1,909 research outputs found
L'annotazione dell'aspetto verbale per il trattamento automatico della lingua italiana: esperimenti e valutazioni
Il riconoscimento e lâannotazione dellâaspetto e dellâazione verbale si configurano come task complessi, in cui interagiscono allo stesso tempo vari livelli di elaborazione linguistica. Proprio a causa della difficoltĂ di risoluzione dei problemi che riguardano il dominio tempo-aspettuale, lâindagine svolta in questo lavoro si è sviluppata secondo un processo gerarchicamente ordinato in livelli di difficoltĂ crescente. Tenendo presente che lâorizzonte di riferimento è costituito dalla creazione di risorse annotate per sistemi di Natural Language Processing (NLP), si è cercato, innanzitutto, di rispondere a tre domande riguardanti lo stato dellâarte:
1. Esistono schemi di annotazione che contemplano lâetichettatura di azione e aspetto verbale?
2. Se e quali sono le risorse annotate attualmente disponibili che riportano questi tipi di informazione?
3. Quali e quanti sono i sistemi automatici disponibili utilizzati per la creazione di risorse linguistiche di questo tipo o che sfruttano questi dati per il proprio lâaddestramento?
Unâattenzione particolare è stata rivolta allâanalisi dello schema di annotazione TimeML (Pustejovsky et al., 2003), per lâannotazione di eventi, espressioni temporali e delle loro relazioni, nellâottica di indagare se e in quale misura vengono proposte metodologie per lâannotazione di aspettualitĂ e azionalitĂ e se queste sono sufficientemente esaurienti ed esaustive.
Il lavoro svolto in questa tesi si giustifica proprio alla luce dei risultati ottenuti da questâanalisi. Ă risultato evidente, infatti, come lâannotazione aspettuale non sia molto diffusa nei corpora, con particolare riferimento alla marcatura dellâaspetto abituale. Tale mancanza è spesso giustificata con lâelevata difficoltĂ nel distinguere le varie tipologie di aspetto verbale: proprio dalla verifica di questa asserzione prende avvio lâesperimento svolto in questa tesi e lâidea di utilizzare la piattaforma di crowdsoucing CrowdFlower per testare la capacitĂ di utenti non linguisticamente addestrati di individuare una particolare tipologia aspettuale, ovvero lâaspetto afferente alla classe dellâimperfettivitĂ gnomica (Bertinetto e Lenci, 2011).
La decisione di marcare lâimperfettivitĂ gnomica (aspetti abituale, attitudinale, potenziale, generico e Individual Level predicate) è stata dettata dallâinteresse per lâindividuazione, allâinterno dei testi, di frasi che esprimono una generalizzazione di qualche tipo oppure una proprietĂ che caratterizza un soggetto per un intero periodo della sua vita o per tutta la sua esistenza. Si è cercato, quindi, di capire se possa essere utile/possibile marcare questa particolare classe aspettuale in prospettiva di unâestrazione automatica di informazione di senso comune (Singh, 2002) da testi scritti
EVALITA 2009: Description and Results of the Local Entity Detection and Recognition (LEDR) task.
