A Lifelong Career: Studies on the Career Sustainability of Italian Teachers

This dissertation investigates the multifaceted dynamics of career sustainability among teachers in Italy, examining how individual, relational, and organizational factors interact across different career stages. Four empirical studies are presented to provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that support or hinder long-term professional development in teaching. The first study focuses on the broader landscape of teachers’ career sustainability across multiple career stages. Dr...

Investigation of Preliminary Operations and Test Mass Injection into Geodesic Motion of a Critical Space Mechanism

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, planned for launch in 2035, represents a major step toward advancing our understanding of the Universe through the detection of gravitational waves in space, building on the groundbreaking achievements of ground-based detectors. In space-based gravitational wave detection and particularly in LISA, an inertial body, a Test Mass (TM), acting as a mirror for interferometric measurements, must be released into geodesic free fall to initiate s...

Deciphering the biocontrol mechanisms of Lysobacter capsici AZ78 against plant pathogenic oomycetes using omics-based approaches

Plants are susceptible to numerous biotic and abiotic factors that negatively affect their performance in the field and ultimately reduce crop yield. Among the biotic factors, oomycetes are responsible for several devastating plant diseases that lead to substantial agricultural losses worldwide. Oomycetes are a group of eukaryotic microorganisms known for causing economically important plant diseases across diverse cropping systems. These diseases contribute significantly to global agricultur...

State-Dependent Predictability of ENSO Diversity

Predicting El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity beyond boreal spring requires more than estimating winter Niño 3.4 amplitude. It requires separating phase sign, Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific spatial expression, and event persistence, because each forecast question can depend differently on Pacific ocean memory and remote tropical information. This thesis tests whether variability in the subtropical South Atlantic (STA) and in the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), the clea...

New space-based tools for GRB detection in the MeV energy range

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic transient phenomena in the universe. Despite their scientific importance, the MeV domain remains the least explored region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This thesis addresses this challenge through the performance evaluation of two compact space-based detectors: the CALOg calorimeter of the NUSES/Zirè instrument and the Crystal Eye all-sky gamma-ray monitor. Advanced inorganic scintillators are central to both instruments. The intrinsic ...

Snow dynamics in the Alps: long-term trends and remote sensing-driven hydrological modeling

Snow represents a key component of the Alpine hydrological cycle, strongly influencing water availability, ecosystems, and natural resource management. In the context of rapid climate change, understanding the evolution of snow conditions and developing reliable tools for snow monitoring have become increasingly important, particularly in mountain regions. This PhD thesis addresses these issues by focusing on the Central Alps region, considering long-term observational analyses and innovative...

Testing the fidelity of waveform reconstruction for gravitational wave transients using minimal assumptions

On the 14th of September 2015, the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) was made by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations. This discovery opened a new era in astronomy and physics, allowing us to observe the Universe under a different light. Since then, hundreds of detections have been made in the years, and many more are expected to come. These observations can now be used to test our understanding of the Universe and gain a deeper understanding binding astrophysics, cosmology an...

Adaptive Meta-Reasoning for Algorithm Selection in Cognitive Agent Architectures

Autonomous agents operating in dynamic environments face a fundamental challenge: no single algorithm consistently performs best across all conditions. Whether navigating physical spaces, allocating computational resources, or selecting reasoning strategies, agents that commit to a fixed algorithmic approach at design time may risk underperforming when runtime conditions deviate from initial assumptions. This thesis addresses the problem of enabling autonomous agents to adaptively select the ...

Towards a sustainable management of bio-hazardous healthcare waste in LMICs. Global and local perspectives on impact studies