Middleware principles and design for the integration of ubiquitos mobile services

Nowadays, in Ubiquitous computing scenarios users more and more require to exploit online contents and services by means of any device at hand, no matter their physical location, and by personalizing and tailoring content and service access to their own requirements. The coordinated provisioning of content tailored to user context and preferences, and the support for mobile multimodal and multichannel interactions are of paramount importance in providing users with a truly effective Ubiquitous support. However, so far the intrinsic heterogeneity and the lack of an integrated approach led to several either too vertical, or practically unusable proposals, thus resulting in poor and non-versatile support platforms for Ubiquitous computing. This work investigates and promotes design principles to help cope with these ever-changing and inherently dynamic scenarios. By following the outlined principles, we have designed and implemented a middleware support platform to support the provisioning of Ubiquitous mobile services and contents. To prove the viability of our approach, we have realized and stressed on top of our support platform a number of different, extremely complex and heterogeneous content and service provisioning scenarios. The encouraging results obtained are pushing our research work further, in order to provide a dynamic platform that is able to not only dynamically support novel Ubiquitous applicative scenarios by tailoring extremely diverse services and contents to heterogeneous user needs, but is also able to reconfigure and adapt itself in order to provide a truly optimized and tailored support for Ubiquitous service provisioning.

Essays on Regional Development and Internationalisation

This collection of essays examines various aspects of regional development and the issues of internationalization. The first essay investigates the implications of the impressive growth of China from a rural-urban perspective and addresses the topic of convergence in China by employing a non-parametrical approach to study the distribution dynamics of per capita income at province, rural and urban levels. To better understand the degree of inequality characterizing China and the long-term predictions of convergence or divergence of its different territorial aggregations, the second essay formulates a composite indicator of Regional Development (RDI) to benchmark development at province and sub-province level. The RDI goes beyond the uni-dimensional concept of development, generally proxied by the GDP per capita, and gives attention to the rural-urban dimension. The third essay “Internationalization and Trade Specialization in Italy. The role of China in the international intra-firm trade of the Italian regions” - deals with another aspect of regional economic development: the progressive de-industrialisation and de-localization of the local production. This essay looks at the trade specialization of selected Italian regions (those regions specialized in manufacturing) and the fragmentation of the local production on a global scale. China represents in this context an important stakeholder and the paper documents the importance of this country in the regional intra-firm trade.

Le società a capitale pubblico locale per i servizi pubblici locali di rilevanza economica: condizioni per la costituzione e il mantenimento, e limiti operativi.

Oggetto della ricerca è l’esame del ruolo attuale della partecipazione pubblica locale in società per l’erogazione di servizi pubblici locali di rilevanza economica, nel nuovo contesto normativo caratterizzato dalla residualità dell’autoproduzione, dalla liberalizzazione, dall’organizzazione del servizio in ambiti territoriali, e dalle esigenze di contenimento della spesa locale, acuite dalla crisi economica-finanziaria. Si sono distinte quattro tipologie di società: nel caso di servizi gestiti in regime di esclusiva, le società a capitale pubblico-privato con socio privato operativo scelto mediante gara, le società in house affidatarie dirette, e le società affidatarie in quanto selezionate in procedure ad evidenza pubblica; nel caso di servizi sottratti al regime di esclusiva, le società che eroghino il servizio liberalizzato. L’indagine si è focalizzata sulle condizioni di costituzione e di mantenimento di tali società, e si è approfondito quel particolare aspetto del loro regime giuridico costituito dai limiti operativi. L’analisi è stata condotta esaminando le nuove disposizioni, le posizioni giurisprudenziali e le letture della dottrina relative alle società disciplinate come forme di gestione di servizi pubblici locali di rilevanza economica, relative alla funzionalizzazione dell’attività degli enti territoriali e delle società da questi partecipate, e relative alla tutela della concorrenza.

