Prof. Imre Tóth (University of Debrecen, Ungheria)
27 Novembre 2024, ore 14.30 AULA 203

According to our knowledge the NMR Spectroscopy is the most widely used experimental method in chemistry research including the field of metal-complexes. Using the vastly different NMR technics (often developed for organic chemistry) many questions raised in preparation and characterisation of metal-ligand coordination compounds can be answered. Several aspects of such kind of science are: equilibrium constants, the stoichiometry of species including solvation, constitution, i.e. binding mode and denticity of a ligand, isomers, rate of the formation, ligand exchange reactions, fluxionality etc. 
Selected examples mainly from our own experimental work done in the last decade are going to be presented. Without the technical details we try to show the advantages and limitations of the multinuclear 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy in coordination chemistry.
Although NMR does not usually have the precision of potentiometric measurements in order to determine the stability constants, it can provide an important independent check on their accuracy, e.g. Al(III) − F− system.1 Stochiometry of a hexanuclear complex, Bi(III)6O4(OH)46+, studied by 1H NMR will be presented.2 High resolution NMR spectroscopy is superior to study the structure of complexes in solution, but there is an obvious need to take into account the intra molecular isomerisation / fluxionality of the complexes, because a fast rearrangement of the donor atoms (including the water) in the inner sphere might virtually increase the symmetry. Examples of metal-metal bonded cyanides, (CN)5Pt-Tl(CN)nn− (n=0,1,2,3)3 for symmetry, whilst lantanide(III)-macrocycle complexes4 for fluxionality will be mentioned. Structure of a new polyoxometallate (POM), [Tl2{B-β-SiW8O30(OH)}2]12–, is evaluated in solution by 203/205Tl NMR.5,6 

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 27-11-2024

Prof. Daniele Giannetti (Università di Parma)
02 Dicembre 2024, ore 13.00 SEMINARIO ONLINE AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI PARTECIPAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Meet)

Le interazioni che coinvolgono formiche e piante costituiscono esempi da manuale nelle relazioni mutualistiche animale-pianta. Nella maggior parte dei casi, questo sistema è caratterizzato dalla trofobiosi in cui le piante forniscono cibo alle formiche che a loro volta offrono protezione dai predatori e dai concorrenti. In altri contesti queste interazioni possono essere mediate da altre strutture come le galle. Le galle rappresentano un problema per la pianta ma, in seguito alla colonizzazione delle formiche, potrebbero diventare una risorsa apportando anche benefici. Questa panoramica si propone di presentare diverse ricerche riguardanti le interazioni tra formiche, piante e altri organismi e le nuove tecnologie ispirate alle ricerche sul campo, funzionali allo studio delle formiche sia in ambiente naturale che in laboratorio.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 04, 25-11-2024 e 02-12-2024

Dott.ssa Carola Chicco (Politecnico di Torino)
25 Novembre 2024, ore 13.00 SEMINARIO ONLINE AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI PARTECIPAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Meet)

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are social cetaceans known for their long migrations between low-latitudes breeding areas and high-latitudes feeding areas. During the breeding season, males produce a complex vocal display called “song" that play a role in sexual selection and is culturally transmitted within populations. Males in the same region adopt a shared song structure that evolves over time—a process known as “cultural evolution.” This song transmission likely occurs through acoustic interactions, showcasing an extraordinary example of social learning among animal species.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 04, 25-11-2024 e 02-12-2024

Dott.ssa Federica Spina (Università di Pisa)
04 Novembre 2024, ore 13.00 SEMINARIO ONLINE AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI PARTECIPAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Meet)

One of the most frequently observed behaviors in free-ranging cetaceans is swimming in defined formations. However, the benefits this behavior can bring and the factors that determine structure and arrangement in the group are still poorly studied, as they are difficult to observe from traditional observation platforms (e.g., observations from a research vessel).
In recent years, aerial surveys with drones have provided significant improvements in the observation of the behavior of various cetacean species. Killer whales, particularly the Southern Resident killer whale population in the Salish Sea (WA, USA), are a study model that is being actively monitored using drones. The matriarchal social structure of the Southern Residents has been extensively studied since the 1970s, and to date provides fundamental knowledge for understanding how social bonds in this population affect formation swimming. Recent analyses of whale spatial arrangement within a formation reveal a non-random positioning of individuals, suggesting that kinships and social hierarchies within the Southern Residents population could play a major role in determining the spacing pattern of killer whales in formation.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 04, 25-11-2024 e 02-12-2024

Dr. Michele Perego
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems-Mechatronic and Dynamic Modelling (IMM-MDM), Unit of Agrate Brianza (MB)
07 Ottobre 2024, ore 14.00 AULA 207

In questo seminario verranno descritte le tecniche ed i meccanismi delle tecnologie SIS (Sequential Infiltration Synthesis).

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 07-10-2024

MODULO ADESIONE SEMINARIO

Prof. Tamar Segal-Peretz
Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion- Israel Institute of Technology
07 Ottobre 2024, ore 15.00 AULA 207

Global problems such as plastic pollution and the growing demand for clean water require innovative materials with unprecedented control over composition and structure, at the nanoscale. Atomic layer processes, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) and molecular layer deposition (MLD), are powerful techniques for thin, conformal growth of inorganic, hybrid, and organic materials with exceptional control over their nanoscale thickness using vapor precursors. In recent years, an additional process has joined this family- vapor phase infiltration (VPI), where ALD chemistry is employed to growth inorganic materials within polymers, creating hybrid materials with unique properties.
Here I will discuss how ALD, MLD, and VPI can be harnessed to address some of the challenges in sustainability. First, we have developed ZnO VPI and ALD processes that enable efficient growth of ZnO layers on difficult to nucleate polymer surfaces. These processes are used to form a nanometric UV absorbing coatings that can extend the polymers’ usable lifetime, reducing plastic waste. Second, we utilized Al2O3 VPI and ALD to modify the interface of uni-porous, self-assembled block copolymer membranes, effectively tuning pore sizes from ultrafiltration to nanofiltration. The Al2O3 interface also enables control over the pores’ composition, leading to high selectivity of nano-pollutes. Third, we demonstrate how MLD can be employed to grow layer-by-layer crosslinked, aromatic polyamides on top of ultrafiltration support membranes, producing highly smooth, ultra-thin composite (TFC) membranes. These MLD polyamide TFC exhibit high density, a high degree of cross-linking, and excellent water permeability and salt rejection. This highly controlled, versatile growth process opens a new pathway of membrane fabrication- one monomer at a time.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 07-10-2024

Dr. Manuel Petroselli
Institute of Chemical research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Tarragona, Spagna
17 Settembre 2024, ore 11.00 AULA 203

Supramolecular chemistry is defined as “the chemistry beyond the molecule” and uses non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bond, π-interactions and dispersion forces to modulate equilibria, chemical reactivities and binding events in solution, mimiking the action of biological enzymes and proteins. Recently, non-covalent interactions aroused great interest for their importance in biological processes and their modulation, in terms of nature and strenght, through external stimuli (e.g. temperature, solvent, pH and light), reversibly affecting the macroscopic and microscopic properties of the system where they are involved. Here, I present a journey along with non-covalent interactions, highlighting their potential and importance in several fields such as catalysis, organic chemistry, molecular recognition and chemical biology.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 17-09-2024

Prof. Enrique Teruel
Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Informática e Ingeniería de Sistemas
07 Giugno 2024, ore 9.30 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

Learning, particularly in technical disciplines such as dynamic systems simulation, requieres students to work out cases with diverse complexity, from illustrative examples to project assignments. The usage of professional tools is a must, and it can be fulfilled by open-source solutions. In this seminar the experience of teaching how to build a simulation model and a set of experiments to analyse a dynamic system is illustrated, with examples of exercises developed using two open source simulation environments. 

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 07-06-2024

Prof. Giacomo Parigi
Università degli Studi di Firenze
30 Maggio 2024, ore 14.30 AULA 302

Fast field cycling relaxometry measurements, also called nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD) profiles, report on the nuclear longitudinal relaxation rates as a function of the applied magnetic field over 4 orders of magnitude. These measurements provide a direct access to spectral density functions, so that information on molecular structure and dynamics of macromolecules in solution can be monitored. Relaxometry profiles can directly inform on the presence of motions occurring on time scales from nanoseconds to microseconds, thus allowing for the detection of reorientation times of proteins from a few kDa up to MDa. 1H NMRD profiles are also very useful for the characterization of paramagnetic molecules, especially in the field of the development of contrast agents for MRI. The interaction of paramagnetic complexes with macromolecules present in biological systems can in fact cause an increase of the paramagnetic relaxivity, which in turn increases the MRI contrast.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 30-05-2024

Dr. Michele Perego
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems-Mechatronic and Dynamic Modelling (IMM-MDM), Unit of Agrate Brianza (MB)
07 Maggio 2024, ore 14.00 AULA 206

La pressante tendenza verso il ridimensionamento dei dispositivi microelettronici richiede costantemente tecnologie aggiornate in grado di controllare con precisione la dose di atomi droganti nei substrati semiconduttori. Un approccio emergente basato sulla reazione di grafting di polimeri droganti funzionalizzati, denominato Polymeric Precision Doping (PPD), si è dimostrato un candidato promettente in questa direzione. Il controllo del peso molecolare dei polimeri droganti si è dimostrato una chiave efficace del processo di drogaggio. In questo seminario viene descritto l'intero processo PPD prestando particolare attenzione al meccanismo fisico-chimico alla base della reazione di grafting dei polimeri droganti.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 07-05-2024

Prof. Marcela Uliano da Silva (Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK. Nord University Bodø, Norway)
02 Maggio 2024, ore 14.30 AULA 204
"Sequencing All Life for the Future of Life: the Darwin Tree of Life Project and its Contributions to Molecular Evolution and Conservation"
LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 02-05-2024
L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://uniupo-it.zoom.us/s/84488495043
La registrazione dell'evento è stata pubblicata sul canale YouTube del Dottorato di Ricerca in Chemistry and Biology al link https://youtu.be/RuTMz8zZYLQ

Prof. Mauro Rebelo (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro​​​​, RJ, Brazil)
09 Maggio 2024, ore 14.00 AULA 204
"Identification of Biodiversity at sSale in a Large Hydroelectric Reservoir Using eDNA and Metabarcoding"
LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 09-05-2024
L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://meet.google.com/puv-bbrh-jvz

Prof. Francisco Prosdocimi (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro​​​​, RJ, Brazil)
04 Giugno 2024, ore 16.00 AULA 204
"Genomics and Biodiversity tales: a decade of comparative genomics research on Brazilian wildlife"
LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 04-06-2024
L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://uniupo-it.zoom.us/s/84488495043
La registrazione dell'evento è stata pubblicata sul canale YouTube del Dottorato di Ricerca in Chemistry and Biology al link https://youtu.be/muiYXJHKX9w

Prof. Joe Lopez (Nova Southeastern University Florida, USA)
26 Giugno 2024, ore 16.00 AULA MAGNA
"Exploring the Biodiversity of Marine Invertebrates from the Shallow to Deep"
L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://uniupo-it.zoom.us/s/84488495043
LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 26-06-2024

Comparative Genomic Science is a field of study that involves the analysis and comparison of the genomic information of different organisms. With the advent of advanced sequencing technologies, scientists can now decipher and compare the entire genetic material of various species, providing valuable insights into the evolutionary relationships, functional similarities, and unique adaptations that shape the diversity of life.
Comparative Genomic Science stands at the forefront of modern biological research, providing a comprehensive framework for exploring the intricacies of genomes across the tree of life. The insights gained from comparative genomics have transformative implications for fields ranging from medicine to ecology, offering a deeper understanding of life's complexity and the mechanisms that drive evolutionary processes. This seminar series aims to bring together experts in the field to share their research, foster collaboration, and advance our collective knowledge of Comparative Genomic Science.
The primary objective of Comparative Genomic Science is to unravel the genetic basis of biological diversity and understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution of species. By comparing genomes, researchers aim to identify conserved elements, detect genetic variations, and elucidate the functional significance of specific genes and regulatory regions across diverse organisms. This field extends beyond traditional genetics, encompassing bioinformatics, evolutionary biology, and systems biology to comprehensively analyze and interpret genomic data.

