Combining learning and constraints for genome-wide protein annotation

BackgroundThe advent of high-throughput experimental techniques paved the way to genome-wide computational analysis and predictive annotation studies. When considering the joint annotation of a large set of related entities, like all proteins of a certain genome, many candidate annotations could be inconsistent, or very unlikely, given the existing knowledge. A sound predictive framework capable of accounting for this type of constraints in making predictions could substantially contribute to the quality of machine-generated annotations at a genomic scale.ResultsWe present Ocelot, a predictive pipeline which simultaneously addresses functional and interaction annotation of all proteins of a given genome. The system combines sequence-based predictors for functional and protein-protein interaction (PPI) prediction with a consistency layer enforcing (soft) constraints as fuzzy logic rules. The enforced rules represent the available prior knowledge about the classification task, including taxonomic constraints over each GO hierarchy (e.g. a protein labeled with a GO term should also be labeled with all ancestor terms) as well as rules combining interaction and function prediction. An extensive experimental evaluation on the Yeast genome shows that the integration of prior knowledge via rules substantially improves the quality of the predictions. The system largely outperforms GoFDR, the only high-ranking system at the last CAFA challenge with a readily available implementation, when GoFDR is given access to intra-genome information only (as Ocelot), and has comparable or better results (depending on the hierarchy and performance measure) when GoFDR is allowed to use information from other genomes. Our system also compares favorably to recent methods based on deep learning

Decoupling segmental relaxation and ionic conductivity for lithium-ion polymer electrolytes

International audienceThe use of polymer electrolytes instead of liquid organic systems is considered key for enhancing the safety of lithium batteries and may, in addition, enable the transition to high-energy lithium metal anodes. An intrinsic limitation, however, is their rather low ionic conductivity at ambient temperature. Nonetheless, it has been suggested that this might be overcome by decoupling the ion transport and the segmental relaxation of the coordinating polymer. Here, we provide an overview of the different approaches to achieve such decoupling, including a brief recapitulation of the segmental-relaxation dependent ion conduction mechanism, exemplarily focusing on the archetype of polymer electrolytes – polyethylene oxide (PEO). In fact, while the understanding of the underlying mechanisms has greatly improved within recent years, it remains rather challenging to outperform PEO-based electrolyte systems. Nonetheless, it is not impossible, as highlighted by several examples mentioned herein, especially in consideration of the extremely rich polymer chemistry and with respect to the substantial progress already achieved in designing tailored molecules with well-defined nanostructures

Decoupling segmental relaxation and ionic conductivity for lithium-ion polymer electrolytes

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Le storie di vita dei malati di Leucemia Mieloide Cronica: “dare un posto” all’esperienza di malattia nella propria esistenza 
e contribuire all’implementazione della qualità delle cure

Il presente progetto ha raccolto le storie di vita di alcuni membri dell\u2019Associazione Italiana Pazienti di Leucemia Mieloide Cronica (AIP-LMC), in modo da poter esplorare quanto da essi vissuto, anche in relazione all\u2019esperienza di malattia incontrata. La proposta di ripensare, attraverso il racconto, il proprio percorso esistenziale, pu\uf2 costituire un\u2019occasione per ri-significare, ri-pensare e rielaborare l\u2019esperienza di malattia esperita dai partecipanti. Una tale rielaborazione, oltre a favorire una ricostruzione di s\ue9 e della propria storia , utile in primo luogo a chi narra, pu\uf2 consentire di nominare e mettere in luce vissuti, sentimenti, emozioni attraversati nell\u2019esperienza di malattia che potrebbero aiutare lo staff medico e sanitario a riconoscere dimensioni a cui prestare attenzione nel percorso diagnostico e terapeutico

Reactive Metals as Energy Storage and Carrier Media: Use of Aluminum for Power Generation in Fuel Cell-Based Power Plants

In recent years, the energy production sector has experienced a growing interest in new energy vectors enabling energy storage and, at the same time, intersectoral energy applications among users. Hydrogen is one of the most promising energy storage and carrier media featuring a very high gravimetric energy density, but a rather low volumetric energy density. To this regard, this study focuses on the use of aluminum as energy storage and carrier medium, offering high volumetric energy density (23.5 kWh L$^{-1}$), ease to transport and stock (e.g., as ingots), and is neither toxic nor dangerous when stored. In addition, mature production and recycling technologies exist for aluminum. Herein, the performance of power systems driven by aluminum powder in terms of electrical efficiency (η$_{(I)}$) and round‐trip efficiency (RTE) is analyzed. Along with the additional advantages relating to high volumetric energy density, and safety and management aspects, the aluminum‐based technology appears to outperform the power‐to‐power systems based on hydrogen and liquid fuels

Two semiotic shifts in the philosophy of norms: meaning shift and referent shift

In this introductory paper the guest editors (Paolo Di Lucia and Lorenzo Passerini Glazel) of the special issue \u201cNorm: What Is It? Ontological and Pragmatical Perspectives\u201d maintain that the word norm is subject to two kinds of semiotic shifts: shifts in the meaning and shifts in the referents. Philosophical research on norms and on the normative has, indeed, broadened its dominion of investigation in both directions. The phenomena of norms and normativity, intersecting different orders of phenomena, are investigated by different disciplines from different methodological perspectives