The challenges and the limitations in Life Cycle Impact Assessment for metal oxide nanoparticles, a case study on nano- TiO2

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a chain-oriented tool to evaluate the environment performance of products focussing on the entire life cycle of these products: from the extraction of resources, via manufacturing and use, to the final processing of the disposed products. Through all these stages consumption of resources and pollutant releases to air, water, soil are identified and quantified in Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis. Subsequently to the LCI phase follows the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) phase; that has the purpose to convert resource consumptions and pollutant releases in environmental impacts. The LCIA aims to model and to evaluate environmental issues, called impact categories. Several reports emphasises the importance of LCA in the field of ENMs. The ENMs offer enormous potential for the development of new products and application. There are however unanswered questions about the impacts of ENMs on human health and the environment. In the last decade the increasing production, use and consumption of nanoproducts, with a consequent release into the environment, has accentuated the obligation to ensure that potential risks are adequately understood to protect both human health and environment. Due to its holistic and comprehensive assessment, LCA is an essential tool evaluate, understand and manage the environmental and health effects of nanotechnology. The evaluation of health and environmental impacts of nanotechnologies, throughout the whole of their life-cycle by using LCA methodology. This is due to the lack of knowledge in relation to risk assessment. In fact, to date, the knowledge on human and environmental exposure to nanomaterials, such ENPs is limited. This bottleneck is reflected into LCA where characterisation models and consequently characterisation factors for ENPs are missed. The PhD project aims to assess limitations and challenges of the freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential evaluation in LCIA phase for ENPs and in particular nanoparticles as n-TiO2.

Nanotechnology control of self organized biomolecules and biomaterials for medical research

Nanotechnology entails the manufacturing and manipulation of matter at length scales ranging from single atoms to micron-sized objects. The ability to address properties on the biologically-relevant nanometer scale has made nanotechnology attractive for Nanomedicine. This is perceived as a great opportunity in healthcare especially in diagnostics, therapeutics and more in general to develop personalized medicine. Nanomedicine has the potential to enable early detection and prevention, and to improve diagnosis, mass screening, treatment and follow-up of many diseases. From the biological standpoint, nanomaterials match the typical size of naturally occurring functional units or components of living organisms and, for this reason, enable more effective interaction with biological systems. Nanomaterials have the potential to influence the functionality and cell fate in the regeneration of organs and tissues. To this aim, nanotechnology provides an arsenal of techniques for intervening, fabricate, and modulate the environment where cells live and function. Unconventional micro- and nano-fabrication techniques allow patterning biomolecules and biocompatible materials down to the level of a few nanometer feature size. Patterning is not simply a deterministic placement of a material; in a more extended acception it allows a controlled fabrication of structures and gradients of different nature. Gradients are emerging as one of the key factors guiding cell adhesion, proliferation, migration and even differentiation in the case of stem cells. The main goal of this thesis has been to devise a nanotechnology-based strategy and tools to spatially and temporally control biologically-relevant phenomena in-vitro which are important in some fields of medical research.

Integration of MFA and LCA methodologies: the anthropogenic aluminium cycle in Italy

MFA and LCA methodologies were applied to analyse the anthropogenic aluminium cycle in Italy with focus on historical evolution of stocks and flows of the metal, embodied GHG emissions, and potentials from recycling to provide key features to Italy for prioritizing industrial policy toward low-carbon technologies and materials. Historical trend series were collected from 1947 to 2009 and balanced with data from production, manufacturing and waste management of aluminium-containing products, using a ‘top-down’ approach to quantify the contemporary in-use stock of the metal, and helping to identify ‘applications where aluminium is not yet being recycled to its full potential and to identify present and future recycling flows’. The MFA results were used as a basis for the LCA aimed at evaluating the carbon footprint evolution, from primary and electrical energy, the smelting process and the transportation, embodied in the Italian aluminium. A discussion about how the main factors, according to the Kaya Identity equation, they did influence the Italian GHG emissions pattern over time, and which are the levers to mitigate it, it has been also reported. The contemporary anthropogenic reservoirs of aluminium was estimated at about 320 kg per capita, mainly embedded within the transportation and building and construction sectors. Cumulative in-use stock represents approximately 11 years of supply at current usage rates (about 20 Mt versus 1.7 Mt/year), and it would imply a potential of about 160 Mt of CO2eq emissions savings. A discussion of criticality related to aluminium waste recovery from the transportation and the containers and packaging sectors was also included in the study, providing an example for how MFA and LCA may support decision-making at sectorial or regional level. The research constitutes the first attempt of an integrated approach between MFA and LCA applied to the aluminium cycle in Italy.

