Descrizione dei criteri e dei metodi per la costruzione di un database di terminologia

No abstract availableVengono qui descritte le fasi della costruzione di un database di terminologia appartenente al dominio del turismo, considerando in particolare un insieme di termini che riguardano la ristorazione e le strutture ricettive. Questo rapporto si articola in tre parti: la prima contiene una descrizione dello studio di fattibilit? e il progetto del database di tipo semantico lessicale, in cui ogni termine ? visto come punto nodale di una rete linguistico-concettuale; la seconda contiene, sotto forma di slides in power-point, una rappresentazione schematica di esempi di termini e di relazioni per la loro codifica nel database; la terza contiene la relazione sull?attivit? svolta dall?ILC per la creazione del database

LEARNING THE ROPES: A SOFTWARE TOOL FOR CLIL COURSES IN MARITIME SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS

This paper outlines a proposal for maritime English language teaching in public and private Nautical Schools and other maritime educational institutions and establishments in Italy, using a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach. The courses are addressed in particular to those students who would like to take up a marine career as officers, engineers or other crew members of the Merchant Navy, and thus require an adequate knowledge of seafaring terminology, but can also be interesting for those wishing to explore the origins and development of maritime language. In order to provide a more challenging environment and better opportunity for the learning of seafaring terms and expressions in English, students are supported by Mariterm, a lexical database, organized in semantic relations, available at the Institute for Computational Linguistics (ILC) of the National Research Council (CNR) in Pisa.

Encoding Terms from a Scientific Domain in a Terminological Database: Methodology and Criteria

This paper reports on the main phases of a research which aims at enhancing a maritime terminological database by means of a set of terms belonging to meteorology. The structure of the terminological database, according to EuroWordNet/ItalWordNet model is described; the criteria used to build corpora of specialized texts are explained as well as the use of the corpora as source for term selection and extraction. The contribution of the semantic databases is taken into account: on the one hand, the most recent version of the Princeton WordNet has been exploited as reference for comparing and evaluating synsets; on the other hand, the Italian WordNet has been employed as source for exporting synsets to be coded in the terminological resource. The set of semantic relations useful to codify new terms belonging to the discipline of meteorology is examined, revising the semantic relations provided by the IWN model, introducing new relations which are more suitably tailored to specific requirements either scientific or pragmatic. The need for a particular relation is highlighted to represent the mental association which is made when a term intuitively recalls another term, but they are neither synonyms nor connected by means of a hyperonymy/hyponymy relation

Ecotoxicity of Plastics from Informal Waste Electric and Electronic Treatment and Recycling

Plastic materials account for about 20% of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The recycling of this plastic fraction is a complex issue, heavily conditioned by the content of harmful additives, such as brominated flame retardants. Thus, the management and reprocessing of WEEE plastics pose environmental and human health concerns, mainly in developing countries, where informal recycling and disposal are practiced. The objective of this study was twofold. Firstly, it aimed to investigate some of the available options described in the literature for the re-use of WEEE plastic scraps in construction materials, a promising recycling route in the developing countries. Moreover, it presents an evaluation of the impact of these available end-of-life scenarios on the environment by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. In order to consider worker health and human and ecological risks, the LCA analysis focuses on ecotoxicity more than on climate change. The LCA evaluation confirmed that the plastic re-use in the construction sector has a lower toxicity impact on the environment and human health than common landfilling and incineration practices. It also shows that the unregulated handling and dismantling activities, as well as the re-use practices, contribute significantly to the impact of WEEE plastic treatments

