The Palaearctic species of Pristaulacus Kieffer, 1900 (Hymenoptera, Aulacidae) : remarks on taxonomy, systematic, and biogeography

Taxonomic, systematic, and biogeography knowledge on the Palaearctic species of Pristaulacus Kieffer 1900 is summarized. Twenty-one valid species are recognized. The most important morphological characters taken into consideration are: shape, cuticular sculpture, and pubescence of head; index length/width of antennomeres; shape, sculpture and cuticular processes of mesosoma, especially of pronotum and mesonotum; number and shape of teeth on claw; shape and sculpture of metasoma; ovipositor length compared with wing and antenna length; and colour pattern (e.g., the dark spots on fore wing, and the colour of hind tarsus). Several characters of the genital capsule of the male were proved to be very useful for species identification, e.g., the shape of the paramere, volsella, cuspis, and digitus. Based on analysis of twenty-five morphological characters, eight species groups are recognized. The critical revision of the chorological data, including many new records, introduced relevant changes of the geographical distribution pattern of most species. Twelve species are restricted to the western part of the Palaearctic Region and eight species are restricted to its eastern part; only one species, P. gibbator, has a wider distribution, including both western and eastern parts of the Palaearctics

De-constructing terracotta female figurines: A chalcolithic case-study

We report the results of detailed imaging studies of the inner structure of a terracotta female figurine dated to the 6th millennium BC, most probably from the Lakes region of Turkey, now kept at the Nati- onal Museum of Oriental Art \u201cGiuseppe Tucci\u201d, Rome. The figurine was investigated with advanced CT scanning, recording 966 transversal sections. Each section was stratigraphically interpreted and digitized, reconstructing in three dimensions the form and mode of application of each lump or slab under the potter\u2019s fingers. A review of the available information on the techniques of construction of prehistoric terracotta figurines in Eurasia reveals at least two diverging technical templates, here named core and dual forming processes. The structure of the investigated figurine and its operational sequence reveals a version of the dual technical template, confirming the presence and influence, at a cognitive level, of organic analogies and a possible map of the female body in the modelling process

Predicting LVOT Obstruction in Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement for Failed Surgical Annuloplasty

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Management of Patients with Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Acute Coronary Syndrome: a Case Report

Background: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a hereditary collagen vascular disorder characterized by joint hypermobility, skin hyperextensibility, and tissue fragility. Vascular EDS (vEDS) is a subtype of EDS which is characterized by vascular fragility.Case presentation: This is a case report of a young man with vEDS hospitalized for myocardial infarction. He was presented with a coronary dissection and developed aortic dissection, coronary rupture, and cardiac tamponade until death. Conclusion: This case report highlights how patients with vEDS and acute coronary syndrome show a higher risk of vascular complications compared with other patients, and their admission to the institution with a cardiac surgery room could be helpful and safe for better management of the complications. Non-invasive methods could be useful to exclude other vascular diseases, before the emergency coronary intervention

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITY OF SMALL ENTREPRENEURS FACING GLOBAL CHALLENGES: A CASE STUDY IN THE ORNAMENTAL PLANT PRODUCTION.

Ornamental plant productions certainly represent one of the most dynamic agricultural sectors in the world, so much so that the current trend in the international markets of the production of ornamental pot plants seems clear is growing as well as constantly changing, both in relation to surfaces and number of firms. In parallel grows the values of the gross saleable production and consistency of ornamental plant business also involved in the process of marketing these products. Within this diverse and fragmented sector the production of ornamental pot plants assumes increasing significance, since its extreme variability of cultivated species make very complex and difficult the effort to frame in a single context the peculiarities of the and organizational activities phenomena. The study - by analyzing a representative sample of ornamental pot plants of Sicilian producers, operating in districts with high vocational production - highlighted the main orientations of entrepreneurs and assessed the overall organizational level. The results showed that Sicilian entrepreneurial connotes the high dynamism of firms, certainly due to the high profile training at the relatively young age of the producers. Therefore, in virtue of a changed scenario in the international markets, this research provides a comprehensive view of the sector of Mediterranean ornamental productions, placing its focus on the entrepreneurial organization and management