ALMASat-1, ALMASat-EO and beyond: evolution of structural concepts and technologies towards multifunctional structures for microsatellites

Multifunctional Structures (MFS) represent one of the most promising disruptive technologies in the space industry. The possibility to merge spacecraft primary and secondary structures as well as attitude control, power management and onboard computing functions is expected to allow for mass, volume and integration effort savings. Additionally, this will bring the modular construction of spacecraft to a whole new level, by making the development and integration of spacecraft modules, or building blocks, leaner, reducing lead times from commissioning to launch from the current 3-6 years down to the order of 10 months, as foreseen by the latest Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) initiatives. Several basic functionalities have been integrated and tested in specimens of various natures over the last two decades. However, a more integrated, system-level approach was yet to be developed. The activity reported in this thesis was focused on the system-level approach to multifunctional structures for spacecraft, namely in the context of nano- and micro-satellites. This thesis documents the work undertaken in the context of the MFS program promoted by the European Space Agency under the Technology Readiness Program (TRP): a feasibility study, including specimens manufacturing and testing. The work sequence covered a state of the art review, with particular attention to traditional modular architectures implemented in ALMASat-1 and ALMASat-EO satellites, and requirements definition, followed by the development of a modular multi-purpose nano-spacecraft concept, and finally by the design, integration and testing of integrated MFS specimens. The approach for the integration of several critical functionalities into nano-spacecraft modules was validated and the overall performance of the system was verified through relevant functional and environmental testing at University of Bologna and University of Southampton laboratories.

Models and Algorihtm for the Optimization of Real-World Routing and Logistics Problems

Logistics involves planning, managing, and organizing the flows of goods from the point of origin to the point of destination in order to meet some requirements. Logistics and transportation aspects are very important and represent a relevant costs for producing and shipping companies, but also for public administration and private citizens. The optimization of resources and the improvement in the organization of operations is crucial for all branches of logistics, from the operation management to the transportation. As we will have the chance to see in this work, optimization techniques, models, and algorithms represent important methods to solve the always new and more complex problems arising in different segments of logistics. Many operation management and transportation problems are related to the optimization class of problems called Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs). In this work, we consider several real-world deterministic and stochastic problems that are included in the wide class of the VRPs, and we solve them by means of exact and heuristic methods. We treat three classes of real-world routing and logistics problems. We deal with one of the most important tactical problems that arises in the managing of the bike sharing systems, that is the Bike sharing Rebalancing Problem (BRP). We propose models and algorithms for real-world earthwork optimization problems. We describe the 3DP process and we highlight several optimization issues in 3DP. Among those, we define the problem related to the tool path definition in the 3DP process, the 3D Routing Problem (3DRP), which is a generalization of the arc routing problem. We present an ILP model and several heuristic algorithms to solve the 3DRP.

Colour Symbolism, Colour Preference in Hungarian Folklore and Folk Architecture"

The Hungarian way of decoration has certain characteristics which are rooted in the deep symbolism of ancient Hungarian mythical thinking. The ancient heritage of the Hungarians' former homeland somewhere in the Urals included eastern elements. During their migrations, the Hungarian tribes met other eastern peoples and their culture of decoration became mixed with elements drawn from these new contacts. These diverse influences mean that the Hungarian way of thinking, building and ornamentation show a certain dualism of Puritanism and rationalism in the creation of space and manufacturing, and rich fantasy in decoration and ornamentation. The Hungarians use coloured ornamentation to emphasise the symbolic importance of details. The colouring system of the built environment shows the same dualism: the main colour of the facades and inner walls is white, while the furniture, textiles, gates and windows, and sometimes the gable and fireplace are richly decorated. In Hungarian symbolism, the house and settlement are a model of the universe, so their different parts also have a transcendent meaning. The traditional meanings of the different colours reflect this transcendence. Each colour has ambivalent meanings: RED - the colour of blood - means violence and love. YELLOW - means sickness, death and ripeness (golden yellow). BLUE - means innocence, eternity (light blue) and old age, death (dark blue). BLACK - can be both ceremonial and mourning. WHILE - can have sacred meaning (bright white), while yellowish white fabric is the most common garb of both men and women in village society. GREEN - the only colour without a dual meaning, symbolises the beginning of life. Until the late 18th and early 19th centuries Hungarian folk art used one or two-coloured decoration (red, black, blue, red-blue or red-black), and from the early 19th century it moved to multi-coloured decoration. Colours are characteristically used in complementary contrast, with bright colours on a plain ground and an avoidance of subtle shadings.

