Social Virtual Environments as ‘Third Places’: Co-Designing Socio-Relational Spaces For Autistic Young Adults

Characterisation and calibration of silicon photomultipliers for next-generation space detectors

A vast range of applications for Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) has already been found in fields such as medical science and industrial applications, to name a few. They are the new photosensors set to replace the traditional photomultipliers for several next-generation space instruments. Owing to their compact size, low cost, excellent time resolution, and high photon detection efficiency, they are currently the most favourable option for space instruments, especially because weight and co...

Advancing Atom Probe Tomography: Multiscale Modelling and Simulation

Atom Probe Tomography (APT) is a powerful technique for three-dimensional compositional imaging at near-atomic resolution. While extensively applied to metals and alloys, its extension to biological systems remains challenging due to difficulties in sample preparation, the insulating nature of biomaterials, and the limited understanding of laser-assisted field evaporation mechanisms. This thesis addresses these challenges through a multiscale computational framework developed within the Europ...

Optimizing Quantum Annealing for Trapped Ions: Performance, Resources, and Noise Mitigation

Quantum annealing is a promising method for solving combinatorial optimization problems with quantum computers, but its practical performance on near-term devices is constrained by the architecture of the underlying platform, the presence of noise, and the design of the annealing protocol itself. This thesis addresses these challenges along two complementary directions, using trapped-ion hardware based on the Magnetic Gradient Induced Coupling (MAGIC) scheme as a reference architecture. On th...

Advancements in Satellite SAR Methods for Monitoring Civil Infrastructure

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging enables large-scale, remote monitoring of civil infrastructure. SAR allows for monitoring without installation or maintenance, unlike traditional contact-type sensors. Whilst SAR interferometry (InSAR) is widely used for land monitoring, its application to bridge monitoring is still constrained by important limitations of the technique. Moreover, the use of SAR imagery for vibration-based structural health monitoring (VBSHM) remains largely unexplored in...

Design of Robots for Unstructured Environments - A Customisable Agile Quadruped, a Sensorised High-Force Gripper, and an Intelligent Drilling End-Effector

Robots for unstructured environments explore and physically interact in variable, uncertain, and unpredictable settings, as the contexts in which they are deployed are not adapted to facilitate their operation. Their technology is not yet mature for industrial use, but interest is rising for simple industrial inspection tasks. The work presented in this thesis aims to facilitate the industrial deployment of robots for unstructured environments by providing robotic design case studies. Three n...

Scan-to-Energy Digital Twins (Scan-to-EDTs): Automated Generation of Energy Digital Twins from 3D point clouds

Potere e legittimità nel mondo carolingio. Un'analisi comparativa a partire dai casi di Grifone, Bernardo d'Italia e Pipino II d'Aquitania.

This dissertation examines the evolution of narrative constructions of legitimacy in the Carolingian world through a comparative analysis of the strategies of delegitimisation displayed in various sources. The starting point of this thesis, in fact, is that one assertive and functional means for a ruler to improve his own legitimacy was to undermine another’s. In the Carolingian era, we witness the monopolisation of historical narrative by the literary circles of the courts of Pippin III, Cha...

On quantum vortex reconnections