409 research outputs found
Let Young People Join The Legislative Process. A Twitter Based Experiment On Internships
The aim of this research is to examine the possible effects of labour market institutional characteristics
on young people's perceptions of their internship experiences as expressed on Twitter. By looking at
these opinions (satisfaction versus dissatisfaction) in relation to certain features of internships as well as to
the more general labour market regulatory framework, this project aims to give a voice to young people,
enabling them (indirectly) to provide policy suggestions to law-makers. Furthermore, we propose a preview
of a possible empirical model for data collection based on the manual coding of Tweets. By employing a
Probit regression and Blinder-Oaxaca and Fairlie decompositions, we have tried to establish a link between
the perceived evaluation of internships and the country where the internship is based, the latter being used
as a proxy for the legal system. In all our tests we found that the country in which the internship is placed
is the main factor in the positive or negative perception. Ultimately we shall propose the use of Twitter
not only as a relevant research tool, but also as an instrument for bringing young people's needs to the
attention of law-makers
Editorial for Special Issue on “Electronic Systems and Energy Harvesting Methods for Automation, Mechatronics and Automotive”
none3noElectronic apparatus have become essential components of civil and industrial systems, including the automotive, home and building automation, Industrial IoT (Internet of Things) and control applications, and playing an essential role in improving security, efficiency, manageability, and rapid feedback [1–3]. Indeed, the increasing demands of
electronic systems have led to innovations and findings in electronic networks for automotive and automation plants, replacing efficiently and securely mechanical and hydraulic sections [4]. Also, the researchers have focused their attention on meeting the increasing power demand of vehicles equipment, developing 42-V automotive systems.
Moreover, smart buildings and homes represent a very actual research topic in the scientific community, aimed to improve energy conservation and the liveability of everyday life environments, thanks to IoT solutions [5]. In fact, smart homes and buildings comprise innovative solutions enabling communication between users and the infrastructure, as well as performing advanced monitoring tasks, like surveillance, light and water management,
HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system management, smart energy monitoring and elderly care. IoT technology employs sensors to detect the environmental temperature for the HVAC system, water and energy consumption, and health monitoring and decision-making systems to assist elderly people and detect fires [6,7]. The scientific community is concentrating their efforts to design innovative infrastructures, management models as well as operating scenarios to make production activities simpler and more efficient [8]. In this field, IoT is one of the key elements triggering this revolution, enabling communications between machines (M2M), thus creating a manufacturing environment human-free. The combination of M2M, IoT and CPS (cyber physical systems) makes the
manufacturing systems more robust, reliable and efficient. Besides, cloud computing constitutes a powerful tool, promising to solve several difficult issues with previous productive architectures. For instance, in [9], a novel architecture integrating cloud computing, IoT, and smart devices, was presented. The model uses modern manufacturing technologies, allowing highly configurable, flexible manufacturing processes involving human and
robotic participants.
This Special Issue aimed to cover a wide range of disciplines and application fields, collecting innovative studies on advanced sensing and energy harvesting technologies and applications in automotive, automation and mechatronics fields. The introduced innovations could mitigate the impact of human activities on the environment and revolutionize
the production process by employing eco-sustainable production models, preventing climate change and natural resources waste. A total of 5 papers have been published in this special issue; the paper covers a wide range of topics but is deemed relevant to the topics covered by the special issues. The authors are from geographically distributed countries such as Italy, Mexico, Spain, and China. This reflects the great impact of the proposed topic and the effective organization of the guest editorial team of this special issue.openPaolo Visconti, Nicola Ivan Giannoccaro, Roberto de FazioVisconti, Paolo; Giannoccaro, NICOLA IVAN; DE FAZIO, Robert
Hierarchical physically based machine learning in material science: the case study of spider silk
Multiscale phenomena exhibit complex structure-function relationships, and
predicting their macroscopic behavior requires deducing differential equations
at different scales. The complexity of these equations and the number of
essential parameters make developing effective, predictive models challenging.
