VerbAtlas: a novel large-scale verbal semantic resource and its application to semantic role labeling

We present VerbAtlas, a new, hand-crafted lexical-semantic resource whose goal is to bring together all verbal synsets from WordNet into semantically-coherent frames. The frames define a common, prototypical argument structure while at the same time providing new concept-specific information. In contrast to PropBank, which defines enumerative semantic roles, VerbAtlas comes with an explicit, cross-frame set of semantic roles linked to selectional preferences expressed in terms of WordNet synsets, and is the first resource enriched with semantic information about implicit, shadow, and default arguments. We demonstrate the effectiveness of VerbAtlas in the task of dependency-based Semantic Role Labeling and show how its integration into a high-performance system leads to improvements on both the in-domain and out-of-domain test sets of CoNLL-2009. VerbAtlas is available at http://verbatlas.org

Evaluating Alpha and Beta Taxonomy in Ant-Nest Beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Paussini)

We evaluated completeness, accuracy, and historical trend of the taxonomic knowledge on the myrmecophilous ground beetle tribe Paussini (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Paussinae). Accumulation curves for valid names and synonyms of species, subgenera, and genera were modelled using logistic functions. Analyses of trends in synonymies suggest that few currently accepted taxa will be recognized to be synonymous in the future. This may indicate that Paussini are a taxonomically relatively stable tribe of carabid beetles. However, this result might also be due to the lack of recent taxonomic work in some biogeographical regions

Higgs at LHC

An overview of recent theoretical results on the Higgs boson and its discovery strategy at ATLAS and CMS will be presented, focusing on the main Higgs analysis effective with low integrated luminosity (less than 30 fb^-1).Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, talk given at: V Workshop Italiano sulla fisica p-p ad LHC, Perugia, Italy, 30 Jan. - 2 Feb. 200

EEG-based mental workload neurometric to evaluate the impact of different traffic and road conditions in real driving settings

Car driving is considered a very complex activity, consisting of different concomitant tasks and subtasks, thus it is crucial to understand the impact of different factors, such as road complexity, traffic, dashboard devices, and external events on the driver’s behavior and performance. For this reason, in particular situations the cognitive demand experienced by the driver could be very high, inducing an excessive experienced mental workload and consequently an increasing of error commission probability. In this regard, it has been demonstrated that human error is the main cause of the 57% of road accidents and a contributing factor in most of them. In this study, 20 young subjects have been involved in a real driving experiment, performed under different traffic conditions (rush hour and not) and along different road types (main and secondary streets). Moreover, during the driving tasks different specific events, in particular a pedestrian crossing the road and a car entering the traffic flow just ahead of the experimental subject, have been acted. A Workload Index based on the Electroencephalographic (EEG), i.e., brain activity, of the drivers has been employed to investigate the impact of the different factors on the driver’s workload. Eye-Tracking (ET) technology and subjective measures have also been employed in order to have a comprehensive overview of the driver’s perceived workload and to investigate the different insights obtainable from the employed methodologies. The employment of such EEG-based Workload index confirmed the significant impact of both traffic and road types on the drivers’ behavior (increasing their workload), with the advantage of being under real settings. Also, it allowed to highlight the increased workload related to external events while driving, in particular with a significant effect during those situations when the traffic was low. Finally, the comparison between methodologies revealed the higher sensitivity of neurophysiological measures with respect to ET and subjective ones. In conclusion, such an EEG-based Workload index would allow to assess objectively the mental workload experienced by the driver, standing out as a powerful tool for research aimed to investigate drivers’ behavior and providing additional and complementary insights with respect to traditional methodologies employed within road safety research

Timescale of a magmatic-hydrothermal system revealed by 40Ar-39Ar geochronology: the Mio-Pliocene Campiglia Marittima system (Tuscany, Italy)

