86,673 research outputs found
Chaos at the Gates: The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and energy price shocks on South Korea's gas industry amid energy transition
No full textSouth Korea was one of the first countries to be hit by the coronavirus infections. Having rapidly contained the health emergency in the immediate period, Seoul arguably mitigated the economic fallouts more successfully than the majority of advanced economies but could not avoid substantial losses. The far-reaching fallout of COVID-19 has been testing the country's energy transition pathway, as actors involved are facing difficult decisions amid more stringent financial constraints to deliver their ambitious targets, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Amid the combined effects of the pandemic and the global energy prices shocks, addressing the nexus between energy security on the supply side, affordability, and the safety of people's lives and property, has become even more pressing. Against this backdrop, natural gas has tailored a special role to bridge the low carbon re-alignment of the entire Korean energy system, also in the face of the current and future challenges to Korea's energy security. But long-drawn hurdles stemming from rather unsuccessful efforts to reform the gas system risk weakening its ability to cope with present uncertainties and heightened volatilities
Cure colturali in acero-frassineti secondari in Italia settentrionale.
No full textGli aceri frassineti di origine secondaria rappresentano una realtà in forte espansione nell’Italia settentrionale. Queste foreste attualmente non vengono gestite ad alto fusto ma sono lasciate all’evoluzione naturale o utilizzate come cedui nonostante la ricerca italiana abbia evidenziato le notevoli potenzialità e il forte dinamismo che le caratterizza.
In questo lavoro vengono presentati i primi risultati di alcune esperienze di cure colturali a giovani popolamenti secondari di acero-frassineti realizzate nel Triangolo Lariano (LC) e nell’Agno- Chiampo (VI) tra gli anni 2000 e 2006. I criteri di selezione sono stati il diradamento dal basso e quello libero con scelta di candidati (alberi obiettivo) ed eliminazione dei concorrenti diretti, il grado del diradamento è stato di norma forte.
Gli interventi effettuati hanno evidenziato le buone possibilità di applicazione della selvicoltura d’albero su un limitato numero di soggetti ad ettaro (70-150). I primi diradamenti dovrebbero essere eseguiti verso i 15-20 anni quanto gli alberi dominanti raggiungono diametri medi di circa 9-11 cm, altezze di 12-16 m e chiome profonde in grado di reagire ai diradamenti mantenendo accrescimenti sostenuti attorno a 1 cm. Forti difficoltà socio economiche, frammentazione della proprietà, mancan- za di tradizione e conoscenze nella gestione di fustaie di latifoglie ostacolano fortemente l’applicazione di questo metodo. Per questo oltre all’acquisizione di conoscenze ed esperienze tecnico selvicolturali, risultano necessarie azioni di supporto per la formazione dei proprietari, per favorire una gestione collettiva, per creare un mercato locale del legname da opera ottenibile da questa importante realtà forestale
Prolegomena all’edizione del carteggio fra la tipografia bresciana di Nicolò Bettoni e Vincenzo Monti (1806-1827)
No full textSpeaking with mask in the COVID-19 era: Multiclass machine learning classification of acoustic and perceptual parameters
No full textThe intensive use of personal protective equipment often requires increasing voice intensity, with possible development of voice disorders. This paper exploits machine learning approaches to investigate the impact of different types of masks on sustained vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/ and the sequence /a'jw/ inside a standardized sentence. Both objective acoustical parameters and subjective ratings were used for statistical analysis, multiple comparisons, and in multivariate machine learning classification experiments. Significant differences were found between mask+shield configuration and no-mask and between mask and mask+shield conditions. Power spectral density decreases with statistical significance above 1.5 kHz when wearing masks. Subjective ratings confirmed increasing discomfort from no-mask condition to protective masks and shield. Machine learning techniques proved that masks alter voice production: in a multiclass experiment, random forest (RF) models were able to distinguish amongst seven masks conditions with up to 94% validation accuracy, separating masked from unmasked conditions with up to 100% validation accuracy and detecting the shield presence with up to 86% validation accuracy. Moreover, an RF classifier allowed distinguishing male from female subject in masked conditions with 100% validation accuracy. Combining acoustic and perceptual analysis represents a robust approach to characterize masks configurations and quantify the corresponding level of discomfort
