Prokaryotic community structure in ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge.

The Southwest Indian Ridge segment that extends between 10° and 16° E has the slowest spreading rate of any other oceanic ridge (about 8.4 mm/year). In 2013 during the expedition ANTXXIX/8 seismology, geology, microbiology, heat flow analyses were carried out. Here, no hydrothermal plumes or black smoker systems were found but the results of the survey allowed to identify areas with peculiar characteristics: Area 1 with higher heat flux bsf; Area 2 where in 2002 the presence of hydrothermal emissions was hypothesized (Bach et al., 2002); Area 3 with anomalies of methane, ammonium, sulphide and dissolved inorganic carbon in pore water sediment profiles, and recovery of fauna vents. All these aspects suggest the presence of a hydrothermal circulation. Using Illumina 16S gene tag, statistical tools and phylogenetic trees, I provided a biological proof of the presence of hydrothermal circulation in this ridge segment. At Area 3, alpha and beta diversity indexes showed similarities with those described for venting microbial communities and about 40-70% of the dominant microbial community was found phylogenetically related to clones isolated hydrothermal-driven environments. Although the majority of chemosynthetic environment related taxa were not classified like autotrophic prokaryotes, some of them are key taxa in support of the presence of hydrothermal circulation, since they are partners of consortia or mediate specific reaction typically described for hydrothermal and seep environments, or are specialized organisms in exploiting labile organic substrates. Concluding, these results are remarkable because support the importance of ultra slow spreading ridge systems in contributing to global geochemical cycles and larval dispersion of vent fauna.

Traveling waves nei modelli di reazione e diffusione. Il modello di Tuckwell-Miura per la Cortical Spreading Depression

In questa tesi viene discusso il ruolo delle equazioni di diffusione e reazione e delle loro soluzioni di tipo traveling waves in alcuni modelli matematici per le scienze biomediche. Prima di tutto, viene analizzata l’equazione di Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piskunov, che costituisce il prototipo di pdes di diffusione e reazione ad una specie. In seguito, si determinano condizioni per la nascita di instabilità di Turing nei modelli a due specie interagenti. La nostra attenzione si rivolge poi ai sistemi di diffusione e reazione con termini sorgente degeneri e caratterizzati dal possedere una famiglia di stati di equilibrio che dipende in modo continuo da un insieme di parametri. Si studiano gli effetti che una perturbazione ampia e fortemente localizzata di una delle popolazioni ha sulle soluzioni di tali sistemi e si ricavano condizioni affinché si generino traveling waves. Da ultimo, come applicazione degli studi effettuati, si analizza il modello di Tuckwell-Miura per la cortical spreading depression, un fenomeno in cui un’onda di depolarizzazione si propaga nelle cellule nervose della corteccia cerebrale.

BDI agents for Real Time Strategy games

While the use of distributed intelligence has been incrementally spreading in the design of a great number of intelligent systems, the field of Artificial Intelligence in Real Time Strategy games has remained mostly a centralized environment. Despite turn-based games have attained AIs of world-class level, the fast paced nature of RTS games has proven to be a significant obstacle to the quality of its AIs. Chapter 1 introduces RTS games describing their characteristics, mechanics and elements. Chapter 2 introduces Multi-Agent Systems and the use of the Beliefs-Desires-Intentions abstraction, analysing the possibilities given by self-computing properties. In Chapter 3 the current state of AI development in RTS games is analyzed highlighting the struggles of the gaming industry to produce valuable. The focus on improving multiplayer experience has impacted gravely on the quality of the AIs thus leaving them with serious flaws that impair their ability to challenge and entertain players. Chapter 4 explores different aspects of AI development for RTS, evaluating the potential strengths and weaknesses of an agent-based approach and analysing which aspects can benefit the most against centralized AIs. Chapter 5 describes a generic agent-based framework for RTS games where every game entity becomes an agent, each of which having its own knowledge and set of goals. Different aspects of the game, like economy, exploration and warfare are also analysed, and some agent-based solutions are outlined. The possible exploitation of self-computing properties to efficiently organize the agents activity is then inspected. Chapter 6 presents the design and implementation of an AI for an existing Open Source game in beta development stage: 0 a.d., an historical RTS game on ancient warfare which features a modern graphical engine and evolved mechanics. The entities in the conceptual framework are implemented in a new agent-based platform seamlessly nested inside the existing game engine, called ABot, widely described in Chapters 7, 8 and 9. Chapter 10 and 11 include the design and realization of a new agent based language useful for defining behavioural modules for the agents in ABot, paving the way for a wider spectrum of contributors. Chapter 12 concludes the work analysing the outcome of tests meant to evaluate strategies, realism and pure performance, finally drawing conclusions and future works in Chapter 13.

