Real-time neuroscience can be described as the use of neuroimaging techniques to extract and evaluate brain activations during their ongoing development. The possibility to track these activations opens the doors to new research modalities as well as practical applications in both clinical and everyday life. Moreover, the combination of different neuroimaging techniques, i.e. multimodality, may reduce several limitations present in each single technique. Due to the intrinsic difficulties of real-time experiments, in order to fully exploit their potentialities, advanced signal processing algorithms are needed. In particular, since brain activations are free to evolve in an unpredictable way, data-driven algorithms have the potentials of being more suitable than model-driven ones. In fact, for example, in neurofeedback experiments brain activation tends to change its properties due to training or task eects thus evidencing the need for adaptive algorithms. Blind Source Separation (BSS) methods, and in particular Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithms, are naturally suitable to such kind of conditions. Nonetheless, their applicability in this framework needs further investigations. The goals of the present thesis are: i) to develop a working real-time set up for performing experiments; ii) to investigate different state of the art ICA algorithms with the aim of identifying the most suitable (along with their optimal parameters), to be adopted in a real-time MRI environment; iii) to investigate novel ICA-based methods for performing real-time MRI neuroimaging; iv) to investigate novel methods to perform data fusion between EEG and fMRI data acquired simultaneously. The core of this thesis is organized around four "experiments", each one addressing one of these specic aims. The main results can be summarized as follows. Experiment 1: a data analysis software has been implemented along with the hardware acquisition set-up for performing real-time fMRI. The set-up has been developed with the aim of having a framework into which it would be possible to test and run the novel methods proposed to perform real-time fMRI. Experiment 2: to select the more suitable ICA algorithm to be implemented in the system, we investigated theoretically and compared empirically the performance of 14 different ICA algorithms systematically sampling different growing window lengths, model order as well as a priori conditions (none, spatial or temporal). Performance is evaluated by computing the spatial and temporal correlation to a target component of brain activation as well as computation time. Four algorithms are identied as best performing without prior information (constrained ICA, fastICA, jade-opac and evd), with their corresponding parameter choices. Both spatial and temporal priors are found to almost double the similarity to the target at not computation costs for the constrained ICA method. Experiment 3: the results and the suggested parameters choices from experiment 2 were implemented to monitor ongoing activity in a sliding-window approach to investigate different ways in which ICA-derived a priori information could be used to monitor a target independent component: i) back-projection of constant spatial information derived from a functional localizer, ii) dynamic use of temporal , iii) spatial, or both iv) spatial-temporal ICA constrained data. The methods were evaluated based on spatial and/or temporal correlation with the target IC component monitored, computation time and intrinsic stochastic variability of the algorithms. The results show that the back-projection method offers the highest performance both in terms of time course reconstruction and speed. This method is very fast and effective as far as the monitored IC has a strong and well defined behavior, since it relies on an accurate description of the spatial behavior. The dynamic methods oer comparable performances at cost of higher computational time. In particular the spatio-temporal method performs comparably in terms of computational time to back-projection, offering more variable performances in terms of reconstruction of spatial maps and time courses. Experiment 4: finally, Higher Order Partial Least Square based method combined with ICA is proposed and investigated to integrate EEG-fMRI data acquired simultaneously. This method showed to be promising, although more experiments are needed.