Linking and Integrating two Electronic Lexicons

Lexicography, much attention is being paid, when building lexical resources, to their interoperability and their easy integration in HLT-NLP applications for an enhanced performance. Concerning already existing computational lexicons, on the other hand, their integration and interoperability is attainable, provided their main features offer a field of comparison. The two largest and extensively encoded electronic lexicons of Italian language fulfill this essential requirement. Although developed according to two different lexical models, ItalWordNet and PAROLE-SIMPLE-CLIPS present in fact many compatible aspects. Linking and eventually merging these lexical resources in a common representation framework seems therefore a wise move to offer the end-user a more exhaustive and in-depth lexical information combining the potentialities and most outstanding features offered by the two lexical models. This paper reports on the ongoing linking of the two lexicons. The mapping of the ontologies on which basis the lexicons are structured is described; an overview of the adopted methodology, of the linking process and of the results of the first mapping phase regarding 1stOrder Entities is provided. Reciprocal benefits and enhancements for the two resources are also illustrated that definitely justify the soundness of our linking initiative

Il modello semantico di EuroWordNet come strumento per la strutturazione della relazione associativa nei thesauri.

Thesauri are tools which semantically organize a domain of knowledge for operational purposes. Their relational semantics is concerned with methods that connect terms with related meanings and it is important to support information retrieval, enhancing the information recall performance and contributing to improve precision. In fact, the network of relations of a thesaurus has an important semantic function, providing a representation of the meaning of each thesaurus term and a map of the conceptual structure of a subject area. The traditional thesaurus format - as described in international standards - includes the hierarchical, associative and equivalence relationships. However, a rather widespread opinion is that this format should be refined, in order to cope with the current needs of information organization. This paper discusses the possibility of refining the associative relation into a number of sub-kinds by adopting the semantic model of EuroWordNet (EWN), as it was used, according to one of its national versions, ItalWordNet (IWN), taking into account the terminological database Mariterm, which contains terms belonging to the maritime domain. It is also stressed how RT designation and refinement appear to be domain dependent, in the sense that they are associated with the specific features of a knowledge field.I thesauri sono strumenti che organizzano semanticamente un dominio di conoscenza per fini applicativi. Attraverso la loro struttura relazionale vengono stabiliti nessi tra termini con significati correlati. La semantica relazionale di un thesaurus ? uno strumento di supporto fondamentale per il recupero dell\u27informazione, attraverso cui vengono aumentati il richiamo (recall) e la precisione (precision) della ricerca. La rete delle relazioni thesaurali svolge, infatti, una funzione semantica importante, fornendo una rappresentazione del significato di ciascun termine contenuto nel thesaurus e realizzando il prototipo di mappa della struttura concettuale del dominio di conoscenza. Il formato tradizionale di un thesaurus, cos? come ? descritto negli standard internazionali, include tre relazioni fondamentali (relazione gerarchica, relazione associativa e relazione di equivalenza). ? opinione diffusa che, per poter meglio rispondere ai bisogni attuali in ambito di organizzazione dell\u27informazione, questo formato debba essere in qualche modo riconsiderato e perfezionato. In questo contributo viene analizzata la possibilit? di differenziare la relazione associativa in un numero ristretto di sottotipi. ? stata preliminarmente valutata a tal fine la possibilit? di utilizzare una serie di relazioni incluse nel modello semantico di EuroWordNet (EWN), cos? come ? stato applicato in una delle sue versioni nazionali, ItalWordNet (IWN), nell\u27ambito del progetto riguardante la terminologia del settore marittimo (Mariterm). Viene, inoltre, preso in considerazione il modo in cui le operazioni di attribuzione e di articolazione della relazione associativa sembrano essere condizionate dalle caratteristiche del dominio di conoscenza in cui sono effettuate

Language modulation by hypnotizability

During upright stance that is an attention consuming task, subjects with high (Highs) hypnotic susceptibility have shown a similar ability at guided visual imagery, but a greater ability at somestetic imagery than individuals with low hypnotizability (Lows). Aim of the study was to assess whether any sensory modality preferences can be observed in the language of Highs and Lows

Percepção dos alunos de ensino fundamental sobre guarda responsável de animais após um programa de educação no sul do Brasil

