Modified PNA design and synthesis: a novel approach using Molecular Dynamics and Metadynamics

Gli acidi peptido nucleici sono potenti strumenti utilizzati in ambito biotecnologico per colpire DNA o RNA. PNA contenenti basi o backbone modificati sono attualmente studiati per migliorarne le proprietà in ambito biologico. Bersagliare i micro RNA (anti-miR) è particolarmente interessante nell’ottica di future applicazioni terapeutiche, ma strumenti computazionali che aiutino nel design di nuovi PNA anti-miR non sono stati ancora completamente sviluppati. Le proprietà conformazionali del singolo filamento di PNA (non modificato o recante modificazioni in γ) e dei duplex PNA:RNA e i processi di re-annealing e melting sono stati studiati tramite Dinamica Molecolare e Metadinamica. L’approccio computazionale consolidato, assieme a un programma modificato per la generazione delle strutture dei duplex contenenti PNA, è stato utilizzato per il virtual screening di PNA contenenti basi modificate. Sono state inoltre sintetizzate le unità per l’ottenimento del composto più promettente e una funzione idrolitica da legare al monomero finale.

Design and synthesis of new multitarget inhibitors of dengue virus replication

Attraverso una combinazione di virtual screening/virtual library generation abbiamo identificato una nuova serie di inibitori della replicazione del virus Dengue, attivi sia su un target virale (NS5) sia su uno cellulare (Src chinasi)

Design of online practical lessons in colorimetry

Applied colorimetry is an important module in the program of the elective subject "Colour Science: industrial applications”. This course is taught in the Optics and Optometry Degree and it has been used as a testing for the application of new teaching and assessment techniques consistent with the new European Higher Education Area. In particular, the main objective was to reduce the attendance to lessons and encourage the individual and collective work of students. The reason for this approach is based on the idea that students are able to work at their own learning pace. Within this dynamic work, we propose online lab practice based on Excel templates that our research group has developed ad-hoc for different aspects of colorimetry, such as conversion to different colour spaces, calculation of perceptual descriptors (hue, saturation, lightness), calculation of colour differences, colour matching dyes, etc. The practice presented in this paper is focused on the learning of colour differences. The session is based on a specific Excel template to compute the colour differences and to plot different graphs with these colour differences defined at different colour spaces: CIE ΔE, CIE ΔE94 and the CIELAB colour space. This template is implemented on a website what works by addressing the student work at a proper and organized way. The aim was to unify all the student work from a website, therefore the student is able to learn in an autonomous and sequential way and in his own pace. To achieve this purpose, all the tools, links and documents are collected for each different proposed activity to achieve guided specific objectives. In the context of educational innovation, this type of website is normally called WebQuest. The design of a WebQuest is established according to the criteria of usability and simplicity. There are great advantages of using WebQuests versus the toolbox “Campus Virtual” available in the University of Alicante. The Campus Virtual is an unfriendly environment for this specific purpose as the activities are organized in different sectors depending on whether the activity is a discussion, an activity, a self-assessment or the download of materials. With this separation, it is more difficult that the student follows an organized sequence. However, our WebQuest provides a more intuitive graphical environment, and besides, all the tasks and resources needed to complete them are grouped and organized according to a linear sequence. In this way, the student guided learning is optimized. Furthermore, with this simplification, the student focuses on learning and not to waste resources. Finally, this tool has a wide set of potential applications: online courses of colorimetry applied for postgraduate students, Open Course Ware, etc.

Augmented and Virtual Reality techniques for footwear

The use of 3D imaging techniques has been early adopted in the footwear industry. In particular, 3D imaging could be used to aid commerce and improve the quality and sales of shoes. Footwear customization is an added value aimed not only to improve product quality, but also consumer comfort. Moreover, customisation implies a new business model that avoids the competition of mass production coming from new manufacturers settled mainly in Asian countries. However, footwear customisation implies a significant effort at different levels. In manufacturing, rapid and virtual prototyping is required; indeed the prototype is intended to become the final product. The whole design procedure must be validated using exclusively virtual techniques to ensure the feasibility of this process, since physical prototypes should be avoided. With regard to commerce, it would be desirable for the consumer to choose any model of shoes from a large 3D database and be able to try them on looking at a magic mirror. This would probably reduce costs and increase sales, since shops would not require storing every shoe model and the process of trying several models on would be easier and faster for the consumer. In this paper, new advances in 3D techniques coming from experience in cinema, TV and games are successfully applied to footwear. Firstly, the characteristics of a high-quality stereoscopic vision system for footwear are presented. Secondly, a system for the interaction with virtual footwear models based on 3D gloves is detailed. Finally, an augmented reality system (magic mirror) is presented, which is implemented with low-cost computational elements that allow a hypothetical customer to check in real time the goodness of a given virtual footwear model from an aesthetical point of view.

