Customization of Web applications through an intelligent environment exploiting logical interface descriptions

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Interacting with Computers. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Interacting with Computers, 20, 1 (2008) DOI:10.1016/j.intcom.2007.07.007Customization of Web-based applications is often considered a designer skill rather than an end-user need. However, there is an ongoing shift to end-user-centred technology, and even users with poor or no skill in Web-based languages may feel the need to customize Web applications according to their preferences. Although Web authoring environments have an increasing number of features, the challenge of providing end-users with the ability to easily customize entire Web applications still remains unsolved. In this paper, we propose an intelligent approach to customizing Web-based applications. Customizations rules are automatically inferred by the system from changes that users supply as examples. They remain as long-term knowledge that can be applied to support future interactions, thus minimizing the amount of authoring that end-users need to do for this purpose. In order to better understand the implications of the user's modifications, they are analysed using the logical descriptions of the corresponding Web pages.The work reported in this paper is supported by the European Training Network ADVISES (Analysis Design and Validation of Interactive Safety-critical and Error-tolerant Systems), funded through the European Commission. Project number EU HPRN-CT-2002-00288

Intelligent support for end-user web interface customization

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-92698-6_19Proceedings of Selected Papers EIS 2007 Joint Working Conferences, EHCI 2007, DSV-IS 2007, HCSE 2007, Salamanca, Spain.Nowadays, while the number of users of interactive software steadily increase, new applications and systems appear and provide further complexity. An example of such systems is represented by multi-device applications, where the user can interact with the system through different platforms. However, providing end-users with real capabilities to author user interfaces is still a problematic issue, which is beyond the ability of most end-users today. In this paper, we present an approach intended to enable users to modify Web interfaces easily, considering implicit user intents inferred from example interface modifications carried out by the user. We discuss the design issues involved in the implementation of such an intelligent approach, also reporting on some experimental results obtained from a user test.The work reported in this paper ha been supported by the European Training Network ADVISES, project EU HPRN-CT-2002-00288, and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MCyT), projects TIN2005-06885 and TSI2005-08225-C07-0

PG 1613+426: a new sdB pulsator

We report the detection of short period oscillations in the hot subdwarf B (sdB) star PG 1613+426 from time-series photometry carried out with the 91-cm Cassegrain telescope of the Catania Astrophysical Observatory. This star, which is brighter than the average of the presently known sdB pulsators, with B = 14.14 mag, has $T_{\rm eff}=34 400 {\rm K}$ and $\log g = 5.97$, its position is near the hot end of the sdB instability strip, and it is a pulsator with a well observed peak in the power spectrum at $144.18\pm 0.06 \rm s$. This star seems to be well suited for high precision measurements, which could detect a possible multi-mode pulsation behaviourComment: 3 pages, 4 figures. to appear on A&

A collimation system for ELI-NP Gamma Beam System - design and simulation of performance

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance and refine the design of the collimation system for the gamma radiation source (GBS) currently being realised at ELI-NP facility. The gamma beam, produced by inverse Compton scattering, will provide a tunable average energy in the range between 0.2 and 20 MeV, an energy bandwidth 0.5% and a flux of about 108 photons/s. As a result of the inverse Compton interaction, the energy of the emitted radiation is related to the emission angle, it is maximum in the backscattering direction and decreases as the angle increase [1,2]. Therefore, the required energy bandwidth can be obtained only by developing a specific collimation system of the gamma beam, i.e. filtering out the radiation emitted at larger angles. The angular acceptance of the collimation for ELI-NP-GBS must be continuously adjustable in a range from about 700 to 60 μrad, to obtain the required parameters in the entire energy range. The solution identified is a stack of adjustable slits, arranged with a relative rotation around the beam axis to obtain an hole with an approximately circular shape. In this contribution, the final collimation design and its performance evaluated by carrying out a series of detailed Geant4 simulations both of the high-energy and the low-energy beamline are presented

effect of calcipotriol on etanercept partial responder psoriasis vulgaris and psoriatic arthritis patients

