339 research outputs found
Estimation of Spectral Notches from Pinna Meshes: Insights from a Simple Computational Model
No full textWhile previous research on spatial sound perception investigated the physical mechanisms producing the most relevant elevation cues, how spectral notches are generated and related to the individual morphology of the human pinna is still a topic of debate. Correctly modeling these important elevation cues, and in particular the lowest frequency notches, is an essential step for individualizing Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs). In this paper we propose a simple computational model able to predict the center frequencies of pinna notches from ear meshes. We apply such a model to a highly controlled HRTF dataset built with the specific purpose of understanding the contribution of the pinna to the HRTF. Results show that the computational model is able to approximate the lowest frequency notch with improved accuracy with respect to other state-of-the-art methods. By contrast, the model fails to predict higher-order pinna notches correctly. The proposed approximation supplements understanding of the morphology involved in generating spectral notches in experimental HRTFs.Design Aesthetic
The survey of the Temple of Augustus and Goddess Roma in Ankara
No full textCIPA INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIU
The European Juniperus habitat in the Sardinian coastal dunes: Implication for conservation
No full textIn this study, we explore the influence of environmental and anthropogenic factors on the floristic variability of the "coastal dunes with Juniperus spp." European habitat (code 2250*) in Sardinia. Two datasets were created: the first by inputting phytosociological relevés available in literature plus our own samplings; the second by including, for each relevé, environmental, floristic, and human-related factors. Differences in Juniperus habitat composition and the influence of the explanatory variables were analyzed by multivariate analysis, while GLM were used to test the effect of human disturbance and sampling period on several habitat parameters (plant richness, cover of endemic and alien taxa). The floristic composition differed among sites, being significantly influenced by all the variables analyzed except coastal type. Composition was governed mainly by a latitudinal gradient, linked to a climatic gradient, which varied from North to South. In addition, the floristic richness was positively influenced by low and medium levels of human disturbance. Similarly, the plant richness and cover of endemic taxa was positively related to medium level of human disturbance, while the cover of alien taxa was positively related to recent sampling. The analysis of our own floristic data together with those recorded from 1976 is useful to monitor floristic changes over decades and gives a better understanding of the "coastal dunes with Juniperus spp." habitat to contribute to its conservation; therefore, management actions, such as eradication of alien taxa, should be implemented
A novel method to allow noninvasive, longitudinal imaging of the murine immune system in vivo
No full textIn vivo imaging has revolutionized understanding of the spatiotemporal complexity that subserves the generation of successful effector and regulatory immune responses. Until now, invasive surgery has been required for microscopic access to lymph nodes (LNs), making repeated imaging of the same animal impractical and potentially affecting lymphocyte behavior. To allow longitudinal in vivo imaging, we conceived the novel approach of transplanting LNs into
the mouse ear pinna. Transplanted LNs maintain the structural and cellular organization of conventional secondary lymphoid organs. They participate in lymphocyte
recirculation and exhibit the capacity to receive and respond to local antigenic challenge. The same LN could be repeatedly imaged through time without the requirement for surgical exposure, and the dynamic behavior of the cells within the transplanted LN could be characterized. Crucially, the use of blood vessels as fiducial markers also allowed precise re-registration of the same regions for
longitudinal imaging. Thus, we provide the first demonstration of a method for repeated, noninvasive, in vivo imaging of lymphocyte behavior
Presentation and book signing for A Face from Uranus: Correspondence Between Tedd Burr and Henry Bellamann 1943-1945.
No full textAuthor Lenny Pinna will give a presentation and book signing for A Face from Uranus: Correspondence Between Tedd Burr and Henry Bellamann 1943-1945. Lenny researched the Henry and Katherine Bellamann Collection to help produce this book. As part of the presentation he will donate all of the correspondence between Burr and Bellamann to the Archives.
A little bit about the book: It\u27s 1943. As World War II commands the world\u27s stage, nineteen year old Tedd Burr struggles with his own private battle-gender identity. After receiving a draft notice, Tedd reaches out in desperation to Henry Bellamann, author of the best-selling 1940 novel Kings Row, for advice. Tedd imagines that the author who wrote sympathetically in his novel about a boy who was too pretty for a boy might be able to help him in some way. And he\u27s right. Henry responds, initiating a warm correspondence that deepens into a relationship that lasts until Henry\u27s death in 1945. This book publishes for the first time all the letters from Tedd and Henry\u27s correspondence.
Rachael Price, Associate Professor of English at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College writes that the book “captures with poignant clarity the experiences of a young man struggling with his genderqueer identity in the 1940s Midwest.”
Later at 7pm, Lenny Pinna will screen his film Letters to Uranus: The Hidden Life of Tedd Burr in Archives and Special Collections
Introduzione. «Arti di pinna»: Leonardo Sciascia Saggista
No full textThe article presents the main theme of the XIV Sciascia Colloquium - the essay form explored by Leonardo Sciascia in his works - discussing each contribution and the focus each author chose to develop for this volume publication
Su alcune serie pluviometriche italiane. Questi irrisolti, incongruenze e qualche riflessione generale.
No full textAbout some Italian rainfall series. Doubts, unsolved questions and some general considerations
– In this paper the author discusses various problems emerged from the analysis of the rainfall data series
of the Collegio Romano (Rome) and of other Italian stations. The average (1942-2012) annual rainfall in
the Collegio Romano is lower by more than 15% if compared to that of all other stations in the area of
Rome. We can find a similar situation in the historic centre of Bologna, where the two stations of the
Servizio Idrografico show a difference of 100 mm in the average annual total over the period 1935-1978.
