357 research outputs found

    Differential Object Marking and the properties of D in the dialects of the extreme south of Italy

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    This paper discusses two case studies of microvariation in accusative marking in the Italo-Romance varieties of the extreme south of Italy. In particular, the diatopic variation displayed by the dialects of southern Calabria gives rise to peculiar patterns of alternation between presence or absence of the marker a ‘to’ in flagging the accusative. The realisation of accusative case is partially governed by semantic and referential features, i.e. specificity and animacy. In addition, the nature of the realisation of the D head results in a degree of competition between zero marking and analytic accusative marking with a. Given the century-long co-existence of Latin/Romance and Greek in southern Calabria, the relevant morphosyntactic patterns in Case-marking will also be examined from a language contact perspective. We will highlight how the relevant outcomes do not simply involve borrowing mechanisms or template copying from the lending variety but, rather, produce hybrid structures no longer ascribable to a purely Romance or Greek grammar.The Leverhulme Trust; Project Title: Fading voices in Southern Italy: investigating language contact in Magna Graecia; Research Project RPG-2015-28

    Changing alignments in the Greek of southern Italy

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    Abstract This article investigates a peculiar pattern of subject case-marking in the Greek of southern Italy. Recent fieldwork with native speakers, coupled with the consultation of some written sources, reveals that, alongside prototypical nominative subjects, Italo-Greek also licenses accusative subjects, despite displaying a predominantly nominative-accusative alignment. Far from being random replacements within a highly attrited grammar, the distribution of these accusative subjects obeys specific structural principles, revealing similarities with historical attestations of the so-called “extended accusative” in early Indo-European. On the basis of these data, Italo-Greek is argued to be undergoing a progressive shift towards an active-stative alignment, a claim supported by additional evidence from auxiliary selection, adverb agreement and sentential word order.Leverhulme Trus

    Recreational Drug Misuse and Its Potential Contribution to Male Fertility Levels’ Decline: A Narrative Review

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    Recreational drug intake may be associated with a range of medical untoward consequences, including male infertility. However, as the related evidence is still limited, the main outcome of this review is to provide a better understanding of the existence of any association between recreational drug misuse and male fertility levels’ decline. Whilst searching the MEDLINE/PubMed, a comprehensive overview of the literature regarding male infertility and substances of abuse (e.g., phytocannabinoids, opiates/opioids, stimulants, ‘herbal highs’, psychedelics, and ‘novel psychoactive substances) was here undertaken. Due to the paucity of robust, high-quality, empirical, human studies, a narrative strategy was here preferred over a systematic approach. Relevant data are qualitatively analyzed and presented in a table. Although most available evidence is in support of a detrimental role of cannabis on human spermatogenesis, a few remaining studies failed to document any effect of this drug on seminal quality, and it is not clear to which extent this drug impacts fertility rates/time to pregnancy. The current understanding of the impact of opiate-, cocaine- and amphetamine/stimulant-misuse on human reproduction is widely unknown, and most studies dealing with this matter represent only an extrapolation of data derived from specific clinical circumstances. Although the message of ‘no smoking, no alcohol and no street drugs’ should always be offered as good health advice to all patients seeking medical help for fertility issues, robust scientific clinical evidence in support of a direct detrimental impact of recreational drugs on spermatogenesis is scant to date

    The Application of Hyaluronic Acid Injections in Functional and Aesthetic Andrology: A Narrative Review

