Problems with definition of relational entities within spacetime And a possible solution

The contemporary debate on definition of relational entities existing within spacetime is mostly characterized by the belief that a multiplicity of entities of such kind exists. The aim of this paper is to show how this statement leads to some issues of diverse nature and trying to propose instead a metaphysical position that might do without it. In his 2002 paper On Stage, Worm and Relativity, Balashov takes in exam two quadridimensional theories - Worm Theory and Stage Theory – with the aim of showing that both agree with the results of special relativity. Balashov concludes by suggesting that, between the two, the first is the most effective . In this paper, I will take in exam these two theories, and will show how taking into account only Lorentz’s invariance in order to define relational entities existing within spacetime leads to some issues. Moreover, I will show that the positions following these difficulties lead to problems that are, in my opinion, insurmountable for what concerns causal relations, and that this is true for every theory defining relational spatiotemporal entities as a multiplicity. Then I will demonstrate that, even pretending we can define relational entities by Lorents’s invariance, this leads to problems with multilocation which, as shown by Calosi and Varzi in Back to Black (2014) , is essential to solve Black’s counter-example to the identity principle of indiscernibles, necessary for every theory that implies a multiciplity. Eventually I will analyse Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, with the purpose of showing that every theory that considers it true, will meet, in my opinion, an insurmountable problem linked to the concept of multiplicity. Given these distinct arguments, I will outline the borders of a metaphysical monist position with the purpose of showing that it is a solution to each

A Co-Design Methodology for Developing a Training Program for Financial Specialists on Climate Neutrality

LAUREA MAGISTRALEQuesta tesi si propone di applicare pratiche di co-design per lo sviluppo di un programma di formazione per specialisti finanziari sulla neutralità climatica. I destinatari della formazione, CFS o City Financial Specialists, possiedono già una solida conoscenza del mondo finanziario, ma necessitano di essere introdotti al lavoro, ai progetti e alle pratiche che vengono svolte all’interno del progetto europeo NetZero Cities (NZC). L’obiettivo di NZC è quello di ridurre drasticamente la “carbon footprint” delle città europee creando una rete di buone pratiche a partire da una selezione di pilot cities. La ricerca su cui si basa questa tesi è stata condotta seguendo pratiche di social design e di progettazione partecipativa. L’intero programma di formazione è stato il risultato di diverse sessioni di co-design, sia con i formatori che con i CFS. Da un lato, è stato utile comprendere le esigenze e i requisiti dei CFS (i futuri destinatari della formazione), in particolare su come progettare le sessioni affinché non risultassero troppo difficili da seguire, considerando che si sarebbero svolte interamente online. La fatica che può derivare da lunghe riunioni online può compromettere il risultato complessivo del training. D’altro canto, è stato necessario discutere con i formatori gli obiettivi formativi chiave su cui i CFS avrebbero dovuto essere formati. Questo documento si concentra fortemente sulla metodologia utilizzata per creare la formazione e presenta i risultati delle sessioni.This thesis aims at applying co-design practices for the development of a training program for financial specialists on climate neutrality. The receivers of the training, CFS or City Financial Specialists, have a thorough background knowledge of the financial world, but they need to be onboarded on the work, projects and practices that are being carried out within the NetZero Cities European Project (NZC). NZC has the aim of drastically reducing the carbon footprint of the EU cities by creating a network of best practices from a selection of pilot cities. The research that this thesis is based on was carried out by following social design and participatory design practices. The whole training program was the result of multiple sessions of co-design both with the trainers and the learners. On one side it was useful to understand the needs and requirements of the CFSs (the will-be recipients of the training) especially on how to design the sessions so that they would not be too challenging to follow, considering they would be entirely held through online sessions. The fatigue that can result from long online meetings can jeopardize the outcome of the overall project. One the other side, it was necessary to discuss with the trainers the key learning objectives that the CFSs would have to be trained on. This paper strongly focuses on the methodology to create the training, and it presents the outcome of the sessions

Preliminary modelling of hydrogen PEMFC system for automotive applications focusing on air loop

