A brief study of some aspects of early father-child relationship

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Markov Chain Monitoring

In networking applications, one often wishes to obtain estimates about the number of objects at different parts of the network (e.g., the number of cars at an intersection of a road network or the number of packets expected to reach a node in a computer network) by monitoring the traffic in a small number of network nodes or edges. We formalize this task by defining the 'Markov Chain Monitoring' problem. Given an initial distribution of items over the nodes of a Markov chain, we wish to estimate the distribution of items at subsequent times. We do this by asking a limited number of queries that retrieve, for example, how many items transitioned to a specific node or over a specific edge at a particular time. We consider different types of queries, each defining a different variant of the Markov chain monitoring. For each variant, we design efficient algorithms for choosing the queries that make our estimates as accurate as possible. In our experiments with synthetic and real datasets we demonstrate the efficiency and the efficacy of our algorithms in a variety of settings.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl

An integrated approach project for the revaluation of a traditional sourdough bread production chain

The influence of organic and conventional farming systems on the performance of a panel of old and modern Italian bread wheat varieties has been evaluated, with the aim to individuate an agronomic protocol suitable for the production of a sourdough bread traditionally prepared in a hill zone of Emilia-Romagna. The agronomic and technological characterisation of the wheat samples obtained in organic and conventional farming conditions has been done and the sensorial qualities of the sourdough bread obtained have been evaluated

Residual stress of as-deposited and rolled Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing Ti–6Al–4V components

Wire + arc additive manufacturing components contain significant residual stresses, which manifest in distortion. High-pressure rolling was applied to each layer of a linear Ti–6Al–4V wire + arc additive manufacturing component in between deposition passes. In rolled specimens, out-of-plane distortion was more than halved; a change in the deposits' geometry due to plastic deformation was observed and process repeatability was increased. The Contour method of residual stresses measurements showed that although the specimens still exhibited tensile stresses (up to 500 MPa), their magnitude was reduced by 60%, particularly at the interface between deposit and substrate. The results were validated with neutron diffraction measurements, which were in good agreement away from the baseplate

Stochastic system dynamics modelling for climate change water scarcity assessment of a reservoir in the Italian Alps

Water management in mountain regions is facing multiple pressures due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. This is particularly relevant for mountain areas where water abundance in the past allowed for many anthropogenic activities, exposing them to future water scarcity. Here stochastic system dynamics modelling (SDM) was implemented to explore water scarcity conditions affecting the stored water and turbined outflows in the Santa Giustina (S. Giustina) reservoir (Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy). The analysis relies on a model chain integrating outputs from climate change simulations into a hydrological model, the output of which was used to test and select statistical models in an SDM for replicating turbined water and stored volume within the S. Giustina dam reservoir. The study aims at simulating future conditions of the S. Giustina reservoir in terms of outflow and volume as well as implementing a set of metrics to analyse volume extreme conditions.Average results on 30-year slices of simulations show that even under the short-term RCP4.5 scenario (2021-2050) future reductions for stored volume and turbined outflow are expected to be severe compared to the 14-year baseline (1999-2004 and 2009-2016; -24.9 % of turbined outflow and -19.9 % of stored volume). Similar reductions are expected also for the long-term RCP8.5 scenario (2041-2070; -26.2 % of turbined outflow and -20.8 % of stored volume), mainly driven by the projected precipitations having a similar but lower trend especially in the last part of the 2041-2070 period. At a monthly level, stored volume and turbined outflow are expected to increase for December to March (outflow only), January to April (volume only) depending on scenarios and up to +32.5 % of stored volume in March for RCP8.5 for 2021-2050. Reductions are persistently occurring for the rest of the year from April to November for turbined outflows (down to -56.3 % in August) and from May to December for stored volume (down to -44.1 % in June). Metrics of frequency, duration and severity of future stored volume values suggest a general increase in terms of low volume below the 10th and 20th percentiles and a decrease of high-volume conditions above the 80th and 90th percentiles. These results point at higher percentage increases in frequency and severity for values below the 10th percentile, while volume values below the 20th percentile are expected to last longer. Above the 90th percentile, values are expected to be less frequent than baseline conditions, while showing smaller severity reductions compared to values above the 80th percentile. These results call for the adoption of adaptation strategies focusing on water demand reductions. Months of expected increases in water availability should be considered periods for water accumulation while preparing for potential persistent reductions of stored water and turbined outflows. This study provides results and methodological insights that can be used for future SDM upscaling to integrate different strategic mountain socio-economic sectors (e.g. hydropower, agriculture and tourism) and prepare for potential multi-risk conditions

Identification of a set of widely expressed genes in grape (Vitis vinifera L.) and its functional characterisation: a multi-evidence based study

Quantitative gene expression data analysis requires efficient normalization to be really informative: as a consequence reference genes that are stably expressed in tested vs. control samples are used for results standardization. The identification of tissue-wide-expressed genes makes it easier to highlight the best set of candidate internal controls. While tissue-specific genes are often regulated by microRNA, housekeeping genes, being involved in cell maintenance and thus required in all miRNA expressing cells are not expected to be microRNA targets. In this work we have identified a set of tissue-wide expressed genes in grape which has then been functionally characterised and scanned for the presence vs. absence of putative miRNA target sites. The gene list obtained by this multi-evidence based procedure can be helpful to identify appropriate references in grape.

In vitro fermentation of ten cultivars of barley silage.

The fermentation characteristics of whole-crop barley silages from ten different cultivars were evaluated by the in vitro gas production technique. The organic matter degradability of barley silage (62.9% in average) was comparable to those reported in our previous trials for oat (59.7%) and sorghum silages (65.5%); while the maximum gas production rate (5.38 ml/h in average) was slightly lower respect to oat (6.71 ml/h) and sorghum silage (6.74 ml/h). The mean nutritive value (4.00 MJ/kg DM) calculated on the basis of both chemical composition and in vitro fermentation data was comparable to that (4.16 MJ/kg DM) obtained in our previous research performed on corn silage, from crop sowed in the same area