Constraint programming is a powerful paradigm for solving combinatorial search problems that draws on a wide range of techniques from artificial intelligence, computer science, databases, programming ...languages, and operations research. Constraint programming is currently applied with success to many domains, such as scheduling, planning, vehicle routing, configuration, networks, and bioinformatics.The aim of this handbook is to capture the full breadth and depth of the constraint programming field and to be encyclopedic in its scope and coverage. While there are several excellent books on constraint programming, such books necessarily focus on the main notions and techniques and cannot cover also extensions, applications, and languages. The handbook gives a reasonably complete coverage of all these lines of work, based on constraint programming, so that a reader can have a rather precise idea of the whole field and its potential. Of course each line of work is dealt with in a survey-like style, where some details may be neglected in favor of coverage. However, the extensive bibliography of each chapter will help the interested readers to find suitable sources for the missing details. Each chapter of the handbook is intended to be a self-contained survey of a topic, and is written by one or more authors who are leading researchers in the area.The intended audience of the handbook is researchers, graduate students, higher-year undergraduates and practitioners who wish to learn about the state-of-the-art in constraint programming. No prior knowledge about the field is necessary to be able to read the chapters and gather useful knowledge. Researchers from other fields should find in this handbook an effective way to learn about constraint programming and to possibly use some of the constraint programming concepts and techniques in their work, thus providing a means for a fruitful cross-fertilization among different research areas.The handbook is organized in two parts. The first part covers the basic foundations of constraint programming, including the history, the notion of constraint propagation, basic search methods, global constraints, tractability and computational complexity, and important issues in modeling a problem as a constraint problem. The second part covers constraint languages and solver, several useful extensions to the basic framework (such as interval constraints, structured domains, and distributed CSPs), and successful application areas for constraint programming.- Covers the whole field of constraint programming \- Survey-style chapters \- Five chapters on applications
Abstract - The work examines the involvement in entrepreneurial activity, especially maritime, of alieni iuris and females. In the context of the broad theme relating to the relationships ...between man, land and sea (on which some preliminary reflections are carried out), the various roles relating to the administration of the ship (exercitor and magister navis) and the possibility of their entrustment to people other than pater familias are briefly reconstructed. A comparison follows between the text contained in D. 14.1.1.16, relating to the actio exercitoria, and the analogous affirmation reported in D. 14.3.7.1 on the actio institoria, from which the irrelevance results of sex and of subjection to potestas, on one side of the exercitor, on the other of the institor. In the light of these sources, the intermediation of filii familias, slaves, women sui iuris and in power, as well as subjects of minor age, is taken into consideration, with a distinction between impuberes and adulescentes.
The negative impacts of climate change on natural and anthropic ecosystems have led to the increasingly urgent search for policies, strategies and tools able to counteract degradation and risk ...factors on vulnerable landscapes. Among these, the research activity refers to water landscapes as a specific field of study that represents a fundamental resource for human well-being. In consistency with the international policy framework on integrated water management, this contribution develops a case study analysis focused on River Contracts as innovative, voluntary and negotiated planning practices aimed at the reconstruction of territorial, social and ecological values, which broaden the boundaries of safeguarding by integrating protection actions with sustainable management and environmental regeneration and to restore the identity of places and local communities. The description and evaluation of an ongoing experience of River, Coast and Landscape Contracts, developed along the coast of the Lazio region, allows one to point out that the process method is successful in solving complex issues related to the management of the river basin while involving social actors in order to improve people’s knowledge of the territory, increase social awareness of risk conditions, and allow local communities to propose and implement shared solutions. The results of this territorial and multi-level governance method are therefore measured on their capacity to produce territorial, social and environmental resilience.
The determinants of risk disclosure in the annual reports of listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have yet to be fully explored. This paper examines the potential impact of the composition of the ...boards of directors and other company-specific features on risk disclosure levels. The presence of women on a board made a significant difference to risk disclosure, as did the age of board members. Board directors having an accounting or finance/business qualification affected risk disclosure negatively; company size and an internet visibility were positively related to risk disclosure. Although an Italian study, the lessons here will have application to academia and to practitioners, policy-makers and standard-setters worldwide.
