Hedges and boosters in English and Italian medical research articles: A cross-cultural comparison

Writers of academic papers generally use a wide range of strategies when they expose scientific argumentations or take a stance that can potentially threaten readers’ face. Hedging and boosting devices are rhetorical devices that help authors mitigate or enhance the impact of their positions and claims on readers. This study seeks to explore the role and the frequency of hedging and boosting in scientific articles from a cross-cultural perspective. Our goal is to compare English and Italian research papers to describe hedging and boosting strategies and check whether they differ between the two languages in terms of frequencies and functions. To do that, we have collected a bilingual corpus made up of 58 medical research papers in Italian and English, investigated through quantitative and qualitative methods. Our findings demonstrate that targeting an international audience dramatically increases the frequency of the hedges, and in particular the category of reader-oriented hedges

Looking for EU identities: communicating the EU job market

The blow dealt in 2005 by the outcome of the French and Dutch referendums to European constitutional process triggered a dramatic review of European institutional communication. The idea that the gap between Brussels and European citizens was related to ineffective communication models was already clearly stated by the European Commission Vice – President Margot Wallström in 2004: We need to explain what exactly it is we do. We want to reach out ... We will use images and faces of real people who can explain in language that is not full of Eurojargon. There are so many problems that can’t be solved by the nation- state. We have not been good at saying that (interview to Herald Tribune, December 22, 2004). In June 2005, the European Council declared the start a ‘period of reflection’, during which a broad debate on Europe took place in each European country, involving citizens, civil society, social partners, national Parliaments and political parties. Since then, a properly conceived communication policy has become an essential element to the creation of a distinctive European identity. The goal of this paper is to extend the scope of other scholarly investigations on European communication strategies (e.g. Valentini-Nesti 2010) to the way in which European institutions represent the job market. This paper will be focused on Social Agenda, a traditional quarterly paper magazine published by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (in French, German and English) since 2002 and virtually addressed to all European citizens in working age

Influence of Temperature and Anisotropic Pressure on the Phase Transitions in α-Cristobalite

The role of temperature and anisotropy of the applied load in the pressure–induced transformations of α -cristobalite is investigated by means of first principles molecular dynamics combined with the metadynamics algorithm for the study of solid-solid phase transitions. We reproduce the transition to α-PbO2 as found in experiments and we observe that the transition paths are qualitatively different and yield different products when a nonhydrostatic load is applied, giving rise to a new class of metastable structures with mixed tetrahedral and octahedral coordination

Autophagy and mitophagy biomarkers are reduced in sera of patients with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment

Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder characterized by a progressive memory loss and impairment in cognitive and functional abilities. Autophagy and mitophagy are two important cellular processes by which the damaged intracellular components are degraded by lysosomes. To investigate the contribution of autophagy and mitophagy in degenerative diseases, we investigated the serum levels of specific autophagic markers (ATG5 protein) and mitophagic markers (Parkin protein) in a population of older patients by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Two hundred elderly (≥65 years) outpatients were included in the study: 40 (20 F and 20 M) with mild-moderate late onset Alzheimer's disease (AD); 40 (20 F and 20 M) affected by vascular dementia (VAD); 40 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI); 40 (20 F and 20 M) with "mixed" dementia (MD); 40 subjects without signs of cognitive impairment were included as sex-matched controls. Our data indicated that, in serum samples, ATG5 and Parkin were both elevated in controls, and that VAD compared with AD, MCI and MD (all p < 0.01). Patients affected by AD, MD, and MCI showed significantly reduced circulating levels of both ATG5 and Parkin compared to healthy controls and VAD individuals, reflecting a significant down-regulation of autophagy and mitophagy pathways in these groups of patients. The measurement of serum levels of ATG5 and Parkin may represent an easily accessible diagnostic tool for the early monitoring of patients with cognitive decline

Bacterial discrimination by means of a universal array approach mediated by LDR (ligase detection reaction)

BACKGROUND: PCR amplification of bacterial 16S rRNA genes provides the most comprehensive and flexible means of sampling bacterial communities. Sequence analysis of these cloned fragments can provide a qualitative and quantitative insight of the microbial population under scrutiny although this approach is not suited to large-scale screenings. Other methods, such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, heteroduplex or terminal restriction fragment analysis are rapid and therefore amenable to field-scale experiments. A very recent addition to these analytical tools is represented by microarray technology. RESULTS: Here we present our results using a Universal DNA Microarray approach as an analytical tool for bacterial discrimination. The proposed procedure is based on the properties of the DNA ligation reaction and requires the design of two probes specific for each target sequence. One oligo carries a fluorescent label and the other a unique sequence (cZipCode or complementary ZipCode) which identifies a ligation product. Ligated fragments, obtained in presence of a proper template (a PCR amplified fragment of the 16s rRNA gene) contain either the fluorescent label or the unique sequence and therefore are addressed to the location on the microarray where the ZipCode sequence has been spotted. Such an array is therefore "Universal" being unrelated to a specific molecular analysis. Here we present the design of probes specific for some groups of bacteria and their application to bacterial diagnostics. CONCLUSIONS: The combined use of selective probes, ligation reaction and the Universal Array approach yielded an analytical procedure with a good power of discrimination among bacteria

Rilievo metrico 3D multiscala per l’indagine e la rappresentazione architettonica e ambientale dell’area archeologica di Susa

L’articolo presenta alcuni dei risultati raggiunti in seguito ad uno degli stages didattici proposti dagli autori agli studenti dei corsi di laurea delle aree di Architettura e di Ingegneria del Politecnico di Torino inerente il rilievo metrico 3D che si è svolto a fine 2013 nell’area archeologica di Susa. L’attività è stata sostenuta dall’Ateneo, con i fondi del 5 per mille, e da alcuni enti territoriali locali (Regione Piemonte, Città di Susa, associazioni culturali locali). Le attività di acquisizione hanno previsto l’integrazione di metodi multisensore e, in particolare, l’impiego di tecniche di fotogrammetria terrestre (close-range), RPAS (Remotely piloted aircraft system) e laser scanner. L’elaborazione dei dati acquisiti è consistita nella loro registrazione e georeferenziazione nel sistema di riferimento globale, utilizzando l’appoggio topografico legato ai vertici della rete misurati con tecniche GPS-GNSS, e nella costruzione di modelli di superficie continui. I modelli 3D ottenuti si caratterizzano per la diversa natura dei dati impiegati nella loro generazione e per il contenuto informativo multiscala: scansioni laser terrestri, modelli stereoscopici e ortofoto generati da voli a bassa quota tramite UAV dell’area archeologica, acquisizioni fotogrammetriche e laser scanning ad alta risoluzione di decorazioni architettoniche complesse e figurate quali il fregio dell’arco di Augusto di Susa ed infine dati estratti da voli utili per l’aggiornamento di cartografie tecniche regionali e provinciali. Tali modelli tridimensionali sono stati integrati al fine di ottenere una descrizione più completa degli oggetti indagati permettendo così l’elaborazione di molteplici rappresentazioni utili a diversi scopi: restituzione grafica (2D e 3D) dei singoli manufatti e dell’area, estrazione di ortofoto, indagine archeologica, ricostruzione archeologica delle architetture antiche etc. I risultati ottenuti alle diverse scale sono stati infine implementati all’interno di un GIS interrogabile in relazione a molteplici necessità, integrabile continuamente con informazioni aggiuntive provenienti dagli studi archeologici o territoriali e utilizzabile per la visualizzazione 3D tematizzata delle informazioni ottenute