This case study, executed in school network driven by a private foundation for underprivileged children in Cambodia, provides a perspective from a unique situation of technology enablement in an environment with a predominantly instructivist teaching tradition.   The said environment is strongly influenced by private sector donors with strong constructivist traditions and expectations. The environment is thus unique in the sense that a relatively asset rich environment, with expectations of 21st century pedagogical skills, is transported into an asset poor environment that was/is strongly rooted in instructivism. The case study thus give a perspective on if technology itself is a possible solution for better teacher education/educational delivery, or if the underlying pedagogy first needs to be evolved to allow web-based platforms and tools to be fully leveraged.     In the specific environment being studies, teacher in-service training plays a larger role than formal teacher qualifications, and peer-to-peer, in-person, learning is the cornerstone of development (offline connectivism). Rather than changing the way the teachers learn, there should be opportunity in further strengthening the current practices of communities. Connectivist MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) do provide the community engagement and together with technology mediated professional learning platforms there should be opportunity to provide enhanced support for teachers’ education.   The two main hurdles to overcome, beyond functioning technology assets and web access, are teachers own comfort levels with technology platforms, as well as provision of platforms that support local language options. The comfort level with technology is important to address as, assuming technology and web access works, the openness and lack of control in a web environment is in direct contradiction to instructivist teaching. Unlocking the potential of the web requires that teachers are comfortable with the web itself and also truly support inquiry based learning over didactic teaching, and that they have the skills to help children navigate the openness of the web.   As economies shift towards becoming knowledge societies, collaborative problem-solving and navigation to knowledge are skills of increasing in importance, relative static knowledge recall that was previously viewed as value adding. This case study contributes to pedagogical theory and in particularly gives one more perspective on the shift from instructivist to constructivist teaching as a pre-requisite for capturing the power of the internet, and the shift to leveraging networks in a connectivist pedagogical approach. This case study also calls out the need for evolved frameworks to better describe technology mediated learning in least developing country environments. The case study also provides contribution to practice to technology mediated teacher education as it specifically addresses some of the opportunities in strengthening the support to teacher education in least developed countries.

Da Alkohol und Trauma hoch miteinander assoziiert sind, sind Screeningmaßnahmen bezüglich des Konsums von Alkohol und damit verbundener Probleme in einer Rettungsstelle sinnvoll und effektiv, wenn sich Maßnahmen, wie z.B. Kurzinterventionen anschließen. Der "Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test" (AUDIT) wird als Screeninginstrument empfohlen, um potentielle Kandidaten für präventive Alkoholkurzinterventionen zu identifizieren. Obwohl niedrigere Grenzwerte für den AUDIT bei Frauen als bei Männern vorgeschlagen wurden, sind konkrete Werte bislang unklar. Das primäre Ziel dieser Studie war es, die optimalen AUDIT-Grenzwerte für die Detektion von gefährdendem Alkoholkonsum sowohl bei Männern als auch bei Frauen zu bestimmen, die in der Rettungsstelle wegen eines Traumas behandelt wurden. Das sekundäre Ziel bestand darin zu untersuchen, ob das Screening mit einer Computerversion des AUDIT in der Rettungsstelle durchführbar ist. Methoden: In der Rettungsstelle der Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte wurden in einem Zeitraum von 8 Monaten 1205 Männer und 722 Frauen bei einer computerisierten Befragung zum Lebensstil, in die der AUDIT eingebettet war, gescreent. Die Kriterien der WHO von 2000 für hochriskanten Konsum sowie die WHO-Kriterien für Abhängigkeit und schädlichen Gebrauch wurden verwendet, um gefährdenden Konsum zu identifizieren. Der primäre Zielparameter war die Fähigkeit des AUDIT, Männer und Frauen mit mindestens einem der drei Kriterien zu detektieren. Ferner wurde eine Spezifität von 0,80 a priori als ausreichend für dieses Setting definiert. Ergebnisse:17,5% der Männer und 6,8% der Frauen erfüllten die Kriterien für gefährdenden Alkoholkonsum. Die Validität des AUDIT, gemessen an der Receiver Operated Characteristics war gut bei Männern und gut bis sehr gut bei Frauen. Bei einer Spezifität von 0,80 betrug die Sensitivität 0,75 für Männer bei einem Grenzwert von 8 Punkten und 0,84 für Frauen bei einem Grenzwert von 5 Punkten. 85% der Patienten konnten die Computerbefragung ohne weitere Hilfestellung durchführen. Schlussfolgerungen: Durch eine Reduktion des AUDIT- Grenzwertes auf 5 Punkte für Frauen (bei einem Grenzwert von 8 Punkten für Männer) lässt sich ein gefährdender Konsum mit der für beide Geschlechter gleichen ausreichenden Spezifität und damit vergleichbaren Sensitivitäten bei leichtverletzten Patienten der Rettungsstelle screenen. Der Einsatz von Computerscreening ist in der Rettungsstelle durchführbar und könnte eine Möglichkeit sein, Screeningmaßnahmen trotz des häufig bestehenden Zeitmangels in Rettungsstellen durchzuführen. / Objective: Because of alcohol and trauma are highly associated, screening for alcohol consumption and related problems is usefull and effective in emergency departements in conjunction with brief intervention.The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) has been recommended as a screening tool to detect patients who are appropriate candidates for brief, preventive alcohol interventions. Lower AUDIT cutoff scores have been proposed for women than men; however, appropriate value remains unknown. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the optimal AUDIT cutpoint for detecting alcohol problems as well in male as in female patients who are treated in the emergency departement (ED). An additionel purpose of the study was to determine whether computerized screening for alcohol problem is feasible in this setting. Methods: The study was performed in the ED of Universitätsmedizin Berlin-Charité, Campus Mitte. During an 8-month period 1205 male and 722 female injured patients were screened, using an interactive computerized assessment that includes the AUDIT as an embedded component. WHO criterias were used to define alcohol dependence and harmful drinking. WHO criterias (2000) for excessive consumption were used to define high-risk drinking.The ability of the AUDIT to classify appropriatly male and female as having at least one of this three conditions was the primary outcome measure. A specifity of > 0.80 was a priori defined to be sufficient in this setting. Results: Criteria for any alcohol use disorder were present in 17.5% of male and 6.8% of female patients. The overall accuracy of the AUDIT, measured by the Receiver Operated Characteristics was good for men and good to excellent for women. At a specifity ? 0.80, sensitivity was 0.75 for men using a cutoff of 8 points and 0.84 for women using a cutoff of 5 points. Eighty-five percent of patients completed computerized screening without additionel help. Conclusions: By the reduction of the threshold for women to 5 points and a threshold for men of 8 points is it possible to screen injured patients in the ED with similar sufficient specifity and comparable sensitivity, when using the AUDIT. Computerized AUDIT administration is feasible and may help to overcome time limitations that may compromise screening in this busy clinical environment.