LAUREA MAGISTRALEI sistemi a celle a combustibile rappresentano un'alternativa pulita ed efficiente ai tradizionali motori a combustione interna per applicazioni automobilistiche. Un'intensa attività di ricerca è in fase di sviluppo da parte di università e produttori per rendere questa tecnologia competitiva negli anni a venire. Molte criticità incidono ancora sulla diffusione di questa tecnologia, che può essere riassunta in termini di degradazione e costo. Il superamento di questi problemi dipende dalla comprensione, dalla previsione e dal controllo del comportamento del sistema quando quest’ultimo è sottoposto a transitori di carico molto rapidi, tipico di applicazioni automotive. Al momento sono disponibili in Letteratura molti modelli a parametri concentrati di sistemi cella a combustibile. Si basano su relazioni semi-empiriche della cella che modellano la dipendenza dalle prestazioni del componente sui parametri operativi. Pochissimi modelli a livello di sistema estendono la loro analisi a una più profonda comprensione del trasporto delle singole specie all'interno della cella durante il funzionamento. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è quello di sviluppare un modello di cella a combustibile PEM basato sulla fisica da incorporare all'interno del sistema PEM per applicazioni automobilistiche. Esso consente di indagare i principali meccanismi di trasporto che si verificano durante un tipico funzionamento automotive. Cinetica catodica e anodica, trasporto di specie gassose attraverso il catodo GDL, trasporto di massa attraverso canali anodi e catodici e trasporto dell'acqua attraverso la membrana sono i principali fenomeni investigati. Un modello fisico, dinamico, 1D + 1D, non isotermico è stato implementato nell'ambiente Matlab-SIMULINK, per comprendere il comportamento transitorio. I componenti del sistema di compressione e umidificazione dell’aria e raffreddamento dello Stack sono stati sviluppati partendo da modelli semi-empirici dei singoli componenti. Viene infine presentato un confronto tra due approcci di controllo, che mira a valutare quale, tra un controllo sulla Pressione a un valore costante o una variazione lineare della stessa con la potenza, è la migliore alternativa in termini di controllo del livello di umidificazione in membrana e di efficienza a livello di sistema, quando questo replica un ciclo NEDC.Fuel cell systems represent a clean and efficient alternative to traditional ICEs for automotive application and an intensive research is under development by academia and manufacturers to make this technology competitive in the incoming years. Many issues still affect the spread of this technology, which can be summarised into degradation and cost issues. The overcome of these criticisms depends on understanding, predicting and controlling the behaviour of the fuel cell systems under fast transients of operating and load conditions. Many lumped parameters-based models of FC systems are currently available. They are based on semi-empirical relations which model fuel cell performance dependence on operating parameters. Very few system-level models extend their analysis to a deeper understanding of species transport within the component during operation. The aim of this work is to develop an innovative physical-based PEM fuel cell model to incorporate within the PEM system for automotive application, which allows to investigate the main transport mechanisms occurring inside the cell. Cathode and anode kinetics, gas species transport through the cathode GDL, mass transport through anode and cathode channels and water transport through the membrane are the main phenomena investigated. A physical, dynamic, 1D+1D, non-isothermal model has been implemented in Matlab-SIMULINK environment, to capture the transient behaviour of the cell. Air management, water management and thermal management system components are developed from semi-empirical components model. A comparison of two control approaches is reported, which aims to assess whether keeping stack Pressure constant or variable is the best alternative in terms of water management and overall efficiency, when the system replicates a NEDC cycle

Strategies for the introduction and implementation of a guideline for the treatment of type 2 diabetics by general practitioners (GPs) of the Lazio region of Italy (IMPLEMEG study): Protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial [ISRCTN80116232]

BACKGROUND: Despite broad agreement on the necessity to improve quality of diabetic care through implementation of clinical guidelines, in Italy many people with diabetes still lack adequate care in general practice. In addition there is little evidence to support the choice of implementation strategies, especially in the Lazio region (central Italy), where comparative studies among general practitioners (GPs) are uncommon. The primary objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of different strategies for the implementation of an evidence-based guideline for the management of non-complicated type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) among GPs of the Lazio region. METHODS/DESIGN: Three-arm cluster-randomised trial (C-RCT). 252 GPs were randomised either to arm 1 (comprising a training module and administration of the guideline), or to arm 2 (administration of guideline without training), or to arm 3 (control arm), continuing current practice. Arm 1 participants attended a two-day course with CME credits. Data collection will be performed using current information systems. Patients' health data was also collected to describe diabetic populations cared for by GP participants. Process outcomes will be measured at the patient level and at the cluster level one year after the intervention. We will assess GPs' adherence to guideline recommendations for diabetes management relative to: 1) pharmacological management of diabetes; 2) pharmacological management of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension and dislypidaemia); 3) measurement of glycosilated haemoglobin as the principal indicator of glycaemic control; 4) micro- and macrovascular complications assessment tests. Outcomes will be expressed as proportions of patients cared for by GPs who will have prescriptions of drugs, requests for tests and for outpatient appointment visits. To estimate the efficiency of resource use associated with the intervention a cost-effectiveness analysis will be carried out. The design of the study is based on three Cochrane and one Health Technology Assessment systematic reviews of guideline dissemination and implementation strategies

