Variety, flexibility, and use of abstract concepts. A multiple grounded perspective.

The nature of concepts is a matter of intense debate in cognitive sciences. While traditional views claim that conceptual knowledge is represented in a unitary symbolic system, recent Embodied and Grounded Cognition theories (EGC) submit the idea that conceptual system is couched in our body and influenced by the environment (Barsalou, 2008). One of the major challenges for EGC is constituted by abstract concepts (ACs), like fantasy. Recently, some EGC proposals addressed this criticism, arguing that the ACs comprise multifaced exemplars that rely on different grounding sources beyond sensorimotor one, including interoception, emotions, language, and sociality (Borghi et al., 2018). However, little is known about how ACs representation varies as a function of life experiences and their use in communication. The theoretical arguments and empirical studies comprised in this dissertation aim to provide evidence on multiple grounding of ACs taking into account their varieties and flexibility. Study I analyzed multiple ratings on a large sample of ACs and identified four distinct subclusters. Study II validated this classification with an interference paradigm involving motor/manual, interoceptive, and linguistic systems during a difficulty rating task. Results confirm that different grounding sources are activated depending on ACs kind. Study III-IV investigate the variability of institutional concepts, showing that the higher the law expertise level, the stronger the concrete/emotional determinants in their representation. Study V introduced a novel interactive task in which abstract and concrete sentences serve as cues to simulate conversation. Analysis of language production revealed that the uncertainty and interactive exchanges increase with abstractness, leading to generating more questions/requests for clarifications with abstract than concrete sentences. Overall, results confirm that ACs are multidimensional, heterogeneous, and flexible constructs and that social and linguistic interactions are crucial to shaping their meanings. Investigating ACs in real-time dialogues may be a promising direction for future research.

Il modello Positive Energy Districts. Approcci innovativi e strumenti operativi per la transizione verso città clima-neutrali

Ad oggi le città europee si configurano come i principali centri di cultura, innovazione e sviluppo economico. Tuttavia, ospitando circa il 75% della popolazione e consumando quasi l’80% dell’energia prodotta, a causa delle significative emissioni di gas serra esse contribuiscono in modo rilevante ai cambiamenti climatici e, allo stesso tempo, ne subiscono gli effetti più intensi. La Comunità Europea ha preso atto della necessità di intraprendere un’azione sinergica che adotti strategie di mitigazione climatica e preveda misure di adattamento per far fronte agli impatti climatici ormai inevitabili. L'orientamento dei Programmi europei di Ricerca e Innovazione sul tema delle città smart e clima-neutrali sposta l'attenzione dalla dimensione urbana verso la scala di distretto. In questa prospettiva, i Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) si configurano come distretti di nuova edificazione, ma anche come soluzioni ambiziose per la riqualificazione di quartieri esistenti che gestiscono in modo attivo il fabbisogno energetico con un bilancio nullo di emissioni e un surplus di energia prodotta da rinnovabili. La ricerca di dottorato focalizza l’indagine sul modello PEDs esplorandone il potenziale di applicabilità nel contesto urbano consolidato. Nello specifico, la tesi lavora allo sviluppo di due contributi di ricerca originali: il PED-Portfolio e il PED-Toolkit. Tali contributi propongono un approccio sistemico, attraverso il quale intraprendere un percorso di conoscenza e sperimentazione del modello PEDs in una prospettiva di riduzione del fabbisogno energetico, ma anche in un’ottica di migliore accessibilità, vivibilità e resilienza di questi distretti. Al fine di verificare l’applicabilità dei risultati della ricerca, gli strumenti sviluppati vengono testati su un’area pilota e gli esiti di tale sperimentazione sono poi messi a confronto con il quadro dello stato dell’arte e con le principali linee di ricerca internazionali sul tema PEDs, affinando gli esiti del progetto di dottorato in un processo di ricerca-sperimentazione-ricerca.

The transformative potential of community engagement in higher education: an analysis of service-learning effects on students, communities, and institutions.

