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

GEOCHEMISTRY OF AMPHIBOLE FROM ARCHEAN AND EARLY PROTEROZOIC ULTRAMAFIC ROCKS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SECULAR EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH¿S MANTLE

Since its formation at 4.5 Ga, the Earth underwent a complex evolution that progressively differentiated its original composition into the reservoirs that we presently know. Our knowledge on the composition and differentiation mechanisms active in the Early and Ancient Earth are still fragmentary for the paucity of suitable preserved rock records. The poor knowledge on the Archean mantle composition arises a series of problems spanning from the effective chondritic composition of the Earth to how volatile elements (hydrogen, oxygen, chlorine and fluorine) were added to the Earth. For the unavailability of mantle sectors preserving the Archean geochemical signature, valuable information on the Archean mantle composition can be exclusively extracted from Archean mantle-derived igneous rocks. In the Archean greenstone belts, different products of mantle melting are found as lavas and sills spanning in composition from tholeiites through Fe-picrites to komatiites. All these rocks are generally affected by extensive alteration which prevent the bulk rocks to be fully informative on the primary mantle melt composition and particularly on its volatile element contents. However, in some of these rocks primary igneous mineral phases such as amphibole are preserved that may be useful to constrain the primary melt composition including its volatile budgets. In this thesis amphibole-bearing ultramafic rocks of late Archean and Early Proterozoic age (Stone et al., 2003; Fiorentini et al., 2004; Fiorentini et al., 2008) were selected. For comparison amphibole-bearing ultramafic rocks from different tectonic settings of the Phanerozoic were also considered. The Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks share many petrographic and textural similarities with hornblendites and amphibole-bearing pyroxenites from Phanerozoic orogenic settings. In all studied rocks the crystallisation of amphibole follows that of the early crystallising minerals: olivine + spinel \ub1 orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene. The chemical composition of Archean and Early Proterozoic amphiboles is more similar to that of amphibole from alkaline lavas than that of amphibole in orogenic settings. The geobarometric calculations on Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks yield large uncertainty on the pressure of crystallisation with values between 0 and >3 Kbar, which are not conclusive about the deep or shallow origin of amphibole. In the Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks amphibole is in clear disequilibrium with the early crystallizing clinopyroxene. Modelling of melt differentiation suggests that amphibole crystallized from a melt percolating the cumulate pile. Such melt evolved by crystallization of olivine and pyroxene and subsequently modified its composition in response to olivine assimilation. A major problem in the studied Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks is about the origin of the H2O necessary to stabilize amphibole. The H2O concentrations in the Archean and early Proterozoic amphiboles are comparable to those of either subduction-related or amphibole megacrysts from alkaline lavas, thus suggesting that melts in equilibrium with amphiboles possessed almost the same water contents irrespective of age. According to the composition of amphibole in fluid-mobile elements (e.g., F, Cl, B and Sr) a contribution of seawater-derived fluid in the Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks is unlikely. The range of \u3b4D values of the Archean and Paleoproterozoic amphiboles is between -99.5 \u2030 and -129.8 \u2030, that is slightly lower than the mantle range but still consistent with a magmatic origin for water. The hypothesis of a crustal contribution in the origin of the amphiboles (and in turn a crustal origin of water) contrasts with the oxygen isotope signature of amphibole showing \u3b418O values lighter than those of the mantle. Because the involvement of recycled crustal materials, able to provide the required seawater-like geochemical anomalies, is unlikely for the genesis of the studied amphiboles, the light \u3b418O signature is interpreted as a primary feature of the mantle source. In order to monitor possible changes marked by amphibole in the secular evolution of the Earth\u2019s mantle, the trace element composition of the melt in equilibrium with amphibole from Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks was calculated and compared with that of melts produced nowadays at the different geodynamic settings. Equilibrium melts show increasing Nb/Y ratios from komatiites through tholeiites to Fe-picrites that are in agreement with the increased alkalinity of the parental melt as inferred from the literature. All calculated melts share an incompatible trace element pattern paralleling that of present-day OIB. The comparison of the water content in primary melts calculated from Archean-early Proterozoic amphiboles and present-day primary mantle melts reveals that the mantle source of the Archean komatiites had a much higher water content than that characterizing present day OIB. The highly variable water contents in Fe-picrites however suggest a large heterogeneity in the composition of the mantle source. The comparison between the Archean-early Proterozoic amphiboles and those from the Phanerozoic has also revealed heterogeneities in the Nb/Ta ratios of the mantle through the Earth\u2019s history. Some of the calculated melts (since early Proterozoic) show an enriched Nb/Ta signature that is independent from space (geological setting) and time and that was interpreted as a primary feature of the different mantle sources. The observed heterogeneous Nb/Ta signature of the Earth\u2019s mantle was interpreted as related to the addition of extra-terrestrial material after the mantle-core equilibration prior to 4.4 Ga and to an incomplete equilibration of these domains during the Earth\u2019s evolution. In conclusion, the data of this thesis suggest that the Earth\u2019s mantle is much more heterogeneous than commonly assumed. The occurrence in the Archean and Early Proterozoic of mantle domains enriched in volatile elements but unrelated to subduction processes has been documented. An extra-terrestrial signature for some mantle domains was also reported and I do not exclude that the light oxygen isotope signature of the Archean and Early Proterozoic rocks is also a reminiscence of extra-terrestrial inputs possibly related to the meteoritic Late Veneer

Total Hemi-overgrowth in Pigmentary Mosaicism of the (Hypomelanosis of) Ito Type: Eight Case Reports.