This thesis aims at evaluating, in two separate studies, strategies for physiological noise and head motion correction in resting state brain FC-fMRI. In particular, as a general marker of noise correction performance we use the test-retest reproducibility of the DMN. The guiding hypothesis is that methods that improve reproducibility should reflect more efficient corrections and thus be preferable in longitudinal studies. The physiological denoising study evaluated longitudinal changes in a 3T harmonized multisite fMRI study of healthy elderly participants from the PharmaCog Consortium (Jovicich et al., 2016). Retrospective physiological noise correction (rPNC) methods were here implemented to investigate their influence on several DMN reliability measures within and between 13 MRI sites. Each site involved five different healthy elderly participants who were scanned twice at least a week apart (5 participants per site). fMRI data analysis was performed once without rPNC and then with WM/CSF regression, with physiological estimation by temporal ICA (PESTICA) (Beall & Lowe, 2007) and FMRIB's ICA-based Xnoiseifier (FSL-FIX) (Griffanti et al., 2014; Salimi-Khorshidi et al., 2014). These methods differ for their data-based computational approach to identify physiological noise fluctuations and need to be applied at different stages of data preprocessing. As a working hypothesis, physiological denoising was in general expected to improve DMN reliability. The head motion study evaluated longitudinal changes in the DMN connectivity from a 4T single-site study of 24 healthy young volunteers who were scanned twice within a week. Within each scanning session, RS-fMRI scans were acquired once using interleaved and then sequential slice-order acquisition methods. Furthermore, brain volumes were corrected for motion using once rigid-body volumetric and then slice-wise methods. The effects of these choices were then evaluated computing multiple DMN reliability measures and investigating single regions within the DMN to assess the existence of inter-regional effects associated with head-motion. In this case, we expected to find slice-order acquisition effects in reliability estimates under standard volumetric motion correction and no slice-order acquisition effect under 2D slice-based motion correction. Both studies used ICA to characterize the DMN using group-ICA and dual regression procedures (Beckmann et al., 2009). This methodology proved successful at defining consistent DMN connectivity metrics in longitudinal and clinical RS-fMRI studies (Zuo & Xing, 2014). Automatic DMN selection procedures and other quality assurance analyses were made to supervise ICA performance. Both studies considered several test-retest (TRT) reliability estimates (Vilagut, 2014) for some DMN connectivity measurements: absolute percent error between the sessions, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) between sessions and multiple sites, the Jaccard index to evaluate the degree of voxel-wise spatial pattern actiavtion overlap between sessions.

‘Revisiting lesbians' and gay men's lives’ is a study on same-sex desiring individuals' changing life course in Italy from the mid 1990s to the early 2010s. Focused on sexual developmental trajectories, same-sex cohabiting couples, and parental desires, its main argument is that, even in a relatively short time period, Italian lesbians' and gay men's lives changed in ways that further sexual and relational pluralism and provide empowering narratives and resources to communities of sexually diverse individuals. Throughout the thesis, I adopt the framework of generational sexualities to observe transformations at the intersection of theorisations in the sociology of personal relationships, feminist research, and interactionism. Declining homophobia and unchanging gender sexual inequality result in lesbians and gay men reinventing the gendered aspects of sexual development and contesting homonegativity in familial, religious, and public milieux. In couple formation, sexual agreements, and emotional styles, lesbian and gay relationships are gendered, but the advancement of the relevance of prosaic and mythic love in the institution of coupledom helps same-sex partners negotiate interdependent lives and relational ties that are similar to contemporary Italian heterosexuals'. Despite facing the limits posed by gendered bodies and procreative and parental norms, lesbians, gay men, and same-sex couples see bio-social ties to the child as dependent on care-taking ties, and visualize and negotiate their procreative potentials and relationships aiming at securing familial happiness that is central in contemporary cultures of children's well-being. In the different aspects of lesbians' and gay men's life course, generational sexualities engage directly with contemporary Italian sexual citizenship, an exception in the Euro-American process of recognition of sexual diversity, and advance the pluralization of relational and gender norms. Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the research. Chapter 2 presents the methodology and methods of the study, a qualitatively-driven mixed-methods research comprising gathering and analysis of biographical interviews with same-sex cohabiting partners in 2012-13, gathering and analysis of survey data on lesbian and gay lives in 2012-2013, and secondary analysis of survey data on lesbian and gay lives gathered in 1995-96. In Chapter 3, I analyse change in sexual developmental trajectories and strategies of resilience against homonegativity. Chapter 4 traces the emergence and institutionalisation of relational commitment in same-sex cohabiting couples. In Chapter 5, I look at lesbians' and gay men's parental desires as expressions of the changing social meaning of the child. Chapter 6 presents my concluding remarks, linking the generational agency and narratives emerging from new lesbians' and gay men's life courses to the prospects of Italian sexual citizenship and sexual minority communities.

