La tesi ha per oggetto lo studio delle politiche pubbliche locali ed in particolare delle politiche sociali che dal 2011 sono diventate politiche esclusivamente territoriali. L’obiettivo è quello di verificare se il differente orientamento politico delle amministrazioni genera politiche differenti. Per verificare le ipotesi si sono scelti 2 Comuni simili sul piano delle variabili socio-economiche, ma guidati da giunte con orientamento politico differente: il Comune di Modena a guida Partito Democratico e il Comune di Verona con un sindaco leghista a capo di una giunta di centro-destra. Nella prima parte vengono esposti ed analizzati i principali paradigmi di studio delle politiche (rational choice, paradigma marxista, economia del benessere, corporativismo e pluralismo, neo-istituzionalismo e paradigma relazionale) e viene presentato il paradigma che verrà utilizzato per l’analisi delle politiche (paradigma relazionale). Per la parte empirica si è proceduto attraverso interviste in profondità effettuate ai due Assessori alle Politiche sociali e ai due Dirigenti comunali dei Comuni e a 18 organizzazioni di Terzo settore impegnate nella costruzione delle politiche e selezionate attraverso la metodologia “a palla di neve”. Sono analizzate le disposizioni normative in materia di politica sociale, sia per la legislazione regionale che per quella comunale. L’analisi dei dati ha verificato l’ipotesi di ricerca nel senso che l’orientamento politico produce politiche differenti per quanto riguarda il rapporto tra Pubblica Amministrazione e Terzo settore. Per Modena si può parlare di una scelta di esternalizzazione dei servizi che si accompagna ad un processo di internalizzazione dei servizi tramite le ASP; a Verona almeno per alcuni settori delle politiche (disabilità e anziani) sono stati realizzati processi di sussidiarietà e di governance. Per la fase di programmazione l’orientamento politico ha meno influenza e la programmazione mostra caratteristiche di tipo “top-down”. / My thesis deals with local public policies, with a particular focus on policies which since 2011 have acquired a mere territorial status. My aim was to verify if different political orientation of government could generate different orientation in policies. In order to test this hypothesis, I have chosen two municipalities which are very similar in terms of socio-economic variables, but with an otherwise politically orientated City Council. The cities I mean are Modena (led by Democratic Party) and Verona (led by a center-right council). Firstly, I have analyzed the major paradigms for the political study (rational choice, the Marxist paradigm, welfare economics, corporatism and pluralism, neo-institutionalism and the relational paradigm), and I have presented the paradigm used for political analysis (relational paradigm). I have applied experimental method by carrying out interviews to assessors for social policies, to municipal managers, to eighteen third-sector organizations involved in municipal policies, selected through the method called "ball of snow". Secondly, I have analyzed law provisions on social policy, both in the regional and municipal legislation, with a particular consideration to the so called “piani di zona”. To sum out, data analysis have confirmed the original research hypothesis. Political orientation has shown to produce different policies according to the relationship between Public Administration and Third Sector. Referring to Modena, it is possible to affirm a pure choice of outsourcing of services. On the other hand, referring to Verona, it is possible to verify a choice of subsidiarity and governance processes regarding to some policy areas (disabled and elderly). Finally, concerning to a planning phase, political orientation has demonstrated lower political influence with a planning of top-down type.

In this work we investigate the existence of resonances for two-centers Coulomb systems with arbitrary charges in two and three dimensions, defining them in terms of generalized complex eigenvalues of a non-selfadjoint deformation of the two-center Schrödinger operator. After giving a description of the bifurcation of the classical system for positive energies, we construct the resolvent kernel of the operators and we prove that they can be extended analytically to the second Riemann sheet. The resonances are then defined and studied with numerical methods and perturbation theory.