Closing the Reality Gap by Estimating Dynamic Residuals with Gaussian Processes

RÉSUMÉ: L’apprentissage par renforcement (Reinforcement Learning, RL) s’est récemment imposé comme un cadre puissant pour résoudre des problèmes complexes de prise de décision, faisant de lui un candidat prometteur pour des applications de contrôle de systèmes mécaniques réels. Le déploiement de ces agents de Reinforcement Learning (RL) dans des environnements réels restant difficile en raison des coûts élevés, des risques et du temps requis pour l’entraînement direct sur les systèmes physiques, l’utilisation de la simulation pour l’entraînement s’est im-posé comme une l’approche standard, exploitant les capacités de calcul et de parallélisation des ordinateurs modernes pour développer des politiques ensuite transférées sur les systèmes réels. Cependant, malgré les progrès des simulateurs en matière de fidélité et des techniques de transfert des agents de la simulation vers la réalité, le déploiement des politiques RL sur des systèmes physiques reste limité par le réalité gap — c’est-à-dire le décalage entre le com-portement simulé et le comportement réel - lorsque ces systèmes présentent des dynamiques complexes. Ce mémoire explore une approche visant à combler cet écart entre simulateur et monde réel en améliorant le simulateur lui-même. Plus précisément, nous proposons une méthode reposant sur les processus Gaussiens (Gaussian Processes, GP) pour modéliser les résidus des dynamiques entre l’environnement simulé et le monde réel. En optimisant un GP à partir de données collectées dans le système réel et en l’ajoutant comme terme correctif dans la fonction de transition de la simulation, nous obtenons un simulateur enrichi capable de générer des trajectoires plus fidèles à la réalité. Cet environnement amélioré est ensuite utilisé pour entraîner de nouvelles politiques de RL plus robustes au transfert vers l’environnement cible et présentant de meilleure performance dans celui-ci. Afin de valider l’efficacité de cette approche, nous avons réalisé des expériences en simulation et sur un robot dans le monde réel. Nos résultats montrent non seulement que l’ajout du modèle correctif au simulateur permet de générer des trajectoires plus réalistes mais aussi que les politiques entrainées sur ce simulateur atteignent des performances quasi-optimales une fois transférées dans l’environnement réel. Ce travail souligne l’intérêt de modèles pro-babilistes, peu gourmands en données, pour améliorer le transfert de simulation vers réalité des politiques de RL, participant ainsi à réduire l’écart entre simulation et monde réel dans le cadre de l’apprentissage par renforcement appliqué à la robotique. ABSTRACT: Reinforcement Learning has recently emerged as a powerful framework for solving complex decision-making problems and made it a promising candidate for solving real-world tasks such as robotic control. However, the deployment of RL in real-world scenarios remains challeng-ing due to the high cost, risk, and time associated with training directly on physical systems. To avoid these constraint, simulation-based training has become a standard approach, lever-aging fast, parallelizable environments to develop policies that are then transferred to real hardware. Despite advancements in simulation fidelity and sim-to-real transfer techniques, the deployment of RL policies to hardware systems with highly complex dynamics contin-ues to face the persistent issue of the reality gap — the discrepancy between simulated and real-world behaviors. This thesis investigates a real-to-sim approach to bridge this gap by enhancing the simulator itself. Specifically, we propose a method based on Gaussian Processes to model the residual dynamics between the simulated and real environments. By learning a GP from real-world interaction data and integrating it into the simulation loop as an additive correction term, we produce an enhanced simulator that generates system behaviors closer to the one encountered in the real world. This improved simulation environment is then used to train new RL policies more robust to deployment in the target environment. We validate the effectiveness of this approach with both simulation and physical experiments. Our results demonstrate that the Gaussian process enhancement of the environment enable generation of more realistic trajectories and the training of policies that achieve near-optimal performance in the target real-world environment. This work highlights the value of data-efficient, probabilistic modeling for improving Sim-to-Real transfer and contributes to closing the loop between simulation and real-world deployment in RL for robotic systems

Implementazione di un modello computazionale per lo studio delle proprietà di shock absorption di calzature da corsa

LAUREA SPECIALISTICANel presente studio è stato implementato un metodo innovativo e fortemente automatizzato per l'indagine delle proprietà di shock absorption di calzature sportive, basato sull'integrazione di: (1) test sperimentali di impatto; (2) acquisizioni video ad alta velocità; (3) simulazioni computazionali. Le registrazioni video degli impatti al terreno per un modello di calzatura base, riprodotti artificialmente tramite un apposito sistema meccanico, sono state analizzate al calcolatore per valutare la deformazione superficiale a carico del tacco. Gli stessi impatti al suolo sono stati replicati tramite simulazioni computazionali per ottenere una previsione numerica della stessa deformazione. Il confronto tra le distribuzioni di deformazione ha mostrato un'incoraggiante compatibilità delle previsioni numeriche con i risultati sperimentali associati, ma anche significative incongruenze imputabili alle numerose limitazioni incontrate.In this study we developed a new and heavily automated method to assess shock absorption properties in sports shoes, based on: (1) experimental impact tests; (2) high speed video recording; (3) finite element simulations. Impact tests for a basic sports shoe were performed under controlled conditions through a mechanical impact simulator. High speed video captures of these impacts were processed in order to assess superficial strains in the rearfoot area. The very same impact events were simulated through computational modeling in order to predict the same strain. The comparison showed good agreement between the two strain distributions, yet it outlined significant differences due to the limitations faced

