The aim of this thesis is to present the situation of the intravenous drug-users (IDUs) living with HIV in Romania, with a focus on Bucharest. The study follows the IDUs experiences from the environment they live in, to the day-to-day examples of structural violence they face. The questions followed regard the lives of the IDUs in Romania, as well as how they are handled by various authorities and institutions’ representatives such as medical staff in hospitals, the national healthcare system, social workers, law enforcement representatives and other public servants. The fieldwork was conducted around Bucharest through the use of observation while volunteering on outreach with an NGO, and interviews in the form of life histories in a hospital, as research methods. The thesis offers a background look at the communist and transition periods that influenced everyday life in today’s Romania. I argue that because of the stigma attached to them for being part of risk groups, the IDUs face many different forms of structural violence. Whether it comes to governmental authorities, law enforcement or medical staff, the IDUs, as well as other vulnerable risk group members, are continuously pushed outside of society through various measures. This creates a continuous state of isolation from which they cannot remove themselves without outsider help.

No description available.

Cette recherche étudie la clandestinité de migrants sans autorisation de séjour dans la métropole. Son objectif est de rendre compte de la condition clandestine dans la métropole au début du XXIe siècle, mais aussi de montrer ses incidences et d'expliquer son émergence et sa perpétuation. Pour atteindre l'objectif, une enquête de terrain - soit des entretiens et des observations réalisés auprès des migrants clandestins thaïlandais résidant dans Paris et sa banlieue et des personnes au contact d'eux - a été menée. L'enquête permet, en premier lieu, de caractériser la condition clandestine par les situations d'invisibilité, d'insécurité et carcérales. Elle montre, en second lieu, que la condition clandestine dessine des caractéristiques propres aux personnalités clandestines : la mélancolie, la peur, la réserve et la discrétion, mais aussi la fierté. De plus, l'une des spécificités des clandestins, construite par la condition clandestine, est qu'ils souhaitent finir par retourner dans la société d'origine car ils ne s'intègrent pas dans la société d'accueil. L'enquête sert, en troisième lieu, à cerner les contextes, processus ou conditions qui génèrent, maintiennent et perpétuent la condition clandestine. Ce qui amène à formuler cette thèse : la condition clandestine existe dans le cadre du compromis clandestin, soit l'ensemble des accords explicites et implicites entre les employeurs, les bailleurs et les clandestins autour de l'assistance sociale et de l'impossibilité des pouvoirs publics de contrôler ou de régulariser tous les clandestins. Le compromis clandestin est le processus qui produit, maintient et perpétue la clandestinité. La métropole est propice à la clandestinité car elle constitue un lieu d'échappatoire au contrôle et un grand marché de travail et de logement clandestin. / This research studies the clandestinity of migrants without authorization of residence in metropolis. Its objective is to report the clandestine condition in the metropolis of the beginning of the 21st century, but also to show its impact and explain its emergence and perpetuation. To achieve the objective, a fieldwork - interviews and observations made with Thai illegal migrants residing in Paris and its suburbs and people in contact with them - was carried out. The survey makes it possible, in the first place, to characterize the clandestine condition by situations of invisibility, insecurity and incarcerated. It shows, secondly, that the clandestine condition draws these characteristics of clandestine personalities : melancholy, fear, reserve and discretion, but also pride. Moreover, another specificity of illegal migrants, built up by the clandestine condition, is they wish to end up returning to society of origin because they do not integrate into host society. Thirdly, the survey serves to identify the contexts, processes or conditions that generate, maintain and perpetuate clandestine condition. This leads to the formulation of this thesis: clandestine condition exists within the framework of the clandestine compromise, that is to say of the explicit and implicit agreements between employers, landlord and illegal migrants around social assistance and the impossibility of powers control or regularization of all illegal migrants. The clandestine compromise is the process that produces, maintains and perpetuates the clandestinity. The metropolis is conducive to clandestinity because it constitutes a place of escape from control and a large market for work and clandestine housing.

