Sharing Cultural Heritage: the Clavius on the Web Project

In the last few years the amount of manuscripts digitized and made available on the Web has been constantly increasing. However, there is still a considarable lack of results concerning both the explicitation of their content and the tools developed to make it available. The objective of the Clavius on the Web project is to develop a Web platform exposing a selection of Christophorus Clavius letters along with three different levels of analysis: linguistic, lexical and semantic. The multilayered annotation of the corpus involves a XML-TEI encoding followed by a tokenization step where each token is univocally identified through a CTS urn notation and then associated to a part-of-speech and a lemma. The text is lexically and semantically annotated on the basis of a lexicon and a domain ontology, the former structuring the most relevant terms occurring in the text and the latter representing the domain entities of interest (e.g. people, places, etc.). Moreover, each entity is connected to linked and non linked resources, including DBpedia and VIAF. Finally, the results of the three layers of analysis are gathered and shown through interactive visualization and storytelling techniques. A demo version of the integrated architecture was developed

Nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2) expression in histologically normal margins of oral squamous cell carcinoma

The activity of Nitric Oxide Synthase 2 (NOS2) was found in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) but not in normal mucosa. Molecular changes associated to early carcinogenesis have been found in mucosa near carcino - mas, which is considered a model to study field cancerization. The aim of the present study is to analyze NOS2 expression at the histologically normal margins of OSCC. Study Design: Eleven biopsy specimens of OSCC containing histologically normal margins (HNM) were ana - lyzed. Ten biopsies of normal oral mucosa were used as controls. The activity of NOS2 was determined by im - munohistochemistry. Salivary nitrate and nitrite as well as tobacco and alcohol consumption were also analyzed. The Chi-squared test was applied. Results: Six out of the eleven HNM from carcinoma samples showed positive NOS2 activity whereas all the control group samples yielded negative ( p =0.005). No statistically significant association between enzyme expression and tobacco and/or alcohol consumption and salivary nitrate and nitrite was found. Conclusions: NOS2 expression would be an additional evidence of alterations that may occur in a state of field cancerization before the appearance of potentially malignant morphological changes

La Modellazione Diacronica di Risorse Termino-Ontologiche nell'Ambito delle Digital Humanities: Esperimenti su Clavius

Abstract English. In this work, we present an experiment in the modeling of a diachronic termino-ontological resource named CLAVIUS through both the N-ary relations model and the 4D-fluents approach. Some of the salient differences of these two models are discussed. The overall objective of this research is to illustrate the main advantages and disadvantages in the adoption of a given model to build diachronic resources. Italiano. In questo lavoro, si illustra un esperimento di modellazione di una risorsa termino-ontologica diacronica (CLAVIUS) secondo due approcci, quello N-ario e quello dei 4D-fluents. Le differenze salienti dei due approcci verranno presentate e discusse. L'obiettivo generale della ricerca qui introdotta è quello di mostrare i principali vantaggi e svantaggi che l'adozione di un determinato modello può comportare nella modellazione di risorse diacroniche. Introduzione Pànta rei è la celebre espressione attribuita da Platone ad Eraclito. Tutto è sottoposto alla inesorabile legge del mutamento: la realtà, le categorie attraverso le quali la organizziamo e le parole che usiamo per parlare di essa. Quali sono gli strumenti a disposizione dell'umanista digitale di oggi, che si trovi a dover rappresentare in modo esplicito e formale tale evoluzione diacronica dei concetti e dei termini in un determinato ambito, in modo che tale formalizzazione sia computabile ad un calcolatore? In questi ultimi anni, ed in particolar modo nell'ambito delle Digital Humanities, si è sottolineata l'importanza di operare con tecnologie che siano alla base del Semantic Web e dei Linked Open Data per garantire interoperabilità e riuso delle risorse all'interno della comunità scientifica In questa ottica, le ontologie -e l'OWL, il loro linguaggio di rappresentazione standard -giocano un ruolo fondamentale. Tuttavia, il carattere fondamentalmente statico di questi ultimi e la necessità di modellare aspetti di evoluzione temporale sembrano a prima vista inconciliabili. Le riflessioni che presentiamo in questo articolo nascono dalle esperienze condotte in seno al Progetto Clavius on the Web 1 . Tra gli obiettivi del Progetto, infatti, vi è anche quello di creare una risorsa termino-ontologica (RTO) che rappresenti l'evoluzione delle teorie matematicoastronomiche dall'antichità al XVI -XVII secolo, così come viene descritta da Clavius nei suoi Euclidis Elementorum Libri XV. Accessit XVI e In sphaeram Ioannis de Sacro Bosco Commentarius. Il Contesto Come sottolineato nell'Introduzione, il linguaggio OWL (e la sua estensione OWL2) è lo standard W3C per la creazione e condivisione di ontologie nel Semantic Web. In particolare, OWL DL implementa la logica descrittiva SHOIN (D n ), che garantisce una maggiore espressività rispetto a RDF e RDFS, senza compromettere la decidibilità e il meccanismo inferenziale. Tuttavia, OWL è un linguaggio statico; in esso le proprietà e le relazioni tra entità sono fondamentalmente binarie, espresse sotto forma di triple <Subject predicate Object>. Tale restrizione sintattica rende più complessa la rappresentazione 1 http://claviusontheweb.it (ultimo accesso: 13/10/2016