Service-learning in higher education is gaining attention as a reliable tool to support students’ learning and fulfil the mission of higher education institutions (HEIs). This dissertation addresses existing gaps in the literature by examining the effects and perspectives of service-learning in HEIs through three studies. The first study compares the effects of a voluntary semester-long service-learning course with traditional courses. A survey completed by 110 students before and after the lectures found no significant group differences in the psychosocial variables under inspection. Nevertheless, service-learning students showed higher scores concerning the quality of participation. Factors such as students’ perception of competence, duration of service-learning, and self-reported measures may have influenced the results. The second study explores the under-researched perspective of community partners in higher education and European settings. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with community partners from various community organisations across Europe. The results highlight positive effects on community members and organisations, intrinsic motivations, organisational empowerment, different forms of reciprocity, the co-educational role of community partners, and the significant role of a sense of community and belonging. The third study focuses on faculty perspectives on service-learning in the European context. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted in 14 European countries. The findings confirm the transformative impact of service-learning on the community, students, teachers, and HEIs, emphasising the importance of motivation and institutionalisation processes in sustaining engaged scholarship. The study also identifies the relevance of the community experience, sense of community, and community responsibility with the service-learning experience; relatedness is proposed as the fifth pillar of service-learning. Overall, this dissertation provides new insights into the effects and perspectives of service-learning in higher education. It integrates the 4Rs model with the addition of relatedness, guiding the theoretical and practical implications of the findings. The dissertation also suggests limitations and areas for further research.

RNA interference technology as a potential control method for fruit and horticultural crops pathogens Botrytis cinerea and Plasmopara viticola

Chapter 1, a general introduction on Botrytis cinerea and its threat to crop production is presented. What Botrytis looks like, its life cycle, why it is a threat to agricultural production, its worldwide pest status, and its current state of management is further elaborated on. Chapter 2, a general introduction on Plasmopara viticola, its threat to grape production and management strategies presented. Chapter 3, titled " RNA Interference Strategies for Future Management of Plant Pathogenic Fungi: Prospects and Challenges ", presents the rapid improvement and extensive implementation of RNA interference (RNAi) technology for the management of fungal pathogens. In this chapter, we describe the application of exogenous RNAi involved in plant pathogenic fungi and discuss dsRNA production, formulation, and RNAi delivery methods. Chapter 4, titled " Exogenous dsRNAs against chitin synthase and glucan synthase genes suppress the growth of the pathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea " addresses two important questions: Is RNAi technology functional for B. cinerea control ? And which target genes can be exploited for RNAi-based B.cinerea disease control ? Upon target genes selections, an exogenous RNAi protocol was set up and we could effectively deliver a known dose of bacterially produced double stranded RNA (dsRNA) to induce RNAi in B. cinerea. Chapter 5, titled " Double-Stranded RNA Targeting Dicer-Like Genes Compromises the Pathogenicity of Plasmopara viticola on Grapevine “, which deals mainly on RNAi induction against Plasmopara viticola. This chapter addresses two main questions: Is RNAi technology functional in contrasting Plasmopara viticola? And which target genes can be exploited for RNAi-based disease control in Plasmopara viticola?. In the last Chapter (Chapter 6) titled “General discussions and perspectives for future research”, the major research findings from this thesis are discussed together with perspectives for future research.

"Contaminazione" e "Reinvenzione": ruoli critici multiculturali nella prospettiva dell'arte globale. "Caratteri cinesi" di Xu Bing, Hsiao Chin e Gu Wenda alla Biennale di Venezia

A partire dagli anni '20 del XX secolo, con la partecipazione a esposizioni internazionali, l'arte cinese ha intrapreso un'indagine approfondita sulla propria ricchezza e complessità culturale, inserendosi progressivamente nel contesto del panorama artistico globale. In questo quadro, l'adesione della Cina alla Biennale di Venezia si configura come sintesi della ricchezza culturale cinese, in cui l'impiego di opere connesse ai "Caratteri cinesi" si rivela uno strumento di divulgazione privilegiato per la propria cultura. Un'analisi dettagliata del percorso espositivo della Cina evidenzia tre momenti di rilievo legati ai "Caratteri cinesi": il "Book from the Sky" di Xu Bing (1993), "The Boat" di Hsiao Chin (2000) e "United Nations" di Gu Wenda (2017). Il presente lavoro si intende di esaminare criticamente queste tre esperienze, indagando l'interazione tra l'esplorazione culturale e la sua rappresentazione nell'ambito specifico della Biennale. Attraverso un'analisi fondata sul dibattito relativo all'arte globale e al multiculturalismo, all'arte contemporanea cinese e alla sua proiezione internazionale, nonché sullo studio della storia delle partecipazioni cinesi alle mostre internazionali e alla Biennale di Venezia a partire dal XX secolo, la ricerca si concentra sulle suddette partecipazioni legate ai "Caratteri cinesi", valutando l'impatto dei principi curatoriali della Biennale su di esse. Viene esplorato altresì il modo in cui gli artisti hanno investigato e manifestato le loro riflessioni culturali attraverso le loro opere, contribuendo al dialogo sulla diversità culturale e sull'articolazione di valori dalla prospettiva dell'arte globale contemporanea. L'analisi si sofferma sulle strategie culturali realizzate dagli artisti nel contesto delle esposizioni globalizzate, evidenziando uno stato di contaminazione culturale. L'invito è quello ad una riflessione critica e a una valutazione del suo impatto sulla reinvenzione del contributo cinese alla narrazione futura della storia dell'arte globale. In tal modo, lo studio apre nuovi orizzonti investigativi, proponendo direzioni future di ricerca.