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    Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a glycosaminoglycan widely utilised in different fields of medicine. We aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the scientific evidence on the use of HA in andrology. A review of the literature to identify pertinent studies concerning the use of HA in andrology was carried out on the Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane databases, with no time restriction up to December 2022. Penile girth enlargement (PGE) using HA proved to be safe and effective in enhancing the diameter of the penis, with durable and satisfactory outcomes in long-term follow-up. Injection of HA in the glans seems to represent an alternative treatment option for those patients with premature ejaculation (PE) who fail to respond to conventional medications. HA intra-plaque injections represent a valid option which may contribute to restore sexual activity in patients with Peyronie's disease (PD). The adoption of HA filler injections should always be tailored to the patient's peculiar anatomy and underlying condition. More robust evidence is required to achieve a uniformed consensus regarding the use of HA in andrology, and further efforts should continue to improve the current injection techniques and HA products

    apeNEXT: A multi-TFlops Computer for Simulations in Lattice Gauge Theory

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    We present the APE (Array Processor Experiment) project for the development of dedicated parallel computers for numerical simulations in lattice gauge theories. While APEmille is a production machine in today's physics simulations at various sites in Europe, a new machine, apeNEXT, is currently being developed to provide multi-Tflops computing performance. Like previous APE machines, the new supercomputer is largely custom designed and specifically optimized for simulations of Lattice QCD.Comment: Poster at the XXIII Physics in Collisions Conference (PIC03), Zeuthen, Germany, June 2003, 3 pages, Latex. PSN FRAP15. Replaced for adding forgotten autho

    New/emerging psychoactive substances and associated psychopathological consequences

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    Submitted 24 November 2018, Revised 18 June 2019, Accepted 26 June 2019, Published online 22 July 2019BackgroundThe present paper provides an updated review of both the large number of new/novel/emerging psychoactive substances (NPS) and their associated psychopathological consequences. Focus was here given on identification of those NPS being commented in specialised online sources and the related short-/long-term psychopathological and medical ill-health effects.MethodsNPS have been identified through an innovative crawling/navigating software, called the 'NPS.FinderÂź', created in order to facilitate the process of early recognition of NPS online. A range of information regarding NPS, including chemical and street names; chemical formula; three-dimensional image and anecdotally reported clinical/psychoactive effects, were here made available.ResultsUsing the 'NPS.FinderÂź' approach, a few thousand NPS were here preliminarily identified, a number which is about 4-fold higher than those figures suggested by European and international drug agencies. NPS most commonly associated with the onset of psychopathological consequences included here synthetic cannabinoids/cannabimimetics; new synthetic opioids; ketamine-like dissociatives; novel stimulants; novel psychedelics and several prescription and over-the-counter medicines.ConclusionsThe ever-increasing changes in terms of recreational psychotropics' availability represent a relatively new challenge for psychiatry, as the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of many NPS have not been thoroughly understood. Health/mental health professionals should be informed about the range of NPS; their intake modalities; their psychoactive sought-after effects; the idiosyncratic psychotropics' combinations and finally, their medical and psychopathological risks.Peer reviewe

    Evaluation of the irradiation treatment effects on ancient parchment samples

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    In this work, the effect of X-ray irradiation as a disinfection treatment in original ancient parchment samples, belonging to a discarded book cover of a 16th-century archival register, has been evaluated. Specifically, the bacterial and fungal species isolated from the book cover have been characterized and then irradiated with increasing doses of X-rays with the aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the antimicrobial protocol on the isolated microorganisms. The deterioration effects induced by the X-ray treatment as well as the natural aging on the collagen matrix of the parchment sample have been tested by employing several techniques, namely, Light Transmission Analysis, Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy, Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transformed Infrared spectroscopy, UV Resonant Raman spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy. The results reveal that the irradiation treatment applied to our ancient parchment samples deteriorated by biological attack and other naturally occurring phenomena, possibly associated with inappropriate conservation conditions, does not seem to induce further damage factors even when large doses of irradiation are employed. The X-rays-based disinfection treatment effects are limited on the collagen support and this confirms the potential of this method in mass disinfection of library and archival materials

    A manifesto for linguistics in language teaching in the UK context

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    This document sets out a manifesto for how linguistics could be incorporated into language teaching in the UK context. It responds directly to published calls for change, and identifies challenges and opportunities as well as potential actions. A number of prominent stakeholders have already formally endorsed our manifesto (see list on the final page). We will be adding further endorsers to this list once confirmed
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