaction time task, in which auditory and visual stimuli are presented in random sequence alone (A or V) or together (AV). The model explains how the default competitive state can be implemented via mutual inhibition between primary sensory areas, and how the shift toward the classical multisensory facilitation, observed in adults, is the result of inhibitory cross-modal connections becoming excitatory during the development. Model results are consistent with a stronger cross-modal inhibition in ASD children, compared to normotypical (NT) ones, suggesting that the transition toward a cooperative interaction between sensory modalities takes longer to occur. Interestingly, the model also predicts the difference between unisensory switch trials (in which sensory modality switches) and unisensory repeat trials (in which sensory modality repeats). This is due to an inhibitory mechanism, characterized by a slow dynamics, driven by the preceding stimulus and inhibiting the processing of the incoming one, when of the opposite sensory modality. These findings link the cognitive framework delineated by the empirical results to a plausible neural implementation.