Pigmentary mosaicism of the (hypomelanosis of) Ito type is an umbrella term, which includes phenotypes characterized by mosaic hypopigmentation in the form of streaks, whorls, patchy, or more bizarre skin configurations (running along the lines of Blaschko): these cutaneous patterns can manifest as an isolated skin disorder (pigmentary mosaicism of the Ito type) or as a complex malformation syndrome in association with extracutaneous anomalies (most often of the musculoskeletal and/or nervous systems) (hypomelanosis of Ito). Affected individuals are anecdotally reported to have also partial or total body hemi-overgrowth (HOG), which often causes moderate to severe complications.We studied the occurrence and features of HOG in the 114 children and adults with mosaic pigmentary disorders of the Ito type diagnosed and followed up (from 2 to 22 years; average follow-up 16 years) at our Institutions.Eight patients (5 M, 3 F; aged 4 to 25 years; median age 16 years) out of the 114 analyzed (7%) fulfilled the criteria for unilateral HOG, with differences in diameter ranging from 0.4 to 4.0 cm (upper limbs) and 1.0 to 9.0 cm (lower limbs). Moreover, among these 8 patients, 5/8 filled in the 75th to 90th percentile for height; 6/8 had associated kyphoscoliosis; and 5/8 showed cognitive delays. No tumour complications were recorded. Overall, 6/8 HOG patients presented with additional (extracutaneous) syndromic manifestations, apart from the HOG (ie, with a clinical phenotype of hypomelanosis of Ito).The present study, which includes children and adults with the longest follow-up so far recorded, confirms the association between pigmentary mosaicism of the Ito type and HOG lowering previous estimates (7% vs 16%) for HOG in the context of mosaic hypopigmentation. A careful examination, looking at subtle to moderate asymmetries and associated complications within the spectrum of these mosaic pigmentary disorders, is recommended

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

The Management of Lake Como

This paper presents a new and heuristic approach for improving the performance of multipurpose reservoirs already in operation. The main characteristic of the method is that the analyst must first learn from the past experience of the manager and synthesize it into a very simple operating rule. Then, the analyst must point out with the help of the manager what the acceptable modifications of such a rule are. Only after these phases have been carried out can possible improvements in the management be obtained by using standard optimization techniques. The method has been applied to the case of Lake Como, (Northern Italy), and the results are quite satisfactory since the major objectives of the management can be substantially improved. The average duration of the floods on the lake shores and the mean volume of the water deficits in the downstream agricultural areas are about halved, without lowering the mean yearly electricity production of the downstream run-of-river plants. Moreover, the advantages of a revision of the active storage and of a possible protection of the shores of the town of Como are also investigated. All the results of this study had a direct impact on the management of the lake. In fact, the proposed operating rule has been programmed on a microcomputer, which is now used every day by the manager as an essential support for his final decision; the active storage was lowered in June 1982 by the Ministry of Public Works, and the sunken part of Como town will be soon repaved and elevated by the Municipality

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

Fuzzy Functions, Relations, and Fuzzy Transforms (2012)

Fuzzy functions, fuzzy relations, and fuzzy transforms are applied to fuzzy systems and like in the first issue published in 2011, here these terms must be intended in general sense. Indeed, the topics concerning fuzzy optimizations with fuzzy functions and relations (including also clustering and PSO algorithms), applications of fuzzy relations/transforms to fusion images, and detection coarse grained fuzzy association rules in the datasets and fuzzy convex processes are dealt with widely in this second issue. The contents of any single paper are resumed in the following sequel

Supply-Demand Price Coordination in Water Resources Management

A scheme is proposed for the coordination by prices of water supplies and demands in a region. The objective is to maximize the total regional net benefit from water use and it is achieved when the marginal benefit at each demand point is equal to the marginal cost of delivering water to that point. The class of problems to which the scheme can be applied is determined from the graph of the network connecting supplies and demands. An example is presented in which the scheme is applied to analyze possible interbasin water transfers in the Northwest Water Plan in Mexico

Metodologia semiautomatica di estrazione del drenaggio da DTM applicata allo studio della deformazione indotta da tettonica attiva

The statistical analysis of stream orientations is an helpful tool in the active tectonic studies because the rivers network is an important geomorphologic feature useful to derive the deformation due to active faults. The drainage network automatically derived from DTM’s is not generally usable for this type of analysis because the automatic routines generate the stream network following the four direction orthogonal to the cell. In this paper we present a semiautomatic methodology to extract the drainage network from high resolution DTM data (5x5 pixel m) the most possible consistent with the real water-drainage pattern, in order to make accurate statistic azimuthal analyses of stream orientations. The methodology have been tested on the active tectonic area of the Tammaro basin (Campania and Molise Regions), epicentral zone of the 1688 strong earthquake (MW=6.7). The results obtained by the application of the proposed methodology show a good agreement with the drainage pattern map derived from photo-interpretation (Regional Technical Cartography)