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Deconfining transition in two-flavor QCD
No full textSUMMARY The order and the nature of the finite-temperature phase transition of QCD
with two flavors of dynamical quarks is investigated. An analysis of the
critical exponent of the specific heat is performed through finite-size and
finite-mass scaling of various susceptibilities. Dual superconductivity of QCD
vacuum is investigated using a disorder parameter, namely the v.e.v. of a
monopole creation operator. Hybrid R simulations were run at lattice spatial
sizes of , , and and temporal size , with
quark masses in the range
About Lagrangian Methods in Integer Optimization
No full textIt is well-known that the Lagrangian dual of an Integer Linear Program (ILP) provides the same bound as a continuous relaxation involving the
convex hull of all the optimal solutions of the Lagrangian relaxation.
It is less often realized that this equivalence is \emph{effective}, in that basically all known algorithms for solving the Lagrangian dual either naturally compute an (approximate) optimal solution of the "convexified relaxation", or can be modified to do so. After recalling
these results we elaborate on the importance of the availability of primal information produced by the Lagrangian dual within both exact and approximate approaches to the original (ILP), using three optimization
problems with different structure to illustrate some of the main points
A personalized search engine based on web-snippet hierarchical clustering
No full textSearch engines provide the view of the Web, and their smart
ranking algorithms are their point of view. To offer the best
view, personalized ranking algorithms are currently flourishing.
They focus on the users rather than on their submitted queries, by
taking into account some contextual/profiled information.
In this paper we propose a personalized (meta-)search engine based
on the web-snippet hierarchical clustering technology (a la
Vivisimo) that is fully adaptive and non intrusive both for the
user and for the queried search engine(s). It works on the top of
16 commodity search engines and fetches 200 (or more) results from
them per user query. Our engine is able to mine on-the-fly the
fine and variegate ''themes'' behind these results and then
organize them in a hierarchy of folders that offers, at various
levels of details, an up-to-date picture of these results. Users
can therefore browse the hierarchy, select the themes that best
match the ``intention'' behind their query, and ask our engine to
personalize on-the-fly those query results according to their
choices. In this way lazy users are not limited to look at first
ten results, but immediately acquire several points of view on a
larger pool (about 200) of them!
We claim that it does exist a mutual reinforcement
relationship between ranking and web-snippet clustering from
which both of them may benefit. Our extensive experiments show
that this form of personalization is very effective in informative
queries, polysemous queries, and poor queries consisting of at
most two terms (more than 80% of the Web queries are of this
type!). In these cases, in fact, one theme might be so web-popular
to unfortunately monopolize the top-ten results of link-based
ranking algorithms
Il prolasso della ghiandola della terza palpebra nel cane: esperienza personale sul riposizionamento chirurgico con “tecnica di Morgan”
No full textRIASSUNTO Le tecniche chirurgiche, riportate in letteratura, per il riposizionamento della ghiandola della terza palpebra prolassata nel cane, sono numerose ed ognuna presenta sia vantaggi che svantaggi. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è quello di valutare i risultati ottenuti per il trattamento di questa patologia, utilizzando come tecnica chirurgica la “Tasca di Morgan”. Sono stati esaminati 24 soggetti (11 femmine e 13 maschi) di differente razza ed età. 16 ghiandole prolassate (13 cani) sono state trattate con questa tecnica, utilizzando come materiale da sutura polydioxanone 5-0. Questa procedura di riposizionamento ci ha permesso di ottenere dei buoni risultati estetici ed un basso tasso di recidiva (2 casi). L’acquisizione di una buona dimestichezza del chirurgo con tale metodica è un fattore essenziale per ridurre le possibili recidive e garantire un buon risultato estetico. SUMMARY The objective of the present study is to evaluate the “Morgan pocket technique” for repositioning the prolapsed nictitating membrane gland in dogs. 24 dogs of different sex (11 females and 13 males), age and breed were presented for the prolapse of the nictitating membrane gland. These animals ranged in age from 2 to 60 months, with an average age of 9 months. The dog breeds were: Cane Corso (3 cases), English Bulldog (3), Rottweiler (2), Great Dane (2); Beagle (2), Boxer (2), Doberman Pinscher (1), Neapolitan Mastiff (1), Bracco Italiano (1), Pointer (1), Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (1), Epagneul Breton (1), Segugio Maremmano (1), Setter Gordon (1), crossbreed (2). All animals underwent a thorough ophthalmologic examination. Prolapse of the gland was bilateral in 4 subjects. 