Phenotypic and molecular investigation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) isolated from breast cancer patients at single cell resolution

Despite the paramount advances in cancer research, breast cancer (BC) still ranks one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Thanks to the screening campaign started in developed countries, BC is often diagnosed at early stages (non-metastatic BC, nmBC), but disease relapse occurrence even after decades and at distant sites is not an uncommon phenomenon. Conversely, metastatic BC (mBC) is considered an incurable disease. The major perpetrators of tumor spread to secondary organs are circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a rare population of cells detectable in the peripheral blood of oncologic patients. In this study, CTCs from patients diagnosed with luminal nmBC and mBC (hormone receptor positive, Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) negative) were characterized at both phenotypic and molecular levels. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying their biology and their metastatic potential, next-generation sequencing (NGS) analyses were performed at single-cell resolution to assess copy number aberrations (CNAs), single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and gene expression profiling. The findings of this study arise hints in CTC detection, and pave the way to new application in CTC research.

Insegnare l'italiano L2 per fini di studio: una proposta di letture graduate per gli studenti cinesi

Dati i problemi di comprensione linguistica riscontrati dagli studenti cinesi nel contesto accademico e la crescente necessità della didattica dell’italiano L2 per fini di studio, il presente lavoro ha come obiettivo finale la creazione di letture graduate, proposte come materiali didattici comprensibili e mirati agli studenti cinesi di italiano L2, in modo da agevolare il loro approccio ai testi impegnativi richiesti per gli studi artistico-professionali. In particolare, nei primi due capitoli si discute il ruolo significativo della distanza linguistica tra italiano e cinese nell’acquisizione della L2 da parte degli studenti cinesi e nello sviluppo della loro abilità di lettura in L2. In seguito, per capire come debba essere un input ideale per l’acquisizione linguistica a fini di studio, vengono esaminati vari approcci glottodidattici basati sull’input, e si osservano i tratti delle varietà di italiano presenti nel contesto accademico. Il lavoro procede poi con un’analisi delle specifiche caratteristiche linguistiche riscontrate in manuali universitari di storia dell’arte, utilizzando sia un approccio quantitativo che qualitativo, con l’obiettivo di avere un “panorama” delle complessità linguistiche che uno studente L2 deve affrontare nello studio. Successivamente, verrà presentata una sperimentazione di riscrittura con due gruppi, i quali sono stati sottoposti rispettivamente al testo originale e a quello riscritto secondo i criteri formulati dallo studio teorico sul confronto tipologico. I risultati ottenuti confermano sia le interferenze del cinese nella lettura in italiano, sia l’efficacia degli approcci linguistici individuati nel facilitare la comprensibilità del testo per gli studenti cinesi di livello A2-B1. Di conseguenze, viene proposto un percorso di letture graduate per gli studenti cinesi di belle arti; oltre a essere comprensibili, le letture mirano anche all’acquisizione delle varietà di italiano necessarie per lo studio accademico-professionale. L’ultima parte del lavoro è dedicata alle riflessioni teoriche e didattiche sviluppate nel corso della ricerca.

Remote experimentation: integrating research, education, and industrial application

This paper presents a low-cost scaled model of a silo for drying and airing cereal grains. It allows the control and monitor of several parameters associated to the silo's operation, through a remote accessible infrastructure. The scaled model consists of a 2.50 m wide × 2.10 m long plant with all control and monitor capacities provided by micro-Web servers. An application running on the micro-Web servers enables storing all parameters in a data basis for later analysis. The implemented model aims to support a remote experimentation facility for technological education, research-oriented tutorials, and industrial applications. Given the low-cost requirement, this remote facility can be easily replicated in other institutions to support a network of remote labs, which encompasses the concurrent access of several users (e.g. students).

Is ambient intelligence a truly human-centric paradigm in industry? Current research and application scenario

Based on the paper presented at the International Conference “Autonomous Systems: inter-relations of technical and societal issues”, organized by IET with the support of the Portuguese-German collaboration project on “Technology Assessment of Autonomous Robotics” (DAAD/CRUP) at FCT-UNL, Biblioteca da UNL, Campus de Caparica on 5-6 November 2009.

Bioprocess engineering of induced pluripotent stem cells for application in cell therapy and pre-clinical research

Dissertation to obtain Master Degree in Biotechnology

Application of the 2008 definitions for invasive fungal diseases to the trial comparing voriconazole versus amphotericin B for therapy of invasive aspergillosis: a collaborative study of the Mycoses Study Group (MSG 05) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Infectious Diseases Group.

