Développer le concept de Smart Canton de Genève

Les villes sont aujourd’hui confrontées à de nombreux défis. En effet, elles doivent faire face aux problématiques liées aux changements climatiques, à l’augmentation de la population et à la préservation des ressources naturelles. Pour répondre à ces défis, il est nécessaire que les villes modifient leur fonctionnement, et c’est là que la technologie entre en jeu ! Les possibilités qu’offrent les nouvelles technologies en matière de gestion des données et de communication, permettent aux villes de devenir plus intelligentes et durables. C’est ce que l’on appelle des Smart Cities. Le concept de Smart City répond à ces enjeux en combinant plusieurs technologies dans le but d’utiliser et de créer les ressources de manière efficace, tout en réduisant l’impact environnemental, afin d’offrir une meilleure qualité de vie aux habitants. Ce concept n’est pas un nouveau phénomène et pourtant, il offre de grandes opportunités pour les collectivités. Dans le cadre de ma formation spécialisée en management durable, je suis consciente des challenges que rencontrent le canton de Genève pour favoriser la croissance économique et améliorer la qualité de vie de ses citoyens, tout en sauvegardant l’environnement. C’est pourquoi, la transition du canton de Genève, en Smart Canton pourrait être une réelle opportunité à saisir pour le futur. Ce travail a pour objectif de mettre en évidence comment développer le concept de Smart Canton de Genève. Pour ce faire, de nombreuses analyses ont été réalisées sur les différentes facettes des Smart Cities aux niveaux mondial et Suisse. Une analyse de terrain a également été effectuée afin d’identifier le contexte actuel dans lequel évolue le canton. Ensuite, des hypothèses d’applications de « smart » services à l’échelle du canton ont été réalisées, dans le but d’illustrer les réels avantages tant aux niveaux écologique, qu’économique, apportés par ces d’investissements. Ainsi, l’ensemble de ces analyses a permis d’élaborer des recommandations pour le développement du concept de Smart Canton de Genève qui nécessitent l’implication de nouveaux acteurs, grâce à une approche plus participative et transparente

Artificial Intelligence is a Character? Exploring design scenarios to build interface behaviours

The paper aims to illustrate the qualitative results of the first phase of the scenario research about voice interfaces, examining whether it is possible to design them as if they were a theatrical or cinematographic character. The research field intersects interaction design with character design, intended as the narrative construction of a character, and theatrical performances. The experimentation takes advantage of theatre workshops that aims to show, and understand, which are the main characteristics of a vocal interface and how to design them according to a performance approach. The paper ends illustrating how design can address actual opportunities and criticalities about emerging technologies, following a relations-based approach

Soy isoflavones, lactobacilli, vitamin D3 and calcium. Observational study in menopause

An observational study in clinical practice was carried out to draw an updated profile on the actual trend in menopause management and to detect the clinical activity of a new phytoestrogen. Each gynaecologist observed up to 10 consecutive menopause women, and collected the data concerning history, life style, past and actual treatments, HRT refusal/withdrawal, current therapy, symptoms, visits/exams in the previous 3 months, through the website www.estronet.net, by a confidential and protected individual access. The 181 gynaecologists collected a sample of 1398 menopause women of which 607 not treated, 327 on estrogens, and 464 on phytoestrogens. The most used phytoestrogen in the study (87.1%) contains genistin and daidzin (30+30 mg) + lactobacilli, Ca and vit. D3 (Estromineral, EM) and was administered to 392 women (aged 54.1 years, BMI 24.8) for 112.9 days (mean) up to 1 year. Menopause symptoms improved on EM independently from their baseline severity and the improvement increased with treatment duration: flushing improved up to 96.2% at 1 year; nocturnal sweating 100%, palpitations 63.6%, and vaginal dryness 56%. Tumour fear, absence of symptoms and fear of weight gain were the most frequent reasons for refusal/withdrawal of HRT. Women treated (HRT or phytoestrogens) were more controlled both before and during the treatment. In presence of concomitant clinical conditions, EM was preferred. Phytoestrogens plus lactobacilli and mineral supplement showed a satisfactory clinical activity and safety

