Dimensionamento e affidabilità delle strutture in vetro

Nessun materiale meglio del vetro descrive la tendenza dell'architettura contemporanea. L'avanzamento delle conoscenze e della tecnologia ha permesso infatti negli ultimi anni di far uscire il vetro dal ristretto ambito in cui era relegato nell'edilizia tradizionale per assegnargli funzioni portanti sempre più fondamentali, con il pregio di rendere la costruzione più trasparente, più leggera, più "meravigliosa" agli occhi del visitatore. Al giorno d'oggi, però, al diffondersi dell'impiego del vetro non corrisponde un adeguato metodo di dimensionamento delle strutture, ma si ricorre a trattazioni approssimative, non condivise da buona parte degli addetti ai lavori, se non addirittura tenute gelosamente nascoste. Il presente lavoro di tesi si propone di esporre lo stato attuale delle conoscenze e di esaminarle con spirito critico, al fine di poter individuare un metodo soddisfacente le esigenze della costruzione in vetro

Cosa succede dopo la copula? La competizione spermatica raccontata dai pesci di Trinidad

Una delle forze che più sorprendentemente alimentano l’evoluzione è la selezione sessuale. Questa appare negli animali nella sua massima complessità: la selezione avviene in un contesto in cui due o più individui, spesso maschi e femmine, interagiscono, cooperano e lottano. Ma fra questi solo alcuni, alla fine, sono in grado di lasciare discendenti. Queste interazioni possono avvenire in momenti diversi del rapporto che si instaura fra individui e uno degli spartiacque temporali più importanti è la copula. Mentre la selezione che avviene prima della copula favorisce alcuni individui piuttosto che altri, quella che avviene fra copula e fecondazione delle uova agisce invece per lo più sui gameti. Si parla in questo caso di selezione sessuale postcopulatoria. Due processi distinti entrano in gioco a questo punto: la competizione spermatica (quando gli spermi di individui differenti competono per fecondare le stesse uova) e la scelta criptica femminile (quando le femmine sono in grado di favorire alcuni spermi a scapito di altri). Nel capitolo viene descritta la competizione spermatica, spiegando quali adattamenti ha promosso e in che modo può influenzare i processi evolutivi. Verrannopresentate le ultime ricerche in questo ambito con particolare attenzione a quanto scopertoin una classe di pesci tropicali, i Poecilidi

Possible glimpses into early speciation: the effect of ovarian fluid on sperm velocity accords with post-copulatory isolation between two guppy populations.

Identifying mechanisms of reproductive isolation is key to understanding speciation. Among the putative mechanisms underlying reproductive isolation, sperm-female interactions (postmating-prezygotic barriers) are arguably the hardest to identify, not least because these are likely to operate at the cellular or molecular level. Yet sperm-female interactions offer great potential to prevent the transfer of genetic information between different populations at the initial stages of speciation. Here we provide a preliminary test for the presence of a putative postmating-prezygotic barrier operating between three populations of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata), an internally fertilizing fish that inhabits streams with different levels of connectivity across Trinidad. We experimentally evaluate the effect of female ovarian fluid on sperm velocity (a predictor of competitive fertilization success) according to whether males and females were from the same (native) or different (foreign) populations. Our results reveal the potential for ovarian fluid to act as a postmating-prezygotic barrier between two populations from different drainages, but also that the strength of this barrier is different among populations. This result may explain the previous finding that, in some populations, sperm from native males have precedence over foreign sperm, which could eventually lead to reproductive isolation between these populations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Applications of digital twin for autonomous zero-touch optical networking [Invited]

Huge efforts have been paid lastly to study the application of Machine Learning techniques to optical transport networks. Applications include Quality of Transmission (QoT) estimation, failure and anomaly detection, and network automation, just to mention a few. In this regard, the development of Optical Layer Digital Twins able to accurately model the optical layer, reproduce scenarios, and generate expected signals are of paramount importance. In this paper, we introduce two applications of Optical Layer Digital Twins namely, misconfiguration detection and QoT estimation. Illustrative results show the accuracy and usefulness of the proposed applications.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community through the MSCA MENTOR (G.A. 956713) and the HORIZON SEASON (G.A. 101096120) projects, the AEI through the IBON (PID2020-114135RB-I00) project, and by the ICREA institution.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

CÍRCULOS MATEMÁTICOS

Este trabalho apresenta a iniciativa de organizar um projeto de ensino referente aosCírculos Matemáticos com o objetivo de desenvolver as competências matemáticasdos estudantes, em especial, o raciocínio lógico e estratégias de resolução deproblemas. Os encontros foram realizados quinzenalmente em horário extraclasse,nos quais foram abordados diferentes tópicos de Matemática,não necessariamentepresentes nas ementas do Ensino Médio. Considera-se que os encontros foram deextrema importância por constituírem espaços informais de aprendizagem, nos quaisos estudantes puderam discutir, trocar ideias e avançar na construção de conceitosmatemáticos por meio de uma metodologia focada na resolução de problemas