Wound Healing Potential of a Novel Sedum Species: S. album Murales
No full textNatural wound healing products are in increased demand. The potential for unexplored Sedum species in wound healing was discovered based on benefits of the genus reported in traditional medicine. The objectives were to screen ten Sedum species for wound healing, to ascertain the optimal harvest period using the five best, and finally to investigate effects of extraction protocols on wound healing using the most promising species. Different protocols were used to extract leaf polyphenol and mucilage content. Wound healing was assessed from L929 fibroblast migration. April was the optimal harvest month for wound healing efficacy, whereas the highest polyphenol content and antioxidant activity were evident in September and November. S. album Murales (ALBU), the best candidate, was then compared with S. telephium (TELE), which is well recognized in skin care. The mucilage-containing aqueous extract of ALBU was shown for the first time to induce the highest fibroblast migration after 24 h, not evident in TELE. Moreover, functional constituents contained within the absolute acetone- and isopropanol-containing polyphenol pools from ALBU induced significantly higher migration compared to TELE. A prototype cream, containing the water- and solvent-extracted bioactive compounds was effective at inducing fibroblast migration at 24 h in ALBU. The potential of ALBU in wound healing was evidenced and warrants further investigation
DISCO - a general computer program for the computation of acid dissociation constants of polyprotic molecules in water and biological fluids from nuclear magnetic resonance data: application to polyamines.
No full textA new computer program, DISCO, running under Windows, has been developed under the project CSA98P22 falling within theCompetitive Support Activities initiative launched within the EU 4th Framework Programme. DISCO allows the calculation of thestepwise acid dissociation constants of polyprotic molecules in water and in complex media (i.e., biofluids, etc.) from nuclearmagnetic resonance (NMR) data (chemical shifts) by means of two derivative-free methods: Pit-mapping and Simplex. DISCOperformances were tested using simulated—unaffected by experimental error—data sets, for systems having up to seven equilibriumconstants and experimental NMR data of spermine, 6-monofluorospermine, and 6,6-difluorospermine, dissolved in D2O and inphysiological solution (D2O/NaCl). Results demonstrated that (i) DISCO enables the determination of pKA values with high precisioneven when small-sized raw data sets are employed, when chemical shifts are measured with low precision (the usual conditionin biofluids due to the impossibility to obtain narrow line shape), and when the guess solution, necessary as an initial step of themathematical iterative process, is fixed within a large interval of variation; (ii) DISCO always converges to the root; (iii) DISCOpermits the calculation of pKA values which lie within the observed pH range, independent of the narrowness of the pH range
Towards an explainable Artificial intelligence system for voice pathology identification and post-treatment characterisation
No full textThe voice pathology identification task has recently gained great attention. However, several research questions remain open. This study proposes an explainable AI framework to address the implicit role of age in voice pathology recognition and to investigate vocal quality improvement after surgical treatment in organic voice disorders. The aim is also to define an optimal features subset through predictor importance analysis. A set of 287 patients diagnosed with benign lesions of vocal folds (BLVF) and unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) was enrolled. Classification experiments were performed for female (F) and male (M) groups: they aimed at distinguishing BLVF from UVFP in age-unbalanced (E1) and age-balanced (E2) datasets, differentiating BLVF subclasses (E3), and detecting pre- and post-treatment conditions (E4). The comparison between E1 and E2 suggests that age does not influence the classification performance. In E1, 76% (F) and 81% (M) accuracies were obtained. The best features concerned vocal fold dynamics and articulator positioning for F and M datasets. In E3, an accuracy of 60% was achieved, suggesting that larger datasets are required. In E4, the best models showed 76% (F) and 72% (M) accuracy, with a good sensitivity in detecting pre-treatment patients. The error rate analysis proved that UVFP was the most misclassified group. Moreover, an agreement between the AI outcome and perceptual evaluations was detected for misclassified recordings. These results suggest their clinical relevance to highlight key aspects of voice quality recovery and to define acoustic parameters that otolaryngologists could employ to monitor the patient’s follow-u
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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