Who Am I?: A Songwriting and Production Exploration

The author, a recording artist from New Jersey, created a portfolio of original music that allowed him to explore songwriting, performing, producing, and engineering in various musical genres: pop funk, electronic pop, rap, and contemporary musical theatre. The purpose of the project was to focus the artist’s eclectic taste and discover his unique voice while allowing him to practice the technical and creative skills that the modern recording industry requires. The music created explored the interplay of mental health and LGBTQ+ issues, specifically illustrating the upbringing of Nicolosi as a gay man in the United States and his history with anxiety and depression. After nearly a year of attempting to find his ideal musical style in order create a cohesive body of work, Nicolosi learned that he didn’t have to commit to any particular genre as long as he stayed authentic to himself.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1190/thumbnail.jp

Elongated theropod tracks from the Cretaceous Apenninic Carbonate Platform of southern Latium (central Italy)

New dinosaur footprints were recently discovered in southern Latium (Italy). The tracks all appear slightly differently preserved and are characterized by elongated metatarsal impressions, recording the complex locomotor behaviour of a medium-sized theropod. The spatial distribution and the features of the footprints indicate that the trackmaker adopted a “crouched” position as part of an activity as well as a resting phase suggested by sub-parallel, calcigrade tracks. These new data once again highlight the great potential of ichnological evidence in the study of the biology and behaviour of extinct tetrapods

Mitigating Contagion Risk by ESG Investing

We study whether ESG investing may mitigate the risk of contagion among equity mutual funds. More precisely, we measure the impact of fire-sale spillover, propagating throughout the financial system, on funds ranked on ESG aspects. We compare the relative loss of capitalization experienced by high- and low-ranked funds. Contagion, which is indirect since funds are not exposed to counterparty risk, is modeled using a network structure. In cases of deleveraging from funds, fire-sale spillover propagates throughout the network because of common asset holdings among funds. We find that funds’ vulnerability to contagion decreases when the level of ESG compliance increases. Moreover, the average relative loss is lower for the high-ranked funds than for the low-ranked ones. The small-size funds mainly drive the result. Our findings indicate that contagion is less effective for high-ranked funds. From a macroeconomic perspective, ESG investing represents a new opportunity for diversification that makes the system more resilient to contagion

Follicular nodules (Thy3) of the thyroid: is total thyroidectomy the best option?

BACKGROUND: Identification of the best management strategy for nodules with Thy3 cytology presents particular problems for clinicians. This study investigates the ability of clinical, cytological and sonographic data to predict malignancy in indeterminate nodules with the scope of determining the need for total thyroidectomy in these patients. METHODS: The study population consisted of 249 cases presenting indeterminate nodules (Thy3): 198 females (79.5%) and 51 males (20.5%) with a mean age of 52.43 ± 13.68 years. All patients underwent total thyroidectomy. RESULTS: Malignancy was diagnosed in 87/249 patients (34.9%); thyroiditis co-existed in 119/249 cases (47.79%) and was associated with cancer in 40 cases (40/87; 45.98%). Of the sonographic characteristics, only echogenicity and the presence of irregular margins were identified as being statistically significant predictors of malignancy. 52/162 benign lesions (32.1%) and 54/87 malignant were hypoechoic (62.07%); irregular margins were present in 13/162 benign lesions (8.02%), and in 60/87 malignant lesions (68.97%). None of the clinical or cytological features, on the other hand, including age, gender, nodule size, the presence of microcalcifications or type 3 vascularization, were significantly associated with malignancy. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of malignancy in cytologically indeterminate lesions was high in the present study sample compared to other reported rates, and in a significant number of cases Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was also detected. Thus, considering the fact that clinical and cytological features were found to be inaccurate predictors of malignancy, it is our opinion that surgery should always be recommended. Moreover, total thyroidectomy is advisable, being the most suitable procedure in cases of multiple lesions, hyperplastic nodular goiter, or thyroiditis; the high incidence of malignancy and the unreliability of intraoperative frozen section examination also support this preference for total over hemi-thyroidectomy

Real time control of curved laser welding processes by cellular neural networks (CNN): first results

In the last decades the laser beam welding (LBW) has outclassed older welding techniques in the industrial scenario. Despite the improvement in welding technology, sophisticated methods of fault detection are not commonly used in commercially available equipments yet. A recent analysis of process images have revealed the possibility to build up a real time closed loop control system. By the use of image based quality features, a feedback signal can be provided to maintain the process in the desired state. The development of the presented visual control system has been focused on the adjustment of the laser power according to the detection of the so called full penetration hole. Due to the high dynamics of the laser welding, a fast real time image processing with controlling rates in the multi kilo Hertz range is necessary to have a robust feedback control. In this paper an algorithm for the real time control of welding processes is described. It has been implemented on the Eye-RIS v1.2, a visual system which mounts a cellular structure. By applying this algorithm in real time applications, controlling rates of about 7 kHz can be reached. In the following some real time control results are also described