Comitato organizzatore composto da:​​​
Prof. Mauro Botta, Prof. Giovanni B. Giovenzana, Dott. Claudio Cassino, Dott. Alessandro Nucera, Dott. Marco Ricci, Dott. Lorenzo Risolo, Dott. Fabio Travagin, Dott.ssa Maria Ludovica Macchia, Dott. Federico Forgione (UNIUPO-DiSIT / DSF)
31 Maggio 2024, ore 9.15 AULA 101-102

Recently, the use of Gd³⁺ chelates as contrast agents (CAs) in MRI has encountered two significant challenges. The first arose, ca. 20 years ago, with the occurrence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) in patients with renal impairment who had undergone contrast-enhanced MRIs, prompting safety concerns regarding Gd³⁺ chelates. While regulations restricting CA use in renally compromised patients have mitigated NSF cases, apprehensions regarding safety persist. Additionally, the environmental impact of CAs in MRI is becoming evident. Gd³⁺, typically sequestered in the lithosphere, is now detectable at elevated levels in drinking water sources and marine ecosystems. Addressing these challenges is imperative. This workshop aims to explore potential alternatives and discuss future directions.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 31-05-2024

Prof.ssa Ginestra Bianconi
Dipartimento di Informatica in Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brasile)
21 Febbraio 2024, ore 15.30 AULA 203

From the brain to the climate, complex systems constitute a real challenge for scientists and mathematicians as they are giving rise to dynamical phenomena notoriously difficult to understand, model and predict.
In the last twenty years the scientific community has made unprecedented progress in unveiling the structure of complex systems encoded in their network skeleton describing the set of their pairwise interactions. However networks are not able to characterize the ubiquitous higher-order interactions between  more than two nodes that give rise  to the complex systems topology captured by higher-order networks and simplicial complexes.
Here we reveal how non-linear dynamical processes can be used to learn the topology, by defining Topological Kuramoto model and Topological global synchronization. These critical phenomena capture the synchronization of topological signals, i.e. dynamical signal defined not only on nodes but also on links, triangles and higher-dimensional simplices in simplicial complexes. Moreover will discuss how the Dirac operator can be used to couple and process topological signal of different dimensions, formulating Dirac signal processing. Finally we will reveal how non-linear dynamics can shape topology by formulating triadic percolation. In triadic percolation triadic interactions can turn percolation into a fully-fledged dynamical process in which nodes can turn on and off intermittently in a periodic fashion or even chaotically leading to period doubling and a route to chaos of the percolation order parameter. Triadic percolation changes drastically our understanding of percolation and can describe real systems in which the giant component varies significantly in time such as in brain functional networks and in climate.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 21-02-2024

Prof. Jussara Almeida and Prof. Marcos André Gonçalves
Dipartimento di Informatica in Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brasile)
24 Gennaio 2024, ore 11.00 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

The literature is quite rich in efforts to model and analyze how different aspects of user behavior may drive the dissemination of a piece of content online, favoring its spread at large. Yet, human behavior is often very heterogeneous, highly dynamic, and may manifest itself in multiple facets and scales, with components that are conceptually hard to operationalize. As such, inferring behavioral patterns and profiles from digital traces can be quite challenging. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts towards inferring, modeling and analyzing collective user behavior (notably user campaigns) towards favoring information dissemination online. I will show results applied to the study of spread of fake news, illegal political ads, and hate speech. Finally, as a short detour, I will discuss recent results on the use of similar techniques to a completely different context, namely scientometrics, to analyze the emergence of anomalous hyperprolific researchers.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 24-01-2024

Prof. Masoud Khalkhali (University Western Ontario, Canada)
15 Dicembre 2023, ore 10.00-11.00 AULA 301
19 Dicembre 2023, ore 14.00-16.00 AULA 302
20 Dicembre 2023, ore 14.00-16.00 AULA 302

I shall indicate the origins of noncommutative Chern-Weil theory as it emerged in the work on Alain Connes in 1981. I shall then sketch efforts to define and compute curvatures of noncommutative manifolds directly in terms  of Dirac operators that define them and will indicate open problems that still remains to be tackled.
I shall then review recent progress in understanding and computing the spectral density functions at large N limits of certain toy models of Euclidean quantum gravity. The emphasis will be on mathematical problems in random matrix theory that emerges.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 15, 19 e 20-12-2023

Prof.ssa Cristina Tuni (Università di Torino)
11 Dicembre 2023, ore 16.30 SEMINARIO ONLINE AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI PARTECIPAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Meet)

La socialità nei ragni è molto rara eppure esistono specie che cooperano nella difesa del territorio e nel prendersi cura della prole. Queste specie hanno un forte inbreeding.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 04, 06 e 11-12-2023

Prof. Rossano Schifanella (Dipartimento di Informatica, Università degli Studi di Torino)
06 Dicembre 2023, ore 15.00 AULA Sala Seminari Informatica - C192

As the share of the worldwide population living in cities is rising, urban greening interventions are increasingly relied upon to improve the health outcomes and the well-being of urban communities and mitigate cities' environmental footprint. On one side, local communities' use of public green areas -for physical activity, leisure, and social exchange- has been associated with healthier lifestyles and increased social cohesion. Conversely, public green areas are practical solutions to pressing environmental challenges, providing biodiversity support and carbon storage and acting as soil protectors and temperature regulators. This seminar will introduce a large-scale computational framework to characterize accessibility to urban green areas at a high resolution, leveraging a comprehensive set of spatial open data. We will discuss the role of the structural characteristics of the cities, unveiling the impact of small green areas as accessibility enhancers. At last, we will hint at how to use the framework to simulate the effects of different urban interventions, from adding a new public green area to infrastructural interventions to the street network, to help policymakers shape transitions toward more sustainable and accessible urban environments.

L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://meet.google.com/qkz-yhvp-abs

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 06-12-2023

Prof.ssa Michelina Pusceddu (Università di Sassari)
06 Dicembre 2023, ore 13.30 SEMINARIO ONLINE AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI PARTECIPAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Meet)

L'immunità sociale dal gorilla fino ad arrivare all'ape da miele presentata dalla Prof.ssa Michelina Pusceddu.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 04, 06 e 11-12-2023

Prof. Alessandro Cini (Università di Pisa)
04 Dicembre 2023, ore 16.00 SEMINARIO ONLINE AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI PARTECIPAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Meet)

Presentazione delle ricerche del Prof. Alessandro Cini nell'ambito delle vespe sociali.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 04, 06 e 11-12-2023

Prof. Paolo Rosso
Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
30 Novembre 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 206

In this second seminar, I will address the other side of harmful information in social media: hate speech. I will first present the work done in collaboration with the Spanish observatory against racism and xenofobia. Hate speech is often conveyed covertly employing figurative language devices such as irony or sarcasm, and I will also show examples where hurtful humour was employed to spread prejudice in social media towards women and feminists, the LGBTIQ community, immigrants and racially discriminated people, and overweight people.
Moreover, I will briefly present a study of the usage of stereotypes against immigrants by the members of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Hate speech is a problem that needs to be addressed not only from a textual perspective and I will finally comment how the identification of misogyny in memes has been addressed.

L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://meet.google.com/xzh-psyx-juw

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 30-11-2023

Dr. Shinsuke Maekawa
School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology
29 Novembre 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 205

Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) is one of the promising candidates for next-generation lithography. While polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) has been widely studied as a DSA material because of almost identical surface free energies of the blocks, sub-10 nm features cannot be obtained using PS-b-PMMA due to the low-χ value between PS and PMMA1.
In order to obtain sub-10 nm features by DSA, A-b-(B-r-C) block copolymers, polystyrene-block-[poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-random-poly(methyl methacrylate)] (PS-b-PGM) and PS-b-PGFM functionalized with 2,2,2-trifluoroethanethiol, were synthesized as higher-χ PS-b-PMMA derivatives. The synthesized PS-b-PGFM was applied to a silicon substrate modified PS chemical guides (DSA substrate) to obtain a sub-10 nm line pattern.
PS-b-PGFM (Mn: 21 kg mol-1, PGMA 10 mol% in the PGFM segment) was synthesized by living anionic polymerization of styrene and a GMA/MMA mixture, followed by the thiol-epoxy reaction of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanethiol. A thin film of PS-b-PGFM was prepared to a silicon substrate modified with polystyrene-random-poly(methyl methacrylate)-random-poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) to neutralize the affinities of the segments to the substrate. The obtained thin film was annealed and analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Figure 2a shows a fingerprint-like pattern suggesting the formation of perpendicular lamellae. The periodic length (L0) of the perpendicular lamellae was 16.8 nm. 5x DSA of PS-b-PGFM was done on a DSA substrate. A line pattern with half-pitch of 8.4 nm was obtained by thermal annealing (figure near text).

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 29-11-2023

Prof. Luis Rocha (Binghamton University, State University of New York​​​)
27 Novembre 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 205

Many advances in network science derive from the study of patterns of connectivity (network structure), which provides many insights into the organization of complex systems. Yet, a critical gap remains in understanding how the structure of networks affects the dynamics of complex systems. We have been addressing this gap from a complementary angle: in addition to patterns of connectivity and patterns of dynamics, there are important patterns of redundancy which dictate how interaction structure and logic shape network dynamics. 
We first characterize structural redundancy via the concept of distance backbone of a weighted graph: the sub-graph formed by all edges that obey a generalized triangle inequality for a given path length measure. We show that distance backbones are a parameter-free, principled method to obtain typically very small subgraphs that preserve all shortest paths and connectivity of the original networks across domains---and also preserve the modular and hierarchical structure of shortest distances. We illustrate the relationship to dynamics on networks by showing that the metric backbone is a primary subgraph for epidemic transmission based on pure diffusion processes. We further show that the (semi-triangular) edges that break the triangle inequality have highly variable importance in spreading dynamics. While all of them have null edge betweenness, a measure of how much they break the triangle inequality, the semi-triangular distortion, is highly correlated with edge relevance for spreading dynamics. Additionally, we discuss recent extensions to directed and multilayer graphs. 
Finally, we summarize the distinct concept dynamical redundancy in (discrete dynamical systems) models of biochemical regulation and signaling. We show that the redundancy found in biological models is much more pronounced than what is expected from random networks, and a major reason for them being much more ordered than what the current criticality hypothesis, or “edge-of-chaos” theory, predicts.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 27-11-2023

Prof. Paolo Rosso
Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
27 Novembre 2023, ore 15.00 AULA 204

The rise of social media has offered a fast and easy way for the propagation of fake news and conspiracy theories. Despite the attention that has received, fake news detection remains an open problem and users keep sharing texts that contain false statements. In this first seminar, I will describe how to go beyond textual information to detect fake news, taking into account also affective and visual information because providing important insights on how fake news spreaders aim at triggering certain emotions in the readers. I will also describe how psycholinguistic patterns and users' personality traits may play an important role in discriminating fake news (or conspiracy theory spreaders) from fact checkers.

L'evento sarà trasmesso anche in streaming: https://meet.google.com/kee-bnzm-imw

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 27-11-2023

Prof. Marco Milanesio (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
23 Novembre 2023, ore 14.00 AULA 303

Si parlerà delle possibilità analitiche nel campo dei raggi X con particolare attenzione alle misure in condizioni non ambientali, in situ, batteria e infine alle misurazioni PDF.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 23-11-2023

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin (National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv and visiting professor DiSIT, UPO)
22 Novembre 2023, ore 10.00 AULA 301
22 Novembre 2023, ore 14.00 AULA 301
29 Novembre 2023, ore 10.00 AULA 301
29 Novembre 2023, ore 16.30 AULA 301

These lectures present the latest developments on superintegrable quantum mechanical systems. After an introduction recalling the general context, the case of Schroedinger equations with position depended masses will be studied in detail.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI DiSIT 22 e 29-11-2023

Prof. Pietro Cortona
CentraleSupélec Paris
15 Novembre 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 104

L’AlOOH esiste in almeno tre polimorfi la cui realizzazione dipende dalle condizioni termodinamiche e dalle modalità secondo le quali queste sono state applicate. Le tre fasi (diaspora, boehmite e fase delta) sono caratterizzate da legami idrogeno che possono avere un ruolo più o meno determinante a seconda della struttura. Proprio l’esistenza di questi legami fa di questi sistemi un test assai duro da superare per approssimazioni (come le usuali GGA) che incontrano notoriamente gravi difficoltà nella descrizione di legami deboli.
Inoltre, per certe proprietà dell’AlOOH, la situazione sperimentale è particolarmente confusa. Nel caso del bulk modulus, ad esempio, si trovano in letteratura valori estremamente diversi fra loro. Similmente la pressione alla quale si realizza la simmetrizzazione del legame idrogeno nella fase delta è stata oggetto di ampio dibattito, senza tuttavia che questo abbia portato ad una conclusione convincente. In questo seminario verranno discusse le performances di alcuni funzionali della classe GGA nella descrizione delle proprietà del’AlOOH e verrà mostrato come l’attenta analisi dei risultati teorici permetta di chiarire l’origine delle difficoltà incontrate nei lavori sperimentali e sia d’aiuto nel trarre da questi ultimi conclusioni definitive.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 15-11-2023

Prof. Paolo Ballarini
Ecole CentraleSupélec, Université Paris Saclay
08 Novembre 2023, ore 14.30 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

Complementary to the stochastic model checking problem is that of inference of a model's parameters driven by the satisfaction of a target temporal behavior. The goal in this case is to identify the regions of the parameter's space that yield a positive probability to meet the target behavior. By introducing the notion of satisfiability distance for basic time-bounded temporal properties and by providing corresponding meter (hybrid) automata we adapted Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC), a likelihood-free parameter-inference scheme, to solve the parametric stochastic model checking problem. In this talk I am going to give an overview of such automata-based adaptation of ABC schemes and will discuss some applications in biological modeling. I will also discuss how the approach can be extended beyond  simple time-bounded reachability problems specifically by showing how one can take advantage of it to tune stochastic oscillators w.r.t. to a desired mean oscillation period.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 08-11-2023

Prof. Paolo Ballarini
Ecole CentraleSupélec, Université Paris Saclay
06 Novembre 2023, ore 14.30 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

Probabilistic model checking is concerned with providing modelers with an effective means for automatically assessing the  probability  for a stochastic model to exhibit a given behavior formally expressed by a temporal logic formula. The ability to capture relevant behaviors depends on the expressiveness of  the considered property language and  in this respect the  Hybrid Automata Specifications Language (HASL)  has proved a powerful means  which exceeds the  expressiveness of classical temporal logics. In this talk I am going to overview the Hybrid Automata Stochastic Logic (HASL) model checking approach by which a performance indicator is expressed via a hybrid automata and its mean value is approximated  by means of a dedicated cross-product stochastic simulation engine where the trajectories of the model are synchronized  with the automaton. I will present a few applications in different fields including systems biology and manufacturing systems.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 06-11-2023

Dr.ssa Anna Barbui, Dr. Alessandro Miceli, Dr. Massimo Geuna
Ordine dei Biologi del Piemonte, della Liguria e della Valle d'Aosta
18 Ottobre 2023, ore 14.00 WEBINAR AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI REGISTRAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Zoom)

Obiettivo di questo webinar è fornire informazioni riguardanti la professione del Biologo. In particolare, il
programma di questo secondo incontro prevede:
1) illustrazione delle opportunità offerte dall'iscrizione all'Ordine;
2) presentazione e discussione delle scuole di specialità per Biologi;
3) confronto degli sbocchi professionali dei laureati e dei laureati iscritti all'Ordine.

