Reformism and Evaluation in the Field of Social and Political Sciences. Consequences for the Academic Community, Projects, People

After the introduction of the most recent University evaluation reforms, this article aims at presenting the first findings of a research project on these reforms and the evaluation processes carried out so far in the field of social and political sciences. In particular, the research wishes to investigate the relational dynamics, the behaviors and the values of the academic profession with special attention to the scientific activity, but without putting aside the implications for the teaching, management and the “third mission” activities. Inserted in the line of studies on higher education and evaluation well consolidated in Italy, the research is characterized by the added value  of  connecting the criticaltheoretical level to the empirical one

Chance and Necessity in Evolution: Lessons from RNA

The relationship between sequences and secondary structures or shapes in RNA exhibits robust statistical properties summarized by three notions: (1) the notion of a typical shape (that among all sequences of fixed length certain shapes are realized much more frequently than others), (2) the notion of shape space covering (that all typical shapes are realized in a small neighborhood of any random sequence), and (3) the notion of a neutral network (that sequences folding into the same typical shape form networks that percolate through sequence space). Neutral networks loosen the requirements on the mutation rate for selection to remain effective. The original (genotypic) error threshold has to be reformulated in terms of a phenotypic error threshold. With regard to adaptation, neutrality has two seemingly contradictory effects: It acts as a buffer against mutations ensuring that a phenotype is preserved. Yet it is deeply enabling, because it permits evolutionary change to occur by allowing the sequence context to vary silently until a single point mutation can become phenotypically consequential. Neutrality also influences predictability of adaptive trajectories in seemingly contradictory ways. On the one hand it increases the uncertainty of their genotypic trace. At the same time neutrality structures the access from one shape to another, thereby inducing a topology among RNA shapes which permits a distinction between continuous and discontinuous shape transformations. To the extent that adaptive trajectories must undergo such transformations, their phenotypic trace becomes more predictable.Comment: 37 pages, 14 figures; 1998 CNLS conference; high quality figures at http://www.santafe.edu/~walte

La rilettura della Englishness in due casi esemplari della narrativa black British: The Lonely Londoners di Sam Selvon e White Teeth di Zadie Smith

Il lavoro prende le mosse dall’analisi di due romanzi che hanno rivestito un particolare significato letterario, linguistico e sociale nel contesto britannico della seconda meta' del secolo passato: The Lonely Londoners (1956) di Sam Selvon e White Teeth (2000) di Zadie Smith. Si sono analizzati, in primis, gli ambiti socioculturali nei quali i romanzi si collocano, cercando di porre in evidenza le interazioni tra le migrazioni diasporiche ed i mutamenti nella sensibilita' politica, artistica e letteraria della Gran Bretagna, in un periodo storico che vede vacillare secolari certezze, e che percepisce sempre piu' la centralita' del multiculturalismo. Successivamente si e' passati all’analisi del romanzo The Lonely Londoners di Sam Selvon, partendo con una lettura dell’autore e della sua produzione, per poi approdare allo studio piu' dettagliato dei temi affrontati in The Lonely Londoners, primo romanzo a descrivere l’esperienza degli immigrati delle West Indies a Londra. Ci si e' poi focalizzati sull’uso della lingua in quest’opera, particolarmente significativo per le novità che essa introduce nell’ambito della letteratura black British. La trattazione ha poi preso in esame White Teeth di Zadie Smith, romanzo di grande successo della fine del secolo passato, che ci e' parso sia una continuazione delle tematiche gia' affrontate da Sam Selvon quasi mezzo secolo prima, sia una loro problematizzazione in un contesto sociale che, se da un lato ha risolto o superato alcune incertezze, dall’altro si e' fatto senza dubbio piu' complesso, nella definizione dell’identita' e del suo rapporto con la Englishness

On the collaboration uncapacitated arc routing problem

This paper introduces a new arc routing problem for the optimization of a collaboration scheme among carriers. This yields to the study of a profitable uncapacitated arc routing problem with multiple depots, where carriers collaborate to improve the profit gained. In the first model the goal is the maximization of the total profit of the coalition of carriers, independently of the individual profit of each carrier. Then, a lower bound on the individual profit of each carrier is included. This lower bound may represent the profit of the carrier in the case no collaboration is implemented. The models are formulated as integer linear programs and solved through a branch-and-cut algorithm. Theoretical results, concerning the computational complexity, the impact of collaboration on profit and a game theoretical perspective, are provided. The models are tested on a set of 971 instances generated from 118 benchmark instances for the Privatized Rural Postman Problem, with up to 102 vertices. All the 971 instances are solved to optimality within few seconds.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Neutral Evolution of Mutational Robustness

We introduce and analyze a general model of a population evolving over a network of selectively neutral genotypes. We show that the population's limit distribution on the neutral network is solely determined by the network topology and given by the principal eigenvector of the network's adjacency matrix. Moreover, the average number of neutral mutant neighbors per individual is given by the matrix spectral radius. This quantifies the extent to which populations evolve mutational robustness: the insensitivity of the phenotype to mutations. Since the average neutrality is independent of evolutionary parameters---such as, mutation rate, population size, and selective advantage---one can infer global statistics of neutral network topology using simple population data available from {\it in vitro} or {\it in vivo} evolution. Populations evolving on neutral networks of RNA secondary structures show excellent agreement with our theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Flood Vulnerability Analysis in Urban Context: A Socioeconomic Sub-Indicators Overview

Despite indicators-based assessment models for flood vulnerability being a well-established methodology, a specific set of indicators that are universally or widely accepted has not been recognized yet. This work aims to review previous studies in the field of vulnerability analysis in order to overcome this knowledge gap identifying the most accepted sub-indicators of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Moreover, this review aims to clarify the use of the terms of vulnerability and risk in vulnerability assessment. Throughout a three-phase process, a matrix containing all the sub-indicators encountered during the review process was constructed. Then, based on an adaptation of the Pareto diagram, a set of the most relevant sub-indicators was identified. According to the citation count of each sub-indicator, indeed, 33 sub-indicators were chosen to represent the most universally or widely accepted sub-indicators

Las matemáticas y el arte de contar historias

Una de nuestras aspiraciones como profesores de matemáticas es conseguir que nuestros alumnos comprendan y sepan utilizar bien las matemáticas para resolver problemas de su vida cotidiana. Siendo más ambiciosos, pretendemos que les sirvan para desarrollar su pensamiento, para razonar mejor, para comprender en profundidad el mundo que les rodea. En última instancia, deseamos fervientemente que les gusten, que lleguen a amar esta disciplina