Development of novel catalysts coated non-fluorinated proton exchange membranes for water electrolysis

Hydrogen holds great potential as an energy carrier due to its high specific energy and environmen-tal benefits. However, its current production mainly relies on fossil fuel-based methods, such as methane steam reforming, which result in substantial pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. To tackle this challenge, there is an increasing shift towards sustainable conversion methods, such as water electrolysis, which can produce hydrogen using renewable energy sources. Among the various electro...

Seismic behaviour of single-storey steel buildings connected to hybrid firewalls with fusible links

The seismic damage of non-structural components can lead tosignificant disruption in the functionality of buildings affected by fire and seismic events and result in considerable economic losses. Among non-structural elements, partition walls for several years were treated as architectural features and were not included in the structural design, although they can significantly influence the overall response of the structure. In recent decades, numerous seismic events have revealed the weaknes...

Alternative Food Landscapes. Designing Food-Sensitive Landscapes beyond Urban-Rural Bonundaries

In an era of accelerating urbanisation and climate change, integrating sustainable food systems into urban-rural landscapes has become a crucial strategy for developing resilient environments and communities. Contemporary food systems' weaknesses have been exacerbated by global crises like COVID-19 and geopolitical tensions, revealing vulnerabilities in urban-centric planning approaches. European initiatives, including the Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy, attempt to address t...

Probabilistic Ecosystems Assessment with Reinforcement Learning. Shaping Explainable AI for Marine Biodiversity Monitoring

The health of marine ecosystems is crucial for planetary well-being, yet monitoring these dynamic and often remote environments remains a pressing challenge, further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and habitat degradation are altering biodiversity distributions, increasing the need for rapid advancements in monitoring techniques. While current data collection techniques yield valuable ecological insights, they are frequently hindered by ...

Sediment transport modelling at the catchment scale in Alpine streams

Sediment management in river networks is of crucial importance for both environmental, productive and safety reasons. For instance, lost of sediment connectivity along river networks is recognized as a major cause of habitat degradation and biodiversity loss worldwide, and erosion/deposition processes may severely contribute to flood hazards. Also, artificial reservoirs may reduce their capacity to provide water in the quantity and time needed for the productive uses they were built, like irr...

Mining common genetic Variants impacting on Allele-Specific Translation and cancer risk

The mRNA translation regulation is a critical factor in protein expression and cellular homeostasis, with deep implications for cancer biology. The work described in this thesis identifies, validates, and investigates allele-specific differences in translation efficiency mediated by tranSNPs: genetic variants that influence mRNA translation. By leveraging RNA-seq data from total and polysomal RNA, a pipeline was developed to identify tranSNPs and validate their functional consequences. Two ca...

Agent-based models of dynamical formation and emergence of memory on networks

The brain is quite possibly the most complex organ in existence, capable of, and responsible for, receiving and processing information. This ability is the essence of a wide assortment of brain functions, amongst which there is memory, or the capacity to learn from experience and retrieve stored information to affect decisions and behaviour. Hence, understanding the biological mechanisms underlying memory has been a central task in neuroscience. The very earliest theories of memory were large...

Rapid and Green Volatilomics of Roasted Hazelnuts: Comparative Multiplatform Analysis and Advanced Data Mining

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are fundamental in determining the sensory quality of food products, with their profiles influenced by various factors. Specifically, the hazelnut volatilome is shaped by the origin (botanical, geographical) of the kernels, as well as by the industrial processing steps they undergo (storage, roasting). Volatilomics, therefore, is a valuable tool for quality assessment and process monitoring. While Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) rema...

Semantic Change Detection in multitemporal Remote Sensing Images Using Deep Neural Networks