Portable high-end instrument for in-vivo infrared spectroscopy using spread spectrum modulation

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be employed to monitor noninvasively and continuously local changes in hemodynamics and oxygenation of human tissues. In particular, the technique can be particularly useful for muscular functional monitoring during unattended physical activity. A portable NIRS research-grade acquisition system, dedicated to low-noise measurements during muscular exercise, is presented. A spread-spectrum multiplexing scheme significantly enhances system performance. The resulting instrument is compact, lightweight and efficient. Preliminary tests on oxygen consumption during exercise and venous occlusion show excellent detectivity and time response

Consensus Emerging from the Bottom-up: the Role of Cognitive Variables in Opinion Dynamics

The study of opinions $-$ e.g., their formation and change, and their effects on our society $-$ by means of theoretical and numerical models has been one of the main goals of sociophysics until now, but it is one of the defining topics addressed by social psychology and complexity science. Despite the flourishing of different models and theories, several key questions still remain unanswered. The aim of this paper is to provide a cognitively grounded computational model of opinions in which they are described as mental representations and defined in terms of distinctive mental features. We also define how these representations change dynamically through different processes, describing the interplay between mental and social dynamics of opinions. We present two versions of the model, one with discrete opinions (voter model-like), and one with continuous ones (Deffuant-like). By means of numerical simulations, we compare the behaviour of our cognitive model with the classical sociophysical models, and we identify interesting differences in the dynamics of consensus for each of the models considered.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Partner selection supports reputation-based cooperation in a Public Goods Game

In dyadic models of indirect reciprocity, the receivers' history of giving has a significant impact on the donor's decision. When the interaction involves more than two agents things become more complicated, and in large groups cooperation can hardly emerge. In this work we use a Public Goods Game to investigate whether publicly available reputation scores may support the evolution of cooperation and whether this is affected by the kind of network structure adopted. Moreover, if agents interact on a bipartite graph with partner selection cooperation can thrive in large groups and in a small amount of time.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures. In press for Springer E

An approach to model interest for planetary rover through Dezert-Smarandache Theory

In this paper we propose an approach for assigning an interest level to the goals of a planetary rover. Assigning an interest level to goals, allows the rover to autonomously transform and reallocate the goals. The interest level is defined by data-fusing payload and navigation information. The fusion yields an "interest map", that quantifies the level of interest of each area around the rover. In this way, the planner can choose the most interesting scientific objectives to be analyzed, with limited human intervention, and reallocates its goals autonomously. The Dezert-Smarandache Theory of Plausible and Paradoxical Reasoning was used for information fusion: this theory allows dealing with vague and conflicting data. In particular, it allows us to directly model the behaviour of the scientists that have to evaluate the relevance of a particular set of goals. The paper shows an application of the proposed approach to the generation of a reliable interest map

We Are Not GIL

Cultural practices and events are an occasion to reflect on the space they come to occupy and inhabit\u2014even if temporarily. As it is often the case in Rome, the architecture becomes an overwhelming element to deal with. This year the new location granted by the Region to the performative art festival Short Theatre was the rationalist building of the ExGil\u2014literally former Fascist Youth. After its restoration and reopening the space was renamed as WeGil by the Regione Lazio administration, and is currently used as polyvalent cultural space and venue for exhibitions, arts and culture. Luigi Moretti\u2019s building was inaugurated in 1937, as the space for the fascist organization Giovent\uf9 Italiana del Littorio, and used as such until the end of WWII. This cohabitation couldn\u2019t but trigger a reflection about the building itself and the city at large, their symbols and history. The artistic production of today has the power\u2014and duty\u2014of reshaping and resignifying the matter of collective memory, through its contemporary theories, influences and gestures. Indeed, the considerations that came about necessarily tackled the colonial fascist past of Italian history and geography inasmuch as their tendency to remain incomplete, often laboriously countered by feminist decolonial artistic and educational practices. This issue unfolds through their collective intervention (We) are not Gil, Ilenia Caleo, Isabella Pinto, Federica Giardini and Serena Fiorletta attempt to \u201ccomplete\u201d the historical traces embedded in the ExGil building

The Argonauts on Mount Dindymon : Dionysiac Cult and Hellenistic Ideology in Apollonius of Rhodes

This article explores the foundation of Cybele’s cult by the Argonauts on Mount Dindymon as narrated by Apollonius of Rhodes in Book 1 of the Argonautica. It will be maintained that the differences between the ritual described by the poet and the cultic practice attested to in the tradition can be explained as a reference to the myth of Dionysus’ purification in Phrygia, which was also staged in the Grand Procession of Ptolemy II. In particular, the presence of a Dionysiac sub-pattern will be detected in the mention of the vine used for carving the statue of Cybele, which has no parallel in other sources concerning the goddess and which is linked to Dionysus in other Hellenistic poems about cult statues. It will be claimed that the reference to the Dionysiac myth may hide a political message connected with Ptolemaic imperialist ambition in Anatolia and Greece in the 3rd century BC