At the dawn of Italo-Chinese modern relations: Ludovico Nocentini's experience

In 1904 Ludovico Nocentini described China as a hub of colonial and commercial development for European powers. Europe in the Far East and the Italian Interests in China was Nocentini’s last and most critical book, in which he compared the performance of the Italian government with that of other countries and showed Rome’s inefficiency overseas. The book expatiated on the “carving up” of China into spheres of influence by the Western powers, while examining how the Italian government’s scant regard for the definition and pursuit of the country’s national interest jeopardized not only the development of its colonial policy, but also its foreign trade and industrial progress.

‘Article 16’ Provision, Commentary on the Law of the International Criminal Court

The Commentary on the Law of the International Criminal Court provides an online provision-by-provision analysis of the Rome Statute and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Criminal Court.

British economic growth 1270-1870

This is a definitive new account of Britain's economic evolution from a backwater of Europe in 1270 to the hub of the global economy in 1870. For the first time Britain's national accounts are reconstructed right back into the thirteenth century to show what really happened quantitatively during the centuries leading up to the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to traditional views of the earlier period as one of Malthusian stagnation, they reveal how the transition to modern economic growth built on the earlier foundations of a persistent upward trend in GDP per capita which doubled between 1270 and 1700. Featuring comprehensive estimates of population, land use, agricultural production, industrial and service-sector production and GDP per capita, as well as analysis of their implications, this is an essential reference work for those interest in British economic history and the origins of modern economic growth more generally.

Layering the Internet-of-Things with Multicasting in Flow-sensors for Internet-of-services

Development of Internet-of-Services will be hampered by heterogeneous Internet-of-Things infrastructures, such as inconsistency in communicating with participating objects, connectivity between them, topology definition & data transfer, access via cloud computing for data storage etc. Our proposed solutions are applicable to a random topology scenario that allow establishing of multi-operational sensor networks out of single networks and/or single service networks with the participation of multiple networks; thus allowing virtual links to be created and resources to be shared. The designed layers are context-aware, application-oriented, and capable of representing physical objects to a management system, along with discovery of services. The reliability issue is addressed by deploying IETF supported IEEE 802.15.4 network model for low-rate wireless personal networks. Flow- sensor succeeded better results in comparison to the typical - sensor from reachability, throughput, energy consumption and diversity gain viewpoint and through allowing the multicast groups into maximum number, performances can be improved.

Theoretical and Quantitative Comparison of SensibleThings and GSN

This project is aimed at making comparison between current existing Internet- of-Things (IoT) platforms, SensibleThings (ST) and Global Sensors Networks (GSN). Project can be served as a further work of platforms’ investigation. Comparing and learning from each other aim to contribute to the improvement of future platforms development. Detailed comparison is mainly with the respect of platform feature, communication and data present-frequency performance under stress, and platform node scalability performance on one limited device. Study is conducted through developing applications on each platform, and making measuring performance under the same condition in household network environment. So far, all these respects have had results and been concluded. Qualitatively comparing, GSN performs better in the facets of node’s swift development and deployment, data management, node subscription and connection retry mechanism. Whereas, ST is superior in respects of network package encryption, platform reliability, session initializing latency, and degree of developing freedom. In quantitative comparison, nodes on GSN has better data push pressure resistence while ST nodes works with lower session latency. In terms of data present-frequency, ST node can reach higher updating frequency than GSN node. In the aspect of node sclability on one limited device, ST nodes take the advantage in averagely lower latency than GSN node when nodes number is less than 15 on limited device. But due to sharing mechanism of GSN, on one limited device, it's nodes shows more scalable if platform nodes have similar job.

Comparison between SensibleThings and Kaa platform

With the Internet of Things becoming more and more popular, and a prediction that there will be more than 50 million devices connected to the Internet in 2020, the quantity of IoT platforms on the market is rapidly growing. Facing so many platforms to choose, the object of this thesis is to give some suggestions for reference by performing a quantitative comparison between two platforms: SensibleThings and Kaa. These two platforms have difference architectures so may suitable in different scenes. The comparison includes some measurement and evaluation under two designed scenarios and a general contrast in theory. Two scenarios cover cases of message delivery between two endpoints at different rates and multiple endpoints pushing log data continually. The result of measurement together with the theoretical analysis draw out the following conclusion. SensibleThings platform is more suitable for simple and small-scale message delivery between endpoints, like home environment with few devices. And Kaa platform is more suitable for large-scale and complicated application for data collection and processing, like meteorology field with huge amount of sensors and data.

