Valorization of Al slag in the production of green ceramic tiles: Effect of experimental conditions on microstructure and crystalline phase composition

This work reports the results of an investigation aimed at the development of sintered glass-ceramic tiles by the sinter-crystallization of mixtures composed of aluminum slag and reclaimed packaging glass. The thermal behaviors of mixtures incorporating 50 and 60 wt% Al slag were established by differential thermal analysis (DTA). Green compacts were sintered in a temperature range of 800°C-1050°C and then soaked for 10-60 minutes. The mineralogical characterizations of the sintered materials were obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The achieved results indicated that the sintering of aluminum slag and packaging glass reclaimed led to a glass-ceramic material composed mainly of needle-like crystals of wollastonite (CaSiO₃). The bloating of samples during firing was evaluated according to a Cougny predictive diagram. After initial observations and according to bending strength characterizations, sintered tiles prepared from aluminum slag and glassy sand are appropriate for floor pavement and wall covering.     

Open to a Select Few? Matching Partners and Knowledge Content for Open Innovation Performance

The purpose of the paper is to illuminate the costs and benefits of crossing firm boundaries in inbound open innovation (OI) by determining the relationships among partner types, knowledge content and performance. The empirical part of the study is based on a survey of OI collaborations answered by R&D managers in 415 Italian, Finnish and Swedish firms. The results show that the depth of collaboration with different partners (academic/consultants, value chain partners, competitors and firms in other industries) is positively related to innovation performance, whereas the number of different partners and size have negative effects. The main result is that the knowledge content of the collaboration moderates the performance outcomes and the negative impact of having too many different kinds of partners. This illustrates how successful firms use selective collaboration strategies characterized by linking explorative and exploitative knowledge content to specific partners, to leverage the benefits and limit the costs of knowledge boundary crossing processes.     

Recommending multimedia visiting paths in cultural heritage applications

The valorization and promotion of worldwide Cultural Heritage by the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies represent nowadays some of the most important research issues with a large variety of potential applications. This challenge is particularly perceived in the Italian scenario, where the artistic patrimony is one of the most diverse and rich of the world, able to attract millions of visitors every year to monuments, archaeological sites and museums. In this paper, we present a general recommendation framework able to uniformly manage heterogeneous multimedia data coming from several web repositories and to provide context-aware recommendation techniques supporting intelligent multimedia services for the users—i.e. dynamic visiting paths for a given environment. Specific applications of our system within the cultural heritage domain are proposed by means of real case studies in the mobile environment related both to an outdoor and indoor scenario, together with some results on user’s satisfaction and system accuracy.     

Music staff removal with supervised pixel classification

This work presents a novel approach to tackle the music staff removal. This task is devoted to removing the staff lines from an image of a music score while maintaining the symbol information. It represents a key step in the performance of most optical music recognition systems. In the literature, staff removal is usually solved by means of image processing procedures based on the intrinsics of music scores. However, we propose to model the problem as a supervised learning classification task. Surprisingly, although there is a strong background and a vast amount of research concerning machine learning, the classification approach has remained unexplored for this purpose. In this context, each foreground pixel is labelled as either staff or symbol. We use pairs of scores with and without staff lines to train classification algorithms. We test our proposal with several well-known classification techniques. Moreover, in our experiments no attempt of tuning the classification algorithms has been made, but the parameters were set to the default setting provided by the classification software libraries. The aim of this choice is to show that, even with this straightforward procedure, results are competitive with state-of-the-art algorithms. In addition, we also discuss several advantages of this approach for which conventional methods are not applicable such as its high adaptability to any type of music score.     

Degree-Optimal Routing for P2P Systems

We define a family of Distributed Hash Table systems whose aim is to combine the routing efficiency of randomized networks—e.g. optimal average path length O(log ² n/δlog δ) with δ degree—with the programmability and startup efficiency of a uniform overlay—that is, a deterministic system in which the overlay network is transitive and greedy routing is optimal. It is known that Ω(log n) is a lower bound on the average path length for uniform overlays with O(log n) degree (Xu et al., IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. 22(1), 151–163, 2004). Our work is inspired by neighbor-of-neighbor (NoN) routing, a recently introduced variation of greedy routing that allows us to achieve optimal average path length in randomized networks. The advantage of our proposal is that of allowing the NoN technique to be implemented without adding any overhead to the corresponding deterministic network. We propose a family of networks parameterized with a positive integer c which measures the amount of randomness that is used. By varying the value c, the system goes from the deterministic case (c=1) to an “almost uniform” system. Increasing c to relatively low values allows for routing with asymptotically optimal average path length while retaining most of the advantages of a uniform system, such as easy programmability and quick bootstrap of the nodes entering the system. We also provide a matching lower bound for the average path length of the routing schemes for any c. This work was partially supported by the Italian FIRB project “WEB-MINDS” (Wide-scalE, Broadband MIddleware for Network Distributed Services), .     