LOCANDINA WEBINAR DiSIT 18-10-2023
REGISTRAZIONE VIDEO DELL'EVENTO disponibile sul canale YouTube di UPO Dottorato di Ricerca in Chemistry and Biology

Dr.ssa Anna Barbui, Dr. Alessandro Miceli, Dr. Massimo Geuna
Ordine dei Biologi del Piemonte, della Liguria e della Valle d'Aosta
11 Ottobre 2023, ore 14.00 WEBINAR AD ACCESSO LIBERO, RAGGIUNGIBILE DAL LINK DI REGISTRAZIONE ALL'EVENTO (organizzato su piattaforma Zoom)

Il webinar si propone di fornire tutte le informazioni necessarie alla preparazione dell'esame di stato per l’iscrizione alla sezione A (Biologo) e alla sezione B (Biologo junior). In particolare, il programma di questo secondo incontro prevede:
1) saluti e introduzione da parte del Presidente dell'Ordine regionale, Dr. Alessandro Miceli;
2) presentazione e struttura della FNOB - Federazione Nazionale degli Ordini dei Biologi (ex Ordine Nazionale dei Biologi);
3) struttura attuale dell'esame di stato per l'abilitazione alla professione di Biologo e Biologo Junior;
4) stato dell'arte dell'iter giuridico volto all'istituzionalizzazione della laurea abilitante in Scienze Biologiche e Biologia.

LOCANDINA WEBINAR DiSIT 11-10-2023
REGISTRAZIONE VIDEO DELL'EVENTO disponibile sul canale YouTube di UPO Dottorato di Ricerca in Chemistry and Biology

Dott. Tommaso Frison
Eindhoven University of Technology / Nemho Innovations BV
26 Ottobre 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 202

Electron Beam (EB) cannons and devices have been employed for decades in several industrial applications, including curing of thermosetting acrylate coatings. In this seminar, we will outline and discuss some lesser-known EB-triggered chemical reactions. In particular, we will tackle:
- Collateral chemical reactions during acrylic free radical polymerization);
- Epoxy cationic polymerization;
- Interpenetrating acrylic/epoxy polymer networks and their (hybrid) formation mechanisms.

The combination of a broader selection of EB-reactive chemistries and ad-hoc adjustments of EB settings is expected to aid the bottom-up development of engineered coatings, and ultimately extend the efficiency and range of possibilities of EB curing.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 26-10-2023

Dr. Giuseppe Cappellano
Department of Health Sciences DISS-UPO
26 Settembre 2023, ore 14.30 AULA 101

Micro- and nano-scaled devices have revolutionized the area of diagnostics, drug testing, analytical methods, chemical sensing, among others. Progress in microfluidic fabrication technology have led to the establishment of a chip environment as a versatile platform to model pathophysiologic conditions. The greatest advantage of microfluidics is the creation of a controlled microenvironment that precisely drives and controls the microfluidic flow in microchannels, improving detection sensitivity. Recently, microfluidic chips have been successfully developed for several organisms, including microbes, plants and human organs. For example, microbes-on-chip allows for the systematic study of chemical and biological interactions within a microbial community, as well as bacteria mobility and motility, quorum sensing or antibiotic resistance. Plant-on-chip fluidic platforms permits the monitoring of root growth and development, as well as root-pathogen interactions. Finally, human organ-on-chip reproduces in vitro the physiological environment of a whole living organ representing a powerful tool for drug screening, including applications to organ/disease modelling and personalized medicine. The implementation of artificial intelligence in these systems makes them more advanced, thereby helping to provide a more accurate diagnosis. These miniatured chips would help understand complex molecular networks, by determining how individual parts are integrated in time and space to form complex, dynamic cellular functions, and how cellular interactions create higher-order functions.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 26-09-2023

Prof. Dr.  Johannes Heitmann
Institut für Angewandte Physik, TU Bergakademie Freiberg and Fraunhofer THM Freiberg (Germania)
20 Luglio 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 207

GaN based devices are one of the main candidates for current power electronics and RF applications [1,2]. For optimizing device performance, a detailed understanding of the defects contained in the material and the passivation capability of dielectric layers, i.e., the interfacial defect states formed, is mandatory. Here, we will focus on the surface defect passivation and gate leakage current reduction by introducing thin dielectric films as gate insulator in a so-called MISHEMT (metal insulator semiconductor high electron mobility transistors) device using different materials.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 20-07-2023

Prof. Attila Forgács
Università di Debrecen, Facoltà di Scienze e Tecnologie, Istituto di Chimica, Dipartimento di Chimica Inorganica e Analitica (Ungheria)
20 Luglio 2023, ore 10.00 AULA 303

The term aerogel is used to describe a family of open porous solids that can be fabricated from a wide variety of basematerials e.g. inorganic oxides, carbon, biopolymers, synthetic polymers. Aerogels are highly porous and consist of an open-cell pore network. Their main characteristics are high specific surface area (500–1200 m2 g-1), high porosity (80–99.8%), low density (~0.003–0.5 g cm-3), low thermal conductivity (0.005–0.1 W/mK), ultra-low dielectric constant (k = 1.0–2.0) and low refraction index (~1.05). Relying on these characteristics, the main research directions for the applications of aerogels are as follows: i) thermal and electrical insulation for industrial applications; ii) high performance adsorbents for gas separation and for environmental remediation; iii) catalysts and catalyst supports; iv) drug delivery systems, and scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. For these reasons, aerogels are currently one of the most extensively researched porous materials.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 20-07-2023

Prof. Davide Comoretto
Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università di Genova
14 Luglio 2023, ore 15.00 AULA 204

Year by year, the importance of organic and hybrid highly ordered nanostructures in photonics is increasing. Polymers - even recycled or from renewable sources - represent an interesting alternative to more traditional metal oxides, being easily processable and allowing for light, free-standing and flexible structures able to address several sustainable development goals of the ONU 2030 agenda. In sensing, they allow for the preparation of label-free sensors for food degradation by products or for environmental monitoring. In the thermal shielding field, they would allow for thin, transparent films able to reduce heating by sunlight and to improve the sustainability of buildings or to keep the quality of foods/beverages. Mechanochromic photonic systems allow an easy read-out chromatic response to mechanical stimuli. Moreover, in fluorescence control and lasing, photonic crystals are fundamental towards all-organic photonics and polymer quantum electrodynamics providing fundamental hints to quantum technologies and polymer metamaterials. Finally, hybrid materials are of great interest in these regards as they combine the processability of polymers with the superior refractive index properties of inorganics.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 14-07-2023

Dr.ssa Cigdem Beyan
Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Scienza dell'Informazione, Università di Trento
12 Luglio 2023, ore 12.00 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

Automated behavior analysis methods encompass various aspects, such as detection, tracking, and pose estimation of multiple targets, as well as the detection of their actions and intentions. Advancing further, there is a need to infuse these methods with the ability to interpret behavior in socially meaningful terms. These research topics can be addressed through the utilization of Computer Vision, Multimedia, and Machine and Deep Learning technologies. In this presentation, I will provide a summary of human and fish behavior analysis-related projects in which I have been involved. These projects aim to achieve pose rectification, action recognition, the anticipation of human-object interactions, emotion recognition, and analysis of social interactions in terms of social roles, relations, and personality. I will highlight the main contributions and the impacts of the proposed methods, and discuss potential funding opportunities. Finally, I will be focusing on automated human gaze target detection, which is performed directly by processing the images without any need of other sensors’ data.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 12-07-2023

Prof. Takafumi NOGUCHI (https://moonshot-c4s.jp/en)
University of Tokyo - Department of Architecture
05 Luglio 2023, ore 14.00 AULA 104

Concrete is an indispensable construction material for social capital development, but around 8% of total CO2 emitted annually worldwide comes from cement production. To establish a carbon neutral society by 2050, 55 billion tons of CO2 in the atmosphere which have been emitted due to calcination of limestone during cement production and Ca which has been remained in the concrete should be combined again to form a carbon neutral circulation. Consequently, global warming will be greatly suppressed, and the global environment will be regenerated by concrete, “White Carbon”.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 05-07-2023

Prof. Carlos Platas Iglesias
University of A Coruña - Department of Chemistry
22 Giugno 2023, ore 14.00 AULA 205

The analysis of the large body of structural data available in the Cambridge Structural Database allowed estimating donor radii for the most common groups present in complexes with the rare-earth ions. Our approach is based on the assumption that Ln donor distances can be broken down into contributions of the cation and the donor atom. Theoretical calculations using density functional theory (DFT) and wave function approaches (NEVPT2) support this assumption, as they show that the minimum in electron density along the Ln donor bond corresponds well with Shannon’s crystal radii. Subsequent linear fits of the experimental bond distances for all rare earth cations (except Pm3+) afforded donor radii that allow predicting Ln donor distances regardless the nature of the rare-earth cation and its oxidation state (see Figure). This set of donor radii can be used to rationalize structural data and identify particularly weak or strong interactions, which has important implications as to understand the stability and reactivity of complexes of these metal ions. With a similar approach, we have demonstrated that the thermodynamic stability constants of Gd(III) complexes can be approximated from the contributions of the different donor groups present in the ligand structure.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 22-06-2023

Dr. Viera Skakalova
Università di Vienna, Austria
19 Giugno 2023, ore 10.00 AULA 204

Graphene, as the first isolated two-dimensional (2D) structure, has a privileged position among 2D materials for its peculiar properties. We will present overview of its discovery, surprising properties which open the gate to a new technological platform for electronics, energy solutions, sensorics, surface coatings and others. The chemical inertness and simplicity of its atomic structure also makes graphene a most suitable substrate for stabilizing less obvious 2D structures.
We will mention methods of graphene syntheses with particular advantages and disadvantages. Then a newly developed method where the 2D materials are grown by wet-chemical process directly within the space between two graphene oxide (GO) layers, while reducing the oxide groups in the same reaction step will be explained. Besides copper iodide, 2D-CuI, a material that normally only occurs in layered form at elevated temperatures between 645 and 675 K [1], a number of 2D structure like AgI, NiI2, BiI3, FeI2, CoI2 MnI2 and EuOI have also been demonstrated. These synthesized structures are predicted to differ by their optical, magnetic and electrical properties relevant for novel quantum technologies. Here, electron transmission microscopy (TEM) images of the atomic structure of these 2D metal iodides complemented by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analyses as well as additional characterization methods will be presented. Currently, the electronic transport in devices made of the 2D metal iodide structures are under investigation.
[1] Adv. Mater. 2022, 2106922; DOI: 10.1002/adma.202106922

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 19-06-2023

Leonardo Marchese (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
Giovannina Albano e Cristina Coppola (Università di Salerno)
Tiziana Pacelli (Univeristà di Napoli)
Francesca Martignone (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
Cristina Sabena e Marta Saccoletto (Univeristà di Torino)
Domingo Paola (Laboratorio di didattica della matematica - DIMA Genova)
Giovanna Mora (I.C. Bassa Atesina di Egna)
Annarita Monaco (I.C. Francesca Morvillo di Roma)
09 Giugno 2023, ore 9.15 AULA 104

Giornata di seminari in presenza in onore del Prof. Pier Luigi Ferrari.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI MATEMATICA 09-06-2023

Dott.ssa Marta Betti (Dipartimento Attività Integrate Ricerca Innovazione, DAIRI - Azienda Ospedaliera di Alessandria​​​​)
31 Maggio 2023, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Master di primo livello organizzato dall'Università del Piemonte Orientale in collaborazione con l’Azienda Ospedaliera “SS Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo”, Dipartimento Attività Integrate Ricerca Innovazione (Alessandria) che prevede una durata annuale. L’obiettivo del Master è l’acquisizione delle conoscenze e competenze necessarie alla pianificazione e conduzione di sperimentazioni cliniche, alla raccolta dei dati, all’analisi statistica e alla presentazione dei risultati. In particolare, l’obiettivo è quello di integrare l’attività didattica frontale con insegnamenti molto pratici, grazie alle numerose esercitazioni previste.
Il Master fornisce conoscenze e competenze per Data Manager/Clinical Study Coordinator, Clinical Research Associate (CRA) e Infermieri di Ricerca. Il Data Manager/Clinical Study Coordinator è quella figura che si occupa non solo dei dati clinici, dalla fase di trasferimento dalla cartella clinica alle schede di raccolta dati (CRF) a quella del processo di cleaning fino al conclusivo trasferimento ai centri statistici, garantendone accuratezza e verificabilità, ma soprattutto è colui che svolge un ruolo di coordinamento dei vari aspetti della sperimentazione, e costituisce il riferimento sia per l'equipe clinica che per i comitati etici e le autorità regolatorie. Il Clinical Research Associate provvede al monitoraggio delle sperimentazioni cliniche, in accordo con le norme di Good Clinical Practice, verificandone la corretta applicazione dei relativi criteri di qualità. L’Infermiere di Ricerca opera con un elevato grado di coinvolgimento nel contesto della ricerca sanitaria, erogando attività infermieristiche di supporto alle sperimentazioni cliniche. Il fabbisogno delle suddette figure professionali, che tramite il Master si specializzano, si può ritenere in leggero aumento, data la richiesta di questi esperti sia nel settore pubblico sia nel settore privato. La terza edizione del Master si prevede che prenderà avvio nei primi mesi del 2024, con pubblicazione del bando nell'autunno 2023.

