Enhancing Sustainable Innovation by Design: an Approach to the Co-creation of Economic, Social and Environmental Value

The thesis introduces a new, flexible and easy-to-use methodological design approach to envisioning product-service systems able to create economic value for business, as well as social and environmental benefits for society. Such an approach has been developed to support business innovation projects, by finding a practical way of making ‘sustainability’ part of their design briefs. The approach proposed does not replace conventional eco-design practices: it is an instrument of different nature. It moves beyond the modification of products and their technological changes towards answers able to stimulate social innovation, and therefore to facilitate a radical transformation of industrially-oriented patterns of production and consumption. To elaborate on this theme, an iterative research approach has been used, one that moves from the theory currently available on how to produce and design sustainable product-service systems to new experimentation practices, and from these practices to a new, theoretical, contribution. The domain chosen for its application is digital networking and information communication technology, with a particular focus on the electronics and consumer electronics sectors in Western markets

Dar Al Gani 896: A unique picritic achondrite

Accepted versio

Campiglia Marittima Skarn (Tuscany): A Challenging Example for the Evolution of Skarn-Forming Models

Campiglia Marittima (hereafter Campiglia) has a long record of attracting interest on its ore deposits that have been intermittently exploited from the Copper Age to the late XX century. Since the XIX century, Campiglia has been a key locality for the debate on skarn-forming processes due to the presence of mining activities ensuring access to ever new rock exposures. The pioneering study of vom Rath and the comparison with attractive chemical model (e.g., Korzhinskii's theory) in the XX century made Campiglia a "classic" example of skarn ore deposit, from the causative intrusion to the marble host rock. In recent years, detailed field investigations integrated by petrographic, geochemical, and isotopic analyses revealed a more complex and stimulating geological history. The Campiglia skarn was later intruded by mafic magma causing textural reworking and chemical redistribution as well as the reverse telescoping process with Fe-Cu sulfides overprinting previously formed Pb-Zn ore. This work aims to trace the evolution of the scientific thinking on the Campiglia ore deposit by comparison with existing skarn-forming models and, ultimately, shows that the current skarn-forming model(s) cannot fully explain the textural and geochemical features of the Campiglia skarn

Footprints of element mobility during metasomatism linked to a late Miocene peraluminous granite intruding a carbonate host (Campiglia Marittima, Tuscany)

The Campiglia Marittima magmatic-hydrothermal system includes a peraluminous granite, its carbonatic host, and skarn. The system evolved generating a time-transgressive exchange of major and trace elements between granite, metasomatic fluids, and host rock. The process resulted in partial metasomatic replacement of the granite and severe replacement of the carbonate host rocks. The fluid activity started during a late-magmatic stage, followed by a potassic–calcic metasomatism, ending with a lower temperature acidic metasomatism. During the late-magmatic stage, B-rich residual fluids led to the formation of disseminated tourmaline–quartz orbicules. High-temperature metasomatic fluids generated a pervasive potassic–calcic metasomatism of the granite, with replacement of plagioclase, biotite, ilmenite, and apatite by K-feldspar, phlogopite–chlorite–titanite, titanite–rutile, and significant mobilization of Fe, Na, P, Ti, and minor HFSE/REE. The metasomatized granite is enriched in Mg, K, Rb, Ba, and Sr, and depleted in Fe and Na. Ca metasomatism is characterized by crystallization of a variety of calc-silicates, focusing along joints into the granite (endoskarn) and at the marble/pluton contact (exoskarn), and exchange of HFSE and LREE with hydrothermal fluids. Upon cooling, fluids became more acidic and fluorine activity increased, with widespread crystallization of fluorite from disequilibrium of former calc-silicates. At the pluton-host boundary, fluids were accumulated, and pH buffered to low values as temperature decreased, leading to the formation of a metasomatic front triggering the increasing mobilization of REE and HFSE and the late crystallization of REE–HFSE minerals

Visual motion integration is mediated by directional ambiguities in local motion signals

The output of primary visual cortex (V1) is a piecemeal representation of the visual scene and the response of any one cell cannot unambiguously guide sensorimotor behavior. It remains unsolved how subsequent stages of cortical processing combine (“pool”) these early visual signals into a coherent representation. We (Webb et al., 2007, 2011) have shown that responses of human observers on a pooling task employing broadband, random dot motion can be accurately predicted by decoding the maximum likelihood direction from a population of motion-sensitive neurons. Whereas Amano et al. (2009) found that the vector average velocity of arrays of narrowband, two-dimensional (2-d) plaids predicts perceived global motion. To reconcile these different results, we designed two experiments in which we used 2-d noise textures moving behind spatially distributed apertures and measured the point of subjective equality between pairs of global noise textures. Textures in the standard stimulus moved rigidly in the same direction, whereas their directions in the comparison stimulus were sampled from a set of probability distributions. Human observers judged which noise texture had a more clockwise (CW) global direction. In agreement with Amano and colleagues, observers' perceived global motion coincided with the vector average stimulus direction. To test if directional ambiguities in local motion signals governed perceived global direction, we manipulated the fidelity of the texture motion within each aperture. A proportion of the apertures contained texture that underwent rigid translation and the remainder contained dynamic (temporally uncorrelated) noise to create locally ambiguous motion. Perceived global motion matched the vector average when the majority of apertures contained rigid motion, but with increasing levels of dynamic noise shifted toward the maximum likelihood direction. A class of population decoders utilizing power-law non-linearities can accommodate this flexible pooling