Continuity versus Discretization

The threefold interest in architecture, biology and mathematics motivated us to examine and justify new architectural forms. We discuss some notions of rhythm: Euclidean, morphogenetic and morphologic. Contemporary relationships between structure and form are based on the generation of shape by technological processes, thus the resulting objects are restricted to their material expression. Here a phenomenological organisation of form and its continuity with the landscape arise out of the mathematical and architectural creativity. The use of the computer is applied from outside to inside instead from inside to outside; this means that we are dealing with the organisational processes via continuous methods instead of evolutionary processes given by computer simulations, known as genetic algorithms, where the resulting configurations are reduced to a matter of routine. The role of design as an aesthetic component innovates the theoretical framework of structural engineering to establish the architectural environments.     

Communicating do-not-resuscitate orders with a computer-based system

BACKGROUND: Do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders for critically ill patients are frequently miscommunicated between attending physicians, house staff, and nurses. A computer-based system was developed to improve the communication of a procedure-specific DNR order form. METHODS: Concordance of understanding of patients' DNR status was measured with the use of unstructured DNR orders (period 1), procedure-specific DNR order forms (period 2), and procedure-specific DNR order forms administered with a computer-based communication system (period 3). The 3 components of the DNR order assessed were (1) the clinical events to which the DNR order applied, (2) whether the DNR order withheld all elements of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and (3) whether other treatments were to be withheld. RESULTS: For the 147 patients, the computer-based system in period 3 (n = 71) improved concordance for attending physicians and nurses or residents for all 3 of the DNR components compared with period 1 (n = 40) and some of the DNR components compared with period 2 (n = 36). Concordance was "substantial" or "almost perfect" as measured by the K statistic during period 3. The proportion of agreement for the composite of all 3 components of the DNR order increased during each period (P<.001, period 3 vs period 1). Overall agreement between all caregivers for the composite DNR order also improved from period 1 (22.2%) to period 2 (47.8%) and period 3 (61.9%; P<.001 vs period 1). Errors in order entry were detected by physicians because of the computer system and corrected in 9.9% of DNR orders in period 3. Progress note documentation of DNR status did not improve during period 3. The procedures of period 3 were considered acceptable by the physician and nursing staff. CONCLUSION: A computer-based system combined with a procedure-specific DNR order form improves communication of patients' DNR status in a critical care setting.     

Chemiotropic behavior of female olive fly (Bactrocera oleae GMEL.) onOlea europaea L

An interpretation is given of a number of observations on the chemiotropic behavior ofBactrocera oleae in connection with olive maceration water and the fly's return to the olive groves after the first summer rains. To this end, the headspace of both maceration water and leaf leaching water, simulating rainfall, were examined. In both cases, the presence of ammonia, which is generally known to attract fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae), was detected and, for the first time, in addition to other compounds that are inert for the fly, the presence of styrene was also detected. This aromatic hydrocarbon was found to be a strong attractant. It is shown that both ammonia and styrene are products of the metabolism of microbial flora present on the olive and leaf surface.     

In vivo characterization of renal auto-antigens involved in human auto-immune diseases: the case of membranous glomerulonephritis

Renal auto-immune diseases represent a major source of morbidity in humans. For many years the knowledge on mechanisms of auto-immunity involving the kidney has been uniquely based on animal models. However, these findings often could not be readily translated to humans owing to notably difference in antigen expression by human podocytes. One example is Heymann nephritis (HN), the experimental model of human membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN), which is obtained in rats by injecting antibodies against megalin, a protein that is not present in human glomeruli. Human studies could not be done in the past since sequencing required too much material exceeding what obtainable from tissue biopsies in vivo. Research is now on the way to identify auto-antigens and isolate specific auto-antibodies in humans. New technology developments based on tissue microdissection and proteomical analysis have facilitated the recent discoveries, allowing direct analysis of human tissue in vivo. Major advances on the pathogenesis of MGN, the prototype for the formation and glomerular deposition of auto-antibodies, are now in progress. Two independent groups have, in fact, demonstrated the existence of specific IgG(4) against phospholipase A2 receptor, aldose reductase and Mn-superoxide dismutase in glomerular eluates and in plasma of a prominent part of patients with MGN, suggesting a major role of these proteins as auto-antigens in human MGN. This review will focalize these aspects outlining the contribution of proteomics in most recent developments.