Audio Features Affected by Music Expressiveness

Within a Music Information Retrieval perspective, the goal of the study presented here is to investigate the impact on sound features of the musician's affective intention, namely when trying to intentionally convey emotional contents via expressiveness. A preliminary experiment has been performed involving $10$ tuba players. The recordings have been analysed by extracting a variety of features, which have been subsequently evaluated by combining both classic and machine learning statistical techniques. Results are reported and discussed.Comment: Submitted to ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (SIGIR 2016), Pisa, Italy, July 17-21, 201

Task 1 - Deliverable 1: Database structure

The Italian strong motion data base (Italian Strong Motion Data Base) is a joint product of the agreement between the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile – Ufficio Valutazione Prevenzione e Mitigazione del Rischio Sismico ed Attività ed Opere Post-Emergenza (Department of Civil Protection – Evaluation, Prevention and Mitigation of Seismic Risck and Post-Emergency Works) and the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology). The data base is handled through two different relational data base management system: Ms Access® 2003, of major use among research institutions and public administrations, for CD-ROM release, and MySQL for the web distribution. The selection of the former product is driven by the simplicity of the software, the worldwide diffusion and the possibility of being linked to software’s for the management of spatial data, such as ESRI ArcGis® and Arcview®, and software for the scientific calculation such as Matlab ®. The data base will store the information regarding the seismic events, the recording stations, the installed instruments, the main features of the recordings and the engineering parameters. The structure is based on a previous version of the Italian strong-motion data base created by ENEA in collaboration with Department of Civil Protection, which stores the information regarding the accelerometric recordings in the time span 1972-1993. This manuscript will explain the structure of the tables containing the information, the data base architecture, the relationships existing among tables and the technical features for data input.Progetto DPC-INGV S6 “Data base dei dati accelerometrici Italiani relativi al periodo 1972-2004"Published5.2. TTC - Banche dati di sismologia strumentaleope

Task 1 - Deliverable 1: Database structure

The Italian strong motion data base (Italian Strong Motion Data Base) is a joint product of the agreement between the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile – Ufficio Valutazione Prevenzione e Mitigazione del Rischio Sismico ed Attività ed Opere Post-Emergenza (Department of Civil Protection – Evaluation, Prevention and Mitigation of Seismic Risck and Post-Emergency Works) and the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology). The data base is handled through two different relational data base management system: Ms Access® 2003, of major use among research institutions and public administrations, for CD-ROM release, and MySQL for the web distribution. The selection of the former product is driven by the simplicity of the software, the worldwide diffusion and the possibility of being linked to software’s for the management of spatial data, such as ESRI ArcGis® and Arcview®, and software for the scientific calculation such as Matlab ®. The data base will store the information regarding the seismic events, the recording stations, the installed instruments, the main features of the recordings and the engineering parameters. The structure is based on a previous version of the Italian strong-motion data base created by ENEA in collaboration with Department of Civil Protection, which stores the information regarding the accelerometric recordings in the time span 1972-1993. This manuscript will explain the structure of the tables containing the information, the data base architecture, the relationships existing among tables and the technical features for data input

Bombyx mori Silk Fibroin Regeneration in Solution of Lanthanide Ions: A Systematic Investigation

Silk Fibroin (SF) obtained from Bombyx mori is a very attractive biopolymer that can be useful for many technological applications, from optoelectronics and photonics to biomedicine. It can be processed from aqueous solutions to obtain many scaffolds. SF dissolution is possible only with the mediation of chaotropic salts that disrupt the secondary structure of the protein. As a consequence, recovered materials have disordered structures. In a previous paper, it was shown that, by modifying the standard Ajisawa’s method by using a lanthanide salt, CeCl3, as the chaotropic agent, it is possible to regenerate SF as a fibrous material with a very ordered structure, similar to that of the pristine fiber, and doped with Ce+3 ions. Since SF exhibits a moderate fluorescence which can be enhanced by the incorporation of organic molecules, ions and nanoparticles, the possibility of doping it with lanthanide ions could be an appealing approach for the development of new photonic systems. Here, a systematic investigation of the behavior of degummed SF in the presence of all lanthanide ions, Ln+3, is reported. It has been found that all lanthanide chlorides are chaotropic salts for solubilizing SF. Ln+3 ions at the beginning and the end of the series (La+3, Pr+3, Er+3, Tm+3, Yb+3, Lu+3) favor the reprecipitation of fibrous SF as already found for Ce+3. In most cases, the obtained fiber preserves the morphological and structural features of the pristine SF. With the exception of SF treated with La+3, Tm+3, and Lu+3, for all the fibers re-precipitated a concentration of Ln+3 between 0.2 and 0.4% at was measured, comparable to that measured for Ce+3-doped SF

Reply to comment by C. Morhange, C. Flaux, P.A. Pirazzoli, M.B. Carre on \u201cHolocene Sea level Change in Malta\u201d

