The Podcast as an Innovative Urban Planning Teaching Tool: Soft and Hard Skills between Discipline and Professional Identity

The expression didactic innovation has recently assumed an implicit reference to Distance Learning. For scholars, however, it was above all the critical questioning on learning models. The article explores the use of the podcast as a stimulus for engineering students to achieve new soft skills: to learn multidisciplinary contents related to planning and to acquire professional competences in digital aspects and feedbacks attribution. Experience took place over two years: this gave the opportunity to compare the activity carried out totally in presence and totally remotely (through online lessons and reviews), to draw from them issues for discussion and future implementations

Investigation on human factors and key aspects involved in Autonomous Vehicles -AVs- acceptance: new instruments and perspectives

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Joint Observation of the Galactic Center with MAGIC and CTA-LST-1

MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), designed to detect very-high-energy gamma rays, and is operating in stereoscopic mode since 2009 at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma, Spain. In 2018, the prototype IACT of the Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array, a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory, was inaugurated at the same site, at a distance of approximately 100 meters from the MAGIC telescopes. Using joint observations between MAGIC and LST-1, we developed a dedicated analysis pipeline and established the threefold telescope system via software, achieving the highest sensitivity in the northern hemisphere. Based on this enhanced performance, MAGIC and LST-1 have been jointly and regularly observing the Galactic Center, a region of paramount importance and complexity for IACTs. In particular, the gamma-ray emission from the dynamical center of the Milky Way is under debate. Although previous measurements suggested that a supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* plays a primary role, its radiation mechanism remains unclear, mainly due to limited angular resolution and sensitivity. The enhanced sensitivity in our novel approach is thus expected to provide new insights into the question. We here present the current status of the data analysis for the Galactic Center joint MAGIC and LST-1 observations

Explorative study over perception and acceptance of innovation and the role of communication and information channels: the case of Autonomous Vehicles

This research aims to explore and investigate the reasons behind the public reaction to autonomous vehicles (since, in the opinion of the author, understanding these factors is crucial to ensure a smooth and successful transition toward the future technological era), and, more in details, it aims to investigate the role that the lack of information or the disinformation may have in the acceptance process. Starting from a sociological and user centered point of view, the following work aims to investigate the human factors involved in the acceptance of autonomous vehicles from a communicative and perceptive perspective. By putting information and related channels at the center of exploratory reasoning, the author's goal is to understand the effects that communication and information, delivered through different channels, can have on the potential user and, on these assumptions, define a series of useful recommendations for the acceptance of the phenomenon by the public. What are the gaps to fill? What are the most effective actions and channels to do so? What is the role of communication in the process? In the body of the thesis, the literature regarding the acceptance of technology and innovation by the user will be analyzed, the determinants and factors that guide the choice will be highlighted and the role of the communicative component within the aforementioned choice will be analyzed. Thanks to the contribution of topical information, a framework relating to the state of the art of the phenomenon in question, autonomous vehicles, will be developed. Through the information derived, we will then proceed to the creation and administration of an exploratory questionnaire with the aim of investigating the knowledge and perception of users about the subject and on the channels through which they have come to the information. The ultimate goal of the research is to devise a road map of useful actions to be implemented in support of the public acceptance process, completed by a set of recommendations and assumptions

Co-occurring WARS2 and CHRNA6 mutations in a child with a severe form of infantile parkinsonism

Objective: To investigate the molecular cause(s) underlying a severe form of infantile-onset parkinsonism and characterize functionally the identified variants. Methods: A trio-based whole exome sequencing (WES) approach was used to identify the candidate variants underlying the disorder. In silico modeling, and in vitro and in vivo studies were performed to explore the impact of these variants on protein function and relevant cellular processes. Results: WES analysis identified biallelic variants in WARS2, encoding the mitochondrial tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase (mtTrpRS), a gene whose mutations have recently been associated with multiple neurological phe-notypes, including childhood-onset, levodopa-responsive or unresponsive parkinsonism in a few patients. A substantial reduction of mtTrpRS levels in mitochondria and reduced OXPHOS function was demonstrated, supporting their pathogenicity. Based on the infantile-onset and severity of the phenotype, additional variants were considered as possible genetic modifiers. Functional assessment of a selected panel of candidates pointed to a de novo missense mutation in CHRNA6, encoding the α6 subunit of neuronal nicotinic receptors, which are involved in the cholinergic modulation of dopamine release in the striatum, as a second event likely contributing to the phenotype. In silico, in vitro (Xenopus oocytes and GH4C1 cells) and in vivo (C. elegans) analyses demon-strated the disruptive effects of the mutation on acetylcholine receptor structure and function