3,136 research outputs found
Weigh your own words: improving hate speech counter narrative generation via attention regularization
No full textSpontaneous evolution of essential thrombocythaemia into acute megakaryoblastic leukemia with trisomy 8, trisomy 21 and coutaneous involvment
No full textWeigh Your Own Words: Improving Hate Speech Counter Narrative Generation via Attention Regularization
No full textRecent computational approaches for combating online hate speech involve the automatic generation of counter narratives by adapting Pretrained Transformer-based Language Models (PLMs) with human-curated data. This process, however, can produce in-domain overfitting, resulting in models generating acceptable narratives only for hatred similar to training data, with little portability to other targets or to real-world toxic language. This paper introduces novel attention regularization methodologies to improve the generalization capabilities of PLMs for counter narratives generation. Overfitting to training-specific terms is then discouraged, resulting in more diverse and richer narratives. We experiment with two attention-based regularization techniques on a benchmark English dataset. Regularized models produce better counter narratives than state-of-the-art approaches in most cases, both in terms of automatic metrics and human evaluation, especially when hateful targets are not present in the training data. This work paves the way for better and more flexible counter-speech generation models, a task for which datasets are highly challenging to produce
STREPTOMYCETES AS BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS AND PLANT GROWTH-PROMOTING BACTERIA
No full textDeveloping no-chemical strategies for the control of soil borne pathogens is one of the major issues for the cultivation of leafy vegetables. The application of Biological Control Agents (BCAs) represents a valuable approach and nowadays some biocontrol products are available on the market for greenhouse and field applications. However, these products often show lack of consistency and variable results mainly due to the poor knowledge about their biology and modes of applications and how the agroecosystem components modulate their efficacy.
Streptomycetes are soil inhabitants and have an important ecological role in the turn-over of organic matter; they can also establish beneficial relationships with plant roots enhancing host growth and protection against pathogens through the production of bioactive compounds, lytic enzymes, phytohormones and siderophores.
This PhD project aimed to study streptomycetes as BCA and Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria for their use to manage soil borne fungal epidemics in horticulture.
A collection of 200 endophytic streptomycete strains isolated from roots was used in this work. To be able to compare the activity of every strain against the pathogens, the dual culture assay was optimized for some representative fungal pathogens based on mycelium radial growth rate in vitro. Subsequently, the optimized method was applied to screen the collection. Some strains showed strong inhibitory activity, but it was specific for one target pathogen and in few cases comprised more than one pathogen. Based on the promising results obtained from the in vitro assays for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, further studies were focused on the activity of ten strains used for biological control of lettuce drop in different conditions. In particular, it was studied the effect of the application timing of the antagonist and the pathogen, and the amount of the streptomycete used to improve lettuce drop protection. The survival analysis applied to the data of the growth chamber experiments showed that when lettuce was sown one week after the growth substrate inoculation with the pathogen and antagonists, disease control improved, and Streptomyces spp. FT05W, SW06W and SW29W reduced the risk of disease incidence by 42%. On the contrary, no beneficial effect was observed when lettuce was sown the same day of the growth substrate inoculation. Streptomycetes spore concentration significantly influenced lettuce drop protection, but this effect was strain-dependent.
Based on these results we planned appropriate field experiment to confirm the results obtained, however, in the field we did not observed significant differences in lettuce protection. Therefore we
speculated that moving from controlled to a more complex agroecosystem environment the streptomycete antagonistic activity could fade away probably due to unfavorable interaction in a more complex microflora.
Indole-3-acetic acid and the siderophore production were observed for Streptomyces spp. CVM02R and SW29W in in vitro assays, but in field experiments no significant PGP effect on lettuce was obtained at harvest assessing the head weights of plants.
The colonization of lettuce rhizosphere and root tissues was investigated using the EGFP labelled strain Streptomyces sp. ZEA17I. This strain showed both rhizospheric and endophytic competences, characters necessary for its successful use for biological control. In addition we showed that applying the strains as spore suspension in the growth substrate resulted in significantly higher roots and rhizosphere colonization than when delivered as seed coating.