Nell’attuale contesto di aumento degli impatti antropici e di “Global Climate Change” emerge la necessità di comprenderne i possibili effetti di questi sugli ecosistemi inquadrati come fruitori di servizi e funzioni imprescindibili sui quali si basano intere tessiture economiche e sociali. Lo studio previsionale degli ecosistemi si scontra con l’elevata complessità di questi ultimi in luogo di una altrettanto elevata scarsità di osservazioni integrate. L’approccio modellistico appare il più adatto all’analisi delle dinamiche complesse degli ecosistemi ed alla contestualizzazione complessa di risultati sperimentali ed osservazioni empiriche. L’approccio riduzionista-deterministico solitamente utilizzato nell’implementazione di modelli non si è però sin qui dimostrato in grado di raggiungere i livelli di complessità più elevati all’interno della struttura eco sistemica. La componente che meglio descrive la complessità ecosistemica è quella biotica in virtù dell’elevata dipendenza dalle altre componenti e dalle loro interazioni. In questo lavoro di tesi viene proposto un approccio modellistico stocastico basato sull’utilizzo di un compilatore naive Bayes operante in ambiente fuzzy. L’utilizzo congiunto di logica fuzzy e approccio naive Bayes è utile al processa mento del livello di complessità e conseguentemente incertezza insito negli ecosistemi. I modelli generativi ottenuti, chiamati Fuzzy Bayesian Ecological Model(FBEM) appaiono in grado di modellizare gli stati eco sistemici in funzione dell’ elevato numero di interazioni che entrano in gioco nella determinazione degli stati degli ecosistemi. Modelli FBEM sono stati utilizzati per comprendere il rischio ambientale per habitat intertidale di spiagge sabbiose in caso di eventi di flooding costiero previsti nell’arco di tempo 2010-2100. L’applicazione è stata effettuata all’interno del progetto EU “Theseus” per il quale i modelli FBEM sono stati utilizzati anche per una simulazione a lungo termine e per il calcolo dei tipping point specifici dell’habitat secondo eventi di flooding di diversa intensità. / In the current environmental context, it emerges the need to understand all the possible effects of the increase of the anthropic impact and the “Global Climate Change” on the ecosystems, considered as the main users of services and essential functions upon which whole economic and social textures are based. The forecast study of the ecosystems collides with the high complexity of them and with the lack of integrated observations. The model approach seems to be the most appropriate for the analysis of the complex dynamics of the ecosystems and the contextualization of experimental results and empiric observations. The reductionist-deterministic approach, which generally is used in the implementation of the models, has not been able to reach higher levels of complexity within the structure of the ecosystem. The biotic factor is the component that best describes the complexity of the ecosystem, because of the high dependency upon the other components and their interactions. In this thesis, it is suggested a new stochastic and model approach based on the employment of a naive-Bayesian compiler operating within a fuzzy environment. The combined employment of fuzzy logic and naive-Bayesian approach is useful to process the high degree of uncertainty of the ecosystems. The obtained generative models, called Fuzzy Bayesian Ecological Models (FBEM) are able to modelize the states of the ecosystems as functions of the high number of interactions. FBEM models have been used to understand the environmental risk for the intertidale habitat of sand beaches in case of coast flooding events forecasted from 2010 to 2100. The application has been developed within the EU “Theseus” Project, in which the FBEM models have been used also for a long term simulation and for the computation of the tipping points specific of the habitat depending on flooding events of different intensity.

Esta tesis presenta un breve estado de la cuestión de la sociología y la ética del deporte como nueva disciplina académica, desde su origen hasta el presente. En segundo lugar pretende ver que aporta la perspectiva de la sociologia relacional al estudio del deporte. La primera contribución es la “trans-discipliniariedad” entre disciplinas como la sociología y la ética, evitando caer en una ética “sociologizzata” o en una sociología “eticizzata”. Gracias a la relacionalidad se obtiene la des-mercantilización de bienestar. La lógica relacional busca el desarrollo económico sin olvida que la sociedad está formada por personas, que son lo realmente importantes por encima de los interés económicos. Otra contribución es la distinción entre la “sociedad humana” y la “sociedad de lo humano” que evita muchos de los actuales problemas que trae consigo las nuevas tecnologías. Y finalmente aporta el esquema “AGIL” como “brújula relacional” que ayuda a relaizar los objetivos, medios y reglas éticas dentro de la práctica deportiva. / Let's see how the prospect of 'relational approach contributes to the sociological study of sport. The first contribution is to trans-disciplinary approach, that is, the capacity not to avoid putting boundaries between disciplines such as sociology or ethics and work together without falling into the trap of an ethics ['sociologizzata'] ed'una sociology ['eticizzata'] The relational logic seeking economic development doesn´t forget the human society, always looking for people who are building the company. Another contribution is [in] its distinction between “human society” and the “society of the human race”. In the case of sport, theuse of genetic technologies to facilitate the performance of athletes and ultimately increase profit. Finally, I think relational sociology offers AGIL scheme, such as "relational compass", that helps us to achieve the objectives, the means, the rules (ethics) and values that must be followed in this sport as a social practice, and help to cement largely applied ethics in sport. / Tuttavia, lo sviluppo sistematico di un approccio sociologico allo studio dello sport ha avuto luogo principalmente negli anni Settanta del Secolo. Da allora, sono stati molti gli studiosi di scienze sociali che hanno affrontato il tema dello sport. L´interesse dei filosofi verso lo sport risalga all'antichità classica (come dimostrano le testimonianze di cui sopra), in tempi più recenti la filosofia non ha rivolto particolare attenzione allo sport; questo ha spinto alcuni autori a denunciare tale mancanza di attenzione. Nella mia ricerca ho notato che alla fine degli anni Settanta del secolo. A mio avviso, l'inizio del cambiamento da "filosofia dello sport" a "etica dello sport" è il lavoro compiuto di Robert. L. Simon. Vediamo come la prospettiva dell’ approccio relazionale contribuisce allo studio sociologico dello sport. Il primo contributo è quello di trans-disciplinarietà, cioè la capicità di evitare di mettere confini tra discipline come la sociologia o l'etica e per lavorare insieme senza cadere nella trappola d´una etica ['sociologizzata'] e d´una sociologia ['eticizzata']. Grazie alla relazionalità si ottiene de-mercificare il benessere. La logica relazionale cerca lo sviluppo economico non dimenticare la società umana, sempre alla ricerca di persone che stanno costruendo la società. La sociologia relazionale propone un modello di reciprocità che ci aiuta a superare la mercificazione attuale dello sport. Un altro contributo è nella sua distinzione tra la società umana e la società dello umano. Nel caso dello sport, l'utilizzo di tecnologie genetiche per facilitare l'esecuzione di atleti e infine per aumentare il profitto. Infine, ritengo sociologia relazionale offre lo schema AGIL, come “brussola relazionale”, che ci aiuta a realizzare gli obiettivi, i mezzi, le regole (etiche) e valori che devono essere seguite in questo sport come pratica sociale e aiutano a cementare in gran parte l´etica applicata allo sport.

