Rationality and choices in economics: behavioral and evolutionary approaches

The paper critically discusses the issue of rationality and choices in economics in both the behavioural and evolutionary approaches. Our study aims, on the one hand, to highlight the scientific contributions of psychology in economics, since psychology, and with it the theoretical approach of the behavioral economics, has made more complex and problematic the analysis of economic choices, showing the limits of rationality. On the other hand, the work offers a reinterpretation of the theory of Alfred Marshall in a biologicalevolutionary perspective. The reinterpretation of Marshall's theory in a evolutionary perspective aims to show that, historically, economics has not been a discipline aligned in a homogenous way to a single and undifferentiated thought, locked into the idea of perfect rationality, but, on the opposite, is a discipline that has enriched itself and continually is enriching by contributions and significant contaminations with other research fields.rationality; choices; behavioral economics; evolutionary theories; biology;

Energy Detection UWB Receiver Design using a Multi-resolution VHDL-AMS Description

Ultra Wide Band (UWB) impulse radio systems are appealing for location-aware applications. There is a growing interest in the design of UWB transceivers with reduced complexity and power consumption. Non-coherent approaches for the design of the receiver based on energy detection schemes seem suitable to this aim and have been adopted in the project the preliminary results of which are reported in this paper. The objective is the design of a UWB receiver with a top-down methodology, starting from Matlab-like models and refining the description down to the final transistor level. This goal will be achieved with an integrated use of VHDL for the digital blocks and VHDL-AMS for the mixed-signal and analog circuits. Coherent results are obtained using VHDL-AMS and Matlab. However, the CPU time cost strongly depends on the description used in the VHDL-AMS models. In order to show the functionality of the UWB architecture, the receiver most critical functions are simulated showing results in good agreement with the expectations

Rappresentazione

Gli insegnamenti afferenti l’area disciplinare del Disegno hanno l’obiettivo di far maturare negli allievi le capacità critiche e le abilità pratiche per conoscere e comunicare l’architettura, la città e l’ambiente. Il Disegno, nell’accezione più attuale e generale del termine, è il più potente mezzo di comunicazione a disposizione dell’architetto, ma è anche e soprattutto un insostituibile ausilio alla conoscenza: attraverso di esso diamo forma al nostro pensiero, ne comprendiamo le incertezze e, in un processo ricorsivo di rappresentazione e osservazione, ri-conosciamo e perfezioniamo sia il disegno stesso, che le nostre esperienze in relazione a quanto rappresentato, indirizzando l’intervento sull’esistente (tutela, conservazione, uso) e la prefigurazione del nuovo (progetto). Oggetto e strumento del Disegno è il modello nelle sue diverse manifestazioni: possiamo parlare di modelli tangibili – modelli grafici (schizzo, rappresentazione grafiche codificate), digitali, fisici (maquette) – e di modelli “intangibili”, definizione che può essere applicata ai modelli mentali e ideativi, mediante i quali si struttura la nostra conoscenza e che costituiscono un insostituibile supporto nella fase di espressione e comunicazione della genesi creativa

Psychosocial needs of family caregivers of cancer patients

The purpose of this study was to examine caregivers\u27 psychosocial needs in order to develop supportive programs and implement proper interventions intending to improve their quality of life and quality of care for their loved one\u27s affected by cancer

An effective AMS Top-Down Methodology Applied to the Design of a Mixed-SignalUWB System-on-Chip

The design of Ultra Wideband (UWB) mixed-signal SoC for localization applications in wireless personal area networks is currently investigated by several researchers. The complexity of the design claims for effective top-down methodologies. We propose a layered approach based on VHDL-AMS for the first design stages and on an intelligent use of a circuit-level simulator for the transistor-level phase. We apply the latter just to one block at a time and wrap it within the system-level VHDL-AMS description. This method allows to capture the impact of circuit-level design choices and non-idealities on system performance. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology we show how the refinement of the design affects specific UWB system parameters such as bit-error rate and localization estimations

A 1-bit Synchronization Algorithm for a Reduced Complexity Energy Detection UWB Receiver

This work investigates the possibility of performing synchronization in a reduced complexity Energy Detection receiver. A new receiver scheme employing a single comparator only is defined and the related synchronization algorithm is presented. The possibility of synchronizing has been analyzed both for an idealized Dirac Delta input signal and for realistic UWB signals obtained through the TG4a channel model. The matlab simulations show that it is possible to obtain coarse synchronization using a simple maximum detection algorithm computed on collected energies for the ideal case of Dirac Delta pulses. For realistic UWB signals better synchronization performances are possible by employing a searchback algorithm. Due to the low complexity of the receiver scheme, the synchronization algorithm requires a long locking time

A Low-power CMOS 2-PPM Demodulator for Energy Detection IR-UWB Receivers

This paper presents an integrated 2-PPM CMOS demodulator for non-coherent energy detection receivers which inherently provides analog-to-digital conversion. The device, called Bi-phase integrator, employs an open loop Gm - C integrator loaded with a switched capacitor network. The circuit has been simulated in a mixed-mode UMC 0.18mum technology and its performance figures are obtained through a mixed-signal simulation environment developed with the aid of ADVanceMS (ADMS, mentor graphics). Bit-error-rate simulations show that the circuit performance is about the same of an ideal energy detection receiver employing infinite quantization resolution. In addition, the simulations show that the circuit provides a complete offset rejection. Thanks to its low power consumption (1 mW during demodulation), its application is appealing for portable devices which aim at very low-power consumption

Transfer of aflatoxin from feed to milk and curd in Sarda ewes with different milk production level

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a toxin produced by some strains of Aspergillus growing in feedstuffs. Dairy animals fed with diet containing AFB1 excrete aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) into the milk. The carry over ratio (AFM1 excreted in milk/ AFB1 ingested) has been found lower in sheep (Battacone et al., 2002a) than in cattle (Veldman et al., 1992). Being AFM1 linked to milk proteins, its concentration in curd is higher than in milk. The AFM1 concentration in milk resulted not influenced by milk production level in cattle, therefore the total amount of AFM1 excreted in milk and, consequently, the carry-over ratio increased with milk yield (Munksgaard et al., 1987; Veldman et al., 1992). A previous study carried out on isoproductive dairy ewes showed an increase of the AFM1 concentration both in milk and in curd as the amount of AFB1 ingested increased (Battacone et al., 2002b). Aim of the present work is to study the influence of AFB1 dose and milk production level on the transfer of AFB1 from feeds to milk and curd as AFM1 in dairy ewes