Recently, smart dust or wireless sensor networks are gaining more attention.These autonomous, ultra-low power sensor-based electronic devices sense and process burst-type environmental variations and pass the data from one node (mote) to another in an ad-hoc network. Subsystems for smart dust are typically the analog interface (AI), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital signal processor (DSP), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), power management, and transceiver for communication. This thesis project describes an event-driven (ED) digital signal processing system (ADC, DSP and DAC) operating in continuous-time (CT) with smart dust as the target application. The benefits of the CT system compared to its conventional counterpart are lower in-band quantization noise and no requirement of a clock generator and anti-aliasing filter, which makes it suitable for processing burst-type data signals. A clockless EDADC system based on a CT delta modulation (DM) technique is presented. The ADC output is digital data, continuous in time, known as “data token”. The ADC employs an unbuffered, area efficient, segmented resistor-string (R-string) feedback DAC. A study of different segmented R-string DAC architectures is presented. A comparison in component reduction with prior art shows nearly 87.5% reduction of resistors and switches in the DAC and the D flip-flops in the bidirectional shift registers for an 8-bit ADC, utilizing the proposed segmented DAC architecture. The obtained SNDR for the 3-bit, 4-bit and 8-bit ADC system is 22.696 dB, 30.435 dB and 55.73 dB, respectively, with the band of interest as 220.5 kHz. The CTDSP operates asynchronously and process the data token obtained from the EDADC. A clockless transversal direct-form finite impulse response (FIR) low-pass filter (LPF) is designed. Systematic top-down test-driven methodology is employed through out the project. Initially, MATLAB models are used to compare the CT systems with the sampled systems. The complete CTDSP system is implemented in Cadence design environment. The thesis has resulted in two conference contributions. One for the 20th European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, ECCTD’11 and the other for the 19th IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Very Large Scale Integration, VLSI-SoC’11. We obtained the second-best student paper award at the ECCTD.