It was also noted that recent research on the temporal variations of the precipitation intensity in Italy
presents very doubtful results that are probably due to the presence of significant errors in the examined
series
Pinna nobilis genotype table (Occitan coast)
No full textThe fan mussel, Pinna nobilis, endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, is a critically endangered species facing mass mortality events in almost all of its populations, following the introduction of the parasite Haplosporidium pinnae. Such a unique pandemic in a marine organism, which spreads rapidly and with mortality rates reaching 100 %, could lead to the potential extinction of the species. Only few regions, involving lagoon habitats, remain healthy throughout entire Mediterranean Sea. This dataset was used to describes the genetic structure of P. nobilis across the Gulf of Lion, including confined locations such as lagoons and ports. This dataset contains the genotype, at 22 microsatellite loci, of total of 960 samples that were collected among 16 sites distributed at 8 localities.
The results of the study are available in Peyran et al. (2021).
Peyran, C., Boissin, E., Morage, T., Nebot-Colomer, E., Iwankow, G., & Planes, S. (2021). Genetic homogeneity of the critically endangered fan mussel, Pinna nobilis, throughout lagoons of the Gulf of Lion (North-Western Mediterranean Sea). Scientific reports, 11(1), 1-12.
Corresponding author: [email protected]
A widespread picornavirus affects the hemocytes of the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis), leading to its immunosuppression
No full textIntroduction: The widespread mass mortality of the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) has occurred in several Mediterranean countries in the past 7 years. Single-stranded RNA viruses affecting immune cells and leading to immune dysfunction have been widely reported in human and animal species. Here, we present data linking P. nobilis mass mortality events (MMEs) to hemocyte picornavirus (PV) infection. This study was performed on specimens from wild and captive populations.
Methods: We sampled P. nobilis from two regions of Spain [Catalonia (24 animals) and Murcia (four animals)] and one region in Italy [Venice (6 animals)]. Each of them were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to describe the morphology and self-assembly of virions. Illumina sequencing coupled to qPCR was performed to describe the identified virus and part of its genome.
Results and discussion: In 100% of our samples, ultrastructure revealed the presence of a virus (20 nm diameter) capable of replicating within granulocytes and hyalinocytes, leading to the accumulation of complex vesicles of different dimensions within the cytoplasm. As the PV infection progressed, dead hemocytes, infectious exosomes, and budding of extracellular vesicles were visible, along with endocytic vesicles entering other cells. The THC (total hemocyte count) values observed in both captive (eight animals) (3.5 × 104–1.60 × 105 ml−1 cells) and wild animals (14 samples) (1.90–2.42 × 105 ml−1 cells) were lower than those reported before MMEs. Sequencing of P. nobilis (six animals) hemocyte cDNA libraries revealed the presence of two main sequences of Picornavirales, family Marnaviridae. The highest number of reads belonged to animals that exhibited active replication phases and abundant viral particles from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. These sequences correspond to the genus Sogarnavirus—a picornavirus identified in the marine diatom Chaetoceros tenuissimus (named C. tenuissimus RNA virus type II). Real-time PCR performed on the two most abundant RNA viruses previously identified by in silico analysis revealed positive results only for sequences similar to the C. tenuissimus RNA virus. These results may not conclusively identify picornavirus in noble pen shell hemocytes; therefore, further study is required. Our findings suggest that picornavirus infection likely causes immunosuppression, making individuals prone to opportunistic infections, which is a potential cause for the MMEs observed in the Mediterranean.The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The research was partially supported by the EU LIFE Programme Project Protection and restoration of Pinna nobilis populations as a response to the catastrophic pandemic started in 2016 (LIFE PINNARCA) (grant number LIFE20 NAT/ES/001265).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Tre amici tra la Sardegna e Ferrara
No full textA private and distant Sardinia animates the texts of this double correspondence, between archaic landscapes and personal and literary mythologies, in which Ferrara, the town of the authors' youthful years, is occasionally mentioned, with its richness of life, magazines (Bottai’s «Primato», «Corriere Padano» with Bassani…), evening meetings in taverns or rented rooms, walks along the Rampari river, and the use of playful nicknames which would continue even after youth ended. A world made of concrete things, animated and enlivened by strong intellectual curiosities and passions, emerges from the letters reconstructing the life and history of Giuseppe Dessí, Mario Pinna and Claudio Varese, which have been carefully transcribed and annotated by Costanza Chimirri. The correspondence opens with the years spent in Ferrara - after Pisa, a crucial moment for their education - and allows the author to reconstruct atmospheres and environments, readings and work, offering a significant cross-section of twentieth-century Italy from within. The letters are never disconnected from one another, but rather united by the continuous call to the triple friendship in the name of Giuseppe Dessí, who is always present in the others’ speeches even when he is not actually mentioned. The correspondence also allowed to bring to light unpublished texts by the most secluded member of the group (Mario Pinna, an avid reader of the classics, Spanish specialist, author of poems in the dialect of Logudoro and of short stories set in Sardinia), to strengthen the role that has always been played by the eldest, Claudio Varese, the maître-camarade; and to confirm once again how much Dessí’s creative universe, deeply marked by the biographical element, has continued to develop and feed under the wise and affectionate gaze of fraternal friends, in an exchange which can give life to an actual collective imagination
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