To overcome this, researchers explore leveraging advanced numerical techniques
from artificial intelligence and machine learning. Here, we focus on a
fundamental aspect in multiscale phenomena, i.e the recognition of the
hierarchical role of variables. By adopting a Pareto front interpretation, we
aim to deduce simple and accurate relations for material modeling, starting
from experimental multiscale analyses. From a physical point of view, the aim
is to deduce information at higher scales from lower scales data, possibly
respecting their hierarchical order. A crucial aspect of the proposed approach
is the deduction of causality relations among the different variables to be
compared with the available theoretical notions and possibly new
interpretations resulting by the data modelling. This result in a stepwise
approximation going from data modelling to theoretical equations and back to
data modelling. To demonstrate the key advantages of our multiscale numerical
approach, compared to classical, non-physically based data modelling
techniques, we consider the explicit example of spider silk, known for its
exceptional properties and bioinspiration potential. Indeed, it presents a
complex behavior resulting from mesostructures formed by the aggregation of
amino acids at the molecular scale. We argue that, due to the generality of our
results, our approach may represent a proof of concept in many fields where
multiscale, hierarchical differential equations regulate the observed
phenomenon
Dalitz decays
The Dalitz decays of the positive parity charmed mesons,
with and ,
are important processes to investigate the nature of the states.
We analyze the full set of decays, considering the four lightest
mesons as belonging to the heavy quark spin doublets and , with the
spin-parity of the light degrees of freedom in mesons. The description implies
relations among the observables in various modes. We study the decay
distributions in the dilepton invariant mass squared and the distributions in
the angle between the charged lepton momentum and the momentum of the produced
meson, which are expressed in terms of universal form factors and of effective
strong couplings. Such measurements are feasible at the present facilities.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, 6 figures. Version to appear on PR
Anderson localization of entangled photons in an integrated quantum walk
Waves fail to propagate in random media. First predicted for quantum
particles in the presence of a disordered potential, Anderson localization has
been observed also in classical acoustics, electromagnetism and optics. Here,
for the first time, we report the observation of Anderson localization of pairs
of entangled photons in a two-particle discrete quantum walk affected by
position dependent disorder. A quantum walk on a disordered lattice is realized
by an integrated array of interferometers fabricated in glass by femtosecond
laser writing. A novel technique is used to introduce a controlled phase shift
into each unit mesh of the network. Polarization entanglement is exploited to
simulate the different symmetries of the two-walker system. We are thus able to
experimentally investigate the genuine effect of (bosonic and fermionic)
statistics in the absence of interaction between the particles. We will show
how different types of randomness and the symmetry of the wave-function affect
the localization of the entangled walkers.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, revised version published on Nature Photonics 7,
322-328 (2013
An experience of elicited inquiry elucidating the electron transport in semiconductor crystals
In this study we report the results of an inquiry-driven learning path experienced by a sample of 10 electronic engineering students, engaged to investigate the electron transport in semiconductors. The undergraduates were first instructed by following a lecture-based class on condensed matter physics and then involved into an inquiry based path of simulative
explorations. The students were invited by two instructors to explore the electron dynamics in a semiconductor bulk by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The students, working in group, had to design their own procedure of exploration, as expected in a traditional guided inquiry. But they experienced several difficulties on planning and carrying out a meaningful sequence of simulative experiments, many times coming to a standstill. At this stage, the two
instructors actively participated to the students’ debate on the physics governing the observed phenomena, never providing exhaustive explanations to the students, but giving comments and hints, sometimes expressly incorrect, but effective to stimulate students’ reasoning and activating a proficient scientific inquiry. The relation between this teaching intervention and student cognitive and affective development has been investigated by methods of discourse
and behaviour analysis, as well as by the analysis of a student motivation/satisfaction inventory. The elicited inquiry stimulated the students to follow a question-driven path of exploration, starting from the validation of the model of electron dynamics within the semiconductor, up to performing reasoned inquiries about the observed characteristic of
charge transport. Our results show that the stimulated activation of the inquiry process constitutes an efficient teaching/learning approach both to effectively engage students into an active learning and, at the same time, to clarify important experimental and technological aspects of semiconductor science, representing a viable example of integration of a traditional lecture-based teaching approach with effective learning strategies