16 prolapsed glands (13 dogs) were treated with “Morgan pocket technique”: parallel incisions were made into the posterior conjunctiva dorsal and ventral to the prolapsed gland, the gland was reduced into the pocket and the pocket was closed with a simple continuous suture of 5-0 polydioxanon, securing the knot on the anterior surface. Using this repositioning tecnique, satistactory cosmetic results were obtained and reprolapse rate was low (2 cases). “Morgan pocket technique” is easy to learn but the best success rate with this procedure comes with experience
Caratteristiche morfologiche dell'involo dei fagiani di tipo mongolia (Phasianus colchicus mongolicus mongolicus) e tenebroso (Phasianus colchicus v. tenebrosus) allwvati dalla provincia di Terni
No full textRIASSUNTO Si è voluto valutare le effettive differenze morfologico/comportamentali tra i fagiani di tipo Mongolico e Tenebroso conservati negli allevamenti della Provincia di Terni. 67 fagiani di ceppo Mongolia (44 maschi e 23 femmine) e 78 fagiani di tipo Tenebroso (39 maschi e 39 femmine) sono stati allevati in due voliere di dimensioni diverse (voliera 1: m 80x130xh4,5 e voliera 2 m 100x100xh3,5). Il peso corporeo, la lunghezza dell’ala, la larghezza dell’ala, la lunghezza del tarso, i diametri del tarso, la lunghezza dello sperone e la valutazione dell’involo artificialmente indotto sono stati misurati in tutti i soggetti. I risultati hanno mostrato che i fagiani di tipo Mongolia differiscono dalla loro mutazione melanica (Tenebrosi) non solo per il colore del piumaggio ma anche per quanto riguarda alcune caratteristiche morfometriche e di involo. SUMMARY The real differences (morphological and behavioral) between the mongolian pheasant and the tenebrosus melanic mutation of the common pheasant were studied. all the pheasant came from the lines reared in the farms of terni province. 44 males and 23 females bearing to the Mongolian phenotype and 39 males and 39 females bearing to the Tenebrosus melanic mutation, were used for the trial. Both the lines of pheasants were reared in two different flying 242 pens (#1: m 80x130xh4.5; #2: m 100x100xh3.5). The following morphological and behavioral traits were measured: live weight, wing length, wing width, tarsus length, tarsus diameters, spur length, and take-off angle-score. Results showed that the Mongolian line differ from the melanic mutation not only for its feather color but also for the morphometrical (wing length, wing area , wing lift 121.5 mm, 269.2 cm2, 5.66 g/cm2 and 125.0 mm, 282.6 cm2, 5,33 g/cm2, for Mongolian and Tenebrosus males, respectively) and behavioral characteristics (take-off evaluation-score: Mongolian males 2.3, females 2.0; Tenebrosus males 2.6, females 2.9)
Parametri ematici come possibili indicatori di benessere in bovine da latte
No full textRIASSUNTO La stretta relazione tra andamento dei parametri ematici e fase fisiologica in molte specie animali per i diversi indirizzi produttivi (vacche da latte, vitelli da ingrasso e suinetti) ha spinto da anni la ricerca ad indagare su tale legame, reso ancora più complesso da fattori di carattere fisiologico, alimentare e manageriale. L’intento di questo lavoro è apportare un contributo a tale argomento, finalizzando l’interpretazione di alcuni dei parametri ematici analizzati alla valutazione dello stato di benessere delle lattifere. Sono stati effettuati quattro prelievi ematici stagionali (estate 2001, autunno 2001, inverno 2001/2002 e primavera 2002) su 54 bovine da latte di razza Frisona. Lo stato fisiologico (asciutta, transizione, fresche, lattazione e tarda lattazione) ha influenzato le concentrazioni di ALT (p<0.05), azoto ureico (p<0.001), glucosio (p<0.05), proteine totali (p<0.05), creatinina (p<0.001), colesterolo (p<0.001), trigliceridi (p<0.001) e globuli bianchi (p<0.05). I valori maggiormente alterati sono stati registrati per AST (64.2% dei campioni), colesterolo (84.7%), trigliceridi (80.6%), NEFA (44.9%), albumine (69.4%), ematocrito (78.6%), ed alcune componenti della formula leucocitaria. Ciò segnala una generale alterazione di importanti indicatori metabolici, anche in assenza di cali produttivi evidenti. Tali informazioni possono fornire nelle vacche da latte utili indicazioni per un monitoraggio mirato, identificando le fasi produttive più critiche (transition cow e i primi 100 gg di lattazione) ed apportando di conseguenza opportune