Arte Tecnologia Futuro

Non ci sarebbe arte senza tecnologia e non ci sarà tecnologia senza arte

Territorial innovation, tourism and sustainability

There are several reasons why it is important and necessary to concern about Travel & Tourism today, one of those is evident, it is one of the world’s largest economic sectors (WTTC, 2019) and generates prosperity across the world. Despite this sector favors regional development, on the other hand, it has led to a range of sustainable issues in destinations and systems (Saarinen, 2008). By 2030, UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to reach 1.8 billion, to tackle this considerable flow and maintain the sustainability of complex tourism system will necessary for policymakers to take fast and integrated decisions (Jakulin, 2017). Technology will play an essential role in the organization of the tourism systems, for example it already contributed to the flourishing of sharing economy, offering to travelers to access a wide range of products and services with more competitive price (Shaheen, S.A. Mallery, & Kingsley, 2012), enabling more contact between tourists and locals (Molz, 2013; Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2015) and contributing to employment and local economy (Fang, Ye, & Law, 2015). According to the many possibilities to generate a positive impact through technology in Travel and Tourism sector, our research aims to explore the capabilities of design to use technology as a political tool, to mitigate impacts and diversify the tourism experiences more sustainably. Our strategy tries to use technological and analogical tools to relate things, people, stories, cultures and much more in order to generate design-results that open scenarios and opportunities so far unexplored by more traditional tourism. The project discussed in this paper focuses on tourism in short distance, principally as a means to strengthen the connection of people with their territory and reduce the impact of Travel & Tourism in long distance, in a scenario where travelers and tourists increase exponentially every year

Sustainable interaction for mobility system

The results of top-down policymaking approach are not enough, "sustainable development can not be imposed from above. It will not take root unless people across the country are actively engaged (UK DEFRA 2002, 7) ". The goal of this research is to try to use the interaction and gamification strategy as a tool combined with a set of personal data to increase users' awareness of the impact of each action. The research context is the mobility system. The increase in road congestion and so the risk to compromise human well-being are just some of the critical points in the future. There are already some possible solutions for these problems, such as shared mobility and autonomous cars, but this is not just a business or technological change. Citizens will first and foremost influence the future with their decisions and behaviour. For the experimentation, a case study was developed, useful for obtaining and analyzing the qualitative and quantitative research results. The case study, thought to be developed within a fully self-driving car, concerns the design of an interactive augmented reality game in which the user’ role is to make decisions as a leader of his fictional world, as result of his decisions the environment around him change. The game continually reconfigures itself taking advantage of users' personal information and data collected through different ways. The gesture, copy, and other characterizing elements will follow the needs of each user. Instead of a more traditional approach that results frustrating and not very involving for the user, the game uses an ironic, surreal, and funny tone of voice in order to be more engageable. The goal is to make conscious users towards the environment that surrounds him and his ability to affect positively or negative the system in which he lives

CONNESSIONI UMANE Progettare artefatti interattivi attraverso narrazione e speculazione HUMAN CONNECTIONS Design interactive artefacts through narration and speculation

La ricerca in design è oggi alla ricerca di soluzioni che riparino i problemi che il design stesso ha creato, tuttavia, puntare solo sull’attitudine reattiva non è più sufficiente per l’attuale complessità del sistema. Il design ha, infatti, bisogno, di spingersi verso una modalità proattiva, deve saper anticipare, immaginare e offrire futuri possibili e preferibili incentivando l’innovazione sociale. L’articolo si propone quindi di illustrare un approccio di ricerca basato sull’intersezione tra interaction design, design fiction e design speculativo. L’obiettivo della sperimentazione, che adotta la metodologia research through design, è di sollevare nuove prospettive sui comportamenti umani attraverso l’interazione con artefatti e città, facilitando la discussione riguardo gli infiniti modi di pensare al futuro. The research in design today is looking for solutions that repair the problems that design itself has created, however, focusing only on reactive attitude is no longer sufficient for the current complexity of the system. Design needs, in fact, to push itself towards a proactive way, it must be able to anticipate, imagine and offer possible and preferable futures by encouraging social innovation. The article, therefore, aims to illustrate a research approach based on the intersection between interaction design, design fiction and speculative design. The objective of the experimentation, which adopts the research through design methodology, is to raise new perspectives on human behaviour through interaction with artefacts and cities, facilitating discussion about the infinite ways of thinking about the future

