Doctoral Education in Planning and Urban Studies in Italy: what is it really for? Introduction and Editorial note

Data show the reduction of academic positions in Italy and invite to reconsider the role of PhD education and training as the highest level of university education. In fact, although PhDs seem to have a little advantage over Master’s level graduates in the job market, only about 10% find a job at universities. This suggests that changes in PhD programmes might be needed to match students’ needs and job market requirements. However, the opposite is also true with employers, either in the public or private sector, who should try to absorb more PhDs and use their skills and expertise. The aim of this special issue is to analyse PhD education in Italy with a focus on planning and urban studies programmes by emphasising the perspectives of PhD candidates and freshly awarded Doctors since they are generally neglected in reform processes. All authors who contributed to this special issue reflected on the same aim stressing different implications and perspectives. The topics investigated are: matching between students’ expectations and institutional goals, the international mobility of PhD candidates, experiences of international PhD students in Italy, and the evolution of two of the oldest PhD programmes in planning in Italy at Sapienza, Rome and Iuav, Venice

Step-like discontinuities in Bose-Einstein condensates and Hawking radiation: dispersion effects

In this paper we extend the hydrodynamic results of [1] and study, analytically, the propagation of Bogoliubov phonons on top of Bose-Einstein condensates with step-like discontinuities by taking into account dispersion effects. We focus on the Hawking signal in the density-density correlations in the formation of acoustic black hole-like configurations.Comment: One figure and few comments added. Version accepted for publication in PR

Organic Fertilization In A “Tomato – Pea” Rotation In Southern Italy

The use of alternative to mineral fertilizers is an important issue in organic systems. A four-year field experiment to evaluate the effects of organic fertilizers on yield and quality of processing tomato and proteic pea in rotation, was carried out in Southern Italy. The fertilization treatments aimed to supply 100 kg ha-1 of N for tomato and 60 kg ha-1 of P2O5 for pea and were: 1) an organic biological fertilizer (BIO); 2) an experimental compost obtained by olive residues, sludge and straw mixture (COMP); 3) a control managed with traditional chemical fertilizers (ammonium nitrate and perphosphate, MIN). At harvest, the main productive and qualitative parameters were assessed. Tomato fruit yield did not differ among the fertilization treatments, but unripe fruit yield was higher in the MIN and BIO treatment; MIN showed also smaller fruit than BIO and COMP. The N availability during crop cycle influenced the mean fruit weight and maturity date. No difference among treatments was observed for pea in rotation with tomato and, similarly, on the wheat cropped without fertilization following the two crops. The possibility to use organic fertilizer for processing tomato and proteic pea has been evaluated and the conclusion is that organic fertilization is comparable to mineral one from a productive and qualitative point of view

GPGPU for track finding in High Energy Physics

The LHC experiments are designed to detect large amount of physics events produced with a very high rate. Considering the future upgrades, the data acquisition rate will become even higher and new computing paradigms must be adopted for fast data-processing: General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) is a novel approach based on massive parallel computing. The intense computation power provided by Graphics Processing Units (GPU) is expected to reduce the computation time and to speed-up the low-latency applications used for fast decision taking. In particular, this approach could be hence used for high-level triggering in very complex environments, like the typical inner tracking systems of the multi-purpose experiments at LHC, where a large number of charged particle tracks will be produced with the luminosity upgrade. In this article we discuss a track pattern recognition algorithm based on the Hough Transform, where a parallel approach is expected to reduce dramatically the execution time.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, proceedings prepared for GPU-HEP 2014 conference, submitted to DESY-PROC-201

Country rankings on the scientific production in endocrinology and diabetology

Diabetes represents a major global health problem. It was estimated that the global prevalence of diabetes in 2019 was approximately 9%, with the worrying projection to increase up to 11% by 2045 [1]. Importantly, it was also calculated that in 2016 worldwide nearly 1.6 million deaths were directly related to diabetes or high blood glucose [1]. In parallel, other important endocrinological diseases, such as obesity, thyroid diseases (i.e., hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and cancer), polycystic ovary syndrome, and infertility, have a relevant clinical and socio-economic impact worldwide [2, 3]. These data strongly suggest that an additional uplift in research efforts is necessary in this area

Effective electrothermal analysis of electronic devices and systems with parameterized macromodeling

We propose a parameterized macromodeling methodology to effectively and accurately carry out dynamic electrothermal (ET) simulations of electronic components and systems, while taking into account the influence of key design parameters on the system behavior. In order to improve the accuracy and to reduce the number of computationally expensive thermal simulations needed for the macromodel generation, a decomposition of the frequency-domain data samples of the thermal impedance matrix is proposed. The approach is applied to study the impact of layout variations on the dynamic ET behavior of a state-of-the-art 8-finger AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor grown on a SiC substrate. The simulation results confirm the high accuracy and computational gain obtained using parameterized macromodels instead of a standard method based on iterative complete numerical analysis

Il problema storiografico della villa tra Medioevo e Umanesimo

The implicit, yet improper comparison with the “Renaissance villa”, has deprived Medieval extra-urban residences of theirautonomy, and left them without a proper historical and critical analysis, relegating them to a marginal and preparatoryposition. Their recognition at a national scale (Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia, Tuscany, Lazio, Sicily), presented in this numberof Opus Incertum, offers the possibility to appreciate, together with the sheer quantitative dimension of the phenomenon, thedevelopment of models and formulas of an extraordinary refined nature which reflect both how qualified the patrons whichcommissioned the works actually were, on the one hand, and the presence, on the other, of an architectural culture that hadreached a remarkable level of maturity

Vincigliata, un castello immaginario del Quattrocento

The most picturesque and military-like configuration of the castle of Vincigliata near Florence – largely reproduced in the extendedand rather poetic restoration endeavour that took place in the 19th century – is the result of an intervention of the Alessandrifamily (a branch of the Albizi family) that radically trasformed the previous “casa da signore” in a monumental fortified residence,an eloquent expression of the neo-feudal aspirations and mentality of the Florentine aristocracy of th 15th century