Application of 3D printing to prototype and develop novel plant tissue culture systems

Additional file 6. STL (StereoLithography) file was designed for an accessory lid without fan slot using SketchUp or Fusion 360 (Autodesk) software and the STL file was processed using MatterControl 3D printing software and exported as gcode files

The Metaphorical/Metonymic Values of ‘Hand’ in Texts of 1400-1600s. A Corpus-driven Investigation of French, Spanish and Italian

This contribution proposes a corpus-driven description of the metaphorical/metonymic values of the lexeme ‘hand’ in Spanish, French and Italian in 15th -17 th centuries texts. Metaphorical and metonymic reinterpretation of the lexeme is described in terms of embodiment of sensorial experience, namely a shift from concrete to abstract meaning, as several grammaticalisation and typological studies have claimed. Considering data gathered from diachronic corpora and dictionaries, the investigation aims at identifying the extended uses of ‘hand’ in the earlier phases of the languages. On one hand, a qualitative analysis of the semantic mapping, syntactic pattern, lexicalisation degree, and functional value is provided to identify cross-linguistic commonalities. On the other, the quantitative dimension is taken into account to verify the degree of productivity/conventionalisation of each semantic shift and of the cognitive process involved

Homogenization of microstructured materials via thermodynamics based artificial neural networks and dimensionality reduction techniques

DOTTORATOQuesta tesi propone un nuovo approccio per l’analisi multiscala di materiali inelstici microstrutturati. Il risultato dello studio è una tecnica di omogeneizzazione basata sulla combinazione di strumenti di Machine Learning, come le tecniche di riduzione della dimensionalità e le reti neurali artificiali, metodi di identificazione della dinamica dei sistemi, come la Dynamic Mode Decomposition e le leggi della termodinamica. L’obiettivo principale della ricerca è lo sviluppo di un metodo in grado di simulare accuratamente la risposta costitutiva di materiali microstrutturati alla scala macroscopica. Il metodo elaborato consente di selezionare in modo non supervisionato le variabili di stato interne da utilizzare alla macroscala. Le reti neurali artificiali basate sulla termodinamica sono utilizzate per apprendere la risposta costitutiva macroscopica in conformità con le leggi della termodinamica. Il comportamento inelastico dei sistemi investigati in risposta alle sollecitazioni esterne è tracciato dalle leggi di evoluzione. Queste ultime vengono apprese dai dati utilizzando la tecnica chiamta Dynamic Mode Decomposition with Control. Questa è stata estesa nel lavoro di tesi affinché restituisca degli operatori in grado di tracciare una dinamica stabile del sistema indagato e affinchè le traiettorie predette siano accurate. L’analisi dei sistemi microscopici considerati è stata effettuata grazie allo sviluppo di un toolbox computazionale per l’analisi di celle unitarie rappresentative periodiche. Il toolbox consente di generare modelli periodici, mesh periodiche e assegnare condizioni al contorno periodiche, all’interno dell’ambiente di calcolo del software commerciale ABAQUS.This thesis presents a novel approach for the multiscale analysis of inelastic microstructured materials. The result of the study is a homogenization technique based on the combination of machine learning tools. Dimensionality reduction techniques, neural networks and system dynamics identification methods are exploited and integrated with thermodynamics principles. The primary goal of this research is the development of a method, which can accurately predict the constitutive response of complex materials at the macroscopic scale. The method allows for unsupervisedly select features of a microstructured material model for serving as Internal State Variables at the macroscopic state. Thermodynamics-based artificial neural networks are used to learn the macroscopic constitutive response, in compliance with thermodynamics laws. The response of the investigated systems to external excitation is also mapped by evolution laws. The latter are learned from data with the aid of the dynamic mode decomposition with control, a dynamic system identification method. The latter is modified to achieve the stability of the integration scheme in time and to increase the accuracy. A computational toolbox has been developed to aid the analysis of continuous microsystems modeled as representative unit cells or volumes. The toolbox allows for generating periodic models, periodic mesh, and assigning periodic boundary conditions, taking advantage of the commercial software ABAQUS.DIPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA CIVILE E AMBIENTALE35LUALDI, MAURIZIOMARIANI, STEFAN

Colour terms and intensifying constructions in Italian = Termes de couleur et constructions intensifiantes en italien

