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Il saggio illustra le diverse fasi di ricezione del pensiero di Habermas, a partire dalla pubblicazione dei suoi primi scritti in italiano negli anni Sessanta fino ai giorni nostri, sottolineando le differenti modalità attraverso cui le sue opere sono state accolte in campo sia accademico che pubblico.

The paper aims at reconstructing the history of the reception of Habermas' thought in Italy, starting from the 1960's to nowadays and stressing the most important scientific works as well as the most influential interventions in the public discourse.

In this paper, a wearable resonator suitable to be used for both power and data transmission is presented. The basic element is a complementary split ring resonator that has been optimized to operate both as a dipole-like antenna at 2.45 GHz and as the receiver of a resonant energy link operating at 915 MHz when coupled with an identical external resonator connected to a power source. Experimental data referring to a prototype fabricated by using a conductive adhesive fabric on a leather substrate are reported and discussed. With regard to the wireless resonant energy link (WREL), it is demonstrated that at 915 MHz, the RF-to-RF power transfer efficiency of the link is approximately 78.1%. As for the performance obtained when the resonator is used as an antenna, a gain of approximately −0.43 dB was obtained. Additionally, the performance of the proposed link when connected to a Power Management Unit (PMU) that converts the radio frequency (RF) energy received by the wearable resonator into DC energy that can be directly used for recharging a thin-film battery was also investigated. Experimental tests were performed in order to evaluate both the total efficiency of the wireless charger (i.e., the WREL link connected to the PMU) and the time necessary to recharge a THINERGY MEC201 battery. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of using the proposed WREL for implementing a battery charger; in particular, by providing an input power higher than 8 dBm, the time necessary to recharge the considered thin-film battery is shorter than 38 min.

This paper investigates the use of different techniques and conductive materials for the fabrication of textile patch antennas. Experimental results referring to the use of a conductive thread, an adhesive copper tape and an adhesive conductive non-woven fabric are reported and discussed. Reported results demonstrate the suitability of the proposed prototypes to be used for wearable applications. © 2013 European Microwave Association.

This paper presents the conditions and the design equations for obtaining a load-independent regime for an inductive resonant wireless power transfer link implemented through parallel resonators. The cases of a current and a voltage generator are analyzed and the possibility of obtaining a constant output voltage/current by operating at a suitable frequency is discussed. It is shown that in the case of a voltage generator it is not possible to choose the operating frequency so to obtain a constant output voltage, while it is possible to obtain a constant output current. Conversely, in the case of a current source, a load-independent output in terms of either voltage or current can be obtained by properly selecting the operating frequency.

Extended Reality (XR) technology represents an innovative tool to address the challenges of the present, as it allows for experimentation with new solutions in terms of content creation and its fruition by different types of users. The potential to modulate the experience based on the target audience’s needs and the project’s objectives makes XR suitable for creating new accessibility solutions. The “Includiamoci” project was carried out with the aim of creating workshops on social inclusion through the combination of art and technology. Specifically, the experimentation involved ten young people between the ages of 28 and 50, with cognitive disabilities, who participated in Extended Reality workshops and Art Therapy workshops. In the course of these activities, the outputs obtained were two: a virtual museum, populated by the participants’ works, and a digital set design for a theatrical performance. Through two tests, one on user experience (UX) and one on the degree of well-being, the effectiveness of the entire project was evaluated. In conclusion, the project demonstrated how the adopted solutions were appropriate to the objectives, increasing our knowledge of UX for a target audience with specific user needs and using XR in the context of social inclusion.

The intent of this study is to promote and raise awareness of the Basilica of Saint Catherina of Alexandria in Galatina, a church endowed with such beauty as to be defined as astounding. In this article two technologies were used: Spatial Augmented Reality, better known as videomapping, to valorize the monument and narrate its story through images and sounds; and Augmented Reality, to facilitate the reading and interpretation of the most important frescoes located along all the internal walls of the Basilica. The goal is to create a unique path starting from the Basilica façade and continuing and winding through the interior spaces. One of the most extensive and best conserved cycles of Late Gothic frescoes in all of Europe unfolds on the nave of the church covering every corner, from the keystones down to the floor. An in-depth bibliographic research confirmed the presence of frescoes also on the exterior of the Basilica façade whose traces, however, are no longer visible today. Pietro Cavoti’ s illustrations give an idea of how the façade has changed over the years, before, during, and after the restorations that permanently removed the already faint traces of frescoes. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how the combined use of these technologies can be considered a valid aid to support the enhancement, fruition, and understanding of a monument that is very important for the cultural heritage sector and a reference point for the local and religious community.