El salto virtual del debate colectivo: potencialidades y limitaciones de las nuevas plataformas para la deliberación y la toma de decisiones ciudadanas

Las nuevas Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación han emergido en los últimos años como el principal cambio en la conformación de redes de acción colectiva y en la mutación de los canales que sustentan el debate público. En este ámbito, la reciente aparición de plataformas virtuales para la deliberación ha contribuido a transformar profundamente la naturaleza de la acción participativa, tanto en su concepción expresiva como instrumental. Dichas nuevas herramientas se caracterizan esencialmente por proporcionar un soporte que aúna la posibilidad del debate plural en torno a asuntos políticos y cambio social, y a la vez integra en él (en grados muy diversos como se comprobará) la toma de decisiones como fruto de la deliberación colectiva. Estas propiedades les dotan de una naturaleza que no es asimilable a aplicaciones virtuales de comunicación política netamente discursivas, y perfilan un objetivo expreso de simular las características propias de un ágora presencial, ofreciendo un incentivo participativo a través de su intento por solventar las limitaciones y condicionantes espacio-temporales o de amplitud poblacional propios de la interacción comunicativa tradicional. La integración del componente expresivo e instrumental de la participación ciudadana que abordan este tipo de plataformas y aplicaciones, plantea sin duda un reto en el ya amplio debate académico en torno al alcance real de Internet como esfera significativa para conformación de voluntad colectiva y cambio político, que hasta ahora quedaba escindido entre escépticos y partidarios. La propuesta se articula a partir de la exploración y análisis comparativo de las principales plataformas y aplicaciones virtuales en español para la deliberación y la toma de decisiones colectivas. A efectos de análisis se establecen criterios evaluativos combinando las propuestas dimensionales desarrolladas por Coleman y Gøtze (2001) y Dahlgren (2005) para cuestiones relativas a Internet, comunicación y deliberación política, con especial énfasis en el análisis diferencial de las capacidades estructurales e interactivas de cada una de las herramientas.

Japanese virtual communication survey : a brief analysis of contemporary graphic designers from Japan

To research graphic design in a globalized context it is primordial to consider cultural, social, historical and even anthropological studies to fully understand the aesthetics’ choices made by the designer’s. Being the “Japanese graphic design” a topic still to be better understand in the West, it is mandatory to gather information from primary sources. These data will be analyzed with support of secondary sources of information about Japanese visual communication, social and cultural studies. This paper presents comments about the result of a survey applied to 105 Japanese graphic designers. The survey was designed with 44 questions. The original survey, to better follow this report can be found in www.studiohobo.com/CONVERGENCIAS/Flavio_Hobo_Survey.pdf

A Virtual Joystick as a Novel Interaction Modality for Surgeon-Computer Interaction During Computer-Assisted Surgical Procedures

Interacting with a computer system in the operating room (OR) can be a frustrating experience for a surgeon, who currently has to verbally delegate to an assistant every computer interaction task. This indirect mode of interaction is time consuming, error prone and can lead to poor usability of OR computer systems. This thesis describes the design and evaluation of a joystick-like device that allows direct surgeon control of the computer in the OR. The device was tested extensively in comparison to a mouse and delegated dictation with seven surgeons, eleven residents, and five graduate students. The device contains no electronic parts, is easy to use, is unobtrusive, has no physical connection to the computer and makes use of an existing tool in the OR. We performed a user study to determine its effectiveness in allowing a user to perform all the tasks they would be expected to perform on an OR computer system during a computer-assisted surgery. Dictation was found to be superior to the joystick in qualitative measures, but the joystick was preferred over dictation in user satisfaction responses. The mouse outperformed both joystick and dictation, but it is not a readily accepted modality in the OR.

