The intonation of Italian verbless exclamatives

The present study aims to explore the prosodic properties of Italian verbless exclamatives (VE), particular sentence structures without wh-quantifier and copula. A speech controlled corpus formed by 250 VEs uttered by five subjects of a Southern variety of Italian was analyzed. The experimental results proved that VEs have a marked prosodic structure constituted by two opposed constituents. The preposed predicative phrase is characterized by a salient intonation contour, while the grammatical subject is marginalized and shows a monotonous f0 pattern. The information structure is fixed too: the predicative constituent carries the new information, thus contrasting with the subject that expresses a given conten

Some effects of Vowel Space Area (VSA) reduction in speech intelligibility

This study intends to verify the presence of a correlation between the size of vowel space and the speech intelligibility. A reduced intelligibility is a common problem for those individuals suffering from dysarthria. They show a compressed vowel space with an important degree of acoustic centralization. A recent metric employed to distinguish healthy from dysarthric speech is represented by the Vowel Space Area (VSA). We have tested this parameter by comparing subjects with Down Syndrome to control speakers. The results of the present research, the first available data for Italian language, proved that the VSA is a suitable acoustic predictor of an impaired intelligibility

‘A che serve saperlo?’ Funzioni pragmatiche e variazioni intonative della domanda retorica

This study aims to explore the relationship between the prosodic realization of rhetorical questions (RQs) and their pragmatic function. A sample of 260 Italian semi-spontaneous RQs has been classified by functions and by intonational contours. As far the functions are concerned, we distinguished RQs aimed at amplifying from those used to mitigate the illocutive force of a message. The experimental results prove that the RQs functioning as amplifiers show, in the most cases, a falling contour (L%), while the RQs used as mitigators have a final rising contour (H%). Nevertheless, intonation cannot be assumed as the only distinguishing variable. Besides the influence of the context, the degree of politeness with which a RQ is produced is a very strong component able to modify the prosodic realization of RQs

THE INTONATION OF RHETORICAL QUESTIONS IN ITALIAN

This research focuses on the intonation of rhetorical questions (RQs) in Italian. RQs are non-prototypical questions characterised by specific pragmatic features such as indirect and obvious meaning and the absence of an informative answer. The basic idea is that prosody, in its various verbal and paraverbal components, provides listeners with cues of illocutionary interpretation of RQs, facilitating their recognition in spontaneous speech. Although in the past the presence of a final falling intonation contour was assumed as a categorical feature of RQs, recent studies showed a more heterogeneous situation which did not exclude the possibility of rising intonation contours. Most of these studies were conducted on elicited speech samples (DCT or Role Play) by directly comparing string-identical information-seeking questions with rhetorical questions. The results obtained in several languages show that the differences between the two question types are never clear-cut and do not equally involve the same prosodic parameters (intonation contour, pitch range, duration). This highlights the presence of language-specific components. However, it is possible that the final results might have been influenced by both the mode of acquisition of the speech samples (which were almost always collected in a controlled environment), and by a certain neutralisation of discursive functions. The present research analyses a corpus of 100 spontaneous oral wh-RQs extracted from radio broadcasts. The study presents a phonological analysis of the intonation of RQs, looking at nuclear pitch accents and boundary tones. The results are then compared with those previously obtained for the same geographical area.   L’intonazione delle domande retoriche in italiano Questa ricerca si concentra sull’intonazione delle domande retoriche (RQ) in italiano. Si tratta di domande non prototipiche caratterizzate da specifiche caratteristiche pragmatiche, tra cui la presenza di un significato indiretto e ovvio e l’assenza di una risposta informativa. L’idea di base è che la prosodia, nelle sue varie componenti verbali e paraverbali, fornisca agli ascoltatori degli indizi di interpretazione illocutiva delle RQ, facilitandone il riconoscimento nel parlato spontaneo. Sebbene in passato la presenza di un contorno intonativo discendente finale sia stata assunto come una caratteristica categorica delle RQ, studi recenti hanno mostrato una situazione più eterogenea che non esclude la possibilità di contorni intonativi ascendenti. La maggior parte di questi studi è stata condotta su campioni di parlato elicitato (DCT o Role Play), confrontando direttamente coppie frasali identiche formate da domande sincere e domande retoriche. I risultati ottenuti in diverse lingue mostrano che le differenze tra i due tipi di domanda non sono mai nette e non coinvolgono in egual misura i medesimi parametri prosodici (contorno intonativo, pitch range e durata), evidenziando la presenza di componenti linguo-specifiche. Tuttavia, è possibile che i risultati finali siano stati influenzati dalla modalità di acquisizione dei campioni di parlato (quasi sempre raccolti in un ambiente controllato) e da una certa neutralizzazione delle funzioni discorsive. La presente ricerca analizza un corpus di parlato spontaneo formato da 100 domande retoriche con struttura wh- estratte da trasmissioni radiofoniche. Lo studio fornisce un’analisi fonologica dell’intonazione delle domande, focalizzandosi sugli accenti intonativi nucleari e sui toni di confine. I risultati sono stati successivamente comparati con quelli precedentemente ottenuti per la stessa area geografica. &nbsp

Ovvietà e ridondanza della domanda retorica: dalla risposta implicata alla risposta esplicita

