Progettare chatbot: considerazioni e linee guida

Il lavoro si propone di delineare una serie di linee guida per la progettazione di chatbot e assistenti virtuali a partire dall’analisi degli attuali trend di progettazione e delle esigenze lato utente rilevate da precedenti lavori di rassegna della letteratura esistente. Il presente lavoro è stato svolto nell’ambito del progetto “Cognitive Solution for Intelligent Caring” di TIM.This work is focused on the current trends in designing chatbots and virtual assistants. We start from users’ needs identified in industrial surveys on chatbots. The result is a collection of guidelines and considerations which reflect the state of the art

Risk factors associated with adverse fetal outcomes in pregnancies affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a secondary analysis of the WAPM study on COVID-19.

Objectives To evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Methods Secondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pregnancy loss before 22 weeks of gestations), stillbirth (intrauterine fetal death after 22 weeks of gestation), neonatal death (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), and perinatal death (either stillbirth or neonatal death). Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate parameters independently associated with the primary outcome. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 30.6+/-9.5 weeks, with 8.0% of women being diagnosed in the first, 22.2% in the second and 69.8% in the third trimester of pregnancy. There were six miscarriage (2.3%), six intrauterine device (IUD) (2.3) and 5 (2.0%) neonatal deaths, with an overall rate of perinatal death of 4.2% (11/265), thus resulting into 17 cases experiencing and 226 not experiencing composite adverse fetal outcome. Neither stillbirths nor neonatal deaths had congenital anomalies found at antenatal or postnatal evaluation. Furthermore, none of the cases experiencing IUD had signs of impending demise at arterial or venous Doppler. Neonatal deaths were all considered as prematurity-related adverse events. Of the 250 live-born neonates, one (0.4%) was found positive at RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs performed after delivery. The mother was tested positive during the third trimester of pregnancy. The newborn was asymptomatic and had negative RT-PCR test after 14 days of life. At logistic regression analysis, gestational age at diagnosis (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.8-0.9 per week increase; pPeer reviewe

Proceedings of the Fifth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics CLiC-it 2018

On behalf of the Program Committee, a very warm welcome to the Fifth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-­‐it 2018). This edition of the conference is held in Torino. The conference is locally organised by the University of Torino and hosted into its prestigious main lecture hall “Cavallerizza Reale”. The CLiC-­‐it conference series is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC) which, after five years of activity, has clearly established itself as the premier national forum for research and development in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing, where leading researchers and practitioners from academia and industry meet to share their research results, experiences, and challenges

May coexisting overactive-underactive bladder (COUB) be due to muscle fatigue? Data from a single-centre urodynamic database

The ICI–RS has proposed the definition of COUB (Coexistent Overactive-Underactive Bladder) as a syndrome characterized by voiding and filling LUTS in the same patient. The aim of this study is to explore whether the presence of DO can lead to DU, because of muscle asthenia and fatigue of the smooth muscle cells.Retrospectively, we included all consecutive male patients with LUTS who underwent an invasive UDS (January 2011–December 2022). Patients with neurologic diseases or with previous LUT surgery were excluded. They were divided into normal detrusor function, Group A and Detrusor Overactivity, Group B during the filling phase. BOOI, BCI, PVR and BVE were compared in the two groups. DO patients were divided according to the phasic or terminal DO contractions and mean BCI was calculated in these subgroups.We analysed 425 male patients with LUTS. During filling phase, 167 patients (39.3%, Group A) showed NDF and 258 patients (60.7% Group B) DO. 207 of them (80.2%) had phasic detrusor contractions and 51 (20.8%) had terminal DO. MCC was 409.8 mL and 308.7 mL (p100. 207 (80.2%) patients of the group B showed phasic, while 51 (19.8%) terminal DO; in these subgroups, mean BCI was 118.8 and 112.0 respectively (p 0.806658)

The role of magma mixing/mingling and cumulate melting in the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera-forming eruption (Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy)