In conclusion, the results obtained in this study showed that bacteria of the genus Streptomycetes appear valuable candidates for the biological control of soil borne fungal pathogens. However, the complex interactions among the host plant, the antagonist and the pathogen occurring in the agroecosystem are mostly unknown and could generate contradictory results for different environments. Therefore, we think that further studies on simplified models are necessary in order to understand the mechanism on which biological control is based, in order to improve streptomycete activity as BCA for the management of fungal soil borne epidemics
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Trust in authorities monitoring the distribution of genetically modified foods: dimensionality, measurement issues, and determinants
No full textBased on a combined internet and mail survey in Germany the independence of indica-tors of trust in public authorities from indicators of attitudes toward genetically modified food is tested. Despite evidence of a link between trust indicators on the one hand and evaluation of benefits and perceived likelihoods of risks, correlation with other factors is found to be moderate on average. But the trust indicators exhibit only a moderate relation with the re-spondents’ preference for either sole public control or a cooperation of public and private bodies in the monitoring of GM food distribution. Instead, age and location in either the New or the Old Lander are found to be significantly related with such preferences
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A critical account of the relationship between institutional trust, risk perception, and technology acceptance with an application to genetically modified foods
No full textThis article critically reflects on the widely held view of a causal chain with trust in public authorities impacting technology acceptance via perceived risk. It first puts forward conceptual reason against this view, as the presence of risk is a precondition for trust playing a role in decision making. Second, results from consumer surveys in Italy and Germany are presented that support the associationist model as counter hypothesis. In that view, trust and risk judgments are driven by and thus simply indicators of higher order attitudes toward a certain technology which determine acceptance instead. The implications of these findings are discussed
PER UNA EDIZIONE CRITICA DELLE RIME DI BARTOLOMEO CAVASSICO
No full textThis PhD thesis consists of:
- An introductory part presenting the figure of the author, a description of the ms. bearing the Rime, an analysis of the form and content of the texts and the social, political and cultural context where they were produced;
- The critical edition of fifty-four poems in italian and fifteen in Bellunese dialect. An introductory cap presents the formal characteristics of the work and provides the context, if necessary; this is followed by the text, reproduced according to generally conservative criteria; at the bottom there is a first band of apparatus, aimed at containing corrections of servile errors; a second band, containing the actual genetic apparatus, bearing any variants or previous redactions of the text; and finally the commentary, aimed at clarifying critical places and pointing out parallels with other authors. For the Bellunese texts, a full translation was also provided.
- A caption index;
- Two lexical indexes, for italian and Bellunese texts, bearing the notable forms;
- Four appendices. Appendix I is a table containing all the poems, classified according to the following criteria: location in the ms., title, genre of the poem, language, possible addressee and brief summary, focusing, in particular, on the (recurring) themes present in the text. Appendix II houses vernacular texts not included in the edition, and Appendix III italian texts that the author has taken from other printings. Appendix IV contains the digital reproduction of six papers from ms. 396 of the Biblioteca Civica of Belluno.Questa tesi di dottorato si compone di:
- Una parte introduttiva che presenta la figura dell'autore, la descrizione del ms. recante le Rime, l'analisi della forma e dei contenuti dei testi e il contesto sociale, politico e culturale in cui sono stati prodotti;
- L'edizione critica commentata di cinquantaquattro poesie in volgare e quindici in dialetto bellunese. Un cappello introduttivo presenta le caratteristiche formali dell'opera e ne fornisce il contesto, qualora necessario; segue il testo, riprodotto secondo criteri generalmente conservativi; in calce si trovano una prima fascia di apparato, volta a contenere le correzioni degli errori servili, una seconda fascia, contenente l'apparato genetico vero e proprio, recante le eventuali varianti o redazioni precedenti del testo, e infine il commento, finalizzato a chiarire i luoghi critici e a segnalare paralleli con altri autori. Per i testi bellunesi si è fornita anche la traduzione integrale in calce.