Criterion-free measurement of motion transparency perception at different speeds

Transparency perception often occurs when objects within the visual scene partially occlude each other or move at the same time, at different velocities across the same spatial region. Although transparent motion perception has been extensively studied, we still do not understand how the distribution of velocities within a visual scene contribute to transparent perception. Here we use a novel psychophysical procedure to characterize the distribution of velocities in a scene that give rise to transparent motion perception. To prevent participants from adopting a subjective decision criterion when discriminating transparent motion, we used an ‘‘oddone-out,’’ three alternative forced-choice procedure. Two intervals contained the standard—a random-dotkinematogram with dot speeds or directions sampled from a uniform distribution. The other interval contained the comparison—speeds or directions sampled from a distribution with the same range as the standard, but with a notch of different widths removed. Our results suggest that transparent motion perception is driven primarily by relatively slow speeds, and does not emerge when only very fast speeds are present within a visual scene. Transparent perception of moving surfaces is modulated by stimulus-based characteristics, such as the separation between the means of the overlapping distributions or the range of speeds presented within an image. Our work illustrates the utility of using objective, forced-choice methods to reveal the mechanisms underlying motion transparency perception

SAM multipliers and subsystems: Structural analysis of the Basilicata’s agri-food sector

Local agri-food products are conceived as a form of cultural capital, representing potentially fruitful resources for rural development. Italy and its regions offer a rich and diverse agricultural and food heritage that has led to the creation of numerous quality agri-food systems. Despite their ability to absorb disturbances and maintain their functions, it is important to develop economic models targeted to analyse the relationships among the components of food systems, in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses and drive the implementation of sectoral policies. In view of the new Rural Development Programme (2014-2020), the aim of this work is to analyse the structure of the Basilicata’s agri-food system using a multi-sector model based on a two-region SAM, specifically developed for Basilicata, an Italian region charac-terised by a highly specialised agri-food sector. Results show that the availability of a highly disaggregate multi-sector model of the regional economy may be a valuable supporting tool to design regional policies for innovation and for the development of rural areas, laying the foundation for further analysis

Controllable pulse parameter TMS and TMS-EEG as novel approaches to improve neural targeting with rTMS in human cerebral cortex

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can produce after-effects on the excitability and function of the stimulated cortical site that outlasts the period of stimulation for several minutes or hours (Hamada et al., 2008; Huang et al., 2005; Ridding and Ziemann, 2010; Sommer et al., 2013). These are thought to involve early phases of long term potentiation/depression at cortical synapses. Depending on the area stimulated, the after-effects can influence performance of a variety of cognitive and motor tasks, as well as learning (Parkin et al., 2015; Censor and Cohen, 2011). Reports of beneficial effects on behaviour in healthy populations have led to widespread interest in applying rTMS therapeutically, for example in patients with neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders (George et al., 2013; Lefaucheur et al., 2014; Ridding and Rothwell, 2007). A major issue with rTMS protocols is that the effects vary considerably within and between individuals (Hamada et al., 2013; Lopez-Alonso et al., 2014; Simeoni et al., 2016; Hinder et al., 2014; Vallence et al., 2015; Vernet et al., 2013; Goldsworthy et al., 2014; Maeda et al., 2000), which causes problems in replication of results in a research setting (Heroux et al., 2015), and is an obstacle to using rTMS in a therapeutic setting. A separate, but related, issue is that rTMS over a given cortical area is often assumed to affect all neuronal populations equally and thus affect all behaviours involving that area similarly, but this may not be true. Here we argue that advanced technologies and methodologies, such as controllable pulse parameter TMS (cTMS; (Peterchev et al., 2014)) and combining TMS with electroencephalography (EEG) (Ilmoniemi and Kicic, 2010; Peterchev et al., 2014), might facilitate the development of more selective forms of stimulation targeting particular neuronal populations or brain states, and ultimately improve the reliability and behavioural specificity of rTMS protocols

Demonstration of early functional compromise of bone marrow derived hematopoietic progenitor cells during bovine neonatal pancytopenia through in vitro culture of bone marrow biopsies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bovine neonatal pancytopenia (BNP) is a syndrome characterised by thrombocytopenia associated with marked bone marrow destruction in calves, widely reported since 2007 in several European countries and since 2011 in New Zealand. The disease is epidemiologically associated with the use of an inactivated bovine virus diarrhoea (BVD) vaccine and is currently considered to be caused by absorption of colostral antibody produced by some vaccinated cows (“BNP dams”). Alloantibodies capable of binding to the leukocyte surface have been detected in BNP dams and antibodies recognising bovine MHC class I and β-2-microglobulin have been detected in vaccinated cattle. In this study, calves were challenged with pooled colostrum collected from BNP dams or from non-BNP dams and their bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) cultured <it>in vitro</it> from sternal biopsies taken at 24 hours and 6 days post-challenge.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Clonogenic assay demonstrated that CFU-GEMM (colony forming unit-granulocyte/erythroid/macrophage/megakaryocyte; pluripotential progenitor cell) colony development was compromised from HPCs harvested as early as 24 hour post-challenge. By 6 days post challenge, HPCs harvested from challenged calves failed to develop CFU-E (erythroid) colonies and the development of both CFU-GEMM and CFU-GM (granulocyte/macrophage) was markedly reduced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study suggests that the bone marrow pathology and clinical signs associated with BNP are related to an insult which compromises the pluripotential progenitor cell within the first 24 hours of life but that this does not initially include all cell types.</p