On Redundancy Elimination Tolerant Scheduling Rules

In (Ferrucci, Pacini and Sessa, 1995) an extended form of resolution, called Reduced SLD resolution (RSLD), is introduced. In essence, an RSLD derivation is an SLD derivation such that redundancy elimination from resolvents is performed after each rewriting step. It is intuitive that redundancy elimination may have positive effects on derivation process. However, undesiderable effects are also possible. In particular, as shown in this paper, program termination as well as completeness of loop checking mechanisms via a given selection rule may be lost. The study of such effects has led us to an analysis of selection rule basic concepts, so that we have found convenient to move the attention from rules of atom selection to rules of atom scheduling. A priority mechanism for atom scheduling is built, where a priority is assigned to each atom in a resolvent, and primary importance is given to the event of arrival of new atoms from the body of the applied clause at rewriting time. This new computational model proves able to address the study of redundancy elimination effects, giving at the same time interesting insights into general properties of selection rules. As a matter of fact, a class of scheduling rules, namely the specialisation independent ones, is defined in the paper by using not trivial semantic arguments. As a quite surprising result, specialisation independent scheduling rules turn out to coincide with a class of rules which have an immediate structural characterisation (named stack-queue rules). Then we prove that such scheduling rules are tolerant to redundancy elimination, in the sense that neither program termination nor completeness of equality loop check is lost passing from SLD to RSLD.Comment: 53 pages, to appear on TPL

Attachment Styles and Communication of Displeasing Truths

This work explores how humans manage the communication of a displeasing and face-threatening truth and how the communicative strategies of the sender and the reaction of the receiver are influenced by their attachment style. Two experimental studies demonstrate that the attachment styles of both senders and receivers can influence the communicative styles of the sender, the emotions that both senders and receivers feel or attribute to their interlocutor, and the reactions of the receivers. In Study 1, couples of participants played a bogus computer game, ostensibly to test their abilities. Subsequently, “the spokesperson” was given the task to communicate to the “the receiver” a bogus low score of the other and a high score of oneself. Finally, all participants completed an adult Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). A content analysis of the verbal messages of the spokespersons showed two main communication styles: frankness and mitigation. The results suggest that the spokespersons’ attachment style influences these communication styles. Using a similar procedure, Study 2 showed that spokespersons with a high avoidant attachment more frequently used frankness when communicating low scores to the receivers. Furthermore, the emotions and impressions reported by anxious and avoidant spokespersons and receivers, respectively, confirm the negative model of the self or the other, typical, respectively, in anxious and avoidant attachment. The detection of communicative strategies stemming from different attachment styles might be of use in user modeling and the planning of personalized systems

A Data-informed Public Health Policy-Makers Platform

Hearing loss is a disease exhibiting a growing trend due to the number of factors, including but not limited to the mundane exposure to the noise and ever-increasing amount of older population. In the framework of a public health policymaking process, modeling of the hearing loss disease based on data is a key factor in alleviating the issues related to the disease issuing effective public health policies. First, the paper describes the steps of the data-driven policymaking process. Afterward, a scenario along with the part of the proposed platform, responsible for supporting policymaking are presented. With the aim of demonstrating the capabilities and usability of the platform for the policy-makers, some initial results of preliminary analytics are presented in a framework of a policy-making process. Ultimately, the utility of the approach is validated throughout the results of the survey which was presented to the health system policy-makers professionals involved in the policy development process in Croatia

Service-Learning Pedagogy, Civic Engagement, and Academic Engagement: Multiple Bidirectional Relationships in College Freshmen

This study begins to unravel the multiple bidirectional relationships between service-learning pedagogy and civic and academic engagement attitudes and behaviors. A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent comparison group pre- and post-test design was used with a sample of 300 first- semester freshmen participating in either a service-learning-based learning community or a learning community without service-learning. Participants completed a pre-test at the beginning of the semester measuring high school civic and academic engagement behaviors and attitudes and a post- test at the end of the semester measuring the same variables based on their first semester in college. Students with higher civic engagement attitudes and behaviors prior to college were more likely to take a service-learning course than students with lower civic engagement attitudes and behaviors. Students in service-learning were more likely to participate in community activities than students not participating in service-learning. Finally, within the service-learning groups, students who were more academically engaged had higher academic and civic attitudinal engagement at the end of the course. Students who were more civically engaged were more likely to see lower costs of helping to themselves; they did not change in terms of their beliefs about the community’s needs. This study replicates and extends previous research to demonstrate that there are multiple bidirectional relationships among these variables that need to be taken into account in research and practice.