Design and Implementation of a Cloud-based Middleware for Persuasive Android Applications

Negli ultimi decenni, le tecnologie e i prodotti informatici sono diventati pervasivi e sono ora una parte essenziale delle nostre vite. Ogni giorno ci influenzano in maniera più o meno esplicita, cambiando il nostro modo di vivere e i nostri comportamenti più o meno intenzionalmente. Tuttavia, i computer non nacquero inizialmente per persuadere: essi furono costruiti per gestire, calcolare, immagazzinare e recuperare dati. Non appena i computer si sono spostati dai laboratori di ricerca alla vita di tutti i giorni, sono però diventati sempre più persuasivi. Questa area di ricerca è chiamata pesuasive technology o captology, anche definita come lo studio dei sistemi informatici interattivi progettati per cambiare le attitudini e le abitudini delle persone. Nonostante il successo crescente delle tecnologie persuasive, sembra esserci una mancanza di framework sia teorici che pratici, che possano aiutare gli sviluppatori di applicazioni mobili a costruire applicazioni in grado di persuadere effettivamente gli utenti finali. Tuttavia, il lavoro condotto dal Professor Helal e dal Professor Lee al Persuasive Laboratory all’interno dell’University of Florida tenta di colmare questa lacuna. Infatti, hanno proposto un modello di persuasione semplice ma efficace, il quale può essere usato in maniera intuitiva da ingegneri o specialisti informatici. Inoltre, il Professor Helal e il Professor Lee hanno anche sviluppato Cicero, un middleware per dispositivi Android basato sul loro precedente modello, il quale può essere usato in modo molto semplice e veloce dagli sviluppatori per creare applicazioni persuasive. Il mio lavoro al centro di questa tesi progettuale si concentra sull’analisi del middleware appena descritto e, successivamente, sui miglioramenti e ampliamenti portati ad esso. I più importanti sono una nuova architettura di sensing, una nuova struttura basata sul cloud e un nuovo protocollo che permette di creare applicazioni specifiche per smartwatch.

Airport Security: Passenger's Perception and Design Issues

The main goal of this thesis is to report patterns of perceived safety in the context of airport infrastructure, taking the airport of Bologna as reference. Many personal and environmental attributes are investigated to paint the profile of the sensitive passenger and to understand why precise factors of the transit environment are so impactful on the individual. The main analyses are based on a 2014-2015 passengers’ survey, involving almost six thousand of incoming and outgoing passengers. Other reports are used to implement and support the resource. The analysis is carried out by using a combination of Chi-square tests and binary logistic regressions. Findings shows that passengers result to be particularly affected by the perception of airport’s environment (e.g., state and maintenance of facilities, clarity and efficacy of information system, functionality of elevators and escalators), but also by the way how the passenger reaches the airport and the quality of security checks. In relation to such results, several suggestions are provided for the improvement of passenger satisfaction with safety. The attention is then focused on security checkpoints and related operations, described on a theoretical and technical ground. We present an example of how to realize a proper model of the security checks area of Bologna’s airport, with the aim to assess present performances of the system and consequences of potential variations. After a brief introduction to Arena, a widespread simulation software, the existing model is described, pointing out flaws and limitations. Such model is finally updated and changed in order to make it more reliable and more representative of the reality. Different scenarios are tested and results are compared using graphs and tables.

Application of the Equivalent Static Analysis method to the design of a steel frame structure with added viscous dampers

All the structures designed by engineers are vulnerable to natural disasters including floods and earthquakes. The energy released during strong ground motions should be dissipated by structural elements. Before 1990’s, this energy was expected to be dissipated through the beams and columns which at the same time were a part of gravity-load-resisting system. However, the main disadvantage of this idea was that gravity-resisting-frame was not repairable. Hence, during 1990’s, the idea of designing passive energy dissipation systems, including dampers, emerged. At the beginning, main problem was lack of guidelines for passive energy dissipation systems. Although till 2000 many guidelines and procedures where published, yet most of them were based on complicated analysis which was not so convenient for engineers and practitioners. In order to solve this problem recently some alternative design methods are proposed including 1. Lopez Garcia (2001) simple procedure for optimal damper configuration in MDOF structures 2. Christopoulos and Filiatrault (2006) trial and error procedure 3. Silvestri et al. (2010) Five-Step Method. 4. Palermo et al. (2015) Direct Five-Step Method. 5. Palermo et al. (2016) Simplified Equivalent Static Analysis (ESA). In this study, effectiveness and differences between last three alternative methods have been evaluated.

