High Density Polyethylene Composites Containing Alumina-Toughened Zirconia Particles: Mechanical and Tribological Behavior

Alumina-toughened Zirconia (ATZ) was used as filler to endow High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) with enhanced mechanical and wear properties, hence widening the application field of the polyolefin as biomaterial. Composites at different ATZ loadings were produced by melt extrusion followed by compression molding. A good filler dispersion was obtained for all the materials, despite the presence of few voids and agglomerates observed at high ATZ loadings. The combination of high crystallinity and, mainly, lack of voids and agglomerates, appeared responsible for the improvement of Young modulus and mechanical strength. Besides, the filler positively affected the wear resistance of the composites under lubricated conditions

EVALITA 2020: Overview of the 7th evaluation campaign of natural language processing and speech tools for Italian

The Evaluation Campaign of Natural Language Processing and Speech Tools for Italian (EVALITA) is the biennial initiative aimed at promoting the development of language and speech technologies for the Italian language. EVALITA is promoted by the Italian Association of Computational Linguistics (AILC) and it is endorsed by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA) and the Italian Association for Speech Sciences (AISV). EVALITA provides a shared framework where different systems and approaches can be scientifically evaluated and compared with each other with respect to a large variety of tasks, suggested and organized by the Italian research community. The proposed tasks represent scientific challenges where methods, resources, and systems can be tested against shared benchmarks representing linguistic open issues or real world applications, possibly in a multilingual and/or multi-modal perspective. The collected data sets provide big opportunities for scientists to explore old and new problems concerning NLP in Italian as well as to develop solutions and to discuss the NLP-related issues within the community. Some tasks are traditionally present in the evaluation campaign, while others are completely new. This paper introduces the tasks proposed at EVALITA 2020 and provides an overview to the participants and systems whose descriptions and obtained results are reported in these Proceedings

LA RETE SISMICA DELLA PIANA DI GUIDONIA (LAZIO): DATI PRELIMINARI

After the seismic period during 2001-2002 that has interested the Plain of Guidonia, situated about fifteen kilometres NE of Rome, which events greatest resentment reached the V-VI MCS, have been installed a local seismic purchased by Comune of Guidonia-Montecelio (Rm). The seismic network (RLG) consists of three digital seismic stations with distances of each other about 2 kilometers, activated to leave from the June 2004 and equipped with three components 1 Hz sismometer. Subsequently, the RLG has enriched of other four digital stations equipped with three components 5 Hz sismometer This network has like main objective the high quality data that agree a better definition of the seismic local activity. These data, that integrate those of the Seismographic Centralized National Network (SCNN), agreed a better ipocentre location. Network geometriy was chosen so as to give back the RLG an independent structure to carry out reliable seismicity locations that characterizes the plain of Guidonia. Unfortunately, industrial and human activity, increases in considerable manner the seismic noise, giving back difficult the record of small events. For this motive the location of the sites was more times changed, and lately, after a seismic crisis in the northern side of the Mountains Cornicolani, that has presented with the same features of that of 2001 of Guidonia, some stations were moved in the neighboring village of Palombara Sabina (Rm)

Frequency reallocation based on cochlear place frequencies in cochlear implants: a pilot study

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate speech perception outcomes after a frequency reallocation performed through the creation of an anatomically based map obtained with Otoplan®, a tablet-based software that allows the cochlear duct length to be calculated starting from CT images. Methods: Ten postlingually deafened patients who underwent cochlear implantation with MED-EL company devices from 2015 to 2019 in the Tertiary referral center University Hospital of Verona have been included in a retrospective study. The postoperative CT scans were evaluated with Otoplan®; the position of the intracochlear electrodes was obtained, an anatomical mapping was carried out and then it was submitted to the patients. All patients underwent pure tonal and speech audiometry before and after the reallocation and the audiological results were processed considering the Speech Recognition Threshold (SRT), the Speech Awareness Threshold (SAT) and the Pure Tone Average (PTA). The differences in the PTA, SAT and SRT values before and after the reallocation were determined. The results were statistically processed using the software Stata with a significance value of α < 0.05. Results: The mean values of SRT (61.25 dB versus 51.25 dB) and SAT (49 dB versus 41 dB) were significantly lower (p: 0.02 and p: 0.04, respectively) after the reallocation. No significant difference was found between PTA values (41.5 dB versus 39.25 dB; p: 0.18). Conclusions: Our preliminary results demonstrate better speech discrimination and rapid adaptation in implanted postlingually deaf patients after anatomic mapping and subsequent frequency reallocation

Ageritin from pioppino mushroom: The prototype of ribotoxin-like proteins, a novel family of specific ribonucleases in edible mushrooms

Ageritin is a specific ribonuclease, extracted from the edible mushroom Cyclocybe aegerita (synonym Agrocybe aegerita), which cleaves a single phosphodiester bond located within the uni-versally conserved alpha-sarcin loop (SRL) of 23–28S rRNAs. This cleavage leads to the inhibition of protein biosynthesis, followed by cellular death through apoptosis. The structural and enzy-matic properties show that Ageritin is the prototype of a novel specific ribonucleases family named ‘ribotoxin-like proteins’, recently found in fruiting bodies of other edible basidiomycetes mushrooms (e.g., Ostreatin from Pleurotus ostreatus, Edulitins from Boletus edulis, and Gambositin from Calocybe gambosa). Although the putative role of this toxin, present in high amount in fruiting body (>2.5 mg per 100 g) of C. aegerita, is unknown, its antifungal and insecticidal actions strongly support a role in defense mechanisms. Thus, in this review, we focus on structural, biological, antipathogenic, and enzymatic characteristics of this ribotoxin-like protein. We also highlight its biological relevance and potential biotechnological applications in agriculture as a bio-pesticide and in biomedicine as a therapeutic and diagnostic agent

Electron-Beam-Induced Grafting Of Chitosan Onto HDPE/ATZ Composites for Biomedical Applications

HDPE and HDPE/ATZ surfaces were functionalised with chitosan Via electron-beam irradiation technique in order to prepare materials suitable for biomedical purposes. ATR–FTIR and wettability measurements were employed for monitoring the surface changes after both irradiation and chitosan grafting reaction. The presence of ATZ influenced both the EB irradiation process and the surface functionalisation. Mechanical properties of irradiated materials were not remarkably affected by irradiation processing. Biological assays indicated that electrostatic interactions between the negative charges of the surface of cell membranes and the –NH3+ sites on chitosan chains promoted cell adhesion, while some oxidized species produced during the irradiation process were thought to cause a detrimental effect on the cell Viability