From data to applications in the Internet of Things

Con la crescita in complessità delle infrastrutture IT e la pervasività degli scenari di Internet of Things (IoT) emerge il bisogno di nuovi modelli computazionali basati su entità autonome capaci di portare a termine obiettivi di alto livello interagendo tra loro grazie al supporto di infrastrutture come il Fog Computing, per la vicinanza alle sorgenti dei dati, e del Cloud Computing per offrire servizi analitici complessi di back-end in grado di fornire risultati per milioni di utenti. Questi nuovi scenarii portano a ripensare il modo in cui il software viene progettato e sviluppato in una prospettiva agile. Le attività dei team di sviluppatori (Dev) dovrebbero essere strettamente legate alle attività dei team che supportano il Cloud (Ops) secondo nuove metodologie oggi note come DevOps. Tuttavia, data la mancanza di astrazioni adeguata a livello di linguaggio di programmazione, gli sviluppatori IoT sono spesso indotti a seguire approcci di sviluppo bottom-up che spesso risulta non adeguato ad affrontare la compessità delle applicazione del settore e l'eterogeneità dei compomenti software che le formano. Poichè le applicazioni monolitiche del passato appaiono difficilmente scalabili e gestibili in un ambiente Cloud con molteplici utenti, molti ritengono necessaria l'adozione di un nuovo stile architetturale, in cui un'applicazione dovrebbe essere vista come una composizione di micro-servizi, ciascuno dedicato a uno specifica funzionalità applicativa e ciascuno sotto la responsabilità di un piccolo team di sviluppatori, dall'analisi del problema al deployment e al management. Poichè al momento non si è ancora giunti a una definizione univoca e condivisa dei microservices e di altri concetti che emergono da IoT e dal Cloud, nè tantomento alla definzione di linguaggi sepcializzati per questo settore, la definzione di metamodelli custom associati alla produzione automatica del software di raccordo con le infrastrutture potrebbe aiutare un team di sviluppo ad elevare il livello di astrazione, incapsulando in una software factory aziendale i dettagli implementativi. Grazie a sistemi di produzione del sofware basati sul Model Driven Software Development (MDSD), l'approccio top-down attualmente carente può essere recuperato, permettendo di focalizzare l'attenzione sulla business logic delle applicazioni. Nella tesi viene mostrato un esempio di questo possibile approccio, partendo dall'idea che un'applicazione IoT sia in primo luogo un sistema software distribuito in cui l'interazione tra componenti attivi (modellati come attori) gioca un ruolo fondamentale.

Jaquard Laquer

In 2010 Avella worked with the Yves St Laurent (YSL) textiles research team to find elements for a coating that could be applied to weave surfaces in the form of a ‘laquer’ finish. Working with industrial chemists, Avella designed a Jaquard weave pattern to function as substrate for this laquer coating. Successfully used to make womenswear with a high gloss finish, this textile was patented before being displayed in 2010 and much imitated in other collections. Continuing this research for the following collection Avella pursued experiments in laboratory-based industrial chemistry to find a liquid coating that could, like ‘laquer’, be applied as a surface finish to textiles. The resulting metallic iridescent surface was first used in the 20?? Collection (Intellectual Property YSL). Whilst the culture of neophilia in Womenswear fashion at YSL demands permanent innovation for stylistic rather than functional reasons, the innovations in the surface coatings of textiles has potential instrumentality which Avella brings to the resources of the RCA Materials For Living Research Hub and its Inspiring Matter Biennial Conference (2012). Cross disciplinary knowledge transfer between design practices is fundamental to research as process in the School of Material, and textile, as medium, has particularly conformable properties which are especially valuable to this. Anthropologist Susanne Kuechler describes woven textiles as having ’profound meaning as agents of boundary creation’, and Avella’s textiles innovations explore the complexity of the garment as boundary between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’.

Restoring function after neuromuscular trauma: novel paradigms for enhancing volitional control of neural activity in untethered environments and vHAB, a gamified therapy platform

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

The Legitimacy Process that Supports the Formation and Development of Cluster Initiatives : The Case of a Tourism Cluster Initiative in Dalarna

Today, large public investments are being made with the aim of creating and developing cooperation between businesses in inter-organizational networks. Such initiatives are commonly denoted cluster initiatives and their underlying purpose are to spur innovation and regional growth. Much research has been conducted in this field, but relatively few studies have examined the process of cluster initiatives. By following the case of a regional cluster project within the tourism industry in the region of Dalarna, Sweden, the objective of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the formation and development process of cluster initiatives. The investigation has been conducted by examining two main themes; the internal relationships within the cluster initiative and the relationships between the cluster initiative and its external stakeholders, such as funding agencies, regional government and local businesses. The analysis is based on a legitimacy perspective and indicates that the coordinating body of the cluster initiative, the hub, principally deals with a legitimation process. What occurs within the cluster initiative, between the members themselves and between the members and the hub, is legitimation. This also applies to external relationships, between the hub and its external stakeholders. A prerequisite for the realization of its mission is that the hub obtain and sustain legitimacy; legitimacy for itself, for the other members, for the idea, for the different activities and for the industry as such.

