lecture presented at the Amerika Haus

Elektronische Version der gedr. Ausg. 199

Estimation of the methane emission factor for the Italian Mediterranean buffalo

In order to contribute to the improvement of the national greenhouse gas emission inventory, this work aimed at estimating a country-specific enteric methane (CH4) emission factor for the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. For this purpose, national agriculture statistics, and information on animal production and farming conditions were analysed, and the emission factor was estimated using the Tier 2 model of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Country-specific CH4 emission factors for buffalo cows (630 kg body weight, BW) and other buffalo (313 kg BW) categories were estimated for the period 1990–2004. In 2004, the estimated enteric CH4 emission factor for the buffalo cows was 73 kg/head per year, whereas that for other buffalo categories it was 56 kg/head per year. Research in order to determine specific CH4 conversion rates at the predominant production system is suggested

An application of Answer Set Programming in Distributed Architectures: ASP Microservices

We propose an approach to the definition of microservices with an Answer Set Programming (ASP) `core', where microservices are a successful abstraction for designing distributed applications as suites of independently deployable interacting components. Such ASP-based components might be employed in distributed architectures related to Cloud Computing or to the Internet of Things (IoT).Comment: In Proceedings ICLP 2020, arXiv:2009.0915

An Application of Declarative Languages in Distributed Architectures: ASP and DALI Microservices

In this paper we introduce an approach to the possible adoption of Answer Set Programming (ASP) for the definition of microservices, which are a successful abstraction for designing distributed applications as suites of independently deployable interacting components. Such ASP-based components might be employed in distributed architectures related to Cloud Computing or to the Internet of Things (IoT), where the ASP microservices might be usefully coordinated with intelligent logic-based agents. We develop a case study where we consider ASP microservices in synergy with agents defined in DALI, a well-known logic-based agent-oriented programming language developed by our research group

Pc5 geomagnetic fluctuations in response to solar wind excitation and their relationship with relativistic electron fluxes in the outer radiation belt

This study is focused to investigate the Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations in response to the solar wind forcing and their relationship with the relativistic electron flux at geostationary orbit. We analyzed the correlation of the Pc5 power in the magnetosphere and on the ground, at low and high latitude, with the solar wind speed and fluctuation power of the interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind dynamic pressure through the years 2006 to 2010, also examining the relative timing between pulsations and solar wind parameters. We found a very significant correlation of the Pc5 power with simultaneous solar wind pressure fluctuations and with the solar wind speed lagged by several hours; the relative amplitude of the two correlation peaks depending on the solar cycle phase and on the latitude

Los equívocos de la identidad

Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, 24 abril 2014Quién soy? Who am I? Chi sono? Esta pregunta tiene muchas respuestas depende de quién pregunte. A mi llegada a este país, la respuesta de rigor estaba en mi pasaporte. En mi pasaporte, figura escrito que mi nombre es Teresa De Lauretis, que mi nacionalidad es estadounidense, mi lugar de nacimiento Italia, mi fecha de nacimiento es… (la que alguien hace mucho tiempo dijo que era), y que mi sexo es F. Ya, desde el momento de apoyar los pies en Argentina, existe una ambigüedad en mi identidad: en otro pasaporte se declara que mi nacionalidad es italiana. Sucede que tengo dos pasaportes, ambos perfectamente legales. Mi identidad depende de cuál pasaporte utilice, pero ambos declaran que mi sexo es F

Review series: Aspects of interstitial lung disease: connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease: how does it differ from IPF? How should the clinical approach differ?

The lung is frequently involved in connective tissue diseases (CTDs), although the frequency of lung manifestations varies according to the type of CTD. Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are frequently seen in CTDs, particularly systemic sclerosis (SSc), polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), accounting for a significant proportion of deaths. A large percentage of patients with CTD-associated ILD has limited and stable disease, not requiring treatment. However, a significant minority has severe and/or progressive disease, necessitating prompt initiation of treatment. CTD-ILD histological patterns include non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), organizing pneumonia (OP), diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP). NSIP is the most common pattern in all CTDs, except for RA, characterized by a higher frequency of UIP. ILD can present acutely or chronically, with acute presentations being more common in systemic lupus erythematosus and PM/DM. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressively worsening ILD characterized by inflammation and fibrosis. The characteristic histological pattern of IPF is UIP. Interestingly, a UIP pattern is associated with a significantly better survival in CTD-related disease compared to the idiopathic variety. Prognosis in IPF is dismal, with a median survival since diagnosis of 2-3 years. No treatment regimen has been shown to improve survival in IPF. By contrast, although there have been only two randomized placebo-controlled trials investigating the effect of immunosuppressive treatment in SSc-associated ILD, clinical experience suggests that immunosuppressive drugs in CTD-related ILDs are capable of benefiting a significant proportion of patients, particularly those with certain histological patterns of disease. This review will essentially focus on CTD-associated ILD and will compare aspects of clinical presentation and management to those of IPF

Electromagnetic background noise at L'Aquila Geomagnetic Observatory

In this paper we analyze the electromagnetic background noise at L'Aquila Geomagnetic Observatory during 2006 and 2007 in the frequency band 1-100 mHz. In this band a pronounced daily variation is observed both in the natural signals as well as in the artificial ones, giving rise to the problem of separating different contributions of very similar morphology. We analyzed periods when the local K index was approximately zero, in correspondence with minimum of the magnetospheric and ionospheric activity. We found that in our area the main source of artificial noise is constituted by the DC electrified railways