In this paper the results of the study performed on dry textile electrodes for bio-impedance measurements are reported. The use of two different conductive fabrics is investigated: a silver-plated bi-elastic knitted fabric and a bi-layer structure comprising a layer of a silver-plated knitted fabric and a layer of conductive silicone. In this latter, the presence of the silicone layer guarantees a good contact with the skin, which is a fundamental condition for accurate bio-impedance measurements, and preserves the silver by oxidation due to sweat. The fabricated textile electrodes have been sewn on elastic cuffs and two different relative positions of the current and voltage electrodes have been investigated. The proposed cuffs are suitable to be embedded into a t-shirt for continuous and real-time bio-impedance measurements. The reliability of the developed prototypes is validated by comparison with data obtained from Ag/AgCl commercial electrodes. Promising results have been obtained for both the investigated conductive fabrics.

In this article, the possibility of obtaining a load-independent regime for a wireless power transfer link consisting of two magnetically coupled resonators in parallel configuration is discussed. Analytical formulas and experimental data to achieve a load-independent output voltage or current are presented. With regard to the input side, the cases of a current and a voltage generator are considered. It is shown that when the source is a current generator, either a constant output voltage or a current can be achieved by suitably choosing the operating frequency. As per the case of a voltage generator, by acting on the operating frequency, only a constant output current can be obtained.

In recent years we have witnessed a great change in the school and education system, that shifted from a culture of integration to a culture of inclusion, aimed at creating a condition of equal opportunity and making the uniqueness of individual, strength, and enrichment for all. Digital technologies are important to support the social inclusion of people with physical and mental disabilities because they enable the overcoming of some real-world barriers, and among these technologies, Virtual Reality plays an important role. The purpose of this paper is to examine the partial outputs of the activities carried out by the Augmented and Virtual Reality Laboratory (AVR Lab) as part of the “Includiamoci” project and to discuss the first results. In particular, the contribution concerns the implementation of a virtual museum aimed at ho using the works of art created by participants as part of Art Therapy sessions: within this, participants are active subjects, prosumers of the experience, as they generate it, narrate it and enjoy it, by means of a Virtual Reality (VR) headset.

This study investigates the feasibility of using the MedRadio band for wirelessly transmitting power to a rechargeable medical device implanted in the chest. In particular, a wireless energy link operating at 403 MHz and based on an inductive coupling between two planar resonators is considered, and its performance is assessed through simulations and experimental tests. Results show that a maximum value of the measured power transfer efficiency of ~23% is achieved. Furthermore, the possibility of using the link for recharging a lithium-ion battery of a pulse generator implanted in the chest at a depth of 5 mm is discussed, and the compliance with safety regulations is verified. Reported results demonstrate that the proposed link can be used to charge a lithium-ion battery with a capacity up to 7.2 mAh, while inducing a peak of the specific absorption rate averaged over 1 g of tissue < 1.6 W/kg.

In this paper a fully-textile RFID chipless tag based on the frequency shift coding technique is presented. The proposed tag consists of a 50 Ω microstrip line loaded by a hairpin resonator. To achieve a compact size, the resonator is slotted on the ground plane of the microstrip line. By using a single hairpin resonator, a 3-bit tag is obtained. In particular, by selectively cutting the fingers of the hairpin resonator, a frequency shift of its resonance is achieved. In order to facilitate the integration of the proposed device in clothes, textile materials have been used for both the substrate and the conductive parts. Numerical and experimental data demonstrate that the proposed device can be exploited as a simple tag or as a touch sensor.

This study presents a wearable antenna for a global positioning system-global system for mobile communication (GPS-GSM)-based anti-theft tracking system to be embedded in high-cost clothing and luggage accessories (such as leather bags). To assess the feasibility of this solution, a prototype antenna was designed mimicking the shape of one of the Levi Strauss & Co.'s logos, and it was fabricated using a conductive non-woven fabric on a layer of leather. Furthermore, to cover both the GPS L1 and the GSM-1800 bands with a single radiating element, positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diodes were employed to reconfigure the operating frequency of the antenna. Experimental data demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed design strategy are presented and discussed.