Experiment-Driven Rationalism

Philosophers debate about which logical system, if any, is the One True Logic. This involves a disagreement concerning the sufficient conditions that may single out the correct logic among various candidates. This paper discusses whether there are necessary conditions for the correct logic; that is, I discuss whether there are features such that if a logic is correct, then it has those features, although having them might not be sufficient to single out the correct logic. Traditional rationalist arguments suggest that the necessary conditions of thought are necessary and sufficient conditions singling out the correct logical and mathematical theories. In the contemporary debate, Chalmers advocates a view along this line. Jago, analogously, suggests that the necessary conditions for thought—or, as he calls them, our basic epistemic expectations—single out a family of logical and mathematical theories. Warren and Williamson, on the other hand, argue that there are no necessary conditions of thought. I argue that there are necessary conditions for thought, and these are necessary but not sufficient conditions to be the correct logic; indeed, these are features that all logics—correct or incorrect—share. No view we can understand is ruled out by the necessary conditions for thought, but we cannot understand quite any view. Human linguistic and conceptual abilities are genetically constrained, and these constraints are our best guide to the boundaries of logic. Arguing for this, I tackle two dogmas of modern rationalism: namely, the view that the biological constraints of human cognition have no bearing on the boundaries of the epistemic space, and the view that the boundaries of thought coincide with the boundaries of language

The Problem of Philosophical Progress in Kant’s First Critique and Wittgenstein’s Tractatus

This paper develops two theses and one suggestion. The first thesis concerns how to reason about the problem of philosophical progress. Chalmers (2015) and Dellsén et al. (2022) proposed frameworks to reason about this problem. I argue that these frameworks have limits and develop an alternative. Having done this, I put my proposed framework to the test. That is, I use it to analyse the views held by Kant in the first critique and Wittgenstein in the Tractatus. The second thesis concerns the relations between these works. My proposed framework makes evident that, for all their differences, Kant and Wittgenstein gave similar answers to the problem of philosophical progress. They both claimed that philosophy has been very unproductive for much of its history and proposed methods to fix this. My suggestion is that this might be a recurring pattern in the history of philosophy, which perhaps could help explain why, to this day, there is so much pessimism concerning philosophical progress

Optimism about philosophical progress, a historical case study

In this thesis I defend optimism about philosophical progress, which is a form of anti-exceptionalism about philosophy. Pessimists maintain that philosophy lacks the distinctive features that make science progressive. Optimism maintains that philosophy is like science, in this respect. My argumentative strategy is the following. I review the literature on philosophical progress to identify the feature that, according to pessimists, philosophy lacks. Then, I develop a historical case study to show that philosophy has these features. The goal is showing that philosophy makes progress by pessimistic standards. My strategy is novel because other optimists, including Stoljar and Dellsén, Firing, and Norton, focus on arguing that a certain set of conditions are sufficient for progress, contrary to what pessimists hold. I focus instead on arguing that, contrary to what pessimists hold, philosophy makes progress by their standards. The most common pessimistic argument is the following: first, pessimists argue that consensus is a necessary condition for progress, second, they argue that philosophy is pervaded by disagreement. It follows that philosophy is exceptional. Beebee, Chalmers, Dietrich, Goldberg, and Kornblith employ various versions of this reasoning. Optimistic responses to this argument typically grant the second premise and challenge the first. Instead, I follow Williamson in granting the first premise and challenging the second. My case study focuses on the work of Gottlob Frege, who is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of analytic philosophy. I argue that there is consensus in contemporary philosophy about some of the views that Frege set forth. In fact, Frege’s case meets not only the pessimistic requirements for progress, Frege also produced all the epistemic goods that are associated to progress by participants in the more general debate about scientific progress. To show this, I review the literature about scientific progress, following Rowbottom’s analysis. Then I analyse various aspects of Frege’s work to show that it meets all the known conditions of progress. Thus, no matter what view about progress is correct, Frege made progress. Having argued that Frege made progress, I generalize my argument by considering three other authors that arguably made progress in the past. Moreover, I consider contemporary debates in contemporary philosophy to argue that philosophy continues to make progress to this day. Finally, I review some of the barriers to progress that seem indeed to be holding back philosophy, and other disciplines. Philosophy made progress in the past and continues to make progress to this day. But not all is good. Having ruled out pessimism about philosophical progress, we are in a better position to see how philosophy, and other disciplines, could be improved