O impacto de programas de guarda responsável que objetivam promover a saúde pública precisa ser plenamente estabelecido no Brasil. Este estudo objetivou avaliar a percepção sobre guarda responsável de animais de estudantes do ensino fundamental e professores após um programa com quatro anos de duração na cidade de Pinhais. Questionários foram distribuídos para alunos da quarta série e professores de todas as escolas públicas de ensino fundamental da cidade. No total, 1022/1332 estudantes (76,7%) participaram do programa. Não houve diferença significativa entre os grupos que participaram e não participaram, em relação aos conceitos de guarda responsável (p = 0,88), zoonoses (p = 0,09) e bem-estar animal (p = 0,94). Entretanto, a frequência de acertos dos conceitos de guarda responsável e zoonoses foi significativamente maior (p < 0,01) entre os estudantes do grupo que participou 1 ou 2 vezes (779/830; 93,8% e 506/813; 62,2%, respectivamente) com relação ao grupo que participou > 2 vezes (144/165; 87,3% e 64/151; 42,4%, respectivamente). E também foi significativamente maior (p < 0,01) entre o grupo ≤ 10 anos (991/1058; 93.7%) com relação ao grupo > 10 anos (158/180; 87,8%) no primeiro conceito. Apesar da maioria dos professores aprovarem a continuidade do programa (128/137; 93,4%), eles reportaram baixas taxas de participação no treinamento (41/137; 29,9%) e utilização dos materiais didáticos disponíveis (78/137; 26,9%). O estudo mostrou que a percepção sobre guarda responsável de animais em programas de educação continuada pode ser mais facilmente absorvida por crianças de até 10 anos de idade e com até duas participações.The impact of responsible ownership programs with the goal of promoting public health remains to be fully established in Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the responsible pet ownership perception of public elementary school students and teachers after a four-year outreach educational program in the city of Pinhais, Southern Brazil. Questionnaires were distributed for self-answer by fourth-grade students and teachers of all city public elementary schools. A total of 1,022/1,332 students (76.7%) referred participated in the program. No significant differences were observed between participating and non-participating groups regarding the concepts of responsible ownership (p = 0.88), zoonoses (p = 0.09) and animal welfare (p = 0.94). However, the frequency of correct answers on responsible ownership and zoonoses concepts was significantly higher (p < 0.01) among student groups who participated 1 or 2 times (779/830; 93.8% and 506/813; 62.2%, respectively) in relation to the groups that participated > 2 times (144/165; 87.3% and 64/151; 42.4%, respectively). It was also significantly higher (p < 0.01) between ≤ 10 years group (991/1058, 93.7%) compared to group >10 years (158/180; 87.8%) in the first concept. Although most teachers approved the continuing program (128/137; 93.4%), they reported low rates on training participation (41/137; 29.9%) and use of available teaching materials (78/137; 26.9%). The study has shown that perception of responsible pet ownership in outreach education programs may be more easily absorbed by children under ten years of age and up to two participations

Garcinoic acid prevents β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition in the mouse brain

Garcinoic acid (GA or δ-T3-13'COOH), is a natural vitamin E metabolite that has preliminarily been identified as a modulator of nuclear receptors involved in β-amyloid (Aβ) metabolism and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we investigated GA's effects on Aβ oligomer formation and deposition. Specifically, we compared them with those of other vitamin E analogs and the soy isoflavone genistein, a natural agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) that has therapeutic potential for managing AD. GA significantly reduced Aβ aggregation and accumulation in mouse cortical astrocytes. Similarly to genistein, GA up-regulated PPARγ expression and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) efflux in these cells with an efficacy that was comparable with that of its metabolic precursor δ-tocotrienol and higher than those of α-tocopherol metabolites. Unlike for genistein and the other vitamin E compounds, the GA-induced restoration of ApoE efflux was not affected by pharmacological inhibition of PPARγ activity, and specific activation of pregnane X receptor (PXR) was observed together with ApoE and multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) membrane transporter up-regulation in both the mouse astrocytes and brain tissue. These effects of GA were associated with reduced Aβ deposition in the brain of TgCRND8 mice, a transgenic AD model. In conclusion, GA holds potential for preventing Aβ oligomerization and deposition in the brain. The mechanistic aspects of GA's properties appear to be distinct from those of other vitamin E metabolites and of genistein