Progettazione di un kit di supporto ai corsi Project Based Learning: il ruolo del tutor nel modello Tech to Market.

L’istruzione superiore in Europa è stata oggetto di un significativo processo di riforma: è aumentato l’interesse per un modello di apprendimento intorno ai progetti, centrato sullo studente, che favorisse lo sviluppo di competenze trasversali – il project-based learning (PBL). Inserire il PBL nelle Università richiede un processo di innovazione didattica: il curriculum di un corso PBL e le competenze richieste all’insegnante si differenziano dall’apprendimento tradizionale. Senza un'adeguata attenzione ai metodi di supporto per insegnanti e studenti, questi approcci innovativi non saranno ampiamente adottati. L’obiettivo di questo studio è determinare in che modo sia possibile implementare un corso PBL non presenziato da figure esperte di PBL. Le domande della ricerca sono: è possibile implementare efficacemente un approccio PBL senza il coinvolgimento di esperti dei metodi di progettazione? come si declinano i ruoli della facilitazione secondo questa configurazione: come si definisce il ruolo di tutor d’aula? come rafforzare il supporto per l’implementazione del corso? Per rispondere alle domande di ricerca è stata utilizzata la metodologia AIM-R. Viene presentata la prima iterazione dell’implementazione di un corso di questo tipo, durante la quale sono state svolte attività di ricerca e raccolta dati. L’attività di facilitazione è affidata a tre figure diverse: docente, tutor d’aula e coach professionisti. Su questa base, sono stati definiti gli elementi costituenti un kit di materiale a supporto per l’implementazione di corsi PBL. Oltre a un set di documenti e strumenti condivisi, sono stati elaborati i vademecum per guidare studenti, tutor e docenti all’implementazione di questo tipo di corsi. Ricerche future dovranno essere volte a identificare fattori aggiuntivi che rendano applicabile il kit di supporto per corsi basati su un modello diverso dal Tech to Market o che utilizzino strumenti di progettazione diversi da quelli proposti durante la prima iterazione.

Construction and test of a cosmic ray telescope based on CMS Drift Tube chambers and data acquisition prototypes of the Phase-2 upgrade

In this thesis work, a cosmic-ray telescope was set up in the INFN laboratories in Bologna using smaller size replicas of CMS Drift Tubes chambers, called MiniDTs, to test and develop new electronics for the CMS Phase-2 upgrade. The MiniDTs were assembled in INFN National Laboratory in Legnaro, Italy. Scintillator tiles complete the telescope, providing a signal independent of the MiniDTs for offline analysis. The telescope readout is a test system for the CMS Phase-2 upgrade data acquisition design. The readout is based on the early prototype of a radiation-hard FPGA-based board developed for the High Luminosity LHC CMS upgrade, called On Board electronics for Drift Tubes. Once the set-up was operational, we developed an online monitor to display in real-time the most important observables to check the quality of the data acquisition. We performed an offline analysis of the collected data using a custom version of CMS software tools, which allowed us to estimate the time pedestal and drift velocity in each chamber, evaluate the efficiency of the different DT cells, and measure the space and time resolution of the telescope system.

Synthetic data generation for the assessment of antimicrobial resistance through machine learning

As a consequence of the diffusion of next generation sequencing techniques, metagenomics databases have become one of the most promising repositories of information about features and behavior of microorganisms. One of the subjects that can be studied from those data are bacteria populations. Next generation sequencing techniques allow to study the bacteria population within an environment by sampling genetic material directly from it, without the needing of culturing a similar population in vitro and observing its behavior. As a drawback, it is quite complex to extract information from those data and usually there is more than one way to do that; AMR is no exception. In this study we will discuss how the quantified AMR, which regards the genotype of the bacteria, can be related to the bacteria phenotype and its actual level of resistance against the specific substance. In order to have a quantitative information about bacteria genotype, we will evaluate the resistome from the read libraries, aligning them against CARD database. With those data, we will test various machine learning algorithms for predicting the bacteria phenotype. The samples that we exploit should resemble those that could be obtained from a natural context, but are actually produced by a read libraries simulation tool. In this way we are able to design the populations with bacteria of known genotype, so that we can relay on a secure ground truth for training and testing our algorithms.