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La tesi seguirà il processo di sviluppo in occasione della riforma 2013 della PAC. Senza tentare di fare un'analisi approfondita sui successi e gli insuccessi del quadro politico precedente, si concentrerà più sui le opinioni delle parti interessate sulle sfide della politica stava affrontando alla data e le possibili soluzioni proposte dalle parti interessate a prendere il la politica in avanti. Una visione a 360 ° delle posizioni assunte dalle parti interessate rivelerà loro valutazione dell'efficacia della politica, l'efficacia degli strumenti esistenti per affrontare le nuove sfide, nonché identificherà le nuove direzioni che essi propongono per lo sviluppo delle politiche per affrontare le sfide future. Tale analisi consentirà l'identificazione del luogo e l'importanza data dalla parti interessate per la promozione dell'innovazione e della sostenibilità nel settore agricolo attraverso gli strumenti della PAC. La tesi si propone di cogliere il ruolo delle diverse opinioni delle parti interessate nello sviluppo della politica e quindi di fare un'analisi delle sfide e delle opportunità parti interessate devono affrontare nel contesto della implementatione delle politiche agricole. / The thesis will follow the policy development process during the 2013 reform of the CAP. Without attempting to make an in-depth expert analysis on the successes and failures of the previous policy framework, it will focus more on reflecting the opinions of the stakeholders on the challenges the policy was facing at date and possible solutions proposed by stakeholders to take the policy forward. A 360° vision on the positions taken by stakeholders will reveal their assessment of the effectiveness of the policy, the efficacy of existing instruments to address new challenges as well as will identify the new directions they propose for policy development to meet future challenges. Such an analysis will allow identifying the place and importance given by stakeholders to the promoting innovation and sustainability in the agricultural sector through the instruments of the CAP. The thesis aims at capturing the role of the various stakeholder opinions in the development of the policy and then to make an analysis of the challenges and opportunities stakeholders face in the context of the new policy implementation.

Il focus della mia tesi "Le preferenze dei consumatori e l'atteggiamento verso gli attributi di vino: il caso dell’etichettatura sostenibile" è quello di esplorare le questioni intorno alla sostenibilità nel settore vitivinicolo; l'indagine è stata condotta in Italia e all'estero nel corso dei tre anni del mio dottorato. Anche se dalla letteratura emerge come il prezzo, le caratteristiche sensoriali, l’esperienza precedente siano gli attributi più importanti per la scelta di un vino, la tesi si propone di analizzare l'introduzione dell'attributo di sostenibilità nel settore del vino, fornendo ulteriori delucidazioni riguardo la percezione dei consumatori e le preferenze per i vini non convenzionali. Tale ricerca è stata condotta con il contributo essenziale e la supervisione del professor Daniele Rama del Dipartimento di Economia Agroalimentare (Università di Piacenza) e i Prof. Cristina Mora e Prof. Davide Menozzi del Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti (Università di Parma). / The focus of my dissertation “Consumer preferences and attitude for wine attributes: the case of sustainable labelling” is to explore the issues around sustainability in the wine industry; the investigation was conducted both in Italy and abroad over the last three years of my Ph.D. Even though from literature review emerged that price, sensory characteristics, previous experience are the most important attributes for choosing a wine, this dissertation aims to analyses the introduction of the sustainable attribute in the wine industry, providing more insights into consumer perception and preferences for non-conventional wines. All such research has been carried out with the essential contribution and the supervision of Professor Daniele Rama of the Department of Agricultural Economics (Piacenza University) and Prof. Cristina Mora and Prof. Davide Menozzi of the Department of Food Science (University of Parma).

Usually, human beings are able to quickly distinguish between different places, solely from their visual appearance. This is due to the fact that they can organize their space as composed of discrete units. These units, called ''semantic places'', are characterized by their spatial extend and their functional unity. Such a semantic category can thus be used as contextual information which fosters object detection and recognition. Recent works in semantic place recognition seek to endow the robot with similar capabilities. Contrary to classical localization and mapping works, this problem is usually addressed as a supervised learning problem. The question of semantic places recognition in robotics - the ability to recognize the semantic category of a place to which scene belongs to - is therefore a major requirement for the future of autonomous robotics. It is indeed required for an autonomous service robot to be able to recognize the environment in which it lives and to easily learn the organization of this environment in order to operate and interact successfully. To achieve that goal, different methods have been already proposed, some based on the identification of objects as a prerequisite to the recognition of the scenes, and some based on a direct description of the scene characteristics. If we make the hypothesis that objects are more easily recognized when the scene in which they appear is identified, the second approach seems more suitable. It is however strongly dependent on the nature of the image descriptors used, usually empirically derived from general considerations on image coding.Compared to these many proposals, another approach of image coding, based on a more theoretical point of view, has emerged the last few years. Energy-based models of feature extraction based on the principle of minimizing the energy of some function according to the quality of the reconstruction of the image has lead to the Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBMs) able to code an image as the superposition of a limited number of features taken from a larger alphabet. It has also been shown that this process can be repeated in a deep architecture, leading to a sparse and efficient representation of the initial data in the feature space. A complex problem of classification in the input space is thus transformed into an easier one in the feature space. This approach has been successfully applied to the identification of tiny images from the 80 millions image database of the MIT. In the present work, we demonstrate that semantic place recognition can be achieved on the basis of tiny images instead of conventional Bag-of-Word (BoW) methods and on the use of Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) for image coding. We show that after appropriate coding a softmax regression in the projection space is sufficient to achieve promising classification results. To our knowledge, this approach has not yet been investigated for scene recognition in autonomous robotics. We compare our methods with the state-of-the-art algorithms using a standard database of robot localization. We study the influence of system parameters and compare different conditions on the same dataset. These experiments show that our proposed model, while being very simple, leads to state-of-the-art results on a semantic place recognition task.