Questa ricerca interdisciplinare prende atto delle visioni contrastanti all’interno della Media Literacy: da un lato quella utopica che individua nel progresso tecnologico l’alba di una nuova era per l’umanità, dall’altro l’approccio distopico preoccupato dalle potenziali derive conseguenti all’uso acritico e compulsivo dei dispositivi. Tale contrapposizione, sebbene con diverse sfumature, si riverbera nei vari ambiti educativi spesso impedendo la piena comprensione delle dinamiche della comunicazione contemporanea. La prospettiva antropocentrica che ispira l’intera trattazione valorizza i contributi non apodittici capaci di “dialogare”, passando dalla logica escludente dell’aut - aut a quella inclusiva dell’et - et. A partire da alcune significative acquisizioni delle Scienze Cognitive, delle Scienze Umane e dei Media Studies a cui sono dedicati i primi due capitoli, viene offerto un excursus nella literacy teso ad individuare piste pedagogiche praticabili nei diversi contesti, frutto della sperimentazione e della verifica sul campo riportate nella parte finale. Il lavoro intende dimostrare, non soltanto a livello empirico, che la Rete e la sua stessa orizzontalità possono e devono diventare paradigma operativo per un’azione educativa efficace in grado di superare visioni settoriali e semplificazioni, grazie ad un approccio multiprospettico incentrato sulla persona chiamata a “ri-conoscersi” per ripensare l’educazione nell’era digitale. / This interdisciplinary research notes the conflicting views within the Media Literacy: from one side the utopian one locating in technological progress the dawn of a new era for humanity and from the other the dystopian approach worried by potential drifts consequent to the uncritical and compulsive use of the devices. This conflict, although with different nuances, reverberates in the various educational environments often preventing the full understanding of the dynamics of contemporary communication. The anthropocentric perspective that inspires the whole discussion enhances non-dogmatic contributions able to "talk", passing from the exclusionary logic of the “aut – aut” to that inclusive “et – et”. Starting from some significant acquisitions of Cognitive Sciences, Human Sciences and Media Studies to which the first two chapters are dedicated, an excursus in literacy aimed at identifying educational tracks viable in different contexts, is offered as a result of experimentation and verification on field described in the final part. The work aims to demonstrate, not only empirically, that the Internet and its own horizontality can and should become operational paradigm for effective educational action able to overcome sectoral visions and simplifications, thanks to a multi-perspective approach centered on the person called to "re-cognize oneself" to rethink education in the digital age.