Open Inquiry Investigations on Heat Transfer Performed by Undergraduate Engineering Students
Many researches have shown the pedagogical effectiveness of structured inquiry as a high performance
tool in science education of undergraduate engineering students. In this paper we report the preliminary
results of an extended investigation on the efficacy of the application of an open inquiry approach to
the consolidation of the physics concepts regarding the topic of thermal energy transfer. We selected a
sample of undergraduate mechanical engineering students, who passed the examination of the basic
physics courses with good marks. Firstly, we investigated about resistant misconceptions in thermal
physics by administrating a pre-activity questionnaire. Even the best marked students showed several
deficiencies for what concerns, in particular, the practical knowledge of the physics of energy exchange
by thermal radiation. Our open inquiry activity involved the students in a highly challenging learning
environment, starting from the problem of projecting a thermodynamically efficient space base on
Mars. Students were asked to work in groups and to perform scientific investigations regarding the
best materials to use in the construction and the best design strategies to practice in order to collect as
much thermal energy as possible during the Martian day. Students were stimulated to design and carry
out their own laboratory activity by collecting, processing and analysing data, in order to discover new
concepts and obtain more meaningful conceptual understanding of the physics underlying the process
of thermal energy exchange by conduction, convection and radiation. All groups of students were invited
to share the results of their explorative works within each other during the final discussion. Lastly, a final
post-activity evaluation test was administered. Our open inquiry learning path has proved to be a great
opportunity of enhancing the practical and reasoning skills of our engineering students. Here we discuss
in detail the advantages and limits of the open inquiry-based teaching approach
Open Inquiry based learning experiences to understand the Nature of Science
In this paper we address the question of the efficacy of an inquiry-based learning approach, with different levels of teacher’s guidance, to introduce the students to fundamental aspects of the Nature of Science (NoS). Explicit pedagogical approaches, in
which specific instruction on the topic of NoS is provided in addition to the engagement in scientific inquiry, are generally considered more effective with respect to implicit methods,
where NoS conceptions are expected to develop as a natural consequence of inquiry-based learning experiences alone. In our study, we further explore the connections between scientific inquiry and implicit development of NoS conceptions, by investigating the
efficacy of different kinds of inquiry approaches. Our findings confirm limited gains in developing NoS views by following a guided inquiry approach and suggest a more efficient NoS instruction by applying integrated open-inquiry-based teaching strategie
Quantum simulation of bosonic-fermionic non-interacting particles in disordered systems via quantum walk
We report on the theoretical analysis of bosonic and fermionic
non-interacting systems in a discrete two-particle quantum walk affected by
different kinds of disorder. We considered up to 100-step QWs with a spatial,
temporal and space-temporal disorder observing how the randomness and the
wavefunction symmetry non-trivially affect the final spatial probability
distribution, the transport properties and the Shannon entropy of the walkers.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1101.2638 by other author
A stake-out prototype system based on GNSS-RTK technology for implementing accurate vehicle reliability and performance tests
none4noThere are many car tests regulated by European and international standards and carried out on tracks to assess vehicle performance. The test preparation phase usually consists of placing road cones on the track with a specific configuration defined by the considered standard; this phase is performed by human operators using imprecise and slow methods, mainly due to the huge required distances. In this paper, a new geolocation stake-out system based on GNSS RTK technology has been realized and tested, supported by a Matlab-based software application to allow the user to quickly and precisely locate the on-track points on which to position the road cones. The realized stake-out system, innovative and very simple to use, produces negligible average errors (i.e. 2.4-2.9 cm) on the distance between the staked-out points according to the reference standards (distance percentage error 0.29-0.47%). Furthermore, the measured average angular error is also very low, in the range 0.04-0.18°. Finally, ISO 3888-1 and ISO 3888-2 test configurations were re-produced on the proving ground of the Porsche Technical Center by utilizing the realized stake-out system to perform a double lane-change manoeuvre on car prototypes.Special Issue "Electronic Systems and Energy Harvesting Methods for Automation, Mechatronics and Automotive 2021"
Article Number: 4885openP. Visconti; F. Iaia, R. de Fazio, I. GiannoccaroVisconti, P.; Iaia, F.; de Fazio, R.; Giannoccaro, I
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