A design methodology for compositional high-level synthesis of communication-centric SoCs

Systems-on-chip are increasingly designed at the system level by combining synthesizable IP components that operate concurrently while interacting through communication channels. CAD-tool vendors support this System-Level Design approach with high-level synthesis tools and libraries of interface primitives implementing the communication protocols. These interfaces absorb timing differences in the hardware-component implementations, thus enabling compositional design. However, they introduce also new challenges in terms of functional correctness and performance optimization. We propose a methodology that combines performance analysis and optimization algorithms to automatically address the issues that SoC designers may accidentally introduce when assembling components that are specified at the system level. Copyright 2014 ACM

A design methodology for compositional high-level synthesis of communication-centric SoCs.

ABSTRACT Systems-on-chip are increasingly designed at the system level by combining synthesizable IP components that operate concurrently while interacting through communication channels. CAD-tool vendors support this System-Level Design approach with high-level synthesis tools and libraries of interface primitives implementing the communication protocols. These interfaces absorb timing differences in the hardware-component implementations, thus enabling compositional design. However, they introduce also new challenges in terms of functional correctness and performance optimization. We propose a methodology that combines performance analysis and optimization algorithms to automatically address the issues that SoC designers may accidentally introduce when assembling components that are specified at the system level

Owner motivation in small size family farms: insights from an exploratory study on the ornamental plant industry

Owner motivations are a relatively new area of investigation, which has seen over the last fifteen years the succession of numerous articles and studies.Therefore an in-depth study of the owner motivation can become an useful and strategic tool for improving strategies of small firm success. This case study particularly aims to analyse this phenomenon in the context of the ornamental plant sector, considering that the characteristics of this sector may be indicative of the ongoing dynamics for modern agricultural productions. The analysis was designed and planned in order to identify the owners motivations within family farm and it was conducted by segmenting the sample into two sub-samples according to a range of different production (short or long productive cycle) and economic size farm.Results allow to highlight how emotion item is particularly relevant for owners in both groups. Affective motivation is a key factors influencing the actions and business approaches of respondents. In addition inheritance is another predominant motivation among respondents that prompted the decision to become an owner. The findings also show interesting questions that could have on the potential impact about the owner’s decision-making. In fact, we have identified two aspects of owner action, which can be exclusively the competence of the individual (Group A), or well distinct among managerial responsible management and commitment to operational management skills and more knowledge of human resources (Group B). Despite the limit of the research, this study contributes to report the results for a specific region and a specific sector, its empirical applications could reasonably be extensible and also applicable to other similar agricultural sectors of the Mediterranean, with a high level of technological innovation and a high level of owners’ know-how where there remains a strong link between businesses and socio-familiar context.\ud \ud \ud Keywords: micro size farms, innovation, ownership, organization training management

System-Level Optimization of Accelerator Local Memory for Heterogeneous Systems-on-Chip

In modern system-on-chip architectures, specialized accelerators are increasingly used to improve performance and energy efficiency. The growing complexity of these systems requires the use of system-level design methodologies featuring high-level synthesis (HLS) for generating these components efficiently. Existing HLS tools, however, have limited support for the system-level optimization of memory elements, which typically occupy most of the accelerator area. We present a complete methodology for designing the private local memories (PLMs) of multiple accelerators. Based on the memory requirements of each accelerator, our methodology automatically determines an area-efficient architecture for the PLMs to guarantee performance and reduce the memory cost based on technology-related information. We implemented a prototype tool, called Mnemosyne, that embodies our methodology within a commercial HLS flow. We designed 13 complex accelerators for selected applications from two recently-released benchmark suites (Perfect and CortexSuite). With our approach we are able to reduce the memory cost of single accelerators by up to 45%. Moreover, when reusing memory IPs across accelerators, we achieve area savings that range between 17% and 55% compared to the case where the PLMs are designed separately