Chapter Rappresentazione, costruzione e visualizzazione di risorse terminologiche diacroniche nell’era del web semantico

This article introduces the model DIATERM, devoted to representing the diachronic evolution of concepts and terms in a given domain, according to Semantic Web standards and Linked Data technologies. The approach adopted for the representation of temporal information is based on the reification of N-ary relationships. DIATERM is articulated on three levels, textual, terminological and conceptual. Each level can be affected, more or less simultaneously, by change. The use of SWRL rules allows to automatically assign temporal information, thus facilitating the construction of the terminological resource and highlighting any inconsistencies. Two examples of interrogation and visualization of diachronic terminological resources will be illustrated. The first example is taken from the resource dedicated to the astronomical terminology introduced by Christopher Clavius in his Commentary on the Sacrobosco’s Tractatus de Sphaera. The second example is taken from the electronic lexicon of Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic terminology

From Inscriptions to Lexica and Back: A Platform for Editing and Linking the Languages of Ancient Italy

Available language technology is hardly applicable to scarcely attested ancient languages, yet their digital semantic representation, though challenging, is an asset for the purpose of sharing and preserving existing cultural knowledge. In the context of a project on the languages and cultures of ancient Italy, we took up this challenge. This paper thus describes the development of a user friendly web platform, EpiLexO, for the creation and editing of an integrated system of language resources for ancient fragmentary languages centered on the lexicon, in compliance with current digital humanities and Linked Open Data principles. EpiLexo allows for the editing of lexica with all relevant cross-references: for their linking to their testimonies, as well as to bibliographic information and other (external) resources and common vocabularies. The focus of the current implementation is on the languages of ancient Italy, in particular Oscan, Faliscan, Celtic and Venetic; however, the technological solutions are designed to be general enough to be potentially applicable to different contexts and scenarios

Barriers and opportunities of soil knowledge to address soil challenges: Stakeholders? perspectives across Europe

Climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soil is critical to improve soil health, enhance food and water security, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity preservation, and improve human health and wellbeing. The European Joint Programme for Soil (EJP SOIL) started in 2020 with the aim to significantly improve soil management knowledge and create a sustainable and integrated European soil research system. EJP SOIL involves more than 350 scientists across 24 Countries and has been addressing multiple aspects associated with soil management across different European agroecosystems. This study summarizes the key findings of stakeholder consultations conducted at the national level across 20 countries with the aim to identify important barriers and challenges currently affecting soil knowledge but also assess opportunities to overcome these obstacles. Our findings demonstrate that there is significant room for improvement in terms of knowledge production, dissemination and adoption. Among the most important barriers identified by consulted stakeholders are technical, political, social and economic obstacles, which strongly limit the development and full exploitation of the outcomes of soil research. The main soil challenge across consulted member states remains to improve soil organic matter and peat soil conservation while soil water storage capacity is a key challenge in Southern Europe. Findings from this study clearly suggest that going forward climate-smart sustainable soil management will benefit from (1) increases in research funding, (2) the maintenance and valorisation of long-term (field) ex-periments, (3) the creation of knowledge sharing networks and interlinked national and European in-frastructures, and (4) the development of regionally-tailored soil management strategies. All the above -mentioned interventions can contribute to the creation of healthy, resilient and sustainable soil ecosystems across Europe

Outcome of 421 adult patients with Philadelphia-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated under an intensive program inspired by the GIMEMA LAL1913 clinical trial: a Campus ALL study

The introduction of pediatric-inspired regimens in adult Philadelphia-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-ALL) has significantly improved patients’ prognosis. Within the Campus ALL network we analyzed the outcome of adult Ph-ALL patients treated according to the GIMEMA LAL1913 protocol outside the clinical trial, to compare the real-life data with the study results. We included 421 consecutive patients, with a median age of 42 years. The complete remission (CR) rate after the first course of chemotherapy was 94% and a measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity after the third course was achieved in 72% of patients. The 3-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were 67% and 57%, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, MRD positivity negatively influenced DFS. In a time-dependent analysis including only very high risk (VHR) and MRD positive cases, transplanted (HSCT) patients had a significantly better DFS than non-HSCT ones (P=0.0017). During induction, grade ≥2 pegaspargase-related hepato-toxicity was observed in 25% of patients (vs 12% in the GIMEMA LAL1913 trial, P=0.0003). In this large real-life cohort of Ph-ALL, we confirmed the very high CR rate and a superimposable OS and DFS compared to the GIMEMA LAL1913 clinical trial: CR rate after C1 94% vs 85%, P=0.0004; 3-year OS 67% vs 67%, P=0.94; 3-year DFS 57% vs 63%, P=0.17. HSCT confirms its important role in VHR and MRD-positive patients. The rate of pegaspargase-related toxicity was significantly higher in the real-life setting, emphasizing the importance of dose adjustment in the presence of risk factors to avoid excessive toxicity

Diabetic ketoacidosis at the onset of disease during a national awareness campaign: a 2-year observational study in children aged 0-18 years

After a previous survey on the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at onset of type 1 diabetes in children in 2013-2014 in Italy, we aimed to verify a possible decline in the incidence of DKA at onset during a national prevention campaign