Una performance teatrale è un meccanismo complesso che viaggia attraverso molte variabili. L'approccio della lettura dell'evento performativo come nodo d'incontro e scambio di diversi agenti e aspetti è stato inoltre presentato dall'International Federation for Theater Research (IFTR) nella pubblicazione Theatrical Events. Borders, Dynamics, Frames. La tesi dottorale, in accordo con tale lettura, presenta tre case-study: Motus, Punchdrunk e Robert Wilson. I tre esempi sono qui analizzati nella loro totalità di opere d'arte, fenomeni culturali e meccanismi organizzativi, evidenziandone peculiarità, similitudini e differenze. Di ognuno sono stati valutati il processo creativo, le strategie di produzione, la relazione con la stampa e/o i mezzi di diffusione, le collaborazioni con la comunità artistica, la relazione con il pubblico. La ricerca è stata portata avanti coordinando diverse metodologie: la preferenza è stata data alle fonti primarie e al lavoro di campo nell'area di New York - interviste, fotografie, raccolta di dati e materiale iconografico. Sono stati poi consultati gli archivi della New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, della Byrd Hoffmann Foundation e del The Watermill Center. Il secondo capitolo si avvale inoltre della preziosa collaborazione sul campo dei ricercatori del gruppo ISPOCC (Initiative for the Study and Practice of Organized Creativity and Culture) della Columbia University Business School / A performance is a dynamic system that involves many variables. The importance of theatre performances as aesthetic-communicative encounters of a wide range of agents and aspects has also been stressed by IFTR, through the working group "Theatrical events" and its publication Theatrical Events. Borders, Dynamics, Frames. In accordance with the IFTR approach, the dissertation presents three case-study: Motus, Punchdrunk and Robert Wilson. The three international artists and companies are studied here as a crossroad of interactions among art, marketing, and social context, tracing similarities and differences in their theatrical productions. Specifically, the research analyzed four theatrical events: Sleep No More by Punchdrunk, Syrma Antigones project by Motus, The Discovery Watermill Day and The Old Woman by Robert Wilson. The essay is the result of a combined archive and fieldwork research based in New York. The archival materials is from New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Byrd Hoffman Foundation, The Watermill Center, Motus theater company's archive, while the fieldwork collected visual materials such as pictures, sketches, videos as well as interviews and artists notes during the events. Part of the Sleep No More's fieldwork is in collaboration with ISPOCC (Initiative for the Study and Practice of Organized Creativity and Culture) at Columbia University Business School.

L’obiettivo di questo lavoro di ricerca è fare luce su alcuni dei motivi alla base di un rapporto tra scienza e media non sempre facile, nel tentativo di definire gli elementi fondamentali per un giornalismo biomedico divulgativo di qualità. In particolare l’analisi è rivolta al passaggio che più di tutti gli altri, nella costruzione della notizia, pone il giornalista e il metodo scientifico uno di fronte all’altro: la “traduzione” dell’articolo scientifico in articolo divulgativo. La valutazione di elementi quali l’approccio dei giornalisti alla significatività statistica e alla rilevanza clinica dei risultati di uno studio, l’utilizzo dei parametri statistici per esprimere gli esiti ha consentito di delineare una mappa dei punti di maggiore criticità del giornalismo biomedico. La “miscommunication” tra il mondo della ricerca e quello dei media può essere superata dall’acquisizione di un metodo che consenta al giornalista di individuare gli studi che hanno le caratteristiche per diventare notizie da divulgare. Questo lavoro è centrato sull’attività del giornalista, ma occorre ricordare come la comunicazione della salute sia un processo che dalla ricerca fino alla divulgazione pubblica delle notizie coinvolge diversi attori, ciascuno con il proprio ruolo e responsabilità ben precise. / The aim of this research is to investigate some of the reasons at the roots of the tension between science and media, trying to define some of the most important elements that could ensure the quality of biomedical lay journalism. In particular the attention is focused on the step that in the construction of the news puts the journalist and the scientific method one in front of the other: the “translation” of the scientific article in lay press article. From the analysis a picture emerges in which often the journalist is lacking an indispensable background knowledge needed to be able to recognize what is statistically significant or clinically relevant. The “miscommunication” theory, that both journalists and scientists consider an obstacle to scientific information, could be overcome by the acquisition of a method for medical journalists to recognize medical researches that can be used and moved into lay press articles. This research focuses on the correct role of journalist in divulging medical information. However, is important to underline the fact that many are the actors that partecipate to health communication and everyone has a specific role and than responsability.