Les techniques de camouflage, mimétisme ou invisibilité ont récemment connu une forte émergence, qui se poursuit aujourd’hui avec l’apparition des méta-surfaces. C’est dans ce contexte que ce travail de doctorat a été réalisé, notamment avec un premier objectif d’étendre ces outils et concepts aux problèmes inverses du domaine de la diffusion de la chaleur. La suite du travail a concerné le rayonnement thermique, les méta-surfaces et les transformations de champ. Après avoir étendu les techniques de mimétisme au domaine de la conduction, nous avons résolu le problème inverse associé, qui consiste à camoufler des objets imposés en forme ou conductivité. Ce premier travail a permis de mettre en évidence les classes de transformation qui laissent invariantes les paramètres physiques, conférant ainsi plus de pragmatisme au domaine du mimétisme. Nous avons ensuite considéré le cas du rayonnement thermique, et démontré pour la première fois que les illusions par rayonnement étaient envisageables, en appui sur l’invariance du théorème de fluctuation/dissipation. Dans une deuxième étape, nous avons mis au point une nouvelle méthode pour calculer le rayonnement thermique par des objets de forme arbitraire, mettant en jeu des méta-surfaces inhomogènes, anisotropes, chirales et non locales. Nous montrons également comment tirer profit des méta-surfaces pour remplacer les capes volumiques tout en conservant la fonction de camouflage. Cette technique est particulièrement prometteuse pour les applications, même si elle reste intrinsèquement liée à l’éclairement. Des techniques similaires sont développées pour que soit facilité l’utilisation de transformations discontinues de l’espace. / Mimetism, camouflage or invisibility have motivated numerous efforts in the last decade, which are now extended with metasurfaces. This PhD work fits this international context and was first focused on inverse problems in heat conduction before we address thermal radiation and metasurfaces, field transformation. After we generalize the mimetism techniques to heat diffusion, we solved the associated inverse problem which consists of the camouflage of given objects, that is, objects with shape or conductivity that are before hand chosen. The results allowed us to emphasize the class of transformations which hold the physical parameters, hence giving more pragmatism to the field of mimetism. Then we addressed the case of thermal radiation and proved for the first time that mimetism effects could also be controlled in this field, on the basis of the fluctuation/dissipation theorem. In a second step, we built an original technique able to predict the thermal radiation from objects of arbitrary shapes. This technique involves inhomogeneous, anisotropic, chiral and nonlocal metasurfaces. We also show how to take more benefits of metasurfaces in order to replace the bulk mimetism cloaks. We believe this technique to give again more push forward to the field, though the mimetism efficiency now relies on the illumination conditions. Similar techniques are further developed to allow a practical use of discontinuous space transformations. Eventually, field transformation is introduced to complete all these results.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:17:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcos Valdir Silva.pdf: 5140294 bytes, checksum: 9b03bc2c3c1867278382c74d631af8e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation intends to expand the debate on the enforcement of rights involving the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people, in a dialogue with the professional practice of social workers in the Reference Centers for Human Rights in the Prevention and Fight Against Homophobia. As the basis for the research I have reconstructed my life history, its interconnection with the trajectory of the Brazilian LGBT movement and the construction of identity as a professional and an activist. I have also tried to search for and tell the participation of social workers towards the possibility of enforcing LGBT rights. In order to achieve such purpose I have conducted in-depth reading of theoretical approaches to sexual diversity and discussed themes such as sexuality, heteronormativity, sexual orientation and the ethical/political project of professional social workers. These themes are of high importance to overcome the prejudice that still prevails in society to this day. But, as I believe advancements and achievements have been made, I have organized conceptions, terms and information through a documental and bibliographical research on the history of the LGBT movement, resulting in a database consisting of tables, charts and information concerning the legislation and the Reference Centers currently operating in Brazil. This search has allowed me to find people and their experiences and personal accounts, which then required the use of Oral History methodology. As they express their opinions and experiences I had the opportunity to know the reality of those who fight homophobia. Since the enforcement of rights is a result of the acknowledgment of demands and needs by the State, I listened to the accounts provided