A CONEXÃO ENTRE A QUÍMICA E A MATEMÁTICA NA FABRICAÇÃO DO SABÃO THE CONECTION BETWEEN THE CHEMESTRY AND THE MATHEMATICS IN THE SOAP’S MANUFACTURING

Este projeto teve como objetivo estabelecer uma conexão entre a Química e a M atemática, estudando conceitos de área e volume a partir da fabricação de sabão com óleo de cozinha usado. Para perpassar tais disciplinas foram realizadas leituras sobre os temas propostos, coleta de óleo na instituição e p rodução de sabão. Paralelamente foram confeccionados sólidos geométricos para acondicionar o sabão produzido e cálcul os que relacionassem a área superficial e o volume, na obtenção de um sólido que apresentasse o menor consumo de material para embalar o sabão produzido

Diagnostic criteria for small fibre neuropathy in clinical practice and research

The diagnostic criteria for small fibre neuropathy are not established, influencing the approach to patients in clinical practice, their access to disease-modifying and symptomatic treatments, the use of healthcare resources, and the design of clinical trials. To address these issues, we performed a reappraisal study of 150 patients with sensory neuropathy and a prospective and follow-up validation study of 352 new subjects with suspected sensory neuropathy. Small fibre neuropathy diagnostic criteria were based on deep clinical phenotyping, quantitative sensory testing (QST) and intraepidermal nerve fibre density (IENFD). Small fibre neuropathy was ruled out in 5 of 150 patients (3.3%) of the reappraisal study. Small fibre neuropathy was diagnosed at baseline of the validation study in 149 of 352 patients (42.4%) based on the combination between two clinical signs and abnormal QST and IENFD (69.1%), abnormal QST alone (5.4%), or abnormal IENFD alone (20.1%). Eight patients (5.4%) had abnormal QST and IENFD but no clinical signs. Further, 38 patients complained of sensory symptoms but showed no clinical signs. Of those, 34 (89.4%) had normal QST and IENFD, 4 (10.5%) had abnormal QST and normal IENFD, and none had abnormal IENFD alone. At 18-month follow-up, 19 of them (56%) reported the complete recovery of symptoms and showed normal clinical, QST and IENFD findings. None of those with one single abnormal test (QST or IENFD) developed clinical signs or showed abnormal findings on the other test. Conversely, all eight patients with abnormal QST and IENFD at baseline developed clinical signs at follow-up. The combination of clinical signs and abnormal QST and/or IENFD findings can more reliably lead to the diagnosis of small fibre neuropathy than the combination of abnormal QST and IENFD findings in the absence of clinical signs. Sensory symptoms alone should not be considered a reliable screening feature. Our findings demonstrate that the combined clinical, functional and structural approach to the diagnosis of small fibre neuropathy is reliable and relevant both for clinical practice and clinical trial design

Dual time and frequency domain optical layer digital twin

We demonstrate a digital twin for failure detection in optical networks. Artificial neural networks-based models for optical constellation analysis enable predicting the transmitted signal in the time domain whereas analytical models are usually used to estimate their spectral evolution.This project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 MSCA-EID MENTOR (G.A. 956713), the H2020 B5G-OPEN (G.A. 101016663), the MICINN IBON (PID2020- 114135RB-I00), and the ICREA Institution.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Degradation detection and severity estimation by exploiting an optical time and frequency digital twin

We exploit the intrinsic advantages of a time and frequency domain digital twin to detect degradations and to estimate their severity. Noticeable performance shown for filter failures confirms the usefulness of this approach.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community through the MSCA MENTOR (G.A. 956713) and the H2020 B5G-OPEN (G.A. 101016663) projects, the AEI through the IBON (PID2020-114135RB-I00) project, and by the ICREA institutionPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Consumer touch points e prossimità cognitiva: uno, nessuno e centomila millennials

L’obiettivo di questo studio è quello di comprendere come la fiducia riposta dai consumatori nei diversi touch points (brand-owned, partner-owned, customerowned e social/external) possa influenzarne il successivo acquisto online. In più, in linea con alcuni precedenti lavori, abbiamo distinto delle sottocategorie di Millennials (18-23, 24-27 e 28-35) per comprendere differenze sia nella fiducia, che nell’ acquisto online. Il settore moda è stato scelto come setting empirico della nostra analisi. Partendo dalla letteratura, abbiamo quindi distinto sei variabili (offline brand-owned, online brand-owned, online partner-owned, social/external, influencer-owned e other consumer-owned) e ne abbiamo testato l’effetto sulle scelte di acquisto di 1294 Millennials italiani. I risultati delle nostre analisi in generale confermano un effetto positivo della fiducia nei confronti dei diversi TP sull’acquisto online. In più, le tre classi sono risultate significativamente distinte nelle dinamiche di fiducia ed acquisto