The pits of Birzebbugia are located near the present-day mean sea level, and some are partially submerged. They were dated using pottery discovered in an archaeological site close to the coast, dated to the Bronze Age (Zammit, 1928; Abela, 1999). As they have been interpreted as sites for the retting of flax, during their utilization they should have remained dry and the sea could not submerge them. This is the reason why these structures are not directly related to the sea level, as suggested by Biolchi et al. (2011), so they represent an upper limit.peer-reviewe

Effects of oxidative stress during human and animal reproductions: A review

Given its high ability to damage important cellular components (lipids, proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid), oxidative stress is now recognized as one of the most common mechanisms associated with development of a variety of diseases and natural events such as pregnancy. During reproduction period, there is a change in the pro-oxidant and antioxidant balance due to the body and circulation modifications that are inherent to the pregnancy process. The present paper discusses the role of oxidative stress on the reproduction process. More effective defense strategies are needed to decrease the deleterious effects of oxidative-stress-induced gestation. This approach could be achieved by antioxidant status alteration. Further clinical and experimental studies are needed for better understanding of oxidative stress mechanism and the impact of antioxidant supplementation on reproduction

Rolling resistance contribution to a road pavement life cycle carbon footprint analysis

Purpose Although the impact of road pavement surface condition on rolling resistance has been included in the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework of several studies in the last years, there is still a high level of uncertainty concerning the methodological assumptions and the parameters that can affect the results. In order to adopt pavement carbon footprint/LCA as a decision-making tool, it is necessary to explore the impact of the chosen methods and assumptions on the LCA results. Methods This paper provides a review of the main models describing the impact of the pavement surface properties on vehicle fuel consumption and analyses the influence of the methodological assumptions related to the rolling resistance on the LCA results. It compares the CO2 emissions, calculated with two different rolling resistance models existing in literature, and performs a sensitivity test on some specific input variables (pavement deterioration rate, traffic growth, and emission factors/fuel efficiency improvement). Results and discussion The model used to calculate the impact of the pavement surface condition on fuel consumption significantly affects the LCA results. The pavement deterioration rate influences the calculation in both models, while traffic growth and fuel efficiency improvement have a limited impact on the vehicle CO2 emissions resulting from the pavement condition contribution to rolling resistance. Conclusions and recommendations Existing models linking pavement condition to rolling resistance and hence vehicle emissions are not broadly applicable to the use phase of road pavement LCA and further research is necessary before a widely-used methodology can be defined. The methods of modelling and the methodological assumptions need to be transparent in the analysis of the impact of the pavement surface condition on fuel consumption, in order to be interpreted by decision makers and implemented in an LCA framework. This will be necessary before product category rules (PCR) for pavement LCA can be extended to include the use phase

IL4 primes the dynamics of breast cancer progression via DUSP4 inhibition

The tumor microenvironment supplies proinflammatory cytokines favoring a permissive milieu for cancer cell growth and invasive behavior. Here we show how breast cancer progression is facilitated by IL4 secreted by adipose tissue and estrogen receptor-positive and triple-negative breast cancer cell types. Blocking autocrine and paracrine IL4 signaling with the IL4R\uce\ub1 antagonist IL4DM compromised breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and tumor growth by downregulating MAPK pathway activity. IL4DM reduced numbers of CD44+/CD24-cancer stem-like cells and elevated expression of the dual specificity phosphatase DUSP4by inhibiting NF-\uce\ubaB. Enforced expression of DUSP4 drove conversion of metastatic cells to nonmetastatic cells. Mechanistically, RNAi-mediated attenuation of DUSP4activated the ERKand p38 MAPK pathways, increased stem-like properties, and spawned metastatic capacity. Targeting IL4 signaling sensitized breast cancer cells to anticancer therapy and strengthened immune responses by enhancing the number of IFN\uce\ub3-positive CTLs. Our results showed the role of IL4 in promoting breast cancer aggressiveness and how its targeting may improve the efficacy of current therapies

KNOWLEDGE AND VIEWPOINTS ON THE EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION ON HEALTHCARE: A SURVEY CONDUCTED AMONG STUDENTS OF PALERMO UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL, ITALY

Corruption affects healthcare effectiveness and efficiency and limits equity in access to health services. Aim of the survey was to document knowledge and viewpoints on the impact of corruption on healthcare system in a sample of students attending pre-lauream healthcare professional courses at Palermo University Medical school and to evaluate any improvement in their awareness on this topic after a dedicated multidisciplinary educational intervention. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to students before and after the intervention. Absolute and relative frequency of correct and incorrect answers was computed. Chi-squared test was used to compare answers given before and after the educational intervention. Approximately less than a quarter of the respondents were able to correctly estimate impact of corruption, inappropriateness and waste in healthcare on NHS. The study documented how improving students\u2019 knowledge of the impact of corruption in the healthcare system could represent a possible strategy to prevent corruption in healthcare