Italian adaptation of the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives.

This paper presents the Italian version of the Multilingual Assessment tool for Narratives (MAIN), describes how it was developed and reports on some recent uses of MAIN within the Italian context. The Italian MAIN has been used in different research projects and for clinical purposes; results have been presented at conferences and in peer reviewed papers. The results indicate that MAIN is an appropriate assessment tool for evaluating children’s narrative competence, in production and comprehension from preschool age (5 years) to school age (8 years) in typical language development, bilingual development and language delay/disorders

Slimmable Encoders for Flexible Split DNNs in Bandwidth and Resource Constrained IoT Systems

The execution of large deep neural networks (DNN) at mobile edge devices requires considerable consumption of critical resources, such as energy, while imposing demands on hardware capabilities. In approaches based on edge computing the execution of the models is offloaded to a compute-capable device positioned at the edge of 5G infrastructures. The main issue of the latter class of approaches is the need to transport information-rich signals over wireless links with limited and time-varying capacity. The recent split computing paradigm attempts to resolve this impasse by distributing the execution of DNN models across the layers of the systems to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted while imposing minimal computing load on mobile devices. In this context, we propose a novel split computing approach based on slimmable ensemble encoders. The key advantage of our design is the ability to adapt computational load and transmitted data size in real-time with minimal overhead and time. This is in contrast with existing approaches, where the same adaptation requires costly context switching and model loading. Moreover, our model outperforms existing solutions in terms of compression efficacy and execution time, especially in the context of weak mobile devices. We present a comprehensive comparison with the most advanced split computing solutions, as well as an experimental evaluation on GPU-less devices

Study of MicroPattern Gaseous detectors with novel nanodiamond based photocathodes for single photon detection in EIC RICH

Identification of high momentum hadrons at the future EIC is crucial, gaseous RICH detectors are therefore viable option. Compact collider setups impose to construct RICHes with small radiator length, hence significantly limiting the number of detected photons. More photons can be detected in the far UV region, using a windowless RICH approach. QE of CsI degrades under strong irradiation and air contamination. Nanodiamond based photocathodes (PCs) are being developed as an alternative to CsI. Recent development of layers of hydrogenated nanodiamond powders as an alternative photosensitive material and their performance, when coupled to the THick Gaseous Electron Multipliers (THGEM)-based detectors, are the objects of an ongoing R\&D. We report about the initial phase of our studies.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, RICH2018 conference proceedin

Efficacy of the treatment of developmental language disorder: A systematic review

Background. Language disorder is the most frequent developmental disorder in childhood and it has a significant negative impact on children’s development. The goal of the present review was to systematically analyze the effectiveness of interventions in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) from an evidence-based perspective. Methods. We considered systematic reviews, meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), control group cohort studies on any type of intervention aimed at improving children’s skills in the phono-articulatory, phonological, semantic-lexical, and morpho-syntactic fields in preschool and primary school children (up to eight years of age) that were diagnosed with DLD.We identified 27 full-length studies, 26 RCT and one review. Results. Early intensive intervention in three- and four-year-old children has a positive effect on phonological expressive and receptive skills and acquisitions are maintained in the medium term. Less evidence is available on the treatment of expressive vocabulary (and no evidence on receptive vocabulary). Intervention on morphological and syntactic skills has effective results on expressive (but not receptive) skills; however, a number of inconsistent results have also been reported. Only one study reports a positive effect of treatment on inferential narrative skills. Limited evidence is also available on the treatment of meta-phonological skills. More studies investigated the effectiveness of interventions on general language skills, which now appears as a promising area of investigation, even though results are not all consistent. Conclusions. The effectiveness of interventions over expressive and receptive phonological skills, morpho-syntactic skills, as well as inferential skills in narrative context underscores the importance that these trainings be implemented in children with DLD

Nanodiamond photocathodes for MPGD-based single photon detectors at future EIC

The design of a Ring Imaging CHerenkov (RICH) detector for the identification of high momentum particles at the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) is extremely challenging by using current technology. Compact collider setups impose to construct RICH with short radiator length, hence limiting the number of generated photons. The number of detected photons can be increased by selecting the far UV region. As standard fused-silica windows is opaque below 165 nm, a windowless RICH can be a possible approach. CsI is widely used photocathode (PC) for photon detection in the far UV range. Due to its hygroscopic nature it is very delicate to handle. In addition, its Quantum Efficiency (QE) degrades in high intensity ion fluxes. These are the key reasons to quest for novel PC with sensitivity in the far UV region. Recent development of layers of hydrogenated nanodiamond powders as an alternative PC material and their performance, when coupled to the THick Gaseous Electron Multipliers (THGEM)-based detectors, are the objects of an ongoing R\&D. We report here some preliminary results on the initial phase of these studies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, MPGD-2019 La Rochelle, Proceedin

The high voltage system for the novel MPGD-based photon detectors of COMPASS RICH-1

The architecture of the novel MPGD-based photon detectors of COMPASS RICH-1 consists in a large-size hybrid MPGD multilayer layout combining two layers of Thick-GEMs and a bulk resistive MICROMEGAS. Concerning biasing voltage, the Thick-GEMs are segmented in order to reduce the energy released in case of occasional discharges, while the MICROMEGAS anode is segmented in pads individually biased at positive voltage, while the micromesh is grounded. In total, there are ten different electrode types and more than 20000 electrodes supplied by more than 100 HV channels. Commercial power supply units are used. The original elements of the power supply system are the architecture of the voltage distribution net, the compensation, by voltage adjustment, of the effects of pressure and temperature variation affecting the detector gain and a sophisticated control software, which allows to protect the detectors against errors by the operator, to monitor and log voltages and current at 1 Hz rate and to automatically react to detector misbehaviors. The HV system and its performance are described in detail as well as the electrical stability of the detector during the operation at COMPASS.Comment: 5th international conference on Micro-Pattern Gas Detectors (MPGD2017),presentation by Silvia Dalla Torr

In vitro testing of estragole in HepG2 cells: Cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay and cell-cycle analysis

The alkenylbenzene estragole (systematic name, 1-allyl-4-methoxybenzene) is a natural component of essential oils from various spices and herbs, including fennel, and it is used as a food and beverage flavouring agent. Estragole has been reported to be hepatocarcinogenic at high doses in rodents. However, in a previous in vitro study, we found that estragole did not exhibit cytotoxic effects after 4 hours of exposure, nor did it induce DNA damage or apoptosis in human HepG2 hepatoblastoma cells. As fennel tea is widely used for symptomatic treatment of spasmodic gastrointestinal conditions in infants, we aimed at further assessing its safety in a different experimental setting. We thus searched for possible cytogenetic effects and interference with cell-cycle progression in the same human hepatoblastoma cell line. Estragole did not show any clastogenic/aneugenic activities in the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay, and no effects on cell-cycle checkpoints were observed