Questa tesi e’ composta da cinque articoli sui temi dell’innovazione, diffusione e adozione di tecnologie energetiche efficienti. Il primo capitolo presenta una rassegna della letteratura empirica sulle dinamiche del cambiamento tecnologico in campo ambientale. Il secondo capitolo studia le piu’ importanti determinanti del flusso di conoscenza. Il terzo capitolo identifica le maggiori determinanti di domanda e offerta dell’innovazione, con particolare attenzione al ruolo della conoscenza internazionale. I risultati presentati mostrano come gli spillover di conoscenza favoriscano ulteriori innovazioni. I capitoli quarto e quinto studiano il settore di produzione dell’energia elettrica. Il capitolo quarto presenta un database di brevetti in technologie energetiche efficienti. Il capitolo quinto studia le determinanti dell’efficienza energetica nella produzione di energia elettrica da fonti fossili, con particolare attenzione al ruolo della tecnologia. / This dissertation is a collection of essays on innovation, diffusion and adoption of energy technologies. Chapter 1 presents a state-of-the art review of empirical contributions on TC dynamics as applied to eco-innovation. Chapter 2 explores the main determinants of knowledge flows and how they favor or hinder the flow of knowledge across border. Both geographical and technological distance hinder the flow of eco-knowledge. Chapter 3 identifies the main demand and supply-side determinants of innovation, with particular attention to the role of foreign knowledge. I point to the importance of knowledge spillovers in fostering further eco-innovation, especially in countries with medium to low innovative abilities. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on TC in the electricity sector, a main contributor to GHG emissions. In Chapter 4 presents the data selection process used to identify patents in efficient fossil electricity technologies and provides a worldwide analysis of innovation trends in these technologies. Chapter 5 studies the evolution of energy efficiency in fossil-fuel based electricity production, devoting particular attention to the contribution of knowledge to production efficiency.

Lo scopo della tesi di dottorato è quello di indagare, analizzare e costruire evidenza empirica sulla rilevanza degli approcci territoriali per affrontare il problema dell'insicurezza alimentare, sulla base del presupposto che l'inefficacia degli approcci tradizionali alla sicurezza alimentare e nutrizionale (FNS) sottolinea la necessità di passare da approcci “one-size-fits-all”, interamente top-down e settoriali ad approcci integrati, contesto-specifici e territoriali. La prima parte definisce un quadro concettuale e di policy per l'approccio territoriale alle politiche di FNS, intervistando anche i principali esperti sui temi della FNS e dello sviluppo regionale. La seconda parte si propone colmare il gap in termini di informazione e di metodi di analisi per la FNS tramite lo sviluppo di strumenti e approcci per misurare e valutare le determinanti strutturali territoriali della FNS. In particolare, nel lavoro si propongono due diversi strumenti: il Territorial Capital Index (TCI) e la matrice di contabilità sociale (SAM). Il lavoro di ricerca conclude che la FNS è un problema complesso e multisettoriale di sviluppo socio-economico caratterizzata da una forte dimensione territoriale che va ben oltre la produzione alimentare ed è il risultato di interazioni dinamiche e complesse tra politiche sociali, economiche, istituzionali e ambientali. L'approccio TCI-SAM proposto fornisce ai decisori politici un sistema di informazioni e di analisi territoriali esaustivo per indirizzare le strategie e le politiche di FNS e per una più efficiente allocazione delle risorse. / The aim of the PhD thesis is to investigate, analyze and build empirical evidence on the relevance of territorial approaches for addressing the issue of food insecurity, based on the assumption that the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to food and nutrition security (FNS) stresses the need to shift from one-size-fits-all, entirely top-down and sectoral-based approaches to integrated, context-specific and place-based approaches. The first part defines a conceptual and policy framework for the territorial approach to FNS policies also by interviewing the main experts on the issues of FNS and regional development. The second part aims at filling the FNS gap in terms of information and analytical methods by developing tools and approaches to measure and assess the territorial structural determinants of FNS. In particular, it proposes two different tools: the Territorial Capital Index (TCI) and the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). The research concluded that FNS is a multi-sectoral and complex socio-economic development issue characterized by a strong territorial dimension which goes far beyond food production and it is the result of dynamic and complex interactions between economic, social, institutional and environmental policies. The combined TCI-SAM approach provides policy makers with comprehensive territorial information to target FNS strategies and policies and to better allocate resources.