La tesi cerca di rispondere alla domanda: 'La libanese intifadha al-Iqtad poteva essere prevista?'. la tesi prima definisce l'evento politico, e. Successivamente esamina le condizioni epistemologiche in base alle quali una predizione del futuro possa essere considerata scientifica. In terzo luogo, propone uno schema di previsione organizzato in funzione del coinvolgimento degli agenti nella creazione della storia umana. Infine, analizza la intifadha al-Iqtad in base allo schema analitico proposto. / The thesis aims to answer the question 'could the Lebanese Intifadha al-Iqtad have been predicted?' In order to do so, it first of all tries to define the political event, in terms of features, dynamic, and outcome. Secondly, it outlines the epistemological assumptions on which a scientific prediction of the future could be based. Thirdly, it puts forward a framework for foreseeing the future organised on different levels and divided into macro-categories. Finally, it analyses the Lebanese Intifadha al-Iqtad according to the proposed framework.

La tratta di esseri umani è un crimine che ha attratto progressivamente l’attenzione dei media negli ultimi anni, durante il consolidamento delle politiche anti-tratta internazionali e nazionali. Il dibattito accademico sul ruolo dei media nell’ambito della tratta è esiguo e uno degli argomenti d’interesse è costituito dall’impatto delle politiche pubbliche sui contenuti mediatici. È questo il contesto nel quale s’inserisce la ricerca, il cui scopo è investigare se le misure legislative nazionali anti-tratta possano influenzare la copertura a mezzo stampa della tratta di persone in un Paese. A questo scopo, sono state formulate sei ipotesi, verificate attraverso l’analisi di quattro quotidiani di stampo conservatore e liberale in Italia e Regno Unito dal 2000 al 2010: Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian. Il test delle ipotesi è avvenuto tramite la content analysis, i cui risultati sono stati validati da interviste in profondità. L’analisi dei dati ha rivelato che la relazione tra l’agenda legale e quella della stampa è risultata essere positiva nei dieci anni di riferimento. Pur presentando dei limiti, questo studio può essere considerato come un passo verso la comprensione di come i giornali affrontino il tema della tratta e di quali fattori influenzino le loro scelte. / Human trafficking is a crime today widespread which has attracted media attention in recent years during the consolidation of anti-trafficking policies at international and national level. The academic debate on the role of the media within the context of trafficking in human beings (THB) is scant, and one of the issues concerns the impact of public policies on media contents. This is the context in which the research has been framed, its aim being to investigate whether national anti-trafficking measures shape the coverage and the representation of THB by a country’s press. Six hypotheses are formulated, and they are verified by examination of four conservative and liberal broadsheets published in Italy and the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2010: i.e. Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian. The application of content analysis, with the validation of in-depth interviews, contributes to testing the hypotheses. As regards the data analysis, the relationship between the legal agenda and the press agenda appears to have been close during the ten reference years. Notwithstanding its limitations, this study can be read as the first stage in understanding how newspapers approach the issue of trafficking and what factors may influence their choices.

Lo studio propone un primo censimento delle fonti storiche e letterarie ungheresi, manoscritte e a stampa e redatte in lingua italiana o latina, conservate nelle biblioteche di Bergamo (Civica Angelo Mai) e Milano (Ambrosiana e Nazionale Braidense); spesso inediti, tali documenti costituiscono, accanto alle consuete fonti archivistiche, valide testimonianze delle profonde relazioni politiche e culturali stabilitesi tra la nazione italiana e quella ungherese nei secoli XV-XVII. Se nel fondo manoscritto dell’Ambrosiana è stato possibile rinvenire ben 284 "hungarica", 251 sono gli stampati reperiti nei fondi antichi delle tre biblioteche. Di tale materiale, suddiviso in due cataloghi, è stata fornita un’accurata descrizione bibliografica, preceduta da un capitolo introduttivo, in cui, individuate le antiche collocazioni dei documenti (tra le quali spicca la biblioteca padovana dell'erudito Gian Vincenzo Pinelli), si fornisce un’analisi delle diverse tipologie di fonti (suddivise nelle categorie: "Autori ungheresi"; "Avvisi e scritture relativi alla Lunga Guerra"; "Dedicatari ungheresi"; "Epistole, discorsi e orazioni"; "L’Ungheria nella leggenda"; "Testi con riferimento non esplicito all’Ungheria"; "Testi storici"; "Trattatistica") e si dà risalto ad alcune opere, che, tra numerosissime altre, ben si sono prestate a testimoniare i rapporti italo-magiari durante il Basso Medioevo e l’età moderna. / This study takes a first census of handwritten or printed historical and literary Hungarian sources, written in Italian or Latin, kept in the libraries of Bergamo – Civica Angelo Mai –, and Milan – Ambrosiana and Nazionale Braidense. Often unpublished, those documents make up, next to the usual archivial sources, valid evidence of the important political and cultural relations established inbetween the Italian and the Hungarian nations in the 15th-17th centuries. If it has been possible to find out 284 "hungarica" in the manuscripts of the Ambrosiana Library, 251 are the printed one found in the three libraries. A careful bibliographic work has been done describing this material, divided in two catalogues, with an introducing chapter which, once discovered the ancient classification of those documents – one of the most important is the Gian Vincenzo Pinelli’s library of Padua –, analyzes closely the different tipology of sources. These documents has been subdivided in classes: "Hungarian authors"; "Long war dispatches and writings"; "Hungarian dedicatees"; "Epistles, speeches and orations"; "Legendary Hungary"; "Texts not explicitly referred to Hungary"; "Historical texts"; "Treatises". Finally, some texts are emphasized, among many others, to give testimony of the Italian-Hungarian relations during early Middle Ages and Modern Age.

Sebbene la presenza dei figli degli migranti stia assumendo sempre maggior rilievo anche in Italia la ricerca ha posto poca attenzione alle loro scelte di consumo mediale e all’appropriazione dei media come risorse sociali ed ambientali. La tesi si focalizza sul caso delle giovani donne di origine araba per indagare il ruolo giocato dal consumo di notizie nella cornice più complessa dei processi di negoziazione di identità. Un focus è riservato alle tre dimensioni di appartenenze, partecipazione e trasmissione culturale tra generazioni – in relazione alle madri e ai coetanei. Un’indagine, a livello più “macro”, indaga le possibili implicazioni per il dialogo interculturale. Attraverso la raccolta di quarantotto storie di vita un primo livello di analisi diacronico indaga presenza e intensità del consumo di news nelle fasi della vita per comprendere se possa rappresentare un rito di passaggio all’età adulta, mentre una seconda pista cerca di comprendere come esso si leghi alla questione del sentirsi “cittadini”, in termini di riconoscimento, appartenenza e per scoprire se il consumo di news possa diventare una risorsa per essere soggetti attivi nella sfera pubblica. Tutte le giovani donne di origine araba vivono a Milano, hanno tra i diciotto e i trentadue anni e differiscono per le variabili di 1) nascita o arrivo in Italia dopo i 6 anni; 2) attivismo e 3) religiosità (musulmane, copte ortodosse, atee). / Although the presence of migrants’ sons and daughters is gaining more and more importance also in Italy, the research have not given special attention to their choices concerning media consumption and to the appropriation of the media as social and environmental resources. This thesis is focused on the case of young women of Arab origin in order to investigate the intersections between news consumption and the negotiation of the social identity. A first focus is on three dimensions: participation, belonging and cultural transmission – in comparison with mothers and peers. A second “macro” level of the research investigates the implications as regard to intercultural dialogue. Through the collection of forty-eight life histories, a first level of diachronic analysis investigates the presence and the intensity of news consumption in different stages in order to understand if it could be a rite of passage to the adulthood, while a second track tries to understand how this is connected to the feeling of being “citizens”, in terms of identification, belonging and to investigate if news consumption may be a resource to be active citizens in the public sphere. All young women of Arab origin live in Milan, they are between eighteen and thirty-two years old, and differ in variables 1) they were born or arrived in Italy since they were 6 years old, 2) activism and 3) religion (Muslims, Coptic Orthodox or atheists).