Development of Software Tools for the Test of Ultra Wide Band Receivers

In the last years, the importance of locating people and objects and communicating with them in real time has become a common occurrence in every day life. Nowadays, the state of the art of location systems for indoor environments has not a dominant technology as instead occurs in location systems for outdoor environments, where GPS is the dominant technology. In fact, each location technology for indoor environments presents a set of features that do not allow their use in the overall application scenarios, but due its characteristics, it can well coexist with other similar technologies, without being dominant and more adopted than the others indoor location systems. In this context, the European project SELECT studies the opportunity of collecting all these different features in an innovative system which can be used in a large number of application scenarios. The goal of this project is to realize a wireless system, where a network of fixed readers able to query one or more tags attached to objects to be located. The SELECT consortium is composed of European institutions and companies, including Datalogic S.p.A. and CNIT, which deal with software and firmware development of the baseband receiving section of the readers, whose function is to acquire and process the information received from generic tagged objects. Since the SELECT project has an highly innovative content, one of the key stages of the system design is represented by the debug phase. This work aims to study and develop tools and techniques that allow to perform the debug phase of the firmware of the baseband receiving section of the readers.

Rap et homosexualite: retranchement homophobe ou changement de cap?

With the advent of the law about same-sex marriage in France, the aim of this dissertation is to analyse the relationship between homosexuality and rap music in the country and to determine to which degree this musical genre can influence people on this matter. Islam has flavoured rap from its beginnings because the vast majority of rappers has a Muslim culture. It is true that, Islam goes beyond the mere disapproval of homosexuality affirming that it is a vile fornication punishable by death. This leads rappers to a rejection of homosexuality in their songs. And, thanks to mass media, these songs contributed to the spreading of the stigma of homophobia upon the “mainstream”. Nevertheless, since 2009, a growing crop of rappers began to support the LGBT community with their work. Rap songs became in this way the anthem of the LGBT campaigns, out from the classic mass media. The result of this dissertation is that rap can have a strong influence upon population and can help them change their mind upon certain subjects, as it was the case for the homosexual cause.

Citizen science as a tool for the environmental quality assessment of the Mediterranean coastal habitats

The growing need to assess the environmental status of the Mediterranean coastal marine habitats and the large availability of data collected by Reef Check Italia onlus (RCI) volunteers suggest the possibility to develop innovative and reliable indices that may support decision makers in applying conservation strategies. The aims of this study were to check the reliability of data collected by RCI volunteers, analyse the spatial and temporal distribution of RCI available data, resume the knowledge on the biology and ecology of the monitored species, and develop innovative indices to asses the ecological quality of Mediterranean subtidal rocky shores and coralligenous habitats. Subtidal rocky shores and coralligenous were chosen because these are the habitats more attractive for divers; therefore mlst data are referring to them, moreover subtidal rocky bottom are strongly affected by coastal urbanisation, land use, fishing and tourist activities, that increase pollution, turbidity and sedimentation. Non-indigenous species (NIS) have been recognized as a major threat to the integrity of Mediterranean native communities because of their proliferation, spread and impact on resident communities. Monitoring of NIS’ spreading dynamics at the basin spatial scale is difficult but urgent. According to a field test, the training provided by RCI appears adequate to obtain reliable data by volunteers. Based on data collected by RCI volunteers, three main categories of indices were developed: indices based on species diversity, indices on the occurrence non-indigenous species, and indices on species sensitive toward physical, chemical and biological disturbances. As case studies, indices were applied to stretches of coastline defined according to management criteria (province territories and marine protected areas). The assessments of ecological quality in the Tavolara Marine Protected Area using the species sensitivities index were consisten with those previously obtained with traditional methods.