Re-reading the dossier about the Venetian prototypographers Johann and Wendelin from Spira

The known documentation about the brothers John and Windelin from Spira is reread here. This is above all informations obtained from the editions themselves, in addition to the famous privilege for the exclusive exercise of the printing in Venice. The occasion is gluttonous to highlight some respectable female figures in the family entourage of the from Spira, as well as the rich plot of German merchants underlying the landing of the typography in the lagoon (John from Köln, the Dinslakens, Peter Ugelheimer). In addition, it is thus possible to identify the proprium that characterized the production of Vindelino, whose slightly elusive figure usually seems to disappear in the face of his brother’s pre-eminence.Il testo offre una rilettura della documentazione esistente sui fratelli Giovanni e Vindelino da Spira. Si tratta di informazioni desunte dalle edizioni stesse, in aggiunta al famoso privilegio per l’esercizio esclusivo della stampa a Venezia. Un’occasione ghiotta per portare alla luce alcune notevoli figure femminili nell’entourage familiare dei da Spira, così’ come la ricca trama di mercanti tedeschi che sottende l’approdo della tipografia nella laguna (Giovanni da Colonia, i Dinslaken, Peter Ugelheimer). É possibile dunque identificare, in aggiunta, le caratteristiche tipiche della produzione di Vindelino, la cui figura un po’ elusiva  è solitamente oscurata dalla preminenza del fratello

Analisi dell'efficienza di System on Chip su applicazioni parallele

In questa tesi analizzeremo le prestazioni di un System on Chip (SoC) in alcuni contesti di calcolo parallelo: in questo caso il SoC in questione è il Raspberry Pi. L'ultima versione rilasciata (Raspberry Pi 3 B+) è dotata di 1 GB di RAM e di un processore quad-core con architettura ARM NEON, caratterizzata dai prezzi e consumi ridotti. Tali specifiche danno i presupposti per un inserimento di questo dispositivo in contesti di high performace computing (HPC) tramite l'utilizzo di una programmazione parallela specifica. Per valutare le prestazioni di questa scheda si è voluto implementare un'applicazione che sia di uso comune in ambienti HPC, evitando semplici benchmark sulle singole componenti hardware. L'applicazione deve inoltre essere implementata tenendo conto dell'architettura di cui si dispone, in modo da ottenere risultati quanto più possibili legati alle caratteristiche hardware. Il progetto prevede di sviluppare un sistema di machine learning: una rete neurale artificiale che si addestra nel riconoscere cifre scritte a mano libera. Verranno quindi descritte e implementate alcune tecniche per parallelizzare la fase di addestramento della rete neurale. Questa applicazione verrà sfruttata per effettuare dei benchmark sia sul Raspberry Pi, che su un calcolatore "standard": l'università di Bologna ha messo a disposizione un server di calcolo che dispone di due processori Intel Xeon. I dati raccolti su queste due architetture (Raspberry Pi e Xeon) saranno messi a confronto. L'obiettivo è quello di analizzare se effettivamente dispositivi come il Raspberry Pi possono avere un qualche tipo di vantaggio in contesti HPC: in particolare verrà svolta un'analisi sulla capacità di svolgere calcolo parallelo

Más allá de la censura. Preguntas sobre un compendio neotestamentario italiano del siglo XVI

A mediados del siglo XVI se publicaron en Venecia las armonías evangélicas realizadas por el sacerdote Natalino Amulio. El texto se muestra aparentemente lineal, incluso en su segunda edición, dotada de una exposición de tipo homilético. Sin embargo, apenas se comienza a indagar en las fuentes, el significado, la forma de realización, las armonías se muestran extremadamente complejas: superando el paradigma acordado de la censura, se observa cómo la obra de Amulio abre varias preguntas, actualmente irresolubles

On the Criticality of Adaptive Boolean Network Robots

Systems poised at a dynamical critical regime, between order and disorder, have been shown capable of exhibiting complex dynamics that balance robustness to external perturbations and rich repertoires of responses to inputs. This property has been exploited in artificial network classifiers, and preliminary results have also been attained in the context of robots controlled by Boolean networks. In this work, we investigate the role of dynamical criticality in robots undergoing online adaptation, i.e., robots that adapt some of their internal parameters to improve a performance metric over time during their activity. We study the behavior of robots controlled by random Boolean networks, which are either adapted in their coupling with robot sensors and actuators or in their structure or both. We observe that robots controlled by critical random Boolean networks have higher average and maximum performance than that of robots controlled by ordered and disordered nets. Notably, in general, adaptation by change of couplings produces robots with slightly higher performance than those adapted by changing their structure. Moreover, we observe that when adapted in their structure, ordered networks tend to move to the critical dynamical regime. These results provide further support to the conjecture that critical regimes favor adaptation and indicate the advantage of calibrating robot control systems at dynamical critical states