BACKGROUND: Strict definition of invasive aspergillosis (IA) cases is required to allow precise conclusions about the efficacy of antifungal therapy. The Global Comparative Aspergillus Study (GCAS) compared voriconazole to amphotericin B (AmB) deoxycholate for the primary therapy of IA. Because predefined definitions used for this trial were substantially different from the consensus definitions proposed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycoses Study Group in 2008, we recategorized the 379 episodes of the GCAS according to the later definitions. METHODS: The objectives were to assess the impact of the current definitions on the classification of the episodes and to provide comparative efficacy for probable/proven and possible IA in patients treated with either voriconazole or AmB. In addition to original data, we integrated the results of baseline galactomannan serum levels obtained from 249 (65.7%) frozen samples. The original response assessment was accepted unchanged. RESULTS: Recategorization allowed 59 proven, 178 probable, and 106 possible IA cases to be identified. A higher favorable 12-week response rate was obtained with voriconazole (54.7%) than with AmB (29.9%) (P < .0001). Survival was higher for voriconazole for mycologically documented (probable/proven) IA (70.2%) than with AmB (54.9%) (P = .010). Higher response rates were obtained in possible IA treated with voriconazole vs AmB with the same magnitude of difference (26.2%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.2%-45.3%) as in mycologically documented episodes (24.3%; 95% CI, 11.9%-36.7%), suggesting that possible cases are true IA. CONCLUSIONS: Recategorization resulted in a better identification of the episodes and confirmed the higher efficacy of voriconazole over AmB deoxycholate in mycologically documented IA.

Grinder's Group Mastery Theory : scientific research and its application to classroom teaching

Estudi centrat en el paper de la comunicació no verbal com a eina docent per a la gestió de l’aula, prenent com a referència el model de comunicació de Michael Grinder (Pentimento), basat en la Programació Neuro-lingüística (PNL). Aquest model s’analitza i es compara amb altres models i estudis sobre la comunicació no verbal, per establir-ne similituds i diferències. Per tal d’avaluar l’eficàcia de les tècniques de gestió de l’aula a través de la comunicació no verbal proposades per Grinder en un context educatiu real, s’inclouen i s’analitzen enregistraments de la implementació de diferents tècniques en un institut de secundària de Catalunya. Tota la informació recollida i analitzada permet valorar i ressaltar com és de significatiu tot allò que s’expressa més enllà del llenguatge, i per tant, com són d’importants i d’útils les habilitats comunicatives d’un professor en la seva tasca d’ensenyar.

Identification of Turning Points in the Research on Titanium Dioxide Production and Application

This dissertation "Identification of turning points in the research on titanium dioxide production and application" aims at detecting in scientific literatures emerging trends and sudden changes in titanium dioxide production and application. These key changes are then studied to determine its transient patterns and its effect on the research on titanium dioxide production and application The source of information is from bibliographic data which discussed titanium dioxide production and application. These bibliographic data where obtained from ISI Web of Knowledge and then formed into a network of clusters by applying software called Citespace.

Identification of research trends in the field of separation processes. Application of epidemiological model, citation analysis, text mining, and technical analysis of the financial markets

Choice of industrial development options and the relevant allocation of the research funds become more and more difficult because of the increasing R&D costs and pressure for shorter development period. Forecast of the research progress is based on the analysis of the publications activity in the field of interest as well as on the dynamics of its change. Moreover, allocation of funds is hindered by exponential growth in the number of publications and patents. Thematic clusters become more and more difficult to identify, and their evolution hard to follow. The existing approaches of research field structuring and identification of its development are very limited. They do not identify the thematic clusters with adequate precision while the identified trends are often ambiguous. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop methods and tools, which are able to identify developing fields of research. The main objective of this Thesis is to develop tools and methods helping in the identification of the promising research topics in the field of separation processes. Two structuring methods as well as three approaches for identification of the development trends have been proposed. The proposed methods have been applied to the analysis of the research on distillation and filtration. The results show that the developed methods are universal and could be used to study of the various fields of research. The identified thematic clusters and the forecasted trends of their development have been confirmed in almost all tested cases. It proves the universality of the proposed methods. The results allow for identification of the fast-growing scientific fields as well as the topics characterized by stagnant or diminishing research activity.

Forms of Student Engagement: development and application of the Southampton post-course research (UKSE) iSurvey for a traditionally taught module

Forms of Student Engagement: development and application of the Southampton post-course research (UKSE) iSurvey for a traditionally taught module