Clinical evaluation of 3 overdenture concepts with tooth roots and implants: 2-year results

PURPOSE: In the present cohort study, overdentures with a combined root and implant support were evaluated and compared with either exclusively root- or implant-supported overdentures. Results of a 2-year follow-up period are reported, namely survival of implants, root copings, and prostheses, plus prosthetic complications, maintenance service, and patient satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients were selected for the combined overdenture therapy and were compared with 2 patient groups in which either roots or implants provided overdenture support. Altogether, 14, 17, and 15 patients (in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively) were matched with regard to age, sex, treatment time, and observation period. The mean age was around 67 years. Periodontal parameters were recorded, radiographs were taken, and all complications and failures were registered during the entire observation time. The patients answered a 9-item questionnaire by means of a visual analogue scale (VAS). RESULTS: One implant failed and 1 tooth root was removed following longitudinal root fracture. Periodontal/peri-implant parameters gave evidence of good oral hygiene for roots and implants, and slight crestal bone resorption was measured for both. Technical complications and service performed were significantly higher in the first year (P < .04) in all 3 groups and significantly higher in the tooth root group (P < .03). The results of the VAS indicated significantly lower scores for satisfaction, speaking ability, wearing comfort, and denture stability with combined or exclusive root support (P < .05 and .02, respectively). Initial costs of overdentures with combined or root support were 10% lower than for implant overdentures. CONCLUSION: The concept of combined root and implant support can be integrated into treatment planning and overdenture design for patients with a highly reduced dentition.

Therapeutic protein transduction of mammalian cells and mice by nucleic acid-free lentiviral nanoparticles

The straightforward production and dose-controlled administration of protein therapeutics remain major challenges for the biopharmaceutical manufacturing and gene therapy communities. Transgenes linked to HIV-1-derived vpr and pol-based protease cleavage (PC) sequences were co-produced as chimeric fusion proteins in a lentivirus production setting, encapsidated and processed to fusion peptide-free native protein in pseudotyped lentivirions for intracellular delivery and therapeutic action in target cells. Devoid of viral genome sequences, protein-transducing nanoparticles (PTNs) enabled transient and dose-dependent delivery of therapeutic proteins at functional quantities into a variety of mammalian cells in the absence of host chromosome modifications. PTNs delivering Manihot esculenta linamarase into rodent or human, tumor cell lines and spheroids mediated hydrolysis of the innocuous natural prodrug linamarin to cyanide and resulted in efficient cell killing. Following linamarin injection into nude mice, linamarase-transducing nanoparticles impacted solid tumor development through the bystander effect of cyanide.

Federal and state policy influence on woody biomass utilization

A considerable portion of public lands in the United States is at risk of uncharacteristically severe wildfires due to a history of fire suppression. Wildfires already have detrimental impacts on the landscape and on communities in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) due to unnatural and overstocked forests. Strategies to mitigate wildfire risk include mechanical thinning and prescribed burning in areas with high wildfire risk. The material removed is often of little or no economic value. Woody biomass utilization (WBU) could offset the costs of hazardous fuel treatments if removed material could be used for wood products, heat, or electricity production. However, barriers due to transportation costs, removal costs, and physical constraints (such as steep slopes) hinder woody biomass utilization. Various federal and state policies attempt to overcome these barriers. WBU has the potential to aid in wildfire mitigation and meet growing state mandates for renewable energy. This research utilizes interview data from individuals involved with on-the-ground woody biomass removal and utilization to determine how federal and state policies influence woody biomass utilization. Results suggest that there is not one over-arching policy that hinders or promotes woody biomass utilization, but rather woody biomass utilization is hindered by organizational constraints related to time, cost, and quality of land management agencies’ actions. However, the use of stewardship contracting (a hybrid timber sale and service contract) shows promise for increased WBU, especially in states with favorable tax policies and renewable energy mandates. Policy recommendations to promote WBU include renewal of stewardship contracting legislations and a re-evaluation of land cover types suited for WBU. Potential future policies to consider include the indirect role of carbon dioxide emission reduction activities to promote wood energy and future impacts of air quality regulations.

Estimating greenhouse gas emissions of highway construction and rehabilitation to support pavement life cycle assessment