In this paper, we describe motivations and features of the LEDR (Local Entity Detection and Recognition) task at EVALITA 2009. Our work refers to the task of the same name within the Automatic Content Extraction (ACE) program. We adopted the ACE annotation scheme adapting it to the specific morpho-syntactic features of Italian in order to create training and test data to be used in the evaluation of Information Extraction systems for Italian. In this report annotated data and evaluation measures are presented. Moreover, the results obtained by the participating system are showed
On the traces of lost identities: chronological, anthropological and taphonomic analyses of the Late Neolithic/Early Eneolithic fragmented and commingled human remains from the Farneto rock shelter (Bologna, northern Italy)
The present study examines the prehistoric human skeletal remains retrieved starting from the 1920s in the deposit of the Farneto rock shelter, situated in the area of the 'Parco dei Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa' (San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, northern Italy). An exact dating and a reliable interpretation of the assemblage had not been reached so far because of the lack of contextual data useful for dating purposes, the inaccurate recovery procedures of the remains and their state of preservation. In fact, the skeletal remains from the Farneto rock shelter are highly fragmented and commingled, whereas reliable information about their original position and their recovery procedures are not available. Despite these difficulties, radiocarbon analyses allowed the precise dating of the remains to a final phase of the Neolithic and an early phase of the Eneolithic period in Emilia Romagna (northern Italy). The study of the assemblage enabled to clarify the use of the context for funerary purposes. Moreover, the anthropological and taphonomic analyses of the skeletal remains shed light on the biological profile of the individuals and on some events that occurred after their death. In particular, the analysis of perimortem lesions highlighted the existence of intentional interventions related to corpse treatment, referable to dismembering/disarticulation and scarnification, i.e. cleaning of bones from soft tissues. Finally, the comparison with other Italian and European Neo/Eneolithic funerary contexts enabled a better understanding of these complex ritual practices
PDE2A is indispensable for mouse liver development and hematopoiesis
Phosphodiesterase 2A (PDE2A) is a cAMP-cGMP hydrolyzing enzyme essential for mouse development and the PDE2A knockout model (PDE2Aâ/â) is embryonic lethal. Notably, livers of PDE2Aâ/â embryos at embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5) have extremely reduced size. Morphological, cellular and molecular analyses revealed loss of integrity in the PDE2Aâ/â liver niche that compromises the hematopoietic function and maturation. Hematopoietic cells isolated from PDE2Aâ/â livers are instead able to differentiate in in vitro assays, suggesting the absence of blood cell-autonomous defects. Apoptosis was revealed in hepatoblasts and at the endothelial and stromal compartments in livers of PDE2Aâ/â embryos. The increase of the intracellular cAMP level and of the inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) in liver of PDE2Aâ/â embryos might explain the impairment of liver development by downregulating the expression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl2. In summary, we propose PDE2A as an essential gene for integrity maintenance of liver niche and the accomplishment of hematopoiesis
Evaluation of Natural Language Tools for Italian: EVALITA 2007
EVALITA 2007, the first edition of the initiative devoted to the evaluation of Natural Language Processing tools for Italian, provided a shared framework where participants? systems had the possibility to be evaluated on five different tasks, namely Part of Speech Tagging (organised by the University of Bologna), Parsing (organised by the University of Torino), Word Sense Disambiguation (organised by CNR-ILC, Pisa), Temporal Expression Recognition and Normalization (organised by CELCT, Trento), and Named Entity Recognition (organised by FBK, Trento). We believe that the diffusion of shared tasks and shared evaluation practices is a crucial step towards the development of resources and tools for Natural Language Processing. Experiences of this kind, in fact, are a valuable contribution to the validation of existing models and data, allowing for consistent comparisons among approaches and among representation schemes. The good response obtained by EVALITA, both in the number of participants and in the quality of results, showed that pursuing such goals is feasible not only for English, but also for other languages
Evaluation of Natural Language Tools for Italian: EVALITA 2007
EVALITA 2007, the first edition of the initiative devoted to the evaluation of Natural Language Processing tools for Italian, provided a shared framework where participants\u2019 systems had the possibility to be evaluated on five different tasks, namely Part of Speech Tagging (organised by the University of Bologna), Parsing (organised by the University of Torino), Word Sense Disambiguation (organised by CNR-ILC, Pisa), Temporal Expression Recognition and Normalization (organised by CELCT, Trento), and Named Entity Recognition (organised by FBK, Trento). We believe that the diffusion of shared tasks and shared evaluation practices is a crucial step towards the development of resources and tools for Natural Language Processing. Experiences of this kind, in fact, are a valuable contribution to the validation of existing models and data, allowing for consistent comparisons among approaches and among representation schemes. The good response obtained by EVALITA, both in the number of participants and in the quality of results, showed that pursuing such goals is feasible not only for English, but also for other languages
