Is the Optimal Implementation Inefficient? Elementarily Not

Sharing graphs are a local and asynchronous implementation of lambda-calculus beta-reduction (or linear logic proof-net cut-elimination) that avoids useless duplications. Empirical benchmarks suggest that they are one of the most efficient machineries, when one wants to fully exploit the higher-order features of lambda-calculus. However, we still lack confirming grounds with theoretical solidity to dispel uncertainties about the adoption of sharing graphs. Aiming at analysing in detail the worst-case overhead cost of sharing operators, we restrict to the case of elementary and light linear logic, two subsystems with bounded computational complexity of multiplicative exponential linear logic. In these two cases, the bookkeeping component is unnecessary, and sharing graphs are simplified to the so-called "abstract algorithm". By a modular cost comparison over a syntactical simulation, we prove that the overhead of shared reductions is quadratically bounded to cost of the naive implementation, i.e. proof-net reduction. This result generalises and strengthens a previous complexity result, and implies that the price of sharing is negligible, if compared to the obtainable benefits on reductions requiring a large amount of duplication

Event related potentials reveal that increasing perceptual load leads to increased responses for target stimuli and decreased responses for irrelevant stimuli

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Full‐scale shake‐table tests on two unreinforced masonry cavity‐wall buildings: effect of an innovative timber retrofit

AbstractTwo full-scale building specimens were tested on the shake-table at the EUCENTRE Foundation laboratories in Pavia (Italy), to assess the effectiveness of an innovative timber retrofit solution, within a comprehensive research campaign on the seismic vulnerability of existing Dutch unreinforced masonry structures. The buildings represented the end-unit of a two-storey terraced house typical of the North-Eastern Netherlands, a region affected by induced seismicity over the last few decades. This building typology is particularly vulnerable to earthquake excitation due to lack of seismic details and irregular distribution of large openings in masonry walls. Both specimens were built with the same geometry. Their structural system consisted of cavity walls, with interior load-bearing calcium-silicate leaf and exterior clay veneer, and included a first-floor reinforced concrete slab, a second-floor timber framing, and a roof timber structure supported by masonry gables. A timber retrofit was designed and installed inside the second specimen, providing an innovative sustainable, light-weight, reversible, and cost-effective technique, which could be extensively applied to actual buildings. Timber frames were connected to the interior surface of the masonry walls and completed by oriented strands boards nailed to them. The second-floor timber diaphragm was stiffened and strengthened by a layer of oriented-strand boards, nailed to the existing joists and to additional blocking elements through the existing planks. These interventions resulted also in improved wall-to-diaphragm connections with the inner leaf at both floors, while steel ties were added between the cavity-wall leaves. The application of the retrofit system favored a global response of the building with increased lateral capacities of the masonry walls. This paper describes in detail the bare and retrofitted specimens, compares the experimental results obtained through similar incremental dynamic shake-table test protocols up to near-collapse conditions, and identifies damage states and damage limits associated with displacements and deformations

Wheat Grain Composition, Dough Rheology and Bread Quality as Affected by Nitrogen and Sulfur Fertilization and Seeding Density

Flour from old varieties are usually considered very weak flours, and thus difficult to use in breadmaking especially when processed as Italian \u201cTipo 2\u201d flour. Hence, the aim of our study was to understand if agronomic treatments can be used to improve flour processability and the quality of three old wheat varieties. An experimental strip-plot scheme was used: three old wheat varieties (Andriolo, Sieve, Verna), two seeding densities, three levels of nitrogen fertilization (N35, N80, and N135), and two levels of foliar sulfur fertilization. Analyzed parameters related to kernel composition, dough rheology and bread quality. Sulfur and nitrogen treatments significantly affected protein composition and dough alveograph strength, which increased by about 34% with nitrogen fertilization, and by about 14% with the sulfur treatment. However, only nitrogen fertilization affected bread characteristics. Crumb density significantly decreased from N35 to N135, while springiness and cohesiveness increased. On the other hand, sulfur did not improve breads. This highlight the importance of performing breadmaking tests in addition to the rheological determinations. The poor technological performance of old wheat flours can be improved with agronomical treatments designed to obtain higher-quality bread

L’organisation du temps libre : les foyers du soldat en Italie

L’Italie entre en guerre le 24 mai 1915, presque dix mois après les autres puissances. Auparavant, ni l’armée ni l’État n’étudient un éventuel plan d’action pour le temps libre des combattants. Si les autorités civiles et militaires étaient pleinement convaincues que la guerre serait de courte durée, la principale raison de cette carence trouve son origine dans la traditionnelle passivité des pouvoirs publics en matière d’assistance aux classes défavorisées, y compris concernant leur temps li..