Highway infrastructure plays a significant role in society. The building and upkeep of America’s highways provide society the necessary means of transportation for goods and services needed to develop as a nation. However, as a result of economic and social development, vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are emitted into the atmosphere contributing to global climate change. In recognizing this, future policies may mandate the monitoring of GHG emissions from public agencies and private industries in order to reduce the effects of global climate change. To effectively reduce these emissions, there must be methods that agencies can use to quantify the GHG emissions associated with constructing and maintaining the nation’s highway infrastructure. Current methods for assessing the impacts of highway infrastructure include methodologies that look at the economic impacts (costs) of constructing and maintaining highway infrastructure over its life cycle. This is known as Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA). With the recognition of global climate change, transportation agencies and contractors are also investigating the environmental impacts that are associated with highway infrastructure construction and rehabilitation. A common tool in doing so is the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Traditionally, LCA is used to assess the environmental impacts of products or processes. LCA is an emerging concept in highway infrastructure assessment and is now being implemented and applied to transportation systems. This research focuses on life cycle GHG emissions associated with the construction and rehabilitation of highway infrastructure using a LCA approach. Life cycle phases of the highway section include; the material acquisition and extraction, construction and rehabilitation, and service phases. Departing from traditional approaches that tend to use LCA as a way to compare alternative pavement materials or designs based on estimated inventories, this research proposes a shift to a context sensitive process-based approach that uses actual observed construction and performance data to calculate greenhouse gas emissions associated with highway construction and rehabilitation. The goal is to support strategies that reduce long-term environmental impacts. Ultimately, this thesis outlines techniques that can be used to assess GHG emissions associated with construction and rehabilitation operations to support the overall pavement LCA.

THE USE OF LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS TO REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF MATERIALS IN MANUFACTURING

This thesis is composed of three life-cycle analysis (LCA) studies of manufacturing to determine cumulative energy demand (CED) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The methods proposed could reduce the environmental impact by reducing the CED in three manufacturing processes. First, industrial symbiosis is proposed and a LCA is performed on both conventional 1 GW-scaled hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)-based single junction and a-Si:H/microcrystalline-Si:H tandem cell solar PV manufacturing plants and such plants coupled to silane recycling plants. Using a recycling process that results in a silane loss of only 17 versus 85 percent, this results in a CED savings of 81,700 GJ and 290,000 GJ per year for single and tandem junction plants, respectively. This recycling process reduces the cost of raw silane by 68 percent, or approximately $22.6 and $79 million per year for a single and tandem 1 GW PV production facility, respectively. The results show environmental benefits of silane recycling centered around a-Si:H-based PV manufacturing plants. Second, an open-source self-replicating rapid prototype or 3-D printer, the RepRap, has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing of polymer-based products, using distributed manufacturing paradigm, which is further minimized by the use of PV and improvements in PV manufacturing. Using 3-D printers for manufacturing provides the ability to ultra-customize products and to change fill composition, which increases material efficiency. An LCA was performed on three polymer-based products to determine the CED and GHG from conventional large-scale production and are compared to experimental measurements on a RepRap producing identical products with ABS and PLA. The results of this LCA study indicate that the CED of manufacturing polymer products can possibly be reduced using distributed manufacturing with existing 3-D printers under 89% fill and reduced even further with a solar photovoltaic system. The results indicate that the ability of RepRaps to vary fill has the potential to diminish environmental impact on many products. Third, one additional way to improve the environmental performance of this distributed manufacturing system is to create the polymer filament feedstock for 3-D printers using post-consumer plastic bottles. An LCA was performed on the recycling of high density polyethylene (HDPE) using the RecycleBot. The results of the LCA showed that distributed recycling has a lower CED than the best-case scenario used for centralized recycling. If this process is applied to the HDPE currently recycled in the U.S., more than 100 million MJ of energy could be conserved per annum along with significant reductions in GHG. This presents a novel path to a future of distributed manufacturing suited for both the developed and developing world with reduced environmental impact. From improving manufacturing in the photovoltaic industry with the use of recycling to recycling and manufacturing plastic products within our own homes, each step reduces the impact on the environment. The three coupled projects presented here show a clear potential to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing and other processes by implementing complimenting systems, which have environmental benefits of their own in order to achieve a compounding effect of reduced CED and GHG.

Rick Henderson and Mike Pochin: A Right Result? Advocacy, justice and empowerment

As Henderson and Pochin point out in the introduction to their book, recent years have seen the concept of advocacy given increasing prominence in central and local government policy in the UK. It made an appearance in local community care and long-stay hospital closure plans. It features in reforms to the health service in England and Wales, in the form of the Patient Advocacy and Liaison Services (DoH 2000), while proposed changes to the mental health system also accord a key role to service users' advocates. In addition, Valuing People, central government's proposals on the future strategy for people with learning disabilities, promised the widespread development of advocacy services (DoH 2001). Advocacy, traditionally located on the margins of state activity in the UK, is experiencing something of an attempt to shift it into mainstream policy and service provision. This makes it a significant time to review the core values and practices that have distinguished advocacy from other forms of professional and voluntary intervention and to explore how these may be preserved and developed in the contemporary context.