Negotiating Community and Nation in Chợ Lớn: Nation-building, Community-building and Transnationalism in Everyday Life during the Republic of Việt Nam, 1955-1975

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Radio over fiber enabling PON fronthaul in a two-tiered cloud

Avec l’avènement des objets connectés, la bande passante nécessaire dépasse la capacité des interconnections électriques et interface sans fils dans les réseaux d’accès mais aussi dans les réseaux coeurs. Des systèmes photoniques haute capacité situés dans les réseaux d’accès utilisant la technologie radio sur fibre systèmes ont été proposés comme solution dans les réseaux sans fil de 5e générations. Afin de maximiser l’utilisation des ressources des serveurs et des ressources réseau, le cloud computing et des services de stockage sont en cours de déploiement. De cette manière, les ressources centralisées pourraient être diffusées de façon dynamique comme l’utilisateur final le souhaite. Chaque échange nécessitant une synchronisation entre le serveur et son infrastructure, une couche physique optique permet au cloud de supporter la virtualisation des réseaux et de les définir de façon logicielle. Les amplificateurs à semi-conducteurs réflectifs (RSOA) sont une technologie clé au niveau des ONU(unité de communications optiques) dans les réseaux d’accès passif (PON) à fibres. Nous examinons ici la possibilité d’utiliser un RSOA et la technologie radio sur fibre pour transporter des signaux sans fil ainsi qu’un signal numérique sur un PON. La radio sur fibres peut être facilement réalisée grâce à l’insensibilité a la longueur d’onde du RSOA. Le choix de la longueur d’onde pour la couche physique est cependant choisi dans les couches 2/3 du modèle OSI. Les interactions entre la couche physique et la commutation de réseaux peuvent être faites par l’ajout d’un contrôleur SDN pour inclure des gestionnaires de couches optiques. La virtualisation réseau pourrait ainsi bénéficier d’une couche optique flexible grâce des ressources réseau dynamique et adaptée. Dans ce mémoire, nous étudions un système disposant d’une couche physique optique basé sur un RSOA. Celle-ci nous permet de façon simultanée un envoi de signaux sans fil et le transport de signaux numérique au format modulation tout ou rien (OOK) dans un système WDM(multiplexage en longueur d’onde)-PON. Le RSOA a été caractérisé pour montrer sa capacité à gérer une plage dynamique élevée du signal sans fil analogique. Ensuite, les signaux RF et IF du système de fibres sont comparés avec ses avantages et ses inconvénients. Finalement, nous réalisons de façon expérimentale une liaison point à point WDM utilisant la transmission en duplex intégral d’un signal wifi analogique ainsi qu’un signal descendant au format OOK. En introduisant deux mélangeurs RF dans la liaison montante, nous avons résolu le problème d’incompatibilité avec le système sans fil basé sur le TDD (multiplexage en temps duplexé).

Design, modelling, simulation and integration of cyber physical systems: methods and applications

The main drivers for the development and evolution of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are the reduction of development costs and time along with the enhancement of the designed products. The aim of this survey paper is to provide an overview of different types of system and the associated transition process from mechatronics to CPS and cloud-based (IoT) systems. It will further consider the requirement that methodologies for CPS-design should be part of a multi-disciplinary development process within which designers should focus not only on the separate physical and computational components, but also on their integration and interaction. Challenges related to CPS-design are therefore considered in the paper from the perspectives of the physical processes, computation and integration respectively. Illustrative case studies are selected from different system levels starting with the description of the overlaying concept of Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPPSs). The analysis and evaluation of the specific properties of a sub-system using a condition monitoring system, important for the maintenance purposes, is then given for a wind turbine.

Beyond the bottom line: redefining the value of design in SME formation

For SMEs to operate in the complex and globalised economic landscape of today engaging with innovation can sustain competitive advantage. Within Design Management, design is being increasingly posited as a strategic resource to facilitate the absorption of new design resources and leverage design knowledge in ways that support SMEs through such economic pressures. Evidencing the relationship between design and economic performance is complex, leading to extensive current research and industry efforts to show how design adds economic value. Despite the value of such efforts, it is important to recognise that innovation means different things to different organizations, especially for start-ups and SMEs. Within the rising tide of design-led innovation, there is a gap being explored in how design can effectively capture and evaluate its contribution within the complex and diverse situations of business development it engages. In seeking to address this gap, this paper presents findings from research undertaken within Design in Action (DiA), an AHRC-funded knowledge exchange hub. Presenting DiA as a single case study, the paper offers methodical reflection on five case example start-up businesses funded by DiA in order to explore the value that design-led innovation approaches offered in their formation.

Sharing the vision: representing the matters of concern for design-led fledgling companies in Scotland

Design is being performed on an ever-increasing spectrum of complex practices arising in response to emerging markets and technologies, co-design, digital interaction, service design and cultures of innovation. This emerging notion of design has led to an expansive array of collaborative and facilitation skills to demonstrate and share how such methods can shape innovation. The meaning of these design things in practice can't be taken for granted as matters of fact, which raises a key challenge for design to represent its role through the contradictory nature of matters of concern. This paper explores an innovative, object-oriented approach within the field of design research, visually combining an actor-network theory framework with situational analysis, to report on the role of design for fledgling companies in Scotland, established and funded through the knowledge exchange hub Design in Action (DiA). Key findings and visual maps are presented from reflective discussions with actors from a selection of the businesses within DiA's portfolio. The suggestion is that any notions of strategic value, of engendering meaningful change, of sharing the vision of design, through design things, should be grounded in the reflexive interpretations of matters of concern that emerge.