LOCANDINA EVENTO 31-05-2023

Elena Grasselli e Raffaella Boggia (UNIGE)
Viviana Negro (POLITO)
Enrico Boccaleri ​​​​(Dipartimento per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile e la Transizione Ecologica - UPO)
Antonio Comite (UNIGE)
Francesca Demichelis (POLITO)
Flavio Anastasia (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
25 Maggio 2023, ore 14.30 AULA MAGNA

La Giornata Nazionale della Bioeconomia (BIOECONOMY DAY) è un evento promosso e coordinato dal Cluster SPRING con Assobiotec-Federchimica.
Il Bioeconomy Day prevede l’organizzazione di numerosi eventi, iniziative e manifestazioni su tutto il territorio nazionale, un’occasione importante per raccontare e approfondire di fronte a target diversificati, dalle famiglie alle scuole fino agli addetti ai lavori e alle istituzioni, le caratteristiche e opportunità offerte dalla nuova economia che impiega risorse biologiche rinnovabili. In questa edizione, tre Università (UPO, UNIGE e POLITO) presenteranno e condivideranno alcune loro esperienze nel settore della Bioeconomia.
Ognuna di queste organizzerà seminari che verranno trasmessi alle altre sedi ed è prevista una discussione sui temi trattati.

LOCANDINA CONVEGNO 25-05-2023

Sandra D'Alfonso (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
Umberto Dianzani (Dipartimento per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile e la Transizione Ecologica - UPO)
24 Maggio 2023, ore 11.00 AULA 204

Durante questo evento sarà presentata l'organizzazione della Scuola di Specializzazione in Genetica medica e Patologia clinica attivate presso la Scuola di Medicina di Novara. Saranno illustrati i requisiti e le modalità di accesso, i percorsi formativi e gli sbocchi lavorativi in uscita.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO 24-05-2023

Alessandro Antonucci​​​
IDSIA, Lugano, Svizzera
19 Aprile 2023, ore 10.00 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192) con trasmissione dal vivo sul canale Youtube UPO del Prof. Luigi Portinale

Structural causal models are the fundamental modeling unit in Pearl’s theory of causality.
In principle they allow to solve counterfactuals, which are at the top rung of the ladder of causation. In practice they often contain latent variables, this limiting their application to special settings.
We notice how observations of the manifest variables induce constraints on the probabilities of the latent ones. This allows to map a causal model into a credal network. Causal inferences, such as those based on interventions and counterfactuals, can consequently be obtained by inference algorithms for credal networks. These return sharp values in the identifiable case, while intervals corresponding to the exact bounds are produced in the unidentifiable case.
To bypass the computational hurdles imposed by credal network inference in the general case, we then derive an EM scheme that allows to address inference via standard algorithms for Bayesian networks.
The result is a general method to compute counterfactuals, be they identifiable or not (in which case we deliver an inner approximation of the bounds). We also provide credible intervals proving that the EM approximation becomes accurate in a fair number of runs. We finally discuss an empirical validation on a synthetic benchmark, a case study on palliative care and some recent extensions to cope with hybrid and/or biased data.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 19-04-2023

Dr. Enrico Moiso
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
03 Aprile 2023, ore 15.00 AULA 102

Cancer is partly a developmental disease, with malignancies named based on cell or tissue of origin. However, a systematic atlas of tumor origins is lacking. Here we map the single-cell organogenesis of 56 developmental trajectories to the transcriptomes of over 10,000 tumors across 33 cancer types. We deconvolute tumor transcriptomes into signals for individual developmental trajectories. Using these signals as inputs, we construct a developmental multilayer perceptron (D-MLP) classifier that outputs cancer origin. D-MLP (ROC-AUC: 0.974 for top prediction) outperforms benchmark classifiers. We analyze tumors from patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP), selecting the most difficult cases in which extensive multimodal workup yielded no definitive tumor type. Interestingly, CUPs form groups distinguished by developmental trajectories, and classification reveals diagnosis for patient tumors. Our results provide an atlas of tumor developmental origins, provide a tool for diagnostic pathology, and suggest developmental classification may be a useful approach for patient tumors.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 03-04-2023

Architetto Roberto Scabiosi
Volontario e Formatore della Protezione Civile
27 Marzo e 03 Aprile 2023, ore 10.00 AULA 204

Il volontario della protezione civile presenterà le buone pratiche di protezione civile in caso di eventi catastrofici. In particolare verranno affrontati i seguenti argomenti: 1) descrizione delle caratteristiche, delle funzioni e della struttura del Servizio Nazionale della Protezione Civile; 2) le alluvioni, sistema previsionale, sistema di allertamento, fenomeno fisico, danni causati, pianificazione territoriale; 3) i terremoti, fenomeno fisico, sistema di emergenza, danni causati, 4) i maremoti, fenomeno fisico, sistema di allertamento, danni. La trattazione degli argomenti sarà accompagnata da numerosi esempi di interventi di assistenza alla popolazione attraverso immagini e documenti vari. Sarà data importanza anche e soprattutto alla fase di pianificazione territoriale, previsione dell'emergenza e norme di autoprotezione attraverso l'elencazione delle buone pratiche di Protezione Civile. 

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 27-03 e 03-04-2023

Alberto Doretto ​​​​(Dipartimento per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile e la Transizione Ecologica - UPO)
Emanuele Bompan (Giornalista, Direttore di Materia Rinnovabile)
Chiara Bisio (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
Cristina Calvi (PNRR e contratti fiume, Provincia di Alessandria)
Adriano Simoni (Direttore, Egato6)
31 Marzo 2023, ore 10.30 AULA MAGNA

La grave siccità che sta colpendo l’Italia e, in particolare, la Regione Piemonte costringe tutti gli attori coinvolti a una seria riflessione sulle modalità disponibili per affrontare il cambiamento climatico in corso. La scarsità d’acqua impone che vengano individuate strade alternative per compensarla e superarla: il necessario ammodernamento delle strutture, compiuto in un’ottica di investimenti cospicui e strategici, non può prescindere da un ripensamento del modello economico e produttivo. Il diritto all’acqua, come sancito all’interno dell’Obiettivo n. 6 dell’Agenda Onu 2030 per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile, è universale e, in quanto tale, va tutelato attraverso l’adattamento climatico: risparmiare la risorsa idrica e allo stesso tempo trovare modalità innovative per riutilizzarla in una visione circolare e di lungo periodo.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 31-03-2023

Dr. Fiorenzo Pastoni
Università degli Studi di Milano Statale
29 Marzo 2023, ore 13.30 AULA 104 con trasmissione dal vivo sul canale Youtube UPO Dottorato di Ricerca in Chemistry and Biology

Quella del biologo può non a torto essere definita una professione ‘giovane’ se confrontata con altre professioni ‘storiche’ di cui si riscontrano tracce già nella storia antica: è infatti nata ‘solo’ negli anni Sessanta del secolo scorso a seguito della emanazione della Legge n. 396/1967.
Quanto sopra ha comportato conseguenze non facili da superare, quali l’inserimento in scenari del mondo del lavoro nei quali altre figure professionali erano ormai consolidate nelle proprie prerogative e competenze, oltre che in una conseguente e adeguato riconoscimento da parte della opinione pubblica.
I biologi hanno però sempre potuto avvalersi del supporto di una legislazione ‘strutturale’ molto precisa, che trova il proprio fondamento nell’articolo 3 della stessa legge istitutiva in cui è delineato un ampio ‘oggetto della professione’, integrato ed aggiornato negli anni successivi e più vicini a noi da svariate disposizioni, le quali hanno progressivamente tracciato il continuo divenire del mondo del lavoro.
Di questa evoluzione, che ha interessato e continua ad interessare sia la legislazione sia la normazione tecnica, tutti i biologi (ma soprattutto i più giovani alle prese con la fase iniziale di inserimento nel mondo del lavoro) devono avere piena coscienza e conoscenza, per potersi proporre al medesimo nel modo più appropriato, sostenuto da specifiche competenze riconosciute dallo Stato italiano.
Uno sviluppo legislativo molto recente, vale a dire la pubblicazione sulla Gazzetta Ufficiale del Decreto Legislativo 23 febbraio 2023, n. 18, avvenuta il 6 marzo u.s., dimostra quanto sia attuale ed appropriata la figura del biologo nell’incedere della realtà socio-economica in cui ci è dato di vivere. Il decreto rappresenta infatti la attuazione nel nostro Paese della Direttiva UE 2020/2184, riguardante un problema di primaria rilevanza quale la qualità delle acque destinate al consumo umano. La Direttiva introduce il concetto del rischio connesso al consumo dell'acqua ed associa opportunamente a tale rischio il genere batterico Legionella, il cui già considerevole impatto sulla salute è stato, di fatto, ulteriormente accentuato dalle vicende connesse alla pandemia che ha condizionato (e per certi versi tuttora condiziona) lo scenario internazionale.
E chi se non un biologo ha la competenza istituzionale, oltre che le conoscenze specifiche, per occuparsi di quel problema antico ma sempre attuale che è il rischio biologico e che proprio la pandemia ha drammaticamente riportato all'attenzione di tutti?

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 29-03-2023

Prof. Enrico Bini
Dipartimento di Informatica, Università degli Studi di Torino - UniTO
29 Marzo 2023, ore 14.30 AULA C192

Multicore architectures provide the increased performance required by modern embedded real-time systems. Most platforms exhibit a non-uniform memory access (NUMA). In NUMA, memory banks with different access time can be explicitly addressed. Such an architecture, however, is challenging predictability given the significant impact of the allocation of variables on the execution times. At software level, real-world embedded applications (e.g. automotive) are composed by thousands of functions often communicating through shared variables stored in memory, with a variable access time because of NUMA.  This paper addresses the mapping of complex embedded applications onto NUMA multicore architectures. The developed problem formulation offers a solution to the following problems: (i) allocating variables (called labels in the automotive context) over memories of different characteristics, (ii) mapping functionalities (called runnables) onto CPUs, (iii) creating OS tasks from runnables, and (iv) assigning priorities to tasks. Our developed implementation is capable to handle an application composed by 1K+ runnables, all sharing 10K+ labels and finds a solution in at most 3 minutes on a standard laptop, enabling interactive design space exploration.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 29-03-2023

Prof. Marcello Baricco (Dipartimento di Chimica e NIS-INSTM - Università di Torino)
Prof. Leonardo Marchese (Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica - UPO)
Ing. Alberto Tancini (SOL Group, ricerca e commercializzazione gas tecnici​​​​​)
Dott.ssa Patrizia Maccone e Ing. Daniele Facchi (Centro Ricerche e Sviluppo, Solvay Specialty Polymers Italy S.p.A - Bollate, MI)
Dott. Alberto Ruffino (Team Alternative Propulsion Business Development - IVECO Group)
Dott. Fulvio Canonico (BUZZI UNICEM Innovazione Laboratori e Tecnologia - BUILT)
14-21 Marzo 2023, ore 14.30 AULA MAGNA

Il service promosso dal Rotary Club di Alessandria in partnership con il Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DiSIT) dell’Università del Piemonte Orientale – sede di Alessandria, ha l’obiettivo di promuovere ed incentivare la ricerca sul tema dell’idrogeno ed in particolare dell’idrogeno verde per la produzione di energia pulita e per la mobilità. L’idrogeno si sta affermando come uno degli elementi chiave per la transizione energetica ed è al centro delle agende politiche e delle strategie energetiche di numerosi paesi del mondo e della Commissione Europea, che nel testo del Recovery Plan ha previsto 3 miliardi per il suo sviluppo. Il service in quest’ottica si propone di incentivare la ricerca e lo studio in materia, approfondendo attraverso seminari tecnici con relatori d’eccezione e presentazione di case history i vantaggi e gli svantaggi delle tecnologie attualmente in via di sviluppo, dalla teoria alle applicazioni, passando attraverso i materiali attualmente sviluppati. Il service è rivolto agli studenti della Laurea Magistrale di Scienze Chimiche e ai dottorandi del corso di Chemistry & Biology.

LOCANDINA SEMINARI TECNICI 14 e 21-03-2023

Prof.ssa Federica Cena
02 Marzo 2023, ore 10.30 AULA C192

Thesuggestion of Points of Interest to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)challenges recommender systems research because these users’ perception ofplaces is influenced by idiosyncratic sensory aversions which can mine theirexperience by causing stress and anxiety. Therefore, managing individualpreferences is not enough to provide these people with suitablerecommendations. In order to address this issue, we propose a Top-Nrecommendation model that combines the user’s idiosyncratic aversions withher/his preferences in a personalized way to suggest the most compatible and likablePoints of Interest for her/him. We are interested in finding a user-specificbalance of compatibility and interest within a recommendation model thatintegrates heterogeneous evaluation criteria to appropriately take theseaspects into account. In this seminar, I’ll talk about the PIUMA (PersonalisedInteractive Urban Maps for Autism) project, from the different points of viewwe adopted, both crucial for creating a valuable experience: user modelling andrecommender systems (for the provision of a service tailored to user’spreferences, needs and aversions), and human-computer interaction (for thedesign and evaluation of the inclusive solution).

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT 02-03-2023

Prof. Nikolas Thomaidis
University of Athens, Greece
Prof. Bruno Hagenbuch
University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, USA
Prof. Marco Parolini
University of Milan, Italy
Dott.ssa Sara Valsecchi
National Council of Research (IRSA-CNR), Milan, Italy
12 Dicembre 2022, ore 14.00 AULA MAGNA

As part of the annual meeting of the H2020-project SCENARIOS, the "First International Workshop on PFAS Transport and PFAS Toxicology" will feature high-level speakers and experts PFAS is the acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and represents a group of emerging contaminants known for their persistence and mobility in the environment. This is a hotly debated topic these days. Chemicals such as PFOA and PFOS are ubiquitous pollutants found in all environmental matrices and in biota where they readily accumulate. The Po River basin, Italy's largest river, has been subject to constant and continuous contamination with such chemicals. Even though these Legacy PFAS have been restricted since 2014 under the Stockholm Convention, their traces are still present today. The Trissino disaster in the province of Vicenza, Italy, resulted in the contamination of one of the largest underground aquifers in Europe. A large number of citizens of all ages were exposed to PFAS and will therefore forever carry traces of these substances in their blood. These substances are also of concern to supranational organizations, which are called upon to regulate their use and release. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is due to rule in the next three months whether to ban short carbon chain PFAS, known as alternative PFAS, in firefighting foams. In addition, a public consultation for a full restriction of the entire class of compounds under the European regulation REACH will begin in January 2023 after five EU member states made the proposal. Today's workshop is the first in a series of workshops designed within the SCENARIOS project to contribute to a better understanding of the effects of PFASs on human health and the environment so that decision makers can make informed and fair decisions about the regulation of these substances.