This investigation proposes a corpus-based description of Italian intensifying constructions including colour terms. Colour terms may be employed as intensification markers in intensifying colour constructions, i.e., ready-made syntactic patterns containing colour terms that have an intensifying function. The paper aims at identifying and classifying different patterns of Italian intensifying colour constructions using syntactic/semantic parameters. These constructions can convey different types and degrees of intensified meanings and can be arranged along an intensification cline. Taking into account data gathered from the ITTenTen16 corpus, the analysis identifies the abstract semantic schemata underlying intensifying colour constructions (e.g., the metonymic/metaphoric scale association), and explores the relation between colour terms and schemata, in terms of degrees of lexicalisation/constructionalisation and pattern productivity.Cette étude propose une description, basée sur corpus, des constructions intensifiantes de l’italien comprenant des termes de couleur. Ces derniers peuvent être employés comme marqueurs d'intensification dans des constructions intensifiantes, c'est-à-dire dans des schémas syntaxiques préexistants contenant des termes de couleur ayant une fonction intensifiante. Cet article vise à identifier et à classer différents modèles de constructions en utilisant des paramètres syntaxiques et sémantiques. Ces constructions véhiculent en effet différents types et différents degrés de sens intensifs et peuvent être disposées le long d'une échelle d'intensification. En tenant compte des données recueillies dans le corpus ITTenTen16, l'analyse identifie les schémas sémantiques abstraits qui sous-tendent les constructions intensifiantes de couleurs (par exemple, l'association des échelles métonymique et métaphorique) et explore la relation entre les termes de couleur et les schémas en termes de degrés de lexicalisation/constructionnalisation et de productivité des modèles

Expression of patient and caregiver uncertainty in view of decision-making in online health communities

Objectives On the backdrop of the current debate on shared-decision making in healthcare, we are interested in understanding how uncertainty is managed when patients and/or their caregivers resort to online health communities (OHCs) for advice regarding decisions on aspects of the disease they are not fully sure of. More specifically, we present initial results concerning the expression of uncertainty in OHCs regarding decisions that have to be made about a specific illness. Our goal is to observe how patients and/or their caregivers express uncertainty regarding information they received from specialists. This can help us understand how non-experts try to cope with information they do not fully understand. Methods Based on a collection of interactional data taken from two Italian OHCs, our analysis focuses on the sequences in which someone asks for advice on a certain line of action and obtains an answer. We follow a mainly qualitative approach, which includes case-based qualitative analyses. More specifically, we observe uses and functions of some lexical items (evidentemente (lit., evidently), teoricamente (lit., theoretically)) and syntactic structures (specifically clauses containing the verb dire (to say)) that convey a sense of uncertainty in relation to information provided by others. Results Our results show different types of uncertainty, providing insights into the effort non-experts make in dealing with expert knowledge and unclear situations determined by the illness and its management. Implications for clinical practice. Our results can be used to improve healthcare professionals’ training regarding their role as mediators between specialized and everyday knowledge

Notes and updates on language contact between Sardinian and Italian/French: A corpus-driven analysis

This contribution provides a description of language contact phenomena of heritage Sardinian in migration contexts. The analysis takes into account original data collected in the period 2008-2010 among Sardinian communities of immigrants in continental Italy and France. The paper particularly focuses on the outcome of contact phenomena in lexicon, syntax and pragmatics, in order to demonstrate how these levels of analysis operate in language contact and how strictly they interact. Among lexical features, this analysis takes into account the presence of: (i) integrated and adapted borrowings, (ii) the nature of borrowed items in terms of vocabulary stratification (e.g. specialised/technical terms vs more commonly used terms), (iii) collocations and multiword expressions. As far as syntactic features are concerned, the areas of linking words and pronominal structures introducing subordinate sentences are investigated. The field of information structure is also investigated through the analysis of the use of cleft sentences by Sardinian speakers living in France. As far as pragmatics is concerned, the role of discourse markers in language contact is discussed and their different functional classes are identified and examined

A POD-TANN Approach for the Multiscale Modeling of Materials and Macro-Element Derivation in Geomechanics

