Reasoning about embedded dependencies using inclusion dependencies

The implication problem for the class of embedded dependencies is undecidable. However, this does not imply lackness of a proof procedure as exemplified by the chase algorithm. In this paper we present a complete axiomatization of embedded dependencies that is based on the chase and uses inclusion dependencies and implicit existential quantification in the intermediate steps of deductions

Parametrised Complexity of Model Checking and Satisfiability in Propositional Dependence Logic

In this paper, we initiate a systematic study of the parametrised complexity in the field of Dependence Logics which finds its origin in the Dependence Logic of V\"a\"an\"anen from 2007. We study a propositional variant of this logic (PDL) and investigate a variety of parametrisations with respect to the central decision problems. The model checking problem (MC) of PDL is NP-complete. The subject of this research is to identify a list of parametrisations (formula-size, treewidth, treedepth, team-size, number of variables) under which MC becomes fixed-parameter tractable. Furthermore, we show that the number of disjunctions or the arity of dependence atoms (dep-arity) as a parameter both yield a paraNP-completeness result. Then, we consider the satisfiability problem (SAT) showing a different picture: under team-size, or dep-arity SAT is paraNP-complete whereas under all other mentioned parameters the problem is in FPT. Finally, we introduce a variant of the satisfiability problem, asking for teams of a given size, and show for this problem an almost complete picture.Comment: Update includes refined result

Statistical investigation on the relation between car accidents and warm katabatic winds

The possible relationship between warm katabatic winds and human health and behaviour is analyzed; notwithstanding popular belief which is very positive about it, the connection has not been previously analyzed with the proper methods. We use a statistical model to address this question and our data suggest that the effects of warm katabatic winds in the Po Valley (Italy) can indeed be detected in the increase of car accidents

La Corte costituzionale dichiara l’illegittimità costituzionale del divieto, imponibile dal Questore, di possedere ed utilizzare il telefono mobile e riapre il dibattito sulle misure di prevenzione personali

La sentenza della Corte costituzionale n. 2 del 2023 ha dichiarato l’illegittimità costituzionale dell’art. 3, c. 4, del decreto legislativo 6 settembre 2011, n. 159 (Codice delle leggi antimafia), nella parte in cui include i telefoni cellulari tra gli apparati di comunicazione radiotrasmittente di cui il Questore può vietare, in tutto o in parte, il possesso o l’utilizzo. Il parametro costituzionale utilizzato è l’art. 15 Cost. nella parte in cui la norma costituzionale prevede che ogni limitazione della libertà di corrispondenza e di ogni altra forma di comunicazione debba essere disposta, con atto motivato, dall’autorità giudiziaria. L'articolo indaga l'impatto della decisione della Corte su due tematiche di grande interesse. La prima tematica è quella dell’applicazione delle garanzie previste dall’art. 15 Cost. ai divieti che il Questore può imporre all’utilizzo ed al possesso di mezzi di comunicazione. Il tema oggetto di indagine è quello della portata della riserva di legge e della riserva di giurisdizione previsti dalla norma costituzionale. La seconda tematica è quella delle misure di prevenzione. La decisione del giudice costituzionale è oggetto di attenzione, da un lato, per gli effetti immediati che essa ha sul potere del questore di disporre taluni divieti attraverso il cd. avviso orale. Da un altro lato, l'articolo riprende il dibattito sulle misure di prevenzione personali, in specie sulla durata minima e massima dei divieti, sia imposti dal Questore sia imposti dal giudice

Investigating variation in replicability

Although replication is a central tenet of science, direct replications are rare in psychology. This research tested variation in the replicability of 13 classic and contemporary effects across 36 independent samples totaling 6,344 participants. In the aggregate, 10 effects replicated consistently. One effect – imagined contact reducing prejudice – showed weak support for replicability. And two effects – flag priming influencing conservatism and currency priming influencing system justification – did not replicate. We compared whether the conditions such as lab versus online or US versus international sample predicted effect magnitudes. By and large they did not. The results of this small sample of effects suggest that replicability is more dependent on the effect itself than on the sample and setting used to investigate the effect

Echinococcus granulosus "sensu stricto" in a captive ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) in Northern Italy

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) by Echinococcosis granulosus (Eg) infection was seen in a 13 years old male lemur, found dead in a zoo in Northern Italy. Necropsy revealed several transparent cysts in the lungs and in the abdominal cavity. Freefloating cysts of varying sizes were found in the peritoneal cavity, and no protoscolex was seen microscopically. Histologically, a multifocal severe parasitic granulomatous pneumonia was observed. Confirmation of E. granulosus "sensu stricto" was reached by PCR and sequencing. In view of the absence of definitive host in the zoo, located in non-endemic region for CE, it is speculated that infection introduced through translocation of lemur from endemic region (Southern Italy zoo)

Probabilistic Team Semantics

Team semantics is a semantical framework for the study of dependence and independence concepts ubiquitous in many areas such as databases and statistics. In recent works team semantics has been generalised to accommodate also multisets and probabilistic dependencies. In this article we study a variant of probabilistic team semantics and relate this framework to a Tarskian two-sorted logic. We also show that very simple quantifier-free formulae of our logic give rise to backslashmathrm NP NP -hard model checking problems.Peer reviewe

An Open, Large-Scale, Collaborative Effort to Estimate the Reproducibility of Psychological Science

Reproducibility is a defining feature of science. However, because of strong incentives for innovation and weak incentives for confirmation, direct replication is rarely practiced or published. The Reproducibility Project is an open, large-scale, collaborative effort to systematically examine the rate and predictors of reproducibility in psychological science. So far, 72 volunteer researchers from 41 institutions have organized to openly and transparently replicate studies published in three prominent psychological journals in 2008. Multiple methods will be used to evaluate the findings, calculate an empirical rate of replication, and investigate factors that predict reproducibility. Whatever the result, a better understanding of reproducibility will ultimately improve confidence in scientific methodology and findings

Correlators at large c without information loss

SCOAP