Petrology and timing of magmatic-hydrothermal systems and the linkage between plutonic and volcanic domains are central topics in geosciences, because of broad implications for natural hazards and exploitation of natural resources. We investigated by the 40Ar-39Ar method the timescale of a well-characterized natural example, the Mio-Pliocene Campiglia Marittima magmatic-hydrothermal system (Tuscany, Italy). 40Ar-39Ar data from pristine and homogeneous trioctahedral micas and sanidine from the plutonic-hydrothermal-subvolcanic-volcanic sequence (from the Botro ai Marmi Granite to the San Vincenzo Rhyolite) record crystallization ages and define a temporal sequence lasting 973 ± 43 ka, starting from 5.409 ± 0.043 Ma. K-feldspar from mafic and felsic porphyries, unlike micas, are affected by submillimetre, micropore laden, alteration domains consisting of secondary K-feldspar and albite, and yielded staircase-shaped age spectra, compatible with a ternary mixing. Results document that the San Vincenzo Rhyolite consists of two diachronous batches, the first emplaced at 5.0024 ± 0.0062 Ma, closely following emplacement of mafic porphyries, the second at 4.4359 ± 0.0045 Ma. Bulk of hydrothermal deposits, consisting of skarns and associated Zn-Pb(-Ag) mineralization predating Fe-Cu ore, formed within the first ~ 400-ka lifetime of the whole sequence and was closely followed by the first eruption which should have run out most of the ore-forming potential of the system

Control of the chemiluminescence spectrum with porous Bragg mirrors

Tunable, battery free light emission is demonstrated in a solid state device that is compatible with lab on a chip technology and easily fabricated via solution processing techniques. A porous one dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (also called Bragg stack or mirror) is infiltrated by chemiluminescence rubrene-based reagents. The Bragg mirror has been designed to have the photonic band gap overlapping with the emission spectrum of rubrene. The chemiluminescence reaction occurs in the intrapores of the photonic crystal and the emission spectrum of the dye is modulated according to the photonic band gap position. This is a compact, powerless emitting source that can be exploited in disposable photonic chip for sensing and point of care applications.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

A multi-methodological protocol to characterize PDO olive oils

An analytical approach including Panel Test, Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was proposed to characterize Italian “Colline Pontine” PDO olive oils (40 samples) of two consecutive crop years. Our approach has evidenced the high quality of these olive oils. Only 6 of 40 olive oils samples were defined as “defective” by the official Panel Test due to the detection of negative sensory attributes. The low variability of isotopic data monitored by IRMS confirmed that the olive oil samples all came from a limited geographical area. NMR spectra did not evidence any chemical composition anomaly in the investigated samples. In order to assess the influence of harvesting year over the olive oil chemical composition, the NMR analysis was extended to other 22 olive oil samples of a third harvesting year. NMR data were submitted to two different statistical methods, namely, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principal component analysis (PCA) allowing olive oils of three consecutive harvesting years to be grouped

Remarkable multicuspid teeth in a new elusive skate (Chondrichthyes, Rajiformes) from the Mediterranean Pliocene

AbstractHere we report on four highly peculiar skate teeth from Arcille and Certaldo, two Pliocene localities of Tuscany (central Italy). While being attributable to Rajiformes and somewhat reminiscent ofDipturusandRostroraja, these specimens display an unusual multicuspid tooth design that does not match any extinct or extant skate taxon known to date. The studied teeth are thus referred to a new genus and species of Rajiformes,Nebriimimus wardigen. et sp. nov., which is here tentatively assigned to the family Rajidae. Based on pronounced morphological similarities between the rather large-sized teeth of the latter and those of extant nurse sharks, we hypothesise thatN. wardimight have been capable of actively foraging upon relatively large food items compared to other rays. This extinct skate species was likely not a common component of the Pliocene Tuscan marine vertebrate assemblages. The palaeoenvironmental scenarios thatN. wardiinhabited were marginal-marine and open shelf settings characterised by tropical climate conditions. AsN. wardiis currently known only from lower to mid-Pliocene deposits of the Mediterranean Basin, it is tempting to speculate that its speciation dates back to an earliest Pliocene phase of diversification that also contributed to the emergence of the Mediterranean endemic stock of extant skate species

The third pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe: The RHOMOLO assessment

The Investment Plan for Europe aims at removing obstacles to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects, and at making smarter use of financial resources. The Investment Plan is made up of three pillars: the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI); the European Investment Advisory Hub and the European Investment Project Portal; and the removal of regulatory barriers to investment. Policy simulations using the RHOMOLO dynamic CGE model show positive aggregate macro-economic effects of the EFSI. This Policy Insight contains the result of an additional set of RHOMOLO simulations aimed at quantifying the macroeconomic impact of the legislative proposals contained in the third pillar of the Investment Plan. The EU GDP is expected to be 1.5% higher by 2030 thanks to the removal of barriers to investment in the areas of the Capital Markets Union, the Single Market Strategy, the Digital Single Market, and the Energy Union. This entails the creation of about one million of jobs across the entire EU