Design e tecnologia del prodotto come fattori competitivi.

La tesi approfondisce il contributo del design e della tecnologia al processo di innovazione, tale tema verrà approfondito nel corso del secondo capitolo in relazione al settore degli elettrodomestici bianchi. Nel terzo capitolo viene descritta la partecipazione al business game, un software che permette di simulare delle operazioni di gestione aziendale, all'interno di un particolare contesto, ogni giocatore (o squadra) rappresenta il management di un’impresa e deve dunque prendere decisioni in ambito strategico ed operativo. In tale capitolo viene discussa l'importanza che il design e la tecnologia hanno avuto in questo gioco.

Putting Up a Big Front: Car Design and Size Affect Road-Crossing Behaviour

Previous research suggests that people tend to see faces in car fronts and that they attribute personality characteristics to car faces. In the present study we investigated whether car design influences pedestrian road-crossing behaviour. An immersive virtual reality environment with a zebra crossing scenario was used to determine a) whether the minimum accepted distance for crossing the street is larger for cars with a dominant appearance than for cars with a friendly appearance and b) whether the speed of dominant-looking cars is overestimated as compared to friendly-looking cars. Participants completed both tasks while either standing on the pavement or on the centre island. We found that people started to cross the road later in front of friendly-looking low-power cars compared to dominant-looking high-power cars, but only if the cars were relatively large in size. For small cars we found no effect of power. The speed of smaller cars was estimated to be higher compared to large cars (size-speed bias). Furthermore, there was an effect of starting position: From the centre island, participants entered the road significantly later (i. e. closer to the approaching car) and left the road later than when starting from the pavement. Similarly, the speed of the cars was estimated significantly lower when standing on the centre island compared to the pavement. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that car fronts elicit responses on a behavioural level.

Design standards manuals : their meaning and use for Federal designers /

Based on a presentation to the Second Studio Seminar for Federal Graphic Designers, Nov. 9, 1976, held at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Design and implementation of a windows-based parallel computing environment for large scale optimization

A parallel computing environment to support optimization of large-scale engineering systems is designed and implemented on Windows-based personal computer networks, using the master-worker model and the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM). It is involved in decomposition of a large engineering system into a number of smaller subsystems optimized in parallel on worker nodes and coordination of subsystem optimization results on the master node. The environment consists of six functional modules, i.e. the master control, the optimization model generator, the optimizer, the data manager, the monitor, and the post processor. Object-oriented design of these modules is presented. The environment supports steps from the generation of optimization models to the solution and the visualization on networks of computers. User-friendly graphical interfaces make it easy to define the problem, and monitor and steer the optimization process. It has been verified by an example of a large space truss optimization. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An expert system on design of liquid-retaining structures with blackboard architecture

The design of liquid-retaining structures involves many decisions to be made by the designer based on rules of thumb, heuristics, judgement, codes of practice and previous experience. Structural design problems are often ill structured and there is a need to develop programming environments that can incorporate engineering judgement along with algorithmic tools. Recent developments in artificial intelligence have made it possible to develop an expert system that can provide expert advice to the user in the selection of design criteria and design parameters. This paper introduces the development of an expert system in the design of liquid-retaining structures using blackboard architecture. An expert system shell, Visual Rule Studio, is employed to facilitate the development of this prototype system. It is a coupled system combining symbolic processing with traditional numerical processing. The expert system developed is based on British Standards Code of Practice BS8007. Explanations are made to assist inexperienced designers or civil engineering students to learn how to design liquid-retaining structures effectively and sustainably in their design practices. The use of this expert system in disseminating heuristic knowledge and experience to practitioners and engineering students is discussed.