The “Diabetes Comorbidome”: A Different Way for Health Professionals to Approach the Comorbidity Burden of Diabetes

: (1) Background: The disease burden related to diabetes is increasing greatly, particularly in older subjects. A more comprehensive approach towards the assessment and management of diabetes' comorbidities is necessary. The aim of this study was to implement our previous data identifying and representing the prevalence of the comorbidities, their association with mortality, and the strength of their relationship in hospitalized elderly patients with diabetes, developing, at the same time, a new graphic representation model of the comorbidome called "Diabetes Comorbidome". (2) Methods: Data were collected from the RePoSi register. Comorbidities, socio-demographic data, severity and comorbidity indexes (Cumulative Illness rating Scale CIRS-SI and CIRS-CI), and functional status (Barthel Index), were recorded. Mortality rates were assessed in hospital and 3 and 12 months after discharge. (3) Results: Of the 4714 hospitalized elderly patients, 1378 had diabetes. The comorbidities distribution showed that arterial hypertension (57.1%), ischemic heart disease (31.4%), chronic renal failure (28.8%), atrial fibrillation (25.6%), and COPD (22.7%), were the more frequent in subjects with diabetes. The graphic comorbidome showed that the strongest predictors of death at in hospital and at the 3-month follow-up were dementia and cancer. At the 1-year follow-up, cancer was the first comorbidity independently associated with mortality. (4) Conclusions: The "Diabetes Comorbidome" represents the perfect instrument for determining the prevalence of comorbidities and the strength of their relationship with risk of death, as well as the need for an effective treatment for improving clinical outcomes

Essential Oils of Dennettia Tripetala Bak. f. Stem Bark and Leaf – Constituents and Biological Activities:

The essential oil from the stem bark and leaves of Dennettia tripetala Bak. f. (Annonaceae) growing wild in Ondo State, Nigeria, has been characterized by combined gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC- MS) analyses. Overall, thirty-six components have been fully identified, thirty-two in the stem-bark oil, and only seven in the leaf oil. In both oils, 2-phenylnitroethane was the main component, ranging between 70 – 76% of the total oils. The profile of the stem bark oil was characterized by a large number of sesquiterpenes, whereas among the few components in the leaf oil, linalool reaches over 17%. When both oils were assayed for antimicrobial activity, only Staphylococcus aureus was susceptible to the stem-bark oil which was more active than leaf oil. For protective effects against UV radiation–induced peroxidation in phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposomes, stem-bark oil also showed greater effectiveness. Activity of the leaf oil against Trichomonas gallinae, was also remarkable

Tsunami: a movie for the tsunami risk reduction in Italy

Italy is a country well known for the seismic and volcanic hazard. As a matter of fact the first seismological and volcanological observations were done in since the Roman times. However, a similarly great hazard, although not well recognized, is posed by the occurrence of tsunami waves along the Italian coastline. This is testified by a rich catalogue and by field evidence of deposits left over by pre- and historical tsunamis, even in places today considered safe. This observation is of great importance since many of the areas affected by tsunamis in the past are today touristic places. The Italian tsunamis can be caused by different sources: 1- off-shore or near coast in-land earthquakes (e.g. 1627, 1783 and 1908 events); 2- very large earthquakes on distant sources in the Mediterranean (e.g. the 365 Crete subduction zone earthquake); 3- submarine volcanic explosion in the Tyrrhenian sea; 4- submarine landslides triggered by earthquakes and volcanic activity (e.g. 2002 Stromboli landslide). The consequence of such a wide spectrum of sources is that an important part of the more than 7000 km long Italian coast line is exposed to the tsunami risk, and thousands of inhabitants (with numbers increasing during summer) live near hazardous coasts. In order to reduce this risk and following the emotional impact of the december 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami, we developed an outreach program consisting in talks given by scientists and in a movie, both exploring the causes of the tsuanami waves, how do they propagate in deep and shallow waters, and what are the effects on the coasts. Hints are also given on the most dangerous Italian coasts (as deduced by scientific studies), and how to behave in the case of a tsunami approaching the coast. These seminars are open to the general publics, but special programs are developed with schools of all grades. In this talk we want to present the movie used during the seminars and scientific expositions, that was realized from a previous 3D version originally developed for science festivals