This paper introduces a novel approach that combines proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) with thermodynamics-based artificial neural networks (TANNs) to capture the macroscopic behavior of complex inelastic systems and derive macro-elements in geomechanics. The methodology leverages POD to extract macroscopic internal state variables from microscopic state information, thereby enriching the macroscopic state description used to train an energy potential network within the TANN framework. The thermodynamic consistency provided by TANN, combined with the hierarchical nature of POD, allows to reproduce complex, nonlinear inelastic material behaviors, as well as macroscopic geomechanical systems responses. The approach is validated through applications of increasing complexity, demonstrating its capability to reproduce high-fidelity simulation data. The applications proposed include the homogenization of continuous inelastic representative unit cells and the derivation of a macro-element for a geotechnical system involving a monopile in a clay layer subjected to horizontal loading. Eventually, the projection operators directly obtained via POD are exploited to easily reconstruct the microscopic fields. The results indicate that the POD-TANN approach not only offers accuracy in reproducing the studied constitutive responses, but also reduces computational costs, making it a practical tool for the multiscale modeling of heterogeneous inelastic geomechanical systems

Multi-scale Modelling of Natural Composites Using Thermodynamics-Based Artificial Neural Networks and Dimensionality Reduction Techniques

Modelling natural composites, as the majority of real geomaterials, requires facing their intrinsic multiscale nature. This allows to consider multiphysics coupling occurring at the microscale, then reflected onto the macroscopic behavior. Geotechnics is constantly requiring reliable constitutive models of natural compolve large-scale engineering problems accurately and efficiently. This need motivates the contribution. To capture in detail the macroscopic effects of microssites to socopic processes, many authors have developed multi-scale numerical schemes. A common drawback of such methods is the prohibitive computational cost. Recently,Machine Learning based approaches have raised as promising alternatives to traditional methods. Artificial Neural Networks – ANNs – have been used to predict the constitutive behaviour of complex, heterogeneous materials, with reduced calculation costs. However, a major weakness of ANN is the lack of a rigorous framework based on principles of physics. This often implies a limited capability to extrapolate values ranging outside the training set and the need of large, high-quality datasets, on which performing the training. This work focuses on the use of Thermodynamics-based Artificial Neural Networks – TANN – to predict the constitutive behaviour of natural composites. Dimensionality reduction techniques – DRTs – are used to embed information of microscopic processes into a lower dimensional manifold. The obtained set of variables is used to characterize the state of the material at the macroscopic scale. Entanglement of DRTs with TANN allows to reproduce the complex nonlinear material response with reduced computational costs and guarantying thermodynamic admissibility. To demonstrate the method capabilities an application to a heterogeneous material model is presented

3D printing for the development and evaluation of three novel liquid media systems for plant tissue culture

Labour represents a significant portion of the cost for micropropagated plants, and automation is a potential solution to increase efficiency. Micropropagation most often uses semisolid media, but many authors suggest that liquid systems are the key to developing efficient automated systems. However, liquid cultures require ancillary pneumatic or mechanical systems to prevent hypoxia or hyperhydricity of tissues. In this study, three novel liquid culture systems were designed, produced, and evaluated. The design and production of these systems was enabled using low-cost consumer-grade 3D printing technology. The first system uses hydrostatics to enable passive thin-media layer liquid culture. The second uses a two-pieces scaffold to facilitate rooting in liquid media. The third device overcomes the main disadvantages of mechanical temporary immersion systems by allowing full immersion timing control and a small footprint. Together, these novel approaches to liquid culture offer new choices to industry and may help move toward increased automation

Costruzioni a schema fisso in alcune varietà diatopiche d’Italia. Prospettive teoriche e lessicografiche

The paper is devoted to the analysis of partially lexically specified constructions in different diatopic varieties of Italian. These word combinations can be defined as constructions since they are pairings of form and meaning characterized by the presence of fixed and empty positions. The investigation examines examples of partially lexically specified (phrasal and sentence) constructions in Sardinian and in the regional Italian of Rome. The analysis shows that this combinatorial type is widespread within the national language as well as in local varieties. The phenomena which have been considered mainly concern: i) the presence of indigenous constructions in the local variety; ii) the presence of constructions modelled on the roof language; iii) the lexicalisation of forms in the local variety from roof language constructions, which radiate back as fixed sequences into the national language. The analysis also considers the lexicographic perspective and shows that these constructions are generally underrepresented in lexicographic tools, even though their single instantiations are often recorded in the corresponding entries