This thesis addresses the issue of generating texts in the style of an existing author, that also satisfy structural constraints imposed by the genre of the text. Although Markov processes are known to be suitable for representing style, they are difficult to control in order to satisfy non-local properties, such as structural constraints, that require long distance modeling. The framework of Constrained Markov Processes allows to precisely generate texts that are consistent with a corpus, while being controllable in terms of rhymes and meter. Controlled Markov processes consist in reformulating Markov processes in the context of constraint satisfaction. The thesis describes how to represent stylistic and structural properties in terms of constraints in this framework and how this approach can be used for the generation of lyrics in the style of 60 differents authors An evaluation of the desctibed method is provided by comparing it to both pure Markov and pure constraint-based approaches. Finally the thesis describes the implementation of an augmented text editor, called Perec. Perec is intended to improve creativity, by helping the user to write lyrics and poetry, exploiting the techniques presented so far.

In wheat, stem rust is known to rapidly evolve new virulence to resistance genes. While more than 50 stem rust resistance (Sr) loci have been identified in wheat, only a few remain effective, particularly against the highly virulent race Ug99 (TTKSK race) and a mixture of durum-specific races. An association mapping (AM) study based on 183 durum wheat accessions was utilized to identify resistance loci for stem rust response in Ethiopia over four seasons and artificial inoculation with Ug99 (TTKSK race) and a mixture of durum-specific races under field conditions as well as in greenhouse test at seedling stage under controlled conditions for resistance to four highly virulent stem rust races: TRTTF, TTTTF, (TTKSK (Ug99) and JRCQC. The panel was profiled with 1,253 SSR and DArT markers. Twelve QTL-tagging markers were significant (P < 0.05) across three to four seasons. The role of Sr13, Sr9, Sr14, Sr17, and Sr28 was confirmed. Thirteen significant markers were in regions with no Sr genes/QTLs. The results under controlled conditions showed that 15, 20, 19 and 19 chromosome regions harbored markers that showed significant effects for races TRTTF, TTTTF, TTKSK and JRCQC, respectively. These genomic regions showed marker R2 values ranging from 1.13 to 8.34, 1.92 to 17.64, 1.75 to 23.12 and 1.51 to 15.33% for races TRTTF, TTTTF, TTKSK and JRCQC, respectively. The study demonstrates that stem rust resistance in durum wheat is governed in part by shared loci and in part by race-specific ones. The QTLs identified in this study through AM will be useful in the marker-assisted development of durum wheat cultivars with durable stem rust resistance.

The instability of river bank can result in considerable human and land losses. The Po river is the most important in Italy, characterized by main banks of significant and constantly increasing height. This study presents multilayer perceptron of artificial neural network (ANN) to construct prediction models for the stability analysis of river banks along the Po River, under various river and groundwater boundary conditions. For this aim, a number of networks of threshold logic unit are tested using different combinations of the input parameters. Factor of safety (FS), as an index of slope stability, is formulated in terms of several influencing geometrical and geotechnical parameters. In order to obtain a comprehensive geotechnical database, several cone penetration tests from the study site have been interpreted. The proposed models are developed upon stability analyses using finite element code over different representative sections of river embankments. For the validity verification, the ANN models are employed to predict the FS values of a part of the database beyond the calibration data domain. The results indicate that the proposed ANN models are effective tools for evaluating the slope stability. The ANN models notably outperform the derived multiple linear regression models.