The study contains some considerations on the indirect nature of the rhetorical question (RQ). The RQ is a non-prototypical speech act in which the interrogative form does not coincide with the conveyed meaning; it does not perform the function of an information-seeking question, for this reason it is not followed by a verbalized explicit answer. This study will explore the most representative features of RQs, by referring to its indirect status and to the field of possible responses. With regard to the latter aspect, some examples extracted from a speech corpus of spontaneous Italian will be discussed. We will try to demonstrate how the presence of a response is not incompatible with the semantic-pragmatic features of RQs nor with the functions more frequently performed in spontaneous speech

Germanium-on-Glass solar cells: fabrication and characterization

We report on Germanium on Glass solar cells realized by wafer bonding, layer splitting and epitaxial regrowth. We provide a detailed description of the layer transfer process and discuss the material characterization. The solar cells are fabricated and tested to extract the most significant figures of merit, evaluating their performance versus device area and operating temperature. The cells exhibit typical conversion efficiencies exceeding 2.4% under AM1.5 irradiation and a maximum efficiency of 3.7% under concentrated excitation. This Germanium on Glass approach is promising in terms of added flexibility in multi-junction engineering and allows a significant cost reduction thanks to the re-usability of the Ge substrates

Sulle strategie di risposta ai complimenti in un campione diatopicamente orientato

This research aims at exploring the pragmatic strategies of responding to compliments in a speech sample of 654 compliment/response sequences elicited by means of DCT. The corpus has a specific diatopic connotation, since all respondents come from Apulia. For the analysis, the pragmatic categorization proposed for Italian language by Castagneto and Ravetto in 2015 has been adopted. Within the sample, both mitigation and reinforcement strategies coexist, although they are not equally distributed among the informants. The results reveal the presence of cross-gender and cross-ages differences. In details, males tend to use more Limited Acceptance than female ones, while younger women show a strong preference for Direct Acceptance, especially by Thanking and Reassurance Request. Differently, older female informants present a greater degree of Limited Acceptance and a wider use of avoidance strategies, such as Deflection or Discredit.

Guided-wave photodetectors in germanium on optical chips in silicon-on-insulator

We report the integration of near-infrared waveguide photodetectors in polycrystalline Germanium with Silicon on Insulator optical chips for power monitor applications. We discuss design and fabrication of the devices as well as their characterization in terms of dark current, responsivity and signal to noise ratio

Musashi mediates translational repression of the Drosophila hypoxia inducible factor.

Adaptation to hypoxia depends on a conserved α/β heterodimeric transcription factor called Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF), whose α-subunit is regulated by oxygen through different concurrent mechanisms. In this study, we have identified the RNA binding protein dMusashi, as a negative regulator of the fly HIF homologue Sima. Genetic interaction assays suggested that dMusashi participates of the HIF pathway, and molecular studies carried out in Drosophila cell cultures showed that dMusashi recognizes a Musashi Binding Element in the 3' UTR of the HIFα transcript, thereby mediating its translational repression in normoxia. In hypoxic conditions dMusashi is downregulated, lifting HIFα repression and contributing to trigger HIF-dependent gene expression. Analysis performed in mouse brains revealed that murine Msi1 protein physically interacts with HIF-1α transcript, suggesting that the regulation of HIF by Msi might be conserved in mammalian systems. Thus, Musashi is a novel regulator of HIF that inhibits responses to hypoxia specifically when oxygen is available.Fil: Bertolin, Agustina Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Katz, Maximiliano Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Yano, Masato. Niigata University; JapónFil: Pozzi, María Berta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; ArgentinaFil: Acevedo, Julieta María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Blanco Obregón, Dalmiro Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Gándara, Lautaro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Sorianello, Eleonora Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Kanda, Hiroshi. Keio University School of Medicine; JapónFil: Okano, Hideyuki. Keio University School of Medicine; JapónFil: Srebrow, Anabella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; ArgentinaFil: Wappner, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; Argentin

The Drosophila insulin-degrading enzyme restricts growth by modulating the PI3K pathway in a cell-autonomous manner

Mammalian insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) cleaves insulin, among other peptidic substrates, but its function in insulin signaling is elusive. We use the Drosophila system to define the function of IDE in the regulation of growth and metabolism. We find that either loss or gain of function of Drosophila IDE (dIDE) can restrict growth in a cell-autonomous manner by affecting both cell size and cell number. dIDE can modulate Drosophila insulin-like peptide 2 levels, thereby restricting activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate kinase pathway and promoting activation of Drosophila forkhead box, subgroup O transcription factor. Larvae reared in high sucrose exhibit delayed developmental timing due to insulin resistance. We find that dIDE loss of function exacerbates this phenotype and that mutants display increased levels of circulating sugar, along with augmented expression of a lipid biosynthesis marker. We propose that dIDE is a modulator of insulin signaling and that its loss of function favors insulin resistance, a hallmark of diabetes mellitus type II.Fil: Galagovsky, Diego. Fundación Instituto Leloir; ArgentinaFil: Katz, Maximiliano Javier. Fundación Instituto Leloir; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Acevedo, Julieta Maria. Fundación Instituto Leloir; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Sorianello, Eleonora Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Fundación Instituto Leloir; ArgentinaFil: Glavic, Alvaro. Universidad de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias. Centro FONDAP de Regulación del Genoma; ChileFil: Wappner, Pablo. Fundación Instituto Leloir; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; Argentin