A biophysical model for valence-based navigational learning: the role of D-Serine

Recent experiments have revealed the fundamental importance of neuromodulatory action on activity-dependent synaptic plasticity underlying behavioral learning and spatial memory formation. Neuromodulators affect synaptic plasticity through the modification of the dynamics of receptors on the synaptic membrane. However, chemical substances other than neuromodulators, such as receptors co-agonists, can influence the receptors' dynamics and thus participate in determining plasticity. Here we focus on D-serine, which has been observed to affect the activity thresholds of synaptic plasticity by co-activating NMDA receptors. We use a computational model for spatial value learning with plasticity between two place cell layers. The D-serine release is CB1R mediated and the model reproduces the impairment of spatial memory due to the astrocytic CB1R knockout for a mouse navigating in the Morris water maze. The addition of path-constraining obstacles shows how performance impairment depends on the environment's topology. The model can explain the experimental evidence and produce useful testable predictions to increase our understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying learning.

Gestione del copyright nel tool autore AContent.

Con l’avvento di Internet, potentissimo strumento tecnologico di diffusione di informazioni e di comunicazione a distanza, anche le modalità di apprendimento sono cambiate: persino nelle scuole si tende a non utilizzare più i classici libri di testo, ma ad utilizzare dispositivi dai quali scaricare in formato elettronico, libri, dispense, test, video ed ogni altro genere di materiale di apprendimento, dando vita a un vero e proprio nuovo modo di apprendere chiamato E-learning, più veloce, comodo e ricco di alternative rispetto al vecchio modello offline che si presentava sottoforma di floppy inizialmente e poi di CD-ROM. E-learning significa, electronic based learning, ed è appunto una vera e propria metodologia di didattica che sfrutta e viene facilitata da risorse e servizi disponibili e accessibili virtualmente in rete. Al momento vi sono numerose piattaforme di E-learning, una delle quali è il nucleo di questa tesi, ovvero il tool autore AContent. Questo documento di tesi, infatti, raccoglie la descrizione della progettazione e della fase implementativa della gestione delle politiche di copyright per il tool AContent. L’obbiettivo è quello di rendere possibile l’assegnazione di un copyright a qualsiasi tipo di materiale didattico venga creato, caricato e/o condiviso sulla piattaforma in questione. Pertanto l’idea è stata quella di dare la possibilità di scegliere fra più copyright preimpostati, utilizzando degli standard di licenze riguardanti i diritti d’autore, lasciando anche l’opportunità di inserire la propria politica.

Evolution of the structural and fracture design of the ISS payloads due to the new launchers, specifically applied to Biolab IEC-2 projects

The relatively young discipline of astronautics represents one of the scientifically most fascinating and technologically advanced achievements of our time. The human exploration in space does not offer only extraordinary research possibilities but also demands high requirements from man and technology. The space environment provides a lot of attractive experimental tools towards the understanding of fundamental mechanism in natural sciences. It has been shown that especially reduced gravity and elevated radiation, two distinctive factors in space, influence the behavior of biological systems significantly. For this reason one of the key objectives on board of an earth orbiting laboratory is the research in the field of life sciences, covering the broad range from botany, human physiology and crew health up to biotechnology. The Columbus Module is the only European low gravity platform that allows researchers to perform ambitious experiments in a continuous time frame up to several months. Biolab is part of the initial outfitting of the Columbus Laboratory; it is a multi-user facility supporting research in the field of biology, e.g. effect of microgravity and space radiation on cell cultures, micro-organisms, small plants and small invertebrates. The Biolab IEC are projects designed to work in the automatic part of Biolab. In this moment in the TO-53 department of Airbus Defence & Space (formerly Astrium) there are two experiments that are in phase C/D of the development and they are the subject of this thesis: CELLRAD and CYTOSKELETON. They will be launched in soft configuration, that means packed inside a block of foam that has the task to reduce the launch loads on the payload. Until 10 years ago the payloads which were launched in soft configuration were supposed to be structural safe by themselves and a specific structural analysis could be waived on them; with the opening of the launchers market to private companies (that are not under the direct control of the international space agencies), the requirements on the verifications of payloads are changed and they have become much more conservative. In 2012 a new random environment has been introduced due to the new Space-X launch specification that results to be particularly challenging for the soft launched payloads. The last ESA specification requires to perform structural analysis on the payload for combined loads (random vibration, quasi-steady acceleration and pressure). The aim of this thesis is to create FEM models able to reproduce the launch configuration and to verify that all the margins of safety are positive and to show how they change because of the new Space-X random environment. In case the results are negative, improved design solution are implemented. Based on the FEM result a study of the joins has been carried out and, when needed, a crack growth analysis has been performed.