Item Response Models to measure Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a multidimensional con- cept that involves several aspects, ranging from Environment, to Social and Governance. Companies aiming to comply with CSR standards have to face challenges that vary from one aspect to the other and from one industry to the other. Latent variable models may be use- fully employed to provide a unidimensional measure of the grade of compliance of a firm with CSR standards that is both understand- able and theoretically solid. A methodology based on Item Response Theory has been implemented on the multidimensional sustainability rating as expressed by KLD dataset from 1991 to 2007. Results sug- gest that companies in the industry Oil & Gas together with firms in Industrials, Basic Materials and Telecommunications have a higher difficulty to meet the CSR standards. Criteria based on Human rights, Environment, Community and Product quality have a large capacity to select the best performing firms, as they are very discriminant, while Governance does not exhibit similar behavior. A stock selection based on the ranking of the firms according to the proposed CSR measure supports the hypothesis of a positive relationship between CSR and financial performanc

Responses of four winegrape varieties to managed water stress and partial defoliation in an arid environment

In viticulture, the imposition of managed water deficits is a strategy which has been used to increase both water use efficiency and winemaking quality in arid climates. Partial defoliation early in the season is another innovative practice that may also be used as an aid in regulating yield components and improving fruit quality. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of managed water stress and early season partial defoliation on crop yield and quality in two autochthonous (‘Frappato’ and ‘Nero d’Avola’) and two international varieties (‘Syrah’ and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’) growing in an arid environment. The four treatments were: (i) no leaf removal, un-irrigated, (ii) no leaf removal, irrigated at 30 % of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc), (iii) partial leaf removal, un-irrigated, and (iv) partial leaf removal, irrigated at 30 % of estimated ETc. The results confirm the effectiveness of partial defoliation in yield management which leads to smaller clusters. Managed water stress was also an effective strategy for reducing berry size, improving must quality and generally enhancing anthocyanin accumulation.

Immunization status of internationally adopted children in Rome, Italy

Aims: International adoption medicine is a relatively new specialty in pediatrics that has emerged to address the specific health care needs of internationally adopted children in high‑income countries. This study ascertains the seroprotection rate for vaccine‑preventable diseases, especially against pneumococcal diseases.Patients and Methods: We evaluated 67 internationally adopted children that reached the International Adoption Unit of Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Rome‑Italy. We collected demographic information, data from preadoption immunization records, results of laboratory testing for immunity to vaccine‑preventable diseases (tetanus, pneumococcus, hepatitis B, hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), measles), as well as results of screening for HIV, hepatitis C, quantiferon, immunological and nutritional status.Results: For children that had received ≥3 vaccine doses of tetanus, overall protection was 94% of 31 vaccinated children; with 1–2 vaccine doses for hepatitis B and Hib respectively, protection was 45% of 29 vaccinated children and 63% of 8 vaccinated children, respectively. For children with one or more doses of measles vaccine, protection was 63% of 32 vaccinated children. Regarding pneumococcus vaccine (documented for eight children), 88% of children with one or more doses of vaccine had developed protective immunity.Conclusions: International adoptees without a valid vaccine record need to undergo a complete schedule in accordance with their age and should receive all the vaccines in the adoptive country’s schedule.Key words: And pneumococcal immunization, immigrant children, internationally adopted children, vaccination statu

Comparing extrapolations of the coronal magnetic field structure at 2.5 solar radii with multi-viewpoint coronagraphic observations

The magnetic field shapes the structure of the solar corona but we still know little about the interrelationships between the coronal magnetic field configurations and the resulting quasi-stationary structures observed in coronagraphic images (as streamers, plumes, coronal holes). One way to obtain information on the large-scale structure of the coronal magnetic field is to extrapolate it from photospheric data and compare the results with coronagraphic images. Our aim is to verify if this comparison can be a fast method to check systematically the reliability of the many methods available to reconstruct the coronal magnetic field. Coronal fields are usually extrapolated from photospheric measurements typically in a region close to the central meridian on the solar disk and then compared with coronagraphic images at the limbs, acquired at least 7 days before or after to account for solar rotation, implicitly assuming that no significant changes occurred in the corona during that period. In this work, we combine images from three coronagraphs (SOHO/LASCO-C2 and the two STEREO/SECCHI-COR1) observing the Sun from different viewing angles to build Carrington maps covering the entire corona to reduce the effect of temporal evolution to ~ 5 days. We then compare the position of the observed streamers in these Carrington maps with that of the neutral lines obtained from four different magnetic field extrapolations, to evaluate the performances of the latter in the solar corona. Our results show that the location of coronal streamers can provide important indications to discriminate between different magnetic field extrapolations.Comment: Accepted by A&A the 20th of May, 201

A new semiconducting perovskite alloy system made possible by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy

We demonstrate epitaxial thin film growth of the chalcogenide perovskite semiconducting alloy system BaZrS$_{(3-y)}$Se$_y$ using gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). BaZrS$_3$ is stable in the perovskite structure in bulk form, but the pure selenide BaZrSe$_3$ is not. Here stabilize the full range of compositions y = 0 ... 3 in the perovskite structure, up to and including BaZrSe$_3$, by growing on BaZrS$_3$ buffer layers. The alloy grows by pseudomorphic heteroepitaxy on the sulfide buffer, without interruption in the reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) pattern. The resulting films are environmentally stable and the direct band gap (E$_g$) varies strongly with Se content, as predicted by theory, covering the range E$_g$ = 1.9 ... 1.4 eV for y = 0 ... 3. This creates possibilities for visible and near-infrared (VIS-NIR) optoelectronics, solid state lighting, and solar cells using chalcogenide perovskites