Understanding the mechanisms responsible for the generation of chemical gradients in high-volume ignimbrites is key to retrieve information on the processes that control the maturation and eruption of large silicic magmatic reservoirs. Over the last 60 ky, two large ignimbrites showing remarkable zoning were emplaced during caldera-forming eruptions at Campi Flegrei (i.e., Campanian Ignimbrite, CI, ~ 39 ka and Neapolitan Yellow Tuff, NYT, ~ 15 ka). While the CI displays linear compositional, thermal and crystallinity gradients, the NYT is a more complex ignimbrite characterized by crystal-poor magmas ranging in composition from trachy-andesites to phonolites. By combining major and trace element compositions of matrix glasses and mineral phases from juvenile clasts located at different stratigraphic heights along the NYT pyroclastic sequence, we interpret such compositional gradients as the result of mixing/mingling between three different magmas: (1) a resident evolved magma showing geochemical characteristics of a melt extracted from a cumulate mush dominated by clinopyroxene, plagioclase and oxides with minor sanidine and biotite; (2) a hotter and more mafic magma from recharge providing high-An plagioclase and high-Mg clinopyroxene crystals and (3) a compositionally intermediate magma derived from remelting of low temperature mineral phases (i.e., sanidine and biotite) within the cumulate crystal mush. We suggest that the presence of a refractory crystal mush, as documented by the occurrence of abundant crystal clots containing clinopyroxene, plagioclase and oxides, is the main reason for the lack of erupted crystal-rich material in the NYT. A comparison between the NYT and the CI, characterized by both crystal-poor extracted melts and crystal-rich magmas representing remobilized portions of a “mature” (i.e., sanidine dominated) cumulate residue, allows evaluation of the capability of crystal mushes of becoming eruptible upon recharge

Using vegetation dynamics to face the challenge of the conservation status assessment in semi-natural habitats

The conservation of semi-natural habitats represents a primary challenge for European nature conservation due to their great species diversity and their vulnerability to ongoing massive land-use changes. As these changes rapidly transform and phase out semi-natural habitats, conservation measures should be prompt and specifically focused on a sound assessment of the degree of conservation. Here we develop a methodological strategy for the assessment of the degree of conservation of semi-natural grasslands based on well-defined criteria rather than on expert opinion. Through mixed effect models, we tested ten potential indicators, encompassing proxies of species composition, habitat structure, and landscape patterns, against a measure of compositional change from habitat favourable condition, i.e., an inverse proxy of conservation status. This measure derives from the re-visitation of 132 sampling units historically sampled between 1966 and 1992 along the Apennines. The compositional change was quantified as the dissimilarity between historical habitat species pools and the composition of current communities. The compositional change was significantly related to the number of habitat diagnostic species and the relative cover of woody species with opposite sign (positive and negative, respectively). We classified and combined the classes of these two indicators in each sampling unit to assess the habitat degree of conservation at the plot and at the Natura 2000 site level. At the plot level, our assessment was in good agreement with the occurrence of species of conservation concern. On the other hand, at the site level, our assessment was not always harmonic with the habitat conservation assessment officially reported for the site investigated

Volatile secondary metabolites as aposematic olfactory signals and defensive weapons in aquatic environments

Olfaction is considered a distance sense; hence, aquatic olfaction is thought to be mediated only by molecules dissolved in water. Here, we challenge this view by showing that shrimp and fish can recognize the presence of hydrophobic olfactory cues by a "tactile" form of chemoreception. We found that odiferous furanosesquiterpenes protect both the Mediterranean octocoral Maasella edwardsi and its specialist predator, the nudibranch gastropod Tritonia striata, from potential predators. Food treated with the terpenes elicited avoidance responses in the cooccurring shrimp Palaemon elegans. Rejection was also induced in the shrimp by the memory recall of postingestive aversive effects (vomiting), evoked by repeatedly touching the food with chemosensory mouthparts. Consistent with their emetic properties once ingested, the compounds were highly toxic to brine shrimp. Further experiments on the zebrafish showed that this vertebrate aquatic model also avoids food treated with one of the terpenes, after having experienced gastrointestinal malaise. The fish refused the food after repeatedly touching it with their mouths. The compounds studied thus act simultaneously as (i) toxins, (ii) avoidance-learning inducers, and (iii) aposematic odorant cues. Although they produce a characteristic smell when exposed to air, the compounds are detected by direct contact with the emitter in aquatic environments and are perceived at high doses that are not compatible with their transport inwater. The mouthparts of both the shrimp and the fish have thus been shown to act as "aquatic noses," supporting a substantial revision of the current definition of the chemical senses based upon spatial criteria