Il seminario è promosso dal Prof. Francesco Dondero.

INFO SU MEDIACENTRE

Prof.ssa Silvia Vicini (Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa)
18 Novembre 2022, ore 14.00 AULA 205

Over the last years electrospinning technique has emerged as an easy, fast and affordable approach to prepare nanofibrous membranes with a micro-structure which strongly resemble the extra-cellular matrix.
Electrospinning is based on the application of a strong potential difference to create an electrically charged polymer solution jet which leads to the formation of nano and/or microfibres subsequently collected on a proper surface; thus, highly porous mats with a high specific surface area can be easily obtained and, above all, they were found able to promote human cell viability.
Alginate and chitosan-based membranes are prepared via electrospinning using solution and poly(ethylene oxide) as co-spinning agent. Different solutions are rheologically characterized in order to assess the viscosity values suitable to proceed with the electrospinning process.
The membranes are coagulated to stabilize them using different baths. Moreover, a crosslinking approach are optimized to obtain insoluble mats whose composition is investigated, proving the elimination of the co- spinning agent. Mechanical characterization is performed to test the stress/strain behaviour.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT - Venerdì 18.11.2022 ore 14.00

Dr. Leo Ferres (Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile)
27 Ottobre 2022, ore 10.00 Diretta Meet

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile phone data sets have been used all over the world to measure the effectiveness of mobility restrictions and to inform epidemiological models of disease dynamics. However, there are several issues with mobile phone datasets that have not been thoroughly investigated, and which can cause serious impacts in the conclusions drawn from the studies using these data, and their implementation or impact in public policy, for example. Here we discuss three of these issues: Modifiable area units (MEAP) and the politics of administrative boundaries, common evaluation techniques of trip/mobility algorithms, and the ethics/responsibility of data sharing. Some of these issues have straightforward methodologies (even if not solutions per se, such as the MEAP), others have straightforward solutions, but haven’t been discussed yet (trip evaluations), and others are downright difficult to reach a common ground, such as the sharing of private, sensitive, commercial data. In this work, we discuss a few solutions to each of these issues, and open the door for a more open scientific discussion.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT - Giovedì 27.10.2022 ore 10.00

Dott.ssa Anna Sapienza (Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science - SODAS)
20 Ottobre 2022, ore 10.00 AULA 203

Recent years have seen an explosive growth in the use of mobile apps on smartphones and tablets. With over 2.7 billion smartphone users across the world checking their phones over 80 times a day, smartphone data offer a unique opportunity to understand main aspects of human behaviors, e.g., mobility, sleep patterns, and mobile app usage. Despite the impact that smartphones have in shaping our society, there is surprisingly little general knowledge about what has changed and what goes on when people stare at their screen. In this talk, I will present the differences in smartphone use across users, based on the study of an unprecedented dataset, including mobile app traces of thousands of users in time. I will show how users interact with smartphones with the aim of characterizing users with high/low levels of engagement, the type of apps underlying this engagement, and the effects of external factors, such as user demographics and the environment.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT - Giovedì 20.10.2022 ore 10.00

Dott.ssa Marta Betti e Dott.ssa Carolina Pelazza (DAIRI Ospedale di Alessandria)
10 Ottobre 2022, ore 11.30 AULA 205

Seminario sulla Ricerca Clinica, con una presentazione del modello del Clinical Trial Center sviluppato attraverso il Dipartimento Attività Integrate Ricerca Innovazione (DAIRI), diretto dal Dott. Antonio Maconi e del Master “Data management e coordinamento delle sperimentazioni cliniche”, di cui è avviata la seconda edizione, per approfondire il percorso di studi ed esperienza delle figure dello Study Coordinator e del Data Manager.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT - Lunedì 10.10.2022 ore 11.30

Prof. Roberto Simonutti (Department of Materials Science - University of Milan-Bicocca)
23 Settembre 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 203

Polymer networks, including rubbers and hydrogels, are ubiquitous materials. The determination of their structure-property relationship is fundamental for their rational improvement.
Low Field (LF) Time Domain (TD) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique to probe molecular-level dynamics, through 1H relaxation times T1 e T2. and the measure of residual dipolar couplings (Dres), which are linearly proportional to crosslinks density (CLD).1
This technique has been exploited to measure the evolution of crosslinking in conventional rubbers and their blends,2 and to prove the formation of polar crosslinks clusters in more innovative modified EPDM rubbers crosslinked via reversible Diels-Alder chemistry3. Figure 1 (right) highlights the bimodal distribution of Dres in a heterogeneous system as compared to a more homogeneous one. Access to CLD distribution is the most outstanding advantage of TD-NMR compared to traditional method for the determination of CLD, such as equilibrium swelling measurements.
Important variations in chain dynamics, such as phase transitions, can be easily monitored with the study of T2 at varying temperatures. In Figure 1, a methylated cellulose thermogelating material4 shows increased T2 upon temperature increase, followed by a sudden drop at the gelation point. The reversibility of the process, the formation of a metastable phase and the associated hysteresis phenomena can be monitored, obtaining results in line with rheological testing.
These examples highlight that LF TD-NMR is a comprehensive tool to characterize in details polymeric networks, making it suitable for both academic and industrial applications.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT - Venerdì 23.09.2022 ore 11.00

Dr. Philip Schaefer (UNIUPO-DiSIT / DiSSTE)
Sales Application Engineer, Attocube Systems AG, ALX: nanoscale analytics Eglfinger Weg 2, 85540 Haar (Munich), Germany
16 Settembre 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 203

Scattering-type Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (s-SNOM) is a scanning probe approach to optical microscopy and spectroscopy bypassing the ubiquitous diffraction limit of light to achieve a spatial resolution of about 10 nanometers. s-SNOM employs the strong confinement of light at the apex of a sharp metallic AFM tip to create a nanoscale optical hot-spot. This defines the high resolution that can be achieved independent from the used wavelength from the UV, visible, IR, even up to the THz spectral region. Interferometric detection of the scattered light from the hotspot gives access to local optical properties like absorption and reflection, allowing FTIR spectroscopy on the 10 nm length scale for nano- chemical identification and compositional mapping of various organic and inorganic materials. The optical near-field hotspot can also be employed to excite and detect plasmon polaritons which enables the quantification of local free carrier properties in doped semiconductors.
Using broad-band sources in the mid-IR spectral range, nanoscale Fourier-transform spectroscopy (nano-FTIR) can now be used for chemical identification and mapping on polymer nanostructures, metal-organic frameworks, composite- and bio-materials. Fast nano-FTIR spectroscopy based hyperspectral imaging (HSI) can yield chemical compositional maps on a few tens of nanometer scale. nano-FTIR has a proven unprecedented sensitivity for the non-invasive detection of single proteins and lipid monolayers.
s-SNOM and nano-FTIR are now established and essential techniques for modern nanoscopy and have routinely been used in applications such as chemical identification, free-carrier profiling, or the real-space mapping of propagating plasmons and other polaritons. Impactful examples will be shown and discussed in my talk.

Il seminario è promosso dal Prof. Michele Laus.

LOCANDINA SEMINARIO DiSIT - Venerdì 16.09.2022 ore 11.00

Prof. Francisco Prosdocimi (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
08 Settembre 2022, ore 14.00 Diretta Meet

Ayahuasca is an entheogenic tea or brew used by amerindian shamans as medicine to cure physical, mental and spiritual disorders. The tea is made by the decoction of two main plant components: an herb named chacrona (Psychotria viridis: Rubiaceae) and a liana named mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi: Malpighiaceae). Biochemically speaking, the psycho-active effects provided by the brew are caused by the presence of DMT in the leaves of chacrona, and the presence of alkaloids in the mariri that are capable of inhibiting the action of the enzyme mono-amina oxidase. This effect allows DMT to keep exciting the postsynaptic cleft of neurons for longer periods, providing nootropic effects that affect and higher the cognition of users. The medical use of ayahuasca is still controversial but it has been proven to help in psychiatric disorders and is currently being recommended by lead researchers in neurobiology. In the current project, we collaborate with União do Vegetal and other ayahuasca communities to collect specimens and sequence the genomes of both plants. Using a strategy based in Pacific Biosciences Inc. technologies, we sequenced the whole genome of chacrona using long sequencing reads. We are currently analyzing the biochemical pathways to find enzymes related to the production of DMT and a manuscript describing the genomes of chacrona's organelles has been submitted. We are now preparing a bigger project to travel to the Amazon and collect specimens at their edges of distribution. This will allow a better understanding about phylogeographic aspects and will provide populational-based environmental strategies to conserve both species. Mariri is also being sequenced and analyzed using similar strategies. Ethical principles guiding this research consist in respecting and reverencing the native amerindian knowledge and exchanging ideas with native people to help in understanding the effects and medicinal properties of the tea.

Prof. Bernhard M.J. van der Meulen (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
08 Settembre 2022, ore 12.00 Diretta Meet

Food law studies the rules and regulations that address or directly affect food and the food sector. Every person on the planet is a consumer of food and every country has rules regarding its production and distribution. All legislators deal with similar problems regarding food safety and consumer information. Such problems can be addressed in different ways. When we look at other legal systems, we realize that it is not only hypothetically true that choices could have been made differently than our legislature did, but that actually choices are being made in different ways. By comparing legal systems, we learn much not only about other systems, but also about our own. In this seminar this will be illustrated with examples from the EU, the USA and China.

Prof. Filip Jacub Tereszkiewicz (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
08 Settembre 2022, ore 11.00 Diretta Meet

The rules and principles that exist in food law are shaped not only at the level of states, but also of international organizations. A specific situation exists in the case of Europe, due to the fact that many areas of food law belong to the competence of the European Union. Consequently, the Union is a full member of many of the aforementioned international organizations or represents its member states within them. Therefore, the area of food law can serve as an interesting example of how the EU and its member states interact within international organizations. The seminar will present the following international organizations and forms of cooperation: World Trade Organization, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as well as the Agricultural Market Information System, Codex Alimentarius and the Food Security Cluster.

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin (National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv and visiting professor DiSIT, UPO)
20 Luglio 2022, ore 11.00 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

This is an introduction to the symmetries of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics. After considering symmetries with respect to continuous groups of transformation, supersymmetries are discussed.
Finally, time permitting, we discuss integrals of motion belonging to second order differential operators; these are important constituents of superintegrable systems.

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin (National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv and visiting professor DiSIT, UPO)
13 Luglio 2022, ore 14.00 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

This is an introduction to the symmetries of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics. After considering symmetries with respect to continuous groups of transformation, supersymmetries are discussed.
Finally, time permitting, we discuss integrals of motion belonging to second order differential operators; these are important constituents of superintegrable systems.

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin (National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv and visiting professor DiSIT, UPO)
22 Giugno 2022, ore 10.00 AULA 204

This is an introduction to the symmetries of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics. After considering symmetries with respect to continuous groups of transformation, supersymmetries are discussed.
Finally, time permitting, we discuss integrals of motion belonging to second order differential operators; these are important constituents of superintegrable systems.

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin (National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv and visiting professor DiSIT, UPO)
20 Giugno 2022, ore 14.00 AULA 203

This is an introduction to the symmetries of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics. After considering symmetries with respect to continuous groups of transformation, supersymmetries are discussed.
Finally, time permitting, we discuss integrals of motion belonging to second order differential operators; these are important constituents of superintegrable systems.

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin (National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv and visiting professor DiSIT, UPO)
06 Giugno 2022, ore 14.00 AULA 303

This is an introduction to the symmetries of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics. After considering symmetries with respect to continuous groups of transformation, supersymmetries are discussed.
Finally, time permitting, we discuss integrals of motion belonging to second order differential operators; these are important constituents of superintegrable systems.

Dott.ssa Alice Boarino (Institut des Matériaux and Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, Laboratoire des Polymères, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland)
23 Maggio 2022, ore 14.00 AULA 203

Lignin is one of the main components of biomass, discarded a by-product of the paper industry in huge quantities every year. The complex structure of lignin, composed of aromatic rings with hydroxy and methoxy functional groups, provides interesting properties such as antioxidant, UV-barrier and antimicrobial activity. Due to the high availability, biodegradability and biocompatibility of this plant-derived polymer, significant attention has been given to a wide-scale use of lignin-derived products in various applications. In this seminar, the valorisation of this under-exploited material into high added-value applications will be discussed.