- Un indice dei capoversi;
- Due indici lessicali, per i testi in volgare e per i testi in bellunese, recanti le forme notevoli;
- Quattro appendici. L'appendice I è una tabella contenente tutti i componimenti, classificati secondo i seguenti criteri: collocazione nel ms., titolo, genere del componimento, lingua, eventuale destinatario e breve riassunto, imperniato, in particolare, sui temi (ricorrenti) presenti nel testo. L'appendice II ospita i testi in volgare non inclusi nell'edizione, mentre l'appendice III i testi in volgare che l'autore ha tratto da altre stampe. L'appendice IV contiene la riproduzione digitale di sei carte del ms. 396 della Biblioteca Civica di Belluno, attraverso la quale si possono osservare la scrittura del notaio e gli interventi sui testi
Sunyaev–Zel'dovich profiles and scaling relations: modelling effects and observational biases
No full textWe use high-resolution hydrodynamic resimulations to investigate the
properties of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect from galaxy
clusters. We compare results obtained using different physical models
for the intracluster medium (ICM), and show how they modify the SZ
emission in terms of cluster profiles and scaling relations. We also
produce realistic mock observations to verify whether the results from
hydrodynamic simulations can be confirmed. We find that SZ profiles
depend marginally on the modelled physical processes, while they exhibit
a strong dependence on cluster mass. The central and total SZ emission
strongly correlates with the cluster X-ray luminosity and temperature.
The logarithmic slopes of these scaling relations differ from the
self-similar predictions by less than 0.2; the normalization of the
relations is lower for simulations including radiative cooling. The
observational test suggests that SZ cluster profiles are unlikely to be
able to probe the ICM physics. The total SZ decrement appears to be an
observable much more robust than the central intensity, and we suggest
using the former to investigate scaling relations
Vertebral body stent augmentation to reconstruct the anterior column in neoplastic extreme osteolysis.
No full textBACKGROUND
Extensive lytic lesions of the vertebral body (VB) increase risk of fracture and instability and require stabilization of the anterior column. Vertebral augmentation is an accepted treatment option, but when osteolysis has extensively destroyed the VB cortical boundaries (a condition herein defined as 'extreme osteolysis'), the risk of cement leakage and/or insufficient filling is high. Vertebral body stents (VBSs) might allow partial restoration of VB height, cement containment, and reinforcement, but their use in extreme osteolysis has not been investigated.
OBJECTIVE
To assess retrospectively the feasibility and safety of VBS augmentation in patients with 'extreme osteolysis' of the VB.
METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed 41 treated vertebrae (from T1 to L5). VB reconstruction was assessed on postprocedure CT images and rated on a qualitative 4-point scale (poor-fair-good-excellent). Clinical and radiological follow-up was performed at 1 month and thereafter at intervals in accordance with oncological protocols.
RESULTS
VBS augmentation was performed at 12 lumbar and 29 thoracic levels, with bilateral VBS in 23/41. VB reconstruction was judged satisfactory (good or excellent) in 37/41 (90%) of levels. Bilateral VBS received higher scores than unilateral (p=0.057, Pearson's X). We observed no periprocedural complications. Cement leaks (epidural or foraminal) occurred at 5/41 levels (12.2%) without clinical consequences. Follow-up data were available for 27/29 patients, extending beyond 6 months for 20 patients (7-28 months, mean 15.3 months). VBS implant stability was observed in 40/41 cases (97.5%).
CONCLUSIONS
Our results support the use of VBS as a minimally invasive, safe and effective option for reconstructing the anterior column in prominent VB osteolysis
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Do consumers want public or private bodies to monitor animal friendly production and marketing schemes? And does trust matter?
No full textProducing according to enhanced farm animal welfare (FAW) standards increases costs along the livestock value chain, especially for monitoring certified animal friendly products. In the choice between public or private bodies for carrying out and monitoring certification, consumer preferences and trust play a role. We explore this issue by applying logit analysis involving socio-economic and psychometric variables to survey data from Italy. Results
identify marked consumer preferences for public bodies and trust in stakeholders a key determinant
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