Navigating access to long-term care for older adults in Italy: a comparison of lived experiences and local practices

As populations age and autonomy declines, access to long-term care (LTC) becomes crucial to quality of life, yet it remains deeply unequal. This thesis examines how these inequalities are experienced by care-seekers and how they are potentially reproduced and mitigated through the local implementation of LTC policies. The study draws on qualitative research conducted in two towns in Northern Italy, where strong reliance on family care and policy fragmentation create significant barriers to ac...

Space Environment and Redox Homeostasis: A Study on Membrane Lipids and Antioxidant Defenses in Multiple Biological Models

Human exploration and future manned missions beyond Earth to Moon and Mars, imply prolonged exposure to confinement, isolation, altered gravity and cosmic radiation. These stress conditions induce significant physiological and psychophysical changes in astronauts. Understanding human adaptation to space conditions is essential for developing effective countermeasures to safeguard crew health during future long-duration missions. During my doctoral research, space-related stressors, specifical...

The sustainable fungicide choline pelargonate inhibits oomycete and fungal phytopathogens under controlled and field conditions with negligible effects on phyllosphere microbial communities

Chemical fungicides are the most important approaches for plant protection. However, the overuse of chemical fungicides raised concerns about possible negative effects on human health and the environment. Regulations have been implemented in several countries to reduce the use of chemical fungicides, and numerous active substances are under scrutiny for substitution in Europe. Thus, the development of novel sustainable fungicides is of great importance to reduce possible health risks and envi...

Non-Hermitian and Non-Linear Dynamics in Integrated Silicon Photonic Resonators

The exponential growth of data-centric computing has imposed fundamental limitations on electronic computing systems, with power dissipation and heat generation emerging as major barriers. At the system level, data movement between memory and processing units now consumes more energy and time than computation itself, a challenge further intensified by the latency and bandwidth constraints of electrical interconnects caused by resistive–capacitive delays and signal integrity issues. At the dev...

Epidemiological studies and sustainable approaches for the control of strawberry powdery mildew

Strawberry powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera aphanis, is one of the most destructive diseases of strawberries worldwide, particularly under protected cultivation. Difficulties in detecting and managing early infections result in rapid development and yield losses up to 70%. Control still relies on frequent applications of chemical synthetic fungicides, due to the broad range of environmental conditions favorable to pathogen development and lack of effective alternatives. Although extensiv...

MICROGRAVITY-INDUCED ALTERATIONS IN THE BRAIN-TO-BONE AXIS: IMPLICATIONS FOR BONE LOSS AND COUNTERMEASURE DEVELOPMENT IN LONG-TERM SPACEFLIGHT.

Space exploration over the next 30 to 50 years is projected to initially return to the Moon, with the creation of a permanent lunar settlement, followed by the establishment of a human colony on Mars. To ensure the success of these missions beyond low Earth orbit, it is essential to thoroughly investigate the effects of space environments on human physiology, crew performance, and overall health. While anti-resorptive drugs, a proper diet, and vitamin and mineral supplementation are used to a...

Toward more context-sensitive clinical measures for assessing executive attention in autistic children

Executive functions (EFs) are higher-order cognitive skills that enable individuals to control impulses, manage and update information, ignore distractions, and shift attention as needed, supporting effective adaptation to new or complex situations. EF challenges are frequently reported in neurodivergent children, particularly in autistic children, although existing research yields mixed and contradictory findings. These inconsistencies arise not only from differences in participant samples a...

Interplay between peptidoglycan biosynthesis and remodeling and outer membrane homeostasis in Acinetobacter baumannii

Time-resolved spectroscopic investigation of N2/H2 nanosecond pulsed discharges and EUV-induced low-temperature plasmas

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is central to advanced semiconductor manufacturing, yet the low-density plasmas triggered by EUV photons in scanner-relevant environments remain only partially characterised. Their transient, photon-driven nature complicates invasive diagnostics and makes equilibrium assumptions unreliable. This thesis addresses this gap by developing and applying optical emission spectroscopy (OES) to EUV-induced plasmas in (\mathrm{H_2}), (\mathrm{N_2}), and (\mathrm{H_...