Prof. Mauro Rebelo (Federal University Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
16 Maggio 2022, ore 14.00 AULA 207
17 Maggio 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 303
31 Maggio 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 206
07 Giugno 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 206
09 Giugno 2022, ore 09.00 AULA 103
13 Giugno 2022, ore 10.00 AULA 206
13 Giugno 2022, ore 14.00 AULA 204
​​​​​​14 Giugno 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 206

Prof. Mauro Rebelo is a Graduate at Marine Biology from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1994), master's at Biological Oceanography from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (1996) and Ph.D. at Byophysics from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (2001). Did 1 year of post-doc in Environmental Molecular Biology at Fiocruz (2002) and 2 years at Università del Piemonte Orientale in Itália (2004). He is Adjunct Professor at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro since 2004 and head of the Environmental Molecular Biology Laboratory (BioMA). Has experience in Biochemistry and Ecology, with emphasis in Molecular Biology, studying gene-environment relationships in aquatic organisms. His main research lines are toxicity mechanism of environmental contaminants, invertebrate genomics, metagenomics of aquatic environments and the use of non-traditional models in biomedical research. Is an entrepreneur in biotechnology developing innovation with the biotech company Bio Bureau. He is deeply involved with Distance Learning and Science Communication. His blog at the Brazilian brach of ScienceBlogs (http://scienceblogs.com.br/vqeb) has hundreds of posts and thousands of visits.
The Synthetic Conservation Biology program will include the following topics:
1. What is natural?
2. How many species are there? What is a species? Can we know how many species there are?
3. Are we losing species? Mass extinctions Estimation of species in the environment. Estimation of species extinction
4. Should we save endangered species? Estimation of endangered species. Charismatic fauna
5. Should we rescue extinct species? Neanderthal and mammoth
6. Is it time for synthetic conservation biology? About synthetic biology projects: The golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei); Sun corals; Aedes sp and Anopheles sp

Prof. Peter Liljedahl (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada)
15 Marzo 2022, ore 15.00 Diretta Zoom

Much of how classrooms look and much of what happens in them today is guided by institutional norms laid down at the inception of an industrial-age model of public education. These norms have enabled a culture of teaching and learning that is often devoid of student thinking. In this session I present some of the results of over 15 years of research into how teachers can transform their classrooms from a space where students mimic to where students think. The practices discussed will intertwine with, and make extensive references to, the recently published book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics (Grades K-12): 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning.

Prof.ssa Margherita Benzi (UNIUPO-DiGSPES)
07 Febbraio 2022, ore 16.00 AULA 102

Come suggerisce il titolo, "prestato" da uno dei padri dell'IA, la filosofia ha svolto un ruolo importante in intelligenza artificiale. Altrettanto importante, anche se fino a tempi recenti meno riconosciuta, è stato il contributo dell’IA alla riflessione su alcune tematiche centrali della filosofia come la causalità e il rapporto mente-cervello. La relazione tra filosofia e IA è però anche complicata, con intersezioni, illusioni reciproche e malintesi. Questo seminario intende ripercorre la storia di alcuni aspetti di tale relazione, e mostrerà come alcuni degli attuali problemi filosofici dell’IA possano avere conseguenze molto pratiche nella nostra vita.

Dott. Giovanni Pagano (Department of Mathematics, University of Salerno)
02 Febbraio 2022, ore 16.00 AULA 203

We show techniques that allow to improve the accuracy and/or stability properties of classical explicit numerical schemes solving ordinary differential equations systems.
These techniques foresee, with different motivations, the modification of the classical methods coefficients, which become matrices dependent on the Jacobian of the problem. Obviously, the new Jacobian-dependent schemes thus derived can also be used for the solution of partial differential equations systems through the method of lines, then solving the semi-discretized in space problem.
In detail, we analyze the application of the mentioned methodologies on explicit Runge-Kutta methods and peer methods, proving that it is possible to make them A-stable, while preserving their explicit structure. Since the inversion of Jacobian-dependent matrices is required at each step, it is not possible to classify the new schemes as totally explicit methods. However, for some problems these methods are actually explicit, as the Jacobian is either constant, or it can be approximated with a constant matrix. Numerical tests highlight the advantages of the new methods.

Dott.ssa Simona Losio e Dott.ssa Laura Boggioni (SCITEC CNR, Milano)
17 Gennaio 2022, ore 11.00 AULA 204

Polycarbonates can be prepared by the copolymerization of epoxides with carbon dioxide (CO2) as an inexpensive, abundant, nontoxic, and renewable feedstock. Since the discovery of Inoue in 1969, the copolymerization of epoxides and CO2 has become an important and useful technology for the large-scale utilization of CO2 in chemical synthesis, employing mainly propylene oxide and cyclohexene oxide. In recent years, the use of functional epoxide monomers has become an emerging topic with a broad scope of potential applications This presentation will cover the synthesis, the physico-chemical properties, and the growing applications of this class of green polymers.

Prof. Michele Caselle (Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Fisica)
21 Dicembre 2021, ore 10.00 AULA MAGNA

Lo studio dei Sistemi Complessi sta vivendo in questi ultimi anni un periodo di notevole sviluppo, come dimostra il meritatissimo premio Nobel 2021 a Giorgio Parisi per i suoi fondamentali contributi in questo ambito. Nella Christmas Lecture saranno presentate alcune idee e strumenti utilizzati in questo contesto e illustrate alcune applicazioni in ambito biomedico, in particolare nel settore emergente della cosiddetta "medicina personalizzata”.

Prof. Jerzy Respondek (Silesian University of Technology, AEI (RAU2) Faculty, Computer Science Department, Poland)
10 Dicembre 2021, ore 10.00 AULA 203

The first topic of the lecture is to present how the matrix multiplication algorithms domain evolved, creating a separate branch of so-called Fast Matrix Multiplication (FMM).
We surveyed main methods of construction of FMM, including commutative and non‑commutative. We presented the Brent's Diophantine equation approach, duality of rectangular matrix multiplication, arbitrary precision algorithms (APA), methods construction of exact algorithm on the base of APA algorithm, and the partial matrix multiplication. Main methods of complexity analysis are presented in details.
Next we show the applications of the Fast Matrix Multiplication in other, both matrix and non‑matrix applications. Next we showed how to make next step in speeding up the matrix operation, by the example of so‑called special matrices. Finally, we show the exemplary applications of the operations on special matrices in control theory.

Prof. Bruno Hagenbuch (Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, KU Medical Center, Kansas City, USA)
09 Dicembre 2021, ore 16.30 AULA MAGNA

A class of relatively new chemicals poses great concern to human health. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that includes perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), GenX, and many other chemicals, sadly 4-5 thousands. PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe since the 1940s due to their water- and oil-repellent properties. There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects. PFAS are, in fact, associated with cancer, hormone disruption, liver and kidney damage, developmental and reproductive harm, changes in serum lipid levels, and immune system alteration - some of which occur at extremely low levels of exposure. The length of the carbon chain greatly affects intrinsic properties of PFAS including their internal half-life and toxicity. PFOA and PFOS have been the most extensively produced and studied of these chemicals and their toxicity has been well characterized in humans and animal models. Both chemicals are extremely persistent in the environment and in the human body – meaning they don’t break down and they can accumulate over time.
On the occasion of the Kick Off Meeting of the European Green Deal project H2020-SCENARIOS, Prof. Hagenbuch will speak about the transport mechanisms in biological systems of Per and Poly Fluoro Alkylated Substances.
The conference will be open to students, UPO's staff and the public (up to the allowed capacity of the lecture hall).
Dr. Hagenbuch got his PhD in Biochemistry from the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Physiology at UCLA before he returned to Zurich where he worked until 2005 in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University Hospital. He is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas since 2005. Dr. Hagenbuch has worked in the field of bile acid and drug transporters for more than 30 years and his group was among the first to characterize the role of bile acid and drug transporters in the disposition of perfluorinated compounds. He has been funded by NIH (USA) since 2006 and by the 3M company since 2008. His research resulted in over 130 peer reviewed publications with a current h-index of 70.

Prof.ssa Annalisa Cusi (Dipartimento di Matematica dell’Università Sapienza di Roma)
02 Dicembre 2021, ore 17.00 Diretta Zoom

Durante il seminario saranno condivise alcune riflessioni sul ruolo che il docente svolge nell’implementare pratiche mirate a valorizzare i processi di argomentazione a supporto della valutazione formativa in matematica. Facendo riferimento alle lenti fornite da un costrutto teorico mirato a delineare i diversi ruoli che un docente può attivare durante le discussioni di classe, saranno analizzati alcuni stralci di discussione, tratti da una sperimentazione condotta in una classe seconda di una scuola secondaria di primo grado. L’analisi consentirà di mettere in luce gli interventi chiave che il docente può proporre per stimolare processi argomentativi in matematica e attivare, di conseguenza, specifiche strategie di valutazione formativa.

Dott. Edmondo M. Benedetti (Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova)
24 Settembre 2021, ore 10.00 AULA 205

The application of cyclic polymers in surface functionalization enables an extremely broad modulation of interfacial physicochemical properties, surpassing the attractive characteristics provided by commonly applied, linear polymer “brushes”.
This is valid on macroscopic, inorganic surfaces, where chemically inert, cyclic polymer brushes provide an enhanced steric stabilization of the interface and a superlubricious behavior^1-4. Alternatively, when cyclic brushes form shells on inorganic nanoparticles (NPs), their highly compact and ultradense character make them impenetrable and long-lasting shields, which extend the stability of NP dispersions and hinder any interaction with serum proteins^5,6.
The steric and conformational constraints introduced during cyclization additionally affect the characteristics of polymer assemblies when these feature a functional character. This is the case for polymer interfaces that are chemically designed to actively interact with proteins present in the medium, or, alternatively, which respond to a chemical stimulus by a significant change in their properties.
The augmented effective intramolecular repulsion between polymer segments within cyclic macromolecules does not only determine a higher excluded-volume effect and enhanced solvation, but it additionally leads to an increment in electrostatic repulsive forces when the polymers are ionizable, and provides an increased exposure of functional groups enabling a more efficient binding of biological entities^7,8. On the one hand, the amplified responsiveness of cyclic polyelectrolyte brushes broadens the tuning potential for interfacial physicochemical on “smart” surfaces, providing a new molecular design for responsive materials. On the other hand, the increased availability of functions on cyclic brush-bearing surfaces indicates that an enhancement in reactivity towards biological entities can be generalized to different polymer chemistries. If this hypothesis was validated, cyclic polymers could not only be applied as extremely efficient bioinert supports, but they could also act as synthetic supports for biological recognition, improving the performance of nanomedical devices and biosensors.

References
1) Morgese G, & Benetti EM, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55, 15583 (2016)
2) Divandari M, & Benetti EM, Macromolecules 50, 7760 (2017)
3) Divandari M, & Benetti EM, ACS Macro Lett., 7, 1455 (2018)
4) Morgese G, & Benetti EM, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 11667 (2018)
5) Morgese G, & Benetti EM, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56, 4507 (2017)
6) Morgese G, & Benetti EM, ACS Nano 11, 2794 (2017)
7) Morgese G, & Benetti EM, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 1621 (2018)

Prof. Francisco Prosdocimi (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
30 Giugno 2021, ore 13.30 Diretta Zoom

Living beings appeared at the very moment when nucleic acids with coding properties became encapsulated. This led to the origin of viruses and, then, to the origin of cells. In this context, it is proposed that the single character that makes a clear distinction between the abiotic and the biotic world is the capacity to process organic codes.

Prof. Pier Luigi Ferrari (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
24 Maggio 2021, ore 17.00 Diretta Meet

La stretta correlazione tra competenza linguistica e competenza matematica, e dunque la rilevanza di lingue e linguaggi in educazione matematica, è ormai ampiamente riconosciuta sia dalla ricerca che dalla pratica scolastica, ed esplicitamente richiamata nelle Indicazioni Nazionali (e Linee Guida) per i diversi cicli scolastici. Anche se le Indicazioni Nazionali sono abbastanza chiare al proposito, rimane controverso il tema della competenza linguistica, che talvolta è vista come conoscenza separata della prestazione e spesso interpretata come aderenza a un modello grammaticale o stilistico. A questo tema è collegato quello, altrettanto controverso, della natura del linguaggio della matematica (nelle sue componenti verbale, figurale e simbolica), che tradizionalmente viene contrapposto a quello quotidiano. Per affrontare adeguatamente questi temi è necessario tener presente sia la specificità del linguaggio della matematica, sia la sostanziale continuità tra questo e il linguaggio quotidiano.
Diverse difficoltà in matematica sono correlate a scarsa competenza linguistica e a questo si aggiunge la crescente presenza nelle classi di alunni per cui l’italiano non è la prima lingua. L’esigenza, che si è manifestata a partire dal 2020, di svolgere attività didattiche a distanza ha poi mostrato la rilevanza dell’uso dei linguaggi come strumenti del pensiero, e quindi della mediazione semiotica, che spesso si è rivelata più critica rispetto all’uso dei linguaggi per comunicare informazioni.

Prof.ssa Elisabetta Robotti (Dipartimento di Matematica dell'Università di Genova)
29 Ottobre 2020, ore 15.00 Diretta Zoom

Il seminario avrà come tema portante la didattica della matematica inclusiva con particolare riferimento ai soggetti con DSA in matematica. L’approccio didattico che sarà illustrato è frutto di attività di ricerca che vede la collaborazione sinergica fra insegnanti e ricercatore e parte dall’ipotesi che si ha a che fare con differenze cognitive e non con deficit cognitivi. Quest’orientamento apre una prospettiva completamente nuova alla “logica d’azione”, al perché e come si fanno le cose in didattica perché vuole rispondere a esigenze cognitive diverse tramite un approccio percettivo-motorio e multimodale. Si tratta di mostrare come l'accesso a risorse di mediazione diverse influisca sull’apprendimento. Per questo, si cercherà di presentare un possibile modello che permetta di progettare didattica inclusiva e ne saranno mostrati esempi in un’ottica di verticalità: dalla scuola primaria alla secondaria di primo e secondo grado. A questo scopo, saranno presentate attività per lo sviluppo del calcolo mentale e per la costruzione di senso di concetti algebrici come “variabile” o “incognita”.

