Il castello di carte. La transizione all’età adulta dei giovani Neet a Roma

Il contributo affronta il fenomeno della transizione all’età adulta dei giovani Neet (not in education, employment or training). Nel contesto italiano, disoccupazione, inattività e transizioni problematiche al lavoro sono strettamente legate al ritardo nella transizione all’età adulta e a modelli di dipendenza dalla famiglia. Lo studio mira a identificare modelli di transizione all’età adulta di Neet da una prospettiva biografica. È stata effettuata un’analisi qualitativa del contenuto computer-assistita su 32 interviste in profondità, che sono state condotte con Neet di età compresa tra i 25 e i 34 anni a Roma e nei suoi dintorni, nel quadro di un più ampio progetto di ricerca finanziato da Sapienza Università di Roma. Il contributo presenta una tipologia della transizione all’età adulta basata sulla posizione nella struttura familiare, le sequenze degli eventi nella biografia e il desiderio di autonomia. Nell’articolo vengono presentati sei tipi, caratterizzati in relazione al modello di dipendenza sviluppato, alle aspettative per il futuro e alle strategie soggettive, messe in atto per superare la condizione di Neet.The paper focuses on the transition to adulthood of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs). In the Italian context, unemployment, inactivity and problematic transitions to work are strongly related to delayed transition to adulthood and patterns of dependency on family. Our study aims to identify pathways to adulthood of NEETs from a biographical perspective. We carry out a software-based qualitative content analysis on 32 in-depth interviews, which have been conducted with NEETs between 25 and 34 years old in Rome and its surroundings as a part of a research project founded by Sapienza University of Rome. An empirically grounded typology of transition to adulthood based on position in the household, biographical sequence of life events and subjective aspirations for autonomy is constructed and six types are presented and characterized regarding dependency patterns, expectations for the future and subjective strategies to leave NEET-condition

Weakly-supervised localization of diabetic retinopathy lesions in retinal fundus images

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) show impressive performance for image classification and detection, extending heavily to the medical image domain. Nevertheless, medical experts are sceptical in these predictions as the nonlinear multilayer structure resulting in a classification outcome is not directly graspable. Recently, approaches have been shown which help the user to understand the discriminative regions within an image which are decisive for the CNN to conclude to a certain class. Although these approaches could help to build trust in the CNNs predictions, they are only slightly shown to work with medical image data which often poses a challenge as the decision for a class relies on different lesion areas scattered around the entire image. Using the DiaretDB1 dataset, we show that on retina images different lesion areas fundamental for diabetic retinopathy are detected on an image level with high accuracy, comparable or exceeding supervised methods. On lesion level, we achieve few false positives with high sensitivity, though, the network is solely trained on image-level labels which do not include information about existing lesions. Classifying between diseased and healthy images, we achieve an AUC of 0.954 on the DiaretDB1.Comment: Accepted in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP), 201

Classification of tools and methods for knowledge management in product development

"Der Fortschritt lebt vom Austausch des Wissens" (Progress is based on the exchange of knowledge - Albert Einstein), is only one of many famous sayings that underline the importance of knowledge. [Vajna et. al. 2001] quote a statement from 1907 saying that besides dedicated employees the application of knowledge had already been one of the most decisive factors of success for companies that time. This is more applied to our, by globalization characterised, time. A neglect of existing potentials of the employees\u27 knowledge has negative impacts on product development [Krause et. al. 2007]. That is why the missing accessibility of personal knowledge to the company and its employees leads to wasting in the company in the form of redundant developments or dissimilar decisions [Probst et. al. 2006]. Only a structured and systematic management of knowledge resources enables a company to benefit from yet unused personal knowledge [Krause et. al. 2007] and, thus, to positively influence the main targets cost, time and quality [Klabunde 2003]. Recently, a huge number of innovative knowledge management methods and tools have been developed, but only few of them have been applied. Problems that hinder the application of those methods and tools have been discussed by [Klabunde 2003]. Among these is also the limited usage of the tools due to missing knowledge about the usage. The aim of this paper is to combine knowledge management tools and methods with product development. The method to do this is to consider the knowledge management blocks according to Probst [Probst et.al. 2006], deriving from the area of business administration, in the context of the product development process according to VDI 2221 [VDI 1993]. Based on this consideration, the goal of this contribution is to identify and propose existing solutions for knowledge management in the different phases of product development

Rekonfigurierbare DSP-Datenpfaderweiterungen für energieeffiziente, eingebettete Prozessorkerne

Die Steigerung der Verarbeitungsleistung eingebetteter Mikroprozessoren gewinnt insbesondere durch zunehmende Bedeutung audiovisueller Datenverarbeitung in Verbindung mit drahtloser Kommunikation ständig an Bedeutung. Die notwendige Performance ist jedoch durch Anwendung klassischer Techniken des Prozessorentwurfs (Pipelining, Superskalarität) nur teilweise erreichbar. In unserem Beitrag möchten wir aufzeigen, daß die erforderliche Verarbeitungsleistung durch den Einsatz dynamisch rekonfigurierbarer Datenpfade bei gleichzeitig erhöhtem Flexibilitätsgrad erreicht werden kann. Anhand von quantitativen Untersuchungen zu Chipflächen und Leistungsbedarf einer 0,18µm CMOS-Standardzellenrealisierung der ARRIVE Architektur- Fallstudie wird ersichtlich, daß durch Einsatz eines einfachen RISC Mikroprozessors erweitert um einen rekonfigurierbaren DSP-Datenpfad eine gute Ausnutzung der vorhandenen Applikationsparallelität verbunden mit einem deutlichem Performancegewinn bei gleichzeitig geringem Chipflächen- und Leistungsbedarf erreichbar ist. Als Quelle des ermittelten und dargestellten Leistungsbedarfs dient dabei eine basierend auf repräsentativen DSP Benchmark-Algorithmen durchgeführte Power-Simulation des Chip-Layouts