Recent advances in the performance and stability of lead halide perovskite solar cells announce a promising future for this technology. As the understanding of lab scale device fabrication progresses ...technology developments in the area of up-scaling are required to demonstrate their viability on an industrial and pre-commercial scale. These developments include replacing slow spin coated deposition techniques with continuous roll to roll compatible slot-die methods. In this work we demonstrate the suitability of a one-step slot-die coating method for the deposition of lead halide perovskite layers, in particular for infiltration into a mesoporous titania scaffold. Appropriate crystallisation dynamics of the perovskite are achieved by careful control of the substrate temperature in combination with a post-processed rapid air knife application. We show that devices fully processed in air using this method deliver a photovoltaic conversion efficiency up to 9.2%, this is comparable to those manufactured using a spin coating process.
•Perovskite can be deposited in one-step using slot-die coating.•Slot-die coating is a roll to roll compatible printing method.•A pre-heated substrate promotes horizontal crystal growth.•Application of a cold air-knife reduces the film roughness.•Comparable performance to spin coated devices is achieved.
In late December 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or CoV-19) appeared in Wuhan, China, causing a global pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 causes mild to severe respiratory tract inflammation, often ...developing into lung fibrosis with thrombosis in pulmonary small vessels and causing even death. COronaVIrus Disease (COVID-19) patients manifest exacerbated inflammatory and immune responses, cytokine storm, prevalence of pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages and increased levels of resident and circulating immune cells. Men show higher susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection than women, likely due to estrogens production. The protective role of estrogens, as well as an immune-suppressive activity that limits the excessive inflammation, can be mediated by cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2). The role of this receptor in modulating inflammation and immune response is well documented in fact in several settings. The stimulation of CB2 receptors is known to limit the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, shift the macrophage phenotype towards the anti-inflammatory M2 type and enhance the immune-modulating properties of mesenchymal stromal cells. For these reasons, we hypothesize that CB2 receptor can be a therapeutic target in COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
New trends in intellectual capital reporting Manes Rossi, Francesca; Nicolò, Giuseppe; Tartaglia Polcini, Paolo
Journal of intellectual capital,
07/2018, Letnik:
19, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a new way to disclose intellectual capital (IC) in universities through their websites. Going beyond traditional tools used for intellectual capital ...disclosure (ICD), this study aims at identifying possible determinants of ICD via the web. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses the institutional websites of a sample of Italian universities adapting the theoretical framework developed by Low et al. (2015) to the peculiarities of the Italian university system. Moreover, the relationship between certain explanatory factors identified in previous research and the extent of online ICD represented by two disclosure indexes was tested through an ordinary least squares regression model. Findings The analysis reveals the extensive use of ICD via websites, especially regarding human and internal capital, while the disclosure of external capital through this means is still limited. Internationality and online visibility both positively affect the extent of a university’s ICD. Research limitations/implications The paper represents the first study investigating online ICD and its determinants in universities, contributing new knowledge to help answer the how and what of the matter. Practical implications The results can serve as encouragement to university managers to enhance online ICD to meet the information needs of a wider audience. Originality/value This is the first study to provide evidence about online ICD in universities and to reveal some of the possible determinants to improve this disclosure.
Mast cells are immune cells which have a widespread distribution in nearly all tissues. These cells and their mediators are canonically viewed as primary effector cells in allergic disorders. ...However, in the last years, mast cells have gained recognition for their involvement in several physiological and pathological conditions. They are highly heterogeneous immune cells displaying a constellation of surface receptors and producing a wide spectrum of inflammatory and immunomodulatory mediators. These features enable the cells to act as sentinels in harmful situations as well as respond to metabolic and immune changes in their microenvironment. Moreover, they communicate with many immune and nonimmune cells implicated in several immunological responses. Although mast cells contribute to host responses in experimental infections, there is no satisfactory model to study how they contribute to infection outcome in humans. Mast cells modulate physiological and pathological angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, but their role in tumor initiation and development is still controversial. Cardiac mast cells store and release several mediators that can exert multiple effects in the homeostatic control of different cardiometabolic functions. Although mast cells and their mediators have been simplistically associated with detrimental roles in allergic disorders, there is increasing evidence that they can also have homeostatic or protective roles in several pathophysiological processes. These findings may reflect the functional heterogeneity of different subsets of mast cells.
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