Acute Tolerability of Methylphenidate in Treatment-NaĂŻve Children with ADHD: An Analysis of Naturalistically Collected Data from Clinical Practice
OBJECTIVES: The acute tolerability of methylphenidate (MPH) in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been studied mainly in research samples. Taking advantage of the mandatory test-dose procedure required for starting MPH in Italy, this study aimed to assess the incidence of intolerable adverse events after initial exposure to MPH in routine clinical practice. METHODS: The medical records of 480 consecutively treated, previously drug-naĂŻve children and adolescents with ADHD (90% male, mean age 10.6 ¹ 3.0 years) were retrospectively analyzed. All children received an initial single dose of MPH immediate release (5 or 10 mg) followed by a 4-hour direct medical observation. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured at dosing and 1, 2, and 3 hours afterwards. If the first dose was well tolerated, the child continued treatment with MPH 5â20 mg daily, and was reassessed a week later. RESULTS: Eleven patients (2.3%, 95% CI 1.1â4.1) interrupted treatment within a week of initiation because of the following adverse events: irritability (n = 3), tics worsening (n = 3), reduced appetite (n = 1), enuresis (n = 1), hallucinations (n = 1), hyperfocus (n = 1), and âreboundâ behavioral worsening (n = 1). The most common adverse events were reduced appetite (20%), irritability (14.2%), headache (10.6%), sleep problems (9.4%), stomachache (9.4%), and tics (5%). Intellectual disability increased the risk of any adverse event in general and of irritability in particular. No cardiovascular symptom was clinically reported. However, routine assessments of vital signs during the first 3 hours after the first dose of MPH showed that 9% of the children had a 20% increase in heart rate, 8.8% had a 20% increase in diastolic blood pressure and 4.5% had a 20% increase in systolic blood pressure. Of these, 25.2% still had an elevated heart rate 1 week later. CONCLUSIONS: Among stimulant-naĂŻve children in clinical practice, the incidence of acute MPH intolerance can be estimated to be between 1.2 and 4.1%. An asymptomatic elevation in cardiovascular parameters can be observed in about 1 out of 10 children and warrants monitoring during ongoing treatment
Sleep-related brain activation does not increase the permeability of the bloodâbrain barrier to glucose
We compared blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability to glucose between quiet wakefulness and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep to assess whether changes in BBB permeability play a role in coupling glucose supply to the physiologic metabolic needs of the brain. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were prepared with electrodes for wake-sleep state scoring and with arterial and venous catheters. Using the single-pass, dual-label indicator method, unidirectional glucose extraction by the brain and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were simultaneously measured during states of quiet wakefulness ( n = 12) or REM sleep ( n = 7). The product of BBB surface area and permeability to glucose (PS product) was computed in each state. During REM sleep, CBF significantly exceeded that during quiet wakefulness in all regions but the cerebellum, whereas the difference in the PS product between quiet wakefulness and REM sleep was not statistically significant in any brain region. In the brain as a whole, CBF significantly increased 29% from quiet wakefulness to REM sleep, while a nonsignificant 0.8% increase occurred in the PS product. During REM sleep, the increase in CBF indicates a higher rate of brain glucose consumption than in quiet wakefulness, given the tight flow-metabolism coupling in the brain. Therefore, these data show that modulation of BBB permeability to glucose is not a mechanism that provides âenergy on demandâ during the physiologic brain activation characterising REM sleep
Quality of Life in Patients with Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: The Role of Severity, Clinical Heterogeneity and Resilience
Context
Although health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a fundamental outcome in oncological clinical trials, its evaluation in the neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) research field is still limited.
Objectives
This study assessed the role of clinical severity (i.e., presence or absence of metastasis and lines of therapies) and heterogeneity (i.e., primary site, types of therapy, biology and surgery) of NEN in relation to HRQoL, as well as resilience as a moderator between clinical severity and HRQoL.
Design
Cross-sectional multicentric study.
Setting
Italian university hospitals.
Patients
99 Italian patients (53 men and 46 women) with a NEN ranged in age from 22 to 79 years old.
Main Outcome Measure
Severity and heterogeneity of NENs, HRQoL and resilience.
Results
The presence of metastasis and a greater number of therapies affected the global health and some physical symptoms. Resilience was associated with global health, functional status and some physical symptoms, and moderated the impact of metastases on constipation and of the multiple therapies on diarrhea and financial problems. Patients with NEN in districts other than the gastro-entero-pancreatic system and those in follow-up perceived fewer physical symptoms than their counterparts. Patients with a sporadic NEN perceived their functional status, global health and disease-related worries as better than those with a hereditary NEN. Patients who underwent surgery were lower in constipation than their counterparts.
Conclusion
These findings highlight the need to assess the relationships between the clinical severity and heterogeneity of NEN with HRQoL and the role of resilience in improving patientsâ HRQoL
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