strategie per migliorare le condizioni di vita degli animali in allevamento. SUMMARY For years, blood parameters have been used as a tool for evaluating animal welfare on farms, appearing to be closely connected to physiological status in dairy cows, calves and piglets. The aim of this work was to evaluate blood parameters in 54 Fresian dairy cows, highlighting their welfare conditions. Samples were collected four times (summer 2001, autumn 2001, winter 2001/2002 and spring 2002). Results were discussed regarding the main physiological phases (dry period, transition, fresh lactating, mid-lactating and late lactating periods). These periods significantly influenced AST (p<0.05), urea (p<0.001), glucose (p<0.05), total protein (p<0.05), creatinine (p<0.001), cholesterol (p<0.001), triglycerides (p<0.001) and white blood cells (p<0.05) concentrations. AST (64.2% of samples), cholesterol (84.7%), triglycerides (80.6%), NEFA (44.9%), albumin (69.4%) and packed cell volume (78.6%) were the most altered blood parameters. In this context, many values were not included in the physiological range, even if no drop in production was noticed. Our results could give primary indications for the state of dairy cows welfare, indicating targeted parameters (AST, cholesterol, triglycerides, NEFA, albumin, packed cell volume and neutrophil/lymphocytes ratio) and critical phases (transition and early lactation periods) to simplify animal control and implement appropriate corrective measures aimed at improving living conditions on farms
The anatomy of a Clustering Engine for Web Snippets
No full textRecently there has been a surge of commercial interest about novel IR-tools, like Vivisimo or Groxis, that support the user of a search engine in his/her query formulation and query refinement. The basic idea is that the snippets returned by the search engine are grouped into clusters which are then organized in a hierarchy whose nodes are properly labeled via meaningful sentences. Each sentence must capture the "theme" of the snippets contained into the cluster it labels.
This way the user is provided with a small, but intelligible, picture of the query answers at various levels of details.
Despite this commercial interest, we found just four scientific papers on this topic. None of them achieved results comparable to Vivisimo, that actually represents the state-of-the-art. In the present paper we address this problem in its full generality: labels of variable length
for denoting the clusters, labels drawn from the Web snippets as non contiguous sequences of terms, clusters possibly overlapping and organized within a hierarchy. We achieve this results by means of an algorithmic approach that exploits some innovative ideas, at least from the academic side
A prototype implementation of distributed agreements
No full textWe present a prototype application for distributed agreements in
multi-parties negotiations, where the number of participants is
statically unknown, new participants can dynamically join ongoing
negotiations and each participant knows only those parties with whom
interacted. The application is based on asynchronous communication
and it exploits the D2PC protocol for committing or aborting
the negotiation. The software architecture consists of three modular
layers, with the D2PC compiled in the bottom layer and
completely transparent to final users. Our prototype is tailored to
the running scenario of Ad-Hoc networks used by rescue teams
for disaster recovery
A Secure and Scalable Digital Time-stamping Service
No full textWe propose a distributed digital time--stamping
service (TSS) based on absolute timestamps and resilient to
Byzantine failures. In contrast with previous solutions based on
linking schemes, our TSS provides \emph{high scalability}, \emph{better response time},
and \emph{fine granularity}. It works in asynchronous systems
Anagrafe canina in Toscana in Toscana. Nuove norme
No full textRIASSUNTO Gli autori esaminano la Legge Regionale Toscana n. 41/2002 sull’anagrafe canina, valutando le novità rispetto alla normativa precedente. Gli elementi maggiormente innovativi sono rappresentati dall’iscrizione entro i sessanta giorni di vita e l’identificazione nei trenta giorni successivi, insieme al divieto di soppressione esteso anche agli animali di proprietà. Per quanto riguarda le colonie feline è stato introdotto l’obbligo per i Comuni di partecipare alle spese di mantenimento. SUMMARY The Authors examine the Tuscany Regional Rule on canine registry; they value the changes as to previous rules. The changes are the registration within sixty days old, the identification in subsequent thirty days and no suppression extended to property animals. As for feline colonies, the Communes must share the maintenance expenses