It’s time to be ashamed! Reactions to the breaking of a long-lasting self-censorship on ingroup war crimes

This study explores the reactions of Italian university students to information about colonial crimes perpetrated by the Italian Army during the invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36), events that are still self-censored in intergenerational narratives. Participants reported their emotions about the Italian colonial past and their knowledge of this historical period was examined. Then they read a parrhesic (i.e., straightforward) or, alternatively, an evasive narrative of crimes committed in Ethiopia in 1935-36 and, once again, reported related emotions. A week later, they evaluated the crimes’ seriousness, reported for the third time their emotions about Italy’s colonial past, and declared their moral shame, social shame, and guilt for colonial crimes. Finally, they expressed their support for reparative actions. As expected, the vast majority of participants knew little about past misdeeds. Participants presented with a parrhesic narrative were more able to acknowledge older generations’ responsibilities and to distance themselves morally from them. Moral and social shame, outrage, and a reduced sense of pride, rather than guilt or anger, predicted support for reparations. The limitations of the present study, and future research perspectives, are discussed

One-step growth and shaping by a dual plasma reactor of diamond nanocones arrays for the assembling of stable cold cathodes

Arrays of conical-shaped nanodiamond structures are formed on silicon substrate by a single-step CVD process from CH4/H-2 mixtures. The formation of these nanocones has been found to depend on interplay between growing and etching during the CVD process carried out in a dual-mode MW/RF plasma reactor. Morphology and structure of the conical-like systems can be controlled by varying the process parameters, and have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The Field Emission (FE) properties of different diamond nanocones arrays have been investigated and compared with those of analogous systems in order to assess the feasibility of the present nano-materials as electron emitters for cold cathodes. The FE behavior is discussed taking into account the structure of the different diamond nanocones

ESMO management and treatment adapted recommendations in the COVID-19 era: gynaecological malignancies

The rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection and its related disease (COVID-19) has required an immediate and coordinate healthcare response to face the worldwide emergency and define strategies to maintain the continuum of care for the non-COVID-19 diseases while protecting patients and healthcare providers. The dimension of the COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented risk especially for the more vulnerable populations. To manage patients with cancer adequately, maintaining the highest quality of care, a definition of value-based priorities is necessary to define which interventions can be safely postponed without affecting patients' outcome. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has endorsed a tiered approach across three different levels of priority (high, medium, low) incorporating information on the value-based prioritisation and clinical cogency of the interventions that can be applied for different disease sites. Patients with gynaecological cancer are at particular risk of COVID-19 complications because of their age and prevalence of comorbidities. The definition of priority level should be based on tumour stage and histology, cancer-related symptoms or complications, aim (curative vs palliative) and magnitude of benefit of the oncological intervention, patients' general condition and preferences. The decision-making process always needs to consider the disease-specific national and international guidelines and the local healthcare system and social resources, and a changing situation in relation to COVID-19 infection. These recommendations aim to provide guidance for the definition of deferrable and undeferrable interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic for ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancers within the context of the ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines

Reexpression of caveolin-1 in endothelium rescues the vascular, cardiac, and pulmonary defects in global caveolin-1 knockout mice

Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is the principal structural component of caveolae organelles in smooth muscle cells, adipocytes, fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and endothelial cells (ECs). Cav-1–deficient (Cav-1 knockout [KO]) mice are viable and show increases of nitric oxide (NO) production in vasculature, cardiomyopathy, and pulmonary dysfunction. In this study, we generated EC-specific Cav-1–reconstituted (Cav-1 RC) mice and reexamined vascular, cardiac, and pulmonary phenotypes. Cav-1 KO pulmonary arteries had decreased smooth muscle contractility and increased endothelial NO synthase activation and hypotension; the latter two effects were rescued completely in Cav-1 RC mice. Cav-1 KO mice exhibited myocardial hypertrophy, pulmonary hypertension, and alveolar cell hyperproliferation caused by constitutive activation of p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase and Akt. Interestingly, in Cav-1 RC mice, cardiac hypertrophy and pulmonary hypertension were completely rescued, whereas alveolar hyperplasia was partially recovered because of the lack of rescue of Cav-1 in bronchiolar epithelial cells. These results provide clear physiological evidence supporting the important role of cell type–specific Cav-1 expression governing multiple phenotypes in the vasculature, heart, and lung

Chlamydia pneumoniae in asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis.

We evaluated, in 415 patients with asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis: (i) the prevalence of C. pneumoniae DNA in atherosclerotic carotid plaques and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC); (i..