by social workers from the Reference Centers in Campinas and São Paulo, as they represent today new places for this professional category. An important aspect of this dissertation is the possibility of integrating the LGBT movement struggle with the agenda of the Social Workers´ Professional Councils statewide and nationwide in regard of the sexual orientation. Thus, I perceived that going beyond the rainbow ideas today is to contribute to overcome invisibility and provide opportunities to build rights that are equal to everyone regardless of their sexual orientation / Esta dissertação propõe ampliar o debate quanto à efetivação de direitos da população de lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais, fazendo uma interlocução com a prática interventiva dos assistentes sociais que atuam nos Centros de Referência em Direitos Humanos de Prevenção e Combate à Homofobia. Fundamentando a pesquisa, realizei uma reconstrução de minha história de vida, sua interlocução com a trajetória do Movimento LGBT brasileiro e a construção de minha identidade profissional e militante. Busquei também resgatar a participação da categoria profissional frente à possibilidade de efetivação de direitos da população LGBT. Para alcançar tal objetivo realizei um trabalho de aprofundamento teórico da temática da diversidade sexual, discutindo temas como sexualidade, heteronormatividade, orientação sexual e projeto ético-político da profissão, temas estes de suma importância para se conseguir romper com o preconceito ainda hoje existente na sociedade. Mas acreditando que ocorreram avanços e conquistas, sistematizei concepções, termos e informações através de pesquisa documental e bibliográfica sobre a história do Movimento LGBT, apresentando um banco de dados composto por tabelas, gráficos e informações referentes às legislações e aos Centros de Referência hoje existentes no Brasil. Nesta busca encontrei sujeitos e, com eles, suas experiências e narrativas, o que me levou à utilização da metodologia da História Oral para ouvir seus relatos. Ao expressarem seus posicionamentos e experiências, tive a possibilidade de conhecer a realidade daqueles que lutam contra a homofobia. Sabendo que a efetivação de direitos acontece a partir do reconhecimento de demandas por parte do Estado, ouvimos relatos das assistentes sociais que atuam nos Centros de Referência de Campinas e de São Paulo, sendo estes hoje novos espaços de atuação profissional para a categoria. Um aspecto importante da dissertação é a possibilidade de integrar a luta do movimento LGBT com a pauta do conjunto CFESS/CRESS quanto à temática da livre orientação sexual. Assim percebi que transcender o ideário do arco-íris hoje é fazer com que a invisibilidade seja superada, possibilitando oportunidades de construção de direitos iguais a todos, independentemente de sua orientação sexual

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-10-11T18:37:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Lucia da Silva.pdf: 1606037 bytes, checksum: f94665f57cbb568c98a7323e5b220a72 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-11T18:37:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Lucia da Silva.pdf: 1606037 bytes, checksum: f94665f57cbb568c98a7323e5b220a72 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-28 / La lucha por una educación anti-racista está entre las reivindicaciones de los movimientos sociales negros que culminaron y definieron los programas de acciones afirmativas desarrolladas por el gobierno brasileño, incluyendo alumnos, profesores e instituciones en el ámbito de la educación superior. Esta pesquisa investiga la invisibilidad del profesor negro y negra en la universidad pública brasileña, teniendo como territorio la “Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro- Brasileira (UNILAB)”, creada en 2010, con el propósito de inclusión e integración de alumnos y profesores brasileños y africanos. Para encontrar respuesta para la cuestión central de esta pesquisa, se hizo necesario conocer la historia de vida de seis profesores negros brasileños y africanos que actuaron en la UNILAB, con el objetivo de comprender la trayectoria de los profesores negros y negras, a fin de saber si esa presencia ínfima es producida por el racismo. Además de eso, buscamos saber también si la UNILAB está incluyendo más profesores negros que el promedio nacional de las universidades que no ultrapasan 1%. Nuestra conclusión es que la UNILAB debe mantenerse comprometida y autónoma para dar voz a las demandas de los afro-brasileños y africanos silenciadas por el colonialismo, capitalismo y racismo, produciendo críticas al eurocentrismo el socializando conocimientos emancipadores con base en epistemologías descolonizadoras. / The struggle for an antiracist education has been among the claims of the black social movements that has culminated and defined the affirmative action programs developed by the Brazilian government, including students, professors and institutions in the college education ambit. This research investigates the invisibility the black male and female professor at the Brazilian state-owned university, using as territory the “Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira” (Afro-Brazilian International Lusophony Integration University) UNILAB, founded in 2010, with the purpose of including and integrating Brazilian and African students and professors. In order to find the central question of this research, it was necessary to know the history of the lives of six Brazilian and African male and female professors that acted at UNILAB, with the objective of understanding the path of such professors, as well as to know if this scarce presence is due to racism. Besides that, we are willing to know if UNILAB has been including more black professors than the national average, which don‟t exceed 1%. Our conclusion is that UNILAB must keep itself committed and autonomous to give voice to the Afro-Brazilians and Africans demands, silenced by colonialism, capitalism, and racism, producing critiques to eurocentrism, socializing emancipatory knowledge based on decolonizing epistemologies. / A luta por uma educação antirracista está entre as reivindicações dos movimentos sociais negros que culminaram e definiram os programas de ações afirmativas desenvolvidas pelo governo brasileiro, incluindo alunos, professores e instituições no âmbito da educação superior. Esta pesquisa investiga invisibilidade dos professores (as) negros (as) na universidade pública brasileira, tendo como território a Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira (UNILAB), criada em 2010, com o propósito de inclusão de alunos e professores brasileiros e africanos. Para encontrar resposta para a questão central desta pesquisa, fez-se necessário conhecer a história de vida de seis professores negros brasileiros e africanos que atuam na UNILAB, com objetivo de compreender sua trajetória dos professores (as) negros (as) e negras, a fim de saber se essa presença ínfima é produzida pelo racismo. Além disso, buscamos conhecer também se a UNILAB está incluindo mais professores negros que a média nacional das universidades, que não ultrapassa 1,0%. Nossa conclusão é que a UNILAB deve manter-se comprometida e autônoma para dar voz às demandas dos afro-brasileiros e africanos silenciadas pelo colonialismo, capitalismo e racismo, produzindo críticas ao eurocentrismo e socializando conhecimentos emancipatórios com base em epistemologias descolonizadoras.

The objective of this study is to examine core-shell type plasmonic metamaterials aimed at the development of materials with unique electromagnetic properties. The building blocks of metamaterials under study consist of gold as a metal component, and silica and precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as the dielectric media. The results of this study demonstrate important applications of the core-shells including scattering suppression, airborne obscurants made of fractal gold shells, photomodification of the fractal structure providing windows of transparency, and plasmonics core-shell with a gain shell as an active device. Plasmonic resonances of the metallic shells depend on their nanostructure and geometry of the core, which can be optimized for the broadband extinction. Significant extinction from the visible to mid-infrared makes fractal shells very attractive as bandpass filters and aerosolized obscurants. In contrast to the planar fractal films, where the absorption and reflection equally contribute to the extinction, the shells' extinction is caused mainly by the absorption. This work shows that the Mie scattering resonance of a silica core with 780 nm diameter at 560 nm is suppressed by 75% and only partially substituted by the absorption in the shell so that the total transmission is noticeably increased. Effective medium theory supports our experiments and indicates that light goes mostly through the epsilon-near-zero shell with approximately wavelength independent absorption rate. Broadband extinction in fractal shells allows as well for a laser photoburning of holes in the extinction spectra and consequently windows of transparency in a controlled manner. Au fractal nanostructures grown on PCC flakes provide the highest mass normalized extinction, up to 3 m^2/g, which has been demonstrated in the broad spectral range. In the nanoplasmonic field active devices consist of a Au nanoparticle that acts as a cavity and the dye molecules attached to it via thin silica shell as the active medium. Such kind of devices is considered as a nano-laser or nano-amplifier. The fabricated nanolasers were studied for their photoluminescence kinetic properties. It is shown that the cooperative effects due to the coupling of dye molecules via Au nanoparticle plasmons result in bi-exponential emission decay characteristics in accord with theory predictions. These bi-exponential decays involve a fast superradiant decay, which is followed by a slow subradiant decay. To summarize, this work shows new attractive properties of core-shell nanoparticles. Fractal Au shells on silica cores prove to be a good scattering suppressor and a band pass filter in a broadband spectral range. They can also be used as an obscurant when PCC is used as the core material. Finally, gold nanoparticles coated with silica with dye results in bi-exponential decays.