PALEOBIOLOGY FROM MUSEUM COLLECTIONS: COMPARING HISTORICAL AND NOVEL DATA ON UPPER MIOCENE MOLLUSCS OF THE LIVORNO HILLS

The upper Miocene mollusc collection from Monti Livornesi, Italy, collected more than a century ago, is confronted with new collections coming from the same localities of Popogna and Quarata. The study concerns the comparison of abundance data of three distinct fossil assemblages from the three vertically-stacked stratigraphic units called Luppiano, Rosignano and Raquese, of upper Tortonian-early Messinian age. Literature and museological data allowed to attribute most museum specimens to one and only one fossil assemblage. Museum collections preserve roughly the same dominant species, with similar ranks as the new quantitative field collections. Significant differences are however evident in the Luppiano assemblage from brackish-water, shallow subtidal bottoms, because new samples yield many species of small size, some of which with high dominance, that are completely lacking in museum collections, suggesting a bias due to size sorting and hinting at the overwhelming contribution of small-sized species to global mollusc diversity. On the other hand the Raquese assemblage, from an open marine shelf setting, can be similarly interpreted from the study of either the museum of new collection, yielding a similar species list and rank. The Rosignano mollusc assemblage, from a bioclastic bottom near a coral patch reef and characterised by fossils with a distinct taphonomic signature, is insufficiently represented in both historical and new collections. The systematics of the three assemblages are revised. The study contributes to the growing literature on museum “dark data” by showing that museum collections may yield abundance data significant for paleobiological analysis

Planck LFI – Test Report on the TMH/TQL (QM and FM) by Using A Known Signal Tests Data

Version 1.2 provided as reference document for the Planck SGS Implementation Review (2006)This document describes methods, test procedures and results of the validation of TMH/TQL by using a signal generator. The Flight Model (FM) version of the TMH/TQL includes only bug fixes to the Qualification Model version (found during the QM testing) and a change in the interpretation of the tertiary header of the scientific telemetry packets, due to a modification in the header structure performed by Laben (Alcatel Alenia Space - Milan) in June 2006. Note that the data set acquired to perform the described test is always applied before any release of Operational Model, to validate its correct telemetry handling

Uncovering the Relationship between Sulphation Patterns and Conformation of Iduronic Acid in Heparan Sulphate

The L-iduronic acid (IdoA) residue is a critically important structural component in heparan sulphate polysaccharide for the biological functions. The pyranose ring of IdoA is present in 1C4-chair, 2SO-skew boat, and less frequently, in 4C1-chair conformations. Here, we analyzed the conformation of IdoA residue in eight hexasaccharides by NMR. The data demonstrate a correlation between the conformation of IdoA and sulphations in the surrounding saccharide residues. For the 2-O-sulpho IdoA residue, a high degree of sulphation on neighboring residues drives ring dynamics towards the 2SO-skew boat conformer. In contrast, the nonsulphated IdoA residue is pushed towards the 1C4-chair conformer when the neighboring residues are highly sulphated. Our data suggest that the conformation of IdoA is regulated by the sulphation pattern of nearby saccharides that is genetically controlled by the heparan sulphate biosynthetic pathway

Introduction to the Molecules Special Edition Entitled 'Heparan Sulfate and Heparin: Challenges and Controversies': Some Outstanding Questions in Heparan Sulfate and Heparin Research

The scope of this article is to provide a brief general introduction to heparan sulfate (HS) and heparin, and attempt to identify some of the central challenges regarding research into the chemistry and biology of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), some of which are the subject of contributions to the special issue of Molecules (published in volume 23, 2018) entitled ‘Heparan Sulfate and Heparin: Challenges and Controversies’ [...