Prof. Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa)
12 Marzo 2020, ore 15.00 AULA 205

Il seminario analizzerà le difficoltà in matematica degli studenti nel passaggio da un livello scolare al successivo, a partire dal passaggio infanzia - primaria per arrivare a quello tra scuola secondaria di secondo grado e università, in una prospettiva totalmente verticale e dunque di interesse per gli insegnanti di tutti i livelli scolari. Si cercherà di descrivere il fenomeno, mostrando con esempi dai vari livelli scolari gli aspetti ricorrenti a tutti i passaggi scolari e quelli specifici di ogni passaggio. L’analisi tenterà di individuare, discutendone, le possibili cause del fenomeno, così come possibili azioni didattiche per contrastarlo, sia in chiave di prevenzione, che di recupero.

Marta Boschetto e Giorgia Passalacqua (3i Group Srl-Alessandria)
12 Febbraio 2020, ore 14.00 AULA 101

I ciclo di seminari che precedono i Consigli di Dipartimento accoglie gli esperti in sostenibilità energetica e ambientale di 3i Group di Alessandria, con cui il DiSIT collabora da tempo per iniziative di sensibilizzazione ed educazione al risparmio energetico, per approfondire e condividere il tema di grande importanza e attualità della consapevolezza sociale dei problemi ambientali. Marta Boschetto presenterà il video “Il nostro pianeta: la perdita di biodiversità” realizzato con Gianluca Gualco e già presentato con successo nell’edizione 2019 della Notte dei Ricreatori, che analizza l’attuale estinzione delle specie in relazione alle responsabilità dell’uomo e le conseguenze del suo intervento indiscriminato. Giorgia Passalacqua (Area Junior Marketing & Communication di 3i Group) presenterà i risultati ottenuti e le attività in corso della Gara di Scienze “Energia in Energia”. Il progetto è promosso da 3i Group e dal DiSIT con l’appoggio dell’Amministrazione Comunale di Alessandria, dell'Ufficio Scolastico Provinciale di Alessandria e di AMAG Reti Idriche e ha coinvolto, nell’ultima edizione, 12 istituti comprensivi con 19 scuole della provincia e 56 classi, per un totale di più di 1100 ragazzi.

Dott.ssa Valentina Toson (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
15 Gennaio 2020, ore 14.00 AULA 101

La protezione della Proprietà Intellettuale è un cardine fondamentale per la valorizzazione dei prodotti di ricerca. All’interno di UPO l’attività di protezione passa attraverso l’ufficio di Trasferimento Tecnologico (UTT), una sezione del Settore Ricerca. L’Ateneo ha adottato un regolamento Brevetti, che racchiude l’iter brevettuale interno, ed è presente una relativa Commissione che valuta le proposte e le linee di valorizzazione. Un’altra attività in capo all’UTT è la formazione, con l’obiettivo di diffondere tra i ricercatori la cultura della PI, sia per la ricerca di brevetti sia per il deposito. Il nostro UTT è inserito nel gruppo nazionale del NetVal, un network di uffici che si è posto come obiettivo: “essere un ponte tra la ricerca pubblica e le imprese interessate ad accrescere la propria competitività attraverso l’innovazione”. L’obiettivo del breve seminario è introdurre tutti gli aspetti sopracitati per incrementare la consapevolezza e la conoscenza della PI in Ateneo.

Prof. Donatello Materassi (University of Minnesota)
08 Gennaio 2020, ore 14.00 SALA SEMINARI INFORMATICA (C192)

Networks have become ubiquitous in science. The principal advantages provided by a networked system are a modular approach to design, the possibility of directly introducing redundancy and the realization of distributed and parallel algorithms. All these advantages have led to consider networked systems in the realization of many technological devices. At the same time, it is not surprising that natural and biological systems tend to exhibit strong modularity, as well. Interconnected systems are successfully exploited to perform novel modeling approaches in many fields, such as Economics, Biology, Cognitive Sciences, Ecology and Geology. While networks of dynamical systems have been deeply studied and analyzed in physics and engineering, there is a reduced number of results addressing the problem of recovering and identifying an unknown network of dynamic systems, since it poses formidable theoretical and practical challenges. One of the main challenges in the identification of networked system that are difficult to access or manipulate. Thus, the necessity for general tools for the identification of networks that are known only via non-invasive observations is rapidly emerging. The talk addresses this problem leveraging approaches from the theory of graphical models and showing under what conditions they can be extended to networks of dynamic systems.

Prof. Mario Enrico Pé (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna - Pisa)
20 Novembre 2019, ore 11.00 AULA MAGNA (Polo di Vercelli)

The major findings of a decennial research activity conducted on the characterization of Ethiopian durum wheat genetic resources are presented. We have demonstrated that Ethiopian durum wheat is quite unique, is characterized by a huge variation and represents a rich reservoir of useful alleles, untapped by modern breeding. By involving several smallholder farmers, we argue that farmers’ traditional knowledge has clear quantitative bases and might be exploited to produce wheat addressing the local needs of smallholder farming.

Dott. Marco Salerno (IIT Genova)
19 Novembre 2019, ore 9.30 AULA 6B (Polo di Vercelli)

In this talk, I will present the research activity carried out in IIT-Genoa during the past ten years, in the field of fabrication, characterization and applications of anodic nanoporous alumina, and - to a minor extent - anodic porous titania.  These materials are of interest because they represent an inexpensive mean of surface nanopatterning, a kind of natural lithography based on self-organization, with resulting structure that can be used in turn as a template for other materials.  The size and spacing of the pores is controlled by the voltage applied during anodization, in a typical range of 10-400 nm, whereas the thickness depends - within some limitation (typically, <30 micrometers) - on the process time duration.  The pores represent a kind of controlled roughness pattern, with several potential applications especially in biomedicine, where no exact pore order is required, such as it would be the case instead for photonics. The oxide surfaces are inert, and can be made biocompatible by proper coating and/or filling with bioactive agents.  Actually, a role can be envisaged for the pores as the reservoirs for drug delivery or as localized microreactors.  The porous oxide layers can also be set free, to change from surface coatings to membranes and – after milling – to nanoporous microparticles, useful as the fillers of composites based on dual-only formulation, without the need of chemical bonding agent.  Nowadays, it has been demonstrated that several other metals (Nb, Hf, Zr, and probably Ta and more) can be made similarly nanoporous, which makes investigation in this area attractive.

Prof. Carlos F. Geraldes (University of Coimbra)
24 Ottobre 2019, ore 14.30 AULA 202

Nanoparticles can play a pivotal role in the design of new multimodal theranostic tools for cancer treatment. This is due to their appealing properties for medical applications such as, biocompatibility, easy functionalization with molecular vectors and good biological half-life. We will present some examples of our work using targeted iron oxide NPs, quantum dots and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for MRI combined with fluorescence or SPECT imaging.

Prof. Carlos F. Geraldes (University of Coimbra)
17 Ottobre 2019, ore 14.30 AULA 202

Due to their potential for providing a better characterization and diagnosis of major pathologies, redox-activated MRI probes have attracted much interest from chemists due to their capacity to repor on specific biomarkers of tissue redox potential disruption or hypoxia. We will discuss recent progress on the design of innovative redox-responsive metal complexes and nanoparticles. We will illustrate these developments with examples demonstrating the different molecular mechanisms that can generate a redox modulated MRI response.

Prof. Pier Luigi Ferrari (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
24 Ottobre 2019, ore 15.00 AULA 103

In questo contributo si discutono gli intrecci fra la costruzione di argomentazioni e la competenza linguistica. Si mette in luce che una buona argomentazione è qualcosa di più di un testo linguisticamente adeguato che esprime idee matematiche corrette. Con questi propositi si esaminano vari esempi di argomentazioni prodotte da studenti della primaria e del primo anno dell'università.

Dott. Matteo Guidotti (CNR - Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari, Milano - Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna)
24 Settembre 2019, ore 10.00 AULA MAGNA

Come una simbolica cassetta degli attrezzi a disposizione del chimico, la tavola periodica ci ricorda quali elementi siano stati forniti dalla natura per la sintesi di sostanze sempre nuove, per affrontare le principali sfide, in termini di sviluppo tecnologico, salute e benessere. Vi è però una serie di casi in cui molecole fluorescenti per la produzione industriale e per la manifattura di prodotti d'uso quotidiano hanno svolto un ruolo chiave per il progetto dell'umanità, ma hanno anche dato origine a nuovi rischi e minacce per la salute umana e per l'ambiente.

Dott.ssa Chiara Andrà (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
27 Novembre 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Negli ultimi anni, nel campo della Didattica della Matematica, si sta diffondendo la tendenza a realizzare percorsi didattici con un forte impatto sociale. Un esempio è il progetto BetOnMath, che ha creato un percorso didattico rivolto agli studenti di scuola secondaria di secondo grado per prevenire l'abuso di gioco d'azzardo. Nel colloquio, si illustra la situazione italiana relativa al dilagare del gioco d'azzardo in Italia, si delineano le caratteristiche del percorso didattico e si discutono i risultati di ricerca.

Prof. Igor Kontorovich (University of Auckland)
01 Agosto 2019, ore 10.00 AULA 101

In teaching and curriculum, we often highlight the structure and connectedness of mathematics. This talk is concerned with the opposite instances to some extent - with concepts that appear multiple times in the mathematics education landscape, when their definitions and properties may radically change from one domain to another (e.g., divisibility of integers and polynomials, multiplication of numbers and vectors, roots of real and complex numbers). In the talk, I will introduce a theoretical approach for making sense of students' struggles with such cross-curricular concepts. Post-exchanges from an online forum will be used for illustrating the potential of the approach for indicating possible sources of students' misconceptions and meta-ways of thinking that might make students aware of their mistakes.

Dott. Andrea Maffia (Università di Pavia)
01 Agosto 2019, ore 10.00 AULA 101

We try to model how the mathematical learning process triggered by the use of an artifact in the classroom can be affected by the use, even in different moments and for different purposes, of another artifact by the same students. Taking a Peircean framework, we define semiotic interference as an enchaining of signs emerging from the contexts of use of different artifacts, referring one to the other. We test our tentative definition on two examples; one is taken from the literature while the other one taken by original data. Finally, we discuss the potential operativeness of this definition in the data analysis and its generative potential in terms of new research problems and questions.

Prof. Leonardo Castellani (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
09 Luglio 2019, ore 11.30 AULA 303

We review the covariant canonical formalism initiated by D’Adda, Nelson and Regge in 1985, and extend it to include a definition of form-Poisson brackets (FPB) for geometric theories coupled to p-forms, gauging free differential algebras. The form-Legendre transformation and the form-Hamilton equations are derived from a d-form Lagrangian with p-form dynamical fields φ. Momenta are defined as derivatives of the Lagrangian with respect to the “velocities” dφ and no preferred time direction is used. Action invariance under infinitesimal form-canonical transformations can be studied in this framework, and a generalized Noether theorem is derived, both for global and local symmetries.
We apply the formalism to vielbein gravity in d = 3 and d = 4. In the d = 3 theory we can define form-Dirac brackets, and use an algorithmic procedure to construct the canonical generators for local Lorentz rotations and diffeomorphisms. In d = 4 the canonical analysis is carried out using FPB, since the definition of form-Dirac brackets is problematic. Lorentz generators are constructed, while diffeomorphisms are generated by the Lie derivative.A “doubly covariant” hamiltonian formalism is presented, allowing to maintain manifest Lorentz covariance at every stage of the Legendre trans- formation. The idea is to take curvatures as “velocities” in the definition of momenta.

Prof. Alberto Cattaneo (Zurich University)
26 Giugno 2019, ore 14.30 AULA 303

The BV-BFV formalism unifies the BV formalism (which deals with the problem of fixing the gauge of field theories on closed manifolds) with the BFV formalism (which yealds a cohomological resolution of the reduced phase space of a classical field theory). I will explain how this formalism arises and how it can be quantized.

Dott.ssa Chiara Andrà (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
15 Maggio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 101
12 Giugno 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Negli ultimi anni, nel campo della Didattica della Matematica, si sta diffondendo la tendenza a realizzare percorsi didattici con un forte impatto sociale. Un esempio è il progetto BetOnMath, che ha creato un percorso didattico rivolto agli studenti di scuola secondaria di secondo grado per prevenire l’abuso di gioco d’azzardo. Nel colloquio, si illustra la situazione italiana relativa al dilagare del gioco d’azzardo in Italia, si delineano le caratteristiche del percorso didattico e si discutono i risultati di ricerca.

Prof. Richard Szabo (Heriot-Watt University, Ediburgh)
24 Luglio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 156

This is the sixth part of a series of lectures that Prof. Szabo is giving as visiting scientist at U. Piemonte Orientale.
Among the different approaches to the physical and mathematical studies of T-duality there is topological Tduality.
It is shown how it is very well adapted to the study of noncommutative strings backgrounds on twisted tori. Recent advances on the subject will be presented and put into context.

Prof. Richard Szabo (Heriot-Watt University, Ediburgh)
24 Luglio 2019, ore 10.00 AULA 156

This is the fifth part of a series of lectures that Prof. Szabo is giving as visiting scientist at U. Piemonte Orientale. The topics of the colloquium "Deformations of geometry and quantum theory” held on 9.7.’19 will be explored in greater detail. A simple deformation of quantum mechanics which may be realised in a table-top experiment will be presented and related to the nonassociative algebras of observables proposed in the beginnings of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory by Jordan, von Neumann, Wigner and others to study the mathematical and conceptual foundations of quantum theory.

Prof. Richard Szabo (Heriot-Watt University, Ediburgh)
09 Luglio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Theoretical approaches to quantum gravity suggest that the conventional notions of space and time require drastic modifications at ultra-short distance scales. One such approach is string theory, which predicts a host of deformations of spacetime geometry that has led to a beautiful interaction between physics and mathematics. In some instances, dynamics in such settings can be captured by certain deformations of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. In this lecture I will provide a (mostly pictorial) introduction to string geometry, explaining the progress that has been achieved in understanding it mathematically. I will then advocate the point of view that understanding some deformed quantumtheories may ultimately teach us something about quantum gravity, andexplain a simple deformation of quantum mechanics which may be realisedin a table-top experiment.