La religiosità e i processi di auto-identificazione di giovani con background musulmano in Occidente soggiacciono a una doppia dinamica: da un lato, essi devono misurarsi con una narrazione negativa che dipinge l’Islam come “altro” e “diverso”; dall’altro, la loro religione subisce un processo di deculturazione (Roy 2004), ovvero lo scollegamento tra cultura e Islam in contesto di emigrazione. Sulla base di uno studio qualitativo, (60 interviste biografiche e osservazione partecipante) condotto in due città italiane (Milano e Torino), la tesi indaga come giovani con background musulmano articolino la loro appartenenza religiosa attraverso le loro pratiche quotidiane (Ammerman 2007), comparando in particolare giovani attivi nel mondo associativo religioso (impegnati in particolare come volontari o staff del ramo italiano dell’organizzazione umanitaria Islamic Relief) e giovani non interessati al coinvolgimento in organizzazioni religiose. La ricerca esamina così le pratiche religiose, nonché le risorse impiegate per la costruzione della propria identità, tra giovani musulmani “iper-visibili” (pubblicamente attivi e devoti - Jeldtoft 2013) e “non-visibili” (i cui sentimenti di appartenenza alla comunità di riferimento sono meno ovvi) sviluppando una tipologia di “riflessività religiosa” ed esplorando forme di visibilizzazione e invisibilizzazione della religiosità. / In Western countries, the religiosity and self-identification of youths with a Muslim background is shaped by a double dynamic: on one hand, they face negative discourses that cast Islam as “Different” and “Other”; on the other, their religion undergoes a process of deculturation (Roy 2004) - that is, the disconnection between culture and Islam in contexts of emigration. On the basis of a qualitative study (60 in-depth interviews and participant observation) carried out in two Italian cities (Milan and Turin), this thesis investigates how Italian descendants of Muslim migrants articulate and live their religious belonging, by analysing the “everyday lived religion” (Ammerman 2007) of youths acting as volunteers or staff members in the Italian branch of Islamic Relief (the largest Sunni international humanitarian NGOs) and of youths who are not active or involved in any religious or ethnic/national organisation. Hence, the study examines how feelings of religiosity and resources mobilized for identity-building differ between “hyper-visible” young Muslims - i.e. publicly active, vocal and devout (Jeldtoft 2013) - and “non-visible” ones - who have less of an obvious group bound. The study develops a typology of different forms of “religious reflexivity” and explores forms of visible and invisible religiosity.

Actualmente, el Perú presenta una marcada tendencia hacia la falta de visibilización y conocimiento de la participación de la mujer en la industria creativa. En consecuencia, existe la necesidad de visibilizar a estas mujeres y su importante rol dentro del área del diseño gráfico en el país. El presente proyecto consiste en la elaboración de una obra editorial que tiene como objetivo mostrar la visión de quince diseñadoras gráficas peruanas de tres generaciones distintas. Para la producción del contenido, se conversó con diferentes mujeres fundadoras de estudios de diseño, diseñadoras influyentes y mujeres jóvenes con una percepción nueva respecto al rubro. Estas mujeres; a través de extensas entrevistas dan a conocer sus experiencias y perspectivas sobre lo que significa ser mujer y diseñadora en el Perú, y cómo se está estableciendo la profesión a nivel local. El reto consiste en diseñar un libro que muestre la visión de estas mujeres sin caer en recursos gráficos recurrentes o estereotipos negativos sobre lo femenino. Asimismo, exponer a los lectores estas perspectivas para que complementen su desarrollo profesional y académico. La producción de esta obra editorial responde a los conocimientos teóricos y prácticos que se obtienen como resultado de una profunda investigación que se recopila en el marco teórico de la presente memoria profesional. Este libro se expone, no solo bajo conceptos del diseño editorial, sino además bajo un plano semiótico del diseño. Ambos campos de estudio brindan claridad para un desarrollo eficaz de la publicación que responde a los objetivos del proyecto. / Nowadays, Peru presents a marked tendency towards the Invisibilization and lack of knowledge reggarding the participation of women in the creative industry. In consequence, there is a need to make these women visible and show their important role in the area of graphic design in the country. This project consists of the development of an editorial piece which objective is to show the vision of fifteen Peruvian female graphic designers from three different generations. To obtain the content, we spoke with women at the head of design studios, influential women designers, and young women with a new and particular take on the field. Through extensive interviews, they share their experience and perspective on being a woman and designer inPeru, the social approach of graphic design, and how the profession is establishing itself locally. The challenge of the project is to design a book that shares these women’s vision without recurring tostereotypical graphic resources related to femininity while exposing readers to them and complement their professional and academic development. The production of the editorial piece responds to theorical and practical knowledge obtained through indepth investigation that is compiled within the theorical framework of this professional report. This book presents itself, not only under editorial design concepts but also under a semiotic design plan. Both fields provide clarity for an effective and coherent development of the publication that responds to the objectives of the project. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

