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Research activity

Principal Investigator Prof. Maria Grazia Albanesi

At the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering University of Pavia (Pavia, Italy), researches in computer engineering have been developed (May 2014 – February 2024) in the field of Computational Sustainability, in the following sectors:

Here is a brief description, with the most important publications for each theme. For a complete list of publications, click here.

Theme n. 1:

Computer Science for environmental sustainability (specializations: evaluation of land use, protection of biodiversity)

Objectives: to develop methods and algorithms and define performance indices to improve the quality of life in human settlements and ecosystems, with particular attention to natural forests.

Technologies: visual data analysis, image processing techniques for extracting information from georeferenced maps, digital satellite images and unstructured data.

Most significant publications:

On biodiversity preservation:

  • Silvia Assini, Maria Grazia Albanesi, Matteo Barcella: “Assessing the conservation value of forests: the redefinition of the Forest Status Quality indicator in a multiscale approach and its application in northern Italy (Lombardy)”, Plant Sociology, Vol. 55, No. 2, December 2018, pp. 9-30, DOI 10.7338/pls2018552/02
  • Silvia Assini, Maria Grazia Albanesi: “A New Improvement of the Naturalistic Indicator of Forest Quality. An Italian Case Study” , Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Bioenvironment, Biodiversity and Renewable Energies (BIONATURE 2016), Lisbon (Portugal), 26-20 June 2016, pp. 7-10, Copyright (©) IARIA, 2016, ISBN 978-1-61208-489-3 (best paper award). Open Access Online ThinkMind™ Digital Library Available online.
  • Silvia Assini, Maria Grazia Albanesi: “A Naturalistic Indicator of the Forest Quality and its Relationship with the Land Use Anthropentropy Factor”, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Bioenvironment, Biodiversity and Renewable Energies (BIONATURE 2015), Rome (Italy), 24-29 May 2015, pp. 27-33, Copyright (©) IARIA, 2015, ISBN 978-1-61208-410-7 (best paper award). Open Access Online ThinkMind™ Digital Library Available online.
  • Silvia Assini, Maria Grazia Albanesi: “A New Biodiversity Composite Indicator Based on Anthropentropy and Forest Quality Assessment – Framework, Theory, and Case Studies of Italian Territory”, International Journal On Advances in Life Sciences, vol. 7, n. 3&4, December 2015, pp. 177-194. Available on line.

On land use estimation:

  • G. Albanesi: “An Interdisciplinary Approach for Environmental Sustainability: A New Metric for Land Use Estimation”, Proceedings of the 13th International Multi-Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics (IMCIC 2022, Orlando (Florida), USA, 8-11 March, 2022) Vol. I, pp. 75-80, 2022, ISBN: 978-1-950492-60-2, ISSN: 2771-5914,https://doi.org/10.54808/IMCIC2022.01.75.
  • Maria Grazia Albanesi, Roberto Albanesi: “A Decision-making Support System for Land Use Estimation Based on a New Anthropentropy Predictive Model for Environmental Preservation – Theory, Model and Web–based Implementation”, International Journal On Advances in Intelligent Systems, v 7 n 1&2, pp. 85-102, ISBN-1942-2679, 2014. Open Access Online ThinkMind™ Digital Library Available in line.
  • Maria Grazia Albanesi, Roberto Albanesi: “A New Approach Based on Computer Vision and Collaborative Social Networking for Environmental Preservation: Theory, Tools and Results of Italian ACI Project”, Proceedings of The Eighth International Multi-Conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology, Nice (France), 21-26 July 2013,  16-21, Copyright (©) IARIA, 2013, ISBN 978-1-61208-283-7 (best paper award). Open Access Online ThinkMind™ Digital Library: available online.

PROJECTS:

Here are information (in italian) about the main projects:

ACI project

Biodiversity preservation

DANTHE

Theme n. 2:

Computer Science for Social Sustainability (specialization: education)

Objectives: to develop methods and algorithms and define performance indices to improve university educational activities and individual promotion in lifelong learning.

Technologies: social networks, crowdsourcing, open data, gamification, hybrid and virtual communities.

Most significant publication:

Maria Grazia Albanesi, Riccardo Amadeo, Giovanni Vecchio: “Research on Efficacy of Using Social Networks in Academic Teaching. Metrics, Experiments and Results”, European Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 3, N. 3 pp. 25-34, 2014. ISSN: 2239-5938, doi:10.14207/ejsd.2014.v3n3p25. Available on line.

Recent trends

Recently, starting from 2022, a new multidisciplinary research project started, as a natural continuation of the experiences previously described, namely

 

Most significant publication regarding the complexities and the opportunities of a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research:

Albanesi, M. G. (2022). Reflexive Practice for Inter and Trans Disciplinary Research in the Third Millennium. Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 20(6), 72-76. https://doi.org/10.54808/JSCI.20.06.72

It appears on the Special Issue on Invited Papers of the Plenary Keynote Speakers
at WMSCI/IMCIC 2022 and their collocated events (Guest Editors:  Nagib CALLAOS, Jeremy HORNE and Michael SAVOIE)