This paper presents a fully-textile chipless tag to be used as a humidity sensor. The proposed tag consists of $a50 \Omega$ microstrip line loaded by multiple resonators. The basic idea is to exploit the hygroscopic properties of textile materials, and in particular the variation of the relative permittivity of the textile substrate due to variation of the environmental moisture. The sensed data are encapsulated in the amplitude of the S 21 parameter of the microstrip line. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed sensor is sensitive to variations of the relative humidity comprised in the range 65%-95%.

In this work, two solutions for the design and fabrication of fully-textile chipless tags are presented. The first relies on associating the data with the resonance frequency of resonant devices: the presence/absence of the resonance peaks in the |S 21 | of a set of resonators are used to encode a string of bits. The second solution resorts to a frequency-shift coding technique and on the use of a hairpin resonator. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate the reliability of the proposed solutions. The final goal is to develop wearable, chipless electronics that could be used, for example, in radio-frequency identification or sensing in industrial IoT applications.

This paper presents a fully-textile wearable antenna for pinpointing the location of firefighters in emergency scenarios. The proposed antenna is an aperture coupled microstrip antenna which mimics the coat of arms of the fire brigade of Lecce (Italy). To assess the viability of the proposed solution, a fully-textile prototype has been fabricated and characterized. Numerical and experimental results are reported and discussed.

This paper addresses the design, the fabrication, and the experimental characterization of two fully-textile chipless tags used, for the first time, as wearable touch sensors. The first device is a multi-resonator chipless tag, wherein the information encoding relies on the presence/absence of resonance peaks. The second device consists of a hairpin resonator slotted on the ground plane and acting as a loading impedance of a microstrip line; in this case, the encoding mechanism is based on the variation of the resonance frequency. Prototypes for both devices were fabricated and characterized. Experimental tests performed on the prototypes exploiting two different measurement setups demonstrate that, when used as touch sensors, both the devices are able to encode four configurations corresponding to distinct relative positions between the sensor and the hand. The proposed devices are fully-textile solutions suitable for wearable applications in which low cost and a seamless integration with garments take priority over accuracy.

This article provides a few practical guidelines for designing wearable antennas. A crucial requirement for this kind of antenna is to be noninvasive and “invisible” to the final user. To this end, an application-centered approach is required for both the design and the fabrication process, which leads to high cost, thereby limiting the large-scale production of wearable antennas. Accordingly, this article pays particular attention to low-cost and time-saving fabrication techniques that distinguish between nontextile and fully textile antennas. Recent works that propose new fabrication techniques for realizing wearable antennas are also included in this article. Additionally, for each of the analyzed fabrication and design techniques, the suitable operational frequencies are also discussed.

This paper presents an inductive resonant wireless power transfer link (WPT) which has been optimized for recharging a pulse generator implanted in the chest. The proposed link consists of two capacitively loaded circular loops and appropriate matching networks. The proposed design approach exhibits improved performance with respect to possible misalignments between the transmitting and the receiving loops. From numerical data, the proposed link has an efficiency of about 67 % when the two resonators are aligned and it remains almost stable for a lateral misalignment lower than 4 mm.

Remote monitoring of the elderly in telehealth applications requires that the monitoring must not affect the elderly’s regular habits. To ensure this requirement, the components (i.e., sensor and antenna) necessary to carry out such monitoring should blend in with the elderly’s daily routine. To this end, an effective strategy relies on employing wearable antennas that can be fully integrated with clothes and that can be used for remotely transmitting/receiving the sensor data. Starting from these considerations, in this work, two different methods for wearable antenna fabrication are described in detail: the first resorts to the combined use of nonwoven conductive fabrics and of a cutting plotter for shaping the fabric, whereas the second considered fabrication method resorts to the embroidery of conductive threads. To demonstrate the suitability of the considered fabrication techniques and to highlight their pros and cons, numerical and experimental results related to different wearable antennas are also reported and commented on. Results demonstrate that the presented fabrication techniques and strategies are very flexible and can be used to obtain low-cost wearable antennas with performance tailored for the specific application at hand.

This paper presents a new wireless power link fabricated by using a conductive non-woven fabric on a leather substrate, thus resulting in a prototype that can be easily embedded in wearable accessories such as fashion bags. More in detail, in the fabricated prototype (which was designed to work in the ISM band 433.05 - 434.79 MHz), the power transfer was implemented by exploiting a magnetic coupling between two planar resonators. The results related to the characterization of the fabricated wireless power link are presented and discussed. In particular, from experimental data, a power transfer efficiency of about 69 % is demonstrated.