The first part of this Thesis deals with the analysis of piecewise-smooth mechanical systems and the definition of special stability criteria in presence of non-conservative follower forces. To illustrate the peculiar stability properties of this kind of dynamical system, a reference 2 d.o.f. structure has been considered, composed of a rigid bar, with one and constrained to slide, without friction, along a curved profile, whereas the other and is subject to a follower force. In particular, the curved constraint is assumed to be composed of two circular profiles, with different and opposite curvatures, defining two separated subsystems. Due to this jump in the curvature, located at the junction point between the curved profiles, the entire mechanical structure can be modelled by discontinuous equations of motion, the differential equations valid in each subsystem can be combined, leading to the definition of a piecewise-smooth dynamical system. When a follower force acts on the structure, an unexpected and counterintuitive behaviour may occur: although the two subsystems are stable when analysed separately, the composed structure is unstable and exhibits flutter-like exponentially-growing oscillations. This special form of instability, previously known only from a mathematical point of view, has been analysed in depth from an engineering perspective, thus finding a mechanical interpretation based on the concept of non-conservative follower load. Moreover, the goal of this work is also the definition of some stability criteria that may help the design of these mechanical piecewise-smooth systems, since classical theorems cannot be used for the investigation of equilibrium configurations located at the discontinuity. In the literature, this unusual behaviour has been explained, from a mathematical perspective, through the existence of a discontinuous invariant cone in the phase space. For this reason, starting from the mechanical system described above, the existence of invariant cones in 2 d.o.f. mechanical systems is investigated through Poincaré maps. A complete theoretical analysis on piecewise-smooth dynamical systems is presented and special mathematical properties have been discovered, valid for generic 2~d.o.f. piecewise-smooth mechanical systems, which are useful for the characterisation of the stability of the equilibrium configurations. Numerical tools are implemented for the analysis of a 2~d.o.f. piecewise-smooth mechanical system, valid for piecewise-linear cases and extendible to the nonlinear ones. A numerical code has been developed, with the aim of predicting the stability of a piecewise-linear dynamical system a priori, varying the mechanical parameters. Moreover, “design maps” are produced for a given subset of the parameters space, so that a system with a desired stable or unstable behaviour can easily be designed. The aforementioned results can find applications in soft actuation or energy harvesting. In particular, in systems devoted to exploiting the flutter-like instability, the range of design parameters can be extended by using piecewise-smooth instead of smooth structures, since unstable flutter-like behaviour is possible also when each subsystem is actually stable. The second part of this Thesis deals with the numerical analysis of an elastic cloak for transient flexural waves in Kirchhoff-Love plates and the design of special metamaterials for this goal. In the literature, relevant applications of transformation elastodynamics have revealed that flexural waves in thin elastic plates can be diverted and channelled, with the aim of shielding a given region of the ambient space. However, the theoretical transformations which define the elastic properties of this “invisibility cloak” lead to the presence of a strong compressive prestress, which may be unfeasible for real applications. Moreover, this theoretical cloak must present, at the same time, high bending stiffness and a null twisting rigidity. In this Thesis, an orthotropic meta-structural plate is proposed as an approximated elastic cloak and the presence of the prestress has been neglected in order to be closer to a realistic design. With the aim of estimating the performance of this approximated cloak, a Finite Element code is implemented, based on a sub-parametric technique. The tool allows the investigation of the sensitivity of specific stiffness parameters that may be difficult to match in a real cloak design. Moreover, the Finite Element code is extended to investigate a meta-plate interacting with a Winkler foundation, to analyse how the substrate modulus transforms in the cloak region. This second topic of the Thesis may find applications in the realization of approximated invisibility cloaks, which can be employed to reduce the destructive effects of earthquakes on civil structures or to shield mechanical components from unwanted vibrations.