Prof. Richard Szabo (Heriot-Watt University, Ediburgh)
26 Giugno 2019, ore 16.00 AULA 303

We briefly review the arguments that T-duality leads to doubled geometry and non-geometry in string theory, and how these notions are partially captured by generalized geometry and double field theory, We then describe how the latter two descriptions can be unified into a global and rigorous formulation of doubled target spaces as para-Hermitian manifolds. We will work through the main ideas and definitions of para-Hermitian geometry, together with many examples, and how they reduce to generalized geometry and double field theory on flat space as special instances.

Dott.ssa Francesca Orso (Molecular Biotecnology Center, Dept. Molecular Biotecnology and Health Sciences - Università di Torino)
05 Giugno 2019, ore 10.00 AULA 202

MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that act as negative regulators of gene expression and control tumor progression. We demonstrated that miR-214 is upregulated in malignant melanomas and triple negative breast tumors and promotes metastatic dissemination by affecting a complex pathway including transcription factors and adhesion molecules as well as the anti-metastatic miR-148b. Importantly, tumor dissemination can be reduced by blocking miR-214 function or increasing miR-148b expression and further impaired by simultaneous interventions, thus suggesting that the miR-214/miR-148b axis can be exploited for RNA-based (miR-based) therapeutic approaches. Interestingly, we evidenced that miR-214 is highly expressed in various stroma cells and it correlates with a stroma signature in human tumors. Moreover, we found miR-214 in stroma cells and observed that miR-214 expression in tumor cells is strongly influenced by stroma cells. In order to explore the function of miR-214 in the crosstalk between tumor and stroma cells, we evaluated tumor formation and progression in immunocompetent mice carrying a total-body miR-214 deletion (miR-214KO mice) or overexpression (miR-214OVER mice) crossed with MMTV-PyMT mice or used as recipients for tumor transplants. While growth of endogenous or transplanted tumors was similar for all animals, metastasis formation in distant organs was diminished in miR-214KO mice while increased in miR-214OVER mice. We are now investigating the mechanism leading to altered aggressiveness. We have evidence showing increased epithelial-mesenchymal transition and inflammation in the primary tumor and increased macrophage recruitment in distant organs (before metastasis formation) when enhanced dissemination is observed, therefore suggesting the relevance of stromal miR-214 in tumor progression.

Dott. Roberto Meda (Senior Professional Services consultant, HPC Global Practice)
29 Maggio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 104

Amazon Web Services (AWS) è la piattaforma cloud più utilizzata al mondo. Offre più di 165 servizi tramite i suoi data center distribuiti globalmente. Milioni di clienti, incluse le più innovative startup e le imprese più importanti, scelgono di affittare le risorse di calcolo e di storage di AWS per la potenza della sua infrastruttura, per i suoi servizi, per la sua elasticità e per i suoi costi ridotti.
L'incontro sarà diviso in due parti: la prima introduttiva in cui si presenterà i più importanti servizi per categoria, i benefici in termini di costi e sicurezza per i clienti, mentre la seconda andrà più in dettaglio sui servizi managed e serverless, elasticità dell'infrastruttura e High Performance Computing.

Prof. Rita Fioresi (Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Bologna)
29 Maggio 2019, ore 12.00 AULA 303

During 1955-56 Harish-Chandra published three papers in the American Journal of Mathematics devoted to understand the theory of representations of a real semisimple Lie group, which are also (infinitesimally) highest weight modules.
These modules were constructed both infinitesimally and globally, the global modules realized as spaces of sections of certain holomorphic vector bundles on the associated symmetric space, which is hermitian symmetric.
The purpose of this talk is to show how this construction can be replicated in supergeometry to obtain infinite dimensional representations of a real Lie supergroup and their connections to the theory of supersymmetric spaces.
In the end we will also present the explicit example of the Siegel superspace.
[Joint work: Carmeli, F., Varadarajan]

Dott.ssa Chiara Andrà (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
14 Maggio 2019, ore 15.00 AULA 202

É un dato di fatto che gli studenti, a tutte le età, sono esposti a forme di apprendimento online: dai forum di matematica a esercizi proposti per il rafforzo delle competenze, dai tutorial a video di divulgazione. I materiali messi a disposizione, tuttavia, non sono sempre di qualità e per lo studente diventa difficile scegliere come orientarsi a fronte di una proposta in continua crescita. É importante, quindi, imparare a interpretare criticamente i contenuti matematici online a scuola, sotto la guida dell’insegnante. Parallelamente, l’insegnante necessita di materiali e attività che sostengano il percorso di apprendimento dello studente in questi nuovi “ambienti”. Nel corso del seminario, si presentano e si discutono alcune strategie didattiche per introdurre l’utilizzo di video e di risorse digitali nell’apprendimento della matematica curricolare. L’attenzione viene soprattutto posta sulla Flipped Classroom e sulle sue implicazioni didattiche.

Prof. Nathalie Sinclair (Simon Fraser University - Vancouver, Canada)
10 Aprile 2019, ore 15.00 AULA 101

Multiplication is often taught as repeated addition, especially in the early years of school, which leads to challenges for students when they encounter situations in which they have to think multiplicatively. In this talk, I will present TouchTimes, which is a new multitouch App that builds on the insights of prior work (especially with TouchCounts) that has been designed to offer a gesture-based approach to learning arithmetic. It has been designed to offer a more Davydovian approach to multiplication that enables haptic, symbolic and visual modes of engagement. I will show videos of grades 2 and 3 children interacting with TouchTimes and highlight some of the embodied, affective aspects of their emergent multiplicative thinking.

Prof. Stefano Brandani (University of Edinburgh)
04 Aprile 2019, ore 11.00 AULA 207

Following on the previous discussion on macroscopic measurements of diffusion in nanoporous materials, examples of interesting systems are considered. These will include evidence of structural changes upon adsorption; adsorption kinetics in hierarchical zeolites; carbon molecular sieves; and water adsorption in SBA-15. These are all examples where careful analysis of the kinetics of adsorption provides useful information that can be used to understand the structure of nanoporous materials. The second part of the talk will develop a simple theory that allows to determine the limits of the deliverable capacity when nanoporous materials are used for gas storage. Starting from a Langmuir model it is possible to show that the ideal material should be uniform and have most molecules in direct contact with the solid. These considerations lead to a simple picture of the close-packing state of adsorbed molecules in nanoporous solids for slit-pores and spherical cages that allows to obtain a very simple expression for the maximum deliverable capacity. The theory is applied to the case of methane storage for vehicular applications and comparisons are made with a molecular simulations based study that considered over 650,000 possible structures. All main limiting trends are reproduced showing that current US Department of Energy targets are physically impossible to achieve in rigid adsorbents.

Prof. Marco Milanesio (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
04 Aprile 2019, ore 10.30 AULA 204

Il workshop intende approfondire la tematica dei controlli non distruttivi su materiali, vista sia dal punto di vista accademico sia da quello industriale. Verranno trattati i metodi basati sui raggi X come la tomografia, la diffrazione e la radiografia che metodi basati su altre sonde come gli ultrasuoni. Il campo di applicazione è quello dei materiali sia metallici che polimerici, con qualche accenno agli ultimi sviluppi della tomografia in ambito medicale.

Prof. Francisco Prosdocimi (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
02 Aprile 2019, ore 12.45 AULA 207

In this lecture it will be presented a molecular view about the origins of life. The Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) has been considered as the ancestral between Bacteria, Archaea and Eucaryotes. However, the last attempted to discover the molecular constitution of LUCA identified the presence of at least 355 genes in this ancestor and a complex metabolism. These observations lead us to propose the existence of a Fisrt Universal Common Ancestor (FUCA) that started a chemical symbiosis between nucleic acids and proteins. The maturation of FUCA was achieved with the formation of the genetic code. Further, we try to propose a stepwise model to explain the evolution from FUCA to LUCA. In the meantime we will criticize gene nomenclature and propose new models to study the evolution of gene families and ortholog genes.

Prof. Antreas Afantitis (NovaMechanics Ltd, Nicosia, Cyprus)
20 Marzo 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 201

The success of drug discovery as well as chemoinformatics-aided material designsignificantly depends on the success of in silico methods and tools to process,integrate, analyze and interpret chemical and biological data and properties. Theneed for efficient data mining and analysis has become very intense especiallyafter the increasing volume of data produced from High Throughput Screening (HTS) experiments. This is a demanding procedure for which various tools mustbe combined with different input and output formats. To automate the dataanalysis required we have developed the necessary tools to facilitate a variety ofimportant tasks to construct workflows that will simplify the handling, processingand modeling of chem/nano informatics data and will provide time and costefficient solutions, reproducible and easier to maintain. To address this emergingneed NovaMechanics Ltd has developed and integrated within Enalos informaticsplatform a wide range of Chem/Nano tools, functional within Cloud, KNIME andstandalone platform, dedicated to the informatics analysis of chemical and nanodata and their corresponding activity/properties. The application of these state ofthe art chem/ nano informatics tools for the development of nanoinformaticsmodels and an in silico drug discovery pipeline for the identification, virtualscreening, lead identification and optimization of novel inhibitors as well as thenovelty, patent and commercial availability search will be presented.

Dott. Dario Longo (Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmaging - CNR di Torino)
20 Febbraio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 201

Up-regulated glucose metabolism, upon hypoxia-induced shift toward glycolysis, leads to enhanced acidification of the extracellular pH (pHe), which is a salient feature of the tumor microenvironment. Imaging based methods are already been established, at a clinical level, to assess glucose metabolism (by FDG-PET imaging), conversely, we still do not have an effective imaging protocol that allow to quantify extracellular tumor pH and to assess pHe related changes following therapeutic treatment.
We have developed innovative MRI-based approaches for assessing in vivo tumor acidosis by exploiting already clinically-used x-ray contrast agents that are translatable to the clinical scenario. Our results reveal a marked tumor acidosis in several tumor murine models and provided a first demonstration of the relationship between tumor acidosis and cancer metabolism. We have also investigated tumor pH 
imaging for assessing treatment response to drugs targeting cancer metabolism. Based on these data, tumor pH imaging may be a potential innovative diagnostic tool for characterizing tumor metabolism and to evaluate treatment response to novel anticancer therapies.

Prof. Leonardo Castellani (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
13 Febbraio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Si discutono brevemente le applicazioni dei quantum bits, che includono calcolatori esponenzialmente più potenti di quelli attuali, sistemi crittografici intrinsecamente sicuri, teletrasporto, e numerose altre tecnologie. Alcune di queste sono già disponibili commercialmente e ingenti finanziamenti pubblici e privati stanno accelerando lo sviluppo dei calcolatori quantistici. I prototipi D-Wave e IBM sono accessibili (e programmabili) in rete.

Prof. Giampiero Valè (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
16 Gennaio 2019, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Nel corso dell’addomesticamento e del miglioramento genetico delle piante coltivate l’uomo ha utilizzato diverse procedure per generare biodiversità. Molte di queste procedure hanno effetti casuali sul genoma ed eventi favorevoli sono ottenuti con frequenze molto basse. Le recenti scoperte ed applicazioni degli approcci di genome editing stanno consentendo di ottenere modificazioni mirate nel genoma delle piante, inserendo caratteri favorevoli in tempi brevi ed in assenza di effetti casuali indesiderati. La applicazione di queste tecnologie ha la potenzialità di migliorare l’adattamento delle piante all’ambiente, la qualità dei prodotti e la sostenibilità delle produzioni.

Prof. Enrico Ferrero (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
21 Novembre 2018, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Il clima sta cambiando, questo ci dicono i dati delle serie storiche. La comunità scientifica osserva fenomeni meteorologici che in precedenza non si verificavano o si verificavanoraramente o con meno intensità. Si rendequindi necessario utilizzare metodologienon solo diagnostiche, che verifichino questocambiamento, ma anche prognostiche,che permettano di prevedere i fenomeniatmosferici su varie scale, da quelle climatichea quelle meteorologiche. Nel corso delseminario verranno presentate e discussequeste metodologie e la loro affidabilitàintroducendo il tema della predicibilità. Infinesi accennerà brevemente alle ricerche svolte nelDipartimento in questo ambito.

Prof. Maurizio Sabbatini (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
17 Ottobre 2018, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Prof. Flavio Mignone (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
19 Settembre 2018, ore 14.00 AULA 101

Durante la presentazione verrà fatta una panoramica sulle nuove tecnologie di sequenziamento (NGS) facendo riferimento alle applicazioni e alle problematiche di analisi del dato. In particolare verranno illustrate le innovazioni in ambito clinico/diagnostico offerte dall''NGS.

Prof.ssa Chiara Bisio (UNIUPO-DiSIT)
11 Luglio 2018, ore 14.00 AULA 101

La preparazione di nuovi materiali ha un ruolo cruciale per lo sviluppo sostenibile di nuove tecnologie e processi per la salvaguardia dell’ambiente, con particolare riferimento alla rimozione di specie tossiche e/o inquinanti. A questo scopo, le proprietà chimico-fisiche di diversi solidi porosi e lamellari possono essere modificate per ottimizzarne le performance, incrementare la stabilità nelle condizioni di lavoro e per aumentare l’affinità con le molecole da rimuovere e/o trasformare. Nel seminario verranno descritti esempi relativi alla determinazione della capacità di adsorbimento di diversi sistemi porosi nei confronti di inquinanti che si possono ritrovare nelle acque di falda o in atmosfera e alla modificazione e funzionalizzazione di superficie di tali solidi per aumentarne le performance di adsorbimento. Particolare attenzione sarà inoltre rivolta alla descrizione di nuovi solidi che possono essere utilizzati per l’abbattimento e degradazione molecole ad alta pericolosità, inquinanti tossici e aggressivi chimici.