Experimental Comparison of the Refrigerant Reservoir Position in a Primary Loop Refrigerant Cycle with Optimal Operation

Recent attempts to find energy-efficient thermal management systems for electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have led to secondary loop systems as an alternative approach to meet dynamic heating and cooling demands and reduce refrigerant charge. As such, a thorough understanding of the vapor compression cycle, which serves as the central thermal supply unit, is required. In addition to design considerations concerning the type and size of components such as the heat exchangers or compressor, the refrigerant reservoir choice between a high pressure receiver or a low pressure accumulator is critical for energy-efficient operation under varying operation conditions. In this work, two possible positions of the accumulator/receiver are experimentally examined and optimal control is applied. Therefore, either the superheating at the compressor inlet or outlet of the receiver system or the subcooling at the condenser outlet of the accumulator system are chosen as control variables and adjusted by an electrical expansion valve. Experimental results based on a simple automotive R134a primary loop system containing a scroll compressor are presented. Comparing these two different systems with a receiver or an accumulator, a receiver system shows a slightly higher COP under the examined operation conditions when operated optimally. However the receiver/accumulator position has a non-negligible impact on high and low pressure itself resulting in an advantage for the accumulator system in a cold winter scenario

Gamma/neutron separation in the Martian radiation environment

The Mars Science Laboratory is a NASA Mars-rover mission which was launched in November 2011, and will land on Mars in August 2012. One part of the rover is the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) which will measure a broad spectrum of energetic particles at the surface of Mars. The instrument consists of a silicon detector telescope stack followed by two scintillators which are enclosed by an anticoincidence. The high-Z cesium-iodide scintillator and the proton-rich plastic scintillator are used for detecting charged as well as neutral particles. In contrast to charged particles, neutral particles can pass the anti-coincidence without triggering a signal and can therefore be distinguished from charged particles. The cesium-iodide scintillator has a high sensitivity to gammas while the plastic scintillator has a high sensitivity to neutrons. However, since cesium-iodide is sensitive to neutrons just as plastic is sensitive to gammas as well, separating gammas and neutrons is a challenging task. The measurement of neutral particles is further complicated by the fact that neutral particles often deposit only a random fraction of their energy in a detector. Therefore, the spectra measured in the scintillators do not reflect the incoming particle spectra. The scope of this work is to provide methods to separate gamma and neutron measurements of the RAD instrument. In this context, a model was developed to calculate the propagation of solar energetic particles, which can induce an increase of the Martian neutral particle radiation. Based on maximum likelihood estimations, an inversion technique to calculate the unknown Martian neutral particle spectra from measurements and detector response function was developed. A detector response function was calculated with a detailed Monte-Carlo model. The inversion technique was evaluated for different models of underlying measurement statistics, validated with neutron beam calibration measurements and tested for artificial generated measurements of the Martian neutral particle spectra. The developed inversion techniques are applicable to a wide range of particle detectors and will be used for future evaluation of the RAD neutral particle measurements.Das Mars Science Laboratory ist eine NASA Rover-Mission, die im November 2011 gestartet ist und voraussichtlich im August 2012 auf dem Mars landen wird. Ein Teil des Rovers ist der Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), der das Spektrum energetischer Teilchen auf der Marsoberfläche messen wird. Das Instrument besteht aus einem Teleskop aus Siliziumdetektoren gefolgt von zwei Szintillatoren, die von einer Antikoinzidenz eingeschlossen sind. Neutralteilchen können die Antikoinzidenz passieren, ohne ein Signal zu erzeugen und können damit von geladenen Teilchen unterschieden werden. Der Cäsiumiodid-Szintillator hat durch seine hohe Kernladungszahl eine hohe Sensitivität für Gamma-Teilchen, der Plastikszintillator hat eine hohe Protonendichte und somit eine hohe Sensitivität für Neutronen. Da aber Cäsiumiodid ebenfalls sensitiv für Neutronen und Plastik ebenso sensitiv für Gamma-Teilchen ist, ist das Trennen von Gamma-Teilchen und Neutronen eine herausfordernde Aufgabe. Zudem wird die Messung von Neutralteilchen dadurch erschwert, dass diese häufig nur einen zufälligen Anteil ihrer Energie im Detektor deponieren. Die Messung der Szintillatoren enthält also nur indirekte Informationen über das Neutralteilchenspektrum. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, Methoden zur Trennung der Gamma- und Neutronenmessungen von RAD zu entwickeln. In diesem Kontext wurde ein Modell entwickelt, welches die Ausbreitung solarer energiereicher Teilchen beschreibt, die ein wichtiger Faktor für das Teilchenspektrum auf dem Mars sind. Weiter wurde eine Maximum-Likelihood Inversionsmethode entwickelt, mit der das unbekannte Teilchenspektrum aus der Messung und der Detektorantwortfunktion berechnet werden kann. Die Detektorantwortfunktion wurde anhand eines Monte-Carlo-Modells des Detektors erstellt. Die Inversionsmethode wurde für verschiedene Statistikmodelle verglichen, anhand von Kalibrationsmessungen verifiziert und für künstlich erzeugte Messungen der Mars-Teilchenspektren getestet. Die entwickelten Methoden sind auf eine Vielzahl von Teilchendetektoren anwendbar und werden zur Auswertung der RAD Neutralteilchen Messungen verwendet