Patients who respond only partially to etanercept may require additional treatments that act synergistically to improve their therapeutic response while at the same time reducing the dose required and the risk of side-effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of topical calcipotriol in etanercept partial responder patients. We enrolled 120 patients affected by psoriasis vulgaris and psoriatic arthritis. A 50 mg dose of etanercept was administered twice weekly for the first 12 weeks, followed by a 25 mg dose twice weekly for an additional 12 weeks. At week 12, for 45 patients who had not achieved PASI 50, calcipotriol cream was also prescribed twice daily for 4 weeks and then once daily for a further 8 weeks. At week 24, of the 45 patients in the group treated with etanercept plus calcipotriol,14 (31.1%) had achieved PASI 75, and 23 PASI 50, while 8 (17.7%) had dropped out of therapy; of the 75 patients who continued etanercept in monotherapy with a 25 mg dose twice weekly for another 12 weeks, 71 (94.6%) had achieved PASI 50 and 57 (76.0%) PASI 75. The application of calcipotriol in etanercept partial responder patients had therefore helped 37 out of 120 patients (31 %) achieve at least PASI 50. This is the first report about the controlled combination of topical calcipotriol and etanercept in a large group of psoriatic patients. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the combined treatment is evidenced by the good response shown at week 24 by a group of etanercept low-responder patients using drugs sparingly and limiting likely toxicity

Correction: Near-infrared emitting single squaraine dye aggregates with large Stokes shifts

Correction for 'Near-infrared emitting single squaraine dye aggregates with large Stokes shifts' by G. M. Paternò et al., J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017, 5, 7732–7738

Nanoscale Photoluminescence Manipulation in Monolithic Porous Silicon Oxide Microcavity Coated with Rhodamine-Labeled Polyelectrolyte via Electrostatic Nanoassembling

Porous silicon (PSi) is a promising material for future integrated nanophotonics when coupled with guest emitters, still facing challenges in terms of homogenous distribution and nanometric thickness of the emitter coating within the silicon nanostructure. Herein, it is shown that the nanopore surface of a porous silicon oxide (PSiO2) microcavity (MC) can be conformally coated with a uniform nm-thick layer of a cationic light-emitting polyelectrolyte, e.g., poly(allylamine hydrochloride) labeled with Rhodamine B (PAH-RhoB), leveraging the self-tuned electrostatic interaction of the positively-charged PAH-RhoB polymer and negatively-charged PSiO2 surface. It is found that the emission of PAH-RhoB in the PSiO2 MC is enhanced (≈2.5×) and narrowed (≈30×) at the resonant wavelength, compared with that of PAH-RhoB in a non-resonant PSiO2 reference structure. The time-resolved photoluminescence analysis highlights a shortening (≈20%) of the PAH-RhoB emission lifetime in the PSiO2 MC at the resonance versus off-resonance wavelengths, and with respect to the reference structure, thereby proving a significant variation of the radiative decay rate. Remarkably, an experimental Purcell factor Fp = 2.82 is achieved. This is further confirmed by the enhancement of the photoluminescence quantum yield of the PAH-RhoB in the PSiO2 MC with respect to the reference structure. Application of the electrostatic nanoassembling approach to other emitting dyes, nanomaterials, and nanophotonic systems is envisaged

Chronically Sun-damaged Melanomas Express Low Levels of Nuclear Glutathione-S-transferase-π: An Epidemiological and Clinicopathological Study in Italy

The detoxifying enzyme glutathione–s–transferase pi (GST–π) is present in keratinocytes and melanocytes and exerts a protective role against tumour progression. Melanomas close to melanocytic naevus remnants occur less frequently on sun-exposed areas, whereas solar dermal elastosis, hallmark of chronic sun-damage, characterise melanomas on sun-exposed skin. We evaluated the expression of GST-π in 113 melanomas associated to melanocytic naevus remnants or to solar dermal elastosis, classified according to clinical characteristics, history of sun exposure, histological subtypes and AJCC staging. Chronically sun-damaged melanomas, identified by moderate–severe solar dermal elastosis, showed a lower nuclear GST-π expression and a higher thickness than those related to melanocytic naevus remnants (p < 0.03). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that male gender and chronic sun-exposure are independent risk factors significantly associated to melanomas localised on the trunk (OR = 3.36, 95% CI: 1.31–8.65; OR = 5.97, 95% CI: 1.71–20.87). If confirmed on a larger series, lower expression of nuclear GST-π in melanom