Comparative Assessment of Physiological Responses to Emotional Elicitation by Auditory and Visual Stimuli

: The study of emotions through the analysis of the induced physiological responses gained increasing interest in the past decades. Emotion-related studies usually employ films or video clips, but these stimuli do not give the possibility to properly separate and assess the emotional content provided by sight or hearing in terms of physiological responses. In this study we have devised an experimental protocol to elicit emotions by using, separately and jointly, pictures and sounds from the widely used International Affective Pictures System and International Affective Digital Sounds databases. We processed galvanic skin response, electrocardiogram, blood volume pulse, pupillary signal and electroencephalogram from 21 subjects to extract both autonomic and central nervous system indices to assess physiological responses in relation to three types of stimulation: auditory, visual, and auditory/visual. Results show a higher galvanic skin response to sounds compared to images. Electrocardiogram and blood volume pulse show different trends between auditory and visual stimuli. The electroencephalographic signal reveals a greater attention paid by the subjects when listening to sounds compared to watching images. In conclusion, these results suggest that emotional responses increase during auditory stimulation at both central and peripheral levels, demonstrating the importance of sounds for emotion recognition experiments and also opening the possibility toward the extension of auditory stimuli in other fields of psychophysiology. Clinical and Translational Impact Statement- These findings corroborate auditory stimuli's importance in eliciting emotions, supporting their use in studying affective responses, e.g., mood disorder diagnosis, human-machine interaction, and emotional perception in pathology

Prefazione

Si offre un affezionato profilo di Ugo Rozzo (1940-2020) e si forniscono alcuni dettagli riguardo alla scelta di ripubblicare alcuni suoi scritti dedicati a uno dei temi pi\uf9 rilevanti della sua vita di studioso

Comparison of sleep characteristics between Parkinson's disease with and without freezing of gait: A systematic review

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a range of motor and non-motor symptoms. Among the motor complaints, freezing of gait (FOG) is a common and disabling phenomenon that episodically hinders patients' ability to produce efficient steps. Concurrently, sleep disorders are prevalent in PD and significantly impact the quality of life of affected individuals. Numerous studies have suggested a bidirectional relationship between FOG and sleep disorders. Therefore, our objective was to systematically review the literature and compare sleep outcomes in PD patients with FOG (PD + FOG) and those without FOG (PD-FOG). By conducting a comprehensive search of the PubMed and Web of Science databases, we identified 20 eligible studies for inclusion in our analysis. Our review revealed that compared to PD-FOG, PD + FOG patients exhibited more severe symptoms of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder in nine studies, increased daytime sleepiness in eight studies, decreased sleep quality in four studies, and more frequent and severe sleep disturbances in four studies. These findings indicate that PD + FOG patients generally experience worse sleep quality, higher levels of daytime sleepiness, and more disruptive sleep disturbances compared to those without FOG (PD-FOG). The association between sleep disturbances and FOG highlights the importance of evaluating and monitoring these symptoms in PD patients and open the possibility for future studies to assess the impact of managing sleep disturbances on the severity and occurrence of FOG, and vice versa

Evidence of reverse remodeling after long-term biventricular stimulation for resynchronization in patients with wide QRS selected on the basis of echocardiographic electromechanical delays

Background. There is increasing evidence that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) may trigger an inverse remodeling process leading to decreased left ventricular (LV) volumes in patients with heart failure and wide QRS. However, it is still important to simplify patient selection and achieve a widely applicable parameter to better stratify patients who are candidates for CRT. Methods. Eighteen patients (13 males, 5 females, mean age 67.5 ± 7.2 years) with advanced heart failure due to ischemic (n = 12) or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 6) and complete left bundle branch block received biventricular pacing. The patients were considered eligible in the presence of echocardiographic evidence of intra- and interventricular asynchrony, defined on the basis of LV electromechanical delay. Investigations were performed before pacemaker implantation (at baseline), the day after, and 3 and 6 months later. Results. Two patients died before the first outpatient examination. There were 15 (83%) responders to reverse remodeling among the remainder. In the overall population, there was a significant and progressive improvement in LV sphericity indexes, ejection fraction, mitral regurgitation area and LV volumes (p < 0.001). The improvement in the interventricular mechanical delay after CRT was significantly correlated with the decrease in LV end-systolic volume (r2= 0.2558, p = 0.04). Conclusions. CRT reduces LV volumes in patients with advanced heart failure, complete left bundle branch block and detailed documentation of ventricular asynchrony prior to therapeutic pacing. Broadly applicable Doppler echocardiographic measures may increase the specificity of the longterm response to CRT in terms of LV performance. © 2004 CEPI Srl