Multiparental cross designs for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in crops are efficient alternatives to conventional biparental experimental populations because they exploit a broader genetic basis and higher mapping resolution. We describe the development and deployment of a multiparental recombinant inbred line (RIL) population in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) obtained by crossing four elite cultivars characterized by different traits of agronomic value. A linkage map spanning 2,663 cM and including 7,594 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was produced by genotyping 338 RILs with a wheat-dedicated 90k SNP chip. A cluster file was developed for correct allele calling in the framework of the tetraploid durum wheat genome. Based on phenotypic data collected over four field experiments, a multi-trait quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis was carried out for 18 traits of agronomic relevance (including yield, yield-components, morpho-physiological and seed quality traits). Across environments, a total of 63 QTL were identified and characterized in terms of the four founder haplotypes. We mapped two QTL for grain yield across environments and 23 QTL for grain yield components. A novel major QTL for number of grain per spikelet/ear was mapped on chr 2A and shown to control up to 39% of phenotypic variance in this cross. Functionally different QTL alleles, in terms of direction and size of genetic effect, were distributed among the four parents. Based on the occurrence of QTL-clusters, we characterized the breeding values (in terms of effects on yield) of most of QTL for heading and maturity as well as yield component and quality QTL. This multiparental RIL population provides the wheat community with a highly informative QTL mapping resource enabling the dissection of the genetic architecture of multiple agronomic relevant traits in durum wheat.

The cone penetration test (CPT), together with its recent variation (CPTU), has become the most widely used in-situ testing technique for soil profiling and geotechnical characterization. The knowledge gained over the last decades on the interpretation procedures in sands and clays is certainly wide, whilst very few contributions can be found as regards the analysis of CPT(u) data in intermediate soils. Indeed, it is widely accepted that at the standard rate of penetration (v = 20 mm/s), drained penetration occurs in sands while undrained penetration occurs in clays. However, a problem arise when the available interpretation approaches are applied to cone measurements in silts, sandy silts, silty or clayey sands, since such intermediate geomaterials are often characterized by permeability values within the range in which partial drainage is very likely to occur. Hence, the application of the available and well-established interpretation procedures, developed for ‘standard’ clays and sands, may result in invalid estimates of soil parameters. This study aims at providing a better understanding on the interpretation of CPTU data in natural sand and silt mixtures, by taking into account two main aspects, as specified below: 1)Investigating the effect of penetration rate on piezocone measurements, with the aim of identifying drainage conditions when cone penetration is performed at a standard rate. This part of the thesis has been carried out with reference to a specific CPTU database recently collected in a liquefaction-prone area (Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy). 2)Providing a better insight into the interpretation of piezocone tests in the widely studied silty sediments of the Venetian lagoon (Italy). Research has focused on the calibration and verification of some site-specific correlations, with special reference to the estimate of compressibility parameters for the assessment of long-term settlements of the Venetian coastal defences.

The Variscan basement of Northern Apennines (Northern Italy) is a polymetamorphic portion of continental crust. This thesis investigated the metamorphic history of this basement occurring in the Cerreto Pass, in the Pontremoli well, and in the Pisani Mountains. The study comprised fieldwork, petrography and microstructural analysis, determination of the bulk rock and mineral composition, thermodynamic modelling, conventional geothermobarometry, monazite chemical dating and Ar/Ar dating of muscovite. The reconstructed metamorphic evolution of the selected samples allowed to define a long-lasting metamorphic history straddling the Variscan and Alpine orogenesis. Some general petrological issues generally found in low- to medium-grade metapelites were also tackled: (i) With middle-grade micaschist it is possible to reconstruct a complete P-T-D path by combining microstructural analysis and thermodynamic modelling. Prekinematic white mica may preserve Mg-rich cores related to the pre-peak stage. Mn-poor garnet rim records the peak metamorphism. Na-rich mylonitic white mica, the XFe of chlorite and the late paragenesis may constrain the retrograde stage. (ii) Metapelites may contain coronitic microstructures of apatite + Th-silicate, allanite and epidote around unstable monazite grains. Chemistry and microstructure of Th-rich monazite relics surrounded by this coronitic microstructure may suggest that monazite mineral was inherited and underwent partial dissolution and fluid-aided replacement by REE-accessory minerals at 500-600°C and 5-7 kbar. (iii) Fish-shaped white mica is not always a (prekinematic) mica-fish. Observed at high-magnification BSE images it may consist of several white mica formed during a mylonitic stage. Hence, the asymmetric foliation boudin is a suitable microstructure to obtain geochronological information about the shearing stage. (iv) Thermodynamic modelling of a hematite-rich metasedimentary rock fails to reproduce the observed mineral compositions when the bulk Fe2O3 is neglected or determined through titration. The mismatch between observed and computed mineral compositions and assemblage is resolved by tuning the effective ferric iron content by P-XFe2O3 diagrams.